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Texas A&M Source ADMITS Something I DID NOT Expect Before Aggies Season Kicks Off! | SEC · SEC Football Addiction

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to SEC football addiction.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: TJ Pittenger here with Will Thomas.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: You can catch him on tailgate talk SEC and a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: peek inside SEC football. Will the Texas A & M Aggies.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: This segment is presented by prize picks. Give me your
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: honest thoughts on Marcel Reed. Cause that, that feels like
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  Speaker 1: a quarterback that has been debated more than with Arch
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  Speaker 1: Manning in this conference. It feels like Marcel Reed has
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  Speaker 1: been debated more than any other quarterback in this conference
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  Speaker 1: of is he good or is he not? And, The
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  Speaker 1: truth usually lies in the middle of all of these debates, right?
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  Speaker 1: It's never so black and white. But is Marcel Reed
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  Speaker 1: a good quarterback? Let's start with that.
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  Speaker 3: I think he is a good quarterback. I'll definitely give
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  Speaker 3: him that.
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  Speaker 2: Consistent?
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  Speaker 3: Hell no. But, I mean, I do think his highs
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  Speaker 3: are definitely there. But you go back to what people
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  Speaker 3: remember of him, and that's really not the 11-0 start.
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  Speaker 3: It's really the last few games. And, I mean, the
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  Speaker 3: first half against Carolina where he led that comeback, but
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  Speaker 3: he showed that he has the ability to implode. Like,
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  Speaker 3: that's what that first half showed me. And then against Texas,
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  Speaker 3: right in the fourth quarter, that game was closed forever.
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  Speaker 3: Two picks in the final 15 minutes. The game against
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  Speaker 3: Miami in the playoff, I actually don't hold against them
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  Speaker 3: quite as much just because of the weather that was there.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, Carson Beck's numbers weren't great either. There were
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  Speaker 3: like four missed field goals. I actually don't mind that game,
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  Speaker 3: at least from Breach's perspective. But the up and downs
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  Speaker 3: are very polarizing, and that's a very fair critique. But
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  Speaker 3: last year, he's been around forever. Last year was his
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  Speaker 3: first full season as a starting quarterback. He played a
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  Speaker 3: good bit of games in 2024, but last year was
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  Speaker 3: really that first year that it was Marcel Reed's team.
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  Speaker 3: So he's only coming into his second year as the
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  Speaker 3: true Aggies quarterback. So I am looking for a step
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  Speaker 3: forward in consistency over the middle decision-making because I like
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  Speaker 3: his legs. I think his deep ball is really good,
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  Speaker 3: but everything over the middle, that's when he can get
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  Speaker 3: himself in trouble, right? We've seen some bad throws, maybe
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  Speaker 3: late over the middle. Maybe the pocket awareness isn't always
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  Speaker 3: quite what it needs to be. So it's things that
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  Speaker 3: are definitely coachable. And I believe that Mike Yelko and
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  Speaker 3: the staff put together can coach it into him, but
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  Speaker 3: He's definitely not consistent, but there's definitely an elite quarterback
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  Speaker 3: in there, and we'll see if that comes out this fall.
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  Speaker 2: Do you feel like you'll see a step?
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  Speaker 1: Like, if you had to project right now with what
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  Speaker 1: you've heard out of camp, with the way that this
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  Speaker 1: offseason has gone, we expect progress year over year. It
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  Speaker 1: doesn't always happen. Do you think we'll see a little
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  Speaker 1: bit more consistent play this year?
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  Speaker 3: I like to think that we will, but then in
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  Speaker 3: the same breath, right, he's losing his offensive coordinator. Colin
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  Speaker 3: Kline got hired by Kansas State, so they did hire
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  Speaker 3: from in-house, so it's not an unfamiliar face, but it's
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  Speaker 3: still a different guy in your ear after you throw
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  Speaker 3: a pick or get sacked on third down or have
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  Speaker 3: to go for a two-minute drill. So that'll be interesting
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  Speaker 3: to see game by game. But I do think just,
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  Speaker 3: you know, with how good of an athlete that he is,
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  Speaker 3: I think there will be that step. I think there
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  Speaker 3: will be less head-scratching moments, you know, but will there
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  Speaker 3: be just as many elite moments or does that kind
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  Speaker 3: of come with a trade-off, right, where he maybe doesn't
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  Speaker 3: take as many aggressive shots because he's trying to wind
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  Speaker 3: down all those interceptions, all those bad misses. So I
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  Speaker 3: do think we'll see less head-scratchers. Hopefully it's not at
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  Speaker 3: the expense of, big, great plays because that receiver core
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  Speaker 3: looks awesome. They used to throw to. So I do
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  Speaker 3: think we'll see a bit of a step.
