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Bill Riley on No. 12 Utah hosting Kansas Saturday in the Big 12 home opener, Which team will weather affect the most (?) + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Oh, like a WWE star or a UFC star, when
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: you hear that music, you know who's marching in. And
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: that is, of course, my next guest, the voice of
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: the Utes. Bill Riley, who joins us on a Friday
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: to preview Utah versus Kansas.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Bill Riley, welcome to the show. How are you, sir?
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: Just once, I'd like Jim Ross to say, wait a minute.
• 0:44
  Speaker 5: Is that you, too? Is that Bill Riley's music?
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God! It's Bill Riley's music!
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Oh, you know what?
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: That's giving me terrible mental pictures of what what strange
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: WWE tights you'd be wearing marching out on the ramp.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: So we're going to get away from that idea.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: I'd probably sport a Randy Macho Man Savage boa as
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: I was coming down the ramp, maybe some of those sunglasses.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Perfect.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Bill, we saw one another at the UFC fights the
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: other night. And, you know, is that your first rodeo?
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: You've been to a couple before. How did you like
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Saturday night?
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: I liked the last UFC you and I were together
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: at a little bit. I enjoyed myself. I had a
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: great time. I didn't think the fights were quite as
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: good or as entertaining this time around as they were
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: last time around. But I also didn't have WWE superstar
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: Cody Rhodes sitting next to me the last time we
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: were at UFC. And this time, with his crazy street
• 1:53
  Speaker 4: fighter hair, he was sitting in front of Shelly and I.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that was pretty coincidental crazy.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: So for people who were at the event or maybe
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: saw the event, Street Fighter coming out and Cody Rhodes
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: plays Guile, the Colonel Guile, the character. And he was
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: there in costume, in character at the Delta Center for
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: some photo op or whatever and happened to sit right
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: in front of the voice of the youths. Do you
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: think he realized he too was in the presence of
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: a celebrity?
• 2:21
  Speaker 4: I don't think he did, but he was very, very
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: nice to us. He was outstanding, very nice, apologized for
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: all the ruckus he was causing, and then walked.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: Away and said, thanks for putting up with us.
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: Okay, nice guy. It's good to hear that, right?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: When guys that are public figures are at least cordial
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: to their fans and to the people they have to
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: be around.
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: He was great. What did you think of the fights
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: the other night?
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, there were, A lot of one-sided affairs,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: which leads for some exciting finishes, which I'm okay with.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: And the main event went exactly how I thought it
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: was going to go from a finishing or lack of
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: finish standpoint, but technical back and forth, not a lot
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: of power on either of those young ladies.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: But that's fine. It's cool to have, again, to be
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: on the map in sports.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: And I know that for everyone else it's about having
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: professional teams, but for me, being so close to the
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: combat sports space, And knowing that this is the fourth
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: time in the last four years that the UFC has
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: decided to come to Salt Lake City, it means that
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: we're a sports destination for someone like me.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we've grown.
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: I mean, shoot, 25 years ago, you had never seen
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: anything like this. I tell people all the time, Sean,
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: we may not be Chicago or New York or Los
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: Angeles anymore. But we are a legit, big-time sports market now.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: The Olympics are coming back. UFC is here every year.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: We've got three, four major league sports franchises, maybe more
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: on the way. Big-time collegiate athletics. I mean, this is a,
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: you know, this is just, we're in that tier just
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: below the Chicago's, the L.A. 's, the Miami's, the New
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: York's of the world when it comes.
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: To sports markets.
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that's where we're at, and I love it.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: And you just mentioned.
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  Speaker 2: We've got a big-time team, a couple of big-time college
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: sports teams right now. Let's talk about Utah, though, taking
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: on Kansas this weekend. Bill, I know it's your alma mater,
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  Speaker 2: but I feel like with what we've seen in Kansas
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: so far, they kind of stunk out loud against the
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: power four teams that they've actually played. And I'm trying
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: to figure out the right mindset to have about that
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: because Utah is a lot better. But Kansas has athletes,
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: and they're well coached, or.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: They have a good coach.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know if this particular squad is accepting that
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  Speaker 2: coaching all that well. I don't know how to approach
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: this game mentally from an expectation standpoint because the, like,
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: 15-year-old in me is Utah's going to smash these guys
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  Speaker 2: by 40. But it's dangerous to have that mentality.
