Bye week for the Utah Utes, hoping for a get right game against Arizona State. Arizona had to get right game against the Utes, so hoping to kind of replicate that during this by a week our next guest. There's a thing or two about the Utes. One of the best to ever do it up there, played in the NFL. I was hoping to have Scott Mitchell iven studio. As I walked into the building, he was present. But he has ditched us and now he's.
Over the phone. What happened, man? I thought you were coming to studio.
Yeah, you know, life just throws a lot of curveballs at you. I mean I also expected the Utes to just be amazing on Saturday night. I mean, dark Moude, you're at home. You have all these Hall of Fame weeks, homecoming weeks, and they kind of laid an egg. So I'm sorry, Spence. I should have known better. I should have just hung around.
It's all good, my friend, all good. I appreciate your time, whether it's in person over the phone. So obviously let's start with what happened on Saturday night. And Scott, I don't know how many times I've been in that stadium. I couldn't even guess dating back to my time as a student or dating back to my time as a media member, which has now been twenty years, but I was there with my son.
I was a season ticket holder once upon a time.
I don't know that I remember, at least recently, ri cycles seeming so nervous, seeming so almost docile. I mean, there wasn't a lot to get excited about. And obviously when the football is good, it's easier to easier to cheer, but start to finish, it just felt like a really strange night, right, So, just overall, what were your takeaways from Arizona's went over Utah on Saturday.
No, it's very astute because it was it was strange, and there was a weird vibe there, and there was a weird vibe with the team. And you know, you have games like this, you do. You have low energy games, you have you know, a fatigue game, you just have one way you just you're just not quite together, you know, converting those fourth downs early in the game. That kind of tells you a little bit about where the mindset
of this team is. Because it's it's a it's that do or die down like you don't get another one if you've missed this. So you've got to have a sense of urgency about you. And and it really wasn't there And and you could you can attribute it to a lot of things and say, you know, deemed traveled, hot game, emotional game for what it was. You know,
you could have the fatigue of playing for two months. Now, you have a young quarterback who doesn't you know, he's never been through this, he never felt this before, and and you need your leaders to step up. And and it's clearly a game that they needed Cam Rising, they needed asleadership. I think Corennie Reid they needed his leadership on defense because it was across the board. It wasn't it wasn't just offense. There was there was a lackluster
effort with the defense, uh during during the game. And and I don't think I don't think they're coached that way. I don't think that there they want to play that way. You know, these guys love to play, they love to prepare, they love to get out there and do it. It's just sometimes you just have that night and and you just got to figure out how to fight through it.
And it's it's the leader internally that you know, Hey, we got to pick it up, guys, we gotta we got to change the tone, the feel, everything here, and you just didn't see it at all during the game.
Of course.
God, the big topic of conversation around the market is Cameron is camera rising, his availability, his lack thereof the messaging from the football program, the messaging from coaches and players.
I continue to be in the space where my.
Heart goes out to him, feel bad for him because I think he's hurt, and when he's healthy, I think he'll play. Not one for conspiracy theories and sports or elsewhere, but those are flying around as well. So I just want to Scott Mitchell take on the way this is being handled, and if you have any information about where we're at in the process of trying to get him back under center. Obviously I would love to hear hear from you on that as well.
Yeah, I think it's it's if you look at his history and you say, this guy's brought a lot when he's you know, the moment he stepped on the field, I still remember it. I still remember the team. He just elevated, everyone's hope, everyone's you know, feeling like belief just what they played San Diego State. It was in Los Angeles, and the minute he stepped in, it was just different. And it was different the whole rest of
that season. I remember him throwing some big, huge plays against USC in the coliseum and Utah hadn't beat USC and they and it was Cam Rising having this moxie and this this confidence to throw a ball on fourth down and you know short and he throws it for a touchdown. And there's just a lot of things that he has brought to the table. Brought two championships, brought two Rose Bowls, and played in some big time games and and came up big in a lot of those games.
