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Steve Sarkisian on what the Senior Class has meant to the program · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: It's the Craig Waishop with the voice of the Texas
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Longhords in Hall of Vain broadcaster Craig, hope.
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  Speaker 3: Your Monday's going all right?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I customarily say on Friday. If Friday for
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: you is your traditional Friday, the traditional one, and you're
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: heading in the weekend, good on you, good for you,
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  Speaker 2: and I hope it goes well. But if it's not,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: I said, for some of you, maybe it's your Wednesday,
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  Speaker 2: maybe it's even your Monday. Hope you navigate that. Let
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: me flip that around the other way. For those of
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  Speaker 2: you who Monday is kind of what we think of
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  Speaker 2: as our Friday going into a couple of days off,
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  Speaker 2: good on you and and good for you.
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  Speaker 3: I hope it goes well. And for the rest of us, well,
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  Speaker 3: well we'll just cruise on through.
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  Speaker 2: Right before we get to hearing from long Worn's head
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  Speaker 2: coach Steve Sarkesian from the weekly news conference, it is
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  Speaker 2: probably important enough and incumbent upon us to mention the
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  Speaker 2: fate of the former.
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  Speaker 3: Head football coach at Texas.
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  Speaker 2: Tom Herman, of course, has been at Florida Atlantic, but
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  Speaker 2: he no longer is.
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  Speaker 3: The school announced today.
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  Speaker 2: Immediate changes in the leadership of the football program. The
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  Speaker 2: athletics director Brian White said that those changes include Tom
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  Speaker 2: Herman no longer coaching the Florida Atlantic Owls. The quote
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  Speaker 2: was axed to my appreciation to Tom Herman for his
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  Speaker 2: dedication to our university and our student athletes. I informed
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  Speaker 2: time of my decision this morning and then met with
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  Speaker 2: the staff and the team. We firmly believe in our
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  Speaker 2: ability to win championships and compete for bowl games, and
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  Speaker 2: that remains our standard. A national search begins immediately. With
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  Speaker 2: the integrity of the search in mind, I will have
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  Speaker 2: no further public comment until the announcement of the als
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  Speaker 2: next head football coach. The special teams coordinator Chad Lunsford
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  Speaker 2: has been named the interim head coach for the season.
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  Speaker 2: So Tom Herman no longer the coach at Florida Atlantic.
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  Speaker 2: I'm kind of hit his high water mark with Houston.
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  Speaker 4: Yep, I think he did. And now that that's two
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  Speaker 4: former Texas coaches. Stan Drayton, the former Texas running backs coach,
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  Speaker 4: did a phenomenal job. A big, big reason why Butshn
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  Speaker 4: Robinson came to Texas was because of coach Trayton no
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  Speaker 4: longer at Temple a very tough place to win at
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  Speaker 4: and then same thing for Tom Merbant and FAU just
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  Speaker 4: just did not work out for him. So I wonder
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  Speaker 4: if he returns back to the broadcast, But I'm sure
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  Speaker 4: Stan Drayton will find a positional coach roll somewhere across
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  Speaker 4: across the nation. We'll see what happened with the our
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  Speaker 4: choice Texas running back coach. You know, I think he'll
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  Speaker 4: probably get some looks at head coaching jobs or oc
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  Speaker 4: jobs in the future. But I wonder if Herman ends
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  Speaker 4: up back in the broadcast booth like he was in
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  Speaker 4: between Texas and FAU.
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  Speaker 2: That'll be interesting to see if it does wind upa
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  Speaker 2: or if he goes on and somebody else hires him.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, he can you know, I think many, many,
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  Speaker 2: and I do say many programs would hire him as
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  Speaker 2: a coordinator. Yeah, just don't know how many would be
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  Speaker 2: interested in his services as a head coach. But anyway,
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  Speaker 2: that's that's the news there. Tom Herman out as head coach.
