Latest / The Craig Way Show / Steve Sarkisian on facing No. 25 Vanderbilt and the impact of the College Football Playoff

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Steve Sarkisian on facing No. 25 Vanderbilt and the impact of the College Football Playoff · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: We continue here on Sports Radio AM thirteen hundred. Zo.
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  Speaker 2: You know I mentioned that this Saturday be a busy
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  Speaker 2: day for Cam Parker, Hardball hard Mark Henry as they
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  Speaker 2: bring you the Longhorn game Day programming and our long
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  Speaker 2: Horn gams who used to saying, you know, out of
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  Speaker 2: Bevo Boulevard the win Ship Circle.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I guy.
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  Speaker 2: Now the team's on the road, which means you're a
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  Speaker 2: Twin Peaks down south, the South location at Stasney, right, that's.
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  Speaker 1: Where you guys will be. Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Stasney in thirty five will be out there from twelve
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  Speaker 3: to noon, so come out. We'll have a bud light
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  Speaker 3: specials courtesy of our guy hardball hars and get the
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  Speaker 3: visit with the you know, some Longhorn legends and some
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  Speaker 3: insiders to get you set for what's going to be
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  Speaker 3: a real fun game against a now ranked Vanderbilt football team. Yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: that's that's true. So yeah, they are ranked twenty fifth
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  Speaker 3: in the country. So anyway, the coverage starts at noon
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  Speaker 3: there from Twin Peaks Stasting that's down south there, so
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  Speaker 3: make your way down there for that, and then the
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  Speaker 3: network pregame coverage at two o'clock mckickoff at three.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when I was studying my Vanderbilt information. Like
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  Speaker 2: every other team long worn's play. This Vanderbilt team, believe
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  Speaker 2: it or not, situated in Nashville, Tennessee, is well represented
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  Speaker 2: by Texas high school football products, and probably most notably
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  Speaker 2: on the offensive side, the running back we talked about
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  Speaker 2: Cedric Alexander from LBJ, who is rushed for three hundred
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  Speaker 2: and eighty yards this year and he's averaging four yards
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  Speaker 2: per garing. Eli Stowers is listed as a tight end.
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  Speaker 2: They can use him all over the field. He was
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  Speaker 2: the guy at quarterback there for Denton Geyer when he
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  Speaker 2: went down early in the ballgame in the state championship
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  Speaker 2: game against Westlake with a knee injury and was replaced
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  Speaker 2: by x and Arnold, who was a freshman at the time.
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  Speaker 2: And Stours of course had been committed was at A
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  Speaker 2: and M and wound up at New Mexico State and
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  Speaker 2: then he came over along with Diego Pavia. Remember Jerry
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  Speaker 2: Kill had been their head coach at New Mexico State,
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  Speaker 2: and Kill is like the number one father, confessor, executive
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  Speaker 2: assistant type of thing to head coach Clark Lee.
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  Speaker 1: But you have those guys, but their other guys.
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  Speaker 2: Lort Fungi is a receiver who was really really good
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  Speaker 2: in high school at Midland Legacy and back then it
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  Speaker 2: was known as Midland Lee and then he then he
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  Speaker 2: started off at Texas Tech but transferred in from there.
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  Speaker 2: The guy who backs up Cedric Alexander running back aj
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  Speaker 2: Newberry as a sophomore at a Grand Prairie High. He
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  Speaker 2: was a high school teammate of Savion Red, who is
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  Speaker 2: a long worn who's now at Nevada. So you have
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  Speaker 2: Tristan Brown, who is a slot receiver. He's a freshman.
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  Speaker 2: He's from Houston Lamar. These are all guys on the
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  Speaker 2: offensive side of the ball. Look the what's called the
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  Speaker 2: quick side guard on the short side. Feel Stephen Hubbard
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  Speaker 2: is a grad transfer. He's from Aldine Davis and transferred
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  Speaker 2: in from UTEP. That's just on the on the offensive
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  Speaker 2: side of the ball. The star back in the defense,
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  Speaker 2: Randon Fontnett is from Brass'sport down along the Texas golf coach.
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  Speaker 2: He began his collegiate career at TCU. He's backed up
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  Speaker 2: by Jeffrey Ogachuku, who is from George Ranch that's in Richmond,
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  Speaker 2: down there in Fort Benn County. You have Colby Taylor,
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  Speaker 2: who's a backup corner. He is a grad transfer from
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  Speaker 2: Pasadena Memorial. I remember when he was playing as a
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  Speaker 2: freshman for Wyoming. And then Trudel Barry, one of their
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  Speaker 2: corners is from Baytown. Lee Dante Carter freshman safety from
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  Speaker 2: blow Steel as well. So this team is really really
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  Speaker 2: well represented by Texas high school football products.
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  Speaker 1: And then again it's just another example.
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  Speaker 2: Of of you know, the the high school football talent
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  Speaker 2: that comes out of the lone star state. All Right,
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  Speaker 2: So Logwarts head coach Steve Sarkeshan was taking part in
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  Speaker 2: the SEC teleconference this week in getting prepared for Vanderbilt.
