Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Zack Moss on Utah's 41-24 win over Kansas, Wayshawn Parker's clutch 90 yard TD, Visiting Colorado this week+ more
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Born in the U.S.A.
- 0:02Speaker 2: I was.
- 0:04Speaker 1: Born in the U.S.A.
- 0:05Speaker 2: This is the Sean O'Connell Show, your home of the
- 0:08Speaker 2: best inside of your youths.
- 0:10Speaker 3: Let's get back to O.C. from the Murdoch Chevrolet studio
- 0:13Speaker 3: of ESPN 700 at 92.1 FM. Welcome back to the
- 0:21Speaker 3: Sean O'Connell Show.
- 0:22Speaker 2: Welcome in the Utah football legend, NFL veteran. Sideline reporter
- 0:26Speaker 2: on the Utah radio broadcast, Zach Moss, brought to you
- 0:30Speaker 2: by Mountain Home Services. Get a new furnace installed for $ 29. 99
- 0:34Speaker 2: or as low as $ 29 a month with approved credit.
- 0:37Speaker 2: Financing terms and conditions apply. Limited time offer from Mountain
- 0:41Speaker 2: Home Services. Zach Moss, welcome back to the show.
- 0:44Speaker 3: How are you, sir?
- 0:44Speaker 1: Doing good, doing good. How are you guys?
- 0:48Speaker 3: Doing all right. Utah sitting at 5-0, number 11 ranked team.
- 0:53Speaker 2: In the country and impressive performance the other night up
- 0:55Speaker 2: there in a whiteout game. Let's start with that. I
- 0:59Speaker 2: didn't know I was going to feel about a whiteout
- 1:01Speaker 2: at night at rice echo stadium. It's never been done before.
- 1:04Speaker 2: The fans showed out the uniforms look great. What'd you
- 1:07Speaker 2: think of the whiteout?
- 1:10Speaker 1: I thought it was really cool. I love the, the
- 1:13Speaker 1: change up to the night games. You know, obviously I
- 1:18Speaker 1: thought it was going to be pretty bad weather. I
- 1:21Speaker 1: didn't think it would be as awesome of a, you know,
- 1:25Speaker 1: night out for everybody in the stadium. But, you know,
- 1:28Speaker 1: thankfully the weather held off. MG was absolutely just perfect.
- 1:34Speaker 1: I think, you know, I love to see them do
- 1:36Speaker 1: different things like that. So I thought it was really good.
- 1:39Speaker 1: It was really fun.
- 1:40Speaker 3: It was fun.
- 1:41Speaker 2: And obviously it's always a lot more fun when a
- 1:43Speaker 2: team wins a 17 point victory ultimately for the university
- 1:47Speaker 2: of Utah football team. But, but we saw Kansas make
- 1:50Speaker 2: a couple of pushes. Their quarterback proved to be very
- 1:53Speaker 2: elusive in the pocket, was able to get some big
- 1:56Speaker 2: chunk plays, snags and momentum. And Morgan Scali in particular
- 2:00Speaker 2: talked about, you know, at halftime, he had to go
- 2:03Speaker 2: in and challenge his guys. to get that momentum back.
- 2:06Speaker 2: And Zach, you've been part of every imaginable scenario on
- 2:09Speaker 2: a football field, having the momentum, losing the momentum, getting
- 2:13Speaker 2: it back. When they went into halftime and you knew
- 2:18Speaker 2: that everything was kind of trending in Kansas' direction, what
- 2:22Speaker 2: were your thoughts on how Utah was going to come
- 2:24Speaker 2: out the second half, particularly with how they played in
- 2:26Speaker 2: third quarters, to get things going again in the second half?
- 2:31Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought, you know, momentum shifts are just absolutely huge.
