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USF vs UTSA Preview + CJ Hicks Interview · 4th AND BULL

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to 4th & Bull. My name is Nick Wise.
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  Speaker 1: being a sponsor of 4th & Bowl. All right, we
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: got a couple things we need to talk about today.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Want to talk about the UTSA matchup on Thursday night.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: We will also talk to CJ Hicks on this show
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: as well. He's going to join us at the end.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: And I want to talk about a couple things that
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: happened today. One involves a parent of a player. I
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: disagree with what this parent did. And I want to
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: talk about Coach Hartline's comments yesterday. Coach Hartline, a little
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: bit of trash talk at the podium. I don't know
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: how I feel about this. I think if we were
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: coming off of a win, I'd feel a little bit
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: differently in what Coach Hartline said. If you missed it,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: took a little bit of a shot at UTSA, said
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: something about they're trying to figure out how loud it
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: is in the stadium or why it's so loud because
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the population isn't very high. Basically, he's insinuating, I don't
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: understand how that building's loud. Nobody goes to their games.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: So UTSA countered that. With in honor of Brian Hartline,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: they're doing a Brian Hartline ticket special for nine dollars.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: You can get into the game and Brian Hartline wore
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: number nine at Ohio State. So they kind of fired back,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: used it as a little marketing scheme. Thought it was
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: smart on their part. Also kind of made them look
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: kind of silly because it makes it look like he's
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: kind of right. And they are desperate to get people
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: in there for nine dollars. But Brian Hartline's comments again,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I don't I don't have a problem with those comments
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: if they were coming off of a win. but they
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: are coming off of a disappointing loss. And the Brian
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Hartline era is not off to a good start. I
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: know this team is 4-1. Record-wise, things look good. When
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: they were 4-0, things looked good. But you knew and
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I knew there were red flags. We've been talking about
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: the red flags for weeks, guys. And those red flags
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: finally came back and bit this team in the ass.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: And so when Hartline takes the podium on a short
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: week with UTSA on a Thursday night, I want you
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: to come out and tell me what you've discovered watching
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: the film that this team on the offensive side of
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the ball needs to do better because we are now
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: going into week six and we have watched the same
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: product five weeks in a row. I mean, outside of
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Delaware state, but you know, and I'm going to take
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: that game out of the equation, but for the four
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: games where you played non FCS programs, this offense has
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: not been very good outside of, really the two drives
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: against Army where they were playing soft coverage. And so
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: you were able to throw it around because Army gave
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: you that. Had Army played press coverage, you probably don't
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: win that game. I thought, I don't want to take
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: any credit away from USF because that was a hell
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: of a catch by Joshua Porter. That was a hell
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: of a throw by MVB. But Army gave that game away. Now, again,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: they got to execute that play. So I don't want
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: to take that away from them. Hartline's also got to
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: have the balls to call that play, which he did.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: So great team win, happy with it. But outside of
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: those two drives, the passing game, it hasn't been good consistently.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: So you need to come out to the press conference
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: and tell us, what are you and Tim Beck going
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: to do differently this week? Not come out and take
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: shots at the opponent. That doesn't need any more bulletin
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  Speaker 1: board material than they already have. You are an underdog
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: in this game. You don't get to enter this game
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  Speaker 1: like you are the coach of Ohio State where you
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: have just a superior talent to your opponent.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: You actually have to coach here, right?
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I always say at Ohio State, no matter who the
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: coach is, and this isn't a rip on Ryan Day,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: I think I could coach that team to 10 wins
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: every single year. They have the best talent in the country,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: and they go up against teams every week where they
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: are the most talented. Brian Harline doesn't have that here.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Brian Harline has to actually coach this team, and we
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: got to find out what kind of coach he is because.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a big name, and when he got hired,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: we were all excited.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: But right now, he is currently disappointing the fan base
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: and not living up to what we expected this year.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: There were two goals coming into this year. One of
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: them's already gone. That goal was to make the college
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: football playoff, and of course, in order to do that,
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: you had to win the American Conference. Now, you could
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: still win the American Conference. I don't know if I
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: would bet on it. Maybe the defense can get you there.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: But the college football playoff dream, that's over. that's not happening.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: You were not allowed to lose a game on the
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: schedule this year. Now, maybe a miracle happens and somehow
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: you get in, but let's be honest with ourselves. The
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: college football playoff isn't happening. So I don't need you
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: to come out and make comments about another team's fan
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: base not showing up or making jokes about the opponent
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: because right now the joke is the offense.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Fix it.
