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it is stop for a little player profile. Getting it
read between the lines with Evan Johnson Bayu cornerback CB one,
as we like to call him Schmev. He's been glorious,
he's been great, he's been grand, he's been wonderful. He's
a speedster out of California, part of the ed LAMB
recruiting pipeline. Six and five pounds right junior at a
Moner Ray, California, Stevenson High School. Shout out to Ron
and Lynn wonderful parents. Father Ron was actually an NFL
wide receiver with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 3: If you don't know, now you know.
Speaker 2: He helped also locally in with the Boys and Girls Club.
He speaks fluent Spanish, loves to play matt and considers
himself a professional ping pong player.
Speaker 3: He addressed the media yesterday. We're gonna delve into him.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be brought to you by Utah Protective Films
Utah Protective Films dot com. Former BYU wide receiver Jared
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That is Utah Protective Films Utapprotective Films dot com. Schmevin,
it's been a few weeks, but what does it say
about this defense the way you guys are playing you
played against Iowa State.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it kind of just goes back to
fall camp and how you know, we kind of emphasize
takeaways and all those things, and you know, last year
we lent to the nation, but this year we're still trying
to emphasize getting those takeaways because you know, to top
best in the nation, you gotta do something special. So
I feel like when we constantly emphasize getting the ball
and making plays that and just and just having people
who are prepared and ready, they're always in position to
just go out there and make plays and get the.
Speaker 2: Ball, make plays, show up, show out. This Cougar defense
has been tremendous. Evan, you have some I n ts
under your belt into your career.
Speaker 3: Are you due for another one soon?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 4: I got me one of the dial and an Iowa
stay out of that. I'm due for sure. Hoping you
get an opportunity this week to just go get the
ball and show what I can do. I want to
get one where I can runs so I can see
the speeds.
Speaker 2: So he always wants to showcases his top end speed,
doesn't he We haven't seen him actually get out in
the wide open and and really boot scoot and boogie
on the on the grid iron.
Speaker 3: So he says he's the fastest on the football team.
Speaker 2: I wonder, I wonder, who do you think the fastest
player is on this team?
Speaker 5: It's gotta be it's hard to argue against Parker Kingston, Parker,
maybe maybe Cody, and it's probably It's It's it's Cody.
It's it's it's Parker or Cody. It's hard to see
somebody catching those two.
Speaker 2: I have a fun one for you. You guys don't
know much about him. Joseph Douglas. Okay, So you have Cody,
you have Parker, you have oh, Maurie McKenzie twins, you have.
Speaker 3: Maury, you have Evan.
Speaker 2: You have the mckensei quins, Marcus and Dominique mackenzie. A
lot of sprinters, a lot of guys that hovered around
that ten six, ten to five. Reportedly, Evan ran a
ten to four one. Joe Douglas. No one knows Joe
and he's a He's a young man that was running
track at Utah State. Was running one hundred meter for
Utah State. Kid out of Stansbury Park, Tuilla, played wide
receiver tight end in high school and like DND outside linebacker,
was probably gonna was probably on the track to be
on track to become like a decathlete at Utah State.
He was training at Lehigh High School when my brother
saw him running and.
Speaker 3: He's over there looking at him. He's like, this guy's not.
Speaker 2: A track guy. He needs to be playing foot ball.
Got to know him. He came down, did a tryout
at for BAYU football and made the team as a
walk on, number forty seven on the team. Right now,
he's playing free safety. He got in for he got
into school. He transferred Utah State after running track there
for a season after his mission and has walked on
at THEEU. He's not in the two D, he's not
in the three D.
Speaker 5: But I think that that's the same story for Kevin
Doe was Aaron Rodgers. Kevin does also very found him
at a track me and said do you play football?
Speaker 3: He said no. He said, well you.
