Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Chris Kamrani on Utah and Big 12 Football 2 weeks from week 1, Concerns about Utah, Best team in the nation + more

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Chris Kamrani on Utah and Big 12 Football 2 weeks from week 1, Concerns about Utah, Best team in the nation + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:04
Speaker 1: This is the Sean O'Connell show. You were home of
0:07
Speaker 1: the best inside of your hutes. Let's get back to
0:10
Speaker 1: OC from the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred
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Speaker 1: and ninety two to one a.
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Speaker 2: F M.
0:18
Speaker 1: Hour two on a Friday. Ryle sitting in today for OC.
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Speaker 1: He'll be back next week, thirteen days away from college football,
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Speaker 1: kicking off Utes and Vandals on Thursday night, September the
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Speaker 1: third up at Ricycle Stadium. Pregame coverage here but begin
0:33
Speaker 1: at three, kick off at seven. I'll have the call
0:36
Speaker 1: of That is the Morgan Scalley era debuts. Our next
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Speaker 1: guest is covered. Morgan Scalley is an assistant coach now.
0:42
Speaker 1: He kind of covers a little bit from time to time.
0:44
Speaker 1: He's based here in Salt Lake City, of course rights
0:47
Speaker 1: for the Athletic. He'll write about just about anything and everything.
0:51
Speaker 1: Sometimes I'll see soccer pop up, sometimes I'll see well
0:54
Speaker 1: football pop up. You never know what, Chris Cameron He's
0:56
Speaker 1: going to write about. But he joins us right now
0:57
Speaker 1: to talk about all of it. Christopher Howard things things
1:02
Speaker 1: are great. How are you man, I'm doing fantastic. Good
1:04
Speaker 1: to talk to you. What's going on.
1:07
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm just glad we've gotten the Delareo and then
1:09
Speaker 2: went back in time so we can have this conversation.
1:11
Speaker 1: I know, this is fantastic. I've reached out to you.
1:15
Speaker 1: I just thought I hadn't talked to you forever. Congratulations
1:19
Speaker 1: to you and the wife on baby number two in
1:22
Speaker 1: the Cameroni household. That's fantastic. You've got one of each.
1:25
Speaker 2: Everybody doing well, juggling but doing a very poor job
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Speaker 2: of it. But yes, everyone is happy and healthy. But
1:33
Speaker 2: as you know through lived experience, we'll lean on the
1:36
Speaker 2: football cliche. I just got to win the day, and
1:39
Speaker 2: if we can win the day, we'll be all right.
1:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, we can't look ahead the next week, Chris. We
1:43
Speaker 1: just got to live in the day today. There's no
1:46
Speaker 1: handbook for any of this. You call lots of audibles
1:49
Speaker 1: and you just do the best you can. And if
1:51
Speaker 1: at the end of the day the kids are still
1:54
Speaker 1: breathing and sleeping in their beds, you guys have done
1:57
Speaker 1: your job.
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Speaker 2: It's a spread attack, you know. Our scheme is kind
2:01
Speaker 2: of just open, open concept with really the ability to
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Speaker 2: do anything and everything at any time.
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Speaker 1: Well, as long as you and your wife are very flexible,
2:10
Speaker 1: kind of like what Whittingham said, You can't, you know,
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Speaker 1: you can't have a plan that takes years and years
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Speaker 1: to learn, and you got to be plug and play.
2:16
Speaker 1: As long as you and the wife are plug and
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Speaker 1: play with these kids, you should be good.
2:21
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean we we know what type of uh,
2:24
Speaker 2: you know, human. We want to recruit and try to
2:26
Speaker 2: develop and that's all you got to do. Man, you
2:28
Speaker 2: just got to try to develop them. It's best you can.
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Speaker 2: Every single day.
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Speaker 1: Well, here's what I'll tell you, though, you better start,
2:33
Speaker 1: you better. You got to recruit them every day though,
2:35
Speaker 1: because they may go in the portal on you and
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Speaker 1: they end up down the street at the neighbor's house
2:40
Speaker 1: because the neighbors have better, you know, better treats and
2:42
Speaker 1: better dinner.
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Speaker 2: Am I going to sound like a terrible parent flash
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Speaker 2: coach that I'll be like, you know, I'll take that
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Speaker 2: any day of the week.
2:50
Speaker 1: Hey, hey, you know, I want people that want to
2:52
Speaker 1: be part of the cam Ronnie team, and if they
2:54
Speaker 1: don't want to be part of the cam Ronnie team,
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Speaker 1: we wish them the best and we'll let them move on.
3:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like with the with the transfer portal, announcements.
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Speaker 2: With that being said, Comma, that's if that's if that's
3:08
Speaker 2: what they're gonna do, so be it.
3:09
Speaker 1: Please respect my privacy at this.
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Speaker 2: Time exactly and my decisions and.
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Speaker 1: My decision at this time. I just as we said,
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Speaker 1: thirteen days out and you're not on the day in
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Speaker 1: and day out beat anymore. You kind of watch things
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Speaker 1: from ten thousand feet. What what are you most interested
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Speaker 1: in or intrigued by with year one of Morgan Scalley
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Speaker 1: at Utah.
3:33
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna audible on you a not go
3:35
Speaker 2: offensive line because I think that's the easiest, you know answer.
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Speaker 2: I think it's just a brand new coaching staff. I mean,
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Speaker 2: I think, like it cannot be understated just how difficult
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Speaker 2: it will be to replace the continuity and the familiarity
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Speaker 2: of a staff that knew each other pretty much inside
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Speaker 2: and out. And granted, like you do have guys in
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Speaker 2: new spots. Obviously, Morgan was the defensive coordinator for a
3:59
Speaker 2: long time time. Colton Swan takes his position, But you're
4:03
Speaker 2: also talking about bringing in more than a handful of
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Speaker 2: new coaches, including a brand new offensive coordinator, and as
4:10
Speaker 2: we saw during the Kyle Whittingham era. It takes time
4:13
Speaker 2: when you're putting together brand new stats. I think what
4:17
Speaker 2: Utah has going for is kind of the benefit of
4:20
Speaker 2: the doubt because they've been so successful for such a
4:23
Speaker 2: long time. I think a lot of that road and
4:26
Speaker 2: rides on the clout of Kyle Whittingham's accomplishments at Utah.
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Speaker 2: But Morgan assemble the brand new staff with a lot
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Speaker 2: of new faces, and it's easy for us to sit
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Speaker 2: back and say they went to the portal, got a
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Speaker 2: bunch of great receivers. Utah has been fin at that position.
4:43
Speaker 2: You know. They bring back Devin Dampier, they bring back
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Speaker 2: Bird Ficklin Wai, Shaun Parker's back. But it's so hard
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Speaker 2: to understand what it will look like because so much
4:52
Speaker 2: of this is brand new. Granted, the defense will stay
4:55
Speaker 2: the same, but you're also throwing in so many new
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Speaker 2: faces into new positions. So that's what that's what I'm
5:01
Speaker 2: most interested in. It's like no offense to the vandals,
5:05
Speaker 2: the mighty Vandals of Idaho, but like, how is Morgan going?
5:09
Speaker 2: How is Morgan and his staff going to handle a
5:12
Speaker 2: two minute drill at the end of the first half
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Speaker 2: to try to get at least three points, you know,
5:17
Speaker 2: like it's things like that where we just have no
5:19
Speaker 2: proof of concept yet because Morgan's never done this before.
5:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'll say this, I think and I said this
5:25
Speaker 1: talking about the players, but I think it kind of
5:28
Speaker 1: goes for the coaches too. Utah's got a pretty manageable
5:32
Speaker 1: non conference and even early conference schedule, and they don't
5:38
Speaker 1: face a ranked team until later on with Houston, and
5:42
Speaker 1: now it gets tougher in late October and November. But
5:45
Speaker 1: I think from a continuity standpoint on the field, that
5:48
Speaker 1: certainly helps things a little bit, especially with those trenches
5:50
Speaker 1: that you talked about offensive and defensive lines. But I
5:53
Speaker 1: think it helps with the coaching a little bit too.
5:55
Speaker 1: You're not playing Notre Dame or or or you know,
6:00
Speaker 1: Florida State or USC in a non conference or any
6:03
Speaker 1: you don't have a murderer's row early Again, Iowa State, Colorado,
6:08
Speaker 1: Kansas and the Big Twelve are Big twelve teams, but
6:11
Speaker 1: these are programs that are down a little bit. So
6:14
Speaker 1: if there's any to your point, time to adjust a
6:18
Speaker 1: little bit, it's with a kind of an early manageable
6:20
Speaker 1: schedule to you know, kind of get a rhythm or
6:23
Speaker 1: work some of those kings out a little bit.
