Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Sammy Mora on Utah hosting Arkansas on Saturday, Michigan's Bail Mary, Do over she'd like in Utah FB history + more
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: You're tuned to The Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
- 0:07Speaker 1: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
- 0:25Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show.
- 0:27Speaker 1: It is a Ute Zone Wednesday, which means we talk
- 0:29Speaker 1: football with the folks from Ute Zone. Today, we are
- 0:32Speaker 1: lucky enough to welcome Sammy Mora, who gets an extra
- 0:35Speaker 1: second whenever she asks.
- 0:37Speaker 2: For one, all right? Wants a mulligan on a final play,
- 0:39Speaker 2: you give it to Sammy Mora. Sammy, welcome to the show.
- 0:42Speaker 2: How are you?
- 0:43Speaker 3: I'm doing good, OC. Thanks for having me.
- 0:46Speaker 1: I'm going to bring back and regurgitate a question from
- 0:49Speaker 1: yesterday for you, because I feel like you're the type
- 0:51Speaker 1: of person who will come up with a really good
- 0:52Speaker 1: answer for us. If you could take one game deciding
- 0:56Speaker 1: play or potentially game deciding play in Utah football history,
- 1:00Speaker 1: and you could go back and replay it like Michigan
- 1:02Speaker 1: got a chance to do on a fail Mary that
- 1:05Speaker 1: turned into a bail Mary.
- 1:07Speaker 2: What play are you replaying?
- 1:10Speaker 3: Can we go back to the 2024 Utah BYU game
- 1:15Speaker 3: and replay that holding call that Zemiah Vaughn got called for?
- 1:20Speaker 2: If that's the one you want, then absolutely.
- 1:22Speaker 3: Yes. Because if that holding call doesn't get called, correct
- 1:27Speaker 3: me if I'm wrong, Utah wins that game then. Correct. So, yeah,
- 1:32Speaker 3: let's go back and do that. That's the first thing
- 1:34Speaker 3: that can pop into my mind and I can think about.
- 1:37Speaker 3: If you give me like two or three days to
- 1:39Speaker 3: fully process it, I can probably come up with a
- 1:42Speaker 3: different answer. But off the top of my brain, that's
- 1:44Speaker 3: probably the one I would go with right now.
- 1:48Speaker 2: All right. I think that's a really good answer.
- 1:49Speaker 1: We got a couple of those similar answers yesterday when
- 1:53Speaker 1: I put it out there on Twitter and on the
- 1:54Speaker 1: text line, 877-353-0700. If you want to, if you want
- 1:58Speaker 1: to join Sammy and you want to, to put in
- 2:01Speaker 1: the day late response, that's great. We've had a chance
- 2:05Speaker 1: to talk about what we expected from Utah football, what
- 2:09Speaker 1: we thought the offense was going to look like, what
- 2:11Speaker 1: we thought the defense was going to look like. Now
- 2:13Speaker 1: we have at least one version, one game sample size.
- 2:16Speaker 1: to judge what this team actually is. What was your
- 2:21Speaker 1: first blush reaction to Utah football against Idaho?
- 2:25Speaker 3: So I'm finally glad that, you know, we could see
- 2:29Speaker 3: and talk about that package with Bird and Devin at
- 2:31Speaker 3: the same time on the field. Because I know that,
- 2:34Speaker 3: I don't know if you were at the spring practice,
- 2:35Speaker 3: but there was a couple of spring practices where there
- 2:37Speaker 3: were that package that they ran, that play that they ran,
- 2:40Speaker 3: we saw during the spring. So that's been something we've
- 2:43Speaker 3: been kind of sitting on. So I'm glad I can
- 2:45Speaker 3: finally talk about that because that... was one of the
- 2:48Speaker 3: things that I was so excited to see how it
- 2:50Speaker 3: actually would turn out on the field. And yeah, it
- 2:52Speaker 3: was against Idaho. I need to see how this team
- 2:56Speaker 3: responds to a team that's not an FCS team. But
- 3:00Speaker 3: from the first part, I think that's something that I'm
- 3:02Speaker 3: excited about. Defensively, Colton Swan called a very aggressive game. Like,
- 3:08Speaker 3: super aggressive like it was I thought I think a
- 3:10Speaker 3: lot of us expect them to just be in base
- 3:12Speaker 3: defense for most of it but like the amount of
- 3:15Speaker 3: blitzes and pressures he threw last week was was a
- 3:18Speaker 3: really high number and honestly was a slightly surprising to
- 3:21Speaker 3: me at least so we'll see if that's how Colton
- 3:24Speaker 3: continues to call games or if that was just something
- 3:26Speaker 3: to put on tape so that Arkansas is slightly confused
- 3:30Speaker 3: as to what is going to be happening on Saturday.
