Thursday, November 9, Hour 2

Extreamly live. I mean, iHeartRadio. While this is I on the Ball with Steve Rivera and Jacob Salez on Fox sportsporteen fifty. Welcome back time in the ball. You're on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. I'm your host, Jay Gonzalez. Steve Rivera is on the road. We just talked to him as he's on his way to the Arizona Duke game tomorrow. He'll be covering that for all sports too. It's not enough, of course, on Monday, we'll have Steve here back here and we'll break down the whole weekend, the

Duke game, the Airzona Colorado game. We don't have a show tomorrow. As I mentioned, Steve's gone. I'm traveling tomorrow. I'm headed to Vegas for a weekend of watching sports and the books over there, something that I do every year with a group of people. We'll be watching the duke game over there with a you know, our football crowd that's on this trip.

So I'm looking forward to that. So tomorrow you'll just get the national feeds Doug gott lieban on after in place of our show tomorrow, and then as I said, both Steve and I will back here to break everything down over the weekend. It's it's as we were saying headed out the door last break, this is going to be a fun weekend. So after that, I'll turn over to you for breaking news. To Kevin. This is on the Balls on Fox Sports fourteen fifty. All right, so we're gonna start with

some college football news. Coach Lane Kiffin and Old Miss they're kind of dealing going into a big game this weekend. They're kind of dealing with some legal issues. They're being sued by a former player, well be a current player still on scholarship, but he says he was kicked off the team due to having some mental health issues that were not properly addressed by the school. He's alleging, that's what he's agend he's alleging is that he was discriminated against based

on his his race, his mental health situation, and other variables. The school has pretty much come out and said that these are somewhat baseless claims, as they would. Yeah, there was a recording that Lane Kiffin did not know happened between a meeting between Rollins and that's the player and Kiffin where Kiffin kind of laid into him for the missing practic this is and not being as

communicative as Kiff Kiffin may be expected of a player. But yeah, that's a forty million dollar lawsuit and they're they're in that going into this weekend against Georgia, where he says they have nothing to lose, so that that should be an interesting game. It should be an aesting game. There are a couple of those this weekend. Penn State, Michigan. We can talk about Michigan in a second because stuff continues to come from that, but we'll get

to that in a second. You have some quick betting stuff. A couple of of of quite sad honestly over under numbers have come out recently. Iowa Rutgers is the lowest over under for any college football game since at least two thousand. That's before I was born, only one year. I'm not, you know, but the total is a consensus twenty eight. That's four touchdowns for two teams for two. By the way, for those who want to

four touchdowns four touchdowns two teams, that's two touchdowns. It's entirely possible both Arizona and Colorado can score four touchdowns on Saturday. So uh, and then to pair with that we have a beautiful game tonight on Thursday night football Panthers and Bears. I mean, two teams that everybody wanted to watch most. This is the first time in a night game between two teams that have a win percentage of less than twenty five percent this late into the season since twenty

eighteen. So we're just getting some great football on primetime. Who's gonna watch that? And I'm really excited for it. I mean, you know, and for those people who gamble on anything, that's even a game that nobody should gamble on, how do you take? Somebody? Will? I mean even in the Panthers Bears, how do you take? I think it was like what mid thirties lowes? How do you anyway? And then in Arizona news, Tyler loop Kicker was one of twenty semi finalists name to the Lou

Groza Award list, joining other PAC twelve kicker Joshua Cardi from Stanford. And yeah, he's one of fourteen new names to the list of twenty six, only six returning from last year's list. Yeah, and that's an award that an Arizona guy won back in the nineties. Steve McLoughlin and you actually a low o. Kaid went to my high school, to Swall High School. I went to the OVA and he actually won that award, I believe in the ninety three season. So Tyler Loop, he's made thirteen to fifteen this

year. He missed a fifty one yarder or fifty plus yard I think against USC and then one other one. So he's you know, he's in. He's in the hunt for a national award. It's good for him. We'll play and I think we're playing in a minute. A clip from a jet fish talking about how important Tyler Loop has been to what Arizona's doing this year. Yeah, and then just a quick little conversation topic to bring to UJ.

