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Boscoe’s Boys
Thursday Conversations: Jimmy Goheen
This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first. Like, you know to check you have the tickets in you while at first before you drive two hours to the big game. Seriously, you had one job. Now the closest you'll get to the 50-yard line is parking lot D. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Savings vary, terms apply, Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. At Sierra, discover great deals on top brand workout gear, like high quality bikes, which might lead to another discovery. Oh, oh. Getting back in the saddle isn't always comfortable. Good news is Sierra has massage guns. Ahhh. And shave wipes too. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. Whether you're ordering wings for the game, whipping up a 7-layer dip, or ordering pizza, there's something about football that makes you want to eat. In this football season, Uber Eats has the best deals on game day food. No matter what you're craving, from two for one pizza to buy one get one wings. Uber Eats will be dropping new deals each week, all season long. Uber Eats, official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now, terms and conditions apply. See out for details. [Music] 'Tis that time of the season, when the goals and goblins prowl. Witches ride their broomsticks, and boned wildcats howl. So scrape your claws together, and make some chilling noise. For your heart did well. Gathers of spooky basket boys. Ooh. Let's go boys. Come on boys. [Laughter] One, maybe. There we go. Boom, the boys are back, and it is time for a Thursday conversation. Full disclosure, recording this on Saturday morning, because you know what? There's some pretty important baseball games that might be happening between now and the publishing of this. I've been waiting. I wanted to get enough data set for this one, and I'm pumped about it because now he's turning into a YouTube tuber as well. He's the smartest guy I know, one of the nicest guys I know. I know him as Jimmy Gohin, one of the biggest Royals fans I know. Again, as of time of publishing this, hopefully we've either swept the Yankees or we got a big game for coming up today on Thursday, so a little time traveling. How are you feeling, and how fun has this season been as a Royals fan? It's been pretty great to be a Royals fan. And see them be successful again. You know, I was thinking about, I'm almost 50. And in my memories as a Royals fan, I've seen them in the playoffs four times in my life. So 1985, 14 and 15, and then this year. So it has been a lot of playoffs. 1980s and the late '70s, I was alive, but I was not in a fan mode at that point in time. So to see them in the playoffs again, it's a lot of fun to see a sweep of Baltimore again. It's a lot of fun. And now kind of reviving that Yankees playoff rivalry from the late '70s, early '80s will be fun. And I'm looking forward forward to it. I'm hoping that as people listen to this, I'm getting ready to drink. I have Thursday tickets, wasn't able to get a Wednesday ticket, but looking forward. I hope last time I had game four tickets in the five game series, the Royals swept. So I'm hoping for that to happen again, kind of, but I'd also like to go to the game. Well, I'll be going on Wednesday. Who knows? If it comes a Thursday, I might try to go as well. Because you don't know how many of these you're going to get. I do recall a conversation you and I had, I think. I don't know if this, I think this was before the season started. You're like, yeah, I'm going to get, you know, one month's of valleys just to see how the team looks. I was thinking to myself, oh, come on now. Going from preseason expectations where I was thinking, all right, just don't lose 100. And you were just buying valleys by the month instead of the full season. How wild is it that, you know, yes, the Royals collapsed at like two different spots. But they were still able to get the wild card and with a game to spare. How wild is kind of that based on the expectations he had coming into the season. Yeah, I would, I was thinking about 500. I think I picked 500 exactly. Maybe maybe two games over 500 or something like that. So I thought they would have a chance. I'm glad I got that valleys and I did keep it and I probably watched 75 to 80%. Not not all all innings, but of the games. Listen to a bunch. When the Royals are good, it's fun because it's fun to watch. And then I love college football, college basketball and K-State, but there's something about playoff baseball that is unique and different and, and a different kind of fun that maybe at times or passes those other two sports. For me even and I'm a huge K-State fan. So that's a lot of fun. Yeah, it's, it's been maybe a little bit of surprise how good they've been. And then you, you mentioned the collapses, especially the last one where you, you know, they were 95% chance to make the playoffs and drop to about 70%. I think. To still manage to, to get in and get, get it done was, was a lot of a little bit of angst, but then to see them clench and then get those two wins of Baltimore has been a lot of fun. Definitely. Well, hopefully again, like we said, this isn't making a lot of Royals fans throw their earbuds out in disgust. You know, there's a chance like, look, I'm not going to say we're going to the world series, but there's a chance a lot of folks are just like, what the hell was this? Why did I have to listen to five minutes of this? But hopefully that's not the case. We're going to get into K-State football. Before we do, we'll give a shout to Manhattan Brewing Company who seems to be cheating on me. It sounds like Mr. Coleman Hawkins might have recorded a handful of his new podcast episodes from Manhattan Brewing Company, but look, I can deal with it. I can share the love because guess what, the field of 68, those guys, they absolutely love Manhattan Brewing Company. You'll see them rocking Manhattan Brewing Company merch on some of their YouTube shows. So I understand why Coleman Hawkins would want to do some episodes there. Heck, Jimmy and I love doing episodes there. If I didn't live in Shawnee, we might be doing this one at 11 a.m. in Manhattan Brewing Company. Probably should have done that so I could have seen my nephew, but, you know, we'll think about that another time. They're the best brewery in the state of Kansas. They're so great. They've opened a second spot, not somewhere else in Manhattan. Although that might be coming someday, sometime soon. They opened a spot in Wichita and look, there's a demand for them out here in Shawnee. I guarantee they opened up in downtown Shawnee. They wouldn't regret it, but they are the best brewing in the state of Kansas later today on a college football Saturday. Right before first pitch because it's