Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Craig James on the Pony Express Award given to the best duo in CFB, 3 Utes on the watchlist, State of college football + more

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Craig James on the Pony Express Award given to the best duo in CFB, 3 Utes on the watchlist, State of college football + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:00
Speaker 1: You don't need no education.
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Speaker 2: This is the Sean O'Connell Show, your home of the
0:07
Speaker 2: best inside of your youth.
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Speaker 1: Let's get back to OC from the Murdoch Chevrolet.
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Speaker 2: Studio of ESPN 792.1 FM. No dark sarcasm in the classroom.
0:27
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the Sean O'Connell Show, coming at you
0:29
Speaker 2: from Smith's Marketplace, just west of Redwood Road on 90th South.
0:34
Speaker 2: Come get some Taffy Town Taffy. The gift cards and
0:38
Speaker 2: the tailgate passes and the game tickets have all been claimed,
0:41
Speaker 2: but I still would love to chat with you, have
0:43
Speaker 2: you come by, say hello before we get ready for
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Speaker 2: a big Utah versus Houston matchup, college game day in town.
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Speaker 2: And this Utah team is going to lean heavily on
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Speaker 2: An offensive combination of Devin Dampier and Way Sean Parker
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Speaker 2: joining us to talk about that and much more in
1:00
Speaker 2: the college football world. The SMU legend, Craig James, kind
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Speaker 2: enough to join us. NFL veteran, longtime commentator. Great to
1:09
Speaker 2: have you on the show, Mr.
1:11
Speaker 1: James. How are you? I'm great, Sean. Thank you very
1:14
Speaker 1: much for having me. I am pumped to watch this
1:17
Speaker 1: game this weekend. I mean, Utah and Houston is going
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Speaker 1: to be outstanding. It's one of those games I wish
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Speaker 1: I could be at.
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Speaker 2: Well, we'd love to have you come here to Salt
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Speaker 2: Lake City sometime soon, Craig. But if you don't mind,
1:28
Speaker 2: I want to pick your brain a little bit about
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Speaker 2: kind of like a big picture question we have with
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Speaker 2: this Utah football team right now. 6-0, ranked number 10
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Speaker 2: in the country. Struggled a little bit with the Colorado
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Speaker 2: team that I don't think really should have caused them
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Speaker 2: any problems last week. But in those six games, it
1:46
Speaker 2: feels like this Utah team hasn't played anyone even near
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Speaker 2: the caliber of of Houston. So you've been through this
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Speaker 2: at every level of football. Halfway through a season with
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Speaker 2: this level of success and still not knowing 100% what
2:01
Speaker 2: you're made of, what kind of dynamic does that create
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Speaker 2: with the coaching staff in this locker room? Because you're
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Speaker 2: going to find out against Houston.
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Speaker 1: Oh, no question. Houston is a good football team. But
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Speaker 1: I think, Sean, what we're finding in this new era
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Speaker 1: of transfer portals and stuff is that we don't really
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Speaker 1: know who has what until probably the middle of the season.
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Speaker 1: And now here's Utah, and this is a team that
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Speaker 1: has everything that looks great on paper. They're doing great
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Speaker 1: with the win chart. Now they're going to find out
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Speaker 1: against a good football team really who they are. And
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Speaker 1: we've seen it, the parity around college football. I was
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Speaker 1: texting with Rhett Lashley, the SMU coach, after the game
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Speaker 1: last week and congratulating him, and he just said, man,
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Speaker 1: it's hard to win. And it's true. it's hard to
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Speaker 1: win football games on Saturdays in college football nowadays. You
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Speaker 1: just don't know who's going to show up or not
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Speaker 1: show up. And so this is one of those telltale
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Speaker 1: games for Utah and for Houston, and I look forward
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Speaker 1: to seeing it.
