Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ari Temkin on Utah beating Cincinnati on the road, Top 10 matchup in the Holy War on Saturday + more

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Ari Temkin on Utah beating Cincinnati on the road, Top 10 matchup in the Holy War on Saturday + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:08
Speaker 1: You're tuned to The Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
0:11
Speaker 1: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 and 92.1 FM. Welcome back
0:26
Speaker 1: to the Sean O'Connell show here on ESPN 700 and
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Speaker 1: 92 on FM home of the Utes. Spence check. It's
0:34
Speaker 1: in the drive are live at virtual dugout. That'll be
0:38
Speaker 1: in the Lehigh today, 90 North 500 West. You could
0:43
Speaker 1: enter to win a signed Utah Utes football from Devin
0:46
Speaker 1: damn peer and check out the baseball simulator cages. It's
0:49
Speaker 1: newly opened today. Book now experience the future of baseball
0:53
Speaker 1: at virtual dugout where Spence is going to be today.
0:58
Speaker 1: Utah comes off a big victory on the road at Nippert.
1:05
Speaker 1: 49-25 and they are now ranked number three in the country.
1:08
Speaker 1: They are 8-0 and they welcome the BYU Cougars this
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Speaker 1: weekend for the Holy War. Ari Temkin is kind enough
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Speaker 1: to join us here to talk all things Big 12
1:18
Speaker 1: and especially these Utes. Ari, welcome.
1:20
Speaker 2: How are you, sir? Oh, see, I'm great, buddy. How
1:23
Speaker 2: are you?
1:24
Speaker 1: You know, we're fired up. It's a great day when
1:26
Speaker 1: you're covering an undefeated team and a rivalry week. It's just,
1:30
Speaker 1: it's a lot of fun right now here in Salt
1:32
Speaker 1: Lake City. What did you see from the Utes that
1:34
Speaker 1: impressed you most on Saturday?
1:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, my God, 42-7 at halftime. It's sort
1:42
Speaker 2: of more of the same what we've seen all season
1:44
Speaker 2: where we were wondering how good this team was and,
1:47
Speaker 2: you know, questioned whether it was the opponents or what. But,
1:51
Speaker 2: you know, look, they have found when you go eight, no,
1:53
Speaker 2: you got to find ways to win. And I thought
1:56
Speaker 2: this was more of what we had kind of seen,
1:59
Speaker 2: you know, during the early part portion of the year
2:03
Speaker 2: when they just were a dominant force and, you know,
2:06
Speaker 2: there there's the second half and I don't think we
2:08
Speaker 2: can completely dismiss and diminish the second half, but you're
2:13
Speaker 2: up 42 to seven halftime, you know, the natural, uh,
2:17
Speaker 2: approach is to probably take the, take your foot off
2:19
Speaker 2: the gas a little bit. And I think that's what
2:20
Speaker 2: they did. But I mean, we see an opportunistic, we
2:24
Speaker 2: see so many ways on offense that they can beat you.
2:27
Speaker 2: And like, I think they've sort of settled into an
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Speaker 2: offensive identity that is not, you know, it's not kitschy.
2:35
Speaker 2: It's not, um, you know, it's not a bunch of
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Speaker 2: trick plays. It's just really difficult formations to manage. I
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Speaker 2: think that more than anything is what, hurt Cincinnati's defense.
2:47
Speaker 2: Cincinnati's defense has kind of been feast of famine this year,
2:50
Speaker 2: and it felt like watching that game in the first half,
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Speaker 2: like they were just guessing and guessing incorrectly based on formation,
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Speaker 2: based on personnel packages, and based on pre-snap motion. And
3:02
Speaker 2: that's what you're getting with this Kevin McGibbon offense.
3:09
Speaker 1: The... Oh my gosh.
3:11
Speaker 2: The....
3:14
Speaker 1: The weapons we have seen emerge week by week. We've
3:19
Speaker 1: seen Devin Dampier use his arm, his legs. We've seen
3:22
Speaker 1: way Sean Parker and several different roles. And, and this
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Speaker 1: last week, excuse me, Harry on the voice Hunter Andrews
3:31
Speaker 1: comes out of almost nowhere and has a five catch
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Speaker 1: 112 yard day with two touchdowns on top of it. Uh,
3:39
Speaker 1: the question we're asking here in salt Lake is, is
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Speaker 1: there still somebody or some position where even against BYU,
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Speaker 1: they're suddenly going to be the flavor of the day.
