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Football! 2024 Season Roster + Schedule Breakdown · Talkin' Tech

• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome in, everybody, to the Talk and Tech Podcast, Powered by the Nation, part of the Nation Podcast Network.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Steven Rodriguez, my co-host Tristan McGonagall.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: Tristan, it's game week, baby.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: We made it.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_05: Are you just gonna brush over the fact that this is recording number two from the lost recording like two or three weeks ago?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was looking at this.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: Our last episode was released on June 23rd.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: It is August 27th as we record this.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we clearly took some time off, and we we clearly just took it easy.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: So we're here.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_05: A little summer trading.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: A little summer, a little enjoyment, but we're back, baby.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: Easy our ratings.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we're excited.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're excited because it's game week and we have the the mighty uh Abilene Christian Wildcats coming to Lubbock, Texas.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: We will get to that preview here in a bit.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: But since we haven't recorded a podcast or put a podcast out, I should say, in two months, let's kind of talk about the team.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about the depth chart.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about what's going on.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Texas Tech released a depth chart.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's a new thing that they're deciding to do, I believe, is every Monday they're going to release a depth chart, much to the happiness and the liking of the media members.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody was out there praising Texas Tech for this move.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's all that it's also great.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's good that they're giving us um, you know, the guys that are set to be on, you know, and as long as the week goes well, nobody gets hurt.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: This is who we're gonna see uh on the coming Saturday.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_01: So um excited, man.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Before we get into the depth chart though, I just I want to get I want to start something this football season, and it's what I call the Kool-Aid meter.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really a confidence level in the team, and now we're starting fresh, we're here right before the season starts.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: What is your Kool-Aid meter on the Texas Tech Red Raider football team right now?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_05: Look, I'm not saying that my glass is crystal clear.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_05: All right, it's quite red at this point, you know.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_05: The confidence has grown as we've approached week one here.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know, that's just like the natural progression of the hype train as it moves forward on these tracks.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_05: But dude, I'd say, like, this is a probably a pretty well spiked Kool-Aid, um, in the sense where it's enjoyable to drink, but it's not like overbearing on you.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_05: You know, you're not taking three steps and going, all right, this is just a little much.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_05: I think I'm in a very healthy, as healthy as Kool-Aid can be.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_05: You know, it's not exactly a uh a nutritious drink of choice.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm going with the like the very much the uh plans portions in this Kool-Aid.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: I respect what you're trying to do here.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, we're on a podcast and it's not a visual medium.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: So give me a one through ten on how you're feeling for Texas football.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_05: I thought I had a good Kool-Aid analogy going.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: You're doing okay, but it's gonna be hard to really put it.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_05: We're supposed to bring props and like, all right, here's the water and here's the Kool-Aid, and I'm supposed to fill it up and like show you.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Let's play it simple.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: One through ten, ten being very, very much drinking the Kool-Aid, uh, one being not very high on this team at all.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you feeling right now before the season starts?
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_05: I'm six because uh I'm slightly over average here, uh, slightly over the middle.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I think there's just a lot of things around the team to be confident about, one of them being uh most importantly the schedule.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I think just think the numbers will really be able to shine this year.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so I'm at a six, dude.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_05: I'm not I'm not guzzling some sweet stuff, but I am I'm feeling pretty good.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I was at a six probably about three weeks ago.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when we at the original recording?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe at the original recording of this.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: Or maybe when we hopped on with our good buddy Joe Goodman and Matt Workman on the Bear Dead pod when we were talking about Texas Tech, I was probably at about a six.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to, I was very cautious.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to get too far into it.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then you really dive deep into this schedule, man.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: And then you start seeing the off-season previews and you start um, you know, watching the mic'd up stuff and the coach interviews and everything.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: And what really I'm gonna say I'm in at eight on the Kool-Aid meter, which is pretty high.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh wow.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: The first seven weeks of Texas Tech football should be very good.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And if they're not very good, there's something really wrong.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um so if you look at these first seven games, Texas Tech should win a lot of football games.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're looking at a healthy team, which is still up in the air, it's still questionable, you know, where your quarterback's at, where a few other things are, you should win a lot of games to start off this season.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens when you win a lot of games at the start of the season?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: You build that momentum, that confidence level grows, and then when you start playing the better teams down as we get into conference play, um, you know, I think you have a better shot at stuff.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm at an eight right now, and I'm, you know, this is this is gonna change weekly.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna change after the Abilene Christian game.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, not too much.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, we'll be smart about this, but I I do want to get our confidence meter and our Kool-Aid meter uh as we go week to week.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_05: All right, dude.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_05: I I'm I'm glad one of us is really all in on this.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe it's just because, you know, it's a work day and I'm not, you know, it's just I'm on the downswing here, you know, just relaxing and you know, in a rational mindset here.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_05: But I I I like like we keep coming back to, I think what keeps inspiring us is the chips can really fall very correctly at the beginning of the season.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_05: And we're gonna use that very famous line when discussing this that it's absolutely backloaded.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about the depth chart.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about the Texas Tech Red Raiders that we will see on the field for the Abilene Christian game.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you want to go ahead and start with the offense?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, of course, man.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_05: That's the fun stuff.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Why not?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Quarterback number one, Barron Morton.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_01: Who would have thought who would have seen this coming?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: We totally didn't know this since uh spring ball.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um Cam Brown listed as the number two.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: We also knew this.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: There's no surprises here.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um Barron.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: Gotta stay healthy, man.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's it.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: And he said it.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_01: He was uh he was putting a presser today.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I listened to a little bit of it, and he just needs to prove it.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: And he knows that.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: He needs to go out and prove it that he can be healthy week to week.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the coaches have emphasized his health is a priority him with just taking hits, him not getting hit, him knowing when to get rid of the ball, not going for that extra yard every once in a while, you know.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I think there's a good mindset there, and the coaching staff and Barron are both aware of what needs to happen to have a successful year.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: So um no surprises at QB.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_05: I like that you open up that sentence with prove it.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_05: Um, because I think every Texas Tech fan knows that you know he's one of our highest rated quarterbacks of all time.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_05: I think actually highest at four with the four-star and just you know, just all overall rating.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_05: Um, is everyone seems to be sleeping on Baron Morton.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_05: Obviously, and I think a term sleeping will keep coming back to Tex Tech over and over again as we look forward into the season.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_05: Um, because no one's really putting him as a threat when it comes to that position in this conference.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, obviously, there's a lot of good players to talk about at the uh most support position here, but I think people have kind of forgotten that the the capability that Baron Morton has, if he's able to stay healthy.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's a huge asset for us because I really think all fans agree that we prefer when we're being slept on than targeted as a threat.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_05: So I think Baron Morton kind of like perfectly um fits that example of sleeper pick right now.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and right, and I don't blame people for sleeping on Barron Morton.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_01: What he's shown on the field last year, granted, a very injured year for him.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: He played through a ton, was not a lot to look at.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, if you just looked at highlights Barron Morton 2023, you weren't gonna be very impressed.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_01: And again, some people may just not know the context around what happened dealing with that shoulder injury basically the entire year, ever since the West Virginia game when he took over for Shuck.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, it's it's absolutely a prove it time for him.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: I and let's just see it.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: What I go back to is when he started that Oklahoma State game a couple years ago and absolutely killed it in stillwater, almost won the thing until he did get hurt in that game.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: But until that ankle injury, I mean, he was dealing, dude.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: And even Gundy said after the fact, two's gonna be good, like two's gonna be something.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: So, with a full offseason, hopefully a healthy offseason of Baron Morton, you should get a really, really solid quarterback.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Is he top five in the conference?
