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Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal Hell.

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Speaker 2: For me, I'm a man, I'm forty.

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Speaker 3: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to

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Speaker 3: be happy. You want to be happy for Dake Edith

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Speaker 3: State is that whoo whoo?

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Speaker 1: And no, Dan and Tie.

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Speaker 2: Dan Rubinstein, welcome back still previous season. We got a

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Speaker 2: long way to go, my friend, We've already got I

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Speaker 2: guess two technically two episodes in the books. Go back

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Speaker 2: and listen to our first I guess Conference Previo, the

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Speaker 2: episode on the last one we did the sun Belt.

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Speaker 2: I talked way too long about the sun Belt. I'm

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Speaker 2: still really interested.

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Speaker 3: Really interested in the Sunbam. It's not that you spoke

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Speaker 3: too long. It's that, in the spirit of college, everybody

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Speaker 3: sat down for sun Belt three oh one in the

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Speaker 3: lecture hall, and you really gave.

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Speaker 1: It to him. I'm sun Belt Billy. Now I think

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Speaker 1: I've assumed that identity. Yeah, based on all the researchers. Anyway, listen,

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Speaker 1: go back and listen to that. It was the sun Belt,

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Speaker 1: it was the American Dan talked about the MAC. On

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Speaker 1: today's episode, We're going to talk about the Mountain West.

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Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about Conference USA, We're going to talk

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Speaker 1: about the pac two pack two pack two for now,

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Speaker 1: pack twelve for later. But appreciate everybody stopping on by

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Speaker 1: Hit Fall Hit subscribes that you don't miss any of

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Speaker 1: our episodes, and of course for Bawlers dot com v

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Speaker 1: E R B A L L e r s dot

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Speaker 1: com that's or Patreon, go there for the bonus perks,

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Speaker 1: get bonus content, you get ad free episodes, get episodes,

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Speaker 1: a little bit early access to our discord, which is

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Speaker 1: starting to eat up more and more people are starting

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Speaker 1: to find the Patreons starting to get ready for college

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Speaker 1: football season as the calendar has turned to July. Dan. So, yeah,

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Speaker 1: with all that said, I let us off last time

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Speaker 1: around talking about the sun Belt. We do have some

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Speaker 1: sounds here. We are going to continue, I believe, using

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Speaker 1: our Lorenzo Lamis flaw finder. Of course, how could we not,

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Speaker 1: because we have to. We're going to continue, I guess,

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Speaker 1: basing all of these previews around the idea of heat

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Speaker 1: checks and temperature gauges and the mountuice friction friction, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: all that stuff. Why don't you get us roll in

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Speaker 1: here with all things Mountain West.

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Speaker 3: Okay, I'm gonna stick right on there and talk about

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Speaker 3: the heat and how hot I believe the Mountain West

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Speaker 3: to be. It's so hot that a new conference is

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Speaker 3: forming around it. Sort of well, they're stealing teams from it, right,

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Speaker 3: a new conference. I'm saying, a new conference is forming

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Speaker 3: with an old name, with a combination of teams from

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Speaker 3: at least two different conferences, maybe three. Uh, everybody's just

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Speaker 3: hot for the Mountain West. High everybody wants more Mountain

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Speaker 3: West in their lives.

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Speaker 1: It's the Mountain West Nebula that is forming a new star.

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Speaker 3: That's exactly right. Okay, So I would immediately text the

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Speaker 3: Mountain West after a first date and make sure that

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Speaker 3: they got home safely. I would text too soon. I

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Speaker 3: would be super excited to plan a picnic with the

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Speaker 3: Mountain West. I get it from an Oregon state Washington

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Speaker 3: state perspective that geographically it makes sense. I love the

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Speaker 3: coaches in the Mountain West. I love the upside of

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Speaker 3: teams in the Mountain West. I love that there is

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Speaker 3: a clear standard in the Mountain West. A team in

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Speaker 3: the Mountain West, we were like, well there's them, and

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Speaker 3: then there's a next tier, but nobody's in their tier, right.

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Speaker 3: I like all of that, and I love that it's

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Speaker 3: at altitude, and that weirdly affects teams. Some of the

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Speaker 3: teams are definitely not at altitude the West teams, and

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Speaker 3: some are at crazy altzude. I just the concept of

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Speaker 3: the Mountain West, not even just the concept, the realities

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Speaker 3: of the Mountain West get me going in a way

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Speaker 3: that Lorenzo Lamas could appreciate with his flawfinder, even though

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Speaker 3: I can find a ton of flaws.

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Speaker 1: Sure.

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Speaker 3: Sure, So the question is is the Mountain West hot?

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Speaker 3: Answers yes, of course, the answer is yes. Absolutely, the

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Speaker 3: answer is yes.

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Speaker 1: I guess The question that I have is, especially over

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Speaker 1: the last like year and a half, so much of

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Speaker 1: the conversation as centered around Boise State, and it was

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Speaker 1: obvious going into last season and that Boise State was

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Speaker 1: going to be the team to be. Has that gap

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Speaker 1: narrowed at all in your mind? Or is it still

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Speaker 1: Boise versus the field?

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Speaker 3: Okay, so Boise is not exactly what Boise was last

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Speaker 3: season because they had their greatest and most talented offensive

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Speaker 3: player ever. Sure as a program, and there have been

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Speaker 3: some terrific ones. There have been some record setting ones,

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Speaker 3: some big time winners, some big time players that moved

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Speaker 3: on to Ashton Genty is the greatest player to play

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Speaker 3: for Boise State, and that's not a take at all.

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Speaker 3: So even though Boise's running back stable, their running back

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Speaker 3: room is I think it's probably the best in the conference.

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Speaker 3: Even without him. There's a difference there. There's a gravity

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Speaker 3: there to Boise State, which I'm happy to start with Boise.

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Speaker 3: You know, Spencer Danielson, when he lost the interim tag,

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Speaker 3: came in and immediately was excellent for the Broncos. The

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Speaker 3: defense developed guys, They wisely developed their offense around the

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Speaker 3: best running back in the nation. And even though Maddox

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Speaker 3: Madson was very good against Mountain West teams and a

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Speaker 3: little bit lacking in key moments and in key games,

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Speaker 3: namely of our against our alma maters in Oregon and

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Speaker 3: Penn State, Boise was a crazy success story last year

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Speaker 3: and does not appear to be slowing down at all

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Speaker 3: this year, mostly because the teams with which they competed

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Speaker 3: to be the best in that conference, name LEU and

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Speaker 3: LV lost their coach and a bunch of key players, right,

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Speaker 3: and they're starting over in a pretty serious way with

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Speaker 3: how many new players that are going to be counted

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Speaker 3: on in Vegas. So Boise merely by having a returning quarterback,

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Speaker 3: a bunch of key key players on defense, coming back

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Speaker 3: to a defense that was a top twenty five ish

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Speaker 3: national defense, if not higher at its best, they're just

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Speaker 3: way down the road from everybody else in this conference.

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Speaker 1: I'm looking at some of Bill C's projections now and

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Speaker 1: to the point, and.

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Speaker 3: They're scheduled by the way rules. It's not like they're

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Speaker 3: constantly on the road against the best teams on their

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Speaker 3: like the schedules right.

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Speaker 1: The Boise projection. Just to give some context here, Bill's

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Speaker 1: got them as the thirty third best team in the

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Speaker 1: preseason SP plus. The next closest is UNLV at seventy fifth.

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Speaker 3: That's a golf.

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Speaker 1: It's a golf, And based on other projections, he's got

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Speaker 1: them close to ten wins. He's got them what looks

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Speaker 1: to me to be about a thirteen to fourteen point

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Speaker 1: favorite over UNLV. This is preseason stuff. It's going to

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Speaker 1: change a million times even before we get to the season,

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Speaker 1: i'd assume, but just to kind of give you a

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Speaker 1: sense for where things are at here, it really does

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Speaker 1: look like per these projections, Boise's way up there and

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Speaker 1: everybody else is sort of scraping and clawing to get

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Speaker 1: even into the next tier.

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Speaker 3: It might not even be fair to say there's a

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Speaker 3: next tier, right if the first tier is clear contender

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Speaker 3: and the next tier is could figure things out to

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Speaker 3: give Boise some some problems. I don't know if there's

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Speaker 3: a team that is so obviously in that tier. If

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Speaker 3: you're saying the next SPPLUS projection is in the seventies, right, right,

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Speaker 3: usually you would want forties, fifties or something to be

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Speaker 3: one of those teams that has that kind of upside.

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Speaker 3: So somebody is going to appear Boise. If Boise is

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Speaker 3: what they look like they're going to be, they will

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Speaker 3: play somebody in the Mount West Championship game. Somebody has

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Speaker 3: to occupy that other spot. But between UNLV hiring another

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Speaker 3: coach in Dan Mullen, which by the way, they just

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Speaker 3: had two years of their best coach in modern history

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Speaker 3: of not ever in Barry Otam who left for Purdue.

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Speaker 3: You know, San Jose State was interesting in year one

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Speaker 3: of ken Nea Modololo. Fresno State always has a good

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Speaker 3: amount of talent on its roster, and I think a

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Speaker 3: lot of people are very high on the matt Ens higher,

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Speaker 3: like there's a lot to like about this conference from

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Speaker 3: a peer, Like this is a pretty deep roster of

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Speaker 3: proven quality coaches, you know, Bronco Mendenhall and Troy Calhoun

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Speaker 3: and Sean Lewis, and like what he did at Ken

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Speaker 3: State looks better and better with each passing day, it

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Speaker 3: really does. So he's at San Diego State where he

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Speaker 3: should be able to, you know, build up a roster

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Speaker 3: of intriguing Talentlorado State Quiety had a really nice year

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Speaker 3: last year with Jay Norvel like Jane Orville I always have. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: And so just like proven quality, the Mountain West goes

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Speaker 3: deeper than it should and Bronko Mendenhall, by the way,

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Speaker 3: still I really like Jason Eck who New Mexico hired

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Speaker 3: away from Idaho, who gave Oregon everything they could handle,

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Speaker 3: just like Boise did to start the season last year.

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Speaker 3: So proven quality coaching. Matt Ens won a national championship.

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Speaker 3: You know, Jimmy Rodgers, who's playing a Mountain West schedule

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Speaker 3: ish at Wazoo even though they're not in the Mountain West,

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Speaker 3: Like there's just like there's just high quality here. So

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Speaker 3: Boise State specifically, if that's where we want to start,

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Speaker 3: or if there's any other big picture topics you want

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Speaker 3: to hit with the Mountain West.

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Speaker 1: No, I mean I wanted to go to Boise actually,

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Speaker 1: because and again we're not trying to make any of

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Speaker 1: these G fives. I don't know if it should be

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Speaker 1: G five or G six. I'm just going to keep

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Speaker 1: calling it G five. It's muscle memory, Okay. I don't

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Speaker 1: know if we are doing a disservice to any of

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Speaker 1: these conferences by zooming out a little bit and talking

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Speaker 1: about playoffs, But I think we have to with Boise

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Speaker 1: because Boyse made the playoffs last season. They play they

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Speaker 1: lost to Penn State, and it would appear, at least

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Speaker 1: based on some of the other research that we've been

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Speaker 1: talking through here, that they're again the favorite to get

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Speaker 1: back to that playoff. So why don't we start there?

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Speaker 1: Does that seem like a fair assessment based on the

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Speaker 1: studying you've done on this team, outside of not having

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Speaker 1: Ashton genty, which is a big deal, How are they different?

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Speaker 1: What does it feel like to you in twenty twenty five?

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Speaker 3: You know, receiver, obviously running back is different. Receiver could

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Speaker 3: be a little bit different in terms of who steps

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Speaker 3: up linebacker. There's familiar faces. Both lines have a ton

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Speaker 3: of familiar faces. The secondary should be nails. There's not

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Speaker 3: a ton that's different. They do have another playoff caliber

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Speaker 3: team on its schedule, like they did last year with Oregon,

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Speaker 3: and that is Notre Dame on the road this year,

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Speaker 3: and so they'll have a case either by beating Notre

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Speaker 3: Dame or how they look against Notre Dame if they are,

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Speaker 3: you know, locked up with another team not in a

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Speaker 3: power conference, that they will have that on their schedule.

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Speaker 3: So the schedule's fine, It's yeah, it's at Notre Dame.

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Speaker 3: They get UNLV at home and Notre Dame excuse me,

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Speaker 3: and Boise has a bye before two of it's more

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Speaker 3: intriguing Mountain West road games. So schedule, why is there

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Speaker 3: in a good place. We saw how they acquitted themselves

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Speaker 3: last year in year one of Spencer Danielson against Oregon

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Speaker 3: and Penn State. It came down to the last seconds

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Speaker 3: against Oregon and they were I think it was a

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Speaker 3: three point game in the third quarter. Against Penn State.

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Speaker 1: They held with Penn State long enough I think to

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Speaker 1: turn in a respectable showing. You know, Penn They asserted

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Speaker 1: itself later, but yeah, they were, They were in that game.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, the difference in Boise State is they're more seasoned.

