Speaker 1: [00:00:12] Okay. To our viewers, I first off, I want to say that I wasn't running from the results of Texas versus Texas Tech. That isn't why I didn't post a post-game reaction. You know, just life happens. Things happen in life. So sometimes you just can't always get a video out day of. However, I will say that I was very much disappointed, a little bit distraught, not surprised in the sense that we were playing the backup quarterback. But the problem is I can't even blame the backup quarterback that's in guard actually played pretty well in that game. He did have an interception. Sure, but he did also. You know what? No, no, no. We're not doing that today, Kyle. We're not doing that today. Okay. Anyway, just just to insulin's on this recording. I just. [00:00:55][43.0]
Speaker 2: [00:00:56] It works every time. The whole like, the more the more Texas fans complain about it, the more people want to do it. And it's fantastic. [00:01:02][6.3] Speaker 1: [00:01:04] I'm hurt. You want to hurt me, Kyle? About what? This has turned into that. [00:01:07][3.6] Speaker 2: [00:01:08] I don't need to hurt you. The Texas Longhorns are doing that enough. [00:01:10][2.6] Speaker 1: [00:01:11] For other in podcasting. But. No, but no. You're right. You're right. In fairness, this team has done this to me. This team has hurt me. They have grabbed me by the heart and just ripped it out multiple times. I thought that the Kansas loss was the worst of it, but seeing all those Red Raiders fans storm the field and not pay a $50,000 fine for knocking over players, but that's neither here nor there. Seeing all of them storm the field, throw their tortillas and have fun at the expense of the Texas Longhorns. That did hurt me. On the bright side, we're on to West Virginia. We probably have Quinn Ewers coming back. Things are starting to look up. Is now all doom and gloom in Austin? We've got a home game coming up this weekend. We can look forward to that. The Mountaineers, they are coming off a win. They did beat the Virginia Tech Hokies. And I will say that that Virginia Tech team is not the team of Michael Vick anymore. They are a far cry from that. We're talking about a Virginia Tech team that I think has lost to Old Dominion twice in two years, am I not? [00:02:08][57.9] Speaker 2: [00:02:09] That is correct. [00:02:09][0.4] Speaker 1: [00:02:10] Yes. Yes. Okay. We're playing a team that beat that Virginia Tech version. So it's not their world beaters. West Virginia's two and two, they're not a great football program. Their program that the Longhorns did beat last year. In theory, they should be able to go into this one with similar expectations to win and right the ship, get back to three and two. I was expecting a speed bump. I just was hoping the win have come this suit in the season coming off of the Alabama game. But anyway, stop your thoughts. This game, last game where the Longhorns are. [00:02:41][31.5] Speaker 2: [00:02:42] First of all, is a very, very entertaining game. I will give Texas that. I had it on at work. It was actually quite entertaining, so I will give them that. But I think by transitive property, West Virginia, losing to Kansas means West Virginia is now the worst team in the Big 12. I think that's how you are. [00:02:58][16.9] Speaker 1: [00:02:59] Talking about those four in Ohio, Kansas Jayhawks. So Rock Shop. Yeah, right. [00:03:03][4.5] Speaker 2: [00:03:04] Yeah, you're absolutely correct. I'm just trying to figure out how the transitive property works here because West Virginia's really bad. And like, if Kansas beats Oklahoma one, please let that happen. And two, at like it's just going to be so weird and fluky. So I guess like West Virginia is bad and loss to Kansas. So therefore, I guess West Virginia is the worst team in the Big 12 at this point. And that was kind of my segway to just say that like if Texas loses this game, things will have fallen harder than I thought they would. But we talked about it last week and I'm going to save the same perspective I had from the pre season. Each game is a step up on the ladder for Texas, so beating Texas Tech would have meant you're the seventh best team and then beating potentially K-State would have been. [00:03:44][40.6] Speaker 1: [00:03:44] So we'll get you off just a little bit because in fairness, Texas Tech had it beat them since 2014. So there was that it's kind of a step down in the sense that you should not lost the game. You were up ten points in that game weight and of course your Heisman candidate running back fumbles Bijan right the ship ten point favorites going into this one home game starting quarterback I think coming back I believe when you or should be back I mean he was practicing all last week even in a limited capacity. I don't see why they wouldn't put him in this game to prepare him for the Oklahoma game. [00:04:20][35.9] Speaker 2: [00:04:21] Yes. And I will stick with the healthiest mindset for Texas is each game is a step and evaluation because after that's the measuring stick game. Right. I believe Oklahoma's the next game after West Virginia. [00:04:30][9.4] Speaker 1: [00:04:31] So even though Kansas State kind of threw a little bit of a wrench in that. [00:04:34][3.1] Speaker 2: [00:04:35] Yeah, but I assume Oklahoma will still be at least a touchdown favorite against Texas. [00:04:39][4.4] Speaker 1: [00:04:40] When you talk about PAC 12 stupidity, let's talk about sometimes Big 12 stupidity happens as well because Kansas State, they've kind of been a problem for the Oklahoma Sooners. That's one of those in conference matchups that Oklahoma is like. Why? Why do we always play down to this team? [00:04:55][15.1] Speaker 2: [00:04:55] Oh, yeah, yeah. Oklahoma, that's the reason they're going to the SEC is like, just fuck this. We're not playing Kansas State anymore. Why? Why are we subjecting ourselves in the four years since Bill Snyder has left? Which show that's been. Sir. Hall The shutdown forecast who makes a great case that Bill Snider is the greatest coach in the history of college football since Bill Snyder left, they've lost three of the four meetings against Kansas State. It's absolutely stupid how that keeps happening to Oklahoma. But I digress. Like Oklahoma will still be a favorite against Texas, probably at least a touchdown, and it will be a measuring stick game that Texas isn't expecting to win, although you called it a must win game early on in the season. But it's obviously a game that will be a measuring stick for for Texas. [00:05:38][42.7] Speaker 1: [00:05:39] Again, let me reiterate why Oklahoma is a must win game, because you should have won the game last year. And the only reason you didn't win the game last year is because Lincoln Riley made the smart decision and ended up benching Spencer Rattler in favor of Caleb Williams, who's on his way to potentially a Heisman at this base and with what he's doing with USC. So that was the main reason that I think coming into this year, instead of blowing a 20 point lead, you retain that 20 point lead or at least yet maintain a lead. And I think that's part of my worry about what I saw against Texas Tech, because I told you in the UTSA game, I didn't like how the defense came out a little bit lethargic, didn't have the same effort that they had the week before and then come into the weekend at Texas Tech. Where's the defense? Where is this defense? I saw a shut down Heisman Trophy winner, Bryce Young. Where is that defense? Because they've been MIA for the last couple of weeks. I need them to reevaluate things and put themselves back in that mindset that they were in week two. They were the underdogs and they had a little bit of a chip on their shoulder at the Maryland over showed he should be good to go this week he doesn't have to deal with that targeting call to suspend him for the first half of the Texas Tech game. So you have your entire defense ready to go, ready to rock your quarterback's back. No reason that you should be in any type of danger against West Virginia. JT Daniels, he's a pass. We've seen a bust at multiple different places now. I don't. I don't. [00:07:06][87.6] Speaker 2: [00:07:07] Know anybody. Yeah, yeah. Well, what's funny is that I remember when West Virginia Pit was unlike the Thursday of week one. That's when I learned JT Daniels was the West Virginia quarterback. I was like, God, he has fallen hard. He has fallen hard from being the five star at USC to supposed to be the starter on the national championship Georgia team to now being the starter for a West Virginia team. That is definitely not going to make a bowl game. It's a tough fall for him. [00:07:33][26.1] Speaker 1: [00:07:34] Let us know below in the comments. Which team will JT Daniels be transferring to next year? We'd like to hear your thoughts on that. We will like on the video subscribe to the channel follow us on social media is our juju top sports account Ledbetter 619. And you followed out all that stuff in the YouTube bio. Stay safe, happy and healthy and we'll see on the next one. She? [00:07:34][0.0] [431.5]
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Speaker 1: [00:00:12] So one of the bigger stories out of college football is another coach's fired, gone. He was on the hot seat for years and I think it was mostly because he built up such expectations for a program that really shouldn't have much expectations. Arizona State. Arizona State is open position right now on college football. Herm Edwards, former NFL head coach. Herm Edwards is gone. What were your thoughts on the decision to let Edwards go? Do you think it was the right call for them? [00:00:36][24.0]
Speaker 2: [00:00:37] Yeah, it was definitely the right call. There was a scenario they were going to terminate his contract with Coors back in 2002 or early 2022 because of an NCAA investigation into Herm Edwards, where during the COVID dead period of quarantines, he was inviting recruits to Arizona State. And basically, just like saying, to hell with the NCAA rules, and there wasn't going to be a decision on that until next year. So it wasn't like something that went on on any. [00:01:06][29.4] Speaker 1: [00:01:06] No, COVID doesn't exist in Phenix. [00:01:08][1.5] Speaker 2: [00:01:09] I guess so. It's just Herm Edwards had a bit of a like cowboy. I mean, first of all, the NCAA, no one should respect the NCAA rules. And at the same time, like, there are certain like rules that you got to at least know and not execute by that standard, because otherwise it's just total anarchy and that's okay and nil, but it's not okay with like breaking public health guidelines. But like so Herm Edwards might have been fired with cause in a year anyways, but based on onfield performance, Arizona State with that hanging over and it affecting transfer portal and recruiting it was it was time and then when you lose to eastern Michigan and they're flying the Mac flag all over the field, which someone pointed out that they bring that to every game in case the Mac wins, which means just in case someone brought it to Toledo versus Ohio State. But flying the Mac flag on Arizona State was kind of the ending point for Herm Edwards. [00:02:01][51.9] Speaker 1: [00:02:02] I mean, we talked about it in our Lakers breakdown that we thought the Lakers were finessing people with HD. I think, you know, Herm in his tenure in Arizona was him finessing the tire world to college football and making them think that the Sun Devils, we're going to become a respectable team in college football. It's eight and 585. A couple of years is a bad for Arizona State, right? I mean, okay, let's look at the history of Arizona State. So best finish ever. Undefeated season 1975 12 and a long time ago, 1975. I wasn't even a thought. That was 19 years before I even came to this planet. Okay. Yeah. [00:02:41][39.0] Speaker 2: [00:02:42] And by the way, just as a side note, they named the field after the coach of that team, just as a heads up, like I think he ended up going to coach the Baltimore Colts after that. But they named the field after the guy who coached that 12, another team. [00:02:53][11.4] Speaker 1: [00:02:54] But it's been a long time since they've been at that level. Right. Okay. Well, you come back. Okay, 20 years later, 1996, they're 11 and one PAC ten at that time, not PAC 12, PAC ten champions. They lose in a Rose Bowl. Good season 8.0 in conference you know OC 1996 at least I was two years old at that time. Jake Paul gets oh we're starting getting into existence right you have a couple of successful 1970 seasons before the 1975 season, recent history. So again in some recent history, 2014, 2013, a couple of ten, ten seasons mixed in their 2007, they have a ten win season, a couple of bowl wins, Sun Bowl, Peach Bowl. That's all good stuff, right? You know, but okay. So we're saying the peak the peak of them in the modern era is a ten win team. Okay, that would be respectable, but that would be something in return. Fell short by that standard eight and five is your best finish as a head coach and a program that has some latency potential to win ten games on any given year. That is a failure. And what we would consider to the constant merry go round of the PAC 12, right? We always joke about how the PAC 12 cannibalizes each other. There is an opportunity there, right? There is an opportunity for you if you are a successful head coach, because what do we consider a successful head coach in college football? Someone that is a great