All right, what is going on Drivetime Thursday afternoon, about eleven.
Minutes past the hour of two o'clock.
It is a chili but clear and sunny day outside on this Thursday, But as it is every single day, it's going to have you along for the ride.
Spence check. It's behind the mic.
That's poor Larson beyond the glass producing the show today, booking the show today, and we are jam packed, as I say every day, but we're I don't lie to you about that, okay. We have an honest relationship, you and I. I don't lie to you about being jam packed, but today I really meet it as we are high speed ahead to Utah and BYU coming up on Saturday night, which will be a lot of what we discussed today and cover topically on the program.
Don't Forget Kick is.
Eight fifteen, but our pregame coverage will begin at four fifteen live from the tailgates, the ESPN seven hundred VIP tailgates.
We have had line movements, just so you know.
I did not anticipate this, but as of now, BYU is a three point favorite. When we said good night yesterday six o'clock, BYU is a four point favorite.
I thought that was where the game was going to stay.
But a little wise guy money coming the way towards the utes in a.
Rivalry game situation.
A chili but clear Saturday night in Salt Lake City, so over under has remained at about forty point five. We'll give you our pick for the game coming up tomorrow before we signed off for our final show of the week. But a lot of buzz around this game, a lot of anxious energy around this game, a lot of nervous UT fans, a lot of very very confidence and excited why fans interested to see what that stadium looks like coming up on Saturday night. I don't really
have a pulse out of what we'll see. As we've talked about all week, we all kind of just have our own little echo chambers. A lesson we all learned again this week in a very intense way. So I know of several people that would typically be there who will not be there.
Some have just playing.
Trips, they've sold their tickets, and I've heard from a lot of people who will be there all be there.
How about you?
I mean, you only get six of these things, man, And this really, to me is an opportunity for.
This Utah football program to kind of.
Show the community on the biggest and most intense stage. They have left that everything that we thought they had in them they still do because we were all wrong.
Man, I was wrong.
I would imagine most other media members feel the same way. I'm sure the fan base feels the same way. So we'll see how it plays out. We're going to talk about it on the show today. Kind of a quiet night locally. Last night, Utah State men's hoops Alcorn State. They never just want to roll into the state of Utah in I was watching the game and it was fifty to fourteen at halftime, and of course.
They already got smoked by the Ute.
So we do have more local action tonight with the Utah Hockey Club is playing the Saint Louis Blues, which is hilarious to me for reasons that we don't need to get.
Into by the hockey club. Back in action.
The two worst teams in pro basketball are the Utah Jazz and the Milwaukee Bucks.
They're gonna play tonight in Milwaukee.
We've got a little Utah women's basketball in the station, so stay tuned for that. That's gonna that's gonna cause us to.
Pop off a little bit earlier today.
We'll say goodbye about five fifteen, five twenty to make some space for Utah coming up against Weaver. So that comes your way tonight as well. We have a little NFL football in addition to that. The Week ten slate starts tonight with what should be a good game. When they played last time, Joe Burrow had like three fifty or something and four touchdowns, but the Ravens won.
Bengals are really good on the road.
I think the Ravens are one of the top four to five teams and pro football. That's that's your game tonight in Baltimore. Baltimore is a six point five point favorite.
So a lot to do.
Fun weekend in college football ahead as well. Little bit of everything going on right now, guest listen on a Thursday goes like this. Tony Jones covers the Jazz and the Nuggets for the Athletic, covered Youte football for a long time too. We'll get a little rivalry stuff from town today, but of course we'll talk some NBA. Gordon Monson, it's the Big Show, Big hour, but we are a part because Bowler is traveling with the Jazz. So we'll bring in Monson today at three and then Bowler at
three thirty. We will do a little Utah Hockey Club with Neil Smith today. It's our behind the Glass segment with the former general manager of the New York Rangers and New York Islanders. Want to Stanley Copp back in ninety four, probably the best hockey guest in the market consistently, and we love having Neil On do a little sports
court with our friends over at Handy and Handy. Then Stevenson Sylvester stops by for his weekly hit prior to Utah BYU coming up on Saturday Night, Tony Jones, Gordon Montson, Craig Bowler, Jack, Neil Smith, Stephenson, Sylvester, Me, Spence, Jackets, all of you the great listeners on this Thursday, and that guy, that guy Porter Larson on a Thursday.
Here, what I want from you right out of the gates. Has your opinion on.
What we could see Saturday night changed between Monday and where we stand today on this Thursday.
Has my opinion changed? I don't think so.
I think you know what we see on Saturday is is going to be reminiscent of a lot of rivalry games. I think it's gonna be tense. I think it's going to be low scoring, and I think Utah is going to be paddling uphill a little bit. Is that the right one paddling up upstream a little bit?
Well, I mean there's gonna be water to paddle right right, maybe, I think so. Let I mean you see guys hiking up mountains with those right with the UH poles.
So some form of paddling uphill upstream up the hill.
I get the point.
And they're gonna have to force a turnover too. I think they're gonna have to score off a turnover too. And they're gonna have to reverse the good fortune slash making their own luck, that is by you leading the country in points off of turnover margin.
And I think that that is going to be part of the game.
And at the line of scrimmage, I do think it is gonna be a little bit of a stalemate with both teams good personnel while also being a little shorthanded on both the line of scrimmages going into Saturday.
Gonna be interesting to see. I do think it's gonna be a fun night. And I'll repeat I encourage you fans to show up and support this team, support this coaching staff that really has earned a lot of support in the market over the years coming up on Saturday night.
But I do not tell fans how to fan. One more thing wrote you know what.
We're gonna save it for opening tip, because I do want to get your take on this. Our first guest right out of the gates is going to be Tony Jones. But before we get to Tony on a Thursday, courtesy of our good friends at Standard Restaurants Supply, that's your tailgate headquarters. Get everything you need to make your tailgate
epic prior to the game on Saturday. Stop by Standard Restaurant dot com online or check out their convenient location at thirty five hundred south West Temple On a Thursday.
It's time now for your opening tip.
Welcome to the Drive with Spence Check it's on Utah's number one sports top. 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 I've heard a lot of people say BYU Utah football is the best rivalry in the country. It's not, okay, but it's up there, and it certainly is rising as far as its profile goes. And so one of the things I kind of wanted to dig into today is we've always talked about this rivalry and if you listen to the show, first of all, thank you, hello, how
are you? Second of all, I tried to kind of expand my reach beyond just our bubble here and talk about, you know, what I perceived to be certain dynamics of our in state stuff from a national prism, and I've always believed that nationally it is underrated. And then you'll get a national media member out here to see it, they'll write a piece and everybody kind of is like, all right, well, people are kind of seeing what the
game is all about, you know. As far as the best college football rivalry in a country, that's a tough tough thing for me to say as far as what I believe, but it certainly has always been one of the most underrated and under talked about. But I do think it's going to change now with these two teams, it's not just that they're in the same conference. It's
that they're both now in a P four conference. It's not the Whack or the Mountain West all due respect, Okay, I'm not knocking on those conferences, but forever we were waiting for the moment when these two teams would be in the same conference and in one of the power conferences, because.
It's just different as far as the exposure goes.
Back when this was the Whack in the Mountain West Conference and it was Utah BYU. I mean, hell, I can remember living back East and wanting to watch Utah BYU basketball and I literally had to stay up until midnight Eastern time because ESPN's Big Monday coverage was ten o'clock Mountain time.
That's where this game was buried.
Now the football game of the basketball game Big Monday, and so there's nobody back East staying up at midnight to watch Utah BYU back in the day in the Mountain West Conference. And yes, I wish the kicktime was a little bit different, but I'm kind of viewing this as the first iteration of BYU Utah as conference members together in a P four conference that now will give this game a lot more exposure. Now, obviously there's the conversation about what most people believe to be as another
inevitable shift in college football. What does that mean for BYU Utah moving forward?
I don't know.
I can't speak to it. The time will come where we can have that conversation. But if we operate off the hypothetical that at least for the next I don't know.
You can't even put a timeline on.
It, because every time we do, like two months later, there's another seismic shift and what this sport looks like. But if we operate off the premise for four or five years together in the Big twelve, then you'll start to say, I think, more appreciation for this rivalry nationwide, right,
because it's simply a matter of exposure. And the more and more people who see what this game is really all about, the more people will start to understand exactly how dynamic, crazy, intense, passionate, and quite frankly unique this game is. I mean, just simply the incestuous nature of the coaching staff, the cross pollination. I think there are seven members of the BYU coaching staff that have University of Utah ties, and obviously Utah's head coach played at BYU.
That doesn't happen in many other places, in many other games. Of course, there are games where you see a coach here there, you know, maybe take both sides, but you know, Michigan, Ohio State, Alabama, Auburn, your Army, Navy of the World, Oklahoma, Texas, USC Notre Dame. Like you don't see seven coaches on Georgia's staff that once upon a time was at Florida.
You know, it does make this unique.
It makes it unique that it's about forty miles as the crow flies between the two stadiums.
The proximity makes it unique.
And then there's the religious undertone thing that I've never really loved, but it's certainly part of it. That's why the nickname for a lot of people is the Holy War.
But it's the whole thing that we've been talking about all week with the dynamic of a lot of BYU fans who are LDS wondering how any LDS person could ever even look at the University of Utah and where red and LDS people at the University of Utah looking at BYU and believing that the piousness and the holier than now attitude is impossible to deal with, and that collides together and it makes it unique.
The whole thing is just different. Is it better?
That's not really up for me to decide. And I've only been to a handful, you know, I've been to Harvard Yale. That was pretty crazy. I've only been to a handful of like national college football ribvaly games.
LSU Florida in Swamp is one that I've been to.
Oregon organ State BYU Utah is as intense as any college football game I've ever been to, maybe with the exception of like big bulls like the Sugar Bowl against Bama. The intensity and we'll talk to sly about that later, but the intensity with that game is something that hit me right across the face as I was covering it actually for this radio station back in the day. So ultimately, nobody knows what's going to happen. The spread is interesting
to follow. Utah's now only a three point dog, and really, when you look at what Vegas builds in, that's the betty market saying these two teams are very even. I have not heard very many predictions of a blowout one way or the other we'll get into some dynamics like ultimately bring them young. Over the past couple of games have been rushing the football really well, two hundred and
fifty plus yards the last couple of games. Utah's defense is one of the best in the country at first and third down, but over the past four games that they've lost, they've allowed like one hundred and seventy five on the.
Ground and nearly five yards to carry.
Feels like the defense is getting healthier and ultimately we'll get to more of this as we kind of ease into prediction time. It just feels like if Utah is gonna win, it's gonna be a thirteen to ten, seventeen to fourteen, twenty one to twenty type game. And I do think the start is key because BYU starts fast. They dominate teams in the first and third quarters. They
come out of the gates on fire. Then they come out of the locker room on fire, okay, And if BYU gets off to a fast start and before you blank it's like fourteen zero, that's gonna be tough because I'm not sure Utah has the ability to come back based off of what we've seen so far, offensively and quite frankly, based off of what we've seen so far, if both teams do what they've been doing, there's a
chance it could get ugly. Now BYU has not won this game by more than ten points since nineteen ninety six. I think the last time they won in saw Lake was like two thousand and six, so it has been a while since those types of things have happened. A Brigham Young dominant win in saw Lake. It's been a long time, so that would be something that catches most people off guard. But all you can do when you analyze this stuff is analyze what we've seen so far.
