Speaker 1: All right, massive game.
Speaker 2: As we've been talking about, We've had this date on
Speaker 2: Saturday circled on our calendar for a number of weeks.
Speaker 2: Both teams have stayed clean. Two undefeated teams in the
Speaker 2: top fourteen. It's Utah at Okay State. Our next guest
Speaker 2: will be there on the ground and he's one of
Speaker 2: my favorites.
Speaker 1: Man, it's been too long.
Speaker 2: From ESPN Radio, the Great Ian Fitzsimmons on a Wednesday, Ian,
Speaker 2: Happy Wednesday, Man, how are we doing?
Speaker 3: Spence? Good to talk to you again, man, How you
Speaker 3: been passed?
Speaker 1: How you been been good? Can't complain? Can't complain?
Speaker 3: Love?
Speaker 2: You know, love this time of year, and so far
Speaker 2: both these two teams have stayed clean. Before we get
Speaker 2: to the actual game, I wonder from your advantage point,
Speaker 2: what you make of the start of the season, just
Speaker 2: from a macro standpoint of the Utes. Now we'll learn
Speaker 2: more about them, but they have stayed clean despite some injuries,
Speaker 2: including an injury to cam So at three and oh
Speaker 2: what do you make of these Utah Utes? Well?
Speaker 3: And you know, to be able to come away with wins,
Speaker 3: you know, down and Baylor after camp gets hurt hitting
Speaker 3: at Gator Ree bottle, which luckily it wasn't worse. You know,
Speaker 3: it was just a slight laceration to his hand if
Speaker 3: he did lose. Karini Reid, who I love that dude. Man,
Speaker 3: He's a sideline to sideline backer and one of your leaders.
Speaker 3: So that's stung. But walking you know, Johnny Hill down
Speaker 3: from linebacker, you know who's been there waiting to get
Speaker 3: on the field, you know, for the former safety. I
Speaker 3: thought that was a brilliant move by Kyle Whittingham and
Speaker 3: morgan'sclly because he's an athletic guy and you can't coach
Speaker 3: speed and man, when you come into the big twelve,
Speaker 3: you got to be able to carry it tight enough
Speaker 3: to seem you know, bigger slot receivers at times. So
Speaker 3: you know, walking him down from safety to linebacker, I
Speaker 3: thought was a brilliant move. I know they're really high
Speaker 3: on him, but bottom line is, it's a different team
Speaker 3: when cam Rise is a quarterback. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 3: breaking news here along the Washash front. I mean all
Speaker 3: of college football knows that. I mean, when I talked
Speaker 3: to Kyle Whittingham yesterday, I flat out asked him, if
Speaker 3: you forget a dollar, if you had a quarter for
Speaker 3: every time you've been asked about Cam Rise in the
Speaker 3: last year and a half. You're already in a pretty
Speaker 3: darn good tax bracket. Where would you be even after that.
Speaker 3: We just gave you a quarter every time you were asked.
Speaker 3: He kind of laughed about it. But you know, all
Speaker 3: of college football knows what that guy means this football team.
Speaker 3: And we all know also, I don't care if it's
Speaker 3: big boy high school football, college football, or the NFL.
Speaker 3: You ain't got a quarterback, you ain't got a shot.
Speaker 3: And that's a dude who led you taught a back
Speaker 3: to backpack twelve titles. I'm a huge cam Rising fan,
Speaker 3: you know. I think he's gonna be if he wants to.
Speaker 3: He's so cerebral. One thing Wit mentioned yesterday he sees
Speaker 3: the game like a coach. He's almost watching the all
Speaker 3: twenty two and if he wants to coach one day,
Speaker 3: I think he's gonna be an outstanding coach. He is
Speaker 3: a leader of leaders, so and you're gonna need it, man, Couspence.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you've ever been to Stillwater, but man,
Speaker 3: when they start slapping those damn paddles against the side wall,
Speaker 3: right here on the sideline. It is deafening, and I
Speaker 3: do mean deafening. It is a rough place to go play.
Speaker 3: They've got seven guys back on the defensive side of
Speaker 3: the ball that started all fourteen games last year on
Speaker 3: a ten win team that played for a Big twelve title.
Speaker 3: You know, you've got the entire offensive lineback Alan Bowman.
Speaker 3: Their quarterbacks is as old as cam Rising, you know.
