FULL WED POD @SpenceChecketts on UNLV/NIL, Utah vs Arizona, conference realignment, #RSL + more

It's drivetime. It's a Wednesday afternoon. We are looking at about eleven minutes past the hour of two o'clock.

It feels a little.

Bit like July outside, and I'll take it on this really warm sunny Wednesday afternoon in September.

But as it is every single day, it's going to have you along for the ride.

Spence check h it's behind the mic, Porter Larson just to flew a few blocks away from each other today, Porters beyond the glass, making sure that we stay on air, making sure that everything goes well. We are out and about as we are wont to do from time to time with our good friends at beer bar. So it's right downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. It's one sixty one East two hundred.

South, and it's popping this afternoon.

We've got a couple of soccer matches on the television sets. We have a NFL game from last weekend being shown as well. And a little birdie just told me they're shooting a commercial right next to us.

In bar x.

So we might see a little Typerell today, we might see a little Nick Romando today. And we've already seen dunkin our guy Duncan and the good people down here at Beer Bar.

I've been coming down here doing remotes for a number of years.

It's a great spot if you're looking for something to do this Wednesday afternoon. If you happen to be off work, or maybe you work from home, come work from here. They've got over one hundred and fifty beers on tap, a bunch of bottled and canned beers as well.

If you're not a drinker, they've got mineral water.

They've got soda kombucha if you're in the mood for a little kombucha on a Wednesday. They've got amazing sausages and burgers. They got burntz fries, homemade sour dough bread.

So it's a great place.

It is the spot to come watch all the RSL games, every match. No blackouts here at Beer Bar, right downtown in Salt Lake City, Utah.

So come on by and say hi.

We'll be here up until about six o'clock tonight with a busy, busy show on a Wednesday afternoon, as we get you halfway through your work weekend.

One day closer to the weekend.

Good guest lists on the show today, really good guestless on the show today Wednesday, on this this little old radio program is when we kind of turn the page to the weekend ahead and leave what's happened behind us where it is no longer really need to dig into much. Obviously, there's a lot to do to get you ready for a big college football weekend, both locally and nationally. Of course, the University of Utah back at it coming up Saturday.

It's gonna be a late kick.

But the weather, my goodness, it's gonna be like seventy degrees seventy five degrees at eight o'clock eight fifteen when that game kicks off here in Salt Lake, Arizona rolls into town. Revenge on the mind of these utes. They've been talking about it all week long. A lot of this sound you hear from practice. A lot of the players and coaches certainly remember a year ago when Arizona got the best of Utah down at their place. And

As the number ten team in the country.

Resides here in Salt Lake City, Utah, BYU is gonna have a little brunch in Waco as they head down to Baylor to take on the Baylor Bears.

Baylor, coming off a heartbreaking last.

Second loss against Colorado, was a hail Mary from Sidor Sanders that led Colorado to that win over Baylor.

Baylor looks better than they did a year ago.

If BYU wants to prove to everybody, and by everybody, I kind of mean everybody, including you know, the BYU air quotes media members that just simply work for the school. There are a lot of people that are still a little bit wary.

Of saying out loud.

BYU is a legitimate Big twelve Conference championship contender just because of the advantageous dynamic of what happened against K State last Saturday night in Provo.

Now, I've been very impressed with the coaches Kilane, Kelly Papinga, a Rod J. Hill. Their media this week.

They've been very sometimes Papinga was pretty brutally honest about how fortunate they were to have the ball bounce their way and how many holes that they need to close before they can really say out loud they're a big twelve championship contender. But say whatever you want, Undressing K State the way they did is going to get you some national attention, which it has, so big weekend head for Utah, big weekendhead for BYU. We've got two really

So they got smoked by Temple.

It's not a great time up in Logan right now, unless you're excited about the PAC twelve, speaking of which we'll get to the latest with the conference expansion, latest on the Mountain West Conference and the PAC twelve.

And they're jarring back and forth. We'll get to that on the show today.

A story you want to dig into, we'll do this coming up at about three point thirty. Matthew Sluca has left UNLV over an nil dispute worth about one hundred thousand dollars. Now UNLV is undefeated, might be the best group of five team in the country, with Vegas odds favoring them to potentially get a bid into the twelve team CFP. This is a big, big story, so we'll get to some of this on the program today.

All right, good guest, let's.

Starting things out today on a Wednesday afternoon. We'll be Aaron Falk, the editor of the sports section for the Salt Lake Tribune, get the latest with the trips coverage of our local college football team to a little Utah hockey club as the new Utah Hockey Club, be writers on the ground, and then we'll bring in the head ball coach himself. Now, we do not get a lot of Utah players and coaches on afternoon drives simply because they're practicing when we're on air.

Himself will stop by today, coming up at three o'clock.

So set your calendars, set your alarms for that three o'clock. Kyle Whittingham on the drive today. Dalton Wasserman Pro Football Focus. Week four of Pro Football gets rolling tomorrow with the Giants and the Cowboys. Safe to say it must win for Porter's Cowboys. I don't think there's any doubt about that after the rough start this season. So we'll talk some pro football with Dalden Josh Pate. That's right, the emerging college football superstar media member will.

Stop by today. The eyes of the college football.

World will emerge, I should say, be extremely honed in on what's going on down in Tuscaloosa at Brian Denny Stadium, as Alabama is a home underdog for the first time since two thousand and seven. Georgia Bama Primetime, ABC, Tuscaloosa.

So we'll get with Josh pay today on the program as well.

So Aaron Falk, Kyle Whittingham, Dalton Wasserman, Josh Pate.

Me Spence check.

It's live at Beer Bar Won sixty one East, two hundred South, just a couple of blocks I guess that would be southwest of US is where we find Porter Larsen on a September day that feels like it feels like a July day.

How's your Wednesday, buddy?

It is quite warm out there. It does feel a bit like a summer day. Although we did officially transition just to a few short days ago. But it is fall in a football sense, and when Kyle Whittingham is on your radio show, that that is the case. That is the case today.

Yes, indeed, so I look forward to catching up a coach with We get to do this once or twice a.

Year on the program all Right Live at Beer Bar, Aaron Falks. Gonna have a lead off today.

But before we get with Aaron, courtesy of our good friends at Standard Restaurant Supplies, Standard Restaurant Supplies.

Your tailgate headquarters.

Check them out online or check out their location for all of your tailgating needs.

It is time now, on a Wednesday afternoon, for your opening tip to the Drive with Spence.

Check its 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.

College football this time of year, both locally and nationally has proven to be really really fun, really really exciting. I say it every year. The best situation for us

Have to get lucky here there.

And by the coach's own admission, they did get a little lucky. Now, K State built a lot like the University of Utah did gain two twenty eight on the ground, and BYU's run defense prior to last Saturday had been stout. Now, part of that was probably competition, but let me remind you, SMU hung a cool sixty six on TCU, and BYU you essentially held them to nothing, no touchdowns, fifteen points. So I do think year two under j Hill, the defense has been better. I think we'll see that manifest

I'll be watching on Saturday.

I think they have a lot to prove to a lot of people before we put them on the level of the University of Utah, who, like I said, Coach Witt has built up that benefit of the doubt Brandon program over the course of two decades, where it's not about the name on the back of the jersey, it's about the you on the side of the helmet. But Utah welcomes in Arizona coming up Saturday night. There's going to be an eight to fifteen mountain time kick. But

It is a blackout, so make sure to wear you're black.

As I referenced earlier, Utah as of now is an eleven point five point favorite. And I've taught about this quite a bit because a lot of people were really high on Arizona.

You know, the Tettiora McMillan kid is awesome.

We've seen Norfafia do great things, but I don't know that they're built to handle the physicality of the University of Utah watching them against k Staate a couple of weeks ago. That was my eye opener when in my opinion, I was kind of off Arizona as a team that can compete in the conference. They're not good in the trenches, they don't have a good D line, their O line hasn't been great as of yet. And k State gashed

Even though Andy has opened up the.

Playbook a little bit, they still want to run the football. Going for two forty nine against Okay State and Stillwater. I think we're gonna see a heavy dose of Mackai Bernard. I think we're gonna see a heavy dose if Mike Mitchell's healthy, if d Jon Stanley's in the.

