Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Austin Collie on first time top 10 matchup in the BYU-Utah rivalry, Being a villain for Utes fans, QB a strength for both teams + more
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: You're tuned to the Sean O'Connell Show from the Murdoch
- 0:05Speaker 1: Chevrolet studio of ESPN 700 at 92.1 FM. Welcome back
- 0:14Speaker 1: to the Sean O'Connell Show. Welcome in one of the
- 0:16Speaker 1: BYU football legends. And I hope he's okay with me
- 0:19Speaker 1: saying one of the Utah villains of this great rivalry
- 0:23Speaker 1: of ours here in the state in the Holy War.
- 0:26Speaker 1: Austin Colley, former BYU wide receiver and NFL veteran is
- 0:30Speaker 1: kind enough to join us here on the show. Austin,
- 0:32Speaker 1: thanks for giving us some time. How are you, man?
- 0:35Speaker 2: Good. How are you doing? All right.
- 0:38Speaker 1: Is this the biggest Holy war game ever?
- 0:42Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, man. I mean, you got two
- 0:45Speaker 2: teams that are into the top 10, probably pretty evenly matched. I,
- 0:49Speaker 2: you know, I think it's going to be a, it's
- 0:52Speaker 2: going to be a great game.
- 0:54Speaker 1: Well, we were on the set talking about it last
- 0:56Speaker 1: year down in Provo about how this would be a
- 1:00Speaker 1: tight game. And it was last year. It came down
- 1:03Speaker 1: to maybe a muff punt. It came down to a
- 1:07Speaker 1: tackle that you don't make or a ball that you
- 1:09Speaker 1: don't tip or whatever. And that's happened so many times
- 1:12Speaker 1: in this rivalry. And obviously the consequences in this particular
- 1:16Speaker 1: one become a lot more interesting because if you make
- 1:19Speaker 1: that play or you don't, We might be talking about
- 1:22Speaker 1: college football playoff invite. We might be talking about a
- 1:25Speaker 1: chance to play in the conference championship game. And obviously
- 1:29Speaker 1: it harkens back to your era of Utah and BYU football,
- 1:33Speaker 1: where you're two teams at the top of a shared conference.
- 1:37Speaker 1: And while that one was played at the end of
- 1:39Speaker 1: the year, oftentimes the stakes were who gets to be
- 1:42Speaker 1: called champion at the end. Does it boil down almost
- 1:45Speaker 1: as simply in this one for you?
- 1:49Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I would say so. I mean, again, going
- 1:52Speaker 2: back to the fact that this is a, this is
- 1:54Speaker 2: as unique as it gets, given that there are such
- 1:57Speaker 2: high stakes and high implications on the game, right? Not,
- 2:00Speaker 2: not just the fact that, that the rank is high,
- 2:03Speaker 2: not just the fact that it's a conference championship, but this,
- 2:06Speaker 2: this could have implications on, on getting into the college
- 2:08Speaker 2: football playoff and having a shot at the national title. Right.
- 2:11Speaker 2: I don't think, I don't think the two teams have
- 2:12Speaker 2: ever been in a spot where, at the same time
- 2:17Speaker 2: as they are now, right. Or the same spot, I
- 2:20Speaker 2: should say, as they are now. So it it's exciting, man.
- 2:24Speaker 2: I obviously love this week. I love this game, but
- 2:28Speaker 2: when you have two teams that are nationally recognized in
- 2:32Speaker 2: the top 10, you know, national contenders I, I think
- 2:38Speaker 2: that just adds more fuel to the fire and, and
- 2:40Speaker 2: that's what college football is all about, all about. And
- 2:42Speaker 2: it excites me, man.
- 2:44Speaker 1: Both Kalani Satake and Morgan Scali have made their thoughts
- 2:48Speaker 1: on the rivalry very clear. They've made their thoughts about
- 2:51Speaker 1: one another very clear. They're obviously friends in real life.
