Speaker 1: World of Cougar Athletics.
Speaker 2: Here from players, coaches and experts on all the latest
happenings with the Krugers.
Speaker 3: Welcome back in the Sports one of three nine ninety
eight point three ESPN the Fan. I'm been Colonel broadcasting
from our ultimate tailgamer just south of Lavelle Eedwards Stadium
at the Swig.
Speaker 1: Come on buy the Loo Royal Army brand.
Speaker 3: He's in attendance. We have Breck Tech out here cooking
up a storm.
Speaker 1: Getting yourself.
Speaker 3: Get yourself some delicious and nutritious pulled pork. We love
giving you Cougar Sports commentary prior to kickoff. We appreciate
you being a part of our pregame show, the Holy War.
Speaker 1: Edition of the Pregame Show.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a fantastic event tonight at Leavell Edwards Stadium,
six pm kickoff.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be on Fox.
Speaker 3: If you're not attending the game, it's a sold out
crowd over sixty four thousand. We'll converge on this fantastic venue,
a legendary venue. But if you are watching it from home,
it should be great. Jason Bennetti's on the play by play.
Robert Griffin is the analyst and then Alexa Landstoy is
the sideline reporter guys. Kyle Whittingham in his twenty first year.
He is a BYU alum. Okay, his career record won
seventy two and eighty seven and he's been I mean,
it's inarguable he is the greatest head coach in Utah
football history. Kyle Whittingham versus BYU in the rovaly. Since
taking over as head coach, He's got eleven wins, five losses.
By hoping to hand out his six loss this season.
Head coach Kalani Sataki in his tenth year for BYU.
He was an alum in two thousand. His career record
seventy eight and forty three and he is two and
four in the rivaly with two straight wins. He is
hoping to give Kyle whitting Kyle Whittingham his third straight loss.
BYU is not favored in this home game. They have
a home field advantage with the roar of the Cougars
and the Royal Army showing up. But BYU is a
three and a half point dog and the over under
I believe is at forty nine and a half now.
Speaker 1: It opened at forty seven and a half.
Speaker 3: Now, ESPN Analytics does give Byu a slight favorite, as
it puts him as a slight favorite in this game,
but only fifty point six. It's a it's a it's
a toss up, it's a it's a coin flick by
but which, by the way, Byu has won most of
those those coin tosses this season. So as far as
an injury report is concerned, Byu has a few injuries here.
Marcus McKenzie, that one hurts, especially with your punt cover team.
He's been an MVP on that punk cover Jojo Phillips
out Shae Brian Straw the linebacker out, Shionimo a running
back out, Tommy Prass's defensive back out doubtful is Raider
De Mooney and DC Purcell is probable. And then on
the Utah side Rabbit Evans, Nate Richie both safeties with
starting experience. Nate Richie a big loss or the ut
Stage' and Zipper wide receiver that's a loss for them,
Hunter Andrews tight end, Josh Sovereign safety so three safeties
out d n Paul Fitzgerald, linebacker Grady Morecco, and offensive
lineman Isaiah Garcia all out. This is the ninety seventh
meeting of the BYU and Utah teams, and Utah is
winning the rivalry right now, but since nineteen seventy two,
BYU's winning the rivalry.
Speaker 1: Since Levell took over.
Speaker 3: We have a former BYU great on the line to
give us some of his keys to the game.
Speaker 1: What do you got for me, Vig Graham.
Speaker 4: Arizona State up six nothing on Texas Tech close to
the end of the second course, seven minutes.
Speaker 1: Just the mic up in front of you a little
bit there, buddy, six.
Speaker 4: Nothing Arizona State in the second quarter with just seven
minutes left.
Speaker 3: There you go, Well, maybe ASU will cause a little
chaos in the Big twelve.
Speaker 1: Look, there's gonna be cannibalism everywhere.
Speaker 3: There's more parody in college football than there's ever been,
and I do believe that can be attributed to the
free market.
Speaker 1: The il, the transfer portal.
Speaker 3: You know, yeah, there is an element of like you know,
the upper restaurant that are paying more than any other
schools in Texas Tech has stated they they paid a
lot this season. So if ASU is able to knock
him off, that will be a goliath being slain by
a David And who better to talk about David and
Goliath than pastor to do we Gray?