Mix, I think we're gonna see a.

Old school coach Wit type offensive attack. Because I'm anticipating Isaac Hunter a senator Ken. I don't know where you guys are at with it, but that's just kind of where I'm at with it. We'll talk to coach with about the process this week coming up to see who ends up as QB number one. But a fun weekend ahead in college football, both locally and nationally. Again, nationally, the eyes will all be on Tuscaloosa as it's Georgia.

And Bama five thirty Mountain Time. Georgia is a two point favorite.

Alabama is a home underdog for the first time since two thousand and seven. All right, live at beer Bar today, come on down and say what's up coming?

Up next? More hardcore football. Aaron falk is here.

He is the editor of the sports section of the Salt Lake Tribune, so he's gonna be my first guest. Then we'll bring in coach with Dalton Wasserman and Josh Pate. Lot to do on Wednesday, Keep it right here Sunday Night, Granary Live a little national.

Little War on Drugs.

My next guest will be there, as will I. I've got to say I'm a little bummed out that the enough is what it is as far as who's going first and who is going second? Right, because war on Drugs is opening and National is closing.

Is that correct?

That's my understanding.

Yes, that doesn't feel right to me.

I mean there'll be a lot of sad dads either.

Way, and I know what that term means. At this point in my life, I do know what sad dad means. Aaron Falk, the editor of the sports section for the Solid Tribune. Is it look the National has been around longer? Is that what it is? It just feels like these days war on drugs is bigger.

Well, you know, the National, they've collapsed with Phoebe, with Taylor. You know, there's crossover appeal here, so you know, I think they are maybe a step above.

That's fair, and you know, while we're in this space, of course, was it last year when Phoebe came downtown or two years ago?

I don't remember, but I remember that we were the oldest people there.

A young, very young person came up to me and said, Hey, aren't you Spence check Its? And I said yes, and he said, my dad loves you the Phoebe show. So I'm probably in for some more of this coming up on Sunday night.

In a couple of years, it was like will Be, didn't you used to be Spence Technens, you know, and.

Then kind of already feel that way. But you know, what are you gonna do? We're aging hope to see you guys on Sunday night. It'll be a great show, all right, Aaron. Let's start with a historic week for a couple of different reasons, some good, some bad. The bad is the capital city said goodbye to the Bees. After thirty years of Smith's Ballpark and almost one hundred years of history of minor league baseball in Salt Lake City, it now belongs to our friends out south at daybreak

Yeah, I mean I look at it. There are a couple of different lenses that I would look at this with, and one is like a very personal you know, Salt Laker like we you know, we live in you know, in the neighborhood roughlying and so you feel a personal connection to grew up going to those games. It's nearby. There's history there almost one hundred years, like the people that have passed through that block, you know, not that stadium, exactly what that block. It's kind of an incredible roster

I don't know.

The city hasn't decided yet, but it's going to be active and sixty nights a year, right and not and not just for baseball season, and not just for six days at a time every other week. And so I think there there can be good that can come out of it.

Still a bummer, yeah, it is. And I've said this ever since the news came down. I mean, we're all going to react to news like this based off of how it affects us. And the fact that I can get dismissed ball park in ten minutes without traffic is something that affects me. Now, I also go to four or five games a year, right, And so ultimately, I wonder what your thoughts are. I've never been a Daybreak not one time. I don't like going past thirty third.

Yeah, I think that it can be. I think it's going to be a much younger crowd. It's going to be a different crowd right now. It's yes, it is families. It's also people looking to get a beer outside, right, And I think Daybreak is going to be very heavy on family youth. I could see, you know, like Little League Baseball teams filling that place up a lot. It's gonna be a much smaller stadium, right, something like eight thousand versus the fifteen thousand it is now, And it's

Are you aware that I'm related to a couple on that show?

Which one I don't? I will not stay on air. We'll leave it off air for now. Okay, I'll tell you off air. I have not seen the show, nor will I. I'm not going to see a moment of it. But anyway, my head is all over the place with that breakdown, avoid the very appearance of evil Aarin.

So they head on out to daybreak. Let's move over.

Here though, because after the Miller's kind of announced the plan and it went through the process, Steve Starks came in a studio for an hour and on air we talked a lot about the plan, and then off air he opened up the books and showed me like, and they're ready, they're ready, you know, shovel in the ground ready.

We're still ages away from a decision, you know, I mean, just looking at at what Rob Manfreend has said about Major League Baseball expansion, it's it's status quo, right right, we're waiting. We're waiting for I don't know exactly if Major Lead Baseball will wait until stadiums are built in Tampa and in Las Vegas or wherever the A's end up,

Yeah. Yeah.

And it's funny because Gary Bettman said the same thing about hockey expansion, and so I was operating off the premise like, Okay, Ryan wants hockey, Millers want baseball. We're probably looking at twenty nine thirty for both. That's what makes the hockey thing so crazy, because this is not an expansion team, it's a relocation. It's literally historic. We chatted with Bell. She's lovely, she's very good. You've hired

Hockey's here?

Yeah, I'm I'm I'm I am learning, so okay, Okay, I'm going a pole good friend here. Yeah, so I'm learning the higher Belfraser is good for me because she knows a lot more about she's smarter than I do. And so I'm I'm learning through this process as well.

Good point.

Yeah, and that that's right now. It feels a little bit more like people are die hard for the sport and they're they're coming in and showing up versus having, you know, the team to really coalesce around. Given the season ticket deposits that we've heard about and everything like that, I suspect that's going to happen once you know things, once the lamplight's for real, there you go, I believe the bar will be electric.

Look at you. Bell has been a good influence. I like this.

But yeah, right now, right now, it still feels like I feel like people are just kind of putting their toes.

Sure sure now the sweaters are pretty clean there. Yeah, they are a lot of excitement around town about the sweaters.

That's what I'm hearing. Yeah, and I don't actually I'm a fan. I mean, I you know, get nice and clean. Uh keep it simple for see, I have your Twitter pulled up.

I haven't seen any tweets about how clean the sweaters are uh yeah, they're not there.

I've been I've been liking them. You can't see the likes, can you not? Did Elon take away? Take away?

The likes?

You can like, you just can't see it. I didn't know that that protect a few people.

That's good news for a few people in our market. There's no doubt about that. All Right, let's do a little We'll do a little jazz because I do have a well, we're gonna end with mostly college football after this. From my vantage point, this is as low of an excitement level as I can remember, like ever about a jazz season. Now, I wonder if the hockey team will be able to capitalize on that. Look, they're under one umbrella, so it's not like you're stealing business from one cut.

Never know what's gonna happen.

Could Cody Williams pop in a way that no one's Maybe I'm not excited to watch the Patti millster U Banks pick and roll seven times in the third quarter, like it's just not there. And I wonder if you think the hockey club will benefit off of what I perceive to be a very low level of excitement for pro basketball.

In our market.

I'm with you there on the excitement level. I saw the email come out that you know, preseasons here, Ryan Smith Danny Ainge are talking to help the press on Friday, and I'm like, what do I care about right now? And it's long term. Everything is long term. I agree with you. You know, can Keyante take another step? What is Cody Williams? There are questions to be answered, but man, you got to be kind of a die hard to really care about those questions immediately, And so I agree

So you bring up a really good point, and I've honestly always wondered this, because you know, when you're in when you get in the business the industry, as they say, you have to become a little bit agnostic about cheering. And it probably took me to if I'm honest, it probably took me too long doing this to realize that I think I'm much better.

At it now that I don't care about.

I hate to say that, but if a team that I cheerfour loses, I have a sandwich and go to bed and I don't think about it again. And when I was younger, it was different. I had more emotional ties. It's different when you're raised and it's the family business and you know you're cheering literally with your heart and soul because it's what your family relies on to live.

Just want to go to a damn game. I honestly don't know the answer to that.

Yeah, I think. I think if you have been through a period of jazz success, you know, at different points in your life, whether you are somebody you know, if you're we're around to watch watch the finals runs, if you were around to watch you know, Darren and Carlos, if you were around to watch this this Donovan Rudy era. I think maybe I think there are people out there that will have enough good memories that you know, hey, this is this is my team. I'm here through thick

Right And that's the danger of having a rebuild go more than a few years. And to be fair to Xanik and Age and everybody else, most rebuilds go more than a few years.