- 2:54Speaker 1: They worked together for a very long time. A lot
- 2:56Speaker 1: of respect for one another in the way that they
- 2:58Speaker 1: run their respective programs. And, you know, like. you've been
- 3:02Speaker 1: at the center of controversy in this game. We've fanned
- 3:05Speaker 1: the flames and the fueled the fires for years and
- 3:08Speaker 1: years about this game. Do you think that these two
- 3:11Speaker 1: guys being the head coaches changed the dynamic of the
- 3:14Speaker 1: fan rivalry of the vitriol at all?
- 3:21Speaker 2: No, maybe between the two teams directly, maybe, but But
- 3:27Speaker 2: I'll tell you, man, the animosity between the two groups
- 3:31Speaker 2: amongst the public is still fairly strong, right? Especially if
- 3:35Speaker 2: you hop online and see the conversations and threads that
- 3:37Speaker 2: are happening. Like, I think it's, you know, the animosity
- 3:41Speaker 2: and the hate is real, right? And it still exists, right? So,
- 3:50Speaker 2: you know, maybe directly in between the two locker rooms,
- 3:53Speaker 2: there may not be as much... I guess much juice
- 3:59Speaker 2: there's juice, but probably not as much as given that,
- 4:01Speaker 2: you know, the history of the two coaches. And, and again,
- 4:04Speaker 2: you know, if they aren't ranked nearly as high as
- 4:08Speaker 2: they are, or if one of us is ranked, you know,
- 4:11Speaker 2: higher than the other, I don't think this, this game is,
- 4:13Speaker 2: is nearly as what it is. You know, yeah. as
- 4:19Speaker 2: it is today. Right. I think, I think, uh, it
- 4:22Speaker 2: may be a toned down, toned down version, obviously, but, uh,
- 4:26Speaker 2: given where everybody stands, given that there is still that
- 4:29Speaker 2: energy that exists within the state amongst, um, you know, the,
- 4:34Speaker 2: the citizens of the state and the fans of the state,
- 4:37Speaker 2: I think, you know, that, that, uh, that, uh, rivalry, um,
- 4:42Speaker 2: atmosphere is still alive and well.
- 4:45Speaker 1: Okay. So, uh, What gives you the most confidence about
- 4:49Speaker 1: this BYU team? Obviously, I think it's going to be
- 4:51Speaker 1: a close one. I don't want to put words in
- 4:52Speaker 1: your mouth, but I assume that you expect kind of
- 4:55Speaker 1: the same. Where is BYU's biggest source of confidence or
- 4:59Speaker 1: their best advantage in your mind?
- 5:01Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's under center, right? I think Bear
- 5:06Speaker 2: has a very unique... or a X factor, if you,
- 5:11Speaker 2: if you will, about him, right? Like he, he, he
- 5:15Speaker 2: exudes what, what, what a quarterback should be, especially the
- 5:19Speaker 2: quarterback in a P four conference. Right. And, and what
- 5:22Speaker 2: you wanted at leading a national championship team, like he's,
- 5:26Speaker 2: you know, by any means necessary, he's going to will
- 5:28Speaker 2: it to happen. And, and you know, I, I think
- 5:33Speaker 2: everything goes through him, right? Like if he's playing well,
- 5:36Speaker 2: he's throwing the ball well, and he's making plays with
- 5:38Speaker 2: his feet. I think, I think we've got a good shot.
- 5:42Speaker 1: And what about this Utah team makes you most nervous?
- 5:44Speaker 1: If anything, I.
- 5:48Speaker 2: Think the guy at our center, right? Like he can
- 5:50Speaker 2: do damage. I was just telling somebody the other day, right? Like,
- 5:53Speaker 2: I don't think there's an inch of turf that he hasn't,
- 5:56Speaker 2: you know, that he hasn't had a rushing yard on, right?
