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Welcome in Thud Lush's haired Lefty. The uh Riley's abs
is are the best abs in Dyau football history. We
got Riley Nelson on the line. Riley, does that Twitter
account still exist?
Speaker 4: I don't know. They rage quit. Well, what's funny is
like the person I think made it maybe is a
little bit of a satire account. And then they got
mad at me during that twenty twelve season when I
was playing hurt and they literally did like a rage
quit sign off, like they gave it up that it
was tweeting as though it was Riley's abs, and it
was actually the owner of the County rage quit about
a fumble or fake that I had, and so it hasn't.
It literally doesn't have a tweet since like October November
of twenty twelve.
Speaker 1: So I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't know when Twitter like how long it accounts
been dormant, how long they wipe it off. But but
in real life, I got I got a trip to
Hawaii coming up in March, so I'm in the middle
of the little mini cut. Nice the a abs you know,
are always kind of there, but I don't. I don't
keep the diet. I got too many kids and too
much to do. I need to fuel. I need to
fuel the energy. You know, let the layer. I don't
let the layer get too thick on it. You can
always kind of see the outer outlines and stuff. But
I'm a little mini cut to try and get some
of the lines down the middle and the cross lines.
Those are the hardest ones for me. I can't I
get the one between the normal abs and the oblique.
But it's the it's the it's the cross lines that
you know, that's when Riley's ads are really shown out.
So if we can get that done by the by
before Mali in March, that'll be good.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you're heading out to Maui. Uh you work
out at home, you got a home gym, you go
to the local gym, you got a community gym. What
do you got? Yeah?
Speaker 4: So I mean, for fear of giving away my secret,
there's a tennis club.
Speaker 2: Pretty cool.
Speaker 4: I used to work out just the eos and it's great,
and I still maintain a membership there. But like tennis
players don't lift ben but guess what I don't they.
Speaker 2: I got all the.
Speaker 4: Equipment, and so they got squat racked, clean rack, they
got the cross cable. They got dumbells up to I
wish there was dumbells up to you know, maybe one thirty,
but they got dumbells up to one hundred. So I
could get it and by myself. And when there are
some tennis players in there, you know they're doing some
rotational stuff and like medball more, but they're not really
pushing the weight. So it's it's like an own personal
gym to myself. And then you know, I get the
I got some cardio equipment at home and some adjustable
dumbbells when you can't make it to the gym. So
that's what we're doing to keep the waist side from
growing these.
Speaker 1: Days, luscious haired lefty talking workouts and getting ready for
a Maui trip on jealous of you here on your
Utah ESPN Radio network, Riley. You know this roster, you
see it. You've seen what BYU is over the last
two seasons obviously eleven and two twelve and two great
seasons back to back. You know how difficult it is
to win in college football, no matter who is on
the great art opposite of you, that opposite of that
line of scrimmage. What does it take? What will it
take for b with you to get over the hump
to get into the college football playoff right, to win
maybe a college football playoff game? Where are where? Where
are we deficient? When you're looking at the roster and
what we need to address in the portal?
Speaker 3: Yeah, hard to say deficient, but like, let's look at
those at the top of the sport, all right, and
where does their roster or when you watch them play,
when you watch Indiana and you watch Miami play, and
you think.
Speaker 4: Back to watching BYU play where are we most different?
And for me, the first place is like pass rushers.
I thought when we got Jay and even with Kilane,
and then we got you know, Sionipuula and we got
like I was, I was waiting for a recreation of
Sackla like city because I played those Utah teams and
I know how difficult it makes it on the offense
when you can rush the passer with four we have
we just cannot find a pass rusher. I like, have
we you know, it's it's been years. Tyler Baddy was
a nice player, but when you watched it, like he
didn't command. He didn't command the slot, like the slide
wasn't to him every time. He didn't command chips, he
didn't command double teams.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 4: He was a nice player, but he wasn't one that
the offensive line and quarterback were having to account for
him pro on on obvious passing downs. So to me, like,
don't get me wrong, we got nasty linebackers and they
make a lot of plays and all that, but man,
I would love someone on the edge. And really I'm
talking the full front four, right, but like that that
to me, that front four level, but mostly But you know,
I think a ton of USA, you know, did get up,
and I think we've been good up the middle. I
don't I don't see as much deficiency with our our tackles.
I would love small production over edges. But Ben, you know,
we we planned a little bit what we were going
to talk about before that. I'm saying edge what And
maybe you've talked about this before because I haven't been
on since the announced Kelly taken over his DC, the
coaching to be taken over his DC. He played under
Bronco right three with the three five three or three
four however you want to give you that, but basically,
you know the odd man, Yeah, the three four, the
odd man, the two gap on the D line. But
then he's been on Ja's hill for or he's been
on Jay's staff for the last couple of years. What
do you think Kelly's doing? Do you think you think
he's going to optimize it to personnel or is he
most is he a is he a classic three four guy?