We just haven't had those happen here very often.

And I suppose because there's this there's a general feel like if I'm watching an NBA show or if I'm listening to an NBA podcast, there's just this general feel.

And Jason Kidd actually set it out loud.

A couple of years ago during a MAVs playoff run when he said, you guys don't get it. We're millionaires cheering for each other. I'm like, dude, I know, but don't say that. The al was lifting, right, And you do get peaks behind the curtain every once in a while when Kevin Durant says, hey, nobody ever thinks about the fans just so you know.

So there is this general feel like these guys are fat and happy.

Had he stay hungry when you're well fed, and they don't really give a rip about anything other than their P and L statements, which are really healthy. And the fans keep showing up. I wonder if you think that stops at some point. As far as that building being full, it was full every I was probably there ten times.

Last year was full every time. Yeah.

I was just talking about that with with Andy Larsen and our staff yesterday. And you know, you look at the start of last season, there was there was the idea of hope right at the very start of last season, and so it makes sense that you have that going in. Things don't work out, it doesn't, you know, it turns it's worse than you expected, but it's still full. After the All Star break, after the trade deadline is a bit surprising. I mean, I my first year covering the

Contender, okay, and.

And the hockey club right so so yeah, I do. I would expect that at some point this year the sellout streak ends.

I think that's probably accurate. But there's a lot of trucks and tesla's as Camaradnie likes to say, that make their way up from the South to make sure that thing is jam pack.

That's true.

You brought him up.

So let's do a little bit on RSL before we end with college football. I was on TV with your guy, Dave Fox, one of your mentors. We all look up to Dave for a number of reasons, and he asked me last night, are you more confident in them making a deep Cup run now than you were a month ago, and I said no, not as there was a month ago, because remember they went fifteen games unbeaten, fifteen matches unbeaten.

Pardon me, they made a bunch of changes, kind of seem to be figuring it out.

I think the keeper situation is going to stop them from winning anything special. That's kind of where I'm at. But I love playoff soccer, fall soccer. I think we'll get a home match. What are you expecting from RSL the rest of the way.

Yeah, I'm with you. I mean I would thought after you sell Gomez, like there's going to be a natural dip just in terms of energy, in terms of other people. It seems like these additions have done enough offensively to maybe give you hope that, like you can go out and win a playoff game or two or whatever. But yeah, I mean, I think at this point it's not gonna surprise me to see McMath back in goal. And I I think, you know, Beaver's maybe maybe has a bright

Yeah, it is like that.

Well, I'll tell you what if it's McMath between the pipes, I'm gonna get on Twitter. I got to see some of those tweets flying man, because some people.

Get really upset with it is true.

All right, we'll move over with a few minutes last to college football. Now let me start here. You I'm a true Aggie. You are an Aggie Aggie. You are an alump. I did not do this smooching, so we I don't know what that means. We both have different ties and real affinity to our good friends up and Logan for different reasons. How does it feel that you are an alumni of a PAC twelve school?

Congrat you TOAs state.

Uh you know, watching this and I I don't really know how anybody feels about it. I think I think people feel I think Aggie fans feel better about it. On the level of yes, the PAC twelve has more prestige than than the Mountain West brand, right, at least did once upon a time. I think if you look at who who is in the PAC twelve and who is out of the PAC twelve even if you were just looking at you know, these are the Mountain West,

It's it's a really good point, and I actually think part of that's still on the table if reasonable minds can come together. But now there are lawsuits being filed. Now they're banging heads with each other. I just can't believe, like, whoever gets college football right will be an absolute hero because it is such a great product with no leadership,

And he leaves. He's their starting quarterback and he just leaves.

It's it's an insane thing. And this is where I have a lot of like mixed feelings on the future of NIL and like how best to handle this.

But you know we're talking.

About He's like, O, where's one hundred thousand? Dollars, and then the report I saw was like, we're talking about three thousand dollars a month. So there's a gigantic gap in between like a lot of these numbers that are being thrown out there and what we think and maybe what's actually being you know, hitting bank accounts here in certain places. But I mean, you know, so the initial feeling is where are the guardrails who enforces this? There needs to be strict rules, but that doesn't happen in

That's the bottom line.

Matthew Sluka is his name, and according to Sluca and his agent, Marcus Kramarti, an assistant coach gave him a verbal promise that was quote.

Come play here and we'll pay you one hundred thousand dollars. Kids.

Get it in writing, Okay, just whatever it is. Get it in writing. Do whatever you have to do to protost ten k to be here for this hit.

Porter Falk was promised, ten k, do you have his venmo? Can my assistant?

Oh okay, get in writing ten k for a beer bar hit will be phenomenal.

All right, let's move over here.

So you know, I've been pretty honest about my opinion on the lack of information coming from the University of Utah about their quarterback situation. However, I'm also an adult and I understand what the deal is. And Intel Intel coach Wig gets that email from the Big twelve. It says, hey, you got a report. Okay, we're making everybody report Thursday night, Friday morning, whatever.

It is, kind of like the NFL does until that happens.

And by the way, let's pause here, that will happen all of these sports. Now, college football is not as front facing about being in bed with gambling companies as the NFL is.

The NFL, you turn on a game and you can get live odds.

While the game is going on, they give you a QR code to ruin your life if you're prone to a lot of dopamine hits with no reward. I don't love where we're at as far as these sports being in bed with the gambling companies. But because they're in bed with the gambling companies, who your starting quarterback is is information that's worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

So at some point the mandate will come.

Until it does, Coach Wit is under no obligation to tell me or you or anybody else who is starting quarterback is. So I understand why here's aaron. What makes it different this year, in my opinion, well last year as well. If the reports are true, the Cameron Rising is being paid seven figures to play quarterback for the University of Utah, and a lot of that money comes from season ticket holders, boosters and alumni. The community is going to want to see him play football.

Now.

My opinion is he's hurt and he'll be back when he's healthy. I honestly don't know, but there is this general feeling of here we go again with the Utes this year.

What are your thoughts?

Yeah, no, I think it is uh. I mean I heard you, you know before before the break say you're expecting Isaac under center unlesson until you see gam under there. Yeah, I think that's a reasonable position. To take at this point,

Yeah, And ultimately it will go the way of the pros where they'll unionize and collectively bargain and then we can have a conversation about whether or not, let's just say, can make a million bucks this year, is that guaranteed money like it is in the NBA and Major League Baseball and is growing towards that in the NFL.

Or do you put stipulations on it?

Like if you're a business and you decide you want to pay Cameron Rising two hundred and fifty grand this year to play football, because you're allowed to do that via NIL and he doesn't play in any games, You're just kind of like, well, what did I pay him? Like unless they collectively bargain and they make all these contracts guaranteed, then it doesn't matter. But guaranteed contracts in a way, I think it kind of in the NBA

Will be up in the air.

We have a big day tomorrow, Like one of the ironies of this SLUCAS stuff at UNLV is on Thursday, the NCAA, the P four conferences and their attorneys must file a brief in the House Anti Trust Settlements and we're hoping to get a little closer and closer to.

That being finally ironed out.

With the direct revenue sharing and the schools being able to pay.

But that's not even done yet.

And until that's done, we're going to see the quarterback from ULV bounce. We're going to see kids not feel like they need to step up and play if they're being paid, because right now, nobody seems to know which way is up or which.

Way is down. I don't know how it's gonna unfold.

Yeah, my kids aren't getting their braces. I mean, you know, again, if it's you know, I think you know, unionizing is definitely the thing that's that's going to happen and probably be the best outcome for for athletes and frankly most parties involved, sure, because otherwise, if you have a congressional you know, intervention or it's the NCAA, there's still going

One hundred percent, So you know, I believe we're high speed ahead to the day where college football is leaving the n C DOUAA to become its own governing body with a commissioner. But that's still a few a few years off. All right, final thing, and then we'll set you loose to to get back to it. What are you willing to say today about by U's four and oh start man Conference contender? Better than we thought? Like, what's what's the take as of today?

