Latest / The Craig Way Show / Offense Searching for Identity, Arch's Development, Texas-Florida Thoughts with CJ Vogel

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Offense Searching for Identity, Arch's Development, Texas-Florida Thoughts with CJ Vogel · The Craig Way Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So joining us now to discuss this matchup, the college
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: football insider covers the Longhorns as well as recruiting over
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: on On Texas Football, CJ Vogel.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to the show. We got a lot to
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: discuss talking about this Red River game. Appreciate the time.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, Jake. Appreciate you having me.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Well, look, you've pointed out all week long in your
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: coverage the way this Texas offense, CJ, has unfortunately taken
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a step backwards over the last few weeks and really
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: this season relative to where they were going back to
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: 2025 and especially back to the way they played offense
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: in 2024.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Sark's been asked this.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: But from what you can see, where would you boil
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: down what's missing right now for the Longhorns on that
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: side of the ball?
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: You know, I wish I knew.
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: And I think Sark laid it out pretty well after
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: the Tennessee game. He said, look, it's not just one issue, right?
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: I can't just point to the right or left guard.
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: I can't just point to the quarterback, right? The running backs,
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: you know, sometimes they hit their holes. Sometimes they don't, right?
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: Sometimes there's a dropped pass. Sometimes they catch it. And
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: he goes, you know, oftentimes it's kind of just a mixture.
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: And I felt like that Oklahoma game for all A
• 1:06
  Speaker 4: large portion of it was a mixture of your offensive
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: line not getting a push, your quarterback not making the read,
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: your quarterback holding onto the football too long, your running
• 1:15
  Speaker 4: backs maybe not hitting the hole where it needed to go.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: It was a mixture of just about everything.
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: And that's where the frustration is because, you know, on
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  Speaker 4: the surface, on paper, very talented football team.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: I don't think anybody in America would dispute that.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: But playing together, playing cohesively, and making sure that you
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: are taking advantage of opportunities when presented, that's something that
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: I think is still a pretty sizable work in progress
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: going into the sixth game of the season.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're going to say, like I talked about
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: earlier with Shahan Jaya Raja from CBS Sports, If you're
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: going to say there's a gap right now between Texas
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: and then the top teams in the SEC, Georgia and Alabama,
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  Speaker 1: I think it boils down to exactly what you talked about.
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  Speaker 1: I also think about those two teams specifically, and I
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: see a clear identity on offense, even though they dragged
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: each other into a defensive scrap in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: This might be a casual take coming from me, but
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  Speaker 1: it feels as though this Texas offense lacks an identity
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: right now.
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  Speaker 3: I don't think it has one, and I don't think
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  Speaker 3: it had one a year ago.
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: In fact, the identity that it had a year ago
• 2:19
  Speaker 4: was this towards the back end of the season as well.
• 2:22
  Speaker 4: Arch Manning would bail you out of sticky situations, right?
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: That was your identity was the quarterback playing hero ball. Well,
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: when the hero isn't always there to clean up the
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: mess or to save the day, well, now you're really
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: looking at it in a sense that you don't have
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: something to fall back on, right? Arch Manning was the
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: guy that dug you out of issues all season long
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: in 2025. Well, He's not running the football the way
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: that he did a year ago, right? He's not necessarily
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: finding and reading the field the way that at times
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: he did in 2025.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Where do you go from here, right?
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  Speaker 4: I still think that the raw talent for Arch Manning
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: is up there with just about any other quarterback in
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: the entire country. But having him play on schedule, having
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: him read the football, having him progress in from his
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: number one and number two to his check down consistently,
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: it's been mucky, right?
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  Speaker 3: It's not been pretty.
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  Speaker 4: And as a result, if you don't have that hero
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  Speaker 4: and you don't have that identity, where do you fall
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  Speaker 4: on if everything else is kind of a mumbled mess?
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: CJ Vogel from On Texas Football joins us. I thought
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: you had a good question for Sark yesterday about whether
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: or not Arch is seeing enough and adjusting enough the
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: way Sark would like him to kind of at the
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. He's faced some pretty good play callers
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: so far, no doubt. And I've talked about the way
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: they've disguised things that can make life difficult for any quarterback.
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  Speaker 2: But this is year two as the starter now for
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Arch Manning.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: Do you still feel like there's a step that needs
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  Speaker 1: to be taken in that part of his game?
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  Speaker 2: I think you were just hinting at your answer.
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, 100%. Well, first and foremost, let's lay it out, right?
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: Brent Venables, Matt Patricia, Jim Knowles, I don't think you'll
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: find three more proven consistent defensive play callers in the
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: entire country, right? That's what Texas has had to play
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: through their first five games in 2019. Obviously, that has
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: aided a lot of the frustrations when it comes to
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: why this offense hasn't clicked.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, those are phenomenal defensive coordinators, right?
