ITG 83 - Big Daddy Kicks Off Backyard Brawl Week
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - In the Gun, episode number 83,
00:07 time to recap a win over those Duquesne Dukes here
00:11 on your new favorite WVU football podcast.
00:13 It is In the Gun.
00:14 I'm Wesley Uler with the best teammates in the business,
00:17 the Signal Caller Jed Drenning
00:18 and the runaway beer truck, Owen Schmidt.
00:20 And as always, this episode of ITG
00:22 brought to you in part by our friends at BetOnline,
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00:48 That's B-L-E-A-V at BetOnline, where the game starts.
00:53 And speaking of the game starting, fellas,
00:55 a look around college football, a little weekend recap
00:59 before we get into some WVU specifics as always.
01:02 And gentlemen, I think kind of the, I don't think,
01:06 I know the most discussed game of the weekend,
01:08 that Texas-Alabama game down there in Tuscaloosa
01:11 Saturday night.
01:13 And not only did the Longhorns win,
01:14 not only did they hook 'em down there in Alabama,
01:17 pretty decisive fashion there, Owen,
01:20 a 10-point victory for Texas on the road against Alabama.
01:24 I didn't take time to look this up,
01:25 but I can't imagine that Nick Saban
01:27 is lost by double digits at home.
01:29 Maybe his first year in Alabama
01:30 when they really struggled and went six and six,
01:32 but other than that,
01:33 I don't know if they've ever lost like that.
01:36 - Yeah, and before the game, Pat McAfee's show was at--
01:40 - That's right.
01:41 - Was there for his debut, not debut,
01:44 but really to let out some juicy nuggets
01:49 of college football fabulousness
01:53 and information with the Zen Lord himself, Nick Saban,
01:57 letting him know that Saban's gonna be on his show.
02:01 - Yeah, that's gonna be a grumpy Nick Saban
02:04 that he's gonna have to deal with this week.
02:05 - I know, dude.
02:07 Oh man, I can only imagine it's gonna be a rough interview,
02:11 but Texas getting it done big.
02:14 - Big time.
02:15 Jed, before you give your thoughts on Texas-Bama,
02:17 I also wanted to make sure,
02:19 we're all three of us wearing gray here today for a reason.
02:23 It's September 11th as we record this.
02:25 So tell us, Jed, while we're all wearing gray
02:27 and what it means to you,
02:28 and then give us your thoughts on Texas-Bama as well.
02:31 - My man, Chris Gray,
02:33 he was working for Cantor Fitzgerald,
02:35 former Mountaineer quarterback, my best team,
02:38 my best friend on the team when I played at WVU,
02:41 funniest man I ever met in my life,
02:42 working for Cantor Fitzgerald in Tower Two on 9/11,
02:48 and he made it down as far as 40.
02:51 I got a friend of his, called his family.
02:54 They didn't make it out, but you know what?
02:56 I decided long ago, this is a day for me,
03:01 not to sound trite, but a day of celebrating Chris.
03:05 He was a huge Springsteen fan, huge Springsteen fan.
03:08 He would hold-
03:09 - I saw your tweet.
03:10 - He would hold, yeah, that's what I do all day,
03:12 E Street Radio on Channel 20 on Sirius Radio
03:16 in honor of Chris,
03:16 but he used to hold concerts during camp under the tent.
03:20 And think about what it takes to get everybody
03:22 to show up 15 minutes early
03:24 for the first practice during two-a-days,
03:25 back when we had two-a-days.
03:27 Everybody was there.
03:28 Nobody wanted to miss Chris's concert.
03:30 Hungry heart, all down the playlist,
03:32 but Chris was the single funniest dude I ever knew.
03:35 That's how I'm gonna remember him.
03:37 That's how I'm gonna celebrate him.
03:39 Me and one of Chris's roommates, Charlie Fedorko,
03:41 who was a receiver on the team,
03:42 we always text back and forth, we do anyway,
03:44 but especially today, and Chris's younger brother, Timmy,
03:48 we had him on the Learfield Pre-Game Show a few years back.
03:51 Of course, I texted Timmy,
03:52 and everybody's in good spirits,
03:54 but yeah, this is all about remembering Chris
03:56 and celebrating Chris.
03:57 And I'm telling you what,
03:58 Chris would slap you with a wet fish
04:01 if he found out that you were anything but happy
04:03 on a day that you're remembering him.
04:04 'Cause for another day in the off season,
04:07 I'll tell you some Chris Gray stories,
04:08 but absolutely one of a kind from Manalpa, New Jersey,
04:11 the son of a mayor,
04:13 and a different kind of son of a mayor than I am,
04:15 but Chris was absolutely one of a kind, RIP, brother.
04:20 - No, I love it.
04:21 I tell you what, I never met Chris, obviously,
04:23 but if he was that into Springsteen,
04:25 I think we would've got along.
04:27 I'm reeling, 'cause I was supposed to have
04:29 two Bruce concerts in Pittsburgh this week,
04:31 but they both got postponed
04:32 'cause he's dealing with some throat issues.
04:34 But yes, always remembering Chris Gray every day,
04:38 but especially on this day, as, you know, it's,
04:41 again, I know by the time this episode drops,
04:43 it'll be September 12th, but on the 11th here,
04:45 as we record it.
04:47 Any Texas, Bayama thoughts, Jed,
04:49 before we move on to some of these other games?
04:50 - Talk about a grumpy Nick Saban,
04:52 even by Nick standards,
04:54 that's gonna be a grumpy Nick Saban, right?
04:56 Yeah, it's, I didn't see it necessarily coming.
05:00 I thought that the lack of rat poison
05:03 that Alabama has got this off season,
05:05 they haven't really gotten any love.
05:07 That's that rat poison that Nick hates.
05:08 Nobody's been patting him on the behind this off season,
05:11 and I thought that he would use that to his advantage.
05:14 And maybe Texas is starting to turn that corner
05:16 under Sarkisian, but we're about to find out
05:19 because the old Texas,
05:21 even if they managed to do something like this,
05:24 they wouldn't show up with the goblins
05:26 sleeping in Wyoming. - They would fall flat
05:27 on their face.
05:27 - They got Wyoming at home.
05:28 That's the kind of game that,
05:30 I'm not saying they lose, but they'd look really ugly.
05:32 So let's find out if all that talent
05:34 has finally come through for the Texas Longhorns.
05:38 - Utah Baylor, I tell you what,
05:39 a back and forth one, low scoring affair
05:42 relatively down there in Waco.
05:44 Utah coming out at the end,
05:47 kind of crazy situation there.
05:48 Baylor gets a chance to have an opportunity.
05:51 They throw a Hail Mary.
05:52 There's some controversy there on the no call.
05:55 I don't know, Jed.
05:57 I've always been of the opinion,
05:58 like to me, when you're throwing the ball up in the end zone,
06:02 I mean, you're gonna have to literally grab somebody
06:04 by the throat and give them the undertaker,
06:06 you know, pile driver for a choke slam from hell
06:11 for me to get a pass interference call in that situation.
06:13 But I also understand Baylor's great.
06:16 There was a lot of contact on that play.
06:18 - Thinking way back to Ohio State, Miami
06:20 and the National Championship.
06:21 I mean, it kind of reared its head,
06:22 but it reminded me with Dave Aranda
06:25 squaring off against Kyle Winningham.
