ITG 91 - Big Daddy Kicks Off TCU Week
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 In the gun episode 91 and I'm Skylar Callie
00:09 filling in for Wesley Euler as he's still making his way
00:11 across country from Las Vegas.
00:13 If you haven't caught up with that news,
00:15 the Steelers plane had a little issue.
00:18 So I'm filling in for him tonight.
00:19 I was a starting pitcher back in the day.
00:21 So I'm not used to this whole relief stuff.
00:24 So we'll see how I do coming out of the bullpen
00:26 this week for Wes.
00:27 But in the gun here with Jed Drenning
00:30 and the Runaway Beer Truck, Owen Schmidt.
00:33 Before we get started, a word from BetOnline.
00:35 BetOnline is your number one source
00:36 for all your betting needs.
00:38 Make sure you go and get the latest odds
00:40 and lines matchup reports there on BetOnline.
00:43 BetOnline where the game starts.
00:45 And Jed and Owen, a lot going on here
00:49 in the top 25 this past week.
00:51 It was finally the first time we actually had
00:52 some top 25 matchups to really actually talk about,
00:56 dive into, we'll get Big Daddy in here in a little bit
00:59 to talk more about West Virginia Texas Tech also.
01:02 But just hitting on the top 25,
01:05 everyone was talking about this Colorado-Oregon matchup,
01:07 right, and Oregon's been the darling of college football
01:11 here in the first couple weeks of the season.
01:13 We all knew that this was gonna come to an end
01:15 at some point, but holy crap.
01:17 Like, Colorado just put it to them.
01:21 And I love the Dan Lanning.
01:23 I don't know if you guys saw the video of Dan Lanning
01:25 before the game's little pregame speech about it.
01:28 We're not doing this for clicks.
01:29 We're here to do it on the field.
01:31 That was pretty awesome.
01:33 And even at halftime, he said 35 to six,
01:35 it was like 35, six or something.
01:37 He's like, we're not done.
01:38 So they only got one more touchdown,
01:40 but I think the message was well received
01:43 for Deion in Colorado.
01:45 - Yeah, I mean, that was a heck of a statement.
01:49 And just seeing that clip of him,
01:53 this isn't for the clicks, we do this for the wins.
01:55 And Oregon absolutely just steamrolled them.
02:01 You know, the thing I see with Colorado,
02:03 you gotta be able to run the ball.
02:05 And that's something they lack.
02:07 I think on the season, the quarterback runs
02:12 is like negative 97 yards or something crazy like that.
02:16 So they need to learn how to run the ball a little bit.
02:20 But I think everybody kind of knew at some point,
02:25 this would happen, maybe not so much like this,
02:30 but it comes in every sorts of form and fashion
02:35 and Colorado takes it on the chin, but it is what it is.
02:38 And I love what Deion's response is.
02:41 Hey, this is the worst we're gonna be.
02:43 - Yeah, there's some nuance to all this.
02:47 - Yeah.
02:47 - We talked a few weeks back
02:49 when people were saying,
02:51 "What in the world is College Game Day
02:53 "going to Colorado State and Colorado for?"
02:55 What'd we say?
02:56 Because of timing.
02:58 - Striking the irons hot.
02:59 - Looking ahead, they're looking ahead
03:01 and they want to stay ahead of the posse
03:03 and seize this while it's hot
03:05 before they take one on the chin.
03:08 And that's exactly what they did.
03:09 Now, I'll say this about what Dan Lanning said.
03:12 Dan Lanning was throwing shade a couple of weeks ago
03:14 before they played.
03:15 If Colorado is staying in the same conference
03:19 as Oregon, they do not release that video
03:22 from that locker room.
03:23 That doesn't happen.
03:24 No way in the world does that happen.
03:26 I mean, that violates every norm in the history of coaching.
03:30 You do not give your enemy that much to feed on
03:33 in perpetuity.
03:34 But everyone going off in their direction
03:36 and Oregon going off in theirs, why not?
03:39 They were saying, "What do we have to lose here?
03:40 "Let's go ahead and throw some shade.
03:41 "Let's toss it their way."
03:43 And Travis Hunter's their best player
03:46 on both sides of the ball, maybe.
03:47 He was out, but he doesn't account for a 36-point difference
03:51 just like Owen said.
03:52 He's not gonna help you run the football.
03:53 Now, you got USC coming to Boulder.
03:55 I think that's more looking in the mirror for Colorado.
04:00 USC's defense has improved, but it's not Oregon's defense.
04:03 And I think Colorado might be able to score some points
04:06 against USC, but I just don't think,
04:08 Colorado hasn't stopped anybody yet.
04:10 And I certainly don't think they're gonna stop
04:12 Caleb Williams and USC.
04:14 So, tough sled in the head.
04:16 And Deion has to understand, and he's a very savvy guy.
04:19 He wants that locker room following him,
04:24 belly crawling through hell over shards of glass.
04:28 But they're not gonna continue to do that.
04:31 If just to get back at what the other coach is saying,
04:33 you're telling the other coach how bad your players are.
04:36 "You better get me now 'cause my players really suck.
04:38 "And we won't suck forever."
04:40 Dude, be careful what you're saying.
04:42 You're gonna hear what you're saying.
04:45 And you're right, this is as bad as you'll be.
04:47 But you don't need to be saying that
04:49 so your own locker room hears it.
04:50 But again, who am I to counsel Deion?
04:54 So, there's a lot of moving parts here.
04:56 Everything they do, everything they say
04:59 is one of the bigger stories in college football,
05:01 including getting curb stomped by 36 points.
05:05 That's one of the bigger stories in college football.
05:07 They'll get better.
05:08 They'll be able to score on most of the teams they face.
05:11 Oregon just didn't happen to be one of those teams.
05:13 - And it may not be the last time
05:14 that this happens to them, too.
05:15 They got USC coming up.
05:17 They've got some tough games.
05:18 Pac-12's really good this year, guys.
05:20 - Yeah, it is.
05:21 - And we've talked about it.
05:21 - You know what teams mean?
05:22 They don't match up with it all.
05:24 They don't match up with Utah at all.
05:26 - Yeah, that could be a game where it gets out of hand.
05:29 - That's one right there.
05:30 - Physically.
05:31 'Cause that's the biggest issue with Colorado,
05:33 is the trenches.
05:35 They are terrible up front.
05:36 - Brooks, no nonsense.
05:38 I mean, everything you saw Dan Lanning say and do,
05:42 that's what Kyle Whittingham does without saying it.
05:46 - Yeah.
05:47 And I know that these two,
05:48 well, one of them's not in the conference,
05:51 the same conference as West Virginia anymore.
05:52 One of them has never been in the same conference,
05:54 but it's a game that a lot of people
05:56 like to pay attention to.
05:58 Virginia Tech and Marshall.
06:00 How about this?
06:01 Well, actually, we'll talk about the rivals real quick.
06:04 How about a weekend for West Virginia fans?
06:06 You not only win, but you see Pitt go down again.
06:09 They're one and three.
06:10 Their only loss, or their only win,
06:12 is an FCS opponent and walker.
06:14 Virginia Tech loses to Marshall.
06:16 They're one and three.
06:18 Their only win is against an FCS opponent.
