Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Sammy Mora on biggest surprises for the Utes and Big 12 so far, Previewing Big 12 opener Saturday at Iowa St + more

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Sammy Mora on biggest surprises for the Utes and Big 12 so far, Previewing Big 12 opener Saturday at Iowa St + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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Speaker 1: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch Chevrolet.
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Speaker 2: Studio of ESPN 700 at 92.1 FM. Welcome back to
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Speaker 2: the Sean O'Connell Show. Welcome in on a Ute Zone Wednesday.
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Speaker 1: Sammy Mora, managing editor over at Ute Zone, UteZone.com. Follow
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Speaker 1: Sammy on Twitter at S underscore Mora on three.
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Speaker 2: Sammy, welcome back to the show. How are you?
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Speaker 3: I'm doing great. Sean, how are you?
0:35
Speaker 2: I'm awesome.
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Speaker 1: Had a fun day up there at Rice Eccles Stadium
0:40
Speaker 1: on Saturday. 33-0 victory for the Utes over Utah State.
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Speaker 1: I think we learned a couple of things about this
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Speaker 1: team again as we head into Big 12 play. What
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Speaker 1: was your biggest takeaway from the blanking.
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Speaker 2: Of the Aggies?
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Speaker 3: I think just the defensive performance is something that really
1:00
Speaker 3: stood out to me, especially the play of rabbit Evans
1:03
Speaker 3: and Nate Richie. The two of them were playing at
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Speaker 3: such an insanely high level on Saturday. It was, it
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Speaker 3: was really impressive. I know that Utah State's offensive line
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Speaker 3: is not something to write home about. There's a lot
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Speaker 3: that's left to be desired on that line. But Utah
1:18
Speaker 3: did a really great job at stopping the run, getting pressure.
1:22
Speaker 3: I know they didn't come away with many sacks, but
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Speaker 3: they got pressure. And that's something that Morgan has talked
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Speaker 3: a lot about. He would rather see the pressures and
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Speaker 3: QB hits than total sacks. So defensively, I think we
1:34
Speaker 3: learned a little bit more about this team than we
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Speaker 3: did offensively. I think we all know that things kind
1:40
Speaker 3: of got a little bit vanilla, a little bit tight
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Speaker 3: in the second half. And so there's still slight questions
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Speaker 3: with the offense, in my opinion, but overall, I think
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Speaker 3: if I gained a lot more confidence in the defense
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Speaker 3: after last weekend.
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Speaker 1: So let's talk about like some of that offensive questioning here,
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Speaker 1: because it was a hot start, right?
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Speaker 2: What was it? 26 points in the first half.
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Speaker 1: And then you, you saw it kind of bogged down
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Speaker 1: a little bit and you, Part of that was the
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Speaker 1: run game for me. I knew that Utah State was
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Speaker 1: going to be solid against the run. I thought that
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Speaker 1: it was important that Utah established their ability to run
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Speaker 1: between the tackles, to push guys off their spot, things
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Speaker 1: like that. And you broke a couple of big ones.
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Speaker 1: One came back on a penalty. Broke a couple of
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Speaker 1: big ones that helped improve the average to 5.3 yards
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Speaker 1: per carry or so in this game. But there were
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Speaker 1: a lot of two- and three-yard runs as well, as
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Speaker 1: I know you're aware, Sammy.
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Speaker 3: So....
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Speaker 1: Do you attribute that to the offensive line combinations being
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Speaker 1: switched up a lack of physicality? Is there something that
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Speaker 1: you could point to that we could point to and
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Speaker 1: say that has to improve before the big 12 play?
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Speaker 3: I think part of it Morgan addressed is that there
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Speaker 3: was some errors with IDing just defensive run fit, like
3:00
Speaker 3: run gaps and what Utah State was doing. We knew
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Speaker 3: that Bronco was going to sell out for the run.
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Speaker 3: That's what his defenses do. He has a really good
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Speaker 3: front seven. That front seven of Utah State is very solid.
