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Inside Texas Football
Monday nITe Live (12/2): Revelry Over A&M's Humiliation, Sarks Presser, SEC Championship
Happy Monday everybody. I hope that you're having a delightful time in your offices and your places of worship around other people that might be Aggies. Welcome. This is Inside Texas's YouTube channel Inside Texas Football and we are so happy that you are here. In fact, we would love for you to join us at InsideTexas.com. I'm just going to go ahead and throw this out straight out the gate here. We're just coming out hot. We want you to join Inside Texas today. We are running a silly season sale. It's $1 for seven days. Come check us out. We are going into the SEC Championship and we've got many of the contributors of Inside Texas here today. We've got Ian, Drew, Artie and Eric Drew. I want to start with you. On a scale of zero to an Aggie that just learned to velcro their shoes. How smug were you going into your Pilates class today? Pilates was like never before. Yeah, I didn't have to hide who I was on Inside. On that Reformer. On that Reformer? I wore my Burn Orange tights. My Burn Orange socks. They were the nice old-school, fluffy 80s workout socks. Yeah, I brought it today and I was proud. Drew was in the post-show and you should check that out. The second eight-clock hit zero, we start broadcasting after these games and I will say that Drew, you never wavered in the chat. So good for you. I really want to commend you for that. There was some Ian was very upset. Let's put it that way. I mean, he was crying the entire time. The emojis were flying, but you never wavered and I appreciate that, Drew. You know, I've accepted who we are. So I only wanted to aspire to who I wanted us to be, right? Quinn is who he is. I know our defense is who they are. The only thing I really thought we needed to contend for a national championship this year, which was the goal, is a running game. And so, I was excited. You know, the last two weeks, we've been intentional about the run game, about getting our backs the ball, not in space, but between the tackles and they're seeing the game really well right now. So I think Wozner sets the tone and Blue just comes in. It's almost like he can duplicate at least from a vision and knowing where to go and seeing the holes and seeing the game cleanly. He really plays well off of Woz. So I've been saying for weeks that the run game was the one thing that I know Sarc needs, Quinn needs to excel and for us to get to the next level. Frankly, I'd accept it who we are up to that point. So for me, the last two weeks have been all great. You know, even though this week we had issues and turnovers, I mean, we've had those before this season and the defense stepped up like they have. The one thing that stood out to me more than anything else was just a second week on the road this time, as opposed to last week, running the ball really well, finding the holes, supposed to be a great defense. I mean, they know you're running and you're running it well. That was exciting for me. And so I never felt threatened that when we're running the ball well and when we're playing great defense. Some of you may be curious as to who the person is in the corner that looks like he should be in a panel van outside of a playground. That is R.T. Young. He is a new contributor over at Inside Texas. R.T. say hi to the fine people and tell them how happy you were today on a Monday. I was extremely happy, Elsie. I think the most satisfying thing about the victory on Saturday night as it pertains to my Aggie friends and family was almost just the smugness of not having to say anything. Sorry for the kid background noise, but just the smugness of not having to say anything at all and just basically be like, Hey, I'm glad the rivalries back. But then you know deep down that you're the one who took it back after 13 years. So that was the most fun part for me. There didn't even need to be any bragging or any puffing of the chest. I'm sure that'll come later over the summer when things get chippy again. But it was just fun to be like, Oh, yeah, do you watch the game? It was cool. And just know in the back of their mind that they're just crumbling inside. So it felt good. It's felt it's been a nice 48 hours. Ian and Eric, I'd love to hear from you guys. Now Ian, you generally move through the day feeling superior to everybody else anyway. So this was probably not a new sensation for you. But how was that game for you, Ian? It was good. I was a little nervous about half the Longhorns going in. And then by the end, you're like, of course, of course, the Aggies blow it. Of course, the Aggies can't run it in fourth and one twice in a minute, twice in the game. Of course, they fail part and got run over everything. It just felt like the universe was back in balance. We'll fret again next year for a week and then and then be reminded that it's just the same thing every time. Eric, have you, do you know the choreography of the A&M fan base? Are you from? No, I think I went one time in high school. The midnight, yeah, I think I recall going there. I was in high school and I remember, you know, you're around older girls. So you think it's great. Then you realize you're still in college station. I always said, I always sent out one trash talking text. And it was to a buddy of mine that texted a couple of us the night of October 19th at about 8 10 p.m. saying, you know, start pulled Quinn. Wow. That was his way of talking trash. So I sent him the the gift of a Bradley Cooper hunting, humping that guy with the Texas Longhorn is over Bradley Cooper and the guy that's getting hump has the A&M on him. And you didn't get a response back. So that was the only trash talk I sent. You know, I kind of I love the rivalry. I do. I'm super happy it's back. But you know, I just, you know, I think it tends to get overblown with how angsty people get and how, you know, it's it's there's so much more important in life, but it's fun. I had a lot of fun. I'm glad the game is back. It's just I reserve my trash talking for the people that really started off first. And other than that, I'm pretty reserved. I like Aggies in real life. Internet Aggies are a little different, but the Internet's not real life. Yeah, that's a fair point. What. So now we get the opportunity. We're playing Georgia again. This is Sarc has made the point, certainly in his presser today, that he feels like this is a different team going into that game. I'm curious. What are your thoughts on that RT? I mean, obviously, you know, there's been five games, essentially, between now and when we'll we'll see them again. But where are you? Where's your head at on this Monday going into the SEC Championship week? Obviously, there's a little bit of PTSD for what happened on the biggest weekend ever in October. But I think that, you know, Sarc and Texas, you know, during his time here have done really well when their backs have been up against the wall. You know, I think obviously coming off a loss to OU, they've won both times. They defeat they defeated every member of the hateful eight in the big 12 the last time they played them. Most of those games saved Kansas State were coming off a loss. So when they have something to prove and when he's able to motivate and get the team fired up, they've delivered the past two years. I mean, obviously 11 and one, two seasons in a row proves