Latest / Zone 1150 - Chip Howard's SportsTalk / July 21, 2026 (Hour 2)

Transcript

July 21, 2026 (Hour 2) · Zone 1150 - Chip Howard's SportsTalk

0:15
Speaker 1: Now you know, I.
0:19
Speaker 2: See you know not Y the.
1:04
Speaker 3: You're home for Eggie football, Heggie basketball and Geggie Baseball.
1:08
Speaker 4: He's the Zone eleven AM and ninety three point seven FL.
1:11
Speaker 5: This is Kayzy Anny Holley Station Brian.
1:14
Speaker 6: Check out the original DJ designs at David Gardner's Jewelers
1:18
Speaker 6: nine to one one University Drive in front of audio video.
1:21
Speaker 7: Chip Howard Sports Talk here on the Zone eleven fifty AM,
1:25
Speaker 7: ninety three point seven FM. Caleb Rapley here filling in
1:28
Speaker 7: for Chip Howard. Part of the summer edition of this
1:31
Speaker 7: show is Chip going off and enjoying his summer vacation,
1:35
Speaker 7: and you get to hear the rotating cast of characters
1:39
Speaker 7: of guest hosts. And today you're hearing a lot of
1:41
Speaker 7: Or This week you're hearing a lot of me yesterday
1:45
Speaker 7: with Rusty, today hopefully a little later with Riley.
1:49
Speaker 8: And then on Thursday I'll be hosting as well.
1:52
Speaker 7: But in this segment, we're going to hear from the
1:56
Speaker 7: new head coach of the Auburn Tigers, Alex Golish. And
2:03
Speaker 7: I didn't know this until I started doing some research
2:06
Speaker 7: for this segment. Alex Golish was born Alexi Golish in Moscow,
2:13
Speaker 7: Russia in nineteen eighty four, and then when he was
2:18
Speaker 7: seven years old, his family fled the Soviet Union as
2:22
Speaker 7: it was dissolving and moved to Brooklyn, New York. He
2:26
Speaker 7: did not speak English when he moved to Brooklyn at
2:29
Speaker 7: seven years old. They then moved to Dublin, Ohio. He
2:33
Speaker 7: discovered football was a three year letter winner on the
2:36
Speaker 7: football team at Dublin Skioto High School in Ohio, and
2:41
Speaker 7: then he immediately after graduating high school pretty much began
2:44
Speaker 7: his coaching career. He was an assistant worked with defensive
2:47
Speaker 7: line at Westerville Central High School in Ohio. That football
2:51
Speaker 7: program was in its first year at the time, and
2:55
Speaker 7: he was then hired as a special assistant.
2:58
Speaker 8: At Ohio State in two thousand and five.
3:01
Speaker 7: Made his way up through the ranks a lot of
3:02
Speaker 7: different schools as an assistant, mostly a tight ends coach.
3:07
Speaker 7: He started He was a tight ends coach at Toledo
3:10
Speaker 7: for a couple of years and then Illinois. Eventually made
3:14
Speaker 7: his way to Tennessee in twenty twenty one, where he
3:17
Speaker 7: was the offensive coordinator and tight ends coach. Had that
3:20
Speaker 7: job for two years. A lot of offensive success for
3:24
Speaker 7: Tennessee under Golish's leadership and then in twenty twenty two,
3:29
Speaker 7: he was hired to coach the South Florida Bulls in
3:32
Speaker 7: the American Athletic Conference.
3:35
Speaker 8: He was there for three.
3:36
Speaker 7: Years, won two bowl games twenty three twenty four, went
3:41
Speaker 7: seven and six both years, and then this past season
3:43
Speaker 7: they went nine and three and was then hired by
3:48
Speaker 7: Auburn that was announced November thirtieth of twenty twenty five,
3:52
Speaker 7: so he has had a full offseason under his belt
3:56
Speaker 7: with Auburn.
3:57
Speaker 8: But a really cool story. It's not this is the typical.
4:03
Speaker 7: Not the typical guy that you would see a school
4:06
Speaker 7: like Auburn higher. He's not the normal SEC head coach.
4:09
Speaker 7: But it's a really really cool story. I'm very happy
4:12
Speaker 7: for Alex, very interested to see what he does at
4:17
Speaker 7: an SEC program like Auburn that's seen a lot of
4:20
Speaker 7: success and seen a lot of down years as well.
4:23
Speaker 7: So definitely one of those programs that can go either way,
4:26
Speaker 7: but excited to see what they do under coach Golish.
4:30
Speaker 7: And here's what he had to say at SEC Media
4:33
Speaker 7: Days this morning.
4:35
Speaker 2: Hi coach, good morning, ap STEADUM and VP. As we
4:38
Speaker 2: see it, coach, can you tell our audience why you
4:41
Speaker 2: selected these three players to bring to SEC media days,
4:44
Speaker 2: and you can make a few comments about them.
4:46
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
4:48
Speaker 9: You know, we talk about identity and and everything that
4:53
Speaker 9: I want this program to be and everything that we represent.
4:57
Speaker 1: There could have been a bunch of guys that we picked.
5:01
Speaker 1: These three guys.
5:04
Speaker 9: Represent every single day, This identity that I talk about
5:08
Speaker 9: represent the standards that we live every single day.
5:11
Speaker 1: Start with Champ.
5:12
Speaker 9: Anthony Champ is a young man that has overcome about
5:17
Speaker 9: as much as anybody in our program, A young man
5:20
Speaker 9: that came from junior college, came in want a job,
5:24
Speaker 9: was a captain, and has had two seasons get cut
5:28
Speaker 9: short by a broken leg and then a broken leg.
5:31
Speaker 9: And a young man since the day I got there,
5:34
Speaker 9: has one stood on the table for being at Auburn
5:38
Speaker 9: leading the right way, bringing others with him on both
5:41
Speaker 9: sides of the ball. On top of being a high
5:44
Speaker 9: end football player that can play all five spots in
5:46
Speaker 9: the back end and has said over and over again,
5:48
Speaker 9: coaches find a way to get me on the field,
5:50
Speaker 9: and I'll do everything in my power to help Auburn
5:52
Speaker 9: win football games.
5:54
Speaker 1: Inspirational in every way.
5:55
Speaker 9: He's the first guy I see every morning when I
5:56
Speaker 9: walk in the building rehabbing to get right.
5:59
Speaker 1: He's finally cleared. He's ready to rock and roll.
6:02
Speaker 9: He's a guy that in spring when he couldn't go, literally,
6:05
Speaker 9: I'd have to pull him off the field because he's
6:07
Speaker 9: out there coaching his tailoff and champ that represents everything
6:10
Speaker 9: you want an Auburn man to be, overcoming adversity, and
6:13
Speaker 9: I just absolutely.
6:14
Speaker 1: Can't wait for him to have the year that he
6:16
Speaker 1: deserves to have.
6:18
Speaker 9: Alex McPherson our kicker and is the only specialist here
6:23
Speaker 9: at SEC media Day, as it got pointed out to me.
6:25
Speaker 9: And Alex is another young man that has had an
6:28
Speaker 9: incredibly successful career at Auburn as an Alabama kid that
6:32
Speaker 9: grew up dreaming of playing at Auburn. Another young man
6:35
Speaker 9: since the day I got there, said coach, I just
6:36
Speaker 9: want to do everything in my power to go win
6:39
Speaker 9: at Auburn. And a young man who's twenty twenty four
6:43
Speaker 9: year got cut short. His story's been highly publicized talk
6:47
Speaker 9: about overcoming adversity, really shouldn't be playing football and continues
6:53
Speaker 9: to fight through to be one of the best kickers
6:56
Speaker 9: in the history of Auburn, but at the same time
7:00
Speaker 9: time represents everything you want an Auburn man to be.
