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Texas State Preview with Bobcats Broadcasters Cameron Parker and Brant Freeman · The Craig Way Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: She says, what? I said, Texas.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: She says, what?
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: They got big, long roads out there.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: I got a lot of things in Texas. The late,
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: great Chris Ray with his... His song, Texas, which, by
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: the way, used to be the actual network identifier for
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: the stations down the line. They'd be playing this and going,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: you're on line for Texas Longhorns football this afternoon. And
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: it was just on a continuous loop until they got
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: to airtime on that. It is a Yacht Rock Wednesday,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: and it does belong in that category. Okay, toward the
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: end of talking about Texas, of course, the season opener
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: is on Saturday, three days hence.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: As they'll take on the Texas state Bobcats.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: The last time they played, uh, was 1930 when it
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: was Southwest Texas, uh, state teachers college, uh, Texas won
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: that contest 36 to nothing.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: Now, as I mentioned, I always.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Endeavor and have been able to really establish some relationships, uh, with, uh, uh,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: play by play guys for teams that the Longhorns have
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: played through the years and they, and they become good friends.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: And this is, uh, no different today. Um, It is, however,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: a rather unique set of circumstances. And rather me try
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: to explain it, I'll let the play-by-play voices of Texas
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: State spell it out for you. First of all, Brant Freeman,
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: who has worked for the university and has for years
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: and has done their, did the radio play-by-play, then their
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: ESPN Plus, and now back on the radio side as well.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: It's great to see you again, Brant. And I know
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: you're excited about a new football season.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: I really am, Craig.
• 1:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, this is, you know, an exciting time around Texas State,
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: certainly with the way the program has ascended over the
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: past several years, and now being members of the Pac-12 Conference, and,
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: you know, very, very excited to be covering the team
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: here in the 26th season.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Okay, all right. That tells part of the story.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Now, I'm going to let you guys tell the story,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: and I say guys, because you see, for folks who
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: are watching there on YouTube, they would see it. But
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: for those of you listening, the other member of this
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Texas State football broadcast pairing is none other than our
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: own Cameron Parker. And it's a rather unique situation. So, Cam,
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: would you care to explain a little bit about this,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: how this thing is going to work? And I'll get
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: both of your thoughts on this. Because this is not
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: your everyday, run-of-the-mill situation. This guy does the play-by-play, and
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: this guy's the analyst, and this guy's the sideline reporter
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: like most programs, including Texas, have right now.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: So it's a rather unique situation. 100%.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: It's a situation that you might see, I think, in
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: Major League Baseball, in some college baseball teams where you
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: might have an announcer who will call play-by-play for usually
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: the first three innings. or four, and then the analysts
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: will swap chairs, so to speak, and then they're on
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: for innings, you know, four, five, and six, and then
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: back to the play-by-play guy who did the first three
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: innings to close out the broadcasts. Different broadcast teams will
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: handle it differently. The idea came to me, or not
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: came to me, but the idea was proposed to me,
• 3:20
  Speaker 5: I don't know, Brant, probably about, maybe about two or
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: three weeks ago, like, hey, what do you think about
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: working with Brant, but you both do play-by-play? And it's
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: an idea that I, you know, hadn't really heard for
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: in football ever before. But, you know, Craig, I picked
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: your brain and Brant, we talked about it and we
• 3:38
  Speaker 5: came up with, I think, a plan that's going to
• 3:40
  Speaker 5: work very well throughout the season where depending on the game,
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: we'll have one broadcaster do the first and fourth quarter
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: and the other one do the second and third quarter.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: And I think it's a great way for Texas State
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: and for this new broadcast team to kind of get
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: acquainted with the Bobcat community. Obviously, Brant, has been in
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: San Marcos for a long time. They know him very well.
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: But for me to come into the situation as well,
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: I think it's a great way. And, of course, we
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: start tonight with the Coaches Show, our first Coaches Show
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: of the season at Chimney's down in San Marcos. So
• 4:12
  Speaker 5: any Bobcat fans or even Texas fans who are nearby,
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: come out. Six o'clock is the first show. But I'm
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: excited for it, Brent. I'm not sure how... um if
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: you've even seen or heard of any crews like this
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: before but i definitely think we might be the first
• 4:30
  Speaker 5: for for college football yeah.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: And brant before you answer this i want to make
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: sure folks understand this because because cameron's being kind of
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: modest about this the way that i understood it was
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: there there was an opening for the play-by-play broadcaster and
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: an analyst And they had all of these candidates apply
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: for both spots. And in the end, whether it's the
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: university and or Learfield or a combination or however it
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: worked out, the decision was made that the two best
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: broadcasters to come out of all of these candidates were
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: you two guys. And so then they were like, let's
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: just go with our two best broadcasters and let them
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: do it.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Is that kind of the way you understand it?
