scott and chauncey get ready for the saturday road trip to new orleans to take on tulane.
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Boscoe’s Boys
Time For The Wave. K-State vs Tulane Preview
This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. [MUSIC] Boom, the boys are back and it is time to put full attention on the game. Of course, we're going to have keys to the picks to click predictions at the end. We'll touch on a little news here before diving into Monday press availability. Players, we had Avery Johnson, Easton kilty, Jordan Riley, Brendan Mahadley, Pans are Austin Romaine and Braden Lofton as they're getting all the players in on Monday. Before the whip around show, we'll touch on anything that we hear from the coordinators. As they have press availability on Thursday, we'll also touch on any other news that may pop up between now and Thursday. We'll touch on some news right here. If you didn't listen to the Q&A episode, if you skipped that, that's all right. We still love you. The game on Saturday is on ESPN that wasn't announced until I think Sunday evening or Sunday afternoon. So, we knew it was going to be on the ESPN family and networks, but it will be the game following college game day. I'm not a massive college game day fan. That's fine. But since it's going to be the game following game day, that means the crew will pick the game. So, we'll see folks pick K-State versus Tulane. You'll probably see at least one person pick Tulane. It's probably going to be Desmond Howard, but hey, it's all right. So, it's always good to have that game. Again, you're going up against some heavy hitters. Fox and ABC always have a good game at 11. But again, I think 11 a.m., following up college game day is a good slot for this game. In the recruiting world for football, Brad Steiner committed to K-State on Monday afternoon. He's a defensive end from Grapevine, Texas. He's one of those guys who we've talked about with Drew here. We've had a couple recruiting updates. We had one in July right after he camped and one in August as well. And he's a guy who has been zeroed in on having one of the best camp performances at K-State this past summer down Grapevine, Texas. I would imagine he's a guy who's going to have some all conference and all state honors, all district honors down there in Texas. Not a lot of offers. I think he's going to be one of those kids who has a big senior season. You may see like an Arkansas or a Baylor, Houston try to come in here in the next couple months and it might be one where K-State tries to hold on. But this I think is going to be one of those heralded identification and development stories at defensive end at K-State seems to have had quite a few of. So good pickup. I'd imagine before the end of the month in September, we'll have Drew Galloway on for a Thursday conversation. That way we can get some recruiting updates. So we'll ask more about him when that time comes. If all goes to plan, should have a fun Thursday conversation tomorrow and we'll just leave it at that because it hasn't been recorded. So may have to scramble, but I don't think so. I think we're going to have the fun one for you guys. The AP and coaches poll released on Tuesday because there are still games on Monday. We may touch on these during the Q&A. We might hold it for the beginning of the show. Hopefully football gods willing will be able to talk and touch on all the different polls, the AP poll, the coaches poll, future college football playoff poll throughout the entire season. K-State did move up one spot in both polls, currently sitting at 17th in the coaches and 18th in the AP. Look, I like it. I like being in the top 20. Rankings aren't everything right now in the season, no, but it drives narrative. It gets you talked about on some of the national shows. You're on the scroll. You get your games picked on TV, on podcasts, all that type of stuff, so I'm pumped about it. And forgive me, it is 16 in the coaches poll, 17th in the AP polls, 16th in the coaches, 17th in the AP. So it's a good spot to be. Right on the fringe of the top 15, you got to keep taking care of business and some big games will be happening in Bells Snyder Family Stadium. It is not just K-State, the big 12 has five teams all ranked in the top 20, Utah is sitting at 11th in both polls, Oklahoma State is flip-flopped with K-State. So they are 17th in one poll, 16th in the other, Arizona is sitting at 20th and 18th in KU at 19th and 20th. So again, you got your top five teams in the big 12 all in the top 20. Iowa State is receiving votes in both polls and West Virginia and Colorado still receiving a couple votes in the AP poll. Two lane unofficially checking in at 38th and the AP poll are receiving four votes and 35th in the coaches poll with nine points themselves. So again, look, it's not going to be a ranked on ranking matchup, but you know, look, it's especially when you look at the big 12 slate of games, this might be what, you know, Iowa State has Iowa this upcoming week and of course West Virginia had Penn State, but two lanes better than South Dakota State, you