Speaker 1: All right, what's going on?
Speaker 2: Drave time on a Friday afternoon, seven minutes past the hour,
Speaker 2: two o'clock.
Speaker 1: It is fifty degrees, it's cloudy, but it's warm.
Speaker 2: It feels more like September than it does January.
Speaker 1: You have some cold weather.
Speaker 2: And some precipitation, potentially some snow heading our way, maybe
Speaker 2: in the benches, certainly up in the mountains coming up
Speaker 2: this weekend for all you snow bros. Everybody waiting for
Speaker 2: the snow to fall. I could have something this weekend,
Speaker 2: but it has been an unusually dry winter. Ten day
Speaker 2: forecast doesn't have a lot down here on the benches.
Speaker 1: But Happy New Year.
Speaker 3: Last day to.
Speaker 1: Say it, Larry David.
Speaker 2: Today's the final day have until January third, So happy
Speaker 2: New Year. As it is every single day, it's gonna
Speaker 2: have you along for the ride. S betch check it's
Speaker 2: beyond the mic. That's Porter Larsen behind the glass. A
Speaker 2: lot to do on a Friday edition of the Program
Speaker 2: gets ready for a busy weekend ahead, namely in professional football,
Speaker 2: as we wind up the regular season in the NFL
Speaker 2: with several things still on the line, several things to
Speaker 2: play for, playoff positioning, seeding and such. NFL took Thursday off,
Speaker 2: which means we get a couple of games coming up tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Got the Browns and the Ravens.
Speaker 2: That's gonna kick off at two thirty from NNT Banks
Speaker 2: Stadium in Baltimore. Baltimore is a twenty point favorite in
Speaker 2: that game. That's hilarious. Bengals Steelers big one on the road,
Speaker 2: Cincinnati clinging to their playoff lives two point five point
Speaker 2: spread the way of the Bengals Stealers have struggled.
Speaker 1: Over the past few weeks.
Speaker 2: The over under there is forty eight point five and
Speaker 2: a bevy of good Sunday games.
Speaker 1: Of course, hard to believe.
Speaker 2: We all want pro football in our lives that we
Speaker 2: blink and it's over. So final weekends of regular season
Speaker 2: NFL football ahead.
Speaker 1: We'll get to some NFL storylines.
Speaker 2: We have a good NFL guest on the show today,
Speaker 2: a couple of them actually. Then we'll bring on the
Speaker 2: show to preview the final week and weekends of the
Speaker 2: pro football weekend.
Speaker 1: We do have.
Speaker 2: The final four of the college football playoff brackets dialed in.
Speaker 2: Boleseason continues to kind of roll along. No conference champs
Speaker 2: in the final four no team to out of first
Speaker 2: round by in the final four, but for very proud
Speaker 2: and popular college football brands will play for it all
Speaker 2: coming up, starting on the ninth, It's going to be
Speaker 2: the Orange Bowl. It's going to be Penn State and
Speaker 2: Notre Dame. The line is open with Notre damesa slide favorite,
Speaker 2: one point five point favorite there. And then in the
Speaker 2: Cotton Bowl, Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, that's Texas, Ohio State.
Speaker 2: Ohio State is getting six points. Actually thought that spread
Speaker 2: would be a little bit larger based off of Texas
Speaker 2: pretty much lucking out to beat Arizona State and Ohio
Speaker 2: State just trouncing Oregon. But those are your final four
Speaker 2: in the world of college football. Get to some college
Speaker 2: football storylines on the show today, of course, that will
Speaker 2: be a big topic. The University of Utah has added
Speaker 2: another piece in the transfer portal. We are going to
Speaker 2: see over forty that's right, over forty new utes on
Speaker 2: campus next year. This young man is a wide receiver
Speaker 2: from Wyoming.
Speaker 1: His name is Justin Stevenson.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to be the guy that's like yet
Speaker 2: I was grinding on Wyoming tape. He's got great measurables
Speaker 2: he's got great range, good hands. But he will be
Speaker 2: playing for the University of Utah coming up this year.
Speaker 2: Like I said, between the incoming freshmen and I now,
Speaker 2: I believe it's sixteen, maybe seventeen players via the transfer portal,
Speaker 2: we are going to see over forty new utes coming
Speaker 2: up on campus coming up this fall.
Speaker 1: So we'll get their latest on the.
Speaker 2: University of Utah transfer portal situation. BYU, we'll see what
Speaker 2: they have left to do. After their season came to
Speaker 2: a very exciting then with a win over the Colorado Buffaloes,
Speaker 2: Keano Taanavasa and his group continues to take to social
Speaker 2: media to try to kind.
Speaker 1: Of explain their side of things.
Speaker 2: I think at this point, maybe it's just good to
Speaker 2: check each other's hand, pat each other on the back,
Speaker 2: and say, hey, thanks for the memories.
Speaker 1: You go that way, we'll go this way. Life goes on.
Speaker 2: BYU's getting a really good player, Utah is losing a
Speaker 2: really good player, and.
Speaker 1: That's kind of a deal.
Speaker 2: So some good NBA basketball last night there was a
Speaker 2: double header on Turner. We saw Minnesota and Boston. A
Speaker 2: pretty good game there. Jason Tatum took Anthony Edwards to
Speaker 2: school and we've got some good games coming up tonight,
Speaker 2: namely the Nicks and the Thunder.
Speaker 1: NBA TV will have the coverage four.
Speaker 2: You'll get to some NBA basketball as we are about
Speaker 2: five weeks away now ish from the trade deadline. So
Speaker 2: this is kind of the time of year where NBA
Speaker 2: basketball starts to move with the forefront. A lot of
Speaker 2: the coverage on Sports Talk Radio Utah Jazz are in
Speaker 2: action coming up tomorrow.
Speaker 1: They're doing the Florida two Step.
Speaker 2: They're gonna take on the Miami Heat, and then they're
Speaker 2: gonna take on the Orlando Magic. Jimmy Butler does not
Speaker 2: look excited to play basketball for a couple of straight games.
Speaker 1: He's not played in the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: He's doing that thing where he's pouting and he doesn't
Speaker 2: want to take shots and he doesn't really want to play,
Speaker 2: so or expulsure basically has sat him a lot of
Speaker 2: conversation about whether or not they're gonna move him, So,
Speaker 2: of course, a lot of conversation about the landscape of
Speaker 2: pro basketball this time of year, about players that might
Speaker 2: ultimately want to find greener pastures or teams that want
Speaker 2: to move on.
Speaker 1: From said players.
Speaker 2: So we'll get to some of that stuff on the
Speaker 2: program today out a Friday afternoon. Happy Friday to you.
Speaker 2: A Friday, it feels like a Tuesday. We talked about
Speaker 2: this yesterday. I'm gonna put some legislation in front of
Speaker 2: our local state leaders where you know, like December twenty
Speaker 2: third till like January tenth.
Speaker 1: There's no days, nothing's real.
Speaker 2: You just you get up, You eat enough to survive,
Speaker 2: You hibernate, you hang out. So it's kind of an
Speaker 2: awkward time of year. But hopefully you're having a good week.
Speaker 2: Maybe you're still off work and joining some time at home.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you making us a part of your day today.
Speaker 2: All right, our first guest right out of the gates
Speaker 2: is gonna be Stevenson Sylvester s.
Speaker 1: I will stop by today.
Speaker 2: He talks some college football, some pro football, some NFL football.
Speaker 2: So excited to catch up with Sly stops on a
Speaker 2: very consistent basis, one of the best to ever do
Speaker 2: it at the University of Utah.
Speaker 1: Chris Depher, cam Ronnie. We got c K in the
Speaker 1: house today.
Speaker 2: We got him to potentially leave his domicile to come
Speaker 2: in studio for a little bit.
Speaker 1: We'll catch up with Chris Today.
Speaker 2: All the college Football Happening is the latest around the
Speaker 2: world of local and national college football. Tony Parks, my
Speaker 2: buddy used to play by play voice of the Bees,
Speaker 2: longtime co worker at the old station, and Tony likes
Speaker 2: to really do a bit of everything. He is a
Speaker 2: jack of all trades and he fills in for me
Speaker 2: when I take vacation from time to time. Still catch
Speaker 2: up with Tony today, and then JB. Long, who is
Speaker 2: the voice of the Los Angeles Rams and formerly the
Speaker 2: Pac twelve network, but ultimately a guy that will get
Speaker 2: us ready for the weekend.
Speaker 1: Ahead in the world of pro football.
Speaker 2: So busy show, good guest list today with Stevens and Sylvester,
Speaker 2: Chris Camaradnie, Tony Parks, JB.
Speaker 1: Long, Me Spence Check.
Speaker 2: It's all of you, the great listeners, and that guy
Speaker 2: in there producing the show today, Porter Larson.
Speaker 1: On a Friday afternoon.
Speaker 3: So I just.
Speaker 2: At some point, I think when it comes to and
Speaker 2: I talked about this yesterday, like whether it's the transfer portal,
Speaker 2: whether it's nil, whether it's the reality of college players
Speaker 2: making money to play football, or the new CFP expanded
Speaker 2: twelve team format, fan bases being asked to travel to
Speaker 2: multiple cities to follow their football team around to see
Speaker 2: if they're gonna win a national championship. We're all kind
Speaker 2: of experiencing this for the first time, and you know,
Speaker 2: this isn't necessarily a die that is exclusive to.
Speaker 1: The new normal of college football.
Speaker 2: But just put you know, as we continue to draw
Speaker 2: the parallel between college and pro sports, just put yourself
Speaker 2: in the same situation as when one of your favorite
Speaker 2: like when Gordon Hayward left for Boston, or Donovan was
Speaker 2: traded to Cleveland or whatever it is they traded Darren
Speaker 2: to the Nets. Now the college football equivalent is the
Speaker 2: transfer portal, where players that you like an awful lot
Speaker 2: are going to leave, and sometimes they're going to leave
Speaker 2: to play for the team in state. And I think
Speaker 2: at some point you just got to shake each other's
Speaker 2: hand and say, hey, best of luck. Like continuing the
Speaker 2: storyline as to why you did this or why you
Speaker 2: did that, I just don't think is helpful. You just
Speaker 2: thanks for the memories, best of luck, and then you
Speaker 2: got to move on.
Speaker 4: I'm with you there. I don't think any of this
Speaker 4: should be or is meant to be played out on
Speaker 4: social media. I think that's part of this whole thing
Speaker 4: where we've kind of jumped the shark now adding the
Speaker 4: mixed up calendars and the you know, the really ability
Speaker 4: for teams to tamper during the season and all of
Speaker 4: that is an NCAA issue. The fact that we feel
Speaker 4: like we need to go on to social media and
Speaker 4: hash this out, that's a societal issue, is much bigger
Speaker 4: than sports. But yeah, I mean, if you wanted to
Speaker 4: kind of poke it BYU fans or at Utah fans
Speaker 4: rather in a transfer process, Countertnavasa kind of did exactly
Speaker 4: what you would have done if you wanted to poke
Speaker 4: at them, and then is kind of wondering why, which listen,
Speaker 4: nineteen twenty twenty one year old kid, make your decision,
Speaker 4: do your thing, But how you go about it is
Speaker 4: going to reflect a certain way, and it's going to
Speaker 4: it's going to create a certain reaction. And while I
Speaker 4: think some of that reaction has been completely wildly immature
Speaker 4: and inappropriate.
Speaker 2: Some of it is also what you kind of expect.
Speaker 2: And the money changes it. It just does. Okay, it's
Speaker 2: just kind of the deal. So we'll get to the
Speaker 2: latest with the local happenings in the world of college football.
Speaker 2: What do we have now? The serve pro first Responderable
Speaker 2: Texas State North Texas scoreless eleven twenty five left in
Speaker 2: the first So both season rolls along, all right, Stevenson
Speaker 2: Sylvester right out of the gates to do some college
Speaker 2: and pro football before we get to Sly on Friday.
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Speaker 5: Now for your opening tip, Welcome to the Drive with
Speaker 5: Spence Check it's on Utah's number one sports talk. Now
Speaker 5: into the studio of ESPN seven hundred to set the
Speaker 5: scene for the show.
Speaker 3: The opening tip of.
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Speaker 2: So whatever there is a change in the landscape of
Speaker 2: a sport, whatever level it is. Certainly on our radio
Speaker 2: show it's college and pro. We don't do a lot
Speaker 2: of high school stuff or whatever. But it takes a
Speaker 2: minute for people to catch up to a changing dynamic,
Speaker 2: to really embrace it, get your arms around it, and
Speaker 2: understand what it's going to look like. And because there
Speaker 2: have been so many changes in the world of college
Speaker 2: football over the past three or four years, everybody, including
Speaker 2: the people in charge, including administrators, including college football coaches
Speaker 2: and the most powerful successful ones that that by the way,
Speaker 2: some of them just got gone, like Nick Saban and others.
Speaker 2: But I don't think there are any exceptions. Nobody is
Speaker 2: accustomed to the current landscape yet now some people have
Speaker 2: traversed the spaces a little bit more successfully. And kudos
Speaker 2: and tip of the cap to the folks that have
Speaker 2: their collectives in order, and kudos and tip of the
Speaker 2: cap to the folks that have seemed to be able
Speaker 2: to catch applies on transfer portal windows and nil initiatives
Speaker 2: to stack their roster with more talent than others.
Speaker 1: And the examples are across the board.
Speaker 2: We still don't really have, though, like a blueprint for
Speaker 2: how to do this stuff. I think we have some
Speaker 2: examples that have been a little bit more successful. I
Speaker 2: think most people that have ignored the transfer portal have
Speaker 2: kind of paid a little bit dearly. Dabo Swinney is
Speaker 2: the most famous example. But Clemson was able to get
Speaker 2: out of the acc and they made the expanded twelve
Speaker 2: team playoff, even though Dabo said on several occasions, Jesus
Speaker 2: is my transfer portal. Okay, all right, well let's see
Speaker 2: if that works. You know, good for you if that's
Speaker 2: your faith and that's what you want to lean on.
Speaker 2: But I think most people that exist in the space
Speaker 2: of really how this thing is going to go understands
Speaker 2: that they have to rely on players that are talented
Speaker 2: that are looking for other places to play. So every
Speaker 2: one of these dynamics continues to bring And I said
Speaker 2: this yesterday with Stormy Bonatani, who joined us and she's
Speaker 2: a really bryan college football reporter. Because everything is so
Speaker 2: new with this, I try to approach it with more
Speaker 2: of a let's diagnose what has happened, as opposed to
Speaker 2: prognosticate what is going to happen. Because the problem with
Speaker 2: living in a prognostication world in the world of college
Speaker 2: football is it's so impossible to predict. And I'm not
Speaker 2: just talking about outcomes and games, although that's hard to
Speaker 2: predict too. It's why there's a new casino built in
Speaker 2: Vegas every other week. I'm talking about just what's next
Speaker 2: with the landscape of the sport. I'm talking about like,
Speaker 2: and we all do this. If you're a college football fan,
Speaker 2: and if you I don't know, Ute fan, BYU fan,
Speaker 2: Oregon fan, Ohio State fan, whatever it is, you know,
Speaker 2: you wake up and you check your phone and there's
Speaker 2: an alert and you're like, wait, we lost which player?
Speaker 1: We just lost one of our best players? Like how
Speaker 1: did this happen?
Speaker 2: There are so many holly bleep moments in consuming and
Speaker 2: covering college football right now that it's simply just impossible
Speaker 2: as of now to understand the landscape of what's next
Speaker 2: and even how to digest what's in front of us entirely.
Speaker 2: So twelve team expanded CFP A lot of people proponents
Speaker 2: of it, Honestly, a lot of smart people not proponents
Speaker 2: of it. Josh paid Good front of the show, one
Speaker 2: of the rising stars in college football media, railed against
Speaker 2: this in a very interesting, nuanced way.
Speaker 1: Others like Joe Klatt very much for it.
Speaker 2: It just kind of depends on what you value, and
Speaker 2: it depends on what you believe the best way is
Speaker 2: to crown a chant. And I think the first iteration
Speaker 2: of the twelve team CFP has left very mixed results.
Speaker 2: I don't think it's fair to completely dismiss it as
Speaker 2: a horrible mistake or anoint it as the answer. And
Speaker 2: I thought Stormy was good with this yesterday when we
Speaker 2: talked about if you are on the committee, if you're
Speaker 2: a powerbroker in college football, your job right now is
Speaker 2: to observe what you've done, figure out what works, scientific
Speaker 2: method it right, figure out what works you know, and
Speaker 2: then kind of analyze it and then try to tweak
Speaker 2: it to be better moving forward. So I think it's
Speaker 2: fun that we have four teams left standing and none
Speaker 2: of them are conference champs. However, we're gonna do the
Speaker 2: thing where a couple of things can be true. However,
Speaker 2: are we in danger of diminishing the importance and honestly
Speaker 2: the urgency of every weekend of college football, because that's
Speaker 2: what makes this sport different, even different than the NFL.
Speaker 2: The NFL has urgency in the regular season, but we've
Speaker 2: seen five six loss teams when Super Bowls. We've seen
Speaker 2: teams that have struggled early on figured out late go
Speaker 2: on runs that have several losses. In college football is
Speaker 2: pretty rare that if you stub your toe more than
Speaker 2: once or twice, you still have a chance to play
Speaker 2: for something. It's what makes this sport what it is.
Speaker 2: So we have four teams left, none of them won
Speaker 2: their conference Texas, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame. We
Speaker 2: have four teams left right that will have every single
Speaker 2: one of these coaches has the opportunity to win a
Speaker 2: national championship for the first time. And that's really cool,
Speaker 2: right Ryan Day, Steve Sarkisian like that to me is
Speaker 2: a piece of unintended consequence.
Speaker 1: That is a cool thing about this format.
Speaker 2: Also, Ohio State, your current favorite to win the national championship,
Speaker 2: would not have qualified for this tournament a year ago.
Speaker 2: They would not have a chance to play for a
Speaker 2: national championship if we were under the old format, right,
Speaker 2: So that would indicate that the expansion has worked to
Speaker 2: allow for more teams and opportunity to play. Because one
Speaker 2: of the things that is putative, although again makes it
Speaker 2: a little bit unique and cool is that if you
Speaker 2: have a couple of injuries early on, and if you
Speaker 2: stub your toe a couple of times early on, oftentimes
Speaker 2: you're cooked.
Speaker 1: You're done the rest of the year.
Speaker 2: And that feels a little harsh because college kids, you know,
Speaker 2: It's why I always talk about the complicated job of
Speaker 2: being a college football coach. You guys, remember what you
Speaker 2: were like when you're eighteen or nineteen. If you put
Speaker 2: matching socks on one day, you won. And so I
Speaker 2: think oftentimes, and we've seen examples of this with the
Speaker 2: utes some recently where early on it didn't look good
Speaker 2: and then coach wait, as staff, they're able to get
Speaker 2: some things figured out, get some players back, help the
Speaker 2: players understand what they ask of them as utes, and
Speaker 2: go on win Some pac twelve championships go to rose
Speaker 2: Bulls after some audacious starts. So the expanded twelve team
Speaker 2: CFP allows for that. It allows for a coaching staff
Speaker 2: to kind of get his feet under him or under them,
Speaker 2: I should say, it allows for the coaching staff to
Speaker 2: make some adjustments, get some players eligible or get some
Speaker 2: players healthy, and then figure it out down the stretch.
Speaker 2: In the old format, Ohio State's not in this tournament.
Speaker 2: They don't have a chance to play for the national championship,
Speaker 2: but they're probably the best team I think, certainly the
Speaker 2: most talented team on that roster top to bottom in
Speaker 2: all college football, but would not have had an opportunity
Speaker 2: to do this.
Speaker 1: And I do think it's.
Speaker 2: Pretty cool for college football fans don't necessarily have a
Speaker 2: dog in a fight or like a rabid connection to
Speaker 2: a team, to really have four of the most powerful
Speaker 2: brands in college football left to play. I'm sure the
Speaker 2: television executives are through the roof. Hence the targeting call
Speaker 2: against ASU. Right, see what I did there. I know
Speaker 2: a lot of people still believe that call was to
Speaker 2: usher Texas on to the CFP semi final, namely the
Speaker 2: Cotton Bowl against Ohio State.
Speaker 1: So Texas, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: Like, if you're a television executive, this thing unfolded exactly
Speaker 2: the way you want it. So like everything else, Okay,
Speaker 2: transfer portal the ability to add talent right away. So
Speaker 2: if you're a horrible team, if you're ASU and you
Speaker 2: just won three games, and you hire the right coach
Speaker 2: and you add the right talent. You can win a
Speaker 2: conference championship in your first year in the Big twelve,
Speaker 2: that's a good thing. On the other hand, University of
Speaker 2: Utah loses Cameron Calhoun, Canto Tadavasa, two massive players on
Speaker 2: the defense side of the football field, and that's a
Speaker 2: bad thing.
Speaker 1: None of these things are good or bad.
Speaker 2: We're all just kind of reacting to them and then
Speaker 2: diagnosing how it just happened and hoping we can find
Speaker 2: some answers about how to change them.
Speaker 1: So the sport is taken care of.
Speaker 2: Expanded twelve team CFP Notwithstanding, I think it's pretty consensus
Speaker 2: at this point that it was silly that ASU and
Speaker 2: Boise State had first round bys. I think that's fair
Speaker 2: to say. I think they've got to do something about that.
Speaker 2: What does the SEC do now that it was pretty
Speaker 2: clear that that conference? I mean, take about Danny Canell.
