- This is the On The Pony Express Podcast. - Part of the On Three Network. - Check out all the SMU coverage you need at ontheponyexpress.com. Now, here's your host, Billy M. Buddy. - Billy M. Buddy. - One, two, three. - One, two, three. (upbeat music) - Welcome in ladies and gentlemen to another edition of The On The Pony Express Podcast. I'm Billy M. Buddy. Thanks for listening. We'll get to Hayden Howardton, breaking down SMU TCU in just a moment. But first, we gotta remind you guys that we are presented by our friends at statusjet. Statusjet.com, reach out to David Henry and his entire team today to get the breakdown on each and every single one of SMU's away games the rest of the season. The basketball schedule is about to come out any day now. So that is prime time to start planning your trip to wherever The Mustangs are playing. Using the code ponyup ACC. Get that discount on a round trip flight. We just had an On The Pony Express subscriber book, two trips. That's right, two trips. Last week got the discount on both. Big win for him and The Mustangs. Get that support from you to statusjet and their proud supporters of the SMU Mustangs as well. So support them. Ponyup ACC gets you a discount on your round trip flight and we're happy to be joined by former SMU offensive lineman Hayden Howardton. Once again, On The Pony Express podcast. It is skill at week. Hayden, this one means the world to you and also as an alum myself as well. And we'll get to that. But we've got to do coast to coast first because hey, it was a bye week. SMU was hanging out. The coaches were on the road recruiting, doing all those things. And there were some really good games out there. There were also some games that got people talking about some dominant performances. Notably, Texas for one reason. I look at Notre Dame as another. But let's lead off at the Longhorns as we go coast to coast. And what were your impressions is, do they have a quarterback controversy now? - Man, you know, it's hard to tell who Newers has been such a baller for them since he transferred in from Ohio State. And then in the second quarter, he leaves with a non-contact, strained abdomen injury, as Coach Sark put it. And in comes Redshirt freshman, Arch Manning, who is famous, has famous relatives, ton of followers. And I think a lot of people are excited to see Arch Manning. I don't know if they expected him to go off the way he did after his limited reps as a Redshirt. On Saturday, he went nine for 12, four passing touchdowns. And on top of it, he added a 67-yard rushing touchdown. Never saw his uncles do anything like that. But Quinn Ewers remains questionable as a Longhorns host, Louisiana Monroe this Saturday as their first week has number one since 2008. Longhorns are definitely back, but I'm excited to see more Arch Manning. - Yeah, his uncles never did anything like that. His father might have been the best athlete out of the bunch, Cooper. And then you added his grandfather, Archie, who's the one who could certainly scoot a little bit like that. But yeah, I'm intrigued to see what happens. I mean, if Quinn's out for any considerable amount of time, but the first thing when that happened and they, kind of the next day happened where there were kind of rumors around, okay, he might miss some time. Of course, you look back on Garrett Gilbert, you look back on Shane Bushel. In my phone, it has a couple of people being like, "Is Quinn gonna end up?" But that's me. I was like, the NIL is good. I don't know if it beats the NFL salary that he's probably gonna get at some point. But speaking of NFL salaries, Georgia, they've produced a lot of players that are making a bunch of money in the NFL right now. And they were in a defensive slugfest against Kentucky. I watched this game. It was actually ending around the time. The TCU game was this weekend. So had the multi-view on, the Bulldogs were in a dogfight once again, against the Wildcats. And I just thought this was an SEC classic. - Man, talk about NFL production coming out of Georgia. I felt like one out of every 10 players I was with in the NFL was a Georgia Bulldog. But definitely a defensive slugfest. Georgia's defense continues to look dominant. But I think the game and what a lot of people have talked about is a very questionable decision by Mark Stoops there at the end of the game. So to kind of set the scene, two minutes, 58 seconds left in the game. Kentucky has the ball down one, fourth and eight on the Georgia 47. And they get a false start, it backs them up. So now they're looking at fourth and 13. And they punt it back to Georgia. And Georgia runs off all but nine seconds. Kentucky gets the ball back. They try to run sports center and ends up going nowhere. But I think you got to go for the win, man. You got the number one team on the ropes in your home stadium on the plus side of the field and we're punting. So I did some digging into analytics and I do love some saber metrics, but analytics had Kentucky at a 34% chance to win. If they go for it, doesn't matter if they got it or not, and only a 12% chance of victory by punting. So kind of concerned about, I guess, some of Coach Stoops decision making, but I think they'll get rolling. Georgia will get a buy this coming week and then they'll play Alabama and Tuscaloosa, which should be a classic coming up. - Yeah, Georgia has quite the run. They've got Alabama, they've got Texas looming ahead. So the, I mean, number one team in the country pretty much last four years really is, is in for a continued run of tough stretches. But the interesting thing about that one is, is I don't know that the analytics tell you, obviously go for it and I would have gone for it. But your defense is playing so well, Georgia hasn't been able to move the ball, but you know what? Again, if you haven't beaten Georgia in so long, you've got to go for the jugular, I feel like when you've got it that close. So, I don't know. - They had all three time outs too. So, I mean, I can see where he's coming from, of maybe we get a stop and get the ball back, but it's gonna be about the same spot where you're already at, still trying to go for the win. So, it's just one of those deals. It's easy to have 2020 hindsight, but if it was made out of love to see, Kentucky go for the win there. - Oh yeah, 100%. I mean, again, you're home crowd, you get it, maybe you can get a little bit of momentum going and drive down the field win the game. - You only need to go, right? So you get a first down and you're in field goal range. So, but anyway. - College Kickers this weekend. I watched the 11 a.m. LSU South Carolina game and college Kickers that aren't Colin Rogers were showing themselves in that one, but Mizzou in another close game with an SEC program did play an ACC program in Boston College, two top 25 teams tangling in this one and Mizzou trailed 14-3, but they were able to come back and beat Thomas Castellanos and BC. This is two things. I think this is the continued maturation of what is a very good Missouri program and what is the maturation of a Boston College team that has really improved overall under Bill O'Brien as well. - Agreed. Boston College is hot. They had a lot of confidence coming into the game after beating Florida State, which we'll get to later. Bill O'Brien, obviously, NFL head coach, general manager knows how to run a program from top to bottom. And he's really taken over that program and helped develop Thomas Castellanos who has looked really, really solid to start the year. 64.8% completion percentage, nine touchdowns, two picks through the first three games, but both of those picks came against Missouri, which was the difference in the ball game, as well as the fact that Missouri rushed for 176, while Boston College only rushed for 49. So Missouri won the turnover battle. They out rushed Boston College, and when you can do that in college football, you're gonna win 90% of the time. - You know, Brady Cook just doesn't get enough credit among college quarterbacks and just kind of what you're supposed to do as far as managing the game. Like you mentioned, the turnovers, he didn't commit one. And, you know, ICE is the game with a keeper and around the side slides, doesn't go out of bounds, doesn't take in