Speaker 1: I would live today out about at Tim Dolly Infinity.
Speaker 1: It's forty five ninety four South State Street. Happy Friday
Speaker 1: to you. We've got a busy five o'clock hour coming up.
Speaker 1: I want to be clear, my heart is in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: but I don't know how many of you want to
Speaker 1: talk baseball. All I know is that the Yankees and
Speaker 1: Dodgers will get rolling at six o' eight mountain time.
Speaker 1: And we have fifteen year olds that don't know what
Speaker 1: it's like to see the Yankees win a World Series.
Speaker 1: It's a crime that needs to be rectified, and I
Speaker 1: hope it starts tonight. Who knows where our next conversation
Speaker 1: will go, because you never know on a Friday afternoon.
Speaker 2: Chris Camraaddie stops by.
Speaker 1: All right, forty fifth south, sixty degrees, probably too cold
Speaker 1: for the too cold and too far for the gearless bike.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, I was making dinner very early with my son,
Speaker 3: and the kitchen is currently a heaping mess, but we
Speaker 3: were out reveling in the sunshine earlier. We have to
Speaker 3: soak it up. It is dwindle and it's going to
Speaker 3: vanish before we know it.
Speaker 2: You were making dinner earlier with your it's four thirty.
Speaker 4: I started making it early.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, I was gonna say early bird special. You're
Speaker 2: not that old.
Speaker 1: What does what does Leo do to help you make dinner?
Speaker 1: He's not old enough to participate yet.
Speaker 4: He screams, he whinds.
Speaker 3: He has like a fake play knife that doesn't cut anything,
Speaker 3: so he gets frustrated when dad is cutting through things,
Speaker 3: but he's not. Yeah, it's it's fun for a little while.
Speaker 3: And for a little while, I mean in like two minutes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, fair enough, fair enough?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 2: Where to start today? Where to start today? Why don't
Speaker 2: we do a little on.
Speaker 1: The lads and then we'll move over to you a
Speaker 1: little football first and foremost. So six uh six, six
Speaker 1: games without a loss, six games undefeated into the postseason. Obviously,
Speaker 1: that's good. I don't know that the forum is great, though,
Speaker 1: so I think there's a little bit of excitement slash trepidation.
Speaker 1: Is RSL starts their playoff journey coming up next Tuesday.
Speaker 1: So just from a general standpoint, what do you make
Speaker 1: of where we're at with the club prior to Game
Speaker 1: one against Minnesota next Tuesday.
Speaker 3: Yeah, still a work in progress, still trying to figure
Speaker 3: out who they are. I think I'm very interested to
Speaker 3: see what eleven Pablo strolls out on Tuesday in the
Speaker 3: cold and rain. I don't know if it's going to
Speaker 3: be the same eleven that started against Vancouver last weekend.
Speaker 3: I guess I will say the takeaway right now is
Speaker 3: it's pretty insane that URSL center back depth is as
Speaker 3: porous and thin as it is, regardless of the injuries.
Speaker 3: The fact that they are where they are now with
Speaker 3: the injuries and suspensions is not ideal. And then I'll
Speaker 3: say my secondary take right now is man Diego Lunas
Speaker 3: had a hell of the year and it really will
Speaker 3: potentially spur on this club that now that he's caught
Speaker 3: fire the last few weeks, because offensively and in the attack,
Speaker 3: there just isn't lot going right now other than him.
Speaker 3: So he's been a very big loan price spar towards
Speaker 3: the end of the season.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about the back line and you reference
Speaker 1: we will not see the same eleven that we saw
Speaker 1: against Vancouver, and we certainly will not because Philip Quintin
Speaker 1: is out for at least a couple of weeks with
Speaker 1: a bad hamstring. Brian Vera spits on people, so he's
Speaker 1: not allowed to play soccer. Marcelo Silva is not fit body,
Speaker 1: Hudalgo is hurt. Eric Holt I don't think is part
Speaker 1: of the equation. So the solution ck last week after
Speaker 1: Quinton goes down was a mecca and Nellie shout out,
Speaker 1: Nate Bench moves to right back and Jermane Brown moves
Speaker 1: centralized next to Glad with Katronos out left.
Speaker 2: So a mecca. I think.
Speaker 1: I read played sixteen games at right back last year
Speaker 1: and again shout out Nate Bench, he's capable of playing
Speaker 1: multiple positions. Nelson came into a mecca spot next.
