Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Dishin' with Devon: Dampier taking over the game late in win over Houston, Saturday at Cincy, McAfee drama, 10 AM Holy War + more

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Dishin' with Devon: Dampier taking over the game late in win over Houston, Saturday at Cincy, McAfee drama, 10 AM Holy War + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:01
Speaker 1: It's time to talk to Utah quarterback Devin Dampier. This
0:05
Speaker 1: is Dishing with Devin on the Sean O'Connell Show. Brought
0:08
Speaker 1: to you by Colligan Water, Salt Lake City, America First
0:11
Speaker 1: Credit Union, and Valley Plumbing, Heating and Cooling. Now here's
0:15
Speaker 1: OC with Ute Star signal caller Devin Dampier on your
0:19
Speaker 1: home of the Utes and your home for football. ESPN 792.1 FM.
0:25
Speaker 2: It is that time again here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
0:28
Speaker 2: We catch up with QB number one, Devin Dampier at
0:31
Speaker 2: the University of Utah, brought to you by our friends
0:35
Speaker 2: at America First Credit Union, Culligan Water of Salt Lake City,
0:38
Speaker 2: and Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling.
0:40
Speaker 3: Dishing with Dev. Devin Dampier, welcome back to the show.
0:43
Speaker 3: How are you feeling?
0:45
Speaker 4: Man, feeling great.
0:47
Speaker 3: Feeling great.
0:49
Speaker 4: 7-0.
0:49
Speaker 2: Tell me how it feels right now. past the halfway
0:52
Speaker 2: point in the season. And so far things are going
0:54
Speaker 2: the way that everyone hoped they would just, how does
0:58
Speaker 2: it feel on a day-to-day basis up there?
1:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, man. I think when your expectations are so high
1:05
Speaker 4: and you know, you're actually succeeding with your expectations are, um,
1:10
Speaker 4: It definitely feels good. It definitely allows you to know
1:13
Speaker 4: that our culture works. We'll be preaching in the locker room.
1:17
Speaker 2: It works.
1:19
Speaker 4: It's just a feeling of recognizing all the work we
1:22
Speaker 4: put in is working and we just got to continue
1:25
Speaker 4: and not let off the gas.
1:27
Speaker 2: We talked about it a little bit last week, but
1:29
Speaker 2: now we have the benefit of hindsight as well. And
1:32
Speaker 2: part of the narrative around Utah versus Houston was, this
1:35
Speaker 2: is the first time that Utah is going to be tested.
1:37
Speaker 2: This is the first time that Utah is facing a
1:40
Speaker 2: team that is truly their equal from a talent standpoint,
1:43
Speaker 2: from a quality of coaching standpoint, all these different things.
1:47
Speaker 2: And there were some people that doubted that you all
1:49
Speaker 2: would survive that test or that you all would succeed
1:52
Speaker 2: against a team that was as good, as talented as,
1:55
Speaker 2: I know that doubt never really existed in the building,
1:58
Speaker 2: but now that the results are there now, and it.
2:00
Speaker 3: Was a great game.
2:01
Speaker 2: It was a close game credit to Houston for doing
2:03
Speaker 2: what they did successfully. But at the end of the day,
2:06
Speaker 2: you all emerge victorious. You win, you cover, and you
2:09
Speaker 2: prove that you're one of the top teams in the country,
2:11
Speaker 2: even against high quality competition. Now that you, you get
2:15
Speaker 2: to say, yeah, we didn't doubt that. And if you did,
2:17
Speaker 2: you were wrong. Like, give me, give me the sense
2:20
Speaker 2: of how it played out relative to your expectations in
2:23
Speaker 2: that specific game.
2:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, the doubters, the doubters were definitely heard by,
2:30
Speaker 4: you know, our team. We definitely heard a lot of
2:33
Speaker 4: that going on. And just for us, I mean, we, again,
2:38
Speaker 4: the coaches were preaching to us that this was going
2:40
Speaker 4: to be a close game. Like, you know, there's no
2:42
Speaker 4: way around it. It's going to be a game where
2:44
Speaker 4: we're going to have to fight to the end. You know,
2:47
Speaker 4: they're a talented group as well. So just already having
2:50
Speaker 4: that mindset of this, you know, this is a game where,
2:52
Speaker 4: you know, at the end of the day, at fourth quarter,
2:55
Speaker 4: both teams are going to have a chance to make
2:58
Speaker 4: this game happen. And, you know, I think just me
3:01
Speaker 4: seeing our defense play, I think our defense is, they're
3:03
Speaker 4: so consistent and just able to give us opportunities when
3:07
Speaker 4: it's needed. And, you know, same way, other way around.
