Latest / Zone 1150 - Chip Howard's SportsTalk / July 20, 2026 (Hour 1)

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July 20, 2026 (Hour 1) · Zone 1150 - Chip Howard's SportsTalk

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Speaker 3: Shipower Sports Talk on a Monday and the summer edition continues.
0:44
Speaker 3: Caleb Rapley here filling in for Chip just a couple
0:48
Speaker 3: more weeks until he gets back into the host chair,
0:51
Speaker 3: but we are holding down the fort for him. Rescuberson
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Speaker 3: will be in later today five o'clock. We will hear
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Speaker 3: from the Aggie, all author, historian and your resident Rangers fan.
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Speaker 3: But it is day one of SEC media Days. Twenty
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Speaker 3: twenty six. We are officially into the college football preseason.
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Speaker 3: Tons to be excited about. Lots of quotes from Commissioner
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Speaker 3: Greg sank Four coaches spoke today. Leading off was the
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Speaker 3: head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners, Brent Vinnables, and three
1:31
Speaker 3: players for the Sooners, each team has the head coach
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Speaker 3: speak and then three players speak. For those of you
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Speaker 3: who don't know how SEC Media Days works, So ten
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Speaker 3: o'clock this morning, coach Venables, and then we heard from
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Speaker 3: Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz, Kentucky coach Will Stein, first year
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Speaker 3: for coach Stein, and rounding it out was the head
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Speaker 3: coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, Josh Hipel. We will hear
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Speaker 3: from a couple of those coaches later in the show.
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Speaker 3: We're gonna have Brent Vinables in the next segment, and
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Speaker 3: then later this hour we'll have will Stein before Resty
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Speaker 3: joins me at five. So lots to talk about here today,
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Speaker 3: and I want to start off with what Greg Sankie
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Speaker 3: had to say. The SEC is moving to the nine
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Speaker 3: game conference schedule, in case anybody missed that, that was announced
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Speaker 3: a few months ago. So going from eight games to
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Speaker 3: nine games and conference play is going to make every
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Speaker 3: SEC team's schedule a lot harder, a lot more difficult
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Speaker 3: to get to that nine to ten win threshold that
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Speaker 3: you're gonna need to get in the college football playoff.
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Speaker 3: And here, so here's what. Here's Sankie's quote on it
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Speaker 3: that he tweeted himself from his personal account. He says
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Speaker 3: that we recognize that a nine game conference schedule, coupled
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Speaker 3: with our long standing requirement to play a quality non
2:49
Speaker 3: conference opponent, creates one of the most demanding schedules in
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Speaker 3: college football. After years of thoughtful discussion, careful analysis, and
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Speaker 3: spirited debate, our membership concluded that it was the right decision.
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Speaker 3: So it's it's interesting to me that Sankie every season
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Speaker 3: is saying how the SEC should have more teams than
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Speaker 3: the playoff. Last year they had five, which honestly is
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Speaker 3: a lot, and you know, there's some debate on whether
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Speaker 3: or not all five of those teams were deserving, but
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Speaker 3: we're not gonna get into that right now. It's interesting
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Speaker 3: to me that Sankie always wants more teams in the
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Speaker 3: playoff and he's gonna he wants to make the schedule harder,
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Speaker 3: which seems kind of counterintuitive to me. I know it
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Speaker 3: raises everybody's strength of schedule, but nine conference games in
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Speaker 3: the SEC, you're you're so you're saying that a team
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Speaker 3: with three conference losses should get in the in the
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Speaker 3: college football playoff. That doesn't really make a whole lot
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Speaker 3: of sense to me. Let's look at Texas A and
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Speaker 3: M schedule for example, starting it off with Kentucky September nineteenth,
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Speaker 3: home game Kentucky first year under Will Stein. Like I
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Speaker 3: said earlier, so you know that's a game that you're
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Speaker 3: going to be expected to win. But then road game
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Speaker 3: at LSU, Arkansas at home, Missouri on the road, Alabama
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Speaker 3: on the road, South Carolina on the road, Tennessee at home,
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Speaker 3: Oklahoma on the road, Texas at home. So between LSU, Missouri, Alabama,
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Speaker 3: South Carolina, Oklahoma, those are your road conference games. That's
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Speaker 3: just your road games. Those are any of those teams
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Speaker 3: are teams that are really tough to play at home.
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Speaker 3: I know South Carolina is you know, Chaine Beamers on
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Speaker 3: the hot seat a little bit there, But anytime you're
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Speaker 3: going on the road to play an SEC school, you
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Speaker 3: know it's not going to be a cakewalk. So there
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Speaker 3: for the Aggies in particular, there just are not any
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Speaker 3: games where you can take your foot off the gas.
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Speaker 3: They're going to be having to play at one grade
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Speaker 3: A football to take care of business in the schedule,
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Speaker 3: and that goes for every team. I just you know,
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Speaker 3: obviously we're going to use the Aggies as an example
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Speaker 3: because this is a the flagship of Texas A and
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Speaker 3: m athletics here on the zone eleven to fifty AM.
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Speaker 3: But the nine game conference schedule is just gonna make
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Speaker 3: it a lot harder for anybody outside of, you know,
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Speaker 3: the top two teams in the SEC to get in
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Speaker 3: the college football playoff. I mean, you could be looking
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Speaker 3: at a situation like the ACC had last year where
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Speaker 3: Duke ended up winning the conference and the ACC only
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Speaker 3: got one team in the playoff, which was Miami, which
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Speaker 3: a lot of people were saying didn't deserve to get in.
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Speaker 3: They obviously went on to the National Championship title game,
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Speaker 3: so I think they probably were pretty deserving. But you
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Speaker 3: don't get your conference champion into the title game because
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Speaker 3: you basically cannibalized, you know, the other teams in your conference.
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Speaker 3: Because the ACC also has gone to this nine game
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Speaker 3: conference schedule, so you could be looking at a situation
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Speaker 3: where a three loss team gets to the conference title
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Speaker 3: game and wins it, and then you have a ten
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Speaker 3: to three sec team in locked into the playoff, and
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Speaker 3: that's probably going to bring down the stock of your
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Speaker 3: other other teams. So I don't know that this is
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Speaker 3: the best strategy to get more teams in the playoff.
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Speaker 3: Sank also said quote without question, the most demanding schedule
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Speaker 3: in football for the conference as a whole. Definitely true.
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Speaker 3: I mean, no lies detected there. It is absolutely the
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Speaker 3: most demanding schedule in football. I don't know if that
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Speaker 3: really makes your argument for best conference in football an
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Speaker 3: he hired, just because, I mean, you're just turning up
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Speaker 3: the difficulty for not much of a reason, especially since
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Speaker 3: they're required quote unquote required to play another Power conference
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Speaker 3: team or Notre Dame in the non conference. So the
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Speaker 3: Aggies are playing Arizona State in their non conference game
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Speaker 3: to fill that requirements. That's so that's ten games you're
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Speaker 3: playing against Power conference opponents. Even if you managed to
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Speaker 3: win those games, you're going to be worre out at
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Speaker 3: the end of those which is what Eli Drinkwitz said,
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Speaker 3: Missouri head coach during his press conference. He took a
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Speaker 3: shot at the Big Ten for their weaker schedule, and
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Speaker 3: he thinks that's why the Big Ten has won the
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Speaker 3: last three college football championships. So Indiana's three non conference
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Speaker 3: games in the twenty twenty five season when they won
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Speaker 3: this past year, three non conference opponents were Old Dominion,
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Speaker 3: Kinnesau State and Indiana State, so two group of five
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Speaker 3: teams and then one FCS team. By the way, Kinnsas
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Speaker 3: State was in FCS just a couple of years ago,
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Speaker 3: so they're barely even a group of five team. But
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Speaker 3: Indiana showed that they were the best team by beating
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Speaker 3: Ohio State in the Big TIG Championship, blowing out Alabama
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Speaker 3: and Oregon, and then getting the win over Miami. So
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Speaker 3: you can make the argument that they might have been fresher,
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Speaker 3: but I think they were still, you know, the best
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Speaker 3: team playing in a very tough conference like the SEC.
