FULL FRI POD @SpenceChecketts talking #Utes @ OkSt, KSU @ BYU, #RSL latest, Bees leaving SLC + more

All right, what is going on a drive time on a Friday afternoon.

We're a little late today.

It's about nineteen minutes past the hour.

Of two o'clock.

Man, it is a chamber of commerce Utah day. Outside it's about seventy five degrees and clear and the sun is shining. Have great weather this weekend. Excited for that. Happy Friday to you. And as it is every single day, it's gonna have you long for the ride's bench check hits behind the mic. That young man is Porter Larsen behind the glass today and we are, yep, you know what I'm gonna say. We are absolutely gampacked on a Friday afternoon to get you ready for a big sports

Right, I'll admit it.

Pro Rogan looked pretty good, Aaron Rodgers looked pretty good. My New York Jets absolutely smoked the enemies from up north, the New England Patriots, twenty four to three at Jet Life Stadium.

And Aaron Rodgers looked good.

Man, he just did.

There's no other way around it.

And as a Jet fan, you kind of love to see it, and you hope that it lasts, so the Jets handle the Patriots. Unfortunately, most of the news right now concerning the pro football cycle coming up for Week three in the NFL are injuries. We'll keep you up to date throughout the course of the show today as far as any of the breaking news that comes down, But there are a ton of injuries in the NFL, more than we typically see. It feels very Dare I say load management ish as they do in pro basketball?

I hope I'm wrong.

But Week three the NFL gets rolling last night and a bunch of great games. Obviously a lot of attention around here, a lot of attention on this show. For the first time at the University of Utah will play as a charter member up well, not charter, but a member of the Big Twelve. They travel the Still Water to take on Okay stay tomorrow two o'clock Mountain Time. Our pregame covers with Porter Larsen and Jordan win live at Bout Time pub Ordan Landings will begin at ten o'clock.

I am, I am. Friday's gone. Well, it is beautiful outside? Is that Chamber of Commerce day?

Is that?

Is that what you're getting at?

Yeah, it's like a perfect Salt Lake City day. Okay, that's what that means. It's like seventy five and so sunny. I mean, this is why people pay a ton of taxes and deal with wokeness to live in California.

Okay, it is a beautiful day.

It is a beautiful day outside.

They are woke in California, right? Is that the update?

I think?

So?

I think there, Thank you for that.

If you want to, if you want to get into defining stuff today, can we can go there?

Now?

They have weather like every day and we don't. So I like to enjoy it when we have it.

I and we're of course discussing. This is going to still Water this weekend, not the coast of California. It'll be an adjustment for some Pac twelve fans that are making their first road trip to the Big twelve. But I am very much looking forward to that on the football side of things, because I think that'll be a really fun environment in still Water. And uh yeah, we'll we'll be covering it live and looking forward to some soccer this weekend as well. So good Friday show to come.

We have Misbehave on the clock today, so let's jump into it before we catch up with Pablo today courtousy of our friends at Standard Restaurant Supply. It's your tailgate headquarters. Check them out at Standard restaurant dot com or head on down to thirty five hundred South and West Temple get the best tailgate in town with Standard Restaurants Supply. On a Friday afternoon, It's time now for your opening tip. You've got a tune to.

The Drive, which Welcome to the Drive with Spence Check it's on Utah's number one sports talk. Now into the studio of ESPN seven hundred to set the scene for the show. The opening tip of the Drive is brought to you by Standard Restaurant Supply, your one stop shop to build the best tailgate in town. Standard Restaurant Supply thirty five hundred Southwest Temple, So.

Utah heads to still Water.

Well, they're already there, but the rest of you nation will converge upon Boone Picken Stadium. Very curious to see how many youth fans make the trip. We've talked a lot about this throughout the course of the off season. When the Big twelve became the reality and the PAC twelve was left in the rear view mirror. I think it's safe to say, at least I can only speak for myself, excuse me, is that in the PAC twelve footprint, it seemed like Ute fans traveled really well as the

Now.

We'll give you our pick before we say gag night at six, as we do every Friday, We'll give you a six pack of picks. You do with it what you would like. As I say every day, do not gamble on sports. You work too hard for your money. Keep it in your pocket, keep it in your bank account. I am very confident that if Cam Rising is under center, Utah wins and the covers and I'm not even and they cover it, I'm not even sure it's going to be all that uncomfortable. Okay, State third worst in the

You guys probably know it.

Utah has been a little bit fortunate this year with some of the scheduling stuff they avoid k State Okay State has to go on the road to play Kansas State, and there're gonna be some tricky games. Excuse me, They're gonna be some tricky games, for sure. This is on paper as of now. The biggest test that Youthes have to pass in order to have a road ahead of them that should they handle their business, they should be right in the mix of this thing at the end.

Let's be clear, I am quite excited about the vanilla it sounds much more appetizing on the cougartail specifically than the maple.

Just just somebody needs to get a hold of whoever's in charge of game promotions and just be like, let's not do the white out anymore, Like, let's just not do it other than we'd usually do it anyway.

I don't think they need to lean into.

It, you know what I mean?

Yeah, I mean, I guess they don't have the black uniforms okay.

Anyway, So it's a big night, big Saturday night in Provo. BYU is a touchdown underdog seven points of the line as of now. The conversation for BYU next week, if they get this win, will sound like, hey, we're a

The hard part for.

BYU is, even if they get this win, it's not going to sound the same way it will for Utah.

Because BYU schedule is a bear.

You know, it's k State, then it's at Baylor, it's home against Arizona. They get Okay State, they're at UCF, They're at Utah, They're home against Kansas, They're at Arizona State. Like, even if BYU gets this win, if Utah gets the win, I do think people are gonna be talking about a

We'll bring that back around.

Because there's a lot of intrigue on whether or not Cam's going to play Tomorrow'll leave it up to you. You can listen to the interview and then see what you think. Chris Camarondie from the Athletic Robert Johnson former YOUT so plenty of college football yet to come with a big match coming up tomorrow here in the market, Portland is in town to take on URSLF. Our next guest is the head coach of Rayal sal Lake. It's been a minute since we caught up with a great

Happy Friday? Sprint's doing well? About you?

All good here?

All good here, beautiful day and vibes are good right now as you guys bounce back to get that win on Wednesday. What did you like most, Pablo about the way you guys were able to respond after losing the match to Houston last weekend.

Yeah.

No, I think it was a fantastic performance. More so from the mentality perspective. I think with all this change and a couple you know, uh, factors that were beyond our control.

There's there's, there's.

Been this, and the way the schedule has been where we've only had a few games in the last couple of months. You know, I think we've lost our way a little bit from a mindset perspective, And I think everything starts and ends with the way you approach the game as an individual and how that permes.

Into the collective.