3:53
Speaker 2: Yeah. And by the way, I hate when that happens
3:54
Speaker 2: to me and you just can't get it out. You know,
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Speaker 2: like you just cannot get rid of that feeling in
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Speaker 2: your back or throat. And it's like, somebody help me please.
4:01
Speaker 2: For the love of God, the worst, the absolute worst.
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Speaker 2: I mean, look, this is, this is what elite teams
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Speaker 2: do is, you know, they, they have to adjust to
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Speaker 2: what defense are trying to do to them and defense
4:14
Speaker 2: are trying to take away. And, you know, if there's
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Speaker 2: games where teams try to take away way, Sean Parker,
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Speaker 2: we saw Devin Dampier being with his legs. If there's
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Speaker 2: games where, you know, they're not going to allow, you know,
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Speaker 2: weapons down the field to win, then, then suddenly Hunter
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Speaker 2: Andrews emerges at the tight end position. So I think
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Speaker 2: very smart offenses and very smart, you know, offenses schematically
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Speaker 2: are self-scouting and looking at their biggest strengths and weaknesses
4:43
Speaker 2: week to week and figuring out what teams are going
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Speaker 2: to try to do to them in order to kind
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Speaker 2: of be ready to, to take it on. And I mean,
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Speaker 2: what was it like going into the game Hunter had like,
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Speaker 2: I mean, he basically like tripled his complete season output
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Speaker 2: in one game, which is five for one 12 and
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Speaker 2: two touchdowns. Um, And look, this was a dominant machine
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Speaker 2: in the first half of this football game, where they
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Speaker 2: scored in all four possessions. They're up 42-7. They were
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Speaker 2: just completely and utterly destroying Cincinnati and Cincinnati's will, and
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Speaker 2: especially at Nippert Stadium. I mean, the thing about Utah
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Speaker 2: that's probably the most underrated aspect is they've gone on
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Speaker 2: the road and had some very impressive road showings. I mean,
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Speaker 2: this was a team a week ago in Cincinnati that
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Speaker 2: you know, beat Texas tech and looked very, very good.
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Speaker 2: I mean, they've gone on the road and beat Iowa state,
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Speaker 2: Oklahoma state, one of the road this past week and
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Speaker 2: lost at Iowa state and Utah. I mean, there wasn't
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Speaker 2: much suspense in that game. You know, they obviously have
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Speaker 2: a win over Houston. So to me, it's, it's the
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Speaker 2: wins that they've gotten, where they've gotten them, how they've
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Speaker 2: gotten them. They're so multiple. And look, BYU needs LJ
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Speaker 2: Martin back. I think they've been surviving. They obviously didn't
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Speaker 2: against UCF, but this week they certainly did. They're just
6:00
Speaker 2: not getting enough production from their running backs, which puts
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Speaker 2: a ton of the load on Bear Bachmeier. And I
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Speaker 2: think there's a shot that LJ can come back this week,
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Speaker 2: but we're right in that four- to six-week window right now.
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Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about that. So I was having dinner
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Speaker 1: down in Provo last night. My wife's family's from there.
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Speaker 1: All her cousins are BYU people. And we're expressing our
6:23
Speaker 1: mutual angst over the upcoming game. And obviously Utah has
6:27
Speaker 1: been playing better when you compared in its apples and oranges.
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Speaker 1: But if it matters, the last two showings for Utah
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Speaker 1: have been more impressive than the last two showings for BYU.
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Speaker 1: And I think that everyone settles on the same conclusion
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Speaker 1: that like, they're just not the same team without, last
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Speaker 1: year's offensive player of the year in the big 12 conference,
6:45
Speaker 1: which by the way, very few teams could be right
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Speaker 1: when they don't have their best player. Arizona state held
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Speaker 1: this BYU team to 47 yards rushing. That's just not
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Speaker 1: going to be enough against Utah. That's all that the
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Speaker 1: Cougars can get. But even if you do have LJ
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Speaker 1: Martin back, I mean, how much are you going to
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Speaker 1: run him coming off of an injury timeout coming off
7:06
Speaker 1: of what we're told is like he had a surgery
7:08
Speaker 1: as far as I'm aware. So even if he is back,
7:12
Speaker 1: how much can BYU expect from him?