8:03
Speaker 3: Iron sharpens iron, like you're gonna get better if you
8:05
Speaker 3: play hard teams every week, you will be a little
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Speaker 3: more worn out. But I do think that Indiana kind
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Speaker 3: of might be an exception to the rule there because
8:15
Speaker 3: they blowed they blew out everybody they played. I mean,
8:18
Speaker 3: they never really gave anybody much of a chance, honestly,
8:22
Speaker 3: except for that Miami game at the end of the season,
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Speaker 3: which Miami really got hot at the right time, which
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Speaker 3: is something that just happens in sports sometimes I feel
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Speaker 3: like less in football. Usually the better team wins in
8:34
Speaker 3: football much more often than in a sport like basketball
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Speaker 3: or baseball, and that's why the postseason for those sports
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Speaker 3: are usually you have to win, you have to lose
8:42
Speaker 3: at least two games to be eliminated. But that's just
8:46
Speaker 3: that's how sports go. Sometimes sometimes the hot team isn't
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Speaker 3: necessarily the better team on paper, but they're playing the
8:52
Speaker 3: best football at that time and they go on to
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Speaker 3: win the championship. I don't think that was the case
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Speaker 3: with Indiana. Indiana was the best team all year. But
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Speaker 3: does this nine game conference schedule help the SEC's case
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Speaker 3: for best conference in the nation. I really don't think so.
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Speaker 3: I think it's going to if we stay with the
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Speaker 3: twelve team playoff, which it's looking like we're not going to. Honestly,
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Speaker 3: if we do stay with the twelve team playoff, I
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Speaker 3: don't think it's going to help them get more teams in.
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Speaker 3: It is obviously the strength of schedule is gonna be
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Speaker 3: a lot higher, but you're gonna be looking at like
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Speaker 3: an eight and four SEC team against a ten to
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Speaker 3: two Big Ten team. I don't think it matters how
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Speaker 3: much better the strength of schedule is for that SEC team.
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Speaker 3: The Committity's probably gonna let in the Big Ten team
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Speaker 3: with only two losses. It just doesn't really make make
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Speaker 3: a whole lot of sense to me. And I think
9:42
Speaker 3: coach Drink has a point when he says the Big Ten,
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Speaker 3: with their the less non conference games and not the
9:48
Speaker 3: less non conference games, the weaker non conference games helps
9:52
Speaker 3: their case or helps their team be more fresh. It
9:55
Speaker 3: helps a little bit. Yeah, But for example, A and
9:58
Speaker 3: M is playing Arizona State as their Power conference non
10:02
Speaker 3: their power conference non conference opponent, and that's on September twelfth,
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Speaker 3: so the second game of the season. I don't really
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Speaker 3: know that that makes much of a difference. I don't
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Speaker 3: think that that one game is really what's allowing them
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Speaker 3: to be that much fresher because the Big Ten's is
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Speaker 3: still a power conference. They are still a lot of
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Speaker 3: good teams that you have to beat to even make
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Speaker 3: that conference title game. There, So I see his point,
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Speaker 3: but I don't think that's the sole reason that they are.
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Speaker 3: They have had so much success over the last three years.
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Speaker 3: Talked about Will Stein earlier, first year Kentucky head coach,
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Speaker 3: and he's pretty confident. There's a quote from him, and
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Speaker 3: we'll hear the full his full press conference later in
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Speaker 3: the show, but here's what he said on why Kentucky
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Speaker 3: will succeed while he is the coach. Quote because of me,
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Speaker 3: to be honest, because of me, I know what it takes.
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Speaker 3: I've seen it at the highest level, and I know
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Speaker 3: you have to recruit at this level. It's just belief, man.
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Speaker 3: And that is very, very confident for a guy who's
11:09
Speaker 3: taken over Kentucky, which is historically, you know, a very
11:12
Speaker 3: mediocre football program. Obviously great success in basketball, that's more
11:19
Speaker 3: what they're known for. But and that's kind of what
11:24
Speaker 3: you need in today's world. I think that the recruits
11:26
Speaker 3: will probably really like that mentality from coach Stein, especially
11:31
Speaker 3: since he's a former player and really not that far
11:34
Speaker 3: removed from his playing years. He played quarterback at Louisville
11:38
Speaker 3: from twenty eight to twenty twelve, so only about fifteen
11:43
Speaker 3: years ago, so pretty young coach. His last position was
11:49
Speaker 3: as offensive coordinator, at Oregon for the last three seasons.
11:52
Speaker 3: Oregon obviously one of the most explosive offenses in college
11:56
Speaker 3: football year after year, So Kentucky hoping he can carry
11:59
Speaker 3: some of that over. I don't I don't know how
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Speaker 3: it's gonna go this first year. I think they'll probably
12:02
Speaker 3: be close to the bottom of the pack in the SEC.
12:07
Speaker 3: But I will be very interested to see where this
12:10
Speaker 3: goes because this is the first time in a while
12:12
Speaker 3: that Kentucky will have a young, confident coach. Mark Stoops
12:18
Speaker 3: was relieved of his duties after they went under six
12:22
Speaker 3: and six for the second consecutive year. But you know,
12:26
Speaker 3: will Stein's gonna want to take the bull by the
12:28
Speaker 3: horns and jump right in, as you can see by
12:30
Speaker 3: this quote of him saying that Kentucky's going to succeed
12:34
Speaker 3: because of him. So setting the bar pretty high for
12:37
Speaker 3: yourself in year one. It's especially at Kentucky when you're
12:43
Speaker 3: taking over this this this team that hasn't had a
12:46
Speaker 3: winning season in a few years now, and they are
12:49
Speaker 3: getting right into the meat of the schedule. They do
12:52
Speaker 3: have their season opener against Youngtown, Youngstown State and SCC
12:56
Speaker 3: school or fs FCS school. Sorry, but then week two,
13:01
Speaker 3: they welcome Alabama to town and the Crimson Tider not
13:05
Speaker 3: what they were under Nick Saban, but they are still
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Speaker 3: one of the you know, in the top half of
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Speaker 3: the SEC. So that's gonna be a very tough game
13:14
Speaker 3: for the Wildcats. But it is at home, which is
13:16
Speaker 3: nice to have one of your tougher opponents at home.