Yeah?

For me, better than we thought? Uh, Conference contender feels that that feels like a big step. That was an outstanding game, filled with a lot of incredible things that you probably can replicate on a weekly basis. I mean to get those three takeaways to give Rett's laugh short fields three times in short order like that, that's that is the best possible outcome for a guy who was coming in maybe having a little bit of issues with

Right, So.

A great win. I think they can beat Baylor I think that I think maybe a good thing for v Yu now is the last time I remember like any hype is is that big Baylor win in Provo a couple of years ago, and there's there's excitement when you go to Oregon to get smoked, yeah, and every all the airs out. So I think even if you even if they lose to Baylor, it's gonna feel you're gonna feel much better than you did a couple of years ago. So there's a chance to rebound, to get back on track.

Yeah, I'm not there yet either. Very impressed.

Happy for Klanie and those guys for sure to see the start. Dare we get weird and talk about an undefeated Holy War November the ninth in Salt Lake. It's always better when they're both good erin it's always better when they're both good.

I mean, it's good for it's good for the schools, it's good for the fan basis, as much as they pretend they don't like it, it's good for us. I mean, let's let's have that. Let's self serving media, let's be the top of the power ranking.

I love it, man, all right?

How can people go support the good folks at the Solid Tribune.

Hey, sl trip dot com, slash Sports. We appreciate everybody who reads subscribes. We could not exist without all of you.

Woke all right, man, good to see it. We'll chat soon. Okay, all right, the Great Aaron Falk all right, rolling along on a Wednesday edition of the program. You know, oftentimes it's difficult for us to get access to you players and coaches. We love it every day, but they practice when we're on air, and practic. This is more of

How are you, sir, I'm new Willspince, Thank you.

I appreciate the time. So I want to start with probably something you weren't expecting. But my father is writing a book right now and the working title is Championship Culture. And he sat down with Steve Kerk, he sat down with Nick Saban, he sat down with the All Blacks, obviously the rugby team from New Zealand Real Madrid. I could keep going and the whole ethos is try to get a definition of what championship culture means from somebody

Well, first of all, for us, it's it's all about family and you know, the close knit relationships and everybody pulling in the same direction, everyone on the same page, everybody in completely to what you're doing. I think that's really the starting point. And then being consistent. You have a culture of consistency and the players know what to expect every day when they come in the building. There's

How much of it, coach is intentional and how much of it is simply just consistency over time combined with results. Because people talk about wanting to build a championship culture all the time, but it's one thing to talk about it, it's another thing to do it, Like you have, how much of it is intense and how much of it is consistency and results over time.

Well, I'd say it's a blend of both. And you know, we've definitely had some success through the years, and that certainly lends credibility to what you're doing. And the players say, hey, you know, if we buy into this and we do it the way that's outlined, and then it'll work, you know, and it's time to and so that's that's a big part of it. And then you know, they've got to come in with with the with the right in tent and the right mindset, and uh, you know, there's there's

So, over the course of both your life and then your career as a player and a coach, you have coached with, played for a number of captains of industry, you know, including Lavelle and your father, And I just wonder urban I could keep going, Ronnie Mack when it comes to your personal ethos of how you want to build this culture and how you have built the culture, how much of it is unique to who you are, and how much of it are things that you've learned

Yeah, great question. I would say it's a blend of all the above. I've tried to take the best of the you know, what I learned from each of those guys you mentioned, and and uh, what's you know what suits my personality and my beliefs And then add to it, you know, my own take, put my own spin on it. And that's kind of the you know, the result, the end result is what we got going here. And and

You know.

I always find an interesting coach to talk to somebody like you who's been doing something at such a high level for so long, and ask you what keeps what

Well, I've yet to have those days. I mean, I'm when I get up, I'm eager to get to work and get going, and and I think a lot of it. These players keep you young. I mean, it's kind of a weird dynamic where you know, the players keep cycling

Jealous.

I'm impressed and very jealous because there are some days I don't know that I have it. I just forced myself to do it, no matter what I wonder, Kyle, I wonder if you would share with us. Yeah, if there is a couple of boxes you want checked before you decide to ski and golf and hang out with the grandkids.

Are there things out there that you really badly.

Want to accomplish as a head coach in this game before you decide that it's time to go be grandpa.

I think there's certainly things, you know, move into the new conference and wanting to win a championship in that conference. We were able to you know, do that in the Mountain West and the Pac twelve, and so that's another challenge is to try to try to repeat that in the Big twelve. And of course now with that would come an opportunity to be in the CFP, and so that would go hand in hand. You know, with CFP is obviously, in my opinion, our opinion, the next logical

So let's move over now to the here and now I just don't want to ask you the same questions you're asked at your media presser on Monday, because I don't want to bore you. But now that we've had a few months of sample size, what are the main differences between your old challenge in the Pac twelve and the new one you have in the Big twelve.

Well, still figuring that out. That's it's a work in progress now. Obviously we've got a lot of teams in the in the Big twelve that we know a great deal about, you know, they're in the back twelve with us, and so there's there is some familiarity, but there's a lot of unknown still and going to still Water, you know,

For sure.

It's been a lot of fun to watch Isaac grow rapidly as an eighteen year old who enrolled in April. It's crazy that he is that young and he's been able to grow the way he has already. The question I'll ask today coach is with the situation with Cam and trying to get him back and then ultimately deciding on Isaac a week ago, what sort of complications is that bringing it practice as far as how you decide to delineate the reps with the ones with your two quarterbacks who you like right now.

Yeah, that's the biggest challenge in the whole thing, is exactly that, and who do we prepare? And it's it's a projection. You just do your best to try to determine, you know, based on where we are today and project that out what three days from now, I guess is the way we handle it. We've got a plan in place, and I think this week, you know, things have gone

So it's not that I didn't think Mackay could run between the tackles. I had just never seen it. What what are you the most proud of as far as MacKaye's growth, Because the debate has been Who's gonna evolve out of that running back room. You've always said mackay is the one. Well, he looked like a bell cow last week. Coach, What are you the most proud of as far as the way mckaye has worked over you know, five six years to meet this moment.

Yeah, what's there not to be proud of?

Him?

And the guy is such a such a team first, guy has been the program for a long time, as you mentioned, has never one time complained about playing time, carries, touches, none of that stuff. He just comes out and works hard every day. And one of the things I'm most proud of is the difficulty they faced last year with that, with that real tragic accident and injury, is that he was able to come back and you know, get himself back in shape and had that drive and desire to

All right, coach, before I say you loose your reference, Arizona got got last year.

It happens.

How much motivation is there As far as payback goes if there's.

Anything there at all.

I mean, ultimately, you guys have stayed clean in the non con, you've started out the conference.

Well, you're in a great spot.

So I don't know how much a year ago comes into play for Saturday night, But what's the mentality to make sure that you guys are ready to roll for a late kick on a beautiful night? Can't wait for Saturday night as Arizona's in town.

Sure, Well, the main motivation is to play better when he had last year. We're more concerned about ourselves and our poor performance last year and getting that corrected and rectified. Then then any you know, revenge or grudge or anything like that. We just know that we went down there and and they outplayed us, and we were it was our poorest performance of the year, and and uh, like I said, very disappointing. And so we got to we had to try to you know, correct that and play

You allowed yourself to keep one eye open on that team down South? I'll say team down South. You don't have to say it today, but have you allowed have you allowed to keep one eye open on what what Kilani's doing with a decent start for b Yu.

Well, I haven't had a chance to watch, but obviously they're heard, and you know it's very you know, obviously they're they're undefeated and doing a good job. But we're so focused on the task at hand and who's up next. That's where all our attention lies. But so far, it's good to see football in the city of Utah thriving.

Thank you, sir, have a great week of prep. Best of luck Saturday night. Pulling for is always Kyle, Thanks so much.

Okay, spender take care all right, there's.

A coach wack. Kyle winning Im, the head coach at the University of Utah.

On a Wednesday edition of The Drive more coming up next right here on ESPN seven hundred all I would live today here at beer bar right downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.

Come on by and say hi.

It's a great day outside, man, it's like eighty five degrees.

Something like it.

It's one sixty one East, two hundred South, downtown Salt Lake.