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  Speaker 1: Every week you come out there and you tell us
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: you know there's red flags, and every week we watch
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: the same product.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Make it stop.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Whatever these red flags are, whatever these problems are, make
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: them stop. Whatever is preventing this team from starting off
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: in just super slow, make it stop. I want you
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: to come to the podium. rather than take a shot
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: at the opponent and give them bulletin board material. And again, guys,
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I'm not being soft. I'm not offended. Had they beat
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: temple on Saturday night, he can come out and make
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: that joke, but you just lost to a one in
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: three team at home in front of 36,000 fans, 36,000
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  Speaker 1: fans showed up on a night.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: They could have went to a lightning home opener. They
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: could have went to the raise game.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: They could have went to a rowdies game, or they
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: could have just stayed home and watched all four sporting events,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: but they chose to spend their money. and sit in
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the heat, it was hot and humid, on Saturday night
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: and support you. And they wanted to poke their eyes
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: out from what they saw.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: So you don't get to come up and speak like
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: that after a loss to a 1-3 Temple team.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: There are no excuses for that loss. And I told
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: you guys before that game, I had a bad feeling.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: I said, ignore their 1-3 record. And I know I've
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: talked about how you can't lose to a 1-3 team.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: They were better than 1-3.
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: They played better opponents than we've played at USF this year.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: They were kind of battle-tested in a way. We had
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: so many red flags going into that game, but they
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: were covered up by a 4-0 record. Them losing Saturday night,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think it was a shock to many. I
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: think the way they lost was kind of a shock.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: They looked lifeless, especially.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: At the end of the game.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: It appears the offensive coordinator doesn't trust the quarterback. Now,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: this is me speculating. I have no inside information to that.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: But it sure doesn't feel like he trusts Michael Van
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Buren Jr. Calling a run on third and five on
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: the first drive, that one didn't make any sense. They
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: settled for a field goal. You finally teased us as
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: if this team was going to get off to a
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: fast start.
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: Psych.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Third and five run, lose a yard, kick the field goal.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: We don't do anything until the third quarter. There was
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: also another third and five where they ran. Now, they
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: did get it. But then you had.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Second and 13 with two minutes to go in the half.
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: Was it two minutes to go in the half? Or
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: was it two minutes to go in the game? I
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: remember a two-minute warning was coming up.
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: I forget.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: We talked about it on the last podcast. But you
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: ran the ball to set up a third and eight.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Do we not trust the quarterback? Now, Michael Van Buren Jr.,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: he's got his own issues because I don't know if
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: he trusts his offensive line.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: He just looks like a completely different quarterback the last
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: two games. He looks very uncomfortable in the pocket. It's
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: like his first instinct is, I got to get the
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: hell out of here. And Tim Beck's first instinct is,
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: I got to run the ball, which I don't have
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: a problem with. But I do on second and 13
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: with the two-minute warning right around the corner. You set
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: yourself up for third and eight. I got news for you.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Third and long this week, I ain't going to get
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: it done because I could tell you UTSA's game plan.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: They want you to throw the ball. And if they
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: can get you in third and long and they know
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: you're throwing, Well, then again, with this team, you don't
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: know if they're necessarily throwing. But third and eight, third
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: and nine, I expect USF to be throwing. UTSA is
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: going to expect you to be throwing. That's what they
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: want you to do. They want you. They're going to
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: challenge you on Thursday night to beat them through the air.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: And I have no confidence that this offense can beat
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: them through the air. USF's game plan for this game
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: is going to be the ground game. I know some
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: of you are yelling shocker. No, really, that's that's the
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: strength of USF. And that is the weakness of UTSA.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: They got a really good secondary. They're really good against
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: the pass. Even Texas didn't light them up through the air.