And because we can and because traditionally we've been able
to recruit productive linebackers more than we've been able to
recruit elite pass rushers what are we going to see
at a coach Lapina, Do you have any insight into that?
Speaker 2: Uh?
Speaker 1: I think he's going to always cater to the personnel, right,
and and the personnel will be dictated by what you
can recruit and what you can bring into EYU as
a fit, right, so you have multiple fits. You obviously
have to qualify as a football player first, but you're
also having to qualify as you know, honor code, you know,
a bider. And there's still an academic portion to getting
into BYU that no one really talks about. People talk about, Oh, well,
b why he's a private institution, they can bring whoever
they want. Yeah, but the academic silo of Brigham as
well as the moral, ethical, theological, honor code component silo
of b why you still have influence and still can
can deter and attract players. So to me, you know,
that's my initial you know, reaction to it. He's going
to conduct himself in a way that that will will
maximize the personnel that he can get to b WYU
and formulate the defense around that. Last year I tallied
it up, we were uh seventy percent of the time.
And this may come as a surprise to you, seventy
percent of the time we were running thirty front with
a stand up edge, whether it was jack or noose
as a two point. Remember, just because you know you
see a forty front there, but they're not four down linemen.
You're not seeing a seven tech on either side with
with rush ends with a hand in there dirt. You're
seeing Jack Kelly is a stand up outside linebacker on
the strong side. You're seeing Nucy, Tom Wepey. You stand
up outside linebacker on the strong side. You know, in
the traditional three four that we ran six o seven
through even your era, it was typically typically a stand
up outside outside linebacker two point off the weak side
edge right, that's where they would stand up and you
would rotate your your five tech.
Speaker 4: Cayle Vanoyd became the greatest, arguably the greatest defensive player
in history playing that role and using his instant on
his ability to recav it.
Speaker 1: So you can kind of mix a match between those.
But so I've gone off on tangents about this, and
it may be controversial. I think if Utah fans get
ahold of it and other people that's like I say,
you know, what would you know? May be interpreted as controversial,
but I still think like to get the dogs that
you want. It's like what Dion Sanders said, what is
Deon Sanders looking for in defensive ends? What did he say? Yeah?
Speaker 4: No, he I mean that was quite controversial.
Speaker 1: Anybody shop enough.
Speaker 4: I don't know that we want to say. I don't
know that we want to repeat that on that.
Speaker 1: No, I've I've said it like it's what Dion said
and we can I can quote him, and so I'm
willing to go on like he's looking the listeners.
Speaker 4: Let the listeners do do that on investigation. But yeah,
it is true. You know, I think there's probably an
element of truth to what Dion says.
Speaker 1: So like let me ask you this, how many true
dogs defensive Lineman did you play with that b yu right?
And how many of them struggled at BYU right? That
you know academically and honor code wise dogs?
Speaker 4: So d Lineman, So not that, but like overall, dog
we have some dogs and other positions and we don't
need to.
Speaker 1: Bring up yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, what I'm saying.
Speaker 4: Struggled like like like the first one comes to mind,
like you say dog, like dude willing to put his
body on the line, life on the line. Any guy
that didn't come from the trigger. By the way, we
have plenty of r ms like yeah, Danny Thornson, Gerbrena
are plenty of always, but talking about dudes that don't
that we're willing to put their body on the line,
we're dogs. But talking about dudes that don't come from
that traditional background, they didn't last like whether it was
whether it was you know, altercations with with the logs
like fighting and stuff, or whether it was honor code
or whether it was academics, they did not finish their
careers there. So you burned up a good point.
Speaker 1: Well, not only that, like I can I can list off,
you know, you know, the legal issues that that they
even the guys that were retained, the dogs that have
been retained, they they struggled in all those and they
found a way. And so I think also the Honor
Code and b wa Using institution has learned that they
probably need a little bit more grace and understanding and
have perspective of like how they handle honor code violations,
how they handle certain things right, and uh that the
negative effects of like you know, kicking people out too
when they've made mistakes and fallen short. So anyway, that's
why I'm not everyone else is sold on the forty
front and you have to have two deep, you have
to have eight guys that are all typically dogs.
Speaker 3: Eight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and when in b YU football history.
Speaker 4: In South Florida, Yeah, if you're in Coral Gables, you
can find those dudes and you can and you can
graduate again. Yeah, I mean I can. I like hearing
an eight dog, I haven't been able to.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's that's a high that's.