Speaker 2: To o Hada.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's what we'll see at least just
Speaker 1: as the back line goes coming up on Tuesday?
Speaker 4: I would think so.
Speaker 3: Remember RSL scouted a Mecca as a right back before
Speaker 3: he made the rightful transition to his central midfield position.
Speaker 3: But right now, shout out events. The things are the
Speaker 3: things right now at RSL are they're thin. Things aren't
Speaker 3: great from a health standpoint and from an availability standpoint.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's great that RSL has home field advantage
Speaker 3: during this you know, three game ridiculous first round ordeal, whatever,
Speaker 3: we're calling.
Speaker 4: It these days.
Speaker 3: But yeah, taking I think arguably your best defensive midfielder
Speaker 3: and having to put him at right back because you're
Speaker 3: so thin at center back is not ideal. I know
Speaker 3: Javane Brown has played games at center back in the past,
Speaker 3: but he hasn't played a bunch there with Rsel.
Speaker 4: I think his only appearances outside.
Speaker 3: Of you know, moving over the other night when he
Speaker 3: was playing as Hoover has primarily been it right back.
Speaker 3: So for a team that's been leaky quite a bit
Speaker 3: throughout twenty twenty four, I would say that things are dire.
Speaker 4: But who knows.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's everybody rolls with the cliche and the
Speaker 3: assumption that things tighten up in the postseason. You would
Speaker 3: hope for ourself's sake that their defense tightens up as well.
Speaker 1: So yesterday John Paul painted the picture of Brian Vera
Speaker 1: as Draymond Green.
Speaker 4: Oh. I was listening, so who is Jordan Poole?
Speaker 2: So, but who is Jordan Poole?
Speaker 1: Because ultimately I landed on Rubio Rubine because like, the
Speaker 1: young good player is Diego, but he's better than Jordan Poole.
Speaker 1: Like if it was nineteen, if it was two thousand
Speaker 1: and five, it would be Jamie Watson.
Speaker 2: But is there a Jordan Poole on the roster?
Speaker 3: I can't come close to, you know, perfecting the performance
Speaker 3: art that you and JP put on when you're in
Speaker 3: the same room together.
Speaker 4: I guess Rubin is a good call because he was.
Speaker 3: Here and now he's gone. But you could also, you know,
Speaker 3: take a handful of players that were here and are
Speaker 3: now gone. But the Draymond comp was very good. I mean,
Speaker 3: if we're looking, if we're looking for that crosstop crossover,
Speaker 3: you know, true sports radio hot take, JP provided it
Speaker 3: for us, no.
Speaker 2: Doubt he did. And Diego lunas Clayton Keller feels right,
Speaker 2: doesn't it?
Speaker 4: If I knew who Clayton Keller was, then yes.
Speaker 1: Utah Hockey Club. He's what, he's like, the best player
Speaker 1: for the hockey club. He scores goals, he gets assists like,
Speaker 1: and he's young like diego.
Speaker 3: Okay, forget forgive me, for I have not seen much,
Speaker 3: if not any, of Utah Hockey Club so far.
Speaker 2: I will not ask you about their penalty kills issues.
Speaker 2: Your father.
Speaker 1: You don't have time for this, So let's move up
Speaker 1: past the back four and hone in on what we
Speaker 1: could see up front, where again, if Nelly shout out
Speaker 1: and Nate bench goes to the right back position and
Speaker 1: ultimately Nelson steps in there and Oheita, who's been great,
Speaker 1: probably needs to be talked about more over the past
Speaker 1: little bit, is manning that spot. Last game, we saw
Speaker 1: Diego out wide right, which is rare, and Diego came
Speaker 1: on the show this week and basically said, well, wherever
Speaker 1: he starts me, I'm going to be centralized because that's
Speaker 1: the way he plays. To your point, he's probably in
Speaker 1: the best form of any player right now. I understand
Speaker 1: why Crooks is central and he is a connector in
Speaker 1: a way that maybe I don't fully get. But Diego
Speaker 1: was out left and then Chiecho was up top. We
Speaker 1: have Lachlin, we have Doninic, Mark Zukho. I think probably
Speaker 1: will start and be outright, and my guess is Diego's
Speaker 1: out left and Diego comes centralized and Chiecho stays up top.
Speaker 2: That's my guess.
Speaker 4: What do you think. I think it'll come down to
Speaker 4: whether or not Pablo wants to start Crooks or Diego centrally.
