Speaker 1: I are live today out here at ARUP Blood Services.
Speaker 1: It's ninety seven eighty six South five hundred West in Sandy.
Speaker 1: We're asking for blood donations as this time of year
Speaker 1: sometimes going to lead you to a lot of accidents.
Speaker 1: AARUP is the sole provider to the University of Utah
Speaker 1: and the Huntsman Cancer Institute. You can enter to win
Speaker 1: free tickets for the Utah BYU football game.
Speaker 2: Our next guest knows a thing or two about Utah
Speaker 2: BYU about football. Friend of the show, it's been a while.
Speaker 1: It's great to have Austin Collie back on the program
Speaker 1: on a Tuesday. Austin, Happy Tuesday, man, how you doinganky Tuesday?
Speaker 3: How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm well, I'm well. I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 1: So, just generally speaking, what is Utah BYU Week like
Speaker 1: for you? As somebody who played in this rivalry once
Speaker 1: upon a time, I'll.
Speaker 3: Tell you what. I'll be honest. I tend to get
Speaker 3: a lot of requests to do some you know, radio
Speaker 3: bits and different media outlet interviews. So it's fun, man.
Speaker 3: It's a game that I've you know, I've always held
Speaker 3: near dear to my heart, and I think all BYU
Speaker 3: and Utah fans have and you know it's nothing but
Speaker 3: great for college football and great for the state.
Speaker 1: How has your prism or view on the rivalry changed
Speaker 1: in the years in between your performances, and you had
Speaker 1: some great games against BYU. We remember fourth and eighteen,
Speaker 1: you got eighteen passes for three h four and a touchdown.
Speaker 1: And then obviously you made the remarks that I always
Speaker 1: maintained were taken a little bit out of context. But
Speaker 1: you know the deal with this, if you say one thing,
Speaker 1: the people will run with them forever. So you're still
Speaker 1: kind of the magic Happens guy. And when that went down,
Speaker 1: people were not very nice to you, Austin. So, between
Speaker 1: then and now, how is your view of the game changed,
Speaker 1: if at all?
Speaker 3: Oh, I think I've put more stock into the game now.
Speaker 3: Like you know, prior to prior to coming here and
Speaker 3: prior to coming to bou right, I lived in California,
Speaker 3: I was I was a packed ten at the time. Kid.
Speaker 3: You know, I really didn't pay too much attention about uh,
Speaker 3: you know, in regards to b y U and Utah
Speaker 3: and the rivalry. And I remember my my freshman year,
Speaker 3: my true freshman year, when we went up there played
Speaker 3: against the Fiesta Bowl team against Alex Smith and Urban
Speaker 3: Meyer and and uh, you know, I had a little
Speaker 3: SoundBite during that week as well that that fans and
Speaker 3: and players didn't take too kindly too and and that
Speaker 3: was kind of my first dose of of what this
Speaker 3: rivalry meant to the players, the teams or the universities
Speaker 3: as well as the state and the fans. And and uh,
Speaker 3: I think my understanding has even gone to another level
Speaker 3: having lived here now right, I've got two partners, uh
Speaker 3: that uh we don't and insurance brokers here in South Jordan,
Speaker 3: and they are avid Utah man. So we've been going
Speaker 3: back and forth in the past two months on who's
Speaker 3: gonna win this game and what this game means to
Speaker 3: each of us.
Speaker 2: I gotta love that. I wonder if you have, because
Speaker 2: as I referenced.
Speaker 1: You had several memorable moments against you. Is there one
Speaker 1: that stands out above the rest? I imagine I know
Speaker 1: the answer to that question, but I wanted to get
Speaker 1: it from you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I you know, the fourth and eighteen obviously
Speaker 3: is you know, That's what I'm constantly reminded of from
Speaker 3: BYU fans and and Utah fans alike. Obviously Utah fans
Speaker 3: have a little bit more hate in our heart when
Speaker 3: they talk about that played. But you know, I think
Speaker 3: every game I played it against Utah it was different.
Speaker 3: It was definitely different than the other games that we
Speaker 3: played against. You could tell there was a different energy,
Speaker 3: there was a different you know, there was more on
Speaker 3: the line, I think during those games than any of
Speaker 3: the other games I played.