- 3:33Speaker 1: Okay, so we got several different iterations of the offensive line.
- 3:38Speaker 2: And, you know, we saw some really nice things.
- 3:41Speaker 1: We also saw some things that maybe made Utah fans
- 3:44Speaker 1: question and concern. And I'm all right with saying we
- 3:48Speaker 1: still don't know. Where do you stand on the offensive
- 3:51Speaker 1: line play, which was the number one question throughout the offseason?
- 3:56Speaker 3: Well, I think we got to realize that Keith Olsen
- 3:59Speaker 3: and Isaiah Garcia didn't play at all last year. of
- 4:02Speaker 3: them are guys that we expect to see, you know,
- 4:06Speaker 3: in some sort of capacity this year. I mean, Keith
- 4:09Speaker 3: is someone that we over at you don't have talked
- 4:12Speaker 3: a lot about as like one of those starting guards.
- 4:14Speaker 3: So to not have the two of them out there was,
- 4:17Speaker 3: it was, it was kind of evident at times. And
- 4:19Speaker 3: I think that especially getting Keith back, hopefully this week,
- 4:22Speaker 3: like Morgan Scali said, that should sure up that offensive line.
- 4:24Speaker 3: Like I don't have any major qualms about the offensive
- 4:29Speaker 3: line like yeah there were some issues there were some
- 4:31Speaker 3: plays that weren't great there were some series that were
- 4:33Speaker 3: a little bit questionable but for the most part I'm
- 4:36Speaker 3: not like it's not keeping me up at night because
- 4:39Speaker 3: I think that they have the guys I think it
- 4:41Speaker 3: was just a matter of you know two of your
- 4:43Speaker 3: key pieces were out last week and you you you
- 4:46Speaker 3: skated away with a win without even needing them like
- 4:50Speaker 3: that's something also, I think that it says about this
- 4:52Speaker 3: offensive line that you were able to roll a true
- 4:54Speaker 3: freshman like Kelvin Obot out there. And, you know, he
- 4:56Speaker 3: played a lot of snaps and he had some good moments.
- 4:59Speaker 3: He had some bad moments, but again, true freshmen, you
- 5:01Speaker 3: need to get in those reps and sink them into
- 5:02Speaker 3: him as early as possible. But with he's an Ike
- 5:06Speaker 3: back this week, I think that should sure things up.
- 5:08Speaker 3: And I, I, you know, Morgan said that he doesn't
- 5:11Speaker 3: have a starting offensive line set right now. I think
- 5:13Speaker 3: we both know that he probably knows who is starting
- 5:15Speaker 3: five are, but he's just not going to give up
- 5:17Speaker 3: that information right now.
- 5:20Speaker 1: Well, I really am curious as to whether the starting
- 5:23Speaker 1: five against Arkansas and even against Utah State is the
- 5:27Speaker 1: same one against like Iowa State or Kansas, because I
- 5:32Speaker 1: trust this coaching staff and the fact that fluidity is
- 5:36Speaker 1: necessary when you have so many new pieces on an
- 5:40Speaker 1: offensive line. And ultimately, you got to get the best
- 5:42Speaker 1: five out there, regardless of what position they're playing. I
- 5:45Speaker 1: think the only one that you really don't interchange at
- 5:48Speaker 1: all His big out at center, I think he's firmly
- 5:50Speaker 1: established himself, and that's probably where you're going to have
- 5:53Speaker 1: to keep him. But it's a work in progress that
- 5:57Speaker 1: I guess the next question is, how much progress do
- 6:00Speaker 1: we need to see from that unit before Arkansas? Because
- 6:03Speaker 1: it is a significant step up in the physicality, the size,
- 6:07Speaker 1: the speed that they're going to see this Saturday as
- 6:09Speaker 1: opposed to last Thursday.