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Speaker 3: They've been to the top of the sport in that

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Speaker 3: they've been to the College Football Playoff. The proof of

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Speaker 3: concept is there, and so now it's just are they

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Speaker 3: locked in? Are they focused? Are they going to dump

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Speaker 3: a dumb second game other than Notre Dame if they

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Speaker 3: do dump that one, and that's on the road, but

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Speaker 3: it's not a guarantee that Notre Dame comes out of that.

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Speaker 3: You know, is there a moment for Boise where they

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Speaker 3: like it's a sandwich spot, it's a look ahead spot,

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Speaker 3: it's a letdown spot after somebody big. It's entirely possible.

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Speaker 3: But both the way that Boise weather that schedule last season,

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Speaker 3: I'd say it's unlikely that Boise is even is falling

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Speaker 3: to nine and three.

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Speaker 1: This year unlikely? Unlikely.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So I like Maddox Madson. I think he's going

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Speaker 3: to be counted on to do more this year than

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Speaker 3: he had to do last year. Even with Ashton Gent.

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Speaker 3: He's not like he was popping downfield a ton, which

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Speaker 3: is a little bit disappointing that you couldn't use the

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Speaker 3: gravity of having that backfield to your advantage. Otherwise, he's

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Speaker 3: a year older, he's a year more experienced. There's no

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Speaker 3: reason to believe he won't improve like anybody multi year

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Speaker 3: starter should. So I think Boise's in a great place.

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Speaker 3: To me, it's a ten and two floor. Ten and

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Speaker 3: two flour would probably get them in the playoff. Ten

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Speaker 3: and two means you're losing a Notre dame in somebody else.

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Speaker 3: I guess eleven and two at this point, right, eleven

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Speaker 3: and two?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I like where Boyse's at. Is it fair

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Speaker 1: then to assume, with all that is new on the

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Speaker 1: un LV side, that they are the next team up?

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Speaker 1: Or do you think that's a little bit too aggressive?

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Speaker 3: Okay, So U and LV schedule is UCLA, they're at

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Speaker 3: Miami of Ohio, they're at Boise, and they're at Colorado State.

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Speaker 3: In terms of intriguing games, so it's tough on the road.

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Speaker 3: It's that they're gonna count on a ton of like

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Speaker 3: Power Conference transfers in The big names are Anthony Calandria

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Speaker 3: from Virginia and Alex org from Michigan, neither of whom

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Speaker 3: were good enough to be considered long term starters at

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Speaker 3: those places, and both places had jobs that were there

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Speaker 3: for the taking. So I think UNLV is going to

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Speaker 3: be interesting. I think they're going to be at times fun,

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Speaker 3: but given that kind of roster turnover, I'm just not

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Speaker 3: there with like saying that they're the obvious number two.

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Speaker 3: I really like Dan Mullen, and in terms of proven quality,

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Speaker 3: he may already be the best coach in this conference

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Speaker 3: given what he did a Mississippi State and Florida, So

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Speaker 3: I'm not gonna look past that. But I don't think

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Speaker 3: it's they're the obvious number two and they're not my

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Speaker 3: obvious number two.

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Speaker 1: Who is your number two or who's the more obvious

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Speaker 1: number two?

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Speaker 3: I think San Jose State. Really, I think I reserve

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Speaker 3: the right to change my mind once because, like, here's

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Speaker 3: the thing, Fresno always has a high level. I'm just

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Speaker 3: not necessarily there on EJ. Warner being like a contending

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Speaker 3: type quarterback. As much as I like matt Ens and

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Speaker 3: maybe even like the upside of the Fresno defense, I'm

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Speaker 3: not there with them. And their schedule is tough. So

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Speaker 3: Fresno is at Kansas, Georgia Southern at Oregon State at

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Speaker 3: Boise State, and they are at San Jose State. So

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Speaker 3: just in terms of like situationally, I like where San

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Speaker 3: Jose stits schedule wise, returning the quarterback Nick Nash is gone,

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Speaker 3: who obviously set records for them at receiver. But I

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Speaker 3: don't know. I I think the combination of coach, quarterback

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Speaker 3: and what they return, I think it's it's pretty good.

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Speaker 3: They have star power on that defense. They one of

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Speaker 3: the best linebackers in the conference. I don't know. Maybe

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Speaker 3: I'm just too high on San Jose State and my

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Speaker 3: beloved Spartans, but I like them.

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Speaker 1: I like the job that ken Nea Modololo did, and

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Speaker 1: I remember this time around last year we talked a

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Speaker 1: lot about what's it going to look like when he's

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Speaker 1: not running the option, when he's sort of going about

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Speaker 1: things a bit of a different way, not at Navy.

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Speaker 1: And I don't think it should come as any great

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Speaker 1: surprise that San Jose State was a very respectable program.

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Speaker 1: They had a good season and it stands to reason

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Speaker 1: that they would improve upon that this year, provided they've

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Speaker 1: got the pieces in place.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, they lost, okay, so at the end of the year.

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Speaker 3: So they beat Oregon State, who was super beat up,

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Speaker 3: but they beat him on the road. They lose to

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Speaker 3: Boise State with relative ease by twenty one points. They

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Speaker 3: lose to UNLV. They beat Stanford, which I thought was

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Speaker 3: a nice fight from them. There was no really bad losses.

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Speaker 3: They lost to quality teams. They lost a crazy shootout

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Speaker 3: to Wazoo early, So I just didn't even think they

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Speaker 3: were terribly far away last year. And if the starting

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Speaker 3: point was an average defense, a returning quarterback and a

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Speaker 3: returning quality coach and a decent enough schedule, it's a

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Speaker 3: weird year because I again, there's nobody in that golf

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Speaker 3: that that obvious number two golf, because there's just so

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Speaker 3: much new about this conference. So it's now weird to

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Speaker 3: say a second year head coach with a returning quarterback

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Speaker 3: and a decent enough looking defense puts them at an

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Speaker 3: advantage over ninety percent of this conference. But I think

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Speaker 3: here we are.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean the other point that I would call out,

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Speaker 1: just with respect to some of these teams that we're

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Speaker 1: discussing here now, Boise State falls into an interesting category

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Speaker 1: this year because they're thirteenth nationally in terms of returning production.

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Speaker 1: Being high on that returning production number when you are

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Speaker 1: a good team. The year feels like it is almost

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Speaker 1: a thing of the past, just with so much movement,

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Speaker 1: the transfer portal being what it is, returning production, that

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Speaker 1: stat has changed. We've had Bill on the show, Bill Connolly,

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Speaker 1: He's talked about that for a bit. Now he's having

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Speaker 1: to rejigger how he calculates it. Seeing Boise State that

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Speaker 1: high up on this list is I think even more

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Speaker 1: reason to be excited about this season. To that point,

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Speaker 1: San Jose State is third in the conference with what

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Speaker 1: they have back, a little bit more on defense than offense,

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Speaker 1: but it's a program that is going to have a

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Speaker 1: pretty decent enough nucleus coming back. They're in the top

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Speaker 1: seventy nationally, which I view as any win if you're

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Speaker 1: a G five school and you're not getting absolutely killed.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, there's nothing crazy. Back to back on the San

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Speaker 3: Jose State schedule. Now we'll see they're going to get

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Speaker 3: destroyed by Texas in week two. But I don't know.

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Speaker 3: New coach in Central Michigan at home, Idaho with a

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Speaker 3: new coach, Stanford with a new coach on the road,

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Speaker 3: New Mexico with a new coach, Wyoming with a second

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Speaker 3: year guy, Uta State with a new coach like, this

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Speaker 3: schedule is great. No Boise No UNLV on San Jose

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Speaker 3: State schedule. They get air Force at home, they get

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Speaker 3: Fresno at home. I don't know. I think situationally, they're

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Speaker 3: in a great spot if they can stay healthy. So

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Speaker 3: they'd be my number two right now. Boise one, you're

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Speaker 3: saying San Jose State two, Yeah, UNLV three, I'm assuming,

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Speaker 3: I think so. I think that's where Dan mull Dan Mulliban,

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Speaker 3: Dan Mullen gets the benefit of the doubt.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, one of the things that jumps out

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Speaker 1: to you when you look at UNLV is the fact

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Speaker 1: that with all of these new players, it probably goes

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Speaker 1: without saying it, none of them have played together before, right,

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Speaker 1: you know, and anytime you've got an experiment like that,

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Speaker 1: we've seen it work. We've also seen it not work.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. And UNLV's starting point for Dan Mullen is they

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Speaker 3: might have the best running back in the conference, Jane Thomas.

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Speaker 3: So start there, we'll see how the line play is.

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Speaker 3: You and I watched Alex Orgy last year, tantalizing talent

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Speaker 3: who doesn't complete a lot of passes.

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Speaker 1: I mean, he should be a running back, He should

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Speaker 1: be a running back.

359
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Speaker 3: He should receive something or an option quarterback or you know,

360
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Speaker 3: and maybe he will be an option quarterback for Dan Mullen.

361
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Speaker 3: Maybe he looks at him, he's like, I can work

362
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Speaker 3: with this from step one, day one, whatever, and we're

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Speaker 3: not going to try to, you know, put him into

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Speaker 3: a position where he's not going to succeed. I like

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Speaker 3: the recruiting from the portal recruiting. I like where U

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Speaker 3: and LV is and schedule wise, it's not terrible either.

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Speaker 3: So situationally, U and lv's schedule even though they're at

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Speaker 3: Boise and at Colorado State. Otherwise I think it's workable.

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Speaker 3: Fresno State and Colorado State are the other teams and

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Speaker 3: whatever that third tier is for.

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Speaker 1: Me, one final point on UNLV, and then I want

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Speaker 1: to get to the next tier. I'm really interested to

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Speaker 1: see what it looks like longer term with Dan Mullen

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Speaker 1: at UNOV, because I.

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Speaker 3: Don't think it's a long term higher.

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Speaker 1: It may not be a long term higher, and I

377
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Speaker 1: think that's fair or not he stays there or ends

378
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Speaker 1: up somewhere else. The game has changed a lot since

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Speaker 1: Dan Mullen got dragged publicly for not recruiting at all. Right,

380
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Speaker 1: the recruiting game has changed, and you could argue that

381
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Speaker 1: there is more emphasis now on the transfer portal than

382
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Speaker 1: there is in high school recruiting. We've seen some schools

383
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Speaker 1: take that tack. Yeah, I'm curious to see how Dan

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Speaker 1: Mullen adjusts, if he adjusts, because if in the portal

385
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Speaker 1: era he is also not recruiting, this is going to

386
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Speaker 1: be short lived. Regardless of where he goes. He's going

387
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Speaker 1: to need to step up and they're going to need

388
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Speaker 1: to have some infrastructure to recruit the portal.

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Speaker 3: It's also not clear that that infrastructure and resources and

390
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Speaker 3: cash money is going to be readily available, at least

391
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Speaker 3: if you listen to Matt Sluka.

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Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, well that's it. That's it man.

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Speaker 3: I mean beyond that, there have been stories about you

394
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Speaker 3: and LV and you know, resources on hand. So like,

395
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Speaker 3: is Dan Mullen, who is used to sec type infrastructure

396
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Speaker 3: going to be long If he succeeds at UNLV, he

397
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Speaker 3: will be bury out and gone in two years. If

398
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Speaker 3: it doesn't work, he'll step down, he'll be gone in

399
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Speaker 3: two years.

400
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Speaker 1: Fresno in Colorado State, you've gotten the next tier new

401
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Speaker 1: coach for Fresno's Matt Ense who I like. I like

402
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Speaker 1: matt Ants. Matt Ens was with USC for a couple

403
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Speaker 1: of years. I guess before that if you track back

404
00:20:12,280 --> 00:20:16,920
Speaker 1: through his through a CV, like he was successful at

405
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Speaker 1: North Dakota State, and I think you and I had

406
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Speaker 1: just been waiting to see what kind of gig he

407
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Speaker 1: was going to get. We knew this was eventually going

408
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Speaker 1: to be the endgame. Fresno is a good spot to land.

409
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Speaker 1: This has been a program that's been very successful over

410
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Speaker 1: the years. Obviously had a bit of an odd situation

411
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Speaker 1: last year with Jeff Tedford stepping away late. They gave

412
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Speaker 1: it to Tim Skipper for a season on an interim basis,

413
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Speaker 1: and now it's going to be mad Ant's. Well.

