Latest / The Craig Way Show / Texas and A&M Suffer Setbacks, A Strong Small-School HSFB Slate with Greg Tepper

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Texas and A&M Suffer Setbacks, A Strong Small-School HSFB Slate with Greg Tepper · The Craig Way Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Here on the yacht rock wednesday on sports radio am
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: 1300 the zone and of course normally normally we visit
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: with our next guest in the three o'clock hour on
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: tuesday but because we had to move some things around
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: our man greg tepper the editor-in-chief of dave campbell's texas
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: football magazine was kind enough to uh uh adjust along
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: with us and tap i will tell you when you
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: come off the weekend that was had by the folks
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: who cheer for the team down in this town adjustment
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: and flexibility takes on added meaning okay i gotta be
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: honest like i don't want to i don't want to
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: be that guy but like run back the tape what
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: were we talking about what were we talking about with
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: regards to Texas OU?
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: When it seems that there is one team that's very clear,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: one team's in the dumps, one team is heading towards,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: people are asking whether or not they've got the right
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: coaching staff, and the other.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Team is flying high, everything's sunshine and daffodils, what happens?
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: That's what happens. This is one of those games.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: So it's one of those things where I was listening
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: to your call, as I always was, and as... Oklahoma
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: kind of just kept creeping back. All I was thinking
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: about was our conversation. I was thinking about, man, we
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: tried to tell people this is going to be one
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: of those games. It tends to be, and sure enough,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: I know it didn't go the way of the home
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: team down there in Austin, but I will tell you,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: as somebody who doesn't have a dog in the hunt,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: it was a fun ballgame.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: I know that's no solace to those folks, but it
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: was a heck of a ballgame.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Well, let me also say this, too. Two things. One,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: it's never going to be sunshine and daffodils down here,
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: whether they win or lose, because there's always going to
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: be some of that. I always point out that actual
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: true story of right after they won the national championship
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: and I get on the elevator and I come down
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: after they've beaten USC in this incredible game and I
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: get on and I dial in to our local postgame
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: show here on The Zone. and they were taking calls
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: back then, an actual caller to the show said, hey,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I'm glad we won the championship and all, but we've
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: got to do something to fix this defense. We gave
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: up 38 points to USC. I mean, we have got
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to do something about it. That convinced me that no
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: matter what happens, there will always be that out there.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Having said all that, and I'm sure, you know, Mike Craven,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: and by the way, in his mid-season superlatives piece there
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: for folks who haven't seen it on texasfootball.com, if you
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: want to see that, I was a little bit surprised
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: that he didn't list the Texas-Oklahoma game as the worst loss.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: He did give an honorable mention there. But he gave
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: the worst loss thing to the Texas State-San Diego State game, which,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: by the way, I was up for all of that,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: so I can understand why he would do that as well.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Well, I understand that for Texas fans, there's not going
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: to be any loss worse than losing to Oklahoma for
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: reasons both on the scoreboard and at the water cooler, right?
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: I get that.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: And also, one of the things about that is the
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Texas State loss to San Diego State was really surprising
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: for a lot of reasons, not the least of which
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: San Diego State was without 10 starters in that game.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: 10 because of, and this is true, the lumps. They
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: had a legit Oregon Trail disease going through their locker room.
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: And still they came up with Texas State.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Came up short and got outscored in the second half,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: you would think that the team with the depth advantage
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: would have the advantage there. Look, it was a tough week,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: I think, for Texas State, losing that game. But then
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: you add in, you know, it's been a tough couple
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: of weeks, I think, across the state of Texas.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: A lot of grumbling.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: I think you've just kind of noticed an uptick in
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: grumbling in college football across the state of Texas. Whether
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: it's TCU, who's on the outs with Sonny Dyches, they're
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: ready to run him out of town, despite the fact
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: that he played in the national championship recently.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: A & M, don't even get me started on what's
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: going on down there.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I'm going to get you started on that in a moment,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: but continue.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it seems like nobody's happy. You know
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: what I mean?
