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Sean O'Connell Show - Full POD 10-21-26 · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Happy Hump Day, everybody. Welcome to the Sean O'Connell Show.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: ESPN 700, 92.1 FM. Happy to be here with you.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: We have a busy show today. Schedules have dictated that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Devin Dampier is going to catch up with us today
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: for Edition with Dev rather than tomorrow. We'll replay it
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: for you tomorrow. keep it in its normal time slot, but, uh,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: a double dose addition with dev potentially this week, Sammy
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Mora joins us. Cause it's a zone Wednesday to talk
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Colorado last week, Houston coming in this week, uh, Ted party,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: the Houston color analyst at 1230 today. So we'll do
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: the daily dump at noon. And then it's Wednesday, which
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: means between the pipes at one o'clock, Adrian Denny will
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: join us in, uh, There are some intriguing extracurricular storylines
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: happening around the Mammoth. Not with the Mammoth. They're just
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: playing hockey. They're winning. But there's a couple of things
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: personnel-wise in the NHL. Some more insight on maybe what
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: Connor Hellebuck hopes will happen. And then, well, yeah, we'll
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: get to that at 1 o'clock. Larkin has added another
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: few teams to his uh, acceptable trade list out of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: Detroit and the Utah mammoth are on that list. So we'll,
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: we'll talk about all that with Adrian Denning, the Utah
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: jazz begin their season tonight. And I gotta say, it
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: feels weird to be able to talk about the Utah
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: jazz in a light of hope in a light of expectation.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: with anything other than sort of resigned pessimism over, well,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: we got to get through this in order to have
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: the nice things. The nice things are supposed to be here.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: This reminds me of like when you got your first
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: job in high school, right? Shout out hoagie, yogi, teriyaki sticks,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Russ cherry, my old boss and Draper. I hope you're, uh,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I hope you're listening, Russ. Where you're like, I got
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: to do this. I have to work because I got
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: to check the box of having gotten a job. Now
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: that I'm a 16-year-old, I should be working. I should
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: be earning some of my own money. I got to
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: pay car insurance. We didn't have cell phones back in
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: those days, kids. At least I didn't. But you got
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: to pay for your gas. You got to pay for
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: your dances and your dates. Now that you're in high school...
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: And you got to help your parents out with the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: car insurance, so you better work. And you just knew
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: it was not going to be pleasant, but it had
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: to be done. That's what the last five years of
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Utah Jazz basketball have felt like. And now, this season,
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: we hope, we think, is the beginning of, oh, look
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: at this. Now the fruits of our labor start to
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: show themselves. Now that $ 142 I put in my savings account,
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: in my checking account, I can withdraw some of that
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: and spend it on a concert ticket. On not just
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: gas money and car insurance money, I'm actually going to
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: go and I'm going to buy myself maybe a season
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: pass to go snowboarding. Back then, that was a couple
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: hundred bucks. What happened to us, by the way? As
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: a society, what we're paying thousands upon thousands of dollars
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: to do this kind of thing. Anyway, we have put
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: in the hard work. All right? This year is supposed
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: to be the six-pack that finally shows after the 5 a.m.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: CrossFit you did painfully for six months. Except in the
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Jazz case, it was six years. Will it actually play
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: out that way? How good is this Utah Jazz team?
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: What are they going to be? I've seen projections, prognostications
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: all over the place regarding the Utah Jazz. ESPN and
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated had their insiders kind of project and do
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: their rankings and do their eventual playoff brackets. I've seen
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: the Utah jazz as a play in team. I've seen
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the Utah jazz as an eight seed. I've seen the
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Utah jazz as high as a seven seed. What are
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the Utah jazz going to be now that they have
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: to try? How good is will Hardy at coaching when
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: he has to try? I think he's going to be better.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: As a coach who really wants to win basketball games,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: then a coach who is doing that suffering, that necessary suffering,
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: in order to get to this point where he's got
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: a roster that makes sense. Is there a Utah Jazz
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: player on the roster this year that takes a Keontae
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: George step forward? You hope that Ace Bailey can do that.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's Kyle Filipowski. I don't know who it will be.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it will be anybody, but... If
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the Utah jazz get another one of those, another guy
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: who goes from being like, yeah, nice little piece. And
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: we'll see if we keep them around to kind of
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: a cornerstone of what the franchise hopes to do moving forward.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Now you're cooking with gas. Another question. I don't mean
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: to be pessimistic because of course it's all positive outlook.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: It's all sunshine and rainbows right now for the Utah jazz.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: When Lowry marketing is not being put on the bench, uh,
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: with injuries that are really just kind of bumps and bruises,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: but a couple of those were legitimate injuries. When you
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: want him to play 70 games this year, is he
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: going to maintain his health? Is he going to be
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: able to stay durable enough to play 70 games this year?
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Jaron Jackson, Jr. Trey J. Are you going to get
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: 70 games out of him? Are you going to be
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: able to keep 70 plus games on the Keontae George plate?
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Everybody in this Utah jazz organization that means anything to
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: the crew has been playing half a season, three quarters
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: of a season. Now that you got to put your
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: foot on the gas pedal and you got to say, Hey,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: we're looking to win. That means I need you in
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the lineup. We'll do the NBA load management thing. Not
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: enough that we're going to get fine. Not enough that
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: we're going to get penalized, but we'll do the clever
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: thing where you got to have some rest and We
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: won't violate any rules doing it. We're going to be
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: careful about how we approach it now. What is this
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Utah Jazz squad? We start to find out tonight in Memphis.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: And we probably don't find out a ton with a
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Memphis matchup because Memphis is rebuilding a lot. Here's another thing.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Darren Peterson, your number two pick, the guy who is
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: the prize you earned through the misery, or at least
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: he's supposed to be. There's an immense amount of pressure
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: that comes with that. Whether he's internalized it or not,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: we will find out. It seems like he's taken it
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: all in stride. It seems like this is what he
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: expected for himself probably from when he was a very,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: very young person. Seems like any narrative about, hey, doesn't
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: really love it, doesn't really want to be here, maybe
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: doesn't want to play for the Utah Jazz. Seems like
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: that was all unnecessary. That was all just kind of
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: smoke mirrors. But is Darren Peterson going to be the
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: guy that we think he's going to be? That is
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: a massive question for the Utah Jazz franchise. And if
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: he does become Kobe 2.0, as some of his followers
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: from Kansas say he's capable of becoming, when does that
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: really evidence itself? Does it happen in the first half
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: of his rookie season? Is that something that we don't
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: see much of until you get a year or two
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: into his NBA career? Is it going to be five
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: years in when he's playing for somebody else? You hope not.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: This is the most interesting Utah jazz season of the
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: last decade. Is it going to be a good Utah
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: jazz season? Well, we'll see. They start tonight. We're right
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: in the middle of an excellent Utah football season. 6-0
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: ranked top 10 in the country. game day performance coming up,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Houston coming into town, blackout game, night game at Rice
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: Eccles stadium. And QB one is right here in studio
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: with us. Devin damp here for addition with dev brought
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: to you by Culligan water, salt Lake city, America first
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: credit union and Valley plumbing, heating, and cooling dev. Good
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: to have you on a Wednesday. How are you, sir?
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: Good.
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: Good.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: We back. You're back. Let's talk a little Colorado football,
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: shall we? Yeah, it was a win. I want to
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: stay focused on that. Did you guys get to enjoy
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the win? Because there was, you know, it was closer
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: than a lot of people thought. It was a lot
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: more hard fought. It wasn't the cleanest game you all
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: have played this year. Were you still able to enjoy
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: that as a victory and an improvement to 6-0? Yeah,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: there's definitely a little bit of both.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've talked about our standard, how we want to play,
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: how we expect to play. I don't think we met
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: that standard, but I mean, anytime you can walk out
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: with a win, any Any week, you know, that's, that's
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: adding another win without a loss.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: On your record.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: So at the end of the day, you know, we're
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: able to find a way to end up winning that game.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: So we're proud that happened, but it just wasn't our
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: standard that we'd.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Want to play at every game. Now that you've looked
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: back on it, is there something that explains for you
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: at least why the standard wasn't met? Like, was it
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: human nature? Didn't respect Colorado enough. I don't want to
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: put words in your mouth. Is there something that when
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: you look back now and you have the benefit of hindsight,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: you say, that's why we performed the way we did? Yeah.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Man, I would say there's a lot of plays out
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: there where one guy was able to cause destruction, I
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: guess I could say, and that's including me as well.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: But just around our team, it was like 10 of
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: us were playing.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: And one person would lack off a little bit, and,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: you know, that would be the difference.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: Between a 20-yard gain and what should have been a touchdown. Like,
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: just small things like that definitely showed up. And just
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: our red zone efficiency. I feel like we're one of
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: those teams where we get in the red zone, we
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: score almost every time. So the fact that we weren't
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: doing that, it could have been 21-0 if we scored
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: all our red zone drives first quarter, but we ended
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: up making it 13-0 where, you know, it's still a game.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: They still feel like they're in it. And that's really
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: the worst thing you can do against a team that
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: you're better than, right? You let them feel like they
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: can hang around. You let them feel like they're going
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: to halftime. Like, Hey, this is still a game. If,
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: if you score on all those drives, then Colorado's getting
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: down on themselves. The human nature takes over and it's like,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Oh man, this is an uphill climb. And ultimately they
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: stayed in it and it was a close game, but 27,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: 24 victory. And you improve to six and Oh, 24
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: of 41. 278 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions for you.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Although one of those interceptions that I'll let you break
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: it down for me, right? The Utah pass, it's a
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: pitch forward and it's a bobbled ball that still goes
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: down as an interception on you. That kind of sucks. Yeah.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: I've been, I explained to my coach why I was
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: so disappointed just because I threw five picks last year
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: and my goal this year was to end up Being
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: at four, so the fact I'm already at four, I'm
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: just a little irritated. Like, how did I put myself
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: in this position? So, I mean, it comes with the game, though. Yeah,
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: sometimes plays happen like that.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah. It's one of those plays where, and we
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: explained this on Monday, right? That is an efficient play
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: because the worst case scenario is supposed to be that
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: if a pitch is dropped, it's a forward pass.
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: There's no fumble there.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: And instead falls into the lap of a D lineman
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: of all people. I don't know how I got ricocheted
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: back to him, but it did, but you survived it.
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: And look, you made a couple of really important throws
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: in this game. Two, two of Creed Whittemore's three catches
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: in the game. He was three catches for 88 yards.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: We're kind of like game savers. Yeah. Tell me what
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: you saw in those plays.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man, the first one, we were able to just
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: come out of halftime and realize that call was something
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: we wanted to get back to multiple times. And it
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: was just Creed on the outside, and Creed's slick fast.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: He can move when he needs to. So he just
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: kind of ran by him. I had a little bit
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: of pressure and just kind of gave him a chance,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: and it landed there perfectly. And the second one, I
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: took a sack. We were backed up a little bit,
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: and Colorado wanted to give us pressure, try to get
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: us in a third-and-long situation. But, again, Creed's out there.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Gave him a chance again, and he dropped one of
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: those passes earlier this season. So the fact that he
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: got to re-get it this game, and he took full
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: advantage of it, so I'm.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Proud of him. Yeah, great game, even though it was
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: only three catches. The timing of those catches felt like
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: it really bailed some things out, and you two connecting
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: on those. I mean, everyone knows that when the chips
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: are down, seven's an option, right? Braden Pagan, I'm sure
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: the defense is keying on him. So the fact that
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: you have that chemistry, that trust with somebody who's, you know,
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: not your number one receiver, I think ends up being
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: important in some of those scenarios.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: We continue to pre-set our receiver room too. Like everyone,
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: you need to be ready, expected to get the ball.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: You know, there's never a play where you think you're
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: a decoy route or you think you're, They're out to
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: get somebody else open.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: You're a chance of getting the ball every time.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: And just the fact that we live by that and
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: the receivers are doing a good job of it, they're
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: just ready for their opportunities when it comes.
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: Mack G is probably a better person to ask this question,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: but I don't get to talk to him this week.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Bird was kind of missing in this game plan. He
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: only got a few touches compared to, you know, usually
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: it's kind of 10-11. I think it was four times
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: we saw the ball in Bird Ficklin's hands. with an
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: option for a fifth on maybe another catch. Is there
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: anything behind that? Is he banged up? Was it just
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: what you guys were seeing on film? Why was Bird
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: not as much of a game plan this week, to
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: your knowledge? Yeah.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Man, again, our plays with Bird is, I guess they're
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: normal plays, if that's what I could say. Some of
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: the stuff he was on was, kind of what Hunter
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: was on, and after Hunter hit a couple of those
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: that game, they started to respect the pitch, and he
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: just kind of wasn't there anymore in those opportunities. And
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: then I think Way got a couple more carries than
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: he normally does every game as well.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think this is the most we've seen from
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: him this year, 23 carries in the run game.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: So just also giving him the ball when things matter,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: when we need those short yardage and things like that.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: So just kind of the situation of the game ended
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: up playing out that way.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: The, the run game, we've seen a lot of explosive
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: runs from this Utah offense in the first five games
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: of the season. You had Hunter Andrews got one explosive way.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: Sean flirted with one, I guess it's 15 plus. He
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: got a 14 yard or was Colorado doing anything special
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: that the run game was not quite as explosive against
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: the Buffaloes. Yeah.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: I think they kind of loaded the box up a
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: little bit on us when at times and Again, I
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: honestly thought we moved the ball pretty well. We just
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: really couldn't score in the red zone, and that was
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: kind of just hurting our momentum. But, I mean, we
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: were able to pass the.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Ball downfield and get down there.
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: You know, you just got to kind of pick your poison,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: and they decided to key on our run game and
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: try to make us one-dimensional in the pass game.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: When we get down to that kind of final game-deciding scenario,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: and you guys are trying to salt it away by
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: getting a first down, and.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Or killing as much clock as possible because Colorado does
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: not have any timeouts left. The conventional wisdom is like,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: all right, even though you've got a long distance to
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: go before you hit the sticks, still run the ball
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: because even if they stop you, a bunch of time
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: is going to come off. A pass was called, and
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: good pressure ended up in the dirt. Tell me what
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the communication was like previous to that play call. Yeah.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: You know, first I take full responsibility of that. I
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: was told if I can complete the ball, complete it.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: But if not take the sack, we want to waste clock.
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I don't, I don't really know what happened
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: in my head during that time. I totally blanked out.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: And is it hard to be like, I'm not trying
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: to interrupt you here, but is it hard to be like,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: all right, take a sack. You don't want to take
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: a sack. I have a hard time thinking that there's
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: ever a scenario where you're out there, the competitor that
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: I've come to know you as, where you're just like,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: I'm definitely not going to complete this pass. Like that's,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: that feels like a hard thing to ask a player
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: to do.
• 17:58
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I, I normally don't blink out like that. And yeah,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: that was a situation where I did. And, uh, you
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: could tell the frustration of my body language as soon
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: as I kind of let go of the ball where
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: I realized I made that mistake. So, um, Man, I'm
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: just glad everything worked out because I was definitely in
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: my head the whole time on the sideline.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Is there a silver lining? I know that you want
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: to maintain the high standard, and you never want to
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: leave things on the field. Is there a silver lining
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: to be found that you played far below the standard
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: on offense and defense, and you still came away with
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: a win against a Big 12 opponent? I know that
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: you don't want it to look like this against Houston,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: but in a weekend where what, seven top ten teams lost,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: and there was upsets all over the place. Even though
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: you didn't play as well as you needed to as
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: a collective team, you still got the win. Is there
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: something to be gained from that? Yeah.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: I think the biggest thing was that was the first
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: time us offense, we were trailing. Just for us to
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: honestly step up and be able to put points on
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: the board when we were down. And, you know, that
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: was huge for us, a huge takeaway for us, just
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: to know that, you know, even though we're down, we're
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: able to trust ourselves that we can go out there
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: and we can go play together and, you know, be
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: one on that field.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: So I thought a lot of us came together.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: I think there's a lot of individual efforts during, you know,
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: those last couple.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: Drives, both offense and defense, where.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: Especially Creed being one, Bobo, you know, those are some
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: big plays that were able to be made that, Definitely
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: turned the game around and gave us a chance.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: How big picture do you let each play get in
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: your mind? Like, I'm trying to ask this the right way.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: where you're in a couple scenarios. I mean, really on,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: on the two throws you hit to Creed on the touchdown,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: the second touchdown you hit to Braden, it's kind of like,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: if you don't score there, the momentum is already in
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: Colorado's boat, right? if you don't make this play, if you,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: the quarterback doesn't throw this ball accurately, your team's probably
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: going to lose the game or has a good chance
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: of losing a game, right? When you're in that scenario
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and the play call comes in and it's like kind
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: of do or die. And there's three or four of
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: those moments in this game. You haven't really faced those
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: this season yet. It hasn't come down to that competitive
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: a game. And in the first five, how, how do
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: you process it in your mind? Is it, I'm going
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: to make this play and we're going to win the game.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: Cause if I don't make this play, we're going to
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: lose her. Like, how do you process it? Or is
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: it that big picture? Is it, you just say, no,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: I'm just going to hit this throw. We're like, tell
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: me what it's like inside the helmet of Devin, Dan
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Pierre in those like deciding plays.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: You know, I think that's one of the reasons why
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: I play quarterback, you know, not in a cocky way
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: or a selfish way, but I do believe that I'm
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: able to make those decisions. I'm, built for pressure like
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: it's I'm kind of at a point where pressure just
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: feels like another rep like I've been here before I
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: know what to expect I know what I'm capable of
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: doing so honestly I don't get too rattled I just
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: I kind of I'm kind of just a mellow guy
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: I'm like all right bet and then when the play
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: happens like I got to start remembering to get excited
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: but I'm just like I expected that to happen almost
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: and okay so uh yeah I guess you could say
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: in my in my head I'm just I'm very mellow.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: I'm very bad.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: Like, allow me to have the opportunity to make something
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: out of this, and you should get a good result.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: So when Creed comes down with those big catches and
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the sticks move, or when Braden comes down in the
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: end zone, it's a feeling of relief, or it's a
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: feeling of, yeah, I knew that was going to happen?
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I would say there's more of I knew that was
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: going to happen relief.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: All right, wow.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Again, me and Creed, ever since, I think it was
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: like week two maybe, he might have dropped one of those.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: And ever since then, like when we get one-on-ones periods,
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: we're working that catch just to make sure, you know,
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: when it comes up in a game, he's good. So, yeah,
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: it just felt like another, you know, we've been in
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: that situation before where it's a one-on-one press, go in.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: How's the body feeling after the Colorado game? Because you
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: took more contact in this one than you have in
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: probably five of the previous. How are you feeling?
• 22:30
  Speaker 5: Good.
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: Just game day bruises. They're always there, sadly. But bruises
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: are not season-ending. Season-ending injuries are something now dwelled for
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: the rest of the season.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: So glad they're just that. Devin Dampier is our guest here.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Dishing with Dev on a Wednesday. We'll replay it on Thursday.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: But Dishing with Dev on a Wednesday. Brought to you
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: by Culligan Water of Salt Lake City. America First Credit
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Union Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling. undefeated number 10 in
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: the country. You guys expected this to be the outcome.
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: There's not a lot of people, even big fans of
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: the program who thought that this would be an easy
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: thing to do, or this would be a possible thing
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: in Morgan Scali's first year, new coordinator on both sides
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: of the ball, new head coach, brand new offensive line,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: top 10 team. Those things don't usually go together for sure.
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: And I think, I mean, I'm confident in what's been happening. Like,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: I've seen it since the beginning. But just as point
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: of view outside of it, it is pretty crazy. I
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: think Scalic does deserve a lot of that credit just
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: to be able to bring in so many new components
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: and make a culture that works, make a culture we're
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: all able to buy into.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, that's a huge shout-out to him. But for me,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I guess it was expected, honestly. Does it feel weird
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: that the season is halfway gone?
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: It's weird that we're already halfway through. Has it gone
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: fast for you?
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: This year has been like, I don't know why, but
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: this year has been a lot faster than last year.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Maybe just because all the crazy games that's happening and
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: stuff like that. It's making college football just fun to
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: watch every weekend.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: So it's just going by. So now you turn the page.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Top 15 matchup. Number 10 Utes, number 14 Houston Cougars.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: They're coming off a huge win. Pretty emotional win. against
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma State. You guys are coming off of, I'm just
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: going to say, it's your worst performance of the year,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: but hopefully you learned the lessons from that. And now
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: game day's here, and it's a big stage. It's as
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: big a stage as you're going to get this season probably.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I know that you keep it kind of in routine.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: You make it as constant as you possibly can, but
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: does anything change for you? Does the schedule change at all?
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: Is there extra interviews with college game day in town?
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a little bit of, I.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Guess you could say, extra stuff going on during the week.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: But, I mean, when it's Friday and that Saturday, you know,
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: that's how we make sure we're straight football, we're straight
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: around our team. Nothing outside is able to distract us
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: anymore from that point on. So, yeah, I mean, just
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: especially coming off the win we just had, I think
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: we're able to, realized we need to stay hungry, we
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: need to stay gritty, and I think that's honestly boosted
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: up our last couple days of practice, too. Just having
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: a win that close made us realize, like, we're not
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: there yet. So we definitely picked it up a lot
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: during practice. Some of the slack we felt like we
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: were getting to, and, you know, I'm excited to go
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: into this week.
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: What are you seeing from Houston on film?
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: A good team all around, honestly.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: I think they're playing well offensively and defensively, a team
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: that's going to compete for sure to the end.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: We're expecting a dogfight, and, yeah, let that play out.
