[music] ♪ It's the moment of the evening ♪ ♪ Every can stay thin and yours ♪ ♪ Little down and board a whiskey ♪ ♪ Back open a little broy ♪ ♪ Please put your hands together ♪ ♪ And make a little noise ♪ ♪ For your favorite wildcatters ♪ ♪ The handsome Bosco boys ♪ ♪ Ooh, Bosco's boys ♪ ♪ Come on boys ♪ Jewelry isn't a gift you give just once. It's a way to remind your loved one of a beautiful moment every time they see it. Blue Nile can help you find the gift that says how you feel and says it beautifully with expert guidance and a wide assortment of jewelry of the highest quality at the best price. Go to bluenile.com and experience the convenience of shopping Blue Nile, the original online jeweler since 1999, that's bluenile.com to find the perfect jewelry gift for any occasion, bluenile.com. Boom, the boys are back and it is time for our first Friday whip around episode of the year and I'm excited for it. I will, you know, hear up front. I will touch on a little bit of news. Really the only news is we got the full list of NFL players to start the season. I'll touch on Connor Riley and Joe Clanderman's media availability from Thursday afternoon and then we'll get into the primer. So we got Mitch Fortner giving us the K-State primer. I have a quick conversation with Davis Gregory, the play-by-play voice of the UT Martin Skyhawks for the UT Martin Primer. So you guys are getting a little bit more of me than you usually would. Then we'll kick it to Brandon Phoenix of the Raspy Voice Kids who has a small little preview for the big 12 game of the week. West Virginia hosting Penn State on big noon kickoff. And then I have like a small wildcat roundup where I talk a little bit about A.J. to Bunza coming to town for his official visit this weekend. And I just talked about how excited I am for K-State Volleyball. Nothing really of substance, but K-State Volleyball does tip off tonight, 6 p.m. versus a top 10 Purdue squad on the road. Big 10 network, I think it'd be worth watching. We got the full list, we got a press release of the K-State players who were starting the season in the NFL. When it was sent out, it was 19 guys. But luckily Duke Shelley did get picked up by the New York Jets, or excuse me, the New York Giants on the practice squad putting it at 20. Sadly, no Echo Boydo or Phillip Brooks on the Chiefs practice squad. I was a little surprised to see that, but it does seem like there is a little bit of shuffling still to go. So hopefully those guys can lock on somewhere on practice squad. So we got 19 more. So Duke Shelley practice squad with the Giants. We got Felix and Yudike Uzama for the second year with the Chiefs. Cooper Beebe in his rookie year with the Dallas Cowboys. Juju Brent's second year with the hometown Indianapolis Colts. Khalid Duke, he makes the practice squad as an undrafted rookie with Tennessee. Josh Hayes in year two with Tampa Bay. Timmy Horn placed on injured reserve, but he is with the New York Giants. Same with Malik Knowles with Minnesota. That's Timmy Horns third year. This is Malik Knowles first year, but he was on rookie injured reserve last year. KT Love also on injured reserve on his rookie year. We got Tyler Lockett in year 10 with Seattle. Cornelius Lucas still rocking one of three cats with the Washington commanders in his 10th year. Adrian Martinez on the practice squad with the Jets. Byron Pringle still rolling another one with Washington in his seventh year. DJ Reed with the Jets in his sixth year. Dalton Reisner starting the year on injured reserve as well with Minnesota. His sixth year, Ben Senate with Washington rookie year. Skylar Thompson going into year three as Miami's backup quarterback. He won out a very heated battle for that backup job. Deuce Vaughn making the team. It was a little close for him, but he's going to his second year with Dallas. Cody Whitehair in year number nine, he is with the Las Vegas Raiders. And then Russ Yeast in year three with the Los Angeles Rams. Currently sitting on 20 guys on rosters, whether it's practice squad on the team or on injured reserve. Again, really hoping, really hoping that we can get Echo Boydone Phillip Brooks on some practice squad rosters, especially Echo Boydone. Echo really, really deserves it. Before we get into the coordinator press conferences, we will get a shout out to our friends over at Charlie Hustle. Look, keep an eye on their website because I think they're going to have a pretty big Labor Day weekend sale. So get over there, check out what they have. They always have great stuff. So I guarantee you can find something that you like and on sale. They are the home of the best looking and most comfortable official license case here in the game. So check them out charliehustle.com or right here in the Kansas City Metro. All right, we got Connor Riley and Joe Clanderman press availability. Both went about 10 minutes. Connor Riley was asked what his game plan's going to look like. And he said, look, I know it's going to sound like it's coach speak, but it's going to be a gentle game plan. We have a young team wants to execute at a high level, play fast, look to improve, be efficient in the running game and get the ball into our playmaker's hands. Again, this is about what I expect. At the same time we talked on Wednesday. I don't think you can completely mail this game out. I think you are going to have to find out, okay, does this work with this personal group or does it not? I don't want to go into New Orleans next week and be still trying to figure out, you know, some of the fringe stuff in the playbook and whether it's going to work out or well or not. Again, I think we should be able to beat Tulane. I think it really should be around a two possession, three possession type game. It shouldn't be overly stressful. But it might get like that if you're still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. So I'll be interested to see how things really do look on Saturday and what the game plan looks like. He was asked a lot about the depth pieces on the offensive line and he said, hey, the flexibility with a lot of these guys is what allows for some good depth and continued progression in different battles throughout the season and hopefully they can get to the point where later in the season, you do feel as comfortable in the depth as you have the last two years. Connor Riley says he feels better and he says that the depth has