Latest / The Ian Furness Show / Ian Furness 1-/27 H2: The Fella, Keifer Furness, Cougs Talking Cougs and the Daily Power Play!

Transcript

Ian Furness 1-/27 H2: The Fella, Keifer Furness, Cougs Talking Cougs and the Daily Power Play! · The Ian Furness Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Now, from the Star Reynolds Sports Desk, your 93.3 KJR
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: FM Sports Headlines.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Headlines are brought to you by Frost Brewed, Coors Light, Chews, Chill,
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: and also it's cold as the Rockies. It's all of
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: the above. It's just really good beer.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: Delicious beer.
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: Frosty.
• 0:15
  Speaker 5: Frosty.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Cold as the Rockies. Red Rockies.
• 0:18
  Speaker 4: Red Mountains. Or Blue. I'm sorry.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Blue Mountains.
• 0:20
  Speaker 5: Blue.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Blue.
• 0:21
  Speaker 5: Blue.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: They're red. You're doing something wrong. I was looking at
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: something else.
• 0:24
  Speaker 5: Sorry.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Seahawks made a trade. Colts this morning. Not for Jonathan Taylor.
• 0:27
  Speaker 4: Nope.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Next best thing, Colts are sending eight-time Pro Bowl guard,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: probably a future Hall of Famer, Quinton Nelson, the Hawks,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: for a 2027 third-round pick, 2028 fifth-round pick. More on
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: that in a second. Cowboys beat the Eagles 38-21 last
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: night on Monday Night Football. Dak Prescott threw three touchdowns.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Javante Williams, 155 yards and a touchdown on the ground.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Next week's Monday Night Football game is Seahawks hosting the Bears.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: UW Center Landon Hatchett will miss the rest of the
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: 2026 season with a head Neck and spine injury. Plans
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: to return in 2027 for a fifth year. Expected to
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: make a full recovery. Full recovery for Dante Moore as well,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Oregon quarterback. But Dan Lanning, their head coach, says he
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: will not return this season. He's missed the past three
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: games with a concussion and has still not been medically cleared.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Interesting situation there. He could have been a possible number
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: one overall pick out for the season. Didn't have a
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: good season. He coming back. He's coming back.
• 1:21
  Speaker 6: Oh, yeah.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Milwaukee Brewers one win away from winning their first ever
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: World Series. Eight run, two out rally in the fifth
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: inning on the way to a 10-1 win last night
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: over Tampa at Bay. Game four is tonight. Series will
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: probably end tonight. Baseball season ends. Mariners, by the way,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: still looking for a manager. Expect to interview a couple
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: guys in person if such a thing excites you. Let's
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: move on to the next hour. Well, the big news
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: today is the Seahawks acquired three-time All-Pro guard Quinton Nelson
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: from the Indianapolis Colts. A third-round pick next year and
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: a fifth-round pick in two years in 2028. Packers, Bears,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: and Eagles, according to ESPN and all the insiders, are
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: also showing interest in Nelson. He's made the Pro Bowl
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: in each of his first eight seasons since they drafted
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: him sixth overall out of Notre Dame in 2018. He's
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: got three first-team All-Pro nods in that time as well.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: That puts you on path to be in Canton, Ohio
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: in the Hall of Fame, by the way. The Pro
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Bowls are one thing. First-team All-Pro, that makes you a
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Hall of Famer. You start getting multiple of those, you're
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: in consideration and right up there for Canton, Ohio. He's
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: only played left guard over his first nine seasons. Of course,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: last year's first-round pick, Gray Zabel, is Seattle's starting left guard.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Anthony Bradford, Seattle starting right guard, just came back from injury.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: So you've got a guard log jam for Seattle as well.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: All right, is he there?
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: He's there.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: All right, I don't know anything, and he'll tell me
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I don't know anything about offensive line or really football
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: as a whole, so I figured I'll just see if
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: he knows anything. He can do it publicly right here.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Some guy named Kiefer Furness, my kid. Last time I
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: think you were on was during the draft a couple
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: years ago, and they picked up Graze Abel. What's going on, fella?
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: I am doing absolutely fantastic today. Quentin Nelson, you are
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: a Seahawk. I couldn't be more thrilled.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Why is he so good?
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, you said it yourself. He is a
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: future Hall of Famer. So adding that to a roster
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: really helps on any team. But, you know, he brings
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: so much to the table. We talked about wide zone,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: brief over text. What he can do in the run
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: game is truly just something that nobody else can do
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: in the NFL. It's very few guys that have done
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: that in the NFL. And then in the past game
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: as well, I mean, he's just different. He has a
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: vision that, go ahead, if you want to ask a question.
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: No, no, no, no.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Talk about his vision.
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: One more.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: No, talk about his vision.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: When thinking about offensive linemen, it's kind of weird to
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: think about their vision and what they're really looking for.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Something that doesn't get brought up much. But when I
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: think of Quinn Nelson, I was just thinking about it earlier.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: When you see a guy like Jokic in the NBA
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: and he makes these weird passes, you're like, he's got
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: eyes in the back of his head, that kind of thing.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Quentin Nelson is exactly what that is. He's seeing guys
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: rush from the other side of the line. You look
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: up Quentin Nelson highlights, like, how did he see that guy?
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: He just has a different, different eyes on him that
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: nobody else has. And I think that's going to be
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: brought to the Seahawks and end up helping the rest
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: of the line. He can help Gray's able, you can help,
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: you know, the guys next to him. I think I'm
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: pretty sure he'll play left guard with us. So I think,
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: you know, he'll help Josh Jones when he's in there.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: So it's really going to be helpful all around.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: When, when, What are you looking for in traits for
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: a lineman in wide zone, especially an interior lineman?