06:27 You remember this, you guys know the Spider-Man picture
06:29 where the cartoons of Spider-Man pointing at each other?
06:32 Yeah, that's right.
06:33 That's what Winningham and Aranda are like.
06:35 It's like they're looking in the mirror
06:36 and hats off to our guy, friend of the show, Phil Steel.
06:40 Phil Steel told us, look,
06:42 Baylor's gonna play a lot tougher football game
06:44 than people think they're gonna play
06:45 after that Texas State loss.
06:47 He said, I think Utah is gonna have to win a rock fight,
06:50 come out late and do something special
06:52 and get out of there barely alive.
06:54 And that's what they found a way to do.
06:55 But credit to Utah, if you wanna have a special season,
06:58 you have to win a list of those types of games.
07:02 - Certainly do.
07:03 Yeah, good start for Utah.
07:05 I mean, they went home against Florida,
07:06 then they go down to Baylor
07:07 against the Desperate Bears team.
07:08 Now Baylor drops to 0-2.
07:11 And Big O, they're not the only ones.
07:12 I tell you what, Texas Tech was one of those
07:14 kind of preseason darlings, right?
07:16 Getting a lot of love,
07:17 some people picking them as a dark horse
07:19 to even win the Big 12,
07:20 ranked at the kind of the back end,
07:22 you know, the 20 to 25 range in a lot of different polls.
07:25 But don't look now, Texas Tech is 0-2 all of a sudden.
07:27 Lost to Wyoming last week,
07:29 and then had Oregon, you know,
07:31 top 15 Oregon down in Lubbock.
07:33 That's obviously, you know, no slouch,
07:35 no lack of a challenge there.
07:37 Texas Tech able to hang in that one,
07:40 played a really strong game,
07:41 but 20 points, Oregon scores in the fourth quarter
07:44 to Texas Tech's three,
07:46 and ends up the Ducks getting out of there
07:48 with a one score victory.
07:50 - Don't they have Texas State?
07:54 - Here's what I gotta say.
07:55 College football is back, baby.
07:58 (laughs)
07:59 - I mean, think about it.
08:00 - You just never know.
08:02 - No, you don't.
08:03 - You never know.
08:04 - You certainly don't.
08:05 - That's the glory of it, all right?
08:07 That's what I love about it.
08:08 - It's been a coronation.
08:09 - Right now, it's all rising to the top, right?
08:12 It's all starting to come to fruition.
08:13 So, we'll see.
08:15 You gotta squeeze it, dog.
08:17 Gotta squeeze it.
08:18 You'll see what's up.
08:19 But it's been fun watching these last couple weeks
08:22 of college football, that's for sure.
08:23 - Yeah.
08:24 Joey McGuire this off season,
08:25 it felt like more of a coronation than an off season.
08:28 I mean, they had the great finish.
08:30 They put the streak together down the stretch.
08:32 They performed well in the postseason.
08:33 They had so many guys back on both sides of the football.
08:37 There was all this talk of, despite the fact you lose
08:40 a top half of the first round edge rusher in Tyree Wilson.
08:43 He was claiming, "Hey, our D line, I think,
08:44 "is better this year than last year with those NFL guys."
08:47 It's been quite the off season, but quite the rocky start.
08:51 We talked about the trap game to open the season at Wyoming,
08:54 up in the mountains in that crazy environment.
08:56 Well, now you come home,
08:57 you know you're gonna have your hands full
08:59 against Oregon now, to their credit.
09:01 It's tough to win under the lights for a visitor
09:03 and love it, guys.
09:04 It is very tough.
09:05 And to their credit, they swung back
09:08 and they had their chances against a very good Oregon team.
09:11 And they just fell short, but now they're O and two.
09:14 And they come to Morgantown in a couple of weeks
09:17 and there was a lot of chatter that,
09:18 "Hey, what if they upset Oregon?
09:19 "They might be three and O and pushing the top 10,
09:21 "at least the top 15."
09:23 Not so much sitting there at O and two.
09:24 So a different script than what they expected.
09:26 Now, what kind of character they have,
09:30 how do they overcome adversity?
09:31 Because they've been handed a bucket load of it.
09:34 - They certainly have.
09:36 And you know what, speaking of overcoming,
09:38 let's roll with that theme.
09:39 Another team starting out O and two,
09:41 the Nebraska Cornhuskers here in the Matt Rule era.
09:45 Maybe the opposite of Colorado in the Deion Sanders era,
09:47 two and O start,
09:48 convincing Jed a 22 point victory over Nebraska at home
09:53 in a 10 a.m. kickoff there in Boulder.
09:57 I mean, I tell you what,
09:58 that'll get them ready for some big 12 play here
10:00 starting next season, right?
10:02 But Colorado ranked, they're gonna stay there,
10:05 convincing win against Nebraska, two and O already.
10:08 I tell you what,
10:09 these prime boys aren't going away anytime soon, Jed.
10:12 - Well, let's hit Nebraska first.
10:14 I'm gonna give you a list of the worst coaching records
10:18 against top 25 teams.
10:20 Mike Loxley has the worst record.
10:22 Coming into the season,
10:23 he was two and 23 against top 25 teams.
10:25 Jeff Hapley at Boston College,
10:27 he was one and nine coming into the season.
10:29 Coming into the season,
10:30 Matt Rule was two and 16 against ranked teams.
10:33 This now makes him two and 17.
10:37 They lost a heartbreaker in the opener to Minnesota.
10:39 His wins against ranked teams were both at Temple,
10:42 East Carolina, and Navy.
10:44 He's two and 17,
10:45 and he's trying to rebuild one of the biggest brands
10:47 in all of college football.
10:48 Meanwhile, on the other side,
10:50 we talked old school with Rule.
10:51 It doesn't get much more new school than Deion.
10:54 And once again,
10:55 they passed and passed with absolute flying colors.
10:58 I continue to be wildly impressed by Shadier Sanders.
11:02 The environment in Boulder, wow, did you see that?
11:05 - For a 10 a.m. game, too, that's insane.
11:07 - 10 a.m. game, it's no accident.
11:09 People are saying, "Come on, Colorado State next week?
11:12 "Really, ESPN game day's going to Boulder?"
11:14 You betcha they're going to Boulder,
11:16 because part of it is when ESPN game day's
11:18 putting these schedules together, they're projecting a hit.
11:20 "Hey, let's strike where the iron's hot.
11:22 "Deion's not gonna be undefeated forever, or is he?"
11:25 Okay, again, I'm not selling him out.
11:26 I'm done selling him out.
11:28 But at the same time, it's pretty clever on their part.
11:31 It's a home game.
11:32 They're trying to get some buzz, ESPN is.
11:35 So why wouldn't you go to Boulder?
11:37 You know, it's an in-state rivalry game,
11:38 not much of one, really,
11:40 but to Colorado, it means something to those people.
11:42 Did you see the pictures speaking of Tuscaloosa?
11:44 - Yeah.
11:45 - I mean, there's like ESPN game day fatigue in Tuscaloosa.
11:48 - I mean, Jed, when they're-
11:49 - They've been there so many times.
11:50 - They've been there, someone posted,
11:52 like, in the 15 years that Nick Saban's been there,
11:54 they've been there like 31 times.
11:56 - Yeah, I think the word, they have a word
11:57 for ESPN game day in Tuscaloosa.
11:59 That word is-
12:00 - Oh no, right as Jed throws on us.
