Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ari Temkin on Utah's gritty win over Houston, At Cincinnati on Halloween, BYU falling to UCF, Texas Tech's loss to Cincy + more

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Ari Temkin on Utah's gritty win over Houston, At Cincinnati on Halloween, BYU falling to UCF, Texas Tech's loss to Cincy + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: You're tuned to the sean o'connell show from the murdoch
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  Speaker 1: chevrolet studio of espn 792 1fm keep.
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  Speaker 2: Your feedback coming in would you love would you hate
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: if there was anything to hate about utah beating houston
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  Speaker 2: on saturday night 877-353-0700 at Real OC Sports on the
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  Speaker 2: Twitter machine. Oh, man, we're talking some Big 12 football,
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  Speaker 2: some Utah football. Ari Temkin joins us, Big 12 today
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  Speaker 2: on TuneIn Radio, good friend of the show. Ari, welcome.
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  Speaker 2: How are you?
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  Speaker 3: I'm great, OC. How are you, buddy?
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing awesome. We had an exciting night on Saturday. Houston, really,
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  Speaker 2: really solid team. Came in ranked number 14 in the country.
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  Speaker 2: college game day on campus in the morning and already
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  Speaker 2: torn down and cleared out by the time the game
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  Speaker 2: actually kicked off, which is kind of a funny dynamic,
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  Speaker 2: but ultimately Utah gets the win in a tight game
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  Speaker 2: and a really fun game, not as high scoring as
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  Speaker 2: I thought it would be between the two highest scoring
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  Speaker 2: offenses in the big 12. The result of course, that
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  Speaker 2: everyone here in salt Lake was hoping for as the outsider,
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  Speaker 2: as the external viewer, what did you think of this game?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, there was a lot to like. You know,
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  Speaker 3: I think we've seen at different times this year teams
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  Speaker 3: try to take away certain aspects of Utah's offense, and
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  Speaker 3: they were able to respond. I mean, we obviously have
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  Speaker 3: not seen Devin Dampier run like the way that he
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  Speaker 3: ran in this game. And, you know, and it was
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  Speaker 3: needed every yard because they were really doing a good
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  Speaker 3: job in limiting way Sean Parker. And, you know, look,
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  Speaker 3: Parker was chippy throughout the game. I feel like there
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  Speaker 3: were– multiple opportunities that he might have been flagged for
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  Speaker 3: kind of some extracurricular. And he still managed to make
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  Speaker 3: an impact in the game even without his running. I've
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  Speaker 3: got to say, O.C., the one thing, though, and this
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  Speaker 3: almost came back to bite them, with the two-minute timeout
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  Speaker 3: still looming and one timeout for Houston, I think Devin
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  Speaker 3: Dampier running it into the end zone was the wrong move.
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  Speaker 3: That's one where I think you've got to get down.
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  Speaker 3: take more time. It obviously didn't matter in the end,
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  Speaker 3: but it could have had Houston be able to get
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  Speaker 3: into the end zone and get the two-point conversion and
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  Speaker 3: send it to overtime. So I was not a fan
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  Speaker 3: and thought that that was really almost a disaster for
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  Speaker 3: Utah with one timeout and a two-minute timeout. I still
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  Speaker 3: didn't think that Houston would be able to stop the
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  Speaker 3: clock enough and run it out there, but Dampier ran
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  Speaker 3: it in, and luckily the defense came up at the stop.
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  Speaker 2: I thought that maybe if you're going to score that quickly,
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  Speaker 2: go for the two-point conversion. You're at home. Nine-point lead
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  Speaker 2: at that point is the game over, basically.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's either you're up a touchdown if
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  Speaker 3: you don't get it or you're up by two scores.
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  Speaker 3: I probably would have leaned more towards your side, but again, like,
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  Speaker 3: I think you've got to know if you're damp here,
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  Speaker 3: they want you to score. They're going to give it
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  Speaker 3: to you so that you can get the ball back.
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  Speaker 3: You've got to get down. And, again, I know they
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  Speaker 3: had a timeout, and they still had the two-minute timeout,
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  Speaker 3: but I still don't think that would have been enough
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  Speaker 3: time in order to get the ball back and go
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  Speaker 3: down and score.