I saw on Twitter today we get this from Big Game Boomer. He released or they released a top fifty coaching duos between college football and college basketball across the nation. So who are the best two coaches for each year? Right? A school that has who has the best coaches? Yeah? Two coaches? And I think I think the interesting thing should I just say Arizona finished six six in the rankings, directly behind k State, Kansas State, Texas, Alabama, Kansas, and Tennessee. We did finished. I mean

Mario Cristoball and Jim Laernega at nine. I thought that was a little yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean Mario, Chris Waller's got all the you know, he was at Oregon and all this stuff. He hasn't been a great coach this year. I think it's fair to say he's been bad. I try to be pretty fair. I mean, you know what, that's legit, that's that's legit. He I mean they, I mean they lost a game because of a dicision he made. So yeah, yeah, a game that they should have won. All right, but yeah, it's interesting

and then more. Arizona Wildcast News currently facing a financial quote financial crisis. They believed the school believe. University leaders forecast that they would have one hundred and fifty six days of cash on hand for this fiscal year. They have just ninety seven. Yeah, they it's a two hundred and forty million dollar

difference in cash that they somehow made a mistake on WHENT. I don't know how you make that mistake, and that's the question everybody has, and you know they Bobby Robbins, the president of the university, met with the faculty sending yesterday and boyd did they have some questions and they want they want they want people fired. They want to know how this happened and how they're gonna

prevent things like this from happening down the road. Bobby Robins threw a bunch of stuff out there as to how they're gonna fix this, and one of the things that he threw on the table was eliminating some sports. Whether or not they do that. Part of why they're talking about that is that because of the COVID thing, the university loaned the athletic department fifty five million dollars and they haven't been able to pay as much of that back as they were

supposed to have paid by now. So they're saying, we need that money back, we need that money back into the university. And they're thinking, well, you're gonna have to cut some sports in order to start paying that back. So it's a big crisis over there. A lot more to come on that, but man, it sounds. Look, if I'm one hundred bucks short on my in my checking it count, I know it, no doubt, I know it. Two hundred and forty million dollars they were off

on their on their cash on hand. Yeah, you don't. You don't want to assume what happened. It does seem like someone missed, somebody miss along the way. Yes, that much, it's safe to say. But it's definitely unfortunate. Yeah, honestly, kind of worry some. Yeah, it is worry some. It is worrying. So it's it's like, again you have to ask a question, how the hell did that happen? Yeah, So anyways, all right, and then we do have more news last

but not at least we've got more news out of Michigan. Yeah, well, supposedly today the Big Ten is supposed to say something about what they're going to do to Jim har about. Everybody's still waiting for that, and there may be nothing. Michigan sent their response to the allegations that the Big Ten

has sent them yesterday. So there's a lot of thought that the Big ten commissioner, who was supposed to be at a at a uh some meeting that all the at all that all the commissioners go to, and he didn't go to it. So the thought was he's dealing with this, but nothing's come across yet, so we'll see if anything happens. I don't expect anything to happen from a discipline standpoint before the Saturday Penn State Michigan game, but he

could come after. And there's the people saying they're there's a lot of people saying there's suspension on the way now whether they do that, because there's like, they play this game Penn State Michigan, then they've got a game against somebody else, and then it's Ohio State Michigan. They've got two games left after after Saturday, you know, do you suspend him for the High State

Michigan game? I look, then a Big Ten championship game. Yeah, I mean it's it's definitely a tough time to have to hand out this kind of punishment because you know, you're talking about competitive balance, right right, So you're talking about how I guess has enough time passed? And I guess it depends on what the NCAA and the Big Ten have that's like concrete proof. But but there are thirteen teams in the Big Ten who are saying,

these guys have been cheating, and they've been cheating this year. What are you gonna do? You know, I don't think they're gonna they're gonna be very happy if if the commissioner comes on and says, Okay, we're gonna punish him, but not till after the season is over. Because are they where they are because of what they were doing because of this? That's what

you know, That's what the teams are saying. I don't know, I know all right here, I got a really serious, really serious one out of out of New Mexico State. And the reason I'm bringing up is because it involves a former Arizona player, kim Aiken, who was here for really just half a season before he you know, he left. He came in as a transfer from from Washington State, wound up in New Mexico State. Last season there there came out all this stuff about hazing going on in the

program. They actually canceled the season in February. Well, it turns out that kim Ake and along with two other players have now been charged with more than a dozen or more felonies related to this. A bunch of charges of a criminal sexual conduct, false imprisonment, conspiracy to commit sexual conduct, a whole bunch of kim Ake and himself got eleven, is charged with eleven felonies related to this, and then two other players, Doctor Bradley and Dechandre Washington

each got thirteen felonies. They're going to prison, assuming they get convicted of this stuff. They're going to prison. And even if they I mean, these are these are charges that they say. If they're convicted, you know, the Bradley and Washington face a maximum of twenty seven years in prison, where they can maximum of twenty four Now they're they're not going to get that, but they're going to prison. Yeah, if they get convicted, even

if they plead out, they're going to prison. And it's kind of it's I mean, it's not kind of. It's a real shame. It's it's a real shame. And we see it up north and Northwestern. He's hazing

things. They're starting to come out more and it's really unfortunate to hear, like what's going on in these locker rooms, some locker rooms right in the In the charging document, it said that the players are accused of quote, of holding younger players and students' staff against their will while they violate them. Alleged acts include multiple incidents in which they forceletly restrained victims while grabbing areas.