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  Speaker 2: And by the way, Keseh're keeping's court. There are four
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  Speaker 2: Division one FBS football programs whose mascot is the Owls, Rice, Florida,
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  Speaker 2: Atlantic Temple, and Kenesas State, and all four are changing
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  Speaker 2: out their head coaches, all four making their change. It
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  Speaker 2: doesn't pay to be the coach of the Owls, right, Well,
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  Speaker 2: maybe it does on your exit thing, I guess. All right,
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  Speaker 2: let's hear from Long Worn's head coach Steve Sarkishan from
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  Speaker 2: the weekly news conference live earlier here on sports Radio
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  Speaker 2: AM thirteen under the Zone.
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  Speaker 3: Here's sarks opening statement.
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  Speaker 5: Awesome went on the road Saturday. You know, I think.
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  Speaker 6: Is really challenging, and we see it across the board,
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  Speaker 6: and you know, somebody brought to my attention that we're
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  Speaker 6: the only undefeated team on the road in conference play,
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  Speaker 6: and so I think it speaks volumes to how difficult
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  Speaker 6: it is to go on the road and win. I
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  Speaker 6: credit our guys for playing the way they played, and obviously,
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  Speaker 6: you know, defensive we had a fantastic game.
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  Speaker 5: I think John A.
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  Speaker 6: Barron was the with the Alfred Collins was the defensive
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  Speaker 6: lineman of the week, and who I don't think is
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  Speaker 6: getting near enough credit nationally for how good he's playing
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  Speaker 6: football right now for us. I mean, Alfred is playing
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  Speaker 6: a fantastic brand of football. Hayden Connor getting the offensive
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  Speaker 6: Lineman of the week. I think that's now our fourth
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  Speaker 6: offensive lineman that's gotten player of the week. So proud
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  Speaker 6: of our guys and just probably the way they're working
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  Speaker 6: and and you know, as I told them today, I
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  Speaker 6: think this is the biggest game of the season coming up.
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  Speaker 6: You know, Kentucky's a really good football team. They have
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  Speaker 6: played their best football against the best teams they've can against,
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  Speaker 6: you know, whether it be an old Miss Georgia, Tennessee.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, they've played really well. I got a ton
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  Speaker 6: of respect for coach Stoops and the job he's done.
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  Speaker 6: So looking forward to the challenge and looking forward to
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  Speaker 6: celebrating Senior Day. You know, a lot of these guys
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  Speaker 6: have done so much work for us and have been
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  Speaker 6: such catalysts for our culture and what we do, and
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  Speaker 6: so to celebrate them, looking forward to that and looking
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  Speaker 6: forward to the opportunity to play Kentucky Saturday.
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  Speaker 2: All Right, And then on into the Q and a
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  Speaker 2: portion of the press conference with Sark and that included
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  Speaker 2: the fact that this Saturday, I know, I know what
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  Speaker 2: folks are used to calling it senior Day, right, the
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  Speaker 2: honor of the seniors, But what we've seen in college
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  Speaker 2: football over the past few years is more and more
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  Speaker 2: players playing their final collegiate home games who are not
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  Speaker 2: seniors with transfer portal issues and this and that, and
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  Speaker 2: guys wanted to leave early to go the National Football League.
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  Speaker 3: They played last game.
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  Speaker 2: So University of Texas with that mindset, has changed the
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  Speaker 2: name of it to the Long Orange Farewell, so they
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  Speaker 2: will honor those guys, all of the guys, and then
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  Speaker 2: we'll see. But obviously the seniors have meant a lot
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  Speaker 2: to sark into this program.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, no, I mean I think there's great examples, right,
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  Speaker 6: and whether it's a Jodday and Alfred a Vernon, Jake
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  Speaker 6: Majors for that matter. A lot of these guys that
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  Speaker 6: were here when we got here, and then a lot
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  Speaker 6: of these guys that signed in December, and then I
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  Speaker 6: got the job in January. The gunner helms the the.
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  Speaker 5: Baron surrels of the world.
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  Speaker 3: And so.
