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Inside Texas Football
IT Live (10/08): Players Perspective on the Red River Rivalry, Key Matchups in Texas/OU
Looking for an ideal place to start or scale your business? Come to Dubai, the new global powerhouse for innovation and business growth. With the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 accelerating success, entrepreneurs have easy access to flexible regulations, cutting-edge infrastructure, tax benefits, and 100% for an ownership. Be a part of the future, join the leaders of tomorrow in Dubai, where your innovation meets opportunity. Visit www. DubaiBeyondPossible.com to know more. Good morning, Texas fans. We have an exciting show for you today. We have two former players, as you can see, Drew Kelson, Brian Robison. We're going to talk kind of the OU perspective from people that actually lived it, not just as media guys that speculate on things. But first, y'all, make sure you sign up for InsideTexas.com. You can get 50% off during OU week, annual memberships, use promo code. Welcome, hell of a deal. Today's show, we are going to talk with Drew and Brian. You get to play a perspective on Red River, but also, guys, make sure to put in your comments. You guys can ask some questions directly. Then after that, whenever these guys head out, me and Paul are going to talk to Texas OU matchups and opponent games of interest. Not a lot of exciting games, SEC-wise, but Paul making interesting for us. And then always your questions. All right, guys. We got Brian Robison here. Freak athlete, man. So I went doing my research on you. I went, and the first thing I saw was your field goal blocks. And then I immediately Googled your vertical. And so I was like, that's insane. So 40 and a half. And the only person that matched that edge-wise was Dallas Turner this year. So that was absolutely insane. Two-sport athlete out of Splendora, Texas, population currently, 1800. I bet it was less than that whenever you went to school. And you're part of the famed. What was that? Was it 2002 class you're a part of? Yep. Yep. And then same class with Vince and all those guys. So excited to have you, man. But most importantly, I want to get also a guy you played with Drew Kelson. We can kind of talk Red River. And then Paul, you're going to jump in whenever you got a good question. But let's talk Red River first, right? What's it like to actually be in that game? How is it as emotional as us media guys say it is? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I know people say it all the time that are part of this rivalry, but it is one of the best, if not the best, rivalry in the country. I mean, when you enter a stadium and all you're hearing is booze and cuss words and this and that and people just mocking you. And then all of a sudden you get halfway to field. And then now it's like turned into a home game and everything else. And it's like that throughout the game. I mean, the whole game, you're kind of going back and forth. And it's a mix between, you know, crowd noise and silence and this and that. And it's something like Noah the game. I've actually been to a lot of other rivalry games and stuff like that. And it just does not compare. Yeah, psychologically how you can shift. What is it like Drew? You know, it's funny. I didn't realize how bad it was until I mean, when we were rolling into the game, I mean, you see kids, I mean, you're saying horns down, but you're also saying middle fingers up. You're saying it all. I didn't know how bad it was until after my first game, my mom, it's like, I hate OU. I'm just like, I know we lost, we lost 12-0. That was a close one. She's like, no, I don't think you understand. I hate OU, I hate fans. I hate the experience. It's just, it's a different, it's a different rivalry. And depending on the year, it can be nastier than others. But every year, there's nothing like it. There's nothing like it. UT Parking. 2005 versus Ohio State. Kelson stripped Justin Zwick and Brian Robinson recovered it to win the game. How was that? That's fun. That was fun. That's probably one of the, as far as road games go in my career at Texas, they're playing at night at Ohio State, being a part of that play. But also just that defense, we played against a great defense that day. And so for us to make a big defensive play against that team, it was really cool. But yeah, good scoop, good scoop. Be right, we should have scored. I don't know. If I was a better athlete, I would have. That's definitely what you lacked, Brian. I thought it was. Yeah, that's what it was. Yeah, got left in the gene pool somewhere. Maybe my son got it. Yeah, right. I do want to ask you favorite Red River memories. We know the classic one, right? Wherever you knock Red Beaumar back in time. But was that your favorite one? I have to offer a comment on this, Connor, because I didn't realize it, so are you. Watch the full clip. If you picked a guy on that Texas front, and that was a very good Texas front, but if you picked one guy that you would leave unblocked, with a running start to hit your quarterback on the blind side, would that person be Brian? Because you want to know what the crazy thing was, Paul? The crazy thing was, that wasn't the first, second, or third time that happened in that game. Like they left me unblocked numerous times, and I got to him, and I mean, dude, I had three or four shots on him in that game where I just teed off on him. And that just happened to be the one time where we made him hold the ball just a split second longer, and that was the nail in, per se, coffin, for sure. If you're a quarterback and there's a slide protection on, get rid of the ball, especially when you're in unblocked. Good heavens. Yeah, we had to tell him that to him, Paul, but he is literally the last person on that entire roster. You want with a clean shot coming off the edge, from size, speed, explosion. No, it wasn't right. It was right for that game, but just wasn't right in normal society. What you didn't learn about play, you did just mark thing on the play. You hit him in the body. Yeah. You could have done whatever you wanted, right? You could have ended his day, but you were like, hey, let's make a play. Let's get the football, and then Rod got the thick six. Yeah, let's get him with him straight legs. My understanding is that they were timed him with a sundial, and not a stopwatch. Is that true? Nah, he ran like 4-4 on that touchdown, man. Why did they leave you unblocked? Was the slide protection you got matched up with a running back? Why would you do that schematically, leave you as a player? Yeah, I mean, I think the problem was we kind of ran some blitzes at them throughout the game, and I think they were getting in a mode where they thought they could get the ball out quick. And like I said, it was two or three times in that game that they actually ran that same exact slide protection, sliding it away. And we just did a good job on that one of basically running the blitz, running the blitz, and then all of a sudden we dropped an extra guy out. And when we dropped the extra guy out, I think it actually caused Rhett Beaumart to just hold that ball for a split second, because he saw him flash into coverage, and you can't do that on a slide protection when you're going to leave a guy's got free. So he held it for that split second, and it was too late by the time I got there. Yep, and now we have a classic play that is still being played. I'll be interested in hearing how these guys feel about what SARC has done with the program versus how it was with Mac. That's interesting. What are you guys? And also, too, I can piggyback on this. You guys saw what it took to be an elite team. How are you guys feeling when you see this team? Is it similar to that year? Is it too early to say something like that? Is the depth similar? Kind of what's the, how are you guys feeling about this team compared to when the last truly elite Texas squad? Go ahead, Drew. I think from a kind of combining with the question about Mac, I think one of the main things, and Birov could probably, we knew we wanted to win, and we knew how to work, and we were a close knit team. I think now SARC is intentional about building those things. I think we were just, it felt like we were just naturally and organically that way. We were close, we were hungry, we wanted to win, we knew we were talented, we knew we could win. And so I don't remember, I think as a fan now, when I'm looking at SARC's program, I'm going to end the program, but you feel like, yeah, they're having fun, but they do feel like they're strictly business, business, business, business. And that's probably not the case, but I know for us, I feel like we had so much fun that year. And Birov was around the middle of that stuff. Like you talk about, there are some general clowns we have in the locker room, and fun guys who are on the roster. This was top five, right there with stud, and stuff. Like there are certain guys who were just personalities that always kept it light. Birov was one of them. And I think when you have a combination of talented guys who are hungry, connected, but have fun, like this is still a game. I mean, it's still fun, like you can go back and watch the clips of the game, and you're still making fun of people. I mean, guys are making big plays. And you're still talking about how they got crack back on. Like we're not even watching the results of the play in a lot of times. So that's what makes it fun is when you can just have fun with your teammates, but also know you're building something, but you're also locked in. And you're also doing all the things you know to just be great the next week. Yeah, I mean, what you got B? Yeah, I think for me, you know, I don't know the locker room dynamic of what