12:05 - For now, we're never gonna find out
12:07 what that word is, big O.
12:08 (everyone laughing)
12:11 What's the word?
12:12 What's the word?
12:13 Oh no, no, not Jed.
12:15 - Jed, tell us.
12:16 - To be fair, I mean, we're just gonna,
12:18 we're gonna have to wait with bated breath here
12:19 until Jed gets back.
12:20 He told us, before we started recording,
12:22 Jed told us he was having some internet issues.
12:24 So we'll give him a minute here.
12:25 I'm sure he'll just have to reboot the Zoom
12:27 and hop back in here.
12:29 But man, oh, and that's a great tease there by Jed,
12:32 I tell you.
12:33 I mean, he couldn't have timed it any better.
12:36 - Absolutely, and to go back to Colorado a little bit,
12:39 I mean, dude, you know, what he's doing
12:43 on the football field is amazing.
12:44 But if you get some of these insight,
12:47 what he's doing with, he's really,
12:50 he's coaching these young, these boys to be men.
12:54 - Absolutely.
12:55 - Some of these teachings that he's going through,
12:58 it's way beyond football.
13:00 It's really maturing these kids out.
13:04 And it's awesome to see a coach putting that kind of-
13:09 - Completely agree.
13:12 Oh no, Owen, you got me there.
13:15 I think I'm losing you too.
13:17 Oh geez, this is classic.
13:19 Wait, Owen, you got me, you there?
13:21 I think Owen's lagging a little bit too.
13:22 I tell you what, folks, it's just one of those days here
13:25 when it rains, it pours, right?
13:27 But that's okay, we'll see.
13:28 We'll get Owen, we'll get Jed tapped in here.
13:30 I mean, I tell you what, it's just,
13:31 it's gonna be one of them times, I tell you, folks.
13:34 Oh geez, now I'm the only one on here.
13:36 All right, well, now you just got me.
13:38 Okay, we'll get Jed, we'll get Owen back in here.
13:41 Here's what we're gonna do.
13:42 We'll take our break now, all right?
13:43 We had a couple more topics that we were going to discuss.
13:45 We'll take our break now, we'll get this figured out.
13:47 We'll come back with Jed and Owen.
13:49 Before we go to break, big thank you
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14:36 - For more West Virginia Mountaineer football content,
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15:47 Let's go, Mountaineer fans.
15:51 You're tuned in to "In the Gun" with Wes,
15:54 the runaway beer truck, and the signal caller.
15:57 All right, back in the gun
15:59 due to some technical difficulties.
16:01 The greatest unintentional tease ever.
16:03 Jed, down in Tuscaloosa,
16:05 what do they call college game day?
16:07 You guys have any guesses?
16:09 Would you give us the answer before you cut out again?
16:12 - It's gonna be a double tease,
16:13 because they call it Saturday.
16:16 That's what they call it.
16:17 - I knew it was something like that.
16:18 - That's what they call it, Saturday.
16:19 - I knew it. - All right, guys.
16:20 - I'm done. - Come on, dawg.
16:22 - Thank you very much, I'll see you guys.
16:23 - Ladies and gentlemen, that was Sean "Big Daddy" Mariner.
16:27 Now it's time to catch up with our friend,
16:29 your friend, the mayor of Morgantown himself,
16:32 Mr. "Big Daddy" Mariner.
16:33 Now, Sean, I don't wanna give anything away
16:37 to those who haven't been able to go to a game yet,
16:40 but I just, I gotta give you guys,
16:42 they've got Rasheed Marshall
16:44 worked into a little hype thing going on.
16:46 They got the NWO worked into a little hype thing going on.
16:50 Bravo, good sir, by you, Chris O, everybody involved.
16:53 Great stuff, Saturday night against Duquesne.
16:55 - Chris O, Chris O, Chris O, that's all him.
16:58 For the NWO, we won't spoil it,
17:00 but he called me in two days before.
17:02 He said, "I had an idea on the drive home.
17:04 He started to press play.
17:05 I watched two seconds and I walked out."
17:06 I said, "Yeah, that'll work."
17:08 One more, one more little tease.
17:10 There might be some different stuff
17:12 in the entrance video this week as well.
17:13 That's it, we're done.
17:15 - Oh, baby. - State secret.
17:18 - I can't wait.
17:19 All right, Jed, since you're the one
17:21 in the volatile place here, all right,
17:23 you know, Jed's internet connection is like my stomach
17:26 after 18 Miller Lights and a dozen chicken wings
17:29 on a Saturday night, okay?
17:30 We're in a volatile place here right now.
17:33 So Jed, get into some of your Duquesne thoughts here
17:36 in case we lose you.
17:37 - How is it my internet was better in 2005
17:40 in my house than it is today, right?
17:43 Let's start with that.
17:45 But okay, you know, we had obviously the delay
17:49 that we have to talk about.
17:51 We spent the better part of an hour and a half
17:53 to two hours inside the facility, the way that worked out.
17:57 Typically what happens for those who haven't been
17:59 in the locker room at halftime, it's a big building.
18:02 It's a big weight room that leads into a big locker room.
18:05 The defense usually works their way
18:07 into the actual locker room.
18:08 The offense and offensive staff stay out
18:10 in the weight room area on the turf
18:12 and the benches and chairs out there.
18:13 That's the same type of thing that happened during the delay.
18:16 Now, when the delay first started,
18:19 there was a lot of pent up energy.
18:20 It had a halftime vibe to it.
18:22 You're coming right off the field.
18:23 You were just in action five minutes earlier.
18:26 So for instance, I heard Dee Hawkins
18:28 just lighting the defense up.
18:30 In other words, it was one of these rah, rah,
18:31 get your act together.
18:32 This isn't acceptable, that type of thing.
18:35 Well, Mike Joseph quickly realized
18:36 we need to pace ourselves, okay?
18:39 So when he started to piece this together,
18:41 you know, it's not an accident
18:42 that he's one of the best in the business.
18:44 He came in and said, "Hey, it's time to calm down.
18:46 "It's time to regroup.
18:47 "You guys need to rest and let's take it from there."
18:50 So we knew the rule was lightning strike
18:53 within eight minutes, eight miles
18:54 is a 30 minute reset on the clock.
18:56 So we kept getting, like,
18:58 Ray Baker was in there with us and he was getting text
19:00 and you'd hear him off on the other side of the room,
19:03 another reset, another reset.
19:04 Well, I'm sitting there with Matt Horn, our state trooper,
19:07 great Matt, and Jeff Castillo,
19:09 and we're all just kind of telling war stories, right?
19:11 From the better part of the last 30 years.
19:14 And next thing you know, boom, another strike above us.
19:17 We're like 18 minutes into the reset.
19:19 Now it's another 30 minute reset.
19:20 Then you finally realize it's approaching a point
19:23 where we think we're gonna go back.
19:24 Well, before that happened,
19:25 Big Daddy, were you in there with the pizza?
19:27 The pizza came through the door strapped to a gurney.
19:30 I was like, is this dead pizza?
19:31 But there were giant boxes of pizza.
19:33 We got pizza, Duquesne got chicken strips,
19:36 pizza prevailed.
19:37 So as you saw, when we took the field,
19:39 I mean, Neil addressed both the offense and the defense
19:42 and the team at large.
19:43 And, you know, it was effective.
19:45 I think that served us well.
19:46 And when we took the field, we were a different team.
19:50 Really within four minutes of game time,
19:53 the game was over after we took the field.