that. So I think the, you know, the hateful or the embrace the hate tour in the big 12 has really allowed them to embrace this moment to be just a road juggernaut. I honestly think Quinn's better on the road. I think he's better in neutral environments. I don't think he has to deal with those, you know, the antsy crowds that he gets at DK self usually being one of them. So, you know, how will the game go? I'm not really sure yet. I kind of want to see on, you know, Kelvin Bakes's health, Jaden blues health, some of those things that are yet to be decided and obviously Georgia's coming off a underwhelming performance to one of their little brothers as well. But I want to see how all that shakes out the rest of the week and but right now I think we're going to get him motivated and ready Texas team. And I think it's going to be a much different game than what we saw in October. We are, we're obviously moving into the SEC championship week. This is a massive week. Obviously it's national signing day. Do we still call it that national signing day? I mean now that they're still they're still signing financial aid agreements there. But what let's let's take a quick moment. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. This is for everybody like now that we finished this regular season. This was our first regular season in the SEC. And if I were to ask you right now, which is what I'm about to do, what are some things that immediately popped your head about this first season that were that were memorable for you? Well, Sarc made me correct again. I predicted 11-1 last year and 11-1 this year in the regular season. So I appreciate the man for that. You know, I think it's a better version of last year. This team is a better version of last year's team. And I think but I think it still had the same, you know, mental mindset, you know, a little bit of a lull in October. The offensive line didn't really start playing together until a little bit later in the season. Last year's run game was bailed out by Jonathan Brooks a lot early on. The offensive line didn't truly find its footing till later in the year. You know, the one game that they lost this year was similar to me to OU, where I think they came in riding a little bit too high, maybe had read their press clippings a little bit. So I think the team is very similar in some ways. It's just better across the board. You know, the defense is elite. The experience and athleticism upgrades that we hoped that they had in the offseason came to fruition. I think, you know, PK's finally gotten the monkey off his back, even though he's had some pretty decent defenses in the past. Everybody's seen that elite guy that was at Boise State and then Washington. And it's just interesting that SARC is finding a different way to win. You know, it's rounding the run game in the form. The passing attack has not been as consistent as we thought, but that's okay because the defense is there. You know, I think last year kind of what RT was talking about, they learned how to win last year. A lot of those games were tight and I think that's helped them out and become a better team this season. You know, to me, the only thing that felt different from the big 12 was the Georgia game. Like the rest of the time, like Arkansas was comparable to a lot of big 12 games where the other team badly wants to beat you and the game's a little sloppy, but you still win. There weren't like a lot of, a lot is everyone has been keen to point out Texas dodged most of the marquee SEC programs except for like Florida, who was in a bad place when Texas played them. And Georgia. So the teams were different. Their strengths were different. But it didn't feel that different overall, if that makes sense. Except the Georgia game. That was different. I think that Eric wrote about this at the beginning of the year that SARC is now in his Bobby Bowden, you know, year four stage of his roster cycle. Like Bobby Bowden had that famous quote that I'm probably going to butcher that first you lose big, then you lose small, then you win small, then you win big. I think I nailed it there. But you know, I think that I think SARC is in that win big stage. And I think at the beginning of the year, that maybe created the expectations that we're going to win, you know, every game to an inferior opponent like we won Colorado State, where it's going to be 52 to zero and all the games that we play against teams like Michigan, they're all going to be more NFL like scores. And they're all going to be 31 to zero. And I obviously, you know, it maybe could have been a little bit more like that had Quinn State healthy. And I still think they delivered on that besides the Georgia game. You know, every single game, they've pretty much won by double digits. And they've had chances to pull away and chances to extend the league. And so they've left meat on the bone. And really besides the special teams, I do still feel like since the Arkansas game, and really since, yeah, since the Florida game, it's a team that continues to get better. And that is has yet to play its best football so that, you know, ability to win big is still there. I think maybe as Texas fans, you know, Ian talks about this before we're programmed in our mind to think that every Texas team has to be legendary, like Drew's 2005 team was where, you know, they're beating every opponent until the national championship 56 to seven. But that's not the way that most championship teams work. They have a lot of 10 point victories that are 17 to 7 and 20 to 10. But. Oh, RT is in a bunker. So I'm hiding from the loss. We may have, we may have loved it. Is he easy back? Hey, either RT to his point. They've had game control throughout pretty much the entire season outside of Georgia. It's and so like the games have not have been more lopsided than the scoreboard would indicate that's been kind of a theme this season. We saw it for sure against A&M. We saw it against Kentucky and Arkansas as well. They haven't been as many Florida blowouts, but the game control has been there. Yeah, what's what's stood out to me more than anything? It's it's it's really the defensive side of the ball. I think we all expect even on years like this for SARC, SARC, offensively to figure it out or find what works for the roster he has at the time. And for the most part, I feel like he's done that outside of just some decision-making and some some bad tips and just some bad breaks, fumbles and everything else that we're still cleaning up. We still have it maxed out on offense. I feel good about where we are and where we're going and at least the trajectory that we've had really since the Georgia game. But beyond that, it's really the defense for me. Last year, really the first year we couldn't tackle. The second year we could could stop the run, but we couldn't defend the past. Last year we were great on defense and stopping the run. And when it really came down to it, it gets an elite passing team. It didn't make, you know, we couldn't make it happen. This year just deepens where we are and that we just won't settle for what you call it, mediocrity, whether you call it just just not just going from year to year without shuring up some of our weaknesses. And so namely at the edge position and at the DV position, we still have young linebackers right now who are flying around and just playing great. And of course they've been to got some got some shines past