Speaker 1: World of Cougar Athletics.
Speaker 2: Here from players, coaches and experts on all the latest
happenings with the Krugers.
Speaker 3: Welcome back in the Sports one of three nine ninety
eight point three ESPN the Fan. I'm been Colonel broadcasting
from our ultimate tailgamer just south of Lavelle Eedwards Stadium
at the Swig.
Speaker 1: Come on buy the Loo Royal Army brand.
Speaker 3: He's in attendance. We have Breck Tech out here cooking
up a storm.
Speaker 1: Getting yourself.
Speaker 3: Get yourself some delicious and nutritious pulled pork. We love
giving you Cougar Sports commentary prior to kickoff. We appreciate
you being a part of our pregame show, the Holy War.
Speaker 1: Edition of the Pregame Show.
Speaker 3: It's gonna be a fantastic event tonight at Leavell Edwards Stadium,
six pm kickoff.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be on Fox.
Speaker 3: If you're not attending the game, it's a sold out
crowd over sixty four thousand. We'll converge on this fantastic venue,
a legendary venue. But if you are watching it from home,
it should be great. Jason Bennetti's on the play by play.
Robert Griffin is the analyst and then Alexa Landstoy is
the sideline reporter guys. Kyle Whittingham in his twenty first year.
He is a BYU alum. Okay, his career record won
seventy two and eighty seven and he's been I mean,
it's inarguable he is the greatest head coach in Utah
football history. Kyle Whittingham versus BYU in the rovaly. Since
taking over as head coach, He's got eleven wins, five losses.
By hoping to hand out his six loss this season.
Head coach Kalani Sataki in his tenth year for BYU.
He was an alum in two thousand. His career record
seventy eight and forty three and he is two and
four in the rivaly with two straight wins. He is
hoping to give Kyle whitting Kyle Whittingham his third straight loss.
BYU is not favored in this home game. They have
a home field advantage with the roar of the Cougars
and the Royal Army showing up. But BYU is a
three and a half point dog and the over under
I believe is at forty nine and a half now.
Speaker 1: It opened at forty seven and a half.
Speaker 3: Now, ESPN Analytics does give Byu a slight favorite, as
it puts him as a slight favorite in this game,
but only fifty point six. It's a it's a it's
a toss up, it's a it's a coin flick by
but which, by the way, Byu has won most of
those those coin tosses this season. So as far as
an injury report is concerned, Byu has a few injuries here.
Marcus McKenzie, that one hurts, especially with your punt cover team.
He's been an MVP on that punk cover Jojo Phillips
out Shae Brian Straw the linebacker out, Shionimo a running
back out, Tommy Prass's defensive back out doubtful is Raider
De Mooney and DC Purcell is probable. And then on
the Utah side Rabbit Evans, Nate Richie both safeties with
starting experience. Nate Richie a big loss or the ut
Stage' and Zipper wide receiver that's a loss for them,
Hunter Andrews tight end, Josh Sovereign safety so three safeties
out d n Paul Fitzgerald, linebacker Grady Morecco, and offensive
lineman Isaiah Garcia all out. This is the ninety seventh
meeting of the BYU and Utah teams, and Utah is
winning the rivalry right now, but since nineteen seventy two,
BYU's winning the rivalry.
Speaker 1: Since Levell took over.
Speaker 3: We have a former BYU great on the line to
give us some of his keys to the game.
Speaker 1: What do you got for me, Vig Graham.
Speaker 4: Arizona State up six nothing on Texas Tech close to
the end of the second course, seven minutes.
Speaker 1: Just the mic up in front of you a little
bit there, buddy, six.
Speaker 4: Nothing Arizona State in the second quarter with just seven
minutes left.
Speaker 3: There you go, Well, maybe ASU will cause a little
chaos in the Big twelve.
Speaker 1: Look, there's gonna be cannibalism everywhere.
Speaker 3: There's more parody in college football than there's ever been,
and I do believe that can be attributed to the
free market.
Speaker 1: The il, the transfer portal.
Speaker 3: You know, yeah, there is an element of like you know,
the upper restaurant that are paying more than any other
schools in Texas Tech has stated they they paid a
lot this season. So if ASU is able to knock
him off, that will be a goliath being slain by
a David And who better to talk about David and
Goliath than pastor to do we Gray?
Speaker 1: We got de week ray on the Life Former BYU Great.
Do we how you live in? Man?
Speaker 2: I am doing well. Let me tell you what you
are a professional the way you brought that in like
David and Goliath and then have a pastor on Dude,
you should do this for a living.
Speaker 1: Hey, it's just.
Speaker 3: A side hustle right now, but you know, maybe one
day it'll be the full fledged occupation for me. But
do we love and appreciate you? Nobody does it better
than you. I love hearing to you, hearing your sermons,
love hearing you talk ball, and I want to.
