It's @ChrisKamrani on #RSL vs MIN postseason, Utes midseason OC change + more

I would live today out about at Tim Dolly Infinity. It's forty five ninety four South State Street. Happy Friday to you. We've got a busy five o'clock hour coming up. I want to be clear, my heart is in Los Angeles, but I don't know how many of you want to talk baseball. All I know is that the Yankees and Dodgers will get rolling at six o' eight mountain time. And we have fifteen year olds that don't know what it's like to see the Yankees win a World Series.

Chris Camraaddie stops by.

All right, forty fifth south, sixty degrees, probably too cold for the too cold and too far for the gearless bike.

Yes, yes, I was making dinner very early with my son, and the kitchen is currently a heaping mess, but we were out reveling in the sunshine earlier. We have to soak it up. It is dwindle and it's going to vanish before we know it.

You were making dinner earlier with your it's four thirty.

I started making it early.

Oh okay, I was gonna say early bird special. You're not that old.

What does what does Leo do to help you make dinner? He's not old enough to participate yet.

He screams, he whinds.

He has like a fake play knife that doesn't cut anything, so he gets frustrated when dad is cutting through things, but he's not. Yeah, it's it's fun for a little while. And for a little while, I mean in like two minutes.

Yeah, fair enough, fair enough?

All right?

Where to start today? Where to start today? Why don't we do a little on.

The lads and then we'll move over to you a little football first and foremost. So six uh six, six games without a loss, six games undefeated into the postseason. Obviously, that's good. I don't know that the forum is great, though, so I think there's a little bit of excitement slash trepidation. Is RSL starts their playoff journey coming up next Tuesday. So just from a general standpoint, what do you make of where we're at with the club prior to Game one against Minnesota next Tuesday.

Yeah, still a work in progress, still trying to figure out who they are. I think I'm very interested to see what eleven Pablo strolls out on Tuesday in the cold and rain. I don't know if it's going to be the same eleven that started against Vancouver last weekend. I guess I will say the takeaway right now is it's pretty insane that URSL center back depth is as porous and thin as it is, regardless of the injuries. The fact that they are where they are now with

So let's talk about the back line and you reference we will not see the same eleven that we saw against Vancouver, and we certainly will not because Philip Quintin is out for at least a couple of weeks with a bad hamstring. Brian Vera spits on people, so he's not allowed to play soccer. Marcelo Silva is not fit body, Hudalgo is hurt. Eric Holt I don't think is part

So a mecca. I think.

I read played sixteen games at right back last year and again shout out Nate Bench, he's capable of playing multiple positions. Nelson came into a mecca spot next.

To o Hada.

Do you think that's what we'll see at least just as the back line goes coming up on Tuesday?

I would think so.

Remember RSL scouted a Mecca as a right back before he made the rightful transition to his central midfield position. But right now, shout out events. The things are the things right now at RSL are they're thin. Things aren't great from a health standpoint and from an availability standpoint. I mean, it's great that RSL has home field advantage during this you know, three game ridiculous first round ordeal, whatever, we're calling.

It these days.

But yeah, taking I think arguably your best defensive midfielder and having to put him at right back because you're so thin at center back is not ideal. I know Javane Brown has played games at center back in the past, but he hasn't played a bunch there with Rsel.

I think his only appearances outside.

Of you know, moving over the other night when he was playing as Hoover has primarily been it right back. So for a team that's been leaky quite a bit throughout twenty twenty four, I would say that things are dire.

But who knows.

I mean, it's everybody rolls with the cliche and the assumption that things tighten up in the postseason. You would hope for ourself's sake that their defense tightens up as well.

So yesterday John Paul painted the picture of Brian Vera as Draymond Green.

Oh. I was listening, so who is Jordan Poole?

So, but who is Jordan Poole?

Because ultimately I landed on Rubio Rubine because like, the young good player is Diego, but he's better than Jordan Poole. Like if it was nineteen, if it was two thousand and five, it would be Jamie Watson.

But is there a Jordan Poole on the roster?

I can't come close to, you know, perfecting the performance art that you and JP put on when you're in the same room together.

I guess Rubin is a good call because he was.

Here and now he's gone. But you could also, you know, take a handful of players that were here and are now gone. But the Draymond comp was very good. I mean, if we're looking, if we're looking for that crosstop crossover, you know, true sports radio hot take, JP provided it for us, no.