- 6:12Speaker 3: Well, I think, like I said, getting Keith back specifically,
- 6:15Speaker 3: I think, is going to give this offensive line some
- 6:18Speaker 3: credit and some boost. Because, like, I hear Dan Sorensen,
- 6:23Speaker 3: our publisher, he talked to Toa Mowiayi before the season,
- 6:26Speaker 3: and Toa made a good point that This starting offensive line,
- 6:31Speaker 3: the one that we've all projected of Zerway, Toa, Al,
- 6:36Speaker 3: and Keith, those four specifically, they have been the twos
- 6:40Speaker 3: for the last two years. So the four of them
- 6:43Speaker 3: specifically have played a lot of football together. And they've
- 6:46Speaker 3: had a lot of experience together, especially last year when
- 6:49Speaker 3: Utah was blowing out opponents. in the middle of the
- 6:51Speaker 3: third quarter. And so they were able to put those
- 6:53Speaker 3: guys in. So the, the communication and the, and the,
- 6:56Speaker 3: and the camaraderie and the chemistry is all there with
- 6:58Speaker 3: those four. It's how does said Jefferson factor into that?
- 7:03Speaker 3: How is his communication with the other four? Because said
- 7:05Speaker 3: played the most snaps of any offensive lineman last week.
- 7:09Speaker 3: And again, had some good moments, had some not so
- 7:11Speaker 3: great moments, but again, I think with those four together of,
- 7:15Speaker 3: you know, Harrison, Williams, Moeyi, and Olsen, that's a really
- 7:20Speaker 3: good starting point for this offensive line. I don't have
- 7:22Speaker 3: any qualms or concerns with those four. So I think
- 7:25Speaker 3: the progress will be seen once we get Keith back
- 7:28Speaker 3: out there. With Keith out there, I think this offensive
- 7:30Speaker 3: line is a lot better than they were last week.
- 7:33Speaker 3: Keith is one of the, we call him super Keith
- 7:36Speaker 3: over on you zone, just because of how many different
- 7:38Speaker 3: things he can do, how many different positions he can play.
- 7:41Speaker 3: He's a very talented offensive lineman. So I think a
- 7:44Speaker 3: lot of the issues, at least in my opinions, I
- 7:46Speaker 3: think will be solved this week.
- 7:47Speaker 1: Once you get Keith back out there, Sammy Moore from
- 7:50Speaker 1: youth zone is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell show,
- 7:53Speaker 1: talking all things, Utah football. Another beautiful thing about this
- 7:58Speaker 1: Idaho game is we, we got to see kind of
- 8:00Speaker 1: all the offensive weapons on display and, Everyone got touches.
- 8:05Speaker 1: Even Bam comes in and ends up being the leading
- 8:08Speaker 1: rusher on seven carries. I mean, they went deep into
- 8:11Speaker 1: the depth chart to make sure these people that may
- 8:14Speaker 1: or may not factor in as the season progresses all
- 8:17Speaker 1: got at least a little bit of shine.
- 8:20Speaker 2: What was your favorite? Who do you think impressed the most?
- 8:23Speaker 3: I do. LaMarcus Bell, that kid is one of my...
- 8:28Speaker 3: I talk to him a lot through his recruiting process
- 8:30Speaker 3: and stuff, and he's just one of those kids that
- 8:32Speaker 3: you want to root for and you want to see
- 8:35Speaker 3: him have success. He's just such an overall, a great guy,
- 8:38Speaker 3: great running back. He's taken it to heart, really, to
- 8:42Speaker 3: improve his game, get better as a pass catcher, get
- 8:44Speaker 3: better as... a blocker, do all of the things that
- 8:47Speaker 3: he needs to do to see time in that rotation.