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's probably a safe assumption, Craig. And,
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: you know, I joke that, you know, as you pointed out,
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: I was already a broadcaster for the football team for
• 5:22
  Speaker 4: a number of years before going over to the TV
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: side and Learfield must have been so impressed with my
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: radio play by play.
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: They wanted me to do it half the time. So, no,
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: but I joke.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: I do want to point out, you know, kind of
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: the circumstances behind all this. So when I moved over
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: to the television side, we then had a new radio
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: broadcast team, Clint Shields, play by play, Jeff Gandy, analyst.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: Jeff was a player in the big 12, um, or
• 5:50
  Speaker 4: back then the Southwest conference with Baylor. He was the
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: Mike linebacker that took over after Mike Singletary. So, um, well, Jeff, uh, uh,
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: is now with Baylor, uh, your good friend, our good friend,
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: John Morris reached out to him. Um, they had an
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: opening for radio analyst and Jeff being a former player,
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: it was a good fit. So he went on to,
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: to Waco and I couldn't be happier for him. I
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: was a part of, Jeff getting into the business, using
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: him for some high school games, and he just continued
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: to get better and better.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: So I'm very happy for Jeff.
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: For Clint, there's a lot of personal issues regarding family,
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: leading to the reason why he had to kind of
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: step away. So definitely a lot of thoughts right now
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: with Clint for he and his family, and that'll be
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: the case about the season. And for me on the
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: TV side, it was really enjoyable over the past seven,
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: eight seasons doing television. But that was with Texas State's
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: ESPN contract partnership with the Sun Belt. And that partnership
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: does not exist with the Pac-12, the linear national networks
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: taking over all of football. And so I was no
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: longer going to be calling football on television. So it
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: made me available once again to do radio. And, you know,
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: the fact that things the way that they happen couldn't
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: be happier than to be jumping back into the booth. And,
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: you know, I've had Cameron actually fill in for me before.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: a Texas state of the television side. I know him
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: through you, Craig. Um, and so I'm looking forward to
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: working with Cameron. I think this is going to be,
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: it's a unique, you know, situation, but I think it's
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: going to be a lot of fun.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Well, and, and just to, to add on to what
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Brant was saying, you know, Jeff Gandy goes to Baylor,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: of course, the tragic passing of JJ Joe, John Morris
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: color analyst, uh, a season ago. So, so Gandy is
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: over there with that. And then, as you mentioned, Clint
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: having to deal with some, uh, family things. And so
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: it opened up both spots on this deal. And as
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: to the rotation, because folks would say, will it work
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: like baseball? Cameron actually asked me, he said, have you
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: ever done a deal? And I said, I actually have.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: One time, this would have been the 1991 1A State
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: Football Championship of Texas. High school game is at Pennington
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Field in Bedford. I got called in at the last
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: moment along with a guy that both of you guys know,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Chuck Kelly, to ask to provide a broadcast back to Crockett,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: the radio station in Crockett, who was doing Oakwood.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Oakwood was playing Memphis.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Well, they had not broadcast Oakwood all season long. They'd
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: done Crockett and a couple other schools. Here's Oakwood in
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: the state championship. They had nobody available to go. It
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: was right before Christmas. And I had a guy from
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: the Crockett radio station contact me and said, would you
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: or would somebody do it? And I said, let me
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: just check, whatever. And so I checked. And so they said,
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: you know, I didn't have an analyst I could work with,
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: but Chuck had done it before. And we said, okay, well,
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: we'll do it. And we said, why don't we just
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: split the play-by-play? And then Chuck said, how are you doing?
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: I said, why don't I just do first and fourth
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: and you do second and third? It worked out great.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: We had a sideline reporter. Everything went really, really well.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: That was my only experience with that.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: So that's what I communicated to Cameron about that.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: And I think a big part of all this is
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: less about who's actually calling the play in the moment.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Because a lot of folks used to tell me that
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: when Bill Schoening and I were doing the games, he said...