going to turn into a LDS Saturday. I'm going to pour a pint of pumpkin batch. Might have a town you weed after that. My Ave Lemon says on after that Manhattan Brewing Company is my personal sponsor for every Saturday watching sports at home and they sponsor this podcast. If you haven't visited them, I promise they're going to have your new favorite beer on tap waiting for you at points or down in Wichita, the aviation capital of the world. And if your local liquor store in the great state of Kansas are not carrying four packs, talk to them and make sure they do Manhattan Brewing Company truly the best. The first question, and the first two I'm recycling from my case state fan cast around the horn, which got a lot of good feedback from. So I'll probably run back that concept a couple times and fans since you have a YouTube channel, you probably qualify now, although you might be a professional credential. You might be a professional, so I might have to go back on that. I asked everyone, you know, five games through the season, as Avery Johnson lived up to your personal expectations so far coming into the season. I'd say if I'm honest, the answer is probably no to an extent. I think I, you know, you see a couple media sources, put them as a Heisman candidate and, you know, really built up amongst the fans, you know, we know the potential we know the story we're closest to it. So I think, you know, that builds into it. That's not to say hasn't been very good but I think, you know, I think most of us maybe thought he would be a little bit better as a passer. You know, in big 12 ranking he's only 10th and yards and ninth and completion percentage, 13th and yards per attempt which may be the most surprising as you look at big 12 quarterbacks. But he has sixth and QBR which kind of factors in more than run game and he is the best running quarterback in the big 12 so that part of it has been as expected, but the passing numbers probably have not been quite where we thought they'd be. And that's not all his fault. I mean, there's, there's the receivers have a part in that the offensive line is a part in that and the play colors have a part in that but, again, I don't want to diminish what he's been because he's been really good I think we forget. He's a sophomore with six total starts as a quarterback in his career now. And as you pointed out, his record against ranked teams at the time of the game is pretty impressive compared to J State history so he's been really good but I just think, you know, if you got caught in the hype at all you probably are a little disappointed that I think the last game kind of alleviated that a little bit, you know, you had the swing from the BYU game where case they didn't have a past completion over nine yards to the Oklahoma State game where plenty of big plays in the passing game kind of got going and receivers got involved so hopefully that's a sign of what we're going to see in the future as well. And again, his two big weeks have been big weeks where he's earned national honors being recognized by some of those postseason awards. And yes, three and over top 20 teams again. That's more top 20 wins than Will Howard had, you know, more than Skylar Thompson. There has never been a KU quarterback to have three top 20 wins and again he's done that in his first six games. As I was doing this I was like just googling I was trying to figure out okay how many Michael Bishop had he only had five Michael Bishop only had five top 20 wins and Avery Johnson has three in his first six again. You know, I understand that's a snapshot in time we'll see what Oklahoma State and Arizona do rest this year but I think it is impressive. When you've gone back you you break down plays, you know, in gift form now in YouTube form. You chart everything where his Avery Johnson excelled so far this season. I think the obvious, you know I mentioned that his his rushing numbers the quarterback run game has been super impressive. You know it's been, you know, somewhat limited. This year, case they hasn't ran the ball quite as much with the quarterback. In some games maybe is as expected but I think a little that is by design and trying to protect him. But just overall, you know he averaged eight for yards per carry running the football. That includes scrambles that is not include sacks and that's a 55% success rate. And that's pre garbage time so few runs may not be in there. He's tied for second in the whole big 12 with 17 runs of 10 yards or more. So he's been a big play threat and that's with all backs and everything. He's been pretty good and play action 7.3 yards per play 45% success rate. And I think he's been good at his best throwing when he's on the move. Scrambling or as we saw a little bit more against Oklahoma State some design rollout pass plays concepts. So those have been his best. I think that's what you want to see built on is that base of being good in the quarterback run game. And being pretty good in play action and on the run and hopefully building off that into other phases of his game. Hey Amazon Prime members, why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands like our new brand Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. Hey Amazon Prime members, why pay more for groceries when you can save big on thousands of items at Amazon Fresh? Shop prime exclusive deals and save up to 50% on weekly grocery favorites. Plus save 10% on Amazon brands like our new brand Amazon Saver. 365 by Whole Foods Market, a plenty and more. Come back for new deals rotating every week. Don't miss out on savings. Shop prime exclusive deals at Amazon Fresh. Select varieties. Again, I'm not going to pat myself too much on the back but I dialed in early. I love seeing him throw on the run and play action pass. I've been saying, hey, I don't want to see a bunch of traditional drop back. That's what I perceive as his biggest struggle. And again, there's a lot of factors that go into that. But am I right in saying that, hey, you know, drop back passing and then, you know, what? It's been back to back games where he just kind of lets a little dump off airmail and it turns into a could have been costly turnover. I think that's really the two big things. No, I think that's, you know, his, his tendency when he misses is to miss long and we've seen two interceptions on that. The one, the other, the second one is BYU is more trying to force a ball into a spot that would have been picked short or long of where he threw it. So I think that's the biggest thing. You know, I highlighted his yards per attempt is in the bottom quarter league. I think the biggest issue is K-State is not getting very many big plays in the passing game. Time K-State second to last in the league in the number of 10 plus and 20 plus yard pass plays this season. So that's something you want to see improve. I