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Speaker 3: It's probably, in my opinion, that front seven is probably
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Speaker 3: the best thing that Utah State has overall heading into
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Speaker 3: their stretch of Pac-12 play. But Run fits is the
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Speaker 3: big thing. I'm trying to give this offensive line grace
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Speaker 3: to a certain extent because we still haven't seen Keith
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Speaker 3: Olsen out there with the ones. And I truly believe
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Speaker 3: that Keith Olsen is one of the best guards probably
3:37
Speaker 3: in the big 12. And I think that once you
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Speaker 3: get him out there, it just adds to this line
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Speaker 3: as a whole. I've been really impressed with what Cedric
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Speaker 3: Jefferson and Zaraway Williams have done at both the tackle spots.
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Speaker 3: Toa Moeai is Toa Moeai. We know what to expect
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Speaker 3: from him. And Alex Harrison took a step forward. So
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Speaker 3: I think it's mainly run. It was like misidentifications and
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Speaker 3: run game. Um, I'm not like, if that is something
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Speaker 3: that continues, I think that, yeah, it's something that is
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Speaker 3: a big issue, but Utah was still able to move
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Speaker 3: the ball. You had like 286 passing yards from Devin
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Speaker 3: and bird combined 194 rushing yards. And like you said,
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Speaker 3: if way Sean's doesn't get taken back, you're pushing 200,
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Speaker 3: you're over 200 rushing yards on the night as well.
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Speaker 3: So I think that the thing it's there, I think
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Speaker 3: we just need to, uh, I'm still going to be
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Speaker 3: a little bit cautious, especially until we can get Keith
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Speaker 3: out there. Once Keith gets out there, if things still
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Speaker 3: look this way, then yeah, we might have an issue.
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Speaker 3: But as of right now, I'm not like slamming the
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Speaker 3: panic button.
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Speaker 2: Way. Sean Parker was not featured in the offense this week.
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Speaker 1: And I know that, you know, a lot of us
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Speaker 1: have kind of like projected our own desires for this
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Speaker 1: offense onto what Kevin McGiven is able to do. And
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Speaker 1: you can't complain when you win. And when it's 33
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Speaker 1: to zero, but way Sean Parker getting, you know, 12
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Speaker 1: or 15 touches in a game feels like under utilization.
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Speaker 1: And maybe that's okay against a team like Utah state.
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Speaker 1: Do we need more of way? Sean, do we get
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Speaker 1: more of way? Sean against Iowa state?
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Speaker 3: I think we do need more way, Sean, but at
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Speaker 3: to a certain extent, I think it kind of goes
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Speaker 3: back to everything. Like the offense was working. It's not
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Speaker 3: like it felt very different than, than previous years, because
5:21
Speaker 3: it felt like in previous years, if way Sean wasn't
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Speaker 3: getting the run, like under Kyle Whittingham, they would continue
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Speaker 3: to just try and force it and like force it
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Speaker 3: until it worked. Where McGiven tried it a couple of times,
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Speaker 3: it didn't work and he went somewhere else and it worked.
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Speaker 3: And so I think that shows just McGiven's ability to
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Speaker 3: adapt to what is being shown and what's being thrown
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Speaker 3: at his offense. I think we should see more of Wayshawn.
5:46
Speaker 3: I expect we'll see more of Wayshawn going forward. I
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Speaker 3: just think that this was probably one of those weird
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Speaker 3: one-off games where McGiven wasn't trying to force something that
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Speaker 3: wasn't there. And I know that it pissed a lot
5:57
Speaker 3: of Utah fans off that Wayshawn wasn't, you know, having
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Speaker 3: 150 rushing yards or whatever, but they still won the game.
6:05
Speaker 3: plays were made on, on the offensive side of the ball.
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Speaker 3: You know, Utah already has 200 yard receivers and looking at,
6:10
Speaker 3: you know, historically Utah had 200 yard receivers all of
6:14
Speaker 3: last year combined. And one of them was, was during
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Speaker 3: the bowl game. So I don't even want to categorize
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Speaker 3: that as, you know, Whittingham led team at that point. But,
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Speaker 3: I'm not concerned. It's kind of like, I'm not concerned
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Speaker 3: with the offensive line. Like way Sean will get his,
6:28
Speaker 3: he's going to have a big game. I think we're
6:31
Speaker 3: all just kind of waiting for it, but you know,
6:34
Speaker 3: as long as the offense was moving down the field
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Speaker 3: and scoring, I don't really think it's a big issue
6:39
Speaker 3: that way Sean didn't have, you know, another six touchdown
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Speaker 3: game or whatever.
