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Sean O'Connell Show - Full POD 11-6-26 · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:06
Speaker 1: Oh, happy Friday, everybody. Welcome to the Sean O'Connell Show.
0:11
Speaker 1: Last one of the week. Last one of Holy War Week.
0:15
Speaker 1: The best week of the year here in the state
0:18
Speaker 1: of Utah, at least for the sports fans. BYU-Utah tomorrow
0:21
Speaker 1: morning at Rice-Eccles Stadium. We are less than 24 hours
0:26
Speaker 1: from kickoff. In the most consequential, important, highest ranked Holy
0:32
Speaker 1: War matchup ever. You will witness history one way or
0:36
Speaker 1: another as a Utah fan and even you BYU fans
0:39
Speaker 1: out there. When this thing kicks off at 10 a.m.
0:43
Speaker 1: on Saturday. I can't wait. You can't wait. We're down
0:48
Speaker 1: here at the Smith's Marketplace in downtown Salt Lake City.
0:54
Speaker 1: It takes up the whole block between 4th and 5th South.
0:57
Speaker 1: It takes up the whole block between 5th and 6th East.
1:00
Speaker 1: We are downstairs next to the Starbucks. Come say hello.
1:05
Speaker 1: We've got some Gatorade swag to give away. We've got
1:08
Speaker 1: some Starbucks swag to give away. We have $ 10 Smith's
1:11
Speaker 1: gift cards. We have en route some tailgate passes for
1:17
Speaker 1: the Smith's tailgate tent. They will be here tomorrow. We
1:23
Speaker 1: don't have, I'm sorry to say, we don't have the
1:26
Speaker 1: promised pair of Utah versus BYU tickets. By no fault
1:31
Speaker 1: of anyone at the station, the sponsor that was set
1:37
Speaker 1: to provide those has clearly opted to maybe just hand
1:41
Speaker 1: them off to someone who's an employee or something like that.
1:44
Speaker 1: I know I promised on yesterday's show. I know I
1:47
Speaker 1: promised in the tease for today's show. But it was not...
1:51
Speaker 1: It's not the fault of Alyssa or Tara or James or,
1:57
Speaker 1: you know, if you want to blame someone, you can
1:58
Speaker 1: blame me for promising. It wasn't my fault, I promise.
2:02
Speaker 1: But we don't have tickets to give away. We do
2:06
Speaker 1: have tailgate passes to give away. We do have our
2:10
Speaker 1: Taffy Town taffy. We've got some schwag. And the tailgate
2:15
Speaker 1: tent is going to be, I think the kids call
2:17
Speaker 1: it lit. Do the kids still call it lit? I
2:19
Speaker 1: don't know. It's going to be awesome tomorrow morning. We've
2:23
Speaker 1: had a previous one time this year we had the
2:27
Speaker 1: day game kickoff, the early kickoff. Not quite so early,
2:30
Speaker 1: not morning kickoff, but they had an incredible breakfast spread
2:34
Speaker 1: up there. Like the waffles with the crystallized sugar in them,
2:39
Speaker 1: some andouille sausage or regular breakfast sausage. You want an omelet,
2:44
Speaker 1: you got eggs. I mean, they really do it right
2:46
Speaker 1: up at the Smith's Tailgate tent. We have some passes there.
2:49
Speaker 1: to give away. If you come in looking for one,
2:52
Speaker 1: we're going to give you one. Okay. Don't be a
2:55
Speaker 1: prize pig. We're not going to give you like four
2:59
Speaker 1: of the tailgate slips because that's for you. Plus three.
3:02
Speaker 1: All right. Uh, they haven't arrived yet. They're on their way.
3:06
Speaker 1: So come see us throw up the, you tell us
3:10
Speaker 1: what you think the final score is going to be.
3:11
Speaker 2: Whatever.
3:12
Speaker 3: 877-353-0700.
3:12
Speaker 1: Love hearing from you here on the show. And, of course,
3:17
Speaker 1: the primary driver of today's conversation will, of course, be
3:22
Speaker 1: Utah versus BYU in the biggest matchup in history. Bill Riley,
3:26
Speaker 1: voice of the Utes, is going to join us at
3:28
Speaker 1: 1130 today in about half an hour. We skipped Jeff
3:32
Speaker 1: Schwartz this week. He normally joins us on Tuesday. He's
3:34
Speaker 1: going to swing by in the noon hour as we
3:37
Speaker 1: continue to look at this one by the numbers. Lee
3:39
Speaker 1: Sterling to handicap. the games of the week. Coordinator's Corner
3:43
Speaker 1: with Colton Swan, the defensive coordinator. We haven't talked to
3:47
Speaker 1: Colton Swan since before the Houston game, right, because we
3:51
Speaker 1: go back and forth rotating between offense and defense. We
3:54
Speaker 1: have not yet had an opportunity to congratulate Colton Swan
3:58
Speaker 1: on the way that that Houston game finished, his aggression.
4:02
Speaker 1: So we're going to pick his brain a little bit today,
4:04
Speaker 1: and I very much look forward to that. As you know,
4:07
Speaker 1: I'm a big Colton Swan guy. So, man, what a
4:11
Speaker 1: day here at Smith's Marketplace downtown. Come see us, throw
4:14
Speaker 1: up a U, and you'll walk away with a Smith's
4:18
Speaker 1: gift card or a tailgate pass as long as you
4:21
Speaker 1: come after the tailgate passes show up. So, I mean,
4:27
Speaker 1: we've talked about this game in a lot of different ways.
4:30
Speaker 1: We've talked about the numbers in this game. You've seen
4:32
Speaker 1: the back and forth on social media lately. about, you know,
4:37
Speaker 1: predictions and things like that. Here's something. I want to
4:40
Speaker 1: take a little different angle on it. One of the
4:42
Speaker 1: fascinating things about this game, and really every rivalry game,
4:45
Speaker 1: but this one here locally especially, is you can really
4:51
Speaker 1: cement your legacy. You can make your name unforgettable. You
4:56
Speaker 1: can etch your surname in the annals of Utah or
5:00
Speaker 1: BYU football history, set that thing in stone. with a
5:04
Speaker 1: great performance in this game alone. There's plenty of guys
5:09
Speaker 1: who had like solid careers, mediocre careers, up and down careers,
5:14
Speaker 1: who this game cemented who they are as a BYU
5:20
Speaker 1: football player, as a Utah football player, in the eyes
5:23
Speaker 1: of the fan base, in the eyes of the program itself. Look,
5:27
Speaker 1: oftentimes it's the the cream rising to the top, it's
5:30
Speaker 1: the best player on the team already who's making the
5:32
Speaker 1: big play. Sometimes it's not. And you know who they are, right?
5:38
Speaker 1: We know who the Utah players are. You know who
5:40
Speaker 1: the BYU players are. I think it's actually, correct me
5:43
Speaker 1: if I'm wrong, if you're out there listening, I think
5:45
Speaker 1: that on the BYU side of things, they've actually more
5:48
Speaker 1: often had a guy who's just like a guy who
5:52
Speaker 1: makes himself into a household name with how he performs
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Speaker 1: in this particular game.
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Speaker 3: 877-353-0700.
6:02
Speaker 1: My question for you is when legends are made in
6:05
Speaker 1: this game, which Utah football player cements his legacy in
6:10
Speaker 1: this one in particular, which Utah football ends up unforgettable
6:16
Speaker 1: because of how they perform in this game. And obviously
6:19
Speaker 1: we're talking about on the positive side of things, but
6:23
Speaker 1: who is it? And I was going back and watching
6:25
Speaker 1: some of the recent matchups and I was I found
6:29
Speaker 1: myself stuck on that end sequence of the 2024 game.
6:34
Speaker 1: And Karene Reid, on the infamous defensive holding call that
6:40
Speaker 1: extended the drive and allowed... Jake Retzlaff to drive down
6:44
Speaker 1: and Will Ferron to make the game-winning kick eventually in 2024.
6:48
Speaker 1: Junior Tafuna and really Karene Reid was the first body there,
6:52
Speaker 1: had the goal line sack that we all love Karene Reid.
6:56
Speaker 1: We already think very highly of Karene Reid. But if
6:59
Speaker 1: that play had been allowed to stand, like Karene Reid's
7:02
Speaker 1: legacy at the University of Utah, I think is significantly
7:06
Speaker 1: different just based on that play. He was already a
7:09
Speaker 1: great player, and he's doing great. He's playing on Sundays.
7:12
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? It's probably not overly consequential
7:15
Speaker 1: to him now that that play didn't stand, but watching
7:19
Speaker 1: that and seeing the result kind of overturned, I was like, man,
7:23
Speaker 1: that's actually a huge bummer for the guy who made
7:25
Speaker 1: the play. I kind of hate that for the guys
7:29
Speaker 1: who made the play. But anyway, who is it going
7:33
Speaker 1: to be? 877-353-0700 or at RealOCSports.com. Who will be the
7:38
Speaker 1: player or players that cement themselves in Utah football lore,
7:46
Speaker 1: become part of the legendary status of this rivalry, maybe
7:50
Speaker 1: become part of a catchphrase, although it doesn't usually exist
7:55
Speaker 1: more on the BYU side of things. Mike on the
7:59
Speaker 1: tweet machine says, hometown hero Carson Kalfusi is going to
8:03
Speaker 1: be that guy. Okay, let's explore how that could be
8:06
Speaker 1: possible for a Carson Kalfusi. We're talking a big-time sack.
8:09
Speaker 1: We're talking a potential game-deciding sequence, and he comes up
8:13
Speaker 1: with the big stop. All right, Carson Kalfusi there. Maybe
8:16
Speaker 1: Carson Kalfusi forces a fumble, or even better, maybe we
8:20
Speaker 1: get a big-man touchdown where he scoops and scores. I'd
8:25
Speaker 1: love to see some Carson Kalfusi. Josh on the Twitter
8:29
Speaker 1: machine says, Scooby, with another defensive score, I'll go with
8:33
Speaker 1: a pick six to seal it in the fourth. That
8:40
Speaker 1: would create another one of those earthquake moments at Rice
8:44
Speaker 1: Echo Stadium. If you are at the university right now
8:49
Speaker 1: and you are monitoring the seismograph this season or on
8:54
Speaker 1: game day, that's it. That's the moment that registers immediately.
8:58
Speaker 1: on the Richter scale, if it happens. Walstort, what a
9:05
Speaker 1: strange name to have on Twitter. Walstort says, Daniel Bray
9:09
Speaker 1: already had a wild performance last year. I think BYU's
9:11
Speaker 1: biggest weakness might be defending speed on the perimeter. Based
9:15
Speaker 1: on what UCF did, I think he has another great
9:17
Speaker 1: game and builds off of what he did last week.
9:22
Speaker 1: This is my favorite pick. Because of how the Utah
9:26
Speaker 1: football season has gone this year, Daniel Bray and what
9:30
Speaker 1: we saw from Daniel Bray against BYU last year, and
9:33
Speaker 1: I agree with you wholeheartedly, I think that BYU's, look,
9:37
Speaker 1: give them credit where it's due. They're an incredibly physical
9:40
Speaker 1: team in the front seven, right? They've got some decent
9:43
Speaker 1: speed to the edges in that front seven. Kedu Lawabe
9:46
Speaker 1: runs sideline to sideline pretty well. The same is true
9:50
Speaker 1: of Isaiah Glasker, where you can perhaps find an opportunity
9:54
Speaker 1: here is twofold, right? There's going to be a lot
9:58
Speaker 1: of people with their eye on Way Sean Parker. There's
10:01
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of people with their eye
10:02
Speaker 1: on Devin Dampier. There's going to be a lot of
10:04
Speaker 1: concern in the BYU defense, and Kelly Poppinga saying, hey,
10:07
Speaker 1: don't let one beat us. Don't let four beat us.
10:11
Speaker 1: And in jumps Daniel Bray with that change of pace.
10:13
Speaker 1: He's a little faster, right? I could see it. That
10:18
Speaker 1: would be probably the one that I would lay out
10:20
Speaker 1: there if I'm making my prediction on which Utah football player.
10:24
Speaker 1: And I'm not asking for a breakout performance because you've
10:26
Speaker 1: had so many guys do that. I just mean it's
10:29
Speaker 1: sometimes just one play. It's Brandon Burton blocking that kick.
10:33
Speaker 1: Brandon Burton was already a great player. Brandon Burton was
10:35
Speaker 1: already somebody that a hardcore Utah fan was going to
10:39
Speaker 1: talk about. Brandon Burton, if he doesn't block that kick
10:42
Speaker 1: and win you that game in 2010... It's probably not
10:45
Speaker 1: front of mind when you're talking about the great players
10:48
Speaker 1: that have come through both programs and have made a
10:51
Speaker 1: huge impact in the Holy War. That is one of
10:53
Speaker 1: the best individual plays we have ever seen in this game.
11:00
Speaker 1: Francis Bernard played on both sides of the rivalry, right?
11:04
Speaker 1: If Francis Bernard doesn't have the monster performance in both
11:09
Speaker 1: the regular season game and then in the Vegas Bowl,
11:13
Speaker 1: Francis Bernard's name is probably handled just a little bit
11:16
Speaker 1: differently when we're talking about the rivalry, right? 877-353-0700, the
11:23
Speaker 1: player that you think really cements their legacy at the
11:26
Speaker 1: University of Utah with a strong performance in this game.
11:32
Speaker 1: Because there is no other place, almost in the whole
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Speaker 1: world of sport, where you can erase everything you've done
11:40
Speaker 1: besides this, good or bad, we have to acknowledge that,
11:44
Speaker 1: with just showing up huge. I mean, that is it.
11:48
Speaker 1: That could be it. We're at Smith's. The official address
11:57
Speaker 1: is 455 East, 500 South. The gift cards are here
12:00
Speaker 1: while they last. ESPN tailgate passes. Let me see one
12:03
Speaker 1: of those bad boys. Let's see how beautiful this thing is.
12:07
Speaker 1: This one's special. This one's got like a, it's got
12:13
Speaker 1: a graphic. It's a Utah BYU graphic on it for
12:15
Speaker 1: the ultimate tailgate. I love that. Gift cards while they last.
12:21
Speaker 1: Tailgate passes while they last. Gatorade drink bottles while they last.
12:27
Speaker 1: You can pick up everything for your tailgate, for your game,
12:30
Speaker 1: for your party, meat, cheese, and veggie platters, hot dogs,
12:33
Speaker 1: hamburger patties, buns, condiments, Pepsi products, and don't forget the ice.
12:38
Speaker 1: If you're filling up the cooler, if you're headed out there,
12:40
Speaker 1: you've got to have those coolers full of ice. You
12:42
Speaker 1: can get all of that right here at Smith's Marketplace.
12:47
Speaker 1: James Peterson is back in our studio today. He's producing.
12:53
Speaker 1: He's holding it down back in the Broadway studios. James,
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Speaker 1: is there a player or players that when I say,
13:01
Speaker 1: who's going to be the guy? Who's going to be
13:04
Speaker 1: the player we talk about after this one? Not only
13:07
Speaker 1: for the rest of 2026, but when we hearken back
13:10
Speaker 1: to this most important Holy War game ever, we say, oh, man,
13:14
Speaker 1: can you remember that when it was two top ten
13:16
Speaker 1: teams and blank, balled out? I feel like.
13:22
Speaker 4: What comes to mind for me are the Stars, and
13:25
Speaker 4: Devin and Weishan are the first two that come to
13:27
Speaker 4: mind to me, and if you're going to make me
13:30
Speaker 4: pick one, I'm going to say Devin.
13:32
Speaker 1: I think this.
13:35
Speaker 4: Is a potential legacy game for Devin Dampier for the
13:40
Speaker 4: University of Utah. He already is building quite the legacy
13:43
Speaker 4: for himself, but if he has a You mentioned Francis
13:49
Speaker 4: Bernard in the Vegas Bowl. How about if Devin Dampier
13:52
Speaker 4: has a Vegas Bowl versus Nebraska-type performance? Probably not going
13:57
Speaker 4: to be as many yards, whatever. That was a monster game,
14:01
Speaker 4: and you just don't have those kind of games against
14:04
Speaker 4: a good BYU team in this rivalry, right? So I
14:07
Speaker 4: don't know if he has quite the same production, but
14:10
Speaker 4: that same type of impact on this game, I mean...
14:15
Speaker 4: he's going to cement himself as one of the best
14:18
Speaker 4: quarterbacks in this program's history, in the recent history at
14:21
Speaker 4: the very least, if he's able to do that. I'm
14:23
Speaker 4: looking at Devin to cement himself there. On the defensive side,
14:27
Speaker 4: I mean, it could be a number of players, right?
14:29
Speaker 4: Should we see Jono Hall have a breakout-type game in
14:37
Speaker 4: his first year as a captain, have a game that
14:40
Speaker 4: makes us think the way that we thought he would
14:43
Speaker 4: be in the offseason. He's been good this year, but
14:46
Speaker 4: not spectacular. Maybe he has his first spectacular game. Maybe
14:51
Speaker 4: Scooby Davis has another pick six. Maybe Rabbit Evans continues
14:54
Speaker 4: his incredible year.
14:55
Speaker 1: James, you're taking all of them. You're taking all the players.
14:58
Speaker 4: I'm going to say Devin if you make me pick one,
15:00
Speaker 4: but on the defense, there's so many to choose from
15:03
Speaker 4: if you're thinking on the defensive side.
15:04
Speaker 1: Here's the thing. It's really funny because I wrote notes
15:08
Speaker 1: on this and I was like, no, no, no. I'm
15:10
Speaker 1: a little superstitious. I get a little bit a little
15:14
Speaker 1: bit nervous about, like, speaking things out into the world
15:18
Speaker 1: and setting up expectations and then not having those expectations
15:23
Speaker 1: met or whatever. It's just I'm a little weird about it, right?
15:25
Speaker 1: And I've admitted that before, and I will continue to.
15:27
Speaker 1: But about Tuesday, I was thinking about what this game
15:35
Speaker 1: is and can be for Devin Dampier, right? We have...
15:41
Speaker 1: The top quarterbacks in the history of this program are
15:45
Speaker 1: Alex Smith and Brian Johnson and Cam Rising and Scott
15:49
Speaker 1: Mitchell and who? Question mark. Well, if Devin Dampier gets
15:56
Speaker 1: a win tomorrow, and if he performs well in that
15:59
Speaker 1: win tomorrow especially, if Devin Dampier does what I think
16:02
Speaker 1: Devin Dampier is going to do and is certainly capable
16:05
Speaker 1: of doing against BYU tomorrow, and then, of course, finishes
16:09
Speaker 1: out the season properly... Devin Dampier becomes one of those
16:14
Speaker 1: first names you mention in the conversation of great quarterbacks
16:18
Speaker 1: at the University of Utah. He led this team to
16:23
Speaker 1: 10 wins last year. And then he stayed in a
16:29
Speaker 1: transfer portal era where he had a lot of attention,
16:32
Speaker 1: he had a lot of opportunity, he had offers to
16:34
Speaker 1: go elsewhere. He didn't.
16:37
Speaker 3: Right?
16:37
Speaker 5: Right?
16:40
Speaker 1: And he has been awesome this year. And look, there's
16:43
Speaker 1: been a couple of mistakes.
16:45
Speaker 2: Fine.
16:45
Speaker 1: But this is an undefeated team so far, largely because of,
16:50
Speaker 1: more because of Devin Dampier than in spite of Devin Dampier.
16:56
Speaker 1: On top of that, he's an incredible member of the
16:58
Speaker 1: Utah football community. He's an incredible leader. He's an unbelievably
17:02
Speaker 1: likable person. He's great with fan engagement. He's the type
17:06
Speaker 1: of player that, that Utah football fans are already proud of, right?
17:11
Speaker 1: If you do this, if you do what I think
17:13
Speaker 1: Devin Dampier can do, and James, I'm glad you gave
17:16
Speaker 1: me the jumping off point because this guy is right
17:20
Speaker 1: there on the cusp of having his name mentioned next
17:24
Speaker 1: to the Cam Risings and the Alex Smiths and the
17:30
Speaker 1: Brian Johnsons of the world. That, to me, is a
17:33
Speaker 1: huge deal. Now, I know there's people out there Who
17:37
Speaker 1: are like, okay, and what? In the modern era of
17:40
Speaker 1: college football, I think it matters more that we still
17:46
Speaker 1: have guys that you can say that about. Because it's
17:49
Speaker 1: prohibitively rare that people stay, they stick around. It's prohibitively
17:52
Speaker 1: rare that people continue to deliver for their program. And
17:57
Speaker 1: the best way, the biggest way, the most important way
18:00
Speaker 1: that Devin Dampier can deliver for this program at present,
18:04
Speaker 1: less than 24 hours from kickoff, is showing up and
18:09
Speaker 1: balling out against BYU. That would be beyond monstrous for
18:16
Speaker 1: his legacy and, more importantly, for this team. Oh, and
18:18
Speaker 1: by the way, if he helps to launch Morgan Scali
18:23
Speaker 1: in the first year of Morgan Scali's tenure as the
18:25
Speaker 1: head coach, it just adds further to it. I mean,
18:30
Speaker 1: it's right there for the taking. And I'm glad that
18:34
Speaker 1: Devin is built different. I'm glad that his mindset is different. Obviously, physically,
18:39
Speaker 1: he's incredibly capable. He's got such quick twitch. He's got
18:44
Speaker 1: this unbelievable ability to kind of, you know, like throw
18:49
Speaker 1: on the run and to improvise. He's not a perfect
18:54
Speaker 1: quarterback by any stretch of the imagination, but neither was
18:58
Speaker 1: Brian Johnson. Neither was Cam Rising. Alex Smith in college
19:03
Speaker 1: was pretty dang close to being a perfect quarterback. He
19:06
Speaker 1: was pretty perfect.
19:07
Speaker 4: Cam was maybe the next closest to perfect, but he
19:10
Speaker 4: also had his moments where you're like, why are you
19:12
Speaker 4: making that throw, dude?
19:16
Speaker 1: For me, Cam is up there on the Mount Rushmore.
19:18
Speaker 1: I think that the way that it ended with Cam
19:21
Speaker 1: has other people feeling some type of way. Not me.
19:24
Speaker 3: Cam.
19:25
Speaker 1: cam what he did for this team and the fact
19:29
Speaker 1: that you know he wasn't given the opportunity to beat
19:33
Speaker 1: byu down in provo he wasn't the starter that that
19:36
Speaker 1: was one of the biggest coaching gaffes that the previous
19:39
Speaker 1: regime ever made in my opinion the charlie brewer debacle
19:43
Speaker 1: was one of the biggest mistakes because even though the
19:45
Speaker 1: season ended the right way even though the season ended
19:48
Speaker 1: on the highest note that uh you know, in confidence
19:50
Speaker 1: at least that you could possibly expect and then oh
19:53
Speaker 1: so close in the Rose Bowl. I put Cam like way,
19:56
Speaker 1: way up there. But like Cam, I mean, Cam threw
19:59
Speaker 1: a game deciding pick in the end zone against Florida
20:02
Speaker 1: down there and it doesn't diminish his legacy at all, right?
20:06
Speaker 1: So you don't expect perfection out of these guys, and
20:10
Speaker 1: it's almost like if we see the less-than-perfect stuff from you,
20:17
Speaker 1: it makes us appreciate the near-perfect stuff even more. That's
20:21
Speaker 1: how I feel about it anyway. It's like they're more
20:24
Speaker 1: relatable or something.
20:25
Speaker 2: I don't know.
20:26
Speaker 1: I'm with you, though.
20:28
Speaker 4: It's the same way in our favorite movie heroes, our favorite...
20:33
Speaker 4: Comic book heroes, if you're into that sort of thing,
20:35
Speaker 4: you tend to like the guys who are a little
20:38
Speaker 4: more flawed than the guys who are perfect.
20:41
Speaker 1: Right, because it's like if perfection is just the norm
20:44
Speaker 1: and then they show up big in big games, obviously
20:49
Speaker 1: it's wonderful, but the drama comes from just like, oh
20:53
Speaker 1: my goodness. What could happen? We got it. 58 seconds
20:58
Speaker 1: and got to go 63 yards and get into field
21:00
Speaker 1: goal range.
21:01
Speaker 2: Is this guy going to be able to do it?
21:03
Speaker 1: He's had kind of a weird day. And then in
21:06
Speaker 1: that moment, they come up clutch and it's just.
21:11
Speaker 4: I mean, you just you described Devin Dampier against Houston.
