Extreamly live. I mean, iHeartRadio. While this is I on the Ball
with Steve Rivera and Jacob Salez on Fox sportsporteen fifty. Welcome back time in
the ball. You're on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host, Jay
Gonzalez. Steve Rivera is on the road. We just talked to him as
he's on his way to the Arizona Duke game tomorrow. He'll be covering that
for all sports too. It's not enough, of course, on Monday,
we'll have Steve here back here and we'll break down the whole weekend, the
Duke game, the Airzona Colorado game. We don't have a show tomorrow.
As I mentioned, Steve's gone. I'm traveling tomorrow. I'm headed to Vegas
for a weekend of watching sports and the books over there, something that I
do every year with a group of people. We'll be watching the duke game
over there with a you know, our football crowd that's on this trip.
So I'm looking forward to that. So tomorrow you'll just get the national feeds
Doug gott lieban on after in place of our show tomorrow, and then as
I said, both Steve and I will back here to break everything down over
the weekend. It's it's as we were saying headed out the door last break,
this is going to be a fun weekend. So after that, I'll
turn over to you for breaking news. To Kevin. This is on the
Balls on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. All right, so we're gonna start with
some college football news. Coach Lane Kiffin and Old Miss they're kind of dealing
going into a big game this weekend. They're kind of dealing with some legal
issues. They're being sued by a former player, well be a current player
still on scholarship, but he says he was kicked off the team due to
having some mental health issues that were not properly addressed by the school. He's
alleging, that's what he's agend he's alleging is that he was discriminated against based
on his his race, his mental health situation, and other variables. The
school has pretty much come out and said that these are somewhat baseless claims,
as they would. Yeah, there was a recording that Lane Kiffin did not
know happened between a meeting between Rollins and that's the player and Kiffin where Kiffin
kind of laid into him for the missing practic this is and not being as
communicative as Kiff Kiffin may be expected of a player. But yeah, that's
a forty million dollar lawsuit and they're they're in that going into this weekend against
Georgia, where he says they have nothing to lose, so that that should
be an interesting game. It should be an aesting game. There are a
couple of those this weekend. Penn State, Michigan. We can talk about
Michigan in a second because stuff continues to come from that, but we'll get
to that in a second. You have some quick betting stuff. A couple
of of of quite sad honestly over under numbers have come out recently. Iowa
Rutgers is the lowest over under for any college football game since at least two
thousand. That's before I was born, only one year. I'm not,
you know, but the total is a consensus twenty eight. That's four touchdowns
for two teams for two. By the way, for those who want to
four touchdowns four touchdowns two teams, that's two touchdowns. It's entirely possible both
Arizona and Colorado can score four touchdowns on Saturday. So uh, and then
to pair with that we have a beautiful game tonight on Thursday night football Panthers
and Bears. I mean, two teams that everybody wanted to watch most.
This is the first time in a night game between two teams that have a
win percentage of less than twenty five percent this late into the season since twenty
eighteen. So we're just getting some great football on primetime. Who's gonna watch
that? And I'm really excited for it. I mean, you know,
and for those people who gamble on anything, that's even a game that nobody
should gamble on, how do you take? Somebody? Will? I mean
even in the Panthers Bears, how do you take? I think it was
like what mid thirties lowes? How do you anyway? And then in Arizona
news, Tyler loop Kicker was one of twenty semi finalists name to the Lou
Groza Award list, joining other PAC twelve kicker Joshua Cardi from Stanford. And
yeah, he's one of fourteen new names to the list of twenty six,
only six returning from last year's list. Yeah, and that's an award that
an Arizona guy won back in the nineties. Steve McLoughlin and you actually a
low o. Kaid went to my high school, to Swall High School.
I went to the OVA and he actually won that award, I believe in
the ninety three season. So Tyler Loop, he's made thirteen to fifteen this
year. He missed a fifty one yarder or fifty plus yard I think against
USC and then one other one. So he's you know, he's in.
He's in the hunt for a national award. It's good for him. We'll
play and I think we're playing in a minute. A clip from a jet
fish talking about how important Tyler Loop has been to what Arizona's doing this year.
Yeah, and then just a quick little conversation topic to bring to UJ.
I saw on Twitter today we get this from Big Game Boomer. He
released or they released a top fifty coaching duos between college football and college basketball
across the nation. So who are the best two coaches for each year?
Right? A school that has who has the best coaches? Yeah? Two
coaches? And I think I think the interesting thing should I just say Arizona
finished six six in the rankings, directly behind k State, Kansas State,
Texas, Alabama, Kansas, and Tennessee. We did finished. I mean
Mario Cristoball and Jim Laernega at nine. I thought that was a little yeah,
yeah, yeah, I mean Mario, Chris Waller's got all the you
know, he was at Oregon and all this stuff. He hasn't been a
great coach this year. I think it's fair to say he's been bad.