Speaker 2: You planted your flag on the hill, took a lot
Speaker 2: of heat all year long, and it looked like he
Speaker 2: was right. But the SEC won't take this thing lying
Speaker 2: down because they're still the major power broker conference in
Speaker 2: college football. Say what you want, they don't have a
Speaker 2: team left standing, So what do they do to Jerry
Speaker 2: Mander the future of college football to make sure that
Speaker 2: they're back in the cap bird see their driver's seat.
Speaker 2: Fascinating things to consider and think about coming up this
Speaker 2: offseason when you know they're in meetings just in a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks.
Speaker 1: I think even less than.
Speaker 2: That, where they're you know, the power brokers and decision
Speaker 2: makers of college football will get together to start talking
Speaker 2: about all of these issues. What we finally see the
Speaker 2: House versus NCAA settlement. They're talking about adding another year
Speaker 2: of eligibility. What does that look like? Are they going
Speaker 2: to start having these players sign multi year contracts? Will
Speaker 2: it all be up to the school's discretion only? What
Speaker 2: we have a salary cap? What's the you know, what
Speaker 2: do the guidelines look like where we'd be able to
Speaker 2: enforce any rules at all? I mean, it feels a
Speaker 2: little bit chaotic as of now, but I do think
Speaker 2: as a result of really year three of a new
Speaker 2: normal in college football and you're one of it. Expanded
Speaker 2: twelve team CFP revenue is good, and that's good, that's
Speaker 2: obviously good news. The interest is high, the ratings are good.
Speaker 2: You have a viable business. Just gotta kind of got
Speaker 2: to get your arms around them to see what the
Speaker 2: next steps are, to make sure that you're fixing the
Speaker 2: things that right now are clearly in need of fixing them.
Speaker 2: The final day, that's it. Today's the last day you're
Speaker 2: allowed to say Happy New Year. Remember that we adhere
Speaker 2: to the gospel of Larry.
Speaker 1: David on the show.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to welcome in our next guest, Stevens
Speaker 2: and Sylvester and let him know that I'm wishing him
Speaker 2: a very happy New Year. But Sly, today's the last
Speaker 2: day I can say that, man, Just so you know, I.
Speaker 6: Love how Larry David can control our lives, but I
Speaker 6: love saying Happy New Year.
Speaker 3: I actually said a few dead.
Speaker 6: Jokes the other day about seeing you in the next
Speaker 6: New year, So are he in the next year?
Speaker 3: But yeah, man, happy New Year to you two spence.
Speaker 2: So, Sly, I always say that New Year's is a
Speaker 2: young person's holiday.
Speaker 1: So your boys stayed home and hung out? What would
Speaker 1: you do? What it looked like in the world of Stephen,
Speaker 1: Stephen S and Sylvester.
Speaker 6: Well, my New Year's has always got to be special
Speaker 6: now for the rest of my life because my wife's birthday,
Speaker 6: she's a new Year's baby, Oh, I got her.
Speaker 3: I gotta, I gotta do stuff on New Year's. But
Speaker 3: we go back and forth.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 6: The last few years we were actually talking about it
Speaker 6: Rose Bowl, Rose Bowl. I went to make Coche before
Speaker 6: San Diego after, so you know, New Year's has always
Speaker 6: got to be. I don't know if I can do
Speaker 6: the old man New Year's that much anymore, unless I
Speaker 6: can convince her to stay home, which is not hard.
Speaker 6: But I just went out downtown to Flanker. You know me,
Speaker 6: I had a show over there. I love that place
Speaker 6: over there. So I just went to Flanker and we
Speaker 6: had Changing Lanes is a great cover band. They did
Speaker 6: some amazing songs. The vibe was awesome. There were so
Speaker 6: many people there. Everybody was getting in the mix.
Speaker 3: Nobody dresses up.
Speaker 6: Anymore, though, you know, I felt like me and my
Speaker 6: wife in our table, we were the only group that
Speaker 6: was dressed up.
Speaker 3: So I want to know what's going on with all that.
Speaker 2: That was kind of different, Well, respect for going out,
Speaker 2: and I guess it does hit different when it's your
Speaker 2: wife's birthday.
Speaker 1: So happy birthday to her. Glad you had a good time.
Speaker 2: Flanker rules for sure, all right, SLI before we get
Speaker 2: to some of the local stuff. Now that we have
Speaker 2: the final four, some pretty cool things. I mean, no
Speaker 2: conference champs in the final four, no teams with first
Speaker 2: round byes in the final four, and whoever wins the
Speaker 2: national championship it will be the first time for their
Speaker 2: head coach, which I think is kind of cool. But
Speaker 2: now that we're experiencing the twelve team CFP for the
Speaker 2: first time, are you pro are you against?
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 3: I love it? I love it. I mean just the
Speaker 3: content alone. You know, it's great.
Speaker 6: You're giving so many people opportunity, right, Like, only two
Speaker 6: of these teams that are in the final four would
Speaker 6: have been in there under the old rule, So I
Speaker 6: mean giving people an opportunity. There's so much controversy around this,
Speaker 6: like should be what you have been in? Should Alabama
Speaker 6: tried to make a case of them being in, but
Speaker 6: we saw that they shouldn't have been in.
Speaker 3: There's just so many things that this is settling.
Speaker 6: And of course you're still gonna have questions on whether
Speaker 6: we should extend it to sixteen or whichever, but at
Speaker 6: least for the next five six years, I think we
Speaker 6: should definitely have this model.
Speaker 3: I love this model. It was great games.
Speaker 6: I really really enjoyed the Notre Dame game yesterday. The
Speaker 6: Arizona State Texas game was absolutely terrific, and it just
Speaker 6: proved that, you know, you just never know who's whose
Speaker 6: year it could be right, and so I just it
Speaker 6: played out great. I can't wait to see who's going
Speaker 6: to actually be the champion. And yeah, these guys are
Speaker 6: playing with it. It's great heart out there.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: All right, So let's actually get the Stevens and Sylvester
Speaker 2: opinion on the hot button topic. I feel like ASU Texas.
Speaker 2: I feel like that's targeting every single time. Well, look
Speaker 2: you played I didn't you know, you know, and that
Speaker 2: was that was a call that really could have set
Speaker 2: ASU up. Now they've had kicking game problems all year,
Speaker 2: so there's no guarantee.
Speaker 1: And I've heard.
Speaker 2: The argument that because of you know, the time of
Speaker 2: the game, that's not a call you want to make in.
Speaker 3: Order to don't get me started on.
Speaker 2: Thath Okay, good, okay, good, because I'm with you. But look, honestly,
Speaker 2: you know how I do the show. I try to
Speaker 2: figure out all angles and I've been listening for a
Speaker 2: reason that makes sense to me as to why they
Speaker 2: didn't make the call, and I simply haven't heard it, sly,
Speaker 2: So give me your opinion on what went down there.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, first of all, the referees get to
Speaker 6: review these things, right, and so in Low Hill, Yeah,
Speaker 6: Arizona State tried to hire people off the street to
Speaker 6: be a kicker, but they had great kicking game in
Speaker 6: the conference championship, so I expected them to roll with
Speaker 6: that and do well if they were set up in
Speaker 6: good position. To me, that was targeting, right and to
Speaker 6: the definition. Now when I played, there was no targeting.
Speaker 6: Stuff wasn't a thing. The reasons why they probably couldn't
Speaker 6: have called it because his face was up right, it
Speaker 6: was like face to him. But per the definition of
Speaker 6: what we've been able to or been privy to an experience,
Speaker 6: very subjective in my conference meetings on how the officials
Speaker 6: actually officiated. It all depends on the crew that day,
Speaker 6: which is bizarre. It's not a universal thing. But helmet
Speaker 6: to helmet contact on a defenseless receiver is targeting, period.
Speaker 3: That's why I say it's targeting.
Speaker 6: At that point of the game, you call that call,
Speaker 6: But I mean, the only reason why you wouldn't is
Speaker 6: because the defender's face was up. It wasn't the crown
Speaker 6: of the helmet, and so that would be for argument.
Speaker 6: But if you want to talk helmet to helmet contact
Speaker 6: is a definition of targeting.
Speaker 3: That was targeting at a significant point in the game.
Speaker 6: I understand you let the players play and let that
Speaker 6: determinate old football, that wouldn't even be a question. But
Speaker 6: if you're going with these new rules and what it is,
Speaker 6: then adhere to it as simple as that.
Speaker 2: So did Arizona State, in your opinion slide answer any
Speaker 2: questions about the narrative that the Big Twelve didn't deserve
Speaker 2: a bye round one?
Speaker 1: I mean you gotta give Kenny.
Speaker 2: I mean Kenny Dillingham my goodness, like herm left that
Speaker 2: program for dead man. They won three games the year before,
Speaker 2: and you know, the narrative was no Big Twelve bye,
Speaker 2: They're gonna get run by Texas. So even in a loss,
Speaker 2: did that answer some questions about the conference?
Speaker 6: You think, oh, yeah, the conference was tough man and
Speaker 6: and and Arizona State, who's picked at the bottom of
Speaker 6: the conference, you know, giving Texas a run for the
Speaker 6: money and double overtime and we sitting here talking about
Speaker 6: opportunities where they should have won it.
Speaker 3: Uh, definitely give it to you.
Speaker 6: Texas definitely should have beat Georgia and been conference champion
Speaker 6: of the SEC and so like that's just it right there.
Speaker 6: And so like I hate, you know, Kirkirtstreet. First, take
Speaker 6: all these guys talking about who should be in there
Speaker 6: who shouldn't. Hey, look, if you guys put the criteria
Speaker 6: up and people fit into that criteria, then that's what
Speaker 6: it is.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 6: The fourteen playoff that was some bs because there was
Speaker 6: a lot of teams that deserved it. You put other
Speaker 6: people in, but you know, just because of people donors
Speaker 6: and respect people's bank accounts, this and that.
Speaker 3: Don't negate the play on the field.
Speaker 6: And I think Arizona definitely proved themselves to be there,
Speaker 6: proved that the Big Twelve is we're of being in
Speaker 6: these games no matter what. And so even Iowa State, right,
Speaker 6: they played great against Miami. I know kem Word didn't
Speaker 6: play in the second half, but you gotta love Rock Gobeck.
Speaker 6: I think the Big Twelve next year we're gonna have
Speaker 6: four or five teams that people are gonna be like
Speaker 6: have a great shot at being a part of these
Speaker 6: twelve team playoffs and making some noise.
Speaker 2: All right, So before we get to the local stuff,
Speaker 2: it feels like I get this point Ohio State. You
Speaker 2: know the old saying like how good is your ceiling
Speaker 2: when you are playing at your best?
Speaker 1: What does that look like?
Speaker 2: And it feels like Ohio State's best sly is better
Speaker 2: than everybody else's best, including Oregon's best.
Speaker 1: Who is the number one team in the country.
Speaker 2: Does it feel like this national championship is Ohio State's
Speaker 2: to lose?
Speaker 1: And if not, who do you think it can get
Speaker 1: in their way?
Speaker 3: Absolutely not, It's wide open.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, I love hearing that.
Speaker 6: Absolutely not Ohio State. We all know that great game
Speaker 6: plans can help out, you know, certain situations. Plus, it's
Speaker 6: hard to beat a team twice. That's why I didn't
Speaker 6: like Ohio State being in the same bracket as Oregon
Speaker 6: in this because, like, I'm just like you just didn't
Speaker 6: give a shot to other people. They've already played Oregon
Speaker 6: in Ohio State. It was a thriller during the season.
Speaker 6: Absolutely loved that game. But you know, now you have
Speaker 6: Notre Dame who had to play Indiana and then goes
Speaker 6: on to play Georgia. I think this is wide open, right,
Speaker 6: And I'm a big proponent and looking at matchups as matchups, right,
Speaker 6: not necessarily your reck, especially in the playoffs. Throw your
Speaker 6: record out the door, throw the statistics out the door.
Speaker 6: They may help you in certain situations as far as
Speaker 6: the outcome of the game. The playoffs, it's all about
Speaker 6: grit and who could come with it. You could have
Speaker 6: a lowly second team guy who gets a start and
Speaker 6: has the game of his career and he ruins it
Speaker 6: for the other team, right, the guy that you didn't scout.
Speaker 6: These are the type of games. Playoffs is all about
Speaker 6: matchups and who aligns right. Right, If Ohio State meets
Speaker 6: a good team that has an incredible defense as far
Speaker 6: as like Penn State or even the way Notre Dame
Speaker 6: played the other day, like who knows what can happen?
Speaker 3: And so I say this all the time. No game
Speaker 3: is won before it's played.
Speaker 6: Ohio State is very talented, but I do not think
Speaker 6: that they have the track. This Texas game and the
Speaker 6: Cotton Bowl is going to be terrific at Att Stadium
Speaker 6: next week, and I can't wait for it.
Speaker 3: I think all of these.
Speaker 6: Matchups are our premier and can't wait to see who
Speaker 6: goes to the national championship.
Speaker 1: All right, let's move over.
Speaker 2: And I'm glad you said that, because all I want
Speaker 2: every single time I sit down to watch one of
Speaker 2: these things, I'm like, just give me a good game.
Speaker 1: I've got no dog in the fight.
Speaker 2: So hopefully, yeah, yeah, for sure, hopefully we get some
Speaker 2: good games the rest of the way. All right, before
Speaker 2: we get to Utah transfer portal, you reference BYU, And
Speaker 2: you know what's interesting, there are data points and metrics
Speaker 2: that indicate BYU may have been overlooked in the process
Speaker 2: to figure out who should be in this twelve team thing.
Speaker 2: But they really weren't slide for whatever reason. And I
Speaker 2: feel like it's because of the timing of the losses.
Speaker 1: They lose two of their final three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that Kansas loss at home where you hang thirteen,
Speaker 2: I mean, that's the one that's going to cause Killanne
Speaker 2: sleepless nights during the offseason. But their strength to record,
Speaker 2: their strength to schedule, their quality wins, they beat a
Speaker 2: playoff team, they lost to a playoff team. There are
Speaker 2: data points that do indicate BYU probably should have received
Speaker 2: a little bit more attention and maybe even deserve some inclusion.
Speaker 2: But you feel like if BYU was allowed entrance to
Speaker 2: this twelve team CFP, that they would have showed they
Speaker 2: measured up to the best teams in the country.
Speaker 3: No question.
Speaker 6: I mean anybody that they would have played against, whether
Speaker 6: it was Tennessee, SMU, Notre Dame.
Speaker 3: I think that they would.
Speaker 6: Have been an extremely great add to this the way
Speaker 6: that they played defense, right, and then when you get
Speaker 6: to playoff football, it's about defense. When I got to Pittsburgh,
Speaker 6: it really solidified itself. I knew it at Utah, but
Speaker 6: when we were in Pittsburgh and my rookie year and
Speaker 6: we just had the most elite defense that a lot
Speaker 6: of people just couldn't do anything against. Man that that
Speaker 6: just set the stage. I mean, we lost in the
Speaker 6: Super Bowl and you could tell the pick six and
Speaker 6: or you know, a Mouf.
Speaker 3: Punt that we didn't recover those little instances.
Speaker 6: But you know, ultimately it comes down to defense, and
Speaker 6: b YU I think has a top five defense in
Speaker 6: the country, and I think that they would have reigned,
Speaker 6: especially if Bretslov can get out of his own way
Speaker 6: and stop messing things up and they just have a
Speaker 6: great day. It's anybody, anybody could have a day, right.
Speaker 6: That's why, like you know, coaches and motivation, when we're
Speaker 6: getting warmed up and getting ready for the game, they
Speaker 6: say have a day, right, like make sure today is
Speaker 6: your day to have a day, So any it could
Speaker 6: be anybody's day. That's why I'm not giving Ohio State
Speaker 6: the clean uh track to the to the national championship.
Speaker 3: It could be anybody's day. And I think b YU
Speaker 3: would have made a great.
Speaker 6: Showing not only for the State of Utah, but for
Speaker 6: the conference in Big Twelve, and I think they would
Speaker 6: have did a great job sticking with.
Speaker 2: The BYU side of things. Do you feel like you
Speaker 2: know you're one of the Big twelve? It wasn't all bad, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, the record clearly was not what they were hoping.
Speaker 2: But and I'm not a moral victory guy, but you
Speaker 2: heard a lot of like, hey, we are not far off.
Speaker 2: All these games were close one score games, and you
Speaker 2: could count me as a cynic because like I said,
Speaker 2: I'm not a moral victory guy. But that proved to
Speaker 2: be correct because they turned a lot of those l's
Speaker 2: into wins.
Speaker 1: Year two.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like Kilate has built this thing up slide?
Speaker 2: Where BYU is now kind of entering the beginning of
Speaker 2: a really really successful era in the Big twelve. Like,
Speaker 2: it's not just like a one year you know, stratospheric shot.
Speaker 2: This is something that consistently can be really good down
Speaker 2: in Provo for a long time.
Speaker 6: Well, you got to understand what comes with it, right,
Speaker 6: What comes with winning is there's both good and bad. Right,
Speaker 6: you got the bad where everybody's gunning for you, You're
Speaker 6: gonna get everybody's best shot, everybody's gonna want to take
Speaker 6: you down, and you got to keep out the egos
Speaker 6: in your locker room. There's a lot of that bad stuff,
Speaker 6: but you also got to recognize the good stuff with it.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 6: You know, you get ultimate recruiting, You get a lot
Speaker 6: of people like they're doing something down there in BYU.
Speaker 3: That's what I want to be a.
Speaker 6: Part of, right, Like you're they're doing stuff like where
Speaker 6: they got a winning culture.
Speaker 3: They keep things in place.
Speaker 6: And if I want to have all of bad things
Speaker 6: and I'm going into something that's already.
Speaker 3: Working, right, I don't have to be a part of
Speaker 3: a rebuild.
Speaker 6: You talk about the jazz, right, how awful is that
Speaker 6: to be a part of a rebuild?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 6: And I feel for Jordan Clarkson many these are good
Speaker 6: years for him and Laurie Marketing as well, Like you're
Speaker 6: going through rebuild, like.
Speaker 3: How do I want to waste years of my career
Speaker 3: doing that? Right?
Speaker 6: And then but like b Yu, they're setting their states right.
Speaker 6: They did a great job at the end of last
Speaker 6: season that propelled them into this past season and and
Speaker 6: it just helped them out. Red Sluff got the majority
Speaker 6: of the snaps at the end of the season last year,
Speaker 6: all off season this year, and he proved to be
Speaker 6: their starting quarterback and lead them into a great season
Speaker 6: this year, right, Like Ca Rising took a lot of
Speaker 6: the reps this offseason and none of our backups did.
Speaker 6: And we saw what happened right the year before by
Speaker 6: you had tons of quarterback issues. You didn't know if
Speaker 6: it was gonna be Keating Slovas or one of the
Speaker 6: other guys. But you know, you see what happens when
Speaker 6: you have a stable quarterback throughout the entire year. And
Speaker 6: so you know, I'd love to go into a good situation.
Speaker 6: That's what Kilani's building down there. He's got great head
Speaker 6: coaches that don't seem like they're going to retire or
Speaker 6: move on anytime soon. He's got great relationships. And what
Speaker 6: I hear over and over and over again from guys
Speaker 6: that I talk to, I see all the Utah guys
Speaker 6: that coaching down there, and I'm like, I hate.
Speaker 3: To see you in this color. This is disgusting, literal hate.
Speaker 6: I said that to Sioni Pooha after the Utah game
Speaker 6: to day He's like, I know, man, but I just
Speaker 6: love Kialani. The way Kilani is doing things down here,
Speaker 6: it's the right way. I gotta support my boy, and
Speaker 6: they're doing it. And so Kilani is creating from the
Speaker 6: top down is what it is.
Speaker 3: Right. Can you're talk stay in place and and and
Speaker 3: be a great infrastructure that kids can adhere to when
Speaker 3: they come in.
Speaker 6: You guys are old guys and and and continue to success.
Speaker 6: And that's what Kilani is doing. He's putting people on
Speaker 6: the map, giving people their credit as far as Roderick
Speaker 6: and Jay Hill, and they're just building something down there
Speaker 6: that that's good.
Speaker 3: I mean, you just hope that a wrench doesn't get
Speaker 3: thrown into all that. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 3: he's doing things progressive.
Speaker 6: It hasn't been it hasn't been quick, so nobody can
Speaker 6: look at Byu and say like, oh, this happened over light,
Speaker 6: Like Klaut has been trying to do this for ten
Speaker 6: years and now he's on the right track, and so
Speaker 6: uh good for him and putting together a good program, and.
Speaker 1: They were able to grab a really good player.
Speaker 2: Since you and I spoke, Keanu town of Vasa has
Speaker 2: elected to head down south about forty miles after a
Speaker 2: really good stint here at Utah.
Speaker 1: He's a good kid man, he's a good player.
Speaker 2: This one sting slide, but Byu gets a really really
Speaker 2: good player and a very very solid guy.
Speaker 1: What was your reaction when you heard the news.
Speaker 3: I thought it was I thought it was crap.
Speaker 6: You know, I was upset about it because it's just like,
Speaker 6: why why do you leave?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 6: And and my whole thing is just like I just
Speaker 6: want these guys to be honest, right, just be honest
Speaker 6: with opinion. I heard Keanu talk about guys leaving. I've
Speaker 6: interviewed him multiple times this year, talking about how much
Speaker 6: he loves this program, how much he loves these people
Speaker 6: around here, how much X Y Z right like, and
Speaker 6: then not only does the season end, do you say
Speaker 6: that I'm being here in Utah and I'm gonna be
Speaker 6: at Utah Man.