Speaker 1: We got de week ray on the Life Former BYU Great.
Do we how you live in? Man?
Speaker 2: I am doing well. Let me tell you what you
are a professional the way you brought that in like
David and Goliath and then have a pastor on Dude,
you should do this for a living.
Speaker 1: Hey, it's just.
Speaker 3: A side hustle right now, but you know, maybe one
day it'll be the full fledged occupation for me. But
do we love and appreciate you? Nobody does it better
than you. I love hearing to you, hearing your sermons,
love hearing you talk ball, and I want to.
Speaker 1: Obviously get keys to the game.
Speaker 3: But let's describe for koup Nation what this rivalry game
meant to you when you were playing in it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so, I'm originally from San Antonio, Texas,
and so my first year I didn't I didn't really
know what was happening. But by my sophomore year, I
knew fully what was happening. We were we were up
at Utah Plan and like a five year old kid
gave me the finger and I was like, man, these
people in Utah. I take this holy war very very seriously. Now,
when I was there the first year we played and
we dropped seventy on them, I was four and zero
against them. But you know now that I get to
look back, so so you know, I love all people,
but I don't like the University of Utah. I want
us to beat them, and I want us to beat
them back. Now, the reality is Utah is a very
very good team. Their offensive line, their defensive line has
a number of NFL players. They are big, they're physical,
they're well coached on defense. Their line backers are incredible.
Smith Snowden, the young man that I'm a big fan of,
is a great corner, great nickel guy, great return guy.
On offense, they've got a dual threat quarterback. They run physically,
they can hurt you in the passing game. And so
this is gonna require one of those special historic moments
where for the freshman quarterback, we make plays we're not
supposed to make, we have hustle plays we're not supposed
to make, and just be incredibly physically physical. When Dan
Pierre runs the ball, every time he runs, he has
to pay attacks. He has to pay attacks, and by
the third quarter, he's ready to come out because he's
been beat up, and so it's gonna require one of
those types of games.
Speaker 3: This game in particular, this rival game in particular, maybe
the most most pivotal. Why would that be, Well, they're
in the same conference. This is only the fourth time
in Holy War history where both teams are ranked. This
has conference championship implications. But not only that, this may
have CFP birth implication as well. With a new expanded,
expanded playoff. What does that mean for BYU? In furthermore,
Kyle Whittingham's on the brink of retirement. If he takes
three straight losses to BYU on his way to retirement,
that is impactful to one's legacy in my opinion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I want to I want to give
Kyle his flowers. Of course, he's a BYU guy, lavelle guys,
so I want to give him his flowers. He learned
from Urban Meyer, he learned from coach Edwards, Utah phenomenal program.
They have done great things. And I don't think if
he loses three in a row to BYU that it
affects his legacy. Maybe in a short term, but in
long term he took that team to the Pac ten
at the time and had a credible run. I do
believe there's more pressure on Utah to win the game
than BYU. And as a result of that early on,
that may create some turnovers for Utah, maybe a bad pass,
maybe a messed up snap, maybe a RPO handoff the
falls on the ground. And so I do think they
have more pressure because you know, they're three and a
half point favorites on the road, So that could play
into BYU's hands. And also it could put a chip
on their shoulders and say, hey, they're coming into our house.
We're six and oho, we've beaten them two times in
a row and we're underdogs. That gives you incredible motivation.
You hit harder, you run faster, you have more endurance,
Your intensity allows you to execute more.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great breakdown, And I do think that
there is a little bit more of a sense of
urgency and more pressure on the University of Utah to
win this game. And you under how that will play
out schematically, personnel allocation wise, implementation wise. Under the lights
of leavel BYU's been really good at home as well
as in night games. They call BYU the Vampire Cougars,
And I don't know, you know objectively what that means. Like,
I don't know why b Way you play so well
at night Any idea on that. I mean, you used
to playing the day games when you guys were dominant.
Any idea why b Way you play so well under
the lights of level in.
Speaker 1: The night games.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the first thing, it starts with the rock.
I mean, the student session section is ridiculous. I think
all eyes are on BYU. I think Kline does a
great job of getting his team prepared to play. And
there's just something special about Lavelle at work stadium at
night with the rock, with the intensity the home BYU's
home crowd is six points right off the gate. And
if they can get b to a lead going in
a halftime because of creating false starts and illegal procedures
and those types of things, that is they are the
twelfth Man.