game, but at the end of the day, I'm more impressed about how SARC has allowed his defense to evolve and recruit it to where the weaknesses are. That's really where we've been. We've been a defensive team this year. It's been anchored by the defense, but I also think wins like the one we most recently have are huge because there are guys who are going to leave this program, but there are guys who are going to be here next year. They're going to have gone to into that environment. They're going to carry the mentality, the composure, everything that they've gained from this season into next year in the locker room and off season and everything else. And so what I like to see is who are going to be the leaders who are going to carry the lessons from this year over into next year. And I know we still have some ball to play. I think there's been a lot that's been done this year. And then we're most proud is where our defense has made a name for itself on a team that's led by an offensive coach. And I think that's going to continue to carry over from a cultural perspective. And I expected to carry over as we go into this game this week and into the playoffs. One of the and I want to thank Payton here for our super chat. Please throw those in. It really does help in by as many men. What Payton is saying here is SARC is 34 and 14 to four years. Great. Half of those losses came in the first year and half of this year's were followed up with a play this way next week or we lose. And I think what Payton is talking about here is exactly what Drew is talking about. And that's that's the culture aspect. Right now the proof is in the pudding. He can demonstrate to people like, look, if you play to this standard, it is a it is a recipe for success. I want to talk a little bit more about the transition into the SEC. Talk a little bit more about what SARC had to say today. I thought there were a few things in there that were were pretty telling on where his mindset is. But before we do that, let's hear about a kitchen and bath company that's going to do some remodels. This video is brought to you by Luxe Kitchen and Bath. Luxe has been offering high end kitchen and bathroom remodels for three generations throughout the greater Austin area with five star review after five star review on Google and Facebook and an A plus rating from the Better Business Bureau. You can put your faith in Luxe Kitchen and Bath's award-winning designers and skilled craft people to bring to life that dream vision of your special home. But that's not all. Luxe's All-Star team provides full remodels, large additions and even commercial buildouts as well. So call Luxe Kitchen and Bath at 833 358 Luxe today or visit luxekitchenbath.com to discover where quality meets luxury and begin the process of transforming your home. Get a free quote today by calling 833 358 Luxe. That's l-u-x-e or by visiting luxekitchenbath.com. Link in the description. I know, I know you talked about this Drew. I'm curious what the other guys think of it. I, I assumed at the beginning of this year when we moved to the SEC that sure I would be watching more SEC games. But I was convinced that I would also follow the big 12 and see what the big difference was there. And I barely watched any big 12 games. I don't know. Did you guys, how was that for you? Did you find yourself checking in on your ex-girlfriend or were you just all about what's going on today? Now I had more eyes for South Carolina this year than I did for Kansas State, which I did not see, see happening. I, I haven't watched nearly as much. I hadn't watched hardly any big 12 this entire season. There's just, there hasn't been a reason to. And I thought, I thought for sure I would, especially if they came on it peculiar times, you know, Thursday night or Friday night. But I haven't watched hardly any. I have not watched a ton either. You know what makes it harder too, is that it sucks now that they have so many teams. It's not a strength. Like following the league and who's and who's on top and how things are going to shake out is like extremely confusing. Most of the team, many of the teams don't play each other. Many of the top teams don't play each other. I went into it a few times just to figure out the standings and like, oh, who's in the, who's going to end up in the playoff hunt? And it was just, it's just not that great. It's really diluted. The round robin was a million times better. And you would think that because they have a playoff berth, it's you'd still have a reason to follow the league style of playing that league is always fun. But the stakes are just not good. And so I did not watch very much either. That's not good for them if we're not watching. Yeah, no. I mean, we, not a good leader in the rating alone are taking a massive hit. Well, what happens if we, if we go into this, this, this is a question that was started by, I'm assuming Eric, but it depends on what part of the college football playoff bracket we get slotted into. This is the big, this is the big discussion point about a lot of people are curious about what happens for those that don't get that automatic buy. What, what, what made you want to highlight this, Eric? Uh, I didn't think I highlighted that at all. Okay. Great. Well, that's good. That's just some solid YouTube producing there by LC. That's some quality work. All right. Great. Moving on to today's, today's big news. Well, this week's big news is going to be that recruiting. And I know you've been talking about this too. You've been blue in the face, Eric, but can you, can you bring the people that are hanging from the curtains right now down a little bit and let them know that this is going to be a buck wild ride and they just need to hold on and breathe? Well, I do think it's going to be a wild ride. I'm not exactly sure. There's a lot of irons in the fire. Um, you know, they're trying to go for a big flourish. It's been building up for this for a while. Um, they've been laying the groundwork for the last couple of months. They do not want to, they don't want to waste their time recruiting. And by that, I mean, they don't want to spend all this time in September and October during the heat of the season where they're, you know, the season takes priority and get guys committed and then realize it's still, you know, November, you still have to fight to keep them committed. It is December and you're still fighting for them. So there's a lot of guys that they're hoping to win late. And that's, that's where we are. Now it's late. Um, you know, there's still a lot of needs left. You know, they could still take two DBs, two linebackers, two defensive tackles, a couple guys on offense. Uh, that's not saying that they're all going to fill all those needs, of course. Uh, but that's just where their minds at. And that's, you know, they're, they're targeting at least 10 guys. Um, now again, I don't know how it's going to shake out again. The NIL era is almost impossible. You know, you can know a lot on the Texas side, which, you know, inside Texas does know a lot on the Texas side, but it's hard to know what's going on on the Georgia side. It's hard to know what's going on on the Alabama side or the LSU side. So, or even the A&M side. Uh, and so we're, a lot of times we're working with imperfect information. Our information is good, but we're not getting the whole view. So right now I expect them to land a couple good, good players, very good