19:54 We had the quick touchdown, a quick stop,
19:56 another quick touchdown, it's 28 to 10.
19:57 And we're kind of just carving them up
19:59 like we should have from the outset at that point.
20:00 But like a lot of what I saw in the throw game,
20:04 like a lot of what I saw before we get into Hudson,
20:06 like a lot of what I saw in the run game,
20:09 there were three plays with Garrett
20:11 that kind of stick out.
20:12 I always thought that he was an incredibly lethal
20:13 two-minute style quarterback
20:15 because he has the arm, the pop in his arm,
20:17 but he also has the ability with his legs
20:20 to make things happen.
20:21 Well, there was a three-play sequence.
20:22 And on that three-play sequence,
20:24 we were up 28 to 10 and it was inside two minutes.
20:26 We were a two-minute drill.
20:27 Garrett, against a four-man rush,
20:29 didn't like to look downfield.
20:30 He kind of had the curl and the offset,
20:33 but he decided instead, boom, he saw a crease, he hit it.
20:36 17 yards later, easy pickup.
20:38 Next snap, Garrett gets punched right in the mouth
20:41 by the nose guard, 300 pounds,
20:43 who penetrated pretty cleanly.
20:45 Garrett took a heck of a shot
20:47 and threw a perfect crease route, a bench route,
20:50 from the right hash to the wide side of the field
20:52 to Preston Fox, stood tall, took the shot, boom.
20:55 So that was play number two.
20:56 And then play number three, we went vertical
20:58 and he made a great throw up the seam.
21:01 He hit Preston Fox for the score.
21:03 What happened was that linebacker
21:06 that was trying to cover Preston Fox
21:08 recognized he was kind of shorthanded athletically.
21:10 So he kind of had to turn his hips to keep pace.
21:13 And Garrett recognized the body language
21:15 and the coverage angle of that backer
21:17 and threw it behind Preston's back hip
21:19 and he just flipped away from the backer.
21:20 So bang, bang, bang, three brilliant plays.
21:24 Got what we wanted out of CJ.
21:26 Obviously got what we wanted out of Jaheim.
21:29 I mean, Jalen made some plays for us too,
21:31 lost some two back sets,
21:32 but Jaheim continues to improve more and more and more.
21:35 But the story of the night was,
21:38 and it was kind of,
21:39 they were being a little hush, hush on the sidelines
21:41 in terms of why Devon wasn't starting, right?
21:43 He got tweaked midweek in practice,
21:47 didn't appear quite to be full speed before the game.
21:51 And Neil told him, he's like,
21:52 "Dude, you don't look full speed.
21:54 "It's not worth it, I'm sitting here.
21:55 "I'm not gonna have you aggravate something."
21:57 So literally minutes before the game,
21:59 Huddy found out you're going in and you're starting.
22:02 And you talk about making the most of your opportunity,
22:04 five catches, 177 yards, three touchdowns.
22:07 There's a reason he's the story of the game.
22:09 You know, we were standing in the locker room,
22:10 Big Daddy, weren't you in there?
22:12 - Mm-hmm, yep.
22:13 - That's right, you were.
22:13 You were rounding Garrett up for me.
22:14 Yeah, me and Big Daddy were both in there
22:16 when he made the announcement.
22:17 And obviously it's gone viral on Twitter and social media
22:20 when he tagged him with a scholarship.
22:23 And the truth of the matter is,
22:24 he's been coming along so much, Hudson has,
22:27 that that was probably going to happen sometime
22:30 in the coming weeks, but you just couldn't resist
22:32 the perfect timing, the perfect performance being rewarded.
22:34 And people have asked, "Well, hey, how could you miss on him?
22:37 "How could he have no true offers
22:39 "coming out of Martinsburg?"
22:40 Well, you know, to Neil's credit, he's like,
22:42 "Well, hey, we missed on him."
22:43 But there's a couple of things to consider here.
22:45 First of all, he tracks as one of the five fastest guys
22:48 on this team right now.
22:49 Probably the second fastest receiver we have.
22:51 I mean, he's mid 22s, high 22s in the GPS.
22:54 - 22.7, Neil said today.
22:56 22.7. - 22.7, thank you.
22:58 He's legit fast.
22:59 Now he showed up with speed,
23:01 but he didn't show up with that speed.
23:03 So a year plus into it with Mike Joseph,
23:06 A, he's gotten a lot faster,
23:08 but B, he showed up at like a buck 70.
23:11 He's pushing 200 pounds, guys,
23:13 and that's 25 plus pounds of Mike Joseph-induced muscle.
23:17 So he's a different player.
23:19 As productive as he was at Martinsburg,
23:21 he's even a different player now than he was then.
23:24 And then let's jump to the defensive side,
23:26 and I'm going to wrap up my Duquesne take
23:27 because I want you guys to jump in.
23:29 On the defensive side of the football,
23:31 I mean, there were some things I liked
23:32 in terms of getting pressure.
23:34 I continue to like what Mike Lockhart's doing,
23:36 both against the pass and against the run.
23:38 I mean, he's a guy that's managing to eat space
23:41 and play gaps and penetrate.
23:43 That's asking a lot.
23:44 I like where that rotation's at.
23:46 I continue to love what I see out of Trey Latham.
23:48 Again, some more reps mixed up between Mike and Will,
23:51 so that answer, that question hasn't been asked
23:53 in two weeks for a reason.
23:55 When these guys cross-train,
23:56 both are playing a little bit of both.
23:58 But big Sean Martin, Owen, you and I talked about it
24:01 when you called me yesterday.
24:02 Sean Martin, I'm telling you, when that motor's on,
24:06 phew, that motor is on.
24:07 I mean, and he's a faster than a guy
24:10 that size you might expect.
24:11 Watch him chase that quarterback in the backside
24:14 and the pursuit that he puts on him,
24:16 the heat that he puts on him forces a quick throw.
24:19 Beanie, I mean, we're gonna get into more about Beanie
24:21 as this week progresses, but the Willie Hayes,
24:25 the Willie Mays moment, I call it the say-hey pick.
24:27 He's now my say-hey kid, guys.
24:29 I'm nicknaming him already.
24:30 I'm anointing him my say-hey kid.
24:32 But you talk about playing the ball in the air
24:35 and what a knack he has for that.
24:37 Guys, he didn't see that football.
24:38 He was playing that wide out, defending him perfectly,
24:41 and reacted to the wide out to snatch that thing.
24:44 So what a play he made.
24:45 Aubrey Burks, I'm telling you, that guy eats film.
24:49 I mean, he diagnoses so many things
24:52 that they're doing offensively,
24:53 whether it's the quick throw game or the run game.
24:55 You see him fly downhill into his run fit.
24:58 You see him fly downhill and hit the flat
25:00 when he's manned up on number three,
25:02 number three from the wide side, I should say.
25:05 But he can make some plays for us.
25:07 Now, a couple things that were getting us problems,
25:10 and again, we'll explore this more
25:11 as we get into the pit matchup,
25:12 but one of the things that was happening,
25:14 we worried about it last week.
25:16 I said, "This quarterback comes in at about 220.
25:18 He's strong. He's a little slippery.
25:20 He's tough to bring down."
25:22 What was my concern?
25:23 He's going to shake loose.