I try to be pretty fair. I mean, you know what, that's
legit, that's that's legit. He I mean they, I mean they lost
a game because of a dicision he made. So yeah, yeah, a
game that they should have won. All right, but yeah, it's interesting
and then more. Arizona Wildcast News currently facing a financial quote financial crisis.
They believed the school believe. University leaders forecast that they would have one hundred
and fifty six days of cash on hand for this fiscal year. They have
just ninety seven. Yeah, they it's a two hundred and forty million dollar
difference in cash that they somehow made a mistake on WHENT. I don't know
how you make that mistake, and that's the question everybody has, and you
know they Bobby Robbins, the president of the university, met with the faculty
sending yesterday and boyd did they have some questions and they want they want they
want people fired. They want to know how this happened and how they're gonna
prevent things like this from happening down the road. Bobby Robins threw a bunch
of stuff out there as to how they're gonna fix this, and one of
the things that he threw on the table was eliminating some sports. Whether or
not they do that. Part of why they're talking about that is that because
of the COVID thing, the university loaned the athletic department fifty five million dollars
and they haven't been able to pay as much of that back as they were
supposed to have paid by now. So they're saying, we need that money
back, we need that money back into the university. And they're thinking,
well, you're gonna have to cut some sports in order to start paying that
back. So it's a big crisis over there. A lot more to come
on that, but man, it sounds. Look, if I'm one hundred
bucks short on my in my checking it count, I know it, no
doubt, I know it. Two hundred and forty million dollars they were off
on their on their cash on hand. Yeah, you don't. You don't
want to assume what happened. It does seem like someone missed, somebody miss
along the way. Yes, that much, it's safe to say. But
it's definitely unfortunate. Yeah, honestly, kind of worry some. Yeah,
it is worry some. It is worrying. So it's it's like, again
you have to ask a question, how the hell did that happen? Yeah,
So anyways, all right, and then we do have more news last
but not at least we've got more news out of Michigan. Yeah, well,
supposedly today the Big Ten is supposed to say something about what they're going
to do to Jim har about. Everybody's still waiting for that, and there
may be nothing. Michigan sent their response to the allegations that the Big Ten
has sent them yesterday. So there's a lot of thought that the Big ten
commissioner, who was supposed to be at a at a uh some meeting that
all the at all that all the commissioners go to, and he didn't go
to it. So the thought was he's dealing with this, but nothing's come
across yet, so we'll see if anything happens. I don't expect anything to
happen from a discipline standpoint before the Saturday Penn State Michigan game, but he
could come after. And there's the people saying they're there's a lot of people
saying there's suspension on the way now whether they do that, because there's like,
they play this game Penn State Michigan, then they've got a game against
somebody else, and then it's Ohio State Michigan. They've got two games left
after after Saturday, you know, do you suspend him for the High State
Michigan game? I look, then a Big Ten championship game. Yeah,
I mean it's it's definitely a tough time to have to hand out this kind
of punishment because you know, you're talking about competitive balance, right right,
So you're talking about how I guess has enough time passed? And I guess
it depends on what the NCAA and the Big Ten have that's like concrete proof.
But but there are thirteen teams in the Big Ten who are saying,
these guys have been cheating, and they've been cheating this year. What are
you gonna do? You know, I don't think they're gonna they're gonna be
very happy if if the commissioner comes on and says, Okay, we're gonna
punish him, but not till after the season is over. Because are they
where they are because of what they were doing because of this? That's what
you know, That's what the teams are saying. I don't know, I
know all right here, I got a really serious, really serious one out
of out of New Mexico State. And the reason I'm bringing up is because
it involves a former Arizona player, kim Aiken, who was here for really
just half a season before he you know, he left. He came in
as a transfer from from Washington State, wound up in New Mexico State.
Last season there there came out all this stuff about hazing going on in the
program. They actually canceled the season in February. Well, it turns out
that kim Ake and along with two other players have now been charged with more
than a dozen or more felonies related to this. A bunch of charges of
a criminal sexual conduct, false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit sexual conduct, a
whole bunch of kim Ake and himself got eleven, is charged with eleven felonies
related to this, and then two other players, Doctor Bradley and Dechandre Washington
each got thirteen felonies. They're going to prison, assuming they get convicted of
this stuff. They're going to prison. And even if they I mean,
these are these are charges that they say. If they're convicted, you know,
the Bradley and Washington face a maximum of twenty seven years in prison,
where they can maximum of twenty four Now they're they're not going to get that,
but they're going to prison. Yeah, if they get convicted, even
if they plead out, they're going to prison. And it's kind of it's
I mean, it's not kind of. It's a real shame. It's it's
a real shame. And we see it up north and Northwestern. He's hazing
things. They're starting to come out more and it's really unfortunate to hear,
like what's going on in these locker rooms, some locker rooms right in the
In the charging document, it said that the players are accused of quote,
of holding younger players and students' staff against their will while they violate them.