Speaker 2: Should yeah, yeah, Kevin's Kevin's also one of the fastest
guys on the team, big shrug fast. So I've been
a good authority now that I mean, you would say
our put return team's pretty good, right, Oh yeah, like
our gunners are the guys that are blocking. The gunners
are pretty good. They block well, Kevin, Doe, Mariy Bomba, Right,
are those guys really fast?
Speaker 3: Yeah? So I've been told that Joe Douglas runs right
by him.
Speaker 2: He's literally unblockable, like separating by two yards consistently. So
I was told this week Joe Douglas is traveling to Tech.
He's on the travel team now because no one can
block the kid.
Speaker 3: This is the inside of report, right.
Speaker 2: I got to confirm by multiple individuals, right and great,
that I have a connection with Joe too. And so
I kind of found out that he was traveling. I'm like, well,
how the heck are you traveling? Like you're not even
on the depth chart. I don't think Joe. I don't
think Joe's on the depth chart for like safety right now, right,
he's please playing free safety, but apparently he's unblockable. Watch out,
bro because at Utah State right off the mission. He
ran a ten eight, which you're like, Okay, ten eight's solid, right,
ten eight's solid. But he's gotten bigger, faster, stronger. I
mean it's been over a year and a half now
since I think he ran that ten eight or a
year and.
Speaker 3: He's flying apparently.
Speaker 2: And I was told that his ten split when they
tested was like number three on the team in the offseason,
so like when they were doing all that performance training anyway.
Speaker 5: So is he is he the football version of a
of a Tray Stewart. If you remember a year ago
Trey Stewart broke some NBA combine record, It's like he
was on nobody's.
Speaker 3: Radar to play at all. I don't know, I don't
know what the look.
Speaker 2: Joe is big, fast, strong, He's he benches okay, he
squats over five hundred, benches over four hundred, and cleans.
Speaker 3: Like three point fifty like that.
Speaker 2: He's probably he may be the strongest guy Papa abound
in that on the team. He's a he's a project.
He's raw, but he he's fast.
Speaker 5: I'm looking at his profile on on BYU. Yeah, he
looks like he's he looks like a surfer guy from California.
Speaker 2: I know, I know he's not. He's from Stansbury Parking Toila. Baby,
that's crazy. I shout out to Joe, like he puts
the work, smart kid, and he's an athlete. He may
be the best like linear explosive athlete on this team.
Speaker 3: Quite honestly.
Speaker 2: He's like when we when I watched him for the
first time when my brother found him at Lehigh High
School running track and he sent me video and we're
talking about him, like he's like Max Tuley, like Max,
like yeah, he's like you guys don't remember this Max
Tuley for a spring ball. After playing linebacker, they moved
him to free safety, really free safety. Wow, they moved
hto free safety, bro because he was that fast linebacker though,
but he was always kind of lean, you know what
I mean, Super explosive, really strong. Could line him up
like he'd be like at two five, two ten, and
he'd just obliterate guys and track him down. Like I
remember in the USF game at USF if you go
back and watch that film, there was a runoff tackle.
Speaker 3: And Max was the fastest guy on the defense.
Speaker 2: He's like running by defensive backs because you get him
into a gallop. The man's a gazelle. Anyway, it's kind
of like Joe. So we'll see what happens with with
with Joe Douglas. But I think he's trying. I don't
know he's gonna play. But if you see forty seven
out there, I hope I I I don't think he's
forty seven.
Speaker 3: That's not bear Bachmeyer. Yeah, that's the other thing. He's
the other forty seven. He's the other forties.
Speaker 5: We could have the days of forty seven.
Speaker 2: I hope Joe gets to play because he's unblockable. He's
a four sequels masstimes, acceleration and he's uh, he's he's
he's he's big, he's fast, strong. Anyway, we got to
get back to the sound. I apologize And on the tangent,
what enables you guys to make these plays?
Speaker 3: Uh? These make these plays? Is it the play calls.
Speaker 4: Everything? I believe it's the calls as well as the preparation.