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: We didn't, who actually did the play by plays? Well,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Bill did the play by plays. And when you guys
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: had broadcast rapport. And so the conversation worked well. And
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: I think that's going to be the same for both
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: of you guys, because as you mentioned, Brent, you've known
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: Cameron a long time and, and, and you're both professionals.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: And I think this thing will work out fine.
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: You know, um, I think that, uh, you know, the, the,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: the two of us, um, uh, work well together and
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: we haven't been on the air yet but uh you
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: know we cameron and i've had a lot of conversations
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: about this and we're both going in you know um
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: uh with uh you know um open arms uh i
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: had a chance to actually to invite cameron to a
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: um kickoff event for texas state and he had a
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: chance to introduce him to the coaching staff some of
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: the administration, maybe even some of the players. Funny enough,
• 10:02
  Speaker 4: one of our assistant coaches, he and Cameron look exactly alike.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: So they kind of joked about having the same barber.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I can already tell that the chemistry is
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: going to be there. You know, we've been on the
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: same page on a lot of things and You're right.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: It's a unique set of circumstances. But you know what?
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: Like, why not break some barriers here? And maybe this
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: will become a thing. Who knows?
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: So Brant Freeman and Cameron Parker, the play-by-play voices and
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: analyst voices, because they're going to do both. And I've
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: had people say, well, how do you shift from one
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: to the other? Hey, you're looking at the same game.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: So Cameron, I know you're looking at the same game.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: And like you said, one guy actually calls the play,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: but the other guy's seeing what's going on.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: And then he talks about it.
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: And, you know, the who, what, when, and where described
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: by the play-by-play guy. And then the analyst is the why.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: And you tell how it happens, and you go back
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: and redo it all again. He just happened to change
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: out at the next quarter.
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: And honestly, you know, when I was thinking about the
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: idea of I thought about your broadcast booth, you and
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: Roger Wallace, where of course you are the play-by-play broadcaster
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: and Roger Wallace is the analyst, but he wasn't a
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: former player.
• 11:15
  Speaker 6: At least I don't think so. Roger may have played
• 11:17
  Speaker 6: some peewee football.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: No, he didn't.
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: He's done play-by-play, obviously.
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: I think he's filled in for you once on the
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: football side, but of course calls men's and women's basketball,
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: baseball as well. So he's not your He's not your
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: Tony Romo type analyst, right, where he's seeing the game,
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: but he is providing he is providing an analyst role,
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: even though he is on a traditional analyst broadcaster. So,
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: you know, I thought about your guys's broadcast booth and thought, OK,
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: it's not all that.
• 11:45
  Speaker 6: Different from what we're going to end.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Up doing that's correct yeah that's correct that's why I
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: think the thing is going to work fine uh so
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: uh as we as we talk about this matchup now
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: we'll shift to the game here uh Brant let me
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: get you to give kind of an overview of what
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: you're seeing what you've seen in practice for what G.J.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Kinney plans to have on the field on Saturday Well,
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: for those.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: That have followed the program since G.J.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: Kennedy took over, you know, it's been a lot about
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: the offense.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: G.J.
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: Has an offensive background, as we all know. As you know, Craig,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: former Texas high school football quarterback at Gilmer and, you know,
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: went on to play at the University of Tulsa, did
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: spend a little bit of time at the University of
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Texas before going to Tulsa. And so he's carried that
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: along with him throughout his coaching career, just that offensive
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: type of mind and And then one great year in
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: corner word and, and, uh, and then that's translated to
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: Texas state. So, um, and a lot of his pieces
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: from a year ago or back the team, I think, uh,
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: in terms of points scored total offense, second most in
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: program history, the only team that put up more was
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: his first team in 23. Um, And his quarterback a
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: year ago, Brad Jackson, it was the first time since
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: Gigi became the head coach, he was working with the
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: quarterback who didn't have prior experience. Everybody had previously was
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: a ready-made product.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Brad Jackson had to kind of like come into his own.
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: He was a redshirt freshman with very little college playing experience,
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: got a cup of coffee, he's a true freshman.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: But he exploded onto the scene. You've seen the numbers.
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: Top 10 in the country a year ago in a
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: number of major categories, pass efficiency, completion percentage, I think
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: yards per completion, rushing touchdowns, fifth in the nation. So
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: great dual threat quarterback and very young, only a sophomore.