- 6:00Speaker 2: Like he he's, he's all over the place. And you know,
- 6:04Speaker 2: given what we saw from BYU against UCF and, and,
- 6:07Speaker 2: and the trouble that they had an open field tackling
- 6:09Speaker 2: against that quarterback, you know, I think, I think Dan
- 6:12Speaker 2: beer is a better talent than that kid is better
- 6:16Speaker 2: on his feet, better creating plays. Now, I mean, Devin
- 6:20Speaker 2: also has his, has, you know, his, his, his downfalls,
- 6:23Speaker 2: which is, you know, he, he, he is a little
- 6:25Speaker 2: bit of a liability to passing game as, as in,
- 6:28Speaker 2: you know, he he'll, he'll force things to happen. And
- 6:30Speaker 2: typically when a quarterback forces things, there's turnovers that occur. So,
- 6:35Speaker 2: but it, you know, BYU is able to contain him somewhat,
- 6:37Speaker 2: keep him in the pocket and force him to throw
- 6:39Speaker 2: the ball. I think we've got a good shot. If
- 6:40Speaker 2: they allow him to get outside the edges and create
- 6:43Speaker 2: with his feet, we're going to, we're going to have
- 6:45Speaker 2: an issue.
- 6:46Speaker 1: Austin Colley is our guest here on the Sean O'Connell
- 6:48Speaker 1: show talking about the upcoming Holy war. Uh, did you
- 6:51Speaker 1: ever play a game at 10 AM?
- 6:55Speaker 2: I did man. And they are the worst. They are
- 6:58Speaker 2: the worst. Um, I've never been a fan of morning games.
- 7:05Speaker 2: I've never been a fan of day games, rather. I'm
- 7:08Speaker 2: not a day game guy. I kind of like to
- 7:11Speaker 2: wake up and go through a routine and really kind of...
- 7:17Speaker 2: you know, visualize and have time to kind of gather
- 7:20Speaker 2: my thoughts and, and, and maybe have a meeting or
- 7:22Speaker 2: two and a walkthrough. And like, I, I didn't love
- 7:25Speaker 2: that going into a game and maybe it's because I,
- 7:27Speaker 2: you know, I love playing in high school so much
- 7:29Speaker 2: and I love the Friday night lights. I love playing
- 7:31Speaker 2: under lights. But man, 10 AM, dude, I'm just barely
- 7:35Speaker 2: waking up. Like I, I'm not, I'm not ready to
- 7:38Speaker 2: play a game. Like my head's in the clouds still.
- 7:40Speaker 2: So I hate morning games.
- 7:42Speaker 1: And obviously both teams have to deal with it. Is
- 7:45Speaker 1: there any advantage to being the home team for the
- 7:48Speaker 1: Utes in that scenario? Or because it's an in-state game
- 7:52Speaker 1: and there's no time zone or anything like that, does
- 7:54Speaker 1: it even out?
- 7:57Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I think there's always a
- 8:02Speaker 2: home field advantage regardless, right? Like, especially Rice-Eccles. Like, there's
- 8:07Speaker 2: definitely an edge that Utah has playing home, given their
- 8:10Speaker 2: fans and given the environment that's there, right? You could
- 8:13Speaker 2: say the same for BYU when we're at BYU. So,
- 8:16Speaker 2: you know, regardless of the time, I think there's definitely
- 8:20Speaker 2: an advantage that Utah has of just being able to
- 8:23Speaker 2: play in their home stadium at Rice-Eccles, right? Just because
- 8:27Speaker 2: it is such a a great environment if you're a
- 8:30Speaker 2: Utah fan and Utah football player.
- 8:33Speaker 1: One of the big questions heading into this weekend, and
- 8:35Speaker 1: hopefully we get some more insight on it soon, is
- 8:38Speaker 1: the availability or lack thereof for L.J.
- 8:41Speaker 2: Martin.
- 8:42Speaker 1: And I know that BYU was able to beat Notre
- 8:44Speaker 1: Dame without him. That was on their home field, like
- 8:47Speaker 1: we're just talking about. If he is available, who knows
- 8:51Speaker 1: how close to full speed he's going to be. And
- 8:54Speaker 1: as a guy who played at the very highest level
- 8:56Speaker 1: and I know had to come back from injuries, I
- 8:58Speaker 1: don't know if he ever had any high ankle stuff,
- 9:00Speaker 1: but your thoughts on LJ Martin and the X factor
- 9:03Speaker 1: he is in this game.
