Latest / The Craig Way Show / Steve Sarkisian on facing Ohio State and the Horns' run offense

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Steve Sarkisian on facing Ohio State and the Horns' run offense · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: It's the Craig Way Show with the voice of the
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  Speaker 1: Texas Longhorns in Hall of Fame broadcaster Craig Way.
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  Speaker 2: Here on a Monday, as we roll into this week
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  Speaker 2: here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred zone. Glad to
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  Speaker 2: have you with us. Cameron Parker the producer alongside, and
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  Speaker 2: again we will have other things coming up, like, for example,
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  Speaker 2: Inconceivable later this hour. Paul Keel's play by play voice
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  Speaker 2: of the Ohio State Buckeyes will join us later on
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  Speaker 2: as well. But we do want to hear from the
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  Speaker 2: head football coach at the University Diversity of Texas. After all,
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  Speaker 2: the Longhorns are in the Final four and headed for
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  Speaker 2: this Cotton Bowl matchup with the Ohio State Buckeyes, and
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  Speaker 2: that's coming up on Friday evening. So let's hear some
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  Speaker 2: comments from Long Horns head coach Steve Sarkeesian. Here it
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  Speaker 2: Starks opening comments here from this week. Getting ready.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd just like to say, first of all, it's
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  Speaker 3: an honor to UH to represent the Southeastern Conference in
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  Speaker 3: the UH in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl. This game has
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  Speaker 3: been one the notorious for for great games, great teams
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  Speaker 3: over the years. You know, Obviously, this being a semi
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  Speaker 3: final game of the College Football Playoff, it's definitely an
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  Speaker 3: honor to be part of this. It's a heck of
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  Speaker 3: an opponent in Ohio State, the job that coach Day
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  Speaker 3: has done with that team, their staff, they're playing really
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  Speaker 3: good football right now. We know it's gonna be a
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  Speaker 3: heck of a challenge, but looking forward to the opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, and then to the comments being asked some questions.
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  Speaker 2: First of all, what stood out to him about the
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  Speaker 2: fact that Ohio State got off to really fast starts?
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  Speaker 2: You think about it coming off the lost to Michigan,
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  Speaker 2: did not qualify for the Big Ten Championship. So the
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  Speaker 2: Buckeyes first game was in the College Football Playoff against
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  Speaker 2: Tennessee and they raced out of the gate and cruised
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  Speaker 2: to a forty two to seventeen victory. And then in
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  Speaker 2: the quarterfinal round in the Rose Bowl, they raced out
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  Speaker 2: to a thirty four to zhing lead on the Oregon
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  Speaker 2: and beat the number one, unbeaten seated Ducks to win
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  Speaker 2: that one to twenty one. So what stood out to
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  Speaker 2: start to sark about those fast starts for Ohio State.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think it's probably credit to their coaching staff.
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  Speaker 3: First of all, game planning, putting together a nice plan
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  Speaker 3: on offense, defense, and special teams. Instill in that plan
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  Speaker 3: to the players and the players playing with confidence. I
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  Speaker 3: think that's the one thing that jumps out when you
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  Speaker 3: watch it is how confidently they're playing. They're definitely calling
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  Speaker 3: it aggressively, but the execution is at a really high level.
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  Speaker 4: So that's what jumps out at us.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. He was also asked about for an update on
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  Speaker 2: Isaiah Bond, because while Bond did come back for the
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  Speaker 2: Arizona State game, I think it was pretty clear to
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  Speaker 2: everybody wasn't one hundred percent, but he was able to
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  Speaker 2: get back. And how overall, how did the team come
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  Speaker 2: out of the game physically, And then he was asked
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  Speaker 2: about Quinn Ewers and his approach to the game, the
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  Speaker 2: finish to the game, the passes, the scores, and would
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  Speaker 2: that be the kind of thing, especially with the season
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  Speaker 2: on the line, that can ignite a player's confidence and
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  Speaker 2: really lift him Speaking from the perspective as a former
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  Speaker 2: quarterback himself.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, I think we're going to be healthy and
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  Speaker 3: good to go by the time the game rolls around.
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  Speaker 3: As far as Quinn goes, you know, is a guy
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  Speaker 3: making plays at a critical moment. And I think for
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  Speaker 3: any player at any position, when you're at your best,
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  Speaker 3: when your best is needed naturally, that is still confidence
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  Speaker 3: in you.
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  Speaker 4: All right.
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  Speaker 2: Next, I think it was our friend Kirk Bowles who
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  Speaker 2: asked this question about because the Long Words only ran
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  Speaker 2: for fifty three yards against Arizona State and struggled with
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  Speaker 2: the run, might they have to lean into the passing
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  Speaker 2: game a little more or is there a fix for
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  Speaker 2: what is ailing the running game? Well?
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  Speaker 4: I hope not, you know. I hope that we can
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  Speaker 4: find balance.