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: His two big pieces are back. I say big, they're,
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: you know, physically small. His receivers are not, you know,
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: the 6'3 Randy Moss type or Terrell Owens or anything
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: like that. You know, more of the Wes Welker types,
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: you know, in both sparks. and Chris Don Jr. So
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: a lot of retention on offense at the major skill positions.
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: Offensive line is going to be a question mark because
• 13:56
  Speaker 4: they lost a lot from a year ago, so we'll
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: see how that pans out. Running back as well, lost
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: a tremendous leader in Lincoln Perry, although he's now back
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: on the coaching staff.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: And defensively, they have a new defensive coordinator.
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: They have some pieces back from a year ago, but
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: also some new guys that are being brought in. So
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: I think offensively they feel good. Defensively, they've got some
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: questions to answer.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Cam, how about your thoughts on the overview of what
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: you see as Brant talked about and the question marks
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: that there are. If this guy comes through, it'll work
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: out really well for those kinds of things.
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: Well, Kenny's been very vocal talking about three consecutive winning
• 14:38
  Speaker 5: seasons at Texas State, probably the three most successful seasons
• 14:41
  Speaker 5: for Texas State on the D1 level. But he said
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: earlier this season that when he took the job, By
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: year four, if you look back at those wins, you'd
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: be like, yeah, maybe we overachieved. But he talked about
• 14:55
  Speaker 5: how now looking at the talent they had and the
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: coaching staff, he wants to do more.
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: He wants to win more.
• 15:00
  Speaker 5: And as they enter this Pac-12 inaugural season for Texas State,
• 15:06
  Speaker 5: they want to be able to take that next step.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: and contend for a conference championship. And it's going to
• 15:11
  Speaker 5: be a very tough conference. Of course, Boise State will
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: be a top 25 team and one of the favorites
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: to get that group of five bid to the college
• 15:19
  Speaker 5: football playoff.
• 15:20
  Speaker 6: But G.J. Kinney and the staff, they're very confident.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: You know, he had his press conference yesterday talking about
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: facing Texas and a lot of local Austin reporters there
• 15:30
  Speaker 5: asking about, you know, what it means to play Texas
• 15:33
  Speaker 5: and what do you think and what would the moment
• 15:35
  Speaker 5: be like for you? And he he said, hey, we're
• 15:37
  Speaker 5: here to win this game. We're not here to walk
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: in the stadium and look at the bright lights and
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: kind of fawn at, oh, the 105,000 people there.
• 15:45
  Speaker 6: They are there to win.
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: And Brent, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I
• 15:49
  Speaker 5: think this is a really good litmus test for Texas
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: State to see, okay, we're facing one of the top
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: teams in the country.
• 15:56
  Speaker 6: How do we stack up?
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: And using that this week's game, no matter the result,
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: where do we need to improve?
• 16:03
  Speaker 6: What are our strengths?
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: What are our weaknesses as they enter a critical Pac-12
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: season in which the staff and the team, they want
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: to be winning and they want to be contending for
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: a conference championship at the end of the season.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: If they're able to compete, take this game into the
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: fourth quarter, maybe even stun a lot of people to
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: win the game, certainly that's going to have them feeling
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: very good going into Pac-12 play. As you pointed out, Cameron,
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: this is going to be a very good conference headline
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: by Boise State. The conference that they left, the Sun Belt,
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: was really good, too. Let's not lose sight of that.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: James Madison was the group of five rep in the
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: playoff this past year.
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: But, yeah, how do they handle this big stage?
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: Not only playing in front of the largest crowd they
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: ever will have played in front of, but also on
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: national TV against a team like Texas, ranked fourth, fifth
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: in the country, depending on the poll that you're looking
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: at right now. There's a lot they can take away
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: from this game. And so they're really relishing the opportunity.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: As you said, they're not going to take the field
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: hoping to keep it close. They're playing with that mentality
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: that they want to win. Certainly it's not the same
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: caliber of opponent, but you go back to G.J. 's
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: very first game at Texas State, Not many people believed
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: in them, and they went into Waco and beat Baylor
• 17:25
  Speaker 4: pretty good.
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: So this is a big opportunity for them, no doubt.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: I want to wrap up by getting both of you
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: guys' thoughts on this new world for Texas State, which,
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: like we said, has been G5-G5. Now it's actually G6
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: since we have the newly reconstituted Pac-12.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: So now that becomes the 6G. And who knows?
