FULL TUE POD @SpenceChecketts on BYU @ Utah fallout, Jazz/NBA Cup, #Big12 latest + more

All right, what's going on?

Drive time? Tuesday afternoon, about nine minutes past the hour of two o'clock, winter has come calling. It is rainy, it is snowy, It is cold here in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. A lot of snow off on the east bench, a ton of snow up in the mountains. Good for the snow bros. I always want to watch out for the snow bros. Get in some chetta.

Nope, I'm not gonna do the snowbro impersonation today.

It's too early for that. It is the first storm of the year, at least down to the benches when you're kind of shoveling the walks a little bit. But as it is every single day, it's gonna have you along for the ride. Spence checkets beyond the mic. That's Porter Larson behind the glass on this Tuesday afternoon. Your weekend Pro football came to a closed last night with a little Monday Night football. The Dolphins took care of the rams, and now we're high speed ahead to week eleven,

Coming up Thursday night, it's gonna be the.

Command and the Eagles from Lincoln Financial Field. Jayden Daniels taking on Jalen Hurts. Right now, Philly a three point five point favorite. We're gonna do a little pro football on the show today, look back on the week that was, and look out to the week that will be. On tuesdays of the week, the week, at least not our show. We still kind of exist in the space of what has happened, what just happened, as opposed to what's coming up, what happens next. So he a little more Utah byu

Kilani satake, on.

The other hand, for his media availability, very excited about what could be next for his team. Now Tonight will be the seconds reveal of the CFP poll, where will BYU Land.

There's seven in the.

And as of now they're nine in the College Football Pull I would imagine they move up Georgia loses, Miami loses. BYU is one of four undefeated teams left, and I believe one of three P four teams that are undefeated. Oregon, Indiana and Brigham Young the three undefeated teams. I believe Army is the fourth. So I would imagine they're going to move up tonight. Maybe seven would be my guest. I know BYU fans believe they should be higher, but that's just kind of the deal with that fan base.

Everyone very excited.

You can feel the buzz in the market as tonight is the triumphant return slash debut of the NBA Cup. That's right, the Phoenix are in town to take on the Utah Jazz. Kevin Durant will not play as he has a calf injury, but this.

Is NBA Cup Group play. Guys.

I know you've been waiting for it for a while it was called the play in Tournament a year ago, the Emitanus NBA Cup. It's kind of like a soccer European mid season tournament to try to give the players more motivation to play during the regular season, which is just going so well. Way to go, knock that out of the park. NBA ratings are in the toilet right now. A lot of that is probably because we are simply entrenched in football, both college and pro. But we'll do

Getting you ready for a busy weekend in.

Pro and college football, NBA Cup, Utah Jazz Action. Tim McMahon will join us right out of the gates from ESPN for your NBA Daily assist, Max Chadwick Pro Football Focus for some pro and college football aforementioned, Glynn Roberts for some Utah women's hoops, and then our buddy, our old producer JP, John Paul Chunga, who now is wearing a bunch of different hats. He does a lot of the podcasting over for the Utah Jazz Podcast Network.

He does the Utah Royals.

He's the voice of the Royals, and this season it is the debut of JP as the voice of these Salt Lake City Stars. So our guy is busy, bringaman studio today to chat a little bit of everything quite frankly on this to on this Tuesday afternoon. So Tim McMahon, Max Chadwick, Lynn Roberts, J Peach Shanga, Me Spence checkets, all of you the great listeners. And that guy Porter Larson in a vest i took the vest off.

He's wearing a Milwaukee Beer sweatshirt.

But if it's cold and snowy outside, the vest is a handy thing to have in your repertoire, you gotta have it. Milwaukee power Tools, just to be very clear, Well, there's a Milwaukee beer and that I think your power tool company stole the Milwaukee beer kind of, Randy, I don't.

Know about that, but it'll look into it.

Yeah, it's it's vest weather.

So glad it's wintertime kind of but looking forward to the season, and as you mentioned, spent plenty to get to today, still reacting to what was a holy war that gave us fodder probably for weeks, months, however long it may take UH and some some college football to get to with the CFP rankings this afternoon, Jazz Basketball Hockey Club, Little RSL, maybe some soccer with JP as well. So we'll go all over the map on this wet and somewhat snowy You bury the.

Lead, it's the NBA Cup today, it's the Emris NBA League Cup.

Well, I thought you're gonna spend the entirety of the opening segment on that, so I wanted to leave the big story of the day to you. Of course, the defending champion Lakers in the NBA Cup.

Before Lebron nine straight elimination games, undefeated, according to win Horror. So you go, my guys leaning into the propaganda so much. God bless them. ESPN NBA's partner. Do what you gotta do, But like, don't do that.

It's not an elimination yet. It's not all right.

Tim McMahon will join us right out of the gates to get you guys ready for the NBA Cup tonight.

The Suns are in town.

But before we get to, Tim, courtesy of our friends at Standard Restaurants supply. Standard Restaurant supply your tailgate headquarters get everything you need to make your tailgate epic. Standard carries everything from serving dishes start out, propane, portable barbecues.

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Check them out online at Standard Restaurant dot com or stop by their location at thirty five hundred south West Temple.

I'm now on a Tuesday for your opening tip.

Welcome to the Drive with Spence Check it's on Utah's number one Sports talk. Now into the studio of ESPN seven hundred to set the scene for the show.

The opening tip of the.

Drive is brought to you by Standard Restaurant Supply, your one stop shop to build the best tailgate in town. Standard Restaurant Supply thirty five hundred Southwest Temple.

So Tuesday for us is still kind of a reactionary style. When it comes to the show Wednesday, we kind of start to turn the page about what's coming up as far as this weekend and pro and college football, But ultimately we're kind of still in the space where we're looking back, kind of reflecting on what exactly happened on Saturday night on a number of different levels, and yesterday

There are some injury rumors out.

There, but because it has not been officially announced by the U, I can't go with them. But if they're true, two or three other pieces outside of bran Keithy were lost for the season on Saturday against Brigham Young, making the challenge the lies ahead even that much more difficult unfortunately, but again, until they're actually announced by the school and the athletic department. It's not necessarily something I feel comfortable talking about.

If we get information, we'll bring it to you.

But you know, we cover this thing from every single angle, exactly how it went down, why it went down, special teams touchdown allowed by the University of Utah, the controversial fourth down holding call that extended the game, Klonie's time out, you know that ultimately gave BYU another chance, and then landing. You know, at the end of the day on the comments that were made by Mark Harlin after the game, the University of vut To athletic director saying the BYU

I'll repeat what I said yesterday.

I don't know this because I've not talked to Mark, but it was a surprising moment for a guy that, in my experience with him over the past few years, both on and off air, seems very smart, very measured, very calculated, very careful, and it was the exact opposite of all of those things. It was careless, it was emotional, it was the wrong way to go about it, and honestly, the first time I heard it, my first thought was he's going to be in a lot of trouble because

Right?

And there are probably several different scenarios. The most reductive and simple one is he was mad and he was emotional and he wanted to send a message. But in those moments, those are the times. And this is not a sport thing. This is just simply how you have to roll if you want to exist in this little.

Blue marble rolling around in the middle of nowhere, if.

You want to be part of the simulation part of the situation, those are things that you have to learn to temper in the most heightened of emotions, like the most destructive things. I certainly can you point to in my life for things that I've done or said when I've been angry or emotional.

I feel like I've been wronged. Right, We all want to lash out if.

We feel like we've been wronged, if we feel like we've been cheated, if we feel like somebody has taken something that we have earned. So you understand that, and you should have some grace for that, because I'm sure who amongst us has not had that emotional outburst and emotional moment that has led to regret yours probably wasn't on camera, right, but I'm sure you can relate to

Now, that's not how life works.

And when you say or do certain things that are out of line or not necessarily the way you should roll, you pay for them, and sometimes you pay for them harshly, and sometimes it takes a lot of time to come back from them.

I mean I can speak to that. Certainly.

Mark releases a statement the day after and after he had spoken with bre your Mark. I'm sure the commissioner gently encouraged Mark to release something, and I think the statement fell short. He said quote last night, following our game against BYU, I made clear my feelings related to the game officiating. However, I recognize there are more appropriate times and avenues to express those concerns, and I accept

University of Utah is proud to be.

A member of the Big Twelve Conference and we look forward to working with our peers to continue to enhance the league BYU Coach Ataki and their coaches and student athletes are having a terrific, terrific season, and we wish them the very best.

Fell short of the Mark no pun intended there.

I mean, ultimately, it really is missing two words, and that is I'm sorry. And I do have to wonder where Taylor Randall is on this. I do have to wonder where Booster's alumni and donors are on.