414
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Speaker 3: It's also just the the hopefully solid ground that Fresno

415
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Speaker 3: is now on, because you remember it's Jeff Tedford, then

416
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Speaker 3: Calin de Borr and then Jeff Tedford and then Jeff

417
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Speaker 3: Tedford steps down temporarily and like there was so it's

418
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Speaker 3: just been a back and forth situation, not knowing where

419
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Speaker 3: this program is heading. Matt EN's younger guy has succeed

420
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Speaker 3: seems to have hired well with regard to assistance, hopefully

421
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Speaker 3: is ingratiating himself and themselves in that region well and

422
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Speaker 3: in the portal well obviously headlined by Corey Foreman, who

423
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:13,760
Speaker 3: used to be maybe the number one overall recruit didn't

424
00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:16,520
Speaker 3: work out at USC, a player along the edge, and

425
00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:19,080
Speaker 3: so maybe that's sort of a second chance for a

426
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Speaker 3: lot of higher profile guys on the West Coast. Could

427
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Speaker 3: absolutely see that, especially as the West Coast evolves in

428
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:29,439
Speaker 3: terms of who's playing where. So I just I'm going

429
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Speaker 3: to give coaching and a little bit of offensive continuity,

430
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Speaker 3: but Fresno State ceiling is sort of TBD because whoever's

431
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Speaker 3: playing on defense we don't know a ton about. So

432
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:44,320
Speaker 3: I'm just giving them. I'm giving matt Ense and the

433
00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:47,159
Speaker 3: success that his defenses have had the benefit of the

434
00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:49,119
Speaker 3: doubt here that by the end of the season they

435
00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:52,719
Speaker 3: could be something interesting. But Fresno I mentioned it at Kansas,

436
00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,360
Speaker 3: Georgia Southern, at Oregon State, at Boise State, at San

437
00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:57,919
Speaker 3: Jose State, So they're going to have to do a

438
00:21:57,920 --> 00:21:59,480
Speaker 3: lot on the road if they're going to prove anything

439
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:01,359
Speaker 3: in year one. And I'm just I guess I'm just

440
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:02,439
Speaker 3: not there with EJ. Warner.

441
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:03,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think EJ.

442
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:05,679
Speaker 3: Warner, I would I kind of have a problem with

443
00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:06,080
Speaker 3: your hair.

444
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:09,600
Speaker 1: It's bothering me. Let's get the flawfinder at Jaez Lorenzo. Yeah,

445
00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:11,879
Speaker 1: I don't know what EJ. Warner's hair situation is. So

446
00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:14,000
Speaker 1: maybe that was the bad the wrong button hit, But

447
00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:18,159
Speaker 1: right that was going to be my point of contention.

448
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:21,840
Speaker 1: I'm just not I'm not there with the quarterback spot

449
00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:23,840
Speaker 1: that could improve. I think it will improve at some point,

450
00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 1: but at least in year one under Matt Ans, I

451
00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:28,320
Speaker 1: don't know. That's not my cup of tea.

452
00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,480
Speaker 3: Sure, Colorado State's interesting just because I think Jay Norvell

453
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,399
Speaker 3: is a good coach. One Summit Nevada obviously brought up

454
00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:37,760
Speaker 3: a ton of players over to Colorado State. They very

455
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,840
Speaker 3: quietly won a ton of games last year against a

456
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:47,040
Speaker 3: kind of a pathetic schedule. But really like he looked

457
00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:49,159
Speaker 3: at what he had on this roster and we're like,

458
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:50,800
Speaker 3: we're just gonna kind of play conservative. We're not gonna

459
00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:52,240
Speaker 3: take a lot of chances, we're gonna lean on the

460
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:55,080
Speaker 3: defense a little bit, and we're gonna play smart at

461
00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,280
Speaker 3: the end of games. And it was a good formula.

462
00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:00,439
Speaker 3: I just don't know, it doesn't seem like they have

463
00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:03,439
Speaker 3: the needed pop to make a huge move in the

464
00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:05,600
Speaker 3: conference in this moment, especially on offense.

465
00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,959
Speaker 1: It's a really interesting schedule if I don't say so myself.

466
00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,919
Speaker 1: I mean, we talked a little bit about UTSA on

467
00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:16,159
Speaker 1: the last episode. I think UTSA is going to be

468
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:17,880
Speaker 1: really interesting, at least on offense.

469
00:23:18,240 --> 00:23:20,040
Speaker 3: Them and Wazoo back to back. Yeah.

470
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:23,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, They've got UTSA and Wazoo back to back in

471
00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:25,480
Speaker 1: weeks I guess four and five. But they open the

472
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:29,119
Speaker 1: season on the road at Washington. There are also games

473
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:33,359
Speaker 1: on here against Fresno, against UNLV on the road against

474
00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:36,720
Speaker 1: Boise State, yep. Close out the year against the Air

475
00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:38,639
Speaker 1: Force at home. Who knows what that's going to look like.

476
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:41,320
Speaker 1: So it's an interesting schedule if I think if you're

477
00:23:41,320 --> 00:23:43,320
Speaker 1: a Colorado State fan, there's a lot on here that

478
00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:47,080
Speaker 1: is worth watching. But what the team looks like, obviously

479
00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:48,359
Speaker 1: is the most important thing.

480
00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:52,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh absolutely it is. So yeah, I think they're

481
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 3: going to take another step forward in that they're going

482
00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,280
Speaker 3: to look like a quality team more often. It's just

483
00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,320
Speaker 3: a tougher schedule than where they were last year.

484
00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,400
Speaker 1: Where are you at with the next team up? Then,

485
00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:08,240
Speaker 1: if we're going Fresno, if we're going Colorado State, right,

486
00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:12,680
Speaker 1: I'm going like San Diego State, Wyoming out of the

487
00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:13,520
Speaker 1: rest stack up.

488
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,440
Speaker 3: Definitely not San Diego State or Wyoming. Probably air Force.

489
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,159
Speaker 3: They look stronger to end the year. Last year they

490
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:23,640
Speaker 3: were crazy young, crazy beat up. I think Troy Calloun's good.

491
00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,639
Speaker 3: We'll see on the defense, but there's enough in the backfield,

492
00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,720
Speaker 3: back and now more experience. They finished the year strong

493
00:24:29,840 --> 00:24:32,560
Speaker 3: last year, and they've been one of the more consistent

494
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:36,240
Speaker 3: programs in the nation in terms of making bowl games,

495
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,199
Speaker 3: winning bowl games, winning eight, nine, ten, or threatening to

496
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,679
Speaker 3: do so. So I just again, I'm gonna give him

497
00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,280
Speaker 3: the benefit of the doubt there. Their schedule is it's

498
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 3: it's interesting. They've got Navy and UNLV both on the

499
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:51,120
Speaker 3: road back to back, they have Boise, they have Army

500
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,040
Speaker 3: in San Jose State and San Jose State on the

501
00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:55,760
Speaker 3: road back to back, and they're at Colorado State. So

502
00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:57,879
Speaker 3: it's not, as you mentioned, it's not like super duper

503
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:01,159
Speaker 3: easy schedule Eise. But I think they're kind of the

504
00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:04,600
Speaker 3: one who knock, like when you have to prepare for them,

505
00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 3: you're preparing for something completely different, and I think that's

506
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:09,440
Speaker 3: why they've had so much, so much success in the

507
00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,080
Speaker 3: Mountain West. So I think I'm in on air force

508
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:16,920
Speaker 3: as a stealth like bounce back to eight or so

509
00:25:17,040 --> 00:25:21,400
Speaker 3: win game. Yeah, eight or so win games. Not quite

510
00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:23,960
Speaker 3: where they were a couple of years ago when the

511
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,080
Speaker 3: defense was allowing like three points a game, at least

512
00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:28,920
Speaker 3: until the end of the year. But I think they're

513
00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:30,080
Speaker 3: they're trending that direction.

514
00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,159
Speaker 1: Yeah, there are a couple of teams out west that

515
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:36,000
Speaker 1: intrigue me. I'm intrigued by Hawaii. I've read really good

516
00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 1: stuff about Hawaii. Okay, I'm intrigued by Nevada because I

517
00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,920
Speaker 1: think Jeff Choate did a good job in your one

518
00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 1: at Nevada. And Wyoming. I feel like we've talked about

519
00:25:47,320 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 1: Wyoming every year. We like to talk about them. I

520
00:25:49,560 --> 00:25:51,760
Speaker 1: think because of the altitude thing. Is there an altitude

521
00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:52,840
Speaker 1: situation at Wyoming.

522
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:56,119
Speaker 3: I think it's the highest above sea level in FBS

523
00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:59,800
Speaker 3: football player alive. So I got that air board. That

524
00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,000
Speaker 3: was only reason I brought that up. Of course, of

525
00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:07,960
Speaker 3: those three teams, who's of most interest to you probably Hawaii,

526
00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:10,680
Speaker 3: just because there were moments last year where it looked

527
00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:13,200
Speaker 3: like they were breaking through. They had a nice performance

528
00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,639
Speaker 3: from a young quarterback late in the season, and the

529
00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:19,359
Speaker 3: offense is somewhat intact. They don't run the ball, but

530
00:26:19,480 --> 00:26:22,360
Speaker 3: like offensive line, I think is mostly back receiver has

531
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,600
Speaker 3: experienced there, quarterback as mentioned back and the back end

532
00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:29,840
Speaker 3: of their defense, whatever that means. Sometimes there's returning production

533
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,480
Speaker 3: that was just but last year. Yeah, and that's true

534
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,600
Speaker 3: for a couple of these teams. San Diego State especially

535
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:36,119
Speaker 3: like they're returning a bunch of guys on defense, but

536
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,360
Speaker 3: was it a good defense now? So I think I'm

537
00:26:38,359 --> 00:26:40,439
Speaker 3: most intrigued by Hawaii just because their schedule is so

538
00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:42,960
Speaker 3: damn weird and it's so weird to go to Hawaii

539
00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:45,200
Speaker 3: or to bring in a team from sixty five hundred

540
00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:49,160
Speaker 3: miles away. So Stanford at Arizona, Fresno and air Force.

541
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 3: Air Force on the road in back to back weeks,

542
00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,320
Speaker 3: Colorado State on the road, San Jose State on the road,

543
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,320
Speaker 3: UNLV on the road. It's just too tough for me

544
00:26:57,359 --> 00:27:01,760
Speaker 3: to feel great about all that roadwork for But I

545
00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,240
Speaker 3: don't know if the offense is for real, and you know,

546
00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:05,960
Speaker 3: they lose a ton out of the portal like they're

547
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:09,639
Speaker 3: going to for the foreseeable future. But I think they

548
00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:13,160
Speaker 3: can be a headache more often than not. So sure

549
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:18,160
Speaker 3: Hawaii is not going to play a ton of defense

550
00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:20,520
Speaker 3: this year either, And I think I think the deeper

551
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:22,720
Speaker 3: we go into this conference and this is just kind

552
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 3: of uniform across the board at this point when we're

553
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 3: talking about G five conferences and even as we get

554
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 3: into the Power Conference, the deeper you go into this, well,

555
00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:35,120
Speaker 3: you're going to start finding teams that skew out much

556
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,720
Speaker 3: differently than those at the top with respect to defense

557
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,840
Speaker 3: versus offense. And I'm not sure what to expect on

558
00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,600
Speaker 3: the defensive side there, but offensively, there are definitely elements

559
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 3: of the offense that I'm kind of excited about. I'd

560
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:50,879
Speaker 3: put San Diego State in a similar spot as Hawaii

561
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,000
Speaker 3: that they could be a headache, but it's just the

562
00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 3: defense needs to get so much better.

563
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,119
Speaker 1: Do we still believe in Sean Lewis? Because when he

564
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 1: took that job, I remember you and I talking about

565
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:03,399
Speaker 1: it and saying, oh, yeah, like we kind of like it.

566
00:28:03,400 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 1: It makes sense it didn't work out at Colorado. This

567
00:28:06,320 --> 00:28:08,200
Speaker 1: is a guy with head coaching experience. Like you said,

568
00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:12,320
Speaker 1: the Kent State work is getting looking better by the day. Yeah,

569
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,600
Speaker 1: year one didn't really pop it San Diego State.

570
00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:19,800
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, no, it didn't. They ran

571
00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:23,040
Speaker 3: okay sometimes. You know, he played with a lot of

572
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:25,600
Speaker 3: tempo when he was at Kent State. I think he

573
00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 3: was under Dino Babers, I believe at Syracuse early on

574
00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 3: and that was a big thing of his. So I

575
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:34,600
Speaker 3: don't know. I still think recruiting is looking for a

576
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,200
Speaker 3: solid ground. Well, the recruiting efforts at San Diego State

577
00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:42,640
Speaker 3: are looking is looking are looking for, you know, more consistency,

578
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 3: and that could be another program that obviously they've invested

579
00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:48,280
Speaker 3: in the football program, relatively new stadium now and just

580
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:50,200
Speaker 3: what the future is going to hold in terms of

581
00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:53,560
Speaker 3: conference and the transfer portal and is their money behind

582
00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 3: the scenes, Because again, if you are a relatively high

583
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,560
Speaker 3: profile player looking to transfer back home to the West

584
00:29:00,600 --> 00:29:02,600
Speaker 3: Coast or from a bigger West Coast school, San Diego

585
00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,840
Speaker 3: State seems like an obvious attraction. I'm not. I mean

586
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 3: it's one year end. I'm not ready to sell on

587
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,960
Speaker 3: Sewn Lewis. I think his upside is obvious this year.

588
00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 3: It's just you know, they have some experience along the

589
00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:17,720
Speaker 3: offensive line and obviously on the defense. But it's finding

590
00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,200
Speaker 3: pop and you should always, in my opinion, you should

591
00:29:21,200 --> 00:29:24,120
Speaker 3: always do something really really well at San Diego State

592
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:26,440
Speaker 3: during the Rocky long time. It was the year in

593
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,520
Speaker 3: and year out, three three five, just shutting teams down.

