Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Zack Moss 9-28-26

Transcript

Zack Moss 9-28-26 · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: You're listening to The Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Hyundai Studio of ESPN 792.1 FM.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell show.
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: Welcome in the Utah football legend, sideline reporter on the
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: official radio broadcast, NFL veteran, Zach Moss, kind enough to
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: join us here on a Monday.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Zach, welcome to the show.
• 0:36
  Speaker 4: How are you? Good. Good. How are you guys doing?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: All right, man.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Another Utah victory four and O on the season. Now,
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: as you are well aware, um, Way Sean Parker went
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: absolutely bananas in this game against Iowa state. And that's
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: after a relatively quiet week against the Aggies of Utah state.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Do you think those two things are related? Was way
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Sean playing with a chip on his shoulder because it
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: was a quiet week against Utah state. Maybe the offense
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: wanted to be a little bit more centered around him
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: because he didn't get as many touches.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Was the quiet week related to the explosive week?
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: Uh, I think he wanted to get going. Um, you know,
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: I think he's a really, you know, obviously he's a
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: big time competitor. Uh, you don't get to this stage, uh,
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: if you're not. So I think he definitely wanted to
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: get going, um, from the competitive standpoint of things and
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: prove who he was. And, you know, I talked about
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: it a little bit on the, on our pregame show,
• 1:34
  Speaker 4: you know, you had a, you had a, you know,
• 1:37
  Speaker 4: another really good running back guy who was leading the
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: big 12 in Russian as well. So you want to,
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: you know, also get going and show what you can
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: do right when you got another guy on the field
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: that's having a pretty good year himself. So, you know,
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: and it was the weather made a thousand percent sense
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: on him to definitely, you know, have the opportunity to
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: have a big day. And he did just that. He
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: answered that call in a great fashion.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Almost 10 yards of carry for, for way Sean in
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: this one. When you're having a day like that, right,
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: when you're, like, first play from scrimmage, you take it
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: all the way to the house, and then, you know,
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: the holes were being opened up successfully. You got to
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: give credit to the offensive line. But, you know, he
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: was also running after contact. He's making guys miss. He
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: was in a flow state, it seemed like, from the
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: very beginning. mere mortals like us, Zach, we, we have
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: not experienced this. You had a few games like this
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: in a Utah uniform, or even in the NFL. Give
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: me a sense of what it feels like when it's all,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: it's just, everything's hitting for you as a running back.
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's definitely a flow state. You know, it's a
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: lot of times you don't even hear the crowd. You know,
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: everything just, just makes sense. It's like, you can do
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: no wrong. And he definitely was in definitely some type
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: of a flow state on Saturday. But, you know, it
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: was great to see him play like that. I think,
• 3:04
  Speaker 4: you know, he obviously has the capabilities to do things
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: like that on a regular day basis. So it was
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: nice for them to, you know, give him the opportunities
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: to do that. I mean, the first game, first play
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: of the game, you know, he breaks a 55-yard touchdown.
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: You know, that just set the tone for what type
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: of day he wanted to have and what his mindset was.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: you know, obviously everything you heard about what he was doing,
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: how he was talking in the post game and things
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: of that nature. So, you know, looking for him to
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: continue to build off this now, right. That's, that's the
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: next step. And you know what he wants to get
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: to playing on Sunday. So, you know, as long as
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: he can build off of that, he's going to have
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: a real good season.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Speaker 2 05,005 Gave you a shout out in the
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: post game on television. I'm sure you you maybe didn't
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: hear that live. Maybe you heard it afterwards. Someone probably
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: sent it to you, but I have not given you
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: space properly to like explain your relationship with way Sean
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: and the, and the fact that, you know, he recognizes
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: how much you helped him encouraging him to stay over
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: the summer and work on his craft and be fully
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: committed to Utah football and things like that. So I
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: want to give you that space, Zach, like what, what
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: does this kid mean to you? What do you, what,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: what sense do you get of what you mean to him?
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: Um, yeah, you know, I heard that he gave me
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: a shout out. I haven't seen it or anything like that,
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: but I heard, um, you know, it's been great to
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: just be back around the program. Uh, first of all,
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: just to be able to, you know, for these guys,
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: I think that was a big thing. And I talked
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: about a lot, um, you know, with the school, when
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: it came to the alumni situation and stuff like that,
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: you know, it was just, you know, I grew up
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: in Miami, so, um, when players, no matter where they're from,
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: when players get to see players from the past that
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: they feel, you know, have been able to have some
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: success or get to where they wanted to get to themselves, right?
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: When they get a chance to see people like that
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: right next to them, you know, it makes that dream
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: feel more realistic. So, you know, I think I've meant
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: that to him for sure from the standpoint of, you know,
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: somebody who's who's done it, who's played at a high
• 5:07
  Speaker 4: level in college and then, you know, obviously playing in
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: the professional league as well on Sundays, right? That's always
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: the goal no matter how you get there and how
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: long you're there or anything like that. So, you know,
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: it's just like a nice little way of being an
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: actual physical representation of somebody who can motivate them. Um,
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: you know, we've had a few words and things of
• 5:28
  Speaker 4: that nature, uh, as well. And, you know, he's hungry.
