Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez. They have their Eye on the Ball on Tucson
Sports Stage Shaft, Fox Sports fourteen fifteen streaming live. I mean iHeart Radio
warm. Hey, welcome back to Eye on the Back here on Fox Sports
fourteen fifteen. I'm Steve Rivera, You're Jaken Zoss and I'm hoping you have
some breaking news. I think I do as Eye on the Ball breaking news
on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. Okay, it's mentioned we had a full day
of college football. It wasn't a ton of games, but there were some
fun games. I was. I wouldn't say I was in front of the
TV all day, but I had football on all day. There was you
know. I spent some time working at my desk, did a little yard
work, but I had games on the whole day, starting with that Notre
Dame Navy game in the morning. Watched a lot of that Notre Dame kicked
the you know what out of Navy, and well taught me more about that
game. Wasn't that Notre Dame was good, but just at how bad Navy
was, you know, and after they fired and can you neil last year
who could have been the guy who could have been Kevin Sumlin if it wasn't
for Khalil Tate and uh, you know, look I Army and Navy.
You see those teams and they always have fight, you know, regardless of
whether they're really good or not, they always seem to have a lot of
fighting. I mean, you watch those games and you go, you know,
you have an appreciation for that. This team had zero fight. There
was there was there was nothing there. And I don't know if there's a
transition issue or whatever, but they were not good. They were really really
bad. And I felt bad for Navy and and how bad they how bad
they looked. I mean Navy, no, no to Dame doesn't look great.
They looked pretty good, but Navy looked really really bad. And that
was that was hard to watch. And then we saw Rich rod get Off
and uh uh win his uh Jacksonville State win their first game as an f
CS team, which was cool. Seventeen to fourteen, not not the scoring
fest that you expected to be. Some of I saw some of it.
I didn't. I kind of clicked back and forth. He looks like it
looks like Rich rode to the point where it is. I don't know,
I want the detail of this, but to the point where their quarterback,
in terms of his throwing motion and his movement, looked just like Matt Scott.
Just the way he just the way he stepped into a throw, and
and and some of his throws. I'm like, that's Matt Scott. Uh,
And it just looked a lot like they did. They beat you tap
seventeen to fourteen, which is again a note for Arizona. Fat Arizona's got
you tapped in in the third game? Is it dem so so rich rod
Off? You know, after a great start Don Brown uh his debut at
Massachusetts, they win forty one to thirty over New Mexico, over your Steve
New Mexico State specifically, don't claim him. They hurt you, didn't They
just barely I got out of that miss they I thought they'd be better,
actually, but Don Brown has some quality talent. They have eight guys from
Arizona eight eight Division one or FBS, and all of them had an impact
in the game. You know, their talent level two has got grown grown.
Yeah, we saw it. We saw I think we saw Anthony Sipson
score touchdown first one, first one, and so they know and they scored.
They put it wasn't all defense, right, No, it's good to
see him. We don't really know him. I know the Levs and the
Petersons went out there to the game. Uh, and they know him because
they were there every day. He's how can I say this, He's easy
to like, Yes, that's a good way to even when you see him
on the side and he got this guy's a jerk, but he's not.
He's not. He's coaching him up. And then when you talk to him,
he's like, oh wow, that dude's smart. Yeah. Yeah.
So then we saw San Diego State beat Ohio twenty third teen. That was
that was the thirteen. It was a two touchdown game. Pretty much.
They okay, they look they want they want. They had nobody in the
stands. There was nobody there. It was it was like, what the
heck they have this new stadium. Then again, when you're limited in paradise
or so called paradise, do you go to football game. You're hanging at
the beach or you're hanging doing something else, right, right, yeah,
which begs that you know the question, you know, what would that have
been like in the Pact twelve? Right? You know, were they going
to have twenty crowds of twenty some thousand at San Diego State, and then
there weren't twenty thousand there, No, no, They said that about sixteen
in real, real body county, and then uh, we saw USC beat
San Jose State. But you know what, I continue to not be impressed
by USC. Defensively. They still look like they've got all the same defensive
issues that they had before San Jose State put twenty twenty eight points on them.
It was actually a close game at the half. It was it was
twenty one to fourteen. Uh. USC uh, you know, pulled away
in the second half. They got a kid, a freshman, a true
freshman. Zach array is something or other. I can't remember his name.
He's gonna be a problem. What did you play? He's he's a wide
receiver and a kick returner. He's the first true freshman and you like in
USC history or something like that to run a kickback for a touchdown and a
score touchdown, scoring a touchdown pass like in there in his first game in
their history. What do you look like? Who was a Reggie Bush kind
of guy? Maybe not? He not as built as Reggie Bush was.