You can't make some prediction that suddenly everything's going to be different when it has been one way for a number of games. Utah hasn't been bad offensively for one or two quarters. It's been quite frankly since the first half of the Baylor game when Cameron was under center, the last time we had a dynamic offense consistently for the use. Okay, So if both teams do what they've done so far, there's no other way to analyze it outside.
Of a runaway win for Brigham Young.
But we know that this is a unique game, and we know the way coach went and Morgan and those guys coach their teams up this week juxtaposed to other weeks.
I thought the Austin Colleague conversation this week was really.
Interesting because we had always heard that Bronco Menhen Hall was just like nameless, faceless team.
It's not it's unlike any other week.
You know, we'd always heard that, but Austin essentially he said it out loud. He's like, yeah, you never really coached us. Differently, for the Utah game, Kilani is different. This means a lot to Kilani and for all of the kumbahi Yah love between the coaching staffs. Make no mistake, both coaching staffs badly want to win this game.
That's I mean obviously, But you know.
Aaron Roderick interviewed yesterday, our guy a Roddy joins the show and it was all love and respect for them.
They have love and respect for us.
When it is on between the lines, they want to blow the doors off of each other, which makes it for a really intense atmosphere. So excited for this coming up eight point fifteen BYU and saw Lake to take on the utes. Uta is a three point dog as of right now, and we'll get to more of this throughout the show today. All right, coming up on the other side, we're gonna catch up with Tony Jones.
All right.
As the show rolls along today, I'm joined in studio by my good buddy Matt Deeren from my Hearing Centers.
Matt, How you doing, man, good spence, how you doing. I'm doing well.
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Big Week Man, Big Week Utah BYU football.
Of course, it's funny to hear the different.
Time frames of what both universities.
Considered to be the start of the rivalry.
EYU does not count the first number of years because they lost all of those games BYUS. The presidential candidate that calls voter fraud when they lose and celebrates when they win.
Utah is a different timeline.
It's just it's a different thing altogether, which is pretty interesting. The jazz are in action tonight as well. Our next guest covers the Jazz, the Nuggets, the NBA, the draft, a bunch of stuff for the athletic But once upon a time was a humble beat reporter for Utah football. So we have some good perspective on everything. Tony Jones on a Thursday, what's.
Up to yo?
Yo?
I'm good man, all right, So let's get a little Utah BYU stuff from you, as a resident of our state, as somebody who's covered both these teams. What's this week spring for you? Like memories of covering these robbery games? What does b yu Utah football mean for Tony Jones?
I mean, it's one of the apexes of college football, one of the best traditional ribbraries in college football. It's it's certainly, you know, a week that everybody looks too around here and locally, and you know, it's it's one of the it was a shame when the rivalry went away, and I'm glad it's back, and you know, these are these are are the weeks that that everybody This is the week that kind of everybody in the state looks, looks towards the jobs. The Utah Jazz, they galvanized the state,
but I mean other than the Utah Jazz. I mean, you know, the state is pretty much you know, factioned in the two like are you, you know, with the team down south or you with the team up north? And you know, it's it's it's definitely one of the crown jewels of every college football season for me.
So as I've been talking about all week tone based off the data that we have, if both of these teams on Saturday do what they've done so far this year, it could get bad for Utah. Now, the rivalry game brings an interesting wrinkle. The line is three by US, a three point favorite. What's your gut tell you? What do you think we're gonna see?
You know, you know, I think my head tells me that you know, this is a two touchdown game. I just you know, I mean, Utah can't score. They haven't been able to score all year BYU scores. And not only does B WHYU score? B? WHYU stop?
Shoot?
You know, that's one of the that's legitimately one of the best defenses in college football. And you know, if Jay Hill's not up for some awards at the end of the season, something is wrong. And at Jay Hill isn't up for for some for some head coaching gigs at the end of the season, something is wrong. He has completely turned around that defense and he has made that defense of one season one of the best defenses
in college football. They fly around, they get after you up front, they have a great, great, great linebacking corps, and they have one of the better secondaries in the Big twelve. Certainly, it's not college football, so you know they it's it's a bad matchup. If you're Utah, you know, if we're looking at the tape that that Isaac Wilson is is put on tape uh for for this season, uh, because you know that that defenses is rough on quarterbacks anyway.
And you know what I've seen of Isaac Wilson is that you know, he hasn't read the field, He doesn't make reads as well, he doesn't see the field as well. Those are some of those are typical freshmen, uh freshman issues. But at the same time, you know that that seems
like a bad matchup. But on the other hand, you know, the rivalry teams to do things that you know, even when the matchups to the last slot is on paper, you know these games tend to end up close, so I'm hoping for, you know, a close game either way down the stretch. But you know, obviously this is this is a game that not only has huge implications locally, but it has huge implications in terms of the Big Twelve, and it has huge, big implications nationally as well.
Last thing, then we'll get to some jazz, because I'm really curious, and I do think this rivalry has gained a lot of attention that it didn't have prior to But I think it's about to even get more attention because we've never had BYU in Utah in the same P four conferences. It's different than the Whack of the Mountain West Conference. And you're an East Coast guy like
I am. I mean I can remember, since of course South was born here, have ties here living back East, when I wanted to watch Utah BYU basketball, and like Big Monday, Big Whack Monday on ESPN, it started at midnight Eastern time because their TV slot was ten o'clock Mountain time. So you know, the exposure hasn't been there in a way that it's about to be. So I do think it's about to receive more of the credit
that it deserves for being an elite rivalry. But one of the interesting dynamics Tea is that only nine of Utah's one hundred and twenty five players have played in this game, and only I don't know what the number is for BYU, but it's about the same.
It's not very many players.
And if you pull up these rosters, it's California and Texas and Virginia and Canada. I mean, these these these these recruiting footprints are different than they were back in the day. You're an out of stater, what would you say to you know, mute players BYU players that didn't grow up here about when you realized exactly what this game is about and you know what they're in for coming up on Saturday night.
Well, I think you know that's the unfortunate byproduct of obviously the game going away for a few years, right, Like you know, and you know, there's so much to unpack with your question. Like you know, when I first got to the state, it was like it was it was a cute little rivalry, right, but it wasn't anything like you know, Army Navy, Notre Dame Miami like some of the old school traditional rivalries that you know, gain
attention on a national scale. And I think a lot of that was because you know, back in I came to the state in two thousand and eight. You know, both of those teams were in the Way Conference then, and you know, and then you know, Utah went to the Pact twelve and you know b YU went independent for a while. So you know, it was it was one of those things where, you know, as Utah kind of gained a footing on the national stage a little bit, the rivalry you know, got more and more attention because
of that. But you know, it's it's one of those things where I think right now that it's every bit respected as you know some of the some of the old school traditional rivalries that we celebrate every season, uh as as you know, as a whole in college football. You know, I will say this, I would be really really shocked if you know, it doesn't matter, if you know,
these kids have never played against each other. I'd be really shocked if they haven't been conditioned to, you know, not like each other from the time that they stepped on campus. I mean, one of the staples of you know, being recruited, uh to to b YU or being recruited to Utah is the fact that you know you don't like the other and you know, are you if you're a b YU kid, then you're not a Utah kid. If you're a Utah kid, then you're not a b YU kid. Uh. Shout out to Francis Bernard obviously who
played both who played in both spots. But you know, I think you know, it's it's one of those things, is where you know, I don't I don't think that you know that's going to have a real impact on, you know, the intensity of what we're going to see
on Saturday night. I think that Utah knows that this is their super Bowl, considering everything that's going on in the first eight games of the season, and BYU knows that, you know, if they get over this game, they're going to be They're going to be significant favorites and for the rest of the season and the rest of their games, and they're going to have a real shot to go on defeed it. So there's a lot of stake on Saturday night.
All right, let's move over to the Jazz and I usually do the whole Let's start from thirty thousand feet and then get into the vacuum. But I'm gonna do the opposite because I want to start out our interview by giving Keyante a little credit for what he did in Chicago because it's been rough for him. It's been rough for him for a while. This this is not a shooting slump. This is a player that hasn't shown that he can make shots. And he was only eight
of eighteen, but he was aggressive. He got to line. He had six to twelve from three at nows and only two turnovers, thirty three points in thirty nine minutes.
He was so good.
So what stands what the way I'll phrase it today, Tony, when Keyante is good like that, what what's different?
What stands out to you?
When he has a game where he looks like he's legitimate pro prospect?
You know, I think it stands out. What stood out to me in Chicago is that he was making the right reads. And you know, for so much of this year, you know it wasn't. I mean, obviously, but let's let's keep it one hundred. You know, the shot has been bad and the percentages have been awful, and you know, there's a lot, there's been a lot to be concerned about right. But you know, for me, it was more than the percentages. It was more than the shot the
shot quality. It was you know, he wasn't shooting when he was supposed to shoot, and he wasn't passing when he was supposed to pass. And I'll go back a little further than Chicago and Denver. You know, he started to kind of break through. He had sixteen. You know, he made he made some really good reads off the dribble. And I talked to him in Denver and I said, hey, you know this is you know, maybe this is something you know a little bigger for you. And he said, yeah,
you know, it's about time. You know that I got something to fall, and you know, I'm going to put together a good game and you know, Long Behold on Monday. On Monday Night, he put together, you know, the game of his career. He had thirty three points, he had not assists, He was in complete control. You know, the shot diet still needs to get better, right, Like I think he's got to get cleaner looks from above the yard.
I think he really needs to find a way to get to the basket a little bit more consistently and to finish once he gets there, and I think he really needs to develop a flow or that he can rely on, that he can rely on consistently, and you know, a lot of that's gonna come in time. But you know, when you see a game like that, when you see a thirty three and nine, you know, those those aren't numbers that are easy to easily accumulated if you're not a really good player and or if you don't have
a lot of talent. So we don't know whether Kante George is ever going to develop into a really good player or not. And you know that's the jury is still very much out on that. But you know, but if you're a jazz man, a game like that thirty three and nine tells you that at least he has a really he has a lot of talent. He has a significant amount of talent because you just don't fall into those numbers. Those aren't flup numbers, even it's just
for one game. So you know, I think if more than anything, it gives you a little bit of hope that you know, he can find some consistency, you know, and and kind of snaps you back into reality and says, hey, this is still his second year, and this is still very early in the second year, and then he snapped back into a little bit more of reality and realize that he's never played point guard until he's gotten to
the pro level. So you know, there's all kinds of context into what the roller coaster of Keante George has been through the first part of the second season.
We'll stick with the young players because well, I think John Collins deserves some credit, and he was so good against Chicago.
We know the deal here.
John's like the perfect player for this roster because he makes a ton of money and more often than not, he's not overall a great player, but he has so many snapshot moments and there's a reason why he played himself into that contract. And you see games like Chicago and you're like, man, he was physical. Yeah, he was really good on both ends, and certainly twenty eight, thirteen and five.
But we'll put that aside because I want to ask you about Cody. I thought that was like the.