Speaker 1: So I believe, Austin, you were part of the last
Speaker 1: BYU team to.
Speaker 2: Win in Salt Lake? Is that is that accurate? I
Speaker 2: think that's true.
Speaker 3: That is not true. So I the last time I
Speaker 3: won was the fourth and eighteen year was two thousand
Speaker 3: and seven. And then I, you know, luckily was able
Speaker 3: to play against too the best youth teams that Utah
Speaker 3: has ever had, right in four, lost to them and
Speaker 3: O four, and then you know, as luck would have it,
Speaker 3: I lost them and O eight when they was in
Speaker 3: the Sugar Bowl. So, uh, I only got them one
Speaker 3: time out of three. So I'm not gonna lie to yet.
Speaker 3: You know, every time we didn't get him, I go
Speaker 3: ahead and I chuck that up as my own win
Speaker 3: as well.
Speaker 1: Fair enough, fair enough, you you reference to dynamic about
Speaker 1: you personally that I wanted to tap into a little
Speaker 1: bit more because you know, these days Austin, as you know,
Speaker 1: you can pull up either Utah or BYU's roster and
Speaker 1: you see kids from Texas, in California, in Florida, in Canada,
Speaker 1: in Virginia, and I could keep going. And so it
Speaker 1: breeds this conversation where if you're not a local, do
Speaker 1: you really understand what this game means as somebody who
Speaker 1: did not grow up here. Do you think the out
Speaker 1: of state kids really understand what that environment is going
Speaker 1: to be like on Saturday night or is that something
Speaker 1: that you simply have to experience firsthand?
Speaker 3: No, I think you have the experience first hand, right
Speaker 3: Like I grew up you know, watching the USC Notre Dame, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, the Arizona Arizona State, the Stanford USC game
Speaker 3: or Stafford Cal games like those are the you know,
Speaker 3: and obviously the Michigan Ohiose State game. Those are the
Speaker 3: rivalries that I knew. And then, you know, having experienced myself,
Speaker 3: now I have the appreciation that this is like a
Speaker 3: top three rivalry in the country in my opinion, right,
Speaker 3: And I try to I try to say that without
Speaker 3: you know, any bias. I mean the fact you have
Speaker 3: so many especially this game, you have so many kind
Speaker 3: of behind the scenes, uh factors that go to this game,
Speaker 3: right the head coach having played at by U over Utah,
Speaker 3: the head coach playing at b YU and once coaching
Speaker 3: at Utah for b YU, Right, Like, there are so
Speaker 3: many different elements that go into this game that you know,
Speaker 3: the geography of it all right, the fact that the
Speaker 3: fan bases are majority the majority of the fan base
Speaker 3: is broken up by you know, a single point of
Speaker 3: the mountain, right, and you know, and those are the
Speaker 3: things that make the rivalry what it is. And unless
Speaker 3: you are in the community or have been in the
Speaker 3: community and understand what this means to everyday people and
Speaker 3: the bragging rights that go along with it for the
Speaker 3: next year, and and how how how much people take
Speaker 3: the win or the loss to heart, man, how that
Speaker 3: can ruin or make the next year what it is
Speaker 3: for some of these fans, Like you don't know that
Speaker 3: until you've set foot on campus and played in the game.
Speaker 1: So you've made You've made some of the most infamous
Speaker 1: comments in the history of this rivalry, as we've talked about.
Speaker 2: But I've always maintained that the real hate.
Speaker 1: When it comes to Utah BYU is fans who use
Speaker 1: the internet to feel brave. Cowards use the internet to
Speaker 1: feel brave, so they go online they attack people in
Speaker 1: a way they never would in real life, and it
Speaker 1: seems to very rarely spill over into.
Speaker 2: Real life, although that does happen.
Speaker 1: But it always felt like the coaches and the players
Speaker 1: respected each other, respected the you know, the the other institution. Intel,
Speaker 1: a quarterback that you played with, Max all said I
Speaker 1: don't like Utah.
Speaker 2: I hate them.