You know, I'm especially in my room, I can really vouch.
You know, we prepared a lot of this offseason and
just trusting in our technique and those people around us
that they're gonna be in the right position. Our coach,
you gonna put us on the right calls to go
make the plays, and so I feel like that's been
a big help in our success and getting the ball
and just making plays plays.
Speaker 2: Evan Johnson b Way, your defensive back. The biggest thing
about the bye week is getting healthier. Have you felt that, Evan?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we've been relatively healthy all season, so
I feel like even now we're still very healthy and
we're still ready to.
Speaker 2: Go, feeling good, feeling strong, nourish some strength, and they
have been healthy. They've been pretty pretty healthy. What did
you guys do during the bye week?
Speaker 3: Was it light? Did you have any time off?
Speaker 4: Yeah, well we had some time off. It was some
practices too that were a little lighter, but you know,
the intent was still there, you know, making sure that
we're ready to go this week, because you know, you
could come off the buy too. He can come off
to buy and kind of lollygag, or you can come
out ready to go and ready to fire. So I
feel like that's been a big emphasis for us.
Speaker 1: Coming out a.
Speaker 2: Little bit lighter, but the intent was there. They put
in the reps, they put in the mental work, and
I'm sure they got in the weight room as well.
What what's jumping off the tape right now from your perspective,
in particular on Baron Morton the other pair.
Speaker 4: Yeah, he's a good guy, good quarterback. He can throw
it well. I feel like the receivers are very good.
It'll be a good matchup for us to really show
that we're capable of going out there making plays.
Speaker 3: And I'm just excited, excited as we all are.
Speaker 2: It's a big game eleven am start nationally televised. What
are your emotions going, What are they going to be
like going into this game.
Speaker 4: I feel like the emotions don't really change. I feel
like every game, the emotions, you know, they're always the same.
Just be ready and when our time comes, go out
there and make a play. You know, whether the game
is the biggest game or whether it's just a little
game that you know, first game of the season, second
game of season, we're always going in with that mindset
that we're going in there to dominate and win the game.
And so I feel like with our team and just
how we prepared, how we practice everything that that's always
emphasized to just go out there and make plays.
Speaker 2: Got to be a player and play on last couple
of things here, How was the team preparing for the
early start?
Speaker 4: Yeah, just do the little things, waking up earlier, lifts
a little earlier, and breakfast club, so we're getting prepared.
We'll be ready to go out there and fire off them.
Speaker 3: All right. See this is interesting.
Speaker 2: So they're getting up earlier, they've been doing early morning
lifts and doing breakfast club, so they're acclimating.
Speaker 3: To the early morning.
Speaker 2: Look, I'll be honest with when I was at BAU, like,
you know, we had afternoon we had like kind of
afternoon practices and you didn't necessarily have to get up early,
and so you kind of get into a habit of
maybe staying up a little bit later because you didn't
have to wake up depending on class schedules.
Speaker 3: So they're doing some breakfast club.
Speaker 2: A little bit more early morning lifts, acclimating early so
that when they do get out there, maybe they get
out a little bit earlier.
Speaker 3: It's fine. I'm all for getting out there earlier. Right.
Speaker 2: What are the strengths right now for this defense going
into the Texas Tech game.
Speaker 4: I feel like just physicality and then you know, just
our our ability to make plays and make change in
the game. You know, there are many times where you know,
we may need to play or just something to get
the momentum going to the game, like Iowa State, and
then that's where our defense started, where we woul to
go out there and make plays, get the ball and
just execute.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get to the final one here, Sailor
kug Helmet. We haven't really talked about this, don't. Are
we swag guys?
Speaker 3: Are we swag? I love uniforms?
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, so you're you're the We have a former
executive producer, Hunter Miller, who is all over the swag.
Speaker 3: It's part of the Hype Training podcast podcast. So you're
a swag guy. Oh yeah, I love I love unis
Yeah yeah, I love it all. I think I think
the helmets. I think it's good. I think I like it.