3:09
Speaker 4: I think, you know, there's drives where we get put
3:12
Speaker 4: on the four yard line or something and we find
3:14
Speaker 4: a way to get out of there and create points.
3:16
Speaker 4: So I just think the way we've been playing has
3:18
Speaker 4: been consistent. Honestly, just amazing. Both sides of the ball
3:21
Speaker 4: the way we're helping each other.
3:23
Speaker 2: I go back to when we were having these conversations
3:25
Speaker 2: before the season started, like spring ball camp, and you
3:29
Speaker 2: talking about the fact that the communication across offense and
3:34
Speaker 2: defense now is maybe a little bit more open than
3:35
Speaker 2: it used to be. You said it felt more like
3:38
Speaker 2: a full team, that it wasn't offense versus defense necessarily.
3:42
Speaker 2: Are we seeing that manifest itself with that complementary football
3:46
Speaker 2: you're talking about?
3:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure. I mean, even talking at halftime, you know,
3:52
Speaker 4: we never want to go in there with zero points.
3:54
Speaker 4: But just the supportiveness of the defense, the things that
3:57
Speaker 4: was being said, there was no negative going on in
3:59
Speaker 4: the locker room. There was no panic going on, you know.
4:03
Speaker 4: And those guys just came up to me. They said, Devin,
4:05
Speaker 4: just continue to lead and continue to be you. You know,
4:08
Speaker 4: we believe in you. And just honestly, all the positives
4:12
Speaker 4: that was going on during halftime, definitely speaks value on
4:16
Speaker 4: the confidence that our offense was able to come out
4:19
Speaker 4: again and not feel the pressure of, you know, our
4:23
Speaker 4: defense thinks we're lacking too. Like we're all in this together.
4:28
Speaker 2: It was a slow start and you guys have been
4:30
Speaker 2: just red hot starters all year long. It was the
4:34
Speaker 2: first drive, the first opening possession that you have not
4:37
Speaker 2: scored a touchdown on in this 2026 season. You were
4:41
Speaker 2: six for six going into this game. Houston was able
4:44
Speaker 2: to get off the field and, you know, no points
4:47
Speaker 2: in the first, no points in the second, as you
4:49
Speaker 2: already alluded to when it's not. going smoothly offensively, what
4:54
Speaker 2: are the conversations like even before halftime, right? You come
4:57
Speaker 2: off after that first drive where every other game you've
5:00
Speaker 2: scored a touchdown, that one.
5:01
Speaker 3: You get nothing.
5:02
Speaker 2: Do you go and regroup? Do you even have to
5:04
Speaker 2: think about it? Give me a sense of as the
5:06
Speaker 2: game is unfolding, and it's not unfolding with the hot
5:10
Speaker 2: start you're used to, what that conversation on the sideline
5:12
Speaker 2: is like.
5:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I think there was a big difference
5:17
Speaker 4: in our third down conversions coming from the first half
5:22
Speaker 4: to the second half. I think Houston, you know, they
5:25
Speaker 4: did a great job. I think they also brought in
5:27
Speaker 4: some new stuff that we haven't seen them do against
5:31
Speaker 4: other defenses leading up to that game. So there's just
5:34
Speaker 4: a couple of adjustments we made at halftime to be
5:37
Speaker 4: able to come back out. But I mean, yeah, I
5:40
Speaker 4: think the conversations on the sidelines, you know, we just
5:43
Speaker 4: need one. We just, we gotta find, we gotta find
5:46
Speaker 4: our way to get, get that one touchdown. And, you know,
5:49
Speaker 4: after that, we, you know, we started to kind of
5:51
Speaker 4: get rid of them. We shot the role. So just
5:54
Speaker 4: kind of trying to find that way to, you know,
5:56
Speaker 4: put those points on the board. And normally we, we
5:58
Speaker 4: roll after that.
