Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Ben Criddle previews BYU's Upcoming Football Season, Utah and BYU On The Same Level (?), Previews Notre Dame Matchup,

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Ben Criddle previews BYU's Upcoming Football Season, Utah and BYU On The Same Level (?), Previews Notre Dame Matchup, · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We started the show today talking about the expectations for
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Big twelve win totals and BYU and Utah are on
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: the same level according to Vegas Now. We talked about
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the nuance of the difference in schedules and things like that.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Of course, the two teams will meet one another in
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: November as well, and we check in on the cougar
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: side of things with the former Kook himself, Ben Krettle,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: who is of course hosting his own radio show over
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: on our sister station, Ben Crittle.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: What's up?
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: What's up guys? What are you guys talking about today?
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: What do you guys got cooking over there on ESPN
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: seven hundred.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Well, I went and I looked at the Vegas win
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: totals for Texas Tech, UTBU for the whole Big twelve,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and I'll be honest, Ben, given the consistency of what
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: BYU has and brings back and all the changeover for UTAH,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I'm a little surprised, or I was initially a little
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: surprised that both teams have an eight and a half set,
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: as they're over under for wins this season. When you
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: start to really dive into the schedule, it makes a
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: little bit more sense. But my first question for you
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: is should Utah and b YU be on the same
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: level of expectations for wins and losses this year given
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the whole picture.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: I think it's a great question. I think it's a
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: valid question. I think most Utah are DYU fans are
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: going to say they shouldn't be on the same level. Right,
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: You're going to see kind of this inverse data set
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: when you talk about the Ledger. As Kyle Whitningham discussed
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: in his postgame press conference, they were on the very
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: positive side of the Ledger nine in a row before
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: this flip of the script where BYUS now looking and
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: feeling and their momentum is on a similar trend to
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: what Utah was when they went to the PAC twelve
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: and out that they're on the same playing field. BYU
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: looks to be in the lead. From a resource standpoint,
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: from a return production standpoint, all those things. I think
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: this is a public relations element, right, there's a there's
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: a public relations element that I think we need to
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: delve into. I think look at what the SEC gets
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: every single preseason from a public relations standpoint, this is
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: equity that's been built over twenty five thirty years of
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: winning and producing NFL talent, and the the equity is
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: still there. From a from a public relations standpoint, So uh, ESPN, Fox, Uh,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: these media entities, they're gonna they're gonna put the SEC
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: up on a pulpit and say, okay, until they fall
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: from grace, we're going to continue to put them up
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: on that on that pulpit. Now, the question is is
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: they're an equivalency? Is Utah what the SEC was with
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: this whole transition from the Pac twelve to the Big twelve,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: with their coaching staff leaving, with many of their key
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: players leaving. Uh, the y U fans are gonna say, yes,
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: they've fallen from grace. They're they're they're being left behind.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: They had to sell their souls to outra Capital Universe.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Either's a rebrand in place. It's no longer the U
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: of You. It's a tro Capital University. YadA, YadA, YadA.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: I that from and that's what they're saying. Okay, look
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: I talked to them every single day. I'm like, guys,
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: got settled down. Okay, this is still a very Just
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: look at the recruiting rankings. I chadow with Steve bartell
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: On the flight home, and and I'm like, how does
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: like the you know, how do you guys feel about
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: the recruiting question, because I'm looking at it, like, you
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: guys did a really nice job. Utah did a fantastic
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: job of maintaining some great relationships within the state of
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: Utah and and and ultimately acquiring some of the best
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: products and prospects in the state at any rate, Like
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: I feel like for the time being, yeah, they're on
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: an equivalent level. If you look at the last even
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: three years of this battle the Holy War. This is
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: a one score game, as it has been yet in independence.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: But the ball bounced Utah's way for nine years, uh,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: and the ball's bouncing byus way the last three or
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: so years. And so I have no problem with the
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: the over under eight and a half. I think Morgan
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: Scout is a head of a coach. I think that
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: there's plenty of talents still on that roster, and like,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: I don't see any problem with putting them at eight
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: and a half. Now, Am I more likely to hit
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: the under? Yeah? Maybe I may. I'm calling eighty four
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: for Utah is where I see it. And that's why Vegas,
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: you know, Vegas is Vegas, and because it could go
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: either way. But and BYU, I'm probably hitting it over.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: Why because they they're eighteenth and returning productivity, they return
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: most of their roster, and they turned most of their staff.
