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ITG 107 - WVU/UCF Preview

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00:00:00 (upbeat music)

00:00:02 - In the Gun, episode 107.

00:00:07 It's time to preview our first Big 12 matchup

00:00:11 with those UCF Knights.

00:00:13 Wesley Uhler, Jet Drenning with you here.

00:00:15 It is ITG, you are in the gun.

00:00:17 It's your new favorite WVU football podcast.

00:00:19 Our guy, Owen Schmidt,

00:00:20 has some work responsibilities tonight.

00:00:22 So you just got myself and the signal caller.

00:00:25 And as always, you already know this episode of ITG

00:00:27 brought to you in part by our friends at BetOnline

00:00:30 where the game starts.

00:00:32 Jed, before we get into those newcomers

00:00:35 in the Big 12 conference,

00:00:36 a little Central Florida talk on the podcast today.

00:00:38 Big game for both teams this Saturday down there

00:00:42 in the bounce house at high noon Eastern time.

00:00:44 We've got a slew of headlines to run through here.

00:00:47 Okay, so first, some around campus headlines, right?

00:00:51 Some shout outs, some things to mention notable,

00:00:53 not related to football at WVU.

00:00:56 The first, how about a big congratulations

00:00:58 to Ken Kendricks and the Arizona Diamondbacks

00:01:01 for going to the World Series.

00:01:03 Ken, of course, a West Virginia native,

00:01:05 WVU alum, business school grad,

00:01:07 owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

00:01:10 And they are off to the World Series

00:01:11 after just an improbable Jed.

00:01:13 No team had won in Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park

00:01:17 this entire postseason.

00:01:19 The Diamondbacks went there for game six and seven,

00:01:21 needing to win both games six and seven

00:01:24 on back-to-back nights in a stadium

00:01:27 where no one had won the entire postseason,

00:01:29 where the Phillies hadn't lost a single home game.

00:01:31 I mean, the odds of them doing that,

00:01:33 I'm sure had to be hundreds to one.

00:01:36 To go to a place in Philadelphia that's a madhouse,

00:01:39 where they hadn't lost a game at home all postseason,

00:01:42 and you win back-to-back nights, that's impressive.

00:01:45 Ken Kendricks and the Diamondbacks

00:01:46 are in the World Series, baby.

00:01:49 - Congrats to Ken Kendrick.

00:01:50 Big things out in Arizona, obviously, for him.

00:01:53 - Yeah, this is the time of year

00:01:56 when the improbable stories in baseball crop up, really.

00:01:59 - Always, always.

00:02:01 - Just as you touched on,

00:02:03 home field advantage in baseball

00:02:06 is usually over the course of a five-game series,

00:02:09 seven-game series, it translates into one,

00:02:11 one and a half wins, right?

00:02:12 That's usually what home field advantage in baseball means.

00:02:15 But in the case of the Phillies, as you said,

00:02:17 in the postseason, absolutely unbeatable.

00:02:21 And here come the D-backs,

00:02:22 and both, it's a remarkable story.

00:02:24 - Wild, I mean, the D-backs, a team that,

00:02:27 I think they won 17 less games in the regular season

00:02:30 or something like that than the Phillies,

00:02:32 were one of the last teams to get in.

00:02:33 Although the Phillies didn't win their division either,

00:02:35 to be fair, they had to play a wild card series as well too.

00:02:38 But yeah, I mean, over the last two seasons,

00:02:40 undefeated this year,

00:02:41 and then I think last year in the postseason,

00:02:42 they only lost, you know, their run to the World Series,

00:02:44 I think they only lost one or two games at home.

00:02:47 So yeah, great stuff there for Ken Kendrick

00:02:49 and the Arizona Diamondbacks,

00:02:51 and we'll be rooting them on here in the World Series.

00:02:53 I guess, unless you're a Rangers fan,

00:02:55 then root for the Rangers.

00:02:56 But if you're just a Mountaineer with no rooting interest,

00:02:59 let's go Diamondbacks.

00:03:00 Second thing here, speaking of other major league sports,

00:03:03 NBA season starting,

00:03:05 we're recording this episode on Wednesday, Jed,

00:03:08 the NBA season, I should say, tipping off tonight.

00:03:11 So just very quickly, just wanted to make sure

00:03:13 to wish a good luck to our Mountaineer basketball players

00:03:16 and the pros, of course,

00:03:17 Javon Carter with the Chicago Bulls,

00:03:19 Deuce McBride with the New York Knicks,

00:03:21 and Joe Mazzuolo, who of course is at the helm,

00:03:23 the head coach of the Celtics.

00:03:25 And as I'm saying that out loud,

00:03:27 that's pretty cool there, Jed.

00:03:28 I mean, we've got a point guard for the Bulls,

00:03:29 a point guard for the Knicks,

00:03:30 and the head coach for the Celtics.

00:03:32 I mean, like we get the Lakers in there

00:03:33 and we're like completing the set

00:03:35 of all the most iconic NBA.

00:03:37 We got some Mountaineers at some big, you know,

00:03:39 some big name NBA franchises there.

00:03:42 So obviously a big shout out to those three

00:03:45 as they get their NBA season going.

00:03:46 We wish them health, we wish them good luck,

00:03:48 and much success on this NBA campaign

00:03:51 as they represent the Mountaineers

00:03:53 at the professional level.

00:03:54 And finally here for our around campus headlines,

00:03:58 Jay Jacobs, speaking of basketball,

00:04:00 50 years in broadcasting around the WVU basketball program.

00:04:05 He's worked for MSN, he's been Tony Caritti's,

00:04:07 you know, play-by-play guy for the broadcast forever.

00:04:10 Nearly 50 seasons, Jed, that he's been

00:04:14 with the Mountaineer Sports Network,

00:04:15 with the WVU basketball team in some capacity,

00:04:17 was a player obviously at one point too.

00:04:20 And I tell you what, he is going to take part

00:04:23 in his final broadcast Friday, December 1st

00:04:26 against St. John's, and that's where he will be recognized

00:04:30 and his retirement will be made official.

00:04:33 So if you're someone who's a, you know,

00:04:35 you and I talk about this kind of familiar names

00:04:37 and things like that on the broadcasts and all that,

00:04:39 you know, Jay is a guy who's been around forever.

00:04:43 He started with Tony doing the play-by-play

00:04:45 or doing the color commentating in the '90s.

00:04:48 And his, you know, his love and his passion for WVU

00:04:51 are something that you could just feel.

00:04:53 You know, you could tell that he really loved

00:04:56 the Mountaineers and salute to Jay Jacobs.

00:04:58 Thank you for 50 years of service,

00:05:00 but he is, he's in his 80s now.

00:05:02 I think he's earned the right to take some time to himself

00:05:05 and enjoy retirement.

00:05:07 - It's been a great stretch recently

00:05:10 for the most venerable members of Team MSN.

00:05:15 Learfield.

00:05:17 You had last week before the game against Oklahoma State,

00:05:22 we surprised Coach Wallace by honoring him

00:05:25 with a little segment thrown together by David Connor,

00:05:28 our super producer down in Winston-Salem.

00:05:30 And we all got to tell Dwight what he meant to us

00:05:33 and there were sound bites and it was really cool,

00:05:35 but Dwight's been at it for 25 years.

00:05:37 And that was an honor to him last week.

00:05:40 And right on the heels of that, you know,

00:05:41 honoring Dwight's 25th year,

00:05:43 and hopefully we get 25 more, here comes Jay.

00:05:46 And my phone was blown up tonight.

00:05:49 It really was.

00:05:50 You know, after this was made official,

00:05:53 people reaching out to me

00:05:54 and talking about what Jay meant to them growing up,

00:05:57 listening to broadcasts,

00:05:59 the stories that they love to sit back and listen to,

00:06:01 not just the game broadcast, but even at HUGS show.

00:06:05 He's just a personality.

00:06:06 He's a character.

00:06:07 I remember, what year was it, Wes?

00:06:10 2015-ish that West Virginia opened the season in Germany?

00:06:15 - That sounds right.

00:06:18 - Okay, somewhere around there.

00:06:19 - But yeah.

00:06:20 - Well, what I remember about that is

00:06:22 in the strange modern world that we live in,

00:06:25 Tony and Jay broadcast that game

00:06:29 from the booth at Bill Snyder's Snyder Family Stadium.

00:06:32 We were playing on the road football-wise

00:06:34 at Kansas State.

00:06:35 Well, after the game,

00:06:37 so here they are broadcasting a WU basketball game

00:06:39 being played in Germany from Manhattan, Kansas.

00:06:42 Well, after the game,

00:06:44 you know, Jay tagged along for dinner

00:06:45 with me and Dwight and Tony,

00:06:47 and we just had, as always with Jay, a blast.

00:06:51 I mean, the stories, there's no filter on Jay.

00:06:54 - He's a great person.

00:06:55 He's a great personality.

00:06:56 - One of a kind,

00:06:58 and you couldn't spend five minutes around the guy

00:07:00 without smiling 15 times,

00:07:02 and everybody says that.

00:07:04 Absolutely one of a kind.

00:07:05 He will be missed.

00:07:08 He will be remembered forever.

00:07:10 What a career.

00:07:11 He's done this for so long

00:07:12 and done it at such a high level,

00:07:15 but kudos to him.

00:07:16 Hats off to Jay Jacobs.

00:07:18 - So as you mentioned,

00:07:19 you know, 25 years doing radio with TC,

00:07:24 with our guy Tony,

00:07:25 he started doing television for MSN

00:07:28 back with Jack Fleming in 1977.

00:07:31 So, I mean, he was with the program from Jerry West.

00:07:35 He was with the program through John Bielan

00:07:37 and Bob Huggins.

00:07:38 I mean, all of our best moments,

00:07:40 he's been around,

00:07:41 maybe other than the 1942 NIT championship winning program.

00:07:45 - The connective issue, but yeah.

00:07:47 - That's right.

00:07:48 And I read this in the release as well too.

00:07:49 I thought this was pretty impressive.

00:07:50 He's still, still the all-time leading scorer

00:07:54 at Morgantown High School.

00:07:56 I mean, think about how long,

00:07:57 I mean, he's 85 years old.

00:07:58 Think about how long it was since he graduated.

00:08:00 He's still the all-time leading scorer

00:08:02 at Morgantown High School,

00:08:04 according to this release today.

00:08:04 - He's seven years old, the record?

00:08:07 I mean, that's crazy, right?

00:08:08 It's gotta be about 60-some years old.

00:08:12 - I mean, Jay had to be shooting those things

00:08:13 through peach baskets, right?

00:08:15 - Did they even have a three-point line

00:08:16 back when he was playing?

00:08:17 - That's remarkable.

00:08:18 That's amazing.

00:08:19 - Fantastic.

00:08:20 So, all of our best to Jay Jacobs.

00:08:22 We wish him all the best.

00:08:23 Wish him well in retirement.

00:08:25 And as we've been fortunate to have a lot of times

00:08:28 in Mountaineer history,

00:08:29 that's some big shoes to fill

00:08:31 for whoever's gonna be taking his spot going forward.

00:08:34 A thank you to Toothman Ford

00:08:35 for presenting this episode of "In the Gun" as well.

00:08:38 We all know cars cost less than Grafton.

00:08:39 Shout out to our guy, JR and Toothman Ford.

00:08:41 They're doing great stuff with WVU NIL,

00:08:43 something like two dozen athletes signed to NIL deals.

00:08:46 So, support those who are supporting our university,

00:08:49 our athletes, and this podcast.

00:08:50 And Toothman Ford is certainly at the top of that list.

00:08:54 Final headline here, Jed.

00:08:56 This is one I'm interested to get your take on.

00:08:57 It's, I mean, other than maybe the World Series

00:09:00 and some stuff going on in the NFL,

00:09:01 this is right up there right now

00:09:03 with the biggest headlines in sports at the moment.

00:09:05 Of course, the Michigan cheating scandal.

00:09:08 Yes, Jim Harbaugh and sign stealing,

00:09:12 and buying tickets on the sideline at all these games.

00:09:16 And this thing is running wild.

00:09:19 And where there's smoke quite often, there is fire.

00:09:22 So, I know you've got a very calculated opinion

00:09:26 and take on all of this Michigan controversy.

00:09:29 So, what do you got?

00:09:30 - Well, you always hear that the coverup's worse

00:09:32 than the crime.

00:09:34 Well, in this case, there was literally no coverup.

00:09:38 I mean, everything was done about as transparently

00:09:41 as you can possibly imagine for all the world to see.

00:09:45 I mean, the purchase of the tickets,

00:09:46 the transfer of the Venmo money, everything was wide open.

00:09:51 And so, first, let's talk about what does

00:09:55 and doesn't happen.

00:09:56 All right, let's establish for the average person

00:09:59 that's sitting at home and might not be as dialed in

00:10:01 to the modern college game of football as we are,

00:10:05 sign stealing doesn't just happen, it's a high art.

00:10:09 You're almost negligent if you're not doing it yourself

00:10:13 and if you don't have staff members committed

00:10:16 to guard against it happening to you.

00:10:19 I mean, every team in America is stealing signs,

00:10:22 as they should be.

00:10:24 They're out in the open, the other side's putting

00:10:25 all these exotic signs together.

00:10:27 I mean, it involves studying TV copies.

00:10:30 It involves, it really is an art.

00:10:33 Like I've seen people that are involved

00:10:36 in the sign stealing part of it and guarding against

00:10:39 other teams stealing our signs.

00:10:41 They'll talk to coordinators after a scrimmage

00:10:44 and it's very competitive.

00:10:45 Like the coordinators wanna make sure that,

00:10:48 hey, our signs can't be stolen.

00:10:49 Okay, we're masking them in such a way

00:10:52 that you can't steal them.

00:10:53 Meanwhile, what will happen is the scouting department

00:10:56 sits on the other side during the scrimmage

00:10:58 and tries to steal them.

