Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 2: I was hoping for some bagpipes or something, but I'll
Speaker 2: allow the Cranberrys. They are from Ireland and they are
Speaker 2: one of my favorite bands from my youth, from high school,
Speaker 2: I think in the nineties, so I'll allow it.
Speaker 1: Was this you or was this our guy Christopher.
Speaker 3: In Irish band Yep, really good song, really good radio
Speaker 3: bump a guest request.
Speaker 1: Love it and as you mentioned on the theme, the.
Speaker 2: Irish gotta love it, gotta love it all right, we
Speaker 2: go to Dublin, Ireland, where we find our guy, Chris
Speaker 2: Comraddi from the Athletic on a Friday.
Speaker 3: C K.
Speaker 1: How we doing man? Set the scene? What's it like
Speaker 1: over there?
Speaker 3: Well, it's nighttime. I'm in my hotel room and I'm
Speaker 3: watching Irish rugby on my Telly.
Speaker 2: Very nice, very nice. What's what's the weather like over There's?
Speaker 2: What's the weather like to this time of year?
Speaker 3: It's well, it's been fantastic the last two days, like
Speaker 3: I hit the jackpot. It's been sixty five to seventy
Speaker 3: haven't needed a coat, thorts and a T shirt. I've
Speaker 3: walked probably over thirty miles in the last two days,
Speaker 3: just taking in the sights and hitting all the necessary places.
Speaker 3: It's a treat man like, I wouldn't want to be
Speaker 3: here when it's cold and windy and pissing rain, but
Speaker 3: I am going to take advantage of what I have
Speaker 3: in front of me, and what I have in front
Speaker 3: of me is sunny Dublin.
Speaker 1: Got to love it.
Speaker 2: So over the course of the past forty eight hours,
Speaker 2: have you seen the sites?
Speaker 1: Have you done the tourist thing?
Speaker 2: What's because I know you had some boxes you wanted
Speaker 2: checked over there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've done a little bit of both, you know.
Speaker 3: Obviously part of my assignment here is trying to get
Speaker 3: the flavor of Americana, basically invading Ireland for forty eight hours.
Speaker 3: Not only do we have this college football game, but
Speaker 3: WWE SmackDown is also in town. So I went to
Speaker 3: the Three Arena to check out the folks who are
Speaker 3: getting ready to go, who were getting ready to go
Speaker 3: to SmackDown tonight. It's been a trip, man, to say
Speaker 3: the least. But yeah, I got to go see Trinity College,
Speaker 3: which was amazing. Got to see lots of cool churches
Speaker 3: and one fascinating thing about Ireland is they make you
Speaker 3: pay for everything, and I'm too cheap to pony up
Speaker 3: twenty to thirty euros to walk into a church. I
Speaker 3: can see it from the outside. It's old. I've seen
Speaker 3: lots of churches in Europe. But I'm just at the
Speaker 3: point in my life where i don't necessarily have to
Speaker 3: fork over the money, and it hasn't slowed me down
Speaker 3: in that sense. I've been able to just kind of
Speaker 3: take some sites in and move on to the next.
Speaker 3: But it's a really cool city, really beautiful architecture. They
Speaker 3: blended the old and the new very very well. And
Speaker 3: my hotel is, you know, within walking distance of Aviva
Speaker 3: Stadium where the game is tomorrow, so I have no complaints,
Speaker 3: which is rare.
Speaker 1: That is very rare.
Speaker 2: K State is a three point favorite over Iowa Stay tomorrow,
Speaker 2: so two big twelve teams both in the top twenty five.
Speaker 2: Will you be covering the game with a certain angle
Speaker 2: in mind? Or are you just trying? Are you just
Speaker 2: trying to kind of see what you know? The reaction
Speaker 2: is to the folks over there to college football? What
Speaker 2: how will you what sort of prism will you be
Speaker 2: watching that game through tomorrow?
Speaker 3: Well, I'm going to only react and write in the
Speaker 3: prism that can captivate somebody like you, who is my
Speaker 3: target audience. So it will be breakdown of you know,
Speaker 3: very key moments of the game, personnel shifts, motions, all
Speaker 3: the types of things that we usually we talk about.
Speaker 3: We are experts at No, I'm definitely making a very
Speaker 3: bad joke. No, to me. The fascinating part of this
Speaker 3: whole thing, Spence, is how this has become not only
Speaker 3: a routine on an annual basis for college football, but
Speaker 3: it's going to continue and by all accounts, it's been
Speaker 3: very successful. I think this is the best matchup that
Speaker 3: they've had since starting this Classic a few years ago.
Speaker 3: It's a top twenty five matchup. They haven't had that.
Speaker 3: You know, last year they had Georgia Tech and Florida
Speaker 3: State that didn't travel very well between the two teams.
Speaker 3: It's estimated to be upwards of twenty five thousand fans
Speaker 3: who are in Dublin between Iowa State and Kansas State.