6:26
Speaker 2: I might be the only one who's upset that we
6:28
Speaker 2: didn't get a Bronco Mendenhall Kyle Whittingham rematch, which was
6:31
Speaker 2: on tap. But I digress. The Big twelve is just
6:38
Speaker 2: it's an open ballgame for anyone. Bill Like, I honestly
6:42
Speaker 2: think like you're going to see teams who are picked
6:45
Speaker 2: to be bad, who will be very good. And I
6:47
Speaker 2: think you'll see teams who were picked to be very
6:49
Speaker 2: good and they will be bad. That's just what we've
6:51
Speaker 2: learned in this conference the last few years. There is
6:55
Speaker 2: no and I'll go a bit further to say, like,
6:57
Speaker 2: I don't think Texas Tech will be as good as
6:59
Speaker 2: everyone thinks. They'll be here ordinarly as good as they
7:01
Speaker 2: were last year. They're dealing with their own marriad, you know,
7:04
Speaker 2: issues of stuff. It does help. The Utah schedule is
7:07
Speaker 2: quote unquote manageable, but I would behoove everyone to enter
7:11
Speaker 2: all of these games a little objectively because you don't
7:15
Speaker 2: know how these teams are going to stack up. Because
7:17
Speaker 2: you have so much turnover in the poral area of
7:19
Speaker 2: so many new coaching and coaching coaching staffs at the
7:22
Speaker 2: Helm like nobody in their right mind would have envisioned
7:26
Speaker 2: a couple of years ago that Houston would be considered
7:28
Speaker 2: one of the best teams in the conference. Their their
7:30
Speaker 2: top twenty five team. That's how quickly things can turn around.
7:33
Speaker 2: So to your credit and to your point, Utah does
7:36
Speaker 2: have a manageable conference schedule, But I don't think there's
7:39
Speaker 2: going to be any gimme games this year in this conference.
7:42
Speaker 2: I just don't.
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Speaker 1: I agree in Texas Tech has a question at the
7:45
Speaker 1: most important position. He's a talented kid, as we saw
7:48
Speaker 1: here in Salt Lake last year, but he's coming off
7:50
Speaker 1: in ACL and if they felt super confident about him,
7:53
Speaker 1: they wouldn't have gone through probably the entire Soresby situation.
7:57
Speaker 1: So what happens with Will Hammond's going to tell a
7:59
Speaker 1: lot of what the Red Raiders do this year. And
8:01
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I've said all along. I think
8:04
Speaker 1: Texas Tech is probably ranked, and again rankings don't mean
8:07
Speaker 1: anything with the playoff rankings, but having them at twelve
8:10
Speaker 1: feels a little high for me right now. And I
8:13
Speaker 1: think everybody else is kind of properly placed. BYU mid teens,
8:16
Speaker 1: Utah late teams to a round twenty I think Houston's
8:19
Speaker 1: going to be good, But to that point, I think
8:21
Speaker 1: Arizona's going to be good. I think Kansas State could
8:23
Speaker 1: be pretty good this year, depending on how caw Colin
8:25
Speaker 1: Klein comes in, but he knows that situation. So I
8:28
Speaker 1: agree with you, I don't. I don't think there's a
8:30
Speaker 1: lot of layups in this league.
8:33
Speaker 2: Well, and just a tiny wrinkle from a breaking these perspective.
8:37
Speaker 2: Stuart Mandel reporting that former Boston College and Florida State
8:40
Speaker 2: quarterback Thomas Castrillianos may end up landing at Texas Tech
8:45
Speaker 2: if all this injunction stuff, you know, sorts itself out.
8:49
Speaker 2: So you know, Castillanos is a is a proven veteran.
8:53
Speaker 2: Like I wouldn't say he's going to necessarily blow the
8:56
Speaker 2: blow the doors off anybody talent wise, But I don't
9:01
Speaker 2: know what will Hammond's acl recovery looks like. I will
9:03
Speaker 2: say he looked like he looked like a Heisman Trophy
9:06
Speaker 2: candidate against the youth last year. But it's it is.
9:11
Speaker 2: It's just so funny, man, because for so long we
9:13
Speaker 2: always joked about the PAC twelve just being like a
9:16
Speaker 2: coin flip league, being like, yeah, I don't know, man,
9:19
Speaker 2: Like yeah, I'm sure two or three of these teams
9:20
Speaker 2: are always going to be in the mix that we
9:22
Speaker 2: have no idea about the rest. It's so funny that U,
9:25
Speaker 2: Tom BYU moved to a different conference together with more
9:27
Speaker 2: teams and it's the exact same thing.
