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Coach Sark Is Prepared For This Upcoming Game · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred The Zone. As we continue
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  Speaker 1: to work our way through our three of The Craig
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  Speaker 1: Way Show. If you missed any of it, go back
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  Speaker 1: and listen to the podcast version of the show. You
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  Speaker 1: listen to segments free on the iHeartRadio app. Okay, So
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  Speaker 1: this Saturday is senior Day. It is going to be emotional.
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  Speaker 1: There's going to be a lot of tears shed. There's
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  Speaker 1: also going to be a lot of football being played.
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  Speaker 1: And the question was led to a given to coach Sarkeesian.
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  Speaker 1: How do you deal with all of the different emotions?
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  Speaker 1: How do you work your way through the different emotions
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  Speaker 1: of the players. How do you work through the emotions
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  Speaker 1: that you might be feeling? This is cut number five,
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  Speaker 1: Sark five? How do you temper the emotions on a
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  Speaker 1: senior day?
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  Speaker 2: The majority of these guys either came to this program
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  Speaker 2: prior to me getting here and or signed with the
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  Speaker 2: University of Texas and December, and then I got hired
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  Speaker 2: in January, and so they were kind of stuck with
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  Speaker 2: me as their head coach at least for one year.
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  Speaker 2: But in this day and age of college football and
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  Speaker 2: the transfer portal, when all of these guys had plenty
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  Speaker 2: of opportunities to go to other schools. They believed in
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  Speaker 2: what we were doing, and they gave everything they had
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  Speaker 2: to this program over a four year span, and they've
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  Speaker 2: been part of this evolution of our football program. Because
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  Speaker 2: when you're five and seven, they all could have left,
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  Speaker 2: you know, when we were eight and five and maybe
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  Speaker 2: they weren't starters, they all could have left, you know.
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  Speaker 2: But in year three, they're Big twelve champs, they go
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  Speaker 2: to College Football Playoff, and then they all really became
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  Speaker 2: leaders on this year's team.
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  Speaker 3: And when I talked about how.
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  Speaker 2: Many leaders we have now, the bulk of those guys
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  Speaker 2: are this class of players that are going to come
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  Speaker 2: out of the tunnel and get recognized Saturday. And so
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  Speaker 2: I'm very grateful for those guys and what they've given
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  Speaker 2: to the program. But I'm also proud of them because
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  Speaker 2: it's a different journey that they've been on compared to
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  Speaker 2: you know, decades past of college football, because they really
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  Speaker 2: believed in what we were doing.
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  Speaker 3: So we're gonna honor them.
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  Speaker 2: In pregame, I try to get some of the emotional
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  Speaker 2: stuff out.
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  Speaker 3: Of the way today.
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  Speaker 2: So we did that today, you know, post practice, and
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  Speaker 2: I had a nice discussion with them, and then the
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  Speaker 2: team celebrated them coming off the field, and I recognize
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  Speaker 2: this with them too. I said, hey, I want you
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  Speaker 2: to make sure you take in Saturday and you have
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  Speaker 2: your moment, But the best memory you're gonna have from
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  Speaker 2: Saturday of your senior day is playing really well in
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  Speaker 2: winning the game. And so that's the best way we
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  Speaker 2: can honor them. But that's the best memory they're going
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  Speaker 2: to have for themselves, right, is going out and playing
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  Speaker 2: good football and trying.
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  Speaker 3: To get a victory.
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  Speaker 2: And so you know, we use that adage, right, We're
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  Speaker 2: gonna play with emotion but not emotional, and so it's
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  Speaker 2: not something new that we have to create, but but
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  Speaker 2: we have to. We have to believe that and we
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  Speaker 2: have to we have to adhere to it.
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  Speaker 1: That is something i'd go on a T shirt. We
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  Speaker 1: need to play with emotion but not emotional. A lot
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  Speaker 1: of college football coaches have a lot of different sayings.
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  Speaker 1: That is one that I would one hundred percent adopt
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  Speaker 1: if I was a college football coach. We want to
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  Speaker 1: play with emotion, we don't want to play emotional. But
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  Speaker 1: clearly that is going to weigh on a coach. That's
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  Speaker 1: going to weigh on a staff. There's twenty three guys
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  Speaker 1: from my understanding, on this Longhorn roster who will be
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  Speaker 1: honor tomorrow for Senior Day. But there's also guys who
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  Speaker 1: are going to be playing their last game at DKR
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  Speaker 1: because they decided to go to the NFL Draft, or
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  Speaker 1: they decide to go in the portal and go somewhere else.