First grown up game that we've seen from Cody Williams, and he's going to be It looks like, according to the decisions we've seen from will so far, the main benefactor of the thirty minutes that have been left on the table as a result of Taylor's injury. He went for thirty minutes against Chicago, eleven points, five boards for sist, no turnovers in thirty minutes. So to me, that was
probably from my prism. So if it's only seven games, but that was the first kind of grown up game step in the right direction I've seen from Cody Williams.
Yeah, I mean in more than that. I mean there were you know, he was running the offense for a couple of possessions. If you put Cody's basketball IQ, I don't want to sit I kind of don't want to say this because I don't want to insinuate the Kiante doesn't have a basketball iqu because I think he does. But if you put Cody's basketball IQU into Keyante into kyante physical abilities, I think you'd have a hell of
a basketball player. And you know, I've been high on Cody, you know, since you know why I seen him last year at Colorado. I mean, he's a guy that you know. For me, I don't think he has a real weakness in terms of skill. He can dribble the ball, he can pass the ball, he can shoot the ball, he can defend. Uh, he can defend multiple positions. He can play multiple positions offensively. And you know, to me, his weaknesses are I don't know that he knows how good
that he is or how talented that he is. And he's got to get a lot of physical strength, Like he has to gain twenty pounds, he has to gain a lot of muscle, and there's you know, room on his body to get you know, to put on you know that kind of that kind of weight and still maintain the athleticism, the bounce and and the first step
that he has. But you know, he can do a lot of things on the floor, and you know, he's you know, I want to I want to see him stop being so much of a floater in terms of, you know, he can go real chunks of the game without putting his imprint on the game. Because I think that he can put his imprint on the game from possession to possession when he really puts his mind to it.
And you know, and I want to see him. I want to see him be more aggressive off the dribble with the basketball because when he gets downhill, he's really capable of bending the defense. And when he bends the defense, he's really capable of making the rights the right decisions from there in terms of whether it's shooting and passing. Now, some of that has to do with the lack of the strength. You know, he can still get bumped off of his drives pretty easily at the pro level. But
you know, I just want to see him. He's talented enough to I just want to see him try stuff this year, Like you know, I want to see him come down. I want to see him, you know, try to mix people off the dribble. I want to see him try to go to the basket, and I want to see him try to dunk on people. I want to see him be aggressive, take you know, do stuff
that he normally doesn't do like this. This is the perfect team and the perfect season for him to just try to expand his game with game reps as much as possible, because I think he's talented to do most stuff on the floor that a wing does. I don't know that he's going to be a star because I don't know that he's ever I don't know that he's ever going to get the aggression that's necessary to go out and average twenty five and seven assists and five
remounts of game. But I'm pretty sure that he's going to be a valuable player, valuable rotation player for a long time at the NBA level.
So the other player that looks like he's going to benefit from Taylor's injury will be Kyle Philipowski. And I'm I'm a little bit curious to see how Will handles this because right now, defensively he doesn't have the lateral quickness. Now he's got Goode six eleven, so you know, but oftentimes he's cotton switches. It looks like they're identifying him intentionally to try to get the right switch on him. So defensively it hasn't looked good for Kyle. I'm not
sure if it ever will. But we know his skill set at Duke and how complete it was, so the question is does that translate since Taylor's injury. Twenty five minutes against Sacramento, he had twelve points, eight boards, went two to five, from three to five to ten from the floor, twelve points, five boards against San Antonio. He bat against Denver and Will saw it pretty quick, so
he played eighteen minutes two points. But again, the defense, the defensive side of the floor is an issue with him against Chicago seventeen minutes, seven points, five boards, a couple of assists. There have been a lot of bright moments for Kyle. Looks like we're going to see a lot more of him. What has stood out most to you so far?
I just think a versatility He stands out. You know the fact that he can do things at least from two levels, Like he can do things at the rim, and he can do things from above the arc. You know. I like that he can uh get to the basket off the bounce, even from the four spot, which you know typically means he's trying to take you know, quicker players, there's smaller players off the bounce, and he's certainly been
able to do it from the five spot. In a few minutes, states that he's played at the center spot.
I think because because of what you said, because of what you said in terms of his defense, which is an issue, I think that I think that his best outcome is that he becomes one of these centers that you know, obviously can't defend, but it's so good offensively that it kind of makes up for it, right, And you know that, you know, he becomes such a mismatch of offensive because that's that Look, this is an extreme example because we're talking about in all time in here,
but you look, in the cold Nko is a bad defender.
I know that.
You know, analytics people will try to point to to his analytics, to his analytics, and and and try to argue otherwise. Look, you know, I watched him play a lot of nights. He's a bad defender, and but he's so good offensively, and he's so good on the boards that it really just doesn't matter how how good or bad bad that he defends. So kles Philpowski, and this is not a comparison to Jokics in his own way.
He has to figure out a way to get good enough offensively that you know, on some levels, you know his his defense didn't matter. Let's so let's on a let's go on a real smaller scale, like you know, Kelly Olynik in most regular season instances, you know he's a bad defender, but he's so valuable offensively in terms of being able to to uh be a up offensively and you know, score and playmate for others that you know he makes, he makes his bad defense matter less.
So that's the thing with Kyle Silopowski, How good can he become offensively to where you know, we say, yay, he's a bad defender, but you know, it kind of doesn't matter. And you know, if the Jazz can can build around that and build you know, enough defenders around I don't know if you want to build around Col Silatowski, but if the Jazz can build enough people around Kylosi Latowski that it makes his defense not matter as well. So those are some of the questions that I have for him.
All right.
So, as I have said all along, and you can only operate based off of what the front office and the staff say out loud. And so when they're talking about development, the biggest indicator as to whether or not this new iteration of Jazz management and coaching can develop players is going to be Walker because he is in your three now under Will and you know the other players Keante year two, Bryce year two and then a lot of rookies too, But this is year three for Walker.
And so if you can develop players, Walker will stand out one way or the other. And for the most part, Tony he stood out and played really well. He had a rough game against Golden State, He had a rough game against Sacramento. He was awesome against Chicago. He was really good against Denver opening night. Probably the best player for the Jazz outside of market in and he was solid against Dallas. On the season, we're looking at about let me pull up his splits real quick as my
computer refreshes. On the season, Walker is about ten points, twelve boards and if you round up, it's three blocks. He's ten points, twelve boards, three blocks. I think he's fourth in the NBA and rim defense. That's the opponent's field goal percentage at the rim when Walker is the main defensive player. So a few rough games, but my biggest bright spot for the Jazz so far has been Walker Kessler. I think it's been like an eight plus start.
What do you think?
I mean, I think he's been terrific, and you know, I think he's one of the best friend protectors that we have in our game. You know. But the thing that I've been encouraged about when you watch watch Walker Castle, I think he's rebounding the ball a lot better. I thought he's the average rebounder last year, and I think that he's gotten better at that. And you know, and I think that you know, people are finding him as
a as a vertical lot threat. You know, he's really dependent on the play, probably more than any player, uh,
outside of Lowry on this roster. He's dependent on how the point guard play is, you know, because you know, when he's getting downhill, when he sets the screen, you know, and when the guards finds him, it's he's he's going to he's he's going to score, and he's he's going to score at the basket and you know, and if that doesn't happen to he looks really pedestrian offensively, but you know, he's got so many strengths in terms of
being able to protect a round. I truly think he's one of the best five run protectors in the league. You know. But he's also really athletic. He runs the floor really well. Uh and he's done a lot of his damage and limit and limited minutes. I think his minutes load has increased a little bit as the season has gone on, but you know, his minues loader was was was pretty split with with John Collins at the
beginning of the season. Now you know Taylor Hendris being out, that's that's helped a lot because John has started to soak up a lot of the minutes at Powell Ford, uh, particularly against Chicago. So Walker and John have been playing on the floor, on the floor together a little bit more. But you know, he's he's just really been a lot better and he's been a lot more confident. He's in uh, such a better head state mentally than he was, uh
than he was last season. Last season, he was just in a kind of a mess mentally, and I think that he's gotten a lot stronger and more focused, uh mentally going into this year. So, you know, and this is you know, this is a huge season for him. This is not a you know, it's not a contract year for him, but it's kind of like a contract year because the Jazz have to have to decide whether
or not they're gonna pay him. By by this summer, you know, he's going to be extension eligible, So the Jazz have to decide whether they're going to extend him or whether they're going to allow him to go into a restricted free agency uh the following summer. So this is a kind of a big year for Walker and the Jazz. Uh And we're gonna find out a lot as this year goes on and as we get into next summer, whether the Jazz truly see Walker as a long term piece or not.
Before it set you loose, you had a assignment that was away from the Jazz and your name was up there with Sam amck and David Aldridge, who were that's heavyweight man. Those are two of the best NBA riders that we've ever seen. And our guy was on the assignment with him as well. So unpack what happened in Philly. It's a situation with Joel Embiid shoving a columnist in the locker room, and you were one of the guys that was in charge of writing a really big story.
All right, So I'm gonna give you a Tony Jones fact.
Oh well, that okay, jack Jones kind of an oxymoron militaria.
Yes here, So here's a Jackie Jones fact. She was so the columnist in question, his name is Marcus Hayes. He works for the Philadelphia Inquirer. When Marcus Hayes, once upon a time, was young and a burgaining columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News, My mother, Jackie Jones, was his boss. Yeah, she was his editor. She was a city editor at
the Philadelphia Villa the News. When I was in high school, which is why we moved to Philly, and he was one of her writers, so I was just, you know, it was just kind of coincidental, and I've never met the guy, which is kind of crazy as well, but you know it so essentially, long story short, Marcus wrote a pretty inflammatory column about Joel Ebad's lack of availability and it's lack of durability, and within that column he wrote an excerpt that talked about Joel's brother Arthur, who
who tragically passed away about a decade ago, and Joel was very upset. So what happened was Joel the previous the day before the locker room Francus called out Marcus in uh inavailabilbility and essentially said that I've done too much for the city of Philadelphia for a columnists to write this about me and the Inquirer. So Marcus went to the Philadelphia the Sixers game the very next day, the very next night, to apologize to Joel and uh the Sixers knew that Marcus was there to apologize, and
he went up to him in the locker room. He tried to apologize, and Joel did not accept the apology. To put it kindly, there was a verbal altercation, and so Joel basically shouted at Marcus, nobody gives a bleep what you write. And then Marcus looked at Joel and he said, but you do, and that set Joel. That's what set Joel off, and that's when he pushed Marcus
and that's when everything kind of faded to black. So the Sixers apologize to Marcus Hage for for the incident, and obviously the n B a uh suspended and beat and you know, basically, uh, the Sixers season is kind of gone off the rails so far. Uh, they're one and six on the season. They just lost Tyrege Maxy to a hamstring strain. Uh, he's going to be out for a couple of weeks. So they have Lakers tomorrow night and I'm out in La. I'm going to cover that. Uh.
I expect them to lose that game. So you know, if they lose that game, they'll fall to one and seven, and you know, in it's kind of all bad. Joel's serving his suspension. He'll be out Tomorrow night and he'll be out. He'll be out on Sunday as well, and his season debut is expected to be Tuesday. In an NBA Cup game against the next So that's kind of the story of the Philadelphia seventy six is as of right now in a nutshell the NBA Cup.
Baby, it is here, all right. Tell him, Tell everybody where they can go get your work.