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  Speaker 3: And I think that that we're more than equipped to
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  Speaker 3: do that, you know, I think that, you know, in
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  Speaker 3: really evaluating last the last ball game was, man, we
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  Speaker 3: just we really couldn't get our backs free into the
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  Speaker 3: second level, you know. And I thought Arizona State did
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  Speaker 3: a nice job thought their safeties and their secondary tackled
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  Speaker 3: well and got us on the ground and and we
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  Speaker 3: didn't get a whole lot of reps to find the
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  Speaker 3: rhythm of it. And so there's everybody's kind of got
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  Speaker 3: to take some responsibility of that.
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  Speaker 4: But we're at our best when we when we when
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  Speaker 4: we can.
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  Speaker 3: Run it, and that gives us balance, and so I'm
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  Speaker 3: hard pressed not to just kind of walk away from
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  Speaker 3: it and abandon it. So we've got to do a
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  Speaker 3: better great job as a staff of putting together a
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  Speaker 3: good plan and make sure that our players can execute
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  Speaker 3: it at a high level versus the myriad of looks,
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  Speaker 3: especially that Ohio State can give you.
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  Speaker 2: All. Right, here's a popular topic coming out of the quarterfinals.
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  Speaker 2: Noticed that all four teams that received first round byes
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  Speaker 2: lost in the quarterfinals. So the seeds five to six, seven,
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  Speaker 2: and eight, all of whom played a first round home game,
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  Speaker 2: won the quarterfinal game. In fact, Texas is the number
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  Speaker 2: five seed, is the highest remaining seed, technically the home
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  Speaker 2: team for Ohio State, but the Longhorns chose to wear white.
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  Speaker 2: We'll get more on that in a little bit, But
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  Speaker 2: in the interim, Sark was asked about this whole thing
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  Speaker 2: about the teams that did not receive buys winning their
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  Speaker 2: first round game at home and then winning the bowl game,
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  Speaker 2: and did they receive an advantage by having the play
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  Speaker 2: and does he think there might be changes going forward
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  Speaker 2: with how the seeding is done or how the home
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  Speaker 2: fields are done.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I don't know, you know, I've referenced this before.
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  Speaker 3: You know, my initial thought on all this was similar
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  Speaker 3: to the NCAA basketball tournament that you know, if you
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  Speaker 3: win your conference championship, you get an automatic bid into
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  Speaker 3: the tournament, like like they're doing basketball, and then the
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  Speaker 3: committee seeds the tournament. You know, And I've referenced these
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  Speaker 3: two schools just because they're in the same conference, But
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  Speaker 3: how many times have Duke and North Carolina both been
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  Speaker 3: number one seeds coming out of the ACC for all
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  Speaker 3: those years? And so like in this instance, if this
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  Speaker 3: year were that way, we would have been the three
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  Speaker 3: seed and we would have gotten a buy and so,
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  Speaker 3: but because of the guaranteed spots as one seeds, we
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  Speaker 3: went in as the five seed and we had to play.
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  Speaker 3: And so I don't know if there's necessarily an advantage
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  Speaker 3: or a disadvantage.
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  Speaker 4: To it that way.
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  Speaker 3: I know our guys were chopping at the bit to
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  Speaker 3: get back out there and play and compete, but I
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  Speaker 3: also know we're going into our sixteenth game here coming up,
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  Speaker 3: you know, this coming week, and you know, without a
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  Speaker 3: real significant rest. We've been finding our spots to get
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  Speaker 3: some rest and to get healthy. But we didn't get
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  Speaker 3: that massive rest that I think a lot of the
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  Speaker 3: other teams do. Now, I don't know if that's beneficial
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  Speaker 3: or not. You know, I think there is something to
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  Speaker 3: be said about playing football consistently and rhythm and routine and.
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  Speaker 4: So on and so forth.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm not sure I have a great answer for
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  Speaker 3: what is best, but what I do know that would
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  Speaker 3: be my one recommendation to the seeding process.
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  Speaker 2: Interesting, Yeah, what would the higher seeds draw the byes
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  Speaker 2: instead of just conference champions receiving buyes? The fest four
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  Speaker 2: highest seated and they weren't all power for us. We know,
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  Speaker 2: Boise State, you know, got to buy and then lost
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  Speaker 2: to Penn State as they played. So you know, that's
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  Speaker 2: that's going to be something that the committee certainly will
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  Speaker 2: discuss going forward. All right now, they're going to see
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  Speaker 2: a very familiar face on Friday, Will Howard, the Kansas
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  Speaker 2: State quarterback. When the long Warts last saw Will Howard
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  Speaker 2: it was when they were knocking him to the turf
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  Speaker 2: in the second overtime of last year's game with Kansas State,
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  Speaker 2: when the Long Words won.
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  Speaker 4: That in overtime. So the question is.
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  Speaker 2: What does he see from Will Howard and what does
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  Speaker 2: his team need to do to disrupt Will Howard's game.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think we've got to be really good at
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  Speaker 3: the line of scrimmage against the run, in the pass.
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  Speaker 3: You know that Ohio States similar to us that way,
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  Speaker 3: when they have balance, they're very difficult and.
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  Speaker 4: So got to be good against the run.
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  Speaker 3: We got to try to, you know, affect him in
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  Speaker 3: the pocket, and we need to disrupt timing in the
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  Speaker 3: back end. We need to disguise our coverage as well.