3:03
Speaker 2: You're spearheading this effort on the Pony Express Award, and
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Speaker 2: I love the concept of where we're talking about not
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Speaker 2: just giving the honor to a person, an individual, a
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Speaker 2: wonderful quarterback, a great wide receiver, There's already awards for that,
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Speaker 2: and there has been for a really long time. The
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Speaker 2: Pony Express Award decorates the best dynamic duo, the best
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Speaker 2: pair of teammates. In 2024, Shador Sanders, Travis Hunter. Last year,
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Speaker 2: and Utah fans are going to be a little triggered
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Speaker 2: by this, Jacob Rodriguez and David Bailey, two defensive dynamos
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Speaker 2: for Texas Tech that made everyone in the Big 12's
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Speaker 2: life miserable. If you don't mind, take me behind the
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Speaker 2: thought process of this award and making sure that we
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Speaker 2: have something unique, even in the long line and the
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Speaker 2: long history of trophies handed out in college football.
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Speaker 1: Well, Sean, Eric Dickerson and I were considered the pony
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Speaker 1: express at SMU, and our friendship that has endured for
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Speaker 1: nearly 50 years now, we got together and started talking
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Speaker 1: about an award that would recognize the teamwork and athletes
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Speaker 1: who come together to make the team better. And sometimes
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Speaker 1: you have to be selfless in that activity. And especially
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Speaker 1: today in this world, we look at it as kind
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Speaker 1: of a we award in a me era. And it's
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Speaker 1: really nice to be able to see and reflect that
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Speaker 1: that combination, like you mentioned, the two linebackers last year
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Speaker 1: at Texas Tech, they were voted on and the award
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Speaker 1: is voted on by current players from around the country.
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Speaker 1: And that's an honor. When I was voted for the
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Speaker 1: Pro Bowl in the NFL, and Eric as well, it
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Speaker 1: came from the players. It meant a lot to us.
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Speaker 1: We feel like being able to find the combination, the pairs,
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Speaker 1: the duos out there. It could be two safeties, two corners,
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Speaker 1: two linebackers as it was last year. And then you've
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Speaker 1: mentioned here that Devin Demp here and Wayshawn Parker, Braden Pagan,
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Speaker 1: he's in the mix. You know, he's also in consideration.
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Speaker 1: So we're trying to find out, is it Parker Pagan?
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Speaker 1: Is it, you know, which one is that? And This
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Speaker 1: is the time of the year where the watch list
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Speaker 1: begins to whittle down because we can see who the
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Speaker 1: real combinations are out there.
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Speaker 2: I also love the fact that you do ask players
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Speaker 2: to vote on this, right? When Utah was in the Pac-12,
5:20
Speaker 2: I loved the Morris Award, which is the offensive lineman
5:23
Speaker 2: in the league and the defensive lineman in the league
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Speaker 2: cast a vote on who made their life most miserable.
5:28
Speaker 2: And it's an award that you don't want to be
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Speaker 2: giving to somebody else, but it's an ultimate respect thing,
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Speaker 2: in my opinion. when you can earn an award that
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Speaker 2: is based on by your peers, by your opponents, by
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Speaker 2: your enemies, because they don't want to honor you that way,
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Speaker 2: but they just have to acknowledge, man, this is the
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Speaker 2: best dynamic duo. I love that. I wish there was
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Speaker 2: more of that, honestly, in all the pre- and post-season
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Speaker 2: awards that we keep handing out to people because, look,
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Speaker 2: I'm just a media guy now, but I think a
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Speaker 2: vote coming from me means a lot less than a
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Speaker 2: vote coming from an opponent that you dominated in a game.
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Speaker 1: Well, but you know what, Sean, you played and I played.
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Speaker 1: And so we have a feel for how hard it
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Speaker 1: is to be a really good player. But when you
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Speaker 1: have the current guys that are out there that have
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Speaker 1: actually gone against some of these players voting on the award,
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Speaker 1: I think that's really a good thing. We've also, we're
6:17
Speaker 1: adding a Legends of College Football Selection Committee, a part
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Speaker 1: of this. Marcus Allen, Jerome Bettis, Tim Brown, that are
6:26
Speaker 1: going to be a part of the voting process this
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Speaker 1: year as well. So we're really trying to have experts
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Speaker 1: who appreciate what a tandem does for a team and
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Speaker 1: the teamwork in this era. Eric and I say many
6:39
Speaker 1: times now that had we had the transferability back in
6:43
Speaker 1: our time, one of us would have transferred. We wouldn't
6:45
Speaker 1: have had to stick it out. And so we fought
6:48
Speaker 1: through it, and because of that, it pushed each other.