You can find me at the Athletic. You can find me on Instagram at t Jones Athletic, and you can find me on Twitter at t Jones on the NBA.
Thank you, my friend with chat soon. Okay, thanks my God appreciation Tony Jones.
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The beginning of the big show, Big Hour. Did we go age before beauty or beauty before age? That's for you guys to decide. Bowlers on the road with the jazz and I wish I was looking across from me in the studio to see the handsome face of Gordon. Yet he joins us via telephone today, Gord, where you at, buddy?
I'm I'm at home in the middle of writing a column. So that's where I am. And by the way, if we're talking about handsome faces, when it comes to Spence check its and it comes to bowler Jack, I'll take third place there.
Oh, don't do that to yourself. I believe you said, Uh, what'd you say? When you're in your prime? You really had it going on?
Is that? Is that the old Monson line he.
Has about thirty years ago, maybe forty?
All right? Well, fair enough, fair enough?
First of all, when it's Utah BYU week, when it's Rivalry week, does it bring back the memory of when you caught the touchdown pass over Danny Ainge?
It does?
You know?
That is in the back of my mind. You know, I do think about that at times, a moment of glory and and then Ames, you know, pat me on the back saying hell of a catch here. So I mean, I do have that in my memory, but to it doesn't really reply.
Well, I mean, if I remember correctly, If I remember correctly, you both were in your prime. He jumped as high as he could. Then you claimed you out jumped him and snatched the ball from his hands.
Is that right?
You have a great memory, I'm telling you because because as the ball was spinning in the air, we both jumped up and we both caught the ball. We both caught. There were four hands on that ball, and I ripped it away from him, you know, And that's the way it happened. Look, I promise you this is not some fabrication, some embellishment. It is the absolute truth. Trust me.
Did the alarm wake you up right after the catch? Did you hear the alarm sound? So you had to get out of bed. I'm just curious.
I'm just curious. I swear to you that that is a true story.
Okay, all right, well moving on, moving on. You know, we'll give you that one, Gord.
So let's just get right down to the crux of the thing.
Like the bottom line is, if both teams do on Saturday what they've done all year long, it feels like this is a pretty easy BYU victory. The line is now three. BYU is a three point favorite. It opened up at five, it's moved down to three. But you've covered as many of these as anybody I could talk to on the radio today, So you know as well as anybody the craziness probably will ensue, because it usually does.
The last time BYU has won by more than ten was ninety six, and I think the last time they won in saw Lake was way back in two thousand and six. I may be incorrect there, But what's your gut tell you about what we're in for Saturday night?
I would expect I agree with you, first of all. If both teams play to their potential, BYU wins this game. And that's something that if you would ask me before the season, or even at the start of the season beginning and parts of the season. I would have I would have thought a different way. But as we've seen what the evidence in front of us, BYU is a superior team. Now, the rivalry game brings all kinds of different things into play. Foremost two things come to mind,
emotion and motivation. And if Utah can play at the top of its game, and BYU, because it has more to lose, comes out with nerves jangled and you know, making mistakes because they have in their mind if we blow this opportunity, man, we're blowing a lot and they could lose this game. That's why anybody who lays too much money on a game like this I think is making a mistake.
Oh, I wouldn't touch the line.
I've told people all the week, like, don't touch the thing, man, because you have no idea how it's going to play out.
All right. The bottom line is this.
The data indicates the numbers in the Utah And you know what, you don't have to look at numbers.
You can just watch the game.
The last time Utah was dynamic offensively was the first half of the Baylor game when Cam was under center. Since then, and look, they went up to Utah State. They hung thirty eight on the aggis all due respect to our friends, you know in the North, it's just not a great litanus test. Oklahoma State's the worst team in the conference and they've lost four straight and over the four game losing streak, the offensive numbers are anemic, near to near the bottom of the conference, some near
bottom of the country. So we know that, you know, it's gonna be Brandon Rose or Isaac Wilson. I guess they're splitting reps. Coach WIT's gonna join us tomorrow. We'll see if we have an update there. And I honestly don't know that it matters who's under center between the two because we just haven't seen enough from either to indicate that this is going to be somewhat of an
explosive offensive team all of a sudden. So for me, Gord, if Utah wins, it feels like it's gonna be one of those thirteen to ten three nothing right, like one of those games where defense lee where the numbers indicate Utah is still very good.
They're going to have to try to limit BYU.
But I just they haven't scored more than twenty four points against a P four team. It feels like if Utah gets this, it's one of those trenches. You know, stop the run, run, you know, run the football, control time of possession and they win a very low scoring game. That's where I'm at, Give me your thoughts on it.
Yeah, I agree that Utah has been pretty good at time of possession, but they just have not been able to take advantage of scoring opportunities. And this has been much on the mind of Kyle Whittingham. They're inefficiency in the red zone. That's been a real problem for that team. That's why I think that if BYU makes mistakes that enable say Utah's defense to score touchdown or something along
those lines, then in a low scoring game. And I'm not sure it's going to be low scoring on BYU's in but it certainly could be what you fashioned it to be. You know, those kinds of turnovers could make a huge difference. The problem for the Utes is that BYU has been much better getting turnovers and having a turnover margin in their favor than Utah has been, and
that stems to all kinds of things. I mean, you could trace that back to Kyle has said that the team has not been as physical this year, and I think that's been obvious to anybody who's watched, and so they haven't caused those turnovers. BYU, on the other hand, has and so the very thing that the Utes need to have in their favor in order to give themselves a legitimate chance is the thing that BYU has thrived at, not the Utes.
So to underscore that point, the stat that probably has hit me across the face more than any other. On Monday, I read that BYU has outscored their opponents sixty nine to ten off of turnovers, which is nuts. They've allowed one touchdown all year off of turnover and one field goal. So what's the combination of way to go, tip of the cat. That's awesome and that can't continue right Like.
It's a little bit of both.
What are your thoughts on that stat, which to me underscores everything they've been doing as far as causing turnovers and making sure that they stay clean, and if they do, they don't allow a lot of points.
What does that say to you?
Yeah, it comes down to a coaching cliche that we've heard a thousand times, and that is clean execution. If the youths can do that, and I think because Kyle's been hitting this hard about being more physical, he's telling his team and to utilize the fuel of the emotion to play physically with the rival. Now, that can either work in their advantage or it could work for their disadvantage. If they get too hyped up and they start leaving their assignments and trying to do too much, that could
be a problem. But if they're able to play physical Utah foot ball to do what b what to do to BYU, what BYU has done to so many of its opponents this year, that gives them a chance to flip that script. Now, whether they can do that or not, or whether they're capable of doing that, I don't know.
And that's talking about defense. On offense, they're going to have to take care of the ball for the very reasons that we've been talking about, because BYU has been so good at pressuring the quarterback and then grabbing interceptions, are taking advantage of weird plays that put them in scoring position and allow them to build up these big
leads that they're getting. The US are scoring twenty two points a game, and that includes the earlier success and the success that you mentioned against Utah State, whereas BYU's averaging what thirteen to fourteen points more than that per game, and so that's got to be changed in order for the huge stev A shot.
The other thing BYU does really well well, they do a lot of things really well, but this year they're starting fast out of the gates, and they're starting fast out of the locker room. Their first and third quarter splits are insane, and I think if you're a ute fan, Gord, I think the concern is the ability to come back from a big deficit.
So to me start and this is not we're not, you know, breaking news here.
The start of the game is going to be so key because if BYU comes out and they have two really good drives and suddenly it's fourteen zero and Utah can't move the football, that will allow a Rod to really change his game plan to basically kill out the clock and not allow Utah the oxygen because I just don't think Utah can come back now if it's like three to nothing after one, and it is that kind of dogfi that we dissected. I think you fan should feel pretty good. But what do you make about just
simply how important it is? For both teams to start well and then once the emotion of the rivalry kind of dissipates, you can get back to the meat and potatoes of football because you know that.
Stadium is going to be crazy loud.
Yeah.
I concur with everything that you just said. There's not much more to say about it. I do believe, and that's why Utah's defense has to be at its best because if it, if it limits BYU offensively and then you have a tight game, then those nerves that we talked about before. B why's a very confident team right now? I mean they think they deserve to win and they think they will win now if Utah goes out and what what did Mike Tyson say? Everyone has a plan
until they get punched in the head. How's that does that saying?
You know, punched in the mouth. But you you're nearly there.
So so if that's what the youths are able to do to BYU, then they start to.
Go Wait a minute.
You you look at you look at BYU through all its season. After games, it's been all hyped up and we win, nobody beats us. We you know, it's all that talk that they seem to have been able to conjure amongst themselves. But if you tall limits that to them, suddenly BYU's looking at each other going wait a minute, this isn't this isn't what we expected. If this isn't
what sh'd be happening. And when you put a team in that position, suddenly that confidence may sheer away a little bit, especially when you're playing in a building like White Ecls. And I know the Uts haven't a big grip on their home field, but in this kind of emotional atmosphere, that could give the Utes their best chance if they could rattle the Cougars and not make mistakes themselves. If the Utes make mistakes, then they're in for a long, long night.
Yeah.
And in the past, you have confidence in Cameron Rising and Andy Ludwig, and you know, say they lose the turn say the turnover battles minus one or maybe even minus two. In the past, you had an offense that could make up for some of those mistakes, or a more opportunistic defense. They could find diamonds where you didn't even know that you know they were looking over there with pick sixes and scoops and scores and big game changing plays. Clark Phillips and Devin Lloyd and Eric Quad
and the list goes on and on. But the problem is right now, that offense isn't good enough to make up for stubbing your toe more than once or twice.
And for all of the.
Metrics that indicate Utah's defense is really good in areas they're the number one scoring defense in the Big Twelve. They're among the best in the country at both first and third down, what they're not doing is creating havoc plays and turnovers and the offense can't move the ball.
Like the margin of error.
To underscore your point for Utah's mistakes is raizor thin.
If they want to win this football game.
How about this for an idea, Kyle Wavingham telling his team, man, this is what you guys are going to do. We're going to throw the ball here and there, but we're going to go out and play physical, offensive football. That's offensive front. Go out, hit these guys, create space, allow us to run the football, and allow us to burn time off the clock. If they're able to do that and sustain drives, which they haven't been able to do really and haven't been able to capitalize on those drives.
If they can do those two things, and those are big ifs, I get it. But if they can do those things and then the defense does enough to nick up Jake Retz laugh and make him a little bit nervous, or make him a little off his normal timing a little bit, you know, keep those receivers under control, then then again that that works to the huge advantage. The problem is actually executing it, and I'm not sure whether they can do that, but I would be shocked if this was like some sort of wipeout.
Uh.
That speaks to what you were talking about before. If the Cougar's get a big lead, then I think the game is going to be over unless they just get so full of themselves that they're just doing stupid things on defense and they let let off the gas a little bit. But if you talk and keep it close and run the football and do it in a physical banner that puts BYU in a situation where they go they're uncomfortable, they're un they're not that in that particular environment,
then I think things could go the youth's way. But that's a whole lot to ask, and I'm not sure whether the youths can pull that off. I think they can, but whether they will that that's very much in debt.
Well, it's back to where we started.
If both teams continue to do what they've done so far, there's a chance that this is a bloodbath, you know, like that.
We only can go off of the data that we have.