00:10:59 And so afterwards, in this competitive,

00:11:02 strangely competitive situation,

00:11:05 the coordinator will come ask the scout,

00:11:07 I've been part of these conversations.

00:11:09 Hey, you didn't get any, did you?

00:11:10 Actually we did, we got three.

00:11:12 Oh no, you didn't, you're lying, pulls out the notes.

00:11:14 Look right here, we got this one, we got this one.

00:11:17 So if you don't change something by week one,

00:11:19 they're gonna get them just like we did.

00:11:20 It's amazing, it's amazing.

00:11:22 So that's all allowed, that's within the rules.

00:11:26 What's not within the rules?

00:11:27 In other words, anything you can do,

00:11:29 studying TV copies that are available

00:11:31 for public consumption, available to everybody,

00:11:34 anything you can do on game day that you can intercept.

00:11:37 Like I remember when I was with Rich,

00:11:39 I was up in the booth and when the other team's offense

00:11:42 was on the field one particular game,

00:11:44 I saw them trying to, they weren't a no huddle team

00:11:46 like we were, it was something we were very accustomed to.

00:11:48 They were a more traditional team

00:11:50 and they start saying plays in

00:11:52 and one of our defensive coaches is in the booth with me

00:11:56 and he said, "Jeff, what do you think that is?"

00:11:58 Well, for those listening and not watching,

00:12:00 the coach on the other sideline simply put his hand up

00:12:03 like he had a pencil in it and started drawing

00:12:05 and I was like, "Something tells me

00:12:07 they're running a draw.

00:12:08 Wouldn't I be negligent if we didn't know that?"

00:12:11 Right?

00:12:12 So yes, it absolutely happens and some of the coaches

00:12:16 that are most revered are some of the coaches

00:12:19 within the coaching industry most known for stealing signs.

00:12:22 - Sure. - Legally, okay?

00:12:24 - Sure. - But what we're talking

00:12:25 about in Michigan-- - Not Belichick style

00:12:26 out there, right?

00:12:28 - What we're talking about with Michigan is a different end.

00:12:30 What they're being accused of is sending someone

00:12:34 to sit right behind the potential opponent's bench.

00:12:39 In some cases, an actual opponent of the Big 10.

00:12:42 I think it's been confirmed that 12 of the 13 other teams

00:12:46 in the Big 10 found tickets being sold to these people,

00:12:50 which first thing I thought was, "Who's the 13th team?

00:12:52 Wow, who's so bad that you don't even need to spy on them?"

00:12:56 And then there were potential matchups like Tennessee,

00:12:59 who they thought before Tennessee lost to South Carolina,

00:13:01 they might be playing them in the playoffs,

00:13:03 Georgia, Alabama, the SEC Championship game.

00:13:05 - Right. - So they're actually

00:13:07 sending people to sit behind the bench.

00:13:10 These are the accusations, if it's confirmed,

00:13:13 to sit behind the opposing bench

00:13:14 and not just scrutinize it, study it, take notes,

00:13:17 but even actually videotape it because in a quirky way,

00:13:20 most people don't even know this,

00:13:22 you're not supposed to send or scout a game in person

00:13:27 in the season that you're playing that team.

00:13:30 You're not supposed to do it.

00:13:32 That's against the rules,

00:13:33 and it has been since the mid '90s.

00:13:34 - For like, for WVU to send somebody to Oklahoma last week

00:13:39 and sit in the stands during the UCF game.

00:13:41 - That's illegal.

00:13:42 That's illegal, yes.

00:13:43 You're not supposed to do that.

00:13:45 That's part of what they're being accused of

00:13:46 and also being accused of taking it to a much higher level.

00:13:49 - Yeah, right. - And videotaping it.

00:13:51 And like I said, I see these things

00:13:54 that are on social media,

00:13:56 and you have like, for instance,

00:13:59 Ohio State fans going crazy

00:14:01 because you see the subject at hand,

00:14:04 the person we're talking about on the Michigan staff,

00:14:07 standing next to the coordinator,

00:14:09 and they're waiting for an Ohio State hand signal to come in

00:14:12 and as soon as it does, he tells the coordinator

00:14:15 and everybody on the entire sidelines has a pass or a sign,

00:14:19 or it's a pass play, hand in the air, pass play.

00:14:21 That's legal.

00:14:22 If you're intercepting it in real time across the field,

00:14:25 that's legal.

00:14:26 The part that's not legal is if you gained that information,

00:14:29 or even if you didn't gain the information,

00:14:31 if you just tried to by scouting a game in person

00:14:34 and videotaping it, you're taking it to a whole different

00:14:36 level.

00:14:36 Now, if in fact this is proven and established,

00:14:40 this is an integrity of the game issue,

00:14:43 and this is gonna get really serious.

00:14:44 So right now, the conversations, of course,

00:14:47 Michigan is trying to dismiss it out of hand.

00:14:49 Oh, it's overblown.

00:14:50 It had nothing to do with us beating those teams.

00:14:52 What else are they gonna do?

00:14:54 But it seems to be gaining steam that everything from rumors

00:14:58 to substantiated reports, it varies across the spectrum.

00:15:02 I saw something today saying that one of the odds makers

00:15:06 is actually taking lines off the Michigan games.

00:15:08 They have a bye this week.

00:15:10 Starting back next week against Purdue,

00:15:11 they're not gonna have a line.

00:15:13 Connect the dots there.

00:15:14 What's that mean? - Interesting.

00:15:16 - You're replacing your head coach.

00:15:18 And also the timing of it's kind of strange.

00:15:20 Michigan does have a bye this week,

00:15:21 and there's been chatter that the NCAA is doing that

00:15:24 this week to at least give Michigan a puncher's chance

00:15:26 to get their ducks in a row when Jim Harbaugh

00:15:29 has coached his last game and they have to do something.

00:15:31 Again, I don't know if it's gonna happen.

00:15:33 - And remember, he already got suspended

00:15:34 to start this season.

00:15:36 - He sure did.

00:15:37 Of course, he's gonna jet off to the NFL

00:15:40 if this all plays out.

00:15:42 If it happens, it's gonna happen, it sounds, very quickly,

00:15:45 maybe even by the time this thing drops.

00:15:48 Something is going to happen quickly if it's going to happen

00:15:51 I can't see it dragging out in the next week or beyond.

00:15:54 But it's sounding like it's gaining enough steam.

00:15:57 There's more than just smoke now.

00:16:00 At least there's some heated embers.

00:16:02 I don't see a fire yet, but I do see some heated embers.

00:16:05 So it sounds like, again, this is something we could do

00:16:10 a couple episodes in the off season on.

00:16:12 The extent to which you legally go to intercept signals.

00:16:16 Now it's been said many times,

00:16:17 if you want to rectify most of this, there you go,

00:16:20 communication to the players' helmets.

00:16:22 That eliminates 99%.

00:16:23 - And make Michigan pay for the installation of all of it.

00:16:26 - Absolutely.

00:16:27 - Across the, across the, across college football.

00:16:30 - And there's questions as to why they don't do it.

00:16:31 You see the boards up, the placards, the mirrors,

00:16:34 like Wes, I could go all day.

00:16:36 Like I know a story when Oklahoma was playing Tennessee,

00:16:39 I want to say seven years ago,

00:16:41 I think it was, yeah, when Baker was at Tennessee

00:16:43 or Oklahoma, when they faced Tennessee.

00:16:46 It was right around there, but they had that home and home.

00:16:49 Well, I talked to some people who were on staff

00:16:51 at one of those schools and what ended up happening was

00:16:54 Tennessee had Oklahoma's signals.

00:16:59 And so they figured that out in Knoxville.

00:17:01 So when they made the return trip to Norman,

00:17:04 the person that was responsible

00:17:06 for guarding Oklahoma's symbols or signals

00:17:09 in game in the second half, they said, okay,

00:17:11 let's see how the first half goes.

00:17:12 We changed them enough.

00:17:13 Let's see if they're still onto us.

00:17:15 Well, Tennessee started intercepting them

00:17:16 in the second half or in the first half.

00:17:18 So at halftime, it was decided, all right,

00:17:20 here's what's going to happen.

00:17:21 The guy that's in charge for Oklahoma,

00:17:23 protecting the signals is going to stay right next

00:17:26 to the staffers that have the placard.

00:17:29 You've seen the boards up.

00:17:30 Well, sometimes those boards will have pictures on one side.

00:17:33 Well, guess what's on the other side?

00:17:35 A reflective mirror.

00:17:37 So this was a date game in Norman.

00:17:39 So they spent the entire time in the second half

00:17:42 shooting that reflective mirror in the eyes

00:17:45 of the person on the Tennessee sidelines

00:17:46 who was looking to intercept their signals.

00:17:48 - That's hilarious. - That was his job

00:17:49 for the whole third and fourth quarter.

00:17:50 - That's hilarious. - Lying to that guy

00:17:52 with our mirror and nobody in the stadium,

00:17:54 80,000 people are sitting there

00:17:55 and nobody knows this is happening.

00:17:57 - That's hilarious. - And it's arguably

00:17:59 one of the more impactful things

00:18:00 in the first half of the game.

00:18:01 - Sure.

00:18:02 That's funny.

00:18:03 And kind of everything you outlined there, Jed,

00:18:06 you know what I mean?

00:18:06 We were just talking about the World Series briefly

00:18:08 for a couple of minutes ago.

00:18:09 It kind of reminds me of the Astros thing a few years ago.

00:18:12 Everybody tries to get a pitcher's signal

00:18:15 to an extent, right?

00:18:16 You got somebody on second base

00:18:18 and he can see what the catcher's signal,

00:18:19 you know what I mean?

00:18:21 But there is a fine line between,

00:18:24 there's a fine line between doing what you should

00:18:28 in the context of the game to try and get an advantage.

00:18:30 And I think in a outside the lines competitive advantage.

00:18:34 You know, there's--

00:18:35 - The word is Wes, in today's age,

00:18:37 here's the analogy I'd give you.

00:18:38 When I leave my house,

00:18:40 I kind of expect there's a chance I'm on videotape

00:18:45 in today's world.

00:18:46 Wherever I go, I kind of expect with all the phones,

00:18:50 with all the CCTV, there's a chance.

00:18:53 And I live in Tucker County,

00:18:54 but people still have phones,

00:18:55 I still have stop signs, wherever I go--

00:18:58 - Blink cameras, all that stuff.

00:18:59 - Yeah, who knows what my car's taping or not.

00:19:01 I don't know.

00:19:02 When I leave my house, I kind of expect that.

00:19:06 But sitting in my house,

00:19:08 it's creepy to think somebody might videotape.

00:19:10 - That's a good, yes, yes.

00:19:11 - That's the analogy.

00:19:12 Like if you're on the sidelines,

00:19:13 wide open with your signals, yeah, that's open game.

00:19:16 But you don't expect it's open game

00:19:18 from somebody in the third row,

00:19:19 30 feet behind you with a ticket.

00:19:21 - Filming the whole thing.

00:19:21 - Yes.

00:19:22 That's a bridge way too far.

00:19:25 So to me, that's the difference.

00:19:26 - I like that.

00:19:27 I'm gonna roll with that.

00:19:28 I think that's a perfect analogy.

00:19:30 Well, like many stories in the storied history

00:19:34 of this podcast, the 107 episode history of this podcast,

00:19:37 this will be one that we keep an eye on rolling forward.

00:19:40 Absolutely, we'll follow up on this.

00:19:42 We'll see if anything does happen

00:19:43 during this bye week for the Michigan Wolverines.

00:19:45 Heck of a time for them to,

00:19:46 for this to all be going on

00:19:47 when they have a legitimate shot to win the Big 10,

00:19:50 go to the playoff, national championship,

00:19:52 all that stuff again.

00:19:53 We will certainly keep an eye on how this one plays out.

00:19:56 Before we go to break,

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00:20:11 All right, quick.

00:20:12 - You wanna close with Tork and the Michigan people?

00:20:15 You could say, based on what we've seen,

00:20:17 this is the best team Jim Harbaugh has had at Michigan.

00:20:22 Or is it?

00:20:24 - Wait, what do you mean, where is it?

00:20:27 - Or is it?

00:20:28 - Oh, or is it?

00:20:30 - Yeah, or is it?

00:20:31 - I get what you're saying.

00:20:32 - You see what I'm saying?

00:20:33 So anyway, go ahead.

00:20:35 - I saw this thing too, quick, quick little other.

00:20:38 I saw this thing earlier that was like,

00:20:39 oh, look, Jim Harbaugh,

00:20:40 and I think you mentioned it and I think you're right.

00:20:42 Like he would land in the NFL, like no problem.

00:20:45 I mean, he could get a job in the NFL in a week or two.

00:20:48 But I saw this thing that was like,

00:20:50 all these teams would be lining up over them,

00:20:52 tripping over themselves to go hire Jim Harbaugh,

00:20:55 a noted quarterback guru.

00:20:56 And I'm like, he's been in Michigan for a decade.

00:20:59 Can you tell me one good quarterback that he's developed?

00:21:02 And isn't that what we always say

00:21:03 is that Michigan's problem

00:21:04 is they never have a quarterback.

00:21:05 They got everything else.

00:21:06 They got the run game, they got the D line,

00:21:08 they got the linebackers,

00:21:08 they got the guys in the secondary.

00:21:10 They just don't have a quarterback.

00:21:11 They don't have CJ Stroud.

00:21:12 They don't have Trevor Lawrence, right?

00:21:14 Like that just, that made me chuckle.

00:21:16 I was like, if Jim Harbaugh

00:21:17 is this great quarterback whisperer,

00:21:20 because he got the best out of Colin Kaepernick

00:21:22 for a couple of years.

00:21:23 - And Alex Smith, yeah.

00:21:24 - Well, I guess Alex Smith too.