25:24 He's going to break contain,
25:26 and against a struggling secondary,
25:28 he's going to say, "Hey, instead of covers
25:29 for the three or four seconds
25:30 that you typically struggle with anyway,
25:33 why don't I add another three or four seconds to it
25:35 by breaking the pocket?"
25:36 And that's exactly what happened in some of those big plays.
25:39 And part of it was --
25:41 Owen, you can talk about this as well.
25:43 When we're stunting and we're twisting,
25:45 sometimes that works against you
25:47 when you're trying to keep contain
25:48 because the quarterback can kind of bounce
25:49 outside of that twist.
25:51 That happened a couple times.
25:53 But we're going to have to find a way this week against pit
25:56 to absolutely keep contain against a quarterback
26:00 who has the skill set to do that very thing as well,
26:02 extend plays, put maximum pressure
26:04 and stress on your secondary.
26:06 And when we're trying to find ourselves in the back end,
26:08 that's the last thing they need.
26:10 But, guys, that's the way I saw it,
26:12 both the good and the bad.
26:15 -Yeah, I mean, a lot of good play, Kevin.
26:17 A lot of good play.
26:18 And you kind of summed everything up.
26:22 Honestly, I loved our running back play.
26:23 I thought the guys that got in there,
26:25 you could really see the zone kind of develop
26:28 as the game went on
26:31 and how those guys were really starting
26:32 to really read the play correctly.
26:35 You know, you're seeing a lot more bounce plays
26:38 because they're trusting the reads, right?
26:41 So we're getting outside on those reads.
26:44 And I thought that was great.
26:46 You know, like you said,
26:47 Bishop's catch was absolutely insane.
26:49 I flipped out.
26:50 I was like, "Dude, what the hell just happened there?"
26:54 And 84 coming up huge.
26:58 I mean, I can only imagine the feelings inside of his chest
27:03 when Coach was like, "Hey, you got the start today."
27:07 You know what I mean?
27:08 I'm sure he was completely jacked up.
27:10 Kind of a weird game.
27:12 You know, you're playing a couple minutes,
27:15 and then all of a sudden, you're sitting out for two hours,
27:18 basically, like now you're cold again.
27:19 Like, how do you restart?
27:21 How do you recoup?
27:22 But so many cool things we did see.
27:24 And obviously, the stuff that we struggled with,
27:27 we got to keep working on that.
27:29 You know what I mean?
27:30 But that's sometimes what's nice about having,
27:32 you know, a quote-unquote "tune-up game."
27:34 You know, you can kind of get away with a couple things
27:37 and take some chances, too.
27:39 But you can really start to see those things
27:40 that we did last week.
27:42 We made some improvements, made some adjustments.
27:45 They worked.
27:46 Yeah, we came out a little flat.
27:49 Not the same atmosphere as I'm sure Penn State was.
27:52 But I think there's going to be plenty of energy
27:55 rolling around the stadium this Saturday
27:57 because, baby, it's the Schmidt-Pitt time.
28:03 -Big Daddy, what did you do during the two-hour delay?
28:05 -So I'm the one that had to put the alert
28:08 and then the radar up on the board
28:11 and just sit in the control room the whole time.
28:12 We're right next to the command post,
28:14 so the head of operations came in,
28:16 told us this is what we need to do,
28:18 has given our PA the reads and all that stuff.
28:20 I will say I do like the new radar system.
28:22 They've got a new app.
28:24 We showed on the board, you can show --
28:27 this is the 8-mile radius, and it has little icons
28:30 where lightning is actually hitting,
28:31 so you can watch it in real time.
28:33 So that's how we knew, like, oh, boy,
28:35 we're going to be here a while.
28:37 Just waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting.
28:39 So I thought that was really cool.
28:41 Jedi was not down there for the pizza delivery.
28:43 I'm a little sad I missed it.
28:45 But what I do love is I love hearing you guys
28:47 talk about this stuff because we do media now on Monday,
28:50 so I'm fresh from media.
28:51 Everything you guys are saying are almost word-for-word,
28:55 verbatim, things that were talked about by the coaching staff.
28:58 Oh, and Coach Scott talked about Jaheim today,
29:01 trusting his reads.
29:03 It took him a while to get there.
29:04 Then finally he's understanding you can't just outrun people.
29:08 Jed, people were talking almost word-for-word about the catch,
29:12 how it was the say-hey catch, like Beanie said.
29:15 I didn't even see it until it was right --
29:17 like, this is the stuff that you guys are dead on, and I love.
29:22 And the beauty of it, guys, we talk about keeping things
29:24 vanilla, keeping things basic, keeping things simple.
29:27 Now, we do have coverage wrinkles.
29:29 Neal's talked about this.
29:30 We have coverage wrinkles that we put in after Penn State,
29:33 but you want to reserve those for Pitt.
29:35 You don't want them on tape.
29:36 Oh, and you even talked about you're going to install
29:39 that fake screen look.
29:40 We've had in the playbook for a while that we scored.
29:42 The Huddie had its easiest touchdown.
29:44 Here's the beauty of it, guys.
29:46 That's attached to so much of what we do in the run game,
29:48 those parameter screens.
29:50 In other words, there's an RPO element to that,
29:52 and Garrett's reading that.
29:54 So if the numbers favor the screen,
29:56 you pop the screen out.
29:57 If the numbers don't, you give the ball on the RP.
30:00 You give the run part of the RPO.
30:01 But here's the deal.
30:02 If Pitt's corners are watching tape,
30:05 and they want to be overaggressive and fly up
30:07 and take that screen out, they might slide the brakes
30:10 on just a little bit saying, whoa, whoa, whoa,
30:12 if you're going to play that game.
30:13 So it gives them a little something
30:14 to think about as well.
30:16 Yeah, no, I definitely already talked to Coach Osborne,
30:19 our OC here at--
30:21 we had practice here at 530 when we stayed after talk shop
30:26 a little bit.
30:27 And I was like, bro, we got to put this play in.
30:29 It's like-- because we use a lot of the bubble stuff
30:32 and the bubble screen game.
30:34 And just to have something that looks like the play,
30:37 there's no real change up.
30:39 You're not changing a formation.
30:40 You're not doing anything crazy.
30:42 It's the same thing.
30:43 But like you said, Jed, now that could be a whole other read.
30:46 Just like rerunning a route based on coverage.
30:51 Like you said, if they want to come up, bam.
30:54 I would tell them, hey, slip them.
30:55 And Garrett and those guys should
30:57 be able to read that on the fly when
31:01 he's going to throw the bubble.
31:03 Honestly, you don't see passes where
31:10 there's no hitch in the step.
31:13 And when somebody hits somebody that in stride,
31:18 it's a thing of beauty, man.
31:19 It's a thing of beauty.
31:21 I was like, let's go, son.
31:24 Absolutely.
31:25 When you're starting to dial in, it
31:26 doesn't matter who you're playing with.
31:28 That connection right there is on the money.
31:31 And it was it.
31:32 I'm telling you, I got excited.
31:34 I chugged a couple of Miller Lights after that play.
31:37 The orchestration of the offense,
31:38 for all the indictments against it when it struggles,
31:41 and we don't pop enough big plays,
31:43 structurally what's fun to see is
31:45 it's fun to watch an offense, irrespective of who
31:47 they're playing.
31:48 I don't care if you're playing the number one
31:49 ranked team in the country.
31:50 You're playing an FCS team.
31:52 If you have answers to what the other team is
31:54 trying to do to you.