players. I predicted a flip. I didn't name them. Um, you know, it's delicate talking about flips because all you do is alert the other schools. So we're not going to name them. Um, but I don't know exactly how it's going to shake out, but we'll be watching that Justice Terry announcement Friday morning, uh, with, uh, with interest. Texas will be making that one interesting. And then a number of others. They're, they're in, they're in it with at least four or five guys that are at least rated, uh, five star by one of the services. There was the, there was a quality Mac Brown move I thought today in the presser by Sark when he did some very sly press conference recruiting where he was talking about, you know, he can't, he can't call a kid for two hours today because he's, he's prepping for the SEC championship game. And I'm sorry, we can't give you that level of attention that other schools might because this is a championship level program. Uh, it was, that was very reminiscent of a, a Mac Brown type thing to do there, Drew. I don't, I don't know if you caught that. It was just true. I mean, that's, I mean, that, that is that I'm sure that's exactly what he's telling players. Like, Hey, you wouldn't want to come here if we weren't out here winning games and doing the things it takes to win games. If we lose this weekend, you may decide you don't want to come here or you may decide you made a bad choice. So we're going to make sure we do the things we have to do that represent everything you want to be a part of. So yeah, um, it makes sense to me. I think Sark and that staff, they do a great job of spending time all throughout the year, not just an intense focus in one week or one month. They spend time all throughout the year, just building connections and staying connected. And, um, the players who value that and the players who go through the season, seeing the proof that all of that brings, um, as the season unfolds, they'll be on board. And, and, you know, it sounds like we're going to have some chances at some, some, some big fish here at the end. So, um, yeah, uh, his approach has worked. There's no reason to doubt it now. Uh, Ian and RT, you and I had the opportunity, uh, this last weekend to, to text about Moana to and our thoughts on that. Um, I don't want to subject the people to that. So let's talk about Gooseby. Um, how, what were your thoughts on that? Cause this guy stepped up and he absolutely, I mean, the dude ate what, what were your thoughts of him coming in and what does that pretend for the future at that position? I mean, the only time I was nervous about the game, was right after Kelvin Banks went out. That was really the only time where I was like, could we actually lose this game to the Aggies? Because this guy, really more than anybody else, maybe even more than Quinn is the dude that I think about when I think about Sarc's tenure so far in Austin. And so for me to not think about the fact that Kelvin Banks wasn't playing the rest of the game is a testament to Trevor Gooseby and, you know, the big humans movement that started way back in the day and fit that loss to Fayetteville. Um, and is, you know, gone through Kelvin Banks and DJ Campbell and has continued to what looks like. We're going to have great tackles in the future. So I was freaking pumped. And the thing that I wrote yesterday, the rehea, he was who I gave horns up on offense for, um, because I mean, I just think to go against those big physical edges like Nick Skeartin. And, you know, really the only time you noticed him from a negative perspective was on that drive with the pick six, uh, when he jumped off sides when arch was in, or fall start, you know, so I think he played great. I'm really excited for that dude. And he's the type of guy who, you know, he's like a ball of clay. He's going to continue to be molded into like just an absolute freak. So he didn't have one other moment right after the off sides. They were calling a GT counterplay. They were supposed to go to his side, but then he pulled and ran into the pole other polar on his way. And, uh, Arch got tackled for a loss. I actually don't know if that's why Arch got tackled for a loss. It looks like the Aggies run blitzed it and kind of knew there was going to be an arch run. But, uh, two, two mistakes in a row in that atmosphere. And then a pretty clean game. Otherwise, in a lot of physical run blocking, that's great. I think everyone feels better about left tackle next year, at the very least. This is a whoops. I want to go to Huptex here. Did anyone really believe once the Aggie game was, once the Aggie game was for something, the trip to the SEC title game that the Aggies were going to win? No way. I mean, look, I want to address this. And again, thank you, Mike, or thank you, Huptex for for helping us out there. Again, I think it's, uh, it's Honda days, isn't it? Or is it Toyota? I can't remember. Do you think that was my cuff? No. Yeah. I thought it was Michael. I'm not gonna lie. I thought it was, I thought it was Michael. And, and look, Huptex, I'm sorry. I didn't please don't be offended. I just was very excited there for a second. What we were nervous. I was nervous. Maybe Drew wasn't. I mean, Drew was pretty locked in all week. There was no wavering in his point, but I would say based on if you watched the round table last week, there was some, there was some concern on how that game would go. Yeah. Well, we didn't know how healthy Quinn was or if he'd be able to play through the ankle. And I think that was the biggest issue. Um, I, I did on this show or one of our shows elucidate the theory that A&A was incapable of winning them when there were real stakes and that we should almost be rooting for them to, uh, beat Auburn to ensure that they'd be playing for an SEC championship birth when they played Texas. They ended up getting a backdoor opportunity anyway, but, so I totally agree with that, but we certainly were a little bit nervous because of, you know, Quinn's in a boot and all that. Well, speaking of Quinn in the boot, do we, do we think we're going to see more of the arch package moving forward now that that, that was displayed? The 18 wheeler, the 18 wheeler with Tyrone Swoops walked. So the 16 wheeler could run, in my opinion. Right. So. They ran three different plays with it. Against, um, A&M. So if they've repped arch in three different concepts in that quarterback run concepts, that tells you that there's a lot of volume underneath. Um, so I, I think they'll mix it in and unless it goes terribly wrong and then he'll show you can also just put them out there and call it regular play. It's also true. Right. I mean, I figure if he plays this week in any capacity, let's just run Hanes Caine's offense and see how that goes. They didn't stop that for four quarters. Um, man, those guys deserve to win Hanes Caine, but everything you had. But, yeah, I mean, that's the only context I see under which it makes sense. Other than that, I think it got pretty predictable. Um, once we kind of knew what, what, what he was coming into the game for. So I rather not see it. I'd rather us be able to do whatever we need to do without him coming in on plays that at least appear to be pretty straightforward with what they are designed to do. But, um, hey, I trust SARP. So, um, if he rolls it out, I do trust it's going to be a look that they don't expect. It can be a curveball. They don't expect it. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of that prepared for this week. I was really kind of hoping that, you know, if he did come out in the second half, we might see some play action and just arch bombing it down the field. I was sad we didn't see that. You know, we'll get, we'll get more than that for you to complain about next year. It was not complaint. That's the problem. We're all going to get more than enough to Ian's favorite player is arch manning and next year it'll be his All right. You know what they've set up is they they can sit they can run a fake quarterback power like they showed against A&M, but then just have arse drop back and bomb a post over the top. Like that's if they don't do that against somebody in the next few games that'll surprise me. You put it in especially if you're like a midfield and it's like third and one, fourth and one, fourth and one's even better. You put an arch in a fake quarterback power that can drop back out like Cam Newton and somebody's going to be wide open. I do think that adds layers of just things for people to prepare for. It's one thing to prepare for an offense conceptually or just schematically. It's a completely different thing when you have to prepare for the athleticism and everything else that comes with preparing for the offense. Yeah, I think arch coming in creates a true run pass threat where people are going to assume run and it gives you some options in the past game that he can execute on. So I'd like to see that too. I just I do feel like this week I rather not toy around wasting plays on things that may or may not work. I rather go with what we know is we can't waste plays against Georgia. Right. I can't waste. If Georgia if Georgia's holding them to 29 yards rushing again, they're going to have to do something but I don't think it's going to come to that. This is a midfield, fake power bomb bomb. The uh this is I'm going to throw this question. Obviously this is a question more geared toward Eric but in as you are our resident OU fan, please feel free to jump in here. But what are your thoughts on this, Eric? Any chance OU goes after Micah Hudson? Um I hope so. Yeah, imagine I mean it you know if they feel like they're a water seaver away rather than three water severs away, which they could probably get for the same price, um you know go for it. A&M will probably be active there. Uh maybe Oregon takes a shot. I don't know that Oregon likes the those guys that are sort of reclamation that are talented. But I don't know. That's a weird question. The last thing Texas fans should be worried about right now is Oklahoma. I know it's kind of uh you know, heretical to say but they've got a lot bigger problems than water seaver. You know they're they're basically in Charlie Strong's final year where he had to go get Sterling Gilbert um to save the day, which obviously didn't work. So I don't know. It would be it would be another misallocation of funds to go get Micah Hudson to me. Maybe others think different. I think there's plenty of uh players that'll be available in the portal that present a much higher floor for that team. And like I said, they've got bigger problems to fill than water seaver. It doesn't really profile in my opinion to the kind of guy that Venables has gone after in the portal either. You know, they've gone after Dion Burke's types. You know, I would think that they grabbed whoever the you know, wide receiver from the um I don't know, you know, Purdue was 0 and 10 and the big 10 this year. That's where Dion Burke's was from. It feels like they've grabbed more people like that as opposed to dudes who were five stars after their freshman year and didn't pan out. He seems more like the type that would end up at Oregon or A&M to me. Yeah, Venables grabs him. That may be an indicator that uh they're getting kind of desperate. Yeah, because that would really be a change of ways from what he's done in the past. It's a very point. I want to uh we want to get to your questions. There's some really good ones in here. But before we do, we want to hear if let you know about some fiduciary plans. I'm just going to say guys, you probably need a fiduciary financial advisor and I've got the guy for you. His name is David McClellan with Forum Financial. He works broadly and deeply with his clients as a financial life coach. And he should know something about coaches and because he won several national championships as a swimmer for the University of Texas. He specializes in financial planning and has contributed numerous articles to Kipling on the topic of retirement tax bombs. So contact David today to be your fiduciary financial planner and schedule a one hour consultation to assess your financial situations. The free consultation is available. So just give him a call. The number is 312-933-8823. That's 312-933-8823. His email is also in the description below. We're going to go to Wayne Wilson here and I want to move this over a little bit to the Georgia game as we move forward. Wayne is asking or stating that the biggest difference between last year and this year is the secondary. SARC being an offensive mind has beat the odds to produce an elite defense. And obviously Drew, you've got some some insight here. I'm curious, moving into this Georgia game, the secondary, the defense with large is playing obviously at an elite level. How do you think the secondary is going to be challenged? And this is obviously for the whole group here. And how do you think the, what is the formula for their success? I think the one thing we didn't get, I know we're talking about secondary but it'd be great to get more pressure on the quarterback this week. I think pressure makes our secondary that much better. But the thing that also helps us out with Georgia is they have some self-inflicted issues. You know, they dropped the ball off. And so I think we've seen time and time again that our guys can make plays on the ball. They can be in the position or even bait quarterbacks into making some bad decisions and going up and making the play. So, I mean, that's really them just doing what they continue to do. I think our DVs will continue to do what they've continued, what they've done. Andrew Makuba being healthy is great. Michael Taff is flying around, Jelani McDonald is doing his thing. Baron didn't get tested as much this past week, but we know what he can do. I mean, we're just, we're solid across the board. What I would like to see this week is our defensive line show stuff, just create some more pressure and do some things to just get more pressure on the quarterback. And if it's stressed out, Carson Beck a bit more than the last time around. I think our DVs played well in spite, but I'd love to see what they can do if we're actually able to bring that level of pressure and onto the quarterback. You know, Georgia's really weird this year because they receivers are not very good. So I think there's an opportunity I'm curious if PK will take advantage to really play a lot of man coverage and less zone they've been playing in the last few weeks. And just kind of load the safeties up in the middle of the field on the tight ends of the running game, even the running backs in the passing game. That's where all their best receivers are at Georgia this year. And they've not leaned into it very well, but you want to be prepared in case they do in this game. I don't think Georgia unless Texas completely wets the bed on