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Craig Way talks with Texas kicker Bert Auburn about his 2024 season · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: Kevin Parker filling in for mister Craig Way, who is
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  Speaker 1: down or out east of us in Atlanta, Georgia's Texas
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  Speaker 1: takes on Arizona State in the college football quarterfinal at
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  Speaker 1: the Peach Bowl. Our local coverage begins nine am Wednesday,
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  Speaker 1: Network cover to eleven am kickoff noon Central Time. Texas
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  Speaker 1: and Arizona State winner takes on the winner of Oregon
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  Speaker 1: and Ohio State. I mentioned this we begin this second
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  Speaker 1: hour some notes from Cam Skataboo, the Arizona State leading rusher.
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  Speaker 1: I would say, the second best running back in college football.
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  Speaker 1: If you listen to Craig you mentioned you're Craig say
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  Speaker 1: he believes this is the best running back Texas has
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  Speaker 1: faced all season. Well, he's certainly not lacking any confidence.
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  Speaker 1: He might be the most confident running back that Texas
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  Speaker 1: has faced this season. Talking today at the media availability
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  Speaker 1: at the College Football Hall of Fame, Skataboo said quote,
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  Speaker 1: there's nobody out there that can stop me. Skataboo finished
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  Speaker 1: fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting this season. I was
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  Speaker 1: asked again about facing the number one defense in the
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  Speaker 1: country statistically and the Longhorns and how they plan to
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  Speaker 1: stop them, they say, Sattaboo said quote. They continue to
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  Speaker 1: keep saying that people are going to try and stop me.
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  Speaker 1: There's nobody out there that can stop me. We played
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  Speaker 1: in thirteen games and I've been the target on each one.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm not too worried. We're going to play our
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  Speaker 1: game and playball and see what happens there. If they're
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  Speaker 1: starting hard, there's a reason I have full respect for
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  Speaker 1: them because they understand what they're playing against. And that's
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  Speaker 1: why I love playing games like this, because they constantly
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  Speaker 1: look at me as a threat, and that's something I've
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  Speaker 1: always wanted to be. And if I'm a threat in
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  Speaker 1: the football field against an SEC team that was a
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  Speaker 1: runner up to win their conference, and I think I'm
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  Speaker 1: in a pretty good position. We got bigger plans. There's
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  Speaker 1: still more goals to achieve. A little upset, but not
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  Speaker 1: too worried. When he was asked, When he was not
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  Speaker 1: asked to attend the Heisman ceremony in New York, it's
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  Speaker 1: got to do. The season. Fifteen hundred rushing yards, nineteen touchdowns,
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  Speaker 1: thirty one receptions, over five hundred receiving yards, three touchdowns,
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  Speaker 1: over two thousand yards at scrimmage wise ran for one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy against Arizona or sorry, against Iowa State.
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  Speaker 1: He had two runs where it felt like he broke
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  Speaker 1: maybe seven tackles each. Awful tackling display from Iowa State.
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  Speaker 1: Wrapping up will be key for Texas in this game.
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  Speaker 1: But to say nobody stopped him this year, not sure.
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  Speaker 1: Arizona State has two losses this year, Texas Tech and Cincinnati,
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  Speaker 1: two teams who I do not think kept two world
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  Speaker 1: beater defenses. In those two Losseskattaboo ran for seventy five
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  Speaker 1: yards against Texas Tech ran for sixty. He's had a
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  Speaker 1: couple of games this year. He averaged two point six
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  Speaker 1: yards per rush against Texas State, only sixty two yards now.
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  Speaker 1: He had a couple of touchdowns in those games. Against
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  Speaker 1: Texas Tech. He did have one hundred and seventeen receiving yards,
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  Speaker 1: so he does have that backfield threat to be able
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  Speaker 1: to catch the ball. But to say, you know, he
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  Speaker 1: has not been stopped this year, eh, we'll see now
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  Speaker 1: he is not faced. Is not faced a Texas run
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  Speaker 1: defense like this, and neither has sam Levitt. Sam Levitt
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  Speaker 1: has not faced the Texas pass defense yet this year,
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  Speaker 1: so again and Katy Dillingham to this today. He wants
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  Speaker 1: his guys to be confident, and I agree. I don't
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  Speaker 1: think there's anything wrong with Skottaboo and Levitt saying they
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  Speaker 1: want to prove themselves to be the best quarterback on
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  Speaker 1: the field, or nobody can stop me.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 1: The thing is, though, you gotta be able to back
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  Speaker 1: it up. You gotta be able to back it up
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  Speaker 1: because come Wednesday, if both guys struggle against that game,
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  Speaker 1: they will be asked about a post game and Texas
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  Speaker 1: players are taking note of it. Colin Simmons will repost
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  Speaker 1: it on Instagram of the quote of Sam Levitt saying
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  Speaker 1: he wants to prove he's a better quarterback. They're taking
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  Speaker 1: events to that. Colin Simmons a freshman, quin yours a junior,
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  Speaker 1: and that kind of shows a little insight and how
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  Speaker 1: this team, you know, it is so tight and so close,
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  Speaker 1: and we'll hear soalck talk about the maturity of this team,
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  Speaker 1: but I you know, I think they love to hear
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  Speaker 1: these quotes from Skataboo and from Sam Levitt. And again,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think there's nothing wrong with being confident in
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  Speaker 1: yourself because if you're if Gataboo said, ah, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not the best running back out there, and then
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  Speaker 1: you're worried about his confidence. But to see these two
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  Speaker 1: guys and their confidence, there's nothing wrong with that. But
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  Speaker 1: at the same time, you gotta be ready to back
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  Speaker 1: it up when it comes down to the trenches. From
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  Speaker 1: what I've seen against from Arizona State, I think Texas
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  Speaker 1: will be able to win the battle the line of
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  Speaker 1: scrimmage against Clemson, give up seventy five total rushing yards,
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  Speaker 1: maybe seventy six forty one of those team from one run.