This, And I honestly don't know. I'm just wondering out loud.

I have no idea, Like I said the whole like he should lose his job. Crowd all right, Like tell me you don't really know how the world works. Without telling me you don't know how the world works, Like Mark has a good reputation from what I can tell, I honestly can't speak to it. And by the way, we didn't bring this on air yesterday, but this was the statement of the Big Twelve the next day, after deciding how they were going to roll, he said quote, and I don't know if this is the commissioner.

This is simply from the Big Twelve quote.

Mark's comments irresponsibly challenged the professionalism of our officials and the integrity of the Big Twelve Conference.

There's a right way and a wrong way to voice concerns.

Unfortunately, Mark chose the wrong way accordingly, in violation, warrants, a public reprimand, and a financial penalty found out that was forty thousand dollars. The Big Twelve Conference prioritizes professionalism, integrity, in fairness and will continue will continue to do so.

Excuse me.

And there's some language in there that indicates the portion of Mark's comments that most set Brett your Mark off, and that is basically challenging the professionalism and therefore the integrity of the officials and then tying those criticisms directly to the Big Twelve Conference, because then you're trying to undermine the conference, and then you're going to run foul of the commissioner and again a guy who is just

Right, you know, doink.

Off the crossbar block kicks Brandon Burton, Beck to Harling. Right, you can be reductive, Scott Mitchell, Eddie Johnson, you can be reductive of a lot of these games and call them the Brandon Burton block game, right, the Brett Ratliffe holy bleep game.

In ten years, this is going to be the Mark Harling game.

And of course people will talk about the holding penalty and the controversial, you know allowance for Brigham Young to have another shot to move down the field, which to their credit, they did and kick the game winning field goal. But as this thing kind of continues to permeate throughout both local and national college football news, like everybody is chiming in on this. Terry McAuley, an official ex official, chimed in on it and essentially said it's a foul

Anyway.

There are a lot of different takes on that, but it seems like the take on what Marquet to say after the game is pretty unanimous. And I do think whether he meant to do it or not, he has now stamped his name in BYU Utah history and he will look back, you know, we will look back on this game. Has denied that the utaied decided to take to Mike. All right, I want to tell you about my friends, a clear Water Distillion, the only distillery in Utah County open on Sunday is Great Spirits Tasting Room

Next on the Drive, Tim McMahon dropping dimes for your NBA Daily assists.

Van McMahon, Van mcman batted a Land, Texas flood as sicke as Mudy and Man.

Van McMahon, Vancman, the man, the.

Rain and the snow coming down rather heavily in Salt Lake this afternoon.

It is chilly, it is cold. Well, I'll tell you what. It's only gonna be hot downtown tonight. See what I did there.

League's cop Baby. The NBA Cup starts tonight. Group play The Phoenix Suns are in town. An NBA up enthusiasts and great overall guy and rider. Tim mcmanon is our guest on a Tuesday. Hello Tim, how are you, sir gowdy partner?

I am doing all right. I am outside looking over the bay here in San Francisco. Nice a little bit of a chillney air, but nice sunny day. Some boats in the water, none that have Craig Thompson as captain. But here we go.

So you are in an area where there's actually an interesting game tonight. We'll get there in a moment, but before we start, what should our listeners know, Tim about the newly branded NBA Cup.

Last year it was the playing tournament.

The group play starts tonight and the Sons are in town to play the Jazz.

The n season tournament. Last year, the play in tournament's a whole separate deal in season Jazz after the Jazz have tried very hard to avoid the playing tournament the last years. I don't think that'll be such a problem this year. I mean, you know, same concept, new courts, you know, new new sponsor, and what is it I mean to pronounce it, To be honest with you, I think that might be right. Well, Dan, I guess I didn't know how to pronounce it. Oh well, I'll tell

Yeah, and I don't care how much money you make. Five hundred k is not nothing. But I wonder in your conversations throughout the league, players, coaches, front office exacts, is there genuine excitement for this thing?

Do they feel like it's being forced upon them?

I mean, what's kind of the feeling around the NBA as far as how teams feel about the NBA Cup.

I haven't heard a lot of complaining about it. I don't know if there's just a ton of excitement, you know, like five hundred grand in a trip to Vegas. I think all NBA players like both of those things, so they prefer to win it than not. But I don't get the sense of it's like something that I don't know that they're like circling these games on their calendars. Oh, these are NBA Cup games, and you know, there's been a whole lot of sextra motivation. But like I said, also,

Okay, well, I mean, I mean, look, the bottom line is, and we'll move on from the NBA Cup after this. Like this is something that pro basketball, in my opinion, has always been very good at, and that is being willing to look at dynamics and try new things and see if they stick. And and this is essentially isn't this Adams Baby.

Isn't this Adam Silver's thing?

Like this is one of the things that he kind of talked about very early on as really a copy of the European soccer model, the FA Cup and such, which I know you're a big fan of.

But this is to me, this is.

One cool Well it's one of the cool things about the NBA. They're willing to kind of try these different things and kind of see if they work.

No, this is definitely an Adam Silver creation. I thought the courts last year actually were a very sharp marketing tactic because hey, it got people those courts got people talking about the NBA during the middle of football season, and that's not always the easiest thing to do. And then you know, last year the semi finals and finals were rating success and for being honest though, they also got extremely and there was a success in terms of

So let's move over, excuse me, let's move over to where you're at tonight bike rides with Balkan music. Tim, I didn't expect to wake up and see Tim mcmhon story referencing Balkan music. And you wrote about Clay and Clay is back in the Bay to see the Warriors for the first time. So we'll get to the jazz in a minute, but this is far more interesting for basketball fans.

Tell us about, you know, kind of.

The story you wrote, and then ultimately where Clay's head is at as he gets gets ready to play his old team Tonight in the Bay.

Yeah, as a Dallas based NBA writer, I've actually become pretty familiar with Balkan music. I'm a guy, you know, Luca likes his Balkan music, and when he comes out to warm up, that's what's playing on the American Airlines centers. About five minutes into Clay Thompson the barnlopt so, you know, just kind of an example of adjustment to Clay's making. He does he did not bring a boat to Dallas. You know, I didn't have a boat. Doctor one of

And this is always interesting to me because look, I mean, he won four rings there and he went from you know, a late lottery maybe a decent spot up shooter to one of potentially, not potentially, one of the greatest shooters the game's ever seen. Like when Clay Thompson is in Springfield, he will have a Warrior jersey on, There's no doubt

Ultimately, what landed Klay Thompson on Dallas him.

Or Clay decided that he was going to go ahead and be the one who called at his time and the Bay was done. And look, they had the extension talks before last season. Two years forty seven million was what was being discussed. Whether it was put on the table or not, I guess kind of depends on who you asked, But it wasn't the deal that he was going to take. You know, Draymond got four years, one hundred.

So, drawing any conclusion of this league after ten games as a fool's errand but Dallas after going to the finals last year and a lot of people's picked to potentially represent the West again. Oka, see just lost Chad. We'll get there in a moment. But they are five and five, they're five hundred. So how's the Clay experience god so far in Dallas.

You know, it started out really well. I mean, he really shot on the first few games. It's been a little bit bumpy since then. You know, like you said to me, Jerk after ten games would be a little bit silly. And but the simple fact of the matter is we've yet to see Luca play at the level that we're accustomed to from him, which is, you know, firmly in the MVP conversation, he's not been that guy. And you know, when Luke's playing at that level, everything

Yeah, and I agree with that.

I mean, Luca is just too good, and I'm sure he'll coast and then he's turn it on, you know the way that we've seen him, do they They do see a warrior team tim at a start of the year eight and two, and they have the second best net in the West and Steve is playing like twelve dudes every night. What has Golden State figured out early on on what's Dallas up against tonight?

Well, and you know the amazing thing is they did that with Stephnu's in a handful of games. You know, when he had the forgot what fancy term they use for the ankle area, but you know he had that entry and man like, you got to give Mike Dunley some credit for the way that they kind of pivoted this offseason. You know, no one claims out the door they weren't able to get the Paul Georgis thing to obviously, they're the conversations with the jazzbel Larry markin and never

Yeah, and again super early.

All right, let's start with the opponent tonight for the Jazz as the Sun's rolling to town playing good basketball at eating too. But Durant I think is out. He's definitely out tonight. I think he's out for a couple of weeks with the CAF strain. Yeah, so obviously that changes who they are. But what should Jazz fans know? Because these days a lot of fans are going to the arena to watch the other team, which I get, So what are we going to see tonight in the Phoenix Suns?

