Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Dishin' with Devon: Dampier on the hard fought win over Colorado, GameDay in town for Saturday's game vs Houston + more

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Dishin' with Devon: Dampier on the hard fought win over Colorado, GameDay in town for Saturday's game vs Houston + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We're right in the middle of an excellent Utah football season.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: 6-0 ranked top 10 in the country. Game day performance
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: coming up. Houston coming into town. Blackout game, night game
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: at Rice Echo Stadium. And QB1 is right here in
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: studio with us. Devin Dampier for Dishing with Dev. Brought
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: to you by Culligan Water of Salt Lake City, America
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: First Credit Union, and Valley Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Dev, good to have you on a Wednesday. How are you, sir?
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Good, good.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: We're back. You're back. Let's talk a little Colorado football,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: shall we? Yeah. It was a win. I want to
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: stay focused on that.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Did you guys get to enjoy the win? Because it
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: was closer than a lot of people thought. It was
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: a lot more hard fought. It wasn't the cleanest game
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: you all have played this year. Were you still able
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: to enjoy that as a victory and an improvement to 6-0?
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's definitely a little bit of both.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've talked about our standard, how we want to play,
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: how we expect to play.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: I don't think we met that standard.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: But, I mean, any time you can walk out with
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: a win any week, that's adding another win without a
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: loss on your record. So at the end of the day,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: we were able to find a way to end up
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: winning that game. So we're proud that happened, but it
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: just wasn't our standard that we would want to play
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: at every game.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Now that you've looked back on it, Is there something
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: that explains for you, at least, why the standard wasn't met? Like,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: was it human nature? Didn't respect Colorado enough? I don't
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: want to put words in your mouth. Is there something
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: that when you look back now and you have the
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: benefit of hindsight, you say, that's why we performed.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: The way we did? Yeah.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Man, I would say there's a lot of plays out
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: there where, you know, one guy was able to cause destruction,
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: I guess I could say, and that's including me as well.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: But just.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Around our team, it was like 10 of us were playing,
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: and one person would lack off a little bit, and
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: that would be the difference between a 20-yard gain and
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: what should have been a touchdown. Just small things like
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: that definitely showed up. And just our red zone efficiency,
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: I feel like we're one of those teams where we
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: get in the red zone, we score almost every time.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: So the fact that we weren't doing that, it could
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: have been 21-0 if we scored all our red zone
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: drives first quarter, but we ended up making it 13-0.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: 13-0, where it's still a game. They still feel like
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: they're in it.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: And that's really the worst thing you can do against
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: a team that you're better than, right? You let them
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: feel like they can hang around. You let them feel
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: like they're going to halftime. Like, hey, this is still
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: a game. If you score on all those drives, then
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Colorado's getting down on themselves. The human nature takes over,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and it's like, oh, man, this is an uphill climb.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: And ultimately, they stayed in it, and it was a
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: close game, but... 27-24 victory, and you improve to 6-0.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: 24 of 41. 278 yards, three touchdowns, two interceptions for you.
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Although one of those interceptions that... I'll let you break
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: it down for me, right? The Utah pass. It's a
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: pitch forward, and it's a bobbled ball. That still goes
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: down as an interception on you. That kind of sucks.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I've been.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: I explained to my coach why I was so disappointed,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: just because I threw five picks last year, and my
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: goal this year was to end up being at four.
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: So the fact I'm already at four, I'm just a
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: little irritated. How did I put myself in this position?
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, it comes with the game, though. Yeah, sometimes
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: plays happen like that.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: It's one of those plays where, and we explained this
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: on Monday, right, That is an efficient play because the
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: worst case scenario is supposed to be that if a
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: pitch is dropped, it's a forward pass.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: There's no fumble there.
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: And instead falls into the lap of a D lineman
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: of all people.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: I don't know how I got ricocheted back to him,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: but it did, but you survived it.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: And look, you made a couple of really important throws
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: in this game. Two, two of Creed Whittemore's three catches
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: in the game. He was three catches for 88 yards.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: We're kind of like game savers.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Tell me what you saw in those plays.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, man, the first one, we were able to just
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: come out of halftime and realize that call was something
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: we wanted to get back to multiple times. And it
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: was just Creed on the outside, and Creed's slick fast.