Later on but in terms of the way the kickoff return was spectacular. Just
you know, that's what that's who, that's who you thought of on the
kickoffs Twitter, Yeah, now yeah, he's uh, he's gonna be a
problem for teams. And he's he's a freshman. Uh California, I believe.
So really damn good and they really really really uh really look good.
He really really looked good us He put fifty six points on the board.
So obviously, you know, their offense is what they you know, what
they wanted to be. But again, I think they still got some issues
defensively that that are going to be. Well, Jay, I'm okay with
that because you have Washington. Have you seen big game boomers predictions? No,
you'll find out Google while you were sitting there. Okay, all right,
So that was kind of the college football day. It was not no
no big surprises. I mean, you know, you you saw rich Rod
wind you know that, you saw Jacksonville State win, you saw you saw
Navy look really bad. But you know, no big upsets or anything like
that. And it was fun. It was It's a fun day of football.
It felt like college football was back, and now it gets serious with
a bunch of games on Thursday and then Friday and uh Saturday, big tailgate
for US on Saturday, had a little tail preseason tailgate party at my house.
Weighed a lot of bad food. You didn't have to put a tent
up and down right, no, I didn't have no tents. Everybody's kind
of in the house. We turned the AC down so I wouldn't some people
wouldn't overeat. We had had a lot of bad fried chicken, a lot
of pizza, a lot of just a lot of bad food. It was
a lot of funny. Hope everybody had a good time. But it was
great to have college football back, all right. Some stuff going on today.
There was supposed to be a meeting of the ACC presidents today to talk
about Stanford and cal but there was a shooting on the University of North Carolina
campus, an active shooter. The I think the last thing I saw is
that there was a faculty member dead, maybe another couple of people wounded.
They canceled the meeting out of deference to North Carolina, and so they haven't
rescheduled it. So that's kind of you know, put gets put on the
back burger when you have something like that. Happen, but I haven't seen
the latest on the shooting. Oh they did catch a suspect, They have
somebody. Similarly, there's on Wednesday from the ten FBS commissions FCS Commissioners of
FBS Commissioners are supposed to meet to talk about the format for the twelve team
college football playoff that starts after the twenty twenty fourth season, and one of
the big pieces of discussion is going to be do you go from six automatic
berths and six at large to five and seven with the PAC twelve pretty much
dissolved, So that'll be one of the big questions, and then talk about
revenue distribution, all that kind of stuff. So there'll be a meeting on
Wednesday that we expect some stuff we'll come out about about the playoff. Let's
see, uh some quarterback some quarterback news. There's a lot of discussion thinking
that this true freshman Donte Moore would be UCLA's quarterback, but he will not
be. A guy named Ethan Garber's uh is the is the is the starter
for the for the UCLA season opener, and then uh uh Dante Moore and
Colin Schlee are supposed to both play, but they're sort of battling for the
backup both they're trying to place Dorian Thompson Robinson, who was like an eight
year starter at at UCLA and has gone on to the NFL. But Kelly
said all three of them deserved to play. They've all played outstanding. It's
been a really good battle. So let's see what comes out of that.
And then over at Texas where arch manny is a true freshman and he was
the all everything quarterback recruit, he's not even assured the backup spot. Uh
uh, Quinn yours they think his name is is going to be the starter.
And then Manning and Malik Murphy are still unsettled for the number two spots,
so arch Man could even be number three when the when the season starts
this week for for Texas. So and then you know, just stuff going
on. Now I'm gonna gonna do this one. There was another another bad
news one about Oh did you see the Little World Series? It was fantastic
game. I watched every minute of it. Did you It was fantastic?
I missed it. It was fantastic because I watched it Saturday. And how
they got to you know, the championship game and then I wanted to make
sure I saw saw them one Sunday. Fantastic game. These kids are fantastic.
The guy who hit the home run and saved the game is holy crap,
good good good. You know, just they're just kids. Kids,
They're just kids. Are so grown up. California was. It was loaded,
loaded with people, and Curestyle kind of hung with them with the grand
Slam in the top of the sixth for nothing game. Once you heard that
ball come off the bat, it was like, that's gone, that's gone,
not even close. It was a fantastic game for for minute to watch.
I'm sure it wasn't for Cure Style, but it was. It was
Wow. I mean you have that one team just celebrating and then the other
kids are just they're just gone, right like, especially how it happened.