Speaker 5: I don't think it's gonna look as good on the
field as it does. And that you know picture that
they made look all perfect and pretty well.
Speaker 3: I think it's a nice look. Yeah. Uh, Ronald, do
you like this? Uh?
Speaker 2: This foray into Sailor coug Insignia world on the helmets.
Speaker 1: Stop being cute and go playball.
Speaker 2: That's how I am bro like we got him so
many ideas. We have a brand, we have an image,
We have a likeness. That is the stretch. Why the
only other? The only other entity? Like when you turn
on a game and you see the Royal and you
see the stretch, why you think BYU?
Speaker 3: Every once in a while you may get like you
may get is that Yale?
Speaker 2: Is that Yale?
Speaker 3: You may get that.
Speaker 2: But like anywaey that knows college football is gonna no
b yu, well, is that the non football? No?
Speaker 3: Or is they're gonna the academics of the world? Is that? Yeah?
You know that's what they do.
Speaker 2: And that's I just but this is Brigham Young University.
It's the why. It's not angry sailor cougar from the
nineteen forties World War Two era of logo.
Speaker 3: Don't get cute, then I hear, are we doing? Ben?
What happened?
Speaker 2: Last time we got cute? We got too damn cute,
and we did we all black out. We beat Kansas
State thirty eight to nine.
Speaker 5: Last time I got ninety six throwbacks.
Speaker 3: That's not cute. Yeah, it's freaking epic.
Speaker 2: No, No, that's not cute. That's not cute. That's that's
tradition that we wore those uniforms for two years. Ben,
that's not tradition. That is tradition. That the shadow that
it didn't you didn't change your logo all you did.
Speaker 3: I think you should have.
Speaker 2: What is ninety six throwback is not cute, that's legacy.
Speaker 3: I think it's getting cute. That's not cute. They changed
everything in the stadium for that game. It's not cute.
They absolutely got cute. It's not cute.
Speaker 2: Blackouts is cute. Blackouts is cute. That's that's cute. That
is Sailor Cougar.
Speaker 3: It's cute.
Speaker 2: It's not a part of your brand, no, because it's
about recognition when you turn on the But I think
it's ninety six game, it still looks like BYU they
just had the shadow.
Speaker 3: They had the shadow. That's it.
Speaker 2: It still looks like BYU the Sailor Cougar soon's gonna
throw on, Like, what's that image on the side of
their helmet?
Speaker 3: Is what is that? I do think it's important to
I think it's the fans wear the Sailor kug. When
we have our branding.
Speaker 2: On college football and game day, showing up top ten matchups,
never happened in our history where the stretch freaking why
wear it with pride? All right, we're gonna go to
break shehan Ja Roger coming up next. What we gotta
go to break? Don't go anywhere more to get to
this is Cougar Sports on one O three, nine ninety
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Texas Tech Matchup Top ten two teams in the top
ten at the College Football Playoff Poll as well as
the AP Poll, all the polls in college football and
game days.
Speaker 3: Good to be there. This is a monumental game. This
could be a little.
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All right, let's get out to the hotline and welcome
in a Texas tech beat rider, a Red Raider in Saturday.
Speaker 3: Nathan Geese, who's on the line representing love.
Speaker 2: A collar line, Love it Avalanche journal Ladies and gentlemen, what's.
Speaker 3: Up naming.
Speaker 1: Rush? How's it going on your end.
Speaker 3: It's going beautifully.
Speaker 2: It's going remarkably well today on a Thursday in Utah County,
in Salt Lake County, it's a it's a great day.