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, but he's definitely not bottom five of the conference, like what some people are projecting him to be, if he's healthy.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_05: No chance, dude.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_05: And I think I'm gonna disagree with you, man.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_05: I think I think he absolutely is top five capability, like at 100%.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_05: I guess this kid was brought on to be, you know, the next uh uh lightning in a bottle post uh Patrick Mahomes because I mean whenever we sit here and talk about it, we really haven't had a gunslinger at that position since Pat that's really lit up the charts and in in both our hearts and on the stat sheet yet.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_05: So I really think that's gonna turn around this season if the guy can stay healthy.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, we shall see.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: But again, stay healthy and we'll and we'll see it happen, hopefully.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Cam Brown's interesting.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh apparently Zach Kidley and Joey McGuire want to uh involve him basically every game in some capacity.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, whether that's him showing up on red zone, you know, trick plays, whether that's him just going in for a series or two because he provides a different sort of skill set than Barron does.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't quite know.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I and I'm the Abilene Christian game isn't really gonna show us that either.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: And hopefully, you know, we see Cam Brown very early in that game after Barron's had a few good drives going and we're up, you know, early.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, but yeah, I I I'm excited just to see him because uh all the noise uh is that he's the fastest guy on the team, that he can absolutely provide something that Texas Tech hasn't really had um since I don't know, Donovan Smith.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: But even Cam Brown is like, you know, he's a faster, he can just take off.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: You just you see what he could potentially do, and that could even be as soon as this year or next year or whatever it may be.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: But um, no, I'm excited about the backups.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think we're okay there.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, well interesting.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, I'm glad you brought up Donovan Smith.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_05: I think that's where your mind can instantly go to is you know, he's gonna be a Donovan Smith type uh package guy.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, that's I feel like this is the kind of player that's exciting to have as a backup.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_05: And I think what that also says is this guy is absolutely a placeholder for the young guns behind him.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so the those guys can work their way into the system and develop before they're uh slotted into that number two and of course number one slot coming up.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um no surprises at running back, Taj Brooks, your guy.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh everybody's guy that's a Texas Tech fan.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Taj Brooks is back.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: He's coming to break the record um for most rushing yards in a Texas Tech uniform.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's uh it's not often you get a top five back in all of college football coming back to your team.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: So he's just gonna provide, as we've as everybody's hit on this offseason, just a sense of relief and you know what you're getting out of Taj Brooks.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we do have Cameron Valdez and Cameron Dickey both backing him up uh and hopefully providing a little extra um, you know, rest time for Taj so he doesn't have to take on that load that he had last season.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I mean, this is the guy to talk about on offense, right?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_05: And everyone's mind kind of begins and ends with him whenever it comes to uh utter star power on that side.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_05: So I mean, it's been dubbed over and over again that this is the year of the running back in the Big 12.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_05: And I know you and I both have sentiments that this guy could actually be the best one out there.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_05: And uh we don't just say that to hype hype up the uh the Red Raider train, but this this guy obviously has the capability to be the single best running back in the conference, and dare we say country.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: If the O-line's there, man, I really think Taj uh showed enough last season that he could be as dominant as he was.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's he's so electric in when he gets even a little bit of space, he just knocks guys off of him.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: I think he led in broken tackles last season of all uh college football players.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: So um he's just he's a beast, dude.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_05: And I mean, we're talking about a guy that should be absolutely playing in the ENFL right now.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_05: Thank you, and I.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, 100%.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: It is going to be interesting what we see from the Cams backing up.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um Cam Valdez has had double Cam.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: Cam Valdez has had a bit of an up and down um road here at Texas Tech.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I know he hasn't gotten quite the snap count that we would like him to get, especially last season.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then Cam Dickey's a complete new player.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the coaching staff seems to love where he's at um as a running back at this point.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I think we'll see a little bit of a competition on who becomes the true backup to Taj.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely, man.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but obviously all eyes on the number one.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think the wide receiver position can be a little confusing um when you're just looking at the depth chart.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, some people are seeing, oh, Micah Hudson's not a starter um over there at the Y, he's listed behind Caleb Douglas.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_01: And the way Zach Kitley runs this offense, the way that Texas Tech wants to switch things up a lot of the time, even during the same drives, um, you're gonna see a lot of different personnels out here.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: So how it's listed on here is not necessarily the snap count that you're gonna see from these players.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I'll start off with the Z.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: You have Josh Kelly here, uh, who we all expected the Washington State transfer um starting at that with um Kelby Valson uh backing him up at that spot.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: At the Y, you have Caleb Douglas, who is the Florida transfer with Micah Hudson, the five-star receiver.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: True freshman backing him up, Dre McCray at the H position starting.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of the older guys on this receiving core, been with Texas Tech since uh last season.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: Jordan Brown uh backing him up at the H spot.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Hoy Aiken starting at the X position with Brady Boyd backing him up.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: So that is the white guy receiver position, apparently, um, at the X slot.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_01: But uh you're gonna see all these guys uh a lot, especially in the Abilene Christian game.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna see Brady Boyd, Jordan Brown, Micah Hudson, Kelby Belson line up for a good amount of snaps.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, obviously, along with those starters that I just named.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: So I think what you're really looking for out of this receiving core is just you're just looking for so much better than what you got last year.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't I didn't quite realize how bad our receiving core was last year.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then you look at the stats, we had one guy over 500 receiving yards, just one at Texas Tech University.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we had one guy that hit that mark.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_05: Do you do you think much of that has to do with the uh you know incredibly shaky QB play we experienced as well?
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: It 100% had something to do with Barron trying to go with shoulder problems, where we had to start true freshman Jake Strong for a game or two, Tyler Shuck not necessarily having the good start to the year.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: So there's obviously different factors at play, but there were obvious things wrong with that position group, and that's why you had a complete revamp of it.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah, you don't have Jaron Bradley or Miles Price aren't here anymore.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Xavier White had, you know, he was out of eligibility.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: He couldn't return.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: JJ Sparkman's gone.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you Loick Fungi is gone.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like those are guys that transferred out besides Xavier White.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a reason that we have a completely different wide receiver core.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_05: You know, this is often scoped to be our one of our more skeptical positions from the outside looking in.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_05: Do you think much of that comes from the poor uh achievements from last year or just the flat out question marks from the crew we have now?
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think so.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you really look at all of these guys, Josh Kelly's the only one that's put up stats prior to this season.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, Dre McRae had his time at a lower level.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, Koyakin 400 some receiving yards last year.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: Caleb Douglas didn't quite break the rotation at Florida.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, Micah Hudson's a true freshman, so you really don't know he's a five-star, he's unbelievably talented, but you don't quite know what he's gonna produce at the college level yet.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I think to an outsider's perspective, it's it's a lot of new, it's a lot of different, it's a lot of unknown um from that angle.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_01: So um I think this wide receiver core is extremely talented.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: I think they can be one of the better wide receiver cores overall in the Big 12.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but again, it's much like Baron Morton, it's prove it time.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, dude, absolutely.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_05: Uh there's there's still a lot of names to get excited about on this in in this squad.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, I feel like everyone, of course, is insanely excited to watch Abilene Christian so they can see the debut of Micah Hudson.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and I do think we're gonna see some beefy counts from him, man.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_05: I I I think that's obviously one of the big recruiting pitches.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_05: You get to play immediately, and we're gonna get you going.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_05: We're gonna be shooting up those stats very quickly.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_05: So I think we'll be exciting, especially from what we've seen out of camp so far with him.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_05: The guy just is a freak show.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_05: So um we're excited to see that and some other guys, man, like Josh Kelly, obviously being one of the single greatest uh uh transfer kits on the in the offseason market.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_05: So that's really exciting, and especially seeing him go against the uh the last stop here in a couple weeks.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but dude, I uh and obviously you got uh guys like Coi Aken, who is uh Baron Morton's best friend.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_05: So it's gonna be really exciting to see perhaps that chemistry explode there.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_05: So, dude, I I I don't feel bad about the wide receiving room.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_05: And I know it's an easy cop out to say that TexTech shouldn't have those issues, especially with the uh with what we had last year.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_05: But dude, I look at that and I look at this list and I truly just see potential.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_05: I I don't want to jinx us, but I really feel like it can only go up.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's all that has to happen.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's definitely more proven positions on this team uh going into this season.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, I think if you paid close attention to any of these players and Texas Tech as a whole, um, you'll be seeing a better wide receiver room than you did last year.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I think a lot of these guys are going to be solid.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, let's move on to tight end.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: So on the depth chart, you have Mason Tharp listed as the starter with Jalen Conyers or John Carlos Miller being the backup.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a little surprising when you're just looking directly at it on its face, um, because Jalen Conyers was very hyped up going into Texas tech.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, a lot of people, including national media, seem to love that addition uh for the Red Raiders this offseason.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: And for Mason Tharp to kind of be the number one, um, you know, I don't, I I I think it's a good thing.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're just looking at three really, really solid pieces here that are all gonna get on the field.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_05: No, absolutely, dude.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I think that probably mostly speaks to Tharp's veterancy on this team uh more than anything.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_05: So hopefully it's just like you said, it's more of a that the talent is quite even in a good way.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, that these guys are just gonna, you know, be pretty balanced on switching around, I'm sure.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think Jalen Conyers is gonna line up a whole bunch of different places.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Mason Tharp obviously provides a sort of height and wingspan that you're just not gonna find normally on a college football team, um, being 6'9 and and still being as skilled as he is.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then John Carlos Miller, I mean, everybody's kind of hyping him up.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I Joey does his thing, he always hypes guys up, but even Barron is really hyping him up on on uh just being a big play guy.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he is coming from the FCS level from Elon.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, this is going to be a step up for him, but uh, I think he does provide a pass catching option for you at that tight end spot.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_05: Steven, is John Carlos Miller the second an early favorite for best name on the team?
