Latest / The Craig Way Show / Sark updates the injury status of key starters entering Saturday's game against Kentucky

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Sark updates the injury status of key starters entering Saturday's game against Kentucky · The Craig Way Show

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  Speaker 1: And we're back to the Craig Way Show. I have
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  Speaker 1: a message for Craig. Share it by using the talkback
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  Speaker 1: feature on the Ihearts Radio.
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  Speaker 2: WAFF College Football Knew. We mentioned this in the two
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  Speaker 2: o'clock hour. Tom Herman, one time tax was long RN
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  Speaker 2: coach and most recently of Florida Atlantic, was fired today
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  Speaker 2: just two years into his tenure. FAUS six and sixteen.
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  Speaker 2: In Herman's two seasons, they were zero and six in
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  Speaker 2: the American Athletic Conference this year. That's a school, by
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  Speaker 2: the way, that's from the department of biding off more
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  Speaker 2: than you could chew. I don't think they should have
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  Speaker 2: left the Sun Belt. I think it worked out well
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  Speaker 2: for them in the Sunbelt and they were contender there
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  Speaker 2: and making bowl games. Willie Taggart had wound up there.
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  Speaker 2: He went three years, they fired him and Herman had
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  Speaker 2: not even finished his second season. And he's the fourth.
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  Speaker 2: I think there's a trend here again. He is the
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  Speaker 2: fourth American Athletic Conference coach to get fired this year.
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  Speaker 2: East Carolina, Temple and Rice also and it's a majority
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  Speaker 2: of the sixth transitioning Conference USA teams. They struggled with
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  Speaker 2: the adjustment to the American has Five of the seven
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  Speaker 2: schools at the bottom of the American are transitioning schools.
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  Speaker 2: North Texas just fired it was a couple of years ago.
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  Speaker 2: This is Eric Morris's second year as head coach in
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  Speaker 2: Denton and they got beat by UTSA on Friday night
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  Speaker 2: and there's still one win, shy of bowl eligibility, and
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  Speaker 2: that was their big goal going end of this year.
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  Speaker 2: But it's his second year there after he had done
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  Speaker 2: a great job at Incarnate Word, succeeding GJ. Kinney, who
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  Speaker 2: of course is now Texas State. And congratulations with the
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  Speaker 2: Bobcats because they are going back to a bowl game.
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  Speaker 2: They gained bowl eligibility in that blowout win over Southern
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  Speaker 2: Miss on Saturday, so they'll be back in a bowl
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  Speaker 2: game this season. We know the Long Horns obviously be
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  Speaker 2: in a bowl game. They have some very lofty aspirations.
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  Speaker 2: They want to play in the SEC Championship game and
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  Speaker 2: get into the playoff and see what they can do there.
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  Speaker 2: Earlier today, Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian the news conference
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  Speaker 2: part of our Long Worns Monday presentation that we bring
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  Speaker 2: to you on the Zone and more from the press conference,
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  Speaker 2: and he was asked about Jan davis back up tight end.
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  Speaker 2: He caught a pass and he's been in the been
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  Speaker 2: in the mix and a real good blocker. And Sarcus
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  Speaker 2: asked what Jan Davis has done to stand out as
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  Speaker 2: a tight end.
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  Speaker 3: He just does all the little things. You know. It's
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  Speaker 3: in Uh.
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  Speaker 4: You know, there was a place Saturday that most people
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  Speaker 4: probably wouldn't think much of, but there was a completion
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  Speaker 4: that Quinn through through to one down in the low
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  Speaker 4: red end. I think it was on second down, second long,
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  Speaker 4: and it was really Quinn's third read on the play
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  Speaker 4: and Wan catches it and then breaks kind of two
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  Speaker 4: tackles and falls forward and we get a first down
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  Speaker 4: That seems like nothing, but to me as the play call,
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  Speaker 4: that was a big play because now I don't have
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  Speaker 4: to call third and short, it's first and goal. And
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  Speaker 4: but that's just kind of who Wan has been. He
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  Speaker 4: just does what he's supposed to do when his numbers called.