personality that can recruit? Shouldn't that be a guy that has NFL equity? Should that be a guy like Herm Edwards? You know, even you know, we remember even though this is an old press conference, we all remember you play to win the game. It's still something, you know, that we all remember Herm Edwards from. And if I'm recruit I still might know about that, even though that may have been before I was even born. We're talking about this new age of recruits that come in. And you still kind of know about Herm Edwards. [00:04:42][108.4] Speaker 2: [00:04:42] Also one of the Herm Edwards. One of Herm Edwards. Interesting strategies. And I really like this part of her. Edwards in his development as he went to TV, the thing he emphasized is, was never going to cussed at players and was never going to yell at players. He was never going to berate players. This was his like, we're going to change coaching because we are going to be in a working relationship with these. [00:05:04][21.4] Speaker 1: [00:05:04] That's kind of a dangerous, kind of dangerous environment. How that Arizona State man, I mean, come on, it's one of the top party colleges in the U.S. Someone has to hold those kids accountable. I don't know their candidate. I think. [00:05:15][10.6] Speaker 2: [00:05:15] His argument is that as a. [00:05:16][0.8] Speaker 1: [00:05:16] Kid. [00:05:16][0.0] Speaker 2: [00:05:17] Get his argument is there can be accountability without yelling at people and berating them and treating them like crap. And that it's. [00:05:23][6.0] Speaker 1: [00:05:23] It's a tough thing is sometimes you do need a yell. So I wonder if he kind of worked in a little bit of that. Let's be honest. If you're in a war room of an NFL locker room or a college locker room, sometimes you got to yell. Sometimes you have to be the loudest person in a room. I don't know. Did his players respect him? Do they enjoy their time at Arizona State? Were they giving him the true effort, the best effort they could, or was he just falling short on recruiting? [00:05:47][24.7] Speaker 2: [00:05:48] Here's the best way I can describe what Arizona State is, and this is all I know. Some people aren't listening to it like some people don't know college football that well. So let's throw a sport that some people may also not know. Baseball is the American League East. You have the Yankees, Boston, Tampa, Baltimore and Toronto in the PAC. 12 South U.S. is your is your Red Sox, UCLA is your Yankees, and then everyone else kind of. Colorado doesn't exist. Colorado's just terrible. But they're going to finish last place every year we just don't acknowledge Colorado but with. [00:06:22][34.1] Speaker 1: [00:06:23] My man Joel at. [00:06:24][1.0] Speaker 2: [00:06:25] Yeah. But have you seen Colorado this year? Have you seen Colorado the last decade? [00:06:29][3.8] Speaker 1: [00:06:30] Joel. Joel knows. Joel knows. But still, you know, the voice of college football and. Yeah. [00:06:35][5.0] Speaker 2: [00:06:35] And so basically the best way I can describe it is that the Arizona State Sun Devils should have the expectation of the Toronto Blue Jays, which is, you know what, you're under-resourced, you have money, but you don't have as much money as USC and UCLA. You can be able to compete with them every now and again. It might take years to build the program back up. You might rotate coaches. If your coach does well enough, he might leave to take another job. Or sometimes you hire assholes like Todd Graham, like that's sometimes the rotating panel. But you should be competitive every now and again. You can beat UCLA, you can beat you. I mean, UCLA's like the Yankees because they just misuse resources all over the place. But you should be able to compete with those guys, especially given how terrible the last. [00:07:19][43.9] Speaker 1: [00:07:20] Time, right? Okay. Yeah, because the last five years. Right. Though Herms tenure in the PAC 12, there has been a dominant school. I mean, you know, Oregon. Sure. But Oregon still, we talked about the lack of a PAC 12 team in the college football playoffs that kind of tells you there has been a dominant school. So there's an opportunity for you if you're doing your job as a head coach to jump up the rankings. Jump up the rankings. Just at least one season there have won ten one season. If Herm had won ten win season, they might he might still be there. You know, it might be something that he kind of cling to. He could say, okay, I'm sending guys to the NFL. I have Brandon, are you Guy a RINO? Benjamin I had to kill Harry. I know Nicole had returned to her bus, but you're still sending guys to the NFL. You know, first round pick. That's something that help hook them horns. We have we didn't do that last year. You know, Herm sending guys to the NFL draft. See, that's another thing that you got radar on his head coach, right? It's not just wins. Are you sending guys to the NFL? How are your star ratings? Are you like, you know, those are all things that are kind of like baked into like being a successful coach in college football and. Herm I think maybe in the recruiting, I think obviously the winning part just fell short. And I think for Arizona State, how patient should you be? It is five years is fine, right? Five years. [00:08:35][75.3] Speaker 2: [00:08:35] This season. Yeah. If five years and you're headed for a cliff in year five because Utah was going to be better than them. USC all of a sudden. Good. Now, of course, because USC decided to just start spending Boston Red Sox money again and basically just copy and paste Oklahoma. Obviously, UCLA is better now. They're not great, but they're better and Arizona is still bad. But, you know, Arizona might beat Arizona State this year because Arizona State was headed for a nosedive this year in year five. So that's the reason he got fired, was not just like you had to. I think they finished second in the PAC 12 South twice in four years. But this year they were going to finish either fourth or fifth, so they were headed for the nosedive at the end of whatever the peak of Herm Edwards was. And so they're going to hire whoever the next coaches again. Jamey Chadwell always available. Go get them. Coastal Carolina, Ronnie Sandusky. [00:09:26][50.6] Speaker 1: [00:09:27] BYU. Come on. I mean, he's done a good job of there, right? [00:09:30][2.8] Speaker 2: [00:09:31] He's done a great job. It's just that BYU is also headed to the Big 12 and it might be might be a difficult conversation to pry him away. I mean, if you want to go for it, go for it. Like, I'm not going to say people shouldn't hire Deion Sanders. You should absolutely give Deion Sanders interviews. I'm not saying you shouldn't absolutely bring in Deion Sanders. [00:09:50][19.2] Speaker 1: [00:09:50] Now, obviously, I don't think the term is anywhere close to Deion Sanders in terms of name recognition, but I think that was kind of the hope when he hired her. Right. He's a name he should be able to get on TV. Yeah, he should be able to attract people just because he's a name. You know, that's why the argument, you know, and obviously his name besmirch nowadays. But that's what the reason people said even Jon Gruden would have been a successful college coach because guy on TV right. And you know that sometimes that just helps. You know you get your foot in the door, you get there in front of mom, dad, the player, you talk to them, you could sell them on your program. And they're like, Hey, there was that guy I saw Monday Night Football. Sometimes that's enough. And I guess, you know, Arm didn't really take advantage of that opportunity, you know? So now it opens the door for some next coach to step in. And I don't know what the expectation is going to be because expectation at Arizona State, I know that they were good in 1975. They're never going to have that again. That that's not going to be something that we're going to see from Arizona State again. I think that they're best case scenario, like you said, is just to be kind of like good but never great. And I think that's fine for the Sun Devils. [00:10:50][59.7] Speaker 2: [00:10:51] Yeah, the game is changing now, though, because USC and UCLA are leaving. So now the PAC 12, they're in that group, which is the shell of the PAC 12 and whatever PAC 12, Big 12 Alliance might happen. We don't know what's going to happen there. But like Arizona State's kind of just in the shell of whatever's left of the PAC 12. And so that'll make it easier to compete because they don't have to. Imagine if, like the Yankees traded places with like the Miami Marlins in the baseball divisions and all of a sudden the whole construct of the elites changes. But I think that it's going to be fine for Arizona State and Auburn's going to fire their coach. Nebraska's job is is already open like those are better jobs than Arizona State. It's just that Arizona State's going to pick from whatever the next group is. And maybe it's Jamey Chadwell, maybe it's an assistant coach at Alabama, maybe it's a assistant coach even at somewhere like Baylor, like what Texas Tech did last year. Like maybe it's a job like that. Maybe it's one of those Mountain West coaches, although I think most of the Good Mountain West coaches have already been taken, like Fresno State's coach just went to Washington. So there's not not a lot of great options available there. But like it, higher. [00:11:58][66.8] Speaker 1: [00:11:58] School is going to get here. He's available here. He's taking calls. [00:12:01][2.8] Speaker 2: [00:12:02] You know who they should hire is Matt Rhule. They should hire Matt Rhule as their coach. [00:12:05][3.3] Speaker 1: [00:12:06] All these. Great. Okay, you know what? With it, he's not make it to this year North Carolina. I know I was high on the Panthers early on, but that's I changed my tune a little bit after seeing them play football games. Matt Real I think he's going to be on the coaching hotseat moving forward in eight straight losses, but be available pretty soon to start filling those calls. He might be able to take him in pretty soon here. If you're Arizona State, like it. He's obviously rebuilt college programs before. You're the Sun Devils. I think that's the answer. You have to go. I think he could get you ten wins. But anyway, guys, I think wait in the comment section, who do you think should be the next head coach of the Arizona State Sun Devils? Do you think they gave her a fair shot? Are you surprised by the decision? Anything and all things Sun Devils, tropical. In the comment section we were like on this video, subscribe to the channel. Follow us on social media at Juju Talk Sports by Kyle Ledbetter and his various social media platforms. We have all below in the YouTube bio. Stay safe, happy and healthy. We'll see our next one. She? [00:12:06][0.0] [697.5] Julian Martinez: [00:00:12] Well, it's time to talk about my 22nd ranked Longhorns. Surprisingly dropped this week despite a win. It was a win against UTSA. The Roadrunners meet me by their gon got blown out by 21 so that felt good but didn't feel good with that first half though, a little bit of lethargic start by the Longhorns. I wasn't pressed terribly by their defense. They are currently going to be six and a half point favorites on the road going to Lubbock, tortillas flying everywhere, I'm sure. I'm excited for this one, but also because you have to think they turned it right on me. Mean a game like the UTSA game as slow as they started, I was impressed by them because a team like that is usually those trap games, those letdown games that the Longhorns have been snake bitten by before and they didn't let it happen. Against a while, coach Jeff Frazier led Roadrunners team, Texas Tech, Texas. What do you think? [00:01:00][48.1]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:01:01] Well, at the start of the season, remember when we did our our preseason preview of the Longhorns, where we talked about how last year they finished eighth in the Big 12. And in order to climb up the rankings, they would have to beat all the seven teams that were ahead of them because they'll beat the shit out of Kansas, they'll beat the shit out of West Virginia. Those teams aren't any good. [00:01:18][17.3] Julian Martinez: [00:01:19] But this is pump the brakes. They're just Kansas's starting three, you know, just throw it out there. Okay, listen, listen. I don't want to put that evil on myself either. But, you know, all due respect, Lance Leopold's doing something up there. [00:01:32][12.3] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:01:32] He's doing something. I still think they're only better than West Virginia in the Big 12. That's my my thoughts. I could be incorrect, but I believe in Kansas. [00:01:40][7.7] Julian Martinez: [00:01:40] I they we're all be better than my alma mater, New Mexico State, as of a few years ago. So that kind of tells you how much of an improvement they have had. But again, you are correct. Texas, Texas, that's where our focus is. [00:01:53][13.0] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:01:55] Texas Tech. I would regard as the eighth best team in the Big 12. Therefore, this is the beginning of the climb for Texas. Back to the rankings of the Big 12, if you want to think of it this way, a win this week is the jump from eighth to seventh, and then the win next week is seven to sixth. Little by little, this is how Texas continues their climb to relevancy. And of course, we expect Texas to win this