Speaker 1: All start to Yota presents Off the Bench with Jacob
Hester and Matt Flynn.
Speaker 2: Okay, here we go where.
Speaker 1: The plays get broken down and science gets denied.
Speaker 3: Come off the Bitch.
Speaker 1: Hour two of Off the Bench Live from the Mercedes
ben So Baton Rouge Studio starts.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 3: All right, welcome back again. It is our number two
of OTV.
Speaker 4: Here on one of four five ESPN Baton Rouge. Let's
go ahead and play the sounder because it's time for
a little munchies.
Speaker 1: Get ready to tantalyze your taste buds and leave this
segment hungry. This is Monkey's with Executive chef Michael Johnson.
Speaker 3: I love that you a man.
Speaker 5: I thought it was hour three. I was getting ahead
of myself audible.
Speaker 6: I know.
Speaker 4: Look, look being an hour too is a little bit
different obviously. So chef, thank you so much for moving
the schedule around. We appreciate you, know you being flexible here.
Speaker 3: So thank you. So yeah, no problem, uh chef?
Speaker 4: Right now, you got the football team summer workouts, and
I don't think there was ever a time that I
could throw down some food more than summer workouts, because
my god, you're using a lot of energy out there.
Speaker 3: What is this time like at the nutrition.
Speaker 4: Center because you know, there's there's a lot of people
that aren't even on campus technically, certainly like the baseball
team now as we know they're they're in Omaha, So
what's the foot traffic like? But what is that food
consumption like here in the summer?
Speaker 6: Yeah, actually, breakfast is really busy during the summer because
a lot of times we make football so you know,
in order to give them time for the day to
do other things, we might make breakfast mandatory so that
we know that they're getting their meal in and getting
energy up and getting nutrition in because you know, to
to to some people, you know, when you get super
hot and super exhausted, they don't want to eat right,
and so we want to get the food into them
earlier and in the day.
Speaker 7: And so.
Speaker 6: Like right now we're probably seeing one hundred and seventy
five people for breakfast and that's that's that's like two
thirds of what we normally see. And usually you know,
like summer can be slow. Yeah, you know, like in
twenty twenty one, summer was kind of slow for us.
But it really depends on you know, postseason play for
baseball depends on track and field. What they're doing there's
because they're still there. They were still you know, compeeding
not so long ago, and sometimes they have like postseason
competitions as well. Yeah, you know, so it I mean,
we're we're pretty busy. Lunch, you know, stays pretty much
the same throughout the year. Dinner will dive off a
little bit just because you know, like once once stuff
gets done and taken care of lifting and everything else.
I think athletes like to, you know, have a little
bit of time to themselves and that's fine. So breakfast
is pretty busy this time of year.
Speaker 3: Hashtag munchies.
Speaker 4: I finally got an air fryer, wondered if there was
a way to do okra. I made pickles with my
first load from the garden, but I don't need six
jars of pickle okra.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so they wanting to know how to fry it
in there or I think it's.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I would assume. I mean it's Louisiana.
I mean, Okra's going in a pot with something else.
But if we're going to eat just okra, that thing's
gonna be fried.
Speaker 6: One thing you gotta make sure that you're doing when
you're air frying anything. It's making sure that you're getting
the bread crumb or the flour, you know, saturated with
oil and a deep fry. The difference is is that
you're submerging it in oil, and so it's going to
get the saturation. But what's unhealthy about it is you're
submerging it in the oil, and that oil starts replacing
liquid and cooking into the texture or the skin or
the you know, like if it's a fruit or not
a fruit, but a vegetable or a big piece of
protein that actually will cook.
Speaker 3: You can fry a fruit.
Speaker 6: Tomatoes, yeah, bananas, So so I'm like, yeah, yeah, man,
I love fried green tomatoes and dashed I just came
from my garden actually, man, yeah, yeah, so they are fry.
I think a lot of people kind of fear away
from that saturation of the flour or the or the
bread crumb on the outside, right, But in reality, if
you wanted to brown up properly and not turn you know,
like kind of dry looking, and you really need to
make sure that you're getting a good saturation of it.
Speaker 3: On there, hashtag munchies.
Speaker 4: My wife wants to cook fried steak fingers, tonight, what
is chefs recommended cut of steak for that dish? And
this way, this one to me is near and dear
to my heart because my grandmother used to make steak
fingers and my god, I mean just I don't I
don't even know what you used for the breading on there,
but I would go through like seven or eight of
those things.