9:29
Speaker 1: Well, and I think, to use an old PAC twelve
9:31
Speaker 1: analogy where we used to say it cannibalizes itself, I
9:34
Speaker 1: think the Big twelve could do that this year. I
9:37
Speaker 1: don't know that there's seven or eight teams that could
9:39
Speaker 1: win the league, but I know there's seven or eight
9:41
Speaker 1: teams that could win on a given Saturday or given
9:43
Speaker 1: Saturdays and certainly upset the top of the league.
9:47
Speaker 2: Oh without a doubt. I mean, like that's why I
9:49
Speaker 2: said there's no gimmas, Like you know that you can
9:52
Speaker 2: even take a team like Colorado that a lot of
9:54
Speaker 2: people are riding off, like denounce Anders. To his credit,
9:58
Speaker 2: I think made one of the most underrated coaching hirings
10:00
Speaker 2: in the offseason by hiring Brandon Maryon that as AZC, Like,
10:04
Speaker 2: you're going to face these teams where you'll be man,
10:07
Speaker 2: they've been bad the last couple of years. It'll be okay.
10:10
Speaker 2: I don't know a Friday night game in Boulder. Yeah,
10:12
Speaker 2: very not a very easy place to play. It's just
10:15
Speaker 2: there is so much parody in this league and there's
10:17
Speaker 2: so much I think, so much unproven talent in terms
10:22
Speaker 2: of coaching, staff, players, that it's really hard to kind
10:26
Speaker 2: of wrap our head around how this thing will look
10:29
Speaker 2: come even come mid October.
10:31
Speaker 1: Chris cam rodnie with us from the Athletic to your
10:33
Speaker 1: point about Castellanos, we're seeing more of this. There was
10:36
Speaker 1: another list that came out this morning and the former
10:38
Speaker 1: Utah player was on that list, Blake Cotton. Some of
10:41
Speaker 1: these guys that are now eligible to join teams because
10:44
Speaker 1: they're not on NFL rosters and they've gotten extra years.
10:48
Speaker 1: I mean Greg Sank speaking out about it publicly this
10:52
Speaker 1: week the commissioned the SEC do we need to start
10:55
Speaker 1: getting I mean, I know we do. I know it's
10:57
Speaker 1: probably a rhetorical question, but how soon do we begin
11:00
Speaker 1: start to start to get some of these guard rails?
11:03
Speaker 1: And you know, I think most teams aren't going to
11:05
Speaker 1: bring people in, but there's always going to be a
11:07
Speaker 1: Texas tech of the world that's got cash laying around.
11:09
Speaker 1: They'll throw it at somebody and bring them in. I mean,
11:12
Speaker 1: do we need do we need some guardrails on this?
11:15
Speaker 1: Are we a little out of control? I think that's
11:17
Speaker 1: maybe a rhetorical question.
11:19
Speaker 2: It is, and I think so I will say, I
11:22
Speaker 2: think the Protect College Sports Act, the PCSA, which is
11:26
Speaker 2: a bipartisan bill, would I think honestly solve a lot
11:29
Speaker 2: of these issues. But as we saw, you know, it's
11:32
Speaker 2: taking a break in DC. I think a lot of
11:35
Speaker 2: people are kind of giving it a fifty to fifty
11:37
Speaker 2: percent chance of passing through both the House and the
11:40
Speaker 2: Senate to go into law. But even this morning, like everything,
11:44
Speaker 2: bill is like a literal hour to hour type deal
11:47
Speaker 2: because you know, a federal judge you know, ruled on
11:51
Speaker 2: the Colorado ruling and issue to stay. So now all
11:55
Speaker 2: of these guys are in a holding pattern once again.
11:57
Speaker 2: The folks that we're trying to come back that maybe
12:00
Speaker 2: cut in preseason in training camp, they can't necessarily participate yet,
12:04
Speaker 2: So we're literally existing in an hour tower basis, which
12:08
Speaker 2: is silly. It is it just it. I just think
12:10
Speaker 2: like somebody has to grab this thing by the scrap
12:14
Speaker 2: of the back and be like, these are the rules.
12:16
Speaker 2: Let's figure this out. Because to go from all these
12:20
Speaker 2: guys are trying to come back. They're going to start
12:23
Speaker 2: practicing with the teams to Oh, now there's a stay,
12:26
Speaker 2: you know, invoked by a judge at some federal level. Okay,
12:29
Speaker 2: now they have to wait. It's it is so kind
12:32
Speaker 2: of helter skelter that nobody really knows what to do.