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Nobody feels really good about their team. Even Texas Tech.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Texas Tech's undefeated. Texas Tech's the number one team in
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: our power poll now that Texas has fallen. And that's
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: the team that we think is best. And you talk
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: with Tech fans, and there's the wringing of hands. Oh, man,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: we've got to figure some things out. There's been an
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: uptick in grumbling, I would say, overall in the college
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: football landscape.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: On Mike Craven's piece, and again, it's well-written. All of
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Mike's stuff is really good. But if people go to TexasFootball.com,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: obviously you can get the subscription or get all the
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: great content. and the access to watching live high school
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: games as well. He lists my alma mater, North Texas,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: as the most surprising team. It surprised me a little bit,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: but I would have to say I was a little surprised, too,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: that with the gutting of the roster of the Mean
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Green headed to what my longtime friend of mine and
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: a fellow North Texas grad refers to, UNT Stillwater. is
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: what he's calling Oklahoma State now. What with Eric Morris
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: up there and Drew Mestemaker and all the rest of
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the guys up there, for them to have to replace
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: something like 72 players there and bring in Neil Brown,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: they've done okay.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: I think North Texas felt like a total unknown. We
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: didn't know what to expect because they were building this program,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: this roster from scratch. And by the way, they should
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: probably get two awards considering how good the old North
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Texas team is doing north.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: Of the Red River.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: I mean, they've been fantastic themselves. And so I think, yeah,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: what Neil Brown has been able to do to build
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: this team on the fly to figure out. And I
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: think one of the things that has been most impressive
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: to me is that they have found a way to
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: win tight games. They found a way to beat Tulsa
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: in overtime. They've been able to find ways to win
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: games that maybe I think teams... You talk about cohesion, right?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: You talk about programs and teams that play together. Well,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: these guys have all gotten to know each other over
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: the last three months or so. And suddenly, this is
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: a team playing with a ton of cohesion, which I
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: think is a ton of credit to Neil Brown and
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: his staff and what they've been able to do and
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: build a culture kind of in short order. Yeah, I
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: think if you're a North Texas fan, you're one of
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: the rare exceptions here that feels really good about where
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: your football team's at.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: You know, their best win might be the one over UNLV,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: depending on what happens with UNLV the rest of the way.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: We'll find out about that. Biggest underachiever is at Texas
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: A & M, and I don't think you'd get much
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: disagreement about And then, of course, that took backseat to
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: use of the word cesspool this week by Mike Elko,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: who then kind of walked that back a bit afterwards.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: But needless to say, I mean, it's unhappy times in
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the Brazos Valley right now.
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: Man, I gotta tell you, it is.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: That post-game press conference was perhaps even worse than the
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: way A & M played against Missouri.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: Now, Missouri's my alma mater. I think Missouri's a pretty
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: decent team.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: I don't know if they're a world beater, but I
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: don't think there's any shame in going and losing to Missouri.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: But the way that they lost, and the way that
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: this offense has completely imploded... I mean, Marcel Reed... I mean,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: we're getting, like, borderline unplayable out there. I mean, like,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: through three quarters, like, the numbers will end up being,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: getting a little gussying up there down the stretch because
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: they had a nice drive kind of in the fourth
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: quarter that ended in a field goal. But, like, this isn't, like,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: they had, like, 60 yards of total offense after three quarters.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: I mean, the offense was, you know, non-existent. And I
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: think Colin Klein, losing Colin Klein is obviously rearing a
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: tuggly head. And then you go into the postgame press conference.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: and to more or less take a run at your most,
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: like the people who are probably most invested in this program,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: both like emotionally and financially. Like it just, I thought
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: it was, I mean, I understand like from Mike Elko's perspective,
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: he's very frustrated. And obviously, like I think we all
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: lash out whenever our emotions are high, but man, to
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: take a run at people at a group of people
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  Speaker 2: who are who live and breathe texas a & m
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: football and texas a & m athletics just really short-sighted
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: and really misguided and and i'm i'm positive that somebody
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: right after that said you're gonna walk that back on
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: monday uh and we're not asking that i'm sure trev
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: alberts was in his his his office uh since he
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: got back from columbia missouri.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I understand the point he's talking about, and
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: I've seen where other people have written about this as well,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: because the toxicity of fan bases is everywhere, including right
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: here in this town, but it's everywhere. And a large
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: measure of them do post and comment on fan sites.