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's up there, man.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's up there.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: I still think Barron.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, who Barron's really good.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: How are you gonna beat Barron?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, that is a sick name.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_05: That is a Texas Tech quarterback name, Barron Morton.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_05: But uh John Carlos Miller the second was just this close if he had a different last name.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_05: Like if it was like something a little spicier than Miller, you know, I think I think we'd be we'd be cooking.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: We got some guys on the O-line here that we'll get to that are uh that have some names, all-time names uh here for the team.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: So um anything else on tight end before we move into the big boys?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_05: Nah, dude.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_05: I think it just cow caps off that we got some serious weapons if they're used right, man.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, absolutely.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you'll see as we get into the O line that there's a little bit of unknown still, which isn't the most encouraging thing as we go into week one, but what You do know for sure is that your left side is pretty set with uh Sterling Porsche, is how you say his name over there starting at left tackle with Dalton Merriman backing him up at the left tackle spot, left guard Vinny Sciary, who is uh the transfer in.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's for sure starting at that left guard spot with uh Dylan Shaw or Holton Hendricks backing him up, both young guys.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: At center, you have locked in Sheridan Wilson with Caleb Rodke backing him up.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: And then this is where it gets a little confusing here.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: So, right guard right now, you have Davion Carter or Caleb Rogers listed as the right guard with Daniel Sill backing them up, and then at right tackle, you have Caleb Rogers or Ty Buchanan there at that spot.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: So from what the coaches have said, Caleb Rogers is gonna start at one of these two spots, and then the other one is going to fill in wherever Caleb Rogers doesn't start.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of how it's gone.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: So you'll see Rogers and you'll see one of Davion Carter or Ty Buchanan.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's how it's gonna kind of work.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I I mean, revamped, revamped O-line.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: You have three new starters.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I think this is the position group that Texas Tech fans not uncommonly are consistently winning more out of.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_05: And I mean, look at last year, we had just our quarterbacks get obliterated into one season injury and another uh pretty pretty much should have been considered so.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_05: So it's uh it's frustrating to watch.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm hoping that this new group, uh, with some real, like you said, some excellent names.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_05: I think some early favorites here are uh Vinny Scury and uh Sheridan Wilson's also very good as well.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_01: Holton Hendrix, man.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_01: Holton Hendrix.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: That is a name.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_05: That's that is good.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_05: That is that is real.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_05: Holton as a guard is okay.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_05: That might be the win.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: That might be the winner right there.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: But uh Sterling Porsche, too.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: That's fancy.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_05: That is this is a line of names, dude.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: No, but I I what you hope out of this entire position group is a little more togetherness and a little more, just a complete culture change.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like I you've replaced offensive line coaches, you now have Clay McGuire from Washington State taking over this group, and you just want some consistency because you didn't have that last year.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: You had a bunch of guys that were starting at different positions, you didn't quite know how it all worked together, you couldn't put all the pieces together, and that could have been a little bit on our former offensive line coach.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: It could have just been the talent that we have on this team.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you're still, I think this is still gonna be a year where you're not quite there yet on the offensive line.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's mostly because Joey's guys are still young.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the guys that Joey had brought in are extremely talented, but they're getting into their red shirt freshman year or their redshirt sophomore year, and they're just not quite there yet.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, give them another year or two, and you'll really get what you're hoping for on that offensive line.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, man, I I'm I'm hopeful, is what I'll say.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_05: I feel like with offense, we're saying that a lot, but uh this is obviously the one where most of it is set.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, all right, man, that'll do it for offense.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go defense.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Starting with the big boys this time around.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_01: Listed at the nose tackle, you have Quincy Ledette, who was also listed as questionable, by the way, for the Abilene Christian game.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: It seems like he's ready to go, but he's still listed as the starter here, with uh DB Carroll backing him up, and James Hansen uh listed as the third option for the nose tackle.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_01: At the defensive tackle, you have Duda Banks listed as the starter with Jaden Cofield or Trayvon McAlfee backing him up.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: So what Joey said and what Tim DeRuder reiterated when in the presser this week is that all these guys are gonna get on the field.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_01: They're really hoping to have six deep on the defensive line to consistently switch these guys out and keep them moving, and that they're pretty solid on any of these guys right now.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_05: It's another year of Tardell Finch, baby.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_05: So, I mean, I I know this guy's gonna get them right.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_05: No, dude, I I I'm with you, man.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_05: I I think this is a pretty exciting group right now.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: You wouldn't expect this position group to be considered deep, like a lot of the coaching staff has said about this team or said about this unit, at least, with losing Jalen Hutchings and Tony Bradford, uh, guys who were here five years and were really staples of the defensive line.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_01: So losing those two, you wouldn't expect to have depth at this spot, but it seems like, you know, from the guys they brought in this offseason to some of the guys who have been in Texas Tech uniforms over the last couple years, uh, they seem pretty confident in it.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I'll trust Coach Fitch, I'll trust uh Tim DeRuder because they haven't really given me a reason to think otherwise.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, again, it's insane how the defense has been such a consistent unit under DeRooter.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_05: Uh seriously, I I know we say this all the time, but as long as Joey is in Lubbock, I hope DeRooter is as well.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_05: So I I don't know how we could possibly do better at they at that uh uh coordinated position.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_05: And again, man, as as uh Zarnell says, QB hunters, baby.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: Let's uh let's move on to the outside linebacker spot uh under Coach CJ Ayu.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit of surprise here.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: Harvey Dyson listed as the starter with Isaac Smith backing him up and then Ansel Nadore as the third string on the outside linebacker spot.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_01: You're edge rushers.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: So this was probably tied with the wide receivers of most disappointing uh position last year.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: We just did not get to the quarterback a lot.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: Last year, you were hoping for a lot from Miles Cole, you were hoping a lot from Steve Linton, and you did not quite get that.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: So the return of Isaac Smith is exciting because he really did have a breakout year prior to his injury that kept him out all last season.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: Harvey Dyson is a dude that apparently has taken a leap and taken that next step, and they're showing it here on the depth chart.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: So um I I don't really know too much about Harvey Dyson, but I do know that the coaches are hyping him up and uh you know take that with a grain of salt because we all know this coaching staff.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: But but I I think it's exciting.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we'll see.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but this is a this is a show me uh position right here.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_05: But it's a show me, but do you feel confident in a step forward or not so much?
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how you can get much worse, you know.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Steve Linton was a complete disappointment last year.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and we probably fed way too much into what Joey and them were saying about him.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, I think he had two sacks maybe last year.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Miles Cole as well.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and now the scheme they were scheming against him.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's clearly a good player, uh, was just actually named to the Jaguars 53-man roster.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_01: So clearly, for a seventh-round pick to do that, he showed something to them.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_01: But no, you just didn't get a lot from here.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't get a lot of pressure in general um last season from your defensive line.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_01: So you're just hoping Isaac Smith that that knee is fully ready to go and he gets back to what he showed us two years ago.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then Harvey Dyson, Young Blood, we'll see.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_05: Totally, man.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_05: Let's see it.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, for sure.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's get into the line, the linebackers right here.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_01: The true inside linebackers at the will.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: We have my brother, Jacob Rodriguez, uh, starting here uh with Bryce Ramirez back.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_01: They look just alike, too.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: We do, we look completely the same.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh at the Mike linebacker position, we have Ben Roberts, who was the breakout star for Texas Tech last season, with John Curry backing him up.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I think you'll see a consistent, um, definitely see Ben Roberts, Jacob Rodriguez, and Bryce Ramirez, a ton of that.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_01: And then John Curry will probably get a good amount of run this year.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: But I think when you're just looking at this spot, Ben Roberts could potentially be one of the best linebackers at Texas Tech in a long time.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, from going in as a redshirt freshman last year, he was a freshman All-American, uh, led the team in tackles.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_01: He truly was awesome.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: And you're getting a healthy Jacob Rodriguez who got hurt in the Wyoming game and missed several games, uh, kind of came back here or there.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I think if you get a healthy Jacob Rodriguez, healthy Bryce Ramirez, healthy Ben Roberts, you're really seeing an awesome position here for the Texas Tech defense.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I mean, it wasn't all that long ago since we had some stars back there, no?
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: But I think I think Ben Roberts has the has the chance here to be one of your best.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, even surpassing some of those guys.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying he's gonna be Jordan Brooks, but uh, you know, he has the chance, I think, for how good he is and how young he is to just keep improving.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_05: No, totally, dude.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: So this is one of your more consistent, exciting positions on the defense.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be really excited to see all these guys perform.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: And then I didn't mention this at the other outside linebacker spot on the left side there.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Amir Washington listed youth.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: So a guy we haven't seen a ton of, uh, but has definitely shown some stuff in the past with Joseph Adore, another one of those guys who's still fairly young uh and has shown some stuff at Texas Tech, but you haven't seen it kind of at a consistency yet.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then Sam Carroll listed behind him.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_01: So um your edge rushing as a whole, going even back to Harvey Dice and Isaac Smith, is youthful, but the talent is there.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_01: And we'll see if they can actually, you know, put it together at a consistent basis.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, dude.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I mean, absolutely.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_05: The linebacking position has actually been one of the stronger ones through the uh in and outs of our uh defense, you know, as a whole, but I really am hopefully hoping for more excitement this year.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, absolutely.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: Now moving into DBs at the star spot, we have AJ McCarty or Brendan Jordan.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: So Brendan Jordan played a lot last year for Texas Tech as a true freshman.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh AJ McCarty, who was denied basically a waiver to play last season, the transfer in from Baylor.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's gonna get a lot of run this year for Texas Tech.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_01: Exciting spot.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think both of these guys, Brendan Jordan is extremely exciting for how young he was and how good he was last year.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm excited to see him with a full offseason under his belt.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then AJ McCarty, the uh the Baylor transfer, is getting a lot of love from the coaches.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I think you'll be pretty good at this spot.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, with Bacardi, though, he didn't lose a year, right?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: He just had to sit out, and it was a ridiculous situation.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_01: They like gave him a waiver to play at the bowl game, like it was ridiculous.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: It was so ridiculous the crap that he went through, and especially with how they're like going about the transfers now, where they're basically just handing out, you know, saying you don't have to sit out, and then all of a sudden he had to sit out.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_01: No, it was ridiculous, it was ridiculous, but it is what it is.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go to safeties and then we'll end off with corners here.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, over there at the free safety spot, we have Chapman Lewis and Jordan Sanford.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: Chapman Lewis listed as the starter, and then at your strong safety, CJ Baskerville and uh Joseph Plunk backing him up.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: So again, you're getting more youth.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: Chapman Lewis and Jordan Sanford are sophomores.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Baskerville is your oldest, probably on the entire defense.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think he's a fifth-year senior.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, we'll see.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think there's a lot of talent here, but again, it's another one of those positions where you got to prove it.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, Baskerville seems to like one of the you know higher-rated safeties in the conference right now.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: He is, he's gonna be good.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I and he's getting moved.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_01: He played a lot of star last year, and he's moving to more of his natural position.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: When we had Rabbit, you know, you couldn't move Rabbit, he was at his perfect spot.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_01: You needed him there at the strong safety, and now Baskerville can kind of step into that role.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and with Chapman Lewis and Jordan Sanford as well, who apparently have learned a ton from Rabbit and want to replicate exactly what he did at Texas Tech.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, exciting spot.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, totally.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: Then you got your boys, you're locked down, you're locked down, guys, uh, over there at the corners.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Braylon Lux listed as your cornerback number one, which was expected, with uh Mo Horn listed as your cornerback number two on the opposite side.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_01: You have Jalen Peoples as Braylon Lux's backup and Devin Fromwell as uh Mo Horn's backup.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the big one here, you're not gonna have um the two guys that have been starting at that spot for the last several years for you, and Ray Shad Williams and uh Malik Dunlap.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you're gonna have to replace that production.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_01: Braylon Lux, I think, had a solid year last year for Texas Tech, and Mo Horn was a four former four-star.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he played a good amount last season, so he's really stepping into that starting role, and we'll see on him.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: But I I I think this position, again, it's a prove it thing.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like we haven't seen a ton of these guys.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: So uh you're just hoping that uh one of them steps up and really shows that talent.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I know this is definitely one of those positions that uh kind of haunts tech fans of of old.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_05: So hopefully this guy can step up.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_01: Let's have a little, let's have a little better showing, but uh we'll finish her off here with with special teams.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Best teams.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_01: Best teams.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: You lost him, he's gone.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: Austin McNamara's gone.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_05: Heartbroken.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_05: He's up there in Cincinnati munching on some skyline chili.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: He's gonna kill it.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: He's gonna kill it in Cincinnati.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: I'm very excited to see Austin kill it, but uh, friend of the pod, by the way.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_05: Um we have a new punter.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_01: His name is Jack Burgess, and he's Australian, and he's got a heck of an accent with Caden Turner backing him up.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: I uh hopefully you don't have to use two different punters this year, but we'll see.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: Australians, they're good at punting.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of a lot of teams are doing that, they're going down under for it.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_05: Fair Dinkum, as they say.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_05: Am I right?