the necessary hit. It's a very calm, cool and collected play by Brady Cook there to ICE that one. And the thing about Thomas Castellanos that isn't talked enough about, because everybody saw him go off against Florida State and do some of the run things that he's done. And they had this, I felt like exotic playbook in terms of all the things they presented. He stuck in the pocket pretty well against Missouri. I watched a good bit of that game as well. And he was able to really stand in there, which he would maybe not have done last year is much more of a creator rather than a true, going through his progression. So again, Kudos, Bill O'Brien. He's been, you know, showing why he was an NFL coach, like you said, and you go to another SEC program, not too far from Missouri. And the Oklahoma Sooners kind of, I don't want to say skated by, but what would you describe a 34-19 win that looked like it was going to get out of hand and then ended up being somewhat close? - I predicted Tulane to cover the spread after their performance against Kansas State last week. I just think Oklahoma hasn't found their rhythm on offense yet. I think they're missing some key pieces. Nick Anderson is a wide receiver who has played excellent for them in crunch time and when they've needed them. And he's been out to start the year. So while one wide receiver doesn't make a whole offense, it certainly helps when you have one of your better threats. But I think Tulane has looked impressive. I already talked about the Kansas State close loss in New Orleans last week. And then only a 15-point loss on the road versus an SEC team, that's encouraging for a team that just lost their head coach and they're trying to kind of rebuild their identity and figure out who they are. As far as Oklahoma goes, I'm not sure. It will really be able to see, I guess, when they play Texas. Obviously, Texas is the number one team in the country and Red River always produces fireworks, whether what side you're watching. But we'll see, we'll watch both teams closely. I'm gonna watch the Green Wave closely as I think they can compete for an American Conference Championship for the third straight year. Regardless of it being a first year for their new head coach. - Well, and a couple of things on that as well. You know, Seth LaTrell is a new offensive coordinator at Oklahoma, he was at it, North Texas. And mild colleague Gabe Brooks, who went to North Texas National Analyst for 24/7 now. The one thing he was always talking to me about was, there goes Seth LaTrell just getting away from the run. There's just not this balance. I think Jackson Arnold has a lot of talent. He's gonna be fine, especially like to talk about getting maybe a Nick Anderson back. But when you look at where Oklahoma's at, they need to look in the mirror a little bit as far as what they want to be offensively because I think they're trying to marry so much of what Levy was doing and what Jackson Arnold does well. And I just feel like they've got a lot to sort out there in Norman. And on top of that, Branson Hickman's been out, their offensive line is kind of in shambles overall right now just from all the departures, all the changes and a few injuries. So there's a lot of interesting pieces to that Oklahoma team going on right now. And to your point about Tulane, I mean, John Summerall, could he be Rhett Lashley where you get to a program and all of a sudden you're going to a quote unquote power five? We'll see if Tulane gets an invite to the Pac-12. It's not necessarily a power five anymore, but it still would be an upgrade of sorts for the green wave. So they're playing well. I'm a big fan of John Summerall. He was, if there was a hot board for SMU's coaching job when Sunny Dykes left, which we'll talk about eventually, he would have been on it for the work he did at Troy. So he's a name to certainly watch. I mean, he's showing what he can do now at two different programs at a high level. - Yeah, I like what you said about running the ball as well at Oklahoma. Oklahoma's best years is when they've had dominant running backs. You have Adrian Peterson coming out of there. You've got Joe Nixon coming out of there. I played high school football with Nick's older brother, Rodney Anderson, who had an incredible season at Oklahoma his last year after battling some injuries. So I'd love to watch them get back to that. And any offensive lineman wants to see a programmer on the ball 50 times a game. Like I'm going to talk about later in this podcast. But as we move on to Florida State talking about American conference teams, they dropped-- - Not running the ball, not running the ball. - They dropped to 0 and 3 after Memphis gets the W and 1.3 million big ones for playing in Tallahassee. And DJ Ungolongle looked atrocious for the third straight week. And Mike Norville put out his depth chart for this weekend and they've got him starting again. And unfortunately, I think you're going to have to nuke the season a little bit and just put him on the bench and get somebody else out there. It's been three games and he's proven he doesn't have the stuff this year. So I'm sure the panic room message board at Florida State is probably going crazy. But the Knowles are the only powerful team without a win to start this year. And you pair that with, they're playing one of the most fun teams in the country to watch this weekend, which is the Cal Golden Bears. They're coming to Tallahassee. They're on fire after a surprise win over Auburn two weeks ago. They're 3-0 after beating UC Davis, 31-13 this weekend. And I'm a huge fan of the memes from the Cal Burner accounts. They're awesome to watch on us. - Really good. So talk about playing to your band-aids. - Yeah, no doubt. - Don't get into that, but. - The thing with DJ is, and there's two pieces to this one, Mike Norvell was quoted as saying, "I'm pleased with the way he's preparing. "I'm pleased with the things that he's doing. "You see the moments where he's giving us a chance. "He's giving us an opportunity to have big plays. "I thought there were a lot of reads and things "that he needed to do and the position where he needed "to put the ball was positive. "There are a few times that we need to be better, blah, blah, blah." I mean, you stick it up to your quarterback, but on the flip side of that too, if it doesn't get better against Cal, they probably need to make a change to Brock Glenn. And by the way, Hayden, I know you've been on the player side of this, and you kind of came up, but one thing I've seen in my since, basically since I've watched the Hawaii Bowl in 2009 when I was accepted to SMU, is first time starting quarterbacks against SMU have a tendency to get a little hot. So all I'm gonna say is Mike Norvell, stick with the game plan, keep DJing Lee out there for a couple more weeks. - I think that game's gonna be a dog fight regardless. - Yeah, it will. - I think Florida State still has tons of talent. Top 10 in the country as far as the just amount of talent they have on the field, they're just not putting it together from a game plan perspective. - Speaking of who's putting it together, and they put it together against a ACC team, which turned around and Vanderbilt to them, so to speak, is Ole Miss putting up 40 on Wake Forest, beating up on the Demon Deacon's 40 to six in Winston Salem and Wake Forest turned around and canceled their return in that game, or in that series to Oxford for a cool $1 million. - I didn't watch this game. I just saw the headlines of the fact that they canceled and they Vanderbilt it Ole Miss. I mean, you gotta ride out that gentleman's agreement of, hey man, we're gonna get a home game and then we'll come to y'all the following season. And Lane Kiffin said that Wake Forest broke an unwritten rule as Ole Miss is now looking for an opponent in week two next season, which is when SMU is going to on the road. - We got that in a very state. And I would love to see the Mustangs get out of that and schedule Ole Miss and get a little more street cred under our belt, regardless of what the game turns out. I don't really think we should be going on the road to an FCS program. That one kind of struck me a little weird, but. - Shout out TCU for canceling and moving things around and North Texas not no longer being a matchup for SMU. But I'll say this, friend of the program Bill Armstrong, I told him, I said, this is one that's gotta happen. SMU Ole Miss is, I mean two programs, very different conferences, but I mean two fan bases that would just get along like great. This is the game I'd love to see happen, especially if you're looking at it from SMU's perspective, if you can catch them in 2025 when Jackson Dart is gone and you know, maybe they're reloading, maybe you can keep building your program in the right way and go get a big win over maybe a Lane Kiffin coach team, maybe someone else who knows what the coaching care cell brings, I think Lane Kiffin's gonna be there for a while. I think he's found this nice little lane, so to speak, and is enjoying himself in Oxford. - Yeah, if they make the trip out to Oxford, I'll definitely be on the plane out there. That would be an awesome away game. - All right, is it about that time? Oh wait, we can't jump to the battle for the iron skillet just yet, because we've gotta remind you guys that we are presented by our friends at AKM Turfin Greens. AKM Turfin Greens.com is where you can reach out to Alex Carpenter and his entire team. 