Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Dishin' with Devon: Dampier on Saturday's Holy War vs BYU, Team's focus going into it, Concerned about 3Q lulls (?) + more

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Dishin' with Devon: Dampier on Saturday's Holy War vs BYU, Team's focus going into it, Concerned about 3Q lulls (?) + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: It's time to talk to Utah quarterback Devin Dampier. This
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: is Dishing with Devin on the Sean O'Connell Show. Brought
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: to you by Colligan Water, Salt Lake City, America First
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Credit Union, and Valley Plumbing, Heating and Cooling. Now here's
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: OC with Ute Star signal caller Devin Dampier on your
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: home of the Utes and your home for football. ESPN 792.1 FM.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Speaker 0 7, 0 Holy war week here on the
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Sean O'Connell show edition with dev. I've been looking forward
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: to this for weeks and weeks and weeks.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: And we are here.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Eight.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: No Utah football looking to go nine and oh, against
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the Cougs this weekend, QB number one brought to you
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: by Culligan water assault, lake city, America first credit union
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: and Valley plumbing, heating, and cooling Devin damp here.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: How you feeling?
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: Feeling great.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: Feeling great.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Another week.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: It is another week.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: You all have to treat it like another week while
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: also understanding that it's not just any other week. How
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: do you manage that balance in your mind and in
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: practice and with this team?
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is how we've been
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: going about it like every week, honestly. I tell everyone,
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: you know, we go every week like it's the championship
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: game just because, you know, we've seen where two good
• 1:18
  Speaker 5: losses took us last year.
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: So we can't.
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: We try not to afford to lose games because we
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: can see how that can fully direct your outcome in
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: the playoffs.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: It's huge for us to get a win every single weekend.
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: This is the game. This is the week.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: I'm getting ahead of myself here. Before we look forward
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: to BYU, we've got to look back at Cincinnati. There
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: was a lot of conversation locally and nationally about this
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: is the trap game.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: This is the look ahead spot.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: And it's also the emotional hangover spot after a big
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: one against Houston, kind of a nightmare matchup. They're coming
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: off a big win over Texas tech. And you guys
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: just took them behind the woodshed, but you tell me
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: how it was in practice on the plane. going into
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: that game, like the mindset of yourself and this team
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: and how you were able to run up 42 points
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: in the first half.
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Um, man, then like no disrespect at all.
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: I just, we, us as a team, we felt it
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: pretty disrespectful that, um, we were upset of the week,
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: possibly we're high alert and all this stuff. And we
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: just kind of looked at that, like that. And I guess,
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: you know, somehow Utah never gets its respect somehow. So,
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: it's another week where, you know, we had to go
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: ahead and, you know, show who we are. And I thought,
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: you know, that was one of the best starts we've had,
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: just talking both sides of the ball where, you know,
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: we're fully, things are going good on both sides.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: So it was good to feel that, good to see it.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: Things were going well on both sides of the ball.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Scoring drive after scoring drive for you guys offensively. And also,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: Scooby gives you a touchdown. Rabbit gives you a touchdown.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: Your defense scoring for you. I mean, everything going right
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: and just, you know, as it's unfolding, I imagine, right,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: even as optimistic as you were, as confident as you were,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: I imagine you're sitting there watching this, looking at the
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: scoreboard end of the first quarter, early second quarter, and
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: you're like, wow, we're really putting on these guys already.
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 3:23
  Speaker 5: I was like, yeah, we're just, you know, normally you
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: don't score one drive, but it was this The way
• 3:31
  Speaker 5: we're working, we're working. McG was calling good plays. A
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: lot of big plays were happening. So, yeah, it was
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: just like one of those, like, man, is this how
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: good we can be when we're all executing?
• 3:44
  Speaker 4: Like, this is what's up.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: So, I appreciate you guys because sometimes you make me
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: look smarter than I am because we were talking about
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: it on Thursday and Friday last week. I was like, okay,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: we've had, like, Devin's had his big games, kind of
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: every game.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Way.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Sean's had a couple of huge games. Pagans had breakout games.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: We saw Ricky have a good game. Noah Benny had
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: a big breakout game. And I was like, is there
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: anyone left that is going to be a breakout star
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: on this offense? Cause I mean, you're in week seven,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: week eight, you kind of know who you are at
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: that point, but we haven't seen Bray really jump off
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: the page yet. And then Hunter Andrews has the monster
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: game that he had against Cincinnati. So are there still
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: bullets left in the gun? Like, are we going to
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: see the Daniel Bray breakout game still? I mean, first
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: tell me, was that always part of the game plan
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: or did it just happen that way with Hunter Andrews?