know, two lanes better than Arkansas, two lanes better than Illinois. So this might be one of the top non-conference games so far in the big 12 play. Some of you might be saying, well, Scott, the big 12 really needs to do a better job scaling than a non-con, well, that might be a conversation for next June or July. We're in the season and I'm pumped for that game with two lane. Before we get into Chris Kleinman's presser, see what shout out to our friends at Manhattan Brewing Company. You guys know I just went down two misses here in Shawnee hashtag, no free ads, but I know they carry Manhattan Brewing Company. I had to give a couple more four packs for the game on Saturday. Look, talk to your local liquor stores. If they're not carrying Manhattan Brewing Company, say, hey, look, they're distributing it all through the state. I want some four packs so I can give you money and guess what? They're going to start stocking it. They want to take your money. You want to give them money, Manhattan Brewing Company wants their beer all over. So make sure you're talking to your local liquor store. Whether you're in Wichita or Manhattan, they will have the games on. It will be good vibes starting at 11 a.m. at both the brewery and tap room and the MBC lounge down there in Wichita. So if you need a spot to watch the game and you're either in the happiest city in America or the air capital of America, you can watch it and enjoy some delicious Manhattan Brewing Company beer. And don't worry, we'll be right back at it next Friday. So don't show up to tailgates empty handed. Make sure you're coming with some Manhattan Brewing Company, four packs and Crowlers. All right, let's get into the Chris Klimann press conference. Chris Klimann was making jokes about just seeing the media since it was a Saturday night game and then what you have the whole day on Saturday and then, what, 14 hours later? So it's like, what, like 36, 37, 38 hours in between press conferences. I hate it. I think it's stupid. I wish it was on Tuesday because I think that's, I think there's a little bit more information that comes from Chris Klimann because they haven't even had their first real practice. They haven't even had any sort of install by the time they talk on Monday, but it is what it is. I'm talked about how it will be an accelerated week. They'll be leaving for New Orleans early on Friday since it's in the 11 a.m. He talked about there's a lot of good things in the game on Saturday, but there were enough mistakes that you can really get their attention when they are going through the game film. Talking about there are a couple of routes that were off, a couple of blocking schemes that were off, some leverage, leverage coverages that weren't so great. So I said those are some things that you can use to get the attention of the players. So it sounds like film went really well also on Sunday and Monday. So we'll see what stuff gets cleaned up for Saturday. Talked about how they watch all sorts of Troy film last year, getting ready to play them, watch two lanes first game and there are some similarities but a lot of differences as well from some are all going from Troy to Tulane this past year or this current year. It is weird. It is a weird dynamic for K state to be playing the same coach and some of the same assistant coaches as well back to back years, but with different teams. So we'll see how much of last year versus Troy, how much they can spill over to this year. It's a ton, but I do think that they can get a few things. He went down and gave a ton of praise for guys on Tulane's offense. Talking about their running back, who was all conference, a lot of praise for their young quarterback who won that job said he had a good week one and also a lot of praise for their experienced offensive line says that they give you a lot to deal with on both sides of the ball. So we'll see what happens also a lot of praise for the defense. There's talk about how good Tulane has been historically on defense and how that was something that the Troy team's really tried to hang their hat on said that it is going to be a battle on both sides of the ball. He was asked a question about 2022 versus 2024 and there were a couple of different ways these questions were asked, but a lot of it was like, hey, there's been a lot of turnover and rosters between the two teams said that, hey, you know, what really gave us trouble. Their defense first offense last year or not last year in 2022 was how well they tackled. But there's, I mean, what I don't know how many defensive contributors are still back from that. I'm also talked about how at least for him, there's no revenge aspect, maybe if Willie fits in that entire coaching staff was still Tulane, but really it's just the big important thing isn't revenge. But it's getting this young group for their first true road game all together. He says that they have an entire plan already in place that started right after the game on Saturday to make sure everyone is hydrated and ready for the heat and humanity down in New Orleans. Again, I'm not overly worried about it, they have to