Yeah, yeah, I know, a lot of fun. That's always good
to watch them play. Yeah, that was that was cool. I missed.
I went golfing yesterday, Steve. That was a really bad idea.
So well, here's the thing. It was. It was only one hundred
and three. Okay, that's not terrible. We golfed in much harder temperatures.
The humidity factor on the golf I almost didn't make it. It's what
did you realize? Well, at at the fifth hole, I thought I
can't go eighteen. I got to the I got to the we're at the
end of the eighth hole, and I told the guys, it's the guys.
I think I'm I'm done after nine and then the cart lady drove up.
The cart lady drove up, the cloud cover came over the top of
the golf course. It was all timing. I got a bunch of cups
of ice I got, I filled up my water bottle, got a couple
of Gatorades. It cooled a little bit because the sun was gone, and
I played the back nine and I finished my golf season. So you know,
yeah, I'm very happy Shaw on eighty six at I was very happy.
I finished my golf season with back to back sub ninety rounds. Yeah.
So let me say, since we have about three minutes, we can
leave it anytime. So I'm i'm I tweeted the Zechariah Branches and then seeing
his highlights, wow wow. Yeah. But let me say this obviously very
good, but I'm gonna try to relate it to Tucson and Arizona. So
everyone has this sky. I mean we all know Speedy. Speedy. Look,
if you have one of those dudes who can play and and if he
gets open and people can't catch him, don't you think that that's gotta come
out. You gotta use him. So even though, not even though,
but if this is a problem with them holding onto the ball and all that
stuff. But if you have that kind of weapon, well remember Speedy.
Look he got hurt in the San Diego State game last year and he was
you know, he had an ankle issue, which probably bugged him all year
long. I'd be shocked, shocked, I tell you, if they don't
do a whole lot more. Yeah, and we saw him whole lot We
saw him two weeks ago whatever it was, and he looked fantastic. Yeah,
I mean he's a water bug. You can get him to get out.
I mean you don't. You can't teach what he has. He just
can't. He's got it. You can't keep It's like this kid that I'm
watching for you a scene. I don't want to compare the two. But
if you have a gift that God is giving, yeah, I think you
use it. It's like if you have a seven foot two guy, who
can you know who can run the floor. You let the seven two guy
run the floor because nobody else has no question, no question. If I
have sports car in the garage, shame on me for run driving exactly.
And that's the expectations. Even I think, you know it's because Jed ran
through you know, the receivers, and he ran through the running backs and
all that kind of stuff. You feel like he's got guys that's said.
Let's let's go to a question that we'll probably ask left the Justin Flow.
Did you put that up? Yeah? Okay, so I think that was
because we've talked about him. We got a minute here, Okay, Yeah.
Here's what he's had to say about Justin Flow, who really is the
most intriguing guy on the roster, right, So if you have this guy,
you gotta have him. Here's what I had to say about Justin Flow,
the linebacker who came in from Morgan. Well, what Justine's able.
He's probably one of the most explosive players that we've had here, probably the
most explosive player that we've had here. He is in an elite category in
regards to his ability to run and hit his ability to make plays on the
ball, his ability to see a ball carrier close the distance and explode through
a guy. What Justine's learning is a system, and he's learning how to
play within the system. And he's had three different defensive systems in three years
and he's continuing to now get another system thrown out. I mean, what
are the adjustments? And as a linebacker, you're responsible for being the play
caller so to speak, right, so you're you're the one that has to
make formation adjustments and make decisions on the sets and what goes on around you.
So he's working through that. But as a player, I think there's
no question about his explosiveness and his energy that he brings. Okay, no
cool, So we'll talk. We'll leave it there and we'll come back with
the on the rack with Lev because we asked the question. I'll talk to
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This is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jay Gonzalez on Fox
Sports fourteen fifteen. Hey, welcome back to One on the Ball. Steve
Jiggle Sauce on the phone. We have Michael Lam from the Arizona Dner start
Michael hiding. Hey, guys, how areight? We're doing well? Hey,
let me just before we get into the Arizona stuff. I read your
Brown Coach Brown stuff very fun. We found a very nice a piece on
him, and I was telling Jay that you probably not that you probably would
have gone out there, but I think one of the reasons you went out
there was he's very likable, so you you know, wanted to talk to
him and some of the guys that were here before. Yeah, there were
a lot of reasons that it made sense to take a road trip on Saturday,
and a big thanks to our friend Brian Peterson for driving on that trip.