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: He can move when he needs to. So he just
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: kind of ran by him. I had a little bit
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: of pressure and just kind of gave him a chance,
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: and it landed there perfectly. And the second one, I
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: took a sack. We were backed up a little bit,
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: and Carlotta wanted to give us pressure, try to get
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: us in a third-and-long situation. But, again, Creed's out there.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Gave him a chance again, and he dropped one of
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: those passes earlier this season. So the fact that he
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: got to re-get it this game, and he took full
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: advantage of it, so I'm proud of him.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, great game, even though it was only three catches.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: The timing of those catches felt like it really bailed
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: some things out, and you two connecting on those. I mean,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: everyone knows that when the chips are down, seven's an option, right?
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Braden Pagan, I'm sure the defense is keying on him.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: So the fact that you have that chemistry, that trust
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: with somebody who's, you know, not your number one receiver,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: I think ends up being important in some of those scenarios.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. We continue to pre-set our receiver room too.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: Like everyone, you need to be ready, expected to get
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: the ball. You know, there's never a play where you
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: think you're a decoy route or you think you're, They're
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: out to get somebody else open. You're a chance of
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: getting the ball every time. And just the fact that
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: we live by that and the receivers are doing a
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: good job of it, they're just ready for their opportunities
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: when it comes.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Mack G is probably a better person to ask this question,
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: but I don't get to talk to him this week.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: Bird was kind of missing in this game plan.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: He only got a few touches compared to, you know,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: usually it's kind of 10-11. I think it was four
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: times we saw the ball in Bird Ficklin's hands. with
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: an option for a fifth on maybe another catch. Is
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: there anything behind that?
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Is he banged up?
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Was it just what you guys were seeing on film?
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Why was Bird not as much of a game plan
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: this week, to your knowledge?
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, man, again, certain, like our plays with Bird is,
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: I guess they're normal plays, if that's what I could say.
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: Like some of the stuff he was on was, kind
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: of what Hunter was on, and after Hunter hit a
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: couple of those that game, they started to respect the pitch,
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: and he just kind of wasn't there anymore in those opportunities.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: And then I think Way got a couple more carries
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: than he normally does every game as well.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think this is the most we've seen from
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: him this year, 23 carries in the run game.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: So just also giving him the ball when things matter,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: when we need those short yardage and things like that.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: So just kind of the situation of the game ended
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: up playing out that way.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: The, the run game, we've seen a lot of explosive
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: runs from this Utah offense in the first five games
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: of the season. You had Hunter Andrews got one explosive way.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Sean flirted with one, I guess it's 15 plus. He
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: got a 14 yard or was Colorado doing anything special
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: that the run game was not quite as explosive against
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the Buffaloes.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: I think they kind of loaded the box up a
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: little bit on us when at times and Again, I
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: honestly thought we moved the ball pretty well. We just
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: really couldn't score in the red zone, and that was
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: kind of just hurting our momentum. But, I mean, we
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: were able to pass the ball downfield and get down there.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: You know, you just got to kind of pick your poison,
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: and they decided to key on our run game and
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: try to make us one-dimensional in the pass game.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: When we get down to that kind of final game-deciding scenario,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: and you guys are trying to salt it away by
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: getting a first down, and.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: Or killing as much clock as possible because Colorado does
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: not have any timeouts left. The conventional wisdom is like,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: all right, even though you've got a long distance to
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: go before you hit the sticks, still run the ball
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: because even if they stop you, a bunch of time
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: is going to come off. A pass was called, and
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: good pressure ended up in the dirt. Tell me what
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: the communication was like previous to that play call.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: You know, first I take full responsibility of that. I
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: was told if I can complete the ball completed, but
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: if not take the sack, we want to waste clock.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I don't, I don't really know what happened
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: in my head during that time. I totally blanked out.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: And is it hard to be like, I'm not trying
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: to interrupt you here, but is it hard to be like.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: All right, take a sack. You don't want to take
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: a sack.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: I have a hard time thinking that there's ever a
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: scenario where you're out there, the competitor that I've come
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: to know you as, where you're just like, I'm definitely
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: not going to complete this pass.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Like that's, that feels like a hard thing to ask
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: a player to do. I don't know.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I, I normally don't blink out like that. And yeah,
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: that was a situation where I did. And, uh, you
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: can tell the frustration of my body language as soon
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: as I kind of let go of the ball where
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: I realized I made that mistake. So, um, Man, I'm
• 9:22
  Speaker 3: just glad everything worked out because I was definitely in
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: my head the whole time on the sideline.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Is there a silver lining?
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: I know that you want to maintain the high standard,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: and you never want to leave things on the field.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Is there a silver lining to be found that you
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: played far below the standard on offense and defense, and
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: you still came away with a win against a Big
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: 12 opponent?