Speaker 3: Literally, Well, they do great work, there's no doubt about it.
Like the disruption we've seen over the years, especially in
the modern era. Like I don't know how loud Lavelle
was when you were playing, right, Like I wasn't there.
I didn't get to experience that I felt like it
was pretty loud when I was playing, But I.
Speaker 1: Feel like BYU's fan base has taken.
Speaker 3: It to the next level with their investment just vocally
in the game right where they understand, hey, I can
make an impact, I can determine wins and losses by
being a fan in the stadium.
Speaker 1: Would you agree with that assessment?
Speaker 2: I would agree one percent. I've played in front of
some incredible crowds, but what's happening now is legendary. I
think that the BYU crowd, the BYU football home experience
putting college football on notice. Not only is the landscape
the most pristine and beautiful, not only do fans not
get drunk in the stands and go crazy, but they recognize, hey, man,
we are six points right off the bat, and so
this is what I think is gonna happen to that Ben.
I think coach Whittingham is telling his players, listen, BYU
doesn't have the talent we have. They're not as tough
as we are. I think they're gonna line up in
basic football and say we're gonna run the ball down
your throat, and then on defense, I think what they're
gonna do is say, hey, we're gonna rush five play
man to man because your guys can't beat us, and
we're gonna make Bear win the game throwing the ball.
And this is what I think is gonna take place.
I think there's gonna be several plays in which that
takes place. Bears gonna break the break the pocket, break
a tackle, and get twenty something plus yards. I wouldn't
be surprised if he ran for eighty and through for two.
And on defense, we have to create three turnovers. We
need a couple of short fields to get ahead of
them and make Utah one dimensional. And if we do that,
we got a shot to win.
Speaker 3: I love those keys to the game from Dewey Gray
pastor Gray here on ESPN the Fan, Get your preap,
Get you ready for this Holy War, the ninety seventh
Holy War, in this illustrious robbery history.
Speaker 1: You mentioned those are your keys to the game.
Speaker 3: Here, Dewey, A couple last things before we let you go, though,
What if you liked about this BYU football team this year?
Speaker 1: What stands out to you?
Speaker 3: Right, you're a guy that loves the game of ball, Right,
you love football, good high level football. What do you
like about this BAU football team this year.
Speaker 2: Well, on defense, I like the fact that they run
an NFL style defense. I like the intellectual brutality. I
like the team chemistry on offense. I like the way
the team has come around the freshman quarterback. He is
not a normal freshman to back. He has the it factor.
I'm not sure what the it factor is, but when
you see it, you know someone has it. He has
the it factor. And tonight is going to be the
biggest challenge of all. Will the lineman put a little
bit more into blocking, Will the running backs run a
little bit harder, Will the receivers run a little bit more?
Chris routs? And then when the game is on the line,
what is the eighteen year old freshman gonna do? Is
the grizzly bear going to roar? I'm looking forward to
him to roar. I haven't wanted to play in the
football game in about thirty years. Ben. If I was
in my twenties, i'd suit up and I would wreck
you tell like I used to back in the day.
And they know all about that.
Speaker 5: They know do Gray, They know Dewey Gray, those dudes
that had to go head to head with you, They
know what Pastor Gray, what Dewey Gray does on the Gridiron.
Speaker 3: My guy, you just you were slaying Golias all day,
every day as a modern day David in my opinion,
and you continue to pontificate on your platform from your
podium as the pastor of the Transformation Church. Real quick,
give us an update on Transformation Church. What you guys
are doing over.
Speaker 2: There, Hey, Transformation Church is great. We've baptized two hundred
and thirty three people a couple of weeks ago at
a local lake. Our free grocery store serves about five
hundred people per month. We're helping to start churches all
over Europe. And we've also in the last three years
paid off thirty million dollars of medical debt for people
in the Carolina's in need. And man is a it
is a sweet, sweet season.
Speaker 1: Well you know to that point.
Speaker 3: I mean, I've had these discussions internally with friends, with
family members, and I feel like there is a resurgence.
And we've talked about this on the show. Even with
what's happening in Africa, Christianity, people are coming under Christ.
Speaker 1: They see kind of the signs of the times. They're
feeling these.
Speaker 3: Signs at the time, and and they're coming under Christ.