- 8:49Speaker 3: So I was very excited about seeing someone like Bam
- 8:52Speaker 3: have that moment. Yeah, it was in the fourth quarter,
- 8:54Speaker 3: but he still, like you said, led the team in rushing,
- 8:58Speaker 3: scored his first career touchdown on one of his first
- 9:00Speaker 3: few carries. That kid is one of those kids that
- 9:04Speaker 3: I hope nothing but the best for him in his career.
- 9:07Speaker 3: I would also highlight Monica Arvalo, another one that We
- 9:11Speaker 3: know what he can do on punt returns and stuff
- 9:14Speaker 3: like that, but when he's actually out there as a receiver,
- 9:16Speaker 3: you get to truly see how dynamic of a guy
- 9:18Speaker 3: he is. He runs such crisp routes. He has great hands.
- 9:24Speaker 3: And I think that that viral pass from Bird to
- 9:27Speaker 3: him was just a small glimpse of what Mauna can
- 9:30Speaker 3: really do. And so those are the two for me
- 9:32Speaker 3: that I think I was most excited about as under-the-radar guys.
- 9:36Speaker 3: Everyone else that we saw, you saw Creed, you saw...
- 9:42Speaker 3: Ricky Johnson, you saw Braden Pagan, all those guys with
- 9:44Speaker 3: the huge, like the characters we expected to see, but
- 9:47Speaker 3: for bam and for monitor to have, you know, the,
- 9:49Speaker 3: the games that they had, I was, it was, it
- 9:51Speaker 3: was really good to see.
- 9:52Speaker 1: The most concerning thing that I saw in the game
- 9:54Speaker 1: was Idaho putting together like a real big boy drive on,
- 9:58Speaker 1: you either a starting defense or an actual who you're
- 10:05Speaker 1: going to play alongside your starters, rotational level defense for
- 10:08Speaker 1: this Utah football team. And I know the game is
- 10:11Speaker 1: pretty much already in hand at that point, but it's
- 10:14Speaker 1: the first game of the season.
- 10:15Speaker 2: There's no excuses.
- 10:16Speaker 1: You're not supposed to give up that kind of production
- 10:19Speaker 1: to an FCS team. Is that cause for concern or
- 10:24Speaker 1: is that a blip on the radar?
- 10:42Speaker 3: Right now, I'm just going to, I'm going to,
- 10:44Speaker 3: I'm going to put that off as a blip. If
- 10:45Speaker 3: it's something that we continue to see, then yeah, it
- 10:48Speaker 3: might be a point for concern. But in my perspective, yeah,
- 10:52Speaker 3: Tilly just needs to wrap up on that. And then
- 10:54Speaker 3: if he can, you know, that's, we're not even having
- 10:56Speaker 3: this conversation right now.
- 10:59Speaker 2: What scares you most about the Arkansas matchup, if anything?
- 11:06Speaker 3: I honestly, if I have to guess, if I have
- 11:09Speaker 3: to say one thing that's, It's their, I want to
- 11:13Speaker 3: say like their offensive line had some moments where they
- 11:16Speaker 3: looked good, but they also had some moments where they
- 11:18Speaker 3: looked bad. Their running back room is really good. I
- 11:22Speaker 3: just want to see what this run defense looks like.