13:20
Speaker 3: But that's gonna be one that I've got circled to
13:22
Speaker 3: see how will Stein coaches that game? Kaitlin de Boor
13:28
Speaker 3: at Alabama, you know a lot of people aren't the
13:31
Speaker 3: biggest fan of him, but it's still Alabama. They are
13:33
Speaker 3: still one of the best teams in college football? How
13:37
Speaker 3: will Kentucky respond to that level of opponent? Very interested
13:42
Speaker 3: to see that. We're going to take our first break
13:45
Speaker 3: of the show when we come back. We are going
13:48
Speaker 3: to hear what Brent Vinnibles Oklahoma head coach, had to
13:51
Speaker 3: say at SEC Media Days this morning. But first, this
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Speaker 3: hang Out weekdays from eight to eleven on the Zone.
15:39
Speaker 3: Jip Howard Sports Talk Here on a Monday, Caleb Rapoley
15:42
Speaker 3: filling in for Chip. We're gonna have Rusty Person at
15:44
Speaker 3: five o'clock joining me, the Aggie historian author, And right
15:50
Speaker 3: now we're going to hear SEC Media Days Day one.
15:54
Speaker 3: Oklahoma head coach Brent Vinnables was the first coach to
15:57
Speaker 3: speak this morning, and here is some of what he
16:02
Speaker 3: had to say.
16:03
Speaker 10: Hey, coach Steve Malton, ninety seven to seven ESPN, there's owne.
16:06
Speaker 11: Good to see it, Steve. You two certainly coming off of.
16:10
Speaker 12: A very positive year last year. But what's the biggest
16:13
Speaker 12: question you have about your team heading into fall camp?
16:16
Speaker 8: Oh?
16:18
Speaker 13: Well, I know the areas that you know, we've really
16:20
Speaker 13: spent a lot of time. We look at every area,
16:22
Speaker 13: all the efficiency spaces, all the margins. You know, there's
16:26
Speaker 13: no area that shouldn't The focus should be about getting better?
16:30
Speaker 13: How can we get better? And you know, you go back,
16:33
Speaker 13: we've really looked at the areas where we fell short
16:37
Speaker 13: in certainly in your three losses. Let's start turnover margin.
16:40
Speaker 13: We're minus five in the turnover margin, you know, eighty
16:45
Speaker 13: fifth in the country. That puts a lot of stress
16:47
Speaker 13: and pressure on your football team, certainly when you're giving
16:50
Speaker 13: it to the other team, but also our ability to
16:53
Speaker 13: take it back is incredibly important and can change a
16:56
Speaker 13: game and did impact some games when we were able
16:58
Speaker 13: to do that. And so turnover margin, running the football
17:02
Speaker 13: of being you know, closer to one hundred and seventy
17:05
Speaker 13: five yards a game than where we were, that's a
17:09
Speaker 13: vision for what we want to be and create more
17:11
Speaker 13: balance and create more explosive plays as a byproduct of that,
17:14
Speaker 13: take pressure you know off of you know, a bunch
17:17
Speaker 13: of young offensive linemen a year ago. If we had
17:20
Speaker 13: the ability to run the ball and certainly take pressure
17:24
Speaker 13: off the quarterback as well. But those are really if
17:27
Speaker 13: we hit the target on those two spaces, and we
17:29
Speaker 13: have certainly lots of other efficiencies and spaces that we
17:33
Speaker 13: want to continue to build on and improve as well,
17:35
Speaker 13: will be a much better, you know, football team. And
17:38
Speaker 13: so that's kind of where our focus has been, you know,
17:41
Speaker 13: and I think returning. You know, we had nine first
17:44
Speaker 13: year starters on offense a year ago. It looked like
17:46
Speaker 13: it from a lack of cohesion and chemistry and you
17:52
Speaker 13: know rhythm that that you know, any great unit's going
17:56
Speaker 13: to have. And so this year, I think we have
17:58
Speaker 13: seven or eight return starters there with the addition of
18:01
Speaker 13: some of the most experienced players in college football, Troll
18:04
Speaker 13: Harris and uh and Marion Harris right tackle from Arkansas
18:11
Speaker 13: as well, and and then returning. You know, a year ago,
18:14
Speaker 13: we didn't know a whole lot about our kicking game
18:15
Speaker 13: and where we were going to be, and certainly we
18:17
Speaker 13: had the lou Grose Award winner and all the SEC
18:19
Speaker 13: punter and Grayson Miller as well as Setanna that really
18:23
Speaker 13: was outstanding in the return game. So taking care of
18:26
Speaker 13: the ball, running the football better, uh, you know, being
18:29
Speaker 13: a little better on third downs, you know with our defense,
18:31
Speaker 13: and then you know, doing a better job compliment in.
18:34
Speaker 14: Each other, just you know, top to bottom, right side,
18:37
Speaker 14: second row, Hi, coach, you see, yes, sir, you too,
18:43
Speaker 14: aptadam ap as we see it.
18:45
Speaker 8: Coach, what do you know about playing in the big
18:47
Speaker 8: house and would you say a few comments about Taylor.
18:52
Speaker 11: On your defense.
18:53
Speaker 13: Yeah, what I know, I've never been to Michigan, and
18:57
Speaker 13: I know the challenge of it. I know they've they
19:00
Speaker 13: won the national championship just a few short years ago,
19:03
Speaker 13: and uh they've recruited incredibly well. Uh, I know that
19:07
Speaker 13: that's a that's one of them. I'm really looking forward to,
19:10
Speaker 13: you know, that trip, just as a longtime loyalist and
19:13
Speaker 13: traditionalist to the game of football, of the history, the
19:17
Speaker 13: tradition there takes a backseat, you know to nobody and
19:21
Speaker 13: and so that part of it's cool. But it's not
19:23
Speaker 13: a nostalgic trip. This is a business trip. And you've
19:27
Speaker 13: got a championship staff and in uh in in in
19:31
Speaker 13: uh in Michigan, and what coach has done there is,
19:34
Speaker 13: you know, again second to none. And again they got
19:38
Speaker 13: a fantastic roster. We saw it up close and personal,
19:40
Speaker 13: and Norman got tremendous challenge to have some new coaches.
19:43
Speaker 13: Uh so new what what what changes that, new new
19:46
Speaker 13: schemes and some probably some surprises along the way as well,
19:50
Speaker 13: and uh, but something we're looking forward to. And then
19:52
Speaker 13: Taylor wine Man, I can't say enough good things. What
19:54
Speaker 13: are an amazing example of belief of development, of toughness
19:58
Speaker 13: of a guy having ability to block out all the noise,
20:02
Speaker 13: a gratefulness for his opportunity. And when we offered him.
20:06
Speaker 13: We had a guy d commit late in the recruiting
20:08
Speaker 13: process and we offered him his senior year while he's
20:11
Speaker 13: in the playoffs. So December of his senior year, we
20:13
Speaker 13: offer him a scholarship. He wanted to commit right on
20:15
Speaker 13: the spot over the phone. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
20:17
Speaker 13: let's like meet each other, like let's have one date
20:20
Speaker 13: and uh so, But he he knew he wanted to
20:23
Speaker 13: be a sooner and he's a developmental guy. He put
20:27
Speaker 13: the work in and going into last season, I was
20:31
Speaker 13: talking earlier about about Taylor and going into Right after
20:35
Speaker 13: spring football, he comes to see me and Jim Naggan.
20:39
Speaker 11: He said, any chance I can.
