Speaker 1: Alrighty, it is time.
Speaker 2: What's going on on a Monday drivetime. It's about nine
Speaker 2: minutes past the hour of two o'clock on this Monday afternoon.
Speaker 1: It's chilly, but it is nice.
Speaker 2: The sun is shining here and downtown Salt Lake City
Speaker 2: a ton as it is every single day.
Speaker 1: It's good to have you along for the rides. Sense check.
Speaker 2: It's beyond the micro porter, Larson behind the glass. We
Speaker 2: are off and running on this Monday afternoon with just
Speaker 2: a ton to get to. Of course, the bulk of
Speaker 2: our coverage will be rival Re Week. Anybody who talks
Speaker 2: into a microphone this week, whether.
Speaker 1: It's on radio or TV.
Speaker 2: I've already counted four daffy ducks walking watching some of
Speaker 2: the local stuff over the weekend. Rival Re Week said
Speaker 2: that in front of my mirror twenty times. But I'm
Speaker 2: sure I will mess it up once or twice between
Speaker 2: now and Saturday. But I just got to say right
Speaker 2: off the top, I love this week. I love the
Speaker 2: energy of the week. I'm excited to be on air
Speaker 2: this week.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you, appreciate you making us a part of it.
Speaker 2: I know you have a lot of options. We'll get
Speaker 2: you ready for the game. We've got great guests scheduled
Speaker 2: all week long, starting with a couple of really good
Speaker 2: guests today.
Speaker 1: We'll get to that in a moment.
Speaker 2: But for the one hundred and second time, Utah and
Speaker 2: BYU play football on Saturday night inside Rice Ecles Stadium,
Speaker 2: of course, eight fifteen Mountain time is your kick.
Speaker 1: We'll have you covered with pregame Porter Larsen and.
Speaker 2: A cast of characters live from the ESPN seven hundred
Speaker 2: tailgate lot of Guardsman's Way, Come on up and see
Speaker 2: us prior to the game. Porter is gonna get rolling
Speaker 2: at four fifteen four hours a pre game coverage for
Speaker 2: Utah BYU coming up on Saturday night, and there's a
Speaker 2: lot at stake for both teams in very different ways.
Speaker 2: So BYU at this point is a four point favorite.
Speaker 2: The official spread open at five. It's moved down one
Speaker 2: point towards the University of Utah. You're over under his
Speaker 2: forty one point five money line for those of you
Speaker 2: that are into such things, minus one ninety on BYU.
Speaker 2: So what the line is telling us is there's not
Speaker 2: a lot of confidence either way in a rivalry game. Typically,
Speaker 2: if you see a five point spread for the team
Speaker 2: that's on the road, you jump on that. But the
Speaker 2: fact of the matter is Utah football has not shown
Speaker 2: enough to have a lot of confidence, and.
Speaker 1: You can field around the community.
Speaker 2: So we'll get into it today and we'll attack it
Speaker 2: from every different angle. Of course, as we do on
Speaker 2: the show, we keep our eyes on our other local
Speaker 2: in state products.
Speaker 1: I do not know when the Utah Jazz are gonna win.
Speaker 2: A basketball game. They're on the road for three more games.
Speaker 2: It's Chicago, Milwaukee, San Antonio. They come home for Phoenix.
Speaker 2: In Dallas, they're on the road against the Kings and
Speaker 2: the Cliffs, the Lakers, the Spurs home against it.
Speaker 1: I'm not kidding.
Speaker 2: This could be like an OO to twenty five team,
Speaker 2: and I'm here for it.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I know that bums a lot of people out, but
Speaker 2: the best time to do this was two years ago.
Speaker 2: The second best time is now. So a little jazz
Speaker 2: basketball on the show today. RSL saw its season come
Speaker 2: to a horribly disappointing end in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: Both games went to pks.
Speaker 2: RSL lost both, So a season that we saw a
Speaker 2: single season record for both goals scored and points accumulated
Speaker 2: comes to an end. And now we find out what's next.
Speaker 2: Pablo has two years left on his deal. I'm sure
Speaker 2: my man's gonna be back. I don't know what you
Speaker 2: do as far as some of the personnel decisions that
Speaker 2: did not pay off at all. You know, it was
Speaker 2: odd to watch the new acquisition step up to the
Speaker 2: penalty spot and all missed their kicks on the road.
Speaker 2: So a interesting offseason head for RSL. Third straight year
Speaker 2: out in PK's third straight year out in the first
Speaker 2: round of the postseason. So RSL season comes to a close.
Speaker 2: The Utah Hockey Club had an up and down week.
Speaker 2: They're going to be an action against Winnipeg tomorrow. Winnipeg
Speaker 2: is the best team in the Central Division. They've only
Speaker 2: lost once. Utah Hockey Club has lost five of their
Speaker 2: last six, most recently on the road at Vegas four
Speaker 2: to three.
Speaker 1: So Winnipeg tomorrow.
Speaker 2: A chaotic, crazy weekend in college football, both in the
Speaker 2: Big Twelve and nationally. When we last spoke, there were
Speaker 2: eight unbeaten teams in college football. Now there's only five,
Speaker 2: and of course Bringham Young is one of them. We
Speaker 2: told you a Texas Tech Iowa State. Keep an eye
Speaker 2: out for that one. In Iowa State got God at home.
Speaker 1: Is Houston good? I don't know?
Speaker 2: Is anybody good or bad of the Big Twelve? I
Speaker 2: don't know, but Houston bk State at home. Arizona State
Speaker 2: went to Stillwater and just beat up on the worst
Speaker 2: team in the conference, which is wild Mike gun do
Speaker 2: you like prior to this year he never loses at home.
Speaker 2: Now he can't win, not even one conference game. UCF
Speaker 2: stomped Arizona and Baylor got a nice win for David
Speaker 2: rand at home over TCU, but upsets both in the
Speaker 2: Big Twelve and nationally as well.
Speaker 1: A couple of more unbeatens went down.
Speaker 2: Oregon is the best team in the country, deservedly, so
Speaker 2: Ohio State got a nice win and Happy Valley over
Speaker 2: Penn State cam Ward Man. Miami continues to roll, but
Speaker 2: when you look at some of the upsets. Clemson lost
Speaker 2: that home to Louisville, knocking them down a pig or two.
Speaker 2: Indiana remains clean. They just smoke bad teams, but they're undefeated.
Speaker 2: SMU with a good one over Pit which looks good
Speaker 2: for Brigham Young.
Speaker 1: But a big upset is Texas.
Speaker 2: A and m lost on the road to South Carolina,
Speaker 2: so if you're a Utah fan, the one thing that
Speaker 2: gives you a little bit of hope for Saturday is
Speaker 2: chaos every weekend in both the Big Twelve and in
Speaker 2: college football, because, as I said, the data at this
Speaker 2: point indicates that the by is the better team. I
Speaker 2: don't know who could argue that right now, right, so
Speaker 2: we'll get to it. Your Week nine in pro football
Speaker 2: wraps up tonight with a little Monday Night football. You
Speaker 2: can hear it on our radio station when we say
Speaker 2: good night. Kansas City welcomes in Tampa Bay. The Chiefs
Speaker 2: are getting nine points. The over under is forty five
Speaker 2: point five. All right, happy Monday. Hope you had a
Speaker 2: great weekend. It's kind of a nervous week, right, you
Speaker 2: can field the underlying energy and the anxiety. We've got
Speaker 2: rivalry week, we've got an election upon us, and the
Speaker 2: cold weather is here as we've earned our calendars to November.
Speaker 2: Right off the top, we're going to be in Smitty today.
Speaker 2: Richard Smith will stop by as we do every Monday
Speaker 2: throughout the college football season. In case you did not
Speaker 2: hear they head ball coach FDU coach Wit we'll bring
Speaker 2: that back as media availability. The latest on the quarterback situations,
Speaker 2: some thoughts on BYU. So we'll bring in coach Win
Speaker 2: in case you missed it, and then we'll bring on
Speaker 2: Kilanie Satake live on the program. We're going to interview
Speaker 2: BYU's head coach and good friend of mine, former defensive
Speaker 2: coordinator at the University of Utah.
Speaker 1: That's my guy, you know.
Speaker 2: So when it comes to some of this rivalry stuff,
Speaker 2: I know, the competition can kind of overwhelm you a
Speaker 2: little bit, but when it comes to the actual personalities,
Speaker 2: you should know that, at least from my vantage point,
Speaker 2: most of the people that I've been able to get
Speaker 2: to know on both BYU and.
Speaker 1: Utah side are good people.
Speaker 2: So as Colannie says, wishing bad things on good people
Speaker 2: is bad for the soul. I don't know if Colonie
Speaker 2: said he said something like that, I'm paraphrasing.
Speaker 1: So Klanie's going to stop by the show today.
Speaker 2: Then Josh Furlong and covers the utes or KSL we'll
Speaker 2: roll by as well. So a little bit of everything
Speaker 2: on the show with a heavy lean towards BYU and Utah.
Speaker 2: Coming up on Saturday here in saut Lake City. It's
Speaker 2: supposed to be cold but clear as of now about
Speaker 2: forty five degrees a kickoff with clear skies that it
Speaker 2: is Utah, we could get a seismic snowstorm blowing in
Speaker 2: thirty minutes before kick You never know. So Oh, by
Speaker 2: the way, college basketball, it's like here, Utah women played today,
Speaker 2: the Utah Men play tonight.
Speaker 1: Watch Duke.
Speaker 2: You don't have a choice if you watch college basketball.
Speaker 1: Duke's on ESPN every night. But watch Cooper Flag. This
Speaker 1: is the deal.
Speaker 3: Guys.
Speaker 2: What the Jazz are doing is hard, but the payoff
Speaker 2: could be great if Lady Luck finally shines upon them.
Speaker 2: So Richard Smith, Kyle Whittingham, Kladie Satake, Josh Furlong, Me
Speaker 2: Spence Check, it's all of you, the great listeners and
Speaker 2: Porter Lars from the producer.
Speaker 1: Of the show.
Speaker 2: On a Monday, you can kind of feel the axis
Speaker 2: here in Salt Lake. You can feel the underlying energy
Speaker 2: and anxiety. I love this week, I always have. But
Speaker 2: a lot of people don't like the anxious feel you know, yeah.
Speaker 4: And I'm with you. You can feel it a little bit.
Speaker 4: You can definitely feel it up at the the Spence
Speaker 4: and kleone Ekles Football facility, which I was at this morning.
Speaker 4: And that's part of the plan, right, that's that's part
Speaker 4: of the process. Is games like this, whether it's big
Speaker 4: stakes or usually just rivalries. Right, it's either a big game,
Speaker 4: a bowl game, a conference title game, or a rivalry
Speaker 4: game in college football. They bring a different level of urgency,
Speaker 4: a different level of pressure, a different feel, and you
Speaker 4: definitely get that this week. And as you mentioned, other
Speaker 4: things going on as well. So yeah, it's a little tense, but.
Speaker 1: Sports radio isn't. We can have fun out here.
Speaker 2: Wait a second, are you telling me that building is
Speaker 2: named after Spence Ecles Yes.
Speaker 1: Not check its so after all these years, I know.
Speaker 2: I just felt like they liked the show, wanted to
Speaker 2: give you a little pub and they smacked it on there.
Speaker 2: It makes sense. He probably donates more money than I
Speaker 2: do a little bit. All right, let's get to it.
Speaker 2: Excited for this On a Monday, Richard Smith will be
Speaker 2: our first guest. But before we get the Smitte Curtis
Speaker 2: of our friends at Standard Restaurant Supply, go to Standard
Speaker 2: Restaurant dot com or stop by their convenient location here
Speaker 2: in Salt Lake City on a Monday.
Speaker 1: It's time now for your opening tip.
Speaker 5: Welcome to the Drive with Spence check it's on Utah's
Speaker 5: number one sports talk now into the studio of ESPN
Speaker 5: seven hundred to set the scene for the show. The
Speaker 5: opening tip of the Drive is brought to you by
Speaker 5: Standard Restaurant Supply, your one stop shop to build the
Speaker 5: best tailgate in town. Standard Restaurant Supply thirty five hundred
Speaker 5: south West Temple.
Speaker 2: For the one hundred and second overall time, Utah and
Speaker 2: BYU will play football coming up on Saturday night, first
Speaker 2: time in three years. Last time, of course, BYU broke
Speaker 2: a nine game losing streak, and for the first time
Speaker 2: since twenty eighteen, BYU will be here at rice Ecles.
Speaker 2: BYU has not been Utah in Salt Lake since two
Speaker 2: thousand and six.
Speaker 1: But as I said, the last time.
Speaker 2: These two played, as we know, BYU got the better
Speaker 2: of it and there couldn't be more at stake in
Speaker 2: different ways in my estimation.
Speaker 1: So let's dig into it, Okay.
Speaker 2: So, first of all, the line opened up with BYU
Speaker 2: minus five, So Vegas essentially is saying with a you
Speaker 2: generally allow the home team a three point built in
Speaker 2: advantage just for being at home. So what Vegas is
Speaker 2: saying is they think BYU is a little bit more
Speaker 2: than a touchdown better than Utah football on a neutral
Speaker 2: field this year, and obviously the home stadium advantage comes
Speaker 2: into play. The spread moved pretty quickly to four, and
Speaker 2: I actually was anticipating because the nature of this game
Speaker 2: and BYU being on the road, then a lot of
Speaker 2: people would jump on that five and move it to
Speaker 2: maybe two and a half or three. But it has
Speaker 2: stayed steady at four for about thirty six hours. Okay,
Speaker 2: So what that means is there's not a lot of
Speaker 2: confidence from people who study this stuff to try to
Speaker 2: make money and don't give a rip about blue or
Speaker 2: red in Utah. Okay, that's what the line is telling us.
Speaker 2: Most people that are betting on this game don't believe
Speaker 2: that Utah is the right side. Now, not a lot
Speaker 2: of people are betting on BYU. Obviously hasn't moved in
Speaker 2: their direction. But it's essentially a static line and I
Speaker 2: wouldn't touch it just because of the nature of this game. Now,
Speaker 2: the data that we have in hand just indicates BYU
Speaker 2: is not just better, but they're much better. Okay, that's
Speaker 2: what we have seen on tape so far. That's what
Speaker 2: the numbers tell us. Okay, So, if you're just talking
Speaker 2: about two football teams, and if you're just breaking down
Speaker 2: what we've seen, BYU needs to and should for anybody
Speaker 2: who's analyzing it, get the tip of the cap for
Speaker 2: what they've done so far eight and o five and
Speaker 2: zero in conference, and after a chaotic weekend behind us,
Speaker 2: Brigham Young is the only undefeated team in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 1: Okay, So we're gonna get into a couple.
Speaker 2: Of elements here about what the weekend behind us means
Speaker 2: now for BYU, because the fact of the matter is
Speaker 2: BYU could still get got and most likely make the
Speaker 2: conference championship game. And honestly, when you look at the
Speaker 2: way the schedules are kind of unfolding, there's a really
Speaker 2: good chance that the two teams playing for the Big
Speaker 2: Twelve championship will be Brigham Young in Colorado. We'll get
Speaker 2: to more of that in a moment, but what a
Speaker 2: matchup that would be. Okay, So, again, if you're just
Speaker 2: analyzing the two teams without the dynamic of what this
Speaker 2: game means to people, BYU certainly has the edge and
Speaker 2: what Kilani has done, and of course this is not
Speaker 2: a surprise because as Kilani himself talks about, he really
Speaker 2: learned how to do this under coach Wit, and he
Speaker 2: learned how to coach defensive football under coach Win. And
Speaker 2: Kalani has taken Kyle's playbook and he is out kyled Kyle.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's what's happening. BYU is out Utah ing
Speaker 2: Utah right now, and you give him a ton of
Speaker 2: credit for what they've been able to do. Okay, so
Speaker 2: they could ultimately get got by Utah on Saturday and
Speaker 2: still march on to play in and potentially win a
Speaker 2: Big Twelve Championship.
Speaker 1: Now, the other thing, the chaos in the.
Speaker 2: Big Twelve is done, has really dampened the reputation of
Speaker 2: this conference around college football. If you're listening to any
Speaker 2: of these analysts, now, this is a one big, one
Speaker 2: big league period, end of story. So even if Utah
Speaker 2: enters the Big Twelve, or excuse me, even if BYU
Speaker 2: enters the Big Twelve Championship with one loss, it sounds
Speaker 2: like they're gonna have to win that game because there's
Speaker 2: not a partner that could essentially allow this conference to
Speaker 2: get two teams in. We thought it could be Iowa State,
Speaker 2: but they got God, they lost, and that leaves BYU
Speaker 2: as the only undefeated Big Twelve teams. So ultimately, while
Speaker 2: this would be a dent for BYU if they lose
Speaker 2: to Utah, it is not a kill shot at all.
Speaker 2: So there's this whole thing like Utah plays spoiler. Utah
Speaker 2: could spoil an undefeated season, but Utah at this point
Speaker 2: could not spoil BYU's chances to go play for a
Speaker 2: Big twelve championship.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of off the table.
Speaker 2: And as I said earlier, there's a lot at stake
Speaker 2: for both these teams in much different ways.
Speaker 1: FORYA.
Speaker 2: Of course, it is as they used to call it,
Speaker 2: the quest for perfection and continues because how nice would
Speaker 2: they twelve and oh season be And how nice would
Speaker 2: you know, a chance to go down to Dallas and
Speaker 2: play in the Big twelve Championship for BYU in their
Speaker 2: second year in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 1: How nice would that be for them?
Speaker 2: And then potentially a first round by in the CFP,
Speaker 2: and if we get really really crazy, potentially hosting a
Speaker 2: home playoff game at Lavell Edwards Stadium. All things that
Speaker 2: we were saying about Utah. Oh, I don't know about
Speaker 2: four four and a half five months ago. That's all
Speaker 2: on the table for BYU. Okay, for Utah, what's at
Speaker 2: stake is it's much different. Okay, Now, look, the only
Speaker 2: thing worse for a college football program with the expectations
Speaker 2: that Utah has as a result of what Kyle has built.
Speaker 2: The only thing worse for the Utes then playing in
Speaker 2: a throwaway bowl game is not being eligible for one.
Speaker 2: And Guys, if they lose on Saturday, I'm not sure
Speaker 2: they get to six. We had two yes last week
Speaker 2: predict Utah's not going bowling, But the way the schedule
Speaker 2: has played out, everything, it's still Seinfeld upside down Bizarro world.
Speaker 2: The way the schedule has played out, they really have
Speaker 2: four difficult.
Speaker 1: Games left to get two.
Speaker 2: Okay, and I have a hard time believing based off
Speaker 2: of what we've seen that Utah can go to Boulder
Speaker 2: and get a Colorado team. And you got to give
Speaker 2: Dion credit, man, they are much better and improved year
Speaker 2: over year than they were a year ago.
Speaker 1: For sure, Iowa State just lost.
Speaker 2: But at this point, again, if you just go off
Speaker 2: the numbers in the data, I think Iowa State's gonna
Speaker 2: come in here as a favorite. As of now, things
Speaker 2: could change over the course of a couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Then you're on a short week after Thanksgiving against a
Speaker 2: UCF team that's just another one of these big twelve
Speaker 2: teams that could probably get you if you're not if
Speaker 2: you're not right on that day. You know, ultimately that's
Speaker 2: what this conference has manifested as. But outside of the okay,
Speaker 2: keep bowl ill eligibility alive. Outside of the okay, get
Speaker 2: your rival, you know, based off of BYU's undefeated season,
Speaker 2: give them their first loss. This might also be the
Speaker 2: last chance for these players who will not be here
Speaker 2: next year, whether it's guys graduating, guys transferring, to endear
Speaker 2: themselves to a community that honestly right now is pretty
Speaker 2: down on the squad. Okay, So like for a ute fan,
Speaker 2: and as we've talked about, if you pull up either
Speaker 2: by you or Utah's roster, you can do it right now.
Speaker 2: If you're online at work, you see Florida, California, Virginia,
Speaker 2: you see players from all over the country. Meaning if
Speaker 2: you are an eighteen year old from Texas BYU, Utah
Speaker 2: probably didn't reverberate with you at all throughout the course
Speaker 2: of your life. So maybe a lot of these players
Speaker 2: don't fully understand what this thing is all about, but
Speaker 2: Kyle does.
Speaker 1: Morgan, does you know all those.
Speaker 2: Guys up there do a lot of them played in it, ironically,
Speaker 2: some of them on the other sidelight coach with. So
Speaker 2: what the coaches are tasked with now is basically instilling
Speaker 2: in these young men over the next you know, five
Speaker 2: six days, this might be your last chance to be
Speaker 2: great in front of this community in a way where
Speaker 2: you will always be remembered. That's what a big time
Speaker 2: performance against b YU means for Utah football players. That's
Speaker 2: why we remember the Eddie Johnson's and the Scott Mitchells
Speaker 2: and the Brandon Burton blocks and Brett Ratliffe coming out
Speaker 2: of nowhere like that's why you remember Johnny Harlean.
Speaker 1: That's why you remember Max Hall and Austin.
Speaker 2: Coley and all the names and fourth and eighteen and
Speaker 2: Beck to Harlean and block kicks and three field goals
Speaker 2: and students rushing the field and a guy in suspenders
Speaker 2: trying to front Bronco Menen Hall and BYU fans yelling
Speaker 2: at Kyle's wife like that's beer being poured on people
Speaker 2: all the time, even though there's no beer in the stadium.
