Speaker 1: S S.
Speaker 2: S S.
Speaker 3: Our listeners get this playbook for tax smart wealth advisement.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been tremendous. It's a great way to get
a look under the hood. See a few of the
strategies that we as a private wealth management firm implement
for accredited investors, for high networth investors. And it's something
that we've made available to listeners to get access to
a bandwalth tax smart playbook. See if there's some strategies
that apply for individuals here, especially as we wind down
this twenty twenty five calendar year. It's been great, wonderful resource.
Speaker 3: Well, I want to get into some college football stats
before we get into the playbook, and I am gonna
ask you, do you have a playbook to get BYU
into the top ten of the college football rankings. That's
what we really need right now, along with saving money
on Texas Currently college football playoff rankings. They dropped yesterday
Ohio State at number one, Indiana at number two, Texas
A and M number three, Georgia four, Texas Tech five,
Oregon six, Ole Miss seven Oklahoma. These are the two
loss teams ahead of BYU. Oklahoma nine and two at
eight Notre Dame at nine, nine and two, and then
University of Alabama ninety two at ten, BYU at eleven
Miami a two loss.
Speaker 4: Miami team ended up.
Speaker 3: Jumping the University of Utah because Utah almost almost lost
to Kansas State, so they get jumped Utah sitting at
ninety two at number thirteen, Vanderbilt at fourteen, Michigan at fifteen,
and Texas at sixteen. USC drops after losing to Oregon
but not very far, Virginia at eighteen, Tennessee at nineteen,
Arizona State at twenty, SMU at twenty one, Pitt at
twenty two, twenty three at is Georgia Tech, the Tulane Wave,
and Jake Retzlof at twenty four, and then U of
A a twenty five Big twelve's got five teams in
the college Football playoff rankings, and BYU's at eleven. My
question for our other guests, that's on the line BYU
quarterback McKay Hillstad Okay, I want to talk to McKay here. McKay,
welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us for a
let's talk about stat segment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, of course, excited to be on. Appreciate you
appreciate you guys.
Speaker 3: Yes, indeed love talking ball with McKay Hillstead. He's been
on the show a number of times. So McKay BYU's
at eleven right, And I know you guys try to
block out the noise of the rankings and just focused
on the task at hand.
Speaker 4: How do you guys do that?
Speaker 3: How would you describe the culture within that locker room?
Speaker 4: It's all this stuff is going on around you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think in the position that we're.
Speaker 5: In right now, where we're in control of our own
destiny and you know, if we want to be where
we're at the playoff rankings and you know, in the
Big Fault Championship, what it comes down to is really
just winning this week's game. So I think it's pretty
easy to dial in everybody's focus and focus on beating
UCF and really just going one week at a time,
because you know, in reality, if we if we were
about anything, worry about anything else, and you know, we
might not be where we want to be. So just
focusing one week at a time is I think is
really big for our program. That's something that Kiloney preaches
is just you know, dialing in focusing on the task
at hand, which is UCS.
Speaker 3: Love and learning, staying humble, staying hungry, folks, focusing on
the task at hand, next game, next man up type
of mentality. How can you guys take care of business
versus UCF at home?
Speaker 4: What does the scouting reports say about UCF?
Speaker 5: Yeah, so defensively lot themand the man. They're not super Uh,
they don't run a bunch of different average is necessarily,
but the ones that they do run, they do a
good job at their They're a good defense. I think that,
you know, pretty similar to how our defense works, you know,
running a lot of man and man coverage. I think
we have a good feel of how to attack that.
So I think we'll be really good. We'll be really
good this week. And I think our game plan is
is set to win one on one matchups and then
times when they do goes.
Speaker 2: On to.
Speaker 5: Attack those areas where defenders are not so yeah.
Speaker 4: Well that breakdown.
Speaker 3: I know we talk a lot of tax smart wealth
advisement and tax planning here with our banter wealth. Let's
talk about stats segment. But if B y U was
to get another shot at Texas Tech in a in Arlington,
in a neutral setting, what do you think the game
plan would be, what would change what happened versus Texas
Tech the first go around?
Speaker 2: It?
Speaker 3: What do you expect to be changed the second go
around if you guys got that opportunit ready.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think a big thing is, you know, you
talk about a neutral side. I think you know, obviously
Bayu travels, I don't. I mean, I don't know if
anybody travels as.
Speaker 4: Well as Buyu.
Speaker 5: You know, So if I bet that a good portion
of that stadium will be will be filled with Royal Blue,
and obviously that helps. And I think what it comes
down to is just you know, we always have a
good game plan each and every week, so just going
out there and executing. I think last time we're in
Lubbock just you know, a couple of things here and
there that you know, it was just a little bit
difficult to sustain drives. But I think that the games
that we've played past that point have have really helped
us and got our team to focus in on really
just executing and doing what it's called on each and
every play. And I think that that's gonna that's gonna
help us, you know, if we get that opportunity.