31:56 Now, early on, Owen, we talked so much about the stretch play.
31:59 It's one of our bread and butters.
32:00 And it's the fact that the running backs
32:02 are getting the flow and getting the feel
32:03 and understanding those reads.
32:04 They're going to bounce it.
32:05 They're going to bend it.
32:06 They're going to bang it.
32:07 Well, the defense recognizes that too.
32:10 And one of the things that Duquesne was trying to do,
32:12 to their credit, is they were trying to play with the edges.
32:15 So in other words, whichever direction
32:16 we were running the stretch play to,
32:18 they were trying to crash wide from the perimeter
32:21 with that perimeter defender.
32:23 So one time on the goal line, remember
32:25 Hudson's first touchdown?
32:27 What happened on that, on that slant?
32:30 What happened on that, we were running an RPO, a stretch play
32:33 to that side, to Hudson's side.
32:36 The will backer crashed trying to attack the perimeter
32:40 of the stretch play.
32:41 Well, what happens is Hudson fills that void
32:44 behind the will backer crashing to slant.
32:46 Jarrett's reading him as the conflict defender.
32:49 Oh, you're going to try it out in numbers in the run game.
32:51 Well, thank you.
32:52 Bop, quick slant touchdown.
32:54 So it's an answer to what the defense is trying
32:57 to do to adjust to you.
32:58 And that's the type of thing you like to see well executed.
33:02 That's the type of thing that you need
33:03 to make some big plays on.
33:05 Absolutely.
33:06 And you did.
33:07 Good start.
33:07 And let's carry that over into, I
33:10 guess, the second most notable athletic program out
33:13 of Pittsburgh, who's coming down to Morgantown on Saturday.
33:16 All right, Sean's been good.
33:17 Shout out to Old Fast West.
33:19 When Nico gets moving and strokes it,
33:21 that's pretty.
33:23 That's pretty.
33:24 When he gets moving and strokes it, that's pretty.
33:26 But go ahead.
33:26 That one where he threw back across to Jeremiah, it hit him.
33:29 I mean, that was square.
33:31 That might have been the prettiest play of the game.
33:33 I told Nico on the sidelines.
33:34 And one more thing about Nico, I texted you guys.
33:36 When he started to go into game, when he had that drive,
33:39 when Rodney tried to outstretch that thing past the pylon,
33:42 first of all, you never do that past fourth down.
33:44 Bill Belichick says you only do it the last play of the game.
33:47 So you certainly don't do it in that situation.
33:49 He's a freshman.
33:50 We won't do it again.
33:50 But that cost us a score on that drive.
33:52 Nico came off.
33:53 He's frustrated that the offense didn't punch it in.
33:55 He said, we're going to punch one in.
33:56 We're going to punch one in.
33:57 I looked at him and said, dude, if you don't punch three in,
34:00 I'm going to be pissed.
34:01 He said, you got three.
34:02 You got three.
34:03 I walk in the locker room after the game.
34:04 He's sitting in his locker from a distance.
34:06 I gave him the three fingers up.
34:07 He gives me the three fingers back,
34:09 smiling like the butcher's dog.
34:10 Great night for both quarterbacks.
34:12 I love it.
34:13 I love it.
34:14 One quarterback who was not smiling like a butcher's dog
34:17 Saturday night was that jerk from Pitt, Phil Jerkavich.
34:25 Sean, just real quick, do you think
34:27 we should boo on Saturday night?
34:29 No.
34:29 Is little Phil going to be able to handle that?
34:31 If I could speak directly to the fans for a second,
34:34 let's be courteous.
34:36 Let's be quiet.
34:37 Let's be calm.
34:39 It was already going to be bad, right?
34:42 Then you see that guy's comments,
34:44 and all I've seen is every person I know on social
34:48 just like, why on earth would you say?
34:51 For a guy who's from the area who should know a thing or two
34:54 about this, bullets and board material
34:57 is the last thing you want to do.
34:59 Even if it's not directed towards us,
35:01 we're going to pick up on it.
35:02 And oh my god.
35:04 I am excited for when the teams run on the first time
35:07 after our entrance video just to see
35:11 if we can shake the whole glass out of our windows
35:14 in front of us.
35:15 It's going to be insane.
35:16 Big Daddy, I want to ask you a question,
35:18 because I think we all fared pretty well in projecting
35:21 what to expect at Penn State.
35:22 We all came pretty close with that.
35:25 What I'm guessing for this, and I have reasons for guessing,
35:31 10 years plus last year since the game
35:33 had been played in Pittsburgh, the backyard brawl.
35:36 This is 10 years plus since its last
35:38 been played in Morgantown.
35:39 I expect-- now granted, I'm not going
35:42 to say the novelty was worn off because of the 10 year drought
35:45 it was over last year.
35:46 This is still the drought in Morgantown.
35:48 Last time was 2011.
35:49 It's been 12 years.
35:50 I think if Pittsburgh, which is always
35:56 flat as a pancake under any circumstances
35:59 when Pitt's playing football, if that stadium was truly
36:03 as electric as it proved to be last year,
36:06 it never has a pulse.
36:08 And it was gyrating like the Himalayas.
36:12 If that stadium could do that because of the Pitt, West
36:16 Virginia drought, what can Mountaineer Field do?
36:20 I'm telling you, I expect an atmosphere maybe
36:23 like we haven't seen at Mountaineer Field.
36:27 We have been making jokes for weeks
36:29 since we knew it was going to be a night game and everything.
36:31 We could just make fart noises into the microphone
36:34 rather than play music, and this place
36:36 is going to explode for anything and everything.
36:39 Like it's-- I'm very excited.
36:42 Careful with the fart noises because you
36:43 might make Pitt feel at home.
36:45 Yeah, they might get comfortable.
36:46 Understood.
36:46 That's true.
36:47 Nailed it.
36:47 Nailed it.
36:50 Oh, buddy.
36:51 I can't wait.
36:52 Listen.
36:53 For later in the week, we got to check copyright laws
36:55 on a debug of the year of the song.
36:57 We've got to get it in there.
36:59 I listened to his pressure today,
37:01 and man, it was hard just to listen to 20 minutes.
37:04 It's hard.
37:04 Listen, guys, I've ever-- since Saturday night,
37:06 I've been biting my tongue.
37:08 All right?
37:09 Listen, I just--
37:10 Sean, I said to these guys before we started recording,
37:13 half joking, half serious.
37:16 Because Owen made a joke about it.
37:17 He said we're going to beat him by 28 points on Saturday night.
37:20 I said if we beat Pitt by 28 points on Saturday night,
37:23 I'm going to get fired from my job for all the vile stuff.
37:25 I'm going to tweet it.
37:26 Pat Narduzzi on.
37:28 And I have never blamed anybody.
37:31 The joke is always, if we're up 28 in the fourth quarter,
37:34 beat traffic, all that.
37:35 If we are up 28 in the fourth quarter,
37:38 if we are up 58 in the fourth quarter,
37:42 every single person is going to stay in their seats
37:45 just to sing afterwards.
37:48 It's going to be incredible.
37:49 Maybe we boo for like five minutes
37:51 before we sing "Country Roads."
37:53 Wait until they clear the field, and then-- yeah.
37:57 Big Daddy, buddy, we are very kind of you.
38:02 We're very appreciative of all the time that you
38:04 give us every single week.
38:05 Always happy.
38:06 I know you, like me, different parts of the geography, right?
