Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ari Temkin 9-28-26

Transcript

Ari Temkin 9-28-26 · The Sean O'Connell Show

0:02
Speaker 1: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell show for the Murdoch
0:05
Speaker 1: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 and 92 one FM. Eagles
0:14
Speaker 1: bears tonight. Caleb Williams is out. Tyson Bajent. Shout out
0:19
Speaker 1: to Tyson Bajent. Starting at quarterback for the Chicago bears.
0:24
Speaker 1: We are efforting Ari Temkin from big 12 radio here
0:28
Speaker 1: in our second segment of the show. Interesting weekend of,
0:31
Speaker 1: big 12 football, Texas tech beat up on Sam Houston.
0:38
Speaker 1: No surprises there. Tech is the 11th ranked team in
0:41
Speaker 1: the country. Now we know that was last week's rankings,
0:47
Speaker 1: Texas tech victorious. They improved to four and Oh, Utah
0:52
Speaker 1: 31 17 over Iowa state. Houston got a big win
0:55
Speaker 1: over Georgia. Southern BYU of course, on a Baylor gets
1:00
Speaker 1: past Colorado, 23-13. UCF over TCU. Who had that on
1:07
Speaker 1: their bingo card? Cincinnati knocks off Kansas State. I was
1:14
Speaker 1: a skeptic on Cincinnati and how legit they were. Maybe
1:18
Speaker 1: I should have put my confidence in Kansas State in
1:21
Speaker 1: the Bearcats instead. Oklahoma State versus West Virginia. I think
1:26
Speaker 1: Sneaky probably the best matchup of the conference overall. on
1:29
Speaker 1: the weekend, and Oklahoma State gets the victory in that one,
1:32
Speaker 1: and then Arizona beat up on Washington State, although maybe
1:36
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say beat up on. They had to come
1:37
Speaker 1: back in that one. But we'll get to most of
1:41
Speaker 1: these with our good friend from TuneIn Radio and Big
1:44
Speaker 1: 12 Today, Ari Temkin. Ari, welcome back to the show.
1:48
Speaker 2: How are you? I'm great. How are you, buddy?
1:51
Speaker 1: I'm doing all right. Really interesting weekend, as I'm sure
1:53
Speaker 1: you just heard me spewing about here on the show.
1:56
Speaker 1: Let's start with Utah on the road. First road game
2:00
Speaker 1: of the year against Iowa State. Really, really strong first
2:03
Speaker 1: half for the Utes. A Wayshon Parker coming out party.
2:07
Speaker 1: What were your thoughts on Utah's big win at Jack Trice?
2:12
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean, I think, I don't know who
2:14
Speaker 2: the best running back is in the Big 12, but
2:16
Speaker 2: it's certainly a running back in the state of Utah.
2:19
Speaker 2: That I can tell you for sure. Parker was extremely impressive,
2:23
Speaker 2: you know, not just with the yardage, but it was
2:26
Speaker 2: more of the yards that he got after contact. And
2:29
Speaker 2: this isn't anything new with him, but, man, was he
2:32
Speaker 2: just absolutely fantastic. And it felt like there was a
2:35
Speaker 2: concerted effort on the part of Morgan Scali of Utah
2:38
Speaker 2: to maybe limit Devin Dampier's running a little bit. And
2:41
Speaker 2: it showed in this game. Now, look, I think leading
2:44
Speaker 2: 24-3 at halftime and then having them claw back into
2:47
Speaker 2: the game and be down a score with the Iowa
2:50
Speaker 2: State defense making some adjustments into the second half is
2:54
Speaker 2: certainly a cause for concern, but they closed the game
2:56
Speaker 2: out and looked really good in doing so. And Iowa
2:58
Speaker 2: State had not given up a 100-yard rushing game in
3:02
Speaker 2: the last four games. So they, they've been good at that.