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_05: Am I right?
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_05: You're yeah, am I right?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, you are right.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean it's not hard to punt West Texas, man.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: You go where the wind takes you.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_05: Well, it can be very hard to punt in West Texas if you're going against it.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_05: That's fair.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_05: That's fair to kick it low going sideways.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: Kick it low.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get those Australians, they have a sort of confidence to them, and I'm excited for the new punter.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_01: Those Aussies.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: Those Aussies, you know them.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um kicker, a little bit of a surprise.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: Gino Garcia.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_01: Gino Garcia kicked a lot for you last year, uh, kind of you know, took that kicking role from Reese Burkhart.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and now it's again a competition.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: The coach Kenny Perry, the special teams quote coach and Joey McGuire both don't seem like uh they're willing to name a guy a starter yet.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why you'll see that big or between both of these guys.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're gonna see a lot of what I don't know if you remember a couple of years ago where it was Trey Wolfe and it was uh Garabay.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_01: And they kind of put both of them out at the beginning of the season.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't quite know who was the starter yet, and then Garabay eventually just overtook him and took the job for himself and had a great year.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_01: So you're hoping one of these guys steps up in a way to where uh you know you have a solid kicker.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_01: I think Gino had a solid year last year, but you know, I I guess they're giving it to Reese and hope, you know, hopefully he could potentially overtake it.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_05: To be honest, I don't know how good that makes me feel that it says or there.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I would kind of like for there to just be a lockdown guy for the three points.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was being a little overconfident right there.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is definitely concerning.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_05: Um I was lying, I'm very scared.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: Reese Burkhardt has done your kickoffs even last year, so he's clearly got the biggest boot to him.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, obviously you need the accuracy to go with it.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I I just ultimately what I want here is for Gino just to take it.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I want.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: I want Gino to go out.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_01: He's probably gonna be the first guy to go out there for the first field goal attempt.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_01: He's earned that from last season, and uh, you just really hope that he continues to build that confidence and makes a few field goals to start the year, uh, and just you know, you don't have to throw in the other guy.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah, totally.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_01: So your long snapper is the same as it always been, Jackson Knotts.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: He's been here forever.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he is coming off a pretty crazy knee injury.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you hope he's healthy going into this year.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh according to Don Williams and a few other Lubbock reporters, um, he wasn't really expected to be as ready for the first game as he clearly is.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we'll see.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, again, he's a long snapper.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you hope that he just continues to do what he does because he has been solid for us.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, totally.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, excited to see him.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_01: And then over here at your returners, you have Dre McCrae listed as the kick returner with Jordan Brown backing him up, and then your punt returners, you have Josh Kelly with Jordan Brown and Micah Hudson listed as your punt returning backups.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: So definitely not a surprise, but uh, I think in the offseason they kind of wanted Dre to do both, and they feel more confident with Josh Kelly over there at the punt returner.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: It is a different sort of skill set that you have to have from punts to kicks.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_01: So Dre was obviously really good last year for Texas Tech on the kick returning, but um punt returning, we need a little more than what we've had the previous years with Miles Price returning punts and uh Nehemiah Martinez and those types.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so hopefully, and and it doesn't make me feel great knowing that Josh Kelly's gonna be out there more because he's supposed to be one of your guys on offense, and I'd probably rather Jordan Brown go out there, a guy who's right not projected to get as many snaps.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_01: But um, I to me it's just like more risk of injury, you know, and I don't really want that.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that's 100%, dude.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: But if he's the guy, he's the guy.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I'll trust I'll trust KP.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_05: I was surprised not to see uh McCray on both sides as well, because I mean I I I thought this was supposed to be like the fastest guy on the team.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_05: And obviously, I know it that's not what it's all about, but uh it kind of a kind of yeah, getting into kind of a question mark and Jordan Brown being listed twice, but not as the starter, huh?
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I mean, obviously he's gonna be mixed into those, but yeah, uh yeah, just just kind of a head scratcher.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, you may see Micah Hudson just completely take this over as he gets more experience and more time playing college football.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: No, I mean, obviously not, but uh yeah, you just uh your returners, I think, are pretty good right now.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think you're pretty set, you're pretty happy with what you got, and uh, you know, this is just one of those positions where you hope Dre McRae just goes wild again, like he did last year.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, dude.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: All right, man.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_01: That is your team.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_01: That's your Texas Tech Red Raiders.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_05: You know, we're looking at the official uh sheets from Texas Tech here.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_05: You know what's you look, it's kind of odd looking at the top of the screen.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_05: There you see the three stripes for Adidas, and next to it, you see the Patrick Mahomes logo, man.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_05: So it looks like they are uh they are uh putting that out there, my dude.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's gonna be dang near as prominent as the three stripes, huh?
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: Pat Mahomes has uh taken a trip to Lubbock this past week.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_01: He has donated five million dollars to the South End Zone project.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_01: He has signed an NIL deal with six athletes from six different sports at Texas Tech.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: He's going to get a jersey, apparently, a Mahomes themed jersey this season for Texas Tech.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Pat Mahomes, uh at Texas Tech, that pipeline runs deep, man.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_01: We are milking the hell out of Patrick Mahomes.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_05: We are tech we are the Texas Tech Mahomes, man.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_05: That's that is our new mascot, man.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_05: And obviously, dude, I think Tex Tech is being incredibly smart with this to really uh drive it home with you know a truly generational player.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, we were talking about who could end his career as the greatest quarterback of all time.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and that's not a hot take.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_05: And so I feel like you do got to take that to run with it, especially whenever that guy is, you know, clearly an incredibly proud alumnus and is actually very uh interested in his legacy at his alma mater.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_05: And I I really like seeing that.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm really excited to see what the uh the uniforms are because you and I uh and all our friends have always been talking about like how it's great having this set of uniforms that are very strong that you can cycle through, but having just a one-off every once in a while that's just fun to roll with every once in a while.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_05: I like that kind of thing.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm excited to see, and we've been I've been I've been kind of uh predicting this for a while that the Patrick Mahomes uniform will be the special one that we run every season.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um I I've made it clear on this podcast, I hate his logo.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's the only thing I have against that bad.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's not great, it's not good.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I don't get it.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: The gladiator doesn't make any sense to me, whatever.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yes, I that's the thing that we agreed upon when we talked about Patrick Mahomes and switching to Adidas is that we're cool with one Patrick Mahomes logo on a jersey a season.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's a cool deal.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm obviously thrilled about the NIL deals that he has because that's clearly uh a way that we've gotten some of these recruits.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you saw the names on there, Najari uh Kennedy, I believe is how you say her name, um, the softball transfer from Stanford, who was the player of the year last year, who I don't I don't know if anybody expected to get the number one player in the transfer portal to come play for Texas Tech softball.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: This obviously had something to do with it.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Micah Hudson, as well, being your first five-star recruit, uh, being a part of this team, and then several others that are said to be leaders for their specific programs.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_01: So um Patrick Mahomes is a is a blessing.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_01: He's awesome.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's uh yeah, do as much stuff as you can with him.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just don't know about having that logo on the jerseys full time, but hey, I'm cool with one uniform a year.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_05: Build the statue already.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_05: How do you feel about that anyway?
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_05: Would you want to build him a statue or do you like being a statueless campus?
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_05: I'm okay.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm okay with being a statueless campus right now.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you if you were to build a statue, I imagine he would be probably the number one choice, if not Crabtree, uh or s or Zach Thomas or somebody of that nature.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I'm cool with just no statues.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_01: Jump to a statue.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_01: When we win a national championship, have that guy beat the statue.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_05: You build Maguire a statue if you win a national championship.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: How about Joey wins a national championship?
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_01: Then you build a statue for Joey.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_01: How about that one?
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_05: You don't, but you guys you don't want a situation like TCU where you build the guy you eventually fire.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_05: That's a tough scene.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: Statues have bitten some universities in the butt in the past.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we hope we hope that Joey's in a position to where we're talking about building him a statue in the future.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, I don't know.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_05: That would be that would be okay.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_05: That'd be okay with me.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, let's let's let's take a pause on that before we roll forward.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so how do you feeling about the coaching staff?
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_05: Like let's but let's just hit the the main guys.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_05: Where are you where are you at?
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I feel good about two out of the three, and I think everybody kind of feels that way.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um everybody's pretty confident still in Joey, and uh part of that is his personality.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: He's an easy guy to uh believe in, he's an easy guy to convince you that you know the program's going in the right direction.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Tim DeRuder has actually shown it um on the field.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: His defenses have been extremely solid and probably overperformed from expectations from what we were expecting at Texas Tech.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: And uh then there's that OC.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: There's that Zach Kitley.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, this is a big proven year for him.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh he's definitely his seat is the hottest of all three of these guys.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even necessarily I don't even know if I would constitute it as a hot seat.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh definitely a warm seat.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_01: He needs to perform, he needs to be better, but there has been drawbacks for him um in terms of his quarterbacks getting hurt every single year that he's been here.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: So he does have a bit of an excuse.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but you know, I think uh I think he's got a really golden opportunity here to kind of showcase who he is, and now he knows what he has in Tosh Brooks.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, he didn't quite know that going into last season, but uh if he's adaptable, I think he will do fine.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I agreed with all that, and I do kind of want to push back a little bit that the that Druder's the one that's kind of showing it on the field.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I think as uh as TechStech fans, we should probably be saying the same thing about McGuire as a whole, just from the records he's had.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it's really the out-of-conference record is what screwed us last season if we're really breaking it down.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but he's had winning records in the Big 12.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_05: I know he could be doing better, but no coach has done that since Leech, which is utterly insane.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_05: So the guy deserves a little tip of the hat with that.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's I think that's more of a testament to the coaching regimes we had prior to Joey.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, then Joe.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, listen, I'm I'm happy with the trend of the program and the recruiting and everything like that.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I I think Joey can really do great things here at Texas Tech.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but this is uh, I mean, you disappointed last year.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_01: Your expectations were high, and you did not meet those expectations, and that ultimately falls on the head coach.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, we'll see.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I I I still believe in each of these guys.