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  Speaker 4: And, look, it was close.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, maybe it was a pass interference at the
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  Speaker 3: end that wasn't called. You know, it really came down
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  Speaker 3: at the end, you know, and so– I think football
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  Speaker 3: is always tough when it comes to scoring and you
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  Speaker 3: want to get into the end zone, but that was
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  Speaker 3: one where I thought, man, it probably was a little
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  Speaker 3: bit too close for what was necessary given. If you
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  Speaker 3: just get down there, I think the game is over quicker.
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  Speaker 2: Devin Dampier had 18 completions on 26 attempts, 204 yards.
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  Speaker 2: He did throw the two interceptions, the second of which
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  Speaker 2: was really, really bad because you're building a nice drive.
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  Speaker 2: It's fourth quarter. It's an important moment of the game. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, if you just keep that ball and
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  Speaker 2: keep running, it's a positive play for your offense. And
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  Speaker 2: instead he kind of tries this lofting jump pass almost. Uh, so,
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  Speaker 2: but ultimately it were, it was really his legs that
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  Speaker 2: were the story of Utah's offense, 15 carries for 150
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  Speaker 2: yards and a couple of touchdowns, one of which you
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  Speaker 2: just mentioned, but, uh, it was, you know, keeping the
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  Speaker 2: drive alive multiple times in this game, the legs of
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  Speaker 2: Devin Dampier much more than we've seen from him in
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  Speaker 2: all season long. And, you know, there's an article now
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  Speaker 2: about him talking to an old private, you know, his
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  Speaker 2: personal QB coach saying, when you recognize that, just go.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know why it takes an external voice to
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  Speaker 2: say those things or whatever, but do you think Devin
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  Speaker 2: Dampier will see more of this, more running from Devin
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  Speaker 2: Dampier as the tough part of Utah's schedule progresses?
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  Speaker 3: I would think so, and it's going to be extremely important.
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  Speaker 3: But I also like the dynamic of, look, lean on Bray,
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  Speaker 3: lean on Parker. Those are your main rushers. They've been
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  Speaker 3: effective this year, and only in spots where you absolutely
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  Speaker 3: have to have it. And that, I think, is what
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  Speaker 3: presented itself in this game. Houston was dead set on
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  Speaker 3: taking away LeSean Parker. So because I think of that,
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  Speaker 3: united a call more past plays and and you know
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  Speaker 3: that because they're paying extra attention to waste on parker
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  Speaker 3: now that gives you an opportunity the quarterback to where
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  Speaker 3: you have you know some some match-ups on the outside
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  Speaker 3: that give you some running room i think that's exactly
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  Speaker 3: what he did and it's one of those just take
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  Speaker 3: with the defense sort of gives you type games and
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  Speaker 3: but we've seen it in different ways throughout the season
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  Speaker 3: with Utah, where they try to take this away and
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  Speaker 3: now they beat you that way. I think that ultimately
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  Speaker 3: is how you win big, not just in the Big 12,
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  Speaker 3: but in playoff games. The best teams can win when
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  Speaker 3: they're at their best and things are rolling, but when
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  Speaker 3: they try to take away certain things, I think that's
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  Speaker 3: where what we saw with Devin Dampier really takes meaning.
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  Speaker 3: And the other part to this, too, is I think
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  Speaker 3: the story of this weekend of the big 12 was
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  Speaker 3: missed tackles. You know, the BYU game, you know, more
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  Speaker 3: so than some of those weird calls at the end
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  Speaker 3: of the game, like BYU missed a ton of tackles
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  Speaker 3: on UCF in that game. And the same could be
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  Speaker 3: said about Houston. I mean, Houston usually is a sure
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  Speaker 3: tackling team. I think there was, there was a few
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  Speaker 3: factors here and this was, this was kind of an
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  Speaker 3: old school Utah wind where they leaned heavily on their
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  Speaker 3: defense and quarterback run. But a big part of what
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  Speaker 3: allowed the quarterback run to be so successful was missed tackles.
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  Speaker 3: That peer was slipping through many of those arm tackles that,
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  Speaker 3: that got them for extra yardage. And then, yeah, I mean,
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  Speaker 3: I loved Colton Swan in the second half and fourth
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  Speaker 3: quarter in particular dialing up the blitzes because they You know,
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  Speaker 3: Conor Wegman's been very, very good this year, but when
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  Speaker 3: you bring blitzes from different parts and confuse them as
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  Speaker 3: they were doing, you get the result that you see,
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  Speaker 3: which is a fourth quarter where Houston could not do
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  Speaker 3: anything offensively. I credit a lot of that to what
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  Speaker 3: Utah did defensively, and obviously look at the final strip
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  Speaker 3: sack where Benny was one of the guys that kind
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  Speaker 3: of came out of nowhere and was able to fumble
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  Speaker 3: Conor Wegman on that play.