7:03
Speaker 9: He's a young man that in winter workouts, talk to
7:06
Speaker 9: the trainers, our doctors.
7:09
Speaker 1: I told his position coach, listen.
7:12
Speaker 9: Like this winter workout thing, like we're this is about
7:14
Speaker 9: to be as grueling as anything that these guys have
7:16
Speaker 9: ever gone through. I need Alex to make field goals. Like,
7:20
Speaker 9: let's kind of have him go over there work out
7:24
Speaker 9: kind of on his own. I went up to Alex,
7:25
Speaker 9: I said, listen, dude, like you're not going to go
7:28
Speaker 9: through this. And you should have seen the look on
7:30
Speaker 9: Alex's face. He's like, I'm not a kicker. I play
7:33
Speaker 9: football here. And as late as yesterday morning at seven
7:37
Speaker 9: am when he lifted with the developmental group, he's out
7:40
Speaker 9: there running with the skill guys.
7:43
Speaker 1: This is a kicker that we need to make field goals.
7:45
Speaker 9: Refuses to do anything other than what everybody else is doing.
7:50
Speaker 9: You talk about our identity physically and mentally, tough leader.
7:56
Speaker 9: His process is elite and what he does and how
7:59
Speaker 9: he does it almost a ninety percent field goal guy
8:02
Speaker 9: in his career. Here is another guy that I'm so
8:05
Speaker 9: excited about watching his senior year and seeing him help
8:09
Speaker 9: us win football games because of the way that he's
8:12
Speaker 9: bought in and his process and identity of our football program.
8:16
Speaker 9: Alex McPherson as an Auburn man as they come, and
8:19
Speaker 9: you talk about Byron Brown, and byrom is a young
8:22
Speaker 9: man that I've known since he was an eighteen year
8:26
Speaker 9: old red shirt freshman that has grown through these four
8:30
Speaker 9: years into one of the best football players I've ever
8:34
Speaker 9: been around. Again, you talk about identity, and you talk
8:37
Speaker 9: about process driven, and you talk about player led.
8:42
Speaker 1: Young man that has not only developed as.
8:45
Speaker 9: A player to become a complete quarterback, but a guy
8:48
Speaker 9: that has developed as a leader. And I've always said
8:52
Speaker 9: this and have been fortunate over the last ten years
8:55
Speaker 9: to be around some special quarterbacks. When your quarterback can
9:00
Speaker 9: be one of the toughest guys on the team, could
9:03
Speaker 9: be one of the hardest workers on the team, could
9:05
Speaker 9: have the most elite process on the team on top
9:08
Speaker 9: of being one of the best leaders on the team.
9:12
Speaker 9: When it driven by that quarterback, by the guy that
9:16
Speaker 9: touches the ball every single snap, and both the offense
9:19
Speaker 9: and the defensive guys can point to him and say
9:22
Speaker 9: that's who we follow. You can do something special. And
9:26
Speaker 9: Byron Brown represents everything that's right about Auburn football and
9:30
Speaker 9: the identity that we're building. And a guy that went
9:35
Speaker 9: into the portal after last season and you talk about
9:39
Speaker 9: a couple of days where you sit there and you cringe, like, man,
9:43
Speaker 9: everybody in the country is going after this kid. And
9:45
Speaker 9: the kid that showed up in Auburn and said, man,
9:48
Speaker 9: what do we got to do to go win? Makes
9:52
Speaker 9: obviously me feel good. Gives me a level of confidence
9:55
Speaker 9: going into the season that were led by that guy
9:59
Speaker 9: and a guy that's worked extremely hard to embrace the
10:02
Speaker 9: guys that were already at Auburn, the guys that.
10:04
Speaker 1: Transferred in.
10:06
Speaker 9: Just everything you could ever want in a young man
10:09
Speaker 9: and a quarterback.
10:10
Speaker 1: Both physically and off the field.
10:14
Speaker 9: That's why these three guys, all seniors, all representing what
10:19
Speaker 9: we want our identity to be, and three guys that
10:22
Speaker 9: by the time they get done, hopefully in late January,
10:25
Speaker 9: that are going to be Auburn men for life, that
10:27
Speaker 9: represent everything that's right about the Auburn family.
10:30
Speaker 5: Okay, we're going to stay in the center.
10:34
Speaker 4: Michael Gibdon's War Report Auburn coach, Bringing your quarterback gives
10:38
Speaker 4: you a jump start on implementing the types of things
10:41
Speaker 4: you're going to want to do offensively. But at the
10:43
Speaker 4: end of the day, if at the end of the season,
10:46
Speaker 4: we're talking about Byron Brown is one of the best
10:48
Speaker 4: quarterbacks in the country. What things have to happen between
10:52
Speaker 4: now and then to help make that a reality for
10:54
Speaker 4: Byron and help Auburn achieve their goals on the field
10:57
Speaker 4: this season.
10:58
Speaker 9: Yeah, well, Brown is one of the best quarterbacks in
11:01
Speaker 9: the country and he's shown that over the years. What's
11:05
Speaker 9: got to happen for Byram is he's just got to
11:07
Speaker 9: continue to be him every single day and he what
11:12
Speaker 9: gives him confidence is everything that we've preached from day one.
11:17
Speaker 9: It's your daily process. It's how you come in that building.
11:20
Speaker 9: It's how you treat people. It's how you take care
11:22
Speaker 9: of your body. It's how you show up to work.
11:26
Speaker 9: It's truly how your locker looks, how you approach getting
11:31
Speaker 9: on the field, off the field, how you communicate on
11:33
Speaker 9: the sideline on top of how you actually work when
11:37
Speaker 9: it's time to go to work.
11:39
Speaker 1: And Byron's just got to be him.
11:42
Speaker 9: The confidence that he's going to be the best version
11:43
Speaker 9: of him every single day should give confidence to everybody
11:47
Speaker 9: around him. Players, coaches, support staff, and ultimately, if he's
11:51
Speaker 9: the best version of him every single day, we'll get
11:54
Speaker 9: to where we got to get to on the field.
11:56
Speaker 5: Hitch, We'll go over here to our left hand, Sidne
11:59
Speaker 5: and you're out.
12:00
Speaker 10: Hey, coach, this is Reagan scart of Inside Arkansas. At Tennessee,
12:04
Speaker 10: your offense became known for creating explosive plays. Now that
12:08
Speaker 10: you're at Auburn, what's the biggest key to bringing that
12:11
Speaker 10: same level of sess to production there?
12:15
Speaker 9: Yeah, Reagan, I think offensive football is about finding finding
12:20
Speaker 9: matchups in space, and we choose to do it really
12:24
Speaker 9: really quickly. As we've evolved offensively, and as we have
12:29
Speaker 9: to continue to evolve offensively, We've got to use these
12:33
Speaker 9: next three weeks once we get into camp to truly
12:36
Speaker 9: figure out who are our playmakers, put them in the
12:39
Speaker 9: best positions to create the best matchups, and do it
12:43
Speaker 9: really really fast, and we continue to do that. We've
12:48
Speaker 9: got the right staff to figure it out. We've got
12:52
Speaker 9: a bunch of guys that are familiar with the system.
12:56
Speaker 9: We've got a bunch of guys that we brought in
12:58
Speaker 9: that are getting famili with the system. But we need
13:01
Speaker 9: to use those three weeks to truly identify formationally how
13:06
Speaker 9: we do that, which guys can help because we want
13:09
Speaker 9: to use as many as as can help us, and
13:12
Speaker 9: then getting them in space. And that's in the run game, man,
13:14
Speaker 9: the past game. For us, everything starts with the ability
13:17
Speaker 9: to run the football and it sets up everything else.