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: So I think you'll lean to the over and you
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: lean to the under with Utah just because they lost
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: so much and they have they have almost an entirely
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: new staff. I mean they retained some of their staff,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: but you know, fifty less than fifty percent of their staff.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: And I think there was from a key player attrition standpoint,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: you lost a lot of your returning production. I think
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: you saw from a returning production stand where they're fifty
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: fourth in the nation. So that's why I lean towards
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: the under in that eight and a half line for Utah.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: I think there's a huge commentary here about the schedules
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: for both teams, because like the returning production thing, you
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: just laid the numbers out. It very obviously favors BYU
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: the talent that they've got with LJ. Martin deciding to
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: come back. I'm very high on bear Bachmeier. Obviously, your
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: wide receiver room doesn't look exactly the same as you
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: thought it was going to because of some off field
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: issues and things like that, But there's a lot of
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: returning production at BYU.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: The scheduling thing.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Here is where it gets a little more interesting because
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Boe has got that early buy and then it's just
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: like a grind for the rest of the season.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: After week four.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Also, I think I think what Vegas is saying is
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: that BYU really is an nine and a half team
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: if they have everyone else's schedule, But they're taking a
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: win away because nobody in Vegas believes that BOU is
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: going to beat Notre Dame smack dab in the middle
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: of the season. What's that Week seven your thoughts on
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: that Notre Dame game, because it's not a give me
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: for the Irish by any stretch of the imagination.
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: Well, I'll pick you back off of the strength of
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: schedule commentary. So I don't know if you saw that,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: like every single SEC team in the country has like
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: the most difficult strength of schedule per ESPNFPI strength of
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: schedule ranking. So whereas the Big Twelve, if you look
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: at BYU and Utah, their ranked fifty fifth and sixty third, respectively.
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: Why because while they're playing more Big twelve teams and
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: the Big twelve isn't as good as the SEC. So
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: I think that's an initial commentary to the whole strength
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: of schedule commentary. But as it pertains to BYU and
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: the Notre Dame game, what's interesting is Notre Dame per
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: ESPN FBI strength of Schedule ranking, they're actually fifty six
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: in because the Notre Dame doesn't have a very difficult
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: schedule either for ESPN FPI. The last few times BYU's
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: face Notre Dame, it's been a competitive game. They match
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: up well from a personnel standpoint. I think you would
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: agree with that from an athlete standpoint. Now is Notre
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: Dame more talented and recruiting star rankings, There's no doubt
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: about it. They recruit better than BYU, they have more
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: resources than BYU. They're going to be a ten point
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: favorite more than likely heading into this game, a double
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: digit favorite going into this game. But that hasn't stopped
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: BYU from being competitive in this game, and I expected
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: to be competitive once again. In two thousand and four
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: when Notre Dame came into provo, they took an L
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: and that BYU team was I would say fairly talented.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: If you look at the NFL players that were on
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: that roster. They just didn't have the culture and the ohesion,
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: maybe the schematics to really extract the potential of that roster.
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: And they ended up doing what five They had a
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: five win season or whatever, and Gary Croton got fired
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: and all that stuff. There was a lot of hullablue
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: that went on in the offseason. But if that BYU
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: team could could match up well, and even the BYU
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: team that face Notre Dame at Allegiance Stadum could match
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: up well and keep it competitive, why can't this team
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: keep it competitive and keep it a one score game?