12:36
Speaker 2: But in the meantime it also makes it makes it
12:40
Speaker 2: more interesting, I think for the casual fan. But I
12:42
Speaker 2: think so many people are getting tired of having to
12:45
Speaker 2: learn the legal lease necessary to keep up. Honestly, like I,
12:49
Speaker 2: you know me, I'm not a very bright person. My
12:52
Speaker 2: head is spinning trying to learn all of these legalize
12:55
Speaker 2: concepts because it is very difficult to keep up with well.
12:58
Speaker 1: Because you and I think about these things. We have
13:00
Speaker 1: no power to act on them, but we think and
13:02
Speaker 1: talk about them. Who grabs it by the scruff of
13:04
Speaker 1: the neck. We know it's not going to be the NCAA,
13:06
Speaker 1: So is it going to have to be the power
13:08
Speaker 1: four leagues coming together, commissioners doing it. Who grabs this
13:12
Speaker 1: thing by the scruff of the neck and says, this
13:14
Speaker 1: is how we're going to do it, or we're not
13:15
Speaker 1: going to do it this way anymore?
13:17
Speaker 2: I mean, I think the fact that both the Big
13:18
Speaker 2: ten and SEC supported the PCSA is a huge is
13:21
Speaker 2: a huge boon for that bill. But again, like in
13:25
Speaker 2: order for it to get through legislation at both levels,
13:28
Speaker 2: it's still got a way to go. And honestly, I
13:30
Speaker 2: think if this thing doesn't get through, I have no idea.
13:33
Speaker 2: I mean, you're going to get back to square one,
13:36
Speaker 2: and at that point, who knows what it's going to
13:38
Speaker 2: look like.
13:39
Speaker 1: Who's the best team in college football? Chris, Because I
13:42
Speaker 1: the way we were talking about the Big twelve a
13:44
Speaker 1: minute ago is kind of how I feel about like
13:46
Speaker 1: the top seven, top eight, top ten of college football
13:49
Speaker 1: this year. I don't I think for the first time
13:51
Speaker 1: in quite a while, and maybe it hasn't been quite
13:53
Speaker 1: a while, but I don't know if we have a
13:55
Speaker 1: definitive best team. But I think we've got a group
13:57
Speaker 1: of seven or eight or ten teams.
14:00
Speaker 2: I would say Ohio State. I think that's an easy,
14:02
Speaker 2: low hanging fruit answer, but I think they have the
14:05
Speaker 2: most talent in the country, and talent usually went out.
14:09
Speaker 2: The quarterback wasn't all that great last year, but does
14:12
Speaker 2: he be to be in twenty twenty six? Probably against
14:16
Speaker 2: the top tier teams, but I'll just always roll with
14:19
Speaker 2: the team with the most talent. I think Jeremiah Smith
14:21
Speaker 2: is a Heisman Trophy contender. He's the most physically imposing,
14:26
Speaker 2: flash talented receiver I can remember seeing in a very
14:28
Speaker 2: long time. But again, like last year, like obviously they
14:32
Speaker 2: weren't good enough to be in Indiana, so I'll go
14:34
Speaker 2: Ohio State. But I do think this is like, this
14:37
Speaker 2: is the Big Tens world right now. If you were
14:40
Speaker 2: going to ask me to list off the teams that
14:42
Speaker 2: I think are the best in the country, I think
14:44
Speaker 2: I would probably go in my top five, three or
14:47
Speaker 2: four would be from the Big Ten.
14:49
Speaker 1: You know what I found funny? Polls again don't mean
14:52
Speaker 1: anything anymore. They're fun for us to talk about. But
14:55
Speaker 1: it's the poll at the end of October, the college
14:57
Speaker 1: football playoff poll to mean something. But when the coaches
14:59
Speaker 1: poll came out a couple the weeks ago, Indiana's rank sixth,
15:04
Speaker 1: but they got the second most first place. They got
15:06
Speaker 1: fourteen first place votes, but somehow managed to end up
15:10
Speaker 1: sixth in the coaches pull. You think there might be
15:13
Speaker 1: a few guys out there that are a little tired
15:14
Speaker 1: of Kurt Signetti.
15:18
Speaker 2: A little bit. I'm not.
15:19
Speaker 1: I'm not either.