21:15
Speaker 4: except for he didn't have to do a long field
21:17
Speaker 4: with that amount of time left, but he had, like,
21:21
Speaker 4: over a minute left with a chance to seal the
21:23
Speaker 4: game and gets what ends up being the game-sealing touchdown, right?
21:28
Speaker 1: And how about the fact that, like, they came out
21:30
Speaker 1: of halftime, right? The first game of the year where
21:33
Speaker 1: they hadn't started fast, and they come out of halftime,
21:36
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of us are kind of
21:38
Speaker 1: holding our breath and just being like, ugh. They haven't
21:41
Speaker 1: been good in the third quarter, and they've got to
21:42
Speaker 1: battle their way back into this. And what does Devin
21:44
Speaker 1: Dampier do? Devin Dampier takes over that game, and he
21:49
Speaker 1: scores a touchdown to make it the game that it
21:51
Speaker 1: ended up being. If he doesn't do that on that drive,
21:54
Speaker 1: who knows how things play out. That's what I'm talking about.
21:57
Speaker 1: Devin Dampier has an opportunity right now to put himself
22:01
Speaker 1: among the stars. And you can still do it even
22:05
Speaker 1: if you don't beat BYU. You could then go beat
22:08
Speaker 1: Arizona and you could beat everybody else and you could
22:11
Speaker 1: be a potential Big 12 champion. You could be a
22:14
Speaker 1: potential college football playoff team. But this is the game
22:19
Speaker 1: that makes it almost definitive before the season's even over.
22:24
Speaker 1: And I didn't want to bring that up to him
22:26
Speaker 1: in the interview. He would handle it perfectly if I had. But, whew, man,
22:32
Speaker 1: it gets me fired up even thinking about it. 877-353-0700
22:35
Speaker 1: at Real OC Sports. Who cements their legacy as a Ute?
22:43
Speaker 1: Cade says, I know it's an easy answer, but Weishan
22:45
Speaker 1: running all over these fools. Weishan keeps coming in. And
22:49
Speaker 1: there was a good text. Was it on the text
22:51
Speaker 1: or was it on the tweets? That's right. 3090. Way
22:59
Speaker 1: Sean Parker cements his name in the rivalry tomorrow. BYU
23:02
Speaker 1: fans have chirped about his eight carries for 23 yards
23:04
Speaker 1: last year. He goes 100-plus yards for two TDs, brutal
23:08
Speaker 1: stiff arm to Isaiah Glasker on a breakaway run. That's
23:11
Speaker 1: very specific. That feels personal against Isaiah Glasker. I love that.
23:16
Speaker 1: From 3-0, 9-0. But you know what? You're speaking it
23:18
Speaker 1: into existence. You're envisioning this. You're manifesting the destiny of
23:23
Speaker 1: Utah football today. the number three-ranked team in the country
23:26
Speaker 1: taking on the number nine-ranked team in the country in
23:30
Speaker 1: a rivalry game on a day jam-packed with consequential important
23:35
Speaker 1: rivalry-type matchups all across the landscape. And the opportunity with
23:41
Speaker 1: this 10 a.m. game is, yeah, it's annoying for you
23:44
Speaker 1: because you've got to get up early, you've got to
23:45
Speaker 1: show up, you've got to be loud before you're ready
23:47
Speaker 1: to show up and be loud. This will probably be
23:52
Speaker 1: the first and or maybe second game that the majority
23:57
Speaker 1: of college football fans in the country actually watch Utah live.
24:03
Speaker 1: All these 8-15 kickoffs, anyone east of Denver was not
24:07
Speaker 1: watching those games live. They just weren't. And now you've
24:12
Speaker 1: got this opportunity where everyone is going to tune in,
24:16
Speaker 1: watch this team play, potentially... potentially make themselves into a
24:23
Speaker 1: household-type name, type awareness, type team.
24:30
Speaker 4: And with the national exposure that this game, we're expecting
24:34
Speaker 4: it to get because of the 10 a.m. time slot,
24:36
Speaker 4: because it's a top-10 matchup. Even if Georgia wins, beats
24:42
Speaker 4: Ole Miss, and that's a big-time top-10 matchup as well
24:45
Speaker 4: in college football tomorrow, Even if Georgia wins, if Notre
24:50
Speaker 4: Dame's able to beat Miami, not to get too far
24:54
Speaker 4: ahead of ourselves here, but we're allowed to do that
24:56
Speaker 4: on Sports Talk Radio, the Utes could be number one
25:00
Speaker 4: in the country if they beat BYU.
25:01
Speaker 1: James, be careful. You're not wrong. I'm just saying. You're
25:05
Speaker 1: not wrong. Just saying. You're not wrong at all.
25:07
Speaker 4: But that's what this exposure, that's another thing that this
25:10
Speaker 4: exposure and this kickoff does for the Utes if they
25:14
Speaker 4: can take care of business in this game.
25:15
Speaker 1: There's a very real possibility that you could have unprecedented territory.
25:21
Speaker 1: And I have a hard, like, that one's a tough
25:24
Speaker 1: one for me because I'm like, all right, but unless
25:27
Speaker 1: you're ranked number one at the end of the season,
25:28
Speaker 1: how much do we really care about it? But you
25:31
Speaker 1: do care because in an era of NIL and transfer
25:36
Speaker 1: where you're recruiting right now, right, there are guys playing for,
25:42
Speaker 1: the University of Colorado, and their guys. TCU's got a
25:45
Speaker 1: bunch of great players who've had a crap season, right?
25:49
Speaker 1: Not to mention just the high school guys, 50 of
25:51
Speaker 1: whom are going to be in the building at Rice-Eckel
25:53
Speaker 1: Stadium tomorrow. You got a bunch of dudes that are
25:57
Speaker 1: like already one eye over the fence. Is the grass
26:01
Speaker 1: greener over there? And guess what? This is an opportunity
26:06
Speaker 1: for For Utah to say, you know what, you want
26:10
Speaker 1: to come play big boy football? You want to be
26:12
Speaker 1: on a nationally relevant team? Maybe you come play at
26:15
Speaker 1: the University of Utah. It's a great point. As much
26:21
Speaker 1: as we don't like it from a local standpoint, the
26:23
Speaker 1: 10 a.m. kickoff allows for some benefit on a national front.
26:31
Speaker 1: Let's see here from 3551. Jackson Benny will be the
26:36
Speaker 1: breakout cement your legacy guy after what Baird did to
26:39
Speaker 1: him last year. Why you got to bring up old stuff?
26:43
Speaker 1: 6351 says, I'm going to go with the obvious like
26:45
Speaker 1: everyone else too. Going back to last year, Wayshon had
26:47
Speaker 1: a picture where he's helmet to helmet with a BYU
26:49
Speaker 1: player and we're talking trash to each other. The way
26:52
Speaker 1: Wayshon has been chirping with opponents all year this year
26:54
Speaker 1: tells me he's going to feed into the rivalry and
26:57
Speaker 1: bring the juice in this one. He's going to give
26:59
Speaker 1: us a moment we'll remember forever. He wants to prove
27:02
Speaker 1: he's the best running back in this game, too. There's
27:05
Speaker 1: also that element here, right, where everyone is talking about L.J.
27:10
Speaker 5: Martin.
27:10
Speaker 1: Do they have L.J.
27:11
Speaker 6: Martin?
27:11
Speaker 1: Do they not have L.J.
27:12
Speaker 3: Martin?
27:12
Speaker 1: If they have L.J. Martin, it saves the game. If
27:14
Speaker 1: they don't have L.J. Martin, Wayshawn Parker probably feels some
27:19
Speaker 1: type of way about that. Like, okay, cool, man. Watch
27:22
Speaker 1: what happens. Watch which running back ends up having the
27:25
Speaker 1: bigger day. I'm 100% on board with the idea, at least,
27:29
Speaker 1: that Wayshawn Parker– wants to prove it in that manner. 877-353-0700,
27:38
Speaker 1: at Real OC Sports. Love to have you weigh in
27:41
Speaker 1: on what you think, which player you think in this
27:44
Speaker 1: Utah football rivalry game is going to cement himself, immortalize
27:49
Speaker 1: himself in the annals of Utah history. We'll take a
27:55
Speaker 1: quick one here. Maybe Bill Riley has a prediction on
27:57
Speaker 1: who could do that. Voice of the Youths joins us next.
28:01
Speaker 1: The Sean O'Connell Show coming at you from Smith's Marketplace downtown.
28:04
Speaker 1: 455 East, 500 South. The Smith's tailgate passes have arrived.
28:09
Speaker 1: We do have Smith's gift cards as well. We've got
28:12
Speaker 1: Gatorade bottles. We've got Taffy Town Taffy. We've got blankets.
28:16
Speaker 1: I think these are blankets from Starbucks. Portable blankets. They, like,
28:20
Speaker 1: roll up and have a little carry case.
28:22
Speaker 7: I mean, come on.
28:23
Speaker 1: Come say hello. If you want one of these prizes,
28:27
Speaker 1: all you have to do is come by, throw up
28:30
Speaker 1: the U, say go U's. Sean O'Connell Show with Bill
28:36
Speaker 1: Riley next on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
28:38
Speaker 7: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
28:47
Speaker 7: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
28:58
Speaker 1: You hear the music, you know what that means. The
29:00
Speaker 1: voice of the Utes, Bill Riley, coming on. I should
29:02
Speaker 1: have had Bill stop by down here at Smith's Marketplace downtown.
29:06
Speaker 1: I know he loves this store as much as I do.
29:09
Speaker 1: They got everything you need for your tailgate, for your
29:11
Speaker 1: watch party, for your birthday, for your Christmas. They've got
29:14
Speaker 1: it all. Meat, cheese, and veggie platters, hot dogs, hamburger patties,
29:18
Speaker 1: and buns. All the condiments, the Pepsi products, the ice,
29:21
Speaker 1: the ice cream. This is a Smith's Marketplace, so if
29:24
Speaker 1: you get the ice downstairs, you can actually go upstairs
29:27
Speaker 1: and grab the cooler to put the ice in, and
29:29
Speaker 1: you can grab the grill to grill up your meats
29:31
Speaker 1: on as well. They really have it all down here
29:33
Speaker 1: at Smith's Marketplace, 455 East, 500 South. Bill Riley, this
29:38
Speaker 1: conversation brought to you every single day. week by handy
29:40
Speaker 1: and handy handylawutah.com welcome to the show bill how are you.
29:46
Speaker 8: Happy rivalry friday sean i'm great how are you Oh, man,
29:50
Speaker 8: I am buzzing.
29:51
Speaker 1: This is my favorite every single year. If it's a
29:56
Speaker 1: pair of five and five teams going up against each other,
29:59
Speaker 1: I still get fired up for this one. Instead, we've
30:02
Speaker 1: got number three ranked, undefeated Utah, number nine ranked, one loss, BYU.
30:08
Speaker 1: It's been talked about a lot. Potentially the biggest Holy
30:12
Speaker 1: War rivalry game ever is it.
30:17
Speaker 8: Well, I would say on paper right now it absolutely is.
30:20
Speaker 8: The only other one that I think compares to it
30:23
Speaker 8: is 2004 from a Utah standpoint because if Utah doesn't
30:27
Speaker 8: beat BYU in 2004, the BCS, the Fiesta Bowl, nothing happens.
30:34
Speaker 8: And that all triggered a domino effect to where we
30:37
Speaker 8: are today. getting to beat Alabama. I think it set
30:43
Speaker 8: off a chain reaction that's lasted for about 22 years now.
30:48
Speaker 8: But I think on paper, when you factor in where
30:52
Speaker 8: the records are, where the historical.
30:55
Speaker 9: Significance is, the.
30:56
Speaker 8: Conference ramifications and the national ramifications, this has to be
31:02
Speaker 8: the biggest one on both sides.
31:05
Speaker 1: Does how you've been playing these last couple weeks matter
31:08
Speaker 1: a lot in this game for you, Bill, both for
31:10
Speaker 1: Utah and for BYU?
31:13
Speaker 9: I think it matters a little bit. I do.
31:15
Speaker 8: I mean, I don't think it will determine the game because,
31:18
Speaker 8: as we've seen, you can look bad one week and
31:20
Speaker 8: you can turn right back around and play well. But,
31:23
Speaker 8: you know, BYU had a loss and then didn't play
31:26
Speaker 8: well after that loss. Utah has played pretty well for
31:30
Speaker 8: the last couple of weeks, beating Houston, a good Houston
31:33
Speaker 8: team at home, and then just absolutely taking Cincinnati to
31:36
Speaker 8: the woodshed in the first 30 minutes last week. So
31:39
Speaker 8: I think it matters a little bit, but I don't
31:41
Speaker 8: think it's the end-all and be-all, especially because of the
31:45
Speaker 8: significance of this game and the rivalry matters and all
31:47
Speaker 8: that stuff.
31:51
Speaker 1: All right, Bill, when we talk about the legendary status
31:55
Speaker 1: one can cement in a game like this one, You
31:58
Speaker 1: know the names, the guys who have just elevated themselves
32:01
Speaker 1: onto the Mount Rushmore with a field goal block a
32:05
Speaker 1: la Brandon Burton or something like that. Who's most likely
32:08
Speaker 1: to do that for Utah in tomorrow's game?
32:12
Speaker 8: Well, I mean, I think the obvious choice is Devin
32:15
Speaker 8: Dampier because he's got the ball in his hand, because
32:18
Speaker 8: he's the quarterback, because he has the ability to dictate
32:21
Speaker 8: what Utah does offensively. I mean, I think that's the
32:24
Speaker 8: quick and easy answer. And to be fair, Devin's been fantastic.
32:29
Speaker 9: In his career. He's 18-2 as a starter.
32:31
Speaker 8: There might be a little chip on the shoulder for
32:33
Speaker 8: the loss last year down in Provo when I think
32:36
Speaker 8: we found out afterwards he was a wreck physically in
32:40
Speaker 8: that game last year. And I don't think we knew
32:43
Speaker 8: to the extent that he was a wreck until after
32:45
Speaker 8: the season. But I think that's probably stuck with him
32:48
Speaker 8: just a little bit. So I think the obvious answer
32:50
Speaker 8: is Devin Dampier. I think there's other guys.
32:53
Speaker 9: I think there's guys that you just can't. You just
32:55
Speaker 9: can't know who they are.
32:56
Speaker 8: Nobody would have said Brandon Burton back in 2010, 2011,
33:01
Speaker 8: whatever that was. Nobody might have said Johnny Harleen would
33:06
Speaker 8: have been one of those guys, but it turned out
33:08
Speaker 8: that he was big. There's so many guys that could
33:12
Speaker 8: be there. Last year, I think it was the Bear
33:14
Speaker 8: Bachmeier game. I mean, he put the team on his shoulders.
33:17
Speaker 8: He didn't make any mistakes. He threw a touchdown and
33:19
Speaker 8: he ran for a touchdown. He had that big play
33:22
Speaker 8: where he carried a bunch of Utes into.
33:23
Speaker 5: The end zone.
33:23
Speaker 8: I think that was a Bear Bachmeier game last year,
33:26
Speaker 8: as much as it was Utah, you know, kind of
33:28
Speaker 8: dropping the ball.
33:29
Speaker 9: Themselves, both literally and figuratively last year.
33:32
Speaker 8: But if I had to pick one guy tomorrow, I
33:35
Speaker 8: think I would put it on number four.
33:36
Speaker 3: What about you?
33:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's right there for the taking. And
33:40
Speaker 1: I even look at it. from a bigger picture perspective,
33:44
Speaker 1: a win over BYU tomorrow, and obviously you've got to
33:47
Speaker 1: finish the season out the right way, but I think
33:50
Speaker 1: it changes Devin's legacy as a Ute forever. I think
33:54
Speaker 1: that we already like him. We already talk about him
33:56
Speaker 1: as being talented and awesome. If he can go 9-0
33:59
Speaker 1: and elevate this team to number three, number two, maybe
34:02
Speaker 1: number one ranking, And even if you lose one or
34:05
Speaker 1: two times during the year, if you have a special
34:08
Speaker 1: season and you beat BYU, then I think Devin Dampier
34:11
Speaker 1: enters his name next to the Cam Risings and the
34:15
Speaker 1: Alex Smiths and the Brian Johnsons and puts himself in
34:19
Speaker 1: a conversation that he's not yet in.
34:22
Speaker 8: Well, I completely agree with that. I mean, let's just
34:25
Speaker 8: play the tape forward. If they win tomorrow and they
34:28
Speaker 8: go on to play for a Big 12 championship and
34:31
Speaker 8: get into the playoff, I think he's right there with
34:34
Speaker 8: Alex and Brian. I think he even takes it a
34:38
Speaker 8: step further than Cam did because he would have led
34:40
Speaker 8: them to a playoff and maybe a conference championship. We're
34:45
Speaker 8: getting way ahead of ourselves here. Devin's got to go
34:48
Speaker 8: out with his teammates. It's not all on Devin. Somebody
34:52
Speaker 8: asked me this morning the difference between Devin last year
34:55
Speaker 8: and this year. I don't feel like he feels like
34:59
Speaker 8: he's got to put the tape on every single week.
35:02
Speaker 8: I think he's matured a little bit. I think he's learned, hey,
35:05
Speaker 8: I've got good players around me. Let me set them
35:08
Speaker 8: up to succeed. And when I need to make plays,
35:09
Speaker 8: I'll make plays. But I think Devin is the guy
35:13
Speaker 8: that could have a huge impact on the outcome of
35:16
Speaker 8: tomorrow's game.
35:17
Speaker 1: A lot of conversation during the week about L.J. Martin
35:21
Speaker 1: and his availability for BYU. I think he's going to play.
35:25
Speaker 1: I think he's going to be a lot better and
35:26
Speaker 1: a lot healthier than people expect him to be. And
35:30
Speaker 1: obviously that changes BYU's rushing attack especially.
35:34
Speaker 3: L.J.
35:35
Speaker 1: Martin and his role tomorrow. What do you think it's
35:37
Speaker 1: going to be?
35:38
Speaker 8: I'm not as confident in you that he's going to
35:40
Speaker 8: be a lot better. I think he'll play. I do
35:43
Speaker 8: think he'll play. I just wonder a guy that had
35:46
Speaker 8: as severe an ankle injury as he had a month
35:48
Speaker 8: ago who hasn't played in a game in a month
35:51
Speaker 8: and hasn't, frankly, from what I've heard, practiced a lot
35:55
Speaker 8: in the month. what he's going to give. I think
35:57
Speaker 8: it'll be great for BYU to have him back out there.
35:59
Speaker 8: I think just having your best offensive player, your player
36:04
Speaker 8: of the year in the conference from a year ago
36:05
Speaker 8: out on that field will be a lift for BYU.
36:09
Speaker 8: I'm just not so sure. where he will be physically
36:13
Speaker 8: in the game I think having him out there will
36:16
Speaker 8: be great certainly having him out there is going to
36:18
Speaker 8: be better than not having him out there because the
36:20
Speaker 8: rushing attack for BYU has been kind of a shadow
36:24
Speaker 8: of itself it's been Bear Bachmeier carrying the load and
36:27
Speaker 8: sprinkle in a little Preston Rex here and there but
36:30
Speaker 8: I think having him out there is going to be
36:31
Speaker 8: good I just I don't have a feel yet as
36:35
Speaker 8: to what kind of an impact he'll have in the
36:36
Speaker 8: game These.
36:38
Speaker 1: Last couple of weeks in very important games for the
36:41
Speaker 1: University of Utah, we have watched Colton Swan, in my opinion,
36:45
Speaker 1: kind of come into his own. Not that he wasn't
36:48
Speaker 1: already an awesome coach, but I think realize that he
36:52
Speaker 1: enjoys to turn up the heat a little bit and
36:54
Speaker 1: that maybe with this personnel, with this particular defense, that's
36:58
Speaker 1: a good thing even in important moments in a game.
37:01
Speaker 1: Will he stay aggressive against BYU in those obvious passing
37:05
Speaker 1: downs for Bear Bachmeier?
37:07
Speaker 9: I think you have to. I really do.
37:10
Speaker 8: Bear is a really good pocket passer. If you give
37:16
Speaker 8: him time to throw, he's got good weapons. I think
37:20
Speaker 8: Kyle Casper is really good. I think legend Glasker is phenomenal.
37:26
Speaker 8: And I think if you don't get him off his spot,
37:29
Speaker 8: if you don't make him uncomfortable, if you give him
37:32
Speaker 8: time to survey the field and you've got Walker lions too,
37:36
Speaker 8: who's a really good tight end. I just, I think
37:38
Speaker 8: you have to make him as uncomfortable as possible and
37:41
Speaker 8: heat him up where I think to me, Sean, the
37:44
Speaker 8: risk of giving up the big play occasionally is is
37:49
Speaker 8: worth it to not let him be comfortable and pick
37:53
Speaker 8: you apart because he has that ability to stand back
37:56
Speaker 8: there and pick you apart. Yeah, you might give up him.
37:59
Speaker 8: He may scramble for 15 or 20 yards. He may
38:01
Speaker 8: hit that big play downfield, but I would rather take
38:04
Speaker 8: my chances of heating him up and making him uncomfortable
38:07
Speaker 8: and having him try to do something on the move
38:10
Speaker 8: or on the run or out of his comfort zone
38:12
Speaker 8: than to rush four, because BYU's got a good offensive line.
38:16
Speaker 8: Rushing four and letting him scam the field, I just
38:18
Speaker 8: don't think that's a recipe for success.
38:22
Speaker 1: Bill Riley for another couple of minutes here on the
38:24
Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell Show, getting you ready for the holy war
38:26
Speaker 1: between an undefeated Utah and a one-loss BYU team. Top
38:30
Speaker 1: ten rankings for both teams, first time in the history
38:34
Speaker 1: of the rivalry game. They've both been ranked so high. So,
38:39
Speaker 1: is there anything to the.
38:42
Speaker 1: The coaching matchup here that changes because there's, there's always
38:45
Speaker 1: been a ton of familiarity between these two coaching staffs,
38:49
Speaker 1: but the BYU staff probably doesn't know McGiven and Swan
38:55
Speaker 1: the same way that they knew Scali. Well, I guess
38:58
Speaker 1: last year back, they didn't know him all that well either.
39:00
Speaker 1: And the same is true on the opposite side, right?
39:03
Speaker 1: Utah had a lot of awareness of what Jay Hill's
39:05
Speaker 1: mindset was, maybe a little bit less with Kelly Papinga.
39:09
Speaker 1: Obviously Morgan and Kalani know one another very well, but
39:13
Speaker 1: is there anything to that changing dynamic relative to a
39:17
Speaker 1: pretty consistent 20 years of this rivalry?
39:20
Speaker 8: Well, I would tell you, I think you didn't mention
39:23
Speaker 8: Gary Anderson. And I think Gary Anderson is playing a
39:26
Speaker 8: much bigger role in Provo than a lot of people
39:29
Speaker 8: probably think he is.
39:30
Speaker 4: Is.
39:31
Speaker 8: I think he's a big part of what they do defensively.
39:33
Speaker 8: And I think Gary Anderson knows Kevin McGiven a little bit,
39:37
Speaker 8: Morgan Scali and.
39:38
Speaker 9: Colton Swan a little bit too.
39:40
Speaker 8: So I think the familiarity is one of the interesting
39:43
Speaker 8: things that are part of this rivalry. I don't know
39:46
Speaker 8: who has the advantage and who doesn't have the advantage.
39:50
Speaker 8: But I do know that the familiarity and the chess
39:53
Speaker 8: game within.
39:54
Speaker 9: The game is one that's fun to watch.
39:56
Speaker 8: You know, Aaron Roderick, you know he's got about three
39:59
Speaker 8: trick plays in his back pocket. He always does. When
40:02
Speaker 8: does he pull those trick plays out? How much of
40:05
Speaker 8: an influence is Gary Anderson in this game with his
40:09
Speaker 8: familiarity with Utah and maybe Morgan a little bit, too?
40:12
Speaker 2: I don't know.
40:13
Speaker 8: But I do think there's just no way it doesn't
40:16
Speaker 8: play a role in this game. I think it will,
40:19
Speaker 8: both sides. Because I also think that Colton Swan and
40:22
Speaker 8: Kevin McGiven and Morgan Scali and some of the guys
40:24
Speaker 8: on the staff they know those guys at BYU too.
40:27
Speaker 8: So I think the familiarity is certainly– and it's one
40:30
Speaker 8: of the things that makes this rivalry great too.
40:32
Speaker 9: But to think it.
40:33
Speaker 8: Doesn't play a role tomorrow, I think that would be
40:36
Speaker 8: silly for both sides.
