Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Dan Sorensen on tomorrow's season opener for the Utes, Will they score more than 32 ppg in this new offense (?) + more

Transcript

Dan Sorensen on tomorrow's season opener for the Utes, Will they score more than 32 ppg in this new offense (?) + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This is my recital. I think it's very vital to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: rock around. That's right. On time. Here we go.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch Chevrolet.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Studio of ESPN 700 at 92.1 FM.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: To rock around, to rock around. That's right. On time.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: It's tricky. It's tricky. I met this little girly.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Her hair was kind of curly. Went to her house
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: and bust her out. I had to leave her early.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show here on ESPN
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: It is a Wagyu Wednesday today, by the way, at
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Southern Steer down in Saratoga Springs. 10% off all Wagyu
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: beef cuts and Wagyu hot dogs at Southern Steer.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Head down there.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: Telemosi sent you at 1705 North. Redwood road, Dan and
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: Aubrey are hooking us up. Maybe we'll grab some wagyu
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: for our next guest. Dan Sorenson from a youth zone Wednesday.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Dan Sorenson.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I live in the dream. Oh, see football here. Like what?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: 24 hours, a little bit more than 24 hours. We
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: can stop speculating and see what's actually happening. Yes. Yes.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Although today we do have to continue speculating for this
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: one last conversation, Dan, because that's all we have.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: That's all we have for now.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean, obviously the anticipation for a kickoff is,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: is ramping up. You've got tailgate parties. Our ESPN 700
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: tailgate party will start at four o'clock. Hope to see
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: you out there. It's going to be a really interesting night.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: I think for Utah football fans to get their, their
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: eyes on the first version of of a true Morgan
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: Scali program.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: This, I mean, we've, we've seen it in spring.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: We've seen a little bit of availability post-practice and things
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: like that. But the first real competition where it is
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: his product last year, he coached a bowl game that
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: was still kind of holdover stuff from the Kyle Whittingham era.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: And we've been talking about it a lot over the
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: last months and weeks, but now, like you said, whatever
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: it is, 24, 30 hours away from kicking this thing off.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: What is it actually going to look like?
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Is it going to be, in your mind, more similar
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: to what we have experienced the last 21 years? Or
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: is there going to be some noticeable differences that jump
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: out even in game one?
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, if people are expecting....
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: Mike Leach style run and shoot.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Kind of air raid or whatever it is that the
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: nomenclature for high velocity passing attack, I don't expect that
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: at all. I think that we're going to see all
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: of the hallmarks that made Utah football great for the
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: last year 40 years. Right.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: So an under Ron McBride, under.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Urban Meyer, under Kyle Whittingham, that the toughness, you know, that,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: you know, Utah is going to, going to hit you hard.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: And there's that fish.
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: Fight in a phone booth mentality, and they're going.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: To want to run the football and play. pass efficiently.
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: I do think they're going.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: To open up the passing game more than what we
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: saw last year, but I don't think it's going to
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: be a flat out air attack. I think that they're
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: going to roll with what's working. They're going to give
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: the ball to their, their playmakers and their stars. The
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: defense is going to be tough nosed.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: And it's going to look really familiar to Utah fans.
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: And frankly, that's the recipe for winning.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: That's what you want. You want your opponent.
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: To be afraid to play you because they're going to
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: be sore into.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Next Wednesday by the time the game is done. You
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: want your opponent to know that they've got a tough
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: task at hand. in terms of what's going to happen
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: in the trenches. And yes, it's an unproven offensive line. Yes,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: it's an unproven defensive line. But I do think that
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: it's going to look pretty familiar, especially against an opponent
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: like Idaho. Look, all due respect, They're an FCS program.
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: I think that they're on an upward trajectory.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: That quarterback is good. The wide receiver that went off
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: against Cal Poly in week zero is really good.
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: But this is a game that Utah.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Should win handily, and they should really show that all
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: of those aspects are still here, still a critical part
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: of the program, and that you've got buy-in from the
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: players in terms of being that way.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: OK, I I've been playing with under over under totals
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: on big picture stuff on points surrendered by this Utah
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: defense and on points per game for.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: The Utah offense. I took five year averages.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: I looked at what is, you know, top five in
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: the conference, top 25 ish in the nation.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: And we'll start with the defense. We asked this question yesterday.