game. Of course, we expect Texas to beat Kansas State. We probably expect Texas to be Iowa State, even though Iowa State is three and zero and going to make the bowl game and be pretty good this year like we expect them to win these games. Everything on paper says they're better. The game against Alabama says that the program's ahead of schedule. Of course that's the case. It's just now that little by little they're going to have to happen and avoid the disappointments that sometimes happen to programs. It doesn't usually happen in the programs like Texas when we're talking about the resource advantage that they have against schools like Texas Tech. So they should win this game in year two. It's a game that usually when Texas loses to Texas Tech, someone's getting fired. It doesn't have to be the head coach, but someone's getting fired within the athletic department. So Texas expects to win. They should win. But this is like if they win this week, they're now seventh in the Big 12 and then next week they'll be sixth and then fifth. And then they'll get to the Oklahoma game and it'll be another measuring stick. Okay. [00:03:12][77.9] Julian Martinez: [00:03:13] Okay. I see where you're measuring this is you're looking at it almost like a Mortal Kombat combat tower where you're just kind of working your way up. You're beating everyone up until you get to Shao Kahn. Okay. I respect that. I respect what you're saying here. When I look at this matchup, I think the bigger story for the Longhorns going into this game is going to be the health of their quarterback. Yes. DeMarvion Overshown him not being on the defense. That hurts. But Ewers not being in there. You can kind of tell they played it more conservative against UTSA. They took a couple shots with Hudson Guard, but he couldn't connect, mostly because Hudson cards just not as talented as yours. And I appreciate any backup quarterback that could go in, give a confident effort against the Alabama defense and Nick Saban led defense. But the UTSA game, I don't think the Hudson card was doing anything that really made the Longhorns better, probably made them worse, to be honest. So one thing that took away from Sark on Monday practice, they all practice today, which is positive. Talking about his quarterback room, they didn't all practice last week. If you listen to the broadcast, they were talking about Glenn Ewers and also saying that he was seeing the ball around. He looked like he was ready to go. So what I think is going to happen, I don't think he's going to play this week. I think the Longhorns are going to quite conservatively say, I think we could beat Texas Tech on the road with Hudson Card. I think we can do that. Maybe they do a slow ramp up and have Ewers out there against West Virginia because you're really getting ready for the Oklahoma game that's around the corner for you. That's what your season is going to be made or broken on. As much as you know, you don't want to lose these games because those will feel awful. If you beat Oklahoma, you had that almost game against Alabama. You may finish the season with eight wins. You're feeling pretty good about how the season went overall. I mentioned it in the preseason, I think you beat Oklahoma. That's the win that Sark needs on his resume. So I don't think that you should rescuers being out there against Texas Tech because you should be able to beat Texas Tech without. Donovan Smith. So the quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders, he has the 110th quarterback rating in the nation. That kind of tells you the level of quarterback play. You're going to see the defense if they could play the second half defense that they had against UTSA as opposed to the first half effort that wasn't really there. If they could play the effort that they had against Alabama, they should be able to smother Smith. They should be able to smother this Red Raiders offense even without overselling. So I like their ability to do that. They have some guys on the defensive line that I think can really like overpower that offensive line and just make it difficult for the Red Raiders all around. I'd like them to win this game six and a half point spread. I understand it just because when you're again, talk about a backup quarterback, you're talking about these shootout games because I think the Red Raiders might be able to just get into a shootout. That's that's always within the range of possibilities. Backdoor covers, I think, always are within the range of possibilities in these big 12 games. I'm just hoping that the Longhorns bring that same level of defense and car just to kind of get them by for another week. That's that's why I'm hoping for. [00:06:08][174.9] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:06:08] The spread reflects that right. Like even without your defensive captain in your five star quarterback and your running back playing, but playing with like 80% or 85% or whatever Bijan Robinson's at right now, even with that, they're still a seven point favorite. And part of that is Texas Tech actually doesn't have a great offense this year. And the fact that I bet you you and I both can't name the head coach at Texas Tech if we were given infinite guesses at this point. I know he comes from Baylor. I know he comes from Baylor, but I don't know his name. I think it starts with an S. I could be wrong about that. But anyways, like Texas Tech is a team they should beat. I obviously I'm not invested in the rivalry and like the Red River and the rah rah of Texas like you are in Austin. So like the way I look at it is they were going to lose to Alabama. Now, obviously, they almost beat Alabama and it was shocking. But like going into the year, I assumed they were going to lose to Alabama and there would be three games that would be underdogs in this year Oklahoma, Baylor and Oklahoma State. And if you won one of those games and avoided any embarrassing losses, it would be a huge success for Texas. So like, yes, Oklahoma is the game that would define the season, perhaps because it's the rivalry. I look at it as like if they win one of the games against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor and like don't lose at home to West Virginia, then this will be a successful season for Texas and like something you could build on and perhaps in your last year in the Big 12, go on to potentially finish second place in the conference or maybe win the Big 12 title or whatever you want to set the expectation at four years down the road. But yeah, Texas Tech should be a game. They win and let's not get it wrong. Steve Sarkisian offense is simple. Like I remember I was watching the playoff game for Bama two years ago and basically called the plays that Sark ran for the first seven plays in my living room. But like they will run the simple offensive Hudson card, they will probably win the game. And if they don't or if they play close, we can evaluate like how we got to that point. Were there turnovers? You kind of humbles. [00:08:07][118.4] Julian Martinez: [00:08:07] Whatever would happen a pass and any loss you have with Hudson Card as the quarterback, I think. [00:08:11][3.5] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:08:11] Okay, but if they go to a game, then. [00:08:13][2.1] Julian Martinez: [00:08:14] It's a feel good pass. Yeah. No, no. Well, that's, you know, banking on Ewers missing significant time this season, I would say. Yeah, that's one thing. But looking. [00:08:22][8.4] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:08:22] At their. [00:08:22][0.1] Julian Martinez: [00:08:23] Cap and for that. [00:08:23][0.5] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:08:24] You look at their full schedule breakdown, it's like they have a Mortal Kombat ladder game and then a measuring stick game. So it's like, I mean, they're going to beat West Virginia at home, they're going to destroy West Virginia, but like Texas Tech, then Oklahoma, then Iowa State, then Oklahoma State, then Kansas State, then Baylor. It's like they get one game to move up the ladder and then one game to kind of measure where they stand against the three programs that Texas hopes to one day reach with Steve Sarkisian, even though they were already there with Tom Herman, but they just didn't like Tom Herman. So they just tore it down and started all over again. [00:08:58][34.1] Julian Martinez: [00:08:58] Yep. Hopefully like Sark. More just to read off Joey Maguire, because Joey Maguire is the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. His head coaching resume or his coaching resume, he was a high school football coach from 1995 all the way up until 2016. Cedar Hill is where he coached. Then he became the Baylor tight end coach, 2017, 2018, and he was there all the way up until 2021 when he took the head coaching job at Texas Tech. Joe Maguire Let's not get Jerry Maguire. Don't show me the money. Come, let's win this game three and one on the road. All right. From Juju, from Kyle. Stay safe, happy and healthy. You like the channels, subscribe, comment, all that stuff. And we will see you next time. [00:08:58][0.0] [518.3] Julian Martinez: [00:00:12] This is not going to be easy. Segment record as the Longhorns are currently 20 and a half point underdogs against the Alabama Crimson Tide. And yes, we're still previewing this. Yes, we're still giving predictions. And yes, we'll have to fight through grit my teeth as I'm sitting across or around or in the vicinity of Longhorns haters Kyle Ledbetter and James. Really hard name to pronounce that. I won't even try that. Anyway, guys, Longhorns welcome in the Crimson Tide. Alabama just had a 55 point victory against Utah State. The Longhorns had a good opening game, for what it's worth, against Yukon. Neither one of these two teams were really tested in week one. Alabama, you already know what you're getting. Your game state, Nick, you're getting Bryce Young, you're getting Wil Anderson, you're getting five star players up and down the defense and offense. This is going to be the game that Steve Sarkisian wanted. James, what's your early read on this game? [00:01:05][52.5]
James Puopolo: [00:01:05] It's not good for you. I'll tell you the gun. And I know that goes with what everybody else is saying. I get that Sark is going to put this high powered offense out there. But man top to bottom, this Bama squad is just different. Like I can see this squad being a straight undefeated run. I have that much faith and just will Anderson alone what Bryce Young is doing to on the other side, it's just disgusting. It's disturbing. Maybe not with the same level of receiver firepower they've had in recent years, but it's still a really good squad spoiler. [00:01:36][31.1] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:01:38] First of all, I'd like to point out that the branding of Longhorns hater is just someone who shows the slightest bit of antagonistic zeal towards their team because it's easy to pick on the Longhorns when Texas does it to themselves, though these teams that have high expectations but the performance doesn't meet it kind of like Chicago Bears fans, where it's really easy to kind of like poke them a little bit. But you're at least a better Texas Longhorn fan than most that I have encountered, I would say. So in terms of the game itself, like we talked about last week with Oregon and Georgia and like we talked about with Ohio State, Notre Dame, although Notre Dame did hold their own for about three quarters, changing the measuring stick is the most important for this one. This is not about whether Texas is going to pull off the upset and beat Alabama. There's like a 1% chance that that's going to happen under any circumstance. So what this is for Texas is what does it what does the first two quarters look like? What does your first drive of the game look like? What happens say, if you go up three to nothing, what does your defense look like? The little things like that will be ways to evaluate, not necessarily the state of the program itself, but just how this thing is coming along, how this team reacts. They know they're going into this game set up to lose, and that's totally okay. Obviously, they're not thinking that in their head, but just changing the measuring stick will make it a more enjoyable experience because otherwise it's just going to be a frustrating cycle of recognizing that you are not Bama and you will never be Bama because no one in the history of college football has, and quite possibly never again will be what Alabama has been over the last decade. [00:03:10][92.1] Julian Martinez: [00:03:11] How good is going yours going to be and how good is he really? Obviously, he started off last week with an opening drive pick. That is something that you just can't afford against this Alabama team. You can't have mistakes. They're going to force you into mistakes as is. Just don't give them any freebies for or this is only his second start in two years. So I expect this to be a struggle. This is going to be a hard time again. You have Will, Anderson. Yeah. That defensive line coming at you, they're just going to make it a difficult day outside of Xavier Worthy. I'm not really sure who's going to be that wide receiver that really steps up for the Longhorns. And I'd love to see Brian Robinson really control the clock and make this a difficult game for them in terms of time possession. But unfortunately, Alabama even has run stoppers, so you can't even