Speaker 4: I think Diego will.
Speaker 3: Man his typical spot and he's right like he said
Speaker 3: on your show earlier this week, he kind of has
Speaker 3: carte blanche to kind of go where he wants as
Speaker 3: long as he stays within the framework of what Pablo
Speaker 3: needs from him.
Speaker 4: Defensively as well.
Speaker 3: It's going to boil down to what kind of game
Speaker 3: plan Pablo wants from the start and what he wants
Speaker 3: to plan for come substitution wise. But you also have
Speaker 3: to think of this as a series, like this is
Speaker 3: not a one off, So if it was a one off,
Speaker 3: maybe Pablo thinks differently.
Speaker 4: Whether he goes Crooks or Diego Centrally, We'll wait and see.
Speaker 3: But just because one starts in game one and Sandy
Speaker 3: doesn't mean that that same player that starts Centrally in
Speaker 3: game one will start game two in Minneapolis. So there's
Speaker 3: lots of, you know, tweaks that will be necessary from
Speaker 3: both sides. All I know is that, you know, Diego
Speaker 3: Luna has to carry the load right now, and that's
Speaker 3: asking a lot of a very young, talented player, and
Speaker 3: they really really poorly need Chicho Rongo to get off
Speaker 3: the snide as soon as possible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's that was going to be my next question.
Speaker 1: I mean, how much of this and we occurred on
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier. You know, it's you can say
Speaker 1: what you want about Gomez, but when Andres was out
Speaker 1: on that side, you know, those two formed a pretty
Speaker 1: dangerous partnership. And you know a lot of people painted
Speaker 1: Andres as someone who was only looking for his own
Speaker 1: but there were several interchanges with he and chiz Jo
Speaker 1: that led to opportunities. Look, Andres was responsible for twenty
Speaker 1: two goals in twenty three games.
Speaker 2: That's not nothing. And chi Cho hasn't been near as
Speaker 2: effective since he's been around.
Speaker 1: There's also the suspension, there's acclimating himself to new teammates.
Speaker 2: What do you attribute the struggles.
Speaker 3: To most, Well, you bring up Andres, Like I think
Speaker 3: one thing that this team misses now is Andres is
Speaker 3: a guy that could run away from people with the
Speaker 3: ball at his feet, and RSL just doesn't really have
Speaker 3: that anymore. They have very talented technical players, but Andris
Speaker 3: had a component of his game and speed that I
Speaker 3: don't think we've ever really seen any RSL player have
Speaker 3: at that level. Like he to combine his ability on
Speaker 3: the ball and his nose for goal, plus the fact
Speaker 3: that he was faster than everyone else on the field
Speaker 3: that made him really hard to defend, and it basically
Speaker 3: bent back lines to kind of shape themselves towards andres Wood,
Speaker 3: which would then open things up for chie Sho.
Speaker 4: Centrally, I would say.
Speaker 3: It's a plethora of everything. Basically, it's everything kind of
Speaker 3: going wrong at one time. It's the suspension, it's unders leaving,
Speaker 3: it's the injury, it's getting used to new teammates. It's
Speaker 3: a striker being in his head. It's like it's hard
Speaker 3: man like striker is. It's like the wide receiver position.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm going to go full John Paul, like
Speaker 3: you are the guy who's asked to deliver, and you're
Speaker 3: going to have a personality and you have the flair
Speaker 3: for the dramatic, and you are a guy that puts
Speaker 3: butts in the seats, and when you don't, when you're
Speaker 3: not delivering at the clip that you were, which was
Speaker 3: at the time a historic rate. I mean, seventeen goals
Speaker 3: and whatever it was like eleven matches or what ever.
Speaker 3: Trey's gonna text me and correct me, but it was absurd. Man,
Speaker 3: Like we were thought like maybe ours will not only
Speaker 3: have its new all time single season goal scorer, but
Speaker 3: maybe they're gonna have a guy who's gonna score thirty
Speaker 3: goals in a year.
Speaker 4: Obviously that didn't happen.
Speaker 3: But that being said, it's better to have a guy
Speaker 3: who's waiting to bust, you know, that streak or that
Speaker 3: cold streak, rather than not having him at all. So
Speaker 3: I think the fact that he's a guy that's been
Speaker 3: there before. He's you know, played in really meaningful games
Speaker 3: with LAFC and MLS Cup playoffs.