deal with it too. And while it's been a mild summer, it's not like these guys didn't have some hundred degree days that they were having to practice through in the summer. It's not like, you know, we're up in Minnesota. It's not like we're up, you know, at Northwestern practicing right off of Lake Michigan every single week. It's not like you're up in, you know, Oregon and Washington where you have these super mild summers. Yes, it was mild for Kansas standards, but I don't think that it's going to really be a massive detriment. It will be something to monitor, but I think they're going to be all right. He was asked about Avery running the ball. Again, this is something that I wanted to see more. I've been told I'm stupid, I'm dumb, I just, I'm giving up on it. Only run Avery when necessary, but Chris Conman did say that there were a handful of plays that were true reads for Avery Johnson and that they were just UT Martin, that is, were just taking it away. He said, hey, there might be some weeks where they decide, hey, we're going to let the quarterback keep it, we're going to stay at home and take care of the running back and Avery might have a lot of runs. So I do think, and honestly, that's probably accurate, a read option has always been a big part of the Chris Kleinman era on offense, so it does make sense. A few of those would have been called and they were just give situations, give reads. He said that it's still a dead heat for quarterback two, and he just went with Jacob Knuth because he's been here longer. He said that he's really glad that both guys got a series. Do I believe it's still a dead heat? I don't know. I sure like what Jacob Knuth did better, but again, you're playing with backups. It's tough to truly say, but I trust Chris Kleinman, I trust Matt Wells. I trust Connor Riley to make the best decisions, hopefully only in garbage time, but I trust them. I very rarely have I been dead set thinking that I had it right. They had it wrong when it comes to playing time, so we'll just keep it rolling. Austin Moore, we talked about this in the game review. He was on a snap restriction. They pulled him at half time, but it wasn't just because he was on a restriction. They wanted to see Rex fan why get out there. I thought Rex played well, Aced didn't play. It sounds like they're optimistic they can get him in this upcoming week, but it sounds like it's still up in the air, obviously there hadn't been a practice yet, so maybe that will be something Joe Clanderman touches on Thursday, we'll address it at the top of the whip around show. He said when they were charting explosive plays, it was 13 to 3 versus Eugene Martin. Again, I think that is good. I think they call explosives anything over 10 yards, so again, they did a good job. Probably was too tough on the offense, especially as good as the running game was. There were a handful, there's like four good passing plays still being too hard, but if you can limit to lanes, explosives, because they had a few good ones, that would be massive. Continued praise from Chris Clanderman for Sam Hecht again, I've heard a lot of stuff. Most of the folks I respect when it comes to breaking down film and breaking down games really have high praise for Sam Hecht, so it was good to get that in the first game from the first time starter. He said, "Hey, being down in the turnover margin is not a good thing." He said that is the biggest sign of not having enough discipline and not creating opportunities, but he did say the block punt that immediately was a touch on that same play does take some of that sting away. He was asked about Toby Osensami, he said that he's come a long way since the spring, that's when they moved him down to the DN room, put on some more weight. He said that we don't want him to be just a third down specialist, but that's just where his role is right now. Again, we saw him stick, come in a little, or at least stick around for more than just third down, but I don't think it's a bad thing. I think obviously the hope is to turn him into more of an every down player, but I thought I think Toby could have a massive year even if he is just that third down specialist. Only two things that the final two things that really took away was the playbook and how some of the things roll are going to depend on what the opponent gives you. Avery touched on this, Chris Conman touched on this and said, "Hey, the game also went by pretty fast. They left some good stuff in the playbook, so I am hoping we get to see some of that expanded stuff first to Lane." Again, the final thing was tablets and in-helmet communication still work in progress, especially in-helmet communication for defense said that there was only a few times where they called in plays over that, and they're still working on the most efficient ways to use those tablets. That's what we had from Chris Conman. You're probably going to hear some ads, some commercials here real quick, and then we're going to talk about what we heard from the players. We don't take away as much from the players as we do from the coordinators on Thursday or Chris Conman. He