Speaker 3: It is like a core childhood memory for me.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, yeah, I think for me, what we
usually do for steak fingers is we'll take cube beef
like the same thing that you did make out of
a out out of a chicken fried steak, because it's
already been tender eyed. Because because you're deep frying it
and it's a high intense heat, those muscle tissues tense
up really quickly and can be tough. And so you know,
if you're not using if you're not using chicken fried
steak and good quality chicken fried steak, I would say,
you know, like a flank steak or a skirt steak
sliced on a bias, so that you're cutting some of
that breaking through some of that connective tissue. We've talked
about that before, like if you have a if you
have a tougher cut. When you slice it at an angle,
you're reducing the amount of connective tissue that's actually holding
on onto the protein that's directly above it, right, and
so it mouthfeel and uh and and texturally it loosens
it up a bit. Yep, I would I would say
if you don't have either one of those, maybe at
chuck A chuck can be kind of tough, but you
can tenderize that with a with a mallet or something
and then get a pretty good product out of it.
You know, if you go too soft with tenderloin, you're
wasting your money on a tenderloin. Yeah, my god, I
do like steak.
Speaker 4: I was like, man, I'm like about to text my mom. Mom,
do you have Nana's old steak finger recipe? You can
send us down here.
Speaker 6: Are you guys dipping? Are you guys dipping fans with
steak fingers or you know, like getting gravy or red.
Speaker 4: Soft gravy for sure?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean for sure. So uh that might be
on the menu tonight, so uh. Shout out to Scott
for asking a question and shout out to chef for
a great answer. As always, hashtag cheese. What's on Chef's
Father's Day menu?
Speaker 6: You know, this is so funny. I'm I totally forgot,
that's the thing. Yeah, you know Father's Day. I always
let my kids kind of decide and we usually end
up having a meal at the house and and my
kids like to cook with me on on on Father's Day.
So it's it's it's funny because somebody to ask me
what I was doing for Father's Day yesterday is like,
I don't know when when is Father's Day? You know,
I usually I learned today.
Speaker 4: Children, I learned today because I forgot, So yeah, that
feels right. I mean a great meal at the house,
and you know, allow of them because like you know,
Father's Day, so they can make you.
Speaker 3: They can make you happy.
Speaker 6: That's right. And and spending time with them, that's trick.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 6: Like I do have some fresh snapper that I call
it caught over the weekend, So imagine that's going to
get eaten at some point over the weekend, and it
seems like Father's Day would be a perfectly good day
to do it.
Speaker 4: Uh, you know, I don't I don't know like what
your schedule is, but you know, speaking of fish, I
think some still Head out. You know, Flynn's new, Like
he's not here right now. You know, he's celebrating his
fortieth birthday. He'll be back next week, so you know,
sooner rather than later. I mean, I think we need
to introduce him to the in studio version of Chef
Michael Johnson.
Speaker 6: That would be awesome, man, I would love to do that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my guy, that fish. Oh my god, I think
about that often, Jeff.
Speaker 6: That was incredible.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we could we could run that back.
That's how good. Like, I know you could do so many,
but that was so good. Like I almost want Flynn
to experience what we experienced last year.
Speaker 6: Still had it so divergent, you know, like you can
put a lot of stuff with him. I mean, it's
one of the fishes that I really enjoy eating by
itself too, you know, like you can't say that about
all fish, no, but but I do enjoy just grilling
a piece of stillhead and mediant.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 4: I'm very intrigued with your answer on this one because
I know we've talked about meal prep before and you
lose some of the nutrients. But we have one hashtag munchies.
If you had to meal prep for weight loss specific
what would you make.
Speaker 6: Way loss? I have to be careful of what kind
of uh, what kind of direction I give to that
because every human body is a little bit different, right,
So yeah, it depends on your activity.
Speaker 4: What your activity like, I guess maybe, like you know,
like what would be healthy? I guess for anybody almost
Like you know what I'm saying, like what food do
you know? Like, no matter what, because you're that's a
great answer, because you're right. Yeah, Like I'm like when
I'm eating healthy, like things work for me don't work
for my wife like vice versas.
Speaker 6: So yeah, in a general sense, in order to lose weight,
what you're trying to do is exceed calorie burn compared
to when compared to calorie intake, if that makes sense.
So one of the things that you really can do
easily is reduce your portion sizes. You know, like a
lot of people think that fats are bad for the
human body, but if you're burning them off quickly and easily,
you know, they don't optimize and you don't have to
worry about it as much. So and carbs, you know,
carbs are good for loading. If you're putting up a
whole lot of energy in the and the you know,
like you're gonna burn it off the same thing. You know,
like protein, I would say four ounces in the middle
of the day somewhere in there, depending on your body size.
That you know, lots of fruits and vegetables in your diet. Man, carbs.
Carbs are not as necessary. They're they're necessary to have burned,
don't get me wrong, but fruits and fruits and vegetables,
and you can get carb heavy fruits, carb heavy vegetables
and get that out of them as well. Corn, for instance,
is a starch heavy vegetable that you can get carbs
out of that, so you're not absolutely missing carbs and
stuff like just potato and rice. Get a back off
on that, I think a little bit. But you know, protein,
proteins and vedges. And if you're working out, it's even
different because then you have to worry about recovery as well.