Speaker 3: Uh, you go back and.
Speaker 6: And and and jump in the portal and do exactly
Speaker 6: what you accused or accosted everybody else for doing. And
Speaker 6: not only do you have the year that we had had,
Speaker 6: the game that we played against BYU, and then you
Speaker 6: signed to BYU. That is that to me is just
Speaker 6: the worst mix, Like leave, Okay, that's fine, but you
Speaker 6: can't say that I'm being a Utah Man and then
Speaker 6: do that, right. And so this is what I've been doing.
Speaker 6: You know, since I've been starting my brand line of
Speaker 6: Utah Man brand line is I've been talking to all
Speaker 6: of these former players from Coach with to Morgan's Galley,
Speaker 6: Sharif Shaw, Luther Ellis, Eric Weddle, Alex Smith, and Ron
Speaker 6: McBride said it the best I think, and he's just like,
Speaker 6: a Utah Man is all about investment, right, You got
Speaker 6: to invest in this program from the good and bad.
Speaker 6: Ron McBride said, I've been invested in this program since
Speaker 6: the seventies. My family's been invested in this program since
Speaker 6: the seventies. And anybody that leaves the program, do they
Speaker 6: really do they really showcase investment and it's not right.
Speaker 6: And so yes, Kem tong Voss is very articulate. Right,
Speaker 6: I've interviewed him. You guys have heard him.
Speaker 3: He's great. He's a young guy, so you know, young decisions.
Speaker 6: I can't say that I seventeen eighteen years old and
Speaker 6: gonna make great decisions.
Speaker 3: But when you say something, you got to meet it.
Speaker 6: And I hope that everybody else holds people accountable for.
Speaker 3: Those things, right.
Speaker 6: And so for me, this all just sounded like a
Speaker 6: used car salesman bit from him saying that I've communed
Speaker 6: with the Lord and he told me to leave Utah
Speaker 6: to go to someone else, to his interviews of him
Speaker 6: saying that I wasn't wrong that Utah.
Speaker 3: Nothing was wrong at Utah.
Speaker 6: To the point to where at the same statement he
Speaker 6: goes and says, I just want, you know, to be
Speaker 6: around people that you know appreciate me for me. And
Speaker 6: is that not a shot at he wasn't being appreciated
Speaker 6: for him for him being him at Utah, So like
Speaker 6: that felt to me like a contradictive statement. Where he
Speaker 6: played six games this year barring injury, whenever he was injured,
Speaker 6: he got his starting job back. That showed investment and
Speaker 6: loyalty from the Utah spart to give to him at
Speaker 6: that point, right, and then on top of that, after
Speaker 6: he was injured he got his job back. But like
Speaker 6: I don't know, just the whole the whole deal just
Speaker 6: stunk up the joint.
Speaker 3: And look, if you want to make a business decision,
Speaker 3: make it a business decision.
Speaker 6: I hate all these guys giving these freaking two page
Speaker 6: little chat GBT essays about how I love the university
Speaker 6: and then go out and just do other things. Just
Speaker 6: say I'm making a business decision. This feels right, I'm
Speaker 6: going to do it. I'm good with that. Don't say
Speaker 6: I commune with the Lord, I love Utah, I'm a
Speaker 6: Utah man, and then go sign with BYU.
Speaker 3: It doesn't mix.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's fair perspective because so much of
Speaker 2: it is how you handle it. And I am with you,
Speaker 2: because when the religiosity angle is brought into play, I
Speaker 2: think people just expect you to back off because this
Speaker 2: is my belief and this is my God.
Speaker 1: And look, I respect everyone's beliefs.
Speaker 2: I come from a family of very faithful people that
Speaker 2: love their beliefs. So I'm not grudging anybody for their
Speaker 2: God or how you want to live your life with religion.
Speaker 2: But it does seem like sla a lot of these
Speaker 2: a lot of these situations, you know, the cloak of
Speaker 2: the reality is behind the message of hey, God told
Speaker 2: me to do this, and you can't really say much,
Speaker 2: which I think is it's a little bit tough for
Speaker 2: people to stomach, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I completely agree with you.
Speaker 6: God has definitely blessed everybody with these talents, right, your
Speaker 6: athletic ability, your mind, this and that.
Speaker 3: But to make the decisions that you make. People make
Speaker 3: wrong decisions all time.
Speaker 6: So if you make a wrong decision, will you say
Speaker 6: God told me to do the wrong thing?
Speaker 3: Like you can't like And.
Speaker 6: So I'm just like, look, you're human, you make your decisions,
Speaker 6: you make your decisions. But like just to be like,
Speaker 6: I love the religious movement throughout you know, especially at
Speaker 6: Boise State right there. I love that man and I
Speaker 6: believe and I'm a big religious guy as well, and
Speaker 6: the foundational presence that you get from your religion, whatever
Speaker 6: religion you want to follow, I believe that's that's what
Speaker 6: us humans should do. I don't want to make the
Speaker 6: segment into all that money goodness. I think that when
Speaker 6: you start using you know, the Lord's name and all
Speaker 6: these different capacities that doesn't really fit the Lord's plan.
Speaker 3: That bothers me.
Speaker 6: And so just say I've been blessed with these many
Speaker 6: talents I and my family, which people have done, have
Speaker 6: chosen to do.
Speaker 3: X y Z.
Speaker 6: I don't need this big exert expose about YadA YadA YadA. Look,
Speaker 6: this is time, this is nil time, this is transporportal time.
Speaker 6: This is just what it is. I'm fitting in, I'm
Speaker 6: taking advantage. This feels right, let's do it. Just say
Speaker 6: that move on with you today and we will too.
Speaker 1: I think that's really fair perspective.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: I like the way you put that. So before I
Speaker 2: say you lose, here's how I'll pose the question. As
Speaker 2: of today, another transfer portal addition for the Utes. By
Speaker 2: my account, that's forty two new players on campus. Between
Speaker 2: incoming freshmen and transfer portals, there will be another spring window.
Speaker 1: So I'm not saying this is the group.
Speaker 2: But before I say you lose on this New Year's Friday,
Speaker 2: the way I'll pose the question is what gives you
Speaker 2: the most hope that this retool slash rebuild is going
Speaker 2: to bring Utah football back to where we're accustomed to
Speaker 2: seeing them next year, it had to.
Speaker 3: Be coach Whittingham coming back.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 6: You know I've said it on my show on KSL
Speaker 6: that you know coach Whittingham. You know, these past couple
Speaker 6: of years, I haven't seen that energy on the sideline
Speaker 6: that I'm used to seeing. Right, and if this man
Speaker 6: is going out, I want him to go out the
Speaker 6: right way.
Speaker 10: Right.
Speaker 3: I want to make twenty twenty five the year of wit.
Speaker 6: Right, let's get this Whittingham statue in place, and let's
Speaker 6: make this year great. I would just want to see
Speaker 6: that that fire and that excitement from him, and I
Speaker 6: think that is what's going to make the difference. Coming
Speaker 6: in Jason Beck, I hope. You know, he's a young
Speaker 6: guy less than twenty years ago he played, and he's
Speaker 6: had a track of getting experience of understanding the new trends,
Speaker 6: new era of football nowadays, and the way he.
Speaker 3: Ran New Mexico last year.
Speaker 6: It gives me a lot of excitement, right, you know,
Speaker 6: got to be on an attack mindset. And then you
Speaker 6: know the players that came in. I love Devin Dan Pierre.
Speaker 6: I'm really excited to see what he can do. I
Speaker 6: hope he just you know, stays humble and understands that. Look,
Speaker 6: I gotta be aggressive. I gotta have aggressive mindset, and
Speaker 6: I have.
Speaker 3: Not made it right.
Speaker 6: I don't want these guys to come into Utah and
Speaker 6: think that I got it made right. I'm the number
Speaker 6: one guy, like, no work for it right, go out
Speaker 6: there and get it. No game is won before it's played,
Speaker 6: no season is done, No championship is one before it's played.
Speaker 6: Be hungry every single time. I love way Sean Parker
Speaker 6: as well. I thought that was a good ad. And
Speaker 6: we just keep adding guys and it's hard. I would
Speaker 6: hate to be these coaches right now. I'd hate to
Speaker 6: be this recruiting staff. You got to continually recruit, right.
Speaker 6: These guys are in the.
Speaker 3: Program right now.
Speaker 6: Who says that they won't be in the program and
Speaker 6: the next transfer portal opening right like?
Speaker 3: So it's just.
Speaker 6: A an ongoing uh thing and and it's hard. You
Speaker 6: got to continue to evolve. But hopefully Jason beck Is
Speaker 6: is understanding what he needs.
Speaker 3: And I see a lot of.
Speaker 6: Smaller, quicker receivers that have got on this football team
Speaker 6: as well. So I'm really excited to see that man
Speaker 6: and and and from Creed with Moore, I think he's
Speaker 6: gonna be a good ad to uh Donovan Saunders and
Speaker 6: and and all these other guys, uh Brennan Zerberg. I
Speaker 6: think they're gonna be huge ads. And the way we
Speaker 6: use this offense this RPO game. I was watching the
Speaker 6: Ravens game the other day, of course, and they beat
Speaker 6: the Steelers. But the offensive sets that they do in that,
Speaker 6: I hope Jason Beck is paying attention to that because
Speaker 6: I think Dan Pierre could use that like crazy. It's
Speaker 6: awesome the way that they use their offense. So just
Speaker 6: pay attention to to Baltimore here in these playoffs and
Speaker 6: watch their offensive sets, watch how they execute and and
Speaker 6: how they get the defense vulnerable and confused. I think
Speaker 6: if we can do that with Devin Dan Pierre, I
Speaker 6: think Utah is gonna be dangerous man. And what Utah
Speaker 6: has been missing is what I want to say, is
Speaker 6: that offensive energy, right. I think the defense has always
Speaker 6: had that with Morgan Scalley. So hats off to Morgan
Speaker 6: for always keeping the defense on that attack with those
Speaker 6: three and outs and getting the offense the ball back.
Speaker 6: I just want our offense to score forty plus points
Speaker 6: a game. And if I can get Jay, if we sorry,
Speaker 6: if we can get Jason Beck to have that mentality
Speaker 6: of I gotta score forty or else it's or else.
Speaker 6: We we didn't accomplish our goal, then I think Utah
Speaker 6: is gonna be dangerous a couple of minute.
Speaker 3: As we said about you know CFP with.
Speaker 6: A great defense and just so so just like the Steelers, right,
Speaker 6: Steelers have been missing a quarterback. We finally got Russell
Speaker 6: Wilson to manage something and now they're a playoff team, right,
Speaker 6: even with losing the last three games. And so if
Speaker 6: Utah can do the same, we have a great defense,
Speaker 6: we can get some oppotity on offense, We're going to
Speaker 6: be a dangerous dangers football team in the hole n Cuba.
Speaker 2: I like the optimism, Sly. I hope you're right, man.
Speaker 2: Appreciate the time. On a Friday, one more time, I'll say,
Speaker 2: happy New Year.
Speaker 1: Have a great weekend. Okay, happy New Year?
Speaker 10: All right?
Speaker 2: The great Stevens and Sylvester, one of the best to
Speaker 2: ever do it, joins us on a very consistent basis
Speaker 2: throughout football season. I feel like we've accomplished something today
Speaker 2: because sometimes you know, when it's July and it's ninety
Speaker 2: two degrees out and it's good gearless biking weather, we
Speaker 2: can get ck to pop up.
Speaker 10: It has what it has a gear. It has a gear.
Speaker 2: It has a single gear, but it has one. So
Speaker 2: I guess saying gearless single.
Speaker 11: Speed is what we call them in the in the
Speaker 11: parlance of our hipster biking community.
Speaker 1: I thought the hipster bike has zero gears.
Speaker 10: You need a gear. You need a gear.
Speaker 1: Okay, So one gear, single speed, a single speed bike, okay. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I always thought it was a gearless bike.
Speaker 10: Fixed gear is the one is the hips is the Okay.
Speaker 1: See, I'm learning. I need to learn because I'm older.
Speaker 2: I'm not hit, but I think I feel like it's
Speaker 2: an upset to get you out of the house in January.
Speaker 10: Well it's not January, it's late October. Feels like it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's nice, it's still.
Speaker 10: Win or break.
Speaker 11: My wife is home, and as you know, the the
Speaker 11: little gremlin, it takes up a lot of time. So
Speaker 11: usually if I have the free time, I tell Porter.
Speaker 11: I was like, yeah, let's get in. Well, I appreciate it,
Speaker 11: chop it up. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: We were talking about your New Year's Eve experience, and
Speaker 2: you were in better early because you were working.
Speaker 11: I mean I technically wasn't working on New Year's Eve.
Speaker 11: I was working New Year's Day, okay, but I was
Speaker 11: in southern California earlier this week for the Rose Bowl.
Speaker 11: I was in charge of covering Organ's playoff run, which
Speaker 11: was extremely short lived. It was, but luckily I was
Speaker 11: able to go to the Lakers Cavs game in l
Speaker 11: a first time at the at the Crypt is what
Speaker 11: they call it the Crypt now Staple Center, but it's
Speaker 11: now it's Crypto.
Speaker 1: Something dot Com arena, but.
Speaker 11: It's the Crypt. Got to see the Kobe stature, which
Speaker 11: was really cool, and the other statues as well. It's
Speaker 11: a really nice place. It's a really nice and I know,
Speaker 11: like the Delta Center is nice as well, But I
Speaker 11: grew up going to kind of crappy arenas, like going
Speaker 11: up to growing up going to the the Oracle in Oakland,
Speaker 11: which is now a Crypt and Delta Center was nice,
Speaker 11: but you know, it kind of felt on hard times.
Speaker 11: But since it's been redone in the last five years,
Speaker 11: it's it's up to par uh, But it was. It
Speaker 11: was an interesting experience. Cool seeing Lebron you know, ran
Speaker 11: into my guy Donovan, tapped him up a little bit.
Speaker 1: You saw, you saw a guy, Donnie.
Speaker 10: I saw him from a very.
Speaker 3: Far but you didn't.
Speaker 1: You didn't approach him to say what's happening?
Speaker 10: No, No, I don't think he would remember me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, fair enough. Quinn Snyder in town on Tuesday, the
Speaker 2: Atlanta Hawks. Yeah yeah, Hawks in town on Tuesday. Let
Speaker 2: me ask you.
Speaker 1: But we're gonna do mostly.
Speaker 2: Football, but do it that has That was kind of
Speaker 2: your first NBA in arena experience in a minute.
Speaker 10: The only NBA minutes I've watched this year, even on television.
Speaker 1: How was like I was talking about this last week.
Speaker 2: We had a topic like the best in person sporting
Speaker 2: experience for me, it's an NFL game.
Speaker 1: Like NFL, they just do it right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, what was the in arena NBA experience like for you?
Speaker 10: It was nice?
Speaker 11: I mean I think it helped that there was a
Speaker 11: little bit of buzz because it was New Year's Eve.
Speaker 1: It was great.
Speaker 11: I mean, the best team in the NBA. Lebron played,
Speaker 11: Bronni didn't play, which was a huge bummer for me.
Speaker 11: But it was a decently close game off and on,
Speaker 11: but Cleveland's too good, and the the in person experience
Speaker 11: was cool because anytime you're watching a legend like Lebron,
Speaker 11: people kind of get juiced. So anytime he did something,
Speaker 11: people would just go out of their mind. And he
Speaker 11: had a good game, and I think it was his
Speaker 11: first game after turning forty as well.
Speaker 10: They say him.
Speaker 11: They sang happy Birthday on the on the JumboTron, and
Speaker 11: he did the heart heart sign to the fans and
Speaker 11: then did I Love La all the all the typical
Speaker 11: stuff you.
Speaker 2: Would And as a late thirties I just pulled my back,
Speaker 2: sleeping guy. What he's doing at forty is unequivocally impressive.
Speaker 11: I mean, yes, as somebody who is in his uh
Speaker 11: age arena, but not in the competitive arena. It is
Speaker 11: it is not out of the realm of possibility to think.
Speaker 11: I think he said recently that he thinks he could
Speaker 11: play till like forty seven or forty eight. I mean,
Speaker 11: if he can avoid injury. Sure, I mean, the dude
Speaker 11: is still like throwing down dunks, and he looks like
Speaker 11: he's in better shape at forty maybe I mean less bulk,
Speaker 11: and maybe that makes sense to avoid injury. But he
Speaker 11: looks like he's in better overall shape at forty than
Speaker 11: he was at like twenty five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's something about Lebron that is entirely on authentic
Speaker 2: and corny, you know, like he's wrapping Kendrick Lamar at
Speaker 2: his birthday party and sending that.
Speaker 1: Out or whatever.
Speaker 2: But he really has taught this generation on as far
Speaker 2: as habits to take care of yourself and take care
Speaker 2: of your body, spends.
Speaker 10: And your mentals too. Yeah, I mean, like, yes, I
Speaker 10: agree with you.
Speaker 2: Spends a tremendous amount of money on his physical health
Speaker 2: and the old saying a healthy man wants a million things,
Speaker 2: a sick man only wants one.
Speaker 11: Well, I was at the game with Bill orm Our,
Speaker 11: buddy wh used to shut up. Bill work at the
Speaker 11: Tribune and it is now the calumnists at the Oregonian. He
Speaker 11: was in town obviously for the Rose Bowl as well,
Speaker 11: but it spent a number of years covering the Lakers,
Speaker 11: And I said, Bill, why does Lebron always sit? He
Speaker 11: sits on like a higher he has like a thing.
Speaker 11: And Bill's like, I don't know, And I'm like, dude,
Speaker 11: you covered this guy for like five years and you
Speaker 11: never asked him why he sits on like this old man.
Speaker 1: Pad failure by Bill.
Speaker 11: I said, I assume it has to do with some
Speaker 11: sort of back thing. Sure, or I mean you got
Speaker 11: it the back as you know. If it's out, yeah,
Speaker 11: you're out. You're out of commission for a long time.
Speaker 11: It is I think objectively, it is the scariest body
Speaker 11: part to injure as you get older.
Speaker 2: Pat Riley's old saying was back problems change your personality.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, because they do rib injury. I'm dealing with
Speaker 2: a torn rotator cuff telling you, man, you just wait,
Speaker 2: you know you're getting there. Yeah, but that's cool. You
Speaker 2: had that experience, all right. So Oregon's playoff run was
Speaker 2: short lived. That's just I don't know, man, that felt really.
Speaker 2: If I'm an Oregon fan, I feel hard done because
Speaker 2: I won my conference. I won every game and I
Speaker 2: heard I mean, you know, me grinding on tape.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But honestly, and I was talked about this yesterday.
Speaker 2: Because everything in college athletics is so new, I've kind
Speaker 2: of leaned into the whole like diagnostic approach on the
Speaker 2: radio instead of like prognosticating, because it's hard to know
Speaker 2: what this is going to look like. We're all going
Speaker 2: through it for the first time, and it just feels
Speaker 2: like Ohio State all year long was talked about as
Speaker 2: a team that when they're playing at their best, they're
Speaker 2: the best team in the country. And I understand the
Speaker 2: way that the conferences went out in Ohio State with
Speaker 2: a horrible home loss to Michigan. The seting is what
Speaker 2: it is. But if you're Oregon, you're a fan in
Speaker 2: our reward is Ohio State. The first time we have
Speaker 2: a chance to play. You feel a little hard done,
Speaker 2: don't you.
Speaker 11: You do, But you also have to realize that there
Speaker 11: is always going to be a plethora of wartz in
Speaker 11: this system because it's impossible to figure out. Somebody is
Speaker 11: always going to have a gripe. And it's a bummer,
Speaker 11: but it is what it is. Man Like, I sat
Speaker 11: on press row with a bunch of people who are
Speaker 11: a lot smarter than me, sat next to Bruce Feldman,
Speaker 11: Ari Wasserman, my good buddy was down the way, and
Speaker 11: this was just a topic of conversation for most of
Speaker 11: the day and Cam tig Robinson, who actually covers Ohio
Speaker 11: State for the Athletic brought up a great point. He's
Speaker 11: like the one thing that could have fixed this is
Speaker 11: if Penn State in Ohio State were the other seed,
Speaker 11: Oregon should have been playing potentially Penn State and not
Speaker 11: Ohio State.
Speaker 1: For sure.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I understand that Penn State made the Big Ten
Speaker 11: title game. I understand the way things shake out. They
Speaker 11: just have to figure out by they the committee has
Speaker 11: to figure out a way to not necessarily overload a
Speaker 11: side of the bracket, which they unfortunately did this year.
Speaker 11: And like we talked about a few weeks ago, I mean,
Speaker 11: Oregon got the Group of Death. Even if they would
Speaker 11: have won, You're going to Arlington to play Dallas. And
Speaker 11: to your point, I mean, Ohio State's the best team
Speaker 11: in the country, the deepest team in the country, easy,
Speaker 11: hands down.
Speaker 10: It's not even close.