improved over the last four weeks, but probably not quite where it was the last two years. He was also asked about, you know, hey, what's the plan for getting other guys out on the field? And I don't know who asked that question. It was a bad question because Chris Klimann kind of said it on Monday and Connor Riley echoed it. He said, hey, look, I've been on the other side. I've been the FCS coach. There's plenty of us here that have been on the side of the FCS upset. We're not planning for any of it. If the occasion arises that we can get folks in there, then that's how we'll handle it. Honestly, the fact that that is what they're saying. And again, I don't listen to other coaches' press conferences. I don't know how other coaching staffs handle games versus FCS teams, but I think the fact that our staff and our team are taking it so seriously, that's why I don't think we'll ever really have a big FCS scare unless there is an injury and knock on wood that hopefully will never happen. Talked about the helmet communication, you say he's very comfortable with it, but that said how they use it in week one may not be how they're using in week five and six. I think it will be a learning curve as they're figuring it out. Final thing I took away, and again, this wasn't everything. These were just the big takeaways. He said his heart pours out for Camden BB. I don't know if we've talked about it on the show, but he had to medically retire. He had a couple back surgeries. He was going through rehab and when he was trying to get back at it, the same issues kept popping up. So he decided to retire. We wish all the best to Camden and the BB family, but he is going to be a student coach. It sounds like he's going to be up in the press box with the offensive coaches during the season. So we wish Camden the best. I have no doubt, such a great kid, such a great family. I've no doubt Camden BB is going to succeed wherever life takes them. Joe Clanderman was asked about Marquis Siegel being named one of the captains. Tons of praise for him, really pointing out that, hey, he's only been here for like 18 months and he already has the respect of the guys. I think that is such a good point. He came in, he was a transfer last year. I think he got in for spring, but he has commanded so much respect out of the locker room. I think that says a lot about his character. Joe Clanderman threw more praise on and said, "Hey, he's still working like he's trying to earn everything." And that's what you want to see in your leaders. And I'm pumped, again, I know I went with Des Prenel's, my defensive MVP, but I think Marquis Siegel is going to turn a lot of heads this season. He said that this team can handle hard coaching. They can handle adversity. He's excited to unleash the crew. I got goosebumps when Clanderman was talking about that. It's kind of praise for Austin Romaine since he's improved night and day from last year. It's fun seeing him turning into a leader. When asked about what part of the team improved the most from the beginning of camp to the end, he pointed out to the cornerback depth. That's something that we've been talking a lot about the last couple of weeks. A lot of praise for Justice James, for Dunbar, for McIntosh. Again, I think you have five guys that you feel good about. I know Keneidle Thomas is coming back from injury and he played a little bit last year. So hopefully he can get into some special teams and get on the field as well. I think that the depth should be there. And I think folks are really starting to get excited after the last couple of weeks from those depth cornerbacks. Only a couple more things. Talked about Asa Newsom saying that he is a tremendous athlete. Said that he could maybe be on the track and field team. Excuse me, I don't have a cough button. Says that he plays with a lot of speed and does stuff violently. That's what you want out of a linebacker. Talked about how at the start of camp, maybe he was a little bit tentative and hesitant with his knee, but once they got into football situations, he was rolling. Was talking about how he was just gonna get better and better throughout this upcoming season. Then the final takeaway, of course, you know, I'm part of the Desmond Purnell fan club. He talked about how Dez is a guy who doesn't get enough credit, talks about how he's a leader. And hey, he can be a little more confrontational about it. He says that the team needs something like that. Something that I took away, something to keep an eye out. He said that they're going to use him as a Mike backer in some of the packages, that he's been learning all three spots on the defense. So you might see Desmond Purnell kind of bopping around to a couple of different spots throughout this season. So that's something to keep an eye out. That's all I have. It's time to get into the primers. Again, we're going to start with Mitch Fortner, giving the K-State primer, then it'll be myself and Davis Gregory. Talked about you, T. Martin. Brandon Phoenix of the Raspy Voice Kids to get you some West Virginia talk and then a little bit of a quick Wildcat round up there at the end. So thank you for joining us. Thank you for a great game week. Thank you for a great off season and preseason. Football is truly back. Jewelry isn't a gift you give just once. It's a way to remind your loved one of a beautiful moment every time they see it. Blue Nile can help you find the gift that says how you feel and says it beautifully, with expert guidance and a wide assortment of jewelry of the highest quality at the best price. Go to bluenile.com and experience the convenience of shopping Blue Nile, the original online jeweler since 1999. That's bluenile.com to find the perfect jewelry gift for any occasion, bluenile.com. (upbeat music) What's up, Bosco's boys. My name is Mitch Fortner. I am the host of the game on News Radio KMAN. Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. Where have you listened to your podcast? Search for the game on 1350Kman. I am most of the host of PowerCAD GameDay. We kick off the show four hours prior to every K-State football game, home and on the road. Haven't you crew with me this year? Joining the show, Mason Voth from K-State Online. Tim Everson, he is the editor, the sports editor for the Mercury here in Manhattan. And also former K-State player, former tied in, former fullback, Zack Nemechek will be on the show as well. Played 50 games for Bill Snyder. And he was a big 12 champion in 2012. So I'm very excited about that new crew. As the cats take on, UT Martin, a team that with the votes in the FCS poll would be 27th in the nation. You can follow me on Twitter @mitchthefort and right before I lay this fresh coat of primer here on Bosco's boys for this K-State football season. A big thank you to Mr. Wildcat himself for having me back. All right, storylines for the off season. There was one big one. It was back in June when K-State basketball coach, Jerome Tang got his final guy in Coleman Hawkins. And since then, we have been waiting for this K-State football season to get here because there wasn't a whole lot of stuff to talk about. Well, really there was. And there were some real storylines. And let's touch on a few of those. First of all, some coaching changes. Obviously, Connor Riley is not gonna be the offensive coordinator. Looking to see his true style now that we get into a new season. After the trial run for the PopTarts Bowl, he wins the game. Avery Johnson's the MVP. But she'll also add on Matt Wells, who is a quarterback whisperer, who's gonna put his own twist. Would not major changes, but his own twist. A few tweaks to the K-State offense. Now, I think it's gonna make it much better. And I think it's perfect time to have these three guys along with Avery Johnson come together with their giant brains and make the K-State offense better. Another storyline is the big play. How explosive this offense can get when you add on Dylan Edwards. So I've seen play twice in person. When he played at Derby High School as a senior, he played Manhattan High twice. I'm the voice of Manhattan High football. And when you see him in person, absolute electricity. A phenomenal talent, incredible speed. Maybe the best hips in college football. We'll see how it goes this season. But just adds to the big play possibility. Plus just K-State having, you know, potentially the deepest wide receiver room they've had since Chris Klimann has arrived in Manhattan. And then by the way, the depth. Just about everywhere you look, K-State is super deep. The depth chart shows that incredibly deep on defense. Maybe not quite there on the offensive line, but it's gonna get there. They're gonna get to that eight and nine number at some point this season. What are my expectations for this season? Well, they're pretty big. 'Cause K-State has the opportunity now to become the big dog in the conference. But looking at this season, you gotta take in the potential wear and tear, the potential injuries. I think realistically, if K-State can get to 10 and two, that's huge. I think they're gonna go undefeated in the noncon, undefeated at home. Yeah, maybe a loss or two on the road, but 10 and two is an ideal situation that could definitely get you into the big 12 championship game. All right, I wanna call out a handful of personnel, a handful of players that I'm looking forward to watching. First of all, on defense, Jordan Riley. Jack Safety is gonna pick up the reins and take over on what Kobe Savage established his last two seasons at K-State before transferring to Oregon. I think Jordan Riley, the transfer at a ball state, can be that good, maybe even better. And by the way, his personality is phenomenal. I love talking to him at press conferences. And Asa Newsom is ready to go and back up Desmond Purnell at the Sam Safety position. He is hashtag my boy. He's the second of all time. This is where he breaks out this season and becomes the true hashtag my boy, like Deuce Vaughn did his freshman year. And on offense, it's just like everybody else, Keegan Johnson, Dylan Edwards, Dante Seifus. Those guys, I'm really looking forward to see just what they can do, especially game one with Avery Johnson navigating the offense. Do have some on-surveations as well from the depth chart, 21 true sophomores or red shirt freshman on this depth chart is huge. That shows out, I had 15 potentially making the depth chart. 21 made the depth chart for K-State. That is huge. That shows how good recruiting is right now for K-State. You're gonna see that number, I think, stay consistent here in the near future, no doubt about it here in the near future. And also 25 players from the state of Kansas. KU only has three from the state of Kansas on their depth chart. And by the way, injuries to know about heading into the season, there aren't really any. They have some guys that are watching, but when guys, when you look at the list of who's ruled out for Saturday, there is nobody. All right, storylines for this specific game against UT Martin. First of all, just Avery leading the offense. I wanna see him be smooth, be smart, no turnovers, take care of things in the helmet communication. I'm very looking forward to see how that works out. If Avery likes it, if the offense likes it, if they feel like it works and it's their thing, it's gonna be the real test this first game out. On defense, the one thing I really wanna see is, can they come out and force some turnovers? That was a big storyline a couple of weeks ago. The defense forcing turnovers against the K-State offense, some of them were good on good. Let's see if that takes a step forward. It was a little bit slow last year, getting the turnovers rolling. Let's see if that takes off right away. All right, a couple of guys I wanna touch on, on each side of the football, that I think are crucial for a K-State win on Saturday. On offense, I wanna go to the offensive line and left tackle, Easton Kilti, the transfer from North Dakota. I talked with Phil still before the season, who puts out the preview magazine. He knows a lot about the FCS. He feels like Easton Kilti is one of the best offense of linemen in the FCS level period. Come in a K-State, well, he's gonna have the responsibility of protecting Avery Johnson's blind side. So I'm just looking for a good game from Keegan Johnson. He's healthy, he's feeling good, he's ready to go. Let's see if he can have a breakout game in game one this season. And then on defense, a couple of guys that have earned the start, Damien Elalio at nose guard. I think this is a tremendous thing for that room. Damien Elalio is a multiple time state champion in wrestling. He played sports in Manhattan High, he's a Manhattan kid. If you want an example of his style of play, Will Geary, so many similarities between those