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: Yeah. Um, I think Hunter was one of those guys where,
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: you know, I just kind of brought it up in
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: our QB room. Just like we need to start finding
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: a way to get hunted a ball. Like it's somehow
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: good things always happen. Hunter has the ball in his hands. And, uh,
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: you know, as we were able to dial up some
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: things to find him getting the ball, I mean, he,
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: He took full advantage of his opportunities. And then Bray,
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: I mean, you know, he's back of the way. We
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: know it's way's year. But, man, every time Bray gets
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: in there, he's definitely making his showcase when he's out
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: there as well. And just talking to him this week,
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: he was like, man, I had a show against BYU.
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: That was kind of my upcoming game. So, hopefully I
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: can get in that box again. Yeah. So, I mean,
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: he has all the confidence in the world. I'm happy
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: both those guys got, you know, their game to shine.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I shouldn't say that we're still waiting on Daniel Bray.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's having a great season as a backup
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: in his limited touches. He's seven and a half yards
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: of carry. When he catches the ball, he does well
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: with that. So we're getting real picky on it now,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: but that's what you do when a team is 8-0.
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Speaking of 8-0, ranked number three in the country now
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: in both the AP and the college football playoff poll.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: And I know you can't stay too focused on that,
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: but take me back to like junior year of high school,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Devin Dampier.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: And someone comes up, says I'm from the future.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: And in 2026, you're going to be a starting quarterback
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: for the number three ranked undefeated team in the country.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: If you're a big vision board guy or something, but,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: but this is like wildest dreams type stuff for a
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: young player.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: And here you are.
• 6:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah, no, this is something like, You grow up as
• 6:18
  Speaker 5: something you've always wanted, and it's just kind of crazy.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: It's here.
• 6:24
  Speaker 5: We're living in it right now. Definitely something really cool,
• 6:28
  Speaker 5: a big achievement. The biggest thing for me is let's
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: make it bigger than where we're at right now. Let's
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: continue to find ways to be better and possibly be
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: the best team Utah has ever had.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: First half against Cincinnati, monster performance, 42 points. They don't
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: score a touchdown in the first half. And I know
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: that we're getting real, real picky about these things.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: But second half.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: A little bit slower of a performance on both sides
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: of the ball for you all.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Some mistakes started to show themselves.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: We came in on Monday and there are people, you know,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: I always ask people, what did you love?
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: What did you hate?
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: And it's always the same. Every game is the same thing.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: What's going on in the third quarter. You and I
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: have had this conversation.
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: Is the answer any different this week? I think, yeah,
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: I think we took a couple of guys out are
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: just limited. A couple of playing is of some of
• 7:29
  Speaker 5: our starters. Just, I mean, we're up by the.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: Game is decided, even though you can't like say that
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: at halftime.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: It's over, but you can't like Morgan Scali. Can't say
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: that you can't be as a starting quarterback. You can't
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: be like, all right, I'm, I'm leaving. I'm going to
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: go get a hamburger.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: But you have to manage that whole thing.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: And that's why I wasn't really worried about it, but yeah,
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: it is something that people raise their eyebrows about because
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: maybe it's a more fair way to say this. I
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: think we're still waiting on a game where it's great football,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: all four quarters on both sides of the ball from Utah.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: Is that fair?
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I guess that's fair to say in a way. But, yeah,
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: I think, you know, I think Wayne Bray didn't play
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: the second half. We limited some of our receiver reps, too.
• 8:17
  Speaker 5: Started letting the other guys get in. But, I mean,
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: I thought we did pretty solid. We just didn't convert
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: the best on those third downs that we had. We
• 8:26
  Speaker 5: had one interception that happens. I always take responsibility for it.
• 8:32
  Speaker 5: I know you were mad on that one. I always
• 8:34
  Speaker 5: take responsibility for it. And yeah. And then, you know, Hunter, Hunter,
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: we were able to match back and let Hunter get
• 8:42
  Speaker 5: a deep ball.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: So, Speaker 0 7, 0 7, 1, and most importantly,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: as we've been talking about all week, 49 25 is
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: built to behind that. It's still a whooping and that
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: is an undefeated Utah football team. And that sets the
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: stage for the biggest Holy war game in history. Never
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: before have these, these two teams matched up when both
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: are ranked inside the top 10. undefeated utah one lost
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: byu there's been plenty of great matchups in this one
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: where you know it's a mountain west conference championship game
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: basically even though they didn't have them back in the
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: day or it's last year was huge as you're well
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: aware this is on paper the biggest one ever what
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: are you seeing from byu what are you seeing in
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: film from that cougars.