establish a good running game against them. Ewers is going to be running for his life. James If there was any chance of an upset, how would the Longhorns have to do it? [00:04:03][52.9] James Puopolo: [00:04:04] Man, I think the only thing you can really do is just pray that Bijan can capitalize on the offense and any slight mistake you can get out of Bama you can then capitalize on. Otherwise, I don't think there's much of a case to be had. I don't I don't see it defensively for Texas. I just think Bryce is going to come in and steamroll. [00:04:23][19.0] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:04:23] From the Alabama side. I would want to see how many turnovers they have because if you're looking for like a formula for how do you beat Alabama? Historically, the best Alabama teams have been beaten in those games like last year against Auburn, where Bryce Young throws like four interceptions in the game or three interceptions and Alabama does it to themselves. It's not a game where you win a shootout, except for that one weird time that Ole Miss went into Alabama and scored 40 points on them. But other than that, it's basically Alabama only scores 17 points and you find a way to win it at the end. Because I think the Alabama defense, if you take out the Georgia championship game in the regular season, like once in the last two years, they've allowed more than 20 points in a game. So. The way to win is with defense. And obviously, I don't know a ton about the Texas defense going into this game. I know that they have this prolific offense and five stars up and down, at least at wide receiver and running back and quarterback. And and they have a couple of good offensive linemen who might be NFL guys. So defensively, I think the hope is that they can force turnovers and Alabama makes the mistakes that at least give them an opportunity to cover because it's going to take like three or four or five weird Alabama mistakes to actually swing the tide of the game. That's just a byproduct of being a three touchdown underdog and deserving to be a three touchdown underdog. [00:05:42][78.8] Julian Martinez: [00:05:43] Okay, so we've all kind of like said that this is just going to be an insurmountable mountain for the Longhorns. But do they cover? [00:05:51][7.4] James Puopolo: [00:05:52] I'm going to say no. I'm going to say no. And then I'm going to say UTSA and next week, too. [00:05:56][4.2] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:05:59] That would be fantastic in terms of whether they'll cover, you know, what maybe. [00:06:04][5.2] Julian Martinez: [00:06:05] Or something along those lines. [00:06:07][1.6] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:06:08] Maybe they will. [00:06:08][0.5] Julian Martinez: [00:06:10] Some stats I'll just throw in here towards the ends. Obviously it's about containing Bryce Young, the Heisman candidate, and against top 50 defenses. Last year, Bryce Young was averaging over 300 yards a game against top 25 teams. In general, he has 157 passer rating, so there's just not a lot to really love. But one thing I will want to watch from this this week in terms of knowing what this team is going to be like. You mentioned you don't really know much about the defense. And I think that that's a sentiment echoed by everyone who watches and covers the Longhorns. It's because you are and you had no idea whether or not that was actually defensive improvement or it was just playing a really bad team playing Bama. That's going to show you exactly where your defense is. Again, you know what the offense is going to give you because you have Quinn, you have Xavier, and then you have Bijan. So those are three talented pieces right there. Knowing what you have from the defense that was low effort, had no intensity last year is what Texas Longhorns fans want. I'm going to keep an eye on that. James, having thrown the UTSA thing there at the end, just how dare you? How dare you? [00:07:16][66.2] James Puopolo: [00:07:17] I've seen multiple paths. I saw people like talking about it. It would be like it would be hilarious if they beat Bama. Like, Yeah, let's go then UTSA teams in the next week. Because it wouldn't. [00:07:26][8.6] Julian Martinez: [00:07:26] Be unnatural with the pattern we saw last year where they were fooling themselves after the home game and then Arkansas punches them in the mouth and then they just go on a tailspin. [00:07:35][8.8] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:07:36] So that tailspin that involved losing to Kansas, who hadn't won a PAC 12 road game since 2008. You mean that tailspin? [00:07:42][6.4] Julian Martinez: [00:07:44] Well, I would find it hard for them to win a PAC 12. [00:07:46][2.5] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:07:47] Big 12 big game. But they'll all be give it two years, they'll all be the same conference. [00:07:51][4.1] Julian Martinez: [00:07:52] That might be the case. That might very well be the case. [00:07:54][2.2] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:07:55] Yeah. For Texas's standpoint, we talked about this last week, Texas getting eight wins would be a successful season. It doesn't matter how you get the eight wins, just get the eight wins. And you can at least convince yourself that this is a building point and not two years from now, Stark is going to get fired and you'll still be broke and trying to pay three different coaches buyouts. [00:08:15][19.6] Julian Martinez: [00:08:16] Get this window and you could change the expectations forever undefeated going to the national championship win Texas back. Let's get it right now. [00:08:25][8.9] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:08:26] 1% chance. [00:08:27][0.7] Julian Martinez: [00:08:28] 1% chance. I'll take it. All right, guys, you probably notice the segment's a little different. Not just Kyle and I, but we also joined by guest James. James from Bota. James, we need you to drop all the obligatory plugs. That way, people know where to find you. [00:08:42][14.2] James Puopolo: [00:08:42] Hey. Well, thank you for having me. You can find us everywhere at Bota sports. Bota, Instagram, Tik Tok is the biggest one. There's also a Twitter, but it's really not worth them. 500% honest about it. Yeah, you can find all of our stuff everywhere just by searching about sports. [00:08:57][15.3] Julian Martinez: [00:08:58] Okay, guys, find that below in the bio we will like on this video. Subscribe to the channel from juju talk sports and Kyle Ledbetter. Stay safe, happy and healthy. We'll see you on the next one [00:08:58][0.0] [502.9] Julian Martinez: [00:00:12] Okay. So it was an exciting off season here in Austin, and that's good considering the 2021 season was miserable. Five and seven losses to Kansas come from behind losses to Oklahoma. Oklahoma State, just a pretty miserable first year experience for Steve Sarkisian. But then we started to see some early recruiting results or early recruiting successes for the program under Sark, Quinn, Ewers being the first big find for him as being a five star quarterback or a highly touted quarterback like you or should the transfer portal absolute victory. And considering how shoddy the quarterback situation was last year under Hudson Card and Casey Thompson, the Longhorns just getting better at that position could really, of course, change the prospects. And even though it it doesn't apply to the 2022 season, the 2023 recruiting grab of Arch Manning is obviously got a lot of people buzzing about the future of this program, but we're going to be focusing on the 2022 season in this preview. And Vegas really loves the Longhorns this year, at least loves the Longhorns to do some damage within the Big 12 as they are currently still in the Big 12. Haven't yet quite make that move to the SCC starting off. They've got LOUISIANA-MONROE coming in to Austin. That's going to be their opening game this weekend. And then the big test with Alabama in week two facing the number one school, not looking forward to that as it currently stands. They are a two touchdown underdog. What is your expectation for Sark? Kyle Obviously you're not as tied to this program as I am, so the expectations are a little bit different. [00:01:48][95.4]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:01:49] So last year I kind of did like a macro level perspective on Texas, where I was saying any program that is replacing their coach and they didn't do it like midseason, like USC did, like USC went through the four and eight season by firing Helton at the start of the year. But like last year was Texas down year, first year with Sark and I give a free pass to any coach in their first year. Like you're going to bottom out, you're going to have to find players within the margins because your team is behind. On recruiting for the year Recruits can commit and transfer without penalty now, which is something that they always should have been able to do. But people got trapped in these cycles of coaches being fired for years. So any time you're going through a first year, you should get a pass. Even when you lose to Kansas, even when you lose to Iowa State, even when you lose to West Virginia, even when you lose to they lost eight games. They basically lost to everyone in the Big 12 last year. So. [00:02:46][56.5] Julian Martinez: [00:02:46] Well, you know, my expectation is I always thought that we'd get to a bowl game, at least be six and six. [00:02:52][5.4] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:02:53] Yeah, no, I agree. Oh, I agree. It was a colossal disappointment. But you also get a pass. Like no matter what happened, they could have gone, oh, in 12 and I would have at least given them a pass, because when you're in the first year of a new program, you're going to inevitably go through some of those struggles. So this year for Texas, going from like eighth to like fourth in the Big 12 is something that should be realistic for any program with the amount of money that's being poured into the team. Obviously we know Bijan Robinson is going to be either a day one or second round pick in the draft. They have that wide receiver who I don't know his name but is incredibly good. [00:03:30][37.5] Julian Martinez: [00:03:31] Xavier Worthy, absolute stud, absolute beast. [00:03:33][2.5] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:03:34] Yeah. And they have Quinn Ewers who there's no guarantee that Quinn yours is going to be great. Remember last year we were talking about DJ or Jungle Play, about him being the Heisman favorite and that didn't work out. So just because you're a five star doesn't guarantee you're going to be a stud. And at the same time, he's going to be better than anything Texas has had since Ehlinger. He might even be better than Sam Ehlinger just based on, you know, his prospects as a quarterback. So Texas being fourth in the Big 12 would be a successful season this year, which if I'm doing that in my head, it would be obviously they'll lose to Bama. Like that's not even without question, no means no. [00:04:10][35.3] Julian Martinez: [00:04:10] I think the hope there for most Texas fans is we don't expect you to beat Bama, but don't look incompetent playing Bama at least show that you've progressed this season. [00:04:21][10.7] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:04:22] It's a measuring stick game. Like most teams that play Bama, Ohio State or George, I mean, we've talked about Notre Dame and Oregon playing Bama. We could talk about Texas as well in that respect that it's a measuring stick game and you're going to lose it, but it's not going to be a disappointment. People will see it and recognize that it's not that bad of a loss. [00:04:39][17.5] Julian Martinez: [00:04:40] It's an easy game for Steve Sarkisian in that locker room in the sense that no one is rooting for you. You got the weight of the world against. Yeah. So if you need a game to rally the troops, that Alabama game has been pretty much the game you've been planning on all year now. I think the danger in that is you don't want to look completely past louisiana-monroe. You still want your team to be focused on your week one game because if you start on one against Louisiana-Monroe and suddenly you're going into an own to start to the season after last year's disappointment, that's bad, but no. [00:05:14][34.2] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:05:14] Yeah, of course. [00:05:15][0.6] Julian Martinez: [00:05:15] But with the expectation and hopes that they win that game. Yes, I understand it's only human that most of your focus is going to be on this Alabama game because that's going to be the big headliner. I mean, everyone in their mother is going to be tuned in to that game. [00:05:28][13.0] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:05:30] Well, at least in the Texas community for sure. I think that there might be great games around that, too, but it'll be a nationally televised game, no question. [00:05:37][7.6] Julian Martinez: [00:05:37] And that's the thing. That's what I'm saying is it's going to be there whether you love it. And one thing I've learned through having this YouTube channel is that people love to see the Longhorns lose. So if you hate the Longhorns, you're tuning in. If you love the Longhorns, you're tuning in. So so that that's kind of the power still in the Longhorns program, I would say. [00:05:58][20.8] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:05:59] Yeah, for