Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ryan Leaf previews the College Football and NFL seasons, Pac-12 reboot, Utes expectations in Morgan Scalley's first year + more

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Ryan Leaf previews the College Football and NFL seasons, Pac-12 reboot, Utes expectations in Morgan Scalley's first year + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:09
Speaker 1: You were listening to a Sean O'Connell show, your source
0:12
Speaker 1: for the best youth's football coverach. Here's oc from the
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Speaker 1: Murdoch Hyundai Studio of ESPN seven hundred at ninety two
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Speaker 1: to one.
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Speaker 2: A f am uh no Sean O'Connell.
0:23
Speaker 3: Today, Shawn's down on assignments, so they'd asked me to
0:27
Speaker 3: come sit in in my old time slot, and I'm
0:29
Speaker 3: always happy to do it. Thanks to James and Jackie
0:32
Speaker 3: and Kurt and the entire crew here for letting me
0:36
Speaker 3: come back and fill in occasionally for Sean O'Connell. My
0:39
Speaker 3: day job allows me to do it as well. I
0:41
Speaker 3: thank my boss is up at the U for letting
0:42
Speaker 3: me come down and fill in from time to time too.
0:45
Speaker 3: Five weeks from today, Utah opens up it's season against
0:48
Speaker 3: the Idaho Vandals and then the Arkansas Razorbacks and then
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Speaker 3: the Utah State Aggies come in before the conference season begins.
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Speaker 3: You're one of Morgan Scalley's tenure is head coach. Also
1:01
Speaker 3: going to be year one of Ryan Leaf's ten year
1:04
Speaker 3: is lead college football analysts on USA Network for the
1:08
Speaker 3: PAC twelve. Going back in time because his Alba mater
1:11
Speaker 3: is still in the PAC twelve. It's not quite the
1:13
Speaker 3: same PAC twelve Ryan played in, or the same PAC
1:16
Speaker 3: twelve that Utah played in, but it's still a good
1:18
Speaker 3: football conference nonetheless, And good to have my friend Ryan
1:21
Speaker 3: Leaf join us here in my old time slot.
1:23
Speaker 4: How are you, Ryan?
1:25
Speaker 5: What's up?
1:26
Speaker 4: Bell?
1:26
Speaker 5: How are we doing?
1:26
Speaker 2: I'm doing great. How's your summer been?
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Speaker 4: It's been hot. It's been long, you know, I shouldn't
1:34
Speaker 4: say it's been long. They're getting to get shorter and
1:36
Speaker 4: shorter every year with my kids getting ready for school again.
1:39
Speaker 4: We just got back from Minnesota from a little work trip,
1:42
Speaker 4: but I brought the family along. It was like on
1:46
Speaker 4: this lake resort, so they had a lot of fun
1:48
Speaker 4: and so did we. So but I can see the
1:51
Speaker 4: wheels turning and football just around the bend.
1:54
Speaker 2: How excited are you about your new gig with USA Network?
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Speaker 4: Oh? Man, I'm through the roof. If I could be
2:02
Speaker 4: more grateful for the opportunity. You know, they've invested a
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Speaker 4: lot in me, as they've invested a lot in the
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Speaker 4: PAC twelve conference, And Teresa Gould has done a tremendous
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Speaker 4: job in those first two years of the conference rebuild.
2:14
Speaker 4: She knew exactly what she was trying to accomplish and
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Speaker 4: build this new brand, and I feel like to your point,
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Speaker 4: they put together an incredibly competitive conference, one that is
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Speaker 4: probably going to sit as the number one conference outside
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Speaker 4: the power for that people would look at. And if
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Speaker 4: that's the case, they'll have probably the best chance year
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Speaker 4: and year out of getting a college football playoff bid,
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Speaker 4: which listen Washington State and Oregon State. They'll have a
2:38
Speaker 4: better chance of going to the college football playoffs than
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Speaker 4: they ever did in the old Pac twelve, and so
2:43
Speaker 4: they'll be sitting in a pretty pretty free spot.
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Speaker 2: Yea, I completely agree with you.