And I think the guys that that that played on Wednesday did a great job of pressing the right way, attacking the right way, but more importantly, playing as a team and and doing it for one another. And I think that's what kind of evaded us against Houston and against San Jose, which was another game where I felt

You know what, I was going to ask you a question about Houston, but it's Friday, it's seventy five degrees, and I don't want him, so I'm not gonna We're gonna move on from it. Okay, But here's I want to ask you a couple of things about the Dallas match. And I've talked to you before about the process you have in place for penalty kicks and who steps up and why and all that stuff. And I suppose if chi Cho's out there, it's chie Jo and maybe some other options as well. And we know that Vera's got

Yeah. No, I think you know, over the last year and a half, you know, been able to to watch Vera in these moments. And the one thing I think is really important Spence and I think you have nail on the head if Chiechjo's out there. This is not this is not even a conversation. But it was one of the few times where we had a penalty kick

All Right, you often talk about life and soccer and sport defined by individual moments. What did you make of that moment when Anderson Julio and you know, it's funny, Pablo. I watched the replay and he didn't even look up. I mean, he must have. He must have been seeing tendencies from the keeper prior to that opportunity, because he just got the ball and then had a nice little touch and turned around and and right when he hit it.

But it's funny.

My first response was he underhit it, like I didn't think he got enough of it.

But right, and maybe you can help me understand.

Is that a thing that players do they notice maybe five or ten minutes prior to oh wait, he is creeping up if I get it, because he didn't look up, he didn't turn around, did he just one touched and he struck it. Would you make in that moment?

No, I think again, I think that's individual brilliance. You know, over the last two years, we've had you know, Chicho do it this year, Pablo just do it last year and now and though and I think it's a multiple of things. One, it's obviously individual brilliance to be aware that that is happening, which is a great thing because again in soccer, it's about understanding where everyone is at all times and then making the best decision available to you.

His line.

Is awesome on Ada's part. And then the execution, which is very difficult from that distance to your point, how do you gauge a sixty yard ball? And the funny thing is that in training, not one training goes by where these guys, especially attacking players, aren't picking out a goal out in the distance and they're like, okay, one hop into that goal, you know. So like, I don't know if that's subconstantly training it, but it's definitely something

So we're learning about some of these new players, and I do have a question in a moment about the macro situation of getting them accustomed to what you want them to do. But that run up the right side from Dominic mark Zuk and the cross and Anderson Julio, that was art man.

That was brilliant start to finish.

I mean the problem is the highlights later on, Like the highlight shows just showed the cross, but the turn the run. I mean, that was one of the first times that I mean, I haven't seen him play much, but that should indicate to RSL fans that there's some quality with this young kid. What do you so? Two part question, What did you make of that snapshot moment? And what can you share with us about how he's looked from a macro standpoint?

Yeah, so I would even rewhinded a little further because it was actually a great team goal where Justin Glad plays it out to Phil Quinton, he gets pressured and he zips the ball out to Dom and Dom just an individual play that is just awesome. And these kind of moments are exactly what we saw in the video when we were scouting him from Poland, is his ability to make good decisions on the endline and then have the quality to pick out the best option with the

All Right, help me understand what happened with the HAYESUSA free kick, because I still am confused. Now. It was a hell of a strike actually by him, but I don't know, Like if I was playing FIFA, I would have thrown my control roller instead. You're cheating, I felt. I felt like that was my reaction. I'm like, you're cheating, I'm resetting the xbox. What happened there?

Yeah, So it was.

It was strange, and again it's it's so interesting. These are all things that we talk about in the preseason, that we hit on, and if you don't get hurt by it somewhere along the somewhere along the regular season, then you don't really bring it up because it's almost like a known action. Right, So when when Krootsy commits the foul, the first thing you do when it's around the goal is the person that foul the player is stands in front of the ball and he waits for

So you reference something after the game, And I wanted to dig into this a little bit because we've talked a lot, talk to Jay about this week about the system that you've been wanting to implement, and you started to implement the system in the offseason and carried over with some excellent results, and you were playing a lot

Because you have to have force and bite to do that.

So how do you how do you kind of translate that message to your players, and how do you feel like it's been received? You know, when you're not in possession, do everything you can to get the ball back.

Yeah, you know. I again, I attribute a lot of this to the fact that there's been so much change within the group and it's gonna you know, and all the different dynamics that come about with like the guys that are still here with new guys coming in, and it's just like it's such a turbulent time and then you're not getting the results, and so it's like, how do we peel all this back and talk about under the hood, what does it look like? Who are we like?

Up front, the.

Lack of predictability breeds so much doubt within the whole team that you end up not being good without the ball, and then when you get it, there's so much doubt you're not good with the ball, and it becomes a cycle. And so when we when we get pressure on the ball at all times, we are present minded. This guy goes, this guy covers, this guy goes, this guy covers, and it's like you're just playing from a place to flow.

So I'm not going to say it was the most impressive individual moment because I thought, obviously Anderson's goal was nuts in that run up the up the flank by Mark Zuke and Lacrosse was pretty pretty brilliant. But the goal that Diogo had that was called back, I rewound that and watched it like five times, like that was a skill check.

Now it was off size, it didn't count.

But you know, all these new players, we're all trying to get to know him a little bit. In that moment right there, I think for a lot of people, even though it was called back, was another indicator that you might have something special on your hands. How's the project coming along? Trying to ingratiate Diogo into what you want to do.

Yeah, No, it's he Listen. He's a fantastic player. He's a fantastic teammate. And I think with him within our with just coming to MLS in Europe, you have a more I don't want to say sophisticated, but there's a lot more respect with teams, Like there's very few teams in Europe that high press the way we do, and in our league, everyone high presses, right, So in Europe it's more like, oh, you have the ball, we'll drop

I have before you set you lose your win combined with like a ridiculous amount of results that win ourselves way, which is awesome on Wednesday, bumps you up to second. No rest for the weary. Portland is in town tomorrow. They're the highest scoring team in the West and second only to Miami with sixty goals scored. So according to the numbers, they score a lot of goals and they give up a lot of goals. That's what's in front of me.

Yeah?

I think you said it. They're they're a team that attacks really well and at times they're you know, they're they're they're poorest in the back, and I think it's really easy against this team to get caught in this transition game, which is they lose the ball and their front four don't necessarily transition to get back behind the ball, and so it's now it's our attack. It might be like say six guys in that transition moment against six

Uh.

They're they're they're all people not only creating goal scoring opportunities for the teammates, but they're all very good one v one attackers. And so for us, it's it's going to take a little bit of you know, sophistication. Even if we can go to goal, if the numbers aren't great or if the space isn't wide open, we almost have to wait for our team to get forward and set up camp in their attacking half to force these attack to force third attacking players to get back and defend.

I'm considering coming out, but I need to guarantee that you're gonna win.

If I'm going to drive out to Sandy.

Let's go, Spence.

I love it.

I'll put it out there, man.

This game, I love it all right. Always good chat with you, man, Go get three chairing for you. Okay?

Like what thanks?

PLO Masterronie Head, Coach of RSL, Brought to you today by Big O Tires get our Healthy Car Special for fifty nine to ninety five, which includes a conventional oil change, checks on alignments, breaks, batteries, and more. We want to keep our customers safe on the road and help them save money on tires and service. There's always something on sale Big O Tires. Stop into any of our fifty locally owned and operated locations in Utah or schedule an

I'm good man, doing well, doing well. Here's where I want to start.

It feels like our guy fulk over at the Trip has really started to kind of remake that newsroom with the new beat writers for BYU and Utah and now the Utah Hockey Club. All three have been on this show and will be on this show. So what's it been like over there as you guys are kind of trying to kind of remake some things and tell us about these these new faces here in the market.