Doubt he did. And Diego lunas Clayton Keller feels right, doesn't it?

If I knew who Clayton Keller was, then yes.

Utah Hockey Club. He's what, he's like, the best player for the hockey club. He scores goals, he gets assists like, and he's young like diego.

Okay, forget forgive me, for I have not seen much, if not any, of Utah Hockey Club so far.

I will not ask you about their penalty kills issues. Your father.

You don't have time for this, So let's move up past the back four and hone in on what we could see up front, where again, if Nelly shout out and Nate bench goes to the right back position and ultimately Nelson steps in there and Oheita, who's been great, probably needs to be talked about more over the past

That's my guess.

What do you think. I think it'll come down to whether or not Pablo wants to start Crooks or Diego centrally. I think Diego will.

Man his typical spot and he's right like he said on your show earlier this week, he kind of has carte blanche to kind of go where he wants as long as he stays within the framework of what Pablo needs from him.

Defensively as well.

It's going to boil down to what kind of game plan Pablo wants from the start and what he wants to plan for come substitution wise. But you also have to think of this as a series, like this is not a one off, So if it was a one off, maybe Pablo thinks differently.

Whether he goes Crooks or Diego Centrally, We'll wait and see.

But just because one starts in game one and Sandy doesn't mean that that same player that starts Centrally in game one will start game two in Minneapolis. So there's lots of, you know, tweaks that will be necessary from both sides. All I know is that, you know, Diego Luna has to carry the load right now, and that's asking a lot of a very young, talented player, and they really really poorly need Chicho Rongo to get off the snide as soon as possible.

Yeah, and that's that was going to be my next question. I mean, how much of this and we occurred on a little bit earlier. You know, it's you can say what you want about Gomez, but when Andres was out on that side, you know, those two formed a pretty dangerous partnership. And you know a lot of people painted Andres as someone who was only looking for his own but there were several interchanges with he and chiz Jo

That's not nothing. And chi Cho hasn't been near as effective since he's been around.

There's also the suspension, there's acclimating himself to new teammates.

What do you attribute the struggles.

To most, Well, you bring up Andres, Like I think one thing that this team misses now is Andres is a guy that could run away from people with the ball at his feet, and RSL just doesn't really have that anymore. They have very talented technical players, but Andris had a component of his game and speed that I don't think we've ever really seen any RSL player have

Centrally, I would say.

It's a plethora of everything. Basically, it's everything kind of going wrong at one time. It's the suspension, it's unders leaving, it's the injury, it's getting used to new teammates. It's a striker being in his head. It's like it's hard man like striker is. It's like the wide receiver position.

Obviously that didn't happen.

But that being said, it's better to have a guy who's waiting to bust, you know, that streak or that cold streak, rather than not having him at all. So I think the fact that he's a guy that's been there before. He's you know, played in really meaningful games with LAFC and MLS Cup playoffs.

He's done with RSL. All he needs to see is the.

Ball hit the back of the net, and things I think would change dramatically for oursel.

As one of the esteemed winners of Utah Sports Rider of the Year. I know you're all about the individual awards, and so I want to move over into that category real quick, Zicky Schmid. Now my last Coach of the

No.

I think if Arcel gets the top two seed out West and doesn't really kind of pitter to the end, I think he's in the running. But this team was pretty bad for a while, and I think they were lucky that the West, as it usually does, cannibalized itself and didn't allow anybody to really leap frog them. I think it's going to be Wilford Nancy. As a guy who does Smash Crew tape, I think they are the most aesthetically pleasing team to watch in MLS, and that's saying something considering Miami has a.

Bunch of guys.

But I will correct you there is one correction needed. I've never won the Utah Sportswriter of the Year.

I've only been nominated, So erroneous, Ronnie, I won't stand for that. We need how do we get this? Because look, man, you need one of those trophies on your mantle.

I need to put it behind my you know, the zoom background like all those people do for like interviews and stuff.

Yeah, I'm with.

That's getting so bad by the way, like it's such a thirst trap where it's like, oh, you have a cool old school Nintendo and I'm like Tyson book and there's your sports writer of the Year. Like it started during COVID and now it's just like, do you really listen to Wu Tang Jeff Passing or you just have the record behind you, Like Jeff Passon's not smashing nineties hip hop.