3:05
Speaker 2: And obviously Parker completely explored on them. So look, I
3:09
Speaker 2: think Utah has done what they should have done. They've
3:11
Speaker 2: scored 30 plus points now in 10 straight game, which
3:14
Speaker 2: is hard to believe. And you know, it, it, it
3:17
Speaker 2: moves on, but I think there's some obvious things to
3:19
Speaker 2: be concerned about.
3:21
Speaker 1: When we talk about those obvious things that we concerned
3:23
Speaker 1: about something that I've noticed that they're not good coming
3:26
Speaker 1: out of halftime, Utah's had kind of some substandard third
3:30
Speaker 1: quarters that, And, you know, coaches talk all the time
3:34
Speaker 1: about winning that middle eight. You've got to close the
3:35
Speaker 1: half strong. You've got to start the second half strong.
3:39
Speaker 1: And for whatever reason, the third quarter has been unkind
3:42
Speaker 1: to the University of Utah, and we'll try to get
3:44
Speaker 1: to the bottom of this with coaches. But is there
3:46
Speaker 1: anything you're seeing that would explain it?
3:49
Speaker 2: It's a great question, and you're right. It's not just
3:52
Speaker 2: this game. It's been multiple games. And, you know, I
3:56
Speaker 2: think we always talk so much, and sometimes it's probably
3:58
Speaker 2: a little bit overrated in terms of, like, halftime adjustments.
4:01
Speaker 2: But it was obvious that what Utah was doing on
4:04
Speaker 2: the ground was working, and they weren't going to do
4:06
Speaker 2: anything to change it. Why would they? And I think
4:08
Speaker 2: Iowa State did a few things to change it, especially
4:12
Speaker 2: when it came to some of that inside running that
4:14
Speaker 2: worked in the first half really, really well for Utah.
4:18
Speaker 2: But my concern is if you go up against a
4:21
Speaker 2: quarterback that's better than Jalen Rayner, there's going to be
4:23
Speaker 2: a pretty good grouping of quarterbacks that Utah's going to
4:27
Speaker 2: face that's better than Jalen Rayner. That's what I struggle with.
4:30
Speaker 2: I mean, you have those two touchdown drives. In the
4:32
Speaker 2: second half, that was about as good as it got
4:33
Speaker 2: for him against this defense. So that's kind of my
4:37
Speaker 2: concern here is the pass offense, and then what happens
4:39
Speaker 2: when you go up against a better quarterback that can
4:41
Speaker 2: make you pay.
4:42
Speaker 1: A lot to figure out. Heading into the bye week,
4:47
Speaker 1: Utah doesn't have a game this week. Thankfully, as far
4:51
Speaker 1: as we're aware, there's not a significant amount of bumps
4:54
Speaker 1: and bruises to heal, not any significant injuries to super
4:58
Speaker 1: important players as far as we're aware. but it's a
5:02
Speaker 1: good time to have a bye week before Kansas and
5:05
Speaker 1: then tougher competition from there. If you're on that coaching staff,
5:10
Speaker 1: what do you think Morgan Scali and his crew are
5:12
Speaker 1: focusing on with this team in the bye week?
5:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question because we've seen some really
5:18
Speaker 2: interesting game planning offensively. Again, this week was a lot
5:23
Speaker 2: different than what we've been used to seeing from Utah
5:25
Speaker 2: in terms of getting Dampier and Ficklin involved. You know,
5:29
Speaker 2: they did a lot more of that wildcat snapping directly
5:32
Speaker 2: to way shot. Parker, what, he had a 56-yard carry
5:34
Speaker 2: on the first play from, you know, that wildcat run.
5:39
Speaker 2: You turn on the game and it's like, whoa, it's
5:41
Speaker 2: 7-0 already? How did that happen? Do they even have
5:44
Speaker 2: the first touchdown on TV? I don't even know. So,
5:47
Speaker 2: you know, I think they've done a really good job
5:50
Speaker 2: of self-scouting, trying to stay ahead just in terms of
5:53
Speaker 2: their offense. But, I mean, for me, it's the passing game.