Yeah, man, it's been cool. I you know, Aaron was out of town earlier this week, so I kind of was subbing for him in that sports editor role at the Trip and got a chance to like really work with these new writers on all their stuff.

Right.

Like I mean, Jason I think has done some really incredible work on the U S feat with the Morgan Scalley story earlier this week. You know, got one on ones with Kyle Whittingham and and Mike Gundy this week ahead of this game and talking about their their past as coaches. You know, the two twenty year coaches left in college football playing each other this week. I think that's an interesting angle that It's pretty remarkable that, you know, a relatively new voice in the market can can get

Lifer, you know.

So like, it's been really cool to have a full section of sports, you know, sports nerds in the Tribune office that that allow us to do some really good reporting. And I let you know, everyone says this and it's cliche, but I am, legit super excited about what the Tribune sports department is right now and what it's going to be for the next few years.

So as as simply a Utah not just the jazz b writer data columnist from the Utah Jazz. Because we were talking about this earlier in the we you know obviously, and I do want to talk about the Bees. You know, they're leaving. This is the last week of Bees baseball. But we have pro hockey now. We have really grown into this. I don't even want to say underrated anymore. Just this really solid college football market over the past decade or so, the Jazz or the Jazz RSL's RSL.

Yeah, look, I mean I think it's wildly different. I mean it's when you go, you know, out of town or overseas, people know Utah because of Utah Jazz and those battles with the Chicago Bulls. But I think that's now expanding a little bit, you know, So it's not either just the Jazz or the Olympics. It's now you do have the hockey club, now you do have college football, and the use making a name in that space, you know, obviously having done what they did in the past, and

Scene this year.

And then yeah, you mentioned kind of the possibility of getting a major League baseball team. It's it's more, it's more important and more diverse than I feel like it has been ever and certainly you know, in my time

So let's move over to the Bees. You know, we had Tony and Studio to try to get people out to the ballpark and You didn't pull punches, and that's what I like about you. You rarely do. You didn't mince words. And I talked to you when the news broke that the Bees were leaving and heading south, and I'll say the same thing today that I said.

Then.

We're all going to react to this news about, you know, the Bees moving as far as how it affects us personally.

I live in the Capital City, so.

To you, and I don't want it to move because I like going to Bees games and it's close by. As you point out in your piece, they'll find fans, they're going to find an audience. It's just gonna be a different audience, and it's just gonna be weird because I have, like you, so many memories of going to those games way back in college, taking my son and going there with friends and dates and all the things.

Yeah, man, Like it's it's sad, you know, and that doesn't mean that it's not okay. And you know that it won't be a good thing for people who live in the South and west corner of our Velly. But like you know, baseball was on the corner of thirteen South and West Temple for ninety eight years. You know, in nineteen twenty six, Community Fields or Community Park opened up for minor league baseball, and since then, minor league

Daybreak, any update, I haven't heard anything in a while. We had Steve starkson studio that must be a year and a half ago now, but I.

Haven't heard anything in a while.

As far as traction towards getting a major League Baseball team here in our market. Is there any update in that direction, Andy.

None that I've heard, and none that's been reported in the last few months. I mean, they're so interested in doing so. You know, I obviously have an interest in the A's, but the biggest interest is in a Major League Baseball deciding to expand. And their formal word on the topic is that they are not currently.

Looking to expand.

Fair enough, fair enough, all right, let's move over here.

Let's move over here. What sort of, if any, effect do you think the potential Let's see, how do I say this, the potential underwhelming Jazz season ahead. Potential underwhelming Jazz season ahead, That's how I'll put it.

What effect, if any, do you think the potential.

Underwhelming Jazz season ahead will have on the interest with his local hockey club? Because, look, they're not going to win the Stanley Up this year. But the more and more I kind of dig into it, read about it, listen to some of these previews, I think they're in a good spot.

I think they're going to be entertaining.

I think they're going to be fun, and they're further along and they're rebuild project than the Jazz are, and part of me feels like they're much further along with a much better plan in place than the Jazz are right now, do you think we'll see Jazz fans potentially disenfranchised at the I don't know the direction or lack of direction whatever you want to say. Uh, and maybe head over and find a different home with the Utah Hockey Club this year.

Yeah, I mean, I think from a TV ratings point of view, especially you know, I think, you know, the UTA Hockey Club will sell out every game. I think the Jazz will get close to selling out of the game, but I you know, ultimately it's going to be kind of what gets the casual fans going, and I don't

On the beat.

And yeah, you know, as a result, I think it's going to be pretty natural that fans, especially in the first half of the season when college football is available, tune into that, tune into the hockey rather than tune into what's going to be a I think a pretty mediocre product on the court.

Do you have any information or knowledge of you know, it's just a tough ask, and they do it in other cities, So maybe this is us just growing up. But you know, if you're a Jazz season ticket holder and you get the email about buying season tickets for the Utah Hockey Club, I know several people that have chosen one or the other.

I know a few that are gonna do both.

But there are legitimate questions about not just is there enough money to go around from the consumers and the fans. Is there enough support from corporate sponsorships? Is there enough money from businesses and corporations for the folks over you know, under the Smith umbrella who have been tasked with some very audacious goals to be able to hit those goals on the corporate spose ship side and the ticket sales

Look, I mean, they're charging a ton of money for hockey tickets, right, I think so they're getting some money from that, you know, in terms of corporate sponsorships, I don't know. I know that the Jazz had moved up a lot in the Smith era in terms of that, because they were really able to kind of tap into Utah's texting and get much higher sponsorship rates than they had kind of in the Miller era, especially kind of

All right, So let's, uh, let's move over into the space of, you know, ultimately a quick little jazz thought as we actually know before we do that, because I saw this on your Twitter timeline and I know it's been talked about. So for our listeners that may have missed it, the Smith Entertainment Group did announce the streaming options at the disposal of the fans for both the Hockey Club and the Jazz Get the details, Andy, Yeah.

So three different streaming options. You got your Jazz Plus from last season now, a Utah Hockey Club Plus and an SEG plus, which just basically combines bolls. It's seventy dollars a month for the Hockey club, one hundred and twenty five dollars a month, or sorry, one hundred seventy dollars a year for the Hockey club, one hundred and twenty five dollars a year for Jazz Plus. Combine them

All right, one jazz thing, because I I don't know, man like Bowler.

Bowler.

Bowler was in studio last week and he was running over his questions about the rotations, and I just wanted to give him a hug, you know, like, I don't want to hear Locke stats about Patty Mills and Drew Eubanks pick and roll in the second half of the third quarter. I just I can't. I'm not gonna be able to do it. So I want to ask you about Will. So CBS Sports released their lists. They do it's off season fodder best you know, best coaches in the NBA that Will at seven?

Uh it does?

It does seem like, you know, he is respected across the league with coaches that he has worked for, coaches he's worked with in San Antonio and Boston US US basketball. I watch the Jazz fifty documentary and Will's doing the whole like, Hey, this isn't your grandfather's jazz, and I'm like, oh, okay, so what is your jazz? Because I don't think you know. I don't think they know. But I just wonder, with what you know about him, where you think his mentality

Where do you think he's at with all this?