But if you're talking about a midday lunch, you know,
like taking it with you in the morning to eat
lunch to the middle of the day, backing off on
the portion sizes a little bit, so that the calories
because you have to get you know, like if we're
just talking about your average Joe that goes and has
an an office job. For instance, you know, if they're
sitting at their desk a lot that day, you know,
and they're putting in four thousand calories and a lunch meal,
not only you know, like, yeah, we can back that
down a bit and you know, and and maybe not
take that midday snooze or nap that you're always fighting.
Speaker 4: Off, right, Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. Hashtag munchies. Why
are fall off the bone ribs considered overcooked?
Speaker 6: Well, so technically what you're doing there is I think
it depends on what creature, but connective tissues don't start
falling apart. And so there's two things that will break
down connective tissue an extended amount of time or extreme heat.
So you don't want to cook over extreme heat because
that's going to burn, right, So spended amount of time
is going to loosen those connective tissues up. And you
know that if you consider what the color, uh, well,
and not only that, you know, like you're also leaching
nutrient out of out of the protein as well. In
a raw piece of meat, you have the optimum amount,
you know, like that's that's as much nutrient as that
steak it's ever going to have available for you. And
when you cook it over a long amount of time,
you're having this leech that drips out. Now, if you
serve it with a sauce that is made from the drippings,
you can add some of that back in. But if yeah,
you know, technically you are over cooking it. So that's
why you see a lot of sauces and gravies go
back into a stew like that, not just to keep
pre prevent them from drying out, but it's to add
nutrient back.
Speaker 4: In hashtag munchies, what is proper hot dog dressing etiquette?
Speaker 6: Oh man, this is that's a that's a you know,
I'm a huge fan of the Chicago Dog, but I've
also eaten you know, like I have kind of a
They have this place in Vancouver. It's called a Jappa
Dog and they put like kim chi and Benito flakes
and and with Sobby mayonnaise on it, and you know,
like it was when I was in Vancouver, it was
absolutely fantastic. And you know, like if I go to, uh,
you know, certain places and they have this mad chili dog,
that's you know, like chili cheese, gut bomb. But if
they're doing it really right, I think it's man, I
just started telling me off of a chili dog, you know.
I think it's wherever you're at if they're doing it
best right. And I have a love a relationship with
hot dogs because I served them and cooked them for
so long, and it's still like Pavlov's dog if I
smell a hot dog, you know, the opening of a
of a case of a hot dog, like I'm like,
I gotta have one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I know exactly what you mean there, Chef.
All right, I'll see if we can get at least
one more. All right, perfect one? I think to end
on hashtag munchies, would you do the nine.
Speaker 3: To nine to nine challenge? I don't know what that is,
a landra, would you care to share with chef what
that is?
Speaker 2: The nine nine to nine challenge is you go to
a baseball game and each inning you drink a beer
and you eat a hot dog, so you end up
drinking nine beers and nine hot dogs in nine innings.
Speaker 6: Can I do it? Or if I want to do it?
Speaker 3: Or could you could? Could you do it? Because I could?
Speaker 6: I mean the hot Dogs would be oppressed. But I mean,
I do think I could do it. I guess it
depends because I've seen I've been to baseball games that
we're two and a half hours long, and I've been
to ease baseball games that were, like, you know, five
hours long. So I would much prefer it be a
dragging on baseball game to give me a little time
with it. The nine Beers, I know that I could.
I could put back nine hot Dogs, you know, like
as long as they're not you know, stuff stuff full
of stuff poppings by. I don't know that would be
I think I can probably get her done. Just to
be honest with you, if it was a challenge and
there was money on it, I'm not going to go
do that just for.
Speaker 1: S and G.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 4: I feel like if I had to put up like
someone like, you know, hey, you got to put this
person up for this challenge, and if they get it done,
you win a great prize. But if they don't get
it done, like it's doomsday, I do think I would
put up our boy, t Bob.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I could see that he'd be a first.
Speaker 3: He'd be a first team draft choice.
Speaker 6: I can see Ta Bob going Kobeashi Diffeney's hot dog
in the beer and just like crushing it.
Speaker 4: Man, I mean he's in Chicago, now, yeah, I mean
so like he's he's in the perfect spot to be
able to see if he could get that done.
Speaker 6: Oh man, could you imagine having to eat nine Chicago
dolls back to back?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that is not something I no, that is not
something I don't think anybody would want to try to
knock down.
Speaker 3: Chef. We can't thank you enough.
Speaker 4: Thanks for being flexible, thanks for moving up the time here,
great questions in the chat as always, and fantastic answers
from Chef. So we'll catch up again next week.
Speaker 6: Take care, guys.
Speaker 4: All right, we will step away and when we come back,
start to get into Omaha a little bit. Jay Johnson's
going to join us here in about fifteen minutes from now,
so breaking down the College World series. Starting that process
when we jump back here on OTBT, mop the ben.