Speaker 3: And I was at the Kansas State PEP rally today
Speaker 3: and it was insane, like there are so many people
Speaker 3: here from both Kansas State and Iowa State. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean the prison will be like be paying obviously
Speaker 3: be paying attention to a top twenty five game. It's
Speaker 3: one of the oldest rivalries in college sports. I think
Speaker 3: it's one hundred and ninth or one hundred and tenth
Speaker 3: straight time that they've played played each other, which is, like,
Speaker 3: I think, one of the oldest running rivalries in college football.
Speaker 3: And just you know, the scenes, and you know, I'm
Speaker 3: all about the scenes and the vibes, and you know,
Speaker 3: it is unique here to say the least. You know,
Speaker 3: I stopped by an Irish high school football game tonight
Speaker 3: because they played here, and you can buy beer and
Speaker 3: espresso at the games. A little different than covering high
Speaker 3: school football and draper on a Friday night. But yeah,
Speaker 3: just kind of the dichotomy of what football represents in
Speaker 3: the States versus the potential growth overseas is kind of
Speaker 3: what I'm looking at the moment.
Speaker 2: Do you know the origin story how this kind of
Speaker 2: came about. It is a little bit of a random
Speaker 2: location for a college football game, and you know, the
Speaker 2: NFLCK for a number of years has discussed the potential
Speaker 2: of wanting to capture the European audience, and I don't
Speaker 2: know if there's anything here as far as drawing a
Speaker 2: parallel part of it kind of feels similar to the
Speaker 2: way folks who believe soccer will catch on over here
Speaker 2: at some point. And soccer certainly has its footprint, but
Speaker 2: it will never capture the hearts and imaginations of as
Speaker 2: many Americans as football has. And I don't think there's
Speaker 2: any way that football will ever capture Europeans the way
Speaker 2: that soccer has or football over there. But are you
Speaker 2: familiar with the backstory how this game kind of came
Speaker 2: to be in the spot that you find yourself in today.
Speaker 3: Well, if we want to go really far back in time,
Speaker 3: the kind of the bedrock of this, the start of
Speaker 3: this is when the NFL had its first international game
Speaker 3: in London in two thousand and seven. That was a
Speaker 3: big swing by the league. A lot of people didn't
Speaker 3: think it was a good idea, a lot of people
Speaker 3: didn't think it would work. And you know, I think
Speaker 3: if we're talking about kind of the one off, meaning
Speaker 3: like once or twice or even three times a year,
Speaker 3: from an NFL perspective, it works, and it has worked.
Speaker 3: They've played games in Germany, they've played games in London,
Speaker 3: they're playing games for a second straight year in Brazil
Speaker 3: starting the season. So the appetite internationally for a minimal
Speaker 3: amount of football games is there. From the aer LINGUS
Speaker 3: College Football Classic as it is known here. Spence Is
Speaker 3: organizers with air lingas the airline and folks just approached
Speaker 3: people in the US and said, like, this is a
Speaker 3: this is an untapped market. It is a it is
Speaker 3: a pretty enticing destination vacation spot for a lot of
Speaker 3: Americans because of obviously we are we have such a
Speaker 3: deep Irish you know culture embedded with you know, with
Speaker 3: so many I mean, I'm sure you have Irish ancestry.
Speaker 3: I have Irish ancestry pretty much everybody and most people
Speaker 3: in America have Irish ancestry. So the very popular tourist spot.
Speaker 3: So they just sold it, say like come on over.
Speaker 3: And obviously when Notre Dame was here, that was kind
Speaker 3: of the you know, the bell of the ball. And frankly,
Speaker 3: I think they should try to make Notre Dame like
Speaker 3: part of you know, this rotation more often than not,
Speaker 3: because it just makes sense. But you know, they approached
Speaker 3: Kansas State, uh I think it was sixteen months ago,
Speaker 3: and talked to Chris Climb and the head coach and
Speaker 3: Jean Taylor, the athletic director, and said, like, would you
Speaker 3: be interested in giving up not only a home game,
Speaker 3: a conference home game, but a conference home game against
Speaker 3: your probably your biggest rival outside of Kansas and sold
Speaker 3: them on it. And by all accounts so far, it's
Speaker 3: it's been. It's been a hit among the fans that
Speaker 3: decided to come. And I mean, anytime you can sell
Speaker 3: out a European stadium for any sport, it's going to
Speaker 3: be cool. I think tomorrow will be especially unique, just
Speaker 3: because the setup of the field. I mean it's they're
Speaker 3: playing in a Viva stadium, which is where you know
Speaker 3: Ireland national teams for soccer and rugby play, so it's
Speaker 3: a beautiful stadium. It's just up the road and I
Speaker 3: think it's going to remind me of like when I
Speaker 3: was covering the Olympics, like in Brazil. Just I think
Speaker 3: the vibes there, the setup of stadiums internationally are a
Speaker 3: little different. So I'm fascinated to see how it plays out.
Speaker 2: Did you pack the sticks? Are you going to play
Speaker 2: Royal Port Rush? I mean, Ireland isn't far from the
Speaker 2: home of golf, which is Scotland, and as you know,
Speaker 2: when the game expanded, it expanded into the UK, including Ireland.
