All right, we're live in Smith ninth and ninth, eight seventy six East, eight hundred South. We have tailgate passes for our ultimate tailgate prior to Utah Yu. It's a good time, man. We have craft cocktails from Clearwater to Stilling. We have free food from Wingers. Now we have a
Corona backpack cooler to give away, So roll in. Give Cynthia your name after she's done with her grocery store, sushe nobody's judging, and we're gonna give this away prior to six o'clock tonight here at Smith's eight seventy six East, eight hundred South.
We're back by the Delhi. All right, we're gonna bring in Howard Beck.
We have Chris Comroannie, we have Aaron fulk We're gonna interview Coach Witt. Started the week off with Kilanie. We'll finish the week off with Kyle. But we'll start the show off today with a good front of the show. Although it's been quite some time in former Utah safety Steve Taate back on the drive on a Friday.
Steve, Happy Friday, man, how you been spent?
I'm doing well man? How you been I'm good?
Man? I'm good.
This is obviously a really, really fun week. And you know, somebody who is an in state kid and played in the game. I wonder what sort of emotions, energy, et cetera roll through the body and mind of Steve Tate during rivalry week.
Yeah. Man, it's crazy how much it's morphed over the years when you look at you know, you look at YEU and all the coaches over there who at one point were my coaches. So it's unique now, you know, kind of looking at this game. And I talked to guys. I talked to coach Anderson, who's now defensive analyst down by U. I talked to him almost a couple times a month at least. We check in with each other. So the familiarity takes the next level now in this game.
And believe it or not, coach Anderson has taken He's taken a big role in that staff since j Hills and been battling the health issues. So I'm gonna it's gonna be fun to watch these two go at it, because I think this is probably an all time peak of how familiar to these two programs are with each other.
Do you have any whether it's on few other off field specific b y u Utah memories that stand out. I don't want to pigeonhole you into one, but any any specific snapshot memories that stand out to.
You, you know, I think the feel good one. I'll give you a feel good one off the field is, you know, after Reno and I lost our two kids when they played, and I believe it was a Bowl game right afterwards. I think that was obviously something special both both Reno and I kind of they they honored our two kids that we lost, so that that was unique,
that brought some feel good story to the rivalry. And then you know, I grew up watching this, so I can go back to, you know, the the days of kind of Shiro and and those were fun games thirty four to thirty one. I mean, you know I can go back. I mean it's like an archive in this brain. But you know one that I love that I that I played in that's kind of similar to what UTA's facing right now is we went down to BYU. I
think we're I know, we were double digit underdogs. I think it was seventeen points and we had Ratliff who just lost the previous game to New Mexico and and Brian towards a c O, Brian Joston towards a feel and Ratless came in and you know, ultimately didn't win that that that New Mexico game, but we had to fight in order to get Bull eligible. We were playing at Uyu. It kind of a you know, a last ditch effort to get Bull eligible, and you know, we
threw it. We threw a bunch at him. You know, Coach Anderson on defense, we threw out a kind of what they call the circus defense. I mean, he threw everything at him. It was one of those where we are backs against the wall and you know, the whole week we had nothing to lose. And so that's what's unique right now when in this game, it's kind of you to find themselves in that same spot that we found ourselves in two thousand and five, just fighting for a win.
Uh.
You know, I think if they if they don't win this, it'll be hard to get Bull eligible based on the record and the schedule they have ahead of them. So uh, you know, yeah, back to backs against the wall right now.
You're kind of a unique case study this week, Steve, because you played for coach Anderson. You played for Kilane, Uh, but you also played at the University of Utah.
Uh.
I'm I'm a poke a little bit. I'm gona dig a little bit here. Okay, where's the uh, where's the head? And where's the heart? Saturday night?
What? What? What do you want to see happen? Yeah?