He just wants to look cool. It's ridiculous.

I think he might be. I think you might have to get him on and ask him.

I think that.

I think if you're going to go as far as to say like you are a Wu Tang, I don't think you can just be a surface level Wu Tang fan because you don't go out and find Wu Tang stuff anymore.

This is not nineteen ninety eight. You can't go to Spencer's.

Bookstore and find a you know, Wu Tang t shirt or you know whatever like that stuff.

It's hard to come by. But yes, I'm with you, it is. It is kind of exhausting.

Unfortunately for me, the background at my desk is just a huge window, so it's just always backlit. So there's a reason why I prefer not to get on video for anybody.

My Zoom set up to the same. Jeff Passen doesn't listen to Wu tang. He has like gin blossom vibes like he's not you know, like right, I don't think maybe yes, yes, slide underrated tune.

We can move on, all right, Chris.

Since you and I last spoke, University of Utah has a new play caller, Andy Ludwig has stepped aside and Mike but Jakeen is in. Obviously coach. Ludwig's entire resume speaks for itself. But it's also two things can be true. We're learning this as a society.

It's so fun. It's fine to say that it hasn't been good enough, and it hasn't been good enough for a while, not just a few weeks, if we're honest.

So, uh, your your take on the happenings up on the hill, and wa think it looks like coming up tomorrow?

I was stunned, Honestly, I did not see this coming. Like this is a guy who came back to Utah and said he planned on, you know, making this his last stop as an offensive coordinator.

It might have been now that he decided.

To resign, but I think there were interviews with Kyle over the years that said, like Kyle said, like Andy's gonna be my last OC as well, and there's a reason why he brought him back. So I was stunned to see that happen. I don't know how much a guy like Andy leaving mid season changes anything for the better.

These are I don't know, it seems like a reach to me, man, Like this seems like a very un Kyle move.

I know for a long time that Kyle was trying to find the right offensive play caller to coincide with his beliefs on defense. I think there was nine and eleven years at one point before Andy came.

Back, so this is not new.

You joke that there are fifteen year olds that have never seen the Yankees worlds win a World Series. There are fifteen year olds in this market that have never seen Utah be bad until like last year too, So it's like interesting that you think of there are kids that have been raised on Utah football that are just used to crazy mighty expectations that have been met.

Obviously, they were not met the last couple of years.

So I don't know what Andy leaving does for this team in the short term, to be honest with you, I really don't. You know, you can make the argument that this team was not prepared for Cam to go down again, and that is an absolute fair critique. And if you look at the corequarterbacks that Andy and his staff recruited over the years, it is not that impressive. Nate Johnson, Brandon Rose, Peter Costelli. Two portal guys were

Obviously.

He had Tyler and he had Cam, and when those guys were healthy, Utah was among the best teams in the Pac twelve and the country.

But yeah, I was stun to see it.

Spence, I don't know if Mike Bajakien makes Isaac Wilson a better quarterback in the final five games or whatever they have in the regular season.

I really don't the ck truth bomb on a Friday, man. So can we be as reductive? And folks these days love the reductive statements. It tends to describe an entire person of a group of people. Can we be as reductive as saying simply it would be different if Cameron Rising had been healthy last year in this year?

Can we be that reductive?

Oh?

I mean yeah, are we allowed to? I don't know. I feel like this is a question.

Well, no, it's not a trap question, because it does feel like like I could.

Honestly, the thing is, I do four hours of this Monday through Friday, two to six live every day Mountain Time.

You know this.

But I feel like I could really crack the mic and say, guys, if Cameron Rising was under center last year and this year, everything would be different, and then sign off. But I'd have three hours and fifty eight minutes left right, Yeah, And I'm just tried to figure out whether or not it is that simple, or are there other fair critiques?

Well, if we're talking about this year specifically, and the sample size was tremendously small, but you talk about a quarter and a half against SUU where Cam looked every bit of his old self and the offense was just basically running riot.

And then to me, maybe the bigger.

Deal was that first half against Baylor where the offense looked really, really good and if Cam doesn't get shoved into the gatorade station, like maybe they're up thirty five to nothing at a half time or thirty four to nothing at a half time.

And like it looked like it could be what it was.