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: And maybe there's a final drive. So I mean to
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: be determined what these two teams look like once you
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: get into that that game and availability and help, but
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: it's going to be a one score game in the
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: fourth quarter in my opinion. And and special teams, flipping
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: of the field, turnovers, that's all going to play a
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: role in this and and BYU has done pretty well
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: in that regard, and they've ranked over the last three
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: years as one of the best special teams units in
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: college football. And they and also on the on the
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: plus end of that turnover margin. So I'd hope that
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: that continues with how much retention they have in the
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: coaching staff and players.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Ben Crittle is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell Show,
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: the host of Cougar Sports. Over on ESPN the Fan,
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: you can listen to him every day, every weekday from
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: three to seven pm, breaking down all things three to
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: six excuse me, breaking down things on the BYU side.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: You fans are already sick of me saying this, and
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: they're going to be even more sick of me saying
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: this by the time we get halfway through football season.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: But it feels like for me, if if not now
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: for by you win, I mean, Utah has a bunch
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: of change over Texas Tech has an offseason controversy that
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: takes an important player off of their roster, justifiably so,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and BYU's got like all of this production coming back. Yeah,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: they lost Jay Hill, but you you know, K Pop's
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: been there for decades. So it feels like to me
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: a year that BYU has the recipe to potentially win
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: their first Power for conference championship. Not an easy path,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: but it feels like, if not now win for BYU.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: In my mind, is that how Cougar fans feel about
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: this year for Kalonisatakan Company.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: I mean, I can't speak for all the fans, but
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: I do think that they feel like they're trending in
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: the right direction to get back to a Big twelve
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: championship game. Now, whether or not they can win that game,
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: I would say most of the BWI fans are still
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: on the pessimistic side of things, saying like it's going
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: to be tough to overcome a forty million dollars roster
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: even if Brennan Sorosby is not the starting quarterback for
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: Texas Tech. I think you look at even one score
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: games over the last three years, Okay, like I put
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: out an analytic just go to my Twitter page. I
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: think it's about you know, third or fourth down the road.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: You can look at the fourteen games that BYU has
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: either one or lost in one score games, right, so
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: this is eight or fewer points. They're ten and four.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Why are they ten and for? How have they become
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: ten and four? Why has the ball bounced their way
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: more often than not? And you know they went two
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: and two in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four, they
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: went four and two and then twenty twenty five they
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: went four to oh. But remember the Colorade or Arizona game,
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: and even you know, to a certain degree, maybe even
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: the Georgia Tech game. You felt like you were kind
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: of playing from behind in those games. The Utah game,
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: that was a more convincing win than I think the
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: score denotes. But why is it that BYU is winning
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: these one score games whereas in independent era they weren't
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: able to win those one score games. I think when
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: you have so many close games like this, it's it's
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: difficult to just make a declaration that you're going to
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: win a Big twelve championship and if not this year,
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: than never. Like to me, it's more about if BYU
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: can continue to well, let me take a step back.
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: They're not even a full revshare member of the Big twelve.
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: Yet now is the year. This is the year where
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: they get that thirty million, that forty million. BYU's been
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: operating with a budget that is significantly less than the
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: University of Utah. They haven't been operating with the same
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: budget and the same revenue from a TV standpoint and
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: a media standpoint. So with that, we don't know what's
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: going to happen in the future, if you give me
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: twenty million sean year over year, I think I'm gonna
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: be able to do a little bit of work with that, right,
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna be able to build an organizational design that
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: can extract the most out of maybe the talent that
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: I have, and I can recruit better talent. If you look,
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: if you compare and contrast the Utah recruiting apartment to
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: BYU's recruiting department during independence, you have like four full
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: time people at BYU and you had like sixteen at Utah.
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: Does that make a difference one hundre percent? Does that
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: make a difference year over year one hundred percent? So
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: I think I'm not so sure excited to say, Okay, well,
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: now's the time, now's the place, because I feel like
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: BYU is just getting started with in the year four
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: of the Big twelve, Like when did Utah get their
• 13:29
  Speaker 3: shride in the Pac twelve?
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Would you say, well, what their first trip to a
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: conference championship game would have been in like year seven
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: your eighty and then they didn't win it until year nine.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: So if I'm not mistaken, So eight seven seven three
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: five three zero seven hundred for all of you who
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: are out there waiting for me to make mistakes so
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: you can correct me.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: That's probably a good opportunity for you.
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: To do, so, you know what I mean. So like
• 13:58
  Speaker 3: to me, like that's that's a maybe there's a more
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: accelerated peek for BYU because they do have a well
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: resourced program with donorship and fan base, and they do
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: still have that LDS ponies and pipeline that has come
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: in and buoyed them up over the years. But but still,
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: like my expectations are, if you're talking about elite college
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: football play, I'm not expecting them to win a conference
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: championship and then like all of a sudden this year.
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: I think they're going to continue to be competitive. No,
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: but what does it take to win a conference championship?
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: You know that, right, you're gonna.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Need Honestly, I think they have it all except beating
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: Texas Tech. I mean that that's why last year they
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: were like they beat Utah again and earned that one.