I mean, you try to predict things in a business like this, and you're going to be wrong a lot. And as we've talked about, I've been so wrong about this Utah football team that it is going to take some sort of random Burton block Scott Mitchell coming out of nowhere, you know, John Why, Jason Shelley with a big comeback, like all of the crazy rivalry memories we have should give youth fans confidence because this game is
different than other games on the schedule. But what we've seen so far simply is BYU is a much better team almost all the way around.
But let's dig into a little bit, Gordon, your opinion.
On what that stadium is gonna look like on Saturday night, because it has become a narrative that's gotten a little out of control. There are online ticket outlets where you can look and kind of see what's available, and it's hard to tell whether or not BUYU fans or snatching up all these tickets that a lot of youth fans seem to be selling. I have a hard time believing there's gonna be a ton of blue. I do think
youth fans will show up. I mean, in a way, this is going to be potentially the most important game on the schedule for the rest of the season for Utah football. Even if they go to a bowl, it's gonna be somewhat meaningless. The only thing worse than playing in a throwaway bowl game is not being eligible for one. So this is massive for Utah to show the community maybe one time this season that they are who we thought that they could be.
So what are you hearing in your.
Vantage point from your vantage point about you know, fan attendance. I know there's a lot of anxiety and nervous feelings by yout fans, But do you you think we're going to see a good portion of blue in Salt Lake on Saturday night.
I think we'll see more blue than is typically the case in these rivalry games. But youth fans are going
to show up. I mean I think they are worried, but I think they're going to show up and they're going to pour the same emotion that they always do in this particular game, you know, and if the youths can feed off of that, but the youthes have to give the crowd, you know, they have to give him encouragement that hey, they're not wasting their time and for instance, Okay, so one of the things that I think will be really interesting to see is, uh, will j Hill I'm sorry,
will Morgan Scalley pressure Jake Rhtz Left? And how much will he pressure him? How much will they try to get those big plays that you're talking about, force those kinds of mistakes in order to do that. If they let Jake Rhtz Left sit back there and and peruse the field and get the ball to the right place or to the right player for the right reasons, then
they're gonna lose this game. If they disturb him, if they they can jumpy, then you know, he might flash back to some of the things we saw a year ago where he'll he will make mistakes. And so is Morgan scally gonna be willing to do that. And if he does do it and they get sacks, then what happens the crowd erupts and the emotion is there, and the big plays are made and the Ute fans are feeling pretty good. If it doesn't happen and BYU is as comfortable as it's usually been or almost always been
this season, then that that's not gonna work. So the crowd has to work in the huge favor, but the Utes have to feed that beast.
Yeah, I mean, there's been kind of a hate the term narrative, but that's kind of the right term to use with this one. There's kind of this narrative that's gone on around the marketplace here about how docile that crowd has been this year and how uh you know, it doesn't feel like it typically has over the past decade or so to rise cycles.
But you've got to give them some to cheer for. You can't. The muss is always going to be the muss.
But if Utah Football, if they're players and coaches want to see this crowd and hear this crowd the way it typically is, they've got to feed them.
Man.
You can't expect them just to go crazy if there's nothing going on.
So if the Utes make mistakes, it'd be why you build that early lead that you're talking about, what's the place going to look like? What I mean, what kind of advantage that the utes usually or typically would have that's going to dissipate? And then so really, I know the utes want to depend on their crowd to really give them a boost, but as you said, they have to give them a reason. And if they don't give them that reason, then the place is going to is going to get quiet real quick.
You want to give us a little tease for the column you're riding right now for our friends of the trib.
Well, I've written, I've heard a couple of columns. You know, I don't learn my lessons very well sometimes, Spence. But I have the fifty things that are bound to happen in this game, and I've got that written and I think that'll be either tomorrow or Saturday, I'm not sure which, But I pick a stab at predicting specific things that
will happen in this game. And I got to tell you, as I've done what you said, and what you've been doing all week and before that, probably studying the stats, looking at the numbers, looking at the record, look examining what's happened in previous weeks. I don't see a lot of practical reasons to pick the youths to win. Now, in that same breath, I'll say that is it possible
that they can win? Yet? It is possible, But things that haven't happened very often this yeason aren't going to have to happen against a team that is playing really out of its mind.
What what does it mean for Arsenal if Nick Kushing decides to go to the gunners disasters?
Disasters, that's catastrophic. H I just think that's something that you cannot allow to.
Have, well said I Concur. All right, my friend, Well, I appreciate the time today. I hope to see in studio next week.
All right, all right, then give Bowler my love will.
Do the great Gordon Monson from the Salt Lake Tribune, my radio partner for seven years back in the old days. Brought to you today by clear Water Distilling rear rear delt fly.
Day to day, just.
Crushing, just moveing weight around, litill pour some sugar on me comes on, motivated to finish the super set. Thought about my guy Bowler. So that's why we're doing this today.
It's not a bad gym playlist, Little deaf Lefpard, I'm on board.
Just move and wait around man, like it's nothing. It's not a big deal.
Live from the Road, Milwaukee, I believe, is where we find the voice of the Jazz. Craig Bowler, Jack Bawler, Happy Thursday, sir.
How are you hey, Spencer? Well, I'm glad that that got a little energy in my pants right there, man, A little death leopard coming back. Just caught off at the bus. A two hour ride from Chicago to five Serve Forums. So we're here and then fly to San Antonio after the game with the Bucks tonight. Kind of a crazy road schedule.
We'll get to the Jazz in a moment, Craig.
But of course, as you know, as someone who was a big booming voice.
During college football season.
And did radio here locally, it's a big week around here with Utah and BYU playing a little American football on Saturday night. When you hear Rivalry Week Utah BYU football week, what are some thoughts that come to your mind?
Ah, Man, I love it and I'm so glad BYU and Utah in the same conference with even more impact now, Spence, you know the old days of the Mountain West.
You know, the.
This is great. I mean, you know that it's going to be here, whether it's going to be home or away for whatever team. Utah, you know, dials up first with a home game at right secals and I think it's great. Man, it's uh, it's what fans want. Coaches may not like it, but it gives you that feel
good feeling. Utah is struggling in a big way this year, unexpectedly, so this game with BYU, who is winning and dominating, undefeated, there's a lot on the line here, man to save a season, or BYU really jumps into the national scene and really knocks on the door. And I think it's it's about hey, look at us, We're for real And that's what I think BYU's most interest, most interested in. But hey, every week's different. Spence is you know, rival weeks.
Really you can't go with what the spread is. The emotion plays big, the home crowd plays big unless those fans have sold off tickets, and there'll be more blue than red, and that'll be intriguing to see.
Yeah, that's definitely a topic here locally, for sure, not exactly you know, I don't exactly know what to expect based off of rumors here or there. It does sound like a lot of youth fans have tapped out, But I'm sure a lot of youth fans will be there loud and proud, And if you're a BYU fan, you probably want to attend because you feel good about your chances. But you know you grew up with rivalries Case State Kansas. You've called rivalries throughout the course of your broadcasting career.
So as you just outlined the dynamic of this game, certainly could and in my opinion, probably will make it close. But the data tells us BYU is just simply the better team through eight games.
But what is it, Craig about rivalries? You've been a part of.
Rivalries You've covered that make the environment so intense and make the outcome of the game oftentimes impossible to ascertain.
Well, in my opinion, from my experience, it's the one moment where one mistake can fuel the confidence of the underdog or fuel the confidence of the team that is supposed to dominate. And so that's what I've always noticed is a fumble early can give new life to the underdog, or it can give dominance to the team that is expected or favored to win. I think that's the one key is you cannot make mental mistakes. And BYU has taken every opportunity this year. And we've talked a lot
about just being opportunistic. Look, they've earned that, but you know, to make something out of that turnover to really be costly for their opponent in case State lived it by the way. You know, that's truly what started this whole run and this dominance of BYU and their confidence grew I thought immensely after the k State victory. So you know, for Utah, if you get down and this you know your form for you still play me before a bowl game.
Not sure how hype fans are about just getting the six wins, but you know this one, this one just on paper, means more. You know, in the SEC when I was a CBS, I mean every game felt like a rivalry game because the competition is so keen in that conference, the LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Alabama. I mean I got to call all those and man, it just it
just has a special hum. You know, you'll feel the energy in the building unless b why you was able to take it out, And that's what I mean by something early that has to dictate maybe the the outcome of the game. There's always a chance to rally back. But I tell you that that first defensive series or that first offensive series, whoever wins the coin flip and
how they decide to go. But Spence, that's what I've always felt is that you can change it quickly if you take advantage of what's given to you, and if you don't, then the opponent's gonna I think, roar back and try to dominate.
One more thing here, And you just kind of alluded to it because coming from the guy who has called some of the biggest games in the landscape of college football, you know you can pull up lists like greatest Rivalries in college football. You're going to see Michigan, Ohio State, Bama, Auburn, Army, Navy, Oklahoma, Texas, USC Notre Dame. Most of the lists. You know you'll
have Utah BYU around fifteen or sixteen. And I think that's going to change because we've been waiting for BYU in Utah to be in the same conference, but not just the same conference, the same P four conference. This
isn't the Whacker, the Mountain West All due respect. So now it's this new era starting on Saturday where more people are simply going to see it as somebody who's called some of the biggest rivalry games and has been a part of Utah BYU, how does this rivalry stack up with the Auburn's and damas in the usc Notre Dames of the world.
Well, that's another great conversation to have because look, you know, Kuk State was just more a four state area. Okay, so was Nebraska Oklahoma back in the day. Is Switzer right and Osbourne? But this becomes it spreads, is my point. And in the Southeastern Conference it's religion spence it is, and you have to experience it on game day and even the whole week because people travel miles and they actually have the thirty five foot you know, RVs and make it a religious you know moment and a way
football is. Football is what people just do from August until December or the first of the year when the playoffs come in. For BYU and Utah, I think it ranks higher than people give it credit for. Honestly, I do. And and you know, when I was at CBS and Fox and ESPN, they always talked about what do you think is it? Is it really that big of deal? It's it absolutely because it splinters a state of and
you always talk about it. The religion part of it, read and blue Mormon or non Mormon, that feeds it. Maybe not as much as it once did, but I still think it's very real. But then you add in this year the fact that you have two big twelve teams back and now a team that Utah was favored to be a real player nationally, not only in the conference spense, but my gosh, they were talking about hosting the first round of the of the playoffs. That's not
going to happen, but BYU could easily. And that's what makes I think this such an intreaking game is how the turn of events throughout the last three months have occurred, and you know, the injury to Cam and and the way that Dyu's defenses has really bowed their back and played incredibly well, and what Jake's been able to do to just say, handle the offense in provo. So I think this is top five personally. People may laugh and shuckle, but I think if you're in this part of the West, yeah,
it's it just hasn't been exposed as much. And I'm still not in favor of an eight to fifteen kick because again on the East Coast, that's late and you may not see the ending of it. I'd still like to see it more in a quote prime time Arena six o'clock, the five point thirty window and let people really enjoyed around the country. But you're still going to see a hell of a football game, and you should see a lot of the pomp and circumstance that goes with it. And I love calling those games.
Scott Mitchell.
The one year we had it down to Provo, I called and Voyd Mitchell put on a show. And you know, the dominance of BYU was so keen for so long, and then you know Matt came in and changed the whole, the whole culture, and Level and him actually were friends, and that didn't sit very well.