00:21:25 Although he had some success in Kansas City to be fair.

00:21:28 - And you know what, and Andrew Luck.

00:21:30 So in other words, if you go back a decade,

00:21:32 - Well, yeah, but that's what I mean.

00:21:33 - You're right, in the last decade.

00:21:35 Yeah, that's right.

00:21:36 Yeah.

00:21:37 - It's like saying, it's like saying,

00:21:39 oh, Rich Rodriguez.

00:21:40 I mean, all he does is churn out two star running backs

00:21:42 and turn them into pros.

00:21:43 And I'm like, is Steve Slade and KJ Harris

00:21:46 were a long time ago, brother?

00:21:47 I mean, you know, that's a bad example,

00:21:49 but you get what I'm saying.

00:21:49 - He had the nation's leading rusher at Arizona.

00:21:52 - He did have the nation's leading rusher,

00:21:53 but I'm talking on that scale of like a national,

00:21:56 a national football league level.

00:21:58 You know, we talk about Penn State producing linebackers

00:22:02 because they consistently give us the LeVar Arringtons

00:22:04 and the Paul Puzleznes and the Micah Parsons.

00:22:06 Like it's there.

00:22:07 Harbaugh, when's the last time we talked about a quarterback

00:22:10 and Harbaugh, like he was some big old guru.

00:22:13 So that just made me chuckle, but yes, you're right.

00:22:15 He would have a job in the NFL in just a brief moment.

00:22:20 That's for sure.

00:22:21 All right, let's get to this break.

00:22:22 On the other side, we are looking fully

00:22:24 at this upcoming road trip down to Florida

00:22:27 to take on UCF for the first time in about 20 years.

00:22:31 The first time, obviously,

00:22:32 as a member of the Big 12 Conference.

00:22:34 So we'll get into all of that.

00:22:35 When we get back on the other side, you are in the gun.

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00:23:07 - For more West Virginia Mountaineer football content,

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00:24:20 - Let's go, Mountaineer fans.

00:24:24 You're tuned in to "In the Gun" with Wes,

00:24:27 the runaway beer truck and the signal caller.

00:24:29 - Back in the gun here as we roll along,

00:24:35 it is time to take a look at UCF.

00:24:37 It's our preview episode, a big one for both teams.

00:24:40 The Mountaineers trying to halt a two-game win streak,

00:24:43 get back to feeling good, get back in the win column

00:24:46 and moving in the right direction.

00:24:47 Central Florida, their homecoming game,

00:24:50 still looking for that first big 12 win.

00:24:52 They are 0 for 4 in conference play.

00:24:54 So two teams kind of at a crossroads moment

00:24:58 for their season here and the winner's gonna feel good.

00:25:00 And all right, we got some football left

00:25:02 still in front of us and let's go get some more Ws.

00:25:05 And the loser is going to feel like

00:25:06 they have really dug themselves a hole here, certainly.

00:25:10 So Jed, I always like to kind of put this one

00:25:12 on a platter for you.

00:25:13 I know you spent the last week deep diving into film,

00:25:17 into notes, into research, into everything that you do

00:25:21 to get ready for a broadcast.

00:25:22 So in your mind, where's this one start, right?

00:25:25 I mean, we know there's gonna be a lot of important elements

00:25:27 and areas of this game, but what stands out

00:25:29 as kind of the first thing you wanna highlight

00:25:32 that's gonna be really important here?

00:25:35 - Let's start on the defensive side of the football

00:25:39 for West Virginia.

00:25:40 I mean, it's a Gus Malzahn coached team.

00:25:43 So it makes perfect sense if you're gonna start looking

00:25:46 at what they might do to attack us, right?

00:25:49 And I mean, Gus Malzahn has been at it for a long time.

00:25:53 He's been doing this at a high level for a long time,

00:25:56 very self-made guy, you know,

00:25:58 came from the Arkansas high school ranks

00:26:00 and parlayed that into a couple of coaching jobs.

00:26:03 Next thing you know, he lands at Auburn

00:26:06 and he's taken them to heights

00:26:08 they hadn't seen in a long time.

00:26:11 But he had a lot of really innovative things,

00:26:15 especially when he was really ambushing the SEC,

00:26:18 I wanna say 15 years ago.

00:26:20 You know, it was really after, or even 14 years ago,

00:26:23 it was after Tuberville was fired.

00:26:25 We faced, let me do the math, we faced Tuberville in '08.

00:26:28 And so they hired Gus in '09

00:26:33 and we went down there early in the year.

00:26:36 Now he'd been coaching that offense at a high level,

00:26:41 at the college level for some time,

00:26:43 and nobody really had an answer for it.

00:26:45 Nobody had really solved it.

00:26:47 And this was early in the year.

00:26:49 We were, matter of fact, I think it was my first road game,

00:26:53 working the sidelines for MSN,

00:26:55 because before that I was just on like pregame,

00:26:58 so I wasn't traveling.

00:27:00 But a couple of things I remember about that game,

00:27:02 facing Gus, I remember it was a Saturday night game.

00:27:07 And so I spent a lot of time Saturday morning

00:27:11 down in the team room with Jeff Castile.

00:27:14 Jeff had the clicker in his hand, we had the lights off,

00:27:16 and we're just grinding through hours of tape.

00:27:18 And as Jeff could so often do,

00:27:21 he's one of the most self-effacing,

00:27:26 unselfish, humble guys you'll ever meet.

00:27:29 So he'll never admit this,

00:27:30 but he had kind of cracked some of the code

00:27:34 of Malzahn's magic as he's watching tape

00:27:36 and studying tendencies.

00:27:38 And again, this is circa 2009,

00:27:40 but he starts walking me through a couple of things

00:27:43 that he's seeing.

00:27:44 "Jed, when they do this, they're gonna do that.

00:27:45 When they do this, when they do that,

00:27:47 they're gonna do this."

00:27:48 And you walked away thinking,

00:27:51 "All right, well, you know what?"

00:27:52 He kind of has a bead on this run game

00:27:56 that Malzahn has used to absolutely gash

00:27:58 every team he's faced.

00:28:00 Because, I mean, it has a lot of smoke and mirrors to it,

00:28:03 but there's physicality to it,

00:28:04 and there's a downhill element to it.

00:28:07 So it was unlike anything anybody had seen at that point

00:28:10 out of the configurations that he was presenting it in.

00:28:13 So we went into the game thinking,

00:28:16 "All right, well, they're not gonna gash us on the ground

00:28:18 like they have everybody else,

00:28:20 but we're gonna have to earn our keep on the back end.

00:28:22 We don't know what's gonna happen

00:28:23 with their athletes on the perimeter."

00:28:25 And that's another danger of facing a Malzahn team.

00:28:27 He knows how to put those athletes in space,

00:28:29 create some big play opportunities, test your safeties.

00:28:32 So sure enough, what ends up happening?

00:28:35 For those that remember the game,

00:28:37 you know it unfolded as a 41-30 Auburn win,

00:28:41 but we were winning after three quarters,

00:28:43 and turnovers afflicted us.

00:28:46 I think we turned the ball over half a dozen times.

00:28:48 - That's the game where Noel

00:28:50 had the really long touchdown run, right?

00:28:52 - That was early. - Yeah.

00:28:53 - That was early, yeah.

00:28:54 And so one of the reasons we were winning

00:28:57 after three quarters was Jeff did what it very much appeared

00:29:01 Jeff was ready to do,

00:29:03 and that was shut down Gus Malzahn's run game.

00:29:06 Auburn ran the ball, I got the numbers right here,

00:29:08 41 times for 100 yards, 2.4 carry.

00:29:12 Now, again, Jeff will be the first to tell you,

00:29:16 that doesn't mean I can solve everything at once.

00:29:19 The pass game's gonna be a different animal.

00:29:21 I have to take my shots and see,

00:29:22 roll the dice and see what happens.

00:29:24 Well, Chris Todd, a serviceable quarterback,

00:29:26 but not a guy who went on to play in the NFL

00:29:28 for a decade, right, for Auburn.

00:29:31 He threw for 284 yards, had multiple big plays,

00:29:34 four touchdowns.

00:29:36 The play of Chris Todd,

00:29:38 more so the turnovers by West Virginia,

00:29:40 but those are the two critical things that turned that game.

00:29:43 So Jeff Castile cracked the code,

00:29:46 as close as anybody had ever come

00:29:47 to cracking the code in the run game.

00:29:49 So here we come again, 14 years later.

00:29:53 Now, there are some parallels.

00:29:55 Some things are relatively timeless in what Gus does,

00:30:00 but bear in mind, Gus in the off season,

00:30:04 he had an offensive coordinator in Chip Lindsey last year,

00:30:07 and he was actually letting him call the thing.

00:30:10 And he left and took the North Carolina job.

00:30:13 He's the OC at UNC with the Tar Heels now,

00:30:16 up there with Mack.

00:30:18 So to replace him, he brought home

00:30:20 a former conquering hero at UCF,

00:30:23 a former record-setting quarterback in Darren Henshaw.

00:30:27 Now, Darren Henshaw is a guy,

00:30:29 he's their new coordinator, and he's calling it,

00:30:32 but don't tell me there's not fingerprints on it

00:30:35 when you watch tape and influence from Gus.

00:30:37 Of course there's gonna be, that's his pedigree.

00:30:39 But Darren Henshaw, in his own right,

00:30:41 brings some value to the table.

00:30:42 He's a guy that's bounced around,

00:30:45 coached at multiple levels, at multiple spots.

00:30:48 He has a history of tempo, so he's really sharp

00:30:52 when it comes to coaching up tempo.

00:30:54 And he also has something in common with Neil Brown.

00:30:57 They both worked for Tommy Tuberville.

00:31:00 He was Tommy's pass game coordinator at Cincinnati,

00:31:03 just like Neil was Tommy's OC at Texas Tech.

00:31:06 So there's a fascinating dynamic there,

00:31:10 in that Darren Henshaw is the coordinator,

00:31:13 and it's not just by title,

00:31:14 but there's other personalities in that room

00:31:17 that are gonna influence what they do

00:31:18 and shape what they do,

00:31:19 Gus, of course, being the biggest of them.

00:31:22 But in addition to that, you've heard,

00:31:24 Owen and I talk about Hurt Hand.

00:31:27 Herb is a guy who has a lot of history with Gus,

00:31:29 way back to their days at Tulsa, when they were together.

00:31:33 Now, Mountaineer fans, of course, are familiar with Herb,

00:31:36 'cause he was on staff with Rich.

00:31:37 Well, we all have a history with Herb.

00:31:39 I was at Herb's wedding in 1994,

00:31:42 in Buckhannon, West Virginia.

00:31:43 I mean, we'd known each other forever.

00:31:45 He was our D coordinator that replaced Dean Hood

00:31:49 at Glenville State.

00:31:50 - Okay.

00:31:51 - Herb is a former Division III college alignment

00:31:55 at Hamilton College in New York.

00:31:57 He's just an appable guy that's very good at branding.

00:32:01 I mean, Herb can brand.

00:32:03 I mean, he can self-promote, he understands social media.

00:32:07 That part of it, he was always way ahead of the curve.

00:32:09 And he's really popular with his players.

00:32:12 I mean, you're not gonna find a group of O-linemen

00:32:16 or a former O-linemen that played for him

00:32:17 that doesn't just rave about him.

00:32:19 So there's a lot of faith that Gus is gonna have in Herb

00:32:24 and his input into what they're trying to do.

00:32:27 And when you look at the metrics,

00:32:28 the metrics all bear out the fact that

00:32:31 they're a very structurally sound offensive line.

00:32:36 Now we'll get to the skill in a minute,

00:32:38 but let's start at the point of attack.

00:32:40 Their offensive line,

00:32:41 when you look at what they're able to do,

00:32:44 first of all, they're setting the table

00:32:46 for some big things to happen from a big play standpoint

00:32:48 because of that skill that they have.

00:32:50 But it's not an accident.

00:32:53 Playing within the script of the offense,

00:32:56 there are metrics, Wes, that measure

00:32:59 how often you actually blow an assignment

00:33:02 on a design run play.

00:33:04 And they have consistently for the last couple of years

00:33:06 with this staff, ranked towards the best in the country

00:33:10 at limiting their missed assignments.

00:33:13 So they're well-coached, they're well-drilled,

00:33:15 and they're gonna put you in position to have some success.

00:33:18 So when you start talking about the guys

00:33:20 that they have are dangerous,

00:33:22 it's all gonna start with the quarterback,

00:33:25 John Rice Plumlee.

00:33:26 And John Rice Plumlee to me

00:33:28 is an ideal Gus Malzahn kind of quarterback.

00:33:31 You heard Neil talk this week

00:33:34 about how he has a baseball background

00:33:36 and you can kind of see it on tape.

00:33:38 And Neil's right.

00:33:39 I mean, he has a very strong arm, but a very quick release.

00:33:42 So when he's RPO in those now screens

00:33:44 and he's throwing that thing way out wide,

00:33:46 he's kind of flipping his sidearm with pepper on it

00:33:49 and giving his receivers a great opportunity

00:33:53 to do something with the ball in space

00:33:54 because it's not floating.

00:33:57 But he can make things happen.

00:33:58 This is a guy, let's start with this.

00:34:01 Out of high school, he started at Ole Miss,

00:34:03 his career at Ole Miss as a dual threat quarterback

00:34:05 when Coach Rodriguez was actually the offensive coordinator

00:34:08 for that one year at Ole Miss.

00:34:10 He was Rich's quarterback.

00:34:12 And this kid was a thousand yard rusher

00:34:14 at quarterback in the SEC.

00:34:16 I mean, you could see,

00:34:18 I mean, he had 200 some yards against LSU that season.

00:34:22 I mean, he is legitimately explosive.

00:34:25 I mean, he is explosive and dynamic.

00:34:28 He's always been a threat when he tucks it and goes

00:34:31 as a runner, but I think he's developed as a passer.