Speaker 3: So yeah, yeah, there's a couple of things that like
what I noticed when you know, the first go around
at Tech in Lubbick, it seemed like they were maybe uh,
you know, injecting a little bit of audio into the stadium.
I'm sure it's loud down there with the fans, but
they they were, they were very disruptive.
Speaker 4: They're at the stadium.
Speaker 3: It seems like b YU went a lot of max
pro you know, definitely respecting that defensive front of Texas.
Tex they have a great defensive front.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: They spent a lot of money uh on that defensive front.
But uh, and Gili has also said, hey, we may
have to just kind of trust our offensive line a
little bit and let let uh bear air it out
a little bit. Would you say that that's an accurate
depiction of what happened in Lubbock and what could happen
in the the second go around if that does occur.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I'd say so.
Speaker 5: I mean, obviously, with the with the d line that
they have, you wanna do you want to prep and
you want to have a game plan that's gonna it's gonna.
Speaker 4: Help with protection.
Speaker 5: But I think that you know, a shout out to
our lot I mean, I feel like it just sat
almost every week when we go over some of the
stats from the week is that there were no sacks
or no sacks given up.
Speaker 2: And I think we.
Speaker 5: Have a really good ol Ligne with a bunch of
skilled players. So I think putting putting trusting those guys
to lock down their defensive lineman wouldn't wouldn't be you know,
crazy by any means. I think we got a really
good line. So getting more people out I think would
help as well. You know, we go max Pro, you're
not going to get as many guys out and you're
gonna struggle with holding down a flat defender things like that.
So I think that in our next game, if we
do a little bit more of that, I think that
I think that'd be good, just trusting our OH line
and trusting our receivers to get open.
Speaker 3: So l Jack wasn't fully healthy either in that h
in that Tech game he only got ten tots. He
just got thirty two in this last game. How pivotal
could ljb if he's fully healthy in Arlington.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you know, I think we saw in
that Cincinnati game. You know that LJ is able to
completely take over a game, So establishing the run and
against against tech is obviously going to be important. That
opens up our play action game and really just opens
up our whole offense. So having LJ at full speed
and at full go, we'll be super beneficial for our
team just because he's such an integral piece to our offense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm excited to see what LJ could do in
the in the second go around being one hundred percent healthy. Look,
we talk a lot about game planning and playbooks on
the football field, but Blaine, I want to welcome you
back in. You guys got a tax smart wealth planning playbook.
Most people McKay's age, they don't really know what that means.
Can you explain a little bit about what tax smart
wealth planning actually is and what are some of the
tax smart wealth strategies you guys use to help clients.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, especially as we were getting McKay and I were
talking off the air, we were talking about life off the
field and how business and strategies like this are probably
the next best thing when it comes to maintaining that
same level of adrenaline but also applying strategy. So there's
certainly strategies that we know and see have to be
executed on the field and to me, whether it's your
wealth management, whether it's your business approach, but these are
ways that we can apply strategies and then.
Speaker 2: See specific outcomes.
Speaker 1: And so especially as we come down to the end
of the calendar year, for a lot of people, we
know it's not what you make, it's what you keep,
and so incorporating a tax and an investment strategy is
what makes the most sense. We put together ten core
tax mark strategies for high income and accredited investors, and
of course everyone's going to need to look at it
from their own individual standpoint, but there are some specific
strategies around whether it's tax advantaged vehicles, whether it's tax
advantaged investments. It may include some options even related to
a help savings account. But there's a variety of strategies
depending on your objective and your current situation, that I
think are worth considering for investors especially, we all have
blind spots, and so this is a way to take
a look at what is band or Wealth doing for
high income and accredited investors. And you can get a
copy of it by visiting our band orwealth dot com
website and take a look under the hood, see the playbook.
I'm sure McKay if he had an opportunity to know
what the defense was doing each time, or having access
to their playbook, it might really help on the offensive side.
And that's what this is, access to a.
Speaker 4: Playbook you mentioned, McKay.
Speaker 3: And look over the last five years I've told this
story before, I've seen you support an aid and just
engage with the student athletes. Would be why you would
help them anyway that they can through through investment planning
and just trying to figure out what their long term
appro for their newfound assets will be, their new NIL money, etc.
So what is it that you do for these student
athletes specifically, and then we'll welcome it McKay back in
and discuss how maybe your strategies are helping him as
he navigates this new college football landscape in the NIL world.
Speaker 1: Well, and I know we can all relate, but especially
as you start making decisions in the business world, as
you start to work for money, it's important to understand
how to have your money work for you. And so
a big part of that is of course just spending
less than you earn, planning for ahead, thinking about the
long term approach. And so one thing that we encourage
younger people to do and really all clients, is to
set aside ten to twenty percent of your income that
you can use towards retirement, put it into tax advantaged accounts,
and structure your investments short term, mid term, long term.
