The Killer B's: Joel Blank & Jeremy Branham
09/19 Hour 1 - How Concerned Should We Be About the Astros Bullpen?
[MUSIC PLAYING] Now at T-Mobile, get four 5G phones on us and four lines for $25 a line per month when you switch with eligible traders, all on America's largest 5G network. [MUSIC PLAYING] Minimum of four lines for $25 per line per month without a paid discount using debit or bank account, $5 more per line without auto pay, plus taxes and fees and $10 device connection charge. Phones would be a 24-monthly bill credits for well qualified customers, contact us before canceling entire accounts to continue bill credits or credit stop and balance on a required finance agreement to bill credit and if you pay off devices early, ctmobile.com. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] ESPN 97.5 and 92.5 proudly present, the Killer B. It's definitely a fan of the Killer B's. Don't sweat the technique. Now from a Veritex community bank studios, bring you the fastest three hours in Houston sports radio. Here's Joel Blank and Jeremy Branham. Ooh, what a big town. Hey, how are we doing? These blank, I am Branham, the guy who there's Brian. It is a Thursday edition of the Killer B's on ESPN 97.5 and ESPN 92.5. We're jam-packed today. Jam act. Talk about the ashes. We're turning home final home stand of the season. Is the final home stand of Alex Brigman? I don't think so. David Nuneo of TechSag will be joining us. Talk a little Aggie football. Talk some SEC football with Nuneo as well. Lee Sterling, Paramount Sports. He's been winnin', winnin', he went two, two and one last week. We didn't lose ya, money. And the big mic gotcha. We have to lose and win first, yeah. Big mic gotcha. But he's winning overall. He'll hand out some winners at 3.45. Adam Ronis, some fantasy advice for the weekend. Bad take Boulevard coming up today. And heavy Texans as they get ahead to get ready for the Vikings on Sunday. And punchable faces on the ESPN 97.5 lineup, which may be the most fun we have on the show today. But a busy show, jam-packed, and I guess we could start with the Astros. If the Astros play a game in San Diego in a getaway day and they face Dylan Sees, was anybody around to see it? That was not a good one yesterday for the Astros offense. No, ugly again, when you've been on to something with the getaway games. So beside the getaway games, look, they've had two out of the three games in San Diego where they just didn't hit the baseball. And you look at it and say, you wasted a really good pitching performance from Fromber. He pitched very well again and kept you in the ball game. And obviously the one mistake. And then the doors got blown off and basically gave you absolutely no hope in three-stranded bats. And you went, OK, this one's over with. Let's go home. Kayla Bort gave up as many home runs as he has letters in his last name. That's what happened yesterday in San Diego. No, because ORT's three letters and he gave up back to back to back to back. I got it. I wanted to make sure I didn't want to talk down to you guys. I just wanted to make sure that his last name isn't for door. That would have been far more damaging if his last name was for door what's. Yeah, it would have been very true. It would have been. It would have been on a spot of though. Leave him in that long. Look, I mean, it's a World Series contender San Diego is like people are talking about this is a World Series preview type of series, Manny Machado, who is on a different level when he faces the Astros. He was nuts in the series of two bombs yesterday that the pitch that he hit the sinker from Fromber. That wasn't a bad pitch. What first picture they had bad he buries a sinker at the knees. He puts a P right there on the on the inside corner at the knees and he I think he sold out for it. Hit a home run. I think he was guessing that pitch. He was guessing that spot. Put a great swing on it and crushed it. The home run he hit off of ORT how? How in the world did he hit that ball out of the ballpark? That was nuts. That was unbelievable. He's got ridiculous power and I think a lot of people sometimes sleep on it, but the fact that he is in such a zone right now, we've seen it throughout the series. I mean, like you said, he's on another level. He's just he's heating up at the exact right moment and I think people again, don't hear enough in the West Coast thing where you don't see a lot of their games, don't realize that this team is as close as they are to the Dodgers, but they're a playoff team and their offense has been the best offense or one of the best offenses in all the categories in baseball for quite some time now and they're loaded and they're finally healthy and you know, and then when you throw in a jerks and pro far who was a journeyman, basically the last several years, signed for peanuts and now he's an all star and he's hammering the ball and you get a guy like Dylan Cease in the off season and you look at it or whenever they got him and you look at him and say, they've got Darvish and Cease and King and good pitching. They've got a good closer and they've got a really loaded lineup. That's a really good baseball team. Yeah, pro far has been in San Diego for a while now though, like he was his first year there. No, no, no, no. He's been there since like the COVID year. You sure? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I think he was traded at the deadline one time, but he's been on with the Padres for since the COVID year. He's making peanuts, right? Million dollars. Yeah, that's ridiculous. I wanted to meet each of the last two off seasons more two years ago than this past off season. But yeah, I've, he's always been a guy who had amazing potential that maybe hasn't lived up to his potential, but this season he's been fantastic. So he was free in the off season. They resigned. He's been free the last two off seasons. Yeah. I mean, he's, he's been attainable. He's been out there, but he likes San Diego. And San Diego, I guess likes him just enough from an Astros perspective. I thought from her pitch really well. He got himself into some trouble at times. Like maybe it could have been a bigger line score for him. Maybe he could have given up the more runs than just the one through seven innings, but he gave up one run through seven