two. And then Austin Romaine is gonna be the starting mic. He became the starter last year early because of the injury to Daniel Green. He's grown up, he's matured, he's older. Let's see what he can do in this first game against UT Martin. Couple of keys to victory on offense. You gotta win in the trenches and limit the penalties. I just wanna see a clean game from both the trenches, establishing the run, not too many penalties. Let's see if we can get through this without too many hiccups. And then on defense, you gotta stop the pass because UT Martin is an experienced team at offense. They return their starting quarterback in Ken K. Dent. We throw for over 2,300 yards, 25 touchdowns. He can run it four or five times a game. I would expect that a few times per ball game and create those turnovers, create some chaos, interceptions. Marquis Siegel's gonna catch a few. That was an issue last year. That's gonna change this year. A few things maybe UT Martin will do well. Again, I'm gonna go back to the passing game. I think they're gonna throw it around a little bit. They have very experienced wide receivers back. I think three of their top four receivers from last year are back. That was a, you know, that was an offense that was top 10 in the FCS last year in totally yards. 440 a game. For the last two seasons, K-State has opened up the year with a shutout. Ken K-State for the first time ever have three straight shutouts to open a season. I can't go that far, but I have a blowout when for K-State final score 49 to 10. And that's gonna do it for this UT Martin primer. Again, thank you to Mr. Wildcat himself for having me on Bosca's boys once again to open up the primers for the K-State football season. I think this is now the fifth year in a row. He's had me open the year. I'm always happy to do it. Follow me on Twitter at Mitch the Fort. Check in on PowerCAD Game Day. This Saturday starting at 2 p.m. If you're not going to the game, if you can't listen on K-Rock or K-Man, listen online at PowerCADGameDay.com. I'm Mitch Fortner and Go Cats. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) And thank you to Mitch for giving us the K-State primer. Of course you can hear him on 1350, the game for PowerCAD Game Days. You guys are driving to Manhattan, Kansas, or he will be the PA voice for every single moment inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium this year. We are welcoming back the voice of the UT Martin Sky Hawks play-by-play. He was maybe my favorite guest from the summer school series. Everyone had to live up to him. All 11 episodes after them had to live up to the legend that is Davis Gregory. Davis, welcome back to Bosca's boys. I know you're hitting the rounds of all the K-State sports fan casts. - I'll give a shout out, no free ads, but you had a fun time with the cocaine Willie boys on their live show earlier this week, didn't you? - I did, oh my gosh, what a time that was, I think we went close to an hour, but it's just so much fun talking to football with those guys, talking to football with you this summer. I mean, it feels like it doesn't even feel like it was that long ago that we were just sitting back and talking a little bit during summer school and going over some things. But at Bosca, I'm so glad I was able to set the bar high for these future guests that they had to live up to the Davis Gregory High by London. - Oh, it was amazing. We talked, and really when we talked, we were closer to the end of spring ball than we were to the start of the season. So over the last two and a half months, what was the story, how did the summer unfold for the Skyhawks and what was that summer story for you guys? - I think a lot of rest for the guys to make sure that you're pushing them hard, but you're not pushing them too hard and making sure that everybody's staying healthy and ready to go. But I think that it's something that has definitely popped up to me, especially after OVC media days and then talking with some of the guys and coaches as well as that, I've said it multiple times now, but this team is incredibly motivated. This team is very locked in on not just a conference championship and really not just getting to the playoffs, but making a deep run in the FCS postseason, probably the most locked in I've ever seen them in my time at UT Martin. This team is really focused, not just the players, coaching staff, everybody is really locked in on the main objective for this season, which is when a championship gets to the playoffs, deep run. And I think that that's really been the story that's unfolded for these guys, is that they don't want another, they want to control what they can control and right now what is it they can control going out there and get the auto bit to the big South OVC and getting into the postseason. - Something I didn't realize and something I should have caught when we did summer school, your guys this week two game is OVC play and it is with the rival CMO. So how does that change how the mentality and how you prep for week one, knowing that, okay, it gets real next week for our objectives. - You know, by the way, it's Versaar rival CMO. - And yeah, and it's just, I don't like it. I'll be completely honest. I really don't like having to play them the second week and as much as they probably don't like playing us in the second week, because we're both not locked in. We're both not ready. We know what each team brings to the table. We know how high quality their coaching staff is. We know how great their players are, how much talent they have. And so you just, I think that you kind of approach this week, just like, I mean, any other game week you lock in, main goal is to win the football game. But I think too, you know, for me as an outsider, looking in, you know, I want the team to stay healthy, but I think it's more so a mental thing right now than like that's in the back of your head. Is it okay, once we get done with Kansas State week one, this is real, like whoever wins this game could very well go on and go to the playoffs. So we have to make sure that, you know, we execute well in week one and we perform well. We have things that we really, really like. And yes, there are going to be some things to work on, but we want to minimize those things so that when we get to the second week, you know, we're the most prepared team in the Big South OVC in week two, no matter who, no matter