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  Speaker 1: The, you mentioned the receiver core, you lose Casey to
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  Speaker 1: the NFL, you retain Craver and you go out and
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  Speaker 1: get other guys. They've, I don't know that they've upgraded
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  Speaker 1: that position, but they've kept that position really, really elite.
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  Speaker 1: Some of the best wide receivers in the conference there
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  Speaker 1: in college station. What else out of camp maybe surprised
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  Speaker 1: you or what excited you coming out of Texas A
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  Speaker 1: & M camp?
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  Speaker 2: Well, exciting.
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  Speaker 3: Another receiver, Terry Bussey. He's a former five-star athlete. He's
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  Speaker 3: been there for two or three years at this point.
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  Speaker 3: I've been waiting for him to break out. And it
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  Speaker 3: really seems like this is this camp where there's been
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  Speaker 3: a lot of promise from him, you know, on the
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  Speaker 3: ground there in College Station, where if he's able to
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  Speaker 3: emerge as like a wide receiver three or four, right,
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  Speaker 3: to be behind Horton and Craver, maybe there with Ashton Bethel-Roman,
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  Speaker 3: that'll be a massive deputies for.
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  Speaker 2: A & M.
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  Speaker 3: And also Jamarian Morrow at running back. He's a sophomore guy.
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  Speaker 3: He's gonna be behind Reuben Owens. He became way more
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  Speaker 3: important because Tiger Ryden is not going to play this
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  Speaker 3: year for them. I forget if he was injured or
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  Speaker 3: if he was one of the ones that was dismissed.
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  Speaker 3: But he's not going to be there this year. So
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  Speaker 3: having Morrow, he looks really explosive. He may be more
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  Speaker 3: of an east-to-west guy getting in the passing game. And defensively,
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  Speaker 3: you're losing Cassius Howell. But they bring in Antosaka. He's
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  Speaker 3: a transfer from Northwestern. The dude looks 35. If you
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  Speaker 3: watch an interview with Antosaka, you have no idea that
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  Speaker 3: he's a college kid. His numbers weren't explosive last year.
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  Speaker 3: But if you just watch the tape, he's very strong.
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  Speaker 3: He's bigger than Howell was. They like what they're seeing
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  Speaker 3: out of him. At least from my point of view,
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  Speaker 3: I just want to know, is he going to be
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  Speaker 3: Cassius Howell, or are they going to have to moneyball
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  Speaker 3: that and just recreate Howell in the aggregate and just
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  Speaker 3: sort of get that along the entire defensive line? So
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  Speaker 3: I do think Antosaki will be very good. My only
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  Speaker 3: question is, if he's not Cassius Howell, you're losing a
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  Speaker 3: bunch of other pieces of the defense, like Torian York
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  Speaker 3: back there at safety. He's gone. Is the defense maybe
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  Speaker 3: a candidate to take a bit of a step back
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  Speaker 3: this year?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Is that your biggest, outside of just the consistency with Reed,
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  Speaker 1: because we spent some time on that, Is that defense
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  Speaker 1: taking a step back.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe your biggest concern with A & M this year?
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  Speaker 1: I will get right back to chatting with Will, but
• 4:45
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• 4:54
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• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the end of January. So make sure you are on
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the PricePix app. Listen, based on when you saw this video,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: these games might have already happened, so you can just
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: grade me at this point, but I've been telling you
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: all week, I like the Ashton Daniels rushing total.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Go get that. It's 38.5 yards.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: I think Florida State runs him a few times. I'll
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: be there at the game, hopefully not to see a
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: meltdown by my knolls, but I like that rushing total
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: a lot. Jaden Maiava's passing yards is a free play
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: right now. I know it's his touchdowns that you can
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: kind of see in some places, but it's not on
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: the screenshot. Jaden Maiava's passing yards is set at. 5.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: You pick that, you're going to win it. I don't
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: foresee him having a game with negative passing yards or
• 5:36
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• 5:45
  Speaker 3: I think so, just because you're losing so many stars.
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  Speaker 3: There were so many elite players on that Aggies defense,
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  Speaker 3: and to their credit, they portaled in really good players
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  Speaker 3: to backfill that, but can they make the same impact,
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  Speaker 3: whether that's on the field or off the field? Do
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  Speaker 3: you look at A & M' s defense, and are you
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  Speaker 3: still able to point to your three or four guys
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  Speaker 3: where we can count on you to make a play?