Speaker 1: I hate everything about them. That was the first time
Speaker 1: like your comments. In my opinion, yes, they were remembered
Speaker 1: in a way that probably is a little bit uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: but I thought that was kind of like no harm,
Speaker 1: no foul to me, and then Max just goes, you know,
Speaker 1: nuclear on the entire thing.
Speaker 2: How accurate are Max's comments?
Speaker 1: Are they truly reflective of the way that most b
Speaker 1: y U players feel about the University of Utah?
Speaker 3: I don't know. That's a great question, you know, and
Speaker 3: it's a great question to ask only because you know,
Speaker 3: as the locker room from a geographically diverse or or
Speaker 3: or continues to become more geographically diverse in terms of
Speaker 3: where each players come from and now understanding like that
Speaker 3: back in my day, man, like we had a lot
Speaker 3: of kids from Utah, so they understood what this rivalry meant.
Speaker 3: And you could say there was some hatred. There was
Speaker 3: some U it will right, uh wished upon the other university.
Speaker 3: But you know, I think, kid, now, especially with you
Speaker 3: know how many new kids are, you know, transferring into
Speaker 3: the into the school, into each school, you wonder if
Speaker 3: that hatred still exists. And I'd probably say not, right, Like,
Speaker 3: I know, the kid from Utah said some things about
Speaker 3: by U which fired me up. I loved them, right,
Speaker 3: I mean, that's what the rivalry is all about. And
Speaker 3: then I saw that he kind of took them back
Speaker 3: on h on Twitter, and I was like, dude, don't
Speaker 3: take those back, right, Like, this is what the game
Speaker 3: is about, is what rivalry is supposed to be about.
Speaker 3: But you do understand. I think, yeah, I would say
Speaker 3: maybe maybe maybe the hatred's still there just because it's
Speaker 3: staying and fused, I guess yeah.
Speaker 1: And I just had never heard a player say what
Speaker 1: Max said. And and for me, somebody who as I say,
Speaker 1: I cheer for storylines in my space to talk about.
Speaker 2: I'm like, sweet, well, I've.
Speaker 1: Got an I've got a week of content based off
Speaker 1: of the comments of Max. It was just new Austin,
Speaker 1: because I had never heard a player under that phrase,
Speaker 1: if that makes sense.
Speaker 3: Yeah. It doesn't help too that, you know, Max and
Speaker 3: I during those days, we would walk around, you know, unfiltered, right,
Speaker 3: And nowadays, I don't think they can get away with
Speaker 3: that that much, just because of you know, all the
Speaker 3: eyes and and all the outlets, and you know just
Speaker 3: how popular college football is now today compared to when
Speaker 3: it was back then. But yeah, yeah, Max, I think
Speaker 3: I think most of the players still that way. I
Speaker 3: think Max is the only one brave enough to say it.
Speaker 1: So we had Colonie on yesterday, and when Colanie was
Speaker 1: up here as the decordinator, I.
Speaker 2: Did a weekly coaches show with him, so I.
Speaker 1: Was able to get to know him and a Rod's
Speaker 1: my guy and Jay Hilla you grad. It feels from
Speaker 1: my seat Austin the Klannie has taken the lead along
Speaker 1: with Coach Wit because it's very much Coach Mac and
Speaker 1: Coach Lavelle as far as the respect and admiration they
Speaker 1: have for each other.
Speaker 2: Bronco was central casting for youth.