who's playing that week, we are the most prepared. - So now looking directly at Saturday, who were some players that K-State fans, they should jot down their notebook. They should have a little mini scouting report on both sides of the ball for UT Martin. - Well, you know, when you threw that question at me, I think about, you know, I'm getting asked a lot about K-State and him, like, of course, I asked him about the starting quarterback, he's had a great year, he's had a great summer, great fall, of course, 100%. But I want to highlight some guys that maybe no one has really heard about in the off season, you know, and you've heard about K-State, you might have heard about O-Shay Baker, but King K definitely going to be quarterback, returning for his second year, he's gotten a lot more experience, you're going to want to watch him. O-Shay Baker, he's gotten pretty much every single FCS All-American preseason nod that you could get by quality defensive back, going to be playing safety, and you could see him on the offensive side of the ball as well, so watch out for number zero. Next one, I'm going to go to Vontay Tanksley in the receiving court, very quick feet, very good route runner. He's going to be fun to watch. Then I think I'm going to go with three, with three of the offensive line, and they come back. Bandspin, every Josiah Tingley, and Dre Carroll, those guys can own the line of scrimmage for UT Martin, and they have great chemistry. Really that entire offensive line, you're going to have Elijah Bowser, probably at right tackle, at left tackle, you're going to have Jason Eaton, I believe. He's a big boy, so it's going to, the offensive line will be a fun group to watch. But I think also, I would probably jot down Patrick Smith, Vanderbilt transfer running back. Narkil the floor is going to probably get the nod as running back one. Patrick Smith will definitely be must watch, though. Out of the linebackers, Jalen Sharp, definitely. One of UT Martin's best linebackers last season, and if I mention him, I've got to mention Tevin Chip and Chris Hunter, pretty much right now. I'll just go through the whole starting level all those sides of the ball. - Well, it sounds like you feel really good about the first line guys on both sides. Is that something where UT Martin fans, they can hang their hat on, say, hey, look, we know that we have a starting 11 on both sides, that hey, they're going to go down with the shift. They're going to put a good fight no matter who you're playing. - Absolutely. I mean, there's so much experience with those guys, and a lot of those players played at Georgia last year, and then they played at Tennessee the year prior. But, I mean, on that notepad, I definitely have the names of some of the X factors, Monte Tangsley, I throw Charles Perkins on there, defensive lineman for the Sky Hawks, Jalen Sharp, Josh Hastings, really good safety as well. Those are some players that the K-State fans will want to circle on and be like, all right, what's number zero doing on this play? What's O'Shay Maker? - All right, so if the Sky Hawks are going to pull off the upset in Manhattan, what are a couple of keys that will need to go right for you guys? - I'll just go ahead and I'll cover, you know, pretty much anything that's got to happen in an upset. You have to minimize bad penalties, you have to not turn the ball over, you got a forced turnovers, and I mean, you really got to control the time of possession. I mean, you really do, you have to make sure that you're playing all the fundamentals right. You're capitalizing off a turn, you're not just forcing turnovers, but you're getting points off of that. And not just getting points, you're getting touchdowns. You have to do that to be a Kansas state. You have to do that to be a premier college football team in the FPS, you have to do those things right. I think though, a little bit more in depth, the defensive line for UT Morton, certainly has some questions. Charles Perkins, he is an answer freshman, all American, but I think you're also going to look at some more spots there for the Sky Hawks. They have to play well. It is really going to be a defensive line and then offensively, can the ground game get established? I mean, you have to get that going. Otherwise, Penn State's got a very talented secondary. They can just drop back and make sure that they're covering all their zones. UT Morton have to establish the ground game. And then on that defensive line, they've got to get penetration. - So that'd be where the possible hang up might be is in the trenches, would you say that's maybe the biggest worry if you were looking at this on a one game season sort of thing? - And I think so. And I've got total belief in those guys though too, that as season progresses, they're definitely going to show that their talent and their skill is up to par with some of the best guys in the FCS. But I think that right now, there's a lot of questions on that defensive line unit. And what can they do here in game? When I know Kansas State has got some new guys on offensive line, but you have to, for UT Martin, you got to answer the call. And you know, they're Daelyn Dotson who transferred to Central Florida, big law sports. Giovanni Davis, he was also another edge rusher force that was really good. Jay Rogers graduated. He was an all-conference defensive tackle. So you take out all that from that defensive line, you get Charles Perkins back, but some of these guys that have spent some time behind Dotson, behind GEO, they're finally getting their numbers called. So it's time to answer that bell and it's going to be a very loud bell and record. - Yes, but that's what makes college football fun. And look, we see upsets every single year, every single week, I'm going to get your score prediction right here in a second. But before we do, I'm going to give a shout out to our sponsors, Manhattan Brewing Company. We talked back in, whether it was June or July, I can't quite remember. But if you can drag, you know, your crew out the Friday night before the game, the spot to be is Manhattan Brewing Company. Now from four to six in the alleyway, the Kate State Alumni Association will be throwing a tailgate party. So there's going to be food, some beer releases, all sorts of fun stuff going on every Friday before a Saturday home game with the Kate State Alumni Association at Manhattan Brewing Company. If