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: Effort. That's something that is carried across any kind of
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: run game is truly the effort they put in. You
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: can kind of get away with pass blocking. If you
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: just get a guy locked up and maybe you've got
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: a double team going somewhere, you can kind of get
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: away with it. It'd be a little lazier, but not
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: Quinn Nelson. In the run game, he is sprinting. anywhere
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: he's going, he is not just hobbling and kind of waddling. No,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: he is sprinting. And you can go back and see
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: interviews with him over his career. And he talks heavily about,
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: you know, always being right there behind the running back
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: and trying to recover a fumble, you know, any kind
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: of thing that might happen.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: Or go wrong.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: He's there to just clean it up. That's something that's
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: very valuable. Something that's not really, you know, that prevalent
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: in a lot of NFL linemen. And I think it's
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: just important that you have someone like that's going to
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: bring up the morale of everyone around him.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: He, he in the wide zone, is it athleticism too?
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: Or is it footwork?
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: What is it?
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: All the above. I mean, he's got everything. That's, that's
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: exactly what you're looking for. And then what I said
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: on top of it is like, you can be, you know,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: the most athletic guy in the world, but if you're
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: not going to be put in the effort and sprinting and, and,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: running your butt off, then it's not going to matter anyway.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: How different is left guard from right guard? Let's just
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: use Zabel for a second. I hear this even with tackles.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: We've seen Penny Sewell move from right tackle to left
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: tackle in the NFL, and it's been okay better. It's
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: been better lately, but it feels like there's a transition.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: Let's say Gray Zabel moves to right guard. What kind
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: of transition is that for him, for the center, and
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: for the right tackle?
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: I think Gray Zabel could do it pretty flawlessly. I mean,
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: he's done well. I know he struggled a little bit
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: this year, but he's been a very good NFL guard.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: And moving from left to right as a guard is
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: not that tricky. I mean, you're swapping your feet, but
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: your stance is almost, you know, you're almost even with
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: your other foot anyway. You're not in a tackles stance where,
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: you know, you see those tackles with their feet, you know,
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: an extra three feet behind the other one. These like quick,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: quick step stances and these big dropbacks for edge rushers.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: At guard, you're not really doing that. So I truly
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: think Gray's able can swap if needed to, or, I mean,
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: even make the switch to center. I know people have
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: been gossiping about that and, you know, maybe Sundell gets
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: bumped out. We'll see, but he's been great for us.
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: So I'm very curious to see what they do with him.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Fellow, you wouldn't move. You wouldn't change centers though. The
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: week of a game, would you?
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: I forgot.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: If a guy's only just developed like, like maybe next year,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: that maybe it's a next year thing or cause you
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: wouldn't do that. Like the week of a game, right?
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: I mean, that's a whole different, he did it like
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: in the senior bowl, but they wouldn't do that this week.
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: No, I wouldn't see it this week. I think that's
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: something that they just work into and I'm sure he's
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: probably worked reps at it over the past anyway. But
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: I think that's something that they might be looking forward
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: in the future. I mean, maybe they sign Nelson to
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: an extension afterwards and they want to keep him around
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: and maybe you just move Zabel to the middle and
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: make him this commander that they want him to be.
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, they're very high on him as they should be.
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: And if, if they want to make him the commander
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: of the offensive line, I think that's a great investment.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: So.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: Just something to look forward to in the future. But
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: if they move him to guard, then I love that too.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: What about Bradford? What about Bradford? Like you saw him
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: play last week, and I know he was kind of
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: everyone's like, everyone just was like ripping Bradford last year.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Then all of a sudden this year he's out, and
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: people are like, God, I can't wait for Anthony Bradford
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: to come back. So you've got three guards. We'll assume
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Nelson's the left guard moving ahead. You've got three. What
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: do you do with Anthony Bradford? Because there has to
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: be a value there. Let's say they don't trade him
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: because people are saying, well, maybe they're going to trade
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: him and so forth. What does Bradford bring to the table?
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: You know, I was maybe, I don't know if I
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: really was, I was maybe in the hating train of
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Bradford a little bit. But when he came back, I mean,
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: he proved a lot of people wrong. I think just
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: having that chemistry on an O-line and a veteran, the
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: guy that's been around for a little bit, when he
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: comes back in and then just kind of, you know,
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: everything just clicks. I mean, you may not just be
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: watching Bradford every play, but you see the offense, you
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: see how they operate. And, you know, even just getting
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: more time in the pocket for, for Sam and for
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: him to be more confident. I mean, it changed everything.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: So I don't think they're going to get rid of them.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: I'm curious to see what they do. Maybe, you know,
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: maybe he's able just learns from Nelson and, you know,
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: they can move forward from there. But I think Bradford is,
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: is a key component, whether he's on the field or not.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: And then him in the run game is, has been
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: very helpful for the Seahawks. So I'm curious to see,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: you know, what they really do with him, but I
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: think they'll keep him around just as a, you know,
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: player or chemistry wise, he's, he's valuable.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Admittedly, you haven't been in an NFL meeting room, but
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: how long do you think it takes a guy like
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: Quentin Nelson to be comfortable with the offense? Could they
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: put them out there on Monday?
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: You know, I would say yes. I, I think a
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: lot of like schemes have different names and teams might
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: say something else, but the concepts are all the exact same.
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, Quinn Nelson, he's a smart guy. He's going
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: to be okay. So I would be shocked if he
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: wasn't playing. So five days, he can, he can learn
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: what he needs to learn in terms of the plays.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's already probably got the whole playbook emailed
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: to him, whatever he's studying, all he's moving. So I'm
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: sure he he'll be dialed in in two days.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: The fellow go back to the, the, the, the zone
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: run game. Is that, basically what Seattle only does and
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: and I'm going to just go back that because I
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: hear about the reach blocks like it feels like Zabel's
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: missed with some of those this year is that something
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: that he's missed on is that just something the offensive
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: line has missed on what what is it about the
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: reach blocks or some of the things that that we've
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: seen where it looks like Seattle's offensive line has struggled
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: this year that you think Nelson's you know is going
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: to help them with.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: Well I think a lot of the times with reach
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: blocks and these wide zones that Seattle's trying to run
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: it's kind of Those things where you trust every single
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: person next to you, you know, it's not just like
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: you have your assignment, but you're trusting that the guy
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: to your left and right are going to block their
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: guy and not cross paths of you. And if they
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: do cross and they run some kind of stun against it,
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: that you guys know that you're going to pick up
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: each other's guy. So I think it's a lot of
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: just kind of building that chemistry and getting reps in
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: together that you're going to pick up the right man.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: You're not going to let just one guy get free
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: because he crossed your path, but, trusting that your teammate
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: is going to pick him up and you're going to
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: take his guy. So a lot of the wide zone
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: stuff is thinking on the fly. And I think what
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: I told you about Quentin Nelson, he's a smart guy.