Speaker 3: Man. I'm excited for this game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot around this game, for sure. I
think part of me is kind of just ready to
get to the football aspect of it all. But we
got a lot of time, a lot of things going
on in between there even just Saturday morning itself, So
should be interesting to see how this all unfolds.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what have been the storylines coming out of Lubbock? Obviously,
Texas Tech is favored in this game. Bay You're running
higher than them slightly, eight to zero the Red Raiders
eight and one. It's a game day kickoff right on
ABC ten AM, and Texas Tech is favored not only
in Vegas but also in ESPN analytics giving Tech I
believe a sixty point nine percent advantage. I'm sure it's
going to be a sold out crowd. It looks like
it's going to be sunny and beautiful. Sixty six degrees
at Jones at and T Stadium would have been the
storylines coming out of Lobbick.
Speaker 1: Honestly, there's not a lot of football oriented storylines coming
out of this right now. A lot of the focus
has just been on game day's arrivals. Fans started camping
out Saturday night or excuse me, Sunday night, ready to
get their spots online for it. They've been the students
are lined of welcoming the football team going to and
from practice. Players have been handing now donuts and pizza
out there. So I think the actual football aspect of
it has been kind of watered down a little bit.
I think it'll amp up more as we get into
closer to game time, but right now, it's just kind
of everything surrounding the game. Like you mentioned, two top
ten teams and both polls and the college football playoff,
And I think the big talking point now is what
does this look like for the Big twelve conference, because
the way this kind of sets up is usually the
Big twelve teams if they get a team in and
that fourteen playoffs aspect. Now we go to the twelve
team the Big Swell's got a pretty good chance to
get two teams in there, especially with these two teams
in particular as opposed to the ACC which has taken
a step back. So This isn't just a big game
for Texas, Tech and Bye. This is a big game
for the conference to kind of put itself in position
to be that number three conference at least this year,
if not going forward.
Speaker 3: Tech and BYU.
Speaker 2: Some would say were the most aggressive in NIL. I
would say the Red Raiders in the portal and be
a nil were probably the most aggressive. BYU had a
solid portal class. There's been a lot of hype around
the basketball program getting a lot of NIL BYAU football
not as much. Are these two teams going to become
the brand ambassadors for the Big Twelve going forward? What
Oklahoma and Texas were for decades? Are these the two
teams that will be carrying that bashar in that flag,
that banner for the Big Twelve in the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1: From the financial aspect, in the back end that these
programs and those blastalic departments have, I think there's a
very good chance of that, and I think that's what
the conference needs. And that's kind of been a talking
point since Texas and ol you both left, was who
fills that void? Who steps into that Who can be
our most reliable, our most consistent programs? There and a
lot there was some talk about possibly TCU. They're in
the for work area. They got some wealthy backers too,
but they haven't turned that into anything. They're good. They've
been a good team this year. They're kind of flying
under the radar two and then Arizona State comes out
of nowhere last year. What the conference really needs is
whether it's Texas Tech and BYU, whether it's two other teams,
to be a consistent threat and a presence and always
in that mix, whether that's top twenty five, top fifteen
kind of thing. Financially speaking, I do think the way
this is going to kind of work now with revenue
sharing in the NIL, how that has to shift with
like this portal class Tech brought in, You're not going
to see that anymore because they're not going to allow
that those kind of payments to go to players unless
there's like fair market value and whatever the heck that
whatever that means. In this NIL go era, you're not
gonna see this anymore. You're gonna see something downscale to
it where you can still pull off get the recruiting
classes through the portal through high school, get shoot your
shot and get higher star guys, but you're not gonna
get this kind of collective talent there. So it depends
on how everybody handles things moving forward.
Speaker 2: Talking some Texas Tech football with Texas Tech Insider here
on your Utah ESPN Radio Network, Nathan Geese of the
Lumbic Avalanche Journal. Get your prep, get you ready for
this boor your Texas Tech next up? From a health standpoint,
how healthy is Texas Tech? We saw the injury poort
last night. How'd you grate it? How would you evaluate it?