594
00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:31,320
Speaker 3: If you want to run an air raid, if you

595
00:29:31,320 --> 00:29:32,920
Speaker 3: want to run an option attack, if you want to

596
00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:37,640
Speaker 3: run whatever. There are enough decent football players either transferring

597
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,440
Speaker 3: back home or from Southern California or and or Arizona, Nevada, whatever,

598
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:44,720
Speaker 3: that you should be able to run a successful side

599
00:29:44,760 --> 00:29:47,120
Speaker 3: of the ball. And so that's what I expect out

600
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 3: of Sean Lewis and San Diego State to be competitive

601
00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:51,440
Speaker 3: enough and to be savvy enough to find what that

602
00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:55,720
Speaker 3: side is and how that operates. So I'm bullish on

603
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:57,400
Speaker 3: Lewis and San Diego State.

604
00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:01,400
Speaker 1: How do you feel about Bronco and Jason Eck, the

605
00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:04,040
Speaker 1: two new hires in the conference at Utah State and

606
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:04,760
Speaker 1: New Mexico.

607
00:30:05,080 --> 00:30:09,080
Speaker 3: It's gonna take a minute. I like Bronco, Mendenhall, and Logan.

608
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:12,040
Speaker 3: I think Utah State will find players. I think this

609
00:30:12,120 --> 00:30:14,480
Speaker 3: is a school that has the infrastructure. I saw something

610
00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:19,480
Speaker 3: like before last year's very bad season with Blake Anderson

611
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 3: being let go a little bit before the season, they

612
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,560
Speaker 3: had made bowls in like eleven of twelve seasons, so

613
00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,400
Speaker 3: it's a place you can win pretty consistently. And Bronco

614
00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:31,200
Speaker 3: Mendenhall is perfect to go to a place in Utah

615
00:30:31,280 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 3: that wins pretty consistently, so I feel good about him

616
00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,800
Speaker 3: long term. They're starting over in a lot of different places,

617
00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:40,360
Speaker 3: a lot of new players coming in. I think it's

618
00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,880
Speaker 3: forty one new players in Logan. But Bryson Barnes is back.

619
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,720
Speaker 3: If you remember the pig farmer, he bet Utah still.

620
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,280
Speaker 1: Playing WHOA Okay, yeah.

621
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 3: So no, fine, you know. I think they're they're hunting

622
00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 3: for six. Maybe same with New Mexico, I mean, and

623
00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:02,080
Speaker 3: Nevada I think is sneaky interesting because I like Jeff

624
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,200
Speaker 3: Chot and they gave some teams some trouble last year.

625
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:07,080
Speaker 3: They just got to convert. You gotta win more games,

626
00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:10,040
Speaker 3: Like I think, the proof that things are working is

627
00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:12,640
Speaker 3: like competing for a Bowl, which is very tough. Nevada

628
00:31:12,680 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 3: is not that program all the time. But Nevada opens

629
00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 3: a season with Penn State. They're on the road against

630
00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:21,000
Speaker 3: Fresno boy C San Jose State both at home. Defense

631
00:31:21,040 --> 00:31:23,920
Speaker 3: needs to get way better. Defense just needs to get

632
00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:27,880
Speaker 3: you know, ascend to disappointing and don't we all tie?

633
00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,280
Speaker 1: Don't we all? And that's a perfect segue for the

634
00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:30,600
Speaker 1: next time.

635
00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:32,920
Speaker 3: The way tub a party starting a quarterback for Nevada

636
00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:38,120
Speaker 3: really yes, good, hell yeah. And Jason Eck at New

637
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:41,440
Speaker 3: Mexico quietly one of the best offenses in the country

638
00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:44,480
Speaker 3: last year. Yeah, And Jason Beck is now off to

639
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:48,240
Speaker 3: Utah who ran that offense for Bronco Mendez, as is

640
00:31:48,240 --> 00:31:50,680
Speaker 3: Devin damp Pierre. But I like Jason Eck. This is

641
00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:52,800
Speaker 3: like a three year rebuilt. He did a great job

642
00:31:52,800 --> 00:31:54,760
Speaker 3: at Idaho. I think they lost in the quarters of

643
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,680
Speaker 3: the Semis last year in the FCFS playoffs, did a

644
00:31:57,720 --> 00:31:59,840
Speaker 3: really good He was like a really good developmental guy

645
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,800
Speaker 3: for Idaho. So I don't know. I think New Mexico

646
00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,360
Speaker 3: is going to be bad this year, and that's okay

647
00:32:07,440 --> 00:32:09,880
Speaker 3: because that's where you start and then you ascend to

648
00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:12,800
Speaker 3: frisky and then maybe to pretty good. I think it's

649
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 3: three years.

650
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:15,840
Speaker 1: So the heat's on Boise, is what you're telling me.

651
00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:17,960
Speaker 1: There's a long way of saying the heat's still on Boise.

652
00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:21,520
Speaker 3: I think the heats on Boise. There's my Mountain West.

653
00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,800
Speaker 1: Your top two are Boise in San Jose State, correct,

654
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:28,720
Speaker 1: All right, I need to take this away and see

655
00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:29,720
Speaker 1: how I feel about it.

656
00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:31,600
Speaker 3: Do you want me to continue with the pac two

657
00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:33,200
Speaker 3: since they're sort of Mountain West adjacent?

658
00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:33,440
Speaker 2: Yeah?

659
00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 1: Why don't you? Actually, so, we've got two teams here.

660
00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:37,760
Speaker 1: We've got Wazoo in Oregon State.

661
00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:39,480
Speaker 3: Playing at home and Home, Baby.

662
00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 1: Home and Home. Yep, I like that.

663
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:45,000
Speaker 3: Actually, I think that's cool. Whatever, make it unique and

664
00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:48,600
Speaker 3: novel or whatever. Washington State loses its head coach Jake

665
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:52,000
Speaker 3: Dickert to Wake Forest. They hire South Dakota State head

666
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:54,440
Speaker 3: coach Jimmy Rodgers, and he brought a bunch of players

667
00:32:54,480 --> 00:32:58,240
Speaker 3: with him from South Dakota State. Right, they were pretty

668
00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 3: fun last year. You can have a pretty fun team

669
00:33:00,680 --> 00:33:04,720
Speaker 3: provided you have a young, interesting offensive coordinator in John Matier.

670
00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,720
Speaker 3: They have neither. Maybe we'll see on the offensive cord

671
00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,080
Speaker 3: inner front, but they don't. You know, our buckle left

672
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 3: with Matier for Oklahoma. Continuity at quarterback, the backup to

673
00:33:15,640 --> 00:33:18,760
Speaker 3: Jeoh Matier at zvy zeb ch House, and then a

674
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,320
Speaker 3: bunch of South Dakota State players. Both South Dakota State

675
00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:25,040
Speaker 3: running backs really excellent. South Dakota State safeties are going

676
00:33:25,080 --> 00:33:28,320
Speaker 3: to be manning the defensive backfield. Was it was interesting.

677
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:30,240
Speaker 1: I think that makes them really interesting.

678
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:36,000
Speaker 3: Their their schedule. And I didn't write down Washington State

679
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:40,280
Speaker 3: schedule because the entire schedule is interesting to me because

680
00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 3: they're playing the home and home. Yeah.

681
00:33:42,480 --> 00:33:43,880
Speaker 1: And by the way, what you mean by that is

682
00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:45,840
Speaker 1: they are playing each other twice.

683
00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,760
Speaker 3: They're playing Oregon State on the road and at home. Yeah,

684
00:33:48,760 --> 00:33:51,520
Speaker 3: and it starts in uh I almost at October, starts

685
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 3: in November the first of November, and.

686
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:54,160
Speaker 1: Then they close out the season.

687
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:58,240
Speaker 3: Yes, they're book ending, So that's unique. That is definitely

688
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:02,640
Speaker 3: a rinkle that we haven't seen before. Washington State quickly Idaho,

689
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,680
Speaker 3: San Diego State at North Texas, traveling to I think

690
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:09,920
Speaker 3: it's Denton, Washington at Colorado State, at Ole Miss at Virginia,

691
00:34:10,280 --> 00:34:14,600
Speaker 3: Toledo at Oregon State once Louisiana Tech coming there at

692
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:17,960
Speaker 3: James Madison Oregon State again this time at home.

693
00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:22,160
Speaker 1: You know, if they have a good team, then they're

694
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:24,439
Speaker 1: gonna be playing in interesting games. If they have a

695
00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:29,360
Speaker 1: good team, yeah, this is a playoff resume.

696
00:34:29,560 --> 00:34:32,280
Speaker 3: Well yeah, if they go eleven and one against this schedule, sure.

697
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:35,319
Speaker 1: I'm not saying they're that good, but I'm saying in

698
00:34:35,320 --> 00:34:37,600
Speaker 1: a world in which they are good. This is a

699
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:41,560
Speaker 1: schedule that's it really runs the gamut, like they are

700
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 1: covering all four corners of the country. They're playing some

701
00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:49,359
Speaker 1: interesting teams, some good teams. Yeah, I don't think that

702
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,920
Speaker 1: conversation is going to happen, but alas.

703
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, Oregon State just as a transition here cal Fresno

704
00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:02,280
Speaker 3: State both at home at Texas Tech at SO rivalry continues.

705
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 3: I think beyond this year it's in doubt, if not

706
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:09,880
Speaker 3: taking a break. Houston at AP State Wake Forest Lafayette,

707
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:15,440
Speaker 3: America's team Wazoo Sam Houston at Tulsa at Wazoo Wow.

708
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:18,719
Speaker 3: Five of the six final games are on the CW.

709
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,120
Speaker 3: For those of you keeping score at home, Oregon stay

710
00:35:21,160 --> 00:35:24,279
Speaker 3: a little more continuity. Ponied up from Malik Murphy via

711
00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:28,600
Speaker 3: Texas via Duke has a pair of like pretty decent,

712
00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:31,880
Speaker 3: if not pretty good receivers and Darius Clemens and Trent Walker.

713
00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:34,440
Speaker 3: I like those guys. The big thing that held Oregon

714
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:37,800
Speaker 3: State back last year was defense. The offense was okay,

715
00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:41,480
Speaker 3: defense got so beat up and was so all over

716
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:43,839
Speaker 3: the place in terms of where their roster was. They

717
00:35:43,920 --> 00:35:45,640
Speaker 3: just fully collapsed at the end of the year.

718
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:49,239
Speaker 1: I'm going to introduce my flawfinder. Okay, oh yeah, that's

719
00:35:49,280 --> 00:35:52,480
Speaker 1: the flawfinder right there. The flaws the defense.

720
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:57,200
Speaker 3: Trent Bray is taking over the defense. He was, you know,

721
00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:00,000
Speaker 3: the defensive coordinator for Jonathan Smith before getting that job.

722
00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:03,000
Speaker 3: Now he's retaking over the defense and serving as head coach.

723
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:06,399
Speaker 3: Of course, I think they got a ways to go.

724
00:36:07,719 --> 00:36:10,120
Speaker 3: I don't hate their skilled talent on offense. They're obviously

725
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,479
Speaker 3: hitting the portal hard and there was obviously some money

726
00:36:12,520 --> 00:36:15,080
Speaker 3: behind it if Malik Murphy is now starting a quarterback there.

727
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:20,400
Speaker 3: But it's hard to see them going I don't know.

728
00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:26,920
Speaker 3: You look at this schedule one, two, three, there's probably

729
00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:31,080
Speaker 3: four losses best case scenario to me for Oregon State

730
00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,759
Speaker 3: just because even if, even not if they're gonna be

731
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:35,839
Speaker 3: healthier on defense to start the season. I just think

732
00:36:35,840 --> 00:36:39,400
Speaker 3: they're gonna be thin everywhere because of the unfortunate realities

733
00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:42,359
Speaker 3: of Oregon State football right now. No, you're just gonna

734
00:36:42,400 --> 00:36:44,600
Speaker 3: lose quality. I think both of these teams are gonna

735
00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:46,640
Speaker 3: be pretty good this year. I think Wazoo is more

736
00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:49,440
Speaker 3: fascinating because of the like, let's start a bunch of

737
00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:50,720
Speaker 3: excellent FCS players.

738
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:53,200
Speaker 1: I love this. I love this so much. We're seeing more.

739
00:36:54,360 --> 00:36:56,799
Speaker 3: Yeah, but this is like it's not just like we're

740
00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:58,359
Speaker 3: dipping in to get this one guy.

741
00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:00,800
Speaker 1: We're getting the team we are.

742
00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:04,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're doing what Western Kentucky did with was it

743
00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:05,640
Speaker 3: Houston Baptist.

744
00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:09,319
Speaker 1: Yep, yep, Bailey Zappi, Yep. They're doing that but doing

745
00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:11,440
Speaker 1: it again. By the way, but South Dakota State was

746
00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,400
Speaker 1: a national championship winning team. They're doing that with the

747
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:16,680
Speaker 1: guys on that roster. I love it.

748
00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,920
Speaker 3: So a higher threshold than Houston Baptist in terms of success,

749
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:24,040
Speaker 3: So I can't wait, Like was it was going to

750
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:25,239
Speaker 3: be fascinating this year?