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's thinking on the fly. You watch his highlights.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: It gets you fired up. You're like, how does he–
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: and that vision of just like seeing where everyone is.
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: He knows where people's assignments are. He knows where the
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: D-lines have their gap assignments. So, you know, usually every
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: gap has an assignment for a D-lineman. And knowing where
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: those are and where they can't move, It's the offensive
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: lineman's job to move them out of there. Just staying
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: true to their values, I think they'll be okay.
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: Do you think Abe Lucas has been hurt this year
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: by the rotation with, say, Stevens and Haynes, but just
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: not having Bradford?
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: I would say yeah. I think it's hard to build
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: such a chemistry with your guard as a tackle or
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: vice versa, and then all of a sudden a new
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: guy comes in. A lot of times when you're you're
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: so good at being next to each other and building
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: that chemistry. You don't have to say things and say,
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: you know, you know what your assignment is and you
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: trust that they know it goes back to that trust
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: thing about how, you know, you know exactly where you're
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: supposed to go. They know where they're going to go
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: and you don't have to worry about it. But when
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: you bring someone else in that's younger and has less experience,
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: then you kind of got to slow the game down.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: And that doesn't help with wide zone, you know, wide
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: zone cement to speed the game up. So that's, that's
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: their goal.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: All right, Phillip.
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: Nice job.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: I don't know. It's just an offensive lineman, so I
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: don't know. I'm not that excited, but I guess some
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: people are about Quentin Nelson.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Do yourself a favor. I want everybody to look up
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: Quentin Nelson highlights, and you cannot tell me you get
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: fired up.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: I'm fired up. I'm just busting your chops, fella. That's
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: all I'm doing.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: Relax.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: I'm telling everybody, this is something that's spectacular, and if
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: you're a Seahawks fan or a football fan, you're going
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: to be excited watching him play.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: So if you like the game of football, you like
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: watching Quentin Nelson, that's what you're telling me?
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: That is exactly what I'm saying.
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: Like, if you like the game of golf, you like
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: watching me hit golf balls. That's what you're saying.
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: It's the exact same thing.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: I don't know about that.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: I think that's different.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: Is it different?
• 13:18
  Speaker 4: I think it is.
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, very different.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: I think I'd rather watch Kiefer hit a golf ball.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: Don't you put him out there to hit the shots on.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: The long drives?
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he played this year. He actually— he had to carry— him
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: and his buddy had to carry in the Mary Maple
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: Valley Open because we had Benton and Koniski out there. Oh, yeah.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: They struggled. They struggled mightily.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: They're hockey guys.
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Well, usually hockey players are good, but that wasn't the
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: case this year. So Fela had to help carry him.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: All right. So we're excited about Quentin Nelson.
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: Get back.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: Go help mom. She's got something going on for you.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: But that's Kiefer. Nice job, buddy. Hugh might call you later.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: You guys can break this down at a higher level
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: than I can.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: That's a four-hour chat we'll have.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: I love it. I'll talk to you soon. See you.
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: See you.
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: That's Fela. My son played college football, offensive lineman. Yeah,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: he found out Quintin Hill. I think that's an interesting thing, though,
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: about the vision. I never heard that with an offensive line.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Vision is an interesting part of it.
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: Yeah, he's got some fans on the text line, too.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: Does he?
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: Good.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: Fela.
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: They want him back.
• 14:20
  Speaker 5: Fela.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Bring Fela back. All right, we'll take a break. Alex
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: and MK, join us.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: Coming up next.
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: It's time to talk cougar football with two wazoo legends
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: our qb1 alex brink and former sack king m cristo
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: bruce and brought to you by osaga founded in the
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: early 70s inspired by our past excited for the future
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: osaga shoes for the human race and by team bruce
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: with guild mortgage whether you're a first-time buyer or refinancing
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: we've got the tools the team and the trust Visit TeamBruceMortgage.com.
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: Let's make your home dreams a reality together and by
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: the Buffalo. Ready to transform your life? Join the herd
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: today at TheBuffaloGym.com or stop by in the heart of
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: Maple Valley where fitness meets family. Now for all things Cougs,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: here's Ian with the Cougar Legends.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: All right, here we go. Time to check in with
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: the Coug Legends. Alex and MK joining us here. A
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: lot to get to. I'm going to go some bigger
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: picture things in a second, in a minute. A little
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: recap of Boise State. We'll move on as well. Alex,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: you're not going to believe this. On Friday afternoon, Friday afternoon,
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: I'm sitting at my favorite spot in Maple Valley, Imbibe
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Tap House, Bottle Room, Bottle House, Tap Room, whatever it is.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, Imbibe.
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: I'm enjoying an adult beverage, getting ready to grab some
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: dinner for the wife at home on a Friday afternoon.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: And all of a sudden, I got grabbed from behind
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: on the shoulders by these massive strong hands. And the
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: legend himself had made his way in there on a
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Friday afternoon. And Crystal Bruce, it was quite the surprise.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, listen, you never know when the big guy
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: is going to be running around, Alex. You just never
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: know where he's going to be.
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: I didn't know he left the gym or the office.
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: You go to other places? This is bad news. What?