Speaker 4: He's done with RSL. All he needs to see is the.
Speaker 3: Ball hit the back of the net, and things I
Speaker 3: think would change dramatically for oursel.
Speaker 1: As one of the esteemed winners of Utah Sports Rider
Speaker 1: of the Year. I know you're all about the individual awards,
Speaker 1: and so I want to move over into that category
Speaker 1: real quick, Zicky Schmid. Now my last Coach of the
Speaker 1: Year finalists, Chris Armis Colorado don't really get it. They've
Speaker 1: been bad as of late, and the top the Tata
Speaker 1: Martino story feels a little bit Phil jacksony to me
Speaker 1: with Shack and Kobe, But you know whatever, Wilfrid Nancy
Speaker 1: Columbus Crew not going to tell you I've been smashing
Speaker 1: Crew tape, but should should Pablo have been on this
Speaker 1: list based off preseason expectations.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 3: I think if Arcel gets the top two seed out
Speaker 3: West and doesn't really kind of pitter to the end,
Speaker 3: I think he's in the running. But this team was
Speaker 3: pretty bad for a while, and I think they were
Speaker 3: lucky that the West, as it usually does, cannibalized itself
Speaker 3: and didn't allow anybody to really leap frog them. I
Speaker 3: think it's going to be Wilford Nancy. As a guy
Speaker 3: who does Smash Crew tape, I think they are the
Speaker 3: most aesthetically pleasing team to watch in MLS, and that's
Speaker 3: saying something considering Miami has a.
Speaker 4: Bunch of guys.
Speaker 3: But I will correct you there is one correction needed.
Speaker 3: I've never won the Utah Sportswriter of the Year.
Speaker 2: I've only been nominated, So erroneous, Ronnie, I won't stand
Speaker 2: for that. We need how do we get this? Because look, man,
Speaker 2: you need one of those trophies on your mantle.
Speaker 3: I need to put it behind my you know, the
Speaker 3: zoom background like all those people do for like interviews
Speaker 3: and stuff.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm with.
Speaker 1: That's getting so bad by the way, like it's such
Speaker 1: a thirst trap where it's like, oh, you have a
Speaker 1: cool old school Nintendo and I'm like Tyson book and
Speaker 1: there's your sports writer of the Year. Like it started
Speaker 1: during COVID and now it's just like, do you really
Speaker 1: listen to Wu Tang Jeff Passing or you just have
Speaker 1: the record behind you, Like Jeff Passon's not smashing nineties
Speaker 1: hip hop.
Speaker 2: He just wants to look cool. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 4: I think he might be. I think you might have
Speaker 4: to get him on and ask him.
Speaker 2: I think that.
Speaker 3: I think if you're going to go as far as
Speaker 3: to say like you are a Wu Tang, I don't
Speaker 3: think you can just be a surface level Wu Tang
Speaker 3: fan because you don't go out and find Wu Tang
Speaker 3: stuff anymore.
Speaker 4: This is not nineteen ninety eight. You can't go to Spencer's.
Speaker 3: Bookstore and find a you know, Wu Tang t shirt
Speaker 3: or you know whatever like that stuff.
Speaker 4: It's hard to come by. But yes, I'm with you,
Speaker 4: it is. It is kind of exhausting.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately for me, the background at my desk is just
Speaker 3: a huge window, so it's just always backlit. So there's
Speaker 3: a reason why I prefer not to get on video
Speaker 3: for anybody.
Speaker 1: My Zoom set up to the same. Jeff Passen doesn't
Speaker 1: listen to Wu tang. He has like gin blossom vibes
Speaker 1: like he's not you know, like right, I don't think
Speaker 1: maybe yes, yes, slide underrated tune.
Speaker 2: We can move on, all right, Chris.
Speaker 1: Since you and I last spoke, University of Utah has
Speaker 1: a new play caller, Andy Ludwig has stepped aside and
Speaker 1: Mike but Jakeen is in. Obviously coach. Ludwig's entire resume
Speaker 1: speaks for itself. But it's also two things can be true.
Speaker 1: We're learning this as a society.
Speaker 2: It's so fun. It's fine to say that it hasn't
Speaker 2: been good enough, and it hasn't been good enough for
Speaker 2: a while, not just a few weeks, if we're honest.
Speaker 1: So, uh, your your take on the happenings up on
Speaker 1: the hill, and wa think it looks like coming up tomorrow?