Speaker 1: Fans who think BYU is pious to just feed fuel
Speaker 1: to the fire. And it felt like during those days,
Speaker 1: as you know, the hatred was through the roof, and
Speaker 1: it felt like it felt like it in the community,
Speaker 1: it felt like in churches, felt like online. Klani and
Speaker 1: Kyle seems to have restored civility to this thing from
Speaker 1: my vantage point, in a way that wasn't around when
Speaker 1: Bronco was here.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like that's accurate? What are your thoughts
Speaker 2: on that? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Maybe, you know, I think we kind of put back
Speaker 3: in the Broncos ed Bronco's you know, coaching tenure. I
Speaker 3: think I would say that it was easy to have
Speaker 3: a target on our back, right, And I think that
Speaker 3: was kind of like self inflicted in terms of maybe
Speaker 3: they hate the Utah had for us, right, I mean,
Speaker 3: when we're going out there saying things like, you know,
Speaker 3: quest for perfection and and uh, maybe taking a platform
Speaker 3: a more I don't know, a religious stance on the university,
Speaker 3: not saying that it's not happening now. But you know,
Speaker 3: I think we were kind of we weren't afraid to
Speaker 3: say it, we weren't afraid to flow on it. Right,
Speaker 3: And I think maybe that that that the stark contract
Speaker 3: between the two universities and maybe the the the student
Speaker 3: body was was kind of thrown in your face and
Speaker 3: maybe leveraged to kind of incite some more you know,
Speaker 3: more drama, more more ill will towards each other. But
Speaker 3: you know this nowadays, I think Coladie has done a
Speaker 3: great job. It's it's hard to hate Kilane, right, It's
Speaker 3: hard to hate any any team that Kilani coaches, just
Speaker 3: because he's such a great guy and he, honestly, I'm
Speaker 3: I'm sure has a ton of love for not just
Speaker 3: with but a lot of those guys over there at
Speaker 3: that coaching staff that are still there or were there
Speaker 3: when he was there. So you know, I don't think
Speaker 3: it's I think that he's about to get turned out,
Speaker 3: to be honest with you, now that we're playing every year.
Speaker 3: I think that's kind of what kind of decimated the
Speaker 3: whole thing as well. When the game has no value
Speaker 3: and it's just a game to be played and it
Speaker 3: doesn't indicate where you're going to finish in terms of
Speaker 3: the conference, and both of you are in the same conference,
Speaker 3: I think it loses a little bit of its luster.
Speaker 3: A little bit of its heat. And now that it
Speaker 3: does matter, now that we're in the same conference, I
Speaker 3: think it's going to turn back.
Speaker 2: Up for sure. Yeah, good point.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you because we had always heard,
Speaker 1: you know, the way Coach went and Morgan coached this
Speaker 1: week and how it's we don't lose to them, and
Speaker 1: rumors of other things it may not be above board
Speaker 1: that I can't speak to because I was not there
Speaker 1: for any of them. Juxtaposed to the way Bronco prepared
Speaker 1: you guys for this game. It always felt like Bronco
Speaker 1: kind of took a nameless, faceless approach and this is
Speaker 1: just another game type thing, even though we all know
Speaker 1: it's not.
Speaker 2: How did Bronco get you ready for Utah? BYU? What
Speaker 2: was that week? Like?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was business as usual, to be honest with you, like,
Speaker 3: I mean that that that was kind of Bronco's approach.
Speaker 3: You know, no, no opponents greater than the others, and
Speaker 3: you know, it is more just show up and play
Speaker 3: our game. We're gonna we're gonna be just fine. And
Speaker 3: and to be honestly, I hope, I hope, I hope
Speaker 3: Colony takes a little bit more, has a little bit
Speaker 3: more or gives a little bit more edge to the guys, right,
Speaker 3: and preparing him that that this week is not this
Speaker 3: week's not like any other week, right. I mean, if
Speaker 3: you look at the history of the game, I don't
Speaker 3: know what the what the average is, but you know,
Speaker 3: this game is decided by very few points each every
Speaker 3: single year, depending on or not depending on who's good
Speaker 3: or or who's having a better season. But I mean
Speaker 3: it's it's strictly a game that that no matter where
Speaker 3: anybody stands in the season and how bad a team
Speaker 3: is or how good a team is, it always ends
Speaker 3: up being a margin of victory by by you know, uh,
Speaker 3: or I should say, very small margin of victory.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: So it's not it's not the same week, It's not
Speaker 3: this as usual. This is a different game. There is
Speaker 3: a different opponent. They're coming and playing with some you know,
Speaker 3: coming from a place or playing from a place that
Speaker 3: you know they're not playing uh you know, they're they're
Speaker 3: not They're not playing with with any other opponent. If
Speaker 3: that makes sense.
Speaker 2: It does.
Speaker 1: And from my perspective, I think Kilani smells blood in
Speaker 1: the water.
Speaker 2: Kilanie is the sweetest guy in the world.