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: This is incredible. What a blessing. And I got the photo,
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: of course, and immediately felt left out that I wasn't
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: even included on an invite or any sort of communication.
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: No invite. It just, he just shows up. You know that.
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: I mean, you probably, how many times have you been
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: in Pullman or another local this year doing a call
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: in a game and all of a sudden there's a
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: big fellow walking in saying, what's up? Just flew in.
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: It's a great point. Great point. You kind of just
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: dropped in on you.
• 16:44
  Speaker 5: I see Ian. I mean, what a surprise to see
• 16:47
  Speaker 5: the mayor, you know, in his, in his habitat. And
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: I go, I go straight from there and I head
• 16:52
  Speaker 5: down and I, and I, I'm telling you right hand,
• 16:54
  Speaker 5: I got a head to the Tahoma high school football players.
• 16:58
  Speaker 5: They're playing that game, Friday Night Lights. I'm walking down
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: to the field to go, you know, support the boys.
• 17:03
  Speaker 5: But the mayor himself, Sean Kelly, comes up. And I said,
• 17:07
  Speaker 5: two mayors in one night. I mean, this is crazy.
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: Oh, you saw Sean P.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: Kelly. All right.
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: I read it.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: The real mayor of Maple Valley, Sean P.
• 17:16
  Speaker 5: Kelly.
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: I ran into him at the market here, the Maple
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Valley market, a while ago. And he goes, hey, we've
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: got to get a picture of the two mayors. I said, no,
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: there's only one mayor.
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: It's you, my man.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: I want none of that responsibility. I want none of
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: that smoke. I want none of those– If I'm actually
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: the mayor, there's actually responsibilities and work to be had.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: I want no part of that, man. No part of that.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Hey, MK, let's not gloss over the fact that Ian
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: pulled an elite dad-husband move with the pre-pickup dinner beer. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like, oh, honey. Oh, honey,
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: I'm going to pick up– I'll pick up dinner for us,
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: mind you. He's like, oh, no, I can get a
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: beverage before I have to head home.
• 17:51
  Speaker 5: I totally– I heard it happen, and I just laughed
• 17:54
  Speaker 5: because that's something I would have done. But you're right.
• 17:56
  Speaker 5: That is an elite dad mood.
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: Well, there's a little Smashburger truck right outside there, so
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: it's just a perfect spot, man. You can't go wrong.
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: Okay, that makes sense. That's why you were waiting.
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: Yes. Quote, unquote.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, waiting along the way.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: I want to get to, like I said, some bigger
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: picture things in a second. Before I get to that,
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: some stuff we talked in the first hour of the
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: show with today. But let's just start with Saturday. We'll
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: kind of recap. Good for a while, and then not
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: so good. Listen, they're good. Boise State's really good. Run
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: game's really good. They kind of hit the switch. But, Alex,
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: what did you see?
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: Oh, you play good football teams. You got to play
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: 60 minutes of football on good football on all in
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: all three phases. And I think Washington state obviously like
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: had some, you know, and Kirby Moore talked about it,
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: had some things that, you know, ultimately derailed them. You know,
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: the offense and defense played solid in the first half,
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: the kickoff right before half wasn't great. The clock management
• 18:48
  Speaker 4: wasn't great. then uh you know i think in the
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: third quarter they're kind of trading blows and and probably
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: let some opportunities to to you know get ahead of
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: boise let them off the hook a little bit and
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: i think what keeps happening i was thinking about the
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: defense and how you know the year it's been for
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: them and you know what you realize is they've never
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: played with the lead like they've never had a chance
• 19:09
  Speaker 4: to play with this a substantial lead and so teams
• 19:12
  Speaker 4: constantly are able to maintain their game plan stay balanced
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: you know for Boise that means run the football you
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: know you wanted Boise to throw the football you know
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: like they were kind of doing in the first half
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: for whatever reason and then once they settled in decided
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: to just just pound it it was it was kind
• 19:26
  Speaker 4: of over at that point because you knew Dylan Riley
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: was going to get his so Again, some silver linings.
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: This team's trying to figure out who they are and grow. Obviously,
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: this year is what it is. This is a little
• 19:36
  Speaker 4: bit more about how you find green sheets heading into
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: the back third of the year here.
• 19:42
  Speaker 5: That was the biggest thing we talked about this whole year.
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: This defense is playing with desperation in their eyes the
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: whole time and still holding great offenses and checking. Hold
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: Boise scoreless in the third quarter. I mean, we were just...
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: The defense, Ian, I texted you guys, and I was like,
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: this is great football. This is the football we wanted
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: to see. It's just so hard to see a Washington
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: State team not score points. I think it's so weird
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: for everybody because a lot of people, when they go
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: see the Cougs, they want to see you just literally
• 20:11
  Speaker 5: throwing grenades in the air and seeing somebody come down
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: with it and put up points. To not hear that
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: band strike up half the game from not scoring points
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: is tough, but Again, the defense has been at a
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: disadvantage all year long. And to see what they've done,
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: what Bray's done with what he has, honestly, I mean,
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: he's putting a resume out there. And, Ian, you know,
• 20:30
  Speaker 5: we talked about this, you know, previously. He is putting
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: a resume out there with guys that aren't playing at
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: power force schools potentially, right? And he's playing great defense.
• 20:40
  Speaker 5: So I agree with you on that, Alex.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: MK, how hard is it as a defensive player when
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: you're never looking up and seeing that your team has
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: a lead?
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: Well, you just think of the anxiety in your heart
• 20:51
  Speaker 5: of just like playing down. You never get that excitement
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: of like, okay, boys, you know, going to say, you know,
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: we'll get another one or whatever. You're literally scraping and
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: clawing and almost feeling like you're dying for, you know,
• 21:04
  Speaker 5: trying to get this for your boys. And I'm telling you,
• 21:06
  Speaker 5: when I'm on the sideline, Ian, that defense, you should
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: see the fire in their eyes. Like they believe that
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: they can come back. They believe that they want to win.