751
00:37:25,960 --> 00:37:26,480
Speaker 1: I love it?

752
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, you talk some Conference USA.

753
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:35,520
Speaker 1: Let's close it out with Conference USA. I have takes

754
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:38,440
Speaker 1: on this, man, I do. I went through Conference USA.

755
00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:44,160
Speaker 1: I started with Liberty because Liberty is like we talk

756
00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:48,640
Speaker 1: about all of these conferences in terms of tears or

757
00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:51,239
Speaker 1: trying to organize them based on who's a contender, who's

758
00:37:51,239 --> 00:37:54,799
Speaker 1: a pretender? Talking of in terms of heat in this case, yeah,

759
00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:57,719
Speaker 1: Liberty is like so far above and beyond the other

760
00:37:57,760 --> 00:38:01,319
Speaker 1: teams in Conference USA. They are dramatically better than like

761
00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:04,560
Speaker 1: eleven other teams in this conference, and I still think

762
00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:08,719
Speaker 1: significantly better than Western Kentucky, who would be the next closest.

763
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:11,760
Speaker 1: It's not even close in my opinion.

764
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:16,000
Speaker 3: So I'm interested in this conversation because, again, not to

765
00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:18,080
Speaker 3: make this about the playoff, but Liberty is gonna be

766
00:38:18,120 --> 00:38:20,560
Speaker 3: in that playoff conversation, provided they have the kind of

767
00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,360
Speaker 3: year I'm expecting. Okay, let me go in a bit

768
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:24,959
Speaker 3: of a tangent here, if I can all right place

769
00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:25,800
Speaker 3: Floria's yours.

770
00:38:25,840 --> 00:38:29,320
Speaker 1: We have quickly arrived at this point where in college

771
00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:34,719
Speaker 1: football there's realistically speaking, a handful of nonpower teams that

772
00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:37,759
Speaker 1: could make the playoff in any given year. Oftentimes, I

773
00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:39,920
Speaker 1: think we're going to know who they are upfront. We're

774
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,319
Speaker 1: going to know who they are before anything starts. We're

775
00:38:43,320 --> 00:38:44,560
Speaker 1: already talking through them here.

776
00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,120
Speaker 3: As it stands right now, Liberty is probably one of

777
00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:51,280
Speaker 3: those teams. But they have the easiest schedule in the country,

778
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:54,880
Speaker 3: literally one hundred and thirty sixth in the country, and

779
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:58,360
Speaker 3: that's with James Madison, Yes on the schedule.

780
00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:02,080
Speaker 1: I get it just set years in advance. I don't

781
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:03,319
Speaker 1: know who you blame for it. I don't know if

782
00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:05,560
Speaker 1: you can blame anybody for it. My hunch is that

783
00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:09,200
Speaker 1: this wasn't built with the playoff in mind. But it's

784
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:11,840
Speaker 1: a bummer because we could find ourselves in a situation

785
00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:14,799
Speaker 1: here where a team like Liberty, let's just say on

786
00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:18,719
Speaker 1: a whim goes twelve thirteen and no, they're not going

787
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 1: to be in that playoff conversation. They're not going to

788
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,120
Speaker 1: be because of the schedule, and that part sucks.

789
00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:26,319
Speaker 2: Now.

790
00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:28,759
Speaker 1: I know they're trying to schedule Virginia Tech and they're

791
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,319
Speaker 1: trying to beef up the schedule moving forward. I think

792
00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:32,880
Speaker 1: they're doing what they can to try and be a

793
00:39:32,920 --> 00:39:37,320
Speaker 1: little bit more in this. But at some point I

794
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:40,360
Speaker 1: think the conversation has to shift to should we just

795
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 1: join a different conference? Like even if if you were

796
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,440
Speaker 1: in the MAC, it would be better than this, Yeah,

797
00:39:45,520 --> 00:39:49,000
Speaker 1: it really would be. So that side of it, I

798
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:51,600
Speaker 1: think is something we take we put to the side.

799
00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:53,279
Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of season we're going to

800
00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:54,680
Speaker 1: get from Liberty. I can talk through it a little

801
00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:57,080
Speaker 1: bit here what some of my expectations are. But if

802
00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:00,640
Speaker 1: it comes to that point where we're talking through like

803
00:40:02,080 --> 00:40:07,560
Speaker 1: we're talking through Liberty as a potential playoff participant, I

804
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:09,640
Speaker 1: do suspect that that schedule is going to be like

805
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:12,359
Speaker 1: an albatross around their neck. You just can't shake that

806
00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:17,399
Speaker 1: otherwise though. Look, I'm interested because this is a roster

807
00:40:17,520 --> 00:40:20,879
Speaker 1: that's both proven and unproven. Far away, it's the best

808
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:23,200
Speaker 1: roster in the conference, I think by a pretty good margin.

809
00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:26,880
Speaker 1: But there's also a lot that remains pretty uncertain. There

810
00:40:26,920 --> 00:40:29,120
Speaker 1: is a good team. They just got to find their guys,

811
00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,439
Speaker 1: and I trust that Jamie Chadwell can do that. We've

812
00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: seen them do that before. I just think it's going

813
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:37,479
Speaker 1: to take a little bit of an effort to sort

814
00:40:37,520 --> 00:40:40,480
Speaker 1: through who's who. They brought over. Ethan Vasco. He's a

815
00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:44,400
Speaker 1: transfer that they bring over from Coast to Carolina. Caden Salter,

816
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:48,239
Speaker 1: you may recall, transferred out. He's now with Colorado. There

817
00:40:48,280 --> 00:40:50,840
Speaker 1: is optimism that Ethan Vasco can be sort of like

818
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:53,040
Speaker 1: the new Grayson McCall, that he can be the guy

819
00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:56,160
Speaker 1: that is a better fit for the Jamie Chadwell sister.

820
00:40:56,200 --> 00:40:59,719
Speaker 1: Remember he inherited Caden salt Right. I don't know, like

821
00:40:59,719 --> 00:41:03,560
Speaker 1: I wasn't crazy about Ethan Vasco at Coastal Carolina. I

822
00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,239
Speaker 1: don't know if he gave us reason to be crazy,

823
00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:10,359
Speaker 1: but I'm curious to see how he fits into this

824
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:13,560
Speaker 1: new system. Presumably there's some familiarity there with Jamie Chadwell

825
00:41:13,680 --> 00:41:16,840
Speaker 1: given his previous stop, so that's going to be different.

826
00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:20,520
Speaker 1: I do think we could see some modifications to the

827
00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:22,799
Speaker 1: way they run that offense. The cool thing about Jamie

828
00:41:22,840 --> 00:41:25,000
Speaker 1: Chadwell's offense is that it's a little bit of everything,

829
00:41:25,719 --> 00:41:28,400
Speaker 1: and so he has proven, I think, pretty adept over

830
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:30,600
Speaker 1: the years at adjusting based on the personnel. And we'll

831
00:41:30,640 --> 00:41:32,520
Speaker 1: see what they've got with Ethan Vasco if this is

832
00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:35,040
Speaker 1: a better stop. The other thing that I would add

833
00:41:35,239 --> 00:41:38,240
Speaker 1: is more to the point of it being unproven. Jamie

834
00:41:38,280 --> 00:41:43,520
Speaker 1: Chadwell's calling card has been building these offenses that have

835
00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:46,400
Speaker 1: a lot of variety, but are built around explosiveness. Some

836
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:49,399
Speaker 1: of his best offenses, his best teams have been ones

837
00:41:49,440 --> 00:41:52,399
Speaker 1: that are really explosive. A lot of the explosion guys

838
00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 1: are gone now, dude, they're gone. Quentin Cooley, the running

839
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:58,960
Speaker 1: back who had a great career, he's gone. One that

840
00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:01,239
Speaker 1: is not talked about. Another off is CJ. Daniels, the

841
00:42:01,280 --> 00:42:03,880
Speaker 1: receiver or a big play receiver who transferred out to LSU.

842
00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:08,160
Speaker 1: How they kind of fill those gaps, how they make

843
00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:12,120
Speaker 1: those plays explosive. Again, given the personnel on hand. Is

844
00:42:12,239 --> 00:42:13,880
Speaker 1: that's going to be the real big question for me

845
00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:15,880
Speaker 1: with Liberty this season.

846
00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:19,000
Speaker 3: Where did you go now Miami Forrest, No, Miami.

847
00:42:18,719 --> 00:42:23,319
Speaker 1: On to Miami. Yeah, regardless, not on Liberty, And I

848
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:25,239
Speaker 1: think that's going to leave a mark for sure in

849
00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:27,920
Speaker 1: their again passing game and how they create some of

850
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:32,080
Speaker 1: these big plays. The toughest game on the schedule is

851
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:36,520
Speaker 1: James Madison. They do play, they do play JMU, but

852
00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:41,040
Speaker 1: otherwise we're talking about a cavalcade of other schools here

853
00:42:41,080 --> 00:42:43,600
Speaker 1: in Conference to USA, which frankly outside of Liberty, isn't

854
00:42:43,600 --> 00:42:44,000
Speaker 1: that tough?

855
00:42:44,840 --> 00:42:51,600
Speaker 3: So Ty, do you know that on their schedule? How

856
00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:54,640
Speaker 3: many teams were playing FCS football in twenty twenty one

857
00:42:55,160 --> 00:43:01,440
Speaker 3: on Liberty schedule? The answer a six teams. Jacksonville State, who,

858
00:43:01,440 --> 00:43:03,040
Speaker 3: by the way, Jacksonville State was good last year with

859
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:08,400
Speaker 3: rich trod Maine, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Delaware, Missouri State,

860
00:43:08,680 --> 00:43:11,799
Speaker 3: Kennessa State. We're all playing FCS football in twenty twenty one,

861
00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:13,040
Speaker 3: four short years ago.

862
00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:15,919
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like I'm not trying to dunk on them.

863
00:43:16,040 --> 00:43:17,360
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, no.

864
00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:19,160
Speaker 3: It's just how this works out with Conference USA, and

865
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:20,759
Speaker 3: they get lose their teams, So they're looking to the

866
00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:22,560
Speaker 3: FCS level to add teams. I get it.

867
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:25,759
Speaker 1: You know, it's a fluid situation, and Conference USA is

868
00:43:25,800 --> 00:43:27,200
Speaker 1: dealing with it the way the rest of us are

869
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:29,440
Speaker 1: dealing with it, trying to keep up with all this,

870
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:31,919
Speaker 1: and I think they're doing the best they can. They're

871
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:33,719
Speaker 1: adding to you added two new teams, which I'll talk

872
00:43:33,719 --> 00:43:37,440
Speaker 1: about here in a little bit. Liberty though, just happens

873
00:43:37,480 --> 00:43:39,879
Speaker 1: to be the biggest dog or the best team in

874
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:42,640
Speaker 1: this conference. And it is at the point now where

875
00:43:42,640 --> 00:43:44,319
Speaker 1: the schedule is going to start working against them with

876
00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:45,440
Speaker 1: respect to the postseason.

877
00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:49,279
Speaker 3: Love it or hate it, Conference USA is that they

878
00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:54,360
Speaker 3: themselves are a semi recent FCS conference given the membership.

879
00:43:54,440 --> 00:43:57,479
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the next best is Western Kentucky. Again,

880
00:43:57,480 --> 00:44:01,879
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's necessarily close. Western went eight

881
00:44:01,920 --> 00:44:04,839
Speaker 1: and six last year. They lost in the conference title

882
00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:09,080
Speaker 1: game the Jacksonville State fifty two to twelve. Uh, and

883
00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:11,600
Speaker 1: then they lost their bowl game to James Madison. I'm

884
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:17,880
Speaker 1: interested in Western because something you referenced earlier, Tyson Helton,

885
00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:22,120
Speaker 1: the coach is running back the playbook from twenty twenty one.

886
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:24,920
Speaker 1: He's doing it again. So in twenty twenty one. He

887
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:28,400
Speaker 1: brought over Zach Kitley, who's obviously moved on to bigger

888
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:30,800
Speaker 1: and better things now has his own team at Florida Atlantic,

889
00:44:30,840 --> 00:44:35,120
Speaker 1: but has been a very successful coordinator. He now is

890
00:44:36,360 --> 00:44:42,240
Speaker 1: playing back the same tact with Rick Bowie at Abilene Christian.

891
00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:48,839
Speaker 1: So Rick Bowie successful offensive coordinator Abilene Christian. He has

892
00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:52,880
Speaker 1: been poached. He is bringing Maverick mcgiver their quarterback.

893
00:44:53,080 --> 00:44:56,000
Speaker 3: Are you just going to go over that name as

894
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:58,759
Speaker 3: if Maverick mcgiver is not a name worth taking a.