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: So on paper, and I know that these matches aren't
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: played out on paper, but it looks like they're better
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: against the run than they are against the pass, which
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: logically would mean that Devin Dampier should be throwing the
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: ball and trying to exploit if there is a weakness
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: in that defense, the secondary is it. I'm not asking
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: you to reveal anything game plan wise, but does that
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: excite you? The prospect of, Hey, we might rely on
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: my arm a little bit more this week than we
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: do in a typical week.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Love, I love throwing the ball, but man, whatever, honestly
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: gets to win. I, I can't express enough. Uh, when
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: wins is a stat that matters to me, uh, so
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: much more than anything else. So yeah, if that's how
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: they decide to play, if that's how they decide to, try.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: To make us win the game.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm more than happy to go that route too.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: There's a, there's also a thought that they, you know,
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: they score a lot on their possessions, right? In points
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: per possession, they're doing a good job. They're actually right
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: behind Utah in points per game and in points per possession.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: So you might want to slow the game down. You
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: might want to run the ball more. You might not
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: want to give them as many offensive possessions. And that
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: has been a successful errand for all of you.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: Way.
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: Sean is one of the best players on this team.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: If not the best player on the team, your offensive line,
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: as we've talked about every single week has done a
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: really good job. If it comes down to that, if
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: it comes down to like an old fashioned rock fight
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: where you just got to grind out eight, eight minute drives,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: is that something you feel based on what you've seen
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: from Houston, you can pull off against this because they're
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: an athletic front for sure. Yeah, no, they're, they're a
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: talented group as well.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: Um, We've gone against our defense all this time coming
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: up to the season, so we've played against a good defense.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: We've played against especially a scally defense as him as
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: head coach. We've got to have that experience of playing
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: a such talented defense that.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: We know what to expect.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: We've been here before in these situations where every drive
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: feels like it matters just a little bit more.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: How was Kelvin Obott? Um, as in what way? Like,
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: it looked like he couldn't put any weight on his ankles.
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: He doing all right.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Like, I'm not asking you to tell me if he's,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: I know that you can't talk about it, but like,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know. He's a, he's a true freshman, right?
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: He's a guy who's a starter.
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: He's a big part of this team. Yeah.
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: And you know, like when you're 18, 19 years old
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: and you're living the dream and then something happens in
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: a game, that's as dicey. I'm asking you like as
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: a teammate, how does it seem like he's doing?
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: Um, I think he's doing well.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Um, I checked up on him the other day, too,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: just asking how he's feeling, especially we've got a great
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: O-line room, a pretty older O-line room that's able to
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: kind of mentor him and take care of him in
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: those ways, too, and give him advice on how to
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: recover faster and stuff like that.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: I think he's in a good headspace, though.
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: He's being loud at practice already with the limited reps
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: he gets, so it's been good.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: That is not an injury update on Kelvin Obon from
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Devin Dampier.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: He's not giving us any information that we're not supposed
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: to have a blackout game at night at rice. I
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: go sit. You guys have played every day game at night, basically. Yeah,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: I know you like it. or are you sick of it?
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: It's super at night. I mean, it's cool. It's cool.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: It's definitely better when it's at home.
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: I would say last game was trash. I would not
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: recommend that again. No? Who knows? Who knows? We got
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: home at like 3 a.m. No, like 4.30. I got
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: to my house at 4.30.
• 29:57
  Speaker 4: That's crazy.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: It was... It was an experience.
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: This one's at home though. Yeah.
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: Dark mode, blackout game day. I mean, the stage is set.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like the team has the right mentality
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: given the full context coming off this Colorado game, knowing
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: how tough Houston is, knowing what the rest of the
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: season could look like because the schedule does get tougher,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: but you got to focus on one game at a time.
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: Is everyone in the right headspace? Yeah.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: Scali doesn't sugarcoat anything during our beans. He's very transparent,
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: very much wants to, Give us the real on what's
• 30:31
  Speaker 2: going on. I feel like he gave us a great
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: rundown of where we're at as a team, where we
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: need to show ourselves, and then also this is a
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: big tester for us. This is a big kind of
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: where do we really stand? What kind of team are we?
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: That's what this weekend will be able to prove to us.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: This last weekend, I think, proved to a lot of
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: college football fans how wide open everything really is this year. Yeah. Because,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: you know, a bunch of teams in the top ten.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Notre Dame loses to BYU. Georgia loses. Texas again. I mean,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: nobody is safe, basically. So, is there a lesson to
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: be learned from that? I mean, you know, Scali says
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: it every week.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Like, you know, he watches the college football games just
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: as we do during leading up to our games and
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: stuff like that. And he's always like, man, college football, it's.
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: This is why people love college football. Anything can happen.
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: It's so crazy that there's not a team that.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Can't lose. That's not a thing.
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: You've got to come out every week with that mentality
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: of you've got to go get it.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: I think we talked about this with the Western Michigan-Michigan
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: game at the beginning of the season. But if a
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: referee or an officiating crew... doesn't give you a final
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: play when there's one second left on the clock and
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: you have a chance to win a game, but you
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: don't get that chance. How do you process that as
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: a quarterback? That's what happened to CJ car in Provo
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: last week.
• 32:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: I'd, uh, you know, there's two ways you can go
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: about it for, I mean, I'd be upset if, you know, that's,
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: that's the rules of football. You hope you get that
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: one last play. Cause again, we saw Michigan, they did
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: get that one last play.
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: And you know, they, something worked out for them.
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: And even for the state, for the state, uh, against Miami,
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: they got, uh, they're called plays, call back their thing.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: So it, yeah, it's, I would be hurt for sure.
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: But, um, you also hope you, you're not putting yourself
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: in a position where I guess you need that one
• 32:40
  Speaker 2: last day. You, you hope you win in a margin where,
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: you know, that one last place, hopefully you.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Don't need it on a last second play. which didn't
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: end up being a last-second play. As a quarterback, do
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: you just accept you're not going to get a flag,
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: even if there's pretty obvious contact and maybe some P.I.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: You know, I always– when it comes to, like, last-second plays,
• 33:05
  Speaker 2: I always live by give your receiver a chance. Like,
• 33:08
  Speaker 2: I'd rather the ball get picked off or at least
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: I made it catchable in a way that instead of
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: trying to throw the perfect ball, like, I just– I
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: would rather die on the hill of, you know, I
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: saw my receiver jump for the ball, and whatever happened,
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: it happened.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: Well, going to be a fun one at Rice Echo Stadium,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: another night game. Blackout, 8-15 kickoff. Let's be honest, it'll
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: probably be more like 8-30 because the games before will
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: go a little bit later. They don't want to start
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: it off on ESPN News or whatever. But, man, good luck.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Big stage, huge game, huge opportunity, and obviously we'll all
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: be behind it. Yeah, for sure. Love our youth. Final
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: message for the fans. It's dark mode. So I know
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: what time it is. Let's go, baby. Rice Stadium on
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: Saturday night. Devin Dampier will be there. I will be there.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Hopefully all of you get a chance to be there
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: as well. That's Dishing with Dev. Brought to you by
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: Culligan Water of Salt Lake City, America First Credit Union,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: and Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling. Sammy Mora is next.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: It's a Ute Zone Wednesday on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Would you stay as.
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: You promised you'd never?
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: Will you ever win?
• 34:27
  Speaker 6: Will you ever win?
• 34:29
  Speaker 5: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
• 34:32
  Speaker 5: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell show on a Wednesday.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: Welcome in Sammy Mora from Utah. We always do this
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: to Sammy. She gets pushed a little bit later than
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: we expected to have her because a coach is on,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: or in this case, QB number one is on. It's
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: not because we don't love Sammy. It's just because timing
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: works out that way, but I do feel bad about it. Hi, Sammy.
• 35:04
  Speaker 6: Hey, like I said, last time I got bumped, if
• 35:09
  Speaker 6: it's for like a player, a coach, I'm fine with it.
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: But if you like bought me for like Kevin, who
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: runs the seven 11 down the street, then there might
• 35:17
  Speaker 6: be some issues.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: We would never do that to you. Dev says, hi,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: by the way, let's talk a little Utah football coming
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: off a win, but an ugly win against the university
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: of Colorado. I'm sure you've gone back. Like I haven't rewatched.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Tell me what you think is the reason Utah underperformed
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: in that win.
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: Honestly, it's one of those weird games for me because
• 35:43
  Speaker 6: on one hand, Colorado had two weeks to prepare for
• 35:47
  Speaker 6: Utah because they were coming off a bye. And so
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: I think that extra prep time helped. I think there
• 35:52
  Speaker 6: was a lot of internal motivation in Boulder to get
• 35:55
  Speaker 6: the win for Isaac. You know, after the game, he said,
• 35:58
  Speaker 6: you know, one man's trash is another man's treasure, kind
• 36:01
  Speaker 6: of in kind of a I don't want to say backhanded,
• 36:04
  Speaker 6: but in a comment about Utah and just what this
• 36:07
  Speaker 6: game meant to him and stuff. So I think it
• 36:09
  Speaker 6: was that. And I think it was also just like
• 36:12
  Speaker 6: Utah got knocked out of their rhythm. Like when Utah
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: gets out of their rhythm, it turns into a funk
• 36:17
  Speaker 6: at times. We've seen it, you know, a couple of
• 36:19
  Speaker 6: games now. So I think those are the two biggest
• 36:21
  Speaker 6: things that kind of stood out to me. I'm still
• 36:24
  Speaker 6: doing my insanely deep breakdown. I, that game was, I
• 36:28
  Speaker 6: was in Boulder and it was such a, like a
• 36:32
  Speaker 6: whirlwind weekend for me, but also like an exhausting weekend
• 36:35
  Speaker 6: for me. So I'm just now, you know, getting my
• 36:37
  Speaker 6: feet back under me and stuff. And I'm going to
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: do some more deep dives of the game today just
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: to get an even better, you know, grasp an idea
• 36:45
  Speaker 6: of what's going on.
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to find some silver linings because look, it's
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: still a wind. You're a top 10 team in the country.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: There's six and oh, there's no reason to burn the
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: house down when you're undefeated. But something that I think
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: was important for this team to face, and I'm glad
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: they faced it against Colorado because I think it's easier
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: to get over the hump against Colorado than some of
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: the other teams like Houston who comes in this week.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: And we'll get to that conversation here in a second. But,
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: you know, there was probably three or four scenarios in
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: this game where you needed to make a play. Something
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: had to happen. Somebody had to go intercept the ball.
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: Bobo Chenault does it. Creed Whittemore had to come up
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: with drive-extending catches. Braden Pagan and Devin Dampier needed to
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: connect on a touchdown pass, or this game goes the
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: other way. The fact that Utah found playmakers in a
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: scenario where they actually needed those plays to happen, that's
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: the first time we've seen it this year. They've been
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: off to such a hot start. They built these nice leads,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: and they haven't really been up against it at all
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: so far this season. So if there was still a question,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: I think the silver lining is, even though the game's
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: closer than we wanted it to be, they answered the
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: call in those three or four scenarios on the positive
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: side of things. Is that a takeaway that I should
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: be focusing on here?
• 38:08
  Speaker 6: I mean, yeah, it's a really, it's a strong thing
• 38:11
  Speaker 6: to think about because there have been times where Utah
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: needed a stop on defense. They couldn't get it. Utah
• 38:17
  Speaker 6: needed to go down the field and score and they
• 38:18
  Speaker 6: couldn't do that. And the team, they were able to
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: do that. Like you said last week, like that was impressive.
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: You know, Bobo, that interception from Bobo, it was. just
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: such an important part of this game. And I think
• 38:31
  Speaker 6: that because of the play that Bobo has had this season,
• 38:34
  Speaker 6: whether it be high moments like that, it's been really
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: severely overshadowed by the bad moments. And I use bad
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: in not a negative term, but less than ideal moments,
• 38:46
  Speaker 6: whether it's he get beaten coverage or a pass interference
• 38:49
  Speaker 6: call or stuff like that. But you know, this team
• 38:53
  Speaker 6: doesn't seem like it's a team that's just going to
• 38:55
  Speaker 6: roll over when things get tough. Like they are going
• 38:58
  Speaker 6: to continue to fight. They're going to continue to play
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: for each other. They're going to continue to do everything
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: in their power to, you know, pull out these wins
• 39:06
  Speaker 6: and pull out these games. And it's, I'm really grateful
• 39:10
  Speaker 6: that Utah has had two, maybe three, depending on who
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: you are as a person, gut-check games now that we're
• 39:16
  Speaker 6: getting into mid-October, late-October, when these games are really going
• 39:20
  Speaker 6: to start ramping up. But I do agree that that
• 39:24
  Speaker 6: was good and encouraging to see that they got punched
• 39:27
  Speaker 6: in the mouth, but they were able to get back
• 39:29
  Speaker 6: up and punch right away.
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: Back.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: Uh, way Sean Parker, 23 carries 98 yards, no real
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: big breakout explosive runs in this one. And you got
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: to give credit to Colorado for that. Uh, it's still
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: a good, healthy average. It's a good game for way. Sean,
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: although probably his quietest game from a, an impact standpoint,
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: he didn't score a touchdown. What does that say about way?
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: Sean's usage moving forward?
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: Well, I like, like you said, it's, it's a credit
• 40:00
  Speaker 6: to Colorado. Like there were times where they were stacking
• 40:02
  Speaker 6: that box and they wanted Devin to try and beat
• 40:05
  Speaker 6: them with their, his arm. And it's, I think the
• 40:08
  Speaker 6: big thing with way Sean is like, we thought earlier
• 40:11
  Speaker 6: in the season that they have situations where they can
• 40:14
  Speaker 6: get the ball into his hands via, you know, passing attack.
• 40:18
  Speaker 6: And I do vividly remember probably two or three times
• 40:22
  Speaker 6: at least during Saturday's game where way Sean was open
• 40:26
  Speaker 6: on the check down with nobody in front of him.
• 40:28
  Speaker 6: And he could have, you know, cat caught it and
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: taken it. for however long and however far he could have.
• 40:35
  Speaker 6: So I think that that's something that Utah needs to
• 40:38
  Speaker 6: go back to. And, you know, I think Devin was
• 40:41
  Speaker 6: at times trying to get it all, get everything back,
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: whether it was, you know, deep shots, standing in the
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: pocket a little bit too much and not taking that
• 40:50
  Speaker 6: check down. But, you know, Weishan's such a talented player,
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: and he can do a lot with the ball in
• 40:56
  Speaker 6: his hands, whether it's him being a running back or
• 40:58
  Speaker 6: him in a catching situation.
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: So just.
• 41:01
  Speaker 6: Just get back to what it was versus, you know, Idaho,
• 41:06
  Speaker 6: Utah State, Arkansas, when you were throwing the ball away, Sean,
• 41:09
  Speaker 6: as well. Because when he gets green grass, that kid's gone.
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: And it might not be he has rushing yards, but
• 41:15
  Speaker 6: he'll have those receiving yards, and those receiving yards could
• 41:17
  Speaker 6: lead to more rushing yards for him.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: Sammy Moore is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell Show,
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: talking all things Utah football. Coming off a 27-24 win
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: over the Colorado Buffaloes. Looking forward to Houston. Isaac Wilson
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: on the other side in this game. Obviously, the connection
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: is strong. He transferred from Utah to Colorado. I thought
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: he competed well. I thought he accounted well for himself.
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, you still saw some of the problems that
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: he had at the University of Utah. But you could
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: tell this game meant a lot to Isaac Wilson. And
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: I know it's weird when we're talking transfers that leave
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: this program. I feel like I want the kid to
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: be successful, even if not against the university of Utah.
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: Did he do anything in this game that maybe gives him,
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: I don't know, a stay of execution as the starter
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: at Colorado.
• 42:12
  Speaker 6: I mean, I think he, he did a lot. Like
• 42:14
  Speaker 6: if you watched, like I've watched a decent amount of
• 42:16
  Speaker 6: Colorado football this year. And the thing that he did
• 42:19
  Speaker 6: was that he was actually making good decisions for the
• 42:23
  Speaker 6: most part, like outside of that Bobo intersection, like he
• 42:26
  Speaker 6: didn't really have anything like, glaringly bad in my opinion,
• 42:32
  Speaker 6: like the rabbit interception, that was just a really heads
• 42:35
  Speaker 6: up play by rabbit for ripping the ball out of,
• 42:38
  Speaker 6: out of the tight ends hands. And, you know, there
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: were still some things still that, you know, Utah fans
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: have known about Isaac. He tends to lock it on
• 42:44
  Speaker 6: his receivers. He stares guys down. He sometimes will stay
• 42:47
  Speaker 6: in the pocket a little bit too much, but his
• 42:49
  Speaker 6: pocket presence has taken a stride forward in my opinion.
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: But I think if I'm Colorado, I'm encouraged, but, because
• 42:56
  Speaker 6: he did for the most part, he did what you
• 42:59
  Speaker 6: needed him to do. He, he helped this team. He
• 43:01
  Speaker 6: kept his team in the game. And I don't, again,
• 43:04
  Speaker 6: like we'll have to see how things go this weekend
• 43:06
  Speaker 6: for them versus Oklahoma state. But I, if it was just,
• 43:09
  Speaker 6: this team was just so gung ho on trying to
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: get you, uh, Isaac a win versus Utah, or if
• 43:14
  Speaker 6: it was Isaac has actually turned the page and, and,
• 43:17
  Speaker 6: I don't wish any ill will on, on Isaac. You know,
• 43:20
  Speaker 6: he was put into a really bad situation at Utah and,
• 43:23
  Speaker 6: you know, he did what he could do given the,
• 43:26
  Speaker 6: you know, what he was, what hand he was dealt.
• 43:30
  Speaker 6: So we'll see if, if this lasts, but I know
• 43:33
  Speaker 6: people in Boulder were slightly encouraged by his performance last week.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: Morgan addressed this and has asked him, everyone's been asked
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: about it plenty, but he addressed it at the the
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: weekly press conference, the speed in which the ball is
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: getting out of opposing quarterbacks hands and the problems that
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: can cause in coverage, but more importantly, the problems that
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: has caused with pressure and Utah did not create any
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: havoc plays defensively at one tackle for loss. They had
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: no sacks. The only sack was taken away on a
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: penalty for lining up at the neutral zone. And it be,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: you know, we're halfway through the season and it's still
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: a persistent storyline here. is it something you can fix
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: halfway through?
• 44:21
  Speaker 6: I don't know. Like on one hand, I think it's,
• 44:25
  Speaker 6: we know that these players are capable of getting sacks because,
• 44:28
  Speaker 6: you know, Lance did it last year when John Henry
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: Daly got, went down. We've seen it with Ethan day
• 44:33
  Speaker 6: last year at North Texas. Cash has had moments where
• 44:36
  Speaker 6: he's flashed. Paul had moments where he's flashed. So I
• 44:39
  Speaker 6: don't know if it's a, if it's a player person,
• 44:41
  Speaker 6: if it's a player situation or if it's a coaching thing, but,
• 44:44
  Speaker 6: On one hand, I want to say that I think
• 44:47
  Speaker 6: it's more a coaching situation right now, just the way
• 44:50
  Speaker 6: that they're coaching these guys, that they want them to cage.
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: They want them to focus in on, you know, stopping
• 44:55
  Speaker 6: the run. I wonder if my big thing is I
• 44:58
  Speaker 6: wonder if, if Morgan slightly overcorrected, because obviously last year,
• 45:02
  Speaker 6: the big thing was, well, this, this run defense sucks.
• 45:05
  Speaker 6: The defensive line sucks. No one can, can stop a
• 45:07
  Speaker 6: running back. And so I wonder if there's just a
• 45:09
  Speaker 6: slight overcorrection of, okay, now we're going to take away the,
• 45:13
  Speaker 6: you know, we're going to put so much effort into
• 45:14
  Speaker 6: stopping the run that the defensive ends are not going
• 45:17
  Speaker 6: to get off the ball fast and they're not going
• 45:18
  Speaker 6: to get into the backfield. So I don't really know
• 45:21
  Speaker 6: if it's something that can be, I mean, I would
• 45:24
  Speaker 6: hope that's something that it can be fixed this season,
• 45:26
  Speaker 6: but we're six games in at this point and there's
• 45:28
  Speaker 6: no signs of life.
• 45:28
  Speaker 7: In that group.
• 45:29
  Speaker 6: And, you know, that's not me dogging on these guys.
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: Like all, all of the guys in that defensive end room, they're,
• 45:35
  Speaker 6: they're great guys. They they're, they're, they're solid players. It's
• 45:37
  Speaker 6: just a matter of I don't know if they're being
• 45:40
  Speaker 6: put in the right situations coaching-wise. And again, I think
• 45:45
  Speaker 6: Colton is doing what he's doing because they're getting pressure.
• 45:49
  Speaker 6: It's just when you're using that linebacker, sending an extra
• 45:53
  Speaker 6: backer into the box. You had Jackson Benny coming out
• 45:56
  Speaker 6: on a nickel blitz last week. Rabbit's been blitzing a lot.
• 45:58
  Speaker 6: Nate Ritchie's been blitzing a lot. So my gut kind
• 46:02
  Speaker 6: of tells me this is a coaching thing internally with
• 46:04
  Speaker 6: the defensive end. I don't know. how they fix it.
• 46:07
  Speaker 6: I don't know when they fix it or, you know,
• 46:09
  Speaker 6: anything about where that group should be at this point.
• 46:12
  Speaker 6: It just feels kind of, I don't want to say
• 46:15
  Speaker 6: a lost cause, but it feels like hope is quickly
• 46:18
  Speaker 6: dwindling with that group in terms of getting into the backfield.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: Before we look forward to Houston. Halfway through the season,
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: I said, all right, give me your offensive MVP, your
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: defensive MVP, assistant coach of the year so far, maybe
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: the team overall team MVP, if that's a different name
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: than your offensive MVP, the newcomer of the year. If
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: I'm asking for the yearbook superlatives from Sammy Mora halfway
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: through the season, who's your defensive.
• 46:48
  Speaker 4: Player of the year?
• 46:51
  Speaker 6: Ooh, I kind of want to go as Rabbit Evans
• 46:54
  Speaker 6: right now. Rabbit has been playing like insanely high level football.
• 46:59
  Speaker 6: I think this is what Utah expected from him last
• 47:03
  Speaker 6: year before he went down with that season ending injury.