6:42
Speaker 1: Is it time for us to have a bigger conversation
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Speaker 1: about Cyrus Polo and the role that he's emerging into?
6:51
Speaker 1: in this season. The kid is an absolute freak. He's
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Speaker 1: an adept blitzer. He is a big time hitter. And
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Speaker 1: I feel like maybe we're going to get more and
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Speaker 1: more Cyrus Polo, whether it's for the specialties of, you know,
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Speaker 1: blitzing or whether it's just every down linebacker play. I
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Speaker 1: feel like the kid is really earning a spot here
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Speaker 1: in Colton Swan's defense.
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Speaker 3: I personally have been very high on Cyrus going back to,
7:19
Speaker 3: you know, I want to say around this time last
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Speaker 3: year in special teams because there was a couple times
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Speaker 3: on special teams where he would just, like, destroy somebody
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Speaker 3: on punt coverage or kickoff coverage. I believe that this
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Speaker 3: kid has the potential to be a star for a
7:35
Speaker 3: long time. I'm glad we're finally seeing it. I think
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Speaker 3: that he... is such like, obviously there's areas of his game.
7:43
Speaker 3: He still needs to improve on. He's only a true sophomore.
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Speaker 3: Like he has a few years to go, but from
7:49
Speaker 3: a sheer standpoint right now, I'm very impressed with what
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Speaker 3: he does. I think he has. Like, I know everyone...
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Speaker 3: Jono has NFL potential. Trey is showing he has NFL
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Speaker 3: potential as well. I, honest to God, think Cyrus has
8:01
Speaker 3: a higher ceiling than Jono. And I think Jono is
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Speaker 3: probably the best linebacker in this room right now. But
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Speaker 3: I love what Trey does. And, like, it's fun because
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Speaker 3: they're not just sending him on blitz. It's not like
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Speaker 3: teams know that as soon as Cyrus comes in that
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Speaker 3: they're going to blitz.
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Speaker 2: Like.
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Speaker 3: He has a high blitz rate this season, but he's
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Speaker 3: also been dropping into coverage. He's been out there in
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Speaker 3: run situations. So I'm impressed with what he's doing, and
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Speaker 3: I wouldn't be shocked to see his role kind of
8:26
Speaker 3: continue to expand. And maybe he ends up being that
8:29
Speaker 3: linebacker three, and he kind of takes that role from
8:32
Speaker 3: Elijah Ellis. I think the future is extremely bright with
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Speaker 3: Paul and Ellis back there in that linebacker room.
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Speaker 1: I was going to mention Elijah Ellis as well. We've
8:39
Speaker 1: seen him, you know, and I guess we should grow
8:41
Speaker 1: to expect this. He's got three older brothers who are
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Speaker 1: starters in the NFL. So anything less than contribution would
8:48
Speaker 1: be somewhat disappointing, I suppose. But, you know, he's playing
8:52
Speaker 1: in the brace right now and still finding ways to
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Speaker 1: be productive in this defense. And look, Trey had a
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Speaker 1: beautiful game and John was a little bit quieter on
9:00
Speaker 1: the stat sheet, but I think played well as well here.
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Speaker 1: Is this kind of like a true four linebacker rotation
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Speaker 1: regardless of the opponent? Are we going to see these
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Speaker 1: guys even when it really, really matters?
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Speaker 3: I think so. I mean, Scooby Davis told us, I
9:16
Speaker 3: want to say it was last week during his little
9:18
Speaker 3: media scrub and that we're seeing that they're using a
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Speaker 3: lot more NASCAR packages, meaning, you know, three linebackers out there.
9:24
Speaker 3: And I think that not only like, represents Colton as
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Speaker 3: a coach, because we know that these linebackers like that,
9:32
Speaker 3: that this is, he's recruited almost every single one of
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Speaker 3: these linebackers into the program. He actually has recruited all
9:37
Speaker 3: of them. Now that I actually like think, um, So
9:39
Speaker 3: he knows what all of these guys' potential is, and
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Speaker 3: he knows what they can do, and he knows how
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Speaker 3: they can help impact this team. It's kind of like
9:46
Speaker 3: how you're seeing more of those three safety looks. Even
9:49
Speaker 3: though Benny's been playing a lot of nickel, you still
9:51
Speaker 3: are technically having three safeties out there with him, Richie,
9:54
Speaker 3: and Rabbit. And so I think it's just adapting to
9:57
Speaker 3: the personnel, kind of like what we're seeing on the offense.