06:21 I mean, this is like a mountaineer weekend dream.
06:24 - Saturday night, Skyler.
06:25 - They play together.
06:27 - They play each other at Lane Stadium or Blacksburg.
06:29 - Someone's got to be one and four.
06:31 - Yeah.
06:32 And Pitt remains in 15th place in the Big 12 standings.
06:37 They're the only 0-2 team in the Big 12.
06:39 So--
06:40 - And this interesting fact that I did,
06:42 because I did ESPN Blacksburg radio.
06:44 I do it every Monday, talk Panthers, West Virginia.
06:47 And I dug up an interesting stat.
06:50 In the last two years, Virginia Tech
06:54 is one in nine in Power 5 games.
06:56 That's worse than Rutgers and Vanderbilt.
06:58 That shows you how far Virginia Tech has fallen
07:01 in the last few years.
07:02 - Yeah, they've struggled, man.
07:04 They've struggled.
07:04 - There's a pair of 4-0 teams in Virginia
07:06 playing Power 5, excuse me, FBS football.
07:09 And neither one of them are Virginia Tech.
07:11 - Yeah.
07:12 (laughing)
07:14 Lastly, before we start getting into this
07:18 West Virginia, Texas Tech game,
07:20 Notre Dame, Ohio State, 17-14, very low scoring game.
07:24 I thought it was funny, the little back and forth
07:26 that fake Lou Holtz and the real Lou Holtz had
07:29 leading up to that game.
07:30 And then Ryan Day kind of coming back at the real Lou Holtz
07:35 by saying that his team wasn't physical enough.
07:37 Well, I mean, I don't know.
07:39 I don't know if they were really that physical,
07:42 but they found a way to win at the end, 17-14.
07:45 That hurt a lot of people that bet Notre Dame in this game.
07:47 They had them plus the points.
07:49 But interesting, 'cause I thought,
07:51 when we talked to Phil on Friday, Jett,
07:54 he was going right down the list.
07:55 He was like, "Yup, Notre Dame's better here,
07:57 "better here, better here, better here."
07:58 And I agreed with him.
07:59 I said they won the game outright with ease.
08:02 And they just could not get going offensively.
08:05 - No, they couldn't.
08:06 - Yeah.
08:07 - Hey, oh, and here's what I see.
08:09 I didn't question Ohio State's toughness.
08:11 - Hey, let me get the elephant out real quick, Jett.
08:14 - Go ahead, go ahead.
08:15 - Okay, look, you might be tough,
08:17 but anyone's tough when you're playing 11 against 10, okay?
08:20 - That's true.
08:21 (laughing)
08:23 - Now they said they came up with a signal
08:26 in case they only have 10 on defense.
08:28 What, you need a signal?
08:30 But I never questioned Ohio State's toughness
08:32 until Ryan Day said that.
08:35 And as soon as he said that,
08:37 I was like, "How thin-skinned is Ohio State
08:40 "that you hear that much noise from your Ohio State?"
08:44 - But he was salty.
08:44 - "You hear that much noise from the outside?"
08:46 - He's feeling it.
08:47 - He was feeling it.
08:48 He was borderline a little too aggressive
08:51 when he was talking about it, too.
08:52 I was like, "Man, this is butter."
08:53 - I questioned their toughness.
08:56 Michigan is in your head.
08:58 - Oh, bad.
08:59 - Wow, I mean, I never thought twice about it
09:01 until Ryan Day said that.
09:03 And I was like, "Dude, you're Ohio State.
09:05 "Act like it, talk like it."
09:08 I mean, can you imagine Nick Saban
09:09 saying something like that?
09:11 He does it for a reason.
09:12 Speaking of Nick Saban, guys, if you ever questioned
09:16 how quarterback-centric this modern game has truly become,
09:21 all you gotta do is look
09:23 at two of the biggest brands in the sport,
09:25 Ohio State and Alabama.
09:27 And you always just took for granted
09:29 there'd be another Bryce Young,
09:31 there'd be another top five quarterback,
09:32 there'd be another C.J. Stroud.
09:34 And as soon as there isn't,
09:36 as soon as there merely is an incredibly talented quarterback
09:39 but not a top five quarterback, look at the struggles
09:42 Alabama and Ohio State are having offensively
09:45 simply because, I mean, they have two of,
09:47 probably, Ohio State probably has two
09:49 of the top five receivers in the country.
09:51 There's talk Marvin Harrison might be
09:52 the number two overall pick.
09:54 They're talented at every position
09:56 except they're not quite what they were at quarterback.
09:59 And look at them.
10:00 It looks like a different team offensively.
10:02 That's how quarterback-centric this game has become.
10:05 - Yeah, I agree. - It is.
10:07 It is.
10:08 And I still think it's funny, though.
10:10 Ryan Day going after 86-year-old LeBron.
10:12 (laughing)
10:14 - Oh my God. - And you host is out there
10:16 and you host is saying, "Ohio State, you are not tough, man."
10:20 Come on, man.
10:21 - The only other one I would wanna mention, Skyler,
10:24 and it's just because there were such insane numbers
10:26 coming out of it.
10:28 - Yeah. - It was Penn State
10:29 shutting out Iowa. - I knew you were
10:31 going there, yeah.
10:32 - Penn State ran 97 offensive plays.
10:35 - Yeah, it was crazy. - Iowa ran,
10:37 ready for this? - Crazy.
10:38 - Ran 33.
10:40 - Yeah. - 33.
10:42 Somebody posted something on Twitter.
10:45 I'm trying to remember how long it's been
10:48 since there had been a 60-play deficit
10:51 with one team versus another team.
10:53 97 plays to 33.
10:56 That is a neat trick.
10:58 - You're probably talking about
10:59 like one of the service academies doing that, maybe.
11:02 You don't see that from like an ordinary offense.
11:05 - It's incredibly difficult to do that.
11:07 First of all, you don't see Penn State run a 97 play.
11:09 - Yeah, first of all, you don't see like a 70-play average
11:12 amongst most teams. - Yeah.
11:14 - Yeah, to have almost 30-plus on that
11:16 and then to shut them out almost 40,
11:18 especially Iowa, you know what I mean?
11:20 I was blown away by the end result of that game.
11:23 I figured there'd be a little, you know,
11:26 I was the defensive team.
11:27 They're the black and golds, right?
11:31 They're the steel curtain of college football.
11:34 But man, Penn State, hey, they're for real.
11:38 - They are. - They're absolutely for real.
11:39 And so are Iowa's offensive problems.
11:42 And for a West Virginia analyst to sit here
11:44 and talk about somebody else's offensive problems,
11:46 they're real. - That tells you a lot.
11:48 - They're real.
11:49 (laughing)
11:50 - That definitely tells you a lot.
11:52 But like you said, that Penn State loss,
11:54 I mean, that's the only one you got right now
11:56 if you're West Virginia.
11:57 We're going to dive into here in a minute,
11:59 but like, got to feel pretty good about where this team is
12:02 despite all those offensive struggles that they've had.
12:04 They found a way to win these games.
12:06 Years past, I'm not sure that's the case.
12:08 So three and one is West Virginia.
12:11 As we get into our recap of the game here,
12:14 one, thank you to Toothman Ford.
12:16 If you haven't yet, go to Grafton.