• 47:05
  Speaker 6: So I want to say Rabbit on the defensive side
• 47:08
  Speaker 6: of the ball. I could also, you know, probably make
• 47:12
  Speaker 6: an argument for someone like Jai just because of how
• 47:16
  Speaker 6: he has impacted his defensive line and just where he's
• 47:20
  Speaker 6: playing right now. But my gut right now is rabbit.
• 47:23
  Speaker 6: He is tied for the most interceptions on the team.
• 47:26
  Speaker 6: He's up there in total tackles. He has a fumble
• 47:29
  Speaker 6: recovery on the year. So gut is right now leaning rabbit.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: Speaker 2, rabbit was the kind of consensus pick. We
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: actually got very few people who differed from that opinion.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: There was a couple for Jai. There was a couple
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: for Jackson Benny, but it was mostly people. So I
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: think one for Trey Reynolds was mostly people saying rabbits,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: the guy. So I don't think you're going to find
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: a lot of argument there. Offensive MVP, maybe a little easier.
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: Who do you got?
• 47:56
  Speaker 6: See this, I want to like, way Sean is like
• 47:58
  Speaker 6: the clear cut answer, but I feel like you could
• 48:00
  Speaker 6: also make an argument for creed. You could also make
• 48:03
  Speaker 6: an argument for zero way. Like, I think there's a
• 48:05
  Speaker 6: couple of guys on this offense that you could make
• 48:08
  Speaker 6: arguments for. Devin is also another one that you could,
• 48:10
  Speaker 6: you know, put in that, that category, but they're always
• 48:13
  Speaker 6: been playing extremely, extremely good football. Um, I've heard draft
• 48:18
  Speaker 6: Buzz for him is starting to rise. Way Sean is
• 48:22
  Speaker 6: way Sean. We've talked a lot about him. But Creed
• 48:24
  Speaker 6: has been silently putting together a really solid season. Like,
• 48:28
  Speaker 6: Braden Pagan is wide receiver one, and he is, you know,
• 48:31
  Speaker 6: that guy that Devin likes to look to first. But
• 48:33
  Speaker 6: when the ball is thrown Creed's way... Nine times out
• 48:37
  Speaker 6: of 10, he's going to come down with a catch
• 48:38
  Speaker 6: that Utah needs, kind of like what we talked about
• 48:40
  Speaker 6: earlier with the Colorado game. So I think those two
• 48:43
  Speaker 6: are kind of up there. Offense feels a little bit
• 48:46
  Speaker 6: more wide open in defense, in my opinion, this year,
• 48:48
  Speaker 6: just because every single week it seems like there's somebody
• 48:51
  Speaker 6: that makes a big play. But if you're talking consistently,
• 48:55
  Speaker 6: the guys that continue to come up are, you know, Wayshon, Devin, Zeroway,
• 48:58
  Speaker 6: and Creed.
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: Is Pagan the runaway newcomer of the year for you?
• 49:07
  Speaker 6: I maybe, maybe, I think again, you could maybe make
• 49:13
  Speaker 6: an argument for Jai. But yeah, Braden's probably, he's probably
• 49:19
  Speaker 6: up there. I would also maybe put Ricky up there.
• 49:21
  Speaker 6: Ricky's had some really good moments as well on the offense,
• 49:24
  Speaker 6: offensive side of the ball this year.
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: If Kelvin Obot does not play this week, how big
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: a problem is that for Utah against Houston?
• 49:32
  Speaker 6: I don't think it's much of a problem. I would
• 49:34
  Speaker 6: probably slide into his spot. And if we remember Towa,
• 49:37
  Speaker 6: Toe has played a lot of football for Utah and
• 49:40
  Speaker 6: he was supposed to be the guy heading into this
• 49:42
  Speaker 6: season and just Kelvin slightly edged him out. So I'm not,
• 49:46
  Speaker 6: I'm not worried. I'm not hitting the panic button because Toa,
• 49:50
  Speaker 6: Toa knows what the guys around him are going to do.
• 49:52
  Speaker 6: Because if you remember Toa, Keith, Alex, Zaraway, they were
• 49:57
  Speaker 6: the second string offensive line for the last two or
• 50:00
  Speaker 6: three years at Utah. So all of them know what
• 50:02
  Speaker 6: they're going to do with each other. They know how
• 50:04
  Speaker 6: to respond with each other. So I'm not severely concerned
• 50:08
  Speaker 6: if Toa is the one that starts this week.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: Where is Houston most dangerous? Because I think they're dangerous
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: in a lot of places.
• 50:17
  Speaker 6: I think... I think Connor Wegman's the most difficult part
• 50:22
  Speaker 6: of this off of this Houston defense or team in general,
• 50:25
  Speaker 6: because if you give him too much time in the pocket,
• 50:29
  Speaker 6: he's going to sit there and he's going to wait
• 50:30
  Speaker 6: for things to develop down the field. And he has some,
• 50:33
  Speaker 6: he is, has great touch. He knows exactly where to
• 50:36
  Speaker 6: put the ball to, you know, get his wide receivers
• 50:40
  Speaker 6: in a position to come away with a, with a,
• 50:42
  Speaker 6: with a big play. So I think Wegman that area,
• 50:44
  Speaker 6: but also if you do bring pressure, he's going to,
• 50:47
  Speaker 6: he's going to run. he doesn't make his, he's not
• 50:50
  Speaker 6: like a, he's not like a, like a Devin type
• 50:54
  Speaker 6: guy where it's, you have to defend the run and
• 50:56
  Speaker 6: the pass with him. It's more of a, if he
• 50:58
  Speaker 6: needs to run, he will run and he will get
• 51:01
  Speaker 6: out of Dodge and he's an effective runner. So I
• 51:03
  Speaker 6: think biggest thing overall is, is Wegman and just getting
• 51:06
  Speaker 6: him locked down and stopped this weekend.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: Does Utah win with game day in town, remain undefeated
• 51:14
  Speaker 1: top 15 matchup. Devin Dampier gets the ranked win. Is
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: this a win for the University of Utah Saturday night?
• 51:22
  Speaker 6: My gut is telling me yes, but it's not going
• 51:26
  Speaker 6: to be like a double-digit win. I think that they
• 51:31
  Speaker 6: win by three or I think they win by seven.
• 51:34
  Speaker 6: I don't think this is going to be a.
• 51:38
  Speaker 6: Big blowout win. I think it's going to be whatever
• 51:41
  Speaker 6: quarterback can make the biggest, like the play that wins
• 51:45
  Speaker 6: the game. I think there's going to be at least
• 51:46
  Speaker 6: one or two of those. game defining plays for Utah.
• 51:51
  Speaker 6: I just, I also feel a lot more confident that
• 51:54
  Speaker 6: this game is at home versus on the road. The
• 51:57
  Speaker 6: fans have been just really solid this season. Utah at
• 52:01
  Speaker 6: home has played extremely well this season. I just, that's just,
• 52:05
  Speaker 6: my gut is telling me that. And, you know, that's
• 52:07
  Speaker 6: why I kind of asked Morgan, if, if you were
• 52:09
  Speaker 6: in a situation where you had to kick and do
• 52:11
  Speaker 6: you send Dylan Curtis out there and do you have comfort?
• 52:13
  Speaker 6: And he said, yeah, he has comfort in Dylan Curtis
• 52:15
  Speaker 6: making that kick. And so I just, I just have
• 52:17
  Speaker 6: a gut feeling. This is going to be a close
• 52:19
  Speaker 6: one this weekend.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: Utah is six and a half point favorites for the
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: eight 15 kickoff and a blackout game at rice Eccles
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: stadium with game day in town. Sammy will be there.
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: I will be there. You should get there too. Although
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: it is the most expensive ticket in the big 12
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: this weekend, $ 200. to get into rice cycle stadium, at
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: least as of today. So we'll see you up there, Sammy.
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: Appreciate you giving us some time as always.
• 52:42
  Speaker 8: Sweet.
• 52:43
  Speaker 7: Thanks, Sean.
• 52:44
  Speaker 6: Talk to you later.
• 52:44
  Speaker 9: All right.
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: We got to double up. We got a daily dump.
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: We got Ted party, who is the color analyst for
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: the Houston Cougars joining us. And then we got Adrian
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: Denny still. That's a busy day. So Sean O'Connell show
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: on ESPN, 700 and 92 on FM.
• 53:03
  Speaker 5: Feeling out of the loop? Let's catch up on today's
• 53:06
  Speaker 5: biggest headlines in the Daily News Dump, where we flush
• 53:09
  Speaker 5: out the biggest stories of the day on the Sean
• 53:12
  Speaker 5: O'Connell Show and Utah's number one sports talk, ESPN 792.1 FM.
• 53:18
  Speaker 5: Brought to you by Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling. Just
• 53:21
  Speaker 5: look for the truck with the duck.
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show. We're doing the
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: Daily Dump early. And you know what? The truck with
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: the duck, they might show up early when you make
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: a call. Or you go to valleyplumbing.com and make an
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: appointment without even picking up the phone for any excavation
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: needs you have or drain cleaning for plumbing. Maybe it's
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: time to get that furnace dialed back in because this beautiful,
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: beautiful weather in the fall is probably not going to
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: last forever. When you make your appointment, tell them that
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: you heard about it on the Sean O'Connell Show. Valley Plumbing, Heating,
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: and Cooling giving you the daily dump. Ted Pardee is
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: the Houston color analyst. He's going to join us in
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: about 25 minutes to talk about just how dangerous the
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: Houston Cougars are. You can make a pretty easy argument
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: that Utah's two toughest games on the slate are against Cougars.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: A lack of imagination from both schools, potentially, especially Houston, because, well,
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: maybe more imagination from Houston, because they don't actually have
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: cougars in the nearby Houston metro. We already talked about this.
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: We already looked this up. There's not mountain lions in
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: the low altitude, humid wasteland of Houston, but there certainly
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: are down in Provo. In any case, Houston color analyst
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: Ted Party is going to join us.
• 54:57
  Speaker 10: Well, Bolton board material for Houston.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, see, is that what you're doing there?
• 55:01
  Speaker 10: You don't even have cougars there.
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: Well, look, just come up. You got a lot of
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: things in Houston. You have oil. You could be the
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: Houston Oilers. That's not taken anymore.
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: No.
• 55:13
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 55:15
  Speaker 10: I guess it's potentially under copyright somewhere, but they probably could.
• 55:19
  Speaker 4: I actually think that IP is still owned.
• 55:21
  Speaker 10: Yeah, but you could do something oil-related. You could do,
• 55:25
  Speaker 10: like every other sports team in Houston, you could do
• 55:28
  Speaker 10: something space-related.
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: But I don't know. Every other team has something, so
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: maybe there's less options there. If you're not going to
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: go Astros, Rockets, you could be the Houston Shuttles. The
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: Houston Asteroids? You could be the Houston... uh, mission control nerds.
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: Cause that's who actually does the stuff in Houston.
• 55:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: It's, it's Florida where the rockets get lost. The astronauts
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: are actually in Florida.
• 55:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: But like the mathematicians are in Houston. You could do
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: the Houston problems.
• 56:01
  Speaker 4: Houston.
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: We have a problem. That's actually James. That's actually a
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: really cool name.
• 56:05
  Speaker 10: And you could, you could have like a math equation
• 56:08
  Speaker 10: as your logo. Maybe Houston problems. That one's.
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: You just have the quadratic equation as a decal on
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: your helmet. How about E equals MC squared? That has
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with space. I don't care. It doesn't matter.
• 56:22
  Speaker 4: I don't care.
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: Nobody knows, okay? None of us know what it means.
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: Get more creative, Houston.
• 56:30
  Speaker 10: They've been the Cougars forever, though, so they're not changing
• 56:33
  Speaker 10: their name.
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: 1927 is when they became the Cougars, by the way. Okay,
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: so it's been 100 years. This is actually... I did
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: not know this when we started having this conversation. This
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: is actually the worst reason that a school has ever
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: adopted a mascot that I've ever heard in my life.
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: Are you reading from the Wikipedia?
• 56:55
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: Are you ready for this?
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: I'm ready.
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: University of Houston became the Cougars in 1927. when former
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: Washington state football coach, John R. Bender was hired to
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: teach physical education and named the school's newly formed student
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: volunteer squad after his former team. So this is Houston
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: is named after the Washington state Cougars. What? Yeah, that's terrible.
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: By the way, it was Houston Junior College back in 1927.
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: Got it. They launched the newspaper called The Cougar.
• 57:38
  Speaker 4: The Cougar. Oh, my gosh.
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: So 1946, the name is formally cemented across the school's
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: athletic programs as they expand intercollegiate sports. 1947, the university
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: introduces its first live mascot, a female cougar named Shasta,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: chosen through a student contest. Shasta.
• 57:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: Cosmo is a way better name for a cougar than Shasta.
• 58:02
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: Got to say, what's the Washington State? What's the name
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: of their mascot? I've never known. There's a name for it.
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: I've heard it out of Mike Leach's mouth. I can't
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: remember what it is, though.
• 58:17
  Speaker 3: Butch.
• 58:18
  Speaker 10: Butch, that's right. Butch is the cougar. That's a good
• 58:20
  Speaker 10: one for a cougar, too. Shasta's weird. What are we doing?
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: Shout out to the Liger that once lived at the
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: Hogle Zoo. That that cat's name was Shasta. I think
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: it's now down at the, I guess maybe the bean
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: museum on the campus of BYU.
• 58:35
  Speaker 10: If I'm not mistaken, I had a touch here with
• 58:38
  Speaker 10: cat with cat lovers. Is that just a common cat name?
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: Shasta?
• 58:42
  Speaker 4: I don't think so.
• 58:43
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: I don't think it's common. Okay. I, I am blown away.
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: I am distraught now over the fact that Houston, which
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: doesn't have any cougars in the veneer vicinity, right?
• 58:57
  Speaker 10: Named after Washington State. It's named after another school's mascot.
• 59:01
  Speaker 10: Because not a coach came in. A PE teacher came
• 59:05
  Speaker 10: in from Wazoo.
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: A former coach who then became a P.E. teacher at
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: your junior college. You have got to fix this, Houston.
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: You cannot stay the Cougars.
• 59:14
  Speaker 10: Jim Nance and Andre Ware, you should be ashamed of
• 59:17
  Speaker 10: your school. You should be ashamed of your school. I
• 59:19
  Speaker 10: am flummoxed by this.
• 59:23
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: That is really, really terrible. Anyway, the daily dump. Let's
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: get to some relevant stories. Dylan Larkin, who is currently
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: playing for the Detroit Red Wings, all-star caliber NHL hockey player,
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: does not want to be in Detroit and has demanded
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: a trade, but he's still playing. And he had a
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: no trade clause that rendered him impossible to trade to
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: all but three NHL teams until yesterday. He expanded that
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: list to 10 and he put the Utah mammoth on
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: the list. Now there's a couple of things to read
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: here and we'll talk about it with Adrian Denny because
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: there's two reasons why people are opening up the possibilities.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: Why guys like McKenzie Weger waved their no trade clause
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: to come to Salt Lake city. One is because this
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: is a winning team. And this is what a lot
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: of people think is a future near future Stanley cup
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: contending team. Maybe as early as this year, I think
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: that might be getting a little ahead of ourselves, but
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: in the next two or three years, this team has
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: a very realistic chance of hoisting Lord Stanley's cup players
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: around the league. Recognize that that's one reason. And probably
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: the primary reason why people are willing to wave, no
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: trade clauses to come to Salt Lake city. The other reason,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: is just the reputation that in three years, the hockey
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: community and, more importantly, the organization have developed in NHL circles.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: The ownership group, the arena, the fan base, the surrounding community,
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: the quality of life in Salt Lake City, it has
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: been something that, to a man, basically every NHL player
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: that's been asked about it, even guys who are not
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: pandering to a Utah audience. We're talking about Vegas Knights players.
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: We're talking about Anaheim ducks. We're talking about Edmonton Oilers
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: getting asked about, Hey, what have you heard about Utah?
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: And every one of these guys is like, man, I
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: heard they got a first-class organization going on. I heard
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: about their crazy practice facility that was built immediately. The
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: arena has been renovated twice already in three years and
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: hockey infrastructure is being developed around for the guys who
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: do have kids and The Utah Mammoth organization, and people
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: get mad at me when I give too much credit
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: to Ryan Smith, but it's not just him. It's Bill Armstrong.
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: It's Coach Bear. It's everybody in the organization has developed
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: a reputation in a very, very short time that it
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: is the right kind of place to be a professional athlete,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: that you're going to get taken care of, that they
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: actually want you and your family to be here. Obviously,
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: the state at large already has that reputation, but And
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: that certainly helps. But man, it's not a small thing
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: that guys are already recognizing Utah as a potential destination
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: for their careers in things like no trade clauses. And eventually,
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 1: what does that mean? Free agency. Guys are going to
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: be like, yeah, I want to go play there. We
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 1: don't have that in the NBA. The jazz start their
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 1: season tonight. And even with all the optimism for the
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: Utah jazz, you stop short of being like, this is
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 1: a place, even though you've got these, this great young core,
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: you got these exciting young players, everybody, the most optimistic
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 1: jazz fan. You stop short of saying like, they're going
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: to eventually get some big time free agent signings in
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: the NBA. It's just not, that's not going to ever
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: be the Utah jazz reality. I don't think despite very
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: similar efforts being put in by Smith entertainment group to
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: develop the infrastructure around the Utah jazz. It's just a
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: different sport. Different individuals are playing it. It's such a
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: luxury to have this happening in such a short time
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: for the Utah mammoth. I am blown away, but I
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: don't think Larkin's going to end up here. I don't
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: think that the Utah Mammoth are going to end up
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: trading for him because I think there's too much affection
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: for and too much hope surrounding the roster as it's
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: constructed right now. Trochek has been a wonderful addition. Anders
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: Lee has been a wonderful addition. Kosa has been a
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: wonderful addition as a backup goalie, although the Connor Hellebuck
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: conversation is once again ramping up with the Utah Mammoth
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 1: near the center of it. So we'll get to all
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: of that. in between the pipes with Adrian Denny on
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: the show later today. But, man, how about that? Little
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: old Salt Lake City, perhaps a destination for some of
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: the top players in the NHL.
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 10: Yeah, it's weird to think of our city and our
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 10: state as a destination for pro athletes, but that's what
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 10: it's become in the NHL, and it speaks to the
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 10: difference culturally between the NHL and the NBA, of course, demographically,
• 1:04:12
  Speaker 10: all that. But it's more than that, like you said.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 10: I think that we'd be lying or lying to ourselves
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 10: if it wasn't also just like the shine from being
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 10: new for part of this too, but it's, but that's
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 10: not the main driver, but that's not the main driver.
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 10: It seems to be that this team is a team
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 10: on the rise competitively. Like you said, made the playoffs
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 10: last year. We're this close to winning a playoff series,
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 10: added some really good veterans. They feel like they're an
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 10: even better team. at least to start this season than
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 10: they were at the end of last season, which makes
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 10: you think, okay, a cup run could be in the
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 10: near future.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: That's for sure is a factor.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 10: And everything you said about the reputation of the organization,
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 10: starting with yes, the ownership that Utes fans hate Ryan's
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 10: Ryan and Ashley Smith, right? They've done everything right to
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 10: endear themselves to the NHL at large. And it seems
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 10: like to the top players didn't, didn't Adrian Denny tell
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 10: us last in the summertime that there was like Instagram
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 10: posts from Oilers players and whatever going hiking in the
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 10: summertime in Utah. Like this has become certainly a curiosity
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 10: because it's a new market in the league, but it's
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 10: become a place where NHL players want to figure out
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 10: what is this place about, whether they're vacationing here and that's, or,
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 10: or they're wanting to play here. And if they're just
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 10: coming here to vacation, it's probably going to lead to
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 10: more interest. So like, okay, maybe I, maybe I'm a
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 10: lot more interested in the hockey team too. And there's
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 10: so many other reasons why they'd be interested in the
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 10: hockey team.
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: I'll say this. If you're not a high level athlete,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: you're going to hate it here. Don't come here. If
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: you're driving through right now, listening to ESPN 700 or
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: 92 on FM on accident. Unless you make an NHL
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 1: salary or an NBA salary, you're going to hate it here.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 3: It's terrible.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: Go ahead and stay in California. You're not going to
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 1: like it. Eventually, move to Phoenix. Eventually, they're going to
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: have an NHL team again. Everyone else, you're going to
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: hate it here in Utah. NHL players, you're going to
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: love it. So that's good news. And NBA players, too.
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 1: We want you to love it. I don't know that
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: you do, but we want you to. The approved trade
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 1: destinations for Dylan Larkin... The Hurricanes, the Avalanche, the Dallas Stars,
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: the Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild, the Jersey Devils, the Tampa
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: Bay Lightning, the Utah Mammoth, the Golden Knights, and the
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: Washington Capitals.
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 4: So those are the teams he's willing to play for.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 3: On the list, baby.
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 4: On the list. You're telling me?
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: There's a chance.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 10: By the way, real quick, before we get to the
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 10: next thing, we've got some texts about Houston Cougars. We
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 10: had someone say, Cougars historic range covered all 48 contiguous states.
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:07:02
  Speaker 3: Fair.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 10: We covered this yesterday, though. Cougars are in Texas. They're
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 10: just nowhere near Houston.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 4: That's right.
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 10: Texas is huge, so the fact that they're in Texas
• 1:07:14
  Speaker 10: doesn't mean anything to the Houston area, just for our
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 10: texture there.
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: West Texas, the hill country?
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 10: Yeah, if it was the Texas Tech Cougars, Lubbock's in
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 10: West Texas, you could get away with the Texas Tech
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 10: being Cougar name.
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: They're close enough to Lubbock. They're nowhere near Houston. Also,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: even if that was not enough reason, just the fact
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 1: that you named your school after another school.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:07:44
  Speaker 1: Get rid of it. I mean, yeah.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 10: Like that argument that we brought up is an argument
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 10: against the jazz being the Utah jazz. So like, that's
• 1:07:54
  Speaker 10: just like, okay, whatever the Lakers being the LA Lakers,
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 10: but Yeah, the fact that they're named after Washington State
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 10: because a PE teacher came to work there, that's wow.
