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Speaker 1: Is Cougar Sports with Ben kretl At.

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Speaker 2: It's time for the Cougar Beat getting the dish from

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the local reporters that cover Cougar athletics. Welcome back Cougar

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Sports one O three nine ninety eight point three ESPN

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the Fan. I've been curital broadcasting from our Banterwelth Studios,

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Baterwealth dot com. Get on a free Q and A

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it better than band your wealth at is time for

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little Cougar Beat. Want to break down all of the

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news and notes coming out of Brigham with our Cougar

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Sports insiders that represent the local the local entities that

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cover BYU on the daily. It's going to be brought

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to you by our good friends over at rubys nd

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Book your staycation today. Let's get out to the hotline.

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Welcome in jaj Ruve the desert Red News.

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Speaker 1: Jay, how you living doing fantastic? Thanks for having me

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on today.

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Speaker 2: Always a pleasure, always a blessing. Talking ball with you here, Jay,

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Let's talk basketball to start us off. I always say

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this like whenever there's a problem right with a team,

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I say, I revert back to my movie by my

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movie Favorites, and I asked the question, what is it

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that the people have sent the folk go really does well?

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What is it that this BYU basketball team really does well?

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And what do they need to do better in the

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first half?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, what do they do well in the first taf

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or what do they do well overall?

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Speaker 2: What do they do well overall, right, which is all

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second half, and then what is it that they need

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to do in the second, in the in the in

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the first half to change their ways?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think what they do overall for

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the most part, they're unselfish. And we can get to

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that in a minute about maybe AJ needs to be

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more selfish, but they're they're really unselfish. They've the big

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three have really melded well together, a lot better than

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I think people thought. I think they rebound fairly well.

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That's been a consistent throughout the year. I think they

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have some really good rim protectors. Uh, their perimeter defense

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isn't great, but we're talking positives right now, so I

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would say they're rim protectors with with Kiavaketa and then

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obviously when when Beatle comes in, they don't lose much

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in that regard a little bit but not much. So

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I would say those are the the strong point. I

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think their shot selection for the most part is pretty good.

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So to stay kind of on that positive note that

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those are the things that have got them, you know,

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seventeen wins and the top whatever they are now sixteen

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national ranking, they were not nine. I think that was

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the best they got. So, yeah, there are plenty of

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positive They do a lot of things well, but those

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are some of the month that come to mind.

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Speaker 2: Are you optimistic that? Look, let me take a step back.

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Last year around this time, we were concerned. We were

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concerned about yegor, we were concerned about bench scoring, We

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were concerned about three point shooting. They found it, they

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found a way. Their defense was a bit poorous at times.

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Are we going to see something similar to that in

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the lead up to March Madness like we did last year?

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Speaker 3: Or is this team.

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Speaker 2: Maybe a little bit short due to injuries, due to

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like specialties, We don't really have anyone coming off the

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bench that can be a three in the guy like, well,

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what mag You don't have a Dawson Baker, You don't

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have a Trevin nell There maybe some missing pieces here.

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Speaker 3: Where do you stand?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? I agree with you.

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Speaker 3: You don't have a Trey uh Tray Stewart, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Trey Stewart. Yeah, you don't have him, you know, Trevin

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Nellen walking through that door as a shooter. Yeah. I

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want to tell people that I think I think this

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team can get better. That hasn't hit its ceiling yet,

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But I'm just not confident. I just don't see it.

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I don't just Mihailo Boskovich and lets say, uh caustic.

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They just haven't shown that ability to beat those guys

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off the bench that the by you really relied on

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last year. They missed Dallan Hall too, they missed boost

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that they don't really have a great low post scorer

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that can kind of change things up. Keba Cada is

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a phenomenal defensive player, you just lack some offensive skills

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that you maybe need out of your big guy, and

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so far, Abdullah mad Beato has not shown a lot

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of that as well. So I wish I could be

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optimistic and say, yeah, I think there's hope right around

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the corner, But man, I just don't see it right now.

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I just don't see that any of these bench guys can.

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You know, they've literally forgotten about Tyler Morass, who was

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supposed to be a guy that could come in and

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do a lot. And then obviously, as you mentioned, they

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missed Dawson Baker a lot. I don't when Dawson went down,

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I don't think we really realized how much they might

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need him moving forward. So as of right now, I

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can't really say this team is better than last year's team,

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even with AJ and Rob Wright, who are two phenomenal players.

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I think if you put him head to head, I

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think last year's team had more elements for success than

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this year's team has at the current time.

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Speaker 3: Are there any G League players available that can hit

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a standing.