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All right, battle for the iron skillet. Mustangs, haven't won the last two meetings. This is a big opportunity for Rhett Lashley. But I know you wanna break down some of the history of this rivalry for some of the people out there that don't know anything about it or maybe miss out on some of it. I learned something just talking with you before the podcast. - It's just a natural rivalry, man. Two schools that are about 40 miles apart. It's just one of those deals where they have to play each other, right? And especially now that we're both in power conferences but it didn't always start that way. So the very first meeting was SMU's very first game as a program, October 9th, 1915. And the teams that played all but seven years in the 109 year history of the game. TCU leads the all time, 53 to 42 with seven ties. The last meeting we talked about is 34-17 win by TCU last year in Fort Worth. But why is it called the iron skillet? Because that is always kind of something that people are like, "Oh, I don't really get it." So legend says that 1946 an SMU fan was frying frog legs in the parking lot pregame. A TCU fan comes along and he bets the SMU Mustang fan for the frog legs and the skillet. SMU won the game on the field. So the skillet and the legs went to the SMU fan and then the atrophy eventually made its way onto the field. And I did some digging to kind of find, hey, obviously I'm biased but I wanna know what does everybody else think about the game? NFL Network rated the iron skillet as the 13th best rivalry trophy in college football. And I was curious what number one was. So I'm sure some people are. Number one is Floyd of Rosendale. And that for my college football nerds is the big bronze pig given to the winner of Minnesota and the Iowa who also plays this weekend. But Sunny Dikes is two and oh as SMU, Sunny Dikes is two and oh as TCU's head coach against SMU but he's also two and one as SMU's head coach against TCU. Coach Lashley is oh and two as head coach but he's one and one as the office coordinator. So he does have a skillet win under his belt. Might not show up on the stat sheet that way but he does have a win. And unfortunately this is the final scheduled iron skillet at Ford Stadium which take away the bias or how you feel about the frogs. That actually is really sad. I don't wanna see this rivalry go away. I want this rivalry to continue. I mean, this is the 103rd meeting and it's just something that's gonna be gone now. And it's TCU's side that's choosing not to renew after next year's game at the Carter which I'll get to in a minute. But the last time the SMU won one back-to-back games in 2019 and 2021 in Fort Worth. The 2020 game at Ford Stadium was canceled due to the pandemic so we ended up playing two straight road games. And just to dive deeper on well, why is this rivalry so hot right now? Well, as I said, Sunny Dyches was the head coach at SMU from 2018 to 2021. And that 2021 skillet game is the reason that Sunny Dyches is the head coach at TCU. So to kind of dive into that story, in 2017, Sunny Dyches is an analyst for TCU. He's there under Gary Patterson who was the head coach after he got fired for being a head coach at Cal Berkeley. So Gary Patterson throws him a lifeline. He ends up there as an analyst. He just hangs out for a year. And then in 2018 he becomes our head coach at SMU. So go year, kind of get our footing under us. And then in 2019 we go and we beat TCU in a big surprise win over the Frogs first time since 2011. And 2020 game gets canceled. So we have two years of talking smack and kind of explaining, hey, well, we're the best. We have been the best since 2019. And during that same year, Sunny Dyches puts out a video of himself frying frog legs, which is again, one of the best memes that I love it when it circles around on a yearly basis. So 2021, we go back to Fort Worth, dominate the frogs that year and at 4238 when 350 yards on the ground, it was really 352, but we took two knees. TCU scored a garbage time touchdown, made it look a little better than it was. SMU got the ball back five minutes left and we just wore down TCU to win the game. A month later, October 31st, TCU fires Gary Patterson after 20 years with the program and he brought TCU from the WAC to CUSA to the Mountain West to the Big 12 and six conference championships during his tenure. A surprise firing, people thought he would literally be there until he wanted to retire. But athletic directors got to do what they do best and that's make the program better. And it was around that time that rumors started swirling about Sunny Dyches departure and hey, might end up leaving SMU. There were whispers of could be TCU, but we never really thought anything of it. And SMU was seven and oh up to that point until we lost to University of Houston on October 30th. We ended up finishing the season eight and four, the wheels fell off, there was just this huge distraction and this cloud over the locker room. And on November 26th, TCU announces the hiring of Sunny Dyches the day before my senior day. So we're in the hotel on Thursday watching the ticker and we see the news drop. We didn't hear about it beforehand. We saw it literally on the ticker or on Twitter. Rick Hart, the athletic director. - My fault. - Hey, if it is, it is, but you can't agree to something like that before the season's over. I don't care what it is. If you really respect the players that were there for you and thought and died out on that practice field every day 'cause we had some brutal practices with Sunny. I mean, we played so hard because we loved them, honestly. And so Sunny ends up coaching senior day against Tulsa the following and not pretty. Not pretty. So people were spitting on him and his wife on the boulevard. I felt really bad for him in that regard. But nobody wanted to play for him. Players didn't want to play for him. Coaches didn't want to be there. Just a really upsetting final showing and what really was a great four-year tenure all things considered bringing the program from a barely 500 team to a team that would win eight to 10 games every year. So we definitely made the program better. But to get on with my story, Rhett Lashley hired his head coach, November 29th. Sunny tries to poach about a dozen SMU players over the next two years, bring them across town. And only one follows. I'm gonna keep him nameless. He was my freshman roommate at SMU. And I have no good feelings for him anymore, especially after that. Guy acts like he doesn't associate with SMU, went to TCU for one semester and acts like five years at SMU didn't happen. And just another reason why I cannot stand the school in purple across town is after that 2021 game, they gave out these. And if you're on the podcast and you can't see it, it's this miniature iron skillet. It looks like a cookie skillet, but it has a little plaque in it and says, SMU versus TCU, battle for the iron skillet, back-to-back wins 2019 and 2021. And when I say they gave them