10:00
Speaker 3: of putting the best 11 out there. We're seeing the
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Speaker 3: best 11 out there on defense as well. I personally,
10:06
Speaker 3: I like it. There's some different packages, some different personnel,
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Speaker 3: some different things we've seen already this season that has
10:14
Speaker 3: been a lot different than years past. I keep coming
10:17
Speaker 3: back to that package that they ran versus Idaho where
10:20
Speaker 3: they moved Lance Holtzclaw and Ethan Day to the interior
10:24
Speaker 3: of the defensive line, and they put Ellis and Paul
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Speaker 3: on the edge, and they sent them on blitzes. And
10:30
Speaker 3: that blitz from Cyrus led to Trey's interception. So the
10:34
Speaker 3: versatility that's in this defense is something that people don't
10:38
Speaker 3: talk about. They're always talking about the versatility of the offense,
10:41
Speaker 3: but the versatility of the defense is really there. And
10:43
Speaker 3: those four linebackers are a big part of it. You're
10:45
Speaker 3: seeing them drop into coverage a lot more, run defense,
10:48
Speaker 3: all sorts of things. And it's really encouraging, and it's
10:50
Speaker 3: fun to watch, honestly.
10:52
Speaker 1: We saw a little bit more Lucas Samsula actually had
10:55
Speaker 1: a nice little flash in this game, and I bring
10:59
Speaker 1: him up because I think that we still need a
11:01
Speaker 1: little bit more depth of the rotation at the defensive
11:03
Speaker 1: tackle spot. We've seen, obviously, great things from Jaimo and
11:07
Speaker 1: from Carson Kalfusi, but it can't just be those two, right?
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Speaker 1: The nature of that position means that you have to
11:13
Speaker 1: have three, four, five, maybe six guys, if you're lucky,
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Speaker 1: that you can rely on. And, yeah, there's always going
11:19
Speaker 1: to be your headliners, and I think we know who
11:21
Speaker 1: those people are but is Sam Sula showing this coaching
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Speaker 1: staff that maybe he can be trusted a little bit
11:28
Speaker 1: more and given more time and more reps on game day.
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Speaker 3: I honestly think he is like his reps have steadily
11:35
Speaker 3: increased over the last three weeks. And I did a
11:37
Speaker 3: PFF like grades breakdown earlier in the week. And I
11:40
Speaker 3: know PFF grades are not the end all be all,
11:42
Speaker 3: but they at least tell a little bit of the story.
11:44
Speaker 3: Like he had a run defense grade of 62.4, which
11:48
Speaker 3: was higher than Carson. Actually, it was five less reps,
11:51
Speaker 3: but he was successful on the five reps that he
11:54
Speaker 3: was in there. And If you can get Lucas out
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Speaker 3: there in specifically run defense situations, I think that's a
12:03
Speaker 3: great place for him to be, and I think that's
12:04
Speaker 3: a great role for.
12:05
Speaker 2: Him to be.
12:06
Speaker 3: He's not going to be someone who's going to get
12:07
Speaker 3: up field very quickly. He's a big guy, big guy.
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Speaker 3: But back in, I think it was in spring, he
12:13
Speaker 3: said that he prides himself on stopping the run. That's
12:16
Speaker 3: what he wants to do. That's what he wants to
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Speaker 3: make his money on. So if he can show that
12:19
Speaker 3: he is... highly effective in those run stuff situations, he's
12:24
Speaker 3: going to get more time on the field. I honestly
12:26
Speaker 3: was a little bit shocked that you saw Mike Cacioli
12:29
Speaker 3: playing a lot more in the first two games than
12:31
Speaker 3: you saw Lucas. And I think a lot of it
12:33
Speaker 3: is situational. I think they're trying to keep guys, the
12:37
Speaker 3: load management's been a big thing for Morgan and he's
12:39
Speaker 3: talking about how to handle that so that guys stay
12:42
Speaker 3: healthy for longer. So it's interesting to see how that's evolving.