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 10: By the way, Shasta Seven is the official live cougar
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 10: mascot of the University of Houston. Lives at the zoo
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 10: with Louie, her brother.
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: So very progressive that they chose a female mascot right
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 1: off the bat.
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 10: We also had a great text that said they have
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 10: cougars there, just not the animal. Speaker 0 7, 0 7,
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 10: 0 7.
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 1: All right. The Ohio state, I'll give you a little
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 1: nugget here, James, Julian saying out for the season with
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: the elbow injury, Ohio state starting the morning today, second
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 1: highest odds to win the national championship in college football.
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: Will that still be the case when Luke Fahey is
• 1:08:51
  Speaker 1: your starting quarterback? Only the books will tell. And we'll,
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, Luke Fahey, it's your time. We'll see.
• 1:08:58
  Speaker 5: See.
• 1:08:59
  Speaker 1: How good you can be.
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 10: They didn't do much with him at the end of
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 10: the game at Indiana. You can explain that away saying, well,
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 10: every time a backup comes in mid game, you, the
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 10: game plan's not for him. You're never going to get
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 10: that many yards.
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 4: Fine.
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: I'm not feeling that optimistic about it.
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 4: Let's see.
• 1:09:20
  Speaker 1: Looks like a bye week this week.
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 10: So they got an extra week to practice with him,
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 10: but then USC comes to town on Halloween. So it's
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 10: not like he's going to have an easy matchup for
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 10: his first game as a starter. Um, actually no, they're
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 10: going to the Coliseum. So it's a road game at
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 10: the Coliseum against USC, uh, night game too. So that's a,
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 10: that's a tough first start for Fahey. I'm not, I
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 10: told you I wasn't that optimistic about, I was optimistic
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 10: they could win a national championship with Julian saying, of course,
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 10: because the rest of the team's awesome and he's good enough.
• 1:09:54
  Speaker 10: I wasn't that optimistic about him being a great quarterback,
• 1:09:58
  Speaker 10: Julian saying. So I'm not I can't feel that optimistic
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 10: about his backup, who's not as good as him.
• 1:10:04
  Speaker 1: Finishing the season. So, yeah, I'm not feeling very good.
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 4: Oh, see. But you know what? It's OK.
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 1: Ever heard of a timeless ticket? Ladies and gentlemen, this
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 1: story is wild. This is a wild story. The Milwaukee
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 1: brewers are in the world series against the Tampa Bay rays, right?
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: We talked about this, probably not major league baseball's favorite
• 1:10:24
  Speaker 1: world series matchup, but now the brewers are dealing with
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: some of their own problems. In 2015, they ran a
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: promotion called a timeless ticket, which granted fans admission to
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 1: any game in the future that But they had to
• 1:10:41
  Speaker 1: pay $ 1, 000. So now this is 2015. This is 11
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: years ago. The Brewers are in the World Series for
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 1: the first time since 1982. And fans, of course, are like, oh, sweet,
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: I got my timeless ticket. So where's my World Series ticket?
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 1: This is a really strange situation. Fans are getting bothered because...
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: when they contact the team and say, I want my
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: timeless ticket for the World Series games, internal communications and
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 1: logistics of fulfilling the requirements, according to the Milwaukee Brewers,
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: have been filled with error. While we are able to
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: accommodate all with seats, we received feedback from some that
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: were unhappy with their seat locations. Clearly, even with extraordinary
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: limitations on available seats, we did not live up to
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 1: the spirit of the program requirements And we've been working
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 1: through a resolution. A timeless ticket holder was able to
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 1: redeem that ticket and become eligible to buy three additional
• 1:11:47
  Speaker 1: tickets to that game for full retail price. The offer
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 1: said that tickets may be redeemed for the best available
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: seat locations subject to ticket availability at.
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 10: The time of redemption. So they're reading that fine print.
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 10: these fans with these timeless tickets and going, I see
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 10: best available locations and they're taking it obviously very literally.
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 10: And so when it comes to world series tickets, when
• 1:12:14
  Speaker 10: you already have basically the, the whole stadium sold out
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 10: and you have limited capacity and they're putting them in
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 10: places that don't have the greatest sight lines or really
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 10: far away in the outfield or wherever the story doesn't
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 10: say exactly where these undesirable seat locations are, but that's just,
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 10: where mine, mine goes, they're like, hold on my ticket
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 10: that I, and they're not free by the way, they
• 1:12:39
  Speaker 10: have to spend at least a thousand dollars. So they're
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 10: spending a thousand dollars on, on these seats and.
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 3: No, no, no. Right?
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: Did I read that wrong? They spent $ 1, 000 in 2015
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: on the timeless ticket.
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 10: So they already spent $ 1, 000 for this.
• 1:12:54
  Speaker 1: So it's not like it's free. It's just they're redeeming
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 1: it later. And by the way, the opportunity cost on $ 1, 000
• 1:13:00
  Speaker 1: in 2015, like if you kept that in a high-yield
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: bank account, it's now worth a lot more than that
• 1:13:09
  Speaker 1: if you had invested that in like Nvidia, you're a
• 1:13:13
  Speaker 1: billionaire probably.
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 4: I don't know.
• 1:13:15
  Speaker 1: Like it's, it's certainly like, it's a big ask to
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 1: blindly ask a fan base. Hey, give us a thousand dollars. Yeah.
• 1:13:22
  Speaker 10: And apparently many of them did. And it's for a
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 10: future ticket. It's paying off it for those fans now.
• 1:13:28
  Speaker 10: Cause they're in the world series and they got this
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 10: quote unquote free ticket world series ticket. So anyway, I'm
• 1:13:35
  Speaker 10: tempted to be like, how can you complain about your
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 10: seats for a free world series ticket? But then you
• 1:13:41
  Speaker 10: consider that it's not free. They spent $ 1, 000 on this already.
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 10: I'm trying to figure out... Complicates things. This is just
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 10: a one-time use? You cash in one time?
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 1: Or timeless ticket gets you dibs to future tickets forever?
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 4: In perpetuity?
• 1:13:56
  Speaker 1: I would think that it's a one-time use. And you've
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: been sitting on this thing for 11 years. Expecting exactly
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 1: this scenario. A World Series opportunity. There's one individual who
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 1: said that... he got four tickets in the 100 level
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 1: behind home plate when the Brewers reached the national league
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: championship series back in 2018.
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 10: Also, he cashed it in, in 2018 for the NLCS,
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 10: which those are, I mean, that's, I guess that's what
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 10: these fans are expecting when they say best available seat.
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 1: So this is, he, he redeemed the one time, the
• 1:14:38
  Speaker 1: timeless ticket, for a potential world series game before they
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 1: lost game seven of the NLCS to the Dodgers. He said,
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: all right, I'm using my timeless ticket on game one,
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 1: game one of the world series. And then it didn't work,
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: but they said, okay, here's your, here's your seat. It's
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: four tickets in the 100 level behind home plate. They're
• 1:15:01
  Speaker 1: really good seats. And he said, okay, cool. Timeless ticket.
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: That's why I bought this thing. That's what I got
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 1: it for. Except the game never happened. So now he's
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 1: trying to redeem it again. And they're not letting him? No,
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: they're letting him, but they're giving him back row seats.
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 1: And that's where the complaint comes from. So the Brewers
• 1:15:22
  Speaker 1: really screwed this up because when they were going to
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 1: cash in, when this fan was going to cash in
• 1:15:28
  Speaker 1: a timeless ticket in 2018, they gave him great seats.
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 1: And this time they're like, don't give any of the
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: good seats to these yahoos. Give them the leftovers. You're
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: supposed to be getting top priority behind season ticket holders.
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: That's what the fine print says. And the timeless ticket
• 1:15:43
  Speaker 1: holders who've been waiting for 11 years to cash in
• 1:15:47
  Speaker 1: are not getting great seats. And that's where the complaint
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 1: comes from.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 10: So like I said, it's easy. It was easy for me.
• 1:15:54
  Speaker 10: My first reaction to be like, here's what these fans,
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 10: these fans don't have much room to complain. Like just
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 10: how about just be happy. You're going to a world
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 10: series game. But then you read more and you're like,
• 1:16:05
  Speaker 10: they spent a thousand dollars on these. The fine print
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 10: says they're supposed to get a lot better seats than
• 1:16:12
  Speaker 10: just the leftovers in the stadium, back row, whatever you
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 10: want to call it.
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: Kind of have a grievance here. I think here's the thing.
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: If you are a cash poor as an organization, this
• 1:16:23
  Speaker 1: timeless ticket idea is genius. You're going to get an
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 1: influx of people who are your hopeful diehard fans. They're
• 1:16:30
  Speaker 1: going to buy this thousand dollar ticket, but If like
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 1: the San Francisco 49ers offered this James, a thousand dollar
• 1:16:39
  Speaker 1: timeless ticket. I can cash it in for any game.
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 1: The Niners are involved in. I'm buying it immediately and
• 1:16:46
  Speaker 1: hoping that the Niners are in a Superbowl in my lifetime,
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: that then I can say, aha. I'm using this on
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 1: the super bowl. In which case the super bowl is
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: just like no chance.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 1: And you're not getting in for a thousand dollars.
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 10: Paul
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 10: went for, for college football, a college football playoff home game,
• 1:17:16
  Speaker 10: an NFC championship championship game still would.
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: Be awesome for thousand bucks to get into the building.
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: But if then they gave me the last one next
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 1: to the electrical substation, that's breaking down my connective tissues
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: in Santa Clara.
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 4: I'm filing a grievance for sure. Absolutely. All right.
• 1:17:33
  Speaker 1: Sorry about your troubles. Milwaukee brewers. Good luck in a
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: world series that no one's going to watch. 801-850-9100. Make
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  Speaker 1: Advanced Window Products at 801-850-9100 or advancedwindows.com. Before we get
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: to Ted Party, the Houston color analyst on their radio broadcasts,
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: A reminder, Nickelback is coming to the Delta Center on
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  Speaker 1: April 22nd, 2027, and we are giving away a pair
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• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: talking houston football it's the sean o'connell show on espn
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: 700 and 92.1 fm you're listening to the.
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 5: Sean o'connell show from the murdoch hyundai studio of espn
• 1:19:02
  Speaker 5: 700 and 92.1 fm.
• 1:19:15
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell show ESPN, 792, one
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: FM big game coming Saturday night at rice echo stadium.
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: Number 14 ranked Houston Cougars. Who's only loss this season
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 1: came to Texas tech in a really, really fascinating game
• 1:19:35
  Speaker 1: that ultimately came down to the final inches and Connor
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 1: Wegman reaching toward the goal line. just not quite getting there.
• 1:19:47
  Speaker 1: And if you watch that play and you watched the
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: subsequent replay review, I think that if on the field,
• 1:19:57
  Speaker 1: the call had been, he got in, there wasn't enough
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 1: evidence because of the angles and how hard it was
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 1: to see whether his shin was down, his knee was
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 1: down as the ball breached the goal line. They upheld the,
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 1: what the ruling on the field was. And that is,
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 1: he was short. It was that close. I mean, an
• 1:20:17
  Speaker 1: incredible performance by Houston that ultimately ended up as a
• 1:20:21
  Speaker 1: Texas tech win, but they've been really, really good this year.
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: And they are the number 14 ranked team in the country.
• 1:20:28
  Speaker 1: As I said, many times on the show, the way
• 1:20:31
  Speaker 1: that scheduling has worked out in the big 12 conference
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 1: this year, where Oklahoma state and Texas tech play one another,
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: but they don't, play BYU and Utah. And of course
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 1: the opposite, the vice versa, the other side of that
• 1:20:44
  Speaker 1: coin is true. Utah and BYU play one another in
• 1:20:47
  Speaker 1: the Holy war, November 7th, but they don't play Texas
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: tech or Oklahoma state. It is Houston. That is sort
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: of the fulcrum. Houston is the inflection point for the
• 1:21:00
  Speaker 1: college football season in the big 12 conference, the Cougars
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: of Houston. I'm sad that we have to clarify that way. Um,
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: They play Utah, they already played Oklahoma State, and they
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: already played Texas Tech. Now, they do miss BYU, but
• 1:21:20
  Speaker 1: three of the top four ranked teams in this conference,
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: Houston has the head-to-head against. They already lost to Texas Tech,
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 1: as I just mentioned. They beat Oklahoma State last week, 35-32.
• 1:21:32
  Speaker 1: They've got Utah this week, and then they will finish
• 1:21:35
  Speaker 1: out with Cincinnati, Colorado, West Virginia, and Baylor. Games that
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 1: they will be favored in, very winnable games. An interesting
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 1: one at the end of the year against Baylor, a
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: bit of a Texas rivalry there. But this Houston team,
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: even if they don't win, they control the destiny of
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 1: other teams here in the Big 12 Conference, potentially. Oklahoma
• 1:22:03
  Speaker 1: State had designs on an appearance in the college football
• 1:22:09
  Speaker 1: playoff in the Big 12 championship game. The only way
• 1:22:13
  Speaker 1: after they suffered their first loss of the season, the
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 1: Oklahoma State Cowboys I'm referencing here, the only way that
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 1: they were going to get into the college football playoff
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: after losing to Tulsa, if we're being realistic, was by
• 1:22:27
  Speaker 1: winning out and getting into the Big 12 championship game.
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: Houston has put a big wrench in that idea by
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: beating them 35, 32 last week. And right now the
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: best win on Texas tech's resume is Houston. If you
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: talk and get the win here, depending on what happens
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: in front of them, you probably launched into like the
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: top eight. Then if you take care of business on
• 1:22:53
  Speaker 1: the road at Cincinnati, you're probably eight, seven, seven, And BYU,
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 1: I don't think is going to lose. So now we're
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: talking about a big time matchup and even bigger time
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: matchup in the Holy war. But Houston is a really
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 1: excellent team as we effort getting their color analyst from
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: their radio broadcast, Ted party on the show. They're just,
• 1:23:15
  Speaker 1: they're solid everywhere. Their secondary, I think would be probably
• 1:23:18
  Speaker 1: called the weak point in, in past coverage. They rank
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: right now among the, the bottom half of the Big
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: 12 Conference in passing defense. They're sort of Utah adjacent
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: in every other important statistical category. Houston has the 13th
• 1:23:38
  Speaker 1: best passing defense in the conference. They're giving up 265
• 1:23:41
  Speaker 1: yards per game. They have given up 12 touchdowns through
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: the air, which is tied for.
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: Second most only West Virginia has given up more West
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: Virginia has surrendered 17 touchdowns through the air. And that
• 1:23:59
  Speaker 1: of course is Utah's final matchup of the season. Conversely,
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: Utah has given up six passing touchdowns so far this year.
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: TCU has only surrendered two, which is bananas. TCU might
• 1:24:14
  Speaker 1: have the best overall defense in the entire conference when
• 1:24:17
  Speaker 1: it's all said and done. From a scoring defense perspective,
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: Houston is right there in the middle of the pack.
• 1:24:23
  Speaker 1: Utah ranking third right now. So what this game very
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: potentially could end up being is a bit of a shootout.
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: If the Utah defense doesn't figure out some things that
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 1: they showed against Colorado, if they don't look better than
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 1: they did against the University of Colorado, Utah is going
• 1:24:43
  Speaker 1: to have to score at their season clip of 40
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: points a game because Houston puts up 39 points per
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: game i i talked about this with devin dampier we'll
• 1:24:53
  Speaker 1: replay that interview tomorrow so we've got dishing with dev
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: we're dishing with dev is supposed to be but you
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 1: know if if it comes down to it this might
• 1:25:00
  Speaker 1: be a bit of a passing duel between devin dampier
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: and connor wegman the houston starting quarterback connor wegman right
• 1:25:08
  Speaker 1: now is completing 67 of his passes He's thrown the
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: ball 198 times. He's completed those 134, 1,771 yards. He's
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: third in the conference right now. Excuse me, fourth in
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 1: the conference right now in yards per attempt. And this
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: one is, I think, one of the more important stats
• 1:25:29
  Speaker 1: when we talk about this matchup. He has the best
• 1:25:33
  Speaker 1: touchdown to interception ratio in the conference. 20 touchdowns, 2 interceptions.
• 1:25:38
  Speaker 1: Connor Wegman does not turn the ball over. He does
• 1:25:41
  Speaker 1: not make the stupid throw. He does not try to
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 1: force things into double coverage. If you're going to create
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: turnovers in this game, you're probably going to have to
• 1:25:51
  Speaker 1: do so with fumbles rather than with interceptions. Wegman takes
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: care of the football. We'll talk about that and much
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: more with our next guest, Ted Party, who is the
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: color analyst on the Houston radio broadcast. He also does
• 1:26:06
  Speaker 1: some pro football color. Ted, welcome to the show. How
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: are you, sir?
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 3: I'm doing great. How are you guys doing today?
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 1: Doing all right. I'm just kind of filibustering about this
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: Houston team and what we should see. at Rice Eccles
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: stadium on Saturday night, but you have a lot more
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: insight and a lot more knowledge of what this Houston
• 1:26:24
  Speaker 1: Cougars team actually is this year. Uh, just your 10,000
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 1: foot view, the overarching kind of opinion of this matchup
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 1: number 10 versus number 14 college game day road game
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: for the Houston Cougars at Rice Eccles stadium night game,
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: but Utah has never beat Houston in football. So what
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: is the Houston perspective on this matchup?
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 9: Well, the Houston perspective is, to start with, that this
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 9: is probably the best matchup that Houston's had in the
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 9: past three, probably, I don't know, three or four years, honestly.
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 9: Playing against a fantastic Utah team that, in many ways,
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 9: is a mirror image of the University of Houston. Like,
• 1:27:08
  Speaker 9: if you look at these two offenses... Man, they love
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 9: to do the same thing. They like to ball control
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 9: the opponent. They like to, you know, great running games,
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 9: great quarterback leadership, some great skill position guys. And, you know,
• 1:27:23
  Speaker 9: you just, you know, you start looking at just a
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 9: couple of the pieces of the puzzle. You look at,
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 9: you know, at things like scoring offense. You know, Utah
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 9: averages 40 points per game. Houston, 39.3.
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 3: You know, very close. You look at total offense, you know,
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 3: 486 for Utah, 485 for Houston. It's eerie.
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 9: You know, when you start to look at how similar
• 1:27:46
  Speaker 9: those two offenses are, what Houston has had success doing
• 1:27:50
  Speaker 9: this year is playing ball control against every one of
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 9: their opponents. The one it didn't work against was Texas Tech,
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 9: and that thing came down to the very end of
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 9: the game.
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 3: And, you know, we could talk a little bit more
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 3: about that. That really had more to.
• 1:28:04
  Speaker 9: Do with the defensive blitz packages that the Cougs ran
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 9: or didn't really have success with. But, you know, offensively,
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 9: you know, Connor Wegman is an absolute fantastic quarterback. So
• 1:28:16
  Speaker 9: happy for him starting at Texas A & M. He
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 9: was a five-star recruit coming out of high school out
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 9: of the Houston area. So really for him to come
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 9: back to the University of Houston, you know, kind of
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 9: coming home, his parents can just drive over every day,
• 1:28:29
  Speaker 9: every game. And, you know, it's been wonderful to watch
• 1:28:33
  Speaker 9: that young man mature and grow into the leader that
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 9: he is today.
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 1: Well, he is, if you're a Utah fan, he is
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: the problem you're trying to solve this week. Because, as
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: I think you probably heard me talking about before we
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: welcomed you, he's so intelligent with the football in his hands.
• 1:28:49
  Speaker 1: He's underrated as a pure athlete. And he's just, he's
• 1:28:53
  Speaker 1: a competitor. He's going to do the right thing to
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: try to get his team marching down the field and
• 1:28:57
  Speaker 1: get into the end zone. and by far the best
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: quarterback Utah will have faced this year. So just between us, Ted,
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 1: how do you rattle Wegman? I mean, is there something
• 1:29:08
  Speaker 1: that this Utah defense should be trying to do to
• 1:29:11
  Speaker 1: get him off his game?
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 9: Well, you know, I would normally say get after him
• 1:29:16
  Speaker 9: with the blitz, but, you know, you've got to be
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 9: extremely careful with the blitz because, again, you know.
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 3: As you, as you did, the football becomes such a
• 1:29:24
  Speaker 3: chess game these days, you know, and, and, you know,
• 1:29:27
  Speaker 3: you do this, I do that. Right.
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 9: And, and so if you think about what blitz does,
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 9: you know, so On a base level, and Utah does
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 9: this offensively too, you run the ball so well that
• 1:29:37
  Speaker 9: you force defenses to bring one more defender into the box, right?
• 1:29:41
  Speaker 9: But when you do that, you trade off for the
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 9: passing game.
• 1:29:44
  Speaker 3: You can't do it both, right? You can't have.
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 9: Six guys in coverage and be able to stop the run.
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 9: So you've got to bring that extra guy from coverage
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 9: into the box. And then what that means is defensively,
• 1:29:58
  Speaker 9: you then have to play more man coverage on the
• 1:30:01
  Speaker 9: back end. What's the best thing for a scrambling quarterback
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 9: is for the defense to be playing man-to-man where the
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 9: cornerbacks and safeties are turning their back to the line
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 9: of scrimmage to chase the receivers down the field. That
• 1:30:14
  Speaker 9: is exactly when you see Conor Wegman take off. He
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 9: will take off running when it's that type of situation.
• 1:30:21
  Speaker 9: He's not just one of these guys that's always looking
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 9: to run, but when he runs, he's very smart about it. Again,
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 9: he's a veteran quarterback. He's been around, he knows what
• 1:30:31
  Speaker 9: to look for. So he doesn't just, you know, take
• 1:30:34
  Speaker 9: chances on the run. And when he does run, he
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 9: runs at the best possible time. So, you know, I
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 9: think that if you're Utah, you've got to find a
• 1:30:42
  Speaker 9: way without running a spy on defense, you know, that's
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 9: how you typically will stop a running quarterback without spying him.