The deck is open.

People are outside having beverages, so come on down.

They've got great sausages, great burgers. They're shooting a commercial next door at bar X.

I've been very curious to witness who's walking in and out of that or right next to us. I've not seen Ty Burrell yet. Nick Romondo and the crew, I haven't seen anybody yet. But they are shooting a commercial. It's kind of hopping down here, so come on down and say what's up. One sixty one Eat, two hundred South. The parking out front is a little bit better than it has been for like, I don't know, seven years. The construction appears to be close to being completed, so we love.

To see him.

All right, We're gonna bring in Dalton Losserman coming up right at the top of the four o'clock hour. It' stock some Pro football week four of the NFL gets rolling tomorrow. You can hear Thursday Night football on our radio station. It is going to be Dallas and New York. It's the Cowboys and the Giants. Feels like a little bit of a must win for the Cowboys. Quite frankly, I don't think the Giants are thought to be doing very much this year.

And then Josh Pate will join us.

A lot to do today with Josh paid as the eyes of the college football world are on Tuscal Loosen coming up on Saturday. Josh will be down there with his college football pod. And so it's Georgia, it's Bama and should be a really really fun game as Alabama is a home underdog for the first time since two thousand and seven.

All Right, in case you missed it, you know, this was a story that.

Broke oh Man about four or four or five hours ago thereabouts, something like that. So UNLV, believe it or not, you ONLV is a really good football program currently, not historically, but they've got a good team this year. They've beaten two Big twelve teams on the road. They beat Houston, Houston's not great, but then they went and they beat Kansas at their house. They hung seventy two on Texas Tech.

And obviously there's a ton of football left.

But when you look at the rest of their schedule, their biggest pitfall is probably Boise State, but they get Boise State at home. They've got a pretty manageable schedule the rest of the way. There's no reason to believe

You can see you can miss me entirely with that.

Okay, the toothpaste is out of the tube, the genies out of the bottle.

Use whatever cliche you want to use.

There's no going back to amateurism, which was never real, and the you know, the the sanctity of amateur athletics, which is always a farce. They invented terms in order to not pay labor tax. Terms like student athlete that we all just regurgitated because we didn't know any better, was propagated into our lives. And if you love football, you speak the language, so we all use the terms.

It's the NFL, It essentially is anyway.

But until they allow the players to unionize and collectively bargain now the question now, right now is who would they collectively bargain with?

Now?

The House first NCAA settlement will be a couple of steps in the right direction. But this was thought to be finished months ago. And the dirty little secret is when lawyers get involved, they like to stack up those billable hours, so I'm sure they're not in a hurry to push this thing through. And the dirty little secret is Saturdays still feel like Saturday. So I can sit here in belly ache about what I perceive to be

Has been able to stay healthy.

He played in all four games, He's balling out all four games, Utah's four and oh their top ten, and Cam suddenly is like, I'm out. I'm leaving. It's not that I'm not playing this week. I'm leaving the program. I'm moving home because somebody promised me one hundred k verbally. Now, the reports that are coming out is the assistant coach is adamly denying this and kids, listen up, get it in writing. Okay, So there any Utah byu Utah State

And I don't know what happened.

I was not on the phone with the conversation that took place between Matthew Sluca and the you it'll be assistant back all the way back when they were going through the recruiting process. According to Matthew Sluca's agent, Marcus Camardi, the comment that was made to Matthew Sluca was quote, come play here and will pay you one hundred thousand dollars. That's their side of the story, but there's no recording

There is. There's more than enough.

It is a multi billion dollar business with very healthy P and L statements and revenue streams, despite no business acumen or leadership from the people who are actually in the seats that matter. It will be studied years from

The roof, my understanding is attendance through the roof. There is a thirst for this game.

There is a desire to consume college football games, college football shows, college football podcasts, radio shows, TV shows, whatever it is. This time of year, people are eating it up, and so I've never been an alarmist about the future and president of college football. I've never been a ring the alarm bell. This sport that we all love is in trouble. I don't believe that to be true, simply because the product is too good. You know, you go to see Pearl Jam. It doesn't matter where you see him.

If you love the product, you're gonna love the product no matter what.

But today is from my vantage point, today's the first day a player straight up quit and a quarterback for a team that is off to an incredible start to the season just straight up quit because he claims a verbal promise was made to him that he was set to be paid one hundred thousand dollars. And on the other side of the story is they're denying that they ever made the promise. So tomorrow the NCAA, the Power Conferences, and their attorneys must file a brief in the House

So both sides are spoken to this.

Point, and we're not really sure exactly where the truth is. Coramarti, who's the agent for Equity Sports representing this young man, is saying, quote, it starts off with full transparency. We must allow these negotiations and these written agreements to happen and not put so many relegations on them. The school and coaches are negotiating, but you are allowing someone else to pay for it, hoping they get the money from Boosters. It's very messy.

So essentially, if you read between the lines, this is Matthew Sluca's agent, Marcus Cremarti.

What he's saying is their side of the story is an assistant coach simply made a promise and he was trying to write a check that he couldn't cash, and the promise that was made was contingent upon the one hundred thousand dollars coming from Boosters, alumni donors and such,

So it's funny how this is going.

So the collective chimes in, Camarti c chimes in, and Kmarti is the agent for Sluka, he said, quote the collective may not have agreed to the one hundred thousand dollars, but the coaches did.

So the schools released.

A statement now and again this is this is a really big deal because from my vantage point, this is unprecedented. Yes,

In this case it's schools and players.

But because my belief has been for a long time that we are high speed ahead to college football looking a lot like pro football, just kind of use the same verbiage, like you need somebody who understands the dynamic of employer employee in pro sports, of owner of athlete, of owner of coach, like you need somebody that understands the entire dynamic of the situation. And then you need on that side of the business a very good, solid infrastructure in place of smart, capable people, just.

Like there are at the NFL.

You could say what you want about Roger Goodell, the business of football is insanely good and then on the other side, you let the players unionize, they hire a players rep and then you collectively bargain and then.

These kids sign contracts.

And yes, you don't love that, because then it becomes more clear and present right in front of your face that it's pro. Guys, It's been pro for a long time. Okay, now it's just time to bring it out of the shadows. And I understand that you don't love that.

I understand. I hear from a lot of you that college.

Football doesn't land with you the way that it used to, because you loved the idea of players playing for the love of the game and a scholarship as opposed to a paycheck. The problem is, behind the scenes, there were several people getting wealthy building the business on the back of these employees. They didn't pay. It was blatant anti trust. You know, it was breaking anti trust rules. They were

Send your kids law school.

Okay, So there'll be plenty of smart people lined up to participate in what I perceive to be a badly needed solution, and I've believed it to be a badly needed solution for quite some time. The problem is at the end of the day, the product doesn't suffer.

You still watch, you still attend.

The live TV rights continue to spike in value, and it's hard to stay hungry when you're well fed, right. I kind of alluded to that with my conversation with Coach Witt earlier in the hour. This is a man who, in his mid sixties has made more money than he could ever spend.

He's won conference championship at every level.

He's been like, what is it that motivates you to get out of bed every day? When you've accomplished so many things, and when the business of college football is still very sound, there will not be a sense of urgency from the people that quite frankly, should be urgent about their actions because things like this are going to happen. Key players from good football teams are just going to bounce. And oh, by the way, I haven't even touched on the bevy of lawsuits that has been filed will be

I believe it was back to two thy twelve or something.

I'll have to look that up because I want to make sure I get that information right. But the problem is plenty of lawyers will take your phone call and take your case. If you were a really good college athlete, like the year before, they're cut off point and just because you graduated in eleven instead of twelve, you're not you know, you're not able to participate in any distributions or settlements. They're going to continue to deal with these lawsuits.

And he graduated the year before.

The rest of the athletes who are able to participate in the distribution graduated, he's gonna say, where's mine, and that's gonna be another lawsuit like this is such a case, an example of awful preparation, and how if you don't handle your business immediately and you procrastinate and you kick the can down the road, suddenly you're left with a tidal wave of problems and you don't know which way is up, and you don't know which way is down.

And I honestly don't know how this plays out.