And he just is a guy that's uber competitive. But how it's hard. It's hard to describe to people when there's like hurt and then there's injured, and there're two different things. And hurt is like, Okay, this is just annoying. I'm gonna suck it up and I have to play. And then and then there's injured, where it's like if I play, I can't play well, like I'm gonna do more damage to myself to the team, and and it's and it's really a person individually that knows that. For
whatever reason, Cam has had a lot of injuries. I mean the first you know, he got named the starter, it was Covid. It was in against USC he you know, destroys his shoulder very early in that game. He got injured. You know, I think, what both Rose Bowls and uh, and so he's been injured and of course now he's injured this year, and and it's just some guys just have have those injuries. And I really think that he wants to be in the game. I had an injury one year. I had to get a shot just to
practice every day. It was the worst thing in the world. And I got accused of this. You know, you just don't you know, you're not playing, you know, you're you're not tough enough, whatever, and it's just not It's just not the case. So I really think he will be out there. Part of it. Spence, It's really hard when you have people that are passionate about the program, these
alumni people, these boosters, and they're so passionate. They put their money where their mouth is, like they donate a lot of money and a lot of effort into this program. Being well and this school doing well and to see someone who they're paying money to, you know, not you know, not seeing a lot of return on that on that investment. That that's hard and that's hard to swallow. And I totally totally get that. I don't know that there's much control over, you know, how where that money goes and
what happens with it. It's it's it's one of the really bad things about college football right now. And so people do expect those results. And I think Cam, I think Cam does. And look, Utah still controls their destiny, you know. You know Colorado's the two wins BYU Iowa State, Utah plays all of those teams. It's really early in the year. It's really a game that I think this team can really fuel themselves from the sting of it, because and I'm still reeling from it. I'm just like,
what the heck happens Saturday night? And and a lot of times teams can really be shield by this and move forward. You think of you think of Tim Tebow when they won a national championship of Florida and they had a loss like this and he just said, never again, ever will this happen to me? And to this football team and they go on and win a national championship.
So a lot of times you can turn some of these nasty, terrible like feel like the end of the program moments into you know, something that really propels you to greater heights.
So I want to get your opinion on the way that the program is handling the dissemination of information. And Dennis Dodd today wrote a piece where he talked about all the powerful conferences utilize a guy named Matt Holt. Now, Matt is the founder of the US Integrity in Las Vegas, which sounds like an oxymoron to me. As a gambling integrity monitor, that's what he does. But you know, when contacted about this situation specifically, here's what Matt Holt had
to say. He said, quote, we constantly tell our colleges, if you continue to hide information for gamesmanship, our competitive advantage purposes, you are putting your student athletes, your trainers, your equipment managers, and your assistant coach is in a heightened risk category is what we call it. When betting groups start to figure out, hey, this coach won't disclose information. Now there's real value to getting that inside information. So
sharks and wise guys and such. They lean on trainers, and they lean on assistant coaches. They lean on players to get inside information to therefore utilize that to affect lines and make money. I don't love that this is where we're at in sports, when they're in bed with the gambling companies and the apps.
I think it's a really slippery slope.
Beckay Coppins from the Atlantic did a piece last week on the effects on families now that we have about five years of data of legalized gambling, what it has done. Some families have lost homes, it's divorced, its debt. It's
a really really slippery slope. But we are where we are, and ultimately, it does look like, according to what I have in front of me from the CBS piece, these coaches that are holding back information are thought to be putting their staff in what's called a heightened risk category. Do you think stuff like this will change the way that the program is utilizing their platform to disseminate the information and do you think they should change the way
they're going about it? For me, it feels unfair to cam That's my whole thing. But what's the Scott Mitchell.