Alleged acts include multiple incidents in which they forceletly restrained victims while grabbing areas.
I'll just leave it at that. So this is serious stuff. And it's
unfortunate that you have these guys who had everything in front of them, college
scholarships, to play basketball, and now they might be going to prison.
Yeah, and you're supposed to building a brotherhood, right, that's why that's
what you're there to do. Right. Yeah. Highly and highly unfortunate,
really bad. One more little piece of news. A top ten football recruit
in Arizona, in the state of Arizona who was committed, a four star
guy who was committed to ASU, Dylan Tapley, his backed off from his
commitmentity a SU And obviously people are saying he's coming to Arizona, so we'll
see what happens there. Again, for those of you who are still upset
that these two guys from Cell Point, you know, went somewhere else.
If this guy says he wants to come to Arizona and they're you're going to
welcome in with open arms. This stuff is part of the game anymore.
Yeah, And I was gonna I think if if if we as fans are
still upset about about rushing, you know, leaving and not going at the
end of the day, he didn't want to be here. He you don't
want to be here, And why do you want him here if he doesn't
want to be here, Because you want guys that, like we were talking
about the other day, you want guys that want to play hard, no
matter who who is standing across right behind him, the right of them to
the left, hie, it doesn't matter if they want to play hard.
And those are the guys you want. You can beat my son, because
that's exactly what I've been saying, is that, Yeah, I don't care
how good you are. If you don't want to be here, then go
somewhere else. Like if you're here for nil, that's fine, Yeah,
but you might not necessarily need you is you're here for the money anyway?
Yeah, And I mean I said that all the way back when those three
guys you know, went to USC and people say, oh, they're losing
their minds, so them something like if Dorian Singer doesn't want to be playing
in Arizona anymore and he's you know, for whatever reason it is, let
him go, you know, let them go do what they're gonna do.
And so so anyways, I'm sure I'm sure Arizona would take this guy in
a heartbeat. If you wanted to come to a zone. So anyways,
all right, so all right, well that's you know, that's a b
right, Okay, yeah, there, you know again, a lot of
stuff. I'm really curious about what's gonna happen with Michigan. Me too,
Actually, me too. It does set up I saw Michigan was worried about
it's setting a precedent, and it does somewhat set a precedent, and I
think it's it's interesting to see how they handle it, when they handle it,
and when they do handle it, what they do. Yeah, I
was watching Dan Patrick this morning, which I was doing. He had to
he had to Rick new heisl On, former Washington coach, former UCLA coach
now a broadcast guy, who just said, you know what, whatever happens
with all of this, he goes, I expect Jim Harbaught to be coaching
in the NFL next year, and he's just he doesn't want to do this
anymore. Too many rules for him to have to abide by, which is
kind of why he went from Stanford to the forty nine ers, right.
He was dealing with a lot of crap over having to recruit to Stanford even
though he got them pretty high up, and going to Rose Bowls and stuff.
I think he I think he'd rather be in the NFL, where the
worst thing he's got to deal with his egos from players making millions of dollars.
Yeah, I mean we saw this peak early at USC right right,
just like once, my time here is up and I and this is causing
me more stress than it is money. I just I just would like to
move on to a higher profile situation at this point. Yeah. So,
uh so, you know he's uh I man, I mean, really,
what do you do? Right? I don't know, I don't know what
you do. I'm glad I don't have to decign this one. Yeah,
I'm glad that I'm not on that decision making board. Exactly tough decision.
All right, let's take our next break. We're gonna be back with Justin
Spears. We'll give it the Arizona side of the preview of tomorrow's game.
He was at the press conference today. He gets to ask some questions and
I didn't. So I'm very jealous of Justin n Hey, Justin gets called
on every time, but he should be. He's a beat writer. So
all right, we'll be right back with Justin Spears. Stick around for more
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all the excess at It's Steve Rivera and Jagen Salez. This is I on
the Ball on Fox Sports fourteenth. Welcome back down the ball here on Fox
Sports fourteen fifty on Jacob Zalez, your host for the day. My buddy
Steve Rivera is on his way to the Duke game for tomorrow, so he's
still sitting in an airport in the airport at Denver. We had him on
a little earlier and had pretty good perspective on this game coming up. But
right now we've got on the phone. We've got Justin Spears from there is
on a Daily Star. He's getting ready to head out to Boulder for the
game on Saturday against Colorado. Justin welcome. How's the going, guys.
We're good, you know, getting set for I think of an exciting season
and exciting season siding weekend of stuff for you know, for Arizona. You
got Duke tomorrow, a big game with Colorado on Saturday. I say a
big game because you know, very meaningful to what Arizona's got going right now.
Right I think we've been talking about you know, you got to keep
the momentum going. This is a game that Arizona is supposed to win.