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: He's a, like I say, he's a real time big
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: competitor and he wants to continue to be really, really good. And,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: you know, etch his name into the program history books
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: in different ways of that nature. You know, I think
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: he's definitely going to do that this year with the
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: touchdowns for sure. He's, he's racking those up and no problem. So,
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: you know, he's one of those guys, like I said,
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: and you know, it's always good to see the tradition
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: of players that we have, especially at that running back position,
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: the team to, you know, want to get better and
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: lead the way.
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: How do you win a bi-week if you're Morgan Scali
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: and this Utah football team?
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: It's going to be interesting for him. Obviously, it's his
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: first bye week. I think the way he's been coaching
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: these guys, I've seen a lot of the training camp.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: They've had a lot of downtime almost. They hadn't practiced
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: traditionally really hard as Utah football usually does in that
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: time of the year. I think it would be something
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: similar to that as well. of how he does things
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: like that. Make sure you guys get rest. You know,
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: they have some, maybe they have any injuries and things
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: like that. Make sure those guys get rest. But, you know,
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: the game is very, very mental. So I think Coach
• 6:48
  Speaker 4: Scali is going to be going to put those guys
• 6:50
  Speaker 4: in a great situation to come back and get ready
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: for that late kickoff that we just got here versus Kansas.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, night game again at Rice Eccles Stadium, mid-October night game,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: which means could be beautiful, could be lovely, could be cold, raining,
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: might even snow because that's just how things are around here.
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: A whiteout for a night game. I don't know how
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: many of those we've had. They announced a whiteout and
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: they announced a night game kind of almost concurrently. So
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: usually they go black when it's after dark, but I
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: guess I'll get on board with a whiteout at a
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: night game.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it got a chance to be really nice. I
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: think it's cool. I think changing it up and doing
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: different things is always important. You got to do that, right?
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: So I like the fact that they're doing the whiteout.
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: I think once the fans get in there and it's
• 7:44
  Speaker 4: dark and there's nothing but just white shirts, white apparel,
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: things of that nature, you guys are going to look good.
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: It's another reason to go out there and play good.
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: All right, on a more serious note, Zach, now that
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: we're four games in, right, it's a sample size that
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: you can really start to infer some things from. Competition
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: is still a question, but how good do you feel
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: about this Utah football team and what they might be
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: able to accomplish this year based on what we have seen?
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: They've looked really nice, even in times where the adversity
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: has sort of reared its ugly head. They've found ways
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: to figure it out. definitely tougher matchups down the road,
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: but four games in, do you feel like this team
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: is ahead of pace on pace, maybe more capable of
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: winning the championship than you initially thought?
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Give me your thoughts.
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: I think they are on pace. I think they are
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: on pace. I think obviously the first three games was
• 8:38
  Speaker 4: hard to tell exactly what type of team they were
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: going to be. But now obviously them being able to
• 8:44
  Speaker 4: play Show, you know, through adversity, right? The play calling
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: showing up in the adversity, right? These guys having a
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: little battle test on the road in a pretty decent environment, honestly,
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: and playing against a school that's, you know, they've been
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: doing some good things as well. They had a three-point
• 9:05
  Speaker 4: loss to Iowa at Iowa, right? So, you know, this
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: team had done a lot of good things so far
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: through the first few weeks themselves. So, you know, I
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: got a lot of confidence coming out of that game of,
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: you know, exactly what they can do, who they can be,
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: and things of that nature. So it was nice to
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: see that. I think, obviously, you know, I think they
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: don't pay just because, you know, you got to get
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: a little deeper into the big 12 season and those
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: types of opponents on a regular basis here coming up. So,
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: you know, but I like where they are. I like
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: what the offense has been going, where they have been
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: and where they get a chance to continue to go.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Zach Moss for another couple of minutes here on the
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: Sean O'Connell show, talking all things at Utah football.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: So pro football focus.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure, you know, how much you lean on
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: these analytics and things like that, but I think they
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: have them graded as the highest ranked secondary in the
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: nation right now for Utah. Top five offensive line in
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: terms of the PFF scores, things like that. This is
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: a top 25 defense, a top 25 offense from just
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: like the meaningful national numbers. When we talk about those
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: units specifically, especially the offensive line, being such a question.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: coming into the year and the way that they have
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: performed so far, so admirably, even while rotating players, you know,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: and they're, again, pro football focus you take with a
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: grain of salt, but to be top five, to be
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: top 10, to be top 25, having replaced all five
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: starters really tells me that Morgan Scali, Jordan Gross and company,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: they've got some things figured out with getting this new
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: group integrated.