Speaker 1: The overall health of Tech, They're about as healthy as
they've been all year. The one big injury that they
have had this year go back to the preseason. They
lost running back Quinton Joiner for the season before or
they could even get anywhere. But they were going to
go with a three running back committee. They just shifted
into two guys, and I think that probably works better
form with Cam Dickey and Jacoby Williams. They've both been
very effective in their roles, but the main one is
defensive tackle sky with Gil Howard. He got banged up
in the Kansas game. He had surgery on his ankle
and he's been out for the last three games. This
will be his fourth straight in a row that he's missed,
but they're hoping to get him back for the postseason.
And the thing is, you don't he was really good.
Is a really important presence, like vocally and maturity wise,
but production wise. AJ Holmes was backing him up. He
was a starter at Houston, he was an All Conference
player at Houston last year. He stepped in and they
hadn't missed a beat. It's just kind of that death
that they were talking about before the season really shining
through their health wivese Beyond that, You're always worried about Baron.
Morton's hurt in pretty much every game in some aspect
or another. But he looked really good after taking out
some cob webling its Kansas State last week. So what
you really need to do now is make sure he's
healthy come out of every game, especially since you don't
have backup quarterback will hand him there anymore.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's uh no injury bugs.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, Texas Tech is going on what six
straight weeks without a buy?
Speaker 3: Is that? Is that all? It all impactful?
Speaker 1: I think it is because of where their open dates
came this year. It was right after the first conference
game against Utah and then they their last one is
right before the season finale, so it's weird timing of
how they're tenants based out. So you're going through this
big stretch of playing games and you don't have that break,
and they keep getting amped up in pressure and intensity
and importance every week. So I think they're very much
looking forward to getting to that open date. But it's
that also at a weird time where like say, if
they don't make the base twelve Championship game, it's kind
of weird because then you're off a week, you go
play West Virginia, then you just got to wait for
wherever you go in postseason wise. But if they do
make the Baseball Championship game, they're going to see that
as beneficial to have that open date pretty close to
that conference title game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an intriguing time in the Big twelve, no
doubt about it. And this is the most intriguing game obviously.
There's a lot of hype surrounding the Texas Tech Utah
game with everything that occurred in preparation for it. Texas
Tech has shown very well on the biggest stages thus far.
They did lose to ASU on the road, and I
have to wonder what happened, How did it happen? How
did they lose to the sun Devils on the road
in temp Well.
Speaker 1: One of the things one of the kind of narratives
around Texas Tech this year, at least from the national perspective,
is that because they're watching Tech more this year, they're
notice they noticed something where Baron Morton got hurt in
the season over, so he was dinged up already. Will
Hammond came in, played pretty well, and then in the
Utah game he went out with the concussion, and Will
Hammon came in and he led them to widen that
gap and come away with the win. And that led
a lot of people to say, well, maybe this Will
Hammond guy should be be the starter, because you know
he these the offense does have another gear with him
because of his legs. That's something they don't want Baron
dat to do because he has been so injury prone
and he's just not the most mobile guy. But what
they were kind of lacking is there's a reason why
they brought Baron back in the first place. If they
thought Will was better, they would have said Baron, and
we love you, but we're going to go on with
this other guy. They did the exact same thing with
Tyler Shuck the year before. They are not afraid to
make that decision. But they brought Morton back for a reason.
And the reason is he has all of this experience.
He knows what he's doing, He's got the body type
for it to handle big time throws and can handle
the nix and things that he gets throughout the year.
And then will Ham is now out for the year,
suffered to torne a c elegant Oklahoma State. So now
it's Morton's show. That was unquestioned anyway, But now that's
not even a conversation plane. But Morton has gotten hurt
throughout the year, and if he gets hurt again, your
backup is now Mitch griffis wake Forest transfer who wasn't
even playing football last year. The conversation becomes very different
if Morton has to leave or he can't come back
for anything. So a lot of this now, a lot
of it ran on Morton's shoulders being with Now there's
even more there.