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  Speaker 2: So now Utah's got Cincinnati. And, of course, the easiest
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  Speaker 2: comp here is what just happened with BYU and UCF.
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  Speaker 2: We'll get to that in just a second. But you
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  Speaker 2: come off a big win, your biggest win of the
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  Speaker 2: season undoubtedly for Utah. You go on the road, and
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  Speaker 2: it's against a team that, I mean, now people are
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  Speaker 2: paying attention to because they were able to beat Tech,
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  Speaker 2: but that we didn't talk about much until now. And
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  Speaker 2: Cincinnati's formidable. So how do you handicap that game? What
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  Speaker 2: do you think that game ends up looking like for
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  Speaker 2: Utah on the road?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's tough from the standpoint of I'm
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  Speaker 3: not really sure what to think of Cincinnati's defense. You know,
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  Speaker 3: at times earlier this year, the defense looked really good.
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  Speaker 3: And then there were weeks where the defense looked absolutely atrocious.
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  Speaker 3: And then this week where the defense was dynamic and,
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  Speaker 3: I mean, played a crucial role in making Texas Tech
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  Speaker 3: offense look bad. So that's like, that's where I start
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  Speaker 3: here is Cincinnati has a very good offense. JC French
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  Speaker 3: is one of the more underrated quarterbacks in the big
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  Speaker 3: 12 because he's a legit dual threat. They have a
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  Speaker 3: really good offensive line and they've been able to run
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  Speaker 3: the ball very effectively all year. So those things like
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  Speaker 3: that's a, that's a, that's a given like that. We
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  Speaker 3: shouldn't be confused about that. Cincinnati has a very legitimate defense,
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  Speaker 3: a very legitimate offense. There are just major questions about
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  Speaker 3: the defense and which defense will show up. I mean, again,
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  Speaker 3: against Texas Tech, they made Texas Tech's offense look atrocious.
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  Speaker 3: And Texas Tech's offense has not been good all year,
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  Speaker 3: but it has not looked good. that bad all season.
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  Speaker 3: And so I certainly think, you know, their defense played
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  Speaker 3: a big role in making them look that bad, but
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  Speaker 3: make no mistake about it. I mean, Cincinnati with cold
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  Speaker 3: tab at running back. I mean, they did do a
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  Speaker 3: Texas tech defense, what no team had been able to
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  Speaker 3: do since she'll would took over. When you think about
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  Speaker 3: last season and this season, no team had rushed for
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  Speaker 3: over 175 yards and they did it. They had not
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  Speaker 3: given up a rushing touchdown all year. They gave up
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  Speaker 3: a 51 rushing 51 yard rushing touchdown, a cold tab
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  Speaker 3: in this game. So This is a very robust offense.
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  Speaker 3: It's very difficult to stop. It starts up front where
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  Speaker 3: they have one of the best, if not the best,
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  Speaker 3: offensive line in the Big 12. I mean, they lost
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  Speaker 3: Terran Tayo in this game. They're placed with another guy
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  Speaker 3: that came in and played very well against a very
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  Speaker 3: good defensive front. So I'd be very confused between, I'd
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  Speaker 3: be very interested to see the matchup between Scott Satterfield
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  Speaker 3: and Colton Swan, Morgan Scali with the defensive end.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Tim, can here on Sean O'Connell, show talk
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  Speaker 2: at all things Big 12 football. Three undefeated teams heading
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: into last weekend in the conference. Only one remains, and that,
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  Speaker 2: of course, is Utah. because Cincinnati beats Texas tech. You
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  Speaker 2: just talked about, you know, cold tab, the hero of
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  Speaker 2: that game. And then UCF BYU. First of all, the
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  Speaker 2: end of game. End-of-game scenario in this one is one
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  Speaker 2: of the most bizarre, convoluted, drawn-out, disgusting ends of game
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  Speaker 2: I've seen. I thought that the officials screwed up really
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: hurting both teams, and ultimately UCF gets the win, and
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: it took into double overtime to make it happen. Let's
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: start with the end-of-game scenario. Helmet gets ripped off, a
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  Speaker 2: flag is thrown, and then the flag is picked up,
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  Speaker 2: and then there's a 10-second runoff that we have since
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  Speaker 2: learned should not have happened. Why now, multiple times in
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  Speaker 2: a year, twice in two weeks, clocks have been mismanaged
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  Speaker 2: at the end of BYU games and, of course, Michigan,
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  Speaker 2: Western Michigan at the beginning of the season. Ari, why
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  Speaker 2: can't we get the clock thing right in college football?