I'll just leave it at that. So this is serious stuff. And it's unfortunate that you have these guys who had everything in front of them, college scholarships, to play basketball, and now they might be going to prison. Yeah, and you're supposed to building a brotherhood, right, that's why that's what you're there to do. Right. Yeah. Highly and highly unfortunate,

really bad. One more little piece of news. A top ten football recruit in Arizona, in the state of Arizona who was committed, a four star guy who was committed to ASU, Dylan Tapley, his backed off from his commitmentity a SU And obviously people are saying he's coming to Arizona, so we'll see what happens there. Again, for those of you who are still upset that these two guys from Cell Point, you know, went somewhere else. If this guy says he wants to come to Arizona and they're you're going to

welcome in with open arms. This stuff is part of the game anymore. Yeah, And I was gonna I think if if if we as fans are still upset about about rushing, you know, leaving and not going at the

end of the day, he didn't want to be here. He you don't want to be here, And why do you want him here if he doesn't want to be here, Because you want guys that, like we were talking about the other day, you want guys that want to play hard, no matter who who is standing across right behind him, the right of them to the left, hie, it doesn't matter if they want to play hard.

And those are the guys you want. You can beat my son, because that's exactly what I've been saying, is that, Yeah, I don't care how good you are. If you don't want to be here, then go somewhere else. Like if you're here for nil, that's fine, Yeah, but you might not necessarily need you is you're here for the money anyway?

Yeah, And I mean I said that all the way back when those three guys you know, went to USC and people say, oh, they're losing their minds, so them something like if Dorian Singer doesn't want to be playing in Arizona anymore and he's you know, for whatever reason it is, let him go, you know, let them go do what they're gonna do. And so so anyways, I'm sure I'm sure Arizona would take this guy in

a heartbeat. If you wanted to come to a zone. So anyways, all right, so all right, well that's you know, that's a b right, Okay, yeah, there, you know again, a lot of stuff. I'm really curious about what's gonna happen with Michigan. Me too, Actually, me too. It does set up I saw Michigan was worried about it's setting a precedent, and it does somewhat set a precedent, and I think it's it's interesting to see how they handle it, when they handle it,

and when they do handle it, what they do. Yeah, I was watching Dan Patrick this morning, which I was doing. He had to he had to Rick new heisl On, former Washington coach, former UCLA coach now a broadcast guy, who just said, you know what, whatever happens with all of this, he goes, I expect Jim Harbaught to be coaching in the NFL next year, and he's just he doesn't want to do this

anymore. Too many rules for him to have to abide by, which is kind of why he went from Stanford to the forty nine ers, right. He was dealing with a lot of crap over having to recruit to Stanford even though he got them pretty high up, and going to Rose Bowls and stuff. I think he I think he'd rather be in the NFL, where the worst thing he's got to deal with his egos from players making millions of dollars.

Yeah, I mean we saw this peak early at USC right right, just like once, my time here is up and I and this is causing me more stress than it is money. I just I just would like to move on to a higher profile situation at this point. Yeah. So, uh so, you know he's uh I man, I mean, really, what do you do? Right? I don't know, I don't know what you do. I'm glad I don't have to decign this one. Yeah, I'm glad that I'm not on that decision making board. Exactly tough decision.

All right, let's take our next break. We're gonna be back with Justin Spears. We'll give it the Arizona side of the preview of tomorrow's game. He was at the press conference today. He gets to ask some questions and I didn't. So I'm very jealous of Justin n Hey, Justin gets called on every time, but he should be. He's a beat writer. So

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Sports fourteen fifty on Jacob Zalez, your host for the day. My buddy Steve Rivera is on his way to the Duke game for tomorrow, so he's still sitting in an airport in the airport at Denver. We had him on a little earlier and had pretty good perspective on this game coming up. But right now we've got on the phone. We've got Justin Spears from there is on a Daily Star. He's getting ready to head out to Boulder for the game on Saturday against Colorado. Justin welcome. How's the going, guys.