Speaker 2: Somehow it gets poured on people all the time, Like
Speaker 2: we talk about this game in such a way that
Speaker 2: if you happen to be at the top of your
Speaker 2: game at the right moment on Saturday, yes, we'll always
Speaker 2: look back on the season as, wow, how did that
Speaker 2: get away?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 2: All of us locally, nationally, everybody thought Utah would be
Speaker 2: where BYU is. There's something close to it and that
Speaker 2: can't change. Okay, so there's no use in existing in
Speaker 2: the four game losing streak space. But what could shift
Speaker 2: on Saturday is the way you respond in the biggest
Speaker 2: sporting event we have in our state and be great
Speaker 2: for one day and go beat that team one time,
Speaker 2: and people around here will talk about this team a
Speaker 2: little bit differently, even though everything we thought would be
Speaker 2: on the table is not all right, We're going to
Speaker 2: continue this conversation throughout the course of not just today,
Speaker 2: but throughout the week. The rivalry game will carry the
Speaker 2: bulk of our coverage, But there are other things going
Speaker 2: on of course here Locally. We have an NBA team
Speaker 2: that is struggling, struggling mightily. We have a hockey team
Speaker 2: that's struggling a little bit we have a soccer team
Speaker 2: that's no longer playing soccer, but college basketball is going
Speaker 2: on as well, and so we'll bring Smitty in coming
Speaker 2: up on the other side. Uh too, We'll bring Smitty
Speaker 2: in coming up on the other side to do a
Speaker 2: little jazz. But I want to get his take on
Speaker 2: Utah b Yu as well. Great Quincy Jones passed away
Speaker 2: at the age of ninety one. I don't know that
Speaker 2: Michael Jackson should have been the lead off. Based off
Speaker 2: all the options we have, We're gonna play artists that
Speaker 2: Quincy Jones had a hand.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe we ease off the the mj.
Speaker 4: Hey, to be clear, what was the first one you mentioned? Also,
Speaker 4: we got the radio play here. I gotta I gotta
Speaker 4: dig into the uh the uh the records to get
Speaker 4: some of the Quincy Jones ones. They're not they're not
Speaker 4: giving me any very many options.
Speaker 1: On who Sinatra. Okay, but hey, but look Charles Ray,
Speaker 1: Charles Hey, look, I'll I'll tell you what.
Speaker 2: Occasionally, Ignition by R. Kelly comes on my playlist and
Speaker 2: I'm like, what do you want?
Speaker 1: It's a good song. What do you want me to do?
Speaker 1: You're dancing to? So you know what? Hello? Smitty. Let's
Speaker 1: get turn on Smitty's Mike here, let's get Smitty.
Speaker 6: Dialed a way.
Speaker 7: What is what what should do with Michael Jackson?
Speaker 1: Maybe you haven't googled it in a minute. Uh, hey,
Speaker 1: just gonna I'm gonna back away from the Quincy Jones
Speaker 1: Michael Jackson.
Speaker 7: That was That's one of the old time most successful partnerships.
Speaker 2: And I'm not talking about how many how many records
Speaker 2: he sold. Man, his success is not arguable. We're on
Speaker 2: the same page with that one.
Speaker 7: Hey, no, no, no, no, but hey, all you have to
Speaker 7: do is play anything from the Uh what was the
Speaker 7: documentary that came out in the in the last year
Speaker 7: on Netflix with the the.
Speaker 1: One where they all got together? That was good. By
Speaker 1: the way, we'll play we Are the World. We can
Speaker 1: do that. That one's safe.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But Quincy Jones, I mean a legend passed old No.
Speaker 7: And he was he was such a such an icon
Speaker 7: in in the music industry and uh and then at
Speaker 7: a time when when he was able to assert his
Speaker 7: leadership in the music industry with a lot of uh
Speaker 7: uh non new artists but also established artists who wanted
Speaker 7: to come and work with him, and he had a
Speaker 7: long run of success, and that's that's very sad to
Speaker 7: hear of his.
Speaker 2: Passing, certainly, So that's gonna be the musical theme on
Speaker 2: the show today. We'll try to rebound from our awkward start.
Speaker 2: Richard Smith, you are a number of different things. You
Speaker 2: are a basketball savant, you are a longtime member of
Speaker 2: the Utah Jazz. You are a former baseball All Star
Speaker 2: and competitive softball outfielders extraordinaire. But you're also a man
Speaker 2: in our community that has been kind of ingrained in
Speaker 2: the fabric of our sporting culture. And this is a
Speaker 2: unique week, right like Utah BYU football one hundred and
Speaker 2: second meeting first time in three years. BYU breaks their
Speaker 2: nine game losing streak a couple of years back. They
Speaker 2: have not won in Salt Lake since two thousand and six,
Speaker 2: and we have two teams heading in completely different directions.
Speaker 2: The nature of rivalry games, it's always been an interesting
Speaker 2: topic to me because if you ever played in one,
Speaker 2: and I never played for anything, it mattered. But if
Speaker 2: you play throughout the course of your high school or
Speaker 2: AAU career and the other school is your rival, it
Speaker 2: feels different. It always does. I love the energy. I
Speaker 2: think it's a lot of fun. As a man who's
Speaker 2: been to a lot of these games, what do you
Speaker 2: make of what we could see on Saturday?
Speaker 7: Well, you know what's exciting about this, first of all,
Speaker 7: is that if we just go back a few months,
Speaker 7: right in July, when all the pre hype and all
Speaker 7: that stuff is taking place and everything before the season
Speaker 7: even started, if you looked at the game on the
Speaker 7: schedule this Saturday on November ninth, you would have thought, Okay,
Speaker 7: they're going to go into that game Utah is probably
Speaker 7: going to be eight to oh and BYU is probably
Speaker 7: going to be four and four.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 7: That would have been the projection in July, And now
Speaker 7: you get here this week, the script is completely flipped.
Speaker 7: And that's one of the great things, as we always
Speaker 7: talk about UH sports being live theater, that you know,
Speaker 7: you can practice, you can do all the stuff that
Speaker 7: people do on Broadway right for their theater presentation, and
Speaker 7: then when the curtain goes up in the theater, you
Speaker 7: know what's gonna happen because you have a script and
Speaker 7: you follow it, and you know who's gonna who's gonna
Speaker 7: get married to who at the end of the musical
Speaker 7: and whatever. But in sports, you do all the same
Speaker 7: preparation and then the curtain goes up and you have
Speaker 7: no idea what's gonna take place in the next couple hours,
Speaker 7: you know, And so that's what makes it always exciting.
Speaker 1: And and of course this week.
Speaker 7: With the flip of the scripts and b Yu, you know,
Speaker 7: running running away with a lot of stuff right now
Speaker 7: in terms of the conference and what's happening there and
Speaker 7: the position they are in and Utah you know, stumbling
Speaker 7: and and and being the place.
Speaker 1: That they're in.
Speaker 7: It just makes it more more exciting to discuss it,
Speaker 7: which I know this radio station will do odd nauseum
Speaker 7: all all week long. And we'll talk about the same
Speaker 7: quarterback issues you want to.
Speaker 1: Talk about, the jazz you want to tell, we'll talk
Speaker 1: about We'll talk George, can't you.
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, Smitty, we are going to cover Utah EYU
Speaker 2: football from every single.
Speaker 1: As as it should be. Yeah, I'm just saying, but
Speaker 1: it's going to be.
Speaker 7: And how about you, how about you and Porter and
Speaker 7: whoever whoever was responsible for getting Kalanie Satake on. I'm
Speaker 7: like the opening act for the guys.
Speaker 1: Yes you are.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'm even in the same stage. But you know, well,
Speaker 7: look here, you've got Kyle Whitningham lived here. How many
Speaker 7: years mid I've been here forty three years.
Speaker 2: This is home for you now, even though you go
Speaker 2: back to the high school in you know, in the
Speaker 2: soft part of Connecticut where I didn't grow up, But.
Speaker 1: This is home.
Speaker 2: So it's it's it's really the only thing that we have.
Speaker 2: Where we got Thanksgiving coming up. There are split tables.
Speaker 2: You know, people are watching this game with anxiety, so
Speaker 2: they don't walk into elder's corn and their b YU
Speaker 2: Google brought. You know, the dude in their ward is
Speaker 2: wearing his blue tie and his blue suit and he's
Speaker 2: gonna give you the crap.
Speaker 1: So it it's the only thing we have in the state.
Speaker 1: The causes that dynamic.
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, you know, and and uh in our house, Uh,
Speaker 7: my wife uh is a b y U grad And
Speaker 7: I worked at the U for a lot of years
Speaker 7: when I first came to Salt Lake, when I was
Speaker 7: working both at the University of Utah and and with
Speaker 7: the jazz and and we have one of those flags
Speaker 7: that I think is I don't know if it's been
Speaker 7: outlawed or you can't get them now.
Speaker 8: Or what think?
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, one of those flags where it's down the
Speaker 7: middle and it says, you know, uh, I forgot even
Speaker 7: what's on the flag?
Speaker 1: Split split house or something or whatever.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 1: The ones i've seen have both logos.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, well this has yeah, this has BYU logo
Speaker 7: on half and the UTAH logo on half. And it said, oh,
Speaker 7: you know what the word is on the label of
Speaker 7: the flag is house divided.
Speaker 1: That's what it is. Yes, yes, And so that's what
Speaker 1: we have.
Speaker 7: And and we'll have that flag up tonight for this
Speaker 7: week and then it'll be it'll be fun.
Speaker 2: Well, and you and I were talking about something off
Speaker 2: air that I think is a worthwhile on air conversation,
Speaker 2: because I know this week hits some people much differently
Speaker 2: and they don't like it. They don't like the anxiety,
Speaker 2: they don't like the dissension, they don't like the heated exchanges. Now,
Speaker 2: I don't live online, so we'll let the message board
Speaker 2: people do the message board people thing. And I don't
Speaker 2: know how much of that really permeates in real life, honestly, don't.
Speaker 2: I feel like the people that don't like this week
Speaker 2: are talking about the mean thing somebody will say online
Speaker 2: about them, which shouldn't matter at all. But like I said,
Speaker 2: you also get the church back and forth. You know,
Speaker 2: obviously plenty of both you alumni and students and you know,
Speaker 2: bring them young, the majority of them being LDS. But
Speaker 2: there's a religious element to this thing. It doesn't exist
Speaker 2: in very many other rivalries, and it does add to it,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, because there's always this feeling
Speaker 2: of well, if BYU won, it's because they're living right
Speaker 2: and God loves them. And if you tell one they
Speaker 2: got lucky because they're all sinners. Like, there's always this
Speaker 2: there's this weird thing that kind of ties into it
Speaker 2: that makes it unique in a way that I think
Speaker 2: is a lot of fun.
Speaker 1: But some people don't really enjoy it.
Speaker 7: Well, I think that, and I think a good layer
Speaker 7: of the uniqueness spence is that within that church dynamic,
Speaker 7: you have the people who are by U supporters, who
Speaker 7: are you know, uh, largely members of the ld S church.
Speaker 7: But you also have a good section of active l
Speaker 7: d S people who are Utah fans, and so you
Speaker 7: have the b y U people. This is this is
Speaker 7: my perspective. Now, over the years, you have the b
Speaker 7: YU fans who look at the the l D S
Speaker 7: Utah fans and wonder, well, why why you over there?
Speaker 7: You know with that group? You should you should be
Speaker 7: over here with us. This is where you where you
Speaker 7: should be. And the people who are members of the
Speaker 7: l D. S Church and and uh uh support the
Speaker 7: you and a big Utah fans.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 7: The b YU fans can't understand why they would they
Speaker 7: would be in that put themselves in that position. So
Speaker 7: that to me, that's always added another layer. And even
Speaker 7: you know, you know, you know we just mentioned the
Speaker 7: house divide. You have a lot of you know, like
Speaker 7: the the the Wilson family, you know, Zach and I
Speaker 7: and and and is said Wilson you know, their family
Speaker 7: grew up big Utah fans and all the time and
Speaker 7: and supported them season tickets and all that stuff. And
Speaker 7: then and then Zach ends up going to b YU
Speaker 7: mainly because the you didn't think he was good enough
Speaker 7: and didn't.
Speaker 1: Really you know, recruit him. And uh.
Speaker 7: And then so you have that kind of stuff where
Speaker 7: even within the house you have people who are rooting
Speaker 7: and had different rooting interests. So that that's what puts
Speaker 7: another layer to me. You're talking about the church thing
Speaker 7: and and uh and and people having a loyalty split
Speaker 7: that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's well said. It is funny how b
Speaker 2: y U fans you And we're generalizing here, So before
Speaker 2: I get a bunch of dms and emails, everybody to
Speaker 2: take a few deep breathts.
Speaker 1: We're just generalizing.
Speaker 2: But there is this faction of the BYU fan base
Speaker 2: that simply just views anybody that is LDS and decided
Speaker 2: to go apostate Utah with judgment. Then there's this faction
Speaker 2: of the Utah fan base that's LDS that looks down
Speaker 2: on the BYU fans is pious and holier than now
Speaker 2: right and all mine, and it just it ties into
Speaker 2: this dynamic that makes it so interesting and attending to it. Look,
Speaker 2: I'm not going to say it's the only college football
Speaker 2: rivalry that's like this, but Jay Hill, Siona Pua, Utah grats,
Speaker 2: Aaron Roderick Kaloni Setake, former Utah coaches, Kyle Whittingham, former
Speaker 2: BYU player, Like that doesn't happen very many other college
Speaker 2: football rivalries. So it's kind of the way I like
Speaker 2: to describe it. It's kind of like this dysfunctional extended
Speaker 2: family right where at the end of the day. I
Speaker 2: believe when you're not playing against each other, you want
Speaker 2: the other to do well. Now, not fans, right like you.
Speaker 2: There are a lot of you fans that want be
Speaker 2: why you to lose every game? Right, yeah, to lose
Speaker 2: every game. But I think like under the family umbrella
Speaker 2: of coaches and players, it feels like over the years
Speaker 2: I've mostly witnessed respect all the time, but mostly.
Speaker 7: No, I think I think they do, and I think
Speaker 7: that's what I has always been the interesting part for me, Spence.
Speaker 7: The people who are involved in it, the people who
Speaker 7: are in the circle so to speak, they get it,
Speaker 7: and they they do it with respect. They understand what
Speaker 7: the whole thing is. You know that, that's my opinion.
Speaker 7: The people who are outside the circle, who are the
Speaker 7: fans looking down from thirty thousand feet or whatever, they're
Speaker 7: the ones who get all riled up and everything. I
Speaker 7: wish it would just be you know that you could
Speaker 7: do it in good fun like you do when you're
Speaker 7: in a locker room and you're with the guys that
Speaker 7: you play with and you you tease each other about
Speaker 7: each other's school, the whey they went and where and
Speaker 7: how their school is doing, and you do it good naturedly,
Speaker 7: and it's always for fun and and and you you
Speaker 7: enjoy it, and you enjoy the back and forth and
Speaker 7: the teasing and kidding. What happens in this rivalry is
Speaker 7: that there's too many people who who go the uh,
Speaker 7: the negative route, and who go, you know, the attacking route,
Speaker 7: and you know everything's.
Speaker 1: Bad about the other side or whatever it is.
Speaker 7: And that's the part that's a little distasteful for me.
Speaker 7: I wish people would just like keep it above the
Speaker 7: line and have fun with it. And you know, because hey,
Speaker 7: guess what, on on Sunday, the game will be over
Speaker 7: and on Monday, everybody'll be back to their regular life
Speaker 7: or whatever. And it doesn't really amount to a lot
Speaker 7: of things other than hopefully a competitive football game between
Speaker 7: two familiar schools that the fans are ruining for and
Speaker 7: can get up for and and have fun with it.
Speaker 1: So a lot of good points in there.
Speaker 2: It felt like the fever pitch and this is just
Speaker 2: my little echo chamber here, it felt like the fever
Speaker 2: pitch for hate was at an all time high when
Speaker 2: Bronco was coaching BYU because Bronco and Kyle like, you
Speaker 2: got to call that thing how it is you could
Speaker 2: tell that there was no love lost, and you know,
Speaker 2: I'm privy to certain things behind the scenes that indicates
Speaker 2: that they just didn't like each other.
Speaker 1: And that's all right.
Speaker 2: But Bronco was like central casting for why you fans
Speaker 2: sometimes don't like BYU. He was pious, he was holier
Speaker 2: than now. He quoted scripture during his press conference. You know,
Speaker 2: I was down at a BYU event m seeing that
Speaker 2: i've or I did my show prior to the event
Speaker 2: down to Thanksgiving point, I've done it three years in
Speaker 2: a row now, And one of the BYU players told
Speaker 2: the story of Bronco coming to his house to recruit
Speaker 2: his son. And this BYU player is a current stake
Speaker 2: president down South, and he said, Bronco's first question to
Speaker 2: his kid is what's your favorite scripture? And the guy's like,
Speaker 2: what are we doing? You're here to recruit him to
Speaker 2: play football? Right, So Bronco was a perfect face for
Speaker 2: what you fans perceived BYU to be and b YU
Speaker 2: fans were mad at Kyle for saying no to his
Speaker 2: you know, his alma mater and yes to the rival.
Speaker 2: So it seemed that the fever pitch as far as
Speaker 2: the hate Goes was at an all time high when
Speaker 2: those two were at it because Ronnie Mack and Level
Speaker 2: loved each other, Yes, and you could feel it.
Speaker 1: Urban came over.
Speaker 2: He invented Team down South and that's a stolen you know,
Speaker 2: and so you know that played into it. Utah was awesome,
Speaker 2: but it felt like after Klanie got the job, Kilane,
Speaker 2: to me, deserves a lot of the credit for what
Speaker 2: I perceived to be a little bit more civility among
Speaker 2: the two fan bases since he took the job.
Speaker 1: That's my prism. Yeah, and I would agree with that.
Speaker 1: You know, kilani.
Speaker 7: Is is such a first and foremo, such a good person,
Speaker 7: centered person. He understands the whole thing from both sides.
Speaker 7: He understands what it's all about, you know. And he's
Speaker 7: also one of these guys who's not full of himself.
Speaker 7: You know, he's he's doing it, you know, for the
Speaker 7: right reasons. He's he's coaching his team, he's got him
Speaker 7: going in a terrific direction trajectory and uh and the
Speaker 7: way he carries himself and the way he speaks. You know,
Speaker 7: I think you can't help but like him and root
Speaker 7: for him because of the way that he that he
Speaker 7: goes about his business. You know, Kyle's the same way
Speaker 7: Kyle has you know, isn't full of himself. Kyle, Kyle
Speaker 7: has for all of his success is uh, you know,
Speaker 7: really believes and just coming and and and getting to
Speaker 7: work and trying to do your best and respecting your opponent.
Speaker 7: And I would hope that this week the fans, as
Speaker 7: they're as they're engaging each other in that regard heading
Speaker 7: up to the game Saturday night, or you know, would
Speaker 7: take the lead from the two coaches and understand, hey,
Speaker 7: this this should be about sportsmanship and and having a
Speaker 7: good competitive game and you know, and having fun with
Speaker 7: and not getting over the line, you know, to the
Speaker 7: other stuff that really doesn't really serve anybody any good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's nothing that's well said. There's nothing not to
Speaker 2: like about either Kyle or Koloney. And I can tell
Speaker 2: you it's real because you know, we're not best friends,
Speaker 2: but I'm able to get to know them enough where
Speaker 2: I feel like I have a good read on the
Speaker 2: type of people they are. All Right, before we catch
Speaker 2: break one more thing on this and then we'll do
Speaker 2: a little we will talk jazz coming up. I mean,
Speaker 2: I don't really know what there is to say, but
Speaker 2: we'll try to say some things about the team coming
Speaker 2: up in a little bit. So there are two very
Speaker 2: different paths with these two teams, as you outlined earlier.
Speaker 2: For BYU, and it's interesting with a Big Twelve cast,
Speaker 2: we just saw, this is not an elimination game for
Speaker 2: Brigham Young, Like I hear a lot of youth fans, well,
Speaker 2: let's spoil their paths that you can't. Sorry, Like BYU
Speaker 2: could still and probably is favored to go to the
Speaker 2: Big twelve championship game no.
Speaker 1: Matter what happens on Saturday night.
Speaker 2: But unefeated season means a lot, you know, if they
Speaker 2: can enter maybe the CFP undefeated, maybe they have a
Speaker 2: chance to host a home playoff game in provo, Like
Speaker 2: there's so many things on the table for them. For Utah,
Speaker 2: Smidty and you know, for a lot of these players
Speaker 2: that don't know the intensity of this thing because they
Speaker 2: haven't experienced it or didn't grow up here Kyle did,
Speaker 2: Morgan did, like the coaches know it's at stake. So
Speaker 2: for Utah, I guess what's at steak here is maybe
Speaker 2: one last chance, Like we're partying like it's nineteen eighty six. Again,
Speaker 2: it's like one last chance to endear yourself to a
Speaker 2: community that right now is really bummed out about the
Speaker 2: way you played. Because if you are great for one
Speaker 2: day against BYU, you become a legend around here.
Speaker 1: That's got to be what's at stake, right I don't
Speaker 1: know what else.
Speaker 2: I mean, there's still the bowl game thing, and I
Speaker 2: guess the only thing worse than playing in a throwaway
Speaker 2: bowl game is not being eligible for one.
Speaker 1: So two very different dichotomies here.