12:19 We all know cars cost less in Grafton.
12:21 Pick yourself up a vehicle.
12:23 Maybe make the long cross country trip
12:25 out to TCU this week.
12:27 I know Wes was talking about making the short drive
12:29 from TCU, or from Dallas to Houston,
12:32 but, or the other way around.
12:34 But anyways.
12:35 - He'll be in Houston with the Steelers.
12:37 If he ever finally made it back from Las Vegas
12:40 with the Steelers.
12:41 (laughing)
12:42 He was texting us all afternoon.
12:43 We're taping this on Monday.
12:45 And he texted me like one o'clock.
12:47 And I'm like, "Hey, how was the trip?"
12:48 "Dude, I'm in Kansas City."
12:49 I'm like, "Oh, I got done watching that game 13 hours ago."
12:53 He's like, "Yeah, we've been on the plane since then."
12:55 So I don't know if you haven't heard,
12:57 if you've been in a cave somewhere,
12:58 the Steelers plane, their charter,
13:01 had some sort of oil pressure issue.
13:03 So they had to make an emergency landing in Kansas City.
13:05 And typically for whatever twisted weird reason,
13:08 Owen, you've probably been involved in some of that.
13:10 I don't know why I have.
13:11 The protocol typically dictates
13:13 you can't get off those flights.
13:14 And you're stuck on them on the tarmac.
13:16 And it is treacherous.
13:18 So Wes finally made it back to Pittsburgh.
13:21 No harm, no foul.
13:22 But that's where he is for those wondering,
13:24 as Skylar mentioned earlier.
13:25 I mean, what a journey from Milan to Minsk to Vegas.
13:28 That, holy cow.
13:30 But now he goes to Houston
13:32 and he's actually talking about the possibility of,
13:35 "Should I rent a car in Houston
13:36 "and sit off the DFW to Fort Worth
13:38 "to maybe check to Amon G. Carter
13:41 "to check out the game and get back at three o'clock?"
13:43 And then he has pre-game before the Steelers.
13:46 Wow, dude's nuts, man.
13:47 He's nuts.
13:48 He is nuts.
13:49 He is nuts.
13:50 Speaking of JR Tuchman,
13:52 Owen, you got a run in, didn't you?
13:54 Yeah, JR caught me in a beer truck fashion
13:58 at the end of the game.
13:59 He caught me on film.
14:01 It actually got caught some traction there
14:04 for the Rebel yell I let out after the big stop
14:08 on that fourth down play,
14:10 which sealed the deal against Texas Tech
14:12 game here on Saturday.
14:16 It was good stuff, man.
14:17 It was good stuff.
14:19 Yeah, so Wes will not be stuck on the tarmac
14:21 when he is back for the West Virginia TCU preview
14:24 here in a couple of days.
14:26 But let's dive right into this, guys.
14:28 We'll go a few minutes here
14:29 and then we'll get into Big Daddy.
14:31 West Virginia beating Texas Tech 20 to 13.
14:34 Again, ugly, wasn't the prettiest way to win.
14:36 But again, at this point in the game for Neil Brown,
14:39 it's not about how you win, how sexy it is.
14:42 It's just about getting that result.
14:44 They found a way to do it these last two weeks
14:47 with Nico Marchio, the redshirt freshman quarterback,
14:49 doing just enough to kind of keep the offense
14:54 somewhat going, I guess you can say.
14:56 The running game didn't even really have its best day
14:58 either, I didn't think, even though they ran for
15:00 157 yards, it was only 3.7 yards of carry.
15:03 So there's a lot of stuff to build on,
15:05 but how about that defense, guys?
15:07 Like, holy crap, did they play their lights off,
15:10 their tails off.
15:10 Bro, I mean, Jed and I were kind of just talking here
15:14 about an hour ago, and he made the comment,
15:18 isn't it great that you can win and still be figuring
15:21 things out on offense?
15:22 - Yeah.
15:23 - And you know what I mean?
15:24 Like, it's not, I'm not gonna say it's a train wreck,
15:28 but they gotta find their way.
15:29 They're gonna have to find their way.
15:30 We can't get away with that all season long,
15:34 but defense coming up huge.
15:35 I mean, those guys have literally taken the team
15:38 on their back and made it through these last couple games.
15:43 Proud of those guys, and they're starting to kind of
15:44 come out of their shell a little bit.
15:45 You see in that confidence on defense,
15:48 especially in the secondary, those guys are coming alive.
15:51 And if you saw some of the plays they were making,
15:53 I mean, boys were screaming.
15:55 I mean, it was fun watching those guys fly around.
15:58 - There's no doubt about it.
15:59 And you know, what that game reminded me of,
16:02 and you know, I remember when Neil was hired,
16:06 I wanted to know anything and everything about this guy
16:09 we were getting from Troy, Alabama,
16:11 that was a receiver at Kentucky and UMass.
16:13 So I did a very thorough deep dive.
16:16 - By the way, love that picture you sent of Neil in college.
16:21 And it was like, hey, we're climbing again, boys.
16:24 - Somebody posted that, yeah.
16:25 (laughing)
16:28 So one of the things I'd done when Neil was hired
16:33 or when it appeared imminent that he would be,
16:36 I did a deep dive into everything that he'd done
16:38 as a head coach at Troy and studied each of those games.
16:42 I went and watched the pressers, the post game, the pre game,
16:45 got a sense of who he was and what the vibe
16:47 in each of those games was.
16:48 And this game reminded me in so many ways, guys,
16:52 of in 2018, his final year at Troy,
16:56 as a double-digit underdog,
16:59 he took Troy up to Lincoln, Nebraska
17:01 and upset Nebraska 24 to 19 in front of 87,000,
17:05 you know, Cornhusker fans.
17:08 And it was ugly.
17:09 It was rough around the edges.
17:10 They had 250 some yards offense,
17:12 but they played very opportunistic third down defense.
17:15 They made just enough plays
17:16 from the special teams standpoint.
17:18 There was nothing really flashy about it.
17:22 It was just swelling up at the right times in the game.
17:26 And I couldn't help but think,
17:27 as this game was unfolding,
17:29 it reminded me of that Troy win over Nebraska.
17:31 It was that same kind of template.
17:34 And, you know, we were minus two in turnover.
17:37 Now, in turnover margin.
17:39 Now, this isn't something you strive for by any stretch,
17:42 but sometimes you find yourself in a game
17:44 and you haven't executed as efficiently on offense,
17:47 and you've coughed it up once or twice,
17:48 or made some poor decisions in the throw game, as we did.
17:51 And meanwhile, the defense isn't snatching the football
17:54 the way you want them to,
17:55 and you find yourself on the business end
17:56 of a turnover margin.
17:57 Well, that doesn't mean you throw in the towel and give up.
17:59 You got to battle and find your way
18:02 over the course of 60 minutes to claw back and win that game,
18:04 or to claw ahead and win that game,
18:06 despite the disadvantage in turnover margin.
18:08 And what struck me, I got to thinking about it,
18:10 this was the fourth year in a row
18:13 that we won a game minus two in turnover margin.
18:17 And that's irregular.
18:19 It's not something you want to do, okay?
18:22 But if you find yourself in that situation,
18:24 it's a tough situation to be in.