But yes, coach Brown has a huge personality if he's very well liked
by both media and fans and players fellow coaches. While he was here for
one season, that Fish's first season in twenty twenty one. Also, you
know, eight Arizona players transferred to you Mass in the offseason, the very
unusual situation, and the best part of it all, guys, was that
they won. So everyone was super happy after the game and you know,
and happy to talk to us. So it really couldn't have worked out much
better. Yeah. Well, you know, we had so much fun with
him because you know, you'd see him and he's the growling kind of coach
on the sideline, but then you get him. He's like very straightforward,
kind of easy going, very conversational. Uh and in a way I think
I like dealing with the media here at least. Oh yeah, he's a
natural. I mean, he's a Northeast guy. He's got kind of from
certain certain words have like a little accent to them, and certain mannerisms and
he's kind of old school a little bit. But he's got a lot of
one liners. And yeah, he was in he was in mid season fourm
to say the least. After that game, it was a huge win for
you masks, and you know, as you guys, sure, you know,
I mean, that's that's a really difficult place to win. There's three
and thirty seven over the previous uh fourth seasons, so you know it's for
them to be one and oh it's one on the road, even SPS opponent
in their opener. Those are all kind of big heels and big milestones.
So it's really happy for Don Brown and Jed Fish. You know, his
former boss said the same during his press conference today. So you talked about
Brian Peterson. Wait till you get the uber bill that's and then you can
thank you. So let's talk about the UA football team, the team you've
covered. Let's before we before we go into the like your predictions. You
asked a few good questions and one of them that we always talk about is
justin flow. Here's this guy with talent, guy who looks like Tarzan and
can just looks fantastic about playing football. But we don't know how good he
is because if he's going to have may not start or whatever, what do
you make of him? I don't know what to make of him yet.
Yeah, obviously has a very interesting and big personality. He is an impressive
athlete. He has credentials from his days as a recruit. You know,
he struggled with injuries a lot at Oregon and college football is a big adjustment
for him. You know he was someone who could just overwhelm the opposition with
his sheer physical presence in high school and very few people can do that in
college football. So he's you know, this has been a learning experience for
him. I'm sure it's been a humbling experience in a lot of ways.
And I am very curious to see what he looks like out on the field
in situations where you know you can actually tackle, where you don't know what
plays the other you know the other side is going to run, I think
after a while, and in camp the defense kind of knows most of what's
coming from the offense, so that gives them an advantage that they use if
we don't have during games. So I'll be really interested to see how he
looks against Annu, especially against you know, Mississippi State, which is obviously
an SEC opponent, and just how that battle goes between him and Daniel and
Moolee and the other transfer coming in from Washington. I would imagine both of
them are going to play. They also have that dollar package which just pay
one seven and they can kind of take whichever linebacker they want to play in
there. So I think those two and Jacob Mano are all gonna have a
role with the defense this upcoming season, and just how good justin flow is.
It's kind of one of the interesting subplots having into the opener and the
and the early stretch of the cism. Yeah, all right, so we're
finally here, We've got we've got an opener. On Saturday, there's a
Daily Star had their annual college football special section out on Saturday. I went
straight to your predictions. I didn't even read Hanson first. I went straight
to your call on the on the twelve games. You called every game as
I mentally, I think, you know, we kind of agreed, Uh,
in both Steven, I agree on these games basically the first six that
they would come out of that three and three with wins against nau U,
TEP and Stanford, losses the Mississippi State USC and in Washington. So we
get to the back half of the schedule in the end, you've got them
going seven and five. So you've got them going up to Washington State and
winning. Uh, But what's your thought on that one, because that's one
of the to us obviously, that's one of the key games that they got
to win to you know, get to a bowl game. Yeah, they
have played like crap in Pullman, right, I mean, to be frank,
it is. It has not been pretty. I covered two games up
there, two separate games in which they allowed sixty nine points against the Cougars,
which is like an absolutely absurd total. So it's been rough. But
I think there's a few things going on here. Number one, you know,
when you look at sort of the flow of games, no pun intended.
They've done what we were talking about earlier. I don't see them necessarily
losing three in a row. And if they lost that game after losing to
Washington US see that the three game losing streak. I don't see that happening.
I think that the weather won't be that bad because they're going up a
little bit earlier in the season. You know, sometimes when they go up
there and like wait November, maybe the week before the Territorial Cup, you
know, they're just not fully engaged. I think they will be fully engaged
in this particular matchup. And I also think that Dat and de laure will
handle the situation better than he did this last time going up against his former
school. Now you do have the added element of him being in Pullman with
a potentially hostile crowd. I'm sure they're not going to be super kind to
him, but sometimes that can have kind of a galvanizing effect for the team.