00:34:35 And when you look at some of the guys

00:34:39 that they have to compliment him,

00:34:41 you have a running back who split time

00:34:44 behind their bell cow last year.

00:34:46 This is RJ Harvey, their new feature back.

00:34:50 He's a versatile kid.

00:34:53 He's a former quarterback at UVA.

00:34:55 So that's his background, high football IQ.

00:34:57 He sees the big picture.

00:34:58 He understands what you're asking him to do

00:35:00 in the role of the offense.

00:35:01 Very compact, 5'9", a little over 200 pounds.

00:35:06 He comes into the game seventh in the Big 12 in rushing.

00:35:10 So he's churning out about 87 yards a game.

00:35:13 But the thing is, when you start looking at their skill,

00:35:16 okay, when you look on the perimeter,

00:35:19 some of the guys they have on the perimeter

00:35:23 are what make them different,

00:35:24 what make them dangerous and scary and lethal.

00:35:27 I'll give you some figures here

00:35:29 and I'll give you some frames.

00:35:30 Javon Baker, he comes in.

00:35:32 He's one of their top receivers.

00:35:33 Matter of fact, they probably target him

00:35:35 more than anybody else.

00:35:37 He comes in at 6'1", 208,

00:35:38 but he's very, very shifty and slippery.

00:35:41 Good route runner.

00:35:42 Kobe Hudson, 6'1", 200 pounds.

00:35:44 They target him quite a bit too.

00:35:46 These are both 500-yard receivers

00:35:48 at this point in the season.

00:35:49 Xavier Townsend, also a return man.

00:35:52 He's dangerous in return game.

00:35:54 If you go back to last year,

00:35:55 he did some really scary things in return game,

00:35:57 but they'd like to move him around

00:35:58 and play him in the slot.

00:36:00 One of the things they dealt with last week,

00:36:03 and this is what makes that effort at Oklahoma

00:36:05 so impressive, Xavier Townsend made me think of it.

00:36:10 They had a flu bug break out on the team

00:36:13 as they started making that trip.

00:36:15 So they're literally in transit

00:36:17 from Orlando to Norman to Oklahoma.

00:36:20 And I think they had 14 kids

00:36:23 had to miss meetings Friday night

00:36:25 because they were administering IVs.

00:36:28 One of them was Xavier Townsend.

00:36:30 He ended up playing and was productive at five catches.

00:36:33 John Rice Plumlee was one of them.

00:36:35 He had three IVs, I think, administered

00:36:37 in a course of 24 hours to play in that football game.

00:36:40 But what I'm getting at, Wes, is when you put these kids,

00:36:44 you know, this just in, if you're sitting there in Orlando,

00:36:48 the recruiting ground around you is so incredibly fertile

00:36:52 that you're gonna find skill.

00:36:54 There's all kind of skill to go around the sunshines.

00:36:57 That's no surprise.

00:36:58 So you don't have to go that far from campus

00:37:00 to find guys who can be playmakers for you.

00:37:03 So you would expect Central Florida,

00:37:06 especially when they can put that Power Five badge on,

00:37:08 as a member of the Big 12 now,

00:37:10 to go out and find those types of kids.

00:37:12 Well, it's translated well,

00:37:14 because when you look at the production they've shown,

00:37:16 it doesn't show up in their record,

00:37:17 three and four, they've dropped four straight,

00:37:20 but here's some of the things that should concern you

00:37:23 and put you on high alert.

00:37:25 They lead the Big 12 in plays from scrimmage

00:37:29 of 20-plus yards, 30-plus yards,

00:37:33 40-plus yards, 50 and 60-plus yards.

00:37:37 All those categories.

00:37:38 So they have more than Oklahoma,

00:37:40 they have more than Texas,

00:37:42 than anybody else you wanna name.

00:37:44 They lead the nation in runs from scrimmage

00:37:47 of 20-plus yards.

00:37:49 So they will gash you, a rhythm-based offense

00:37:52 that will get those yards in chunks,

00:37:54 first down, first down, take a shot.

00:37:56 We talk about it on here all the time.

00:37:58 So those are the types of things

00:38:00 that do in fact concern you.

00:38:03 So an offensive line that doesn't blow assignments.

00:38:08 Here's one of the figures for you, I mentioned it.

00:38:10 They have the lowest blown block percentage on run plays

00:38:13 in the entire Big 12.

00:38:14 They blow an assignment less than one time,

00:38:18 every 100 times they run the football.

00:38:20 It's 0.7%.

00:38:22 So well-drilled, well-coached, very effective, very sound.

00:38:26 They're not gonna beat themselves, so structurally sound.

00:38:29 Now, West Virginia, to have some success

00:38:32 and to offset this playmaking ability,

00:38:34 everybody knows how banged up we are

00:38:36 at the linebacker spot.

00:38:37 We're a little short-handed on the third level,

00:38:39 on the secondary.

00:38:41 So we're gonna have to lean on this defensive line.

00:38:43 The rotation of the D line is going to have to get back

00:38:45 to what it was doing during that four-game winning streak.

00:38:48 That's part of it.

00:38:49 Because one of the things that we were so good at,

00:38:52 and we'll come discuss some of the reasons that it's changed,

00:38:57 but one of the things we were so good at

00:38:58 through those four games was impacting the passer.

00:39:01 We still, because of that five-game start,

00:39:05 we still lead the Big 12 in quarterback knockdowns with 24.

00:39:10 So those are the types of things

00:39:12 that we talked about it before.

00:39:13 They're not a sack.

00:39:15 They're kind of remember-me shots.

00:39:17 They're very distracting to an opposing passer.

00:39:19 They knock them off rhythm.

00:39:21 They have great effect.

00:39:22 We have 84 quarterback hurries.

00:39:25 That's number two in the Big 12.

00:39:27 And again, most of this came in the first five games.

00:39:32 Quarterback hits, still number two in the Big 12.

00:39:35 So we talked about the fast start we had.

00:39:38 Let me tell you what's happened to those numbers

00:39:40 in the last two games.

00:39:42 And it kind of coincides with the success

00:39:45 that opposing players have had against us.

00:39:47 We saw Donovan Smith have success against us

00:39:51 because we weren't impacting him and hitting him.

00:39:54 And we saw last week, Allen Bowman have success against us

00:39:57 because he was able to lean on the run game

00:39:59 and they were a two-dimensional

00:40:00 or even three-dimensional offense.

00:40:02 In the last two games, quarterback knockdowns.

00:40:05 The Emmy we have in two games,

00:40:06 now we have 24 for the year, number one in the Big 12.

00:40:09 - Yeah, I don't think we had any

00:40:11 against Oklahoma State, correct?

00:40:15 - Correct.

00:40:16 - So, I mean, I'm guessing we've had maybe, I don't know,

00:40:19 five or six in the last two games?

00:40:21 - One. - Woo!

00:40:22 - One against Donovan Smith, none against Oklahoma State.

00:40:26 Quarterback hurries, it's down to 15,

00:40:28 which sounds robust until you think,

00:40:30 okay, the first five games, we were averaging 14.

00:40:33 The last two games, that's been cut in half.

00:40:35 We're averaging seven and a half.

00:40:36 Quarterback hits, we're down to five.

00:40:39 We were averaging eight, we've averaged two and a half.

00:40:41 Now, we have to mention, this isn't an excuse, it's a fact.

00:40:46 Trey Latham led the team in most of those categories.

00:40:48 - Yeah. - Right?

00:40:50 So we're gonna have to create it.

00:40:51 - It's a huge, huge loss.

00:40:52 - Huge loss, he's gone.

00:40:54 Nobody's gonna care.

00:40:55 - You're right, he ain't coming back next week or anything.

00:40:58 - He's not walking down that tunnel,

00:41:00 as much as we'd love him to as a Florida kid, right?

00:41:03 But we have to find other ways to manufacture this,

00:41:08 which means you have to get a little more creative.

00:41:11 Now, we like to chop up the front, do some exotic things

00:41:14 within the confines of the structure

00:41:16 of the defensive line of the Bandit.

00:41:18 We will do that.

00:41:20 And then you have to pick your spots.

00:41:21 I mean, Jordan Leslie talked this week,

00:41:23 and he made a great point.

00:41:24 He's like, "Look, everybody thinks

00:41:26 "that the answer is always more pressure."

00:41:28 Well, that comes at a cost, right?

00:41:30 I mean, I'll give you a sense of it like this.

00:41:33 As a former quarterback, that's what I used to ask for.

00:41:36 Once I mastered my offense,

00:41:38 and I knew my quick answer throws,

00:41:40 and I knew where everything was,

00:41:41 and I understood the big picture,

00:41:42 what we were trying to do,

00:41:44 I was like, "Please bring pressure."

00:41:46 'Cause I would approach a game saying,

00:41:48 "Hey, we're getting our 400 yards passing."

00:41:51 Now, the part that's up to you as a defense

00:41:52 and as a defensive play caller,

00:41:54 do you wanna give up 400 yards and 20 completions or 35?

00:41:58 That part's up to you.

00:41:59 But we're getting our 400.

00:42:01 I'll have the patience to go, whatever, 30-some completions,

00:42:06 and nickel and dime my way down.

00:42:07 If you go too high, I don't pressure us.

00:42:08 We'll run the ball, mix it in.

00:42:10 But if you're crazy enough to bring five, six guys each time,

00:42:12 much less seven and zero,

00:42:14 it's gonna happen a lot faster

00:42:15 and we're gonna rack those yards up.

00:42:17 So it's not always the answer.

00:42:19 What you have to do is pick your spots,

00:42:22 and most importantly,

00:42:23 what frustrated me most as a quarterback

00:42:25 was when somebody was creative enough

00:42:28 to not let you get a bead on that pressure.

00:42:31 And no matter how much tape you studied,

00:42:34 you still couldn't bat 1,000.

00:42:36 There were still gonna be times

00:42:37 when you didn't see it coming and here it came,

00:42:40 and you're outnumbered.

00:42:41 Now it's six on five,

00:42:43 from a rusher to a blocker ratio.

00:42:46 And that's on you as a quarterback.

00:42:47 I'm responsible for that sixth guy now, right?

00:42:50 So defensively, there's no trailing.

00:42:53 So what you gotta do is within the scheme,

00:42:55 find ways to maximize what you can do with your front,

00:42:58 with your substitutions,

00:42:59 the different skill sets of those seven, eight bodies

00:43:02 we like to use, and the bandit.

00:43:04 And then when can you bring that fifth guy?

00:43:08 When can you slip a Will Backer in there?

00:43:10 When can you slip a Mike Backer in there

00:43:13 as a fifth guy or even a spear?

00:43:15 You have to pick your spots.

00:43:17 You just have to make sure that they don't get a bead on it

00:43:19 because if they get a bead on it, it's advantage them.

00:43:22 So it's much more difficult.

00:43:25 It's not impossible.

00:43:26 That's the task at hand.

00:43:28 You have to find more creative ways

00:43:29 to disguise and camouflage what you're doing

00:43:32 while still picking your spots

00:43:34 to throw some pressure at them.

00:43:36 Now in a perfect world, you get pressure with four down,

00:43:40 and you can drop three sources into coverage,

00:43:42 and you kind of get the best of both worlds,

00:43:44 but it doesn't always work that way,

00:43:45 especially against an O-line,

00:43:47 as structurally sound as what we're talking about.

00:43:48 I mean, it's going to be difficult

00:43:51 to have those guys seeing ghosts.

00:43:54 Sometimes, maybe against lesser coached offensive lines

00:43:58 or offensive lines that lack experience or continuity,

00:44:02 you can kind of find their blind spots

00:44:04 and do that a little easier.

00:44:06 Now, to some extent, you can't here too,

00:44:08 but I'm just saying you're going to have to earn it.

00:44:09 You're going to have to earn every inch of it.

00:44:10 So that's part of it.

00:44:12 Now, part of the reason you want to do that as well

00:44:16 is we're trying to make the most of a bare-bones secondary.

00:44:20 That's what we're trying to do,

00:44:22 and to do that, you've got to get to the passer.

00:44:25 You've got to impact the passer.

00:44:27 If you're unable to do that,

00:44:29 it's going to be a long day, no matter who we're playing.

00:44:31 That's just the matchup of every game we're going to face.

00:44:34 Okay?

00:44:34 You have guys that are overachieving at certain spots.

00:44:38 We're still searching for a permanent answer at one corner.

00:44:42 Again, I always like to say Malachi

00:44:44 has done everything and more with what God gave Malachi.

00:44:47 I mean, I like his tenacity, his mentality,

00:44:50 the way that he approaches the game.

00:44:53 I love it, but he doesn't have a long frame.

00:44:55 I mean, there's going to be some limitations physically.

00:44:57 Right?

00:44:59 Now, on the other side, Beanie has been everything

00:45:01 we could have expected and probably more,

00:45:04 settling into that kind of alpha spot

00:45:06 at the one-corner spot,

00:45:07 but we're going to need some help from some other kids

00:45:09 that really, whether it's Jacoby Spells,

00:45:12 whether it's Andrew Wilson-Lamb.

00:45:14 Somebody's going to have to emerge with those limited reps.

00:45:18 First, you have to earn your reps

00:45:19 and earn your trust and practice,

00:45:21 but then when you look across the safety group,

00:45:24 other things are going to have to happen there as well.

00:45:25 I mean, we're limited in who we can have faith

00:45:29 in throwing a lot of reps at.

00:45:30 Yeah.

00:45:31 I mean, Keshian Cobb out for the year,

00:45:33 Montree Miller out for the year.

00:45:34 We all know these things.

00:45:36 So there's the challenge that Jordan Leslie,

00:45:39 Shadon Brown, and the defensive staff are tasked with.

00:45:43 We know we have to find a way

00:45:45 to get back to the pressure numbers

00:45:46 or somewhere closer to the pressure numbers

00:45:49 we had through five games,

00:45:50 because they were chunky and robust.