Spence.
You know that with the Cougar's the Cougar and the youth fans is how how these two guys get along. But they were, they were bonded up until Lavelle's passing and beyond. But I just think it's special, and you know what, I hope fans have a great time, because it's it only happens once a year, and it looks like it's gonna come back for a long time.
All right, let's move over to some jazz.
And you know I did we do talking jazz over at KU TV with Dave and me and Dave Fox, and we were just looking at the schedule and wondering aloud, like when's the first win gonna come?
Because the schedule's tough.
Man Like, they're on the road and then they're home with the Sons.
And the MAVs and they're back on the road.
And look, Chicago in a way is kind of where Utah is. They're trying to figure out what they have with their young players. They have some decent vets in the Kola Vusavik and obviously Zach Lavine who didn't play.
So that's not a great team.
But I was just really happy for him, Craig, just to get one. Yeah, And I was really happy for Kyante to have a game that reminded everybody why he has so much potential. So let's just start in the vacuum as the guy that called the game with kind of the feel around the team after getting their first win in a road went against Chicago Spence.
I think John Collins was a fuel. I really do. I thought he would not let this team get beaten again. Collins has come off the bench and whatever you want to say. You know, as a veteran, he's accepted a role of a bench guy. He can start if he has to, but he's shooting the ball extremely well from three and two. He's a rebounder, almost eight a game.
He had twelve against Chicago. I thought that his veteran energy helped fuel Keyante, It helped fuel Cody Williams to a nice you know game, and Walker Kessler Man has really turned his game up. The way he finished last year the way he started, you know, two different polar opposites. But you know, Walker's been able to find some confidence, find some muscle, and that's been a good thing for the Jazz. You know, twenty two rebounds through seven games, Spences,
you know, three plus blocks a game. I should say twenty two blocks and so yeah, three plus blocks a game. But I just thought John was really the fuel of what that win was. Sixty paid points? How about thirty five assists? We haven't seen that. And maybe the biggest stat of all is the Jazz finally did not just put themselves in a ditch with turnovers. They at thirteen, that's doable, and they only gave up twelve points and that's just that was a season low in that stat
So the bench continues to play well. He's rotated, you know, about ten to eleven guys in and without marketing, it's even I thought, probably even a sweeter win and JC as well. So the young guys had to really take control of that game.
So it doesn't pop off the screen when you're looking at the box score. But you know, you and I discussed the dynamic of who would get the minutes on the table after Taylor went down. There's twenty eight thirty minutes available. Looks like Cody's going to be the guy. That was the best game Cody has played. It's only
seven games at Sports Talk. Yeah, so we're going to talk about what we have and through seven games, that was a grown up game from Cody had eleven points, he had five boards, he had four assists.
He did not turn it over in thirty minutes.
Okay for your seventh NBA game and no turnover, staying clean and being able to board a little bit, and being able to guard a little bit. That to me was the best game I've seen from Cody. Yeah, give me your thoughts.
Greg No, I think he feels like watching him and after that game talking to him is like, you know, it's that switch Thorough always talks about, when do you actually believe.
I belong?
Okay? And I thought this game probably the light he turned the light switch up and on because he realized that he can't compete and he's his body is not one that you're going to dominate guys with. But yet he's smart angles. I thought he played angles better than he has in the early part of this season. You're right, he can go in and rebound eleven points like it.
He was still getting his teammates involved that. You know, you're the tenth pick and you play and you're a young guy out of Colorado and the immense pressure to perform instantly is there for all these guys now, Spence, you know, you get one year of college and now you have to be developed, and it's not When Thorough came out four years and won a national championship with North Carolina State. One of the last guys I remember was Wesley Matthews, Right that the Jazz picked up and
played four years at Marquette. That just doesn't happen, right, because if you're not out after two something's not right and teams don't want to touch it. EDI's an exception right at Purdue coming into the NBA, But I thought he played well. I think Flip has done an amazing job as well. By the way, he's twenty one today. Can you believe that that's how we're Yeah, that's how we're talking about. Most of these guys are twenty. They came in at nineteen. It seems like most of them
have November birthdays. So you know, sense of Ball and and the others in Keyante who had you know, how about the nine to two turnover ratio nine assists and two turnovers? And Kyante continues to make maybe baby steps, but I thought he made a big, big step in Chicago.
On on Monday night, all right before we get to tonight's let me just because you you touched on Walker, but I want to expand it because as as you and I discussed to start the year, I am really keen in on him because this is his third year under Will and they traded Oachi's so like this is the third year example, because we know we know that Quinn and his staff were able to develop young players.
We saw with Heyward, we saw with Mitchell, we saw with Gobert, you know, and obviously previous iterations of the Jazz have been able to develop. It's an organization known for its development. But this is a new staff, it's a new front office, and if they can develop players, Walker is going to be ourt example, because this is year three and it's just as different after you've done something for a while.
And he's had a couple of off nights.
He wasn't great against Golden State, he wasn't great against Sacramento. But overall, this to me is the one piece of the start where I go okay, that's like an A plus start for him.
You know.
Overall on the season, his splits are really really impressive, and he is back to what we saw at the start.
Of the career and he's actually playing better.
He's double digit points, he's ten points, he's twelve boards. He's four offensive rebounds tonight, which is a massive number. He's blocking three shots tonight, and ultimately, to me, again, as a result of this quote development situation, we need to see what he's about year three, What has stood out most to you about what I perceive to be the brightest spot of the start to the jazz season.
I think you got to get credit My first song when you asked a question was Will Hardy. I think that he has not let up on on Walker, and I think he's encouraged him at the same time. Look, coaching is you have to have a psychology degree alongside, and you have to know your players. Their personality is what switch to turn on, which one to turn off. I think he's been brilliant with Walker, I really do.
He's been hard on him, you know what. He's been very public about that conversation about quit looking at me, you know, and Walker has He's finally grown, he's maturing, he understands who he is, and he's finding little bits of confidence spence along the way. And the Chicago game was just another piece of the puzzle. So I give Will a lot of credit for just helping him along and through last years at times a bit of a debacle. But I've talked to Walker a ton and he knew
he's left hand dominant. So when he heard his elbow, the left elbow, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to perform and couldn't perform at the level he won. And so what happens during the you know, people always say this, oh the sophomore slump. It bit him,
and how do you respond to it? Spence, That's the biggest thing Hardy I think has helped helped Walker come back, grow up and go out and play with a bit more of a Now he's not a mean guy, but on the floor he can least express it, right, he can. He can play with some high level energy and those numbers you spoke of, he's shooting sixty six percent from the floor, he has the three plus block shots, and the guy's rebounding nearly twelve boards a night and average
in ten. So that's that's a big man who's making a difference on this team. And you know, the point is if they can develop Walker Kesser from basically just kind of a babyfaced kid out of Auburn and make him into you know, a legitimate big who can run the floor and still has to improve his free throws, but that is that developmental parts bench you speak of. The Jazz have done very well, but this is Will's baby, right,
this is Will's first test. Can you develop a guy and make him into an All Star or close to it and be an integral part of your starting five?
All right, Craig, before I say you lose, Tonight's an interesting game. And I try to stay tuned into Milwaukee games because we cheer for Dame around here. Milwaukee's an eight point five point favorite. From what I have in front of me. As far as the injuries go, right now,
we know that Chris Middleton is out. He hasn't played this year, and it looks like, yeah, exactly, and it looks like Giannis is questionable from what I'm seeing, Yes, okay, yeah, and then Lowry questionable, Clarkson questionable, and Isaiah Callier questionable as well.
So let's start with a helped up date. What do you know about the health of both teams right now?
Well, I do know that the three players of the Jazz you just mentioned have all been upgraded a probable. Okay, So I think we're gonna see Lowry, We're gonna see JC and you know what, I'm anxious to see Callier kind of more of a bulldog point guard who was basically raised as a point guard, unlike Keyante who's making strides, but Caller will be an interesting fit. That means no minutes for Patty mill and that was kind of the plan anyway. But to fit marketing back in means less
minutes for Philipowski. If you get JC back in, you probably won't see much of Johnny Guzaning or Bryce Senza baw. But I still think you'll see minutes. Uh and depends on how Will wants to to to divide those up. I haven't heard any update since I walked in here to the pressure room yet on onto Tcombo. Look he's been He was as listed as a hip then than a right adductor. I'm not really sure you know what's going on? Look there, just it's not between you and
I because everyone's listening. But Milwaukee's won in six man, they've lost six in a row after their opening night win against Philly, and things aren't good here and there's a lot of heat, you know, mentioned in the local press and around the country. Hey, what's up with Milwaukee and Doc? So you know they made the change last year, they moved Adrian Griffin out and then Doc comes in.
So I don't know, it's going to be interesting to get a field when I get out on the floor here in a bit to kind of see what's going on. But they haven't won a home game, by the way, They're zero and two and their only win was on the road in Philadelphia and that was on opening nights. So interesting to see if Giannis is bucking for change or if he's actually hurt. But Lillard, you know, can't carry this team alone. They don't have the deepest bench except for Bobby Portis, who I like a lot and
you know about the way he plays. He's just you know, consistent guy coming off the bench. But it's interesting to see how the Jazz respond tonight. They come in with confidence, spence. And this is where you have to wonder as a Jazz fan, how many wins you know, do you really actually want to put in your pocket? Right And you know, with this young team, but Will wants to win. He wants these guys to jump and make progress. And then I could be an interesting scenario with a team Milwaukee
I'm speaking of. This seems that a little be a little bit upside down, all.
Right, Bouler roll, I appreciate the time from the road. Have a great call, Tony and Hopefully we can see you back in the studio soon.
Okay, all right, so soon.
All right, Craig Bowlerjack, We'll be on the call tonight. It's a jazzer taking on Milwaukee. We'll see which players actually participate because NBA basketball these days, you never know. Rought to you by our friends at Big od Tires right now, it's their fall into saving sale. You can get eighty to one hundred and twenty dollars off select set of tires. They've got all the high end tires need.
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You do a little hockey the Utah Hockey Club back at Action. Neil Smith is our guest.
We got Stevenson, Sylvester Rowan, talk some Utah BYU football, get to some NFL with Sly as well. So we've done mostly college football today, a little Utah jazz, but how about a little Utah Hockey Club as the Utah Hockey Club is in Saint Louis to take on the Blues, which is just hilarious for so many different reasons.
Been a rough stretch for the guys.
Our next guest joins us on a weekly basis, the Great Neil Smith, former GM of the Rangers the Islanders. He's a hockey life for Neil. First of all, Happy Thursday. Second of all, how you feeling.
I'm feeling a little bit better, but my voice doesn't sound like it. But I yesterday I got to tell you, Spence, was an amazing awakening when I was sitting in my computer, looking at stats, looking at things, ready for your call, and then realized I can't talk. I have no voice, so we had to delay this. But I'm feeling good. How about you.
I'm well and I feel that because being in this business, like the voice is the moneymaker. So if I run into some allergies or a cold, it changes the entire thing. You've only been in this business for a little while, Neil. Back in the day, you could lose your voice and still go build.
A hockey club. It's a different thing when you're talking to a mike.