They're ten and a half point five. You know, you lose everything,
not everything, but you lose a lot of them. Manam if they don't
go up there and take care of business. What are your thoughts on that?
Yeah, I think that this is a trap game for Arizona. And
it's it's crazy to say the word trap game for Arizona right now because think
about how far this team has come over the last couple of years for us
to be able to say, you know, it's a trap game. And
also it's crazy to think it's a trap game also because Colorado, I mean
they started off the season on a hot streak. They had two top ten
wins. I mean, they were essentially America's team for the start of the
college football season. I mean they were so popular that even here in Tucson,
Arizona, they were selling Starbucks cups at the Safeway on Princeton Campbell.
Of that that were Colorado Starbucks cups, right, that wouldn't have happened in
the pre the era. But you know this, this game is going to
be very exciting. You know this, this Colorado team, they're hoping to
remain in Bowl in the Bull picture. They're four and five right now,
and this is a winnable game for them and you know, if they win
one more game after, you know, if they were able to beat Arizona,
then they're in a bowl game. Which is pretty remarkable to say,
considering this was the worst Power five football team in America last season, and
it really wasn't even close. I mean, this Colorado program last year was
just awful. I mean they were just the worst of the worst. And
Dion came in told all his players in the spring, I got luggage with
me that I'm bringing here and it's Louis and that Louis Vaiton luggage is Travis
Hunter, is Shadura Sanders is all these other great players that they were able
to get in the transfer portals. But Colorado was still in rebuild mode.
You can't get it done in just one year, even in the trench of
portal Era. So I think that next year Dion and his staff they'll go
into the portal, they'll fish out a bunch of guys and they'll really have
a sound team in year two. But you know, you look at Arizona
on the other side and how they've been able to turn things around. Not
long ago. They were just like Colorado. Last year. They were considered
the worst Power five team in college football, and then it's been this very
slow and steady progress. But now the Wildcats are ahead of schedule. No
one expected them to be Bowl eligible nine games into the season. A lot
of people thought, including myself, that Arizona would be going into the last
couple of weeks of the season trying to fight the bull eligibility. And they're
six and three right now. Now they have opportunity to go nine and three,
which is, like I said, it's just truly remarkable to see the
turnaround and the fact that we're considering this a trap. It really shows us
how much better this program is in year three under Jet Fish. You know,
I tried to get this question and at the press conference today but we
ran out of time. But you know, compare the bills, right,
I see a lot of similarities between, you know, what Jed had to
do and what what Dion is going through. You know right now, you
know Arizona used actually four quarterbacks in that first season for Jed. You know,
depth was a problem. You know, they were losing to everybody including
NAU you know Colorado. Yes, they got off to that great start,
but now lost five out of six players are injured they're you know, they're
dealing with stuff, even though they've got still got guys like Shador Sanders,
his brother, Shiloh, Travis Hunter. But you know, the reality of
who where Colorado was compared, you know, going from last year to this
year, it's kind of the same, going through the similar things, you
know, and towards the end of the season, depth is an issue there
they got injuries, they don't they still I got a bunch of first year
guys who are trying to figure the way out. I feel I see a
lot of similarities between these two. Yeah, I really do too. But
the only difference that I would make is Arizona they really hit a home run
with their twenty twenty two recruiting class right and when you look at the fabric
of Arizona football right now, I mean you look up and down the playmakers,
the guys who are contributing to this team, and it's Temac, it's
Noah Fafita, It's Jacob manu Is, Jonah Coleman, Jonah Savenea, Isaiah
Ward, Ty Tayuyaglo. I mean, it's easy as price socks to Carrio
Davis, all these guys that I'm mentioning right now are all sophomores just playing
in their second year at Arizona, and Arizona did such a great job of
getting these guys to come over but also develop them in such a short time
into key contributors and playmakers. Yea and Colina out of it. Right now,
we're seeing a lot of transfer portal guys that they were able to get
in this last offseason. I think that, you know, if you're able
to get more transferportal guys, that's great, but you also need to be
able to groom the younger players because they're the future of your programs. And
Arizona has the perfect relationship or the perfect marriage. It's like a you know,
hey, it's the holiday season, guys. You know potpourrie is popular
this time or year. It's like potpourrie. It's a combination of the young
players getting better and also the transfer portal guys too. You look at the
defensive side of the ball, guys, and the one thing that really stands
out to me is that all the guys who are really making differences on the
back end are players who are young, who are twenty twenty two prospects.
And then you look at the guys up front, like as Tyler Manola,
like at Bill Norton, even justin full at linebackers, they're all veteran,
experienced guys who gives the Wildcats a lot of beef and a lot of size.
And then when you couple that with the young talented skill players that they
have, it looks to be like a good mixture for Arizona and I think
that's what's been so key to their success on that side of the ball.