- 11:24Speaker 3: I know that Idaho, you held Idaho to like a
- 11:27Speaker 3: hundred yards, give or take, but that's Idaho. Like this
- 11:30Speaker 3: is an actual SEC team. This is a team with
- 11:32Speaker 3: a pulse as much as, you know, their Arkansas fan
- 11:36Speaker 3: base is not to bought in right now, but they're
- 11:39Speaker 3: still an SEC team. They still have high level guys
- 11:42Speaker 3: that can play at the next level. So I just
- 11:43Speaker 3: want to see truly what this run defense and this
- 11:46Speaker 3: defensive tackle rotation looks like, because there were guys playing
- 11:49Speaker 3: last week that I was kind of shocked to see
- 11:51Speaker 3: like Mike Pacioli, like good for him for getting into
- 11:54Speaker 3: the rotation. He was not someone on my radar that
- 11:56Speaker 3: I thought was going to play. You had semi-tall London, CNN,
- 11:59Speaker 3: mo to block a playing as well. Like that's again,
- 12:02Speaker 3: not something I expected to see. So I want to
- 12:04Speaker 3: see what the true, like Jai Carson, defensive tackle room
- 12:09Speaker 3: looks like against us running back room at Arkansas this week.
- 12:12Speaker 3: That's that's my big thing.
- 12:13Speaker 2: Speaker 2, it is Eric Weddle week.
- 12:16Speaker 1: Eric Weddle is going to be inducted into the ring
- 12:18Speaker 1: of honor and immortalized on the side of rice echo stadium.
- 12:21Speaker 1: Obviously very deserved for a guy who's all everything. Uh,
- 12:25Speaker 1: you're a lot younger than I am, right? So Eric
- 12:27Speaker 1: is a peer of mine. You came in after he
- 12:30Speaker 1: had already played his, uh, his ball at the university
- 12:33Speaker 1: of Utah. So like your sense of what Eric Weddle is,
- 12:37Speaker 1: what he means to this program, et cetera.
- 12:40Speaker 3: Well, I think for me, like I knew I've known
- 12:43Speaker 3: about Eric and just what his legacy was ever since
- 12:46Speaker 3: I was little. Like I was around and I was
- 12:50Speaker 3: watching Eric play when I was a little kid. But
- 12:53Speaker 3: like I think me more so I know Eric as
- 12:57Speaker 3: an NFL star and just how he was unabashedly always pro-Utah.
- 13:02Speaker 3: He was always praising Utah. He was always repping the team,
- 13:05Speaker 3: even if, like, during those five and seven years or
- 13:08Speaker 3: during those down moments, he was always repping the U.
- 13:10Speaker 3: And I think, for me, the biggest thing is just
- 13:13Speaker 3: how much of an ambassador for the university he's been.
- 13:16Speaker 3: I think that would be the big thing that stands
- 13:18Speaker 3: out about Eric for me. Like, obviously, I've gone back
- 13:21Speaker 3: and watched his highlights from when he played at Utah. Like,
- 13:23Speaker 3: everyone's done that. But for someone who is not... who
- 13:27Speaker 3: wasn't very... tuned in when he was playing. Like I
- 13:31Speaker 3: was like, wait, that was like 2004, 2005. It was
- 13:34Speaker 3: when he played. Like I was like five or six
- 13:37Speaker 3: when he was playing. Yes.
- 13:38Speaker 1: You could be forgiven for not having like core memories
- 13:42Speaker 1: of what he.
- 13:42Speaker 2: Did, you know?
- 13:43Speaker 3: Oh yeah. 100%. So I think that for me, like,
- 13:46Speaker 3: it's more of just, I know Eric of, as the
- 13:48Speaker 3: NFL star, I know him just being so pro Utah
- 13:52Speaker 3: and just, just one of the biggest cheerleaders, even when
- 13:54Speaker 3: he left.
- 13:57Speaker 2: The players.
- 13:58Speaker 1: Today's players, the guys on this team, uh, how aware
- 14:02Speaker 1: do you think they are of like his actual playing prowess?
- 14:06Speaker 1: I mean, he, he, he was in the NFL all
- 14:09Speaker 1: through these guys, you know, youth and adolescents and things
- 14:12Speaker 1: like that. So I'm sure they're pretty aware of him
- 14:14Speaker 1: as an NFL player, but how many of these guys
- 14:16Speaker 1: do you think are like fully aware of what he
- 14:18Speaker 1: was as a youth?
- 14:19Speaker 2: And how many do you think have actually seen those highlights?
