Speaker 1: Look at Chris com Ronnie live on site. C K.
Speaker 1: Thanks for coming down, man, How you doing, I'm doing well.
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm well. I'm well.
Speaker 3: I'm well and uh, you know, obviously a fun time
Speaker 3: of year with a lot going on. What's the latest
Speaker 3: with you? I know you have some projects that are
Speaker 3: in the cooker you can't talk about, correct, But what
Speaker 3: can you talk about on the show.
Speaker 2: I can talk about pretty much anything else.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: We can talk about, uh, Cam Rising's middle finger slash
Speaker 2: ring finger and we will. We can talk about does
Speaker 2: BYU have what it takes to win down in Waco
Speaker 2: and we will. We can talk about, uh, the late
Speaker 2: season crises that RSL finds itself in.
Speaker 1: We'll touch on that.
Speaker 2: And we can talk about uh listen, man, I'm not
Speaker 2: watching any good TV. So if you've got any Rex,
Speaker 2: let me know. Okay, Hacks, Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, No,
Speaker 2: that's I'm talking about, Like, yeah, we're up on that.
Speaker 2: We're up on that. I'm just saying like I'm just saying,
Speaker 2: like new stuff.
Speaker 1: But here's the problem. Yeah, that is new stuff to me.
Speaker 2: I'm behind.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're the one that has to inform You're right, Okay, Okay,
Speaker 1: So let's knock those down one at a time.
Speaker 3: So we'll start with Utah football. You know, they go
Speaker 3: to Stillwater and get a win. Nobody wins there. Mike
Speaker 3: Gundy does not lose at home. But it seems like
Speaker 3: we're kind of in the same situation of playing the
Speaker 3: guessing game with the quarterback spot. I'm going to operate
Speaker 3: off the assumption that it's EASA can tell it's not.
Speaker 3: And it feels like a lot of people around here
Speaker 3: are kind of sick of that talking point because it
Speaker 3: was the same talking point a year ago. I don't
Speaker 3: have any other information, Chris other than Cam is hurt
Speaker 3: and when he's ready he will play right. So, but
Speaker 3: where are you at with his entire thing, because it
Speaker 3: feels very reminiscent.
Speaker 2: Of last year. Well, I don't follow such things. Has
Speaker 2: the line moved at all? The Yeah, twenty four.
Speaker 1: Hours has so it peaked at twelve and now it's nine.
Speaker 2: Okay, there's your answer, I think. So I will say
Speaker 2: that if you're the Utah football staff, you feel empowered
Speaker 2: to roll with the status quo that got you a
Speaker 2: win in a place that is historically very difficut go
Speaker 2: to win. But I will always argue the flip side
Speaker 2: of it, in that you are going to be presumably
Speaker 2: rolling with a true freshman quarterback who is going to
Speaker 2: have to learn to take his licks in real time
Speaker 2: when they come. We saw Isaac struggle a little bit
Speaker 2: the first couple of weeks, not so bad the last
Speaker 2: couple of weeks. But again, we're talking about a team
Speaker 2: that's coming in with maybe the best quarterback wide receiver
Speaker 2: due in the country. Like, if you're talking about guys
Speaker 2: who are you attached to the hip or have the
Speaker 2: telepathy together, you can make make it an argument that
Speaker 2: Fafita and McMillan have that these are two guys that
Speaker 2: decided to stay at Arizona together for a reason. They
Speaker 2: could have bolted and followed Jetfish to Washington. So you
Speaker 2: have the bye week after this game. It's a big game,
Speaker 2: it's home coming, it's the night game. I know Utah
Speaker 2: fans love the Blackout game, they have since it started,
Speaker 2: and await or whatever ever. But I will proceed cautiously
Speaker 2: because you were talking about a true freshman quarterback who
Speaker 2: eventually will have a coming down to Earth. You just
Speaker 2: will because that's the nature of football. And I'm not
Speaker 2: saying I want it to happen for him. I'm just
Speaker 2: saying proceed cautiously.
Speaker 3: Is it fair to say that he I mean, to
Speaker 3: your point, while he has looked better week to week,
Speaker 3: which is all you can ask for, right from a team.
Speaker 1: Or a player, just to continue to improve.
Speaker 3: I think it's probably fair to say they haven't won
Speaker 3: because of anything he's done individually.
Speaker 1: So is it fair to say that even if they have.
Speaker 3: Decided to go with and tell Cam's ride an eighteen
Speaker 3: year old who just enrolled in April, that's probably It
Speaker 3: probably means they're fine with letting him take step by
Speaker 3: step progress and playing great defense, running the football, which
Speaker 3: is kind of what Kyle wants to do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, both things can be true. One is that Isaac,
Speaker 2: if he can put more zip on the ball, he
Speaker 2: can give you a better chance to win any college
Speaker 2: foot if you're not going to put out a quarterback
Speaker 2: who cannot throw a deep pass, hard velocity on the ball.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, if we want to be nitpicky,
Speaker 2: which I think we can, you're looking back at last week,
Speaker 2: you won a tough odd game in which Isaac turned
Speaker 2: the ball over twice. Mike Gundy had a very odd
Speaker 2: decision to remove his very season, seventh year starting quarterback,
Speaker 2: which did not go well, and as soon as he
Speaker 2: put him back in the game, then Okay State made
Speaker 2: a run at it. So at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: they got the w, which is all that matters. But
Speaker 2: at the same time, you have to look at every
Speaker 2: game and dissect it because of what happened, and what
Speaker 2: happened is Isaac played a good game. I would say
Speaker 2: Isaac played a decent game. You can't turn the ball
Speaker 2: over twice on the road, especially you know, Kyle does
Speaker 2: not like losing the turnover battle. I'm sure he said
Speaker 2: this week that historically you don't win when you go
Speaker 2: on the road and lose the turnover battle three to
Speaker 2: one or three to two, whatever it was. I just
Speaker 2: don't think you can afford to do that going forward
Speaker 2: with the rest of the teams in Utah plays, even
Speaker 2: against Arizona.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So the SEC this season has decided to adapt the
Speaker 3: pro model of reporting injuries.
Speaker 1: And so you know, if you play.
Speaker 3: Fantasy football, if you pay attention to football, you know,
Speaker 3: on like Thursday or Friday, pro teams submit their injury
Speaker 3: report and you find out who's in find out who's out,
Speaker 3: find out who's a game time. SEC is now doing
Speaker 3: the same, and simply Chris because of the bottom line
Speaker 3: of who your starting quarterback is is worth hundreds of
Speaker 3: millions of dollars on the betty market. At some point,
Speaker 3: college football will lean into this entirely. Until they do,
Speaker 3: Kyle's job is not to tell us who's starting a quarterback.
Speaker 3: I know fans get frustrated, and there's some certain media
Speaker 3: members that believe they're entitled that information.
Speaker 1: We're not. Kyle's job is to win games.
Speaker 2: Kyle doesn't care. I hate to break in.
Speaker 3: Kyle doesn't give a rip. And by the way, there
Speaker 3: is a legitimate debate to be made that there is
Speaker 3: a competitive advantage now that has been dispelled by others,
Speaker 3: namely Jim Harbaugh, who was always very open and honest
Speaker 3: about who's playing who's not. He's like, that's such an
Speaker 3: overrated thing to think that you have a competitive advantage
Speaker 3: because you kept an injury from the public.
Speaker 1: But Yio thinks that's an advantage. He's going to use it.
Speaker 3: But what do you make of this communication structure that
Speaker 3: seems to continue to frustrate.
Speaker 1: A lot of you football fans?