I'll just repeat what I've been saying on this program now for five years. The sooner you can get to the pro model, the sooner you have a commissioner in place on one side, in charge of the business affairs of the league.

And yes, I'm going to call it the league because it will be one league of like forty teams.

This is not a new take. You guys have heard or read all about this stuff. It will be one league, thirty five forty teams. So the commissioner is in charge of the governing body of that league. And then you allow the players to unionize, and the players can unionize if they're in the league, of course, not the other teams that will be left out, which is an UH which is an unfortunate piece of collateral damage that is unavoidable.

All of it. Okay, And then then you split the pie.

And you know, usually in pro sports it's split almost fifty to fifty. Typically there are a couple of percentage points in the way of the athletes because they are the product.

I think the last NBA.

Revenue split was like fifty four forty six or something. It's close to fifty to fifty, but percentage points skewed towards the athletes because they are the product and their shelf life as an employee is much shorter than a Roger Goodell who can do his job for fifty years.

So take care of the players.

Allow him to unionize, pay them and yes, they signed contracts, and guess what that will do? That will aid the complications of the transfer portal. I know you hate it. I know it's uncomfortable to say out loud. Okay, I'm a University of Utah fan and they're gonna sign their next quarterback to a four year, twenty two million dollar deal or whatever. I know that's uncomfortable, But that's capitalism, that's America. That's the reality of where this business is.

We're at today. But I will reiterate my bottom line.

The product is still great, and the games are awesome, and Saturday's in the fall still feel like Saturdays in the fall. But this situation with Matthew Sluga Sluca, excuse me leaving UNLV. They're starting quarterback after they start three to zero with two wins over Big twelve teams, and they're the Vegas favorite to be the G five rep in the CFP, and he bounces. Guys, he's not leaving for a day. He's not saying I'm not playing this week.

He left. He's using his.

Red shirt to sit out because of a verbal promise that he said was made to him for a one hundred thousand dollars check that was never made right by the collective. Just another example of the lack of leadership and direction when it comes to this unbelievable product. And whoever gets college football right will cash in in a way that I don't think anyone's ever really dreamed of.

Guys, later is here, Okay, deal with it now.

Move closer towards that pro model and do it quickly, because it actually would alleviate a lot of the problems that people complain about. If Matthew Sluca signed a one year deal with UNLV to play quarterback, if he's sign the deal, if it was in writing, we.

Wouldn't be dealing with this today.

And you nav football fans, I don't know how many there are, but you want to be football fans, wouldn't be bummed out because they're not historically good in football suddenly he did a couple of Big twelve teams on the road.

Vegas has them as the G five favor to make the CFP.

You get pumped and boom, you wake up and your quarterback left because of a quote unquote verbal promise that was made to him. Sign a contract. You don't have to worry about it. Sign a contract, don't have to worry about transfers. A lot of this, a lot of the issues with college football right now would be alleviated instantly if you just.

Went to a professional model.

And I know it's not comfortable for a lot of you, but at this point, what's your alternative, because what's happening now it's just the definition of insanity. You're doing the same thing over and over again and you're expecting different results. All right, before I catch a break, Shout out to my friends in advanced window products, nat Orchard, Jake Weber, really really good dudes. Sales and installation, all in house, no middleman mark up. They build it, they install it,

One sixty oneies, two hundred South, downtown Salt Lake.

All right, we're live today right downtown Salt Lake City. Beer Bar is where we're at, as we are often on remote.

One sixty twenties, two hundred South. Come on bye.

We've got some football replays going on, both college and pro.

Little fantasy football show. On my left.

They're doing the top fifty NHL player countdown on the NHL Network, So we've got a lot going on. They've got one hundred and fifty beers on tap, fifty beers and cans and bottles, sage, sausages, burgers, brats, friesat Come.

On down and say what's up.

We'll talk more football now, our buddy, Dalton Wasserman Pro Football Focus back on the drive, Dalton, Happy Wednesday, man, How are we doing?

Happy Wednesday? Pretty good? I'll tell you what you mentioned. All those other things on the TV there, but we're squaring the hard of football season, now.

Aren't we Yes we are, Yes we are.

So I want to get your take on a situation that we've discussed on the show so far, and that is and this is I don't want to say I'm not an alarmist. I'm not saying it's a really bad omen, but it really feels like kind of a first. UNLV is three and oh they've being a couple of Big twelve teams. They're the Vegas favorite to represent the G five and the CFP, and their starting quarterback left the

It's a huge deal because just on the football field, Sluca was playing excellent, just like he was at Holy Cross for several years, and UNLV was a legitimate threat to win them mount in the West and a legitimate

Yeah, it's certainly the first time.

It seems to have kind of unfolded the way that it has with all the different dynamics. But yeah, I mean, it's it's, it's it's a tenuous time. The product is still the product which I always talk about, Saturday's in the Fall still feel like Saturday's in the Fall and TV ratings for college football very healthy attendance through the roof. So the product itself, Dalton is still the product that we all love.

But whoever ends up getting this thing right, whoever ends.

Up getting college football right? You know, the product product is amazing. It's a multi billion dollar yearly revenue stream business without legitimate leadership. Whoever ends up kind of this thing right and studying the ship is going to be looked at as some crazy hero for a long time because even though the product is what drives the business, which means you have an excellent business, it does badly need the right guys in the right seats in charge.

Yeah, absolutely, I mean, and a lot of that comes down to, you know, at the NCAA level where they're just going to have to figure out some sort of solution to this, because the lines were always blurred us as to whether these players were actually amateurs or semi professionals,

Right.

It used to be where, well, we're the program and we have the notoriety, so this is where people go. But you know, I can't remember we had on our PFF College Football show a while back, months ago, we had Mac Brown on the show, and one thing he had talked about was recruiting used to be one road of just battle right, high school recruiting. Now there's three.

All right, let's move over to oh hello, let's fix those levels. Let's move over now to some college football. We'll end with a little NFL. But you know, around here, Utah continues to do what Utah does, and that's win games regardless of who's under center.

It's about that you on the helmet, not the name on the back.

And no Camon Rising last week and still Water and they still were able to get it done. Got a little dicey at the end, but Utah off to a four and zero starts after beating Okay, Stayton, Stillwater.

Where you at with our Utah this way, Daldin.

Look, that's a huge win because I think one of the concerns for Utah for me last year was the difference between kind of the home and road splits and production. But it's a huge win to go and beat one of the bigger contenders in the Big twelve. And Utah they just look, they almost defy the metrics and the analytics and stuff. They just find ways to get it done right. And they played good defense, and the run game works, and even without their quarterback. We saw it

So let's stay in the Utah space for a moment. Let's talk about this Arizona game. Arizona thumped them a year ago and the players have all talked about it a lot this week.

Coach who had joined the show earlier, so.

I asked him how much payback is on the mind, and Kyle gave a Kyle coach his answer, But they're ready, you know, they want to get this thing done. And Dalton, I can't shake what I watched when k state it's not that they beat Arizona, it's that they bullied them.

They bullied them in a way that Utah wants to bully you.

I don't really have a lot of anxiety for Utah football this Saturday night.

Either are an eleven point favorite.

It's a late kick eight to fifteen, but it's gonna beautiful, sex, seventy degrees.

It's gonna be an awesome night. Cannot wait. I'll be there.

But what should what would you say to youth fans about the challenge Eliza ahead, what are your thoughts on Utah Arizona.

No, I mean I think you should have a lot of faith going into this game because Arizona look on top of getting bullied like you mentioned against k State, Arizona doesn't have the depth on offense like they did last year. Right now, they need to find playmakers other than Tetro McMillan, because he may be the best receiver in the country, but their offense right now is struggling to manufacture yards and points in ways that are you know that go the boat where the ball goes away

Tell me what your impressions are of this young freshman quarterback as you've watched Isaac Wilson really grow a little bit over the past few weeks. You know, he was able to get some run week one against SUU Southern Utah because Utah was thumping him and it didn't look great. And he really has from my vantage point, improved week to week to week. Now, we still don't know the deal with Saturday Night as far as who is under center.

Want the reps with the Ones all week.