Sark and Em got going on. You know, we're not in that locker room dynamic, but I do know from from what has been spoken out early, but not only Sark, but also the players, there's there's a there's an attitude around the building, right? Like you had a great year. You know, and I compare it to us with the back-to-back rolls balls, right? We had a great year coming up for rolls ball win. We were happy about that, but we knew where we wanted to get back to, right? But it's a whole off season. It was like building upon our success, whereas with Sark and Em, you make it to the college football playoff. And the whole off season, they're angry, you know, they're the whole off. See, it's about being angry. It's not good enough. Like we're trying to be on top. So to me, I think keeping that team motivated is a big deal. Also, I look at this team and I look at the talent level of this team, man. Like, I know I know it could be argued all day long, but me and Michael Griffin had this on air last year, a Longhorn network. Like this team may be more talented than when we played in '05, man. I mean, when you look at just every position group across the board, I mean, easy to point out wide receivers, like we had some talented wide receivers, but this team legitimately has like six big-time wide receivers, you know? And you look at the offensive line. This may be one of the best offensive lines in the country right now. Defensively, you know, I mean, even after losing Jalen Ford, you've got Anthony Hill and David Bender that has stepped up big time. This DB group is very, very cohesive in how they've played ball this year. I mean, this group is very, very talented. And, man, I really think Sky's the limit for them. I think they've got the right culture in the building. I think SARC, the comparison I would make between SARC and MAC is obviously, they're both great recruiters and they know how to get their team's attention. The difference I would say is the way they go about it. MAC was always, you know, a little bit, I wouldn't say closed off from the media, but he kept things more to the chest, more within the inside the building with this team, where SARC is more open about what we've done wrong, what we've done right, you know, who needs to step up, who needs to, you know, keep this thing going. So I would say that would be the two differences for me. Awesome, man. We've got a couple more questions. And this is what I'm always interested into. B-Rob Drew, some former players, some former players talk about their experience watching games is way different than when they played the games. What's that like for this game specifically? It is funny when you'll hear fans will get mad about something at the game. And while players are currently playing in college, at least, they'll kind of be like, what is up with this obsession, man? Like, we're just working, you know? And then you see the transition from the former players when they turn into fans. And you've seen them tweet like, man, I didn't know you got this nervous during games and stuff like that. I always think it's interesting the switch going from when you guys were on the field to now you guys are just fans of the program and you have no control of the outcome. What's that like, Drew? Nervousness, you don't feel any of that as a player. I've said for a few several times, I feel like there's a certain level of ignorance that comes when you're a player. You're just, you prepare, you prepare to win. I think we've taken a lot of things for granted when we won games. Really big game is because we just we expect it to win. So if as a player, when you work, or you expect to win, you get the results you want, yes, you celebrate, but you don't do it with nerves, you don't do it with nervousness. I think the thing that stood out to me the most was the first time I went back to Texas OU game as a former player. And I remember being down on the sideline, but not being able to go in the game. That's that's the worst. When you're actually getting all the fields of being on the field, being down there next to the team, being in the mix of just what's going on. I mean, it was, I mean, heightened intensity. This was oh, is it oh eight? Yeah, that was oh eight. It was my first time back at that game. Jordan Shipley returns the the kick return. I'm just on the sideline. I couldn't do anything would just watch. It's there's nothing like the juice that game gives you. There's no other environment that gives you that and it's that way every year. It's predictable. You know, you're going to get it. Yeah, there's nothing that matches it. You're out there. I think man, I think for me, like, man, I couldn't watch football for for, you know, three, four years after I retired. I just literally could not watch it. I mean, because for two reasons, one, man, the emotions would always come back to me. But secondly, I would, I would almost do like I was doing film study. Like, I'd be watching a certain position or a series and I'm sitting there nitpicking it like, like, I'm like, no, I shouldn't rush that. And you know, and I just couldn't enjoy it. It took me three or four years before I could actually kind of just sit back and actually enjoy and watch a game and just just sit there and be a fan. I mean, but like, I have a better way to do it. I mean, it took forever. And man, I remember, I remember Minnesota, you know, shortly after retired, it was like a year later before I went to a game. And I really didn't think that I that I missed it that much. I was around my family. I was enjoying being with my son and my daughter and my wife. And I go back to this game. And you start having the pregame warmups go through and it just amps up to kick off where I literally got emotional, man, like I started crying. Like those emotions come back to you as a player. And so I get asked all the time, like, do you miss the game? I mean, yeah, I miss it. But it's a different answer when I get around it. When I when I get two way game. Oh, you bet your ass I miss it like I I miss it badly. And I think that's why a lot of players struggle when they get out of it is they got they got to find something to, you know, give them that competitive nature. And you got to stay busy. You got to keep your mind focused. And a lot of ways a lot of us have ADHD, you know, one way or another football gives that to us. And we've got to find a way to keep our mind busy and keep that competitor spirit going. And we struggle with that. But man, it's anytime you get around an atmosphere like this game or a playoff game or something like that, man, it's the those juices don't ever go away, man. They really don't. Yeah, when you're lacking that routine, right, that concrete thing to have been able every day, you know, you're going to do this. And then after that, you're just kind of like, all right, what's what's the second part of my life? Can I actually look like this is a veteran's who are in the combat arms? They'll say similar things. It's the loss of mission, right? And you lose that camaraderie because there's even if you're playing at the high school level or junior high, there's nothing better than like playing football with your boys. Like, you know, it's the best friendship you'll ever make because you all suffer together. You all lose together. You all win together. You lose that when you get detached from it. And it's it's something you got to try to find a fill. Sugar daddy never fails. Curious about players point of view on Malachi Moore and how to bore handled it. Thanks for your all's time, guys. I don't know if you guys got to see it, but Malachi Moore was upset when they lost to Vanderbilt. He was he was just angry. And then he, I believe he kicked the helmet of Xavier. And then he kind of roughed him up a little bit. He was clearly having some issues. He broke ball. He threw his mouthpiece. They tried to sub for him. He was cussing out the coaches. No, not good. I'll say this. He at least he cares. But he was clearly embarrassed. He didn't hit and then to bore kind of said, look, guys that have my back, I'll have their back. He had a rough moment from the players. I when you're down there, you're you're a gladiator in an arena. You know, that I mean, that's what we're proxying here, that kind of bloodlust. So I don't think you're always clearly in your most rational state of mind, especially there. But from two guys that know what it feels like to, you know, be able to lose their cool on the field. Are you upset? No, I'm more is that just a young player you talk to kind of, you guys have been through it. What is what is that like? We'll start with B. Rob. Well, I think, man, I think for me, it's part of this game is learning how to keep your emotions in shape. Looking for an ideal place to start or scale your business? Come to Dubai, the new global powerhouse for innovation and business growth. With the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 Accelerating Success, entrepreneurs have easy access to flexible regulations, cutting edge infrastructure, tax benefits, and 100% for an ownership. Be a part of the future. Join the leaders of tomorrow in Dubai, where your innovation meets opportunity. Visit www. DubaiBeyondPossible.com to know more. And I say that as part of this game, but like even more importantly, like a game like this week, OU, Texas, it is really a game where you have to keep your emotions in shape because there's going to be a lot of talking, there's going to be some extra pushing and shoving. And you know how it is the second guy that always retaliates is going to be the guy that gets it, right? You know, you said something and it's very true. You want to see emotions out of a guy when it comes to a loss. Like you don't want somebody to just be okay with a loss and move on, but you also