Speaker 1: Obviously get keys to the game.
Speaker 3: But let's describe for koup Nation what this rivalry game
meant to you when you were playing in it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, so, I'm originally from San Antonio, Texas,
and so my first year I didn't I didn't really
know what was happening. But by my sophomore year, I
knew fully what was happening. We were we were up
at Utah Plan and like a five year old kid
gave me the finger and I was like, man, these
people in Utah. I take this holy war very very seriously. Now,
when I was there the first year we played and
we dropped seventy on them, I was four and zero
against them. But you know now that I get to
look back, so so you know, I love all people,
but I don't like the University of Utah. I want
us to beat them, and I want us to beat
them back. Now, the reality is Utah is a very
very good team. Their offensive line, their defensive line has
a number of NFL players. They are big, they're physical,
they're well coached on defense. Their line backers are incredible.
Smith Snowden, the young man that I'm a big fan of,
is a great corner, great nickel guy, great return guy.
On offense, they've got a dual threat quarterback. They run physically,
they can hurt you in the passing game. And so
this is gonna require one of those special historic moments
where for the freshman quarterback, we make plays we're not
supposed to make, we have hustle plays we're not supposed
to make, and just be incredibly physically physical. When Dan
Pierre runs the ball, every time he runs, he has
to pay attacks. He has to pay attacks, and by
the third quarter, he's ready to come out because he's
been beat up, and so it's gonna require one of
those types of games.
Speaker 3: This game in particular, this rival game in particular, maybe
the most most pivotal. Why would that be, Well, they're
in the same conference. This is only the fourth time
in Holy War history where both teams are ranked. This
has conference championship implications. But not only that, this may
have CFP birth implication as well. With a new expanded,
expanded playoff. What does that mean for BYU? In furthermore,
Kyle Whittingham's on the brink of retirement. If he takes
three straight losses to BYU on his way to retirement,
that is impactful to one's legacy in my opinion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I want to I want to give
Kyle his flowers. Of course, he's a BYU guy, lavelle guys,
so I want to give him his flowers. He learned
from Urban Meyer, he learned from coach Edwards, Utah phenomenal program.
They have done great things. And I don't think if
he loses three in a row to BYU that it
affects his legacy. Maybe in a short term, but in
long term he took that team to the Pac ten
at the time and had a credible run. I do
believe there's more pressure on Utah to win the game
than BYU. And as a result of that early on,
that may create some turnovers for Utah, maybe a bad pass,
maybe a messed up snap, maybe a RPO handoff the
falls on the ground. And so I do think they
have more pressure because you know, they're three and a
half point favorites on the road, So that could play
into BYU's hands. And also it could put a chip
on their shoulders and say, hey, they're coming into our house.
We're six and oho, we've beaten them two times in
a row and we're underdogs. That gives you incredible motivation.
You hit harder, you run faster, you have more endurance,
Your intensity allows you to execute more.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great breakdown, And I do think that
there is a little bit more of a sense of
urgency and more pressure on the University of Utah to
win this game. And you under how that will play
out schematically, personnel allocation wise, implementation wise. Under the lights
of leavel BYU's been really good at home as well
as in night games. They call BYU the Vampire Cougars,
And I don't know, you know objectively what that means. Like,
I don't know why b Way you play so well
at night Any idea on that. I mean, you used
to playing the day games when you guys were dominant.
Any idea why b Way you play so well under
the lights of level in.
Speaker 1: The night games.
Speaker 2: Well, I think the first thing, it starts with the rock.
I mean, the student session section is ridiculous. I think
all eyes are on BYU. I think Kline does a
great job of getting his team prepared to play. And
there's just something special about Lavelle at work stadium at
night with the rock, with the intensity the home BYU's
home crowd is six points right off the gate. And
if they can get b to a lead going in
a halftime because of creating false starts and illegal procedures
and those types of things, that is they are the
twelfth Man.
Speaker 3: Literally, Well, they do great work, there's no doubt about it.
Like the disruption we've seen over the years, especially in
the modern era. Like I don't know how loud Lavelle
was when you were playing, right, Like I wasn't there.
I didn't get to experience that I felt like it
was pretty loud when I was playing, But I.
Speaker 1: Feel like BYU's fan base has taken.
Speaker 3: It to the next level with their investment just vocally
in the game right where they understand, hey, I can
make an impact, I can determine wins and losses by
being a fan in the stadium.
Speaker 1: Would you agree with that assessment?
Speaker 2: I would agree one percent. I've played in front of
some incredible crowds, but what's happening now is legendary. I
think that the BYU crowd, the BYU football home experience
putting college football on notice. Not only is the landscape
the most pristine and beautiful, not only do fans not
get drunk in the stands and go crazy, but they recognize, hey, man,
we are six points right off the bat, and so
this is what I think is gonna happen to that Ben.