Yeah?

Look, I mean every conversation I've ever had with Will over the last couple of years about this, he's been as understanding and as forgiving as anyone possibly can be. Even when you know, I'll write something critical about jazz player and He'll be like, yeah, I know, you know it's not news to Will. And I'll be like, okay, then why are you playing? You know, Rudy gay And he was plain x YZ whatever, locker room deal, et cetera. But in the end, like he sees this all as

He might have helped.

All right, Andie before I said you loose quick, RSL thought the good and the bad? What has Andy Larson's vibes high? And what has Andy Larson concerned the rest of the way.

I mean, they won on Wednesday and it wasn't a very confident or you know, confidence inspiring win. And you know, I think ultimately the hope is that you know, Diogo gets it together, that some of these new editions end up being worth kind of what they were they.

Were purchased for.

But as of now, like the attack looks a little bit sketchy. I think maybe if you start Anderson Julio up top and Techo in the middle, you're you might be better than just starting Teacho up top and Julio off the bench. That's something to consider. And I thought it was really interesting what Jason christ said on a station about how you know no players.

Place is safe.

I think there's kind of some real competition for these spots given that some of the bigger money names haven't played that well over the last few months. So you know, there's stuff for them to figure out over the next what four games it is until the playoffs start. But if they do. I think they can get to the heights of of you know, earlier in the year, but there's there and they're not a terrible team as is,

What's a handsome, young eligible batcher like Andy Larson doing on a Friday night in Salt Lake City.

Hanging out with Aaron Falkon then going to the BS game?

Lovely? Okay, Well, enjoy that teller and we said hello and we'll see us soon. Andy, thanks for the time.

We'll do.

Thanks, Andy Larson saw late Tribune. All right, I want to tell you about my friends that Diamond Coat Premium home siding. They're new here along the walls at front. You won't believe what they can do to your home's exterior. Diamond Cote Siding next Generation system delivers the exterior transformation

All right, rolling.

Along here, three o'clock out of the show on a Friday. It's a beautiful Friday afternoon Chamber of commerce type day here in Salt Lake, seventy five degrees in sunny. It's soposed to be nice all weekend long. So obviously looking forward to some college football. Good one tonight, two top twenty five teams, the Fighting Alaina Illinois taking on Nebraska. Thursday night football. Last night saw my New York Jets

At you.

That's not a new topic. We've been talking about it for a long time. And obviously when it comes to one Cameron Rising, oftentimes the conversation is predicated on his health. Told that he is going to play, and I know there are rumors out there because there always are. The line on Wednesday night moved four point five points in

Time now for the Rising Report, which of course is a conversation with QB one Cameron Rising of your ute's Cam Rising.

What's up?

How are you doing good? How are you?

I'm doing all right?

Man?

You know I got to ask, so how's the hand feeling.

It's feeling a lot better, definitely way better than last week and just continues to get better. So just got to keep staying on top of treatment and everything and or turn it in the right direction.

That's always good to hear.

I want to focus a lot of this conversation on Oklahoma State, but I do want to look back a little bit at this Utah State game. And you know, your guys did it without you, not without you. You were there, you were on the sideline, warmed up, getting yourself ready to play. A slow start for Utah. You've seen it happen when you're under center. You've seen it happen when you're watching on the sideline. You probably seen

Sometimes in football you don't don't connect early and can't really get into a rhythm. And when that happens, it just it just gets hard for the offense. It gets a little stagnant. And then usually coach Coach Lud calls them some easy plays to the quarterback that gives them some easy reads and and kind of get into a rhythm. And and I think once once that happens, usually that

I've been trying to get to the bottom of this.

Isaac looked so much better after the half, and I asked coach wit about it.

Hey, what'd you say to him? What did you do? You said, I didn't do anything.

He was over with coach Lud And I asked Coach Lud and he didn't think it was something that happened at halftime. Did you have a conversation with Isaac Wilson at halftime? Were you able to tell that the second half was going to be a better half?

I I kind of got that sense in the in the at the end of the second half, in that second quarter, I think he really started to get a rhythm and just get a feel for the game and and really just got comfortable back there and and yeah, he just he turned it on. I think it half time. The only thing I told him is, look, go win this game. It's explicit right there. But no, Yeah, and he was fired up and yeah, and it was a it was a good day and he came out on fire.

And coach Lud said he actually thought it was the touchdown pass in the late second quarter two Money Parks. Coach Ludd called it an AHA moment. He said, I think that's where the game kind of clicked for Isaac Wilson. And that makes sense to me, right, You get you get those moments where you realize, oh my gosh, I know exactly what I'm doing, I belong here, et cetera.

I'm going to be fine moving forward.

I think it was just the San Diego State game that I played in in twenty one that, yeah, just kind of playing free, you don't really have any any worries and just go out there and play some ball. That that's kind of where I started to feel that comfort playing playing quarterback.

It's actually really funny to hear you say that, because if you ask Utah fans, like, what was the pivotal moment for this team in the turning point, like they will, they will point to that same thing. And when Cam Rising took over as QB one and you know, still lost that San Diego State game, you played well, fought back, but after that it was onward and upward and two

Yeah, I mean, whenever you get that get your name called, you just gotta be ready. And yeah, that's that was definitely a good game, but I still wish we could have won it. That's one thing I regret about that game.

Cam Rising my guest here on the Sean O'Connell show for the Rising Report headed on the road to still Water. Let's talk about this game with Oklahoma State. They are a team that is a lot like Utah, sometimes overlooked, maybe not as big of a brand, but just as powerful and can beat anybody in college football. That was true when they were in the Big Twelve with Texas and with Oklahoma that's true. Now your expectations for the atmosphere in still Water. The stadium's about the same size

It should be loud, Oh absolutely. I mean I've been there before, back when I was at Texas, and it's a it's aeraudi, rowdy crowd, and they do a good job making noise. They got they got the paddles smacking the boards and stuff, and it's it's going to be a great environment. And it's kind of everything you dream of as a kid playing college football, going into the hostel environment like that, and yeah, just just ready to get out there and get the ball over all.

Right, let's talk about what this Oklahoma State team is on paper, and maybe you could tell me more about what they are on film, because on paper right now, they're the worst passing defense in the Big twelve Conference. They're giving up a lot of yardage, but they're not giving up a ton of points. They're obviously three and oho, so the only stat that really matters, they're successful.

They won them all.

But you know, this is a young secondary that has shown some vulnerability.

That's the paper side. What do you see it on film?

They love to play a lot of man coverage and stuff, and they do run multiple coverages and stuff, and I know that can be challenging for offenses to see, but it can also be challenging for them to go out there and execute all those different different types of defenses that you can see. Not a very typical thing that a lot of defenses do. But they definitely have some great athletes on the defense that can make some plays

I asked coach Lovely this yesterday and he said, you know, I wasn't holding anything in the playbook back against Baylor. We need to win these games. You gotta win all of these games. Is there something Is there anything new or the new wrinkles that we might see against Oklahoma State that in the non conference the playbook didn't get that deep, or because it was Isaac instead of Cam

Mean, yeah, you can. You can definitely dress things up differently and make it give it a different appearance. But at the end of the day, it's football. You got to go out there and execute plays and stuff and and well you got to make sure we're running stuff that we're comfortable with. And I think the team is just ready. I think a lot of the plays we've been working on for a long time, ever since really springball, so just got to be ready to go for whatever

I know that every game is taken very seriously, and you do take it one week at a time, and everyone's trying to improve every single week. Is there a sense in practice this week though, like, hey, now we really got to step up.