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, they've done a great job in, you know,
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: building the culture. These guys, you know, having missed a
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: beat from last year, I think it was really good
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: that he obviously had that chance last year in that
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: bowl game to, you know, kind of these guys to
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: kind of see what type of style he was going
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: to come with and the energy. You know, everyone loves
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: him already, you know, from before he was the head coach.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: These guys have been around him and he had a
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: big part already. of on this team and how this
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: team ran last year before he took over the job
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: um so it's been you know pretty seamless in the
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: sense of how he's been able to continue to get
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: better with these guys and guys have taken so much
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: on when it comes to you know believing in the
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: system and understanding what he wants to get done and
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: things of that nature so you know it's been a
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: perfect marriage of guys who are buying into the system
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: there's not a lot of guys that uh you know
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: he's And, you know, it's kind of new, kind of like,
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: you know, an Iowa State in a sense, right, where
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: you have to build over an entirely new culture. You
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: got 80 new faces, you know, a whole bunch of
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: starters are leaving and things of that nature. A lot
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: of these guys played here last year were big time
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: contributors to that and everything like that. So, you know,
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: they want they know exactly where they want to get to.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: And that's to that big 12 championship game because they
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: have the ability and they have the talent to do that.
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: Bengals with in a close one against the Steelers this
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: last weekend.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: Did you watch this game?
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: Speaker 3 6th, I did watch that game. I did
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: watch that game. It was very good game. You know,
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: great rivalry always. I loved what the bangles did. I
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: loved what the Steelers did. Right. You know, that's always
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: going to be a back and forth game when you
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: get into those divisional games, especially in the AFC North,
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: which is stacking up to be a really, really, really
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: talented division so far.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: So a lot of us were wondering if the Bengals
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: were ever going to figure things out defensively. And this
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: game is not the best example of it, but the
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: defense is a heck of a lot better this year.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Than they've been recently.
• 12:49
  Speaker 3: And now it's like, well, what about the run game?
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: Can they put together a run game that can at
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: least be complimentary for Joe Burrow, who's obviously one of
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: the best pure passers in the game right now?
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: They're making... making any phone calls to Zach Moss?
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Oh no. You know, that team is based off of
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: Joe burrows arm so much that, you know, the run
• 13:13
  Speaker 4: game is really hard to get it going on a
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: consistent level. That's just my opinion. But you know, chase
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: Brown is very, very capable of doing those things, you know,
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: but it's hard to get into the rhythm sometimes when,
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: you know, you have two really, really good, talented outside
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: receivers in Higgins and Chase. So that's really hard to do.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: But I think they definitely got the opportunity to continue
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: to get better. It's only going into week four now,
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: and Chase Brown has done a lot of good things
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: as well. And, you know, usually the last two years,
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: I want to say, if I'm not mistaken, you know,
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: he's kind of gotten going in the back end of
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: the year, right? So, you know, got some time still
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: based off of what the history has shown so far
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: for how that run game kind of gets going for
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: the Bengals.
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: What are the Zach Moss plans for a bye week?
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: You don't have to be on the sidelines this weekend.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Next one, of course, will be a night game, a
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: home game. So what will you do with your bye week?
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: I will be coaching high school football on Friday night,
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: Summit Academy. We play Judge Memorial right down there in
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: Salt Lake, I believe. That's where that location is, if
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: I'm not mistaken. So I'll be doing a little bit
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: of that. And then probably Saturday, catch some of these
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: games that's going on around the country as well. Hopefully
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: some really good games. So that's my plan.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Did you ever play with somebody who was so much
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: of a wild card that you were worried, like a
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: really talented player, but so much of a wild card
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: that you or other leadership on the team or whoever
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: it was felt like you had to do something in
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: order to make sure that they would stay on the field.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: We saw a couple of situations this past weekend. USC
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: had to suspend a linebacker for a dirty hit on
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: Dante Moore.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: Texas... got.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: Penalized for a vulgar gesture on the field, which I
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: don't think is going to lead to anything more significant
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: than that. South Carolina's best pass rusher goes off in
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: the game, punches an Alabama player, and then starts arguing
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: with coaches and things like that. Did you ever have
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: one of these guys on the team that you were like, man,
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: if you could just... not act crazy. We can get
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: some more out of you.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: you know, late head when it comes to just
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: being competitive, right. And we're saying too much and things
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: of that nature, but nothing where, you know, guys are
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: just intentionally being, you know, physical for no apparent reason.
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: Last thing before I let you go, the Utah mammoth
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: season begins this week. Have you jumped on the hockey
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: bandwagon yet?
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: Not yet. Yeah. looking forward to getting to some of
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: those games, but haven't got onto that bandwagon yet, but
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: it looks good for these guys so far. You know,
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: I love to see the new arena, get some more
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: seats and things in there for these guys, stuff like that. So, um,
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: haven't jumped onto that bandwagon yet, but we'll see. Yeah.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: We'll have to get you out to a game or two.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: It's awesome. It's fun. And I think that, you know, you're,
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: you're a sports guy, so you'll get caught up in it.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: Like the rest of us.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: Never know. Zach, you're the man. Appreciate your time. Let's
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: talk again soon.
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: Okay, my man. Appreciate you. Thank you. Have a good week.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: That is Zach Moss, Utah football legend.