40:39
Speaker 1: I think I saw something earlier in the week that
40:42
Speaker 1: during the decade-long stretch where Utah won every game in
40:46
Speaker 1: this rivalry, they were like plus 13 in the turnover ratio.
40:49
Speaker 1: Plus 15.
40:50
Speaker 9: Plus 15.
40:52
Speaker 1: And in the last three, where BYU has won, Utah
40:55
Speaker 1: has been on the wrong side of that ledger.
40:57
Speaker 8: Minus seven in the last three games, Sean.
41:01
Speaker 1: Minus seven in the last three. I mean, I think
41:04
Speaker 1: even if you're just neutral here, that ends up being
41:07
Speaker 1: a monster day. We saw a big turnover last year
41:10
Speaker 1: that ended up making a massive difference in the end
41:13
Speaker 1: result of the game. How does Utah protect the football
41:16
Speaker 1: in this one?
41:17
Speaker 8: Well, I think, I mean, if you want to even
41:19
Speaker 8: take it a step further, you might say Utah was
41:21
Speaker 8: minus five last year. If you count the fourth down, stops.
41:25
Speaker 8: The one in the red zone, the two on the
41:27
Speaker 8: edge of the red zone, too. You know, I just,
41:30
Speaker 8: you know, valuing the football is important, and that's one
41:33
Speaker 8: of the reasons why BYU has been successful.
41:35
Speaker 9: In recent years.
41:36
Speaker 8: You know, they wait for you to make a mistake,
41:38
Speaker 8: and then they take advantage. It wasn't just that Utah
41:41
Speaker 8: in the last three matchups, Sean, has been minus seven.
41:44
Speaker 8: It's that BYU doesn't have a single turnover in any
41:47
Speaker 8: of those three games. I think Utah has to find
41:50
Speaker 8: a way to make that an even or even a
41:52
Speaker 8: plus tomorrow. Find a way to force a turnover. Find
41:55
Speaker 8: a way not to commit that turnover, and I think
41:58
Speaker 8: they'll be in great shape.
42:01
Speaker 1: All right, Bill. It comes down to a single possession.
42:06
Speaker 1: It's a close one. Is it a blowout on one
42:09
Speaker 1: side or the other? How does it actually play out?
42:13
Speaker 8: Well, I'm a numbers guy. I like playing the numbers
42:16
Speaker 8: with a little gut feel mixed in. Eight of the
42:18
Speaker 8: last ten games have been single-score games, seven or fewer points.
42:23
Speaker 8: So I think Utah is the better team right now.
42:27
Speaker 8: I think they're playing the better football. I think they
42:29
Speaker 8: have a little bit of an edge. I think being
42:31
Speaker 8: at home is an advantage, too, but not a huge
42:33
Speaker 8: advantage because Utah is one down there and BYU.
42:36
Speaker 9: Is one up here. I think it's probably a game.
42:40
Speaker 8: Somewhere in that close margin, in that five to seven,
42:45
Speaker 8: five to eight points.
42:47
Speaker 1: High scoring or low scoring?
42:50
Speaker 9: I'm going to say mid to upper 20s.
42:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I'm seeing a lot of predictions. Yeah,
42:58
Speaker 1: I'm kind of in this. I think mine... It might
43:01
Speaker 1: be like 31-27 or something like that because I think
43:04
Speaker 1: that Utah's offense is a heck of a lot more
43:08
Speaker 1: potent than we're accustomed to, and I think that BYU
43:12
Speaker 1: also has some potency on their offense, and Utah has
43:15
Speaker 1: given up a couple of big plays this year. So
43:17
Speaker 1: I could see it being rather than a 14-10 slugfest,
43:21
Speaker 1: something that's a little bit more typical, and I think
43:24
Speaker 1: that makes us hit the over if we get to
43:27
Speaker 1: that point.
43:29
Speaker 8: I would be surprised if it was a game in
43:32
Speaker 8: the teens. Never know.
43:33
Speaker 9: I mean, it's the rivalry game. You never know.
43:35
Speaker 8: But it doesn't feel like it's a game in the teens.
43:39
Speaker 8: I mean, Utah averages 39 a game. BYU averages 32
43:44
Speaker 8: a game. I mean, both defenses are good. But I
43:47
Speaker 8: would be surprised if this game wasn't above 20 points somewhere.
43:52
Speaker 9: In the mid-upper 20s. 10 a.m.
43:55
Speaker 1: Kickoff, not exactly the norm. So what does Bill Riley
43:59
Speaker 1: have to do to get the voice ready to go.
44:02
Speaker 8: By 10 a.m.? Well, I'm going to get up at
44:04
Speaker 8: about 5.
44:06
Speaker 9: I'm going to have a cup of.
44:07
Speaker 8: Hot tea with a little lemon and honey and leave
44:11
Speaker 8: the house about 5.30 and then get up and get
44:15
Speaker 8: my booth set up at about 6 and then go
44:18
Speaker 8: on the air at about 8.
44:22
Speaker 1: Does Utah win this football game, Bill?
44:25
Speaker 8: I think they win the football games Saturday, Sean.
44:27
Speaker 9: I do.
44:28
Speaker 8: I like– this team has a really good feel about it.
44:33
Speaker 8: Not making any guarantees, not doing any of that stuff,
44:36
Speaker 8: but this just feels– this feels like a lot of
44:39
Speaker 8: things are trending in this direction. And I like Utah.
44:43
Speaker 8: I like where Morgan's got these guys right now. And
44:47
Speaker 8: I like having the game at home.
44:49
Speaker 9: And I just like where they are.
44:51
Speaker 8: And I like the fact that, I mean– relatively healthy
44:55
Speaker 8: considering we're in early November. If you looked at that
44:58
Speaker 8: injury report, the Cougars are dealing with a lot of injuries.
45:00
Speaker 8: I'm not saying guys won't play because I think most
45:03
Speaker 8: of those guys will play because it's a rivalry game,
45:04
Speaker 8: but Utah has done a pretty good job avoiding that
45:07
Speaker 8: injury bug this year. So I like the use tomorrow.
45:11
Speaker 1: You bring up the injury report, and obviously we've talked
45:13
Speaker 1: a ton about L.J.
45:14
Speaker 9: Martin.
45:14
Speaker 1: We've talked a little about Evan Johnson. And his availability
45:18
Speaker 1: in that defensive backfield for BYU is also kind of
45:21
Speaker 1: a monster thing in this game if he's not able
45:23
Speaker 1: to go. If he is able to go, we don't
45:26
Speaker 1: need to talk about it much. But if he ends
45:28
Speaker 1: up limited or absent, that's a huge advantage for Utah.
45:31
Speaker 8: Well, I mean, he's listed as doubtful right now, Sean.
45:34
Speaker 8: So if he's doubtful on the Thursday report, I mean,
45:38
Speaker 8: that tells me that, again, unless you're playing around with that,
45:43
Speaker 8: doubtful means you haven't been doing a whole lot. And,
45:48
Speaker 8: you know, it'll be interesting to see. He's very important
45:51
Speaker 8: to that defense, on the back end of that defense.
45:52
Speaker 8: He and Satawala are, you could make a case, two
45:56
Speaker 8: of the most important players on that defensive unit for them.
45:59
Speaker 9: So I don't know. I feel like L.J.
46:02
Speaker 8: Martin's going to play. That's just what my gut tells me.
46:05
Speaker 8: And the fact that he's questionable kind of tells me that, too,
46:07
Speaker 8: and they've been pointing toward it. The Evan Johnson thing's
46:10
Speaker 8: a little bit more interesting.
46:12
Speaker 1: Well, Bill, have a great call. Obviously, we'll see you
46:14
Speaker 1: up there. And go Utes.
46:17
Speaker 3: Thanks, Sean.
46:18
Speaker 1: That's Bill Riley, voice of the youth. They should brought
46:21
Speaker 1: to you every single week by handy and handy. Handy law, Utah.com.
46:26
Speaker 1: Big firm experience, small firm attention. Preston Garrett handy and
46:30
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46:33
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46:36
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46:43
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46:46
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Speaker 1: the business. HandyLawUtah.com. All right, we got a lot left
46:54
Speaker 1: to get to. Let's take a closer look at what
46:57
Speaker 1: the injury report yields on a Thursday night. And a
47:02
Speaker 1: PGA Tour leaderboard update also still coming. IFA Country Stores
47:06
Speaker 1: want to remind you that they help grow the things
47:09
Speaker 1: you love, and everyone loves animals. So they're inviting you
47:13
Speaker 1: to support the annual Feeding Friends Animal Food Drive. Help
47:17
Speaker 1: feed animals in need by purchasing pet food, livestock feed,
47:20
Speaker 1: or making a donation at checkout. Together, we can help
47:23
Speaker 1: local shelters and rescues provide care for animals throughout the community. IFA.coop
47:29
Speaker 1: or local IFA country stores to help today. A leaderboard
47:34
Speaker 1: update from the Worldwide Technology Championship. A look at who's
47:37
Speaker 1: available and who's not. Jeff Schwartz coming. We're down here
47:42
Speaker 1: at the Smith's Marketplace downtown, 455 East, 500 South. The
47:46
Speaker 1: swag and the giveaways are going rapidly. So get down here,
47:50
Speaker 1: throw up a U, say go Utes, and grab yourself something.
47:53
Speaker 1: It's the Sean O'Connell Show on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
47:55
Speaker 1: You're listening to.
47:58
Speaker 7: The Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch Hyundai Studio of
48:02
Speaker 7: ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
48:03
Speaker 3: I can't get enough.
48:13
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show, 455 East, 500
48:17
Speaker 1: South at the Smith's Marketplace downtown. That's where we are
48:21
Speaker 1: broadcasting today. We still, shockingly, amazingly, we still have a
48:26
Speaker 1: few tailgate passes left. We still have maybe a gift
48:30
Speaker 1: card left, maybe. But get down here, throw up the U,
48:34
Speaker 1: grab the swag before it is gone. If we run
48:38
Speaker 1: out of those, we also have Gatorade water bottles, these like...
48:43
Speaker 1: You know, the washable ones, the reusable, the metal ones,
48:45
Speaker 1: nice heavy-duty thing. It's a weapon if you need it, actually.
48:51
Speaker 1: PGA Tour leaderboard updates are brought to you by our
48:53
Speaker 1: friends at Uinta Golf by Worldwide Golf. I told you
48:56
Speaker 1: yesterday about the Quantum Leap prices by Callaway. $ 100 off
49:01
Speaker 1: the irons, $ 200 off the drivers, $ 100 off the fairways.
49:05
Speaker 1: They've got the holiday gift guide going. worldwidegolfshops.com, or better yet,
49:10
Speaker 1: go to any of the Uinta Golf locations all up
49:13
Speaker 1: and down the Wasatch Front. Tell them OC sent you.
49:17
Speaker 1: What's going on at the World? Technology Championship? Oh, do
49:24
Speaker 1: we think robots are running this championship? Is that what
49:26
Speaker 1: that was? I thought that the robots were the ones playing.
49:30
Speaker 4: Oh, robot golfers. Hey, you know what? Maybe sometime in
49:34
Speaker 4: the near future.
49:35
Speaker 1: You never know. Ben James is your leader.
49:38
Speaker 4: He is solo first place at 14 under. He's still
49:43
Speaker 4: got his last hole to go here. He shot a
49:46
Speaker 4: 65 today, seven under. So a great day for Ben James.
49:50
Speaker 1: Look at that.
49:52
Speaker 4: Solo in second place is our local guy, Zach Blair.
49:56
Speaker 4: He's at 11 under OC, three under for the day.
49:59
Speaker 4: So we finished eight under yesterday. He was two under
50:03
Speaker 4: on his front nine when we ended the show yesterday.
50:06
Speaker 1: So great.
50:07
Speaker 4: Finished to his round yesterday. Continue to have a great
50:10
Speaker 4: day today. He's through 16 holes, so a couple holes
50:14
Speaker 4: left to try to catch up to Ben James. Tied
50:18
Speaker 4: for third is a handful of people, including Rasmus Nearguard Peterson.
50:26
Speaker 4: No relation, by the way. 10 under. Ben Coles is
50:30
Speaker 4: in that group as well. They're tied for third. Four
50:33
Speaker 4: shots off the lead. Round out the top 10. Got
50:35
Speaker 4: a Few guys tied for 10th, including Chris Kirk, who
50:41
Speaker 4: was second place at one point yesterday. He's at nine
50:46
Speaker 4: under Lucas Glover, one of the bigger names in the
50:48
Speaker 4: tournament in that range as well. Tony Finau has not
50:54
Speaker 4: teed off yet, or he's about to tee off anyway,
50:56
Speaker 4: about to start his round.
50:58
Speaker 1: He's at two under.
50:59
Speaker 4: He finished that two under yesterday, and then Patrick Fishburne
51:03
Speaker 4: also finished at two under yesterday.
51:07
Speaker 1: He tees off at 12.20.
51:09
Speaker 4: So that's your PGA Tour leaderboard update brought to you
51:12
Speaker 4: by Uintah Golf. I've got one question for you, OC.
51:13
Speaker 4: What are you planning on using that Gatorade water bottle for?
51:16
Speaker 4: I think it could be a weapon.
51:18
Speaker 1: Well, I just picked it up, and it was kind
51:19
Speaker 1: of heavy.
51:20
Speaker 5: Oh, okay.
51:20
Speaker 1: You know what I mean? Gotcha. I was like, oh, well.
51:23
Speaker 1: Gatorade probably recommends that you just drink out of it, but,
51:26
Speaker 1: I mean, to each their own. That's not Gatorade's opinion
51:29
Speaker 1: on the matter. That's my opinion on the matter, right?
51:32
Speaker 1: You know, you're out at the pickleball court, and somebody
51:34
Speaker 1: starts talking trash. It's a heavy projectile, James.
51:37
Speaker 3: Come on.
51:37
Speaker 6: Yeah.
51:37
Speaker 1: You've got to think outside the box every now and again.
51:40
Speaker 4: I mean, I would expect nothing less from a UFC fighter,
51:44
Speaker 4: PFL fighter.
51:45
Speaker 1: I'm thinking that way. We're down here at Smith's Marketplace,
51:48
Speaker 1: 455 East, 500 South. Perfect place for you to stock
51:53
Speaker 1: up for the tailgate that happens tomorrow morning, right? They've
51:57
Speaker 1: got bacon back in the deli case. That's right. We're
51:59
Speaker 1: sitting by the Starbucks here. I can see the deli case.
52:03
Speaker 1: They've got the thick sliced bacon back there. They've got
52:05
Speaker 1: the pre-seasoned, the honey maple stuff. They've got an excellent
52:10
Speaker 1: selection down here. Also, you know, you need 24 eggs
52:16
Speaker 1: right here at Smith's. You need the pan to cook
52:19
Speaker 1: those eggs in. Maybe you need one of those portable
52:22
Speaker 1: electronic griddles. They've got all of it here at Smith's Marketplace.
52:25
Speaker 1: It really is a one-stop shop. Don't forget the Pepsi
52:27
Speaker 1: products and the ice. They have a A robot wandering
52:34
Speaker 1: around doing inventory control again. The robot's name is Tally,
52:38
Speaker 1: by the way. Makes me a little uneasy, if I'm
52:40
Speaker 1: being honest, but so far has shown no aggression. And
52:45
Speaker 1: I think maybe came over here because the robot heard
52:47
Speaker 1: us talking about the Worldwide Technology Championship. Might be why
52:52
Speaker 1: Tally stopped by. It's probably our fault. It's probably our fault.
52:55
Speaker 4: By the way, Smith's Marketplace probably has Utes gear because
52:59
Speaker 4: they got clothing in those places.
53:02
Speaker 1: I'm looking at a display of Utes gear. So downstairs
53:06
Speaker 1: is the grocery. Upstairs is like everything else, right? They
53:09
Speaker 1: brought the Utes gear even down here to the grocery
53:11
Speaker 1: level because they know people need to stock up for
53:14
Speaker 1: the Holy War game.
53:16
Speaker 4: We'll say Utes gear with it. Probably a BYU gear there, too,
53:19
Speaker 4: if you're so inclined.
53:20
Speaker 1: You know what, James? They actually don't. They don't? No,
53:23
Speaker 1: they don't.
53:24
Speaker 4: University Boulevard, is that the street name? Anyway, yeah, they
53:30
Speaker 4: know the mission there.
53:32
Speaker 1: They really don't. I come to this store probably like
53:34
Speaker 1: twice a week, and I've never seen BYU gear here
53:38
Speaker 1: for sale. They don't have it. So they're making the
53:42
Speaker 1: right decisions down here. They're living right, and magic is
53:45
Speaker 1: going to happen. All right, Jeff Schwartz is going to
53:48
Speaker 1: join us next. He normally catches us on a Tuesday.
53:50
Speaker 1: The schedule has been a little bit weird this week
53:52
Speaker 1: because it's the Holy War. Jeff Schwartz next, talking all
53:55
Speaker 1: things college football, a little NFL sprinkled in. It's the
53:59
Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell Show on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
54:06
Speaker 6: This is the Sean O'Connell Show, your home of the
54:09
Speaker 6: best inside of your Utes. Let's get back to OC
54:12
Speaker 6: from the Murdoch Chevrolet studio of ESPN 792.1 FM.
54:21
Speaker 1: Welcome into the Sean O'Connell Show, hour number two. On
54:25
Speaker 1: a rivalry Friday, the Holy War happens tomorrow morning at
54:30
Speaker 1: Rice-Eccles Stadium. 10 a.m. kickoff. Tailgate will be humming at
54:35
Speaker 1: about 6 a.m. We've got tailgate passes here for the
54:38
Speaker 1: Smith's tailgate tent and for the ESPN 700 tailgate tent.
54:42
Speaker 1: You've got to come down to 455 East, 500 South,
54:46
Speaker 1: and throw up a U. Say go Utes. I'm sorry
54:48
Speaker 1: if you're a BYU fan. We can't give you a
54:51
Speaker 1: tailgate pass. I'm sorry. It's the rules. I didn't make
54:55
Speaker 1: the rules. Those are the rules. But you'll survive. Jeff
54:59
Speaker 1: Schwartz is going to join us here momentarily. We've talked
55:04
Speaker 1: about the kind of individual production of these two football teams,
55:10
Speaker 1: Utah versus BYU, highest-ranked matchup ever between these two schools,
55:14
Speaker 1: 104 meetings in this great rivalry. I do count the
55:20
Speaker 1: Brigham Young Academy meetings. I know that BYU doesn't, but
55:23
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. Utah's in a situation now. I said
55:28
Speaker 1: it on yesterday's show. I will say it again today.
55:32
Speaker 1: There is no tomorrow. You have to win this football game.
55:37
Speaker 1: I know that the coaching staff is doing its best
55:40
Speaker 1: to kind of balance things out and to not let
55:42
Speaker 1: it become this 800-pound gorilla that just crushes you under
55:46
Speaker 1: the nervous weight, but this is a massively, massively important
55:50
Speaker 1: game for the University of Utah because they've lost three
55:53
Speaker 1: in a row. You can't afford to go four in
55:55
Speaker 1: a row, especially when it comes to the in-state recruits,
55:58
Speaker 1: and there's going to be dozens and dozens of them
56:01
Speaker 1: at the game tomorrow. rivalry games matter i wish this
56:05
Speaker 1: one was played the last week of the season i'm
56:07
Speaker 1: still okay with it being played on november 7th because
56:10
Speaker 1: we don't have to wait anymore we are less than
56:13
Speaker 1: 24 hours away uh jeff schwartz former oregon duck he
56:17
Speaker 1: knows a thing or two about playing in some heated
56:19
Speaker 1: rivalries and of course he spent a bunch of years
56:22
Speaker 1: in the nfl he joins us now on the sean
56:24
Speaker 1: o'connell show hey jeff have you.
56:26
Speaker 2: Ever played a rivalry that ended before like 2 p.m local.
56:29
Speaker 1: Time It is odd that we've had some day games
56:35
Speaker 1: in the past, but not many in this rivalry game. And, yeah,
56:40
Speaker 1: you've got to get all hyped up before lunchtime. We've
56:44
Speaker 1: talked a lot about it. I've already asked you about it.
56:47
Speaker 1: But the morning routine, how important was your morning routine
56:51
Speaker 1: or your daily routine as a player?
56:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hugely important. You know, like in the NFL,
56:56
Speaker 2: you play at one, right? And so.
57:00
Speaker 2: I like to be there. So I took the first
57:02
Speaker 2: bus on the way games. So you're there about probably
57:04
Speaker 2: in the stadium by nine 30, 10. And then if
57:07
Speaker 2: I was at home, obviously I'd probably get there even
57:08
Speaker 2: maybe a little earlier. I'd wake up at seven 30.
57:12
Speaker 2: I'd eat the same breakfast at eight and then I'd
57:14
Speaker 2: go play football. And so now doing this, we're essentially
57:18
Speaker 2: would be, I mean, I guess you do play some
57:21
Speaker 2: probably 12 amounts of time kickoffs, right? Like you play
57:24
Speaker 2: something around noon every now and then maybe closer to
57:27
Speaker 2: maybe one, I guess probably right. The earliest game you
57:29
Speaker 2: play would be one. So, everything just pushes back three hours.
57:35
Speaker 5: And some.
57:37
Speaker 2: Guys handle it well, some guys don't. You gotta wake
57:40
Speaker 2: up earlier. There's no way to prepare for it either, right?
57:42
Speaker 2: You just have to do it. Just go play football.
57:46
Speaker 2: It helps it's a rivalry game, right? Because you'll get
57:48
Speaker 2: a lot of juice if you don't make your own
57:51
Speaker 2: juice from the crowd, right? The crowd will be pretty
57:54
Speaker 2: crazy even at 10 o'clock in the morning. And so,
57:57
Speaker 2: I think that That will not be a problem. You know,
58:01
Speaker 2: put a little Bailey's in the coffee. Is that allowed, though?
58:04
Speaker 2: That might not be allowed.
58:05
Speaker 1: It just depends. Just depends, yeah. Not for BYU fans,
58:09
Speaker 1: but I guess there's plenty of Utah fans that it's allowed.
58:12
Speaker 2: BYU fans being that passionate with no alcohol is very impressive.
58:17
Speaker 1: Around these parts, Jeff, we substitute caffeine and sugar for alcohol.
58:23
Speaker 1: Similar results.
58:25
Speaker 2: I took a lot of caffeine. I don't know if
58:27
Speaker 2: I feel the same way, but... Good to know that
58:29
Speaker 2: you guys do that. Very fun game coming up. Should
58:32
Speaker 2: be a good game. And first time in the history
58:35
Speaker 2: of the game, two top 10 teams. And you know
58:37
Speaker 2: what's so interesting, Sean? Washington-Oregon is a great rivalry, right?
58:40
Speaker 2: We've talked about this for years now. But I think
58:42
Speaker 2: one of the reasons why it wasn't as nationally relevant...
58:46
Speaker 2: is both teams were never good at the same time. Like,
58:48
Speaker 2: Oregon was good for a couple years, and Washington was
58:50
Speaker 2: good for a couple years, and then when Oregon and
58:53
Speaker 2: Washington finally got to be both top 10 teams in 2023,
58:57
Speaker 2: it was like, oh, this matters a lot more. And
59:00
Speaker 2: I feel like everyone's known about the Holy War, but
59:03
Speaker 2: this game basically being a playoff playing game, or like
59:07
Speaker 2: a Big 12 championship playing game, just makes the magnitude
59:10
Speaker 2: of the game even more important.
59:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's massive. And it's crazy because like, if you've
59:15
Speaker 1: been watching these two teams for your whole life, like
59:18
Speaker 1: all the people who grew up in the state, right.
59:20
Speaker 1: There's been times in the past where one team is
59:24
Speaker 1: in the top 25 and they're there's been times where
59:27
Speaker 1: one team even gets into like top 10, top 15.
59:30
Speaker 1: And usually you get to choose one, right?
59:34
Speaker 3: Yes.
59:34
Speaker 1: Like your Oregon and Washington analogy here. Sometimes it was
59:39
Speaker 1: a top 25 matchup and we were going bananas over that. Oh,
59:41
Speaker 1: they're both in the top 25 now. This is 18
59:44
Speaker 1: versus 22. Like that's massive, right?
59:47
Speaker 5: Yeah.
59:47
Speaker 1: This little old tucked away mountain time zone spot, you've
59:50
Speaker 1: got the number three versus number nine teams.
59:53
Speaker 5: And.