Speaker 2: Is did did did you have a chance to pack
Speaker 2: your your golf clubs and your Antonio Daniel's jersey and
Speaker 2: your your farming glove to maybe play some of those
Speaker 2: courses over there.
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know if you know this, Spence, but
Speaker 3: there's a big body of water between Ireland and the
Speaker 3: British Isle, which contains three different countries. So if I
Speaker 3: wanted to catch a train, I couldn't. I'd have to
Speaker 3: catch a flight to head over to Scotland. Albeit to
Speaker 3: say I did not pack the sticks, I just I'm
Speaker 3: not a big fan of these, you know, open courses.
Speaker 3: I'm more of a I'm more of a tree. I
Speaker 3: feel like I need to be boxed in otherwise my
Speaker 3: depth of vision is too wide. I feel like my
Speaker 3: my typical slice might slice a little harder if I
Speaker 3: don't have trees blocking my way. I'm just more of
Speaker 3: kind of an old school you know, you Utah golfer
Speaker 3: as you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, no, I know plenty of good courses in Ireland,
Speaker 2: but maybe your next trip over there, you cannot pack
Speaker 2: the sticks.
Speaker 1: All right, let's let's move over here. So for years
Speaker 1: and years and years.
Speaker 2: I certainly have complained about it, and I know other
Speaker 2: people have too, and plenty of people that write for
Speaker 2: your outlet believe that scheduling uniformity should be mandated in
Speaker 2: college football, and the SEC for years has had this
Speaker 2: odd dynamic where like Week ten Bama schedules like Troy
Speaker 2: or something, and it's like a glorified buy well. Following
Speaker 2: the announcement that the CFP Committee is going to use
Speaker 2: these new scheduling advanced metrics to decide who's going to
Speaker 2: gain access to the CFP, the SEC has announced that
Speaker 2: they are going to go with a nine game conference
Speaker 2: schedule starting next season. Brett McMurphy is reporting now the
Speaker 2: ACC is discussing the same. The ACC is now the
Speaker 2: only P four conference that doesn't go with nine long overdue.
Speaker 2: In my opinion, and I've said this before, I'll say
Speaker 2: it again, I believe we're heading in a direction with
Speaker 2: college football where most of the cake walk games that
Speaker 2: are scheduled, if not all of them, are going to
Speaker 2: go away because TV partners want the best matchups every week.
Speaker 2: It's certainly the one thing that college does not have
Speaker 2: that the NFL does. The NFL every week. Even though
Speaker 2: there are teams in pro football that are down year
Speaker 2: to year, You're still playing a NFL team. You're not
Speaker 2: playing like a USFL team. You're playing a team that's
Speaker 2: supposed to be on your level. So what do you
Speaker 2: make of the SEC's announcement and do you think at
Speaker 2: some point we will have some sort of scheduling uniformity
Speaker 2: in the sport.
Speaker 3: Art Yes, I think because if the SEC did it,
Speaker 3: everyone else basically has to follow suit. It is a
Speaker 3: fascinating kind of turn of events because I think for
Speaker 3: the longest time, the SEC was fairly adamant that they
Speaker 3: did not want to go to nine games for obvious reasons,
Speaker 3: just because you're talking about the strongest conference in the country.
Speaker 3: You don't want your big guys to have a chance
Speaker 3: to be, you know, suffer a late season upset and
Speaker 3: maybe tumble out of a playoff spot that you covet
Speaker 3: so highly. But listen, there's been lots of random college
Speaker 3: football news in the last you know, seventy two hours
Speaker 3: since I've gone Apparently the Big Ten is proposing like
Speaker 3: a twenty eight team playoff. Now I might my head,
Speaker 3: you know, man, I'm just trying to be here in
Speaker 3: the homeland, just just trying to really sink my toes
Speaker 3: into the sand. But college football fails to stop moving,
Speaker 3: which which is not I'm not too happy about, to
Speaker 3: say the least.
Speaker 2: Well, and I talked about this yesterday. You know, Brian
Speaker 2: Rolapp front of the show. He is now the commissioner. Well,
Speaker 2: no excuse me, he's the first CEO in history of
Speaker 2: the PGA Tour. He spent twenty two years next around
Speaker 2: you Goodell at the NFL. Most people believed and maybe
Speaker 2: this will still be the case whatever Goodell has done.
Speaker 2: Most people thought Rolap would be the next commissioner. B
Speaker 2: Yu guy, family friend. So I've been able to get
Speaker 2: to know him a little bit and interview him a
Speaker 2: couple different times. He is a very impressive leader, and
Speaker 2: he addressed the media prior to the tour championship at
Speaker 2: east Lake and he used the word innovation and you know,
Speaker 2: being innovative, like four or five different times discussing his
Speaker 2: vision to capitalize on this moment golf has found itself
Speaker 2: in with all this attention worldwide, and to juxtapose that
Speaker 2: with the lack of foresight, the lack of leadership of
Speaker 2: college football. College football just seems to change for change sake,
Speaker 2: as opposed to innovate to improve the product. And I
Speaker 2: guess the reality, Chris is that you know the powers
Speaker 2: of being college football even though no one's really in charge,
Speaker 2: which I still believe is the biggest issue on a
Speaker 2: number of different levels, because all these conferences can kind
Speaker 2: of just go rogue.