That allows you to be more aggressive with some investments,
go after higher rates of return, but also establish a foundation.
Once you have a foundation, then you have something to
jump from and you can jump higher. And so whether
that's just setting up a rock ira investing a lot
of times that might be more market based investments, before
you start investing in real estate or before you start
investing in other private businesses, but just having some additional
perspective have a long term approach is what can make
the difference for all of us. And that's something I
started investing when I was twenty years old, and it's
not even what that money did quantitatively necessarily, it's what
it did for me from a mindset standpoint to start
thinking ahead. And so that's one of the things that
we emphasize, and especially with younger investors, try to help
them understand and see, is the power of just starting
investing now and thinking long term.
Speaker 3: McKay, why did you reach out to Blade to kind
of agent support you, educate you on these processes and
getting the playbook for your future finances.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I think with the way that the
college football is heading, obviously there's there's some financial compensation
for for the things that you're doing out on the field.
So to figure out what to do with that money
is is really important. And you know, I think it's
we have a pretty unique opportunity because you're able to,
you know, with all the resources that are associated with you,
I you and and uh, you know, mentors like Bland
that can put you in the right places. I think
that you can really set yourself up for success later
in life with some of those you know, long term
investments or you know, putting money in towards a potential
retirement later and all these things that you know you
can you can you can just really just put put
money in the right direction and have it start working
for you. So I think that those are things that
are really important. And I'm glad that there's you know,
people like Blaying that'll that'll put you in the right
direction and you know, help help student athletes out who are,
you know, dealing with kind of a crazy time in
college football.
Speaker 4: So it is a crazy time.
Speaker 3: It could be overwhelming, right like, because you're you're trying
to focus on your craft. You're trying to get bigger, faster, stronger,
be the best football player you could be. You have
this new found uh, these new found resources, and you're like, Okay,
now sitting in my bank account, what the heck am
I supposed to do with this?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 3: And it can be a little bit overwhelming. Has it
been overwhelming? And and and and how have you tried
to navigate it?
Speaker 5: Yeah? I think initially for sure, just because it was
it's far separate from you know, I was up at
Utah Stay before and we didn't really have opportunities like that,
and then come down to b Iu and it's it is.
It is a little bit different in that sense. So
I think that like I said, just talking to the
right tea and getting connected to people that just know
more than you about about money and being being smart
with money, I think that's that's super important because like
I said, it puts you in the right direction and
it helps you helps calm the chaos in a sense,
just because it can be so crazy, you know, just
as a college student who, like you said, is really
just focused on you know, how can I get how
can I throw the ball farther? How can I you know,
you might get this list better, or you know, how
can I be more explosive? You know, those are the
things that we're worried about on a day to day basis.
So having someone that can help you out behind the
scenes with with some of the new things that come
with college football is I.
Speaker 2: Think super important.
Speaker 5: Is something that all college athletes should should should have,
just someone who can support you in that way.
Speaker 3: Love that breakdown McKay looking forward to the UCF game
and getting a dub at Lavelle Edwards Stadium for all
the listeners. If you're looking to get that playbook at
band Orwealth to save money taxes at the end of
the year, it advise you to head on over to
Batterwealth Batterwealth Dot Complain last thing before we let you go.
What does the playbook contain in order to help these
individual listeners save money on their taxes at the end.
Speaker 4: Of the year.
Speaker 1: Well, we give some pay studies. We talk about for example,
real estate bonus deppreciation. If you have some passive games.
Maybe you're a real estate owner and you've got some
rental income and you want to offset that income through
bonus appreciation. We have some pay studies around what oil
and gas investments will do to a tax and investment plan.
We give some everyday deductions that people can make, whether
you're a business owner or even just a standard filer.
We talk about the impact of roth conversions maybe at
the end of the year, and so we actually go
through ten different paye studies that will likely apply to
many listeners and give a couple of strategies so that
they can make an assessment whether it applies to them.
And then of course you can reach out to our
CFP team here at Vanderwealth Management to talk specifics. That
way you can make an informed decision. But the Vanderwealth
Playbook contains ten different strategies and is applicable for business owners,
real estates owners, high income or high networth clients.
Speaker 3: Well, we appreciate you guys both hopping on. Shout out
to McKay BYU quarterback and Blaine for being our tax
moret wealth advisor here at ESPN.
Speaker 4: The fans, gentlemen, we'll see you this weekend.
Speaker 3: Thanks for hopping off for another let's talk about stats segment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, great, Thank you guys.
Speaker 4: All right, we'll see you guys soon.
Speaker 3: That was Blaine Anderson and McKay Hillstad great segment brought
to you by Banterwealth, Batterwealth dot com. Get that tax
more tax smart wealth Advisement playbook at Batterwealth Batterwealth dot com. Today,
let's go to break, don't go anywhere more to get
to This is Cougar Sports on one of three nine
ninety point three.