Speaker 2: Well, I guess I would look at it through like
Speaker 2: the prism of how Mike Gundhy explained it last week.
Speaker 2: I think Mike Gundy and his Monday or Tuesday press
Speaker 2: conference said they were expecting Isaac to play. He said
Speaker 2: that before anybody, even before the lines fluctuated. Football guys
Speaker 2: aren't dumb. They know that if a quarterback suffered a
Speaker 2: severe cut or whatever on his throwing hand, he's probably
Speaker 2: not going to play. Like I understand the way Kyle thinks,
Speaker 2: because I do agree, like why do it if you
Speaker 2: don't have to? And I do know that Kyle, when
Speaker 2: push comes a shove, when he's eventually forced to, he
Speaker 2: will and he won't complain about it. But until then,
Speaker 2: you don't have to do it. And the reality is
Speaker 2: is Utah finds itself with a starting quarterback who has
Speaker 2: reached cult level status here for a myriad of reasons.
Speaker 2: But he's also a guy that gets hurt too often,
Speaker 2: and he's a guy that throws game plans into flux
Speaker 2: and it's something that you just have to roll with.
Speaker 2: It's just the reality of the situation. And you know,
Speaker 2: I think the last person in the world I know
Speaker 2: for a fact, because he told me, the last person
Speaker 2: in the world who wants to be dealing with will
Speaker 2: you player? Will you not play? Is Cam Rising. But
Speaker 2: here we are again. Utah is just better equipped to
Speaker 2: handle that lack of Cam this year than they were
Speaker 2: last year.
Speaker 3: Well, and you spend time with him recently or your
Speaker 3: piece for the athletics, So let's dig into that a
Speaker 3: little bit more. Because it's one thing to hear a
Speaker 3: SoundBite on a radio show or a sound or a
Speaker 3: social media post or whatever. When you sat with him
Speaker 3: and you talked about this process that he's gone through.
Speaker 3: What stood out most to you in person with Cam.
Speaker 2: Just that, like a very jovial person who has a
Speaker 2: very sunny disposition admitted to going through some dark days
Speaker 2: of having to be the bearer of bad news to
Speaker 2: people who did not want to hear the bad news.
Speaker 2: I mean, he told me, like he stayed in for
Speaker 2: a long time. He didn't want to even go to
Speaker 2: the grocery store, goheuad and get food, said the door
Speaker 2: dash bill went up. Yeah, Like that is an anecdote
Speaker 2: in and of itself that showed that he is one
Speaker 2: of the most recognizable people around town. And I understand,
Speaker 2: like fame isn't for everybody, and Cam said it for himself,
Speaker 2: like he's just a guy that wants to be a
Speaker 2: quarterback and the reality is, unfortunately that comes with the
Speaker 2: territory of playing the most important position in sports. But
Speaker 2: to me, it was the fact that I think unrealistic
Speaker 2: expectations were put onto his potential availability last year, which
Speaker 2: wraps into something that we talked about at nauseum last fall.
Speaker 2: And I think you and I were of the opinion
Speaker 2: even in June and July last year that Cam was
Speaker 2: probably not going to play at all, let alone against
Speaker 2: Florida and the opener. And it wasn't until I think
Speaker 2: October that Cam gave me permission to talk to a
Speaker 2: surgeon who then told me the full extent of what
Speaker 2: he suffered, and he said that on Bill's show as well,
Speaker 2: like Cam's knee didn't just suffer a standard ACL terry
Speaker 2: basically exploded, like everything that keeps his knee together for
Speaker 2: the basic standards of walking in everyday life, let alone
Speaker 2: being a mobile quarterback who wants to be able to
Speaker 2: get out and roll and throw and make people miss.
Speaker 2: All that stuff went to hell, basically, So he had
Speaker 2: to figure out a way to continuously be the bearer
Speaker 2: of bad news to a population that believes in him,
Speaker 2: has seen him lead them to the promised land of
Speaker 2: two pack twelve titles two Rose Bulls, and understands that
Speaker 2: with Cam behind center, they have their best shot of
Speaker 2: doing big things.
Speaker 3: I wonder because it was clear last year. I don't
Speaker 3: know how this all came down, but either Cameron was
Speaker 3: asked or straight encouraged to be part of the ambiguity
Speaker 3: week to week, you know, and we would hear him
Speaker 3: say things like, yeah, I'm shooting for this weekend.
Speaker 1: We'll see though that's the plan.
Speaker 3: And same thing from the coaching staff, same thing from
Speaker 3: everybody up there. What sort of told do you think
Speaker 3: that took on him? When you talk to him about
Speaker 3: knowing that he wasn't going to play, Because in retrospect
Speaker 3: he knew, and I had an idea that I got verified.
Speaker 3: Then your information about what really happened to me, We're like, well,
Speaker 3: of course he wasn't going to play last year, but
Speaker 3: he was either strongly a courage or asked to participate
Speaker 3: in the narrative that he might weaken and weak out.
Speaker 3: How do you think that affect that?
Speaker 2: Well? So the thing that's tricky about this whole thing was,
Speaker 2: you know, there were days where Cam felt like he
Speaker 2: could play. That's the problem is when you're coming back
Speaker 2: from such a severe injury and you are exceeding some benchmarks,
Speaker 2: there will be days where you feel like, oh, man,
Speaker 2: like one more good day and maybe I have a shot,
Speaker 2: And then after two good days, Cam would have a
Speaker 2: bad day. And understanding that Cam's aspirations are, you know,
Speaker 2: part of wanting to go play professional football Utah, and
Speaker 2: Cam did not want to put him in harm's way
Speaker 2: if he wasn't feeling like he could potentially be one.
Speaker 2: But the reality is you kind of have to go
Speaker 2: with status quo and the status quote Utah right now
Speaker 2: is you don't talk about injuries, and it doesn't make
Speaker 2: sense for your star quarterback to necessarily deviate. You know,
Speaker 2: Cam deviated a little bit on Bill's show last year,
Speaker 2: and I think that was kind of when rubber hit
Speaker 2: the road for him, and understandably so. But here we
Speaker 2: are again. I think, fortunately for everybody, especially for Cam,
Speaker 2: like the injury is not close to severe, like I
Speaker 2: honestly think that. I mean, Cam was pretty close to
Speaker 2: playing according to Kyle until he started warming up, and
Speaker 2: he just didn't have Zip on the ball right til
Speaker 2: last week.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know you said this earlier.
Speaker 3: The silver lining is it appears to look better this
Speaker 3: year for you fans when Cam is not available.
Speaker 1: So is it fair to say.
Speaker 3: That I still think for them to win the Big
Speaker 3: Twelve and do something fun in the CFP, it's got
Speaker 3: to be Cam. But I also believe that for them
Speaker 3: to get there, they're gonna have to get more from Isaac,
Speaker 3: whether it's tomorrow or at some point throughout the week. Like,
Speaker 3: I think we need to put this narrative away that
Speaker 3: you know, they were able to doctor Frankenstein Cam's brain
Speaker 3: and now he's gonna throw it away and slid.
Speaker 2: It's not who he is.
Speaker 3: No, it lasted a game and a half Chris, Yeah,
Speaker 3: and even less than that because they Adam for you know,
Speaker 3: basically at the the first half. Shu You Yeah, So, like,
Speaker 3: what should the conversation sound like regarding the situation, Because
Speaker 3: while I do think they're gonna need Cam, I also
Speaker 3: believe that they're gonna need more from Isaac if they
Speaker 3: want to win the conference.