Speaker 1: But they know they've got the consumer.
Speaker 2: They know that college football fans week in and week
Speaker 2: out are going to tune in and consume the product.
Speaker 1: They know they've got us.
Speaker 2: And if you add on the layer that over the
Speaker 2: past four or five years, the widespread acceptance of sports
Speaker 2: betting has even upped the interest level because there's so
Speaker 2: many degenerates to take out second mortgages on their home
Speaker 2: to place a bet on you know, Pharma Geddon or
Speaker 2: whatever it is.
Speaker 1: They know they've got everybody.
Speaker 2: And so therefore I don't feel like they really feel
Speaker 2: urgency to actually fix the issues that plague the sport.
Speaker 2: The twenty eight team expanded CFP is like the dumbest
Speaker 2: thing that I've heard even thrown out there in years,
Speaker 2: and they've thrown out a number of dumb things. It
Speaker 2: eliminates conference championships, and it diludes Chris the most in
Speaker 2: my opinion, appealing thing about this sport, which is the prescient,
Speaker 2: urgent nature of every single game. To me, you have
Speaker 2: to maintain that or else you do away with what
Speaker 2: makes this sport great.
Speaker 1: Does that make sense?
Speaker 3: Oh, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I've said on the
Speaker 3: show often the last couple of years that it makes
Speaker 3: no sense for the powers that be to relinquish any
Speaker 3: sort of power they currently have because what you said exactly,
Speaker 3: the consumer has shown their willingness to adopt and roll
Speaker 3: with the punches no matter what. Listen, man, I'm always
Speaker 3: going to point to that example of that. You know
Speaker 3: that massive super league that got proposed in Europe a
Speaker 3: couple of years ago, and who's fans like boycotted the games.
Speaker 3: It wasn't the little guys. It was the Manchester United fans.
Speaker 3: It was the super the fans of the super clubs
Speaker 3: that would have benefited from this. They were the ones
Speaker 3: that were up in arms. Fandom doesn't really work like
Speaker 3: that in the States, So I think so long as
Speaker 3: the folks who are at the top will continue to
Speaker 3: stay at the top, I don't think that they will
Speaker 3: have a problem with it no matter what, so long
Speaker 3: as they have a chance to compete for a national title,
Speaker 3: which has also been part of the news cycle too,
Speaker 3: because apparently Auburn decided they've won seven championships or something
Speaker 3: too this week. Like, listen, man, I understand that this
Speaker 3: is a long offseason, but this week has really really
Speaker 3: shown us that we just to get to some games
Speaker 3: because people are kind of acting out, you know.
Speaker 1: The other, well, not just the other.
Speaker 2: One of the other reasons why college football needs a
Speaker 2: governing body with a commissioner is to put in place
Speaker 2: a comprehensive media policy that every team needs to follow.
Speaker 2: So I continue to compare college football to the NFL
Speaker 2: on a number of different levels, because I do believe
Speaker 2: we are headed towards a model that looks like that.
Speaker 2: In the NFL, fans can attend practices, media can attend
Speaker 2: every practice. There are player and coach availability after every
Speaker 2: single practice. The NFL understands that the media is a
Speaker 2: conduit to sell the teams and sell the leagues to
Speaker 2: the consumer. If you juxtapose it to college football, they
Speaker 2: all act like a bunch of scared children, and they're
Speaker 2: just terrified at all times, and they want to control
Speaker 2: everything they possibly can, and they come across as just
Speaker 2: constantly being worried that some bad story is going to
Speaker 2: derail everything. I mean, you know, Deshaun Foster is the
Speaker 2: latest UCLA head coach. Utah's playing Week one. He's cut
Speaker 2: off access to players and coaches interviews after practice because
Speaker 2: he's afraid that these practices, or achieve me, that these
Speaker 2: interviews are going to be leaked to his opponents and
Speaker 2: somehow give them an advantage when they play head to head.