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: Maybe the Pac-12 becomes a powerhouse. conference again. And it
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: goes back to power five on down the road. The
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: proof will be in the pudding long-term, I think. But Cam,
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: let me start with you about, you know, how excited
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: are you about the possibility, you know, and going into
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: places like Boise, like San Diego, like Corvallis, Oregon, places
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: like that, new frontiers, certainly for the Bobcats.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: And then we'll get Brant's thoughts on it as well.
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: Well, selfishly, personally, I'm excited because we had to go
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: to San Diego and And October, obviously going to Boise, Idaho,
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: that's going to be a great environment. Corvallis to Oregon State.
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: There's going to be a lot of fun road trips
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: that we'll be able to embark on during Texas State
• 18:31
  Speaker 5: time in the Pac-12. I think you got to credit
• 18:34
  Speaker 5: the administration and the athletic department for positioning themselves in
• 18:38
  Speaker 5: the Pac-12 conference booth. during this ever-changing landscape of college football.
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: Because who knows what it will look like in a
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: year or two? Will the SEC and Big Ten have
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: their own conference down the line? But credit Texas State
• 18:49
  Speaker 5: for putting themselves, I think, in a position to succeed.
• 18:52
  Speaker 5: And from being around the administration a week or so ago,
• 18:56
  Speaker 5: that kickoff bash, everyone talked to me about how much
• 18:59
  Speaker 5: the university has been able to adapt and improve and
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: how far they've come in just a short span, even
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: from 20 years ago, five years ago to where they
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: are now.
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: It's a place where you.
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: Can attend academically, but also athletically play and you're competing
• 19:18
  Speaker 5: for championships. I mean, look at the women's soccer team
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: who knocked off Texas A & M a few weeks ago.
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: They're doing a great job under Coach Holman. So it's
• 19:27
  Speaker 5: a university brand that I don't think it's just here
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: to be here, right? They are here to achieve and
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: win and contend for conference championships.
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: And, Brent, since you toiled and worked so hard in
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: the Sun Belt, I mean, it's nothing against these schools,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: but going to San Diego or even Boise, it's going
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: to be a little bit different than going to Lafayette
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: or Mobile, isn't it? Yeah.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: I agree. No doubt, Craig.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: And as you pointed out, you know, I've been covering
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: Texas State for a few years now. And when I
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: think back to when I first started, you know, being
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: in the Southland Conference, you know, going to places like,
• 20:01
  Speaker 4: you know, Thibodeau, Louisiana and Hammond, Louisiana and You know,
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: and nothing against all those schools, the great college towns.
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: And, you know, they're always great places to visit.
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: But if you told me then that, hey, you know,
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: down the road, you're going to be at the blue turf.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: You're going to be going to Boise and you can
• 20:20
  Speaker 4: be going to Corvallis and San Diego. I wouldn't have
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: believed it. You know, it's a it's a testament to
• 20:26
  Speaker 4: the administration, to the job that G.J.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: Kinney has done.
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: Let's be honest, if football hadn't improved over the last
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: several years, the Pac-12 invitation never comes, even with the
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: success of the other sports. Football had to get better,
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: and it did. And as a result, they had to
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: take advantage of the opportunity. And so to go to
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: places like this and to be a part of something
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: like this is remarkable. And I know we're talking football here,
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: but let's not forget basketball. And you're in the likes
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: of a conference with Gonzaga. San Diego State, who played
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: for the national championship only a few years ago. So baseball,
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: Morgan State, a traditional power that's won national titles. But
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: Texas State, when they were in the Sun Belt, they
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: were winning the Commissioner's Cup year in and year out.
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: I think they won three of the last four they
• 21:15
  Speaker 4: qualified for. And had they qualified last year, they would
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: have won it again. And they want to continue that
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: type of success in the Pac-12, across the board, not
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: just football. not just baseball, but every sport. So this
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: is a really exciting time for us.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: They are the broadcasters, the play-by-play voices of the Texas
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: State Bobcats. Brant Freeman, Cameron Parker, they'll be calling the
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: action for Texas State for Learfield on Saturday afternoon against
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: the Longhorns. Fellas, I appreciate that. I look forward to
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: seeing you in the press box on Saturday, Brant. Yeah,
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: me too, Craig.
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: I understand it's a bit of a different vantage point
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: this year too, so looking forward to that.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Cameron has seen it, so he understands as well.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: All right, we'll continue coming up here on 13 Under
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: the Zone.