20:40
Speaker 13: He's one of the lowest paid guys on the on
20:42
Speaker 13: the roster, okay, so in fairness to him, and he says,
20:45
Speaker 13: any chance I could get some incentives. I'm like, no,
20:47
Speaker 13: there's no chance in getting incentives.
20:49
Speaker 11: And we really did.
20:50
Speaker 13: We were out of money for the for that cycle
20:52
Speaker 13: and had already hit our budget. And and I love
20:55
Speaker 13: Taylor and he lives in the building like and has
20:58
Speaker 13: since he got there. And I think it's important to
21:01
Speaker 13: know the backstory of this guy and how hard he
21:04
Speaker 13: has worked for his opportunity. His readiness and preparedness for
21:07
Speaker 13: his opportunity when it came. His work wasn't conditional on
21:13
Speaker 13: whether or not you gave him his playing time when
21:15
Speaker 13: he wanted it. He just put the work in and
21:20
Speaker 13: through a lot of hard moments along the way, our
21:23
Speaker 13: Mason gets kicked out of the Temple game because of
21:26
Speaker 13: a targeting and then he tears his quad a few
21:29
Speaker 13: weeks later in the Tendency game. Next thing you know,
21:32
Speaker 13: this guy leads our team, has seven sacks, fifteen tackles
21:34
Speaker 13: for loss. It's all sec and has continued to be
21:38
Speaker 13: exactly who he's been. He's like a coach in the
21:41
Speaker 13: building every day, and this was prior to being really successful.
21:45
Speaker 13: He just has got a guy with gratitude and I'm
21:48
Speaker 13: going to maximize the opportunity that I have. He knows
21:50
Speaker 13: that he's on a short shelf life and he's willing
21:53
Speaker 13: to put the work in every single day. But his
21:56
Speaker 13: give a Crap meter is incredibly high. It's through the roof,
21:59
Speaker 13: and when you care more, you do more. When you
22:01
Speaker 13: care more, you elevate people. And that's what Taylor's done.
22:03
Speaker 13: He's elevated our program, He's elevated our defense. He has
22:07
Speaker 13: defended the standard in our building each and every day,
22:10
Speaker 13: and now his success kind of validates the work. Okay,
22:15
Speaker 13: the sacrifice, the leadership, the belief, the patients, all those
22:19
Speaker 13: things that go in to becoming a really good player.
22:21
Speaker 13: It takes what it takes, and he's an epitome of
22:24
Speaker 13: that second road left side.
22:26
Speaker 15: Being able to bring in a guy who is a
22:28
Speaker 15: future Hall of Famer and has so much knowledge that
22:30
Speaker 15: he's bringing to the.
22:31
Speaker 13: Game well before I get to coach with. And we
22:33
Speaker 13: also hired two other fantastic coaches. And Dylan McCulla, our
22:37
Speaker 13: running backs coach, is an absolute stud as a coach
22:43
Speaker 13: and a mentor member of our team. And then Lamar Morgan,
22:47
Speaker 13: our corners coach, who we hired from the University of Michigan.
22:51
Speaker 13: Same thing, Just an amazing mentor, coach, teacher, husband, father,
22:56
Speaker 13: those types of things. All three of them have made
22:58
Speaker 13: us better. But Jason, the thing that stands out to
23:02
Speaker 13: me is his passion and his humility.
23:06
Speaker 11: It resonates.
23:07
Speaker 13: He's not only this Hall of Fame type player, and
23:10
Speaker 13: not every Hall of famers this amazing coach and mentor
23:13
Speaker 13: as we know, But man, he's got it in every way.
23:18
Speaker 13: He's got instincts for the game. He's an incredible communicator.
23:23
Speaker 13: He knows how to inspire and challenge his guys. He
23:26
Speaker 13: knows what the players should ask before the player ask it.
23:29
Speaker 13: He has a rhythm to how he coaches and teaches
23:33
Speaker 13: so that he can have the answer ready for the
23:35
Speaker 13: player and anticipate for the player. I think the best
23:38
Speaker 13: I think the best coaches, if they do something well,
23:41
Speaker 13: they anticipate what's around the corner. Maybe it's a play
23:45
Speaker 13: caller on game day. Okay, here comes the max blitz.
23:48
Speaker 13: You know this is that time. You know they're getting
23:50
Speaker 13: ready to blitz this, or this is when they're gonna
23:52
Speaker 13: drop coverage, or this is when they're gonna go to
23:54
Speaker 13: a three man front end. Jason has tremendous instincts just
23:58
Speaker 13: from a coaching standpoint, from an anticipation standpoint. So why
24:02
Speaker 13: is that important? Because he's been a wonderful teacher for
24:04
Speaker 13: the players, and that room has has probably grown as
24:09
Speaker 13: fast as any room has grown since I've been coaching
24:12
Speaker 13: in that in that amount of time. And uh so
24:15
Speaker 13: he's been he's been fantastic, and he's just a great
24:18
Speaker 13: dude to do life with. He's in the locker room
24:21
Speaker 13: and that didn't get you in the locker room just
24:23
Speaker 13: being a good guy. But he knows how to be
24:25
Speaker 13: a good teammate. He knows when to affirm, he knows
24:28
Speaker 13: when to ask the right question, he knows when to
24:30
Speaker 13: insert himself respectfully. And because you don't want a room
24:34
Speaker 13: with a bunch of yes guys. That doesn't do anything
24:36
Speaker 13: for anybody. And but this is a this is a
24:39
Speaker 13: dude of dudes, is what I would say. I'm not
24:42
Speaker 13: trying to gass him, but he is what he is.
24:44
Speaker 13: I ain't trying to be right, but I am he's
24:46
Speaker 13: a great one.
24:48
Speaker 16: Well, I have time for two questions to go on
24:49
Speaker 16: the left side, back row, then pass it forward one.
24:52
Speaker 15: Row and Brent Michael Epps here locally with Spectrom Sports three.
24:55
Speaker 15: It's actually a little different pace question for you, if
24:58
Speaker 15: you don't mind. We're looking at the po disability of
25:00
Speaker 15: Camping World Stadium in Orlando, maybe hosting like a big
25:03
Speaker 15: primetime week zero week one game. Obviously, you coached the
25:06
Speaker 15: Bowl game there and just wanted to ask you what
25:08
Speaker 15: that experience was like there in that city and that
25:10
Speaker 15: venue for college football and maybe the potential of it
25:14
Speaker 15: hosting a big time neutral sycing.
25:15
Speaker 17: Yeah.
25:15
Speaker 13: I've been there in the playoffs and had a Bowl
25:20
Speaker 13: game there as well. Wonderful venue, fantastic, Our families loved it,
25:25
Speaker 13: our players loved it. Was incredibly efficient, the stadium was
25:29
Speaker 13: packed and just a beautiful game day field, and everybody
25:35
Speaker 13: in the organization that hosted both of those times that
25:39
Speaker 13: we were there was first class.
25:42
Speaker 11: Left side Michael Cobble WRZTV and Baton.
25:45
Speaker 15: Rouge and Michael just curious your experiences with the playoff scenario,
25:49
Speaker 15: thats it unfolds now and has it affected your feelings
25:52
Speaker 15: towards a nine game conference schedule.