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: It is.
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  Speaker 5: And let me say this, though, Sean.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: You're right.
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  Speaker 4: Kansas has not been good against the power four teams
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: in Missouri and Arizona State they faced. They've got a
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: young-ish quarterback who's only started five games. Utah saw him
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: kind of as a wildcat sub last year. He's getting
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: a little bit better. I'll tell you what they do have, though,
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: is they've got good lines of scrimmage. The offensive line
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: is good, and the defensive line's got a couple of them.
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: One guy in particular, Leroy Harris, will probably play on Sunday's.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: So they're pretty good in the trenches. In fact, from
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: a trench standpoint, they might be the best team Utah
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: has faced so far, maybe even better than Arkansas. So
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure what to make of this game.
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: You're right.
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  Speaker 4: On paper, Utah looks like they're better. But Kansas also
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: has some skill guys, too. They've got a couple of
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: wide receivers who are pretty good. They've got Dylan Edwards,
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: who's a good running back. So, you know, I hesitate
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: to say, like, you know, like you, the fan in
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: you wants to say, yeah, beat them by 40.
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: I just conference games.
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: The one thing that helps is Utah coming off the
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: bye week and Kansas traveling West, playing in some weather,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: probably tomorrow night, maybe a little rain and then playing
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: at a different time.
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  Speaker 5: Maybe that helps.
• 6:13
  Speaker 4: I don't know, but I feel like Utah is the
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: better team, but there's some pieces about Kansas that could
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: give some problems.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And we can agree on that at the very least.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: And you mentioned something interesting, you know, coming off a
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: bye week is supposed to help. And in so many
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: cases it does. But when you've got great momentum and
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: you don't need a bunch of rest because of obvious
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: injury problems, sometimes bye weeks for me are like, oh,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: you interrupted our flow a little bit. And, of course,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: this is Morgan Scali's first bye week, although bowl prep
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: is probably very similar from a coaching standpoint. And so
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: I'm actually really curious to see how the team comes out.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: And I won't read too much into it either way,
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: but how the team comes out. after a bye week
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: because the routine very obviously was working the way that
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: he was doing things in the first four weeks relative
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: to the level of competition of course was obviously working
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: and i wonder if you know he ends up being
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: one of those coaches who is always great after.
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: A bye week Well, he's really prepared.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: We know that. He's always got a plan for everything.
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  Speaker 4: So I would guess so. To me, there's very few
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: times when a bye week hurts you. I think, like,
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: if you're really super healthy and it's week eight and
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: you're 7-0 and you're rolling, maybe you don't want the
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: bye week. But, you know, this one was early enough on.
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  Speaker 4: They hadn't played a lot of great company. You're coming
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: out of the bye week at home against a team
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: that's– they're not great players. I don't know that this
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: bye week is necessarily going to hurt them. Now, maybe
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: in three weeks you wish that you would have had
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: the bye week a little bit later to get some
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: rest or to heal up some injuries. But my guess
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: is tomorrow night they come out pretty dialed in and
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: pretty locked in on Kansas.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: Whiteout at night. Weird juju with a whiteout at night, potentially. But,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: you know, the fan base is really fired up over
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: the hand-painted helmet. They did a great job of keeping
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: those things, like, kind of quiet until the actual release.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: The players are fired up about it. And obviously, you know,
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: this is part of what lends itself to success in
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: recruiting and greatness in college football right now. You've got
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: to give the fans and the potential players these little
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: nuggets that these little carrots that are dangled now and
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: then in order to get enthusiastic over what otherwise might
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: be just kind of a ho-hum Big 12 game.
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: I do think a whiteout at night, though, could look
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: pretty good. The entire stadium, the lights coming down, the
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: darkness above and everything like that.
