Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ari Temkin on Utah's win over his alma mater Kansas on Saturday, BYU hosting Notre Dame, Reaction to other Big 12 games + more

Transcript

Ari Temkin on Utah's win over his alma mater Kansas on Saturday, BYU hosting Notre Dame, Reaction to other Big 12 games + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: You're tuned to The Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Chevrolet studio.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Welcome in our good friend from Big 12 Today on
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: TuneIn Radio.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: His name is Ari Temkin.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: He's an encyclopedia of knowledge on all things Big 12. Ari,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: welcome to the show once again.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: How are you?
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, see you.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: What's up, buddy?
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: I'm good, man. How are you?
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: You know, it was a great weekend here in Salt
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Lake City.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: When.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: When did you get the notification that Utah, Kansas would
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: be moved up a couple of hours, and what was
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: your reaction to it?
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess I didn't. And when I saw the
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: game had kicked off, I was very confused. And then,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: you know, obviously heard about the situation with Tropical Storm Rachel,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: and if anybody knows Rachel, you know that they're probably
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: working up a tropical storm themselves. So, no, that's a joke.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Probably a bad-tasted one, too. Yeah. But it felt like,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: you know, from where I was sitting, like the weather
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: looked perfect in Utah. I don't know how it ended up,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: but there was some weird weather games, including the one
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: in Tempe as well. So this is sort of the
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: name of the game, I guess, this time of year
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: with games going on in all different locations out of
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the big 12.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: It was very weird. I don't remember.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure I just don't remember. It's probably
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: happened before. I don't remember the last time if there
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: was a time when we went into a Friday night
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: thinking that the game was going to kick off and
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: then you get a text or a tweet or a
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: notification like, Oh, by the way, alter your Saturday plans.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: We're kicking this thing off to two hours earlier. It
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: was very strange, especially since the, the bad weather, that
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: they were trying to avoid did not come, didn't really come.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: It ended up being like a perfect night at rice
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: cycle stadium.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And, and credit the fans because, you know, when
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: the game picked, it didn't really sound much different than
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: you would have expected it to given, you know, I'm
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: sure people were late getting there and not in their
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: normal routine. So it was very bizarre. You know, I,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: I guess this is probably something I should have talked
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: to Scott Draper about today. We have mine every Monday
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: and I, I was talking about the forward pitch by Dampier,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: which didn't look like one to me. But I did
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: not ask him about this. So that was one I
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: probably should have asked about, quite frankly.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Odd deal.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Ultimately, despite getting a little bit uncomfortable and tight in
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, Utah finds a way, and they end
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: up winning. Way Sean Parker puts a team on his
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: back yet again. And they stay 5-0. Now, I think
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: both teams have some things that they need to look
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: at Coming out of a game like this, Kansas diced
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: up the Utah secondary in a way that I don't
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: think a lot of us anticipated that they would. And,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: you know, if you're Kansas, you got oh so close
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: in a couple of scenarios. And after being perfect in
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the red zone, coming into Rice Eccles Stadium, you left
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: some points on the board. One on just a drop
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: from a receiver and another on a call play, a
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: play call. I think that Andy Kotelnicki would probably like
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: to have back. But your thoughts on, you know, what
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Kansas takes away from a game like this, because they
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: came pretty close to making this really ugly for Utah.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah. And when it started out, it was like touchdown,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: three and out, touchdown, three and out. It's like, oh,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: this is going to go quick. You know, this is,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: this is good to get ugly. The fact that Kansas
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: is able to weather the storm, you know, get back
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: into it themselves, I think speaks to two things. One,
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: Zeke Marshall, Isaiah Marshall, their quarterback, is really starting to
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: play considerably better than what we saw from him a
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago, which is right on time for
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Kansas fans because Kansas State is this weekend, and you
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: haven't beaten them in the 18 years. They do have
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: some disruptive players on their defense. I think D.K. McDonald's
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: defense was very bad last year. There are times early
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: this year where it looked to be equally as bad,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: and certainly in this game. I think with what Morgan
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Scali and Kevin McGiven were pulling out, with the different formations.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: It was really remarkable to see in certain plays. But
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: I think Leroy Harris and these guys are very disruptive
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: up front for Kansas, which is what led to some
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: turnovers in short fields for Kansas and got them kind
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: of in position. But I think you're right. You know,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Utah fans can overreact to this and say, look at
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Kansas' record. Kansas is a team trying to figure out
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: what it has. I don't think it's the worst team
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: in the Big 12. I think Colorado is most likely
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: the worst team in the Big 12, maybe West Virginia.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: But I still think with Kansas, there's kind of a
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: bunch we don't know about them. And, you know, Utah,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: whatever went wrong and however many points you gave up,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: they weren't expecting. Like this, to me, just kind of
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: fit exactly what we've seen from them all year, which is, yeah,
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: they may not have played the best teams, but and
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: we're not entirely sure of how good these teams are
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: that they play, but they just take care of business,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: and they figure out ways to get wins, and whether
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: that's putting 40 points to the board or getting certain
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: stops in goal-to-go situations, that's what they do.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: So Utah improves to 5-0. They're now the 11th-ranked team
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: in the country. Texas Tech right above them, and, of course,
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: BYU remains undefeated on a Friday night as well, setting
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: up a game-day visit and all that stuff with Notre
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Dame coming to Provo. looking at this game, Notre Dame
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: BYU through the big 12 lens, not, not the Utah
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: fan lens, not the that's our hated rival lens, but.