Speaker 7: No, that's it's a well the rivalry game and wanted
Speaker 7: to have the bragging rights all winter, you know, for
Speaker 7: your team is important. It's important for every rivalry game
Speaker 7: that that that's what that's really what the biggest nugget is.
Speaker 7: No matter what the circumstances are from from year to year.
Speaker 7: But for Utah, they're coming into the game playing an
Speaker 7: undefeated top fifteen, ranked, top ten team, whatever BYU is
Speaker 7: and whatever pole at the moment, and deservedly so they're
Speaker 7: playing by an undefeated team. Then next week they have
Speaker 7: to go to Colorado who's playing very well, and then
Speaker 7: they come home and they have to play Iowa State,
Speaker 7: another top top conference team, and then they finish a
Speaker 7: season at Central Florida, which you would say, oh, well
Speaker 7: that's not good. That might be an important game for
Speaker 7: this Bowl eligibility thing. With those games that Utah has
Speaker 7: in front of them, you know they've got to get
Speaker 7: to six wins to be Bowl eligible. Yeah, okay, some
Speaker 7: you know, you just use the phrase or throwaway bowl.
Speaker 7: Whether you're going to the the Suncoast Bowl or the
Speaker 7: Alamo Bowl or the you know whatever it is in
Speaker 7: in UH in Paducaville or wherever it's gonna be, that's
Speaker 7: still something for a school that wants to keep its
Speaker 7: record intact and it's string intact, and and having something
Speaker 7: to play for other than the game in front of
Speaker 7: in front of you that you have. So so these
Speaker 7: are all important games for Utah and then you ratcheted
Speaker 7: up for BYU that's that would love to go undefeated
Speaker 7: and get to the conference championship game and and see
Speaker 7: what happens.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 7: As far as the CFP type situation, so so it's
Speaker 7: big other than the rivalry aspect of it for both teams.
Speaker 2: Yes, it is all right, before we catch a break,
Speaker 2: we'll do a little jazz coming up. I looked at
Speaker 2: the schedule this could be zero to twenty or maybe
Speaker 2: even worse. Kind of a perfect song, right for a
Speaker 2: rivalry week. Little we are the World, right, A little
Speaker 2: let's be united?
Speaker 7: Right, we should all on the chorus. I don't think
Speaker 7: we're waving our hands back and forth, weighing side to side.
Speaker 7: Oh I can oh. I love to sing. I sing
Speaker 7: very badly, just like I love to play golf. But
Speaker 7: I golf very bad.
Speaker 1: Fair enough.
Speaker 2: Maybe we'll uh, maybe we'll bring back you know what,
Speaker 2: Just play that song all week, We are the World.
Speaker 1: Okay, everybody, A few deep brasks. Yeah, it's all good.
Speaker 1: That's right. Love your brother, love your neighbor. There we go.
Speaker 2: I had a very famous spiritual teacher said that once
Speaker 2: upon a time it is Indeed, Richard Smith is live
Speaker 2: in studio doing a little Utah BYU last segment. All right,
Speaker 2: you know we have you in the top to talk jazz.
Speaker 2: You spend forty years in the NBA, you spend forty
Speaker 2: years with the Utah Jazz, and so I guess we will.
Speaker 1: Smitty. I don't know when they're gonna win a game.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've got their schedule pulled up like this
Speaker 2: is as bad as I think it has been for
Speaker 2: a long long time, and certainly I'm for it, as
Speaker 2: you know, because I do think, but I do want
Speaker 2: like this is really hard, Like what they're doing is
Speaker 2: really really hard, isn't it.
Speaker 7: Hey, Spence. The whole thing is difficult. It's hard to
Speaker 7: win in the NBA period. Okay, it's even more difficult
Speaker 7: to win on a consistent level in the NBA. It's
Speaker 7: even another tier to try and get near the top
Speaker 7: where you're competitive enough where you're one of the five,
Speaker 7: six seven teams each year that has a legitimate chance
Speaker 7: at actually going deep into the into a playoff run.
Speaker 7: But this, as we've talked about before, this is exactly
Speaker 7: what the Jazz set up to do. Nobody wants to
Speaker 7: be bad bad But at the same time, the Jazz
Speaker 7: knew what they were doing when they set all this up,
Speaker 7: when they traded everybody away, when when the coach left town,
Speaker 7: when they changed everything around, and they knew that at
Speaker 7: some point they would have to pay the piper, so
Speaker 7: to speak. And you know this start, you know, hey,
Speaker 7: think about it. Two years ago, the first year of
Speaker 7: the so called rebuild, they get out of the gate
Speaker 7: ten and three, and everybody's going whoa, whoa, wait, this
Speaker 7: is brilliant, you know whatever, and uh and then you know,
Speaker 7: it slowly dissipated and uh and went the other way
Speaker 7: as the season went on. And then last year they
Speaker 7: had that nice run in the middle of the year
Speaker 7: after Christmas where they had the best record for like
Speaker 7: a one month stretch there in the middle of the season,
Speaker 7: and then they they traded away a couple of guys
Speaker 7: that trade deadline, and then it fell apart again.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 7: And now they're they're coming out of the blocks the
Speaker 7: way that you have have asked them to do for
Speaker 7: the last few years.
Speaker 1: And so you know, and and.
Speaker 7: You're exactly right when you look at the schedule, it's
Speaker 7: hard to predict where a win is gonna come from
Speaker 7: there on the road now, continuing this four game road
Speaker 7: trip in Chicago tonight and then Milwaukee and then finishing
Speaker 7: San Antonio before they come home and play play Phoenix
Speaker 7: and Dallas next week. It is a tough road to hoe.
Speaker 7: And but this is what they've set up to do.
Speaker 7: And you know it's going to be a very difficult
Speaker 7: early part of the season. And you're right, it's gonna
Speaker 7: be hard to see any light at the end of
Speaker 7: the tunnel for anytime soon.
Speaker 2: And I do not want to diminish the difficult ask
Speaker 2: that I know this is okay, I just don't see
Speaker 2: another path. And as you know, being in the front
Speaker 2: office for as long as you were, paths randomly manifest
Speaker 2: themselves out of nowhere, okay. And so obviously you leave
Speaker 2: space for a billionaire owner who's afraid of the second
Speaker 2: apron and wants to shed talent and is looking for
Speaker 2: picks and clean books and the.
Speaker 1: Jazz have all that.
Speaker 2: Like, I know that can happen, but the fact of
Speaker 2: the matter is you can't rely on that. And so
Speaker 2: from my prism and my seat, the only way to
Speaker 2: do this is slow and long and hard, and hope
Speaker 2: you get a little luck around, you know, just at
Speaker 2: some point, hope you get some lottery luck, or hope
Speaker 2: Cody's better than we think, or Keyante learns to shoot straight,
Speaker 2: or whatever all those variables are. But make no mistake,
Speaker 2: this is a tough ask on the fan base. It's
Speaker 2: a tough ask on broadcasters to call games, and it's
Speaker 2: really tough on young players who up to this point
Speaker 2: have always been the best at what they do where
Speaker 2: they've been and most of them have probably won high
Speaker 2: school state championships, played high level aau, did something in
Speaker 2: college with great success, and now they're getting their heads
Speaker 2: kicked in every night.
Speaker 1: What's the danger in that?
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, there are a lot of factors there, But
Speaker 7: you also have to throw in how it affects the
Speaker 7: coaching staff for sure. For sure and the young coach
Speaker 7: that the Jazz have and Will Hardy, who by all
Speaker 7: accounts is very very studious, a very hard working guy.
Speaker 7: You know, he's trying to formulate a forge I should say,
Speaker 7: a career early in his coaching career by being a
Speaker 7: head coach in his mid thirties. And he's got a
Speaker 7: team that's that's in this situation, and that's tough on him.
Speaker 7: He's got to be questioning himself night in, night out
Speaker 7: about you know, the things he's doing. Is he doing
Speaker 7: the right stuff? Is he handling it the right way?
Speaker 11: Uh?
Speaker 7: Is he balancing minutes? Is he is he doing what
Speaker 7: the front office wants him to do? And in playing
Speaker 7: guys in certain positions to to help in their their
Speaker 7: development and and uh projection as NBA players. I mean,
Speaker 7: there's so many levels to it. Uh, And and yet
Speaker 7: the losing permeates the locker room bigger than anything, and
Speaker 7: and the more the bigger the hole you dig early
Speaker 7: in the year, the tougher it becomes because as you
Speaker 7: realize as a group, as you as the as the
Speaker 7: year evolves, as it goes on, you become more and
Speaker 7: more a cognizant and accepting of the of the notion
Speaker 7: that we're not going anywhere with this group at this time.
Speaker 8: We are.
Speaker 7: We have a game tomorrow night, we have a game
Speaker 7: on Thursday, we have two games on the you know
Speaker 7: whatever it is, and you're looking at it. When you
Speaker 7: have a losing record and you're at the bottom looking
Speaker 7: up and you realize we're not going anyway now, it
Speaker 7: takes it to another level where the players have to
Speaker 7: have that that that mental stamina to want to be
Speaker 7: able to keep coming every day to practice, to try
Speaker 7: and get better, to try and show how they can
Speaker 7: contribute to a winning effort. The coaching staff is trying
Speaker 7: to figure out, you know, how do we keep everybody
Speaker 7: engaged night in and night out, you know, without losing
Speaker 7: guys along the way. From a mental perspective, a buy
Speaker 7: in person, that is the difficult part, and especially in
Speaker 7: an eighty two game NBA season that when you dig
Speaker 7: a hole early, it is so hard to get out
Speaker 7: of and it is so much effort just to try
Speaker 7: and bring the group along with you, you know, on
Speaker 7: the journey that that you're you're in the middle of
Speaker 7: it is.
Speaker 1: It is a tough ask.
Speaker 7: And when you're younger and you don't have the experience,
Speaker 7: it's even more so because those kind of things can
Speaker 7: really get embedded in you in terms of how your
Speaker 7: career is going to evolve as well.
Speaker 2: So let's dig into you know, I always enjoy listening
Speaker 2: to coaches, right, so, so why I still love listening
Speaker 2: to Hube Brown if he's on a call of a game.
Speaker 1: I thought Jeff was the best.
Speaker 2: It's so crazy to me that ESPN claim that they
Speaker 2: didn't want to bring him back because they heard he
Speaker 2: wanted to get back into coaching. Then they hired Doc
Speaker 2: who him like three weeks later, then they hired Reddick,
Speaker 2: who's coaching the Lakers. So like Doug Collins on the
Speaker 2: broadcast or Steve Kerr, you know, like whenever I can
Speaker 2: listen to a coach, I like to listen to coaches,
Speaker 2: and will has been really interesting to listen to after games,
Speaker 2: because he doesn't say that as the kids would say
Speaker 2: the quiet part out loud per se. But he is
Speaker 2: speaking now in a different way that he's spoken over
Speaker 2: the past couple of years, saying things like, well, eventually
Speaker 2: we need to get to where we want to be,
Speaker 2: and if we're ever going to get there, we can't
Speaker 2: lean on excuses for now, like he is speaking in
Speaker 2: a future tense way after games that he hasn't prior to,
Speaker 2: but ultimately knowing coaches, and you got to know the
Speaker 2: best that we had to the two best that we
Speaker 2: had here in Frank and Jerry. If you got Will
Speaker 2: in an honest moment, what do you think he'd say?
Speaker 2: This has to be eating him alive. They don't have
Speaker 2: a prayer, they don't have a chance. He doesn't have
Speaker 2: the tools. He does not have the players will hundred
Speaker 2: and look, they picked up his fifth year option, okay,
Speaker 2: meaning it's two years of options that are picked up.
Speaker 1: This is your three. He's safe next year, he's safe
Speaker 1: the year after.
Speaker 2: But if this thing doesn't get turned around, he's gonna
Speaker 2: have a resume with a lot of losses on it.
Speaker 7: And coaches don't love that. That's right, And and that's
Speaker 7: the hard part for him and his career. He's trying
Speaker 7: to build a career. He's trying to show, you know,
Speaker 7: the rest of the league and the basketball world you
Speaker 7: know that hey, I know what I'm doing, and you
Speaker 7: know I can learn if I go along, and I
Speaker 7: can get better, and I know how to manage players,
Speaker 7: and I know how to you know, deal with in
Speaker 7: game strategies and all those kinds of things that go
Speaker 7: into coaching, uh, being a head coach. But when you
Speaker 7: have a group like this and a group that's struggling
Speaker 7: and you can tell this's going to be a long road,
Speaker 7: that that weighs on you mentally. And that's the biggest
Speaker 7: thing is trying to keep your perspective. He's not coming
Speaker 7: from a background where, uh say, I don't know who
Speaker 7: who maybe maybe JB. Bickerstack, who's the coach in Detroit.
Speaker 7: Now they have a they have a team that's similar
Speaker 7: to the Jazz, a young team that that's gonna struggle
Speaker 7: for a while that they're trying to build up.
Speaker 1: But JB has has.
Speaker 7: A track record in the past, especially the last job
Speaker 7: he had in Cleveland where he did very well and
Speaker 7: and and you can see he's got that that the experience,
Speaker 7: he's got those games under his belt as a head
Speaker 7: coach for several years in the league. The people know, Okay,
Speaker 7: he knows what he's doing. He's just got to get
Speaker 7: some players and got to massage some stuff and move
Speaker 7: some pieces around, and eventually we're gonna be on that
Speaker 7: that track. Will Hardy doesn't have that luxury at the
Speaker 7: current moment because this is his first head coaching job.
Speaker 7: So he's coming in and he's uh. First year, they struggle,
Speaker 7: second year, they struggle, third year, they're just beginning. But
Speaker 7: but they're out of the gate stumbling to begin with.
Speaker 7: He's wondering how people are looking at him and how
Speaker 7: how he's being affected in terms of his career, because
Speaker 7: I'll tell you, there are a lot of guys who
Speaker 7: got their their one shot at being a head coach
Speaker 7: and it didn't work well. People respected them, they thought
Speaker 7: they were very good at what they did. They liked
Speaker 7: their work ethic, they liked their temperament, they liked their
Speaker 7: approach to the job. Didn't have success mainly because you
Speaker 7: didn't have players, and they lasted three years or four
Speaker 7: years with their teams. They got to let go and
Speaker 7: then you never see him again as a head coach.
Speaker 7: They recycle back into the thing as assistant coaches, and
Speaker 7: because they're they're well respected within the circles of the
Speaker 7: coaching fraternity and by by teams and organizations around around
Speaker 7: the league.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 7: But sometimes they don't get another shot because of that,
Speaker 7: because they don't have anything on their resume to show, hey,
Speaker 7: I've proven that I can do this right. So Will
Speaker 7: Hardy is in that tough position because, yeah, he's got
Speaker 7: a couple more years to ride with this group. At
Speaker 7: least you hope he gets more than that because he
Speaker 7: looks like he's the right guy, and you just hope
Speaker 7: he can hold on in terms of his approach, in
Speaker 7: terms of what he's dealing with as a head coach,
Speaker 7: night in, the night out, not winning, not winning, not winning,
Speaker 7: and that it doesn't beat him down because to turn
Speaker 7: this around, your right spence the draft, if you get
Speaker 7: a free agent, okay, if you make a trade, okay.
Speaker 7: Those are the three ways that you can improve your team.
Speaker 7: Those are the things you can control to some extent.
Speaker 7: But there's another component we always talk about that is
Speaker 7: beyond your control that you don't you have no say
Speaker 7: and what's gonna happen. But something might present itself, as
Speaker 7: you mentioned a minute ago, and you have to be
Speaker 7: prepared to react to that, whether it's again another team
Speaker 7: trying to unload a big time player or trying to
Speaker 7: unload a salary or something something. But you don't know
Speaker 7: if that's gonna happen this year before the trade deadline.
Speaker 7: You don't know if it's gonna happen next year. You
Speaker 7: don't know if it's gonna happen anytime in the next
Speaker 7: five years, because those are things that are beyond your control.
Speaker 7: So you don't know if Golden State's gonna hang it
Speaker 7: up and want to move some guys at some point,
Speaker 7: if the Clippers get frustrated and want to move some guys,
Speaker 7: or you know, whoever it is. And those are the
Speaker 7: things that are hard for fans to accept because they
Speaker 7: assume that you as an organization, as an ownership, have
Speaker 7: control of everything. You just have to push the right
Speaker 7: buttons and make the right moves. But there is an
Speaker 7: element out there that are things that are not within
Speaker 7: your control that you have to be able to UH
Speaker 7: to react to and be able to UH to make
Speaker 7: decisions on if and when they become available. And that's
Speaker 7: that's the big gray area that's always hanging over you
Speaker 7: that you never know if and when that's gonna happen. Okay,
Speaker 7: So yeah, and I like, you know, you know Spence
Speaker 7: right there that that was a perfect no, that was
Speaker 7: a perfect take because that that that frustrated exhales.
Speaker 1: It is exactly what it is. That's that's what they're
Speaker 1: going through.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 7: It's it's tough. Uh, it's not pretty. Nobody likes it.
Speaker 7: The room is always heavy, okay, whether it's practice, whether
Speaker 7: it's on the team bus, uh, whether it's on a
Speaker 7: road trip like they're on now, because you're trying to
Speaker 7: find some ray of light that that tells you, hey,
Speaker 7: where we can turn this around. We can get better.
Speaker 7: We need to group together three or four or five
Speaker 7: games where we feel like, you know, we're clicking, we're
Speaker 7: doing something moment. And it's early, okay, it's only six
Speaker 7: games in okay, but the early returns, like the elections,
Speaker 7: are not probably what it's going to be. But if
Speaker 7: you want to hang your hat on something, you're looking
Speaker 7: at seeing the Jazz are still a very bad defensive team.
Speaker 7: They're a team that so far can't shoot the ball. Okay.
Speaker 7: They're also a team that doesn't seem to be really
Speaker 7: well connected, you know, with each other when they're on
Speaker 7: the floor. They don't have any kind of identity. So
Speaker 7: when you're dealing with all of those things at the
Speaker 7: same time, that that is a tough gap. Because sometimes
Speaker 7: you might have one of those and you can concentrate
Speaker 7: on that area and try and shore it up somehow.
Speaker 7: But when you get all of those happening simultaneously and
Speaker 7: you're trying to juggle all those balls in the air
Speaker 7: at the same time, it is tough to do and
Speaker 7: it's tough to manage.
Speaker 2: So since you brought up the election, is it possible
Speaker 2: just to say the final score is incorrect and we
Speaker 2: won and just claim the win. I mean, yeah, well,
Speaker 2: well apparently I don't know what the other option is.
Speaker 7: Well, apparently you can because apparently no matter what the
Speaker 7: scoreboard says, you said, well they're they're wrong, you know, like,
Speaker 7: that's that's not right.
Speaker 1: We won, we won the game. Let's just do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I don't know what's going.
Speaker 2: On there, So let's dig into the six and oh,
Speaker 2: Utah Jazz all right, So six, Hey, I wasn't there.
Speaker 1: I didn't see the score. You know, don't come at me.
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna draw a parallel here because the fact
Speaker 2: of the matter is, and you're one of the reasons
Speaker 2: we are spoiled as jazz fans. We've never won a championship,
Speaker 2: but we've rarely had bad teams, and when we did,
Speaker 2: it didn't last long because the front office iterations you
Speaker 2: were a part of, always made good moves to get
Speaker 2: us back to competitiveness pretty quick. The last time it
Speaker 2: was this bad was probably Tie's final year, right, And
Speaker 2: as you were described, being a coach who gets an
Speaker 2: opportunity and the roster isn't great or whatever, and it
Speaker 2: goes sideways and that coach never gets another opportunity. Tyrone
Speaker 2: Corbin's name popped into my head. And obviously, you know
Speaker 2: Scotty hired him in New York. You've known him forever.
Speaker 2: He's the sweetest guy in the world. And Dennis didn't
Speaker 2: like when I said that when I would use this
Speaker 2: line on air, because he heard me say it, I
Speaker 2: was of the opinion the Dennis Lindsay's first day on.
Speaker 1: The job was Tyrone Corbin's last. I just didn't think
Speaker 1: he was going to rehire him.
Speaker 2: And so you know, obviously players like al who played
Speaker 2: well here Paul Millsap, who is still a jazz legend,
Speaker 2: moved off some vets in the name of seeing what
Speaker 2: you had with youngsters. But that roster is much better
Speaker 2: than the roster that we're dealing with here. That's why
Speaker 2: it's a loose parallel. So the rookies were Trey Burke
Speaker 2: and Gobert. Alec was in his second year, Hayward was
Speaker 2: in his third, Favors was in his third.
Speaker 1: At players like Jeremy Evans.
Speaker 2: You know, then you bring in vets like Richard Jefferson
Speaker 2: and Andre Spidron's just to pay somebody to play for
Speaker 2: you and ultimately you want twenty five that year. But
Speaker 2: that year was about bringing Marvin Williams, who obviously was
Speaker 2: a pro while he was here. But that year, Smittye
Speaker 2: was about, right, like what do we have in Gordon?
Speaker 2: Is this rudy thing real? And as Canter was on
Speaker 2: the team, So you had five or six young players
Speaker 2: like they have now that you were trying to do
Speaker 2: your calculus like can they be part of this moving
Speaker 2: forward when we're back to competitiveness, Will they be on
Speaker 2: the roster. Gordon was obviously fave was as well. The
Speaker 2: Canter stuff got weird, Rudy was ready to play. You
Speaker 2: guys move on from Enis. We know the history, but
Speaker 2: there's some similarities right between thirteen and fourteen and twenty
Speaker 2: four Yeah.