Yeah, and obviously, no, KD is a bummer, and you know that was a weird one because he actually strained that in the fourth quarter and there in Dallas. I was at the game, I was in the Sun's locker room. Afterwards, I talked to KD. He didn't get extra treatment. He was in good spirits, who wasn't limping around, And the next thing you know, he's out for at least a couple of weeks. So I guess it was a little soreness, and then it acted up on him the next day

Well, the red hot Utah Jazz have won two of three games tim, so you know, ultimately, let's lean into that. And without being facetious, I do think with a group of really really young players and a head coach who I'm sure every night feels like he's walking into a gym completely up against it, well, I have no issue if they lose every game because I understand what's going on, I get what time it is, and I understand the uh,

At least there's that.

Yeah, No, I think you can't. I mean, you really don't want to have like double figure losing streaks and like you didn't, especially to start the season. You don't want to be oh in you know, eleven or twelve or fifteen or just whatever, just because that is such a waight and it I think it has a major negative impact on development when there's that level of misery and when you feel like there's no reward for all

Like you just kind of see to the draft guys as far as who these players are. So I know you don't cover the draft yourself, but we are going to revisit this throughout the course of the season because college basketball has tipped off. It's now here and obviously Cooper Flag is playing for Duke, so we're gonna be like the funnest things now as a Jazz fan is just to check mock drafts, and a lot of them have the Jazz is one of the top two picks. Like Gavoni released his stuff today, So just I know

Yeah, backs for home. My colleague had a really good story on Cooper Flag yesterday and I learned that I'm pretty sure I played against Cooper Flag's main AAU coach when I was in high school. Wow, I was That was one of the major things that took from that.

All Right, before I say you loose, I got to get your take on what Chats injury means for OKC. I mean, Shay just went for forty five in the first game without him, and they're still really deep and I'm sure they're gonna tread water, and it looks like he'll be reevaluated in ten to twelve weeks, So maybe it isn't catastrophic, but they were off to such a fun not just a successful start, fun start, fun team to watch at nine and two, and Chat's going to be out for a while.

What do you think this means for OKC?

I mean they were off to a dominant start, and they were the best defensive team that we have seen in a while, you know, in several years in the NBA. And you know, Chet was to me the early front runner to be Defensive Player of the Year. Uh, certainly on the path to being an All Star. But they're gonna win plenty of games about him. They've had to kind of get through these next whatever. It's going to be two or three weeks before Hartenstein's are ready to

All right, Tim, thanks for the time, man. Enjoy that game. Should be a fun atmosphere and we'll chat soon.

I appreciate it, brother.

All right.

Tim McMahon covers the NBA for ESPN. He is the Jazz reporter for ESPN. He's out here quite a bit when the Jazz are a serious team, which they're not right now. He's on Twitter at ESPN and underscore McMahon. Klay Thompson is back in the Bay Area to take on the Warriors.

The Jazz welcome in the Phoenix Suns.

So the injury report as of now we know Duran is out looks like Keyante is a game time decision, but expected to play. Walker Kessler on the injury report, I have right now is listed as out.

The last game we saw Walker.

Did play nineteen minutes against San Antonio, got the start, had to leave, so I haven't heard anything official there. I'm just trying to figure out who would start tonight if Walker's not going to play. Last game, it was marketing, Cody Williams, Walker Kessler calling sex and Isaiah Callier.

My guess is Caller goes to the bench with.

Keyante back and I guess John Collins is your starting center unless will goes with Drew you Banks Jazz basketball. It's fantastic and BA Cup debuts tonight. All right, we'll get to some pro football college football with Max Chadwick coming up on the other side. We're gonna bring in Lynn Roberts today, some Utah women's hoops JP Changa live in studio in the four o'clock hour.

We'll go from there. NBA Daily Assist is.

Brought to you by About Time Pub, Utah's premier sports bar. Amazing food, killer cocktails, make bout Time your place for sports or even brunch. All food made from scratch, and they have new mocktails for those of you who don't partake in alcohol. More TVs than tables all about time. TVs have their own receiver, so we have all the games going live with free high speed Wi Fi. Makes a great place to quote work from home. It's fallen almost winter, it's basically winters. Keep out Tom Pub in

Max. Happy Tuesday, man, How you doing good?

How you guys doing good?

Man?

Appreciate the time.

Obviously, it was a chaotic weekend here in Salt Lake City with the rivalry game as Brigham Young rolled up to Salt Lake and went back to Provo with the win. So now, simply put, BYU is undefeated, their number seven in the AP. We'll get to the CFP release tonight. But what did you make of a very dramatic night in Salt Lake City on Saturday night?

Yeah, it just seems like by use a team of destiny, It doesn't it? Right now? Guys, right over the Oklahoma State game, they had the game winning drive. Nobody thought they they would win that game. Obviously had another game winning drive against Utah on that one. You know, every great college football team obviously has got to be a good team first and foremost, but also you gotta have a little magic as well, and I think BYU is

So that leads me to the CFP release tonight. B YU rolled in at nine last week. I've viewed that as a damning indictment of the Big Twelve Conference as a whole. And Max, I don't think they're going to be higher than six or seven tonight.

Maybe I'm wrong.

Where when the release happens tonight, where do you think Breaking Me Young ends up?

Yeah?

I'm with you. I think you know, the AP is probably you know, gonna be around where they had it at, you know, which is the seventh overall. Like I said, I very much vehemanly disagree with it. I mean, just look at what they've done this year.

Right.

They beat SMU, who's still fighting for a playoffs pot right now, is one of the top playoff contenders. Maybe could even win the ACC this year the way is going. And they also beat Kansas State, who's still fighting for a playoffs pot as well, maybe Kansastate by twenty nine points, right, se'd be two teams that are easily top twenty teams in college football are now and will be in the

Right?

Their best win is against Vanderbilt and they beat them by three points. Other than that, like they beat a Michigan team's most six and six this year, they're they beat an Oklahoma team is probably go five and seven this year, Like Texas does not have the big wins like BYU does right now. And Texas, by the way, has a loss this year as well, think the BYU

The other issue with the low ranking, certainly last week at nine and we'll see what happens tonight, is it does feel like the and I'm sure it's a combination of the CFP committee, powerful television executives and everybody involved in this entire thing. Uh And there look, brand bias is real. That's not new, it always has been. It's not a breaking news situation as far as how these

Tell me your thoughts on that.

That would be criminal. That'd be absolutely criminal if they were left out. And I'm with you though, I think it's not a it's not out that far out there. I think it's certainly a possibility. But that'd be criminal because then all of a sudden, your BYU, you can to make the arman like, Okay, why would we be

So as you reference it certainly feels like a team of destiny either four and oh in one score games. They've had miracle wins on four three three occasions for sure, if not four. But they've answered every question thrown at them when you dig into b YU, what what are they most elite at? And what areas do you still have questions about as far as what makes them who they are.

Honestly, what makes them so elite is the fact that they don't really have any glaring weaknesses right now. Right There isn't really one thing like Miami is clearly like okay, that's cam Ward right carrying this team b YU. This is really not a lot that they are you know, weak at right now. And I think that's what's been so good with the team is that, Hey, if one part of their team is off on any given week, they have a multitude of ways they can win games.

I saw on your Twitter page you had a chance to sit down with Jake recently. I wonder what that conversation was like and what stands out most to you about how much he's improved.

That actually was an amazing interview because I don't know if you if you know this, but that whole ranking Jake hold up of the picture of him holding up the ranking of having him as the worst quarterback in the Big Twelve entering the year, and he used as motivation and ESPNS and flashing that graphic all the time. That actually was made by my co host dln Wasson with that ranking right, So having him on the show

So they have Kansas Max coming up on or coming up on Saturday. It's a late kickdown in pro vot It's an eight to fifteen kick. And Kansas was one of those teams before the season that a lot of people thought could be like a sneaky contending team, and it didn't turn out that way. However, they've been better as of late. They smoke Houston, and Houston has been

Yeah? I think I would warn BYU fans just don't look at the record too much with Kansas. Right, Obviously, they're three and six on the year. It doesn't really look great on paper. But at the same time, only one of their six losses was by more than six points this year, right, so they've basically been playing one possession games and being on the wrong end of.

Them a lot.

Now, this is a lot better team. They're probably the best three and six team in comfortable. I don'tink it's really your net cards been there, honestly. So Kansas is a dangerous team, and you saw it last week against Iowa State. Obviously they're a very dangerous team that's not seem to look over too much. How do I think b Y is still gonna win the game? Yes, I do, But I do want to caution BYU fans from overlooking

I want to go back to Saturday night as by you rolled up here then rolled out of town with a win, and you know the deal man. All the controversy after the game about the holding call on fourth and ten as Jake was about to be sacked and there was a wide receiver split out left, and you know, the hot takes have been widespread. The opinions all are all over the place. You have a lot of people that did say it's a foul period, like Terry McCauley.