Yeah, yoh, for sure it's and when you're on TV it's even more complicated. But radio, you're only a voice, that's all you are. So if you've got no voice or a Larnux trouble, stay off the radio.
Yes, sir, all right.
After a red hot start, things have crashed pretty mightily for the Utah Hockey Club. They're two and eight in their last ten games and Connor Ingram and I'm gonna need you to help me understand this because I don't want to put it all. I understand in hockey you can't put it all on the goaltender. And Connor is a quality goalie, He's going to be fine. But five two and three with an eight eight one save percentage
and a three point five seven goals against average. According to stat Elites, he has a minus seven goals saved above expected after finishing with a plus three point four goals saved above expected last year. How much of the leaky defense is on the goalie? And how much of it's on the group. They just can't stop teams right now, Well, I.
Think that there's enough to go around. I think there's some on Connor Ingram. He's not playing up to the level that he can play at in the NHL. To be a starting goaltender, you've got to be at nine hundred save percentage, which means an easy math that you're allowing one goal on every ten shots. You can't be letting more than that, and you can't have a goals
against some three point five seven. Now, having said that, with Thrsey out and Marino out and them trying to fill that void with other guys, you know, they're trying to get better defensively with their defenseman, but it's going to have to be a team effort. It's going to have to be everybody locking down the opposition because when you're missing two key defensemen like that, the forwards can't
take the chances that they would normally take. So they've got to be a little bit more conservative and help out.
So the offense continues to be fine.
It was never going to be what it was to start the year, because what it was to start the year was historic, but you know, more often than not they did get shut out.
And I will get to Winnipeg in a moment.
I don't know what's going on with Winnipeg, but you know the Utackey club was able to get three against the Golden Knights four against the Sharks.
Yeah, but it hasn't been what it was.
So if we moved to the other side of the equation and leave the defense behind, and I'm sure they're all intertwined, why do you think the offense has not been able to keep up with the pace it's.
Set to start the year, which again was very very good.
Well, remember who you're playing too. I mean you got to give those teams credit. I mean they're playing against two really good teams. For playing Winnipeg, they're playing Vegas. I mean, those are good teams. But the other thing is, I think Spence, I'll go back to what I said before, and that is when you're back on your heels because you're not sure if you make a mistake. You don't have the defenders back there that used to have, and you also your goalies a little bit leaky, like the
Milka and Ingram Binn. Then you're not taking those offensive chances to score goals the way you do when you're very confident and when the group is confident, so it you know, it all goes hand in hand. And especially if you think when you're out on the ice, if you turn the puck over, it could very easily be in our net. You're going to be very conservative with what you do.
So tonight it is the Saint Louis Blues, and ultimately they've lost Robert Thomas to a fractured ankle. But two point sixty nine goals per game in the blues first thirteen games, twenty fourth in the NHL. But they're really stout when it comes to their goalies, and they've got too.
It's Jordan Bennington and.
Joel Hoffer, so very good defensive team, but they don't score a lot of goals. Preview The game for US tonight is the Blues take on the Utah Hockey Club.
Well, they're playing Joel Hoffer in net tonight according to the sources that I have, but his save percentage is three point thirty nine, so there's some holes there. They allow a lot of shots, but so does you taught you to allows almost thirty just under thirty shots a game, So they're going to have to tighten that up. But interesting guys to look for tonight. Cairo is their best
offensive player. He's got eleven points in thirteen games. Proberg that they signed from the Edmonton Oilers on an off for sheets having a good start to his season. And he's a defenseman. And Perako is also a defenseman. Two out of their three top scorers on their team or defenseman. But they'll they'll, they'll play hard for sure, and they all they always do, the Blues always do. But Hofer will be in that tonight.
All right, Let's get back to a couple of the teams that I referenced, and you know, we we were discussing the hot start.
For Winnipeg a couple of weeks ago.
But it's one thing to have a hot start, but eight straight wins to start the season, that sided for the third longest streak in NHL history. Through twelve games, fifty nine goals, that's the highest total in their first twelve games since the nineteen ninety five ninety six Penguin scored sixty three times. That's Mario Lemieux, Jarmar Yager, Ron, Francis serge Zubov, a phenomenal team to play NHL on the PlayStation with which I did back in the day.
So what what stands out most about what really is a historic start from Winnipeg.
Well, Kyle Connor stands out to me as playing out of his mind this year is as a forward, as an offensive player, and Connor Helibuk, who won the Visita last year, is playing doesn't Atrophy hockey again. So you know, those are the two guys that are really standing out and above everybody. But to have a record like they have at twelve and one, you've got to have everybody you know on all play, all cylinders, and everything for them is going good. I mean, their their power play
is at forty four percent. Their penalty killing has been you know, middle of the pack, but it's that's still pretty good. So they're you know, they're goals for or four point seven. They lead the league with that. They've just had a terrific start. But if you want me to pick out a couple of players also on Morrissey on defense has been great for them. But Kyle Connor and Hellibuck and Morrissey, they've all been really good.
Let me ask you about a story before I set you loose egoork In, the goalie for the Rangers. We've been waiting for news on this potential extension. It sounds you're teasing it, Neil. Do you have any any meat on the bone you can share?
Not really, I mean other than I'm just you know, you hear things, and you hear that things are you know, heating up? What that means? Who knows. But you would think that the Rangers would be anxious to get them signed and not let them get near free agency. So I would imagine that there's something going on in the background between the h and kushchu Stirk and Chris Drewy.
All right, Neil, got a lot of new hockey fans in the market.
Where can they go find your podcast that you guys release often during the week.
Yeah, we had Bill Darn the GM of Minnesota on this week and it's on every platform, NHL Wrap Around, you can find it on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, anywhere that you can find podcasts, you'll find it. And it's been a lot of fun. And we're doing it three times a week Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. And give it a listen.
Neil, thank you, sir. I always appreciate the time. Get that voice ready to roll, and we'll get you back on next week.
All right, I'll sound like a different man next week.
There you go, There you go.
The great Neil Smith built a juggernaut of a New York Ranger hockey team that want a Stanley Cup in the nineties. Also general manager of the Islanders. He was the head scout for the Red Wings when they were kind of at their heyday.
He's on Twitter.
You can find the links to his work at NYC Neil Smith is where you find him. You can follow the podcast at NHL wrap Around is where you get that.
All right.
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Collectibles dot Com, where you can buy and trade. Gonna say good night just a little bit early in time for Utah women's basketball, so stay tuned for that. Good time out for more Utah byu Chatter NFL. Potentially if we have a little time, my guy Stevenson Sylvester on a Thursday rolls by Sly.
Happy Thursday, buddy, how are you doing?
Happy Thursday? Rivalry week? What's up?
Brother?
Let's go.
I appreciate your time and I love the enthusiasm, So let's just let's give us a little peak beyond the curtain? Man, What is this week like for somebody who has played in this game? What are some of the emotions that are conjured up?
Well, I mean it depends on what level you know you're at with all of this, right, Like some of the young guys that haven't been familiar with it, haven't been around it. There's actually a lot of other guys a part of the program that you know, hasn't had time. You know, this series has been on and off, you
know for years. But this week for guys that know, like my junior and senior year, even sophomore year, that had some experience with it, your blood is boiling, you know, the entire week, and you're trying to really control your output, right, You got to control your emotions because you don't want to get too excited too early in the week and you're not ready to go on Saturday. And so for me, like right now Thursday, it's getting closer to the day, right,
you know ESPN is covering it's a big deal. The city's on fire, everybody's talking about it, so everybody's talking about it in the classrooms. Everybody's wearing their utah gear around even more than usual, So all of those things come into play. You notice those things, even the stuff that's not said. You just feel it in the air, you know, feeling. I've been playing Phil Collins in the
air of night all week. This week, this has been It's an absolutely incredible week, and as soon as that kickoff happens, you really feel how important it is to the community, right, like everybody knows. You can feel when the crowd is live and juiced uff. Imagine them being live and juic stuff during a rivalry game, and so absolutely love it. This week is crazy and it's bringing back great memories of me preparing for this game. Straight focus and lots of intensity.
All right, does coach Wit prepare his team for this week?
What's different about Kyle's approach when it is b YU week is somebody who went through at firsthand?
I don't. I don't really think you see him crack a smile all week. I think his intensity radiates through through the team, right, Like it's so weird, Like he played at b with you, but he just does not like him and it's it's crazy. And so you really go off of your head guy, your guy in charge.
His vibe, his attitude really delivers through the team. So his intensity, especially the way the month of October went for this football team, I can just tell his intensity's got to be at an all time high this week, and I think that's going to radiate through the team. And so and you just see his level of focus, his level of intensity. That impacts us as players. Sorry I'm uncle Rico. I'm saying U. It impacts the players and they increase their level of focus, their level of intensity.
So I think he's a big proponent to how this game is going to go.
So you're gonna be good with this because there's this narrative going throughout the community this week about the fact that only nine Utah players out of one hundred and twenty five have played BYU and there's only a handful of BYU players that have played against Utah, and both rosters are littered with out of state kids. So as someone who grew up elsewhere and then came here to play for the University of Utah. What's it like experiencing
this from an out of state perspective? And do you think the out of state kids really understand how intense this is going to be on Saturday night?
I gotta be honest, they won't really understand. I mean, they can get And that's why the coaching of the history this week is so important, right It is because when the game actually happens, you're able to really understand what they were talking about a week. But as an outer turner, you don't get it until the game is played, until the outcome has had and whether that's a win or a loss, you don't really feel it until that moment. You kind of get glimpses of to be able to understand.
But I'm telling you it's just as important the community. The fans that show up your intensity, your passion throughout the game will showcase to the players how important this game is. The players, literally, their whole momentum, their whole playing style will go off of the crowd's intensity. So if the crowd is into it all game, so will the players, and you're gonna get one heck of an outcome. So It's just as important as the players are the fans are for this game.
Do you have a personal favorite memory or a couple of favorite memories in your time playing for Utah against Yu?
Man, just being able to play in the game, right, to say that I played in that game is is all the memory. Every single year, I could take a bits and pieces from them from from when I played was a long time ago, two thousand and six, thousand seven, two thousand and eight, two thousand and nine. Yeah, I know Utah has had like a winning streak, but I was one and three against these guys, and so I
hate them even more because of that. I think the only team that I got a losing record against, and so like I that just makes me that much more intense about this rivalry. I love that we we went nine in a row. You know, hopefully we can get back on track with the winning records and do that, but yeah, man, this was this rivalry was great. The moments heading down to Lavelle Edward Stadium. I absolutely love
going into opponent stadium, into hostile environments. I've been in some of the craziest hostile environments, and I tell you, Lavelle Edwards is right up there one or two or three as the most hostile environment I've been in, And I love it. I love the feeling of nervousness I had, you know before kickoff, how how intense I was. I'man from specifically two thousand and eight and two thousand and nine, before that kickoff happened, I'm literally blacked out red. I
don't see nothing. I hear crowds, intensities, the booze, and I just see that color blue, and I just I want to rip it apart. Like that's just my whole mentality that whole time warming up, I just looking at their sideline looking for my little punk that I could punk all game? What old lineman, am I going to talk craft to all games? You know? Is it Dallas Reynolds?
You know?