Speaker 3: And they have the the you know, college football leading
Speaker 3: ropshter from last year and Ali Gordon the second who
Speaker 3: I know has been slowed down, but teams have been
Speaker 3: walking a safety down the box on him, which is
Speaker 3: free Bowman enough to be able to complete around sixty
Speaker 3: eight percent of his passes. So you look at this matchup, man,
Speaker 3: it's twelve to fourteen. It's logo on logo. There's gonna
Speaker 3: be some passion behind these pads. I cannot wait to
Speaker 3: call this thing on Saturday.
Speaker 1: So we were discussing this earlier.
Speaker 2: I and I wonder what you make of what really
Speaker 2: is at stake here because there are a lot of
Speaker 2: people talking about this game as the winner is in
Speaker 2: the driver's seats to win the conference and go to
Speaker 2: the conference championship game. I know, I'm just wondering how
Speaker 2: you would articulate what you believe is at stake coming
Speaker 2: up on Saturday.
Speaker 3: But any of the conference game is big. You weighm
Speaker 3: double you know. Nick Stateman told me that years ago
Speaker 3: that you know, any conference game is is weighed twice
Speaker 3: as much because there is there is it's there's twice
Speaker 3: as much on the line. But man, like, we're a
Speaker 3: week four, you know, so let's not say that, you know,
Speaker 3: one game is going to decide who's playing for a
Speaker 3: Big twelve championship or not, you know, or who's playing
Speaker 3: in the title gameing Kansas State BYU. Kansas State is
Speaker 3: really good. I mean damn good. Avery Johnson ran Will
Speaker 3: Howard out of town. And that's dude who won a
Speaker 3: Big Twell title a couple of years ago. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, he ran him to Ohio State. I mean,
Speaker 3: Avery johnsons the heck of a quarterback. You know, you
Speaker 3: guys remember Maddy Wells, you know, former head coach at
Speaker 3: Utah State. He's uc there now at Kansas State. So
Speaker 3: you know, the Kansas State is not a team to
Speaker 3: be taken lightly by any stretch of the imagination. Arizona
Speaker 3: is a pretty darn good football team. You know, we
Speaker 3: go on down the list, man, I mean so you
Speaker 3: know you talk, but God picked Utah to win the
Speaker 3: Big Twelve. At the start of the season, I thought
Speaker 3: Kansas would be better than what we've seen so far.
Speaker 3: I loved Chris Clembans, you know, culture, he's built there
Speaker 3: in the Little Apple and Manhattan, Kansas State. And Mike
Speaker 3: Gunn he's been around for twenty years. Look look at
Speaker 3: this man. Twenty six days separate Mike Gundy and Kyle Whittingham,
Speaker 3: but two's longest tenured head coaches in college football. I mean,
Speaker 3: let that sink in. And that's hard to do in
Speaker 3: this day and age. That that you have to win consistently,
Speaker 3: and that's what they've done. So I don't believe that
Speaker 3: that whoever wins Saturday is now in some kind of
Speaker 3: a driver's sea. There's too much ball enough to be played.
Speaker 2: So it's interesting Cam will be back under center. As
Speaker 2: far as everything that we've been told, I would imagine
Speaker 2: you're under the same impression. And Alan Bowman on the
Speaker 2: other side. These are two like six seven year quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: But Ali Gordon is the back that everybody talks about.
Speaker 2: But it does seem like Okay State has more balance,
Speaker 2: right ian than most people understand.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is not just a one dimensional offense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, you know, Parnell is a speedy wide out.
Speaker 3: He could have gone to the two in the draft
Speaker 3: last year. He would have been a I don't know,
Speaker 3: man like around a sixth seventh round pick. But he's
Speaker 3: around five eight, maybe a buck eighty. But he's a burner.
Speaker 3: He rubbed runs a sub four four. That's a guy
Speaker 3: you're going to have to contend with, you know. You know,
Speaker 3: Alan Bowman, think about this, Spence. The combined age of
Speaker 3: these two quarterbacks in this game, for I kickoff and
Speaker 3: camerasing Alan Bowman will be forty nine. You know what
Speaker 3: the combined age of the two quarterbacks that started in
Speaker 3: primetime on Thursday night and for the Chicago Bears and
Speaker 3: the Houston Texans is what is it?
Speaker 1: Forty two, forty three.