Obviously you know I grew up a Utah fan. That's those those are our roots. So you know, you never leave your roots. That's that's where I came from. But uh, you know it's it's again having gone through it. I grew up in it, and then it kind of morphed into life after football and and relationships that I have over there, and relationships of course that I continue to have it the you The good part about this, Bence is is I can watch a game uh and be
completely emotionless. It's it's unique having played in it. You know, I've I've I've you know, sweat, I've had I've spent the blood in the sweat and in these games, and so it's nice to not be a fan, just to sit back and watch it and admire you two great coaching staff and not get emotionally attached to it. I know, It sounds weird because it is such a game of emotions, but it's something I guess I deserve after being so emotional for so long in this, in this, and then
having played in it for once. Now I'm the old man sits back on the couch and just watches you.
Just hit it on the head at the end.
This is a sign that you're getting old, young man, this is a sign that you're growing up. And look, it's all good because I actually talk about this all the time. Sports are the very definition of a zero sum game. And sorry about the parlay, but if you have a gambling problem, you know, it doesn't it doesn't.
Mean you can act stupid.
And you know, obviously everybody wants their team to win. And it's been an interesting evolution for me as well, Steve, because look, you get into this business, you have to be a little bit agnostic or you lose your credibility. Like I cannot listen to your leaders, I cannot listen to propagandists, I cannot listen to homers because there's nothing there.
They're not authentic.
And so you get into this and if you want to do it the right way, you have to be truthful,
so you become a little bit agnostic. But the other thing I do not miss And for me, growing up in professional sports where the outcome of a game directly affected whether or not my father would stay employed every night felt like life or death, right, And now that he's out of the game, and now that I'm doing this, really I am void of emotion with most I want my Yankees to win, Like if the Knicks ever go deep in the playoffs, I'd love to see the Jazz
do something special. But call me in seven years, you know, so like ultimately, like you, I just kind of hope for a good game. But the interesting thing I think from and I'm not I don't want to speak.
For you, but there's actually more.
On the line for Kilanie and Gary and Jay and a Rod.
Like if b you know, BYU with the win puts themselves on a path for something really special that nobody saw coming. And on the other side of it, like if your Utah you get a win, and of course that it's good against your rival, you show in front of the community, it's good for instate recruiting, but what
does it really do. So that's why I was curious about where your your heart was here because as a guy that played for Klonnie and Gary and all those guys, I just wondered if you wouldn't mind seeing them get the win so they can continue to march on towards something that would be historic for them, you know, if that makes sense.
Yeah, no, that makes sense. I mean it's it's interesting having, you know, now in this phase where I have a son that plays, and so when I go to his games, you know, it means it means more. Of course, you're invested, You've got emotional connection. It's it's your your kid's future, and and and so that's why I can now sit back and just observe and and and root for you know, uh, really for for a good story that comes out of it.
And you know, those guys have worked hard. J Hill has gotten you know, he's worked hard to get where he's at. He went to Rever State. Now he's you know, changed that program over at BYU. I think they've really turned the corner with Jay Hill and coach Anderson. I think those two puzzle pieces were a big reason why they are where they are right now and having a chance to potentially get into college football playoffs. And you know, good for them and Klonnie. You know, they've worked hard
for it. They've put together great staff, recruited well and yeah, and so you're right, Spence, It's it's odd enough to be agnostic right now, but it is what it is. It's kind of where I'm at.
So I want to take advantage of the fact that you were a safety and you played defense and no Jay and no Gary. Because the interesting thing Steve about BYU's defense. There are some portal additions like the Jack Kelly kid, and he's awesome, he's there, he leads them in sacks with four. But it was a lot of like, hey, let's just run it back and develop internally from within.
And see what Jay can do here.
Two and now that Gary's been brought in as well, tell us about this system since you played in it, and what stands out about how improved BYU is defensively.
Yeah, No, that's a great question. I've talked to coach Anderson about it. No longer. It was probably a couple of weeks ago. We were talking and then you know, I asked him, you know what, what's what's gone on? What have you done differently? Because it really this year, you know, he turned the page. And if you know, coach Anderson, the guy gets the most out of his players. He's passionate, but you know he's just he's like a father figure to to all the players out there on
the field. And you know what what he said is really no different than what we had it when I was at Utah. He says, you know, we go out and get guys that love football. We want guys that love the game of football. He's like, they might not be the most have recruited guys, but they fit the system and it's everyone knows their role. And I think that's what's really unique and Utah has it as well
on the defensive side. Is it's a system that you can roll in and once you get the guys there and you establish that system, every year you're just kind of building into that and it's not a rebuild, uh over and over again. And I think that's that's honestly when you look at it. They've they've got you know, Jack Kelly is a great addition, of course, as you mentioned, uh, but they just do a great job of bringing pressure like Utah always did when.