• 1:30:50
  Speaker 9: You've got to find a way to keep him honest
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 9: and force him to.
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 3: Throw the ball.
• 1:30:53
  Speaker 9: You know, when, when Connor's hot, boy, he's red hot
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 9: throwing the ball. Uh, occasionally as he had, uh, you know,
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 9: last year, did he have a couple of games where
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 9: he didn't throw the ball pretty well?
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 3: He had one or two of those games.
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 9: If you could get him into that situation where he's
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 9: not throwing the ball well, or better yet, get the
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 9: whole team into a situation where they make mistakes, where
• 1:31:13
  Speaker 9: they get bad penalties, they fumble the ball. That's, that's
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 9: really what Utah has to do. They've got to force
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 9: Houston into making mistakes.
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 1: If you're wondering how much of a mirror match this
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: game really is, uh, Look at the rankings, the statistical
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: rankings all over the place, as Ted just alluded to,
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: and it's Utah's third and Houston's fourth, or Houston's second
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: and Utah's third, and whatever statistical category in the Big
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: 12 you want to bring up. This is a fun one.
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 1: Devin Dampier, who's a good athlete and a great running quarterback,
• 1:31:47
  Speaker 1: he has carried the ball 59 times this year. Connor Wegman,
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 1: Houston quarterback, has carried the ball 59 times this year.
• 1:31:54
  Speaker 1: There's too many similarities between these two teams. If there
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 1: is a weakness for Houston, and I've been paying attention
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 1: to some of the blogs and the the forums and
• 1:32:05
  Speaker 1: things like that. It seems like if there's any dissatisfaction
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: to be found, it's that maybe the secondary for Houston
• 1:32:12
  Speaker 1: has shown some vulnerability. Oftentimes fans and writers are a
• 1:32:16
  Speaker 1: little bit reductive in their assessment. I wanted your thoughts
• 1:32:20
  Speaker 1: on what deep, what Houston brings defensively, especially in the backend.
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 3: Well, you, you nailed it, right? You nailed it.
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 9: Passing defense, Houston gives up about 265 yards per game defensively.
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 9: Utah only gives up about 214. That's a big Delta,
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 9: you know? And, and so why is that? Well, Houston has,
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 9: they've had three big time injuries in their, in the
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 9: back end of their defense this year. And probably really
• 1:32:49
  Speaker 9: what I would call their, their most productive all round player.
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 9: You know, you, you've got, You've got a guy like
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 9: Javion White.
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 3: He is number zero.
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 9: He's been a big contributor. Jaden Yates is the guy
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 9: that is really missing right now on the defense.
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 3: He was number one. When you look at your two-deep,
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 3: he may not be on there right now because he's
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 3: been injured. He was the leading tackler. He's kind of
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 3: one of these guys.
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 9: They like to call that position, like, star, or they
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 9: call it.
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 3: You know, it's really a nickel.
• 1:33:22
  Speaker 9: It's actually another backer, is really what it comes down to.
• 1:33:26
  Speaker 9: He's lined up like a linebacker, but he can cover
• 1:33:29
  Speaker 9: like a DB.
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 3: And let me tell you, Jaden Yates was that guy.
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 3: He was an unbelievable player. So when you lose.
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 9: That, and then you get a couple more injuries. You know,
• 1:33:37
  Speaker 9: I mentioned Javion White was dinged up a little bit.
• 1:33:40
  Speaker 9: You know, you get a couple other guys that are injured.
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 9: You know, it really, really hurts the defense. So what
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 9: you have now is you've got... will James playing corner,
• 1:33:50
  Speaker 9: DJ rim playing corner, number five and number three, those
• 1:33:53
  Speaker 9: two guys are going to have to hold it down.
• 1:33:56
  Speaker 9: And DJ was a backup, right? He was the number
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 9: two defensive back. He was the number two corner. They
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 9: had to put him into position to start. So that's
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 9: going to.
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 3: Put more pressure.
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 9: The talent that Utah has at receiver, I think is
• 1:34:09
  Speaker 9: going to press Houston a lot.
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 3: And so Houston's going to have to be really creative
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 3: about how do they cover? How do they, how do
• 1:34:15
  Speaker 3: they disguise their coverages?
• 1:34:17
  Speaker 9: One thing you should pay attention to Austin Armstrong, the
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 9: Houston defensive coordinator, you know, he learned, he started off his,
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 9: his coaching career at Georgia. So he runs a sec
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 9: style defense. They try to confuse the quarterback. They'll try
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 9: to confuse Duff here as much as they can. And
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 9: I know he's a great mind. He's a super smart quarterback,
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 9: but they're going to try to confuse him at the
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 9: line of scrimmage with a formation, the defensive formation to
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 9: make him make a mistake.
• 1:34:43
  Speaker 1: Ted Pardee, the Houston color analyst, is our guest here
• 1:34:46
  Speaker 1: on the Sean O'Connell Show ahead of a game day
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: matchup at Rice Eccles Stadium. Night game, blackout game, all
• 1:34:54
  Speaker 1: the makings, the recipe for what should be an incredible
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 1: night with a really talented Houston team coming in, number
• 1:35:01
  Speaker 1: 14 in the country. And, you know, Houston, I think,
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 1: I've made this point several times, my listeners are probably
• 1:35:08
  Speaker 1: sick of it, Houston, I think, is kind of the
• 1:35:11
  Speaker 1: hinge point for the Big 12 race because they play
• 1:35:14
  Speaker 1: three of the top four ranked teams in their regular
• 1:35:17
  Speaker 1: season schedule. They miss BYU, but already played Texas Tech,
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 1: already played Oklahoma State. They've got Utah on the slate
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 1: this week. It's a tough schedule, certainly, if you're Houston
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 1: Cougars and their coach, but you kind of control your
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 1: own destiny in a way that even Texas Tech and
• 1:35:33
  Speaker 1: BYU don't because they miss some of the top competitors
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: opposite them. Given that and the fact that they have
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: not yet had a bye, it seems like this Houston
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: team is really kind of like keeping pace with or
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: outpacing expectations, but I'm not there where they're setting the
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 1: expectations relative to what this fan base and this university
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: thought they could be this year. Ted, how close are they?
• 1:35:57
  Speaker 9: Well, you know, Houston, Houston's a tough market. Let's be
• 1:36:01
  Speaker 9: totally honest, right? I mean, you guys, everybody's seen the
• 1:36:04
  Speaker 9: challenges we've had at getting fans out to the game.
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 3: And that was when we're in the top 25. I mean,
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 3: come on, right?
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 9: Houston is a, you know, it's a town that, I mean,
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 9: they ran the Houston Oilers out of town, so that
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 9: ought to tell you something about the fan base here, right? Like,
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 9: they're not afraid to lose a team. And so what
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 9: you have to do here is you have to be
• 1:36:22
  Speaker 9: consistently good. And I think that, you know, against Oklahoma State,
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 9: it was a sellout.
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 3: The fans came out, right? It was obvious. It was
• 1:36:29
  Speaker 3: two good teams going head-to-head, a good matchup. A great night.
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 9: You know, finally, we had some good weather in Houston.
• 1:36:36
  Speaker 9: It's been in the 90s, you know, all year long
• 1:36:39
  Speaker 9: until finally we get a break where it's, you know,
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 9: finally in.
• 1:36:41
  Speaker 3: The 70s at night.
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 9: But, you know, I think that when you look at
• 1:36:46
  Speaker 9: this matchup, it is really best on best. I honestly
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 9: think what Houston does, Houston often plays.
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 3: To the level of their competition. And, you know, that,
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 3: that can be a good thing and a bad thing
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 3: to be totally honest with you. You know, I mean,
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 3: I think that, you.
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 9: Know, if you, if you look at some of the,
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 9: the matchups, you know, Houston was right there with Texas
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 9: tech to the very end, but they didn't play their
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 9: best game. And I think that as the season has
• 1:37:10
  Speaker 9: gone on, you've got a couple of guys that have
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 9: really stepped out and really shown that their leaders, guys
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 9: like Sione photo, middle linebacker, former Utah guys.
• 1:37:18
  Speaker 3: So you guys may remember him. you know, on defense,
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 3: you know.
• 1:37:21
  Speaker 9: You get other guys on defense like Jordan Allen, who
• 1:37:24
  Speaker 9: have really come out and.
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 3: Shown that he's a, he's a veteran leader.
• 1:37:28
  Speaker 9: You get other guys on the offensive side of the board,
• 1:37:31
  Speaker 9: like Patrick Overmeyer, you know, he transferred, he's a tight
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 9: end transferred from UTSA and he's really just done a
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 9: fantastic job of getting catches and making big plays. So,
• 1:37:42
  Speaker 9: you know, it's, it's, it's a situation where, you know,
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 9: Houston hasn't had their off week yet. They're kind of
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 9: getting on a roll. They've been a little bit dinged
• 1:37:51
  Speaker 9: up on defense, but they're not using that as excuses.
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 9: This is a team that, you know, that they're kind
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 9: of the team that we're like, Hey, we don't have
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 9: any superstars on this team.
• 1:38:00
  Speaker 3: We just have a bunch of dudes. Right.
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 9: And, and that's really the, the, the, the mentality and
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 9: really the identity of this team is it's a blue
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 9: collar team.
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 3: And they love that. They love to be that kind of,
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 3: you know, Connor Wegman. I, Texas a and M didn't
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 3: want me. Okay. That's fine. You know what? I'll go
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 3: to Houston. I'll show the world what I can do.
• 1:38:18
  Speaker 9: They, the Cougar team has a chip on their shoulder
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 9: and that's why they're, they always can be in any game,
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 9: but make no mistake. They're playing the best team in
• 1:38:27
  Speaker 9: the league right now. Utah to me is the most
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 9: well-rounded team. They're, they're an unbelievable force. Just, you know,
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 9: looking across the board defensively.
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 9: What a, what a, what a stack defense and what
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 9: a fantastic team in a great offense.
• 1:38:42
  Speaker 3: So This is the kind of matchup that you want.
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 9: I mean, you know, we said this last week against
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 9: Oklahoma state, you want these matchups, you want to play
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 9: against good teams. You don't want to play against bad teams.
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 9: Sometimes when you play against a bad team, you have
• 1:38:54
  Speaker 9: a letdown, right? So, you know, play against the good
• 1:38:57
  Speaker 9: teams and show the world what you're all about.
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 1: How many times has Houston been on the featured game
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 1: day matchup?
• 1:39:04
  Speaker 4: Do you know?
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 9: Well, in my recollection, the last time Houston was on
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 9: game day or involved in it was when Houston played
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 9: SMU and we had case Keenum at quarterback and game
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 9: day was on campus. I think it's the only time
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 9: they've ever come to Houston. In my recollection, I've been
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 9: doing this 21 years.
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 3: As an announcer. So Houston, It's a big deal.
• 1:39:30
  Speaker 9: It's a really big deal for Utah. I mean, come on,
• 1:39:33
  Speaker 9: this is what you want if.
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 3: You're Utah, right?
• 1:39:35
  Speaker 9: I mean, it's kind of the coming out party. Like,
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 9: it's time for the nation to see how good Utah
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 9: really is.
• 1:39:42
  Speaker 3: And we're along for the ride. Houston's hyping it.
• 1:39:45
  Speaker 9: Like, just if you look at your social media feed,
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 9: you know, University of Houston's been hyping that, hey, this
• 1:39:50
  Speaker 9: is a game day game, right? We're not being highlighted
• 1:39:53
  Speaker 9: in it, but let me tell you what, we're going
• 1:39:55
  Speaker 9: to go along for the ride as well.
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 3: So it's exciting.
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 9: The players want to show out. They want the nation
• 1:40:02
  Speaker 9: to see what they can do against a really great team.
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 3: And this is what you want. This is the best
• 1:40:07
  Speaker 3: of college football, in my opinion.
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 1: You just mentioned his name, and I wasn't even aware
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 1: of this injustice until I was checking your Twitter feed.
• 1:40:15
  Speaker 1: But Case Keenum... is not eligible for the College Football
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: Hall of Fame despite all of the records he holds
• 1:40:23
  Speaker 1: in the college football record book. 5,000-yard seasons, completions, passing touchdowns,
• 1:40:31
  Speaker 1: total yards, passing yards. I mean, this guy was the
• 1:40:37
  Speaker 1: best college football quarterback ever by some metrics, and he's
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 1: not eligible for the NCAA for the College Football Hall
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: of Fame. This is dumb. Why don't they.
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 3: It's criminal. Listen. Yeah, it's criminal. And I'll tell you what.
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 3: I'll give you... I'll one-up you there.
• 1:40:54
  Speaker 9: And I've said this also on Twitter. My college roommate
• 1:40:57
  Speaker 9: was David Klingler. We played in the Southwest Conference. We
• 1:41:02
  Speaker 9: beat Texas three years in a row when I was
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 9: in school. David Klingler previously was the owner of all
• 1:41:09
  Speaker 9: of the NCAA records.
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 3: All of them.
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 9: All of them until Timmy Chang in Hawaii and then
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 9: Case Keenum. Those two guys started to chip away at
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 9: David's records. David still holds records to this day. People
• 1:41:24
  Speaker 9: thought Houston used to run up the score all the
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 9: time when I played back in the 90s, 80s, and
• 1:41:29
  Speaker 9: early 90s. And so for whatever reason, he was not
• 1:41:33
  Speaker 9: named a unanimous All-American. In order to be in the
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 9: Hall of Fame, you have to be a unanimous All-American.
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 9: And Case and David Klingler, neither one of them were.
• 1:41:41
  Speaker 3: Named unanimous All-Americans.
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 9: So they will not be allowed under current rules to,
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 9: they are not ever.
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 3: Going to be in the college football hall of fame.
• 1:41:49
  Speaker 3: And that is the biggest travesty ever.
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 1: That it really is. It's ridiculous. And look, it's fine.
• 1:41:57
  Speaker 1: If your criteria are a certain way to adjust those criteria,
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: a hall of fame is not like some sacred institution
• 1:42:05
  Speaker 1: that can't alter things. They, the college football hall of
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: fame altered their criteria so that we could put Mike
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: Leach in. And I think everyone was happy about that.
• 1:42:12
  Speaker 9: Right. So why, why not do it for the all.
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: Time NCAA leader in passing yards? That's bananas.
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 9: Well, and, and, you know, you, you look at case
• 1:42:22
  Speaker 9: and he was, he was in the Heisman running, right?
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 9: He was one of the top five guys for the
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 9: Heisman and David Klingler finished second for the Heisman. You know,
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 9: I mean, what else do these guys have to do?
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 3: I honestly, I don't know.
• 1:42:34
  Speaker 9: If you look at, you know, you guys will probably
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 9: like this. Look at David Klingler stats against, against the
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 9: winner in 1990, Ty Detmer. Take a look at his numbers.
• 1:42:43
  Speaker 9: Look at the two guys and stack up their numbers.
• 1:42:45
  Speaker 1: Well, look, Utah fans are going to jump on an
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 1: opportunity to theoretically take a Heisman trophy away from BYU.
• 1:42:54
  Speaker 1: So you're going to get a bunch of support there.
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 3: Go check it out. Trust me. When you see how
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 3: Ty Detmer's numbers versus.
• 1:43:01
  Speaker 9: David Coingler's numbers, you'll be, you'll be absolutely flabbergasted. And
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 9: I'm not, I'm telling you Houston in David Coingler's junior year,
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 9: they beat A & M Arkansas. Like, you know, they
• 1:43:12
  Speaker 9: didn't just beat, you know, that we're not playing against Tulsa.
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 9: We're playing against power fought back then power five teams.
• 1:43:21
  Speaker 1: Before I let you go, What kind of game do
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: we get on Saturday night? I think this one might
• 1:43:25
  Speaker 1: end up being a shootout, and we could get 42, 45,
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 1: something like that. You're kind of coming off a little
• 1:43:32
  Speaker 1: pseudo-mini-shootout against Oklahoma State. How do you think it plays
• 1:43:36
  Speaker 1: out in Salt Lake City?
• 1:43:38
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I'm a homer. I love the Cougs.
• 1:43:43
  Speaker 3: I got to say that I think it's obvious why
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 3: Utah is favored.
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 9: I mean, there's no question that Utah– is.
• 1:43:51
  Speaker 3: The right on paper is the better team right now.
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 9: I honestly think the score is going to be a
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 9: little bit lower scoring. You know, if you go back
• 1:44:00
  Speaker 9: to 2024, I think it was 17-14.
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 3: And that sounds about right to me.
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 9: I hate to say that because that doesn't sound like
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 9: a super exciting game, but it's one of these games
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 9: that you're just not sure.
• 1:44:15
  Speaker 3: Both defenses are so good. Both offenses, they're mirrored images
• 1:44:20
  Speaker 3: of each other.
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 9: I think it's going to be one of these games
• 1:44:23
  Speaker 9: where it comes down to the last possession, and whoever
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 9: gets the ball last is going to be the winner.
• 1:44:31
  Speaker 1: Well, we'll see you up here on Saturday. Enjoy your
• 1:44:35
  Speaker 1: visit to Salt Lake City, Ted, and thanks for your
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 1: time today.
• 1:44:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you bet. We love coming up there.
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 9: Beautiful place, and we're looking forward to some cool weather,
• 1:44:43
  Speaker 9: so can't wait to get up there.
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: That's Ted Pardee, Houston color analyst. He'll be on the
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: call on the Houston side of things when the Cougs
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 1: come to Rice-Eccles Stadium for an 8-15 kickoff on Saturday night.
• 1:44:58
  Speaker 1: Game day in town, which, by the way.
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 1: I didn't even think about this, and we've got to
• 1:45:04
  Speaker 1: get to a break. I didn't even think about this.
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 1: You're going to ask people to show up for college
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 1: game day at 7 a.m. and then be in the
• 1:45:11
  Speaker 1: stadium from 8.15 to midnight. That's a big ask, ESPN.
• 1:45:18
  Speaker 1: I hope you've all scheduled a nap into the middle
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 1: of your day. Between the Pipes with Adrian Denny next,
• 1:45:26
  Speaker 1: it's the Sean O'Connell Show on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 1:45:38
  Speaker 5: This is the Sean O'Connell Show, your home of the
• 1:45:41
  Speaker 5: best inside of your utes. Let's get back to OC
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 5: from the Murdoch Chevrolet studio of ESPN 792.1 FM. Hour
• 1:45:49
  Speaker 5: number three here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 1: And on Wednesdays, we welcome in Adrian Denny, brought to
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: you by Aladdin Industries and Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling
• 1:46:04
  Speaker 1: for Between the Pipes. Our Utah Mammoth Insider here with
• 1:46:08
  Speaker 1: us in studio once again. Hi, Adrian. What's up, brother?
• 1:46:12
  Speaker 1: How's it going? You know, I'm great.
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 4: Having a good time.
• 1:46:14
  Speaker 1: We've got a massive football game this weekend at our
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 1: respective alma mater.
• 1:46:22
  Speaker 4: You are also a Ute.
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 7: I am, and I was on the field at Rice
• 1:46:26
  Speaker 7: Eccles Stadium last night. We had a mixer with our
• 1:46:31
  Speaker 7: season ticket members. And so, yeah, we're on the field.
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 7: We had autographs being signed afterwards. Of course, Mike Fulton
• 1:46:38
  Speaker 7: and I kind of snuck away and attempted some field goals,
• 1:46:41
  Speaker 7: which my kick almost hit our guy who was shooting
• 1:46:48
  Speaker 7: it on the iPhone. So that's, that's, that was what
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 7: I'm going to be doing on mammoth daily tomorrow is.
• 1:46:56
  Speaker 1: Kicking a football at a camera.
• 1:46:58
  Speaker 7: But Mike was able to successfully execute an extra point
• 1:47:01
  Speaker 7: that I held.
• 1:47:02
  Speaker 1: I held, I spun. Oh, I spun the laces out.
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 1: Laces. Well done.
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 7: So you'll, you'll see me take about an extra five
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 7: seconds because I'm so focused on getting the laces in
• 1:47:13
  Speaker 7: the proper spot, but yeah, Bryce Eccles, it was, it
• 1:47:16
  Speaker 7: was fun being on the field with, with a big
• 1:47:18
  Speaker 7: game coming up on Saturday and, uh, the.
• 1:47:21
  Speaker 1: Winter classic coming to Rice Eccles stadium on new year's Eve,
• 1:47:24
  Speaker 1: which is going to be a blast. Yeah.
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 7: So, uh, Yeah, great to have our season ticket members
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 7: up there, but a lot of winter classic chatter, a
• 1:47:32
  Speaker 7: lot of football chatter. There's some good crossover with Ute
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 7: football fans and Mammoth Nation. You know how I am, OC.
• 1:47:43
  Speaker 7: Talking Utes football can get a little passionate.
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 1: How do we make arrangements so that when you see
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: the Utah Mammoth winter classic sweaters, And like, you know,
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 1: I know you're sworn to secrecy on these types of
• 1:47:59
  Speaker 1: things and these what the city connect type ones that
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: they're doing now.
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:48:02
  Speaker 4: Have you already seen those?
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 10: Nope.
• 1:48:03
  Speaker 4: Have not. Have not.
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: Just the truth. Just saw the teaser. I'm looking at
• 1:48:07
  Speaker 1: looking in his eyes, people. I have not.
• 1:48:09
  Speaker 7: I believe I will be. I will be honest with you.
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 7: There are things that I will hear about in advance
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 7: before it's.
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 4: Public.
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 7: It's usually on the hockey side, like a lineup thing
• 1:48:25
  Speaker 7: for that night or something that's coming or something to
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 7: watch for. From a jersey standpoint, from a major team standpoint,
• 1:48:37
  Speaker 7: do not usually.
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: see it.