Speaker 3: Forty four, forty four. These two college quarterbacks are five
Speaker 3: years older than the combined age of the two starting
Speaker 3: quarterbacks the Texans and the Bears. Welcome to the FA
Speaker 3: last COVID year of college football, right But I don't
Speaker 3: blame any any of these guys for coming back Trey Rucker,
Speaker 3: leading tackler for the Oklahoma State Pokes. I mean, you
Speaker 3: know he's also a COVID guy. I mean, and keep
Speaker 3: an eye on nine. Man, he'll hit you. He's another
Speaker 3: guy that it would have been around a sixth seventh
Speaker 3: round pick to you know, they may you make some
Speaker 3: money in il comes back for one more year even
Speaker 3: though you're waiting to start your in fel cycle as
Speaker 3: far as your next contract, if you're lucky enough to
Speaker 3: get one. But he came back to improve his draft stock,
Speaker 3: and he's done that so far. So you know, these
Speaker 3: are two older teams, two veteran teams. As I mentioned,
Speaker 3: Oklahoma State's got seven guys that started every every single
Speaker 3: game last year. On defense, the entire offensive line is back.
Speaker 3: Bowman's back, Parnell's back, Ali Gordon's second is back who
Speaker 3: led the NCAA and rushing last year live was seventeen
Speaker 3: hundred yards and look, I know he's only averaging around
Speaker 3: three and a half yards to carry this year. Go
Speaker 3: watch what Arkansas did. They were not gonna let that
Speaker 3: dude beat him. There was no way, I mean it
Speaker 3: was you know what we're gonna stack you're gonna walk
Speaker 3: the safety down, We're gonna stack the box. Bowman, you've
Speaker 3: got to beat this and he's been pretty good. It's
Speaker 3: completing around sixty eight percent of his passes. So again,
Speaker 3: this is gonna be strength on strength. We all know
Speaker 3: that a Kyle Whittingham coach team is going to be
Speaker 3: physical as hell. And that's why I think there'sn be
Speaker 3: a lot of passion behind the pass man because this
Speaker 3: is a big game. Spence, I don't want to diminish
Speaker 3: your question about Driver's seating a Big twelve. I mean
Speaker 3: this is a massive game like Kansas State BYU is
Speaker 3: a massive game for all four of these teams when
Speaker 3: it comes to Big twelve standing and just you know,
Speaker 3: it's your first conference game. You want to start on
Speaker 3: a good note. You don't want to have that taste
Speaker 3: of a vinegar on your palate after, you know, after
Speaker 3: the first game in conference play. But this went up
Speaker 3: in Stillwater. I'm telling you, man, it's this is the
Speaker 3: state of Oklahoma for that matter. The balls are coming
Speaker 3: in to play, you know, the Sooners, you got a
Speaker 3: youth coming in to play, the Popes, all four ranked.
Speaker 3: I mean it is going to be pandemonium cannibalistic in
Speaker 3: the state of Oklahoma on Saturday, in a great game
Speaker 3: of college football, well.
Speaker 1: And also Ian. You know the deal.
Speaker 2: When you do this job, you might want to rile
Speaker 2: up your listenership a little bit. So, hey, you Utah
Speaker 2: wins on Saturday. We're high speed out of the Big
Speaker 2: Twelve Championship. I'm hanging the banner in Salt Lake.
Speaker 1: You know that. You know the deal.
Speaker 3: I love it. I love it. I mean, I don't
Speaker 3: know if porta Call is still out there, right, I
Speaker 3: don't know if that place is still open, But go
Speaker 3: ahead and fly the flat. It's gone.
Speaker 2: It's a courthouse now. Ironically enough, portocoll is a courthouse now.
Speaker 3: Is that that's fitting? It's extraordinarily fitting. Oh, let's just
Speaker 3: go old school. We'll go up, we'll go over to
Speaker 3: pass right, we'll go to No Name Saloon. Go ahead
Speaker 3: and fly the flag right Sam, There it is there.
Speaker 3: It is man, Big twelve champs. U taught they beat
Speaker 3: the folks.
Speaker 1: So yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2: We got the sound bite from me and that we
Speaker 2: were looking for. Hey, I want to move over here.
Speaker 3: Hey, hey, don't even think about it.
Speaker 2: We're going to pre play that for the next three weeks,
Speaker 2: just so you know. But I actually wanted to follow
Speaker 2: up on what you said about still Water because I
Speaker 2: have never been there before at Boone Picking Stadium. But
Speaker 2: we have a lot of youth fans that will be
Speaker 2: making their first Big twelve road trip. It's our first
Speaker 2: Big twelve game. It's our first big Big twelve road game.
Speaker 2: Tell us about still Water, tell us about the stadium.