Speaker 6: The Cougar's opponents and rivals right now need to know
the faux segment on Cougar Sports with Ben Kretelber.
Speaker 3: Welcome back Cougar Sports one of three nine ninety eight
point three ESPN. The phantom ventural broadcasting from our Vanderwilth
Studios Banterwealth dot com. Get on a free Q and
A no obligation to advance Q and A with our
tax More Wealth Advisor Certify financial Planners. Nobody does it
better than Bantererwilt. At the end of the year to
save you money on your taxes, it is time for
a little know the faux segment by you is going
to be welcoming in the UCF Knights to Provo, Utah,
and it's a big one for the Coups. A win
will push them into the limelight of the Big twelve
championship game in Arlington against the Texas most likely Texas
Tech Red Raiders.
Speaker 4: And UCF's been playing pretty good football.
Speaker 3: They've had their ups and downs this season, but they
are talented and I think they are well coached and
they're finding their identity.
Speaker 4: I think late in the season we're gonna get to know.
Speaker 3: The phone in the segment's going to be brought to
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keep your house clean. Let's get out to the hotline.
Welcome to the voice of the UCF Nights. We got
Mark Daniels on the line. Mark, how you living.
Speaker 2: I'm doing great? Thank you guys.
Speaker 3: Hey, I appreciate you joining us today and letting us
get to know the foe through your eyes, your voice.
Happy Holidays and happy Thanksgiving as well.
Speaker 4: We got to be grateful this time of the year.
Speaker 3: We got football and basketball is coming around the corner
as well.
Speaker 2: It's a busy time, it is.
Speaker 6: Uh, you know, it's always fun the holidays, you know,
you see it put themselves in a position to have
something to play for this week. A big challenge obviously,
have come out to BYU and challenge the Cougars, trying
to get a win to become boeligible.
Speaker 2: So big cask ahead, but an opportunity.
Speaker 3: How would you describe the culture right now within the
UCF Knights locker room? What is Coach Frost trying to
build there and trying to make these players believe.
Speaker 4: In right now?
Speaker 2: Well, I think you says in a better position than
they were a year ago.
Speaker 6: You know, we got it into our final game against Utah,
the team was four and seven, didn't have any opportunity
to play.
Speaker 2: For a bowl game.
Speaker 6: A lot of questions whether Gus Melzam was going to
be back, and I just think it was a bad vibe,
and you see have played that way in its final game.
Speaker 2: I think it's a much different vibe now.
Speaker 6: Scott Frost is back at UCF, and that's going I think,
you know, great for the program. I think Scott understands
the transition that he's trying to go through and to
build a roster that can compete consistently at a level
that UCF once And I think this group of players
has fought through a lot of injuries this season, a
lot of challenges, but I think their mindset remains positive.
I think they're excited for the opportunity go out and play,
like I said, a game that needs something for them.
Speaker 2: So I think the teams you know, obviously would.
Speaker 6: Like to have a couple of wins, and we gave
away earlier this season, had a lot of injuries, but
I think their mindset is positive and look forward to
a great opportunity this week.
Speaker 3: What's the identity of this UCF football team. You mentioned
a couple of wins that maybe got away from you.
I'm looking at you know the way that you guys
started three to zero, then some heartbreakers, right, A fourteen
point lost to Kansas State at Kansas State tough place
to play, no doubt, Kansas a one score game, Cincinnati
a nine point game there, it was a close one.
You dominate West Virginia and Rich Rodriguez and then go
down on a three game losing street. But you almost
beat the Houston Cougars in Florida, and then you got
a nice victory over Oklahoma State, who's trying to rebuild
their program as well, coming off you know, a firing
of their head coach.
Speaker 4: But what's the identity here?
Speaker 6: Well, I think again, you see, it probably feels like
the Kansas and Houston games, or two games that gave
away Kansas down seven at first and goal to two.
We didn't score Houston. We have a four string quarterback
that can't fall t him. You know, we're driving for
at least a game time touchdown, I mean game time
field goal. We throw in the end zone and if
he throws it when he's supposed to throw it to touchdown,
UCF wins the game. But he waited a second by
the time he did that, a safety cover comes over
to help and passion accepted. So those are two games
UCF gave away. I think the identity of UCF is
still being built for Scott Frauds. When Scott came here
in twenty sixteen, he inherited a winless football team whose
talent was better than winless. They went six and seven
before the undefeated season, and I think they're still trying
to build a base. You know, Scott understands it's a
different roster build in the Big twelve.
Speaker 2: And it is in the American.
Speaker 6: We were in the American we just out athlete and
out you know, had better speed than people and took
the field and you know, was leading fourteen to nothing already.
You got to build a roster different the Big Twelve.