So I think they're going to find a way to win that game.
Yeah, I think it's gonna be well. I agree, there's gonna be
very tough. Given this situation. No one's really talking about it anymore.
It's kind of maybe past that. But at home or used to be.
Uh, he had a struggle with these guys down here. So that's one
of the games you're gonna he's gonna they're gonna steal. I guess that's if
they win that game. That's kind of a steal of a game, I
think. And then you've got him losing to at Oregon State, which I
think a lot of people do. I think Oregon State is being a little
over overrated right now. Maybe maybe they'll prove me wrong. I know they
won ten games last year, but I you know, press Clippians and all
that kind of stuff. But you've got them losing to Oregon State in a
close one here the following week. How did you get to that one?
Yeah, I mean I think that that's stretch of games at Washington State at
home, versus Oregon State and versus Ucla, They're all kind of toss up
games in my mind, even though one of those teams is ranked in the
top twenty five or against day in. Ucla is kind of on the fringe
of the top twenty five, and Washington Date has been a regular Bowl team.
I think it speaks to what Jed Fish has been able to do with
this program. He's been able to raise the talent level and put them in
a position where they can be competitive against just about everyone. Like when I
scanned the schedule, there weren't a lot of games where I was like,
there's no way they can win. You know, maybe at USC, you
know, maybe Washington, maybe Utah. That's just been a really tough match
up to them. But you know, the question with me regarding Oregon State,
I think they have a great coach. I think they have a great
culture up there, they have good infrastructure. I like the way that they
play. I'm just I'm very curious to see how Dj young Away does the
transfer quarterback from Clemson. I mean, he was really struggled the last couple
of years at Clemson, and I'm just I'm not sure he processes fast enough
to be an effective quarterback, Like the physical traits are all there. You
know, by that time in the season, if he's still going to be
Oregon State starter, and if he's not, it's not a problem. So
that to me is kind of the big mystery of the Oregon State. I
viewed that as kind of a coin flip game, and I just gave a
slight edge to the Beavers because you know, they're kind of better in the
line, and they're a little bit ahead of Arizona in terms of where they
are in their building. So I didn't see it. But go ahead,
can you go through the games just real quickly? We got about four minutes
that way, he said, seven and five. Okay, So when when
against NAU lost in Mississippi State, don't beat the UTAP beat Stanford, loose
to Washington, lose the USC beat Washington States, the Oregon State. Then
you get to UCLA home game, you've got them beating UCLA, which to
me, the Washington State and the UCLA games are the ones. The difference
between you're going five and seven, six and six or seven and five,
Well, those three the Oregon State, the Washington State. So you got
them beating Ucla again. I kind of agree with you there, just because
it's here. You came to that conclusion. Why, well, I boiled
it down to this. They beat UCLA on the road last year when UCLA
had Dwyane Thompson, Robinson and Jack Charbone, and they don't have either one
of those guys. Now the game is here and Arizona is better than they
were. I'm not sure UCLA is as good as they were last year.
So that's kind of my that's kind of my thumb nail on that one.
Yeah. I thought, Michael that a lot of people are high on Arizona,
at least high for six or seven wins, is because they're better than
last year. And I contend, and this is just me playing devil's advocate,
that a lot of teams are better than last year. So that's going
to be a difficult thing to overcome as well. Don't you think that's the
case. Well, yeah, I mean the Pact twelve, despite the fact
that it's not going to exist by this time next year, is a really
good conference this season. I mean, UCLA is one of the few teams
that doesn't have a returning starting quarterback with NFL aspiration. No, but they
do have a five star freshman coming in and Dante Moore. I know he
didn't get the starting gigs for a week one, but he's supposed to be
phenomenal, and who knows he could be starting by that point in the year.
I mean the following week they're at Colorado. I have been winning that
game. But that's that's a total mystery team. With what Deon Sanders has
done there, like completely overhauling the roster, you know, like eighty ninety
percent new players. No one knows what to make the best team. You
know, their their lack of depth might show by that point, or they
might be they might gell and come together and be really good. Along those
lines, Michael, what do you make of them? I think that they're
going to be better than what people think. But you know, what do
I know? I it's so hard to say. I mean when like almost
everyone in your two deth is a transfer and they've never played together before,
and a lot of them haven't played on this level, you know, and
oftentimes with transfers, you know, they don't have production at their previous school.