Speaker 1: And I think you're seeing that they're at the Transformation Church.
Speaker 2: Yes, we have seen in the last fifteen years eight
thousand people come to Christ through our ministry, and so
God has been moving powerfully. And I think coming out
of COVID also, I think as people see the other
despair of how divided politics is, how much hate there
is in the world. I think led by young people,
they've seen enough and they're they're saying, I want to
know Jesus. I want to know his love, I want
to know his grace. I want to make an impact
in the world with kindness and love and generosity. And
it's happening.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 3: Man, as Dewey says, as Patrick Gray says, worship the lamb,
not the donkey or the elephant. I love you, Yes,
I appreciate you do we Gray, ladies and gentlemen, thanks
for hopping on for a special additional rivalry edition of
Cougar Sports.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 3: That's Dewy Gray, Ladies and gentlemen. We'll take a brief
time out. We'll be back though. We're live from the
Swig just south of LaBelle Edwards Stadium. Would love to
see you. Come on buy Salo, talk some ball with us,
and get yourself some Royal Army brand gear, the best
bau Lecens apparel in the business.
Speaker 1: Come on buy and get some delicious pulled pork as well.
Speaker 3: Rectech is here feeding all you Cougar fans showing up,
showing out to this special edition, this Holy War edition
of Cougar Sports. Here on one O three to nine
ninety eight point three ESPN.
Speaker 6: This is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel, and it's time
for the Cougar be getting the dish from the local reporters.
Speaker 1: That cover Cougar athletics.
Speaker 3: Welcome back Cougar Sports. One of three, nine ninety eight
point three ESPN.
Speaker 1: The Fan.
Speaker 3: I've been cridinal broadcasting from our band Erwealth Tailgater, our
ultimate Tailgate. He's always brought to you by Banterwealth Banterwealth
dot Com. Get your breath getting you're ready for this
byu Utah.
Speaker 1: Holy War.
Speaker 3: The Holy War is upon us, the ninety seventh Holy
War in in our historic, in illustrious history. And we're
just set up at the South Swig just right down
the street from level Edwards Stadium. We'd love to see you.
We'd love to chat with you. We would love to
get to know you. Come on over and get some
Royal Army brand gear, get some Rectech pulled pork sandwiches,
grab yourself a swig a Monster Energy drink and come
and hang out with us. We're jamming out, having a
good time. We just had two week Gray on the line.
He was fantastic.
Speaker 1: Guys.
Speaker 3: We want to give a big kogaror to all of
our sponsors, which include Banterwealth, banterwellth dot com.
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Speaker 3: If you're looking to save money on your taxes at
the end of the year, then call Blaine Anderson and
his crew at Vanderwealth Banderwealth dot com. They do fantastic work.
We're efforting to get Darnell Dixon doubed on the line.
He give us his keys to the game and score predictions.
But let me break down for you what uh what's
cooking with the cougars right now? As we get your
prep getting ready for this Holy war. Six pm kickoff
obviously it's gonna be on Fox.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: This is a game in which BYU is not favored in.
I am surprised that that Vegas went that way, but
it is what it is there in the betting game.
They aren't in the win loss prediction game. That's not
what they do.
Speaker 2: UH.
Speaker 3: But UH BYU ESPN analytics, UH, they they slightly favored
BYUH in this game. Fifty chance of victory per ESBN Analytics.
Speaker 1: Kyle Whittingham is eleven and five in this UH.
Speaker 3: This robbery game since taking over his head coach in
two thousand and five. Killani is two and four in
the robbery game. Over under set at forty nine and
a half. We chatted with Gurney yesterday. G Man says,
take the under, take.
Speaker 1: The under if you are a betting man. Into report
is out.