I need ten percent more from everybody.

I need whatever that number is more from everybody, because not only is this conference play, but this is another team that is your equal. This is another highly ranked team that is built just like you are in a lot of ways. Is there that sense where like you already took all these other games seriously, but this one is even more important and you got to be that much better.

Yeah? Absolutely. I mean when you get to conference place, it comes down to championships at that point. So every game we play is pretty much have to be treated as if it's a championship, and you just got to go out there and be ready to execute. And I think we've had a great week of practice so far and just got to finish these next two days off and get on the plane and get ready to go.

Okay, I know they're piping noise in in the practices, right, they do that thing where they turn up the speakers.

How annoying is that for you? I mean I was only a practice player.

I didn't have to deal with crowd noise in the games, but I hated those weeks of practice where urban Meyer would roll out the big speaker system and just crank that stuff up. You couldn't hear yourself think it's the worst.

It is. It's not the worst. I actually I have grown quite fond of it. It definitely makes that environment

Is the is the headset in your helmets just like headphones. You can turn the volume up and down like you've had to adjust that or you're willing to adjust that when you're practicing it and when you're in the.

Game, Yeah, for sure. And we also have these little covers that kind of go in our helmet that that pretty much simulate covering your your ear piece right there, so or that ear hole that's in the helmet, and yeah, that that kind of makes it makes it a lot easier here. And just with that speaker being right next to your ear and having a cover, it really keeps the sound in. So should should be should be pretty good here the calls and everything.

There's actually a built in cover in your helmet.

Because the only time a quarterback doesn't look cool on a football field is when he's standing there looking at the sideline and cupping his hands over the ear holes in the helmet. That's the only time a quarterback doesn't look cool. So they've eliminated that possibility.

Yeah, I mean it's I think they do it in the NFL an away games and stuff. Yeah, it's just a little piece that covers that ear hole. And it's hard to talk to people from the side. But besides that, you need you need to get the call really, and that's the one thing you need to focus on.

That's awesome.

Cam Rising and my guest here on the Sean O'Connell show, getting ready for a road trip. Utes at Oklahoma State. Utes are ranked twelfth in the country. Oklahoma State ranked fourteenth in the country. Going back to that secondary and they are it's a young secondary and they do have a bunch of different looks.

Is this a week where you could see the wide receiver.

Room specifically being a bigger part of the offense, you know, going off for some more touchdowns, because we've seen the passing game pick up, but it's been tight ends, it's been you know, running backs out of the backfield.

Is this the week for the wide receiver room? Potentially?

Absolutely. I Mean, anytime you get a team that plays a lot of man coverage, you got to have guys who went on the outside, and that's really what what will keep the offense moving down the field. So yeah, I do expect them to have a good week. They they've been looking good running their outfall all week, and yeah, I'm just excited to get them the ball.

I know you're focused on the offensive performance here, but your defense has got a tough task as well. Best running back in the country last year was Olie Gordon and he's still on that roster, and they brought back a bunch of starters on the offensive line.

For whatever reason.

They have yet to really get it going in the run game at Oklahoma State. And again, I know you're focused on their defense and your offense, but when you're in those team periods and we've kind of like talked to the coaching staff and figured out the whole game plan, have you figured out have you all been able to figure out why that is happening why that run game hasn't got going yet for Oklahoma State?

Not really. I mean I don't I don't really get to study their offense very much, so I don't like to vary from from what I have to accomplish. But yeah, I think they definitely have struggled running it and stuff like that. But I I think they just haven't haven't really opened it up and and and tried to give all these some new new new looks and just let him kind of handle it. Because I do have a lot of respect for him, think he's a very very

Oklahoma State is without a guy you could argue is their best pass rusher. I could make an argument that Colin Oliver is probably their best overall defender because of his versatility, and they're without him. How do you attack a defense knowing they're without their best player potentially.

It's never never something you want. You always want to go against the best, And yeah, I think he's a phenomenal player. I wish he was going to be able to be on the field, but yeah, you just gotta gotta go go attack it in every way. You can take advantage of the past because he was a phenomenal pass rush of him stuff, But they definitely have some guys behind him that can that can do some that can disrupt some plays and stuff like that. So it just got to be ready to play and play at

The pole question on Twitter today for the Sean O'Connell Show is do you expect this game to be a slugfest, low scoring, kind of grind it out type game or could it potentially turn into the high flying, high scoring shootout Because the Brands are Utah Physical Team grinds it out the brand for Oklahoma State Physical Team grinds it Out, But both squads now very capable opening things up in

I think it'll be somewhat of a combination of the bull I think there would definitely be some points put up on the board, and yeah, I think it's it's kind of gonna be who can score the most. It's kind of always been that way in the Big Twelve, and it's not going to be. It's definitely not going to be an easy game. I think. I think everything's going to be fought for. But yeah, I do expect there to be some points put up on the board.

How much swagger does if McKay Bernard have walking around right now? He's got a couple of one hundred yard games under his belt. It's clear that he's proven himself he can be running back number one.

He can be a bell cow, and.

It feels like a role he's been working toward for a very long time. It's been fun for us to kind of watch him accomplish that and and you know, truly deserve it.

Here, what's he like in practice right now?

He's doing he's doing a great job, just making sure he's leading, always locked in and always kind of help out in any way he can. He's a phenomenal player and anytime he can get him the ball, it's easually going to be very successful for the offense. So yeah, I just got to go to make sure he stays running downhill and and and pops and pops a few big ones and not always always helps the whole offense. But yeah, he's he's got a lot of confidence right now.

And I'm not going to name any names right now. This is a general question. When a player is in the coaches doghouse or feels like he's in the coaches doghouse, what can you do as a teammate, as a captain, as a leader to help them work their way out of a position where they feel some type of way about the reps they're getting or the respect they're getting or whatever.

It is.

I mean, just just stay locked in you can. That's that's usually my always my advice. You never know when when you're going to be needed, and and just got to make sure you're ready for when your name is called, so that you can go in there and kind of not not not let them look back at all, and just focus on the task at hand. That's that's pretty much the only thing that there is to do, because

Go on the youth Cam rising for another minute or two here on the Sean O'Connell Show, as the youthes get ready for a road trip to steal Water to take on Oklahoma State.

Uh.

Injuries are never funny, and the fallout from injuries are never funny. But but something from your injury did turn out to be at least a little bit funny this week. I think you're on social media during the season, right, you kind of stay away from the Twitter and stuff.

Yeah, for the most part.

Okay, so were you aware though of this? The troll tweet the troll account that put out that like you had developed I don't know, Gang Green or something. You were going to be out for an extended amount of time because of the hand injury, and some of some people got got some people fell for the tweet, including Dion Sanders.

Did you see this?