sure. And going beyond the Alabama game. So they probably will not be better. I'm just thinking off the top of my head, Oklahoma, they will not be better than Oklahoma. They won't be better than Oklahoma State and they won't be better than Baylor this year. Everyone else I think they should expect to beat and I think the goal should be don't have any embarrassing losses. But if you do have one or two missteps, be to Baylor. I think they play Baylor at home this year, beat Oklahoma State, maybe pull off the upset in Red River, but just like win one of those games, if you're going to have an embarrassing loss along the way, I think like six and three is something you should expect this year in conference play. [00:06:37][38.3] Julian Martinez: [00:06:37] See, I think that's part of why people are so pissed off last year and certainly were pissed off during the previous administration is that you were in these tight window games against Oklahoma. So. Beating rivalries is obviously a big deal in college football. So beating the rival in Oklahoma is certainly. Talk about measuring stick. That's where a lot of people are going to put a lot of how successful was your season the Julie's beat one rival. And considering they came up short against Oklahoma and they came up short against Oklahoma State in that game, though, those were games in which people looked at Syracuse like, What the hell are you doing? How how are you not at least winning these ones, especially because they had the lead? The worst thing that happened for Texas in that game is that Spencer Rattler got benched and Caleb Williams came in and took over Oklahoma. Though they're a program that's going to be dealing with a lot of turnover. You're going from Lincoln, Riley to Venables. So that's a seismic shift in terms of philosophy. So if you're Sark and you have the continuity on your team, on your roster, you kind of have to take advantage. So I think that late in the year. So right now, as it stands, Oklahoma's the ninth ranked team in the country. Texas is unranked. That's another game that I have to mark on the calendar, I think almost this year. I know it's lofty, but I got to say that I feel like that's a must win game for them this year because you kind of want to start giving people hope. [00:07:57][80.1] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:07:58] I get that. Yeah, I get the the idea of wanting to build hope. And like I said, just off the top of my head, I'm guessing Oklahoma's a top ten team. Like you said in the preseason, Baylor is a preseason top ten, although I don't think Baylor is as good as projections say, and Oklahoma State is ranked 12 to start the year. So those are teams that. [00:08:17][18.5] Julian Martinez: [00:08:17] But Oklahoma indication number two or worse and they lost their coach so take advantage this is where this is a team that you almost have to beat this year because you had an excellent off season. You really did. I mean, Ewers, I know what you're saying. He's not a guarantee. No one's a guarantee. Only guarantee is death and taxes. Right? The way the game is going, the way college football is going. And in a way, it's always been this game where you need high level quarterback play. But certainly in college football, there hasn't been many national champions or aside from Bennett with Georgia that have won on the backs of not having a great quarterback or an NFL worthy quarterback. Ewers The expectation when you have that star rating coming out like he did coming out of high school like he did is he will push his college stock to the next level or push the Longhorns quarterback stock to the next level of where it's been. Because you talk about a guy like Ehlinger Alliger, maybe a backup quarterback for a long time in the NFL and that's a win. You know, that's not a bad thing. I mean, you're one of the top 50, top 60 best quarterbacks in the world if you're in the NFL, even as a backup Colt McCoy obviously still in the league. And that's fine that the Longhorns have been able to have successful backup quarterbacks in the league. [00:09:34][76.9] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:09:35] Colt McCoy was one of the great college quarterbacks of all time. This is just back when college quarterbacks didn't translate well to the NFL. Okay. [00:09:41][5.9] Julian Martinez: [00:09:41] Okay, I hear what you say. But my point is, Texas has done a great job of pumping out NFL backups over this last decade and a half. And Vince Young tail end of his career was also a great backup quarterback. You would say you want to see this program start to ascend to the point where they're pumping out NFL starters. Hell, you want them to start pumping out NFL players at all. Last year was a horrible year and a horrible indictment. When you consider, yes, you had zero players drafted and your highlight of the entire NFL draft was that after the draft, the undrafted kicker kicked. DICKER The kicker was picked up by the Rams that that's the best that this program has had. But you look, you mentioned Bijan Robinson, a guy who's coming out and is a highly touted prospect. I haven't personally is a day to pick, but there have been the arguments made for maybe a day. One, if he has a Heisman level season and a year is a competent quarterback and Xavier worthy is he is a stud I know it Xavier Worthy because he was making plays out there with Hudson Card. And again, Casey Thompson, his quarterback, they improved their offensive line. So their offense, I'm very, very confident in that unit this year. I actually would have to say I think I'm fairly confident in their offensive unit. The big problem for them last year, that defense got it. Make a tackle, stop someone, wrap someone up. So I'm hoping that that shifts because you're not going to be able to compete with Alabama if you're afraid to tackle somewhat. [00:11:08][86.3] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:11:08] No, let's actually. [00:11:09][0.6] Julian Martinez: [00:11:10] Yeah, yeah. Okay. You want to go game by game here? [00:11:12][2.0] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:11:12] I don't want to go game by game right now. But I do want to do focus on something that you said you so you said Bijan Robinson being a Heisman Trophy running back and Quinn Ewers being a very capable starting quarterback and they have a strong wide receiver. I don't know that much about their defense, but I'm sure it's like, okay, I guess, and if that's the case, that basically means that they are 2021 Michigan State and 2021 Michigan State went 11 and two with Kenneth Walker almost winning the Heisman Trophy and won. I think it was like the Peach Bowl or something like that. But it was a new year, six bowl game like. They made it to a near six ball game. So like, if that's the case, that's a program builder for Texas where it's like if you have the if you're a Longhorns fan and you have the expectation of Tom Herman, beat Oklahoma, won the Sugar Bowl, and we fired him anyways. So if the expectation is above that, then yes, you you should expect or hope for an 11 wins. [00:12:08][56.1] Julian Martinez: [00:12:09] You want my realistic expectation? Eight wins. If you told me they got eight wins this year, I'm happy I can walk away with the season saying it was a successful season. Of course I want one of those wins to be Oklahoma. I will add that caveat. I do think that if you have eight wins, but that one win is Oklahoma, that completely changes the complexion of your season. And certainly if you get a bowl victory as well, then obviously we're looking at this program very differently and how how successful their season was. Vegas has you as winners in most of your games, and I think that that's something that should be noted. So going through the schedule. So you should start want to know, right? But you also have. [00:12:49][39.9] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:12:49] You out on the road. Yeah, that's a win. [00:12:50][1.2] Julian Martinez: [00:12:50] But you also should start one and one because you're playing the number one team in the country the following week. [00:12:54][3.7] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:12:54] Yeah, they will lose that game by 20 points or 30 points. [00:12:57][2.7] Julian Martinez: [00:12:57] UTSA was a great story last year, but they're a team that you should Big Brother, so you should be two and one. [00:13:04][6.5] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:13:04] That's a win. That's a. [00:13:05][0.8] Julian Martinez: [00:13:05] Win. Texas Tech, this has to be a win for you. You can't have one of these stupid games against Texas Tech where you blow that one. So you should, in theory, be starting the season three and one, right? [00:13:15][10.6] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:13:16] I'll keep going to the next one, though. [00:13:17][1.5] Julian Martinez: [00:13:18] Then you go West Virginia. West Virginia, I think a little bit more of a toss up. West Virginia was a game that kind of gave them a little bit of trouble last year. Late in the season. It still feels like a winnable game, right? [00:13:28][10.5] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:13:29] Oh, absolutely, yeah. West Virginia is one of those mountains they have to climb because that's like the sixth best team in the Big 12. And they're going from eighth best team to fourth best team. So to do that, you have to be to Texas Tech. [00:13:38][9.6] Julian Martinez: [00:13:38] But we're already at the point where you're you're already starting your season. You're thinking you're four and one, right? You're feeling good about yourself. And then you get the big boy you get at Oklahoma. So if you're at the point where I'm saying you are, where I think that you should go into this game thinking you can beat Oklahoma, you almost beat Oklahoma last year in a horrible season. So now that you've improved the talent on your roster and Oklahoma is going through massive turnover, I think this is an opportunity to get that win. So you could start the season five in one potentially, but let's play let's play it, you know, close to the chiefs and let's say they lose that game. Okay, so you're four and two Iowa State. This this is where your schedule start starts getting a little bit tougher here. Right. So you got Iowa State. You've got Oklahoma State coming up. Let's say you split that. Okay. So you're six and three. Kansas State, you should win that one. So you're seven. Yeah, that's. [00:14:27][48.9] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:14:27] A win. [00:14:28][0.1] Julian Martinez: [00:14:28] Rate. TCU, TCU. [00:14:30][2.0] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:14:31] That's a win. [00:14:31][0.2] Julian Martinez: [00:14:32] That's a yeah, that should be a win. [00:14:33][1.1] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:14:33] This is going to finish last place. But well, Kansas is going to finish last, but TCU is going to finish ninth in the Big 12. [00:14:38][5.1] Julian Martinez: [00:14:39] It should. And so you're seven and three, then you go to TCU, so you win that when you're eight and three. Big win for Gary Patterson is now. He's a UT assistant. Kansas. Come on, you can't lose that game. Okay, so maybe now I'm Kentucky myself, a nine and three. Okay. And then Baylor. So you should lose that game. So nine four, right? [00:14:58][19.0] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:14:59] I think that's eight and four. [00:15:00][0.8] Julian Martinez: [00:15:00] But eight in four. Sorry, maybe I'm loss when math is hard sometimes. Okay. [00:15:04][4.2] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:15:04] If they win, if they win a bowl game, it's nine and four. If they win the what would that be? The Texas Bowl or the Cheez-It Bowl. If they win that, then it's nine and four. [00:15:13][8.3] Julian Martinez: [00:15:13] So I said eight wins and I was being conservative. So that's where I think the expectation should be. [00:15:19][5.9] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:15:20] Mm hmm. Yeah, I think that eight and four would make Sark happy, but seven and five is not a failure. Like we were talking about that stretch of Texas Tech, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Iowa. [00:15:32][11.5] Julian Martinez: [00:15:32] State. So yeah. So that's the problem, though, is because if you go seven five, you're losing one of these games that I think is really a game you should win. And I think what's going to turn this program around is you've got to stop using games that you should win. What are the best programs in the nation? Do they win the games they're supposed to win? And that's why we count on the Big 12 every year, because they always have that one game against Arizona State on the road or that one game against wazoo. You can't let that be the case if you're Texas and you have any type of aspirations. And I know we've gone back and forth on should Texas have aspirations? You should. If you're a big time program and you have one of the highest budgets in college football, you should, and that the pressure is on Sark even in year two. And I know that. Okay, so he's going to at least get the leash to get have Arch welcome him into town because you're not going to want scorn Arch now that he selected you, he selected Sark unless he just really loves the burnt orange of Texas, then you're not going to