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  Speaker 1: So here's some of his comments. Starting off with Sark's
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  Speaker 1: opening remarks.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I think for our team heading into this
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  Speaker 4: weekend's matchup with Vanderbilt, this is a great test for us.
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  Speaker 4: You know, obviously Vanderbilt is much improved, and I think
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  Speaker 4: Clark's done a tremendous job of building that team and
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  Speaker 4: having the identity that they have, you know, their ability
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  Speaker 4: to play really good defense and minimize the explosive plays,
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  Speaker 4: their ability to control the football offensively. The quarterback is
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  Speaker 4: a guy that I admire a ton the way he
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  Speaker 4: plays the game. Pavia plays the game. Well, He's a tough,
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  Speaker 4: hard nosed guy, can run it, can throw it. You know,
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  Speaker 4: they lead our conference in a lot of you know,
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  Speaker 4: key stats, turnover margin, time of possession, third down conversion rate,
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  Speaker 4: red zone offense. So it's a heck of a challenge
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  Speaker 4: on the field, but it's obviously a challenge for us
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  Speaker 4: obviously off the field too, from mentality standpoint, coming off
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  Speaker 4: of the loss to Georgia last week. And so it's
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  Speaker 4: a good test for us as a team from maturity standpoint,
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  Speaker 4: how we respond to some of the adversity coming off
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  Speaker 4: of a loss, but also preparing for a very tough opponent.
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  Speaker 4: And so it's kind of twofold. It's been a good
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  Speaker 4: challenge so far this week, and I'm sure it will
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  Speaker 4: continue to be one all the way through Saturday.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, So there's a lot of conversation now about as
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  Speaker 2: we draw closer to the first release of the college
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  Speaker 2: football playoff rankings, and there's a great deal of excitement
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  Speaker 2: about it, and you know, all the build up about
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  Speaker 2: the expansion of twelve teams, and so Sarka was going
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  Speaker 2: to be asked a couple of questions about this.
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  Speaker 1: One of those questions was, and I.
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  Speaker 2: Understand the reasoning why a lot of writers in media
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  Speaker 2: will ask some of the questions they asked because, as
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  Speaker 2: we all know, a lot of them are working on
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  Speaker 2: a specific piece, so they're looking for feedback. Sometimes they're
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  Speaker 2: looking for a specific you might say, a specific response,
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  Speaker 2: be it positive or negative about a certain topic. Sometimes
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  Speaker 2: they're just sampling to get quotes. But if you've spent
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  Speaker 2: any time around Sark, or if you've heard him on
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  Speaker 2: this radio station, on television interviews, in news conferences, you
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  Speaker 2: know that Sark is a huge, huge proponent. Not only
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  Speaker 2: is a big college football fan, but a huge proponent
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  Speaker 2: of the playoff and the system and how it can
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  Speaker 2: benefit the entire game and certainly the individual programs. So
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  Speaker 2: you might have been able to predict the response when
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  Speaker 2: he was asked if he thinks the expansion of the
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  Speaker 2: college football Playoff has impacted the regular season, the twelve
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  Speaker 2: game regular season. Has the expansion to twelve and the
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  Speaker 2: playoff impacted the twelve game regular season in a positive way?
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  Speaker 1: I do.
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  Speaker 2: You know?
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  Speaker 4: I think everybody way back in the old format, you
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  Speaker 4: felt like prior to college football playoff, you're doing everything
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  Speaker 4: in your power that you could do to try to
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  Speaker 4: go undefeated and hope you guys voted us number one
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  Speaker 4: in the country. Then then came, you know, the two
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  Speaker 4: team playoff, and then it was you know, fighting your
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  Speaker 4: tail off to basically be undefeated so you could be
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  Speaker 4: one of the top two teams. And then it went
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  Speaker 4: to the four team playoff, and then you were you
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  Speaker 4: were like, okay, you're you're fighting like crazy and you
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  Speaker 4: could maybe endure one loss maybe depending on that you know,
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  Speaker 4: when that loss occurred and if you're a conference champion
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  Speaker 4: and things of that nature. And now being a twelve
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  Speaker 4: team playoff. I actually was just talking to an NFL
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  Speaker 4: executive about this. It's got a little bit more of
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  Speaker 4: an NFL feel and that of you can you can
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  Speaker 4: afford a loss, You can afford maybe not to be
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  Speaker 4: your best, you can afford to maybe you have some
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  Speaker 4: injuries that that that cost you where you're not, you know,
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  Speaker 4: at one hundred percent and you don't play your best
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  Speaker 4: and you lose a ball game, but yet continue to
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  Speaker 4: strive for an opportunity to be in that playoff at
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  Speaker 4: the end, because you know, just because you lose a
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  Speaker 4: game doesn't mean you're not the best team at the
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  Speaker 4: end of the season, and so you're fighting for right
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  Speaker 4: to be one of those twelve to get in. And
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  Speaker 4: I think one of the challenges is for fan bases
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  Speaker 4: now understanding that as well. You know, I think everybody
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  Speaker 4: wanted for the longest is just go undefeated, and a
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  Speaker 4: little bit more now as you're going to get a
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  Speaker 4: little bit more high profile. I think non conference matchups obviously,
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  Speaker 4: with conference realignment being in the SEC, the expansion that
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  Speaker 4: that the Big Ten has done, you know, there's some
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  Speaker 4: really quality teams that you have to play, you know,
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  Speaker 4: throughout the season, and you can afford a loss, uh,
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  Speaker 4: you know, and I think in some cases maybe too
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  Speaker 4: and still have an opportunity to get into that game.