13:20
Speaker 9: But it's the players in the right formations to then
13:26
Speaker 9: be able to create explosives because the matchups in the
13:28
Speaker 9: space allows you to do. So it's on us to
13:31
Speaker 9: get put them in the right positions.
13:32
Speaker 1: It's on the guys to go execute at a high clip.
13:35
Speaker 9: And we're going to need every single day of those
13:37
Speaker 9: three weeks of camp before we start getting ready for
13:39
Speaker 9: Baylor to be able to identify that and then detail
13:42
Speaker 9: it out.
13:43
Speaker 5: I guess we're going to go to the middle section
13:45
Speaker 5: over on our right hand side.
13:49
Speaker 8: Hi, Olivia Eyes.
13:50
Speaker 11: Now, were WCJB Gainesville in a conference that has so
13:54
Speaker 11: many new faces this season. You're one of a few
13:57
Speaker 11: taking that American to SEC pipeline and can you speak
14:01
Speaker 11: a little bit more on that relationship with John Summraw
14:04
Speaker 11: and a rematch that'll be all SEC this year?
14:07
Speaker 9: Yeah, Olivia, you know John, John and I obviously competed
14:11
Speaker 9: against each other for for a couple of years in
14:16
Speaker 9: the American got to know John Well. I respect how
14:20
Speaker 9: he works, I respect his approach. I think works as
14:25
Speaker 9: hard as anybody. Players believe in him, which is what
14:31
Speaker 9: you can see when you turn the film on when
14:33
Speaker 9: you play play against them. But I think smart, tough, gritty,
14:37
Speaker 9: and that's what his teams are, That's what he's always
14:40
Speaker 9: been as a coach. Got a ton of respect for him.
14:44
Speaker 9: We've got a long ways before we get to that
14:46
Speaker 9: Week three matchup, but boy, it'll be fun at Jordan
14:49
Speaker 9: Hare week three Saturday night.
14:52
Speaker 5: Okay, we'll be done in front here.
14:53
Speaker 12: Second roun Hey coach Darryl Dapprich, locked on Auburn Professional
14:59
Speaker 12: Football Focus, put out a stat that other than West Virginia,
15:02
Speaker 12: your teams go faster than anybody in the country as
15:05
Speaker 12: far as running your offense. What does that conversation look
15:08
Speaker 12: like with DJ Dirkin and how maybe defensively he has
15:12
Speaker 12: to adjust in a tone for.
15:13
Speaker 9: That, Derek, that's a great question. You know, I think
15:18
Speaker 9: what's fascinating about college football and specifically our league. You
15:23
Speaker 9: look at our schedule, are at a conference and then
15:27
Speaker 9: and then certainly in the sec half of our schedule,
15:31
Speaker 9: you're playing teams that are at least going into the
15:33
Speaker 9: season that are playing with a high level of tempo.
15:39
Speaker 9: The goal has never been to be the fastest team
15:41
Speaker 9: in the country or top anything. The goal is to
15:45
Speaker 9: play as efficiently and quickly as you can while executing
15:49
Speaker 9: within a lead level of detail. So for our defensive staff,
15:55
Speaker 9: it's it's what you want to get ready. It's way
15:58
Speaker 9: easier to get ready for a tempo offense and then
16:02
Speaker 9: be able to slow it down where you've got a
16:03
Speaker 9: little bit more time to get lined up, identify things, communicate,
16:08
Speaker 9: then the other way around where you're playing against a
16:11
Speaker 9: slow down offense, and then when it's time to play
16:13
Speaker 9: an up tempo offense, now you've got to change how
16:15
Speaker 9: you practice, or you got to change how a scout
16:18
Speaker 9: team or multiple scout teams have got to operate. So
16:22
Speaker 9: for our defense to be able to go play against
16:24
Speaker 9: our offense every single every single spring practice, every single
16:29
Speaker 9: fall camp practice, and then the ability to wind it
16:32
Speaker 9: back when you have to, I think is way easier
16:34
Speaker 9: than the inverse of that. And so it's been it's
16:37
Speaker 9: been really good for our defense. Again, it's going to
16:39
Speaker 9: be six games at least as of right now going
16:42
Speaker 9: in where that's the prep that we need defensively, and
16:47
Speaker 9: so for Dirk and that defensive staff, it's the best
16:51
Speaker 9: thing I think that you could possibly have is being
16:53
Speaker 9: able to see that in practice every single day and
16:55
Speaker 9: having answers because it is you call it different, you
16:59
Speaker 9: practice it different. So to be able to have answers
17:02
Speaker 9: ahead of time going into the season is absolutely huge.
17:05
Speaker 5: Hich we'll go in front of me about three rows
17:07
Speaker 5: back on the.
17:08
Speaker 13: I want to coach with and Clark from Todd one
17:10
Speaker 13: hundred point nine. Coming into your first season, what would
17:12
Speaker 13: you say is the Alex Golish definition of success this year?
17:17
Speaker 13: Is it a certain win number? Is it beating your
17:19
Speaker 13: rivals in Alabama and Georgia? Is it making the College
17:22
Speaker 13: Football Playoff? What is your set goal or definition of
17:27
Speaker 13: success going into twenty twenty six.
17:29
Speaker 9: So I don't set goals. I've always thought that that's
17:34
Speaker 9: like a little bit like New Year's resolutions. They usually
17:38
Speaker 9: work for a little bit and then you kind of
17:40
Speaker 9: keep it moving. I set standards. We set standards as
17:45
Speaker 9: a program. Our standard is to be the best version
17:49
Speaker 9: of us every single day. The standard when I got
17:53
Speaker 9: to Auburn was to get as good as we possibly can,
17:57
Speaker 9: as fast as we can. How do we do that
18:00
Speaker 9: by our daily process, by how we attack every single day,
18:04
Speaker 9: by the standards within that program that, like I talked
18:08
Speaker 9: about earlier, that as they become upheld by our players
18:12
Speaker 9: and it becomes player driven, then those standards become reality,
18:16
Speaker 9: become a way of life every single day within the program.
18:23
Speaker 9: I think a successful year one, as I mentioned earlier,
18:26
Speaker 9: is if we can leave your one and have a
18:30
Speaker 9: foundation of who we are, our identity, proof of concept offensively, defensively,
18:38
Speaker 9: so we can continue to recruit to that identity. Right now,
18:43
Speaker 9: we've recruited extremely well. It's a huge credit to our staff,
18:46
Speaker 9: huge credit to our recruiting staff, scouting staff, personnel staff,
18:49
Speaker 9: full time staff, everybody involved. We're sitting with a top
18:52
Speaker 9: ten class in the country, with zero proof of concept,
18:56
Speaker 9: with a year behind a majority of our league. Now,
19:01
Speaker 9: if you can show proof of concept and lay a
19:04
Speaker 9: foundation for what Auburn football looks like moving forward, then
19:08
Speaker 9: you can continue to recruit and just as importantly, really
19:12
Speaker 9: more importantly, retain to that and develop within your program
19:16
Speaker 9: underneath this umbrella of what our identity is you're in,
19:20
Speaker 9: you're out. That's how you build a consistent football program.
19:24
Speaker 9: And so year one, that foundation's got to be laid
19:27
Speaker 9: and what that looks like in win totals will be
19:30
Speaker 9: determined by what we've done the last seven months and
19:33
Speaker 9: what we do in the next six weeks leading up
19:35
Speaker 9: to this week one. The wins will take care of themselves.