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: That's true. But there are also a lot of very loyal,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: supportive fans, many of whom give of themselves financially as
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: well as of their emotions, that also follow and participate
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: on those fan sites. And you certainly don't want to
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: condemn those fans throwing the baby out. with the bathwater
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: in a deal like that.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: To me, he was trying to draw a point and
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: trying to draw a distinction between two different groups of saying,
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: we have the loyal fans, the people who are in
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: our corner, the people who have our back, the people
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: who want us to succeed, the people who are cheering
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: for us. They're at Kyle Field seven Saturdays a year
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: and stuff, and they are diehard for us. And then
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: you've got these online people who are going to say
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: whatever they want, no recourse, and are too hard on
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: the program and don't understand and stuff like that.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: He's trying to draw that distinction.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Guys... it's the same bucket. There's no distinction between that. That,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: I think, is where he really went wrong, is that
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: the people who are, yes, they are going online and
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: they are venting their frustrations, and maybe they're unfair.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: Maybe they are unfair at times.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: But those are also the people who love your university
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: more than anyone and will do anything for this university.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: I just thought that that was a real misstep from
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: a guy who is, in our conversations and by all accounts,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: is a really smart guy. but just a real misstep
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: to allow, I think, his emotions to take over and
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: to allow what I think is pretty clearly the frustrations
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: of things going south in a very quick way, take
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: over and run it, you know, make some comments that
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: he obviously wants back.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you about two other teams in Texas,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: then we'll move on to high school. Again, referring to
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: Mike Craven's piece today on texasfootball.com. Team I'm buying stock in, Baylor,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: team I'm most concerned about, TCU. His thoughts on those
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: and your thoughts on those two.
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Baylor, I think, has been, Baylor, the
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: real question for them was like, can DJ Lagway save
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Dave Aranda's job?
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: Is more or less it.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: Well, now, look, I don't think that Baylor's necessarily ahead
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: of schedule. If you take a look at their schedule,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: it's very backloaded. The final three-game stretch where they play BYU,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Texas Tech, and Houston, I think, is going to really
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: tell the tale for them.
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: But so far, look, they're entering their.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Open date at 4-1, and their one loss on the
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: year is by a point to Auburn in Atlanta, which
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: is essentially a road game, right?
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: Look, they have figured things out.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: I think that they are better, especially defensively, than people
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: may have thought they were going to be. DJ Lagway,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: it's been a roller coaster, but when he's good, he's
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: been good. Yeah, I think for Baylor, this is what
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: they were hoping it would be. This is what they
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: were hoping it would be in a lot of ways.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: For TCU, look, the results just haven't been there. The
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: biggest thing for me about TCU is that they cannot
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: run the ball.
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: At all. And that is really holding them back.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: I think the defense has actually been okay, but look,
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: when you are able to... Their defense has given their
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: offense the ball in situations to go down and win
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: the game, and they just simply haven't been able to
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: do it.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: That, I think, is the biggest thing. And now.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: For TCU and for Sonny Dyches, they've got to be looking...
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: They're going off on the road to Baylor to take
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: on a team that we just talked about that is
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: playing pretty well.
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: And if you... I mean, I don't need to tell
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: people this. If you're a TCU fan, that's the game
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: you got to win. You got to beat Baylor. And that.
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: If you want to talk about a real turn game
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: and a game that is really going to go a.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Long way towards....
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Towards determining the fate of both of those coaches. We
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: used to call it an anxiety bowl. It is a
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: real anxiety bowl in Waco because if Baylor can get
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: the win, they can really start making things uncomfortable and forward.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Greg Tapper, editor-in-chief, Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine. We'll shift
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: to high school. I'll ask you a similar mid-season eval question. Overall,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: if you were just to pluck one from the sky,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: what team has surprised you the most? Any classification.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: Chiefs.