Yeah, I think the call was it was fifty fifty. I personally thought it was the right call. Honestly, I think there's enough there to throw the flag on that one,

So Mark Carlin after the game with some very spirited comments. I wonder what you make of those comments and the reaction of the Big twelve to find him forty k and then give him a public reprimand Max.

Yeah, it was I've never seen that suctor to do that before, right, that was first of all, it was very rare. Do you see that fleck arctor after a game do his own press conference. I don't even think Utah was planning on that. I think he just went through the podium and started talking. Honestly, he had something to get off his chest, clearly. Yeah, obviously it wasn't

So to pan back, you know, of course, and you and I have talked all season long, and I continue to believe that you really can be as reductive as saying Cameron Rising was never right this year, and that's changed everything. But at this point, with five straight losses, it feels like it's a lot more than just one position.

I mean, that's what great leaders do.

But it can't be the only thing to blame when you've lost five straight, You've only won one conference game, and Vegas thought you were going to win it, The media thought you were going to win it, and certainly youth fans were very very front facing about their belief that they were going to win it too. Why do you think we're sitting here in Saul Lake with a four and five team overall with a one in five record in conference play.

Yeah, I think a SARTs at quarterback, you know, right now, I think Utah is the worst pass and grade in the entire power for I just don't think they had too much of a plan if cam eris and got hurt again, which is not great considering he's a guy's very very injury prone obviously, So Isaac Wilson is a true freshman, wasn't really ready to go out there and performing. And Brandon Rose deal has did actually an admirable job, I thought in that Bayu game overall, but he's not

So one more thing on Saturday, then we'll move on here. Because Utah hangs twenty one points in the second quarter, and this is an offense that has not been able. They haven't scored twenty four or more against a P four team all year. And then in the second half, bring him young, hold you. Utah to seventy nine total yards, four first downs, and Utah's possessions went like this, punt, interception, punt, punt, punt, punt.

Might win the game.

So tell me what you saw from your eye in the second half as Utah's offense completely stalled.

Was it BYU's defensive adjustments.

Was it a cautious approach from Utah's offense a little bit of both?

What are your thoughts?

I think it was a little bit of both. I thought, bo you did a great job of adjusting to Utah and making sure that Mackay Bernard does not beat you. And I think that's really the key for Utah's offense, just whether or not they can get but Kai Bernard, but.

Not only him.

Their their offensive line this year is like one of the best in the country. And I'm blocking too, So it's a combination of those two things that make Utah a pretty dangerous team on the ground. I think Byu made it started effort in the second half just make sure he did not beat him, and make sure Brandon

So Utah I had SIB Boulder Saturday morning, ten am early kicktime. As far as the local stuff goes, it will.

Be on Fox.

Utah enters the game as a ten point underdog. There are a lot of rumors going around, but we haven't heard anything official from the university, so I can't I can't coroborate.

We don't brand Keith he's out for the year.

But since the game there's been some rumors about some other players lost for the year too.

We'll have to wait and see what that looks like.

Tell us about these Colorado Buffaloes, what's Deon being able to do to really turn that season around? And you give Utah at least a puncher's chance on Saturday and Boulder, Yeah, I think.

Puncher's chances is certainly fair. I mean, they are always a well coached team with Kyle Whittingham there, so you can never count them out.

And obviously they.

Almost pulled it off against BYU obviously right, so you can never count out Utah. But Conrad has done a great job of just addressing their weakenses from last year, which has really just been in the trenches, both offensive line and defensive line and linebacker, and I think that's really why they've went from a four and eight team to one that's going to be maybe in the Big twelve Tile Game, maybe even in the College Fable Playoff

All right, from a macro standpoint, Utah needs two wins in our final three games to go bowling, and the only thing max worse than playing in a throwaway bowl game is not being eligible for one. So it's Colorado on the road, as we talked about, it's Iowa stayed at home, and then it's UCF on the road. Can you talk get two of the final three to go bowling.

I don't think it will happen, but it's certainly possible. I think you can look at the Iowa State and UCF games is most likely. I don't think the Colorado game is most likely one right now. Obviously you host Iowa State and Iostate. It has been having a lot of issues. I think IOA Sate could be an interesting one because Iowa State's front seven just is not very good right now. And not even a front seven. They actually run like a front six. It's like a three

All right, Mack, So, as you know, to start the season, everybody was wrong about the Big twelve, as we know, and it seemed to be and there was a little bit of variance, but not much. You know, the three teams that were picked most to win the conference where Utah, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State. So there were a few Iowa states in there, but really not nobody picked Brigham Young. I didn't see anybody pick Colorado, at least any serious person. And so it leads me because Kansas State is still

The reason biggest is for me that Oli Gordon is a shell of himself right now. He went for the best running back in college football last year to nowhere even close this year, honestly, And I understand the offensive line run blocking why it still wasn't very good, but it wasn't very good last year either. He still ran for almost two thousand yards, so that you take away that, and now all of a sudden, you know they were really planning on, you know, riding Oli Gordon on their

All right, before I set you loose, one more question about BYU because we'll see what the CFP rankings have to say tonight, and then you know, as the season goes on, we'll understand what the bracket looks like, because the rankings are not the seedings as we know. But if we operate off the hypothetical BYU goes to Dallas, they do what they have to do to get to the Big Twelve Championship, they win that they're in as

That's the deal. So we know they're good.

Are they good enough to compete with the legitimate top you know, three, four or five teams in college football this year?

I think I can compete. I'm not going to pick them to win, honestly. I think, like I said, I think bou deserve to be ranked in the top five in the nation. Right now. Does that mean I think they are actually a top five team in the country. No, But I think it's a whole different argument. Right So they're definitely not gonna be favored against those teams, and probably even maybe even more than a touchdown spread to be honestly, you those in that second round playoff game,

All right, Where can people go get all your work? Max?

Yeah, you can find it all PFF dot com. And you want to watch the PF College Football Show US on YouTube. We're actually going live in about forty five minutes to go for a week twelve preview show actually previewing the the BYU game and also the Utah game as well. To make sure you guys check out the People Collefortball Show on YouTube and anywhere you get podcasts.

All right, buddy, appreciate the time, have a good show today. Okay, Thanks I appreciate you, all right, Max Chadwick.

Pro Football Focus PFF has got you covered all season long with the best data tools and analysis in the game. Sign up for PFF plus today to unlock all of their famous player grades in premium stats, push to the playoffs in your fantasy league within season tools, and award winning rankings from fantasy experts. No matter what you're looking for, PFF plus has what you need to make winning decisions all season long. Sign up for PFF plus today for less than ten dollars a month.

Alright, buddy, JP Junger is going to roll by in studio.

JP currently is wearing a bunch of different hats. He formerly was the producer of this radio program. Now he is the voice of the Utah Royals, he is the voice of the Salt Lake City Stars, and he's still doing podcasting for the Utah Jazz Radio Network. You're back to some college football in the five o'clock hour. The Kyle Whittingham Coaches Show comes your way at six o'clock tonight. Should be an entertaining one this evening after a tough weekend.

So we have one coach at six.

We have one coach right now we'll do some Utah women's hoops around the road against Northwestern on Thursday night, five o'clock start time, and coach Lynn Roberts back on the drive on a Tuesday, coach, Happy Tuesday.

How are you.

I'm doing great?

How are you?

I'm well? I'm well. All right.

So some new faces, some familiar faces, a two and oh start. Neither game has been relatively close. We'll kind of get to what's next. I do want to talk about this interesting change of conference and what it means for your program. But from a macro standpoint, what should we know about your team this year? Again, a lot of faces coming back and some new faces added to the puzzle.

Yeah, I think that's well said. You know, we have our core group back. Gianna Niapkin's returning All American, has two years left, Kenny McQueen, the hender for Utah Local UH and Jenna Johnson. Those guys are all seniors in Eshvita back, Matty Wilke back. We've got some good ones and you know a lot of preseason lists for point guard of the Year with a Nash and Jenna's on the power forward of the year, you know, one of ten,

You know, they've all every.

Year they've been here, they've advanced in the NCAA tournament, and they've won Tactal Championship. Like, there's just a lot of experience, not just age experience, but big game experience in winning. So that's a luxury as a coach. But then we also have three really good freshmen and a couple of transfers that I really like, and then some key role players back that are you know, they've improved. So I like our roster. It's a great mix of new plus just experienced veterans. So I think that's a

When you lose an all time great, it's tough to make up for the absence. And Alyssa's now moved on to pro basketball in Minnesota.