move on from the coach that recruited him. So, you know, he's at least got 20, 23 in the bag, but you just want to see growth. You know. [00:16:40][67.8] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:16:40] Let's let's put this in simple terms here. So Texas finished eighth in the Big 12 last year. Right. And eight wins would get them to fourth in the Big 12. So who do you have to jump to get there? Texas Tech, West Virginia, Iowa State and Kansas State. And those are the four games that, like the most likely scenario is that they go three and one in those games just based on probabilities, three and one, two and two are the two most likely outcomes of those games. And if you're Texas and you go four no in those games. Well, then you not only have a path to eight wins, you have a path to, hey, if we upset Oklahoma State or we upset Baylor, hey, all of a sudden we're going nine and three. And that's a massive overachievement this year. [00:17:23][42.5] Julian Martinez: [00:17:23] So what I want from you, t and this is again well, what I really want obviously is undefeated a national championship. But what I wasn't built on today, this year is I want eight wins. I think the offense is going to be really good. I honestly do think that that's something that's well within range possibilities. So I'm not even questioning that. I think the offense is going to be the strength of this team. So I want to see the defensive unit take a step up. I want to see them not afraid to tackle guys. If they get more competitive on that side of the ball, that's going to determine a lot of their success moving forward. I want to see Bijan have a successful year because I want to see him go to the NFL. In fact, I want to see more Longhorns be on NFL radars. That's that's going to be something that I want from this year. So those are all, I think the big three keys for Sark as Texas enters this year. And I don't think that that's unrealistic. I don't think that that's outside of a reasonable expectation for this program. Before we close it out, why do you agree with my three keys for Sark this year? [00:18:25][62.1] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:18:26] I agree with that assessment. I will again say that Sark will get one more year or two more years guaranteed before results have to be showed. Again, Texas has spent a lot of money on buyouts, so they have a little bit more patience with this coach than they did with Tom Herman. Yeah. And if the goal is to get back to where Tom Herman was, then I think it's doable in three or four years. And if the hope is that Arch Manning becomes the number one prospect in the 2025 class, then, then so be it like that will that will help Texas get back to Tier two of college football teams. And what is Tier two, the teams that will lose by 14 points in the playoff to Alabama or play in sugar bowls and Fiesta Bowls, which if Texas is going to sugar bowls and fiesta balls every year with Archie Manning, that is an excellent building block for your program because they would have to catch lightning in a bottle in order to go from being where they are now to anywhere near a national champion contender team. [00:19:24][58.0] Julian Martinez: [00:19:25] I laid it out. I laid out what I want from the season. Kyle threw in a little bit of hate at the end just because that's what we bring him for, to balance me out, to reasonably put my expectations in check. But that's also what the comment section is for. So couple, what do you think the Longhorns record is going to be at the end of year two facade? How do you think when Ewers is going to be performing? Because that's going to be one of the big question marks of the season. I want to know your thoughts leave a like on this video subscribe to the channel falls on social media from juju talk sports and Kyle Ledbetter stay safe, happy and healthy and horns up. We'll see you next time. [00:19:25][0.0] [1126.1] Julian Martinez: [00:00:12] Okay. Also, so we got another ranked match up. It's going to be another battle of a PAC 12 university versus the SEC school, and it's going to be the return of the national champions as they hope to repeat their title, The End of the Atlanta Sports Curse or the Georgia Sports Curse or whatever we want to label it as as obviously we got the Braves and we got the Georgia Bulldogs winning in the same year. Good. If you're around those parts of the country and I don't see any reason why Georgia necessarily couldn't repeat, they're going to be returning a lot of starters. They're going to be returning a lot of instrumental pieces. And then you just look at the recruiting numbers and the recruiting class. They certainly have a great opportunity to do it, though last year's defense was just remarkable. If you want to break it down, I believe they were like 6.9 points in the regular season and total points allowed. So point this up. So this is only points that the defense allowed for the entire 15 games, 132 So that's not counting pick sixes or special teams failures, 132 points, which averages out to 8.8 per game. That's how stingy the Georgia Bulldog defense is. And obviously they lost some players in the draft. They lost Nakobi Dean, they lost Treyvon Walker to the Jags. So there are some moving parts. But the way that a machine like this is built, they just keep replacing that talent with more talent welcome in the organ dock. So organ, they're going to be moving on from Mario Cristobal or Mario Cristobal moved on from them, I should say. And they have a new quarterback in Bo Nix, former Auburn quarterback. I just don't think that they're ready for this game. They're the number 11 team, but it feels like a country mile between them and Georgia, at least based off last year's Georgia team. And we talked about it in our Utah versus Florida preview, just the perception of PAC 12 universities versus SEC schools. So obviously, if Oregon has a good showing, this could really favor them in the polls later in the year. So it's important for them to go on the road and not look incompetent. But Vegas disagrees with that notion as they have a 17 point underdogs. What say you as you look at this matchup? [00:02:23][130.7]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:02:24] Well, this is an interesting one because this Georgia team is going to be very similar to like those Clemson teams from the 20 tens, not in terms of like play style or structure. I mean, Stetson Bennett is still their quarterback, the mailman, I call him that, the used car dealership, the Stetson Bennett, Kia Ford Chevrolet of local Athens area. Yeah, Stetson Bennett is still their quarterback and Georgia is going to be like Clemson because this is the hardest game on their schedule this year and they are 17 point favorites. So Georgia is going to make the college football playoff. Georgia is not really going to be tested until Alabama. Now, like those Clemson teams with Trevor Lawrence, there's always the chance they're losing to NC State at half time. There's always a chance that Missouri is winning at the end of a first quarter, or South Carolina pushes them to the wire, like there could be a weird upset game somewhere in the schedule because this year's Georgia team is ranked third in the preseason polls, which means that Alabama and Ohio State, by virtue of bringing back Star Courter, I know Georgia brought back their quarterback, but you know, Ohio State and Alabama bring back star quarterbacks who will be top two picks in the NFL draft. Plus all of their five and four star players means that those teams are projected to be ahead of Georgia and Georgia's a shoo in for the college football playoff. They'll play Alabama in the conference championship game and that'll be really exciting. But on the road there, Georgia's never really going to be tested and I think that's interesting to watch from the Bulldogs this year, which means this game might be a great way to view Georgia. Obviously they'll be a different team by the end of the year than this year. Both injuries, chemistry, play style, you know, stuff like that. That actually matters in terms of like first half. The season is different than the second half, but this this might be the biggest test that Georgia gets during the entire season. [00:04:25][121.1] Julian Martinez: [00:04:27] Might be the biggest test, but. I just don't think it's much of one, you know? Even I feel like even hedging their bets and getting like a PAC 12 University, even a PAC 12 university that's been relatively dominant. It's just a lot of turnover for the same reasons that I knock Notre Dame. I have to come in this preview and knock organ. Change at quarterback, change at head coach are two things that are not easy to handle, especially early in the year. Now, the interesting part about that is obviously you do have the former Georgia defensive coordinator that actually is going to be the head coach in this matchup. So just is he kind of like the branches of that coaching tree starting to form for Kirby Smart as he obviously branched off from Nick Saban and dominant runs? I mean, you look at all the coaches that those guys have around the league and they're really setting the standard for college football and the same way Andy Reid does in the NFL. I will say, Bo Nix, as much as we kind of like this on him for being just kind of like that ilk of Auburn quarterback, at least he has some SEC experience. Yeah, maybe that comes in a little bit handy here, but he knows that level of competition. That's not what a lot of these guys who play at these PAC 12 universities even have the opportunity to do so. I don't know how much it helps, again, when you're facing one of the historic defenses from last year, or at least the remnants of what was a historic defense that only added more four star, five star prospects to it. I think Georgia is going to roll, and I don't have much more analysis than that like I do. I like to kind of like talk about Oregon as if they have a chance, as if this is just a really competitive coast ranked game. But I think part of the problem is the preseason polls is just kind of laying Oregon coast off name reputation. Yeah, I guess if. [00:06:16][108.8] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:06:17] The transfer portal makes it easier for Oregon to turn around immediately, like Oregon lost Mario Cristobal. But Mario Cristobal didn't bring a ton of players with him to Miami. He brought his whole coaching staff. But all together, this Oregon team is at least relatively closer than they were before. Combined with the fact Oregon's probably going to win the PAC 12 North because the PAC 12 North is shitty Stanford, shitty Cal, shitty Washington, who just turned over their coach, Washington State, who's actually okay but just turned over their coach. Oregon State. You know, Oregon just has resources upon resources ahead of Oregon State. So, you know, the PAC, this is going to be a truly terrible PAC 12 year, but Oregon will still probably emerge as conference champion because you mentioned Bo Nix, power to Bo Nix, because he's my favorite story in college football because of I believe that college football players should be paid. They should not necessarily have a union, but collectively bargain. It's an inevitable step. They deserve the rights. They've been restricted for years. And 45% of college football quarterbacks at Power five programs switch teams in the transfer portal this last year. And that includes Bo Nix, who for people who don't know, Bo Nix is the most Auburn quarterback in the history of quarterbacks. This is a guy who grew up rooting for Auburn, going to games as a child, three year starter at Auburn. And because Auburn's coach is going to get fired by week eight, Bo Nix transferred to Oregon despite the fact he's like the most Auburn quarterback in the history of Auburn. And I love that Bo Nix had the ability to transfer to an Oregon team that will go nine and three, make the PAC 12 championship game, either play in the Fiesta Bowl or play in the Alamo Bowl just like they did last year. Oregon is going to be a fine team. Bo Nix is the 12th best quarterback in college football for the 12th best team in college football. [00:08:14][116.7] Julian Martinez: [00:08:15] You think that line holds up as well? [00:08:16][1.4] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:08:17] Yeah, probably. I mean, the only the only reason it wouldn't is if Georgia doesn't score 35 points. But, you know, from all indications, there were backups on that defense last year that were four and a half star recruits. And those players are also first round prospects. Now, it's like how Najee Harris couldn't find the field for his first two years at Alabama, and then he got on the field and just blew up in his junior year and became a first round pick. Georgia's got four, four or five star guys up and down that team, so they should win the game easily. And you're not going to find me betting against that that betting line in favor of Oregon. [00:08:56][38.5] Julian Martinez: [00:08:58] All righty, guys. Well, go ahead and drop below your predictions for this game in the comments. So looking forward to it. It's nice to have football back week one of college football so that's exciting and we'll see. And maybe the PAC 12 maybe makes a big statement. Hey, week one, they certainly have the opportunity to do it. Big game against Florida, big game here against Georgia. So if you're going to prove you're one