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Speaker 1: I don't know that. I just saw where somebody signed

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a football player. Now now it's reaching into football with

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these signing guys that are played professionally, so it's it's crazy,

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it's but I don't know. At this point of the season,

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I don't know.

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Speaker 2: I mean, if I'm BYU and I want to win,

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if I want to get to a final four, I'm

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going out to see what's available in the G League.

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That is, somebody that can hit a three point shot.

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Just stand there, you know, just stand there and hit.

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That's all we need.

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Speaker 1: Somebody, please, well, you know, I think I think if

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they can get Canard Davis and I don't know what

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the deal is. He was he looked so good and

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get the second half against Arizona and then he just

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comes out and just doesn't have it against Kansas. I

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think he's the key. That's as I analyze this whole thing,

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and then by you're going to repeat what they did

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last year or maybe even get better. I just think

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they need whatever can Davis had a Southern Illinois learned

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he averaged eighteen points a game and was what was

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the forty something percent three point shooter? Whatever that was.

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They need that. I just I think that's the answer.

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And maybe it's not possible, but that's the guy that

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I would really try to depend on to get better.

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I don't I don't know if there's a solution. I

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don't know if they need to hypnotize him and go

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that route. And but he's clearly he's got it in him.

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I think he's got it in him. I just think

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he's got to be more consistent and they got to

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bring that out somehow.

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Speaker 2: I was talking Tobu Buddy Keith and weird debate to

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kind of go back and forth a little bit, and

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one of the things he just he texted me said,

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they don't have as good of a quotation of our

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team this year. Better players for four spots, but five

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through eight not as good.

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Speaker 3: I agree or disagree with my guy Keith.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree, and you know I will say

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they've played fairly well as a team. They're not They're

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just not They're clearly not as deep. They're just clearly

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not as deep. They're better at the top obviously with

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Aj and Rob Wright, two great players, and Richie's gotten

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even better if that were possible. That guy's amazing. But

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they just don't, like you said, have that I was

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I mentioned before this kind of I wrote this big

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story about how unselfish they were and how how we're

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really doing well in that regard, and these three guys

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were meshing. But I think the other night, I think

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AJ needed to get a little more selfish. He just

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was not aggressive at the beginning. I don't It was

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almost as if everybody was there to see him and

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Darren Peterson square off, and it was almost like he

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was I don't know if he was waiting or if

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he was like, let the game come to me sort

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of attitude. But I just think you need to set

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AJ down and tell him, man, we're we're counting on you.

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This is you know, this is the year. We got

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one year with you. We need everything you've got. Uh

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this year and uh, And that was that was lacking

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against Kansas For whatever reason.

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Speaker 2: J Drew des red News here on ESPN the Fan

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talking to b y U Basketball. Look, I feel like

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were you at the game. Did you do the interview

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post game?

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Speaker 3: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I was there. I was the one that asked Kevin

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about the second half where he said he was going

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to throw off if anybody brought up again. So Kevin

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is the great guy, but man, after they lose, he's uh,

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he's he doesn't want to he doesn't want a little bit.

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I mean, there have been worse. I mean, Mark Pope

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wasn't mister congenialogy after they lost either. So I'm not

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I'm not saying Kevin's alone in that. Every coach is

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I I've rarely met a coach who could smile after

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a loss.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt about it. Where does b YU go

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from here?

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Speaker 2: It's I was chatting with Brett and Ronald about the

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uh they kind of they were kind of alluding to, Hey,

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these were the marquee matchups, these were the big games,

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and by you fell short in these marquee uh, you know,

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I guess they would be these like uh exclamation points

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to your resume if you will, are there still opportunities

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to make a uh to get the best seating available

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in the NCAA tournament.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there's plenty. There's a I would call it

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signature wins or quad one A wins. But obviously they

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got to play Texas Tech again, they got to play

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Houston on Saturday, they got to play they play at Arizona.

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I mean right, there's three, three huge ones. They got

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Iowa State coming in. That's another one. They're at their top.

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I think they're back in the top ten or close

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to it. So yeah, that's the thing about the Big twelve,

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like Kevin mentioned after the game, is the blessing and

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a curse you got, you know, having said that, they

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cannot afford to look past any of these other team

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means Oklahoma State's pretty good. They got to play them

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in steel Water. It's a team that went I think

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twelve and one in the non conference, didn't play a

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real difficult non conference schedule. But obviously they went up

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and beat beat Utah worse than BYU beat Utah at Utah.