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  Speaker 6: I'm really appreciative of these guys because it's hard to
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  Speaker 6: get a culture of the way you want. And I'm
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  Speaker 6: not saying the last one was wrong, right and different,
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  Speaker 6: It's just what we were looking for, and these guys
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  Speaker 6: bought in. And when it got difficult year one, year two,
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  Speaker 6: they didn't they didn't jump off and go somewhere else.
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  Speaker 6: They stayed the course with what we were trying to do.
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  Speaker 6: And so super grateful for these guys, and you know,
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  Speaker 6: I owe a ton to them, and uh, you know,
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  Speaker 6: I get a little emotional about this stuff because without
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  Speaker 6: without this group, we wouldn't be where we are. And
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  Speaker 6: so I'm I'm, like I said, I'm very grateful and
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  Speaker 6: thankful for them.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of guys who say they're very
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  Speaker 2: grateful and thankful for Courch Sark and to have the opportunity. Next,
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  Speaker 2: he was asked a question about the defense and how
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  Speaker 2: happy is about the defense, but also how happy is
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  Speaker 2: with the job that is defensive coordinator Pete Wikowski has
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  Speaker 2: done PK like several long words, if things don't go
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  Speaker 2: perfectly well for in the in the view of some fans,
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  Speaker 2: then they may be down on a coach or coaches
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  Speaker 2: and and PK was one of those guys as well.
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  Speaker 2: So Sark was asked how happy is he about the
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  Speaker 2: way PK has constructed this defense and the way it
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  Speaker 2: has performed.
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  Speaker 6: Well, I I love what we're doing defensively, and I'm
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  Speaker 6: super proud of PK and the job he's done, and
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  Speaker 6: our entire defensive staff. You know, we've had a lot
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  Speaker 6: of continuity over there, you know, Terry, Joseph Blake, Gideon,
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  Speaker 6: those guys, and we heard a ton about our secondary
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  Speaker 6: a year ago and why they weren't what they were
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  Speaker 6: supposed to be or allegedly and and for them to
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  Speaker 6: play the way they're playing. And then the addition, I
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  Speaker 6: would say, I Kenny Baker, what a great addition he's
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  Speaker 6: been to continue to build on the defensive line, and
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  Speaker 6: Johnny Nassen what he's done.
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  Speaker 5: Credit to all those guys.
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  Speaker 6: You know, when you when you're trying to play great
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  Speaker 6: defensive football, I think it's a mindset as much as
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  Speaker 6: it is schematically. And our mindset has grown into I
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  Speaker 6: don't think our guys believe that anyone can move for
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  Speaker 6: the ball on them, that anyone's gonna score them. And
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  Speaker 6: that's a beautiful thing to watch, Like even at practice,
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  Speaker 6: just we're gonna walk through and the mindset of fitting
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  Speaker 6: to run the right way and holding each other accountable,
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  Speaker 6: and those are all the little things that I enjoy
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  Speaker 6: as a head coach. You know that we've grown into
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  Speaker 6: now as a defensive football team.
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  Speaker 3: Next says that classic question.
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  Speaker 2: And it was a friend Thomas Jones at the Austin
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  Speaker 2: American Statesman, and he actually said TJ actually said, I
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  Speaker 2: hesitate to use.
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  Speaker 3: The phrase trap game, but I'm gonna ask the question.
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  Speaker 2: Arkansas last week one rival game Texas A and him
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  Speaker 2: next week another rival game.
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  Speaker 3: Is Kentucky a trap game?
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  Speaker 6: I just said, this is to me, this is the
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  Speaker 6: biggest game of the football season. This is the most
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  Speaker 6: important game of the year, last home game of the year.
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  Speaker 6: I envisioned us putting our best foot forward.
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  Speaker 5: I really do. I think our guys are gonna come
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  Speaker 5: ready to play.
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  Speaker 2: All right, We're gonna hear more from Start coming up
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  Speaker 2: later in the program. But up next, we have Inconceivable
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  Speaker 2: for a Monday afternoon here on Sports Radio AM thirteen
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  Speaker 2: under the Zone any iHeartRadio app