18:25 But first, I'll hit the offense,
18:27 then I'll go to the defense.
18:29 You obviously have to start with Nico.
18:30 I liked the way that they got things rolling,
18:32 even right out of the shoot.
18:34 You start, oh, and they started with a smash route to the left,
18:37 so the south paw gets to roll left with a very basic.
18:40 Now, for those who've never played quarterback
18:42 and read a smash route, when you're facing any version
18:45 of a host of soft coverages,
18:47 there's going to be a flat player
18:48 that has to buzz that flat.
18:49 A smash route is the wide out,
18:51 basically runs a five-yard stop or smash or hitch,
18:55 whatever you want to call it. It's coached different ways.
18:57 And the slot is going to run some version
18:59 of a post-corner slash flag,
19:01 and you're going to high-low the defender
19:03 responsible for that flat area of the field.
19:05 Well, if they're in a soft coverage,
19:07 it's too much for the flat player to get there quickly
19:09 on that quick hitch or smash.
19:11 So pre-snap, you know, hey,
19:13 I got an easy five-yard completion.
19:14 He's going to spin and miss attack.
19:15 What's nine yards on my first play of the game?
19:17 I love the fact that's how he started it off play action.
19:20 Gave Nico an easy completion, and then right after that,
19:24 boom, play number two. What do we do, Owen?
19:26 We get him involved in the run game.
19:27 Get him hit. Run his own read.
19:30 You really wake up, and you're part of the game.
19:32 Once you have contact made, so two plays into the game,
19:35 and he's kind of lathered up and ready to go.
19:37 Now, we can talk all the live long day
19:40 about the inability to push the football vertical
19:43 and the lack of plays made on the perimeter.
19:46 And, well, even in the second half,
19:47 I would say the lack of plays made by the running back room
19:50 that we have such faith in, right?
19:51 I think the only consistent piece of the offense all day
19:54 was the O-line, starting with Zach Frazier.
19:57 But when you look at Nico
19:59 and you look at what he demonstrated,
20:01 first of all, I think fans are starting to get a sense.
20:04 They've heard us say,
20:05 "Well, Garrett's the twitchy, explosive one.
20:08 Nico's the strong, slippery one," right?
20:10 Well, I think through the better part of two games,
20:12 they now have a sense of what we mean by that.
20:15 You very much can see. He's a handful.
20:17 He's 224 pounds. He's deceptively large.
20:21 He's physical, and he's strong.
20:22 He's tough to bring down.
20:24 An arm tackle's not going to do it.
20:26 And multiple times in the run game,
20:27 you saw him make Texas Tech pay with that skill set
20:31 and that ability.
20:32 But what stuck out to me the most
20:34 was when Texas Tech closed the gap to 13 to 10.
20:37 And this is what I was talking to Owen about.
20:39 There are so many parts of Nico's game.
20:42 I want to talk about the drive when it was 13 to 10
20:44 and what that meant to me.
20:45 There are so many parts of Nico's game
20:48 that at his age and his stage in his career,
20:51 a lot of things still need to slow down, okay?
20:53 You're, you know, Sundry drive
20:56 in the middle of the first quarter in a scoreless game.
20:59 His reads need to slow down.
21:01 He needs to do a much crisper job of focusing on his read keys,
21:05 understanding certain rotations on the back end,
21:08 understanding his quick hands or throws.
21:10 All these things need to slow down.
21:11 But you see a massive ceiling in what he can be.
21:16 But the area of the game that doesn't need to slow down,
21:19 and I think is already at nearly a 400 level,
21:23 is the situational awareness he demonstrates.
21:26 In critical points in a football game,
21:28 he understands when he took the field when it was 13 to 10
21:32 after Texas Tech scored,
21:34 he recognized the critical nature
21:35 of that specific possession.
21:38 And he said, "You know what?
21:40 I'm going to will us down the football field."
21:42 And watching that, that's daggone near what he did.
21:46 With his legs, with his arm,
21:48 he cashes in with the throw to big Cole Taylor,
21:50 puts us back up 20 to 10.
21:52 And I really like the fact, guys,
21:53 that when we got the ball back
21:56 and we needed another drive like that,
21:58 we needed another drive to two o'clock,
22:00 move the chains, keep Texas Tech off the field.
22:02 Now we were nursing a seven-point lead.
22:05 What's the first play we ran?
22:06 We took a shot play to EJ Horton.
22:09 We trusted Nico,
22:11 and Nico delivered a great ball on that too.
22:13 So we opened up going for the win.
22:16 We weren't playing not to lose, we were playing to win.
22:18 Neil was calling plays to win.
22:20 He was being aggressive, leaving nothing on the field.
22:23 So that's what I saw out of Nico.
22:25 Now, when you go to the other side of the ball,
22:28 first of all, it was so critical for us in this game,
22:31 not just because of what's played out
22:32 in the previous four games
22:33 with us falling in this massive hole up to the first quarter,
22:36 but they were a forced first quarter team all year.
22:39 They'd outscored the opposition 45 to 15
22:42 with a bunch of fast starts.
22:43 That's what they do.
22:44 They game plan well,
22:45 they jump on you with a quick script.
22:46 Next thing you know, you're down by 10 or 14 points
22:49 and you're in a trail position.
22:50 The defense, I think, forced three three and outs
22:53 in the first four possessions.
22:55 So they came right out of the chutes like lions.
22:58 And that made such a huge, huge difference
23:01 in the overall flow, certainly of the first half.
23:04 And it was needed because that goodwill and collateral
23:07 we built in the first half by voting that 10 point lead
23:11 was such exceptional defense,
23:13 was sorely needed in the second half
23:15 when that same defense was on the field
23:17 for 58 plays in one half.
23:20 That's the most snaps in one half
23:22 since the 2018 loss in Stillwater
23:24 with Giddey's defense on the field 53 plays.
23:27 So that was, we were really reaching.
23:30 You saw hands on hips.
23:32 We were running on lower tanks toward the end.
23:34 You heard Neil talk and his pressure
23:36 about the tackling wasn't as solid at the end of the game.
23:39 The technique wasn't as solid.
23:40 Well, Owen, you know this better than anybody.
23:42 What happens when you get tired?
23:43 What's the first thing to disintegrate?
23:45 Technique, right?
23:46 Technique starts to erode and disintegrate.
23:48 You started to see-
23:49 - Start playing higher, yeah.
23:51 - Yeah, absolutely.
23:52 Now you started to see some of that.
23:53 Now, I think what happened with Tyler Shuck,
23:57 here's the critical role, I think,
23:59 that played in the outcome of the game.
24:01 Tyler Shuck was going to be a big part
24:04 of the run game, first of all.
24:05 They believe in Q power.
24:06 He's a big physical kid.
24:07 They like doing it.
24:09 So when he gets knocked out of the game
24:11 and Baron Morton comes in,
24:12 I had some Mountaineer fans saying,
24:14 whoa, that's the same guy that carved us up
24:15 in Lubbock last year.
24:16 I don't want to face him.
24:17 I'd rather face the other guy.
24:19 Not so fast.
24:20 And here's why I say that.
24:22 First of all-
24:22 - Hey, real quick, Jed, before you...
24:24 Jed, real quick.