6:00
Speaker 2: And you found a way in the third quarter and
6:02
Speaker 2: I'm not taking credit away from anyone else on the team,
6:05
Speaker 2: because I know it's always a team effort, but that drive,
6:08
Speaker 2: that scoring drive felt like there was a lot of
6:11
Speaker 2: Devin Dampier being like, all right, I'm going to make
6:14
Speaker 2: this happen for my team. And I know you always
6:16
Speaker 2: have that mentality, but tell me what you were seeing.
6:20
Speaker 2: Tell me if there was a difference between the first
6:23
Speaker 2: and the second half. I mean, you took off running
6:26
Speaker 2: on a lot of plays, took what the defense gave you,
6:28
Speaker 2: still hit some dinks, some dunks. That drive, that scoring drive,
6:32
Speaker 2: felt like a lot of Devin Dampier. Was that by design?
6:37
Speaker 4: Yeah. You know, I think, you know, I think I've,
6:39
Speaker 4: I've been a quarterback this year. That's tried to play
6:41
Speaker 4: inside the offense, tried to play inside the pocket, just
6:44
Speaker 4: being able to stay healthy and things like that. But yeah,
6:48
Speaker 4: I just, I have a competitive spirit and when that
6:51
Speaker 4: kicks in, you know, I, I turn it, I turn
6:54
Speaker 4: it on and I do what I got to do
6:57
Speaker 4: at that, at that time. And at that time I
6:59
Speaker 4: felt like running the ball was pretty successful and And
7:03
Speaker 4: just kept, just kept going.
7:04
Speaker 3: Did it feel good, right?
7:06
Speaker 2: Cause some people might've forgot, you know, I, I go
7:09
Speaker 2: back to watching your New Mexico film and obviously before you,
7:13
Speaker 2: you started to feel those injuries pile up last year,
7:16
Speaker 2: you really made a lot of people miss running the
7:18
Speaker 2: ball and you're, you're really good on your feet.
7:21
Speaker 3: And I don't know if.
7:22
Speaker 2: Everyone that watches Utah football remembered that. Did it feel
7:26
Speaker 2: good to have that element of your game back in,
7:29
Speaker 2: back in the toolbox?
7:30
Speaker 5: Yeah.
7:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was kind of funny just hearing my teammates
7:34
Speaker 4: and fans and stuff just like, man, we forgot you
7:37
Speaker 4: could run like that. So it was kind of funny
7:40
Speaker 4: to just hear that. But yeah, I think, again, I
7:44
Speaker 4: think I was able to run like that because of
7:45
Speaker 4: how healthy I'm feeling in a week seven game. So
7:51
Speaker 4: just the way I've been coached, the way I've been
7:53
Speaker 4: playing just allowed me to be healthy throughout the season
7:57
Speaker 4: for a longer time than obviously last year.
7:59
Speaker 3: All right.
8:01
Speaker 2: I got to do this. You know, I got to
8:02
Speaker 2: do this. Tell me, tell me what you saw on
8:05
Speaker 2: the two interceptions.
8:31
Speaker 4: I don't even know if
8:33
Speaker 4: there's an explanation that I felt that as soon as
8:35
Speaker 4: I threw it, I was just like, yeah, I will.
8:38
Speaker 4: That's when you, you won back for sure.
8:40
Speaker 2: Speaker 0 1 thing that, and we talked about this
8:43
Speaker 2: on Monday and you and I have talked about this
8:45
Speaker 2: before there, everyone makes mistakes when you're the quarterback and
8:50
Speaker 2: you got the ball on every play, right? It's magnified.
8:53
Speaker 2: All the good stuff you do is magnified. All the
8:55
Speaker 2: bad stuff you do is magnified. I think one of
8:58
Speaker 2: the things that separates you And I've said it many
9:00
Speaker 2: times in many different ways is your ability to forget
9:05
Speaker 2: is your ability to say, that's not me. I'm going
9:08
Speaker 2: to go out and I'm going to make the next play.
9:10
Speaker 2: I'm going to go out and I'm going to execute
9:11
Speaker 2: next time. And I think that one of the most
9:14
Speaker 2: important things, and you could correct me if I'm wrong,
9:17
Speaker 2: is that your teammates trust that also, is that accurate
9:21
Speaker 2: where like, if there is a mistake made, if it's a,
9:25
Speaker 2: and it's not only you, but like when somebody on
9:28
Speaker 2: this team misses an assignment, throws a pig, fumbles the ball, whatever,
9:33
Speaker 2: it feels like there's trust from the coaching staff and
9:36
Speaker 2: from the rest of the team that he will write
9:39
Speaker 2: that wrong.