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  Speaker 2: It's 2026.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's maddening. I mean, this ending was insanity. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: even going back... to the fourth and goal from the
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  Speaker 3: one stop that BYU got and was able to flip
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  Speaker 3: at the end of this game. And then you get
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  Speaker 3: the ball back at the one, but you run it
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  Speaker 3: three times instead of trying to take some chances with
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  Speaker 3: an experienced quarterback at the number two team in the nation.
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  Speaker 3: I get it. You're trying to not make the play
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  Speaker 3: that ends the game for you, but I thought the
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  Speaker 3: approach there from Aaron Roderick and Kalani Satake, it left
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  Speaker 3: a little bit to be desired. And then they punt
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  Speaker 3: and give the ball back to UCF, playing it safe,
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  Speaker 3: give up a big play to Josh Derry on third down,
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  Speaker 3: which allowed the drive to continue and most importantly set
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  Speaker 3: UCF in field goal range. And then this is when
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  Speaker 3: it got crazy bizarre because then they set up the
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  Speaker 3: field goal unit, then realized they should probably take off
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: more time. So they run a few plays but didn't
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  Speaker 3: really want to do anything with those plays. They just
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  Speaker 3: wanted to take time off. So they run a few plays. Then,
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  Speaker 3: of course, they set up for the game-winning field goal.
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  Speaker 3: It's blocked in a ridiculous play by Satuwala. Because it
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  Speaker 3: was blocked behind the line of scrimmage, that would allow
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  Speaker 3: for UCF to kick another field goal. That was what
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  Speaker 3: I was also confused about, the whole, you know, if
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  Speaker 3: you kick in an early down, can you kick again? Well,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: you can, only if the ball does not get past...
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  Speaker 3: always the balls behind the line of scrimmage. So then
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  Speaker 3: that transpires. The helmet's ripped off. The 10-second runoff was
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  Speaker 3: a product of the helmet coming off. Now, how did
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  Speaker 3: his helmet come off? That's, I guess, what you could argue.
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  Speaker 3: But they basically did the 10-second runoff because the helmet
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  Speaker 3: came off. How it came off, I don't know.
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  Speaker 4: It must have just magically fallen.
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  Speaker 3: Off, perhaps. And then after all that, I forgot, of course,
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  Speaker 3: the Keanu Tanuvasa penalty, which kept it going. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: it was just maddening, the end of this game, and
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: so many mistakes by BYU. and ultimately gets to that
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  Speaker 3: second overtime where a lot of BYU fans are upset
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  Speaker 3: about the roughing the kicker call. And the way it
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  Speaker 3: was explained to me is, look, if you're blocking at
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  Speaker 3: the kicker, it's obvious where the official is standing behind
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  Speaker 3: the play. He could see the, the bull rush aggressiveness
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  Speaker 3: from the defensive lineman. And at that point, when you
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: burst through and you're out of control, they're going to
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  Speaker 3: call that. And by the letter of law, that is
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  Speaker 3: the penalty. And obviously that extended the drive, allowed them
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  Speaker 3: to put the go-ahead touchdown in there, and then an
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  Speaker 3: amazing play by Keywon Jenkins on the two-point conversion where
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: he was nearly sacked. Again, a broken tackle. He escapes it.
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  Speaker 3: He rushes out to his left, rolls out to his left,
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  Speaker 3: and completes a pass to the true freshman, Horns, for
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  Speaker 3: the two-point conversion. It was just the craziest thing. final
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  Speaker 3: two minutes and overtime. I think I've ever seen. It's
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  Speaker 3: even hard to explain or remember every single situation that
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  Speaker 3: transpired here. And to your point, it was very bizarre.
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  Speaker 3: Like a few of these plays, I think first that
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  Speaker 3: the ton of, you know, first where they thought they
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: get the fumble and recovery, or now suddenly BYU looks
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: like they're the ones that are going to get the
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  Speaker 3: ball back with an opportunity to kick a game winning
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  Speaker 3: field goal. It was a great play by Jenkins because
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  Speaker 3: chambers was right there. So it was not grounding because he,
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: he was trying to get the ball to the running back,
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: you know, and then kind of also kind of a,
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  Speaker 3: you know, a play. You don't expect him to make
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  Speaker 3: a veteran that he slams the guy's head in the ground,
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: which made it a little bit of an easier field goal.
