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Why this Oklahoma defense SHOULD give Sooners fans hope still · Sooner or Later Sports

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  Speaker 1: There's not much positive things you can take out of
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  Speaker 1: this season, but there are a couple of things that
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  Speaker 1: we can talk about. And we're going to do that.
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  Speaker 1: Y'all know we try to keep it as positive as
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  Speaker 1: possible because unfortunately we can only work with what we got.
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  Speaker 1: Brent Venables understands that. He said in his presser, the
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  Speaker 1: winning expectations do not change. And this is not the standard.
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  Speaker 1: And we've got to find a way to get there. Luckily,
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  Speaker 1: I think there might be a very small path to
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  Speaker 1: get there because one, the defense did exactly what I
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  Speaker 1: told y'all they would probably do. We'll talk about that. Plus,
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  Speaker 1: John Mateer did get better in something he said he
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  Speaker 1: wanted to get better at. And now I'm hoping he
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  Speaker 1: keeps building on it. Let's talk about it. Before we
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  Speaker 1: do that, welcome to Sooner Letter Sports, part of the
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  Speaker 1: Unfair Sports Network. I'm your boy, Jay. Thank y'all for
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  Speaker 1: pulling up to the channel. This video is powered by
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  Speaker 1: our partners at PrizePix. New users play five. Get $ 150
• 0:47
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  Speaker 1: Ain't much positive to talk about this season. But we
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  Speaker 1: gonna find it. We gonna do it. Because... We deserve
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  Speaker 1: to talk about us actually doing something right. This weekend
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  Speaker 1: is the opportunity to break the cycle of win-loss, win-loss,
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  Speaker 1: win-loss we've seen since our last home win against LSU
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  Speaker 1: last season. Since then, it's been a win-loss, win-loss cycle,
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  Speaker 1: and we've got to break that. South Carolina game gives
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  Speaker 1: you the opportunity. It's a very unique opportunity because South
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  Speaker 1: Carolina's not terrible, but they're also not great. They're riding high,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of emotional wins, similar to some other teams
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  Speaker 1: we played. So the key thing here is to not
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  Speaker 1: give the ball up. Now, Brent Venables talked about this
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  Speaker 1: in his presser. The big thing that he really did
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  Speaker 1: talk about was that The winning expectations do not change
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  Speaker 1: despite the parody that we're seeing. Everybody's getting knocked off
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  Speaker 1: in the SEC right now. And if Oklahoma can make
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  Speaker 1: a run, they have a very sliver of a chance
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  Speaker 1: to actually make a run. The defense is doing its job. Statistically,
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna show you, I'm gonna talk to you about
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  Speaker 1: statistics in a second, but I wanna talk about John first.
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  Speaker 1: A lot of you hate him. I get it. Because
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  Speaker 1: he ain't been good. He's had a couple of games now, though,
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  Speaker 1: that he's strung together with a healthy offensive line where
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  Speaker 1: he looks like the John at the beginning of 2025.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not saying it absolves anything from the year. It
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  Speaker 1: does not absolve all the turnovers against Georgia. It doesn't
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  Speaker 1: absolve Michigan. It doesn't absolve any of that. What I'm
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  Speaker 1: telling you is we got to move forward. That's the
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  Speaker 1: only thing we can do. Buckle's been calling a decent
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  Speaker 1: set of games lately. He's been putting players in better
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  Speaker 1: positions and seen a little bit more success there. The
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  Speaker 1: most important thing, though, is John has improved the one
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  Speaker 1: thing he said he wanted to improve this year, and
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  Speaker 1: that's his completion percentage. That, to me, tells me we
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  Speaker 1: may have a shot if he continues to stay there
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  Speaker 1: with his game, focusing on completing passes, getting the ball
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  Speaker 1: out of his hands quickly, and playing ball. Let me
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  Speaker 1: explain what those numbers look like for him because, like
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  Speaker 1: I said, they're a lot better than I thought. Before
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  Speaker 1: we do that, though, shout out to our partners here
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• 3:22
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  Speaker 1: Tyrese Maxey, I like going up. LeBron, he getting old.
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  Speaker 1: He ain't been doing too much. All you got to
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  Speaker 1: less than the stats, and you are in there. I
• 4:01
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  Speaker 1: John's completion percentage right now is sitting at a whopping 66.7%.
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  Speaker 1: That is his highest of his career as a starter.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, he threw 76% at Washington State his redshirt
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  Speaker 1: freshman year. That don't count. We didn't worry about that.
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  Speaker 1: This season, he's up 1,500 yards. He's like in the
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  Speaker 1: middle of the pack of the SEC. He's above Gunner,
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  Speaker 1: above Arch. He's put up numbers. Of course, 11 touchdowns
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  Speaker 1: to seven picks stinks. But if he can continue to
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  Speaker 1: take care of the ball and not turn the ball
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  Speaker 1: over in stupid ways, I know that's a tall task
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  Speaker 1: to ask. But I don't think it's a bad thing.
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  Speaker 1: I think it's a possibility. That's the thing John's improved on.
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  Speaker 1: And he's doing it week over week. He's getting better
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  Speaker 1: and better at that. So we're going to rival what
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  Speaker 1: we got. Again, he is the best option we have, unfortunately.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm telling you that because obviously in practice, they
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  Speaker 1: have seen that these dudes can't run the system fully yet.
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  Speaker 1: They need another year in this change of system that
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  Speaker 1: we're doing because this is not what we were running
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  Speaker 1: last year. This is this air raid setup is different.
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  Speaker 1: But the good thing is for Susie's back and him
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  Speaker 1: and Noah Best are killing it on the left side
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  Speaker 1: of the field. Buckle mentioned how great that left side is.