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  Speaker 4: They get it. They figure it out. But you're expected
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: to have an offense that can compete with the best
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: of the best, right? And they were able to against
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: Ohio State in that fourth quarter. But the consistency, again,
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: not where it needs to be. But to your point, right,
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  Speaker 4: I think your quarterback in year four of the system,
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  Speaker 4: you know, disregard of what year starter he is, year
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  Speaker 4: four in the system should be able to identify checks
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  Speaker 4: and audibles and go up to the line of scrimmage
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  Speaker 4: and say.
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  Speaker 3: Hold on, what we're about to call or what we.
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: Have called and we're about to run against this look
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  Speaker 4: and against this front and against whatever is in front
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  Speaker 4: of me, it doesn't make sense, right? And specifically, I
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: look at the second and four right before, it was
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  Speaker 4: the second to last drive Texas had in the ball
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  Speaker 4: game against Oklahoma. Second and four coming off of a
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  Speaker 4: six-yard QB designed run out of empty. You're sitting there
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: with Raleigh Brown next to you and seven Oklahoma defenders
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  Speaker 4: in the box with an eighth about six yards out.
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  Speaker 4: That's eight guys at the pre-snap that are in the
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  Speaker 4: box no further away from.
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  Speaker 3: Five yards from the snap. And what do you do?
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: You try to run off tackle. You lose five yards.
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  Speaker 4: So instead of second and four or, you know, you
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: throw an incomplete pass or you audible out of it,
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  Speaker 4: you're now in third and nine. Texas gained seven on
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: a slant to Emmitt Mosley on third down. But now
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  Speaker 4: you're fourth and two. You go to the two-minute timeout.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: You deliberate a little bit. Kicker comes out, misses. Obviously,
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: the game goes the way that it does. But that
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: instance in particular, that's why I sit here and I say,
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: you know, Quinn Ewers located that immediately against Arizona State.
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  Speaker 4: Checked protection. Made sure Matthew Golden knew where to go.
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  Speaker 4: And on fourth and 13, delivered the ball that saved
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: the season a couple of years ago.
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  Speaker 3: I don't see that right now with Arch Manning. And
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  Speaker 3: that's a concern in year four.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I love that breakdown because it's so easy to make
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: fourth and two the story. And I was going to
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: ask you about that as a kind of a defining
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: moment of the game. On one hand, I think Steve
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Sarkeesian is right. If you make that kick, you probably
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: win the game, giving Oklahoma the football on its own
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: 25 or so with a three point lead.
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: Does that make it the right decision?
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: I think you can debate back and forth, but it's
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: the things leading up to it that are just as
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: important that don't get talked about. So I'm really glad
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: you pointed that out. And I'm curious your thoughts on
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: that fourth and two decision.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, um, you know, for Sark, that's a tough
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  Speaker 3: spot to be in.
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  Speaker 4: You know, you take the points, you have the opportunity
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  Speaker 4: to take the lead with two minutes left. You kick it,
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: you make the field goal, you're a hero, you made
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  Speaker 4: the right decision. If you don't, you're a villain because
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: you didn't, right? That's the tough spot. My frustrations, and
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  Speaker 4: this is where I kind of, you know, didn't see
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  Speaker 4: it all the way through with Sark, is fourth and
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  Speaker 4: six and fourth and nine in your own tear against
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: Ohio State, you had no issue. And you converted and
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  Speaker 4: it looked great. You come out in the press conference.
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: You say, yeah, that's.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Why I was hired to be here. Winners win.
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  Speaker 4: We go for it there. That's loser talk if you don't.
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  Speaker 4: And it's like, well, you had an opportunity there to
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  Speaker 4: play for the very last possession on that fourth and two.
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  Speaker 3: And guess what? Even if you don't get it, it's
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  Speaker 3: about seven or eight yards away.
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  Speaker 4: Back up the field than where Ohio State would have
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  Speaker 4: had the football had you missed the 53-yard field goal
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  Speaker 4: in which you did. So that's my frustration there. Again,
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: if he makes the kick, who knows, right? But playing
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: for that final possession, playing for the absolute final drive
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  Speaker 4: is something that I thought would have been the call
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  Speaker 4: given where we were coming out of the Ohio State
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  Speaker 4: game and kind of the brass that we saw from Sarkovan.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: That's where I kind of landed on it as well.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: But I was curious your thoughts there. CJ Vogel from
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: On Texas Football joining us playing Tuesday afternoon quarterback a
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: little bit here on the Longhorns Red River rivalry loss.
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  Speaker 1: One thing that you pointed out over on On Texas
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  Speaker 1: Football was the 10 personnel. where Texas has been able
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: to generate the types of explosive plays that I think
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  Speaker 1: they've been starving for otherwise. Obviously put the pick six
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  Speaker 1: and put it in a separate bin over here as
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  Speaker 1: Arch Manning missed Coleman, wound up throwing a very costly
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  Speaker 1: mistake in that moment. Is this one of those things
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  Speaker 1: where Texas is having success with the 10 personnel because
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  Speaker 1: of how scarcely they're using it? Or could it be
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  Speaker 1: something as simple as wanting to use a little bit more?
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  Speaker 3: I'd like to see it more.