• 21:14
  Speaker 5: It's just if you can't score points, you know, what
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: are you going to do?
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's no doubt about that.
• 21:20
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: Let me, like I said, I want to get some
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: bigger picture stuff. I'll start with this just before we
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: get to, like, what I want in my little topics
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: I want to hit on, not just the game. Alex,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Owen Esselman, you've had a couple games now to evaluate.
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: What do you think? Yeah, I think he's a solid player.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: He's young, obviously, so there's moments where he's still learning.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: I think any quarterback his age that when you're not
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: when it's not kind of your primary game to run
• 21:45
  Speaker 4: the football 23 times, like you're not going to have success.
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: And I felt the same way. I frankly felt the
• 21:50
  Speaker 4: same way with Caden, which is that as the game
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: went on, the play got worse because of how many
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: hits they're taking, how fast how the game gets sped up.
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: And that's kind of what happened, I think, with Owen
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: a little bit in the fourth quarter. At that point,
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: he'd taken so many hits and been running for his life.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: Prior to the interception, he had a couple plays where
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: he's kind of bailing out of the pocket when he
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: didn't need to, but it felt like he probably needed to.
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: We call it seeing ghosts in the quarterback world. And
• 22:15
  Speaker 4: then on the interception... a miscommunication but also you know
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: he was probably a little early to get there so
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: it's like again i think he's playing really well but
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: he needs more help just like any quarterback needs more
• 22:25
  Speaker 4: help and they're that position's not getting it at washington
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: for this washington state football team and so it doesn't
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: matter how good owen eshelman is there's too many things
• 22:35
  Speaker 4: stacked up against him to have sustained success right um
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: against good football teams like boise state.
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: That's hard, too. You're rushing the ball 23 times. It's
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: going to be very hard to be successful like that
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: because all it takes is one hit, and now you're
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: down to Duggard or whoever after that, or maybe even
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: putting Penny back in. He threw for 191 yards. Is
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: that the most we've seen this year? this season so
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: far on a quarterback. I just, there's a couple of
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: plays that he probably missed and probably wants back. But again,
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: he's a young quarterback playing against a very good defense.
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: I think that Boise defense is a very good defense.
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: I think they're going to, they're going to do very well, but,
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: but I think Owen is the guy. Can you keep them?
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: Can you develop them? Can you, you know, throw some
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: other wrinkles in there? We also talked about getting woods
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: or some of where he's coming out of the backfield, right?
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: Trying to get some of those shorter plays and get
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: them out in the open field to see if they
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: can do something as well. Yeah.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think the concern of him transferring, listen,
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: I mean, quarterbacks don't transfer these days unless they get
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: paid a big money and B also have a place
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: to start at a bigger school. Like he's going to start,
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: you know, I, I, I would kind of worry about
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: that less now, but I guess that's always in the
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: back of everybody's mind. That's always a concern. And that
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: kind of brings us to kind of some of the
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: bigger picture stuff. I mean, that's the, that's the, that's
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: the world we're living in right now. And I kind
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: of want to hit on that today. Cause I think
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: it's of interest, you know, in the first hour of
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: the show today, I had Kim Grenells on from Dogman
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: and listen, they, you know, we can hate them all
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: we want and the Huskies and all that stuff. You know,
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: I was talking to him and one of the things
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: he said, even when I was texting him before the
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: interview today, he's like, yeah, it's, I said, how's the
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: big 10 going? You know, like, how's the big 10 going? And,
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: and let me preface this by saying, because I hate
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: when people try to put words in people's mouths when they,
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: when they're making a point, I'm not saying Washington, Oregon,
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: those schools, they should like once USC and UCLA left,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: like it's every man for himself and you've got to
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: do what's best for you.
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: I get that.
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: Um, You know, and they left. How they left is
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: a different story, but they left. And that was probably
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: no choice for them. But he said, you know, he goes,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: it used to be we went to one Pullman. In
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: other words, you fly in, you drive 90 minutes to
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: the school, right? You fly to Spokane or whatever it
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: might be, or Lewiston. You know, all these schools now,
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: you fly in somewhere and then it's every school's Pullman.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: And you don't go to Arizona anymore. You don't go
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: to the Bay Area anymore. You lose some of the
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: recruiting hotbeds. You know, like, and I'll just, my point
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: is this. The whole realignment world, I'll take it a
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: step further. How's it gone for Maryland in the Big
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: Ten or Rutgers? We can look across the country. Here's
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: my point, Alex. I want you to expand on this
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: and then MK jump in. We all love college football.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: I get up and watch college football even if the
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Cougs aren't playing and away we go. There's stuff there
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: that's still great, but I feel like it's become really top-heavy.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: I hear people say all the time it's spread out
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: evenly now. I would argue against that. I think in
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: some places, sure, maybe the top 10 schools, there's stuff
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: spread out. I just don't like where we're at. I
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: don't like where our school's at. I don't like the
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: lack of passion. And I'll be the first to admit,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: guilty as charged. I'm losing a lot of passion. I
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: used to make, no matter what, I'd watch a Coug game.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: Even if I had a hockey game, I'm going to
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: go back and watch the entire game. Now I just
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: kind of go shuttle through so we can talk on Tuesday.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: But Alex, how would you describe the current state of,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: not just where we are, but college football?
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: Well, it's interesting you talk about, you know, are things
• 25:51
  Speaker 4: spread out or not spread out? Is it top heavy?