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  Speaker 3: whenever we need it. That's the biggest question because the
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  Speaker 3: talent is there, but will they be as dominant? Will
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  Speaker 3: they be as efficient? Will they be as together? So
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  Speaker 3: I do think, I mean, it's not going to be
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  Speaker 3: a bad unit at all. It's too talented for that,
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  Speaker 3: but A & M' s defense last year was really, really
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  Speaker 3: good and won them a couple of games. It remains
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  Speaker 3: to be seen if their defense can go win them
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  Speaker 3: a game again this fall, but they had the potential
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  Speaker 3: to for sure.
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  Speaker 1: A lot was made last fall about the ease of
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  Speaker 1: their schedule and how they were able to win a
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  Speaker 1: lot of games.
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  Speaker 2: They look good doing it. They did go on the
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  Speaker 2: road and beat Notre.
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  Speaker 1: Dame, so don't jump on me, Texas A & M fans.
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  Speaker 1: But a lot was made about the ease of their schedule.
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  Speaker 1: Not so much the case this year. You've got to
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  Speaker 1: go to Baton Rouge. I think you obviously have the
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  Speaker 1: out-of-conference game with Arizona State. You have Kentucky first year
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  Speaker 1: under Will Stein. I do think they get through the
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  Speaker 1: first little stretch to their 3-0, even though I think
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  Speaker 1: Kentucky's going to go out and get somebody that they're
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  Speaker 1: not supposed to. And I really like Kenny Dillingham. But
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  Speaker 1: you get through that stretch 3-0, then you've got to
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  Speaker 1: go to Baton Rouge. And you've got the circus that's
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  Speaker 1: going on with Lane right now, and Baton Rouge is
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  Speaker 1: always a circus. When you're in there playing on a Saturday,
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  Speaker 1: that'll probably be a night game because they'll put as
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  Speaker 1: many night games as they can for Lane Kiffin.
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  Speaker 2: To be put on TV.
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  Speaker 1: Arkansas-Missouri Citadel, you know, not the most intimidating stretch there.
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  Speaker 2: The back half is.
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  Speaker 1: Tough with Tennessee, Bama, Oklahoma there at the end, obviously
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  Speaker 1: the Texas game. But a lot tougher schedule, at least
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  Speaker 1: on paper, this year than they had last year. If
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  Speaker 1: they can replicate the same kind of results that they
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  Speaker 1: got last year, then yeah, they will certainly have earned
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  Speaker 1: it and proved it. But What is your takeaway on
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  Speaker 1: the difficulty of this schedule? Again, I think there are
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  Speaker 1: pockets where you should stack up plenty of wins, but, man,
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  Speaker 1: they play a lot of good teams this year. They
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  Speaker 1: don't play quite the road that they did last season.
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  Speaker 3: The biggest thing I noticed is that their home road
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  Speaker 3: splits really aren't that ideal. They get Texas at home,
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  Speaker 3: but then Oklahoma, Bama, LSU, really hard road games. Those
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  Speaker 3: are all the way from home. South Carolina, Williams-Brice can
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  Speaker 3: get really loud. Missouri could be solid. So, obviously, you
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  Speaker 3: don't have to go to Neyland.
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  Speaker 2: You avoid that.
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  Speaker 3: But the home road sports are kind of tough, right?
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  Speaker 3: You get a lot of your tougher teams on the
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  Speaker 3: road back in Baton Rouge for the second straight year because,
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  Speaker 3: you know, why not? That's where we're at right now
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  Speaker 3: as a conference. But it's definitely pretty tough. And you're
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  Speaker 3: definitely not looking at this schedule saying, okay, they're going
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  Speaker 3: to play six of the bottom eight teams in the
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  Speaker 3: conference again. Because if LSU, Missouri, Bama, Oklahoma, and Tennessee
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  Speaker 3: make up the bottom half of the conference, I will
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  Speaker 3: never watch football again. So it's going to be a
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  Speaker 3: lot harder. And I think that'll also speak to a
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  Speaker 3: lot of what Marcel Reed can do, right? Because did
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  Speaker 3: he beat up on bad teams last year? Or is
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  Speaker 3: he just a really solid quarterback that sometimes falls down?
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  Speaker 3: This is a really hard schedule full of really tough defenses.
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  Speaker 3: So if he took that step like we talked about earlier,
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  Speaker 3: it'll be very evident once they get through that game
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  Speaker 3: at LSU, once they beat up on Missouri, if they
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  Speaker 3: go to Tuscaloosa, can they beat, can they go in
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  Speaker 3: that game? That's really going to be a big time
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  Speaker 3: stretch for Marcel.
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  Speaker 1: That Alabama game to me feels like such a linchpin
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  Speaker 1: and it is on the road and it is going
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  Speaker 1: to be tough because I really like Keelan Russell and
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  Speaker 1: I think that Now, your three under DeBoer is kind
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  Speaker 1: of like the, okay, let's see what you got, Kalen.