innings, the whole ifson butts, whatever. I thought from her was from her. Yeah. No, look, absolutely. We talked about it even with Hunter Brown, these two guys are living up to the billing, the expectations, the fact that you are, you are relying heavily on the top two in your rotation. These guys have been doing it as much as we've been discussing and talking about and contemplating the rest of the rotation and how it's going to play out. You know, Kukuchi's up there too, but the fact that you don't see the hiccups, you do see the, the domination and you see both the lefty and a righty at the top of your rotation that looked really good. I love what I've seen out of both guys. I have no, no qualms and no worries about when those guys are pitching. Yeah. Yesterday's game is just you got Dylan ceased. You got beat two of three at San Diego. All three of those games were winnable. The first one was a very tight game. Could've won it. The second one obviously was a tight game. Went to extra innings. You did win it. Yesterday's game was a pitchers duel. That was a one nothing game after seven innings and they got out of hand in the eighth inning. So I don't really look at that series as like, oh no, the Astros sky is falling. Oh, the offense. I don't love you. Oh no, you can't win it all. Now part of the reason that I'm thinking that way and I'm like, cool, like I'm okay with the Astros right now, probably because the Mariners lost again. So like the lead is still at five games. If Mariners won the last two games and the lead was at three, okay, probably a different story. I'm probably not talking with as much calmness about the Houston Astros as they return home. But it's five game lead and you lost two of three to a really good San Diego team and all the games were close. We were talking about it. You didn't want to end up going into the Mariners series that's still sitting there to be played the second to last series of the year with a three game lead or a lesser than lead. You got 10 games to play. You got a five game lead. You got the angels coming in. You should be in a really good spot and you should be able to relax because from the other perspective of it when we were talking a few weeks ago about possibly being within, you know, within striking distance of Cleveland and New York, those days are over. That's passed. That's not you are in the wild card series one way or another and you're going to hopefully be the division winner and you're in a really good spot to do that. So just do what you got to do, handle your business. Make sure that there's enough distance when you face Seattle and you're good. You have five and a half back of Cleveland. I guess it's going to be kind of good that you're going to enter that guardian series probably without a chance to overtake them because the worst thing you can do is sell out trying to get a two seed and you fall a game short and then you put your starting rotation in a tough spot going into the wild card round. So like at this point, yes, I hate that you're going to have to play a wild card series, but also being realistic about it. It's in the pitching set up against Seattle. Their top three pitchers are going to pitch against Seattle. I forget the order would be Hunter Brown, Fromber and then Kakuchi. So those three guys are set up to pitch against Seattle. So that's the good news. Now leave that series with the division clinch, which it should be. It should be probably not within three games of Cleveland to catch them for that two spot. Well, then you can set up the rotation for the wild card. I don't want to be in the wild card, but if you know that your destiny, you know you're going to be in that wild card series, you kind of have to start game planning for what your rotation is going to be for that three game series. And they can do that quite frankly. And then think about we were just talking about the fact that if you can do that and you go into that series and you feel like you should be playing that at home and you're going to have Fromber and Hunter Brown to start that series, you feel like you're really in a good spot. You're in a good spot because of the fact these guys are pitching their best right now of the season. And you're going to be at home and you feel comfortable that if you got to win two out of three, those are the two guys you want on the mound to try and get you those two dubs. So yeah, I'm with you. I hope that there's nothing to play for by the time you place play Seattle, but they still get work their work in. And then you just kind of use, you know, the Cleveland series to get some reps for some of the bench guys and rest some other guys and then just set it all up for the wild card. Yeah. So you feel the same way about this run of battle offensive yesterday was the season finale. I don't know. Like, I mean, it is Dylan C. It is San Diego. The Astros are going to get away days like they're ready to get home. That's just who they are. They do that a lot. I guess I would feel a little bit more concerned. If it was the last game of the season versus, you know, you still have 10 games left. Yeah. I guess so. I guess I would be. But would I be freaking out like the skies following the room is on fire? Probably not because the Astros do have a tendency to kind of turn it on. Now I think this year's offense is bipolar, which worries me. So like, can a bipolar offense win a World Series? I think it can because of the pitching staff the Astros have. And if the Padres are a World Series caliber team, you just played three really tight games against them where the offense for two of them was pretty much non-existent and you still took one of the three. So like, yeah, I still think they can be a World Series contender. The Astros, even though their offense is bipolar and the Astros do have a tendency to be able to turn it on. Yeah. When the games matters the most, even if it's the toughest pitching matchups in the playoffs or you're on the road, they seem to step up. The thing is to me, the scenario that's painted, if it's the last game of the regular season, was anything, did it mean anything? Was there anything on the line? You know, who were you playing? You were facing a really, really good pitcher in Dillon Seas and a really good lineup. So yeah, if it was the last game of the season and there were stakes on the line or you were playing your full lineup and you didn't hit Dillon Seas, sure, I guess there would be a level of concern. But looking at it, I would also say, hey, look, with all those scenarios, you're coming off the road and everything else that I mentioned, I'm just fine with this team and I'll ride with it going into the playoffs because I believe as long as they're healthy, offensively, they're going to be fine and pitching. They're going to be fine. I think it's a very nice game. I think it's a very nice game of the season. I think it's a very nice game of the season. I think it's a very nice game of the season. I think it's a very nice game of the season. I think it's a very nice game of the season. I think it's a very nice game of the season. I think it's a very nice game of the season. I think it's a very nice game of the season. I think it's a very nice game of the season. 