• 9:26
  Speaker 5: Defense yeah um you know i think they always have
• 9:29
  Speaker 5: guys over there they always have uh guys that's ready
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: to hit you know they're As much physical as we are,
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: you know, they also go by that lingo, too, throughout
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: their years.
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, I think we're having a pretty great matchup game.
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: I mean, you can't build up this game any more
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: than where it's at right now. So I'm just excited,
• 9:52
  Speaker 5: you know, they're coming to our stadium this time. I
• 9:54
  Speaker 5: got to see what it was like there, and now
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: we get to host it.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: You do get to host it. We've already talked about
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: the fact. that it's at 10 a.m. Are you waking
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: up earlier all week this week to try to get
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: your body used to it?
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: Yep, yep.
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: We got some mandatory breakfast and things like that just
• 10:10
  Speaker 5: so our guys are learning how to feel their bodies
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: before the game and not testing anything new on game day.
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: Make sure we have a consistent thing going on.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: Aside from the personnel, the physicality, they're just, they're a
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: talented team, right? Do they do anything unique that you
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: have not seen from any other teams? Is there anything
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: schematically when, when they're out there that, or maybe there's
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: a guy that can do special things. You're, you're now
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: eight games into the season. So you've seen a bunch
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: of different looks. Are they doing anything special?
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: Um, I mean, I, I think every defense has somewhat
• 10:49
  Speaker 5: of their own wrinkle into it, but at the end
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: of the day, we've got to play one of the coverages.
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: Everything you see is stuff I've already gone against before.
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: It's just how they decide to disguise it, where they
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: decide to hide their lesser guys or where they want
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: their bigger guys to be able to cover. I guess
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: that's kind of how defenses work in my mind.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: Devin Dampier is our guest here.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Edition with Deb brought to you by Culligan Water of
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: Salt Lake City, America First Credit Union and Valley Plumbing,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Heating and Cooling. So for everyone else, this week is
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: very different than all the other game weeks, right? My
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: wife comes from a BYU family, so we're trash talking
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: in the house.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: It's like, you know, the neighborhood is different.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: You go to the grocery store and you see somebody
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: wearing blue, the reaction is different. Like it's, it's a
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: rivalry week and it's one of the great rivalries in
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: the country. As you're keeping your routine, what it's supposed
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: to be like, is there anything else? Do you hear
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: people yelling out the window in their cars at you
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: or anything like, have you felt any difference this week?
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: Because it is rivalry week.
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: I mean, I normally don't be out too much during
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: the season anyway, so I don't think there's a lot
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: of opportunities for them to catch me outside of walking
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: in the facility and walking out.
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: But yeah, that's probably about it. They're parked over there waiting.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: When he gets out.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, come on. When he gets out, I'm going to
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: yell something. Not a swear word, but a fake one
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: at him.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: So, so not so much.
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: Yep.
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: I've been good. I've been good.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: You stay off social media for the most part during
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: this time of year.
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: So you're not seeing any of the chirping back and forth.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: It's fun for me.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: Cause we did, I did this thing on the show
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: yesterday and we're going to talk more about it as
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: the week progresses, the blind stack comparisons. I've taken the
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: running back room, the wide receiver room, the quarterbacks, and
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: just put the stats up and said, which of these
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: would you rather have? Because we came into the year
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: with like an expectation of, offensive line, question marks, defensive line,
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: who knows.
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: And then now we're eight games in and we were
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: seeing how it's playing out. So it's been really interesting
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: to see. And I know the game's not played in
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: stack comparisons or on paper. It's really interesting to see
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: how these two teams stack up. And it's like, there's
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: a lot of similarities and more similarities and differences.
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: It's kind of like with Houston where it's an evenly
• 13:23
  Speaker 3: matched game. Is that how you perceive it?
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure. I think, you know, there's, They're in
• 13:27
  Speaker 5: that caliber. Again, they're number seven in the nation for
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: a reason. So, yeah, I think it's going to be
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: a similar environment to Houston. I mean, Houston was a
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: well-rounded team as well. So it'll be a good test
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: for us, good test for them.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: The lore of this rivalry goes back years and years
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: and years. Your head coach, Morgan Scali, is making the
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: rounds again on social media with his thoughts about BYU today.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: As a player.