2:46
Speaker 3: I think it's a terrific college football conference with those
2:49
Speaker 3: two schools you mentioned that were the holdovers from the
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Speaker 3: old Pac twelve, and then you sprinkle in some of
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Speaker 3: the best of the others, some of the best from
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Speaker 3: the Mount West Conference that you know, Utah State and
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Speaker 3: some of the others that are have sprinkled in there
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Speaker 3: as well. The financial gain isn't quite what it was
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Speaker 3: in the old days, but maybe that comes along at
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Speaker 3: some point in time. But you know this, Ryan, the
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Speaker 3: path is to get to the postseason, and the passes
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Speaker 3: path is to get to the playoff and now if
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Speaker 3: this thing expands to twenty four teams, that that opportunity
3:17
Speaker 3: becomes even greater for the PAC twelve.
3:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, if you go to that many teams,
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Speaker 4: then you're about multiple teams possibly from the conference. But
3:24
Speaker 4: as it sits right now, you know that that that
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Speaker 4: fifth conference champion is an automatic bid and the PAC
3:33
Speaker 4: twelve is certainly going to be at the top of
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Speaker 4: that list in terms of what the American Conference brings
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Speaker 4: to the champion to the Table or the Mountain West,
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Speaker 4: the MAC. You know, that situation presents a real opportunity
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Speaker 4: for the teams that are participating. We saw boys these
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Speaker 4: states from two years ago make it. Last year, you
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Speaker 4: saw James Madison get in. You know, this is a
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Speaker 4: real opportunity for the teams that's got left behind and
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Speaker 4: stay and built a conference you know, worth playing for.
4:07
Speaker 3: Taking your PAC twelve hat off for just a minute,
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Speaker 3: just being a college football guy, what format do you
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Speaker 3: like the best from a competitive nature? Do you like
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Speaker 3: the twelve where it is? Do you like the sixteen?
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Speaker 3: Do you like them going talking about going to twenty four?
4:22
Speaker 3: Where does Ryan Leef fall?
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Speaker 4: I'm fine for as many as they want to, you know,
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Speaker 4: I mean, the cream is going to rise to the top.
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Speaker 4: There could be an upset here last year. This is
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Speaker 4: a really good example of the SCS blueprint. I think
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Speaker 4: it's I think they're sixteen teams or twenty four, I
4:37
Speaker 4: can't remember. It doesn't matter. But North Dakota State for me,
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Speaker 4: was far and away the best team in all of
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Speaker 4: the SCS, and Illinois State got on a roll and
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Speaker 4: upset them in an early round and that was fascinating
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Speaker 4: to me.
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Speaker 5: They played so well during that stretch.
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Speaker 4: They got themselves to the National Championship game. And I mean,
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Speaker 4: the FCS has been doing it right for for decades
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Speaker 4: and I don't see why that's where there's anything wrong
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Speaker 4: with it. I'd love to see more games being played
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Speaker 4: at the home stadiums of these teams for playoffs. I'd
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Speaker 4: get where the money's at in the bowl games and
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Speaker 4: how much corporate money they're throwing around to make those
5:14
Speaker 4: the games. But I think the teams to get to
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Speaker 4: buy should then also get a home playoff game. They
5:21
Speaker 4: would make for such great matchups. I mean, the idea
5:23
Speaker 4: of Alabama going to Oklahoma last year, that was so cool.
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Speaker 4: That was so fun to see play out, you know,
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Speaker 4: and then Alabama having to go to play Indiana and
5:33
Speaker 4: the Rose Bowl. I mean, make the Rose Bull more important,
5:36
Speaker 4: you know, than a quarterfinal game or something like that,
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Speaker 4: in my opinion, but it I'm up for anything more.
5:43
Speaker 4: College football is better for me. I just wish the
5:45
Speaker 4: format was a little different.
5:47
Speaker 3: I agree, And had it been twenty four last year,
5:49
Speaker 3: Utah would have hosted Michigan at Rice Cycle Stadium before
5:52
Speaker 3: going to play I think it would have been either
5:54
Speaker 3: Indiana Ohio State in the second round. So I think
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Speaker 3: Utah fans would have loved that. They'd really love it.
5:59
Speaker 2: Now if Michigan and you Top played in the postseason.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, it would be a very fascinating one. I was.
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Speaker 4: I was speaking at the Las Vegas Bowl a year
6:06
Speaker 4: ago when all of that transpired, and and and Morgan
6:11
Speaker 4: took over, and so I got a chance to kind
6:13
Speaker 4: of see it all play out in real time, And yeah,
6:16
Speaker 4: that would be a heck of a matchup to see
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Speaker 4: play out.