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  Speaker 4: And look, they've had 15 snaps and 10 personnel over
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  Speaker 4: the last two games, Tennessee and Oklahoma, averaging 9.93 yards
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  Speaker 4: per play. That's the most explosive personnel package that Texas
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: has in those two games. You obviously cannot run 10 personnel, 60,
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  Speaker 4: 70% of your snaps. You just can't do it. This
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: isn't Madden. You're not playing NCAA, right? You can't just
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: air the football out. I understand that. But right now
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  Speaker 4: it Again, seven and a half snaps per game. There
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  Speaker 4: is a larger window and opportunity for this personnel package
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  Speaker 4: to get on the field. And more importantly, it's to
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  Speaker 4: get Jermaine Bishop on the field, right? That catch and
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  Speaker 4: 15-yard kind of just turn up the field. No one
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  Speaker 4: else on this field, on this Texas team, has that
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: quickness with the ball in his hands.
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  Speaker 3: And now.
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  Speaker 4: What do you do? Well, I look right now at
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: a struggling running game. How do I get a lighter box? Well,
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  Speaker 4: I spread the football field. If I'm having a struggling
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  Speaker 4: quarterback that doesn't progress and read the field all that well,
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  Speaker 4: what do I do? I try to find areas in
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  Speaker 4: which there's a lot of space for white shirts to
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: be open. Go back and look at 10 personnel. Where
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: were the two touchdowns that arched through out of 10 personnel?
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  Speaker 4: Ryan Wingo over the middle of the field, Jermaine Bishop
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  Speaker 4: coming over the middle of the field, wide open, a
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  Speaker 4: lot of space, could not miss them. made things very easy.
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: And I think 10 personnel just generates that space in
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  Speaker 4: the back end, especially or even when teams drop seven
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  Speaker 4: or eight in coverage.
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  Speaker 1: And against the defense, they come in and just didn't
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: give many of those up, really didn't give any of
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: those up all season coming into this particular matchup.
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  Speaker 2: So I thought that was noteworthy.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: While we have a couple minutes, Texas takes on Florida
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: at DKR Saturday morning. You can hear it right here
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: on AM 1300 The Zone as well as 98.1 FM KVET.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: What particular matchup, whether it's a specific player or a
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: specific group, has your attention here on Tuesday?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, look, Florida, what an interesting run that they've had
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: so far this year, right?
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  Speaker 3: They stomp Ole Miss.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: Myself, including a number of national guys, sat there and said, hey,
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: Florida looks like they could be a top five team.
• 10:20
  Speaker 4: They look like this is the best offense in America.
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: Missouri shut them down, and then you go watch them
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: against South Carolina, and hey, it wasn't much prettier. So
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: where do I look with Florida? Well, obviously, Jaden Ball
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: gets all the praise. Jaden Ball, that running game, is
• 10:35
  Speaker 4: something that you look at and say, well, if you
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: take it away, can Aaron Filo beat you? And I
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: thought that's something that Oklahoma did very well against Texas.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: We're going to drop seven and eight in coverage at
• 10:46
  Speaker 4: times because we don't trust that one, you're going to
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  Speaker 4: stop or that you're going to stick with the run
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: to beat us via the ground.
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: Texas has to take away the run.
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  Speaker 4: I know it's a, it's cliche, but Andrew Ford, that
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: interior hero con new, if you're able to clog lanes
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: and force things East and West to allow a Raheem
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: Biles and Justin Cryer and Grayson Littleton, Jelani McDonald, and
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: all these guys to come screaming downhill.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: I like Texas's chances on that side.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's always a key when you're facing, I think,
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: a Buster Faulkner offense. How many bodies do you have
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: to devote to stop the run? How much can you
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: force the quarterback to beat you? I'm going to be
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: curious to see how that all kind of pans out. Okay,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: quick picks because we've got a loaded slate this week.
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: Indiana or Ohio State?
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: Ohio State. Look, Indiana hasn't looked like the national champions
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: this year. They've been struggling.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Notre Dame goes to Provo, plays BYU.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: Notre Dame. I trust the quarterback.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: Uh-oh, we're agreeing way too much here. Missouri Ole Miss,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: is that going to draw a disagreement? Austin Simmons against
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: his old team, but not his old coach?
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I like that. I actually like Missouri this year.
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: I think the quarterback does just enough, but that running game,
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: I think Drinkowitz is a better coach than Pete Golden.
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: I think his team is more disciplined on both sides
• 12:02
  Speaker 4: of the football than Ole Miss right now.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: That could be a tough spot for Texas if they
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: see Ole Miss coming in here after a loss. That's certainly...
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: a big matchup. CJ, thanks as always for joining us.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: You can follow CJ at CJVogel underscore OTF on X.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: You can follow his coverage all season long when it
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: comes to Texas football.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Appreciate the time.
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Jake. Thanks for having me.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: No problem. That's CJ Vogel talking Longhorn football.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: We'll wrap things up with a couple more college football
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: notes when we get to our final break of the show.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: This is Sports Radio AM 1300 The Zone and the
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app.