9:39
Speaker 3: Am I off on assuming that?
9:41
Speaker 4: Speaker 4 0 No, not at all. I think just
9:45
Speaker 4: coming from a Maggie and a Gundy Coming from their views,
9:51
Speaker 4: you know, they love my competitive spirit. They love that
9:55
Speaker 4: I'm going out there to, you know, not play to lose,
9:58
Speaker 4: the play, play to win. So, um, they, they love
10:01
Speaker 4: that mentality. They're, good with my decisions. Um, they let
10:05
Speaker 4: me know, you know, when I do have those mistakes,
10:07
Speaker 4: just would have kind of done differently, obviously. And just
10:11
Speaker 4: from a teammate standpoint, um, I feel like, you know,
10:14
Speaker 4: I think everybody messes up on the field at some
10:17
Speaker 4: point and I'm very encouraging to pick them up and,
10:21
Speaker 4: you know, allow them to know, we, we know who
10:23
Speaker 4: you are every day. I mean, we practice multiple times
10:26
Speaker 4: in a week before game day. So, uh, we know
10:28
Speaker 4: what you're capable of. Um, you know, obviously mine get
10:32
Speaker 4: a little bit more attention at, at times, just cause
10:36
Speaker 4: my mistakes can, can rather have us have the ball
10:39
Speaker 4: or them have the ball. So, but I think our
10:42
Speaker 4: team just understands everyone makes them and they know my
10:45
Speaker 4: competitive spirit. I'm going to bounce back.
10:47
Speaker 3: Speaker 0 7, Devin damp.
10:48
Speaker 2: Here's our guest issue with dev is brought to you
10:50
Speaker 2: by Culligan water of salt lake city, America first credit union.
10:54
Speaker 2: Valley blubbing, heating, and cooling. We do it every week
10:57
Speaker 2: on the Sean O'Connell show. So, I mean, this was
11:00
Speaker 2: a tight game and you guys have, you guys have
11:03
Speaker 2: a one point lead and the ball goes back to
11:06
Speaker 2: Houston and touch back. They're about to start. There's a
11:10
Speaker 2: little over two minutes left. There's a two minute timeout coming.
11:13
Speaker 2: I think at that point they still had one time
11:15
Speaker 2: out of their own to use. And they got an
11:17
Speaker 2: experienced quarterback, your counterpart on their team. Connor Wegman is
11:21
Speaker 2: a talented player. Didn't have his best day. your defense
11:24
Speaker 2: did a great job against him, but what are you
11:27
Speaker 2: all feeling on the sideline as the defense runs back
11:30
Speaker 2: out there in that scenario?
11:32
Speaker 4: Speaker 3 6th and man, I mean, at first, I
11:38
Speaker 4: think those guys have been playing lights out the whole game. So,
11:42
Speaker 4: you know, my confidence was there that they're going to
11:44
Speaker 4: find a way, they're going to find a way to
11:46
Speaker 4: get a stop for us. And we're going to have
11:48
Speaker 4: to close this game out. And yeah, again, that was
11:51
Speaker 4: the thought process. I think when you see Benny make
11:55
Speaker 4: a play like that, uh, shoot, that was, that was crazy.
12:00
Speaker 4: I've heard, I've heard right. That goes go out. I, that,
12:03
Speaker 4: that was one where like, I go, I was able
12:06
Speaker 4: to see the whole, the whole stadium was kind of
12:08
Speaker 4: still packed out at fourth quarter, uh, which is, which
12:12
Speaker 4: is pretty like, that's pretty good for a fan base
12:14
Speaker 4: to stick around the whole entire game. You know, the
12:18
Speaker 4: game was close, but just for everybody to be there, yeah,
12:21
Speaker 4: it got loud.
12:22
Speaker 3: So there was a voice showed up.
12:23
Speaker 4: .
12:40
Speaker 2: things got really loud. Jackson, Benny blitzing,
12:44
Speaker 2: taken down Wegman ball going out, giant falling on it.
12:48
Speaker 3: That, that was close. And I don't know if you
12:50
Speaker 3: saw this, I'm sure you did it.