All right, go to rouss dot com and check out
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Speaker 1: From the locker room to the airwaves, it's off the
bench with Jacob Hester and Matt Flynn.
Speaker 4: All right, welcome back again OTB here on this Thursday morning,
taking a look at the latest odds to go win
the national championship at the College World Series Arkansas plus
two hundred, LSU plus two twenty five, and then you
have a dip and it goes plus six hundred for
Coastal Carolina, plus six fifty for Oregon State, plus eight
hundred for UCLA, and then another drop plus fourteen hundred
for Arizona, plus sixteen hundred for Louisville, and plus thirty
five hundred for Murray State. So I mean, obviously the
two favorites as we know, are playing each other in
round number one. If I was to take LSU and
Arkansas off the board and I said, okay, I'm giving
you one hundred dollars and you can go play whatever
team you want. Now, that's not just to say, you know,
go play the team with the third best odd It's
like if you won't like to maybe get a little
out there and get a little juice, get a little value.
If I gave you one hundred dollars to bet on
any team outside of Arkansas and l s U, who
would it be? U? C?
Speaker 3: L A Coastal for you?
Speaker 5: You see, LA, what's nine hundred? They looked really good
in the Super Regional. I mean they've won a lot
of games this year. Like, that's a that's a team
that's a little sneaky. I think Coastal is better, but
like u C.
Speaker 8: L A has I mean LA those Coastals. Uh, I'm
still but I mean it's pretty good.
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, I don't I don't hate that one for UCLA.
They do get to play Murray State, that is the
four seed. Now if they win, they got to play
the winner of l s U Arkansas. And if that's LSU,
you're going against Anthony Ianton, So you know, tough matchup
for them.
Speaker 3: I'm going to Arizona. Yeah, that's another what they like.
Speaker 4: They just beat maybe the hottest team in the country
after getting eighteen to two in the first game in
Chapel Hill, fourteen hundred feels like incredible odds. I'm shocked
that they're that far behind UCLA. And they get to
open up against the Louisville who, outside of Murray State,
second worst side to win. Yeah, it feels like a
decent matchup for them as well.
Speaker 8: That's true.
Speaker 3: I put my one hundred dollars.
Speaker 5: The path isn't badres either, because like it's all about
the path, right, because at least amount of games you
lose at least number of arms you have to use.
Speaker 8: Like I don't I don't hate that either.
Speaker 4: Like I and I love Coastal Uh, but they face
or Coastal Oregon State, it's gonna be a heavyweight out. Yeah,
that's gonna be one of the like everybody's talking about
LSU and Arkansas and I get it. But that game
right there, that's quality baseball. That is going to be
I think just a full nine inning slugfast Yeah, like
they're gonna there's gonna be some counterpunching in that.
Speaker 2: So the pitching is that's gonna be like a good
pitching matchup Oregon State and uh Coastal Carolina, especially if
Oregon States Dax Whitney's going out there. Coastal Carolina has
like three legit starters on their team and their team
e er A is three twenty six. Now, like they're hitting,
they're good hitters. They got a team batting average of
two eighty nine. But it's not what I don't think
it's what got them here. Like they're pitching is really
like what I'm looking at and what has me confident
in them. But I mean, yeah, that Oregon State matchup
is gonna be a tough one for them, But I
just feel really good about them, and that I mean
I feel great about LSU, like I have a really
really good feeling about but something about Coastal they feel
hot to me.
Speaker 4: I mean, Coastal is like one of those teams that
I think if you're just kind of a common like
you only pay attention during the postseason, casual college baseball fan,
like you're still thinking like mid major, mid major, mid major, yeah,
when in fact, the Sun Belt's a really good baseball conference.
I think we all know that certainly here. But also
like when you've had a run and you've gone and
you've won a national championship, yeah, like that just gives
you the ultimate belief. And it doesn't matter that none
of those players were obviously there the last time they
did it, but the fact that you have done it
in your program history, like, well why not us? We've
won fifty three games. Yeah, so yeah, coast was not
a bad play here.
Speaker 3: Either.
Speaker 2: Also, like, sorry, no, go ahead, they have since they
won in twenty sixteen, right, six Yeah, twenty sixteen.
Speaker 3: They was that long ago already, right.
Speaker 8: There was.
Speaker 2: A gap between like in twenty seventeen, they didn't make
it to the tournament, and then they made it twenty eighteen,
twenty nineteen, didn't make it for two years, and then
since twenty twenty two, they've made the tournament every season
since then. So but the last like actual College World
Series appearance that they had was in twenty sixteen, so
they would always lose like in the regional. But still like,
that's a program that is pretty I mean, you're making
it into the postseason pretty much every season.