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: 20.5 points per game surrendered for Utah football's defense over
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: under for you on projecting what they should do this year.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: I'm going to say slightly under.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: I think that they're going to be a little bit better.
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: During the offseason, I looked at those defensive numbers, especially
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: the last few games, the K-State game, the Kansas game.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: The Baylor game, where they gave up a lot more.
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: Points than they did everywhere else. Yes, there were injuries,
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: and there were.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Some schematic things that were happening.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: That Utah feels like they've fixed.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: In, in spring and in fall. But that defense, if
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: you took out the Baylor and the K state games,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: that defense was.
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Phenomenal when it comes to scoring defense. And, and so
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: I think that, uh, uh, my I'm, I'm thinking that
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: if I were to guess, I think the defense has
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: got a chance to be a little bit.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Better overall across the board and.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: Across all of the position groups. And I'd say that
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: number can dip slightly, especially given the schedule.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: They're not really... other than maybe Houston, we'll see what
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: they do. Maybe Arizona. We'll see what they do, especially
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: now that they've got their running back back, but I
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: don't see them going up against a lot of big
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: offensive juggernauts that, that should, should scare you. And so
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I think that under on the defense is, is not
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: a bad bet for.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: Of course, I'm happy to change my answer.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: Depending on what we see tomorrow and, of course, next
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Saturday against Arkansas. But right now, the way things stand,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: that's what I pick.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: I feel like a lot of people felt mostly comfortable
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: coming in because, of course, what do we know about
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: Utah football? What do we know about the identity of
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: this program that is still at least partially held over
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: with your former defensive coordinator and defensive player, Now becoming
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: your head coach, you think, all right, there's not going
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: to be a ton of changes there. Now, a tougher
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: one for me is what do we expect from the offense?
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: Because obviously Kevin McGinn was brought in to help keep
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: the momentum or try to replicate what you saw from
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: Utah's offense last year, which was a supreme outlier. from
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: what we have grown accustomed to in Utah.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Football, right?
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: They were the number three power conference scoring offense in
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: all of college football last year. The death taxes in
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: Utah football thing is built around defense, not death taxes
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: in Utah scoring a bunch of points. So I've lopped
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: a bunch off of what you scored last year. And
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: I came up with, it's actually a five-year average because
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: you had a couple of years that were really down
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: in 24 and 23 and You had good years in
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: 21 and 22, obviously. Those were Andy Ludwig offenses. Conveniently, Dan,
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: the five-year scoring average for Utah's offense is 32.5 points
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: per game as the over-under.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: I said it right there.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: 32.5 is exactly top 25 last year. Memphis was the
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: 25th ranked scoring offense in 2025, and they scored 32.5
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: points per game. So over under 32.5 points per game
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: for the Utah offense in 2026.
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm going to pick over just because of my confidence.
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: In Devin Dampier and not only in what he did
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: last year, but also the improvements that we've seen a
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: little bit and heard a lot about that he's made
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: since last year. He's finally fully healthy. Look, I don't
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: see this Utah offense doing what they did last year. 41.3
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: points per game last year. That was fourth in the
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: nation in scoring offense last 482 and some change yards
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: per game and pretty balanced, right? It was like 260
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: some odd rushing yards, just under 220 passing yards per game.
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: We might see those numbers flip, but I do think
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: that they're going.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: To score fewer points, but the 35, 36 points per game,
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: I don't think is unreasonable, especially if you see.
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: A blowout this week and or a blowout against Utah
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: State or one of the earlier Big 12 opponents I
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: don't think that that's an unreasonable expectation I think the
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: offensive line is going to be good enough for this
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: offense to move the ball and.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: And that's what I'm hearing across the board and and
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: and I.
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: Just, I just love the skill positions and I have
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: a high degree of confidence in.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: The starting quarterback and.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: A high degree of confidence in the backup, which is.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: I can't believe, I can't remember a time where I've.
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: Ever felt that way at Utah. So as at least
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: in the 20 plus years.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: I've been covering the program.