I think coach Whittingham is telling his players, listen, BYU
doesn't have the talent we have. They're not as tough
as we are. I think they're gonna line up in
basic football and say we're gonna run the ball down
your throat, and then on defense, I think what they're
gonna do is say, hey, we're gonna rush five play
man to man because your guys can't beat us, and
we're gonna make Bear win the game throwing the ball.
And this is what I think is gonna take place.
I think there's gonna be several plays in which that
takes place. Bears gonna break the break the pocket, break
a tackle, and get twenty something plus yards. I wouldn't
be surprised if he ran for eighty and through for two.
And on defense, we have to create three turnovers. We
need a couple of short fields to get ahead of
them and make Utah one dimensional. And if we do that,
we got a shot to win.
Speaker 3: I love those keys to the game from Dewey Gray
pastor Gray here on ESPN the Fan, Get your preap,
Get you ready for this Holy War, the ninety seventh
Holy War, in this illustrious robbery history.
Speaker 1: You mentioned those are your keys to the game.
Speaker 3: Here, Dewey, A couple last things before we let you go, though,
What if you liked about this BYU football team this year?
Speaker 1: What stands out to you?
Speaker 3: Right, you're a guy that loves the game of ball, Right,
you love football, good high level football. What do you
like about this BAU football team this year.
Speaker 2: Well, on defense, I like the fact that they run
an NFL style defense. I like the intellectual brutality. I
like the team chemistry on offense. I like the way
the team has come around the freshman quarterback. He is
not a normal freshman to back. He has the it factor.
I'm not sure what the it factor is, but when
you see it, you know someone has it. He has
the it factor. And tonight is going to be the
biggest challenge of all. Will the lineman put a little
bit more into blocking, Will the running backs run a
little bit harder, Will the receivers run a little bit more?
Chris routs? And then when the game is on the line,
what is the eighteen year old freshman gonna do? Is
the grizzly bear going to roar? I'm looking forward to
him to roar. I haven't wanted to play in the
football game in about thirty years. Ben. If I was
in my twenties, i'd suit up and I would wreck
you tell like I used to back in the day.
And they know all about that.
Speaker 5: They know do Gray, They know Dewey Gray, those dudes
that had to go head to head with you, They
know what Pastor Gray, what Dewey Gray does on the Gridiron.
Speaker 3: My guy, you just you were slaying Golias all day,
every day as a modern day David in my opinion,
and you continue to pontificate on your platform from your
podium as the pastor of the Transformation Church. Real quick,
give us an update on Transformation Church. What you guys
are doing over.
Speaker 2: There, Hey, Transformation Church is great. We've baptized two hundred
and thirty three people a couple of weeks ago at
a local lake. Our free grocery store serves about five
hundred people per month. We're helping to start churches all
over Europe. And we've also in the last three years
paid off thirty million dollars of medical debt for people
in the Carolina's in need. And man is a it
is a sweet, sweet season.
Speaker 1: Well you know to that point.
Speaker 3: I mean, I've had these discussions internally with friends, with
family members, and I feel like there is a resurgence.
And we've talked about this on the show. Even with
what's happening in Africa, Christianity, people are coming under Christ.
Speaker 1: They see kind of the signs of the times. They're
feeling these.
Speaker 3: Signs at the time, and and they're coming under Christ.
Speaker 1: And I think you're seeing that they're at the Transformation Church.
Speaker 2: Yes, we have seen in the last fifteen years eight
thousand people come to Christ through our ministry, and so
God has been moving powerfully. And I think coming out
of COVID also, I think as people see the other
despair of how divided politics is, how much hate there
is in the world. I think led by young people,
they've seen enough and they're they're saying, I want to
know Jesus. I want to know his love, I want
to know his grace. I want to make an impact
in the world with kindness and love and generosity. And
it's happening.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 3: Man, as Dewey says, as Patrick Gray says, worship the lamb,
not the donkey or the elephant. I love you, Yes,
I appreciate you do we Gray, ladies and gentlemen, thanks
for hopping on for a special additional rivalry edition of
Cougar Sports.
Speaker 1: There you go.
Speaker 3: That's Dewy Gray, Ladies and gentlemen. We'll take a brief
time out. We'll be back though. We're live from the
Swig just south of LaBelle Edwards Stadium. Would love to
see you. Come on, buy sal talk some ball with us,
and get yourself some Royal Army brand gear, the best
BAU licensed.
Speaker 1: Apparel in the business. Come on, buy and get some
delicious pulled pork as well.
Speaker 3: Rectech is here feeding all you Cougar fans showing up,
showing out to this special edition, this Holy War edition
of Cougar Sports. You're one O three to nine, not
eight point three.
Speaker 1: ESPN