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There's times, you know, we've seen Hader hiccups and, you know, the home run ball is still, you know, happening for him. I think he and a Bray. You are starting to give up hits and put runners on. A Bray who's always been a concern of mine in terms of he gets out of most of them, but he does kind of set up his own trouble sometimes by putting runners on base. But then when you get into the Presley situation, it's a much different deal. We still probably have, you know, as much confidence as we need in guys like Hader and guys like a Bray. You Presley has looked anything but locked down type, you know, back of the bullpen type material. He worries the hell out of me and a lot of other people. People were losing their mind because of what Ortt did. You're looking at some of the guys like Taylor Scott, who was everyday Tay, but also reliable Tay. That was, you know, they're best, one of their best bullpen arms the entire first half of the season. That Taylor Scott has left the building. And now you're wondering what Taylor Scott you're going to get the rest of the way. Neris is another guy. As much as he was who he was the last time he was here, we knew coming in. He wasn't that guy, but you were hoping that he would regain some of it. He's been decent, but he's also, you know, scared the hell out of you, including the other night in San Diego, to wear that bullpen that you felt so confident in that you felt like, hey, they're going to peek at the right time. And those last three guys were the guys that no one wants to face. I think those days are gone right now, and I don't know if they're coming back. Yeah, you know, when do we start worrying about the Astros bullpen? I'll go September 25th as the date that we start worrying about the Astros bullpen. Have those guys you mentioned though, like aren't going to be pitching in the playoffs. Taylor Scott's not pitching in the playoffs, not in a meaningful spot. Caleb Ward's not pitching in the playoffs in a meaningful spot. Neris, maybe you don't think Taylor Scott would, I mean, obviously the way he's pitching right now is a different story. Oh, but Taylor Scott has been a guy that they've relied on for like jams in the six. They're picking up innings here and there. He might be the fourth reliever that they have to use, but the starters going to go, you know, I mean, they're, they're usually, they have a quicker hook in the postseason, but you have good starters. Like what, what inning is from or about as getting relieved? And what inning is Hunter Brown getting relieved? You say kakuchi, like even if those guys give you five innings, you really only need one other reliever to add to the big three because you're not pitching Caleb Ward in a game that is tight. You're not pitching maybe Taylor Scott in the sixth inning in a game that's tight. Maybe either here, Hector, Neris, I guess you're not pitching Caleb Ferguson in a game that's tight in the sixth inning or later. So like when you start to kind of reverse engineer with the Astros are going to look like on the mound over nine innings in a playoff game and keep in mind other than the wild card series, which is three games in three days. But even then like in a game three of the wild card series of Josh Hader pitch games one and two, he's not pitching in game three. Of course he's pitching in game three. It's an it's an it's a do or die game. So you can rely more on your leverage guys in the postseason than you can the regular season. You get to the division series. There's an off day between game two and game three. There's an off day between game four and game five. There's two off days in a seven game series. If you're fortunate enough to get to a league championship or a world series. So you can, if your starter goes five innings, you got Josh Hader waiting in the ninth. You have Ryan Presley. Don't love that. I'm waiting in the eighth. And then you have Brian to bring you waiting in the seventh. So the biggest question that I have whenever you start to forecast what is the what does it look like in a playoff tight game? Because if you're down four runs, who cares if you throw Caleb or you're down four runs. It's not really a winnable game. The only question that I really have is who's your fourth guy? Because we know who the big three are and quite frankly, you probably want your starter to get through the sixth inning. When Bombers on the mound, give me six, turn it over to the big three. Kakuchi, Blanco, same thing. The question that I have though, the biggest question I have when you're looking at the pitching staff is who has the sixth inning in a tight game. And it probably comes down to, I think it's Hector Narris. I do too. I think, you know, as much as we had the conversation and I was jacked up when he was coming back thinking that he could be that guy. I wasn't sure that he was going to get it because I thought Taylor Scott was still so good. And now I think that, thank goodness they've gotten a guy that at least that has some experience like Narris that can be a replacement for Taylor Scott because I just don't think Taylor Scott's that guy. I think it is Narris. But I also think to everything that you said, I think that the problem is, is that I don't feel like they ever really got there fully. But that right now that you're not, I