Speaker 11: We talk about rivalry games and what they can bring
Speaker 11: out of you, the best of the worst. Michigan has
Speaker 11: not brought out the best in Ohio State the last
Speaker 11: four years. They're on a four games, kid, but that
Speaker 11: doesn't like take away from the fact that they're the
Speaker 11: deepest team in the country. And it's corny, man, but
Speaker 11: like you want to be playing your best football at
Speaker 11: this time of year, especially as the as the season
Speaker 11: can be as long as seventeen games, as it will
Speaker 11: be the case for Ohio State this year. And I'm
Speaker 11: of the mind that the way the game played out,
Speaker 11: I think Oregon has a gripe, but like when you
Speaker 11: get your breaks, you know, beat off the way they did,
Speaker 11: like it's I mean, it was thirty four to nothing
Speaker 11: in the second quarter spence.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they did settle in.
Speaker 2: I don't know how much of that as Ohio State
Speaker 2: going this is over, But honestly, watching the way Ohio
Speaker 2: State overwhelmed Oregon, I wondered if any other team in
Speaker 2: the could have even made it as close as Oregon did.
Speaker 2: The rest of the way just felt like such an
Speaker 2: unfair fight. And Oregon was really impressive all year. I
Speaker 2: guess that just speaks to Ohio State.
Speaker 3: It does.
Speaker 11: But I think one thing that maybe a lot of
Speaker 11: us overlooked is the fact that every good team Oregon
Speaker 11: played this year they barely beat him. They still beat him.
Speaker 11: Barely beat Boise State at home, barely beat Ohio State
Speaker 11: at home. If Will Howard does an awkwardly side and
Speaker 11: lose track of time, you don't know how that game ends. Yeah,
Speaker 11: fair and barely beat Penn State in the Big Ten
Speaker 11: title game and gave up five hundred and sixty yards
Speaker 11: of total offense to a decently talented Penn State team,
Speaker 11: but not like a world beater by any means. So
Speaker 11: I do think there were some alarm bells along the way,
Speaker 11: but they won every game, so Ohio State made them
Speaker 11: look pedestrian at best, to say the least. And listen, man,
Speaker 11: I mean they had the best player in the field,
Speaker 11: who's an eighteen year old kid.
Speaker 1: That insane.
Speaker 10: I mean it was, And like they have Chip Kelly
Speaker 10: calling their offense.
Speaker 11: I'm not saying. You have a guy who a much
Speaker 11: maligned head coach and Ryan Day, who the fan base
Speaker 11: is very upset at because he's lost four games in
Speaker 11: a row against their arch rival. I get it, but
Speaker 11: the record is still insane. It's like sixty six and
Speaker 11: seven or something or whatever. You might be able to
Speaker 11: look it up.
Speaker 10: And then you hire Chip Kelly and you have all
Speaker 10: these offensive weapons.
Speaker 2: Sixty eight and ten, sixty and ten, and for those
Speaker 2: losses have been to Michigan.
Speaker 11: I get it, and Michigan won last year. But it's like, listen, man,
Speaker 11: there's a reason why everybody was kind of up in
Speaker 11: arms when they figured out the number that Ohio State
Speaker 11: was able to spend on money wise on this team,
Speaker 11: and you think of players like Jeremiah Smith, Calee Downs,
Speaker 11: the kid they got from Alabama. A lot of people
Speaker 11: were skeptical about Will Howard coming from Kansas State, and
Speaker 11: he's had his best two games of the year at
Speaker 11: the most important point of the year. So I just
Speaker 11: don't know if we're ever going to have a playoff
Speaker 11: where somebody not feeling betrayed in some sense.
Speaker 2: So at some point, maybe I've already reached the point
Speaker 2: of no return. I'm sure people are going to be
Speaker 2: so tired of be leading into the same narrative. I
Speaker 2: just don't know of an issue that plagues college football
Speaker 2: that can't be solved with a professional model. Nobody belly
Speaker 2: aches about the way the NFL crowns their chant, right,
Speaker 2: so you know, it's conferences, it's divisions. Now, some people
Speaker 2: at times don't love the division things. So you win
Speaker 2: eight games, you win a crappy division and you get
Speaker 2: a home field or you know.
Speaker 11: The NFC South this year, the buyers will win and
Speaker 11: they'll get a home game again.
Speaker 2: But you don't hear the same amount of belly aching
Speaker 2: so Joel Klatt.
Speaker 1: His whole idea is to lean into that.
Speaker 2: You know, we'll just use the SEC in the Big
Speaker 2: Ten and they'll invite whoever they want to invite.
Speaker 1: And hopefully it's our local schools.
Speaker 2: And then there are two conferences and divisions, and then
Speaker 2: you follow the pro model, a playoff model, and Clatt's
Speaker 2: ideas to make the Rose Bowl the super Bowl of
Speaker 2: college football.
Speaker 1: Think there's any meat on that bone.
Speaker 11: I mean, I don't know. He would know better than me.
Speaker 11: I think it makes sense to have every championship game there.
Speaker 11: There's no reason why, I guess. I will say there
Speaker 11: are other cities around the country that really, I would
Speaker 11: assume provide a lot of tax breaks to, you know,
Speaker 11: people who want to come and really descend on the city.
Speaker 11: I mean, you think at places like Atlanta, Miami Fiend
Speaker 11: and Glendale area like these are all places that pretty
Speaker 11: much also managed to host like NCAA Men's and Women's final.
Speaker 10: Fours as well.
Speaker 11: I would like I would always like the Rose Bowl
Speaker 11: to be the last game of the year. It was
Speaker 11: my second time there. It just makes sense. It's an
Speaker 11: old stadium, but it's perfect. It's like the scene is
Speaker 11: unreal people are there at like six am, and whoever
Speaker 11: is in that theoretical title game, people will show up
Speaker 11: and show out.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, there are several issues here because as
Speaker 2: you're talking through cities not wanting to give up those games.
Speaker 2: Also this, and maybe you have some insight here. I
Speaker 2: believe every specific bowl is its own business entity and
Speaker 2: employees a lot of different people.
Speaker 10: Correct, So the.
Speaker 2: Orange Bowl employees are good. Wait like, wait a second,
Speaker 2: now I don't have a job.
Speaker 10: Yeah, no, it's it's hard.
Speaker 11: In my opinion, an ideal format, at least from a
Speaker 11: schedule standpoint, is next year that got to have the
Speaker 11: quarters be at home sites.
Speaker 1: I totally agree college football should be played on campus.
Speaker 10: I think I think semis and final.
Speaker 11: You can make an argument that it's at a neutral
Speaker 11: site because that way you can satisfy all the major bowls.
Speaker 11: If you just Sugar, Orange, Rose, so on and so
Speaker 11: forth of cotton, you can find a way to satisfy
Speaker 11: those folks. But it's it. I feel like it would
Speaker 11: make for better games. I feel like it would make
Speaker 11: for a better atmosphere. I mean, everybody that I talked
Speaker 11: to that were at the first round game said it
Speaker 11: was insane. They said, like South Bend was awesome, you know,
Speaker 11: State College was awesome. You got to and you have
Speaker 11: to give those those guys that earn those seeds a
Speaker 11: chance to Like, I would make the argument that having
Speaker 11: a home game, even if it's against in Ohio State,
Speaker 11: is maybe better than potentially drawing a theoretically less impressive opponent,
Speaker 11: because you're never going to figure out who, like, the
Speaker 11: Committee's never gonna satisfy everyone's issues, that right, right, But
Speaker 11: if you can, a home field advantage is generally in
Speaker 11: college football, the most ideal home field advantage for somebody
Speaker 11: who's earned it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with that, And I also just think
Speaker 2: college football should be played on campuses whenever possible. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's one of the things that make it make it great.
Speaker 2: One of the other things that make it great and unique,
Speaker 2: even juxtaposed to pro football, is every weekend is urgent,
Speaker 2: every weekend is intense, every weekend is paramount. I mean,
Speaker 2: you can stub your toe once, maybe twice, and then
Speaker 2: after that you're cooked. And what we have now are
Speaker 2: four teams left, none of whom won their conference. None
Speaker 2: of them had a first round by And it's interesting
Speaker 2: that you were in Pasadena. Like I mean, Bruce Feldman
Speaker 2: is as in my opinion, as good as it gets
Speaker 2: in covering the sport. I'd love to get already on
Speaker 2: the show. We've had Bruce a couple of times. I
Speaker 2: wonder what the conversation is about whether or not we
Speaker 2: have diluted regular season, whether or not these auto you
Speaker 2: know the first round byes are the right way to go,
Speaker 2: And do you think there are gonna be changes coming
Speaker 2: after all the complaining.
Speaker 10: I don't know.
Speaker 11: I mean, like I said, those folks are way more
Speaker 11: plugged in and a lot smarter than I am. I
Speaker 11: think the committee will have to put their heads together
Speaker 11: and take notes, Like you'll have to do an exit survey,
Speaker 11: though maybe we'll have to call your guy Raye get
Speaker 11: a qualtric survey going. I got to figure out, like
Speaker 11: what worked in the minds of people who participated this
Speaker 11: year and who didn't. It's tricky with twelve man, I
Speaker 11: think with eight it could be pretty easy to figure out,
Speaker 11: but you add four more teams in the mix, I
Speaker 11: think it's difficult they have to figure out. Like it's
Speaker 11: a bummer that all our West Coast teams lost in
Speaker 11: the quarters. Man because then it plays into the narrative
Speaker 11: of it just means more, and ball means more in
Speaker 11: places that everywhere else in the country says it means more.
Speaker 11: I get it, but I think there's a lot of
Speaker 11: people that say Arizona State and Boise State didn't deserve
Speaker 11: a first round by and some of those arguments have merit,
Speaker 11: But I think I don't know. This goes back to
Speaker 11: our conversations about nil and everything. It's like, if you
Speaker 11: just had the right people in place to like take information,
Speaker 11: absorb it and apply it and have it be functional,
Speaker 11: it seems like it would make sense. But college football
Speaker 11: and the NCAA is incapable of doing so well.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to. Well. It's funny because I do
Speaker 1: think at some.
Speaker 2: Point, you know the right people central leadership, and I
Speaker 2: honestly believe it will follow private equity money. I think
Speaker 2: it's going to follow venture capitalist money. I think we're
Speaker 2: gonna see powerful, rich people get involved, and then it's
Speaker 2: gonna be up to the public if you want to
Speaker 2: follow the like neoliberal capitalism that's going to permeate in
Speaker 2: the sports that.
Speaker 1: You've loved because it hasn't been involved before.
Speaker 2: But that's where it is now because the players are
Speaker 2: getting paid, and once those powerful rich people get involved
Speaker 2: in college sports, they will not stand for a broken
Speaker 2: business model. So I think we'll get central leadership in
Speaker 2: place at that point, and that brings in the conversation
Speaker 2: about a tremendous amount of red tape and issues, because
Speaker 2: I know administrators.
Speaker 1: Don't want the athletes to be employees.
Speaker 2: I know the Taylor Randalls of the world don't want
Speaker 2: to deal with that because that adds a tremendous amount
Speaker 2: of headache. But at some point, I do think the
Speaker 2: coaches are going to be the ones that will kind
Speaker 2: of push this movement because once you can collectively bardain
Speaker 2: come up with, you know, a player's terms and agreement,
Speaker 2: and then guardrails and the ability to actually, you know,
Speaker 2: put rules in a place, things like having to rebuild
Speaker 2: every year will go out the window because then you
Speaker 2: can sign contracts. Now there's a bunch of stuff with
Speaker 2: the new labor board under Donald Trump that I'm not
Speaker 2: educated enough to kind of walk through. But a lot
Speaker 2: of the really smart football people that I've heard in
Speaker 2: the past say the pro model is inevitable now are
Speaker 2: a little bit more skeptical.
Speaker 1: Do you have any insight in that.
Speaker 11: I don't, but I'm just thinking of an analogy or
Speaker 11: an example from today. Like Organs, one of Oregon's quarterbacks
Speaker 11: that they just signed in their December class that went
Speaker 11: to the Rose Bowl and was part of bullprep and everything,
Speaker 11: just jumped in the portal after being with the program
Speaker 11: for like two weeks, Yeah, and told ESPN that he
Speaker 11: didn't feel like he was a priority at the school
Speaker 11: while they were preparing for a quarter.
Speaker 10: Final of the CFP.
Speaker 11: Now, I'm not belittling this guy, Like everyone has a
Speaker 11: reason for doing what they want to do, but I'm
Speaker 11: with you. It just makes sense to be able to
Speaker 11: hold people in right spots by contractual terms and figure
Speaker 11: out things from there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2: Coming up next, we'll lean into some of the local
Speaker 2: stuff and Chris Comaradi's going to join us for one
Speaker 2: more segment. Townty Parks rolls by later, so does JB. Long,
Speaker 2: the voice of the Rams, to get us ready for
Speaker 2: the final week slash weekend of pro football. I want
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Speaker 2: Well they're kind of behind us now, but make Clearwater
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Speaker 2: It's all I'm saying. More of ck coming up next
Speaker 2: right here on ESPN seven hundred. All right, Chris Camaraddie
Speaker 2: Latin Studio, we got one more big segment with our
Speaker 2: guys k from the Athletic Rock and Roll Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame induction. I still don't know if the ceremony was
Speaker 2: on Sunday, but the television presentation with Sunday evening, Little
Speaker 2: Dave and Tribe in the same class.
Speaker 1: So your boy was happy, share too, Share Little Mary J. Blish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you're of a certain age, you have a
Speaker 2: little Mary Jay and share you went with Foreigner of
Speaker 2: the List.
Speaker 11: Yeah, okay, it feels like the most rock and roll hall.
Speaker 11: I went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Speaker 11: when I was in Cleveland a few years ago, and
Speaker 11: it's cool place.
Speaker 10: I mean Cleve. The rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Speaker 10: is Cleveland.
Speaker 1: Yeah, take it or leave it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you go to Cleveland, you better do the
Speaker 2: rock and Roll Hall.
Speaker 1: Of Fame because there are not a lot of options.
Speaker 2: Chris Comraddie Live in studio went to the Laker game
Speaker 2: where they played the Cavs.
Speaker 1: Are a guy, don.
Speaker 2: He's going to be, I think, potentially the first player
Speaker 2: in the history of this organization. The Jazz of course
Speaker 2: obviously didn't play for RSL to leave and be awesome
Speaker 2: somewhere for a long time. We're not used to this.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you think about it, a lot of
Speaker 2: our really really good players Heyward got hurt, Darren never
Speaker 2: kind of recaptured the form he had.
Speaker 1: When he was here. Booze couldn't stay healthy.
Speaker 2: Because I've watched plenty of Caves basketball this year, Donovan
Speaker 2: has started to mature. Now, look, he's gonna have to
Speaker 2: answer questions come spring. But if you think about the
Speaker 2: history of the Jazz organization, Karl went to the Lakers,
Speaker 2: but he was done. Millsap's a good one, but it's
Speaker 2: not the same level. But Millsap also played better after
Speaker 2: he left here. He made All Star teams in Atlanta
Speaker 2: and such. But Donovan, I'm starting to get the feeling
Speaker 2: he's kind of figuring out where that I wasn't there. Well,
Speaker 2: for now, he doesn't have a choice. I mean, I
Speaker 2: got such a kid, like so the Nick signed Jalen Brunson,
Speaker 2: then they're awesome and they get mckel bridges. There was
Speaker 2: no space for Donovan in New York to play for
Speaker 2: the Knicks the Nets after they had to blow up
Speaker 2: the Durant Hart and Kyrie thing went full rebuild. There
Speaker 2: was no place for Donovan and Brooklyn. So he's like, oh,
Speaker 2: I love Cleveland, Like whatever, dude, you have no true
Speaker 2: he has for now, there's.
Speaker 1: Nowhere for him to go. Now.
Speaker 2: I've always heard two things from people that know Donovan
Speaker 2: better than I do that he actually would really love
Speaker 2: Miami and he would love Los Angeles in a way
Speaker 2: that I didn't know about him. But that's not a surprise.
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be stuck. He's got two years left on
Speaker 2: the deal. After this deal, I wouldn't be stunn if
Speaker 2: he's a Remember the Heat of the Lakers.
Speaker 11: I guess if you're just looking at it from a
Speaker 11: roster building point of view, is there a team in
Speaker 11: the NBA right now that is built to win for the.
Speaker 10: Next five years?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 11: See okay, see maybe Boston. Okay, Yeah, so three three teams.
Speaker 11: One other team, unfortunately, is a team that just won
Speaker 11: the title and is in your same division. But I mean, shoot, man,
Speaker 11: and maybe the Lake, the Lakers and Heat can rebuild
Speaker 11: in the blink of an eye, as we've seen several decades.
Speaker 11: But yeah, it was cool. It was funny being there, man,
Speaker 11: and I'm just a this is always a trip. Like
Speaker 11: I told some of these other guys that were there
Speaker 11: with Bill and I like, like, Bill and I covered
Speaker 11: that kid and they were like which one. I was like, Oh,
Speaker 11: the kid and the white kid in the corner who
Speaker 11: shoot the three? Like Sam, Mary Sam. Yeah, it's so
Speaker 11: cool because, like Sam was one of those kids that
Speaker 11: was really enjoyable to cover as as a prep athlete.
Speaker 11: He was part of that wave of like the Lone
Speaker 11: Peak three, Bricott, Chapman, a lot of talented young kids
Speaker 11: coming up of that age.
Speaker 10: Jalen Moore at Skyview.
Speaker 1: Shout up, Bountiful Braves. That's right, yeah, my guy.
Speaker 11: And you know, it's just I never really saw him
Speaker 11: a hell of a player, great shooter, and it's awesome
Speaker 11: to see him stick and him getting a chance in
Speaker 11: that rotation on a really good team.
Speaker 2: I truly thought he was not going to be able
Speaker 2: to get a shot off. In fact, my producer at
Speaker 2: the time was an Aggie. He's like, do you think
Speaker 2: Sam's a pro? And I said, if he could ever
Speaker 2: get he is such a pure he is such a
Speaker 2: pure shooter.
Speaker 1: He has such a beautiful stroke. But this was for
Speaker 1: Thatt's issue.
Speaker 2: He could not simply could not get a shot off
Speaker 2: in the pros, and I was concerned that Sam was
Speaker 2: gonna run in the same problem. But he's worked as
Speaker 2: ailoff and he needs no space. You're right, It's been
Speaker 2: fun to watch him.
Speaker 11: Grow and it's I think this sounds super corny too,
Speaker 11: but like Sam's like a legit six ' four jimmers
Speaker 11: like a legit six.
Speaker 1: Sure, yes, yes, it's true. All right, back to football.
Speaker 2: Let's do some local stuff here, since we've covered kind
Speaker 2: of the national topics. The utes locked in Justin Stevenson
Speaker 2: today wide receiver. That's a huge kit from Wyoming.
Speaker 10: Do you know the stat line?
Speaker 1: No, dude, what are you talking about?
Speaker 2: Just heard of him ten minutes ago.
Speaker 1: I don't know the stats.
Speaker 11: Orders in there laughing at me. Listen you, I mean
Speaker 11: I googled it like any reasonably logical responsible media members
Speaker 11: should do.
Speaker 1: The guy had felt like a shot.
Speaker 11: I'm not gonna The guy had like two hundred receiving
Speaker 11: yards last year and like two touchdowns, so he's due.
Speaker 10: I mean, listen, If.
Speaker 11: If Utah is able to recruit the most hidden gems
Speaker 11: at the Mountain West Conference level and bring them to
Speaker 11: the Big twelve and help them show out with Jason
Speaker 11: Beck and Devin Dan Pierre, good on them. But man,
Speaker 11: I'm approaching this next year with a whole hell of
Speaker 11: a lot of skepticism.
Speaker 2: I don't know how you can approach it any other
Speaker 2: way unless you are simply read goggles period, end of story,
Speaker 2: because they're going to be, by my count, twenty five
Speaker 2: incoming freshmen. I think Justin and his two touchdowns. I
Speaker 2: think that's the sixteenth transfer portal adition. I didn't know
Speaker 2: that was a stat line. It's just you know, the
Speaker 2: same old people that report and they're like, hey, this
Speaker 2: is exciting.
Speaker 1: That's what I saw. I believe it's forty one or forty.
Speaker 2: Two new players next fall. I don't know how you
Speaker 2: do that. I have no idea. Unless you are unless
Speaker 2: you have Ohio State's payroll, unless you're bringing in dudes
Speaker 2: like that left and right now. The transfer portal ranking
Speaker 2: according to two four seven is twenty five ish or whatever.
Speaker 1: I just don't know what's reasonable to expect.
Speaker 10: Don't believe those rankings.
Speaker 1: Man, when you turn it over like this in one year,
Speaker 1: I have no idea.
Speaker 10: So this is for our guy, John Paul shout out.
Speaker 11: This is the The success of whether or not Utah's
Speaker 11: offense can establish itself in this new system is totally
Speaker 11: going to rely on fit and scheme.
Speaker 10: That's it.
Speaker 11: Because you're bringing in a guy who's going to do
Speaker 11: a lot of different things compared to Andy Ludwig. You're
Speaker 11: bringing in a quarterback that probably wouldn't have played under
Speaker 11: Andy Ludwig. You're bringing in a bunch of receivers who
Speaker 11: have had slow to decent careers at much smaller level
Speaker 11: schools than what Utah is and who they'll be playing
Speaker 11: next year. You brought in a talented running back.
Speaker 10: Out of the portal.
Speaker 11: Weirdly, You know which helps Utah a ton is that
Speaker 11: their offensive line was able to stay intact and they.
Speaker 10: Should be good.
Speaker 11: But listen, man, I mean, everybody should take off the
Speaker 11: red tinted goggles when it comes to a lot of
Speaker 11: these additions because they are not proven commodities. They're the
Speaker 11: furthest thing from when you're seeing these Twitter graphics being
Speaker 11: created for players that are transferring from Texas A and
Speaker 11: M to LSU, or from Auburn to Florida, or from
Speaker 11: Florida State to Ohio State. These are different caliber players.