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  Speaker 1: The team from one run, Adam Randall, the receiver, had
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  Speaker 1: a forty one yard rush. So outside of that one rush,
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  Speaker 1: take that away, Clemson only had thirty five rushing yards. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I know Phil Maffa was banged up. No no Jay Haynes,
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  Speaker 1: so they're down their two running backs. But for Arizona State,
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  Speaker 1: remember no Jordan Tyson the number one receiver. So their
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  Speaker 1: number two receiver, by the way, is cam Skataboo, the
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  Speaker 1: number one running back. So if you're PK, there's one guy,
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  Speaker 1: there's one guy. And this goes back to Bill Belichick
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  Speaker 1: and Bill Belichick's philosophy on how the defense teams who
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  Speaker 1: have that one player is you take away that one
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  Speaker 1: guy and you force someone else to beat you. And
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  Speaker 1: a lot of times when the team is heliocentric, like
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  Speaker 1: Arizona State, who relies on one player to carry the
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  Speaker 1: ball and catch the ball, and that guy's taking out
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  Speaker 1: of the equation, what happens the offense falls apart. The
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  Speaker 1: offense is not as efficient and does not execute and
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  Speaker 1: does not do as much damage as they have been
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  Speaker 1: when they're one guy is lining it up. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what we're gonna see from PK defensively on Wednesday. They're
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  Speaker 1: gonna lock in on Cam Skataboo. So to say, you
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  Speaker 1: know he's no one's gonna try and stop them. I
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  Speaker 1: guarantee you Pete Wakowski is going to do everything in
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  Speaker 1: his power defensively to scheme something up to make sure
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  Speaker 1: Cam Skataboo does not beat Texas because the two games
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  Speaker 1: where he did not know there's been a couple games
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  Speaker 1: where he's not rushed for one hundred yards, but there
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  Speaker 1: are two losses this season. Guys, it's when Cam Skataboo
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  Speaker 1: has rushed for less than one hundred yards on the ground,
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  Speaker 1: Texas has not given up a lot of one hundred yard
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  Speaker 1: rushers this season. They've had two games where they were
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  Speaker 1: not great and run defense, and that was Georgia. George
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  Speaker 1: is a completely different animal. Arizona State is not Georgia.
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  Speaker 1: Let's hear some some media availabilities today. Craig Way mentioned
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  Speaker 1: he has sat down with Burt Auburn. We're gonna start
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  Speaker 1: with Bert Auburn, the Texas kicker, the junior who did
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  Speaker 1: say today that he will be back for his senior season.
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  Speaker 1: Or Jeff Banks said so I believe. Let's hear from
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  Speaker 1: Craig Way and Burt Auburn at the Peach Bowl media day.
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  Speaker 2: I'm curious to get your thoughts on what everybody talks
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  Speaker 2: about when you get to this time of the year
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  Speaker 2: and now all these extra added games and stuff like that.
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  Speaker 2: Folks talk about, you know, the toll it takes, but
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  Speaker 2: the excitements and how how have you processed all of that.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, this is this is why you, I guess,
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  Speaker 3: play college football come to Texas is to play these
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  Speaker 3: extra games. So obviously the excitements there definitely, I would
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  Speaker 3: say probably more so other positions toll on on their body.
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  Speaker 3: But we've definitely had lighter practices and and things like that.
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  Speaker 3: But I mean, this is why you come to Texas
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  Speaker 3: to have all this extra excitement.
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  Speaker 2: I've been meaning to ask you about the team work
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  Speaker 2: and the synergy that has gone between you and Michael
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  Speaker 2: and Lance with regard to snap and spot and placement
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  Speaker 2: and everything and the rhythm and the timing of all that.
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  Speaker 2: How how I don't know if intense is the right world,
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  Speaker 2: but how intricate is the process of making sure you
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  Speaker 2: guys are able to repeat it and repeat it and
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  Speaker 2: repeat it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's it's everything. Obviously we're super close
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  Speaker 3: special teams unit, but I guess just walking through the process,
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  Speaker 3: it all starts with Lance having good snap, good laces,
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  Speaker 3: and then you know, if something's a little off, it's
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  Speaker 3: on Kern to make it right, and if Kern doesn't
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  Speaker 3: make it right, it's on me to make it right.