don't have the confidence in seven, eight, nine with your leverage guys. The way I would like to have had like, hey, get comfortable to start, you know, differentiate and determine your roles. We knew Hader was going to be the closer. We heard that from spring training. But then, you know, Presley and Abreu back foot, regardless, you've got those three guys. They should all be lights out. You should be in a good spot. If it's a tight game, great. We're not going to use the majority of the bullpen, but the three guys you are going to use. I still don't feel confident. I mean, really comfortable with those guys either because of the fact that we've had some hiccups. I'll go to battle with a Bray and Hader and have no problem. Like, I'm super confident in Abreu and Hader. Presley, no. But the other two, yeah, I'll go to war with them. I think that's about as good as a bullpen duo that you'll have in the playoffs. And there's some other really good guys. Class A is a stud. But I'll go to war with Josh Hader and Ryan Abreu. No doubt about it. Ryan Presley does stress me out. Not going to lie about that. And that's where we also get to the conversation of, does it, you know, I think instead of, I would throw out seventh and eighth, I would figure out the leverage situation. And I definitely feel like you've got to put Abreu in the higher leverage situation than Presley because Presley has just shown you that he is stressful again. And look, we've been through this before where the regular season, he got shaky and all of a sudden the playoffs. He was really good in the past. I'm not feeling as confident that he's going to figure it out and be a guy that's going to be, you know, shut the door and lock it down when he gets into a ballgame. And I believe it really truly has to be bullpen by committee all the way until the closer role, which I don't disagree. It's Hader's regardless of which, how confident you feel or not. He's that guy. But I think you drew half your spot. You do have to consider the fact that Presley's not a lock for the eighth inning anymore. I hope so because if I were, if I were putting together my leverage chart, Hader's at the top of my list, Abreu's clearly the second guy. I would still probably have Presley third just based off experience, but still like kind of holding my breath doing so. And then your fourth reliever holding your breath doing so. I don't think you really have one. It's probably going to be Hector Nairus because of the experience. It's Nairus, but I think the only thing that gives me a little bit more hope with Presley is the fact that when he needed to strike out the other night, he went and struck out Machado. And, you know, he got the pitch where he needed to get it up and inside and got him struck out a really good hitter that we know has been really hot. But he's also consistently kind of come in and set a fire when he's come in and the runs have come back to bite him. And so I hope that he gets better as the playoffs go. I hope that Joe Espada isn't back to the baseball card enough to say, "Well, he's my eighth inning guy, no matter what." You know, the back of his baseball card. I don't want that. It was interesting that he pulled Presley in the eighth inning the other night for Hader to get four outs. And that might be something like that too. Like maybe you only need three guys to get through four innings. So we're talking about a fourth guy. Like if a starter goes five innings and now you're looking to eat four innings, maybe instead of a fourth man, there was a fourth man. Maybe instead of a fourth man, it's you have those three guys to eat four innings where it's okay, I'll bray you, you give me an inning and two thirds. Presley, you give me an inning Hader, you give me an inning and a third. Or maybe it's Hader for two innings. Maybe it's a bray for two innings one night. Because Espada in the regular season has shown that he's willing, he's even done it with Presley. Presley had an inning and a third the other night. So like Espada has shown the tendency that he's willing to use his leverage relievers for more than three outs. So if he's doing that during the regular season, of course, he's going to do that in the playoffs. Of course, he's going to do that in the playoffs. And I think he has. I just think that, you know, you just got to be smart and you've got to go to the guys that give you the best chance against the best part of their lineup. And I don't care about slotting in per inning. And I think that you're right. I mean, we know that Hader has been a willing participant to go more than an inning. And when he's done it, he's more times than not been effective. He's going to do the same thing. Don't worry about the up down. He finds a way and he has been effective. Presley is the weak link. So if he gets an inning and you can, you know, get through that, I'd feel more comfortable in a foreign situation or scenario when the starter doesn't go six. I'd feel more comfortable with the slack being picked up by the other two guys. Yeah, I'd like to go six innings of the starter. Turn it over to a Bray you and in Hader and call it a day. It might be six innings and turn it over to the big three. Who would be your fourth guy? If you're going to. It's a, it's nearest to you. Yeah, probably means. Well, three, two, seven is Presley closer to nearest than a Bray you Hader. Uh, yes. For me, it's no quite. It's no question. Absolutely. Yeah, no question. And I, you know, and I think that when there is still throws the splitty that that pitch has been, it can be really, really effective. It's just that his control isn't what it was when he was having success here the first time. Dad says the 97 five ruined Ryan Presley. He might be right. Either that or old age, definitely one of the two. All right, seven, one, three, seven, eight zero, three, seven, seven, six. David Nuneo of Texags, Houston media icon. He'll be joining us next. Talk some Aggie football. Talk some SEC football as well. It's the bees on ESPN 97 five and ESPN 92 five. ESPN 97 five. Brace yourself. 