I don't know. I think I think there's a degree of sandbag and
that goes on with Deon, like, yeah, he sort of allows the
media to take rips at him, so he can kind of use that as
motivation, use that his advantage. It's different. It's it's an experiment that's
never been seen before and it's you know, maybe like the most fascinating storyline
heading into this Pactole season. All right, So then you've got them,
like we most of us do, have them losing to Utah, but you
have Bears on a clinching a bowl game at Colorado. Let's say they're going
into the SU game at at UH six or five and five, yeah,
or at five and six, and they need the a SU game to go
to a bowl game. How much of what's happened yesterday with with the ASU
and the bull band comes into play there and what can happen there? Yeah,
Well, from a psychological standpoint, that might actually favor ASU because they
will view that game as their bowl game, right, you know, so
they they will you know, obviously it's a bad situation for them, their
coaches, their players that the imposed the bowl band this year and it's going
to be difficult for them to get through the season and be up for every
week. But they'll be up to that game for sure. I just think
similar to Colorado, and they didn't get as much publicity for it, but
they have turned over a ton of their roster. There's a lot of new
at ASU from the coaches to the players. I mean, it's difficult to
have that all come together for you in year one. So that was Frond
the main reason that I feel like US has the advantage of today heading into
that game. I mean, we don't know what injuries are going to look
like over the course of the season. You know, getting Rashata, it
could be really good as a specially quarterback and kind of change the outlook and
the fortunes of the Sun Doubles. Hard to project on whatever today is August
twenty eight, what's going to happen in November twenty fifth. But I gave
I gave you of b the edge and that one the good. They got
a taste of what it's like to have that territorial cup in their hands and
they won't want to let that go. Okay, so you've got them seven
and five. How good do you feel about that? I'm like, okay,
I mean, it's it is. It is the natural progression of things.
If you build your program the right way, right, I mean you're
supposed to. What if you lose big the first year, lose small,
the second year wins small, the third year win big, the fourth years
or they're in the they're in there like the win the wins small stage.
And I would like to think they're gonna, you know, win more of
those toss up tech games than they lose because they'll have better depth, they'll
have more experience in the system, all of those good things. So yeah,
I feel a lot right about it. I mean, check back with
me in a month or two, and I'm sure I'll be wrong about most
things. But that's how these things go. Okay, you're playing your first
game as as the sports columnist. Are you doing a column on the game?
Are you're writing a feature? What are you doing on the game this
week? Because your job is different this year. Yeah, we have a
plan in mind and that will be revealed over the weekend. We're doing a
many many of the same features and things that we've done over the course of
a game week, but we are squeaking things a little bit and have some
new things coming. So we'll find out this weekend. Sturday morning. Let
me ask you a quick question because it already over. But okay, so
this is your third year with Jed. I'm well aware that to coach coach
fish coach respects the heck out of you. You've been with him a long
time, don't miss practice for anything. Has your impression of him changed at
all or how has it? Because he uses fresh phase first year, we
talked about it earlier, didn't have much to play with Three years later,
what are your what are your impressions? I'm impressed with his I would say,
like his consistency of his messaging. He's never really wavered about how this
was going to go. He hasn't oversold anything. He's steadily and smartly built
up the talent level. I think he understands what it takes to compete at
the highest levels, and he understands talentford and recruiting is and he works really
hard at it and make sure that his staff works really hard at it.
So I mean, i'd say, you know, aids across the board so
far, this is kind of a big year because you'd like to see them
take that next step and get into a Bowl game. And if they don't,
maybe there are some questions, but I feel pretty good about their chances.
Yeah, I totally agree. Okay, thank you, Michael, appreciate
it. Thank you guys. Yea cool, cool Michael. Lift from to
do the store. All right, we got a hustle out of here.
We'll come back and wrap it up. Give us a call. Accuse there
are four one six fast. It does go fast. We'll be right back.
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at a Team security dot net breaking down all the excess at os. It's
Steve Rivera and Jagen Solvins. This is I on the Ball on Fox Sports
fourteen Different. Hey, welcome back to you on the ball here on Fox
Sports fourteen Cookie. I'm Steve, He's Jay. We have about ten minutes.
If you guys want to give us a quick call, please do five
two four one, six seventy four forty. We haven't heard from anybody today,
but the show is almost over. It's gone fast a lot to talk
about. You know, we were gone through the ASU stuff with a woe
you know, if there's somebody who missed that but listening now, don't forget.
We've got the podcast. Oh yea. And on Friday Friday we went
up on Spotify. So now you can find us obviously on the iHeart website,
you can find us on Apple Podcasts, and now we are on Spotify.
You were so busy, you were excited on Friday. I was.