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: So yeah, I think they're going to score points and
• 9:45
  Speaker 4: it's just, I don't think they're going to score at
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: the clip that.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: They did last year. And if I'm wrong, look, if
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: they score.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: 41, 42 points per game, this is a playoff team period.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: We haven't... I mean, we've talked about it a lot,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: but we.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: I don't think we've talked enough about the luxury that
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: is bird Ficklin. And I almost don't feel comfortable calling
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: him a backup quarterback because backup quarterbacks are invisible on
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: game day, unless something terrible happens. That's not going to
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: be the case with bird Ficklin. I think we see
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: him as, early in the first quarter against Idaho doing something,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: you know, in a package, or maybe we'll see the
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: two quarterbacks on the field at once kind of a situation.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: Is there a way to properly title somebody who has
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: that role? Because he's not a traditional backup. He's not
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: officially a QB too. He's like a one B or something.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, and look, you, as, as somebody who
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: knows the position well, like, you know, right? Like he's
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: a quarterback and that's kind of all you can call him. Right.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: He, that you're absolutely right. He's, this is a, an
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: unprecedented situation for Utah and, and we are going to.
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: See him where it looks barring injuries and that sort
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: of thing. We're going to see him every game. We're
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: going to see him early in every game. It's not
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: going to.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: Be mop up duty that we're going to see him.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Playing quarterback early.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: And doing some interesting things.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: And so, yeah, I absolutely agree with you there. And
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: it's such a luxury. We saw spectacular play at times
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: last year. I think we're going to see more of that.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: We're going to see him do some creative things. It's
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: going to be a lot of fun. People have compared,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: but there have been other teams in the past that
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: have done the two quarterback system and it's worked well
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: for them. I think the last big FBS one that
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: I can think of is, you know, the Chris league team,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Tim Tebow days back in, in, in Florida back.
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: In the day.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: And, and, and that seemed to work out okay for
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: that team. And I think that we're going to see
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: similar things. They're different players, right? They're, they're both dynamic.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: They both do different things. But I think we're going
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: to see that kind of thing. And it's a luxury,
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: especially because Devin doesn't have to take the pounding that
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: a running quarterback would take. Neither does Bird. And it's
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: going to be a lot of fun to watch. And
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: the fact that they like each other so much, they're
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: close friends, they really play well off of him. off
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: of one another in terms of helping one another to
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: see things that maybe they didn't see. I think that
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Gundy has done some really.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: Interesting things with them in.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: Terms of the development perspective in the offseason, and I'm
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: really excited to see what they both bring to the table.
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: But yeah, we're going to see a lot of Bird,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: and it's going to be a unique thing, and I
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: can't wait to see What they do with it. I
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: think the big critical thing is kind of like what
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: Morgan Scali said in the press conferences, you just can't
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: get too cute with it. Cause that, that won't work.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: So as long as.
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: They can avoid the temptation to do, you know, the
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: ridiculous video games that.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: I want to do with, you know, four quarters. four
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: quarterbacks in there, you know, bird and Devin and, and,
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: and Creed was a quarterback in high school. And of course,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: Nate Johnson was, and then, you know, throw it to
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: semi Talanga after a quadruple reverse. And that's the kind
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: of demented.
• 13:05
  Speaker 4: Thing that I would do as long as they avoid
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: the cute stuff. I think they're going to be amazing.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: You and I, I guess there's a good reason why
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: we are not coordinating offenses at this high level, because
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: That's where my mind goes also. How many QBs can
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: we get on there with the maximum number of rhinos
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: in order to make it just impossible to game plan for?
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Let's go. Yeah, and that's just it, right? You're absolutely right.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: It's funny to me, the embarrassment of riches and of
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: weird talent that.
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: This team has. And it is weird talent.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Semi Talanga is an outlier. Motua Puaka is an outlier.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: And the fact that you've got these two quarterbacks, you've
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: got these speed guys, you've got guys like Bray, you've
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: got guys like Weishan. There are so many... There are
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: so many options. It's almost like an embarrassment of choice.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: And even that, like, I don't even know how you
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: deal with that and share the ball with everybody that
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: deserves it. And this is going to have to be
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: a generous team to one another, I think, to keep
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: everybody happy. But look, winning is a lot of fun.