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  Speaker 2: And so.
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  Speaker 4: You know, again he's another one of these guys this
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  Speaker 4: weekend that we get to celebrate.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, a guy who has been a grinder throughout
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  Speaker 2: his career at the University University of Texas and Davis
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  Speaker 2: is one of those seniors. Out of everman he's caught
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  Speaker 2: seven passes this year. Now all right. Sark was also
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  Speaker 2: asked with regard to his DBS and the secondary and
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  Speaker 2: the play they've made, and he was also asked for
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  Speaker 2: an update on Jayden Blue getting banged up a little bit.
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  Speaker 4: I think the experience of our secondary is what has
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  Speaker 4: led to a lot of this.
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  Speaker 3: Now, they're they're all very talented players.
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  Speaker 4: And but when you start talking about John a and
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  Speaker 4: and how much football he's played, and and Manny Muhammad
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  Speaker 4: and Jalen Gilbot and mccouba and Michael taff and then
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  Speaker 4: now you're adding in a Jolani McDonald and then I
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  Speaker 4: think incorporating the linebackers into that. These guys are really dialed,
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  Speaker 4: you know, they just don't we don't blow coverages. The
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  Speaker 4: communication is at a really high level. They recognize the
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  Speaker 4: route combinations that are coming. They make every pass play
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  Speaker 4: feel contested. When there is a guy open, it's kind
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  Speaker 4: of like what happened? You know, Everyone's like, how did
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  Speaker 4: that happen? And Uh. In the end, I think they're
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  Speaker 4: playing with a lot of confidence, you know, and that
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  Speaker 4: and that's that's a that's a great space to be
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  Speaker 4: in when you're playing.
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  Speaker 3: From confidence football standpoint, I think Blue is good, you know.
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  Speaker 4: He, like I said, he went with us today and
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  Speaker 4: worked this morning, so we'll see how it goes.
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  Speaker 2: All right. Uh, here's that question about the top of
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  Speaker 2: the SEC and a competitive balance there. And he was asked,
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  Speaker 2: has he ever experienced anything like that as a coach
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  Speaker 2: and did he watch uh, you know b Yu in
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  Speaker 2: that late night Saturday night contest his good friend Kalini
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  Speaker 2: Sataki and b Yu. The Cougars lost the first game
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  Speaker 2: of the year late Saturday night in case you didn't
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  Speaker 2: hear about it, and they fell to Kansas, and he
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  Speaker 2: was asked about those two elements.
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  Speaker 4: I watched all those games Saturday night and that was
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  Speaker 4: this crazy night of football.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 4: It's interesting because this is my first year being in
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  Speaker 4: the SEC without a division, you know, without divisions and
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  Speaker 4: used to be the SEC West and the SEC East
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  Speaker 4: and just kind of thinking about what would that look
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  Speaker 4: like now if that was if that were the case.
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  Speaker 4: But it, uh, it makes it very entertaining. And like
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  Speaker 4: I said, I think college football is in an all
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  Speaker 4: time high popularity wise. I mean people are watching us,
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  Speaker 4: They want to know what's going on. It's not just
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  Speaker 4: our conference, it's a lot of other conferences, and so
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  Speaker 4: I think it's a good thing. You know, we are
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  Speaker 4: our conference is extremely challenging, and it's gonna come down
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  Speaker 4: to the last weekend, you know, And.
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  Speaker 3: That's the way it's got to go.
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  Speaker 4: And that's why I say this weekend for us is
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  Speaker 4: the biggest game of the year to try to put
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  Speaker 4: ourselves in position to the last weekend.
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  Speaker 2: All right. He was also asked for an injury update
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  Speaker 2: DeAndre Moore and heard a foot mo Blackwell didn't even
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  Speaker 2: play in the game on Saturday, and then is there
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  Speaker 2: a certain completion percentage that he desires to see from
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  Speaker 2: his passing game.