You got to build lineman. That's a challenge for uc
I mean, in Florida, there's no shortage of running backs,
wide receivers and quarterbacks, and thank Scott, those confident there.
So it's still the building process. I understand what it
is in this different pay for play world. So you know,
the five wins maybe is an ideally what you want,
but I think fans knew it was going to be
an adjustment and like I said, to have an opportunity
to play for something in game number twelve.
Speaker 2: I think it's kept the team focused. But where the.
Speaker 6: Team program is today, to worry it will be in
twelve months and in twenty four months, I think it'll
be vastly different.
Speaker 3: Why was Gus Maulzon not the guy to lead this
program yet? Scott Frost is.
Speaker 6: You know, Gus is a good man, He's a good coach.
It just didn't work out. Sometimes things don't work. I
think Gust came here and I think he thought that
maybe his system was kind of.
Speaker 2: A plug and play.
Speaker 6: And I think for any program, I think it matters
that BYU you've got to make sure you've got the
right person that understands your program, the identity of the fans,
the expectation, and I think Gus had a hard time
with that. I think, you know, Gus came from Auburn
where things are different than the SEC.
Speaker 2: Resources are somewhat unlimited.
Speaker 6: I think at UCF there are some advantages that you've
got to lean into that maybe yeah, it.
Speaker 2: Didn't lean into as much.
Speaker 6: And then I think, like a lot of coaches went
through the last couple of years. You can live with
a portal, you can die with the portal. And UCF
missed on a number of key guys to the portal.
They missed a quarterback for combination of just guys that
didn't pan out injuries, they missed on linemen, and you know,
I think for Gus it just became a situation.
Speaker 2: And look, it's the reality. Guys, if you've got to
go back to ask the.
Speaker 6: Same people for more money to buy players in the
last two years they gave you money and you didn't
get results, it's hard to get that money.
Speaker 2: So I think Gus felt that maybe it was time
to move on.
Speaker 6: For him, I think Scott understands UCU a little bit more,
even though it's been eight years since he was here.
He understands that, you know, the advantages you see have
has is his location. It's recruiting a base, the youth
of the university, a younger alumni base. We need to
do things differently to raise money. We can do things
differently because our history and traditions are different. I think
Scott is a better understanding of that. I think he's
better where maybe he is in his career. And because
I think he's got a better chance to succeed. I
don't know if it's guaranteed to work at the level
that it did before, but I think knowing UCF and
how you got to play a little bit of moneyball
at UCF, you've got to rely on high school relations
and you've got to still salvage a recruiting class at
a high school.
Speaker 2: You can't live and die with the portal.
Speaker 6: I think Gus was leaning too much on that, where
I think Scott realizes you got to have a blend
of both.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's an intriguing prospect to bring Scott Frost
back right with with his pedigree, his resume, what happened
at Nebraska, what happened prior to Nebraska, it seems like
he's the better culture fit at UCF. Gus Malsan is
a fantastic offense of mine that he always has been,
and you know, he's had his ups and down, no doubt,
as a as a as a football coach, as a coordinator.
But it seems like Scott is the right guy for
the job moving forward, and you can see it trending
in the right direction.
Speaker 4: They're on the.
Speaker 3: Precipice of being Bowl eligible and they're coming into Prova
motivated right now to knock off the Koks. Cooks have
a have a target on their back. You see, f
can play spoiler here.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: Look, I think UCF has great respect for by you
know what they built the last couple of years, and
it's a big challenge. You know, this roster is decinated
my injuries. This is not a healthy roster. So we're
coming one hand behind our back to this game. We
got two quarterbacks left the roster and the guy that's
gonna start on Saturday has been injured for the last
month and is limpin uh.
Speaker 2: You know, we're missing a number of key players.
Speaker 6: We got some guys back last week that probably shouldn't
be playing but just want to play, which is a
sign of how they respect coach Frost.
Speaker 2: And what he's built.
Speaker 6: So there's a lot of things in the UCF is
gonna need to have their way on Saturday because they
know the BYU. It's a massive game for them and
they know the talent that they're up against. But that's okay,
you know, that's why we play this football game, and
we'll see what happens.
Speaker 3: Mark, who are the players BYU fans? Need to know
about as the Knights heat into provo.
Speaker 2: Well, I think on offense, Tavan Jackson, the UC quarterback.
Speaker 6: When healthy and when he makes the right decisions, Tavan
can be really good, but he's battled injuries all year long,
and those injuries have limited his play. He's not as
big of a run threat as he would be if
he wasn't banged up. But when Tavern's on and he
gets protection, he can be effected throwing the football. UC
has got a very good tight end in Dylan Wade
Or a big game last week including eighty three yard
touchdown catch and run. He's probably their best receiver as
far as his hands and getting open the play. A
lot of young guys at wide receiver, combination of a
true freshman it's going to be really good that starts,
and some other guys that don't have a lot of
key for experience. Miles Montgomery, running back, had been out
of an injury. Miles his back. He's not one hundred percent,
but he's back. He'll give it his best a shot.