We're good, you know, getting set for I think of an exciting season and exciting season siding weekend of stuff for you know, for Arizona. You got Duke tomorrow, a big game with Colorado on Saturday. I say a big game because you know, very meaningful to what Arizona's got going right now. Right I think we've been talking about you know, you got to keep the momentum going. This is a game that Arizona is supposed to win. They're ten and a half point five. You know, you lose everything,

not everything, but you lose a lot of them. Manam if they don't go up there and take care of business. What are your thoughts on that? Yeah, I think that this is a trap game for Arizona. And it's it's crazy to say the word trap game for Arizona right now because think about how far this team has come over the last couple of years for us to be able to say, you know, it's a trap game. And also it's crazy to think it's a trap game also because Colorado, I mean

they started off the season on a hot streak. They had two top ten wins. I mean, they were essentially America's team for the start of the college football season. I mean they were so popular that even here in Tucson, Arizona, they were selling Starbucks cups at the Safeway on Princeton Campbell. Of that that were Colorado Starbucks cups, right, that wouldn't have happened in the pre the era. But you know this, this game is going to

be very exciting. You know this, this Colorado team, they're hoping to remain in Bowl in the Bull picture. They're four and five right now, and this is a winnable game for them and you know, if they win one more game after, you know, if they were able to beat Arizona, then they're in a bowl game. Which is pretty remarkable to say, considering this was the worst Power five football team in America last season, and it really wasn't even close. I mean, this Colorado program last year was

just awful. I mean they were just the worst of the worst. And Dion came in told all his players in the spring, I got luggage with me that I'm bringing here and it's Louis and that Louis Vaiton luggage is Travis Hunter, is Shadura Sanders is all these other great players that they were able to get in the transfer portals. But Colorado was still in rebuild mode. You can't get it done in just one year, even in the trench of

portal Era. So I think that next year Dion and his staff they'll go into the portal, they'll fish out a bunch of guys and they'll really have a sound team in year two. But you know, you look at Arizona on the other side and how they've been able to turn things around. Not long ago. They were just like Colorado. Last year. They were considered the worst Power five team in college football, and then it's been this very slow and steady progress. But now the Wildcats are ahead of schedule. No

one expected them to be Bowl eligible nine games into the season. A lot of people thought, including myself, that Arizona would be going into the last couple of weeks of the season trying to fight the bull eligibility. And they're six and three right now. Now they have opportunity to go nine and three, which is, like I said, it's just truly remarkable to see the turnaround and the fact that we're considering this a trap. It really shows us

how much better this program is in year three under Jet Fish. You know, I tried to get this question and at the press conference today but we ran out of time. But you know, compare the bills, right, I see a lot of similarities between, you know, what Jed had to do and what what Dion is going through. You know right now, you know Arizona used actually four quarterbacks in that first season for Jed. You know, depth was a problem. You know, they were losing to everybody including

NAU you know Colorado. Yes, they got off to that great start, but now lost five out of six players are injured they're you know, they're dealing with stuff, even though they've got still got guys like Shador Sanders,

his brother, Shiloh, Travis Hunter. But you know, the reality of who where Colorado was compared, you know, going from last year to this year, it's kind of the same, going through the similar things, you know, and towards the end of the season, depth is an issue there they got injuries, they don't they still I got a bunch of first year guys who are trying to figure the way out. I feel I see a

lot of similarities between these two. Yeah, I really do too. But the only difference that I would make is Arizona they really hit a home run with their twenty twenty two recruiting class right and when you look at the fabric of Arizona football right now, I mean you look up and down the playmakers, the guys who are contributing to this team, and it's Temac, it's Noah Fafita, It's Jacob manu Is, Jonah Coleman, Jonah Savenea, Isaiah

Ward, Ty Tayuyaglo. I mean, it's easy as price socks to Carrio Davis, all these guys that I'm mentioning right now are all sophomores just playing in their second year at Arizona, and Arizona did such a great job of getting these guys to come over but also develop them in such a short time into key contributors and playmakers. Yea and Colina out of it. Right now, we're seeing a lot of transfer portal guys that they were able to get

in this last offseason. I think that, you know, if you're able to get more transferportal guys, that's great, but you also need to be able to groom the younger players because they're the future of your programs. And Arizona has the perfect relationship or the perfect marriage. It's like a you know, hey, it's the holiday season, guys. You know potpourrie is popular this time or year. It's like potpourrie. It's a combination of the young

players getting better and also the transfer portal guys too. You look at the defensive side of the ball, guys, and the one thing that really stands out to me is that all the guys who are really making differences on the back end are players who are young, who are twenty twenty two prospects.