think at times he struggled a little bit with his reads, you know, flushing the pocket when he shouldn't. And not always taking advantage of those lanes where he could scramble for probably some pretty big gains and get first downs. And I think the second interception was in begins by BYU was it was an example of that where maybe it's better to run it. You know, I appreciate that they are developing him and that's part of the development to become a good to great passing quarterback is to make that part of his game a big part of what he's doing. And, you know, I think that's part of the growth process also in limiting the run game at times for him. So I think those are things that the coaching staff and the coordinators will continue to juggle with him as we go through this season. And we face different defenses and in different ways people are attacking him. So it's been interesting to watch. I think it's been fun to watch. I think his best football is ahead of him. So I'm not worried about it. I do think he's going to get better. So it sounds like you believe he will improve on those struggles this year. And then I guess we won't deal with that. I think a lot of us think he will improve throughout the year. But do you think he's going to fair him these back to back road games because that is where we've seen him struggle the most and no offense to to lane but Colorado is definitely going to be closer to BYU than to lane and even if West Virginia knows dives again we're recording this before they they've played their Saturday game but even if they knows dive, I'd imagine Morgantown will still be more rowdy than New Orleans was so how do you think he's going to do these next two games. He should be a confident quarterback because he did rebound really well against not a great Oklahoma State defense but an aggressive Oklahoma State defense and took it we took a case they did a great job taking advantage of that aggressiveness for big plays which is something you know we wanted to see like I mentioned we didn't have a lot of big plays against BYU but there were some nice plays in the passing game against Oklahoma State so that's that's a good sign. A lot of it is a matter of just getting snaps and seeing defenses and the more you see the more you're going to have ideas on where to throw the ball what your reads are what the keys are. Colorado, there's a good and bad there the defense is better like their defense was really bad last year like KU level defense but this year it's a lot better it's in the middle of the league. It might help that they play more man concepts can like Oklahoma State did we saw K State exploit a lot of those man defenses and get big plays in the passing game and the running game because of it so that should help but they've got dynamic I mean Travis hunters instead so Colorado has been pretty good against both the run in the past. Probably one of the surprises of the league is Colorado's defense being probably better than their offense even this season. Now West Virginia maybe has the worst defense in the big 12 or the second to worst defense in the big 12 and the worst defense against the past so that's something K State hopefully can exploit. You know what they do against today. Saturday's game that as we record it last Saturday. Who knows what that crowd will be like we know the crowd's going to be Hampton and Boulder because of what's going on night game etc West Virginia crowd might not be exempt just because of where they're at. And then the other thing is just not just him case they can't have the dumb penalties the procedural penalties that we saw in Provo. Hopefully that's not an issue in Boulder or Morgan town but that's that goes with it because K State basically wiped three touchdowns off the board. But they had to go to Provo because they had dumb penalties at dumb time so that that's part of that the improvement is not just him but you have an offensive line that's been very good, but it's still young and had was a key in some of those procedural penalties and you had guys line up wrong. A couple times they opened the second half DJ getting has a huge run and we don't have enough guys on the line of scrimmage is just silly to have that kind of penalty so hopefully those things are things they avoid in these road games as well to help him out. The other one I'm stealing it and I love this one on a scale one to 10 and you can't say seven. How would you grade out Connor Riley's performances offensive coordinator and play caller through these first five games. Yeah, you know I kind of get the reputation of being soft on office coordinators I think and being overly positive and some of that's probably true. I was more of a messing hand fan than most well it balances out because look look and I've said this a billion times a billion times. But the most hated coach on every single football team is the offensive coordinator. You love your offensive coordinator. You absolutely hate him because every play you think should go for a touchdown every driver should be a touchdown. There's no, there is no room for anything but perfection from offensive lines and offensive coordinators amongst college football and it's not just college football. All fans. I mean we see the way, you know, Chiefs fans go after all their offensive coordinators high school. I guarantee you know it doesn't matter what high school you're going to if you're watching Friday night lights you're saying to your buddy. Oh man if Ollo see up there would just run the ball or Ollo see over there would just let you know stud quarterback pass we we'd go to state. It doesn't matter what level football the offensive coordinators the old always the most hated guys so even if you think you're soft. You're balancing out the reaction from way too many football fans. Yeah that's I think that's very true and well said. My score would be an 8.5. Probably a solid B maybe a B plus if I was given a letter grade I think to have the caliber of running game case state has had while rebuilding an offensive line. And combine that with a passing game that has been below average at times and I'd probably rate overall as average. To me is pretty impressive. I mean the offense in every and most the average advanced metrics the offense is better than the defense. When you compare to the rest of the big 12 the offense has been better than the defense and I don't think any of us would have expected that through the first five games so I'm going to give. Riley and Wells a lot of credit in building an offense that has been probably more effective than than we would have should have anticipated even if you are going to be harder on your OC than you should. So obviously they're selling the most in the offense in the running game what in the running game is there a specific concept that they're selling the most in is