pointed out that he only played 43 snaps and echoed some of the sentiment that they left some good stuff in the playbook. He did admit that the first half things were a little flat. They didn't really do too much, but he was really proud of how they got things going in the second half. The only thing I think we all agree with again, we touched on it in the game review episode, in the Q&A episode. I think everyone is lockstep with how they feel about the first half versus second half, but honestly, the more and more every day that goes by, the less and less I'm worried about it. He didn't say on the interception that he thinks he read it right. It's a throw he can make. It was just too flat. Again, I think that is something that I thought in the moment, it's something I thought when I watched the replay, it was a bad interception. I'm not going to sit here and say it wasn't, but I don't think it's something that we're going to probably see again. I think that there will be some growing pains, but Avery is so smart and he goes about things like a professional that I doubt we see him make the same mistake multiple times very often. I think he's going to be one of those guys where hey, made this one mistake never again. He says it's exciting to play on the road, you get to be a little bit of the villain, and this is something where I think that 2022 team was great at. I think the 2022 team loved being booed. There was something about that team that they had a swagger and you could see it. I don't know if I really see that or I didn't see it in 2023. Quite frankly, I feel like they kind of shrunk when the crowd was against them and the lights were bright and was it because there was not as much togetherness. It's something I talked about on Monday's show that it was a small thing, or maybe it was yesterday, I can't quite remember, but it's a small thing, but you can see that this team has that camaraderie, they have that togetherness, and I think that's what allows you to play the bad guy, play the villain when teams are booing you and really rise to that occasion, and I love that Avery's already talking about it, so I'm really hoping we see that. I hope I see that in person when I go up to Provo Utah here in a couple weeks, but just hearing him verbalize that got me really excited, so I'm hoping we see a good version of villain Avery on Saturday. The final thing, he said, "Hey, people were not happy when we lost to Lane in 2022, and the emphasis isn't necessarily revenge, but you can't overlook anybody." Again, I think later on, I don't know if it made my notes, but Hadley Panzer talked about how that game really left a sour taste in everyone's mouth. I think he said bitter taste in everyone's mouth back in 2022. Again, I don't know how much of it is, "Hey, revenge or any of that," but I do think it's like, "Hey, we lost to these guys in 2022, it might be a different coaching staff, might be a lot of different guys," but you can't overlook anyone. Easton Kilti, very quiet guy, you could see that he was really trying to give thoughtful answers, really, the stuff that I took away, though, is that it was a loud atmosphere. It's something he's never experienced and said that it doesn't really change anything on the offense, but he knows that it's going to change the way the game is played for the opponents in loud stadium. We'll see how much noise there is in Tulane, how much that affects him, will be something maybe to keep an eye on. He echoed a little bit what Avery said, said, "Hey, the offensive line specifically started off slow, but they really found their rhythm in the second half," and then he said, "Hey, DJ and Dylan are just really athletic and they're so good, they make us look good." Easton Kilti really just checked all the boxes, praised the fans, praised the skill players, owned up to what was a slow start for the unit and just solid media appearance for Easton Kilti. Warren Riley, he's the only one who looks like he's having a fun time in the media. He said in that first game, he was still making sure he knew his role, maybe played a little slower than he wanted it to be, but that will not be the case this week. Also said that, "Hey, we could have swarmed a little bit better," so you could tell that he might have been called out on a player too for not sticking his nose in, but you can see the excitement. I think he's really excited to go on the road, he said that Tulane does a lot of motion, they have a lot of formations, isn't anything that they can't take care of though. I think Jordan Riley is loving his time at Casey and I think he's really looking forward to Saturday. You had Brendan Mott out there and he said that he was pumped about the night that the defensive line had out there. Also said that, "Hey, they've talked about the Tulane game and going down to the Louisiana heat all summer," said that they'll be ready for that one. Then he was asked about Tulane's younger quarterback and I think he was asked how important is it to rattle a young quarterback early. He said, "Hey, it's always important to get to the quarterback early in the game, maybe