out, I mean, the coaches gave them to themselves. The players did not get these. Fast forward to the, and whenever I was in my online coach's office, I would always look at it and be like, "Man, how do I get one of those?" And they're like, "Oh, I don't know. "It was just for the coaches." Anyway, fast forward to the end of the year, they're all leaving. I go in and I'm like, "Hey, since you're leaving, "can I grab that?" And they're like, "Oh, no, I'm actually gonna take that "with me across town to the school "that you're playing for this trophy for." And so I end up swiping one of them. I don't remember who's I swiped, quote unquote, but-- - You found it, you found it. - Yeah, I found it. It was just laying outside, so I found it. But that's kind of the character of what they did and perfectly describes the departure of, "Hey, all this great things we did, "we're just gonna flush it down the toilet, "but we're also gonna take credit for it." So that's something that really irritates me and never sits right with me and more adds the fuel to the fire on why I hate TCU. But here's the other side of the story. I loved playing for Sunny Dykes. Anyone that knows me and played with me in college knows that that's a fact. I had Thanksgiving at his home all four years he was our head coach, 2018, 1920, and even when we really knew he was leaving in 2021. 2021, it was just Jim Lovett and I. But this is a guy that I had done so much for and really he had done so much more for me. In 2020, when we all got granted that extra year, he didn't have to let me come back, but he did. He gave me another opportunity. I got my master's degree. I invited Sunny to my wedding. I've been over, I've talked to him since he left. I love Sunny as a friend. He's a super nice family. He's a super nice guy. But my hatred for TCU outweighs my feelings for Sunny as a person. If Sunny had gone to K-State, Minnesota, some school that's roughly the same prestige as TCU, but has no connections with SMU, it'd be a lot easier to cheer for him. And I speak for everyone on the team in that regard. All of the guys that were old when I was, I don't know about the younger guys, but all the guys that were graduating, we all feel that way. The younger guys, obviously it adds some fuel to the fire because he said, screw you guys, I'm going across town to these guys. I didn't recruit just because I can make a little bit extra money. And so it is spicy for the guys that are still in the building, but just him being across town makes it cut so much deeper and the rivalry is just a lot more spicy. So that's my story time for today. - Spicy, at best. Put something in the skillet and cook it up with it, I would say, but how do you turn as a player? And I don't know how much maybe outside of Houston, I know the hatred was there for TCU, but how do you take what is emotion and turn it into passion on the field? Because the last two years, I feel like that, whether it be sunny or just maybe getting too amped up last year, something's missing with where your back-to-back wins over TCU had preparation, they had execution, they had a physical mindset rushing for the amount of yardage that was rushed for all those things. Last two years, it's almost like in hockey, when I play my beer league, you call it gripping the stick-to-type. You're feeling the pressure a little bit and how do you take that spice and turn it into cooking with passion? - So the hatred, so to speak, it can't make you play out of your shoes. It has to only amplify your intensity and your effort but not your effort as I'm gonna come off the ball so hard, I'm gonna fall on my face. One of those deals where your focus has to be at a higher level, you don't have to do anything different at a higher level. So if our bread and butter is running inside zone, we can't come out on Saturday and be like, we're gonna air this ball out and we're gonna throw it for 58 times just because we don't like 'em. You gotta stick with what you're gonna do and take what you're good at and focus at a high level because in a rivalry game, especially as an offensive player, you have to be more under control because you know the guys on defense are gonna be more out of control, if that makes sense to you. The TCU guys, they can talk about how this rivalry doesn't mean anything to them. They always played harder in our game than they did the week before or week after it. So you always saw that they can talk the talk but inevitably the on the field product shows that they also care about this rivalry. So it's just one of those things where on Saturday, I don't wanna come out and we don't need to go max protection and take a shot on the first play 'cause you're not gonna win on the first play, honestly. You're gonna have to grind this team out and you're gonna have to really take this from TCU over the course of 60 minutes. You're not gonna be able to win in the first quarter or the first half. This ball game is going to come down to the end and that's when you're gonna have to out execute these guys. - And for 2023, you go 2022, that's the first one where Sonny's in Fort Worth for the game. Then 2023, they cancel the game, they break that news right before the season, they leak it to the star telegram and Brett McMurphy and all of them and that amped it up. This year, I mean, I don't know, I feel like this week I'm waiting for somebody to break that TCU's canceling next year's game is gonna pay SMU. So like, this is the year where when SMU gets out there, they've got an opportunity to show why TCU was maybe scared of SMU being in the big 12 and not wanting them to have that invite because SMU's been on the rise in terms of how they've been building their program with facilities and all that stuff. And you know what, the thing that, and I had a good relationship with Sonny, I would imagine he's not a huge fan of some of the things I've said over the last couple of years, but when you know someone and you've covered someone and you know their tendencies and all those things, like you know his tendencies as a coach, it is, you can sit back and say some of the things that you wanna say about the program and well, they're running off coordinators and oh, you see some of the things start to leak into maybe their evaluations in the transfer portal that SMU saw a little bit of. But the thing that I think is so funny about Sonny, and it's not funny for SMU because they're canceling the series, but, and everybody wants to give Jeremiah Jeremiah a bunch of grief, but I totally believe that if Sonny Dyches is not the coach of TCU, this series finds a way to get back on. And the whole, we've gotta take care of our season ticket holders. When he said that at the Texas Coaches Convention, when I saw him at the end of July, about a couple of weeks before this news broke, that they were canceling the series, I was like, this is where he's sitting at. This is his take on it. He's taking care of season ticket holders because they're gonna schedule home games, but they're gonna be against no offense. Like, I mean, you'd say, like-- - Mark and G8, Sam Houston. I mean-- - Long Island. - Yeah, L.I.U., what are we doing? - That's, I mean, there's a lot of push around college football that, you know, you shouldn't be playing those type of teams, which no disrespect, they work hard, but like, I don't know, it's just, it's kind of, the whole half the thing for the most part is so hypocritical on where his stance is. - Yeah, my brother plays at Abilene Christian. He works just as hard as we did. They play at TCU next year, but if you're really talking about being a college football playoff ready team, those teams are not gonna get you into the playoff. Let's be real. So, while TCU is doing that, SMU is now scheduling home and homes with Baylor, and we play Colorado coming up, and we play BYU, Oklahoma. So, we're scheduling these big games now, and that's how you prepare to be a playoff team, because you wanna play the best of the best in college football, and that's the real measuring stick. I would love for Georgia to schedule SMU. Even if SMU gets killed by 60, at least we'll know where we're at as a program and what we need to fix. You don't learn anything by playing against Long Island, you