Speaker 4: A high bar to clear. And and by the way,
we've been able to say, like, okay, so you run
a three four, Now I gotta find eight at the
second level. I'd say we can get a lot closer
to getting eight at that second level, just historically, what
the caliber player that we've been able to recruit there
than we have with the dudes in the hand on
the ground. So you started this with portal, I'll just
give you my other one just so go ahead. We
got to go, and we got and I got Junior
Jazz at five, So we got to leave here a
little bit. But my team, I mean, we we won.
We were down sixteen sixteen fourteen in the last three minutes.
We scored five unanswered points won the game nineteen sixteen.
So we gotta you want to know, we gotta go
to and o this this week. But anyway, coming back, dude,
running back depths. I'm so pumped that LJ came back.
But like, let's take let's you look at every productive offense.
You know, the and I know the Bears lost, but
they had Swift and the Nun guy and I know
he just oh shoot Williams.
Speaker 3: But the dude that had the A C L for
the for the Seahawks, who was taking.
Speaker 4: The second is Chary. Yeah, you got Williams and Charmon
Ay right, Like you look across and everybody shares carries.
Now everyone carries, and we gotta we gotta find that
one two punch we anyway, so I was hoping, I'm waiting.
I don't and I actually don't know if the portals
closed or whatever, but I would like to see some
running back depths get built there and then we gotta
find and maybe maybe it's in the room. I know
the room. I don't know if he's optimistic about the
room in the wide receiver, but losing Chase and then
just overall, like looking across again, who's the best in
the game. And I'm not saying we're going to be
able to find a Malachi Tony right or I can't
remember the kid from Indiana but he was now he's
more of a possession type guy. But like, we need
a true number one, and that, to me, that was
I talked about, Like we haven't had a pass rusher
that demands the uh, that demands the slide from the
old line or that the line. We also haven't had
a wide receiver that defenses has had to account for.
That safeties and dbs have had to account for since
Puca so and that's but we've had nice players. We've
had good players, and I think Parker Keaston like gives
some fits. But you saw when we kind of leveled
up against the Texas at the caliber of the Texas
text which are at the top of our conference, and
the calibers of defense is playing in the college football
we don't have that. And then this, I don't know
if this is so much portal, but it's just as
I look at the team, like, just where where might
I be concerned a deficiency might show up? Is losing
Gennaro's I think a big blow from everything that I
was able to kind of hear like secure in those
dv's and I'm glad like to do like Evan Johnson
some of these others that coming back to be, He's
glad he's got him in the room. But he had
that pipeline humming man like for our dB, specifically our cornerbacks.
I feel like our cornerbacks these last three to four
years were as solid as ever and it to me
that allowed our linebackers, Like it allowed Kelly to play
more free and do all that because he wasn't as
worried about participating on the back end of the defense.
Was we were able to be a little bit more
free and a little bit more aggressive because we could
really trust those dudes on the side and and do
all that. And anyway, I was glad to see, you know,
Gennald maybe didn't get too many of our quarterbacks, or
if any, I don't think any of them left with him.
But it's more for me the recruiting going on, going
the recruiting forward, looking for our cornerback so so used
Ao as me. I'd love an edge rusher. I want
to keep our cornerback strong. I'd love to see some
more RB depth and whatever they got to do where
it's going out and getting a number one, or if
they gotta just packed that wide receiver room hoping that
a true wide receiver one emerges. Those are my main
position groups that I'm looking position groups of interest following
this season heading into next.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I look at last year what we lost right
and the impact that some of those losses made. And
obviously Keelan is the highlighted one and Loy he could
have done his wide receiver one at b YU. That
was a devastating blow. Like if you wanted to win
a Big twelve championship, you needed Keelan Marion doing your
kickoff returns and being wide receiver one. I mean, let's
be honest. He could have been awesome for BYU and
that could have been the difference between BYU. Could could
Keelan Marin had been the difference in your opinion to
getting you know, you think that you were still too
far away. Yeah, I mean he's a number one at
b YU. He's a number one at b YU, and
he became a number one at times in Miami. I know,
Malachi Tony got a lot of test targets.
Speaker 4: Then to me, that's settling, Like and I say that
to say that, like, look, Keeman made some nice plays.
We had a couple of nice catches against who they
beating the against the Oregon and all that, but like
you want to know, you want to know how you
know a number one. Whenever Keelan was the least bit
challenge or that there was, there was like a And
I'm not this is just what I'm saying objectively. It
is not him personal or whatever, but just as a
football player, like how many contesting catches did that to
come out with? And gotta have a situation down to that.
Everyone's like, oh, he got a nice game in the semifinals,
yeah when the game.
Speaker 1: Was He's a He's a vertical threat, not a jumpall threat.
Speaker 4: That's what I'm saying, like contested catches A number one.
First of all, he gets open in the curl flat zones.