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Speaker 2: Right. No, I mean, it's a great question, you know, and,
7:19
Speaker 2: and I think Kalani basically said after the game that,
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Speaker 2: you know, that, that he, he's thinking more long-term and,
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Speaker 2: you know, that LJ wants to come back. So they're
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Speaker 2: gonna have to kind of balance sort of the long-term
7:32
Speaker 2: thinking with, you know, a guy who's chomping at the
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Speaker 2: bit to get back. I mean, how would Utah look
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Speaker 2: without way Sean Parker? That's kind of the way that
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Speaker 2: I feel about it. Now, Daniel Bray is a way
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Speaker 2: better option more than anything that BYU has right now.
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Speaker 2: They've just needed to get production from the running back
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Speaker 2: position and haven't. It's a lot to ask Bear Bachmeier
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Speaker 2: every week to be throwing it and running it and
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Speaker 2: basically be 90% to 95% of total production, but that's
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Speaker 2: pretty much what it's been. It's the reason they lost
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Speaker 2: to UCF. you know, because they just can't get anything
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Speaker 2: going from their running game. And again, like they survived
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Speaker 2: against Arizona state, but same, you know, same story, different game.
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Speaker 2: And so, I mean, I think, look, LJ Martin's return
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Speaker 2: is going to be huge whenever it happens. Certainly this
8:23
Speaker 2: week would be a welcome site because I'm not sure
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Speaker 2: that quite honestly be why you keep it close just
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Speaker 2: because of how ineffective that running game has been without him.
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Speaker 2: But I think the threat of LJ is pretty significant
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Speaker 2: to hero. See, just like, him being in a lineup
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Speaker 2: and regardless of how many snaps he plays, like you
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Speaker 2: now have to account for him in a way that
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Speaker 2: you don't have to really account for the running game
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Speaker 2: at all. I mean, it's, it is truly unbelievable how
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Speaker 2: poor and big of a drop off it is. And,
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Speaker 2: you know, I bet you Sataki and the BYU and
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Speaker 2: the BYU offensive staff are, are surprised with, you know,
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Speaker 2: how bad they've been at that position without allergy. I mean, look,
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Speaker 2: you're losing an NFL running back. Like you're going to
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Speaker 2: take a step back. But the degree to which they've
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Speaker 2: taken a step back is, you know, is really difficult
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Speaker 2: to comprehend considering, like, if they could just get anybody
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Speaker 2: to step in, you know, it would be huge. Arizona State,
9:15
Speaker 2: on the other side of that, like, they found a
9:16
Speaker 2: true freshman, Carday Mack, who's been a godsend. And the
9:20
Speaker 2: only reason why he's in the lineup is because his
9:22
Speaker 2: mother asked Kenny Dillingham if her son was going to
9:25
Speaker 2: play against Hawaii. And now he's broken out. And so
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Speaker 2: it's like, you look at this BYU team, you're like, wow,
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Speaker 2: you really haven't found anybody. whether it's Tonga or Moa
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Speaker 2: or Brax, that can really be the productive back that
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Speaker 2: you need them to be. So it is 100%. I mean, look,
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Speaker 2: going into the Notre Dame game, it was the reason
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Speaker 2: why you thought they would lose, because it's all on bear,
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Speaker 2: and they won despite that. But it's just not sustainable.
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Speaker 2: We saw that in UCF, and again, we saw it
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Speaker 2: in a near loss at Arizona State in what was
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Speaker 2: really just one of the worst offensive showings between two
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Speaker 2: teams that we've seen a long time in the big. 12.
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Speaker 1: All right, Tim, for another couple of minutes here on
10:02
Speaker 1: the Sean O'Connell Show, talking all things Big 12. We'll
10:05
Speaker 1: stay focused on this Utah-BYU matchup that's coming up this weekend.
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Speaker 1: One fascinating aspect here has always been the crossover, right?
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Speaker 1: The incest. of these two teams where it's like, I
10:18
Speaker 1: played here, but I coach here and I coached here.
10:20
Speaker 1: And now I'm coaching at the, in the opposite side
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Speaker 1: of things. And there was for many years, uh, an
10:26
Speaker 1: intimate familiarity, not only with the personalities, but with their tendencies,
10:30
Speaker 1: Aaron Roderick and, and Morgan Scali when Scali was the
10:34
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator, they practiced against one another for years. They
10:38
Speaker 1: played in game. They coached in games together. They coached
10:40
Speaker 1: in games against one another. I think there's some predictability,
10:44
Speaker 1: no matter how hard you try for there not to be,
10:46
Speaker 1: that comes with that. Same thing when, when we're talking
10:49
Speaker 1: about the offense versus the defense, right? Like Jay Hill
10:54
Speaker 1: is somebody that spent most of his career at the
10:56
Speaker 1: university of Utah. So when you're, when, even when you're
10:59
Speaker 1: Jason Beck calling and an offense against him, like you
11:04
Speaker 1: have the expertise of Kyle Whittingham and knowing Jay Hill's
11:07
Speaker 1: tendencies and what he likes to do. Now you've got
11:10
Speaker 1: new coordinators. Roderick is still there. Papinga is doing the
11:13
Speaker 1: defense and, for BYU Colton Swan and, and Kevin McGiven
11:18
Speaker 1: are our new coordinators for the BYU side to deal with.