15:20
Speaker 2: I think I mean, I just think I think like
15:24
Speaker 2: it's he is the exact type of personality and like
15:27
Speaker 2: coach that the sport needed to kind of evacuate itself
15:32
Speaker 2: from kind of that old guard existing only in the
15:35
Speaker 2: in the upper echelon. I mean, they lost a bunch
15:38
Speaker 2: of talent, Bill, I mean, like, let's be honest, like
15:39
Speaker 2: they you know, Fernando Mendoza, Heisman Trophy winner, started tailback,
15:43
Speaker 2: a bunch of players on the defensive side of the ball.
15:46
Speaker 2: Questions about Josh Hoover coming in, who has a boatload
15:49
Speaker 2: of talent. But does Kurt Signetti's you know, plug and
15:53
Speaker 2: play style of transfer quarterback continue to be you know,
15:58
Speaker 2: successful at the level that it has been. I don't know.
16:00
Speaker 2: I mean I would assume so, because just look at
16:03
Speaker 2: the last few years. I mean, nobody in their right
16:05
Speaker 2: mind ever envisioned Indiana not only making back to back
16:09
Speaker 2: playoff appearances, but then to cap off the last year
16:12
Speaker 2: going undefeated and winning a national title.
16:15
Speaker 1: I love it. Signetti reminds me a lot of Urban Meyer.
16:19
Speaker 1: I was just telling some people the other day, I
16:21
Speaker 1: was in a meeting. I was lucky enough to cover
16:24
Speaker 1: Steve Spurrier in the mid to late nineties, when Steve
16:27
Speaker 1: Spurrier was at the height of his power. We need
16:30
Speaker 1: we don't need fifty Steve Spurrier, Kirk Signetti, Urban Myers,
16:35
Speaker 1: but two or three well placed around the country are great.
16:39
Speaker 1: Like a few what was a month or two ago, Steve,
16:42
Speaker 1: Steve the Sarkisian, the coach at Texas, made a cup,
16:49
Speaker 1: took a couple of shots at fellow SEC schools, and
16:52
Speaker 1: then he backs away from him like that. Fifteen minutes later,
16:55
Speaker 1: It's like, come on, you said it, stand on it.
16:58
Speaker 1: You're at Texas, You've got nothing to fear whatever it
17:00
Speaker 1: might happen to be. I just I think a few
17:02
Speaker 1: of those guys we lacked some of that in college
17:05
Speaker 1: football today.
17:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think it's easy to fall on like
17:09
Speaker 2: the the overused cliche like we need villains. I wouldn't
17:12
Speaker 2: classify them as villains. I would just classify them as
17:15
Speaker 2: like characters slash people being unafraid to speak their mind.
17:19
Speaker 2: Like the first guy that comes to mind is Mike Leach,
17:22
Speaker 2: Like Mike's gone, Like Mike Mike was the was the
17:25
Speaker 2: epitome of that. It's like Mike would be willing to
17:28
Speaker 2: be honest and forthright about pretty much anything at any time.
17:32
Speaker 2: Kurt Signetti, you know, similar cut from that cloth. I mean,
17:36
Speaker 2: I will. It's funny you brought up Steve Spurrier because
17:38
Speaker 2: like whenever people ask me, like my all time favorite interview,
17:42
Speaker 2: like if I have to list three, it was when
17:44
Speaker 2: Steve Spurrier just called me back randomly for a story
17:47
Speaker 2: like a few years ago, and just like I was
17:50
Speaker 2: just like, man, like, this is not real life, because
17:53
Speaker 2: it just was like I'd known the guy for a
17:55
Speaker 2: very long time and just was totally unafraid to just
17:59
Speaker 2: talk that, you know what, the same way he used
18:01
Speaker 2: to all those years ago. And we just meet those guys, honestly,
18:05
Speaker 2: because for a sport that is so I think honestly
18:09
Speaker 2: often overwrought with this sense of paranoia and giving the
18:13
Speaker 2: other team bulletin board material blah blah blah. No, man
18:17
Speaker 2: like lean into the fact that if you think your
18:20
Speaker 2: team's good enough, you can back it up and then
18:23
Speaker 2: you can go beat him on Saturday.