know? Like, what are you doing? And on top of that, okay, we're in different conferences. We always have been, but Washington and Washington State, we're in the same conference until this year, they're finding a way to keep that rivalry going. Oregon and Oregon State are now in different conferences. They're finding a way to keep those historic rivalries going. And so, why doesn't TCU do the same thing? And it really boils down to, I think they're cowards. I think they're scared of the program. I think they're scared of where we're going. We've out recruited them. We're now in a better conference than they are with better facilities in a better town. Dallas is way better than Fort Worth, and that's just how it's gonna be. Sorry, you try to be a cow town, but you also like to be funky town. I just don't like it, dude. - And this is why this game is critical. And more so than the rivalry, like if you, because I believe this in the last few years, the game has been too big for each iteration of this SMU team. And so they've got to find a way to, like you said, not, you know, fall down on your face, trying so hard, so to speak. But you've got to make this just another game. And you've got to find a way to win, because not only is this time ticking down on the rivalry itself as it stands, Rhett Lashley could use some momentum after losing to BYU last week. The ACC hasn't exactly had like an incredible run in non-conference at times, but you know, you want to know what all the other teams for the most part are doing in the ACC, they're beating big 12 teams. So you don't want after, like I was listening to our friends, Kelly Gramlich and Eric McLean, and they were looking ahead to Florida State SMU. And Eric goes, that game might be for the power ranking bottom of the ACC. And that's, you've got to start to earn your respect for this new league. And it's not to put more pressure on them. They just got to go out and win a football game and come together. - For sure. I think all of this is going to be corrected with a win on Saturday. I think it's just going to be one of those deals where if we go out and get the win by one, by a hundred, we're going to feel a lot better and have a lot more confidence going into a conference play where we're not going to be gripping the stick so hard going into conference play, where we're able to play loose and go out and have fun. 'Cause at the end of the day, football is a fun game, man. It's not something to where you're staying up all night, can't sleep because the game is so huge. That's not fun, man. That's really how it is in the NFL when your livelihood is on the line and you're just trying to make a roster. But in college, man, this is lifelong friend stuff where you're playing in big games on Saturday. Yes, but also it's fun. It really is, but let's get to my keys of the game, man. 'Cause let's talk about the actual on the field for Saturday. My keys of the game, fortunately for us, Gus Malzahn gave us the game plan. Rhett Lashley is real close with Gus Malzahn after obviously coaching for him at Auburn and what Gus did and what I loved seeing, they ran the football. They ran over 260 yards on TCU. They wore the frog front down. They won the time of possession. And that's going to be key for us to keep Kevin Jennings upright, to keep him confident, so we can really have a multi-threat offense on Saturday and not get one-sided. So we're going to run the football. We're kind of not limit Kevin Jennings, but we're going to take some of the pressure off of them, right? We want to be able to run the rock and to get big first downs when we need them. And I think defense will keep us in this ball game because I think they're going to be able to shut down the run. TCU has not committed to the run so far this year, which is really surprising with who the offensive line coach is over there. This is the same guy where we're sitting there before practice watching David Goggins videos about how to be super tough, which is hilarious when you think about it, but that's how TCU tries to build their offensive line room, but they're not leaning into that, honestly. And Josh Hoover looks dangerous at quarterback for TCU. So my second key is defense shut down the run and we got to limit the passing game. So DBs are going to need to put their big boy pants on and we need our D line to get home. I think TCU alignment are just a little more getting away than come off the ball and really knocks some heads around, but I've played in this system. They're not as well coached as SMU's offensive line. And then we talked about it, man. My third key to the game, don't make this rivalry bigger than it is. Is it a rivalry game? Yes. Is it a play in for the college football playoff? No. Previous years and against previous Power 14s, we come out and we play super tight. We just got to settle in, man. We got to build some confidence. Let's get Kevin, his first completion. Let's get the ball rolling. Let's give the ball to Richard. And at the end of the day, in a rivalry game, it's truly a culture war. Who has the best culture and who is able to out execute the other? Yeah, I think you really nailed it. And for SMU, you know, Kevin Jennings, he's got to take care of the football. He's got to pull the strings offensively in the way that you'd expect a quarterback with his experience level to do. And what I mean by that is, he's come in ice cold against Memphis and led a 92-yard touchdown drive. He's come in cold off the bench at Tulsa when SMU hadn't won there in over a decade against what was at the time the number one pass defense in the country. And he's led them to a win after Preston teed him up with a couple of big early touchdowns. You've got a guy who went into New Orleans and led SMU to an AAC championship, maybe one day an AAC championship. And you have someone who put Dallas South Oak Cliff on his back and led them to their first state championship in decades. And with all due respect to SMU, I don't know if there's more pressure than what he probably felt walking into AT&T Stadium for a state championship. And you could compare it to the AAC championship, but SMU is a team that was picked to finish third in the conference. You know, they weren't supposed to be there. And Kevin wasn't supposed to be the starting quarterback for that game. When you talk about your entire neighborhood, your city behind you, I feel like everything with Kevin is, he's gonna be relatively calm. And he might have a turnover here or there. Kind of hoping the ball security thing is tied up. But you've got someone who I think has the composure to make this happen if they're put in the right situations to make it happen. - As a guy that played for a state championship and I played a K to high school, so I was fortunate to play for multiple. So I'll relate to my first one. The lights are so bright in Jerry World. It is legitimately a thing where you're like, I don't know if I've ever seen a stadium this big. And well, yes, he carried that South Oakland team. There is a lot of pressure playing for a state championship in Texas. It's different than playing for a state championship in Maine or Massachusetts or somewhere like that. In Texas, it is legitimately a, you are enshrined forever if you win a state championship for your high school. And so Kevin, obviously, whether that storm played great won them a state championship and fast forward now to SMU where he's named the starter last Tuesday, I'm glad that Lashley used that time to name him the starter 'cause now hopefully we've used the buy, make him feel more comfortable, more confident as quarterback one. He doesn't have the threat of a quarterback controversy over his shoulder. He's gotten reps with the ones where he's really able to settle in. And I talked to guys on the team this weekend, I was like, "Hey, how was the buy?" And they said, "Really productive." Kevin looked comfortable. It was really fun to kind of get rolling and give him the reins and just turn them loose. We'll still have to start fast. This is not a game where we can go multiple three and outs again. And I think Kevin can provide that spark for us as he can take off. And that's really what he did in the last couple of games where he came in on his first