Speaker 7: Sure, yeah, and you're right, that's that's what was happening
Speaker 7: at that time. You know, the Golden State thing by
Speaker 7: the way, you know, you mentioned Richard Jefferson on just Midrinch,
Speaker 7: the Rush kid, Brandon.
Speaker 1: Russian than Russia was part of that.
Speaker 7: But that was you know, when you look, if you
Speaker 7: looked at it, you would see that that was probably
Speaker 7: in NBA Annals, the most lopsided trade ever made in
Speaker 7: NBA history because the Jazz got those guys who were
Speaker 7: all on expiring contracts. That's the reason that that the
Speaker 7: Jazz took them in at that time. Uh, they were
Speaker 7: gonna they were gonna have that money available the next year.
Speaker 7: They took that with several draft picks with it to
Speaker 7: trade for.
Speaker 1: Uh, the the the Murray kid.
Speaker 7: Kevin Kevin Murphy, sorry, Kevin Murphy, who we had we
Speaker 7: had drafted the second round the year before. All those
Speaker 7: guys came in and all the Jazz sent out to
Speaker 7: Golden State was Kevin Murphy who was then cut. And
Speaker 7: the whole thing for Golden State was opening up all
Speaker 7: this space for money so that they could uh uh,
Speaker 7: they could go get Andrea Iguodala. See now, at the time,
Speaker 7: we thought they were opening up the space to go
Speaker 7: get uh, Dwight.
Speaker 1: How quick?
Speaker 7: Did Dwight Howard? Was it Dwight Howard was a free
Speaker 7: agency the Lakers. Yeah, yeah, okay, I didn't know that
Speaker 7: that's interesting.
Speaker 1: But it was, but it was.
Speaker 7: But it ended up being Andrea Gudala was the guy
Speaker 7: they were trying to target and get after to put
Speaker 7: together with Curry and Thompson and Green and uh. And
Speaker 7: then they took off the whey they did, right, So
Speaker 7: that's what they were trying to do.
Speaker 1: So the Jazz.
Speaker 7: See, so when you're when you're in that position like
Speaker 7: the Jazz were at that time, you make a move,
Speaker 7: you don't give up anything. You're giving up a second
Speaker 7: round guy who maybe wasn't even gonna be on our
Speaker 7: team the following year, and and you got you got
Speaker 7: players who are on expiring contracts, you got draft picks,
Speaker 7: and you also got money. You got three million dollars
Speaker 7: thrown in the deal from Golden State and and all
Speaker 7: of that stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, it was part of.
Speaker 7: Dennis Lindsay's grand plan to try and open up space
Speaker 7: and try and move some pieces around and hope that
Speaker 7: at some point, you know, you can you can jump
Speaker 7: on something that that's gonna help your team, you know,
Speaker 7: to get forward. Now, what happens in the meantime, Rudy
Speaker 7: Gobert shows up? Okay, third year, fourth year, Okay, that's
Speaker 7: what the Jazz now are hoping happens with one of
Speaker 7: the guys they have on the roster, right, Who is that?
Speaker 1: Who knows who that is? Right?
Speaker 7: The Jazz also use one of the draft picks or
Speaker 7: the draft pic they end up getting from Denver in
Speaker 7: the trade on draft night we've talked about before they
Speaker 7: got them, Donovan Mitchell. And Donovan Mitchell shows up much quicker,
Speaker 7: much better, much more impactful than we thought he would
Speaker 7: be right out of the gate. So we were smart,
Speaker 7: we were good, We were lucky, whatever label you want
Speaker 7: to put on, it's more luck than anything else. Yes,
Speaker 7: And so you have all that stuff going on, and
Speaker 7: that's what the current Jazz are hoping to do. They're
Speaker 7: hoping that somewhere along the line, somebody clicks, you get
Speaker 7: an opportunity like that that falls into your lap that
Speaker 7: you can take advantage of and then uh, and then
Speaker 7: you keep putting the parts together. The guys they have
Speaker 7: right now, in my opinion, it looks like they're having
Speaker 7: trouble connecting with each other, and it looks like they're
Speaker 7: having trouble just playing with each other. So it doesn't
Speaker 7: look to me like it's a very good mix of guys.
Speaker 7: You know, maybe you have some talent, but I'm not
Speaker 7: sure how well they're playing together. A lot of it
Speaker 7: also is that a lot of them are in experience
Speaker 7: and they're and they're stumbling over themselves trying to find
Speaker 7: their footing. That takes time, and that takes a lot
Speaker 7: of mistakes that you have to be willing to live through.
Speaker 7: So that's that's the part that the current jazz are
Speaker 7: dealing with at this moment. And it's not going to
Speaker 7: get any easier here in the in the next in
Speaker 7: the coming months. It's it's it's gonna be a difficult
Speaker 7: road for them to hope.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's hard. It is.
Speaker 2: And even though I agree with it and think for
Speaker 2: the first time since you know, Dennis took off and
Speaker 2: Quinn and everybody took off and they traded everybody. It
Speaker 2: feels like they're finally doing the thing. I still do
Speaker 2: not diminish out what a tough ask this is on
Speaker 2: everybody involved. All right, somebody, before we set you lose,
Speaker 2: do you dare give me a Utah b y U
Speaker 2: final score position?
Speaker 1: Do you dare? Now? You know, you know how I
Speaker 1: know how I sit on those things, and I'll tell
Speaker 1: you this. You know what I do think.
Speaker 7: I just think that when I look at it, the
Speaker 7: roles are reverse from what you thought they were going
Speaker 7: to be before the season started. Right by U is
Speaker 7: the undefeated team, the Utah is the team that's muddling
Speaker 7: around at four and four. It's a perfect scenario for
Speaker 7: both teams to all of a sudden do something they
Speaker 7: haven't done this year. In other words, for Utah to
Speaker 7: put something together where they have a consistent game offensively
Speaker 7: all game long. For b YU has had some games
Speaker 7: where you know, they were treading along and it was
Speaker 7: you know, maybe we've gotta have something happen, and then
Speaker 7: something good did happen, and that's what happens when you
Speaker 7: have a special season, the plays break your way when
Speaker 7: you need them to break your way. And so is
Speaker 7: that going to continue to happen for b YU or
Speaker 7: is this going to be the game where they they
Speaker 7: finally stumble uh and lose a game. I'm not sure
Speaker 7: losing a game for them, you know, in the grand
Speaker 7: scheme of things, would be the worst thing for them,
Speaker 7: because maybe it helps them to refocus, you know, on
Speaker 7: the on the last month of this conference season. And
Speaker 7: to your point, I think they're still in the driver's seat,
Speaker 7: you know, with other things that happened to get to
Speaker 7: the conference championship game, which is all that matters, because
Speaker 7: once you get there, as Utah you know showed the
Speaker 7: last few years with Rose Bowl games, conference games getting
Speaker 7: to Rose Bowl. You know, once you get into that
Speaker 7: championship game, you know, anything can happen, like DEVI for
Speaker 7: the for the you again talking about things breaking your
Speaker 7: way when they played USC in the conference championship game
Speaker 7: a few years ago, and and uh and Caleb Williams
Speaker 7: gets hurt in the quarter and he's stumbling around the
Speaker 7: rest of the game, and then you takes advantage of
Speaker 7: it and next thing you know, you wake up next
Speaker 7: day and they're going to the Rose Bowl, So so
Speaker 7: it's gonna be. I think it's gonna be. I hope
Speaker 7: it's a fun game. I hope it's exciting. And I
Speaker 7: hope those of you are who are brave enough to
Speaker 7: go sit in the twenty eighth degree weather or whatever
Speaker 7: on Saturday night at eleven thirty in the fourth quarter
Speaker 7: are more stout than I am because some of us
Speaker 7: have gotten old and we've gotten soft.
Speaker 2: Well, Smitty, I don't blame you at all. Always a
Speaker 2: pleasure to see my friend. We'll see us soon. Okay,
Speaker 2: thanks man, all right, we got Kilani Kilanie Satake hopping
Speaker 2: on the show today. Always enjoy my conversations with coach Kilane.
Speaker 2: He's gonna hop on probably around four o'clock. We're a
Speaker 2: little fluid with that situation, so we'll bring that to
Speaker 2: you coming up in just a little bit.
Speaker 1: Josh Furlong covers Utah for Ks.
Speaker 2: That will stop by of course, Rivalry Week, By the way,
Speaker 2: how are.
Speaker 1: You on your annunciation?
Speaker 2: And I want to be I'm not judging anyone here
Speaker 2: because over the years I've daffy ducked Rivalry Week like
Speaker 2: a million times watching the local broadcast last night, getting
Speaker 2: ready for the week, seeing how they're covering it.
Speaker 1: I heard four or five why will we weeks? They happen?
Speaker 1: Have you ever got got on this before? I don't
Speaker 1: know about the the rivalry week one? Why will we week?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's your daffy duck it and we all do it.
Speaker 2: We've all done it at some point.
Speaker 4: I mean I grew up to be clear with like
Speaker 4: a pretty gnarly lisp.
Speaker 1: Oh, I didn't know that.
Speaker 4: You can hear it make its way out every once
Speaker 4: in a while if you pay attention, you probably will now.
Speaker 1: But I don't know.
Speaker 4: About the the rs or the double up there.
Speaker 1: I think I'll be good with Rivalry Week.
Speaker 2: So that's of course going to be a lot of
Speaker 2: our coverage throughout the course of the week. We have
Speaker 2: some fun remotes. We'll tell you about a lot of
Speaker 2: good guests on the show to get you ready for
Speaker 2: the big game coming up on Saturday. Utah is a
Speaker 2: four point underdog as of now by us your favorite,
Speaker 2: but as we do every single Monday during the college
Speaker 2: football season. If you missed it from earlier, here is
Speaker 2: the head ball coach for the Utes.
Speaker 1: Coach.
Speaker 8: Wait, okay, Rivalry week. I guess we haven't said that
Speaker 8: for a little over three years, and so season is
Speaker 8: flown by in a way, in a way it's taken forever.
Speaker 8: But anyways, it's time for the N State rivalry. You know,
Speaker 8: our guys were both in by weeks, both schools in
Speaker 8: bye weeks, and so certainly seasons have gone completely different directions.
Speaker 8: And then what was anticipated at the onset, I guess
Speaker 8: that shows that those preseason rankings and thoughts really don't
Speaker 8: mean a whole lot, and you get to go out
Speaker 8: and play the games, and things happened during the course
Speaker 8: of the season to alter the paths of teams, and
Speaker 8: so that's what happened this year. But our guys are
Speaker 8: really excited about the game. Obviously, good to get back
Speaker 8: back home to Rice cycles.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 8: Uh had a really good productive by week last week
Speaker 8: and and we'll resume practice today. They've had uh three
Speaker 8: days off, UH Friday, Saturday, Sunday off and so exious
Speaker 8: to get back on the field today and resume preparations
Speaker 8: and uh get ready for them, get ready for the
Speaker 8: game on Saturday. So questions cool, okay, justin go ahead.
Speaker 9: Hm, okay, where is your identity?
Speaker 12: Young young, fortality and attention to details to stay age, and.
Speaker 6: It seems that you've lost that last month.
Speaker 9: To how do you address this issues?
Speaker 8: Really, wife, I would agree we're not as physical this
Speaker 8: year as we typically have been. Uh, and you really
Speaker 8: gauge that at least we gauge it by uh how
Speaker 8: you run the ball and how you defend the running man.
Speaker 8: We haven't been as good at that this year. Uh
Speaker 8: just uh, you know, tough to s pinpoint one exact
Speaker 8: reason for that, but uh, yeah, we haven't h haven't
Speaker 8: been uh our usual selves in that regard, and uh
Speaker 8: that has been our identity as well. And so they
Speaker 8: go hand at hand and uh, you know, the ability
Speaker 8: to run the ball and plats and pass off of that,
Speaker 8: that's been our formula for success for a lot of years.
Speaker 8: And the the ability on defense to turn teams one
Speaker 8: dimensional by taking away the run and and forcing them
Speaker 8: to throw as has uh not surface this year either.
Speaker 8: So that's uh certainly been U big part of our
Speaker 8: issue this year. Issue issues.
Speaker 9: You had talked about last week Brandon and and uh
Speaker 9: Isaac was studying.
Speaker 6: Have you made it a termination?
Speaker 8: Yeah, We've got a good plan uh right now. And
Speaker 8: and Uh, well, keep it to ourselves obviously, but we
Speaker 8: have a plan going forward and uh, you know, I
Speaker 8: guess nothing's ever set in stone, but we we feel
Speaker 8: like we're we've got a uh uh a situation that
Speaker 8: uh is best for us and gets us the best
Speaker 8: chance to win.
Speaker 13: When you put in Brandon the last game, you said
Speaker 13: that you were looking for a spark I was ordering.
Speaker 13: Was it something that he showed you that led to, hey,
Speaker 13: let's give him a shot?
Speaker 6: Any practice as opposed to well the other is that
Speaker 6: working with the other lots the list.
Speaker 8: Straight little both little Both we weren't very productive offensively. Uh,
Speaker 8: I haven't been productively m much of this season since
Speaker 8: the first uh couple games, But uh it was a
Speaker 8: little of both. And uh I just thought that Brandon
Speaker 8: had been practicing extremely well as the number two guy,
Speaker 8: and just thought, given the circumstances, uh, it made sense
Speaker 8: to uh give him a chance and and see what
Speaker 8: he could do. So both uh, both things are correct, Kyle.
Speaker 14: Was this the first time in a while that Utah
Speaker 14: has been the underdog heading into the Buau Utah matchup?
Speaker 14: How was it different in terms of preparation, how the
Speaker 14: players do the game, how you viewed the game, and
Speaker 14: you know, is it different having that you're going shoulder
Speaker 14: heading into.
Speaker 8: The game to speak, Well, typically historically we've been uh
Speaker 8: pretty good in that situation, you know, with a with
Speaker 8: a chip on our shoulder. As you said, uh, mentality,
Speaker 8: I'm not sure, you know, the point spread doesn't really
Speaker 8: affect affect our thinking or how we go about our
Speaker 8: business or anything like that, other than uh, you know,
Speaker 8: maybe feeling like uh, you know we uh you know,
Speaker 8: just uh I that's unusual force you right, it's unusual,
Speaker 8: and so it's it's something that uh hasn't had occurred
Speaker 8: for quite a while. But uh, that's not our driving
Speaker 8: force or driving motivating factor.
Speaker 6: Brandon Rose has been here for a few years. How
Speaker 6: have you seen his development uh over his time as utell?
Speaker 8: He said, well, and he was really new well last year.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 8: In addition, but had that injury that knocked him out
Speaker 8: for six or eight weeks which really set him back,
Speaker 8: and then uh didn't uh get much uh any of
Speaker 8: anything going last year because of that. Uh spring ball.
Speaker 8: UH had some reps. Isaac uh got a bunch of
Speaker 8: the reps as well. But but Brandon has made steady
Speaker 8: and continual progress since he's been in the program. UH
Speaker 8: is playing his big us football right now is a
Speaker 8: ut Listen. Practice, there's not a big body of work
Speaker 8: to to gauge it off in game, but uh in
Speaker 8: a game situation. But he's done a nice job in practice,
Speaker 8: and and UH continues to uh get better. But that's
Speaker 8: you know, that's why you coach him, is to hopefully
Speaker 8: make him better.
Speaker 6: Feel he's obviously proved quite a bit of year to year.
Speaker 6: Who what is the strength.
Speaker 1: Of that offense?
Speaker 8: You know, I'd say the QB is the catalyst.
Speaker 9: Uh.
Speaker 8: You look at UH, individual rushers, individual receivers. There's nobody
Speaker 8: that just jumps out statistically. It It's a collaborative effort.
Speaker 8: But the uh, the quarterback is the catalyst in my opinion,
Speaker 8: And and playing good football. He's uh amongst the league
Speaker 8: leaders in pass efficiency. He and he's made some uh
Speaker 8: just a bunch of really timely runs during the course
Speaker 8: of the season, runs that that have made you know,
Speaker 8: big difference, UH maker type of runs. And so I
Speaker 8: would say that is, without a doubt, UH the guy
Speaker 8: that makes it all go. But again, they got he's
Speaker 8: got a good supporting cast. But but again nobody is
Speaker 8: just jumping out UH on the stat line. I don't
Speaker 8: know if they have a top ten receiver or a
Speaker 8: top ten running back, but you don't need to, you know,
Speaker 8: you don't have to do that to be successful. And
Speaker 8: then UH as a team, very opportunistic football team. They're
Speaker 8: playing good complimentary UH defense offense UH to each other.
Speaker 8: Defense is taking the ball away like crazy. Offense is
Speaker 8: protecting the ball. They're number two in the country and
Speaker 8: or not in the country in the conference the internover margins.
Speaker 8: So they're doing a really good job playing off each
Speaker 8: other offensively and defensively.
Speaker 6: Now ago kin they going off the question Justin asked
Speaker 6: about identity. Is it harder in this NIL era to.
Speaker 9: Kind of stick to your identity knowing that you're kind
Speaker 9: of have to appease guys or how do you how what's.
Speaker 8: Your approach on that much harder? And it's uh. I
Speaker 8: think there's a lot of teams across the country that
Speaker 8: are that are feeling and going through similar situations. When
Speaker 8: you uh, you know, four or five six years ago,
Speaker 8: before the advent of the portal, whenever that was, you
Speaker 8: might replace twenty five guys out of one hundred and
Speaker 8: twenty five on your team. Now you're replacing forty five
Speaker 8: plus and the culture I don't know deluded the right word,
Speaker 8: but I it's you know, before you had a hundred
Speaker 8: guys teaching twenty five guys how we do our thing,
Speaker 8: and now it's almost a fifty to fifty split the
Speaker 8: new guys as opposed to the the guys that have
Speaker 8: been in the program. But it's not unique to us.
Speaker 8: It's it's across the country. And I think that's why
Speaker 8: you're seeing a lot of uh different results, uh throughout
Speaker 8: the country, because uh it has had an effect and
Speaker 8: will continue to have an effect, and and whoever handles
Speaker 8: it best and whoever it's almost coming down to a
Speaker 8: sheer talent thing that uh, you know, sheer talent is
Speaker 8: I mean, who who's one in the country Oregon, Who's
Speaker 8: number one in the country in nil budget Oregon? Uh,
Speaker 8: who's number two and three? Probably Georgia and Ohio. I mean,
Speaker 8: it's just it's starting to fall right in line. If
Speaker 8: you remember I'd said this a couple of years ago
Speaker 8: that uh, things are gonna start mirroring very soon. You know,
Speaker 8: in the top twenty five, the the nil budgets and
Speaker 8: and uh, to a certain extent that's happening kind of.
Speaker 14: In in the vein of the portal and just how
Speaker 14: you build your program. Obviously it's you've not had a
Speaker 14: lot of turn over comparison to other programs in terms
Speaker 14: of the foundational pieces that you've had.
Speaker 8: Well, we did have forty five new guys this year
Speaker 8: for yeah, the rosters. It's during your half given.
Speaker 6: Uh, I guess the impacts of that.
Speaker 14: You know, has it changed, I I guess the way
Speaker 14: you see your co coaching philosophy and and the way
Speaker 14: this year has gone as it changed the way that
Speaker 14: you might approach it in in the futures.
Speaker 8: H, I think for certain. And uh, you know you
Speaker 8: got guys that uh come to the program and are
Speaker 8: here for a year or two and uh either leave
Speaker 8: or you've got grad transfers that only had a year
Speaker 8: or two left. And so there's just it's it's constantly
Speaker 8: in flux. And uh, I don't wanna say it's like
Speaker 8: you're hiring mercenaries every year, but you it's a it's
Speaker 8: a situation where again you gotta collect as much talent
Speaker 8: as quickly as you can and then hope it gels
Speaker 8: and comes together and you get results, and it's it
Speaker 8: is a different approach and different strategy than when you
Speaker 8: had guys just uh marinate in your program for four
Speaker 8: and five six years and it it is different. But
Speaker 8: again they're you know, not making excuses or complaining, cause
Speaker 8: the entire country is going through the same thing. I
Speaker 8: just feel that maybe our culture and our uh the
Speaker 8: way we did things gave us an edge back, you
Speaker 8: know when when that could be possible to have happened.
Speaker 11: This arborous series became dominant when you guys went to
Speaker 11: the Act twelve and they went in and then.
Speaker 6: Before that, I think you go back like the last
Speaker 6: twenty years. I believe the youths had like eleven to
Speaker 6: nine advantage, right, and then there was a sepuation.
Speaker 8: I think it's m I think it's more than that
Speaker 8: over twenty oh twenty years before what yeah, so thirty
Speaker 8: years ago and yeah, yeah, okay, yeah right, yeah. I
Speaker 8: mean it's it's been cyclical in a way.
Speaker 11: But I'm I'm wondering now that you're back in the
Speaker 11: same conference at least for the time being, would it
Speaker 11: surprise you if it got more even like it was
Speaker 11: in a Mount West days at the end.
Speaker 8: I could very well, I don't know. Then time will tell.
Speaker 8: I mean, why speculate on speculation. But that's great. Yeah,
Speaker 8: but but uh, who knows? I mean, who knows where college?
Speaker 8: Who who knows what will be in the same conference
Speaker 8: in two years? I mean, who knows that? There's so
Speaker 8: I can't really give you a good answer other than, uh,
Speaker 8: you know, being in the same conference. Certainly, I don't
Speaker 8: wanna say, uh it just as uh uh an equalizer
Speaker 8: of sorts, I guess you could say. And especially from
Speaker 8: a recruiting standpoint.