12:52
Speaker 2: It got so loud in rice echo stadium that there
12:56
Speaker 2: was the, you know, they do the, the, the seismic
12:59
Speaker 2: readings or whatever it registers as a tiny earthquake when
13:02
Speaker 2: the stadium gets that loud.
13:10
Speaker 4: .
13:10
Speaker 2: So in that scenario, you get the
13:13
Speaker 2: ball back. You're already in scoring position. And now the
13:18
Speaker 2: clock is either your friend or your enemy, depending on
13:21
Speaker 2: what happens in that possession. And of course you scored immediately.
13:26
Speaker 2: Was there any thought? Was there any conversation? Was there
13:29
Speaker 2: anyone in your ear saying, Hey, Let's milk this clock
13:34
Speaker 2: a little bit. Let's, you know, if, if there's green
13:36
Speaker 2: grass in front of you, maybe get down and use
13:38
Speaker 2: an extra play or force them to use a timeout
13:41
Speaker 2: or whatever.
13:42
Speaker 3: Was there any.
13:42
Speaker 2: Conversation about delaying the scoring, delaying the touchdown in order
13:48
Speaker 2: to take some clock away from Houston?
13:52
Speaker 1: Yeah.
13:52
Speaker 4: Just being on the sideline, you know, it was conversated.
13:55
Speaker 4: The ball was going to be in my hands, you know,
13:59
Speaker 4: for that kind of drive. And yeah, before we went
14:02
Speaker 4: out there, I went up to coach Gowling and I
14:03
Speaker 4: was just like, you want me to get, I think we, yeah.
14:07
Speaker 4: I just asked him, do you want me to score?
14:10
Speaker 1: Yes.
14:10
Speaker 4: No. And he was like, yeah, score, score the ball.
14:14
Speaker 4: You get the opportunity. So the opportunity was there on
14:17
Speaker 4: the first play and I took it.
14:18
Speaker 2: Speaker 0 7, Was there ever a thought to go
14:21
Speaker 2: for two there and make it a nine point game?
14:23
Speaker 2: And at that point, that's kind of completely out of
14:26
Speaker 2: reach if it's a two position game.
14:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I think that conversation would have been
14:32
Speaker 4: had if our defense wasn't playing as good as they
14:35
Speaker 4: were when, you know, they were there for a whole
14:39
Speaker 4: entire game to allow 13 points. You know, you should
14:42
Speaker 4: have pretty good confidence in those guys that they're going
14:44
Speaker 4: to get the job done. So being up eight, you know,
14:46
Speaker 4: we were totally good with our defense closing that out.
14:51
Speaker 2: Yes, the defense did play incredibly well. They gave up
14:54
Speaker 2: 86 yards on the ground to a Houston team that
14:57
Speaker 2: was averaging 220. You guys were very, very similar statistically
15:01
Speaker 2: coming into this game. I don't know how much that
15:03
Speaker 2: was part of the practice and film conversation, but you
15:07
Speaker 2: score one point per game more than they do. They
15:09
Speaker 2: rush for like half a yard per game more than
15:12
Speaker 2: Utah does. And in this one, your offense generates 226
15:16
Speaker 2: yards on the ground. 150 of those belong to Devin
15:21
Speaker 2: Dampier himself. And then Houston with that potent rushing attack,
15:25
Speaker 2: only able to get 86 yards on the ground. And
15:29
Speaker 2: obviously that's that complimentary football we're talking about when they
15:31
Speaker 2: can't implement their actual game plan, which involves a lot
15:35
Speaker 2: of running, it takes options away and it makes it.
15:37
Speaker 2: So Connor Wegman has to be a hero and he
15:40
Speaker 2: just wasn't able to do it because your defense was
15:42
Speaker 2: playing so well.
15:45
Speaker 4: Yeah.
15:45
Speaker 1: Yeah.
15:45
Speaker 4: Again, we knew before going in that, you know, our
15:48
Speaker 4: offenses were very, yeah, again, statistically similar. So we knew
15:54
Speaker 4: it was going to become a game where, you know,
15:57
Speaker 4: especially both of our defenses as well, both of our
15:59
Speaker 4: defenses were pretty high ranked for third down. So we
16:02
Speaker 4: knew the game was going to honestly come down to
16:05
Speaker 4: physicality up front, whose run game was not going to
16:09
Speaker 4: be as effective as the other. And third down, third downs,
16:13
Speaker 4: who can, who can get, get our offense back on
16:16
Speaker 4: the field more. And, you know, they gave us those
16:20
Speaker 4: opportunities for sure.