I was there.
They play Manda man, they haven't been able to do that a lot. You know, Klanne got there and they weren't able to play Manda Man at all. You know, under under Bronco, they were primarily the zone defense that was soft in the secondary, and that's it now entirely changed. So they're able to take a lot of risks now because they trust their guys on the back end. So you're gonna want You're gonna see j Hill, I mean J Hill and and coaj Well, they they're gonna they're
gonna bring pressure. They'll bring pressure. They trust their guys now in the back end. They've got good corners, they have good safeties that can play uh and and they've got speed at at with jack and linebacker position bringing guys off the edge. So I expect a lot of that, especially with you know Utah now with two freshman quarterbacks possibly playing in this game.
So on the other side, let's move over to the Utah defense, and you know, they really rate well when you look at the meat and potatoes and defensive numbers. But what they don't do, Steve, is they don't get to the quarterback and they don't first force turnovers.
At least not yet.
Right, So like between the twenties, meat and potatoes. They're good against the run, they're good against the past. They're number one overall and scoring defense in the conference, but they haven't.
Been able to apply a lot of pressure to the QB.
And again they're last in the conference in fumbles forced and fumble fumble's recovered. From your vantage point, why do you why do you think Utah struggled in the main areas where they usually excel.
Yeah, you know, I know coach Winningham has tried to, you know, find find the reasons for that as well, but that's been it really has been anomaly this year. They haven't no get pressure on the quarterback. I know they've been fighting some injuries, so you know that that's one thing they're battling with. I don't think they have
the definitely have in the past. I think, you know, one thing that's unique with Utah a year after year is that they bring pressure, but they're bringing it from different position groups and I think, you know, the safety position, of course, is one They lost their their their guys last year in the NFL, so I think they do, although they don't you know, probably looking at their roster to begin this sea even didn't look like they had, uh,
you know, some some new guys. I just think that they just have some inexperienced guys that are still cutting their teeth. But in order to you know, to beat Buyu tomorrow, they've they've got to be able to put pressure on the quarterback. I think that's what they're going to try to do. You know, he's been prone to make mistakes and and and and cough up some some balls here and there. So I think that they will, they'll bring the pressure. They need to find ways to
create that pressure. I think, you know, they had to Ti had a couple of injuries in their secondary corners position, so I think, you know, perhaps again not able to bring that pressure trusting those guys. But you know, this is one of those games. As as I mentioned prior that you know this point, you're now, how how many games that you've you've got to You've got to bring it, You got to you know, you got to take some risks.
I think I think Scally will do that same thing with Uyu, and that's why it's going to be fun to watch. I think Scali will dial it up this game.
So I wanted to get your take on and I've asked all the former players this this week because we've you.
Always hear these stories.
You always hear these, you know, legendary tales of the way Kyle coaches this week juxtaposed to the way his opponent coaches this week.
And you always heard.
And we had Austin Collion on Tuesday, and Austin essentially, you know, affirmed the legendary stories about bronco Mennenhall just like not coaching this week any different than he would coach any other say it's nameless, faceless players, our opponent. It was never there was never extra added emphasis. Well, on the other side, it always seems like Kyle sends the message like we don't lose to them. How does coach Wit prepare you guys during this week for the game on Saturday.
From a player's perspective.
Well, you know, I guess it goes back to Urban. You know, I think Urban really took it to the next level. Yeah, he educated. I mean we had highlight films in the locker room that was lacking twenty four to seven. We memorized that when we were you know, getting changing and out of it for practice. I mean there there was this low this this highlight reel just playing on uh endlessly in the locker room.
Uh.