Speaker 6: Yeah, to kind of go back to the transfer portal.
Speaker 14: Obviously with quarterbacks like the NFL, they're starting to become
Speaker 14: the highest paid position.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, in college football.
Speaker 14: Yeah, in terms of a roster building perspective and what
Speaker 14: you've seen from Isaac, has there been any pause? I
Speaker 14: guess from what you've seen from his play to potentially
Speaker 14: view him as the future of this program moving forward.
Speaker 6: I know that's a very broad question and just curious.
Speaker 8: Based off your person Well, just generally speaking, we had
Speaker 8: a ton of belief in Isaac and we think he's
Speaker 8: got a big upside. We didn't know he'd be thrust
Speaker 8: into the starting role of the game in half into the season.
Speaker 8: You know, we the idea and the plan was, you know,
Speaker 8: hopefully Camp stays healthy as it gets sporadic playing time
Speaker 8: along the way and continues to develop and really takes
Speaker 8: over in spring as the number one guy. I mean,
Speaker 8: everything was accelerated so much. Uh and it's almost I
Speaker 8: don't wanna say it's unfair and is it cause there
Speaker 8: are other true freshmen in the country that are that
Speaker 8: are uh thrust into starting roles one reason or another.
Speaker 8: But uh, the bottom line is we have a lot
Speaker 8: of belief in Isaac and it'll be i you know,
Speaker 8: important to see how the year finishes out. He's had
Speaker 8: uh nearly four hundred snaps. I think he's had three
Speaker 8: hundred ninety seven snaps at quarterbacks so far this year
Speaker 8: and that's uh, you know, far more than we anticipated
Speaker 8: and have n't but but uh, you know, silver lining
Speaker 8: is he's gonna be that much further ahead in the
Speaker 8: future because of these snaps that he's had.
Speaker 12: You've mentioned Noble whole still changes offensively obviously with uh
Speaker 12: who's the season change? What is the possible that chamiership
Speaker 12: of the quarterback or with Mike Jake taking over whether
Speaker 12: his play calling or how it matches up with the
Speaker 12: quarterbacks still.
Speaker 6: Said, or either their relationship with Mike. I wonder how
Speaker 6: that quarterback.
Speaker 8: Dynamic with well, I think it was not a a
Speaker 8: huge impact. I mean Andy Ludwood coach the quarterbacks and
Speaker 8: coordinated for years and so it's not like it's uh
Speaker 8: uncommon for that to happen. That's very commonplace for for
Speaker 8: uh coordinators to be the the QB coach. Now it's
Speaker 8: gonna become less common going forward because when they change
Speaker 8: the rules, like I said, this year, everyone's added to
Speaker 8: their staff to free up the coordinators a lot of
Speaker 8: in a lot of instances. But uh, the quarterbacks have
Speaker 8: a really good relationship with Mike. He's been their guy
Speaker 8: since last spring, and uh it's uh, you know, as
Speaker 8: far as the way they operate, it's it's all status
Speaker 8: quo and how it has been other than he is
Speaker 8: now uh putting the game plan together and calling the plays.
Speaker 6: Looking at by you.
Speaker 14: You know, you have a lot of guys that were
Speaker 14: formally on your staff running the program there.
Speaker 8: To say the least.
Speaker 6: Yeah, right, yeah, what do you feel like they've done?
Speaker 14: I I guess well defined success this season with such
Speaker 14: a cohesive roster.
Speaker 6: It seems like all cylinders are working for them.
Speaker 14: I mean, what has kind of been the outside perspective
Speaker 14: from you?
Speaker 8: You'd have to ask them for the r you know,
Speaker 8: for the real answer to that. But I know that
Speaker 8: they've got uh one, five, six, seven, eight, maybe ten
Speaker 8: guys when you count Badmin's and all the peripheral uh
Speaker 8: positions that that we're once here and so they're they're
Speaker 8: doing a a really nice job obviously, and uh, you know,
Speaker 8: I just would say that, uh, you know, they are
Speaker 8: hitting on all cylinders, like you said, and again, uh
Speaker 8: playing off each other. That you was your fin hard
Speaker 8: pressed to find a team in the country that does
Speaker 8: a better job of complimentary football than what they're playing
Speaker 8: right now.
Speaker 6: You're the pact Jay, he'll play here and work for you.
Speaker 6: When you look at his defense, how.
Speaker 8: Much you will it helped during the game?
Speaker 6: How much are you looking at a lot of what
Speaker 6: you did?
Speaker 14: And you know what he's thinking, and how much has
Speaker 14: he evolved.
Speaker 6: In the years since he done.
Speaker 8: Well, he's evolved. But the basic principles, the basic fundamentals,
Speaker 8: the basic philosophy is still intact.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 8: But Jay has done a terrific job putting his own
Speaker 8: stamp on it, just like Morgan's done a terrific job
Speaker 8: putting his own stamp on the defense here. But uh,
Speaker 8: the basic the you know, the building blocks are the
Speaker 8: same and that's really, uh what wins games. And you know, blocking, tackling,
Speaker 8: how you defeat blocks. I am and all that stuff
Speaker 8: is is what wins and loses games. It's not it's
Speaker 8: not plays, it's players and how they fundamentally operate. And uh,
Speaker 8: he's got those guys doing a great job.
Speaker 3: In regards to as it get those almost four hundred snaps.
Speaker 3: And I guess with whatever starts against by us, is
Speaker 3: all experience a good experience or you have to make
Speaker 3: sure that you know you're helping build the quarterback's confidence
Speaker 3: by particularly well it's getting the right situations to play callwise.
Speaker 8: Et cetera. Sure, I would say most all experience is
Speaker 8: mostly good experience, not that, but you can you know,
Speaker 8: there's there's situations where a guy goes in and and
Speaker 8: becomes shell shocked because it's happening so fast and he's
Speaker 8: not ready for it, and it can do some damage
Speaker 8: for a period. I'm not saying that's what happened to Isaac,
Speaker 8: But I've seen that happen in the past. The quarterbacks
Speaker 8: where and other positions for that matter, but mostly as
Speaker 8: a quarterback, I mean, they're the they're the it's the most
Speaker 8: important position in football, hands down, it's not even close.
Speaker 8: But uh have seen where uh guys got thrust in
Speaker 8: there too early, and even at the pro level that's happened,
Speaker 8: and so yeah, you can see that happening. But but
Speaker 8: most of the time, experience is experience, and you're learning
Speaker 8: and growing along the way regardless of results. But if
Speaker 8: it's too extreme or too dramatic, uh, in the wrong direction,
Speaker 8: that can't have long lasting effect.
Speaker 6: And Uch, you've been very candid.
Speaker 8: About always candid, Yeah, every every day in my life, Canda.
Speaker 8: It's a good way to describe it.
Speaker 14: Kay, you've been very candid about the conference ree line
Speaker 14: or race, just how you think the next three or
Speaker 14: five years are going to shape you know, how there's
Speaker 14: a potential power too or Super League.
Speaker 6: How do you feel like winning in the state of.
Speaker 14: Utah's program is right now for the future of that
Speaker 14: potential power too And obviously that's speculative, but yeah, you know,
Speaker 14: is there more pressure on you as a head coach,
Speaker 14: knowing the the states of those futures.
Speaker 10: Uh.
Speaker 8: Uh, Well, there's always pressure on the head coach in
Speaker 8: regardless of the circumstances. It doesn't matter if you're a
Speaker 8: Pop Warner coach. I mean, you've got pressure and and
Speaker 8: you feel it. And if you're all in then you care.
Speaker 8: And it again doesn't matter the level. But uh, I
Speaker 8: would say it's more a body of the work of
Speaker 8: the last twenty years, the thirty years, more so than
Speaker 8: than one year. But but uh, when that realignment cause it,
Speaker 8: And I think all the most of the TV contracts
Speaker 8: in about five years are up, and I think that's
Speaker 8: when it's really the stuff's gonna hit the fan and
Speaker 8: things are gonna unless they accelerate it. You know, they
Speaker 8: could accelerate it and and it could happen sooner. But
Speaker 8: to answer your question, I think, uh, you're gonna look
Speaker 8: a big picture.
Speaker 15: Uh.
Speaker 8: There's so many things involved, you know, side, not not
Speaker 8: just your your uh win loss record overall though although
Speaker 8: that'll be a big importance. You know, how big is
Speaker 8: your stadium, you you're you're f following, and I mean
Speaker 8: just how you know just your overall state of the
Speaker 8: program and what you bring to the table. That's really
Speaker 8: what it boils down to is what do you bring
Speaker 8: to the table as a program, as a fan base
Speaker 8: to make yourself attractive to be in that Power two
Speaker 8: or whatever it ends will be in. So appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1: All right here we go, all right there he is
Speaker 1: coach Wit.
Speaker 2: We replay his media availability every Monday throughout the college
Speaker 2: football season. If you missed any of it, just head
Speaker 2: to the website excuse me, which is ESPN seven hundred
Speaker 2: sports dot com. Austin Powers theme song? Is that what
Speaker 2: this is?
Speaker 1: It is? But it's it's a Quincy Jones joint. All right?
Speaker 2: Okay, well that works for the musical theme on a
Speaker 2: Monday afternoon. It's a big week, man, bring him young,
Speaker 2: rolls up to Risycle Stadium undefeated for Saturday Saturday night,
Speaker 2: tilled against the Utah.
Speaker 1: You try, next guest, good friend of the show, the
Speaker 1: head coach of b y U.
Speaker 2: Great to have Kalatee satake on a Monday, Coach kilate
Speaker 2: Happy Monday.
Speaker 1: How you doing?
Speaker 15: What's going on?
Speaker 10: Spence?
Speaker 15: How you doing?
Speaker 1: I'm well, man, I appreciate the time.
Speaker 2: So when you wake up on an of a week
Speaker 2: like this, How does it hit a little bit differently
Speaker 2: just juxtaposed to your other game weeks.
Speaker 15: Oh, I mean it's I'm actually what was odd was
Speaker 15: having the bye week last week for both teams, and
Speaker 15: so that was the harder week to get through. But
Speaker 15: now that the game week is here, it's right around
Speaker 15: the corner. It makes it a little bit more normal
Speaker 15: than what we had to go through with the bye week.
Speaker 15: But I thought we took advantage of the extra time
Speaker 15: that we had, extra preparation and really looking forward to
Speaker 15: this game. I got to take advantage of what we
Speaker 15: got to get done today. But I'm just really excited
Speaker 15: for this game, for our players.
Speaker 1: And obviously your wealth.
Speaker 2: You're well aware of the dynamics that come into play here.
Speaker 2: And I want to go back to Big twelve media
Speaker 2: days when I was able to catch up with both
Speaker 2: you and and and a Rod coach a Rod and
Speaker 2: you both said to me, we will be better, we
Speaker 2: will be different this year, and eight games later, you
Speaker 2: certainly have klatatee. What would you attribute your undefeated start
Speaker 2: you most?
Speaker 1: Is there one dynamic? Is it preparation?
Speaker 2: Because the interesting thing is you made some transfer portal
Speaker 2: editions but you really just grew from within, which is
Speaker 2: not the model that a lot of people are using
Speaker 2: these days. So first of all, congrats on the start.
Speaker 2: How would you explain how this has gone down?
Speaker 15: Well? I think we just had to believe in what
Speaker 15: we were doing and we know that the landscape of
Speaker 15: college football has changed quite a bit. But when it
Speaker 15: all comes down to it, having the principles, the things
Speaker 15: that we actually operate by, you have to double down
Speaker 15: on it. You have a choice to either do it
Speaker 15: or abandon it. And we decided to stick to what
Speaker 15: stay the course of what we're doing. We knew what
Speaker 15: the corrections need to be done, what things we need
Speaker 15: to do to overcome the deficiencies from twenty twenty three
Speaker 15: and just went to work. And I could say from
Speaker 15: January and to that moment that we met with you,
Speaker 15: we saw a lot of improvement and a lot of
Speaker 15: really cool things that happened with our program and with
Speaker 15: the players, and started to a little bit more confident
Speaker 15: about our opportunities and the possibilities of.
Speaker 10: For this year.
Speaker 15: I didn't know exactly what that meant other than we
Speaker 15: feel we felt really comment going into this season. You know,
Speaker 15: we we're in a really good spot right now, but
Speaker 15: that that it doesn't change the fact that of our
Speaker 15: approach and and and the processes that we're trying to
Speaker 15: work through, we just happened to be eight no at now.
Speaker 15: But that doesn't really matter. It's just like we've done
Speaker 15: it every week this season, is move on to the
Speaker 15: next one and try our best to be at our
Speaker 15: best so that we can perform and try to get
Speaker 15: that one this week. And that's we're completely focused on
Speaker 15: this this night game and just happens to be Utah.
Speaker 15: We're really excited about the opportunity. But there's a lot
Speaker 15: of things that we know we can do better and
Speaker 15: we're seeing it. You know that that's a tough task
Speaker 15: to do it against a tough team like Utah and
Speaker 15: and to go up to their home and do that
Speaker 15: and and uh, but you know, we got no choice, man.
Speaker 15: We got to be able to step up. We we
Speaker 15: see the challenge that that's at hand and we're hoping
Speaker 15: that this would get the best out of us.
Speaker 1: So for me, Kalani, it was Smu. It was the
Speaker 1: road when Smu that.
Speaker 2: Kind of opened my eyes and I went all right,
Speaker 2: there's something going on down there now. I didn't know
Speaker 2: you were going to be a No, you never know
Speaker 2: about any of these things.
Speaker 1: But was there as the head coach.
Speaker 2: Was there one seminal moment, one seminal game where you
Speaker 2: guys were looking around, You're like, all right, this might
Speaker 2: be real. Does does one thing kind of jump out?
Speaker 11: Well?
Speaker 15: I think the thing that jumped out to me the
Speaker 15: leaders that I saw on the team just this was
Speaker 15: in camp. I just felt you just felt the difference
Speaker 15: in the way that these guys are the closest that
Speaker 15: they felt to each other. And then and then I'm
Speaker 15: seeing it the way that they're celebrating each other's accomplishments.
Speaker 15: So then you see somebody making the play, the excitement
Speaker 15: and energy that comes from their teammates and and even
Speaker 15: people that are that are in competition for the same spot.
Speaker 15: That's that's something that's unique and different, and I and
Speaker 15: joum enjoying it. And we don't have a lot of
Speaker 15: big stats that are out there other than we have
Speaker 15: an unselfish team. And I wish I could take credit
Speaker 15: for all that, but I have to give a lot
Speaker 15: of all the credit to our players, our leaders. They've
Speaker 15: done an amazing job and owning the team and and prepping
Speaker 15: them and preparing them. The pre re peer learning has
Speaker 15: been amazing and it's been awesome for me to coach.
Speaker 2: So your media every Monday after the game has been
Speaker 2: really impressive. But it's one thing to say we want
Speaker 2: to make our eighth statement, or we want to make
Speaker 2: our ninth statement, or we want to win the week.
Speaker 2: All coaches have some sort of derivative of that. But
Speaker 2: how do you make that message permeate among the young
Speaker 2: men that play for you? Because at that age I
Speaker 2: always talk about college coaches just having a different task
Speaker 2: than pro coaches simply because sometimes we forget how young
Speaker 2: these young men are because they're wearing pads and we
Speaker 2: watch them play the game that we love. So how
Speaker 2: have you been able to instill the week to week
Speaker 2: approach in your players?
Speaker 15: Well, I think we've been really consistent as a coaching
Speaker 15: staff and in our approach every week, and whether that's
Speaker 15: this year or last year, and doesn't matter that the week,
Speaker 15: we've been very consistent and then and how we operate.
Speaker 15: But I think the key is you can either be
Speaker 15: sad or happy, but there's one thing that has to happen.
Speaker 15: You have to go to work, and so it doesn't
Speaker 15: really matter what happened that day you come to practice.
Speaker 15: There's work to be done. And it's really hard. If
Speaker 15: you run a certain system the way you want it to,
Speaker 15: it's hard to fake it. So you've got to be
Speaker 15: here and you got to put in the time. And
Speaker 15: for some reason, when you just put in the time
Speaker 15: and you get you start sweating, good things happen and
Speaker 15: people can feel accomplished. So regards to what's happening outside
Speaker 15: of the facility when they enter here, I wanted to
Speaker 15: be focused on what we're doing, and the best way
Speaker 15: to get a focus is you just got to work
Speaker 15: really hard. And these guys have answered the call for
Speaker 15: us to get them to work hard. Is that we've
Speaker 15: been able to build every week. I hope you can
Speaker 15: do the same thing this week and be consistent. Will
Speaker 15: we've done so far this year.
Speaker 2: And you've had tremendous consistency under center. And in the
Speaker 2: four games we saw Jake last year, there just were
Speaker 2: way too many decisions that ultimately led to turnovers that
Speaker 2: ultimately led to losses.
Speaker 1: And it's been more.
Speaker 2: I look, nobody's perfect, but he's been so much better
Speaker 2: this year. A year older a year evolved. Obviously, your
Speaker 2: wide receiver room is in my opinion, as deep as
Speaker 2: anyone that I've seen. So he certainly has targets. You've
Speaker 2: got three or four capable backs you've had to shuffle
Speaker 2: through when it comes to the health stuff and a
Speaker 2: little bit of an injury issue on the O line.
Speaker 2: Hopefully that's getting hold. But what stands out most to
Speaker 2: you about the play of your quarterback.
Speaker 15: Well, I just really appreciate his approach to the game,
Speaker 15: so humble, and he's always willing to learn more. And
Speaker 15: and part of that learning is that I think we
Speaker 15: we as coaches want to want to focus on the negatives.
Speaker 15: It's like, hey, you got to do this better, got
Speaker 15: to do that better. But the one thing that he's
Speaker 15: been able to do is deflect even the praise. And
Speaker 15: I think we have to do our jobs as coaches
Speaker 15: is the is the definitely give them the negative side
Speaker 15: what they can improve on, but that's difficult to do
Speaker 15: without praising them and the things that they've done well.
Speaker 15: And when we do that, he doesn't ever take it
Speaker 15: and then and then and turns into pride. He always
Speaker 15: deflects it to his teammates and I've been really impressed
Speaker 15: with this humility and his ability to work. And he's
Speaker 15: been through some tough times, you know what I mean,
Speaker 15: and he's had to earn this spot, and so as
Speaker 15: he won the starting spot, you can see that there's
Speaker 15: a cool dynamic in the in the quarterback room, and
Speaker 15: I've been really impressed with what Aro has been able
Speaker 15: to do with that group. And Jake's doing some good
Speaker 15: things now. But like I said, he's not playing perfect.
Speaker 15: But I like his demeanor and I like his mentality,
Speaker 15: and I like the leadership that he show him to
Speaker 15: our team. It's been really impressive.
Speaker 2: Had seventeen players score touchdown, You've had eleven players get
Speaker 2: a pick, You've had eight players get a sack. Like
Speaker 2: this is an absolute masterclass on depth and complimentary football.
Speaker 2: You're not getting this done with one or two guys.
Speaker 2: I mean that speaks too. I suppose the depth you've
Speaker 2: built up to get ready for this P four challenge.
Speaker 15: Yeah, well, I think it's just everybody buying into their part.
Speaker 15: And you're right, it's been. The stats have been kind
Speaker 15: of spread out throughout everyone in the team, and I
Speaker 15: think it's just everyone just does buys into their role.
Speaker 15: It doesn't really out of your role as a starting role.
Speaker 15: If you're a backup guy, you got to be ready.
Speaker 15: You got to be ready for that moment just in
Speaker 15: case something does happen. And you know what happens, bence
Speaker 15: is you over prepare quite a bit. Imagine if you're
Speaker 15: a backup player, but you're you're you're the team that
Speaker 15: you're back of, the person that you're backing up is
Speaker 15: actually healthy and doing well.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 15: Last thing you want is the injury to happen. But
Speaker 15: these guys are bought in and they're they're they're focused
Speaker 15: on what's happening. They're getting mental reps, and they're supporting
Speaker 15: their teammates and that's I wish I could take credit
Speaker 15: for them, but that's that's the stuff that they're doing
Speaker 15: for the position groups and from their leaders, and they're
Speaker 15: following the example of their leaders. So to have guys
Speaker 15: that are the upperclassmen and just be happy with whatever
Speaker 15: comes their way and not be so focused on the stats.
Speaker 15: We have to all agree that the one stat matters
Speaker 15: the most, and that's trying to do whatever we can
Speaker 15: as a team to get the victory. And it's easier
Speaker 15: said than done, but I've been lucky that these young
Speaker 15: men have taken it to heart and that the leaders
Speaker 15: have taken the task of teaching it to everyone. But
Speaker 15: they do it by by their example as well.
Speaker 2: Certainly, when you blab into a micro for four hours
Speaker 2: every day, you're gonna get.
Speaker 1: A lot wrong.
Speaker 2: Klaudie, I don't know that I've ever been as wrong
Speaker 2: as I've been about this Utah football team. How surprised
Speaker 2: are you as far as where we find ourselves up
Speaker 2: in Salt Lake with a youth sitting at four and
Speaker 2: four having lost four straight.