He number one is able to manipulate zone, find space
over the middle. A number one beats his cornerback. Yeah,
he's a vertical threat. But then he snaps it off
and you can throw the comeback to him on third
and twelve or fifteen yards, Heil and Maren can run
down the field, and essentially it was if he creates separation,
will catch it for a big play. If he doesn't
it and contested, you can see it in his eyes.
He's hoping for a p He's hoping for a PI
we have had. I'll tell you what Cody Hoffmann. Cody
hoff was able to make plays down the field even
though he wasn't a fourth dude. Like that's that's a
true number one, Austin Colly, true number one, like Pukaakua,
true number one. And I loved what they did with Pooka,
Like like Austin and and Cody were on the outside Pooka.
I loved it.
Speaker 1: What Aaron.
Speaker 4: We got to see a true number one in Aaron's
they did honestly, Like I think the rams were just like,
love what this Robert guy's doing. Let's do the same thing.
They got him on fly sweeps. They're moving him into
the slot, he's lined up outside one on one. They're
doing all that kind of stuff. And look, I just
mentioned each one of those dudes. It's if you kind
of even it out. I mentioned Austin, Austin, Cody, and Pooka.
That's about one every seven years. Pooka when did he
leave twenty twenty oh twenty two, So it's more recent
than I thought. But we're we're coming up. We're probably
due for our next one. And let's be honest, we're
gonna level up in our recruiting. Rather than finding one
every seven years, we should find one, hopefully every four
or five. And so a big long rant. No, I
will not concede that Keela Marion was would have been.
That would have been the difference for us. It's nice
to have a guy that takes the top off thring,
but like, okay, what if you're facing two like in
the NFL. What if Texas Tech who would have been
fully capable of staying in a two shell limiting our
run game? And so now you're not going to take
the top off a two deep shell. Now, what does
Keela Marion do? Is how good is he manipulating the
zone and finding space given his quarterback space and in
a post curl you know.
Speaker 1: Was Darius Lassiter or a wide receiver one if we
could have got as Juco year bag I was.
Speaker 4: I was more of the three of Marion, Jojo and
ke and Lassiter I was most but even lasser Was
would show up in some When he would show up,
he was really impressive and encouraging, but then he would
just disappear for others.
Speaker 3: But so this goes back.
Speaker 4: Maybe the dude's in the room already, but I haven't
seen much wide receiver movement in the portal. I'd love
to go out and get one that we got film
on we know is a proven commodity. But if we
can't get that, I'd least like get another couple of
dudes who are going to compete and hopefully emerge.
Speaker 1: You know, I thought the most underrated transportal loss was
from last year. I actually thought Miles Davis was a
bit underrated. In his senior season at Utah State, had
seven or thirty one total rushing yards five point six
yards per carry, eight rushing touchdowns. He had an additional
two hundred and one total receiving yards at seven point
two yards per reception and three receiving touchdowns. Thought he
could have been a good RB two for b YU
behind LJ. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I would have loved to be able to hold on
to him. I will say a couple of caveats there,
Dan and.
Speaker 1: I I'm not Yeah, you got to see him at
the Cash Valley You're a cash Valley kid.
Speaker 4: As everyone knows, I support my coach. You know, I'm
a Logan boy, and when Bronco got up there, I
went back all in. I'm a season ticket older up
there as along with being a season ticket older down
in Provo.
Speaker 1: But so we were.
Speaker 4: You know, I was up in Logan whenever there wasn't
a game of Provo. My and I love Miles. I
got to know Miles a lot. He and I shared
the same scholarship donor. We've had multiple dinners together. He's
come over hung out of my house like Miles. Well,
I will, I will do anything for Miles, but I
will just say I think the move down to the
G five, I've helped his production a little bit. I don't. Yeah,
just and bro watching him, you took that same athlete.
There was just that much more space. You kind of
had that much more cushion, that much more forgiving. You know,
the cutback on his own can be made that half
count a little bit later, but you can still hit
it right versus when you're playing the top of the
Big twelve. Unless unless you anticipate that backside a gap
opening up, there's no way you're getting it if you
see by the time if you see the backside a
gap or even the front side b if you see
it open and you're not already there one step away,
it's going to be closed by the time you get there,
sort of a thing. And then and then the second
thing I'll say is, you know, I thought mcgiven it
was a little bit more open, they created more space
up there. I think it had to do with barns
and barns and skill set and kind of the personnel
that they had. But they knew they couldn't line up
and beat people like BYU has been able to do
in the run game. You know, think about that Cincinnati game.
They were a little bit more in space. So two
things the move tot G five I think helping the
and I think being in a in an offense where
you're running more in space versus an offense against b
YU where it's more dependent upon the front. You know,
the offensive fronts, physicality and your ability to anticipate reads
and make uh and meet and make great cuts a
couple of things there. But bro I would have loved
to have, I mean, would have killed to have miles
for RB depth right, which is another aspect that I
talked about or did I hope to see they go
out and do in the portal addressing.