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  Speaker 2: But if they can get.
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  Speaker 1: Through the first little stretch, Missouri State, Arizona State, Kentucky
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  Speaker 1: at 3-0, even if you lose in Baton Rouge, which
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  Speaker 1: I think there'll be a dog in that game based
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  Speaker 1: on how LSU's early results will have gone, LSU will
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  Speaker 1: be coming off of that really emotional game at Ole
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  Speaker 1: Miss the week before, so something to watch for. But
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  Speaker 1: say you drop to LSU and then you're able to
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  Speaker 1: beat Arkansas, beat the Citadel, say you're able to go
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  Speaker 1: on the road and beat Missouri, you're still 6-1 at
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  Speaker 1: that point. And to me, the linchpin of the season
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  Speaker 1: is what do you do in Tuscaloosa? The game against
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  Speaker 1: the Tide, I think you're going to be a dog
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  Speaker 1: in that. But if you were able to go on
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  Speaker 1: the road and beat Alabama, to me that's the kind
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  Speaker 1: of statement that carries you through the rest of the year.
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  Speaker 1: If you beat Alabama, I got you going on the
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  Speaker 1: road the next week and beating South Carolina and Williams-Brice.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see if Beamer's even still the coach by that
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  Speaker 1: point of the year. I think you beat Tennessee at home.
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  Speaker 1: I really like Faison Brandon, but I'm not sold. I
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  Speaker 1: think you could go on the road and win in
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  Speaker 1: Norman at that point. Now, the Texas game at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the year, I think that's going to be tough.
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  Speaker 1: I think you also kind of factor in like, okay, well,
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  Speaker 1: who's qualified for what? Who hasn't qualified? Who needs it more?
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  Speaker 2: That's going to matter for that one.
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  Speaker 1: But if you lose to Bama and that's your second
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  Speaker 1: loss of the year, then you've got a razor thin
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  Speaker 1: margin and you've got to go 4-0 to finish the stretch.
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  Speaker 2: To me, I think Texas A & M.
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  Speaker 1: Should be 6-1, at worst 5-2, going to that Bama game.
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  Speaker 1: But I'll say they're 6-1. I'll say they go on
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  Speaker 1: the road and beat Missouri. I've said this a million
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: times to you. You already know it's coming. My favorite
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  Speaker 1: Missouri stat, my favorite SEC stat, is that Drinkowitz has
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  Speaker 1: never beaten a team that finished above.
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  Speaker 2: 500 in the SEC. I've got A & M going above.
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  Speaker 1: 500 in the SEC, and so thus I have A
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  Speaker 1: & M beating Missouri on the road. If you go
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  Speaker 1: into Bama at 6-1 and you win that game, I
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  Speaker 1: think you're a top 5-6 team in the country at
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  Speaker 1: that moment. And what they do from there could put
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  Speaker 1: them in position.
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  Speaker 2: For the playoffs.
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  Speaker 3: If they get to that bio with only one loss,
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  Speaker 3: you've got to feel really good. Because like you said then,
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  Speaker 3: You enter just your last four games of the year,
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: and you have a loss in your back pocket to
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  Speaker 3: probably Oklahoma or Texas. And I brought it up in
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: the Texas video, too, but the Horns have their bye
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: week in Week 5. A & M has it in
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: Week 9. So they're going to walk into that game
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: against Texas on their fourth straight game. Texas is on
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: their eighth. So that's a big schedule in that dynamics game, too,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: where A & M, they've had a hard time getting
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: over that Texas hump. Does the schedule help them out,
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: and can they pick up a win against a beat-up
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  Speaker 3: Longhorns team? So I think you're totally right. If they
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: can get through that Bama game, whether winning it or
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: losing it, frankly— with only one loss on their schedule,
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  Speaker 3: I mean, that's really the whole season right there. Because
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: then you're able to have something in your back pocket,
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: a bit of a cushion, because maybe Carolina does leap
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: up and grab you, or something like that. Or just,
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  Speaker 3: Norman's too much, that defense is too much for you.
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: But if you have that security blanket, and you avoid
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  Speaker 3: those reds within the margins, like you said, it makes
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  Speaker 3: you feel a whole lot better about A & M' s chances. And,
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  Speaker 3: you know, if they do get through that point, 7-1
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  Speaker 3: to their bye week, Marcel Reed took a step. The
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  Speaker 3: defense has clearly emerged a superstar. So once we even
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  Speaker 3: get to that point, those questions that I had about
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: A & M are probably already answered, and I feel
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  Speaker 3: really good about them as a playoff team.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Will Thomas, you can check him out on Tailgate Talk
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: SEC as well as a peek inside SEC Football.
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: Buddy, appreciate you hanging out. Thank you.