Speaker 15: Well, I think, first of all the dangerous team because
Speaker 15: you can see the talent and you can see the
Speaker 15: toughness that's in that program. I think they've gone through
Speaker 15: some adversity. It happens in college football, and unfortunately the
Speaker 15: injuries can be a detriment to your program and even
Speaker 15: the momentum. But I do know one thing about that
Speaker 15: coaching staff and one thing about those players. They have
Speaker 15: high character and the ability to fight back. So we're
Speaker 15: expecting their best shot. We know we'll get their best
Speaker 15: shot because they don't know any other way. And I
Speaker 15: just need to make sure that our players and our
Speaker 15: team and our program show up with our best shot,
Speaker 15: and it was whatever happens happens. We can just live
Speaker 15: with the results. But I have a ton of respect
Speaker 15: and tons of appreciation for the way they play the game.
Speaker 15: Just we're really looking forward to this matchup and the
Speaker 15: energy that we'll be in this game. It's been a
Speaker 15: fund that is back on on the schedule again, but
Speaker 15: you look at the parody that's happened in this conference,
Speaker 15: you look at last weekend for example. You can't take
Speaker 15: anything for granted, so you have to just play it
Speaker 15: your best, and even when you play your best, it
Speaker 15: may not be good enough, but at least you can
Speaker 15: live with the results. And that's what we're looking forward
Speaker 15: to getting done, and we'll see what happens. I know
Speaker 15: that if these guys play their best and then they
Speaker 15: can live with the results, no matter how it looks
Speaker 15: on the scoreboard.
Speaker 2: So it's been tough up here with the quarterback stuff,
Speaker 2: as you know, and Coach Witt has elected to not
Speaker 2: share who his starting quarterback will be on Saturday, so
Speaker 2: we know that Brandon Rose and Isaac Wilson will be
Speaker 2: splitting reps this week. Does that change the way you
Speaker 2: prepared for Saturday? There's this debate in college football, like
Speaker 2: does that really give you a competitive advantage? Well, Kyle
Speaker 2: thinks it does and it's not against the rules, So
Speaker 2: that's how he decides to go about the messaging. How
Speaker 2: does that affect your game plan as you approach this
Speaker 2: game not knowing who's under center, or maybe you already know.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 15: We just I said earlier over preparing is kind of
Speaker 15: what you have to do as a coaching staff, and
Speaker 15: so there's things that we have to do. We have
Speaker 15: to prepare for whoever shows up under center, and that
Speaker 15: doesn't really matter who could be, but you can you
Speaker 15: can plan for anything, whether it's a wildcat situation or
Speaker 15: they they use a number of quarterbacks. I mean, that's
Speaker 15: they're right. I think coach with is right. It's to
Speaker 15: their advantage. Plus, from what you're seeing that they're trying
Speaker 15: to they're trying to get guys to earn and compete
Speaker 15: for a spot. So I'm not worried about how they
Speaker 15: do it. I'm just focused on what we can do
Speaker 15: and what we have to react to. It's been it's
Speaker 15: been good for us to use the extra time because
Speaker 15: I know they are using the extra week for the
Speaker 15: buy to get their offense ready, and we have to
Speaker 15: do our best to get all our three phases ready.
Speaker 15: And I know that we can count on the battle
Speaker 15: that's gonna always happen in these games. Just really looking
Speaker 15: forward to the matchup and everything. And regardless of who's
Speaker 15: under center, I know that they have a lot of
Speaker 15: talent around them, physical align, They have a great tight
Speaker 15: ends that can play a number of them, and then
Speaker 15: a bunch of skill at wide opposition, and the number
Speaker 15: of running backs that can run the rock really hard.
Speaker 15: So this is a tough task for us, and then
Speaker 15: we're taking it very seriously and we're looking forward to
Speaker 15: hopefully the challenge is making us to step up and
Speaker 15: become a better, even step up to another level of
Speaker 15: play for our side.
Speaker 2: On the other side, Kaladia, as you know, the numbers
Speaker 2: indicate this is still kind of like a top three
Speaker 2: defense in the conference. And that's Utah football, that's Kyle
Speaker 2: Whittingham football. It's also Kolonia Satake football, as we know.
Speaker 2: So when you study their defense, what stands out as
Speaker 2: far as how they've been able to maintain what they
Speaker 2: usually do on that side of the ball.
Speaker 15: Well, it looks really familiar, you know what I mean.
Speaker 15: You look at the guys that are in our room,
Speaker 15: and the guys are working the defense. I know Morgan Scatty,
Speaker 15: I know coach Whittingham. I know they'll get that team ready,
Speaker 15: and I know the coach is Lewis Powell and Sharif.
Speaker 15: Those guys are doing a great job, you know, and Swani,
Speaker 15: I mean, those guys do a great job at getting
Speaker 15: their guys ready. So we've seen it every week and
Speaker 15: they've been very consistent. They are a defense that's a
Speaker 15: very physical rundwell of the ball that's been that way.
Speaker 15: It's almost like that's just a given. And so for us,
Speaker 15: we just have to be ready. Offensively, we have to
Speaker 15: be ready to take on their best and like I
Speaker 15: said before, all three phases, we have to be at
Speaker 15: our best because there are three phases and you saw
Speaker 15: a very well coached and they have a lot of
Speaker 15: talent and a lot of skill. So as we put
Speaker 15: it all together and we match them up, we'll see
Speaker 15: what happens on Saturday. Looking forward to the matchup, I'm
Speaker 15: hoping that this will elevate our game and make us
Speaker 15: play even better than what we've done before. But I
Speaker 15: think we're going to have to play our best ball this.
Speaker 1: Weekend, last thing that I know you got to get to.
Speaker 2: It's all set you loose, But I view you as
Speaker 2: kind of what I perceive to be a leader into
Speaker 2: this generation of what feels to be a more civil
Speaker 2: relationship between the two communities.
Speaker 1: Nobody, You're not going to get perfect behavior.
Speaker 2: They're gonna be a couple of idiots that do something stupid,
Speaker 2: but that shouldn't, you know, overshadow what should be a
Speaker 2: really fun week. It's a week that I love, but Colonia,
Speaker 2: it's a week that some people don't because of the
Speaker 2: past and the energy and things that maybe have happened
Speaker 2: that have hurt feelings or what have you. So before
Speaker 2: I say you lose, just characterize how you hope this week.
Speaker 1: Goes leading up to the game and then during the
Speaker 1: game as well.
Speaker 10: Well.
Speaker 15: I think this is how most fans want to be.
Speaker 15: And you have to remember that I'm a fan at heart,
Speaker 15: even though I get to be a coach for you
Speaker 15: know where they did.
Speaker 1: We lose them mean?
Speaker 15: And I kind of was raised in the in the
Speaker 15: the Lovelle and mac Era and then those guys were
Speaker 15: best friends. They really enjoyed each other's company. Even to
Speaker 15: this day, Patty and Mac and Vicki, they all have
Speaker 15: a great relationship, and so it's it's one of those
Speaker 15: things that you re celebrated. And when we were not
Speaker 15: able to play this game, we had to take an
Speaker 15: absence because of the conference issues and the realignment. Now
Speaker 15: that we're the same conference or power conference, I think
Speaker 15: we could take it and take a lot of the
Speaker 15: enjoyment and appreciating each other and just playing the game
Speaker 15: and giving it at that at the game, because this
Speaker 15: affects a lot of families and a lot of friendships
Speaker 15: and it shouldn't be that way. I think there's a
Speaker 15: way that we can, regardless of the game the result
Speaker 15: of the game, that we should be civil and still
Speaker 15: loving and the pre each other. Because it's a lot
Speaker 15: better now that we have the rivalry back and that
Speaker 15: it's more consistent, and we happen to be in a
Speaker 15: power conference, So it's something to be celebrated and something
Speaker 15: to have for a lot of fun with. And I
Speaker 15: hope that we can not be so toxic anymore and
Speaker 15: just enjoy each other's company and then even even by chance,
Speaker 15: root for each other when we're not playing each other.
Speaker 2: Well said, well, I'm thrilled for your success, my friends,
Speaker 2: and it's been fun to watch.
Speaker 1: It's real.
Speaker 2: You've answered questions and I'll wish you the best of
Speaker 2: luck coming up on Saturday. And I really appreciate your
Speaker 2: time on a busy day.
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you, my frien.
Speaker 15: I appreciate you, guys.
Speaker 2: Thanks all right, Kiani Satake head coach Brigham Young. They
Speaker 2: roll up here to Salt Lake as a five point
Speaker 2: twelve four point favorite. Now the line opened at five
Speaker 2: and it moved down to four and that's where it's remained,
Speaker 2: which is kind of interesting. When I saw five and
Speaker 2: went oof BYU Road Team rivalry game, insane Utah desperation.
Speaker 2: You can't fake desperation, say it all the time. I
Speaker 2: would imagine U Tu's gonna come out very, very desperate,
Speaker 2: not just for a good showing, but they've got to win.
Speaker 2: Man Utah doesn't win on Saturday. I don't know that
Speaker 2: they go bowling. Of course, it's still on the table
Speaker 2: and the only thing worse than playing in a throwaway
Speaker 2: bowl game is not being eligible for one. Of course,
Speaker 2: different things at stakes for both teams. B Why you
Speaker 2: still try to stay clean. Okay, b why you still
Speaker 2: try to stay clean? And you know, Klannie just referenced
Speaker 2: the chaos in the Big Twelve over the weekend with
Speaker 2: Iowa State getting God, case State getting God. Fact of
Speaker 2: the matter is BYU can lose on Saturday and they're
Speaker 2: still kind of high speed ahead of the Big Twelve
Speaker 2: championship game. They might even be able to go two
Speaker 2: and two over their final four and still make it in.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's kind of the position they put themselves in.
Speaker 2: The only other kind, well, I don't know, is Houston Good.
Speaker 2: Like we were going to do our power pole today
Speaker 2: and my Big Twelve power pole was going to be
Speaker 2: BYU won, then everyone else I don't know. BYU's won,
Speaker 2: and then everyone else is tied to you to sixteen,
Speaker 2: like as Houston Good all of a sudden, but BYU
Speaker 2: gets them at home. They'll play Kansas at home after
Speaker 2: Utah that road game against Arizona State's probably a little
Speaker 2: bit tricky. Arizona State's a good team. Kenny Dillingham's done
Speaker 2: a good job. But you know, it really does come
Speaker 2: down to, you know, Utah fighting to save their season
Speaker 2: from a Bowl eligibility standpoint and really fighting to save
Speaker 2: their season, to have really, in my opinion, one more
Speaker 2: good opportunity in front of this community for something that's
Speaker 2: real and something that matters. If that makes sense, Because
Speaker 2: the BYU game matters. I mean I always say it's good,
Speaker 2: that's gonna be a fun game to go to, and
Speaker 2: it's the last home game, so honor the seniors and
Speaker 2: we'll all be there for it. But you know, if
Speaker 2: if Dorian Singer goes for one to seventy five and
Speaker 2: three touchdowns against BYU and Utah wins, it just carries
Speaker 2: a different weight as opposed if he does it against
Speaker 2: Iowa State, if that matters, And yes, it does feel
Speaker 2: like we're partying like it's nineteen eighty nine again where
Speaker 2: Utah football.
Speaker 1: You know, for a long.
Speaker 2: Long time it was like maybe we can go to
Speaker 2: a bowl and beat BYU and that was considered success.
Speaker 2: The expectation has changed around here and that makes this
Speaker 2: season land differently and there's nothing that can be done
Speaker 2: between now and the end of the season to change.
Speaker 1: That undeniable fact.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure Kyle would admit that himself, and he
Speaker 2: all but has in his media availability. But for one day,
Speaker 2: you have one opportunity to be great in a game
Speaker 2: that matters to a lot of people. And that's got
Speaker 2: to be the message to the players this week, who
Speaker 2: I'm sure are still down in the dumps after losing
Speaker 2: four straight. I mean, Utah has lost going in, they've
Speaker 2: lost games going into both by weeks.
Speaker 1: That's got to be hard.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure it just resonates and just kind
Speaker 2: of lingers and stays there.
Speaker 1: And a win on Saturday.
Speaker 2: It's not going to change what the season ultimately unfolds
Speaker 2: in too, but for one moment you can probably win
Speaker 2: back at community that right now is I don't know.
Speaker 2: I feel like the community is very nervous for Saturday.
Speaker 2: It'll be a fun night. As Kalanate just outline, no
Speaker 2: matter what, don't forget that kickoff time is eight to fifteen.
Speaker 1: It is on ESPN.
Speaker 2: You can listen to it, of course, as your home
Speaker 2: of the youths for more than seventy years here on
Speaker 2: ESPN seven hundred. Our pregame coverage with Porter Larsen and
Speaker 2: with Porter Larsen.
Speaker 4: And Azekastiata and a bunch of other folks will be
Speaker 4: stopping by, Hey, cast of characters, stop stopping by our
Speaker 4: tailgates starting at four fifteen on Saturday, so come by
Speaker 4: and join us.
Speaker 2: I think the Austin Powers theme song for Kilani worked
Speaker 2: pretty well. You use that as the intro for Klonia.
Speaker 2: I don't know why. It felt like it was an
Speaker 2: appropriate bump.
Speaker 4: I don't know why either, but it did feel like
Speaker 4: it worked. And this one, I believe is also a
Speaker 4: music video theme. May be a soundtrack of some but
Speaker 4: it's good. I like the bumps. I like the Quincy
Speaker 4: Jones bumps.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Have you seen the documentary that his daughter, Rushida directed.
Speaker 1: I think it's Netflix. You know what. I totally space
Speaker 1: that that is his daughter. Yeah, The Office of the
Speaker 1: Office Fame. She's very talented in her own right. You
Speaker 1: know what it was actually HBO. I knew that at
Speaker 1: one point and totally forgot about it.
Speaker 2: It's really good because I look, I'm a music fan,
Speaker 2: and I had no clue just how far his reach went.
Speaker 2: I mean, a pretty remarkable career and he was a
Speaker 2: remarkable artist in his own right. Passed away at the
Speaker 2: age of ninety one. So yeah, that's the musical theme
Speaker 2: of the day today. Well, the other theme of the
Speaker 2: day today is there's a football game on Saturday, folks
Speaker 2: seem to be interested in Josh Furlong from Cassel, do
Speaker 2: you have any inside knowledge of this football game coming
Speaker 2: up on Saturday we should know about.
Speaker 10: Yeah, that's a low key game. Nobody's ever really heard
Speaker 10: of it.
Speaker 9: People will probably gloss over it, so it'll be fine.
Speaker 2: Well ultimately, I well let me start here. I like
Speaker 2: this week. I don't know what it is. Maybe it's
Speaker 2: just that kind of like that competitive energy. I never
Speaker 2: played for a paycheck, but I definitely played in rivalry
Speaker 2: games and I always loved it.
Speaker 1: I don't know what, but some people very much do
Speaker 1: not enjoy it.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if it's a little PTSD from
Speaker 2: having your feelings heard at church from a BYU bro.
Speaker 2: I don't fully know what it is. But do you
Speaker 2: enjoy this week from your vantage point?
Speaker 9: Yeah? I mean I think from a competitive standpoint, this
Speaker 9: becomes a very fun week every single year when it happens, right,
Speaker 9: I think there's a lot of fun to it. I
Speaker 9: understand where some people don't like it. I mean, like
Speaker 9: there's one hand of it where I hate the bau
Speaker 9: Utah week simply because of the vitriol on Twitter. Granted,
Speaker 9: that comes on a day to day basis, but it
Speaker 9: seems to ramp up this week. But I feel like
Speaker 9: this is what you want to play for, right I mean,
Speaker 9: obviously Utah wants to play for championships and they want
Speaker 9: to play for the playoffs, but you want to play
Speaker 9: to be your rival. And now that it means something,
Speaker 9: it just feels like it has much more at stake.
Speaker 9: And I understand these two teams are completely different trajectories
Speaker 9: right now, but I think it still means something, and
Speaker 9: I think it's exciting, right Like, it gets people rejuvenated.
Speaker 9: Even with Utah as down as they have been and
Speaker 9: not really playing as well, I think there's still a
Speaker 9: glimmer of hope because you know how crazy these games
Speaker 9: get that you know, maybe Utah plays spoiler and then
Speaker 9: all of a sudden, this undefeated season and this remarkable
Speaker 9: season that b what you've had is spoiled by.
Speaker 10: Utah once again.
Speaker 9: So if you can't get excited for that, I don't
Speaker 9: know what to tell you, right Like, I mean, this
Speaker 9: is what this is the reason you play the sport.
Speaker 9: You want to be in competitive environments, You want to
Speaker 9: be able to have this fun. So I, for one,
Speaker 9: love this type of week. I think it's fun and
Speaker 9: people should embrace it.
Speaker 2: More so the data sometimes it's all you can go
Speaker 2: off of. The data indicates BYU is the better team.
Speaker 2: I don't think anybody can argue that now. But if
Speaker 2: you have paid attention to the way this game usually goes,
Speaker 2: more often than not, barring like a two thousand and
Speaker 2: four talent gap, chaos ensues in a way that you
Speaker 2: never ever anticipate. So ultimately that does give Utah fighting chance.
Speaker 2: By you opened as a five point favorite, Vegas typically
Speaker 2: builds in three for the home field advantage. Vegas is
Speaker 2: essentially saying BYU is about a touchdown a little bit
Speaker 2: more better than Utah.
Speaker 1: Let's start there.
Speaker 2: Do you think that's the difference, that's the general difference
Speaker 2: between these two teams about a touchdown or so.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I mean, I think on the surface, you'd look at that,
Speaker 9: you'd say that's easy money for BYU, right, Like, it
Speaker 9: seems like a real easy spread to cover the way
Speaker 9: that Bau's playing and kind of the camaraderie and just
Speaker 9: kind of the general sense of what this.
Speaker 10: Team is doing, that feels like easy money. But as
Speaker 10: you mentioned, I mean, this game is just chaotic. I
Speaker 10: don't know that you can.
Speaker 9: Predict anything about this game. Anything that you know about
Speaker 9: it can go out the window. And you know what
Speaker 9: if Utah decided to play up to his potential, right, like,
Speaker 9: what if all of a sudden things can happen, it
Speaker 9: becomes much more of a difficult game in my opinion,
Speaker 9: because I think, you know, we go back to this
Speaker 9: all the time, right, Like we talked about in the
Speaker 9: beginning of the season, it's like, oh, on paper, this
Speaker 9: team is this and that, and we project the team,
Speaker 9: there's still that same team on paper, right, Yeah, you
Speaker 9: don't have cameras uprising, you don't have a few of
Speaker 9: these other players who have been lost to injuries. But
Speaker 9: at the same time, there's still a level of talent
Speaker 9: that Utah has.
Speaker 10: That doesn't mean.
Speaker 9: That they're just suddenly going to roll over.
Speaker 10: Right.
Speaker 9: We see this in college football every single week where
Speaker 9: Florida last weekend was leading Georgia for some time. And
Speaker 9: it doesn't matter what season you're having, a rivalry game
Speaker 9: is going to be difficult. So yeah, on the surface,
Speaker 9: I honestly think that this is a b why used
Speaker 9: game to win, right. I don't think anybody is expecting
Speaker 9: anything different, but just the way that these two teams
Speaker 9: play each other, the fact that it's at Rice Cycle
Speaker 9: Stadium him, you know, the fact that there is still
Speaker 9: tell him on this Utah roster. And if people are
Speaker 9: bought in and they want to be able to use
Speaker 9: this as kind of a galvanizing moment for this team,
Speaker 9: you know, anything's possible. So personally, I would never bet
Speaker 9: on this game because I don't think it's It would
Speaker 9: be too stressful for me to watch my money kind
Speaker 9: of fade away because I know I probably picked the
Speaker 9: wrong way no matter what.
Speaker 10: But yeah, I'm the surface. This is a BYU win,
Speaker 10: but I don't know that.
Speaker 9: It's going to be as clear cut as as many
Speaker 9: stink though I wouldn't be surprised to be why you
Speaker 9: could make it that way.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it really never is the way people think.
Speaker 2: I've learned that over the years. I rarely levy a prediction.
Speaker 2: Of course, it's part of our jobs. So we'll give
Speaker 2: you our predictions before we sat off air on Friday.
Speaker 2: But let's dig into some Utah stuff here for a moment.
Speaker 2: We're doing the QB thing, Josh, We're doing the QB thing.
Speaker 2: We just had Klanie on and I asked him if
Speaker 2: not knowing who's underst my guess is they have a
Speaker 2: general idea. I asked him if this dynamic affects there
Speaker 2: game planning, and he said, the nice Kali thing, how
Speaker 2: they're gonna have to over prepare for both the coach
Speaker 2: speak that you would expect. So give me, give me
Speaker 2: the Josh Furlong gut feel about who's going to be
Speaker 2: under center, and how do you think this process is
Speaker 2: going to play out this week?
Speaker 9: To me, it's it's trending towards Brandon Rose, and I
Speaker 9: think they just are trying to look for a spark
Speaker 9: and trying to get somebody that maybe has a little
Speaker 9: bit more experience under their belt, and experience being a
Speaker 9: very loose term there, knowing that he's had essentially two
Speaker 9: quarters of play. But to me, that's just kind of
Speaker 9: the direction that they're trying to go with. I don't
Speaker 9: know how that's going to play out, right, because you
Speaker 9: have to be pretty dang sure that Brandon is going
Speaker 9: to be or at least give you a better spark
Speaker 9: than what Isaac was going to do. If not, you
Speaker 9: shadow your confidence, you kind of hurt the team's Moraley
Speaker 9: even more because you had a quarterback in the future.
Speaker 10: What does that mean? I just I just.