their personnel what when you dial everything down. Where are they the most exemplary or just the greatest on offense here I am trying to use a, you know, 20 dollar word running code just use a nickel and I stumbled over it. Man, this podcasting thing. It's a great question. But because in the hard thing is in the running game it's hard to pick one thing because they've been really good with the running back they've really been really good with the quarterback even the few times they've ran. Jet sweeps to wide receivers case it's been really good. You know the interesting thing is the bolt of the running game this year has been inside outside zone runs. Some of it is probably duo which is kind of a zone concept but it's more of a power scheme where you don't pull anybody. The case dates been really good that's been the bulk of the play calls in the run game 22% of the total play calls have been zone runs or duo runs. No other run scheme has more than 8% of the total play call usage this season so that's been really good zone runs have gained 56 gain 429 yards on 56 carries 7.7 per rush, 55% success rate. So it's been really really good but that's not to say other things haven't been good yet as well power has been good has a 51% or so percent success rate still more than 7 yards per carry when case age running power. Some of that power is a polar. Some of that power is a read play with power added to it but still power on calling power anytime case eight pulls an offensive lineman or an H back. So you have that going on quarterback run has been really good 8.4 yards per carry 55% success as we mentioned before. And then you've seen throughout the climate here and no matter who the OC is case date still does a lot of paired run concepts, whether it be option. Zone read with the quarterback oftentimes having H back lead to the opposite of the zone run scheme for the back. You see the jet sweep action that's always paired with quarterback power right off tackle, which is a nice concept. You see case date pairing zone runs with bubble screens on the outside to twin receivers or a now screen. Vice President Kamala Harris, I get it. The cost of rent groceries and utilities is too high. So here's what we're going to do about it. We will lower housing costs by building more homes and crack down on landlords who are charging too much. We will lower your food and grocery bills by going after price gougers or keeping the cost of everyday goods too high. You work hard for your paycheck. You should get to keep more of it. As president, I'll make that my priority. I'm Kamala Harris candidate for president and I approve this message paid for by Harris for president. You see a lot more a little bit more RPO true RPO with with a run attached to a pass. Usually the past is going to be a little skinny post or curl route on the outside. So case state has done a great job of doing that. And I think I would assume that the continuation through that is found a Riley. I think that's probably a counter Riley thing to include that because you have so many concepts where case state can run the ball and they always leave a defender unblocked. Because that doesn't mean they're always reading him with an option, but it's an option concept and they have a pretty good idea what that defender is going to do. And when you can leave a guy unblocked and get an extra blocker just because you're never blocking somebody when you run the ball, that's, that's a, that's a great way to run offense. And I think case states benefited from it really well this year. Definitely. I think we already touched on what what the struggling is that the drawback pass seems to be where it's at. Is there anything else that that's striking you is being a struggle so far and what can be done to fix any of the problems as you've watched it back. Well, I think the big one we mentioned to was big play so like case states got to be able to get more big plays we saw that a little bit more against Oklahoma state yet eight passes gain at least 10 yards and five gain at least 19 or more, plus the 55 yarder to chase Brown, and that's after against BYU having zero pass plays gain 10 or more before garbage time I mean that's, that's a pretty stark difference so that's something I think is a key is getting those big plays going. I think Matt Wells brought one. I think he's been good but one of the things he brought was more screen type action and case state by my count is ran nearly 20 screens this season with a 17% success rate and that's bubble just. Quick outside throws behind the line of scrimmage where we start blocking downfield before before before the balls cop that's what I'm considering a screen, because to me that's a screen concept in college football because you can block downfield. If the ball's caught behind line of scrimmage, that's not been good so I mean you can't. I like the idea and even most of them I look at them. And the numbers are there but case state has been not very good blocking in space. One other thing I was going to commend is I think case states done a really good job replacing an NFL tight end with four different tight end and ages in the passing game. The guys have not always been good blocking in space and that's been probably, you know, there's good and bad those guys have been great the passing game and they've got six touchdowns and 19 balls this year between the four of them. But they've all got to get better blocking in space and that's really, you know, that kind of to me goes along with a screen game because usually it's one of those guys out on the edge blocking in space that they want to take advantage of. And I think that can come because if you recall early Ben Senate says freshman sophomore year, he would make at least one just insane blunder a game that everyone and their mother saw like he would just completely with he would just be standing along so I'm hoping that the development with Brian lapack can get those guys because you're right it's, it's, it's not great when some of those guys are having to block down field field or on the boundary but Ben Senate was absolute garbage at that until his final year case state so that's true and you know I think, you know, talking about what we talked about earlier, can they be fixed. I definitely do think most of these things are things that can be fixed I think the H backs is like, like you mentioned tight ends blocking. That's something that comes with time and these guys are all getting a lot of first. Real snaps for the first time, and Gary Oakley's been banged up, Braden Lofton's been banged up so getting those guys back healthy will be will be a big deal. And I think a lot of it is just Avery Johnson and the receivers, figuring each other out meshing. I think at this point we can say there's kind of a trio that maybe our top three Keegan Johnson J Brown J