16:21
Speaker 2: Speaker 2, Sean, we we've seen this now in a
16:24
Speaker 2: couple of different games where, you know, he, he is
16:27
Speaker 2: capable of being a workhorse, being a bell cow back.
16:32
Speaker 2: And sometimes it just doesn't translate that way. 17 touches
16:35
Speaker 2: in this game. He did have a beautiful reception taken
16:39
Speaker 2: away on a penalty that would have added to his
16:42
Speaker 2: stat line. But as we have talked about before, he
16:45
Speaker 2: still impacts the game so significantly, even when the ball
16:48
Speaker 2: is not in his hand.
16:50
Speaker 3: But but he scored the go ahead touchdown.
16:52
Speaker 2: Right. So it's like this guy, even when he's not
16:55
Speaker 2: being given 25 touches, a game is still one of
17:00
Speaker 2: the most valuable pieces in your offense. Just speak, if
17:02
Speaker 2: you can, to how important way Sean Parker is as
17:05
Speaker 2: a teammate, as a captain, as a guy that you
17:07
Speaker 2: can trust when all the chips are down and you
17:10
Speaker 2: got to go score.
17:13
Speaker 5: Yeah.
17:13
Speaker 4: I mean, when Sean, he, he's one of those guys,
17:16
Speaker 4: you know, I, I'm able to give them the check down.
17:18
Speaker 4: I mean, we got such talented receivers, you know, those,
17:21
Speaker 4: those guys are, are well respected by the defense. And,
17:25
Speaker 4: you know, I, I love that. I get to throw
17:27
Speaker 4: the ball. I get to make a two yard pass
17:29
Speaker 4: and way Sean somehow turns into a 20 yard game.
17:31
Speaker 4: So he finds a way to make big plays, whether
17:36
Speaker 4: it's running the ball or, passing the ball, and then
17:39
Speaker 4: just his ability to block, his mentality to block. It's
17:43
Speaker 4: so different than you see a lot of running backs have.
17:47
Speaker 4: He takes pride in protecting me. He truly finds it
17:52
Speaker 4: like a brotherhood, like I'm not going to let you
17:54
Speaker 4: touch my brother. He goes against guys that's 285. Sometimes
17:59
Speaker 4: it's the 300 guys getting through, and he's willing to
18:02
Speaker 4: take that hit. and especially in the run run game.
18:06
Speaker 4: I mean, we give the ball to Bray Bray's falling
18:08
Speaker 4: away and ways putting people on the ground. So there's,
18:11
Speaker 4: there's so much about ways that besides the touchdowns that
18:15
Speaker 4: you don't see that he's doing a great.
18:17
Speaker 2: Job, Speaker 0 7 0, Utah football team. So we're,
18:24
Speaker 2: we're getting into details here and I shouldn't ask you
18:26
Speaker 2: to speak for another man, but I know you guys
18:29
Speaker 2: are close bird. Ficklin, not a huge part of what
18:33
Speaker 2: ended up happening in this game. I think he ended
18:36
Speaker 2: up with one touch officially. How's he handling that? I
18:41
Speaker 2: know that this is all team, and as long as
18:44
Speaker 2: you come out with the win, everybody's happy, but he's
18:48
Speaker 2: a competitor as well, and I'm sure he wants more.
18:51
Speaker 3: How's it working with Bird right now?
18:54
Speaker 4: Yeah, again, as a competitor, you always want to feel
18:56
Speaker 4: like you're contributing. And, you know, and that was something
19:00
Speaker 4: that was talked about the day after when we're all together. Just,
19:03
Speaker 4: you know, we want to find ways to get you
19:04
Speaker 4: on the field, no doubt. Like, that's not a secret.
19:08
Speaker 4: We want Bird on the field. And, you know, just
19:11
Speaker 4: the way that game went, the things I was working
19:15
Speaker 4: was kind of just drop back pass, having receivers spread out,
19:19
Speaker 4: allowing me to be able to run, take run lanes
19:21
Speaker 4: when it was there. and yeah, just the way the
19:25
Speaker 4: game went. And, you know, at the end of the day,
19:28
Speaker 4: whatever makes us want to know that week, I feel
19:31
Speaker 4: like everyone finds that as a win, regardless of how little,
19:36
Speaker 4: how big their contribution was. Speaker 0 7.