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  Speaker 1: There's going to be a lot of guys who this
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  Speaker 1: is their last game in Austin, Texas as a college
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  Speaker 1: or as a University of Texas football player. And to
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  Speaker 1: those guys, I have to say thank you, right, I
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  Speaker 1: think that's what a lot of Texas fans have to
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  Speaker 1: be saying right now, is thank you for helping us
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  Speaker 1: get back to this point that I grew up with.
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  Speaker 1: There's older fans who remember how great this team was
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  Speaker 1: back in the Southwest Conference, right, There's guys who remember
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  Speaker 1: how good this team was in the nineties. My first
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  Speaker 1: recollections of Texas football was the mid two thousands with
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  Speaker 1: Vince Young and Cole McCoy and getting to that level
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  Speaker 1: of going to national championships and winning Big twelve championships.
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  Speaker 1: That was my first recollection of Texas football. So I
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  Speaker 1: have always said, Okay, that is my standard. I can't
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  Speaker 1: hold you to a standard that I don't know. My
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  Speaker 1: standard is this, And it feels like we finally are
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  Speaker 1: kind of back to that level. But a lot of
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  Speaker 1: coaches have to make up storylines. We talked a little
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  Speaker 1: bit earlier on the show about how as a head coach,
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  Speaker 1: you don't want to put your foot in your mouth.
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  Speaker 1: You don't want to say something that becomes bulletin board
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  Speaker 1: material for another team. You don't want to give Kentucky
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  Speaker 1: any extra motivation that they already have. This is a
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  Speaker 1: stark number seven as a coaching staff. It's great that
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  Speaker 1: this group doesn't need propped up fake storylines.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I love that that they're self motivated
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  Speaker 2: that way. And like I said, Wednesday, really Tuesday, when
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  Speaker 2: they started getting feisty and then into Wednesday, I, in
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  Speaker 2: a weird way, I.
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  Speaker 3: Kind of enjoyed it.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's a little sick of me
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  Speaker 2: to think that, but but I kind of enjoyed that
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  Speaker 2: because to your point that they're still very hungry. So
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  Speaker 2: the same hunger that I talked about all off season
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  Speaker 2: and in training camp, this group is still very hungry.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, when we lost the Georgia game, we
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  Speaker 2: put ourselves back in the same scenario that we were
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  Speaker 2: in a year ago. And if you recall a year
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  Speaker 2: ago Senior Night we were playing Tech, we had to
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  Speaker 2: win that game to get into the Big twelve Championship
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  Speaker 2: game the way the tiebreaker was gonna fall.
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  Speaker 3: And so we've been in this scenario before.
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  Speaker 2: It's it hasn't been new to where Okay, now we
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  Speaker 2: have to go take care of our business because two
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  Speaker 2: years ago, you know, we senior Night we played Baylor
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  Speaker 2: and beat them, and then we had to sit on
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  Speaker 2: the couch and watch Kansas play Kansas State and cheer
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  Speaker 2: for the Jayhawks because if they would have won, we
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  Speaker 2: could have got into the Big twelve Championship game in
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  Speaker 2: case State beat them. And so we just don't want
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  Speaker 2: to put ourselves in position where we're relying on anybody
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  Speaker 2: else to help us. That we can control our own destiny,
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  Speaker 2: and the best way to do that is to focus
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  Speaker 2: on it one game at a time. You know, be
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  Speaker 2: present today, be where your feet are, focus on the
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  Speaker 2: task at hand, and not get caught up looking too
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  Speaker 2: far down the road.
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  Speaker 3: Just focus on what's right in front of us.
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  Speaker 1: You can't look too far down the road. That is
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  Speaker 1: the truth for the University of Texas. Some other coaches
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  Speaker 1: in the state may be already thinking about the final
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  Speaker 1: game on their regular season schedule because it could be
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  Speaker 1: the biggest game in their program's history, because this could
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  Speaker 1: be the first time that they can kind of get
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  Speaker 1: out of the shadow of let's call it, the flagship
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  Speaker 1: brand in the state.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know who I'm talking about, right.