Speaker 1: But make no mistake. When it's time to play, he
Speaker 1: wants to kick your ass. And I think he smells
Speaker 1: blood in the water. I think he sees a team
Speaker 1: that has struggled offensively to do much of anything.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: And I think they're coming up here for blood, man,
Speaker 1: I really do. And there's no data point that indicates
Speaker 1: Utah is a better football team than b YU. It
Speaker 1: does not exist. The numbers, not just the record. You
Speaker 1: go deeper, there's plenty of data points in indicaate. You know,
Speaker 1: Utah still has a really stout defense, but offensively it's
Speaker 1: been a mess. I think you know, it's not just Kilanie.
Speaker 1: It's a fan base that heard four years enjoy your
Speaker 1: Indi and we're in the PAC twelve now. It's fan
Speaker 1: base that basically for a generation has had the results
Speaker 1: more or less lopsided. Even though BYU got Utah last
Speaker 1: time to break a nine game losing streak. My feel
Speaker 1: is those boys are gonna be out for blood. They're
Speaker 1: coming up here and they're they're smelling the blood in
Speaker 1: the water.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I hope, so, I hope so. I hope they
Speaker 3: come in with a with a different swagger than they
Speaker 3: have in years past. And I hope they come in
Speaker 3: with a mentality that they're going to you know, handle
Speaker 3: business and continue to convince the country that they're going
Speaker 3: to be Big Twelve champions and and hopefully end up
Speaker 3: in the College Football Playoff.
Speaker 1: So a few minutes we have left, let's talk about
Speaker 1: what's impressed you the most, because, look, the fact of
Speaker 1: the matter is Austin with what happened last week in
Speaker 1: the Big Twelve.
Speaker 2: Like the walking line for ute.
Speaker 1: Fans media was like, Okay, you have a chance to
Speaker 1: spoil BYU season.
Speaker 2: Well you don't because BYU could lose.
Speaker 1: On Saturday and still and they do still have a
Speaker 1: very very realistic path through the Big Twelve Championship and
Speaker 1: therefore the CFP, And obviously the one thing you could
Speaker 1: ruin is a perfect season, which is always impressive when
Speaker 1: you've seen it the way that we have with eight
Speaker 1: o five to zero conference. What has stood out most
Speaker 1: to you about the way Kilate and a Rod and
Speaker 1: Jay and the whole staff, the way they've been able
Speaker 1: to piece this together every week to answer every question
Speaker 1: that's been thrown at them.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, they're they're professionals, right. I think I
Speaker 3: think it would be easy to kind of cower. You know,
Speaker 3: typically when a team like b YU, who maybe hasn't
Speaker 3: found themselves in the top twenty five or even you know,
Speaker 3: obviously the tough ten for quite some time and maybe
Speaker 3: came in as an underdog, it's easy to kind of
Speaker 3: get in the bright lights and maybe shy away or
Speaker 3: start doubting yourself if you're eating, you know, if you belong.
Speaker 3: And one of the things that not only the coaches
Speaker 3: but the players have been able to demonstrate is that
Speaker 3: they're not afraid, and they have all the confidence in
Speaker 3: the world, and they carry that top ten swagger right.
Speaker 3: They do deserve or they do believe that they deserve
Speaker 3: to be in the top ten. Every week they continue
Speaker 3: to convince the country that it is such. And you know,
Speaker 3: obviously that comes down to the way that they're handling
Speaker 3: it from the coach's end and what they're telling the players,
Speaker 3: you know, instilling that belief and instilling that confidence that
Speaker 3: they are a top ten team and deserve to be
Speaker 3: where they are.
Speaker 1: Last year, Jake struggled. Jake Raetzlof's struggle. He lost all
Speaker 1: four of the starts he had. But I was told
Speaker 1: early on Austin in the process that this is not
Speaker 1: a quarterback competition, even though that's kind of what they
Speaker 1: were presenting, and Jake had really put in the work
Speaker 1: to grab that job earlier than most of us learned
Speaker 1: and understood. And look, I will say, there are still
Speaker 1: moments that you're kind of a little bit nervous. He
Speaker 1: makes some it some some throws, some decisions that are
Speaker 1: very risky, but ultimately he's.
Speaker 2: Been very, very good.