6:19
Speaker 3: Ryan leafs with us we're done college football lead college
6:22
Speaker 3: football analysts for the USA Network this year on Pac
6:25
Speaker 3: twelve Football. And by the way, who's your partner gonna be?
6:27
Speaker 3: Who's the play by play partner?
6:29
Speaker 4: I don't think they've announced it yet, so I don't
6:31
Speaker 4: want to step on anybody's toes here. They've only announced my.
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Speaker 5: Participation, which I am very humbled.
6:37
Speaker 4: Boy, but we should we should hear something, I think
6:40
Speaker 4: in the next week or two. But I've worked I've
6:42
Speaker 4: worked with him in.
6:43
Speaker 5: The past, love him.
6:45
Speaker 4: You're gonna have a lot of knowledge and a lot
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Speaker 4: of fun.
6:48
Speaker 5: We're gonna we're gonna be.
6:48
Speaker 4: A lot of fun together.
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Speaker 3: Okay, that'll be great. We'll look for that announcement coming
6:52
Speaker 3: up really soon. You mentioned being down at the Vegas
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Speaker 3: Bowl last year. It was an odd time. There's no
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Speaker 3: doubt about it.
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Speaker 4: It was.
6:57
Speaker 3: It was odd. But that's nine months in our rear
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Speaker 3: window now. And Morgan Scalley's had his had his hand
7:03
Speaker 3: on this program now as you watched it transpire. And
7:07
Speaker 3: obviously you've known Morgan having covered the PAC twelve for
7:09
Speaker 3: years when he was defensive coordinator. Here give me your
7:12
Speaker 3: ten thousand foot view on him now making this his program.
7:16
Speaker 3: He's been in the program his entire life, Ryan, now
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Speaker 3: he's running it.
7:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's definitely a different perspective because you take over
7:26
Speaker 4: management of so many different things. I've talked to so
7:28
Speaker 4: many coordinators that have become head coaches, and you know,
7:32
Speaker 4: the idea of giving up play calling duties is always
7:35
Speaker 4: the bigger question and all that do I remove that
7:38
Speaker 4: part of the equation, which is what got me the
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Speaker 4: job in the first place, to start micro managing everything
7:43
Speaker 4: that goes on. I mean, I don't know if he
7:44
Speaker 4: could have had a better teacher in Kyle Whittingham over
7:47
Speaker 4: this period of time when he was, you know, head
7:50
Speaker 4: coach in waiting.
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Speaker 5: So I don't foresee any sort of.
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Speaker 4: You know, missteps that come out of nowhere are things
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Speaker 4: that surprise Morgan's got. I think that he's going to
8:01
Speaker 4: be incredibly prepared and and he'll tell you this like
8:05
Speaker 4: anybody will.
8:06
Speaker 5: It's all going to depend on whether we win, whether the.
8:08
Speaker 4: Utah wins and loses. You know, that's that's the finding
8:11
Speaker 4: factor in all this. You can be a pariah one minute,
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Speaker 4: and if you win, you are beloved or vice versa.
8:20
Speaker 4: You know, it's just it's just how it goes. And
8:22
Speaker 4: so that's the way of the world of college football.
8:25
Speaker 4: I think he'll be I think he'll do very well.
8:27
Speaker 4: I've had a chance to talk to him in the past.
8:29
Speaker 4: I spoke to the team a few years back. Spend
8:31
Speaker 4: some time with him personally, you know the kids, The
8:36
Speaker 4: kids really seem to you know, listen and h and
8:41
Speaker 4: kind of galvanized behind him. And then also I just
8:44
Speaker 4: think he's got an incredible football mind. Now you have
8:48
Speaker 4: to go out and win the football games. If you
8:50
Speaker 4: do that, he's going to be very, very well liked
8:52
Speaker 4: in Salt Lake City.
8:53
Speaker 3: There's a real interesting new vibe and energy around it.
8:57
Speaker 3: There was nothing wrong with what Kyle Whittingham did for
8:59
Speaker 3: twenty one years, but it's a little bit different now.