00:45:52 We were getting after the quarterback

00:45:54 and the results, you could see them on tape.

00:45:57 I mean, we held the opposition through five games

00:46:00 to a big 12 best 50% completion rate

00:46:03 because we were getting pressure.

00:46:04 Even if you weren't sacking them,

00:46:05 you were getting pressure.

00:46:07 That's dipped significantly in the last two games.

00:46:10 So there's the challenge.

00:46:12 Can you do that?

00:46:13 That's what we're going to try and find out.

00:46:15 And then most importantly,

00:46:17 and this is the discussion we always have,

00:46:19 when you talk about when the field shrinks,

00:46:21 what can you do?

00:46:22 Well, when you get into the red zone,

00:46:24 half the time we're holding the opposition

00:46:26 to a field goal or less.

00:46:28 Half the time they're getting a touchdown.

00:46:30 That's much better over last year.

00:46:32 It's not down around the 38, 40%

00:46:34 that we hovered at through five games,

00:46:35 but it's still something you can win with.

00:46:37 But if you want to turn something serviceable plus one

00:46:41 and back into a strength, improve even a little more.

00:46:45 Now, Central Florida offensively,

00:46:47 part of this I think is because

00:46:49 their lack of continuity at quarterback.

00:46:51 They lost John Rice Plumlee for three games.

00:46:53 Now, the backup came in, did a nice job.

00:46:56 He's a guy that played for Coach Trickett

00:46:58 for Travis at South Florida last year

00:47:00 and did some really good things for them

00:47:02 on a team that had to score to even try and stay in games.

00:47:05 And he played some good football for them

00:47:07 while John Rice Plumlee was out.

00:47:08 But we saw it when Nico and Garrett were in and out.

00:47:13 The offense looks different

00:47:14 when you're changing quarterbacks.

00:47:15 So they're 61% offensively in the red zone

00:47:20 scoring touchdowns, which is eighth in the Big 12.

00:47:23 Now, the more John Rice Plumlee plays,

00:47:26 the higher I would expect that number to climb

00:47:28 because he's just too big of a factor

00:47:31 when he's at his best in the field strengths

00:47:33 with the athleticism.

00:47:34 And then from a third down standpoint,

00:47:38 you're going to have to find ways to get them off the field.

00:47:40 That's something that we did pretty well.

00:47:42 We did incredibly well through five games.

00:47:45 That's not what got us beat at Houston,

00:47:47 but it is one of the things that hurt us

00:47:49 against Oklahoma State.

00:47:49 That's the first time that snuck up and bit us.

00:47:52 We couldn't get them off the field.

00:47:54 So that was a strength for us

00:47:56 for a significant portion of the season.

00:47:58 It has to get back to being a strength.

00:48:01 And the thing I'll close with on a positive note,

00:48:04 and again, these are all seven games

00:48:07 baked into this equation.

00:48:09 So there's a certain filter that has to apply

00:48:12 understanding what's happened since the injuries

00:48:14 and that type of thing.

00:48:15 But one of the metrics that is looked at,

00:48:18 there's a metric called lowest deserved catch rate.

00:48:22 In other words, you're looking at opposing offenses,

00:48:26 what you've allowed the other offense to do.

00:48:28 And it's basically catches and drops.

00:48:33 In other words, anything that should have been a catch

00:48:36 divided by the number of balls that were catchable.

00:48:39 It's a good way of basically

00:48:42 quantifying how often your defense

00:48:47 does a solid job in coverage,

00:48:49 be it in zone, be it in man.

00:48:51 Well, West Virginia defensively,

00:48:54 our deserved catch rate percentage

00:48:57 is the lowest in the Big 12.

00:48:59 It's 76.6% of catchable balls.

00:49:03 And it's the third lowest in P5.

00:49:06 So that's something to consider.

00:49:09 In other words, when the defensive line is helping them

00:49:11 and is impacting the quarterback

00:49:12 and the linebackers are pitching in as well,

00:49:15 that's the end result,

00:49:17 is you're helping the secondary

00:49:19 approach those types of figures.

00:49:20 But I don't have the figures on that broken down,

00:49:23 five games to the last two,

00:49:24 but if something tells me it doesn't take a lot

00:49:27 to connect those dots

00:49:28 and realize we haven't been nearly as effective

00:49:30 in the last two weeks as the first five.

00:49:32 But you saw it to some extent,

00:49:36 we'll close with this on the defensive side, Wes,

00:49:38 at the end of the Oklahoma State game,

00:49:41 everybody in the stadium recognized

00:49:43 when they got the ball back after we scored,

00:49:45 we're still down seven, we got all three timeouts,

00:49:47 we're a quick three and out of the way

00:49:48 to get the ball back.

00:49:49 Everybody in the stadium realized

00:49:51 number zero is getting the ball.

00:49:53 Jordan Leslie knew it,

00:49:55 everybody on the sideline knew it,

00:49:57 everybody in the stands knew it.

00:49:58 - I was in California and I knew it.

00:50:00 - You were in California and you knew it.

00:50:02 So what do you do here?

00:50:03 Well, you've got a couple of choices.

00:50:05 First, you can sit there and go low risk

00:50:10 in a base defense and maybe have a run blitz

00:50:12 or a more aggressive run fit.

00:50:14 And it's not as high risk

00:50:16 because you still have a safety net

00:50:17 connected to your defense

00:50:18 and you have a backer or a safety

00:50:21 to stop a breakthrough run.

00:50:23 But how effective is that gonna be against a kid

00:50:25 that's been gashing us the better part of the day?

00:50:28 The more intelligent thing to do there

00:50:33 is what we did do.

00:50:34 Jordan Leslie, and we talked about it

00:50:36 with Owen the other night,

00:50:38 he dialed up a cover zero blitz.

00:50:40 Now the problem, just as Owen and I discussed,

00:50:42 in dialing up a zero blitz,

00:50:44 there's a reason you don't run it every snap.

00:50:46 The reason you don't run it every snap

00:50:48 is the margin for error diminishes.

00:50:51 If you are slightly off on one of your run fits

00:50:54 and a back like that gets through,

00:50:56 there is no second level.

00:50:58 Think about it. - Green grass.

00:51:00 - All have their backs-- - And their backs turn,

00:51:01 they're running down the field.

00:51:02 - They're locked up in main coverage

00:51:03 running down field.

00:51:04 So there is no second level.

00:51:06 You either stop them at the point of attack with a big play,

00:51:09 or if he leaks through, it's KD bar the door.

00:51:11 - Feast, feast or famine.

00:51:13 - So that's what you're left with.

00:51:15 In other words, if you have a full complement

00:51:17 of all your starters,

00:51:19 and you have a tray lathe, and you have this, you have that,

00:51:21 but you might do it differently.

00:51:24 You don't have to roll the dice as aggressively.

00:51:26 Maybe you're not in that position.

00:51:27 But what we said at the other night, Wes,

00:51:28 if ips and butts were candy and nuts,

00:51:31 it'd be Christmas every day.

00:51:33 We have what we have.

00:51:35 So you have to roll the dice with what you have

00:51:37 because of what you have.

00:51:39 You have to make the decisions schematically

00:51:41 based on what you have.

00:51:43 So you have to calibrate your plan.

00:51:45 And that's what the staff is doing.

00:51:47 That's what the staff is doing.

00:51:49 You know, as Rick Neuheisel likes to say,

00:51:52 they're Apollo 13 in this thing.

00:51:54 You remember the scene in Apollo 13

00:51:56 when they got the group of engineers together at NASA,

00:51:59 and they said, "Hey, get these guys home, figure it out."

00:52:01 They said, "Oh, that's easy. We do this."

00:52:03 I said, "No, no, no, no, no.

00:52:04 You can only use what's in this box

00:52:06 because that's what's on that capsule.

00:52:08 That's all you can use. Figure out what's in this box."

00:52:10 So what we got on this roster

00:52:12 is what's in that box at NASA.

00:52:14 So you got to Apollo 13 this thing.

00:52:17 You can't add tools to the box if they aren't in there.

00:52:19 They're not on the capsule, right?

00:52:20 -Hold on. Can I get Trey Lathan back in my box, please?

00:52:23 -Yeah, Trey Lathan's not on the capsule, right?

00:52:25 Trey Lathan's not on the capsule.

00:52:27 I wish he was.

00:52:28 -We got to build this using this.

00:52:30 -That's right. So --

00:52:31 -Everybody stand around and chain-smoke your cigarettes

00:52:33 and your black horn-rimmed glasses.

00:52:34 -That's what you got. That's what you got.

00:52:36 So I'll kick it back to you to get your thoughts

00:52:40 on how we match up defensively against their offense,

00:52:42 and then we'll segue over.

00:52:44 -Yeah, well, Jed, I mean, the thing that really stands out

00:52:46 to me is some of that stuff that you started on,

00:52:49 the quarterback pressure stuff.

00:52:51 I mean, so much of what this defense was able to do,

00:52:54 you know, particularly in that three-game stretch of Pitt

00:52:57 and then Texas Tech and then TCU,

00:53:00 was because of the pressure that they were able to dial up,

00:53:03 was because of just the depth.

00:53:05 You know, we talked about it.

00:53:06 You know, the snap counts for so many guys

00:53:09 being all within the same area

00:53:11 and having the ability to rotate those guys

00:53:13 and keep them fresh and apply pressure on quarterbacks

00:53:16 and create some havoc in that way

00:53:19 and get those "remember me" shots that you mentioned.

00:53:21 Certainly saw that against Pitt and Phil Djokovic.

00:53:26 I mean, he hasn't been the same since, I don't think.

00:53:30 And you had the same success against Texas Tech.

00:53:32 You had the same success against TCU.

00:53:34 And as you mentioned, since that bye week,

00:53:36 it's gone the opposite direction.

00:53:39 Barely any of it against Houston.

00:53:42 Really none of it against Oklahoma State.

00:53:44 And what was the strength of your defense?

00:53:47 And the loss of Trey Lathan has been massive

00:53:49 in that regard, without a doubt.

00:53:52 But you know what?

00:53:53 You've got to find some ways to still get home.

00:53:55 You've got to find some ways to knock

00:53:57 some of these quarterbacks off their game

00:53:58 and make them uncomfortable.

00:54:00 And I'm with you that that feels like the biggest thing

00:54:03 for this team right now.

00:54:04 Central Florida's given up a lot of points, right?

00:54:07 I mean, I know we're gonna talk about our offense

00:54:09 and their defense in just a second,

00:54:10 but I mean, they gave up 31 last week.

00:54:12 They gave up 51 the week before that.

00:54:14 They gave up 36.

00:54:15 They gave up 44.

00:54:17 I mean, they haven't held a Big 12 opponent yet

00:54:20 to less than 31 points in a game, right?

00:54:23 So there's going to be opportunities for our offense

00:54:26 to make some hay.

00:54:27 This isn't gonna have to be, I don't think,

00:54:29 like a Pitt or a Texas Tech performance

00:54:32 where you have to come out and hold these guys

00:54:34 to under 20 points, something like that,

00:54:36 single digits in the case of Pitt.

00:54:38 You don't have to be this perfect Herculean effort

00:54:42 as the WVU defense,

00:54:44 but you do have to keep a lid on Plummer.

00:54:46 You do have to keep a lid on some of those guys

00:54:48 on the outside that you mentioned

00:54:51 because they're capable,

00:54:53 and you've struggled to do that the last two weeks.

00:54:55 So again, I know we're gonna get to the other side

00:54:57 of the football here, and that's important,

00:54:59 but I think everything you highlighted,

00:55:00 particularly there in terms of the defensive front,

00:55:02 is really, I think, the key to this game for me.

00:55:04 - This is the kind of game, Wes, and you're spot on.

00:55:08 First of all, let's start with this as we close out.

00:55:11 Our best guys have to be our best guys.

00:55:14 We can't have Aubrey Burks in the back end.

00:55:16 When Aubrey Burks is at his best,

00:55:19 he's one of the best two or three safeties in this league.

00:55:22 We can't have him playing

00:55:23 like he was against Oklahoma State.

00:55:25 He went back to some of those Penn State habits, right?

00:55:28 We need Aubrey Burks playing

00:55:30 like one of the two or three best safeties in this league,

00:55:32 holding that back end down for us.

00:55:34 We need Lee Koba playing up to Lee Koba's potential.

00:55:37 - Sean Martin.

00:55:38 - So when you get to those groups

00:55:40 that have been afflicted with attrition,

00:55:44 the linebackers, the secondary, you can't ill afford.

00:55:48 It's not like somebody on the D-line having a bad week

00:55:51 when there's seven or eight other guys

00:55:52 helping them out in that rotation.

00:55:54 We're so thin on the second and third level.

00:55:57 - No, you're absolutely right.

00:55:57 - We need our best football out of our best guys all the time.

00:56:02 - Jed, you're so right,

00:56:03 because often when someone gets hurt, right,

00:56:05 I think the fan mentality is whoever steps in

00:56:08 for that person has to play well, right?

00:56:11 Your quarterback goes down,

00:56:12 whoever the backup quarterback is

00:56:13 got to come in and play well.

00:56:15 Not really.

00:56:16 What you need when your quarterback goes down

00:56:17 is the A players on your offense

00:56:19 to play like A players, right?

00:56:21 - Yes.

00:56:22 - And I'm so glad you said that,

00:56:24 because so often we think, okay, Ben Cutter,

00:56:27 you know, now here's your time, go get it,

00:56:29 all these different things.

00:56:30 And yeah, you need him to play well, without a doubt,

00:56:32 but you're absolutely right.

00:56:33 What you really need is Lee Koba to be at an A level,

00:56:36 Aubrey Barks to be at an A level,

00:56:37 Sean Martin to be at an A level.