18:25
Speaker 1: He was so great his I mean, his press conferences
18:28
Speaker 1: every week were I mean, they were a luncheon and
18:30
Speaker 1: you'd have every TV station in the state of Florida, Miami,
18:34
Speaker 1: would drive up Tammany, there would be seventy five or
18:37
Speaker 1: eighty people at a press conference. It was unbelievable. And
18:40
Speaker 1: I was talking to Brian Johnson a couple of years
18:42
Speaker 1: ago when Brian was at Florida with Dan Mullen. He
18:46
Speaker 1: said Spurrier just had an office. He was never there,
18:48
Speaker 1: but he would just like pop into like quarterback or
18:51
Speaker 1: offensive coaches meetings and just sit in. They just walk
18:56
Speaker 1: up to the whiteboard and say a couple of ballplays.
18:59
Speaker 1: I thought it might work for you boys, draw them
19:01
Speaker 1: up and then walk out of the room, he said.
19:03
Speaker 1: Brian said Spurry was the best.
19:06
Speaker 2: No offense to Matthew McConaughey at Texas. But Steve Spurrier
19:09
Speaker 2: is the original minister of culture.
19:12
Speaker 1: Absolutely positively, there's no doubt about it. Hey, before I
19:15
Speaker 1: let you go, I wanted to kind of because you're
19:19
Speaker 1: a guy that's kind of a big picture sport guy.
19:21
Speaker 1: I've lived here twenty five years. You've lived here a
19:24
Speaker 1: long time too. His Salt Lake City kind of subtly, quietly,
19:28
Speaker 1: out of nowhere become a great sports city in this country.
19:33
Speaker 1: With all that we have here, with what we've already
19:35
Speaker 1: had before and what might be on the way here
19:37
Speaker 1: in the near future.
19:39
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you'd make an argument it always
19:41
Speaker 2: has been. Yeah, honestly, Like it's just a matter of
19:44
Speaker 2: like the growth has been so exponential that I think
19:47
Speaker 2: people are taking notice. Like I always always would find
19:52
Speaker 2: any chance I get to rib my Utah friends, my
19:56
Speaker 2: BYU friends, my Jazz friends. I'm like, you guys playing
20:00
Speaker 2: about your team, go be a fan in Cleveland, Ohio,
20:05
Speaker 2: or go somewhere where, like all you've experienced is mediocre,
20:10
Speaker 2: pained for like three or four decades. The fact that
20:13
Speaker 2: Utah and BYU have been as good as they have
20:15
Speaker 2: been BYU going back to the eighties, Utah back to
20:18
Speaker 2: the early two thousands, the Jazz making the playoffs a
20:21
Speaker 2: billion years in a row, RSL winning an MLS Cup title,
20:26
Speaker 2: like it is. It is so wild that fans in
20:29
Speaker 2: Utah find a way to complain about stuff because their
20:33
Speaker 2: teams have been so good and in the mix for
20:35
Speaker 2: so long that I think they get this census like
20:39
Speaker 2: they're jaded. I'm like, man, Like, if your team has
20:41
Speaker 2: a puncher's chance seventy five percent way through any season,
20:45
Speaker 2: that means you're better than most teams, and every team
20:48
Speaker 2: here at the pro college level has pretty much been
20:50
Speaker 2: in that mix, maybe outside of the Jazz the last
20:53
Speaker 2: few years. But and you add the mammothon in year two,
20:57
Speaker 2: make the playoffs like there's noise gathering major League Baseball
21:01
Speaker 2: coming here, Like I just think we're seeing a significant
21:05
Speaker 2: spike in folks from out of state moving here and
21:08
Speaker 2: realizing like, oh man, like this place is one, it's cool, Two,
21:12
Speaker 2: their teams are good, and three is a great place
21:15
Speaker 2: to live.
21:16
Speaker 1: You've got the two flagship college institutions, Utah and BYU
21:19
Speaker 1: that are both back together in the same league, power league,
21:22
Speaker 1: and in the biggest sport that matters, they matter, their
21:26
Speaker 1: top twenty five programs. You've got the Jazz, who have
21:29
Speaker 1: always been here in NBA franchise that will now being
21:32
Speaker 1: run like a regular NBA franchise by Ryan Smith, and
21:36
Speaker 1: I think they're on their way back. I don't know
21:37
Speaker 1: if they'll contend, but they're going to be back Rail
21:40
Speaker 1: Salt Lake and Major League soccer is here. I think
21:44
Speaker 1: the Mammoth being here now for coming into three years
21:48
Speaker 1: has added a little bit more gravitas to this market.
21:50
Speaker 1: People see hockey here and it's like, oh wait a minute, Okay,
21:53
Speaker 1: you mentioned major League Baseball, the Olympics are coming back,
21:57
Speaker 1: We've got the Winter Classic on the way this year. Chris,
22:01
Speaker 1: this is this is a real I mean it's not
22:04
Speaker 1: there's always going to be the big two or three,
22:05
Speaker 1: the Chicago's, the Boston's, the Phillies, the New York's, the LA's.