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: It is the ground game that is going to have
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: to win this game for USF. And that really goes
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: for Anytime USF is going to play football because we
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: saw the ground game not.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: Be successful the last two weeks.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: I mean, it got going in Bowling Green in the
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: fourth quarter, but really for three quarters, it wasn't successful.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: What did they have a total of 52 passing yards?
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: And then last week passing game wasn't great either. And
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: that's because the running game could never get going. So UTSA,
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: in my opinion, they are going to stack the box
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: and their game plan is going to be, I dare
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: you to throw it. Because they're not good against the run,
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: so they're going to do everything they can to stop it.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I think the game plan, if I'm UTSA, is to
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: make sure DJ Crowder doesn't beat us. That's going to
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: be their message to the team. Let's let Michael Van
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: Buren Jr. and these wide receivers beat us and see
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: if they can. And if you have to get into
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: that style of game where you do have to throw
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: it because you can't run, then you're falling into the trap.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: And just based on what we've seen this year, I
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: don't expect it to be pretty. So that is going
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: to be the key for USF in this one. They're
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: going to have to lean on the run. And I
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: know you guys are bored with the running game.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: I get it.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: That is the identity of this team. That is the
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: strength of this team a majority of the time. And
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: they're going to have to lean on that strength because
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: that is the weakness against UTSA. They give up over
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: 200 yards on the ground. They give up over 400
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: yards per game. And I went back to make sure
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: those numbers weren't inflated because their only loss is to Texas,
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: the number one team in the country. They gave up
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: 407 yards per game. They only gave up 400 at Texas.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: So this is a gettable game for USF. I'm not
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: counting them out by any means. But standing up there
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: and making the jokes you did coming into this game
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: as a 6.5 point, 7.5 point underdog, depending on where
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: you look for your spreads, I need you to tell
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: me things are going to be good. I need you
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: to tell me what you're doing to fix the problems.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: Tell me why this team can't perform until 30 minutes
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: later uh, into the game. You know, that's, that's really
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: what it comes down to is getting off to quicker starts.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: And unfortunately they haven't been able to get off to
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: fast starts. You get off to one of those famous
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: slow starts this weekend and this.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: One could get ugly. Uh, so little, little concern there, but, uh.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, again, the press conference, I just, you got to
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: read the room, man. It just wasn't the week for it.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: But honestly, that wasn't even the worst thing that happened
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: off the field this week. So I'm scrolling through Twitter today.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: And there is a tweet from Brandon. I believe this is,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: I have no reason to believe this isn't real because
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: the profile says father of Bryson Rogers. Brandon Rogers tweeted
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: out pictures of, Bryson Rodgers with hashtag best receiver in
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: the room, hashtag throw him the ball, hashtag Bryson Rodgers.
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: What are we doing?
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: You're a father. You're a father figure. Why would you
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: put your son in that situation? Because now you made
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: it awkward for him. He's going to have to speak
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: on this. It doesn't go unnoticed. The team is going
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: to see this. You essentially called out his wide receiver
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: room by saying he's the best. You kind of called
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: out the quarterback saying throw him the ball. You're kind
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: of calling out the coaching staff and their play calling.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: And I get that.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: And you know what? A lot of fans.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Probably love that. You can't do that as a parent.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Your entire identity is clearly your son, and I love
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: that you support him. I love that your Twitter bio
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: is all about how you're his dad. But you've got
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: to be the father figure in his life and his
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: dad and act like a damn grown-up, man. You cannot
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: be tweeting those kinds of things. This is not high
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: school football. This is not peewee football. And so you
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: made it awkward for your son. He's going to have
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: to talk to the wide receiver. Hey, I'm sorry my
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: dad said those things on Twitter. He shouldn't have done
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: those things. I do apologize. And it won't happen again.