24:25 Hey, how tough is that kid, by the way?
24:28 - To take that snap like that?
24:30 That was- - Dude, I was like,
24:32 are you kidding me, dude?
24:35 I think the bone was like-
24:36 - He threw a half a bone out of his ankle.
24:37 - I was like, dude, this guy is-
24:40 Oh, it was crazy, man.
24:41 I was like, this kid is a warrior, man.
24:44 - And then he's getting wheeled off on the gurney,
24:45 giving the guns up to the crowd.
24:47 - Yeah. - Holy cow!
24:49 You know that one.
24:50 You are right.
24:51 So what I was thinking, Baron Morton comes in the game,
24:54 the same kid that carved us up last year.
24:56 First of all, if I'm Zach Kittley
25:00 and I'm calling that game now,
25:01 and if I'm Joey Maguire, the head coach for Texas Tech,
25:03 guess what's not going to play as big a role
25:05 in my game plan as I initially-
25:07 - What a background.
25:08 - Yes.
25:09 I'm not going to my number three kid
25:10 and get my number two hurt.
25:12 That's point number one.
25:13 Point number two, when we played them last year,
25:16 they were coming off not just a loss,
25:18 but they had a bye week,
25:19 following the Oklahoma State loss.
25:20 Three out of the last four games against us,
25:22 they had a bye week.
25:23 So they had two weeks to put together a great plan
25:27 to put Baron Morton in a great position
25:29 to flourish and succeed against us at home.
25:32 And they did it.
25:33 That game plan last year,
25:34 I thought it was offensive wizardry by Zach Kittley.
25:37 Baron Morton's a good player,
25:39 but Zach Kittley didn't ask much of Baron Morton.
25:41 It was a lot of shifting, a lot of motions,
25:44 a lot of window dressing, formation to the boundary,
25:47 quads creating single coverage.
25:49 They threw 14 screen passes against us.
25:51 It was all a matter of quick read and throw it,
25:54 quick read and throw it, quick read and throw it,
25:55 setting the table with movement and motion
25:58 and all these exotic looks to make life easy
26:01 for his young quarterback.
26:02 Well, guess what you can't do
26:04 when your young quarterback's been taking
26:06 the number two snaps and he comes stone cold off the bench.
26:09 He doesn't know those formations and motions,
26:11 just like Nico against Pitt.
26:13 That part of the game plan was lost
26:14 when Garrett left and Nico came in.
26:16 You have to sacrifice certain things at the altar of reps.
26:20 And when you're only getting 25% of the reps
26:22 as the number two, you can't master the nuances
26:24 and timing of all those motions, all those shifts.
26:27 You can't do that.
26:28 It's not as easy.
26:29 There's not enough time and practice.
26:30 In the 20-hour NCAA rule, it's difficult to do that.
26:33 Baron Morton encountered the same thing this year.
26:35 So whereas last year he was getting all those reps
26:37 with the ones and that great plan and that great strategy
26:40 with all those exotic looks was a central part
26:42 of what they were doing to make his life easier.
26:44 I couldn't help but notice very quickly
26:46 when he came in the game, it was a lot more basic
26:49 and I would even call it vanilla.
26:51 If you come from a spread background like me and Owen,
26:53 vanilla type stuff, very basic motions, like a round motion.
26:57 We used to call it Dick motion, Owen, remember?
26:59 You know, just to check if they were a man or in zone
27:01 'cause if you draw it up on the board,
27:02 what's it look like, right?
27:03 And then a lot of Rip and Liz formations
27:05 with basic 10 personnel.
27:07 You have four wides, one back.
27:08 So it's twins right, twins left.
27:10 It was pretty vanilla stuff by comparison
27:13 to what they ran with Baron Morton last year.
27:16 So it was much more difficult
27:18 and he had to earn it the hard way.
27:20 And that's why I'm all the more impressed
27:22 by what they were able to do,
27:24 stringing those drives together in the second half.
27:27 Now, part of it was they were two for 18 on third down.
27:32 So I always shoot through a filter.
27:34 I always shoot through a filter.
27:36 We go forward on fourth down more than anybody
27:38 in the Big 12 issue.
27:39 Neil was very aggressive, more aggressive than Texas Tech.
27:42 One of the storylines,
27:43 and it was a misconception last week was,
27:45 oh, Texas Tech goes forward on fourth down.
27:46 I'm like, no, no, no, the storyline is this.
27:48 Let's do some research and take it up a notch.
27:50 They went forward on fourth down a bunch last year.
27:53 The story is why aren't they doing so this year?
27:55 And through three games, they hadn't been.
27:57 I think Oregon on the field fourth and two
27:59 on Texas Tech's end 30 almost scared them out of it a bit,
28:02 but he'd only attempted six fourth downs
28:04 coming into the West Virginia game.
28:06 Well, lo and behold, they returned to form.
28:08 They attempted eight.
28:09 By the nature of the game, the way it was unfolding,
28:11 they were in a desperate position.
28:13 So because they were two of 18 on third down,
28:15 and by the way, I did the research,
28:17 the last time a West Virginia defense
28:19 had 16 third down stops in one game
28:22 was the 2011 backyard brawl with Jeff Castile.
28:26 So it doesn't happen often.
28:27 It doesn't happen often.
28:28 - That makes sense, though.
28:29 - They were three of 18 on third down,
28:30 but they were five of eight on fourth down.
28:32 So you always ask yourself, you look at that two ways.
28:34 Well, that two of 18 is a little misleading
28:37 because these guys tend to say, if it's third and eight,
28:40 I'm not going for the first down,
28:41 I'm going for fourth and four.
28:42 I want half of it back.
28:43 So it's a little misleading.
28:45 I'm like, well, that's true,
28:46 but guess who put them in the third and eight?
28:48 We did.
28:49 So we still get credit, right?
28:51 I'm not getting a reprieve pass because of that.
28:53 So when you look at everything that we did,
28:56 forcing them into these inopportune situations
28:58 and long yardage situations and transition downs,
29:01 to me, that's what dictated more than anything.
29:03 That's how you finish minus two and win the game.
29:06 And now when you talk about the DBs,
29:08 here's some numbers and metrics to connect
29:10 to what you're seeing on tape.
29:11 When I'm watching tape,
29:12 I'm watching Beanie Bishop play the ball.
29:14 When I'm watching tape, I'm watching Aubrey Brooks,
29:17 Aubrey Brooks, I should say,
29:18 as an incredible open field tackler,
29:20 and he's playing the ball in flight.
29:22 And you know what, Malachi, again, he's a dog.
29:25 That's what he is.
29:26 Malachi's the guy that, you know,
29:29 a buddy of mine that I played at Glenville with,
29:31 Chris George, his dad always told him
29:33 when he was a little kid, there was a big guy,
29:35 that he was like in the second grade,
29:36 and there was this big guy
29:37 that was always trying to steal his lunch money.
29:39 And he said, "Well, here's what's gonna happen, Chris."
29:42 He said, "I'm not gonna come into school
29:43 and talk to anybody.
29:44 You're gonna solve this yourself.
29:44 You're not gonna solve it.
29:46 That guy knows that if he beat your ass,
29:47 he's taking your lunch money.
29:48 Well, just let him know, you gotta beat my ass every day.