don't need to go there because that could be the difference between a guy tearing a team down and a guy that's trying to lift a team up. Like, hey, you know what, we lost this one, we got to move on. You know, you should show that you care. But kicking helmets, to me, that's the difference between showing you care and showing a temper tantrum. Like that's the difference. And listen, I don't know Malachi Moore, maybe a great kid, I don't know. But my point is is like somebody's got to get that and check because there's going to come a point where what happens if it gets worse? You know, what happens if if you're in a dog fight with, with, you know, something going on with another game and then you do that in the middle of the game when you've got an opportunity to win. Like that's not good, right? Because now you just caused your team to lose. So, you know, you got to nip it in the butt as quick as possible. Yeah, the biggest thing to me was if it's not seeing anybody else on the field, check him or even go over to him or walk over and say, do you show up even after like it's just it was one of those things that was just shocking to me. So my initial reaction is just, wow, where where are the teammates? Where's everybody else just like working to keep him composed? But then this is probably me too. This is probably dad talk, not football talk. Dude, how are you going to regulate your emotions when you're outside the field? When you get in argument, when somebody does something that that you don't like, you know, that's there are bigger implications for for tantrums in general. And so this is a game. This is football. You play four quarters and you lost. Yeah, you should be pissed. But both the teamwork teammates around him, you want to see teammates rally around guys, especially in a week like this, Texas, so you you need there. Somebody's going to make a play. Somebody may make a play against us. You got to have a short term memory. You got to stay close. You got to stay connected, but you can't let one guy or a couple guys get outside of bounds without rilling them back in. So, yeah, we'll get to see how our guys respond this week. I have yet to see our guys really be that way and not that extreme way, but just not be composed and not switch to the next play and continue to play their game or let one play beat them for multiple plays. So, hopefully the guys continue to show that they have that presence and they can be resolute when things kind of don't go their way for player two during the game. Yeah. All right, B-Rob, I want to ask you specifically about some of our edges, which I'm excited about. So, we got the young, let's start with the young Colin Simmons four sacks. Not always super concerned with his his rush lane or or run defense at all times, but man, you know, he's a special athlete and that first step is insane. What are you seeing from the young player and, you know, how do you project him going forward? Yeah, I mean, the dude obviously has a knack for ball get off, right? You kind of, you kind of think at some point, somebody's going to try a hard count or something like that with it, but he hadn't got caught off side yet or anything like that. But he's obviously got some sort of, you know, tick or whatever it is that he's reading on the centers or something like that that's giving him that extra, you know, split second to beat the tackles off the line. But, you know, and here's the deal. I know he's kind of gets wild on some of his rushes, but I haven't seen anything that really concerns me because it's, it's almost like it's sometimes he's out, but not, not very often. And that's the thing is like, I, you know, you worry about that a little bit with a quarterback like this weekend that can run, can find his escape lanes and stuff like that. And you don't want him running down the field, of course, you know, wide open with everybody turn their back covering things like that. So, but man, just, I think this edge group has been great this year. I mean, I really do, you know, I know, I know first few games everybody was complaining like we're not getting sacks. You know, I've always been a guy that was taught by my coaches, you know, sacks come in bunches. And, you know, the thing about that is you make go a two, three, possibly four game stretch with no sacks. And then all of a sudden you have a six-stack game, you got a five-stack game. And next thing you know, you've already put up, you know, 10, 12, 15 sacks in three games. And now it's like, you're the greatest pass rushing, you know, Ed Drushers in history, you know, and it's, it can switch like that. You know, I think what you're seeing right now is you're seeing a guy like Colin Simmons and you're seeing some of these other guys that are actually making a bunch of plays and you go to a guy like Trey Moore that, you know, a lot of Longhorn fans have been disappointed in. And I kind of look at it and I'm like, you know, you got to look at the opportunities guys are getting to, you know, and I, and I explain this on, on with Bobby Burton one night, you know, when I look at Trey Moore, you're looking at a guy that came from UTSA and that's not a knock on him, but you're playing lesser competition. And he's probably getting a lot more opportunities at that competition than he's getting right now. When you move to a team like Texas, from a school like that, from a conference like that, your, your players are going to diminish a little bit, no matter how good you are, because you have a plethora of guys that can play ball. So you're talking about a guy that really hasn't had the opportunities throughout the first five games, the really show we can do, and you're low. So looking at a guy that's sharing snap time with other guys in that defensive room as well. So the numbers are going to go down, but, but mark my words at some point, Trey Moore is going to have a two or three sack game, then he's going to turn around and have another sack or two sacks. And next thing you know, he's going to have five or six sacks, and they're going to be like, Oh, that's the guy I've been looking for. It's just, it goes round and round. It's like one guy's got the hot hand. The next week, the next guy's got the hot hand and Trey Moore just has to keep doing what he's doing. And eventually, he's going to be the guy that the plays come to because they're going to see a guy like Colin Colin Simmons making all these plays and what are they going to say? Well, we got to make sure we shore up that guy. Well, if you're showing up that guy, that means that guy's got the opportunity. He's got the one on one. And now he's got the hot hand. So, you know, I think Texas longer fans just need to understand like, Hey, each guy's going to have his opportunities and Trey just hasn't had his yet. So, but I think overall to answer your question, I think these edge guys have been very good this year. As far as being able to get after quarterbacks and not let them just kind of hold the ball. If you look at it, a lot of the passing game has been quick throws against the sex long arms defense. And I think they'll take that right now. Well, what's the interesting stat that you would like as an edge is Hawkins is number one in the SEC for time to throw. So, he holds the ball the longest out of any quarterback currently. So, for Ed Drushers, they're absolutely going to love that. And so, they're going to have the opportunity to get some hits on them. So, I think that's going to be big. What do you think of Burke and Bosick? I mean, that length is crazy on both those guys. Yeah, I've been excited to see Bosick and I'm I'm happy to finally see him healthy. I'm happy to see that when he's getting his opportunity to go in games, he's making plays. I mean, I think he's a kid that, you know, in the next couple of years, like, he's going to be a household name with Texas long-earned fans for sure. Burke is one of those guys that just honestly, to me, is like a Swiss Army knife. He can do a little bit of everything. And, you know, you see him dropping the coverage. You see him be able to rush the passer. You see him be able to kick down inside and give it a little bit more of an interior rush. So, he's been a guy that, I guess, in a way, you know, he's taller, but he kind of he kind of would be a guy compared to me, you know, in the NFL. That's what I did. I would kick down inside. I'd be outside. May stand up and linebacker do a lot of things. And, you know, the NFL and football in general, the more you can do, the more you can be utilized. And I think that's what you're seeing out of Ethan Burke is he's a guy that can do a little bit of everything. So, I think these two guys are definitely a very valuable commodity for this tax longer defense. Yeah. See, and B-Rob was, but he was stronger and more explosive than every tackle he had to face. So, that's the one thing that he had over just not everybody's you big. This dude, it's just feel different. A final question. So, say you're going into Red River, you're facing two tackles. Michael Tarkwin is actually pretty good USC transfer, but what are you doing whenever you're scouting throughout that week? What are you looking for in offensive tackles? How are you going to beat them? Are you looking at their get off? Are you looking what pass rush moves you're going to do? How do you look at that matchup as a top tee-in? Well, I mean, for me, it was always, you had to break things down, right? You had to do it. So, for me, the first day of the week was always looking at a run game. Like, what are they doing in the run game? What formations do they like? What runs do they do out of those formations? Is there any like, you know, certain tick that a tackle or a center or anybody gives, you know, more weight on their hand, less weight on their