Speaker 1: The portal, No doubt about it. A couple last things, Riley,
as you've got things to do, people to see, places
to go, et cetera. We appreciate you hopping on for
a little keeping up with the cougar segment brought to
you by Odion Men's where Odion Menswear dot Com. Uh,
BYU football in a great spot right now. Obviously there's
there's things to be things to be done in order
to take that next step. But I mean the retention
was pretty pretty crazy. Like you no impactful transfers, you
would say, And uh, even though you lose coach g
and coach Jay Hill, you you retained much of your
coaching staff as well. Yeah, I mean I.
Speaker 4: Feel chiefish and I mean, but we've got to fill
the air man, you know what I'm saying. So y,
I gotta come, I gotta come up with thoughts and
I got to their opinions that that the you know,
to fill the airwaves with the reality is, how do
you really how do you in how do you in
good conscience? As a if you're truly a ball Knower.
How do you criticize anything that they're.
Speaker 1: Doing down there?
Speaker 4: I mean, so I want everything that we've just talked
about over the last fifteen minutes, though those are like
more wishless items, they are not They are not criticisms
because the program is an is an utterly great spot.
I mean everything about Colient Satalk and his leadership and
the culture that he's created both with both amongst his
staff and amongst his players, like you cannot find better.
Everyone wants to talk about Signetti.
Speaker 2: Like.
Speaker 4: I don't know, bro, Like I love, I kind of
love his stick, and he's unhappy, he's kinds of grumpy
old man, but he just gets it done. But like,
for I got a feeling like Signetti, the second thing
turns south, the crew might turn on it. You know,
they might have a mutiny on his hands a little bit.
I'm not I don't know if that's true, but like
he's hopped around so much, I don't know. Kilanie is
we are set with Kilani and with Papinga at the
and then Papinga and Roderick at the two coordinators, and
then all that's supposed to support staff and longtime supports
staff like Sessi and Harve and you know, all these
dudes like there were set up for the next.
Speaker 3: Decade plus, if not more, with this staff.
Speaker 4: So I couldn't be more pleased about more proud to
be a Cougar, and more pleased with all the efforts
from from everybody down there, both players and coaches. And
like we talked about the wistlers, let's go to the
flip side. Like bear Bachmer, I think unquestioned the best
freshman quarterback, you know, other hundred people are going to
be the press because you know, unfortunately plays at BYU,
maybe wears a weird number or whatever. He's just not
as flat she but or he might not be the
punin's favorite guy. But like best freshman quarterback in the year,
the offensive conference player of the year returning back on
the roster, you got glasterback who's an impact player. You
got Evan Johnson coming back, Like I mean, expectations should
be conference championship or bust. And like, man, if you
would have if you would have told that to me
back when I was calling radio in twenty twenty, I
would have been like, wait, we're gonna go P five
and within three years we're gonna be a perennial conference
contender by retaining our roster in an age of nil
where everybody's going to the highest bidder. I would have
called you crazy, but that is the reality facing this
PAU program right now. So it's a great time to
be a cougar.
Speaker 1: Who's got the better scal Who's the better grumpy head coach?
Kirk Sidnetti or broncoman at Hall?
Speaker 4: A great question, Ben Can I tell you? I think
it's Bronco because Bronco never gave you anything, never gave
you anything. Bro Signetti will give you a smirk here
or there, and he might give someone a Bronco was
nothing now late in his career, like the first time,
I'll never forget. I was like, Man, Bronco's changing was Nebraska,
Mitch catches that ball in the oh yeah, and you
running around with his hands up. I thought he was
gonna rip off his shirt but anyway, but no, he
goes to Bronco.
Speaker 1: Bro Bronco the best grumpy coach in college football. Love
Bronco always business Baby, Appreciate you, Riley. We'll catch up
again soon, Man, Thanks for hopping off.
Speaker 4: Always a pleasure. Talk soon.
Speaker 1: Thego. That's Riley Nelson. That segment was brought to you.
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Darnell Dixon coming up next. This is Cougar Sports on
one O three, nine nine to eight point three.
Speaker 2: Is is Cougar Sports with Ben Kretel at its time
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the hotline. Welcome in my God, double d darn addiction
of the Daily herald The Daily Heralding. What's up? Daily
Heraldian double d? How are you, sir?
Speaker 2: I'm well, I'm actually headed down to Bryce Canyon and
Ruby's n in February, and it turns out Jimmer Ford
cut into my Valentine's Day because that's the day he's
getting his jersey retired. We were headed down that Saturday,
but because Jimmer's having this celebration of his jersey in
his career, we're gonna miss out on one day. It's
probably worth it. My wife understands.
Speaker 4: But I got I get some.