12:46
Speaker 3: I think the defensive tackle rotation is growing. Whereas the
12:50
Speaker 3: defensive end rotation is shrinking. Like we're really starting to
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Speaker 3: see that like the four guys that have the most
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Speaker 3: trust in the staff are Holtzclaw, Day, dylan and fitzgerald
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Speaker 3: like you're not seeing many reps go out outside of
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Speaker 3: those four so i'm okay with it i'm excited to
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Speaker 3: see how lucas continues to settle in because i think
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Speaker 3: he has the potential to be a really really high
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Speaker 3: level defensive tackle it's just a matter of him just
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Speaker 3: getting his feet underneath him and getting you know back
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Speaker 3: up to that that pace of speed and of the game.
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Speaker 1: Sammy Mora is our guest here on a Ute Zone Wednesday,
13:23
Speaker 1: talking all things Utah football. First road game of the
13:26
Speaker 1: season coming this weekend in Ames, Iowa. It's a day game.
13:31
Speaker 1: It's supposed to be maybe potentially rainy. Last I looked,
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Speaker 1: it was 75% chance of rain in Ames. And look,
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Speaker 1: this is an Iowa State team that, like everyone else,
13:41
Speaker 1: is still feeling out the process of a 2026 season.
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Speaker 2: They had a hard-fought game against a ranked Iowa squad.
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Speaker 1: They're coming off a massive win against Bowling Green, and
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Speaker 1: I don't think that tells you much.
13:52
Speaker 2: They also beat Southeast Missouri.
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Speaker 1: And so, you know, it's like a quality of opponent thing.
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Speaker 1: They have an advantage here. They have faced a ranked team.
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Speaker 1: They faced a tough team. They came away with a loss,
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Speaker 1: but it was a very close loss. What is Utah
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Speaker 1: walking into in Ames?
14:08
Speaker 3: I think when you go back to that Iowa game,
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Speaker 3: I think the CyHawk game is very similar to the
14:14
Speaker 3: Holy War. No matter where a team is ranked or
14:18
Speaker 3: what their record is, that's going to be one of
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Speaker 3: those low-scoring games that whoever wins only wins by three
14:25
Speaker 3: or less, I think. You're walking into a physical team.
14:30
Speaker 3: That's what Iowa State is. It's Midwest football. Aiden Flora,
14:36
Speaker 3: they're running back. I think he accounted for over 250
14:39
Speaker 3: all-purpose yards last week versus Bowling Green, which again, not
14:44
Speaker 3: a great level of competition, but still, you kind of
14:48
Speaker 3: have to acknowledge that that was a big game for him.
14:52
Speaker 3: Jalen Raynor, their quarterback, a dual-threat guy, but He has
14:56
Speaker 3: had some accuracy issues so far this season, so it's
14:59
Speaker 3: going to be interesting to see how much pressure Colton
15:02
Speaker 3: Swan brings and if they can get him off schedule,
15:06
Speaker 3: what it can lead to. If you can get him
15:09
Speaker 3: into these situations where they can't just run the ball,
15:11
Speaker 3: where they force him to throw it, can the Utah
15:14
Speaker 3: secondary or even linebackers to that extent make some plays
15:17
Speaker 3: and force some turnovers? Defensively, I... I'm still doing my
15:22
Speaker 3: defensive dive on Iowa state just to be completely transparent
15:26
Speaker 3: with you. But from what I've seen, like they're, they're
15:28
Speaker 3: a solid defense, obviously big upfront. They're going to try
15:32
Speaker 3: and stuff the run. So if the offensive line can
15:35
Speaker 3: actually get some push this week, we'll actually know if
15:38
Speaker 3: this offensive line is good and run protection. We know
15:41
Speaker 3: they're good in path blocking. You know, you limit back
15:44
Speaker 3: to that Arkansas game. You limit an NFL draft pick
15:47
Speaker 3: to just one pressure and one sack in that entire game.