22:10
Speaker 1: But this, this sports market is it doesn't take a
22:14
Speaker 1: backseat to many anymore.
22:17
Speaker 2: Well, especially out West. We're talking about if we're talking
22:21
Speaker 2: about being a well rounded market, which includes the success
22:25
Speaker 2: of college football programs, it would be hard to find
22:29
Speaker 2: one that's bigger in terms of having two flagship institutions.
22:34
Speaker 2: Like you said, like you think of like you got Oregon,
22:37
Speaker 2: but I would say Oregon and Oregon State aren't at
22:40
Speaker 2: the same level as Utah and BYU Seattle, you got
22:43
Speaker 2: you Dubb, but Seattle it's hard, man. You have all
22:46
Speaker 2: the pro teams that are always going to take up
22:48
Speaker 2: all that oxygen. LA No, Bay Area, no Way, Arizona No.
22:52
Speaker 2: I mean I just think, like, honestly, it's it's it's
22:55
Speaker 2: up there. If you're talking about having such a kind
22:58
Speaker 2: of well well rounded or portfolio from a professional and
23:02
Speaker 2: collegiate point of view, fascinated to see what happens with
23:05
Speaker 2: the baseball man. I mean, my my baseball colleagues at
23:08
Speaker 2: the Athletic have been doing a great job reporting about
23:11
Speaker 2: like how much real interest there is, and it seems
23:14
Speaker 2: like the folks at Major League Baseball officers are seriously
23:17
Speaker 2: taking a hard look at what salt Lake could offer
23:20
Speaker 2: should they ever get to an expansion level.
23:22
Speaker 1: I just think everything lines up well. Utah has done
23:26
Speaker 1: its homework. They've got their ducks in a row, they've
23:28
Speaker 1: got ownership, they've got location, they've got money for stadium,
23:31
Speaker 1: they've got emerging market. I just I don't know what
23:35
Speaker 1: box salt Lake wouldn't check. Maybe spring weather, but you're
23:39
Speaker 1: in Denver, you know you're in some cold water cold weather.
23:43
Speaker 1: Detroit is in Chicago aren't exactly great in April eithers So,
23:47
Speaker 1: I just I just think it's it's lined up pretty well.
23:50
Speaker 1: I don't know, but if I had hazard a guess,
23:52
Speaker 1: I'd probably say Nashville and salt Lake have to be
23:54
Speaker 1: the leaders, wouldn't you.
23:57
Speaker 2: I would think so. And then that ultimately leaves us
23:59
Speaker 2: to our about the most important thing is what do
24:02
Speaker 2: you name the team? What do you name the team? Bill?
24:05
Speaker 1: It's a good question, Chris. I haven't given it a
24:07
Speaker 1: lot of thought. But whoever, whatever name you decide to
24:09
Speaker 1: come up with, make sure somebody else doesn't have a
24:11
Speaker 1: patent or some sort of licensing on it. So you
24:13
Speaker 1: have to go back and do it again.
24:16
Speaker 2: I know nobody will ask me, and this is maybe
24:18
Speaker 2: just because I'm a nostalgic person. And since we're already
24:21
Speaker 2: in the dolore In, you gotta go Trappers.
24:23
Speaker 1: Man, I love the Trappers have the all.
24:27
Speaker 2: Time professional record for consecutive wins in baseball history, which
24:32
Speaker 2: is a billion years in this country. An amazing story.
24:35
Speaker 2: Bill Murray tending bar at Duffy's. It's it, man, it's
24:38
Speaker 2: it like you can miss me with all of the
24:41
Speaker 2: you know, the elk and the moose and all that stuff.
24:43
Speaker 2: They get the Trappers.
24:46
Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad we fired up the dolore In a
24:49
Speaker 1: couple of times today. Glad the flux capacitor was working
24:52
Speaker 1: at one point twenty one jigawatts. You got to go
24:56
Speaker 1: back to tending to those children to make sure they
24:58
Speaker 1: don't enter the portal on you anytime soon.
25:00
Speaker 2: Thank you. Bill, I appreciate you. Man.
25:02
Speaker 1: See Chris Chris Camroonnie of the Athletic look for his
25:04
Speaker 1: stuff there. It's still one of my favorite daily go tos.