Speaker 8: It's pretty solid.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I did mention it it is I think
I had that it's Louisville, Oregon State, Arizona, Coastal. Right, Yeah, yeah,
I said that backwards a little bit earlier, but even
more so for Coastal in that one. Yeah, I was
thinking that the way the bracket matched up. But either way,
like I'm that portion of the bracket that is going
to be, like I fully expect it, like Coastal and
Oregon State to have some type of a battle at
some point there in Omaha.
Speaker 5: Well, if you remember, like back in twenty sixteen, the
Coastal team they play a lot like they did this
year because that team like didn't have a ton of
power hitters on it. They could just all get on base.
They've only hit like sixty sixty five home runs last year.
Like not bad, not great. They're just teams that get
on base. They're good on the base pass, they got
good pitching. This is exactly how they were in sixteen.
Speaker 3: That the top portion up there is.
Speaker 4: It's not going to be as easy as people are
making like Bracket one is not going to be. I
know everybody's talking about bracket too because LSU and Arkansas
are in there. But going like whoever goes through there,
you're gonna have to go through Coastal or Oregon State,
even if it's one of the other teams that we're
talking about like each other. It's gonna be tough. It
is not going to be just because all these top
seeds got knocked out. Everybody thinks they know exactly how
it's going to play out there.
Speaker 3: But look at that schedule.
Speaker 4: It is Coastal Carolina Game one versus Arizona. That is
going to be the first game. I believe that's a
noon first pitch here locally Central time. You've got Oregon
State and Louisville. That's gonna be the nightcap and then
of course Game three is going to be the early game.
It's gonna be CLA and Murray State and then Arkansas
and LSU. So a lot to break down, a lot
to get to. I wrote coach the old thirty minute warning,
hating her back from old Jay. We'll call him. We'll
see if Jay is ready to go. He's kind of
got something going on right now, but.
Speaker 3: We will see.
Speaker 4: He did confirm on Gosh Tuesday, like Tuesday night, my hey, coach,
like I know, Omaha's kind of different.
Speaker 3: We do. Thursdays were good, he said, we're good.
Speaker 4: We'll call coach Jay Johnson, LSU head and baseball coach
when we come back here on OTV. Off the bench,
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Speaker 1: What you're doing.
Speaker 8: Really, you know, coming over right?
Speaker 1: Something you want to know from the locker room to
the airwaves. Gets off the bench with Jacob Hester and
Matt Flynn.
Speaker 4: Give me ten minutes, be ready, a little thing I think,
Tell me what you want to do.
Speaker 7: Get seven o'clock.
Speaker 6: Mychopped up in the streets.
Speaker 4: All right, welcome back, heah OTV one of four five
ESPN Baton Rouge.
Speaker 3: Still trying to get with her cat.
Speaker 4: J Johnson a new in the thirty minute reminder didn't
get answered.
Speaker 3: We might be in some trouble. We might have an issue.
Speaker 4: It's okay. We've still got time. We've got an hour
and a half left. You know, we got some guests
coming up. But if it's like you move stuff around,
we can move stuff around if it's you know, even
if it's at nine fifteen, and we keep it tight. Yeah,
keep our guests tight, even if it's at nine forty five.
We'll see if we can get with coach.
Speaker 2: I'm not double calling though, No, no, I'm not double
calling j Johnson.
Speaker 8: Well he's in Omaha. I would do it if he wasn't.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is what happens, you know, when you try
to overprepare, like on Tuesday or like hey two days
from now, you know we're gonna link back up or
we go it's like, yeah, you know, send them in
the thirty minute reminder.
Speaker 3: It's like maybe, you know, maybe we just.
Speaker 4: Fly by the seat of our pants like Tabab did
and texting five minutes before. Right, It's okay, we'll find
a way to talk with Jay Johnson.
Speaker 3: I am confident in that again.
Speaker 4: Coastal Carolina, Arizona, Oregon State, Louisville, Ucla, Murray State, Arkansas,
and LSU.
Speaker 3: And I was sitting there thinking.
Speaker 4: The like we always talk about, like how important it
is to win the first game. That's for everybody, I
guess the obvious statement. And for Arkansas and LSU to
win that first game because of how you know, important
it would be for their pitching matchup in game number
eight of the College World Series, which would be the
winner's bracket. But look, it's baseball, so who knows what happens.
But like if I had to say, like a must
win game as much as Arkansas LSU would have to
be UCLA Murray State, yeah I do. Only I don't
think either one of those teams wants to face Arkansas
or LSU in the loser's bracket, knowing who they would
put on the mound compared to who they would be
able to throw out there, like that feels as must
win as possible, certainly, you know, if you want to
keep the Cinderella season alive from Murray State.
Speaker 8: I'm trying to look at I'm trying to pull out
the bracket.
Speaker 4: I just printed it off, so because the one I
was looking at was busted a little bit earlier, so
I just went ahead and printed that thing off.