Yeah. Well, and that's a good point because you know Jed and he's
always made that point. So we're going to recruit high school guys, We're
going to develop high school guys, but they're doing a really good job of
filling holes with the transfer portal guys that they that they brought in. And
you know, you speak, Bill Norton is the one that I think he's
sort of like an unsung guy, right He's you know, he just sit
there in the middle. He's in the way, he's creating opportunities for Manu
and Flow and and and and those guys playing at linebacker. It just seems
like, you know, that was like a perfect fit for what they're trying
to do right now. Defensively, and I didn't even mention Taylor Upshaws right
the guy who leads the team in staff and as a former Colorado Buffalo,
and Taylor Upshaw's right now is sitting top five in facts in the PAC twelve.
When's the last time Arizona's been able to say they've had one of those
guys like that. It's been a long time, and now, you know,
Arizona football, it's reaching places that it hasn't been in several years.
We're talking about CFP rankings, AP top twenty five Bowl eligibility, guys finishing
individually in the top half of statistical categories. The program is in a really
good place right now. And now it's just a matter of, okay,
can you finish off the season strong? Because one thing about Jet Fish is
that every single regular season it's divided into quarters, and there's four quarters in
a season. Right now, Arizona's entering the final three games of the year.
This is their fourth quarter, this is their winning time. How can
you make sure that you're continuing this historical season by getting wins and not just
you know, scraping by in finishing six and six. There are nine games
into the season. They got three more games left. They have the opportunity
to finish nine and three, and they can also be one of the best
three loss teams in college football because you think about this, guys, A
triple overtime loss to USC, one touchdown loss of Washington, and an overtime
game against Mississippi State. Who knows, you know, if Jaydon Dolora doesn't
throw those three interceptions and Arizona doesn't have four turnovers in the first quarter,
who knows what would have happened in that game. They finish off the year
nine to three with two games that were really right there at your fingertips.
I mean, this has the makings of being, you know, kind of
like one of those what if seasons and Arizona football kind of like that two
thousand and nine year where they could have gone to the Rose Bowl or even
you know, nineteen ninety eight where you know, if they just beaten UCLA,
who knows what would have happened, Or if UCLA had beaten Miami later
on in the season, you know what would have happened. But it's just
it's just again, remarkable is just the one word that I keep thinking about
when I talk about Arizona football and the success they're having right now at this
point of the season. You know, justin you just brought up two horrible
memories for me. I appreciate that that ninety eight two thousand and nine season.
I even go back to ninety two and I've compared the I've compared that
season to this season. And I did that when Jedfish said that he thought
that the game against usc which was a loss, you know, a two
point loss, was sort of a turning point for this team and for this
season. When he said that, I immediately went to the Miami Arizona game.
In nineteen ninety two, Arizona travels to Miami, Miami's number one in
the country. Arizona loses Steve McLoughlin, who ended up winging the Groszo.
I think the next year misses a long field goal. I think. I
think Miami had won like forty some games in a row at home or some
ridiculous number of games at home in Arizona could have and should have won that
game. But yet they use that to, you know, spark a big
and they went on a stretch of five wins, I think three of them
against against ranked teams. How familiar does that happen? But then as Arizona
does, and as Arizona historically did, they lost their last three games.
They lost to USC by a touchdown, they lost to a su by a
point, then they went to the went to the Sun Bowl and lost to
Baylor, and they didn't finish it. They're like in the same spot,
right, they've won these games, everybody's feeling great. Here comes Colorado,
a team that you should beat, and if you're Arizona fan, you're really
worried about this game. Yeah, And honestly, it's pretty crazy to think
about this Colorado game. Over the course of the season. You know,
going into the year, you looked at it like Arizona they could be gone,
Roberill problems. And then the Buffaloes come out strong and put together two
wins against top ten teams, and then you sit there and go, man,
the pack twelve is so much better than we all thought. Arizona's really
going to struggle against Colorado, and then low the holds several weeks later.
Now Arizona is, you know, ten point favorites to beat the Buffalos.
So it goes to show you the kind of roller coaster that goes into a
college football season. But yeah, seeing a lot of Arizona teams in the
past struggle to finish off the year, and you know you mentioned, you
know, those teams in the nineties. I think about that that twenty ten
season when you know, in the Mike Stoops era, when Arizona started off
the season I believe seven and one and they were a top ten team.
Things were great, and then they lost the every single game on their schedule,
got smoked in the bowl game, and then the next season, you
know, Dukes had a rocky start and then got fired. We've seen some
tough stretches with this Arizona football program in the past in terms of finishing seasons.