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I still believe in Zach Kidley.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_01: Some people are completely out, and I don't agree with that.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think he is one of the brighter young minds in college football, and he just has had some pretty bad luck here.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_01: Not that everything is completely on the quarterback's getting hurt, and he definitely did make his mistakes last year, but he's young and he's growing and he's learning how to be a successful offensive coordinator as well.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to remember that.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_05: You know, if any games are even slightly sluggish, there's gonna be a pretty loud group that's gonna be after him.
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_05: And obviously, those feelings are are valid, but that there's there's probably gonna be little patience in certain camps around the fan base when it comes to uh uh a slow offense, as I'd say.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, you're getting into year three.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_01: You really only had two position coaches that have changed.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, one was due to your own doing.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, one left for another job and one was, you know, told to leave.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so you know, that does show me that Joey is willing to make changes where it's needed.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a uh a big thing for a coach.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I mean, you have consistency.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_01: What uh ultimately what I'm trying to say here is that you have consistency within this entire staff um from the recruiting from James Blanchard uh and Brian Nance to Joey Maguire and down to the position coaches.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you just have a lot of consistency.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: So year three, it's prove it time, baby, for everybody.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, absolutely, man.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_05: This is the year where we're gonna we're gonna see some fireworks.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_05: So uh, you know where we were looking at the Vegas odds, we're a lot of bang for buck.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_05: So let's let's get out there and prove it.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're pretty consistently put at about eighth um, you know, to finish in the Big 12.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think we have odds as low as plus 2100 from FanDuel to actually win the Big 12, which is not a great number.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: So clearly, uh the people don't believe in us, and I like it that way.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: I like that a whole lot more than what we were going into last season, where people are projecting anytime we're projected to be a dark horse, usually doesn't quite work out for us.
• 49:05
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: This goes back, this goes back to our freshman year when we were getting Davis Webb, dark horse Heisman candidate, uh and we won four games.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: So when we have any sort of hype, uh it makes me a little more cautious.
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_01: So I like not having any sort of expectations, any sort of hype from the national media.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, but you're but you're still at a level eight Kool-Aid.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: I am.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm be because of this schedule, dude.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_01: Look at this schedule.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: Go look at the schedule.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: Let's do it.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: All right, all right.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_05: All right, all right, all right.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_05: Do you want to do you want to do the ACU preview and quotation marks with a this ACU like first hit here?
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: Head coach Keith Patterson of the Abilene Christian uh Wildcats.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: He has been there, I think this is his third season that he's getting in.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: I believe so.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_01: Former Texas Tech uh defensive coordinator, who I think we all kind of liked.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I thought Patterson did a he did a fine job here.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, he also had some guys to work with.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you you know, give if you're gonna give Matt Wells any credit, give him a little bit of credit for that.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_05: Matt Wells do uh the cook in the portal.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_05: He did, he sure did.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_01: He sure did.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I mean, uh seven former Texas Tech Red Raiders, if I am remembering.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think I tweeted that out.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um we this is exciting.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: We're actually gonna find out if Maverick McIver is a real person or not.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: This is what this is the most exciting thing.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: He is supposed to start for this Abilene Christian team at the quarterback position.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_05: Are you serious?
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, man.
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_05: Legendary name, Maverick MacIver is gonna find out if he's actually gonna play in Lubbock.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: Maverick McIver might actually set foot on the football field in Lubbock, Texas.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is incredible.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: We thought he was a figment of our imaginations.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_05: And yet, I almost forgot about that joke.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_05: I know.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_05: It's here.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's here every preview.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give a shout out.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'll give a shout out to Kobe on Twitter because he's kept up the shtick just as long as we have.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he tweeted, he he responded to our tweet about this, and he's like, let's uh wow, this is unbelievable.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_01: We might find out if he's real or not.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh shouts out to our guy Kobe.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you also have a few receivers um that are making their way back to Lubbock in Hutt Graham, Trey Cleveland, and Nehemiah Martinez, who um we know two of them pretty well.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_01: Hutt Graham didn't really see the field um in in his time in Lubbock, but Trey Cleveland definitely had some memorable moments here.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh a couple crazy catches.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Nehemiah Martinez, you know, the local Lubbock kid.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, you're you're getting some returning guys here.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, dude, that's cool.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh a couple other guys that really didn't see the field much.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: Grant Nickel, who is their punter, uh, Tay Yanta, who is a uh offensive lineman, and then Jed Castles, who again all-time name uh at their tight end position.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_01: So um, you know, that uh does it make you feel like more confident or less confident that a bunch of like former Red Raiders are on this team?
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_05: Uh it makes me feel more confident, dude.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, ACU is just that very natural transition from Texas Tech.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_05: You know, you remain in West Texas, so obviously Abilene Christian's gonna be one of the first people to get into your DMs or whenever you're looking to transfer.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_05: So uh, dude, I mean, I'm not trying to rip on existent or non-existent Matt McVyber, Mc Mc McIver, and the rest of the squad.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_05: But uh, I mean, you you transferred out of Tex Tech and you're playing an Abilene Christian now.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it's I mean, what a it's it's what are you supposed to say?
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_01: Revenge game.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_05: Revenge game.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_05: The last time we almost the last time we almost pooped our pants uh against an FCS team was against a former Red Raider in Zach Kitley and current offensive coordinator Zach Kitley.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_05: I hate that game.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_05: Eliminate from my memory.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_05: So, but I I don't see that repeating here with ACU.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm glad they changed their name because now I don't have to see Houston Baptist anymore.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's true.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and it doesn't automatically click into my mind, oh hey, we almost lost to that team in a horrible season.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_05: See, I I straight up thought we were going to lose that game.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_05: Like I the whole time, I was like, I was 100% ready for it to happen.
• 53:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I was like, it's gonna be a loss.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_01: This is going to be the worst moment of my life.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is it, and then we somehow squeezed it out.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even, I'm not going back, I'm not watching any part of that.
• 53:29
  SPEAKER_05: Either it was an extra point or a failed conversion that they would like that's what we had to win on.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_05: All right, anyway, it's this anyways.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_05: But dude, we are crushing Abilene Christian.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_05: We're they're gonna be pulverized and it will not be close.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_01: 6 30 p.m.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_01: Central time on ESPN Plus uh to open up the year.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_01: So uh definitely have a lot of tailgating time for the people.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, if you we will not be there, but uh shouts out to all of you that will be there at Jones ATT Stadium uh for the first game of the year.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_01: Let's hope it's a uh let's hope it's an ass beating, quite frankly.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_05: An utter one.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_01: An utter one.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, let's just let's just touch on the rest of the schedule.
• 54:05
  SPEAKER_01: We've already done this on Twitter and we did this with Joe and Matt, but let's kind of just talk through it and and the reason that I am at an eight on my Kool-Aid scale right now, because you open up the year with Abilene Christian at home.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: Your next game, you go to Pullman, Washington to play Washington State, who if you can if you could consider anybody relegated from a sport, it's Washington State.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um they have gone down to basically the Mountain West.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're they're playing a Mountain West schedule this year.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_01: They had a ton of guys leave that program this offseason, including some coaching staff.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and you the thing about this, you know, Joey has his road woes uh at Texas Tech.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_01: He has not performed quite on the road uh like you want to.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but uh if you want to play any quote unquote power five level team, it's probably Washington State or Oregon State at this point.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_05: Right, right.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_05: Dude, absolutely, man.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I guess what you kind of worry about is kind of uh them coming out very hungry in the situation, you know, very prove it mode, like, hey, where you still belong with the big boys.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and the fans are probably gonna flood that stadium with it being definitely the biggest team coming to town.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_05: Um, so it's gonna be it's gonna be a big game, like atmosphere-wise, I'm sure.
• 55:23
  SPEAKER_05: And obviously it's tough at night and uh you know over there in Pullman.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but I just think we're gonna be going up against a team that's just too depleted.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, we have their best receiver from last year, and it's uh I don't see, I mean, I do see how we could lose.
• 55:37
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, Wyoming showed that to us.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_05: I guess why anybody looking at this game from outside our our fan base says that could be a loss.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, it's justified.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_05: But I I don't I don't witness, I don't do not foresee that happening again with Joey Maguire, and especially against a Washington State team that just went through absolute hell this past uh year.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think this game is going to show you a lot of how this season's gonna go.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_01: If you lose to Washington State, even if it is on the road, um, it's not it, it may not end up being pretty good for you uh at Texas Tech.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: So um yeah, after that, you will return back home for three straight games.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh North Texas to finish off your non-con, which 11 a.m.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: kickoff on FS1.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, playing North Texas, which playing Zach Morris, former Red Raider.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_01: Eric Morris.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_01: Eric Morris shoots.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_01: Eric Morris, the head coach over there at North Texas.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you take care of business.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: I I know it's always kind of a pain to beat one of your former red raiders, uh, but I hope we kill him and his team.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so that uh that ends off in a very easy non-con, all things considered.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_01: It is is uh a non-con where you should end up 3-0, two out of the three at home.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_01: Then you start off conference play with two of the worst teams in the Big 12.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_03: Projected to be.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Arizona State, who was bad uh last year, I think was really, really bad last year.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um now, granted, you know, they were left with not a ton from the Herm Edwards era.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they had to kind of work through a ton of uh stuff with their team.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: They don't quite have the talent, and I think it's gonna take them another few more years to get through this.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_01: So you're really hoping that Arizona State continues the trend that they were on last season and should be an easy win to start the year.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_05: Steven, that is the Steven Rodriguez talking tech reunion for the first time in Lubbock in a many years.