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Speaker 1: We pushed each other, became better players. The team benefited
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Speaker 1: from it, and I think we did too long-term.
6:59
Speaker 2: Craig James is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell
7:01
Speaker 2: Show talking about the Pony Express Award where Devin Dampier,
7:05
Speaker 2: Braden Pagan, and Way Sean Parker, all in consideration for
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Speaker 2: the best, most dynamic duo ever. in college football down south.
7:13
Speaker 2: You've got some guys from BYU who are also in
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Speaker 2: this conversation, and we just saw a really impressive performance
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Speaker 2: for Bear Bachmeier without L.J. Martin, who is last year's
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Speaker 2: best player on the team, Offensive Player of the Year
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Speaker 2: in the Big 12 Conference, and BYU got the win
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Speaker 2: without him in the lineup, and a lot of that
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Speaker 2: was the heroics of Bear Bachmeier, who scored on a
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Speaker 2: passing touchdown, on a running touchdown, and on a receiving touchdown.
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Speaker 2: Your thoughts on that win for BYU? And on Bear Bachman,
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Speaker 2: I mean, he might win the Dynamic Duo Award just
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Speaker 2: by himself, Craig.
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Speaker 1: There's the Bear and the Bear Bachmeier. I tell you,
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Speaker 1: I was glued to the TV watching that game. And
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Speaker 1: for me, Bear Bachmeier is really all about college football.
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Speaker 1: He exemplifies what the heartbeat of it has meant for
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Speaker 1: all of these years. And there are a number of
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Speaker 1: really good players there. And it's just a matter of
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Speaker 1: who's going to team up with him and be the
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Speaker 1: tandem and the duo that represents BYU. They've got good
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Speaker 1: linebackers on that team. There are a lot of good
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Speaker 1: combinations there. and so it's fun to watch them, but
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Speaker 1: especially Barrett. His mentality, the attitude that he has, it's
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Speaker 1: contagious to the team, and it was fun to watch.
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Speaker 2: I think talking to someone from SMU about this kind
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Speaker 2: of thing is probably right, because there's been this overwhelming
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Speaker 2: sentiment and maybe momentum in college football toward the SEC
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Speaker 2: and the Big Ten kind of controlling everything and and
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Speaker 2: boxing out teams, even really, really good teams in the
8:43
Speaker 2: Big 12, and Notre Dame gets to be at the party,
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Speaker 2: but does SMU, oh, Miami gets to be there, but
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Speaker 2: does the rest of the ACC get taken quite as
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Speaker 2: seriously as everyone else? And obviously, being from the University
8:56
Speaker 2: of Utah and watching their journey through the Pac-12 and
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Speaker 2: now in the Big 12 that have always been kind
9:01
Speaker 2: of the also-ran sort of power conferences, I just wanted
9:05
Speaker 2: your thoughts on the overall balance and the power structure
9:09
Speaker 2: right now in college football as we're moving towards a
9:12
Speaker 2: 2014 playoff now that it seems like nobody wanted and
9:16
Speaker 2: you know the access to it should be increased but
9:18
Speaker 2: is it only increased for the aforementioned big 10 and
9:21
Speaker 2: the sec as a guy who came from a quote-unquote
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Speaker 2: smaller conference school i imagine your thoughts on it may
9:28
Speaker 2: be similar to mine but i don't want to put
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Speaker 2: words in your mouth Yeah, no.
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Speaker 1: Probably so. I don't think the respect is there that
9:35
Speaker 1: Utah deserves or an SMU. And, you know, the big
9:39
Speaker 1: guys for years were the dominant guys out there, Ohio
9:42
Speaker 1: State and Georgia and Alabama. And they were really good teams.
9:46
Speaker 1: And we're not taking anything from them. But you mentioned
9:49
Speaker 1: the word balance. And, Sean, that to me is where
9:52
Speaker 1: right now the unknown, the parity, the balance in college
9:55
Speaker 1: football is giving a chance to the Utahs and the BYU.