Jackson, both all had good games all had four catches against Oklahoma State or more. You know, Steve Spivey has had moments, you know, we saw Ty Bowman thrown out on the field and played pretty good against Oklahoma State. And then, you know, the key is, can Dante see this figure, get it figured out. I mean, it seems like him and Avery have not been on the same page a lot in their throws. To the coaching staff's credit, see if his role was pretty reduced against Oklahoma State. So we'll see if he answers the bell. What does what does he do about it. But I think a lot of it is just experience with each other. And then the offensive coordinators figuring out what works, what doesn't. What these guys can do a lot of because you there's a lot of plays that are well designed and will work. But can your guys execute them the way they need to be executed to be successful. And that's part of what, you know, especially with so many new guys on offense. This staff is figuring out and will still be figuring out all year long but hopefully that that room for air is reduced as they continue to get what these guys can do and what they can do. So I think you're maybe the only person in this, you know, sports media slash media adjacent which I'll put myself in the adjacent world. That's a bigger DJ get ins fan than me. But I'll proudly take the podium as number two. When you go back and you watch them because you're charting these plays you're drawing stuff up. You know, how the heck is he picking up these yards I'll watch plays in the stadium wrong when I'm especially when I'm watching the game back. Like sometimes my dad will be like oh no it's not there. And then all of a sudden he just kind of spurts through gets five yards. I talked with Wyatt Thompson talked about how he's a patient runner and I think to the zone concepts he has great vision. I mean again something that the big 12 maybe hasn't seen since I hate saying it but brace haul maybe you know he was such a patient runner he had great vision. That's that's my takeaway. When you rewatch it and you have a better eye than me. How is DJ picking up four or five yards on plays that average running backs are getting stuff for a loss or no gain. It's it's really a combination I think. With with the running back you have vision and reading and zone concepts or duo concepts reading your blocking scheme up front reading your double team cutting off of the best double team you have usually a true duo you're reading the Usually a double team on the nose guard with a garden center and then you cut off of that true zone you're just finding the open gap as you have an aiming point usually it might be the defensive tackle or might be the defensive end depending on if it's a short or wide zone. And then your power concepts you obviously have a polar you're following that polar. So that's a little bit different. So that vision on both zone duo and power concepts on what you're reading as part of it. Then you have just strength and ability to run through tackles and break tackles and keep your feet moving. That's the biggest thing for me is when I look at running backs is what do their feet do do they keep them moving and do they keep them. Under their hips when you start taking big steps outside your frame as a running back that's when you're when you're going to slip and fall and not make a good cut so you need that good base. But again that helps you run through tackles and your third aspect is can you make a person miss, especially in a tight space. When you get to a secondary and make a safety miss you know that's one thing but even in space can you make that little shift to make a linebacker miss even if he still gets a tackle but you can get on his hip and then drag him two or three yards. And DJ does all of those really well. And it's very rare for running back to do all of those usually a good running back will do two of those three really well and average running back maybe great at one of them. But to do all three really well is what really I think sets DJ apart. And that you know that is highlighted by his usage DJ has carried the ball and 28% of case states plays this season. Like that's, that doesn't include as eight catches for 91 yards so that's almost 30 probably 30% of case states plays have involved DJ giddens and pre garbage time he's running for nearly eight yards per carry. And a 51% success rate on those plays so that's pretty impressive considering the usage but I think it goes back to his skill set where he's great at all three of those things I mentioned before. I held a lot of hate in my heart for a handful of folks who disrespected DJ throughout the off season. One of which got there come up and on last Mondays episode of the 10 12 podcasts. And I was shaking mad when I went through because of some of the stuff that was all the disrespect from that one certain person talking about DJ. Just let it all unload. I gotta ask how tough was it to keep quiet or have you just you know gotten rid of all those emotions up in the press box when he took what was it 66 yards to the house. Were you having to hold on to the table where you're having to nudge Derek young what were your emotions being able to watch that one up for the press box. But that was cool because that's you know maybe the fourth aspect of running back that you know maybe DJ is not quite there with you're there with the breakaway speed to really break it and he showed it on that play which was impressive. You know it's funny. Every, every time DJ does something well I usually turn the drew and say that's high school coaching that's usually what I do. And sometimes they say it to me so that's fun. It's just good to see him be successful because he's such a great kid. And those things the right way. And it's just quiet and place football. And you know you don't see that very often in today's game. Alright well we'll give a shout to our friends Charlie hustle. Jimmy I sent you to Charlie hustle shirts one of which was the DJ Giddens NIL shirt one was from their Kansas City baseball collection. When I saw those shirts I was like alright I need to make sure they get to Jimmy. First off their great looking they're comfortable. They are the best in the business and again it doesn't matter what team you cheer for whether it's you know the boys and blue or the Wildcats. Charlie hustle has you taking care of of course is long to go with the DJ Giddens you know NIL shirt they have an Avery Johnson one as well. Official license with all 16 teams in the big 12 as well as other schools we don't care about any of the other schools and they also have some fun throwback stuff they did the big eight collection. Back this summer they have some cool mascot tees and crew necks with all 16 big 12 mascots I was planning on wearing that sweatshirt today you know in case it's off weeks but no