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  Speaker 4: So Mo Blackwell was out last week. I'm hopeful we
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  Speaker 4: can get him back this week. We'll see how it goes.
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  Speaker 4: DeAndre got nicked up during the game with a foot injury.
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  Speaker 3: Again.
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  Speaker 4: Those two guys are integral parts to our program, not
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  Speaker 4: only on offense and defense, but on special teams. They're
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  Speaker 4: they're critical. So hopefully we can get both those guys
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  Speaker 4: back again. It's not necessarily the completion percentage when we
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  Speaker 4: take our shots down the field. Sometimes it's getting p
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  Speaker 4: I Sometimes it's letting the defense know that we will
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  Speaker 4: take those shots, and so that opens up some other things.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, I love it when we hit them all.
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  Speaker 3: But it doesn't matter.
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  Speaker 4: If we don't hit them all, because there's other opportunities
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  Speaker 4: that come off of those things. And so you know,
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  Speaker 4: we we never call them just for the sake of
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  Speaker 4: calling them.
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  Speaker 3: We're calling them for reason.
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  Speaker 4: And as long as the quarterback understands why we're doing
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  Speaker 4: what we're doing, and and Quinn feels confident in what
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  Speaker 4: we're doing and takes those shots when they're there, I'm
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  Speaker 4: very good with that regardless of the result.
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  Speaker 2: All Right, other questions as well was asked about how
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  Speaker 2: do you continue to stress the point of this is
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  Speaker 2: our colleague God Wallace that made this ask this question.
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  Speaker 2: How do you continue to harp on not falling into
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  Speaker 2: the pit of that tiebreaker system. Like we said, there's
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  Speaker 2: a several teams at two losses that could make it
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  Speaker 2: a real log jammy if Texas were to lose one
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  Speaker 2: of its two final games and fall into that two
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  Speaker 2: loss tiebreaker pit.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was very similar to last year.
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  Speaker 4: You know, where two years ago we were at the
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  Speaker 4: mercy of other teams dictating our fate and our future.
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  Speaker 4: Last year we said, hey, we're going to control what
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  Speaker 4: we do, and we've kind of continue to sing that
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  Speaker 4: same song this year with what we're doing. And you know,
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  Speaker 4: I think our players, in a weird way, they see
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  Speaker 4: all that, they recognize that, but they're so focused on
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  Speaker 4: what's happening right now, what's right in front of them,
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  Speaker 4: that I don't know if they're that concerned about that,
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  Speaker 4: but they're so focused on I just want to play
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  Speaker 4: good this week. And that's for a coach that that's
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  Speaker 4: a really good place to be in.
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  Speaker 2: All Right, we'll hear some more from a coach. Start
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  Speaker 2: coming up from this Longhorns Monday edition of the program
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  Speaker 2: on sports Radio AM thirteen under the Zone.
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  Speaker 1: It's the Craigway Show with the voice of the Texas
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  Speaker 1: Longhorns and Hall of Bane Broadcasting Craig Way.
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  Speaker 2: It's a Long Horns Monday here on Sports Radio and
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  Speaker 2: thirteen hundred the Zone. It'll be a Cowboys in Texans
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  Speaker 2: Monday night cam pledging not to watch it, but let's
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  Speaker 2: see you about that. When you pack for trips, are
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: you like like to pack in advance or you just
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: day of throw stuff in. Let's get the night before. Yeah. Probably.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: My deal is a little more complic because I just
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: came off the road, So it's dump one bag out,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: do some laundry. Fortunately, i'd gotten to Linda picked up
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: some dry cleaning for me the other day, so I've
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: got some of that ready to go. But favorite pair
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: of jeans, they'll go in the washer tonight, some of
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: that while the game's going on. Unlike you, I will
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: actually be watching the Cowboys Texan, I believe. Got to
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: talk about it here. If you're not gonna watch it,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: one of us has to watch it, right, I'll watch
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  Speaker 2: it tonight. Let's hear some more from coach Sart. One
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  Speaker 2: of the things that a common thing that was going
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  Speaker 2: for all of this was emotions of the team. There
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  Speaker 2: are ten games into it. Now they're nine and one.