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: Let's see if the tweets are still, let's see if
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: he pulled them down yet. My guess is he probably didn't,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: but let's just, let's just look. I would think that
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Bryson had to have seen these by now.
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: Here we go.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Nope.
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: He didn't.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: He tweeted it. It's been up now for, as of
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: now on when this podcast is being recorded nine, nine, 9.31 a.m.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: this morning, he posted it. I'm recording this podcast just
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: after 7 o'clock at night.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: And, yeah, the fan base doesn't bother. There is one
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: person on here. Not a good look, my man. If
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: you have an issue, take it straight to the staff.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Don't post it publicly. I remember Timmy McClain's dad doing that.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: Look where he ended up. Tell Bryson to get open
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: more often while you're at it. Yeah, look, I think
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: part of it is the wide receivers aren't getting open.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: But to air your frustrations out on social media, and look,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: I've done it before, too. Not to that kind of level,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: but there have been times where I've written things on
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: social media, and I'm like, you know, I probably shouldn't
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: have did that. Some of you guys are familiar with those,
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: but as a parent, man, like, what do you think?
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: That was just stupid.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: So we'll see if he takes that tweet down, but
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: I feel bad for Bryson. He'll have to apologize to
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: his teammates, I'd imagine. UTSA, their defense, really good on
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: third down. Their offense, awful on third down. So if
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: the defense can force them into long third downs, then
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: I expect this game to, for me, for USF to
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: win this football game, it.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: Needs to be a lower scoring game.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: If it's going to be a shootout, well, I don't
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: like USF in a shootout with anybody because I don't
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: really have any faith in the offense being able to
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: produce a shootout, but We have seen them success when
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: they are, you know, they have to score points in
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: a hurry.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: They're able to do it. But again, I kind of
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: credit Army for a lot of that.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: The matchup I'm probably most excited for Thursday night's matchup.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: USF's red zone offense against UTSA's red zone defense. UTSA
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: will give up a lot of yards in between the 20s,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: but they do a pretty good job with their backs
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: against the wall. Kind of like USF's defense. Now, they
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: give up a lot more yards than USF's defense. The
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: defenses really aren't comparable. USF's is much better. Their offense
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: is much better. So it should be a pretty interesting game.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: But that's the matchup I'm looking for. When USF's offense
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: gets into the red zone, what can they do against
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: a really good red zone defense? And for USF to
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: win this game, there's no more settling for field goals.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Let's not get cute in the red zone on third
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and five and run it and lose a yard. But USF,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I think they're going to have to be a little
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: more aggressive. You get to third and five. You get
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: to fourth and one, fourth and two. I think you
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: need to go for it. Having to settle for field goals,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: not going to work against UTSA. Settling for field goals
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: in a slow start by this offense, and this game
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: could get ugly. Remember, we've talked about the slow starts
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: and how this team has to get off to vaster
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: starts once they get into better competition. Well, the better
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: competition has arrived because you were playing competition that was
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: not on your level on Saturday night. The slow start
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: happened again. You had 58 total yards in the first quarter,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: 50 in the second quarter, a total of 98 before
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: finally figuring things out at halftime. Harline and Tim Beck
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: have to figure things out before the game starts. You
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: want to know my biggest worry is it's a short week.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: How much is going to change in a short week?
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: If we are going to see change in this team
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: and how specifically the offense, that change is going to
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: come after this UTSA game. The problem is if you
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: lose this game and the changes don't get made until
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: after this game, it's too late. You're going to have
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: a very disappointed fan base and people are going to
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: be checked out. This team has to get off to
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: a fast start on Thursday or everyone's going to get
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: checked out. You might have a possible raise game depending
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: on what happens in game three. The Buccaneers, who are
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: already checked out, they might have some people's attention too.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: I don't know who made this schedule. We were going
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: to put the Bucs and the Bulls on the same
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: damn night.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Somebody needed to change their schedule. And I can tell
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: you the Bucs weren't going to change theirs. The NFL
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: doesn't change their schedule for nobody, but Really surprised they
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: put this game on a Thursday night. But, yeah, I
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: think UTSA's entire game plan is going to be don't
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: let DJ Crowder beat us. Let's make them throw the
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: ball and see what they can do. And I think
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: if USF has to throw the ball more than 25 times,
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I think you're falling into what UTSA wants you to do.