19:40
Speaker 9: As long as our identity is what it is. If
19:42
Speaker 9: we are physically and mentally tough, if we are detailed,
19:45
Speaker 9: if we are player led, if we are connected as
19:48
Speaker 9: a team, we win in the margins if we take
19:51
Speaker 9: care of what we have to take care of from
19:53
Speaker 9: a detail standpoint. I love where our talent is. We're
19:57
Speaker 9: plenty talented enough to go win every single game. This
20:00
Speaker 9: is a really really talented league with elite players and
20:03
Speaker 9: elite coaches, and so what wins football games The teams
20:07
Speaker 9: that can play on Saturdays and score one more point
20:10
Speaker 9: than the other because they have a true identity of
20:14
Speaker 9: who they are one will be successful. If we leave
20:17
Speaker 9: it and we know exactly who we are and we've
20:20
Speaker 9: got proof of concept to continue to build.
20:21
Speaker 5: To have one final question in the middle out.
20:26
Speaker 1: Coach RYJ.
20:26
Speaker 14: Pyro, Columbia Missourian. You picked up a couple of big
20:30
Speaker 14: wins last season at USF. This year, you've got a
20:33
Speaker 14: pretty tough road schedule. What makes you confident in your
20:36
Speaker 14: team and your system to go into places like Knoxville
20:41
Speaker 14: and Tuscaloosa to pick up a couple of wins and
20:44
Speaker 14: build that foundation that you're speaking on.
20:48
Speaker 9: Yeah, Ran, what gives you confidence is the ability to
20:54
Speaker 9: go into every single day and continue to perfect our process.
20:59
Speaker 9: I think confidence, real confidence, not fake confidence, but real, authentic,
21:06
Speaker 9: genuine confidence comes from elite level process, day in day out,
21:11
Speaker 9: as coaches, as players, the ability to walk into a
21:16
Speaker 9: Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Saturday night, especially in some of
21:19
Speaker 9: the best environments in the entire country, and know that
21:24
Speaker 9: the amount of work that's been put in is what's
21:26
Speaker 9: prepared me for this moment, and that that's truly the
21:32
Speaker 9: day to day of how we operate. I said going
21:35
Speaker 9: into the summer, we can't waste the day. The confidence
21:38
Speaker 9: comes from not wasting a day. The confidence comes from
21:41
Speaker 9: knowing that you never cheated your process, and that's individually
21:44
Speaker 9: as players, as coaches, as support staff, day in day out,
21:49
Speaker 9: because you're right to go win in some of the
21:52
Speaker 9: best environments in college football. That's why you want to
21:55
Speaker 9: coach in this league That's why you want to play
21:56
Speaker 9: in this league because of that and the confidence come
22:00
Speaker 9: truly from your day to day process.
22:02
Speaker 5: All right.
22:02
Speaker 7: That was Alex Golish, the head coach of the Auburn Tigers,
22:07
Speaker 7: his first year at the helm for them, coming from USF,
22:12
Speaker 7: and you know, had a really big transfer portal, as
22:16
Speaker 7: most first year coaches do in this era of college football.
22:21
Speaker 7: Brought in thirty nine players and thirteen of those were
22:26
Speaker 7: from USF, which you know that's also again that's usually
22:29
Speaker 7: how it goes. You bring in someone who was a
22:31
Speaker 7: head coach at another school, they usually bring a lot
22:34
Speaker 7: of their players with them.
22:36
Speaker 8: I would say, you know, the biggest name that.
22:40
Speaker 7: That they brought in was Byron Brown, who was his
22:43
Speaker 7: quarterback at USF all three years that Golish coach. Brown
22:48
Speaker 7: was there, pretty much the most decorated quarterback in the
22:55
Speaker 7: USF Bulls history, fifteen program records for them. He was
22:59
Speaker 7: the first player to pass for three thousand yards. Through
23:06
Speaker 7: those three seasons, he went two hundred and fifty two
23:08
Speaker 7: consecutive passes without an interception. He led the nation in
23:14
Speaker 7: total touchdowns with forty two sixty six point three percent
23:18
Speaker 7: of his passes thirty one hundred yards twenty eight touchdowns,
23:21
Speaker 7: also running for one thousand yards and fourteen touchdowns, So
23:24
Speaker 7: an electric player that the Tigers are bringing in. It'll
23:28
Speaker 7: be very interesting to see how that success translates to
23:32
Speaker 7: the SEC. But I think as far as a first
23:36
Speaker 7: year under a new coach goes, Auburn looks to be
23:39
Speaker 7: in a pretty decent spot. It's still, you know, any player,
23:45
Speaker 7: any team that's in the SEC is going to have,
23:48
Speaker 7: you know, one of the highest strength of schedules in
23:52
Speaker 7: the nation. Auburn sits at fifteen, which I think is
23:55
Speaker 7: about middle of the pack as far as the SEC goes,
24:00
Speaker 7: so they're in an interesting spot. We will see what
24:02
Speaker 7: coach Gilish can do over there. In the next segment here,
24:05
Speaker 7: when we come back from break, I'm going to give
24:08
Speaker 7: some of my Aggie football predictions. So if you have
24:11
Speaker 7: any predictions that you want to be heard, be sure
24:14
Speaker 7: to text me and I will react to them and
24:18
Speaker 7: tell you if I agree or disagree. If you want
24:19
Speaker 7: to text in. That's nine seven, nine six nine three
24:22
Speaker 7: eleven point fifty. We'll be back right after this with
24:25
Speaker 7: more sports talk here on the zone.
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27:33
Speaker 7: I'm welcome back to Chip Howard Sports Talk here on
28:02
Speaker 7: the Zone eleven ninety three point seven FM. Caleb Rapley
28:07
Speaker 7: here filling in for Chip hosting for the second day
28:10
Speaker 7: in a row, and the second of three days this week.
28:13
Speaker 7: I'll be back on Thursday tomorrow. I think it's Scott
28:16
Speaker 7: Clinton in and then Friday will be Ryan Riley and myself.
28:22
Speaker 8: But this is the segment that we've all been waiting for.
28:25
Speaker 7: It's Aggie Football predictions, and I think this is a
28:30
Speaker 7: very good time to do it, as Mike Elko and
28:34
Speaker 7: three Aggie players will be speaking at SEC Media Days
28:38
Speaker 7: tomorrow afternoon. The Aggies are the last of the four
28:43
Speaker 7: teams speaking tomorrow. Alabama will lead off, followed by Florida
28:49
Speaker 7: and then Ole Miss and Coach Elko and the Aggies
28:52
Speaker 7: wrap it up in the afternoon. But I just want
28:56
Speaker 7: to go game by game in the schedule here and
29:00
Speaker 7: give some predictions. So this year, expectations are definitely going
29:05
Speaker 7: to be higher. Eleven and two will do that, especially
29:09
Speaker 7: when you win your first eleven games of the season. Now,
29:13
Speaker 7: it did not end the way we wanted it to,
29:15
Speaker 7: there's no doubt about that. Losing to Texas and that's
29:21
Speaker 7: how you end your undefeated season is is rough, and
29:25
Speaker 7: then having a very poor offensive showing.
29:30
Speaker 8: At home in the playoff game losing to Miami not
29:33
Speaker 8: how you want to end it.