29:51 I'm never stopping."
29:52 Okay, that's Malachi Ruffin.
29:54 That's him.
29:55 He said, "I don't care, I'm coming back.
29:57 I'm a coming and I'm coming and I'm coming.
29:59 Don't tell me I have limited skillset.
30:01 I'm aggressive, I'm a corner.
30:02 That's the mentality I got."
30:04 That's what I like about that kid.
30:05 I love that about Malachi Ruffin.
30:07 So what's happening on the back end?
30:09 A year ago, guys, we couldn't even get around the football
30:12 to make a play when the ball was in flight.
30:14 We had 36 passes defended last year, all year.
30:18 Easily the fewest in the Big 12.
30:21 We ranked 123rd in all of FBS in passes defended with 36.
30:26 The other night alone, we had 10.
30:29 For the season, we already have 24.
30:32 We are playing the ball in flight.
30:34 It's one thing to cover somebody,
30:36 but it's something else to react and react properly
30:39 when the football is in the air and it matters most.
30:41 That's what this defensive secondary,
30:44 with the confidence that it's developed, is starting to do.
30:47 And boy, it couldn't come at a better time.
30:48 We'll get into this later in the week.
30:50 You're gonna be tested and tested often
30:52 against this TCU pass game with that very skill.
30:55 But that's kind of what I see out of guys.
30:57 And that's the good and the bad of it.
30:59 And we go back to what we've said multiple times.
31:02 You always like coming out of a win
31:04 with a ton of learning opportunities.
31:07 And we could be sitting here at one and three, right?
31:10 We could be sitting here at one and three
31:12 having these same conversations,
31:13 but instead we're sitting here at three and one
31:15 talking about we gotta get better here,
31:17 we gotta get better.
31:18 Of course we do.
31:19 You're not gonna achieve the things we want to achieve
31:22 with the lack of production on the perimeter
31:24 in the pass game that we're now having,
31:26 with the inconsistency half to half
31:28 in the run game that we had on Saturday.
31:30 There are things you're gonna have to do better.
31:32 The defense is gonna have to force some turnovers.
31:35 I even said in the pregame show
31:36 with Learfield before the game,
31:38 one of the things that has to happen,
31:39 we can't win this football game without picking off a pass.
31:43 Well, was I wrong?
31:44 But the defense, there are going to be games
31:46 that we can't win without forcing some turnovers.
31:49 So for all the great things the defense is doing,
31:51 all the exceptional things,
31:52 we have the number one ranked third down defense
31:55 in the Big 12 right now.
31:57 After four games, that's a sturdy, robust sample size.
32:01 We're playing high level football
32:03 in a lot of critical areas
32:04 at all three levels of that defense.
32:06 The next step is start snatching the football
32:10 and stealing us some possessions.
32:11 And then on offense, the next step is obviously
32:14 start making some plays downfield in the pass game
32:17 and quite frankly, in the run game.
32:19 I mean, CJ doesn't have a run at 20 yards yet this year.
32:22 - Yeah.
32:23 - For all the good things
32:24 and exceptional things that he's done.
32:26 So we need to make more big plays, more splash plays.
32:29 It's just too hard to make a living
32:31 putting together eight, 10, 12 play drives.
32:33 Too many things can go wrong.
32:35 So you have to build yourself out with some explosive plays
32:38 and get off the field a little quicker sometime.
32:40 But there is a lot to be excited about
32:43 on both sides of the football and the special teams unit.
32:45 So at three and one, I like the fact
32:48 that we still have a lot of opportunities to get better,
32:51 whether it's a quarterback, whether it's a receiver,
32:53 whatever it might be, we're sitting here at three and one
32:55 instead of otherwise having the same conversations.
32:57 - And there's turnovers too.
32:59 They're even more critical
33:00 when you have a struggling offense
33:01 and you have a redshirt freshman quarterback
33:03 who may or may not be playing again this weekend
33:06 and making his first career road start.
33:08 Now I know he played a lot in that Oklahoma State game,
33:10 but this is a whole new deal.
33:11 You're going into it knowing you're the guy.
33:14 So you need those turnovers if you can get them.
33:16 - We're going to see.
33:17 Garrett will be day to day.
33:19 - Yeah.
33:20 - I'll tell you what, Garrett was in better shape
33:21 even on Saturday than I thought he'd be by Saturday.
33:24 - Oh yeah, absolutely.
33:26 - But two things travel well,
33:27 and this is more of a TCU conversation,
33:29 but the two things that traditionally travel well, Owen,
33:31 defense and run game.
33:33 And the cherry on top, as Skyler was saying,
33:36 if you can snatch a few takeaways and play good defense
33:39 and run the football,
33:40 that's the recipe for success on the road.
33:42 But we'll save that for TCU stuff.
33:45 - And I thought Neil did a really good job too
33:47 of describing that match zone stuff
33:49 and how they were having problems last year
33:51 with guys kind of peeking into the backfield,
33:53 not really focusing on their guys.
33:54 Now they're kind of playing a little bit tighter
33:57 and they know what they're actually supposed to be doing
33:59 on these things.
33:59 So now it's not, oh no,
34:01 there's a guy busting loose down the field.
34:03 - The most critical thing.
34:04 - It's not happening.
34:04 - The most critical thing that's happened
34:06 from streamlining our schemes and our concepts on defense.
34:10 We spent the entire camp with everybody worried
34:12 and having this question about will linebacker,
34:14 will linebacker, will linebacker.
34:16 - We haven't talked about it.
34:18 - Come to find out, well, first of all,
34:20 Lee Kogel was the will linebacker
34:22 for the vast majority of the Penn State game.
34:23 And now because they cross train,
34:25 Lee and Trey Lathan can swap it out.
34:29 Why can they swap it out?
34:31 Because the concepts have been streamlined.
34:33 If it's more convoluted and high end and more technical,
34:36 more dialed into a specific run fit at this,
34:40 versus this formation from this spot,
34:42 it's much more difficult to cross train and do that.
34:44 But when you streamline things
34:46 and allow guys to be aggressive and play downhill,
34:49 I mean, think about it, Owen,
34:50 you played in Rich's offense
34:52 and you played in the West Coast offense.
34:54 And think of how much more advanced and difficult it was
34:58 to get to the point that you felt comfortable
35:00 being aggressive in the West Coast,
35:01 because there's so much indecision,
35:03 just wondering if you're gonna learn the playbook, right?
35:05 - There's so much going on in the West Coast offense.
35:08 And Rich had, for Jed's term, streamlined,
35:13 literally his offense.
35:17 I mean, you're talking maybe 12 plays
35:20 out of 12 different formations.
35:21 That's what it really seemed like the bread and butter was.
35:24 There wasn't really much going on.
35:26 So in his theory, look, I want my athletes reacting.
35:31 I don't want them thinking.
35:32 - Thinking, yeah.
35:33 - So that was the big thing.
35:35 And you can see that on the field.
35:36 And I think one more thing I'll just add to is,
35:39 if you wanna see those big plays happen,
35:42 you gotta be around the football, okay?
35:44 So the bigger runs will come
35:46 when everybody's around the football, right?
35:48 And we're blocking, we're doing our stuff downfield.
35:51 And that's where those big bust runs come from
35:54 in the backfield.