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: So I think you're going to see a heavy dose
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: of the running game. That's something that.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Brandon Rogers, the father of Bryson, doesn't want to hear,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: but I think that's going to be the game plan
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: this weekend. I do want to show some love to
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: Blue Terra. They are the sponsor of 4th and Bowl.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: We appreciate them. We are going to bring in CJ Hicks.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: CJ Hicks, I talked to him a little bit ago.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: Here's my conversation with CJ. I know it's been a
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: short week.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: You've got a game. What's it been like on the
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: short week?
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: You play a game Saturday, then you've got a turnaround
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Thursday night game. What is the difference between practice on
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: a normal week and practice this week?
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: For the team, really just being mentally locked in. Guys
• 20:33
  Speaker 4: in the NFL have to do the same thing. They
• 20:35
  Speaker 4: just play on Sundays. So that's what the coaches have
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: been harping on. That's what us as leaders have been
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: harping on as well, you know, just learning how to
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: be pros and carrying on that to the game on Thursday.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Speaking of coaches, did you see what Brian Hartline stirred
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: up yesterday in his press conference?
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: I seen something about it this morning, but.
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: Me and the team, we're more focused on the game.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I get that.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting that they replied and they're
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: doing the $ 9 tickets. I mean, definitely going to be
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: a loud environment on Saturday, or I'm sorry, Thursday. I
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: got to get into the habit of calling it Thursday night.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Let's go back to Saturday, though. You guys, you had
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: an opportunity to win that game. Defense played incredible. You
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: guys were really good and really gave this team an
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: opportunity to win. What's it like in the locker room
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: knowing that it wasn't the result that you wanted, but
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: knowing your unit played really good and What was the
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: message from the coaches on Saturday night?
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: From the coaches and the leaders as well. Both sides
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: of the ball, there's things that we need to improve on.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: At the end of the day, they don't score, they
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: don't win. Again, just being pros and going about the
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: situation the correct way, learning from our mistakes, and continuing
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: to focus on the week ahead.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: It sounds like just listening to when Hartline talks, things
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: are going well. Like, are practices, they're going better than,
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: and then sometimes it just doesn't translate to the game.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Is that kind of accurate where everything at practice is
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: kind of going right and then something in the game
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: just kind of changes?
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: I can't speak for the offensive side.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, like defense will be in the right spots, you know,
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: just at times, you know, we have to make the
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: plays when our numbers are called.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: You know, we can't hesitate. We can't flinch, you know.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, you guys have been incredible. Take me through
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: the fumble recovery there in the end zone. That was
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: a big play for you. Just take me through that
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: whole moment of you recovering that ball.
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: Fornberry and Xavier, you know, they made a great hit
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: on the quarterback. He was spinning. I seen he was spinning.
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: I tried to punch the ball out while he was spinning.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: Realized it wasn't there. I heard fumble turn around. The
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: ball was right there.
• 22:48
  Speaker 3: You know, I was blessed with the opportunity to be
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: right there and.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Grab the ball. I, uh, yeah, I thought Fortenberry had
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: a really good game. He had a couple of big
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: hits there. Nice pass breakup at the end. Uh, thought
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: he played well again, a lot of credit to the defense.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: You guys have played really good all year. Um, what
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: is it that you guys do differently? Like even when
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: you guys struggle on defense and give up yards between
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: the twenties, you, you seem to always buckle down in
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: the red zone. Like what is it about you guys
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: when backs are against the wall, uh, situations where you
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: guys need to stop, you guys always come through. What,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: What is it about this defense to where backs are
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: against the wall and you guys seem to always find success?