12th man. Every time he's never gonna feel you gotta win your best. This is a new era of Texas A&M football. Our excitement is at an all time high. We're excited about the direction of this program. Showing us Saturday, Texas A&M hosts the Bowling Green Falcons. Our coverage begins at five thirty on the Texas A&M Sports Network. Dave coverage of Texas A&M versus Bowling Green begins Saturday at five thirty on ESPN 97 five. You found that killer bees live for the Veritex community back studios. Here's Joel Blanken, Jeremy Branham. Go straight out to the HR and P guests line being joined by Houston media icon. David Nuneo now, of course, with Texags. We carry the Mike Elko show on the station here in Nuneo. You probably know. He said last night that every single week is gonna be a game time decision at quarterback. What do you make of that? Well, guys, first off, I'm honored. I was on TV for a decade, and I think I'm making my debut on the killer beat. Falls. Thank you very much. That's false. That's false. I don't think it is false. Oh, on the killer beat. You bet. No, the Nuneo is right. Yeah. I'm on Nuneo's side on this. We haven't. You have to take that L there, brother. All right. My bad, Dave. I've had John. Yeah, you have. It's been a minute, but I love you guys. And no, look, what I think it means is we've got to see how this offense moves looking moving forward, right? I love Connor Rickman. I think he's still your starting quarterback, but there's something about calling client's offense that seems to work with a mobile quarterback. And we saw it last week of Marcel Reed. I still don't think Connor has lost his job because he had one bad game in his 10 starts, and it was a bad game. There's no bad about that. The Aggies should have beat Notre Dame, in my opinion, had they had just average quarterback play on that night. That being said, with the way Marcel Reed looks, and the fact that Connor has got this AC joint issue with his shoulder, that sometimes that lingers, I think he is just trying to be a coach. And that's a certainly coach speak, but prepare the situation for look. We've got two capable guys, but one of these guys are going to have to get it done. Dave, what is it with? And, you know, we've talked about this in the past, and I'm always kind of perplexed about the fact that A&M has all the tools. They've got unbelievable facilities. They've got money coming out of every orifice. And yet the one position that they struggle with over and over again is quarterback. And it frustrates me because you'd like to see them get over the mountaintop. You know that they, you know, for the most part, they're putting together top recruiting classes, quality football team, and then the quarterback. And then you see a guy like Haines King leave, and then he goes to Georgia Tech, and you're like, whoa, you know, that would have been nice in an Aggie uniform this year. I just would love to put the finger on it a little bit as to why they can't get that position right. Playman on the offensive line and the development of the offensive line. You find me what program and college football and the SEC that can survive a backup quarterback, a third string quarterback every single year. Since Kellermann with the quarterback, you've seen a revolving door in the offensive line. Up until this point has been not a good line. Like you look at 2021, Haines, King goes down. That calls out. It has to go for the rest of the year. He actually couldn't have played in the ballgame. Had they played in the ballgame. He got hurt. Then next year, Haines gets a bench. Max Johnson goes down. Haines, King goes down. Connor Whitman comes in. Last year, Connor goes in. He gets hurt. Max Johnson goes in. He gets hurt. Jalen Henderson goes in. Play as well until the first game of the ballgame. First quarter of the ballgame. Just heard on the very first play. Marcel Reed comes in. You can't win in the SEC on your third and fourth string quarterback. So I think that's part of the issue. Now, there's a bigger issue with A&M not reaching the mouth and top at all. I think it's been a couple of different things. You've had, you know, change of leadership. Different athletic directors over the last decade. Different administrations. I think there hasn't been the alignment that you need to see. You're starting to see now with Trev Albers, General Walsh of the president. So you're starting to see that. But if we're talking about just the quarterback play itself, I think it's the offensive line and the lack of development there. But I think with the new offensive line coach and Adam Cushing, I think we're seeing that a little bit differently. And that's why I know that, you know, Connor got hurt this year. But the old line is making progress. They're owning the line of scrimmage. And that's been the biggest difference. David Unio, Tech Sags, joining us on the HRNP guest line. And win at Florida at the swamp this past weekend, Bowling Green this weekend. And then you have the SEC gauntlet. Most of the tough games at home, as far as an SEC schedule goes, which they're all very tough. But as far as an SEC schedule goes, do you think this one's favorable-ish? I think Texas and Texas A&M have both very favorable schedules if you're being lost. I think Texas is, but nobody in Michigan was going to be bad this year. So props to them for scheduling them years out. But I think Texas has the easiest schedule in the SEC with Missouri second. A&M does not fall off because you're exactly right there, Jeremy. The hardest games are at home. I think Missouri, as good as they are in their top 10 team, and they will be a top 10 team when they come to Kyle Field. I think that is a game that A&M can have if they play the way we saw against Florida. LSU is a question mark to me. A bad year for LSU is a 9-3 team. Is this a 9-3 LSU team? Potentially, they escaped a close one last week with South Carolina. But they have very winnable games. But A&M is a program that right now, you've got to look at Arkansas. You've got to look at Auburn. You've got to look at South Carolina. It's a game that you have to have if you want to have that kind of season. And look, 8-4 is not good enough at Aggieland. But you better win those games to be in the conversation for an 8-4 9-3. I mean, look, I like Elko, and I'm curious in terms of recruiting Dave. I know that he's been there and done that before, so he's been around. He's coming back. I'm just curious on some of these recruits and the fact that as he gets into kind of setting his