35:54 And then vice versa on the back end in the defense, right?
35:58 Those plays start to happen more when you get comfortable
36:01 and now you're taking, you know, not so much risks,
36:04 but critical thinking risks, like calculated chances.
36:09 And everybody's flying around in the football,
36:11 making it happen.
36:12 So the more you start playing cohesive as a unit
36:16 and understanding your role is more than just running
36:19 around or blocking on a certain play.
36:21 It's really about playing until the whistle blows
36:24 and always being around the football.
36:27 Things are gonna start to happen.
36:29 - We're gonna get out of here and jump to Big Daddy,
36:30 but I'm gonna close with this, Owen.
36:32 Here's where you just nailed something else.
36:34 You talked about big plays happening offensively
36:37 once you get more hats around the football.
36:39 Once you get more assertion and more aggressive play,
36:42 straining and stretching to block a second defender, right?
36:45 What's the old saying?
36:47 You know, a good player gets one,
36:48 a great player gets two.
36:49 - Gets two, yeah.
36:50 - Right?
36:51 And so that happens,
36:52 big plays happen on offense when that happens.
36:54 And on the defensive side, it's similar.
36:57 Turnovers tend to happen
36:59 when you have hats around the football.
37:01 And this West Virginia defense does have hats
37:04 around the football, which is why I have to think
37:07 at some point we're gonna start getting
37:09 some of those turnovers in bunches.
37:11 - Yeah, I love the way this front seven has played.
37:13 They have played absolutely lights out
37:15 in these first four games.
37:16 And I think they're gonna get better
37:18 as Neil said in his press conference,
37:19 maybe one of the best units they've had up front.
37:22 So we're gonna take a break.
37:24 We're gonna get right back to it with Big Daddy,
37:26 who is the star of the show,
37:28 apparently to our YouTube commenters.
37:30 So we're gonna get to a break and we'll be back with him.
37:33 So thank you guys.
37:34 We'll be right around the corner with Big Daddy.
37:36 You've been in the go.
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38:07 - For more West Virginia Mountaineer football content,
38:11 be sure to follow us on Twitter @InTheGunPodcast.
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39:20 Let's go, Mountaineer fans.
39:24 You're tuned in to "In the Gun" with Wes,
39:26 the runaway beer truck, and the signal caller.
39:29 And as we promised,
39:34 we are back with the star of the show, Big Daddy.
39:36 And I've got to admit, Big Daddy,
39:38 you are the most famous person
39:41 in these little squares right here.
39:43 If you go to YouTube comments every week,
39:46 there is somebody saying something about Big Daddy.
39:48 - Look, you're Paul Wynn.
39:50 - I'm definitely dating myself.
39:52 I have no idea if you know what I'm talking about,
39:54 but I don't know what you're talking about.
39:55 - Well, I know you don't.
39:57 (Wes laughs)
39:58 That was a few weeks ago.
39:58 But Hollywood Squares, Paul Wynn was the famous square.
40:03 You are Paul Wynn.
40:05 - Here's the thing, though.
40:06 Jed, you played overseas, you played everywhere.
40:08 Like, people know you.
40:10 Owen is Owen, we don't have to discuss it.
40:12 I am by far the lesser known out of this group.
40:16 I just pay the most to get these people to talk about it.
40:19 - Oh.
40:21 - I don't have money.
40:22 I just do it by hook or by crook.
40:23 Whatever has to happen, happens.
40:26 - But you haven't done it the old way,
40:28 like how some people create burner accounts
40:30 and be like, "Oh, Big Daddy's good."
40:33 He's not that guy.
40:34 - I tried a burner account.
40:35 - It's legit.
40:36 - I'm in '07 when I worked for a website.
40:38 And it was football fatty, and I was so bad at it,
40:42 like trying to spam post to get people
40:44 to watch our stuff on our website.
40:46 I was so bad at it, I was banned off the boards
40:49 within like a week, and I just gave up.
40:51 It'll never, what's the point?
40:52 - You were banned off the boards?
40:54 - Banned off the boards.
40:55 - Can you imagine if we had a message board?
40:56 - Whoa.
40:57 - I hear stories about those things,
40:59 and I'm just like, "You have got, wow."
41:01 Like, my buddies get wild.
41:02 - Or our friends.
41:03 - Yeah, you would know, Skyler.
41:04 I couldn't tell you the first thing.
41:05 My buddies will tell me stories, and I'm like,
41:07 "Well, and I do know this.
41:08 "There's that account on Twitter,
41:10 "and it's something about message board madness
41:12 "or something, and this guy captures
41:13 "like message board content from all over the country,
41:16 "and it is just classic."
41:19 I mean, it's something.
41:20 - We thought it would be a great idea
41:21 when we first started our site a few years ago
41:24 to kind of help engage traffic,
41:26 and we're like two weeks into this,
41:27 and then we're like, "We're not doing this.
41:28 "Like, this is ridiculous."
41:29 Like, people go here to take out
41:32 all their frustration out on us,
41:35 and throwing cuss words, and just, it's a mess.
41:39 But anyway. - Case in point,
41:40 the account that I'm talking about on Twitter,
41:42 I think today is when I saw him.
41:44 He posted something from a USC message board
41:48 about this poster.
41:49 Well, Lincoln Riley's just obviously not the answer.
41:52 We need to get rid of him, start from scratch.
41:55 This just isn't gonna work.
41:56 I mean, did you see how many points
41:57 we gave up the other night?
41:59 And well, this guy posts stuff like this every day,
42:01 and I'm like, "This is just delicious."
42:03 - I don't know if you guys know what I'm talking about,
42:05 but there used to be an app, like circa 2010,
42:09 called Bowlbound, and I think it may have been tied
42:11 with ESPN, it was a bunch of college football fans
42:14 all in one spot, and I'd get on there all the time,
42:17 and there was so much back and forth,
42:18 and it got so bad, they got rid of the thing.
42:20 (laughing)
42:21 - Oh, were there message boards when you played?
42:23 I don't remember if there were.
42:25 I don't know much about that.
42:27 - That was before Twitter.
42:28 It was only Facebook for us old farts,
42:30 and it was a college account.
42:32 - But were there message boards?
42:34 - People got to the message boards back in '05, '06,
42:38 because that was the only place to go, and it was--
42:39 - Yeah, I feel like--
42:40 - So they did exist, but no one was--
42:42 - I feel like the message boards was definitely
42:43 more old school than it is now.
42:46 Now it's like mainstream, you're on a site.
42:49 It's a message board.
42:50 Before it was like sketchy, like black page
42:54 that just had script, and you would just see like a name.
42:57 Sometimes there might be an image or an icon of that person.
43:00 - Web, like it was--
43:01 - Did you know anything about 'em?
43:02 Did you ever hear about 'em, or?
43:03 - Buddy, the only thing I went online for was adult content,
43:09 and you know what I mean? (laughing)
43:14 - Oh my gosh.
43:15 So you weren't looking up to see who wrote
43:18 about Owen Schmidt that week.
43:19 You were--
43:20 - No, they didn't. (laughing)
43:23 - Guys, are they free, or do you pay?
43:26 - Yeah, no, the sites, the adult sites are free, totally.
43:29 I don't pay much. - Oh, okay.