You know he had the opposed He had b Yu jerseys when you came in, and like, you know, the classic uh urinal cakes in the urinals and you know, uh, he had a way, you know, credit Urban, he had a way of just creating that emotion and and it's carried over to the coach Whittingham's there's no urinal cakes like like we had with Urban. I mean, Urban may have taken to the next level, but uh, you know
it's you don't. There's no make no mistake. You got the n State kids know how they you know how important this game is, and especially now that they're in conference. You know, for a while there, you had to probably create a little bit more emotion for this game for those guys that weren't familiar with the rivalry game. But now that it's an in conference game, it means even more. Uh So it's kind of back to where it was
when I played, which is good for the rivalry. But you know, you can't treat it like any other game. I mean, the football, the beauty football is. It is a game of emotion. Now you've got to keep your emotions in check, and you got to know when to you know, make sure you don't peak too soon. But I mean, that's what I's that's how I thrived playing this game. I was an emotional player. I talked on the field, you know, I gave it my all. And I think that's the way the game has to be played.
If not, then you're not the right game. You know, you can go play baseball and that's the right sport for you, even basketball pass, but you know, football, that's what the that's what's beauty. That's what's so beautiful about it. I mean, it's the beauty of the game is that it is emotional. And that's why rivalry games means so much more when it comes to honestly when it comes to football than in the other sport because it's the motion that you that you bring to it.
What about Morgan On Morgan's side of things, we all saw the classic clip on college game Day back in two thousand and four, and you know, it's funny because a snapshot moment like that, and certainly from a guy like Morgan, who really is a sweet guy, you know, like he just he's a very committed husband, father, all those things. So uh a comment like that, I hate those bleeping you know what, hate them with a passion. It endears Morgan to the youth fans that want to hear that stuff out loud.
Then it leaves them up. I remember b YU fans like.
Calling for his temple recommend It was like the perfect holy war thing to say, you know what I mean. But you know, Morgan and you Safeties are all one big, one big group. What do you think this this week is like for Morgan, who, as we know, is going to take over when Kyle's finished.
Well, that was that was what was great about Urban.
Uh.
You know that that clip is right before the Fiesta Bowl, right before the Festal Bid and and we had to be by you in order to really fulfill that uh that that dream that we had to start that or to end that season of going to BCS. And so
that's that's exactly what Urban did. You know, Urban was smart and he got the in state kid, the guy that grew up in this rivalry and and you know that just happened to be ESPN at the time when Morgan was in front of all the cameras and and uh and made for some some great rivalry smack talk, but uh, you know, in state kids make it and and and you got in state kids on both sides. And that's what I really like about this rivalry because
it means more for those in state kids. And you know especially, I've always said it like when you go on a beau. I was part of some of those those losing skids with with coach Whittingham as he took over for Urban, and we had a couple of years where we had back to back or maybe even three
losses in a row. And what I do believe wholeheartedly is that when you when you when you go on those losing skids, it's it's really the in state kids that are fighting, right those guys, because they're more invested, they've got everything to lose. They're still going out there even though they're they might have a losing record or they have they still aren't fighting for their friends, their families,
something that they love, their passionate about. They grew up watching the team that they play for now, so they tend to fight a little bit more. And when it comes to this rivalry, the in state kids, they just it's in bread, it's just in their system. They just have grown up in this and so you know, you you rely on those guys pay of the team all week to really get them emotionally ready for the game.
Yeah.
Interesting, you brought that up, because there are nine excuse me, no, that's right, there are There are nine Utah players on the roster that have actually played in this game. And I don't know the exact number of BYU, but it's around the same.
There's just a handful.
And obviously it's been a few years, but it is a different day in college football here locally, where you pull up Utah's roster, you pull up BYU's roster, and there's a lot of California, there's a lot of Florida, there's a lot of Texas, there's a lot of different states, Canada even, I mean from an in state perspective, Did you have to prepare your out of state teammates for
exactly what Saturday Night is going to be? Is there any way you can prepare them or is it something you just have to experience, Because I just don't know that players who didn't grow up here with the frame of reference for what this means, really understand what Saturday Night is going to be about.