You know, offensively, you know I've said this in other
interviews before. You know, if I had guess Scott's playbook
might be thirty percent of ideally what he wants, and
that's because of injuries our starting centers that we've lost
him for the year.
Speaker 2: We're missing a guard of that out for the year.
Speaker 6: So because of that and the inexperienced we've got to
shrink the playbook. This isn't you know, this isn't McKenzie
milton running that offense in UCF had in twenty seventeen
among the best of the country.
Speaker 2: This is a skill down offense because of just the
person that we've got right now. So that's the challenge
on offense.
Speaker 6: Defensively, uc has got two really good ends in Malachi
Lawrence and nigeliue Kelly. Problem is they're banged up and
probably shouldn't be playing either, but both around shot and
playing in the game. There Raydon Marshall a nickelb because
a guy that had picked to preserve the win last
week against Oklahoma State, and their two corners I think
are really good in Jane Belding and Antoine Jackson. You see,
if defense has played good this season, the offense at
times has not been as productive. That's left the defense
on the field a little bit too long. With those
numbers that were really good early this season. A little
bit skewed right now, but it's pretty good defense. It'll
be challenged this week, but the defense has played I
think better than people thought this year.
Speaker 4: You mentioned a few of the injuries.
Speaker 3: What's maybe the grade you'd give on the health of
the UCF Knights as they head down to Provo.
Speaker 6: Probably this team is a sixty percent of one hundred
percent in health. I mean he just lost guys for
the year. I mean lost some guys back in camp.
You know, you see I have lost probably their fastest
wide receiver in camp. They lost the freshman running back
they was definitely gonna play this season. Uh in camp,
and you've lost your starting sentate It's been a four
year starter elsewhere.
Speaker 2: You know, you lost a key.
Speaker 6: Guard way who I mentioned the tight end is really good.
You know, Dylan was hurting the third game of the
year he's playing. Then lost a key defensive tackle as
an NFL prospect. They lost the defensive end, it was
part of their rotation for the season. They got a
reserve linebacker out for the year, got another safety that
got hurt first.
Speaker 2: Game of the season.
Speaker 6: So you know, we're trying to build something and you
lose guys like that. You know, you know, the old
next man up mentality sounds good, but you know sometimes
it's just not the same.
Speaker 2: Having said that, players have thought hard.
Speaker 6: The one thing you know, again I'll say, is that
you said we'll play hard. I don't know what the
final score is going to be, and it may you know,
we went to Texas Tech and and and they were
just on a roll. We went to Baylor, gave up
a couple of quick scores. Defense only gave up nine
points the last three and a half quarters. But the
offense struggled because we had a quarterback that couldn't walk
because he was, you know, trying to limp on a
hamstring injury. That hamstring's a little bit better, but he's
going to try to play Saturday, simply because we got
two quarterbacks out for the year. We got a guy
that started the first game of the season. He fractured
his ribs a couple of weeks ago. He's out for
the year. We got a kid that was a transfer
from Miami that was in the system last year.
Speaker 2: He hurt his shoulder in Game four. He's out for
the year.
Speaker 6: So you know, it adds up, and you know, that's
that's not anybody else's fault. But just imagine if I
looked at the BYU roster, I took the same number
of guys off that roster, are they you know?
Speaker 2: Ten and one? Maybe not? But that's not the case.
And that's just the way it is. You got to
go play the football game.
Speaker 3: Mark you're in the Big twelve. Now, you've been in
here for a few years. Do you feel like the
Big twelve is getting the respect they deserve right now
from the committee? I think there's five teams in the
top twenty five. But yeah, okay, there you go. Tell
me why no the.
Speaker 6: Pro Well, look, part of it is the conference fault,
and part of it is just the way the media
landscape is built. Yep, there's very little that the Big
twelve can do other than win big non conference games
and have teams that are constantly ranked inside the top
fifteen throughout the year. We've got two of them right now.
You know, Utah has been in that mix as well.
The other challenge that our conference has is and some
members of the college football media either don't read it
or just ignorant to the room. You know, you can
sit and tell me the great ratings of the SEC has. Yeah,
they get the best time slots. And right now the
struggle that the Big Twelve has is is we don't
have as much national matchups in the lead that are
getting the ideal matchups of a primetime game on ABC
or ESPN or Fox.
Speaker 2: Not that big newon kickoff.