29:34
Speaker 7: But it was a lot of progress in year two
29:37
Speaker 7: for Coach Elco and a lot of people will say that,
29:42
Speaker 7: you know, it was the result of a week schedule,
29:44
Speaker 7: and there's something to be said to that point. There
29:49
Speaker 7: were I think two or three teams. Two teams that
29:53
Speaker 7: we played that did not that will not have the
29:55
Speaker 7: same coach this year, or three teams. Sorry, So Auburn,
29:58
Speaker 7: Florida and LSU all have new coach this season and Arkansas,
30:03
Speaker 7: So four teams and I can't count. Apparently there are
30:05
Speaker 7: four teams that we will be playing that we played
30:08
Speaker 7: in twenty twenty five that will have a new coach
30:10
Speaker 7: this year. So, I mean that's a pretty big That
30:13
Speaker 7: says a lot about how tough the schedule was. Auburn, Florida, Arkansas,
30:18
Speaker 7: LSU won all of those games, and then the road
30:24
Speaker 7: game that was supposed to be tough in SEC play anyway,
30:27
Speaker 7: was Missouri. They ended up not being all they were
30:29
Speaker 7: cracked up to be, but that also had a lot
30:31
Speaker 7: to do with Brady Cook going down and they had
30:33
Speaker 7: to turn to a true freshman quarterback in the game
30:36
Speaker 7: that we played against them. It was it all really
30:41
Speaker 7: worked out for us. After that win over Notre Dame
30:45
Speaker 7: on the road early in the season, everything just kind
30:48
Speaker 7: of went our way. Even when we were down thirty
30:51
Speaker 7: to three at halftime against South Carolina, we found a
30:54
Speaker 7: way to come back twenty eight unanswered points Arkansas on
30:58
Speaker 7: the road.
30:59
Speaker 8: That looked like those.
31:00
Speaker 7: Games that was going to be the typical Aggie choke,
31:04
Speaker 7: and we we held onto it. So I do think
31:08
Speaker 7: that things are different now under Elco. And you know,
31:12
Speaker 7: you lost to Texas for the second year in a row.
31:15
Speaker 7: That's not good, especially when we were eleven a zero
31:18
Speaker 7: at the time and they were I think eight and three,
31:22
Speaker 7: So we had a chance to, you know, knock them
31:25
Speaker 7: down to eight and four. Would have been really big
31:29
Speaker 7: for the rivalry, and but we couldn't get it done.
31:32
Speaker 7: And that's how it goes sometimes in early stages of
31:36
Speaker 7: a program. But this year I think is definitely going
31:40
Speaker 7: to say a lot about our trajectory. We have a
31:43
Speaker 7: much tougher schedule. Number thirteen in the nation, which I
31:50
Speaker 7: think is probably sixth in the SEC somewhere around that.
31:56
Speaker 7: Everybody in the SEC has a very tough schedule. The
31:59
Speaker 7: lowest rank schedule of any SEC team according to Bill
32:03
Speaker 7: Connolly's SP plus projections. By the way, that's where I'm
32:07
Speaker 7: pulling these numbers from is Georgia with twenty five, which
32:11
Speaker 7: makes sense because they don't have to play themselves and they're,
32:14
Speaker 7: you know, the number four team in the nation according
32:17
Speaker 7: to sp plus, So obviously their strength schedule is going
32:19
Speaker 7: to be a little bit lower than some of the
32:22
Speaker 7: teams that are ranked lower, like for example, Arkansas, who
32:26
Speaker 7: is the number forty six team in the sp plus rankings,
32:29
Speaker 7: fourteenth in the SEC, but they have the number two
32:32
Speaker 7: strength of schedule. The Aggies, like I mentioned, thirteenth in
32:37
Speaker 7: strength of schedule. They are third in the SEC, ninth
32:40
Speaker 7: overall according to sp plus. And I'm not saying sp
32:43
Speaker 7: plus the end all be all, it's just, you know,
32:46
Speaker 7: it's a good tool to use to get a general
32:48
Speaker 7: idea of where some of these teams are at. And
32:51
Speaker 7: it's really hard to project preseason before you see these
32:55
Speaker 7: teams play. A lot of them bring back a lot
32:58
Speaker 7: of returning production. Texas A and M six and the
33:01
Speaker 7: SEC in returning production fifteenth in the nation, and it's
33:05
Speaker 7: pretty even offensive defense both a little over sixty percent
33:09
Speaker 7: returning production.
33:11
Speaker 8: So that's a pretty good place.
33:12
Speaker 5: To be in.
33:13
Speaker 7: And I think that the transfer portal we did really
33:16
Speaker 7: well in bringing in Isaiah Horton. I think guys like Ashton,
33:21
Speaker 7: Bethel Roman and Morian Morrow having another year, having a
33:25
Speaker 7: year of development and playing time under their belts, is
33:30
Speaker 7: going to do wonders for them. So I think our
33:32
Speaker 7: skill positions on offense are definitely going to be very strong.
33:36
Speaker 7: Running back room is very deep, wide receiver room is
33:39
Speaker 7: very deep. Those are not question marks at all in
33:42
Speaker 7: my opinion. Biggest question mark is the offensive line. I
33:46
Speaker 7: think lost four of the five starters, so that is
33:50
Speaker 7: going to be that's going to be really big. We
33:52
Speaker 7: brought in some transfers, some new recruits that on paper
33:57
Speaker 7: look pretty good, but they don't play the games on paper,
34:01
Speaker 7: and offensive line especially, it's hard to project players that
34:05
Speaker 7: haven't played in this system how they're going to do.
34:09
Speaker 7: So that's gonna be something that determines how far we go.
34:13
Speaker 7: But let's dive into the schedule here, kicking off with
34:17
Speaker 7: Missouri State Week one at home, six pm September fifth.
34:23
Speaker 7: We're about I think forty five days away. Obviously, that's
34:28
Speaker 7: going to be a win. And you hate to say
34:30
Speaker 7: obviously because you don't want to have an app state
34:32
Speaker 7: situation again. But in this era of Texas A and
34:36
Speaker 7: M football, this game should not even be a question
34:40
Speaker 7: and it's not.
34:40
Speaker 8: So that's going to be a win.
34:42
Speaker 7: Missouri State, you know, a solid team from Conference USA,
34:45
Speaker 7: but just obviously not on the same level. Week two
34:48
Speaker 7: at home again, eleven AM game, the early kick against
34:51
Speaker 7: Arizona State from the Big Twelve. The sun Devils, the
34:54
Speaker 7: solid year last year, eight and five, six and three
34:57
Speaker 7: in the Big Twelve, ended their season with a thirty
35:00
Speaker 7: nine to forty two loss in the Sun Bowl to
35:02
Speaker 7: Duke and Arizona State's solid. Don't get me wrong, They're
35:07
Speaker 7: they're a pretty good team, but again, they're not one
35:11
Speaker 7: of the teams that I'm really worried about on our
35:14
Speaker 7: schedule this year. Week three against Kentucky. That's the first
35:21
Speaker 7: SEC game, and I think it's pretty fortunate that our
35:24
Speaker 7: first SEC game is against Kentucky. That's a team that's
35:26
Speaker 7: in their first year under new head coach Will Stein.
35:31
Speaker 7: They went five and seven last year, but it's, you know,
35:33
Speaker 7: a whole different it's a completely different team than it
35:36
Speaker 7: was a year ago. But it should not be a
35:39
Speaker 7: problem for the Aggies. I think that they will start
35:41
Speaker 7: three and oh, we'll start SEC play one and oh,
35:45
Speaker 7: and this is where we get to our first game
35:48
Speaker 7: that I have circled. So of the twelve games that
35:50
Speaker 7: we play this year, I have five down as games
35:54
Speaker 7: that we could lose. I think that there are seven
35:58
Speaker 7: games on here that are are should be absolute lock
36:03
Speaker 7: it down wins. So that's kind of the floor for
36:05
Speaker 7: me for this team is seven and five. The five
36:09
Speaker 7: games that I could see losses happening at LSU Week
36:14
Speaker 7: four on the road September twenty sixth, that's the game
36:17
Speaker 7: that we're about to talk about. October twenty fourth at Alabama,
36:23
Speaker 7: at home against Tennessee, November fourteenth, on the road at
36:28
Speaker 7: Oklahoma November twenty first, and finally the home game against
36:33
Speaker 7: tu at the end of the season Friday, November twenty seventh.