Speaker 3: I was stunned, Honestly, I did not see this coming.
Speaker 3: Like this is a guy who came back to Utah
Speaker 3: and said he planned on, you know, making this his
Speaker 3: last stop as an offensive coordinator.
Speaker 4: It might have been now that he decided.
Speaker 3: To resign, but I think there were interviews with Kyle
Speaker 3: over the years that said, like Kyle said, like Andy's
Speaker 3: gonna be my last OC as well, and there's a
Speaker 3: reason why he brought him back. So I was stunned
Speaker 3: to see that happen. I don't know how much a
Speaker 3: guy like Andy leaving mid season changes anything for the better.
Speaker 3: To be honest with you, like, based on all of
Speaker 3: my conversations with really smart players over the years since
Speaker 3: Andy came back, like everybody speaks glowingly of the guy,
Speaker 3: like when Brittin Covey was out for extended period of
Speaker 3: time with his knee, like he spent every game day
Speaker 3: that he could up in the booth with Andy and
Speaker 3: just raved about it. Cam did the same thing when
Speaker 3: he would had to sit in red shirt like.
Speaker 4: These are I don't know, it seems like a reach
Speaker 4: to me, man, Like this seems like a very un
Speaker 4: Kyle move.
Speaker 3: I know for a long time that Kyle was trying
Speaker 3: to find the right offensive play caller to coincide with
Speaker 3: his beliefs on defense. I think there was nine and
Speaker 3: eleven years at one point before Andy came.
Speaker 4: Back, so this is not new.
Speaker 3: You joke that there are fifteen year olds that have
Speaker 3: never seen the Yankees worlds win a World Series. There
Speaker 3: are fifteen year olds in this market that have never
Speaker 3: seen Utah be bad until like last year too, So
Speaker 3: it's like interesting that you think of there are kids
Speaker 3: that have been raised on Utah football that are just
Speaker 3: used to crazy mighty expectations that have been met.
Speaker 4: Obviously, they were not met the last couple of years.
Speaker 3: So I don't know what Andy leaving does for this
Speaker 3: team in the short term, to be honest with you,
Speaker 3: I really don't. You know, you can make the argument
Speaker 3: that this team was not prepared for Cam to go
Speaker 3: down again, and that is an absolute fair critique. And
Speaker 3: if you look at the corequarterbacks that Andy and his
Speaker 3: staff recruited over the years, it is not that impressive.
Speaker 3: Nate Johnson, Brandon Rose, Peter Costelli. Two portal guys were
Speaker 3: Charlie Brewer and Jake Bentley. So Brandon Rose is the
Speaker 3: only one that we don't really have a definitive answer on.
Speaker 3: Nate's gone. I don't know where Peter Costelli is. Charlie
Speaker 3: and Jake didn't work out.
Speaker 4: Obviously.
Speaker 3: He had Tyler and he had Cam, and when those
Speaker 3: guys were healthy, Utah was among the best teams in
Speaker 3: the Pac twelve and the country.
Speaker 4: But yeah, I was stun to see it.
Speaker 3: Spence, I don't know if Mike Bajakien makes Isaac Wilson
Speaker 3: a better quarterback in the final five games or whatever
Speaker 3: they have in the regular season.
Speaker 1: I really don't the ck truth bomb on a Friday, man.
Speaker 1: So can we be as reductive? And folks these days
Speaker 1: love the reductive statements. It tends to describe an entire
Speaker 1: person of a group of people. Can we be as
Speaker 1: reductive as saying simply it would be different if Cameron
Speaker 1: Rising had been healthy last year in this year?
Speaker 2: Can we be that reductive?
Speaker 3: Oh?
Speaker 4: I mean yeah, are we allowed to? I don't know.
Speaker 4: I feel like this is a question.
Speaker 2: Well, no, it's not a trap question, because it does
Speaker 2: feel like like I could.
Speaker 1: Honestly, the thing is, I do four hours of this
Speaker 1: Monday through Friday, two to six live every day Mountain Time.
Speaker 3: You know this.
Speaker 1: But I feel like I could really crack the mic
Speaker 1: and say, guys, if Cameron Rising was under center last
Speaker 1: year and this year, everything would be different, and then
Speaker 1: sign off. But I'd have three hours and fifty eight
Speaker 1: minutes left right, Yeah, And I'm just tried to figure
Speaker 1: out whether or not it is that simple, or are
Speaker 1: there other fair critiques?