Speaker 9: Think there's a lot at play here, and I understand,
Speaker 9: you know, Utah's trying to do whatever they can to
Speaker 9: win now, and maybe that's Isaac Wilson, and maybe that's
Speaker 9: Brandon Rose. Ultimately it's up to them to decide. But
Speaker 9: this is a tricky territory, right. You've got to be
Speaker 9: able to not just go with your emotions. You've got
Speaker 9: to go through with the analytics. You've got to look
Speaker 9: at everything and see if this is the best course
Speaker 9: of action. For all we know, Brandon Rose could go
Speaker 9: out there sling the ball for three hundred and fifty
Speaker 9: yards and beat BYU by twenty points.
Speaker 10: I doubt that. But this this.
Speaker 9: Becomes a very difficult challenge for Kyle, who already I
Speaker 9: don't want to say as a fractured roster, right, I
Speaker 9: don't think these guys are at each other's throats.
Speaker 10: And they don't like each other.
Speaker 9: I don't believe that at all. But I think when
Speaker 9: you continually kind of mess around with that and mess
Speaker 9: around with kind of that dynamic, that can open up
Speaker 9: a challenge where you lose guys because you know, maybe
Speaker 9: one you know, maybe guys think this should happen, or
Speaker 9: you lose your quarterback and you don't put confidence in.
Speaker 9: It's not an easy situation, and I get frustrated that
Speaker 9: we have to continually have this QB dilemma. The reality
Speaker 9: is is Utah really didn't prepare all that much for
Speaker 9: it's about quarterback. Outside of cam raising. They put all
Speaker 9: their eggs in that basket. We didn't really get a
Speaker 9: chance to see who was behind, if Isaac clearly won
Speaker 9: the job, or if they just felt like they wanted
Speaker 9: to project in the future and give him that confidence.
Speaker 9: And that's you know, that's a frustrating thing because now
Speaker 9: we're stuck, you know, ten weeks into the season trying
Speaker 9: to figure out who Utah has as a quarterback and
Speaker 9: seeing if they can you know, do something with that,
Speaker 9: you know, and not really trying to gain momentum with
Speaker 9: any other type of situation that they have.
Speaker 2: So when you dig into the numbers, it still reflects
Speaker 2: the defense that is generally speaking, maybe top three, top four.
Speaker 1: Some metrics are a little better.
Speaker 2: The weird thing is the metrics that aren't very good
Speaker 2: defensively or the things they're typically really good at, namely
Speaker 2: getting to the quarterback and forcing turnovers where they're lasting
Speaker 2: the conference and fumbles recovered, but overall defense are second.
Speaker 2: They're top three to four in both just your nuts
Speaker 2: and bolts, your meat and potatoes of rushing past defense.
Speaker 2: But they're not creating havoc plays and they're not getting
Speaker 2: the quarter back defensively. What are you looking for coming
Speaker 2: up on Saturday to limit a BYU offense that overall
Speaker 2: is only trailing Texas Tech in average points per game.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I think that the biggest issue for this defense has
Speaker 9: just been its run defense, which sounds wild to think
Speaker 9: because this is you know, Utah's bread and butter. They're
Speaker 9: physical in the trenches, they stopped the run most years.
Speaker 9: They're always, you know, top ten, top five in run defense,
Speaker 9: and so you've got to kind of pair that with
Speaker 9: also their tackling. They've missed something like ninety tackles this year.
Speaker 9: I mean, it's been pretty bad for a team that
Speaker 9: prides itself so much on that. So to me, you know,
Speaker 9: regardless of what BYU does, is they've got to find
Speaker 9: a way to stop the run. Then you can play
Speaker 9: the other areas of the game and try to kind
Speaker 9: of dictate it the way that you want.
Speaker 10: I think this defense is up to the challenge.
Speaker 9: I don't think that Jake Rehtslaf is such a mobile
Speaker 9: quarterback that Utah is worried that he's going to escape
Speaker 9: the pocket like you know Xeon Christ did against Houston
Speaker 9: or with Houston or maybe some of these other quarter
Speaker 9: But that's not to say that this BYU team can't run.
Speaker 9: I think they've shown that they've been able to have
Speaker 9: that ability. They've got a bunch of guys that can
Speaker 9: do it, and if Utah can't figure that out, it
Speaker 9: doesn't really matter what else is going on, right Like,
Speaker 9: they'll find they'll find their opportunities in the passing game.
Speaker 9: You know, redslav has has shown his ability to do
Speaker 9: you know what he needs to to manage the game
Speaker 9: and help everything. But if Utah can't stop the run,
Speaker 9: I don't know that they have a chance, right don't.
Speaker 9: I just don't know that this is a situation where
Speaker 9: Utah can come out of that feeling confident if they
Speaker 9: can't get that run and get that physicality. Knowing that
Speaker 9: BYU is going to absolutely try to do the same
Speaker 9: thing they're going to try to establish that run. They're
Speaker 9: going to try to maintain that physicality and keep that
Speaker 9: momentum going. So to me, the trench play and the
Speaker 9: run defense is really kind of the tone of the game,
Speaker 9: especially on that defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: So what do you so, what do you think the
Speaker 1: message is?
Speaker 2: It's tough, Josh, because as you know, there's nothing that
Speaker 2: can happen over the final four games to change where
Speaker 2: this season will end for Utah football. Like, the only
Speaker 2: thing worse than playing in a throwaway bowl game is
Speaker 2: not being eligible for one. I guess so, and there's
Speaker 2: a world that if they don't win Saturday, you know,
Speaker 2: they may not get Bowl eligible because they have to
Speaker 2: go to Boulder, they host Iowa State. I mean, as
Speaker 2: you we were going to do our Big twelve power
Speaker 2: rankings today and I was like, all right, b YU won,
Speaker 2: then everyone else is tied in an area that I
Speaker 2: don't even know, right, Like, it's just you don't know
Speaker 2: week in and week out. But if you're a coach
Speaker 2: with if you'r Morgan Scalley, sure if everybody up there,
Speaker 2: you know, as you know, Josh, you pull up Utah's roster,
Speaker 2: you see California, Florida, Texas. You see a lot of
Speaker 2: kids that didn't grow up here and therefore this rivalry
Speaker 2: was not part of their upbringing, and a lot of them, probably,
Speaker 2: you know, don't fully understand how big this game is
Speaker 2: for a lot of people in the community. But if
Speaker 2: you can be great for one day, if you can
Speaker 2: be great for one game and lead Utah to a
Speaker 2: win over BYU, You're always remembered in a different way.
Speaker 2: It's it's Brandon's block. And you know, we could all
Speaker 2: give you twenty five different names from both sides that
Speaker 2: have stood out as legends because of one moment, you know,
Speaker 2: So it is that the tone and tenor that you
Speaker 2: set this week to help these young men understand, Like, yes,
Speaker 2: it's been disappointing. We're not going to win the conference championship,
Speaker 2: we're not going to CFP. All the things we thought
Speaker 2: we could do are not on the table. But for
Speaker 2: one day at least, you can change the way this
Speaker 2: football community feels about you as a player and us
Speaker 2: as a team with one big performance against our rival, Like,
Speaker 2: is that.
Speaker 1: What's at stake for Utah on Saturday?
Speaker 10: Oh?
Speaker 9: Absolutely, I mean I think regardless of where these guys
Speaker 9: come from. They understand that this game matters, right. Tam
Speaker 9: Rising was talking about this at the very beginning of
Speaker 9: the season on how much he hates THEYU and that's
Speaker 9: unfortunate that he'll never get a chance to play BYU.
Speaker 9: But I think that carries down to all these other players.
Speaker 9: They understand that, they understand that this is a big deal.
Speaker 9: But at the same time, this becomes even bigger because
Speaker 9: of what the season has been. You know, if you
Speaker 9: can go through this terrible season where you're four and
Speaker 9: four and your rivals are out there, you know, pumping
Speaker 9: their chests and doing all this stuff, and they're eight
Speaker 9: and o coming into this game, you go beat them?
Speaker 9: What better bragging rights you have?
Speaker 11: Right?
Speaker 10: You just ruined their season and.
Speaker 9: They'll still probably get to a big twelve championship game
Speaker 9: and probably still have a better season. But what better
Speaker 9: way to just go out with this knowing that, Okay, yeah,
Speaker 9: you're preserving a potential opportunity to go to a Bowl game,
Speaker 9: and yeah, you know a lot of guys will probably
Speaker 9: opt out, but at least he still gave them a chance.
Speaker 9: But what better way than to just beat your rival
Speaker 9: and rub that in like even on your down years,
Speaker 9: you were still able to beat your rivals. Like that
Speaker 9: just hurts, and so I think this becomes ARGUAB League
Speaker 9: the most important game on Utah schedule this season. Coming
Speaker 9: into the season, I don't know that this would have
Speaker 9: been the case other than just your typical rivalries.
Speaker 10: But I think this has to be it.
Speaker 9: Right if you can't get a win over BYU, and
Speaker 9: that's a tall task on its own, but if you
Speaker 9: can't get a win over BYU, I just don't know
Speaker 9: where Utah goes after this. I think it further cements
Speaker 9: utah struggles. It further causes a division and kind of
Speaker 9: the fan base and the team and kind of where
Speaker 9: they're at. And so this becomes kind of an all
Speaker 9: in type scenario. You've put all the chips on the table.
Speaker 9: You're hoping that it goes red and that you can
Speaker 9: win some money and kind of carry that on to
Speaker 9: the next round.
Speaker 10: But I don't know.
Speaker 9: I love the winner take all stakes kind of mentality
Speaker 9: that this can be for Utah, but they have to
Speaker 9: approach it that way or else you know it's going
Speaker 9: to be BYU, and it's just going to be more
Speaker 9: proof that you aren't able to get the job.
Speaker 2: Done BYU does get to the quarterback and they do
Speaker 2: create havoc plays. I read this stat and it's smacked
Speaker 2: me across the face BYUS outscored their opponents sixty nine
Speaker 2: to ten off of turnovers. Like that's nuts plus eighteen.
Speaker 2: That's six in the country. Fourteen picks is third. So
Speaker 2: this does come down to how do you attack that
Speaker 2: defense when you whether it's Brandon or Isaac, neither have
Speaker 2: shown the ability to really dissect the secondary or go
Speaker 2: for like three point fifty. So I'm assuming we're going
Speaker 2: to see a healthy dose of mackay so dissect that
Speaker 2: a little bit. Run game utah Zo line, which has
Speaker 2: been good but not great and really good at times,
Speaker 2: but you know, sometimes left wanting a little bit. How
Speaker 2: do you think Mike bijaking and this offense goes about
Speaker 2: attacking a defense that causes havoc every single week?
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's a that's a really fascinating thing that I'm
Speaker 9: curious to see because they haven't really been able to
Speaker 9: do it much this year. And if Isaac's back there,
Speaker 9: you know b Wau's going to load up that box
Speaker 9: and really put a ton of pressure on it.
Speaker 10: I don't know that they don't do that with Brandon
Speaker 10: rod either.
Speaker 9: But if Utah and do things to kind of get creative,
Speaker 9: get outside of that, you know, open up the pocket
Speaker 9: a little bit more to make it easier.
Speaker 10: I think that gives you tah chance.
Speaker 9: If they continue to run the same things where they're
Speaker 9: inside zone, run it up the middle a million times
Speaker 9: and hope to you know, pray that you get something.
Speaker 9: I don't know that that's your answer. That's not to
Speaker 9: say that it can't, but you have to have more
Speaker 9: than Mackay Bernard. You have to mix in a Jalen Glover.
Speaker 9: You have to mix in maybe a Djon Stanley, Mike Mitchell.
Speaker 9: You have to be creative in this front because anything
Speaker 9: that you've done are ready this season is just pretty
Speaker 9: vanilla and it's not going to it's not.
Speaker 10: Going to be the answer. BYU has scouted it, they've
Speaker 10: got staff.
Speaker 9: That knows Kyle Whittingham's you know, offense, defense inside and out.
Speaker 9: And so you have to come into this game almost
Speaker 9: rewriting the playbook, letting Bajakan be a little bit more creative,
Speaker 9: or else you're going to be snuffed out really quickly.
Speaker 9: And then all of a sudden, you know that QB
Speaker 9: play turns into turnovers and then all that stuff. A
Speaker 9: lot of people want to talk about, Oh, BYU has
Speaker 9: been lucky that they've gen Alliad's turnovers, and maybe there's
Speaker 9: some of that, but I think you breathe luck for yourself, right,
Speaker 9: you get that there was a couple of years where
Speaker 9: a couple of years ago, USC kind of did that.
Speaker 9: Everybody's like, there's no way that they can continue this going,
Speaker 9: and they continue to get all these turnovers and the
Speaker 9: season kept flipping in their direction. I think when you
Speaker 9: have momentum on your side, that kind of breeds that.
Speaker 9: And so if Utah can't do anything to kind of
Speaker 9: mix it up and be a little bit more dynamic,
Speaker 9: this is going to be a real struggle. And then
Speaker 9: suddenly you're now facing these turnovers where you're either blocking
Speaker 9: u pont or you're forcing fumbles or you're forcing interceptions.
Speaker 9: And now be what you has all the momentum in
Speaker 9: your home stadium, you've got that crowd quiet, and you
Speaker 9: lose that game pretty quickly. So to me, you have
Speaker 9: to be pretty dynamic. You have to do something that's different,
Speaker 9: that be what you haven't seen or else. This becomes
Speaker 9: a real challenge for you though.
Speaker 2: How healthy, to your knowledge is Utah football outside of
Speaker 2: Camon Rising.
Speaker 10: That's that's a tough one.
Speaker 9: Utah has lost some offensive linemen and so that's going
Speaker 9: to be a challenge to see how they blend together.
Speaker 9: You've lost Money Parks, you know, this comes a difficult
Speaker 9: test on the offensive side of the ball where you know,
Speaker 9: especially Money, who's been able to spread the field. You
Speaker 9: don't have that guy. Now you have Dorian Singer, but
Speaker 9: that's really easy for somebody like Byu to to bracket
Speaker 9: him or do whatever they need to to stop him. Defensively,
Speaker 9: you've got to be able to get your defensive line
Speaker 9: of you know connected. You've got to have Karennie Reid
Speaker 9: back on the field, and he's been there, but you've
Speaker 9: got to make sure he's healthy. If though, none of
Speaker 9: those pieces come together, this becomes an even bigger challenge
Speaker 9: for Utah. I think they're, you know, trending towards a healthy,
Speaker 9: healthy unit and that they'll be okay, but it's it's
Speaker 9: not as ideal as what you'd expect coming into this game.
Speaker 9: Knowing how well b Whatyu is playing now knowing how
Speaker 9: well that defense is playing, and knowing that this is
Speaker 9: going to be a tall task no matter what happens.
Speaker 2: A lot of reference during his media the counter pay
Speaker 2: is most likely not playing and looks like Cody Epps
Speaker 2: will be out as well. But man, that wide receiver
Speaker 2: room sure seems deep. All right, Josh. I want to
Speaker 2: be careful here because I feel like the narrative has
Speaker 2: gotten a little out of control, that it's just going
Speaker 2: to be blue in the stadium on Saturday. But I
Speaker 2: will say that I've heard from more than a few
Speaker 2: people that have sold their tickets are nervous, do not
Speaker 2: want to be there In the case of BYU run
Speaker 2: in a salt lake and smack in the utes. You've
Speaker 2: got a poltse on this fan base. How do you
Speaker 2: think it's going to look and how do you think
Speaker 2: it's gonna feel? How do you think it's going to sound.
Speaker 2: It's eight fifteen, it's going to be cold, it's a
Speaker 2: four and fourteen. What do you what do you anticipate
Speaker 2: as far as you'd fans shown out on Saturday night?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think early on, you know, especially as Utah
Speaker 9: lost to Houston and stuff, there was an initial reaction
Speaker 9: that I'm just going to sell my tickets. I don't
Speaker 9: really care. Let be what you you know what I mean.
Speaker 9: But I think as kind of those games went down,
Speaker 9: you want to be there, right. You want to be
Speaker 9: a part of that action. You want to be able
Speaker 9: to make sure that you're loud and representing your team.
Speaker 9: At the end of the day, this becomes one of
Speaker 9: the biggest games on the schedule, and so you want
Speaker 9: to make sure that you represent them. I still think
Speaker 9: that it'll only be a pro Utah crowd, but I
Speaker 9: wouldn't be surprised to see a ton of blue there
Speaker 9: right Like those BAU fans are going to buy up
Speaker 9: every available ticket that they possibly can. I think there's
Speaker 9: a real potential here for this to be as close
Speaker 9: to a fifty to fifty crowd as you can get
Speaker 9: in a home stadium. I don't know that it'll be
Speaker 9: quite that, but you know, b what you is going
Speaker 9: to show out and they're going to try to do
Speaker 9: whatever they can to minimize what Utah does. So I'm
Speaker 9: kind of fascinated to see what it is. I still
Speaker 9: think there's a large majority of Utah fans that are
Speaker 9: going to maintain their tickets and stick with the game.
Speaker 9: But it's hard not to blame them for wanting to
Speaker 9: sell it given what's happened.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I'm with you all right.
Speaker 2: Before I set you loose, just give me a quick
Speaker 2: thought because lost in well, the busiest time on the
Speaker 2: sporting calendar is the Utah men's basketball team gets rolling
Speaker 2: tonight Alcorn States, And certainly for me, I've got to
Speaker 2: dig in a little bit more. I've been pretty football
Speaker 2: centric and you know, jazz stuff, But just generally speaking,
Speaker 2: what is there to expect from this team? They're picked
Speaker 2: to finish last in the Big Twelve?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean, I think this is a team that
Speaker 9: has potential to be kind of the roster that Craig
Speaker 9: Smith wants, right. I don't know that it's going to
Speaker 9: be as good as last year, especially in a Big
Speaker 9: twelve that it's going to feature several talented teams, But
Speaker 9: I think if they can kind of hit on the
Speaker 9: right things, they're definitely not the last place team there
Speaker 9: is potentially could be, but I think they have potential.
Speaker 9: They've got some good shooting, they move the ball around well. Defensively,
Speaker 9: they seemingly always get in that mix with a Craigsmith team.
Speaker 9: I just think it's really going to come down to
Speaker 9: if they can share the ball, if they can move
Speaker 9: it around and hit their shots. You know, I don't
Speaker 9: know yet that this is a team that will really
Speaker 9: make a lot of noise. But I don't think they're
Speaker 9: going to be as terrible as many think they are either.
Speaker 2: All right, buddy, well, I appreciate your time. Should be
Speaker 2: a fun week, so keep up the good work and
Speaker 2: we'll chat soon.
Speaker 10: Sound great man, Appreciate it all right.
Speaker 2: Josh Covers University, University of Utah for our friends at KSL.
Speaker 2: You can check them out on Twitter at JFERKSL is
Speaker 2: where you find them.
Speaker 1: Two your Internet. Just all right, what's going on?
Speaker 2: It is time now for the Drive at five powered
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Speaker 1: Miller in Draper.
Speaker 2: It's the Ford King, Utah's number one volume Ford Dealer
Speaker 2: and they're going to be any trade in price in
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Speaker 2: Find us online at LHM Ford Draper dot com. The
Speaker 2: head coach, you'll bring him young Kalaude Satake. He's gonna
Speaker 2: stop by if you miss. Coach went his media availability
Speaker 2: from earlier. We brought that back around, as we are
Speaker 2: often want to do on Mondays during the college football season.
Speaker 1: Of course, it is rival re week. Say it slowly.
Speaker 2: You're talking into a mike this week, if you're on radio,
Speaker 2: if you're on TV doing a little podcasting, you got
Speaker 2: to say it slowly. Don't get daffy ducked. So of
Speaker 2: course that's gonna be the bulk of the coverage this week.
Speaker 2: Of course, other things going on as well. Monday Night
Speaker 2: foot gets going tonight to wrap up Week nine of
Speaker 2: Pro football with the Chiefs and the Bucks live at Arrowhead.
Speaker 2: But this is a big one, as it is every year.
Speaker 2: It's been three years since they've played, BYU breaking a
Speaker 2: nine game losing streak last time around. BYU has not
Speaker 2: won in Salt Lake since two thousand and six. This
Speaker 2: is the one hundred and second time these two teams
Speaker 2: have played, but the first time since twenty eighteen that
Speaker 2: the game has been here at Riiseco Stadium. So doing
Speaker 2: a bunch of different things, I want to remind you
Speaker 2: if you're a youth fan heading to the game on Saturday,
Speaker 2: download the official mobile app of Utah Athletics. It's called
Speaker 2: Utah three sixty that has all your game day information.
Speaker 2: You can download your tickets and your parking pass right
Speaker 2: on your phone. Military Appreciation Night coming up on Saturday night.
Speaker 2: And obviously, as we've discussed all day and we'll continue
Speaker 2: to discuss throughout the course of the week to get
Speaker 2: you ready for this game, a lot at stake for
Speaker 2: both teams.
Speaker 1: In different ways.
Speaker 2: So kind opened up BYU opened up as a five
Speaker 2: point favorite, and it pretty quickly moved down to four.
Speaker 2: Now I thought it would continue to move. I'll be
Speaker 2: honest as I tell you do not gamble on sports.
Speaker 2: You work too hard for your money, keep it in
Speaker 2: your bank account, keep it in your pockets.
Speaker 1: But for a rivalry game, for the road team to.