36:38
Speaker 7: So you end the season with the toughest stretch of
36:40
Speaker 7: games that you're going to have for sure. But the
36:43
Speaker 7: first of those five games that I have circled against
36:46
Speaker 7: LSU on the road Lane Kiffen year one, I've seen
36:49
Speaker 7: a lot of people say that LSU is playoff or bust,
36:55
Speaker 7: and I think that's pretty crazy in year one under
36:59
Speaker 7: a new coach. But when you bring in Lane Kiffin,
37:02
Speaker 7: the pretty much one of the biggest names in the sport,
37:06
Speaker 7: that is where the expectation is going to be. Can
37:09
Speaker 7: the Aggies go into Baton Rouge back to back years
37:13
Speaker 7: and get the job done. I say, yes, I don't
37:16
Speaker 7: think that. I think getting LSU early is definitely a
37:19
Speaker 7: big benefit. I don't think that they're going to have
37:22
Speaker 7: time to adjust.
37:25
Speaker 8: Quite yet.
37:27
Speaker 7: That again, this is week four that we're talking about.
37:30
Speaker 7: I don't think they're going to be ready for a
37:31
Speaker 7: Mike Elko defense. I think that they will be a
37:34
Speaker 7: very good team this year. Don't get me wrong. They
37:36
Speaker 7: are projected in a lot of metrics ahead of us
37:41
Speaker 7: or right around us. But I don't I really don't
37:44
Speaker 7: think that they're they're gonna be ready for us, and
37:46
Speaker 7: I'm very glad that we get to play them so early.
37:49
Speaker 7: So I'm gonna mark that down as a win. First
37:52
Speaker 7: road game of the year. We go to baton Rouge,
37:54
Speaker 7: get it done. The week after that October third, taking
37:59
Speaker 7: on Arkansas, another team under a new head coach, Ryan Silverfield,
38:03
Speaker 7: coming over from Memphis, And this is one of those
38:07
Speaker 7: games that's it's not an auto win. There's no auto
38:10
Speaker 7: wins in the SEC. Any of these teams could beat you,
38:13
Speaker 7: but it's a team that, in my opinion, it would
38:15
Speaker 7: be pretty much unacceptable if we lost. So marking that
38:19
Speaker 7: down is a win. So starting off five and oh
38:22
Speaker 7: it's very strong. Going into our second road game of
38:25
Speaker 7: the season October tenth, another early kick. It's either eleven
38:30
Speaker 7: o'clock or noon hasn't been announced yet. At Missouri, Missouri
38:34
Speaker 7: the number twenty one team in FPI and they are
38:38
Speaker 7: the number nineteen team in SP plus.
38:41
Speaker 8: So very solid.
38:45
Speaker 7: Eli Drinkwitz, he's been there a while now. I don't
38:49
Speaker 7: know exactly what the years are for him, but he's
38:52
Speaker 7: been there a while and they are always a solid team.
38:57
Speaker 7: We have beat them back to back years. Now we'll
38:59
Speaker 7: see if we can make it three in a row.
39:01
Speaker 7: Missouri's our permanent rival. Now, for those of you who
39:03
Speaker 7: didn't know, with this new nine game conference schedule, they
39:06
Speaker 7: set permanent rivals for each team, three of them and
39:09
Speaker 7: we ended up with Texas, LSU, and Missouri, which is
39:13
Speaker 7: very interesting. But that's old news. You don't want to
39:16
Speaker 7: hear about that. But we will be playing Missouri every year.
39:19
Speaker 7: Can we beat them three years in a row? Yes
39:21
Speaker 7: we can. We showed that we can go to Columbia
39:24
Speaker 7: Missouri and get the job done last year. Granted they
39:28
Speaker 7: had a backup quarterback or maybe a third string quarterback
39:31
Speaker 7: in that game. But I think that we will go
39:35
Speaker 7: in there and get that done. Missouri is one of
39:37
Speaker 7: the lower rated teams as far as returning production, goes
39:40
Speaker 7: twelfth in the SEC, seventieth in the nation, only bringing
39:45
Speaker 7: back forty three percent of returning production on defense. I
39:47
Speaker 7: think Marcel Reid will feast against the Tigers. Mark that
39:52
Speaker 7: down as a win as well. And then October seventeenth
39:56
Speaker 7: is our FCS game against the Citadel at home at noon,
40:01
Speaker 7: and again auto win. That's honestly, the Citadel is one
40:05
Speaker 7: of those games. If you lose an FCS school as
40:08
Speaker 7: an SEC team, that's a kind of game that can
40:11
Speaker 7: get your coach fired. But I'm not worried about that
40:13
Speaker 7: at all obviously. So I have as starting seven and oh,
40:17
Speaker 7: and again I could see us losing to an LSU,
40:21
Speaker 7: It's possible, But in that seven game stretch, it's very
40:25
Speaker 7: clearly the easier half of the schedule. You have to
40:29
Speaker 7: win at least six of those games. If you go
40:32
Speaker 7: any worse than six and one to start this season,
40:35
Speaker 7: I think that you're going to be in for a
40:36
Speaker 7: rough time in the second half of the schedule.
40:38
Speaker 8: I have this going seven to oh. I'm going to
40:41
Speaker 8: get to the second half of the schedule.
40:42
Speaker 7: But first we're going to have the Rangers Report, brought
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Speaker 20: I'm Adam C with your Texas Rangers Reports. A tough
41:22
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41:25
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41:29
Speaker 21: You just returned from holiday vacation and there it is
41:31
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Speaker 20: The Texas Rangers lost the opening game of their home
42:02
Speaker 20: series against the Chicago White Sox last night, final score,
42:06
Speaker 20: ten to three. Jack Peterson would start the game off
42:09
Speaker 20: with his fifth leadoff home run of the season two one.
42:13
Speaker 5: That's him high into the air, deep right field.
42:15
Speaker 19: Montgomery going back, still going back, No more room for him.
42:20
Speaker 1: That room's out of here.
42:21
Speaker 20: Evan Carter would tack on another run in the second inning,
42:25
Speaker 20: but the Rangers collapsed in the fifth, giving up four runs.
42:28
Speaker 20: Jake Berger would cut the lead to two in the
42:31
Speaker 20: seventh inning with the solo home run. However, the wheels
42:35
Speaker 20: fell off in the ninth and they gave up five
42:37
Speaker 20: more runs and couldn't come back. Game two is at
42:41
Speaker 20: seven oh five tonight coverage on the Rangers Sports Network
42:44
Speaker 20: with your Texas Rangers Report I'm Adam Si.
42:48
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Speaker 16: Instead of going on.
43:57
Speaker 7: Welcome back to Ship Howard Sports Talk here on the
43:59
Speaker 7: Zone eleven fifty AM ninety three points seven FM. Caleb
44:03
Speaker 7: Rapley here filling in for Chip in the summer. Tomorrow
44:08
Speaker 7: we will have Scott Clindon in to host, and then
44:11
Speaker 7: I'll be back on Thursday Friday. We'll see or we'll
44:15
Speaker 7: hear rather Ryan Riley and myself so a loaded slate
44:21
Speaker 7: of guest hosts here on Sports Talk for the rest
44:23
Speaker 7: of the week. As we continue to make our way
44:25
Speaker 7: through SEC media days. Day three tomorrow, the Aggies will
44:29
Speaker 7: speak and let's get back into my predictions for the
44:34
Speaker 7: twenty twenty six schedule for Texas A and M football.