But they're still hoping that Cameron's going to be healthy on Saturday, but keeping Isaac waiting in the wings as a contingency. Tell me what your impressions have been as you've watched Isaac Wilson now for about three games.

I think you see from Isaac is he's one. He looks really young, right, He looks like a young freshman quarterback out there, and part of that is ball security. I believe in this game. It was a three turnover whethy plays I think he had in this past game, and they were able to work through it and lean on the run game in the defense. But ball security is a must that you have to get better with.

So there might be a chance, Dalton, that we have two really good college football teams in our state. And you know, I'm not ready, at least as of now, to say that BYU is a legitimate Big twelve you know, conference championship contender, but Dave State clean, they're four and zero. They get their first conference win as a result of just a curb stomping of k State.

Like that game was.

It was crazy, it was bizarre, it was weird, but it wasn't close. A lot of people in Provo say that's a statement. I kind of say, that's a combination of unbelievable fortune and prepared skill and Aaron Rodger capitalizing on his red zone opportunities. They get touchdowns, not field goals. That defense is so much better than it was a year ago, year two under j Hill.

There d C.

Kalani is a guy who cut his teeth under Kyle, so he knows defensive football. What are you willing to say about who you believe BYU football is this year as of today.

I gotta be honest, it's hard not to look at him at least having the possibility of contending because that wasn't some miracle last second field goal win, you know, And I know there was a little bit of luck obviously the punt return and all of that, but that was a three phase beatdown and you rarely see that over a team, over a Kansas State team that's very

Before we move off the Big twelve, let me ask you the question, and again, just as of today, everything could change as of next Monday. How many teams do you believe as of today on this Wednesday can actually win this conference.

Let me count this out. Utah absolutely, Kansas State can. They can rebound. They need a big rebound, but the Kansas State can still rebound. They're not dead out of it BYU if they can, if they can keep up, Look, you bk State like that, you at least have a chance. And I'll tell you something. I think the most fun game of the week this UCF Colorado game. I'm gonna be honest with you. I think this is this is a bit of a pole position game. I think these

Asked, all right away from the Big twelve, but sticking with a little college football for a moment, We'll end with a thought or two on the pros. Last year for me, Daldon I can only speak for myself. It was hard to know who Michigan was because early on they didn't play anybody and they were thumping everybody, and a lot of people believe that they were one of the best teams in the country. I just didn't really see that because they weren't playing anybody.

Are we dealing with the same thing.

With Ohio State right now, because it feels like everybody's talking about Texas, everybody's talking about Tennessee.

We'll get to Georgia Bama.

But Ohio State, in my opinion, on paper, is as stacked as any of them. But we're not talking about them because all they do so far just beat up, beat up dud teams. Are we kind of dealing with the same dynamic this year with Ohio State as we did with Michigan a year ago.

I think it is similar, and they have They have a little more of a real challenge this week against Michigan State, although I still think they should take care of business. Look, we're gonna learn all we need to know about Ohio State in a couple of weeks against Oregon. October twelfth, they go to Oregon, they go to Austin Stadium, and play Dylan Gabriel in that team. We're gonna warn everything we need to know about them and then how they readjust after either a win or a loss from

Tell me what what that win? If this did anything for you at all? Because I actually thought Tennessee was going to go down and smoke Oklahoma pretty good. I just had not been impressed with it sooner so far, and it wasn't as much of a lopsided game as I thought it would be. They're going to be at Arkansas and then home Agan's Florida before they see Bama. What are you Daldon today willing to say about the star that we've seen from Tennessee?

What? What?

What?

Cold? This act do they live in right now?

They absolutely should make the playoff, assuming they don't have any major slip ups, and if they actually it sounds funny, but they're two best players that we thought were gonna be their two best players coming into the season, quarterback Nico Imaalayava and edge rusher James Pierce Junior, and neither one of them is dominating. Yet they are dominating with the rest of the football team, with Dylan Stampson in the run game, with the rest of their defensive line,

All right, let's move over to some games this weekend, and let's just head on down to Tuscalusive because why not where Alabama is a home underdog for the first time since two thousand and seven.

Georgia is getting too. They're George's two point favorite.

And the conversation this week, Dalton, as you know, is does Kirby Smart have.

A Bama problem? Or does he have a Nick Saban problem?

I mean, I watched Kaylen Debor out coach Dan Lanning twice last year and I'm not saying he's Saban, but you know we've seen what Kaylen de Bor can do.

What do you make of this matchup coming up?

I mean it is the conversation is, you know, does Kirby Smart have a Bama problem or a Nick Saban problem? How do you think Saturday is going to play out down in Tuscaloosa?

Weok, Honestly, I think what you have is Alabama is just one of the few teams that is on a similar talent level to Georgia every year, right And look, And I know Nick Saban was saymous for beating all of his assistants, right, I think I don't remember if you I think he was what he went like years and years without losing to an assistant before, what Jimbo

Baylor are two point favorite over BYU.

Let's go back there real quick, because I didn't ask you about that game. How do you think it plays out in Waco, ten am Mountains on kick?

It's very odd to me that BYU is the underdog after what they just did. So I don't know if somebody knows something that we don't, but BYU looked fantastic. They look well rounded last week, and you know, maybe it is it a letdown spot. I don't know. I know it's a road game now and you know you're getting away from Provo and the friendly confines there. But

All right, Before I say you lose, just a couple of quick NFL questions. First of all, thurs in that football look, I don't think the Cowboys will lose, But what's the conversation sound like if the Cowboys can't beat the Giants tomat night.

You're gonna hear, You're gonna I think you're gonna hear about Mike McCarthy. I just I just think. And the Giants look, they look better with Molik Neighbors. Their defensive line looks great. They they they really really put a good beating on the Browns the other day. The score was closer than a lot of that game was because they fumbled the opening kickoff. But no, this is I'm in the boat where this is the must win for

All right, but before I set you loose, let me just ask the question this way. At this point, when you look at the at the way that things have.

Have played out.

I mean, I talked to you when you first joined us preseason that Vegas is telling us Chiefs Niners. If you're gonna beat on a Super Bowl winner, bet on Chiefs Niners. They're the two most elite teams by far. Injuries happen, things change. Who else now lives in the same neighborhood as the Chiefs and the Niners that you think will be in at come February next year.

I think the Buffalo Bills have obviously said a great three weeks, and you've got a quarterback playing the way Josh Allen is playing at an MVP level, you can't take the Bills out of it. I think I'll tell you what I think. The Green Bay Packers getting these two wins with Malik willis installing until Jordan Love can get back. I think that's huge and I think that shows you something about the rest of our football team.

All right, man, thanks for the time, great football weekend ahead. Can't wait for it. We'll get you back on soon.

Thanks Dalton, absolutely appreciate you, all right.

Dalton Wasserman.

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We have statements. We have statements flying around.

Tim Buckley, the NCAA Senior vice President for External Affairs, just to release the statement for the NCUBA basically saying there's nothing we can do. The collective at UNLV is statement as well regarding the decision by Matthew Sluca to well essentially leave the program.

He's gonna utilize his red shirt.

We'll get to these statements, but our next guests, I'm gonna take a little sip here. I'm gonna do a little paper pop. I do not have immunity, but we welcome him in. The Great Josh Pate from Josh Pat's College Football Show Back on the Drive, Josh, Happy Wednesday.

Man, how we doing?

I guess I'm doing good. I thought we were gonna wake up this morning. I thought I was gonna come on the show a little bit later today, and I thought, man, we got a big week of college football coming up. And then Log Behold, we get the old UNLV bomb dropping our lap and now we're talking about everything but football. I'm not saying us, but in general, that's been the talk all day.

And certainly I want to get to the games more than anything else. But I do view this, Josh, to be a pretty big deal because it's never happened before. Now we've been talking about it all day, and I've been talking about this for years. I'm sure you have been too, about a product that is so incredible. Despite the inability of leadership to direct the product appropriately, it's still consumed at an incredibly high level where it's the second most popular sport in America, only to Pro football.

What's your take on the decision that came down today.

There's probably blamed to go on both sides on the immediate front, but larger it's so appropriate in the NCAA steps up and says, yeah, nothing we can do. In totality, this is absolutely on them. It's always been on them. It's just been year after year after year, a chronic indecision, lack of a spine, No one's stepping up in a leadership position, and so then you get to I mean,

Yeah, and that's the bottom line.