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: They they had everything you need to win a conference championship.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: The hump that they could not get over, unfortunately, was
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: those two games against Texas Tech. I don't believe Texas
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: Tech is going to be as good this year as
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: they were they were last year. Like even if you
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: take the Sowersby situation out, I think they're fine.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: A quarterback. I think Will Hammon is an awesome quarterback.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: He terrorized he.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: But it's also it's also not going to be like
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: he doesn't have to drive that bus.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: They have elite talent all over right.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: I think the thing that makes Texas Tech fall off,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: And when I say fall off, I mean they fall
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: off a game, maybe a conference championship game. Maybe they're
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: not quite as dumb. I think where they fall off
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: is on the defense. I think that they were incredibly
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: fortunate last year to have all the right pieces, all
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the right guys pulling on the same rope. And yeah,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: on paper, they still have some of that, but not
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: a direct equivalent to what they had last year in
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: my opinion, And and that's why I feel like this
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: a window of opportunity has presented itself for everyone in
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: the conference, not just BYU, but to me BYU's roster wise,
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: is today the closest to Texas Tech. Like on paper,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: you talked about the returning production. I think that when
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: you go down the roster talent rankings, you go Texas
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: Tech is still probably one. BYU is number two, Houston
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and Utah, and in my opinion, I think that weirdly,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: you know, Cincinnati has some they probably got four NFL
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: guys on their team, but it falls apart when you
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: talk about the mix of coaching and all that BYU has,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: all that USA today says that Kalona Sataki is the
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: eleventh best coach in college football.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: I think that's probably an appropriate level.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: Of him, you know, top top ten to top twenty somewhere
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: in there for Kilani. And the thing in his way
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: of being higher than that is he has not yet
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: gotten over that hump. And to me, the only hump
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: is Texas Tech the Red Raiders. And to me, I'm like,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: I look at what they've got relative to what BYU has,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: and I say this, this could be a year that
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: BYU gets them.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: And if I'm a okay, yeah, maybe maybe. But if
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: they don't win it this year, are you like they're
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: not going to win it ever because of what they
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: have return is that kind of where you stand?
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Of course not, but but yeah, when you had like LJ.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: Martin's not coming back next year and LJ. Martin is
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: a special special player. I don't think BYU has another
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: l J. Martin three years from now. I think that LJ.
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: Martin is like we had they had Jamal. They had
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: Jamal in two thousand and thirteen to two thousand six,
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: then they had Tyler Aw's year from what twenty eighteen
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: to twenty twenty two.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: Awesome players, and I don't think either of those guys
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: are as good as LJ.
• 17:47
  Speaker 3: Martin. Okay, I'm higher on LJ than take. I think
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: that's I think that's a fiery take that you think
• 17:53
  Speaker 3: that LJ is better than both Jamal Williams and Tyler Ziar.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: I think that's a great ta by the way.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Who, by the way, are incredible, like even NFL football players.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: I'm that high on LJ Martin.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: I think LJ Martin is, like, you know, he's the
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: best running back they've had since Luke Staley, and Luke
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Staley didn't have an NFL career because of injury. But
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: that's where I'm at with LJ Martin.
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, one thing I'll say about LJ is
• 18:21
  Speaker 3: something that he has that maybe the other two didn't
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: really develop early on, was the receiving ability of the backfield.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: And definitely a mismatch in the in the receiving pass game,
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: so I'd say that that is hot ting. I don't
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: think he's as physical as Tyler Jamal, still he's to me,
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: LJ is a big back that is learning to be
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: a really physical back, and once he learns how to
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: even run behind his pads consistently, then it could very
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: well could it could very well be game over because
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: he's built. He's built a little bit different. He's a
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: little bit thicker, a little bit denser than those other
• 18:59
  Speaker 3: two guys, so but he has a little bit of
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: finesse to him, whereas I think Jamal and Tyler became
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: you know, I felt like they were more like violent
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: early on in their careers. So I'm intrigued to see that,
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: Like I'm not where you stand in at LJ to
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: me is a unique and special player and he's an
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: all time great and he could end up being the
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: best running back in boy football history. We'll see how
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: this ended this last season plays out for him, But
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: I feel like Byus found a way during the Aaron
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: Roderick era to find some pretty good running backs as well.