Is it some of these other frigga dudes. I was so walked in heading into the stadium before the game started. And then of course the whole first quarter in the rivalry game is all fights, and so I was fighting that entire first quarter with all the boys, So like, yeah, that's my biggest memory is is that first quarter and that pregame of these rivalries, man, it is it is something that a lot of people can't experience and it'll be awesome.
I gotta know.
Because you played on a Utah team with guys that like to talk. Who is who who talked the most smoke? Like, who is the best at it on your side?
I mean aside from me, of course, of course, yeah, we had a few. Man at first it comes to mind is Terrell Cole. I don't know if a lot of people remember Terill Cole. That dude he talked most. He would get under everybody's skin. And I'm in a group chat with him now, so I just I know he still doesn't he still has.
It in him.
He's got it. He doesn't. That never left him. But other guys is like Keppa Geyson, Kepa Guyson talked a lot of smack. Cannapa Iliopol was great at at tagas smack on the offensive side of the ball. Robert Conley, you know, he he was subtle, he was more straightforward, like you want to talk to and he get it on the other offensive side of the ball. Jeremy Brooks.
I'd have to give it to Jeremy Brooks and Brick has steel as being some of the biggest smack talkers on when I played at Utah and then of course you know me, Rojo Kepa Cole was quiet, Coult, don't ever say nothing. And then everybody's favorite, the legend himself, Sewn Smith.
Oh yes, of course Sean probably should have been one of the first names I thought of. What what about on the other side, did did b YU have any guys that could keep up with with the talking smoke that stand out from from Yeah.
From my experience, it was good. I can't remember anybody's names, but a lot of the old linemen, you know, with talk smack. And I remember in two thousand and seven I was I was talking to smacking and it was after a play up being an incomplete pass, and then I'm coming back and he starts saying something because I got by him, but like I didn't, I didn't get
to the quarterback and he started saying something. He said something really foul, and I'm just like, you guys can say that at b YU and he just started frigging cracking up, laughing, and so like it's all. It's all great in sport, you know, to be able to experience that. Austin Collley talked a lot of smack Harvey younger, dude talk a lot of smack. You know, I can't really say that they started it, but they definitely contributed. He
definitely contributed. So Max All really didn't say much. He said a lot after the game, but you know, during the game, he didn't talk a lot of smack. But yeah, those guys got into it. It's it's it's the same over there. They probably got the same amount of guys that talk smack as we do.
Since you brought up Max All, we had Austin colly On earlier in the week, and you know, I've met Max a number of times. I've interviewed him and he seemed like a fine guy. I don't pretend to know him at all. I don't think I've ever asked you what was the reaction of the locker room, because you reference Max didn't say a thing during the game and then decided to run his mouth after the game, which is pretty telling, to be honest.
But what was the reaction in the locker room. I know what it was in the community.
He was a pariah up here, but what was the reaction in the locker room when you heard what Max had said?
Well, I mean, he said that after they won in nine, right, right, that's freaking stupid O nine. And so we were in the locker room. We were kind of dejected, and you know, and you know, getting back to Salt Lake City before we even heard that he said that. It was actually on our way back to Salt Lake City that we heard that, and we were all actually getting together that night,
so we all got to say it. You know, it was my senior year, so there's nothing we could do after the fact, but we kind of laughed at it. We're just like because because of that fact, we knew you didn't tell I smacked there in the game, but you want to say that now, and so but I can kind of get where he's coming from, especially the year before. Our fans went absolutely him on him in two thousand and eight, and I loved every bit of it.
So I hope our fans do the same thing to Jake Retzlaus this year so he can get baptized into this holy war and the right way. And but yeah, I don't know. I ain't had much from it because there was nothing that we could do because we didn't play them again after the fact, But we just laughed at it because we knew that. I was like, oh, you wasn't talking no smack in the game, but she was. You definitely want to say something that's with that, all.
Right, Sli, I want you to help me understand something here, because most of the defensive numbers for Utah football are very good, and most of the metrics indicate the defense is very good, and I believe that that's the case. But they're last and fumbles forced their last and fumbles recovered.
This isn't a conference.
They're ninth in interceptions and they're eleventh's me, twelfth in sacks. So usually the things that we see from a Utah defense are havoc plays and turnovers and pressure in the quarterback. So yeah, it's a good defense. It's number one in overall scoring defense. They're top three in the or excuse me, their top six in the country. First down and third down, so they put you in difficult situations. It's hard for
teams to convert third downs. But tell me why from your vantage point, Utah football has not been able to really pressure the quarterback or force turnovers in a way that we're accustomed to.
Scene This is such a great question. I kind of talked about it on Steve Bartell's pardcast last week or was it last week? Yeah, I think it was last week. Very crazy to look at that, Right, you're doing so well in first and third down, but you're also at the bottom in these other categories. And sadly this happened, and it happens because of the position that you're put in. Right, Sacks, turnovers, having plays happen because you're able to pin your ears
back and get after the other team. Right, this defense has not been in a position where we're being able to pin our ears back and get after the other team. We've had to really be conservative on the defensive side of the ball. You know, we've blitzed a few times, but we've had to be conservative because it's just like just like in the TCU game. Right, you let TCU's offense drive all the way down the field on the first drive, but you create a turnover. Right, we create
a turnover, you give it to our offense. What does our offense do with it? Absolutely nothing? And so we're deep in our own side of the field and we have to punt out of that side. We punt forty yard punt you give them, So you're giving them the ball back on their own forty five to midfield, and so they only have fifty yards to go. So we've been having to be really conservative and not be able
to take risk. When you go for an interception, when you go for a strip fumble, when you make all those things, you go for a sack, you're taking a risk in some aspect, right, You're creating some kind of vulnerability in the defense. At one point. If I go for a pick, if I missed that pick, this guy can go over the top. Right, there's no confidence right now in the defense and our offense being able to
get our back as a defender. Right, So if I go for this risk and miss and they get in a good position, they get a field goal or a touchdown, can our offense come back and score. Or if I take this risk, we're going to get that much further behind. So I don't see our defense taking risks in order to create those havoc plays. We've been having to be extremely conservative because we haven't been able to play conservative
or complementary football. It's been very difficult in that aspect for us to be able to achieve a lot of the havoc plays that we're used to because of those simple sacs.
All right, got to ask you about the quarterback position because obviously it's just been the number one thing, and it is the number one position. Isaac Brandon splitting reps sly from my vantage point, when I heard Brandon, he was made available to the media on Tuesday, which is not typical. When I heard Brandon talk, he sounded like a kid that's started a football game on Saturday night.
I don't know.
We have coach Wait on the show tomorrow. I'll see if I can get any info in that direction. So how do you think this is going to play out? Do you have a preference? And ultimately is there a massive difference between the two right now?
Well, here's the thing with practices being closed off spring game not being of that telling of what's going on. We're just privy to the information that the coaches have given us in the offseason and during practices and stuff, right, so we can't really tell. And yes, Brandon Rose, he's been a great case. He's been in his program. He's had to take the back seat a lot. Even last year he didn't get his opportunities and this and that.
So again we're going into a position where we have to just rely on you know, the coaching staff making the right decisions, which is what they get paid to do, and put us in a position to win.
You know.
For me, I'm on the other side of this, right, we don't have an opportunity to win the Big Twelve Championship or get to the Big Twelve Championship, So I need to make sure that my team is secure and ready to go for the future, right, And so the future is Isaac Wilson. To me, I think both of these guys have really strong arms. I know, we're talking about Isaac Wilson and he missed a couple of the short flat passes in the Houston in the Houston game, but there's a lot of things going on with that
to make that happen. But you know, confidence is key in the quarterback position room and when you take the field. I haven't seen enough tape on Brandon Rose to be confident and say you're the guy. You're definitely better than Isaac. And then of course we haven't seen Isaac with you know, but Jaki and you know for more than a couple of weeks and seeing how these guys can do it, you know, I don't know if Isaac Wilson's confidence is completely shot for the rest of this year, so you
have to go with Brandon Rose. I don't know if you know Isaac has done enough in this by week and this to to rebuild his confidence in himself to to get out on the field. For me, I would put Isaac in right. I'll put isa He's familiar with this rivalry, he understands the intensity. And if you practice with him and you've simplified this offense, you've you've given him things to be able to succeed in this, then you know I can. I can definitely say that he
can lead us to victory on Saturday. But you know, of course we don't know what we don't know, so I'm gonna have to wait till kickoff to know who's gonna start at QB. But you know here nor there, I think, uh, this team is much more than the quarterback to position. So for us to keep putting oners on that sole position I think is terrible. And as players, the same thing. Just because Cam Rising goes out, Isaac Wilson throws a bad pass, it can't demoralize the rest
of the team. There's so many different ways people can affect the football game, and so if you can understand that, we should get a lot of play out of everybody else on this football team. So I'm just more so waiting for that, for everybody to step up and take advantage of this ribbery.
I feel like the start of these games are often telling, and I wanted you to take us kind of beneath the helmet a little bit about the tricky balance of making sure you're playing very hard, as hard as you can, but not getting consumed by the moment, not getting overwhelmed by the intensity because at some point that will wane and then it's just time to play football.
So what are you going to be looking for? Slide right out of the gates from the utes, indicate they're in a good place.
Well, I mean to indicate they're in a good place. It's kind of different from traditional years. Right, I'm more on the stage and we're on a four game losing streak, So can we showcase any offense right like that? That's where my head is at. That's where the importance is at for me, is can we show that you know we have it together, that we're playing with confidence and we can make it happen. You know, the beginning of
this game can be whatever I've seen it throughout. The rivalry go both ways, the team down South getting a great start, Utah getting a great start, and in the end it's completely different, right, and so one, you got to be locked in throughout the game. Every single play, every blade of turf grass out there is going to be extremely important the entire game. Every second of best sixty minute football game is going to be very, very
very important to some capacity in this football game. So I hope these guys just understand that they can't miss an opportunity when it's presented. If you have an opportunity to get an interception, you've got to make it. You got an opportunity to get a strip sack or make a tackle, or force these guys out and punt the football. You got an opportunity to catch the football. There's been some drops by key players on this receiving core. Right.
We've seen some key drops by Dorian Singer, Micah Pittman money parts before he got injured. We've seen some drops from these guys. This is opportunities when it presents itself, and when it presents itself, it needs to they need to make that happen. And so with that being said, like you can't miss your opportunity in this football game and a robbery holy war game. This game is about who can take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to them.
I'm putting thirty seconds on the clock.
Tell us about the Tackle the Cold Coach Drive coming up on Saturday.
Tackle the Cold Code Drive the NFLPA, which is a new chat. They're here in Utah Players Association, former players from the team down South, former players from Utah, former players from Utah State, and then other former players from around the United States live here in Utah and we created a chapter with the NFL Players Association and we're partnering with Utah Foster Care to provide foster kids with
new coachs for the winter. So if you guys have in your hearts to give this season, we're doing a code drive at the tailgate this weekend. Our tailgate lot is right in front of the Aquatic Center and the male tailgate in the main tailgate lot, and you can drop off new coach. If you don't have new coach, you can do gift cards or venmo at Utah Foster
Care Foundation on Venmo, but contribute if you can't. We got to get these foster kids some new clothes for the winter because it's going to be cold this year.
For sure.
Live you're the man. We'll see Saturday.
Okay, thanks Bence, appreciate you.