series. But I also need to challenge our wider series and our tight ends to come up big for Kevin because we need to see them make the plays that they've made during practice. We see it all the time on social where they're making these awesome one-handed grabs or they're getting open. But we need to transition that onto the field, you know? And as an offensive lineman, I got to talk about offensive line play. I can't rag on all the other positions. O-line needs to show me what they showed me all off season. They need to talk the talk and walk the walk. They need to be physical. They need to play with pride. And we need to play with our hands inside. These guys are going to get penalties drawn if they keep their hands outside like they have the last couple of weeks. Let's be great in short yardage. I think that's something we've been good at this year. Take away a couple snaps in the BYU game, which you're not going to be 100% in short yardage. Give it a whole course of a long 12-game season. You're not going to be 100%. But I would love to see us be great in short yardage and we need to run the ball 40 plus times. That's just how this game is going to go. We can't get stuffed in the first quarter and just abandon the run where all right now we're one-dimensional and we're going to pass every game or every down. So we got to get that ground game going. We got to communicate. Let's get on the right page from a scheme standpoint because we have had two weeks to scheme up TCU. And so we're going to have some wrinkles just like TCU is. They're going to have some kind of wrinkle on defense where every team in the country when you play them, it's like, wow, they haven't showed that before. Let's make the adjustment. And like we talked about last week with the iPads, I misspoke with the iPads. It is not still images anymore. It is full video on the sidelines. So you can see an entire play develop from the alignment, if he's creeping, where his eyes are, all of that. So we should be able to make that adjustment relatively easily. - Yeah. And for this offense, they're facing a defense that I think has a physicality about them. I don't think there's any doubt that Joe Gillespie at least instilled that in them. And I know it was, it didn't go well overall. Like literally Joe Gillespie hired or was hired by Sonny Dykes to stop asking you. I mean, that was the reason why he was hired. And the first year it worked out, they had a bunch of things go their right way. They go to a national championship, all of those things. But it's not a scheme that week by week is going to help you overall because it is so unique. And there are ways to beat it. With Andy Avalos, it's going to be more aggressive. There is that piece that I think we're going to see and that is going to be a lot of drop eight type of looks. But the thing that Kevin brings and that's going to put guys like, like I saw Johnny Hodges, veteran player for that team take on KJ Jefferson. KJ Jefferson does not have the wiggle that Kevin Jennings has. Now that's just kind of one example of how a matchup might differ. And if Kevin is able to put that type of stress on that defense with a little bit of run or even keeping it, you know, you're talking it and making a decision to run instead of throw the football, that is where SMU I think has the best chance to maybe get them out of that because I do think they're going to try and just pack the secondary and make it really hard to complete passes. And dare SMU to run the football, which SMU has been able to do this year and TCU has not done a good job of stopping the run. - Right, but I do think you are underselling Johnny Hodges a little bit. - Over the middle, no, no, I didn't mean any like that. No, he's a ball player. I just saw him in space against KJ and there was a little bit of that. You know, he just had some moments where a quicker player is against a linebacker is going to have a little bit of an advantage there. - Yeah, Kevin, KJ Jefferson is a linebacker playing quarterback. - Yeah, he's a big-ass dude, maybe a tight end. Maybe a tight end, a little tweener offensive tackle. - Really, but Johnny Hodges, I mean, it all runs through him. He's their captain on defense. He already has 24 tackles so far this year. He's a downhill linebacker, played against him at Navy. He was kind of a two-part with the twins with Diego Fago. They looked identical, they both wore cowboy collars. Guys who are long in the tooth, which probably only J.O. will have played against him in that time and he was their leading tackler in 2022 and they went to the national championship. Suffering an injury, only played in a few games last year, but he's back and he is going to be one that SMU is going to have to find 57 on every snap. - Yeah, he's, I mean, he's the leader. He's their unquestioned, you know, I mean, top linebacker without a doubt. And they've done some interesting things. You know, they've brought in different players in the off-season to try and shore up some of that defense and kind of help out there. They did lose Dominic Williams, who was, you know, quite the matchup, you know, for his last few years at TCU. Jumel Johnson is the team's leading tackler. He's back there at safety. The frogs do have two interceptions this year. I feel like I'm not sure what the perfect approaches as far as attacking this TCD defense because I felt like UCF had a little bit more of a physical running game. I think Breshard Smith is tough as nails. And I do believe this. I think this is the game that if you're going to pick one, SMU has to ride him for like 25 carries. I mean, he's a tough South Florida kid. Like let him go. He's shown the ability to finish runs. And if he's held up so far this year, you're going to need to give him that little bit of, of give him the carrot a little bit more to keep getting more carries. Because he's just shown, I felt like this season that he's just thriving. I mean, 5.2 yards per carry. I believe it was against BYU. He's somebody that can really make TCU maybe change their defensive approach. - Yeah, we got to make him hurt. The same way that UCF did RJ Harvey for UCF last week. I know he's a little bit bigger than our running backs. 29 carries 180 yards and two touchdowns. That is a work horse at running back that UCF has over there. And yeah, I would love to see us develop that. But even if we do have to go with the three-headed monster at running back, let's just stick to that ground game man and start wearing these guys down. Let's make these guys fit the holes. And if we block it up perfect and we're one-on-one with the safety, that's a win for the offense. Because eventually we're going to bust one and we're going to be out the gate running. So that's where I'm at with the running game. - Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see how that goes. And you know, you mentioned Josh Hoover being on a bit of a heater. How does SMU get after him? Because he does get the ball out so quickly. And there were times when UCF got to him, but I do feel like, I mean, he's only been sacked once this year, but he's been able to get the ball out. Even if you can hit him, I feel like that maybe can help you there. - Yeah, so it's a fine balance. You know, when a guy is getting the ball out that quick, if I'm a, if I'm a detackle and I know I'm not going to get home, you're needing to watch his eyes and when he's bringing his arm back to see if you can at least disrupt the path of the ball, which I think we are going to be able to get home. I think that Scott Simons is going to have some great blitzes drawn up where we're just going to have more numbers than to you. And we're just going to have to hold up in the secondary long enough for us to get home or force an incompletion worst case scenario. But it is one of those deals of when he does get the ball out quick and it's the short four or five yard, you know, quick outs or quick slants where we're going to have to tackle in space. We can't let these guys break a tackle and get running because that's when they're going to break the big one. And even if that happens, that's fine. Let's take a, let's take one of those and say, all right, you know what? Next time let's make the adjustment, yada, yada. And