I mean, when you kick the count can down the road long enough and you procrastinate long enough, it's a tidal wave and you're not prepared for it. And man, I don't know, it's a sport that we all love. It's a sport that we all consume, but the lack of leadership and oversight for years has been just ridiculous.

And one and zer on conference play. We'll start with the Utes.

They go to Stillwater, no Cameron Rising, they get it done. Okay State comes back a bit at the end. It was never really that close. Number ten team in the country.

Josh. What do you make of the Utah yout right now?

Yeah, that was a game where I saw the final before I was able to watch the replay of the game because I was at the Oklahoma Tennessee game. So I see the final and I think, oh, wow, dogfight man, good for Utah. I go back and watch it and I realize, oh, that's the real story on this game. It's a big indicator. Man, win it without Cam Rising too, is a big indicator of basically what Kyle Winningham said saying,

So.

Now I'm interested because I mean, that was test one in the Big Twelve, and now I'm really interested to see you because it may very well be that we just see separation between Utah and the rest of the field. I still think it's too early to say that, but it was a It's not a game that stood out on the national radar, but I think in many ways it was a statement win because they had how they had to go about getting.

It sure, and also Mike Gunny doesn't lose in Stolewater, you know, he just does not lose there very much. So I think it was a really good win for a team right now that is still in a pretty ambiguous space about who will be under center coming up this weekend.

My question for you, Josh is.

I think I still believe for you Todd to win the Big Twelve, the Cameron Rising has to be under center for most of the year. But I also think I've seen enough from Isaac and the defense. Look, it's just a classic coach with a team. It's just the way Kyle's built this thing where it's about the you and the helmet, not the name on the back of the jersey.

And they they find ways.

To win games even if it doesn't feel like they're going to be able to base off the talent or skill set. But if Cameron Rising is compromised and unable to play very much this year, do you still think Utah can win the Big twelve?

Can?

Yeah, wouldn't be my pick, but can Yeah, they absolutely can. I agree with you. Your take is basically my take in the interim.

They can get by.

They obviously just prove that. I think they need him long term to fulfill, you know, on their potential. But I'm not about to sit here, having watched what I just watched them do, and having known the profile of that program for a long time, I'm not about to sit here and say they can't do anything. I mean, if they were playing in the SEC, I may be more defenditive, but that's a conference that's it's winnable for Utah just less than your percentage chances. But that's common sense.

Any I don't really have a lot of anxiety for Utah coming up on Saturday night with Arizona, and to k State didn't just beat them, they bullied them. Case State played Arizona the way that Utah will play Arizona.

I'm going to.

Go off the premise that Isaac Wilson is under center just until I see cam because we went through this crazy charade a year ago every single week, so I'm just kind of landing on Isaac until I see Cameron, which I believe means.

They're going to just run it down Arizona's throat.

Arizona great quarterback wide receiver duo, one of the best in the country, but I just don't think they have the dogs in the trenches to keep up with Utah. What do you think of Utah Arizona coming up on Saturday night here in Salt Lake?

I'd agree with you.

I do an upset pool with one of the stations I do a weekly hit on, and you always want to get the dog that's big enough, but also the one that you think's got a shot. And I think some people are going to be tempted into looking at Arizona there. I think it's terrible matchup. And like you, I don't have to go too far back in the memory bank to remember what can the State did to them. And so yeah, crazy things have happened. It would very much surprise me in lieu of like three turnovers or

All right, let's move over to BYU, who welcomed in k State to Provo and just curb stomped him. It was the biggest margin of victory for a BYU football team in the history of that program over a top fifteen team. So Josh, for me, it was a combination and just kind of a confluence of a bunch of different factors. And a lot of it was good fortune, a lot of it was prepared skill, and they called the kill shots in the red zone when they needed

Well, first off, I have profited off of it. I will tell you that I've ridden them every single week. I think that you have to when you're talking about a conference title contender, you have to scrutinize the statement a little bit more than if we're just trying to talk a team into Bowl eligibility. Cause, if we're just trying to talk about getting six good wins, Brigham Young's looked that point. Okay, if we're trying to talk about them in more lofty conversation, that's when you run the

Just keep playing.

Yeah, well, well said, well said?

All right, one more Big twelve question then, of course there are some massive games this weekend. Your pod that you released earlier was really, really good, so I did want to do a little Georgia Bama. How many teams, Josh, it's you know, we're coming up now now on five weeks of college football. How many teams do you really think legitimately can win the Big twelve?

Oh, buddy, half a dozen or more? If you just started rattling them off, there aren't There still aren't a ton of no's. Ironically, I'm going to tell you this now, I've got serious doubts about Oklahoma State. Mathematically they're still in it, but I've got serious doubts because everything I thought would be a strength about that team is not. Utah's obviously there, Kansas State's still there. My Iowa State

Their contenders for sure.

All Right, moving off the big twelve, let's talk some big picture college football here. Last year it was tough.

I kept hearing a lot of really smart football people who I respected saying that Michigan was among, if not the best team in the country, but the first month of the season they just beat up on dog teams, and so it was hard to really cooperate that statement. Are we dealing with the same situation with the buck Eys with Ohio State, who a lot of people think potentially the best team in the country, but we just don't over the first month have a great matchup test.

It could be.

Yeah, I try and figure out as much as I can about a team in the preseason, and if I think you're good, you're gonna get benefit of the doubt with me until you play quality competition. Same way, if I don't think you're good, you go beat a bunch of teams. You haven't proven anything to me until you beat quality competition. So is that bias is that fair. I don't know. It doesn't matter, but I'm there with Ohio State right now. I've watched them. I think it's

And not quite.

That's just a bunch of really good players, so someone will score on them eventually. I also don't know that the verticality is there in their past game with Will Howard, which is not a shot because it wasn't there when he was at Kansas State. So they're I mean, they're gonna have flaws, just like any other team does. They're a really good team. I haven't necessarily changed my opinion defaulting off what I thought about in preseason. But if someone does think that, I could understand why.

All Right, you were at Memorial in Norman, Oklahoma, and it feels like most everybody now is on this Tennessee hype train. I've heard a few people, maybe hot take artists, say that they can win the national championship.

You've seen it up close. What's what you the same question?

What are you willing Josh to say today about Tennessee After seeing them up close.

Well, they're in that conversation. I mean, I'm gonna obviously stop well short of saying they're my pick, but they are in the conversation. They have not been there before. This is the first time they will have been there. Big difference in this team in the twenty twenty two team is obviously defensively they're at different level, But I just want to point out to people athletically they're a different caliber. They had the number one scoring offense in

All right, as you reference, you'll be in Tuscaloosa first time since O seven, dam is an underdog at home. George's a two point favorite. The eyes of the college football world are gonna be on this game. Man, It's gonna be massive five thirty times. So what's the take? How does this play out? And kind of set the scene? What do you think it's going to be like down there at Brian Denny Stadium.

It's gonna be one of the best environments of the year. Keep keep I got I got a buddy who's more a pro football fan, he's kind of gotten into college football, and I try and tell people like that this setting, this kind of game is bigger in its scale than the college football playoff games and national title games, which is not the way it is in the NFL. You won't mind a better environment than this kind of game in the regular season. I don't care what the playoff

All Right, Josh, before I say you loose, we got to revisit a conversation we had maybe two months ago, I think it was prior to the season starting, because I asked you, as your star rises, you know you're gonna be able to go around to all these places see a lot of great robbery games. And I asked you if you were overly familiar with Utah BYU in the Holy War that takes place out here. And we talked about if things fall into place, could we see a Josh Pate siding here in Salt Lake City on

Yes, yes, I'm ready to commit verbally that that is on the radar I'm looking for right now. Yes, that's on the radar.

I feel like I need this in writing based off the news that happened in UNLB today. Oh man, All good, buddy, Hey, thanks for the time. Keep up the great working with chat too.

Appreciate it, guys.

All right, the great Josh Pate.

Get him on Twitter at Josh Pate CFB, host of the Josh pay College Football Show.

I always appreciate his time on this Wednesday