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Steve Sarkisian on who will start at Quarterback in Red River Rivalry · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: It's the Craig Wait Show with the voice of the
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  Texas Longhords in Hall of Fame Broadcasting.
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  Speaker 2: Craig.
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  Speaker 1: Here in a Long Oorons Monday. You know how we
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  said before the start of the season that on Long
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  worns Mondays we were going to give away tickets to
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  games of that week home games, home games.
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  Speaker 2: Uh, that'll be the case again next Monday.
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  Speaker 1: Now not giving away tickets for Texas, are you because
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  Texas is the visiting team. It's they're not even the
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  designated home team for the game. But next Monday, Next Monday,
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  be ready for this. We are going to have a
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  pair of tickets to give away for the Georgia game.
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  We will give away a pair of tickets for the
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  game with Georgia, which we now know. We'll have a
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  six thirty pm kickoff. It's an evening kick here between
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  Texas and Georgia, which obviously means our coverage on the
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  Zone will begin at three thirty that afternoon with Cam
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  and Mike hardboll Harge and Mark Henry from the wind
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  Chips Circle area. They hook them hang out there on
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  Bevo Boulevard. That's a three point thirty Long Worn's game
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  day Airtime Network pregame at five thirty to kick off
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  at six thirty Texas and Georgia, and a week from
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  the day we will have tickets to give away. But
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  this is Texas ou Week and there's plenty to discuss.
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  At his news conference earlier, they heard live here on
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  sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone, Long Horn's head
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  coach Steve Sarkisian addressed the media, talked about his team,
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  addressed the questions pretty much all the ones you could
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  probably think of as they were pertinent to this week's game.
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  So let's start it off at sarks opening thoughts already.
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  Speaker 3: First of all, the bye was good for us. You know,
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  I think as we know, as you play five games
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  into a season and you you know, you have training camp,
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  you know, I think it was needed for us, and
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  I think it paid dividends. You know, I think we
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  we came back refreshed today. You know, we have some
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  guys that were nicked up that needed to get healthy,
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  but I think everybody, coaches included, needed a little bit
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  of a reset, needed a little bit of a refresh.
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  It was great to get recruiting on Friday, but more importantly,
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  I think everybody kind of getting off their feet enjoying
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  college football this weekend, which was a which was a
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  heck of a weekend to be a fan, and then
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  coming back today ready to work. Naturally, this is a
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  anytime you have a rivalry game like this Red River rivalry,
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  in my opinion, you know, as you guys know how
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  I feel about this game. It's one that's very special
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  and one that you know you were humbled and honored
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  to be part of. To be part of the history
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  of this game, and to think this is the one
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  hundred and twentieth time Texas and know you have played
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  is pretty fascinating and to be part of it, like
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  I said, is special. Our preparation is really critical this
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  week as we get ready to play a very talented
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  football team. You know, coach Fedimal has done a really
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  nice job. They play excellent defense. You know, they do
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  a really good job of getting to the quarterback. They
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  do a great job of creating turnovers. They found they
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  found a niche now offensively with Hawkins at quarterback to
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  create those explosive plays and so poise a lot of
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  a lot of issues that we have to prepare for,
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  and like I said, it should be a great day
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  for college football and one that, like I said, we're
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  fortunate to be part of this game.
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  Speaker 1: That was the opening statement. Now, with regard to questions,
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  the first question kind of surprised me. It wasn't about
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  Quinn viewers availability. It wasn't It was about the continuity
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  of what has happened with his offensive line and what they've.
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  Speaker 2: Done, And that was the question, the first question that
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  went to start.
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  Speaker 3: I think the offensive line play, continuity, communication is all critical,
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  and I think we've learned a couple of lessons over
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  the years of being part of this game. Uh, you know,
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  our first year, I felt like we got a little overwhelmed,
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  especially when we were in their end of the field
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  and we had some false starts and some miscommunication and
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  gave up some sacks.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 3: I think last year we felt that we felt the
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  brunt of it when Jake got hurt I think maybe
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  the second or third play of the game. And now
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  you're playing with Connor robertson a backup and nothing against Connor,
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  but you're prepping one week where your veterans starting center
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  and then you adjust. So I do think continuity is critical,
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  and I think experience is critical and We're fortunate, like
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  I said, this is one of those years where we've
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  got a lot of continuity. We've we've you know, we've
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  got a really veteran center to communicate. We've got guys
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  who've played a lot of football. The one guy who
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  didn't play a lot of football coming into the season
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  has grown exponentially throughout the season and Cam Williams.