Speaker 2: What are the youth fans who are making the track
Speaker 2: in for coming up on Saturday?
Speaker 3: Man, when it gets a third down, those damn paddles
Speaker 3: will be banging against the walls, you know, outside right
Speaker 3: there by the student section. It is loud, it is medieval.
Speaker 3: But if you are able to you won't be able
Speaker 3: to get in at night. But if you can get
Speaker 3: in and show up around three o'clock on Friday, Eskimo
Speaker 3: Joe's Great Bar, live music. The Chili Cheese Dog will
Speaker 3: make your left leg go numb. But it's so good.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's bar food to the m degree. It's
Speaker 3: bar food on steroids. It's actually really good bar food.
Speaker 3: And the scene is magnificent. It is one of those
Speaker 3: staples like the library at Old Mess in the Innis
Speaker 3: Free Pub in Tuscaloosa, Archibal's Barbecue and Tuscaloosa you know,
Speaker 3: I mean powerin'es and Baton Rouge. These are all staples,
Speaker 3: you know. And when it comes to still water in
Speaker 3: Oklahoma State football, it doesn't get any better than Eskimo Joe's.
Speaker 3: Put both hands in the dirt, get down like you're
Speaker 3: running the you know, the toush push for the Philadelphia Eagles,
Speaker 3: and fire off and attack some food, a cold beer
Speaker 3: and enjoy some live music. It doesn't get any better.
Speaker 1: God love it.
Speaker 2: You reference k State rolling into town coming down to provo.
Speaker 2: BYU stayed clean in the non con. It's Jay Hill's
Speaker 2: second years, their decordinator, and their head coaches Kilane. So
Speaker 2: now it looks like a team that is coached by
Speaker 2: Kilane and has Jay Hill as their decordinator. At least
Speaker 2: through three games against competition that's not overwhelming Ian They've
Speaker 2: been really good on defense. But it gets real on Saturday.
Speaker 2: What should BYU fans expect Saturday night when Case State
Speaker 2: rolls into town.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna make this short and sweet, man, because I
Speaker 3: got under a zoom for our utuber for production meeting
Speaker 3: for the Utah State to Oklahoma State game. I'll be
Speaker 3: very very simple, Chris Cleman's squads will knock the snot
Speaker 3: out of you. They are a lot like Kyle Whittingham's
Speaker 3: boy so all like co Hawi Sataki was as a player.
Speaker 3: I mean, they will not be ever loving snot out
Speaker 3: of you. They are a very physical football team that's
Speaker 3: faster than you think. I know, Desmond Parnell's numbers aren't
Speaker 3: there right now, but he's kind of their heart and
Speaker 3: soul on defense. Keep an eye on Parnell thirty two
Speaker 3: and Avery Johnson again. He ran Will Howard out of town.
Speaker 3: Will Howard was like a local legend. Avery Johnson is
Speaker 3: so athletic, and with Matt Wells calling plays and dolling
Speaker 3: it up, he's getting better and better every week. Be
Speaker 3: very very careful here, because look, not a lot of
Speaker 3: people talking about BYU and undefeated BYU team that came
Speaker 3: down to SMU as a double digit dog and got
Speaker 3: a really strong win. Man, I'm telling you, you beat
Speaker 3: Kansas State, you're backed on the national map, and I
Speaker 3: don't I don't even know if Colinie wants to be
Speaker 3: on the national map. You know, he's one of those
Speaker 3: guys kind of like me. You know, if I'm a
Speaker 3: head coach, I don't want you talking about my squad.
Speaker 3: Let me fly under the radar. Let me and you
Speaker 3: look up late October and here I am at you know,
Speaker 3: eight and one, nine and zero, and I'm shutting a
Speaker 3: lot of people up. You in this one though, a
Speaker 3: lot of people will be talking about BYU football.
Speaker 1: Ian, thank you, my friend.
Speaker 2: It's always a pleasure to have a great, safe trip
Speaker 2: and have a great call.
Speaker 3: Okay man, always enjoyed spance.
Speaker 1: Be well, all right, Ian Fitzsimmons from ESPN Radio.
Speaker 2: He will be on the call for the NASH Radio
Speaker 2: broadcast coming up between Utah and Okay State. But don't
Speaker 2: forget our radio call with pregame coverage with that guy
Speaker 2: Porter Larson, will begin at ten am. HISS kickoff is
Speaker 2: at two. We'll throw it over to Bill Scott and slide.
Speaker 2: We'll have you taken care of, so appreciate you in time.