you get there a little later, the pet band's going to be parading through points. So be sure to see that three beer releases happening this week, including the Stay Golden Ale with the Golden Cats Alumni Group. So it is a great spot to be the Friday night before every game. So Davis, I hope you can drag out your cohort who like to just go to Buffalo Wild Wings. But if you do, Manhattan Brewing Company is the spot for you, my friend. - Come on, it is getting mentioned in the car, and no, not even in the car tomorrow when I go back to work, it's getting mentioned. Manhattan Brewing Company, I've gotten some other good food recommendations as well. So no, Manhattan Brewing Company is going to be number one that gets thrown out there. - Well, let me know if you do tweet at Bosco's Boys if you make it there. And we'll be sure to love up on you guys. It is time for the prediction. So I'll ask, I'll ask another prediction after, but if you had to put a score, if you had to put a prediction out for Saturday, what's that going to be? - It's the same thing that I said, I think on cocaine Willie's, it's gonna probably be 48, 17. I do think that this offense is going to probably get two touchdowns on the board. Is that gonna be late in the game? Is that gonna be early? I don't know. But I feel like that UT Martin offense is talented enough to go out there and at least put the ball in the end zone twice and then get a feel go to. Good experience for our kicker as well. So I think that we score 17, but Kansas State, I think the athleticism of Avery Johnson is really gonna be on display, that receiving core, my goodness. I mean, just looking at all their accolades, that will be a very fun group to watch on Saturday. But I do think that Kansas State, of course, wins this game, 48, 17. Love my boys, love my skyhogs. Of course, ride with them to it. And I hope we win. I hope we do win. But again, my prediction is probably gonna be 48, 17, okay. - We'll have a more fun prediction for you. When you're looking at the OVC, when you're looking at this conference race, who are the skyhogs going to be battling for to get that automatic bid into the FCS playoff? And you can make your prediction. Are they gonna get it done? And are they going to be featured on the selection show a little more stress-free than the last couple of years where you're having to sweat out a possible at-large bid? - Scott, if there's anything that I can just wish right now and come true, it's that I'm getting to sit in the ballroom in the university center. And I've got my 2024 champ shirt on and I get to lean back and I just get to see our name pop up there, hopefully hosting a game too. That would be really awesome. - Who's the dream opponent to host in the FCS playoffs in the first round? - Or would it be second? No, it'd probably be first round, right? - It'd probably be first round for us 'cause I mean, we'd be honest, probably won't get that much respect to get. If we get a top eight seat, that would be crazy. But I would probably say if we're gonna host, I mean, the dream would it be be like North Dakota State, of course. I mean, like just sitting here and just throwing names out, probably North Dakota State. I'd love Southern Illinois, UT Martin played them in 2006 in their first playoff game. And so that'd be a cool one as well. Austin, P and UT Martin have a huge rivalry from way back in the day. I really just don't wanna play Austin P. Just from my days as a student, they're big rivalry with them. But no, I think that I'd love Southern Illinois, but you can't knock playing like North Dakota State as a down here and they gotta come to Martin. That would be an electric atmosphere. But to answer the contenders, I'm thinking CMO, CMO could be really good. I know Paxton Delord, they're starting quarterback. I think went down with a shoulder injury. Nobody quote me on that. But yeah, I know that he did get hurt in that opening game against North Alabama and hated for that guy, super talented, really fun to watch play. And he's really dealt with some bad luck on injuries in his career. Other than that, I think Tennessee State, I think Tennessee State's gonna be a really good team under Eddie George here. And UT Martin's gotta go play Tennessee State, act Tennessee State in Nissan Stadium. So I think the Tigers and the Red Hawks will provide, will provide the biggest, the biggest Roblox for UT Martin if they wanna get to that four straight conference championship. But no, I think the Skyhawks do get it done. Again, I don't like playing CMO, first conference game of the year. I don't like playing them week two at all. That's just the way the cards were dealt. You gotta deal with it and listen, they gotta deal with it too. But if you team, I honestly think that if we come away with a win against CMO and that first and that conference opening weekend, I do think that we go on and we win this conference. - Well, Davis, I can confidently say I'll be rooting for you guys all year. I hope to see pictures on Twitter of you rocking that T-shirt, maybe even with the trophy. I'm hoping you get that home playoff game. So I'm just not wanting you guys to win Saturday. You guys can go. - I'm just thinking of the rest of the way. But I'll definitely be cheering for you guys all FCS season, my friend. - Can we give you a little first half scare, like a little 17, seven first half scare? - No, I will not allow it. Honestly, it kind of sucks for any FCS team because outside of the year where we lost our starting quarterback, I think it might've been versus the Salukis, I can't quite remember. But with Chris Kleinman as an FCS coach who has so many power five pelts on his wall with so many guys on coaching stuff that started in the FCS and how many FCS transfers we bring in, I think there is, I don't think there'll ever be a time where we overlook an FCS. And you listen to what they're saying in the meat, day it, keeping so much praise. So I would be shocked if you guys gave us a scare. You guys are good enough to do it, but I think they're gonna be ready for it. So knock on wood for me. But I won't give you the scare, but I'll let you guys go undefeated for rest of the season. How about that? - Okay, that's good. And I want to shout out Coach Kleinman. He was really complimentary of our team and what Coach Simpson has done. And again, I love the respect that we're getting from him. And it's