19:40
Speaker 3: All right.
19:41
Speaker 2: Now it's on to Cincinnati or Cincinnati team that is
19:43
Speaker 2: coming off a huge win. They beat Texas tech last weekend.
19:47
Speaker 2: I know you're all very aware of that. This team
19:49
Speaker 2: can run the ball super effectively defensively. Tell me what
19:54
Speaker 2: you're seeing from the Cincinnati defense.
19:58
Speaker 4: Yeah. I think they're, they're a solid group. They can,
20:02
Speaker 4: I think they have their moments where, you know, they
20:04
Speaker 4: do play really well. And I think there's opportunities for
20:08
Speaker 4: you to also take advantage of their defense as well.
20:13
Speaker 4: But man, I think, you know, the biggest question of
20:16
Speaker 4: the week going into this game is, you know, they
20:18
Speaker 4: just came off a big win. So did us. So
20:21
Speaker 4: I just feel like the biggest thing is who can
20:23
Speaker 4: be more level-headed by game time, who can get over,
20:27
Speaker 4: you know, their win faster and start really blocking in
20:31
Speaker 4: on getting another win. So I think that's just the
20:33
Speaker 4: biggest mentality going into this week.
20:38
Speaker 2: Tell me the specifics of how you as a leader,
20:41
Speaker 2: as a captain manage that, because we're to a point
20:44
Speaker 2: now in college football where everybody recognizes these danger spots, right?
20:49
Speaker 2: We recognized it last week with BYU beats Notre Dame.
20:52
Speaker 3: Oh, watch out for UCF. You can't let down in
20:55
Speaker 3: that game. We knew it. BYU knew it still. They
20:58
Speaker 3: couldn't avoid it.
21:00
Speaker 2: So when you're aware of it, how do you actually
21:03
Speaker 2: approach making sure you don't fall into that trap?
21:05
Speaker 1: Devin?
21:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, for me personally, I mean, just,
21:11
Speaker 4: just being a quarterback, you know, my, my ability to
21:15
Speaker 4: be better than next week, every single week is at
21:18
Speaker 4: a pretty high level. I always want to find a
21:22
Speaker 4: way to be the best Devin I can be every
21:24
Speaker 4: single week. And just the way Scali preaches it to
21:27
Speaker 4: our team, you know, we, we set, we celebrate for
21:30
Speaker 4: our two days for sure. And then after that, you know,
21:33
Speaker 4: it is onto the next it's, it's find the ways
21:38
Speaker 4: to also learn from our past game. And I think
21:41
Speaker 4: that's the biggest thing is when we get, when we
21:44
Speaker 4: meet up, you know, we can hear our defense being like, bro,
21:47
Speaker 4: we would have did like three different things. If we
21:49
Speaker 4: would have did something different on three different plays, they
21:51
Speaker 4: probably wouldn't have scored at all. Or you hear the
21:54
Speaker 4: offense like, bro, we could have put up two more
21:57
Speaker 4: touchdowns if we just executed this right. So just to
22:00
Speaker 4: hear that, you know, we're winning games and we're learning,
22:03
Speaker 4: we're learning, we're, still have that eager to be better
22:06
Speaker 4: than the next week. I think that's, what's keeping us
22:08
Speaker 4: consistent every week on, you know, respecting our opponent.
22:12
Speaker 2: My understanding is that the travel is a little bit
22:15
Speaker 2: different because you're going so far.
22:18
Speaker 3: Are you leaving a little bit earlier?
22:21
Speaker 1: Yep.
22:22
Speaker 4: Yep. Just, we leave earlier Friday to get out there
22:26
Speaker 4: and just adjust time-wise and just a little bit of,
22:30
Speaker 4: I guess, sleep schedule. We're getting that right as well.
22:36
Speaker 3: It'll be, we've had a lot of conversations.
22:39
Speaker 2: The fan base had a lot of conversations about the
22:42
Speaker 2: proliferation of night games and we love rice Eccles at night.