hand? Something that gives me an idea like, hey, this is run versus this is pass. And normally you can find that tick, you know, whether it's a stance, whether it's, you know, distribution of weight, whatever it may be, there's going to be some sort of tick that gives you an opportunity to know whether it's run versus pass. So, that's the first thing. Second thing is, is you start looking at the formations, you start figuring out, okay, what runs do they like out of these formations? What runs are going to come my way? What, you know, how are they going to block this up, right? So, that becomes a whole different nuance. Now, what I would be doing for this game with OU is I would be looking for those runs to see how to defend that. But then secondly, when I go to the pass game, I'd be saying, okay, here's what I got to know. Number one, we all know that the quarterback can run. Where does he like to escape? Is it the beget? Is it outside? Is it the agap? Where is he looking for his first opportunity when the pocket collapses? Where he's going to go to? All right, I got to know that. Second thing is, is I got to be able to understand that we do have a mobile quarterback. So, I can't get too far up the field because that makes it easy on the tackle. We can just drive you up the field. I can't come under too quick, because then he's going to be able to escape outside. So, where am I going to have an opportunity? I'm going to have to power down these guys, collapse the pocket down onto his feet. And then that comes back to knowing where he's going to try to escape. Because now you give yourself the opportunity that when he fills the pressure of the offensive line, collapsing down on him, he decides to escape. I can just fall down and make the tackle. I mean, it becomes really simple. It sounds really simple. It's not, but it gives you the best opportunity because if you just become a wild man, you go running up the field and you go, you might beat the tackle, but more than likely, the quarterback is going to escape. And now you put your defense in a bad situation because now linebackers have to decide, do I come up and play the quarterback and leave a guy open? Or do I stay back and give him a first down every time he decides to tuck the ball? So, and I think that's what you saw last year with Dylan Gabriel. A lot of things, a lot of people talked about going in that game was the design quarterback run. It wasn't the design quarterback run that hurt us in that game. It was the quarterback's scramble. And he was getting 10, 20, 30 yards every time he scrambled because the linebackers had to make the choice that we got to stay in coverage. Well, he's 10 yards down the field before anybody ever gets near him. And a lot of that was because I think there was some undisciplined rush lanes that allowed him to escape where he wanted to escape. Awesome, Brian. Drew, I know you got to get out of here. Do you guys have any final questions? Well, we roll out you want to, I've got a quick one for Brian, actually. Yeah. So there's a phenomenon you probably have noticed of young quarterbacks, both in the college game and the NFL, they're emulating Patrick Mahomes of the retreating pocket. They're not trying to bail out of a side. They're not trying to step up like a Drew Brees, right? They're just keep retreating. Yeah. And the only guy, and then based on just arm strength and athleticism, Patrick Mahomes can create miracles out of that. You just keep giving up space and buying time. I've noticed like Rayola, Nebraska noticed even the young man at Oklahoma, they're trying to emulate this. And I think against a more athletic defense with good containment principles, this is not going to end well. I think it's going to end in second 22 and like a stripped fumble. I'm just curious, was there anyone that you played against college or pro who did that, or is this like the Mahomes phenomenon that everyone's trying to emulate? I think I think it is a Mahomes phenomenon because he's been the one that's been successful with it, right? He's been the one that can do it on a play-to-play basis and be successful at it. Cam Newton used to do it a little bit like we used to always love going against Cam Newton because we knew he wasn't a guy that liked to get the ball and step up in the pocket. He was a guy that would get the ball. And instead of a five step drop, he may drift back to 10, 12 yards. And that had just allowed us to go back to what I said, you don't want to do against running corporate against Cam. You did because you knew if you could beat the tackle around the corner, Cam was going to be back there somewhere. So it was a little bit different for him. But the problem with Cam was you could hit Cam and he may not go down. Like he's big enough to take those shots. You know, I think when you look at it, like Brett Favre was a guy that kind of did it a little bit, but Brett Favre was more of a -- he didn't necessarily drift back, but he made drift back and then get outside. Rodgers was kind of that same way. The full drift back deal, if you've got a quarterback that's got a very strong arm and has a knack for that. And I think Ray Ola might be one of those guys. I really do because he has trained with Mahomes. He kind of knows what works for Mahomes, so that may work for him. For the OU quarterback, I don't know. And a lot of this drew you can attest to this. A lot of this comes down to skiing. Like one thing is Mahomes always knows where the outlet is, right? And it's going to be around that line of scrimmage. They do a very good job of utilizing their back around the line of scrimmage. So that drift back a lot of times becomes a spring game, right? So it's not necessarily a pass play. He may be just buying time to get the running back on one side while everybody else is chasing him. And then he tosses it back to running back and becomes just an extension of an -- of an extenuated skirting game. That's good stuff. That's awesome, man. Drew, Brian, I really appreciate you guys. This was a fun treat for the fans to hang out. And I'm excited. What's your score predictions, guys? What do you guys got? I got to switch on the spot before we go. Let's see here. I'm going to go. I'm going to go 35, 17, Texas. Okay. I'm good with it. Drew, how you feeling? I was going to say 37, 17. So cool. Okay. All right. I couldn't give him 20. I just couldn't get there. Yeah. I noticed that two defensive guys couldn't mentally get OU 20 points. But just like, no, no. Well, especially with that offense, man, it's a sketchy offense. It's not, it's not Lincoln Riley that we're dealing with here. All right. And I think OU's, I think OU's defense is a little bit different defense than what we've seen in the past. I think they're, I think they're pretty salty and they're, they're pretty physical. So I think it'll be a tight ball game going in a fourth quarter. But I think, yeah, I think Texas starts to pull away towards the end. I like it stuff. Brian, thank you for your time. Drew, I know you got stuff to do. Thanks for hanging out. Both of y'all appreciate both of y'all have a wonderful day. Thank y'all. Thanks gentlemen, Jordan. Later guys. All right, Paul. Yes, sir. That was fun, man. How are we going to follow that? I know, right? Now we just got to be like, and OU matchups. And let's pull up some nerd stats. Exactly. Brian just gave him an exposition on the NFL edge rush and how to contain and we're like, I mean, we're going to be like, this is what we should do against Armase and Thomas. Their EPA is 2.17. Exactly. All right, before we get into that exciting EPA chat, first a word from our sponsor. Hi, I want to tell you about Laura Baker. If you're looking for a new Oh, hi, I want to tell you about Laura Baker. If you're looking for a new home in the 512 or even at this point, let's face it 737 area code. There's only one number to call. That's Laura Baker at 512-784-0505. As a member of the elite Andy Allen team with Keller Williams, Laura has helped Longhorns find the home of their dreams in central Texas. Just ask our resident sex symbol, Ian Boyd, who moved all the way from Michigan to Texas with Laura's help. Laura can help you find what you're looking for in the 512, the 737, or even parts of the 254 and the 210. Just, you know, give her a call at 512-784-0505. Her email is in the description as well as the rest of her contact details. She's a friend. Give her a call. All right, Paul, can you hear me? I can hear you. Well, I don't know what happened. My screen froze up. So I didn't even get to see the ad. Hopefully y'all did. It was spectacular. All right, wonderful. I'm glad you guys were able to see it. All right, cool. So we did, we did all of our fun stats last week. We don't really have a bunch to add there. We wanted to talk specific Texas OU matchups, things we want to watch for. So I'll go with the first one. I think Brett Nelson has a good intro question for that. Where is his old Brett? Let's see. Super chat. The how does OU score enough? Yeah. Cool. Yeah. All right. I mean, that's the question, right? This offense. So, okay, let's just break it down real quick. Fension, you know, all of their receivers are hurt besides maybe Dion Burks that can return. So they're dealing with second, third, third, third stringers, pretty much everywhere. Offensive line has also been injured and they're transferred. So there's not a lot of synergy there. And then whatever synergy is there, they've had guys hurt. I think they have their core guys back now, finally, but still they haven't got. Looking for an ideal place to start or scale your business? Come to Dubai, the new global powerhouse for innovation and business growth. With the Dubai economic agenda, D33 accelerating success, entrepreneurs have easy access to flexible regulations, cutting edge