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think the idea that, you know, the
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: opportunity with player movement at NIL allows more teams to
• 26:04
  Speaker 4: potentially be in the mix for the CFP or to
• 26:07
  Speaker 4: win the championship is accurate. If anything, in my opinion,
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: it kind of dilutes the product, right? Because the player
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: movement piece doesn't have guardrails to it. So you really
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: don't have the ability year in and year out to
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: guarantee success for teams, right? Like Oregon, Oregon by all rights,
• 26:22
  Speaker 4: just in general, should be one of the best teams
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: in college football year in and year out. But because
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: player movement makes it so that you have to rebuild
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: your roster every year, there's no guarantee that you can
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: create the same culture or create the same, right? The
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: same setup for those teams. So like Texas Tech's a
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: great example also, right? Like they're in the CFP last
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: year and they're not very good this year, right? Even
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: though they're spending a ton of money. And so I
• 26:45
  Speaker 4: think it dilutes the product, which is what everybody's feeling
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: is like, well, you know, there was a comfort level
• 26:50
  Speaker 4: in knowing that Alabama and Georgia and these teams were
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: kind of like the best. Now, was that the best
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: version of it? I don't know. But the other part
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: is the idea of expanding the playoff doesn't really expand opportunity, right?
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: Like it... What used to happen with, say, a four
• 27:03
  Speaker 4: team playoff is that four teams made the playoff and
• 27:06
  Speaker 4: then somebody else made the Rose Bowl or the Holiday
• 27:09
  Speaker 4: Bowl or the Peach Bowl or whatever. And there was
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: a finite end to your season with like a success
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: or a failure.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: And now they're talking about getting rid of conference championships.
• 27:18
  Speaker 4: They're talking about, obviously, getting rid of bowl games with
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: expanded playoffs. And now it's like the opportunity for... We
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: use Washington State. It doesn't really matter. But even Oregon State.
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: Oregon State's going to have this great year. And they're
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: probably going to get to the end of this thing
• 27:29
  Speaker 4: and be like, what was all that for? That was fun.
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: But nothing really comes of it. And I think that's
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: what's sad about this state, this day and age in
• 27:39
  Speaker 4: college football is... people aren't really playing for anything. They're
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: playing afraid of what the next year might look like
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: because of player movement. They're playing for kind of the
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: dissatisfaction of not making the playoff or not going to
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: a bowl game or not having a real conference championship. So,
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: you know, it just feels very, instead of exciting, it
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: feels very negative. Like everything's a negative in the way
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: we look at college football right now.
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: And that was the biggest thing was, you know, people
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: love college football because it wasn't a professional sport, right?
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: So when you have a team that's done so much
• 28:14
  Speaker 5: building their whole culture and going to a bowl game, Alex,
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: you remember like that, that bowl game, it was just
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: like everything trying to make it to that one bowl game.
• 28:23
  Speaker 5: But now kids don't even want to play in the
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: bowl game, like opting out of them. So it's so different.
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: So I feel like right now it's, it feels more
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: like a money thing versus a prestige or versus like
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: building a culture. So it's changed quite a bit, especially,
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: you know, going back and seeing like a pin state
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: without winning or Maryland or all these Michigan States, like, winless.
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: This is very weird to see how much.
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: It's shooken up. Alex, your point about Oregon is a
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: great one, too. Dante Moore is out for the year.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: They spent a ton of money on Dylan Raiola, but
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: it doesn't matter. They lose to Illinois. They're done. You
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: talk about a season that's done. They're done. They're cooked.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: You're playing out the string, and that's a weird place
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: for them. None of us feel sorry for them, but
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: that's where they are. I guess Alex and MK joining us,
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Cougar Legends, I think the thing, I'm wondering, can we
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: ever get it back? And I'll take myself into this
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: for a second. I felt like we had this discussion
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: in the last two years, you know, while Oregon State
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: and Wazoo tried to kind of hold on to the
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: Pac-12 brand and get the conference rebuilt, we kind of
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: played this weird exhibition schedule for the last two seasons
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: before this, right? And I kept thinking, all right, we'll
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: get the new conference and away we go and, you know,
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: it'll be fine and you're playing for something. Part of
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: it is our team's not good. That's a big part
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: of it. That's a huge part of it. But it
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: feels like for the third year, we've lost any momentum
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: that this program had. Now, Oregon State's a great example.
• 29:50
  Speaker 2: They were 2-10 last year. And they snap of the
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: fingers and look where they're at right now. How it ends,
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: we don't know, but they did get it back. Alex,
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: you're there every single week, home and away. MK, you've
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: been there a lot as well, but Alex, I'll start
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: with you. It just feels like there's a lack of passion,
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: a lack of just caring right now. And I don't know,
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: can we get that back? Is it just a matter
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: of wins and losses?
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: I do think there is a piece of that, right?
• 30:15
  Speaker 4: You look at like Jason Eck in New Mexico, right?
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: Like a few years ago, we went to a game,
• 30:19
  Speaker 4: Washington State at New Mexico, and the stadium was half full.
• 30:22
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean? And two years later, Jason
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: Eck has that place filled to the brim. You know
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: what I mean? And it's like places that have a
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: culture of, football, a place that have a culture and
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: a history within college football, I think you can always
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: get that back. I mean, Oregon state, there was 12
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: people in the stands last year when we played Oregon state, right?
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: The place was sold out a year later. So it
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: is about wins and losses. It's about excitement. It's about like,
• 30:45
  Speaker 4: are you playing for something? So for Washington state specifically,
• 30:48
  Speaker 4: it's kind of a moment in time in my, in
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: my personal opinion. Um, but If the broader question is,
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: are we going to get college football back? The answer
• 30:58
  Speaker 4: is probably no. I hate to say that, but it's
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: not going to be what it was before. I think
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: the best hope for all of us is that you know,
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: they can figure out on the legal side, how to
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: create restrictions around player movement so that you don't have
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: rosters turning over every year. Cause in the NFL, that's
• 31:17
  Speaker 4: what makes the NFL work is that even if a
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: team's out of the playoff race at the, you know,
• 31:22
  Speaker 4: out of the playoffs, their team, they know their team's
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: coming back. You know, you're still building for something, you know, or,
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: you know, who's going to free agency. Like there's a,
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: there's kind of a plan in place and then the
• 31:31
  Speaker 4: draft and so on and so forth. So, Like that
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: ecosystem works. Like that's what, that's what college football doesn't have.