9:02
Speaker 3: It's kind of he's put his imprint on it. He's
9:06
Speaker 3: made a real effort too. There's a lot of talk
9:08
Speaker 3: among the players and stuff that it used to be
9:10
Speaker 3: the offense and the defense, and I think Scalley's made
9:13
Speaker 3: a real effort to blend both those. It's one team,
9:17
Speaker 3: not an offensive room and a defensive room. How important
9:20
Speaker 3: is that in kind of today's football Ryan, that you know,
9:24
Speaker 3: it's not two different sides of the ball. It's it's
9:26
Speaker 3: one team that plays offensive plays defense.
9:30
Speaker 4: No, this is to win championships and to be a
9:33
Speaker 4: complete team all three phases right, special teams, defense and
9:36
Speaker 4: offense have to be clicking together. And you know, everybody
9:40
Speaker 4: has a different way they're going to go about it
9:43
Speaker 4: if they're the man in charge. I always thought about
9:45
Speaker 4: it when I was an offensive coordinator, if I ever
9:46
Speaker 4: got a head coaching opportunity, what that would look like?
9:49
Speaker 4: You know how you know how much of Mike Price
9:53
Speaker 4: would I have invested in what I did as a
9:57
Speaker 4: head coach? You know what would be the hybrid of
9:59
Speaker 4: that in terms of offensive football and the way I
10:02
Speaker 4: went about things? And so I'm sure Morgan is the
10:05
Speaker 4: same way. You know, everybody has a certain philosophy on
10:10
Speaker 4: how things should go, and Kyle's philosophy worked for twenty
10:13
Speaker 4: one years, right, worked incredibly well. But sometimes you just
10:18
Speaker 4: need to hear a different voice. Sometimes you need to
10:21
Speaker 4: hear and see a different kind of perspective, and that's
10:24
Speaker 4: what you get. Whether that becomes a winning philosophy remains
10:29
Speaker 4: to be seen. You've got to go out and do
10:30
Speaker 4: the work and see how transpires afterwards. But it's, you know,
10:34
Speaker 4: rebirth newness. I mean, it's the cornerstone of what the
10:38
Speaker 4: NFL is built on every off season.
10:41
Speaker 3: Ryan leafs our guests for a couple more minutes here
10:43
Speaker 3: on ESPN seven hundred.
10:44
Speaker 4: What do you make it?
10:44
Speaker 3: A big twelve big picture? I kind of see it
10:47
Speaker 3: in tiers, Ryan and I see it's kind of a
10:50
Speaker 3: Texas Tech BYU Utah top tier and then maybe in Arizona, Houston, TCU,
10:57
Speaker 3: Kansas State second tier. I'm not sure if anybody in
11:01
Speaker 3: the second tier can win the league, but they could
11:03
Speaker 3: mess it up. I think Tech's got an easy road
11:06
Speaker 3: with their schedule. I think the Utah BYU game the
11:09
Speaker 3: Holy Wars they like to call it sometimes Mike decide
11:12
Speaker 3: who plays Texas Tech. But that's all convert kind of
11:15
Speaker 3: kind of conversing about it on paper.
11:17
Speaker 2: How do you kind of see it?
11:19
Speaker 4: I'm a little interested to see what Baylor brings to
11:21
Speaker 4: the table, Okay, this season, I really am. I think
11:25
Speaker 4: that you know, they they added a quarterback in the
11:27
Speaker 4: transfer portal out of Florida, had a lot of team
11:31
Speaker 4: never really lived up to kind of what the expectations
11:33
Speaker 4: were there during that fight, you know. And and Dave
11:36
Speaker 4: Miranda is in a make or break year for him,
11:39
Speaker 4: I think. And so there's a lot going on there
11:43
Speaker 4: in Waco, and I'm fascinated to see what that that
11:46
Speaker 4: team looks like. But I'm with you. You know, Texa
11:48
Speaker 4: Tech has spent all the money, right they they put
11:50
Speaker 4: all the things out there. They don't have the quarterback
11:52
Speaker 4: maybe that they thought they were going to have, but
11:54
Speaker 4: they've added the pieces. They got to feel what it
11:57
Speaker 4: was like to get to the playoff last year and
11:59
Speaker 4: get Barras. Uh, so they're wearing that a little bit.