- 2:37Speaker 1: You know, that was my question to Coach Scali. At halftime,
- 2:40Speaker 1: you know, just, you know, not halftime, postgame, you know,
- 2:43Speaker 1: just understanding how much momentum shifts can affect the team. And,
- 2:49Speaker 1: you know, obviously we had so much momentum in the
- 2:51Speaker 1: first half and the way they closed out. The first
- 2:53Speaker 1: half was just absolutely not ideal. You can lose the fans.
- 2:59Speaker 1: And you give a team like Kansas, you already knew
- 3:01Speaker 1: they were a weird team from the standpoint of you
- 3:07Speaker 1: really couldn't tell exactly how good they were overall. Obviously,
- 3:12Speaker 1: the quarterback, only so many games under his belt, but
- 3:16Speaker 1: very dynamic, had a shrieky arm, but he looked really
- 3:20Speaker 1: good against us. You know, the running back Edwards could
- 3:23Speaker 1: do some things as well. They had a pretty good
- 3:26Speaker 1: upfront on both sides of that ball as well. So,
- 3:30Speaker 1: you know, it was weird. It was scary because they
- 3:35Speaker 1: got the lead down so fast. and they kept getting
- 3:38Speaker 1: chunk plays, and they kept getting chunk plays. I like that,
- 3:42Speaker 1: you know, these guys can, you know, score with the
- 3:46Speaker 1: best of them. Like, we do it totally different. Like,
- 3:49Speaker 1: we do it totally different. A lot of our star
- 3:50Speaker 1: stuff is on the ground, and, you know, some misdirection
- 3:54Speaker 1: things that some agree there. But I love that they
- 4:00Speaker 1: start off fast. Like, this team really does start fast
- 4:03Speaker 1: for that. You know, when some of these things do happen,
- 4:06Speaker 1: You know, they got some breathing room, right? Obviously, competition
- 4:11Speaker 1: kind of sticks up in the next few weeks here
- 4:15Speaker 1: after the Colorado game with Houston and BYU. You kind
- 4:20Speaker 1: of want to see this team just play a full
- 4:24Speaker 1: four quarters. like literally just start the finish versus some
- 4:28Speaker 1: of the inferior teams that they got a chance to play. And,
- 4:34Speaker 1: you know, they got another one coming up this week
- 4:36Speaker 1: with so many different things going on with the Colorado.
- 4:42Speaker 2: Utah right now is five for five in scoring on
- 4:45Speaker 2: their opening possession. And that setting that tone and, and
- 4:51Speaker 2: establishing a successful offensive drive early is, We've seen it
- 4:56Speaker 2: happen in several different scenarios, right? This last weekend, it
- 4:59Speaker 2: was like a seven-minute drive.
- 5:01Speaker 3: We've seen them score quickly. We've seen them build nice,
- 5:03Speaker 3: long drives.
- 5:05Speaker 2: But just that tone-setting thing where it's our first offensive possession,
- 5:10Speaker 2: we're going to take it down, we're going to get
- 5:12Speaker 2: on the board, and we're going to get on the
- 5:13Speaker 2: board with seven points. How much does that matter in
- 5:17Speaker 2: these games? Given your competition, you're probably going to win
- 5:20Speaker 2: these games anyway, but starting off as hot as they
- 5:22Speaker 2: have started.
- 5:24Speaker 3: and scoring on all five opening drives. What does that
- 5:26Speaker 3: mean for this team?
- 5:28Speaker 1: That means that this offensive team is legit. I think
- 5:33Speaker 1: that's the main thing. I've played in a lot of
- 5:36Speaker 1: really good offenses going all the way back to literally football, literally.
- 5:41Speaker 1: And the one thing that good offenses have, all they
- 5:45Speaker 1: have in common is they start fast. They don't have to...