I was, kiddo. While we're in for the day and game to start,
I figured out it only takes about five minutes to get us on Spotify.
Because I wondered, why aren't we on Spotify? And then I looked
into I said, well, all you gotta do is sign up. So
I did. So we are on Spotify now, which is very cool.
Yeah. Okay, so now we have some information from a guy, big
game Boomer. Yeah. Whether you want to believe him or not, I'm
not sure. When I saw that, I said, out, you're gonna
like this, or then I said maybe you will. It's cool. You
know, look, I I'm just not a believer in Oregon State. I'm
just not And because again I think I've said this a bunch of times that
I see Oregon State in terms of its program a lot like Arizona. Just
a program that's kind of good every once in a while they get it.
Then whenever they get good, all of a sudden, they take a he
died. Plus you're you're biased because you you have that ingrained in right mind,
right, you know, I mean for years Arizona's Arizona's three best teams,
Uh, the ninety three team, the ninety eight team, and the
twenty fourteen team the following year were turds, all right. They just weren't
very good and it was unfun. We had high expectations of all those teams
and they never materialized. Organ State went ten and three last year. They're
all full of themselves. They think that they're going to be really good.
Uh they you know, people are talking about them winning the champion, winning
the Pac twelve, YadA, YadA, YadA, big game. We won't
picks them to win the league. I'm just not a believer. I wouldn't
be surprised as they finished in the second half of the league because teams they're
not sneaking up on anybody, right, It's the old thing. Sure,
Arizona sneaks up on the teams, you beat them, and then you have
a great year. That's what they did. Nobody thought twenty fourteen was gonna
be with twenty fourteen, was that they're gonna play in the Packball Championship game.
Feel the same way. I love This is one of the things that
I think about you. You over analyze, over analyze everything, use the
same. But hey, this is not It's how I look your That's how
I sometimes beat beat you on it is. But but so who's who's second?
Okay, he's got Oregon State winning the league with Washington second. Yeah,
and you love those two teams in the chah you like the Washington pick,
and you still like the Washington pick like I think off Washington State.
If Washington gets to the Pactball Championship, they're winning it, okay, because
they're gonna be the best team on the fields. Is it regular season?
It's whoever wins the league regular season? Right, okay? Right, so
one of the you know, and if neither remember if neither team wins the
league, there's no below. Okay, You've got the USC, I've got
Washington and and I don't disagree with you on your assessment of the USC on
Saturday. They looked vulnerable or whatever. But that's the first game you're playing.
You're playing Satles, the state they're playing you know, Yeah, but
you know, it's it's it's always that. It's always like this, Yeah,
Arizona playing, you think, you show up, you play, and
you get by. You gotta be you gotta beat Say State, no question,
You're quitting, no question. But again it's it's it's egoes. It's
it's just showing up Arizona. Look who plays USC better than Arizona all the
time. Yeah, and it's for whatever crazy reason. They just show up
and play well, right, get beat, but they play well they do
they do anyway, So it's got He's he's got the Organ State in Washington,
the pack championship game with Organ State, Okay, okay, and then
then Utah, Yeah, Utah, which you can never count out Utah,
right, Yeah, I mean, I see. Utah's a team that they're
underestimated because they've won the damn thing two years in a row. And the
quarterback for both of those teams is back. Is back. Utah's is not
fully back because although he may not play the Thursday. He's definitely not playing
against came right. Yeah, so you can never discount them. And then
USC. So many people are picking USC to be in the layoff. He's
got him in fourth place. But I will say that on game day,
you know, they went through all the conferences. Desmond Howard took UH Washington
to win the PAC twelve, Pat McAfee took Utah, and Krik Kirksey took
Utah, so none of them. It was kind of funny because RCE Davis
says, you guys, do know USC is still in the PAC twelve this
year. They don't go to the big tent til next year. That was
a good chuckle out of that one. Yeah, no, it's it's it's
fair. It's gonna be a great race. I still think that USC has
the talent obviously, that's no brainer. And then then he's got Oregon fifth.
Okay, those five teams, man, I mean I will say that,
those five team and that's why everybody's talking about the PAC twelve. Yeah,
and you got five teams that you can say you can win the league
in any order, right, can win the league. And then next comes
Arizon. Yeah, I was surprised about that. Well, big game.
He loves. I think he did this on his drive to Cruisis over the
weekend. Because he did. He drove to Cruisis for the weekend. We
loved us, I think. I think because we have him on the show
all time. He loves Arizona, knows that we're gonna talk about this foolishness.