Speaker 2: You can make an argument it's the best and worst
Speaker 2: case scenario. Playing out in real time. Worst case scenario
Speaker 2: is Cam got her early doing something that he knows
Speaker 2: that he probably shouldn't have done. Should have just went
Speaker 2: down and taken the fifteen yard sack and move on
Speaker 2: to the next play, but he didn't, and the reality
Speaker 2: is we are where we are. The best case scenario
Speaker 2: is you have a guy who you believe can be
Speaker 2: the future behind him, who is getting reps in real
Speaker 2: time and is leading you to wins. But again, I
Speaker 2: can't emphasize this enough. A true freshman leading a top
Speaker 2: ten team into a big twelve schedule that they're playing
Speaker 2: for the first time is very, very difficult, for sure,
Speaker 2: and we have to we have to proceed with the
Speaker 2: with the understanding that this kid is a good player.
Speaker 2: He was highly sought after for a reason. But he
Speaker 2: will take his licks if he continues to play, for sure.
Speaker 2: I mean that's the reality. You can listen to people
Speaker 2: around here who are saying, like, you know, maybe Isaac
Speaker 2: is better than Cam. No, he's not. He's not. Right now,
Speaker 2: that is not the reality anybody should be living in.
Speaker 2: Isaac is the future, but he is not the prison.
Speaker 3: Oh well said, And you know, I think he's shown
Speaker 3: enough to again make you fans feel a little bit
Speaker 3: better because last year was Bryson, then it was Nate,
Speaker 3: and it was Bryson and Nate and it.
Speaker 1: Just never really fully worked. All right. As you know, I.
Speaker 3: Don't look at mentions, and I don't do my show
Speaker 3: based off of one person who sent me a tweet
Speaker 3: about one thing. And so you know you'll hear you'll
Speaker 3: hear sports talk radio. Huse go like, man, I had
Speaker 3: to take yesterday and I got killed. Then you look
Speaker 3: like two dudes tweeted at you. Okay, calm down, you
Speaker 3: didn't get killed. And I hesitate to do the same
Speaker 3: about a truncated space of people who I've spoken with
Speaker 3: or overheard at golf courses talk about golf courses. You
Speaker 3: know what I'm talking something, Give me something, you know
Speaker 3: what I'm talking about. No, I'm warming up, hitting warm.
Speaker 1: Up puts because you know, I get there early. I'm
Speaker 1: a worker.
Speaker 2: Nobody talks about the breaks.
Speaker 3: Nobody talks about my work ethic. I think it's kind
Speaker 3: of unfortunate. I think a lot of people know that
Speaker 3: you have work ethic. But anyways, okay, fair enough, And
Speaker 3: as I'm warming up, just hitting some potts, I hear
Speaker 3: four football bros mid fifties, you know, ute fans, and
Speaker 3: they're talking about how much money Cam is making to
Speaker 3: play for Utah.
Speaker 1: And I'm sorry, but when money comes into it, it
Speaker 1: does change things. It just does. Now.
Speaker 3: I don't think it changes where we're at, and that
Speaker 3: is he's hurt trying to get back.
Speaker 1: But you know, you.
Speaker 3: Overhear things like, oh, seven figures to play quarterback in
Speaker 3: college and you know you last a game and a half,
Speaker 3: and is there something nefarious going on? Because of course
Speaker 3: it's twenty twenty four and we have to have a
Speaker 3: conspiracy theory about everything.
Speaker 1: Win Mills and such.
Speaker 3: But in your in your opinion, how if at all,
Speaker 3: does money come into the equation now that Cam reportedly
Speaker 3: is making seven figures to play quarterback?
Speaker 2: I mean it plays. It played a role in him
Speaker 2: wanting to come back, right as it should have. You know,
Speaker 2: I asked his parents that when I talk to for
Speaker 2: the story, it's like, if you are the guy in
Speaker 2: a market that so desperately wants to have a guy,
Speaker 2: why not go for it? And for a bunch of reasons,
Speaker 2: it made sense for Cam to come back. It did
Speaker 2: not make sense for Cam coming off a serious injury
Speaker 2: to try to go the undrafted free agent route and
Speaker 2: presumably make way less money even if he's stuck with
Speaker 2: a team than what he could make here. But if
Speaker 2: people are upset about that, they shouldn't be upset because
Speaker 2: you're talking about people investing in people who play football.
Speaker 2: If people are frustrated about that, then I don't know
Speaker 2: what to tell them. Then they are. I would make
Speaker 2: an argument they're a little too thick in the head,
Speaker 2: because the reality is is if you're talking about an
Speaker 2: athlete at a university who plays football and plays the
Speaker 2: style of football that Cam does, the chances are he
Speaker 2: might get hurt, same way that Mackay Bernard might get hurt,
Speaker 2: or Dorian Singer might get hurt. Anybody might get hurt.
Speaker 2: This is football, This is not golf. No offense to
Speaker 2: you and reading the breaks and the broke who are
Speaker 2: also probably trying to read the breaks. This is what
Speaker 2: people are investing in for a bunch of reasons, because
Speaker 2: it makes sense to try to retain players. We saw
Speaker 2: the s hit the fan this week in Vegas. Man
Speaker 2: the starting quarterback of a top twenty five team, a
Speaker 2: program that has been so irrelevant for decades decided to
Speaker 2: up and leave after a three and oh start. That
Speaker 2: doesn't happen without nil. So if you're upset about that people,
Speaker 2: if you're upset the cam got paid to come back
Speaker 2: to Utah, I suggest you find a new sport to
Speaker 2: root for or.
Speaker 3: To watch right because and I talked about this the
Speaker 3: day after the Sluka announcement. I'm not one to say
Speaker 3: it's good or bad, but it's time to say it's different.
Speaker 3: And if you're going to it was inevitable for sure,
Speaker 3: and it should have happened a long time ago. My
Speaker 3: stance on this is very well documented. If you're gonna
Speaker 3: watch the NBA, you gotta deal with load management. If
Speaker 3: you're gonna watch the NFL, you gotta deal with CTE
Speaker 3: or Colin Kaepernick taking a knee.
Speaker 1: Whatever you're thinking, we're just injuries.
Speaker 2: I don't understand. The only time I get like Eastwood
Speaker 2: on the lawn Man, it's like, how can you get
Speaker 2: mad about injuries in a sport where the whole point
Speaker 2: is to try to dislodge a football going a million
Speaker 2: miles an hour right at somebody else while they're wearing
Speaker 2: pads and a giant helmet. I don't understand these people.
Speaker 1: It's not a contact sport.
Speaker 3: It's a violence sport, as I've always said, But if
Speaker 3: you want to consume college football, you're going to have
Speaker 3: to get used to the fact that what you were
Speaker 3: programmed to believe about amateurism is now a farce. And
Speaker 3: it always was, it always was, but it's evaporated right
Speaker 3: here to you, right and now these people who claim that.
Speaker 3: And I'm not a college football alarmist, because Saturday's in
Speaker 3: the fall still feel like Saturdays.
Speaker 1: In the fall.
Speaker 3: And I think even when the reality sets in where
Speaker 3: the top forty or whatever go do their own thing
Speaker 3: and everyone else is left behind, it's actually, in a
Speaker 3: way going to improve the product, because we'll see a
Speaker 3: lot of brand matchups week in and week out. But
Speaker 3: you just have to accept that now the new reality
Speaker 3: is here, and the alternative you have has always been
Speaker 3: only one thing, and that's don't go, don't go, don't watch,
Speaker 3: and don't don't tune out. But I no part of
Speaker 3: me believes this sport is in trouble, No part of me, Chris.