- 5:49Speaker 1: I gave a comparison the other day to... to the
- 5:54Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints. They can score points, but they always
- 5:59Speaker 1: start every single game late. It's like they get off
- 6:02Speaker 1: the bus and they don't know the game starts at
- 6:04Speaker 1: third quarter. And that has to do with a lot
- 6:08Speaker 1: of different things. So the fact that this offense, week
- 6:11Speaker 1: after week after week, it's 10 plus games of scoring
- 6:16Speaker 1: 30 plus points. None of that stuff is a fluke.
- 6:19Speaker 1: It's not by chance. These guys are very intentional. The
- 6:22Speaker 1: coaches are very intentional on how they want to go
- 6:24Speaker 1: out and script the plays. You don't go out and
- 6:29Speaker 1: start 5-5 on your first drive each and every game
- 6:33Speaker 1: and get points out of them if you're not doing
- 6:36Speaker 1: the things you need to be doing. These guys are
- 6:38Speaker 1: mentally locked in. I always say you've got to give
- 6:41Speaker 1: 90% of the credit to the players because you know,
- 6:46Speaker 1: the coaches can have a great game plan and the
- 6:48Speaker 1: players can mess up something. Like, Kennedy can hold us back,
- 6:52Speaker 1: but we've played really flawless football so far. Some nitpick
- 6:57Speaker 1: things that we could look at, you know, but, you know,
- 7:00Speaker 1: this is the time where really good teams start to
- 7:03Speaker 1: separate themselves, you know, and it's that weak six and down, right?
- 7:07Speaker 1: Now it's time to truly be who we are and
- 7:11Speaker 1: dominate being who we are, no matter who the opponent is.
- 7:16Speaker 2: Zach Moss is our guest here talking a little Utah
- 7:18Speaker 2: football on the Sean O'Connell show. Offensive line is something
- 7:22Speaker 2: we've talked about every single week and they got conference
- 7:25Speaker 2: recognition this week. They're the offensive line of the week
- 7:28Speaker 2: in the big 12 conference after helping, you know, generate
- 7:31Speaker 2: 500 yards of offense against the Kansas team that had
- 7:34Speaker 2: been pretty solid defensively before that. And, you know, it's
- 7:38Speaker 2: the same thing that we've, it's a continuation of the
- 7:40Speaker 2: same conversation we've already had where, This team started five
- 7:45Speaker 2: new guys, and you got a true freshman starting at
- 7:47Speaker 2: left tackle, and Zeroweth Williams was a career backup who's
- 7:51Speaker 2: now putting himself into draft conversations. It was one of
- 7:54Speaker 2: the biggest question marks, and now I think it's as
- 7:56Speaker 2: reliable as anyone else, any other position group on this team,
- 8:00Speaker 2: and it's leading to great success for Devin Dampier, for
- 8:04Speaker 2: Way Sean Parker, for Bird Ficklin. As a guy whose
- 8:07Speaker 2: success in his career was so closely tied to what
- 8:10Speaker 2: an offensive line could or could not do, What do
- 8:14Speaker 2: you think of when you see this group, especially given
- 8:16Speaker 2: that they're all brand new?
- 8:19Speaker 1: Yeah, the fact that they're all brand new and they're
- 8:21Speaker 1: going out there and having success. You know, the Kansas
- 8:26Speaker 1: game on Saturday wasn't the cleanest. It had some pressure.
- 8:31Speaker 1: Had some times where he just didn't feel super comfortable
- 8:33Speaker 1: in the pocket, kind of moved a lot. You know,
- 8:36Speaker 1: we had some PSLs and things of that nature. But
- 8:39Speaker 1: I know things happen throughout a game regardless, like I said,
- 8:41Speaker 1: you know, Kansas up front. was pretty decent, you know,
- 8:46Speaker 1: coming into that game as a new, but, you know,
- 8:48Speaker 1: these guys deserve all the credit in the world. We
- 8:50Speaker 1: talk about, you know, five weeks, right? So much noise
- 8:55Speaker 1: on the office of the line being five brand new
- 8:57Speaker 1: guys all playing with each other because, you know, I
- 8:59Speaker 1: was aligned. they all have to play as one guy almost.