• 1:48:40
  Speaker 7: Before I'm on the treadmill or I'm on the elliptical
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 7: and the team alert comes in on Twitter. Cause, cause folks,
• 1:48:47
  Speaker 7: folks are asking us about that last night at the mixer.
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 7: And I'm like, you know, you guys all hear mammoth daily, right? Like,
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 7: do you know how many mornings I wake up after
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 7: doing a mammoth daily episode? I'm like, yeah, I wonder
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 7: if I should have said, should we have really touched that? Like,
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 7: you've heard the podcast, you know, people are the corporate
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 7: public relations. It's probably not going to be slipping anything
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 7: to us that they don't want out.
• 1:49:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Fair enough.
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 1: Let's talk a little hockey here. Utah mammoth improved to
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 1: seven and three. They're now three and one at home, five,
• 1:49:24
  Speaker 1: four victory over the Pittsburgh penguins. The other night we
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 1: had a blast. I went, I attended as a fan,
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 1: brought the whole family. We were coming down the Canyon
• 1:49:34
  Speaker 1: from family pictures. Everyone dressed in their finest ended up
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 1: at the mammoth game and the kids were spilling popcorn
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 1: and screaming for the mammoth. It was, it was a blast.
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: And a high scoring game like that, you know, gives
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 1: the kids something to look at probably a little bit
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 1: higher scoring on the penguin side than the mammoth we're
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 1: comfortable with. But I think pretty important here. We talked
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: all last season about, you know, not having great options
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 1: behind it. Karel Vemelka and Sebastian Kosa in this one,
• 1:50:06
  Speaker 1: he did enough, including a game-saving save. There would have
• 1:50:11
  Speaker 1: been a cooler way to say that. A game-saving stop with, like,
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: one second left. With Sidney Crosby, like, two feet away
• 1:50:19
  Speaker 1: from him.
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 8: Right.
• 1:50:20
  Speaker 1: So, key save at a key moment.
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 7: And he's now 2-1 as part of the team's 7-3 start.
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 4: So that's the big thing there.
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 7: You know, the challenging part for Mammoth goaltending right now,
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 7: is actually pretty good for the rest of the team.
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 7: But they're leading the NHL in shots allowed. Like, Pittsburgh
• 1:50:40
  Speaker 7: had 19 shots on Monday. Sebastian Costa's first NHL start
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 7: in Columbus on October 3rd, he saw 18 shots. So,
• 1:50:50
  Speaker 7: Mammoth goaltending has not seen a lot of shots. They're
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 7: averaging just over 20 a game. But there were spurts
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 7: in that Pittsburgh game of 8-plus minutes in each period
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 7: where the Penguins did not have I shot on goal.
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 7: And so for the goalie, he's, he's down there just,
• 1:51:06
  Speaker 7: you know, um, humming and talking to himself and singing songs.
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 4: And then, and then you got Nate Schmidt, um, one.
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 7: Of the defensemen who's always gonna, you know, be talking
• 1:51:16
  Speaker 7: to him, trying to keep him in the game and, and,
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 7: and that stuff. But when you don't see a lot
• 1:51:21
  Speaker 7: of rubber and then all of a sudden you're shorthanded
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 7: or you have Sidney Crosby coming straight at you, it's you're,
• 1:51:28
  Speaker 7: you're just not quite in the groove. So that's one
• 1:51:31
  Speaker 7: thing that's really good, but for the goalies, sometimes it's a,
• 1:51:36
  Speaker 7: it's a challenge, especially to make your numbers look good
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 7: when you see 19 shots in a game.
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: Well, and now once again, the rumor mill is on
• 1:51:44
  Speaker 1: fire that another goalie, a former Vesna trophy winner and
• 1:51:49
  Speaker 1: Olympic gold medalist with team USA that Connor Hellebuck, whose
• 1:51:53
  Speaker 1: suspension ends in two days is about to move. And,
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: Multiple sources reporting that a Winnipeg Jets trade, blockbuster trade,
• 1:52:04
  Speaker 1: it's being described as involving Connor Hellebook, is imminent. And
• 1:52:10
  Speaker 1: it seems to be Buffalo, a little bit of New
• 1:52:13
  Speaker 1: York Rangers talk, but the Mammoth right there in the
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: mix with that. And we've talked about this, I think,
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 1: every time we've had you come on here. And, you know,
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: heated up, cooled off, maybe he's heating up again. And
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 1: it's either going to happen or it's not. But when
• 1:52:28
  Speaker 1: you've got... Like you said, you've got a good problem
• 1:52:32
  Speaker 1: in goal right now. Are you willing to interrupt that,
• 1:52:36
  Speaker 1: change it, alter the flow of the season that started
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 1: off the right way, even for a blockbuster trade?
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 7: You know, the thing about Karel Vemelka and Sebastian Kosa
• 1:52:46
  Speaker 7: right now through 10 games is they win. Sebastian Kosa's
• 1:52:50
  Speaker 7: 2-1-1 as a backup. Last year, it took several months
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 7: to get the second win for Vitek Vanacek. So that's,
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 7: that's the biggest thing with goalies and Kralva Melka over
• 1:53:01
  Speaker 7: the last three years is fourth in the NHL in wins.
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 7: He was second last year. So you're looking at, at
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 7: the win loss record and Bill Armstrong makes this really,
• 1:53:13
  Speaker 7: really easy for me. Oh, see being out in front
• 1:53:18
  Speaker 7: of things. So when you and I are talking about
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 7: know guys rumored to be involved in trades and the
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 7: mammoth are listed in every single article i don't have
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 7: to worry about coming on with you and then going
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 7: back in to the select health ice center an hour
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 7: later as bill armstrong's walking down the stairs like adrian
• 1:53:42
  Speaker 7: just heard you talking oc what do you what do
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 7: you know what do you got right like i'll i'll
• 1:53:49
  Speaker 7: see bill first thing in the morning like when I
• 1:53:52
  Speaker 7: walk in or Chris Armstrong or, and you, you know, but,
• 1:53:55
  Speaker 7: but Bill makes this so easy for me not to
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 7: be awkward. Oh, see, because he says my job every
• 1:54:02
  Speaker 7: day is to improve the hockey team. And by saying that,
• 1:54:10
  Speaker 7: you know, that when a name comes up, when a
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 7: name doesn't come up, when anything's happening, that Utah's making
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 7: a call Utah's, Utah's weighing what's the best thing for
• 1:54:25
  Speaker 7: the organization. And I think we could all pretty much see,
• 1:54:31
  Speaker 7: you know, aligned expectations from the players to the coaches,
• 1:54:37
  Speaker 7: to management, to ownership, to Mammoth Nation, that the expectations
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 7: to win this year, next year, the year after that,
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 7: and going through to, you know, 2034, which is Logan
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 7: Cooley's eighth year of his contract, along with Nick Schmaltz,
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 7: John Marino goes till 2035, right? The expectation here is
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 7: to be good every single season. And I think everybody
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 7: sees that, right? We're not talking about, we're trying to
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 7: play meaningful.
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 4: We want to be in the playoffs. We want to win.
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 7: We want to be, you know, carrying that, that, Stanley
• 1:55:19
  Speaker 7: cup on a, on a parade. Um, I was, I
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 7: was talking to Jeff right here from Fox 13 on
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 7: mammoth daily last week. And he says, yeah, I think
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 7: we've got a parade route that we're going to have
• 1:55:32
  Speaker 7: established on that, that path that's going from the gateway
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 7: to the Delta center. And I said, we're not even
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 7: going to have to close the road. And he says, well,
• 1:55:40
  Speaker 7: hopefully we, we have a parade before that's done. So,
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 7: you know, um, that's, that's the expectation and, and, Bill's
• 1:55:48
  Speaker 7: going to be on the phone, and we've talked about
• 1:55:51
  Speaker 7: David Ludwig, the assistant GM before, who has everything just
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 7: completely mapped out from, you know, salary boards to comparables to,
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 7: you know, the prospect pool to a move we want
• 1:56:07
  Speaker 7: to make in a year maybe, right? So that's what
• 1:56:12
  Speaker 7: I'd say about that, but Bill makes it easy. So
• 1:56:15
  Speaker 7: I don't have to worry about coming on with you And,
• 1:56:19
  Speaker 7: you know, saying something to the GM or the president
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 7: of hockey operations, he'd be like, hey, Adrian, come over.
• 1:56:25
  Speaker 1: Come over here for a second. They are involved in
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 1: the discussions. The question for me that I think is
• 1:56:30
  Speaker 1: maybe most important to answer here, you just brought up comparables, right?
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 1: When you look at Hellebuck, Hellebuck's accomplishments significantly outweigh anything
• 1:56:40
  Speaker 1: that Karel Vemelka or Sebastian Cosa have accomplished. But their
• 1:56:45
  Speaker 1: actual numbers in, like, the goals against average last season,
• 1:56:49
  Speaker 1: Vemelka and Hellebuck were almost the exact same, right? So
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: if you're trading for the name or you're trading for
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 1: the Stanley Cup experience, you're trading for the gold medal experience,
• 1:57:00
  Speaker 1: you're trading for the Vesna trophy or whatever, I guess
• 1:57:05
  Speaker 1: the price becomes a little bit different or your interest
• 1:57:08
  Speaker 1: becomes a little bit different. But if you're just trying
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: to look at this from an analytical perspective, and I
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 1: don't know how much that weighs in and how much
• 1:57:14
  Speaker 1: it does not, Like you're getting good play in goal
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: right now. And of course there is the cost because
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 1: they're calling this a blockbuster potential trade for a reason.
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 1: What are you willing to give up to obtain somebody
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 1: like Connor Hellebuck if you're willing to? And it feels
• 1:57:33
  Speaker 1: like that ask is going to include part of your
• 1:57:38
  Speaker 1: young prospect pool at the very least, maybe one of
• 1:57:41
  Speaker 1: your more established important talents like a Gunther or Cooley
• 1:57:44
  Speaker 1: or whomever, And I think that's where my interest in
• 1:57:48
  Speaker 1: a trade like that begins to erode rapidly. And I'll
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: be fair. I think it's, you know, it's recency bias
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: and it's this familiarity thing where it's like, look, we're,
• 1:57:58
  Speaker 1: we're relatively new to hockey and we've rapidly fallen in
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: love with this young core for the Utah mammoth because
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 1: we believe in this potential dyed in the wool hockey
• 1:58:09
  Speaker 1: guys are going to have a different outlook on it
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: than we do just because we bought the sweater we
• 1:58:13
  Speaker 1: know who these people are you don't want to see
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: them go anywhere but I look at what recent Stanley
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 1: Cup teams have done I look at what the projected
• 1:58:23
  Speaker 1: Stanley Cup teams for this year are doing and you're
• 1:58:26
  Speaker 1: looking at it you're saying this even if he's the
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 1: best goaltender in the league, which his numbers last year
• 1:58:31
  Speaker 1: did not say that he was, even if he's the
• 1:58:33
  Speaker 1: best goaltender in the league, am I willing to trade
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 1: away this many goals of offense per game in order
• 1:58:40
  Speaker 1: to get that? Am I willing to erode some of
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 1: this foundation that we have so meticulously built? And I
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 1: think that's where something like this, whether it's Hellebuck or
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 1: anyone else, becomes a much more complicated discussion for me.
• 1:58:55
  Speaker 7: And you got to hand it to Winnipeg. because they
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 7: have stood firm on this. The trade request became officially
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 7: public in late August, but you know, it was made
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 7: earlier than that. And Winnipeg's always been, you know, a
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 7: team that is going to get the deal that they
• 1:59:20
  Speaker 7: want slash the best deal.
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 4: We kind of talked about it over the summer.
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 7: I thought the price for Brady Kachuk going to Florida
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 7: was a little light. I thought the price for Quinn
• 1:59:37
  Speaker 7: Hughes going to Minnesota was a little.
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 4: Light, too. So you've got to hand it to Winnipeg.
• 1:59:45
  Speaker 7: For making sure they're getting a deal that they want
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 7: and they feel comfortable. feel good about though you you
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 7: have heard also you know feedback that stick taps to
• 2:00:02
  Speaker 7: ottawa and stick taps to vancouver for just making it
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 7: go away and getting the the cloud out of there
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 7: um kevin shovel day off by the way uh winnipeg
• 2:00:12
  Speaker 7: jets gm played for the salt lake golden eagles got
• 2:00:17
  Speaker 7: hurt and ended up starting his career with the Utah
• 2:00:21
  Speaker 7: Grizzlies as an assistant coach for Butch Goring before he
• 2:00:25
  Speaker 7: went to the Chicago Wolves, went to the Blackhawks, and
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 7: ultimately became GM of the Winnipeg Jets. So being part
• 2:00:33
  Speaker 7: of the Grizzlies family over there for a number of years,
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 7: I did hear it several times when we had a
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 7: hockey decision to make. Dave Elmore, the owner of the Grizzlies,
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 7: would say, let's call Chevy, call Chevy, see what he thinks. So,
• 2:00:50
  Speaker 7: but you're, I mean, you look at the numbers from
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 7: last year of Amelka 38, 20 and three, and that's
• 2:00:56
  Speaker 7: to talk about the wins and the losses, but better
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 7: goals against average and a better save percentage than, than Halibut.
• 2:01:03
  Speaker 7: And you talk about the cost and, and what Winnipeg
• 2:01:10
  Speaker 7: is asking for. You've also heard that, you know, Utah
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 7: is pretty bullish on, in, uh, in, in trade discussions
• 2:01:18
  Speaker 7: on what they're willing to, to part with and, you know,
• 2:01:24
  Speaker 7: what they'll do to, to get a deal done when
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 7: there's something that they want, like a Vinnie Trocheck.
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 1: Um, Hellebuck makes about $ 3 million a year more than,
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 1: than Vimelka does also. So that matters when you're talking
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 1: about these discussions, because again, The depth and breadth of
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 1: this Utah Mammoth roster appears to be one of their strengths,
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 1: and they haven't had to pay the big $ 18 million
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 1: a year average annual value contract that some of these
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 1: other teams have. But they've spread it out. There's a
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 1: bunch of guys in that $ 8, $ 9, $ 10, $ 11 million
• 2:01:59
  Speaker 1: range now.
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 7: And the Mammoth do have cap space, right? But as
• 2:02:06
  Speaker 7: you said, you add Schmaltz, you add Cooley. Marino's coming,
• 2:02:11
  Speaker 7: coming in next year with it, with the contract that's,
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 7: that's going to start like that's, that's one thing that
• 2:02:18
  Speaker 7: in particular they've, they've been really good at is categorizing items.
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 7: We're going to pay this for this. This is what's
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 7: going to be here. Um, you know, you look at 15, 16,
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 7: $ 17 million contracts across the, the NHL, Logan Cooley, 10 ish. is,
• 2:02:39
  Speaker 7: is the highest on, on Utah's roster right now. So the, the,
• 2:02:44
  Speaker 7: they do have slotted for every position, what, what they're
• 2:02:49
  Speaker 7: willing to pay and, and Karel Vomelka is on a,
• 2:02:51
  Speaker 7: on a nice deal for a goalie right now, pushing,
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 7: pushing five-ish and Kosa, same thing on a, on a
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 7: two-year deal. So you, you have two goalies that are
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 7: in the range of, you know, seven-ish million on, on
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 7: your roster total that, You like both of them, and
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 7: the track record for Vemelka and the upside for Cosa
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 7: looks good.
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 1: Tomorrow night at Seattle, what do you expect from the Mammoth?
• 2:03:22
  Speaker 7: Seattle is off to another good start. They beat Detroit
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 7: in a shootout last night, and I always root for
• 2:03:31
  Speaker 7: the team that the Mammoth are playing next to just
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 7: blow the doors off their opposition because psychologically that tells
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 7: me that You know, when we go in the next night,
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 7: maybe they won't be quite as on point. They're coming
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 7: back from a road trip. Utah was able to handle
• 2:03:48
  Speaker 7: Seattle last year. They've won four straight games against them.
• 2:03:51
  Speaker 7: But Kraken, their win-loss record is similar to Utah's right now.
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 7: I think OC, you know, early stages of the schedule,
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 7: playing on a Monday night at home versus on a Tuesday,
• 2:04:06
  Speaker 7: I think that was... really good for the mammoth to
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 7: just kind of be able to recharge and reset for
• 2:04:14
  Speaker 7: a little bit. It had been every other day, every
• 2:04:16
  Speaker 7: other day, every other day you play Saturday against Edmonton
• 2:04:21
  Speaker 7: at home bear set after it's like, no, we're, we're tired,
• 2:04:25
  Speaker 7: but you got to play through it. They didn't practice Sunday,
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 7: played a good game. Monday did not practice yesterday. practice
• 2:04:33
  Speaker 7: today before they head to Seattle this afternoon. So I
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 7: think that Tuesday, Wednesday between games, which Utah has not
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 7: seen a lot of going back to that Olympic schedule
• 2:04:42
  Speaker 7: from last year can, can be somewhere that extra day
• 2:04:45
  Speaker 7: arrest can really, really be helpful at this point.
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 1: Seattle tomorrow night. And then before I see you again, Saturday,
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 1: a really good Tampa team at home Tuesday night, a
• 2:04:57
  Speaker 1: really good Minnesota wild team at home tied with you
• 2:04:59
  Speaker 1: right now, top the division. How many points do they
• 2:05:02
  Speaker 1: need in those two?
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 4: In those two, I split them.
• 2:05:08
  Speaker 7: Like you went in Seattle tomorrow, you've guaranteed another, at
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 7: least two out of three week, which they got last week,
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 7: beating Toronto, winning in Edmonton, losing in Edmonton, but it
• 2:05:17
  Speaker 7: was disappointing how the Edmonton game went. They still took
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 7: two out of three. You started the week off Cosa
• 2:05:24
  Speaker 7: in goal against Pittsburgh.
• 2:05:26
  Speaker 1: You win it.
• 2:05:27
  Speaker 7: And Andre tourney told us we're going to see more.
• 2:05:29
  Speaker 7: We're going to see more of a, Not necessarily a rotation,
• 2:05:32
  Speaker 7: but more of a split with Vemelka and Kosa, whether
• 2:05:37
  Speaker 7: that's 80-20 or 70-30, 67-33 in terms of workload. But
• 2:05:45
  Speaker 7: he said, when we're playing Toronto, Edmonton-Edmonton on a week,
• 2:05:49
  Speaker 7: we're going with our goalie. So I think you can
• 2:05:52
  Speaker 7: expect Karel Vemelka against Tampa Bay, who's 7-2. Minnesota's off
• 2:05:58
  Speaker 7: to a good start. They came from behind against Edmonton.
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 7: Last night, ended up losing in overtime because they took
• 2:06:02
  Speaker 7: a too-many-men penalty. But I think if you win in Seattle,
• 2:06:07
  Speaker 7: you settle for a two-of-three week, you start off with Minnesota,
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 7: you either beat them, don't beat them, but the grand
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 7: picture of it is three-of-four before you head on the
• 2:06:18
  Speaker 7: road for six straight. I think that's manageable. The competition,
• 2:06:25
  Speaker 7: it's heavy. Playing Edmonton on back-to-back nights, probably not. that
• 2:06:29
  Speaker 7: high percentage of a situation to sweep them just because it's,
• 2:06:34
  Speaker 7: it's easier when you're playing one-offs to do that. I
• 2:06:37
  Speaker 7: noticed that in the AHL and the ECHL, you're splitting
• 2:06:39
  Speaker 7: every weekend because if you went on a Friday, the
• 2:06:42
  Speaker 7: team that you beat is countering back. So sometimes it
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 7: was best to lose an overtime to start the weekend
• 2:06:48
  Speaker 7: on the home and home and, and then go back
• 2:06:51
  Speaker 7: on the Saturday and beat them and get three or
• 2:06:53
  Speaker 7: four points.
• 2:06:55
  Speaker 1: Before I let you go, Utah-Houston game day, night game.
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 4: I know you'll be there.
• 2:07:01
  Speaker 1: I won't be there.
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 4: You won't be there.
• 2:07:04
  Speaker 7: I was talking to some Mammoth fans at our mixer
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 7: last night.
• 2:07:08
  Speaker 1: That will be there. That's a tough choice to have
• 2:07:12
  Speaker 1: to make, actually. But what do you think? What's going
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 1: to happen?
• 2:07:20
  Speaker 7: I think the Colorado game is probably the best thing
• 2:07:23
  Speaker 7: that could have ever happened. Face some adversity. Have to
• 2:07:27
  Speaker 7: Pushed through a game late. Their games had not been close. Rice-Eccles,
• 2:07:34
  Speaker 7: late start, conference play. That's not Oregon. I think that
• 2:07:40
  Speaker 7: bodes pretty well for Utah.
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 1: Let's go. That's Between the Pipes. Adrian Denny brought to
• 2:07:45
  Speaker 1: you by Aladdin Industries, Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling. The
• 2:07:49
  Speaker 1: Utah Jazz tip off their season tonight. We'll talk about
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: some expectations there. We've got Nickelback tickets to give away
• 2:07:55
  Speaker 1: still before we close the show. Don't go anywhere. It's
• 2:07:59
  Speaker 1: the Sean O'Connell Show on ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 2:08:10
  Speaker 5: You are listening to The Sean O'Connell Show, your source
• 2:08:13
  Speaker 5: for the best youth football coverage. Here's O.C. from the
• 2:08:17
  Speaker 5: Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN 700 at 92.1 FM. 801-895-3101.
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 1: 801-895-3101. That is the phone number for Southern Steer Butcher
• 2:08:42
  Speaker 1: down in Saratoga Springs at 1705 North Redwood Road. Why
• 2:08:46
  Speaker 1: do you need to save that number in your phone? Because, well,
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 1: everyone should have a butcher. Everyone should have a meat guy.
• 2:08:52
  Speaker 4: All right?
• 2:08:53
  Speaker 1: Now you got one. A meat guy and a meat gal.