Speaker 3: Marcus mcainy, Jojo Phillips, h Bryan Strather, Scioni Mola, Tommy
Prassis all out this game right, and the mooney is
doubtful and Anissi per Sale defensive tackle is probable on
the Utah side. Key contributors in the secondary Rabbit Avans Evans,
excuse me, Nate Ritchie, as well as Josh Sofferin. Three
safeties are out in this game. Wide receiver Taitri and
Zipper is out as well. Dn Paul Fitzgerald, linebacker Grady Moreco,
and offensive lineman Isaiah Garcia all out this game for
the Youths. So BYU is on a two game winning
streak right now, beating the Utes twenty six to seventeen
in provo in twenty twenty one and then last year
twenty two to twenty one at Rice Ecle Stadium. Will
Ferron kicked a forty four yard field goal to win
it in the final seconds on that final drive. What
a glorious game that was, and it was It led
to a bit of a controversy with Mark Harland going
to the podium and complaining about being a part of
the Big twelve, and then he received a ft FT
fine of you know, I don't know how much money
he was one hundred thousand dollars possibly, but crazy times
in this rivalry game, Red versus Blue over forty miles apart,
only forty miles apart, and can't can't wait to see what.
Speaker 1: This rivalry game is going to contribute to the lore.
Speaker 3: Andrew Peterson, you're in my ear. What do we got?
We got Darnell on the line. We'll get him here
on the line. Here momentarily, I have shot. I also
have Sean Walker by my side of KSL dot com. Sean,
how do you see this game playing out tonight under
the lights of levelle oh Man.
Speaker 7: I was just enjoying being a thoughtful listener to this
fine here program, Ben, So thanks for bringing me on.
Speaker 1: Really do appreciate it.
Speaker 7: I love that you bring up both the ESPNFPI the
fifty in favor of BYU versus the Vegas bread minus.
Speaker 1: We're gonna have.
Speaker 7: Points in favor of Utah because that somewhere between those
two dichotomies is where I think this game is going
to wind up. It's gonna be a single. There's a game,
probably a one possession game, probably maybe even a field
goal game, I think very likely, And really flip a
coin as to who as to who wins this one.
Speaker 1: These two teams are so similar, like they.
Speaker 7: Are almost mirror images of each other right now, both
built around a really strong run game. One has a
slightly better offensive line. One probably has a slightly better tailback,
if you will. Quarterbacks are both first year playing their
first year in at their current schools, first year in
this rivalry game, both laying on their defenses very heavily.
Like these two teams are so similar that I agree
with Brandon Gurney take the under. I also see this
being very much a field goal.
Speaker 1: Type of game. Let's get out to the hotline.
Speaker 3: Welcome in Darnell Dixon the Daily Heraldean for a little
Cougar beat and he's gonna provide some insight into this
rivalry game.
Speaker 1: Darnell, how you living.
Speaker 6: And I'm living and getting ready to head on over
to the stadium for what I hope is another classic
BYU Utah game. Why not?
Speaker 3: What do you recall about that? I mean you you've
been covering the kop for a long time. You were
a student once upon a time here in Provo.
Speaker 1: How would you describe the rivalry? What do you remember
about growing up in the rivalry?
Speaker 6: Well, I didn't really grow up in the rivalry because
I grew up in Oregon and I was familiar with BYU.
But obviously at that point, way back in the olden days,
I didn't get cable TV in my house, never had it.
I had some friends in town who had it. First BYU.
Game I ended up seeing was an ABC Classic against
San Diego State on a Saturday afternoon where BYU won
by like sixty points and San Diego Chicken was entertaining
everyone by by carrying the ball. But I didn't really
get a look at the by Utai rivalry until I
came here to BYU, And at that point, the Cougars
were pretty much ruling the roost and had won a
bunch of games in a row and kind of dominated
the rivalry. And we've seen over the years how that's
kind of changed, gone back and forth, and right now
DYU has a couple of game edge and the Utah
on once since twenty nineteen, they haven't played each other
every year. But the thing I'm most grateful for, and
you know, I talked to Riley Jensen, our good, good
friend of the program this week about the story I
was working on about mental health during by Utah weekend.
He said, you know, we should just be really glad
that we still have this rivalry. And you know how
much of an old school guy I am when it
comes to college football, and I'm just glad the Cougars
and youth are back on schedule to play each other
every year. It is what college football should be all about.
And so I'm excited for the opportunity to cover another
Yu Utah game that invariably goes down to the end
of the game, somebody makes a play here or there,
and we end up talking about it for another year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the national pundit's chiming in on this particular robber
game this year day Fortnoy at Big New Kickoff picking
the Utes, saying Vegas knows all Vegas has sold itself
to the devil and they are picking Utah.
Speaker 1: Therefore he will pick Utah.