Speaker 2: It just needs people who are smart to put a
Speaker 2: set of rules in and deploy them for everybody to
Speaker 2: follow whether it's uh standardizing nil. I know. Charlie Baker
Speaker 2: had a tweet today saying, like, yeah, I saw this
Speaker 2: this week. I'm upset about it too. Here's where people
Speaker 2: need to go register no man, Like there needs to
Speaker 2: be hard and fast rules where if you break the
Speaker 2: rule like in years past, you get a severe penalty.
Speaker 2: I mean, smu man, I mean I I did a
Speaker 2: story earlier this year with Brian Hamilton, who's a colleague
Speaker 2: of mine who's a great college football or college basketball writer.
Speaker 2: We wrote about how once upon a time, car dealerships
Speaker 2: were the bane of college athletics. People were terrified of them,
Speaker 2: and now they're playing a role in landing players because
Speaker 2: that's the way things.
Speaker 3: Go, right and the irony is UNLV when nothing was legal,
Speaker 3: was paying for everybody right and and honestly not even
Speaker 3: apologizing for it, like like LJ. Greg Anthony. Those those
Speaker 3: guys were Stacy Augman Anderson Hunt.
Speaker 1: Okay, right, we can keep going if you want.
Speaker 3: You know that that team, which was one of the
Speaker 3: greatest college basketball teams I've ever seen play, those guys
Speaker 3: were driving nice cars in Vegas, and now that it's legal,
Speaker 3: they can't seem to figure it out. And I guess
Speaker 3: the lesson if you're a young person is you have
Speaker 3: to get it in writing. Verbal promises are simply your
Speaker 3: word against the other person.
Speaker 2: Get it. Get it in writing and have representation pour
Speaker 2: over every piece of fine print and just know what
Speaker 2: you're signing up for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but definitely get into writing.
Speaker 3: All right, We'll do a little b YU coming up
Speaker 3: next segment, because I know that the b YU bros
Speaker 3: want to hear from c K absolutely. But we have
Speaker 3: Colorado now at three and one and they're heading to UCF,
Speaker 3: who I think is a problem.
Speaker 1: You know, I think I've seen enough Hurricane.
Speaker 2: This does not This is the type of weather where
Speaker 2: if you're gonna throw the ball fifty times a game,
Speaker 2: it doesn't help you out point. And Colorado is a
Speaker 2: team that wants to let Shador Sanders turn.
Speaker 1: It loose, and UCF wants to run over you.
Speaker 3: So but Colorado had a couple of questions leading into
Speaker 3: the CSU game. They were able to get that done
Speaker 3: and it was a miracle against Baylor. But there were
Speaker 3: a lot of noise kind of surrounding Dion because Dion
Speaker 3: being Dion, is just going to bring attention.
Speaker 1: No matter what, winning or losing.
Speaker 3: What's fair to say about Colorado's three and one start,
Speaker 3: And could U SEF be that team that no one's
Speaker 3: really talked about that might derail something special Utah plays
Speaker 3: them the last game of the season.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you can correct me. You can open
Speaker 2: up UCF's schedule and who they played so far. I
Speaker 2: think they barely squeaked by TCU. I think they had
Speaker 2: to come back and be TCU. They smoke New Hampshire,
Speaker 2: smoke New Hampshire and Sam Houston and poor Sam Houston.
Speaker 2: But they have a veteran quarterback who played at Arkansas,
Speaker 2: and they have a really good running back. And listen,
Speaker 2: this is the type of team that Colorado does not
Speaker 2: want to face. As you mentioned, the type of team
Speaker 2: that isn't interested in letting it loose and throwing in
Speaker 2: the area of Travis Hunter. This is a team that
Speaker 2: wants to be able to run the ball thirty to
Speaker 2: forty times a game. And Gus Malzon is a great coach.
Speaker 2: He's won a national championship with Auburn. He knows what
Speaker 2: he's doing. So I think the fact that Colorado came
Speaker 2: back and won that game last week against Baylor was
Speaker 2: great for college football, is great for them. But I
Speaker 2: do think this is a tricky matchup because anytime you
Speaker 2: come up against a team that doesn't want to get
Speaker 2: into a shootout with you, you're gonna be in trouble.
Speaker 2: And that's where the Buffaloes find themselves this weekend.
Speaker 1: Shouldn't Travis Hunter win the Heisman Trope? Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, easily? But I think, well no, Unfortunately, the voters
Speaker 2: care too much about positions and optics and stats that
Speaker 2: have historically been bloated.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I don't know that I've ever seen
Speaker 1: a college player like him. He's remarkable.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I don't remember watching Charles Woodson or Dion.
Speaker 1: But I don't that's a good one.
Speaker 2: I don't think they I don't think they played. I
Speaker 2: don't think they produced to the level that Travis does
Speaker 2: on each side of the ball.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, That's kind of where I'm at with it, all right,
Speaker 3: Coming up next, more college football BYU. I had Aaron
Speaker 3: Rodgerck on the show a couple of weeks ago, and
Speaker 3: I said, what's different about this three and oh start
Speaker 3: opposed to what happened a year ago? So far, a
Speaker 3: Rod has proved to be a little bit prophetic there
Speaker 3: four and oh what sort of answers do we need
Speaker 3: to see at Baylor Bronch in Waco, ten Am.
Speaker 4: Want to listen to Utah's number one sports talk from home,
Speaker 4: just simply say, hey Alexa, play ESPN seven hundred or
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Speaker 1: Stay connected at home.
Speaker 4: Ramago with Utah's number one sports talk, ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 1: Did you request Dave?
Speaker 2: I try, But I'm Porter's delivering.
Speaker 1: Porter's been in his bag as it played.
Speaker 2: What does that mean? Does that mean like, you know,
Speaker 2: so like they're reaching in and pulling out money because
Speaker 2: like they're so money, Like I give me the give
Speaker 2: me the actual metaphor?
Speaker 3: According to my dear friend Doris Burke, Okay, when a
Speaker 3: basketball player is in his bag, he's making sweet moves. Okay,
Speaker 3: So Porter in his bag with his music selection, he's
Speaker 3: been killing it. How am I educating you on this list?
Speaker 2: I mean we're you might be like eight years older
Speaker 2: than expert, but we are we are on standard playing
Speaker 2: field when it comes to this gen Z lingo.
Speaker 1: I also have a twenty three year old son.
Speaker 2: Does that help you or does it hurt you? Does
Speaker 2: he tell you?
Speaker 3: Okay, so he informs me and then I awkwardly try
Speaker 3: to use the word he's told me in front of
Speaker 3: some of his friends, and he doesn't like it.
Speaker 1: He says it's cringe. You know, I'm being mid or
Speaker 1: extra or whatever.
Speaker 2: Anyway, no cap is the one that I still don't understand.
Speaker 1: So that means no lie, no lie. Yeah, no cap
Speaker 1: is no lie.
Speaker 3: And the reason no cap is no lie is once
Speaker 3: upon a time online, if somebody thought you were lying,
Speaker 3: they put a cap on you.
Speaker 2: So if you'd see somebody wearing a cap emoji or
Speaker 2: they yes, and so that that was twisted by these
Speaker 2: youngs they would photoshop it was like I think.
Speaker 3: And so now it's turning into no cap meaning no lie.
Speaker 3: You know you know what there is is, right I
Speaker 3: do not. It's charisma.
Speaker 1: You got the risk, Okay, you got the riz you
Speaker 1: do you.
Speaker 2: Got because I got the jersey.
Speaker 3: You got the Vancouver Grizzly Antonio Daniels jersey that you
Speaker 3: won from me in a bet that was very impressive
Speaker 3: when we were when we were recording a podcast a
Speaker 3: few years back, when we all thought we were dying.