12:02
Speaker 4: The Uyu's been really special. Uh Utah kept up with
12:06
Speaker 4: everybody a year ago. So yeah, I'm with you. I
12:09
Speaker 4: think there's probably those tiers. You know, don't ever don't
12:12
Speaker 4: ever push anything that's to the side. When you talk
12:14
Speaker 4: about Kansas State, especially with Colin Quinny or Colin Kline
12:18
Speaker 4: returning as the next head coach there and in Manhattan,
12:22
Speaker 4: that's that's the that's the fascinating one. Washington State heads
12:25
Speaker 4: there in week two, so uh, I'll get a good
12:29
Speaker 4: kind of look at it because watching film and getting
12:31
Speaker 4: preparing for the uh for the conference season to kick
12:34
Speaker 4: off there, I think I have Washington State and Presno
12:37
Speaker 4: State to kick off that that season. Uh in conference play,
12:41
Speaker 4: so uh, you know, there's there's a lot of ups
12:43
Speaker 4: and that I think a lot of teams are looking
12:45
Speaker 4: directly at at the what's going on in Lubbock and
12:49
Speaker 4: UH and UH and in Salt Lake City. Would would
12:52
Speaker 4: be great to see those two teams when you get
12:54
Speaker 4: to the end of it, battling for for that conference championship.
12:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, just to your point on Baylor, I'm interested to
13:00
Speaker 3: see what they do too.
13:01
Speaker 2: I agree on the make or break thing.
13:03
Speaker 3: They open with Auburn, but they close with b Yu,
13:07
Speaker 3: Texas Tech and Houston and two of those three on
13:09
Speaker 3: the road that is, I don't know that anybody of
13:11
Speaker 3: the Big twelve has it tougher clothes and what Baylor does.
13:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's uh, Listen, these conferences have been built to
13:19
Speaker 4: be very very difficult now right. I mean there's been
13:22
Speaker 4: a lot of realignment, Like you have not built the
13:25
Speaker 4: conference outside the power or inside the Power four. That's
13:28
Speaker 4: not going to be on a week to week basis
13:30
Speaker 4: brutal and that's the way it should be.
13:32
Speaker 2: How's the How's the How's the PAC twelve?
13:34
Speaker 4: Look?
13:34
Speaker 2: Who who's who's the team to beat?
13:36
Speaker 3: On paper? Is it Boyses somebody else? Who's who's the
13:39
Speaker 3: team to beat in your mind heading into the year
13:41
Speaker 3: in the Big two?
13:41
Speaker 2: In the PAC twelve?
13:43
Speaker 4: Well, I think you know, as you found out when uh,
13:47
Speaker 4: college football is the way it is, you have a
13:49
Speaker 4: different team every single year. When you see a team
13:51
Speaker 4: return with a lot of the same guys and that's
13:53
Speaker 4: the boys he stayed in this conference, do you have
13:56
Speaker 4: to probably you know, throw your chips in when when
13:59
Speaker 4: it comes to that team. So I would I would
14:01
Speaker 4: argue right now, Boise State is probably the team to
14:04
Speaker 4: beat in the conference. A lot of newness everywhere else.
14:07
Speaker 4: You have new head coaching in Oregon State, Washington State,
14:11
Speaker 4: Colorado State, very interesting there in Fort Collins with Jim Mora.
14:15
Speaker 4: Now it's the head football coach new uh uh, you know,
14:19
Speaker 4: new head coaches, new philosophies, new ideas, all those things. Uh,
14:24
Speaker 4: you know coming to fruition. So I like Boise State
14:26
Speaker 4: right now. Uh listen, they start with Oregon and Memphis.
14:31
Speaker 4: Those are maybe two of the you know, Oregon maybe
14:34
Speaker 4: one of the top teams in the country. Memphis might
14:36
Speaker 4: be one of the top teams outside of the Powerfar Conference.
14:40
Speaker 4: They hit the road watching Boise State in the situation
14:43
Speaker 4: we have that game. By the way, we have Memphis
14:45
Speaker 4: at Boising week two. That could be for a lot
14:48
Speaker 4: of marvels, you know, to see a team that was
14:52
Speaker 4: supposed to be at the top. Now. Listen, they could
14:53
Speaker 4: lose all their non conference games and still win the conference.
14:56
Speaker 4: And that's just that's the way the things go. But
14:58
Speaker 4: I will tell you a lot about it team if
15:01
Speaker 4: after two weeks they're zero and two against two of
15:04
Speaker 4: the better teams in the country.