59:54
Speaker 1: The thing that makes it more interesting for me is
59:57
Speaker 1: the dynamic where it's a first-year head coach in Morgan
1:00:00
Speaker 1: Scali who has this team with its highest ranking, highest
1:00:04
Speaker 1: AP and highest college football playoff ranking since the end
1:00:08
Speaker 1: of the Sugar Bowl year where you finished undefeated. He
1:00:12
Speaker 1: was not supposed to be able to do this in
1:00:14
Speaker 1: his first year. When you watch this team, why is
1:00:18
Speaker 1: it happening the way it's happening?
1:00:19
Speaker 2: Well, I certainly did not think you'd do this in
1:00:21
Speaker 2: year one as well. So I've been one of those
1:00:23
Speaker 2: people that has been proven wrong. A couple of things, right? Obviously,
1:00:27
Speaker 2: the offense is dynamic and you have playmakers and you
1:00:30
Speaker 2: put in a position where you're able to make enough plays. Now,
1:00:34
Speaker 2: I do think, though, that I said this for a while.
1:00:37
Speaker 5: I do.
1:00:37
Speaker 2: I do believe it to be true. And we're seeing
1:00:39
Speaker 2: a little bit when you play better defense. It's like
1:00:41
Speaker 2: you need a little bit something more than some of
1:00:43
Speaker 2: the gimmick stuff.
1:00:44
Speaker 3: Right.
1:00:45
Speaker 2: And we'll see this weekend how that plays out against
1:00:48
Speaker 2: BYU's defense. But you have dynamic playmakers. And look, you're
1:00:52
Speaker 2: always going to be good on offense. That's one thing
1:00:54
Speaker 2: about defense. The defense is definitely carried over. It's carried
1:00:58
Speaker 2: over from Whittingham. And one thing that seems clear, too,
1:01:05
Speaker 2: is the identity of the program. We talked a lot
1:01:08
Speaker 2: about this last season. What does the identity become when
1:01:11
Speaker 2: your Hall of Fame coach leaves? It appears to not
1:01:13
Speaker 2: have changed, which is really good. Or it really morphed
1:01:16
Speaker 2: into Scali. And that's important, too. And so... it's good,
1:01:19
Speaker 2: clean football, man. Utah doesn't beat themselves very often and
1:01:23
Speaker 2: make a lot of plays when it matters most.
1:01:26
Speaker 1: I know you and I have talked about this a lot,
1:01:28
Speaker 1: and I saw there were tweets about it again, about
1:01:31
Speaker 1: the offensive line play for this University of Utah football
1:01:34
Speaker 1: team and the run scheme. I think the tweet that
1:01:38
Speaker 1: kind of went semi-viral was, Utah hired a high school
1:01:41
Speaker 1: football coach, and this is what he's doing, which is
1:01:45
Speaker 1: conveniently true. it's conveniently leaving out the fact that he was,
1:01:49
Speaker 1: you know, I.
1:01:50
Speaker 2: Put that out there. I put out like, yeah, he's a,
1:01:54
Speaker 2: you know, but I will say like part of the
1:01:56
Speaker 2: reason why I was skeptical about your season this year
1:01:59
Speaker 2: was Jordan. Like it's not, I don't think Jordan could
1:02:01
Speaker 2: be a good coach in college football. It's that it's
1:02:04
Speaker 2: a very big jump to go from high school, right?
1:02:08
Speaker 2: High school to a powerful job, not just like, going
1:02:12
Speaker 2: to high school to Utah Tech, right? It's not doing
1:02:15
Speaker 2: a GA job. Like, it's right to a power four
1:02:20
Speaker 2: job on a team that wants to be a playoff team.
1:02:23
Speaker 2: And I can't imagine that's done with the success that
1:02:26
Speaker 2: you've seen here ever, right? And so I got to
1:02:29
Speaker 2: join a lot of credit. Now, I think as the
1:02:31
Speaker 2: season's gone on, it's not as good as it was. Now,
1:02:35
Speaker 2: that's not surprising, right? You're playing better teams. They have
1:02:37
Speaker 2: a better idea of what your strengths and weaknesses are.
1:02:39
Speaker 2: And you have a young group, right? These guys have
1:02:41
Speaker 2: not played a lot of football together. So, you know,
1:02:43
Speaker 2: that would be very important tomorrow, obviously. It's a home game.
1:02:47
Speaker 2: I get it. But it's a tough defense to be
1:02:51
Speaker 2: able to communicate and be able to be on the
1:02:54
Speaker 2: same page and eliminate mistakes. And that gets done a
1:02:58
Speaker 2: lot with the scheme, too. It's a really good job
1:03:00
Speaker 2: of let's put together a scheme that doesn't rely on
1:03:03
Speaker 2: our offensive line to have to do everything for us.
1:03:07
Speaker 1: Jeff Schwartz is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell
1:03:09
Speaker 1: Show talking Holy War. A lot of conversation about the
1:03:13
Speaker 1: availability or lack thereof surrounding BYU's. I think he's their
1:03:18
Speaker 1: best player.
1:03:19
Speaker 2: That wasn't funny. That wasn't cool.
1:03:22
Speaker 1: No, you should not do that.
1:03:24
Speaker 2: I heard injury availability. I just lost my mind.
1:03:26
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Don't bring bad juju into the Holy War.
1:03:30
Speaker 2: It's not bad juju. Every time there's an injury report,
1:03:32
Speaker 2: like Pete Thamel works at ESPN, he always does injury
1:03:35
Speaker 2: stuff and he always puts out like, This guy's a
1:03:38
Speaker 2: game-time decision, and our group thread is like, Cam Rising again.
1:03:42
Speaker 2: Gosh dang it.
1:03:44
Speaker 1: I don't like that the Utes were memed in that manner,
1:03:47
Speaker 1: even though they probably deserve to be. But I'm talking
1:03:50
Speaker 1: about L.J. Martin, as you're aware. And he changes the
1:03:55
Speaker 1: run game for BYU pretty significantly. And look, Bear Bachmeier
1:03:58
Speaker 1: is awesome as a runner. Relying on him to be
1:04:02
Speaker 1: your rushing offense in this rivalry game and also to
1:04:05
Speaker 1: generate everything in the pass game, that's tough sledding. Now,
1:04:09
Speaker 1: he did a good job of it last year, but L.J.
1:04:12
Speaker 1: Martin coming off of a surgery and getting back into
1:04:14
Speaker 1: the lineup and practicing this week. I mean, the second
1:04:20
Speaker 1: part of this question is, what is he actually going
1:04:22
Speaker 1: to contribute? The first part of the question is, What
1:04:25
Speaker 1: does it do for a team like BYU, even if
1:04:28
Speaker 1: he's like out there and dressed and looks like he's
1:04:32
Speaker 1: ready to go, where you're like, okay, maybe we have
1:04:35
Speaker 1: him today?
1:04:37
Speaker 2: I don't think it does much unless he plays, right? Okay,
1:04:40
Speaker 2: all right. He's got to play. He averages like eight
1:04:43
Speaker 2: yards a carry. I mean, he's been an incredible running
1:04:45
Speaker 2: back for them. And you're right, the ability to– Just
1:04:49
Speaker 2: have some different offense. And part of the problem for
1:04:53
Speaker 2: BYU is they're not great on third down, Sean. Let's
1:04:56
Speaker 2: be honest, third and long-ish. And you know how you
1:04:59
Speaker 2: stay on third and long? You run the ball in
1:05:00
Speaker 2: first down very well. And having him in your lineup,
1:05:05
Speaker 2: in theory, should help with that, right? And so having
1:05:08
Speaker 2: him back, I think, is so important to the success
1:05:11
Speaker 2: of their offense in this game.
1:05:15
Speaker 1: I put a poll question out about what people think
1:05:18
Speaker 1: his actual contribution is going to be. And it's just
1:05:21
Speaker 1: a guess because none of us are doctors. But he
1:05:24
Speaker 1: could be multiple carries, maybe score a touchdown or more.
1:05:28
Speaker 1: He could be multiple carries but not quite himself. And
1:05:32
Speaker 1: so maybe he gives you like 65 or 80 yards.
1:05:35
Speaker 1: Then we're just going to have him out there as
1:05:37
Speaker 1: a decoy, something that the defense accounts for. I don't
1:05:40
Speaker 1: think BYU is willing to do that, like just wasting
1:05:42
Speaker 1: a body on the field in their offense.
1:05:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:05:45
Speaker 1: And then there's the, like, he's going to pretend he's
1:05:47
Speaker 1: ready to play, but he's actually not. What is the
1:05:50
Speaker 1: most likely outcome in your mind?
1:05:52
Speaker 2: I think if he plays, he plays and he's healthy, right?
1:05:55
Speaker 2: To your point, I don't think they put him on
1:05:56
Speaker 2: the field if he's not ready to play at 100%.
1:05:59
Speaker 2: And so I would just lean toward, I think he
1:06:03
Speaker 2: probably that 50 to 60 yard, right? I mean, he
1:06:06
Speaker 2: hits a couple big ones, maybe more, but that feels
1:06:08
Speaker 2: probably right. Maybe you said 50 to 80, is that
1:06:10
Speaker 2: what you said?
1:06:11
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, it was like 65, 80 yards, something,
1:06:13
Speaker 1: you know, like in... And he's churning, he's keeping your
1:06:17
Speaker 1: drives going and that kind of stuff.
1:06:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's about right.
1:06:20
Speaker 1: Like, if he ends up with two touchdowns, we're talking
1:06:22
Speaker 1: about a major impact on the game and Utah's crying,
1:06:25
Speaker 1: but that's a big ask for someone who hasn't played
1:06:29
Speaker 1: in six weeks or five weeks.
1:06:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that what you said, I think it
1:06:33
Speaker 2: makes sense that he would get, you know, 15 carries maybe?
1:06:39
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean, it just depends on how
1:06:42
Speaker 2: healthy he is. And it also depends on, like, how
1:06:43
Speaker 2: well he plays early. If he goes out there, Sean,
1:06:46
Speaker 2: and he has multiple negative yard runs, probably not going
1:06:52
Speaker 2: to play as much. It depends on how he does early,
1:06:55
Speaker 2: how they scheme him up. Now, obviously, him being back
1:07:00
Speaker 2: should help Bachmeier in the run game, right? Because now
1:07:02
Speaker 2: you have to really, really take into account that you
1:07:07
Speaker 2: have Martin there, and that might open up some quarterback runs.
1:07:10
Speaker 2: So very curious to see sort of how that works
1:07:13
Speaker 2: for BYU. And again, if you're able to get Martin
1:07:21
Speaker 2: going a little bit, that will help your pass game
1:07:24
Speaker 2: out as well. Because Utah doesn't rush the passer terribly well.
1:07:27
Speaker 2: We talked about this all year. It's getting better, but
1:07:28
Speaker 2: it's not great. And getting in those third and short
1:07:31
Speaker 2: situations really negates a pass rush too. Very important for
1:07:35
Speaker 2: them to be able, I think if he's healthy, to
1:07:38
Speaker 2: start getting those first down wins.
1:07:44
Speaker 1: Would you rather have a quarterback who has five more
1:07:48
Speaker 1: touchdowns or five fewer turnovers in a close game, in
1:07:52
Speaker 1: a rivalry-style game? That's basically the comparison between Devin Dampier
1:07:58
Speaker 1: and Bear Bachmeier. Devin has accounted for five more touchdowns,
1:08:03
Speaker 1: but he has five more turnovers.
1:08:05
Speaker 2: Bear does?
1:08:06
Speaker 1: Devin does.
1:08:08
Speaker 2: The turnovers, to me, it's too much of a blanket statement.
1:08:11
Speaker 2: What are the turnovers? Are they aggressive turnovers?
1:08:15
Speaker 5: Are they?
1:08:17
Speaker 1: He's thrown seven interceptions. Devin Ampere's thrown seven interceptions. And
1:08:22
Speaker 1: one of those is a pick six. He's also lost
1:08:24
Speaker 1: two fumbles.
1:08:26
Speaker 2: Okay. Well, I mean, again, like the lost fumbles, was
1:08:29
Speaker 2: it his fault or did he get sacked? One was.
1:08:33
Speaker 3: Exactly.
1:08:33
Speaker 1: I mean, I've not watched.
1:08:36
Speaker 5: It.
1:08:36
Speaker 2: One was Kansas game, right?
1:08:38
Speaker 1: I don't remember the other one. One was the Kansas
1:08:41
Speaker 1: game where they initially ruled it an interception, but then
1:08:44
Speaker 1: it was a fumble or whatever. It's getting hit when
1:08:50
Speaker 1: he's trying to throw.
1:08:52
Speaker 2: Yeah. My general idea is I would probably rather have
1:08:57
Speaker 2: a more dynamic playmaker and live with some of the turnover.
1:09:01
Speaker 2: That's probably my general thought on that.
1:09:03
Speaker 1: All right.
1:09:06
Speaker 2: Okay.
1:09:06
Speaker 1: We did a blind stack comparison, and it was like
1:09:10
Speaker 1: neck and neck with the quarterbacks, and that was the
1:09:13
Speaker 1: sticking point is like you want the guy who's not
1:09:16
Speaker 1: quite as productive, fewer yards, fewer rushing yards. but safer,
1:09:21
Speaker 1: fewer turnovers, or you want the guy who's contributed more,
1:09:24
Speaker 1: but he's also turned the ball over more.
1:09:27
Speaker 2: I mean, again, is it like, is it Rayola turnovers?
1:09:31
Speaker 2: You're throwing meatball subs up to UCLA? You know what
1:09:33
Speaker 2: I mean? I think it matters on what the turnovers are.
1:09:37
Speaker 1: You've watched a little bit of this Utah team. There's
1:09:39
Speaker 1: like one throw per game where you're just going, what
1:09:42
Speaker 1: was that? And it's one per game, and he makes
1:09:46
Speaker 1: 12 plays a game that make up for it. That
1:09:50
Speaker 1: one play per game in a rivalry game is scary.
1:09:53
Speaker 2: Sure, but I think every quarterback does that. Just one
1:09:57
Speaker 2: throw a game, you're like, what are we doing? Have
1:09:58
Speaker 2: you ever played football before? I feel like that's not
1:10:01
Speaker 2: just something. But to me, if you're down 3, 6, 7,
1:10:06
Speaker 2: you need that guy. You need the guy who can
1:10:10
Speaker 2: just go make some plays for you. And it feels
1:10:12
Speaker 2: like the safe guy is not making those plays for you.
1:10:15
Speaker 1: I think that's fair. Devin has been that dude where
1:10:19
Speaker 1: he's hitting a bunch of home runs and occasionally strikes out.
1:10:23
Speaker 1: It's worked out very nicely for this Utah football team
1:10:25
Speaker 1: so far. Maybe you're the wrong person to ask this question,
1:10:31
Speaker 1: but in the modern landscape of college football where BYU's
1:10:36
Speaker 1: got a little bit more NIL money to spend and
1:10:39
Speaker 1: there was a time when the talent distribution was like
1:10:43
Speaker 1: heavily in the favor of utah and byu was trying
1:10:45
Speaker 1: to keep up and now it's evened out pretty i
1:10:49
Speaker 1: would say it's it's dead heat even right and you're
1:10:52
Speaker 1: trying to win these recruiting battles with the in-state kids
1:10:55
Speaker 1: especially when byu gets to say hey they can't beat
1:10:58
Speaker 1: us we've won three in a row and maybe if
1:11:01
Speaker 1: things don't go well for utah tomorrow we've won four
1:11:03
Speaker 1: in a row i just don't know how you overcome
1:11:06
Speaker 1: that in the recruiting picture and then if you can't
1:11:09
Speaker 1: win it in the recruiting battle. It gets harder and
1:11:11
Speaker 1: harder to win on actual Saturdays every year that you play.
1:11:15
Speaker 1: So the importance of a game like this just to
1:11:18
Speaker 1: end the streak and to make sure that you get
1:11:21
Speaker 1: to bring the right messaging along with the NIL offer
1:11:24
Speaker 1: into a living room. How important do you think that is?
1:11:28
Speaker 2: I was being recruited by UCLA when USC was dominating.
1:11:31
Speaker 2: I never once thought about not going there because USC
1:11:35
Speaker 2: was better than UCLA. They also didn't have an offer
1:11:37
Speaker 2: from USC either, right? So I guess the idea is
1:11:39
Speaker 2: you have an offer from both BYU and Utah, and
1:11:42
Speaker 2: you're figuring out where to go based off of who wins.
1:11:46
Speaker 1: I wasn't a big-time recruit, so that never happened for me,
1:11:49
Speaker 1: but if Washington came to you, because you weren't a
1:11:51
Speaker 1: Washington or an Oregon fan in high school, right? If
1:11:55
Speaker 1: Washington comes to you and says, hey, we got you
1:11:59
Speaker 1: tickets to this game and we've won it three years
1:12:01
Speaker 1: in a row. Or Oregon comes and says, hey, this
1:12:04
Speaker 1: is our rival. Wait until you see this atmosphere. And
1:12:07
Speaker 1: we've won this one three times in a row. I mean,
1:12:09
Speaker 1: are you going to make a decision even influenced by that?
1:12:14
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
1:12:15
Speaker 1: All right.
1:12:16
Speaker 3: Fair.
1:12:16
Speaker 2: I think the stuff that still matters still matters, right?
1:12:20
Speaker 2: Which is, you know, the relationship with coaches. The money
1:12:23
Speaker 2: obviously matters, the playing time, the city you're in, the atmosphere,
1:12:27
Speaker 2: the academics. Again, we talk about this a lot, but
1:12:30
Speaker 2: a lot of guys aren't going pro, right? So all
1:12:32
Speaker 2: those other things really matter a lot. So the money's even.
1:12:34
Speaker 2: I think those other opportunities are important.
1:12:38
Speaker 1: How many more people will watch this game because it's
1:12:41
Speaker 1: at noon Eastern where you live and not at 10,
1:12:45
Speaker 1: 15 Eastern?
1:12:47
Speaker 2: I actually think less people will watch it because, like,
1:12:53
Speaker 2: If you have Saturday sports with your kids, it's like
1:12:55
Speaker 2: at noon.
1:12:56
Speaker 1: Yeah.
1:12:59
Speaker 2: I was talking with a buddy because our softball team
1:13:02
Speaker 2: lost the other day. Oh, dang. And we would have
1:13:08
Speaker 2: played at 3 o'clock on Saturday. And I texted my
1:13:11
Speaker 2: coach and I was like, I'm glad we're not playing
1:13:12
Speaker 2: at 3 o'clock Saturday. I want to watch Oregon play instead.
1:13:14
Speaker 2: Dad is, and he was lamenting his son has a
1:13:19
Speaker 2: middle school baseball scrimmage on Saturday at 10 and 12
1:13:22
Speaker 2: he's like i can't watch the 12 o'clock games because
1:13:25
Speaker 2: of that um which is you know one thing i've
1:13:30
Speaker 2: i've you know i guess the only saving grace about
1:13:33
Speaker 2: being the big 10 is we don't stone orcas is
1:13:35
Speaker 2: never going to play like that super early game um
1:13:37
Speaker 2: really ever i guess and we have some later games
1:13:39
Speaker 2: like again some good time slots but like that's just
1:13:43
Speaker 2: yeah i don't know i mean i'll be watching i
1:13:44
Speaker 2: got what am i doing i got nothing saturday really
1:13:46
Speaker 2: i got picks out up from a bar mitzvah probably
1:13:49
Speaker 2: at like 1230, so maybe I'll miss a couple minutes
1:13:51
Speaker 2: of the game and then don't leave the house again
1:13:53
Speaker 2: until after the Oregon game. So I'll be home. I'll
1:13:55
Speaker 2: be watching. But it is hard when it's that early
1:13:57
Speaker 2: for fans out east that are in kids' youth sports
1:14:02
Speaker 2: to watch.
1:14:04
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm asking that question because I understand
1:14:07
Speaker 1: philosophically why you're like, hey, let's put this game in
1:14:10
Speaker 1: a time slot where the whole nation can see it
1:14:12
Speaker 1: and bring in a little bit more exposure. But then
1:14:15
Speaker 1: there's the practicality of it. And locally, the practicality doesn't
1:14:18
Speaker 1: make any sense because of what you just mentioned. And
1:14:21
Speaker 1: then you're telling me that nationally it's kind of the
1:14:24
Speaker 1: same thing.
1:14:24
Speaker 2: I don't think this does not scream to me that
1:14:27
Speaker 2: they did this for relevance. They did this because they
1:14:30
Speaker 2: want to put the SEC games at night.
1:14:33
Speaker 1: I mean, from the Big 12 perspective, they wanted this game.
1:14:38
Speaker 1: Not a night game. They said that. They told ESPN that.
1:14:41
Speaker 2: We don't want any more night games. You mean like
1:14:45
Speaker 2: the 10-15 start, right?
1:14:46
Speaker 5: Yes.
1:14:46
Speaker 2: Eastern?
1:14:46
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:14:48
Speaker 2: Would you have preferred 10-15 Eastern, or would you prefer
1:14:51
Speaker 2: 12 Eastern?
1:14:52
Speaker 1: 10-15 by a drastically long stretch.
1:14:56
Speaker 5: Same.
1:14:56
Speaker 2: I would do that. Like, I am more, well, for these, obviously,
1:15:00
Speaker 2: I don't think, I mean, but like Marath is sleeping,
1:15:02
Speaker 2: the kids are sleeping. I'm turning that game on for
1:15:03
Speaker 2: at least a half. I'm not saying up to two,
1:15:06
Speaker 2: but like, I'm way more, like, I'm going to be
1:15:10
Speaker 2: way more in tune to put it on at 10.15
1:15:12
Speaker 2: than I would at noon, if that makes sense. At noon,
1:15:15
Speaker 2: there's like... I mean, I have a play date. I've
1:15:18
Speaker 2: got to pick Alex up. I've got to figure out
1:15:19
Speaker 2: lunch for the kids. It's harder at noon for East
1:15:23
Speaker 2: Coast people. I'm not saying for you or for anyone else,
1:15:25
Speaker 2: but the noon games for me, most Saturdays, we don't
1:15:28
Speaker 2: have sports for a month, essentially, for Saturdays, but once
1:15:32
Speaker 2: December hits, we've got basketball. It's just like Saturday midday,
1:15:37
Speaker 2: I just don't have time to watch football.
1:15:39
Speaker 1: Aside from the Holy War, which I know you're just
1:15:41
Speaker 1: appointment viewing, but aside from the Holy War, I mean,
1:15:45
Speaker 1: it's a monster slate. So which of tomorrow's game is
1:15:50
Speaker 1: drawing the most of your attention?
1:15:52
Speaker 2: Well, obviously mine, but I had a buddy text me
1:15:55
Speaker 2: yesterday or two days ago. I was like, hey, do
1:15:57
Speaker 2: you have thoughts on Oregon or Ohio State? And I
1:15:58
Speaker 2: didn't answer him. I just forgot. And he texts me
1:16:01
Speaker 2: back and says, like, yesterday, can you answer me? I'm like, buddy,
1:16:05
Speaker 2: what do you want me to tell you? What do
1:16:07
Speaker 2: you not know about Oregon-Ohio State, you want me to
1:16:09
Speaker 2: tell you? If I knew what Rayola was going to do,
1:16:12
Speaker 2: I'd tell you. This game, to me, is the most, like, unwagerable.
1:16:19
Speaker 2: How do you even know what either team's going to do?
1:16:23
Speaker 2: One team has a backup and is making his second
1:16:26
Speaker 2: start ever. One is Rayola, who no idea, good or bad,
1:16:29
Speaker 2: in any direction. To me, it's like an un.
1:16:33
Speaker 1: I don't know.
1:16:34
Speaker 2: To me, anything I can... If you told me a result, okay, cool,
1:16:42
Speaker 2: but sure, yeah, Oregon won by 10. I'll say it
1:16:45
Speaker 2: won by 30. Yeah, okay, that makes sense. There's nothing
1:16:48
Speaker 2: that would surprise me about this game whatsoever. Obviously, I
1:16:51
Speaker 2: want to watch it. I will watch it. I think
1:16:54
Speaker 2: the other one that is probably most nationally relevant is
1:16:58
Speaker 2: Bama-LSU because it feels like the loser... Three losses now,
1:17:03
Speaker 2: you're on the outside looking in for the playoff. If
1:17:06
Speaker 2: Notre Dame can't beat Miami, they're definitely out of the playoff.
1:17:08
Speaker 2: That was very clear based off of the initial standings.
1:17:10
Speaker 2: Right now, we have no Tony for Miami. He counts
1:17:13
Speaker 2: for so much of that offense that you've got to
1:17:15
Speaker 2: feel like this would be pretty tough for them to
1:17:21
Speaker 2: play as well. 25% of their offense is Kadarius Tony.