Speaker 6: It's not good to have a game, not that three
thirty on Fox is a bad time to have a game,
But if you're going up against a you know, top
ten matchup in the SEC, you're gonna have a hard
time with the ratings battle there. And the national media says,
look how great the ratings are on the SEC. Okay,
if I'm on, if I'm on the three best slots
every single Saturday, of course I'm going to get the
eyeballs and some of them. And I think the Big
twelve is blessed to have a great media deal, but we're
struggling to get the ideal timeslot. I mean no disrespect,
but playing nowt on FS one is a tough audience
to get, you know, playing one o'clock Eastern on ESPN
two Saturday is a tough audience to get. Nobody's fault,
it's just the landscape of how the media slots are
filled right now. So the best thing the Big twelve
can do is when opportunities come to play those big
non conference games against the Big ten and SEC school, we.
Speaker 2: Got to win. And then in the conference.
Speaker 6: To some degree, the league is cannibalizing itself because I
do think the top part of the league is beating
each other up. Look, you follow this league. We have
a lot of good teams that have lost two conference
games at three conference games that are good, that are
just good football teams. And when you go and play
someone's going to get beat. And look to ask people, well,
that's a good CINCINNTI football team they beat last week
on the road, tough stadium in Nippert Stadium, And you
can say, well, since he's got this money long, that's
a good team.
Speaker 2: I know that football team is really good.
Speaker 6: And sometimes we don't get the credit when we've got,
for example, a two loss teams or three loss teams
that other leagues get because of perception. Is just you know,
a bigger football game, like you said, and I'll argue
with people something it's oh, it's so hard to go
on the road in the SEC goes start free. You
go to Lexington, go to Manhattan, you know, go to Profo,
go to Luppock, you know, go to Waco and they're
playing real well.
Speaker 2: Go to our place where're playing real well.
Speaker 6: You know, just because something's got eighty thousand and fifty
and sixty thousand, pretty loud at night for football game
and tough for a visiting team. But we just don't
have that level of national respect right now.
Speaker 2: I love the league.
Speaker 6: Some may called a sixteen misfit toys that have no
the place to go, but I think the league is
really solid.
Speaker 2: It's the best basketball league in the country. Nobody could
argue that.
Speaker 6: And the football wise, we're just going to fight for
more national headlines. But you know, I think the Big
twelve is is a very solid league.
Speaker 3: It's it's a very interesting study. As I've looked, I've
kind of pulled data points. You have obviously the preseason,
preseason bias and even historical biases that that have been
built in a a in an era bygone that had
bag men that allowed certain conference as certain teams to
probably circumvent the rules through liquid funds, right and that
I've talked with all my former players that play in
the NFL that was happening in the SEC, Big Tan,
et cetera. It just was certain teams were not able
to play by those same rules. So you have you
have equity that has been built up through the conferences,
through who knows by how what means you have TV money, tech, population,
density of conference hierarchy. Late season momentum now that they're
talking about the head heads don't matter anymore because that
was too early in the season. So even your your
P four versus P four data points that we want
more of in order to determine who's going to make
it into the playoffs are now being thrown out the
window because well, late season momentum. So it's really hard,
I think, to put trust in a human committee that
that is full of folly and subjective human eye test
momentum type of deals combined with all these their data points.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and there's no perfect model, I mean, and the
systems flawed, the systems lawed because to some degree, we
have conference championship games that don't benefit participant.
Speaker 2: Georgia doesn't want.
Speaker 6: To make the SEC championship game because they want to
secure a top four seed, and to some degree, you know,
it may not benefit our two teams BETWA BYU in
Texas Tech. Because you know you're gonna tell me that
if a b YU in Texas Tech at eleven and
one playing a conference championship game, two teams that a
great season, the losers should miss the playoff because what
because we played the thirteenth data point that the two
teams that could go eleven and one that someone's going.
Speaker 2: To lose and because of that loss missed the playoff.
Speaker 6: It you know, you have a hard time justifying the
validity of that, and living in sec country, you've got
team that don't want to play in that game because
it would hurt a seating or possibly miss the playoffs.
It's a it's a flawed system. I don't know the
perfect well, I think I do. But you know, particularly
at college hockey, they got the sports all degree. Here's
a model every single day, it's a live ranking. This
is how we do it. No ansis or butch, it's
how they fill out the bracket. No one complains and
it's a fantastic model. But in college football, I think
we like the drama, would like the uncertainty of a committee,
and I'm not quite sure that's changing.
Speaker 2: Anytime soon. But it would be you know the problem
is there won't be enough people screaming.
Speaker 6: There'll be more people screaming about Miami being left out
having beaten Notre Dame if that happens, than the Big
Twelve not getting a second team, and which would be again,
if b YU and Texas Tech win, it would be
comical for someone to say, well, only one I just
I don't understand, and you would tell me that.
Speaker 3: So let's say, b why you get to the Big
Total Championship? Get me the Blues to Texas Tech. Maybe
it's closer, maybe it's a one score game. Do you
think be what you gets into the College Football Playoff
or they ousted?
Speaker 2: Oh my Big twelve Blood.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think they would deserve to be in there,
but I don't think the committee will put them in.