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: Jeez, there's a handful of them. There's a number of
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: teams that I think have really, I think, overall have
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: surprised me. Not necessarily because we didn't think they were
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: going to be good, but maybe not this good.
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: I'll tell you one of them is the new number
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: one team in.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: 6A is North Crowley. North Crowley's team we thought was
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: going to be good, right? We thought they were going
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: to be pretty good. But new coach and a lot
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: of new pieces there that they have absolutely positively.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Figured it out.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: And things are looking very, very good for them.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: I think another team, and again, we thought they were
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: going to be good, but I think they've exceeded my expectations,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: is Richmond Randall. Moving up to 5A Division I, that's
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: a team that we thought, okay, there's going to be
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: some growing pains. What are they going to do outside
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: of having Landon Williams-Callas? Well, they've figured it out. I
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: still have questions about what happens when somebody's able to
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: bottle up Landon Williams-Callas, but that is a question for
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: another day. Still more things to learn about them. But
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: there's actually one more team in their own district that
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: I think is really interesting, and it's Friendswood. Friendswood is
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: off to an undefeated start and has been one of
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: the real surprises, I think, in Texas high school football.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: What they've been able to do, especially offensively, has been impressive.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: And then I'll give one more, and this is way
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: off the beaten path, and I'm not here to tell
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: you that this is a state championship contender, but we
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: always love great stories in Texas high school football. Fort
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Worth Wyatt is one of the best stories in Texas
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: high school football. This is a program that, you know, look,
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: has had times when they've been okay.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: But this year, they are undefeated.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: What they've been able to do under their coach, let's see,
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: it's Zach Chris now.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Willie's son.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. They're 6-0 for the first time in program history.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: They've got a game this week against South Hills. I
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: believe that's actually, that might be tonight. That might be
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: a Wednesday night affair because they're playing some games on
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Wednesdays there in Fort Worth ISD. What Zachary Chris has
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: done there is something that his dad, Willie, never did,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: and his brother, Anthony, never did. Remember, a Chris family
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: member has been the head coach there almost consecutively since 1984.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Amazing.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: And what Coach Zachary Chris has done is really, really impressive.
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: And again, I'm not here to tell you I think
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: the Chaparrals are winning a state championship. That is, I think,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: one of the great surprises.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: In Texas high school football.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no doubt about it. Have I not looked at
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: it properly? Or is this week in 6A a... How's
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: the best way to describe this?
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: Boom!
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: Week?
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah. It is a real....
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Here's the way I would describe it. It's a real
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: sicko week. This is not a week for the casuals.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: This is a week where there's still a fair number
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: of open dates out there. And it's just the schedule
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: lines up where it's not great at the big school level.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: It's not spectacular.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: I will say this. At the small school level, it's dynamite.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: It is dynamite. So really good level game year or
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: week in 3A, in 2A, in 4A. We've got a
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: 3A game on our broadcast. We're going out to Cedar
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Creek Lake to do Malakoff and Winsboro, which is a
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: top five matchup of unbeatens. If you're into that kind
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: of thing, this is an off the beaten path type
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: because you're right.
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: The best big school games are.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: Like Cedar Park, who's looked fantastic, taking on Vandegrift, who's
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: a team that we, you know, there's a lot of
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: storylines there, and I'm super interested in it. But as
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: far as Vandegrift's unranked at the moment, things like Barbers
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Hill Dickinson is a good game. Abilene Amarillo, from the
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: big school level, it's an off week. Wait till next week, though.
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: Next week, we get the whole Botana platter. No doubt
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: about it.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: Okay, time for the meanest thing we do each week.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: I give you three games, and you pick out which
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: one that you would transport to it were you not
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: calling the tremendous game you have. Okay, I give you
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: a choice between, and you just mentioned a few moments ago,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: and it really touched my heart in an old sentimental way.