Speaker 3: Yet game Day Game Day Crew Desmond Howard says, BYU,
Nick saban Utah, Pat mcv BYU. Jelly Roll picked BYU
in then Kirk Heursery picks b Yu. I don't know
if it's a good sign or a bad sign that
the national media is split on this particular rivalry game.
Speaker 6: Well, I was reading a story about Fortnoy. Apparently when
he was just out of college he lost like forty
thousand dollars betting on sports. So I don't know if
I take his line with lack of Vegas, but I
feel like, you know the national media yet why this
is such a big rivalry. In our experience, we know
whether Comb or Away doesn't really have that big of
an inspect I don't think on the game, it's just
a matter of who's going to play the clean the
ball and who's going to make a play when it
needs to be made. And so far this season, Bay
He's been able to do that. Past few games have
been closer than EYU fans would have liked, but the
Cougars figure out a way to win it and make
the plays, and so I expect today to be a
similar type situation. I think utuahd a pretty good football team.
When they lost to Texas Tech early in the season,
I think that that was a blow for them, and
I think the fans that followed BUYU were thinking, oh,
Utah's really beatable, and then Utah has been really good
since then. So I think that anybody who picks Utah
has seen how they've played the last several games, and
then when they pick BYU, they think it's a home
a little bit of a homefield advantage, and the Cougars
have found a way to win certain games. So I'm
not surprised to see them a little bit split when
it comes to the national media and this rivalry.
Speaker 3: How do you see this game playing out tonight outder
the lights of Lavelle double d.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know. One of the things that popped into
my mind the other day was nine to nothing and
Welfare and kicks three field goals. But I don't think
that's what's going to happen. I feel like Byu needs
to force Devin Dampier to beat them over the top
with some longer throws. If the Cougars can slow down
the running game for Utah, and that's the big chort.
Utah has been running the ball really well and their
offensive line is very highly regarded. If by is helping
up a defense and they can slow down the run
game and force some second, third and longs, which pretty
much is every game. But I think that might be
an a key in this one.
Speaker 8: And another thing.
Speaker 6: That's happened in the last couple of games is the
Cougar's turn the ball over and they need to limit
the amount of turnovers. And it seems like Utah manages
to get the Cougars to turn the ball over a
couple of times and make some key mistakes in games.
And if you go get last year's game BYU did
not play well in the first half at all and
came back with a better second half. Of course, the
kick return for testdown help, but it's it's just with
this game, we just don't know what We don't know
until we see what happens in the first half and
and what happens for the end of the game. So
that's kind of my thought process as I head over there.
Speaker 3: What did you make of at Big Noon Kickoff, all
the BYU fans uh heaping booze all over Urban Meyer
and then furthermore, the the sign of the day Elder Oaks,
President Oaks, the profits here in Red Lady, Now the
Tour Jesus Christ of Latter j is getting aied a
bit with a U's down sign he got was it, Tyler?
I don't know who was the b YU fan? Was
he got a five hundred dollars UH check for issuing that.
That's that sign for all of the Cougar football in
college football world to behold.
Speaker 1: Give me your thoughts.
Speaker 6: Well, I feel like both b y U and Utah
fans were really appreciative of Big Noon Monday or Big
Neon Saturday coming and the kickoff show. And I read
somewhere earlier in the week that Utah was going to
try to take it over and bring four hundred of
folks down to kind of see if they could dround
out the Cougars. And BYU love staffing the national media here.
They love being able to take that national spotlight, and
it's just part of this great rivalry when you put
it together and you let people know. I mean, I
grew up watching Ohio State, Michigan, and USC Notre Dame
in Florida, Florida State, and those were all really good rivalries.
But I started thinking this week, I don't follow those
teams as closely as I followed By, obviously because it's
my job. But I can't imagine there's a lot of
guys on the Ohio State staff that originally coached in Michigan,
for a lot of players that played in Michigan and
transferred to Oho State. You just have this really interesting,
unique atmosphere for By and Utah because it's so integrated
within itself and the coaching staff and the players and
so all this hooplah. I'm glad it's six o'clock game.
I don't know if I'd wait another couple hours to
get this one going.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Darnell, it's interesting that you bring up the hashtag
you take over. I think they were calling it because
I was down here for a big kick off early
this morning, And don't get a twisted like there were
a lot of Utah fans that most of them probably
made the drive forty minutes south on I fifteen to
get here nice and early. They were scrolling in a
lot of them were kind of scrolling in with me
right around five thirty six am, two hours before the
broadcast started, and they met a big group of BYU
fans and mostly students probably that were kind of camping overnight.