- 14:22Speaker 3: I think if one room specifically knows what Eric's about,
- 14:26Speaker 3: it's probably the Utah safety room. I think just because
- 14:29Speaker 3: Odom coached Eric.
- 14:32Speaker 3: Morgan obviously was with Eric throughout the years when, and
- 14:36Speaker 3: he was obviously over the safe majority of these safeties
- 14:39Speaker 3: last year as well. So I want to say the
- 14:41Speaker 3: safety room probably has the biggest grasp, but I think
- 14:44Speaker 3: the defense as a whole should also know about him
- 14:47Speaker 3: just because again, Morgan's connection to Eric and all those things.
- 14:50Speaker 3: But I don't, again, they're there and these guys are
- 14:53Speaker 3: younger than me. So I don't truly know what they
- 14:56Speaker 3: know about him as well. So it's one of those
- 14:57Speaker 3: things that's kind of interesting to see how, how different
- 15:00Speaker 3: generations react to these legends.
- 15:03Speaker 2: All right. Back to Utah versus Arkansas.
- 15:05Speaker 1: Of course, the Weddell ceremony will be part of it,
- 15:08Speaker 1: but the real feature is the game itself. Do you
- 15:11Speaker 1: have a prediction on what this final score looks like?
- 15:15Speaker 3: Let me, I think, what did I tell that? I
- 15:17Speaker 3: told our Arkansas on three team. I gave them a
- 15:19Speaker 3: score prediction. I think I said like 20, I think
- 15:23Speaker 3: I said like 34. I want to say 34, 21, Utah.
- 15:28Speaker 3: I want to say it was something like that. It
- 15:31Speaker 3: was like, I think Utah's going to win it. Oh,
- 15:34Speaker 3: it's 38-21. I think Utah's going to win it. I
- 15:37Speaker 3: don't think this is going to be a super high
- 15:38Speaker 3: scoring game. I think that both teams are going to
- 15:40Speaker 3: get their shots in. They're both going to score. There's
- 15:42Speaker 3: going to be some drives that are going to cause
- 15:45Speaker 3: panic for the Utah fans on both sides of the ball.
- 15:48Speaker 3: But I think that just... Again, game two, we still
- 15:52Speaker 3: have some growing pains that we need to go through
- 15:54Speaker 3: before we hit the season. It's a marathon, not a
- 15:56Speaker 3: sprint of a season. So I have 38-21. I think
- 16:00Speaker 3: Utah pulls it out. I just think that there's going
- 16:02Speaker 3: to be like at least one or two Arkansas drives
- 16:04Speaker 3: that are kind of questionable that fans kind of panic about.
- 16:07Speaker 2: The NFL is back tonight. How much NFL do you watch?
- 16:11Speaker 1: Um.
- 16:12Speaker 3: I watch a decent amount. I'm a Buccaneers fan, so
- 16:16Speaker 3: it's kind of hard for me to watch my team frequently,
- 16:18Speaker 3: but I do watch it. I usually camp out on
- 16:22Speaker 3: the couch on Sundays and just watch as many games
- 16:24Speaker 3: as possible.
- 16:26Speaker 2: Congratulations on Baker Mayfield's new contract, I guess.
- 16:30Speaker 3: Thank you.
- 16:31Speaker 2: I'm very happy.
- 16:32Speaker 3: My two goals this off season were Baker and Vita
- 16:34Speaker 3: and both of them are staying. So I am not
- 16:36Speaker 3: in much pain. I do still think that Todd Bowles
- 16:39Speaker 3: needs to go, but at least Baker and Vita are staying.
- 16:41Speaker 3: So I will take it.
- 16:42Speaker 2: All right. We'll take it for you. Sammy, you're the best.
- 16:45Speaker 2: See you up there on Saturday.
- 16:47Speaker 3: Hey, thanks. Thanks. I'll see you on Saturday.
- 16:49Speaker 1: Sammy Mora from Ute zone on a Ute zone Wednesday.
- 16:52Speaker 1: They do great work over there with the on three crew.