- 9:05Speaker 1: It's like one big muscle up there. If somebody isn't firing,
- 9:08Speaker 1: your body isn't as strong as it needs to be.
- 9:12Speaker 1: The fact that all these guys are communicating at a
- 9:14Speaker 1: high level, they're playing with just great understanding of who
- 9:19Speaker 1: they're up there with. Weishan is is so happy to
- 9:24Speaker 1: have these guys, right? He talked about these guys in
- 9:26Speaker 1: the offseason, based on the media, I believe, and, you know,
- 9:30Speaker 1: kind of everybody was kind of taking it back a
- 9:32Speaker 1: little bit just because of, you know, obviously the line
- 9:35Speaker 1: that we had last year. He talked about two first-round
- 9:37Speaker 1: picks up there. But, you know, he believed these guys.
- 9:41Speaker 1: These guys are now starting to find their groove as well, right?
- 9:44Speaker 1: And that goes back to my point. This is where,
- 9:46Speaker 1: you know, really good teams start to realize who they are.
- 9:50Speaker 1: And these guys now know they can play. at this
- 9:54Speaker 1: level of, you know, domination to some degree, right? now
- 9:58Speaker 1: on a consistent level right you can't put up 500
- 10:01Speaker 1: plus offensive yards I think twice now at least twice
- 10:05Speaker 1: you can't do that without the big guys up front
- 10:08Speaker 1: you know doing their job at a high level and
- 10:10Speaker 1: I love that the penalties have been low That was
- 10:13Speaker 1: something I was worried about when we talked about finding
- 10:15Speaker 1: a guy. But the penalty has been low. They're just
- 10:19Speaker 1: playing really good football right now, and that just has
- 10:22Speaker 1: to continue to happen.
- 10:27Speaker 2: You are able to answer this question. Most people, even
- 10:30Speaker 2: people who played football in college, are not because sometimes
- 10:34Speaker 2: you just need a big playmaker to make a big play.
- 10:37Speaker 2: And the defense did their job. They stopped Kansas on
- 10:40Speaker 2: the one-yard line. backed up against the end zone. You
- 10:44Speaker 2: get a couple of plays. Braden Pagan gets a reception
- 10:48Speaker 2: to get you out to what, like the 10, effectively.
- 10:51Speaker 2: But it still felt like, man, Utah needs to get
- 10:54Speaker 2: out of the shadow of their own end zone. They
- 10:55Speaker 2: need to get a big play here. And Mack G
- 10:58Speaker 2: calls the right play. Way Sean Parker, direct snap in
- 11:02Speaker 2: the wildcat formation. I got another question about that here,
- 11:05Speaker 2: but what is it, Zach? How is it when you're
- 11:09Speaker 2: already a really good player, you can then kick into
- 11:12Speaker 2: another gear. You can go out and you can deliver
- 11:14Speaker 2: when your team needs that play.
- 11:16Speaker 3: You did it plenty of times.
- 11:17Speaker 2: Way Sean already this season has done it a couple
- 11:19Speaker 2: of times where it's like he knows, the team knows,
- 11:23Speaker 2: the fans know, offensive coordinator knows, now is when we
- 11:27Speaker 2: need to get Way Sean the ball and he will
- 11:29Speaker 2: be the one to make that play.
- 11:30Speaker 3: How do you find that next gear in those big moments?
- 11:35Speaker 1: It's been so much fun, first of all, just to
- 11:39Speaker 1: watch him up close and personal week after week.
- 11:44Speaker 4: And, you know, just seeing the way he carries himself, right,
- 11:48Speaker 4: it's almost, you know, makes you miss playing football sometimes. Honestly, just,
- 11:54Speaker 4: you know, a guy like that.