5:57
Speaker 2: There's probably nothing that Utah could have done the first
6:00
Speaker 2: four weeks of the season, you know, beyond this past
6:03
Speaker 2: week really showing, you know, some incredible competence in their
6:06
Speaker 2: passing game. But we think they're better in terms of
6:09
Speaker 2: their passing game, especially receiver. And there's certainly a lot
6:12
Speaker 2: of reasons to think so. But that's one of the
6:14
Speaker 2: things I'd love for them to, really shore up when
6:16
Speaker 2: it comes to this bye week is not just self-scouting
6:19
Speaker 2: and figuring out how to keep your offense multiple and
6:22
Speaker 2: get teams guessing, but what are you going to do
6:24
Speaker 2: in the passing game when teams force you into that?
6:28
Speaker 2: I don't know that anybody can take Utah out of
6:31
Speaker 2: running the football. I mean, their offensive line, it's kind
6:33
Speaker 2: of crazy how they've got to top ten pick at
6:35
Speaker 2: left tackle, and now it looks like they're a few
6:37
Speaker 2: years away from having another one, and Derway Williams, who
6:39
Speaker 2: looks as good as every other left tackle they've had.
6:42
Speaker 2: So it just shows how good they are developing those
6:45
Speaker 2: guys up front. Again, I don't think that teams can
6:48
Speaker 2: stop them from running. It's more of the case of,
6:51
Speaker 2: all right, when they slow you down a little bit,
6:53
Speaker 2: like they did in the second half of that game,
6:55
Speaker 2: can you explore the passing game? and survive that way.
6:59
Speaker 2: I think that's one of the biggest concerns I have
7:00
Speaker 2: about this team.
7:01
Speaker 1: Okay, staying on that, let me ask you a dumb
7:03
Speaker 1: question here. Should you pass the ball the way Sean
7:06
Speaker 1: Parker less? And I ask, he's obviously great out of
7:10
Speaker 1: the backfield, and he's great, they line him up in
7:13
Speaker 1: the slot, and he does a great job running routes there.
7:15
Speaker 1: But this is a year where you're supposed to have
7:17
Speaker 1: a deeper wide receiving core. And right now he has,
7:21
Speaker 1: he's second on the team in receptions. And like you're
7:25
Speaker 1: throwing to him more than you're throwing to everyone except
7:28
Speaker 1: for Braden Pagan. And this is the year where it's like, yeah,
7:30
Speaker 1: you finally have a group of guys that are weapons
7:34
Speaker 1: out on the edge. Why are we throwing away Sean
7:36
Speaker 1: Parker so much? I think I know the answer because
7:38
Speaker 1: you want the ball in his hands any way possible,
7:40
Speaker 1: but also could you just not do that?
7:46
Speaker 2: It's i mean it's a very important point you know
7:49
Speaker 2: i feel like you bet this happens a lot more
7:52
Speaker 2: in the kicking game but like you have a really
7:53
Speaker 2: good kicker i think it changes team strategy sometimes and
7:57
Speaker 2: i feel like sometimes that's a bad thing you know
7:59
Speaker 2: where it's like let's let's not pretend like we've got
8:01
Speaker 2: a kicker that can kick from 60 and and go
8:03
Speaker 2: on fourth down here you know um it's sort of
8:05
Speaker 2: the same dynamic where it's like let's not do the
8:07
Speaker 2: easy thing here let's make it you know, let's make
8:10
Speaker 2: it work a little bit more. You wonder, too, if
8:12
Speaker 2: part of this is what the coverages are seeing in
8:14
Speaker 2: the back end, and Dan Peer knows, have got my
8:16
Speaker 2: outlet down there, you know, let's just get him. But
8:19
Speaker 2: like you said, he's lining up in the slot. It's
8:21
Speaker 2: not just underneath routes that he's winning, you know, and
8:24
Speaker 2: getting you yardage underneath. So it's a great question. And
8:29
Speaker 2: you wonder even if in a game where, you know,
8:32
Speaker 2: there's a team that's exploiting, like Oklahoma State's a good example.