22:46
Speaker 2: That blackout was incredible. The atmosphere was phenomenal. As we
22:49
Speaker 2: have already discussed, this one is a day game. So
22:53
Speaker 2: can it be a little bit different? How do you
22:56
Speaker 2: personally make those adjustments on game day when it's, you know,
23:01
Speaker 2: breakfast and then you got to get ready to play
23:03
Speaker 2: or it's breakfast and lunch and you got to get
23:05
Speaker 2: ready to play, or you get to watch games all
23:07
Speaker 2: day and wait around because it's a night game.
23:10
Speaker 3: How do you adjust?
23:16
Speaker 5: .
23:27
Speaker 4: Even other teams going from
23:29
Speaker 4: a 10 a.m. game to a night game, you don't
23:33
Speaker 4: need your body to be awake at 10 a.m. You
23:35
Speaker 4: want to keep your body rested. When your game is
23:40
Speaker 4: at 1 o'clock, you want to make sure that your
23:43
Speaker 4: body is awake at that time. You're ready to go.
23:46
Speaker 5: There's a little bit of difference, but I just think
23:50
Speaker 5: the two days before, if you prep yourself the right
23:52
Speaker 5: way and let your body feel the way it should,
23:55
Speaker 5: then you'll be all right.
24:06
Speaker 2: doesn't matter to me, but how
24:29
Speaker 2: do you feel about a 10 a.m.
24:31
Speaker 3: Holy war kickoff?
24:56
Speaker 4: But I mean, yeah, again, at the end of
24:58
Speaker 4: the day, you know, we're, we're football players or we're
25:00
Speaker 4: just ready to get out there and play in any environment.
25:04
Speaker 2: Speaker 0 1, there's been a lot of conversation around
25:07
Speaker 2: the university of Utah and Pat McAfee and all of
25:12
Speaker 2: that stuff is 1000% unrelated to anything you guys are doing.
25:16
Speaker 2: And if anything, it's a distraction from what you are doing.
25:21
Speaker 3: What, what are your thoughts?
25:22
Speaker 2: If you have any, what, like, is it something that's
25:25
Speaker 2: being talked about in the locker room?
25:29
Speaker 4: Not, not on a serious manner. I think, you know,
25:31
Speaker 4: people brought it up. It's, it's something that's going on
25:34
Speaker 4: around our school. Like we hear about it.
25:37
Speaker 1: Yeah.
25:38
Speaker 4: I mean, I, I don't really understand. I don't really
25:41
Speaker 4: know the situation enough to really speak on it fully.
25:46
Speaker 4: You know, I hope he, I hope Pat doesn't truly
25:49
Speaker 4: feel that way. I hope like, I mean, I don't know.
25:52
Speaker 4: It sounds like a, he did feel that way. So
25:56
Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't know.
26:12
Speaker 2: .
26:18
Speaker 4: .
26:20
Speaker 2: How many times have
26:23
Speaker 2: you been to Cincinnati before?
26:24
Speaker 4: I want it. Isn't it? Isn't it? See your point
26:31
Speaker 4: out there. The, the, the, I wanted the theme park
26:36
Speaker 4: amusement park.
26:37
Speaker 5: Yeah.
26:38
Speaker 4: I went out there with my family once and just
26:41
Speaker 4: to go to amusement park, me and my, me and
26:44
Speaker 4: my cousins, but I was only like, seven years old
26:47
Speaker 4: at that time. So I've been out there once for
26:50
Speaker 4: a little bit, so I don't really remember. So this
26:53
Speaker 4: kind of, I'll say this is like my first time
26:55
Speaker 4: really getting that experience.
26:57
Speaker 3: All right.
26:58
Speaker 2: No theme parks, go get a win. And man, this
27:02
Speaker 2: is a big week for the, all the obvious reasons.
27:05
Speaker 2: And I very much look forward to our conversation next
27:08
Speaker 2: week as well.
27:08
Speaker 3: Stay healthy.
27:09
Speaker 1: Dev.
27:09
Speaker 3: We'll chat soon.
27:11
Speaker 2: All right.
27:12
Speaker 4: Appreciate you.
27:13
Speaker 3: Devin damp here.
27:14
Speaker 2: Dish it with that brought to you by our friends
27:16
Speaker 2: at America. First credit union, Culligan water of salt Lake
27:19
Speaker 2: city and Valley plumbing, heating and cooling.