I did? I and and thank you Dion. I was very nice of you. I can't tell you how much I appreciated him. Yeah, I think they said I got tetanus or something. So yes, yeah, definitely definitely very nice of him. I got a lot of respect for coach Dion and and and how he was doing doing his things. But yeah, it's not an ideal situation when somebody starts tweeting out stuff like that. It definitely definitely did get some people, and even some of my teammates are asking

Oh, It's crazy how that happens.

And actually, not only did Dion express his respect for you and is concerned for you, even when he found out that the tweet was fake, he doubled down and was just like, Okay, well what I said was still true.

Cam Rising is a beast and I still wish him well. So that's really cool.

And that's really where I wanted to go with this question, because look, Deon Sanders is one of the most famous guys in sports and even beyond sports, right, and Dion has told us he's a Cam Rising fan. Like, I know, you don't get starstruck. I know you're a star yourself

Who is there a big name?

Is there a famous person who You're just like, wow, that's pretty awesome.

I mean, well, growing up for me, I was more so a dB and a corner so I actually loved Dion. He would always be talking and and and just putting on a show out there playing and everything like that. And I was a Cowboys fan, so I always knew knew about Dion or wearing that twenty one in the Cowboys uniform, and and yeah, I've I've always had a lot of respect for him and just just admire him as a as an athlete and as a player and

Sense that would make sense.

He is one of the I mean, he is arguably the best defensive back all time in football and obviously a huge star for multiple reasons now, so pretty pretty cool when a guy like that, especially if you grew up watching him, just like, yeah, I'm a fan of Cam Rising wild ball.

Yeah he's yeah, it's it's definitely and yeah, I think he I think he is a goat at cornerback without it out all.

Right, So good luck and still water. Obviously we're wishing for your health. I'm gonna say it before we get out, because you know, I got to you do expect to play this game?

Yes, that is my plan at the moment, is there.

That's what we're all hoping for.

Cam.

As always, I appreciate your time. We'll talk again next week. Good luck.

They appreciate you have a good one.

Straight from the horse's mouth.

Cameron Rising says he's gonna play, and that appears to be the plan as of now. If you missed it, the line has moved back towards the utes. That's kind of what caused the panic on Wednesday night, a four and a half point movement over about two and a half hours. Utah as we sit here today, right now, just before four o'clock mountain time, is a one point favorite over Oklahoma State in still Water. All right right around the corner is the Black Desert Championship and the

Is it a fictional band? I mean it's a great song.

I don't know if they have other songs, but that's the band from Almost Famous. And of course it's Chris Camaradie who brings us a little stillwater on a Friday afternoon seventy five degrees, Sonny, I mean, if you're not out back with a audity or afferred at this point, I'm not sure what you're waiting for, young man.

Well, I was outside for a while, but as always I exist for the listeners, in the host of the drive, for the best possible listening experience. So I find myself in the kitchen doing my very best to walk the line of being a parent and a special guest host on this fine radio show at the same time.

Fair enough, fair enough, all right, you have been a busy boy, Chris, you have been a busy, busy boy. We'll start out with the piece that you wrote on Cameron Rising, Utah's quarterback. Of course, there's another situation with the health and you know all off season, you know the conversation, it's like, all right, we gotta make sure. He understands that he's too important toss to get hurt, so get down, throw it out of bounds. And it lasted a game and a half and now dealing with

That is weird.

That's not nothing, But I don't think it indicates he isn't playing. I feel like I would have called win of it at this point, but you wrote on it. Where are we at at this point with Cam and yet another conversation about an injury, and you know how it kind of clouds the overall prism and viewpoint with which we view this quarterback who's had a lot of bad luck. What are your thoughts? He can't.

Yeah, the irony of this whole thing was this story was Cam rising coming back from the two longest years of his life, missing twenty months of football to you know, the second game in Cam's got to get down, man, bottom line, Cam's got to get down, and you know, you take the twelve yard Sack. I mean, just give

Because you got access to Cameron, you got access to his parents, you had a lot of access for your piece. For our listeners that have not read it, you can go to CK's Twitter page where he's very active, or you can just go to the athletic website. I We'll tell you where you can find it. But what other anecdotes stood out? Pieces of info stood out that you did not know prior to talking to Cameron. Talking to his parents and writing your piece.

Well, one of the most interesting things was Cam telling me that he did some rehab work with Aaron Rodgers, who is also a patient of doctor Neil Elatrosh, who is probably the most well renowned orthopedic, you know, specialty surgeon in the country when it comes to superstar athletes.

Is it really possible to And I've asked this question to a lot of different guests, and I get a bunch of different answers, But I don't know that it's possible to change a player's neuropathways when they're in a fight or flight situation, if they're used to fighting to fight, if they're used to fighting for a couple of yards to get down thrown out of bounds. I mean, there are examples of quarterbacks who have learned this. I think Steve Young is the one that was brought brought up

I don't know, that's a great question. I mean Cam's dad, you know, said that Cam just has to be smarter with a lot of things going forward, coming up a knee injury. Kyle Whittingham said the same thing. Cam said the same thing, but in the moment. Listen, man, these these guys sign up to play this game. For a reason. They're paid money now to play this game for a reason. I understand that, you know, he has to find a way to be more, as Kyle would say, judicious when

So if there's a piece of good news to Cam. We're not playing a week ago up in Logan. It is that we actually saw their QB two look like he is up to the task and met the moment, at least for one day on a Saturday up in Logan against Utah State. It's different as you move towards Big Twelve play, But with how bad it looked CK last year with Bryson and then Nate and then Bryson and Nate and then Nate and then Bryson, I think there was a big sigh of relief because here's the thing, man,

But I think they're gonna win the Big twelve.

They're probably gonna need a little bit more from Isaac at some point, right, So, I feel like he did answer some questions last Saturday, but it's different if he's called upon in Big twelve play. So what do you make of where we find ourselves with Cam QB one and Isaac QB two based off of what you saw last week?

Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth. It's kind of convenient that the game after the Baylor game was Utah State for a whole bunch of reasons. Like if we're talking about Cam hurting his hand, you know, against Okay State and having to miss that game, and then you're turning around playing Arizona home, that's a different beast. But listen, man, there's a reason why Utah went after Isaac Wilson. It's because they believe he has the upside.

Yeah. No, I agree with that, let's move away from the Cam stuff, but sick with the Utah youth stuff. This week, the Salt Lake Tribune friend of the show, Jason Batakio Batakio excuse me, wrote about the four year journey that Morgan Scalley has taken. I can't believe it was four years ago. But you know what, COVID for me, like time is such a mental construct. I remember nothing.

I had a man bond.

It was weird. So you know, you and I talked about this when the whole thing went down, when the text messages were revealed, and obviously something you cannot say or do in any context no matter what. I think everybody's on the same page with that. If you're not, that's kind of odd. But what did you make of what Jason wrote? Some of the anecdotes in there. He's singing Sam Cook and now he gets the coach in waiting reinstated in his employment contract. That happened a year ago.