Speaker 3: Little old school. Sometimes technology can fail.
Speaker 8: I don't love the way that brackets look on computers.
Speaker 4: Well, no, here's the thing. Here's the problem with the
NCAA's website. Right, it's got so on the like on
their actual website, Like when you look at it gets
confusion because it has Oregon State.
Speaker 3: And Coastals next to each other.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Arizona Louisville next to each other, right, which those
teams aren't playing each other in the first round. But
then it has Arkansas and LSUE next to each other
they're playing and UCLA Murray State they're playing, right, and
so this has got to be like twice like I'll
start talking about like, oh yeah, that's that's their mess
up on their website, their official NCAA website. So it
does get kind of confusing. That's why I look, kids,
don't hate on the old people. Just go print it
off for you so you don't have to worry about technology.
Speaker 3: Can't wait for Coastal Oregon State though, if that does.
Speaker 8: Happen, that's gonna be a really good matchup.
Speaker 4: Is the winner of Like the winner of that is
going to be in the championship series. Yeah, I fully
fully believe that, like the winner of if they meet
up whoever wins that first game.
Speaker 3: I truly believe they're going to be in the champions Well.
Speaker 5: You know, it's funny, like everyone's talking about the bottom
part of the bracket, and I get it, but it's
always oh LSU Arkansas, the two juggernauts of the sport.
Top part of that bracket might be the more competitive
bracket in my opinion, like Coastal Arizona, Oregon State, Louisville,
like all four of those teams, they're good, Like they're
better than they're getting credit for. Also, yeah, I mean,
the longer you can stay in that winner's bracket, the
better you are off. And I agree, I like, I
like Oregon State, Coastal Carolina. But I don't know, man,
that's a competitive side of the bracket. That's a part
that a lot of people aren't talking about.
Speaker 4: No, they're not because you got the headliner, you have
LSU Arkansas. And again like even that's not just here,
that's like series six M. When we're breaking it all down,
like LSU Arkansas, everybody won't talk about it.
Speaker 3: Nobody who comes on, they're like, all right, let's start
there with that game. And I get it.
Speaker 4: I understand it, Like you're talking about two aces like
massive programs and rivals and like the whole Like I
get all of it, but I'm sure Bracket one's actually
probably enjoying all that.
Speaker 3: Bracket one does have some heavy hitters there.
Speaker 4: Murray State is the fourth four seed to get to
this point, to get to the College World Series.
Speaker 3: I think ORL.
Speaker 4: Roberts was the last one, right three? When else you
won it all? Do we know the only four seed
to ever win it? Yeah, thousand and eight, so the
year before LA Shoot wins it in nine. So yeah,
they entered the NCAA Tournament as a four seed in
the regional and then they went.
Speaker 3: I believe it was Georgia.
Speaker 4: I think they beat Georgia in the in the College
World Series finals, so they remained the only four seed
ever to win it.
Speaker 5: So I believe they were the very last team. I
believe they were the very last team in the tournament,
like the the last seed.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So again, like we talked about with Coastal, they've seen
their team go do it. If you're Murray State, how
many times do you think their coach after he gets
done mowing the grass has talked to his team about
Fresno State going to win it as a four seed.
So's he's always good to like if you're trying to
motivate your team, motivate your program to be able to
have like, hey, this has happened before, it can't happen again.
So again that Murray State UCLA game that is going
to be game number three.
Speaker 3: That will be Saturday at noon.
Speaker 4: So all right, we are going to catch up with
the head coach of the LSU Fighting Tigers boots on
the ground there in Omaha.
Speaker 3: Coach, we truly always.
Speaker 4: Appreciate your time, but certainly while you're trying to get
ready for the College World Series. And so thanks for
hopping on. And how was traveling yesterday? How's it been
so far?
Speaker 7: It's always the best travel day of the year, that's
for sure. Got here and got over to the stadium
and took that in for a minute, and then well
the right to practice, so kind of back to business
as usual and looking forward to a good day to day.
Speaker 4: So, coach, you have had players that have been there
before and they've been in that moment, But what was
it like for the players like you watching them walk
into that stadium for the first time, because that's one
of the great things about college baseball is everybody knows
where the championship is going to be played, and so
you know that it's in the back of your mind
and you can visualize yourself there. It's not like football
and basketball where it rotates, you know, to different cities,
different venues. What was it like for you to kind
of see those guys for the first time that hadn't
been there before.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's pretty awesome. And there's eight players you know
that were on that team in twenty twenty three and
everybody else it's their first time, and you know, they've
worked hard. And I said this a few times last week,
like this team deserved to be here, whether we won
two games or not last weekend. And so for me,
if there was any kind of pressure, that was it.