Speaker 3: Well, if we're talking about this year specifically, and the
Speaker 3: sample size was tremendously small, but you talk about a
Speaker 3: quarter and a half against SUU where Cam looked every
Speaker 3: bit of his old self and the offense was just
Speaker 3: basically running riot.
Speaker 4: And then to me, maybe the bigger.
Speaker 3: Deal was that first half against Baylor where the offense
Speaker 3: looked really, really good and if Cam doesn't get shoved
Speaker 3: into the gatorade station, like maybe they're up thirty five
Speaker 3: to nothing at a half time or thirty four to
Speaker 3: nothing at a half time.
Speaker 4: And like it looked like it could be what it was.
Speaker 3: But the nature of this sport man, like we talked
Speaker 3: about this ad nauseum, the quarterback is the most important
Speaker 3: position on the team.
Speaker 4: So if you don't have an adequate Plan B or
Speaker 4: Plan C for when.
Speaker 3: The guy that you are writing with who always gets
Speaker 3: hurt gets hurt once again, unfortunately things are not going
Speaker 3: to look the same.
Speaker 4: And that's just the plain reality.
Speaker 3: And it is also easy to look at, you know,
Speaker 3: previous seasons and say, like, you know, bran Keathy was
Speaker 3: this guy three years ago, or Dorian Singer was this
Speaker 3: guy at Arizona three years ago. But like it's easy
Speaker 3: to like look at that and painted as a picture
Speaker 3: that can all come together, but it has to come together,
Speaker 3: and it hasn't. It's just kind of a it's a
Speaker 3: Picasso right now, it's just kind of all over the place,
Speaker 3: and I just don't really and not a good Picasso,
Speaker 3: bad Picasso.
Speaker 4: Like you know, you know what I mean, you're an
Speaker 4: art critic like me, Like I.
Speaker 3: It was always going to be hard for this team
Speaker 3: to ride with three aging injured veterans at three of
Speaker 3: the most important positions on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 3: And when the most important one got hurt two games
Speaker 3: in and then again, you know, five or six games.
Speaker 4: In, everything got thrown into flux.
Speaker 3: And it's not fair to necessarily critique Isaac Wilson because
Speaker 3: he's an eighteen year old kid who enrolled in April
Speaker 3: and has got used to the terminology of a very
Speaker 3: complex Andy Ludwick playbook that so many quarterbacks have said
Speaker 3: will hopefully prepare them for the NFL. But Isaac Wilson
Speaker 3: is a eighteen year old true freshman quarterback leading a
Speaker 3: team out that had expectations of being in the college
Speaker 3: football playoff, and it's unfortunate. But he just doesn't look
Speaker 3: ready because he's so young, and it is so difficult
Speaker 3: for any true freshman at any program in the country
Speaker 3: to step in and take the reins of a program
Speaker 3: that has the expectations.
Speaker 4: Like they do at Utah.
Speaker 3: I just feel like, here, we just assumed that oh,
Speaker 3: everything would just kind of you know, be fine if
Speaker 3: Cam got hurt again. But like, no, man, Like, it
Speaker 3: is hard. It is so hard to get to be
Speaker 3: really good at any position, especially at quarterback, especially in
Speaker 3: an offense as complex as Andy's. Now that Andy is gone,
Speaker 3: maybe Mike Pajakian, you know, distills things down for Isaac
Speaker 3: and makes it easier for him and gives him twenty
Speaker 3: to twenty five plays. But still, like, does that make
Speaker 3: Utah like the team that it wanted to be coming
Speaker 3: into the season. No, that that dream is dashed and
Speaker 3: Utah has to figure out what it's ceiling is over
Speaker 3: the next two months because, honestly, Spence, if they lose tomorrow,
Speaker 3: there's a chance to team doesn't make a bowl game,
Speaker 3: which is insane to think about.
Speaker 1: And you're not the first person that I've heard say that,
Speaker 1: which continues to just blow my mind based off of
Speaker 1: what we were all expecting. But let's move over to
Speaker 1: tomorrow because look, look, and maybe based off of we
Speaker 1: had Jordan win on earlier and it's clear that he's down,
Speaker 1: everyone's down on the group. So I'm sure it's the
Speaker 1: mission is just go get a win, no matter what.