• 57:39
  SPEAKER_05: So let's let's hope it's a uh an obliteration, which I expect it to be.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's gonna be a pretty easy dub.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_05: I am fearful that it might be during the day.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, to the opponent.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just excited to get back to Lubbock.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_01: I have missed that place.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_01: I have not been back since 2020, so this will be the first game back since then, and uh very excited.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: And hopefully we just see a trouncing of the Sun Devils.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um after that, you after that, you remain in Lubbock, Texas for the next week against the Cincinnati Bearcats, who finished last in the Big 12 last year.
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they had a one and eight conference record.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_01: They were bad.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_01: They were bad.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and they've had some guys get hurt this offseason.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_01: Some of the guys that were projected to be uh real dudes on the defensive line are not going to be playing.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they're playing a fairly young quarterback who is the transfer, I believe, from Indiana.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was named the starter.
• 58:33
  SPEAKER_01: I believe he's a sophomore.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_01: So um still youthful.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I just don't believe in Scott Scatterfield.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: I just don't until he until he does something or overperforms expectations somehow.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_01: But um, this should this should be an easy two wins to start off conference play for you.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_05: If you listen to anybody talk uh talk about Big 12 uh football programs, everyone seems to be thinking Cincinnati is the most doomed of all 16, like in the situation that they are in.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_05: Like even Houston that's projected to be dead last, everyone really, really typing up their hire.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_05: I think it was obviously a very strong hire as well.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_05: But Cincinnati looks doomed, and we should absolutely be 5-0 and probably ranked come uh that Monday.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_05: So it's gonna be to be really exciting to see.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_05: And uh, do you think there's any uh chance that there's a Kelsey Mahomes appearance?
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_01: That's a Cincinnati game.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I would I would have to check the Chiefs schedule at this point in the year because I don't know if they're playing the next day or whatever it may be.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it would be it would be cool.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_01: It would be cool if Mahomes dragged Kelsey up to Lubbock, Texas, and uh and uh watched uh their two alma maters play against each other.
• 59:40
  SPEAKER_05: Hopefully an ass beating.
• 59:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, hopefully so.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um after that, you do have your first true test of the season.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, some would consider at Washington State a test.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it is, but it's not as big a test as playing a ranked preseason ranked Arizona team in Tucson.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't feel good about it.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie to you.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, they have a really, really electric quarterback and probably the best returning wide receiver in the Big 12.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um and you just haven't played in Tucson uh, I think since what 2019?
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_01: You have some real bad experiences lately with Arizona.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh when Arizona was down bad and you lost to them.
• 1:00:23
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my Kevin Sumlin.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_01: That was brutal.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_01: I wow that was gonna happen.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_05: Matt Wells was done.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_01: I forgot about that game until right now.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_01: I remember I remember I was on like I was on the tailgate tour at that point for work, and so I was I I rushed back to the hotel to watch that game.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I need to see this.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_01: The Texas Tex playing, and I rushed, and I probably I I probably got I avoided a speeding ticket somehow, but I made it back and just in time to watch us absolutely suck against a terrible Arizona team.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_05: That was awful, dude.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my god.
• 1:01:01
  SPEAKER_05: But um, dude, this will probably be an Arizona team that might have one or two losses on the schedule at this point.
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_05: Like there, there's as ours is very backloaded, they faced some really tough competition at the beginning of the year.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_05: I believe they would have faced off to Utah and Kansas State at this point.
• 1:01:15
  SPEAKER_05: So that is there's a good chance those are both losses because those are some really, really highly talented teams this year.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_05: So they might not be ranked by the time we come to town, but that doesn't make them any less dangerous.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, maybe they'll be a little down on the luck, but uh hopefully we're coming in ranked and feeling good.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_05: So uh well, that's I think that's one we'll have to wait and see more so than anything.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_01: Arizona's Arizona's tough to judge right now because they did they lost Jed Fish.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh he moved on to Washington.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the there's still a lot of talent on this team, but I think uh the unprovenness of the head coach uh coming in from Sam He or San Jose State, I should say, you just don't know.
• 1:01:53
  SPEAKER_01: I think Arizona might be one of the more overrated teams going into this season.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there's no doubt the talent's there.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's just that they can put it together.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, for sure.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_01: So after that, you get your first bye week on the schedule, so you get a little bit of rest, and then you return back home to Lubbock, Texas for your fifth home game in the first seven games uh to play Baylor.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_01: And Baylor I have this weird feeling that Baylor's gonna bounce back a little bit uh and not be complete terrible like they were last year.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but there is absolutely a chance that Baylor could have an interim head coach at this point in the year, and that Baylor could be down bad going into Jones 18T Stadium.
• 1:02:37
  SPEAKER_01: So uh right now I would absolutely project a Texas Tech win.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you know, Baylor again was second to last in the Big 12 last year.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it's hard to judge Baylor.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_05: Like, I mean, from a Baylor fan perspective, I feel like they fall into two camps of they're definitely bouncing back or Aaron is definitely fired.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I am leaning more towards the Baylor fans.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_05: I think it's over.
• 1:02:59
  SPEAKER_05: I I just don't know how Aranda can climb out of this whole uh this hole.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_05: I don't know if he's got a rabbit in the hat right now.
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_05: Um and I think coming to and losing to one of your biggest rivals in Lubbock, I think that's gonna be another nail in the coffin for the guy.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_05: Because I right now I don't see us losing to Baylor.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_01: They do have some returning talent.
• 1:03:19
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta give them, you know, at the skill positions there, they have some pretty decent running backs that are coming back for him.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_01: Monterey Baldwin is a dude uh at receiver, and they have Daquan Finn, who is coming in.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh they're named their starting quarterback, fifth-year senior, experienced guy.
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_01: Apparently, a lot of schools were after him, including like Michigan was after him.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_01: And Baylor just decided to give him the house uh NIL wise.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_01: So they clearly see a lot from this kid, and uh, we'll just have to see.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, they play Utah pretty early in the year in the stupid non-conference game that they're playing.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think you're gonna see a lot of uh from Baylor in that game and see kind of how their season's gonna go.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, totally.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_05: That's a good way to look at it.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 1:04:01
  SPEAKER_01: So after that, dub though dub, uh you believe so.
• 1:04:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh this is where the schedule gets a little difficult.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um not because you're going to Fort Worth, but because you're playing TCU, uh, another rival, two back-to-back rival games um in Fort Worth, TCU, October 26th.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_01: We shall see.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_01: I I think this is a 50-50.
• 1:04:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I I'm with you as well.
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we always have a tough time with TCU.
• 1:04:27
  SPEAKER_05: It's always a very close game.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_05: Most of the time, a very close game.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but our fans show out in Fort Worth, man.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, we're not exactly utter strangers to losing in Fort Worth, so it could absolutely happen.
• 1:04:39
  SPEAKER_05: Um I I guess it'll be a pretty good judgment of where TCU's at with the Dykes experiment, you know.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_05: Like, was it see if it's truly just a one and done situation or if he's there to maintain a solid program.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_05: So that one I'm with you, dude.
• 1:04:52
  SPEAKER_05: I think I would say that's pretty 50-50 as well.
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_01: After that, you go to Ames, Iowa in November.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be cold.
• 1:05:00
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you've won the last two that you've played against the Iowa State Cyclones, uh, one of which Iowa State was absolutely awful.
• 1:05:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think they had their worst year in a long time when you beat them in Ames.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then, you know, you obviously have the uh the 62-yarder John Garrabey game that uh we will always remember.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, you're hoping to get uh keep that streak going and and hopefully beat Iowa State in Ames.
• 1:05:25
  SPEAKER_01: But this is going to be one of your tougher games on the schedule.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I would say it's getting a lot of love for people that know ball.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_05: You know, they they see a very veteran team, and uh obviously a lot of respect is still given to Matt Cam uh Campbell.
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_05: He seems to have earned a lot of uh cachet there.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_05: Um so it'll be it'll be interesting to see, man.
• 1:05:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh I I I I just don't know what Iowa State will be at that point.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_05: Obviously, I think a lot of people are gonna be looking at us thinking the same thing.
• 1:05:49
  SPEAKER_05: So uh, you know, if I've gonna if I'm gonna have to try to find losses, I'd go ahead and pencil that one down.
• 1:05:54
  SPEAKER_05: I mean it'll be a cold game there in November.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_05: Uh so well, I guess we'll have to wait and see.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_01: All I'm gonna say is a lot of people are hyping up Rocco Becht to be like a dude at quarterback for them.
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I just don't know if he's gonna meet those expectations.
• 1:06:10
  SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of people that like him.
• 1:06:11
  SPEAKER_01: And he he's a talented kid.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he showed some stuff last year as a freshman, um, but uh we'll see.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 1:06:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think Iowa State's one of the tougher ones to kind of read going into this year.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_01: Their defense will always be there because it always is.
• 1:06:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and Matt Campbell is a very solid head coach.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um afterwards, you return back home for a game against Dion and the Colorado Buffaloes.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_01: Exciting.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, very exciting.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you're at this game, I think the fan base is going to be rocking uh just with having Dion in town.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see where Colorado's at at this point in the year.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're hoping it's similar to last season where they just completely fell off and are looking at an awful conference record and everything like that.
• 1:06:55
  SPEAKER_01: A down Colorado because they really need to have some hype and some momentum to be good.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_01: I don't believe in Colorado.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not a Colorado believer.