- 11:55Speaker 1: Who seems like he's just always locked in and always
- 12:01Speaker 1: wants to be at his exact best. And getting the
- 12:06Speaker 1: chance to talk to him over and over, you know,
- 12:09Speaker 1: his personality is He wants to be, and he believes
- 12:13Speaker 1: he is the best player on the field every single time.
- 12:18Speaker 1: He wants the ball in his hands. If you love
- 12:22Speaker 1: basketball like I do, even if you're playing pick-up ball,
- 12:27Speaker 1: the competitor in you wants to take the last shot.
- 12:31Speaker 1: I'd rather lose knowing that I lost on team loss
- 12:35Speaker 1: because of me versus somebody else's hand, and he seems
- 12:39Speaker 1: to you know, operate like that week in and week out.
- 12:42Speaker 1: And he even told Coach McGivins, you know, per his
- 12:46Speaker 1: own words, that, you know, when things get tight, man, like,
- 12:51Speaker 1: look to me, right? Look to me. And, you know,
- 12:54Speaker 1: they're so lucky to have a guy like that in
- 12:57Speaker 1: that room because that makes everybody's job so much easier, right? Obviously,
- 13:01Speaker 1: we have some guys like him step up to some
- 13:04Speaker 1: moments for sure. Like we've seen him do it different
- 13:06Speaker 1: places and things of that nature as well. But, you know,
- 13:10Speaker 1: he right now is becoming the one constant on the
- 13:13Speaker 1: offense where it doesn't matter what you do, right? Where
- 13:17Speaker 1: you're at, what quarter you may be in, like you
- 13:19Speaker 1: feel the difference of when he has the ball in
- 13:21Speaker 1: his hand, right? And when he doesn't have the ball
- 13:24Speaker 1: in his hand, right? And, you know, I'm always on
- 13:27Speaker 1: the sideline thinking, man, when we keep giving him the ball, right?
- 13:30Speaker 1: Like he only has 15 carries or something like that.
- 13:34Speaker 1: just at Kansas, right? And I'm just like, man, how
- 13:39Speaker 1: is this guy not touching the ball, right? Moving to
- 13:42Speaker 1: a different way at least 20 and 25 times. But,
- 13:45Speaker 1: you know, he's earned that, right? He's worked his tail
- 13:48Speaker 1: off throughout the offseason and all that type of stuff
- 13:50Speaker 1: as well. So, you know, now when those big games arrive,
- 13:55Speaker 1: like that's where, you know, guys that, you know, who...
- 14:00Speaker 1: really want to be in that moment, which I'm sure
- 14:02Speaker 1: he does, like, you know, games, right? Houston and BYU
- 14:09Speaker 1: back-to-back weeks at home on your home field, you know,
- 14:13Speaker 1: the defensive coordinator is game planning for you, right? That's where,
- 14:20Speaker 1: you know, the really, really, really special guys show up.
- 14:23Speaker 1: And he's turning that way. So, you know, I'm just
- 14:26Speaker 1: happy that we have a guy in that room, right,
- 14:30Speaker 1: on the offensive side and keeping the running back thing
- 14:32Speaker 1: kind of going.
- 14:34Speaker 2: So that play, that 90-yard touchdown run, he took the
- 14:40Speaker 2: direct snap.
- 14:41Speaker 3: And I've never done this before.
- 14:44Speaker 2: How much as a running back does it change, your vision,
- 14:48Speaker 2: your execution of a play, when you're not taking a handoff,
- 14:52Speaker 2: when you are receiving the direct snap, it's not the
- 14:56Speaker 2: primary method by which running backs get the ball, but
- 14:58Speaker 2: it's obviously part of what they can do. And he
- 15:00Speaker 2: turned that one into a touchdown in a very crucial time,
- 15:04Speaker 2: long one for the Utes. How much does direct snap
- 15:08Speaker 2: possession change what a running back does versus getting a
- 15:11Speaker 2: pitch or a handoff?
- 15:14Speaker 1: Oh, it changes the pitchers. big time. First of all,
- 15:20Speaker 1: you know, just from the analytics part of the football game, right?