infrastructure, tax benefits, and 100% for an ownership. Be a part of the future. Join the leaders of tomorrow in Dubai, where your innovation meets opportunity. Visit www dot Dubai beyond possible dot com to know more. Play together. Running back Gavin Sawchuck has 1.8 yards per carry, worst in the SEC. Giovanni Barnes is second to last in the SEC and carries. Taylor Tate and the true freshman actually has good yards per carry, six plus. He's been injured. Hopefully he can make it back. And then on top of that, they've had to move around their quarterback room. And the offensive coordinator, we don't know if he's going to be there next year. So in what world is this offense supposed to function well? It's look, I mean, I think they have a narrow path for success. And I think it's going to look a lot like Hawkins becoming a primary ball carrier. I think they're going to run the ball quite a bit. I think they're going to try to slow things down. I think there are things from the Mississippi state and maybe even parts of the ULM tape that they can look at to say, hey, we can maybe build a running game off of double the play side defensive tackle. And then let's involve the extra man quarterback in the run game and try to exploit a Colin Simmons or the defensive ends that are in there if they are too excited or eager to get up the field. And let's have some misdirection and eye candy in the backfield. Yeah, they've had two weeks in the bye. Their offensive coordinators had two weeks to Google service academy plays. And I think they're going to run like jet sweet misdirection. They're going to have some quarterback follow, which is where you play side double the defensive tackle. You pretend you hand it off to the running back, but you don't pull it. And then the running back becomes your lead blocker on top of that double team. And then the quarterback follows right behind them. That's the kind of stuff that your linebackers have got to be on top of. And we've shown enough on film that sometimes Brenda or Hill can either lose the thread in the trash or they can chase a ghost and get out of position. So is that something you can turn into a 60 play offense? I don't I don't think so. And I don't think Pete should allow them. I think I think when you face a limited offense, you need to strangle the the infant in the crib. Like, don't let it get going. And I think you do that by being really aggressive. And I'm not talking about nine man fronts or anything like that necessarily, but I'm I mean, bring it like wind up your defensive lineman and gaps. Don't have them catch, have them penetrate. You know, oh, you, as you probably know, Connor, they've given up 44 pressures on the offensive line through five games. For a comparison, Texas throws more than OU. And we've given up 16. Right. So it's a different world if we can get them into predictable passing bounds. But where OU will be success is if they can kind of scheme us and we get a little conservative. So, you know, OU goes five wide and it's third and five. Hey, it's quarterback drop. Come on. Right. I mean, we know what's happening. So why do you have five in the box? Like, if you don't fear their receivers, go man up across the board and then lay drop an extra man in the box. And if they want to run that quarterback draw, it's going to go from, you know, third and five to third and nine. Right. But, you know, don't concede these things and be like, hey, we're winning just because we're not getting up a big play. Because to me, OU's offense is winning if they're getting first downs, possessing the ball and eating clock. Yeah. And their, uh, their center is undersized SMU transfer. Branson Hickman. He's the work run blocker in the SEC. So also what you can do is mug a linebacker or do a little bear front, but don't let him double people. Because if you make him go one on one, he's going to lose in the run game. And so that's a, that's also a way to, to go right through the heart of that line in the run game. If you make sure that he can't help out guards, because he can't hold his own. And here's the thing, Connor, if, if you bring pressure up the middle and you do a good job on the edge and your edges can really run and pursue, which we have, you know, and you have a lot that you can place. They don't, they're not getting winded from the, the, the emotion of the game, especially if you get immediate pressure, Hawkins is a young quarterback. He's going to try to escape out the side. Right. If your edge is playing that correctly, it's either a pressured throw on the move or a sack every time. And, and against our secondary, all looking at the ball, you know, playing a little zone, maybe you want Hawkins throwing the ball on the move, being pressured, being hit as he's releasing the ball. That's, that's a win-win scenario for Texas. So I just, I would be, I would be disappointed, frankly, if we didn't press some of our advantage on defense, and we just said, Hey, let's not give up a big play. I think the way you give up a big play is kind of being a little passive and letting them wole you. And we've been guilty of that a ton, right? And I, I can see, I can see that happening though, right? Because the only thing this offense has been able to do is hit explosives. They're, they can't be consistent. They're not able to operate an offense down after down. So they've had to hit the fade ball versus Auburn. They've had to do a crosser to pet away. He's had to run. And so I can see PK automatically going to, well, take away the explosives here because that's the only way they move the ball. Understood. But I think you take away their explosives at the source. Yeah. So I don't think you take away their explosives by laying back and letting a nickel and dime you because eventually they are going to cross your into your side of the field. I also think field position is huge here. So there's a big difference between Brent Venables defending 90 yards. You know, so imagine an opening possession where we defer OU gets the ball. They nickel and dime us up to the 50. They punt and we start on our five. Okay. Imagine a world where we bring it on that opening OU possession. They go backwards and they're punting from their 12. And we start with the ball on the 45 yard line of Texas. Sark is a play caller. He can do anything he wants in that position on the five yard line against Venables in that emotional game in that situation. Sark is not scared, but he's got some prudence. He's going to be like, all right, certain play calls are out. We're not giving up a safety or a strip fumble here, right? Like, so I think PK needs to understand there's a larger game being played here beyond just his defense not giving up an explosive. And I also happen to think the way that we give up an explosive is the way Mississippi state did it, which is you nickel, dime, nickel, dime, nickel, dime. Malik Muhammad falls asleep. Board tries to jump her out and they actually beat him down the field. He just didn't have to pay for it because the throw was off. So to me, you you killed this thing early in the pocket in the backfield. You don't let OU even dictate three and four yard runs. I think I think you disrupt them. And if OU seems us and gets an 11 yard run, you shrug in the next play, it's second and 13 because you had to tackle for loss. Yeah. And they're number four in the country and field position. So they are playing that game. They're playing that game because they have to. Yeah. Venables rightfully trusts himself. If you give me enough situational play calls, I'm going to turn you over. I'm going to get a big interception. I'm going to get that fumble strip. And that's what Tennessee did, right? Eventually, Tennessee just realized, Hey, the only way OU wins this game is if we let their defense make a play. So we're just going to rely on our D to keep dominating. And let's just get out of here. Unfortunately, they carried that game plan forward to Arkansas. Well, and Venables, what I like about him is he plays offense on defense. He's dictating stuff. This is not a reactive defense. He's making quarterbacks throw into certain windows. He's telling you where you're going to run. And then he's like an offensive coordinator. And the coordinators will have a level one play where they get you to, you know, a safety to bite. And then the level two of that play, they're going to come over the top. Venables does the same thing, but with his schematics. And so he'll give you this true blitz early in the game. And he'll send it two or three times at the end of the game. Yeah, he's going to simulate that. That's how he got Thorne, right? And so that's what I really like. He's a Venables is an offensive defensive coordinator. And he's able to put a lot of pressure on quarterbacks. You have to swing first versus these guys. You can't let them dictate everything. Well, and I'll say this. So all that said, Venables is not a madman. He's not bringing in seven men. I mean, he knows what we've got at receiver. He knows what we've got a quarterback. He knows our offensive line can block up his stuff. I actually think oh, you, they're going to do a lot. They're going to throw everything at the wall. But I think their base core concept through the game is going to be off coverage. And I think it's going to be bringing unexpected men, not necessarily extra men. And I think it's going to be daring us to run the football. Because I think I think they don't think that we can run the ball very effectively. And I think with some justification, they believe that we're going to put the ball in the carpet. Yep. And that's true. And if I was playing this text offense, that's what I would do too. Yeah, I would drop a lot of coverage. I would disguise it. And you'll see it. They'll put Stutzman and Kip Lewis on the line. And