offense again, I don't think Georgia can beat them with high volume passing game to the receivers. I just don't think they're good enough. So I think the opportunity is Texas secondary could potentially dominate this game if they're given a chance to smother, if they're given a chance to just man up the receivers, don't give them a lot of help outside and use your safeties to smother everything else. Good question here from John A. And this is something that you've been talking about, Ian, but I'll throw this out to the group is, is Kern our punter for the future or do we need to have an open competition with the transfer portal punter? What are your thoughts there, guys? I'm not out on Kern. I need to know more about, you know, what effects of the injury he's having, but I wouldn't be surprised by a transfer portal punter. There's going to be a good one in the portal. I know that for sure. And, you know, we'll see if Texas does anything, but they're not going in the next season with the same special teams that they're having this season. It's kind of a one off with Jeff Banks. He's one of the most proven special teams coaches in the year. We've gone into depth on inside Texas about, you know, the issues that they've had. I expect punter to be addressed either by Kern if it's issues this year or due to injury, but if not, and it's just, you know, he doesn't have the leg strength that they thought he did, then they'll bring somebody in. Dicker the kicker was, wait, no, no, Dixon. Dixon was not very good as a freshman. Like he was erratic. He was erratic. He would shake one, but then he'd kick one 65 yards. We're not seeing that skirt. We're not seeing that's what I said this year that with the inconsistency be from the boomer bus that we saw with Dixon or would it be, you know, he's kicking 40 yarders or, you know, and, you know, it's not the end of the world, but next year, the defense is not going to be as good as it is this year and field position is going to matter even more. And so they're going to have to put a prior priority on these, you know, hidden yards that you get in special teams. I'd say go to the portal find somebody create competition. Don't settle. You don't do it at any other position. So I settled forward at punter. If Kern is going to get better, I would like to assume that competition will be what makes that happen. Not hope, not an off season, not strengthening, not anything else. We've seen enough this year. I think competition is warranted. And I think if it was any other position, we do the exact same thing. So I expect Sark to go find a way. Yeah. Do you, I know we're jumping around a lot here, guys, just trying to get to these questions. And this is from Daniel Moore. And how does Sark assist Quinn from making bad decisions in the absolute worst times of the game? We've talked about Quinn a lot. Quinn is going to Quinn, but I'm curious what your thoughts are on this. Ian, you had a good option. Ian, you had a good observation today about that Quinn fumble. You know, the fumble, Sark didn't do many favors on the fumble. Exactly. Sark has to do himself some favors first, right? Yeah, that was like a triple option play that Quinn was like, Quinn went like one, two, and then his third read was to run it himself. And I have a right read. And so Quinn's like, okay. And then he got, you know, chased down from behind and stripped. I probably his ball security could have been better. Whatever. That's a bad spot to be in. He's playing on a freaking brace. Why? Why are they calling zone read? And another thing Sark can do is give Trey Weisner the ball 33 times. I mean, that's pretty helpful. Do that. Maybe don't call this non-read play for Quinn. And I think we're, you know, 90% of the way there. I just think like what's the worst time of the game, right? Like, we've lost to OU last year and Quinn's two interceptions were early in the game. But he played almost one of the best games he's ever played in his career against OU last year against Washington. He played a great game, a really good game. When you think about the losses, a lot of it is just anomalies when it comes to how extreme Quinn's play impacted the actual result of the game. But at the end of the day, look at the schedule. Look, look at the wins. Look at what Quinn has done. Look what the offense has done. Look what the team has done. Sometimes in spite of Quinn, you can say, but at the end of the day, Quinn has been winspin and everything that that we've been able to do. And then that's been really heavily supplemented by a healthy run game. And I think Quinn has that now. We'll see if we can continue to roam with that. But Sark knows what issues are his issues. Sark knows when the issues are the offensive line of the players around Quinn. And then there's just some stuff that Quinn is going to do or put himself at risk of doing. He made some risky throws that completed this past week, a couple of gunner hill. So, I mean, there's just some plays that are wild plays that we don't think back by how risky it is when they succeed. But at the end of the day, this is a team sport. It appears this team has that mentality to what everyone is accountable for each other. So that whenever Quinn does make a mistake or anyone else makes a mistake, it's everyone's, everyone takes ownership of it. And I don't think we, when we watch the game, we see it so isolated and in Quinn's hands. But as Ian just pointed out, like there's some things Sark can do. There's some things the players around Quinn can do to put him in a better position to make the right decision or stay out of trouble. And Quinn, of course, has to take ownership of that. But then in the day, I think we're completely underselling, undervaluing what Quinn has done consistently over this two-year stretch. So I'm happy he's healthy. I'm happy he's looking good. In spite of an ankle injury, I'm looking forward to this week. Maybe he can perform and shut some people up. I want to, we're going to combine two of your comments here just because we can do that. I'm going to start with Bruce Seven. And he's just giving some love where love is due. And that's 45, Burn and Broughton was a monster. And I want to talk about what kind of a monster he was. We'll go to URT, but we'll do that in conjunction with this from AR. Again, thank you for the Super Chat. Honda days are happening now. UGA was so keyed in on our emotions and shifts during the 10-9 game. How do you think SARC would address that? I mean, I think during the first Georgia game, we weren't running the ball well at all. And I think we weren't getting a push on the offensive line. And I think that, and Quinn was also still clearly banged up. And I think we had way less of the playbook at our disposal than we were aware of at all. So I think the fact that we are now getting push in the run game, hopefully, banks being healthy and playing in Atlanta will help that. But that's going to open up a lot more. And going back to what Drew said a second ago, I love the almost picked ball by Bryce Anderson that Quinn threw to Gunnar Helm on Saturday night because one of the biggest ways that I wanted to see Quinn grow going into this season after last year was making more risky throws. And I felt like last year he was good. He was solid, but then you think about that Washington game, even though he played really good, I feel like he was still being risk averse when we're on the 12-yard line at the end of the game. And I do think obviously the injury is hampered some of his ability to make some of the throws this year. But I think he has been willing to take more risks, willing to thread the needle a little bit more. And I think that's a big, you know, that has been a big side of growth in him that I think has gone a little bit under the radar this year. Let's go back to this, because I think this is important. I think we need to give some love to our Vernon Bratton. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, Eric. But Bruce 7, again 45 Vernon Bratton was a monster. How much money do you think he earned in that game, Eric? Quite a bit. You know, that's a, that's a real SEC opponent. And you know, he's flashing his quickness. He's got a good change of direction for his size. His movement skills at his size are not, not super common. And then on top of it, he's gotten a lot better at the point of attack than that he was in previous years. He's gotten better every year. But this is the first year he's actually been good at the point of attack. Last year, you could see a noticeable improvement from the year prior. But he's put it all together. And yeah, I mean, I think Wayne Watson is talking about Kenny Baker, they're a defensive line coach. You know, Bratton came in, or, Bratton in August when they had a player availability, both Bratton and Collins were singing Kenny, Kenny Baker's praises as far as from a technical standpoint. I think Bo Davis was more of a motivator. They feel like they've gotten more out of Baker, technically speaking, than they did in years prior. And I think that's shown up a few times in hand placement as, you know, some of the things, I think they run tighter stunts than they had in the past as well. But yeah, you know, Bratton, it was kind of only a matter of time I've been singing his praises since high school, just an uncommon combination of size and movement skills. And then, you know, he's got a good motor too. And he was making plays that, you know, he didn't get credited for as well that, you know, just he was getting, getting in the backfield and being a good teammate, making it easier for players around to make the play. Bratton stuffed that fourth in goal. That was primarily Vernon on that. If the whole had been there, the running back goes, maybe Burke still hits him because Burke came so free. But probably the back is at least falling forward and running forward. But yeah, a lot of guys beat their blocks on that play, but but Bratton was one of the more notable and key ones. Yeah, I can't wait to see Bratton Collins versus Georgia this time. Yeah. Yeah, with with Bratton, and you saw with Sarrell, you saw it throughout this game. And I think last year, we saw it with Tavondre Squeat and Bayern Murphy, but I feel like we only saw it with Tavondre Squeat and Bayern Murphy is them just being able to engage, separate and get off blocks. It feels like everyone's able to to gap. I mean, there are certain plays where everyone has a responsibility and that maybe spill everything or get under everything. But there are several times where Sarrell's just holding the guy up, sheds him and gets off. Bratton, he just plays leverage. He's not necessarily trying to bull rush you or but he'll pick a side, get you off balance and go to the other side. He'll pick a side, get you leaning that way. I mean, he'll shed you in the direction you're going like he does a really good job of being a smart player playing with leverage. He's not just trying to run down the middle of you in the same way that guys did last year. I think that's what I seen Kenny Baker teaching coach that's probably been a more tangible difference than last year because you can tell when a coach is coaching as a motivator or someone who's going to try to fire you up just play harder. Go harder. That's not always a solution for every player and when you're two leading guys are playing in that way and you're just coaching the other guys behind them the same way, they're not maximizing what their strengths are. So I do think the standards should be go harder regardless of who's in the game. You need the technical tools, the coaching specific to your skill set to be able to take advantage of that and there are several times this week where I just saw Vernon just you want to be able to give this guy a one-on-one against a guard, a one-on-one against a guard or just any type of indecisive situation where maybe there's a guard tackle combo block, he will find that crease to create penetration. It was fun to see him go out and play. I know Eric has been high on him since the recruiting days and since day one, I'm not going to say I've been a skeptic but definitely knew there was a longer development curve really until he found out not only the position he wanted to play or could play best but also have the mentality to play that position in a way that fit his skill set. So I think this year he knows how to play bull rush, he knows how to get after when he needs to but he also knows how to use his athleticism, his technique, his smarts and leverage in a way that I mean he's really maximizing himself right now so I'm really excited for him. I hope that can be bled so next year. This is good athlete as he is. It'd be really something if they could figure that out for next year. I'm already getting asked about bled so I was asked about him earlier today just with the everybody knows that Collins and Broughton are leaving. I just you know that's a tough guy to bet on. I knew Vernon pretty well come out of high school. I didn't think it would take this time for Vernon to put it together but also you know he wasn't really forced to put it together because it was an assembly line in front of him. You know this year he was forced to put it together and also he's incentivized to put it together with you know NFL money in front of him but hopefully blood so has that same motivation because he's certainly an NFL athlete. He's a physical guy for his size. He's not the biggest guy out there but he's got all the tools. He's you know just got to get a lot more consistent. What do you see in terms of let's just take it to the other defensive side of the or the other defense which is going to be Georgia's defense. What what has have we demonstrated anything different in in the last five games that would suggest that Georgia just shouldn't send the house on every play to get into to disrupt Quinn. Well Texas is a very difficult team to blitz because they so much of the offense is lateral passing. So like if you're if you're blitzing and you're pulling a guy out of the secondary and then this play is a swing screen to the running back. So maybe like the the linebacker that would primarily be on the running back is blitzing. Then whoever's replacing him is like moving there from somewhere else and then realizing he's got the running back and the running back is out wide behind blocks. Sark has a gazillion really good blitzes blitz beating screens, tunnel screens, tight end screens, misdirection screens. There's a reason that teams don't just blitz Quinn all the time and it's because it's just hard to blitz this offense in general. What they got into trouble with was all the passing downs they were in against Georgia last time. So if you have Texas in second and eight, third and seven and you've got athletes like Georgia has where you think you can usually corral the screen then now it's