- 15:23Speaker 1: When you talk about numbers, right? It's a 10 on
- 15:27Speaker 1: 10 now, right? You got a quarterback out of the way. And,
- 15:33Speaker 1: you know, somebody is covering and counting for that quarterback.
- 15:37Speaker 1: You got the quarterback in the backfield. Now, Dan period
- 15:39Speaker 1: is a very, obviously very good run. And that's well known,
- 15:44Speaker 1: but you know, When he's out of the backfield and
- 15:48Speaker 1: you put him out wide, it's a 10-on-10. So now
- 15:51Speaker 1: a running back knows, I just have to beat one guy.
- 15:56Speaker 1: Just got to beat one guy. I believe all my
- 15:59Speaker 1: other guys are going to do their job. And now
- 16:02Speaker 1: it's on me to just do my job and beat
- 16:06Speaker 1: that one guy. And you can't beat one guy as
- 16:10Speaker 1: a person with the ball in your hands, no matter
- 16:12Speaker 1: what position you have. You can't beat a guy with
- 16:14Speaker 1: the ball in your hands. you know, that's going to
- 16:16Speaker 1: be pretty tough. And you probably might need a lot
- 16:18Speaker 1: of opportunity. And, you know, it reminds me of, I
- 16:23Speaker 1: want to say it was maybe the old eight dolphins, maybe.
- 16:28Speaker 1: Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, and they just ran the
- 16:30Speaker 1: Wildcat to sleep, right? It was always just big play
- 16:34Speaker 1: after big play after big play. You know, and I love,
- 16:39Speaker 1: Wayshawn makes these plays on these Wildcats all the time.
- 16:43Speaker 1: It's not like it's, you know, sporadic play that's come
- 16:45Speaker 1: out of nowhere. He's doing that when he gets the
- 16:48Speaker 1: ball in his hand in the Wildcat a lot, no
- 16:50Speaker 1: matter if it's an open field, backup situation during the
- 16:53Speaker 1: red zone. But, yeah, it was really, you know, just
- 16:57Speaker 1: really cool. Bill Riley actually called that it would be
- 17:00Speaker 1: a really cool time for Wayshawn to get that big
- 17:03Speaker 1: 90-yard run back that he got called back a couple
- 17:05Speaker 1: weeks ago. And literally the next play he hits this
- 17:09Speaker 1: big run and, you know, that's what closers do.
- 17:13Speaker 2: Semi Talonga also got his first touchdown and he's become
- 17:17Speaker 2: a fan favorite.
- 17:18Speaker 3: He's very popular in the locker room.
- 17:20Speaker 2: Explain for the people who don't know what it means
- 17:23Speaker 2: to a team when a guy who quote unquote deserves
- 17:26Speaker 2: that tutty finally gets one.
- 17:30Speaker 1: Oh, that was, that was so fun. I'm leaving on
- 17:32Speaker 1: the team, but I know just like, you know, when
- 17:35Speaker 1: those big guys who, you know, sacrificed so much, right?
- 17:41Speaker 1: And I got to talk to him as well on
- 17:43Speaker 1: Saturday night. And, you know, you can just tell it
- 17:46Speaker 1: was something that he'll never forget, right? And that's so
- 17:50Speaker 1: great to see that, one, you know, the coaches trust
- 17:54Speaker 1: him because that was a big play. It wasn't, you know,
- 17:57Speaker 1: we're up 30 and we're just going to call the
- 17:59Speaker 1: play and let's get out one of our big guys
- 18:01Speaker 1: to touchdown. You know, this was a key pivotal play
- 18:04Speaker 1: in the game on a fourth down in the red
- 18:06Speaker 1: zone where that's a guy to have a moment. And,
- 18:08Speaker 1: you know, he's running the play so much in practice
- 18:12Speaker 1: and the coaches trust in him. And that's a memory
- 18:15Speaker 1: that he'll never forget. And, you know, to see the
- 18:18Speaker 1: sideline reaction to him getting that and, you know, the
- 18:21Speaker 1: much chanting his name and all the work and things
- 18:24Speaker 1: that he does when it comes about. Things that you
- 18:27Speaker 1: don't see in the newspaper. Things you don't see online, right?