I mean, just take a look ahere their rank right now,
and borring a massive round of upsets on Saturday, b
YU is not going to move up very far in
the College Football Player Committee's views, and they'll be in
that prime position that should they lose. It makes it
easy in the committee to say, you know, they were good.
You know, we don't need to make this change, and
I wish that wasn't the case, but I don't see
how that scenario changes boring a number of upsets. You know,
they would need to you know, pit to beat Miami.
They would need some other things to happen, because what
would happen is if Texas beats Texas A and m
There'll be people that will justify a nine to three
Texas team getting it, and they'll tell you that, hey,
they have four top ten wins, so you know they
deserve to get in.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you're gonna end up with that game. And
the only thing that we can do is a league.
Speaker 6: It is We've got to try to schedule some of
these games, and we got to win some of these games.
Speaker 2: And when you win some of.
Speaker 6: Those games, you can schedule some of those games, you
get some of those TV time slots, and you get
a bit of ranking in the beginning of the season
where you're not crawling from outside the top twenty five
to you know, scratch your way into a flawed system.
But you know, I mean the committee, I mean, the
committee told you they justified dropping Utah because of an
incredible game the uel. You know, they were a close
game with kansasitate and kansasit. It's got this record. It's like,
all right, so you know, we don't reward the team.
And I know, Py you've made it like that at Utah.
But teams win close games, teams win crazy games. College
football is crazy and will penalize them because you know
they didn't win by no.
Speaker 3: Well yeah, and it's determined by conference too, right. You
can lose a close game in the SEC or the
Big Ten, but not in the Big.
Speaker 6: Twelve, not the style.
Speaker 4: Points matty by the conference.
Speaker 3: How do you see this game in provo maybe playing
out BAU heavy favorite.
Speaker 4: Do you think UCF keeps it close?
Speaker 6: Well, my thought is in the forecast right now doesn't
show that. I was kind of hoping for a blizzard
because I think a wild weather game, anything could happen. Look,
I think for UCF to have a chance, And that's
how I think your goal. I mean, you want to
be in the game of the fourth quarter. It's one
possession game, look up and and have some opportunities. They've
got to protect the football, cannot turn the ball over,
and they've got to cut down on penalties.
Speaker 2: One of the things that I.
Speaker 6: Know is really frustrated Scott Frost is the penalties that
you can control.
Speaker 2: You know, we're playing with the backup center.
Speaker 6: We had fourth and one against Oklahoma State last week
and we won the game. But you know, fourth and one,
he moves the ball before the snap. Now you're fourth
and sixth. Now you punt. We had two holding calls
last week on a backup guard and both holds came
twelve yards behind the running back who didn't need to hold.
He was passed a line. So those are things that
you just came out of four in the football game.
They can't put themselves in first and twenty or second
and fifteen. They're gonna need, you know, a few breaks
with turnovers. You mean, you know, people you to make
some mistakes and you know, can't give up the big play.
Speaker 2: And you said defense hasn't really give up the big play.
Speaker 6: This would be a challenge because you know the run
ability of b YU, But you know, we're gonna need
some things to go our way. Tavian Jackson, the quarterback
is gonna have to play above the level that maybe
he's played at this season, and you just hope you
get a chance in the second half. That's great respect
for BYU for what they've done this season and and
and for what they've built in UCF. I think they've
got a big challenge ahead of them, But you know,
we'll go out there see what happens. And like I said,
I think b YU is gonna get a better motivated
U s A football team because they got something to
play for than the team that last year had nothing
to play for. Doesn't mean that UCF is gonna win,
but I think they'll get a team more focused than
a squad last year one. You know that that wasn't
really engaged.
Speaker 3: Mark Daniels, Ladies and Gentlemen, the voice of the UCF Knights,
Mark best way to fort you what you do, how
you do it for all of our listeners.
Speaker 2: Just u c F.
Speaker 6: Mark Dangels on the extra twitters where you find it
there and we're excited to come out to Provo for
the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, any fun plans, you guys get to be going
out to dinner at all, you get to do any
sight seeing, you're gonna go hike the y.
Speaker 6: Well, we usually don't land till late afternoon with an
early game. There's not much time when I get back
for basketball either. A couple of years ago for basketball
and then we flew in from Texas Tech from a
Saturday Tuesday games, so we've got to spend a little
bit of time and it was great. As a runner,
I love running in provo and and and the air
and everything. And so hopefully we come back for basketball.
It's not too cool, but it'll be a quick turn
around for football here.
Speaker 3: Well, Mark, we salute you, we appreciate it. Thanks for
spending so much time with us, and we'll look forward
to sing.
Speaker 4: And provo this weekend.
Speaker 2: Okay, thank you guys, Happy Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3: Mark Daniels and the director of Broadcasting for the UCF
Knights and the voice of the UCF Knights.
Speaker 4: Great No.
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