Speaker 2: Why is it that in college they can't just understand
Speaker 2: what the pros understand, and that is media helps sell
Speaker 2: your program to your consumer, as opposed to having, you know,
Speaker 2: just this constant state of fear, this constant state of
Speaker 2: being afraid that one interview here or one video there
Speaker 2: is going to blow the whole thing up. If there's
Speaker 2: a governing body in place, with a commissioner and an
Speaker 2: entire staff, they put a media policy in place that
Speaker 2: everybody asks to handle until they do that, program by
Speaker 2: program or conference by conference, can continues to try to
Speaker 2: exude this monicule of control when ultimately I think it
Speaker 2: blows up in their face.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, listen, man, you're speaking my language. You're
Speaker 3: playing at Irish flute across across the pond. I'm loving it. Well,
Speaker 3: there's so many different layers to this conversation. One I
Speaker 3: think college football coaches would say, because they call them
Speaker 3: kids kids in quotation marks, they don't know what they'll
Speaker 3: say if they're prepared to say what they say. But
Speaker 3: I don't know what the difference is from a twenty
Speaker 3: one year old graduating from college and becoming a twenty
Speaker 3: one year old pro. And you know, that's that's part
Speaker 3: of the conversation as well, like the same they stayed
Speaker 3: pretty much the same age. But the other part of this,
Speaker 3: and it's just you know, can't be understated enough, is that,
Speaker 3: like when you become an NFL player, you become part
Speaker 3: of the players union, a union, and negotiating this type
Speaker 3: of stuff into union contracts, into these CBA, all this
Speaker 3: stuff is top of mind for both sides because they
Speaker 3: know what they're getting into. And the media part of
Speaker 3: this is a huge component of it. But from the
Speaker 3: NFL's perspective, they know it makes sense for them and
Speaker 3: the players, albeit they don't they don't probably love having
Speaker 3: people in their locker room all the time, but it's
Speaker 3: just part of the job. I agree. Like that we've
Speaker 3: talked about there's like this sense of state secrets that are,
Speaker 3: you know, at top of mind every single week come
Speaker 3: season time. And I know with the advent of the
Speaker 3: Big twelve injury report like that as you know, a
Speaker 3: new wrinkle in this whole thing. It was funny. I
Speaker 3: was at Chris Cleman's press conference yesterday and one of
Speaker 3: their beat writers asked him about his thoughts on the
Speaker 3: new Big twelve injury report, and he kind of just
Speaker 3: laughed and he was like, I know who's out, But
Speaker 3: he basically said, like Matt Campbell's not going to go
Speaker 3: read my injury report to try to get like some
Speaker 3: behind in the scenes view of you know who may
Speaker 3: or may not really tilt the fortunes of the game.
Speaker 3: I think it's a good step, but again, everybody is
Speaker 3: going to be able to utilize it one way or
Speaker 3: the other. I'm going to keep referencing things that have
Speaker 3: happened this week, even though my brain is mud. But
Speaker 3: Pelly Kyle's not going to release it too deep now
Speaker 3: because of the injury report thing too, which you know, hey, whatever,
Speaker 3: you know, you got to do your thing. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean it. I think it dilutes the excitement. I
Speaker 3: think you just have a huge opportunity to go out
Speaker 3: there and basically take control of how you can have
Speaker 3: your sport and how your team can be viewed, kind
Speaker 3: of the way the NFL does. I'm not saying like
Speaker 3: there will be a college football fantasy once, like, but
Speaker 3: maybe there will be. I mean, like they're who nobody
Speaker 3: ever really saw the changes of college football coming in
Speaker 3: the last five years and as swiftly as they have.
Speaker 3: But let's just say that there. It isn't as hard
Speaker 3: as they make it out to be. And if everybody
Speaker 3: just cooled their jets and you know, I don't know,
Speaker 3: set set masan a little bit, take a breather, everybody
Speaker 3: could realize that that, you know, it is a game,
Speaker 3: and you'll be fine no matter what.
Speaker 1: The paranoia is. It's pathetic. It's like laughable.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe a cold plunge potentially, maybe a cold plunge maybe.
Speaker 3: Uh oh whim howks breathing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, yes, yes, three full rounds, thirty five breaths each,
Speaker 2: then you retain and then you release. I do it
Speaker 2: every morning, all right, Chris, You reference the news cycles
Speaker 2: since you joined the show. There's been a couple of
Speaker 2: announcements locally that I wanted to get your reaction to.
Speaker 2: Let's start down South where young Bear Bachmeyer will be
Speaker 2: the first true freshman to start for BYU in their opener,
Speaker 2: the seventh true freshman to get time, understand number, the
Speaker 2: first to start unders. He did not land in Provo
Speaker 2: until mid July. He was at Stanford for springball, and
Speaker 2: you know, I was asked the other day like, is
Speaker 2: this an indictment on the room, and I said, no,
Speaker 2: I think it's a compliment to the kid. And if
Speaker 2: you listen to a rod, he kind of tipped his
Speaker 2: hand early on.
Speaker 1: He was very effusive with his praise for Bear.
Speaker 2: But what do you make of this announcement that a
Speaker 2: true freshman will be starting for BYU this year under.
Speaker 3: Center, great name, great jersey number. I mean, that's some
Speaker 3: like Doug Flutie stuff right there. I don't think I
Speaker 3: can ever think of a college quarterback having a number
Speaker 3: above nineteen and eons. So good on Bear. Listen. BYU's
Speaker 3: quarterback situation changed dramatically because of the school that they're at,
Speaker 3: and that is the reality. Bottom line. I'm going to
Speaker 3: continue to beat the strum that like losing Jake Retzlov
Speaker 3: is a loss from a leadership perspective because he was
Speaker 3: so beloved in the locker room and had so much
Speaker 3: respect from the coaching staff. But Jake wasn't exactly like
Speaker 3: lighting up like every single team that they played last year.