- 18:29Speaker 1: Things that we're not going to talk about week in
- 18:31Speaker 1: and week out, right? Oh, how great of a block
- 18:34Speaker 1: did he have this week and how bad was the blocking, right?
- 18:37Speaker 1: Things of that nature we don't talk about. But those
- 18:40Speaker 1: guys inside the building understand how important he is to
- 18:44Speaker 1: the team and all the things that he's able to
- 18:46Speaker 1: do for them. Seeing him be rewarded in that way
- 18:49Speaker 1: is always really, really fun when, you know, a big
- 18:53Speaker 1: guy like himself will always align and catch the touchdown.
- 18:56Speaker 1: Unlike my guy that dropped the touchdown last night for Atlanta,
- 19:00Speaker 1: I believe.
- 19:02Speaker 2: I was standing down on the sideline when the broadcast,
- 19:05Speaker 2: the TV broadcast sideline reporter came over and asked somebody like, hey,
- 19:11Speaker 2: does he really weigh 320 pounds?
- 19:16Speaker 3: Started laughing.
- 19:17Speaker 2: It's like, I think he probably weighs a little more
- 19:18Speaker 2: than 320 pounds. He's listed at 320 pounds, but three
- 19:22Speaker 2: 20 might be shy of what he's actually pushing right now.
- 19:26Speaker 1: Oh, nah, he's a big boy now. But, you know,
- 19:30Speaker 1: they call him, they got a little nickname for him,
- 19:32Speaker 1: Dancing Bear or something like that. That's one of his names.
- 19:36Speaker 1: And Semi-Truck, like all these different things. But he moves
- 19:40Speaker 1: very well. Moves very well. He bends, you know, and
- 19:46Speaker 1: that's why he's here, man. You get a big guy
- 19:48Speaker 1: like that that can do a lot of different things.
- 19:49Speaker 1: you know, it definitely won't be the last time that
- 19:55Speaker 1: he does some special stuff like that in a big
- 19:58Speaker 1: cultural moment of the game.
- 19:59Speaker 2: Our last thing before I let you go, now it's
- 20:01Speaker 2: a road trip to Boulder, Colorado. and a Colorado team
- 20:05Speaker 2: that has some issues right now. They are down to
- 20:08Speaker 2: a backup quarterback who we know very well, and Isaac Wilson.
- 20:13Speaker 2: They've dismissed some guys from the team in recent weeks.
- 20:15Speaker 2: They've had just a really hard time getting things going.
- 20:19Speaker 2: They've had crucial injuries, not only to the quarterback position.
- 20:23Speaker 2: Team chemistry appears to be a problem. This is a
- 20:26Speaker 2: game where Utah, 15.5 points favorites right now, which is
- 20:30Speaker 2: the same as last week, but I think Colorado.
- 20:33Speaker 3: is in a bad way.
- 20:34Speaker 2: How do you make sure you don't look ahead to Houston?
- 20:38Speaker 2: You don't overlook this Colorado team, despite all their problems.
- 20:42Speaker 2: And you go out there and you execute and you
- 20:44Speaker 2: get the wind that Utah should be able to get
- 20:45Speaker 2: pretty handily in Boulder.
- 20:48Speaker 1: Yeah. You know, that's, we call those trap games, right?
- 20:54Speaker 1: Call those trap games where, you know, yeah. Team struggling.