1:17:25
Speaker 2: Not Kadarius Tony, Malachi Tony. That feels very tough for
1:17:31
Speaker 2: For Miami to win on the road in that environment,
1:17:34
Speaker 2: considering you don't have your best offensive weapon. Just those
1:17:38
Speaker 2: games everywhere. I think Tennessee gets Kentucky. Kentucky feels like
1:17:41
Speaker 2: they're not as good as their ranking. I think UCLA
1:17:43
Speaker 2: could definitely lose to Minnesota. We've seen every week a
1:17:47
Speaker 2: top 10 team lose on the road to an unranked team.
1:17:50
Speaker 2: I think we've had it every week, essentially, since the
1:17:52
Speaker 2: rankings came out. That feels like a loss for the Bruins, maybe.
1:17:56
Speaker 2: This year feels like, I don't know if you remember,
1:17:58
Speaker 2: all the way back in 2007, It feels a lot
1:18:01
Speaker 2: like 2007, man, where every week the number one and
1:18:03
Speaker 2: two team lost, including me. I lost as a number
1:18:06
Speaker 2: two team. It feels like that type of year where
1:18:09
Speaker 2: just no one's great. I know I'm Big Ten focused,
1:18:14
Speaker 2: but Big Ten right now, backup quarterbacks this weekend, Ohio State, Michigan, Oregon, Northwestern,
1:18:24
Speaker 2: questionable for Michigan State if they're starting to play, questionable
1:18:28
Speaker 2: for Rutgers. He's going to play UCLA backup quarterback. I mean,
1:18:36
Speaker 2: it's just no one's.
1:18:38
Speaker 3: Healthy, man.
1:18:43
Speaker 1: Jeff Schwartz here on the Sean O'Connell Show. Give me
1:18:46
Speaker 1: a prediction for the Holy War. Tell me that you
1:18:48
Speaker 1: believe Utah's going to win.
1:18:50
Speaker 2: So I took BYU to cover, but I think Utah
1:18:52
Speaker 2: wins 2017.
1:18:54
Speaker 1: Alright, there we go. That's what we needed.
1:18:57
Speaker 2: I did make it my upset pick again this week, though.
1:19:02
Speaker 1: Why do you do that?
1:19:03
Speaker 2: It's a tough ask, though. I have to pick a
1:19:05
Speaker 2: decent underdog to win outright. And I don't love a like...
1:19:09
Speaker 2: When you think about this game, I think that Out
1:19:12
Speaker 2: of all the underdogs this week, I don't think he's
1:19:16
Speaker 2: going to go with Bama, I guess. I don't think
1:19:18
Speaker 2: Bama's going to beat LSU, though. I feel like it's
1:19:21
Speaker 2: a very close game.
1:19:24
Speaker 1: I think it's going to be a close game. It
1:19:25
Speaker 1: always is a close game. The sincere hope, obviously, on
1:19:29
Speaker 1: this station is that Utah comes out on top of
1:19:31
Speaker 1: that very close game.
1:19:33
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
1:19:34
Speaker 2: As a fan or media member?
1:19:36
Speaker 1: Eh, kind of both.
1:19:39
Speaker 2: Not bringing your kids?
1:19:40
Speaker 3: No.
1:19:43
Speaker 1: Here's the thing. There should be like a minimum age, maybe,
1:19:48
Speaker 1: for a rivalry game. These tickets are at a premium.
1:19:51
Speaker 1: I'm not bringing a 7 and a 5 and a
1:19:55
Speaker 1: 3-year-old to a game like this one.
1:19:57
Speaker 2: This is the thing about Alex. It's like, Dad, if
1:20:00
Speaker 2: Oregon goes to a championship, can I go with you?
1:20:02
Speaker 2: I was like, It's like five grand. Oh, by the way.
1:20:07
Speaker 1: You're like, maybe, probably not.
1:20:09
Speaker 2: Do you know what we're doing? This is for the
1:20:11
Speaker 2: first time for Thanksgiving. You'll love this. Mom, dad sitting
1:20:15
Speaker 2: first class, kids, and coach.
1:20:17
Speaker 1: Oh, I love that. I love that. Oh, hey, you
1:20:19
Speaker 1: know what? Prices have come down for this game. It
1:20:22
Speaker 1: was earlier in the week, it was $ 400 plus just
1:20:24
Speaker 1: to get in the door. Tickets as low as $ 347
1:20:27
Speaker 1: for the Holy War. All right.
1:20:29
Speaker 2: My parents had some tickets. I was lucky enough to
1:20:31
Speaker 2: go to all the Bruin games, but I can understand, like,
1:20:34
Speaker 2: If you're just spending that much money on young children
1:20:36
Speaker 2: who probably won't even make it a full game, it's
1:20:38
Speaker 2: not very affordable.
1:20:40
Speaker 1: It's also not very fun when you're like, hey, I
1:20:44
Speaker 1: need water. And then you get back to your seat. Hey,
1:20:47
Speaker 1: I need a pretzel. And you get back to your seat.
1:20:50
Speaker 2: Stop it. Oh, buddy. Kids never eat more than when
1:20:54
Speaker 2: they're at a ballgame. They're never hungrier than when they're
1:20:57
Speaker 2: not at the house with all the food you have.
1:21:00
Speaker 1: As of today, by the way, this is the most
1:21:02
Speaker 1: expensive ticket in college football.
1:21:06
Speaker 2: Wow.
1:21:07
Speaker 1: That's actually a surprise to me. A couple bucks more
1:21:11
Speaker 1: than Kentucky at Tennessee.
1:21:14
Speaker 2: Okay.
1:21:14
Speaker 1: That can't be more than Notre Dame-Miami. Where did that
1:21:17
Speaker 1: game go?
1:21:17
Speaker 2: I think Notre Dame also just has a giant stadium.
1:21:20
Speaker 2: And all the Tony stuff, maybe there's not as much
1:21:22
Speaker 2: excitement for that game.
1:21:25
Speaker 1: Oh, no, I lied. I lied. That one is the
1:21:27
Speaker 1: most expensive. That's $ 800 to get in the door.
1:21:30
Speaker 3: Of course. Ouch.
1:21:32
Speaker 1: All right, Jeff, you're the man. Bye, buddy.
1:21:34
Speaker 2: Have a good weekend. Good luck.
1:21:36
Speaker 1: All right, that's Jeff Schwartz. Notre Dame is now a
1:21:41
Speaker 1: seven-point favorite, by the way, in that game. So if
1:21:45
Speaker 1: you're headed to South Bend, Indiana, Irish are big favorites,
1:21:51
Speaker 1: and it's going to cost you $ 800 to get into
1:21:52
Speaker 1: the game. The Daily Dump is coming next. We're down
1:21:56
Speaker 1: here at Smith's Marketplace, 455 East, 500 South. Do we
1:22:01
Speaker 1: have any gift cards left? We've got one gift card left.
1:22:04
Speaker 1: You've got to throw up to you. You might have
1:22:06
Speaker 1: a chance to get the very last one. Do we
1:22:08
Speaker 1: have tailgate passes left? We have two tailgate passes left.
1:22:12
Speaker 1: So you better get down here quick. This is the
1:22:14
Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell Show on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM. Feeling
1:22:22
Speaker 1: out of the loop?
1:22:23
Speaker 6: Let's catch up on today's biggest headlines in the Daily
1:22:26
Speaker 6: News Dump, where we flush out the biggest stories of
1:22:29
Speaker 6: the day on the Sean O'Connell Show and Utah's number
1:22:32
Speaker 6: one sports talk, ESPN 792.1 FM. Brought to you by
1:22:37
Speaker 6: Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling.
1:22:39
Speaker 2: Just look for the truck.
1:22:40
Speaker 1: With the duck. Breaking news here in the Daily Dump.
1:22:47
Speaker 1: We now have University of Utah Cupcakes. Come over, throw
1:22:52
Speaker 1: up the U, and we'll hook you up with a delicious,
1:22:56
Speaker 1: I will say, icing-heavy cupcake with a drum and feather
1:23:00
Speaker 1: on it or maybe a little, is that a chocolate
1:23:02
Speaker 1: football or is that plastic? Oh, my gosh. Let's go.
1:23:07
Speaker 1: We're at the Smiths Marketplace, 455 East, 500 South. Come
1:23:12
Speaker 1: say hello and grab your swag and a cupcake. Here
1:23:18
Speaker 1: on the Sean O'Connell Show. All right. We have to
1:23:21
Speaker 1: fit a couple of things here into the daily dump
1:23:24
Speaker 1: brought to you by Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling. This
1:23:28
Speaker 1: has been on the storylines for the last couple of
1:23:31
Speaker 1: weeks before we get to a PGA Tour leaderboard update.
1:23:35
Speaker 1: Last couple of days, I should say. Live Golf. Live
1:23:39
Speaker 1: Golf is down. Live Golf is dead. It looked like
1:23:43
Speaker 1: they were going to maybe get another round of funding,
1:23:45
Speaker 1: and there was another investment group that was going to
1:23:47
Speaker 1: kind of pick up the slack after the Saudis decided
1:23:50
Speaker 1: to exit the whole thing. Live Golf appears to be
1:23:53
Speaker 1: closing its doors after about five years, and this is bananas.
1:23:58
Speaker 1: When you go back to our initial sort of thought
1:24:01
Speaker 1: process around this, And this is unfair to Live Golf.
1:24:07
Speaker 1: This is also unfair to the Saudi Public Investment Fund.
1:24:12
Speaker 1: We painted this picture that it was just like this
1:24:14
Speaker 1: bottomless pit of money and that the results on this
1:24:18
Speaker 1: thing were never going to matter and that it was
1:24:19
Speaker 1: just going to be like a sports-washing endeavor for the
1:24:23
Speaker 1: regime in Saudi Arabia. And they would just continue to
1:24:26
Speaker 1: pay hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to these golfers,
1:24:30
Speaker 1: regardless of a television deal, regardless of... of any kind
1:24:33
Speaker 1: of viewership ratings and success in that regard, ticket sales, revenue.
1:24:38
Speaker 1: And we just, I mean, we report it as like, hey, look,
1:24:41
Speaker 1: this is what's happening. They're getting involved in sports, and
1:24:43
Speaker 1: that means that it's just infinite funding. Not the case.
1:24:50
Speaker 1: Live golf no longer exists. Hummin no longer on life
1:24:54
Speaker 1: support even. Live Golf shutting down. I guess, James, are
1:24:57
Speaker 1: we surprised or not surprised that this is how it
1:24:59
Speaker 1: played out?
1:24:59
Speaker 4: Not surprised that this is how it played out after
1:25:03
Speaker 4: the Saudi Public Investment Fund pulled its funding, of course.
1:25:07
Speaker 4: Up until that point, yeah, I would have been surprised.
1:25:11
Speaker 4: If a year ago, or was that earlier this year,
1:25:15
Speaker 4: that the Public Investment Fund decided to stop funding it,
1:25:18
Speaker 4: before that point, I was.
1:25:22
Speaker 4: In the camp that I think all of us were
1:25:24
Speaker 4: that you just described that this is a bottomless pit
1:25:27
Speaker 4: of money that this group, this nation, Saudi Arabia was
1:25:32
Speaker 4: motivated to sports wash, which let's not get it twisted.
1:25:37
Speaker 1: That's what they did.
1:25:38
Speaker 4: They just, they just got to a point where I
1:25:41
Speaker 4: think $ 5 billion in there. Like it's not, that's not
1:25:44
Speaker 4: worth the price of the benefits of sports washing anymore.
1:25:48
Speaker 4: So they, They pulled out, and at that point, I
1:25:51
Speaker 4: would have been surprised had they been able to turn
1:25:55
Speaker 4: it into a viable league again, even though that was
1:25:58
Speaker 4: what they were saying they were trending towards. And now
1:26:01
Speaker 4: the technical thing that's happening here, OC, is they filed
1:26:06
Speaker 4: for bankruptcy a little bit ago, but it was one
1:26:11
Speaker 4: of those bankruptcy filings that said they were restructuring. They
1:26:15
Speaker 4: changed it to, hey, It's a bankruptcy filing that means
1:26:19
Speaker 4: we're going to shut down, whatever the actual legal terms
1:26:22
Speaker 4: are for that. But they changed their plan there in
1:26:25
Speaker 4: bankruptcy court, and they're going to gradually shut this thing down.
1:26:29
Speaker 4: And no more tournaments, as I understand, but obviously they're
1:26:33
Speaker 4: going to stay in operation until they can completely pay
1:26:36
Speaker 4: off the rest of their debts.
1:26:38
Speaker 1: As long as we're talking golf, let's do a PGA
1:26:40
Speaker 1: Tour leaderboard update brought to you by You Went to
1:26:43
Speaker 1: Golf by Worldwide Golf. They've got the holiday gift guide
1:26:46
Speaker 1: right now online at worldwidegolfshops.com. Click and find the product
1:26:51
Speaker 1: that you like, and then drive to one of the
1:26:53
Speaker 1: Uintah Golf situations, the stores here up and down the
1:26:57
Speaker 1: Wasatch Front. Tell them that OC sent you, and stock
1:27:00
Speaker 1: up for the golfer in your life. Hopefully, they have
1:27:04
Speaker 1: everything that you're looking for, and honestly, if you're looking
1:27:08
Speaker 1: for something that Uintah Golf does not have, you probably
1:27:11
Speaker 1: don't need it, okay? They have everything. James, what's going
1:27:16
Speaker 1: on at the Worldwide Technology Championship? Ben James is your leader.
1:27:19
Speaker 4: Most of the guys at the top of the leaderboard
1:27:22
Speaker 4: have finished their first round, including Ben James. He finished
1:27:26
Speaker 4: at 15-under, leader in the clubhouse. He went 8-under for
1:27:29
Speaker 4: the day to take the lead. Zach Blair is solo
1:27:33
Speaker 4: second place, one of our U-pots. He's at 12-under, 4-under
1:27:36
Speaker 4: for the day. and he finished his round. He's three
1:27:42
Speaker 4: shots off the lead. Steven Yeager is right behind him
1:27:45
Speaker 4: in solo third place at 11 under. He went seven
1:27:50
Speaker 4: under for the day, so they went really low today, OC,
1:27:53
Speaker 4: as they like to say in golf. Tied for fourth
1:27:57
Speaker 4: is a big group of guys, including Lucas Glover, probably
1:28:00
Speaker 4: the biggest name in there. They're all at 10 under,
1:28:05
Speaker 4: five shots off the lead, and then taking a look
1:28:09
Speaker 4: at Our other local guys, Tony Finau is through three holes.
1:28:14
Speaker 4: He is three under for the tournament. He's one under
1:28:16
Speaker 4: for the day. Tied for 77th. That sounds like a
1:28:20
Speaker 4: really good score. The projected cut line, though, is four under.
1:28:24
Speaker 4: So he's one shot off of the projected cut line.
1:28:28
Speaker 4: So precarious there for Finau. And then one other local
1:28:33
Speaker 4: player is Patrick Fishburne. He's only through one hole just
1:28:37
Speaker 4: beginning his round. He parred that hole. so he's even
1:28:41
Speaker 4: at minus two two shots off of the projected cut
1:28:44
Speaker 4: line plenty of time for those guys to get above
1:28:47
Speaker 4: the cut line but they're both behind it or they're
1:28:50
Speaker 4: both below it as of right now OC that's your
1:28:53
Speaker 4: PGA Tour leaderboard update brought to you by Uintah Golf.
1:28:56
Speaker 1: That's brought to you by Uintah Golf by Worldwide Golf.
1:28:59
Speaker 1: And up next, Lee Sterling from Paramount Sports, handicapping an
1:29:03
Speaker 1: absolutely monstrous weekend in college football. It's the Sean O'Connell
1:29:09
Speaker 1: Show coming at you live from Smith's Marketplace, downtown, 455 East,
1:29:13
Speaker 1: 500 South. We got cupcakes now at CSPN 700 and
1:29:16
Speaker 1: 92 on FM.
1:29:23
Speaker 6: You're listening to The Sean O'Connell Show, your source for
1:29:26
Speaker 6: the best youth football coverage.
1:29:28
Speaker 2: Here's O.C. from the Murdoch Hyundai.
1:29:30
Speaker 6: Studio of ESPN 700 at 92.1 FM.
1:29:34
Speaker 1: Time to handicap the games of the week. We do
1:29:41
Speaker 1: it with the best in the business. His name is
1:29:44
Speaker 1: Lee Sterling, Paramount Sports. 800-400-9741 or ParamountSports.com. He is red
1:29:51
Speaker 1: hot in college football. He is red hot in the
1:29:54
Speaker 1: combat sports in the UFC world. And he joins us now.
1:29:59
Speaker 1: Lee Sterling, welcome back to the show. How are you, sir?
1:30:02
Speaker 3: I'm good. I was great until Wednesday at 828 in
1:30:07
Speaker 3: the morning, and my phone started getting texts and emails
1:30:12
Speaker 3: and calls, the news about Malachi, Tony. So... That's been
1:30:16
Speaker 3: pretty much the only damper on the week.
1:30:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, been rough news for the Miami Hurricanes contingent. And
1:30:24
Speaker 1: it is a monster weekend, which, of course, features the
1:30:27
Speaker 1: Miami Hurricanes against Notre Dame. We'll get to that one here. And,
1:30:31
Speaker 1: of course, in Salt Lake City, it's only about the
1:30:34
Speaker 1: Holy War. We'll get to that at the end. But
1:30:37
Speaker 1: let's start off. There's no bad games on the list
1:30:41
Speaker 1: this week, Lee. Ohio State-Oregon. Now, before the season began,
1:30:45
Speaker 1: we had this one circled as a potential national title
1:30:49
Speaker 1: preview type game. It hasn't worked out well for Oregon,
1:30:52
Speaker 1: and Ohio State are seven-point favorites here. How does it
1:30:55
Speaker 1: play out?
1:30:56
Speaker 3: So Luke Fahey's Ohio State debut quarterback went pretty much
1:31:00
Speaker 3: as expected. He wasn't great, but he didn't sink them either.
1:31:05
Speaker 3: So their defense, I mean, just couldn't get off the field,
1:31:08
Speaker 3: kept giving up big play after big play. You know,
1:31:11
Speaker 3: sometimes that happens when you travel. The time change has
1:31:15
Speaker 3: certainly affected many teams going east to west and also
1:31:18
Speaker 3: west to east. I just think playing back at home
1:31:23
Speaker 3: in his second game here, you talk about the craziest swing.
1:31:28
Speaker 3: And I look at QBRs a lot, and usually the
1:31:32
Speaker 3: good quarterbacks are pretty consistent. You have one or two
1:31:35
Speaker 3: bad games. But if you look at what's going on
1:31:39
Speaker 3: with the Oregon quarterback, and I'm talking about Dylan Rayola,
1:31:43
Speaker 3: he's had a couple 75 and 83 QBRs, and then
1:31:44
Speaker 3: the next week, Five and three. So never seen a
1:31:51
Speaker 3: swing like that from one week to the next. I
1:31:54
Speaker 3: just can't trust Oregon here. I think Ohio State bounces back.
1:31:58
Speaker 3: No one can cover Jeremiah Smith here. I like Ohio
1:32:02
Speaker 3: State 35-21.
1:32:03
Speaker 1: Oh, Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks potentially staring in
1:32:07
Speaker 1: the barrel of another loss in what some people thought
1:32:10
Speaker 1: might be like an undefeated season. That's so crazy. Oh, man,
1:32:14
Speaker 1: preseason expectations, hard to live up to. All right, let's
1:32:17
Speaker 1: move on to the SEC. We've got a lot of
1:32:19
Speaker 1: ranked versus ranked in the big conference in college football. Georgia,
1:32:24
Speaker 1: three-and-a-half-point favorites against Ole Miss. Can the Rebels make this
1:32:30
Speaker 1: one interestingly?
1:32:32
Speaker 3: I think so. You know, I think it's an elimination
1:32:35
Speaker 3: game for them. They lose this game and they're out.
1:32:37
Speaker 3: And I went back and watched both games from last
1:32:39
Speaker 3: year because a lot of the same guys are still there,
1:32:41
Speaker 3: especially quarterbacks, key skill players. And– Ole Miss was up
1:32:46
Speaker 3: by double digits mid-third quarter. And what did they do?
1:32:49
Speaker 3: And that game was at Georgia. They just got conservative.
1:32:53
Speaker 3: They went three straight possessions. Let's see where they went. Run, run,
1:32:57
Speaker 3: and then passed on third and long and couldn't convert.
1:33:00
Speaker 3: Three possessions. They got conservative. Three and out. And Georgia
1:33:04
Speaker 3: scored three straight touchdowns. They lost by 8, 43-35. Then
1:33:09
Speaker 3: they played at a neutral site game, the Sugar Bowl,
1:33:12
Speaker 3: part of the college football playoffs. And Ole Miss pushed
1:33:15
Speaker 3: the issue. They went hard. Their tempo was even faster.
1:33:20
Speaker 9: Didn't let up here.
1:33:21
Speaker 3: They caught Georgia. Their defense and some breakdowns here because
1:33:25
Speaker 3: they couldn't get set. And they won 39-34. I think
1:33:28
Speaker 3: they've got the better offensive skill talent here. Something's wrong
1:33:33
Speaker 3: with this Georgia passing game. Combination of Gunnar Stockton, also
1:33:36
Speaker 3: his receivers here. I'm going with Ole Miss here. Wrong
1:33:40
Speaker 3: team favorite. They stay alive 38-35.
1:33:43
Speaker 1: Oh, let's go. That helps out Utah potentially. We'll get
1:33:47
Speaker 1: to that here in just a second. Another ranked versus ranked. LSU, Alabama.
1:33:52
Speaker 1: And you could talk death, taxes, and the playoff committee
1:33:56
Speaker 1: loving Alabama just a little too much for my taste. Alabama,
1:34:00
Speaker 1: number five. On the road at Death Valley, LSU is
1:34:03
Speaker 1: number 14. How does it play?
1:34:08
Speaker 3: Well, this is one of the most underrated. You know,
1:34:10
Speaker 3: you hear about, like, Alabama and Auburn. Maybe, you know,
1:34:14
Speaker 3: outside of Utah and BYU and back in the day, Miami,
1:34:18
Speaker 3: Florida State, maybe one of the most underrated and clearly
1:34:21
Speaker 3: a top ten rivalry. In fact, I had a friend
1:34:23
Speaker 3: one time, he was dating a girl, started dating a
1:34:26
Speaker 3: girl from Alabama. He was from LSU, graduated from LSU.
1:34:30
Speaker 3: He just told me after a couple months, couldn't continue,
1:34:32
Speaker 3: couldn't do it, couldn't see that much red in his home.
1:34:35
Speaker 3: So that just shows you– how much of a rivalry
1:34:39
Speaker 3: game this is here. Now, Bama's won and covered each
1:34:41
Speaker 3: of the last three meetings, but, big but, there's a
1:34:44
Speaker 3: new sheriff in Baton Rouge, and the Bayou Bengals have
1:34:48
Speaker 3: a different look now under Lane Kiffin. Since that Ole
1:34:51
Speaker 3: Miss game, no one's talking about them. They're under the radar,
1:34:53
Speaker 3: but Sam Levitt looks really comfortable here. Keelan Russell, good
1:34:57
Speaker 3: for Alabama, but this is still his fourth road start
1:35:01
Speaker 3: compared to Sam Levitt. He's in his mid-30s, and Alabama
1:35:05
Speaker 3: just doesn't want to run the ball. They just don't
1:35:07
Speaker 3: run the ball enough here. And you talk about havoc.
1:35:10
Speaker 3: Defense for LSU, top five in havoc. That's plays for
1:35:14
Speaker 3: loss and sacks. The Crimson Tide not even in the
1:35:18
Speaker 3: top 100. LSU wins and covers by double digits, 34-23.
1:35:22
Speaker 3: All right.
1:35:25
Speaker 1: Notre Dame, six-point favorites. I've seen this number jumping up
1:35:28
Speaker 1: after the news about Malachi Toney being out in this game.
1:35:33
Speaker 1: And obviously it's a highly anticipated, highly important matchup in
1:35:38
Speaker 1: college football. BYU fans are going to have a close
1:35:40
Speaker 1: eye on this one because if Notre Dame can get
1:35:43
Speaker 1: the win against Miami, it makes their win over Notre
1:35:46
Speaker 1: Dame look a lot better. And, of course, if you're
1:35:48
Speaker 1: in the Big 12, you're hoping to improve your strength
1:35:52
Speaker 1: of schedule and strength of record with that non-conference win.