10:00
Speaker 1: and the SMUs. They're named schools, and they're really good schools,
10:06
Speaker 1: but it's like the SEC and the Big Ten own everything,
10:10
Speaker 1: and I don't like that part of it. And so, therefore,
10:13
Speaker 1: with the transfer world that we have and the balance
10:16
Speaker 1: that is in college football right now, It does give
10:20
Speaker 1: the chance for if you have the 2014 playoffs for
10:23
Speaker 1: a 20th seeded team to be a Cinderella. Not likely,
10:28
Speaker 1: but it's possible. And I don't know. I was an
10:32
Speaker 1: AP voter for a long time. And on Sunday morning
10:36
Speaker 1: of this past weekend, I kind of put my mind
10:39
Speaker 1: to it trying to think of what would my ballot
10:41
Speaker 1: look like. And it's really hard, really hard. I used
10:45
Speaker 1: to know for sure the top three or four or
10:46
Speaker 1: five teams, and then there were six through 12, and
10:49
Speaker 1: then after that it was just throw them up in
10:51
Speaker 1: the air. And I think we're in that throw them
10:53
Speaker 1: up in the air era right now of college football.
10:56
Speaker 2: Which I love. I love the unpredictability of it. I
10:59
Speaker 2: love the fact that we can roll into a weekend
11:01
Speaker 2: like we did last weekend and six of the top
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Speaker 2: ten teams are going to go down and an unranked
11:05
Speaker 2: team is going to beat the number one team in
11:07
Speaker 2: the country. That's part of what we love. about college football,
11:11
Speaker 2: and I don't want that to go away. And I
11:13
Speaker 2: know that, look, it's still a wonderful product. It's still
11:15
Speaker 2: a great game, and there's a lot of people who
11:18
Speaker 2: in the last few years, especially since the transfer in
11:20
Speaker 2: NIL reality became harder to follow, there's some people who
11:24
Speaker 2: are getting jaded to it and it's putting a bad
11:26
Speaker 2: taste in the mouth. My question for you is can
11:29
Speaker 2: we ever put that genie back in the bottle? Is
11:31
Speaker 2: there a time, whether it's because of the Protect College
11:33
Speaker 2: Sports Act passing or some similar legislation or maybe the
11:37
Speaker 2: powers that be just get together and make reasonable decisions,
11:41
Speaker 2: are we ever going to get back to a place
11:43
Speaker 2: where it's like, hey, you can transfer penalty-free, but you
11:45
Speaker 2: can only do it one time. You're going to get
11:47
Speaker 2: five years to play. You're going to get NIL opportunities.
11:50
Speaker 2: But it's not going to be pay-for-play, you know, this
11:53
Speaker 2: 17-year-old high schooler who's been given $ 2 million or $ 3
11:56
Speaker 2: million to commit to a certain place. Can we unring
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Speaker 2: the bell, or is this just the world we have
12:01
Speaker 2: to live in from here on forward?
12:03
Speaker 1: Now, the bell's rung. Jeannie did leave the bottle, and
12:07
Speaker 1: you can't put her back in there. And I feel
12:10
Speaker 1: like what we can do, though. is to try to
12:14
Speaker 1: put some common-sense guardrails around it. I'm okay with most
12:19
Speaker 1: of what they're proposing, save and accept. If you're going
12:23
Speaker 1: to restrict the amount of money that a player can make,
12:26
Speaker 1: then you've got to do the same thing to a
12:28
Speaker 1: college coach. Be balanced. If one gets limited, the other
12:33
Speaker 1: one gets limited. I do like the one-time transfer rule,
12:38
Speaker 1: the five-for-five. I guess I'm okay with that. But the
12:42
Speaker 1: players have been floating these ships for years, and I'm
12:47
Speaker 1: happy that the players are being compensated for it. Ninety-nine
12:49
Speaker 1: percent of them will never play in the NFL. These
12:52
Speaker 1: are their earning years. And so I think there's good
12:56
Speaker 1: that's happening with it, and maybe, Sean, it does create
13:00
Speaker 1: a new world of rankings out there so that the
13:05
Speaker 1: smaller schools, the non-Big Ten and SEC powerhouses have a chance.