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I know that you.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: Don't want it to look like this against Houston, but
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: in a weekend where But seven top 10 teams lost
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: and there was upsets all over the place, even though
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: you didn't play as well as you needed to. as
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: a collective team, you still got the win. Is there
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: something to be gained from that?
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: I think the biggest thing was that was the first
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: time us offense, we were trailing. Just for us to
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: honestly step up and be able to put points on
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: the board when we were down. you know, that was
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: huge for us, a huge takeaway for us, just to
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: know that, you know, even though we're down, we're able
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: to trust ourselves that we can go out there and
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: we can go play together and, you know, be one
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: on that field.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: So I thought a lot of us came together.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: I think there's a lot of individual efforts during, you know,
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: those last couple drives, both offense and defense, where especially
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: Creed being one, Bobo, you know, those are some big
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: plays that were able to be made that, definitely turn the,
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: turn the game around and gave us a chance.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: How big picture do you let each play get in
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: your mind? Like I'm trying to ask this the right
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: way where you're in a couple scenarios. I mean, really on,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: on the two throws you hit to Creed on the touchdown,
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the second touchdown you hit to Braden. It's kind of like,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: if you don't score there, the momentum is already in
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: Colorado's boat, right? If you don't make this play, if you,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: the quarterback doesn't throw this ball accurately, your team's probably
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: going to lose the game or has a good chance
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: of losing a game, right? When you're in that scenario
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: and the play call comes in and it's like kind
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: of do or die.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: And there's three or four of those moments in this game.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: You haven't really faced those this season yet. It hasn't
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: come down to that competitive a game. And in the
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: first five, how, how do you process it in your mind?
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: Is it, I'm going to make this play and we're
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: going to win the game. Cause if I don't make
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: this play, we're going to lose her.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: Like, how do you process it? Or is it that
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: big picture?
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Is it, you just say, no, I'm just going to
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: hit this throw. Like, tell me what it's like inside
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: the helmet of Devin Dampier in those like deciding plays.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: You know, I think that's one of the reasons why
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: I play quarterback, you know, not in a cocky way
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: or a selfish way, but I do believe that I'm
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: able to make those decisions. I'm, for pressure like it's
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: I'm kind of at a point where pressure just feels
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: like another rep like I've been here before I know
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: what to expect I know what I'm capable of doing
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: so honestly I don't get too rattled I just I
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: kind of I'm kind of just a mellow guy I'm
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: like all right bet and then when the play happens
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: like I got to start remembering to get excited but
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: I'm just like I expected that to happen almost and
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: okay so uh yeah I guess you could say in
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: my in my head I'm just I'm very mellow.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: I'm very bad.
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: Like, allow me to have the opportunity to make something
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: out of this, and you should get a good result.
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: So when Creed comes down with those big catches and
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the sticks move, or when Braden comes down in the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: end zone, it's a feeling of relief, or it's a
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: feeling of, yeah, I knew that was going to happen?
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: I would say there's more of I knew that was
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: going to happen than relief. All right, wow. Again, me
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: and Creed, ever since I think it was like week
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: two maybe, he might have dropped one of those. And
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: ever since then, like when we get one-on-ones periods, we're
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: working that catch just to make sure, you know, when
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: it comes up in the game, he's good.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it just felt like.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: Another, you know, we've been in that situation before where
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: it's a one-on-one press, go in.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: How's the body feeling after the Colorado game?
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: Because you took more contact in this one than you
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: have in probably five of the previous.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: How are you feeling?
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: Good, just game day bruises. They're always there, sadly, but
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: bruises are not season-ending. Season-ending injuries are something now dwelled
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: for the rest of the season, so glad they're just that.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Devin Dampier is our guest here. Dishing with Dev on
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: a Wednesday. We'll replay it on Thursday, but Dishing with
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Dev on a Wednesday brought to you by Culligan Water
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: of Salt Lake City, America First Credit Union Valley Plumbing, Heating,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: and Cooling. undefeated number 10 in the country. You guys
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: expected this to be the outcome. There's not a lot
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: of people, even big fans of the program who thought
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: that this would be an easy thing to do, or
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: this would be a possible thing in Morgan Scali's first year,
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: new coordinator on both sides of the ball, new head coach,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: brand new offensive line, top 10 team.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: Those things don't usually go together for sure. Yeah.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: And I think, I mean, I'm confident in what's been happening. Like,
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: I've seen it since the beginning. But just as a
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: point of view outside of it, it is pretty crazy.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: I think Scalic does deserve a lot of that credit
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: just to be able to bring in so many new
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: components and make a culture that works, make a culture
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: we're all able to buy into.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that's a huge shout-out to him. But for me,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: I guess it was expected, honestly. Does it feel weird
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: that the season is halfway gone? Yeah. It's weird that
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: we're already halfway through. Has it gone fast for you?