25:56
Speaker 13: Listen, I like a challenge, tremendous challenge this league top
26:01
Speaker 13: to bottom. We know that I don't I don't need
26:03
Speaker 13: to stand out in front and be a you know,
26:05
Speaker 13: a solvant for for you know, the league. It speaks
26:08
Speaker 13: for itself. You know, we're a great example of Look, man,
26:12
Speaker 13: just focus and control what you can control. You know,
26:14
Speaker 13: last year we needed to I think going into November,
26:18
Speaker 13: I think the ESPN statistic if we know it are.
26:21
Speaker 11: Not really right.
26:22
Speaker 13: But at the end of the day, I think there
26:23
Speaker 13: was a less than two percent chance that Oklahoma's going
26:25
Speaker 13: to go four and oh Tennessee at Tennessee at Alabama,
26:30
Speaker 13: and then with Missouri and LSU to finish things up.
26:33
Speaker 13: But if we went four and oh, on the same graphic,
26:36
Speaker 13: it said we had a ninety eight point nine percent
26:38
Speaker 13: chance of going to the playoffs. So, uh, you know,
26:41
Speaker 13: you can't get to four until you get to one.
26:43
Speaker 13: And and I love the challenge of you know, you're
26:46
Speaker 13: back against the wall and you got to This is
26:48
Speaker 13: a game of doing, It's a game of performance, it's
26:50
Speaker 13: a game of h you know, earning your way, and
26:53
Speaker 13: certainly our guys did. That was our experience a year ago.
26:56
Speaker 13: And so I'm all for that, you know, I don't
26:59
Speaker 13: I don't think that whether you expand it to keep
27:01
Speaker 13: it where it is, it's still going to be awesome.
27:05
Speaker 13: You know, people are gonna they're gonna buy the tickets.
27:08
Speaker 13: The passion, the enthusiasm for the game of football has
27:11
Speaker 13: never been greater, and it won't be diminish whatsoever, no
27:14
Speaker 13: matter what happens with the playoff system.
27:17
Speaker 3: All Right, that was coach Brent Vittibles of the Oklahoma Sooners.
27:21
Speaker 3: He's the first of our listenings here on the Zone
27:25
Speaker 3: SEC Media Day's Day one. He was the first coach
27:29
Speaker 3: to speak. Who's followed by Eli Drinkwitz of Missouri and
27:34
Speaker 3: the man that we will hear from a little later
27:36
Speaker 3: in the show, coach Will Stein of Kentucky. But right
27:39
Speaker 3: now it's time for our next break and you're listening
27:43
Speaker 3: to Chip Howard Sports Talk here on the Zone.
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31:04
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Chip Howard Sports Talk here on the
31:07
Speaker 3: Zone eleven fifty AM ninety three points seven F M.
31:10
Speaker 3: Tayler Rapley here today filling in for Chip. Rescy Berson
31:14
Speaker 3: will be joining me at five o'clock and in the
31:17
Speaker 3: next segment we will hear from Kentucky coach Will Stein
31:22
Speaker 3: and a reminder, if you want to interact with the show,
31:24
Speaker 3: you can text in nine seven nine six, nine three
31:27
Speaker 3: eleven fifty. We do have one listener who wanted to
31:31
Speaker 3: weigh in. Zachary and College Station says. We were talking
31:34
Speaker 3: about Sankie and the SEC's decision to move to nine
31:41
Speaker 3: conference games. Zachary says it's a smart move. He's trying
31:44
Speaker 3: to make more of his nine and three teams eligible
31:46
Speaker 3: by default, which you know, if an SEC team does
31:51
Speaker 3: get to nine and three, I agree, they probably are,
31:54
Speaker 3: you know, going to be in that conversation for the
31:56
Speaker 3: last few playoff spots and have a very good argument.
31:59
Speaker 3: You know, losses is kind of used to be a
32:02
Speaker 3: deal breaker in past playoff iterations, but with the twelve
32:05
Speaker 3: team playoff, it's definitely more likely. But the problem with
32:09
Speaker 3: that is if you take a look at what happened
32:12
Speaker 3: last season, there really wasn't one dominant team in the
32:16
Speaker 3: SEC like there is a lot of years, or even
32:20
Speaker 3: just two dominant teams. The top four teams in the
32:22
Speaker 3: conference all had a conference record of seven and one.
32:26
Speaker 3: Ole mess Georgia, Texas, A and M, and Alabama and
32:29
Speaker 3: then the next three teams were all six and two Texas, Oklahoma,
32:32
Speaker 3: and Vanderbilt, So seven teams all within a game of
32:37
Speaker 3: each other, none of them going undefeated. And the reason
32:40
Speaker 3: that all of these teams records were so good is
32:43
Speaker 3: because the bottom half of the conference was really, really terrible.
32:48
Speaker 3: I think this it might not be the record for
32:50
Speaker 3: most SEC teams to miss a bowl in one season,
32:54
Speaker 3: but if it's not, it's got to be close. There
32:56
Speaker 3: were six teams that did not qualify for bowl game
33:00
Speaker 3: with the six and six record. Mississippi State did go
33:03
Speaker 3: to a bowl game because with the way the bowl
33:06
Speaker 3: system works, sometimes there aren't the perfect amount of six
33:08
Speaker 3: and six teams, so they ended up going to a
33:10
Speaker 3: bowl and lost, so finishing at five and eight. But Kentucky, Florida, Auburn,
33:15
Speaker 3: Misssippi State, South Carolina, and Arkansas we're all two and
33:19
Speaker 3: six in conference or worse. So if you have a
33:21
Speaker 3: year where there aren't that many absolute bottom feeder teams, uh,
33:27
Speaker 3: there should there could be some real chaos and this
33:30
Speaker 3: decision really could end up backfiring on Sank and the
33:34
Speaker 3: rest of the big wigs in charge of making these decisions.
33:39
Speaker 3: I could see I could see a situation where you know,
33:42
Speaker 3: maybe there's one team that only has one loss in
33:45
Speaker 3: conference play, but then second place and down all has
33:47
Speaker 3: at least three conference losses, and then you're looking at
33:50
Speaker 3: only maybe one ten win team from the SEC. So
33:54
Speaker 3: then you know, a couple of the nine and three
33:56
Speaker 3: teams get in. But I could very easily see there
33:59
Speaker 3: being less than five five teams from the SEC make
34:01
Speaker 3: the twelve team playoff, if which who knows if that'll
34:04
Speaker 3: even stay stay around as the current That is the
34:09
Speaker 3: current playoff format, but you know they're always talking about
34:11
Speaker 3: expanding it, and Greg Sanki is one of the big
34:17
Speaker 3: proponents of expanding the playoff, so I think he's making
34:20
Speaker 3: this move assuming that the playoff will expand in the
34:24
Speaker 3: next couple of years. But if it doesn't expand, then
34:27
Speaker 3: this really I think is going to hurt the SEC's
34:31
Speaker 3: chances of having more than five teams in the playoff.
34:34
Speaker 3: I think five is definitely I don't think they're ever
34:37
Speaker 3: going to have more than that in the twelve team
34:39
Speaker 3: which they shouldn't. First of all, I don't think that
34:41
Speaker 3: they should have more than five teams in the playoff.
34:42
Speaker 3: I mean, if you're sixth place in your own conference,
34:45
Speaker 3: you're probably not one of the twelve best teams in
34:47
Speaker 3: the country, doesn't matter what conference you're in. But if
34:52
Speaker 3: it stays twelve teams, I think the SEC is probably
34:54
Speaker 3: going to end up with three or four teams in
34:56
Speaker 3: the playoff every year, and it could be less than that.