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: How big is this opportunity for the big 12 conference?
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, it's humongous and, you know, look, I
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: get the Utah BYU rivalry, but this is why BYU
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: has had long wanted to join a major conference. You know,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: what we're going to see on Saturday is, is exactly
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: every hope and dream they had coming to fruition. And
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: that I think is, is an amazing story unto itself.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's the first top 10 matchup ever in Provo. It's,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: I think the second time ever that game day has
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: been there, you know, and it's featuring two teams and
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: an eighth ranked BYU and a second ranked Notre Dame
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: that certainly have flaws. And, you know, I think with
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: a loss shouldn't move down much. At least that's what
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the AP poll has shown us from the SEC's vantage point.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: I mean, teams lose and don't really flinch. We'll see
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: if the same is true and afforded for BYU. If
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: they do in fact, lose this game, you know, it's
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: a tough spot, but I think at least coming off
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: the Iowa state game, you get a sense of, you know,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: I said, going to the Iowa state game, let's see
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: what BYU can do through the air. They're probably going
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: to have to be, they can't be the same team.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: They've been overly reliant on the run game without LJ Martin.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: And I think we saw a little bit of that and, and,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: you know, with legend glass or with them getting their
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: tight end of the game going, I think that makes
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: me pretty optimistic. I think if they didn't have this
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: game in between and a legit data point, Sean, I'd
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: be a little bit concerned going into this game because
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: of how good Notre Dame is. But given that we've
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: seen it already and we know that they're going to
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: have to adjust, and we've seen them adjust a little bit,
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: it makes me optimistic that BYU can keep this game
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: close and maybe even win it. And BYU, they are
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: so good on defense in their front seven. I think
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: we're really seeing that. I mean, you know, I'm assuming
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: part of what Utah did against Kansas was exactly what
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: BYU did against Iowa State, and that is kind of
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: play heavy in the box and force a quarterback to
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: try to win. And in the case of Jalen Rayner
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: and Iowa State, there were very few of those. In
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: the case of Zeke Marshall and Kansas, they were able
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: to air it out a little bit, but they certainly
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: did not want Kansas to have an effective run game going,
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: you know, and watching Utah's offense and how much in
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: some ways it reminds me of an Andy Kolnicki run offense,
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: you know, I can see why they were a little
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: bit reluctant on that. I think the same was true
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: with BYU, where they were just not going to let
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: Iowa State and Aiden Floor beat them on the ground,
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: and they didn't. I mean, Florida has worst game, and,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: you know, BYU was able to win with that because
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Rainer really couldn't make them pay.
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Also, this weekend, you had Arizona improve to 5-1. You
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: had Houston improve to 5-1. Oklahoma State beats UCF. So
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the headliner of Texas Tech, one of the headliners with
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Texas Tech, inactive. But the other players here that we've
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: been talking about these last few weeks that are entering
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: the chat, like Oklahoma State and Houston, and I think Arizona,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: sooner than later... is going to have a lot to
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: say despite their tough schedule about who ends up in
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: the conference championship game this year.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: You saw them all take care of business.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Who impressed you most this past weekend of the next tier,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: the second tier of top teams?