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  Speaker 1: Steve Sarkushan has done a great job this year as
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  Speaker 1: a creative head coach. He's somebody that can get different
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  Speaker 1: players in positions to succeed. One of those players is
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  Speaker 1: jen Blue. Blue this season came into a very rough
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  Speaker 1: running back room, a very deep running back room. Since
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  Speaker 1: that Georgia loss, Texas has really counted on him in
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  Speaker 1: the last three games forty seven yards, sixty yards, and
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  Speaker 1: eighty three yards in those performances from Blue. Coach sarkisha
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  Speaker 1: was asked about as an offensive coach, what have you
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  Speaker 1: learned about Jaden Blue this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, He's obviously a really versatile player for us. You know,
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  Speaker 2: his ability to run the football, get on an edge,
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  Speaker 2: and when when you can get him in the open field. He's,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the first guy just we were joking with
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  Speaker 2: him about it today and it doesn't ever get him
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  Speaker 2: on the ground, but he's such a weapon in the
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  Speaker 2: passing game as well, in the yardage that he gets
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  Speaker 2: us in the passing game and in the red area,
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  Speaker 2: things of that nature. So I think the more that
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  Speaker 2: we've grown with Jaden has been, you know, finding multiple
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  Speaker 2: ways to get the ball in his hands, especially when
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  Speaker 2: we can get him the ball in his hands in space.
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  Speaker 2: He's just a really tough matchup and he's obviously got
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  Speaker 2: elite speed.
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  Speaker 1: So head coach Steve Sarkisian listening to him from media
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  Speaker 1: earlier this week as he talks about his running back
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  Speaker 1: guy who's gonna get a lot of touches in this
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  Speaker 1: game against Kentucky. The Kentucky defense this season has been
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  Speaker 1: relatively good against the pass and the top half of
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  Speaker 1: the conference against the past.
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  Speaker 3: In the rush.
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  Speaker 1: However, rush defense wise, they have struggled, giving up one
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  Speaker 1: of the worst yards per game in the conference. But
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  Speaker 1: what is the relationship with Quinn? You weers like and
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  Speaker 1: this feels like a question. We've been beating it all
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  Speaker 1: season long, But in a game like Saturday, where it
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  Speaker 1: could be Quinn's last game. In fact, it looks more
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  Speaker 1: and more like it will be Quinn's last game at
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  Speaker 1: the University of Texas. What is that relationship like and
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  Speaker 1: how rare is the relationship with Quinn viewers.
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  Speaker 2: It's not so unique to me as maybe it is
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  Speaker 2: around the country, you know, like the guys that have
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  Speaker 2: really come into our programs, whether it's been here or
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  Speaker 2: the other stops that we've had, we've we've kind of
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  Speaker 2: had that continuity with the players, whether they were backups
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  Speaker 2: early on and then in their career then became starters
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  Speaker 2: or or starters and remain starters.
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  Speaker 3: And so.
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  Speaker 2: I enjoy that process because I think you learn and
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  Speaker 2: grow with that person as we evolve as an offense,
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  Speaker 2: as his game continues to develop, and you start to
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  Speaker 2: try to play to their strengths and what they do well,
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  Speaker 2: you start to feel their presence and their leadership. And
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  Speaker 2: I think that that's with Quinn exactly what it's been
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  Speaker 2: from where he was year one to where he is today,
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  Speaker 2: to the rapport he has with his teammates, to the
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  Speaker 2: to the mental and physical toughness he exudes for us.
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  Speaker 2: I think you think is one that's admired in the
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  Speaker 2: locker room, and so I think there wasn't a more
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  Speaker 2: fitting play for him than the fourth and two last
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  Speaker 2: week against Arkansas, you know, where we called a zone
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  Speaker 2: read with him, and you know, he decides to try
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  Speaker 2: to run the safety over to get the first down
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  Speaker 2: to seal the victory. And I just think that's who
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  Speaker 2: Quinn is, and a lot of times that doesn't come
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  Speaker 2: out in kind of his personality off the field, but
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  Speaker 2: internally we know the competitive nature that he has, and
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  Speaker 2: so for that to for that to play out that way,
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  Speaker 2: I thought was a really cool moment. It was a
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  Speaker 2: cool moment to see him show some excitement, and obviously
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  Speaker 2: all of us on the sidelines were excited as well.