1:35:55
Speaker 1: So do the Fighting Irish help out everyone in Big
1:35:58
Speaker 1: 12 in Provo and get the win against Miami?
1:36:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I'm going to take a different approach here.
1:36:04
Speaker 3: The line is 7.5 in the total. It's 55.5. Without
1:36:08
Speaker 3: Malachi Toney, Miami has lost their heart and sold their team.
1:36:12
Speaker 3: So they're going to try to run the ball more
1:36:13
Speaker 3: with Mark Fletcher here and Jevion Mallory. I think that's
1:36:18
Speaker 3: going to be tough. Notre Dame's defense giving up just
1:36:20
Speaker 3: 13 points a game, 237 yards per game. Notre Dame,
1:36:26
Speaker 3: you're saying, oh, well, they'll have success like North Carolina
1:36:30
Speaker 3: and also FSU. Well, maybe not as much because Miami's
1:36:35
Speaker 3: run defense is really good, giving up just 56 yards
1:36:38
Speaker 3: per game. Now, the pass defense has been leaky, giving
1:36:42
Speaker 3: up two 300-yard passing days over the last three games.
1:36:46
Speaker 3: Notre Dame likes to run and use the run to
1:36:48
Speaker 3: set up the pass. So here's the kicker, O.G. Pace
1:36:52
Speaker 3: of play, Miami 111th out of 138 teams. They walk
1:36:56
Speaker 3: up to the line. They wait until it's two, three
1:36:59
Speaker 3: seconds to go before they snap the ball. Notre Dame
1:37:02
Speaker 3: even slower, 120th out of 138 schools here. I think
1:37:08
Speaker 3: this is going to be a rock fight here. Why
1:37:10
Speaker 3: waste it and take a chance on your hard-earned money
1:37:13
Speaker 3: on like a backdoor touchdown or whatever? or a team
1:37:16
Speaker 3: kicking a field goal to ice it with a minute.
1:37:19
Speaker 3: I'm not going to do that. I know Miami's gone
1:37:21
Speaker 3: over seven of the eight games on the total, but
1:37:23
Speaker 3: not this one. Love, don't like, love the under 55.5
1:37:28
Speaker 3: total points.
1:37:29
Speaker 1: I feel the same way about that one, Lee. It
1:37:31
Speaker 1: makes me feel better because when you confirm it, you're
1:37:34
Speaker 1: a lot better at this than I am. We'll get
1:37:36
Speaker 1: to Utah, BYU to close it out, but your game
1:37:38
Speaker 1: of the week. is the Texas Tech Red Raiders against
1:37:42
Speaker 1: West Virginia. West Virginia can run the ball. They can't
1:37:45
Speaker 1: do much else. Does Texas Tech cover 17?
1:37:48
Speaker 3: Well, that's going to be our game of the week.
1:37:51
Speaker 3: If they want to get that for free, just call 800-400-9741.
1:37:53
Speaker 3: I like one side here a lot. Just call 800-400-9741.
1:37:54
Speaker 3: I'll give them the game for free. Also, a lot
1:37:57
Speaker 3: going on at Paramount Sports UFC. We went 5-0 last week.
1:38:07
Speaker 3: We won 19 of the last 24 cards. If we
1:38:10
Speaker 3: win this week, we'll have won 20 of 25 cards.
1:38:13
Speaker 3: Not many people can tell you they've won 80% of
1:38:16
Speaker 3: the cards over a six-month period, and that's documented. And
1:38:20
Speaker 3: then how about this? We normally charge $ 33 for three selections.
1:38:25
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1:38:43
Speaker 3: All right.
1:38:48
Speaker 1: The best game of the year, the best week of
1:38:50
Speaker 1: the year, the best thing that happens on the sports
1:38:52
Speaker 1: calendar here in our state every single year is Utah
1:38:56
Speaker 1: versus BYU. Utah undefeated. One loss, BYU, for the first
1:39:01
Speaker 1: time in the history of this great rivalry, Lee. This
1:39:04
Speaker 1: is a top ten matchup. Utah, five and a half
1:39:07
Speaker 1: point favorites. I've seen this line slide back and forth
1:39:10
Speaker 1: as well. Of course, they are hosting it. Tell me
1:39:14
Speaker 1: that the Utes can win and cover here.
1:39:17
Speaker 3: All right, so here's how I got it. Both teams
1:39:19
Speaker 3: combined 15-1 straight up, 13-3 against the spread. This is
1:39:24
Speaker 3: by far the best defense that Utah's offenses face. BYU's
1:39:28
Speaker 3: offense put up 28 points versus the Notre Dame defense.
1:39:33
Speaker 3: As I mentioned, giving up less than 240 yards per game.
1:39:38
Speaker 3: I see this game as whoever has the ball last
1:39:42
Speaker 3: could pull it out. Both these quarterbacks, They are not
1:39:46
Speaker 3: NFL starting caliber, but they are great college football quarterbacks
1:39:51
Speaker 3: and leaders, and they don't give up. I do not
1:39:54
Speaker 3: see either team winning by a touchdown or more. I'm
1:39:59
Speaker 3: going to say Utah wins 26-24, but BYU covers, and
1:40:04
Speaker 3: Utah stops them on the four-yard line at the end
1:40:07
Speaker 3: of the game.
1:40:10
Speaker 1: Oh, that would be a Ute quake. That would be
1:40:12
Speaker 1: one of those– registers on the seismograph-type moments at Rice
1:40:17
Speaker 1: Echo Stadium, Lee. We're going to be there bright and early.
1:40:20
Speaker 1: Do you think the 10 a.m. kickoff affects things?
1:40:24
Speaker 5: A little bit, yeah.
1:40:25
Speaker 3: This is just not right for these kids. I mean,
1:40:29
Speaker 3: this should be at least a 1.30 kickoff or a
1:40:32
Speaker 3: night game. So a little frustrating, but, you know, it's
1:40:35
Speaker 3: all about ESPN, and they've got to fit you into
1:40:38
Speaker 3: the window where they're going to get, they think, the
1:40:41
Speaker 3: most viewers for the entire day.
1:40:43
Speaker 1: You're on the East Coast. Are more East Coasters going
1:40:45
Speaker 1: to watch this game because it's noon your time?
1:40:48
Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, they will. All right.
1:40:51
Speaker 1: Okay, well, silver lining there at least. Oh, man, can't
1:40:55
Speaker 1: wait for it. And obviously we'll talk about it a
1:40:57
Speaker 1: little bit next time we chat. Lee Sterling is the
1:41:00
Speaker 1: best in the business. Visit him at ParamountSports.com, 800-400-9741. He
1:41:03
Speaker 1: did say your Utes will win the Holy War game tomorrow. Thanks, Lee. Okay,
1:41:06
Speaker 1: see you, buddy. Great stuff, as always, from Lee Sterling.
1:41:16
Speaker 1: He's got Utah winning, not covering, 4.5, 5.5, depending on
1:41:20
Speaker 1: the sportsbook you're looking at. That's where the line sits
1:41:23
Speaker 1: on this one. Notre Dame has gone from minus 6
1:41:26
Speaker 1: all the way up to 7.5 because of the Malachi-Tony injury. Big,
1:41:31
Speaker 1: monstrous games in the college football landscape. And he did
1:41:34
Speaker 1: mention Georgia losing. That would open a spot at number 2.
1:41:40
Speaker 1: But maybe you don't want to be number two because
1:41:42
Speaker 1: that number two spot appears to be cursed in the rankings. Anyway,
1:41:46
Speaker 1: lots left to get to. We've got an injury report,
1:41:48
Speaker 1: an injury report update that we'll discuss. But first, coordinator's corner.
1:41:55
Speaker 1: It's Colton Swan this week, the Utah defensive coordinator. And
1:41:59
Speaker 1: at 1.30, we'll be airing our grievances. Hour three next.
1:42:02
Speaker 1: It's the Sean O'Connell Show on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
1:42:08
Speaker 6: Let's dive into this week's matchup in the coordinator's corner
1:42:11
Speaker 6: of the Sean O'Connell Show. OC chats with the coordinators
1:42:15
Speaker 6: every week of the Utah football season. On your home
1:42:19
Speaker 6: of the Utes and your home for football, ESPN 792.1 FM.
1:42:25
Speaker 1: All right, coordinator's corner this week. We catch up with
1:42:27
Speaker 1: the D.C. Colton Swan, kind enough to give us some
1:42:30
Speaker 1: time here ahead of the Holy War. Massive game as
1:42:33
Speaker 1: the undefeated Utah football Utes take on the BYU Cougars.
1:42:37
Speaker 1: 10 a.m. Rice Echo Stadium on ABC. On paper, at least,
1:42:42
Speaker 1: it is the biggest Holy War game ever played. And
1:42:45
Speaker 1: the guy calling the defensive plays for your Utes is
1:42:48
Speaker 1: Colton Swan. Coach, welcome to the show. How are you?
1:42:51
Speaker 5: Hey, thanks, OC. Appreciate it, man. Doing good.
1:42:53
Speaker 3: How are you?
1:42:54
Speaker 1: Great, man. This is my favorite week of the year
1:42:57
Speaker 1: every single year, and here we are. Obviously, massive game
1:43:01
Speaker 1: coming up, but we got to look back before we
1:43:03
Speaker 1: look forward. This Utah football team and your defense is
1:43:07
Speaker 1: a huge part of that with an incredible performance on
1:43:10
Speaker 1: the road at Cincinnati in what, you know, a lot
1:43:13
Speaker 1: of the national pundits, even some of us locally, we're
1:43:15
Speaker 1: talking about is like maybe a trap game, you know,
1:43:18
Speaker 1: emotional win against Houston. Look ahead spot because BYU is
1:43:21
Speaker 1: coming to Rice Eccles and you all went on the
1:43:24
Speaker 1: road and took care of business. Tell me how you
1:43:26
Speaker 1: got it done. Tell me how your guys got it
1:43:28
Speaker 1: done against the Cincinnati team that has shown they're capable
1:43:31
Speaker 1: of beating top 10 squads.
1:43:33
Speaker 2: Sure, absolutely.
1:43:34
Speaker 5: I can see how that notion was perceived and viewed
1:43:39
Speaker 5: because they're a really good program. The week before us,
1:43:43
Speaker 5: they'd take down Texas Tech at home. They've got a
1:43:46
Speaker 5: great crowd and atmosphere there. And, and so, you know,
1:43:52
Speaker 5: you're sitting there going, okay, this is a good appointment,
1:43:53
Speaker 5: you know, that we're playing here. And, and that's one
1:43:55
Speaker 5: thing that you fight against as a coach and as players, even,
1:43:58
Speaker 5: you know, just that mental side of things of being
1:44:01
Speaker 5: prepared and getting up for, you know, your, your next opponent.
1:44:05
Speaker 5: And we do a good job here at university of Utah, just,
1:44:08
Speaker 5: you know, letting the guys know that, Hey, we've got
1:44:10
Speaker 5: something coming. It's where we'll want to be one to
1:44:12
Speaker 5: know we've got something great coming down the pipe, but
1:44:15
Speaker 5: not to look ahead and always just, you know, enjoy
1:44:18
Speaker 5: the process, focus on it. And, you know, just end
1:44:22
Speaker 5: the week with being 1-0. Don't look at anything more
1:44:25
Speaker 5: than that. And so, yeah, it's a lot of mental
1:44:28
Speaker 5: preparation and really pleased how we performed.
1:44:33
Speaker 1: Part of that performance was a couple of defensive scores,
1:44:36
Speaker 1: and I know that brings a twinkle to your eye
1:44:39
Speaker 1: and a smile on your face when you get points
1:44:41
Speaker 1: directly from your guys. Scoop and score touchdown, pick six
1:44:46
Speaker 1: to keep the 23-season streak alive. Let's start with the
1:44:50
Speaker 1: scoop and score. I know that Havoc plays, forcing fumbles,
1:44:54
Speaker 1: all that disruptive stuff is something you work on and
1:44:56
Speaker 1: you emphasize. Finally paid off in this one.
1:45:00
Speaker 3: Yeah.
1:45:00
Speaker 5: Yeah. And that's something we look at every week is
1:45:02
Speaker 5: just the amount of havoc plays that we're creating from,
1:45:05
Speaker 5: you know, sacks and PB use interceptions. That play in
1:45:09
Speaker 5: particular was a huge havoc play, especially for Ethan day.
1:45:13
Speaker 5: I know that rabbit, you know, did the scoop and
1:45:15
Speaker 5: score and got the points, but I mean, you look
1:45:17
Speaker 5: at the edge of that defense from a defensive end
1:45:20
Speaker 5: standpoint is about as pretty as you can get just
1:45:23
Speaker 5: absolutely destroying the tight end back into the running back,
1:45:26
Speaker 5: then ripping the ball out, you know, just how he
1:45:29
Speaker 5: handled that edge in that power play that was coming
1:45:31
Speaker 5: his way. It was, it was beautiful. And then you
1:45:34
Speaker 5: got rabbit doing great technique with a scoop and score
1:45:38
Speaker 5: and then, you know, putting it all together. So it's,
1:45:40
Speaker 5: it's good to see as you know, you're standing on
1:45:42
Speaker 5: the sideline, he's not really quite telling what's happening until
1:45:46
Speaker 5: you see rabbit scoop it up and take off with it.
1:45:48
Speaker 5: And you're like, Oh crap, here we go with, you know,
1:45:51
Speaker 5: so it was fun.
1:45:53
Speaker 1: Great to see. And you mentioned Ethan day, right? And like,
1:45:58
Speaker 1: I know we've harped on this and everyone's probably done
1:46:01
Speaker 1: talking about it, but when your defensive ends aren't piling
1:46:05
Speaker 1: up the sack numbers and getting those obvious numbers, it's
1:46:08
Speaker 1: important to note the effect that they've had in these
1:46:12
Speaker 1: run downs, right? Because you have to play, you have
1:46:14
Speaker 1: to play that position well against the run. You guys
1:46:17
Speaker 1: have obviously been excellent against the run. And I feel
1:46:19
Speaker 1: like that play was a great example of it, but
1:46:22
Speaker 1: both Ethan and Lance and, You can tell me more
1:46:25
Speaker 1: about Paul Fitzgerald and company, Cash Dillon. It feels like
1:46:29
Speaker 1: they've been pretty solid against the run all year.
1:46:32
Speaker 5: Yeah, they're stout individuals. And we really preach to our guys,
1:46:35
Speaker 5: you've got to be well-rounded. Like, if you're just a
1:46:37
Speaker 5: defensive end that can get vertical up the field and
1:46:40
Speaker 5: rush the passer, you're really limiting us in the run game.
1:46:44
Speaker 5: And I think our defensive ends really understand that. Like,
1:46:47
Speaker 5: you look at the cue draw that they ran, right,
1:46:49
Speaker 5: and how our defensive ends reacted to the quick set
1:46:52
Speaker 5: by the offensive tackles. And it's like, geez, you know, an,
1:46:55
Speaker 5: a selfish defensive end would have ran up the field
1:46:58
Speaker 5: vertical and then I go, oh, well, that's not me,
1:47:00
Speaker 5: you know, when the interior, but these guys just saw
1:47:02
Speaker 5: that Reddit and collapse the pocket, knock out the cute draw.
1:47:05
Speaker 5: Like it was just nothing. And that just tells you
1:47:08
Speaker 5: that they're not the guys that are sitting there chasing
1:47:10
Speaker 5: the sack number under the guys that are taking a
1:47:13
Speaker 5: lot of pride in controlling the edge of the defense,
1:47:16
Speaker 5: you know, controlling offensive tackles, controlling tight ends. And they
1:47:20
Speaker 5: take a lot of pride in it. And that play
1:47:22
Speaker 5: right there specifically speaks volumes for what they do for
1:47:25
Speaker 5: us defensively. They're just well-rounded.
1:47:28
Speaker 1: As a complete defensive unit, six tackles for loss, three
1:47:33
Speaker 1: sacks in this one, and the turnovers, some pass breakups.
1:47:36
Speaker 1: So a lot of those really disruptive downs. Was it
1:47:41
Speaker 1: something in practice? Tell me how that happened in this
1:47:45
Speaker 1: game in particular that you were able to get into
1:47:47
Speaker 1: the backfield so much.
1:47:50
Speaker 5: You know, we, we play with an aggressive style for sure,
1:47:54
Speaker 5: but it's, it just comes down to attitude and effort
1:47:58
Speaker 5: with our guys practicing that way and making sure that
1:48:01
Speaker 5: they understand, Hey, in order to be successful, you've got
1:48:03
Speaker 5: to have that juice and energy at practice. You've got
1:48:06
Speaker 5: to break the stack. You've got to run to the football.
1:48:08
Speaker 5: You know, you do things like that. You know, if
1:48:10
Speaker 5: you're not running to the football is rabbit right there
1:48:12
Speaker 5: to scoop and score that things like that, you know,
1:48:15
Speaker 5: really show up when you see all 11 guys bursting
1:48:17
Speaker 5: for that football you know, and it really excites you
1:48:20
Speaker 5: when you got backside corners and, and safeties that are
1:48:23
Speaker 5: finishing in dominant positions. What we talk about is never
1:48:27
Speaker 5: finishing the rep with being blocked or, or something to
1:48:30
Speaker 5: that fact. So always finishing those dominant positions. So we
1:48:33
Speaker 5: practice a lot. We talk about it a lot. you know, yeah,
1:48:36
Speaker 5: we are getting a lot of havoc plays and a
1:48:38
Speaker 5: lot of production, you know.
1:48:40
Speaker 3: Out of guys.
1:48:40
Speaker 5: I mean, and you just keep showing them what it
1:48:43
Speaker 5: does for us defensively. She keeps showing them those, those
1:48:46
Speaker 5: culture clips, you know, weekend and week out and how
1:48:48
Speaker 5: getting your hands up at the line of scrimmage can
1:48:50
Speaker 5: help in coverage. And now, you know, uh, you know, playing,
1:48:53
Speaker 5: playing the run game, you know, and allowing, taking away
1:48:57
Speaker 5: offenses and making them one dimensional and, and, you know,
1:49:00
Speaker 5: using great technique with inside hands and great pad level.
1:49:03
Speaker 5: And he has to show those to show those types
1:49:05
Speaker 5: of clips to kids over and over and over again.
1:49:08
Speaker 5: And they really start to understand the impact that has
1:49:10
Speaker 5: on you defensively.
1:49:13
Speaker 1: We've been going through some stat comparisons with your unit
1:49:18
Speaker 1: and with other guys, other teams in the conference, and
1:49:21
Speaker 1: especially BYU for the matchup coming up. And something that
1:49:24
Speaker 1: jumped out to me when I got to the linebacker group,
1:49:27
Speaker 1: but I know it's something we've probably already addressed, but
1:49:30
Speaker 1: you've got four interchangeable guys. There's not a drop-off when
1:49:35
Speaker 1: Elijah Ellis and Cyrus Polo, and maybe even in some downs,
1:49:39
Speaker 1: they're better at certain things than the starters are. But
1:49:42
Speaker 1: that's not to take anything away from Hall and Reynolds.
1:49:45
Speaker 1: And I just I'm kind of blown away by the
1:49:49
Speaker 1: depth of your linebacker room and the fact that there
1:49:52
Speaker 1: is no perceivable difference of the effectiveness of the aggression
1:49:57
Speaker 1: of the physicality of anything kind of regardless of whoever
1:50:00
Speaker 1: you got in there. How has that been achieved with
1:50:02
Speaker 1: this group?
1:50:04
Speaker 5: Isn't that a blessing?
1:50:05
Speaker 1: Pretty awesome.
1:50:06
Speaker 5: Just all amazing kids, you know, obviously two of them
1:50:09
Speaker 5: a little bit older out of the four and two
1:50:11
Speaker 5: a little bit younger. But just the camaraderie and the
1:50:15
Speaker 5: friendship between the four is unbelievable. When you hear them
1:50:19
Speaker 5: talk to one another in like a meeting room and,
1:50:22
Speaker 5: you know, you'll see Trey make a TFL or whatever.
1:50:25
Speaker 5: And the first guy that speaks up is like, you know,
1:50:27
Speaker 5: Jono straight, that's a fricking hell of a play, dude.
1:50:30
Speaker 5: That was off, you know, like his buddies are, I
1:50:33
Speaker 5: are giving them encouragement. There's no like, you know, and
1:50:35
Speaker 5: I can remember as a player sitting there, you know,
1:50:38
Speaker 5: you might be buddies with them, but you're always trying
1:50:40
Speaker 5: to beat them out, you know, and, and you can
1:50:42
Speaker 5: just tell that they're truly excited about the success of,
1:50:47
Speaker 5: you know, their teammate and especially of the other linebacker.
1:50:50
Speaker 5: And that just speaks volumes to their maturity. and just
1:50:53
Speaker 5: how they love one another. So it's, it's awesome to have,
1:50:56
Speaker 5: like I said, they're all for extremely productive. They all for, uh,
1:51:00
Speaker 5: possess different skill sets. Um, and you know, we try
1:51:04
Speaker 5: to utilize them accordingly.
1:51:06
Speaker 1: I don't mean to jump around here, but we didn't
1:51:07
Speaker 1: address the pick six enough as the defensive coordinator. There's
1:51:11
Speaker 1: a pressure. You got to, you got to keep a
1:51:13
Speaker 1: 23 season streak alive and you guys did it. So
1:51:18
Speaker 1: a little relief for you. Like, okay, I checked that box.
1:51:21
Speaker 1: I don't have to worry about that for the rest
1:51:22
Speaker 1: of the year.
1:51:46
Speaker 5: keep the record going, but even
1:51:48
Speaker 5: more so for Scooby and his performance. I mean, he just,
1:51:52
Speaker 5: you would talk about the defensive ends being well-rounded. I mean,
1:51:55
Speaker 5: the corner position is doing such a great job in
1:51:58
Speaker 5: coverage and such a great job in coming up and
1:52:01
Speaker 5: supporting the run and keeping the ball leveraged and, you know,
1:52:04
Speaker 5: cupping it and turning it back to pursuers coming from
1:52:06
Speaker 5: the inside. And there's a really understanding, you know, good,
1:52:10
Speaker 5: good hat and hands and leverage and And, you know,
1:52:13
Speaker 5: Scooby is, is a great example of all that. And
1:52:16
Speaker 5: so really happy to see him kind of, you know,
1:52:19
Speaker 5: disguise a little cover three and jump that little hitch
1:52:22
Speaker 5: to the sideline there.
1:52:24
Speaker 1: We've talked a lot in the last couple of weeks
1:52:25
Speaker 1: about the aggression of this defense and some of the
1:52:29
Speaker 1: play calls. And I haven't had a chance to talk
1:52:31
Speaker 1: to you since that unbelievable turnover play at the end
1:52:35
Speaker 1: of the Houston game, just a perfect call. I mean,
1:52:39
Speaker 1: what a, you don't pat yourself on the back. I
1:52:41
Speaker 1: know it's not your nature. So we spent a lot
1:52:43
Speaker 1: of time doing that on the show that week, but
1:52:46
Speaker 1: Holy cow. When you dial that up though, right? I mean,
1:52:51
Speaker 1: there's a risk in the final drive when you're going
1:52:54
Speaker 1: against Connor Wegman and you're like, all right, let's go zero.
1:52:58
Speaker 1: There's a risk associated with all that. Tell me what's
1:53:01
Speaker 1: going through your mind, what you're feeling as you're sending
1:53:03
Speaker 1: that call in.
1:53:05
Speaker 5: Yeah you definitely um you know it's like okay we're
1:53:09
Speaker 5: we're up one score they obviously got to need a
1:53:12
Speaker 5: touchdown and a two point and uh they got to
1:53:14
Speaker 5: go you know essentially the length of the field in
1:53:17
Speaker 5: order to do it and just you know film study
1:53:20
Speaker 5: on on quarterbacks like that and and not just him
1:53:23
Speaker 5: but all quarterbacks or anytime you're putting you know pressure
1:53:26
Speaker 5: on them can they step into throws can they you
1:53:28
Speaker 5: know have have the time to evaluate coverages and things
1:53:31
Speaker 5: of that nature so you know, if, if you're going
1:53:35
Speaker 5: to go down, why not freaking go down swinging?
1:53:37
Speaker 1: Right.