- 20:58Speaker 1: We know we can go out there and beat them. We,
- 21:01Speaker 1: you know, probably don't even have to have the greatest
- 21:03Speaker 1: week of practice, right, to go ahead and beat a
- 21:06Speaker 1: team like Colorado who's struggling. But you never want to
- 21:10Speaker 1: underestimate your opponent. That's always number one. Like, you never, ever,
- 21:15Speaker 1: ever want to underestimate who you're playing week in and
- 21:18Speaker 1: week out, no matter what the record says, no matter
- 21:20Speaker 1: who the head coach is, no matter, you know, anything.
- 21:24Speaker 1: You never, never want to do it. So, you know,
- 21:27Speaker 1: like I said before, this team is... The reason I
- 21:31Speaker 1: don't worry about this team week in and week out
- 21:35Speaker 1: is something that occurred last year when just watching, you know,
- 21:39Speaker 1: the leaders of the team on the council and stuff
- 21:42Speaker 1: like that in their press game conferences, right? Because, you know,
- 21:47Speaker 1: obviously we're not in the locker room. We don't get
- 21:49Speaker 1: a chance to see you guys on a day-to-day work
- 21:52Speaker 1: and things of that nature, right? But just the press conference,
- 21:56Speaker 1: I could tell last year that this team was truly
- 22:00Speaker 1: believes in each and every guy, right?
- 22:03Speaker 4: And these guys really.
- 22:05Speaker 1: Do play for each other. And, you know, when you're
- 22:08Speaker 1: able to see this on a press conference, that tells
- 22:11Speaker 1: me a lot. And obviously, you kept a lot of
- 22:13Speaker 1: these guys over the next season. And it starts with
- 22:17Speaker 1: Dan Pierce, right? I think he is one of the
- 22:19Speaker 1: best leaders in the country. And the way he's able
- 22:22Speaker 1: to galvanize these guys is absolutely just remarkable to see.
- 22:28Speaker 1: He's been infectious. how much fun these guys have playing
- 22:31Speaker 1: with each other, for each other. And, you know, they
- 22:34Speaker 1: don't care, right? Even the DBs, I got a chance
- 22:38Speaker 1: to and they don't care who's making the play, right?
- 22:42Speaker 1: Like they just pushing each other to be the absolute
- 22:45Speaker 1: best they can be. And that's why they're sitting at
- 22:47Speaker 1: where they're sitting at. So when you got a game
- 22:49Speaker 1: like this coming up and you're trapped in, quote unquote,
- 22:52Speaker 1: you know, the leadership steps in, right? Guys don't lose focus, right?
- 22:56Speaker 1: Guys aren't going to start skipping reps or, you know,
- 23:00Speaker 1: not finishing things. in the end zone, things they've definitely
- 23:03Speaker 1: been doing weeks before because they had a better opponent
- 23:06Speaker 1: in front of them, right? Because they understand that the
- 23:09Speaker 1: process of what they're doing isn't about the opponent that
- 23:13Speaker 1: they're playing, right? The process is, you know, what am
- 23:16Speaker 1: I doing when I'm off this field? What am I
- 23:18Speaker 1: doing when I'm on this practice field? What am I
- 23:20Speaker 1: doing when I'm in this meeting room, right? All these
- 23:23Speaker 1: different things. So I think these guys have a great
- 23:25Speaker 1: leadership on this team and they are in the process. So,
- 23:29Speaker 1: you know, a game like this, they just get another
- 23:33Speaker 1: chance to show exactly who they are.
- 23:37Speaker 3: Zach, enjoy the trip to Boulder. We'll see you again,
- 23:40Speaker 3: I guess, next week, and we'll have you on next Monday.
- 23:44Speaker 3: Thank you, sir.
- 23:46Speaker 1: Yes, sir. Appreciate you guys. Take care.
- 23:48Speaker 2: Zach Moss, the Utah football legend, third member of the
- 23:52Speaker 2: broadcast team here on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM, Bill Riley,
- 23:56Speaker 2: Stevenson Sylvester, and Zach Moss down on the sidelines.