one of them is dropping, but they get sent equal amounts. So you don't know which one it is. I paused the game versus Venables. And I tried to figure out who's not being blitzed. And I struggle with it. So it's really good there. It's going to be tough on quarterbacks, but they're going to have to drop in the coverage. And we're like 34th in yards per rush. We're not a bad rushing team, but they are a better rushing defense than we are a rushing team. So the goal there, right, is stop the rush. And they can do that. They can run blitz with Stutzman, all that kind of stuff, and then get us into passing downs. And now you have Quinn viewers on third and eight. It's a little bit more manageable. You can put more resources in the coverage. So I agree. I'm making a sense. If we get some situations where we know we can isolate through formation or just happenstance, Quinn steps up nicely in the pocket. O line does their job. If we get one-on-ones with their corners and their nickels, we are going to hit them for big, big plays. Absolutely. That's not just schematically in our personnel, but also the nature of that game. In that game, the play that should go for 19, Isaiah Bond will shake the safety because of adrenaline and go 80. And the same can apply on their side of the ball. If you don't make the tackle on the quarterback on the option, you misplay it or whatever, that 11-yard run suddenly goes for 40 at Texas OU. It just always does because of the emotion of it. But yeah, I mean, I think it's such a fun game. I'm excited on the match-ups and everything. And I like our match-ups, but there's clearly some things OU is going to try to make us prove. And one of those is, can you run the ball effectively? And can you have ball security? No. Are you going to fumble? Because their instruction with all of our backs, specifically Jayden Blue, is hold that guy up and strip him. He wants to put the ball in the carpet. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I'm glad we're seeing it the same because that's exactly how I would play us in this situation with OU, especially with their strength. Has the OU defense seen the type of speed Texas has? When they play Tennessee in the front seven, yeah, Tennessee's super athletic up there. I don't think their secondaries as good as Texas is, but Tennessee's got a D. That's, you know, defense is not their issue. But yeah, I think OU's seen some good dynamic players in the front. I don't think the ball secondary is all that. But yeah, Texas has very good team speed and we can come at you in waves. And that matters in this kind of game because it's beyond the physicality of it. It's also emotionally exhausting because you kind of go through these big momentum shifts and that wears on you too. You know, we're the number one passing defense in yards per pass in the country. Oh, yeah. But part of that though, part of that's because we've really improved, but part of that's because we have a light schedule, light schedule. Even I looked at a good schedule. Yeah, I expected us to be in the thirties or something. I was like, Oh, we're number one. Yeah, Texas offensive speed. Broom McCoy is not a burner, right? Well, Tennessee's a wide receiver room. How fast. Okay. Yeah. Guys are faster and more dynamic. Squirrel White can run a little. Dante Thornton can run a little bit. But no, I mean, they can't run with Isaiah Bond and Ryan Wingo and even Dallas Bolden. So they've got a pass here. Oh, use opponent yards per pass is 83rd in the country. So this is a huge mismatch. The Texas passing game, because this is kind of like the PK curse of last year. What if they do shut down in the run? Well, all you're doing is forcing Texas to play against your weakness. Yeah, you know, it's kind of what we did last year. We were like, run is shut down. Oh, wait, now you guys can pass on us. Well, I also say this Connor. Their receivers are tiny. Yeah. And the one big receiver they have, Hester, is just not, he's just a jag. So I'm going to put my hands on Brendan Thompson early. So I don't think there's value in standing back and letting a guy who runs a 10, 200 get a running start at you. Even if you've got depth, he's now got goes on you, right? He can, he can utilize his speed and on the move faster than you can react to his speed. I want, I want to get our hands on him at the line of scrimmage. That's, that's why you have today Baron out there. That's why you have Manny Muhammad out there. Get your hands on this guy and bully him. Drive them into the sideline. I mean, dominate that guy at the line of scrimmage and make these smaller, you know, you receivers feel your size and physicality because then Tath and Makuba can just watch the quarterback and just react. And that's what you want to be doing against a freshman quarterback in the Red River. Perfectly stated. And guess what, Paul? We have another elite guy to talk about here. You damn right. You need to get your hands on this guy's phone number. Gabe Winslow, 832-557-1095. Gabe is a Texas ex. He is boiling with OU hate right now, but he's going to take that energy and he's going to put it to constructive uses for you. Speaking of construction, like home construction, you're building a house, you're buying a house, you need to re-fire your house. Give Gabe a call, 832-557-1095. Huge supporter of all things Texas, including this very fine YouTube show. And we want to thank him. Thank yourself and do yourself a favor. Give him a call. He's really good at what he does. And you won't regret it one bit. Good stuff. What will be interesting is to watch Jacoby Johnson, right? Because they move that corner over to the wide receiver room. He's got good size 62. And then he played receiver and corner in high school now, but it's in OU feels confident with him. But also, can you learn the entire offense and be a playmaker in three weeks? Well, that's the thing about Hawkins is he slims the playbook up anyway, right? That's true. So Jacoby Johnson's out there to run a stop route, a post, and a fly. So that's his route tree. His route tree is a palm tree. So I think that's something that you have to be aware of if you're Texas that this guy's not going to be running nuanced 18-yard drag comebacks, right? So just understand that it's going to be real basic. And your job is to prevent Hawkins from escaping the pocket and constrict. And as Brian Robinson said beautifully, get at his, you know, and the goal is to end up with your controlling the blocker pushing him into his feet. And if everyone's doing that, he's going to try to escape or he's going to try to float back. He's going to try to escape outside, which is his preferred side. And we'll, we'll know what that is based on film study. I don't know it off the right. He runs right. Okay. So we know that. And then we also know he likes to fade back because every young quarterback thinks he's Patrick Mahomes and is not. So when you have that information, that really impacts how you pass rush and OU's offensive line has been a sieve. So I just think there's a huge opportunity for for mischief, you know, drawing holes, batted balls off, off-balanced fadeaway throws, which they're not going to end well against our defense. That's our, our secondary is too disciplined. They're too smart. And I think guys like Taft and Makuba, as much as we can, we want to keep their eyes on that quarterback. And we want our corners out, be in physical, getting up in their face. And we want to bring it, man. And you know, we want to free up Anthony Hill to go be a disruptive athlete, not necessarily, you know, a big diamond diagnostician of option football, right? Yeah. And well, here's the thing too. I've heard fans mention it a bunch and we've kind of talked about it, but, you know, I just want you to explain it. Do we spy him every play? No, no. And then I think that's a common thing is people like, well, just to sign a spy. Oh, okay. Now we're in man. Yeah. La Marjax, we just solved you. We assigned the spy, you know, but yet he keeps running around through NFL defenses. So part of the spy problem is that the spy now has an obligation outside of your larger scheme. And that can create some holes and issues, either in past protection or run support against an option, right? Because spies kind of like, what do I do when they're running option and there's a jet sweep going opposite and he might take two steps back and throw a ball. I mean, am I am I still spying? Am I am I now? Am I now a run force? Like, what's going on? So there's there's that part. The other part is the quarterback is often a better athlete than your spy. It's a linebacker versus a running quarterback. Yeah. And so you just have to fill your gaps. You have to do exactly what Brian described. And then guys like Drew on the second level and your safeties who hopefully have eye on the quarterback, they need to know when to trigger and go clean it up. Really quarterbacks run effectively when the D line runs right past them. Or when the D line are in the undisciplined fashion, just sort of run wherever and let the offensive lineman take them where they want to go. And then the quarterback has a and just can take straight off. Quarterbacks very rarely retreat, retreat, retreat, and then are able to exit out that our team speed will not allow that. That that's just not going to happen. So you just you've got to keep this guy on the move. You've got to keep him uncomfortable. And you can't let his movement be forward through space, right? It needs to be backwards and trying to bail and trying to maneuver. And he's not sure what's happening. So we can twist, we can stunt, we can do all that stuff, but you got to be disciplined with it. And anyone who runs a yard past the quarterback this week in practice, you need to beat them with a freaking stick. Because