just, it's a testament to what Coach Simpson has done with this football program. He is UT Martin football. So proud to have him as our head coach and glad that our program is getting and our school too is getting this recognized. - All right, Davis. That's all I have. Working all the boneheads find you on social media. Where should they be following you? And working, they continue to follow you through this football season. - So let's see here on Twitter, I believe it's gonna be @DavisGregory2. Let's see, yeah, @DavisGregory2. That'll be the Twitter handle. And then up on Instagram, get a little bit more personal there. That is going to be @DavisGGregory. So make sure to go ahead and follow me over there. I'll try to throw as many fallbacks as I can to a much love for Kansas State nation, Scott. This has been so awesome. This week has been great. Love talking football with everybody. Saturday, can't get here soon. - Well, you enjoy your time in the Little Apple and I wish you a great football season. That's all we have for our UT Martin Primer. We're gonna send it over to the Raspy Voice Kids to give us our big 12 game of the week preview with West Virginia Penn State. So you might hear a little music, you might see a program add in there so we can get paid for some clicks. So Davis, thank you very much. And outside of Saturday, go Skyhawks. - I appreciate it, Scott. Hey, outside of Saturday, go Cats. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - This is Brandon Phoenix, A-K-A-I, also a pit of the Raspy Voice Kids, the RV-K. We in here today reppin' for Bosco's boys. You know what time it is to get that whip around in. Time to preview the big 12 game of the week. This time, it's the mighty Mountaineers of West Virginia playing host to those Knitney Lions in State College, Pennsylvania. And let me just tell you, last year, well, last year went about the way that the series is gone. Penn State came out on top. Penn State was significantly better in my estimation. Not more physical necessarily. We handled that challenge up front, but they just had more horses and more depth. And their quarterback was ready. Hours wasn't. This year? Oh, this year's different. Garrett Green and Company are ready for the Knitney Lions to come callin'. They are ready to give the boys in the blue and white the business. The Mountaineers are ready to put it on Penn State. By at least two touchdowns. We'll see how that plays out. Penn State started out as I believe an 11 and a half point favorite. That is now down to eight and a half points. The line is movin' the Mountaineers way. The money's coming in on the Mountaineers. That's the reason for that. And the truth is, the longer this offseason goes, the more Kool-Aid I drink. As my brother would say, the more Kool-Aid I guzzle. Why? I just believe that West Virginia has arguably the two best running backs, not just in the big 12 in the nation. And Jaheem White, who's now wearing number one, and C.J. Donaldson, who's wearing number four, with a little bit of depth coming with Jalen Anderson behind him. The quarterback room has the quarterback who did things that only Jalen Anderson could say he did. That is run for over 700 yards, score more than 10 rushing touchdowns, throw for 16 touchdowns or more, with less than five turnovers. That's that Garrett Green. That's the dude that's calling the, basically the signal caller, QB1, number six on the field for the Mountaineers, this time around. The team got significantly better as the season went on, because, like in 2023, because of the emergence of Jaheem White, because of the comfort of Garrett Green, because Neil Brown figured out how to use his horses to get his boys to play in route to a 9 to 4 season. Penn State was the same old song and dance. A good, good football team. That can't beat Ohio State or Michigan. They couldn't do it last year. They haven't done it in a long time. They are not as good as they think they are, but they are good. Drew Allen, I know what his name is, but Drew Allen, nobody's scared of you. Yes, you do for over 300 yards last year, but West Virginia secondary has improved, and Penn State's receivers are not as good as they were before. They do have a good offensive line, like always, but they've lost three of their starters from last year. They've got a solid tight end, per usual, and they've got a stout defense. So, in my opinion, this is going to be a close game, either way, no one's running anybody out of any buildings, but it's gonna be fun. And as much as I'd like to say, I respect James Franklin, I don't, and you shouldn't either. James Franklin, bald-headed clown. Nothing like my man, Neil Brown, especially when he's go teed up. But listen, this is gonna be a fun one. Let's be real, this is gonna be a fun one. I'm a homer, of course. I'm rooting for the Mountaineers. Of course, I'm rooting for WVU. I have a whole podcast dedicated to WVU, but I'm not stupid. James Franklin will have his boys ready to play. Pat McAfee shows us some things that got the boys in blue and white fired up, some bulletin board material. Heck, I've been saying things on the internet that might get those guys fired up. So, they're gonna be focused. They're gonna be laser focused. They're gonna be excited. It's the first game of the year. If you're not, what are you doing? But it's time. Time for the talking end. Time for the hitting to begin. Mountaineers by at least two touchdowns. (upbeat music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) (dramatic music) - And thank you to one of the best on the mic anywhere. If you're not listening to the Raspy Voice Kids, you are missing out. And I know everyone is going to have an eye towards Morgantown, West Virginia, for that big game. So thank you again to Brandon Phoenix and the Raspy Voice Kids. All right, look. This is the Wildcat Roundup section of the whip around. I am recording this before K-State Soccer takes on Green Bay at 5 p.m. on Thursday. So hopefully they were able to grab a win there. And then they have a game at home on Sunday at 1 p.m. versus South Dakota. Look, they had a rough start to the season losing at home. Two to one, Nevada. They were able to get a two-nail win over Portland State before losing two-nail at Gonzaga. So they really need to turn things around here to get any sort of momentum for the season. Being able to grab a win in a draw between these two would be