895
00:44:58,719 --> 00:45:04,440
Speaker 1: Beat about it? Madick Maverick McIvor three for thirty eight

896
00:45:04,560 --> 00:45:06,840
Speaker 1: hundred yards last year almost beat Texas Tech. Remember that

897
00:45:06,840 --> 00:45:10,320
Speaker 1: game is like fifty two point fifty one something like that. Yeah,

898
00:45:10,360 --> 00:45:12,000
Speaker 1: he's going to try to do the same thing where

899
00:45:12,000 --> 00:45:16,040
Speaker 1: he's bringing up the hockey line change very successful, you know,

900
00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,640
Speaker 1: lower level coordinator and his quarterback. To see what he

901
00:45:18,680 --> 00:45:21,960
Speaker 1: gets here. It's going to need to pop. It's going

902
00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:24,359
Speaker 1: to need to pop. Because the defense lost its top

903
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:27,480
Speaker 1: twelve tacklers from last year. There's only two starters back.

904
00:45:28,440 --> 00:45:31,120
Speaker 1: They're still focused on trying to create turnovers, which they

905
00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:33,520
Speaker 1: have been very good at doing over the years, but

906
00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:36,920
Speaker 1: probably weren't good enough at last season. I think the

907
00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:40,720
Speaker 1: point of intrigue for me with Western Kentucky is because

908
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:44,319
Speaker 1: they're attempting the hockey line change again. It has to

909
00:45:44,360 --> 00:45:46,000
Speaker 1: work because I don't think the defense is going to

910
00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:50,279
Speaker 1: work right. So there's pressure here, which is interesting. That

911
00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:53,880
Speaker 1: always makes it interesting. Who else intrigues you here? Sam Houston?

912
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:55,160
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Sam Houston.

913
00:45:55,480 --> 00:46:00,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, new coach, new coach, big time, reset, time, reset,

914
00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:04,000
Speaker 3: yep on like seven different levels for Sam Houston.

915
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:06,919
Speaker 1: Sam Houston had a top fifty defense a year ago

916
00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:10,200
Speaker 1: under Casey Keeler. Now Casey Keeler left, he went up

917
00:46:10,200 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 1: to Temple. We talked about that last episode. They're bringing

918
00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:15,960
Speaker 1: in Phil Longo. Phil Longo did not have a great

919
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:19,319
Speaker 1: stint at Wisconsin, but he does have some familiarity with

920
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:21,880
Speaker 1: this program. He was an offensive coordinator here like a

921
00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:23,080
Speaker 1: decade ago before.

922
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:24,600
Speaker 3: I think he went to Ole Miss.

923
00:46:24,640 --> 00:46:27,200
Speaker 1: I want to say, yeah, he's familiar with the program's

924
00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:29,600
Speaker 1: familiar with the area. I don't think it's a bad higher.

925
00:46:30,600 --> 00:46:33,600
Speaker 1: I am interested though, because this is an extreme makeover situation.

926
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:37,120
Speaker 1: This is a team that was built around defense. Phil

927
00:46:37,160 --> 00:46:39,399
Speaker 1: Longo is not going to build it around defense. Phil

928
00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:43,520
Speaker 1: Longo's gonna make it about offense. So that's interesting to

929
00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:46,839
Speaker 1: me anytime you attempt any big identity change like that

930
00:46:47,320 --> 00:46:49,080
Speaker 1: in college football. I mean we talked about it with

931
00:46:49,120 --> 00:46:51,719
Speaker 1: Georgia Southern. What Clay Hilton's done, It's hard to do.

932
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:53,640
Speaker 3: Did I ever tell you that Phil Longo slid into

933
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:55,239
Speaker 3: my DMS all the time.

934
00:46:55,400 --> 00:46:56,399
Speaker 1: Phil Longo did?

935
00:46:56,680 --> 00:46:59,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, about what I think he was sliding into everybody

936
00:47:00,440 --> 00:47:04,160
Speaker 3: and he would just pass along like motivational graphics for

937
00:47:04,239 --> 00:47:06,680
Speaker 3: whatever school he was at. I just got a DM

938
00:47:06,680 --> 00:47:08,640
Speaker 3: from Phil Longo and it was just like, get ready

939
00:47:08,680 --> 00:47:10,920
Speaker 3: to feel the Who was the other guy that was

940
00:47:10,960 --> 00:47:11,600
Speaker 3: in our DMS?

941
00:47:11,600 --> 00:47:14,920
Speaker 1: The coach? Was it Bob Stitt?

942
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:16,200
Speaker 3: That sounds right.

943
00:47:16,239 --> 00:47:18,600
Speaker 1: I think Bob Stitt was in our in our DMS

944
00:47:18,600 --> 00:47:19,120
Speaker 1: for some point.

945
00:47:19,239 --> 00:47:22,279
Speaker 3: You know who is notorious DM? Or Gary Patterson? I

946
00:47:22,320 --> 00:47:25,520
Speaker 3: got a few from him too, Yeah, wonderful. Yeah, but

947
00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:29,160
Speaker 3: everybody did? I think continue the other thing that he

948
00:47:29,239 --> 00:47:32,080
Speaker 3: is changing now, and this is more a result I

949
00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:35,680
Speaker 3: think of NIL and the portal and just the mechanics

950
00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:39,560
Speaker 3: of college football. Sam Houston historically was about ninety percent

951
00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:44,719
Speaker 3: players from Texas. Now it's more like fifty percent. Interesting,

952
00:47:45,120 --> 00:47:47,200
Speaker 3: more like fifty percent. There's a little bit more attention

953
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:50,680
Speaker 3: on out of state kids. Juco's kids from elsewhere are

954
00:47:50,719 --> 00:47:52,919
Speaker 3: looking for playing time, that sort of thing. So he's

955
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:55,880
Speaker 3: I think casting a wider net. I saw an interview

956
00:47:55,920 --> 00:48:00,080
Speaker 3: where there was there was some conversation around this, and

957
00:48:00,280 --> 00:48:02,200
Speaker 3: this is one of those areas where bumping up to

958
00:48:02,280 --> 00:48:04,320
Speaker 3: FBS has actually helped.

959
00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:06,799
Speaker 1: Them a little bit, I assume. So yeah, you know.

960
00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,760
Speaker 1: So the other interesting point, and it sucks for Sam Houston.

961
00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:14,040
Speaker 1: They're currently doing the stadium renovation thing, which means that

962
00:48:14,080 --> 00:48:16,800
Speaker 1: they're playing their home games seventy miles away from campus.

963
00:48:17,239 --> 00:48:18,400
Speaker 3: Oh where are they playing?

964
00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:21,400
Speaker 1: Not to bury the lead too much, but they are

965
00:48:21,400 --> 00:48:23,360
Speaker 1: playing their games seventy miles away from campus.

966
00:48:24,200 --> 00:48:27,040
Speaker 3: Move their games from Huntsville to Houston while Bauers Stadium

967
00:48:27,080 --> 00:48:29,680
Speaker 3: is being renovated during the twenty twenty five season. Okay,

968
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:35,800
Speaker 3: Shell Energy Stadium. There you go, Jacksonville State. Here's another

969
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:38,880
Speaker 3: interesting coaching thing that's true. No more rich Rod, No

970
00:48:38,960 --> 00:48:39,680
Speaker 3: more rich Rod.

971
00:48:40,320 --> 00:48:44,120
Speaker 1: Jacksonville State wins a conference in resounding fashion. Yeah. Yes,

972
00:48:44,440 --> 00:48:47,080
Speaker 1: What did Jacksonville State do with rich Rod? What was

973
00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:50,839
Speaker 1: their mo when it came to running an offense? Did

974
00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:52,480
Speaker 1: they like to run or did they like to throw it?

975
00:48:52,480 --> 00:48:53,000
Speaker 1: Do you remember?

976
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:54,880
Speaker 3: I believe they liked to run at it.

977
00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:57,439
Speaker 1: They ran the crap out of the ball. Yeah, really

978
00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:00,279
Speaker 1: good at it. They were really good at it. So

979
00:49:00,960 --> 00:49:04,879
Speaker 1: when it came time to name a successor, Jacksonville State

980
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:07,440
Speaker 1: did not go in the direction of keeping that continuity,

981
00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:09,320
Speaker 1: going with an already successful.

982
00:49:08,840 --> 00:49:11,880
Speaker 3: Offense, which, by the way, is okay, it's like the

983
00:49:11,960 --> 00:49:13,719
Speaker 3: end of the word Okay, it's not the end of

984
00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:15,879
Speaker 3: the world. You hire the best man for the job.

985
00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:18,360
Speaker 3: You don't hire the man who can keep whatever the

986
00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:19,800
Speaker 3: last guy was doing going.

987
00:49:19,880 --> 00:49:21,959
Speaker 1: The continuity hires don't always work either.

988
00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:24,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just.

989
00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:28,000
Speaker 1: Sort of questioned the idea to hire Charles Kelly, who's

990
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:28,839
Speaker 1: a defensive guy.

991
00:49:29,239 --> 00:49:29,839
Speaker 3: Been all over.

992
00:49:31,360 --> 00:49:33,960
Speaker 1: They had a really successful program built around offense, a

993
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:37,239
Speaker 1: specific style of offense, and Charles Kelly's going to change that.

994
00:49:37,880 --> 00:49:41,960
Speaker 1: So Charles Kelly, well known as a defensive guy, Big recruiter,

995
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:45,920
Speaker 1: Big Recruiter, goes out hires Clint Trickett as his offensive coordinator.

996
00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:48,440
Speaker 1: Clint Cricket notably, he wants to make it more balanced.

997
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:50,399
Speaker 1: He wants to throw the ball a little bit more

998
00:49:50,400 --> 00:49:54,960
Speaker 1: so it's going to look different. As a result, Jacksonville State,

999
00:49:55,120 --> 00:49:56,960
Speaker 1: I believe, is one hundred and thirty fifth in the

1000
00:49:57,080 --> 00:50:01,440
Speaker 1: nation in returning production. They lost a lot. Gavin Wimsatt

1001
00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:02,799
Speaker 1: is going to be that quarterback.

1002
00:50:03,200 --> 00:50:03,520
Speaker 3: Great.

1003
00:50:03,840 --> 00:50:06,799
Speaker 1: Don't really like to be honest, Okay, but I guess

1004
00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:09,279
Speaker 1: you take what you can get whatever. I think we

1005
00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:12,120
Speaker 1: are due for a significant step back here on the

1006
00:50:12,200 --> 00:50:13,320
Speaker 1: Jacksonville State side.

1007
00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:16,600
Speaker 3: What is the name of the Sam Miller Ben Limberg book.

1008
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:18,399
Speaker 3: The only rule is it has to work.

1009
00:50:18,600 --> 00:50:19,839
Speaker 1: The only rule is it has to work.

1010
00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:20,319
Speaker 3: That's it.

1011
00:50:21,080 --> 00:50:22,479
Speaker 1: I don't think this is going to work.

1012
00:50:22,560 --> 00:50:23,399
Speaker 3: But it may not work.

1013
00:50:23,600 --> 00:50:28,000
Speaker 1: It may not work. Why don't we get to our

1014
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:29,560
Speaker 1: two newcomers. If you're cool with that.

1015
00:50:30,000 --> 00:50:32,200
Speaker 3: You know, this is the portion of the show that

1016
00:50:32,239 --> 00:50:37,760
Speaker 3: we have to dedicate to Delaware. Yes, Bront, tompshell Inglibella.

1017
00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:42,959
Speaker 1: We've got two new teams here, Dan, I'm ready. We've

1018
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:47,400
Speaker 1: got Delaware, We've got Missouri State. Delaware has been a

1019
00:50:47,480 --> 00:50:52,359
Speaker 1: successful FCS team. They've really been good at that. They've

1020
00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:55,000
Speaker 1: been a good program for a while, and so there

1021
00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:58,359
Speaker 1: is at least some school of thought out there that

1022
00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:01,960
Speaker 1: they could be the next James Madison. They could step

1023
00:51:02,000 --> 00:51:07,520
Speaker 1: in seemingly be right at home and ascend to when

1024
00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:09,839
Speaker 1: they're eligible a bowl game.

1025
00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:16,760
Speaker 3: Before long, they play at Flacco Field, Joe Joe Flacco built.

1026
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:19,520
Speaker 1: I considered going to Delaware for a moment.

1027
00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:20,000
Speaker 3: Is that true?

1028
00:51:20,080 --> 00:51:20,319
Speaker 1: It is?

1029
00:51:20,440 --> 00:51:22,160
Speaker 3: Yeah? How's their compside program?

1030
00:51:22,360 --> 00:51:24,279
Speaker 1: No, I don't know. It was the first school I

1031
00:51:24,320 --> 00:51:27,160
Speaker 1: went to visit. And my lasting memory, you can ask

1032
00:51:27,200 --> 00:51:29,640
Speaker 1: Mommy she was there with me, is the dorms were

1033
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:30,520
Speaker 1: like shoe boxes.

1034
00:51:31,320 --> 00:51:34,960
Speaker 3: Did they recruit you? Were they like identified for?

1035
00:51:35,080 --> 00:51:37,359
Speaker 1: What? What would they recruit me to do?

1036
00:51:38,000 --> 00:51:41,919
Speaker 3: Just added value to that campus. Look at this kid,

1037
00:51:42,239 --> 00:51:46,840
Speaker 3: teachers rave about him. Yeah, solid second base, no million

1038
00:51:46,880 --> 00:51:47,560
Speaker 3: dollar smile.