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: And he handled the press conference this week as well
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: as anyone can and said, look, we want to beat them,
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: but there's no real hate or whatever.
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: Back in those days when he's a player, right. And
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: he's standing up in front of a grainy camera, not
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: even HD. It says what he says, right? Like it's
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: a passionate take. And I know you just barely saw
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: that for the first time.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: .
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: .
• 14:22
  Speaker 5: I mean, we're in a
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: different generation now. I don't think, you know, it's not
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: like the hate, at least the physical hate. Like, I
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: just want to grab another player and just strangle him. Like,
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: it's not that, but the rival aspect of it, I mean,
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: neither of us want to lose. Like, this game definitely
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: holds some weight in this state where kind of until
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: next year you get to carry on.
• 14:51
  Speaker 4: Wearing red or blue. You know what I mean?
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: How much attention did you pay to the first college
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: football playoff ranking coming out? Cause I know you're supposed
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: to one week at a time. It's the routine, but
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: it's like, it's the first rankings. It's the first rankings
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: that actually matter. And it gives you some insight into
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: the committee's thoughts.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: You all are number three. Did you pay attention?
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Um, I definitely seen it. It's, it's cool. It's cool.
• 15:16
  Speaker 5: It's for me, it's just like, we're not there yet. So, uh,
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: I don't want, I don't want to get too excited.
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: I don't want to get, To let that stuff get
• 15:26
  Speaker 5: to me, like, we still got four more games to play.
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: So definitely got things to close out before, you know,
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: that ranking fully matters.
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: You are now the leading rushing quarterback in Utah football history.
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: You needed, like, what, 28 yards or something against Cincinnati
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: in order to stand alone at the top of those
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: record books. But your name is in the Utah record
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: books as the best rushing quarterback in program history.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: What does that mean to you?
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: Man, it means a lot. That's pretty sick to just
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: have that. Shout out both my coaches. Having Beck last
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: year and having McGiven this year, I think they allowed
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: me to be who I am on the field. The
• 16:10
  Speaker 5: team was supportive. We got on the plane. Big Al
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: announced it to the team. It was pretty cool, though,
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: that those guys are behind me and congratulated me on
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: that accolade.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: I know that it's probably getting tired because we've talked
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: about it every single week. But once again, this offensive line,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: even down Kelvin Obot, who unfortunately we learned is now
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: out for the rest of the season. So down one
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: of the better players, one of the better athletes on
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: this offensive line against Cincinnati, who maybe isn't the best
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: defense you face, but they got bodies, right? They played
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: an incredible game, especially an incredible first half again. And now...
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: we're three quarters of the way through a season and
• 16:53
  Speaker 2: any questions that anyone has about what this group is
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: capable of, I think have to go away. I mean, just,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: just talk about, I mean, there was on one away,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: Sean's big runs. He didn't get touched until the free safe, right?
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: That was nobody, right? I mean, these guys, these guys
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: are killing it right now.
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt.
• 17:10
  Speaker 5: You know, zero, he gets a lot of attention right now,
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: him possibly being a first rounder, you know, huge congrats
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: to him. And, just the rest of the guys. I mean,
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: I feel like there's not that far of a drop off.
• 17:20
  Speaker 5: If you keep going down, a lot of them are
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: performing at, you know, their best for, for them to
• 17:25
  Speaker 5: have to sit behind, you know, the last year group
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: guys for so long and be able to finally get
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: in there. You know, I think they were able to
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: learn a lot and then apply it to their own way. And,
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: you know, the physical aspect is probably the biggest thing
• 17:38
  Speaker 5: that goes on in those trenches. And I think just
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: being a youth, you know, you're going to carry every
• 17:43
  Speaker 5: aspect of being tough and being able to finish and,
• 17:47
  Speaker 5: go longer than the guy in front of you.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: From a numbers standpoint, the BYU defensive front, very solid.
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: Every game, the battle in the trenches matters a lot.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: It mattered a ton last year. It matters a ton
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: again this year. They've got a lot of talent in
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: their front four, and the rotation is really like seven guys.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: They're all talented.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: When you look at that particular matchup, your old line
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: versus their defensive front, how do you see it?