Speaker 3: So now your fortunes do change potentially with a true
Speaker 3: freshman quarterback stepping in. But he was a very highly
Speaker 3: sought after recruit, and who knows, maybe if all of
Speaker 3: that stuff with Troy Taylor doesn't go down at Stanford,
Speaker 3: maybe Bear decides to stay there. You know, Like I think,
Speaker 3: if Bear turns out to be a great quarterback, that's
Speaker 3: very beneficial for BYU. I'm it's really too hard to say,
Speaker 3: like if whether or not it's an indictment on the
Speaker 3: quarterback room, because like, we still haven't seen anybody step
Speaker 3: out there and play yet. So if Bear goes out
Speaker 3: there and struggles, then, you know, if you're a BYU fan,
Speaker 3: you can hypothetically say, like, why wasn't there somebody more prepared?
Speaker 3: But if he goes out there and he handles his
Speaker 3: own and he looks ready for the moment, then people
Speaker 3: won't even remember that that was even a topic of conversation.
Speaker 2: We've known for a while who QB one is for
Speaker 2: the Utes. We now know who QB two is. And
Speaker 2: I suppose if there is a silver lining to Cameron
Speaker 2: Rising's and ability to stay healthy a year ago, it's
Speaker 2: that Utah as a backup quarterback and Isaac Wilson, with
Speaker 2: big twelve experience, seven starts, nine games played. Bert Ficklin
Speaker 2: will be the third stringer now. Coach Beck said it's
Speaker 2: two way to b whatever that means. But Isaac is
Speaker 2: the backup. What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 1: Man?
Speaker 3: The phrasing to me is just it's just hilarious. It
Speaker 3: makes sense that Isaac is the backup quarterback. He has
Speaker 3: clout built with that, with that locker room with Kyle.
Speaker 3: I know it's a brand new coach, offensive coaching staff
Speaker 3: pretty much, but obviously Devin damp Pier transferred in with
Speaker 3: alongside Jason Beck, so that's his guy. You know, Isaac,
Speaker 3: we talked about this. I remember we were at the
Speaker 3: Smiths on Nights South when when when it was going
Speaker 3: to be Isaac's turn to start? And so many people
Speaker 3: were so excited and I said, just kind of hump
Speaker 3: the brakes a little bit, let's see how he does.
Speaker 3: And there were definitely some growing pains, and you know,
Speaker 3: I don't think you can put much of any of
Speaker 3: that really on an eighteen year old true freshman. Like
Speaker 3: Utah failed collectively last year as a team, especially offensively,
Speaker 3: it wasn't all on Isaac. So so if you're Isaac,
Speaker 3: you know he decided to go into the portal. He
Speaker 3: probably got a lay of the land and figured, you know,
Speaker 3: it makes sense for me to come back. Assuming Devin
Speaker 3: Dampier has a good year this year, he could potentially
Speaker 3: test the NFL draft waters and then Isaac would be
Speaker 3: the presumed starter going into twenty twenty six. So we've
Speaker 3: been talking about QB two at Utah for I think
Speaker 3: way too long, regardless of who the starter is. So
Speaker 3: let's see if Devin Dampier can stay healthy so people
Speaker 3: can stop worrying about who quarterback two is.
Speaker 2: What do you think success looks like for Utah week one?
Speaker 2: At UCLA? They are a six point five point favorite.
Speaker 3: Ooh. Success at UCLA is obviously a win. I wish
Speaker 3: I could even venture a guess offensively, but I have
Speaker 3: no idea. I guess I'll say Devin dan Pier and
Speaker 3: his jolly room of running backs rush for over two
Speaker 3: hundred yards and Utah's defense holds Nico in check and
Speaker 3: they leave an old stomping ground that they haven't seen
Speaker 3: in a few years. Happy. But it's the first game
Speaker 3: of the year. You never know how everybody's going to
Speaker 3: come out, especially this Utah offense, which we've talked about.
Speaker 3: It's it's way too early to crown them, Like we
Speaker 3: haven't even seen them play a game yet, and who knows,
Speaker 3: maybe UCLA is revitalized after a very down year and
Speaker 3: with you know, landing Nico, maybe their offense is ready
Speaker 3: to take a step forward as well.
Speaker 1: So you ever considered getting a neck tattoo? Actually I have, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think you could pull that off.
Speaker 2: I think you're one side's in the middle.
Speaker 1: Are you right or left handed?
Speaker 3: I'm right handed, so I'd probably go left side.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so left side if you're right handed.
Speaker 2: I was thinking what media members could pull this off,
Speaker 2: and really it's only you and I.
Speaker 3: You're right.
Speaker 1: Well, the reason no porter could pull it off, especially
Speaker 1: with the.
Speaker 3: Long hair and the cowboy hat.