What have you tried to do so far?

I guess you're just relying on, you know, the girls that have been in your program. But again, don't you don't just replace somebody who is historically great. So how are you going about kind of a big hole that Alyssa leaves behind?

Yeah, I mean you don't. It's not, as I've said a lot, like, it's not zero sum or she graduates and you bring in somebody and you wipe her hands clean like hey done. Like it's just it doesn't work that way. And but where it's not like she was the entire program either. I think the system played for her.

Through two games? You're still playing the same type of flow system. Everybody touches the ball, the ball move. You still like to shoot a lot of threes. You know,

Yeah, I think a little bit of both. I think our philosophy remains the same in terms of the way we want to play the game. The nuances of that it depends on who your players are right now. The luxury is that we get to recruit players that fit our system. So if somebody cannot shoot at all, we probably won't recruit them. That doesn't mean they're not a good player, but they're just not a good fit for us, and so you know, we're we're recruiting now to the system,

How has your recent success conference championships NCAA tournaments, how has that affected your ability to recruit on the trail to get into doors that maybe three four years ago you were not able to get into.

Yeah, for sure.

I mean great players want to want to win, right and they want to be around other great players. And so you know, we're fortunate to be at a spot with our program where we're nationally known and respected and we've kind of earned our earned our keep a little bit to where we have. You know, we're able, we have the ability to get in there, and you know, another huge part of that is our home crowd attendance.

Is this your tenth year? Yes?

Can you believe it?

I feel like you just got hired.

I know me too, But the bags under my.

Eyes, Well, tenth year is the head coach, but the first year as the head coach in the Big twelve. And you know, look, it doesn't necessarily this is just my opinion, Len, it doesn't necessarily adversely affect you the way that it does Craig, because the Big twelve conference on the men's side is ridiculous, But I feel like the PAC twelve on the women's side may have been a superior conference overall, or maybe it's pretty close. As of now, looks like we've got four teams in the

Yeah, I think I think you're right. I think the PAC twelve on the women's basketball side was and this is not an opinion, this is statistically factual and in terms of tournament, game advancement, statistics, play, you know, all the things, net ranking, everything packed twelve on's basketball was the best women's basketball conference, And I think what made it uniquely elite was that it was from top to

What did you ask because you had a lot of players coming back from injury, a lot of and unfortunately that was an issue that plagued you at the end of last year. So what did you ask during the offseason from some of these young women who played for you who were hurt to make sure that they were healthy, stay in shape, and were you satisfied with the way that your roster came back ready to play.

Yeah, we've got an unbelievable group that we have to and this is the honesty, goodness truth. We have to actually lock the gym so they don't get in when they're supposed to be having an off day. They are so driven and bought in and motivated to be great that they work their tails off. So my you know, my issue as a coach now is that they overtrain more than having to get them going. And that's a good problem to have.

A coach.

I'll tell you that.

Of the of the young women you have returning to play for you, who would you point out? I would imagine Gianna is gonna be on the list as far as helping the incoming freshmen of the transfers understand, because you can only do so much Lynn as the coach, and then they're going to go when they're going to go class and they're going to go hang out. So who are you kind of leaning on to help you know, these new players understand what you ask of them as being part of this program.

Yeah, we've got a handful of players that just breathe our culture. They live it and that you know John Eapns is one, Jenna Johnson and at Kennedy McQueen, Matty Wilke. Those guys, you know, I mentioned em earlier.

They are the.

Walking example of what we want and they you know, they've completely bought in. And so when your best players are doing that, the new guys fall in line. I don't have to do a whole lot. It's pretty player driven and player led at this point, which is awesome.

Well, before I said you lewise, you should know that the latest bracketology has you in region four in Spokane. Is an eight seed play in South Dakota State.

Yeah, well, oh that's where we were last year. That was a great experience, wasn't it? And we played South Sacosta State. So I don't anticipate staying as an eight seed. The goal is to be a top four and host, so I think that's very It's challenging, but it's doable. But just like top twenty five polls, I don't pay much attention to the bracketology. We just kind of stay in our lane and keep our nose down in chop Wood.

Man, I wouldn't imagine, So I was surprised that there was actually a bracketology available for me to look at after two non games before I set you loose, tell me about Northwestern, your next opponent coming up on Thursday.

Yeah, you know, I've never in my in my career played Northwestern homer away or anywhere, so this is the first. I actually don't know if Utah has played Northwestern, that'd be a good trivia ever in its history. But yeah, I mean, big ten team, they've had a they've they've lost a couple of close games against really two really good teams. So they're going to be hungry to win, and it's you know, our first road game, and it'll

All right, Lynn, thanks for the time.

Great to have college hoops back, Safe travels and we'll chat again.

Okay, okay, thanks for having me on.

All right, Lynn Roberts.

She's on social media at YOUTE coach at Ute's coach, rob is where you find her. And as she referenced, you know, one of the things that's allowed her to really build this program in the right direction is the home attendance what it is now on the women's side. They'll be home next on the eighteenth against McNeice. Looks like they'll get rolling. They've got Notre Dame coming into town on the thirtieth of November. That's the top six team in the country. Then the launch into Big twelve

John Paul, how was the show?

Bell? It was tremendous.

It was.

They call me the Bill Walton of the War on Drugs. I'm always in the middle. I'm crowdsurfing, I'm ready to go.

That's got to be your brand from now on.

Yeah, somebody has to fulfill the legacy of this man.

I love it.

Who is my phone background right now? I'm showing it to you. I love that you see. And I'm a Bill Walton guy.

I've always said if you don't like Bill Walton, if you didn't like Bill Walton, you didn't like fun. But now we need you like following I call them WOD but whatever. Now we need you following them on tour to become like part because you're rising up the ranks of broadcasting. We need to add to your brand. And maybe that's the Bill Walton of WOD.

Are the War on Drugs? Playing in Sioux falls against the scar Sky Force. Are they in Grand Rapids when the Stars are taking on the Gold Are they in Stockton, California? When they take on the Kings tomorrow? Then then I'll be the Bill Walton of the world.

So that's JP's way of letting us know that he has a new job.

You're wearing a lot of hats. Now.

Yeah, we've got the Jazz podcast Network, we got Roundball, round up my favorite front row. We've got the Royals voice of and now we add to the list Voice of the Stars.

Congratulations, young man.

Tell us about the process and tell us your exciting level for this new gig.

Well, it wouldn't have happened if I didn't do the play by play in broadcasting for the Royals, So that needs to be said one hundred percent. Those experiences covering that team and still covering that team has been a real eye opener when it came to play by play in my respect. But people saw that they recognize that I have a willingness to join the play by play ranks.

Did you and maybe you did? And I just didn't know this about you.

Was play by play always something that you aspired to do? Did you always want to call games? I mean, I've never really been against it, but it's never something I've searched out because I like this intimate medium. I kind of like interviewing people long form conversation. I like sports talk radio. But you said something that stood out because it and it's so true. And I'm not going to be the old guy to say, Okay, young people in

Right.

So is play by play something that you kind of always aspired to or did these opportunities present themselves and you're just leaning into it.

These opportunities presented themselves. I never went out of my way to ask can I be the Stars broadcaster? It was ultimately brought onto me because of the storytelling element that I do with the podcast and the commitment that the organization has shown to me and developing what I've got going over there, and they thought adding something to my plate would only benefit me as I continue to progress.

Al Michaels apparently has a contract rider that stipulates he gets a steak at halftime of every game he calls, but that's all he claims he's never eaten a vegetable ever since he left his parents' house. What will be in the JP chunga contract rider when you rise to that level? What's the meal at halftime? I have a feeling that's going to have something, you know, kind of like this.

Well it's a pastasa, probably a Menican a medical. Look, these play by play people are kind of odd ducks.

Oh my gosh, don't get me started.

Some are odd birds as well, Iron Nice being one of them. The man hasn't had a salad his entire life. Won't eat a hamburger with a condiment on it.

Really, yeah, Iron just wants straight bird cheese. No, just straight and ea.

The man is lived his entire life going to some of the finest culinary cities across this country and says no to condiments, fry sauce.

Nice try, it's not gonna happen. You can't get weird on me, dude. Don't don't get weird as you rise the ranks. I'm not gonna let you get weird.

I think other people are projecting on me, these quirks. That's what am. I just secretly quirky that they think, Oh yeah, he should be played by the play broadcast.