No, I mean, you're right, you do. You do have to educate them. It's like my son right now, he has to get educated to the big game. You know, Calvers for Stamford. I mean, we coming from the outside, we don't know much about that game. It's a historic rivalry. But my son has teammates that are educating about that game. I mean, the same thing. I'll never forget. Brent ratleft.
So Brett Ratliffe came in. You know, in two thousand and five, he came in for like one well, I think it was one series to finish the Drive against New Mexico. We lost that game because Brian had the ACL and all week, you know, no one was giving us a chance. No one even knew Brett Ratlif's name. And I remember pulling Brett Ratleft aside on Monday after practice and it was just him and I in the locker room. I was like, you know, I turned, I
just sat with him. I said, you know, Brett, you don't realize what a legend you will be in this game if you win this game with these circumstances, coming in as a backup quarterback down seventeen you know, seventeen point hundred Bucks. You will be You will be a legend in this rivalry game for the rest of your life, no matter what happens. You walk in on this campus, you b BYU, in this cech that you will be
a legend. And so you know, yeah, you educate these kids, You educate the be out of state kids, because they should know a little bit more on what it means for this fan base, what it would mean for Utah to really start this season, I guess, or restart the season with a win against BYU, crushing their hopes to get to the playoffs, and vice versa. You know the b YU. This isn't they're really the last game, the big game, last game on their schedule to to possibly
get to the playoffs. I mean, this is this This has got to mean a lot to those guys in the locker room, and it does. But it's still in state kids educating them, and they really should because for a lot of those guys coming out of state, they don't know, they don't know this rivalry and it is. It is intense, and it's emotional, and it to me, it's one of the greatest rivalries in college football.
All Right, you're you're my guy.
So I'm not going to do the thing where I corner you into a pick because I don't want you to make people upset. But here's what we'll do, Steve, and we'll start with BYU. Okay, I'm going to pose the question and then I'll give you the space. By you beat Utah tomorrow night.
If what.
The what you beat Utah tomorrow is they score more than four touchdowns, that's simple. Huh, yeah, that's simple. I think if they if they put up twenty eight I I just don't know right now. And and that Utah's had a well they both have had bye weeks, but Utah's had you know, maybe a bye week to work on on the offense. But I just they've got to be able to put up more than twenty eight points. And that's going to be hard on on a J
Hill coach Anderson defense. But if Utah does it, you know they they've got a chance to win this game. But it's going to take I think four touchdown by doy you to win this.
Utah wins tomorrow night. If what.
Utah wins tomorrow night, if if they've got if they forced three turnovers that go their.
Way, you think they need three.
I think they need three.
I do.
I think I think they need I think they need three. I think. Let's put it this way. They have to have a positive. They have to have a positive too. They have to have a net to so you know, if you give it, they've got to have a net too, and and and turn the turnover margin if they get If they get that, I think you I think they win that. I think they win this game. But they've got it. They've got it. They've got to create turnovers. They do go a great turner alwers not defense.
No, I agree with that. I was gonna say, if it's plus three, that's tough. I think they can get plus two.
How's how's our guy?
Bo?
I know it's been a difficult season for Stanford.
How's how's our guy doing?
Hey, he's he's good. Thanks for asking. He's he's doing well. He's you know, red shirting, red shirting this freshman year, which I'm absolutely a big proponent of. You know, it's a man's game, and so he's he's he's up to two almost two twenty five and looking good, competing. You know, the two guys ahead of him are are are both graduating and and so he's going to have a great opportunity to be possibly a four year starter there, push
for a great time next year. So he's healed up and and and love and love and Stanford, and you know he's it's studying football. That's about it. That's that's all he does. But you know that's why he chose that place. And he's fortunately he's much smarter than I.
In I was gonna say, just so you know, let let your boy know that my brother in law is the Stanford grad and he's about to retire at forty five. So he's in a your boys where he.
Needs to be. Man, tell him to take advantage of it.
Yeah, absolutely, thanks, then appreciate.
It all right, all right man, good chot with you.
Steve Tate, former Utah safety I always appreciate Steve's time. He is on social he and his wife do a bunch of different things with their foundation.
You can find him at Tate twenty eight is where you get him.