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  Speaker 3: So I've been proud of Quinn.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I really feel like he's as healthy as
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  Speaker 2: he's been now today that he that he was earlier
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  Speaker 2: in the season. And that's always the challenge of playing
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  Speaker 2: quarterback and playing football in general. November, you're generally not healthy,
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  Speaker 2: and he obviously endured a pretty tough injury early on,
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  Speaker 2: but he is making some really you know, big plays
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  Speaker 2: for us to critical moments.
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  Speaker 1: The love fast between Steve Sarkisian and quinn Ewers is
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  Speaker 1: admirable it is. To have a relationship like that between
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  Speaker 1: your your coach and your quarterback is important, especially at
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  Speaker 1: the most important position on the field. But the love
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  Speaker 1: fest between coach Stoops and coach sark this year, or
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  Speaker 1: this season, or this week, I should say, has been
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  Speaker 1: very interesting because both coaches have a ton of respect
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  Speaker 1: for the other one. Stoops is the all time winning
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  Speaker 1: this head coach in the history of Kentucky Wildcat football.
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  Speaker 1: Is also one of the longest tenured coaches, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: the longest tenured coach at in the SEC. He's also
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  Speaker 1: made it to eight consecutive Bowl games, where he is
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  Speaker 1: four and three as the head coach of the Wildcats.
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  Speaker 1: But Coach Sarkisian really broke it down. I think the
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  Speaker 1: best with this is the best quote we have from
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  Speaker 1: him this week talking about what to expect on Saturday.
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  Speaker 1: What do you expect from the Kentucky Wildcats.
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  Speaker 3: Well, they just play.
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  Speaker 2: Really good defense, you know, they minimize the explosive plays
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  Speaker 2: they can bog you down. You know, I think think
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  Speaker 2: Old Miss scored seventeen points against them. I think, you know,
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  Speaker 2: Georgia scored thirteen points against him. I think Tennessee got
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  Speaker 2: a couple scores late to get to twenty eight, and
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  Speaker 2: so they can kind of control the game that way.
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  Speaker 2: And then then offensively, they're they're run first offense that
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  Speaker 2: can control the clock. Uh, and then they get yards
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  Speaker 2: in the return game, and that both returners are excellent players,
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  Speaker 2: and so you've got to play sound.
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  Speaker 3: Football against them.
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  Speaker 2: We've got to find explosive plays on the offensive side
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  Speaker 2: of the ball. We've got to minimize the return yards,
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  Speaker 2: and then we got to make sure that we get
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  Speaker 2: off the field on defense. You know that if they
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  Speaker 2: start bleeding the clock because they're getting third down conversions
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  Speaker 2: and extending drives, that then the game can get shortened.
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  Speaker 2: And now you're in one of those types of games
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  Speaker 2: in the fourth quarter with them. So you know, we've
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  Speaker 2: got to work cut out for us for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred Zone Andrews a fill in
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  Speaker 1: for Craig Way as we can continue through our three
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  Speaker 1: of the show. So all signs point to this being
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  Speaker 1: a defensive battle. The University of Texas's defense is one
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  Speaker 1: of the best in the SEC, one of the best
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  Speaker 1: in the country. Kentucky's defense is good, and that that
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  Speaker 1: are good on the passing side of things, rushing side
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  Speaker 1: of things kind of questionable. I've said from the beginning,
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  Speaker 1: I'll say it again. Texas is not the type of
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  Speaker 1: team that takes the blinders off. They are going to
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  Speaker 1: be focused for this game. They're going to be locked
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  Speaker 1: in for this game. It's senior Day. If this game
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  Speaker 1: was in Lexington, I might have a different vibe. But
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  Speaker 1: I feel very confident with this team at home this year.
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  Speaker 1: I'm going Texas thirty five to ten. We'll keep the
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  Speaker 1: show moving. Coming up after the break, Indiana versus Ohio State.
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  Speaker 1: Winner of this game gets a playoff spot. Loser might
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  Speaker 1: not make it to a college football playoff game. We'll
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  Speaker 1: get into it next right here on the Craig Waves Show.
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  Speaker 1: Andrews Im will filling in on Sports AM thirteen hundred
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  Speaker 1: The Zone