38:11 But we both grew up looking forward to this game.
38:14 It was always Thanksgiving or Black Friday
38:16 when you and I were kids.
38:18 It's obviously not quite the same
38:20 having it in September as an out-of-conference game
38:22 as it is at the end of the season in a conference game.
38:24 But to have those guys back at Mountaineer Field
38:29 for the first time since 2011 will certainly
38:31 stir some emotions.
38:32 So buddy, I'm jacked up.
38:34 I know you're jacked up.
38:34 And I can't wait to see what you guys do with the show.
38:36 Let me ask you before I go, we'll make this quick.
38:38 Do all of you have a play, one play that sticks out
38:42 in your mind from a home West Virginia pit
38:45 game at Mountaineer Field?
38:47 Yes.
38:48 Hit me.
38:49 John Pennington.
38:50 That's the first one that comes to mind, right?
38:52 Yeah.
38:53 Owen, what was yours?
38:54 Because you were part of--
38:55 I mean, Jamala Dye had to pick six to end the game that one
38:59 year when you were here.
39:00 That was good.
39:01 But even before that, I'm with Jed.
39:06 There was something so iconic about that play.
39:08 And I remember seeing it.
39:12 They used to have a picture of it in the stadium.
39:14 I'm sure it's been removed or whatever, or moved or whatever.
39:18 But it was just--
39:21 It was just different.
39:22 You know what I mean?
39:23 And that was such a huge thing and a motivating tool for us
39:28 in the years that I was there.
39:30 I'm in a car with my best friend.
39:32 It was freshman year, so I was home on break.
39:34 I couldn't get tickets for it.
39:35 We're driving to the Ohio Valley Mall,
39:37 listening to it on the radio.
39:39 And Caridi lost his mind as we are pulling in to go do something
39:44 like Unreal.
39:45 The video will be featured heavily, fear not.
39:48 And I was fourth down right before the half.
39:51 Yes.
39:52 That was fourth and four, fourth and five.
39:54 And Rich put it up, thinking that corner might be nibbling
39:57 on something underneath.
39:58 If I had a close number two, and this is just showing my age,
40:01 Haas's bootleg--
40:02 83.
40:03 83.
40:04 I was going to say, when he kneels down,
40:06 that is such a good moment.
40:08 Bittencourt, I think--
40:09 I was going to say, I'll show my age.
40:12 How about Bittencourt in '09?
40:13 And how about Stedman Bailey?
40:15 The stiffy--
40:16 To the chin in 2011.
40:18 When we have been building the entrance video,
40:20 working with our new video guy, Andrew, he's been incredible.
40:22 He's tried to soak up as much knowledge about the program
40:25 as he can, as he's been cutting stuff.
40:27 I said, please put the stiff arm in.
40:28 And he goes, he didn't stiff arm in LSU.
40:30 It's like, Andrew, please go to my folder on the server.
40:32 I have the place.
40:33 Yes.
40:34 Find the stiff arm.
40:34 Just put it in, please.
40:36 And Stu, guys, before the Bittencourt kick,
40:38 Stu was so stoic.
40:41 But after the kick, I can honestly say,
40:44 I don't think at any point in my life,
40:45 other than we had our two kids and looking at my wife,
40:48 have I seen a happier heart with these guys.
40:50 I mean--
40:51 Coach Stewart, after Bittencourt nailed that field goal.
40:55 I remember Scooter Barry coming over to the student section
40:57 and just crying his eyes out.
41:00 Julian Miller's senior night in 2011,
41:02 when he has all those--
41:04 like, so many memories.
41:06 I get so emotional.
41:07 Like, this is the biggest game.
41:08 I'm so pumped.
41:10 I'm so pumped for Saturday.
41:11 You mentioned that 2011 game real quick,
41:13 when the Mountaineers had like 37 sacks
41:16 and were able to come back from 14 points down
41:18 and win that game.
41:19 A big part of that final drive where the Mountaineers took
41:22 the lead, everybody remembers the fourth down conversion,
41:25 right?
41:26 From Geno to Tavon, like the fourth and sixth, I think it
41:29 was.
41:29 Like, it wasn't a gimme fourth down by any means
41:31 that they converted there.
41:33 Earlier in that drive as well, too,
41:36 we were facing, getting ready to face a fourth down.
41:38 And Aaron Donald took a personal foul
41:40 for a late hit on Geno Smith.
41:42 So there was that clip that was going around of Aaron Donald
41:44 running down Geno Smith and gets the late hit call on Geno
41:49 Smith.
41:50 Yeah.
41:50 That's the first thing I had.
41:52 I'm sitting in the booth doing the post game
41:54 for Steelers Niners on Sunday watching the highlights.
41:57 And I'm like, ah, that's not the first time
42:00 Aaron Donald took an ill-advised roughing the passer penalty
42:02 against Geno Smith.
42:03 I've seen it.
42:04 I've seen that before, I tell you.
42:07 I tell you.
42:08 Sean, we're going to wrap this up here.
42:10 Normally, we just close down with you.
42:11 But since we had some technical stuff,
42:13 we got one or two more things to hit here.
42:15 Thanks for your time as always.
42:17 And again, excited to see what you guys got up your sleeve
42:19 for Saturday night.
42:20 Thank you, folks.
42:21 We'll see all of you Saturday night.
42:23 See you, brother.
42:24 There's our guy, big daddy, Sean Mariner.
42:27 When you see the hype videos, when you see the NWO, brother,
42:31 what you going to do when Sean Mariner and Chris Austin run
42:35 wild on you?
42:38 It's going to be fantastic.
42:39 Like I said, I don't want to ruin too much.
42:41 But these guys have me ready to run through a brick wall
42:43 before Duquesne.
42:44 I can only imagine what it's going to be like.
42:46 I hope it works.
42:48 Thinking, buddy, listen, we know you'll do your part
42:51 as always.
42:52 You want a real time update, Wes?
42:54 OK, go ahead.
42:55 As we tape this, Peyton Manning in complete disbelief
42:58 seeing Aaron Rodgers get on the cart.
43:01 Aaron Rodgers has been carted off the Jets game.
43:03 What?
43:04 As we're taping right now.
43:06 Oh my goodness.
43:07 Pre-bay needs 60% of all plays played
43:09 to get that extra draft pick.
43:12 So you might be in trouble.
43:14 Hurts the heart.
43:16 Big daddy, thanks, partner.
43:18 We'll talk to you soon.
43:19 Thanks, guys.
43:20 All right, wrap it up.
43:21 Number 83, episode 83 here of ITG, our Duquesne recap.
43:26 When we had those technical issues earlier,
43:28 one of the games around college football
43:31 that we didn't get a chance to discuss, of course,
43:33 was Cincinnati and Pitt, an old Big East rivalry.
43:38 Another one that not nearly to the same extent
43:40 of the backyard brawl, but a rivalry with some history.
43:42 A rivalry that went away there for a little while.
43:46 An anticipated game.
43:47 Cincinnati gets out to a big lead.
43:49 Pitt ends up coming back.
43:50 They have a chance to win it.
43:52 Their offense stalls, and Djurkovic
43:54 isn't able to get much done.
43:55 That's what leads to some of that booing
43:57 that you heard us talking about earlier.
44:00 But guys, that game went about as perfectly--
44:03 without-- I made the joke last week.
44:05 Let's hope that game goes into seven overtimes, right?