a little bit more so for a young quarterback." Then he said that the team is really going to focus this week on trying to force more turnovers on Saturday. Hadley Panzer, not much, he did a dress and said, "Hey, looking over the tape, they did start slow and they picked up and got things going." A lot of the offensive guys touch on this and it's not that you thought that they wouldn't see it, that they're like, "I don't know if these fans are complaining about." It's them owning up to it and taking kind of a, "Hey, we understand." I think if you're publicly acknowledging, "Hey, we saw the issue," I think it makes it easier for you to step up and solve that issue going into the game. I'm really going to be interested. I'm starting to feel like the offense might really start off gangbusters on Saturday. Austin Romaine, I think this is the first time I've seen extended media availability with him, said that he feels real good about where he was in that first game. Missed a couple tackles, but he said again, he thought himself and all the linebackers graded out well, said, "The defense is a hole really played well and that when you compare things to last year, the game has slowed down for him and he's locked in on what his game week routine is." And that was really nice. And then Brayden Lofton was out there, he said it's real special to get that touchdown. He said he saw the corner blitz and he knew he could get the edge on that wheel route and again, that goes to the scheme and the identification from the players out there that he was able to see what the defense was in, make the correct variation on his route and boom, touchdown. And then he said, "Hey, we didn't show everything we had on offense," which has also become a very prevalent statement from some of the offensive guys, but he did say that they played well together, which I was happy to hear. All right, before we get into what I'll be looking for in this two-lane game, give a shout out to our friends at Charlie Hustle. Really as I was recording this episode, I was in contact with Charlie Hustle. And let's just say the September giveaway is going to be massive. Shout out to our friends at Charlie Hustle, of course, not only are they providing us with giveaway prizes every single month all the way through March, but they are home to the best-looking, most comfortable, officially licensed K-State gear in the game. Make sure you're shopping at charliehustle.com to be the most stylish K-State fan, whether at home on the road or watching from your couch, literally rocking a t-shirt right now. Like I said earlier this week, it's in the 50s when Chauncey and I are going on a morning walk, so that is crew, neck, weather, absolutely love it. Make sure you are linked up with Charlie Hustle today again at charliehustle.com or here in the Kansas City Metro. Charlie Hustle vintage made fresh. All right, the things I'll be looking for and really the number one thing is I want to see the passing game make it jump and improvement from week one to week two and look if it's not working. If they try to get things rolling early in the game, don't hesitate to just ground and pound. Again, Tulane, I believe, is talented enough that if you play with your food a little bit too much, things are going to get far too dicey for my liking. So again, I want to see jumps in the passing game and if it's not there, let's just run the hell out of the ball. The other thing is I'm going to hope to see consistency from the defense. I think it's a gradual ramp up in these three games. Tulane's offense is going to be a lot better than UT Martin and Arizona is going to be exponentially better than Tulane. So again, if you can see some of that same consistency, if you can get to the quarterback on a consistent basis, if you can have good coverage by your secondary, if your linebackers can clean up the trash in the running game, I'm going to feel really good as we progress past this game and start looking towards Arizona next Friday. I also will be interested to see if we see more aggressive play calling. Are they going to allow Avery to get out of the pocket to keep things going? Are we going to see a few more designed runs? Again, I don't think we have to. I mean, again, I understand we're not going to use Avery like Colin Klein. I would just like to see him use his best weapon, which is still his legs just a little bit more in this game. Again, even if that doesn't happen, if we win by five touchdowns, I'll be, I can deal with things. I'm an adult and can deal with my emotions. If the offense is a little iffy, we don't see much quarterback run and we win by five touchdowns. But for that all season long, I'll quickly get past it. I think similar to this past week, I think, at least for me, I think I got over it pretty quickly. Last thing I'll be looking for is, and this is tougher to watch when you're at home, but I'll be interested to see what the participation report looks like because you're not going to see some of the rotation on the back end on defense or even what some of the wide receivers are rotating in and out when you're just