- 9:07Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, I think production wise, I don't see,
- 9:11Speaker 2: I mean, how many weeks has it been since he's
- 9:13Speaker 2: been injured? Five, six.
- 9:15Speaker 1: I think this will be six weeks from the day
- 9:17Speaker 1: he exited the game.
- 9:20Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, from an on-field production standpoint,
- 9:26Speaker 2: I don't see much contribution there. I don't. But from
- 9:32Speaker 2: accountability standpoint, Utah having to at least account for him
- 9:38Speaker 2: and at least game plan for him and account for
- 9:42Speaker 2: him when he's on the field, I do think that
- 9:44Speaker 2: does something for BYU. That gives him an edge, right?
- 9:46Speaker 2: If he's on the field, you cannot... you know, not
- 9:51Speaker 2: always keep a tab on where he is and, and, and,
- 9:54Speaker 2: you know what he could potentially do when he does
- 9:59Speaker 2: get the ball. right. Whether he's injured or full go
- 10:01Speaker 2: or not. Right. The kid is always going to be
- 10:03Speaker 2: a threat when he's on the field. Now, you know,
- 10:05Speaker 2: having had a high ankle sprain, man, I mean, it's, it's,
- 10:08Speaker 2: it's a bear, right? Like, especially if you're a running back,
- 10:11Speaker 2: you know, you, you might lose a little bit of bounce. And,
- 10:14Speaker 2: you know, being gone six weeks, man, I mean, you,
- 10:16Speaker 2: you definitely, it takes you a game or two, just
- 10:19Speaker 2: kind of get back into the rhythm of things. So
- 10:21Speaker 2: I don't anticipate seeing LJ at full form, but that
- 10:24Speaker 2: doesn't mean that he's still not going to be impactful
- 10:28Speaker 2: in the game in terms of the way Utah has
- 10:30Speaker 2: to scheme.
- 10:32Speaker 1: When you look at the rest of the schedule for BYU,
- 10:35Speaker 1: and it's almost a silly thing to ask because this
- 10:37Speaker 1: rivalry game is the game of the year every year,
- 10:40Speaker 1: but BYU has a win over Notre Dame in the
- 10:43Speaker 1: back pocket, right? They also stubbed their toe and lost
- 10:47Speaker 1: on the road to a UCF team that didn't look
- 10:49Speaker 1: particularly good against Baylor. And so their margin for error
- 10:53Speaker 1: in the conference championship race is kind of gone, but
- 10:58Speaker 1: for lack of a better way to put it, how
- 11:00Speaker 1: badly do they need this game in your mind from
- 11:03Speaker 1: the big picture, trying to achieve the goal of making
- 11:06Speaker 1: a college football playoff perspective, because that Notre Dame win
- 11:09Speaker 1: changes everything in my mind.
- 11:14Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I think, I think this game is
- 11:21Speaker 2: absolutely critical only because Only because if.
- 11:29Speaker 1: You lose the.
- 11:30Speaker 2: UCF and then you lose the Utah, who's another top
- 11:33Speaker 2: 10 ranked team, anybody in the committee can say, okay,
- 11:38Speaker 2: maybe Notre Dame was a fluke. I mean, you look
- 11:41Speaker 2: at the fumble on by, by CJ Carr on the
- 11:45Speaker 2: two yard line, you look at the, you know, all the,
- 11:48Speaker 2: you know, and I don't think this is a thing
- 11:51Speaker 2: or was even a factor, but you know, everyone that
- 11:53Speaker 2: was talking about a one second, you know, the one
- 11:56Speaker 2: second left on the clock and getting, you know, Notre
- 11:58Speaker 2: Dame had an opportunity to run another play. Like, like,
- 12:02Speaker 2: all of a sudden now Notre Dame is kind of
- 12:04Speaker 2: framed as like a, you know, Notre Dame was off
- 12:07Speaker 2: that week rather than BYU was humming. And, and, you know,
- 12:12Speaker 2: using that as an excuse as, you know, it was
- 12:14Speaker 2: just kind of a, a one hit wonder type of win.