• 1:07:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you'll you'll know that if you listen to the Bear Den pod where we broke all this down, but um I think this is a good opportunity for you to get another dub.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, I just don't know if they're building a program that's capable of winning games in Colorado.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_05: Because I mean, Dion's just doing this super crazy all in on the transfer, hitting the reset button every year sort of playbook.
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_05: So I just don't know if they're ever gonna build enough continuity for it to ever be a strong threat, you know, going forward.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_05: So obviously they're gonna have some talented players, but dude, at home, though, Jones is gonna be rocking because I mean there's a good chance her record's gonna be solid, maybe even ranked.
• 1:07:39
  SPEAKER_05: That uh dude, and it'll probably be at night since it's Colorado and Dion.
• 1:07:44
  SPEAKER_05: So, dude, it's the Jones will not allow the Buffs to walk out with a dub.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_01: I do think uh that Dion is just waiting for that next opportunity.
• 1:07:53
  SPEAKER_01: He's just waiting to see if it's NFL, if it's maybe another college program.
• 1:07:58
  SPEAKER_01: I like I think he's just ready to be out of there and he's gonna follow his son after he goes wherever.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_05: So uh he's gonna win games if he's gonna go somewhere else in college.
• 1:08:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know, man.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_01: I think people still hire hire Dion for who he is.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, but if it's gonna be a step up from Colorado, a mid-range program, like what it would have to be somewhere near the top or blue blood for that to happen.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just not gonna put it past it.
• 1:08:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna put it past it.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_01: I could see Dion being hired by an NFL team after having a season.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_05: Like, I think the old Kingsbury effect, huh?
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_05: The old Kingsbury.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_05: But at least Kingsbury won games, like at least a number.
• 1:08:37
  SPEAKER_01: What?
• 1:08:37
  SPEAKER_01: Wait a minute.
• 1:08:38
  SPEAKER_05: Well, no, I hold on, hang on, hold on, hold on.
• 1:08:41
  SPEAKER_05: Dion what won what how many games last season?
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_05: Four.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, that was never never got that bad with Dev.
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I'm sorry.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_01: Do you remember our freshman year of was that four wins?
• 1:08:53
  SPEAKER_01: We won four games in 2014.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_05: I I guess my memory is just Yeah.
• 1:08:59
  SPEAKER_01: Not looking good.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_01: You're almost 30, dude.
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_01: You're forgetting.
• 1:09:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh no, I I still don't know how Cliff Kingsbury was hired as a head coach.
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_05: Well, yeah, I'm not saying it was rational, but I'm saying at least he had speed.
• 1:09:14
  SPEAKER_05: That's what I'm saying.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't need to be rational.
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't need to be rational for Dion to get a head coaching job at the NFL.
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 1:09:20
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't need to.
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_01: There's always stupid people out there.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_05: You can see like the Browns being like, let's just get some hype in here and hire Dion, you know.
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_05: Like Colorado, it will always be a smart hire from Colorado.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_05: I don't care.
• 1:09:32
  SPEAKER_05: I don't care.
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_01: Dare, dare I say Dallas Cowboys head coach Dion Sanders.
• 1:09:39
  SPEAKER_05: At that point, I feel like Cowboy fans would be like, eliminate.
• 1:09:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, stop it.
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of Cowboys fans would be in.
• 1:09:46
  SPEAKER_01: They'd be like, I know for sure.
• 1:09:48
  SPEAKER_05: You're right.
• 1:09:49
  SPEAKER_05: You're right.
• 1:09:49
  SPEAKER_05: You're you're absolutely correct.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Cowboys fans, you guys are a miserable bunch.
• 1:09:55
  SPEAKER_05: But uh speaking of Cowboys.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_01: Speaking of Cowboys, we go to Stillwater, Oklahoma, November 23rd.
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_05: Is going to make a step there.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_01: There is a bye week in between Colorado and Oklahoma State.
• 1:10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we are both hoping to get to this game in Stillwater uh for Oklahoma State.
• 1:10:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think to me at least, this is your least likely win this season.
• 1:10:18
  SPEAKER_01: On the whole schedule?
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_01: On the whole schedule.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_01: And some people might think it's Arizona, some people might think it might be West Virginia to end the year.
• 1:10:25
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 1:10:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I think going to Stillwater is never fun.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_01: And Oklahoma State is a tough game no matter who you're playing.
• 1:10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's just I don't know what I would do.
• 1:10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I don't know how I'm gonna feel playing Alan Bowman in Stillwater.
• 1:10:43
  SPEAKER_05: You know, uh I just feel like with TechStech, when we go to Stillwater, a lot of it's been bad luck, you know.
• 1:10:49
  SPEAKER_05: Like we look at the last time with Baron Morton and the Patrick Mahomes games instead of Stillwater, just it just feels like we've been this close oftentimes there.
• 1:10:58
  SPEAKER_05: And I think if we're rolling, there's of course a chance, but I'm with you.
• 1:11:01
  SPEAKER_05: If you look at like most likely the L's, it's gotta be this one.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 1:11:06
  SPEAKER_01: I just looking at the schedule right now, I think Oklahoma State is pre preseason ranked like 16 or 17, something like that.
• 1:11:13
  SPEAKER_01: So um, and then they're gonna be good.
• 1:11:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, they don't Alan Bowman did not have a stellar year last year, and they were still in the Big 12 championship game.
• 1:11:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like right, they have the pieces around him to be successful, and it's always gonna be the guys around the quarterback that are gonna make this team go.
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_01: So Gundy never has a bad team.
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, no, no, no.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it is nice that you get a bye week right before this.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you do get a little a little chance to get your get your team healthy and and rested and ready to go before you go to Stillwater.
• 1:11:45
  SPEAKER_01: But um, the last game of the season, back to Lubbock.
• 1:11:49
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you started off the season in Lubbock, you're going to end the season off in Lubbock uh against the West Virginia Mountaineers, who much like Iowa State, much like Arizona, I don't really know what West Virginia is gonna do this year.
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if they're gonna be good, like real good, like Big 12 champion good, or if they're gonna be just like a middle of the pack, like maybe four wins in conference type of team.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I really don't know what I'm getting out of West Virginia this year.
• 1:12:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just really happy this game's in Levick.
• 1:12:20
  SPEAKER_05: This is the biggest wild card that uh all the talking heads are are talking about in the Big 12.
• 1:12:25
  SPEAKER_05: People seem to keep coming back to West Virginia, if not maybe Iowa State or UCF, but feels like more times than not, it keeps coming back to uh West Virginia.
• 1:12:34
  SPEAKER_05: And I'm with you, man.
• 1:12:35
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's kind of a head scratcher in the sense of uh uh you know what they are actually going to give.
• 1:12:41
  SPEAKER_05: Like, was Neil Brown just really successful last year with good luck and being having his back to the wall, you know, and just really uh putting his nose down and figuring it out.
• 1:12:51
  SPEAKER_05: And now that he has a comfy extension, does it kind of lull again?
• 1:12:54
  SPEAKER_05: I I'm not sure, man.
• 1:12:56
  SPEAKER_05: So, but it's in Lubbock and it's our final game.
• 1:12:58
  SPEAKER_05: So I think it no matter how good they are, that at least puts us hopefully near equal footing.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I don't know if it's just my personality or what, but when a quarterback is getting like a ton of hype going into the season um on a on a team that could potentially not be that great, like I I feel similar.
• 1:13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think Garrett Green's gonna be good.
• 1:13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not trying to, and he was good last year.
• 1:13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm not trying to say that he's not a good quarterback, but he is getting a lot of hype, as is Rocco Becked at Iowa State.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I I don't know if it's just a natural thing for me to push back on that sort of hype, but um, I I think Garrett Green's gonna be good and they have a really solid running back duo.
• 1:13:37
  SPEAKER_01: So uh I think West Virginia will be at least formidable at this point in the year.
• 1:13:41
  SPEAKER_05: You know, it's interesting.
• 1:13:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, I'm looking at the athletics tiers of Big 12 teams uh here in the preseason.
• 1:13:48
  SPEAKER_05: Um, they have a lot of teams in the first tier, they have six teams in tier one and only four in the tier two.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, but they put us at the top of tier two here.
• 1:13:57
  SPEAKER_05: So um Tex uh it's Texas Tech, TCU, West Virginia, and UTF.
• 1:14:02
  SPEAKER_05: So I kind of like that grouping because I I whenever I'm looking at this schedule, dude, at the end of the day, I don't know.
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_05: I think it might be a failure if you don't end with eight wins because I just think the schedule does you way too many favors because you should absolutely start the year with five straight wins.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_05: So you only have to win three more after that to reach eight.
• 1:14:26
  SPEAKER_05: But and obviously we're all hoping for more.
• 1:14:28
  SPEAKER_05: So I really hope that the beginning of the season acts as a springboard um and just gets a ball humming down the road, you know?
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_01: When I look at the schedule, it's more about what I don't see.
• 1:14:39
  SPEAKER_01: I don't see Utah, I don't see Kansas State, I don't see UCF, I don't see Kansas.
• 1:14:46
  SPEAKER_01: That is five four?
• 1:14:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's four of the top six projected to win the Big 12 right now by most betting platforms.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um you have two ranked games on the schedule right now, and Arizona, like you mentioned earlier, could absolutely not be ranked by the time you're playing them.
• 1:15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Same could be said for Oklahoma State.
• 1:15:09
  SPEAKER_01: Your schedule's there.
• 1:15:10
  SPEAKER_01: This is a chance and a really, really good opportunity.
• 1:15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the only thing that's pushing us back right now is history, the last 15 years.
• 1:15:21
  SPEAKER_01: But this is a new team, this is a new year, this is a new everything's new.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you hang on to the past, like yeah, you're not gonna do well.
• 1:15:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I don't know if Joey's gonna have this team in that mentality.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think that mentality was absolutely the case with a Matt Wells coach team and even a Kingsbury coach team, where these guys kind of let the reality of the situation hit them, more as you need to be overconfident and you need to be ready to go.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I think uh I think Joey will put him in a good spot.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_01: So um, yeah, man, exciting football season.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's here.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_05: Heck yeah, dude.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_05: 100%, man.