massive. Definitely need at least one win between these two. So knock on wood that we already grabbed one of those wins. And then again, they are back on the road next week at Arkansas State and at Memphis. Again, I think it's probably going to be a rough season for soccer. Probably not going to spend a ton of time on the soccer team during these whip-arounds. Although I do hope they turn around. We'd love to talk about them more, but it's going to be tough just talking about losing game after game. We will turn our attention to volleyball tonight. There is a massive game scheduled to have first serve at 6 p.m. All the games this weekend are on big 10 network, but they opened it up. Look, they had an exhibition game that they won in straight sets, 3-0 down in Wichita. But they are opening up at Purdue in West Lafayette, Indiana, verse number eight, Purdue, 6 p.m. on Friday. Absolutely massive game. And this is going to be a statement game. Again, K-State receiving votes in that very first volleyball poll. One vote in the coach's poll to win the conference, sitting right there near the top. Look, if this is going to be a team that wants to compete for the big 12 title, wants to host volleyball postseason games, getting this win over number eight, Purdue, would be massive right here at the beginning of the season. It's not going to be an end-all be-all. No matter what happens versus Purdue, UC Davis 3.30 on Saturday. Hopefully, we'll be getting some updates inside the stadium from Brian Smaller in between corners, quarters, excuse me. And then Sunday, 10.30 a.m., verse UMBC, all three games, like I said, on big 10 network. They need to come away with at least two wins amongst these three. If you get Purdue, you can forgive dropping a game, but you definitely need to do that. I'll be very interested to see how Alia Carter's doing. I'll be very interested to see how the serving is for this team. Again, we talked about some of the stars. You got Izzy, you got Liz, you got Anaya Clinton. So you have those returning players. We'll see how the newcomers, how the transfers really mesh in with this team. You got Meg Brown being one of those. I'm really looking forward to seeing this team back out on the court. I'm definitely going to be watching that game versus Purdue alongside some of those college football games going on on Friday. That's going to be a massive game. Again, if you haven't spent some time-- and again, I understand big 10 network, it might be tough. You got Friday stuff like, look, I'm not going to criticize you for not watching this team. But when they're on ESPN+, so when they get back home and they're playing Libscam on September 12, and it's on ESPN+, easy to watch, give them a watch. These girls are so athletic. They are the real deal. So again, you're starting off hot. And then next week on Friday, the sixth. So again, that's where we won't get to talk after this game. They play USC. It's on flow sports. I'm not going to be able to watch it. But they're up in Creighton playing number 21 USC, then number 12 Creighton. So three of the first five games are versus ranked teams. Again, it truly is a baptism by fire type of schedule. We talked about it with Brian Smoller. He was talking about getting two out of these three, and you're setting yourself up for success. Look, if you grab two out of three, which would include at least one true road game, playing in someone else's gym, I think you would be set up. I mean, we could start talking about, hey, what's it going to take to win the big 12? What's it going to take to host games in the opening rounds of the volleyball tournament? I don't know if I'm going to go that far. But again, that first one, verse per do on Big Ten Network, that's going to be appointment television for me. So I'll be dialed in on that. And I think that they can do it. We saw what they did last year versus the biggest and best teams on the schedule in big 12 play. If they can carry that over into the start of the season, folks, it's going to be an exciting year inside Morgan family arena. So, yes, we'll definitely be talking about those three games next week on the whip around. And it won't be an in-depth preview. I can't tell you a damn thing about USC or Creighton volleyball. But we definitely will get hyped up for that this time next week as well. Final thing we'll touch on here. AJ DeBonsa is making his official visit to K-State. That's the number one basketball player in the country. We've talked about a few times again. I'm not going to hold my breath. I'm not going to get too overly excited. But any news that comes from that, if it's breaking news, you best believe I promise you this, if he were to commit, I will have an entire episode dedicated to it no matter where we are in the calendar. But we'll touch on any news that comes from that this spot next week as well. That is all we have again. Massive, massive, massive weekend for K-State volleyball. Obviously football kicking off. And then we got two games for K-State soccer. If they want to turn their season around, this would be a good time to do it. That's all we have again. Nothing too crazy for the Wildcat round up here. But I'm pumped for this volleyball season. Thank you to all of our friends who helped us out with all of our primers. Of course, you had the great Mitch Fortner with the K-State Primer. We had Davis Gregory, the voice of the Skyhawks that joined me with the UT Martin Primer. And as always, one of the best to ever do it on the mic. Brandon Phoenix, aka I also hate Pitt to get us ready for the Big 12 game of the week. That is all our first game week is over. We know we will be back next week full week of episodes. Monday will be the game review. Tuesday will be the Q&A. Wednesday, we begin to talk about Tulane. Thursday, we will have... I'm hoping a big guest for Thursday conversations. It's on the books, but I'm not going to say it. It's one of the regulars. It's not going to be a debut appearance. It's one of the biggest guests that we have recurring. Hopefully come to you guys on Thursday. Then next Friday, we'll have a whip around show. So that's all we have again for all of our friends, Mitch, Davis, and Brandon for the entire 10-12 network. For my dog, Chauncey, Bosco. For my new nephew, name redacted. My name is Scott McFarland. We love you guys. And go cats! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. [APPLAUSE]