I felt like this team earned their way to Omaha
by how they did everything, you know, on a daily
basis through the fall, winter, early spring and then obviously
this season. So it was pretty awesome, you know, just
staying on the dugout step, watch them walk out there,
walk a lap around the field on a warning track,
take pictures, and you know, and then also we talked about,
you know, you know, take it in and see yourself here,
because this is where it's on. It's back to baseball
on Saturday.
Speaker 3: And we all know how it's going to go down.
On Saturday.
Speaker 4: You got the primetime game against a team that you
know very well and coach. One of the things I
always am intrigued by is the way that you prepare
for your opponent. I really like you take like a
football coach approach, like you're always watching tape like nothing
is going to be you know, not looked at and
not evaluated in your process getting ready for your game
plan there, and you know this team incredibly well, Like
you just played this Arkansas team a month ago, so
when you're preparing for this game, you have that to
lean on.
Speaker 3: But like, is there like a fine line of Okay, let's.
Speaker 4: Don't lean on that experience too much even though it
was just four weeks ago. Like, let's also make sure
that we're watching the regional the super regional and taking
that information just as much as we take our series
against them.
Speaker 7: Yeah, for sure. And I kind of have a rule
when you play a team a second time or play
them in the postseason, is like start over and do
it like you haven't played them before. And you know,
young people change a lot today, you know, let alone
four weeks ago. And then the other factor is that game.
Those games were played at our stadium, you know, and
that's a different animal. And I know that obviously because
with the support we get. The other part is when
we go on the road, things are much tougher.
Speaker 6: Like that's just the reality of it.
Speaker 7: So you know, there's some things that I did go
back and watch that series, at least from our pitching,
so they're hitting, you know, to look at some things,
but really really focused.
Speaker 6: On their last four games that they've played.
Speaker 4: Yeah, coach, and we've talked about kind of the you
know what the pitching matchups probably are are going to
look like.
Speaker 3: And when you're a hitter and you're going back and.
Speaker 4: Let's say that it is you know, Zachary's going to
be on the mound for Arkansas, Like how would like
how do you study film as a hitter? Like I'm
always curious like that, Like, Okay, well he got me
out with that pitch last time, and like, in my
mind's going to go back to that pitch, but maybe
he's going to think that I'm thinking that he's gonna
throw a different pitch, like at the mind games of
being in the batter's box, it gets a pitcher like that,
a very talented pitcher. Like, how do you tell your
guys to maybe look at film when they're watching that
of a guy that they faced before who is a
really talented pitcher.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think you know, familiarity is good on that side.
I mean because when something comes out of his hand,
maybe recognize it a little bit sooner. And that's where
the advantage lies. I mean as far as did not
pitches and guessing. If you start guessing against the guy
of zach Rude or Kate Anderson's caliber, like, you're gonna
have a hard time. Like you're gonna end up with
twenty five. You're gonna end up in.
Speaker 6: Like the worst blackjack odds.
Speaker 7: Casino in Vegas or something like that. So it's just
about seeing the ball, eliminating pitches, you know, getting your
pitch to hit, taking balls, you know, bat on with
two strikes, you know, make it hard on him and
it's a tough place. Four runs too. Like That's that's
another element of this game. It's very intriguing with two
really good, good pictures going. So I think the other focuses.
We've got to be ready to win a close game.
Speaker 4: Well, I mean, speaking of a close game, I think
there's obviously some pictures that's all season long you've brought
in in those situations to close out a game. But
if we go back a week, you didn't have to
use those pictures. Zach Cowan Case and Evans like coach,
if I would have told you you would have swept
the series in a super regional and neither one of
those guys has to toe the rubber, I mean, I
would assume you would be pretty surprised, surprised.
Speaker 7: Happy, you know, and for you know, maybe that meant
that the scores were, you know, kind of what they
were where we had a little breathing room. The other thing, too,
is that that's an interesting deal to manage because you
have to protect yourself of a third game as well.
Now we had a real plan with how we were
going to use those guys in game two. Hey, Cooper
Williams came in and did a great job to help,
you know, really really close the gap between Anthony and
the end of the game. And I mean they just
Chase was throwing like one hundred and twenty miles an
hour and like they weren't seeing it.
Speaker 4: So we just kind of rode that out so coach,
I mean Chase shores like electric City when he came in,
like you could feel it in the stadium. Like I
always say this, like if you could bottle up that
energy and sell it, you can name your price on it.
Speaker 3: It was.
Speaker 4: I mean it was incredible and you could feel it
throughout the stadium. And I mean he's already a large human.
He looked like he was eight foot tall out there
on the mound. And I was joking yesterday, like in
youth baseball, try to get him a throw stracks, like, hey,
fingers in the mid, fingers in the mid. I'm like,
I think he actually could put his fingers in the mid.
I mean, he looks so intimidating out there. And that's
a player that you and I have talked about, right,
He's coming back from a major injury, and so a
lot of times it's like we got the meat heead
mindset of Okay, he's back, so he needs to be
where he was before he got injured. It's just not
that easy, right, And that's just a player that we
can see each and every time he goes out there
gaining more confidence, more belief that you know, his arm
is where it's supposed to be, coach, because I mean
he came in and the confidence that he had it
was incredible.