44:07 And they just beat the crap out of each other.
44:09 Realistically, though, that was about as best as it could go.
44:12 Cincinnati gets out to a huge lead.
44:13 Pitt claws back.
44:14 They think they're about to win it.
44:15 And then they end up falling short.
44:17 And their fan base is cantankerous.
44:19 And their quarterback is pouting like a little baby.
44:22 And their head coach is all over the place
44:24 in his press conferences as well, too.
44:26 Aside from a seven-overtime knockdown drag-out type fight,
44:30 I think-- you know what?
44:31 I think we might have got them in the position that we won.
44:36 I agree.
44:36 I mean, it would have been nice for them
44:38 to be 2-0 coming into the matchup,
44:42 just to create some of it.
44:43 But I think they're a little salty in the bottom end there.
44:47 And they're going to be hungry for some revenge
44:52 as they come off that old Big East foe loss up there in Pitt.
44:58 And here's what I'm going to say.
44:59 It's going to be electric, son.
45:01 The beer truck's rolling in town, dawg.
45:04 We're going to be heavily sedated
45:06 with Miller Lite beverages.
45:08 No, trust walkers.
45:09 Trust walkers.
45:10 I'm telling you.
45:11 It is going-- yeah.
45:12 Oh, trust, yes.
45:14 I will be having a plentiful of the trust lager in hand.
45:21 They got them in the stadium, big O. I tell you what, buddy.
45:24 15 percentile.
45:26 They're getting all the 15% from me.
45:28 I'm telling you that much.
45:30 Those cans are everywhere.
45:31 And that's tasty.
45:32 They are.
45:33 It's awesome.
45:34 Dude, it's so cool.
45:36 What a great idea.
45:37 It's awesome.
45:38 But yes, I'm going to have my share.
45:39 I'll keep my tabs so that--
45:42 You can see how much you donated.
45:43 Let's do an over under on the amount of donations
45:48 that Wes and I will make on Saturday.
45:52 I'm going to say--
45:53 I'll tell you--
45:54 I'm not driving either, so--
45:56 Same, same.
45:57 I'm saying--
45:59 You're welcome.
45:59 I'm going to drink at least 15 trust lagers.
46:03 Well, big O, every trust lager that you drink in the stadium,
46:05 $1.50 goes to the WVU NIL.
46:09 So--
46:10 Is it $10?
46:10 There we go.
46:12 No, it's $11.
46:13 So actually, you're right.
46:14 It's what?
46:14 It's like $1.65.
46:16 Yeah.
46:18 How about that?
46:20 That's quite a donation.
46:22 Guys, I think they're coming in here--
46:23 Probably buying a case before I get into town, too.
46:26 They're coming into somewhat of a potential hornet's nest.
46:29 It was, as you touched on, Wes, that was a physical game.
46:32 That kind of reminded me of our Penn State game.
46:35 We talked last week about how they
46:38 could be in for a nasty bit of a rock fight.
46:41 We didn't think Cincinnati would find a way
46:42 to finish it and win it.
46:43 But Cincinnati's D-line, I'm telling you.
46:46 When you look at Corleone, Jawan Briggs, that group is nasty.
46:49 And I mean, that running back's better than advertised.
46:53 So give him credit.
46:54 They found a way in a very physical football game.
46:58 It goes back to the old saying, don't
47:01 let one game beat you twice.
47:03 Well, let's hope the Pitt does that.
47:04 And I think that they might have been a little peak ahead.
47:08 So the game that could beat them twice
47:10 isn't the Cincinnati game.
47:11 It's actually the West Virginia game.
47:13 So I think that kind of caught up to them.
47:16 And Cincinnati's better than they expected.
47:18 But Owen, you talked about it.
47:19 If they come in 2-0, that's great.
47:21 But it's also great that we have a chance to send them
47:23 into the season--
47:24 They lead 1-2.
47:24 --0-2 against the Big 12.
47:26 That's right.
47:26 I like that idea.
47:28 But that was a physical game they played in.
47:30 I was kind of hoping that Storm Front
47:32 would head north to Pittsburgh and delay their game as well.
47:34 It didn't happen.
47:35 But I'll take the physicality of that matchup
47:37 against Cincinnati last week.
47:39 So--
47:40 Jed, before we get out of here, we got to spread on that Pitt
47:42 game, don't we?
47:43 Yeah, we do.
47:44 It keeps bouncing back and forth.
47:46 A buddy of mine saw Pitt minus 1.
47:48 And then I saw West Virginia minus 1.
47:51 I think it's a simple function of where you look.
47:53 But where I land is it's going to be an interesting thing
47:56 to monitor for the rest of the week.
47:58 It seems to be like maybe one of those lines that
48:00 will float a little bit through the course of the week.
48:03 And again, I have to think, guys,
48:05 if you're looking at the body of work through two games,
48:08 our Penn State game against their Cincinnati game,
48:11 they were favored by 4 and 1/2 and got beat at home.
48:14 And we were three touchdown underdogs
48:17 and basically got beat by three touchdowns in the last seconds.
48:20 And then you kind of wash the FCS games or the other games,
48:23 right?
48:23 So what's the difference here?
48:26 To me, it would be the environment, the venue,
48:28 the most electric crowd we've even, by Mountaineer Field
48:31 standards, seen in a long time.
48:33 Shouldn't that be worth a couple of points?
48:35 I think it should.
48:36 Yeah, better be.
48:37 That's why Vegas makes the money.
48:40 Well, listen, it's going to end up being, I think,
48:45 a point, point and a half either way.
48:47 By the time we get to Saturday afternoon,
48:49 that's what you want, that's what you expect in a rivalry
48:51 game.
48:52 Does feel like one of those coin flip games, right?
48:54 Where it'll come down to just a couple of key moments.
48:57 And hopefully that atmosphere, hopefully our crowd
48:59 will be part of what propels us to victory, which gives us
49:03 that little extra oomph on Saturday night.
49:06 We'll have a ton of Pit content for you guys this week.
49:09 Obviously, we'll have our full preview later in the week
49:11 with Phil Steel as well, too.
49:14 Our Phil episodes, where he'll be deep diving
49:16 into his thoughts from a neutral, national perspective
49:19 on the game as well, too.
49:20 So it's Brawl week, baby.
49:22 We're fired up.
49:23 We're ready to go.
49:24 And as the great Jack Fleming would have said,
49:27 there's only two words that matter this week.
49:30 Beat Pit.
49:33 For our producer, our guy in the back, Skylar Callahan,
49:38 the runaway beer truck, Jed Drenning--
49:39 Jed's the runaway beer truck, Jed Drenning.
49:41 I'm all excited now.
49:42 The runaway beer truck, Owen Schmidt, and the signal caller,
49:45 Jed Drenning.
49:45 I'm Wesley Uler, folks.
49:46 Thanks for listening.
49:47 The one thing we ask of you, as always,
49:49 is to be an ear and tell an ear about your new favorite WVU
49:52 football podcast.
49:53 Plenty more coming at you this week.
49:55 It's Brawl week, baby.
49:56 Get fired up.
49:56 Get ready to go.
49:57 And if you're making your way to Morgantown on Saturday night,
50:00 be ready to represent.
50:01 That'll do it for us today.
50:02 We've got plenty more coming at you this week.
50:04 Take care, and we'll talk soon.
50:05 You've been in the gun.
50:07 [BLANK_AUDIO]