34:59
Speaker 3: It very well could be less than that if we
35:00
Speaker 3: have another season like last year where there's not really
35:05
Speaker 3: a dominant team and everybody's really close together. Again, seven
35:10
Speaker 3: teams were within one game of first place, four way
35:14
Speaker 3: tie for first place last year. That's not common, and
35:17
Speaker 3: you know that's not the norm, but it did happen.
35:21
Speaker 3: So it'll be interesting to see how this decision pays off.
35:24
Speaker 3: It'll probably end up that the playoff does expand, and
35:26
Speaker 3: the SEC, like Zachary said, gets a lot of teams
35:31
Speaker 3: pretty much in by default. Just by having only three
35:34
Speaker 3: losses in the toughest conference in the nation pretty much
35:39
Speaker 3: does get you in by default. So I see what
35:41
Speaker 3: he's saying there. It does make a lot of sense
35:43
Speaker 3: from that perspective. When we come back from the break,
35:47
Speaker 3: we are going to hear from the head coach of
35:49
Speaker 3: the Kentucky Wildcats, Will Stein in his first season at
35:53
Speaker 3: the Helm in Lectington. But right now it is time
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Speaker 7: If you were Houston Nationals' Report, I'm doing more yastals.
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Speaker 7: Get swept by the Orioles and welcome in the Miami
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Speaker 7: Yesterday, the Houston Astros lost their third straight game coming
37:14
Speaker 7: out of the All Star Break against the Baltimore Orioles
37:16
Speaker 7: with a final score of five to two. Baltimore struck
37:19
Speaker 7: first with an RBI single by Gunner Henderson in the
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Speaker 7: third inning, and he would later score by stealing home
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Speaker 7: for a two to nothing advantage. The Astros did respond
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Speaker 7: with the run of their own in the third, but
37:29
Speaker 7: just two innings later, Leoti Taveraes plated two with a single.
37:32
Speaker 7: The Astros would trail five to one entering the eighth
37:35
Speaker 7: when Jose Altuve hit his twelfth home for the year.
37:37
Speaker 24: Oh the laft that's gonna go.
37:41
Speaker 22: Today, hits the number twelve on the AAR and the
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Speaker 22: Ashos greed Rico Garcia with a home run to make
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Speaker 22: it five to two.
37:50
Speaker 7: That would end up being the final scores. The Astros
37:52
Speaker 7: get swept by the Orioles. The team will look to
37:54
Speaker 7: bounce back tonight against the Marlins with the first pitch
37:57
Speaker 7: schedule for seven ten. With your Astros report, Ti'm billan Moore.
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Speaker 19: Don com.
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Speaker 3: We welcome back into supports talk here on the zone
38:50
Speaker 3: and Caleb Rapley's here filling in for Chip. We're gonna
38:55
Speaker 3: have Rusty bursting on with us just in a second here,
38:57
Speaker 3: but right now it's time to hear from the head
38:59
Speaker 3: coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, Will Stein from SEC Media Days.
39:05
Speaker 26: Well, it's an honor to be here to talk to
39:06
Speaker 26: you all, to represent University Kentucky, Commonwealth, big blue nation.
39:12
Speaker 11: Here in the SEC, which is really cool.
39:16
Speaker 26: What we get to do as coaches, impact young people
39:20
Speaker 26: and get to play football in forty seven days, which
39:22
Speaker 26: I know we're all really excited about. So I'm excited
39:25
Speaker 26: to answer all of youalls questions.
39:27
Speaker 8: We'll start of the aisle second rule high coach apstead
39:31
Speaker 8: of ap as we see it. Coach, what what's the
39:33
Speaker 8: reason you brought in the transferred quarterback from Notre Dame.
39:37
Speaker 8: What are some of the skills he possessed it would
39:39
Speaker 8: fit your offense?
39:42
Speaker 26: Well, I mean one reason we brought him in is
39:43
Speaker 26: because when I got the job, I think there was
39:45
Speaker 26: one kid left on the roster, So I think we
39:47
Speaker 26: would all be a little screwed if we just had
39:48
Speaker 26: one quarterback. But no, I mean I think Kenny, when
39:53
Speaker 26: you turn on the tape, he's super accurate, he's mobile,
39:56
Speaker 26: he's competitive, he's got now natural leadership abilities.
40:01
Speaker 11: He's poised, he's.
40:02
Speaker 26: Been trained, I believe really well by the coaching staff
40:06
Speaker 26: at Notre Dame, and so was really excited to add
40:09
Speaker 26: him to a roster and to really give him the
40:11
Speaker 26: reins to offense.
40:15
Speaker 16: Left side second rule. Then pass it forward. We will
40:17
Speaker 16: have the AMPO Sports Draft Nation here in Tampa. Coach,
40:20
Speaker 16: what's the one or two players on each side of
40:23
Speaker 16: the ball that have to really have good seasons for
40:26
Speaker 16: Kentucky to be successful this year?
40:30
Speaker 11: You know, I mean I think it takes all of us.
40:32
Speaker 11: I really do.
40:33
Speaker 26: And I know that's cliche coach talk, but man, this
40:36
Speaker 26: is the ultimate team sport. If all eleven aren't doing
40:38
Speaker 26: the job, then you got no chance. So I'm excited
40:42
Speaker 26: about the additions that we brought in. You know, it's
40:46
Speaker 26: a super super competitive league. You play nine games, you
40:49
Speaker 26: better be on your p's and q's every single week.
40:52
Speaker 26: That'll better be able to handle adversity. And so that's
40:56
Speaker 26: what we're doing right now, or about twenty something days
40:59
Speaker 26: or less, us out from fall camp, where we will
41:03
Speaker 26: continue to grow and improve as a team.
41:05
Speaker 27: For a Roll of the Left CHESA Bouche with NBC
41:09
Speaker 27: thirty three and Baton Rouge coach. In the main room,
41:11
Speaker 27: you talked about how your coaching staff, the coaches you
41:14
Speaker 27: brought in, you wanted these guys to trust them. You
41:16
Speaker 27: brought in Joe Sloane, former OC at LSU. What's your
41:20
Speaker 27: relationship like with Joe and what have you seen from
41:22
Speaker 27: him so far?
41:23
Speaker 11: It's great. I think we possess a lot of the
41:26
Speaker 11: same qualities. I mean, he's almost like a brother to
41:30
Speaker 11: me now, you know.
41:32
Speaker 26: But no, I'm very excited about Joe about getting this
41:36
Speaker 26: opportunity at Kentucky. I think he's one of the elite
41:38
Speaker 26: quarterback coaches in the country, develops them at a very
41:42
Speaker 26: high rate. You know, what he did with Nuts, what
41:45
Speaker 26: he did with Jaden at LSU was you know, really
41:50
Speaker 26: really impressive. We talked about all the last few seasons
41:53
Speaker 26: whenever we could, we get on a zoom or see
41:56
Speaker 26: each other at a conference and just draw up stuff,
41:58
Speaker 26: you know, on a piece of paper about offensive football.
42:01
Speaker 26: So we share a lot of similarities and just how
42:04
Speaker 26: we think, how we approach the game, and I'm excited
42:08
Speaker 26: for Joe to get this opportunity.