• 2:08:55
  Speaker 1: Dan and Aubrey Gunther have been so great to us
• 2:08:57
  Speaker 1: here on the Sean O'Connell Show. And guess what? Southern
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 1: Steer is already getting prepared for Thanksgiving. They're going to
• 2:09:05
  Speaker 1: have homemade holiday sides. You want the stuffing. You want
• 2:09:09
  Speaker 1: the carrots. You want the cranberries. You want the yams
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 1: with or without the marshmallows. starting at 1499 Thanksgiving turkeys.
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 1: You want it smoked. You want it baked. You want
• 2:09:20
  Speaker 1: it marinated. You want it vacuumed, whatever you want. They've
• 2:09:23
  Speaker 1: got you covered there. And of course, this is the
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 1: highest quality meat that you're going to be able to find.
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 1: It's not the antibiotic-stuffed, chemical-laden, normal cut of beef or
• 2:09:36
  Speaker 1: of poultry or of pork that you're getting at the
• 2:09:38
  Speaker 1: grocery store. Southern Steer sources their things ethically, cleanly, and
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 1: they give you and your family the healthiest meat possible.
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 1: So whether you're preparing for the tailgate ahead of game
• 2:09:49
  Speaker 1: day on Saturday or you're already thinking ahead to that
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 1: Thanksgiving feast, Saratoga Springs is where you need to head.
• 2:09:58
  Speaker 1: It takes about 34 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City.
• 2:10:01
  Speaker 1: It's worth the trip, I promise you. 1705 North Redwood Road.
• 2:10:07
  Speaker 1: For game day, go down, grab some brats, grab some
• 2:10:11
  Speaker 1: marinated steak tips, maybe have them throw in a few
• 2:10:15
  Speaker 1: pounds of the ground chuck and make up some burgers.
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 1: And while you're down there, say, hey, you know what?
• 2:10:22
  Speaker 1: I've been doing the same old thing for years. I
• 2:10:24
  Speaker 1: want I want to maybe get a new crust on
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 1: this steak. I maybe want to marinate this a little
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 1: bit differently than I'm used to. Maybe I want to
• 2:10:32
  Speaker 1: introduce a new side dish. And I'll be like, oh,
• 2:10:35
  Speaker 1: check out this hot honey chicken crack dip. Check out
• 2:10:38
  Speaker 1: the armadillo eggs. I don't even know what they're going
• 2:10:41
  Speaker 1: to say, but ask them because one of the best
• 2:10:44
  Speaker 1: things about having a modern take on the old school
• 2:10:47
  Speaker 1: neighborhood butcher shop is they treat it exactly like that.
• 2:10:51
  Speaker 1: It's a conversation. It's a suggestion. It's a, hey, try
• 2:10:56
  Speaker 1: to do it this way. And the outcome for you
• 2:10:58
  Speaker 1: and your family and the meal and all your friends
• 2:11:00
  Speaker 1: coming over for that tailgate, it's going to taste better.
• 2:11:04
  Speaker 1: And suddenly you are the go-to grill guy or grill gal. 801-895-3101,
• 2:11:10
  Speaker 1: 1705 North Redwood Road, Southern Steer Butcher. Tell them OC
• 2:11:15
  Speaker 1: sent you.
• 2:11:17
  Speaker 4: All right.
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 1: Utah Jazz tip off their season tonight at the Delta Center.
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 1: I talked about this at the beginning of the show.
• 2:11:26
  Speaker 3: Sorry.
• 2:11:27
  Speaker 1: They tip off tonight against Memphis, not at the Delta Center. Although,
• 2:11:30
  Speaker 1: go down to the Delta Center and demand they let
• 2:11:34
  Speaker 1: you in and watch it on one of the screens there.
• 2:11:36
  Speaker 1: They're in Memphis.
• 2:11:37
  Speaker 3: Sorry.
• 2:11:38
  Speaker 1: Um, but they tip off the season and I talked
• 2:11:40
  Speaker 1: about this at the beginning of the show, right? There's this,
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 1: there's this sort of moment of anticipation whenever you're rounding
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 1: out of a long-term preparation for something.
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 1: Maybe you're about to move into the house that you've
• 2:11:59
  Speaker 1: been building for the last year and a half. And
• 2:12:01
  Speaker 1: you've gone through the pains of, I had to fire
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 1: this contractor. I had to rehire this person. I had
• 2:12:07
  Speaker 1: to have them redo the floors because there were some problems.
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 1: We had a leak in this situation. Maybe it's your
• 2:12:13
  Speaker 1: own like personal redevelopment. Maybe you're like, man, I've been
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 1: grinding for like six months trying to get that stubborn
• 2:12:22
  Speaker 1: baby fat off or trying to get rid of that
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 1: that holiday weight that I put on last year over Thanksgiving, Christmas,
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 1: and New Year's. And it feels like tonight's game against
• 2:12:33
  Speaker 1: Memphis is the first time that after you did that
• 2:12:37
  Speaker 1: workout plan, you get to go to the pool and
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 1: you get to take your shirt off and everyone's just like, whoa,
• 2:12:43
  Speaker 1: what have you been doing? Why does it look this
• 2:12:46
  Speaker 1: way now?
• 2:12:47
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 1: Or it's the first time you get to pick up
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 1: your wife and carry her across the threshold of that
• 2:12:52
  Speaker 1: new place that you spent so much time and money
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 1: and energy and effort building. That's where the Utah Jazz
• 2:12:58
  Speaker 1: are at in their team development right now. You went
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 1: through this tough slog and this terrible tanking years and
• 2:13:07
  Speaker 1: as a fan, they're cajoling you and they're saying, hey,
• 2:13:11
  Speaker 1: we'll do a fan-friendly menu on the concessions and We're
• 2:13:15
  Speaker 1: going to do two furs on some tickets, and it's
• 2:13:17
  Speaker 1: going to be this Star Wars family night. Just please
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 1: don't give up on us. Please don't give up on us.
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 1: And all of that work, that's all now in the bank.
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 1: Time to start making some withdrawals if you're the Utah Jazz.
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 1: My question is, how much is actually in the bank?
• 2:13:37
  Speaker 1: My question is, how complete is that new home build?
• 2:13:42
  Speaker 1: Did you really push as hard as you needed to
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: on that summer bod redo. So when you do take
• 2:13:50
  Speaker 1: the shirt off, it's actually impressive. Or are people going
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: to be like, took you six months and your love
• 2:13:56
  Speaker 1: handles still look like that. This Utah jazz team, I
• 2:13:59
  Speaker 1: think is drastically improved as an overall roster. The trade
• 2:14:03
  Speaker 1: they made last year for trade Jay Keontae George's emergence
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 1: Lowry market and playing real minutes and real consistent like
• 2:14:12
  Speaker 1: months at a time. depth pieces that they've slowly developed
• 2:14:18
  Speaker 1: and filled in around. And of course, ace Bailey and
• 2:14:22
  Speaker 1: Darren Peterson, the fruits of your tanking labor, those two
• 2:14:26
  Speaker 1: picks now one going into his second year after a
• 2:14:29
  Speaker 1: promising rookie year, the other being hailed as a potential
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 1: franchise changer, a potential rookie of the year candidate. I mean,
• 2:14:39
  Speaker 1: the 2025, 2026 draft class, those guys coming out of
• 2:14:44
  Speaker 1: college basketball last year had been hailed for like five
• 2:14:48
  Speaker 1: years plus as watch and see what these guys do
• 2:14:52
  Speaker 1: when they get to the NBA. You're going to see
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 1: one of them tonight in Memphis in Cam Boozer, right?
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 1: AJ DeBonsa starts the season hurt. Darren Peterson, the red
• 2:15:03
  Speaker 1: carpet is rolled out in front of you, right? Make
• 2:15:07
  Speaker 1: the statement. Do it tonight. Start it now. Let the
• 2:15:10
  Speaker 1: conversation begin about whether or not you are the crown
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 1: jewel of this draft class that everyone talked about for
• 2:15:17
  Speaker 1: so long as being loaded, as being can't miss, as
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 1: being you have to position yourself into the top five
• 2:15:24
  Speaker 1: there because those five guys are going to be franchise changers. Yes,
• 2:15:30
  Speaker 1: we have several years before we truly decide whether or
• 2:15:33
  Speaker 1: not Darren Peterson changes the Utah jazz franchise, but it's
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 1: not one of those things when you're talking about a
• 2:15:40
  Speaker 1: number two overall pick and give him what we saw
• 2:15:42
  Speaker 1: from him in summer league basketball and all that stuff.
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 1: It's not one of those, but we can be patient
• 2:15:47
  Speaker 1: for the next four years. You've asked your fan base.
• 2:15:50
  Speaker 1: You've asked the teammates around him. You've asked your coaches
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 1: on the staff, be patient, trust the vision. I promise
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 1: it's not going to be like this forever. The it's
• 2:16:00
  Speaker 1: not going to be like this forever starts tonight. Literally.
• 2:16:03
  Speaker 1: Now you're trying to win for the first time in
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 1: four years. Can you flip that switch? If you're will Hardy,
• 2:16:14
  Speaker 1: if you're Lowry marketing, if you're anybody who's been in
• 2:16:18
  Speaker 1: this organization for more than 18 months, are you able
• 2:16:22
  Speaker 1: to cast off the bad habits that have been developed
• 2:16:25
  Speaker 1: over deliberate losing and Are you able to shed the
• 2:16:29
  Speaker 1: negativity and the bad feeling and the tightness in your
• 2:16:34
  Speaker 1: chest over everybody asking you, including your boss to say, Hey,
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 1: don't compete. Don't be the best version of yourself. The
• 2:16:44
  Speaker 1: only way that that is worth it is if the
• 2:16:46
  Speaker 1: Utah jazz make the playoffs this year and start that
• 2:16:53
  Speaker 1: journey in a real way back to being truly relevant
• 2:16:56
  Speaker 1: and in the Western Conference and truly relevant in NBA basketball.
• 2:17:00
  Speaker 4: And guess what?
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 1: It's still going to be three or four years away
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 1: before we have anything close to a finished product on
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 1: this young core of players. But you've asked us for
• 2:17:10
  Speaker 1: patience for too long. The product of basketball has been unwatchable.
• 2:17:15
  Speaker 1: It has to be watchable now. We're sick of living
• 2:17:20
  Speaker 1: in the two-bedroom apartment with eight people and the cousins
• 2:17:24
  Speaker 1: all sharing the hide-a-bed. We've now built the new house.
• 2:17:28
  Speaker 1: We sacrificed for those two, three, four, five years, and
• 2:17:32
  Speaker 1: now it's time to walk across the threshold. And oh
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 1: my gosh, look in the backyard, there's a hot tub.
• 2:17:38
  Speaker 1: And the open concept living here is so beautiful. Is
• 2:17:41
  Speaker 1: that a leather couch? Oh no, it's microfiber. Is that
• 2:17:44
  Speaker 1: a projection screen coming down from the ceiling right now?
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 1: The expectations. for what this jazz roster is supposed to
• 2:17:52
  Speaker 1: be are the equivalent of that beautiful brand new home.
• 2:17:55
  Speaker 1: We don't want to go back to living in the
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 1: condo anymore. Don't ask us to, you have to be
• 2:18:03
  Speaker 1: the team you're supposed to be.
• 2:18:04
  Speaker 10: And it's got to start tonight in Memphis. It's going
• 2:18:08
  Speaker 10: to be a blowout win tonight. That's the good news
• 2:18:10
  Speaker 10: because Memphis is not good. Memphis is not good. That's
• 2:18:14
  Speaker 10: the good news. We just took Memphis' best player, Jaron
• 2:18:17
  Speaker 10: Jackson Jr., from them last year. Memphis is going to
• 2:18:20
  Speaker 10: be awesome.
• 2:18:21
  Speaker 1: Memphis is starting now what the Jazz have been doing
• 2:18:23
  Speaker 1: for the last four years.
• 2:18:25
  Speaker 10: The good news is you're going to get a really
• 2:18:29
  Speaker 10: good win tonight if everything goes right. I'll say this.
• 2:18:35
  Speaker 10: The expectation should not be... top four seed in the West,
• 2:18:39
  Speaker 10: should not be a guaranteed playoff spot. The expectation for
• 2:18:42
  Speaker 10: this year, it'd be an outstanding year if they're in
• 2:18:45
  Speaker 10: the play-in tournament. And even better if they win in
• 2:18:50
  Speaker 10: the play-in tournament and earn a playoff spot, but they're
• 2:18:52
  Speaker 10: probably losing in the first round in four or five
• 2:18:55
  Speaker 10: games if they make it that far.
• 2:18:58
  Speaker 1: You're going to be looking at San Antonio or Oklahoma
• 2:19:00
  Speaker 1: City or one of the two teams we saw last
• 2:19:03
  Speaker 1: night that they started off Spicy by the way.
• 2:19:06
  Speaker 10: But by the way, that sounds, I say that and
• 2:19:09
  Speaker 10: it sounds glum, but like, that's going to be an,
• 2:19:13
  Speaker 10: a very good regular season, especially you just outlined everything
• 2:19:17
  Speaker 10: that this fan base has had to endure playing meaningful
• 2:19:22
  Speaker 10: games in April, whether it's playing tournament games in a
• 2:19:26
  Speaker 10: single elimination style format or not. you know, even better
• 2:19:30
  Speaker 10: making the playoffs and you lose in a short series,
• 2:19:33
  Speaker 10: that's still going to be very exciting to see this
• 2:19:37
  Speaker 10: team to be able to be able to do that.
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 10: Now that's, that should be the expectation. And the reason why,
• 2:19:43
  Speaker 10: and I'm pretty optimistic that they can make it through
• 2:19:45
  Speaker 10: the play in tournament to OC either, either a seven
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 10: or eight seed, because think about the teams that are
• 2:19:51
  Speaker 10: also going to be in that range. The Suns had
• 2:19:54
  Speaker 10: an outstanding, overachieving year next year. I don't think Lightning's
• 2:19:57
  Speaker 10: going to strike twice there. I don't think they're going
• 2:20:00
  Speaker 10: to be this great story that they were last season,
• 2:20:03
  Speaker 10: making the playoffs when no one thought they would after
• 2:20:05
  Speaker 10: trading away Kevin Durant. I think that they're going to
• 2:20:09
  Speaker 10: come back down to earth. This Jazz roster is probably
• 2:20:12
  Speaker 10: better than the Suns roster is. So that's a playoff
• 2:20:14
  Speaker 10: team that you might leapfrog in that scenario. The Clippers
• 2:20:20
  Speaker 10: got way worse. They weren't a playoff team last year.
• 2:20:22
  Speaker 10: They just got way worse.
• 2:20:23
  Speaker 1: The Clippers are so bad that they're offering a free
• 2:20:26
  Speaker 1: parking promotion right now for anyone attending their two first
• 2:20:29
  Speaker 1: two home games. And that is like, that's a savings
• 2:20:33
  Speaker 1: of $ 125 parking down there in LA is absolutely nuts.
• 2:20:38
  Speaker 1: And this is where the good for the fans there.
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 1: This is where the jazz, right? I mean, you were,
• 2:20:42
  Speaker 1: you were dead last year in the West last year.
• 2:20:45
  Speaker 1: Are you going to be better than Portland? Are you
• 2:20:47
  Speaker 1: going to be better than Phoenix? Are you going to
• 2:20:48
  Speaker 1: be better than Dallas and Sacramento?
• 2:20:51
  Speaker 10: There are going to be better than Memphis. You're me
• 2:20:54
  Speaker 10: better in Sacramento to Sacramento is awful. Are you going
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 10: to be sustainably better? The answer to all those should
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 10: be yes. Now my biggest fear, and I'll just air
• 2:21:03
  Speaker 10: this and then wash it away. My biggest fear for
• 2:21:06
  Speaker 10: this Utah jazz team is that you have not asked
• 2:21:09
  Speaker 10: any of your important players to play football. an NBA
• 2:21:13
  Speaker 10: season's worth of basketball.
• 2:21:15
  Speaker 1: And this year you're going to say, Hey, I need
• 2:21:17
  Speaker 1: you in at least 70 games, Lowry marketing. And that's
• 2:21:20
  Speaker 1: not easy for your body to have to adjust to.
• 2:21:22
  Speaker 1: He's young enough. He's hopefully healthy enough. They've had enough
• 2:21:25
  Speaker 1: time to go and tweak and change every training regimen
• 2:21:29
  Speaker 1: necessary and get procedures done here and cleanups done there
• 2:21:33
  Speaker 1: and trims and scopes and whatever else. So everyone should
• 2:21:37
  Speaker 1: be fine.
• 2:21:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:21:38
  Speaker 1: But my biggest fear for the optimism we're all carrying
• 2:21:41
  Speaker 1: into the Utah jazz season right now is that the
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 1: fake injury bug that you leaned into for the last
• 2:21:46
  Speaker 1: four years actually rears its ugly head in a season
• 2:21:50
  Speaker 1: where you're trying to win.
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 10: And listen, Yusuf Nurkic is going to miss the first
• 2:21:56
  Speaker 10: four weeks and you just traded away. You're the guy
• 2:21:59
  Speaker 10: who's you thought was going to be your starting center
• 2:22:01
  Speaker 10: for a long time. And Walker Kessler and the guy
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 10: you hoped to be his backup became the starting center.
• 2:22:06
  Speaker 1: You're going to miss him for the first four weeks.
• 2:22:08
  Speaker 10: That means yikes to, to quote Gordy Chiesa, Jackson Hayes
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 10: is going to start games for you.
• 2:22:13
  Speaker 1: That is going to be terrible. You just go baby.
• 2:22:16
  Speaker 10: You just brought back Tony Bradley, who all due respect
• 2:22:19
  Speaker 10: has been barely in the league the last few years.
• 2:22:22
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 2:22:23
  Speaker 10: Like the center position is a scary proposition, especially your
• 2:22:27
  Speaker 10: first four weeks without Yusuf Nurkic, the good news is
• 2:22:30
  Speaker 10: the season's six months long. It's not one month long.
• 2:22:33
  Speaker 10: So you're still going to have Yusuf, hopefully, for most
• 2:22:36
  Speaker 10: of the season. They should be able to overcome that.
• 2:22:38
  Speaker 10: But as I was saying, I was going through the
• 2:22:42
  Speaker 10: teams that they ought to be better than. They ought
• 2:22:44
  Speaker 10: to be better than the Warriors, too, because the Warriors, yes,
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 10: they still have Steph Curry. Yes, Draymond Green's still awesome
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 10: on defense. They are without Moses Moody, a starter for
• 2:22:55
  Speaker 10: the first few weeks there without Jimmy Butler till January
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 10: there without Kristaps Porzingis indefinitely because of a private health matter.
• 2:23:03
  Speaker 10: That's an opportunity for the jazz, the leap frog, a
• 2:23:06
  Speaker 10: potential play in slash playoff team in the warriors. Um,
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 10: if they play really well to start the season.
• 2:23:12
  Speaker 1: The warriors have four guys that are 36 and a half.
• 2:23:16
  Speaker 10: Or older, even when they're healthy, they're that old, right?
• 2:23:18
  Speaker 10: Speaker 2 and a half.
• 2:23:22
  Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler is 37 and Draymond green is 36 and
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 1: a half.
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 2:23:26
  Speaker 10: So the, even if they're healthy, they're, they're really old.
• 2:23:28
  Speaker 10: So you ought to be able to be better than
• 2:23:31
  Speaker 10: that team, or at least be really close. You're going
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 10: to be better criminal. If you're not better than the
• 2:23:36
  Speaker 10: Clippers criminal, even more criminal, if you're not better than
• 2:23:39
  Speaker 10: the Sacramento Kings, Dallas might be close. They get Kyrie
• 2:23:43
  Speaker 10: Irving back, but there's an opportunity to be in the
• 2:23:46
  Speaker 10: play in this year, realistically. And probably even be a
• 2:23:50
  Speaker 10: seven or eight seed. The only team in that range
• 2:23:53
  Speaker 10: that projects to be in that range that I don't
• 2:23:55
  Speaker 10: think the jazz, it's a, I don't feel great about
• 2:23:58
  Speaker 10: them being better than is the Portland trailblazers.
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 1: That's a really good team.
• 2:24:01
  Speaker 10: And if John Moran behaves, he's on that team. Now
• 2:24:06
  Speaker 10: they got even deeper adding John Moran. So that's the
• 2:24:09
  Speaker 10: only one. The grace period is over.
• 2:24:11
  Speaker 1: It's done.
• 2:24:12
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 2:24:13
  Speaker 1: Ownership.
• 2:24:15
  Speaker 3: Fine.
• 2:24:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you for what you've done to bring hockey here.
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 1: I liked the new Delta center. It's wonderful. I liked
• 2:24:21
  Speaker 1: the mountain menu so I can get a water for
• 2:24:24
  Speaker 1: a couple of bucks. The grace period of saying, oh yeah,
• 2:24:28
  Speaker 1: just deal, just suffer through this a little bit longer.
• 2:24:31
  Speaker 1: It's it's over, right? We did the ugly jerseys and
• 2:24:34
  Speaker 1: didn't turn away. You did the four bad years of
• 2:24:37
  Speaker 1: basketball and didn't turn away. You did the whole thing
• 2:24:40
  Speaker 1: where it's just like patients, patients, patients. Not going to
• 2:24:44
  Speaker 1: see that this year. And then we saw that this
• 2:24:45
  Speaker 1: year we did it.
• 2:24:47
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 2:24:48
  Speaker 1: We have now graduated beyond this Utah jazz fans and
• 2:24:53
  Speaker 1: it's okay to demand better from this team. You have
• 2:24:56
  Speaker 1: to expect better from this team and it expects better
• 2:24:58
  Speaker 1: from itself. This is the year where the, the Titanic
• 2:25:02
  Speaker 1: starts turning around. How long it takes is a big question,
• 2:25:07
  Speaker 1: but this, and by the way, whether or not you
• 2:25:09
  Speaker 1: ever get to the pinnacle because of how good everyone
• 2:25:12
  Speaker 1: else is and how young San Antonio and Oklahoma city are.