let's, let's keep doing what we're doing, man. If TCU busts out a huge play on the first series, if they win the toss, take the ball, they go up 7-0. Let's not feel like, hey, we got a, now we're going to have to air this ball out because we got to match what they're doing from an explosive standpoint. - Yeah, and I think the blueprint is kind of what SME did against Tulane, you know, a quarterback who's, you know, got a lot of experience under his belt. He's got kind of that ability to move around just a little bit like Josh Hooper was a really good baseball player coming out of high school. And, you know, he's shown just a little bit of that, that escapability at times this year when I've watched TCU at least. So I've got a lot of respect for Josh Hooper. I think the interesting thing with Josh and, you know, he talked about it before the season, but he kind of dumped on SME a little bit. This is the guy that, he's underselling a little bit how much he really likes being at TCU. I mean, he and his family really liked SME. I mean, they were recruited by Sunny and Rhett Lashley back when they were going through it all. And I just, I mean, he's gonna have it out for SMU because quite honestly, they didn't have a spot. I don't think they really wanted to push their luck in a sense in, you know, this past off season when, or I guess maybe two off seasons ago, two off seasons ago when he was looking for a spot. And SMU was like, you know, we've got Preston, we've got container Mordecai's coming, you know, I think he's still out of your eligibility or something, but they opted not to go for him. And I think he's gonna be out for SMU a little bit in this game 'cause last year it was Chandler Morris that dazzled and another guy who had it out for SMU in a sense, I'm sure. But, you know, when you look at this game, I think you kind of alluded to it. The turnover battle is so important. And when SMU's been able to win big games, it's because they've been playing clean football in that respect. - Yeah, so what I hope they did over the by is they really focused on some ball security stuff. Unfortunately, in the BYU game and the games previously, I saw us get a little careless with the football and while that didn't bite us early in the first two games, we ended up winning both, it did against BYU. And so I hope we definitely made a point of emphasis on ball security because as I've heard through my career, ball security is job security. And as corny as it sounds, it really is the truth. You've got to hang onto the ball. We got to take advantage of every possession. We can't give them short fields and free points. It's something that worst case scenario, we're going to need to just come away with punts and leave our defense up to take the ball away. Because our defense has done a great job of creating turnovers so far this year. They're getting hats on the ball and they're swarming to the football, their edge wall and swarm the way that they're coached to. And good things happen when you end up around the ball. And that's why I've emphasized O-line chase the ball because the more guys in the right color jersey you got around when the ball does pop out and whoever makes a great play, the good guys are able to fall on it. - Yeah, and for SMU fans that are, you know, worried about special teams in a sense, I mean, you've got a TCU team that blocked a couple kicks last week. They were, you know, really impressive in terms of special teams. SMU's been good. Like, I think, and especially as we've talked about today's day and age of NIM, transfer portal and trying to establish a culture, special teams is so much about culture. But it's hard to build that year over year in the right direction when you do have transfers and things like that kind of impacting that. But this is, I mean, this is the best special teams that I've seen SMU play. And I mean, probably since June. I mean, that's just, you know, we've seen some explosive return men come through. SMU here and there, Brian Massey was here and, you know, guys like that, but, you know, it's been that, you know, give up the 98 yard kickoff return. We've seen against TCU, but this, if they can maybe even just push that battle when it comes to special teams, that'll be important. - Something that Sunny emphasized when he was the head coach here was, if you want to check out a team's culture, look at their field goal block team. And they obviously take a lot of pride in their special teams. And I think we do as well. But special teams really is where the culture war is most evident. Because you have guys that may not be starters, but they're wanting to haul ass down the field and go make a big play for their team. And that's the reason we lost to Memphis in 2019. And I'll never forget this. We pulled up the tape after that game. And we had guys jogging on kickoff, where we weren't running full speed. We weren't ready to be a conference championship team in 2019. As good as that team was, the culture was not as good as it is now. - Before we get to our predictions, we've got to remind our friends about our friends at Robak. Robak.com is where you could find, yes, exactly. Hayden's rocking one right now. I'm rocking the SMU hoodie. So we'll always appreciate the sponsors taking care of us with some sweet year. And Robak, you can get 20% off for new customers only with the code pony express 20. That's pony express two zero. And you can get the entire line of SMU license gear or you can check out other gear. You can buy some for friends. You can buy some for family. Do whatever you want. Pony Express 20 gets you 20% off for first time buyers. Let me tell you guys this. This was dropped on the on the Pony Express message board just today. They just dropped this one, the Mustang game day. This polo, look at that detail right there. Dallas, Mustangs, SMU, the two one four, the triple D. Hayden, that is how you do game day, in my opinion. And so we're going to have to get that one sent to us or we might have to burn our own 20% coupon with Robak to get that for one of our future podcasts. But yeah, reach out to or head to Robak.com use code pony express 20 for 20% off today. Might even be able to get it in time for a game day. No guarantees there, but that must be one as sweet. I'm sad I burned my 20% last week. Well, we're not going to encourage people to create new emails, but that is probably out there. So I really struggle with predictions overall. And here's why. I do too. Predictions in our shoes now are, oh, man, you got that wrong. Why didn't you know that? Why didn't you see that coming, whatever? And then there's predictions from the standpoint of, I know the blueprint. And I think you know the blueprint to beating TCU. We've talked about it, running the football, playing good defense, keeping things clean on the turnover perspective. That's been the blueprint for SMU the last couple of times. SMU is beat him. But this offense is just a question mark right now. We just don't know. The one thing they've shown is an ability to run the ball. But will they knock down 45 carries for 250 yards? I don't know if they'll do that. That's the blueprint. That's why I can't pick TCU or I can't pick SMU. But let's say you. Look, I've said it before, a rivalry game is always going to be extremely, extremely close, regardless of a team's record and talent. I think this offense is a question mark right now. And it is something that we're not going to know until about 8.30 on Saturday night, really where this offense stands and really where we can go. So I hope this team is fresh after the bye. I hope they did some soul searching during the open week. And let's compare that to TCU, who played an extremely physical game against Central Florida and got ran all over. It was 289, was the number. So I said 260, I actually undersold it. I think a young quarterback in Kevin Jennings, I think he causes some concerns. I think the frogs are going to be exhausted physically and the pressure will be on them because I've seen it. TCU fans are calling for Sunny Dyke's head if they come away with a loss on Saturday. Defense is going to need to continue to play well and dominate up front as they've shown they can to keep us in this ball game. I don't