Speaker 1: I asked you, I said that, you know.
Speaker 2: You said, name name teams that Antonio Daniels played for.
Speaker 2: I think, okay, I.
Speaker 1: Think you know it was even more impressive than I
Speaker 1: think I think.
Speaker 3: I said something like, I'll give you one thousand dollars
Speaker 3: right now if you tell me who drafted Antonio Daniels.
Speaker 3: And without even pausing, You're like Vancouver.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: So you were kind enough to say, if you know,
Speaker 3: you don't have to pay me the grand, but buy
Speaker 3: me a jersey.
Speaker 2: Which is what I did. Compliments on this jersey. I
Speaker 2: want you to know that I had, and I'm not
Speaker 2: a jersey guy, like this fits great?
Speaker 1: It does?
Speaker 2: It is? I think I would argue, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: one of the coolest jerseys in the history of the NBA.
Speaker 3: And a very underrated city that really hated having pro basketball.
Speaker 3: I was only up there four or five times that
Speaker 3: I always loved it.
Speaker 1: I had. I had to dig deep to find that
Speaker 1: Antonio Daniels.
Speaker 3: Was an It was an eBay, you know, but but well,
Speaker 3: I'm glad I didn't have to pay you a fir
Speaker 3: and I just had to spend one hundred bucks on
Speaker 3: a jersey.
Speaker 1: But that was the origin story. As Chris Comaradni is
Speaker 1: live on site. Just so you know.
Speaker 3: It is Smith's Football Fridays here at Smith's on ninth
Speaker 3: and ninth. Come on by and say hi, we'd love
Speaker 3: to meet you. You can actually see Chris Comaradni in person,
Speaker 3: which is very rare. It's like seeing a wild creature
Speaker 3: out out, you know, hanging.
Speaker 2: Out like a white tiger.
Speaker 1: But well done. No, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't do that,
Speaker 1: not this week. I don't so cklave on side for
Speaker 1: one more big segment here. All right, we did Utah football.
Speaker 1: Last segment.
Speaker 3: The Youth's obviously welcome in Arizona. Eight fifteen is your
Speaker 3: kick time at Rise Ecles. The ACI weather temperature is
Speaker 3: seventy two degrees and clear tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow night's gonna be a lot of fun. Hope to
Speaker 1: see you up there, going. Yeah, I'll be up there.
Speaker 3: My son's in town, so we're gonna go to see
Speaker 3: a U game because I don't get to see him
Speaker 3: very much anymore because he's living back East. But you know,
Speaker 3: I felt like BYU was better than people were giving
Speaker 3: them credit for media picks them thirteenth in the preseason
Speaker 3: Vegas over Under was four and a half, but I
Speaker 3: picked him to win six games. I did not think
Speaker 3: we'd sit here talking about a four and oh BYU
Speaker 3: team defense feels real. So before we get into the particulars,
Speaker 3: overall four and oh where yeah with YU right now?
Speaker 2: Overall it sounds super cliche, but BYU ceiling is as
Speaker 2: far as Jake Reetzlof can take them. Kudos took Kilanne
Speaker 2: and and Jay for building a very impressive defense. Something
Speaker 2: that I think you can make an argument was the
Speaker 2: Achilles heel of the program. Ironically, I mean Kilani being
Speaker 2: a defensive guy, but the fact that b YU for
Speaker 2: so many years in a row had future pros at
Speaker 2: quarterback and always were able to recruit skill position players.
Speaker 2: The defense struggled, especially against teams that like to run
Speaker 2: the ball this year. I mean I I think you
Speaker 2: could make the argument that BYU has one of the
Speaker 2: best linebacker course in the in the conference, and when
Speaker 2: they play you see that how good those guys can
Speaker 2: can play and how well they can impact the game.
Speaker 2: But listen for no, I really really think we we
Speaker 2: can't overreact to the Kansas State game because a night
Speaker 2: game at Lavelle Edwards Stadium is a very difficult place
Speaker 2: to play wide out, wide out, alternate cougartail, vanilla frosting
Speaker 2: cougar tail. And I think we'll find out who this
Speaker 2: team is this week. I think, like if even if
Speaker 2: they lose a close game, like I think, I think
Speaker 2: you could make an argument that BYU can get to
Speaker 2: seven to eight wins if they get blown out. I
Speaker 2: think that I don't want to say it is going
Speaker 2: to potentially like be forecast of what could come, but listen,
Speaker 2: they're gonna they're coming off a high against a team
Speaker 2: that they destroyed but was one of the oddest statistical
Speaker 2: games I think you can say in recent history. I
Speaker 2: think that I don't know what the time of possession
Speaker 2: breakdown was different and different, but like b YU didn't
Speaker 2: have the ball, that all that much more compared to
Speaker 2: Kansas State. Am I wrong? There?
Speaker 1: No, You're correct.
Speaker 3: I mean, and I do want to say I'll give
Speaker 3: the coaches a lot of credit because listening to Kolanie's
Speaker 3: pressure after.
Speaker 1: You get through the whole, like, hey, what's your favorite
Speaker 1: ice cream? Question.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, listening to Jay Hill and Kelly papinga
Speaker 3: a rod like all of them, And I don't want
Speaker 3: to diminish what I think was a really cool night
Speaker 3: for that program.
Speaker 1: I don't want to diminish a win.
Speaker 3: It's the biggest win by you've ever had over a
Speaker 3: top fifteen team. So oh, statistically, statistically so bottom line,
Speaker 3: thirty eight nine.
Speaker 1: I'm a results over vibes guy. You know me absolutely,
Speaker 1: thirty eight nine period, end of the story.
Speaker 3: But as Kolani pointed out, KSE State was eight of
Speaker 3: seventeen on third down BYUS three of nine. K State
Speaker 3: hung three hundred and sixty seven yards ONYU BYU had
Speaker 3: two hundred and forty one yards of total.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 3: KSE State had the ball for thirty three minutes, BYU
Speaker 3: twenty six fifty seven thereabouts. KSE State had eight penalties
Speaker 3: and three turnovers. You get a couple of you know,
Speaker 3: essentially interceptions in the red zone. Credit a rod for
Speaker 3: colling the kill shot, so you get touchdowns instead of
Speaker 3: field goals. The flukiest punt return you will ever see,
Speaker 3: even though it was awesome, a scoop and score. So
Speaker 3: it was a confluence of great fortune and also skill
Speaker 3: and good coaching as well.
Speaker 1: But what do you want to see tomorrow?
Speaker 3: So the conversation next week might be okay, They legitimately
Speaker 3: are better than anyone thought for sure.
Speaker 2: Somebody needs to give Parker Kingston some electrolytes before the
Speaker 2: game because our guy was spewing big time. I think
Speaker 2: he ran like one hundred and thirty yards in total.
Speaker 1: The broadcast, which is lunacy.
Speaker 2: I don't think I've ever seen a player like be like,
Speaker 2: please don't touch me, because like you could tell that
Speaker 2: he felt so horrible because of the amount of like
Speaker 2: exhaustion that he just exerted. They need to translate it
Speaker 2: to the road, like they've They've played okay on the road.
Speaker 2: They won a very ugly game at SMU, which a
Speaker 2: lot of people had high hopes for SMU this year,
Speaker 2: but turns out they're not that good. They're going back
Speaker 2: to Texas an earlier game. I think I heard you
Speaker 2: say they do not have a good track record in
Speaker 2: like early day games on the road.
Speaker 3: Their last day games versus FBS team okay, and they
Speaker 3: have not won a big twelve road game yet.