Yeah, I justin did a great job, and I give Morgan a ton of credit for being willing to sit down with Jason and talk about it. I mean, everybody remembers that that time being a very turbulent time within the program. Because of that, I mean, a lot of people viewed Morgan as he was the head coach in waiting, you know, five years ago, I mean, and I think all of this was going to give Morgan a chance to do a lot of self reflection, as he did.

So Joe klad this week was just kind of discussing the potential of what you Tah could do this year. And he went into a little bit of a diet tribe on his pod and kind of for you know, college football fans. He may not know entirely the Kyle winningham resume here in Utah, you know, from the Whack

And while we're talking about.

Coaching, part of me does believe that it was calculated to announce the Morgan news publicly prior to this season. I don't know that I'm not reporting it. Nobody has told me that behind closed doors, But part of me has always believed, all right, something there's more than meets the eye here and Klat's ole thing and this was just a guess. And since you're you know, you've been around the program for a number of years. You'll be good on this And the when is Kyle going to leave?

The last dance?

And Kyle rides off in his motorcycle this sleeveless T shirt.

You know, I mean I asked Kyle that this preseason fall campus said like, is this the last thing on your bucket list? And Kyle said He's really good at, you know, knowing how to dodge questions. He says, I don't know if I have a bucket list, which I don't believe him. But Kyle's smart enough to not say like, yeah, this is the last thing I want to do before I hang it up. I don't know if it was calculated. I know that Kyle believes that Morgan should be the

I want to ask you, since you've been down there, since you've written on him, since you've interviewed him, and people down in Boulder. I heard more than a few people last week say that if Colorado lost to Colorado State, and that's a rivalry game and it's a G five verse P four and so Colorado was only a seven

Zek I would say there, he's fine. Locally, he's beloved I think in Colorado. At Colorado he made a very very irrelevant program relevant on a number of levels. He is a guy that moves the needle locally and nationally. But I don't know within the walls of the athletic program. If Colorado drops to one and two and loses its two high profile rivalry games to start the season. I don't know if there's going to be more pressure on

All right, Big night Tomorrow night in Provo it's a wide out and they're giving away No it is what it's a wide out. You need to wear white to the game. I'm doing my job as a sports talk radio host to inform the market that it's a wide out in profo. What's wrong with that. I'm trying to be part of the community.

Okay, keep going, all right.

In addition to the white out, there's also an alternate cougar tail available. You can get the Classic That's what I'm saying. You can get the Classic Maple. However, they're offering vanilla to match the white out. So it's a big night tomorrow night. Ultimately, there's also a football game despite the chaos that's going on around the community. If they get this done, ck, if they're able to pull it off, touchdown under dog. We had a rod on

Well, I'm going to ask you to put your journalist's hat on, and I've been the kind of out of the loop. What is the status they're running backs is? You know, if LJ Martin or the other kid are scheduled to play. Are they still out?

I believe both LJ and Hinckley Rapati, the number two, are out. I believe that they're out tomorrow.

That's tough. Yeah, that's a tough one.

LJ.

Martin makes that offense go at a different level, has the gunslinger mentality. He has to cut down on the very stupid turnovers, which he tends to do at least once a game. But I've been very impressed with By's defense.

Man.

I mean, it's a Kialani defense. You have Kilani and j Hill on one side of the ball. Those are two very smart dudes who know how to coach defense. K State is just going to want to try to do to everybody what BYU did once upon a time with Taysom Hills, use their quarterback, who is a tremendous athlete, to run all over you. I do think BYU will probably have a scheme in place to slow down Avery Johnson.

It's a big night, man, it's a big night. It's not just a wide out in cougar tails. It's a wide out in cougar tails with Vanilla Frost team. So let's just get this right.

I wonder, I wonder what the calorie difference is with the Vanilla should look into that.

Yep porters on it. He's my ESPN stats and info. All right, final final thing for you today and then we'll set you loose to get back at it. The update with the lads, they were able to grab one on Wednesday. They're up to They're up to second because they had a bunch of they had all the results go their way on Wednesday. A couple of moments with some of these new players indicating some pretty exciting quality

I think you can make an argument that Anderson Julio has sneakily been this team's MVP this year. Considering where this team was with the loss of Chico Orongo to suspension and injury and just the drop off statistically, Anderson Julio has been a savior for this team. I mean,

Man.

Kudos to him. Rsel still has to find a way to become more gold dangerous with its star players on the field. I mean, like you're talking about the other night, they score three goals. They're without you show Aroango, and they have Diego Diego Luna and Diego Gounsalvez on the bench. They have to find a way to get those three playing together in lockstep the way that Luna Orongo and Andres Goomis were earlier on in the year. Otherwise RSL is not going to have a very long playoff run,

Cek, you are the man.

Have a great weekend and we'll chat toon. But appreciate you.

I appreciate you, all right.

Chris Comraaddi, Senior staff rider from the Athletic bunch of great stuff and a bunch of great stuff coming up. I can tease that for ck. Get them on Twitter at Chris Comraddi is where you find. I want to tell you about my friends at Prize Picks before we catch a break. Prize Picks America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player staff projections and watch the winnings roll in. Now.

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You don't even need to win to receive the fifty dollars bonus. It's guaranteed prize picks. Run your game, man. The injuries keep on rolling in in preparation for the NFL weekend ahead. I guess that got started last night with the New York Jets taking care of the New England Patriots. But we'll update you before we say good night. There's a ton they just keep rolling in. Looks like Justin Herbert may not play the Rams, and the Niners are playing without like the majority of their good offensive

But let's talk more college football.

Consistent guest on the show, former ute, former NFL player, You know him, you love him. Robert Johnson on a Friday, Roajo, Happy Friday, man.

How we doing so?

I'm doing good.

How y'all doing doing well? Doing well?

I appreciate the time.

So let's, uh, let's kind of look back before we look forward.

Uh So Utah State.

Last week, Utah rolls up to Logan for the first time in twelve years. They get it done. Tell me, Rojoe, what you saw from Isaac Wilson QB two. What sort of questions did he answer for you?

Well, I mean, the biggest question I feel like he answered was that he's he's a baller, he a gamer, he is a gamer. And then it took it took a couple of series before we started getting into the start getting into the tool of things. But I'm really happy about our future or will we stand with everything? I'm very, very happy and proud of him and proud of the coaches at least opening up sub which was great.

Were you concerned it all after that slow start? You know, a lot of Youte fans fourteen three looking around, you know, no Cam Rising, no karn Reid. I think there was some certainly some nerves firing up around here in the community. Were you concerned it all after that slow start from the utes last week?

Heck, yeah, well like you got have you got a post? If you've got a utah, you post or your heartbeat Utah Youto definitely was nervous about it, or more like just concerned about like last game, how it went. Whereas he like popped into the game and then where he started, it was like, oh, here we go. But he got better. And I always talk about that during the summertime of like like when it comes to summer ball, it's like I want to see what the live bullets look like.

You know.

A lot of the attention, of course, is on the health of the quarterback because it's just so important as you know.

But Rojo, you're a defensive guy.

What does this defense miss when Karine Reid isn't out there.

I feel like that missed a lot. But then I was looking on Twitter and Pop on something. I said that we was trying some new things on defense at the beginning of the half. He was trying stuff. We want to see what we could do, and I think we was already kind of planning to get ready for Oklahoma State this week. So our defensive plan wasn't really bad at the beginning, but it was more of trying things, if that is true, and you see we locked it down towards the second half.