00:56:39 You need your best players to be at their best

00:56:42 when you're shorthanded.

00:56:43 - Especially on that second, third level.

00:56:45 And this could be one of those games,

00:56:48 we talked about it the other day, Wes,

00:56:50 you just mentioned the points

00:56:53 that UCF has allowed in Big 12 play, right?

00:56:56 Well, we mentioned the other day,

00:56:58 the games we've lost scoring 31 or more since last year,

00:57:02 half a dozen of them, right?

00:57:04 This needs to necessarily be one of the games

00:57:06 where if we get in that range, that's not happening,

00:57:11 because defensively, we swell up, we do what we're good at,

00:57:15 we get them off the field on third down,

00:57:17 at least in critical times in the game,

00:57:19 critical junctures in the game,

00:57:20 we also hold them to a field goal

00:57:22 or turn them away in the red zone.

00:57:24 I mean, gain an extra four or eight points

00:57:26 on one or two red zone trips, gain an advantage that way.

00:57:30 And how about this?

00:57:31 'Cause I'm tired of talking about it.

00:57:33 They've turned the football over 10 times.

00:57:36 Can this be the game that if it turns

00:57:39 into a poor man's shootout-

00:57:40 - We get back in that win-and-the-turnover ratio.

00:57:43 - And sometimes even breaking,

00:57:45 but we're stealing a couple possessions with turnovers.

00:57:48 Could this be that type of game?

00:57:51 So these are all considerations,

00:57:53 but our best guys have to be our best guys,

00:57:56 especially among the backers

00:57:59 and on the back end of the secondary.

00:58:01 And we need to be opportunistic

00:58:03 when it comes to stealing a couple possessions

00:58:06 and swelling up in the red zone at the appropriate times,

00:58:08 as we've done a decent job of all year.

00:58:10 That's the path to success defensively, as I see it.

00:58:15 - I think you are 100% correct.

00:58:16 I think that that has been proven over the last two games.

00:58:20 And I think that's gonna be the case again,

00:58:21 Saturday at high noon down there in Florida.

00:58:25 All right, Jed, let's spin the block.

00:58:26 Other side of the football, Mountaineer offense,

00:58:28 Knights, defense, what do you got for us?

00:58:31 - Well, what's intriguing about this?

00:58:33 We like to run the football

00:58:38 and people like to run the football against them.

00:58:41 That's what's interesting about this.

00:58:44 UCF has faced more rushing attempts

00:58:46 than anybody in the Big 12, 41 a game.

00:58:49 West Virginia, by a wide margin,

00:58:51 leads the Big 12 in rush attempts per game with 45.

00:58:54 Now let's hit some numbers

00:58:57 and then we'll talk some personnel.

00:58:59 UCF is 13th in the Big 12 against the run.

00:59:03 Well, part of that's people are constantly

00:59:04 running against them,

00:59:06 but the other part is they're getting it

00:59:07 in pretty good chunks.

00:59:09 They're 13th in the Big 12 at 4.8 yards per rush allowed.

00:59:13 So now if you limit it to just those four league games

00:59:17 that they've played,

00:59:19 here's some of their numbers defensively.

00:59:22 They are 14th dead last in the Big 12 in rushing defense,

00:59:25 giving up 255 a game in Big 12 play.

00:59:29 They're 13th in yards per carry.

00:59:31 That number swells up to 5.7 yards per carry in league play.

00:59:36 And they're dead last in the league in scoring defense

00:59:39 that you hit on it, Wes.

00:59:40 41 points a game in league play.

00:59:43 So they recognize their shortcomings, their limitations.

00:59:47 I think they're a boxer,

00:59:49 heading into round four out of round four,

00:59:51 and that will be round five,

00:59:52 and they're getting a sense of what they're up against.

00:59:54 So they're trying to dial up

00:59:56 some different things schematically.

00:59:58 They did manage against a very good

01:00:01 Oklahoma offensive line and quarterback

01:00:04 that understands their system, gets the ball out fast.

01:00:07 Dylan Gabriel's hard to sack, right?

01:00:09 - Big time. - I mean,

01:00:10 he'd only been sacked five times in their first six games,

01:00:13 and they sacked him three times.

01:00:15 They got after him.

01:00:16 So they were impacting that passer.

01:00:19 So that puts you kind of on alert

01:00:21 for what they might try and do against us.

01:00:23 They have the number two defense

01:00:27 in the Big 12 against the pass.

01:00:29 We just talked about people running all over them, right?

01:00:31 So part of this is, I always say that

01:00:34 you shouldn't trust stats in the wrong hands, right?

01:00:38 They're dangerous in the wrong hands.

01:00:40 Only somebody who swims in that soup

01:00:42 should be having this discussion, right?

01:00:44 So let's talk about-

01:00:46 - I don't wanna swim in any soup.

01:00:47 - No, I don't care to either.

01:00:49 But their number two in the Big 12 against the pass,

01:00:52 well, they haven't had a lot of leads, right?

01:00:56 So people kind of get the lead on them and sit on it,

01:00:58 and they run the ball a lot.

01:00:59 - Start running the football, yeah.

01:01:00 - There you go, it runs those rush numbers up

01:01:02 we talked about, and it drops those pass numbers,

01:01:05 kind of like the 2001 Mountaineers.

01:01:07 That's the example I always think of, right?

01:01:09 I mean, we were number one of the Big East against the pass

01:01:11 because nobody had to pass on us, right?

01:01:13 But so you see that happen.

01:01:16 They allow the lowest yards per coverage snap.

01:01:19 So this is where you start to rate that out,

01:01:22 and it has a little more value to it.

01:01:24 So it's not just a raw number

01:01:26 because nobody's throwing on them.

01:01:28 That kind of tells you teams are averaging 5.1

01:01:31 or 5.7 yards per coverage snap.

01:01:34 So that's kind of a bang for your buck thing.

01:01:36 And that's the best in the league.

01:01:38 So they are doing some things

01:01:41 where they get in space and coverage.

01:01:43 They understand zone concepts.

01:01:45 They got athletes to play in man concepts.

01:01:47 They held Oklahoma for all the struggles

01:01:51 that they've had against the run, UCF,

01:01:53 through three quarters, Oklahoma at 115 yards.

01:01:56 They never ended up really gassing, okay?

01:01:59 So what are they tasked with?

01:02:02 They're tasked with an athletic quarterback.

01:02:03 It's not the first one they faced,

01:02:06 but Garrett is obviously a dual threat kid.

01:02:10 He's run the football 61 times,

01:02:12 15 of his 61 runs have gone for 10 plus yards.

01:02:15 - He's our leading rusher, and he missed two games.

01:02:19 - Garrett's fun to watch, okay?

01:02:22 So you think, well, that's a massive advantage

01:02:24 having that dual threat, you know,

01:02:26 quarterback with blistering speed.

01:02:28 Well, I'm not so sure.

01:02:31 What do they face every day in practice?

01:02:33 UCF, John Rhys-Plumlee.

01:02:37 - Yeah.

01:02:38 - So in the same way that I'm not sure why I land with this,

01:02:41 because we face Garrett every day, okay?

01:02:45 They face John Rhys-Plumlee every day defensively.

01:02:48 So there's something to be said for that,

01:02:51 which defense can find a greater advantage

01:02:53 in seeing that regularly?

01:02:54 We'll find out.

01:02:55 I think that's going to be one of the subplots in this game.

01:02:58 Whichever defense can cash in on what they see in practice

01:03:02 every day more so than the other defense,

01:03:04 there's an opportunity for one of these two defenses.

01:03:06 - Sure, sure.

01:03:07 - So something to be said for that.

01:03:09 Garrett's averaging, and this is something

01:03:13 that teaser alert here,

01:03:16 you guys will be discussing on Phil Friday.

01:03:18 In the last two games, 402 yards of combined offense

01:03:23 rushing and passing, okay?

01:03:25 So 640 yards he's thrown for in the last couple,

01:03:28 and he's run for 164.

01:03:30 Again, those are legit,

01:03:32 among the best in the country, dual threat numbers.

01:03:35 So you ask yourself, okay, well,

01:03:37 what has the UCF defense done against quarterbacks

01:03:42 from a total yardage perspective?

01:03:43 In other words, starting quarterbacks in the Big 12.

01:03:46 They face four of them now.

01:03:48 What have they done from pass/rush yards allowed

01:03:51 against those quarterbacks?

01:03:53 Well, they've only allowed 239 a game.

01:03:56 So Gabriel had 275 total.

01:04:00 Jason Bean had 101.

01:04:04 Blake Shapen, 269.

01:04:05 Will Howard at 319.

01:04:07 He threw four in rush for 319.

01:04:08 So that's what you're looking at,

01:04:10 and that kind of speaks to the athleticism

01:04:13 at large of this group,

01:04:15 and some of the ability that they have to bottle things up

01:04:20 and make the most of things in terms of pursuit angles

01:04:24 and what they've got going for them

01:04:26 from a personnel standpoint with the talent,

01:04:28 speed, and length that they have.

01:04:29 When you look at that length,

01:04:31 Jason Johnson is one of the better backers

01:04:33 we're going to face.

01:04:34 I mean, he's one of the highest graded passers

01:04:37 in the country.

01:04:38 There's very few things he can't do.

01:04:39 He's a legit sideline to sideline guy.

01:04:43 So you'll see him out there in double zero,

01:04:45 and it's going to seem like he's wearing six zeros

01:04:47 because he's going to be all over the place.

01:04:49 I mean, he's smacking people around.

01:04:51 He's slippery.

01:04:52 You'll see him on tape fighting through gaps.

01:04:55 He has that sense and that feel to see daylight

01:04:58 as a defender.

01:04:59 We always talk about that knack that runners have,

01:05:01 but good defenders,

01:05:02 and especially good linebackers and safeties

01:05:04 have that knack too.

01:05:05 They can see daylight and see creases

01:05:07 and find their way through blocking schemes,

01:05:09 and he's exceptional at that.

01:05:11 They have a legitimate edge rusher in John Salazar.

01:05:16 So that's somebody that,

01:05:18 and we talk about from a personnel standpoint,

01:05:20 we're going to see if Tomas starts,

01:05:22 but Tomas is available, right?

01:05:25 So will we be for the first time

01:05:27 in the better part of three weeks

01:05:29 back at completely full strength up front?

01:05:31 That really matters.

01:05:33 I think people undervalue to some extent,

01:05:37 not just how much Wyatt meant to us

01:05:39 in the game that he was out,

01:05:41 but certainly the combination of Wyatt and Tomas.

01:05:43 Tomas is an athletic, incredibly talented kid.

01:05:47 So we're going to have our hands full

01:05:49 against the edge presence that they bring.

01:05:52 Coverage-wise, what's interesting about these guys,

01:05:56 they have length, but they don't have a lot of size.

01:05:59 For instance, when you look at Brandon Adams,

01:06:01 you'll see him, number 31,

01:06:03 you'll see him do a lot of good things.

01:06:05 He has great ball skills on the balls in flight.

01:06:07 He tracks it well.

01:06:08 He shadows well.

01:06:09 He breaks on it well.

01:06:10 He's six foot three.

01:06:12 You can tell by watching tape,

01:06:13 it's a heck of a wingspan.

01:06:14 He's a long kid.

01:06:16 He looks like one of those guys you've seen playing

01:06:18 for K State or Oklahoma State

01:06:20 the last two, three years.

01:06:21 - Okay, sure, sure.

01:06:23 - Maybe not as thick,

01:06:25 maybe not quite as thick,

01:06:26 'cause he's only a buck 80.

01:06:29 So the physicality piece isn't quite there as much.

01:06:34 Same with, when you look at Jakari Henderson,

01:06:37 great coverage skills.

01:06:38 You'll see him running around at number one.

01:06:40 He's six foot, so he has some length to him,

01:06:44 but he's 165 pounds soaking wet.

01:06:47 So that's another guy that lacks the size piece

01:06:51 to what they're trying to build towards.

01:06:53 And these are the kind of things, Wes,

01:06:55 that as you see them as a team in transition,

01:06:58 moving from G5 to whatever we're calling P5 now,

01:07:01 and they do have that big 12 logo to recruit with,

01:07:05 that matters.

01:07:06 So they're going to take yet another step up in recruiting.

01:07:09 These are talented kids.

01:07:11 - For sure.

01:07:12 - The reason they're not 6'3", 195

01:07:14 is because they were G5 players.

01:07:16 I mean, some of these guys are still playing the league

01:07:18 because they still stand to put on a few pounds

01:07:20 and put on some weight, but that's what's going to happen.

01:07:23 They're good players right now,

01:07:24 but they're only a couple pounds undersized.

01:07:27 And that's why they were G5 instead of some P5 program,

01:07:29 but they can play.

01:07:31 So look at Corey Thornton.

01:07:33 He's one of the thicker among these kids

01:07:36 that we're talking about.

01:07:37 You'll see him get some snaps.

01:07:39 Teams tend to target him more.

01:07:41 Number 14, he's 190 pounds and he's a good 6'1" too.

01:07:45 He's a nice long kid.

01:07:46 So he's a pretty sturdy built kid.

01:07:49 So he can bring some issues for you.

01:07:51 Plus he can support the edge a little bit against the run.

01:07:54 And they got a nickel back,

01:07:56 right back to the same narrative that I just had,

01:07:59 Quadrick Boyard, good cover skills, but he's 170 pounds.

01:08:04 He's six foot, 170 pounds.

01:08:05 So yeah, he's not exactly going to set the edge for you

01:08:08 against the stretch play, but on a third and six,

01:08:12 oh yeah, he can break up a slant.

01:08:13 Absolutely.

01:08:14 So, I mean, that's kind of what you're looking at.

01:08:17 So if I'm looking at shortcomings,

01:08:20 it would be their lack of weight or just overall size.

01:08:24 They got length, but they're not length and size.

01:08:27 So you can be physical with them.