Speaker 2: Training to do to keep up with my wife as
we're hiking down there. So let's get this going.
Speaker 1: Let's go. Darnells. You I surprised you a little bit,
and you you realized that I told everybody that the
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Speaker 2: Totally see that now that you pointed out to me.
But yeah, it's it's pretty cool.
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and hit on down to Bryce Canyon and Ruby's in Darnell.
What have you been working out over at the Daily
Herald recently?
Speaker 2: A lot from about basketball? You know, b Yu it's
first lost in about thirteen games at Texas Tech. But
you know, I often wonder with coaches, you know, they
talk about a guy to see the film, I wonder,
And we haven't been able to talk to Kevin Young
since he that game, but I just wonder does he
feel like defensively they could have done more? Or was
that just a case of a team going instaneling hot?
Because after b why you took that nine point lead?
Texas Tech made seven straight shots, including three or three
or four three I think four three's one of them
a bank by JT. Topp and their center from the
top of the key, and then they were at fourteen
or fifteen from the free throw line, so practically perfect
in that game. I don't know much that b why
you could have done much at the end there, but
it is a loss and they've had a gun. I
have a week to kind of stew on it before
they take on Utah on Saturday.
Speaker 1: What did you think? Did you think that there was
some frailty in the defense? Do you feel like Texas
or do you feel like just Texas Tech just got hot.
Speaker 2: I do think Texas Tech got hot, but I also
think that there was a little bit of fatigue on
Dyu's defensive end. Towards the end of that game, they
lost a little momentum because you know, they they they
were up nine and then Rob Wright had to go
out because he had hurt his pinky and he was
tearing up Texas Tech at that point, So they lost
that little bit of momentum, but they could never get
it back. And you know, this is not last year's
team that was eleven deep. This is a team that
the starting five gets almost all the minutes and then
kind of depends on who shows up off the bench,
and it's varied from week to week how much time
guys have been getting There's been some good moments from
the bench guys, just not enough of them. And really,
I'm not sure if there's much Kevin Young could have
done down the stretch of that game because Texas Tech
was just on fire. They're at home, their capacity crowd,
just riding that wave, and you know, you certainly want
to look at the film and say, yeah, we could
have defended that way better, We could have done that better.
But when when the six to ninth center who has
been shooting about, you know, twenty percent from three makes
three or four including a banker, it just might not
be your day. And that's probably more of it than
anything else. It was just test his Tech getting crazy
good and BYU was a little fatigued and couldn't quite
match it.
Speaker 1: Double D. Are you concerned that this BYU basketball team
can't keep the pace that they've been they've been playing at.
How do you feel right now about this team?
Speaker 2: I feel probably a little bit like I felt last
year after the slow start in Big Twelve play. But
Kevin Young got it figured out, and we all think
he's a really good coach, so I think he'll figure
it out. They've had a chance to take a breath
here this week and kind of work on some things
before they played Utah on Saturday. I would expect a
much better performance consistently through forty minutes, and Ken Young
mentioned that a couple of times in the post game
was to win some of these games on the road
against really good teams, you've got to play really good
forty minutes. And they played about thirty two good minutes
and then things got away from them. So lots of
things for them to work on. And you know, they're
defense at times looks really good. Their offense with the
big three can be overwhelming. But they just want to
be able to do both those sides more consistently. And
that's what they're going to be working on, and I
believe Kevin Young will get it figured out and we'll
get a strong finish by the couiters.
Speaker 1: Tarnold Dixon, The Daily Heraldi and talking to some BAU
basketball here on your Utah ESPN Radio network. So what
would you say right now is the biggest issue ailing
BAU basketball.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you say they're ailing and they just
lost one game, that's not like.
Speaker 1: A what are they missing? All right?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 4: No, no, hey, this is a one not a need Okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: Okay, this is a one, not a eight. What is
it that was going to take them from Sweet sixteen
to Final four type of team? What are we missing?
Speaker 2: I think what we're missing right now is consistency from
the guys who aren't the big three. And you know,
I hate to pick on specific players, but Cannard Davis
has not figured out his role on this team yet.
And to me, he's kind of like what what Meg
would be if he decided he was a shooter and
wanted to score. Because Davis is having a really hard
time putting the ball in the basket. He's under thirty
percent from three. He was zero for five or oh
for six in that game on Saturday. He can play defense,
I think he's pretty good at that, but when you
are struggling offensively and you kind of use that as
your identity, that can affect both ends of the floor.
So I think Cannard Davis has to figure out what
he wants to do for this team. Does he want
to be a guy that's the fourth scorer and the
big three in front of him, or does he want
to be a contributor defensively and take those open shots
when they get him, because as much as the defense
has to focus on the big three, there's open shots there.