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I guess my mindset is, you know, the way
• 18:20
  Speaker 5: I'm able to play is, you know, I believe my
• 18:23
  Speaker 5: guys are going to protect me at all costs. And,
• 18:26
  Speaker 5: you know, when they do mess up, that's why I
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: got my legs. I'm able to recover when, you know,
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: the defense is allowed to be good too. You know,
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: we can't be perfect every single play. And, yeah, you know,
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: I take that on my responsibility to, you know, bail
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: them out at times.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: And, yeah.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Do you ever perceive a matchup as like– you're going
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: against the defense, but you're dueling against the production of
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: the opposing quarterback. And obviously bear Bachmeier and you have
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: a lot of similarities. He's good with his feet. He can,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: he's getting a lot better as a passer. Morgan said
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: that in his press conference. I don't know if you
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: heard that comment.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: And you know, there again, more similarities than differences between
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: the way that you two guys play. Do you ever
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: view it as like a duel? I got out, do
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: that guy.
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean, I think there's a bit of, that
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: every game, you know, I think every quarterback and you,
• 19:20
  Speaker 5: you love to be in those games too. Uh, you know, I've,
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: I've ran into bear a couple of times this year and, uh,
• 19:25
  Speaker 5: a lot of respect for him.
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: Uh, same.
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: He has a lot of respect for me. You know, that's,
• 19:31
  Speaker 5: we vocalize that. And, um, yeah, I think it's cool that,
• 19:34
  Speaker 5: you know, you get to go against another quarterback and
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: be like, all right, like, let's see who has the
• 19:38
  Speaker 5: better day kind of today. So, um, but it's a,
• 19:41
  Speaker 5: it's a cool, it's a healthy relationship. You know, I,
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: I do rock with bear, but, um, Yeah, this game
• 19:47
  Speaker 5: I'm going to have to rock with the youth a
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: little bit harder.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: All right, I'm knocking on wood, I'm throwing salt, I'm
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: doing all the superstitious stuff when I bring this up,
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: but you all have managed to remain relatively healthy this season,
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: and we talked about that before the season began.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: We talked about it a couple times already.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: A lot of people are giving credit to Coach Saunders
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: and the program in the weight room and things like that.
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: From what we can see, you appear to be avoiding
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: a lot of the wear and tear, the bumps and bruises.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: I'm not telling you to out yourself here, but.
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: Just talk to me about the overall health of this
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: team and the fact that we haven't had to bring
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: up the injury bug as much this year.
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think, you know, I think Scali went into, like,
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: him being a head coach, I think he went in
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: a lot into analytics and what shows proof of, preserving injuries.
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: And stuff like that.
• 20:39
  Speaker 5: So we made our workouts all intentional for every position to, uh,
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: you know, prevent injury. You know, we're, we're doing a
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: lot of stuff for the receiver's knees like ACL. So
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: they're preventing that stuff and same offensive line. So I
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: think everything's been so, um, directed in, in a direction where,
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: you know, we could be at this point, uh, even
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: tracking how much we're running every week, how much our
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: bodies are taking every week, you know, that's being tracked
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: just to make sure we feel healthy for game days.
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: Bruises happen. I mean, bruises come with the game. For sure.
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: Everybody gets those, but just the big significant injuries, yeah,
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: I think that all goes to Scali bringing in the
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: right group and.
• 21:25
  Speaker 4: Those guys doing what they do.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: High school football playoffs are starting right now, and like
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: the Friday Night Lights experience, depending on the player you
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: talk to, It's something that, like, never leaves you, or
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: it's like, I'm a D1 college player now.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Like, I got bigger fish to fry.
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: How connected do you still feel to, like, high school quarterback.
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: Devin, right?
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Do those memories and that, like, experience still fuel you
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: or matter to you in any way?
• 21:52
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think my junior and senior year were pretty
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: solid for me. That was the first time I ever
• 21:59
  Speaker 5: won a championship, like, in that level my junior year.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: So that was sick.
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: And then senior year, just being able to get to
• 22:06
  Speaker 5: the championship game, we lost. But, yeah, I'm definitely going
• 22:11
  Speaker 5: to carry those memories for a long time. You know,
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: that's kind of the before football becomes a job, if
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: that makes sense. Like now being in college, you know,
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: I'm happy I'm here because the Utes, you know, we
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: make it where it's kind of still– you still get
• 22:27
  Speaker 5: that experience of, like, I committed to this school.
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: I want to be at this school. Now, like, this
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: is a business.
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: So, high school is kind of the last memories you
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: kind of get of, like, I was out there playing
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: for fun, literally, with some guys I grew up with.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, those memories definitely are still there. How connected
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: am I now? I feel old now.
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: You can't say that.
• 22:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, dude, I do feel old. I'd be like, what
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: year is seniors this year? Like, it's the craziest thing.
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: Well, dude, so... for me, for the guys, like, you know,
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: when you get to your forties, you'll understand.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: But like.