15:06
Speaker 3: In the big picture, for many years, the SEC was
15:10
Speaker 3: seen as the gold standard for college football, and rightfully so,
15:13
Speaker 3: it feels like we've had a shift now to the
15:16
Speaker 3: Big Ten and the SEC is not toe to toe
15:20
Speaker 3: with them anymore. Still a very good league, but it
15:22
Speaker 3: feels like the Big Ten is overtaken and maybe separated
15:25
Speaker 3: just a little bit. Do you see that too, And
15:27
Speaker 3: why do you think that's happened?
15:30
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't know if I've seen that. I mean,
15:31
Speaker 4: I think the conferences are just as you know, competitive
15:36
Speaker 4: as anything. I think that the Big Ten has found
15:38
Speaker 4: a way to win a championship the last three years,
15:40
Speaker 4: right that's you know, for the longest time, the SEC
15:43
Speaker 4: was winning championships year in the euro Oute. So people
15:45
Speaker 4: wanted to say the SEC doesn't mean the SEC is down.
15:47
Speaker 4: I still think they are, you know, suit and nuts,
15:50
Speaker 4: probably the best conference in all college football just because
15:53
Speaker 4: of the talent and the when the draft happens, you
15:56
Speaker 4: see the collective that has set to the NFL ranks
15:59
Speaker 4: each and every year. But you know, it's silly to
16:02
Speaker 4: hear people just go back and forth about this conference
16:04
Speaker 4: is better than that conference. When the teams play each
16:07
Speaker 4: other on a Saturday, regardless of what conference they're in,
16:10
Speaker 4: we'll see who comes away the winner. I mean, the
16:11
Speaker 4: National Championship a year ago is between an ACC team,
16:14
Speaker 4: which the AFCC was absolutely horrid a year ago, versus
16:18
Speaker 4: a team in the Big Ten where they had multiple
16:21
Speaker 4: good teams. So you know, it's it's just a matter
16:23
Speaker 4: of how it plays out when you play well.
16:26
Speaker 5: The SEC is gonna have a lot.
16:27
Speaker 4: Of great teams. They beat each other up every weekend,
16:30
Speaker 4: so does the Big Ten. You know, nothing's going to change.
16:32
Speaker 4: I don't like the narrative that like, this conference is
16:34
Speaker 4: better than that conference. All for the power conferences now
16:38
Speaker 4: in place are incredibly competitive from weekend week out. You're
16:42
Speaker 4: gonna be playing difficult, tough football games to get you
16:45
Speaker 4: to that next level.
16:45
Speaker 3: Is there a team for you? I don't know that
16:48
Speaker 3: there's a definitive best team. There seems to be a
16:50
Speaker 3: handful of four or five, maybe six going into the season.
16:54
Speaker 3: Is there a team you like as the best on paper?
16:58
Speaker 4: You know, I usually trend towards the best quarterback, you know,
17:01
Speaker 4: and I just I think it's John Mattier. I really
17:03
Speaker 4: like Oklahoma. You know, they they found their way a
17:06
Speaker 4: little bit last year. He got injured, you know, a
17:10
Speaker 4: couple of weeks before the Texas game, tried to come
17:13
Speaker 4: back too quick, never was the same player. I think
17:16
Speaker 4: Oklahoma has a lot on their shoulders. I think Brett
17:18
Speaker 4: Dunnables needs to win, and so I expect a lot
17:22
Speaker 4: of big things from them. You know that matchup in
17:24
Speaker 4: the Red River rivalry against Texas with arch Manny, I
17:27
Speaker 4: think he's going to play for a lot. I alse
17:29
Speaker 4: like Oregon Dante Moore coming back. You know, they've been
17:32
Speaker 4: on the precipice over the last few years, and I
17:37
Speaker 4: expect them to be right there once again. So if
17:39
Speaker 4: you ask me there he got an STC team and
17:41
Speaker 4: A and a Big ten team. Then when when it's
17:43
Speaker 4: all said and done. But look to quarterback play this
17:46
Speaker 4: year as the motivating factor like it normally is, but
17:49
Speaker 4: even more impressive. I think there's gonna be a quarterback
17:52
Speaker 4: this year that is just far and away above the
17:55
Speaker 4: talent pool that they kind of willed their team to
17:58
Speaker 4: a championship this year.
18:00
Speaker 3: There's a little Koogan that John Mattier in Oklahoma pick
18:03
Speaker 3: there too from his days at Wazoo.