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  Speaker 2: You got two games left, and coaches love to talk
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  Speaker 2: about not getting too high or too low and looking
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  Speaker 2: ahead too much. There's that A and M game, the
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  Speaker 2: possibility of reaching the SEC Championship playoff, bladlah blah blah,
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  Speaker 2: all of that other kind of stuff, and Sarcus continued
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  Speaker 2: to echo the same themes of keeping the guys on
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  Speaker 2: an even keel, and he said toward that end, guys
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  Speaker 2: like Alfred Collins and Jeanne A. Baron once he mentioned
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  Speaker 2: earlier leaders of that good balance of emotions.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, what a cool moment to win Saturday,
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  Speaker 4: and what a cool moment to have in that locker
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  Speaker 4: room with our players Saturday.
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  Speaker 3: And then we got on the bus and was like,
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  Speaker 3: let's go home, you know.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that's that's part of this group that
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  Speaker 4: we have right now. They know there's so much football
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  Speaker 4: to be played that it never feels like we're winning
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  Speaker 4: the super Bowl.
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  Speaker 3: When we get in the locker room.
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  Speaker 4: It's like, hey, we won, let's celebrate, and then let's
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  Speaker 4: get ourselves mentally and physically prepared for the next one.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that comes a lot from yes to
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  Speaker 4: the coaches, but the veteran leaders that we have.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, all right, So there's that things asked. The question
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  Speaker 2: about having less believe it or not believe it or
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  Speaker 2: not at a position where he has a lot of depth,
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  Speaker 2: maybe less vertical deep threats than the threat he has
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  Speaker 2: it tied end. After all, the leading receiver of this
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  Speaker 2: team is Gunner Helm.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think Gunner has changed a little bit of
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  Speaker 4: that for us. You know, I feel very we feel
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  Speaker 4: very comfortable with Gunner being in there as a seria blocker,
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  Speaker 4: where in the past we felt like, you know, we
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  Speaker 4: needed an extra offensive lineman to do that stuff. Like
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  Speaker 4: I said, every game takes on a life of its
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  Speaker 4: own and we try, we try to manipulate defenses the
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  Speaker 4: way that we can. And you know, arkis UF was
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  Speaker 4: going to play a three safety defense, so it was like, well,
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  Speaker 4: if I can put an extra blocker out there to
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  Speaker 4: to try to cover people up, why not try to
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  Speaker 4: do that? But I think to go, you know, I'm
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  Speaker 4: answering two questions at one time. But to not have
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  Speaker 4: the extra O lineman and have Gunner and want out
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  Speaker 4: there together that present, that's other issues for the defense
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  Speaker 4: that they have to deal with that if it was
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  Speaker 4: an extra alignment, they wouldn't have to. And Gunner allows
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  Speaker 4: us to do that because he's a factor in the
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  Speaker 4: run game.
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  Speaker 2: A factor in the run game. On the opposite side
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  Speaker 2: is the long run defense, one of the tops in
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  Speaker 2: the country, limiting the opponent's rushing yards, and Sark was
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  Speaker 2: asked about how important that is and to what does
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  Speaker 2: he attribute that.
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  Speaker 4: Well, it's the first thing we talk about from a
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  Speaker 4: defensive perspective is stop the run.
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  Speaker 3: We got to stop the run.
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  Speaker 4: And if we can make Why that's important is we're
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  Speaker 4: trying to make our opponents one dimensional. And if we
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  Speaker 4: can make them one dimensional, it's a little easier to
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  Speaker 4: rush the passer.
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  Speaker 3: It's a little easier when we can get a lead.