13:10
Speaker 1: People will see how good Utah is. They're going to
13:12
Speaker 1: see how good BYU is. They're going to recognize that SMU, oh,
13:15
Speaker 1: you know what? They did wander in the wilderness for
13:18
Speaker 1: 40 years, but they're back now, and they can play.
13:21
Speaker 1: And so I love the Big 12 right now. It's
13:24
Speaker 1: a strong conference, and people are going to see that.
13:28
Speaker 1: When Utah and Houston take the field, that's going to
13:30
Speaker 1: be two offenses going at each other. It's going to
13:33
Speaker 1: be fun to watch.
13:34
Speaker 2: Craig James for another minute or two here on the
13:37
Speaker 2: Sean O'Connell Show. Who's been the biggest surprise team for
13:41
Speaker 2: you in college football this year, whether on the positive
13:43
Speaker 2: or on the negative? I mean, Oregon was talking national
13:47
Speaker 2: championship and can hardly get out of their own way.
13:49
Speaker 2: And there's been a few surprises up and down. Which
13:52
Speaker 2: one has stood out most for you?
13:54
Speaker 1: Well, that's a good one there. Oregon has a surprise,
13:58
Speaker 1: and it shows you how you just don't know. I
14:03
Speaker 1: was watching several quarterbacks. Unless you have a Trinity-Cambliss. for instance,
14:08
Speaker 1: at Ole Miss, who's just a difference maker. Watching Josh
14:13
Speaker 1: Hoover play last week for Indiana, he's a good quarterback,
14:16
Speaker 1: but he's not Mendoza. So if you don't have that
14:20
Speaker 1: trigger guy, you're having a hard time being one of
14:23
Speaker 1: the top two or three teams. And I think the
14:28
Speaker 1: schools who've struggled, I'm surprised at Texas. Texas has so
14:32
Speaker 1: many players. And here they are, you know, win big
14:35
Speaker 1: and then go lose to two unranked teams, two good
14:38
Speaker 1: unranked teams. But I think Texas and Oregon probably have
14:43
Speaker 1: surprised me as much as anyone.
14:47
Speaker 2: You just gave a nod to the Big 12 Conference.
14:49
Speaker 2: Is this a year where we can finally, I don't know,
14:52
Speaker 2: expect is a weird word to use, but that we
14:54
Speaker 2: can hope for at the very least multiple Big 12
14:57
Speaker 2: teams in a college football playoff? I mean, there's several
15:01
Speaker 2: games left to play. But BYU's number two with a
15:04
Speaker 2: huge win over Notre Dame. I think they can afford
15:06
Speaker 2: to lose one, maybe two, and still be considered strongly.
15:09
Speaker 2: If they don't win a Big 12 championship, and that's
15:12
Speaker 2: Texas Tech or Utah or Houston, they obviously get an
15:15
Speaker 2: automatic bid. But maybe a one-loss Tech or a one-loss
15:18
Speaker 2: Utah or whatever, do they get consideration? Because so far,
15:22
Speaker 2: the Big 12 has been sent the message, hey, your
15:25
Speaker 2: champion gets in and nobody else.
15:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's terrible. It's terrible. I was disappointed last year
15:31
Speaker 1: that Miami got in. They couldn't even win their own conference.
15:34
Speaker 1: Didn't mean they weren't a good team. And here we
15:37
Speaker 1: are looking at the Big 12, and your question, Oklahoma
15:40
Speaker 1: State's a good football team. Surprise me. They're one of
15:42
Speaker 1: my surprise teams. Mestemaker is really a good quarterback, and
15:46
Speaker 1: they're doing a good job there. The Big 12 should
15:49
Speaker 1: have a minimum of two teams, and there are three
15:53
Speaker 1: or four teams that are knocking on the door right now.
15:55
Speaker 1: If it ended today, there would probably be four teams
15:59
Speaker 1: that are in there, and BYU, Utah, they're absolutely in
16:03
Speaker 1: the mix.