18:06
Speaker 4: Definitely. I mean I thought he was the best football
18:09
Speaker 4: player in the country two years ago. I thought he
18:12
Speaker 4: should have been the Heisman Trophy winner, not Travis Hunter.
18:16
Speaker 4: And I stick by that. I thought he was the
18:18
Speaker 4: best player in all of college football. He just of
18:20
Speaker 4: course wasn't being seen a lot at Washington State. You know,
18:24
Speaker 4: had an opportunity to jump to Oklahoma, and I think
18:26
Speaker 4: a lot of people have these expectations of them, and
18:28
Speaker 4: then the injury really you know, you know, kind of
18:30
Speaker 4: put them down the ladder, and I don't think a
18:32
Speaker 4: lot of people have a lot of expectations this year,
18:33
Speaker 4: which is pretty good. You can kind of go into
18:35
Speaker 4: it and you know you're gonna find out pretty quickly
18:38
Speaker 4: what a great quarterback quarterback he has running the same
18:41
Speaker 4: type of offense he did two years ago at Washington
18:43
Speaker 4: State with their offensive coordinators. So yeah, excited for that
18:46
Speaker 4: team to see what they can do there In Norman all.
18:49
Speaker 2: Right, last thing for you, Ryan, You're a thinker. You're
18:51
Speaker 2: a smart guy.
18:51
Speaker 3: You you you look at things big picture and from
18:54
Speaker 3: a very interesting lens.
18:56
Speaker 4: Uh.
18:57
Speaker 3: Greg Sankie is actually out here in Park City this
18:59
Speaker 3: week and doing some stuff out this direction. It's probably
19:02
Speaker 3: the closest thing we have to a I don't know
19:05
Speaker 3: face of college football from a administrative standpoint, but if
19:09
Speaker 3: I were to make you czar of college football, if
19:12
Speaker 3: you were the guy that was overseeing things, how do
19:16
Speaker 3: we make this thing work? How do we make this
19:18
Speaker 3: financial thing work so it benefits the game, universities and
19:23
Speaker 3: the players, because again, we don't have a lot of
19:27
Speaker 3: good guardrails, we don't have a lot of good oversight
19:30
Speaker 3: to this. There's some good thoughts. But if you were
19:33
Speaker 3: in charge right now, how do we make this thing
19:35
Speaker 3: work for the good of the of the sport so
19:38
Speaker 3: that this thing thrives moving forward?
19:42
Speaker 4: Well, I would institute a National Collegiate Football League with
19:46
Speaker 4: eighteen to twenty two teams in each conference, and you know,
19:51
Speaker 4: aside from the NCAA, and then I would put in
19:54
Speaker 4: to play restrictions around nil. I wouldn't I wouldn't make
19:59
Speaker 4: it il I would make a name, image, and likeness,
20:02
Speaker 4: not pay to play. And that's the difference for me.
20:05
Speaker 4: You know, it's the most money in gets the most players.
20:08
Speaker 4: I want you to be on a roster. I want
20:11
Speaker 4: you to be compensated if your if ticket sales are
20:14
Speaker 4: through the roof of your jersey's being sold in the
20:16
Speaker 4: in the bookstore, a ton, if you're doing local commercials
20:20
Speaker 4: or national commercials come along that you're being paid for
20:24
Speaker 4: your name, image and likeness. That's what NIL is. I
20:27
Speaker 4: hate hearing people say nil these days because it's not nil.
20:31
Speaker 4: And then the transfer rule would have to change, you know.
20:33
Speaker 4: I would want to see a restriction on maybe a
20:36
Speaker 4: one time transfer deal. That's why I fix it, you know.
20:41
Speaker 4: Right now, it's just listen. I love college football. I'll
20:45
Speaker 4: never not love college football. So when the games are on,
20:47
Speaker 4: I will watch it. I'll be honest. Though, the college
20:50
Speaker 4: football Playoffs really didn't do much for me in the
20:53
Speaker 4: last two years. It wasn't something that I paid a
20:56
Speaker 4: lot of attention to. And maybe that would have had
21:00
Speaker 4: to do with the fact that I was calling games
21:02
Speaker 4: on the CW for the Pac twelve, which meant I
21:04
Speaker 4: was only calling Washington State and Oregon State games that
21:06
Speaker 4: broad That broadens my view a little bit this year,
21:10
Speaker 4: and of course seeing a Pack twelve team get into
21:12
Speaker 4: the College of LA Playoff. I want to be able
21:13
Speaker 4: to speed with everything else is going on. But you know,
21:16
Speaker 4: the product for me hasn't been great. I'm excited for
21:19
Speaker 4: that to get back to being a great product this year.