Speaker 1: Yeah, cowboy hat, long haired necktat reporter.
Speaker 2: But like there's no way fault could you know, like
Speaker 2: there are certain people that just couldn't pull it off.
Speaker 2: The reason I bring it up is DeAndre yedlind guest
Speaker 2: on the program yesterday Knew right back for rsl Uh
Speaker 2: thirty two years old, so certainly not in his prime,
Speaker 2: but really fun interviews. Seems like a really good guy
Speaker 2: and definitely a very interesting soccer pedigree. This is a
Speaker 2: spot that they've been rotating, like players from Fruit Heights
Speaker 2: in for a long time, and Body Hudalgo is on
Speaker 2: his way to Montreal, so they've needed to fill the
Speaker 2: spot quite frankly since they jettison Aaron Herrera. But you're
Speaker 2: the expert here, what do you make of DeAndre Yedlin
Speaker 2: here in Utah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, big big move for them. I mean, like the
Speaker 3: days of Andrew Brody and and Body Adalgo are over.
Speaker 3: They've they've tried to patch that spot up as quickly
Speaker 3: as they or like they've as badly as possible, but
Speaker 3: they haven't been able to. And now I think Noel
Speaker 3: has been pretty pretty well served in that role as
Speaker 3: a kind of an emergency right back, but his natural
Speaker 3: position is playing in the double pivot, and I think
Speaker 3: now your depth start is you know, DeAndre Edmund won
Speaker 3: Noel Kalastan two. I think ourselves needed a adult in
Speaker 3: the room, so to speak, and I don't think they
Speaker 3: have an approven MLS adult that's willing to stand up
Speaker 3: and just maybe take a locker room by the scruff
Speaker 3: and tell them what's what now They now they have
Speaker 3: landed Rapa Cabral who's been a great leader. You know,
Speaker 3: Johnny Ussell is an MLS veteran, but you know, I
Speaker 3: think DeAndre Yedlin is the type of player who has
Speaker 3: both the you know, the domestic league pedigree that the
Speaker 3: national team pedigree and just kind of the type of
Speaker 3: personality that that this that the team needs right now.
Speaker 3: And you know, woke up to see that they loaned
Speaker 3: Don mark Zuk as well, which Yike's man. I mean,
Speaker 3: you have to give Kurt and his staff credit because
Speaker 3: they realized that the moves they made were not good
Speaker 3: and they they had to do something, and they didn't
Speaker 3: sit on their hands the way they did last offseason. So,
Speaker 3: you know, I think so many fans thought that mark
Speaker 3: Zuk was going to be kind of the second iteration
Speaker 3: of Andre Skomez, a highly touted young international winger to
Speaker 3: come in and potentially develop and be the next star
Speaker 3: sold that did not turn out to be the case.
Speaker 3: Like dude did not have great body language this year.
Speaker 3: You could tell that he was probably not too happy
Speaker 3: being passed over in minutes by Xavier Gozo and Johnny Russell,
Speaker 3: who they signed off the street. But he's going to
Speaker 3: a team that's very good, so if he gets a
Speaker 3: chance to play there, maybe he'll look a lot better
Speaker 3: than he did at our cel. But he's playing on
Speaker 3: a team that probably can win the Supporter Shield and
Speaker 3: MLS Cup. So when you go to a team that's
Speaker 3: full of really good players, you often can look good too.
Speaker 2: I actually think Tom mark Zuk has a chance to
Speaker 2: really look good in that system. You know, there have
Speaker 2: been a lot of moments that he's shown his skill,
Speaker 2: but it just hasn't been consistent enough. And if we're honest,
Speaker 2: you know, as we look back on their decision to
Speaker 2: jettison the majority of their attack, it has blown up
Speaker 2: right in their face. Now to your point, they've realized
Speaker 2: it looks like the Millers are willing to spend a
Speaker 2: little cash. So we've got Ruan Cruz, who we've seen
Speaker 2: a couple of different times. You know, Latunji Kid has
Speaker 2: had a couple of appearances, and I'm told they think
Speaker 2: DeAndre will play tomorrow. But there are only eight matches
Speaker 2: left and you know, three brand new pieces that will
Speaker 2: be part I think of the first choice eleven need
Speaker 2: to be integrated quickly. Is this enough time for them
Speaker 2: to get across the line, make the playoffs and maybe
Speaker 2: even do something?
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 3: I don't think so. I think that the schedule is
Speaker 3: too tough. You have Minnesota, who's second in the West.
Speaker 3: I think on Saturday you face LAFC twice. I think
Speaker 3: you've got a trip to Seattle. They just haven't shown it, man,
Speaker 3: Like I you know, things could change and maybe they
Speaker 3: cultivate some momentum against Minnesota on Saturday. But I think
Speaker 3: you're you're asking too much of a team to try
Speaker 3: to rectify the mistakes of earlier parts of the season
Speaker 3: on the fly, and that's just too hard to do
Speaker 3: with new players. But you know, MLS is crazy. I
Speaker 3: know they're they're still within striking distance of that night
Speaker 3: spot and I don't think they'll go into a free fall.