Take, Boy that that is an interesting statement because if you watch, you know, we're sitting here all week long going okay, is Cam playing? Is he not? As he playing? Is he not? And then you watch the betting lines and they change, and they change as the week goes on, and they change. I mean at Oklahoma State they were changing during you know, the day, and you and we
looked at it and I said, somebody knows something. And these people that set these lines, you know, you talk about like they know they're in the business of winning. They're not. They're not there to lose. So so they're gonna go and they're going to figure out how to
get any possible information that they can get. And uh, and I'm sure those lines for the Utah the last couple of weeks were based on maybe information they got like hey, Cameron's not He's not going this week, because you know, the lines changed and went down and and then they went back, you know, and and so so someone somewhere somewhere, or some someone somewhere is getting information. How they do it, who knows? Because your point about gambling, and it's so easy, like so many things in our
society today are so convenient. You can pretty much be anywhere, and oh I can gamble on a gam shoot, I can gamble during the game. I can. You know, It's just they've made it extremely easy. And and who knows who's involved in gambling. You know something. Why I play in the NFL is like you, it was hammered into your brain. Do not talk to, do not share, do
not anything. Uh. You know, the integrity of our game is so critical, and if anyone thought it was fixed, or if anyone thought, you know, it would just it would really destroy the whole. And it would and it does. But people, but we're human. I I don't. I know, I'm not a gambler. It's not my thing. I've never done it. I'd never cared to do it. I know a lot of people. I know a lot of people in sports. I know a lot of people who are
playing sports are huge gamblers. And and so you know, if you have you know, if you have the equipment manager and I'm not saying that's the case, or you have some front office person who, yeah, I like to gamble, and uh, and then someone's and they and someone finds out they kind of like to gamble, and they go, hey, if you give us some insight onto whether Cam Rising is playing or not. We'll give you, we'll give you a thousand bucks, or we'll give you whatever. I mean,
who knows what you know? Who knows or someone may be in trouble gambling, and they go, we'll take care of your your problem here if you give us some insider information. These people in Vegas will find they'll find information, and they'll know because they they do not want to lose. And this, this whole setting these lines things is a science and something I have no idea, but they're they're
pretty good at it. And and so yeah, I could see where it could really impact people inside of organizations. I'm still trying to And and gamesmanship is fine, right whatever, you know, everyone has their thing. Everyone tries to find a way to get an edge, to be motivated. And I certainly did it, and I you know, I would I would do everything I could possibly do to to figure out how to how to have an edge on
my competition, knowing that they're doing the same thing. But I so I don't understand completely why you just don't tell people. You know, in the NFL, it's pretty it's pretty known, it's pretty pretty out there. Uh you know college football. These these coaches have a pretty good feel of other programs and how their schemes and all of these different things. And it might be an advantage for a series or two or whatever. I don't know that it's a complete advantage if you don't know who which
players playing or who's not playing. You know, I, I you know, if if if it's anything, it just should to be standard across across the board. But I'm one that you know, I. I don't have a problem being transparent and kind of telling where where players or people are. But you know, coach Whittingham has never been that way, doesn't feel that way. He's like, look, I want if I don't have to share it, I'm not going to and and so he doesn't. And I don't have a
problem with that either. But uh, you know, the the challenge with Cam is that he's getting paid, and he's getting paid a lot of money and for you know, almost a year and a quarter or a third because we're well even a little bit more than a third now. So that's that's unfortunately how things are. You get paid
to do this. There's a different expectation and now it comes with production and winning and the perception of production and winning, and that's a different deal, and that's called professional sports, and that's really what college football is.
So Scott, final thing on this, and then we'll get to a couple of other quick topics before set you loose. I'm just operating off the premise that it's Isaac can tell it's not. I don't have any knowledge on what the next couple of weeks are going to look like. It's easy to surmise that if we take Utah football on their word, but historically speaking their word on this is not reliable and we all understand why competitive advantage
all that stuff. If Cameron was very close to playing against Arizona, I think it's safe to say that, given two more weeks, we should expect him against Arizona State.
But I'll go with.
The premonition that it's eyes you can tell, it's not. What's your understanding of where we're at with Cam's health as of today.