open the season. So I think it's more of a first down question. If Texas gets into a lot of passing downs against Georgia it may not go as badly as it did last time but it's probably not going to go well. It's it's all about you know can they run the ball or can they can they actually hit some something anything on first down? I want to get to Wayne Watson's question here on on VASIC because I think that's there's there's a lot of obviously talented recruits that we've had in the last few years that we haven't necessarily heard from. Vernon Broughton is a good example of the development curve of some of these people but before we get to that I want to address all of our friends over at Twitter. Thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate you joining us. Please join us on the YouTube channel. There are many shows that we don't do live that has a lot of great content that will really highlight these games for you and give you a deeper understanding of what is happening. I'm thinking about the deep dive. I'm thinking about some of our round tables and certainly some of the inside the program. So please do join us there and obviously join us at InsideTexas.com. We are running that what we like to call a silly season special because it's getting buck wild guys. We've got recruiting. We've got signing day. We've got the SEC Championship. It's all happening. You're going to get a whole week of it for one American dollar. Let's talk about Vassing. So we haven't heard much from him Eric and I want to throw this over to you. Do you have an update on him? Do you have to find people an idea of what's happening with this pass rusher? Yeah, it's just a situation of if he's on the field you have to take somebody off. Who are you going to take off? You know, you got a lot of experience at firm. We got a lot of talent in firm. Colin Simms, you're not going to, you want Colin Simms on the field more, not less. You want more on the field, more not less too, especially when you're playing a lot of these mobile quarterbacks that he's really well schooled and disciplined on defending. Vossack's time is going to come and Vossack's going to be a very, very, very good Longhorn. He's got as much upside as any edge at Texas outside of Colin Simms. You know, he's a first round talent, but he's got a way to turn around. These guys that are experienced, you know, missed a lot of time as a freshman. Pretty much he missed his freshman year. So, but his time will come. He's going to be very good. He'll play a lot next year. You can bank on it. I'll probably be in, I'll probably be in Ethan Burke's role with Ethan Burke and Baron Sorrels role next year, right? Yeah, I imagine he's going to, he's only going to, he's got an amazing build. He's only going to keep putting on weight. Eventually, he'll be 275 pounds, maybe even more. So, yeah, you're looking at a Jack. I could see him in Burke as Jack's next year, replacing Baron Sorrel. Lance Jackson will be tough to keep on the field. Don't forget about Zina Oumil Zulu, who would, that kid's going to be a player too. They've got it, you know, they've done a fantastic job of restocking the edge room in the last couple of years, but Vosik has a ton of upside. They love him. He's just got to stay healthy and, and, you know, keep hitting leg day, keep working and his time will come. Drew, this is a, this is a question. It's more of a statement. And I don't, I'm just curious if this had, I think I know the answer from you, but the IC whites are badass. Uh, did you guys feel a little different than the IC whites? I mean, you guys are in the IC whites, you feel like this is just your invincible? What kind of superpowers do those things possess? It wasn't really a big deal to us. It's like a new, I want to say it's a new thing. I knew you were going to crush you. I knew you were going to take your soul. I know, I know. I know, I know it was a new thing. You know, it was a big deal for us. Um, was when I'm just going to say events, there was, there was, there was a group of people who convinced Mac to let us wear black pleats. We were just happy to wear black cleats. Um, we, we wore the same white cleats to practice everywhere else. We just want to switch it up. So when we got to wear black cleats, that was a big deal. But IC whites, road games, I never thought about it. I never even, it never, it never was a big deal. Now fans love it. I think this team in particular, I mean, what they've won 10 11 games straight on the road, it's become a theme. It's become something they take pride in. Why not? Why not lean into it? Why not want to wear your IC whites on the road? You're in the on the road anyway. So yeah, um, it wasn't a big, a big deal to, uh, to, to, to us per se. Uh, but yeah, we, we definitely wanted to, we haven't wear black. All right, it's a big deal to me because I, we got skull brother on, who is the most fan fan on the boat. I knew, I knew you to take this hard. Yeah, I'm, I'm superstitious, as Eric knows. So I have seen, I think I've seen us beat OU four times in person, which I don't have a great record at OU. Uh, but the only times I've seen us win, we've been wearing white jerseys. Um, and so even now, like I, I almost don't want to go to the burnt orange jersey years, uh, to the red river shootout. And when I think about losses in my mind, it could even be games like last year in the sugar bowl, where we're, we were actually wearing the icy whites, but in my mind, we were wearing burnt orange jerseys at the sugar bowl last year against Washington. So yes, I think it's a huge deal. I think, uh, if I think it's all that matters really. So for those of you that, uh, don't know, Texas as being the higher seed is the home team. And as such, they get to choose their jerseys. They have chosen the away icy whites. Um, because in spite of, uh, what a reliable source in Drew, who actually played the game at Texas, says they are very important. Twenty years ago, twenty five years ago. Oh, you did this. I don't want you to remember in 2018, the big 12 championship, we beat OU that year. That was the Kyler Murray, uh, take the loss from Sam Ellinger, uh, with some expletives attached year. And we were wearing icy whites at the cotton bowl, but OU was the home team. And they picked some random throwback, OU jersey. Um, so that we were, that was actually white. So we weren't able to wear the icy whites and we were the away team and were war burnt orange. So, you know, not to, yeah, not to mimic too many things that the sooner's do, but obviously they didn't feel comfortable in their crimson and cream that year and, uh, switched it up and it worked. So. We need to run the ball this week. We need to play great defense. We need not to turn over the ball. I don't care what uniform we were. It's a better chance if we had to be harder to see. I'm sorry. I'm not saying we don't do those things. I'm just saying we do them in icy whites. Even better. If it makes sense. All right. If he gets more subscribers inside Texas, let's go. I see whites. Let's do it. Inside Texas.com $1 for seven days. Uh, oh, I didn't hear from you, Ian. What are your thoughts on the icy whites? Oh God. Ian in fashion. Yeah. It seems like a black jersey guy. He wants the he wants us to wear the black jerseys. No, I hate the no liver. Um, I love the whites.
Join us in the chat to have a little fun at little brother's expense. We'll talk Sark's presser, Georgia, and Team News!