15:49
Speaker 3: Like that's, That's pretty impressive for this group, but... I'm
15:54
Speaker 3: interested to see how this game goes because Utah has
15:57
Speaker 3: been in a situation before where it's been like a
15:59
Speaker 3: rainy condition. That West Virginia game last year was kind
16:02
Speaker 3: of same projection. And yeah, Utah ran the ball majority
16:06
Speaker 3: of the time, but they also, there was a couple
16:08
Speaker 3: of times where they, where they aired it out. So
16:09
Speaker 3: it's going to be interesting to see what given, you know,
16:12
Speaker 3: game plan is in this situation, because on one hand
16:15
Speaker 3: I can see them just trying to run and get
16:17
Speaker 3: guys in space and do that. But also I wouldn't
16:20
Speaker 3: be shocked if, if it's not windy, if it's not
16:22
Speaker 3: too bad, just see if they can air it out
16:24
Speaker 3: a little bit and take advantage of Iowa state, maybe
16:27
Speaker 3: selling out for the run because they think of it.
16:29
Speaker 3: I think it's going to be that way because of
16:30
Speaker 3: the conditions.
16:30
Speaker 1: Who's the most surprising team in the big 12 right now.
16:35
Speaker 1: I know we're focused mostly on the Utes. I'm not
16:37
Speaker 1: surprised that the Utes are sitting at three at all.
16:40
Speaker 1: I'm mildly surprised. At least the Kansas state is more
16:44
Speaker 1: so that West Virginia is Cincinnati. I didn't have high
16:49
Speaker 1: expectations for, Who's the most surprising team on, I guess
16:53
Speaker 1: the positive or the negative side of things.
16:56
Speaker 3: I think positive, I would say probably Kansas State or
17:00
Speaker 3: West Virginia. I didn't have, especially West Virginia, I didn't
17:04
Speaker 3: have high expectations for them this year. Rich Rod continues to,
17:08
Speaker 3: I think, have like 80-plus transfers out, 80-plus transfers in
17:13
Speaker 3: his second year. So there wasn't a lot of roster
17:15
Speaker 3: continuity from last year to this year. So West Virginia
17:18
Speaker 3: is one of those ones. But I honestly, I've said
17:20
Speaker 3: it a couple of times, I think that Kansas State
17:23
Speaker 3: is going to be one of those games let's look
17:24
Speaker 3: back upon as, Wow, thank gosh Utah missed them. I
17:27
Speaker 3: think that's something that's very... They look good. I don't
17:31
Speaker 3: know if Avery Johnson, if it's just who they played non-con,
17:36
Speaker 3: but I think that if anyone was going to get
17:38
Speaker 3: Avery Johnson to play at a high level, I think
17:40
Speaker 3: it was going to be Colin Klein. He knows what
17:42
Speaker 3: it takes to be a quarterback at Kansas State. He
17:45
Speaker 3: knows what it takes to be an elite guy. And
17:47
Speaker 3: so I'm interested to see how Kansas State continues to develop. Negatively...
17:53
Speaker 3: I kind of want to say Arizona, there were some
17:58
Speaker 3: things that popped up in their game versus BYU that
18:01
Speaker 3: kind of gave me a little bit of pause. TCU
18:06
Speaker 3: is one that I haven't been high on since they
18:08
Speaker 3: played in Ireland, and they really haven't done anything to
18:11
Speaker 3: gain my confidence back yet. Um, and then Houston TCU
18:15
Speaker 3: both look very beatable. Like, I think as of right now,
18:19
Speaker 3: there's no team in this conference. I think that's like
18:22
Speaker 3: a hundred percent perfect and that there's no glaring deficiencies
18:27
Speaker 3: with that team. Um, but that's kind of where I'm at.
18:30
Speaker 3: Obviously we've only had like what two conference games. You had,
18:33
Speaker 3: you had BYU Arizona and you had Texas tech Houston.
18:36
Speaker 3: So a lot still left to be learned. But as
18:39
Speaker 3: of right now, like those are the, it's, it feels
18:41
Speaker 3: like it's, kind of a wide-open conference right now.
18:46
Speaker 1: What's the most interesting game this weekend? BYU's on a bye.
18:50
Speaker 1: Texas Tech has Sam Houston, so on that one. Colorado Baylor,
18:56
Speaker 1: TCU UCF, Houston, Georgia Southern, another stinker I would expect.
19:01
Speaker 1: Kansas State, Cincinnati, surprise 3-0 teams. Oklahoma State, West Virginia,
19:06
Speaker 1: obviously the Cowboys with the big upset over Oregon, and
19:09
Speaker 1: they're at 2-1 right now. And then Arizona's got Washington state.