And then you look at the guys up front, like as Tyler Manola, like at Bill Norton, even justin full at linebackers, they're all veteran, experienced guys who gives the Wildcats a lot of beef and a lot of size. And then when you couple that with the young talented skill players that they have, it looks to be like a good mixture for Arizona and I think that's what's been so key to their success on that side of the ball. Yeah. Well, and that's a good point because you know Jed and he's

always made that point. So we're going to recruit high school guys, We're going to develop high school guys, but they're doing a really good job of filling holes with the transfer portal guys that they that they brought in. And you know, you speak, Bill Norton is the one that I think he's sort of like an unsung guy, right He's you know, he just sit there in the middle. He's in the way, he's creating opportunities for Manu

and Flow and and and and those guys playing at linebacker. It just seems like, you know, that was like a perfect fit for what they're trying to do right now. Defensively, and I didn't even mention Taylor Upshaws right the guy who leads the team in staff and as a former Colorado Buffalo, and Taylor Upshaw's right now is sitting top five in facts in the PAC twelve. When's the last time Arizona's been able to say they've had one of those

guys like that. It's been a long time, and now, you know, Arizona football, it's reaching places that it hasn't been in several years. We're talking about CFP rankings, AP top twenty five Bowl eligibility, guys finishing individually in the top half of statistical categories. The program is in a really good place right now. And now it's just a matter of, okay,

can you finish off the season strong? Because one thing about Jet Fish is that every single regular season it's divided into quarters, and there's four quarters in a season. Right now, Arizona's entering the final three games of the year. This is their fourth quarter, this is their winning time. How can you make sure that you're continuing this historical season by getting wins and not just you know, scraping by in finishing six and six. There are nine games

into the season. They got three more games left. They have the opportunity to finish nine and three, and they can also be one of the best three loss teams in college football because you think about this, guys, A triple overtime loss to USC, one touchdown loss of Washington, and an overtime game against Mississippi State. Who knows, you know, if Jaydon Dolora doesn't throw those three interceptions and Arizona doesn't have four turnovers in the first quarter,

who knows what would have happened in that game. They finish off the year nine to three with two games that were really right there at your fingertips.

I mean, this has the makings of being, you know, kind of like one of those what if seasons and Arizona football kind of like that two thousand and nine year where they could have gone to the Rose Bowl or even you know, nineteen ninety eight where you know, if they just beaten UCLA, who knows what would have happened, Or if UCLA had beaten Miami later

on in the season, you know what would have happened. But it's just it's just again, remarkable is just the one word that I keep thinking about when I talk about Arizona football and the success they're having right now at this point of the season. You know, justin you just brought up two horrible memories for me. I appreciate that that ninety eight two thousand and nine season. I even go back to ninety two and I've compared the I've compared that

season to this season. And I did that when Jedfish said that he thought that the game against usc which was a loss, you know, a two point loss, was sort of a turning point for this team and for this season. When he said that, I immediately went to the Miami Arizona game. In nineteen ninety two, Arizona travels to Miami, Miami's number one in the country. Arizona loses Steve McLoughlin, who ended up winging the Groszo.

I think the next year misses a long field goal. I think. I think Miami had won like forty some games in a row at home or some ridiculous number of games at home in Arizona could have and should have won that game. But yet they use that to, you know, spark a big and they went on a stretch of five wins, I think three of them against against ranked teams. How familiar does that happen? But then as Arizona does, and as Arizona historically did, they lost their last three games.

They lost to USC by a touchdown, they lost to a su by a point, then they went to the went to the Sun Bowl and lost to Baylor, and they didn't finish it. They're like in the same spot, right, they've won these games, everybody's feeling great. Here comes Colorado, a team that you should beat, and if you're Arizona fan, you're really worried about this game. Yeah, And honestly, it's pretty crazy to think

about this Colorado game. Over the course of the season. You know, going into the year, you looked at it like Arizona they could be gone, Roberill problems. And then the Buffaloes come out strong and put together two wins against top ten teams, and then you sit there and go, man, the pack twelve is so much better than we all thought. Arizona's really going to struggle against Colorado, and then low the holds several weeks later. Now Arizona is, you know, ten point favorites to beat the Buffalos.

So it goes to show you the kind of roller coaster that goes into a college football season. But yeah, seeing a lot of Arizona teams in the past struggle to finish off the year, and you know you mentioned, you know, those teams in the nineties. I think about that that twenty ten season when you know, in the Mike Stoops era, when Arizona started off the season I believe seven and one and they were a top ten team.

Things were great, and then they lost the every single game on their schedule, got smoked in the bowl game, and then the next season, you know, Dukes had a rocky start and then got fired. We've seen some tough stretches with this Arizona football program in the past in terms of finishing seasons. But the thing about Jed that he has emphasized and I think it will

really be their strength this year that they love finishing games. Tyler Owens their strength and conditioning coach has done such a great job of preparing these guys for the fourth quarter. They relish playing in that final period and it's what they call winning time, and they know that they're entering essentially the final quarter of their season and they want to be able to finish off things on the right foot and so I really have I really have a hard time trying to think

about Arizona struggling in these last three games. But it's possible. You know, it's not going to be a cakewalk the Colorado in Boulder. They would up to beat the Wildcat and it's always tough to play up there in the Mile High. And then you got to play Utah next week in Utah. I mean, they could be, you know, pulling off a big, big road win against the Washington Huskies this week. You know, they're not a team that Arizona should sleep on in Arizona has always struggled against Utah in

recent years. And then that game against ASU and the Territorial Cup. It doesn't matter where your records are in that game, so anything goes in a rivalry game, and they played very tough under Kenny Dillingham. But with that being said, with the exception of the Utah game, Arizona's favorite in this game against Colorado, They'll be heavily favored in that game against ASU. Those are two guinea games right there, or two games that your favor to win.