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: This year has been like, I don't know why, but
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: this year has been a lot faster than last year.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Maybe just because all the crazy games that's happening and
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: stuff like that. It's making college football just fun to
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: watch every weekend.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: So it's just going by.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: So now you turn the page. Top 15 matchup. Number
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: 10 Utes, number 14 Houston Cougars. They're coming off a
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: huge win. Pretty emotional win. against Oklahoma State. You guys
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: are coming off of, I'm just going to say, it's
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: your worst performance of the year, but hopefully you learned
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: the lessons from that. And now game day's here, and
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: it's a big stage. It's as big a stage as
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: you're going to get this season probably. I know that
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: you keep it kind of in routine. You make it
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: as constant as you possibly can, but does anything change
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: for you? Does the schedule change at all? Is there
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: extra interviews with college game day in town?
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a little bit of, I guess you could say,
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: extra stuff going on during the week. But, I mean,
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: when it's Friday and that's Saturday, you know, that's how
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: we make sure we're straight football, we're straight around our team.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: Nothing outside is able to distract us anymore from that
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: point on. So, yeah, I mean, just especially coming off
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: the win we just had, I think we're able to,
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: realized we need to stay hungry, we need to stay gritty,
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: and I think that's honestly boosted up our last couple
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: days of practice too. Just having a win that close
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: made us realize we're not there yet. We definitely picked
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: it up a lot during practice. Some of the slack
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: we felt like we were getting to, and I'm excited
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: to go into this week.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: What are you seeing from Houston on film? A good
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: team all around, honestly.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: I think they're playing well offensively and defensively, a team
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: that's going to compete for sure to the end.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: We're expecting a dogfight, and, yeah, let that play out.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: So on paper, and I know that these matches aren't
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: played out on paper, but it looks like they're better
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: against the run than they are against the pass, which
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: logically would mean that Devin Dampier should be throwing the
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: ball and trying to exploit if there is a weakness
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: in that defense, the secondary is it. I'm not asking
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: you to reveal anything game plan wise, but does that
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: excite you? The prospect of, Hey, we might rely on
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: my arm a little bit more this week than we
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: do in a typical week.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, you know, I.
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: Love, I love throwing the ball, but man, whatever, honestly
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: gets to win. I, I can't express enough. Uh, when
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: wins is a stat that matters to me, uh, so
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: much more than anything else. So yeah, if that's how
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: they decide to play, if that's how they decide to, try.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: To make us win the game.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm more than happy to go that route too.
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: There's a, there's also a thought that they, you know,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: they score a lot on their possessions, right? In points
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: per possession, they're doing a good job. They're actually right
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: behind Utah in points per game and in points per possession.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: So you might want to slow the game down. You
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: might want to Run the ball more. You might not
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: want to give them as many offensive possessions. And that
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: has been a successful errand for all of you. Way
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: Sean is one of the best players on this team,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: if not the best player on the team. Your offensive line,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: as we've talked about every single week, has done a
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: really good job. If it comes down to that, if
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: it comes down to like an old-fashioned rock fight where
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: you just got to grind out eight-minute drives, is that
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: something you feel, based on what you've seen from Houston,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: you can pull off against this?
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: Because they're an athletic front. For sure.
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, they're a talented group as well. We've gone
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: against our defense all this time coming up to the season,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: so we've played against a good defense. We've played against
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: especially a scally defense as him as head coach. We've
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: got to have that experience of playing a such talented
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: defense that, I mean, we know what to expect. We've
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: been here before in these situations where every drive– Feels
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: like it matters just a little bit more.
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: How was Kelvin Obot? As in what way? Like, it
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: looked like he couldn't put any weight on his ankles.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: He doing all right. Like, I'm not asking you to
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: tell me if he's playing this week. I know that
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: you can't talk about it, but like.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: He's a, he's a true freshman, right? He's a guy
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: who's a starter. He's a big part of this team.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: And you know, like when you're 18, 19 years old
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: and you're living the dream and then something happens in
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: a game, that's, that's dicey.
• 19:57
  Speaker 2: I'm asking you like as a teammate, how does it
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: seem like he's doing? Yeah.