think it's a game that is going to end up as a big shootout. I think the over under was like 59. I don't really know. I'm not sure if that game is going to hit the over. So I think Rhett Lashley will have this team refreshed, refocused, and hopefully more disciplined after the bye. And I see us kicking a game winning field goal. I do think we're going to get the first skill at win, but I've got it as a 30-28 SMU win. Yeah, I haven't, I haven't necessarily picked the score yet, but I'm right there with you in terms of the over under. I don't think it's going to be hit by SMU and TCU getting together in this one. I just don't, I've got enough respect for SMU's defense that I think they're going to have a chance to keep TCU around that 24 mark. And sometimes games get weird and this is why Vegas is really good at what they do. They can get weird like we saw last year, SMU sold out on that fourth down play and TCU had a good play call for it and scored from there. But like, I think in the general grand scheme of things, SMU can hold TCU to around 24 points. And if the offense keeps its end of the bargain in terms of maybe controlling the clock, doing all those things, then that offense can maybe find a way to get to 2731 points, which 30 points in the Rhett Lashley era has kind of been the sweet spot for beating power five teams when they've had opportunities to. They haven't gotten there at certain points and that's where you've seen them miss. So a lot of questions around offense and I'm a huge Kevin Jennings believer. I think he's got what SMU needs in this matchup, but this is a prove it game for me. And sometimes I've got to kind of draw that line in the sand. I know the blueprint, I know where it could go, but TCU 24, SMU 21 and some missed opportunities. You know, offensively this year have kind of been where SMU is at. So, you know, for the podcast, for us as alums, I hope I'm wrong, but it's where I see it playing out right now. - Yeah, I think that's a great pick. I think you're pretty spot on where it's going to be. I'm biased. I know I'm supposed to be unbiased as a media member, but I can't pick the frogs, man. Maybe next week I'll pick against SMU, but I just can't do it this week. I would love to see SMU come away with a win in this game. Is it going to happen? I'm not 100% certain. I agree with everything you're saying about a young Kevin Jennings. And this is a big time, this is a big week. If he proves it, he can help, he can become an SMU legend this week. But if he doesn't, I think we're scratching our heads like, now where do we go? - Yeah, I'm really intrigued to see how this game plays out. Obviously, we both are, but offensively is really what I'm looking at the most, because there's so much season ahead for SMU. And there's going to be so many opportunities for them to maybe make statements down the line. And so this is the first step in whatever SMU's going to be the rest of the season. Taking a step in the right direction is what I want to see. And there's high expectations around this program and defensively, they're very, very high. But so far, the 2024 Mustangs offensively are a team that I just need to see it go in the right direction. And if it goes in the right direction, then I think SMU's good enough to come away with the orange skillet. I just, I don't know, I've gone back and forth on how I should approach picks. Clearly, I lose sleep over it at times, but sometimes I think, all right, well, just lay out the blueprint and then just pick SMU. And that's great, but I don't know. Maybe it's been me picking SMU to win these last two years. So maybe going with the Horned Frogs will be the right move for the Mustangs. - That's why you play the game. It's not always what's on paper. - Exactly, exactly. And this is a game that is certainly gonna be talked about for a long time because it is that last one inside Ford Stadium for the foreseeable future. We'll hope that that changes in the future. But any closing thoughts on this game? Anything else to add? - I'm beating a dead horse as far as the run game goes. I'm excited to see this offensive line go. I've heard some rumors about the lineup. I'm not sure what Garin Justice is gonna roll out there. I'm sure whatever he's doing, he has a reason for the madness. And I have full trust in Garin Justice and that he is going to get this offensive line rolling. And we'll see what happens. But I'm excited for this game. Can't wait to watch the Mustangs again on Saturday. Highlight of my week every week. And thanks so much and pony up from my heart. - Yeah, I got one more thing for you though. You mentioned TCU fans calling for Sunny Dyches' head. I want you to know, you gotta be careful. There's gonna be TCU fans in this comments and they're gonna come after us for saying Sunny is on the hot seat. But I'll say this, Rhett Lashley signed an extension last November or around that time. And I said one signed an extension and the other is now on the hot seat. And boy, the mentions were absolutely on fire. And sometimes it's about kind of seeing what's coming down the line. Now, who knows? Maybe TCU goes on and beats SMU and it has a strong season, gets back to a bowl, but things are all over the place over there. And it's whether SMU wins or loses this game, it is kind of a house of cards. - Yeah, and Ed Ogeron proved that a national championship win doesn't guarantee that you're gonna be the head coach there forever. I mean, he was gone, you know, two, three years later. - Yep. - So TCU having an appearance in the national championship, that's all fine and dandy. That does not cement Sunny Dyke's legacy as throw a statue up for him next to Gary Patterson over there in Fort Worth. - When you start burning some political capital on coordinator hires and in particular certain coordinator hires, very bold move. Let's just say that. So we'll see how it works out on both sides on Saturday, but it's gonna be a heck of a day. It's gonna be a little warm. What do you think about this? All right, last thing, we'll get out of here. This is iron skillet week though. We only comes once a year for the next two years. - Best week of the year? - The four o'clock kick time. SMU should in theory be shaded for much of that game. Does that baking on the turf, does, I mean, does that, I mean, is that overblown? Is that to get a kinet thing? - No, that is for real. So when I was with the Patriots, we went to Miami and you're on that visitor's sideline just getting cooked while they're in the shade. And so it's definitely something you know about going into the game. It's not something that's talked about during the game, but that's why they put the home stadium on that, the home side on that side of the stadium 'cause you get shaded first. So we're on the turf, but TCU does the same thing, man. When it's in Fort Worth, it's always an 11 o'clock kick and it sucks, it's always hot, but that's just part of this rivalry, man. - Yeah, it was 11 a.m. two years ago, both teams were in the sun and SMU got cooked early in that game, but made it again. We'll see how this one goes. Always interesting with the rivalry game, like you said. So Hayden, thanks for doing this as always. And everyone, appreciate all of our first time listeners for stopping in at the On The Pony Express podcast. Head over to ontheponyexpress.com. You can hear from Hayden more on the message board, hear from me, there's gonna be a bunch of recruits, I would imagine, in Fort Stadium this week to see this one. So head over there and subscribe. Take 50% off an annual subscription with code pony up at checkout. Jump on board for the entire next year. You can basically get the two final iron skillet games all covered for 50% off, it's just a few bucks a month when it works out that way. So hope you guys head over to ontheponyexpress.com. Hayden, thanks for doing this as always. And first try out there, listening. Battle for the iron skillet, 4PM Central on the CW. So we'll be watching live in person in Fort Stadium. - Thanks for listening to the On The Pony Express podcast with Billy and Buddy. - Follow us on your socials on X at SMU on three and on Instagram at on three SMU. - And keep it locked to ontheponyexpress.com for more coverage. [BLANK_AUDIO]