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: And we'll see if Devon Ecka is that next guy
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: or if there's somebody else, But it's it's an interesting debate.
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: This is a really big season for by you because
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: of the retention the coaching staff and the retention of
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: the players. Eighteen ranked eighteenth and returning production right now,
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: so there's high expectations. There's no doubt about And I
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: thought the eight and a half. You know, some people
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: thought that was a little low for the Vegas line.
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: But what does Vegas know that we don't know?
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: The they know everything. Unfortunately, they've got time. Trevor's working
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: for him. Last thing before I let you go. As
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Isaiam on LJ. Martin, I might even be higher on
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: bear Bachmeyer. He is is Cougar blue Tim Tebow. The
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: kid is well ahead of schedule, at least he was
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: as a freshman. I guess we'll have to see if
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: he makes the next step as a sophomore or if
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: he has a slump. But when we're having the same
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: conversation in week eight and then after week twelve, where
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: does bear Bachmeyer rank among Big twelve quarterbacks right now?
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: I mean, look, he went to the Manning Passing Academy
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: right like, I don't know if you saw that that
• 20:49
  Speaker 3: he got in. He got the invite, So I think
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: in that regard in college football, he's probably a top
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: thirty five quarterback. I don't think from a throwing ability,
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: an arm strength ability, I don't think he's as impressive
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: as the as some of these other guys. He's not
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: going to be as impressive. But he's a football player,
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: not akin to Tisso Mill, but Tisam Mill was a
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: football player that was also a quarterback, a great athlete
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: that could also play quarterback, not a quarterback that was
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: a great athlete, And there's somewhere in between. He's a
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: fantastic intermediate to short thrower. He doesn't necessarily have the
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: arm strength of a guy like no Fafita. I can
• 21:30
  Speaker 3: tell you that much. He doesn't. It doesn't rip off
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: as much as you know from a velocity standpoint, as
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: well as some of these other guys in the in
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: the Big twelve. So it just depends on how you
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: view quarterback play. And it's a bit subjective to me.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: If you're looking at just objective data, you know, three
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: thousand yard passer and a five hundred yard rusher that
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: accounts for thirty touchdowns through the air and on the ground.
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: I mean that's insane, right, that's kind of like if
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: you're looking at his trajectory or like that, it feels
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: like Tim Tebow. Was Tim Tebow a good thrower? Was
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: he a good quarterback? Or was just a really good
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: football player that could also throw, you know what I mean?
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: And so I'm not calling Bart Blackmer Tim Tebow.
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: I am calling Tim Tebow because I think that's what
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: he is. I think that he's like, I think he's
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: that player.
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: Com Yeah, if you can do a player cop I
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: don't think it's hard to compare. Tim Tebow's one of
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: the greatest college football players ever, right. Like, So it's
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: a little bit for some people, with Florida fans in particular,
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: they may call that blasphemy, like don't ever you know,
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: keep your Tim Tebow's name out of out of your mouth.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: But from a play style standpoint, I agree with you.
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: He he's Tim Tebow.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: Asked, so, where does he rank among big twelve quarterbacks
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: when we're when we're in the meat of this thing,
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about how pretty his throwing motion looks.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about production.
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Tommy down.
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: If I'm recruiting, If I'm recruiting and I get to
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: pick a quarterback, I may lean towards Noah Fafieda first
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: and then Bart Bachmeyer second. That's where i'd probably put it.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Night mess Maker is awesome, you know, Wigman is good.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: Like there's a lot of good quarterbacks in the Big twelve.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: But if I'm choosing a leader, a culture builder, someone
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: that's going to execute, someone that's going to score the
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: football in the red zone and make good decisions, not
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: turn the ball over, not fumble the football, know what
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: everyone's job is, and to be a pure quarterback and distributor,
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: Bear Blackmer is probably number two. I put Noah above
• 23:37
  Speaker 3: him just because he is truly an elite thrower, a scrambler,
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: a developer, a great human. He's a great leader too
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: and is extremely intelligent. So I'd probably put Noah above him,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: but I'd put Bear's number two in the Big twelve.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: That's my personal take.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: All right, I like that, and we'll see how it
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: plays out. That's Ben Krittle with the b YU inside.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: Always appreciate your time, sir, SoC