• 23:27
  Speaker 4: One thing that Coach Aldridge and the defense, we all
• 23:30
  Speaker 4: talk about is, you know, even with the opportunities that
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: we get when they start deep in their own end
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: of the field, just taking advantage of that. You know,
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: like you say, you know, we'll bend but don't break.
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: And that's something that Coach Aldridge says all the time.
• 23:45
  Speaker 4: You know, give us an inch and we'll defend it. Obviously,
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: we still have to get better with that. and, you know,
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: not letting the team get to the red zone. But,
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: you know, our whole job is to make sure that
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: they don't get in the end zone, so that's what
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: we're going to do.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: When you start to prepare for UTSA, are you guys
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: changing up anything at practice, just knowing it's a louder environment?
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: Are you preparing for that, or is it just the
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: same type of practice as usual?
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: It's the same type of practice, you know.
• 24:14
  Speaker 4: Our goal is to treat every game like it's another game,
• 24:16
  Speaker 4: but also stay focused on that and know what comes
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: with that. UTSA, they have a lot of great players.
• 24:22
  Speaker 4: It's a great school as well. Just making the most
• 24:30
  Speaker 4: of the plays that we get, offense and defense.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Do you prefer going up against an offense that moves
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: slower or tempo? Does it make a difference to you?
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Not necessarily.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: At the end of the day, when you're on that
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: field and that ball's down, you've got to play football
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: no matter if it's two minutes. Like you said, if
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: the team's known for going tempo or if they're trying
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: to slow it down, you have to buckle down.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: And do your job.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Um, you come over from, uh, from Ohio state. How
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: are you enjoying Tampa? A difference from Tampa and Columbus?
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: Uh, I love Tampa.
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: I have nothing but love for Columbus, but, um, I
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: love Tampa. Um, I love South Florida.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: It's great.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: With, uh, UTSA coming up. What's, what's kind of the
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: mindset of you guys to get over Saturday? Is it
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: easy to get over something like that and kind of
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: move on? I know you guys have, uh, What is it,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: like a 12-hour rule where whether you win or lose,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: you can kind of be in that moment for 12 hours,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: and then you've got to get on to the next week?
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so after practice the next day, you know, you've
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: got to focus. You've got to move on. There's nothing
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: you can do about the past.
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: There's nothing you can really do about the future, but
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: all you can do is worry about the present and
• 25:40
  Speaker 4: continue to grow and get 1% better each.
• 25:42
  Speaker 3: And every day.
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'd imagine having a game on a Thursday is
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: probably nice, right? Like you have a redo. You get
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: to make up what happened Saturday. You don't have to
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: wait all the way until Saturday to do it all
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: over again. You get to do it on this Thursday night.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: The offense in practice this week, how have they looked? Look,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: DJ Crowder, obviously just a beast of a running back,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: and I know that you guys will probably lean on
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: him this weekend. Thursday, I keep calling it this weekend.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: But how's the passing game looking in practice? That's, I think,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: what all the fans are. Every fan wants everyone to
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: sling it around. And I've been trying to tell the
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: people that watch this show, like, they want to be
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: a running team. But they all have questions on the
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: passing game. Just how has the passing game looked from
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: a defensive perspective at practice this week?
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: You know, we really haven't been around the offense that much.
• 26:31
  Speaker 4: You know, that's really how it is throughout the week.
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: You know, offense focused on offense, defense focused on defense. Usually,
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: you know, we'll go against each other. showing each other
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: the looks that we're going to use in the game.
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: But this week, because of the game being on Thursday,
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: you know, we've just been separating and just building our
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: game plan and keeping the routine things routine.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: What about Saturday when you guys aren't playing? What is
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: CJ Hicks going to be doing?
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Watching football.
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, you're going to be watching football?