21:22
Speaker 4: For whatever reason. I think some of the shifting landscapes
21:25
Speaker 4: and climates with some of the coaches I think, have
21:28
Speaker 4: meant for some really great rivalries and I'm excited to
21:31
Speaker 4: see what this season holds.
21:33
Speaker 3: I am too, I'm excited around here because it's kind
21:35
Speaker 3: of a new era of football being ushered in with
21:37
Speaker 3: Morgan Scale at the U. I think the Big twelve
21:40
Speaker 3: is going to be really good and really competitive, and
21:42
Speaker 3: I'm also anxious to see what they end up doing
21:44
Speaker 3: with the expansion of the playoff, whether it goes to sixteen.
21:47
Speaker 3: It doesn't feel like sixteen, Ryan, it feels like everybody
21:51
Speaker 3: but the SEC and ESPN are behind the twenty fourteen model.
21:55
Speaker 3: I'm like you, I like good college football. I like
21:58
Speaker 3: more games is always a good thing, and inclusion isn't
22:00
Speaker 3: a bad thing. I just I wouldn't mind seeing that
22:03
Speaker 3: sixteen team step first to take it there. But if
22:06
Speaker 3: we're eventually going to get to twenty four, I think
22:07
Speaker 3: that's probably where we're going to go.
22:09
Speaker 5: And also I think if I was doing what you.
22:12
Speaker 4: Talked about, I would I would make you know, if
22:15
Speaker 4: you're going to play twelve games, then make them all
22:18
Speaker 4: in conference, right, you know, And if you're going to
22:21
Speaker 4: play a non conference game, make it a power for
22:23
Speaker 4: non conference opponent. You're going to have to start the
22:26
Speaker 4: season earlier and have less games if you're going to
22:29
Speaker 4: go into a playoff with twenty four teams, in my opinion,
22:34
Speaker 4: maybe one less game. Maybe you're playing eleven games a
22:36
Speaker 4: year and not making them play where you play a
22:40
Speaker 4: non conference opponent that's from the SCS level or something
22:44
Speaker 4: like that. You have to play, you know, games every
22:48
Speaker 4: week's got to be a game, but playing and simple.
22:51
Speaker 4: It just can't be a walk through opportunity. Those games
22:54
Speaker 4: are just pointless to have. I understand the lift up
22:58
Speaker 4: and financially aid the lower divisions, and if you don't
23:02
Speaker 4: do that, it could be the collapse of a lot
23:04
Speaker 4: of those lower divisions. But I think that that is
23:07
Speaker 4: a necessity to keep the right teams playing for the
23:11
Speaker 4: right things and for the right championships down the line.
23:15
Speaker 3: Hey, thanks for doing this. It's great to catch up
23:17
Speaker 3: and it had been too long. Congratulations on the USA
23:19
Speaker 3: Network gig. We'll look forward to see who your play
23:21
Speaker 3: by play guy is soon and maybe, just maybe you're
23:24
Speaker 3: out this way doing a few Utah State Aggie games
23:26
Speaker 3: up in Logan.
23:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, that would be the hope. I know that I
23:30
Speaker 4: won't be there this year, I think unless there is
23:33
Speaker 4: the final final game of the Flex Game. I don't
23:37
Speaker 4: know if they have a home game for their Flex
23:38
Speaker 4: game or not, but otherwise I won't be there this year,
23:41
Speaker 4: but I can't wait for the opportunity to get there.
23:44
Speaker 4: I love myself some Utah, that's for sure.
23:47
Speaker 3: Hey, Ryan, thanks so much for doing it. Take care
23:50
Speaker 3: all right, Bill, have a good day you too. Ryan
23:52
Speaker 3: Leaf with us here. I'm the Sean O'Connell Show. Bill
23:54
Speaker 3: Riley filling in today for Sean. He'll be the lead
23:56
Speaker 3: analyst of the USA Network as the packed Wolve is
24:01
Speaker 3: back