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This is past weekend, So yeah, there are plenty of opportunities,

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But there are plenty of land mines. There's plenty of

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ways to if they if they don't take care of business,

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they look past somebody, or they just don't bring it

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on a certain night, they could lose a game they

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shouldn't lose, and that's going to hurt them as well.

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Speaker 3: Let's stock some football, shall we jay this? Uh?

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Speaker 2: Well, hard on one last thing here, seating wise, where

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do you predict this team will be as far as

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seating is concerning the NCAA And we got it, we

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got them on, we got time, we can win games,

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et cetera. But right now, what does it seem like?

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What's the what's the trend? What's the trajectory.

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Speaker 1: Looks like there right now? Right around a four seed?

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I I think, you know, I think there's opportunities to

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move up, but I'll also, like I mentioned before, to

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move down. But I think they're going to finish at

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a four. I think, I think, you know, I think

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if they finish worse than a four, like get a

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five or six seed, I think that's a got to

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be called a disappointing season, or at least, you know,

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before the tournament starts and all that happens. But that's

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got to be as that's going to be a disappointment

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if they don't get a four or better. Just because

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of all the hype and you know, they hey, this

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is a one time thing this year. They've got you know,

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who knows what's going to be happened next year. They're

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not obviously not going to have a j next year.

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They're not going to have Richie, They're not going to

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have Kakata. Who knows what Rob Wright's going to do,

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who knows what Cannar Davis is going to do. But

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this is their year. This it's got to happen this

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year for b y U and you know, this whole

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Final four or bust and all that. But so I'm

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saying if they're they're not better than a four a

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four seat or better. It's it's just been a disappoint

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up to that point.

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Speaker 3: Jay Talking Football.

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Speaker 2: B YU has made their hires official BYU Football, replacing

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Jenne with Guildford and Jay Hill and acquiring a couple

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of new coaches elevating others. Give me a reaction to

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the news show coach Chad Kay taking outside edge and

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outside linebackers, Justin Enna is going to be solely focused

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on special teams. It sounds like Kelly Peping is going

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to be the decordinator and take inside linebackers, and then

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you got Lewis Clark at cornerbacks coach, and then Damario

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Warren safety's coach and passing game coordinator.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's a solid staff. I think it's

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interesting that they put Justin Anna over on special teams.

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You know, I'm not sure Kelly Peepinga's obviously was really

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good in that role and can maybe help him out

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there a little bit while he's still doing the decordinator.

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But that was a mild surprise to me. But yeah,

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I think it's a good the Lewis h what's his

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last name, that Lewis. He came from Monmouth. But I

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actually covered him in high school when he played at

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Judge Memorial of all places, and then went on to

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play at Hawaii and then at University of Utah. So

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that's how long I've been around, is uh. I remember

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that guy from way back when he played high school football.

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But I think it's a good staff, and I think

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they're ready to pick up, you know, to not skip

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a beat losing Jay Hill to Michigan. I think they'll

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be fine there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's uh, you wonder, right, like there's a lot

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of fear when Jay Hill and Junaro left. What were

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the repercussions, like, what was lost?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 2: What type of impact did that move of Kylewindeham to

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Michigan have on b YU football?

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Speaker 3: Would you say?

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Speaker 1: I think I think they were able to mitigate the damages.

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If a couple of players have gone with with Jay

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to Michigan, I think I think a lot of YU

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fans would have been pretty upset and maybe even devastated.

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If maybe that's a bit too too harsh, but I

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think I would have heard him if you know, if

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they had lost some of these stars like Platow and

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Isaiah Glasker and you know, maybe Evan Johnson, I don't

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I don't know who else might have even considered it.

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But yeah, the fact that they really lost one guy,

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and that was a backup linebacker.

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Speaker 3: Uh.

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Speaker 1: Was was you know? It could have been much worse,

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I guess, is what I'm trying to say. So yeah,

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I think, you know, obviously those two gentlemen that you

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just mentioned, Hill and Gopher are going to be missed.

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I mean, both of them are really gonna be hard

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to replace, but but I think they're I think they're

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going to be fine.

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Speaker 2: Bottom line, What what's your way too early feeling about

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this BUA football team in twenty twenty six, the preseason

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ranked top twenty five. What type of way too early,

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like win loss field do you get right now?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, so much can

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happen even when you have the same personnel almost I

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think they've done pretty well in the transfer portal of

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addressing some needs. I still think they need a big

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time receiver, but but those, you know, don't grow on trees,

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so I think I think they're poised in prying to

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repeat what they've done in the past two years. There's

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some really really tough games. Obviously they don't have to

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play texts tech, which is you know, going to be

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a relief for a lot of people. That game at

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Utah is going to be really hard, obviously playing there

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in early November. But I think that a lot of

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winnable games, though I expect them to be five and

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oh when they played Notre Dame, I think they I

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think that's a reasonable outlook. And then you know, if

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Notre Dame's also undefeated, that that's going to be the

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game of the week and maybe even of the season

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for college football, and it's going to happen in Provo, Utah.