But the thing about Jed that he has emphasized and I think it will
really be their strength this year that they love finishing games. Tyler Owens their
strength and conditioning coach has done such a great job of preparing these guys for
the fourth quarter. They relish playing in that final period and it's what they
call winning time, and they know that they're entering essentially the final quarter of
their season and they want to be able to finish off things on the right
foot and so I really have I really have a hard time trying to think
about Arizona struggling in these last three games. But it's possible. You know,
it's not going to be a cakewalk the Colorado in Boulder. They would
up to beat the Wildcat and it's always tough to play up there in the
Mile High. And then you got to play Utah next week in Utah.
I mean, they could be, you know, pulling off a big,
big road win against the Washington Huskies this week. You know, they're not
a team that Arizona should sleep on in Arizona has always struggled against Utah in
recent years. And then that game against ASU and the Territorial Cup. It
doesn't matter where your records are in that game, so anything goes in a
rivalry game, and they played very tough under Kenny Dillingham. But with that
being said, with the exception of the Utah game, Arizona's favorite in this
game against Colorado, They'll be heavily favored in that game against ASU. Those
are two guinea games right there, or two games that your favor to win.
Go out there, handle handle your business and start turning some more heads,
we say, real quick. So What do you think we're going to
see in terms of what type of game? High scoring both teams. Yeah,
Colorado's had trouble scoring the last two weeks against you Sai Oregon State.
Arizona's defense is really good. It is it a twenty seven fourteen game or
is it a forty five to forty game? See Arizona, with the exception
of the UFC game, they haven't really gotten into these kind of shootouts,
right and don't I don't imagine them getting in a shootout with shador standers and
companies. So I think this is going to be kind of like a game
that we've seen over the last couple of weeks, maybe the first one to
thirty wins. But I look at Colorado's offensive line, I mean, they
got more holes in Swiss cheese. Then they allow so much pass rush.
They allow linebackers to creep in and get to shador sanders, and they have
given up the most sacks by any college football team in the country this season.
This is a perfect opportunity for Arizona's defensive line, led by Taylor Upshaw,
who is on pace to finish the season in double digit sacks, which
hasn't happened in a long, long time. And then a guy like Jacomanu
who has gotten to the quarterback in the last several games. I think Arizona's
defense, especially upfront, is going to feast on Colorado. It's going to
be a challenge. Right It's on the road and Arizona has played five straight
games against ranked opponents. You know that's gonna take some juice out of you,
or at least, you know, make it really hard on yourself to
continue the season. I think all the emotions that have gone to every single
one of these last five games I think will show against Colorado. But I
don't imagine Arizona losing this one. I think it's going to be a close
game. But I'll probably go with Arizona thirty one, Colorado twenty three.
Right, all right, justin man, appreciate it, save travels tomorrow,
give us a good game in the paper, and we'll see. We'll see
what happens. Man. Yeah, I'm going to Colorado. So I got
to pack my long John a little different than do you we even have that
stuff? Or do you got to go buy it? The guy at the
store looked at me like I was weird. You really want to buy this.
Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the cold, but I'm looking forward
to good college football. Sounds good. Okay, justin, thanks a bunch,
and we'll follow you in the Star. So appreciate you being here.
Hey, thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Man. All right,
that was justin Spears. We got to head out because we got to do
the Fab five Friday picks. Kevin has Steve's picks and has already been in
order not to mess him up. That's right, don't change him. Uh.
Well, there's a lot on the line for Steve. He's got ten
ten wins in a row, so you can't. You can't mess it up
for you and I. I just continue to suck. So we'll see what
I can come up with here. So stick around for the Fab five Friday
Picks. We'll be right back. Man. If you're an Arizona men's basketball
fan, you know it's been successful for nearly forty years. Now. Take
a look back at the Ludelsen era in my new book, Lessons from lut
It was a labor of love to the eyes of twenty five former players,
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Fall season is upon us and fans are bearing down for our new and
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the A Team apply online today at a teamsecurity dot Net. Streaming live on
the iHeartRadio WAPP. This is I on the Ball with Steve Ravera and Jay
Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen to fifty. Welcome that back on the balling of
Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm your host for the day, Jay Goonzalees.
My buddy Steve is on the road to Duke where he'll be covering the game
tomorrow at Cameron Indoor in Durham for All Sports Tucson, so be sure to
follow him with his coverage of that game. I got our very capable in
turn here. Kevin has been keeping the conversation lively with us, talking about
some stuff. We had a couple of great guests, Brian Holl from the
Boulder Daily Camera, Justin Spears talking about the big game at Colorado on Saturday.
So we've had I think we've had a good afternoon. What do you
think. I think he's been a pretty good show. Yeah, we've done
all right. You know as well, Steve. If we let Steve back
in the room, what do you think we'll see if Steve how's a job
and he gets back exactly? All right? All right, so we're this
is the time for a Fab five Friday Picks. We normally do him on
Friday, but we're not gonna have a show tomorrow, so I want to
make sure you all remember that again. I'm gonna be on the road as
well as Steve, so no show tomorrow, you'll hear the national feed.