of the true power five schools, go ahead and do it. [00:09:22][23.8] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:09:23] So Arizona playing against San Diego State. Of course, San Diego State is going to whomp up on Arizona. [00:09:27][4.3] Julian Martinez: [00:09:28] There you have it. All right, guys, while I subscribe to the channel, like the video files and social media, all that good stuff from Juju Talks Sports and Kyle Ledbetter. Stay safe, happy and healthy. We will see you next time. [00:09:28][0.0] [545.2] Julian Martinez: [00:00:12] So last year, Cincinnati had the opportunity to prove that they can play with the big boys. They went against Alabama and got smacked in the playoffs. But in fairness, that's happened. A lot of teams that's happened to a lot of teams that aren't group of five schools. So I think that Cincinnati last year showed a lot of character, a lot of heart and show that they deserve to be in the college football playoff. However, this year's version of the Cincinnati Bearcats, as they prepare for a game in Fayetteville against the Arkansas Razorbacks, they're not exactly the same team they're ranked and so is Arkansas. Arkansas is ranked. So we've got another ranked matchup here. But Cincinnati had so much turnover. I mean, you're using both your starting corners, you're losing your quarterback, you're losing your leading wide receiver. And you have another couple pieces on defense to you that were losing their top edge rusher. Yeah. That were instrumental in your run to the playoffs. Meanwhile, Arkansas is a team that's on the rise. Last year they showed a lot. They showed that Pittman is getting this team turned around in the right direction. And it took me a while to come along. One of our more famous videos on the channel was me bemoaning the Longhorns Regain their Ask It by the Arkansas Razorbacks. But that was very early on in the season. I quickly learned, Oh yeah, Arkansas is actually for real. In fact, they were in a close game with Georgia at one point during the year, if I'm not mistaken. Or was it Texas A&M? They beat. [00:01:38][85.5]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:01:38] Texas A&M. They beat Texas A&M last year. [00:01:41][2.3] Julian Martinez: [00:01:41] Yeah. So they were surprising everyone. I think they even rose to being a top ten school in the polls at one point, and then they came back down to earth as the tail end of the season happened. But if you're a Arkansas Razorbacks fan, you are impressed with what Sam Pittman's been able to do. And going into this third year, you're extremely excited. I don't want to sleep on Cincinnati. I think that they've built a good culture there. I just think the problem is when you lose so much talent the next year, you're always going to have some sort of drop off. I mean, even a big school like Clemson, they lose Trevor Lawrence and they lose Etiene and they lose all those guys. And last year was a disappointment. So when I look at a small school like Cincinnati, it's hard for me to believe that they're the same team. Or I could just expect them to come and compete against a ascending Razorbacks team. But what say you, Kyle? [00:02:33][51.8] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:02:34] I think that Arkansas is a very good football team now. Arkansas season will be determined in part by how they do won against the Texas A&M and Bama. That's not where they like our training, but like how close to the measuring stick game is that? I think they play at Alabama this year, which will make it a bit difficult for them. But the other part is how they do against Ole Miss and Mississippi State, because Arkansas, Ole Miss and Mississippi State will fail in 3 to 5 in the SEC West in some order. So those games will be big for Arkansas in terms of figuring out what the state of the program. [00:03:09][34.8] Julian Martinez: [00:03:10] There's some that would ask why even scheduled this game against Cincinnati, knowing that you have to play the SEC schedule as is. I mean, credit to them for wanting to take on one of the more powerful group of five schools or soon to be Big 12 schools in Cincinnati. But even still, this is not exactly a ideal spot. Obviously, if you're the team that has to go against the schedule that they do normally. This is where you schedule the Sisters of the Blind, right? [00:03:35][25.2] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:03:36] Yeah. And they'll do that later on in the schedule I think. And look at their schedule now. They got a missouri state coming up later in the year. They play liberty. So they will get to those eventually. I think. [00:03:48][11.5] Julian Martinez: [00:03:48] They hey, don't count out Bobby Petrino. [00:03:51][2.7] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:03:52] Bobby Petrino and Hugh Freeze also are coming to town for against Arkansas. But Arkansas is going to be a fun team for Cincinnati. Like you said, it's a huge turnover of the team. Now, that's not as big of a death sentence as maybe it was back when, I don't know, say UCF was making a deep run or Western Michigan with P.J. Fleck because Transfer Portal makes it easier for players to come in to Cincinnati. They've now established themselves as that like third or fourth tier of college football team where they're going to consistently win eight games, even when they play a Big 12 schedule, which you could say playing Arkansas to start the year is a Big 12 type of schedule. Obviously they'll play the AC. But, you know, like you said, they're about to move to the Big 12. But Cincinnati did keep one big piece. And it's like the culture you were talking about. They kept the the the ringleader of the circus and future Nebraska head coach Luke Fickell for at least one more season. So I think having Fickell back will help. He's clearly one of the better coaches in college football and has chosen to stay at Cincinnati. I think in part because last year was such a weird year in college football where everyone was getting those giant contracts. So Fickell kind of like fell to the background because his team was still playing into January, but he's still at Cincinnati. He's going to transition the program into the Big 12, or maybe he leaves after this year. Who knows? But Cincinnati's got a solid team. Arkansas. But what Arkansas brings to the table is what the Internet and myself like to call whomping. Arkansas is going to warp you. Arkansas is built extra large there. They have a defensive tackle that is £330. Their quarterback, K.J. Jefferson, is £240 at the quarterback position. They're wide receivers are all like six foot five and six foot six guys like Braylon Burks. So Arkansas will warp you. They will warp you for four quarters. They might win, they might lose, but they're definitely going to whomp. And that's what we can expect from this Arkansas team that at the very least is relatively similar to the team that won seven games last year. [00:06:01][129.4] Julian Martinez: [00:06:02] I think that's part of the problem, too, in the assessment of this game. The last time we saw Cincinnati, them them going against Alabama, they did get what they want by the Crimson Tide. The rushing attack, which wasn't a great running game for Alabama, was still able to take it to town on Cincinnati and Arkansas. Last year was a top seven rushing attack in college football. That also includes Jefferson, their quarterback. And again, going back to the Longhorn game last year, one of my big takeaways was learning just how physical that team is. Like you said, they whomping, punch you in the mouth, whatever you want to call it, we'll stick with whomping, then we'll stick with Whomping. I think they did have a level of physicality that this very young, fairly new Cincinnati unit won't be prepared for early in the season. Because I think part of the problem when you do have so much turnover and this is going to be where Luke Fickell, who is a good coach, who is probably a great coach, honestly, is going to have to do some of his best developing and development takes time and development takes games played. So I just don't think a week one game is an ideal spot for this Cincinnati Bearcats team. And that's why I'm going to say that the Arkansas Razorbacks are going to get this win and is going to be a big win for them to probably push them a couple of spots up in the rankings. [00:07:21][78.9] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:07:22] I am with you on the Arkansas victory. I will take the womp and boys they according to what i see, they're six and a half point favorites for this game, which I think is it for gambling sake? Stay away from that one. Because I think this is a game where Cincinnati will probably backdoor cover or Arkansas will like hold on at the very end or like Cincinnati is going to be down four with 2 minutes to go in what I like to call Kirk Cousins Purgatory. They may find themselves in Kirk Cousins Purgatory for the end of this game. So stay away or bet Cincinnati if you feel so inclined. But I'm with you. I will take the whomping boys of Arkansas to win, and Arkansas might end up scoring 40 points in this game. That doesn't mean Cincinnati isn't also going to score in the throws, but big scoring game for the Whomping Razorbacks. [00:08:08][46.2] Julian Martinez: [00:08:09] I feel like it's going to be a low scoring game. These two teams are going to hang their hats on defense. There is some all-American buzz for safety of Arkansas. Jalen Catalon, which I do want to put out. There is a guy that potentially put your eye on a bumper poll who's going to set the all time tackles record for Arkansas. [00:08:26][17.3] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:08:27] So I love that we stand bumper pool on this podcast. [00:08:30][2.5] Julian Martinez: [00:08:30] We do stand bumper pool heavy. It's like, what's his name? The coldest we stand him to the coldest Crawford. The coldest Crawford. I stand the coldest Crawford. But I also stand bumper pole and that's why I'm going with the Razorbacks. But anyway, so Busters, are you going with the Razorbacks? Are you going with the Bearcats? Who is going to sit there, week one? Who's going to sit their entire 2022 college football season right here this weekend? Drop them in the comments like on this video, follow us on social media, subscribe to the channel. All that good stuff from juju talks sports kyle Ledbetter. Stay safe, happy and healthy. We will see you next time. [00:09:05][34.3] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:09:06] Womp. [00:09:06][0.0] Julian Martinez: [00:09:07] Womp. [00:09:07][0.0] [522.5] Julian Martinez: [00:00:12] So a lot of pressure is riding on the Utah Utes early. Coming into the year, they're the number seven team in the rankings and they are going on the road in week one to Gainesville to face the SEC powerhouse or former powerhouse, I should say, in the Florida Gators. Florida has come off rough times. They've had some change at the head coaching position and the Billy Napier is filling in for Dan Mullens. They're a far cry from where they were during the Urban Meyer era. Meanwhile, a post Urban Meyer era for the Utah Utes. Actually, it's funny too. They both got the Urban Meyer ties between these two franchises. [00:00:48][35.4]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:00:48] This is the battle of Urban Teams. Urban Meyer dismantled on his way out the door for Utah. [00:00:54][5.7] Julian Martinez: [00:00:54] Obviously, Kyle Whittingham's doing a great job with that program and that's why so many people look at this Utah team and think they could be the team to represent the PAC 12 in that CFP. They currently are tied with USC as the favorites to win the conference. They got to do it early. This is going to be a statement game for Utah because regardless of how good Florida ends up being by the end of the year, they can't lose this game to a SEC team because that's going to just confirm what everyone thinks of PAC 12 University. [00:01:26][31.3] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:01:27] Of course, and probably rightfully so for PAC 12 universities, especially PAC 12 schools that aren't USC and Oregon, who have these tremendous financial resources to compete in a conference that gets a television contract roughly about 22% the size of the SEC's TV contract. I should also apologize real quick. I, I forgot to acknowledge the 2016 Washington Huskies who did, in fact, make it to the College Football Playoff and lose, I believe, 24 to 7 to Alabama, which is, you know, about average based on four seeds that play Alabama. So I point to Washington. [00:02:04][37.8] Julian Martinez: [00:02:05] We've seen a lot worse in the college football playoffs, that's for sure. [00:02:08][2.9] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:02:09] You are correct. So apologies to Washington. They did make a college football playoff about six years ago. But in the eight year history, there have been two PAC 12 teams that make it. Utah is ranked preseason number seven. They would have to go either unbeaten or have one loss, probably an early season loss to in order to get to the college football playoff. And the line for this game being only three points between Utah and Florida suggests that this is a game where and I don't think of Florida as being a great team this year, they're in that same stage as like Texas last year where it's like you can kind of expect that