Go out there, handle handle your business and start turning some more heads, we say, real quick. So What do you think we're going to see in terms of what type of game? High scoring both teams. Yeah, Colorado's had trouble scoring the last two weeks against you Sai Oregon State. Arizona's defense is really good. It is it a twenty seven fourteen game or

is it a forty five to forty game? See Arizona, with the exception of the UFC game, they haven't really gotten into these kind of shootouts, right and don't I don't imagine them getting in a shootout with shador standers and companies. So I think this is going to be kind of like a game that we've seen over the last couple of weeks, maybe the first one to thirty wins. But I look at Colorado's offensive line, I mean, they got more holes in Swiss cheese. Then they allow so much pass rush.

They allow linebackers to creep in and get to shador sanders, and they have given up the most sacks by any college football team in the country this season. This is a perfect opportunity for Arizona's defensive line, led by Taylor Upshaw, who is on pace to finish the season in double digit sacks, which hasn't happened in a long, long time. And then a guy like Jacomanu who has gotten to the quarterback in the last several games. I think Arizona's

defense, especially upfront, is going to feast on Colorado. It's going to be a challenge. Right It's on the road and Arizona has played five straight games against ranked opponents. You know that's gonna take some juice out of you, or at least, you know, make it really hard on yourself to continue the season. I think all the emotions that have gone to every single one of these last five games I think will show against Colorado. But I

don't imagine Arizona losing this one. I think it's going to be a close game. But I'll probably go with Arizona thirty one, Colorado twenty three. Right, all right, justin man, appreciate it, save travels tomorrow, give us a good game in the paper, and we'll see. We'll see what happens. Man. Yeah, I'm going to Colorado. So I got to pack my long John a little different than do you we even have that stuff? Or do you got to go buy it? The guy at the

store looked at me like I was weird. You really want to buy this. Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the cold, but I'm looking forward to good college football. Sounds good. Okay, justin, thanks a bunch, and we'll follow you in the Star. So appreciate you being here. Hey, thank you, guys. Appreciate it. Man. All right, that was justin Spears. We got to head out because we got to do the Fab five Friday picks. Kevin has Steve's picks and has already been in

order not to mess him up. That's right, don't change him. Uh. Well, there's a lot on the line for Steve. He's got ten ten wins in a row, so you can't. You can't mess it up for you and I. I just continue to suck. So we'll see what I can come up with here. So stick around for the Fab five Friday Picks. We'll be right back. Man. If you're an Arizona men's basketball

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Fall season is upon us and fans are bearing down for our new and improved Arizona football team. I know Edmund Marcus is He's a huge Arizona football fan and of course a University of Arizona graduate. If you don't see him at the football game or a u A sporting event, go see him at All State Insurance on Campbell and get a quote for your car and home insurance

and more. Visit Edmund Marcus our State agency at twenty seven nineteen North Campbell, or give him a call at five to zero three two three nine three three three. You are in good hands with Edmund Marcus All State Agency. Do you want to be part of a winning team? A Team Security is looking for friendly, outgoing event security guards and event staff to be a part of our team. We've been providing our outstanding services to some of Arizona's biggest

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Gonzalez on Fox Sports fourteen to fifty. Welcome that back on the balling of Fox Sports fourteen fifteen. I'm your host for the day, Jay Goonzalees. My buddy Steve is on the road to Duke where he'll be covering the game tomorrow at Cameron Indoor in Durham for All Sports Tucson, so be sure to follow him with his coverage of that game. I got our very capable in turn here. Kevin has been keeping the conversation lively with us, talking about

some stuff. We had a couple of great guests, Brian Holl from the Boulder Daily Camera, Justin Spears talking about the big game at Colorado on Saturday. So we've had I think we've had a good afternoon. What do you think. I think he's been a pretty good show. Yeah, we've done all right. You know as well, Steve. If we let Steve back in the room, what do you think we'll see if Steve how's a job and he gets back exactly? All right? All right, so we're this

is the time for a Fab five Friday Picks. We normally do him on Friday, but we're not gonna have a show tomorrow, so I want to make sure you all remember that again. I'm gonna be on the road as well as Steve, so no show tomorrow, you'll hear the national feed. So we're gonna do our Fab five Friday picks on Thursday. Kevin's got Steve's picks. I've got my picks, such as they are. Steve has gone ten for ten over the last two weeks. He's got two perfect weeks,

so we'll see if he can keep that. Going. Fifteen for fifteen is hard. Well, ten for Dan, it's really hard to do. Five for five is hard to do, so's harder, right, Okay, So you know I'll let you start with Steve and give me his first pick. All right, Steve's first pick off the board is going to be Buffalo, as in the bills. He just told me Buffalo. I don't want to speak for Steve. How many how many college? How many Pro games?