- 12:19Speaker 2: You know, Utah does, I think a lot of, if
- 12:22Speaker 2: BYU manages to pull out a win and beat Utah
- 12:26Speaker 2: at home, I think that definitely validates them as a team,
- 12:31Speaker 2: as a top 10 team, as a playoff team. Right. And,
- 12:35Speaker 2: and I mean, to be honest with you, Utah hasn't
- 12:38Speaker 2: really played anybody to Notre Dame's caliber yet. So I
- 12:42Speaker 2: think this is going to add to Utah's value as well.
- 12:46Speaker 2: And the crazy thing in college football, especially this year, man,
- 12:50Speaker 2: is anyone can win on any, any even Saturday, right?
- 12:53Speaker 2: Like we're seeing more parody across Utah, all conferences, all
- 12:57Speaker 2: college football than we have ever seen. And, you know,
- 13:01Speaker 2: it's not only going to be important for them to
- 13:02Speaker 2: go beat Utah, but they're going to have to turn around.
- 13:04Speaker 2: They're going to have to play Baylor. They're going to
- 13:05Speaker 2: have to play Kansas. They're going to have to play Cincinnati,
- 13:08Speaker 2: which again, you know, these big 12 teams have proven
- 13:13Speaker 2: that there isn't other than BYU and Utah and maybe
- 13:16Speaker 2: Texas Tech, there's not much consistency after that in terms
- 13:19Speaker 2: of what team is showing up on that Saturday to play. Right.
- 13:24Speaker 2: You can get the best version of the worst version
- 13:26Speaker 2: of each one of those teams. In my opinion, I have.
- 13:28Speaker 1: To back up just a second. Cause you said you
- 13:30Speaker 1: don't think it was a thing. You don't think Notre
- 13:33Speaker 1: Dame should have been given another second.
- 13:42Speaker 2: I don't know, man. I think, I think, yeah, to me,
- 13:46Speaker 2: the replay is the replay. There's one second, there's one
- 13:50Speaker 2: second on the clock and I didn't look too much
- 13:52Speaker 2: into it. I'll be honest with you, Sean. I didn't
- 13:54Speaker 2: look too much into it. I'm just going off of
- 13:56Speaker 2: what people said. I barely even took a look at
- 13:59Speaker 2: the video.
- 14:00Speaker 1: Right.
- 14:00Speaker 2: To me, you know, there, there's a, there's a lot
- 14:04Speaker 2: of bad calls and there were a lot, I was
- 14:07Speaker 2: at the game. There were a lot of bad calls
- 14:10Speaker 2: across the board throughout the entire game. Right. And in
- 14:12Speaker 2: my mind, things, things kind of even out. Right. I'm
- 14:16Speaker 2: a big believer on whoever wins, you know, whoever wanted,
- 14:20Speaker 2: they were meant to win the ball game. That's who
- 14:21Speaker 2: won the ball game. And, you know, again, like I said,
- 14:24Speaker 2: I haven't really seen the video. I've just heard the
- 14:27Speaker 2: rumblings of, of people going back and forth saying, Hey,
- 14:31Speaker 2: you know, there was one second left on the clock
- 14:32Speaker 2: that should have gotten, you know, it should have gotten
- 14:37Speaker 2: another shot at it.
- 14:38Speaker 1: Well, I mean, to me, I don't mean to interrupt,
- 14:42Speaker 1: but that is the result. Whether Notre Dame wants to
- 14:45Speaker 1: be mad about it from now until the end of time,
- 14:48Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. What happened happened, and it's not going
- 14:51Speaker 1: to change in the result. There's no asterisk on that win,
- 14:55Speaker 1: but the last three weeks... big 12 officials have screwed
- 14:59Speaker 1: up some important scenarios. And it just, it just happens
- 15:03Speaker 1: that BYU has been involved in all of those. I
- 15:05Speaker 1: don't think it's as much as I kind of like
- 15:07Speaker 1: tongue in cheek. We'll say it's a conspiracy to favor BYU.