Potentially you said something that's to that, you said, it's a dick danme.

It is interesting, well, because so there's nothing greater than cracking my being live on air because you're you're always on the tightrope. It's it's the free solo aspect of it and times that by twenty when people are tuning in not for you, but for the game, because ultimately anybody could be doing the broadcast of the game. It doesn't matter who it is. So long as you don't distract from it and you just add a soundtrack to it, you can do a competent job, but it's addicting to

Yeah, well, if you're approaching it the right way because you reference the oddities of certain play by play people and the ones.

That are the worst are the ones that are in it because of the ego. Right.

It's just they think it's all about them, right, and you know, they probably think they're killing it every time. And this job or a play by play gig, we're you're calling a game isn't different than any other job where some days you have it, sometimes some days you don't. And if you're always seeking to get better, you will listen to yourself with a critical eye. Like I don't like listening to myself. I never have, I never will.

Him more space.

I inserted like five opinions and there's nothing left to talk about if I take up all the bandwidth in a question. So the only time I'll go back and listen is if I feel like I asked a question in a poor way.

Do you I mean, what do you As far as going back.

And listening to a call or a game, do you do that to try to improve here or there?

Do you earmark certain things during the game? Sale?

I need to go hear how I handle that, Like how do you approach that dynamic?

I would start by re listening to that question that you just asked me. Yeah, but it was worthy. It was a little wordy, but that's okay.

That's who I am. That's a radio, it's your show.

I listened to it no matter what. Oh really, I really do. If I get tired of listening to myself, then I'm not improving. I have to listen to a bare minimum and I know this is going to get tricky because they're going to be back to backs in the G League, but at bare minimum a half of anything that I call before the next game, and I try to leave a couple days of space in between calling the game and the next match. At least for soccer. It's I've had the luxury of having so much more

Like you.

Need reps.

But it's so true. In six months, I will be better than the very first game that I do on Monday against the Rips Remix, which you can always catch us Stars at the Maverick Center. Tickets available at Salt Lake City Stars dot com. But I'm going to be better in six months.

I need to.

When I go to other people, ask them specifically, is this how you would handle a situation? There was a big injury in this moment. I don't know if I handled it correctly where I wasn't assuming too much on the field, where I wasn't making assumptions, and I was leaving it a little bit of time to breathe for the analyst to jump in. How to handle it? That's how I go about asking from critiques from other people and other broadcasters, but myself, I don't pull any punches.

Were you so new house Syracuse stand up? Were you schooled to review your calls? Were you taught in jail, you know where you went to Syracuse, Like that's part of the educational process. You need to review your things, yeah, man,

I don't know if it fit right there. So it was pretty brutal because everybody's so competitive, and yes it's tough, but ultimately that's what makes you the better broadcast or the better news reporter, the better everything, is that you're willing to put yourself out there and be open to those critiques because ultimately everybody's looking out for you. They're trying to make you better.

So one more thing here, then we'll move on.

As someone who's done sports talk radio and now play by play, because I've been told by people, if you wanted to do what you could because of what you've done for eighteen years, like the line between the two is pretty thin. Has that been your experience or do you find them to be two different skill sets? Because I'll say this, I think there are some play by play announcers doing play by play right now that are horrific at it, but acceptable as sports soccer radio hosts.

I think they're two different disciplines and they're so different in what you have to accomplish with each, but ultimately the fundamentals of them are pretty similar. You're trying to entertain people, and if you're a play by play broadcaster and you're not entertaining, then ultimately, what's the point of the broadcast?

Now?

It is the game, and you have to compliment that, but making sure that you're also bringing new people in. Not everybody who's watching is the die in the wool sports fan that is listening to a sports talk radio show and understands all the storylines of what has happened so far. I found them very different, and I think that's good in my respect because I'm so early in

And you know, it's the old mad dog thing.

Every radio guy can podcast, but ten percent of podcasters can do radio or whatever. All Right, So the Stars gonna be an interesting year because the Jazz have a ton of young talent, and we could see some injuries, we could see some dips in play. I mean, we know that will is going to be developing a lot of these young players with the varsities, Gordy would say, but we could see well, Cody william O, Kyle Philipowski potentially. I mean, these guys are starting for the big boy

Yeah, Wojo has been phenomenal to deal with, and ultimately he's basically a part of the Jazz staff. The great part about Will Hardy is how open door he's been about allowing Wojo to be around the team and how they are using it as a very similar project from the varsity to the jv Wojo was on every single trip in the preseason. He's allowed, without the bat of an eye, go into a coach's meeting.

You know.

Now during the thick of the season, go ahead. It's all the same for him, and as a communicator, he's at a very different place than where he was with college basketball. So much noise, so much clutter. There's I have to be concerned. Did this fifteen year old respond to my text? Does this fifteen year old know who I am? Does this fifteen year old about the program that I'm at? There's so much of that, and Nil has complicated it. Shout out pay the players. But now

Will thirty five six, Will thirty six, Steve's forty eight. You know, interesting dynamic obviously with Will being so young but being the head guy. And I wonder how Steve kind of digests that when he clearly was on a path at one point where, like I said, I thought he'd be the duke coach or maybe go on and eventually coach in the league. How did he end up with the Stars after he lost the Giga Marquette.

Yeah, he had family who was living around.

Oh, that's right, Yeah, I forgot about that.

He was up in Park City and he was he was living out there the good life. You say, it's a couple degrees too cold a little bit about about about six weeks out of the year, he was a okay with that. The man was doing iron men things like he he was becoming the mountain Man. And you can see it with the beard that he's kind of grown over the last couple of years. But he's climbing mountains, he's using the trails, he's decompressing after that Marquet exprespecause

All Right, I woke up today with a real pep in my step. You know, I was energetic. Wasn't sure why, but I remember the NBA Cup starts tonight.

I know, big day. It's a big day.

Oh it's a big day for hoopeds, Big day for whopeds. All right, So give me a little flavor because just so you know, I will be down at the game tonight. Oh, my I'm making it and just just to aside, will you please this time let everybody know. I will everybody know, because I mean, I just feel like the welcome last time was underwhelming. I had to call my guy Dunio to get the credential. I mean, it got a little weird. So if you could spread the word, maybe a video tribute.

The Clayton Keller of Utah Sports.

Meeting, I did think I was He was very nice, but he thought I was a hockey player and he was going to try to get me in as a member of the Utah Hockey Club.

But eventually my.

Guy Dunio got me in. What's the building gonna feel like? You've been down there? I'm heading down there with with our guy Trey Elliott will be there.

The whole crew is going to be in town tonight at the game. So what's the building you gonna feel like?

Well, it's gonna be a really cool crowd to see because this Jazz team is eager to get a win in front of the home fans because they got that road trip double away from the Delta Center. But it's gonna be another good crowd. I'm shocked at how the fans never ceased to amaze me, especially on these Emirates Cup nights with all of the eyes on them to watch the Phoenix Suns. And even though there's no Kevin Durant, you're gonna see Devin Booker, You're going to see Bradley Beal.

Game that sell Trip dot Com Triple Team.

You know, that's that's for other people. Time to provide a little perspective. They're going to play all year long. But tonight, seeing those young players and how they go against one of the best teams in the West, Phoenix. I think last time I checked their number two in the entire conference, that is pretty stacked and pretty loaded even without Kevin Duran.

Yeah, I guess we'll never see Cody guardianis.

So the valuable minutes of seeing Keyana. Oh yeah, that's right. Giannis is on his farewell tour. He's never going to play the Jazz again.

Wasted opportunity.

The Emritus NBA Cup drama at its finest tonight, not just here in Salt Lake, but across the landscape of pro basketball, as is.

Mike On Hello, John Paul, what do you call it? Emeritus NBA?

Isn't it sponsored though Emirates, Emirates, Emirates.

Emerts period as a soccer guy. Oh, that's what I said, Emirates. What did I say.

You didn't say Emirates Emirates I said early, I corrected Tim McMahon earlier.

What did he say?

Oh, something that was not even close. I mean, talk about it, not a soccer guy. Emirates NBA Cup an English rebranded from the in season tournament a year ago. John Paul liven Studio.

I hate to do this to you.

Okay, I don't want to make you emotional, but you were a producer for this show on the Massted Dylan Moskovitz. But you're also a producer on this radio station for a number of years, and byu Utah Week was last week. You're no longer a part of it actively as a front facing member of the media because you've been doing other things. But it is the biggest thing that happens here in the market, regardless of who you work for, regardless.

Of who you cheer for.

What are some of your memories of being at this radio station during rivalry week when you were producing shows and you were actively part of byu Utah football, I.