So we're gonna do our Fab five Friday picks on Thursday. Kevin's got Steve's
picks. I've got my picks, such as they are. Steve has gone
ten for ten over the last two weeks. He's got two perfect weeks,
so we'll see if he can keep that. Going. Fifteen for fifteen is
hard. Well, ten for Dan, it's really hard to do. Five
for five is hard to do, so's harder, right, Okay, So
you know I'll let you start with Steve and give me his first pick.
All right, Steve's first pick off the board is going to be Buffalo,
as in the bills. He just told me Buffalo. I don't want to
speak for Steve. How many how many college? How many Pro games?
Does he have? In there looks like, you know, the way he
separated it, We're gonna say the Buffalo Bills because then he has another pick
after that reads like a protein. All right. So he's got the Bills
minus seven and a half against the Broncos. All right. I looked at
that the hook on that. The seven and a half bothers me, and
I just don't trust the Bills. Bills just bother me in general. That's
what I would say, all right. So starting Steve, starting off on
the pro set. Now, the game we have to pick the special we
call it is Penn State Michigan. So we're both picking that, all right.
I'm gonna go go to the college side. And you know, this
is a team that I've been wanting to get on their band bandwagon. I
haven't until now, but I am James Madison. They're giving twenty five to
Connecticut, who was really bad. James Madison is one of the top covering
teams in college football. This sha I'm getting the hiccups again. It happened,
Kevin. But they're they're six and two against the spread. They've won
six of their last seven against the spread. So in Connecticut is way down
at the bottom of the list looking for them. Oh god, where are
they? Well, I don't even really care because I think, uh,
I think, I think James Madison just crushes them. Colorado's four or five.
That's not bad. But they're but they're uh uh, they're just not
very good. So I'm taken James Madison minus the big line of twenty five
points. All right, what do you got? All right? The next
bet in the list is going to be Detroit Lions. Steve's been riding the
Lions bandwagon for a while. They're giving three to Colorado. To the Chargers.
That game is insane in La. I want to say San Diego.
Oh dang it, it's in LA. But yeah, I have a hard
time with NFL teams on the road, especially a team like the Lions that
you just never know. I just I think the Lions are a little different
this year than what I think the Lions are. And I think, uh,
you said the Chargers, right, I mean I think, yeah,
I don't know. I don't know what to make of the Chargers. I
don't think much of the Chargers. Yeah, they're the Chargers. That's what
a different. So Okay, I'm doing a funny thing on this next game.
Air Force lost last week, not undefeated. Not only did they not
cover, they lost. They lost to Army and it was handily Hawaii.
Who sucks one? And and I had I had the Hawaii was playing.
Who did they beat? They beat Nevada, and I had Nevada in that
game. I'm everything says, just stay away from the game. Whatever,
I'm gonna take air Force. I think air Force is gonna be pissed.
I think Hawaii is gonna be full of itself. This game is that Hawaii.
I don't think Hawaii is any good. I think air Force is still
really good in spite of losing the Army last week. Hawaii's getting nineteen at
home. But I think what air Force does travels, And so I'm gonna
take air Force, and I'm gonna give the nineteen on the road at Hawaii.
It's a lot of points to give. And I yeah, the air
Force, that's what they do best. They travel, right, they travel.
Yeah, It's a forty to forty something to ten ten game is what
I see. So I'm gonna take air Force, give up the nineteen,
all right, So we're gonna go with Steve's first college pick is gonna be
Kansas State. Oh okay, that's Kansas State giving twenty and a half to
Baylor. Man, that's a lot. That's a crazy number. I guess
I didn't know that Kansas State was that good or that anybody. Well,
I guess they're in the hunt for the for the Big twelve championship game,
right, yeah, and hey big Game Boomer had them as a top ten
coaching coaching Well again, Kansas State is one of those teams that covers all
the time. They're six and two against the spread, So yeah, I
guess I can see that, and I'm looking to see where Baylor is on
the list. Excuse me, God, I'm sorry I got these hiccups again.
This is a second time today. But let me let me find Baylor
real quick. Baylor is three and five against the spread, and they've lost
three of their last four games against the spreads. Okay, twenty and a
half points though on the road, Man, that seems like is that on
the road? No, No, that's on the road. I shouldn't have
said that. I don't know, But okay, kids of State against Baylor,
give me twenty and a half. I'm gonna go to the pro side
do my pro games. I'm just picking these games because I think these teams
are playing really well, and I didn't really care about the spread. But
I'm gonna take the Ravens. They're giving up six to the Browns. They're
at home against the Browns, so you know, I think, you know,
the Ravens are playing tough right now. I think they're a Super Bowl
contender. The Browns. You never know. So I like the Ravens giving
less than a touchdown at home against the Browns. What's the over under it?