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: And so if they can do that and they can
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: win football games in the process, I think that it'll
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: be easier for these guys to share the ball, even
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: when weird stuff is happening.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: Dan Sorensen is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell Show.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: It's a Ute Zone Wednesday. We check in with our
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: friends from Ute Zone every single Wednesday. All right, so
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: some people say when you have two quarterbacks, you don't
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: have one. We're not worried about that with Utah this
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: year because you got two really awesome quarterbacks. And QB1,
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: we expect to be even better than he was last year. Now,
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: if you don't have five quarterbacks, starters named on the
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: offensive line before week one. And your offensive line coach says, Hey,
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: we got 10 guys we could use. And maybe we
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: see you actually use 10 guys in game one. Is
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: that a good thing or a bad thing? Because, you know, we, we,
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: we go into most years with Utah football being like, Hey,
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: who's going to be your starting left guard or your
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: starting right tackle. We have a good sense of who
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: is going to take the first snaps, I think, on
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: this offensive line, but we have been told by players,
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: by coaches, that there is going to be some rotation
• 15:20
  Speaker 3: here early in the season.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: How do you feel about that? How should we feel
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: about that?
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I get why people might be a little
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: bit concerned by that, and it gives them pause. I
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: am far less concerned, and it might just be because
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: I'm the eternal optimist, and I'll own that. I'm okay
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: with that. There are a couple of things, though. I
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: think if you're rotating guys... in series two and series three,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: that might be an issue. And, and look, people need
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: to remember.
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: Utah rotated the offensive line a lot last year as well.
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: We saw, we saw a lot of toe emoji. I,
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: and yes, he played tight end snaps, but he didn't
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: just play tight end snaps. Uh, we saw a lot
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: of Keith Olson, you know, that there are appropriate times
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: where you want to give a guy a spell or
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: get a look at a guy, uh, even with the
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: other starters.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: And so I do.
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: Think that, uh, the context is.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Going to matter a lot about how that happens. And
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: for me, when, when I look at the offensive line, look,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: the guys that I expect to start, you know, zero
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: way Williams at left tackle, uh, uh, toe M O
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: E I at left guard, Al Harrison at center, uh, and,
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: and Keith Olson at right guard, and then probably said Jefferson,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: the transfer from Montana state at right tackle. And I
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: think that that has a chance to be a pretty
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: solid offensive line. And one of the things that told
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: me a couple of weeks ago, and I.
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: Think that it, it bears repeating is that so much
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: of offensive.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: Line play is about chemistry. It's about communicating with one another.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: It's about knowing the guy next to you, knowing what
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: they're going to do, being able to, to, to move
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: without thinking and react to the game as, as these, these,
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: you know, multiple car crashes are happening and the chaos
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: that happens once the ball is snapped. And Tola said,
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: you know, one thing that people need to remember is
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: that the big Z and me and Al and Keith
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: have been the number twos at Utah for the last
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: two or three years. So we've taken every single second
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: team rep together. We've played a lot together on the
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: line and against a pretty good team. defensive line, you know,
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: going against the youth. So I think that there's already,
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: even though you're replacing all five offensive line starters, there's
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: already a lot of chemistry that's happening. We've heard a
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: good things about said Jefferson, when you see the rotation
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: and when they talk about.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: The rotation, I think the big guys that they're talking.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: About are certainly Kelvin Oba five-star guy showed up ready
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: to play. I think on a lot of different teams
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: that he would have had a He would have been
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: an immediate freshman starter.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: And look, there's only been one true freshman starter at
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: the University of Utah, and he's currently the starting left
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: tackle for the Cleveland Browns.
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: So it's not a bad thing that Obat may or
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: may not start on this line, but I think we're
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: going to see plenty of him, and I think we're
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: going to see plenty of Ike Garcia, so that they
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: can get a look at what those guys look like.
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: at in, in live reps.
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: But I do think that that five that I mentioned
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: initially is going to be the main five.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: We'll see some.
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: Rotation there, of course, hoping to, you know, have this
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: be a blowout, be able to send in as many
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: guys as they, as they can, so they can get
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: a guy like a Reese Parmenter or a, or an
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: Isaiah Kema in and get him reps as well, because
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: that not only helps the depth of the line now,
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: but building into the future and, and, And look, Harding
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: used to talk about having 10 guys that they feel
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: comfortable with, and that was the goal to get there.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: And so I'm not surprised that that's what Gross said.