Does he have? In there looks like, you know, the way he separated it, We're gonna say the Buffalo Bills because then he has another pick after that reads like a protein. All right. So he's got the Bills minus seven and a half against the Broncos. All right. I looked at that the hook on that. The seven and a half bothers me, and I just don't trust the Bills. Bills just bother me in general. That's what I would say, all right. So starting Steve, starting off on

the pro set. Now, the game we have to pick the special we call it is Penn State Michigan. So we're both picking that, all right. I'm gonna go go to the college side. And you know, this is a team that I've been wanting to get on their band bandwagon. I haven't until now, but I am James Madison. They're giving twenty five to Connecticut, who was really bad. James Madison is one of the top covering teams in college football. This sha I'm getting the hiccups again. It happened,

Kevin. But they're they're six and two against the spread. They've won six of their last seven against the spread. So in Connecticut is way down at the bottom of the list looking for them. Oh god, where are they? Well, I don't even really care because I think, uh, I think, I think James Madison just crushes them. Colorado's four or five. That's not bad. But they're but they're uh uh, they're just not very good. So I'm taken James Madison minus the big line of twenty five

points. All right, what do you got? All right? The next bet in the list is going to be Detroit Lions. Steve's been riding the Lions bandwagon for a while. They're giving three to Colorado. To the Chargers. That game is insane in La. I want to say San Diego. Oh dang it, it's in LA. But yeah, I have a hard time with NFL teams on the road, especially a team like the Lions that you just never know. I just I think the Lions are a little different

this year than what I think the Lions are. And I think, uh, you said the Chargers, right, I mean I think, yeah, I don't know. I don't know what to make of the Chargers. I don't think much of the Chargers. Yeah, they're the Chargers. That's what a different. So Okay, I'm doing a funny thing on this next game. Air Force lost last week, not undefeated. Not only did they not cover, they lost. They lost to Army and it was handily Hawaii. Who sucks one? And and I had I had the Hawaii was playing.

Who did they beat? They beat Nevada, and I had Nevada in that game. I'm everything says, just stay away from the game. Whatever, I'm gonna take air Force. I think air Force is gonna be pissed. I think Hawaii is gonna be full of itself. This game is that Hawaii. I don't think Hawaii is any good. I think air Force is still really good in spite of losing the Army last week. Hawaii's getting nineteen at

home. But I think what air Force does travels, And so I'm gonna take air Force, and I'm gonna give the nineteen on the road at Hawaii. It's a lot of points to give. And I yeah, the air Force, that's what they do best. They travel, right, they travel. Yeah, It's a forty to forty something to ten ten game is what I see. So I'm gonna take air Force, give up the nineteen, all right, So we're gonna go with Steve's first college pick is gonna be

Kansas State. Oh okay, that's Kansas State giving twenty and a half to Baylor. Man, that's a lot. That's a crazy number. I guess I didn't know that Kansas State was that good or that anybody. Well, I guess they're in the hunt for the for the Big twelve championship game, right, yeah, and hey big Game Boomer had them as a top ten coaching coaching Well again, Kansas State is one of those teams that covers all

the time. They're six and two against the spread, So yeah, I guess I can see that, and I'm looking to see where Baylor is on the list. Excuse me, God, I'm sorry I got these hiccups again. This is a second time today. But let me let me find Baylor real quick. Baylor is three and five against the spread, and they've lost three of their last four games against the spreads. Okay, twenty and a half points though on the road, Man, that seems like is that on

the road? No, No, that's on the road. I shouldn't have said that. I don't know, But okay, kids of State against Baylor, give me twenty and a half. I'm gonna go to the pro side do my pro games. I'm just picking these games because I think these teams are playing really well, and I didn't really care about the spread. But I'm gonna take the Ravens. They're giving up six to the Browns. They're at home against the Browns, so you know, I think, you know,

the Ravens are playing tough right now. I think they're a Super Bowl contender. The Browns. You never know. So I like the Ravens giving less than a touchdown at home against the Browns. What's the over under it? Because those are two crazy elite defenses. Yeah, that won't get after you. That can't. Yeah, it can't be a lot. Let me