Speaker 2: Talking some Texas Tech football, and look, the line is
is impressively in Texas Tech's favor ten and a half.
I think it's at right now. Do you think that's
Is that fair? Is that a fair look? And I
know Vegas is in the betting game, right, They're not
in the score prediction game necessarily, but they do set
over unders, they do set lines. Is that a fair
evaluation do you think heading into this game?
Speaker 1: I think it's fair in the aspect that I mean,
just look at the scores Texas Tech has had in
its game. The only one that wasn't a blowout was
the four point loss at Arizona State, which kind of
goes back to the quarterback conversation. Morton didn't play in
that game. Will Hammond was not good in that game
until late and they had a chance to still win that.
So I think if you look at it with Texas
Tech with Morton is a very different team than Texas
Tech with Will Hammond. And in the game that he's played,
at least a lot of they've blown everybody out, whereas
BYU they've had a lot of close calls. They've had
a lot of instances where they've gotten down, had to
kind of climb out of holes early, especially in big
twelve plays. So I think it's fair. I think it
is a big spread for sure. I'm out a gambler,
So I wouldn't take that dait regardless either way. But
I just based on what we've seen from the teams, Yeah,
I think the product on the field Saturday is going
to look probably much closer. The score could be maybe
maybe that ten to fourteen point win, but I think
it might be closer than what the score actually winds
up being.
Speaker 2: What are the fans feeling, What are the donors feeling
right now? What's the vibe around even the locker room
or even the coaching staff. Is there a kind of
a shuttle confidence? They feel like, Hey, this is our
game to win. We were favored, we're the top dog,
we're better than this team.
Speaker 3: What's been the rhetoric like.
Speaker 1: They're not taking that bait this week? They're honestly not.
They haven't taken it all years. Joey Maguire said, from
the beginning, we know talent, why we should be able
to outperform everybody on our schedule, and to this point
they mostly have. But they also know if they don't
put in that work that they get to ego inflated
and listening to people and let it Like if they
let all this get to their head, they could get
run out of the building. I don't think talent wise
they will, just because I think even if they don't
play well, they can still stay in the game till
the end. But they know that there are much bigger
things that stay here than just a game that means
they first conference title game appearance, first time in the
college football playoff, and there's a lot of investment into
making that work. And one of the things Maguire keeps
touting is the reason why it's worked because we have
so many old guys that I've never done this before.
They know what they have to do because they want
to do it too. They want to do it just
as bad as all the ad and the coaches and
the players that came back. They want to do it too.
Speaker 2: Is uh what has Joey said his coaching staff said
about this b what you Cougar football team from the
pulpit this week and their scattered reports.
Speaker 3: To the media.
Speaker 1: They're really impressed with Bear Bachmeier. Obviously, he's the guy
that you're kind of watching here.
Speaker 3: I know L. J.
Speaker 1: Martin is supposed to play. How effective is he going
to be? That's kind of a question that everybody's going
to kind of be watching for there, and a lot
of it's just going to come down to the run game.
How can how can BOYU manage in the run game,
which nobody does against this team. If they can find
success in that area, then that changes the equation defensively
and offensively. A lot of it is these scores become
a little bit more lopsided as the game goes because
the defense can kind of just wear down the opposition,
And happened last week against Kansas State. That was a
pretty close game until about midway through the fourth quarter
where they just kind of open it up on them
wand up at the twenty three points win. A lot
of it's gonna come down to the run game. BYU
has to make Tech respect the run game to open
up the pass game a little bit. The defense has
been susceptible the gain be in the pass game here
or there, especially in the middle of the field. As
good as Jacob Rodriguez and Ben Roberts are at the
inside backer positions, they're not great in covering the past.
So if b why you can exploit that, that can
open things up. They've gotten to be in on that
a couple of times, most recently that I can think
of is Kansas and Arizona stake out a little bit
of that too, just kind of using some motions to
get guided into more of a middle of the field
to get away from that pass rush.