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that that's not right or that
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: he was sandbagging or anything like that either.
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: But I don't, I'm personally not too concerned.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: About what that rotation may not look like, especially.
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: Because I think those.
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: Five are going to be the main guys. And unless
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: Ike Garcia.
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: Comes out and lights something on fire.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Or Oh, but the light bulb really goes on where
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: they just can't keep them off the field. I'm pretty
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: comfortable with what that five looks like.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: Cal Poly put up about 500 yards of offense on
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: this Idaho team and came from behind to win 38, 34.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: What does this game actually look like tomorrow night? What's
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: the score?
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's going to be pretty similar to the.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: Utah Cal Poly game last year. And, and both Idaho
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: and Cal Poly are expected, expected to be kind of
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: middle of the road, big sky teams. And so I, I, and,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: and look, I, and this Idaho team, yeah, they, they
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: gave up a lot of yards and I really liked
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: that Cal Poly quarterback. I liked him when at, at
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: college of San Mateo and Juco.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: And he played a little bit last year against Utah and.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: Did okay for none of those quarterbacks.
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: Really lit the world on fire against Utah last year.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: But I do think that with.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: Idaho playing back-to-back road games, they're on a short week.
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: They're playing dramatically better competition and bigger and stronger and
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: faster competition. We're going to see a pretty similar thing
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: to what we saw last year against Cal Poly. I
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: do think that this is going to be a high
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: scoring game for the Utes. I would not be surprised
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: if they hung 50 or more on, on this defense. I, I,
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: I just published my, my hashtag team.
• 20:29
  Speaker 4: Fund guide to enjoying the game.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: And one of the things I talked about in that
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: story was, was the fact that looking at the yardage
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: that Cal Poly put up this wide receiver crew at
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: Utah has just got to be just chomping at the
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: bit to get out on the field against the secondary.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: I don't play a lot of zone. I think that
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: there are a lot of guys that are good at
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: finding holes in the zone and dev is especially good
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: at attacking it. And so it, this team is going
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: to put up yards. They're going to put up points.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: And the bigger question is how well does the defense
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: do against a quarterback that I feel is capable. And
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: they've got a couple of skill guys that, that, that
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: can do some things. And, and you know, if, if,
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: if they come out and, and, and can shut down
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: the Idaho offense so that the Vandals aren't doing anything
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: to move the football, I'm going to feel pretty good
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: about what's going to happen over the next two or
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: three weeks as well.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: We're almost there, Dan. Almost there.
• 21:25
  Speaker 3: For the folks that have been procrastinating and have not
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: yet subscribed, what specials do you have going.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: On at Ute Zone?
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Oh, man. So we've been doing this 75% off an
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: annual subscription for your first year at Youth Zone for
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: the last month. It's going to continue. I'm blown away
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: by the response. So it's like $ 30 to come be
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: a part of this community.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: And I think it's really important that people understand Youth Zone,
• 21:49
  Speaker 4: we are here.
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: To make everybody's experience as a fan better. So the
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: community is awesome. It's what it's there for.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: We're doing some special things to.
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: Help people have a lot more fun, to be more knowledgeable.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: You don't get the trolls like you do on X or.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: or other places, and it's just a place for great conversation.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: You get some great knowledge. Sammy and the rest of
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: the team, they're incredible at the stuff that they're digging up. But, yeah,
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: $ 30 for your whole year, it's worth coming. We're the
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: largest community online. Look, if you're a diehard youth fan,
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: there's no reason to not be there, and we just
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: might surprise you.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: You giving us some time again today, sir.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: We'll see you for having me on.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, it's our long national nightmares is finally over.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: I can't wait. Can't wait to see on the, at
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: the stadium tomorrow and, and, and see everybody else.
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: The fans look, you fans are amazing. My they're so passionate.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: They're awesome. It's going to be a fun year. And
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: I just, it's, The world is right again because everybody's
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: going to be packed in that place. Hear, hear.
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: That is Dan Sorensen from Ute Zone. If you see
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: him up there at Rice Eccles, say hello.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: I will do that. Dan, see you tomorrow night.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: See you. Thanks, man.