• 2:25:15
  Speaker 1: That's a totally different conversation. But tonight in Memphis, the
• 2:25:19
  Speaker 1: Utah jazz season starts and guys and gals, they're actually
• 2:25:23
  Speaker 1: going to try to win. Isn't that wonderful? They're not playing.
• 2:25:28
  Speaker 10: They're not starting their fourth stringers in a game against
• 2:25:32
  Speaker 10: another bad Memphis team tonight. They're going to throw out
• 2:25:34
  Speaker 10: their best lineup and actually try to win the game.
• 2:25:37
  Speaker 10: Right now, the only thing you should be feeling if
• 2:25:39
  Speaker 10: you're Utah Jazz fans is excitement, and then there's certainly
• 2:25:43
  Speaker 10: some concerns that you outlined, O.C., for sure. I talked
• 2:25:46
  Speaker 10: about not having your starting center for a month.
• 2:25:49
  Speaker 1: The concerns are secondary or tertiary to the optimism and
• 2:25:54
  Speaker 1: the excitement. And that's wonderful. That's fun. Because it's just
• 2:25:58
  Speaker 1: been too long since the fan base has felt this way.
• 2:26:00
  Speaker 1: It's going to be so refreshing starting tonight.
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 2:26:03
  Speaker 1: We're going to take a break. We're going to come back.
• 2:26:05
  Speaker 1: We're going to give away some Nickelback tickets. They're coming
• 2:26:08
  Speaker 1: to the Delta Center on April 22nd of 2027. I
• 2:26:12
  Speaker 1: got a trivia question for that. We'll talk to Spence Checketts.
• 2:26:16
  Speaker 1: It's Utah's number one sports talk, ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 2:26:20
  Speaker 1: Made it as a wise man.
• 2:26:21
  Speaker 4: I couldn't cut it as a poor man stealing.
• 2:26:25
  Speaker 1: Tired of living like a blind man.
• 2:26:28
  Speaker 5: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
• 2:26:31
  Speaker 5: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 2:26:39
  Speaker 1: If you win this pair of Nickelback tickets, there is
• 2:26:42
  Speaker 1: a non-zero chance you're sitting next to Spence Check. It's
• 2:26:45
  Speaker 1: April 22nd at the Delta Center.
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 3: 877-353-0700.
• 2:26:51
  Speaker 1: How many rushing attempts has Devin Dampier had this year?
• 2:26:57
  Speaker 1: We talked about it earlier in the show when we
• 2:27:00
  Speaker 1: were joined by Ted Party, who is the Houston color analyst.
• 2:27:04
  Speaker 1: It happens to be the exact same number of rushing
• 2:27:06
  Speaker 1: attempts that we've seen from Connor Wegman earlier. this year
• 2:27:10
  Speaker 1: so if you know that number i've got a pair
• 2:27:12
  Speaker 1: of tickets for you to see nickelback at the delta
• 2:27:15
  Speaker 1: center on april 22nd 877-353-0700 to text your answer and
• 2:27:22
  Speaker 1: win the tickets crosstalk brought to you by our friends
• 2:27:25
  Speaker 1: at advanced window products lifetime warranty on replacement windows from
• 2:27:30
  Speaker 1: a company right here in salt lake city Spence check
• 2:27:33
  Speaker 1: gets in the driver. Next, here is Spence in the
• 2:27:35
  Speaker 1: Broadway studio.
• 2:27:36
  Speaker 4: Hello.
• 2:27:37
  Speaker 8: Don't bob your head when Nickelback is on. being played
• 2:27:40
  Speaker 8: to bring you back in segment.
• 2:27:41
  Speaker 1: I'm going to. No, you're not.
• 2:27:43
  Speaker 4: I'll sing along next time. Do you know the lyrics?
• 2:27:45
  Speaker 8: Yes. James, play that again. Fire up the beginning. I
• 2:27:48
  Speaker 8: want to hear you sing. I want you to prove
• 2:27:51
  Speaker 8: that you know Nickelback lyrics. You want me to prove it?
• 2:27:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:27:54
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 2:27:55
  Speaker 4: No, but from the start.
• 2:27:56
  Speaker 1: I never made it as a wise man.
• 2:27:58
  Speaker 4: Oh, not after they're played.
• 2:28:01
  Speaker 10: Cheater.
• 2:28:02
  Speaker 4: You do.
• 2:28:03
  Speaker 1: He does. Yeah, I know it all.
• 2:28:06
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 2:28:07
  Speaker 4: All right. Okay. You were right. I was wrong.
• 2:28:11
  Speaker 1: No, keep going. He wants it. Keep it going. No,
• 2:28:13
  Speaker 1: you already proved it.
• 2:28:14
  Speaker 4: I mean, go ahead, but you already proved your point.
• 2:28:16
  Speaker 1: This is how you remind me of how I really am.
• 2:28:19
  Speaker 4: I'm very sad.
• 2:28:20
  Speaker 8: That makes me very sad. But, hey, teach thereof. Can
• 2:28:23
  Speaker 8: we get a piece of house clean out of the way?
• 2:28:26
  Speaker 8: What are you dressing up on Friday for the show?
• 2:28:28
  Speaker 8: Are you going to dress up as I should say
• 2:28:30
  Speaker 8: next Friday before Halloween?
• 2:28:32
  Speaker 4: No, you're not. You did last year.
• 2:28:34
  Speaker 2: Did I?
• 2:28:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:28:35
  Speaker 4: You had like.
• 2:28:36
  Speaker 8: Butterfly wings or something. They were in the studio for
• 2:28:38
  Speaker 8: six months. Somebody gave me those here.
• 2:28:42
  Speaker 4: Here's the problem. I bought a Halloween costume for Halloween party. Okay.
• 2:28:46
  Speaker 8: And got the nights confused. I thought it was Saturday.
• 2:28:49
  Speaker 8: It was Friday of last week. So I have a
• 2:28:51
  Speaker 8: Halloween costume. That I bought for the Halloween party I
• 2:28:54
  Speaker 8: was supposed to go to.
• 2:28:55
  Speaker 3: What is it?
• 2:28:56
  Speaker 4: We talked about it. Ted Lasso.
• 2:28:59
  Speaker 8: Oh, yeah.
• 2:28:59
  Speaker 4: I'm going to shave. I got a mustache. I got
• 2:29:01
  Speaker 4: a sweater.
• 2:29:02
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 2:29:03
  Speaker 4: I'm ready to roll. Okay. I got to wear it.
• 2:29:05
  Speaker 8: I paid for it. I paid for this. I went
• 2:29:08
  Speaker 8: to one of these pop-up Halloween spirit. By the way,
• 2:29:11
  Speaker 8: who runs this operation?
• 2:29:13
  Speaker 4: Oh, my gosh.
• 2:29:13
  Speaker 1: It is such a genius business plan. They rent out.
• 2:29:17
  Speaker 1: 45 days of vacant retail space.
• 2:29:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:29:24
  Speaker 1: They throw a bunch of crap quality Halloween costumes out there.
• 2:29:28
  Speaker 1: They charge you 65 bucks for each of them. Uh,
• 2:29:31
  Speaker 1: now they give, they give you the opportunity to grab
• 2:29:33
  Speaker 1: some of those like scary blowups as well. And then
• 2:29:36
  Speaker 1: they're gone like a thief in the night. They're gone.
• 2:29:39
  Speaker 8: I need to know who is doing this. It's wildly Halloween,
• 2:29:43
  Speaker 8: but I want to know who's behind spirit Halloween.
• 2:29:45
  Speaker 1: Cause it's a man named spirit. Halloween. It's not.
• 2:29:48
  Speaker 8: But it's wildly impressive. Like suddenly I'm going grocery shopping.
• 2:29:52
  Speaker 8: I'm like, there's a spirit Halloween that just popped up
• 2:29:54
  Speaker 8: and it's jam packed.
• 2:29:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 2:29:56
  Speaker 4: Everyone's in there. You know, they're marking that stuff up
• 2:29:59
  Speaker 4: 300 percent.
• 2:30:00
  Speaker 3: Of course.
• 2:30:01
  Speaker 4: I'm not even going to tell you what I paid
• 2:30:02
  Speaker 4: for my Ted Lasso sweater. You don't have to. I
• 2:30:04
  Speaker 4: already know.
• 2:30:05
  Speaker 1: 78 bucks.
• 2:30:05
  Speaker 8: It was almost that, which is just ridiculous for a
• 2:30:09
  Speaker 8: Ted Lasso sweater and a mustache.
• 2:30:12
  Speaker 1: By the way, do you have any memories when you
• 2:30:14
  Speaker 1: were a child of going into like the scary mask
• 2:30:16
  Speaker 1: aisle for Halloween or going into the equivalent of a
• 2:30:20
  Speaker 1: spirit Halloween and seeing the terrifying stuff as a kid?
• 2:30:24
  Speaker 8: I have a memory of a haunted house in our
• 2:30:26
  Speaker 8: neighborhood that was way too real.
• 2:30:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 2:30:29
  Speaker 8: And it was the neighbor that we didn't really know.
• 2:30:32
  Speaker 8: And it was a couple.
• 2:30:36
  Speaker 4: No kids. But they put on this haunted house. We
• 2:30:39
  Speaker 4: didn't see them all year.
• 2:30:41
  Speaker 1: I like that.
• 2:30:42
  Speaker 8: And then they put on this crazy haunted house that
• 2:30:44
  Speaker 8: was way too real. And for some reason, we go
• 2:30:47
  Speaker 8: through it every year as a kid.
• 2:30:48
  Speaker 4: And it was absolutely terrifying.
• 2:30:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:30:51
  Speaker 1: I've always been a scaredy cat. We used to walk
• 2:30:54
  Speaker 1: down the Walgreens costume aisle. And my older brother would
• 2:30:58
  Speaker 1: just throw masks at me. The rubbery masks that were
• 2:31:01
  Speaker 1: just collapsed faces of some ghoul or creepy clown.
• 2:31:05
  Speaker 4: Still traumatized by it. Is this the bow tie professor, brother?
• 2:31:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 2:31:08
  Speaker 4: This guy. I got to meet this guy. Sounds interesting
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 4: to me.
• 2:31:11
  Speaker 1: Speaking of brothers.
• 2:31:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 2:31:13
  Speaker 1: I had, until yesterday, I had never seen the other Chekitses.
• 2:31:19
  Speaker 1: I've seen your dad, obviously. I believe it's just Chekits.
• 2:31:22
  Speaker 1: I had never seen the other Chekitsi.
• 2:31:24
  Speaker 4: And your thoughts?
• 2:31:26
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 2:31:27
  Speaker 1: Now I understand a lot more about your personality. I
• 2:31:31
  Speaker 1: don't know what that means. You know, they're all like
• 2:31:34
  Speaker 1: super good looking and high achievers. And you're just, you know,
• 2:31:38
  Speaker 1: you're the guy who has to lead that parade. Are
• 2:31:43
  Speaker 1: you insulting me?
• 2:31:44
  Speaker 3: No.
• 2:31:46
  Speaker 4: I usually can tell.
• 2:31:48
  Speaker 1: Not at all.
• 2:31:49
  Speaker 4: So I'm the most good looking, most successful. All right.
• 2:31:53
  Speaker 4: I'm the best-looking brother. It's not even close.
• 2:31:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, I wouldn't know.
• 2:31:57
  Speaker 4: You saw them yesterday. They're better-looking than you.
• 2:31:59
  Speaker 1: It's fine. They're not. It's okay.
• 2:32:01
  Speaker 4: One of them thinks he is, and he's not.
• 2:32:03
  Speaker 1: They all are.
• 2:32:05
  Speaker 4: I'm the least good-looking brother? No chance. I think so.
• 2:32:08
  Speaker 8: That hurts my feelings, Sean. Now you're insulting me. Yes,
• 2:32:12
  Speaker 8: as the oldest. And look, I'm a proud older brother.
• 2:32:15
  Speaker 8: All of my siblings are crushing life. I'm doing four
• 2:32:19
  Speaker 8: hours of AM radio.
• 2:32:21
  Speaker 1: And live alone. You're doing fine.
• 2:32:23
  Speaker 4: I'm doing all right.
• 2:32:24
  Speaker 1: You're doing okay. You're enjoying your life. But yeah, I
• 2:32:27
  Speaker 1: saw the family video, the partnership with Roan and the NBA.
• 2:32:33
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 2:32:33
  Speaker 4: That's cool. Yeah, it was the NBA's idea, actually.
• 2:32:35
  Speaker 1: It was cool. I mean, I'm obviously being tongue-in-cheek here,
• 2:32:39
  Speaker 1: but you know what? You've known somebody for a very
• 2:32:42
  Speaker 1: long time, but you have very little context on like,
• 2:32:45
  Speaker 1: the people closest to them.
• 2:32:46
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 2:32:47
  Speaker 1: It was one of those moments. It was like, Oh,
• 2:32:48
  Speaker 1: I know he has a big family and that's who
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 1: they are.
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:32:51
  Speaker 1: I've seen them now.
• 2:32:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 2:32:53
  Speaker 7: So cool.
• 2:32:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:32:54
  Speaker 4: No, I appreciate it. It's a good group.
• 2:32:55
  Speaker 8: I'm a proud older brother. Uh, I cheer for their successes.
• 2:32:59
  Speaker 8: My favorite, my, my favorite role that I play in,
• 2:33:02
  Speaker 8: in life is dad. My second favorite role is uncle.
• 2:33:05
  Speaker 8: I love my nieces and nephews and all my brothers have, uh,
• 2:33:09
  Speaker 8: and my sisters married great people.
• 2:33:11
  Speaker 4: And we're, yeah, I'm very blessed to have the family
• 2:33:13
  Speaker 4: that I have, man. There's no doubt.
• 2:33:14
  Speaker 8: So, It was a cool idea by the NBA to
• 2:33:18
  Speaker 8: kind of feature what it was like growing up in
• 2:33:21
  Speaker 8: that entire thing. And it was just, we all got together.
• 2:33:23
  Speaker 8: It was a round table. We told stories. And some
• 2:33:26
  Speaker 8: of the stories I completely forgot, right? Like the Phil
• 2:33:30
  Speaker 8: Jackson deal when Jeff McGinney was the coach and I
• 2:33:33
  Speaker 8: was home from college and I come walking down and
• 2:33:34
  Speaker 8: Phil Jackson sitting on the couch. I'm like, what the
• 2:33:36
  Speaker 8: hell is going on? My sister had a great Latrell
• 2:33:40
  Speaker 8: Sprewell story that I'd forgotten.
• 2:33:42
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, it was cool. I'm proud of it, man.
• 2:33:44
  Speaker 4: I'm blessed to have a great family.
• 2:33:46
  Speaker 1: Before I cut you loose and you get to do
• 2:33:47
  Speaker 1: your show, how good did the Utah Jazz need to
• 2:33:52
  Speaker 1: be this year for us to feel like the last
• 2:33:54
  Speaker 1: five were worth it?
• 2:33:56
  Speaker 4: Great question.
• 2:33:58
  Speaker 8: There's an interesting dynamic emerging because I've started to dig
• 2:34:01
  Speaker 8: into the NBA stuff over the past week or so.
• 2:34:05
  Speaker 8: What Adam Silver has done to flatten the lottery, there
• 2:34:08
  Speaker 8: are some teams that will have no choice. Because they're
• 2:34:11
  Speaker 8: just bad. Sacramento's going to be horrible. The Clippers have
• 2:34:16
  Speaker 8: no choice. But this draft class is not thought to
• 2:34:21
  Speaker 8: be very good. And with the lottery odds being flattened,
• 2:34:25
  Speaker 8: we're going to see maybe one or two teams be
• 2:34:28
  Speaker 8: intentional about not competing. We saw at least nine, maybe
• 2:34:33
  Speaker 8: ten teams last year. Depends on your New Orleans calculation
• 2:34:38
  Speaker 8: because they were just injured and that organization is a mess.
• 2:34:41
  Speaker 4: So what we're going to see, like I would be
• 2:34:44
  Speaker 4: stunned if any.
• 2:34:45
  Speaker 8: Team wins more than 52, 53 games.
• 2:34:50
  Speaker 4: Even Oklahoma City and even San Antonio.
• 2:34:53
  Speaker 8: What that means is, let's say Oklahoma City and San
• 2:34:56
  Speaker 8: Antonio win 52, 53 games. What that means is Houston, Minnesota, Portland, Dallas,
• 2:35:05
  Speaker 8: the Jazz are all going to be between like, 41
• 2:35:10
  Speaker 8: and 47. If the Jazz win 40 games, which I
• 2:35:14
  Speaker 8: think they can, and make it into the play-in, that's
• 2:35:18
  Speaker 8: a good sign.
• 2:35:19
  Speaker 4: Now, there are.
• 2:35:21
  Speaker 8: Two players that this whole thing is about. And it's
• 2:35:26
  Speaker 8: Darren and it's Ace. It's not about Lowry. It's not
• 2:35:29
  Speaker 8: about Jaron Jackson Jr. It's not about Keontae. They're the
• 2:35:32
  Speaker 8: best players this year. Big picture, it doesn't really matter.
• 2:35:37
  Speaker 8: You cannot miss... on Darren and Ace. Those are your
• 2:35:40
  Speaker 8: top five picks that you made. They're both teenagers. So
• 2:35:43
  Speaker 8: in four or five years when all this generation, LeBron, Kawhi, Durant,
• 2:35:48
  Speaker 8: all those guys are gone. And maybe San Antonio's aging
• 2:35:51
  Speaker 8: out and has to make some financial decisions. Oklahoma City
• 2:35:54
  Speaker 8: had to make some financial decisions. Lou Dort isn't on
• 2:35:56
  Speaker 8: the team. They're awesome. Jalen Williams is back healthy. They
• 2:36:01
  Speaker 8: look great last night. Jazz fans are going to want
• 2:36:04
  Speaker 8: to hear this. This is still about what does this
• 2:36:06
  Speaker 8: look like with Darren and Ace as your centerpieces in
• 2:36:09
  Speaker 8: four or five years? It's going to be better this year.
• 2:36:12
  Speaker 8: They're going to compete. They're going to be worth watching.
• 2:36:15
  Speaker 8: Anything north of 40 wins, I think, is gravy. I'm
• 2:36:18
  Speaker 8: thinking about 40, 41 wins, make the play in, have
• 2:36:21
  Speaker 8: some competitive basketball, and can Will Hardy coach defense? I'm
• 2:36:26
  Speaker 8: not saying he can't. I'm saying we have not seen
• 2:36:28
  Speaker 8: it at all.
• 2:36:28
  Speaker 10: Right.
• 2:36:29
  Speaker 8: It's the easiest way to lose basketball games. I'm not
• 2:36:31
  Speaker 8: saying they had a meeting. And they were like, hey,
• 2:36:33
  Speaker 8: we're going to suck defensively. I am saying they were like, hey,
• 2:36:36
  Speaker 8: Kyle Filipowski is our center for the next month.
• 2:36:39
  Speaker 4: Right? So it's stuff like that.
• 2:36:40
  Speaker 1: Well, that's how the month is going to start, by
• 2:36:41
  Speaker 1: the way. The season starts with no yerkage, no nurkage.
• 2:36:46
  Speaker 4: Call him whatever you, I mean, Jackson Hayes is now
• 2:36:48
  Speaker 4: your guy.
• 2:36:49
  Speaker 1: Let's go, baby.
• 2:36:50
  Speaker 4: Mo Bamba.
• 2:36:51
  Speaker 8: Now, the good news is Will's offensive system isn't predicated
• 2:36:54
  Speaker 8: on pick and roll. They ran the second fewest pick
• 2:36:57
  Speaker 8: and rolls in offensive sets last year. Nurkic is a
• 2:37:01
  Speaker 8: good screen setter. Jackson is not. Neither is Mo Bamba.
• 2:37:04
  Speaker 8: But that's not how the Jazz play offense. I'm going
• 2:37:07
  Speaker 8: to be curious, starting tonight, to see how they guard. Now,
• 2:37:11
  Speaker 8: Memphis isn't great, but they've got some decent pieces. Memphis
• 2:37:14
  Speaker 8: is actually favored to win the game tonight, believe it
• 2:37:16
  Speaker 8: or not. Like, if you read and listen to national
• 2:37:20
  Speaker 8: NBA guys, nobody's expecting much from the Jazz. Like, they're
• 2:37:23
  Speaker 8: not getting the buzz nationally that they are here locally.
• 2:37:26
  Speaker 1: Well, they need to do something.
• 2:37:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 2:37:30
  Speaker 1: You said, be worth watching.
• 2:37:32
  Speaker 8: Well, you made a really good point when I was
• 2:37:34
  Speaker 8: driving in. So congratulations to you.
• 2:37:36
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 2:37:36
  Speaker 1: That's a first.
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 2:37:37
  Speaker 4: Talk to you later. Just kidding.
• 2:37:41
  Speaker 8: If Ryan Smith didn't luck in to the hockey situation,
• 2:37:47
  Speaker 8: We'd be talking so much about how rough it's been
• 2:37:50
  Speaker 8: since he took over the Jazz. He has not had,
• 2:37:52
  Speaker 8: to this point, the most successful stewardship of this franchise.
• 2:37:57
  Speaker 8: But he brings hockey here, and he gets an absolute
• 2:38:00
  Speaker 8: pat on the back and pass for that. Now, the
• 2:38:03
  Speaker 8: last four years of pain, will it breed to something
• 2:38:06
  Speaker 8: exciting starting now? I think the answer is yes, but
• 2:38:09
  Speaker 8: I'm more focused on what this team looks like as
• 2:38:11
  Speaker 8: Ace and Darren specifically grow into their roles.
• 2:38:16
  Speaker 1: Stay tuned for The Drive. Thanks for listening to the
• 2:38:17
  Speaker 1: Sean O'Connell Show. We'll do it again tomorrow on ESPN
• 2:38:20
  Speaker 1: 700 at 92.1 FM.