44:37
Speaker 7: We've made it through seven weeks so far, seven and zero.
44:42
Speaker 7: Missouri State, Arizona State, Kentucky, LSU, Arkansas, Missouri, the Citadel.
44:47
Speaker 7: We come to week eight, October twenty fourth on the
44:50
Speaker 7: road Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Start time has yet to be announced.
44:55
Speaker 7: It's a flex start, so either in the afternoon or
44:59
Speaker 7: night game in Tuscaloosa, and whichever one of those it
45:03
Speaker 7: is will have a pretty big impact on the environment.
45:07
Speaker 7: Alabama is one of those teams that has a pretty high,
45:12
Speaker 7: high ceiling, low floor situation here and it starts with quarterback.
45:18
Speaker 7: Who is going to win that job? They still haven't announced.
45:21
Speaker 7: I know a lot of people like Kielan Russell, red
45:25
Speaker 7: shirt freshman, was the number two prospects in the twenty
45:29
Speaker 7: twenty five class for coach Kaitlin de Boor, But they
45:32
Speaker 7: also have Austin Mack who has been in that program
45:35
Speaker 7: for a long time. We saw him in the Rose
45:40
Speaker 7: Bowl against Indiana when Ty Simpson went down with a
45:44
Speaker 7: cracked rib. Mac played about a quarter and a half
45:49
Speaker 7: of that game to close it out, and it was
45:51
Speaker 7: pretty much lost when he came in the game. I
45:53
Speaker 7: think they were already down twenty four to zero. I
45:55
Speaker 7: was watching some highlights earlier, and I you know, he
45:59
Speaker 7: looked all right. I mean, you could tell who's a
46:01
Speaker 7: backup quarterback. But he made some really nice plays as well.
46:05
Speaker 7: Threw on the run very well, stepped up in the pocket,
46:08
Speaker 7: and he went eleven to sixteen. But a lot of
46:12
Speaker 7: those completions were checkdowns, so didn't turn the ball over
46:16
Speaker 7: at all. But also wasn't a very high pressure situation
46:19
Speaker 7: being down by twenty four. So I think that it'll
46:23
Speaker 7: be a very interesting quarterback competition whichever one of those
46:26
Speaker 7: two wins the job.
46:27
Speaker 8: I think they're both very talented.
46:30
Speaker 7: But this is one of those situations that if Debor
46:34
Speaker 7: makes the right decision preseason and picks his starter and
46:38
Speaker 7: it was the right guy for the job, I think
46:40
Speaker 7: Alabama will be one of the top teams in the SEC.
46:43
Speaker 8: But it could very well go the other way.
46:46
Speaker 7: And it's not just quarterback Alabama just on an offense
46:49
Speaker 7: in general, they have the lowest returning production of any
46:55
Speaker 7: SEC offense at only thirty five percent. They are fourteenth
47:00
Speaker 7: overall in returning production forty eight percent, which is ninetieth
47:03
Speaker 7: in the nation. So Obama is replacing a lot. Obviously,
47:07
Speaker 7: Tie Simpson a big part of that, but they do
47:09
Speaker 7: bring back Ryan Williams, Ryan Coleman, Williams, now Lotzier Brooks,
47:14
Speaker 7: so still.
47:15
Speaker 8: A very talented receiver room. But who's going to be
47:18
Speaker 8: throwing them the ball?
47:20
Speaker 7: And I personally think that even though it is Kaylin
47:24
Speaker 7: de Borr and not Nick Saban, this is an Alabama
47:26
Speaker 7: team that still went eight and one in SEC play
47:30
Speaker 7: last year, only lost to Georgia and then lost to
47:34
Speaker 7: them again in the conference championship game. But this is
47:40
Speaker 7: an Alabama team that is one of the most talented
47:45
Speaker 7: teams in the nation. They are number eight in the FPI,
47:49
Speaker 7: They're number eighteen in the sp plus. They actually do
47:53
Speaker 7: have or sorry number eleven SPPLUS. SPPLUS has Texas, A
47:57
Speaker 7: and M two spots above Alabama. But I think this
48:01
Speaker 7: is where the Aggies are gonna get their first reality
48:03
Speaker 7: check of the season going on the road to Tescalosa
48:07
Speaker 7: in any season is a big ask. This is where
48:10
Speaker 7: I think we're gonna get our first loss, seven to one.
48:14
Speaker 7: We'll be going into the bye week, which that'll give
48:18
Speaker 7: you know, a lot of time to recover, which is
48:20
Speaker 7: going to be very crucial for the final stretch of
48:23
Speaker 7: this schedule. The final four games I think are some
48:27
Speaker 7: of the toughest games that we're gonna play this year.
48:30
Speaker 7: November seventh, Week ten against South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.
48:38
Speaker 7: Last time we went there, we played them at night
48:41
Speaker 7: and it did not go well. Leveon Moss got hurt,
48:44
Speaker 7: we lost. It took a lot of wind out of
48:46
Speaker 7: our sales from what was a strong start for Coach Elco,
48:51
Speaker 7: and that kind of the season was kind of over
48:53
Speaker 7: at that point. But this year it will be an
48:57
Speaker 7: afternoon game, which is very good news because you do
49:00
Speaker 7: not want to play in Williams. Brice Stadium at night.
49:04
Speaker 7: We go to South Carolina. They still have Leonora Sellers,
49:07
Speaker 7: they have the most returning production of any SEC team,
49:10
Speaker 7: fifth in the nation. I think that they will be
49:14
Speaker 7: a resurgent game Cock squad. But I think that the
49:18
Speaker 7: Aggies will go to Columbia and get it done.
49:21
Speaker 8: Eight and one.
49:22
Speaker 7: Now for the predictions, three games remaining, three of the
49:27
Speaker 7: toughest games remaining, starting at home November fourteenth. Another flex
49:31
Speaker 7: start game could be afternoon or evening against the Tennessee Volunteers.
49:36
Speaker 7: Coach Hypel also not on the hot seat necessarily, but
49:41
Speaker 7: this is a year that could change the trajectory of
49:45
Speaker 7: this program. Can they continue to build or will they
49:49
Speaker 7: start falling off seventh in returning production. But the big
49:53
Speaker 7: question again for Tennessee, just like it is for Alabama,
49:59
Speaker 7: who's the starting quarter back? Retro freshman George McIntyre appeared
50:04
Speaker 7: to be the favorite back in spring ball, but coming
50:07
Speaker 7: out of that five star recruit Phaseyon Brandon showed out.
50:13
Speaker 7: Seems to have the edge according to some experts, but
50:16
Speaker 7: a lot can happen in fall camp. McIntyre is the
50:21
Speaker 7: older quarterback, more experience has been in the program. I
50:26
Speaker 7: know the athletic in particular doesn't really like McIntyre. They
50:30
Speaker 7: have Tennessee their quarterback room listed pretty low in college football.
50:38
Speaker 8: They have them last in the SEC in quarterbacks.
50:41
Speaker 7: So that's going to be another big another team with
50:45
Speaker 7: questions at perhaps the most important position on the field,
50:49
Speaker 7: and I think that by this point in the season
50:51
Speaker 7: November fourteenth, that's week ten, they will have figured it out.
50:55
Speaker 7: But I do not think it's going to matter. I
50:57
Speaker 7: think that Kyle Field will prove once again that it
51:01
Speaker 7: is one of the toughest, if not the toughest place
51:04
Speaker 7: to play in America. And Aggie's will get that one
51:08
Speaker 7: done as well. So that puts us set nine and
51:12
Speaker 7: one and five and one in SEC play. Sorry, that's
51:22
Speaker 7: six and one in SEC play. Week twelve, final road
51:26
Speaker 7: game of the year, November twenty first, it will be
51:29
Speaker 7: an early kick in Norman, as Texas A and M
51:32
Speaker 7: takes on the Oklahoma Sooners.