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  Speaker 3: We need to be sticky in coverage. We need to
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  Speaker 3: get hands on footballs. We need to make throwing lanes difficult.
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  Speaker 3: We need to get our hands up at the line
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  Speaker 3: of scrimmage. So there's a there's a lot of facts
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  Speaker 3: to that. Not an easy task, I'll say that, but
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  Speaker 3: but one that I think is going to be necessary
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  Speaker 3: if we want to be successful.
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  Speaker 2: Okay and h and moving on from the defensive side.
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  Speaker 2: Sark also then was asked about to what they need
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  Speaker 2: to do offensively with his own quarterback, Quinn yours and
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  Speaker 2: really what has he seen from Quinn going all the
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  Speaker 2: way back to when Youwers was a red shirting freshman
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  Speaker 2: at Ohio State.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I like anything, you know, when when he went
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  Speaker 3: to Ohio State, early on, he should have still been
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  Speaker 3: a senior in high school, you know, and and when
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  Speaker 3: we got him back, you know, he was still in
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  Speaker 3: our eyes, a freshman at that time. And so there's
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  Speaker 3: been a lot of development. I would say physical development,
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  Speaker 3: but I would also probably say mental and emotional development
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  Speaker 3: to watch him grow into a leader that he's grown
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  Speaker 3: into for us. His ability to have the poise and
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  Speaker 3: composure he has uh not only on the field, but
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  Speaker 3: off the field, to look into the face of adversity
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  Speaker 3: and get come out on the other side of it
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  Speaker 3: time and time again, whether it be injuries, whatever, that
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  Speaker 3: looks like, to be at his best when his best
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  Speaker 3: was needed, you know, similar to to the to the
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  Speaker 3: Peach Bowl there at the end of the game and
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  Speaker 3: in overtime. So I think that's all from a from
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  Speaker 3: a you know, a seismic shift from maturity standpoint, Like
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  Speaker 3: I said, physically and mentally, he's.
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  Speaker 2: Definitely come a long way since that time, all right.
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  Speaker 2: The log Words have had this interesting path in reaching
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  Speaker 2: the semifinal round, been ranked inside the top five versus
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  Speaker 2: of the entire season, ranked number one for a while,
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  Speaker 2: lost not once but twice to Georgia, of course, including
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  Speaker 2: the SEC Championship, but those who have been the only
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  Speaker 2: two losses bounced back one decisively at home over Clemson
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  Speaker 2: and survived the double overtime game in the Peach Bowl
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  Speaker 2: to be the Arizona State now here they are in
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  Speaker 2: the semifinals and back in the State of Tech, albeit
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  Speaker 2: two hundred miles up the road in Arlington, and Sark
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  Speaker 2: was asked about this path and returning to the Metroplex
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  Speaker 2: for the Cotton Boll I think.
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  Speaker 4: It's been really fun. I'll be honest with you, you know.
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  Speaker 3: I thought, you know, in our first year in the SEC,
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  Speaker 3: UH to play in Mercedes Benz Stadium for the SEC
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  Speaker 3: Championship in Atlanta, I thought was an awesome experience for
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  Speaker 3: our guys. Coming back home and being part of the
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  Speaker 3: first round of the College Football Playoffs and having a
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  Speaker 3: home game, I thought was another really cool experience. The
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  Speaker 3: fact that that we hosted one of the inaugural home
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  Speaker 3: home games and the CFP was was really cool. And
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  Speaker 3: then an opportunity to play in the Peach Bowl UH
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  Speaker 3: an iconic bowl, and and for us to to win
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  Speaker 3: that and and to be the first team to UH
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  Speaker 3: to win all the major bowls in that fashion.
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  Speaker 4: I thought I thought was fantastic.
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  Speaker 3: But now to be in the Semis and playing the
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  Speaker 3: Cotton Bowl in Dallas is huge. You know, we're we're
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  Speaker 3: gonna need our fans. We're gonna need our fans support.
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  Speaker 3: I need Longhorn Nation to show out in Arlington. We're
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  Speaker 3: gonna need everything we got to to try to win
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  Speaker 3: this game.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 3: You know clearly we're massive underdogs and nobody's going to
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  Speaker 3: give us a shot, So we're gonna need all that
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  Speaker 3: we can to try to win this game.
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  Speaker 2: Just to let you know, from a ticket update perspective,
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  Speaker 2: each team was given an allotment of thirteen thousand tickets.
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  Speaker 2: Each team has sold out its allotment, so now it
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  Speaker 2: simply comes down to you know what what other folks
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  Speaker 2: are going to get in terms of tickets to whether
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  Speaker 2: there's this perceived home field alternate home field advantage for Texas.
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  Speaker 2: Will they have more fans? Probably, But I know this
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  Speaker 2: so Ohio State travels very very well, So there's there's
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  Speaker 2: that as well. All Right, we're gonna hear more from
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  Speaker 2: Sark coming up a little later on. But up next
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  Speaker 2: we have Inconceivable for a Monday afternoon here on. Hey,
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  Speaker 2: you under the zone of the iHeart Radio app,