8:34
Speaker 2: Like that's a– That's a really good offense that's capable
8:37
Speaker 2: of forcing you to have to have to play with
8:40
Speaker 2: open field, downfield passing. Can they get away with keeping
8:43
Speaker 2: up with what Sean Parker doing what he's doing? Probably not,
8:47
Speaker 2: but you know, maybe, maybe he, maybe he just is
8:49
Speaker 2: that good.
8:50
Speaker 1: Maybe we'll see Ari Temkin is our guest here on
8:52
Speaker 1: the Sean O'Connell show, talking all things, Utah football and
8:55
Speaker 1: the big 12 conference at large. You just mentioned Oklahoma state.
8:58
Speaker 1: So we'll go to that game. I didn't have this
9:01
Speaker 1: one circled before the season began. I'll be honest. Ari
9:03
Speaker 1: is something I definitely need to watch Oklahoma state versus
9:07
Speaker 1: West Virginia. Didn't have high hopes for either of them,
9:09
Speaker 1: but then of course, both teams looked pretty good in
9:12
Speaker 1: the first few weeks of the season and Oklahoma state hands,
9:17
Speaker 1: West Virginia, their first loss, uh, mess to maker with
9:20
Speaker 1: a 389 yard, three touchdown day. Uh, he, I don't
9:26
Speaker 1: know what happened in that first game. I mean, it just,
9:30
Speaker 1: the Tulsa loss is even more inexplicable after you see
9:33
Speaker 1: what they did to Oregon. And then you see what
9:34
Speaker 1: they did on the road at West Virginia, but it
9:37
Speaker 1: feels like this Oklahoma state team is what everyone who
9:41
Speaker 1: followed North Texas and hope they could bring that success
9:44
Speaker 1: hoped it would be.
9:46
Speaker 2: Well, and Rich Rod and Zach Alley had this really
9:49
Speaker 2: brilliant plan that they were going to kind of keep
9:52
Speaker 2: everything in front. They wanted to take away the big
9:54
Speaker 2: play for Mastemaker. They were very concerned about Mastemaker beating
9:57
Speaker 2: with his arm, and so they sat back and you know,
10:00
Speaker 2: three high safeties, most of the game at times, they
10:03
Speaker 2: even brought in a fourth, basically to really pay attention
10:05
Speaker 2: to that. And what do they do? Well, Caleb Hawkins,
10:08
Speaker 2: you've got a feature back that now is running for
10:11
Speaker 2: a hundred plus yards. And then when you start to
10:13
Speaker 2: cheat those guys down low, all of a sudden now
10:16
Speaker 2: Mastemaker beats you over the top with Wyatt Young and
10:19
Speaker 2: who had basically 80% of his total yardage in the
10:22
Speaker 2: fourth quarter of that game, exactly in the moment when
10:26
Speaker 2: they started cheating up close. They put Zach Alley and
10:31
Speaker 2: Rich Rod's defense on skates in that game, trying to
10:33
Speaker 2: figure out what they were doing. That's just hard to
10:36
Speaker 2: beat when you can run the ball and pass the
10:39
Speaker 2: ball that effectively. you start to really see the things
10:43
Speaker 2: that have NFL scouts elevating with him. I mean, some
10:46
Speaker 2: of these throws that he's making are just unconscionable, and
10:48
Speaker 2: you just can't even imagine, you know, like any other
10:51
Speaker 2: quarterback in college football making some of those throws. And,
10:55
Speaker 2: you know, they have this three-headed monster from North Texas.
10:58
Speaker 2: I mean, that's what we saw. And Ethan Waslowski, who's
11:01
Speaker 2: a fourth from North Texas, who's a linebacker, had 17
11:04
Speaker 2: total tackles. In this game, too, their defense is probably
11:08
Speaker 2: the most surprising aspect of this entire start to their
11:12
Speaker 2: season because their linebacking core between Romney, who's a guy
11:15
Speaker 2: I know that BYU fans are familiar with, and Wislowski.