1039
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:51,200
Speaker 1: It is a million dollar smile. Okay, But I was

1040
00:51:51,200 --> 00:51:55,480
Speaker 1: not recruited. If anything, it was for grades. But alas

1041
00:51:55,920 --> 00:51:58,400
Speaker 1: Delaware is in a good spot here, I'm excited to

1042
00:51:58,440 --> 00:52:00,160
Speaker 1: see what Delaware can do is they move up up.

1043
00:52:00,520 --> 00:52:03,799
Speaker 1: I think the most notable thing about this team, and

1044
00:52:03,880 --> 00:52:06,920
Speaker 1: oftentimes you see this when anyone bumps up line play,

1045
00:52:07,680 --> 00:52:10,920
Speaker 1: what's the offensive line look like? Are they going to

1046
00:52:10,960 --> 00:52:13,480
Speaker 1: be able to stand up to the competition. I think

1047
00:52:13,520 --> 00:52:15,480
Speaker 1: this is a pretty good offensive line that's going to

1048
00:52:15,520 --> 00:52:18,799
Speaker 1: be able to hold its own. Okay, so that in

1049
00:52:18,840 --> 00:52:21,840
Speaker 1: and of itself, I think is pretty good. It was

1050
00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:26,600
Speaker 1: a good defense a year ago. I think they'll continue

1051
00:52:26,600 --> 00:52:29,960
Speaker 1: that to some extent. I saw that Bill also tried

1052
00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:32,719
Speaker 1: to convert. You know, there's a bit of voodoo that

1053
00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:35,160
Speaker 1: goes on with trying to figure out how would this

1054
00:52:35,239 --> 00:52:39,400
Speaker 1: team have compared to FBS competition last year given what

1055
00:52:39,400 --> 00:52:42,239
Speaker 1: they did on the FCS level. He says that they're

1056
00:52:42,360 --> 00:52:46,200
Speaker 1: roughly equivalent to the one hundredth best FBS team based

1057
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:49,359
Speaker 1: on their sp plus grade, So not the worst, not

1058
00:52:49,480 --> 00:52:50,319
Speaker 1: certainly not the best.

1059
00:52:50,600 --> 00:52:54,120
Speaker 3: By the way, here's your Delaware sidebar. They had the

1060
00:52:54,160 --> 00:52:57,520
Speaker 3: same coach from nineteen sixty six to two thousand and one,

1061
00:52:57,719 --> 00:53:00,399
Speaker 3: a long time Tobby Raymond on TG.

1062
00:53:00,880 --> 00:53:06,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, their first couple games, I think, or I should

1063
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:10,560
Speaker 1: say a couple games throughout the course of their schedule.

1064
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:16,399
Speaker 1: They seem to be the favorite right now. So if

1065
00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:18,879
Speaker 1: you look at their over under their win totals five

1066
00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:22,600
Speaker 1: and a half, that's why they're ready stacking them up

1067
00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:26,360
Speaker 1: as better than you know, maybe half the schedule. So

1068
00:53:26,560 --> 00:53:29,640
Speaker 1: we'll see, you know, I'm I'm optimistic about what this

1069
00:53:29,719 --> 00:53:32,640
Speaker 1: transition looks like for them. I'm also optimistic about what

1070
00:53:32,680 --> 00:53:36,760
Speaker 1: it looks like for Missouri State. I mentioned this before,

1071
00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:40,719
Speaker 1: but Bill Connelly, our friend who does these projections, he

1072
00:53:41,840 --> 00:53:45,080
Speaker 1: talked about their offense a little bit in some of

1073
00:53:45,080 --> 00:53:47,960
Speaker 1: his preseason projections. It looks to be maybe one of

1074
00:53:48,000 --> 00:53:51,840
Speaker 1: the better offenses in the conference. I got a good quarterback,

1075
00:53:51,920 --> 00:53:56,279
Speaker 1: Jacob Clark. He's six or five pro style quarterback, the

1076
00:53:56,320 --> 00:54:00,279
Speaker 1: type of guy that could draw some NFL interest, set

1077
00:54:00,320 --> 00:54:05,319
Speaker 1: passing records, on track to set more records. They're going

1078
00:54:05,400 --> 00:54:07,839
Speaker 1: to need him to perform at a high level because

1079
00:54:07,840 --> 00:54:09,840
Speaker 1: if they're playing, they're playing in shootouts.

1080
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:10,480
Speaker 3: Right.

1081
00:54:10,560 --> 00:54:12,000
Speaker 1: This is not going to be a team that's driven

1082
00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:16,279
Speaker 1: by defense. But Jacob Clark is worth watching on the

1083
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:20,560
Speaker 1: Missouri State side simply because he seemingly has a pretty

1084
00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:24,200
Speaker 1: high ceiling. So I'm interested in that. I also again

1085
00:54:24,239 --> 00:54:28,080
Speaker 1: look at this team and I say that it looks

1086
00:54:28,080 --> 00:54:31,040
Speaker 1: like they're okay along the lines. These are two teams

1087
00:54:31,040 --> 00:54:34,920
Speaker 1: stepping into FBS play that are gonna be able to

1088
00:54:34,920 --> 00:54:37,800
Speaker 1: stack up on the lines, big on the offensive line,

1089
00:54:38,080 --> 00:54:38,600
Speaker 1: really big.

1090
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:41,720
Speaker 3: Okay, that's a good thing. We'll see how they stack

1091
00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:45,000
Speaker 3: up as this thing progresses here. But having two new

1092
00:54:45,040 --> 00:54:47,440
Speaker 3: teams added to Conference USA, I think it was needed.

1093
00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:51,600
Speaker 1: I'm sure, liberty wishes that they were better teams that

1094
00:54:51,640 --> 00:54:53,800
Speaker 1: could add to their schedule in their playoff resume, but

1095
00:54:54,640 --> 00:54:56,560
Speaker 1: at least for Delaware and Missouri State, it's a nice

1096
00:54:56,560 --> 00:54:59,040
Speaker 1: little landing spot to get their feet wet.

1097
00:54:59,239 --> 00:55:04,479
Speaker 3: Head coach Ryan Beard at Missouri State, Yes, is such

1098
00:55:04,480 --> 00:55:07,919
Speaker 3: a known quantity that his Wikipedia page lists his birth

1099
00:55:08,040 --> 00:55:11,040
Speaker 3: date as either nineteen eighty eight or nineteen eighty nine.

1100
00:55:11,160 --> 00:55:12,440
Speaker 1: Great, so he is.

1101
00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:15,239
Speaker 3: Either thirty five or thirty six years old. So the

1102
00:55:15,320 --> 00:55:19,840
Speaker 3: younger coach and Missouri State opens at USC. Yeah, welcome

1103
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:22,840
Speaker 3: to the big time. Go out to La love it

1104
00:55:24,000 --> 00:55:28,560
Speaker 3: real quick here. Yes, UTEP okay.

1105
00:55:28,760 --> 00:55:31,440
Speaker 1: UTEP's going to the Mountain West next year. Yes they are,

1106
00:55:32,719 --> 00:55:35,839
Speaker 1: So I think there is some hope that maybe they

1107
00:55:35,840 --> 00:55:37,959
Speaker 1: can make a bull or show out in their final season.

1108
00:55:38,000 --> 00:55:44,000
Speaker 1: I don't think they're gonna They had mass turnover, mass turnover. Okay,

1109
00:55:45,800 --> 00:55:49,080
Speaker 1: Malachi Nelson I think is the quarterback in all likelihood.

1110
00:55:49,080 --> 00:55:52,840
Speaker 1: They're not counting that as a sure thing at this point,

1111
00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:54,719
Speaker 1: as has really been the case throughout the course of

1112
00:55:54,760 --> 00:55:55,839
Speaker 1: Malachi Nelson's career.

1113
00:55:55,960 --> 00:55:58,799
Speaker 3: So former five star who had been at USC and

1114
00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:02,760
Speaker 3: then Boise State US the opeen QB battle too. Matis

1115
00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:03,799
Speaker 3: Madsen last year.

1116
00:56:04,120 --> 00:56:06,680
Speaker 1: I just want to see the guy play Dan. Yeah,

1117
00:56:07,360 --> 00:56:09,360
Speaker 1: I'm just genuinely curious to see what he looks like.

1118
00:56:09,440 --> 00:56:12,000
Speaker 3: Well, here's the thing, by the way, with the Conference

1119
00:56:12,080 --> 00:56:16,120
Speaker 3: USA slate. If we think that it's by and large

1120
00:56:16,160 --> 00:56:18,640
Speaker 3: like Liberty has the easiest schedule in the country, that

1121
00:56:18,719 --> 00:56:22,680
Speaker 3: means somebody's gonna win eight games with absolutely no business

1122
00:56:24,040 --> 00:56:26,160
Speaker 3: and so we just have to determine who that team is.

1123
00:56:26,520 --> 00:56:28,960
Speaker 3: It could be Delaware, but could be Delaware, could be

1124
00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:32,040
Speaker 3: Missouri State, could be Western Kentucky. If there's a bunch

1125
00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:36,480
Speaker 3: of crazy underwhelming teams on here, somebody's gonna go the

1126
00:56:36,520 --> 00:56:37,600
Speaker 3: weakest eight and forever.

1127
00:56:37,760 --> 00:56:41,399
Speaker 1: The other interesting thing about UTIP really unlucky in those

1128
00:56:41,520 --> 00:56:45,680
Speaker 1: luck stats. They were terribly unlucky turnovers right close games.

1129
00:56:47,360 --> 00:56:50,200
Speaker 1: It just wasn't good for UTIP. So we'll see how

1130
00:56:50,239 --> 00:56:53,480
Speaker 1: they do in their final stint here in Conference USA

1131
00:56:53,520 --> 00:56:58,000
Speaker 1: before they seemingly upgrade to the Mountain West Kennesaw State

1132
00:56:58,040 --> 00:57:00,719
Speaker 1: Look Kennessaw is in year two now after makeing the

1133
00:57:00,800 --> 00:57:03,839
Speaker 1: transition up to FBS. They had the big upset last

1134
00:57:03,920 --> 00:57:09,200
Speaker 1: year against Liberty. The coaching change was very controversial. They

1135
00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:11,479
Speaker 1: got rid of Brian Bohannon. He was the only coach

1136
00:57:11,520 --> 00:57:14,359
Speaker 1: in the program's history. They're now going to Jerry Mack,

1137
00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:18,040
Speaker 1: who's a former NFL assistant. I don't hate this higher

1138
00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:21,919
Speaker 1: I'm actually kind of interested to see what he's able

1139
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:24,080
Speaker 1: to do with this program because he's somebody with a

1140
00:57:24,080 --> 00:57:26,560
Speaker 1: lot of varied experience at a bunch of different levels.

1141
00:57:27,240 --> 00:57:28,960
Speaker 1: Based on what I've been able to read, has been

1142
00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:31,560
Speaker 1: saying a lot of the right stuff. So I think

1143
00:57:31,560 --> 00:57:35,080
Speaker 1: they're going to lean on their defense. They returned something

1144
00:57:35,200 --> 00:57:38,200
Speaker 1: like thirteen of seventeen players who had more than two

1145
00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:40,960
Speaker 1: hundred snaps something like that. I'm probably watching it a

1146
00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:44,000
Speaker 1: little bit, but that will be interesting to see if

1147
00:57:44,000 --> 00:57:46,840
Speaker 1: the defense can carry them as they try to transition

1148
00:57:47,080 --> 00:57:51,960
Speaker 1: out of their option offense. We got another situation where

1149
00:57:52,560 --> 00:57:54,880
Speaker 1: this is a program that ran one thing. Now they're

1150
00:57:54,880 --> 00:57:57,800
Speaker 1: going to more of an uptempo spread. What does that

1151
00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:01,040
Speaker 1: look like? Okay, this could be a longer transition if

1152
00:58:01,040 --> 00:58:03,600
Speaker 1: they're trying to get out of that identity.

1153
00:58:03,880 --> 00:58:06,160
Speaker 3: Well, their starting point is they're on a liberty win streak, right,

1154
00:58:06,200 --> 00:58:08,520
Speaker 3: They're on a liberty win streak. Want to no, Okay,

1155
00:58:08,840 --> 00:58:11,600
Speaker 3: that's a good starting point. Louisiana Tech.

1156
00:58:11,600 --> 00:58:15,440
Speaker 1: I'm actually pretty high on Louisiana Tech. Okay, Tony Franklin

1157
00:58:16,480 --> 00:58:22,760
Speaker 1: is back as the offensive coordinator. I feel like Louisiana

1158
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:24,840
Speaker 1: Tech got the short end of the stick a couple

1159
00:58:24,840 --> 00:58:28,720
Speaker 1: times last year. They lost three games in overtime, so

1160
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:30,680
Speaker 1: there's a case to be made that they were better

1161
00:58:30,720 --> 00:58:33,800
Speaker 1: than the record would indicate. I think they've got some

1162
00:58:33,880 --> 00:58:37,800
Speaker 1: promising young talent on offense. I look at a guy

1163
00:58:37,840 --> 00:58:41,200
Speaker 1: like an Evan Bullock at quarterback. Defensively, I think we're

1164
00:58:41,200 --> 00:58:43,840
Speaker 1: always going to have some concerns about the defense. Just

1165
00:58:44,000 --> 00:58:47,480
Speaker 1: that's sort of like the mo in Conference USA. But

1166
00:58:48,640 --> 00:58:51,320
Speaker 1: I think there is reason for optimism here. I remember

1167
00:58:51,360 --> 00:58:53,400
Speaker 1: you and I talked about Louisiana Tech at the start

1168
00:58:53,400 --> 00:58:56,280
Speaker 1: of last season. We disagreed a little bit as to

1169
00:58:56,320 --> 00:58:59,440
Speaker 1: which direction the wind was blowing with respect to that program.