Speaker 2: That does not bode well for them. But Baylor's not
Speaker 2: great like they they can be taking advantage of on defense.
Speaker 2: I mean they have some decent skill position players. I
Speaker 2: mean I've watched them twice with Utah and Colorado. Now
Speaker 2: BYU can absolutely win this game. I just think, like,
Speaker 2: you have to be able to make what happened Friday
Speaker 2: night against k State replicable on the road, and maybe
Speaker 2: not thirty eight nine, but you have to be able to,
Speaker 2: like you said, dial up the kill shots, be able
Speaker 2: to force turnovers, be able to make special teams plays.
Speaker 2: Those are the types of things that are necessary to
Speaker 2: do in order to win on the road, no matter
Speaker 2: who your opponent is.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 3: And this is kind of the time of year where
Speaker 3: I start to move from observation to conclusion. We have
Speaker 3: to talk about what we know about teams now as
Speaker 3: opposed to what we're trying to learn now. It still
Speaker 3: is early in the season, but we've got four weeks
Speaker 3: behind us. We're a third of the way through, essentially,
Speaker 3: So let's do this exercise with both BYU and Utah.
Speaker 3: One thing Chris, I can say that I feel like
Speaker 3: I know for sure about BYU is to your point
Speaker 3: of that defense is for real.
Speaker 1: And I was on the sidelines.
Speaker 3: When Baylor was here to play Utah, that offense, it
Speaker 3: didn't it didn't look good. Now, every time I say, hey,
Speaker 3: the offense didn't look good here and saw, I like, well, yeah,
Speaker 3: they played against Utah's defense. So you know, Baylor almost
Speaker 3: got Colorado a week ago. How good is Colorado. I'm
Speaker 3: confident for BYU in this game because one thing I
Speaker 3: feel like I know I can say as we move
Speaker 3: from observation and conclusion is the defense is for real.
Speaker 1: But I'm not ready to say anything about JA yet.
Speaker 1: I just am not.
Speaker 3: I mean, over the course of the four starts last
Speaker 3: year and at times this year has looked better, but
Speaker 3: the mistakes are still there. The bath thrillers are still there,
Speaker 3: the turnovers are still there. And again he didn't have
Speaker 3: to do much against k State, but it did enough
Speaker 3: to help them get the wins.
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna ask you, what do you know about BYU?
Speaker 1: What do you still need to learn about them?
Speaker 2: LJ. Martin's out, I believe so that running back room
Speaker 2: is that's that's hard. That's hard, especially going on the road,
Speaker 2: because I think you're, you know, role players, as they
Speaker 2: say in any sport, played better at home for obvious reasons.
Speaker 2: I don't know who's going to be able to take
Speaker 2: the pressure off of Jake. Jake's a gambler man, He's
Speaker 2: a gun slinger. But you know, like Kenny, he's got
Speaker 2: to know when to hold him and no one to
Speaker 2: fold over. Sure, he has an amazing arm Like he
Speaker 2: can drop down and make throws that a lot of
Speaker 2: people can't make. Like he has a tremendous amount of
Speaker 2: arm strength that a lot of people don't realize he has.
Speaker 2: But to your point, like there were some of those,
Speaker 2: some of those throws against SMU where it's like the
Speaker 2: screenplay where he throws it right to the other guy
Speaker 2: and was on ten yard line. It's like, oh no, please, no,
Speaker 2: Like those are those need to be eradicated in order
Speaker 2: for BYU to hit their ceilings. So what do I
Speaker 2: know about BYU? Great defense deserve to be four and
Speaker 2: oh will only go as far as Jake can take them? Meeting,
Speaker 2: can he produce within a Rod's system and avoid the
Speaker 2: type of backbreaking turnovers that would tire out a defense
Speaker 2: that's very very good.
Speaker 3: I don't want to sound redundant, so I'm not going
Speaker 3: to just do the same exercise with Utah. But here's
Speaker 3: what I will ask you, because what we know about
Speaker 3: Utah is what we know about team that's coached by
Speaker 3: coach Wit and they, in my opinion, have earned kind
Speaker 3: of a benefit of the doubt status that very few
Speaker 3: schools in the country have.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: College football is weird for a number of reasons, even
Speaker 3: though we love it. But one of the things that
Speaker 3: I've always found a little bit puzzling is it does
Speaker 3: feel like you get brand benefit of the doubt at times,
Speaker 3: leading people away from actually analyzing who you are, what
Speaker 3: you brought back, what you added.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of USC and Notre Dame more than anything.
Speaker 3: It feels like every year we're told that, hey, these
Speaker 3: two you know, and sometimes they're really good, sometimes they're not.
Speaker 1: But more often than not, I don't.
Speaker 3: Feel like they ever perform to the level of their
Speaker 3: preseason hype.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying.
Speaker 2: So what you're saying is a lot of people nationally
Speaker 2: are a little lazy when it comes to diving into
Speaker 2: the reality. Because your right, because I think for like
Speaker 2: I think of Stanford for a long time, it's like
Speaker 2: Jim Harbough and David Shawer there great defense, run the
Speaker 2: ball right, Utah great defense.
Speaker 1: Right right, exactly exactly.
Speaker 3: So it does feel like coach Wit has built this
Speaker 3: thing up to where you just give them the benefit
Speaker 3: of the doubt. So instead of me doing the exercise
Speaker 3: of here's what I know about Utah football, what I
Speaker 3: know about Utah football is what I've known about them
Speaker 3: for a long time now, and it's how Kyle wants
Speaker 3: to play. What I'll ask you is what do you
Speaker 3: still need to see? What questions do you need answered?
Speaker 3: We know the defense is awesome, we know the old
Speaker 3: lines played well. It seems like they might have a
Speaker 3: bell cow with the way mckaye's played so far.
Speaker 2: He's been good. But Kyle said it. Kyle said it. Anytime,
Speaker 2: I mean, people are frustrated with Kyle, Kyle will tell
Speaker 2: you what he's thinking. He said it two weeks in
Speaker 2: a row. Now. We don't want to maximize touches for
Speaker 2: makay because of his potential of getting hurt. For sure,
Speaker 2: McKay is a very good running back and for a
Speaker 2: long time we thought he was a third down scatback
Speaker 2: type person. He proved he's proven that he can be
Speaker 2: the guy. But he's also being it's also being relayed
Speaker 2: to us by their head coach that they have to
Speaker 2: figure out a way to not have him get hit
Speaker 2: so many times and be involved in so many touches.
Speaker 2: That's just the reality. Like so many players on this team,
Speaker 2: he's an older player that has been hurt and gone
Speaker 2: through like various things. That is also the reality of
Speaker 2: college football. Now. Like we talked about this before the
Speaker 2: season even started, Utah's three one of three of its
Speaker 2: most important players cam Brandt McKay. These are guys that
Speaker 2: have not played a lot of college football in the
Speaker 2: last two years, which is to the detriment of Utah's hopes.
Speaker 2: That's just the reality. But to your point, McKay has
Speaker 2: proven himself, but they have to figure out a way
Speaker 2: to spell him because I don't think last week at
Speaker 2: Okay State is replicable going forward. I don't. I know
Speaker 2: Mike Mitchell has been banged up, and I know they
Speaker 2: think highly of him. He's definitely a bigger back who
Speaker 2: fits the mold of who could play off of mackay strengths.
Speaker 2: I get that, but I just don't think Makai being
Speaker 2: the Zach Moss twenty to twenty five carries every single
Speaker 2: week guy is gonna work out for Utah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I was just I said this I
Speaker 3: think on Monday. It's not that I didn't think Makai
Speaker 3: could run between the tackles. It's just more I don't
Speaker 3: know that I've seen it the way we saw it
Speaker 3: against Oklahoma State.