11:21
Speaker 2: Those two guys, if you get past the first level
11:24
Speaker 2: on their defense, you ain't getting past the second level
11:27
Speaker 2: because they're just shutting down any of those runs. And, yeah,
11:30
Speaker 2: I mean, it's funny. My coach this morning said something about, like, man,
11:33
Speaker 2: they're so close to being 4-0 if they didn't just
11:35
Speaker 2: lay that egg week one. And I feel like that's
11:38
Speaker 2: not the case here. Like, if they don't lose that game,
11:40
Speaker 2: it feels like that just gave them a greater focus
11:43
Speaker 2: for their season. Like, I guess what I'm saying is
11:46
Speaker 2: I'm not sure they beat Oregon if they lose to Tulsa,
11:48
Speaker 2: if they don't lose to Tulsa, because it felt like
11:50
Speaker 2: they really learned a lot about themselves that week, about
11:52
Speaker 2: Eric Morris, what he learned a lot that week. And
11:55
Speaker 2: it just feels like it's a big part of their
11:57
Speaker 2: success was losing that game. They are very much on
12:01
Speaker 2: schedule with what we expected. This was a big-time winning.
12:04
Speaker 2: It's a very good West Virginia team. The problem is,
12:08
Speaker 2: and right now all we see, and we just wondered
12:10
Speaker 2: this about Utah, is how many teams are legitimately good
12:14
Speaker 2: in terms of being balanced on offense? Oklahoma State is
12:17
Speaker 2: definitely the best right now from what we've seen. We
12:20
Speaker 2: think BYU has it. We think Utah has it. I'm
12:23
Speaker 2: more confident in BYU simply because of the presence of Glasker,
12:26
Speaker 2: and maybe I'm wrong there, but West Virginia does not.
12:28
Speaker 2: They do not have a consistent enough passing attack to
12:31
Speaker 2: be able to withstand it, and they're going to have
12:33
Speaker 2: a really good running game. They run the ball exceedingly
12:35
Speaker 2: well in this game. The problem is if you run
12:37
Speaker 2: the ball and control the clock, and now in the
12:40
Speaker 2: fourth quarter they're basically airing it out for 50 yards,
12:43
Speaker 2: Good luck. And that's exactly the issue with what they
12:47
Speaker 2: were faced with in this game.
12:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you can score against West Virginia and they've
12:50
Speaker 1: got to also score, Michael Hawkins Jr. just can't. It's
12:57
Speaker 1: such a silly thing to be like, well, make that
12:59
Speaker 1: quarterback throw to beat you and you'll be okay. But
13:02
Speaker 1: he has not yet proven to us that that's something
13:05
Speaker 1: against a decent defense he's going to be able to
13:07
Speaker 1: do with any real effectiveness. Although, as a Utah Observer fan, whatever,
13:12
Speaker 1: I'm not getting overly comfortable with it because they don't
13:15
Speaker 1: see West Virginia until the very end.
13:18
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, and look, West Virginia has some questions about
13:21
Speaker 2: their past defense, but there's times where they've, at this season,
13:24
Speaker 2: been very good defensively, especially against Virginia. So, you know,
13:28
Speaker 2: I just think that Oklahoma State went into Morgantown and
13:31
Speaker 2: just took it from them in a game where they
13:33
Speaker 2: were just impossible to stop defensively because of how difficult
13:37
Speaker 2: they are to game plan for. I mean, they thought
13:39
Speaker 2: they had a great game plan with bringing extra coverage,
13:42
Speaker 2: and Rich Rod said after the game, like, we didn't
13:45
Speaker 2: touch them at all. Like, that's a problem. You want
13:47
Speaker 2: to blitz them and bring some– you know, bring some
13:49
Speaker 2: extra guys, but then you're obviously leaving yourself susceptible to
13:52
Speaker 2: the backend. This is exactly, I think what we anticipated
13:55
Speaker 2: potentially seeing with Oklahoma state. It just was week one
13:58
Speaker 2: was weird and we didn't see it. And then all
14:00
Speaker 2: of a sudden that reset expectations.