Speaker 1: And he was picked by most media preseason prognostications as among,
Speaker 1: if not the worst quarterback in this league, and by
Speaker 1: most metrics, he's either the best or one of the
Speaker 1: top two or three. What stood out most to you
Speaker 1: about the way Jake has played this year, I.
Speaker 3: Think, I mean, going back to what he said about
Speaker 3: about you know, maybe the word being that there wasn't
Speaker 3: a QB competition, I would I don't know how true that.
Speaker 3: I mean, I know that's what they were saying, That's
Speaker 3: what you know, maybe was coming out of provo. But
Speaker 3: there's always a QB competition, especially when you know you
Speaker 3: got somebody like Gary Bohannon, who was a Big twelve
Speaker 3: Player of the Year kind of waiting in the wings, right,
Speaker 3: and so you know when Jake struggled against SMU, it
Speaker 3: would have been easy for him to maybe second guess himself,
Speaker 3: maybe hesitate and and and maybe getting to his head
Speaker 3: a little bit, only because he knows somebody he's on
Speaker 3: a short lease, he knows somebody's waiting to take his spot.
Speaker 3: He has the entire country basically criticizing him, the entire
Speaker 3: BAU fan base criticizing, you know, the move to play
Speaker 3: him and to start him when you got somebody like
Speaker 3: Gary waiting in the wings, and for him to come
Speaker 3: back against Wyoming and answer the call and then from
Speaker 3: that point on continue to answer the call, you know,
Speaker 3: just says a lot about his character and his swagger.
Speaker 3: I do think the fact that a Rod has been
Speaker 3: able to use his legs a little bit has maybe
Speaker 3: freed up his mind. You know, sometimes sometimes you got
Speaker 3: to do things like that get get a player maybe
Speaker 3: in his natural habitat in creating plays to kind of
Speaker 3: get out of the whole, you know, being technical, standing
Speaker 3: in the pocket and expected to make every single read,
Speaker 3: every single throw, and just being able to have that
Speaker 3: backup plan of creating on it with his legs. I
Speaker 3: think his freed up, as you know, his mind a
Speaker 3: little bit allowed him to play a little bit more
Speaker 3: to his natural ability, and you know, can team to
Speaker 3: gain confidence right right now, where he's at confidence wise,
Speaker 3: you know, it's through the roof. You can tell in
Speaker 3: the way that he plays he's not thinking nearly as
Speaker 3: much and not doubting his throws or not second guessing.
Speaker 3: And like I said, you know, creating this plays, you know,
Speaker 3: with his legs is another facet that defenses like Utah
Speaker 3: has to prepare for and that eventually is going to
Speaker 3: open up the passing game.
Speaker 1: All right, buddy, before I set you loose, I've asked
Speaker 1: all my guests all week. You don't have to give
Speaker 1: you one if you don't want to. There's no pressure here.
Speaker 1: But what's your gut? Tell you what goes down on Saturday.
Speaker 1: If you want to throw out your score prediction, please
Speaker 1: feel free to do so.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would love to tell you that we're gonna
Speaker 3: dog walk them light out of right cycles, but I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't think that's gonna happen. I think, like I said,
Speaker 3: this game is always decided by a small margin of victory,
Speaker 3: and I think it's gonna be something like a twenty
Speaker 3: one twenty four outing.
Speaker 1: Wow, that should make it fun Saturday. Well, of course,
Speaker 1: if you just picked Utah, you just made little news.
Speaker 2: I assume you were going blue.
Speaker 3: Are you?
Speaker 1: Are you rolling up here for the game. You're gonna
Speaker 1: be here on Saturday?
Speaker 3: No, I should be doing like the BAU Sports Nation
Speaker 3: pregame and post game show, so I'll be out of
Speaker 3: pro votes at broadcasting.
Speaker 1: Really right on. Really appreciate your time, buddies, so enjoy
Speaker 1: the week. It's always a fun one.
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, brother, you too, have a great one.
Speaker 1: Austin coley Man was He a player both at Brigham
Speaker 1: Young then in the NFL, and unfortunately his career cut
Speaker 1: short with concussions. But he's a sweet guy. I know
Speaker 1: you fans don't like him. I've known him for years.
Speaker 2: He's good people, so