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: And so Oregon, the next five weeks for Oregon is
• 31:40
  Speaker 4: only going to be about which players are leaving. It's
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: all it's going to be about. And so like, that's
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: obviously really frustrating for Oregon, but it's worse for the
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: sport because like it's, it's, it's undercutting a really like high,
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: like prestigious program within the, you And it makes the
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: product look cheap. And so I think that, again, this is...
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: And I will stand on this hill to the day
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: I die that the networks have it wrong. They are
• 32:06
  Speaker 4: trying to consolidate their money into a smaller pool of
• 32:12
  Speaker 4: teams because they think that's what people want to see.
• 32:14
  Speaker 4: And the reality is people want to see Appalachian State
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: beat Michigan. People want to see... Washington State every four
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: years pop up and go to a Rose Bowl, right? Sure,
• 32:24
  Speaker 4: they love USC and Matt Leiner and Reggie Bush, but
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: they don't have to have it, right? And they certainly
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: don't want to see, they don't need to see Ryan
• 32:31
  Speaker 4: Day in the championship every year. That's not what they
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: want to see. And I think they have that side
• 32:36
  Speaker 4: of it wrong. And so as they consolidate the money
• 32:37
  Speaker 4: to the top, eventually they're going to lose viewership. And
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: then that money is going to get spread out back again.
• 32:43
  Speaker 4: And I think that's where the Pac-12 is in a decent,
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: actually in a decent spot because they don't need as
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: much money to be successful and have eyeballs on them.
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: You know, you're so right, too. But at the end
• 32:52
  Speaker 5: of the day, it's all about guardrails and putting the
• 32:54
  Speaker 5: cap back in the bag. Ian, I agree with you. Like,
• 32:56
  Speaker 5: I don't know if you can ever put that cap
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: back in the bag as far as NIL and everything
• 33:00
  Speaker 5: that's going on within this landscape. But there has to
• 33:03
  Speaker 5: be some kind of guardrails in place. And then those guardrails,
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: I think it does give other people an opportunity to
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: actually compete. And same thing. So this probably isn't the
• 33:12
  Speaker 5: best example. But look what Dion did. That program in
• 33:15
  Speaker 5: Colorado was absolutely dead. Like, it was dead. And he
• 33:18
  Speaker 5: brought it, made it fun. Like, granted, he's not doing
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: great right now, but there's always a program that can
• 33:23
  Speaker 5: flip around, right? It just takes the right person to
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: come in there. And the best example is Oregon State. Like,
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: nobody thought that was going to happen. I mean, that
• 33:29
  Speaker 5: program was going downhill as well. And look how exciting
• 33:33
  Speaker 5: they are in packing those stadiums.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Jesse LeGree saying he's going to stay
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: is awesome. I mean, I thought that was one of
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: the better stories of college football this year. You know,
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: like it's just after a week of holding everybody hostage,
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: saying big announcement coming Friday, and the thought is, oh, God,
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: this guy's, you know, here goes another guy leaving a
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: smaller school to go take some money, and he's probably
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: going to sit out the rest of the year. A
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: team that's got a chance. And he said, no, I'm
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: sticking around.
• 33:54
  Speaker 3: Good for him.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: And good for Jamarcus Shepard. I'm going to make this
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: quick because we're going to have this conversation again down
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: the road. A lot of criticism with Kirby and his staff.
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: I heard you on the broadcast, Alex, on Saturday and
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: in the pregame show talking about some support for Kirby.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be very clear. I think the worst
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: thing we could do right now is have four coaches
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: in four years and whatever that be, five and eight
• 34:17
  Speaker 2: or five and nine, whatever the hell we're at. I
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: think he deserves another year. But Alex, what would you
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: tell Wazoo fans why they should have faith in Kirby more?
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: Well, I think I'll preface this by saying this has
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: been hard for Coug fans. Not just the last two years,
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: you know, or three, if you count this year, but,
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: you know, probably the last six years, dating back to
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: COVID and, you know, the Nick Roll.
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: Since Coach Leach left.
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think since Coach Leach left, I
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: think there were some bright spots with Jake Dickert, you know,
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: which kudos to him, honestly, in retrospect. In general, it's
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: been a hard six or seven years, right? For sure,
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: for Coug fans. I'll preface it with that. But I'll
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: also say that I've been pretty disappointed with some of
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: the rhetoric from Coug fans around Kirby Moore and what's happening.
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: I think it's not very self-reflective of Coug fans in
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: the way that they, this program has been built over
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: the years. And, you know, it's not, it's not a
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: program that eats its own. It's never been. And so
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: to see some of the things that are being said and,
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: and the rhetoric, I think, you know, is, is not
• 35:18
  Speaker 4: who we are and, you know, not to say this
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: is things shouldn't change or things can't be better. I
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: think they can be, but you have to step back.
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: and understand how late in the process Kirby Moore got hired.
• 35:30
  Speaker 4: You have to understand in the nature of the transfer
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: portal that it doesn't happen. It doesn't start on, you know,
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: January 1st or December 25th. Like it happens in the
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: middle of the year, the way these things are communicated
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: and the rosters are built. And if you don't know
• 35:44
  Speaker 4: you're going to be there. You just don't have the
• 35:46
  Speaker 4: time to get it right all the time. And they didn't.
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: They missed in some places. There's no doubt about it.
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: But that's not to say you can't flip it. Jamarcus
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: Shepard just did it at Oregon State. Every year it
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: can be done. But it takes people buying it. I'm
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: not talking about money necessarily. I'm just talking about... I'm
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: talking about... support and vibes and excitement and understand that
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: this doesn't happen in a six-month process. And so I
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: think I would like to see people step back and
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: be a little more understanding of the way the realize
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: that if Washington state is going to be successful, it's
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: going to take everybody moving in the same direction. And again,
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: I'm saying this very clearly. It's not just money. It
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: is about saying, Hey, we support everybody here and like
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: try to top rope somebody like, because you, you want
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: to say you're right is not going to help the program.