• 8:49
  Speaker 5: I think it could look pretty good.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: For the crowd's sake, I hope Mother Nature agrees with
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: us for most of the game tomorrow night. I'm not
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: sure what that's going to look like around kickoff yet,
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: but I think it's going to be a great atmosphere.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: Night games at Rice-Eccles, 99 straight sellouts, hand-painted helmets. I
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: think it's going to be a great atmosphere, and, you know,
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: it's a Big 12 game. We haven't seen a Big
• 9:16
  Speaker 4: 12 game at Rice-Eccles yet this year.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: You just mentioned the weather, and there is potential for,
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: what is it, Hurricane Rachel to start showing her– to
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: start showing her effects sometime tomorrow night. If that happens,
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: there are some teams that are equipped, there are some
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: offenses that are equipped to kind of just keep things
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: rolling the same way that they have been. Of course,
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: Iowa State was supposed to be bad weather, and then
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: it didn't end up being as bad as I think
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: some of the forecast showed. If there is wild and
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: wet and wind, does that affect Utah or Kansas more?
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: I think both teams like to run the football. I
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: think it probably affects Kansas maybe a little bit more
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: you're on the road you've got a young quarterback who's
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: never played in an atmosphere like this before he hasn't
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: played a team probably quite as good although Missouri's pretty
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: good they hammered Florida good so Maybe he has, but
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: I think the advantage is always to the home team
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: if you've got weather or outstanding circumstances. But I don't
• 10:22
  Speaker 4: know what we're going to get just yet. I mean,
• 10:24
  Speaker 4: he has had the propensity to fumble a little bit
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: and to throw some interceptions, so maybe that works in
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: favor of Utah.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: How good is Devin Dampier this year?
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: I mean, when we start to compare him with the
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: rest of the quarterbacks in the conference and even in
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: the country, the lists that are coming out are saying,
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: you know, he's We thought he'd be a top 25 quarterback.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: He's a top 15 quarterback right now. And look, there's
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: plenty of football left to play, but I love what
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: we've seen from him so far. How good is Devin
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Dampier relative to his peers? I think he's really good.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: I think he's a top two or three quarterback in
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: the Big 12 for sure this year. I think we
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: haven't really seen Devin have to be Devin yet, though.
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: Does that make sense?
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: The competition hasn't forced him to maybe– utilize his full
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: skill set yet to do those improvisations that we know
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: he's so very good at he hasn't had to put
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: the team on his shoulders for a good two minute
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: drive just yet he hasn't been putting i mean iowa
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: state stressed it just a little bit but i i
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: think devon's best football this year for sure sean is
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: still ahead of him though he's been really good so far.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: How many wins is WaySean Parker worth? I'm asking this
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: question because, you know, BYU loses their WaySean. LJ Martin
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: is an even more established version of WaySean, and they
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: lose him for four to six weeks. First of all,
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: heaven forbid, but I was thinking about what does it
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: look like for a team that's otherwise really, really good,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: really prepared, if you lose a star player like that?
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Obviously quarterback, we know what that looks like. for the
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: University of Utah when you lose a star quarterback from
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: a couple years back. But a star running back, a
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: top-flight and all-conference caliber running back, somebody like Wayshawn Parker,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: how many wins is he worth?
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: I'd say he's probably worth two wins a year at least.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: I think he, you know, especially if he has a
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: performance like he did against Iowa State, I think it's
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: probably the same case down there. I think it's a
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: little bit different for them down in Provo because– I
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: don't know that you know as much about the backups
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: there as you do maybe some of the guys at Utah,
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: like a Daniel Bray or a Steven Chavez Soto. And
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: I don't know that BYU has the overall weaponry around
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: Bear Bachmeier, although the Glasker kid looks really, really good.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: that Utah has around Devin Dampier. So I would say,
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: you know, Ray Sean's probably worth at least two wins
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: a year for you.
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: I would tell you L.J.
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: Martin probably overall may be a little bit more important
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: to what BYU does down there. That's why it's going
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: to be interesting tonight to see how they– and sometimes,
• 13:08
  Speaker 4: and we know this, Sean, sometimes a backup running back
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: gets an opportunity and takes off and runs with it.
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: But you don't know until you have to put them
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: into that situation.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: Bill Riley is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Show for another couple of minutes as we get ready
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: for Kansas versus Utah. Coming to Rice Echo Stadium tomorrow night.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Whiteout game, 8-15 kickoff. Should be a wild and woolly
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: and crazy atmosphere. And I've asked you some version of
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: this every single week. But now that we're starting to
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: see some wheat separated from the chaff and the best
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: teams in the conference maybe separating themselves or maybe not. And,
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: of course, now you have to factor in some injuries
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: for certain squads When you're handicapping this Big 12 conference
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: and knowing the race and who misses who in the
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: regular season schedule, how accurate are a picture you think
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: you're putting together in your mind of the stretch run here?