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  Speaker 3: All these crazy things happen at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 3: BYU missed far too many tackles missed far too many opportunities.
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: And I think BYU, ultimately OC in this very long
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: winded answer here.
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  Speaker 4: Like the one thing we should.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: Have taken away from the Notre Dame game was this
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: is not sustainable. You cannot win where bear Bachmeier has
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: to do everything. They don't have a running game. It
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: was completely absent. Once again, this week, it's all on bear.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: And when they take a bit way quarterback run, now
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  Speaker 3: all of a sudden he's got to win through the air.
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  Speaker 3: And he did a lot in this game.
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  Speaker 4: Just not enough.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: Interestingly, not enough. overly punitive rankings uh after byu loses
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: right yes they drop but and they they lose to
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: an unranked team but they you know i think that
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: there's a sentiment here that hey this is still a
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: really good byu football team and i don't disagree and
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: obviously they're going to be much different when lj martin
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: comes back and they're trying to get him back either
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: this week or for the holy war which we now
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: found out is a 10 a.m kickoff what do you
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: think of a 10 a.m kickoff local for the holy
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  Speaker 2: war Oh my goodness.
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  Speaker 3: I hate that. I mean, I guess it's, it's going
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: to be, is that the big noon kickoff? Is that
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: why it is?
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: It's going to be on ESPN or ABC. So maybe
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: the big noon show will be here, but no, it's a,
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: it's an ABC or ESPN game.
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: I had not heard that yet. You know what, let
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: me ask you this.
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  Speaker 4: Oh, see, is that usually a night game?
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: We've seen it played every time of the day. It
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: has been at night. For me, there's been a groundswell of,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: even though everyone loves Rice Eccles at night and everyone
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: loves the atmosphere, the fans last week were complaining like,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: oh my gosh, another night game. What's going on here?
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  Speaker 2: And now you get the pendulum swinging all the way back,
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: the overcorrection in a 10 a.m.
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  Speaker 4: Game.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: And you guessed it. Everyone's mad about that also. So
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  Speaker 2: I think here's the thing. The reason the conference and
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: that this is a Brett Yormark problem, in my opinion,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: or a Brett Yormark situation, if you don't want to
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: call it a problem. He has to justify not having
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: this game be at the rivalry week, the end of
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: the year. And, and this November 7th, that day is
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: a slate of unbelievable games. Miami, Notre Dame, Ohio state's
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: got a big one. If I'm not mistaken, there's like
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: six other ranked versus ranked. So in order for them
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: in order for it to be, Hey, this is the
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: showcase game that we promised you is going to be.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: You had to either put it at night again, which
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: now the big networks don't want to do because it's
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: top 10 matchup, or you had to put it early
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: in the morning where it's in a showcase game. like
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: actually nationally available, everyone can watch it kind of a slot.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: And I think that's where the problem comes in.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, when you initially said it, my first
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: thought was, you know, either the big noon kick or it's,
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: you know, it's because there's a lot of traffic you're
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: trying to avoid. I mean, I get the Utah fan
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: sentiment of the.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: Night game, you know, this wasn't a night game. This
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: was a very late game, you know, nine 15 central.
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: So it was kind of an obnoxious time for, my
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: standard point now, again, I think you, you identified it correctly, right?
• 17:48
  Speaker 4: Like the conference is looking for big wins and windows
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: that they're not competing against, you know, the SEC and
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: the big 10, um, because they want, you know, in
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: many ways to be able to, to put this all
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: into the, you know, the PowerPoint they're going to be
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: presenting to TV networks here in a few years when
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: it comes to, um, the opportunity with the big 12
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: and how big 12 with its own windows, you know, is, is,
• 18:11
  Speaker 4: is holding its own. Um, There's probably no perfect spot
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: for this game. I think I start almost at the
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: beginning where you said that the losses specifically for BYU
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: did not penalize the conference maybe as much as we
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: expected it to. I do recall hearing during the Utah
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: broadcast that those teams, Utah and BYU, have never met
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: in a matchup before. both his top 10 teams.