19:13
Speaker 1: So of course it's Utah first, but what other game
19:18
Speaker 1: captures your attention most?
19:21
Speaker 3: Probably the Oklahoma state West Virginia game. I honestly don't
19:27
Speaker 3: think Cincinnati, like Cincinnati, that they, that Miami of Ohio game,
19:31
Speaker 3: like wolf, that game was rough. They only won by
19:36
Speaker 3: four in a game that I think they were favored
19:37
Speaker 3: by like 14 in. I don't believe that Cincinnati is
19:42
Speaker 3: going to win many games in conference. It feels like
19:46
Speaker 3: a team that... lost all of their identity from last year.
19:52
Speaker 3: But again, that's just my projection based on three games.
19:55
Speaker 3: I have the right to change that opinion once I
19:57
Speaker 3: see them play against conference opponents. But that Oklahoma State
20:01
Speaker 3: game versus West Virginia is something that I'm really intrigued about. Obviously,
20:05
Speaker 3: Oklahoma State beat Oregon, but then lost to Tulsa last
20:08
Speaker 3: And then you have West Virginia that came from behind
20:11
Speaker 3: and beat Virginia. So I'm interested to see how those
20:14
Speaker 3: two teams stack up. I still have questions about both
20:17
Speaker 3: of them. Like I previously said, I think that it's
20:19
Speaker 3: going to be interesting to see how they play against
20:22
Speaker 3: each other. And if one of them has to be fraudulent,
20:26
Speaker 3: in my opinion, and I just don't know which one
20:27
Speaker 3: is right now. And so it's going to be interesting
20:29
Speaker 3: to see how that game shakes out. The rest of
20:31
Speaker 3: the conference late this week, it's kind of bleh. Not
20:34
Speaker 3: going to lie. It's not the greatest.
20:37
Speaker 1: We have five ranked versus ranked games, I think it is,
20:40
Speaker 1: on the overall slate this weekend. And so if you
20:43
Speaker 1: look outside the confines of the conference, and it's Texas, Tennessee.
20:48
Speaker 2: You've got Notre Dame's playing Purdue. That one doesn't count.
20:52
Speaker 1: Ole Miss, Florida, Iowa versus Michigan. Any of those games
20:57
Speaker 1: really jumping out for you?
20:59
Speaker 3: Ole Miss, Florida is kind of intriguing because I.
21:03
Speaker 1: Don't know if.
21:05
Speaker 3: Florida is as good as I think they are. Like, again,
21:09
Speaker 3: they played Auburn. They beat Auburn. It was a good game.
21:12
Speaker 3: I just, I want to see how they stack up
21:15
Speaker 3: versus a team that doesn't have a lot of, like...
21:19
Speaker 3: another first, not another first year, like, well, Golding's a
21:21
Speaker 3: first year head coach, but he maintained majority of his
21:23
Speaker 3: roster kind of like Morgan did to a certain extent.
21:27
Speaker 3: So I want to see how Ole Miss and Florida,
21:29
Speaker 3: how that game goes. And then obviously like Iowa, Michigan
21:32
Speaker 3: is also one that's kind of interesting because it feels
21:35
Speaker 3: like it has the making of like a, like a true, like,
21:39
Speaker 3: you know, those, like those Utah games where it would
21:41
Speaker 3: be like 10 to 10 to nine or 10 to 13. Like,
21:45
Speaker 3: it feels like it's going to be that direction, but,
21:47
Speaker 3: I don't have trust in either of those quarterbacks. I
21:51
Speaker 3: just think it's going to be a low scoring game.
21:53
Speaker 3: I'm interested to see how it plays out because I,
21:57
Speaker 3: I still have a lot of questions about Michigan's offense
21:59
Speaker 3: as well, but we'll have to see how that one
22:00
Speaker 3: shakes out.
22:03
Speaker 1: Speaker 2, Sammy. I always appreciate your time and your insight.
22:05
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us on a youth zone Wednesday.
22:08
Speaker 3: Thanks Sean. Thanks for having me.
22:10
Speaker 1: That's Sammy Mora. One of our great friends from youth zone.
22:13
Speaker 1: We catch up with her. every other week, and it's
22:16
Speaker 1: always great when she and Dan Sorensen give us their
22:20
Speaker 1: time on these Ute Zone Wednesdays.