Because those are two crazy elite defenses. Yeah, that won't get after
you. That can't. Yeah, it can't be a lot. Let me
look that up real quick while we're talking here. But uh I just you
know, I'm not I've never been a total believer in uh In Lamar Jackson,
but watching what I've watched over these last few weeks, they're just they're
just good. They're just like, yeah, he's playing different. He got
his contract, and more importantly, he got the game plan that he wanted.
He wanted to be more of a pocket passer, and here he is
being a pocket passer and the Ravens are. Yeah, and since this morning,
that line has moved to six and a half. It was six this
morning, which is what we said it at. But you were asking the
over under that's at thirty eight. That seems high. Excuse me, that
seems high. Yeah. I feel like that's a defensive game, like you
said, Yeah, it's gonna be a slog Yeah, be a war.
Yeah. All right, Steve's next college pick. All right, this is
his lock this one. Steve's confident U c l A UH is at uh.
I believe they're actually at home, they're at home state and that eighteen
points and he's locking that. Wow. I don't know, oh man,
with what I saw of UCLA's d offense last week, I don't know that
I'm doing that. But Steve has crushed me in this poll, So I
guess I shouldn't be criticizing his picks for saying that's a bad pick. But
all right, so yeah, UCLA at home at home giving eighteen to ASU
looked really bad last week, fifty five to three to Utah. Maybe a
little beat up, maybe a little uh demoralized? Right as Actually, you
took the word out of my mouth. I was gonna say maybe a little
locker. Yeah, yeah, Okay, I see that, and I see
that and that then my other NFL game again, a pick that I took
these guys last week. They did me fine. I know the Texans had
a you know, miracle win last week. They wins down, scored a
touchdown with forty seconds left. C J. Stroud looks really good. Say,
how fun is that team to watch them? Yeah? That team is
a lot of fun. But again, the Bengals at home giving less than
the touchdown. I feel like Joe Burrow is you know, he's over the
injury. They're playing really well. I looked at their lines. They lost
the first four games against the spread. They've won their last four against the
spread. They're on a roll and I'm gonna take them. I got the
I got the Bengals at home against the Texans giving six and a half.
All right, all right, all right, now we got the special.
Oh wait, I got a lock one. Hmm. I'm gonna lock the
Ravens. I'm gonna lock the Ravens, okay, like un locked the rape.
Okay, all right, Penn State Michigan, all right, Saturday ten
am at Penn State. Steve's gonna go with the Nitney line. Oh okay,
but he did want. I asked him if there's anything he wanted me
to add on behalf of him for his picks. The only thing he said
he didn't want to justify any of his other picks, but he did say
quote had a hard time with the Penn State game, but thinking this is
the demise of Michigan. First big game on the road, yep, big
game on the road. They're they're They're competition so far in the undefeated season
hasn't been hasn't been great. I mean, they're they're playing in the Big
Ten, They're playing some good teams. They haven't played a great team yet.
I'm taking Penn State as well. I picked that. I picked that
early in the week. Penn State at home getting four and a half.
I think that's uh, you know, I think it's just gonna have a
tough time on top of all the distractions of all the stuff going on.
I think I like Penn State as well. That's our special game, so
that counts for some extra points. So yeah, all right, So Steve
and Iron, I think the first time in a few weeks that we've been
on the same side of the of the special I don't know what that means,
but it has to mean something. It means. There's the way we
do the point system we have is each game is at one point, but
the special and the lock you add half a point if you win it,
you lose a half a point if you lose it. So you can get
six points if you hit every everything, which is what Steve got the last
two weeks. And how does it make you feel that you and Steve are
on the same page about that game? Do you feel good? Do you
feel did you wish that he picked something up? No? I don't really,
I don't really care. You know that our competition is so over.
He's killing me. I can I should even give you the score here.
It's it's thirty five to ten. It's not even a game to score.
Yeah, it is what it is. What it is, so anyways,
but that's where we are. Okay, that's a rap, Kevin, nice
job today, appreciate it. Thanks for being here and doing you did a
nice job with the show, running the board, the whole bit. I
appreciate our guests. Brian Holle from the Boulder Daily Camera, Justin Spears from
the airs on Daily Star and Stuf. Of course, Steve for calling in
from the Denver Airport to give us some of his thoughts on the Duke game
tomorrow. Again, fun, fun weekend coming up, man, Hope it's
a great weekend. Yeah. I look forward to watching a ton of great
sports this weekend. I hope Steve gets to his destination safely, and I
hope you'll get to watch some great sports. Yeah, it should be fun.
So again, no show tomorrow. We'll be back on Monday to break
it all down the Duke game, the Arizona Colorado game, and anything else
that happens over the weekend. So'll be sure to come back on Monday.
Have a great weekend, everybody, We'll see you on Monday. Enjoy the
events. Just weeks o, cat im, I have a good samp holding
in that you set the boughs in the Atlanta Sassin. I'm gonna get