Might have also been through a pretty big goal in the schedule of those two scheduling each other. But the game is awesome because both sides are unreasonable during that week in a good way. I say that in a good way, of sure, because that's why people care about sports. That's why I care about sports. That's why everybody wants to go to these games, and they're they're so coveted. But like when Tyler Huntley says, they soa poo poo,

To you, knowing that on BYU TV all week.

That's awesome, It's great. That's why he said it, because he's leaning into the heel character a little wrestling. That's what sports are, soap operas for men. That's why we watch. Okay, we want our stories. We want to watch our stories.

It is.

It is and I've often been asked, you know which fan base is more insufferable, and I always say, whichever one wins.

It's whichever one is winning at the time.

And I've been doing it long enough to know by now the script is literally flipped depending on the outcome of the game. Because when Utah wins that the BYU cry is they're so arrogance, the arrogance of the Pac twelve Utah fan base and when BYU wins, it's the arrogance of the holier than thou pious moral high ground attitude. It truly is like whichever school wins, the other fan base just uses the same talking points and the same

Like it really just depends on which team is better that given year.

I hate them. I think they're classless. So many memorable lines in this entire rivalry, the what was what's the Austin Collie line?

Magic happens when you're living right on and off the field. Magic happens.

Magic happens. And that, by the way, and we had Austin on the show last week.

Awesome.

That is the most perfect thing you.

Could possibly say, because what that does is reaffirming Utah's minds that BYU believes God is their twelfth man every time they take the field.

Yes, it's wonderful.

It's a perfect rivalry because it's neighbor against neighbor. It's Utah County against Salt Lake County. Like you can pit so many things against each other, how diametrically imposed. The crowds are the holier than down nature of it all. And that's what makes good college rivalry. It is private versus public, which you know, having gone to Syracuse and experienced Syracuse Georgetown private v private, it's just a bunch of people from New Jersey and Connecticut yelling at each other.

On the rugby belts.

Yeah, congrats es sick very cool Brooks Brothers again. Huh okay, cool man. I dig that quarters up.

Two callers popped at one point, by the way, just so you know, picture exist.

That is not the same as as Utah E y u and my only gripe. And this is not with the two universities, is with the television companies. Why is it? Okay, guys, let's figure this out. I was in the Central time zone San Antonio following the Jazz and I was able to do a podcast with Walker Kestler. You can listen to it on the Utah Jazz podcast Network. But as people were coming up to me on the riverwalk telling

I had buddies texting back east like I'm going to bed, and I had some family members that love BYU. But it started at twelve fifteen, like, yeah, can't stay up. We'll figure it out the next day.

All right.

You referenced what the athletic director of Utah elected to do after the game. We've talked about it on the show, so Mark Carlin, and you know, if you've been around the game long enough, you know that there's the magic happens. There's the I Hate Utah. There's the Brandon Burton block. There's the Brett Ratliff.

Who's that dude?

Holy smokes, they went to provo and one. There's three nothing we could keep going. There's Scott Mitchell, there's Eddie Johnson. You can label a lot of these games with one play with one saying with one player and there's the controversy of the holding call. Certainly that will reverberate. But I think in ten years this is going to be the Mark Harlan utah BYU oh yeah, oh yeah, because it wasn't just and so after the game, because I stayed till the end.

That's what I do. Got to say.

How to my guys, Colonie and a Rod, congrats, you know, dap them up, give them a hug because that's the kind of classy person that I am walking home.

Boom, phone blows up. Did you see what Harlan said? Have you heard what Harlan said?

Like, now I'm walking home, Buddy sends a link, pull it up, and I went, oh my gosh, John Paul. I thought he was going to be in more trouble than he actually. Brett your mark, Okay, my man does a mess out. That's a sleeping with the Fishes Conference commissioner in college football. And I just pictured Brett Yormark at like three am Eastern Time, looking at his phone

I think he got off easy.

I thought it was such a swing and a miss for a guy that seemed to be pretty calculated.

What was your reaction when you first saw and heard the comments.

I thought it was very unfortunate. I thought it was really a bad look from him and ultimately bad for him to question the integrity of the sport. There's no reason when the game is being refed by third party officials to say that a game was stolen from you. That was egregious in my opinion, no matter how highly

Five punts. Get to stop.

There's no reason for you to question not only the integrity of the sport, but call out brettyor Mark isn't his boss, but people who know his boss, people who are very influential in the most important part of his job. I was unbelievable and correct use of that word, because I just did not believe that he would do that and then not take questions and just bounce afterwards, which was another amazing part of the clip. But forty k is absolutely a slap on the wrist for a guy

I've been thinking from the moment I heard it and from the moment I saw it, And look, Mark is not my friend.

We don't hang out off air, but he's always been good to me. He's been in studio.

I'll probably interviewed him fifty times, and when I see him at games, he says hello and we talk and he seems measured, he seems smart. I don't know the nature of his relationship with Kyle or anything as far as behind the wall up there, I really don't. But as I often say, and I wish I had learned this lesson as a younger person in this business, you can always not tweet, you can always not hit send. And he could have very easily just not said anything.

Why did you do that?

So the simplest explanation is you're just mad. You feel like he got jobbed. You didn't like the call. That's the simplest explanation. You're mad, you're emotional, you want to send a message. But in what world has had a good idea? So I started wondering aloud, and I've talked about this on Monday, on yesterday's show cause he's The statement fell short too. It's missing two words, which is I'm sorry, Like we don't apologize. Well, in this country,

I'm tough too.

At the end of the game, he's on the field yelling at the refs while the kick return was still going, and the video shows that Mark's on the field, which doesn't happen either. I just wonder if this was like a I'm gonna show my coach that no matter what, I'm right or die. I'm not saying that's a justification. I honestly cannot understand why a guy who I perceived to be as measured and Smart decided to take that approach.

It did seem very out of character for the dealings that I had with him, because when I was at the radio station, it was his first couple of days on the job coming from USF, and he was always very professional, very easy to deal with, and pretty measured in what he was going to say. So I buy that a little bit, but I do not discount how angry people get when the result doesn't.

Go your way.

For sure, any game like that, and a game like that in the electricity of the atmosphere in the season that has happened for Utah as well, because the context of the entire tapestry of this year has to go into it. Because of all the expectations that this program had heading in and feeling the heat of things underneath you, things conspiraling, you start to lose your head. So many times athletes and coaches they act out of character when

And one more thing on this, then we'll move on with a couple of minutes we have left, and I honestly don't know what the dynamic is up there with how this all would have taken place, but I can remember, you know, my father always had a PR right hand man. His name was Eric Gelfan is now PR director for the New York Jets, but he was the PR director for the Garden for like fifteen years, including the ten years.

That my dad was there.

And before my dad would ever say anything, he would talk to Eric. No matter what, you know, Nick's heat, Nick's pacers, we could keep going, like all of the crazy emotional Nick nineties roller coasters stuff with players off the court that no one will ever know.

He would always call him.

He would always talk to him, and before he had rest the media, including when he was essentially sorry Pops, you know, outed for interviewing Phil Jackson, when Jeff van Getney was that coach. He calls Eric, He's like, what do we do? I just wonder if there's and maybe Mark just ran up to the podium was like, I'm not talking to anybody. But in moments like that, there's got to be contingencies and interferences in place to protect an emotional person from himself.

That's why they have a cooling off period for the players ultimately, so that you can cool off literally from the game where all your emotions are happening. And it's why Blake Griffin does the great comedy bit of where he's just saying nothing after a postgame interview because I just exercised for two hours. How am I supposed to put into words what happened on the floor. I don't know what happened five seconds. It's an insane ask that

That's what some East Coast guys do.

Okay, they listen to a lot of Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and they get mad at people.

They're rationally emotional.

Yeah, they're rationally emotional when they're driving down the turnpike around the Holland Tunnel.

That's what they do.

So when Chris Hill did that, it was very in characters. He's been that his entire career. He cares about basketball. You know that that was his number one sport on the Hill because of how much he loved the game. And for Mark to do that in that moment, it happens. It really does happen when people lose their heads, and it creates these moments that'll go down in infamy and adds another chapter to the old rivalry.

And the news cycle will move on and people will hound in on different things. And I don't think he deserves to be hit with the head every single day. And for the Mark Harlan needs to lose his job. Crowd like, get offline, cal him down. You know, it was just a moment in time. But yeah, I still walking walking home and get pulled in that up on my phone was quite a moment, all right. Since you and I last spoke, there was a scene in Minnesota.

I'm not going to talk about it.

I know.

Do you want you have any offseason thoughts or I.

Don't want to talk about it, okay, because it's what I said.