it's all about the boys and blues some rock and stuff from their Kansas City baseball collection today. So shout out to Charlie hustle they're making sure I'm looking good feeling good as a fan every single Saturday in hell. Sundays Mondays Tuesday every day of the week I'm rocking Charlie hustle and we're almost in crew next season like full full stop like again it's going to be 90 degrees today as I'm as I'm recording this absolutely hate it. So soon it's going to be like alright I have my 12 Charlie hustle crew next the three sweatshirts in the quarter zip it's like that's going to be my entire wardrobe. Once we say goodbye to the 90s until April or may so shout to Charlie hustle vintage made fresh. Alright we've talked about some of the numbers already but if you're going to point to one or two things in the advanced stats and the advanced metrics and you're going to say this is why case it could run the table. And when they're next seven games where are the spots on your spreadsheets that you point to. Well I think maintaining the elite running game puts a ton of pressure on the defense and should open up the passing game like teams have got it are going to have to stop it. I think teams are willing, I think we saw this a little bit by against BYU teams are willing to say can Avery Johnson beat us through the air can case H receivers and H backs beat us in rounds. And can we as a defense stack the box and mix coverage is in the secondary to cause confusion and force mistakes. So I think all those things kind of go together. I think like I said before it's a matter of finding the schemes that fit Avery Johnson best and the receivers best. You know one thing I'll point out was again so cool mistake case that use a lot more designed rollouts. And I think that was good because I think number one we've seen Avery Johnson throw it well in the run anyway. But it also narrows the field like you kind of almost take away half the field when you do a rollout play because you're you're putting your receivers generally toward the rollout you're generally not having your foreback throwback across his body. So the key with all that is hopefully all that can lead to more explosives in the passing game more big pass play more 20 yard catches or bigger. And if case date does that and pairs it with that elite run game. You're going to see a team probably playing in Arlington I think. I want to go on the record for something and we're all going to forget I said said this if it doesn't happen or results in the interception. But if it happens everyone come back to this and be like oh my god Scott you're so smart. There's going to be a play I don't know if it's going to be in the red zone or middle of the field but it's either going to result in a touchdown or a big play where they do a designed rollout from right hash across the field to the left. Will and CEO staying in delayed leak out all by himself. And it's either a 40 yard play or touchdown, mark it down everyone save the spot but also forget it if it's an interception or doesn't. All right, we'll move on to the next one. We'll go flip side if we're sitting here and you know November December and said wow. This is the reason why case it drops another game or two and you're pointing to something where the spots on the spreadsheet you point to on that one. This is where, you know, we talked about the office of coordinator having the target. And, you know, I don't break down or analyze the defense as much but I think really it's going to be more the defense in the offense. Specifically case they giving up big plays in the passing game with the defense. Probably something we didn't expect as much with the experience case they had back in the secondary but I think that's been probably as I look at everything the biggest concern is continue to give up big plays in the passing game. We thought I mean I thought the case State defense would probably have to carry us the first four to five games. And they've played well that's not to say, you know, we have perhaps the best running run defense in the league. But we just have to get better at not giving up those big plays in the passing game. And, you know, I think we're going to find out a lot of these next two road games is is the defense can be able to step up and get stops which they've been decent at but not allow those explosives and answer those questions of coverage and pressure from the defensive front to help alleviate those big plays. All right, so when you're looking at case it's number and we start looking at the conference holistically. And again, full disclosure, we're recording this before any of the games happen on October 5. But as you're sitting here, given the opportunity to change your predictions from the preseason. What would you like to change, you know, is there like, all right, hey, you know, this team lot better. Okay, you know, I had case it going undefeated in Arlington, you can kick them out of Arlington. Hopefully Taylor Bratt doesn't listen if you're going to do that, but just just give me kind of the updated view on the conference again. Doing this before the games play on 10 five, but it's going to be a busy week, folks. It's going to be a busy weekend. I want you guys to have a good Thursday conversation. So now is the opportunity. No one else gets this opportunity from Blitzman. So make any changes to how you view the conference as you want. And we're going to give you full credit at the end of the year and pretend that you did this at the beginning of the season. First of all, full disclosure, I did pick case state to go and defeat it. So I'm already wrong. But that's okay. What do you mean that there wasn't a game played in Provo? I was there as I recall, that game was abandoned due to bad actually pyrotechnic. Casualties my my super specific prediction of the year. There's going to be some issue with pirate one game. That game didn't happen. I don't know what you're talking about case state hasn't played in Provo Utah. Well, that fact aside, I do think case state still about where I thought they'd be compared to the league. I mean, I think they're one of the best three or four teams. To give them credit, BYU is 40 spots better in the average metrics than they were in the preseason rankings and they're undefeated. So I will give them credit. I do think they have losses coming because I do think they have more flaws in case state and I think they have more flaws than several teams. But they got lightning in the bottle in Provo and they probably will do it again because they have some pretty they still have good games against teams so they're probably the biggest surprise BYU. A few others but BYU is the team that is kind of stepped up the most based on compared to the preseason metrics. The next one would be Iowa State so far as has been the most improved. I don't