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  Speaker 4: So we're fortunate that way.
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  Speaker 3: But control in the line of scrimmage is going to
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  be big in this game, like it is in every game,
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  but it's really big in this game. These you know,
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  oh You's got a very good defensive front. They're very active,
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  and coach Venables does really not job of moving them
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  and putting them in position to be successful. So should
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  be a great challenge for us upfront on the offensive
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  line and tight ends for that matter.
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  Speaker 1: All right, all right, Next up, did come the obvious
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  question update on quinn yours?
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  Speaker 2: Might he be available?
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  Speaker 1: Might he be ready to go on Saturday against Oklahoma?
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  Speaker 2: The status and for.
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  Speaker 1: That matter, he was also asked how comfortable is he in,
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  you know, staying if he has to use arch manning
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  in the game, if for whatever reason Quinn can't go
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  or starts the game but then can't finish the game
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  due to whatever reason, and Stark had the ready response.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I think a couple of things. One, you know,
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  Quinn worked last week for three practices. He practiced again today.
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  I thought he looked good coming off the bye. I
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  think if anybody benefited from the time off, it was
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  probably him. You know, we're going to monitor him daily
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  just to kind of see how he continues to progress.
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  But I feel good about if how we was today.
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  I feel good about him going Saturday, but that remains
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  to be seen. And I have no hesitation with Arts
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  going in the game. I think he's proven that to
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  us over two and a half games of football that
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  he's really played in and competed in, that he can
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  run our offense and he can be successful. And so,
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  like I said, we're like I talked about the offensive line.
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  You know, we're fortunate to have to be in the
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  position that we're in, to have two quality players at
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  the quarterback position that we have confidence in and that
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  their teammates have confidence in.
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  Speaker 1: And just to be sure that everybody understands exactly what
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  Sarker is saying. If the game was today, could Quinn
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  go if we had to play today, sure, But again
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  that's why it's important that we monitor him kind of
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  daily because I want to see how he responds to
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  extended work and what that looks like to make sure
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  that he's as healthy.
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  Speaker 4: As he can be to perform.
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  Speaker 1: Now, we all saw what happened over the weekend in
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  college football, and that we mentioned at the top of
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  the program. We'll get into greater detail on it a
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  little bit, but was asked if there were lessons to
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  be gleaned from those ranked teams who fell and the
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  other teams rising up of being specifically in the SEC
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  with Vanderbilt in Arkansas getting those wins over two teams
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  ranked in the top five, first time ever Vanderbilt's beaten
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  a top five ranked team, let alone the number one
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  team in the country. It was the first win over
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  Alabama since nineteen eighty four, forty years, and it was
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  the first time they'd beaten him in Nashville since nineteen
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  seventy six. So they knocked off number one, Arkansas knocked
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  off Tennessee, and so sark was asked, are there lessons
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  that he would pass along to his guys to be
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  taken from.
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  Speaker 3: This, Well, you know I touched on this earlier in
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  the season and probably holds true now more than ever.
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  Everybody talked about, you know, what is it going to
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  take in the SEC in the Southeastern Conference, And I
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  think the natural ants or is oh the physicality and
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  the toll that it takes at the line of scrimmage
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  on you.
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  Speaker 4: I think what the SEC does.
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  Speaker 3: It taxes you in a way from a mental intensity
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  that you have to prepare every week like it's a
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  championship game every Saturday, and from top to bottom in
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  this conference, anybody can beat anybody. And I think that
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  we learned that this weekend, and so the value for
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  me is that it just was able to reinforce a
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  lot of the things we've been talking about as a team.
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  And anytime you have living examples for young people especially,
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  I think it's helpful that they can see and understand
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  why our messaging is what it is.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, going back to the quarterback thing, Sark was then asked.
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  Speaker 2: About his.
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  Speaker 1: Choice of words and phrases in how he describes who
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  his quarterbacks are and where their place is in it.
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  In other words, that Quinn yours is QB one, that
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  he is the number one quarterback, and arch Banding is
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  the number two, And he was asked, is that just
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  something that he's saying and going along? Is he is
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  he comfortable in talking about it like that, and so
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  he was asked for how he's wording all this.