• 1:15:57
  SPEAKER_05: It's it's always an exciting time, dude.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_05: I cannot wait for Saturday.
• 1:16:00
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it's it's the best time of year, is it not?
• 1:16:03
  SPEAKER_05: So I'm just excited to see uh how we roll out this year, just you know, wash away the bad memories of last year and get us rolling to the promised land that we are expecting.
• 1:16:13
  SPEAKER_05: I mean, it's year three.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_05: Every single uh talking head would always say that year three is the make or break year for head coaches.
• 1:16:20
  SPEAKER_05: So not saying that it's it's it's absolutely a done deal with with with uh with McGuire if it doesn't pan out the way we want it to, but it's absolutely time to start showing your stuff and like it what you're capable of.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_01: All right, two minutes on UConn of the Big 12.
• 1:16:35
  SPEAKER_01: Go.
• 1:16:35
  SPEAKER_05: Two minutes.
• 1:16:36
  SPEAKER_05: Okay, two minutes.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_05: All right, dude.
• 1:16:39
  SPEAKER_05: So yeah, as you just mentioned, UConn is getting a whole lot of smoke uh towards joining the Big 12 um in all sports, minus football, minus the football would be pushed off about 10 years to uh 2031, according to all reports.
• 1:16:54
  SPEAKER_05: And it's so real that Big 12 presidents are reportedly actually meeting up and talking about it, having meetings about its value um and uh the value they can bring to the table.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_05: And I think I think I just want to walk into this and say, I wouldn't hate it.
• 1:17:10
  SPEAKER_05: You know, then we're talking about the most basketball national championships in uh the century, and you're talking about uh a pro a univers, a big university, a big state university uh in the New York area that has a lot of good programs outside of that.
• 1:17:25
  SPEAKER_05: So obviously football's a mess, but um, that's why you give them that that six that seven-year period to kind of figure things out um before they finally become your new old Kansas.
• 1:17:37
  SPEAKER_05: So uh what are your first thoughts on it, dude?
• 1:17:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um as a fan, I if we add them cool, if we don't add them cool.
• 1:17:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like I don't I I I don't really see a need for it, like on it on its base.
• 1:17:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't think you need to add Yukon right now.
• 1:17:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think anybody is looking to add Yukon right now, except for the Big 12.
• 1:18:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know if you're bidding against anybody.
• 1:18:03
  SPEAKER_01: I kind of tend to lean more on that line of thinking than I do on like gun ho on Yukon to the Big 12.
• 1:18:10
  SPEAKER_01: But, you know, it's not it like it's absolutely an addition for basketball.
• 1:18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like you're getting uh the best program in the country over the last 30 years in college basketball.
• 1:18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, back-to-back national champions, everything of that nature, um, which would be interesting and would definitely hype up your basketball more.
• 1:18:31
  SPEAKER_01: But uh, like you said, they add virtually nothing to football right now.
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_01: Who's to say what they could provide in the future?
• 1:18:38
  SPEAKER_01: I know UConn has had some years in the past where they've had a competent football team, but um, yeah, I mean, I just don't I don't see a real need for it right now.
• 1:18:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but if it happens, it happens.
• 1:18:49
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's ride.
• 1:18:51
  SPEAKER_05: I think um the biggest concern people would have about adding Yukon is perhaps, and now maybe this is an antiquated way of looking at it is are you taking slots away from ACC teams?
• 1:19:04
  SPEAKER_05: Because there's obviously a very real, very strong feeling that we will be adding ACC teams, and I believe it, dude.
• 1:19:11
  SPEAKER_05: I I think the writing's on the wall that eventually there will be ACC teams coming to this Big 12 conference.
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_05: Um, and I guess the other question you throw back on is you know, if so Yukon is valuable enough, but uh Washington State and Oregon State aren't valuable enough.
• 1:19:25
  SPEAKER_05: So you're just your your mind kind of goes in different directions here on it.
• 1:19:29
  SPEAKER_05: Um, but obviously the uh the the biggest goal here is that your mark seems utterly obsessed with this idea of disconnecting basketball from the rest of sports and selling it to as a different package uh in a in a bid to expand the value of the Big 12.
• 1:19:49
  SPEAKER_05: And obviously adding Yukon would be an easy slice of that.
• 1:19:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it may, it may be thinking way ahead, man.
• 1:19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like it may, it may be a big brain move from your mark to do that and sell Big 12 basketball as a different thing.
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, I I I just don't really see a need for it right now.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no, I I feel it, man.
• 1:20:09
  SPEAKER_05: Especially, especially with what's coming down the pipe with the ACC.
• 1:20:12
  SPEAKER_05: I'm sure that's what the Big 12 is kind of saying back to Yukon.
• 1:20:16
  SPEAKER_05: That, you know, like we are we're kind of waiting.
• 1:20:18
  SPEAKER_05: Maybe we'll get you some travel buddies, wink wink, or you know, straight up the the travel buddies are more of they kick you off the off the truck tomorrow.
• 1:20:26
  SPEAKER_05: But but uh but yeah, dude, I I I'm with you, man.
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_05: I I I do think it would be exciting to watch the the the most successful program of the century come to Lubbock, but at the same time, that also makes your road that much harder, too.
• 1:20:39
  SPEAKER_05: So, like you're yeah, you're that's battling another behemoth on the on the hardwood that we we already got plenty of those in the Big 12.
• 1:20:46
  SPEAKER_01: The road's already hard.
• 1:20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh you know, why not?
• 1:20:50
  SPEAKER_01: Why not one more?
• 1:20:51
  SPEAKER_01: All right, we've we've exceeded our two minutes on Yukon.
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, let's finish her off here with Song of the Week and then let's go watch some football this weekend.
• 1:20:59
  SPEAKER_01: How about you?
• 1:21:00
  SPEAKER_05: Yes, sir.
• 1:21:00
  SPEAKER_05: So my song of the week, dude, it's it's plain as day, the only choice.
• 1:21:05
  SPEAKER_05: It's whole lot of lubbock by William Far Green.
• 1:21:08
  SPEAKER_05: Just a new anthem for everyone in Lubbock and Red Raider alums alike.
• 1:21:13
  SPEAKER_05: So it's just definitely gonna be one of those game day drinking songs with the best line easily being I ain't raising me no Aggie, I ain't paying for UT.
• 1:21:22
  SPEAKER_05: Still got a whole lot of Lubbock left in me.
• 1:21:25
  SPEAKER_05: And I know tons of Texas Tech fans are gonna just tattoo that to their chest because that is absolutely the truth.
• 1:21:43
  SPEAKER_01: Good call, good call.
• 1:21:44
  SPEAKER_01: This is a good song.
• 1:21:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's a banger, obviously.
• 1:21:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, uh it's an anthem to start off the year.
• 1:21:50
  SPEAKER_01: We love to see it.
• 1:21:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my song of the week will be similar to this, uh, not quite a banger per se, but definitely a good song, and the theme fits.
• 1:22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my song of the week is going to be Coming Home by Leon Bridges, because we are coming home to Lubbock, Texas.
• 1:22:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's the start of football season, it's feeling good outside.
• 1:22:10
  SPEAKER_01: This is more of a smooth jam.
• 1:22:11
  SPEAKER_01: This was actually like the anniversary dance at my wedding.
• 1:22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, so the song is uh very near and dear to my heart, but it's also uh just a really good, really good song, easy listening that is Coming Home, Leon Bridges.
• 1:22:26
  SPEAKER_02: Baby, baby, baby.
• 1:22:30
  SPEAKER_02: Coming home to the Tinder.
• 1:22:38
  SPEAKER_05: I know that you that you're just kind of repeating over and over again that you're coming home to Lubbock for the first time in years.
• 1:22:43
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 1:22:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I thought about I thought about holding off.
• 1:22:46
  SPEAKER_01: I thought about holding off until Arizona State Week to do it, but I was like, no, we're here, let's do it.
• 1:22:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's Lubbock, Texas.
• 1:22:53
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna see him on Saturday.
• 1:22:54
  SPEAKER_01: So uh excited, man.
• 1:22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Hell yeah, man.
• 1:22:56
  SPEAKER_01: Take us home.
• 1:22:58
  SPEAKER_01: All righty.
• 1:22:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, you can follow both me and Tristan on Twitter.
• 1:23:01
  SPEAKER_01: Tristan's at Tristy Mick.
• 1:23:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm at L underscore S underscore Rodriguez.
• 1:23:04
  SPEAKER_01: Follow the pod on Twitter at talking tech pod um and Instagram as well.
• 1:23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, songs week playlist, Spotify, Apple Music, now including a whole lot of Lubbock and Coming Home by Leon Bridges.
• 1:23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we appreciate all you guys listening.
• 1:23:18
  SPEAKER_01: We are excited to get back into podcasting mode and back on the grind here for football season.
• 1:23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Let's go, baby.
• 1:23:26
  SPEAKER_01: Always Wrecum Tech.
• 1:23:28
  SPEAKER_06: We're back, Wrecum.
• 1:23:30
  SPEAKER_06: Uh wow.
• 1:23:31
  SPEAKER_06: First of all, uh got a lot of respect for Steven and Tristan.
• 1:23:36
  SPEAKER_06: Uh their program, tough guys, just uh a lot of fun.
• 1:23:41
  SPEAKER_07: This is wild.
• 1:23:42
  SPEAKER_07: When I walked in and I knew this would be an awesome podcast.
• 1:23:48
  SPEAKER_07: And these guys have been tremendous.
• 1:23:51
  SPEAKER_07: I love you, and I can't wait for this journey.
• 1:23:53
  SPEAKER_07: I would like to thank uh Steven and Tristan.
• 1:23:56
  SPEAKER_07: This is incredible.
• 1:23:57
  SPEAKER_07: These guys have a passion and a love for this school.