they will lose a bunch of games because all of the players who were terrible last year have now transferred and this is the first year under a new coach. So I was surprised. The line is such Florida's obviously unranked, so it suggests to me that this is a game Florida can definitely win and a game that might be one of the big losses on Utah's schedule. Although if Utah wins, they have a nice, relatively clear path to winning the PAC 12. [00:03:13][64.0] Julian Martinez: [00:03:14] This is a home game. This is a night game. Apparently, it's going to be hot. It's going to be human. And one thing you would say in Florida's favor, Anthony Richardson actually has surprisingly the 12th best odds to win the Heisman. So they at least have a quarterback that there's some buzz around and they haven't really had that for a few years in Gainesville. So at least Anthony Richardson and you have a dynamic quarterback in college football, you're going to win more games then you lose most of the time. And he's being talked about as a guy who's a potential first or second round prospect that that helps. But some of the big things for Richardson going into this game, going into the season for the Florida Gators, is he has to cut back on the turnovers. He was a bit of an inaccurate quarterback last year, threw for less than 60%. He also dealt with some injury concerns. Utah is a physical team. They're going to bring it to you. They're going to punch you in the mouth. So if you are Anthony Richardson, you just got to know that you're going to take some hits in this game, especially if you try and use some of your best attributes and be mobile and get out there. The wide receiving corps is not great for Florida. Their defensive line isn't particularly great either, and I think that's kind of like where Utah has the opportunity to exploit them. But I understand why this is a close line because one, people are going to underrate PAC 12 teams going into an SCC university to the factors I mentioned, the humidity, the climate. And three, again, I think Anthony Richardson has a little bit of an X Factor going into Vegas predictions for this game. Where do you kind of sit on it? Do you think that Utah is going to roll or are you kind of thinking upset over here? [00:04:51][97.2] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:04:52] I don't know anything about Florida this year, so it's difficult to do analysis of Florida. But Utah is a very interesting school because 2021 Utah was a very heavy running football team. 2021 Utah was a. And I know when when you hear running, you think of boring offense like it's a connotation sometimes. This was a fun running offense last year. They were averaging close to seven yards a carry in that game where they beat Oregon in the regular season, they averaged 10.2 yards per carry before they put the backups in the game. And think about that. They put backups in the game because they were beating the shit out of Oregon so badly and they only threw the ball like 14 times in the entire game. So Utah wins the ball like that. [00:05:36][44.1] Julian Martinez: [00:05:36] Let me ask you this. If Utah went undefeated, but their one loss was to what the Florida Gators, can they recover from it. [00:05:44][7.3] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:05:45] For a college football playoff? Yes, because that would involve victories against, if I remember correctly, San Diego State, USC, Oregon and a PAC 12 championship game, which will which will be either Oregon again or whoever wins the PAC 12 North between, you know, Oregon State or Wasu or whoever it is. So I would say yes, for Oregon, for Utah can make the college football playoff. They might need a couple things to break their way. But any one loss conference champion is usually a shoo in for the college football playoff, barring a year in which there's like a really, really good team that doesn't win, like, say, Ohio State go or say Texas A&M goes undefeated but only loses to Alabama by seven points. So they don't play in the SEC title game, like if there's three teams or if there's two Big ten teams. But under most situations, conference champion with one loss will make it to the playoff. [00:06:41][56.7] Julian Martinez: [00:06:42] So what do you think? [00:06:44][1.1] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:06:44] I am going to go with Utah all the way. I don't know if Utah does this or not, but I will take Utah to win the game and cover the point spread. I think they are going to win, I would say, rather handily, but I assume this will be a low scoring game, although Utah's confusing sometimes. Utah was a low scoring team early in the year last year, and then they averaged like 38 points a game to end the season. So I assume this will be somewhere in like the 27 to like 17 range or something like that, you know, like an NFL type of score. It'll be it'll be a classic NFL type score. [00:07:18][33.3] Julian Martinez: [00:07:19] And you know what, Kyle? Oh. All right. I'm sorry, Phil. This is a nice little upset pick or an upset spot. PAC 12 University traveling all the way to SEC Country Night Game. There's just a lot of things to kind of like if you buy into an upset narrative here. Plus, historically, Kyle Whittingham teams haven't performed particularly well at this early parts of the season. So coming into week one, you kind of wonder what they're going to look like. And Billy Napier, I think, is going to add a little bit of juice to this team. Certainly, I think that he can manage to get the most out of his quarterback, and I think that that's going to be enough to kind of least shocking all the Utah Utes in week one. But that's just my opinion. So I'm going to go a bit contrarian here. You're going with the favorites. It's all good. What do you think's on Buster's drop below when the comments? Are you riding with Utah? Are you going with the Gators? Go ahead and let us know. We've got like on this video. Go ahead and check out all our social media from juju talks sports to Kyle Ledbetter. Stay safe, happy, healthy. We will see you next time. [00:07:19][0.0] [416.9] Julian martinez: [00:00:12] Okay, guys, we got a big game in college football this weekend and we've got a lot of big games. Week one of college football. So. Exciting times. Notre Dame, Ohio State battled two top five teams in the preseason rankings at least. They're going to be battling it out in Columbus in the shoe. What's your first interpretation of this game? [00:00:30][18.0]
Kyle Ledbetter: [00:00:31] Well, I think these types of week one games are interesting because for Ohio State, they're clearly going to be heavy favorites in this game. They're clearly one of the three best teams in college football. If you remember the Rose Bowl game last year where it was a 51 to 48 thriller of a game where Ohio State had a wide receiver that went for 300 yards and another receiver that went for 200 yards. Let's remember that Garrett Wilson and Chris Oliver sat out for that game. So that offense of C.J. Stroud, Jackson Smith-Ozingbo and Marvin Harrison Jr are all coming back for Ohio State this year. They're going to be a powerhouse shoo in pun intended to make the college football playoff. And they're 15 and a half point favorites against Notre Dame. But I think these week one games are not about whether you win or lose. It's more of a measurement game. And I think the thing I'm most interested in, besides seeing that Ohio State offense again, is watching Notre Dame with a new team. I think I saw like 30% of their team is turned over from last year. Obviously, Brian Kelly goes to LSU, Marcus Freeman and their offensive coordinator are still there and Notre Dame is going to be, for the most part, a brand new team, a team that finished, as you may remember, fifth in the college football playoff rankings last year. [00:01:50][78.8] Julian martinez: [00:01:51] So I notice you said 15 and a half the line must have shifted because I know when Marcus Freeman was talking about it, it was 17 and a half and he decided, I'm going to put that number down his bulletin board material. Marcus Freeman Actually, Ohio State alum. So this is a big game for him, a game that he definitely is looking forward to putting a hurting on his alma mater, I should say when I look at obviously this Buckeyes offense, it just stack you talk about Stroud being there, Jackson Smith-Ozingbo, Marvin Harrison Jr and then you talk about Treyvon Henderson. They're running back top to bottom. They're going to be a problem. I think where you talk about Notre Dame really having an opportunity potentially in this game to at least make it close is the weakness of Ohio State was their defense last year. They don't have a both a brother on this team they don't have a chase young on this team. And last year they were the 38th ranked defense in terms of points allowed. Notre Dame has an opportunity with that young athletic quarterback and Tyler Buckner. Buckner got a lot of opportunity to play a little bit last year, but the number 71 prospect in college football in 2021, they they unfortunately did have some injuries that kind of like hit them in the offseason though going in this game I should mention that they're going to be without Avery Davis, who was their third leading receiver last year. They're going to be missing a four star wide receiver in Jadarian Price. The big opportunity for this team would be like to win in the trenches is that's been Notre Dame's strength the last few years. I just think that the continuity issues are going to be too much for them to overcome. They're playing the first of a home and home series they're supposed to play in South Bend next year, but I think they would have preferred it to be flipped because for them to have to go to Ohio State the same year that they're going to be starting a new coach and a new quarterback, I think is problematic. That's that's just a tough environment for any team, especially when you're talking about facing this high flying Ohio State Buckeyes offense. And I think Vegas has it right. I think this line is about right. And that's shocking to say when you're talking about a 17 point, 15 point, whatever we call it, line between two top five teams. But I guess it's not too unnatural considering what the college football playoff first round has been. [00:03:57][126.5] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:03:58] It's also the state of college football is that the programs that get the four and a half and five stars in have become factories. You know, it was it was Alabama, it was Ohio State and it was Clemson. And now it's Alabama, Ohio State and Georgia. Those programs are so far ahead of everyone else that, yeah, they're going to be heavy favorites. And if you lose the game, it's not a disappointment for those teams. I remember last year when Michigan State was ranked like sixth in the country and they were nine and one. And the week before, Mel Tucker had gotten a $100 million extension. They were like 14 and a half point underdogs against Ohio State. And this was an Ohio State team that didn't even make the playoff last year. So, you know, it's just a machine that those programs have. And from that Notre Dame standpoint, it doesn't matter if you win or lose. I think Notre Dame has an interesting schedule this year where of course, they play USC every year. They have a home game against Clemson in October, and I think that's going to be a great measuring stick game for them. [00:04:53][55.1] Julian martinez: [00:04:53] So so you're right, they might be forgiven if they have this early season loss as they move to Ohio State. Could afford to lose this game if it came down to it. I know a lot of Buckeyes fans are mostly spooked because of last year's game against the Oregon Ducks early season game, talented running game and was able to do well PAC 12 action in the Big Ten and kind of like ruined the Buckeyes season early on prior to of course Michigan doing it later in the season. I don't think there's going to be any surprises. I'm going with the Buckeyes here. I think I'm feeling pretty locked into that pick. Against the point spread. I hate to do this to Marcus Freeman, but I think it's about right because I just think that this Buckeyes offense is just too damn good, man. [00:05:33][39.6] Kyle Ledbetter: [00:05:33] I think I'm with you on that. I think Ohio State is going to have a really, really fun game. Again, I thought Marcus Freeman was a weird hire from from Notre Dame, obviously. He's become the person that college football fans are swooning over over the past six months. And he's doing videos with like Oakley Shades and Vegas and all that stuff. But I thought it was a weird hire in the first place. Notre Dame is is one of those teams that's always going to be in that second or third tier group of teams in college football, or at least as long as they have like stability within their program, they will be. And I'm with you. Ohio State's going to win the game. It's just going to be really interesting to watch how they get there. [00:06:12][38.7] Julian martinez: [00:06:13] All right, guys. Well, go ahead and drop below in the comments. Do you think it's going to be Ohio State? Do you think it's going to be Notre Dame to get the win on Saturday, set up their season, go to maybe the college football playoffs later on from juju talk sports kyle ledbetter. Stay safe, happy and healthy. We will see you next time. [00:06:13][0.0] [356.7] |