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: I remember when we were at Bulls Fest and we
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: talked to you, I asked Cartline that question too.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: I said, October 10th.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: You guys will be coming off of that Thursday game.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: Are you going to watch college football? And he said, no,
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be watching film.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: And I felt like that's a heartline answer, but this
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: is a very heartline answer. You got any, you got
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: any good heartline stories? I ask all the guys this question.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to get a heartline story. Cause when I
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: asked him at Bulls Fest for a good story on,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: on a couple of players, he said, we don't have
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: time for any good stories, but now I know that
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: you guys have been together for a long time. There's
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: gotta be a good heartline moment or, Something he has
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: said that has made you laugh in the locker room.
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: Harlan in general, just a very funny guy. You know,
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: when it's time to be serious, he's very serious, but
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: you know, he's still young and he still goes about everything.
• 27:50
  Speaker 4: Like he's still playing the game. You know, he tried
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: to translate that to the team. So I really necessarily
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: don't have a story about him.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: It's just like the great head coach, great guy, great leader. Yeah.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, you've known him for a while.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: You come over from Ohio state with them and, There
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: was something that you said to me at Bulls Fest
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: that made me realize he was going to be a
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: head coach. You talked about your relationship with him at
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Ohio State, but he was the offensive coordinator.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: You were on defense.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: I always found that interesting when you told me that because,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: especially like you just said, at practice the offense does
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: their thing and the defense does their thing. What was
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: that relationship like at Ohio State, and is it the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: same with you at USF too?
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: A hundred percent, you know, as far as like just
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: walking in the hallways, talking to guys, just picking each
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: other's brains and things like that. You know, it helps
• 28:46
  Speaker 4: a player and obviously, you know, it helps a coach
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: as well. But it was the same thing at Ohio State.
• 28:52
  Speaker 4: Coach Hartline, obviously, you know, he puts his own spin
• 28:56
  Speaker 4: on things, but he learned a lot there and he's
• 28:59
  Speaker 4: definitely translating it to.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: Things that we can use down here.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: Awesome, man. Well, good luck to you guys.
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: Rooting for you Thursday night against UTSA. Anything you want
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: to say to Bulls Nation before I let you go
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: and get on out of here?
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: We love you. We appreciate you.
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: We're going to give it our all on Thursday, and
• 29:18
  Speaker 4: we're going to give it 110% to do our job and.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: Walk away with that W.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you, CJ. Thank you for your time today,
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: and we'll talk again soon. Good luck Thursday night, all right?
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: Thank you. I appreciate you.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: Fourth and Bull.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Is presented by Blue Terra, a Florida-based bull run environmental
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: restoration and resiliency company. Winner of two USF Fast 56 Awards,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: Blue Terra Restores Natural Life. habitats and protects our communities
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: against severe storms. Blue Terra flips water bodies from algae-dominated
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: to crystal clear and can install patented wave attenuation devices
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: along beaches and causeways to reverse erosions and protect infrastructure
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: from storm surge and flooding. For more information about Blue Terra,
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: visit their website at bluetera.com. dot U S all right.
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you guys so much for watching the podcast today.
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: I heart radio, Spotify, Apple podcasts, where you can hear
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: the audio version of the show. Uh, you can also
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: subscribe on YouTube at fourth and bull podcast.
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: Uh, if you are listening on the audio only version,
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: make sure you.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Subscribe on YouTube and don't forget to share this with
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: a bulls nation. Let them know this podcast exists. Uh,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: let them know I am covering USF. Uh, we got
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: to start to grow this following. We kind of stopped
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: right around like 775. I think we're at subscribers, which
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: is fantastic, but I would love to get over 800
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: by the end of the week. So like, share, subscribe,
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: do whatever you got to do. Rate this thing five
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: stars if that's the thing on podcast. Do whatever you
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: got to do to spread the word. I appreciate you
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: guys watching this. Enjoy the game Thursday night, and I'll
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: try to get– I don't even want to promise when
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: the next podcast will get out, but I'll try to
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: get one out pretty quick after the game. I always
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: promise you guys that, and I never deliver. But I
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: will– in a perfect world, I'd love to get one
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: out on Friday. We'll see if that happens. But enjoy
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: the game Thursday, and we will talk again soon.
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: Go Bulls.