But I agree with you, like it didn't look like
as much of a takeover. I've been hearing all of
these things, and you've been around this rivalry long enough
to know that, Like, even when you think you have
home field advantage, you don't always have as much home
field as advantage as you might believe. There was a
lot of blue at Rice Cycle Stadium last year. There's
a good chance there's gonna be a lot of red
down here at LS this year. How big of an
impact do you think that plays into this one? Or
are these two teams that have been. Are we to
the point of the season where these two teams have
been on the road, they've seen hustle crowds enough where
maybe they can block that out a little bit better
than you know, guys like you and I like to
talk about over the radio.
Speaker 6: I think the home field advantage is negated a little
bit by the fact that this wave of emotion that
goes to the stadium really works both ways. And not
only are the BYU fans cheering really loudly when something
good happens, but they're rolling their eyes and throwing their
hands on their head when something back. So it's just
this wave of emotion that goes through the whole stadium,
and certainly the Utah fans that fill that corner are
going to provide some of that. But it's just it
just seems like the home field advantage in this rivalry
is not as big a deal as it could be.
And some of it's the location and some of it
is just there's going to be a lot of Utah
fans that will make sure that their their players know
they're there and when they make a good play, that'll
get them out of their seats as well.
Speaker 8: M I lost me too, okays.
Speaker 1: Welcome back Cougar Sports.
Speaker 3: One of three nine ninety eight point three ESPN the
Fan I've met Prittal broadcasting from our South Swig location
just just south of Level over in stadium, Stop by slow.
Speaker 1: Our Royal Army Brand is in attendance.
Speaker 3: We got some great BYU lights apparel created by fans
fore fans State loyal to the Royal Repping. Why the
Right Way port to sell your Bway lights to apparel,
Royal Army Brand dot com. Shout out also to Banterwealth,
banterwellth dot com and our Ultimate Tailgator broadcasting from the
Swig location. We got some college football games behind us.
We do want to get like a college football update
here momentarily all the scores coming out of the college
football world. I don't know if ap if you got
an update for me or not taking a look at
all the scores coming across the college football ticker. Let's
get that here momentarily as well. But Darnell Dixon still
on the line, Double D. Sorry about the technical difficulties, doubleed.
Speaker 6: How you live it, buddy, living a will probably some
you fan messing with the radio season, right ah?
Speaker 3: Right man, Yeah, we got you fans here locally disrupting
our connectivity. They don't want truth being bestowed upon all
of Cougar Nation. No sands or butts about this, but
give us a little score prediction.
Speaker 1: How do you see this.
Speaker 3: Game playing out under the lights of Levelle tonight six
pm kickoff? Yeah.
Speaker 6: I think both teams are really well established as far
as a running attack, and probably comes down to who
can slow down the other team. B Wa, you've been
able to get good yardage from LG. Martin he was
the big twelfth player Offensive Player of the Year of
the week rather after his one hundred and sixty plus
performance last week, and Baron Bachmeier as that plus one
kind of running part of the game. We got to
account for him and hopefully that opens up some other
things for the Cougar offense. And you know, Devin dan
Pier has been putting up a lot of yards run
the ball at quarterback for Utah. So I think both
defensive lines are going to be challenged and I think
whoever is able to slow down the other team a
little bit more the running game might end up winning
that game.
Speaker 3: Well as far as health is concerned. For the most part,
both teams are are fairly healthy. Out of the injury
report that you've seen, which team has the competitive advantage
as far as health is concerned, I.
Speaker 6: Guess you mentioned from what I've seen, obviously, Pileot Winningham
is keeping some of those minor injuries to himself or
ones that may or may not keep a player out.
He decided that he doesn't need to provide a full
injury report. But as far as vous concerns, I think
that they're as healthy as they're going to get this
time of the year. And from what I've seen Raider
Do Mooney won't play, but Jack Kelly will and that's
a big deal. I think that Jack will make a
difference out there for the tutors. And so yeah, who
knows by U in Utah. They they are very physical
with each other. So this could be a game that
could put a toll on either team that could last
maybe more than just one or two games.