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: I still think the top three are the top three. BYU,
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: Utah Tech are there. In what order, I'm not sure. Utah,
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: I think, has looked better overall than the other two.
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: But to be fair, BYU has played Arizona, who I
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: think is a pretty good team. Texas Tech has played Houston,
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: who I think is a pretty good team. I don't
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: think Utah's played anybody to that level yet, but I
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: think they've looked better overall in their season. I think
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: we're going to know a lot more in the next
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: two weeks or so. Tech doesn't look as good as
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: they were a year ago. They just don't. They look
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: like they're pretty good defensively. They look like they're still
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: trying to find themselves on offense. They were struggling with Colorado.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: BYU just looks like they're solid selves, but without L.J.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: Martin on offense, and Isaiah Glasker's a big loss on defense, too.
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: We'll see what happens.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: I think Oklahoma State is probably better than I thought
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: they were before the season. I still think Arizona's really good.
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: I'm not sure how good Houston is. I think they're good,
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: but are they top 25, win the conference good? I'm
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: not sure about that. So I still think the top
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: three are the top three. and I think we'll get
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: better answers here in the coming weeks. But I'm not
• 15:14
  Speaker 4: changing anything just yet. I might put Oklahoma State. Maybe
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: I make it a top four with Oklahoma State as
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: well because they've got a road win at West Virginia,
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: and they've got the win over Oregon at home. They
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: probably have the best resume, but then they've got the
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: Tulsa loss.
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: So you have to factor that in there too.
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: But I think Oklahoma State is probably maybe making that
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: top three or top four.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: What are we doing with Baylor, Bill?
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: I'm trying to figure out what I say about the
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Baylor Bears.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: They're 4-1 overall.
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: They got wins over Colorado and Arizona State. I don't
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: think those are even– I think those might be the
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: two bottom teams in the conference this year. But just
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: like Utah, you just have to play who's in front
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: of you. Close loss against Auburn in the first game
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: of the season. So what are we making of the
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Baylor Bears?
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: I think they're pretty good, too, Sean. I had them
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: as a Tier 3 team before the year. I've kind
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: of moved them up into my Tier 2. They just
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: absolutely annihilated it. I'm actually surprised ASU is where they are,
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: and they got beat as bad as they did last weekend.
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: But DJ Lagway looks like the real deal, and they're
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: not bad defensively either. Now, Utah doesn't have to see
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: them this year, so that's maybe an advantage, Utah not
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: having to go to Waco or have them come here.
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: But I think Baylor has solidified itself in that second tier,
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: and maybe I'm rating them low before because of where
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: I had them preseason. But, yeah, a two-point road loss
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: in the opener to not a spectacular but a solid
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: Auburn team, maybe I need to be a little bit
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: more dialed into Baylor.
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: Bill Riley for one more minute here on the Sean
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: O'Connell Show. I know it's football season, but basketball starts
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: to overlap, and we've got some exhibition examples here for
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: the– Running Utes, so far so good. Some flashes, some
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: nice things. Obviously newcomers and players that you want to
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: see develop even more, but early returns, what are your
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: initial thoughts on Alex Jensen's squad?
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: I think so far so good. I've watched him practice
• 17:17
  Speaker 4: a few times. It was interesting to see their effort
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: the other night against UNLV when you're actually playing somebody else.
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: They led the entire game, Sean. They led start to
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: finish the other night. Vegas made it a little close
• 17:30
  Speaker 4: in the second half, but I think it's a good start.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: I think they're certainly bigger and more physical up front.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: I like what I've seen so far from them, and
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: I like the fact that they've got three exhibition games.
• 17:42
  Speaker 5: They're going to play UNLV. They're going to.
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: Play Nevada next week on the road, and then they'll
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: finish up their exhibitions. College basketball has become pro basketball now.