kind of players for his program, how you like the recruiting class so far. Is this kid Longstreet going to be a guy that's going to fit into the picture in terms of the quarterback position? Or are they still looking to add in terms of a 5-star type quarterback or trying to get another guy or two? I saw Longstreet's the number one quarterback in California. He fits what Colin Klein wants to do with this offense. He is a perfect fit. Now, the question is, can you keep guys like that, right? Because now everybody's after I saw Longstreet, and he's going to be very popular. USC really wants them. But I do think so, because when Colin Klein was hired, that was the number one quarterback he identified. He wanted to saw Longstreet, and he got him. And I saw him's been all over social media supporting what the Aggies are doing. As a recruiter, I think Elko, he's doing it right now. I think we're currently, depending on what ranking you look like, top 10. And they've lost out on some guys in Texas. Because Texans are doing really well. LSU is still always dominant. So they're in the top 10 in recruiting. To me, you have to sell the actual offense now, and not the fizzle of what A&M has been the last couple of years of the team with all these great resources and the ability to pay in NIL. Now you've got to start winning some games. But I think it's going to take a couple of years for that to be established here with Coach Elko. But yeah, absolutely. I think he's a great recruiter. And he's a smash-mouth coach. You saw last week in the Florida game. You know, in that 99-yard drive-over was the 17th place. 15 of those plays were run the ball. And I know that's not splashing today's football, but what it does do is open up a 73-yard touchdown to Cyrus Allen, the ability to have the big play because you have to worry about that run game. This year in college football we view a lot differently, really differently than any other year ever. Because of the 12-team college football playoff. I think the Aggies are still very much alive in this, obviously. One lost SEC team, very much alive. How many SEC teams do you think in the college football playoff? And what do you think the Aggies have to do to be one of those teams? You know, it's hard for me to even go there and because it sounds like I'm drinking the maroon Kool-Aid. A&M has got to prove they can beat Bowling Green again. Come on. Come on. Hey, I think they're going to. But let me go ahead and tell you about Bowling Green who almost beat Penn State, who was up on Michigan last year, who did beat Georgia Tech. This team plays very well in this atmosphere. They were up on Penn State at halftime and had a chance to win in the fourth quarter. I think A&M is going to win. I guess my point is the Aggies under Jim Bill Fisher, especially in the last three years, lost games that they should have won. They lost games in the fourth quarter. I need to see this team do that in the fourth quarter at Kyle Field because they had an opportunity in week one against Notre Dame. With two minutes left, the game was tied and it was over. They lost by 10. That's just who they've been. They need to turn on that switch. I think they win this week. I think Arkansas next week is going to be an interesting game, but I still think A&M should be able to win that. It won 10 out of 11 against Arkansas since joining the SEC. And then, you know, you've got the Missouri game. If A&M can get through Missouri at that point, if they beat Missouri five and one under this mythical scenario, then I think they're in the conversation. I think for year one of Coach Elko, can you be in the conversation November 1st, at least in the conversation? That, to me, would be the right step to this program where they've been the last couple of years. No, no, we miss you, man, but I'm curious. I mean, besides the repeal, the no layups podcasts, and I don't know. What else do you miss about Houston now that you're in college station? Well, first of all, I love living in a small town, but I feel like college stations become like a, I don't know. I feel like Sugar Land at times, or at least the part of a college station that I live in. But I'm in Houston all the time, guys. My kids are overachievers, and they have to play soccer in these probably. So, literally, I drive to Houston three to four times a week for soccer practice with Challenge and HTX. So, I'm all over town all the time. So, and my parents are there, and I get to see them all the time. So, I love Houston. I keep up the strokes and texting the rockets, obviously. So, I love it. I miss telling Houston sports stories, but I love the patch of the college. The patch of the college sports. No, no, I'm sure you saw this. Dennis Dodd had his top 10 players. He's ever seen live and in person, which I think is a little bit of a cup out, but he did that. Live and in person. Who is the best college football player you've ever seen live and in person? That's college football player I've ever seen live and in person. Vince Young, Johnny Manziel. I'm going to say those two. Yeah, those didn't make Dennis's list. David, thanks for the time. We appreciate it. Of course, we're following your work. Love the work that you're doing, and we'll catch up again soon. Thank you. Bye, guys. Miss you guys. Talk to you soon. David Nuneo. Texags joining us. Houston, Houston media icon. Love Nuneo. Last time I saw Nuneo was in the NCAA tournament. Whenever Houston played Texas A&M. He started his time trailer. Yeah. Great dude. All right. 713 780 ESPN. Least Sterling. Paramount Sports. All he does is win. It's all he does. Well, last week he tied, but he won the previous two weeks. He's won overall in the year, and he's going to win again this week. Least Sterling, hands out his winners next. It's the B's on ESPN 97.5, and ESPN 92.5. Hey, before we go to the break, I'm going to tell you about my bookie.ag because, hey, that's the place you want to be. If you're betting on anything, you have the NFL game tonight, and you got college football leading into Sunday and Monday with more NFL, you want to put some money down, you want to get some action, you go to my bookie.ag because they've always got different things going on. They're going to help you along the way. Got another promotion going on right now. You sign up at my bookie.ag and depending on what you put into your account for the first time, they're going to put money on top of it up to $1,000 when you use our promo code, bet nine, seven, five. 