Well, if long term, this year, right now, Cam rising gives you taw the best chance to win big picture conference championship, win those tough games, you know, really kind of be the guy to be that leader and lead this team and rise the level of expectation and play, and so you want him in there with this injury. You know, who knows what it is. And I've had injuries like this and fingers and getting hit on helmets and stretched ligaments and broken broken fingers and all kinds
of things. And the reality is it's it's probably going to be a nuisance no matter what, for the rest of the year. I don't you know, who knows if it'll go away, just just simply because if he's gonna throw, he's going to play, he's just gonna probably continue to aggravate it. So I don't know if there's ever a level of you're just completely healthy, and so it's kind of how much can you tolerate? How much can you suck up? How can you how much can you not
be distracted by it? It does you know, those those two fingers, your ring finger and your middle finger are not the most essential fingers throwing a football. It could it could impact your delivery. You know, I don't know, but I would. I would really I'm going to disagree with you. I really think they're really trying hard to get Cam ready for Arizona State. I think I think it's something that I think he can play from it
didn't look good at Oklahoma State. He actually looked better because he threw a little bit before the Arizona game. But I think I think he I think he's going to try. I think they're going to try to have him ready by then and ANDAB we should be able to play.
Yeah, I don't know what you're disagreeing with. I'm saying I'm operating off the premise that it's Isaac can tell it's not, because until I see it, it's hard to believe based off of all the information we've been giving. I agree that they're trying to get him ready to play, but until we actually see it, you know, it's for me,
it's time to kind of ignore the messaging. Until the utes run out for their first possession on offense and it's number seven and not eleven, I'm going to operate off the premise that it's eleven not seven.
I just need to see it before I can believe it.
Yeah, And that's probably a healthy attitude to have. And the good the silver lining with all of this is, man, Isaac Wilson's getting some great experience and some of it painful. You know, I'm just telling you that last week was painful, and and the painful part is Son you had like when you're in the red zone, come hell or high water, you got to figure out how to score and you get those fourth downs, whatever it is, you got to
make it happened. And you can't just you know it, just you just have to do it, and you have to will that on your team that this is extremely important. We got it, we got to get it done. And and so there's just so so many game scenarios or things that come come up that that Isaac's had to deal with that being one of them, and and they'll just they'll be so valuable down the road. But unfortunately, this team is ready to win now and has such
a great opportunity in the Big twelve. And because I still think it's very wide open in the conference, there's not a team I go oh wow that you know, that's that's just the dominant team right there. And and so you really need need to get the guy back who can make it happen. But but it is good for Isaac to for him to get that experience.
All right, Scott, before I say you lose, I referenced this earlier Arizona after the case Stay lost, they talked about the Utah game as a get right game for them after a buye. What does a get right game look like for Utah after a buye against Arizona's.
Well, it's just playing with that sense of urgency, playing really to win and not not kind of tired or playing not to lose.
Uh.
It's it's about being aggressive. And you know, Arizona really took the tempo to the game to Utah. They dictated terms the whole entire game, and that's what you have to do, you you know. And I think that's the energy that people were feeling. They were like, these guys aren't intimidated by being here in the stadium and this noise and this crowd. This team, it's like they're here to win. They're here to Uh, you've got the target on your chest and we're going we're coming after you.
And Utah is going to get that all year. But they've got to have the youths have to have this attitude that like every play is life and death, like like this this really matters, Like you can't you can't be complacent in any moment and that includes all of your preparation leading out to this game. I bet if you went and asked and pulled the players and the coaches and said, did you do everything you could possibly
do to get yourself ready to play this week? And I'll bet almost all of them say no, there's things I could have done better and and and that's that's the cruelty of football, that's the immediacy of it. That you only get so many opportunities. There's only three more home games this year. I mean there's three, said, you know, and so you have to take advantage of those opportunities.
They have to be so precious to you, and you just have to come out with this like we just got to let everything hang out and just play to win. And we always said play like men and just you know, let it all hang out. And that's that's the way you gotta play.
All right, buddy, Appreciate the time today, Bye week, and then we'll see you with there made it when they get back on the field. Scott, have a good week, brother.
Okay, all right, thanks you too.
Scott Mitchell, former Utah quarterback number of years in the NFL.
Appreciate his time today.
More you top Football coming up next with the voice himself, Bill Riley is our guest. Let's welcome in Ryan from the Dish Pros. It's been five weeks of college football, four weeks of pro football.
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