Speaker 3: I like that scatter report. It's a great breakdown.
Speaker 2: Going back to the injury report, do you feel like
there's any weaknesses personnel wise on this Texas Tech Red
Raiders team, Aaron Roderick said, there's no weaknesses. There's absolutely
no weaknesses in the personnel anywhere on the defensive side
of the ball.
Speaker 3: Do you see any.
Speaker 1: Weaknesses personnel wise, No, not really. Every would every position
I would say is graded at least at least the
B minus. Maybe not the strongest group out there, but
they're pretty solid. The one thing I would say is
kind of going back to the passing game, teams haven't
been able to get into the passing game because of
that pass rush, and that's where the layer of the
defense becomes so strong. That's how guys like Jacob Brodrigez
can have these amazing seasons that probably aren't being talked
about enough. Because you got David Bailey or metal height
on the edges in the middle, you got Lee Hunter
and aj Holmes clogging that up is they get to
the outside and away from it. The secondary is quick
and long enough to keep up with receivers, and that's
where the middle backers can kind of be used and
pick up at the running at the quarterback. It's gonna
run at the receivers. They're gonna kind of come underneath.
Speaker 2: There's not.
Speaker 1: I would say the one position group that hasn't been
the best offensive line, but they've also had games where
they've looked amazing too. It's just been kind of inconsistent there.
They're dealing with a couple of injuries. They look pretty healthy,
at least based off the injury report from from Wednesday.
I think offensive line is maybe the iffy part. But again,
they can go. They can be an air receive regardless
of the game, depending on what happens.
Speaker 3: Getting to know the Foe.
Speaker 2: Here on your Utah ESPN Radio Network, brought to you
by Bresa Cleaning Services, we have Nathan Geese on the
line from the ubbg Avalanche Journal talking Texas Tech Red
Raider football.
Speaker 3: Game days out there.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think historically, when was the last time
game day was out in love It.
Speaker 1: Two thousand and eight, for that Texas game.
Speaker 4: Wow, it's been a while.
Speaker 1: Been out here.
Speaker 2: I think that's the same. I want to say, the
last time Game Day was in Provo was in maybe
two thousand and eight, two thousand, I think it was.
It was two thousand and eight or two thousand and nine.
So there's a there's a rising of the tides here.
These two teams haven't really been featured on Game Day,
you know, until like what I mean, almost twenty years ago.
The last time around. It's pretty pretty interesting.
Speaker 1: I would say, Yeah, it's back to back weeks. They're
going to Big twelve destinations. I mean that says something
right there, is that they have to kind of look
at it, and I think a lot of that is
kind of coming down to the flattening of the talent
and the team success is being much more spread out
and now where you can't just keep going back to
Georgia and Alabama every week because hey, sometimes there's a
top ten game and Lubbock, Texas out of nowhere. You
got to look a little litle bit deeper to find
these day games.
Speaker 2: Love it, Nathan, best way to support you, what you do,
how you do it? Over there at the LOVEBG Avalanche Journal.
Speaker 1: Uh, just see my work at lobic online dot com.
I'd say follow me on Twitter, but I just got
suspended for something, so I'm not really sure if I
have access to that anymore. H Yeah, love It online
dot com. Check out a colleague, Don Williams. He's like
the head honcho of a lot of the football stuff.
He's the encyclopedia if you really want the historical perspective
and everything that's kind of going on here. He's the
guy to talk to you for that.
Speaker 3: Love it man.
Speaker 2: Well, Nathan, appreciate you hopping on. Thanks for letting us
get to know the foe through your eyes your voice.
Looking forward to seeing you guys out there and love it.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: All right, thanks for having me there you go.
Speaker 2: That's know the faux segment brought to you by Bresa
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Speaker 3: Let's take a brief time out. We'll be back.
Speaker 2: You're listening to a Thursday edition, November six edition of
Cougar Sports here on one O three nine ninety eight
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