01:08:29 I mean, it's going to be interesting to watch

01:08:32 Brandon Adams against Devin Carter at times,

01:08:36 because, you know, Devin's going to have

01:08:37 a significant size advantage

01:08:40 and he should have a strength advantage,

01:08:41 but the kid plays, Brandon Adams,

01:08:43 I mean, he has strong hands.

01:08:44 He'll slap you around, but it's just,

01:08:47 that size piece isn't there.

01:08:50 Walter Yates is another kid among the linebacker groups.

01:08:53 He wears number 27.

01:08:55 People seem to go after him in space

01:08:57 and try and isolate him.

01:08:59 So that's one of the things you notice on tape,

01:09:01 whether it was Oklahoma or Kansas State.

01:09:04 So that's one of the things you're going to see.

01:09:06 He's actually been targeted 23 times.

01:09:09 He's given up 19 catches for 270 yards.

01:09:13 And in space, he struggles.

01:09:15 A lot of those yards came after a catch.

01:09:18 So yeah, if you can get him on a choice route

01:09:21 and a crossing route, if you can isolate him with your slot.

01:09:24 And, you know, we talk about our ability to move guys around

01:09:28 or even to some extent with our backs,

01:09:31 that could be a matchup that favors us.

01:09:34 But these are some of the things that I'm looking at

01:09:37 from a personnel standpoint.

01:09:38 But look, the elephant in the room

01:09:42 that we have to talk about is we're not going to get

01:09:45 to where we need to be offensively.

01:09:47 - I think I know where this is going.

01:09:49 - I think you do know where this is going.

01:09:51 We talk about, okay, we're going back to Florida.

01:09:54 What's going to happen?

01:09:55 You expect a little extra juice from these Florida kids.

01:09:58 I expect Garrett to be juiced up.

01:09:59 I expect, obviously on the defensive side,

01:10:02 you guys are going to talk about that.

01:10:04 In your Phil episode, I prepared some stuff for you there,

01:10:06 but another Florida kid heading back to the Sunshine State.

01:10:09 - Ah, maybe number four?

01:10:11 - C.J. Donaldson.

01:10:13 - Yes.

01:10:14 - So let's talk about this, okay?

01:10:17 Whatever is going on with C.J.

01:10:21 needs to be solved by C.J.

01:10:25 Okay, he's about to have his offensive line

01:10:29 at full strength.

01:10:30 He's about to be facing a defense

01:10:33 that has struggled mightily against the run.

01:10:35 Here's some numbers for you, just to put this in perspective.

01:10:40 C.J. has 117 rushing attempts.

01:10:44 Ollie Gordon has 117 rushing attempts.

01:10:50 - Wow, I would have guessed that number was higher.

01:10:52 - C.J. has 453 yards.

01:10:56 - Ollie got half of that in one game.

01:11:00 - Ollie Gordon has 816.

01:11:02 - Jeez.

01:11:03 - C.J., again, at his best,

01:11:06 is a yards after contact guy.

01:11:09 That's what he is.

01:11:11 When he's playing his best football,

01:11:13 he's shitting guys like nobody's business.

01:11:16 I always like to say that he runs through arm tackles

01:11:18 like people are swinging pool noodles at him.

01:11:20 Well, I'll tell you what, those pool noodles,

01:11:23 either they're a lot thicker--

01:11:24 - He's slowing them down.

01:11:25 - They're stumbling him a little bit.

01:11:27 He has 305 yards after contact.

01:11:30 I'm done with the comparison after this.

01:11:31 Ollie Gordon, you saw it the other day,

01:11:32 he has 538 after contact.

01:11:34 That's what C.J. should be, Ollie Gordon.

01:11:40 That's what we expected coming into this year.

01:11:44 Now, I can't entirely wrap my head around

01:11:48 the why behind it.

01:11:50 You see it in spurts.

01:11:53 You just don't see it for the balance of 60 minutes

01:11:55 like when he was in last year, you did see it.

01:11:58 Now, I would argue like against Pitt,

01:12:00 you saw it for the balance of 60 minutes.

01:12:02 That was a very physical football game.

01:12:04 He was right at the point of attack, spearheading the effort.

01:12:07 That was last year's C.J.

01:12:09 That's what that was.

01:12:10 I don't need the game-breaking 20-plus yard run out of him

01:12:14 to see the physicality.

01:12:16 The game-breaking runs will come as does the physicality.

01:12:21 They're downstream from the physicality

01:12:23 that he became known for last year.

01:12:26 And you see it in spurts,

01:12:29 but you don't see it with the regularity

01:12:31 that we saw a year ago.

01:12:33 So I'm not entirely certain what the answer might be.

01:12:38 I'm glad that we saw some good things out of J.J. last year

01:12:43 because again, that room is best when pushing one another.

01:12:46 I'm glad that Jaheim White has shown flashes.

01:12:49 Now, once again, on a week-to-week basis,

01:12:52 he needs to earn the trust to get the reps.

01:12:54 He's a freshman.

01:12:55 So there's weeks where he's just gonna check out mentally.

01:12:57 He saw that last week.

01:12:59 And in practice, he didn't earn the trust to earn the reps.

01:13:03 So we need all three of those guys at their best.

01:13:07 And if all three of those guys are at their best,

01:13:11 with Garrett developing into what Garrett

01:13:14 appears to be developing into,

01:13:16 and the weapons emerging on the perimeter,

01:13:20 I mean, we know what we had in Cole Taylor

01:13:22 and the versatility that he can have from a flex position

01:13:25 or an attached tight end position.

01:13:26 Devin Carter is re-emerging

01:13:29 as the Devin Carter we thought we'd get.

01:13:32 E.J. Horton's finding a nice little niche.

01:13:35 Traylon Ray is looking like a guy

01:13:37 who have a very special future.

01:13:39 We haven't even mentioned Hudson.

01:13:41 Again, kind of TBD with what's going on with Hudson.

01:13:44 Preston Fox is making plays for us, right?

01:13:48 So you see guys in that room.

01:13:50 Everything else is coming together offensively.

01:13:53 Now, is what we figured to be the central piece

01:13:56 coming into the season, is it gonna fall into place?

01:14:01 If we can get C.J. spearheading the effort in that room,

01:14:05 like we thought we'd get coming off of last year,

01:14:08 and everybody else continues on the trajectory

01:14:13 that they're on, this offense could help us

01:14:16 win some games down the stretch.

01:14:17 They really could.

01:14:19 They really could.

01:14:20 So these are the types of things that I'm looking at

01:14:23 as we head down to face a team

01:14:25 that hasn't been at home for almost a month.

01:14:28 It's homecoming.

01:14:29 People tell me that the StubHub market's

01:14:31 going crazy down there, and that's kind of an indicator

01:14:33 of what kind of crowds you're gonna see.

01:14:36 I do think that we're gonna be

01:14:39 stepping into an interesting situation.

01:14:41 So we're gonna have to have a balanced offense.

01:14:45 We're gonna have to do the things defensively

01:14:47 that we talked about doing right there.

01:14:49 But yeah, that's kind of where we're at with all this.

01:14:54 And then, of course, you're gonna have to be sound

01:14:58 in the kicking game.

01:14:59 I mean, that goes without saying.

01:15:00 We weren't sound in the kicking game.

01:15:02 Oklahoma State certainly wasn't sound in the kicking game.

01:15:05 How about if we face a team being as undisciplined

01:15:11 and unsound in the kicking game as Oklahoma State was,

01:15:13 fumbling their own punt, blocking the punt

01:15:15 into their up back.

01:15:16 If you face a team as undisciplined as them,

01:15:19 take advantage of it.

01:15:22 - Yeah.

01:15:22 - And we didn't do that,

01:15:23 because I was thinking about this, Wes.

01:15:25 Here's my at-large comment that I'm gonna make

01:15:30 as a key to this game,

01:15:31 and I'll make it again in the pregame show

01:15:34 in Orlando on Saturday,

01:15:36 in the tiniest booth in the Big 12, apparently,

01:15:38 based on the pictures that I'm seeing.

01:15:39 - Oh, no.

01:15:40 - Oh, boy, you ought to see these pictures.

01:15:42 I'll text it to you.

01:15:43 But yeah, we're gonna have to come up

01:15:45 with some kind of creative, speak of creative strategies.

01:15:48 We're gonna have to find a creative strategy

01:15:50 just to get us into the booth.

01:15:51 But I think this is what has to happen,

01:15:54 this week and in the coming weeks.

01:15:57 We had the discipline conversation the other night, right?

01:16:01 I mean, every time you win,

01:16:03 oh, it's because we're so disciplined.

01:16:05 You're not getting penalties.

01:16:06 You're not doing this.

01:16:07 We didn't have 120 yards in penalties the other night.

01:16:09 We had a couple of stupid penalties.

01:16:12 But when you lose, that's gonna be the focus,

01:16:15 the undisciplined things you did.

01:16:17 When you win, like Oklahoma State did,

01:16:20 people forget all the undisciplined things they did.

01:16:23 That's the nature of the game.

01:16:25 So here's what you need to do each week.

01:16:28 You don't need to be perfect.

01:16:30 You don't need to be the most disciplined team in America.

01:16:33 You never are, you never were.

01:16:35 You weren't completely disciplined

01:16:36 when people were calling you disciplined

01:16:37 during the four-game winning streak.

01:16:39 If you made one less play,

01:16:41 then all of a sudden you're an undisciplined bum.

01:16:43 What are you playing so undisciplined?

01:16:45 But we want to- - Razor thin margins.

01:16:47 - So now, you're not undisciplined, you're resilient.

01:16:50 And you overcome those things, those mistakes.

01:16:52 See how the narrative switches?

01:16:54 When you lose, you're undisciplined.

01:16:56 But when you win, you're resilient.

01:16:57 You go over- - You find ways

01:16:58 to overcome it, yeah.

01:16:59 - Here it is in one statement.

01:17:02 Simply be the most disciplined team on the field Saturday.

01:17:08 Not in the country, not in the Big 12, on the field.

01:17:13 We weren't the most disciplined team on the field.

01:17:15 Oklahoma State wasn't a very disciplined team,

01:17:18 but they were more disciplined than us.

01:17:19 - It was only the two-horse race

01:17:22 and they had the better horse.

01:17:24 - Yes, it's not like they beat us

01:17:25 with tremendous discipline, no.

01:17:28 Just be the most disciplined team on the field Saturday.

01:17:32 - Just be the most disciplined team on the field,

01:17:34 be the best tackling team on the field, right?

01:17:37 - Yes, because everything else we just talked about,

01:17:41 that almost falls into the obvious category, right?

01:17:45 Obviously.

01:17:46 - Yeah, you need Aubrey Burks to play well.

01:17:47 You need Zekobah to play well.

01:17:49 - You gotta run the ball.

01:17:49 - You need Gary Green to play well.

01:17:51 You need to hit a big play to Devin Carter.

01:17:53 - Yes, these things are the more obvious end of it.

01:17:56 But left off the table is don't be boneheads.

01:18:01 Let them be boneheads, 'cause they will.

01:18:03 The other team, whoever it's gonna be each week,

01:18:05 are gonna do some boneheaded things.

01:18:07 Do one less boneheaded thing than they do.

01:18:10 - Yep.

01:18:11 - How much kids do boneheaded things?

01:18:13 Even the ones that win a lot of games,

01:18:15 do one less boneheaded thing than they do.

01:18:17 Be the most disciplined team on the field Saturday.

01:18:21 And then everything we just talked about will matter.

01:18:24 - Will fall into place.

01:18:25 - It matters far more if you don't beat yourself

01:18:28 and you're plus one in the boneheaded category,

01:18:31 or minus one.

01:18:32 You're plus one in the discipline category.

01:18:35 All these other things, who ran the ball more effectively,

01:18:37 who played well in the red zone,

01:18:38 who did this, who did that.

01:18:39 That's great until the game's tied in the fourth quarter

01:18:43 and you have back-to-back personal fouls.

01:18:46 - You give 'em 30 yards.

01:18:47 You go, "Here you go, here's 30 yards."

01:18:49 - Or you have a miracle drive to cut the lead to 70.

01:18:51 You have all three timeouts and you're in a great place

01:18:53 and you just need a quick three and out.

01:18:54 And you run cover zero and you miss a handful of run fits.

01:18:58 Or you're up 24 to 20

01:19:01 and you're forcing a punt in the fourth quarter.

01:19:03 And you have one of your up backs

01:19:05 get blocked into your return.

01:19:07 These are the things that we-

01:19:08 - You're gonna make me start drinking

01:19:11 on this podcast again.

01:19:12 - But like I said, Oklahoma State fumbles a punt.

01:19:14 Why was that kid even a...

01:19:15 I mean, he was right in front of me on the sidelines.

01:19:17 I'm like, "Dude, what were you doing

01:19:18 "even trying to get over here to get that punt?"

01:19:20 That was boneheaded.

01:19:21 That was undisciplined.

01:19:23 Their blocked punt was undisciplined.

01:19:25 That third and long pass interference, undisciplined.

01:19:29 Let them do all the undisciplined things

01:19:31 and you just do fewer of 'em.

01:19:33 Because they will do...

01:19:34 Central Florida will do some undisciplined.

01:19:36 UCF, I'm sorry.

01:19:38 UCF will do some undisciplined things.

01:19:41 Absolutely, they will.

01:19:44 Let them do it.

01:19:45 Don't interrupt 'em.

01:19:47 And just do one fewer than they do at a critical time.

01:19:50 Be the most disciplined team on the field Saturday.

01:19:53 - I completely agree.

01:19:56 Jed, I think that's a huge key.

01:19:58 This is kind of my final thoughts

01:19:59 and then I'll let you give any final thoughts

01:20:01 as we wrap this thing up.

01:20:04 So much of what you did well

01:20:06 during that four game win streak

01:20:08 was bare bones football.