11:22
Speaker 1: And the same is true for Colton Swan to have
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Speaker 1: to deal with, with Aaron Roderick in a way that
11:27
Speaker 1: he's never had to as a coordinator before. And especially
11:29
Speaker 1: for the, McGiven to have to call an offense against
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Speaker 1: Papinga when you knew what you were getting from the
11:36
Speaker 1: previous guys. I'm very fascinated by that. How much do
11:40
Speaker 1: you think it changes the game that these guys don't
11:43
Speaker 1: know each other quite as well as the last, I
11:45
Speaker 1: don't know, 15 iterations of this rivalry game?
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Speaker 2: It is a great point. And it is, it's always
11:52
Speaker 2: remarkable to me just how, as you mentioned, like sort
11:55
Speaker 2: of incestuous, the whole situation is and not just between
11:57
Speaker 2: Utah and BYU, but obviously the now we're talking about
12:00
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator that comes all the way from Utah state, right? Like,
12:04
Speaker 2: so it really is remarkable how, I mean, how many
12:08
Speaker 2: players have played on both sides. I mean, Keanu Tanavasa
12:12
Speaker 2: is a name that stands out obviously, but there's others and,
12:14
Speaker 2: you know, and then the coaches who have coached both programs. And,
12:18
Speaker 2: and I mean, you mentioned it, your in-laws, right? I mean, it, it,
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Speaker 2: it feels like a rivalry that is similar to most others,
12:24
Speaker 2: but probably not as intertwined as most others are. Um,
12:29
Speaker 2: I do think that many other rivalries, whether we're talking
12:31
Speaker 2: about Oklahoma or Oklahoma State or Texas and Texas A
12:33
Speaker 2: & M, you're going to have families where some go
12:36
Speaker 2: to one school and some go to the other. But
12:39
Speaker 2: just the intermingling, intertwinedness of these feels very unique. And
12:43
Speaker 2: I think your point is extremely well stated, too, OC.
12:47
Speaker 2: This ain't your mom's or your grandmother's. Utah offense, you know,
12:53
Speaker 2: I mean, and that was the thing we heard about
12:55
Speaker 2: throughout the off season from Morgan Scali. And now we're
12:57
Speaker 2: seeing it like, this is not a downhill power running style. Okay.
13:02
Speaker 2: It is, but not in the same way that we've
13:04
Speaker 2: seen it where line up the blockings to the left side,
13:09
Speaker 2: you know, they bring an extra tight end over there.
13:11
Speaker 2: You're running to the left side, right? I mean, now
13:13
Speaker 2: what we're seeing is a downhill running power style that
13:16
Speaker 2: but it's got the pre-snatch stuff. It's mixing and matching
13:18
Speaker 2: personnel packages. We see Bert Ficklin out there a lot.
13:21
Speaker 2: We've seen, you know, tackles in the pistol with the quarterback.
13:25
Speaker 2: So to me, and I also think like in some ways,
13:29
Speaker 2: BYU is in some of a disadvantage based on the
13:32
Speaker 2: fact that they already had kind of the extra preparation
13:34
Speaker 2: they needed to do for the Notre Dame game. Whereas
13:36
Speaker 2: with Utah, like, this has kind of been the one
13:39
Speaker 2: game they've circled all year. This is the second for,
13:41
Speaker 2: for BYU. So like when BYU was on the buy,
13:44
Speaker 2: they had one game and then the, the, the Notre
13:47
Speaker 2: Dame game coming up, you know, they had probably spent
13:49
Speaker 2: extra time in Notre Dame, whereas they couldn't spend extra
13:51
Speaker 2: time looking at Utah. And I would think this is
13:55
Speaker 2: an offense you need to prepare more for, because this
13:57
Speaker 2: is not the offense. that you've seen, you know, even
14:01
Speaker 2: if it is from an offensive coordinator that's coming in
14:03
Speaker 2: from Utah State. So, look, I think Utah has an
14:05
Speaker 2: advantage in a lot of areas, and certainly when it
14:08
Speaker 2: comes to, you know, keeping a BYU defense honest with, again,
14:14
Speaker 2: personnel packages, mixing and matching. We've just seen so many
14:17
Speaker 2: different formations. They're an extremely difficult team to prepare for. And, again,
14:22
Speaker 2: because they're so multifaceted and because they're They could beat
14:25
Speaker 2: you in so many different ways. That makes it even
14:27
Speaker 2: more difficult to prepare for because you're looking for one thing,
14:29
Speaker 2: you see something else, and suddenly Hunter Andrews comes out
14:32
Speaker 2: the back end and he's got 112 yards and two touchdowns, right?