Speaker 11: And I'm sure, and I'm not saying that the players
Speaker 11: that Utah is getting, I'm not saying that players at
Speaker 11: Utah are getting right now are not going to be
Speaker 11: good players. But they are behind, man, they are behind,
Speaker 11: and they fell behind in such a drastic way in
Speaker 11: such a short amount of time, which is kind of
Speaker 11: like the perfect if you want to like utilize one program,
Speaker 11: kind of the perfect encapsulation of how things can go
Speaker 11: sideways for a program that was in the Rose Bowl just.
Speaker 10: Two years ago.
Speaker 2: So if we could circle back, Justin Stevenson three touchdown,
Speaker 2: three touchdown, sorry, two hundred and four yards. Also, he
Speaker 2: competed in the triple jump in high school, so let's
Speaker 2: not just throw that out like it's nothing.
Speaker 11: Football coaches love track athletes, especially in the University of
Speaker 11: Utah football coaches.
Speaker 2: Indeed, sophomore jump numbers of forty two to six and
Speaker 2: forty two to two in the triple and an eighteen
Speaker 2: seven long.
Speaker 10: How tall is he?
Speaker 1: He is six to one, So.
Speaker 10: That's probably like the tall sky they've added so far.
Speaker 11: As far as the receiver goes, they've added. They've added
Speaker 11: some Koby wannabes, I think, which is great.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's part of the approach. Maybe they're zigging when
Speaker 2: everyone's zagging.
Speaker 1: There you go, yeah, I look you.
Speaker 2: I said this last segment diagnostic, not prognostication, because it's
Speaker 2: impossible to analyze how these kids are going to fit
Speaker 2: into a system that we've never seen before. I honestly
Speaker 2: don't know what's reasonable to expect. And there are two
Speaker 2: sides of this thing, right, because obviously last year was
Speaker 2: not nearly good enough, and so yeah, you want an
Speaker 2: influx of talent, you want to change the roster over
Speaker 2: because it wasn't good enough a year ago. And yes,
Speaker 2: we could always lean back on the whole cam wasn't
Speaker 2: healthy thing. But I do think this is a fan
Speaker 2: base that isn't necessarily opposed to this one year rebuild
Speaker 2: because of what they just experienced. Now to your point,
Speaker 2: and it's not just the rose bul Like two years ago,
Speaker 2: that team that Kyle was able to coach, the eight wins,
Speaker 2: that was this remarkable season, but then prior to that
Speaker 2: back to back rose Ball, it's like it feels like,
Speaker 2: even though we're only a couple of years removed from
Speaker 2: very exciting, successful Utah football, you know era that maybe
Speaker 2: is coming to a bit of an end.
Speaker 1: This is a fan base that's ready for something different.
Speaker 2: So I think people are kind of latching on to
Speaker 2: these new players with a lot of hope because of
Speaker 2: what they just experienced.
Speaker 11: Yeah, and I mean I gave Kyle and Morgan, I'm
Speaker 11: giving both of them credit because they both decided on
Speaker 11: this higher the fact that they hired Jason Beck and
Speaker 11: were able to get Devin Dampier. And I mean, as
Speaker 11: soon as you saw those two additions, you knew that
Speaker 11: this was going to be a totally different offense going forward.
Speaker 11: And I assume that when they were doing interviews, Jason said,
Speaker 11: I want to run my offense, and that's going to
Speaker 11: be that. You know, at least I would have hoped that.
Speaker 11: But listen, I don't disagree with you at all. Things
Speaker 11: have not been good enough for a while. It got
Speaker 11: stagnant when it was working three or four years ago.
Speaker 11: It was working because Utah had like five running backs
Speaker 11: that like ran for like five hundred yards and a
Speaker 11: couple of them ran for eight hundred yards and one
Speaker 11: ran for.
Speaker 10: A thousand yards.
Speaker 11: They had a couple, you know, NFL caliber tight ends,
Speaker 11: one that went on to be a first round pick,
Speaker 11: the other one that just unfortunately got hurt too often.
Speaker 11: But they became so predictable. From like an opponent's point
Speaker 11: of view, it was pretty painful.
Speaker 10: Man.
Speaker 11: I mean it's like you think about the Colorado game,
Speaker 11: and it's always easy to compare like a similar opponent
Speaker 11: that two teams had in common.
Speaker 10: And I.
Speaker 11: Not saying Byu is anywhere close to where Utah was
Speaker 11: this year. They were the superior team on basically every
Speaker 11: facet of the ball, but offensively, Utah against Colorado like
Speaker 11: Isaac had some had some chunk plays, had some stats,
Speaker 11: but man BYU and Aaron like just basically had those
Speaker 11: guys running around with like chickens with their heads coff.
Speaker 11: They had no idea what Byu was doing, and Colorado
Speaker 11: felt like they knew what Utah was going to do
Speaker 11: on every single down. Run on the first down, run
Speaker 11: on the second down, play action, on third down, sack.
Speaker 10: And that's what it was for most of the year.
Speaker 11: So I can understand why fans are approaching the season
Speaker 11: with a healthy amount of optimism, because what other point
Speaker 11: do they have at this point?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I used to say this oftentimes about by
Speaker 2: you and the Independent years, and it wasn't a knock
Speaker 2: on the program. It was the reality of what they
Speaker 2: dealt with, as it did dependent that typically as soon
Speaker 2: as you lose your first game, it's the Hawaii bull
Speaker 2: or whatever.
Speaker 1: Go spend New Years in a while. Who There's nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with that, nothing, but.
Speaker 2: It seemed like back then, the most exciting time to
Speaker 2: be a fan of Brigham Young football was the off
Speaker 2: season because you had all this hope. Then the season
Speaker 2: comes and you don't have a conference to play for,
Speaker 2: you stub your toe and it kind of feels like
Speaker 2: right now for a YOUT fan, the only thing to
Speaker 2: get excited about is the potential of this coaching staff
Speaker 2: and the new talent added. So we'll see, but let's
Speaker 2: move Let's move over to a player that Utah lost,
Speaker 2: And since you and I last spoke, this story has
Speaker 2: kind of gained some traction. So Keanutanavas is a really
Speaker 2: good player and seems like a good kid. I've interviewed him.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know him personally, but he elects
Speaker 2: to leave Utah and head down to BYU and a
Speaker 2: lot of you fans in their feelings about this, as
Speaker 2: I say, you can always not tweet.
Speaker 1: That's an option that you have. But let me start here.
Speaker 2: Does the money change the level of criticism that these
Speaker 2: athletes are going to get? Because you know, there was
Speaker 2: like this unwritten rule for years and years and years,
Speaker 2: whether it's meteor fans like lay off the kids, man,
Speaker 2: stop cracking on the kids. These are unpaid young kids.
Speaker 2: They don't get paid for what they do, So stop
Speaker 2: criticizing them. Now that some of these players are making
Speaker 2: seven figures. I don't know what Kanu got, But now
Speaker 2: that the money is not just there but it's real,
Speaker 2: does that change a level of criticism they'll receive.
Speaker 11: Absolutely. I don't think that's right though, but I think
Speaker 11: that's the world that we live. I don't know if
Speaker 11: Keanu left Utah because he wanted to get paid more money.
Speaker 11: I was kind of siloed due to the holidays and
Speaker 11: being focused on Oregon during their playoff run, so I
Speaker 11: saw some stuff tangentially. I know there was, you know,
Speaker 11: some religious affiliated posts and you know, God's plan, like
Speaker 11: every other kid who goes into the portal says it's
Speaker 11: God's plan. I think it's particularly hurtful for Utah because
Speaker 11: they lost him to Byu. I mean, I just if
Speaker 11: he would have gone to Texas or Washington.
Speaker 1: Or wherever Calhoun goes to Bama.
Speaker 11: Yeah, it's like we're people up in arms that Cam
Speaker 11: Calhoun left for Alabama. Not at the same level. And
Speaker 11: I understand that Keanu like trolled him at one point
Speaker 11: on social media, and so on and so forth. But listen, man,
Speaker 11: we are living in a lawless state of college football.
Speaker 11: Everybody is up for grabs, and people can say there's tampering,
Speaker 11: there's tampering always like that is just the real that
Speaker 11: we live in. Utah's frustrated because they lost one of
Speaker 11: their best defensive players to their rival down South, who
Speaker 11: had their best year in a very very long time.
Speaker 11: I think it's disingenuous to act like this is particularly unique.
Speaker 11: Players transfer between both of these schools all the time.
Speaker 11: I mean, one of the Fano brothers started out at BYU,
Speaker 11: and I'm sure BYU fans were upset when he decided
Speaker 11: to leave.
Speaker 10: But the list is incredibly long, man.
Speaker 11: I mean, it is absurd the amount of people that
Speaker 11: have changed schools in the last twenty years since college
Speaker 11: football has entered this kind of era. And I mean
Speaker 11: they're all just popping in my head. It is what
Speaker 11: it is, man. You kind of just got a grin
Speaker 11: and Barrett, yeah.
Speaker 1: And you know, people wouldn't be upset if he wasn't awesome.
Speaker 1: That's the thing.
Speaker 2: Like nobody was pissed when like Makai Pittman's in the
Speaker 2: transfer port, Like all right, whatever, but Keano's really good,
Speaker 2: and you lose them to your rival.
Speaker 1: I will follow up, though, because I do.
Speaker 2: Find this interesting and I don't want to paint this
Speaker 2: as only one person. But Keanu and his family, the
Speaker 2: people around him, have been very vocal as far as
Speaker 2: his motivation, and his father tweets out when the heavens speak,
Speaker 2: our family strives to follow quickly. Keana decided to send
Speaker 2: a scripture as far as his announcement that he's leaving,
Speaker 2: and you know, the religiosity of the entire thing is
Speaker 2: something I've never been fully comfortable with. But I know
Speaker 2: people need their beliefs, and I know beliefs are important
Speaker 2: to people, and I'm not wanting to tell anybody how
Speaker 2: they should praise their God or worship their God or
Speaker 2: practice their religion. But it does seem at times, something
Speaker 2: that these players throw out there is like, now, okay,
Speaker 2: now I'm beyond reproach because I told you, God came
Speaker 2: to me last night to say I should go to BYU,
Speaker 2: and I don't love that. You know, if you're just
Speaker 2: kind of throwing that out there, because that is something
Speaker 2: that you throw out there is like a guardrail. Now
Speaker 2: you cannot tell me or question what I've decided to
Speaker 2: do exactly when we know you got to check. But
Speaker 2: you know, if you want to say that God told
Speaker 2: you go to provo, I guess that's the deal.
Speaker 11: Yeah, And I guess I would say it would be
Speaker 11: an easier sell if the two most important people in
Speaker 11: the program of Up the Hill here weren't members of
Speaker 11: the same religion. And maybe even I assume Jason beck
Speaker 11: is as well because he went to BYU. But like, listen,
Speaker 11: yeah that if you're talking about like Urban Meyer and
Speaker 11: Dan Mullen and these guys who were in chured, it's
Speaker 11: a totally different story, right, I don't know, man, Like
Speaker 11: it's become kind of a meme in the sports media world.
Speaker 11: It's like anytime a kid goes in the portal, it's
Speaker 11: like they're referencing God, Like God decided to point me
Speaker 11: in this direction. I mean, maybe maybe God did, and
Speaker 11: if he and if they did, whatever, good for you.
Speaker 10: Man, that's awesome.
Speaker 11: But the reality is we're living in a time where
Speaker 11: people can move freely and without you like any sort
Speaker 11: of I mean, nobody's gonna get in trouble because there
Speaker 11: are no rules. And yeah, it sucks for Utah that
Speaker 11: they lost one of their best players, but you know
Speaker 11: who else loses some of their best players every other
Speaker 11: team in that every team, it's just about how you
Speaker 11: replace him at this point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that that's the issue comes back down
Speaker 2: to the NC double a's literal inability to and down
Speaker 2: any sort of punishment. They're not allowed to. They were told, like,
Speaker 2: you cannot regulate this stuff anymore, So you have to
Speaker 2: figure out a way to traverse it. While it's you know,
Speaker 2: off the rails and tel it's corralled, and you know, ultimately,
Speaker 2: if you don't find a way to exist in the space,
Speaker 2: it is adapt or die. Until you actually understand what
Speaker 2: the rules are going to be. While there are no rules,
Speaker 2: you kind of have to be a little ruthless.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. I mean, that's it feels
Speaker 1: like that's kind of the only way to do this stuff.
Speaker 11: You can find a way to be irrelevant really quickly
Speaker 11: for if you don't think ahead. Really I mean, and
Speaker 11: I don't want to say Utah is in that space yet,
Speaker 11: but we're going to learn a lot about the state
Speaker 11: of the program.
Speaker 10: This next year.
Speaker 2: What does it look and sound like next year? If
Speaker 2: it's more or less the same for the youths. What
Speaker 2: does that look and sound.
Speaker 10: Like from the fan base?
Speaker 11: Yeah, oh, I mean if it's much of the same,
Speaker 11: I think the fan base will just say that it's
Speaker 11: Morgan's time, the same way a lot of people said
Speaker 11: that it's Morgan's time this year.
Speaker 1: I think there are a lot of people that feel
Speaker 1: that way.
Speaker 10: Now I agree.
Speaker 11: Yeah, But like I've said before, if you want to
Speaker 11: go off results and statistical analysis, seventeen out of twenty
Speaker 11: is like eighty eight percent, seventeen winning years out of
Speaker 11: twenty a lot.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's a lot, and I'm sure it is.
Speaker 11: And it would be one thing again if like you
Speaker 11: had a guy busting down the door who has a
Speaker 11: bunch of big game experience, like this is not a knock.
Speaker 10: On Morgan, but he's never done it before.
Speaker 11: Right, So, if you really think that a first time
Speaker 11: head coach will be able to change things so dramatically
Speaker 11: in such a short amount of time, good for you.
Speaker 11: But we don't have any we don't have any data
Speaker 11: to back that up yet.
Speaker 2: When it comes to BYU's case to be included in
Speaker 2: the twelve team CFP, I feel like the timing of
Speaker 2: their losses ultimately is what did them in because during
Speaker 2: the course of the past the final couple of iterations
Speaker 2: of the rankings, they really weren't even the commerce. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, you would listen to people analyze, Okay, tonight's
Speaker 2: the rankings release and BYU wasn't even in consideration. Now
Speaker 2: again diagnosing, not prognosticating. They beat SMU, who was a
Speaker 2: playoff team, they lose ASU, who was a playoff team.
Speaker 2: Their strength of schedule, their strength and strength of record,
Speaker 2: their quality wins indicate that they did have a case.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like that's legitimate that b why you
Speaker 2: had a case to be included in the twelve team CFP?
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 11: And the one person from a media point of view
Speaker 11: that's been, you know, flying this flag as John Wilner.
Speaker 10: Yes, yes, he's done.
Speaker 11: He's been very upfront about how the committee basically left
Speaker 11: BYU out in the cold. I think if the Kansas
Speaker 11: game is the one that killed them, Like if if
Speaker 11: they win that game, they're in the they're in the
Speaker 11: Big twelve Championship, and and and and if you lose
Speaker 11: to Arizona State again, I mean then they probably are
Speaker 11: in even as like as as an eleven or twelve,
Speaker 11: maybe they should have been at least.
Speaker 10: But I agree with you. It's the timing of the losses.
Speaker 10: It's were those back to back games?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, so you killed them?
Speaker 10: Yeah, and then.
Speaker 11: You you end the year with a with a win
Speaker 11: over a bad Houston team, like you have nothing to
Speaker 11: recently remind the committee who you are, what you've done.
Speaker 10: I mean they reminded everybody who they were against Colorado.
Speaker 1: Too late by that, yeah, but it's too late by then.
Speaker 11: But again, man, like everybody is going to find a
Speaker 11: way to feel hard done or be pissed off.
Speaker 10: Yeah, that is the reality, no matter.
Speaker 11: I mean, I guess we could get to sixty four
Speaker 11: teams like basketball and just make these guys play forever.
Speaker 11: That's that's that's the only way. I do think Culturally,
Speaker 11: it's weird, Like this is a little bit of a tangent.
Speaker 11: Why are we so obsessed with the underdogs in basketball
Speaker 11: doing well, but in football we feel like it's the
Speaker 11: people who have quote unquote earned it.
Speaker 2: I think it's fair. I will say that I think
Speaker 2: people love the upsets. Early on in the tournament, the
Speaker 2: Cinderella wanted Butler.
Speaker 10: Yeah, George Mason, I mean people going like like.
Speaker 1: Did people want TCU when they made the playoff and
Speaker 1: they got who they play?
Speaker 10: Georgia?
Speaker 1: You had the Georgia they got. Yeah, I don't. It's
Speaker 1: a fair, fair question.
Speaker 11: But it's an interesting like I'm thinking of it just
Speaker 11: through like the psychological standpoint of a sports fan, through
Speaker 11: that lens, Like I understand we do like them early on,
Speaker 11: but I still think people.
Speaker 10: If they can keep it going, people love it.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 11: And then like in football, it's like now who's earned
Speaker 11: it the most. It's just an interesting kind of dichotomy
Speaker 11: in my mind.
Speaker 2: So with the SEC, UH clearly shout out to Danny
Speaker 2: Cannell who was on this hill all year long.
Speaker 3: UH.
Speaker 2: And obviously the results bear out that the conference was
Speaker 2: overrated from an on field standpoint, but they still are
Speaker 2: the pre eminent college football conference in the country. They
Speaker 2: the revenue speaks for itself. All those schools, you know,
Speaker 2: per school, as far as you know, bull payouts, television contracts,
Speaker 2: they are making money hand over fist in a way,
Speaker 2: even the Big Ten is, and the Big Ten is
Speaker 2: in their cult to sack, but they're not there. You
Speaker 2: think the way this stuff unfolded will motivate the power
Speaker 2: brokers to Jerrymanner college football to simply be more in
Speaker 2: their favor.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it feels like that's always the deal, right, absolutely.
Speaker 11: I mean, in a weird way, you should almost be
Speaker 11: thankful that one of the fake SEC teams is still
Speaker 11: in it, like with Texas ause Otherwise if they would
Speaker 11: be shut out with these final four, I feel like
Speaker 11: it would be even more so overcorrecting. But yeah, I agree,
Speaker 11: And I know a lot of people were trolling the
Speaker 11: Alabama fans and the SEC homers after a couple of
Speaker 11: these losses and saying, like, you know, when the Alabama
Speaker 11: lost in their bowl game to whoever? I forgot who
Speaker 11: they lost to Michigan. I think like the revisionist history
Speaker 11: part of it is to me, is so exhausting, it's
Speaker 11: so annoying, Like you kind of just have to like
Speaker 11: understand that you are existing in the flawed space and
Speaker 11: it's a flawed universe and it will be forever, so
Speaker 11: you kind of just have to appreciate what it is
Speaker 11: for what it is and just kind of roll with it.
Speaker 11: I mean I almost swore, like, dude, like do you
Speaker 11: remember the BCS for crying out loud? Yeah, this like
Speaker 11: fake computer algorithm that like Elon Musk probably like created
Speaker 11: like twenty five, Like are you kidding me? Like we're
Speaker 11: here now with like Boise State was was a first
Speaker 11: round by team in the playoff, like Arizona State, like
Speaker 11: a team that historically could have had a chance but
Speaker 11: was the like the worst team in the PAC twelve
Speaker 11: last year, took Texas to the brink. Should have won
Speaker 11: that game. These are games that we never would have
Speaker 11: seen in previous years. So I understand why the powers
Speaker 11: that be are shaking their fists at the sky because
Speaker 11: they've always been used to having it their way. But
Speaker 11: everyone else that would just caution to say, calm down
Speaker 11: and just enjoy it for what it is.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's good advice, but you know, ultimately that's
Speaker 2: not able to take my advice. Well, I mean it's
Speaker 2: good advice, but that's unfortunately that's not the way fans behave.
Speaker 2: And I think media members for you know, further agendas
Speaker 2: and narratives that are best for their business. But yes,
Speaker 2: try to enjoy the games. And most of the games
Speaker 2: have been good. There have been blowouts, but there were
Speaker 2: blowouts in the four team. There were blowouts in the BCS,
Speaker 2: since that's the deal. But let me move over here
Speaker 2: with a couple of minutes we have remaining. It feels
Speaker 2: like right now BYU's Collective isn't a good place. The
Speaker 2: number I've been told is they have nine seven figure donors.
Speaker 2: It feels like Utah's Collective has some work to do
Speaker 2: to catch up if we're talking about kind of the
Speaker 2: arms race locally, I've been told the Utah right now
Speaker 2: has two seven figure donors. It's not hard to figure
Speaker 2: out who they are. So I'm not breaking any news.
Speaker 2: Any thoughts on kind of what feels like it's turned
Speaker 2: into be and look, I talk to you about this
Speaker 2: as soon as NIL became a reality, I said, this
Speaker 2: is good news for them down south.
Speaker 1: It felt like this was cater made for tech.
Speaker 2: Bros and mlmbros that had a lot of money and
Speaker 2: loved by athletics to kind of step in and help
Speaker 2: BYU get back to the relevance that they were in
Speaker 2: the nineties and the eighties and the seventies, because it's
Speaker 2: really just simply been a long time, Yes, COVID year,
Speaker 2: what have you, And I think that has turned out
Speaker 2: to be kind of the case. I think it took
Speaker 2: a little bit of time, but ajdbantsas seven mil for
Speaker 2: five months of basketball. Kevin Young, his staff, they're all
Speaker 2: X pros, so they're being paid a lot of money.