14:03
Speaker 1: Oklahoma state jumps all the way into the rankings for
14:06
Speaker 1: being unranked all the way up to 19. Is that,
14:09
Speaker 1: is that a confirmation bias where people were like, you know,
14:12
Speaker 1: we thought they were going to be good. And then
14:13
Speaker 1: the Tulsa loss made us question. And now they've got
14:16
Speaker 1: three impressive wins and, and two of those against pretty
14:19
Speaker 1: darn good teams. So, okay, now they're who I thought
14:21
Speaker 1: they were, and we're going to overcorrect over our initial
14:24
Speaker 1: reaction to Tulsa.
14:26
Speaker 2: Which I'm here for, if that is the case, because
14:30
Speaker 2: the AP voters, it feels like the predominant members of
14:34
Speaker 2: them are a part of the SEC footprint, and if
14:38
Speaker 2: you beat an SEC-ranked team, you're automatically ranked. Just ask Kentucky,
14:42
Speaker 2: who's got, I mean, basically a horrible resume, and yet
14:44
Speaker 2: somehow they're in the top 25. And then Missouri. Missouri
14:47
Speaker 2: has spent 31 of the last 38 weeks in the
14:50
Speaker 2: top 25, despite 0-9 against AP top 45 teams when
14:55
Speaker 2: they played them, and 0-7 against AP top 45 teams
14:58
Speaker 2: at the end of the season. And their schedule, once again,
15:01
Speaker 2: does not necessitate being a top 25 team. So if
15:05
Speaker 2: it is a confirmation buy, I think I'm all for it, because...
15:08
Speaker 2: It feels like with the SEC, all you have to
15:10
Speaker 2: do is beat a ranked team, regardless of what you've
15:12
Speaker 2: done the rest of the season, and you're ranked. And
15:15
Speaker 2: certainly the voters, many of them, SEC, in the SEC country,
15:19
Speaker 2: are verifying that.
15:20
Speaker 1: All right, I was sure. I was sure that Kansas
15:24
Speaker 1: State was going to win against Cincinnati in another matchup.
15:28
Speaker 1: And of, you know, somewhat surprising 3-0 Big 12 teams.
15:33
Speaker 1: And then Cincinnati comes out. On top of that one, 31-26,
15:38
Speaker 1: two different rushers over 120 yards. Payne with 126, Coltab
15:45
Speaker 1: with 124, eight yards and 11 yards per carry, respectively,
15:50
Speaker 1: for those guys. And, you know, Avery Johnson and company
15:54
Speaker 1: were not able to keep pace. This one surprised me.
15:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, me too. I heard you talk a little bit
16:01
Speaker 2: before I came on about this, and yeah, I thought
16:04
Speaker 2: Kansas State would go in there and cover. We thought
16:06
Speaker 2: Kansas State would be a surprise, you know, potential Big
16:09
Speaker 2: 12 contender, and I'm not saying that they're not, but,
16:13
Speaker 2: you know, I think this was a majorly surprising win.
16:16
Speaker 2: We had Scott Satterfield on this morning, and look, you know,
16:19
Speaker 2: I I picked Cincinnati 16th in the preseason poll out
16:24
Speaker 2: of 16 teams. I'm not sure who the 16th team
16:26
Speaker 2: is in the Big 12. I can assure you it
16:28
Speaker 2: is not Cincinnati. My biggest fault in picking them 16th
16:34
Speaker 2: and underestimating them is their offensive line. We knew going
16:38
Speaker 2: into the season they were going to have one of
16:39
Speaker 2: the best offensive lines in the Big 12. I guess
16:41
Speaker 2: I just was far too concerned about a G6 quarterback
16:45
Speaker 2: making the jump. And J.C. French, with this running game
16:49
Speaker 2: and offensive line, has been very good. He only attempted
16:52
Speaker 2: 13 passes in this game. But when you go back
16:55
Speaker 2: to the Miami-Ohio game, second half, he had to throw
16:57
Speaker 2: the ball a ton, and they still won. When we
17:01
Speaker 2: talk about some of these teams being so good running
17:03
Speaker 2: the football and questioning whether or not if a team
17:06
Speaker 2: forces them to throw... if they'll be effective at it.