Speaker 1: So who is the guy?
Speaker 3: Is it Mike Mitchell because he's a little bit Dejon
Speaker 3: Stanley had quite a coming out party. But as I
Speaker 3: talked about against it was a pitching catch. Yeah, there's
Speaker 3: nobody within twenty yards, and that dude's fast.
Speaker 2: Nobody was catching Himah was seven on seven.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I believe Cam said after the game that Dejon's
Speaker 3: the fastest player on the team. I still look at
Speaker 3: Jalen Glover and I think, like, dude, I've seen this
Speaker 3: kid have big games and big moments for big Utah
Speaker 3: wins over the past three years. I don't know why
Speaker 3: he can't get off the pine, but obviously something's there.
Speaker 3: He's fallen out of favor. So if Mackay's the guy,
Speaker 3: but to your point, you can't overuse him. Does what
Speaker 3: does it look like? What does the distribution look me?
Speaker 2: In the Pride of East High School, Charlie Vincent sure.
Speaker 2: I mean a six year guy, a guy who was
Speaker 2: on the team when I covered the team so long ago,
Speaker 2: so like Charlie's been on the team. I covered Charlie
Speaker 2: in high school at the Tribune.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's how.
Speaker 2: Credit to Charlie. Charlie was a hell of a skill
Speaker 2: position player at East I remember him a Britain Covey
Speaker 2: type player. And now he's getting reps at running back
Speaker 2: for the number ten years. So credit to Charlie. He's
Speaker 2: played well this year. Clearly he is ahead of some
Speaker 2: people in that room for a reason. Andy trusts him
Speaker 2: and Kyle trusts him for sure. So what does the
Speaker 2: what does the room look like behind behind mackay? If
Speaker 2: Mike Mitchell is healthy, it's it's gonna be him. But
Speaker 2: then after that it's it seems like it's a steady
Speaker 2: dose of Dejon Stanley or Charlie Vincent. I don't I
Speaker 2: don't pretend to know anything about what's going on with
Speaker 2: Jalen Glover that. I'll leave that up to Quinton Ganther
Speaker 2: and Andrey Ludwig. Sure, but if if Utah fans are
Speaker 2: worried about their fourth or fifth running back right now,
Speaker 2: that goes to show you how good this team is.
Speaker 3: I'm not saying McKay has reached Cameron level importance, but
Speaker 3: if Makai goes down, that's a big blow.
Speaker 1: I mean down the stretch.
Speaker 2: Kai goes down and Mike Mitchell is not one hundred
Speaker 2: percent who Mike is a talented, big young back, but
Speaker 2: he's not proven. So if you're talking about those two
Speaker 2: guys being hurt and Cam not being available, yeah, that's
Speaker 2: five all on fire.
Speaker 1: So I posed the question for sure.
Speaker 3: So I posed the question to Scott Mitchell a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks ago when when we kind of were operating
Speaker 3: off these some that Isaac was getting the start.
Speaker 1: Cameron safety valve is clearly Brent.
Speaker 3: They played together forever, right, and that's going to be
Speaker 3: the comfort target he looks towards. And for Isaac Wilson,
Speaker 3: is it becoming Dorian Singer? We finally saw the Dorian
Speaker 3: game most you fans were hoping for last week. Do
Speaker 3: you think we're seeing something emerging with isa.
Speaker 2: He's their best wide receiver since Darren Carrington. If you're
Speaker 2: talking about pure skill, if you're talking about a number
Speaker 2: one receiver at Utah, who would be a potential number
Speaker 2: one at other contending schools, which Utah has really never had. Yes,
Speaker 2: he is that guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So let's move over to the defense here real quick,
Speaker 3: because one of the conversations I always have every year
Speaker 3: Utah they always just have one. Well, they have multiple
Speaker 3: guys on defense, and they plays dudes, multiple dudes.
Speaker 1: Yea, they got they got s dudes.
Speaker 3: You have to say they got if you want to
Speaker 3: be a true college football bro, it's they got.
Speaker 1: Stare is nice, good memory.
Speaker 3: But a year in and year out, go back to Weddell
Speaker 3: Clark Devin there's like one guy that seems to make
Speaker 3: all these crazy game changing plays on defense.
Speaker 1: Is it time to say it might be Van Fillinger
Speaker 1: this year? Yeah, he's been He's been good for a lines.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's been good. It's been a while since UTAs
Speaker 2: had a star defensive end like that. I mean, I
Speaker 2: think Bradley and I was the last one that really
Speaker 2: comes to mind. And for a long time they had
Speaker 2: those guys. They were putting guys like that in the league.
Speaker 2: Hunter Dimmick, Nate Orchard, the Mayor Mayor, you know, Bradley,
Speaker 2: some other folks that have come through here and and
Speaker 2: really made a big impact. But I think if I'm
Speaker 2: looking at the Utah defense, like if Lander Barton has
Speaker 2: to stay healthy because he's a future like potential day
Speaker 2: one draft or day two draft pick, notine say day
Speaker 2: one because that's first round. Now, if he stays healthy,
Speaker 2: they should be in good shape because their defensive line
Speaker 2: is good. Again. For a long time, I was of
Speaker 2: the opinion that Utah's defensive line was not as good
Speaker 2: as it usually was, and a lot of that had
Speaker 2: to do with with health. Obviously, Van is a guy
Speaker 2: that's been dealing with injuries for a couple of seasons now,
Speaker 2: last year primarily. But if I'm looking at one guy
Speaker 2: on the defense that needs to kind of be the
Speaker 2: stereotypical game changing player, I'll be I'll be stereotypical and
Speaker 2: say it has to be their best middle linebacker.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's fair.
Speaker 3: And obviously we have no word at least I don't
Speaker 3: on karn Read's availability this weekend, nor I ever heard
Speaker 3: anything about Connor O'Toole.
Speaker 1: But coach went packed to or Echiese me Pack.
Speaker 3: Twelve Big twelve Media days told us that he thinks
Speaker 3: the D line is his deepest spot, So we'll see
Speaker 3: what happens.
Speaker 1: All right c K before we catch.
Speaker 3: A break fall means football, and it also means playoff soccer.
Speaker 1: Football.
Speaker 3: Yes, indeed, indeed, you know little kicking. I don't know
Speaker 3: if you've seen the SNL skit Nate Bargatzi. It's a
Speaker 3: little you know, George Washington, little kicking r S And
Speaker 3: we had Doney on earlier. Let's do a little RSL
Speaker 3: for a few minutes. Far as say you lose, I
Speaker 3: don't know what they're gonna do in goal. You know,
Speaker 3: ultimately it it felt like at one point there was
Speaker 3: a little bit of momentum, like maybe before the win. Though,
Speaker 3: do we looked at a keeper? I know they love
Speaker 3: Gavin He's eighteen, that's insane. Zach has played well in
Speaker 3: spurch for them over the past few years. But I
Speaker 3: think it's safe to say, and Donny alluded to this,
Speaker 3: there's no great answer right now on goal. I also
Speaker 3: don't want to completely pin the defensive issues only on
Speaker 3: the keeper.
Speaker 1: It's a team thing.
Speaker 3: Nine goals allowed in the last three games, so we'll
Speaker 3: get to the attack portion. But what do you attribute
Speaker 3: most to what I perceived to be a pretty leaky
Speaker 3: defense with four matches left.
Speaker 2: Well, two of those are at home, and we shouldn't
Speaker 2: be giving up that many goals at home.
Speaker 1: Set pieces costly goals too.