Speaker 2: And now we're seeing the football team, certainly I think
Speaker 2: breed some of the same results that we've seen on
Speaker 2: the basketball side of things.
Speaker 1: So kind of your thoughts on what appears.
Speaker 2: To be a little bit of a gap as far
Speaker 2: as BYU right now being the team and the school
Speaker 2: that's figured things out in a way that Utah hasn't
Speaker 2: necessarily shown they have.
Speaker 1: I mean, look the.
Speaker 2: BYU, excuse me, the Utah basketball team. Man, I cheer
Speaker 2: for Craig. He's the best dude. I watched the first
Speaker 2: game of the Big twelve baile They're not even close.
Speaker 2: So the results simply indicate there is a little bit
Speaker 2: of a gap. And these things are cyclical and they're fleeting.
Speaker 2: But what are your what are your thoughts?
Speaker 11: I guess starting locally with the nil component, it makes
Speaker 11: sense that BYU is ahead of Utah because of its
Speaker 11: alumni base, larger spirt, like, it has a net that
Speaker 11: is cast much larger throughout local, national, and international scene.
Speaker 11: So I'm not surprised by that at all. I think
Speaker 11: Utah is just an interesting case study and it could
Speaker 11: potentially be you know, if it continues to struggle, like
Speaker 11: how a recruit and develop program like Utah could potentially
Speaker 11: nosedive in this in the era of nil like Utah
Speaker 11: historically wouldn't lose the same number of players that they've
Speaker 11: lost in the last couple of years, Guys that are
Speaker 11: difference makers, Guys that will go on to be pros,
Speaker 11: Guys like Keanu and cam Calhoun BYU football, those spence, Like,
Speaker 11: I think they're still like in this point where a
Speaker 11: lot of these guys are recruiting developed guys at Kilani
Speaker 11: and those that staff put together too. So like I
Speaker 11: think they they could potentially avoid a potential like pitfall,
Speaker 11: so to speak. But like if I'm just thinking off
Speaker 11: the top of my head, like the offensive line, you
Speaker 11: know had some had some departures in the last couple
Speaker 11: of years, but you have a lot of legacy kids.
Speaker 11: Jake was a guy that nobody was going to take
Speaker 11: a waiver on that Aaron did. The linebacker group, you
Speaker 11: have a local kid. You have two local kids, one
Speaker 11: that came from Oregon, one recruiter from high school. One
Speaker 11: came from Weaver State. Totally totally normal defensive line, like
Speaker 11: you know, homegrown kids for the most part. Secondary there
Speaker 11: have been some transfer ads, but like you're not talking
Speaker 11: about a program that's going out and spending five hundred
Speaker 11: thousand dollars on a defensive back like these are. These
Speaker 11: are recruit and develop guys. So I don't want to
Speaker 11: like belittle what Kolani and his staff have been able
Speaker 11: to do. Like I think them being good and then
Speaker 11: having an nil in fusion will help.
Speaker 10: Them retain players.
Speaker 11: But they've just done a hell of a job in
Speaker 11: the last couple of years piecing that roster together and
Speaker 11: keeping it in tact. So I think ultimately when we
Speaker 11: look at kind of the grand scheme of the state
Speaker 11: of both rosters, I just think BYU has done a
Speaker 11: better job and you just see kind of the the
Speaker 11: fruit that is borne out of that this year. Considering
Speaker 11: how good they were, and they were pretty deep too,
Speaker 11: especially when they had guys go down. They they they
Speaker 11: didn't have that type of like starter goes down all
Speaker 11: of a sudden, we're throwing in you know, the former
Speaker 11: Bountiful Brave, the fourth stringer named Dallan five, A white
Speaker 11: kid and a L L y and I end exactly
Speaker 11: do you believe in New Year's resolutions?
Speaker 3: I like.
Speaker 2: Or intentions? What's the younger generation like?
Speaker 10: Like that show? Like the movie Role Models? I don't
Speaker 10: know if you've seen it.
Speaker 11: When he asked them if he likes Coca Cola, he's like,
Speaker 11: I like the idea of it.
Speaker 10: Yeah, so I like the idea.
Speaker 11: Of New Year's resolutions more than I actually like them,
Speaker 11: but I don't dislike them.
Speaker 1: Did you set an either year you want to share
Speaker 1: with our audience?
Speaker 10: I didn't. Can I set one now?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Please go ahead?
Speaker 10: Oh man, no pressure. I don't want to hurt my
Speaker 10: back anymore.
Speaker 1: That's an excellent one as you age, take care of
Speaker 1: your body. Now, that's great.
Speaker 2: Well, look, man, always great to see you. To get
Speaker 2: you out of the house is an upset too.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's a good start.
Speaker 1: It's a great start to the year. And as long
Speaker 1: as it's fifty degrees, we'll be all right.
Speaker 10: I love it. I love it when it's October and January.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, man, got to see okay?
Speaker 2: Is this the first share track we played since the
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame induction? Ceremony, or have we because she
Speaker 2: I told you she batted lead off, they had Share
Speaker 2: go first. She's the one that was inducted first. She
Speaker 2: gave the first performance. Is this our first Share track
Speaker 2: that we played so far?
Speaker 10: I think I did one yesterday, all right?
Speaker 2: Shout out to Share Hall of Fame Rock and Roll
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
Speaker 3: I wonder if.
Speaker 2: Tony Parks is a Share fan. Tony Parks on a
Speaker 2: Friday afternoon. First of all, Happy Friday, Happy New Year.
Speaker 2: How you doing TP, I'm doing great, Happy New Year
Speaker 2: to you?
Speaker 1: Share thumbs up, thumbs down.
Speaker 7: I was never big it was never big on Share.
Speaker 7: Not a hater, just was never big on Share. She
Speaker 7: had a Christmas song that my wife had playing okay
Speaker 7: quite a bit around the holidays.
Speaker 8: I actually didn't mind that, but a lot of her
Speaker 8: stuff I was just kind of like, yeah, I thought
Speaker 8: it was okay. I thought it was fine. What about that?
Speaker 8: Not great?
Speaker 2: What about Sonny and Share back in the Yeah.
Speaker 8: You know, same thing, same thing, Not not as big
Speaker 8: on it.
Speaker 3: Just yeah, I was always.
Speaker 8: Indifferent on Share.
Speaker 1: Fair enough, man, how you been? Happy New Year? Everything good?
Speaker 8: Everything's great, man.
Speaker 7: I mean I just had, you know what a wonderful
Speaker 7: holiday with with a newborn, you know, fourteen month old,
Speaker 7: and she was the star of the show as you
Speaker 7: would expect, and I mean just it was absolutely magical, beautiful,
Speaker 7: and I had some wonderful time with with people I love.
Speaker 2: So it was it was great, good stuff, good stuff.
Speaker 2: So let's do a little college football here. You know,
Speaker 2: it's been it's been interesting to kind of observe in
Speaker 2: witness what the new twelve team CFP would look and
Speaker 2: feel like and how it would unfold. And now we're
Speaker 2: sitting here with no conference champs. We're gonna have a
Speaker 2: first time national champ head coach, which I think is
Speaker 2: pretty cool, and then no conference champson also none of
Speaker 2: the teams that buys in the first round or left
Speaker 2: in the final four. Just from your viewpoint, thirty thousand
Speaker 2: foot view, it's our first experience with this CFP format.
Speaker 1: What are your takeaways?
Speaker 7: In some ways I look at it and say, okay,
Speaker 7: this was an extreme example, but in my opinion, when
Speaker 7: I wanted an expanded playoff, this was the point. The
Speaker 7: point was that there were still contenders being left out of.
Speaker 8: A four team playoff.
Speaker 7: You know, Ohio State at their past is the best
Speaker 7: team in college football. I felt that way earlier in
Speaker 7: the year, and you had mentioned it earlier in the show,
Speaker 7: and you're spot on.
Speaker 8: In any previous season, they're left out of this.
Speaker 7: In the BCS era, what we would have had Oregon
Speaker 7: in Georgia, and you know, Georgia's without their starting quarterback
Speaker 7: and Oregon, you know, they just picked a really bad
Speaker 7: time to have their worst game of the season.
Speaker 8: And so then you look at the buy situation, it's like, well.
Speaker 7: First of all, Boise State was a thirteen point underdog
Speaker 7: because they weren't the better team. Arizona State was a
Speaker 7: ten point dog because they weren't the better team. So
Speaker 7: the problem was those two shouldn't have had buys, not
Speaker 7: because they weren't, you know, good teams or didn't have
Speaker 7: great seasons.
Speaker 8: They shouldn't have had buys.
Speaker 7: And so that was one reason why two teams with
Speaker 7: the buyer out. Another reason is because they were another
Speaker 7: team was without their starting quarterback. And then because you
Speaker 7: dysfunctionally had two buys that went to teams that shouldn't
Speaker 7: have them, you ended up with a one eight matchup
Speaker 7: with the two best teams in college football and the
Speaker 7: best team in college football right now absolutely both race them.
Speaker 7: So it's imperfect, but it's fixable, and it'll never be
Speaker 7: absolutely perfect.
Speaker 8: But this still is better than anything we've ever had.
Speaker 7: And I know there's been blowouts and I know there's
Speaker 7: been complaining, but it doesn't mean that this isn't significantly
Speaker 7: enhanced from what we've had before.
Speaker 1: And I tend to agree with most of that.
Speaker 2: I was always one to push for a little bit
Speaker 2: more of an expanded playoff and just kind of give
Speaker 2: more teams about it at the Apple and give more
Speaker 2: teams a shot to see if they belong. I want
Speaker 2: to follow up about your Ohio State opinion, which I
Speaker 2: agree with.
Speaker 1: Do you think it was interesting?
Speaker 2: We had Stevens and Sylvester on earlier and Slive's point
Speaker 2: is well taken that every game is different in playoff time,
Speaker 2: it's all about matchups, and you know Texas barely escapes
Speaker 2: ASU and on the other side of the bracket you
Speaker 2: have Penn State, Notre Dame. It feels like this is
Speaker 2: Ohio States Championship to lose. Do you think anyone can
Speaker 2: in their way?
Speaker 7: They can get in their own way, and they prove
Speaker 7: that in the game against Michigan, and I know that
Speaker 7: that was a unique situation, and obviously, as a big
Speaker 7: Michigan fan and a guy that you know is not
Speaker 7: going to be rooting for Ohio State to win the
Speaker 7: national title, I can look at it and still say
Speaker 7: Ohio State is the best team left and they can
Speaker 7: get in their own way.
Speaker 8: I do think that they would have to play.
Speaker 7: Somewhat of a flawed version of themselves to lose this thing,
Speaker 7: but they are the best defense. They have the best
Speaker 7: and most offensive, explosive offensive player, and this guy, I
Speaker 7: just I'm mesmerized still at what he was able to do.
Speaker 7: And I still believe that had it not been for
Speaker 7: a quarterback playing injured in the game against Michigan, they
Speaker 7: would have gone back to spreading it out, taking advantage
Speaker 7: of their strength against Michigan's weakness, and they would have
Speaker 7: won that game. Instead, it turns into a rugged fistfight,
Speaker 7: and it's a thirteen to ten game and people are
Speaker 7: screaming and crying on the field after the game.
Speaker 8: But the point is Ohio State is the best team.
Speaker 8: And I knew coming into this.
Speaker 7: I thought, okay, well, Vegas had him as the second
Speaker 7: best odds and I'm thinking, if they put together the
Speaker 7: best version of themselves, I actually would pick them to
Speaker 7: beat Oregon, and then they were slightly favored against Oregon
Speaker 7: and then it's thirty one to nothing and we're going yeap.
Speaker 7: That was my biggest fear was to see something like
Speaker 7: that happen. So I think that's part of what makes
Speaker 7: this great. When people say it diminishes the regular season, no, no, no,
Speaker 7: you still have to be good enough in the regular
Speaker 7: season to qualify for this, and it's still a small
Speaker 7: number of teams twelve out of what one hundred and
Speaker 7: thirty FBS teams that'll qualify. So if you are among
Speaker 7: the best, you get some advantages. If you're not among
Speaker 7: the best, you may have a tougher road. And Ohio
Speaker 7: State playing their best at the most important time, and
Speaker 7: as long as they don't get in their own way,
Speaker 7: I think they'll be the national champion.
Speaker 2: To your point, I mean, you have to do whatever
Speaker 2: you can to make sure the regular season in college
Speaker 2: football is not compromised. It's what makes this sport what
Speaker 2: it is, even compared to pro football. There's a different
Speaker 2: level of a mediate urgency every Saturday, every weekend in
Speaker 2: college football, So hopefully that continues to be maintained and
Speaker 2: not continue to potentially be compromised. And it should mean
Speaker 2: something to win a conference championship beyond just putting another
Speaker 2: year on your banner. Right, So I just wonder, though,
Speaker 2: from your perspective, before we move on to some of
Speaker 2: the local stuff, are you concerned about the future of
Speaker 2: the sport the lack of regulation the NCAA with the
Speaker 2: inability to even come in and regulate anything because legally
Speaker 2: they can't. They've been told that they had a chance
Speaker 2: for decades and they failed. But as you look at
Speaker 2: the future of this product that we all love and
Speaker 2: is so important to the ecosystem of sport in the
Speaker 2: state of Utah, think the future is bright.
Speaker 8: I think the future is bright.
Speaker 7: I do think, and you're talking about nil and transfer
Speaker 7: portal and anything goes the wild West that we're living
Speaker 7: in right now with college football. My big concern is
Speaker 7: that I do think if they could truly get together
Speaker 7: a governing body where you start to do what's best
Speaker 7: for the sport, the individual player obviously, the programs and
Speaker 7: everything all together, I think you have a chance to
Speaker 7: have a magnificent product that now you have parody.
Speaker 8: There's some good and bad.
Speaker 7: I know, you know, the bad ends up being you
Speaker 7: got a guy who said I didn't feel like I
Speaker 7: was a part of the program. He's been there two
Speaker 7: weeks and his teams in the middle of getting ready
Speaker 7: for a playoff game.
Speaker 3: That's a joke.
Speaker 8: We all know it.
Speaker 7: And then it makes you start to wonder what his
Speaker 7: real reason was. So then there's the other side of this.
Speaker 7: There's now parody in college football. I know it's not
Speaker 7: one hundred and twenty teams with the parody, but there's
Speaker 7: more than there's ever.
Speaker 8: Been, and it's legitimate.
Speaker 7: They used to argue that parody was happening and it
Speaker 7: was a big lie because say you would have a
Speaker 7: division like the Big Ten West back in the day,
Speaker 7: and they'd beg, oh, look at parody, and it was
Speaker 7: a joke because everybody knew whoever they were going to
Speaker 7: play in the Big Ten championship game was going to
Speaker 7: kill them. Now you have parody because the SEC doesn't
Speaker 7: just have loads of depth. Now when these players don't
Speaker 7: play or they know that they're probably not going to
Speaker 7: see the field, they have somewhere else to go. Now
Speaker 7: the talent's being spread out even more. Now trust is
Speaker 7: more important than it's ever been. That doesn't mean that
Speaker 7: the coaches are always to blame when the player leaves.
Speaker 7: It doesn't mean the players always to blame when they go.
Speaker 8: Find a better situation. And when you're seeing.
Speaker 7: That start to spread out now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 7: everything puts bigger stress on the sec who used to
Speaker 7: just be able to do things automatically. And as you're
Speaker 7: seeing them, let's say they're not the best conference in
Speaker 7: college football anymore, it's not because you know, they just
Speaker 7: suddenly forgot how to coach. It's now because guys like
Speaker 7: Saban leave because they don't know how to manage this
Speaker 7: new situation. It's way too outside of what they were
Speaker 7: used to doing, so they have to adjust. Everybody has
Speaker 7: to adjust to it. But I I am concerned going forward.
Speaker 7: I am concerned that the extreme cases are not going
Speaker 7: to be examined properly so that we can come down
Speaker 7: to having a true quality situation that is beneficial and
Speaker 7: I think fair to all parties involved. Kids should have
Speaker 7: a fair shot to get paid when they go out
Speaker 7: there and play. They should also have some freedom to
Speaker 7: go and play where they know that they'll have a
Speaker 7: chance to get on the field or to do what
Speaker 7: they ultimately want to do. And a program is trying
Speaker 7: to be consistent and successful and they're trying to be
Speaker 7: able to depend on a team aspect. There's a way
Speaker 7: to structure and organize this. I'm just hoping that as
Speaker 7: they now put something together that it can end up
Speaker 7: being better and fair to all sides.
Speaker 1: All Right, one more thing here, do you feel like
Speaker 1: once the.
Speaker 2: And it appears to be an inevitability that at some point,
Speaker 2: whether two years, three years, four years down the line,
Speaker 2: college football will look very much like professional football. And
Speaker 2: the money has always been there. It has It's just
Speaker 2: been in back channels with you CD deals consummated by
Speaker 2: people who built a business on the backs of employees
Speaker 2: they didn't pay. So the money being there isn't new,
Speaker 2: but it certainly is more top of mind, and it's
Speaker 2: in front of our faces. And the teams that you
Speaker 2: love are losing players year in and year out because
Speaker 2: they can go make money elsewhere, maybe in a way
Speaker 2: that they couldn't make for the team that you love,
Speaker 2: and that's part of the deal. It's also capitalism, but
Speaker 2: it's free agency during the season. Once this thing settles
Speaker 2: into what I believe it will be moving forward, and
Speaker 2: I believe that's going to happen. I just don't know when.
Speaker 2: Do you think that will motivate more people to consume it,
Speaker 2: or do you think kind of the neoliberal capitalist movement
Speaker 2: to bring money into quote unquote amateur sports will turn
Speaker 2: more people off.
Speaker 8: I'm all for it being a business.
Speaker 7: We need to quit holding onto some of the things
Speaker 7: that don't work or that we know happens to be
Speaker 7: a straight up line. The things that will turn people
Speaker 7: off is blatant selfishness, people bending the need to those
Speaker 7: who are overwhelmingly selfish. If it's an individual case, that's
Speaker 7: one thing. Once it becomes so rampant that everybody becomes
Speaker 7: tired of a weird narrative that they know isn't true,
Speaker 7: and then it just suddenly becomes something that they know
Speaker 7: lacks authenticity, I think that would end up hurting the sport.
Speaker 8: I think that would end up hurting the sport.
Speaker 7: If it's a business and you're authentic about it, I
Speaker 7: think people will be okay. You know, if you like
Speaker 7: the ton of us a thing, just to touch on
Speaker 7: that real quick, if he just goes, look, this is
Speaker 7: a business now, and I have decisions to make about
Speaker 7: my future. And I made this decision about my future,
Speaker 7: and there's a lot of details that go into it
Speaker 7: that you wouldn't know unless you're in my position. And
Speaker 7: it's not about what's wrong with one place. It's about
Speaker 7: what was better in another place based on the details
Speaker 7: that go into that. And if you're just really real
Speaker 7: about that, I'm telling you, I really think.
Speaker 8: The authenticity of it.
Speaker 7: People would know they have careers, they work jobs, they
Speaker 7: have talents, they want to get paid for their talents.
Speaker 7: They would relate to that, even if it wasn't like
Speaker 7: it was back in the eighties and nineties. I truly
Speaker 7: believe people would be okay with it. But if we
Speaker 7: kind of sort of halfway to it and really kind
Speaker 7: of lying about it and we have this weird, bizarre
Speaker 7: feeling where we don't know what to believe or trust,
Speaker 7: that's I think when people will start to turn away
Speaker 7: from this, even though you'll still have a lot of
Speaker 7: support from it from people who went to their university
Speaker 7: and have their personal times.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and let's move over to some of the local stuff,
Speaker 2: and the Kiano ton Ofvasta topic is what will launch
Speaker 2: us into that, as you referenced, and you know, you've
Speaker 2: got to be careful here with a few things, because
Speaker 2: I do think he's a good kid, and I do
Speaker 2: think he got a big time paycheck at BYU, and
Speaker 2: I do think that that motivated him to move down
Speaker 2: to Provo. There's also the Draped in religiosity release the scripture.
Speaker 2: His father releases a tweet today that said, the heaven
Speaker 2: spoke to the family.
Speaker 1: And I am never one You've known me for a
Speaker 1: long time.
Speaker 2: To tell anybody what they should do about their belief system,
Speaker 2: their religion, or their relationship with God. What is for
Speaker 2: me is not for you. What is for you is
Speaker 2: not for me. It's fine, it doesn't matter. And beliefs
Speaker 2: are important to people. The structure in the community that
Speaker 2: religion brings to the lives of people is important. And
Speaker 2: even beyond that, if you believe certain things that are
Speaker 2: beyond this life, like that's how you live your life.
Speaker 2: And I understand it. I don't love the veil. I
Speaker 2: don't love the roadblock that it puts up when you
Speaker 2: can just kind of say, well, God told me to
Speaker 2: do this, and so I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1: But you know that movie the social network.
Speaker 2: There's that great line where Zuckerberg's girlfriend says, you know, Mark,
Speaker 2: the Internet has not written in pencil, It's written in ink.
Speaker 2: And so you know, we know the way he handled
Speaker 2: himself out the door, knocking on players who committed to
Speaker 2: Utah and then left, name namely Cameron Calhoun. And the
Speaker 2: money Tony unfortunately does bring in an extra layer of criticism.