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: There's exhibitions and not secret scrimmages anymore. Then they'll have
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: Oregon at home. So I I talked to Martin Schiller.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: I ran into him yesterday on campus, the assistant coach,
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: and I think they were overall pretty pleased with how
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: the first exhibition game went. Again, you've got 10, 11
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: new guys on the team, so you're still figuring out
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: Alex and his staff are figuring out rotations and things
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: like that, but I think it's easier to do that
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: in a game situation, exhibition game situation, than it is
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: maybe in practice. Again, early returns, one exhibition game, And
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: I've seen them at practice. I think the product is
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: going to be a lot better this year than it
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: was last year.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: As you probably already know this, does the voice of
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: the Utes adhere to the fan and team dress code on.
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: A night whiteout?
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: I don't usually think about it, but tomorrow night, maybe
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: I'll go with the... the black pan, the black slacks
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: and the white top, or maybe I'll just go with
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: the all white look to it. Maybe I'll, I'll see
• 18:56
  Speaker 4: if I can, you know, find a good humor man
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: and maybe, you know, borrow his uniform and slap a
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Utah logo on the chest or something like that. I don't, yeah,
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: but yeah, I hadn't given it much thought because, you know,
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: I'm not really out and among the folks in the stands,
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: but maybe I'll throw a little all white on tomorrow night.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: What about you and the media core?
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I, I always find myself, because, you know, we're
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: the home of the Utes, and when you're a media member,
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: when you're on a press pass, you're, I guess, technically
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: not supposed to be wearing, like, Utah gear. But I
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: do every game because, you know, we're the home of
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: the Utes. So, yeah, I think I'll have to do
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: my best to find.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Well, I don't look great in white.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: You know, black is more slimming. But I'll figure something
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: out to try to join the crowd.
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: By the way, you're, plugged into the world. What were
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: the returns on UFC? Were Dana and his guys happy
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: with their appearance in Salt Lake City?
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: They were.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: You know, there was some, like that Peyton Talbot kid
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: that you saw in the co-main event. He's really put
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: himself in the conversation for a title shot sooner than later.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: They figured out some of the things they were hoping
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: to figure out with that card. The main event being
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: a title fight when neither of them... It was a
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: vacated title, so it was a little anticlimactic. Nobody had
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: to beat the current champ in order to win that.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: But Natalia Silva said she wants to remain very active
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: and defend even one more time this year and then
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: three times next year. So they always love hearing stuff
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: like that.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: But.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: We get kind of the point we were making before.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: We get a lot of praise as a general sports
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: and fan public when events like the UFC come to
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: town because they were happy with the support, with the
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: merchandise sales, with all that stuff.
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: And I think.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Barring any big surprises, I think that it means they'll
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: come back sooner than later.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's what I was more concerned about, the ticket sales,
• 21:04
  Speaker 4: the way it went off. The crowd seemed good. There's
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: always empty seats, but the crowd seemed pretty good, especially.
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: And you tell me, I didn't feel like there was
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: a big, you know, the main event, as you said,
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: but it didn't feel like, you know, there was a big,
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: there wasn't a Gaethje or somebody like that on the
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: card that, you know, is really a household name that
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: might have brought some more people in.
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that turnout for that card. is probably
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: better than what they deserved, if we're being honest. Like,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: if it was that card in Vegas, their returns would
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: have been poor. But because it was Salt Lake and,
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: you know, people, it's still a novelty for some folks. And,
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: you know, people come in from Idaho and Wyoming and
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: all that stuff all the time.
• 21:43
  Speaker 3: It was a good turnout, good crowd.
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: Excellent.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: I'll look forward to seeing what the fit looks like
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: tomorrow night, John.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Before we let you out of here, Handy and Handy,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: great personal injury attorneys, people you and I have known
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: for a very long time. What do our listeners need
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: to know about Handy Law Utah?
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: Well, just that.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: They're great people and great personal injury attorneys. Big-time Utah fans,
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: Preston and Garrett, they do a great job. And if
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: you happen to be in that world where you need
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: somebody to represent you as a personal injury attorney... They're
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: excellent people, and they've got more than 40 years of
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: experience doing what they do. So you can find them
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: online at HandyLawUtah.com. But the minute you meet those two,
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: you'll figure out very quickly that they care and care
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: about their clients very much and will fight really hard
• 22:33
  Speaker 4: for their clients. So go to HandyLawUtah.com.
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Bill. We'll see you up there tomorrow. Thanks, Sean.
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: Talk to you soon.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: Voice of the Utes, Bill Riley, brought to you by
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Handy and Handy. Handy Law Utah. Dot com.