17:09
Speaker 2: There's nothing that I've seen from J.C. French that has
17:12
Speaker 2: me questioning his ability to throw the ball. They just
17:15
Speaker 2: do what they need to do. He's a very savvy veteran.
17:18
Speaker 2: There was a play in this game where he hard-touted
17:21
Speaker 2: Kansas State in the fourth down and got them offside.
17:25
Speaker 2: He's not fast, but in a few plays where he
17:27
Speaker 2: pulls it from the running back and runs out the
17:29
Speaker 2: back door and gets 15, he knows how to play
17:32
Speaker 2: the position. He knows what he needs to do for
17:35
Speaker 2: each play to be successful. He's not trying to create
17:39
Speaker 2: crazy big plays all the time. He's just doing what
17:41
Speaker 2: the defense gives him and takes it. So credit to
17:45
Speaker 2: Scott Satterfield for this 4-0 start. It's the first time
17:47
Speaker 2: they started 4-0 since Luke Fickle was the head coach
17:50
Speaker 2: at Cincinnati, and they were a playoff team. I think
17:53
Speaker 2: they have some dudes, Antoine Peek, their sort of safety
17:57
Speaker 2: linebacker hybrid is an absolute dog. He was tremendous in
18:02
Speaker 2: this game and has been for Cincinnati all year in
18:04
Speaker 2: terms of getting stops. This is as complete of a
18:07
Speaker 2: Cincinnati team as Scott Satterfield has had since he's been there.
18:10
Speaker 2: The problem is, go look at their schedule. I mean,
18:12
Speaker 2: my God, is it tough. They've got at Arizona this week,
18:16
Speaker 2: then they have a bye week, then they're at West Virginia.
18:18
Speaker 2: Those are two very tough road games. They're playing at
18:20
Speaker 2: 10 o'clock Central time on Saturday night, 11 o'clock local
18:25
Speaker 2: time for Cincinnati. That's when they kick against Arizona this week.
18:29
Speaker 2: And then coming out of the bye, they've got the
18:30
Speaker 2: West Virginia road game. I know they play Utah, Texas Tech.
18:34
Speaker 2: And BYU, I believe Utah and BYU are all on
18:38
Speaker 2: the road. Yeah, they've got a brutal schedule the rest
18:41
Speaker 2: of the way. But this is as good of a
18:43
Speaker 2: team in terms of offensive line, running game, quarterback, wide receivers,
18:48
Speaker 2: just being complete that I've seen Scott Satterfield have. And
18:52
Speaker 2: he should get a lot of credit for not only
18:53
Speaker 2: putting his team together but being a really good coach.
18:56
Speaker 2: I had major question marks about his ability as a
18:58
Speaker 2: coach this year heading into the season. I think he's
19:00
Speaker 2: been tremendous, and this team has been a reflection of that.
19:03
Speaker 1: Do we need to start paying closer attention to UCF,
19:06
Speaker 1: or did we just learn that TCU is a pretender?
19:10
Speaker 2: Man, man. I mean, I think a little bit of both.
19:15
Speaker 2: I would start with TCU. This is as disappointing as
19:18
Speaker 2: a loss in a season that's becoming horrendously disappointing for them. uh...