Speaker 3: But until they figure out a way to score goals,
Speaker 3: like there, I just don't think they have a chance.
Speaker 2: Have you tried an Irish stew lamb or beef, some
Speaker 2: boiled bacon cabbage? Have you tried a full Irish breakfast?
Speaker 2: Have you tried any of the lovely dishes that you
Speaker 2: can sample over there in Dublin?
Speaker 3: I have not. No. I have to look out for
Speaker 3: my guts first and foremost. And you know, well, you
Speaker 3: well you, and you know you're in a new country.
Speaker 3: You don't know where where's a you know where the
Speaker 3: next potential stop might be, you know, public restaurant. You
Speaker 3: got to learn, you got to learn the lay of
Speaker 3: the land. So it's all you all just got to
Speaker 3: map things out, Spence, Like I have to think, I
Speaker 3: have to think two or three hours ahead, so I
Speaker 3: play it safe when I'm on the road.
Speaker 1: Let's just say that, what about a pint or two
Speaker 1: over and no pints?
Speaker 3: No pints one or two. I'm also just I'm an
Speaker 3: old man, dude, you know this, Like I'm older than you.
Speaker 3: I'm old you are not close to but but you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. Okay, So like the fact that
Speaker 3: it's ten o'clock here and I'm on the radio with you,
Speaker 3: goes to show how much I am, you know, a
Speaker 3: supporter of the Drive Monday through Friday two to six.
Speaker 3: But like, this is my bedtime, and yeah, I could
Speaker 3: be out having a pint a Guinness and it would
Speaker 3: probably send me mentally physically into a space where I
Speaker 3: don't feel all that well in the moment. Or tomorrow,
Speaker 3: and I got to work tomorrow, you know, I have
Speaker 3: to prove to the athletic that there was a good
Speaker 3: reason why they sent me across the pond. And maybe
Speaker 3: we'll see. If tomorrow's an especially good day, maybe after
Speaker 3: the game we'll strike a pint somewhere. But it is
Speaker 3: wild here, man, Like everybody is slamming beers like olds,
Speaker 3: youngs hipsters like and they're just getting after it and
Speaker 3: they it doesn't even seem to phase them. And I'm like, man,
Speaker 3: good for you. I wish I could be that person,
Speaker 3: but I'm not. Well.
Speaker 1: The other thing is, and they start early.
Speaker 2: I remember I had a connecting flight to London and
Speaker 2: I was in Amsterdam at like seven thirty am, and
Speaker 2: there were there were guys in the pub getting getting
Speaker 2: loose at like seven thirty am with beers.
Speaker 1: They start early, and they go all day.
Speaker 3: And everybody here just looks like, you know, I mean,
Speaker 3: everybody here has been fantastically nice, but you know, just
Speaker 3: kind of stereotype like maybe maybe you know, it looked
Speaker 3: like they could always be in like a boxing position too.
Speaker 3: They got the haircut, you know, the Connor mcgregord going on.
Speaker 3: So just I just you know, don't want to step
Speaker 3: on anyone's toes or bump anyone's backpack. Just minding my
Speaker 3: p's and q's.
Speaker 2: What about what's on the when you're flying there? It's
Speaker 2: a long flight flying home. What shows are are we watching?
Speaker 2: What's taking up the time?
Speaker 3: Oh? Man? Just lots of random movies. I watched Ferris
Speaker 3: Bueller for the billionth time on as one of my
Speaker 3: five five films on the way over. Don't know what,
Speaker 3: don't know what the movie selection will be like on
Speaker 3: the way back. I'm hoping that I'll be tired enough
Speaker 3: that I might be able to sleep, But that's a
Speaker 3: fool's errand because as anybody who can sleep on flights
Speaker 3: as an alien, and that includes you or any one
Speaker 3: of your listeners, I apologize. Actually I envy you because
Speaker 3: that is a superpower that I wish I had.
Speaker 2: I cannot sleep on flights unless I'm heavily medicated. But
Speaker 2: then I land and I'm like, you have zombie for
Speaker 2: two days. So anyway, Christopher, we will set you loose.
Speaker 2: Enjoy Dublin. Enjoy week zero, thank you for the time
Speaker 2: and save travels.
Speaker 3: Was zombie an ode to our friends the Cranberrys. Is
Speaker 3: that what we did there?
Speaker 1: Not intentionally but a good callback. Ck.
Speaker 2: You've learned a lot of good lessons on this program,
Speaker 2: young man.
Speaker 1: Be well and travel safe.
Speaker 3: Okay, appreciate you.
Speaker 2: Chris tom Rodney from the Athletic He's live in Dublin.
Speaker 2: As Week zero gets going with Farmer Geddon coming up
Speaker 2: tomorrow at ten am Mountain time at his k State
Speaker 2: and Iowa State. Kansas State is getting three points as
Speaker 2: your favorite there, so college football is here. Like any
Speaker 2: good coach at zommed to update the game plan for
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