watching on TV. It's going to be hot. It's going to be sticky. Like I said earlier, I don't think it's anything these guys can't deal with, but I think it will be something worth keeping an eye on. What's on the line for this game? Look, Chris Kymans lost to Navy, to Lane and Arkansas State. He's had to deal with the reputation of struggling with G5 teams. I think right now his record's three and three, 500 record versus G5 teams. So if he loses this one, I believe he falls under 500 and that'll be something that hangs over his head for a while. I think it'll be a long time and he's going to have a hard time shaking that off. Again, I don't care. You can lose the G5 game every single year if you're winning the Big 12 championship, but it is something that's going to be on the line, this narrative that will start to build. Playing in big games is a lot of fun. A lot of fun. And take care of business versus to Lane, you're going to be having a top 20 matchup versus Arizona in Friday, which believe it or not, that will be the first top 20 matchup in Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Chris Klimans time at K State in the first one since the Auburn game in 2014. Again, that would be the first time since 2014 that we've had a top 20 matchup in Bill Snyder Family Stadium. You know, there's a couple of times that some other teams haven't kept up their end of the bargain and a couple of times your case state wasn't in the top 20 playing other top 20 teams, but it'll be the first time top top 20 versus top 20. So I'm looking forward to it. And then the last thing that's on the line is momentum, K State, you know, they're being put in different bracketologies, they're being talked about in the playoff conversation. Again, as much as stupid as I think that is, it does dominate the college football zeitgeist. And if you lose this game for better or worse, even though it has zero bearing on the big 12 race, even though it has zero bearing on what K State's path to the playoff and relevancy in the suits eyes. We all know it taken until mid to late October to recover from this loss. If you enjoy being talked about, if you enjoy seeing a high number next to your name, if you enjoy different podcasts, you know, parachuting in to give their 32nd take on the K State game that week. So again, it's really relevance for, you know, the next six weeks is gone if you lose this game. So again, nothing, none of those things are dire. Again, nothing is dire until you get to conference play. Nothing is dire until you're talking about, you know, games that directly lead to Arlington. But those are a lot of fun things that are on the line are not so fun with the narrative about Chris climbing and G5 team. So it isn't the end of the world if you lose the game, but, you know, it does damper some of the fun that we may get to have as this season goes on, at least over the next five, six weeks. All right, now it's time for our keys to V for this game case again, traveling down to New Orleans to play to Lane. The first one is get a fast start off and again, I get the vibe that the offensive players really want to get going fast after the slow start last week. You know, you started off that three and out. You did get a touch on the second drive, but then you had a turnover on the third drive and really just based on the blocked punt and then, you know, you had a field goal that stalled out at the end of the half and then the turnover to start the second half. It really felt again, the more and more I step away from that game, it felt worse than it was. But again, not only to keep the vibes high with your own offense, but you want to get off to a hot start because you don't want to allow, you know, your opponent to have the belief, especially a G5 game, especially a G5 game on the road. If you allow them to believe the crowd gets more into it, the opponent gets more into it. And then all of a sudden you are truly going to be in a four quarter dogfight. The next one is limit the big plays from Tulane again, Tulane had six players and their opener with at least one rush over 10 yards, five different players with at least one reception over 10 yards. Mario Williams had a 68 yard play and 124 yards on four catches and a 13 yard rush. Shady Clayton also had a 28 yard run and Ray Cornis had an 18 yard rush and then even their lead back, not as much of a home run header, but I think he ended up with over 60 yards himself. So again, they had a handful of big plays versus Southeast Louisiana. If you can limit those, if you can keep it under five or six, I got to feel that that is going to be a measure for victory for K-State on Saturday. The next one is can you go back to back weeks with massive special teams plays in the plus column? Yes, there were mistakes made for a handful of the units on Saturday, but that block punt touchdown, that was an absolutely massive one and at a time that you needed it. You go back to back with a blocking kick, scheme have a return that goes to the crib. Any of these would be absolutely massive. And again, I feel like this team is talented enough and good enough