42:11
Speaker 10: Left side on the end, John eas WFB piggybacking off
42:15
Speaker 10: of that a little bit, considering you're in offensive minded coach,
42:19
Speaker 10: what is that sharing of responsibilities if that makes sense
42:23
Speaker 10: between you and Joe's son, Like, what will he be
42:26
Speaker 10: doing to contribute in terms of game planning and stuff
42:29
Speaker 10: like that.
42:30
Speaker 26: Well, my goal now isn't to be the best play
42:33
Speaker 26: caller in the country and all that really is't my
42:36
Speaker 26: job and my goals.
42:37
Speaker 11: To be the best head coach in the country.
42:38
Speaker 26: So you know, Joe's having the play calling ability on Saturdays,
42:45
Speaker 26: we'll build the game plan up together. But I have
42:48
Speaker 26: to be involved in all facets of our program. There's
42:50
Speaker 26: just too much going on to only worry about the offense.
42:56
Speaker 26: You know, I think the last guy to win a
42:58
Speaker 26: national championship calling plays was Jimbo in twenty thirteen or
43:01
Speaker 26: whatever that was.
43:02
Speaker 11: So try to be have a holistic approach to our program.
43:06
Speaker 26: Trust my guys that I hired that are high IQ,
43:08
Speaker 26: high character people that know what it takes to win
43:11
Speaker 26: at this level in this league specifically, I obviously will
43:15
Speaker 26: have my hand in the offense and making sure that
43:17
Speaker 26: it is running the way that I want it to.
43:19
Speaker 11: But there's also about freedom of thought.
43:21
Speaker 26: You know, the best staffs I've been on it wasn't
43:24
Speaker 26: just me, you know, I think that's a misconception around
43:26
Speaker 26: college football.
43:27
Speaker 11: It's one person. It can't just be one person. It
43:29
Speaker 11: takes a village.
43:30
Speaker 26: It takes your coordinators, your passing in coordinators, your offensive
43:34
Speaker 26: line coach. Everybody in our organization has freedom of thought
43:38
Speaker 26: and has the ability to speak up and add to
43:41
Speaker 26: the pot of ideas and ultimately my decision and Joe's
43:46
Speaker 26: decision of what we're actually going to call on Saturdays.
43:49
Speaker 11: So but no, Joe's He's elite and I'm glad he's
43:54
Speaker 11: a wildcat.
43:56
Speaker 12: Third row on the Aisle Timer Show with KBTX and
43:59
Speaker 12: Brian called Station one, asks about your other coordinator, Jay Bateman,
44:03
Speaker 12: kind of what did you see from him and kind
44:06
Speaker 12: of what he did at Texas A and THEM that
44:08
Speaker 12: made you think he is the right fit to be
44:11
Speaker 12: the defensive coordinate of Kentucky.
44:13
Speaker 26: Well, I love how attacking he is on defense, and
44:15
Speaker 26: what they were able to do at A and M
44:16
Speaker 26: the past few years is very impressive. They had a
44:19
Speaker 26: great roster, but they had really good scheme as well.
44:22
Speaker 26: So Jay is the ultimate relationship person. Our players already
44:28
Speaker 26: will run through a brick wall for this man. He
44:30
Speaker 26: pours into these kids' lives and invests in them much
44:33
Speaker 26: more than just on the field. I think he's just
44:36
Speaker 26: got a great feel for calling it as well, and
44:38
Speaker 26: it was important for me to give him the tools
44:40
Speaker 26: necessary and really the people necessary for him to go
44:43
Speaker 26: out there and be his very best. You know, we
44:46
Speaker 26: interviewed a lot of people for that job, but I
44:49
Speaker 26: felt like Jay embodied who I am as a coach.
44:53
Speaker 11: You know, he's got a great wife, great two kids.
44:56
Speaker 26: Like he's just he fit me and what I want
44:59
Speaker 26: to do with can Kentucky, and so I gave him
45:02
Speaker 26: people around him that know him or have played for
45:05
Speaker 26: him or been in his system.
45:06
Speaker 11: And when he's had that, he's been one of the
45:09
Speaker 11: best in the country.
45:10
Speaker 26: So another guy that's very familiar with the league, you know,
45:13
Speaker 26: being at A and m being at Florida, so that
45:16
Speaker 26: that's beneficial too for me coming from the Big Ten.
45:20
Speaker 11: Stay on there all in the fourth row.
45:22
Speaker 28: Traviston ESPN Austin, Congratulations on the higher coach, and talk
45:29
Speaker 28: about your seven years in the state of Texas from
45:32
Speaker 28: from ut to Lake Travis to UTSA and everything that
45:38
Speaker 28: entailed to get you to where you're back home and
45:42
Speaker 28: where you want to be.
45:44
Speaker 11: It was my first move away from home. You know,
45:46
Speaker 11: I'm born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Went to U
45:49
Speaker 11: of L. Honestly, like if you're from Louisville, you kind
45:53
Speaker 11: of like go away and then you come right back
45:55
Speaker 11: to Louisville and live and raise a family. You never leave,
45:57
Speaker 11: you know.
45:58
Speaker 26: So I left, and it was even though I was
46:02
Speaker 26: going with Coach Strong and I knew a lot of
46:04
Speaker 26: people on the staff, it was still it was my
46:06
Speaker 26: first big move away from home at twenty four years old. Thankfully,
46:11
Speaker 26: my girlfriend at the time no wife, Darby, ended up
46:14
Speaker 26: joining me down there. But I had a great time.
46:17
Speaker 26: You know, Austin, Texas and the prime of my life
46:21
Speaker 26: is a pretty cool spot to live for sure. And
46:24
Speaker 26: got married while we were in Austin, got engaged at
46:26
Speaker 26: the Four Seasons Downtown proposed there.
46:28
Speaker 27: You know.
46:29
Speaker 26: So my son was born in San Antonio. He only
46:32
Speaker 26: lived there for about six weeks. But it was really
46:35
Speaker 26: cool living in Texas, really cool.
46:37
Speaker 11: You never know.
46:37
Speaker 26: He obviously as a Kentucky kid, you hear about Texas
46:40
Speaker 26: and everything's bigger in Texas, and it definitely.
46:43
Speaker 11: Lived up to that.
46:44
Speaker 26: You know, the highways the city life, the people, the
46:49
Speaker 26: high school football. So really cool place for me to
46:53
Speaker 26: spend a long time, Like you mentioned, seven years there,
46:58
Speaker 26: but it all comes full circle. I met Jeff Trailer
47:00
Speaker 26: there who got me out of high school back in
47:02
Speaker 26: the college at UTSA and had a great run there
47:05
Speaker 26: together and took me to Oregon with Dan Lanning. And
47:09
Speaker 26: then three years later I'm back at UK where my
47:13
Speaker 26: dad played, my mom went and dreamt about playing for.
47:15
Speaker 11: So it's a pretty full circle moment for me.
47:19
Speaker 29: Throwing right hey, coach Bruce Marshall at w HBQ in Memphis.