Six. That would be you've got Arizona six, which would be a
bowl game, right and there in sixth place, you've got you've got your
six or seven wins and you're in a bowl game. So and then uh,
to round it up, seven is Washington State. Okay, Then he's
got UCLA all the way down to eight. Yeah, that's that's that seems
low. It does seem low. But you can say UCLA could fit anywhere
from six to eight, right, you know, paying part it's gonna depend
on their quarterback situation. And I guess I guess you can see that.
What what do the what do the seven teams ahead of them have in common?
They've got a quarterback course started in college quarter and oh young la over
at over at Oregon State. He was a starter at Clemson, but he
was a starter at a you know, on a Great Team, Washington,
Utah, USC Oregon, Arizona, Washington State all have returning quarterbacks. Ucla
is the first team in the UH in the in in his prediction that doesn't
have a returning starting quarterback. Actually, the last five teams in the in
there in his prediction don't have starting quarterbacks coming back. So we've got UCLA
eight, Cal nine, Colorado ten, Stanford eleven, then as U and
last play. Yeah, I think that shoes is just because of what happened
over the weekend. And that's fine. I mean, you don't know how
they're gonna take it, right. I think Mike Michael Left said that,
sure you don't. Are they is they are they gonna take that as a
okay, well we'll show you kind of thing. Or are they gonna or
is it gonna, you know, take the juice out of the wind out
of their sales and UH and they they you know, they come out let's
say they come out of the come out of the shoot kind of crappy,
don't have you don't get off to good start. They've got Southern Utah,
but then they got to play Wisconsin and somebody else. So Jed, I
love these shows and I love this show. But you know, we're two
dudes behind a microphone and it's funny. How and this and this is every
show you must say, except if you've played h Well, how we we
look at these teams and these players athletes, right, Oh, they could
either go this way or they could go that way. They could do this
or they could do that. We're two dudes on the couch who are overweight
talking about what people think overweighted. Oh you know, what the hell do
we know? And how they're gonna think? Does that make it? I
hear you, Yeah, no, I hear. But that's when we get
to this state. We pay money, over pay good money to have these
microphones in front of it analyze. And they don't play Wisconsin. They play
Oklahoma State. So AC opens this Thursday against Southern U tough, which they're
gonna win that game, right. Then they got Oklahoma State and then they
got Fresno State. Yeah, two tough teams they if they if they're all
a sudden one and two, and then they got to go play USC.
It can go south real fast, well, without questions, without questions,
injuries, psychological, psychologically, yeah, yeah, no question. I don't
disagree with you, but it could have it could have done that anyway anyway,
Right, Yeah, do you think you're playing you were you were thinking
they were going to go to I think Vegas has on the five five ver
and I picked them less last. If they hit the over, they're going
to a ball. Yeah, if if you know what, there's a lot
of waiting maybe Americans, if you had him going under five last week,
right, I think so. I think that's one of the ones we agreed
on AVERSA. And as you are on the same level of picked by by
Vegas, how is that possible? I don't know. It's not possible they
did it, given given that you A is considerably better, at least on
paper. Right, we think they are right here. We got a quick
call. We got it just a second. Let's just higher on there on
the ball kind of quick, like the best selling all of radio. Even
like that. That's professional, y'alls people, because that sounds like you guys
are paying for your air time WI others are getting paid for it. They're
just full of hot Take sure, man, We appreciate that a bunch.
Thank you so much. We're starting to go fund me. Thanks, thanks,
thank you for the car appreciate it. Appreciate a SU has dropped to
four and a half. Okay that that big said dropping four and a half
for us. See, that's still a tough number. Now, no,
not but not five wins the bat Yeah, no, five wins and it's
the same team, right, it's the same team. Wow, except they've
got this little thing hanging over them. That's that's what we need to get,
you know, Kevin Lehman, someone who could psychologically figure know man,
Kevin Lehman didn't play college football. Well, that's he's got a document and
thinking how people think we need to ask them? You know who we need
to ask who? Uh, somebody like lamont Ricky Huntley? Okay, because
Ricky Hunley was on that team that was that that was we have I know,
I know, but but somebody who was on the eighty on the eighty
two or eighty three Arizona because they but they got into they they were they
were going into a season that they thought they were going to be really good.
A bowl game got taken away of chickam and they didn't do what they
do. You're being told you can't do something. What are you going to
try to do? Prove those dudes wrong. You're you're right. You're gonna
play out of your ass to play make make him wrong. Yeah. But
but but when it when it goes bad on you, how do you stay
up there? I'm calling you to frown. All right, thanks for being
here. We'll be back tomorrow