51:35
Speaker 12: And this is.
51:37
Speaker 7: John Mattier coming back from his injury. It is supposedly
51:41
Speaker 7: fully healed now with that hand injury. He was much
51:44
Speaker 7: worse in the second half of the season after he
51:46
Speaker 7: had that than he was in the first half. Oklahoma
51:51
Speaker 7: started off really strong, looked really good, and then after
51:55
Speaker 7: that injury they kind of lost some steam ended up
51:59
Speaker 7: ten and three, losing in the playoff to Alabama in
52:01
Speaker 7: a rematch of their win against over the Crimson Tide
52:05
Speaker 7: earlier in the year. And if Jeohn Materier is fully
52:09
Speaker 7: healthy and looks like he did early in the season
52:11
Speaker 7: last year. I think that Oklahoma is going to be
52:14
Speaker 7: a force to be reckoned with. And this is where
52:17
Speaker 7: I think the second loss of the season.
52:19
Speaker 8: Is going to come.
52:20
Speaker 7: Going on the road to Oklahoma is going to be
52:24
Speaker 7: where the Aggies take their second loss. In my opinion,
52:28
Speaker 7: so nine to two now going into Week thirteen, the
52:33
Speaker 7: most crucial game of the season, doesn't matter what the
52:35
Speaker 7: record is. Going In November twenty seventh, the Friday after Thanksgiving,
52:41
Speaker 7: six thirty pm in Kyle Field, the Texas Longhorns come
52:46
Speaker 7: to town. The third time that we faced them since
52:49
Speaker 7: they've joined the SEC. Still haven't beat them since they've
52:53
Speaker 7: joined the SEC.
52:55
Speaker 8: This is going to.
52:57
Speaker 7: Be what Determan's a lot of people's opinions on coach Elco.
53:02
Speaker 7: I think he's done a really good job, but if
53:05
Speaker 7: he loses to Texas for the third year in a row,
53:08
Speaker 7: a lot of people are going to start to be
53:09
Speaker 7: out on him. And I'm not one of those people.
53:12
Speaker 7: I think Elco is great. I think he's doing a
53:14
Speaker 7: great job and we are definitely on an upward trajectory.
53:18
Speaker 7: Even if our record goes down a little bit this year.
53:20
Speaker 7: Compared to last season, but Ozer win three against Texas
53:25
Speaker 7: would be a really terrible look. I think that Texas
53:28
Speaker 7: A and M will be jacked up for this game.
53:31
Speaker 7: I know that the students and the fans are going
53:33
Speaker 7: to be jacked up for this game. Kyle Field is
53:35
Speaker 7: going to be rocking even if we're not in the
53:38
Speaker 7: conversation for the playoff. But if we're where I have
53:42
Speaker 7: as projected to be, if we're nine to two coming
53:44
Speaker 7: into this game, Texas will probably be in a similar situation.
53:49
Speaker 7: This game is going to be one of the biggest
53:51
Speaker 7: games of the year in the entire sport. Arch Manning
53:56
Speaker 7: is widely regarded once again as one of the Heisman favorites.
54:00
Speaker 7: Saw how that worked out last year, but he's got
54:02
Speaker 7: another year of experience under his belt. He probably is
54:05
Speaker 7: one of the best quarterbacks in the nation in the SEC.
54:08
Speaker 7: Texas second in the SEC in returning production sixty eight percent.
54:14
Speaker 7: That's sixth in the nation. They are one of the
54:20
Speaker 7: teams in consideration for the number one ranking going into
54:25
Speaker 7: the preseason. But I think the Aggies will get it done.
54:28
Speaker 7: I think we will finish the year ten to two
54:30
Speaker 7: with a big win over the Texas Longhorns, and that
54:34
Speaker 7: will get us into the college football playoff, probably not
54:36
Speaker 7: the SEC championship game, but that's going to clinch their
54:40
Speaker 7: playoff berth for sure, and I'm really excited. I if
54:45
Speaker 7: this does happen, it's going to be a big win
54:47
Speaker 7: for the program, a lot of momentum heading into the postseason.
54:51
Speaker 7: And that's the thing about playing Texas at the end
54:53
Speaker 7: of the year every season. If you win it, it's
54:56
Speaker 7: huge for your momentum, it's huge for morale. But we've
54:59
Speaker 7: seen the last two years you lose it and then
55:03
Speaker 7: you come out flat in your postseason games and it
55:05
Speaker 7: just takes all the wind out of your sales. So
55:07
Speaker 7: it's a very crucial game. Even if we're not in
55:10
Speaker 7: the playoff hunt, but if we are, it's huge to
55:13
Speaker 7: get this win, and I think we will.
55:15
Speaker 8: Even though Texas is widely.
55:17
Speaker 7: Regarded as a better team than almost everybody else in
55:21
Speaker 7: the country, I think that the Aggies will find a
55:23
Speaker 7: way to get this done.
55:24
Speaker 8: It might be ugly, but it doesn't matter. All we
55:27
Speaker 8: need is a win. So my final regular season predictions
55:32
Speaker 8: ten and two, seven and two in the SEC.
55:34
Speaker 7: I think that's probably gonna be about fourth or fifth,
55:37
Speaker 7: and that will get us into the playoff. You could
55:40
Speaker 7: make an argument if we end up nine to three
55:43
Speaker 7: that we still sneak in, but that's where you're starting
55:45
Speaker 7: to cut it close. I know our strength of schedule
55:48
Speaker 7: will be right up there with the best of them,
55:50
Speaker 7: but nine and three is gonna cut it really close.
55:53
Speaker 7: But I have a ten and two getting in the playoff,
55:55
Speaker 7: and we'll see what kind of run we make if
55:58
Speaker 7: that does come to pass. One of the biggest questions
56:00
Speaker 7: Coleman Wiggins in his first year calling plays, ever, how
56:06
Speaker 7: will he handle this wealth of talent that we have
56:09
Speaker 7: at all the skill positions. It's definitely gonna make his
56:13
Speaker 7: job easy as far as talent, But who do you
56:17
Speaker 7: go to? Who's your go to guy? Personally I think
56:20
Speaker 7: it should be Mario Krag, but we will see. There's
56:23
Speaker 7: a lot of questions, including the offensive line. That's a
56:25
Speaker 7: big one. But overall, I think ten and two is
56:31
Speaker 7: where I have the aggies going. Like I said, the
56:34
Speaker 7: floor for this team I think is seven and five
56:37
Speaker 7: and then ceiling. I mean, they could go undefeated. They
56:39
Speaker 7: have the talent to do it. I just think with
56:42
Speaker 7: the absolute gauntlet of an sec schedule that we have
56:45
Speaker 7: now with nine games, that's not super realistic, especially with
56:49
Speaker 7: a brand new offensive line and a lot of returning
56:54
Speaker 7: or a lot of production that we lost on the
56:55
Speaker 7: defensive side.
56:56
Speaker 8: Of the ball as well. I just don't think that's
56:58
Speaker 8: super realistic.
56:59
Speaker 7: But I think this will be a fantastic football team
57:02
Speaker 7: and I'm really looking forward to see them play. And
57:04
Speaker 7: that's about all the time we have on the show today.
57:07
Speaker 7: Thanks for hanging around. We will take one more break
57:11
Speaker 7: and then I'll wrap the show up. You are listening
57:13
Speaker 7: to Chip Howard Sports Talk here on the Zone.