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Go every time. I'll tell you bet anything, anytime, anywhere with the only place I tell you to do. It's my bookie.ag promo code, bet nine, seven, five, ESPN, 97, five. You listening to my PRVs with Joel Blanket, Jeremy Branno on ESPN, 97, five and 92, five broadcasting live from the Veritex community bank studios. Lee Sterling, Paramount Sports last week, two, two and one, one in each of the last two weeks. So Lee Sterling up big on the year for you going to win again this week. So make sure you're taking notes, get out the notepad, whether you're old school, still write them down or you type them in the phone, whatever you got to do. Take some notes. Lee Cincinnati Houston, we started with a game that's the nearest and dearest to my heart. Take off with Houston kicking off big 12 play at Cincinnati Saturday morning against the Bearcats. Bearcats are giving three points in this game. What do you make of this big 12 rivalry? He never thought he'd be saying that, but, uh, I don't know if you guys ever, when you're like looking up something, when you're looking up when it's based on conferences, find yourself looking in the wrong conference. You guys do that? No, not me. Never. Never do that. I love the big 12 lead. Um, well, I'm still doing it from time to time. So that's been a problem for me, but, uh, this Houston team is going to have to play better if they want to have a chance to win some games. They, uh, if not real consistent, Cincinnati for the first time look like they are starting to turn things around here. I know you can play well last week, probably the best, but, uh, Cincinnati had a pretty clean game, only one turnover, uh, they're, they're quarterback, probably getting some good quarterback play, uh, their top running back receiver had big games. Henderson, the receiver, 10 catches from almost 150 yards. He might be a tough matchup here for Houston. I just think that maybe right now, Cincinnati's a year ahead of Houston, uh, that new three four defense is going to have to create some turnovers. They want to have a chance. I like Cincinnati here, 28-20. Lee, we were just talking some Aggies football. We know we got some quarterback issues going on there and Wigman doesn't look like he's going to be the guy for this game against Bowling Green, but they're heavily favored. How do you see this one playing out? Yeah, Bowling Green, I mean, what they did, uh, when they played, went up to play Penn State, certainly was an absolute shocker. So, uh, I think Texas A&M is for a Warren and their defensive front was dominant in the game against Florida, but, uh, you know, if there is heavy run as they were in the last game, this is, it's going to be tough to really stretch out and win some games by wide margins. So, uh, Bowling Green, uh, you know, they just eat a lot of clock. They're going to take their time here. Uh, Texas A&M looks like for the meantime, if the Wigman gets back, they're going to be more of a running team and, uh, you know, I think they'll win a lot of games, but, you know, a problem is you really want to lay that kind of wood here and we're talking about 23 points against the team that might be one of the top two three in the Mac here. I, I had Texas A&M winning this game, something like 38 to 21, but I'll pick the 23, uh, point here in Bowling Green, Oklahoma, Tennessee SEC rivalry here in this one. A lot of people think the Sooners are frauds. The vol, the vols are giving up seven points. How do you see this SEC SEC thriller shaping up? Yeah, the look ahead line before Tennessee won 71 nothing last week with three points. So the line has jumped four points. It really is no value at all. If Tennessee was at home, I'd probably lay 10 or 14 points. I don't think Oklahoma is great, but this will be Nico's first start on the road. He's had two neutral site games here that Iowa bowl game and then the neutral site game this year against NC State and then two home games. The two games that the vols played on the road against ranked opponents last year, they lost by 14 to Alabama and 29 to Missouri. Josh Heifel gets to come back, you know, play against his old school, you know, where he won a national title, where he coached and, uh, I think I'll have his team ready here, but I think he's got two DBs, two cornerbacks that might get exposed here and tough tough to win in conference on the road, especially laying seven points here. I'm going to call for the upset wrong team favorite, Oklahoma outright 30 to 28 over Tennessee. Let's shift some gears. Lee, let's get to the NFL. Let's look at a tale of two different cities, a Buffalo team that much to the surprise of many look like a team that is still going to be a contender for the Super Bowl. Josh Allen is doing with his legs, with his arm, they're playing great football on the flip side. The Jaguars, one of those three teams in the Texans division that don't have a win that don't look anything like they might have been rated preseason. How do you see Buffalo and Jacksonville? Yeah. On paper, Jacksonville should be much, much better. I mean, they played a Brown team last week that had a hundred yards and penalties was two for 14 on third down. If you just looked at those two stats, you're like, Oh, they're going to win the game here. They still manage to lose that game. And Buffalo's looking for revenge. They lost last year to Jack, about 25, 20. The game actually occurred in England. The Jags home away from home here, but Buffalo right now, you got to love that offense the way they're getting on all cylinders running in, throwing the football and Jacksonville. Something is missing. I like Buffalo here, 30 to 20 Houston Texans, but their undefeated record on the line going to Minnesota. Also undefeated record on the line, Texans are a road favorite, road favorites in the NFL. Always scary. How do you see it go on Sunday for the Texans? So I actually think that the Texans are probably one of the top five teams in the NFL. I think they are the team that can give kids city the most trouble. Why if they can settle and get your mixing