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  Speaker 1: We just got to get healthy so the right can
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  Speaker 1: actually participate in all these actions. From there, though, the
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  Speaker 1: defense is doing what I told you how they would do.
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  Speaker 1: Y'all thought I was playing when I said that this
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  Speaker 1: pass defense is going to be better than last year's.
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  Speaker 1: Oklahoma's number eight in the country in total passing yards
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  Speaker 1: allowed per game. They have one of the highest pass rates,
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  Speaker 1: like defensive success rates in the secondary right now. They're
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  Speaker 1: literally playing some of the best pass defense in the country.
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  Speaker 1: Shout out to Lamar Morgan, because I kind of had
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  Speaker 1: a feeling he would be able to participate in that
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  Speaker 1: and get these guys in better places. Even with the
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  Speaker 1: defensive line not getting as many sacks, they're still getting
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  Speaker 1: a lot of pressures, but not as many sacks as
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  Speaker 1: they were before. EPA expected pass, expected points allowed on
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  Speaker 1: pass plays. Fourth in the country. This secondary has played
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  Speaker 1: lights out. They've given up big plays. You're going to
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  Speaker 1: do that. It's football. But we have out gained every
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  Speaker 1: team in passing this season, actually in yards in general
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  Speaker 1: this season except for Texas and Georgia. Georgia was 306,
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  Speaker 1: Texas was like 380 something. And that was a lot
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  Speaker 1: of first half for them and then second half we
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  Speaker 1: basically shut them down. The defense is bald. This is
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  Speaker 1: the test game for them. If they can keep this going,
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  Speaker 1: I think they finish the season out strong. Sellers is
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  Speaker 1: hot right now. The run game for South Carolina is hot.
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  Speaker 1: Kendall Browse runs a similar system as Ben, right? That
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  Speaker 1: Bear Raid set up, what his dad ran, Art Browse ran,
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  Speaker 1: and Baylor. So they're going to want to run the
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  Speaker 1: ball and they're going to want Sellers to get rid
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  Speaker 1: of the ball quick. They're going to do a lot
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  Speaker 1: of quick stuff because they know the pressure is going
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  Speaker 1: to come and they're going to have fear of Sellers
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  Speaker 1: getting not only sacked, but turning the ball over because
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  Speaker 1: he's going to be rushed. So they're going to make
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  Speaker 1: him get rid of that ball quick. Our run game
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  Speaker 1: has not, defense has not been the best this year.
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  Speaker 1: It's not been awful though. That's the good thing, is
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  Speaker 1: that we're middle of the pack in the country in
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  Speaker 1: run defense. We've given up 100 yards in, what's this,
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  Speaker 1: five of the games? Five of the seven games? New
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  Speaker 1: Mexico didn't get 100. Kentucky didn't get 100. Fluff was
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  Speaker 1: our first 100-yard rusher we've given up in 17 outings.
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  Speaker 1: So we've done well overall overall. in that. And we
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  Speaker 1: just got to get better. Now I think we're getting
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  Speaker 1: healthier a little bit. Like Peyton to play, RP3 is
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  Speaker 1: going to play. The linebacker room is getting healthier. Kip
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  Speaker 1: is back and he's looking like his old self. Owen
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  Speaker 1: Heineke is out there just being a monster. Secondary, you
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  Speaker 1: want Eli back. Tristan Haynes is doing well. That's usually
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  Speaker 1: where a lot of your passes is going is at him.
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  Speaker 1: They're testing the young pup. And in some ways he's winning,
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  Speaker 1: some ways he's not. He's got it. He's getting better.
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  Speaker 1: That's the thing. Week over week, he is growing. For Oklahoma, though,
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  Speaker 1: they're going to have to keep that lockdown defense and
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  Speaker 1: pass because we're playing nothing but passers going forward. You're
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  Speaker 1: going to have Sellers this week. Next week, you're going
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  Speaker 1: to have Philo and Tremel Jones down there in Florida,
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  Speaker 1: which they're passing well. Then you're going to come back
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  Speaker 1: home to Trinidad Chambliss. Sheesh. Luckily, you get Marcel Reed
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  Speaker 1: there to give you a break on actual pass. And
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  Speaker 1: even though Reed puts up numbers, he will give the
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  Speaker 1: ball up. And then you wrap the season up against
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  Speaker 1: Austin Simmons, who can pass the ball very well. We'll
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  Speaker 1: see if this defense can maintain this level. It's going
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  Speaker 1: to be a challenge because they're going to go against
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  Speaker 1: real passers going forward. I mean, Gunnar Stockton was the
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  Speaker 1: best passer we had saw in between there. Arch put
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  Speaker 1: up some numbers, but he had some elite wide receiver play.
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  Speaker 1: But they also stunk it up when it mattered most.
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  Speaker 1: And that's where Brent Venables and his defense shows out.
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  Speaker 1: And that's why the expected points are so low against
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  Speaker 1: them is they force offenses to do stuff they don't
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  Speaker 1: want to do at critical times. So let's close it out.
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  Speaker 1: Let me know what y'all think. Hop in the comments.
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  Speaker 1: Want to hear your thoughts. I know a lot of
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  Speaker 1: you will not see anything positive coming out of this season,
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  Speaker 1: but I don't care. I do because if they can
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  Speaker 1: just continue to lock in and continue to play, if
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  Speaker 1: they play as good as they did against Kentucky and
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  Speaker 1: keep the line healthy enough, we should be good going
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  Speaker 1: for the rest of the season. So definitely want to
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: hear from you all. Shout out to our partners there
• 9:59
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• 10:01
  Speaker 1: If you win, let's close it out, boys. We'll talk soon. Peace.