16:06
Speaker 2: Are coaches safer now because of the cost of doing
16:11
Speaker 2: business in college football? Before NIL and before this arms
16:15
Speaker 2: race and revenue share and paying your player, these athletic
16:17
Speaker 2: departments Basically, if they were going to flush money, it
16:20
Speaker 2: was going to be on coaching contracts. And so schools
16:24
Speaker 2: were fine with paying these enormous buyouts. Or alumni bases,
16:27
Speaker 2: you could make a phone call to your billionaire donor,
16:30
Speaker 2: and you could say, hey, we've got to get rid
16:31
Speaker 2: of this guy. And if they agreed, they were willing
16:34
Speaker 2: to cut that check. Well, now they've already cut checks
16:37
Speaker 2: to make sure you've got the right offensive tackle and
16:39
Speaker 2: the right quarterback and the right corner and everything else. And,
16:43
Speaker 2: you know, the hot seat in college football is always
16:46
Speaker 2: firing up right around now. But are these coaches in 2026,
16:51
Speaker 2: are they safer than they've been in recent years because
16:54
Speaker 2: it's already so expensive and they've got such big buyouts
16:57
Speaker 2: and most programs can't afford it?
17:01
Speaker 1: I don't know. I'm not so certain they are safe
17:04
Speaker 1: right now. Mike Loxley, you know, listening and watching his
17:08
Speaker 1: press conference, I mean– Mike Locksley is a good coach,
17:12
Speaker 1: and Maryland fires him. But he admitted, you know, I
17:17
Speaker 1: didn't adjust. I couldn't make it happen with the NIL
17:19
Speaker 1: and the transfer world here at Maryland right now. Too
17:23
Speaker 1: much is given, much is expected. And a lot of
17:26
Speaker 1: these egos who are giving the money to Texas and
17:28
Speaker 1: Texas A & M and the big schools that are
17:31
Speaker 1: giving the money, they expect a return on their money.
17:35
Speaker 1: And the egos that they possess is substantial. I think
17:40
Speaker 1: Steve Sarkeesian is a good football coach, but he's playing
17:44
Speaker 1: Ole Miss this weekend. Can you imagine if Texas, with
17:46
Speaker 1: a $ 50 million roster, has three losses in a row?
17:51
Speaker 1: I don't think that's forgivable. They're given a lot of
17:55
Speaker 1: money to go perform. But it is really hard to
18:00
Speaker 1: determine if you bring a guy in. Underwood at Michigan,
18:05
Speaker 1: I mean, they got $ 12 million invested in the guy,
18:08
Speaker 1: reported a lot of money. And he's not the guy.
18:11
Speaker 1: And so all of a sudden, you know, Michigan's, okay,
18:14
Speaker 1: they're struggling. So it's just you've got to have the
18:17
Speaker 1: right guy at quarterback and the supporting cast beneath him.
18:22
Speaker 1: And it's turning more into the football or the NFL
18:24
Speaker 1: model than we've ever seen it before.
18:27
Speaker 2: Well, you just brought up Underwood, and obviously that's a
18:30
Speaker 2: story that Utah fans follow closely because Kyle Whittingham was
18:33
Speaker 2: here for 21 years. He took the Michigan job. He
18:36
Speaker 2: took great players and coaches with him. And the narrative,
18:39
Speaker 2: whether it's correct or not, was that he's not allowed
18:42
Speaker 2: to take Devin Dampier with him, thank goodness. He's not
18:45
Speaker 2: allowed to take Bert Ficklin with him, thank goodness for us,
18:48
Speaker 2: because Michigan has already invested in their guy. And whether
18:51
Speaker 2: or not a head coach like Kyle Whittingham wanted Bryce
18:54
Speaker 2: Underwood to be his guy, I don't know the true
18:56
Speaker 2: answer to that or not. It seems like the salary
18:59
Speaker 2: that a player is being paid now factors in. Like
19:02
Speaker 2: you said, at the NFL level it does, and now
19:04
Speaker 2: it's factoring in in college football. Craig, I'm not so
19:07
Speaker 2: sure that that's good for coaches. I'm not so sure
19:09
Speaker 2: that that's good for college football, and it's certainly not
19:11
Speaker 2: for guys like I used to be on a roster
19:14
Speaker 2: that are buried on the depth chart, and if you
19:16
Speaker 2: had any hope of mobility upward and getting some playing time,
19:21
Speaker 2: you're not getting that now when the guy above you
19:23
Speaker 2: at the top is making a million bucks and they
19:25
Speaker 2: can't waste that money. I don't know. I don't know
19:28
Speaker 2: that this is good for college football to have salaries
19:30
Speaker 2: be such a part of coaching decisions, if they are.
19:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they are. Obviously, he inherited that, and he
19:37
Speaker 1: had to deal with it. It's almost like the personnel department.
19:42
Speaker 1: I know they're all trying to hire these personnel guys,
19:45
Speaker 1: and they have the general managers of these big schools,
19:47
Speaker 1: and they're evaluating the talent. Well, just because you have
19:51
Speaker 1: the title of a general manager, do you really know
19:54
Speaker 1: who can play? I mean, that's a very specific talent
19:59
Speaker 1: to be able to look at an 18-year-old or a
20:01
Speaker 1: 19- or 20-year-old and determine whether or not he can
20:05
Speaker 1: be your quarterback or your left tackle or your linebacker
20:09
Speaker 1: or your great running back. And so they may be
20:12
Speaker 1: hiring these general managers, but, man, when you make a
20:16
Speaker 1: misfire on an underwood, which has happened, boy, that's detrimental
20:21
Speaker 1: to the program because you've got a lot of money
20:23
Speaker 1: invested in that guy, and you've got to live with it. And,
20:27
Speaker 1: you know, obviously it's one of those deals. They're going
20:30
Speaker 1: to try to overcome it, but it's a challenge.
20:34
Speaker 2: Before we let you go, the Pony Express Award given
20:38
Speaker 2: out to the best dynamic duo in college football, offensive
20:41
Speaker 2: or defensive side of the ball, doesn't matter. Devin Dampier,
20:44
Speaker 2: Braden Pagan, Wayshon Parker, all in consideration here, as are
20:47
Speaker 2: a couple of BYU guys. How can listeners here, how
20:50
Speaker 2: can fans here get behind this, support the initiative, make
20:53
Speaker 2: it a bigger thing? Because like we already said at
20:56
Speaker 2: the beginning of this conversation, I love the concept of
20:59
Speaker 2: not just giving it to an individual, but recognizing teammates
21:02
Speaker 2: and what they do for each other. and for their
21:05
Speaker 2: overall program. How can we support the Pony Express Award?
21:10
Speaker 1: Thank you, Sean. Eric and I are brothers in Christ,
21:13
Speaker 1: and we will live in eternity together in heaven. We
21:16
Speaker 1: now want to recognize the guys that are coming through
21:20
Speaker 1: the ranks right now and that are playing. We have
21:22
Speaker 1: a PonyExpressAward.com site. You can follow us on social media, Instagram, X.
21:29
Speaker 1: We're starting to produce more content. This is our third
21:32
Speaker 1: year of doing this, and we're trying to take measured
21:35
Speaker 1: steps to make sure the award is solid and people
21:40
Speaker 1: getting behind it we've had numbers of schools where they've
21:43
Speaker 1: gone on and they repost the content that we put
21:45
Speaker 1: out there and that's the best way to do it
21:49
Speaker 1: and we really appreciate you letting us come on and
21:52
Speaker 1: talk about it and we look forward to seeing how
21:54
Speaker 1: all these players respond.
21:57
Speaker 2: Well appreciate you giving us some time today to keep
22:00
Speaker 2: up the good work hopefully we'll have you on again
22:02
Speaker 2: sometime soon Craig thanks very much Thank you, Sean.
22:05
Speaker 1: Appreciate it. And you guys have a great weekend.
22:09
Speaker 2: It's going to be a fun one up at Rice
22:11
Speaker 2: Echo Stadium tomorrow night, 8-15 kickoff, blackout game, college game
22:15
Speaker 2: day in town. So if you're a Utah fan, you're
22:17
Speaker 2: committed tomorrow. 7 a.m., you've got to go up to
22:20
Speaker 2: President's Circle. You've got to be loud and proud and
22:23
Speaker 2: ready to make some noise in support of your Utes.