19:24
Speaker 2: when you you know if you look at the they
19:26
Speaker 2: brought in gordon status you copy that they want to
19:28
Speaker 2: be better running the football and not for the ball
19:31
Speaker 2: over and all they've got now is turn the ball
19:33
Speaker 2: over and not be right or a better running the
19:35
Speaker 2: football and i have a you know what the output
19:37
Speaker 2: at at in in terms of their overall attack like
19:41
Speaker 2: my goodness uh... this is a bad combination uh... craggy
19:45
Speaker 2: you know i think it is not been great but
19:48
Speaker 2: i also you know i think it had no right game.
19:51
Speaker 2: When your entire offense is built upon having some success
19:54
Speaker 2: in the run game, you can see why their passing
19:56
Speaker 2: game isn't really taking flight, why they don't have much
19:59
Speaker 2: of an explosive offense. They had 27 carries for 33 yards.
20:03
Speaker 2: They've not been able to run the ball basically since
20:04
Speaker 2: the first half of the North Carolina game. So, yeah,
20:07
Speaker 2: I mean, I definitely put a lot into TCU being disappointing. But, look,
20:12
Speaker 2: UCF is also really good defensively. This should not be
20:15
Speaker 2: a surprise. And, you know, maybe the bigger surprise is
20:18
Speaker 2: Lewis Carter, who was, you know, their all-everything linebacker missed
20:23
Speaker 2: this game, and they didn't really miss a beat. Jaden
20:24
Speaker 2: Bellamy is one of the best corners in the Big 12.
20:27
Speaker 2: And even without Alonzo Barnett, they ran the ball effectively
20:31
Speaker 2: at a balanced offense. I thought Scott Frost called a
20:33
Speaker 2: great game. Um, yeah, it, it looks like more of
20:36
Speaker 2: a mess for TCU than anything else.
20:41
Speaker 1: What's the most important game of the conference slate this weekend?
20:46
Speaker 2: It's a great question because it's sort of like last
20:48
Speaker 2: weekend where it's like, there's no just humongous games that
20:53
Speaker 2: jump off the page at you. I mean, I think
20:56
Speaker 2: there's no Friday night games this week. Um, But, I mean, UCF-Houston, right?
21:02
Speaker 2: You just asked the question, like, how much are we
21:05
Speaker 2: paying attention to UCF in terms of the title race? Well,
21:08
Speaker 2: if they win this game at Houston, you should start
21:10
Speaker 2: paying attention to them. Houston's pass defense has not been
21:13
Speaker 2: very good. I mean, they were just out there. It
21:15
Speaker 2: was a homecoming of sorts for Willie Fritz in Statesboro, Georgia,
21:18
Speaker 2: and really gave up a ton of yards through the air,
21:21
Speaker 2: which is the same thing that happened to them against
21:22
Speaker 2: Oregon State. I'm extremely concerned about their pass defense. And
21:28
Speaker 2: then the other one that I'm paying attention to is
21:31
Speaker 2: Baylor-Arizona State. Arizona State is going to be hosting Baylor
21:35
Speaker 2: out of a bye. Baylor had a really impressive win
21:39
Speaker 2: against a Colorado team that is really down big. And
21:43
Speaker 2: this is more of like a, how real are you
21:45
Speaker 2: kind of week for some of these teams? How real
21:47
Speaker 2: is Cincinnati that they go on the road, beat Arizona
21:49
Speaker 2: in a late night game. How real is Baylor thing
21:50
Speaker 2: going on the road and get a win over Arizona
21:52
Speaker 2: state in terms of like the big 12 title race.
21:55
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what this week tells us. And maybe
21:57
Speaker 2: we'll look back and week 10 or 11 and be like, Oh,
21:59
Speaker 2: this was a big week for that. But right now
22:01
Speaker 2: it just feels like separate the top for the mid
22:04
Speaker 2: tier at this point for some of these games.
22:07
Speaker 1: Ari, you're the man. I appreciate your time as always
22:09
Speaker 1: enjoy the games this weekend. And we'll chat again.
22:13
Speaker 2: Take care, OC. Be well, brother.
22:14
Speaker 1: Ari Temkin, one of the best in the business, talking
22:17
Speaker 1: all things Big 12.