Speaker 1: It just does.
Speaker 2: For decades and decades and decades it was layoff the
Speaker 2: college kids. They are unpaid young people that are working
Speaker 2: hard to put a product on the field that you like.
Speaker 2: They're no longer unpaid. They're handsomely compensated. And so while
Speaker 2: I don't love the look of the fan base when
Speaker 2: people are cracking on Keanu, to your point, he could
Speaker 2: have handled it better. I just I like what Stevens
Speaker 2: and Sylvester said earlier. Just be honest and upfront. I'm
Speaker 2: making a business decision. We all can understand that, because
Speaker 2: because if I had the ability to leave the radio
Speaker 2: station tomorrow and walk across the street to a radio
Speaker 2: station that was tripling my salary, I'm leaving tomorrow. Okay,
Speaker 2: So I'm not begrudging him for what he did, but
Speaker 2: as you've kind of witnessed how this whole thing has
Speaker 2: gone down. And I also want your take on kind
Speaker 2: of the religiosity element that's intertwined here.
Speaker 1: What are some of your takeaways?
Speaker 7: So one of my takeaways is, and I've had, you know,
Speaker 7: over the past few months, worked with the number of
Speaker 7: different people, spoken at schools and things like that, college classes,
Speaker 7: and sometimes when I speak in a one on one
Speaker 7: situation with people and they say, you know, they'll they'll
Speaker 7: ask about different parts of their journey and things. And
Speaker 7: one thing I always tell them is, you know, you
Speaker 7: don't need to ask for permission to do what's best
Speaker 7: for you.
Speaker 8: And that doesn't have to come with something virtuous. That
Speaker 8: doesn't like you don't.
Speaker 7: Need to want to come a broadcaster or want to
Speaker 7: work in Major League Baseball, or.
Speaker 8: You want to be a radio show host like you're
Speaker 8: doing right now. You don't want to have to do it.
Speaker 7: And it also means that you want to save the
Speaker 7: whales and you want to help.
Speaker 8: The earth be a friendlier place. It's like, well, maybe
Speaker 8: those things are also there.
Speaker 7: It's okay to admit, hey, look I'm here, this is
Speaker 7: a business, this is what I do.
Speaker 8: These are my dreams. These are my passions, and you
Speaker 8: can unapologetically ask for them. That does not make you
Speaker 8: awful wrong.
Speaker 7: I find it very interesting and I think sometimes I
Speaker 7: think especially the live an out of state and then
Speaker 7: also in the state of Utah, like there is something
Speaker 7: that I've always kind of felt in the state of
Speaker 7: Utah where people get this sort of like, but it
Speaker 7: has to also mean that there's a virtuous reason to
Speaker 7: it too, and it's like, no, no, Sometimes you have
Speaker 7: a passion to do what you love to do, and
Speaker 7: you do it because you love it and you care
Speaker 7: about it, and it's what your biggest desires are and
Speaker 7: you go after that. Now, when it comes to something
Speaker 7: like your faith, which I'm a faithful.
Speaker 8: Person as well, and I have absolutely had to.
Speaker 7: Make certain decisions, we're really leaning and thinking and going
Speaker 7: deep into prayer and all of that. And I believe
Speaker 7: that when he says that that is a truth. But
Speaker 7: when you say the other thing is when you're using
Speaker 7: a truth, that doesn't mean that's the whole truth, And
Speaker 7: that doesn't mean that everybody else has to look away
Speaker 7: from what is also likely true in that situation based
Speaker 7: on all the other evidence and all the other behaviors
Speaker 7: and all the other things that they have witnessed up
Speaker 7: until that point. So it is okay for one for
Speaker 7: anybody to say, look, you got more money, that's why
Speaker 7: you left, and it's okay for you to say that.
Speaker 8: That's okay.
Speaker 7: We need to get to a place where someone says, yeah,
Speaker 7: I was at the university you taught love my time there,
Speaker 7: i got a better opportunity at BYU, and I'm gonna
Speaker 7: get paid just like the coaches, just like use a
Speaker 7: radio show host, just like anybody.
Speaker 8: It's okay to say that. It is okay to say that.
Speaker 7: And you can also say, you know, and I've given
Speaker 7: a lot of thought and that's where i want to be,
Speaker 7: and there's nothing wrong with that. But we've got to
Speaker 7: be able to just admit it rather than say here's
Speaker 7: something i'm gonna throw out.
Speaker 8: It's a truth and I'm gonna count it for the
Speaker 8: whole truth.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well said, all right, before I set you loose.
Speaker 2: Let's kind of end with the topic that we've been
Speaker 2: discussing for quite some time. As a result of the
Speaker 2: reality of where we find ourselves in the market. With
Speaker 2: BYU basketball on a massive upward swing, they signed I
Speaker 2: don't know, Tony. If you've seen this debansa kid play
Speaker 2: like goodness, gracious, I.
Speaker 1: Mean he is.
Speaker 2: He's everything you've heard in more And so you know,
Speaker 2: they've signed the top player in the country and one
Speaker 2: of the best players of a generation. They've got a
Speaker 2: top ten recruiting class. They have a good team.
Speaker 1: This year.
Speaker 2: BYU football comes off an excellent year in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 1: They truck Colorado and the Alimo bowlel.
Speaker 2: And it appears that their collective endeavors are very much
Speaker 2: in lockstep and in line, and they're doing a very
Speaker 2: very good job down there. And I'm not necessarily saying
Speaker 2: that's because you know, I rarely do the thing where like, okay,
Speaker 2: if by US up the Utah's down, like you know,
Speaker 2: several things can be true. I'm not saying that Utah's
Speaker 2: things are not in order, but we can only analyze
Speaker 2: the data that's in front of us. Utah basketball is
Speaker 2: not taking steps forward. We're coming off potentially what I
Speaker 2: believe to be the worst season of Utah football under
Speaker 2: coach with juxtaposed a preseason expectations.
Speaker 1: So there is this feeling permeating in the.
Speaker 2: Market that BYU for now has some things figured out
Speaker 2: that maybe Utah does not.
Speaker 1: Is that fair to say? What are your thoughts?
Speaker 8: It's absolutely fair to say.
Speaker 7: And obviously BYU Athletics is going to get a ton
Speaker 7: of support from a number of people who have been
Speaker 7: very passionate about their sports team, and now it opens
Speaker 7: up more avenues that they can directly impact that when
Speaker 7: you are a fan and you have resources, and you're
Speaker 7: a supporter of your team, and you have resources and
Speaker 7: you believe that you can have an even bigger impact.
Speaker 7: Like it's one thing if a program comes to you
Speaker 7: and says, boy, we hope you can give us the
Speaker 7: money so we can go do this, but you know we.
Speaker 8: Have to operate within these rules. Can't do these things.
Speaker 7: Well, now those rules have expanded. Now they want to
Speaker 7: be even more invested. And there's a deep, white hot
Speaker 7: passion and desire for BYU Athletics from their fan base.
Speaker 7: I've been saying it for a long time. I used
Speaker 7: to get criticized as a talk show host because you know,
Speaker 7: people would be like, well, b Yu's record is only this,
Speaker 7: why are you talking about them?
Speaker 6: Like?
Speaker 7: Because they have a lot of people that care if
Speaker 7: they're good, They care if they're bad, they care.
Speaker 8: I mean, if they're really good, they're at a fever pitch.
Speaker 8: You know they care.
Speaker 7: And BYU friends that I know that will find me
Speaker 7: and talk to me.
Speaker 8: Man, they can't wait to talk about their team.
Speaker 7: So there's a white hot passion and desire that comes
Speaker 7: with that, and they are willing to walk the walk
Speaker 7: when it comes to writing the checks and putting up
Speaker 7: the money to get the guys on the quarter on
Speaker 7: the field to compete at the very very best levels.
Speaker 7: So when NIL first came out, my first thought was
Speaker 7: because I had a friend of mine who works at
Speaker 7: America First Credit Union and he said I was walking
Speaker 7: in the hallways and I remembered him saying, like, I'm
Speaker 7: wondering how this could help the football team, And I
Speaker 7: thought the basketball team is where this is going to
Speaker 7: be big, because now you don't need as many players
Speaker 7: that you could invest.
Speaker 8: In and they can have an immediate impact.
Speaker 7: And even if it is one and done, you can
Speaker 7: still find a good investment number that ends up, you know,
Speaker 7: paying off in a really good way. This could be
Speaker 7: great for getting you know, a high quality coach. This
Speaker 7: could be get This could be great in several ways
Speaker 7: and so.
Speaker 8: They're on the brink of doing that.
Speaker 7: I think, you know obviously, you know, to be able
Speaker 7: to land a number one recruit, to have things look
Speaker 7: the way that they're looking for BYU basketball. You know,
Speaker 7: it wasn't that long ago I would have told you that,
Speaker 7: you know, them having the expectation for an explosive year
Speaker 7: was it was truly once in a quarter century type stuff.
Speaker 8: And the expectation is now going to be much bigger.
Speaker 7: As for what you're talking about with Utah, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 7: that's that's that's part of the challenge when landscapes shift
Speaker 7: in college sports is the pro for one team.
Speaker 8: Can sometimes be what draws away from another team.
Speaker 7: And that's how a rivalry also exists, and that's part
Speaker 7: of how it goes. And so there's a number of
Speaker 7: college pros who I think you know, are going to have,
Speaker 7: you know, a number of different ways where they're going
Speaker 7: to have to get acclimated to a new era of
Speaker 7: college sports. But you're seeing I mean, look in the
Speaker 7: last year, Michigan's national title. This year, Notre Dame, a
Speaker 7: team like that's in the you know, the college football
Speaker 7: semi final. They used to have restrictions and and some
Speaker 7: challenges that really kind of kept them on the outside
Speaker 7: looking in. For the most part, they were always kind
Speaker 7: of up there, but they were in that next tier
Speaker 7: down now their front row, Joe, you know, and so
Speaker 7: a program like BYU basketball and football, they have some
Speaker 7: of the weapons that can really help them surge and
Speaker 7: be at a very high level.
Speaker 2: Tony my man. Always great to catch up with you.
Speaker 2: Glad you're doing well. Would you like to share a
Speaker 2: new Year's resolution with our listening audience on this Friday?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I just decided, you know what, let's just gain weight.
Speaker 7: Let's let's there we go o the way, Let's go
Speaker 7: the other way. You know what the heck I keep
Speaker 7: failing at this thing. No, I'm kidding.
Speaker 3: I think you know what.
Speaker 7: You go into different things, and I'm trying to get
Speaker 7: a good measurement for it.
Speaker 8: I want to be even uh more patient, you know.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I like to get after stuff. I like getting
Speaker 8: stuff done.
Speaker 1: I like that.
Speaker 8: So, yeah, like one of those little things to work on,
Speaker 8: you know.
Speaker 7: And I'm a girl, dad with a newborn and things
Speaker 7: like that.
Speaker 8: So just yeah, being more patient.
Speaker 1: If you figure out how to do that. Whill you
Speaker 1: allowed me a text? Because you have.
Speaker 7: I know a lot of people are like, yeah, I
Speaker 7: think that one's on my I think everyone could probably
Speaker 7: use even more patients. And I'm, you know, just one
Speaker 7: of those where you know, you you work in sports
Speaker 7: and entertainment and you're you're always building and doing projects
Speaker 7: or ideas and advancing and just sitting back a little
Speaker 7: more often and enjoying it.
Speaker 8: So the holidays were a great start for that. And
Speaker 8: why what's yours? What? What do you have for me?
Speaker 3: To read?
Speaker 2: One book every month? Read, not listen though, sit down
Speaker 2: and read. You want to get home from work one
Speaker 2: good month.
Speaker 8: That's key. Yep, that's key. Yep. I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I love it.
Speaker 8: Thanks for being so real, Thanks for being the best.
Speaker 8: I'll chat with you soon.
Speaker 1: You're my guy.
Speaker 2: Tony Park's voice of the Bees took over for the
Speaker 2: late Steve. I will get to the five o'clock hour
Speaker 2: of the show coming up at about twenty five thirty
Speaker 2: minutes from right now, mostly college pro football the rest
Speaker 2: of the way, which of course topical right now, and
Speaker 2: will continue the conversation with one of our favorites, the
Speaker 2: voice of the Rams, our old buddy from the Pac
Speaker 2: twelve Days, which a tier is now falling down my cheek,
Speaker 2: but always great to catch up with JB.
Speaker 1: Long On a Friday, JB.
Speaker 2: Larry David tells me, I have through today to wish
Speaker 2: you a happy New Year, sir, so I will do
Speaker 2: just that.
Speaker 1: Happy Friday.
Speaker 9: I'll curb it right back to you.
Speaker 3: Same to you.
Speaker 9: How can I set you up for success in the
Speaker 9: five o'clock hour? That's my primary concern here.
Speaker 2: Well, I would, I wouldn't want anybody else to do it.
Speaker 2: So I appreciate it because it has been a little
Speaker 2: bit and I do want to get to the rams
Speaker 2: in a moment, but of course a little college football
Speaker 2: because it is top of mind and you still exist
Speaker 2: in that space quite a bit. I just want to
Speaker 2: ask you, from a thirty thousand foot Macro viewpoint, now
Speaker 2: that we are seeing the twelve team CFP in front
Speaker 2: of us, what are your thoughts so far? Of course,
Speaker 2: four teams left standing as a.
Speaker 9: Now well, through my Irish tinted lenses, I'm happy for
Speaker 9: Notre Dame to be competing in this environment and to
Speaker 9: be a true SEC powerhouse. I understand, George is not
Speaker 9: what they have been in recent years, but they were
Speaker 9: still worthy of being there and so happy for my
Speaker 9: alma mater to show up on that stage and win convincingly.
Speaker 9: I think my you know, thirty thousand foot perspective is
Speaker 9: a little bit cynical, but I'll offer it to you anyway,
Speaker 9: which is now that everybody has the chance to compensate
Speaker 9: players and attract them, if not equally, at least with
Speaker 9: you know, true financial incentives. It's probably not a coincidence
Speaker 9: that when you then put them in a broader playing
Speaker 9: field at neutral sites, that the SEC is not necessarily
Speaker 9: as dominant as they have been when the game was
Speaker 9: kind of catered to them specifically. So I think if
Speaker 9: that's the dominant narrative coming out of this year's college
Speaker 9: football playoffs, I'm right on board with it. I don't
Speaker 9: think the SEC is going anywhere. I still think they're
Speaker 9: the best resource. I still think they're going to win
Speaker 9: the preponderance of college football playoffs because of the Breton
Speaker 9: caliber of their teams and their coaches and their care factor.
Speaker 9: But I think this is a good place to start
Speaker 9: a new era of college football with the final four that.
Speaker 1: We have completely forgot.
Speaker 2: And I knew that you were a Notre Dame alum,
Speaker 2: So let me take advantage of your knowledge and ask
Speaker 2: you about what stands out most when it comes to
Speaker 2: the job that Marcus Freeman has done. You know, I
Speaker 2: think I was caught off guard when Brian Kelly left,
Speaker 2: and all due respect to a man who I've never met,
Speaker 2: Marcus Freeman seems like a lot more likable. It's a
Speaker 2: more likable Notre Dame football team. What stands out most
Speaker 2: about this building job that he's done.
Speaker 10: A lot?
Speaker 9: I think the reaction to Brian Kelly leaving and him
Speaker 9: stepping back into that Notre Dame locker room said that
Speaker 9: he was a player favorite, But hiring a player favorite
Speaker 9: is not necessarily a formula for success in college football succession.
Speaker 9: I think there was plenty of reason to question how
Speaker 9: he would sink or swim in this environment, and he's
Speaker 9: done nothing but thrive, and I give him a ton
Speaker 9: of credit for that. Both long lens and short lens
Speaker 9: like to stumble after beating Texas A and M college station,
Speaker 9: to stumble against NIU and to kind of have egg
Speaker 9: on your face, and to play the long game and
Speaker 9: to win out and to be right there at the
Speaker 9: finish line.
Speaker 10: I think that says a.
Speaker 9: Lot about him individually and the personality that his team
Speaker 9: has adopted. I think Notre Dame has threaded the needle
Speaker 9: just perfectly between still being true to their roots but
Speaker 9: realizing that the NIL game is where the future is
Speaker 9: and if they want to play big boy college football,
Speaker 9: they need to not not just participate, but dominate it
Speaker 9: to the extent that they're able. And I never thought
Speaker 9: I would see a transfer portal era reach South Bend.
Speaker 9: It's so antithetical to what that institution has been all
Speaker 9: about for so many years. But the way that they
Speaker 9: selectively utilized transfers who are in good academic standing and
Speaker 9: could contribute to specific roles, there's no way they win
Speaker 9: that game last night, which is high school players that
Speaker 9: they had recruited.
Speaker 2: Do you do you feel like Notre Dame is capable
Speaker 2: of winning it all this year? You know it from
Speaker 2: my vantage point JB. A lot of people who I
Speaker 2: respect and cover the sport have always talked about all
Speaker 2: your long, Ohio State's best being better than everybody else's best.
Speaker 2: It didn't manifest against Michigan, but ultimately they're.
Speaker 1: Kind of rolling. What for your alma mater? What do
Speaker 1: you think? What do you think the ceiling is this year.
Speaker 9: No, sure, I think any of the four teams has
Speaker 9: the potential to win it all.
Speaker 10: I think for all.
Speaker 9: That we I shouldn't say we, for all that some
Speaker 9: gripe about the first round of games, and we can
Speaker 9: talk about that too if you want. I think the
Speaker 9: final four are worthy and each of them, if they
Speaker 9: play to their highest potential, has every reasona believe that
Speaker 9: they're going to be the national champion. And you know,
Speaker 9: I think what we've landed on, correct me if you
Speaker 9: feel otherwise, is March Madness on grass in the winner
Speaker 9: when you expand the field, whether or not you saw
Speaker 9: upsets happen in the first round like we're used to
Speaker 9: on that first Thursday and Friday of March maddness. Ultimately
Speaker 9: you get to Sweet sixteen week and and if you've
Speaker 9: made it to that second week and you're for real
Speaker 9: and you've got a chance, certainly, if you make it
Speaker 9: to the final four, you're a contender. And I'm glad
Speaker 9: it took us too long, but I'm glad that this
Speaker 9: is where we are as a college football space, because
Speaker 9: whether it's Arizona State or Boise State or even Indiana,
Speaker 9: some of the others that fell by the wayside. I
Speaker 9: don't think just because you lost a one off game,
Speaker 9: especially if you lost in a true road game, that
Speaker 9: that means that you were anything other than a top
Speaker 9: twelve team in college football this year.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, those of us that remember the
Speaker 2: PAC twelve years, certainly we'll always wonder what a team
Speaker 2: like Utah at their pe could have done in an
Speaker 2: expanded twelve team situation. But unfortunately, JB, let's move over
Speaker 2: to where we find ourselves here. And we did visit
Speaker 2: with you, I believe, once during the college football season.
Speaker 2: But you're a guy that covered Utah football for a
Speaker 2: number of years college Utah football games for a number
Speaker 2: of you years since you and I last spoke, Coach
Speaker 2: Witt has announced he's coming back for year twenty one.
Speaker 2: So the succession plan in place, you know, Morgan Scally
Speaker 2: is now being Logan Royd. He's not ready to hand
Speaker 2: over you know, the company to his oldest son just yet,
Speaker 2: and so that's on hold for one year. As of now,
Speaker 2: we have sixteen new transfer portal editions, twenty five incoming
Speaker 2: freshman forty one new players for the Utes. But based
Speaker 2: off of what you know, about this program. Do you
Speaker 2: feel confident that this disappointing season could be a one
Speaker 2: off as opposed to the new reality of Utah football.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's a fair question. It's probably one that I
Speaker 9: would be speaking out of turn two answer too definitively,
Speaker 9: not being as in the weeds as I once was.
Speaker 9: But you know how much faith I have in that
Speaker 9: leadership and the resources around that program and the commitment
Speaker 9: of the community to it. I very much agree with
Speaker 9: the sentiment you expressed that you know, had Utah as
Speaker 9: a pack champion been gifted not gifted, had earned the
Speaker 9: opportunity to host a first round playoff game, good things
Speaker 9: would have happened. I think a lot of your audience
Speaker 9: agrees with that. But the other reason why I'm hesitant
Speaker 9: to reply in any definitive manner is because what is
Speaker 9: January twenty twenty five tell us at all about September
Speaker 9: or November or December of twenty five. Imagine telling an
Speaker 9: Arizona State die hard, much less any of us kind
Speaker 9: of adjacent to that program, that Kenny Dillingham and Cam
Speaker 9: Skataboo would be in the first college football playoffs, and
Speaker 9: I think justifiably they should have won that game and
Speaker 9: been part of the Final four like that, that's an
Speaker 9: absurdity to even ponder at this stage of the calendar.
Speaker 9: And yet in the era that we are in, you
Speaker 9: can cobble together a completely different team than the one
Speaker 9: that I saw in person in Salt Lake City last year.
Speaker 9: I think you probably remember that game, like I was
Speaker 9: worried the sun Devils weren't going to get out of
Speaker 9: there in one piece, Like they didn't have a quarterback,
Speaker 9: they had their tight end warming up on the sideline
Speaker 9: to take snaps. And here they are a year later,
Speaker 9: deservedly having a true argument to say that they should
Speaker 9: be part of the college football playoff semi finals.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and to your point, only time will tell because
Speaker 2: there's still another transfer portal window that will open. And
Speaker 2: I mean, look, they could lose a ton of talent
Speaker 2: between now in the fall.