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know what? Real quick, let me go
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: back to your last question because I don't know that
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: I adequately answered it. The Notre Dame-BYU game is such
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: a huge deal for the Big 12. It's as big
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: of a deal for the Big 12 as it is
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: for BYU, and we went through the historical context of
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: first time ever, second time ever. I don't know that
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: the Big 12, like the new Big 12, we'll call
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: it that, has ever had an opportunity quite like this.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: The conference has had big games, and certainly historically the
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: conference has had big games, but for all intents and purposes,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: this is a brand-new conference with a brand-new identity. And
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: this year, which leads us into this next question, the
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Big 12 looks to be significantly more top-heavy than it's been.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I think that's what Week 6 showed us, that this
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: was a week in previous seasons, OC, where The Big
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: 12 may have spit up on itself a little bit
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: and have some surprising losses. Arizona going across three time
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: zones to play West Virginia on the East Coast in
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: a 9 a.m. local game, that's a spell of disaster
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: for a lot of teams. Houston going up to Kansas
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: State a week after they had to survive against UCF,
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: we're really seeing the league flex its muscles, which I
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: think leads right into this huge game on Saturday. There's
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: two big ones, one in the Big 12 and obviously
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: the BYU-Notterdam game. But if we're talking about a league
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: that wants to get multiple playoff bids, This is that opportunity.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: This is that season. Last year, I'm not sure the
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Big 12 was top-heavy enough, and it is. It's something
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: we've talked about all season. The Big 12 having five
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: teams in the top 20 this late in the season,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: it's been a long time since the conference has had that.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: And so, again, I think that just reflects that the
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: teams that were supposed to be good have ended up
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: being good. There's no surprise teams right now. I think
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: West Virginia was a team we thought maybe could be
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: a surprise team. I had Colorado. They're terrible. West Virginia
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: can't defend. K state has got a whole kinds of issues,
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: especially along their offensive line. UCS can't finish. And I
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: think they've taken a major step back because of the
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: quarterback situation. So I think both of these questions sort
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: of play into each other. The Big 12 is a
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: huge opportunity here. And look, will the Big 12 earn
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: two playoff bids with a win over Notre Dame? No.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Will they lose two playoff bids with a loss for
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: BYU to Notre Dame? No. But I just think with
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: what's playing out right now, like the Big 12 needed
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: there not to be surprise teams. It needed the teams
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: that were supposed to be good to stay good. And
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: that's what's happened. None of the teams– Houston lost to Tech.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: So that drops them out of the top– that drops
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: them not out of the top 25– But since they
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: started there, they stayed there. All the teams that have
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: started there have stayed there, even ones that have sustained losses.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: And I think that speaks to the trajectory of this conference.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: The SEC, you don't really know what you're going to
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: get week to week. I mean, Kentucky is a team
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: that's having a major surprise year right now. This is
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: a league of parity in many ways. The SEC, I
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: think the Big 12 is more in line with what
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: we've seen historically from the SEC with powers that are
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: flexing their muscles right now.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: You just mentioned them.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Are you a believer in Houston or are you a
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: skeptic on Houston?
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: I'm a believer. I mean, do I think that they're
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: a Big 12 championship team? No, but I think they're
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: one of the five best teams in the Big 12.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: You know, I mean, look, the game last week with
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: UCF is very similar to what UCF just had with
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Oklahoma State this past week. UCF puts together these really
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: dynamic first halves, and then second half has just been
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: a slog for them, specifically the third quarters. So what
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: Connor Wigman is doing right now is extremely surprising to me.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: When we think about the Big 12, the best quarterback
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: in this conference, certainly he's a guy that statistically and
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: wins-wise stood up, but I think his last two weeks,
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: and in particular what he did on Saturday through the air,
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: you know, it's very impressive. And I'm not sure Kansas
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: State's very good, certainly higher expectations for them. But I
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: just think going up to Manhattan, where they're coming off
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: a bye week, like that's a really tough spot in
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: a game in which everything, I mean, there's a lot
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: of historical context there. Michael Bishop is the quarterback's coach
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: now for Houston, obviously the legendary Kansas State quarterback. Willie
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Fritz is from the Kansas City area. He's now 3-0 defensively.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: against K-State, including two wins at Houston against K-State and
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: then one against Tulane. Again, do I think they're one
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: of the three best teams? No, I think that's pretty
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: clearly defined. It's BYU, Utah, and Texas Tech. But I
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: certainly think Houston is one of these top five teams
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: that is pretty good and can knock off anybody given
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: some of the right circumstances. They're really good defensively. I
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: think they did a really good job in their past
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: defense this week after being exposed a few times. And
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: then I, I mean, I put a lot of it
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: on Wigman. I mean, Wigman was really fantastic. Patrick Overmeyer,
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: their tight end had four touchdowns at eight catches, four
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: of them for touchdowns and had big plays across the
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: entire game to really create that separation for, for Houston.
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: Ari, I could pick your brain all day.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: We got to try to stay on clock because we
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: got a Morgan Scali press conference coming up here shortly.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: So appreciate your time again, my friend, let's talk again
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: next week.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Love those frosty Utah helmets, by the way. Those were sick.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: And Scali's, his sweatshirt, too. That was great. Take care, guys.