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: You and the guys you play with were born when
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: I graduated high school or after I graduated high school.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: Right. And I'm just like, that is bananas. Right. These guys,
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: these guys now are like class of 28. I graduated
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: in 2002. I was a class of 2002.
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: Right. And like, when you're that age, you never even
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: think about there's going to be a class of 28, right?
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Much less that you'll be watching.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: I'm like one of my good friends, his son went
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: off for seven touchdowns last week. And yeah, he's a
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: junior running back. Whatever you went out for seven touchdowns
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: last week.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: It's his son. It's like, it's not him.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: It's his child.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: And I'm like, this is, this is crazy. I remember
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: when he was a little baby.
• 23:51
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: And so we got guys coming in this weekend for big,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: big recruits that are going to be here that, like
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: Gage Weddle.
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: The first time I saw Gage Weddle, he was a
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: fat little baby. His mom was carrying him around.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: Like it's really crazy. And so when you say you
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: feel old compared to the high school guys.
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: You're really feeling it.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: Just wait.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: I could be the dad of these high school guys
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: on your team.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: It's crazy.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I asked that because it's a special time
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: of year, right? When you get to if you get
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: a chance to go out to a Friday night football game,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: and I know you guys got bigger fish to fry,
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: you're busy right now, but for all the listeners out there,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: if you get a chance to go out, watch one
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: of these games, right? These are playoff games for some kids,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: for most kids that are seniors. It's the last football
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: game they'll ever play. And it's just like, I don't know.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: It's a special thing. It's like almost a sacred thing.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: If you're an athlete.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Is that how you felt about it?
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: I definitely think, you know, the senior year, especially those
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: guys that.
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: Don't get to go on to the college level, like,
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: That's as far as they were able to make it,
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: and it does leave a mark on people.
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, packing out the playoff games, that's the goal.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: It seems like, I don't want to put words in
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: anyone's mouth, but it seems like you all have managed the,
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: this is a job, this is a business, this is
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: something we have to do.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: But, I mean, winning is fun.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: Around the program, coaches, players, everyone, it seems like this
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: is still kind of a joyful experience with Utah football
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: this year.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Is that a fair description?
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah. I would definitely say, you know.
• 25:30
  Speaker 5: There's a way of– I would say the most job
• 25:34
  Speaker 5: feeling you get being here is like, you know, what
• 25:37
  Speaker 5: you do outside of here, it does matter. I mean,
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: you're going to have a reflection on the whole entire team. Like,
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: you can't just go high school. You go do some
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: dumb stuff.
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah. you'll be, you'll be okay.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: You'll probably get in trouble with your parents and be
• 25:50
  Speaker 5: just all right. But, uh, just being here, you know,
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: you gotta be more professional when you're outside of this.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: Uh, just know who's around you, what you're doing.
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: But besides that, I mean, in the building wise, you know,
• 26:02
  Speaker 5: it doesn't feel like, man, if I don't perform, I'm, I'm.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: Going to lose money. I'm going to get benched.
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: Like we don't give that, that environment where, you know, we're,
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: you've earned your spot over, over all this time. We,
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: we have trust in you. Just go out there and
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: go ball. Um, and that's, it's been kind of the
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: way it goes.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: Vegas says you're favored.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: A lot of the analytics say that this is a
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: game Utah is going to win. I'm sure there'll be more, Hey,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: upset alerts, watch out for Utah to lose. This is
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: a massive, massive game. How do you all go out
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: and win it on Saturday morning? Man, just preparation and, um,
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: just being ready for the moment. I mean, uh, preparation
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: is going to, going to get you a lot. It
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: gets you through a lot for football. So, um, get
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: yourself there. Uh, none different than we've been doing and
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: just game time. Just, just be ready, be ready. And, um,
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: everything will work out the way it should.
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: Get there early.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: If you have a ticket, if you're going to the tailgate,
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: enjoy that breakfast version of your tailgate, but get into
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: rice Eccles stadium for kickoff 10 a.m.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: On ABC. Is this the first game you've played on ABC?
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: Possibly.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: You've been on big ESPN plenty of times, but I don't,
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: I can't remember the last time Utah had a game
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: on ABC. Text it to me. If you know, eight, seven, seven, three, five, three,
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: zero 700. Don't even have to have cable to watch
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: this one.
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Pretty great. Dev. Good luck.
• 27:36
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: This year with that brought to you by Colgan water,
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: salt Lake city, America first credit union, Valley plumbing, heating,
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: and cooling.