Yeah, I was actually going to ask you about that because the conversation was Bryson Barnes, Utah States quarterback, of course, was down here for a number of years, and they were a little bit concerned that Bryson knows the personnel

They settled in and were dominant. You played in the system.

What does it mean when coach Wit says we settled back into doing what we always did on defense.

Is a big sign that growth. That's what I would say, because at the end of the day, our scheme is the NFL scheme, and when it comes to opponents that you play against, you're going to see it like it's the same looks no matter what. Like you can get that cover one, cover two, Cover three, cover four, you know that those are just common looks. But it's one of those we gonna line up against you and we're gonna try to figure out can you stop? Can you stop what we're doing, or even if we show what

So of course this and it's still early, still early in the season, you know, and I tell college football fans this all the time. I mean, everybody just misses college football so much and then it comes back and we blink and it's over. But it is still early. But I wanted to get from you Rojoe, because you hear college coaches talk all the time like the only thing we can do is win the day. The only thing we can improve between this week. It's all we can do is to improve between this week and the

Heck yeah, we are. I mean to go to go at the beginning of the season where everybody was really saying we're gonna win the Big Twelve and then now seeing how we how we're going to me that's one of the biggest things of like showing that the team is loaded, the team is ready to perform when it comes to big games. So this week is a big game.

So, Rojoe, the fact of the matter is Rashul Faizon goes for a buck fifteen and as a team Utah State hangs three eighty five on the Utah defense, so they were able to gain yardage. A lot of it were you know, chunk plays here or there, but they were able to gain a lot of yards on the ground with Rasul Feizan Ali Gordon the Dolk Walker a year ago Alan Bowman, just like Cam Rising is a

For me, I feel like the ball control is one of the biggest things were going into a hostile environment because I've heard about Stillwater still water a lot. So like they have their fans, they have a big call in but on top of the big calling, the way to outfield is that if we control the ball, we can control whether we going to get down to that last position or a bigger position.

No.

So so it's one of those things. Sorry, my son, I'm I'm in a supermarket right now. See that's how I know.

There you go.

I'm in a supermarket trying to shop with my son and they going crazy. But but yeah, like exactly what I was just mentioning is that if we can go down there and control that ball and do what we need to do, as in not having those turnovers early and being able to get first down, first down, first downs, it could be a really good setup of like a last possession type of setup. And I feel like we can win last possessions because Coach would always make sure that we're ready for those grinder games.

I'll say, all right, since you're with your boys grocery shop, and I'll set you loose, but I'll ask you one more question here, because again, Oli Gordon is a very capable back in Oklahoma State so far has faced defenses that stacked the box and that's why he's not off to a great start. They do have a capable, balanced quarterback.

Turns into that quarterback. That quarterback has been there so long. I'll put the balls over into his hand, whereas like make them throw. And to me, our secondary is great. We have weapons on secondary wise as well as linebackers wise. We have weapons. Now we can force them to throw the ball. It could be a win on our end for what I feel, because the running back is so good. You're right, their running back is very, very very good. So he could bust loose every time you get the ball.

All right, ro Joe, go chase your boys man, enjoy the game tomorrow with chat soon.

All right, Hey, thank you so much.

You all right. Robert Johnson, former Utah defensive back, played a number of years in the NFL always pre appreciate road Jo's time. Of course, really interesting dynamics of play coming out tomorrow. It's a two pm kick on Fox. Remember you can watch it on Fox. Of course, you can listen to the game on our radio station beginning at ten o'clock with pregame covers with Porter Larson and Jordan Winn live at Bout Time Pub at Jordan Commons.

Oh, it's beautiful out and yeah, we'll take advantage of it. Get out into the into the mountains at some point, play some tennis at some point. Here's here's the thing. I I once was a man who if I didn't watch it live, I just I thought it was it didn't matter, it didn't happen, right. I had to get over that working in sports. Otherwise you'll just you'll never you'll never have any any time.

So anyway, you got a DVR.

Basically, I DVR every Big game, the Big twelve. Stuff is actually awesome because ESPN Plus has has everything in playback if you go back and want to watch stuff. But I really DVR everything, and then my Saturday PMS, my Sunday PMS. It's all football. It's all. It's all watching the games, catching up on stuff and skipping through

So, yeah, if I don't go to a game live, I will DVR the game and then do something fun and come home and not watch commercials. There you go, it's the way to do it.

If it's obviously like maybe the CFP or a UTES game where we are here there on the road, I'll watch that live. I'll cover it. But other than that, ye, I really do try to take the resources we have and you last, all.

Right, pregame coverage Utah football, Let's get the deats.

Yeah.

We'll be Atbout Time in Jordan Landing, West Jordan, which is actually not the location. They're in a different location now, but that's where About Time was founded fifteen years ago, so it's kind of their their anniversary. They're celebrating fifteen years Jordan win appropriately at Jordan Landing with me at about time. We'll be there from ten am to noon. Bloody Mary Barr brunch. Come by watch some football, say hello to Jordan and I and we'll have some tailgate

Deets by the way, short for details, Yes you knew that. Yeah, I used the shortened version because I have the RIZ.

I heard a couple of teenagers like behind me at the crosswalk on my way to work the other day having a conversation right spence. I didn't know what they were talking about, and they were speaking English. I am fluent in English. I had no idea what they were talking about. It's the new world we're in. I got the RIZ. I don't have it, but I know what it means. I know deets. It pretty old, but some of the new stuff. Man, I have no idea what the duk mop sounds like.

That conversation must have been pretty mid.

It was, in fact, it was intelligible.

No, that's too bad. Don't be so extra I'm trying. That's all I got.

I'm trying.

I think that's all I got At this point, I could probably search for more. All right, real quick, here are my picks for the weekend six pack of picks. Okay, we've done pretty well five and one. Week one. We were four and two week two, So quick math. We are nine and three through two weeks, which is much better than we did a week ago. So real quick, let's go through these. I'm taking Tennessee. This is making me nervous because everyone's on Tennessee now, But I think

On a Monday edition of The Drive, of course, we'll hear from Kyle Whittingham his weekly press conference. We're hoping to hear from him on the show next week week as well, but we'll of course play back his weekly presser as we do each and every Monday. Bill Riley, the Voice of the Utes, will stop by fresh off of a trip to the first Big twelve opponent in

Yeah, that'll be a good Monday show. All right, guys, have a great weekend. Okay, it should be a lot of fun. Weather's great. It's not going to be great forever, so get out and hike it out and golf, Get out and spend some time with your family and friends. Special thank you today at to Pablo Master, Aenny, Andy Larson, Cameron Rising, Chris Comaradnie and Robert Johnson for any of the sound you may miss from the show today.

Check out our.

Website it's ESPN seven hundred sports dot com. Make sure to download our mobile app and take us on the go. It's the ESPN seven hundred app that's available in the App Store or the Google Play Store. Then, finally, for what we do in our space for four hours every afternoon, check out our podcast page, which is called The Drive with Spence check its. That's available wherever you get your show. Subscribe, rate reviews, say nice things, give us all the stars.