Speaker 1: It is an exercise and futility.
Speaker 2: But before we move on to the pros, you know,
Speaker 2: one of the conversations that we continue to have, not
Speaker 2: just here, but people across the landscape of college football
Speaker 2: media is.
Speaker 1: What the future of the sport is going to look like.
Speaker 2: With all of the lack of regulations, the NCAA is
Speaker 2: not even allowed to offer any sort of guidance or punishment.
Speaker 2: They have been told that that's not a thing that
Speaker 2: they're allowed to do anymore. They had decades to try
Speaker 2: to figure it out, but they couldn't. And ultimately a
Speaker 2: lot of people believe we are high speed ahad to
Speaker 2: a pro model. I feel like that would solve a
Speaker 2: lot of the problems that seem to play college football.
Speaker 2: You know, allow the players to unionize collectively, bargain. I
Speaker 2: know administrators at schools don't want that. I feel like
Speaker 2: coaches do do you feel like? And you know, despite
Speaker 2: all of the off field issues, ratings are through the roof.
Speaker 2: Consumption is fine. So what I say, is the sport
Speaker 2: in trouble? The answer is probably no. But if you
Speaker 2: look in the Jblong crystal ball, what does the future
Speaker 2: of college football look like?
Speaker 9: Well, I hope that college football can find it's Roger Goodell.
Speaker 9: And what I mean by that is, regardless of how
Speaker 9: you feel about that name and his role in the
Speaker 9: National Football League, college football desperately direly needs someone with
Speaker 9: the authority to say yes, no, maybe, And right now
Speaker 9: there just isn't anyone not in Indianapolis. Not at the
Speaker 9: NCAAA level, Like it's a bunch of college commissioners who
Speaker 9: have all sorts of very difficult motivations. But I think
Speaker 9: we need to nominate a someone, and I don't want
Speaker 9: a committee. I want to someone who has the authority
Speaker 9: to take this what I think has the potential to
Speaker 9: be a golden era of college football to its next iteration.
Speaker 9: And it's not to say that that's be some czar
Speaker 9: that has unilateral say, but he or she will speak
Speaker 9: for the key stakeholders who can voice their preferences and
Speaker 9: concerns to that person. But ultimately, there has to be
Speaker 9: something that connects Eugene to Salt Lake City, you know,
Speaker 9: to Austin, Texas, to Tuscaloosa, to College Station and Happy
Speaker 9: Valley right like, right now, that just doesn't exist. And
Speaker 9: I think we're seeing the fragmented nature of college football.
Speaker 9: And just because it's great right now, Spence, I think
Speaker 9: there is a red blinking light that if we're not
Speaker 9: careful and if we don't act soon enough, it can
Speaker 9: go the wrong way.
Speaker 1: I do agree with that.
Speaker 2: That's why I talk about the issues as often as
Speaker 2: I do, because I love the sport. We care about
Speaker 2: it here on our stay with both Utah and Berg
Speaker 2: of Young and want to make sure that everything is
Speaker 2: in place for it to continue to thrive. All right,
Speaker 2: As you know, we are the unofficial home of the Rams,
Speaker 2: the La Rams here in Salt Lakes, in off and
Speaker 2: tell you because mcveigh's my guy.
Speaker 1: But look four or five to start the year, right.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people thought that this was
Speaker 2: going to be a rebuilding year, but here they are. Man,
Speaker 2: you guys won the division. You're going to the postseason
Speaker 2: no matter what happens over the weekend. How has coach
Speaker 2: McVeigh been able to pull this off after such a
Speaker 2: rough start to the year.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I know this is what you meant by saying
Speaker 9: four of five, but let me just spell it out
Speaker 9: for the audience. He may just be going about their
Speaker 9: day not dialed into exactly what you said. There. They
Speaker 9: lost four of their first yes, you know, say for
Speaker 9: a walk off field goal against the San Francisco forty
Speaker 9: nine ers. They were dead in the water at their
Speaker 9: bye week, just like they were a year ago, three
Speaker 9: games below five hundred. You know it was different this
Speaker 9: year is you know you just hadn't seen the team
Speaker 9: that they had built in its full form and if
Speaker 9: there was a reason for optimism, that was it. It's like,
Speaker 9: how can you judge this team before we see pukinnaku
Speaker 9: as year two? How can you judge Matthew Stafford until
Speaker 9: he plays behind at least four of the five offensive
Speaker 9: linemen that you invested in this offseason, so that latent
Speaker 9: potential was there, but still to cash it in and
Speaker 9: the clinch before week eighteen was a scenario that I
Speaker 9: don't even think the bravest or boldest Rams fan would
Speaker 9: have gone out on a lin to say. But I
Speaker 9: do keep bringing it back to Sean and I think
Speaker 9: he is a unique force of football, and I think
Speaker 9: this is one of his better, if not best, one
Speaker 9: of his better coaching jobs, because it was so unique
Speaker 9: from even as recently as last year, when on paper
Speaker 9: they did the same thing, but if you lived at
Speaker 9: day to day, it was nothing like what they did
Speaker 9: last year.
Speaker 2: Of course, you have a local player that we've been
Speaker 2: watching since he was fourteen year years old in pokin Akua,
Speaker 2: and some health issues early on, and then he came
Speaker 2: back and every single week you just kind of shake
Speaker 2: your head at what he's able to do. I think
Speaker 2: we all thought he had a chance to be a pro,
Speaker 2: But I don't think anybody thoughts that he was going
Speaker 2: to look and play like this week in and week out.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know that I have a question
Speaker 2: for you, just your thoughts on yet another unbelievable successful season.
Speaker 1: You're two for pooking a coup.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I don't know what higher praise I can give him,
Speaker 9: except he really improved from a record setting rookie season,
Speaker 9: and that's not easy to do when you go from
Speaker 9: a running mate of Cooper Cup who shines in his
Speaker 9: absence and thrives opposite him, to someone who is now
Speaker 9: getting the full force of every defensive scating report and
Speaker 9: coverage and you get better. That's a testament to who
Speaker 9: he is and the work that he put in to
Speaker 9: take that leap. And it doesn't come easily because of
Speaker 9: how high he set the bar. But you know, if
Speaker 9: there was anything to pick at last year, it was
Speaker 9: that he had some drops other than dropping the first
Speaker 9: pass that Stafford threw him after his return from injury,
Speaker 9: I don't think he's put another one on the ground
Speaker 9: since he's been spectacular. He competes without the football, which
Speaker 9: is something that he'll never get as much credit for
Speaker 9: as he deserves, but it's demanded of someone in his
Speaker 9: role within the McVeigh offense. So there's a lot on
Speaker 9: pookah shoulders and they're broad and they're strong, and thank
Speaker 9: goodness because you could say it one of two ways
Speaker 9: the Rams go as far in this postseason as Matthew
Speaker 9: African take them, and I think that's true. But Matthew
Speaker 9: Stafford's you know, first look and last look is going
Speaker 9: to beat a puka nakua through the year because that's
Speaker 9: the best thing the Rams have going offensively.
Speaker 2: So Vegas tells us that the Chiefs are still the
Speaker 2: favorite to win the Super Bowl, and you know, it
Speaker 2: has been a razor's edge for them, where on one hand,
Speaker 2: it's pretty remarkable to watch Patrick Mahomes kind of evolve
Speaker 2: into this intellectual quarterback and Andy Reid to just simply
Speaker 2: coach them to win games.
Speaker 1: However they need to.
Speaker 2: And on the other hand, you look around at the
Speaker 2: litany of talent and really good teams in Pro football
Speaker 2: and you say, can you survive that come playoff time?
Speaker 2: Do you think this is Kansas City's to win again
Speaker 2: for the third straight time?
Speaker 10: Yeah?
Speaker 9: Probably probably, But like I think last time, I ducked
Speaker 9: this question by saying, if you were to give me
Speaker 9: Kansas City or the field, I would want the field.
Speaker 9: What if I narrated a little bit and I said,
Speaker 9: just specifically to the AFC, would you rather have Kansas
Speaker 9: City or Buffalo and Baltimore? Can I? Can I take
Speaker 9: Buffalo and Ballimore? I think I'm wishing because I think
Speaker 9: either one of them that gets a shot at Kansas
Speaker 9: City has every reason to believe they can win that game.
Speaker 9: But I think the reason why the Chiefs are still
Speaker 9: the favorite, besides having to coach the quarterback in the
Speaker 9: home field advantage, is I think what they did this
Speaker 9: year to win fifteen games as they look to three pete,
Speaker 9: that's nearly impossible, Like to maintain that edge, that competitive
Speaker 9: edge when you know the only thing you're going to
Speaker 9: be judged on is January and February. What a testament
Speaker 9: to everyone within that organization that is. That's one of
Speaker 9: the most impossible things I've ever seen done in my
Speaker 9: lifetime of covering this sport. And that's probably hyperbole, but
Speaker 9: I sincerely mean it.
Speaker 2: What stands out most to you because as you know,
Speaker 2: as we've talked over the years. I'm a long suffering
Speaker 2: fan of the New York Jets. I do not have
Speaker 2: a question about the Jets. We're not going to waste
Speaker 2: our time. I am not going to waste my oxygen.
Speaker 2: But I will ask you about Sam Darnold, because over
Speaker 2: the past decade or so, every time the Jets have
Speaker 2: drafted a quarterback, Jack Sam was the only one where
Speaker 2: I said, Okay, that's the guy. And of course it
Speaker 2: didn't work, but you have to just I mean, it's
Speaker 2: unbelievably impressive. Yes, it's a very good team, it's a
Speaker 2: good coaching staff. He's surrounded by talent. They've got a
Speaker 2: decision to make. I don't know how you say goodbye
Speaker 2: to him after what he's done, but the Sam Darnald
Speaker 2: Viking story.
Speaker 1: Is one of my favorites of the year. Give me
Speaker 1: your thoughts.
Speaker 9: JB. Well and Kevin O'Connell was with the Rams when
Speaker 9: they won the Super Bowl, and he'll always be someone
Speaker 9: that I think very, verrely highly of, and he's someone
Speaker 9: that Sean McVay really entrusted, and I know what's happy
Speaker 9: to see get that opportunity. But Darnald's not exactly like
Speaker 9: Rock Purdy, right, this is not mister irrelevant. This is
Speaker 9: a number one pick. And whether he had to go
Speaker 9: through a couple of cycles of finding himself or finding
Speaker 9: the right circumstances, probably both. It's not like the guy
Speaker 9: that lacks for talent. What I really commend is the
Speaker 9: stuff between the years, and I would put Baker Mayfield
Speaker 9: in a very similar category that those two guys are
Speaker 9: likely you know, leading playoff teams and NFC contenders, given
Speaker 9: where they've been at various depths of their career, including
Speaker 9: together side by side, is probably you know, a Neon
Speaker 9: Green Vegas sized sign to the National Football League that
Speaker 9: we give up on and we write the narrative on
Speaker 9: especially that position too quickly. Now, whether that applies to
Speaker 9: an Anthony Richardson or a Justin Fields or whoever's next
Speaker 9: trying to you know, hopefully reclaim their career as a
Speaker 9: once highly touted draft prospect at quarterback, I don't know.
Speaker 9: It could be unique to those men and their grit
Speaker 9: and determination. It also, I would say, for certain depends
Speaker 9: on having someone like Kevin O'Connell and Justin Jefferson and
Speaker 9: all the other good things that are going on organizationally
Speaker 9: in Minneapolis, because it can't happen without that, all right.
Speaker 2: Before we set you loose, and again, your heart's with
Speaker 2: the Rams. Understand that, But the Lions have a litany
Speaker 2: amount of injuries, litany of injuries on the defensive side
Speaker 2: of football. Philly just seems to get in their own
Speaker 2: way with the locker room chemistry issues.
Speaker 1: The Rams won five straight.
Speaker 2: So I'm not saying that the Rams can't do anything special,
Speaker 2: because I'm sure they can. We've seen that coach, We've
Speaker 2: seen that team. Who's the team though that here's your
Speaker 2: peer in the NFC that you would be most afraid of.
Speaker 2: On the other side if you ran into.
Speaker 9: Them, well, I think the raws nerve is probably Saquon
Speaker 9: Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles having done it in face
Speaker 9: to face at SOFI Stadium and it was just a
Speaker 9: total thorough beat down.
Speaker 10: It was a blowout.
Speaker 9: It was a low point and the season that had
Speaker 9: very few of them, so to the extent of Philadelphia
Speaker 9: doesn't have to leave their home stadium until a potential
Speaker 9: NFC championship game. They're the team man, both in terms
Speaker 9: of accomplishment and roster. I'll share something with you that
Speaker 9: Maurice Jones Drew said, you know, he walked down to
Speaker 9: the field before that game and he came back to
Speaker 9: the booth. He said, JB, that might be the biggest
Speaker 9: football team I've ever seen, and he was talking about
Speaker 9: the way that that organization has poured into their trenches.
Speaker 9: I don't think if every GM was injected with true serum,
Speaker 9: I don't know that that thirty one other organizations wouldn't
Speaker 9: trade rosters with the Philadelphia Eagles. The only question you
Speaker 9: could possibly have is do they have the best quarterback
Speaker 9: in the ring? Do they have someone who can beat
Speaker 9: you not only with their system and with Saquon Barkley
Speaker 9: and with his ability to extend plays, but beat you
Speaker 9: from the pocket because we're at the time of year
Speaker 9: where you've got to be able to beat teams from
Speaker 9: the pocket. And that's probably the only hesitancy that anyone
Speaker 9: should have with Philadelphia, even though Hurts has taken them
Speaker 9: basically to the finish line save for Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 2: Great time of year, man, enjoy the call over the weekend.
Speaker 2: It's been a lot of fun. From one to four
Speaker 2: to for two division champs. Quite a story. So you
Speaker 2: know we're pulling for you, and I always appreciate the time.
Speaker 9: Okay, think for an invitation and happy New Year. Tall
Speaker 9: to fighting Puka aa Kua's and those who love him
Speaker 9: in your zip could.
Speaker 1: And there's plenty of them there. He is the great JB.
Speaker 2: Long, the voice of the La Ram spent a number
Speaker 2: of years with the Pac twelve network, does college basketball
Speaker 2: for Turner and ESPN. Also does some football for the
Speaker 2: Big Ten Network. He is a busy guy and he's
Speaker 2: very talented. At JB Underscore Long is where you find him.
Speaker 2: All right, this is the final time you can play
Speaker 2: this well this college football season.
Speaker 1: It's an excellent Bob.
Speaker 2: But we do have a little votech football tonight. So
Speaker 2: some college football bowl season rolls along, so you got
Speaker 2: a little votech little Minnesota tonight. Some breaking news before
Speaker 2: we end the show. Jimmy Butler has been suspended for
Speaker 2: seven games for what's being characterized as conduct detrimental to
Speaker 2: the team. Now, you've been paying attention to the story,
Speaker 2: and I don't blame you if you have not been.
Speaker 2: The past couple of games, Jimmy Butler has been doing
Speaker 2: that thing where he's pouting.
Speaker 1: And he refuses to shoot.
Speaker 2: So Eric Spolstra has sat him in the fourth quarters
Speaker 2: over the past couple of games because he goes out
Speaker 2: there and he's not trying. He's clearly trying to force
Speaker 2: his way out of the Miami Heat organization.
Speaker 1: We don't have time to unpack all of this today.
Speaker 2: I'll just tell you this. It doesn't really behoove them
Speaker 2: to trade him. They maintain tremendous cap flexibility if they
Speaker 2: keep him and he leaves. And right now, who's going
Speaker 2: to trade a bunch of assets for a half year
Speaker 2: rental of an aging player. Jimmy's really good, and he
Speaker 2: always has been. But this is a guy that I
Speaker 2: don't know, man, whether it's Minnesota or Chicago, for whatever reason,
Speaker 2: every four or five years, he burns himself out of
Speaker 2: the situation he's in, or he just burns everybody else out.
Speaker 2: Nobody wants to deal with him. So you get paid
Speaker 2: fifty plus million dollars to play basketball in South Beach,
Speaker 2: why don't you show up and play hard?
Speaker 1: Is the way I feel about this.
Speaker 2: But the Phoenix Suns, among others, the Warriors probably would
Speaker 2: look at it because you want to make sure you're
Speaker 2: capitalizing on the final few years of Stephan Curry. But
Speaker 2: the Suns are a sieve right now. They have been
Speaker 2: playing horribly. Can't they can't stay healthy. I would imagine
Speaker 2: that Miami's gonna receive a bunch of phone calls.
Speaker 1: But you do not mess with pat Riley.
Speaker 10: You just don't.
Speaker 2: And Jimmy Butler tried, and now he's been suspended for
Speaker 2: seven games. There All right, weekend time, are you biking
Speaker 2: or running anywhere?
Speaker 1: Did you get all that out of your system?
Speaker 10: Maybe not?
Speaker 4: This weekend might take a take it easy. Obviously a
Speaker 4: lot of football to uh to watch, But yeah, I may,
Speaker 4: I may, I may rest a little bit on on
Speaker 4: that stuff.
Speaker 2: All right, Jimmy Butler, do you think uh hm, like
Speaker 2: it does like they don't have to trade him, and
Speaker 2: it doesn't make sense for them to trade him, but
Speaker 2: he does seem to be he's a little bit Chris
Speaker 2: Polish like malcontent after four or five years and every stop, Yeah, I.
Speaker 4: Mean it's it's it's been Chicago, it's Minnesota, it's Philly,
Speaker 4: it's it's it's here now. I'm always, I always have
Speaker 4: been a big fan of Jimmy Butler the player, But
Speaker 4: it does seem like at a certain point he just
Speaker 4: kind of gets bored almost and wants to move on.
Speaker 4: I thought I thought the Heat with Jimmy Butler were
Speaker 4: especially after that that finals run. I thought they were
Speaker 4: going to compete for another one or you know, be
Speaker 4: there in the picture for the next two three years,
Speaker 4: especially with the roster they had with Jimmy and Bam
Speaker 4: out of Bio and some really good young wings, and
Speaker 4: it kind of has all fallen apart. And you know,
Speaker 4: I don't blame pat Riley because and we talked about
Speaker 4: the heat culture thing a lot. It's it's not the heat,
Speaker 4: it's NBA. It's basketball. It's if you're at a high
Speaker 4: school and you go out on the floor and intentionally
Speaker 4: don't go out and try to win for your team
Speaker 4: and the teammates alongside you. I'm getting your ass off
Speaker 4: my team. And I don't care if you're Jimmy Butler,
Speaker 4: I don't care.
Speaker 1: If you're.
Speaker 4: Chris Douhan, You're gone. It's it's it's uh, it's one
Speaker 4: where you mentioned it. They don't have many benefits to
Speaker 4: trading him, just based on where they're at. But maybe
Speaker 4: you get a flyer on a on a young player
Speaker 4: or somebody that that's trying to, you know, get that
Speaker 4: half year out of Jimmy Butler. Weird situation, but not
Speaker 4: that unexpected after the track record with Jimmy.
Speaker 1: Quick shout out to Chris Duhan on a Friday.
Speaker 10: I don't know why I threw that name.
Speaker 1: It's a great example.
Speaker 2: Duke University's on Chris Duhan played a number of years
Speaker 2: in the league. Good poll there, all right, so pro football,
Speaker 2: don't forget. On Sunday, we got a full slate of
Speaker 2: NFL action on the show. We got a little best
Speaker 2: of coming up a porter. What do we have come
Speaker 2: in our way? When life gets back to normal and
Speaker 2: we actually have a Monday show.
Speaker 4: On a Monday show, of course, as we do each
Speaker 4: and every Monday, our NBA Daily Assists with our guy
Speaker 4: Tom Haberstrow will of course talk about that, the Jimmy
Speaker 4: Butler news and whatever else comes along on the NBA Weekend.
Speaker 4: Josh Furlong our Monday staple on the Utes and the
Speaker 4: latest in the college football world.
Speaker 10: Omar Rui.
Speaker 4: He stops by talking to NFL and Ryan McGee a ESPN.
Speaker 4: Of course, Ryan's on site for a lot of the
Speaker 4: college football playoff stuff and a lot of the big
Speaker 4: Bull games. So it'll be good to catch up with
Speaker 4: one Ryan McGee.
Speaker 2: That'll be a great Monday show and join us for that,
Speaker 2: and with that will say good night for this Friday.
Speaker 2: The special thank you today to Stevenson, Sylvester, Chris Comrodnie,
Speaker 2: Tony Parks and JB.
Speaker 3: Long.
Speaker 2: Forey to sound you may have missed from the show.
Speaker 2: You can always head to the website. It's ESPN seven
Speaker 2: hundred sports dot com. Make sure to download our mobile
Speaker 2: app and take us on the go. It's the ESPN
Speaker 2: seven hundred app and that's available in the App Store
Speaker 2: or the Google Play Store. Then, finally, for what we
Speaker 2: do in our space every afternoon for four hours, check
Speaker 2: out our podcast page. It's called The Drive with Spence.
Speaker 2: Check its and that's available wherever you get your show. Subscribe,
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Speaker 1: He's Porter, I'm.
Speaker 2: Spen saying tonight and for the final time, thanks to
Speaker 2: Larry David saying Happy New Year, have a great weekend,
Speaker 2: beget of yourself, beget to each other.
Speaker 1: Toat you on Monday, right here on ESPN seven hundred