And what they're missing right now is guys who can
consistently make the defense pay for their commitment to those
those top three players. And they've tried a lot of
different combinations. You know, I said several times in that game, Boy,
this would be a good time for them to have
someone like Dawson Baker. They could bring in who was
shooting about forty five percent from the field and forty
eight percent three when he got hurt. That really changes
things up for the defense when they have to worry
about somebody hitting open shot, and right now they don't
have anybody that's doing that consistently, and that is a problem.
And so if you're asking me that, that's what I
think is what they're missing right now to become a
team that can go deep into the tournament is just
more consistency from those guys coming off the bench.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you'd like to see that. You'd like to see
some bench scoring and bench productivity, no doubt about it.
Don't now as we get prepped, we get ready for
the I mean, the big game on the docket right
now is that U of A game, all right, it's
going to be electric. It's all all sit are a
tone where all losses are a ton force. You can
beat U of A at home, right, oh for sure.
Speaker 2: And that Arizona team, it's interesting because they were pretty
good last year, had double digit losses, so they lost
some games early in the season, but they got a
really high seed in the tournament. They lost some guys
to graduation as well as guys who transferred, and I
think they're much better this year. They just seem to
be more dynamic. They've got a couple of freshmen that
are really good, and they were able to just put
together these great runs. They're really good basketball teams, so
that's going to be a big deal for BYU to
be able to play them at home first. And last
year we saw Arizona come into Provo and beat b
YU and then b YU went on the road and
beat the Wildcats at their place. So it's starting to
be a pretty good rivalry in this league. And I'm
really looking forward to that game. The Marriott centers should
be jumping, no.
Speaker 1: Doubt about it. Double D. I know you've been talking
a lot of hoop recently, but football in the transfer
portal and the college Football Playoff in the College Football
Championship is done. Does now you're the you're kind of
my my prototype for the old curmudgeon that that wants
to go back to the past right and do away
with nil and transferportal? But does is there any solace
given the fact that Indiana, the losing his team in
college football became the national champion this year in the
current state that everyone says is broken.
Speaker 2: Well, we'd have to kind of have a little bit more,
you know, some a little bit a few more years
of this happening. I think, okay, because the data point
is pretty small. It's just one team that did it.
Speaker 1: But I mean, it's the losing his power for it's
the losing his power conference team ever in one hundred years,
Like they had not had a ten win season and
they just won the national championship.
Speaker 2: They had as many wins against top twenty five competition
this year and they've had in their entire existence. It's nuts,
And certainly I think coaches and programs can look at
that and say, hey, that could be us. So you know,
it happened once. Empirically, we don't know if it's going
to happen again. Maybe maybe the big wigs get it
figured out and get their money straightened out and go
out and buy a championship in Indiana did their own
thing and created it their own way, and it's a
pretty amazing feat. But I also look at it, you know, well,
I'm sure we're going to talk about the schedule in
this conversation, But as I look at the schedule and
we try to predict what's going to happen, then I
have hard enough time predicting what BOYU is going to do.
Let alone the twelve opponents they're going to play, and
with nil and the transfer port. That makes it even
more difficult because we looked at this last year's schedule
and thought, well, there's a five game stretch there that
could really be BYU's undoing. Why you went four and
one on that stretch. This year, we're looking at it
and saying, boy, that TCU, Iowa State and Notre Dame.
Boy those three games, who knows. I mean, you just
don't know from year to year anymore. It's becoming increasingly
more difficult to predict how your opponents will do based
on the fact they can turn it around so quickly.
As we just saw with Indiana. That's where I'll tie
that in is that you know, from year to year
you may you have a harder time figuring out if
a team is going to be good or not. And
so as we look at BYU schedule and we look
at college football as a whole, you know, the AP
votes that go out and I've been an AP voter,
it makes it increasingly difficult every year to figure out
who's going to be really good, who's going to find
that magic formula of returners and new guys and fill
those positions and pay them the right amount of money
where they're not looking elsewhere. As soon as they get
a little bit of adversity, who puts that together the best?
And sometimes it's difficult to predict not I don't think
anyone would have predicted Indiana would be able to do that,
even after last year when they when they won a
bowl game. So that's what I'm looking at as your
old curmudgeon. That becoming increasingly more difficult to be an
expert in it because things change from year to years
so fast.
Speaker 1: I get it. I did that. Does that data point though,
kind of like you know, does it make you it
all optimistic though or not. It's still kind of curmudgety here. Yeah,
one data point doesn't make that's not good enough.
Speaker 2: I still I still think that looking down the road,
there are issues and problems that that could could wear
the ugly head and cause submission. We know, right now
college football is more popular than it's ever been. The
numbers are up and viewing, the numbers are up and spending.