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: So as long as things go, you know, as planned
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: this week, then there's a good chance it'll be the
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: first time ever for that matchup. So to have it
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: be that early in the morning is a disappointment. I
• 18:47
  Speaker 3: will say too, just as a fan of rivalries, you know,
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: historically they hold games earlier. I think of Texas OU
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: just because they don't want people to be too drunk. Now,
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: obviously that's not the case in this game. So, you know,
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: that's where, like, a lot of these rivalry games will
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: never occur at night. Now, the dynamics of Utah and
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: BYU are a bit different where you can allow for
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: a night game because, you know, a lot of the
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: folks involved aren't drinking and you don't have to worry
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: about that. So just kind of thinking through all of
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: these dynamics, there's probably no perfect time except for maybe
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: like a local 2.30 kick or a local 6 or
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: 7 kick. But once they kick off, like, it's– ultimately
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: this only matters i think for the fans um because
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: ultimately when they kick off i think both teams are
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: understand what's at stake and how big of a deal
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: this is going to be i think it's also oc
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: never become more clear than this week that there's a
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: good chance the big 12 championship game is going to
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: be a rematch of it.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Okay so handicap handicap the conference for me right right
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: now Utah's number one, you can't put them anywhere else.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Where does everyone else go? Is it true to rankings?
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Is it, you know, is it Arizona number two right now?
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: Tell me what, tell me what the power structure is
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: in the big 12 conference.
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question because I mean, I'm really
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: down on Texas tech just because of their offense and
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: Whereas with BYU, I'd like to have a better understanding
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: of when L.J. Martin will return because, look, they're one
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: and one now with L.J. Martin coming back at some point,
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: and we know that that's going to make such a
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: significant difference. I mean, take away Weishan Parker from Utah,
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: and what does that look like? It's a very similar dynamic.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: So I think I'd probably still put BYU at two.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: And then at three, I mean, you're looking at Houston,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Arizona. So there's basically four
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: teams now for three spots. I would probably put Oklahoma
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: State in third, which is weird just given what they've
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: done this year. But, I mean, Drew Mastemaker is so dynamic.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: Some of the plays that he's able to make with
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: his arm, with his legs, he's unbelievable. And certainly if
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: I were an NFL team, I'd be looking at him
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: for the first overall pick. And then I'd probably put
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Texas Tech four. And then, as I think through this,
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: probably Arizona at five, just because Houston has those two losses.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: Arizona's only loss, obviously, to BYU on the road. They have,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: you know, who I'd argue is the best quarterback and
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: probably the most underrated quarterback in college football. And Fafita,
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: who just continues to put up big-time numbers. You know,
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: they're down to their fourth, fifth, sixth-string receiver. And this guy,
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: Isaiah Mizell, has become an absolute– you know, stud for them, um,
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: as a wide out. So I'd probably put Arizona at
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: five at Houston and the outside looking in right now,
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: but I think you're looking at six really good teams.
• 21:34
  Speaker 3: And there's a reason all six of them are ranked
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: in the top 25. And, um, you know, I think
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: it speaks to the potential for the big 12 to
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: still get to maybe even three bids to the college
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: football football playoff.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Does Utah win in Cincinnati and head to the Holy
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: war undefeated?
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: I believe so. Yeah, I think so. They've made it
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: this far. There are certainly flaws there that can be exposed,
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: but ultimately I trust that defense to get more stops
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: than I trust Cincinnati's defense on Utah for sure.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: Again, I think Utah has done.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: A really good job adjusting on the fly to what
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: teams defensively are trying to take away. Then those personnel packages,
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: the pre-snap motion stuff is so much fun. It's so interesting.
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: It's really hard to account for You see all different
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: kinds of formations and wrinkles each and every week. This
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: past week we saw Ficklin come in, motion to the backfield.
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: He does nothing. Other weeks we've seen him take that
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: pass out of the backfield and throw the ball down
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: the field. We've seen him run with it. There's so
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: much they're able to do that I think makes it
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: really difficult to defend them. Again, I think Cincinnati's defense
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: has been up and down, but I think a lot
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: of what happened with Texas Tech had to do with
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: Texas Tech. It had not as much to do with Cincinnati.
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: Ari, you're the man. I always appreciate your time and
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: your feedback, sir. We'll chat next Monday.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: Take care, OC. Be well, brother.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Ari Temkin, best in the business, covering the Big 12 Conference.
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Tune in radios at Big 12 today, every day.