you're the most useless player on the football field when you're a yard past a mobile running quarterback. Yeah. And if you'll see too, with the twists and the stunts, he will drop his eyes in those situations. He's looking at the action in front of a wreck. And so it's like, so give him some of that candy. And I think this is the opportunity for Trey Moore, even like Robinson was saying, Trey, most of his sacks came from pursuits. Yes. He wasn't a peer pass rusher hit the quarterback, quarterback would start running around in the pocket and he'd be able to chase exactly. And Simmons also has that. Looking for an ideal place to start or scale your business, come to Dubai, the new global powerhouse for innovation and business growth. With the Dubai economic agenda, D33 accelerating success, entrepreneurs have easy access to flexible regulations, cutting edge infrastructure, tax benefits, and 100% for an ownership. Be a part of the future. Join the leaders of tomorrow in Dubai, where your innovation meets opportunity. Visit www dot Dubai beyond possible dot com to know more closing ability. So I like both of these guys in that situation when he starts running around and getting kind of cute and scrambling in within the pocket, we have the guys that can chase them down as well. You just don't want to give them that clear be gap, like Auburn, and he just can go right up the middle. And if you blitz. So for example, Anthony Hill had a bad blitz against Mississippi State, and it was a single back. Van Buren is catching the ball. It's a pretty clear quarterback draw situation, by the way, like contextually. And then they haven't spread out a bunch of receivers. Anthony Hill blitzes and Hill, the rule on blitzes is very straightforward. If it's any sort of running or mobile quarterback, or any sort of goal line situation where it could be a draw, right? It is I can go through a blocker or inside a blocker. I don't run around a blocker to try to get a quarterback because the minute you go around, he's going right through the quarterback runs in a straight line. And hey, fastest distance between two points is a straight line. And that applies to a football field. So what you want to do is run through the blocker and push the blocker literally into the quarterback so that he has to pick a direction. The minute he starts to go laterally, now the rest of your defense is in pursuit. And now they're engaged, right? No. Or you run through the guy and just push him into the quarterback. Or if you go inside, the quarterback expels and he tries to go, he tries to flee out the side. Now he's going laterally, he's going horizontally, your defense, they're going to do their thing and everyone starts to pursue. So that's the key for defense is if you can get look, I can tackle Ricky Williams if he's heading to the sideline, perfectly strict, like horizontal. The minute he starts to turn his shoulders, I am getting struck 100% of the time. I will tear both ACLs and you'll die. That's it. But if you can get really fast or really strong or really fast and strong guys move in sideways, they're not a problem. They're just not a problem. As long as you're you've got your spacing, you've got your edge contained, you can tackle those guys. And it's just not a big deal. So I think the bigger thing is Hawkins is going to feel I have to do stuff to win this game. Correct. Here a ball. And we have got to make his situation so uncomfortable that he's making panicky bad decisions. And he hasn't really done that yet. Yeah. Yeah. But Texas OU is a different animal as Brian and Drew so eloquently attested. Yeah, his superpower is he hasn't turned over the ball. That's what's made them good. But if you start realizing, Oh, we're going to lose Red River. They start pushing a little bit more. All right, let's hit this real quick. And then do you have time to do games of interest? I don't know if you have a yeah, we can stay extra if the chat is enjoying it. Cool. So first, what are the chances Sark wants serious revenge after last year and comes out ready to run the score? He's absolutely going to run the score if he can. I mean, he saw 49 Oh, I mean, he will. You know, it's like, why why wouldn't you? What are you gonna? Are you a man of honor in that situation? I'm running up to score. He won't because he's he's actually worried about Georgia and getting guys healthy. If you can run up to score a running counter. Yeah, you don't need to get. We're not going to kneel. Right. But it's like we're not going to kneel the ball on the late third quarter if we're up by 28. But also Sark, like he said, Georgia's coming. And if it's fourth quarter and we're out by a lot, you know, the second and third are coming in. But yeah, I mean, it was pretty instructive, right? We went into half time and the game was over. Yeah. And then Sark was content to like pack his bags and move on. So Oh, you. I mean, if you can blow them out, awesome. But the way you typically blow people out in this game is you get the lead. They panic. They get in predictable offensive situations. And then you start getting strip sacks, interceptions, turnovers. They start to everything starts to cave in on your world. And then all of a sudden you're putting the ball in peril. And then you're getting Brian Robison free hits on your quarterback. And he's dying on the field as Rod Wright sprints into the end zone. You ain't tackling Ricky. That's a good point. I'm trying to illustrate something through hyperbole. But yeah, one is even a really good player. If he's going sideways, a pretty pedestrian player can get him on the ground. Yeah, it's just the angle that you're able to create there. All right, cool. Let us look at the games of interest. To be honest, they're not that interesting. I even had to throw in Ohio State or just we had something to actually look at. But all right, let's check it out. Mississippi State at Georgia, Georgia, of course, huge favorites. I don't remember our line versus Mississippi State. What were we like? I was higher. It was higher. Yeah, it's 38. Yeah. So no, we know about Mississippi State. And we're going to watch this game because we got Georgia that following a week. What do you think about Georgia, Mississippi State right now? Mississippi State is going to run the same game plan. Yep, by winning you. Yeah, they're going to shorten the game. And then as they get more confidence in Van Buren, they'll take more shots. But, you know, they are going to be content to do that. And Georgia philosophically is their big thing is trying to defend the past over the run, right? So they'll give up little runs here and there. And then they stop it situationally. But yeah, I think Georgia will win this game, Connor. What do you think about that bold prediction? That is bold. But yeah, I'm willing to go with the Georgia upset there. I think they'll be able to upset Mississippi State and get that W. That's going to be very, but I am watching them now, right? You lose to Bama, Bama loses to Vandy. Because the one alternative here, I still think Georgia and Alabama are good, but just allowed me this thought. Everyone immediately was like, this is the game of the year. These are the best teams. The flip side of that is we don't know anything. And maybe Alabama and Georgia are both not that great. And maybe Vanderbilt is the class of the conference. Maybe Vanderbilt is the best team ever. But that's like kind of the problem with early preseason rankings. You know, we're just kind of going off. This is Alabama. This is Georgia. It could. So it's like, is this a heavyweight match up or both these teams actually just have big flaws? Well, I am in the rankings don't matter camp, except the people that do matter, some of the people that choose to play off and then some of the AP writers and coaches, those preseason rankings are anchors in their minds. Yeah. And they anchor their belief system. And then they try to find ways to contort facts and reality to comport with that belief system. Yeah. They're like, Georgia's the best team in the country. You can meet multiple people who are like, you better be glad Georgia didn't get the playoff last year. They would have run the table. That's why didn't they? I mean, be Bama. I mean, I don't know what else to tell you, because your schedule was incredibly easy and you had one game to win and you lost it. That's why it's interesting to see Georgia when they actually get put in the fire and have to win regular season games row, row after row, they're not looking as good. Now, I don't think this is the same Georgia team as the past, but they've also historically had to play like two games a year. Well, if you listen to that, everyone gets a trophy podcast and specifically the betting podcast that I do with Eric Bond Lounge Horn on inside Texas, he was all in on Bama in that game. And he said exactly that. Georgia has been very fortunate in that all their big games are either against bad teams on the road, Oregon's neutral site, early season opponents where they they overwhelm them with talent and good coaching too. It's like Georgia's poorly coached. So this is a different world that they're entering at Bama at Texas at Ole Miss. That's not fun, man. And that is no Georgia team has experienced that in the last decade. And so Georgia is great, very good team. I'm not saying they're not. I'm just saying they have not lived that life because they've gotten to hide out in the SEC East and their primary rival, Florida, has been crafting the bed for the last decade plus. Yeah, both things can be true, right? You can be a good team and have had an easy path. Yes, sir. All right. Speaking of Florida, speaking of Florida, they are 15 point dogs to Tennessee. Well, what's what's going on with the floor? What was the UCF Florida score? I didn't