Speaker 2: There is no there, I mean, Dunny's right, There is
Speaker 2: no right answer right now. Both Zach and Gavin are
Speaker 2: making game changing mistakes. Luckily for Gavin the one against Dallas,
Speaker 2: he got off the hook a little bit and when
Speaker 2: the when hazes FORER played that quick free kick, which
Speaker 2: was brilliant. I've never seen that done in a game.
Speaker 1: If I was playing FIFA, I would have turned the exit.
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean that's like RB like perfect placement.
Speaker 2: It hit the post and bounced in. Unfortunate for Gavin. Historically,
Speaker 2: RSL has always been the benefactor of amazing goalkeeper play.
Speaker 2: We're looking at the landscape of the history of the franchise.
Speaker 2: Scott Garlic, DJ Countess, Wow.
Speaker 1: Kyle Rainish, you don't want to play this game with.
Speaker 2: Me, just so, Jeff Atonella, No, I'm being honest, Like
Speaker 2: for however many I can't remember how many years Nick.
Speaker 1: Was here, but Pat Sackett, you will not be in
Speaker 1: the chat. Say yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Don't even know who that is.
Speaker 1: Okay, Blitz.
Speaker 2: People played it, hated playing RSEL because they had Nick Rimando.
Speaker 2: Sure in the regular season and in the playoffs. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and that's not even including penalties. You're kind of seeing
Speaker 2: what life is like without a Nick Rimando. And now
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that like Gavin and Zach need to
Speaker 2: be measured up to the stature and the plaudits of
Speaker 2: Nick Romondo. But fans are spoiled because of the guy
Speaker 2: that they had in the pipes. So I'm of the
Speaker 2: opinion they should have gone out and found somebody because
Speaker 2: Zach's not it. I think you have to ride with Gavin.
Speaker 2: He's he's thought of highly in the youth national team scene,
Speaker 2: Like he's a guy that's in those circles already, so
Speaker 2: that he is a good young keeper, you have to
Speaker 2: ride with him. Like I think it makes sense, Like
Speaker 2: the mistakes he's making aren't any worse than the mistakes
Speaker 2: that Zach's. Zach was for sure, So if you're if
Speaker 2: we're talking about hedging bets, you want to invest more
Speaker 2: time and potential learning lessons in the kid who has
Speaker 2: a higher ceiling than the than the than the veteran
Speaker 2: who's been around the league for a long time.
Speaker 3: So let's expand the conversation to this though, because I
Speaker 3: always and I had to learn this right because early on,
Speaker 3: before I ever, because I never watched soccer. I've told
Speaker 3: you this, and so my untrained eye and now like
Speaker 3: I'm some savanna. Now you see a goal, you'd be like, oh,
Speaker 3: that that's on the keeper, that's on the keeper, or
Speaker 3: you see a goal, you're like, oh, the center back
Speaker 3: slipped or whatever.
Speaker 1: And it was Donny who kind of reminded.
Speaker 3: He kind of taught me, like, look center backs back
Speaker 3: for keepers, like it's such your mistakes are so so
Speaker 3: punitive because goals change games. Somebody told me that goals
Speaker 3: change games, and so I try to look at it
Speaker 3: from more of a macro stand.
Speaker 1: Are there bad giveaways?
Speaker 3: Is the midfield not in possession or people not tracking back?
Speaker 3: But you've been watching the sport a lot longer than
Speaker 3: I have. If we move away from keeper issues, which
Speaker 3: are real, what are the other elements that have allowed
Speaker 3: this defense to take such a nosedive?
Speaker 2: Outside back plays but has been really, really shoddy this year,
Speaker 2: Andrew Brody has taken a dip. I think I'm of
Speaker 2: the opinion that Pablo needs to find a way to
Speaker 2: get body hidoga more minutes I think he has a
Speaker 2: higher ceiling at any number of positions. Frude height zone Oka.
Speaker 2: But to your point, like I will say that there
Speaker 2: there are times this year where we're seeing mistakes made
Speaker 2: by goalkeepers that make me gas and that doesn't happen
Speaker 2: often correct by both of these guys, I'm with you,
Speaker 2: which is the problem, Like you're there are time spence
Speaker 2: where we're talking about like not Sports Center, not top
Speaker 2: ten plays type type mistakes, yes, which can't have a
Speaker 2: league soccer stuck correct, which which can't have happened for
Speaker 2: a number of reasons on a professional level, let alone
Speaker 2: for a team that's vying for a top four playoff
Speaker 2: spot out West. I think we were lazy in trying
Speaker 2: to understand We were lazy in trying. Yeah, we were
Speaker 2: lazy in trying to understand the balance of this team
Speaker 2: earlier on in the season, because they were so amazing offensively.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 2: I mean they were winning games five to three, four
Speaker 2: to two. So like the fact that their offensive display
Speaker 2: was so tantalizing, I mean, you're always going to fall
Speaker 2: in love with the shiny object, And for a long time,
Speaker 2: RSL's shiny object was Chicho Rongo Andrascomas and Diego Luna
Speaker 2: just basically blitzing people and playing amazing soccer and scoring
Speaker 2: amazing goals. But things have changed. Obviously, the front office
Speaker 2: made a big decision, which I still think is the
Speaker 2: right decision. But you're seeing a team that basically is
Speaker 2: trying to figure itself out again on the fly, in
Speaker 2: real time, in what is the hardest part of the
Speaker 2: MLS calender, the dog days of summer in MLS.
Speaker 3: All right, before I say you lose, just to follow
Speaker 3: up four matches left, I asked Garth, and maybe Garth
Speaker 3: would just give me a lip service because Atlanta was
Speaker 3: in town. We are g Garth on RSL smoked Atlanta
Speaker 3: pretty good. I said, do you think they can win it?
Speaker 2: And he said I do before Andres was sold.
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 3: And so now we move into this new reality. And
Speaker 3: I know you're a big fan of talking sports, you
Speaker 3: know five questions.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm a huge fan. And Dave your guy,
Speaker 1: Dave Fox, my guy, all of our guys.
Speaker 2: He asked me, are you emmys.
Speaker 1: Indeed two pelotons as well?
Speaker 3: Are you more confident in RSL making a deep run
Speaker 3: today than you were a couple of months ago? And
Speaker 3: it said, no, I'm not so do you think they
Speaker 3: can win it? That that's before.
Speaker 2: They can They can't win it? Okay, No, the LA
Speaker 2: teams are too good, teams that are always tough to
Speaker 2: play in the postseason like Seattle and Colorado are right
Speaker 2: and they're nipping on their heels. So many things have
Speaker 2: to go right for him the last month of season.
Speaker 2: They have to figure out a way to get Chicho
Speaker 2: Roango out of his head and playing at the MVP
Speaker 2: level that he was. They have to figure out a
Speaker 2: way for a Diogo Gonsalves to be the guy that
Speaker 2: they spent four million dollars on or three million dollars on,
Speaker 2: whatever it was. And they have to figure out a
Speaker 2: way to stop being a sieve on the back line
Speaker 2: because they are tremendously bad right now on the back line.
Speaker 3: If they have a home playoff game, what do we
Speaker 3: have to do to get a convoy to head out, Like,
Speaker 3: let's get a group like eight to ten of us.
Speaker 2: I'll go on tracks with you guys, will you absolutely?
Speaker 3: Hey, Buddy, good to see the great Chris Comroddi from
Speaker 3: the Athletic.
Speaker 1: He is on Twitter, but he never tweets. He does
Speaker 1: tweet out his work because he's a great writer. At
Speaker 1: Chris Comroddi is where you find him.