01:20:11 Was football 101.

01:20:12 You're more disciplined than the other team.

01:20:14 You tackled better than the other team.

01:20:16 You blocked better than the other team.

01:20:18 You made more plays in crunch time and winning time.

01:20:21 So much of what has ailed you

01:20:22 through this two game win streak

01:20:24 has been that same thing,

01:20:25 just the opposite side of the equation.

01:20:27 So I'm 100% with you on that.

01:20:29 Be the more disciplined team.

01:20:31 Be the better tackling team.

01:20:34 And I think for both of these teams,

01:20:37 they are at that point where

01:20:39 they're not perfect in that regard, right?

01:20:44 But they've had strong performances.

01:20:46 They've had not so strong performances.

01:20:48 You've gotta be on the upper hand in that regard.

01:20:52 I think, and I'm with you.

01:20:54 That's massive for me.

01:20:56 Again, a lot of times when we say things like this,

01:20:58 it seems like kind of cliched football 101 stuff.

01:21:02 But as you mentioned, at the college level,

01:21:04 at this level, when there's two teams

01:21:06 that aren't separated by much,

01:21:07 that is so often what makes the difference.

01:21:09 That's why you spend months and months and months

01:21:11 and hours and hours and hours

01:21:12 drilling that stuff into your guys.

01:21:14 So I'm with you on that.

01:21:16 The last thing I've got to say is

01:21:18 mentality is a big thing.

01:21:22 I think for 18, 19, 20, 21 year old kids, right?

01:21:25 Confidence, mentality, attitude, all that stuff.

01:21:28 We know all that stuff matters in every facet of life.

01:21:30 But I think particularly in athletics

01:21:32 with teenagers and young adults,

01:21:34 part of me wonders if the last two games,

01:21:37 if our guys have lost a little bit of that edge

01:21:39 that they started the season with.

01:21:41 The 14, the disrespect.

01:21:43 We saw how big of a deal that was

01:21:45 after the win at Texas Tech.

01:21:46 We saw how big of a deal that was

01:21:47 after the win at TCU.

01:21:49 And I don't want to say that they changed that,

01:21:52 but that script flips, right?

01:21:55 I mean, you go down to Houston on the road

01:21:57 and you're a favorite.

01:21:58 You come back home against Oklahoma State after a loss

01:22:00 and you're still a favorite.

01:22:02 Well, now guess what?

01:22:03 Once again, much like you were at your TCU,

01:22:05 you were 14 point underdogs.

01:22:07 Here, you're a full touchdown underdog.

01:22:09 Once again, team, the experts,

01:22:12 and I'm using air quotes as I say that,

01:22:14 but the powers that be,

01:22:16 that are usually pretty dead on with these things,

01:22:18 all of a sudden think that you're out of your element again,

01:22:22 that you're maybe over your head a little bit.

01:22:23 Get that edge back too, that you had to start the season.

01:22:26 I think that'll go a long way as well.

01:22:29 - I agree with that.

01:22:31 You develop at that age.

01:22:34 We all remember feeling like that.

01:22:35 If you played competitive sports and you had teammates,

01:22:38 your teammates do things to elevate you,

01:22:41 to make you feel bulletproof.

01:22:43 You as a group,

01:22:44 that synergy does make you feel bulletproof.

01:22:48 That's been lacking.

01:22:50 And it's almost an other,

01:22:51 waiting for the other shoe to fall kind of vibe

01:22:54 the last two games.

01:22:55 So what can you do?

01:22:57 Who's going to spearhead the effort to get you back

01:22:59 to having that swagger and feeling bulletproof once again?

01:23:03 And everything's going to turn on that 14, 14, 14.

01:23:06 We need to get back to feeling like,

01:23:09 hey, here's how way off you were on that projection.

01:23:12 And I can't stress it enough because when I watch,

01:23:17 we've talked about our best guys have to play their best.

01:23:20 When I watch Central Florida,

01:23:23 again, I know these guys on the staff,

01:23:24 at least some of them, they're a well-coached team.

01:23:27 They're doing creative things.

01:23:29 I mean, West, they'll just case in point,

01:23:31 part of what they're doing to give Oklahoma fits,

01:23:35 K-State fits, some of the better teams

01:23:36 or better defenses in this league,

01:23:39 this well-coached offense,

01:23:41 they'll get wide, so it's third long.

01:23:43 They run wide splits,

01:23:45 almost to get it like turn into a nine on nine

01:23:48 game of football.

01:23:49 And then they run a draw play

01:23:50 and the whole line is so well drilled

01:23:53 at selling pass on the draw play

01:23:56 that in one case,

01:23:57 they turned a third and intermediate against Oklahoma

01:23:59 into a 50 yard run by Harvey.

01:24:02 And another case,

01:24:02 they converted a third and 21 on a draw play with K-State.

01:24:06 Look, the only way to offset that,

01:24:10 the only way to prevent these guys

01:24:13 from doing these things and these creative spots

01:24:15 with these athletes,

01:24:16 your best guys have to play good football.

01:24:20 If Aubrey Burks isn't playing good football,

01:24:23 he's gonna bail out and not be part of that equation.

01:24:25 They're gonna convert on us.

01:24:26 If Lee Coba is not playing good football,

01:24:28 he's gonna miss his fit and fly out field

01:24:31 or buzz in the wrong flat.

01:24:32 Whatever the case might be,

01:24:34 and they're gonna make those types of plays against us.

01:24:36 The way you stomp out those types of things,

01:24:39 and they're gonna set the table effectively

01:24:41 on both sides of the ball in all three phases

01:24:43 is your best guys have to play their best football.

01:24:47 It doesn't matter how well coached,

01:24:49 how well prepared, how well drilled you are.

01:24:52 If you're not doing what your coach do,

01:24:54 if you're not doing what you know to do,

01:24:55 if you're not drawing from your experience and your skill,

01:24:58 then you're in a bad spot.

01:25:01 So that's what it's gonna take.

01:25:02 You're going against a well-coached team

01:25:04 with a ton of athletes and a lot of speed

01:25:07 in an environment that is going to be hungry

01:25:11 for an historic win, much like Houston got.

01:25:15 It's a homecoming crowd.

01:25:16 They saw how close they came in Norman.

01:25:18 They almost shocked the world

01:25:20 against the top five Oklahoma team,

01:25:22 came a two-point conversion away from,

01:25:24 that could have got real scary for OU in overtime,

01:25:26 real scary the way that game was going.

01:25:28 So they came that close.

01:25:30 They're coming into this, you talk about swagger,

01:25:33 they have that swagger.

01:25:34 That was their '03 Quincy Wilson-Miami game.

01:25:37 That's what that was.

01:25:39 And you know what we felt like even after that loss.

01:25:41 So that's what you're gonna be up against.

01:25:43 So you better bring it and bring it well.

01:25:45 And I do wanna see if this arc that we see

01:25:50 out of some of our key guys can continue, including Garrett.

01:25:53 That's what I wanna see.

01:25:54 But defensively, guys, you gotta pitch in

01:25:58 and help the staff find ways to,

01:26:02 this thing is thrown together

01:26:04 like a ransom note right now, right?

01:26:05 It's kind of glued together with patchwork.

01:26:08 We can find a way schematically.

01:26:11 If Aubrey's holding his own, if Lee Koba's holding his own,

01:26:14 if Sean Martin's holding his own,

01:26:16 if Beanie's holding his own, if you do that,

01:26:20 then they can dial up ways to help us get creative enough

01:26:24 to offset some of the losses we've had.

01:26:26 But you gotta do it.

01:26:27 So that's kind of what I'm looking at.

01:26:29 This is, for a host of reasons, Wes, obviously a big game,

01:26:32 but we play the underdog role well.

01:26:34 We embrace it, we relish in it.

01:26:36 Let's see if we can do it again,

01:26:39 hitting the road against what's gonna be

01:26:41 a very fired up Central, Central, I'm gonna say it again,

01:26:44 UCF team.

01:26:45 Sorry, guys.

01:26:46 - They're gonna come for you in the comments, Chin.

01:26:49 - That's all right, they're gonna come for me

01:26:51 for that dumb Rich Rod comment I made earlier.

01:26:53 They'll come at you for Central Florida.

01:26:55 So we'll both be under the heat.

01:26:58 I should have gone with Chip Kelly instead.

01:26:59 That would have been better.

01:27:00 Chip Kelly, explosive offenses.

01:27:02 Yeah, what, 10 years ago?

01:27:04 Where's that been ever since?

01:27:05 (laughing)

01:27:06 - Oh, I forgot you were talking about it.

01:27:08 I got you now, yeah.

01:27:09 Did we say Rowan Wands?

01:27:11 - Yeah, he's got a work thing.

01:27:14 They've got some corporate UPS stuff going on.

01:27:19 So yeah, so Big O had to be present at work.

01:27:23 So hopefully you've enjoyed Jed and I.

01:27:25 I'm with you, partner.

01:27:26 This is, listen, for UCF,

01:27:29 this is a crossroads game for both of these team seasons.

01:27:33 If you're UCF and you lose your three and five,

01:27:35 all of a sudden the bowl, get your O and five

01:27:37 in the Big 12 after a three and O start,

01:27:39 a bowl game feels like it's really tough to obtain.

01:27:43 And you're like, man, this is a really bad first year

01:27:45 in the Big 12.

01:27:46 You win, all of a sudden you're four and four.

01:27:49 You're like, all right, we win two of our last four games.

01:27:51 We make a bowl game our first year in the Big 12.

01:27:53 We'll have a chance to finish with a winning record,

01:27:55 all those things.

01:27:56 Your WVU, you lose your third game in a row.

01:27:59 You're back to four and four

01:28:00 after what was a really hot start.

01:28:02 And you're kind of thinking, oh man,

01:28:04 now we still got to play Oklahoma

01:28:05 and we got to really battle to go six and six

01:28:08 and make a bowl game here.

01:28:09 Your WVU and you win, you're five and three.

01:28:11 You're feeling better.

01:28:12 Yeah, you had that two game win streak.

01:28:14 Things didn't go your way.

01:28:15 You got back in the win column though.

01:28:16 You head back home against BYU for a chance

01:28:19 to get that bowl eligibility

01:28:20 and keep things moving in the right direction.

01:28:22 Maybe even still win something like eight games this year.

01:28:25 It's a big crossroad moment for two programs,

01:28:28 for two fan bases, for two coaching staffs.

01:28:30 I mean, all these things involved.

01:28:32 So high noon on Saturday, if you're going to be there,

01:28:36 'cause I've seen a lot of Mountaineer fans play.

01:28:38 We know there's a nice West Virginia contingent

01:28:40 in the Florida area.

01:28:41 And I think a lot of people just,

01:28:43 hey, it's a new team in the conference

01:28:45 who's back on the East Coast.

01:28:46 And yeah, I love a weekend in Florida

01:28:48 at the end of October when the weather will be perfect.

01:28:51 If you're going to be there,

01:28:52 make sure you're representing for the boys as well too.

01:28:55 You'll see Jed down there on the sideline

01:28:57 with his 37 different microphones

01:28:59 and his wristbands and all of his good stuff.

01:29:02 So I'm fired up for this one.

01:29:03 I'm excited.

01:29:04 Like I said, I love a noon road game

01:29:06 'cause I put the girls down for a nap at 1158

01:29:10 and I can just, as the good Lord intended,

01:29:12 go into the basement in the dark

01:29:14 and watch the WVU game by myself.

01:29:17 - I wanted to hear,

01:29:19 one of the reasons I was hoping Owen was here tonight

01:29:23 was I wanted to talk to him about facing a team

01:29:28 that is coming off a game like that

01:29:30 and facing a team that is trying to snap a losing streak.

01:29:34 'Cause there's times in his career he didn't both.

01:29:36 - Sure, sure.

01:29:37 Well, maybe we can get an answer from him

01:29:39 and I'll share it on the Phil Steele episode

01:29:41 or something like that.

01:29:42 But yeah, obviously,

01:29:44 this is not our last episode of the week.

01:29:46 We know we got Phil Friday coming up as well too.

01:29:48 I'll be pinch hitting for Jed on that one.

01:29:50 So Skylar and I will make sure to get Phil's thoughts,

01:29:53 of course, on this game,

01:29:54 all the other games around the Big 12.

01:29:55 Some other juicy top 25 games this weekend as well too.

01:29:59 You got the Cocktail Party, Florida and Georgia.

01:30:02 You got a top 15 matchup between Oregon and Utah.

01:30:05 So plenty of fun stuff to talk about with Phil on Friday.

01:30:09 Say that again?

01:30:10 - Contest.

01:30:11 - The Pick 'Em.

01:30:13 - Yeah. - Yes, of course, yes.

01:30:15 Make sure you're getting involved

01:30:16 with our Pick 'Em as well too.

01:30:17 We're still looking for our Neil Armstrong,

01:30:19 the first person to plant their flag on the ITG moon

01:30:22 and go four for four in the process.

01:30:24 You can find a link to that in our YouTube descriptions,

01:30:26 also on our Twitter page @InTheGunPodcast.

01:30:30 Follow us on Twitter.

01:30:31 We got a lot of stuff going on there.

01:30:33 Subscribe to YouTube as well too

01:30:35 to see all the visual element of this that we do.

01:30:37 And of course, the one thing that we ask of you as always

01:30:39 to close this out is to be in here

01:30:41 and tell in here about your new favorite

01:30:43 WVU football podcast.

01:30:44 For our producer Skylar Callahan,

01:30:46 our working man, Big O,

01:30:49 and of course, the Signal College Ed Drenning,

01:30:50 I am Wesley Uhler.

01:30:51 Take care, everybody.

01:30:52 We'll talk to you with Phil Steele tomorrow.

01:30:54 You've been In The Gun.

01:30:56 (door opening)

01:30:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]

ITG 107 - WVU/UCF Preview

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