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  Speaker 3: And just we're all a very very close group of guys.
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  Speaker 3: And yeah, it's I guess, super intricate process that not
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  Speaker 3: many people would I guess know about or dig dig
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  Speaker 3: deeper into. But there's a lot to it.
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  Speaker 2: Here's your garden variety indoor outdoor kicking question. Much prefer indoors.
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  Speaker 3: It's comforting knowing you know there's gonna be no wind,
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  Speaker 3: you don't have to worry about the weather, you know,
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  Speaker 3: being cold. I do like kicking on grass. I love
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  Speaker 3: grass fields. I just feel like my cleat digs through
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  Speaker 3: it a little better. But definitely, I mean, I can't
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  Speaker 3: complain of being indoors.
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  Speaker 2: With regard to getting another opportunity in this building. Is
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  Speaker 2: there a familiarity thing that that kicks in when you
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  Speaker 2: would walk in to Mercedes Benz itself to kick knowing
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  Speaker 2: you've already kicked in this building.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll see, we'll see. We practiced there later today.
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  Speaker 3: But I'm sure just flying back here brought back, I
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  Speaker 3: guess memories from a couple of weeks ago, So it's
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  Speaker 3: definitely going to be super familiar. I'm sure we're probably
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  Speaker 3: probably have the same exact locker we did, you know
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  Speaker 3: at the championship game.
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  Speaker 1: So Bert was for six against Georgia in the SEC
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  Speaker 1: Championship game, long of forty two, one of one of
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  Speaker 1: the extra points. He did make the game tying field
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  Speaker 1: goal to end the regulation to send the game in
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  Speaker 1: the overtime. That was a thirty seven yarder he did
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  Speaker 1: have two miss field golds, still missed the fifty one yarder.
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  Speaker 1: I believe he's two on fifty yards or plus this season.
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  Speaker 1: He also missed a forty two yarder in the first half.
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  Speaker 1: I believe from the right hash mark. Outside of forty yards,
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  Speaker 1: Bert has really struggled this season. Inside of forty I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if he has a missed field goal yet.
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  Speaker 1: His twenty twenty three season was fantastic. This year not
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  Speaker 1: having a great year. I believe he's let's see, he
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  Speaker 1: was one of one from what twenty two yards against Clemson,
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  Speaker 1: so I think he was about sixty six percent on
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  Speaker 1: the season. Yeah, sixty eight percent this season, down from
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  Speaker 1: eighty two percent last year. Inside of forty yards, he's
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  Speaker 1: a perfect nine to nine. Outside of forty yards, he's
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  Speaker 1: six to thirteen, and that did hurt Texas against Georgia.
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  Speaker 1: You know, he also did make the game winner. But
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  Speaker 1: for Texas to be able to win a national championship,
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  Speaker 1: I think we need to see special teams play up
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  Speaker 1: to the potential because outside of maybe kickoff return coverage,
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  Speaker 1: I think Jeff Banks would admit that there's some work
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  Speaker 1: to be done. Right. There's been a couple of punt
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  Speaker 1: blocks this year and not having Keten Crawford and Khian
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  Speaker 1: Robinson has hurt the Texas punt defense and their ability
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  Speaker 1: to block punts. I don't think they've blocked the punt
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  Speaker 1: this year. Maybe they have, it's been won. Correct me
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  Speaker 1: if I'm wrong. On the text line, they've given up
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  Speaker 1: a couple of punt blocks in field, goldwise has not
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  Speaker 1: been great. I mean bert Auburn in twenty twenty three
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  Speaker 1: was eleven of sixteen from beyond forty yards, but this
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  Speaker 1: year eight to thirteen, so that number is down just
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  Speaker 1: a bit from twenty twenty three. But Jet Banks did
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  Speaker 1: say today at media Day that Auburn is going to
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  Speaker 1: return in twenty twenty five. The staff won to upgrade
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  Speaker 1: at punter. That's where they went out and got Jack
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  Speaker 1: Bowmeister from Utah. But they want to be able to
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  Speaker 1: keep Michael Kern so that bo Meister can mentor Kern.
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  Speaker 1: So we'll see about that. Obviously, Michael Kern has not
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  Speaker 1: entered the transfer portal. He is the Texas long corn
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  Speaker 1: starting punter against Arizona State, or Auburn is the starting
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  Speaker 1: kicker for Textas against Arizona States. But the Longhorns to
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  Speaker 1: make a run, probably need to see more out of
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  Speaker 1: their special teams. More to come from Media day at
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  Speaker 1: the Peach Bowl. We're gonna hear from Texas up as
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  Speaker 1: a coordinator Kyle Flood up next. As the Craigway continues
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  Speaker 1: on this Monday afternoon