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: You know what I mean? Like, that's not what it's about.
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: And so, um, I'd like to see people kind of
• 36:41
  Speaker 4: rally behind where this is at. Nobody's nobody in that
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: locker room or that building is trying to put a
• 36:47
  Speaker 4: bad foot forward when they go out there. So I, again,
• 36:50
  Speaker 4: I'm very clearly like felt, feel very disappointed with kind
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: of the reaction so far.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 36:55
  Speaker 5: And the biggest thing is I think that collectively they're,
• 36:58
  Speaker 5: they're just a couple of pieces away from doing something
• 37:00
  Speaker 5: special over there. And Kirby's a great, I think it
• 37:02
  Speaker 5: was a great fit for that job. Again, it's just,
• 37:04
  Speaker 5: there's a couple of pieces that are missing marketing wise,
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: GM wise, they're doing better than they were, I think
• 37:09
  Speaker 5: in previous regimes. So I agree with you, Alex, a
• 37:12
  Speaker 5: hundred percent.
• 37:12
  Speaker 4: All right. Well said. Okay.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: We'll have these conversations more down the road, but good
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: to get the perspective of two guys that have played
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: and are there all the time. So I appreciate that. Alex,
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: let's sell some shoes.
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, check out osaga.com, O-S-A-G-A.com. Shoe brand my brother and
• 37:29
  Speaker 4: I revived that my grandfather started in the 70s. Really
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: comfortable retro runners. Check out osaga.com.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: Never too early to shop for Christmas and get ahead
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: of the game, boys and girls. Go check that out
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: right now. MK, what do you got?
• 37:41
  Speaker 5: Listen, if you're looking to buy a house, refinance, anything
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: to do with mortgages or real estate game, reach out
• 37:47
  Speaker 5: to Team Bruce over at Guild Mortgage. And then if
• 37:49
  Speaker 5: you just want to go to a gym that's just
• 37:51
  Speaker 5: amazing and you're going to love, over at Maple Valley,
• 37:53
  Speaker 5: the Buffalo Gym.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: There you go. And if you do reach out to Guild,
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: guess who you get to talk to? That guy right there.
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: The big guy.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: You get to talk to the big guy. He might
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: even meet you in a bar and have a beer.
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: He might even buy.
• 38:02
  Speaker 5: Who knows?
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: I'm still waiting for mine. All right. Good stuff, guys,
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: as always. Thank you so much. San Diego State, awful
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: place to be this week, Alex. Try to hang in
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: there down in San Diego, okay? Hang in there.
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: I'll try not to play golf. I'm trying my best.
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: I'm guessing there might be a plane landing there somewhere, too,
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: this weekend. It's San Diego.
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: Hit me up, Alex. I'm bringing my clubs.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: Bring them.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: Bring them.
• 38:21
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: MK, Alex, more to come on 93.3 KJFM.
• 38:23
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: So if you're just joining us, by the way, 49451
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: is the, we've got a ton of text today on
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: all the topics we've been hearing about.
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: And a lot of talkbacks.
• 38:48
  Speaker 2: A lot of talkbacks. We'll get to those at 2.30.
• 38:50
  Speaker 2: Here's the deal. The Seahawks earlier today traded a third-round
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: pick next year and a fifth-round pick in two years
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: to the Indianapolis Colts to pick up Multiple-time All-Pro, not
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: just Pro Bowler, eight-time Pro Bowler, but three-time All-Pro, first-team
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: All-Pro guard Quentin Nelson from the Indianapolis Colts. Seahawks also
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: in the last little bit have released offensive guard Christian
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: Haynes off of the 53-man roster. Okay, that's enough for
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: the day, right?
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: Should be.
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: I would think so.
• 39:24
  Speaker 3: Nope.
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: The San Francisco 49ers had a counter move today. Oh,
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: had to do something, did you? The Colts are trading
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: to Forrest Buckner, defensive tackle, back to the 49ers where
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: he started his career. So he moves there. He's got
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: four sacks this season. That's one half a sack behind
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: the league lead for interior defensive linemen, just for a
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: little bit of reference here. So he's got four. Seahawks
• 39:49
  Speaker 2: have two interior linemen. Murphy and Williams both have three.
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: But he's a good player. So the 49ers are like, hey,
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: we're not standing pat here.
• 39:56
  Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: We got a counterpunch to what you're doing today. How
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: about the NFC West? Let's go.
• 40:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah, apparently they were like, oh, not only can we
• 40:05
  Speaker 6: not allow anyone to do anything, oh, but definitely not
• 40:08
  Speaker 6: our division.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Definitely not the division.
• 40:10
  Speaker 6: Can't let them have anyone talking about them today.
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: We need to do something to steal the thunder.
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: Trying to find what the actual... trade back is so
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: Buckner at one point 2016 first round pick they traded
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: him to Indianapolis in 2020 he never was great with
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: them he's been better with with with Indianapolis so hmm
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: interesting fourth round pick is the return for the for
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: them so well that means I'm gonna tell you really
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: not a bad time for our next guest.
• 40:43
  Speaker 6: Yeah, he was mocking us about the trade today, which
• 40:47
  Speaker 6: I think meant he was jealous.
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: Very jealous. But now we'll see what he has to say.
• 40:50
  Speaker 3: Now he's got his own trade to talk about.
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: This is what we call perfect timing, Ashley Ryan.
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: It is.
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: It is.
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: You're right.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: Perfect timing, because coming up next, when will he join us?
• 41:01
  Speaker 2: Will he join us at 2 o'clock?
• 41:04
  Speaker 6: Send in your over-unders.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when will Lund be on with us? John Lund
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: from the Bay Area, after all the stuff in the
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: NFC West, is coming up next.