14:34
Speaker 2: So they have the weapons on the outside. They've got
14:38
Speaker 2: the tight ends. Now the production sort of backs that
14:40
Speaker 2: all up. The biggest thing and concern for me from
14:44
Speaker 2: a Utah standpoint is the interceptions from Devin Dampier. That
14:47
Speaker 2: was a concern coming out of New Mexico. He did
14:49
Speaker 2: not have the interceptions last year, but that was, of course,
14:52
Speaker 2: once again, one of those very blah, basic offenses. you know,
14:56
Speaker 2: that wasn't asking him to do too much was more
14:59
Speaker 2: of a take advantage of the opportunities and the throws
15:01
Speaker 2: when you have them. But for the most part, just
15:03
Speaker 2: don't turn the ball over. And he didn't, but we've
15:05
Speaker 2: seen it now more so this year, because this is
15:07
Speaker 2: a more multiple and multifaceted offense. It's sort of the
15:10
Speaker 2: blessing and the curse, right? Like You want to see
15:12
Speaker 2: an offense that has the potential to be more explosive
15:14
Speaker 2: and to be more multiple. But within that, you have
15:17
Speaker 2: a guy that had interception issues at New Mexico, and
15:20
Speaker 2: those are starting to come back. I think BYU is
15:22
Speaker 2: a team very capable of taking advantage of that in
15:25
Speaker 2: a way that maybe some of these other opponents last
15:26
Speaker 2: two weeks have not.
15:28
Speaker 1: Last thing before I let you go, the AP says
15:31
Speaker 1: Utah's three, BYU is seven. College football playoff rankings, where
15:35
Speaker 1: are they going to put the top teams in the
15:37
Speaker 1: Big 12s?
15:40
Speaker 2: I don't see any way that Utah is going to
15:43
Speaker 2: be any lower than three. From being undefeated in the
15:47
Speaker 2: Big 12 team with how good the Big 12 is
15:49
Speaker 2: this year with five teams right now in the top 25, again,
15:51
Speaker 2: I don't see any way that they're lower than three.
15:55
Speaker 2: If I don't see any way BYU is, is low.
16:01
Speaker 2: Like a lot of times we do see these rankings
16:03
Speaker 2: mirror that of the AP top 25. I would be
16:05
Speaker 2: surprised certainly to see that change. I'd be very curious
16:08
Speaker 2: to see where they put BYU and where they put
16:10
Speaker 2: Notre Dame because that is something to kind of monitor throughout,
16:13
Speaker 2: because remember Notre Dame gets an automatic bid. If they're
16:16
Speaker 2: one of the top 12 seeds and BYU is going
16:19
Speaker 2: to be kind of hanging out in that area, I
16:20
Speaker 2: would think depending on obviously how the game goes on Saturday.
16:23
Speaker 2: So yeah, for me, I expect Utah to be at three.
16:26
Speaker 2: I expect BYU to be in the top 10, but
16:29
Speaker 2: where they are and where BYU is, or rather where
16:31
Speaker 2: Notre Dame is, is going to be a huge thing
16:32
Speaker 2: to pay attention to.
16:35
Speaker 1: Ari, always appreciate your time. Can't wait for this weekend.
16:38
Speaker 1: Hopefully you call an audible and come in for the
16:40
Speaker 1: Holy war.
16:42
Speaker 2: Yeah. One of these days, my friend, one of these days,
16:44
Speaker 2: but you enjoy your week brother. And now hopefully we'll
16:46
Speaker 2: see you soon.
16:47
Speaker 1: That's Ari Temkin. Big 12 radio on tune in, uh,
16:54
Speaker 1: He's got a lot of knowledge about this conference, and
16:56
Speaker 1: you can tell every time we have a conversation with him.
16:58
Speaker 1: The eyes of the Big 12 and of the country
17:01
Speaker 1: will be on Utah versus BYU.