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  Speaker 4: It's a leasier to guard people when they're two dimensional
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  Speaker 4: and they have balance. It's like us right on offense,
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  Speaker 4: and we have balance, we're more difficult to defend. So
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  Speaker 4: if we can make them one dimensional, stop the run,
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  Speaker 4: defend the pass, then then we can start doing the
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  Speaker 4: things create turnovers the way we want to do that.
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  Speaker 2: All right, And a couple other thoughts from Steve Sarkisian
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  Speaker 2: here it is the college football player again. Another question
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  Speaker 2: about presentation and you know, trying to keep the college
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  Speaker 2: Football Playoff Committee's attention and stay up high in the rankings.
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  Speaker 2: And does some of the you know, the scheduling thing
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  Speaker 2: that so many people have brought up to any of
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  Speaker 2: that concern him with regard of the committee.
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  Speaker 3: No, you know, I I.
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  Speaker 4: We just try to play good football, you know, and
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  Speaker 4: we try to do it the right way, you know,
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  Speaker 4: I know there's probably a point differential and things involved.
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  Speaker 4: In the last two weeks, I took a knee inside
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  Speaker 4: the ten yard line two weeks ago.
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  Speaker 3: We kneeled it out Saturday.
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  Speaker 4: Because I think there's the right way to play the
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  Speaker 4: game of football, and I don't get caught up in.
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  Speaker 3: What is a committee looking for.
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  Speaker 4: I think that our body of work is our body
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  Speaker 4: of work, and we try to play the game the
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  Speaker 4: right way.
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  Speaker 2: Simple there, and then finally in the final analysis, when
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  Speaker 2: you're nine and one and you're ranked in the top five,
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  Speaker 2: and you have a chance, perhaps in a couple of
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  Speaker 2: weeks to play for a conference championship, all of those
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  Speaker 2: kinds of things you having fun. And Sarks says, absolutely.
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  Speaker 4: These guys are having a blast, and that that's what
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  Speaker 4: makes this team so fun to be around and so
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  Speaker 4: special because they are They're truly a team. We're not
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  Speaker 4: an offense, a defense, and special teams like these guys
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  Speaker 4: are in it together. There's a lot of handshakes, there's
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: a lot of they know more words to songs that
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: I've ever heard of like these guys. I don't know
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  Speaker 4: if you notice that we went to take the field
• 15:48
  Speaker 4: at Arkansas, they were playing some song that I wasn't
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  Speaker 4: I didn't really hear, and our guys had to sing
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  Speaker 4: every lyric to the song before we took the field,
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  Speaker 4: and it was like, perfect, okay, great like that, We're
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  Speaker 4: we're all fired up. But that's I think that's what
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  Speaker 4: makes us group special. It's like they don't think too
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  Speaker 4: much of themselves to like, oh, we're supposed to be
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  Speaker 4: a certain way. It's like, oh, we know this song,
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  Speaker 4: let's sing this song, you know, like it wasn't planned.
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  Speaker 4: And that's the part for me that's super fun. Like
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  Speaker 4: I love these guys. You know, they put forth a
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  Speaker 4: lot of effort that they work their tails off, but
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  Speaker 4: yet we have fun doing what we get to do.
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  Speaker 4: And that starts with the leadership on those guys that
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  Speaker 4: jah Day's, the Baron Surrel's, like I said, the Jake Majors,
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  Speaker 4: the Hayden Connors. Those guys lead the charge and for
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  Speaker 4: us to empower them to be able to do that
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  Speaker 4: and then for them to take the reins and go
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  Speaker 4: do that is super cool to see.
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  Speaker 2: All right there. It is thoughts from Logwren's head coach
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  Speaker 2: De Sarcasian When we come back a note that camera
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  Speaker 2: just came across that had it happen about three hours ago,
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  Speaker 2: would have wound up an inconceivable and it concerns Jerry Old.
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  Speaker 2: When we continue on Sports Radio AM thirteen, Out of
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  Speaker 2: the Zone,