look that up real quick while we're talking here. But uh I just you know, I'm not I've never been a total believer in uh In Lamar Jackson, but watching what I've watched over these last few weeks, they're just they're just good. They're just like, yeah, he's playing different. He got his contract, and more importantly, he got the game plan that he wanted. He wanted to be more of a pocket passer, and here he is being a pocket passer and the Ravens are. Yeah, and since this morning,

that line has moved to six and a half. It was six this morning, which is what we said it at. But you were asking the over under that's at thirty eight. That seems high. Excuse me, that seems high. Yeah. I feel like that's a defensive game, like you said, Yeah, it's gonna be a slog Yeah, be a war. Yeah. All right, Steve's next college pick. All right, this is his lock this one. Steve's confident U c l A UH is at uh. I believe they're actually at home, they're at home state and that eighteen

points and he's locking that. Wow. I don't know, oh man, with what I saw of UCLA's d offense last week, I don't know that I'm doing that. But Steve has crushed me in this poll, So I guess I shouldn't be criticizing his picks for saying that's a bad pick. But all right, so yeah, UCLA at home at home giving eighteen to ASU looked really bad last week, fifty five to three to Utah. Maybe a little beat up, maybe a little uh demoralized? Right as Actually, you

took the word out of my mouth. I was gonna say maybe a little locker. Yeah, yeah, Okay, I see that, and I see that and that then my other NFL game again, a pick that I took these guys last week. They did me fine. I know the Texans had a you know, miracle win last week. They wins down, scored a touchdown with forty seconds left. C J. Stroud looks really good. Say, how fun is that team to watch them? Yeah? That team is a lot of fun. But again, the Bengals at home giving less than

the touchdown. I feel like Joe Burrow is you know, he's over the injury. They're playing really well. I looked at their lines. They lost the first four games against the spread. They've won their last four against the spread. They're on a roll and I'm gonna take them. I got the I got the Bengals at home against the Texans giving six and a half. All right, all right, all right, now we got the special. Oh wait, I got a lock one. Hmm. I'm gonna lock the

Ravens. I'm gonna lock the Ravens, okay, like un locked the rape. Okay, all right, Penn State Michigan, all right, Saturday ten am at Penn State. Steve's gonna go with the Nitney line. Oh okay, but he did want. I asked him if there's anything he wanted me to add on behalf of him for his picks. The only thing he said he didn't want to justify any of his other picks, but he did say quote had a hard time with the Penn State game, but thinking this is

the demise of Michigan. First big game on the road, yep, big game on the road. They're they're They're competition so far in the undefeated season hasn't been hasn't been great. I mean, they're they're playing in the Big Ten, They're playing some good teams. They haven't played a great team yet. I'm taking Penn State as well. I picked that. I picked that early in the week. Penn State at home getting four and a half.

I think that's uh, you know, I think it's just gonna have a tough time on top of all the distractions of all the stuff going on. I think I like Penn State as well. That's our special game, so that counts for some extra points. So yeah, all right, So Steve and Iron, I think the first time in a few weeks that we've been on the same side of the of the special I don't know what that means,

but it has to mean something. It means. There's the way we do the point system we have is each game is at one point, but the special and the lock you add half a point if you win it, you lose a half a point if you lose it. So you can get six points if you hit every everything, which is what Steve got the last two weeks. And how does it make you feel that you and Steve are on the same page about that game? Do you feel good? Do you feel did you wish that he picked something up? No? I don't really,

I don't really care. You know that our competition is so over. He's killing me. I can I should even give you the score here. It's it's thirty five to ten. It's not even a game to score. Yeah, it is what it is. What it is, so anyways, but that's where we are. Okay, that's a rap, Kevin, nice job today, appreciate it. Thanks for being here and doing you did a nice job with the show, running the board, the whole bit. I

appreciate our guests. Brian Holle from the Boulder Daily Camera, Justin Spears from the airs on Daily Star and Stuf. Of course, Steve for calling in from the Denver Airport to give us some of his thoughts on the Duke game tomorrow. Again, fun, fun weekend coming up, man, Hope it's a great weekend. Yeah. I look forward to watching a ton of great sports this weekend. I hope Steve gets to his destination safely, and I hope you'll get to watch some great sports. Yeah, it should be fun.

So again, no show tomorrow. We'll be back on Monday to break it all down the Duke game, the Arizona Colorado game, and anything else that happens over the weekend. So'll be sure to come back on Monday. Have a great weekend, everybody, We'll see you on Monday. Enjoy the events. Just weeks o, cat im, I have a good samp holding in that you set the boughs in the Atlanta Sassin. I'm gonna get