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  Speaker 4: You know, we lost a really good Georgia team Saturday
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  Speaker 4: that I had to remind myself was already coming into
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  Speaker 4: that game with a loss, and so you know, how
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  Speaker 4: we how we respond and how people respond to that loss,
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  Speaker 4: I think is what's as critical as anything. But but
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  Speaker 4: I do I think the regular season is super exciting,
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  Speaker 4: especially now in the SEC for US because of with
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  Speaker 4: no with no divisions, you know, everybody's fighting for one
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  Speaker 4: of those top two spots in our conference to compete
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  Speaker 4: for a conference championship and ultimately try to try to
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  Speaker 4: get a buy in the first round of the playoff
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  Speaker 4: as well. So there's a there's a lot of a
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  Speaker 4: lot of things to be excited about, for sure.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've been talking about a lot of those same
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  Speaker 2: topics with regard to whether it's one loss or two losses,
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  Speaker 2: and and how does that affect you?
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  Speaker 1: And can you can you afford a loss?
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  Speaker 2: And in some cases too, we even heard some of
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  Speaker 2: the ESPN people saying in some cases, maybe even a
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  Speaker 2: three loss team could get it. And I know some
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  Speaker 2: peope were thinking, how in the world could that happen. Well,
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  Speaker 2: maybe it's a really good team that lost twice in
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  Speaker 2: the regular season to really good teams but still managed
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  Speaker 2: to get into its conference championship game and then maybe
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  Speaker 2: lost to an undefeated I don't know. It's a little
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  Speaker 2: stretched and far fetched. I will I will grant you that,
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  Speaker 2: but certainly two loss teams can definitely get in. Although
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  Speaker 2: I can tell you this us all and we'll go
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  Speaker 2: over this a little bit later. The college football playoff probabilities,
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  Speaker 2: the percentages if Alabama does not win against Missouri this week,
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  Speaker 2: at three losses, no matter how good, the oppositions.
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  Speaker 1: Are pretty much done.
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  Speaker 2: I think they I think it said if they if
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  Speaker 2: they won, it might be forty five percent. If they
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  Speaker 2: were to lose to Missouri, it's like nine percent. So
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  Speaker 2: they're pretty much having to deal with that and understand
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  Speaker 2: where they are. This is also, by the way, this
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  Speaker 2: weekend one of those two really big games with the
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  Speaker 2: G five to watch. And there's a couple of games
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  Speaker 2: out there, but there's one I think that's at the
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  Speaker 2: top of the heap, and that's Navy Notre Dame.
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  Speaker 1: Now they're playing at the Meadowlands this week.
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  Speaker 2: Navy is undefeated, Notre Dame has the one loss, but
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  Speaker 2: they have been playing much better since that loss to
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  Speaker 2: Northern Illinois. And you know, when we've been playing that
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  Speaker 2: scenario out of an undefeated Navy and an undefeated Army
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  Speaker 2: perhaps getting a chance to meet for the American Conference Championship,
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  Speaker 2: which is one week before their annual Army Navy game,
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  Speaker 2: which would not factor into determining the conference champion because
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  Speaker 2: it comes after the conference championship game, so it wouldn't.
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  Speaker 2: It also would not affect selection for the college football playoff.
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  Speaker 2: But if both teams are eleven to zher going into
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  Speaker 2: that game with one regular season game remaining against each
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  Speaker 2: other the week after the conference championship, and they happened
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  Speaker 2: to meet for the conference championship, well, obviously, a one
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  Speaker 2: team that wins at twelve and oh stands a really
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  Speaker 2: good chance of getting into the playoffs. According to some
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  Speaker 2: of the metrics we read yesterday, probably they would be
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  Speaker 2: in over a one loss boys, he stayed, whose only
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  Speaker 2: loss has come to Oregon, who's currently the number one team.
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  Speaker 2: So the first step towards sorting out some of that
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  Speaker 2: stuff will happen this Saturday in the Meadowlands when Notre
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  Speaker 2: Dame plays Navy. Obviously, both Navy and Army would have
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  Speaker 2: to have huge wins over Notre Dame, and from there
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  Speaker 2: it would be I think a sprint to the finish
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  Speaker 2: line to be eleven and oh and eleven and oh
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  Speaker 2: in facing each other in the American Conference Championship game. However,
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  Speaker 2: that's a big if they both would have to get
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  Speaker 2: past Notre Dame for that to happen. All right, up next,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to bring you today's edition of inconceivable here
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  Speaker 2: in Sports Radio AM thirteen, under the zone of the
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