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: Um, I think he's doing well. Um, I checked up
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: on him the other day too. Just asking how he's feeling. Um, especially, um,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: We've got a great O-line room, a pretty older O-line
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: room that's able to kind of mentor him and take
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: care of him in those ways, too, and give him
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: advice on how to recover faster and stuff like that.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: I think he's in a good headspace, though. He's being
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: loud at practice already with the limited reps he gets,
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: so it's been good.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: That is not an injury update on Kelvin Obot from
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: Devin Dampier, okay? He's not giving us any information that
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: we're not supposed to have. blackout game at night at rice.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: I go say, you guys have played every day game
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: at night, basically.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know. You like it. Are you sick of it?
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Super at night. Um, I mean, it's cool. It's cool. It's,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: it's definitely better when it's at home. Yeah. I would
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: say last game was, was trash. I would not recommend
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: that again. No, who knows? Who knows? We do.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: We got home at like 3am for no, like four 30.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: I guess in my house at four 30.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: That's crazy. Yeah. It was an experience. This one's at home, though. Yeah.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Dark mode, blackout, game day. I mean, the stage is set.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Do you feel like the team has the right mentality,
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: given the full context, coming off this Colorado game, knowing
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: how tough Houston is, knowing what the rest of the
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: season could look like because the schedule does get tougher,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: but you've got to focus on one game.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: At a time. Is everyone in the right headspace?
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Scali doesn't sugarcoat anything during our meetings. He's very transparent.
• 21:37
  Speaker 3: very much wants to give us the real on what's
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: going on. I feel like he gave us a great
• 21:42
  Speaker 3: rundown of where we're at as a team, where we
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: need to show ourselves, and then also this is a
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: big tester for us. This is a big kind of
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: where do we really stand, what kind of team are we,
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: and that's what this weekend will be able to prove
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: to us.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: This last weekend, I think, proved to a lot of
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: college football fans how wide open everything really is this year.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: Because, you know, a bunch of teams in the top ten.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Notre Dame loses to BYU. Georgia loses. Texas again. I mean,
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: nobody is safe, basically. So, is there a lesson to
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: be learned from that? I mean, you know, Scali says
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: it every week.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: Like, you know, he watches the college football games just
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: as we do during leading up to our games and
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: stuff like that. And he's always like, man, college football, it's.
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: This is why people love college football. Anything can happen.
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: It's so crazy that there's not a team that can't lose.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: That's not a thing.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: You've got to come out every week with that mentality
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: of you've got to go get it.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I think we talked about this with the Western Michigan-Michigan
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: game at the beginning of the season.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: But if a referee or an officiating crew.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: doesn't give you a final play when there's one second
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: left on the clock and you have a chance to
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: win a game but you don't get that chance, how
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: do you process that as a quarterback?
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: That's what happened to C.J. Carr in Provo last week.
• 23:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd– you know, there's two ways you can go
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: about it. I mean, I'd be upset if, you know,
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: that's the rules of football. I hope you get that
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: one last play because, again, we saw Michigan. They did
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: get that one last play.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: And, you know, they– Something worked out for them. Even
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Florida State. Florida State against Miami.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: They got their plays called back.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: I would be hurt for sure. You also hope you're
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: not putting yourself in a position where I guess you
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: need that one last play. You hope you win in
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: a margin where that one last play, hopefully you don't
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: need it.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: On a last second play, which didn't end up being
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: a last-second play. As a quarterback, do you just accept
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: you're not going to get a flag, even if there's
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: pretty obvious contact and maybe some P.I.
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: You know, I always– when it comes to, like, last-second plays,
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: I always live by give your receiver a chance. Like,
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: I'd rather the ball get picked off or at least
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: I made it catchable in a way that instead of
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: trying to throw the perfect ball, like, I just– I
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: would rather die on the hill of, you know, I
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: saw my receiver jump for the ball, and whatever happened,
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: it happened.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Well, going to be a fun one at Rice Echo Stadium,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: another night game. Blackout, 8-15 kickoff. Let's be honest, it'll
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: probably be more like 8-30 because the games before will
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: go a little bit later. They don't want to start
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: it off on ESPN News or whatever.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: But, man, good luck.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Big stage, huge game, huge opportunity, and obviously we'll all.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Be behind it. Yeah, for sure. Love our youth. Final
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: message for the fans? It's dark mode, so I know
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: what time it is. Let's go, baby!
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Rice-Sickle Stadium on Saturday night. Devon Dampier will be there.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: I will be there. Hopefully all of you get a
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: chance to be there as well.
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: That's Dishing with Dev, brought to you by Culligan Water
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: of Salt Lake City, America First Credit Union, and Valley Plumbing, Heating,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: and Cooling.