Speaker 1: But look, man like, Houston, according to Mini Metrics, is
Speaker 1: one of the worst P four teams, not one of
Speaker 1: the worst Big twelve teams, one of the worst, you know,
Speaker 1: P four teams.
Speaker 2: And if it's the fourth quarter tomorrow and it's like
Speaker 2: thirteen to.
Speaker 1: Six and Utah somehow pulls a rabbit out of you
Speaker 1: know where and wins by like a point, I know
Speaker 1: it's a win and that's all that matters, But I
Speaker 1: don't think that's gonna do a whole lot for a
Speaker 1: fan base that I feel as a collective is as
Speaker 1: like disenfranchised with his football teams that have been in years.
Speaker 3: Well, and this goes back to the expectations and whether
Speaker 3: they were realistic or honestly, like, if even if Cam
Speaker 3: doesn't get hurt, if Utah is six and one right
Speaker 3: now or five, and what is their record grand they're
Speaker 3: four and three right, Yeah, so they've lost three in row.
Speaker 3: If Utah six and one or five and two right now,
Speaker 3: and they still don't look that good. Like there's also
Speaker 3: a possibility in that realm of existence that they might
Speaker 3: not make the playoff then, and I understand, but we
Speaker 3: are in this multiverse now where everything has gone wrong.
Speaker 3: But again that is that is life as like a
Speaker 3: football fan and life as a football player. So does
Speaker 3: Utah need to go down to Houston and win?
Speaker 4: Yes, do they have the.
Speaker 3: Superior talent, yeah, but as we've seen, Utah's lost a
Speaker 3: team that had lost to teams this year that where
Speaker 3: they have less talent, Like they're more talented than TCU,
Speaker 3: hands down, they did not play well. So that makes
Speaker 3: you ask questions like if if they struggle tomorrow night
Speaker 3: at Houston, then I think there are bigger questions to
Speaker 3: ask why this team is underperforming at a level that
Speaker 3: nobody really ever saw coming.
Speaker 2: All right, final thing, I'll set you loose on this.
Speaker 1: It's a different story in my opinion for BYU because
Speaker 1: to me, they hit the road as an underdog. They're
Speaker 1: traveling three time zones. So for me, Utah needs to
Speaker 1: go get right. They need to make a statement. They
Speaker 1: need to go thump them. BYU just needs to get
Speaker 1: out of the happiest place on Earth with a nice
Speaker 1: little Mermaid ice cream cone and just a win. No
Speaker 1: matter what, you know, by one point miracle pick six,
Speaker 1: just keep this train on track. You are an underdog
Speaker 1: on the road. What do you think happens in Orlando
Speaker 1: tomorrow afternoon?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean they're going to face a team that's
Speaker 3: gonna run the ball sixty times, and they have one
Speaker 3: of the best running backs in the country. And this
Speaker 3: true freshman quarterback that came in does not throw the
Speaker 3: ball very well at all, but he's a hell of
Speaker 3: a runner. So Jay Hills defense will have its hands
Speaker 3: pull for four quarters on the ground. I think to me,
Speaker 3: it's going to be if Jake retzl offen that b
Speaker 3: YU offense can give the BYU defense like the amount
Speaker 3: of time needed to rest, because those really long, methodical
Speaker 3: drives where a team that knows that it can.
Speaker 4: Run the ball against you will drain a defense. And
Speaker 4: I know.
Speaker 3: BYU's defense has been opportunistic and good this year, but
Speaker 3: against against a rushing attack like that, it will be tough.
Speaker 3: I mean, you see, I should have beat the number
Speaker 3: ten team in the country last week on the road,
Speaker 3: but they blew it.
Speaker 4: At Iowa State. So this is a team.
Speaker 3: I think Plan said like, they're the best three and
Speaker 3: four team in the country right now, and he's probably right.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think it's going to be a very
Speaker 3: difficult game. But man, if they win that game and
Speaker 3: they are eight to zer with a bye week before
Speaker 3: that Utah game, that that game on November ninth will
Speaker 3: be absolutely bonkers.
Speaker 2: Are we taking tracks to the stadium on Tuesday? My man?
Speaker 3: The weather does not look inviting. I'm just I'm just
Speaker 3: we're gonna have to We're gonna have to discuss this
Speaker 3: off there.
Speaker 2: All right. Man, have a good weekend. Give Leo high five.
Speaker 4: Appreciate you, all right.
Speaker 2: Chris com Ronnie from The Athletic