But the nature of this sport man, like we talked about this ad nauseum, the quarterback is the most important position on the team.

So if you don't have an adequate Plan B or Plan C for when.

The guy that you are writing with who always gets hurt gets hurt once again, unfortunately things are not going to look the same.

And that's just the plain reality.

And it is also easy to look at, you know, previous seasons and say, like, you know, bran Keathy was this guy three years ago, or Dorian Singer was this guy at Arizona three years ago. But like it's easy to like look at that and painted as a picture that can all come together, but it has to come together, and it hasn't. It's just kind of a it's a Picasso right now, it's just kind of all over the place, and I just don't really and not a good Picasso, bad Picasso.

Like you know, you know what I mean, you're an art critic like me, Like I.

It was always going to be hard for this team to ride with three aging injured veterans at three of the most important positions on the offensive side of the ball. And when the most important one got hurt two games in and then again, you know, five or six games.

In, everything got thrown into flux.

And it's not fair to necessarily critique Isaac Wilson because he's an eighteen year old kid who enrolled in April and has got used to the terminology of a very complex Andy Ludwick playbook that so many quarterbacks have said will hopefully prepare them for the NFL. But Isaac Wilson is a eighteen year old true freshman quarterback leading a team out that had expectations of being in the college

Like they do at Utah.

I just feel like, here, we just assumed that oh, everything would just kind of you know, be fine if Cam got hurt again. But like, no, man, Like, it is hard. It is so hard to get to be really good at any position, especially at quarterback, especially in an offense as complex as Andy's. Now that Andy is gone, maybe Mike Pajakian, you know, distills things down for Isaac and makes it easier for him and gives him twenty

And you're not the first person that I've heard say that, which continues to just blow my mind based off of what we were all expecting. But let's move over to tomorrow because look, look, and maybe based off of we had Jordan win on earlier and it's clear that he's down, everyone's down on the group. So I'm sure it's the mission is just go get a win, no matter what.

And if it's the fourth quarter tomorrow and it's like thirteen to.

Six and Utah somehow pulls a rabbit out of you know where and wins by like a point, I know it's a win and that's all that matters, But I don't think that's gonna do a whole lot for a fan base that I feel as a collective is as like disenfranchised with his football teams that have been in years.

Well, and this goes back to the expectations and whether they were realistic or honestly, like, if even if Cam doesn't get hurt, if Utah is six and one right now or five, and what is their record grand they're four and three right, Yeah, so they've lost three in row. If Utah six and one or five and two right now,

Yes, do they have the.

Superior talent, yeah, but as we've seen, Utah's lost a team that had lost to teams this year that where they have less talent, Like they're more talented than TCU, hands down, they did not play well. So that makes you ask questions like if if they struggle tomorrow night at Houston, then I think there are bigger questions to ask why this team is underperforming at a level that nobody really ever saw coming.

All right, final thing, I'll set you loose on this.

It's a different story in my opinion for BYU because to me, they hit the road as an underdog. They're traveling three time zones. So for me, Utah needs to go get right. They need to make a statement. They need to go thump them. BYU just needs to get out of the happiest place on Earth with a nice little Mermaid ice cream cone and just a win. No matter what, you know, by one point miracle pick six, just keep this train on track. You are an underdog

Yeah, I mean they're going to face a team that's gonna run the ball sixty times, and they have one of the best running backs in the country. And this true freshman quarterback that came in does not throw the ball very well at all, but he's a hell of a runner. So Jay Hills defense will have its hands

Run the ball against you will drain a defense. And I know.

BYU's defense has been opportunistic and good this year, but against against a rushing attack like that, it will be tough. I mean, you see, I should have beat the number ten team in the country last week on the road, but they blew it.

At Iowa State. So this is a team.

I think Plan said like, they're the best three and four team in the country right now, and he's probably right. So yeah, I think it's going to be a very difficult game. But man, if they win that game and they are eight to zer with a bye week before that Utah game, that that game on November ninth will be absolutely bonkers.

Are we taking tracks to the stadium on Tuesday? My man?

The weather does not look inviting. I'm just I'm just we're gonna have to We're gonna have to discuss this off there.

All right. Man, have a good weekend. Give Leo high five.

Appreciate you, all right.

Chris com Ronnie from The Athletic