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: Amarillo High at Abilene, two old school, original high schools there.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: So that one in the big country. Also, Bernie at
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Liberty Hill. Now, I was going to go with Lindale
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: at Pine Tree, but then I thought I'll keep my
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: 4AD1 powder drive because next week we could have unbeaten
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: Stephenville at unbeaten Gerald. That could happen next week. And
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: then the other one, since you're talking about small school, especially,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Ganado Shiner.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, Amarillo and Abilene is going to be just
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: a ton of fun there at Shotwell Stadium. Shotwell is
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: going to be rocking. And Abilene's got a real good crew.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: And that's a huge game in District 2, 5A and D1.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: That game is absolutely fascinating to me. The answer for me, though,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: is going to be Shiner Ganado. this is a top
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: 10 matchup in.
• 18:57
  Speaker 3: 2A Division 1.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: It's a game that I think lost a little bit
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: of luster because Ganado lost a couple of games in
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: the middle of it. But one thing I think is
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: fascinating about Ganado is I think their quarterback got nicked
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: up at one point.
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: And so they had to turn to a freshman quarterback,
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: Kyle Stancic.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: Well, the quarterback, Landon Arriaga, is back, but the freshman's
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: been so good that they've kept him in there. And
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: so that I think is fascinating. Shiner's defense has been
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: absolutely electric. The number four scoring defense in all of
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Texas high school football at any level.
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: That game is fantastic.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: I think Kaneto Shiner goes a long way towards determining what.
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: A 2A Division I state championship game may look like.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: I'll throw one more out there. You didn't mention it.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: I'm kind of glad.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: Bay City and El Campo play this week at Riceburg Stadium.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: It is the longest continuous rivalry in Texas high school football.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: They are playing for the 170th both like it's going
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: to be a zoo in El Campo. It's going to
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: be a ton of fun. That is a mess. That
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: is Texas OU in high school football. It is an
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: absolute knockdown drag out. That's going to be a ton
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: of fun. I'm actually glad you didn't give.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: It to me.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and there were two other honorable mentions I wanted
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: to throw out there. One, Bushland at Shallow Water. Rodney
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: Vinson's done a marvelous job at Shallow Water since leaving
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Vista Ridge and went out there and he's done that.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: That was one of them. And then just because we're
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: always looking for a reason to go to Mary's Cafe
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: and Strawn, you got Strawn and Union Hill. Right?
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: So it is a massive, if you think it's thin
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: in the 6A ranks, go look at 1A.
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: 1A, this is the big open date, which makes a
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: ton of sense.
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: You want the open date right before you go into
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: district play, a ton of 14 districts, real thin in 6A.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: But you get Union Hill, the number one team in
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: 1A Division I, taking on Strawn, a team that is
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: no stranger to playing in big games, state-ranked team in
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: 1A Division II. That's a whale of a ballgame, not
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: the least of which is a reason you can go
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: get some good chicken fry.
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: And even Paducah Valley is pretty good.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Because that way you can say, I've been to Kitty Quay,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: if you've done that, you know?
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: You've done that. I have not, no.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: That's where Valley is. They say Turkey Valley, but it's
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: actually in Kitty Quay for folks.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: You know what, Craig? I mean this sincerely. I learn
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: something every time we do this. Okay. All right.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Hey, Jeff, thanks. Have a great call this week. We'll
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: look forward to it next week.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: All right. Talk soon.
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: All right. That's Greg Jefford, Editor-in-Chief, Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: By the way, Kitty Quay is spelled Q-U-I-T-A-Q-U-E. It looks
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: like Quidditch, but it's pronounced Kitty Clay. In fact, they
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: even put it on their sign, their speed limit sign, Alfred,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: or they're welcome to. They phonetically put it K-I-T-T-Y hyphen K-W-A-Y,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Kitty Clay.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: Unbelievable. Town of 342.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Home of the Valley Patriots there. All right. We have
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: more coming up. Inconceivable next on 13 Under the Zone.