back and healthy, then they're going to be a really tough out. The defense, the pass rush, I mean, people will say everyone's all over Chicago. The 37 dropbacks, they either sacked Williams, they either hit him or hurried him, 36 of the 37 dropbacks, which is incredible. I love their linebackers. They may not be the right fit for another team, but the way that they can move and make plays in space. I think that they fit in perfectly with this team here. The only problem here is Sam Donald. Remember, he played last week against San Francisco. Where did he play last year? San Francisco. He knew the defense. He knows DeMico Ryan, who was there before. He knows DeMico Ryan's defense and looks like Justin Jefferson will play in this game. And I think there's a better than 50% chance that Jordan Addison plays also. So Sam Donald may not be the long-term answer, but a couple of years ago in 2001, he did start the Carolina Panthers 3 and 0 straight up and against the spread. So it potentially ended up getting pulled for PJ Walker and Cam Newton. But I think right now, this is probably the best football he's ever played here. Hate to say it guys. Even though you're a top five team, I think Minnesota pulls you up to 23-20. Ouch. Lee, now I want to let you know there's a lot of extra pressure on you this week because our producer, B-Mac, is going once again to a casino where he is going to be able to rely on you to pay his rent. You've already paid his rent once. Are you going to be able to do it again? And I think other people are wondering how can Lee do the same for me. Tell everybody how they get involved with you. You've got a free play for them and other things going on. Yeah, the free play is going to be the Texas UL Monroe game. If anyone wants to get that game for free, let's give it to the first five callers. All they need to do is call 800-400-974-1, first five callers will be Texas and UL Monroe on me. And this is a promotion I get the most emails and calls and DMs from people. It's a world-famous Bakers dozen, 13 games, Saturday and Sunday, just $97. And we've had some 12-in-1, never gone 13-0, we've had some 12-in-1, 11-in-2 and 10-in-3 records on this promotion. And I feel so sure I'm going to produce a winning record. I've never done this. So I think we've done this by 20-25 times the Bakers dozen. If I don't produce a winning record, next week will be free. So World's Famous Bakers dozen, 13 games, $97, so I've been throwing baseball through Sunday. We're on a 17-in-5 running baseball, we're up over 600 units in baseball this season. So everything, we've got through Sunday $97 and we're guaranteeing we're going to have a winning card in the football on the 13 games. How do you get it? Just one place, ParamountSports.com. Man, talk about it. Dale, you care about the people, Lee? We love it. Yeah. We love it. I know if I win for them, they're going to want to come on and base down through the World Series. Football, they're going to join for a month or the rest of the season. So all I can tell them is don't count on getting the free week. There you go. That's perfect. That's great. Fired up, Lee. He's ready to go. He's got his pocket full of cash. Okay. We appreciate it. Appreciate it. Lee, have that, had that winning week. We'll talk to you next week. Lee Stern. Lee's ready to go to his next city. Lee Stern, like ParamountSports, joining us. But he's been on fire. He's been on fire to the start of this weekend and there's not deals like that, that exist in that space. Brevin Jordan's season is over, by the way, Aaron Wilson reporting that he has torn his ACL. That's it. So Brevin Jordan done for the year. Yeah, not that he was going to be a massive impact player, but I mean, look, he had a depth. Everybody talks about he's a big body, good dude, good athlete. We all remember the, you know, the touchdown and the speed and the playoffs last year, but you hate to hear that for anybody, especially this early in season. Which do you like the most that he's a good dude or a big body? I like the fact that he can still play tight end and be a backup for you that can catch the football a little bit and he's got speed for his size. I was just curious of the things that you used to describe him, which of the two you like the most. There we go. I'm curious. The big body or the good dude? The big body more myself. I like his big body. I like the big body. I don't really care. He's a good dude. It's great. It's a nice attribute to have. But of the two, I rather had the big body and tied in than the good dude to tie in personally. But I think he's, I think he's been more than kind of what you let on though. Like he's played a lot of snaps with the Texans. They've used them a lot in 12 personnel. They've used a lot of 12 personnel. He's been a really good blocker. I do think this loss is significant. Is it one that you can overcome? No. But yeah, it stinks. Yeah. I like the fact that he can catch the football as a big body. And the fact that he's athletic, it's not just normally the big bodies. Oh, you can block and occasionally you might get, you know, a dump off pass, but he's proven he can catch the football. He's athletic. He's got size and it sucks that he's out for the year. Yeah. Kind of like a, like a, he's not really like the prototypical like six, six tied in. He's more kind of the shorter dude, but he's built. Like he's jacked. Yeah. D'Amico said that he was destined to have a breakout year and, you know, stinks after two games. I never saw where he got hurt though. I have to look a little bit closer, I don't ever saw him get hurt in that game. They never pinpointed it. That's for sure. All right. Who are the best college football players you've ever seen? 713-780-3776. It is the bees on ESPN 97-5 in ESPN 92-5. ESPN 97-5. Owning a rental property sounds like a dream until you realize how much work goes into getting it ready. Determine a competitive rent price, market the property, schedule the showing screen tennis draft at the least at a rent collection. Name your request, maintain your communication, sound complicated? Runner's warehouse is here to take the hard work off your rental to-do list. Qualify tenants, check rent collection, check maintenance coordination. You got it. 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