1:53:37
Speaker 5: I don't see. I mean, the worst thing would be
1:53:40
Speaker 5: to sit back and him March down the field and
1:53:42
Speaker 5: freaking score on you. And so, you know, just having that,
1:53:46
Speaker 5: having that mindset, it's just trusting the DBS, trusting the
1:53:49
Speaker 5: guys that are blitzing that have the ability to get
1:53:51
Speaker 5: home and time up those pressures. And so there's a
1:53:54
Speaker 5: lot that goes into it, but love, how they executed
1:53:58
Speaker 5: in that last drive. And it wasn't, you know, perfect
1:54:01
Speaker 5: by any means. But that huge sack fumble by Benny
1:54:07
Speaker 5: and then turn around and have to go, you know,
1:54:09
Speaker 5: into another two minute situation against essentially the same type
1:54:13
Speaker 5: of circumstances just as a big.
1:54:15
Speaker 9: Yeah.
1:54:16
Speaker 1: Were you yelling at McGiven? Like, could you take a
1:54:18
Speaker 1: little more time off the clock.
1:54:19
Speaker 2: Before you score?
1:54:20
Speaker 5: Don't score so fast.
1:54:21
Speaker 2: Don't score on the first play.
1:54:22
Speaker 1: What are you doing?
1:54:24
Speaker 5: I know you get the sack fumble. He scored the
1:54:26
Speaker 5: very first play and you're like, all right, we're right
1:54:28
Speaker 5: back up with the exact same situation. Your boys. So
1:54:32
Speaker 5: let's let's freaking bow up now.
1:54:34
Speaker 1: All right. Coordinators corner with Colton Swan here. It's rivalry week, baby.
1:54:39
Speaker 1: Holy war week, by the way, brought to you by
1:54:40
Speaker 1: mountain home services, check out mountain home services for all
1:54:44
Speaker 1: your home improvement or maintenance needs. Now you got to
1:54:48
Speaker 1: do it against a BYU team where whatever it says
1:54:51
Speaker 1: on paper and it says on paper, they're really good.
1:54:53
Speaker 1: And on film, they're really good. But this game is
1:54:56
Speaker 1: always crazy. This game is always tight. And now you
1:55:00
Speaker 1: take over the play calling duties against BYU, a BYU
1:55:05
Speaker 1: offense that He's coordinated by Aaron Roderick. There's familiarity with
1:55:09
Speaker 1: guys on the coaching staff on both sides. There's great players.
1:55:13
Speaker 1: There's familiarity with players on both sides. It's just a
1:55:16
Speaker 1: different dynamic, but you have to treat it the same
1:55:19
Speaker 1: way you do every other game. How do you achieve that?
1:55:22
Speaker 5: I think, you know, you hit the nail on the head.
1:55:24
Speaker 5: You got to treat it the same way. You know,
1:55:26
Speaker 5: like we mentioned earlier, going into the Cincinnati game, Hey,
1:55:29
Speaker 5: you know, it's, we want to end the week at
1:55:31
Speaker 5: one Oh, okay. And how are we doing that? You know,
1:55:34
Speaker 5: with our nutrition and sleep and film study and practice
1:55:37
Speaker 5: habits and, and things like that. And that's really what,
1:55:41
Speaker 5: you know, stressing to the kids this week is Hey,
1:55:43
Speaker 5: you have an opponent. Okay. And we're going to study
1:55:46
Speaker 5: the crap out of them and we're going to know
1:55:48
Speaker 5: everything that they do and all about them. But at
1:55:50
Speaker 5: the same time, it's about us and what we do. Okay.
1:55:54
Speaker 5: And not to focus so much on, you know, what
1:55:58
Speaker 5: a lot of fans do and a lot of outside
1:56:00
Speaker 5: perimeter people do is, you know, the hype and stuff
1:56:03
Speaker 5: like that. Not don't focus on that. Focus on, you know,
1:56:06
Speaker 5: having a great practice, focus on, you know, getting a
1:56:09
Speaker 5: good night's sleep, focus on, you your film study and
1:56:12
Speaker 5: knowing situational football. And so that's a big thing for
1:56:16
Speaker 5: us is really kind of taking those distractions out that
1:56:20
Speaker 5: are on the outside, you know, staying off social media,
1:56:23
Speaker 5: you know, just to eliminate those distractions and, and focusing
1:56:27
Speaker 5: on just kind of the plastic hand. Cause as, as
1:56:29
Speaker 5: you know, we're all humans and you can get wrapped
1:56:32
Speaker 5: up in emotions. Everybody does. And so I'm really trying
1:56:36
Speaker 5: to limit those distractions.
1:56:39
Speaker 1: I am, by the way, I am those distractions this week.
1:56:41
Speaker 1: Tell them don't listen to my show because I'm gassing
1:56:44
Speaker 1: this game up. I can't wait for this one. And
1:56:46
Speaker 1: I love the matchup, but there's some problems for you
1:56:49
Speaker 1: to solve, right? And the biggest one of those is
1:56:52
Speaker 1: Bear Bachmeier. He's an excellent player. He's a physical specimen.
1:56:56
Speaker 1: He runs through contact. He keeps himself alive in the pocket.
1:56:59
Speaker 1: He's better and better every week, it seems, as a passer.
1:57:02
Speaker 1: He'll take some risks, though, with that big arm of his.
1:57:05
Speaker 1: When you evaluate that quarterback, what are you seeing?
1:57:09
Speaker 5: Well, he is, he's extremely well-rounded. You know, he knows
1:57:13
Speaker 5: exactly what to do with football. He knows his progression
1:57:17
Speaker 5: in the throw game. He knows his box counts in
1:57:19
Speaker 5: the run game. He knows exactly what to do with
1:57:22
Speaker 5: football makes him very good. And he's very diverse. Um, that's,
1:57:26
Speaker 5: that's one of the best things about him is he
1:57:28
Speaker 5: has the ability to flick a ball and he has
1:57:30
Speaker 5: the ability to pull it down and run with it.
1:57:32
Speaker 5: And he runs really, really well. He's a big stout kid. And, and, um,
1:57:37
Speaker 5: you know, not only his game against us last year,
1:57:40
Speaker 5: but in games that he's played against other opponents, I mean,
1:57:42
Speaker 5: he punishes guys in the run game. Uh, and so,
1:57:45
Speaker 5: you know, a lot of kudos to him and what
1:57:48
Speaker 5: he is, you know, from a skillset and as an
1:57:50
Speaker 5: individual and, and also the coaches that, you know, put
1:57:53
Speaker 5: him into those situations I think they really understand who
1:57:57
Speaker 5: he is and what he does best. And so, you know,
1:57:59
Speaker 5: they cater to that.
1:58:02
Speaker 1: When you're rushing against the quarterback like this, and we've
1:58:05
Speaker 1: talked about it and you mentioned it earlier in this conversation, right?
1:58:09
Speaker 1: Collapsing the population. instead of running up field and making
1:58:11
Speaker 1: sure you maintain gap integrity and the ability to tackle
1:58:16
Speaker 1: and not fall off of something because an arm on
1:58:19
Speaker 1: a jersey is not going to bring a guy like
1:58:21
Speaker 1: that down is there any alteration of what's been going
1:58:25
Speaker 1: on in practice to accommodate that or is this just
1:58:27
Speaker 1: a continuation of what you've been coaching up.
1:58:29
Speaker 5: All year I think it goes a lot into a continuation.
1:58:34
Speaker 5: We face quarterbacks like him. We face guys that are
1:58:39
Speaker 5: athletic and very nifty on their feet. We face guys
1:58:43
Speaker 5: that can sling the ball. I think he provides complications
1:58:47
Speaker 5: and difficulties in both. which makes him, you know, even
1:58:51
Speaker 5: more difficult, but it's just really letting these guys know, okay,
1:58:55
Speaker 5: here's this type of quarterback.
1:58:56
Speaker 6: Okay.
1:58:56
Speaker 5: How do you stop this type of quarterback? Okay. And
1:58:59
Speaker 5: so guys are very cognizant about the style and what
1:59:02
Speaker 5: it takes in order to stop him. But yeah, just
1:59:06
Speaker 5: kind of, kind of going with it with the same
1:59:09
Speaker 5: philosophy and mentality that we've always had on every quarterback.
1:59:12
Speaker 5: That's a dual threat. Like he is.
1:59:15
Speaker 1: How does the availability or lack thereof, regarding LJ Martin
1:59:20
Speaker 1: change your job?
1:59:22
Speaker 5: Well, he's, I mean, you're always wondering, is he going
1:59:25
Speaker 5: to play? That is for sure. You know, cause I
1:59:28
Speaker 5: know he's missed some games prior to now. And, and
1:59:31
Speaker 5: so you're always wondering, is he, is he going to play?
1:59:33
Speaker 5: Is he healthy? But you know, when, when he is
1:59:35
Speaker 5: playing and when he is healthy, I mean, he's one
1:59:38
Speaker 5: of the best backs out there. I mean, he runs
1:59:41
Speaker 5: the way running back supposed to run. He runs over
1:59:43
Speaker 5: his over his legs extremely well, good pad level, forward
1:59:47
Speaker 5: lean to him, great ball security, great vision. I mean, he's,
1:59:51
Speaker 5: he's the ideal running back and he is, he's very
1:59:55
Speaker 5: good for them. And you know, as, as a defense, he's,
1:59:58
Speaker 5: he's definitely a guy that you're sitting there going, okay,
2:00:01
Speaker 5: that's one of their better players as is Brock. And, and,
2:00:05
Speaker 5: and so you got to just target them and just
2:00:08
Speaker 5: make sure that you're always accounting for, you know, players
2:00:11
Speaker 5: such as he.
2:00:13
Speaker 1: What are you seeing from them in the pass game?
2:00:15
Speaker 1: They've got the freshman wide receiver really fast, really good.
2:00:18
Speaker 1: They've got a couple of big body guys out there
2:00:20
Speaker 1: on the edge as well. Do you like your matchup
2:00:23
Speaker 1: with your defensive backs?
2:00:25
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely. You know, they, they're extremely skilled. They're long bodied, right?
2:00:30
Speaker 5: They're big, big kids that run very crisp routes and
2:00:33
Speaker 5: have great catch radiuses, you know, and then they put
2:00:38
Speaker 5: a number one in the slot and he can pick
2:00:40
Speaker 5: them up and put them down on me. He can
2:00:41
Speaker 5: flat bogey. And, and so he poses a lot of
2:00:44
Speaker 5: threats deep for defenses. But you know, being able to
2:00:48
Speaker 5: take the throw game away is, is something that you've
2:00:52
Speaker 5: got to, you've got to be able to do. I mean,
2:00:54
Speaker 5: if you can make a team one dimensional and they're
2:00:57
Speaker 5: going to rely on the throw, if you can take
2:00:58
Speaker 5: the runaway or, or vice versa, you know, definitely helps
2:01:02
Speaker 5: a lot. But understanding what's difficult for them and, and
2:01:07
Speaker 5: being able to exploit those things.
2:01:09
Speaker 1: Before we let you go, how many text messages, phone calls,
2:01:13
Speaker 1: whatever did you get from your, your cowboy buddies when they,
2:01:17
Speaker 1: they showed that little piece on you on game day,
2:01:19
Speaker 1: you know, When we get a little Colton Swan rodeo
2:01:23
Speaker 1: on national television, I imagine you got a little reaction
2:01:27
Speaker 1: from that circle of friends.
2:01:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's not very often that, you know, some Cowboys
2:01:32
Speaker 5: are going to be put on ESPN. So I'm sure
2:01:36
Speaker 5: the reaction was pretty good. I got quite a few
2:01:39
Speaker 5: text messages, you know. It's kind of funny. The national television,
2:01:44
Speaker 5: they call it the Cowboy Channel, you know, puts some
2:01:47
Speaker 5: stuff up. It's pretty cool.
2:01:50
Speaker 1: Pretty cool to see. Even cooler to see is Utah
2:01:53
Speaker 1: football sitting at 8-0, one of the top defenses in
2:01:56
Speaker 1: the country. My guy, Colton Swan, calling those plays. Let's
2:02:00
Speaker 1: have another great one on Saturday, shall we?
2:02:02
Speaker 2: Absolutely, OC. I appreciate you.
2:02:04
Speaker 1: Thank you. That's Colton Swan, your defensive coordinator at the
2:02:08
Speaker 1: University of Utah, brought to you by Mountain Home Services,
2:02:11
Speaker 1: Coordinator's Corner. You know what's next, right? It's the airing
2:02:17
Speaker 1: of grievances, a holy war edition. 877-353-0700 at Real OC Sports.
2:02:24
Speaker 1: Get it off your chest, baby! It's the Sean O'Connell
2:02:27
Speaker 1: Show on ESPN 700 and 92 on FM.
2:02:28
Speaker 7: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
2:02:32
Speaker 7: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 and 92 on FM.
2:02:38
Speaker 1: The tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances.
2:02:43
Speaker 6: I got a lot of problems with you people.
2:02:45
Speaker 1: Now, you're going to hear about it. It is that
2:02:54
Speaker 1: time on a Holy War Friday. Sean O'Connell Show airing
2:02:57
Speaker 1: of grievances 877-353-0700 at Real OC Sports. If you want
2:03:04
Speaker 1: to air a grievance, get it off your chest, text us,
2:03:07
Speaker 1: tweet at us. Headed to the very, very important weekend
2:03:11
Speaker 1: for Utah and BYU with a clean mind, conscience where
2:03:16
Speaker 1: you have nothing to worry about.
2:03:17
Speaker 3: 877-353-0700.
2:03:17
Speaker 1: Air your grievances right now. 63-51 with the first grievance
2:03:26
Speaker 1: of the day. Grievance against people who walk in the
2:03:29
Speaker 1: middle of the road when there's a perfectly fine sidewalk available.
2:03:32
Speaker 1: I drive all day for my job. I wouldn't mind
2:03:34
Speaker 1: this as much if people who did it didn't proceed
2:03:38
Speaker 1: to give me the dirtiest of looks as I drive
2:03:40
Speaker 1: around them as if it's my fault they aren't using
2:03:43
Speaker 1: the sidewalk. Oh, my gosh. So there's a road, 11th Avenue,
2:03:50
Speaker 1: up in the avenues, goes past the Salt Lake City Cemetery, okay?
2:03:54
Speaker 1: And there's no sidewalks on either side of the cemetery
2:03:58
Speaker 1: portion of that road. And there are bike lanes. And
2:04:03
Speaker 1: there's a lot of people who jog, who bike, right?
2:04:07
Speaker 1: And they will lance you with the dirtiest look if
2:04:13
Speaker 1: they feel like you've driven too close to them. But
2:04:17
Speaker 1: they are on the opposite side of the white painted line.
2:04:21
Speaker 1: This is the same principle. When you're walking, when you're
2:04:24
Speaker 1: a pedestrian, you have right of way in certain situations
2:04:28
Speaker 1: where there are motor vehicles present, but I want people
2:04:32
Speaker 1: to remember that the practical sort of exercise as a
2:04:36
Speaker 1: human being is to avoid the several thousand pounds of
2:04:42
Speaker 1: steel that are hurtling around corners at 50 miles an
2:04:46
Speaker 1: hour at all costs. If you can walk close to
2:04:50
Speaker 1: the edge of the the close to the wall instead
2:04:53
Speaker 1: of close to the the actual traffic lane do that
2:04:58
Speaker 1: okay don't trust drivers are going to be able to
2:05:02
Speaker 1: get around you take care of yourself too and don't
2:05:04
Speaker 1: get mad when you're not using the space afforded to
2:05:08
Speaker 1: you as a pedestrian 877-353-0700 this.
2:05:10
Speaker 4: Is These are the kind of grievances I used to
2:05:15
Speaker 4: exclusively air, OC. This is my kind of airing of
2:05:17
Speaker 4: grievances to start out here, okay?
2:05:20
Speaker 1: James loves a good, like, vehicle versus pedestrian grievance, okay?
2:05:24
Speaker 1: So that's very much in his wheelhouse.
2:05:26
Speaker 4: Pedestrian versus vehicle has got a different connotation to it. But, yes, yes,
2:05:32
Speaker 4: I do love these crosswalk versus jaywalking versus use your
2:05:39
Speaker 4: space correctly kind of grievances on the roads, absolutely.
2:05:43
Speaker 1: Like, 11th Avenue is the place where I find all
2:05:45
Speaker 1: of these problems because I live up in the avenues,
2:05:48
Speaker 1: and that's kind of the main thoroughfare, right, at the top.
2:05:51
Speaker 1: And it's a place where a lot of people bike
2:05:55
Speaker 1: and run, and that's wonderful. They just refused to use
2:06:00
Speaker 1: the lane that is for that purpose. It drives me
2:06:04
Speaker 1: absolutely wild, and I'm like, man, you know, Especially if
2:06:10
Speaker 1: I'm jogging or if I'm biking, James, it's probably the
2:06:12
Speaker 1: wrong thing to do. But I want to go against traffic,
2:06:15
Speaker 1: the vehicle traffic, so I can see the oncoming cars.
2:06:17
Speaker 1: They're not, like, sneaking up behind me. It gives you
2:06:20
Speaker 1: more peace of mind. It absolutely does. And there are
2:06:23
Speaker 1: so many people who are running with traffic, so their
2:06:26
Speaker 1: back is to me as I'm driving. And they're, like,
2:06:28
Speaker 1: wandering out across into the middle of the road. I'm like,
2:06:31
Speaker 1: what are you doing? If I was not attentive here,
2:06:34
Speaker 1: you just got yourself run over by a car. Psychos.
2:06:37
Speaker 4: And listen, like you just mentioned, they're probably following the
2:06:42
Speaker 4: rules technically by running with traffic, but it gives you
2:06:47
Speaker 4: less visibility as a runner to see that, like you said,
2:06:51
Speaker 4: the thousands of pounds of steel hurtling around corners.
2:06:55
Speaker 1: Uh, Derek says grievance every year. This game puts me
2:06:57
Speaker 1: through more anxiety than I can handle. It's been worse
2:07:00
Speaker 1: the last three years. So please use my health. Could
2:07:02
Speaker 1: I take another loss? Please leave no doubt in this
2:07:05
Speaker 1: game by halftime. So I can live anxiety free all
2:07:07
Speaker 1: of tomorrow. That, that is probably too big of an ask.
2:07:11
Speaker 4: If I'm being honest, it's a valid grievance though. I,
2:07:14
Speaker 4: as someone, and you know, people are tired of hearing
2:07:17
Speaker 4: me say, talk about how I'm an Ohio state fan,
2:07:19
Speaker 4: but as someone who recently went through for the first
2:07:22
Speaker 4: time in, in my lifetime, uh, a stretch where the
2:07:26
Speaker 4: wrong team won for a few years in a row.
2:07:30
Speaker 4: It sucks when you're on the wrong side of a
2:07:32
Speaker 4: rivalry game for a few years in a row. So
2:07:34
Speaker 4: I think we all can feel for what Derek is
2:07:38
Speaker 4: airing in this grievance, absolutely.
2:07:43
Speaker 1: Spencer says, grievance, hate seeing strength of schedule brought up
2:07:47
Speaker 1: so much. About Utah, considering the clear bias in rankings.
2:07:53
Speaker 1: Not saying Utah's schedule is a gauntlet, but sometimes I
2:07:56
Speaker 1: feel like they're talking about Montana State with the strength
2:07:59
Speaker 1: of schedule. Look, there's a valid argument to be made
2:08:04
Speaker 1: that Utah has not played the stiffest competition as of yet.
2:08:09
Speaker 1: And that is true. That is a big reason why
2:08:12
Speaker 1: a lot of Utah's games are multiple score wins. why
2:08:16
Speaker 1: Utah is one of the top scoring teams and one
2:08:18
Speaker 1: of the top scoring defenses. Like, everything is going to
2:08:21
Speaker 1: even out a little bit, and Utah will statistically, I think,
2:08:26
Speaker 1: regress toward the mean just a little because it's going
2:08:29
Speaker 1: to be harder to score against BYU than it was
2:08:32
Speaker 1: against Arkansas. That's just the way things are. It doesn't
2:08:37
Speaker 1: mean you're not a good team. And for people to
2:08:39
Speaker 1: weaponize it and say, like, oh, your wins don't mean
2:08:42
Speaker 1: anything because– You haven't played anyone that tough. There's eight
2:08:47
Speaker 1: of them. If we were talking about pounding the chest
2:08:50
Speaker 1: and celebrating over one particular win for either BYU or
2:08:54
Speaker 1: for Utah, then that's worth criticism. If you're talking about
2:09:00
Speaker 1: consistency and you're talking about the fact that you have
2:09:03
Speaker 1: won eight consecutive games when there's only three other teams
2:09:09
Speaker 1: in college football, two other teams in college football that
2:09:12
Speaker 1: have done it, I mean, come on. And by the way,
2:09:17
Speaker 1: Houston's a ranked team. Houston's a good team. And the
2:09:23
Speaker 1: Big 12 conferences showed all of us, and I know
2:09:26
Speaker 1: that this is very directly pointed at the fan discussion
2:09:30
Speaker 1: between Utah and BYU, and BYU's strength of schedule is
2:09:34
Speaker 1: significantly tougher than Utah's so far this year. They've played
2:09:37
Speaker 1: better teams, but guess what? They lost to a worse
2:09:41
Speaker 1: team than Utah has ever lost to. Not ever lost to.
2:09:45
Speaker 1: They beat Notre Dame, a better win than Utah's got,
2:09:48
Speaker 1: but they lost to UCF, and then UCF turned around
2:09:51
Speaker 1: and got mollywhopped by Baylor. So what really matters tomorrow
2:09:57
Speaker 1: and what really matters every Saturday moving forward is that
2:10:01
Speaker 1: you show up and you put your best foot forward.
2:10:03
Speaker 1: If Utah doesn't play their best version of football tomorrow,
2:10:06
Speaker 1: they won't win. If BYU doesn't play better than they
2:10:09
Speaker 1: played in every other game except for maybe the Notre
2:10:12
Speaker 1: Dame game, they will not win. That's what this game
2:10:15
Speaker 1: is all about. It's not, oh, who's more talented? Oh,
2:10:18
Speaker 1: it's not who's proven more with the games that they've
2:10:20
Speaker 1: got right now. What it's truly about is who shows
2:10:23
Speaker 1: up tomorrow and executes.
2:10:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's absolutely fair to say that there are a
2:10:30
Speaker 4: lot of other teams in the CFP rankings that have
2:10:34
Speaker 4: been tested more than Utah. That's the fair thing to
2:10:37
Speaker 4: say about the strength of schedule. But your point about
2:10:42
Speaker 4: questioning consistency... not only is that ridiculous because there's been
2:10:47
Speaker 4: eight games and Utah's won all of them, but also
2:10:50
Speaker 4: because there's been one game where they played down to
2:10:54
Speaker 4: their opponent. They've been very consistent. We've been talking about
2:10:59
Speaker 4: the third quarter lulls and those kind of things. Sure,
2:11:03
Speaker 4: within games, we'd like Utah to be more consistent, and that,
2:11:08
Speaker 4: I guess, should be taken into consideration a little bit
2:11:11
Speaker 4: but when you're still winning by take the Cincinnati game
2:11:14
Speaker 4: as an example when you're still winning by 24 points
2:11:17
Speaker 4: even though you got outscored in the second half significantly
2:11:21
Speaker 4: I mean I think that counts as consistency so yeah
2:11:25
Speaker 4: the strength of schedule argument or discussion in general is
2:11:32
Speaker 4: ridiculous when Utah's won all their games and they've basically
2:11:37
Speaker 4: been blowouts in everyone except for the other really good
2:11:40
Speaker 4: team they played, Houston.
2:11:41
Speaker 1: I mean, that's consistency. Which, by the way, if we
2:11:45
Speaker 1: were going into a game against BYU this weekend and
2:11:50
Speaker 1: Utah had won every game by 14 or more, I
2:11:54
Speaker 1: would be more concerned because I would feel like, oh,
2:11:58
Speaker 1: they truly haven't been tested. I wouldn't be crowing about
2:12:03
Speaker 1: how Utah was that dominant. I'd be like, man, It's
2:12:06
Speaker 1: not good to go into the ninth week of the
2:12:09
Speaker 1: season and not know if you can play from behind.
2:12:11
Speaker 1: It's not good to go into the ninth week of
2:12:13
Speaker 1: the season and know if you can count on somebody
2:12:15
Speaker 1: to make a big play when the chips are down
2:12:18
Speaker 1: and you absolutely need one. Utah's had a couple of
2:12:20
Speaker 1: situations in wins, people, in wins, where it got a
2:12:25
Speaker 1: little bit dicey. And that's just the way college football
2:12:30
Speaker 1: seasons go. And that's I think, a way for you
2:12:34
Speaker 1: to feel better about the sustainability of this success for Utah.