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  Speaker 3: It's just me being honest. I sleep better when i'm honest,
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  So I'm just being honest. I mean, that's how I
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  genuinely feel. You know, Quinn has earned and deserved that
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  right to be our starting quarterback.
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  Speaker 4: Arches continue to work.
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  Speaker 3: Really hard, and like I said, we're we're fortunate to
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  have him and the player that he is and the
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  leader that he is as well. It's a it's a
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  very fortunate situation that we're in that that Again, it
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  doesn't happen very often the way that it does, but
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  we happen to be in that position right now.
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  Speaker 4: And so but but I speak to it like I
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  would anything else.
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  Speaker 3: It's you know, you know, I try to be very
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  matter of fact with y'all, so I don't I don't
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  feel like I'm I'm trying to send messages or mixed
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  messages or anything.
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  Speaker 4: It's just that's how I feel.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, all right, So that and uh uh, here's another
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  one from start talking about Brent Venables, the head coach
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  at Oklahoma. Remember, Venables was every bit the defensive specialist
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  that Sark has been on the offensive, signing with quarterbacks.
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  So he's asked what he has seen out of this
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  Brent Venables coach defense.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I want I have a ton of respect
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  for coach Venables. You know, he's a tremendous defensive coach
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  and that's been throughout time right going all the way
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  back to Kansas State, and then you know what he
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  did at Clemson and OU and now being the head
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  coach at OU.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, like us, we take a lot of pride.
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  Speaker 3: If we get two weeks to prepare offense, we feel
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  pretty good that we're gonna put together a great game
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  plan and our guys can execute it. I feel the
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  same way about coach Venables on the defensive side. You
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  give him two weeks, they're gonna have a really good
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  defensive plan and there are guys will be dialed in
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  and and that's when it comes down to execution. That's
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  when it comes down to some in game of ut
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  to adjust to whatever they're doing.
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  Speaker 4: But knowing that, you.
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  Speaker 3: Know, I think one of the things coming out of
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  really the last couple of years is you know, what's
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  on tape might not necessarily be what we're going to get,
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  and so we've got to do a great job in
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  game of adjusting, especially early on, to whatever they present
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  to us.
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  Speaker 4: I think one thing we've learned.
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  Speaker 3: This season is that, you know, the tablets or the
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  iPads and the video on the sidelines has been really helpful,
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  uh to communicate to our players and to show them
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  so that we can make those adjustments even quicker. And
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  I think this weekend that that's going to be that's
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  gonna be important as.
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  Speaker 1: Well interesting because we hadn't heard talk that much about
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  the tablets and things of that nature, so it is
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  good to hear that it is helping them out and
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  making a difference. A couple of questions on our text line.
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  If you'd like to text the program really easy to do.
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  All you have to do is text the word Texas
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  follow by your question or comment to eight one five
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  three zero. Again, you text the word Texas follow by
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  your question or comment to eight one five three zero.
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  Standard messaging and data rates may apply. Somebody said, when
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  was the last time texas Texas A and M and
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  Texas Tech. We're all four and one, are better through
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  five weeks to come back and take a look at
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  that and see if we can find that out. And
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  then our man CB says, you know when I said
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  say it slowly carefully, red River rivalry, CB says, you
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  mean the web we of rivalry. That's how we spelled it.
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  It will always be the Red River Shootout for me,
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  said CB. You know me, I like to call it
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  the State Fair Street Fight, but it is the red River, right,
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  It's the all state Red River Rivalry.
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  Speaker 2: That's how it is positioned there.
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  Speaker 4: All right.
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  Speaker 1: Up next, we bring you Inconceivable. Hey, by the way,
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  well you're more from start coming up to three o'clock hour,
• 12:38
  four o'clock hour as well, and in the four o'clock hour,
• 12:41
  we check in with Gene Watson, our MLB insider, his
• 12:44
  thoughts on the just completed Wildcard series and.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Where the division series are right now.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: Both the Nation League series are game apiece, American League
• 12:52
  starting up again here before the top of the hour,
• 12:56
  and we'll check in with Gino for his thoughts on
• 12:59
  the postseason for baseball. All that and more when we
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  continue on Sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone of
• 13:04
  the iHeartRadio app,