even watch it, but Florida one. Look at them. Yeah, UCF is doing great. Yeah. Humiliated by Colorado, then they lost to Florida, which was supposed to be like their game of the year, right? Right. So that that ain't good for old old Gus. This is a really interesting game. I would not bet it. But I don't know if you know the history here, Connor, but Florida has Tennessee's number in a big way. I mean, you can beat them last. They blew them out if I recall correctly. So that's kind of interesting stylistically. I don't think Florida is good, but Tennessee certainly showed some, some little weaknesses against Arkansas. Well, you've got Tennessee's offense stalled twice now, right? So you got yeah, I mean, that's that's Arkansas. We're now going from incidents to a trend, right? Right. We're getting a line now. It's not just a data point. Exactly. So I think that's really interesting. And I'm super curious to see how they respond. That said, it is at Tennessee. That is a legitimate home field advantage. But historically, Florida has been able to run the ball on them. And I don't think that's going to be the case this year. Tennessee's D line pretty stout. So I want to see how Nico bounces back. If he doesn't, you know, Tennessee could be a three or four loss team. Yeah, man, I was confident. Man, if he would have placed that ball just like a yard more to the side, his receiver could have kept running at that on that final drive. He also ran out of bounds on. Yeah, just yeah, no situational awareness there where he just put ball up in the air. Yeah, you just throw an interception there. I mean, that's just you make it at least give you a shot. All right, now everyone prisoner of the moment to the Vanderpelt Commodores. But the one man in the nation that saw this coming is sitting across from man Paul Waddington. Because he was the one putting us fresh on the Diego Pavia trail early in the preseason. Paul was talking about this kid. I've been talking about Diego Pavia for a couple of years. That's true. Diego Pavia has made me a lot of money, but he made me most of that money at New Mexico's state. But yeah, he has a, I mean, it's so overdone Connor because it's nonsense most of the time. He's a freaking winner. He just, he compels his team to win. And if you guys have the thinking Texas football preseason preview that I write, the book that I write every year, I've just basically wrote the biggest thing that Diego Pavia brings Vanderbilt is an actual will to win. And I think Vanderbilt, particularly last year, had this sort of, you know, I, you know, we're at Vanderbilt. We're supposed to lose. We're on scholarship. Let's just do, let's fulfill our role. That, you know, Pavia is like, no, like, I'm going to play like a maniac and shame you into playing your hardest. And that's what he does every week. I mean, it's insane. And, you know, he's not getting drafted to the NFL. He's not a traditional skill set. But this guy is a former state champion wrestler who had a bunch of full ride wrestling scholarships. And he plays like a wrestling. So he's got that Aztec blood. Yeah, I was a post game where he thanked Jesus and then custom immediately after it was, that was awesome. Absolutely wonderful. I love the duality of man represents. Exactly. Given all that, who you take in there? You think, here's the deal. Kentucky actually has a better defense than Bama. Okay. Everyone's going to freak out now. No, but it's true. Kentucky's got a better defense. And I think Stoops actually has a better grasp of that bandi offense and how to stop it. And I think Vandy has people's attention. They have my attention. Yeah. What's that from Django Unchained, Leo DiCaprio? Like, before you had my interest, but now you have my attention. Yeah. That's kind of how I feel about Vandy. And I think they have Kentucky's attention. I will not bet on this game. I certainly won't count on anyone to cover 13 and a half on Vandy right now. But I think Kentucky should win the game just because I think they do know how to defend that system and that approach. Can Kentucky score enough? Yeah. I mean, Vandy's defense played inspired against Bama, but Vandy's defense isn't isn't good. So right. Kentucky should be able to get enough at home. But I mean, I would expect a really competitive, fun game. Who would have thought Vanderbilt and Kentucky, if you're cruising channels, might be like a must watch, especially for us, right? Because these are two teams they can trap game us. We're playing both and both teams have a path to victory against Texas if we don't bring it. So yeah. So I'm definitely watching because both of these teams are going to be sketchy to play. So I'm definitely, I am glad Vandy got their upset out of the way. That's important. Vandy didn't get their big upset out of the way. Well, they have they've had two this year, actually, Virginia Tech in the opener. Yeah, Kentucky coming off a buy and remember they laid an egg in South Carolina. Yeah, they did. But then, and so I wrote them off and then they started playing Georgia close and started and then I'm like, okay, we actually still have to pay attention to it. I mean, yeah, they beat they played Georgia close and and they beat old miss. They beat the hell out of Ole Miss like physically dominated them. So that high flying offense got worked. So yeah, Kentucky's D is no joke, but you know, the big issue for them is getting points up on the board. All right. And so I did we are not playing Ohio State or Oregon until the playoffs, that is. But that's right. We're playing both in the playoffs. Yeah, my knowledge of the big 10 is limited. Sometimes I'll watch like half a game on Saturday of the big 10. So I've barely watched these two teams, but Ohio State's the only one with a potential claim on taking that number one spot as well. So Paul, you got any insight on on these two teams? I got zero. Yeah, I like Ohio State on the road to win. I think that defense travels. I think Will Howard will be protected in that game. And they're just going to run the ball, play defense, and then occasionally throw a jump ball up to their freak freshman receiver who, if you have not seen is like it's often hyperbole. People are like, this freshman could play in the NFL. I think this guy could play in the NFL. We've got a couple of them this year that can play in the NFL right now, which is insane. Yeah, and it's nuts. But I like Ohio State. I bet them on the Ford lines. I'm only giving up one point because I thought Ohio State was going to crush Iowa. And I thought Oregon would not destroy Michigan State. So I thought this line would shift. It did. So I got early on that one. I don't like giving up three and a half on the road to any good team, obviously. But I like Ohio State. And I think you're going to have, you're going to see the level, the leveling issue of Dylan Gabriel. So why is Dylan Gabriel in his six year of college football if he's so good at quarterback, right? Because he's not, he doesn't have a good arm. He's undersized. I mean, yeah, but he's a good college quarterback, right? And but he doesn't project to the NFL. So I think Ohio State brings a defense that's going to force him to make throws and do things that he is not that will expose why he's not an NFL draft pick, right? And I think that's where Ohio State has the advantage. And then also, like Oregon, I don't know, man, they've got some guys that, you know, I know they're all NIL'd up and all that. But I don't know if they're always like playing 100% when they're out there. I'm sure they'll bring it against Ohio State. It's a huge game. But I don't know if they have the intensity level to match. And damn, landing, frankly, in really big games, he's turned that he's done a great job there. But he's not come up big in these games. Boys in state took him to the wire. Yeah. And boys in state doesn't want to beat. Yeah. Oreo vanilla ice cream munis is Oregon's only chance. Yeah, yeah, they the cool factor adds like three points to the spread whenever you play Oregon. But that will be I actually will watch that big 10 match up. I'm just not a big, big 10 guy, man. I've never liked their style of play either. Now, of course, Ohio State doesn't have an Oregon don't have a big 10 style of play. You don't like the traditional beautiful Southern California weather of the big 10? Yeah, I know. It's so strange now. It's a it's pretty nuts, man. Like a battle between two big 10 jugger dots USC Michigan. And I'm like, what? Yeah, exactly. It's a truth. Speaking of USC and Michigan, not a good week for him. All right, guys, we went a little over. But I think it was worth it. That was a fun interview to open. And then we got to talk, you know, how are we going to beat OU or how could they upset us? How's enjoyable? And then games of interest call any final words. Now, honor and a pleasure to speak to Brian and Drew to guys that play the game, but also, I think really think the game at a high level. And it's always fun. And I think it's a great learning opportunity to talk to guys like that because they can give you really interesting practical football, but also they understand the scheme. They understand all that the X's and O's stuff too. And it's really neat to get their perspective on this. Yeah, you hear an 11 year 60 sack edge from the NFL telling you how to handle a running quarterback. You should probably listen, right? 103 starts in the NFL. And I think 20 of them are against Aaron Rodgers. So yeah, he knows what it's like to go against the pretty good football players. Absolutely. All right, Paul, thank you for your time and fans. Thank you guys for hanging out. Hook them.
Former Texas players Brian Robison and Drew Kelson break down what it's like to play at the Cotton Bowl. Paul and Homer discuss the interesting matchups in Texas/OU.