like to say that but compared to their preseason metrics are about 20 spots better on average than what they were projected to be. In case states actually about five or six spots better than what they were expected to be their average rank is 15 right now in the metrics which is still best in the big 12 so I'll take that. You see three teams that have dropped so far from where they were expected Utah Oklahoma State Arizona, but are still probably the best in the best five or six teams in league so I think that will shake out. Sad to say the worst drop is the KU Jayhawks dropping nearly 30 spots compared to their preseason expectations of being a top 25 to 30 team and now ranking on average in the 50s so everyone else is kind of where they're supposed to be West Virginia's dropped about 15 spots on average so those are some of the bigger drop that we expected Colorado maybe is a little bit better than I thought. But most teams are I think as we continue to go through we're at the almost a halfway point I think as we get to closer to the two thirds point teams are there'll be a few surprises maybe BYU stays up there and Iowa State I think most teams will be about where we thought. So if you had to do a, you know pre 10 five again wild stuff happens in the conference. We didn't know. Well I mean Jimmy's super smart but he can't see the future, but if you had to make a prediction on who's playing in Arlington do you still have case state and who's their opponent. Yeah I would I still have case state but it's going to be an interesting race because we play them the final week of the season it could be Iowa State I don't want to go that much pressure. I'm larry of Utah without cameraizing I don't even know if he'll ever play again if he doesn't play again. I think Utah's out I think Oklahoma State's in trouble. I think Arizona is the one that also could be back in the mix because they're lost against us doesn't count. So getting that win at Utah even without cameraizing was pretty impressive. And then after that I don't I don't see you know BYU has a favorable schedule because they have some of their tougher teams at home but I just think they're going to slip up at least two or three times. So I would put the best mix at case state Iowa State Arizona and Utah in that order as the top four to get there still. I don't think you know I'm trying to eat healthier I'm exercising more you know so this joke probably isn't as funny as it would have been you know six months ago. But I don't know if my heart can take you know back to back weeks with Iowa State was so much on the line and then oh by the way hypothetically three out of four games versus Iowa State and football. If you have last week of the regular season big 12 championship game those season game who knows how many postseason games you're going to play and then frickin Ireland in weeks here the next year. No, no, hard to pass. That's tough. Don't get me wrong. Give me Arlington no matter who we're playing but I'm just going to move on. A couple more questions and this is based on really you know you breaking down the plays you're now putting it up on YouTube if folks haven't make sure they're subscribed it takes it to a next level getting to hear you talk and use your point or to point stuff down Who are some players as you've gone through the season breaking down plays that fans probably are not talking about enough in the sense of them doing a good job. Yeah, it's a couple Sam hacked at center has been really good, especially the way lately they've used him to pull a lot. And he's been really good pulling and taking out or leading up and blocking in space. It's been a high level player and a pretty good key and why this team has been so good at running the football, the whole offensive line has been good but I think Sam hacked is a new guy has been maybe a surprise. Another one to East and Kelty get a tackle has been really good for a new guy coming in with his experience at the FCS level so he's been really good. And I also think even though maybe the receiving numbers aren't as high Keegan Johnson has been a really good wide receiver. He may be our best blocker in space on the edge I think he's done a really good job. He's done a great job in the passing game, in my opinion, I'm getting open. And I think we've seen him more involved lately so I think those are the guys that I really would say or stand out so maybe people aren't noticing as much. All right so but we'll go a little negative who when you broke stuff down you don't have to say they're trash or anything but who are some guys that you've seen that have some work to do if this team's going to reach their full potential by the end of the year. I would say the receiving core. They're coming off their best game so hopefully that's a sign of what's to come but you know they probably came off their worst game against BYU so I don't know if I pick out an individual guy but those guys. Like I mentioned before, the H back tight ends blocking especially in space. We've seen them work really well into the passing game and catching the ball, but they've got to get better in space blocking because I think K state likes to run some of those outside concepts whether it be jet, whether it be power toss some of those kinds of things, even quarterback run game. So that has to be something that's better and then I think, you know, we talked about the secondary. The secondary's got to be better case state only has 10 passes broken up this year which is in the bottom third of the big 12, which you know isn't always a sign of great past defense but I do think that's the best way to show that a defensive can be disruptive. Hopefully get and get some more interceptions. We have seen some big plays there. So two really good interceptions is getting so cool in the state. Again, hopefully a sign of what we're going to see in the future. So I think those would be the areas that I think need to get better for this team to really peek and get to Arlington like we all hope they can do. All right, we got I'll throw curveball after this final one but any final nuggets of information you want to leave fans with before the next four games before the final off week in November. Things I want to see that I'm going to look for how case that uses DJ and Dylan Edwards together in the backfield and on the field together in general, we saw a little bit more Edwards. Again so come a state more split out and then some nice concepts in in with them both in the backfield. Really cool concept against BYU where basically they ran triple option. That was a kind of a zone dive to DJ and then speed option loaded option actually because they led with a full H back to Dylan Edwards which was a nice play. That's fun stuff for me. I think continuing to see how case that uses those tight ends and H backs especially in