2:12:40
Speaker 1: How about this grievance from 1013? People have the new
2:12:45
Speaker 1: driver sticker on the back of their car but are
2:12:46
Speaker 1: camping out in the fast lane on the freeway. That's
2:12:51
Speaker 1: like a double whammy because you're not supposed to camp
2:12:53
Speaker 1: out in the fast lane and then you've got the
2:12:56
Speaker 1: new driver sticker just making it worse. That's a double
2:12:59
Speaker 1: grievance potentially. Terrible. Uh, 59 95 showed up to primary
2:13:06
Speaker 1: children's hospital yesterday for a dermatology appointment with my daughter.
2:13:09
Speaker 1: Had a few warts frozen off. Okay. No big deal.
2:13:12
Speaker 1: Doctor noticed, uh, some in the middle of my hand
2:13:15
Speaker 1: and said, Oh look, daddy's going to be brave and
2:13:17
Speaker 1: go first and show you it doesn't hurt. It was horrible.
2:13:20
Speaker 1: And I have a ginormous blister on my hand for
2:13:22
Speaker 1: the game tomorrow. Can't clap, but I'll be yelling from
2:13:25
Speaker 1: row 17 grievance with the dermatologist for not knowing that
2:13:29
Speaker 1: you were going to the holy war and you needed
2:13:31
Speaker 1: to clap.
2:13:33
Speaker 4: Or, you know, judging him for having some warts on
2:13:36
Speaker 4: his hands and being like, hey, this is a great
2:13:38
Speaker 4: opportunity for you to be brave for your daughter.
2:13:40
Speaker 1: Oh, my goodness.
2:13:41
Speaker 4: The presumption from the dermatologist there. Good for you being
2:13:44
Speaker 4: brave for your daughter, though.
2:13:46
Speaker 1: I love that. Daddy's going to get this done first. Oh, man.
2:13:50
Speaker 1: I don't mean to laugh at you, but I am
2:13:52
Speaker 1: laughing at you. It's kind of funny. Spencer, by the way,
2:13:56
Speaker 1: the strength of schedule grievance was brought in by Spencer
2:14:00
Speaker 1: and then said, I don't know why, but I'm feeling
2:14:02
Speaker 1: a big win for Utah to break the streak of
2:14:06
Speaker 1: close games and a streak of Utah losses. Dude, that
2:14:08
Speaker 1: would be amazing.
2:14:09
Speaker 3: If they just win it.
2:14:11
Speaker 1: All and they do it quickly. Grievance from 4446. ESPN,
2:14:17
Speaker 1: that's it. ESPN, I think you probably are pointing toward
2:14:23
Speaker 1: the 10 a.m. kickoff with this one. They've got plenty
2:14:26
Speaker 1: of other problems beside that.
2:14:29
Speaker 4: There's a few reasons recently for a Utah fan. I'm
2:14:32
Speaker 4: making an assumption here that 46 is a Ute fan.
2:14:38
Speaker 4: But like McAfee recently, the way Reese Davis and Booger
2:14:43
Speaker 4: McFarland reacted when Utah went up on the screen as
2:14:47
Speaker 4: number three on the college football playoff rankings show, and
2:14:51
Speaker 4: they said, Rhys Davis' quote was, I'm not going to
2:14:53
Speaker 4: be mad at week one after that happened. I'm like,
2:14:55
Speaker 4: goodness gracious, guys. Are you not supposed to be objective
2:14:59
Speaker 4: and professional here? But, yeah, the ESPN is anti-Utah right now,
2:15:04
Speaker 4: it feels like.
2:15:06
Speaker 1: This coming from Easton. My grievance is that the Huntsman
2:15:08
Speaker 1: Center doesn't crank the music during team introductions or after
2:15:12
Speaker 1: the youths go on a run to get the place rocking.
2:15:14
Speaker 1: So frustrating. You know what? James, get the Huntsman Center
2:15:19
Speaker 1: DJ on the phone. We need to crank this stuff
2:15:23
Speaker 1: up a little bit.
2:15:24
Speaker 4: Yeah, Utah State, the spectrum has a lot better atmosphere
2:15:29
Speaker 4: because of these things Easton's claiming, and honestly, you watch
2:15:32
Speaker 4: it on TV, you can't argue too much against that.
2:15:38
Speaker 4: It helps that Utah State's a winning program.
2:15:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's not put the cart before the horse here.
2:15:42
Speaker 1: I mean, Utah State is getting a lot of, a
2:15:45
Speaker 1: lot of play from the fact that they win basketball games. Although, hey,
2:15:49
Speaker 1: running Utes is a 2-0 start, baby. 2-0, baby. We're
2:15:51
Speaker 1: building here, okay? Eat it, Towson. Let's go. Okay. Grievance
2:15:57
Speaker 1: today from 1466, the Phantom Tip. As a part-time Uber driver,
2:16:01
Speaker 1: I really don't expect tips. If I get one, fantastic.
2:16:04
Speaker 1: If I don't, no big deal. I just happen to
2:16:06
Speaker 1: provide a clean car, drive safely, stop gently, and not
2:16:08
Speaker 1: launch you through the windshield when the light turns green.
2:16:11
Speaker 1: But here's my grievance. Don't promise me a tip. Especially
2:16:14
Speaker 1: don't tell me I'm going to leave you a big tip.
2:16:16
Speaker 1: Because we both know how this ends.
2:16:17
Speaker 3: You get out.
2:16:18
Speaker 1: I get a notification you've completed your ride. And that
2:16:21
Speaker 1: big tip disappears in the witness protection program. I'm not
2:16:24
Speaker 1: asking you to tip. I'm asking you to stop making
2:16:26
Speaker 1: promises you have absolutely no intention of keeping. At this point,
2:16:29
Speaker 1: I'd rather you just give me a five-star rating and
2:16:31
Speaker 1: lie about how much you enjoy the ride. At least
2:16:33
Speaker 1: that's free. All right. A little uber etiquette there in
2:16:38
Speaker 1: that grievance. Grievance. Did nobody watch BYU barely escape an
2:16:45
Speaker 1: under-average Arizona State team who was playing a freshman QB
2:16:48
Speaker 1: at home just last week? No, we saw that. I
2:16:54
Speaker 1: don't want to let that lull Utah to sleep. I
2:16:58
Speaker 1: don't want anyone to think that that was indicative of
2:17:01
Speaker 1: what BYU is truly capable of this year. What you
2:17:06
Speaker 1: should watch to get an accurate representation of what BYU
2:17:09
Speaker 1: can be Watch the Notre Dame game, okay? That's BYU executing,
2:17:16
Speaker 1: playing at their best, something to prove every single down.
2:17:21
Speaker 1: That's the version of BYU you're going to get. That's
2:17:23
Speaker 1: the emotional output and the sort of focus you're going
2:17:27
Speaker 1: to get from BYU against Utah. They're not going to
2:17:30
Speaker 1: play like they did against Arizona State. They're not. That's
2:17:34
Speaker 1: a look-ahead spot for BYU. That's a, oh my gosh,
2:17:38
Speaker 1: we're going to get L.J. Martin back, but he's not
2:17:40
Speaker 1: back yet kind of a situation. Don't fall for that.
2:17:43
Speaker 1: BYU is much better than they have played in the
2:17:46
Speaker 1: last two weeks. If you show up at Rice Eccles
2:17:48
Speaker 1: Stadium tomorrow expecting BYU to be the team that lost
2:17:51
Speaker 1: to UCF and barely escaped an under talented Arizona State
2:17:56
Speaker 1: team you're not going to be focused yourself as a
2:17:59
Speaker 1: fan you're not going to be as loud as and
2:18:00
Speaker 1: as intense as the team needs you to be so
2:18:02
Speaker 1: come on let's get it right Jordan says grievance with
2:18:08
Speaker 1: political ads via text I now make my voting selection
2:18:11
Speaker 1: based off who doesn't text me, which is probably not
2:18:13
Speaker 1: a great political compass to use, but that's where I'm at. Also,
2:18:19
Speaker 1: extra grievance with my neighbor who sent a mass text
2:18:22
Speaker 1: to everyone in my neighborhood endorsing a political candidate. Almost
2:18:24
Speaker 1: as bad of a choice as choosing to go to BYU.
2:18:28
Speaker 3: Go Utes.
2:18:29
Speaker 1: People, please. So glad the election's over. I'm the wrong
2:18:35
Speaker 1: person to talk about politics with because I loathe and despise...
2:18:40
Speaker 1: the entire theater of it. I can't stand it. I
2:18:42
Speaker 1: can't stand the way it makes people talk to each other,
2:18:45
Speaker 1: the way it makes people feel about each other. I
2:18:47
Speaker 1: can't stand it. It makes me sick. Um, the Democrats
2:18:50
Speaker 1: are lying to you and the Republicans are lying to you.
2:18:53
Speaker 1: That's what you need to know. All right, that's it.
2:18:55
Speaker 1: That's the whole thing. They're not going to, they're not
2:18:58
Speaker 1: going to keep their promises. Cast your votes accordingly. Do
2:19:01
Speaker 1: what you got to do. Uh, just understand that you're
2:19:04
Speaker 1: choosing the lesser of two evils in every single case.
2:19:09
Speaker 1: That's how it works.
2:19:10
Speaker 4: Election season's over. Couldn't be any better. Let's focus. Let's
2:19:15
Speaker 4: get all the holy war in the rest of this
2:19:18
Speaker 4: sports season. Let's get those distractions back in.
2:19:21
Speaker 1: All right. Cade says, agreements with Reese Davis and the
2:19:23
Speaker 1: others during the release of the CFP rankings. They basically
2:19:26
Speaker 1: skipped over the Utes and totally disregarded and disrespected us
2:19:29
Speaker 1: while saying Miami was the only correct rank. While we
2:19:33
Speaker 1: have a very similar resume to Miami. Guess what they're
2:19:36
Speaker 1: going to do now? They're going to talk about how Miami...
2:19:39
Speaker 1: who probably loses to Notre Dame because their best player
2:19:41
Speaker 1: is gone. They're going to talk about how Miami never
2:19:44
Speaker 1: deserved to be there, and they were a paper tiger,
2:19:46
Speaker 1: and they were a fraud. That's what they're going to do.
2:19:51
Speaker 1: Don't put any kind of weight into ratings programming. That's
2:19:55
Speaker 1: what ESPN is doing right now, okay? Absolutely. Jay, my
2:19:59
Speaker 1: grievance is the flip-flopping on these teams. It drives me crazy.
2:20:02
Speaker 1: Beating a top-ranked team and then dropping the next game? Oh,
2:20:04
Speaker 1: my goodness, the stress, because it could happen to Utah. Hopefully...
2:20:08
Speaker 1: They keep this trend going. Crazy how my whole life
2:20:10
Speaker 1: revolves around a single football team for four months. Yes, Jay,
2:20:14
Speaker 1: that's how it is. That's how it's going to be,
2:20:17
Speaker 1: and it is insane. It's one of the great blessings
2:20:20
Speaker 1: of being an American and living in a country where
2:20:23
Speaker 1: our basic needs are met, our safety is virtually guaranteed,
2:20:28
Speaker 1: and we basically get to invest our emotions in these
2:20:33
Speaker 1: ridiculous things like sports. It's a blessing. It's crazy, but
2:20:37
Speaker 1: it's a blessing. Alex says, Grave, it's my wife getting
2:20:43
Speaker 1: upset with me because I'm not hungry every time she is. Well,
2:20:49
Speaker 1: get hungry. Okay, Alex?
2:20:50
Speaker 3: Come on.
2:20:51
Speaker 1: 1236 says, what was BYU's strength of schedule in 1984?
2:20:57
Speaker 1: Grievance with using 1984 for anything, okay? Don't bring it
2:21:02
Speaker 1: up as, like, proof that your program is great. Don't
2:21:04
Speaker 1: bring it up that it was too long ago to
2:21:06
Speaker 1: care about. It was 1984. Stop it. We don't care
2:21:09
Speaker 1: about that anymore. It was 42 years ago now. We're done.
2:21:12
Speaker 1: We're done with 1984. We're done with George Orwell, too,
2:21:16
Speaker 1: by the way. Jeff Powers, not being from here, I'm
2:21:19
Speaker 1: looking forward to football season being over so they can
2:21:21
Speaker 1: hear something besides Utah football. Okay, Jeff. We're the home
2:21:25
Speaker 1: of the Utes. They're undefeated and ranked number three in
2:21:28
Speaker 1: the country. We talk a little mammoth. We talk a
2:21:30
Speaker 1: little jazz. You want us to talk about the jazz?
2:21:32
Speaker 1: Here's the summation of everything you need to know about
2:21:35
Speaker 1: the Utah Jazz. They stink. Here's what else you can
2:21:38
Speaker 1: get on my show. The San Francisco 49ers are the
2:21:42
Speaker 1: greatest professional franchise in all sports, and they're going to
2:21:45
Speaker 1: win a Super Bowl again this year, and they're off
2:21:48
Speaker 1: to a wonderful start in that effort. The Utah Mammoth
2:21:51
Speaker 1: are awesome, but probably not going to win a Stanley
2:21:53
Speaker 1: Cup for at least three more years. There, that's the summation.
2:21:57
Speaker 1: It's Utah football season, Jeff. And it's Holy War week,
2:22:00
Speaker 1: by the way.
2:22:01
Speaker 4: We bid almost exclusively football this week because it's the biggest.
2:22:06
Speaker 1: football week in the state. We mix it up. I mean,
2:22:09
Speaker 1: Adrian Denny's on every week.
2:22:10
Speaker 3: Guess what?
2:22:11
Speaker 1: We don't mix it up that much. It's football season,
2:22:13
Speaker 1: all right? This is America. This is America's pastime, and
2:22:17
Speaker 1: we don't have an NFL team here. What we do
2:22:19
Speaker 1: have are two incredible college football teams right here in
2:22:22
Speaker 1: the state, and they're playing against one another less than
2:22:25
Speaker 1: 24 hours from now, all right? I will not be
2:22:27
Speaker 1: made to feel bad about talking holy war. All right, 7233, grievance,
2:22:32
Speaker 1: always having to wait 30 minutes in the little room
2:22:34
Speaker 1: at the doctor's office, waiting for the doctor, even though
2:22:37
Speaker 1: I have an appointment. This, yes, a thousand times. You're
2:22:40
Speaker 1: going to the vet, you got to wait. You have
2:22:43
Speaker 1: an appointment, doesn't matter. The doctor will be there when
2:22:45
Speaker 1: the doctor decides they're going to be there. Here's what
2:22:47
Speaker 1: needs to happen. These doctors need to realize their average
2:22:50
Speaker 1: appointment time. You have all these like data tracking apps
2:22:53
Speaker 1: you can use, right? Realize how long you actually take
2:22:56
Speaker 1: for appointments. And instead of scheduling a different patient every
2:23:01
Speaker 1: 30 minutes, be like, oh, you know what? My average
2:23:03
Speaker 1: time with a patient is 44 minutes. So schedule people
2:23:07
Speaker 1: every 45 minutes instead of every 30. Stop making us
2:23:11
Speaker 1: wait in the waiting room and then wait in the
2:23:13
Speaker 1: little examination room again. That's terrible. That's why we made
2:23:16
Speaker 1: the appointment. Don't do it. That's a very valid grievance.
2:23:20
Speaker 4: Radical change to the appointment scheduling system that's been around
2:23:24
Speaker 4: forever by OC.
2:23:26
Speaker 1: I don't disagree.
2:23:27
Speaker 4: It would be a radical change, though, because I'm pretty
2:23:29
Speaker 4: sure they just do the automated A just every 15
2:23:32
Speaker 4: or 30 minutes.
2:23:34
Speaker 1: Minor grievance from Charles. This is very, very funny. The
2:23:37
Speaker 1: term let's go usually screamed or shouted any time and
2:23:42
Speaker 1: every time something good happens. It's over with. It's already finished.
2:23:45
Speaker 1: It's unoriginal and stupid. It is kind of like backwards
2:23:50
Speaker 1: when you say let's go. It should be a galvanizing cry,
2:23:53
Speaker 1: not a celebratory cry. But I accept it because it's
2:23:56
Speaker 1: just what people naturally say.
2:23:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm hugely guilty of overusing let's go.
2:24:04
Speaker 1: But it's just what comes to mind. I don't know.
2:24:06
Speaker 1: 5002 says.
2:24:14
Speaker 1: Team down south barely escaped TCU and needed a fourth
2:24:17
Speaker 1: quarter to beat Colorado. Well, so did Utah. All right.
2:24:23
Speaker 1: And he also says, I'm a Notre Dame fan and
2:24:25
Speaker 1: they played like crap in Provo. So, look, guys, gals, friends,
2:24:32
Speaker 1: don't try to discount the Notre Dame win. That is
2:24:35
Speaker 1: a really good football team. BYU beat them. That is
2:24:39
Speaker 1: good for Utah because if BYU was a two-loss team,
2:24:42
Speaker 1: this would not be a top-ten holy war. This would
2:24:44
Speaker 1: not be a win that bolsters your strength of schedule
2:24:48
Speaker 1: in the eyes of a college football playoff committee. This
2:24:50
Speaker 1: is the biggest game because of what has actually unfolded
2:24:54
Speaker 1: so far. And what has actually unfolded so far is
2:24:57
Speaker 1: Utah being undefeated, BYU being a one-loss team that has
2:25:00
Speaker 1: beat a top-five Notre Dame squad. That is it. That
2:25:03
Speaker 1: is the reality that we are facing. That is the
2:25:05
Speaker 1: reality that we are in in this 2026 college football season.
2:25:10
Speaker 1: We are less than 24 hours away from the biggest
2:25:13
Speaker 1: Holy War game Ever. One last injury report, and then
2:25:17
Speaker 1: we'll get out of here. It's the Sean O'Connell Show
2:25:18
Speaker 1: on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
2:25:23
Speaker 7: You're listening to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
2:25:26
Speaker 7: Hyundai Studio of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
2:25:37
Speaker 3: 877-353-0700.
2:25:38
Speaker 1: Queens of the Stone Age coming to the Delta Center
2:25:40
Speaker 1: next May. If you want a pair of tickets, you'll
2:25:42
Speaker 1: have to answer this trivia question. 877-353-0700. How many touchdowns
2:25:52
Speaker 1: has Bird Ficklin accounted for for the University of Utah
2:25:56
Speaker 1: this season? He's been a little bit quiet the last
2:25:58
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. I could see Bird kind of bursting
2:26:00
Speaker 1: back onto the scene against BYU this and he's a
2:26:04
Speaker 1: bit of an X factor when we compare these quarterbacks,
2:26:07
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of similarities, there's some differences, but
2:26:10
Speaker 1: the BYU quarterback room doesn't have this accessory piece like
2:26:15
Speaker 1: Utah does, where Bird Ficklin could jump off the page
2:26:19
Speaker 1: and potentially create a game changer. How many touchdowns has
2:26:23
Speaker 1: Bird Ficklin accounted for for the University of Utah heading
2:26:26
Speaker 1: into this game against BYU? We've talked a lot about
2:26:33
Speaker 1: the advocates, utahadvocates.com, 801-355-5550. If you've been in an accident,
2:26:40
Speaker 1: maybe a car accident, a skiing accident, a sledding accident,
2:26:45
Speaker 1: a biking accident, a scooter accident, whatever it is, you
2:26:48
Speaker 1: might have a case. Maybe you've had to miss work
2:26:51
Speaker 1: because of some injury that was not your fault. Let
2:26:54
Speaker 1: the advocates see if you have a case, whether you're
2:26:57
Speaker 1: entitled to some compensation. They have claimed over $ 500 million
2:27:02
Speaker 1: on behalf of their clients. And the best part about
2:27:04
Speaker 1: it is you don't come out of pocket. You don't
2:27:08
Speaker 1: pay for their services up front. You become a partner
2:27:11
Speaker 1: with your people at the Advocates. And when you get paid,
2:27:15
Speaker 1: they get paid. When they get paid, you get paid.
2:27:17
Speaker 1: There is no working against one another. It's all everybody
2:27:22
Speaker 1: pulling on the same rope, trying to get you the
2:27:24
Speaker 1: compensation you deserve. And only then do the Advocates... get
2:27:29
Speaker 1: to capitalize as well. An entire legal team, we're talking
2:27:34
Speaker 1: centuries of combined experience in the entire firm on whatever
2:27:38
Speaker 1: potential injuries. case we might be talking about tell them
2:27:41
Speaker 1: that oc sent you utahadvocates.com or 801-355-5550 and they bring
2:27:47
Speaker 1: you your injury reports every week here on the sean
2:27:51
Speaker 1: o'connell show uh utah has been so fortunate so lucky
2:27:55
Speaker 1: i knock on wood as i say it with the
2:27:57
Speaker 1: injuries and The injury report heading into the Holy War,
2:27:59
Speaker 1: Ike Garcia is the only player who's out, meaning he
2:28:04
Speaker 1: was the only guy who was practicing this week but
2:28:06
Speaker 1: will not play. Obviously, Kelvin Obot and other people who
2:28:09
Speaker 1: have been out are out for the season. They're not
2:28:14
Speaker 1: listed on the injury report. BYU has a significant chunk
2:28:19
Speaker 1: of guys that are questionable. Evan Johnson is doubtful. Roger
2:28:22
Speaker 1: Saliapaga is doubtful.
2:28:25
Speaker 5: L.J.
2:28:25
Speaker 1: Martin has been upgraded to questionable, as has defensive end
2:28:29
Speaker 1: Kendall Wall. And obviously L.J. Martin is the biggest factor there.
2:28:33
Speaker 1: But don't sleep on Evan Johnson, who's still down at doubtful.
2:28:37
Speaker 1: That is the best or second best defensive back for BYU,
2:28:42
Speaker 1: potentially missing the Holy War. If you're Creed Whittemore, if
2:28:46
Speaker 1: you're Devin Dampier, if you're Braden Pagan, if you're anyone,
2:28:51
Speaker 1: if you're Ricky Johnson, you have to pay attention to that.
2:28:54
Speaker 1: that creates a matchup advantage for any assortment of Utah
2:28:59
Speaker 1: pass catchers. If Evan Johnson is out and now you've
2:29:03
Speaker 1: got to maybe slide Faletel Satawala or Rader Damuni a
2:29:07
Speaker 1: little bit further to one side to compensate for somebody
2:29:09
Speaker 1: who's not quite as good as Evan Johnson, I mean,
2:29:12
Speaker 1: this changes the dynamic of BYU's defense for Kelly Papinga
2:29:16
Speaker 1: pretty significantly, in my opinion. And if he's doubtful, it's
2:29:20
Speaker 1: a big leap from doubtful on a Friday to doubtful
2:29:23
Speaker 1: playing and active and starting and ready to go on
2:29:26
Speaker 1: a Saturday. LJ Martin, I've said it many times, I
2:29:29
Speaker 1: believe he's going to play. I believe he's going to
2:29:31
Speaker 1: be close to what we think LJ Martin is. I
2:29:35
Speaker 1: think that this is a bit of a sleeper cell
2:29:37
Speaker 1: kind of conspiracy for me. LJ Martin available, at least
2:29:42
Speaker 1: in some regard. Utah with only one person on the
2:29:45
Speaker 1: injury report. And by the way, everyone else in the
2:29:48
Speaker 1: Big 12, it's kind of piling up. Houston has four
2:29:50
Speaker 1: guys on their injury report. That's the second fewest in
2:29:53
Speaker 1: the Big 12 Conference. Now maybe some of that is
2:29:56
Speaker 1: playing things close to the vest and Morgan Scali taking
2:29:59
Speaker 1: after his mentor a little bit in that regard. But
2:30:02
Speaker 1: most importantly, you've got a relatively healthy team getting ready
2:30:06
Speaker 1: to take on BYU in the Holy War tomorrow. We'll
2:30:09
Speaker 1: see you up there at the tailgate pregame. We will
2:30:12
Speaker 1: see you at the game. Public service announcement, be loud,
2:30:16
Speaker 1: be crazy, be intense. Be nice. Kill this BYU fan
2:30:22
Speaker 1: base that's visiting with kindness a little bit. Sure, tease them,
2:30:26
Speaker 1: talk a little bit of trash, but let's keep it classy, Utah,
2:30:32
Speaker 1: and let's celebrate all together on Monday a big Utah
2:30:36
Speaker 1: win and a still undefeated Utah football team. Thanks for listening.
2:30:40
Speaker 1: Stay tuned for The Drive with Spence Checketts. We'll be
2:30:43
Speaker 1: back on Monday at CSPN 700 and 92.1 FM.