47:24
Speaker 29: Quick question recruiting wise, aside from the portal, So I'm
47:28
Speaker 29: talking abot high school recruiting historically Kentucky back. I mean
47:34
Speaker 29: Frank Curcy when he was there and he won it,
47:36
Speaker 29: he got all of those guys elsewhere aren't still in
47:39
Speaker 29: them were from New Jersey and I think coach Clayburne
47:42
Speaker 29: and Rich Brooks. I mean they were outside of the
47:45
Speaker 29: footprint to get some guys. Are there enough you're the
47:49
Speaker 29: targeted footprint for you high school recruiting? Can you do
47:53
Speaker 29: it in Kentucky or do you have to expand that
47:56
Speaker 29: reach a little bit further to bring the guys in
47:58
Speaker 29: from high school that you like.
48:01
Speaker 26: I think the state of Kentucky currently is as good
48:05
Speaker 26: as I've ever seen with high school recruiting. I mean,
48:08
Speaker 26: the game's changed so much. There's better teams throughout the state.
48:13
Speaker 24: You know that.
48:13
Speaker 26: I don't know how many Division one players there are
48:16
Speaker 26: in this class, but you know, we got four or
48:19
Speaker 26: five of them committed to us right now for Kentucky.
48:22
Speaker 11: So I mean there's probably fifteen kids in the state
48:25
Speaker 11: this year, and there's another crew next year.
48:29
Speaker 26: So I believe the state of Kentucky is definitely picking
48:32
Speaker 26: up in terms of high school talent and just players
48:35
Speaker 26: in general.
48:36
Speaker 11: But you know, we'll go anywhere for a player.
48:40
Speaker 26: You know, if they're in Alaska or freaking Maine or whatever,
48:43
Speaker 26: they love UK and they're good enough to play in
48:44
Speaker 26: the SEC for us, we'll go get them.
48:46
Speaker 11: So, you know, we obviously like to focus on the
48:50
Speaker 11: six hour.
48:50
Speaker 26: Radius around Lexington, Cincinnati, Nashville, Charlotte, Chicago.
48:57
Speaker 11: Indianapolis, Atlanta.
49:00
Speaker 26: You kind of start in these home bases and then
49:02
Speaker 26: spread out based on who really wants to come to Kentucky,
49:07
Speaker 26: which a lot of kids do.
49:10
Speaker 21: You know.
49:10
Speaker 26: I think we have a great brand it's very powerful
49:12
Speaker 26: Big Blue Nations reel. They love the offense and defense
49:15
Speaker 26: that we run and they want to be a part of.
49:18
Speaker 11: Something really cool. It's not going to rule in the oil.
49:22
Speaker 24: Coach Jacob Werlind, care you why you touched on trusting
49:26
Speaker 24: the process in the main ballroom? Following that, what mental
49:31
Speaker 24: concept do you want your quarterbacks to be taught first
49:35
Speaker 24: before worrying about mechanics?
49:38
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean offensive footballs.
49:41
Speaker 26: It's it's interesting because you almost like teach the plays
49:46
Speaker 26: first and then teach the skills after, because in order
49:48
Speaker 26: to go out there and run a play, you guys
49:50
Speaker 26: really have to know where to go. It's kind of
49:52
Speaker 26: it's a funny little dynamic offensively, but yeah, I mean
49:58
Speaker 26: the quarterbacks have to know the system them. They have
50:00
Speaker 26: to know the scheme, they have to know the checks
50:03
Speaker 26: like we do as coaches. I mean, you're putting the
50:06
Speaker 26: entire program in this player's hands every single snap, so
50:10
Speaker 26: they have to be completely in tune with what we're
50:12
Speaker 26: trying to do offensively. An Ultimately, in a game, let's
50:15
Speaker 26: just call it, you have seventy plays. Ten of them
50:18
Speaker 26: are going to be advantage offense. Ten of them are
50:20
Speaker 26: going to be an advantaged defense, and then fifty of
50:22
Speaker 26: them are just going to be our call verse their call.
50:25
Speaker 26: So it's the quarterback's job to take this pot of
50:28
Speaker 26: ten bad plays and put it into either equal play
50:33
Speaker 26: or advantage.
50:35
Speaker 11: So we're trying to eliminate negative plays at quarterback.
50:37
Speaker 26: And when they can really understand that, understand that checkdown
50:41
Speaker 26: is not a sign of weakness, Understanding that, hey we
50:43
Speaker 26: got a pass call, but I can check the inside
50:45
Speaker 26: zone and get us five yards and just continue to
50:48
Speaker 26: drive the ball down the field, that's when I think
50:49
Speaker 26: they've really achieved what we're looking for at that position.
50:54
Speaker 11: A lot of these kids mechanically are pretty good once
50:57
Speaker 11: you get them.
50:57
Speaker 26: Now, there's so many trainers out there now, and these
51:00
Speaker 26: kids are just they're way more advanced than even when
51:03
Speaker 26: I was coming out of high school in two thousand
51:05
Speaker 26: and seven. So but Jae, hopefully that answers your question.
51:10
Speaker 11: Well, they are out fourth row.
51:12
Speaker 12: Ethan Westernman with pull hook sports dot com, just what
51:14
Speaker 12: would you consider successful first year on the job.
51:19
Speaker 26: I mean, the biggest thing that I want, Ethan, is
51:22
Speaker 26: growth each game, each practice from Fall Camp one to
51:26
Speaker 26: Fall Camp thirteen, the mock game week to week one
51:29
Speaker 26: of the season in the week twelve, that to me,
51:34
Speaker 26: will be successful if we continue to improve, the game
51:37
Speaker 26: is gonna happen. We're gonna play well, there's gonna be
51:40
Speaker 26: moments of man, that was not a good play, But
51:43
Speaker 26: how we respond and how we grow from that each week,
51:45
Speaker 26: to me, that's gonna be the ultimate sign of success.
51:47
Speaker 11: For this year.
51:50
Speaker 8: We have time for one more question. We'll go here
51:52
Speaker 8: in the back.
51:54
Speaker 27: CHESA Bouchev and NBC thirty three and bat News again. Yeah,
51:58
Speaker 27: I don't like to move around, all right. So obviously
52:02
Speaker 27: first year head coach, the nine game SEC slate, Obviously
52:06
Speaker 27: you don't have a choice, but your thoughts and takeaways
52:08
Speaker 27: on what I guess how to navigate that, especially with
52:12
Speaker 27: how tough this conference is.
52:15
Speaker 26: Well, there's still gonna be a kickoff time. I'm gonna
52:18
Speaker 26: put the ball down and we're gonna play the game.
52:20
Speaker 26: So I mean, I don't control any of that. It's
52:24
Speaker 26: what you sign up for, you know. So it's not
52:28
Speaker 26: changing this year and probably not gonna change in the future.
52:31
Speaker 26: And I'm sure it's going to continue to go up.
52:33
Speaker 26: And but I just worry what I what I can
52:36
Speaker 26: worry about, that's make sure my kids show up on
52:38
Speaker 26: time and come to the team meeting prepared with a
52:40
Speaker 26: notebook and pencil, ready to go and take the field
52:43
Speaker 26: with urgency taped embraced, and then go cut it loose.
52:47
Speaker 3: That was a very confident first year head coach will
52:50
Speaker 3: Stein and University of Kentucky. We're gonna take a quick
52:53
Speaker 3: break and then we will send you to the top
52:55
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Speaker 3: That's going to do it for hour number one. Here
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Speaker 3: on the zone, Caleb Rapley here filling in for Chip,
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Speaker 3: and just a little bit at five o'clock we will
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Speaker 3: Chip Howard Sports Talk on the Zone,