play action. I mentioned, maybe they don't block real well but they do block a lot in space which opens up things and play action because if you're a safety you're a linebacker and you have responsibility on the H back and tight end we've seen tons of plays over case state sends those guys out like they're going to block and he just runs by a guy and he's wide open and we've seen multiple touchdowns with that. So those are fun things to look for. And then I just Clanderman I think he's really good as a defense coordinator. You know I kind of been a little bit negative on the defense in this pod but I think he is a really good defense coordinator. I do think we're going to see some of those good adjustments and find ways to make a few more plays on defense. So I think that will be something I'll be looking for as well as we get down the stretch. All right, here's the curve ball and this was prompted because I was pulling up different schedules on Wikipedia actually because I like how you can click and it goes to the next team that year. But according to Wikipedia, they have an entire article entry for case state in Colorado being a football rivalry. So first off, do you consider Colorado arrival. Second, if you did a hierarchy of all the teams you consider rivals in football. Second, if they do they land if they do it all. And then third, a way to early score prediction as we are a full week in like nine hours away from kickoff 10 hours a full week and 10 hours away from kickoff. I'd also like an early prediction. So there's three questions I didn't have on the outline for you. So, a, well, I'll walk them back through. You can give me yes or no on this one. Do you consider Colorado football rivalry with case state. Now it may be revived. They kind of became one in the 90s early 2000s because the series was pretty split at that point. But right now, I don't think they're quite a rival. All right, and to give me the hierarchy of the teams you consider football rivals for case state. It might just be too. It could be seven. You might have a lot of teams I see out of left field that you consider rival and football. But just give me your personal hierarchy of as we sit here on October 5, 2024 year hierarchy of case state football rivals. I think the obvious two are KU and Iowa State for the top of my list. I think Oklahoma State kind of not quite the same but the series has been good and competitive lately. And it's a fun game to play I think when we play the Cowboys. Then it's tough. I, you know, my fourth even that it's done would be Nebraska like they were up there for a long time as a true rival. But after that I don't know that I would say, you know, we had the thing with Texas but they kind of owned this before they left the league so I'm not, I can't really go with that one. But KU Iowa State would probably be the obvious to and after that it drops. There's a big drop off. So you'd have it KU then Iowa State big drop off Oklahoma State big drop off Nebraska. Yeah, I probably go that way. Yeah. All right. So we'll play who who is a bigger rival to you and it's teams you haven't named Colorado or Texas Tech again you have the history with Colorado Wikipedia says it's a rivalry with Texas Tech lots of shared history since 96 kick things off in the conference. And while we've owned them there's been some fun games or spend some heated moments in that game. Which of those two do you consider a bigger rival. I would probably go with Colorado on that one because of the history. The Texas there has been a lot of good games with Texas Tech but I do like you said I do feel like we have kind of owned them lately. It's been better. And that owning lessons a factor of being a rival except for KU because it's fun to own KU and they're still a rival, even though we own them. All right, we'll go with the three teams that are now in the SEC that there is history with Texas Oklahoma or Missouri those three teams if you had to consider one of them more of a rival than the other three who would you choose. That's a good one probably Oklahoma I think you know Snyder and then even climbing we had really good games with them very competitive. And we're kind of key key wins for K state win the win of the big 12 title and being in the big 12 race the years they were the last 10 years or so so I would go with that those Oklahoma Sooners is my next pick. All right, well I don't have any others because I think I've touched on anyone who you could even remotely call a rival. I guess we played Syracuse in a handful of postseason games but we'll just move on from that. Jimmy, is there anything else you want to tell the boneheads or any other case a fan who might be listening to the spot. You mentioned my YouTube I will be since we had an off week I did put together seven or eight of my favorite run plays and seven or eight of my favorite past plays that I'll be breaking down from from the first four games. I am so excited for that. So I picked out from the first four games, some of the plays that I thought were fun that were successful against UT Martin Tulane, Arizona and BYU that very many plays against BYU. I didn't think we played BYU I thought that game I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, I know I, my memory must be right or something. I will be putting those out this week. Perfect well folks when that happens we'll be retweeting from the Bosco's Boys account make sure you're subscribed to his YouTube channel because it's absolute gold over there so for Jimmy the best guess we've ever had on the show Hall of Famer Mount Rushmore of Bosco's boys guests for Chauncey Bosco the best dog in the world for the best sponsors in the world. It's really hustling Manhattan Brewing Company. My name is Scott McFarland. We love you guys. Go Cats. Hail to the purple, Hail to the white, Wildcat in spirit, Wildcat in fight, Hail Alma Mater from sea to sea, Onward forever, Hail to the white, Hail to the white, Wildcat in spirit, Wildcat in fight, Hail Alma Mater from sea to sea. Onward forever, Hail Victory. You can stay wild cats for Alma Mater fights, Glory in the combat for the purple and the white, Faithful to our colors. We will ever be a fighting, ever fighting for a Wildcat, Victory. You can stay wild cats for Alma Mater fights, Glory in the combat for the purple and the white, Faithful to our colors. We will ever be a fighting, ever fighting for a Wildcat, Victory. You can stay wild cats for a Wildcat in the combat for a Wildcat in the combat for the purple and the white, Faithful to our colors. You can stay wild cats for a Wildcat in the combat for the purple and the white, Faithful to our colors. You can stay wild cats for a Wildcat in the combat for the purple and the white, Faithful to our colors. [Music] This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. (crowd cheering) [BLANK_AUDIO]