- 15:10Speaker 1: I don't think actually believe that. But if, if this
- 15:14Speaker 1: holy war is as close as most of them are,
- 15:17Speaker 1: We got big 12 officials on this game. My, my
- 15:20Speaker 1: sincere hope Austin is that we don't have a scenario
- 15:23Speaker 1: where the conversation after the game is about a call.
- 15:26Speaker 1: Like it was in 2024 is about a call. Like,
- 15:29Speaker 1: like it was against Notre Dame. I want this to
- 15:32Speaker 1: be a game that we talk about it and say,
- 15:34Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I can't believe that that's how it
- 15:36Speaker 1: played out, but without the referees involved. And I don't
- 15:39Speaker 1: trust that we're going to get that because of how
- 15:40Speaker 1: bad it's been in the big 12.
- 15:43Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, that's not going to happen. There's going to
- 15:46Speaker 2: be some questionable calls. Whether you win or lose, I
- 15:51Speaker 2: always think the officials can't be perfect. And they may
- 15:58Speaker 2: miss a call. They may miss a handful of calls.
- 16:01Speaker 2: But when so much is at stake, when you've got
- 16:07Speaker 2: two teams that have a history like these two teams do,
- 16:12Speaker 2: And they want, and, and, and again, everything is kind
- 16:16Speaker 2: of has been amounting to this week, to this game for,
- 16:20Speaker 2: for big 12 college football implications. Like whoever loses is
- 16:27Speaker 2: going to go back and say, Hey, the only reason
- 16:30Speaker 2: why this happened was because of this call, this call
- 16:31Speaker 2: and this call. right? So I, I, I think there's,
- 16:34Speaker 2: there's going to be a handful of bad calls. I
- 16:36Speaker 2: do agree with you. Hopefully those bad calls do not
- 16:40Speaker 2: transpire as close as they did two or three years
- 16:45Speaker 2: ago to the, you know, the, the, the, the clock
- 16:50Speaker 2: zero in the fourth quarter. Right. I will say though,
- 16:53Speaker 2: it was pass interference. .
- 16:59Speaker 1: .
- 17:01Speaker 2: Sure. All I know, the guy,
- 17:03Speaker 2: the guy was draped on him from the get go. Okay.
- 17:06Speaker 1: At the end of the day, BYU won that game.
- 17:08Speaker 1: Utah had what? Six more plays where they could have
- 17:11Speaker 1: stopped them. Two plays after that, a ball goes through
- 17:17Speaker 1: the hands of Cam Calhoun, who he should have picked
- 17:21Speaker 1: it and he didn't. So BYU made the plays they
- 17:24Speaker 1: needed to make. No one, no one can take that
- 17:25Speaker 1: away from the Cougs.
- 17:27Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 17:27Speaker 1: But all right. Prediction. How does it play out?
- 17:32Speaker 2: That's a great question. I think the crew's got them
- 17:38Speaker 2: by three.
- 17:41Speaker 2: .
- 17:45Speaker 1: .
- 17:57Speaker 2: it is always going
- 18:00Speaker 2: to be a dog fight, man. It's always going to
- 18:02Speaker 2: be a dog fight.
- 18:02Speaker 1: A hundred percent. I think that's what we get Saturday
- 18:05Speaker 1: at 10 AM, which is not Austin Colley's favorite time
- 18:08Speaker 1: to play a game. We learned that today. Thanks so much.
- 18:11Speaker 1: Thanks for giving us some time today. We'll talk again soon.
- 18:15Speaker 2: Yeah, no, thanks for having me.
- 18:17Speaker 1: Austin Colley, the infamous BYU wide receiver from 2004, then 2007, 2008,
- 18:23Speaker 1: when he departed the program, At BYU, he had all
- 18:30Speaker 1: the records. He was passed by Cody Hoffman in 2010,
- 18:34Speaker 1: but Austin Colley exited his career as the best wide
- 18:38Speaker 1: receiver in BYU history.