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So I think there's a lot to look forward to,

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and I think he's got it going. And yeah, I'm

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I'm not the usual e or you guys like to

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tease me about. I I'm just pretty bullish on this,

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on this team, I you know, I'm I think they

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can keep it going. I don't see any reason why

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they couldn't.

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Speaker 2: It's uh, yeah, yeah, I poke at you every one.

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I don't call you e or though I call Brandon

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grinny Eu. Yeah, you know, i'd call you maybe more

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of like you know, I mean, you're you're a realist,

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pragmatist with a slight hint of negativism. Sure, sure, there's

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probably some negativism every once in a while.

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Speaker 1: I've been in that business thirty five years. So I

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got a healthy dose of skepticism with everything I see

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read and uh, I don't even believe my own eyes sometimes.

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Speaker 3: So a healthy dose of skepticism. I love it, man.

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Speaker 2: Uh, Jay, what have you been working on over the

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desrat News? What can you tease us with? What are

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you gonna be writing about here?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm just writing a little signing day preview for

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you know, signing day Wednesday, although it doesn't look like

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by he's going to sign anybody new football wise, but

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just kind of a recap of where they are on

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the national team rankings and how this is one of

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the best classes, if not the best class and recruiting

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classes in BYU history. So I got that coming out tomorrow,

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and then obviously Wednesday, I'll have another signing day story.

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And then Jackson Payne, my colleague, is heading out to

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steel Water. He's going to give me a little break

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from traveling with BYU, so he's going to do that game.

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But then I'll be back at it with Houston coming

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to town on Saturday. So that's kind of what my

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week will look like.

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Speaker 3: Love it man, Well appreciate you hopping on.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned best recruiting class, maybe the best recruiting class

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in BYU football history. It seems like BYU football one

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of the reasons why you're really you're really bullish on

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these team is because they're trending in the right direction.

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Speaker 3: I was looking at eras you know.

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Speaker 2: The best airon BUA football history was seventy nine to

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nineteen eighty five.

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Speaker 3: Second best era.

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Speaker 2: Was like six to twenty and eleven or even five

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to twenty eleven. You won a lot of games, top

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twenty five finishes, double digit win seasons.

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Speaker 3: It seemed like every single year.

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Speaker 2: The third best era, okay, is the era we're living

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in right now, twenty twenty to twenty twenty five, with

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an argument to be made right that that this is

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the second best era in BYU football has history. Do

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you agree with that assessment or is there another era

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that I'm missing?

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Speaker 1: No, I think that's I think he nailed that. I

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think that two thousand and six to twenty eleven, you know,

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the Max Hall, Dennispit, Austin Coley, Harvey Unga. That was

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when I kind of first got on the beat two

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thousand and eight, and I would say that given the

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degree of difficulty and the schedule with being in the

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Big twelve, that I would probably make a case that

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the era they're in right now might be able to

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edge that one out. I'd have to kind of go

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back and dissect it a little bit more, but just

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I just don't think you can discount the BYU in

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the last three years has played three of the most

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difficult schedules in school history because of Power Forward memberships,

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So that that would be the only thing that would

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bring this group to number two over that that group

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from Maxall's era.

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Speaker 2: J Drew follow him on x and read all of

401
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his content at the des Rednews des Rednews dot com.

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Speaker 3: Thanks so much, Jay, appreciate your brother.

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Speaker 1: All right, thanks for having me on there.

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Speaker 3: Go.

405
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Speaker 2: That was a cougar beat, A great cougar beat, one

406
00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:40,480
of the best cougar beats, maybe the best cougar beat.

407
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Speaker 3: We've ever had.

408
00:20:41,079 --> 00:20:44,599
Speaker 2: Shout out to j Drew from the Desert Red News.

409
00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:46,400
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brief time out. It's a February second Monday edition of

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Cougar Sports and we got more content on the docket.

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00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:38,480
Much to get, too much to break down. Don't miss

425
00:21:38,519 --> 00:21:43,000
it BYU football discussion coming up next John Beck, former

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00:21:43,079 --> 00:21:47,640
BYU Great Quarterbacks coach, Quarterback Whisper quarterback scientists will join

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00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:49,759
us next. This is Cougar Sports on one of three

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00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:51,400
nine ninety eight point three Yes,