Speaker 3: If Kyle Withhiam doesn't get a win tonight at Lavelle
Edwards Stadium, does he come back in twenty twenty.
Speaker 6: Six, I'm sure he'd be tempted. I mean, I feel
like the way he's reacted to the media question this week,
a little bit, Henre. I think he's not happy with
not having beaten the Cougar since twenty nineteen, and it's
going to put that into his players to get out
and play well. And he would love to go out.
They've already picked, you know, a coach and waiting for him,
so he knows that the team will be taken care
of when he decides to leave, and that'll be something
Obviously he'll think more about the end of the season.
But I certainly think that's a big deal, maybe a
bigger deal than normal for him to get a win
in this rivalry game tonight.
Speaker 3: Twenty of the last twenty four BYU Utah matchups have
been decided by single digits. This is a very close,
very competitive rivalry game. I'm sure it will become that
once again tonight. It'll be one for the ages, maybe
the biggest rivalry game in modern era history. Why because
of the implications of conference championship and maybe even CFP birth.
Because both of these teams are ranked, both of them
are in the same conference, would you conclude, I mean,
this was one of four games in the last you know,
thirty or forty years that both teams are ranked and
have an opportunity to win either a conference championship and
now with the expanded playoff, they could get to a CFP.
Speaker 6: Birth And more so than just the fact that both
teams are ranked, so that's happened before occasionally in this rivalry,
what really accounts for to me, what the biggest thing
is that these are both two Big twelve football teams
that have a chance to make the College Football Playoffs
and they can earn it. I mean it doesn't have
to be you know, when Utah was going undefeated when
they're playing in the Mountain West Conference, they had to
get voted in and they didn't have access like they
wanted and BYU have never had access until they joined
the Big Twelve. That would make this even a more
important game I think is that both teams have access
if they win out, if they win the right games,
they can get in. They don't have to wait around
and feel like they're they're not getting the the you
know what they deserve from you know, whatever entity is
deciding who goes where they can earn it on the field,
and this is a big game and and moving towards
that for either team.
Speaker 3: My guy double d Darnell Dixon nobody does it better
follow him on x at Darnell Wright's read all of
his content at The Daily Herald. Darnell, we appreciate you
man as always, thanks for hopping on.
Speaker 6: All right, guys, we'll see it tonight.
Speaker 3: All right, we got a little college football update. We
got a score update by chance. Okay, let's go and
give it to us. What do you got, Cram, make
sure that mic is front of your mouth so you
can speak to all of kugarnation.
Speaker 1: Give me some updates on scores. All right.
Speaker 4: We have the number one Ohio State buck guys up
twenty seven nothing in the third quarter. Just going into
the fourth quarter, we have number three Indiana up twenty
eight ten on Michigan State in a big game that's
going on right now. We have the old miss Running
Rebels up thirty five twenty six on number six Georgia.
And then the big one in the big in the
Big twelve, we have Arizona State at halftime up nine
to seven on the Texas Tech Red Raiders, uh Texas
A and up Texas A and m up seven to three.
And then in the Big twelve, we had some big games.
Speaker 1: Uh, we had Let's see we had.
Speaker 3: Let me give you an update on some Big Twelve scores.
Baylor TCU forty two to thirty six. That was a
final u U of a hey Houston. Houston ended up
edging out the Wildcats thirty one to twenty eight, UCF
forty five thirteen over the West Virginia Mountaineers. Those are
some of the news and notes coming out of the
Big Twelve in the college football world. Here on your
Utah ESPN Readio network, We'll be back Cougarnation. We're gonna
welcome in Tim mctire to the show, former BYU defensive
back to discuss this rivalry game, what.
Speaker 1: It means to him and some of his keys to
the game.
Speaker 3: We're live from LaBelle Edward Stadium, just south of Level
Edwards Stadium. At the swig stop by Saal get some
Royal Army Brand gear PYU swag created by fans four
fans always stay loyal to the Royal rep Why the
right way purchase should be where your le likest peril
at Royal Army Brand dot College. Shout out to Banter
Wealth and the Utah Tailgators here the ultimate Tailgator here
at Banterwealth, Banterwealth Dot com We'll go to break, don't
go anywhere more to get to This is Cougar Sports
on win A three nine ninety eight point three ES