I know, I know this is hard for you, but you're emotional now, but you weren't as like you would have. Mark Harlan This.

If I talked to you right after the Minnesota game, I know you've had a few days to digest thrown a chair too, it would have been completely founded. No one would have blamed you.

They were different the second half of the season after the suspension, and they changed the team, and they didn't get back to that front half of the season. Four and ultimately RSL congratulations the most poet, YadA, YadA, YadA. Doesn't matter. Playoffs matter. That's it disrupt the chemistry of that team. Wow, that's it. I'm done. I gotta go, I gotta go. I can't do it anymore.

Do you think Trey's job should be safe?

I think his job is. He's fine. But it was very, very disappointing to see the way that the season ended. With all the bright hopes. I was expecting time at beer bar, but unfortunately it was ropped for me. Who's stolen? Some would say stolen?

Did they even lose?

I don't know.

I mean, go back and look at the regas wish they didn't, all right, John Paul, tell our listeners where they can find all the awesome jazz podcasts these days.

Utah Jazz Podcast Network just look it up on any of the podcasts platforms Utah Jazz Podcast Network you'll find an episode with Walker Kessler, The Lace one that I did on the road in Chicago after the Utah Jazz got their first win.

AhR, buddy, see you tonight, thanks for popping in.

John Paul Shanga check him out saw on the Utah Jazz Podcast Network. He calls games out for the royals and the stars. He's a very very busy boy. All right, what's going on? Driving five time on a Tuesday afternoon? A little snow and rain earlier today. It looks like it's still snowing up in the mountains, but it has settled here in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. Still chile and cold and cloud even no rain or snow tonight. Looks like we're gonna have a pretty chilly week, but

How far does Miami fall? What about Georgia?

As the upsets have continued in college football every single weekend, chaos has ensued built in the Big Twelve and then nationally as well, So of course that's something that we are keeping our eye on here. The CFP Playoff release the rankings, which again are not the seedings.

The rankings are not the seatings.

This is not anything that will be instructive as it pertains to the brackets, but it will be interesting to see after coming in at number nine last week, where BYU falls tonight. My guess is they're no higher than seven. I could probably stretch my mind to believe that they'll

But they won two of their last three.

They beat Houston at home, they nearly beat k State in Manhattan, and then they hung forty five on Iowa State just a week ago. So Kansas comes in having figured something out. It's a late kick at LaBelle Edwards Stadium, eight to fifteen mountain time. And if BYU goes twelve to zero in the regular season, and if they lose in Dallas in the Big twelve championship game, what what does that look like?

I'm still very curious.

About this dynamic because I do think the committee sent the message a week ago that BYU at number nine is an indictment on who this conference is overall, and you are.

A one big league.

That's the way I took what happened a week ago that even a twelve and one BYU. Cougar football team that loses in the Big Twelve Championship Game could be left out of the twelve team CFP and whoever wins. The bottom line is, whoever wins the Big Twelve Championship is going to be the loan team that will represent this conference. That feels a little punitive, It feels a little unfair. I mean, there certainly is brand bias in college football.

They're already there. There always has been. That's not a new thing. But if your BYU, everything's still in front of you. I mean that's the good news.

But does it really matter if you stay clean the rest of the way if you lose the Big Twelve Championship game. A lot of that depends on what happens elsewhere, And because there's been so much chaos in college football, I guess we'll operate off the assumption that there will be. But of course that's kind of a big thing that's going to roll down the.

Pipe here in a little bit.

With the CFP rankings and where you will be and where Miami falls and where Georgia falls. You know, more upsets happening in college football. You know, ultimately a week ago I would imagine we're gonna got more upsets coming up this weekend. On the Utah football side of things, Makai Pittman about twenty minutes ago, and I'm seeing this on social as a result of Josh Furlong sending it out a tweet. Makai Pittman has sent out a video

I think in ten years this is going to be the Mark Harlan game. I really think.

That's been the main storyline. It's continued to reverberate. You guys can all, you know, take the piss out of each other online and complain about the fourth and tent holding call as much as you want. There's really nothing

Yeah, we'll be in studio, but can confirm on the caffeinated assistance.

Let me ask you this. We touched on this earlier. And you know, Porter's a guy that knows the program well.

It does our pregame, you know, every single game and talk to a lot of people up there I will not bring Twitter rumors on air, never have, never will. But there are rumors about multiple injuries as a result of what happened on Saturday night. We know that Bran Keithy is lost for the year, and there are a lot of people surmising that Brandon Rose might be on that list of injured players, and some people saying that they're hearing he's lost too.

I can't cooberate it. We have not heard from the school.

But what is your understanding of where we're at with the health of Utah football prior to Saturday at Colorado.

Yeah.

Well, luckily last week they for the most part, got a lot of the guys defensively back that they had been without for a good part of the year. Keanutana Vasa Junior, Tafuna Simoto Pepa's still in and out of the lineup, but Tavita Fo two is back the fold. So the defensive line that was for large parts of the early season pretty much non existent is back to

Yeah, I mean five straight l's. You can't put it on one position.

We've tried to be as reductive and fair as possible to talk about the health of Cameron who or whoever else is under center.

My guess is if Brandon's hurt, it'll be Isaac.

But rumors about Isaac's risk too, and so maybe we see my guy, the Ferrari, Luke Batari under center like he was against Colorado a year ago. The Chicago Bears fired Shane Waldron today their offensive coordinator Caleb Williams twenty ninth in QBR in Pro football, which of course is not good enough. And if you woke up with an extra pep in your staff this morning, like I did you know that it's time for the NBA Cup?

That's right, it's here. Did you even know? Did you even have any idea?

Turner Sports has a pretty interesting doubleheader tonight. If you're not going to the Jazz game. I'm gonna head down and see the Suns and the Jazz. No Kevin Durant tonight for the Suns. Looks like Keante George is expected to play for the Jazz, but Walker Kessler is out

So the MAVs and the.

Warriors tonight on Turner as well, but the NBA League Cup, the Emirates NBA League Cup sponsor attached of course here in town as the Suns are taking on the Utah Jazz five o'clock hour.

The drive today is powered by Larry H.

Miller and Draper, the Ford King, Utah's number one volume foard dealer, and they'll beat any trade in price in town by seven hundred and fifty dollars anytime, any day. Find them online at lahm Ford at Draper dot com. Busy night of NBA hoops. Is the NBA League Cup is here, Jazz in action tonight taking on the Phoenix Suns. Get a head on down to the arena on this really cold chili yet clear now kind of clouds.

No rain, no snow, Tuesday evening, so come on down there.

Obviously when it is football season, kind of waiting for Thursday to get rolling. So you get pro football back for a little week eleven, which is crazy to think about, but fun show today.

Lot going on.

Certainly you can hear the Coach Wit Coaches Show, Kyle Whittingham Coach Show coming up on the other side, and then.

Utah Men's basketball taking on Queens.

Queen's doing the I think I'm supposed to say, Queen stand up Queen's Bridge. We're on our test stand up. Queen's doing the in state tour there in Salt Lake today and improv of tomorrow. I gotta say, man, it feels like Bill just decided to give Sean the coach a show this week. Bill has to call the men's game tonight. Okay, so that's what's happening. But when Sean Tolby he was filling in for Riles tonight on the

Tired, frustrated in his fields. As the kids would say, coach Wit.

Right, Kyle is a, let's be clear, very good to us as far as the media goes, the you know, the the interviews, all of the above. But I don't necessarily know that even though he's good to us, he enjoys that part of the gig. You know, it's it's part of it. You get paid handsomely to do it.

Morning, so you'll hear coach Witch, Sean O'Connell and for Rile smith Snowden, some other players are gonna be joining the Kyle Whningham Coaches Show. Then after that men's basketball taking on Queens. All right, Porter, before we get out of here, what comes our way? On a Wednesday edition of the program.

On a Wednesday edition of The Drive, halfway through the work week, spend Zach Harper stops by for the NBA Daily Assists. As you've been talking about the NBA Cup Big story of the week, man is here Neil Smith

Adapter Diveporterer exactly.

Adapter dies you do'll do that on a Wednesday show with that will say an I it's special, thank you today. Tim McMahon, Max Chadwick, Lynn Roberts, JP, John Paul Changa. For any of the sound you may have missed from the show, the website's at option, which is ESPN seven hundred sports dot com. Make sure to downloa load our mobile app and take us on the go. So how I listen to our station ESPN seven hundred app that's

E Sporter.

I'm Spence saying tonight, enjoy your Tuesday evening. We'll talk to you on a Wednesday show right here on ESPN seven hundred