that if you also couple all that with a massive special team's play, you're going to be hard to beat no matter who's across from you on the field. And then the final one, it's the most basic key to be, it's something you hear 17 times a week if you listen to Sports Talk Radio, but look, I truly think that if you win the turnover battle, you're going to win this game. Look, last week, we didn't, we were over two and especially with as much of an emphasis as they were trying to make that in the offseason, the fact that you weren't able to get any of them, kind of disappointed me a little bit. And then also the two turnovers that really were not the result of massive, great plays from UT Martin. If you can prevent that, if you're not taking scoring opportunities away from yourself, if you're not putting too lane in good field position, again, I think this defense is good enough that if you make them go the entire field, if you make them have to cover 60 yards to get in the field goal range, you have a good shot of either forcing a turnover hopefully because of the emphasis or getting them to punt. So I think that's going to be a massive one. So again, my four keys to V start fast on offense, limit the big plays, go back to back games with a massive special team's play and again, very basic of me, but win the turn over margin. Again, that's what we have. We will grade the keys to V on Monday's show as we review the game. Going to picks to click again, I was accused of being too hard on him and he was the pick last week and it didn't come to fruition, but I'm doubling back on it. I think Avery Johnson has a big game. I think we see a little bit of the Avery Johnson that we hyped up in the offseason, the Avery Johnson that was worthy of some national praise last year. I think he's going to have a big game and I think we're going to see probably not the origin story of villain Avery. I think that was the five touchdown game, Texas Tech, where he really put some sauce on it. But I think we're going to see that persona take over in a big game from Avery Johnson. The next one is I'm going with Desmond Purnell. He did everything last week. And again, I'm taking the easy way out on both of these, but Desmond was so good last year and he played the most plays of anyone in the game where there was a ton of rotation on both sides. I think he had 46, 47 plays last week, which is most on the team. And I think that he is kind of the heartbeat of this defense. Again, you have swagger, you have personality, other spots on the field. But the way he was moving, the way he was getting involved in almost every play last week, I mean, it was just a football players dream. So he is going to be my pick to click. So again, the two picks to click offense, Avery Johnson and Desmond Purnell, the Topeka Cats on defense. Time to get into our game picks and man, boneheads, when we went head to head on games, I got the best of you. So last week, I went 14 in one, only missing out on the USC LSU game. Boneheads went 10 and 5. You guys went 0 and 4 in games we disagreed on. You guys also were with me with LSU over USC man, Brian Kelly, woof, all right. Game day is at the same location as big noon. It is Texas at Michigan up in Ann Arbor. I have Texas, you know, I know it's on the road, but I think they do it with relativies. The boneheads had Texas as well and that one was also quite the blowout. Look, I'm shocked the spread is as low as it is if you are someone who likes to gamble a little bit on those games, but yeah, it was not close at all. The next one we have BYU traveling to Dallas for a game between the Cougars, the Blue Cougars and the SMU ponies. The boneheads have BYU, so they're being good, big 12 members. They have Kalani Satake's, you know, BYU Cougars, boneheads, boneheads, boneheads. I hate to do it to you because I'm going to get this one right head to head as well. But I'm going with the ponies. I think SMU gets it done sadly. Again, I'm rooting for the big 12 most of the time. This is one I'm definitely doing it, but I think SMU gets it together after some less than inspiring play in week zero, but I think they get it done. We'll keep our eye on UT Martin rest of the year. I don't think we're going to predict every single one of their games, but they are traveling to the rival of CMO. I have UT Martin winning, trying to embark on their quest for a piece of a 4th straight Ohio Valley championship. Boneheads also rocking with UT Martin, and one that will definitely form narratives if it goes the wrong way. Arkansas travels a T-boom pickon stadium, Oklahoma State looked very good for South Dakota State. The defending two time defending FCS national champions. I have them taking down Arkansas. Boneheads are right there as well. Lots of confidence by the boneheads pit. The pit panthers come to Nippert Stadium to play the Cincinnati Bearcats. I'm taking Cincinnati. They beat pit pit last year on the road. I think they do it again. Boneheads are going with the pit panthers and a close one. It is a non-conference game. Baylor is traveling up to Salt Lake City to play the Utah Utes. I