1170
00:59:00,240 --> 00:59:01,880
Speaker 1: Even though they did not go to a bowl, was

1171
00:59:01,920 --> 00:59:03,320
Speaker 1: not a winning well. They did go to a bowl,

1172
00:59:03,320 --> 00:59:04,760
Speaker 1: they did not have a winning record. They went to

1173
00:59:04,800 --> 00:59:08,680
Speaker 1: a bowl because of numbers. But I feel like this

1174
00:59:08,760 --> 00:59:11,080
Speaker 1: is a program that is still trending in an oka direction.

1175
00:59:11,120 --> 00:59:14,800
Speaker 1: I'd like to give them another year see where things go.

1176
00:59:14,960 --> 00:59:17,040
Speaker 3: By the way you can buy. As of two thousand

1177
00:59:17,040 --> 00:59:20,640
Speaker 3: and eight, you can buy the Tony Franklin System DVDs

1178
00:59:21,120 --> 00:59:23,720
Speaker 3: for per this message board three thousand dollars.

1179
00:59:23,960 --> 00:59:24,960
Speaker 1: Three thousand dollars.

1180
00:59:25,120 --> 00:59:28,160
Speaker 3: Yeah great, Yeah, I haven't seen them on the secondary

1181
00:59:28,200 --> 00:59:28,760
Speaker 3: market since.

1182
00:59:29,600 --> 00:59:33,880
Speaker 1: Let me close this out real quick. Yeah, Middle Tennessee.

1183
00:59:34,680 --> 00:59:39,080
Speaker 1: I got this tidbit from a YouTube channel called the

1184
00:59:39,080 --> 00:59:44,320
Speaker 1: G five to Hive okay, which I did my best

1185
00:59:44,320 --> 00:59:46,480
Speaker 1: to speed run when I was studying all these teams.

1186
00:59:46,720 --> 00:59:50,200
Speaker 1: If you've never watched like a dozen YouTube videos at

1187
00:59:50,240 --> 00:59:54,080
Speaker 1: double the speed over your weekend, let me tell you

1188
00:59:54,120 --> 00:59:55,080
Speaker 1: it's a real hoot.

1189
00:59:55,320 --> 00:59:55,680
Speaker 3: Yeah.

1190
00:59:55,720 --> 00:59:57,920
Speaker 1: These guys did an awesome job, and I want to

1191
00:59:57,920 --> 00:59:59,560
Speaker 1: call them out for doing it. They did an awesome

1192
00:59:59,600 --> 01:00:02,600
Speaker 1: job talking to writers for many of these teams that

1193
01:00:02,600 --> 01:00:05,000
Speaker 1: we're discussing here. I learned a lot just by watching

1194
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:06,720
Speaker 1: their contents, So go and check it out if they're

1195
01:00:06,720 --> 01:00:08,480
Speaker 1: listening here. I don't know if they listen, but kudos

1196
01:00:08,520 --> 01:00:11,160
Speaker 1: to them. Keep it up. Yeah, this was one of

1197
01:00:11,160 --> 01:00:15,680
Speaker 1: the more interesting things that I found Middle Tennessee. Derek

1198
01:00:15,720 --> 01:00:19,800
Speaker 1: Mason is the coach, right, he wanted to cut money,

1199
01:00:19,880 --> 01:00:22,040
Speaker 1: so what he decided to do was get rid of

1200
01:00:22,400 --> 01:00:27,080
Speaker 1: alternate jerseys and alternate helmets, and in doing so, he

1201
01:00:27,160 --> 01:00:30,400
Speaker 1: was able to free up about a million dollars a

1202
01:00:30,440 --> 01:00:36,560
Speaker 1: million dollars that they've then reallocated to nil opportunities, primarily

1203
01:00:36,560 --> 01:00:41,000
Speaker 1: which are going towards the offensive line. So we don't

1204
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:43,960
Speaker 1: talk a whole lot about the operational details of budgeting

1205
01:00:44,040 --> 01:00:46,800
Speaker 1: on this show. But I think that's smart. They're going

1206
01:00:46,840 --> 01:00:50,920
Speaker 1: to like the most vanilla possible uniforms so that they

1207
01:00:50,920 --> 01:00:52,720
Speaker 1: can take the money that they are saving and put

1208
01:00:52,760 --> 01:00:55,320
Speaker 1: it back into the actual players on the team. All Right.

1209
01:00:55,480 --> 01:00:57,640
Speaker 1: I don't hate that there went totals four and a half.

1210
01:00:57,640 --> 01:00:58,920
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be a great year

1211
01:00:58,920 --> 01:01:02,560
Speaker 1: for the Blue Raiders, But that being said, I liked

1212
01:01:02,560 --> 01:01:05,720
Speaker 1: their quarterback. Threw for over three thousand yards last season,

1213
01:01:05,920 --> 01:01:08,280
Speaker 1: didn't throw too many interceptions, did not have a line

1214
01:01:08,280 --> 01:01:13,600
Speaker 1: in front of him at all. Nicholas that tiato. If

1215
01:01:13,640 --> 01:01:15,440
Speaker 1: I said that correctly, I'm sure I botched it.

1216
01:01:15,760 --> 01:01:16,120
Speaker 3: Okay.

1217
01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:20,200
Speaker 1: Interested to see what this looks like another year under

1218
01:01:20,240 --> 01:01:24,320
Speaker 1: Derek Mason, the other name here that I would call out.

1219
01:01:24,400 --> 01:01:28,920
Speaker 1: Let me pull out my notes, Fiu. I've had this

1220
01:01:29,000 --> 01:01:35,480
Speaker 1: thing for Q One Jenkins, their quarterback. Okay, I liked

1221
01:01:35,560 --> 01:01:38,560
Speaker 1: them a lot last year when we did our preview

1222
01:01:39,320 --> 01:01:43,080
Speaker 1: didn't really work out, But I think he's another guy

1223
01:01:43,120 --> 01:01:47,160
Speaker 1: who I'm targeting as an improvement opportunity, somebody who could

1224
01:01:47,200 --> 01:01:48,800
Speaker 1: step up in a really big way. They've also got

1225
01:01:48,840 --> 01:01:52,600
Speaker 1: a new coach, Willie Simmons. He's been at Florida A

1226
01:01:52,680 --> 01:01:56,760
Speaker 1: and M at Prairie View. He's from Florida. He knows

1227
01:01:56,800 --> 01:02:01,000
Speaker 1: how to recruit sow Florida talent. So curious to see

1228
01:02:01,000 --> 01:02:04,560
Speaker 1: what year one looks like under Willie Simmons and if

1229
01:02:04,600 --> 01:02:07,080
Speaker 1: they can get more out of Key one Jenkins. Okay,

1230
01:02:07,280 --> 01:02:11,200
Speaker 1: this program has finished with three consecutive four and eight seasons,

1231
01:02:11,720 --> 01:02:14,520
Speaker 1: so I got to believe that their main point here

1232
01:02:15,640 --> 01:02:17,560
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty five is going to be trying to

1233
01:02:17,560 --> 01:02:20,080
Speaker 1: get back to a bowl. That's just where they're at.

1234
01:02:20,240 --> 01:02:25,320
Speaker 1: Drive for six, Yeah, very much, Driver six Dan. Otherwise,

1235
01:02:25,480 --> 01:02:27,120
Speaker 1: I think the only team I didn't cover was New

1236
01:02:27,120 --> 01:02:30,680
Speaker 1: Mexico State. Okay, and New Mexico State took a real

1237
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:35,160
Speaker 1: step back after Jerry kill left. Correct, So they won

1238
01:02:35,240 --> 01:02:39,680
Speaker 1: three games in Tony Sanchez's first year, last UNLV coach. Yeah,

1239
01:02:39,760 --> 01:02:44,920
Speaker 1: former UNLV coach. Now it's a logan Fife offense who

1240
01:02:44,960 --> 01:02:48,240
Speaker 1: they brought down from Montana. Speaking of guys still playing,

1241
01:02:48,360 --> 01:02:50,800
Speaker 1: Logan Fight is still playing. He's pad a cup of

1242
01:02:50,840 --> 01:02:53,680
Speaker 1: coffee with a bunch of teams. This is just a

1243
01:02:53,720 --> 01:02:56,120
Speaker 1: team that outside of you know, bringing in a guy

1244
01:02:56,160 --> 01:02:58,440
Speaker 1: like a Logan Fife. They got killed by the transfer portal,

1245
01:02:59,360 --> 01:03:00,600
Speaker 1: which has been the key with a lot of the

1246
01:03:00,640 --> 01:03:03,920
Speaker 1: teams that we discussed here. Got murdered by the transfer portal.

1247
01:03:04,200 --> 01:03:07,560
Speaker 1: And it's gonna be another uphill climb for Tony Sanchez.

1248
01:03:08,400 --> 01:03:09,720
Speaker 3: Okay, sorry to hear it.

1249
01:03:10,400 --> 01:03:16,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, so liberty, liberty, Okay, I think it's liberty.

1250
01:03:16,160 --> 01:03:19,280
Speaker 3: Yeah, thanks for the nuggets.

1251
01:03:19,280 --> 01:03:21,720
Speaker 1: Not bad, right, No, go and check that out, man,

1252
01:03:21,800 --> 01:03:23,720
Speaker 1: G five Hive. They did an awesome job. I got

1253
01:03:23,760 --> 01:03:26,400
Speaker 1: to give those guys props. Du mean, I know what

1254
01:03:26,440 --> 01:03:29,240
Speaker 1: that's like, doing that type of content in the middle

1255
01:03:29,280 --> 01:03:30,880
Speaker 1: of the off season, in the middle of the summer.

1256
01:03:31,000 --> 01:03:33,760
Speaker 1: But I think they did a really awesome job. I'll

1257
01:03:33,760 --> 01:03:35,240
Speaker 1: send him an email after this. I'll let them know.

1258
01:03:35,560 --> 01:03:36,760
Speaker 3: Cool sounds good?

1259
01:03:37,280 --> 01:03:37,720
Speaker 1: All right?

1260
01:03:38,200 --> 01:03:44,560
Speaker 3: So pack two Conference USA, the America's Conference USA, and

1261
01:03:44,680 --> 01:03:48,080
Speaker 3: of course Mount West. Next up's gonna be the ACC

1262
01:03:49,480 --> 01:03:51,160
Speaker 3: So make sure you set your dial for that Hit

1263
01:03:51,160 --> 01:03:52,160
Speaker 3: Fall Hit subscribes that.

1264
01:03:52,080 --> 01:03:55,440
Speaker 1: You don't miss any of our episodes. The plan is

1265
01:03:55,440 --> 01:03:58,320
Speaker 1: to do three per power conference, one that sort of

1266
01:03:58,400 --> 01:04:01,280
Speaker 1: higher level, bigger picture, and then a two parter going

1267
01:04:01,320 --> 01:04:03,560
Speaker 1: through all this teams. Because all these power conferences of

1268
01:04:03,640 --> 01:04:08,480
Speaker 1: too many teams these days, correct, why don't we leave

1269
01:04:08,480 --> 01:04:09,040
Speaker 1: it there? All right?

1270
01:04:09,480 --> 01:04:12,600
Speaker 3: Done? Thrilled. I'm gonna go, uh figure out when I

1271
01:04:12,640 --> 01:04:16,160
Speaker 3: can next see the Mountain West conference. If you were

1272
01:04:16,160 --> 01:04:19,080
Speaker 3: out there, if you heard something that you liked or

1273
01:04:19,120 --> 01:04:22,360
Speaker 3: didn't like, or have something to add. Soliverbo at gmail

1274
01:04:22,360 --> 01:04:24,520
Speaker 3: dot com. As always how you can reach out to us,

1275
01:04:24,600 --> 01:04:26,640
Speaker 3: leave a comment, if you're watching on YouTube or listening

1276
01:04:26,680 --> 01:04:28,000
Speaker 3: out on Spotify.

1277
01:04:28,000 --> 01:04:29,640
Speaker 1: Leave a rating or a start review. All that stuff

1278
01:04:29,640 --> 01:04:32,040
Speaker 1: helps for that guy over there. I'm a good friend,

1279
01:04:32,120 --> 01:04:34,720
Speaker 1: Dan Rubinstein, form myself tie Hilda Brandt getting a little

1280
01:04:34,800 --> 01:04:37,400
Speaker 1: raspy here, Dan, a little raspy. We did two of

1281
01:04:37,400 --> 01:04:40,880
Speaker 1: these today. I'm tile rail thought y'all seen, stay saw

1282
01:04:41,560 --> 01:04:41,920
Speaker 1: peace