Speaker 2: Essentially have Vegas tell all of us they're about eight
Speaker 2: points better than Utah because Vegas builds in three typically
Speaker 2: for the home stadium advantage, and all of us understanding
Speaker 2: how this game typically goes five felt like a spread
Speaker 2: people would jump on, but they haven't moving over moving
Speaker 2: only one point.
Speaker 1: That tells you that people that do this, like there.
Speaker 2: Are people that actually gamble essentially for a living, and
Speaker 2: dig in to all of these lines to try to
Speaker 2: find out as a wise guy, how you can affect
Speaker 2: the line or where your money should go. There's not
Speaker 2: a lot of action as of now on Utah by
Speaker 2: you essentially indicating that line is about right according to
Speaker 2: how people think this is going to go. So as
Speaker 2: we've been talking about all day, and if you miss
Speaker 2: coach with from earlier, go to our website.
Speaker 1: It's ESPN seven hundred sports dot com.
Speaker 2: Utah is gonna do the same quarterback thing where they're
Speaker 2: gonna not announce who's gonna start. It's gonna be Brandon Rose,
Speaker 2: Isaac Wilson, according to what we've been told, that will
Speaker 2: receive the reps with the ones, and then we'll probably
Speaker 2: all find out when Utah runs out to take the
Speaker 2: field for their first offensive possession. Josh Furlong, hawked on
Speaker 2: earlier outlined some injuries that may of course hinder the
Speaker 2: University of Utah because it feels like that's just the
Speaker 2: deal has been for quite some time along the O line.
Speaker 2: I cannot speak to it. I don't know for BYU
Speaker 2: side of things. Connor Pay, who's their starting center, has
Speaker 2: been out for a while. Calotti said it's unlikely he's
Speaker 2: going to play in Cody Apps who just poor kid
Speaker 2: can't stay healthy but has not been really one of
Speaker 2: Jake's favorite targets. Looks like Cody's gonna be out as well.
Speaker 2: And on BYU side, if you pay attention to landscape
Speaker 2: of the Big Twelve, some good news occurred for them
Speaker 2: over the weekend because essentially, you know, over the past
Speaker 2: couple of weeks, as Utah's season has gone south ironically enough,
Speaker 2: and BYU season has done the exact opposite. I feel
Speaker 2: like the conversation around this game BYU Utah has been
Speaker 2: essentially Okay, this is Utah's chance to spoil BYU's Big
Speaker 2: Twelve championship chances.
Speaker 1: That's off the table.
Speaker 2: This is not an elimination game for Brigham Young by
Speaker 2: any means. In fact, there's a world that BYU goes
Speaker 2: two and two in their final four and still goes
Speaker 2: to Dallas to play for the Big Twelve championship. Texas Tech,
Speaker 2: we told you, we gave you that game on Friday.
Speaker 2: Texas Tech was able to up NI with state names,
Speaker 2: so they're they're not clean anymore. BYU's the only clean team,
Speaker 2: and is Houston good question mark? Is anyone good question
Speaker 2: mark in the Big Twelve? Or is everyone just bad.
Speaker 2: I have no idea, but Houston got to win over
Speaker 2: k State, and so there's a chance BYU could lose
Speaker 2: a couple of games and still make get into the
Speaker 2: Big Twelve Championship game. Now as a result of the
Speaker 2: unfortunate reality of what Big twelve football has turned into,
Speaker 2: because I will I mean, look, honestly, I was hoping
Speaker 2: two teams would separate themselves from the pack in order
Speaker 2: to give this conference a chance to have two teams
Speaker 2: or also to protect in the contingency because I thought
Speaker 2: Utah would be where BYU is. I thought, as I've
Speaker 2: said for the past couple of weeks, I get.
Speaker 5: A lot wrong.
Speaker 2: I don't know that I've ever been as wrong as
Speaker 2: I've been about this Utah football team. But in the
Speaker 2: case that Utah Football somehow could have done what we
Speaker 2: thought that they would do and make it to Dallas
Speaker 2: to play for a Big twelve championship, you know, should
Speaker 2: they have been undefeated or with one loss, the hope
Speaker 2: is the other team that they were playing also undefeated
Speaker 2: one loss, so in the chance that Utah lost that game,
Speaker 2: hopefully finding a seat for them in the CFP. Obviously,
Speaker 2: that's completely off the table. But this is no longer
Speaker 2: an elimination game for BYU. I mean, of course twelve
Speaker 2: and ZO would be special. Any undefeated season is so difficult,
Speaker 2: quite frankly, any level any sport, let alone college football.
Speaker 2: I think SABAN had two undefeated teams that won national championships.
Speaker 1: I mean, it just doesn't happen very often.
Speaker 2: And I don't know what the CFP committee would do
Speaker 2: with an undefeated BYU team coming out of the Big Twelve,
Speaker 2: because it's clear that what happened over the weekend of
Speaker 2: the Big Twelve forced this conference to take a bit
Speaker 2: of a hit with the public sentiment for who people
Speaker 2: think they are, and listening to a bunch of stuff
Speaker 2: this morning to get ready for the show today, most
Speaker 2: everybody's landed on that's a one bid league. The champ
Speaker 2: gets in and that's it. And at this point I
Speaker 2: don't see an avenue forward. I mean, if BYU gets
Speaker 2: let's just play this game. If BYU gets to Dallas undefeated,
Speaker 2: if they beat Utah, they beat Kansas, if they beat
Speaker 2: Arizona State, if they beat Houston. By the way, ESPN's
Speaker 2: FPI gives them an eight percent chance of doing that,
Speaker 2: and I'm sure they're just analyzing the conference and trying
Speaker 2: to dig through the minutia to.
Speaker 1: Find out what's real and what's not.
Speaker 2: We were going to do our Big twelve power rankings today,
Speaker 2: but as I told.
Speaker 1: Porter, I'm like, what's the point.
Speaker 2: The Big twelve power rankings today sound like this BYU
Speaker 2: was one and everybody else is tied for I have
Speaker 2: no clue because that's just kind of the deal. There
Speaker 2: were eight undefeated teams when we last spoke on Friday,
Speaker 2: and as of today, there are five, and of course
Speaker 2: BYU's one of them.
Speaker 1: They stayed nine in the poll.
Speaker 2: Indiana moved up because they continue to stay cleaning with
Speaker 2: the win over Michigan State. But if BYU goes to
Speaker 2: Dallas undefeated and Iowa State has one loss, and Iowa
Speaker 2: State beats BYU, does BYU have a chance to get in?
Speaker 2: I don't think so, because the rest of the schedule
Speaker 2: isn't that difficult. They've already played a pretty tough schedule,
Speaker 2: one of the toughest schedules in the Big Twelve.
Speaker 1: But I think that's the unfortunate reality.
Speaker 2: Even if BYU is undefeated and they play a one
Speaker 2: los Iowa State team, in Iowa State beats them, Iowa
Speaker 2: State goes and I think BYU stays back. I mean
Speaker 2: that's the problem with and look, we saw this in
Speaker 2: the Pac Twelve in a way, the Big Twelve has
Speaker 2: kind of proven to be as far as narratives there
Speaker 2: are created by people to cover football in the conference,
Speaker 2: it feels very similar, like more often than not, we're
Speaker 2: trying to ascertain is the Pac twelve just bad? Are
Speaker 2: these just bad teams beating up on each other? Are
Speaker 2: there one or two elite teams? I mean, Utah certainly
Speaker 2: had a very very good team winning a couple of championships.
Speaker 1: Are there one or two elite teams?
Speaker 2: Or is it just a bunch of average teams that
Speaker 2: are like beating up on each other. The Big Twelve
Speaker 2: has kind of manifested itself that way, and most people
Speaker 2: thought that it would. I was just hoping most people
Speaker 2: were wrong, and certainly most people have been plenty wrong
Speaker 2: about several things that have happened this year. I mean,
Speaker 2: Oklahoma State, along with Utah and k State, were a
Speaker 2: top most of the preseason polls, and Oklahoma State can
Speaker 2: win a football game no matter.
Speaker 1: Where they play.
Speaker 2: The Gundy's record in Stillwater prior to the season was insane.
Speaker 2: I mean, he never loses down there, and this year,
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter who they play, doesn't matter where they played.
Speaker 2: They cannot win a football game in conference. They lose
Speaker 2: to Utah at home, they lose to West Virginia at home,
Speaker 2: they lose to Arizona State at home.
Speaker 1: They're zero to three at home in conference play.
Speaker 2: It did be Arkansas earlier this year, but in conference
Speaker 2: play they have fallen flat on their face. So yes,
Speaker 2: several things about this conference feels like they're completely flipped up,
Speaker 2: flip up, flipped upside down. It's very much bizarro Seinfeld stuff.
Speaker 2: As Byu wrote, who would have thought b Yu is
Speaker 2: going to be the five point favorite? Now the line
Speaker 2: is four over Utah to start the year. But that's
Speaker 2: where we find ourselves. So for Byu, it's not as
Speaker 2: clear cut as it was prior to the cast that
Speaker 2: happened last week. They can lose on Saturday and they're
Speaker 2: still likely to go to Dallas for Utah. Really, it
Speaker 2: comes down to one opportunity, and yes, I know there
Speaker 2: are other games, but Iowa State they will be here.
Speaker 2: It will not land the way Brigham Young will when
Speaker 2: BYU rolls into town. It's a different game. Everybody that's
Speaker 2: been around it knows it. There's a different level of pressure,
Speaker 2: there's a different level of anxiety, there's a different level
Speaker 2: of energy, and there's a different reward if you find
Speaker 2: a way to be great for one day.
Speaker 1: There just is.
Speaker 2: We remember Brett Ratliffe, right, We remember Brandon Burton's block.
Speaker 2: We remember those moments when a player has the ability
Speaker 2: to find it within himself to be great for one
Speaker 2: game and that game is against by U. When you
Speaker 2: have a big game and you lead Utah to a win,
Speaker 2: it will change the way the community feels currently about
Speaker 2: this football team.
Speaker 1: Now, we have to be honest.
Speaker 2: Nothing will change the inevitable ending of what this season
Speaker 2: is going to be.
Speaker 1: It's either a throwaway bull or no bullet all.
Speaker 2: As I've been saying all day, the only thing worse
Speaker 2: as a college football program with expectations like Utah football had,
Speaker 2: and they have high expectations. The only thing worse for
Speaker 2: a football program that's used to winning conference championships and
Speaker 2: playing in Rose Bowls. The only thing worse than playing
Speaker 2: in a throwaway bowl game is not being eligible for one.
Speaker 2: And there is a world where Utah football does not
Speaker 2: go bowling if they don't win on Saturday at Boulder
Speaker 2: Home against Iowa State on the road short week after
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving in Orlando.
Speaker 1: UCF Colorado's good. Iowa State I think is good UCF.
Speaker 2: I'll put in a group of like ten teams like
Speaker 2: I don't know, they can get you on any night,
Speaker 2: or maybe you smoke them.
Speaker 1: The problem is the data that we have in front
Speaker 1: of us.
Speaker 2: It just can't give you any confidence as far as
Speaker 2: what we've seen from Utah football so far. It doesn't
Speaker 2: mean it won't be different on Saturday, it doesn't mean
Speaker 2: it can't be different for the final four games.
Speaker 1: But trying to spin.
Speaker 2: It any other way than really a horrible disappointment is disingenuous,
Speaker 2: It's dishonest.
Speaker 1: I can't do that. I'd like to. The data indicates
Speaker 1: the defense is.
Speaker 2: Still like a top three maybe top four defense in
Speaker 2: the Big twelve. I mean, most of their metrics are
Speaker 2: really solid outside of getting to the quarterback and causing turnovers,
Speaker 2: two things that BYU has been elite at this year.
Speaker 2: In a way, and you'll hear from Kalani coming up.
Speaker 2: What Kalade Satake has done is taking the mo of
Speaker 2: Kyle Whittingham and he's out Utah.
Speaker 1: Utah.
Speaker 2: They're the ones creating turnovers, They're the ones getting the quarterback,
Speaker 2: They're the ones that are causing havoc plays. BYUS outscored
Speaker 2: opponents sixty nine to ten off of.
Speaker 1: Turnovers this year.
Speaker 2: You can be very reductive with rivalry games and just
Speaker 2: talk about the turnover battle. Certainly that'll be paramount. But
Speaker 2: if you want to talk about that BYU has been
Speaker 2: ten times better than Utah at that dynamic of playing
Speaker 2: football right now, I mean, there are very few things
Speaker 2: right now that Utah is clearly better than than BYU,
Speaker 2: making this very intriguing and making this an opportunity for
Speaker 2: Utah football to show this fan base in this community
Speaker 2: one more time this year, because look, call it how
Speaker 2: it is. This is the biggest game left on Utah schedule.
Speaker 2: I think the game in Boulder, which by the way,
Speaker 2: that will start at ten am next Saturday, which is
Speaker 2: kind of nice on Fox as opposed to these late games.
Speaker 2: We have the UCF start time at six o'clock. We
Speaker 2: still don't know the Iowa State start time. But this
Speaker 2: game eight fifteen Saturday night pregame coverage will begin at
Speaker 2: four to fifteen. Porter big I Osciata will have that
Speaker 2: for you. Cast the Utah characters coming through. Check out
Speaker 2: our tailgate starting early in the day, and then tune
Speaker 2: in at four to fifteen. But this game Saturday Night
Speaker 2: at eight fifteen, it's going to be chilly. Looks like
Speaker 2: it'll be clear, which is nice. This is Utah's, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, final chance this year to show up and
Speaker 2: show out in front of this fan base that is
Speaker 2: just waiting. You can feel it at every game. You
Speaker 2: can feel that the top is about to blow every
Speaker 2: single game. But you got to give him good football
Speaker 2: cheer four and to me, Saturday night is an opportunity
Speaker 2: for the Utes one more time to show against that team.
Speaker 2: If you could be great one day, you're remembered in
Speaker 2: this community forever.
Speaker 1: All right, wrapping it up.
Speaker 2: When Dot she just do Quincy Jones bumps every day? Man,
Speaker 2: I gotta say this has been kind of a groovy
Speaker 2: bump day.
Speaker 1: I'm kind of with you. As a result of his.
Speaker 2: Massive catalog passing away at the age of ninety one,
Speaker 2: a legend. If you've not seen the documentary, it's highly recommended.
Speaker 2: Monday Night Football tonight. It will wrap up your week
Speaker 2: nine in the NFL. Bummer about Zach just came across
Speaker 2: the wires. Zach Moss injured neck. Looks like he's gonna
Speaker 2: be sidelined for a while.
Speaker 4: Yes, everting more information there. Obviously we friends of the program.
Speaker 4: Zach is a friend of the program.
Speaker 2: So we'll well, when you're filling in, Yeah, fair enough,
Speaker 2: that's so dude.
Speaker 7: You do that.
Speaker 1: I know that you do that.
Speaker 2: You save all your ute homies for when you're filling in.
Speaker 1: I'll be really just Zach that like genuinely hops on
Speaker 1: with me when I host.
Speaker 2: But for a while, like I would be on vacation
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden I get the rundown for
Speaker 2: the show. It's like, Zach Moss, Eric Weddle, Britton Covey, I'm.
Speaker 1: Like, what going on? That did happen one time? It
Speaker 1: did happen one time? That's one too many, young man.
Speaker 1: But anyway, Zach Zach Moss, Yeah, he'll be.
Speaker 4: He'll be sidelined for a while, probably a multiple week thing.
Speaker 4: And that's set a time when he's kind of fighting
Speaker 4: for starting reps at the running back position. So bummer there,
Speaker 4: but not the first time that that guy's fought through
Speaker 4: injury and made it back and become a starter again.
Speaker 1: So did you.
Speaker 2: See did you see the video? I've got to say
Speaker 2: good for Jason Kelsey.
Speaker 10: Yes. So.
Speaker 2: One of the things, and this is not a hot take, Okay,
Speaker 2: a lot of people believe this. One of the things
Speaker 2: that is the most bothersome element of society right now
Speaker 2: is people. As Mike Tyson has said, the problem with
Speaker 2: people now is you can say whatever you want to
Speaker 2: to other others on the Internet without getting punched in
Speaker 2: the face. And what you have are these And by
Speaker 2: the way, I'm sorry, I can I cannot stand influencers.
Speaker 1: I'm so over influencers.
Speaker 2: So what you have are these people with cell phone
Speaker 2: cameras in their hand trying to create a viral moment
Speaker 2: by outwardly insulting others by saying horrible things about family members.
Speaker 2: And look, Jason Kelsey addressed it tonight. And I'm not
Speaker 2: one to advocate for hater violence, but in that moment,
Speaker 2: to see that peon little influencer who was trying to
Speaker 2: create the viral moment with his phone looking like he
Speaker 2: was about to pee down his leg when Jason Kelsey
Speaker 2: was in front of him. I got Jason Kelsey's back
Speaker 2: on that one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm with you there, I'm with you there. Obviously,
Speaker 4: it's it goes beyond like just trolling people in public.
Speaker 4: We've gotten to a point now where people are like
Speaker 4: harassing people in public to get views on their YouTube.
Speaker 4: And yeah, I don't know why we're making some of
Speaker 4: the people famous that are because they're like I don't
Speaker 4: mean to be rude, but like little chubby kids and
Speaker 4: their dads who say boom really loud, like as a
Speaker 4: famous person because they go to Costco. I don't know
Speaker 4: what the hell is going on with society, but I
Speaker 4: think it's reflecting upon larger scale things. I'll just say that,
Speaker 4: and I would like to, yes, move on, move on
Speaker 4: from it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, ultimately this is probably just the world now. And
Speaker 2: I knew as soon as they monetize social media apps
Speaker 2: there's no going back. Like people are legitimately paying their
Speaker 2: bills off these social media accounts, which is okay. Just
Speaker 2: go watch the documentary on the social network stuff.
Speaker 1: What do they call it, the social dilemma?
Speaker 2: And then when you understand the business models of the
Speaker 2: people behind the scenes, part of this was ultimately to
Speaker 2: allow people to monetize their presence on the platform, so
Speaker 2: you couldn't do away with them, like we hear people
Speaker 2: talking about, well we got to get rid of TikTok
Speaker 2: because of the ties with China.
Speaker 1: Good luck.
Speaker 2: At this point, it's permeated in society where people are
Speaker 2: paying their bills on the platforms, which is part of
Speaker 2: the model, and.
Speaker 1: It's not going anywhere. There's really no going back.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and as you said, there's an incentive for people
Speaker 4: to continue to do what they're doing if it's getting
Speaker 4: them views, it's getting them clicks, it's getting them attention.
Speaker 4: That's the big one, I think. And yeah, I don't
Speaker 4: like it. I don't really get it. Like I turn
Speaker 4: on YouTube and I scroll through and see the people
Speaker 4: that are in the feed and Spence, I feel like
Speaker 4: I'm in a like a Rick and Morty ultimate alternate dimension,
Speaker 4: like not a real place. But I hope I'm not
Speaker 4: the only one.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, it's dark and here I can't see the
Speaker 2: sticker that's on my sweatshort.
Speaker 1: What does that say? You voted? Thank you?
Speaker 10: Do?
Speaker 1: I need to send this out on social You gotta
Speaker 1: make my vote official. You got to post it online
Speaker 1: or it doesn't get to tabulated.
Speaker 2: The RT virtue signaling. But I am wearing my sticker.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna wear it to the grocery store tonight. Should
Speaker 2: I wear it on talking Jazz with Dave five?
Speaker 1: Yes, because you know Dave will bring it up. I'm
Speaker 1: sure he will.
Speaker 2: My guess is Dave and I don't have much to
Speaker 2: talk about in that realm of the world, and I
Speaker 2: think I'll leave.
Speaker 1: That test it tonight talking on TV. I will not
Speaker 1: be invited back. Hope, Hope.
Speaker 2: You're all of voting. If you don't vote, you can't
Speaker 2: say rip about the outcome. And so election Day is tomorrow.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 2: Rant Overporter, What comes our way on a Tuesday show.
Speaker 4: On a Tuesday edition of the program, we'll do Little Hoops.
Speaker 4: Tim McMahon for the NBA Daily Assist, and then we're
Speaker 4: talking college football. It's Scott Mitchell on site in person
Speaker 4: at ar Up for the Utah Blood Drive. Austin Coley,
Speaker 4: the former Cougar, an NFL wide receiver, will stop by
Speaker 4: the program. Riley Jensen will stop by the program. So
Speaker 4: we're talking quarterbacks, we're talking college football and sneaking to
Speaker 4: little Hoops as well.
Speaker 1: Good stuff. We'll be out and about on remote.
Speaker 2: We'd love to see you guys at Arup Blood Services
Speaker 2: and with that will say good night's special. Thank you
Speaker 2: Richard Smith, Kalani Satake and Josh Furlong for you to
Speaker 2: the sound you made miss from the show. Websites and
Speaker 2: option ESPN seven hundred sports dot com download our mobile app,
Speaker 2: Take us on the Go. It is the ESPN seven
Speaker 2: hundred out that's available for free in the App Store
Speaker 2: or the Google play Store. And then finally, for what
Speaker 2: we do in our space, specifically four hours every afternoon,
Speaker 2: check out our podcast page which is called the Drive
Speaker 2: with Spence. Check it's that's available wherever you get your shows.
Speaker 2: Hit us up with a rating or review, give us
Speaker 2: all the stars, say nice things. It helps out for
Speaker 2: Portram Spence saying Tonight Utah Men's basketball, Monday Night Football,
Speaker 2: Busy Monday Night comes you right next right here on
Speaker 2: ESPN seven hundred