have a lot of confidence in Utah, and so do the boneheads. El Asico, Iowa State going to Iowa City. I have Iowa. If the Cyclones do pull this off, I imagine I have to eat some words, and it's really going to set them up for a hot start before they really play the meat of their schedule, setting them up for some momentum that might be tough to stop. I know it would be good for the conference if I was State 1. I don't know if I can bring myself to cheer for him though. One of the closer votes of the week, the boneheads are also going with the black and gold, which might be a little confusing because Iowa State refuses to claim their own colors, but they're going with Iowa. KU travels up to Illinois. It's a game that opened up, the spread opened up with three points, it's gotten up to as high as seven. I have KU in a game that might be tight early, but I think by the mid third quarter through the end of the game, KU gets a win relatively stress-free. Boneheads have KU winning the game moderately close vote, but pretty confident in KU by the boneheads. Colorado traveling up to Nebraska. I have Nebraska, maybe I'm a prime hater, maybe I like Matt rule too much, but I don't think it's close. I think Nebraska gets us by two or three possessions. Boneheads are also on Nebraska by a decent amount. Texas Tech at Washington State, was it a fluke for Texas Tech last week or are they in trouble? I'm rocking with Texas Tech, but it might be scary going up to Pullman. Boneheads have Texas Tech in a close one as well. Mississippi State at Arizona State, I think the boneheads are buying into the SEC bias a little much. They have Mississippi State, it was a close vote, but they have the Bulldogs. I'm going with the Sun Devils. They might be a little spicier than we anticipated, so we'll see. In a rivalry game that is dubbed I-35, Maroon versus Orange, UTSA goes to Texas State. This is going to be one of the better games in the AAC, the American this year. No, no, no, Texas State's in the Sun Belt, right? I don't know. I'm pretty sure Texas State's in the Sun Belt, man, man, honestly, this is embarrassing. I should know if there's Sun Belt or AAC, okay, there's Sun Belt, there we go. So AAC versus the Sun Belt, I think this is going to be a great game and something that I'm definitely going to keep my eye on. The boneheads are going with our old friends, meet, meet the roadrunners. I'm going with the Bobcats, I'm going with the home team. All right, in Charlotte, North Carolina, Tennessee and NC State face off, I have the volunteers big, so do the boneheads. And look, I wanted to like this game, I wanted to be excited for this game, but man, NC State looks so bad in their opening game, I don't think this is going to be much of a game at all. And an ACC matchup, I only picked this one, it's a conference game and the spread was closed, Virginia at Wake Forest, boneheads have Virginia by a decent amount, I mean again, I don't really have a stance on this game. I'll pick Wake Forest to see if the boneheads can get one on me. All right, and now it is time for the main attraction, Casey, heading down to New Orleans for the game, verse two lane. Super specific prediction for this one is, look, I'm going to say Avery has three designed runs and three scrambles and surpasses 80 yards rushing in this game. And the boneheads, they're big on K State 92%, I'm going K State 27 to lane 17, a little closer than I would want it to be. I would love for that to be a little bit more like 34, 17, 31, 17, 34, 20. But I think Casey gets a couple scores early, things get dicey in the middle of the game and then they get a couple scores late to ice the game out or one score late to ice the game out. But I think it's going to be a little bit more stressful than we want it to be. But it's going to be a K State win nonetheless. That's all we have tomorrow. We should have a great episode of Thursday Conversations Friday will have the whip around shout out to our sponsors Manhattan Brewing Company and Charlie Hessel, vintage made fresh. For Chauncey Basker, the best dog in the world, my name is Scott McFarland. We love you guys and go cats. Hail to the purple, hail to the white, wildcat in spirit, wildcat in fight, hail Alma Mater From sea to sea, onward forever, hail victory. You can stay wild cats for Alma Mater fights, glory in the combat for the purple and the white, faithful to our colors. We will ever be a fighting, ever fighting, for a wildcat victory. Fight, fight, fight, fight. You can stay wild cats for Alma Mater fight, fight, fight, fight. Glory in the combat for the purple and the white, faithful to our colors. We will ever be a fighting, ever fighting, for a wildcat victory. You can stay wild cats for Alma Mater fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. You can stay wild cats for Alma Mater fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. You can stay wild cats for Alma Mater fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. You can stay wild cats for Alma Mater fight, fight, fight, fight, fight. This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. [BLANK_AUDIO]