Speaker 7: Yeah, one thing we talk a lot about is with
the players is use your experience well. And he had
a tough outing in the regional and you know, he
used that well. Like I could tell all week he
was locked in and ready to go. And you know,
there was there was one way you know that that
performance was going to go whenever I gave him the ball,
whether it was earlier in the game or at the
end of the game like that. And you know, like
I said, I kind of had a plan laid out
of how we're going to use those other guys you mentioned,
and then it was like, now that's that's let's let
big man finish this out. And I'm happy for him
and proud of him because he's a big part of this.
Like that's one of the first big recruits that we
got when I got the job here. And you know,
he's persevered to that injury. You know, he was a
great team guy even though he was hurt. When we
won the national championship, he worked hard in his rehab.
You know, he cares about succeeding to the team a lot,
and that was a great way, great way for a
super reasonal and finish up with him on the mountain.
Speaker 4: Catching up with LSU head baseball coach Jay Johnson here
on OTB coach. One of the things about Omaha is
you don't know how long you're going to be there,
and you know how it goes because y'all went all
the way obviously just a couple of years ago, you
won the whole thing, you played the maximum amount of
games as a coach. Though, when you don't know that situation,
how do you make sure that your team and everybody
around the team stays in the moment and doesn't worry
about how long you're going to be there or start
to look ahead to what possibly could happen.
Speaker 7: Well, I think you know, it's kind of how we
train him on a yearly basis, if you will, like
you know this pitch this game. This game's a Game
seven of the World Series or part of the fifty
six game playoff, and the quality of the teams here
catch your attention, and so I don't think that's really
necessarily a thing, and that's certainly the case with the
first game, and really excited about that. But every team
here is a championship team. So and then you know,
I always feel like things wherever I can. And you
know that movie at Hoosier's, you know where Gene Hackman,
you know he's talking about tournament play like you can't
talk about the next step. So you've climbed the one
in front of you, right, Like all those things are
really real. We've we've talked a lot about like, man,
there's a lot of cool things that come along with
here being here, and I want you to enjoy those
and have the maturity and self discipline to switch the twitch,
the mindset, you know when it's under prepared and it's
time to execute. And I have full trust in our
team to be able.
Speaker 6: To do that.
Speaker 3: Can't wait to watch a coach. I mean, it is
going to be in prime time. It's going to be.
Speaker 4: Against teams that know each other, it's going to be
teams from the best conference in college baseball, and it's
got star power all over the place, and it is
going to be an electric, electric environment, as you well know.
Speaker 3: So coach, we can't thank you enough.
Speaker 4: I mean, all season long, but certainly in Omaha getting
ready for a national championship run.
Speaker 3: Thanks for hopping on.
Speaker 7: With us, all right every day?
Speaker 3: All right, you as well.
Speaker 4: Jay Johnson, lsuhead baseball coach, good enough to join us
here every single Thursday during.
Speaker 3: Baseball season, even when his team is in Omaha.
Speaker 4: All Right, we will take a break kind of recap
some of what Jay said there to close out our
number two of OTB.
Speaker 1: Off the Bench.
Speaker 4: Pray, go to Go Tommy's dot com g e a
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Speaker 1: Yeah, two thousand and seven Champs Purple and gold to
the core. This is off the bench with Hester and
Flynn Baton Rougees go to for all things Louisiana sports.
Speaker 4: I mean, yeah, purple and goals for sure that I
take ninety nine percent, but like there's some one percent
that's still like powder blue.
Speaker 5: You know you got the bolts on the back screen.
Speaker 8: No, they mean like purple and gold LSU gold or.
Speaker 4: Maybe it's purple and goal. So it's a tie of
purple and goal and then gold and powder blue together. Yeah,
the goal stands for both. I mean, charge gave me
a lot of money, LS. You didn't pay me anything, unfortunately. Hey,
I didn't get like a twenty dollars handshake. You're getting
the nil money either. The nil settlement only goes back
to twenty sixteen, so you.
Speaker 5: Know, I know I saw that the other day and
I was like a man.
Speaker 4: I like, I don't care because I finished up in
seven a long time ago. If I was twenty fifteen, Oh,
I'd be salty, super salty, but great stuff by Jay Johnson. There. Look,
Elsie's gonna be ready to play. Nobody prepares like that guy.
Uh loved all his answers like I always do. I mean,
I'm telling you he is the closest thing that we
have to Nick Saban in a college baseball coach like
that is Jay Johnson. And that is the highest compliment
that I think I can get anybody. So looking forward
to watching the Tigers play and looking forward to Ryan
McGee sec network.
Speaker 3: When we hop back off the bench. All right, go
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