It's really popular right now. Is it sustainable? That's I
guess my most curmudgety take is ten years from now,
what are we looking at for college football? Is it
just going to be a minor league for the NFL?
Is it going to be you know, employees? I mean,
are the bowl games going to be gone? Possibly? I mean,
we don't know the future, but I just feel like
a lot of the decisions that are being made are great,
maybe for the short term, but not for the long term.
And we'll see, and we'll see if I survive long
enough to view it.
Speaker 1: Who knows You're going to survive many years from from now, Darnell,
You're going to live to the riple age of one
hundred to see by you finally win a second national championship.
How far away are they from doing such? Darnell. They
retained their roster, they retain most of their coaches, They've
acquired some good players in the portal. How far away
are they? What positions are they are they in need of?
What talent are they in need of? In order to
get over the hump?
Speaker 2: Well, if we believe the one data point we just
talked about, it could be next year. Ben, you know
what I mean. I feel like they've done a pretty
good job of filling in some holes that they need
and the coaches know better than anyone who among the
returners are ready to take the next step up, Whether
it be somebody that was a scout team that's going
to be a backup, whether somebody was a backup it's
going to be a starter. A starter is going to
be a star. They know those situations the best. And
if you retain and your goals to retain those guys
you've been working with, you want that to benefit you
the next year. And the way that benefits you is
they know what they're doing, they're confident, they fill their
roles well, and they want to be there. I mean,
that's a big deal. I think in today's college sports
is do they want to be there, and if they
have a little adversity, does that make them start get
a wandering eye right away? I mean, you know, a
month into the season, if things aren't going exactly the
way I did, go on, gosh, I'm looking where could
I go? You know that you wonder about that, And
I think BYU is doing their best to create an
environment that everyone feels that they're getting their best shot
and part of a family and all that stuff. And
so as you look at what comes up next season
with a quarterback and a running back coming back that
are really good and defensive players, you know, great transferred
portal hall so far the linebacker spot, they're putting themselves
in a good position to have an under great year.
But we saw last year and last season anyway, it
hasn't even been a year yet, but even an eleven
to one record didn't get BYU into the football playoffs.
You know, they were eleven to one going into the
Big twelve championship game, and a lot of situations teams
like that don't get punished for losing that game and
they get in b why you didn't, So it almost
seems like they still have to go undeceeated in order
to get into the playoffs. Can they do that? Sure,
it's not easy to do. And you would expect after
getting into a power conference that there would be a
little bit more lee way. And apparently there's just one
game different where maybe eleven and one gets you in
this year if you beat Notre Dame, maybe that's the
one that puts them over the top. On October seventeenth
of twenty twenty six, they win that game into that
puts them in if they're eleven and one. But I
think they're putting together good pieces and they proved that
the system works. They've got to have some adjustment period
to Jay Hill leaving and General Guilfer leaving. The brought
in coaches to get that started. And Kaalika Finga knows
this defense well. Does he know how to inspire the troops?
I think so. Does he know how to make those
halftime adjustments and in game adjustments that I think Jay
Hill did really well with. We'll see.
Speaker 1: So I just came upon this real quick. Kirk Signetti
was one of the voters in the Coaches pulled the
season and this is his final top twenty five ballot.
Indian obviously number one, Miami, number two, Oregon three, Mississippi
o miss for State, five, Georgia six, Notre Dame seven,
Texas eight, Texas A and M nine, Texas Tech ten,
Iowa nine and four. Iowa is eleven nearly beat the
Hoosiers back in September ranked them an eleventh to this poll.
Alabama twelve, Oklahoma thirteen, Brigham Young fourteen. That's where he's
got in Utah at fifteen. Your reaction to the news
that Bulus is actually the fourteenth ranked team per the
National Championship, He.
Speaker 2: Go, I mean, he's going definitely on what he saw
on the field. Talking about the Iowa game, I think
that by us a top ten team, and I think
they should be a top ten or fifteen team going
into next year. And we know how important that is
in terms of being able to move up once you
start winning, unless there's a big offseason issue like there
was last year with b what you're losing its quarterback.
They should be a top ten or fifteen team heading
into too twenty twenty six. So that puts them in
a position where if they win their games, they're going
to get in. And so you know, I this season's over.
They did the best they could. Have a hard time
with Texas Tech, which laid a big egg in the
playoffs unfortunately. So it doesn't even look good to me
why you lost to them now, But we're moving on
and the Cougars are getting prepared. They're they're working out
right now doing conditioning with the strength and conditioning staff,
and in a month or so we'll have them checking
in for spring football. And there we go.
Speaker 1: Love you, double D. Always a pleasure talking ball with you.
We invite everyone to follow you on x and read
all your content at the Daily Herald. Thanks so much, brother,
all right, man, have a great week a R you too, brother,
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eight point three.
Speaker 2: Yes,