43:30 You would know that.
43:31 (laughing)
43:32 - The message board.
43:33 - We have gone off the rails.
43:35 - No, message boards were free.
43:36 Like again, that was like you had to pay to do it.
43:40 Free ones were trapped.
43:40 - You had to pay to like write on that stuff.
43:43 - The good ones.
43:45 - Wow. - Yeah.
43:46 - And the good adult sites that you're talking about, right?
43:49 - Yeah.
43:50 - One thank you here to Fortis, a quick curve ball here,
43:54 but for performance and financial security guarantee.
43:58 (laughing)
44:01 - Okay, you focus now.
44:02 Make sure to visit fortis.us.com and anyways,
44:09 I don't know how you transition to the next thing.
44:13 - Before Owen ends up with an OnlyFans page here.
44:15 - I would sell feet pics.
44:18 - Yeah. (laughing)
44:21 - And then when you do, here we are.
44:24 - Oh my God.
44:24 - Oh, boy.
44:25 - You see what you did, Big Daddy?
44:28 I mean, we were talking top 25.
44:29 (laughing)
44:30 We were just cruising along.
44:32 - Self-fulfilling influence.
44:34 - Oh boy.
44:37 I needed that laugh, man, thank you.
44:39 That was good.
44:40 That was like, my heart feels like it's full now.
44:43 I got my Big Daddy laugh in.
44:44 (laughing)
44:45 - What was your angle, Big Daddy, on the fourth and 10?
44:48 - Up top?
44:50 - Okay.
44:51 - So I have my finger on the button to play
44:55 Hypnotized by Biggie as loud as possible.
44:58 So all I'm doing is waiting for the ball to hit the ground.
45:01 So when I see it go up, I thought I missed something
45:04 because it was just kind of middle of the field
45:06 where nothing else was, but I saw the ball hit the ground.
45:09 They called it, I hit it, and that was that.
45:11 I blacked out afterwards.
45:12 - And that was that.
45:13 For the last 10 seconds, we took a knee.
45:15 It was very chaotic, 'cause normally Big Daddy Montoro,
45:19 he's down on the sidelines four to five minutes to go,
45:21 and here I was coordinating, okay, after Neil,
45:24 what player, 'cause when we win, I interview Neil
45:26 and a player straight into it.
45:28 Well, I hadn't seen Monty because of the way the game ended.
45:32 I was with Neil down at that end of the field,
45:34 we're right on the edge of the box.
45:35 So I didn't even see Monty,
45:37 and it wasn't until the final gun sounded
45:38 that I realized, oh, I haven't even seen Monty.
45:40 What are we gonna do here?
45:41 I guess we'll play it by ear.
45:42 I'm gonna grab Neil.
45:43 So I grabbed Neil, and it just tells you
45:45 what kind of guy Neil is.
45:46 I asked him, I said, "Do you wanna go now?
45:48 "Do you wanna wait?"
45:49 He said, "Let's get it other way.
45:50 "Let's go ahead and do it.
45:51 "Yeah, let's talk."
45:52 So Pat Sargent, our producer, our engineer,
45:54 I said, "Pat, throw it down, throw it down."
45:56 So he has Tony throw it.
45:57 Next thing you know, I'm talking to Neil.
45:59 So meanwhile, my head's on a swivel.
46:00 I see TV with Montoro heading our way.
46:04 So now I'm gesturing toward Neil.
46:05 Okay, we gotta walk toward TV, and I gotta cut you loose.
46:08 So Neil talks like 10 seconds, and I said to Tony,
46:10 "Hey, Neil's busy down here, very much in demand."
46:12 And Neil turns back toward me, and he says,
46:15 "No, Jed, I'll be back in a minute.
46:16 "I'll be back in a minute.
46:17 "We'll finish this up."
46:18 - I actually saw that.
46:19 - Yeah, and I'm still, I finally saw Montoro,
46:23 and then I see Montoro sitting in there with Nico.
46:25 And I was like, "Oh, I guess Nico's the one I'm interviewing.
46:27 "All right, fair enough, makes sense."
46:29 But that whole sequence at the end of the game
46:32 was just insanity.
46:33 Like, first of all, when they got the first intent at the 12,
46:36 they had two, they started all that with three timeouts.
46:40 But right before that, they used their first timeout.
46:43 I was surprised they didn't run the ball, okay?
46:46 And they had four straight pass attempts.
46:48 But I was also thinking to myself,
46:50 Joey McGuire's pretty good at clock management, right?
46:52 I mean, this guy, for a guy who was coaching
46:55 high school ball seven or eight years ago,
46:56 the college clock isn't something that's too large for him.
46:59 He understands all the nuances of it.
47:01 And I really appreciate that part of the game,
47:04 even if at a good high school game,
47:05 watching a coach manage the clock.
47:07 But I was thinking to myself,
47:09 they have all three timeouts
47:10 as they're winding down this drive.
47:12 What that means, and this is the part
47:14 nobody's talking about as it happened,
47:16 they could literally lose the ball on downs here
47:19 and still have a shot,
47:21 because they could get a quick three and out
47:22 with the three timeouts,
47:23 get the ball back around the 40 or 45,
47:25 still have a shot.
47:26 But as soon as he took that first time out,
47:28 that's off the table.
47:29 - Gone, yeah. - That's gone.
47:30 So then they throw four straight times.
47:32 But what I noticed, they passed with the switch route,
47:35 tried to get the tight end up the rail.
47:37 So they used that quadrant.
47:38 And then they tried to get behind the backers
47:40 with the crosser with their backup tight end.
47:42 So I'm thinking to myself as a play caller,
47:43 what else would I do?
47:45 And I was telling Tony on the broadcast,
47:47 as this is coming up on fourth down,
47:49 I said, I would think, ball's left hash,
47:51 I would go formation to the boundary,
47:53 try and get Jaron Bradley,
47:54 single him up on somebody they like.
47:56 I'm gonna guess that's gonna be Malachi.
47:58 All right, well, they ran trips to the boundary,
48:00 to the left.
48:01 They singled Jaron Bradley up on Malachi,
48:03 except he wasn't singled.
48:05 Here comes Aubrey Burks with safety up over top.
48:07 That indecision is what created the pressure
48:10 on Barron Morton that forced that air and throw.
48:12 But see, you were up top
48:14 watching that whole thing play out, right?
48:16 - The Beanie Bishop bat down was absolutely unreal.
48:21 And then again, since we're doing game management,
48:25 every time there's a timeout called,
48:26 we've got to scramble and figure out
48:28 what we're gonna play or anything like that.
48:30 So I can enjoy it for a second,
48:32 but then it's gotta be, oh God, okay,
48:34 what song are we gonna do?
48:35 And then focus on the play again and try to be ready.
48:37 Biggie, all I wanna do every game is hit him.
48:40 (laughing)
48:41 Moment I think is gonna be it.
48:43 And the last few years,
48:44 somehow that's always been a fourth down
48:46 and it works out because then the place can go nuts
48:49 and it's chaos.
48:50 - It was chaos.
48:51 You know what Neil told the team right before we came out?
48:52 And I thought, this is pretty clever.
48:54 It was a good point based on the weather,
48:57 the nature of the crowd, all that.
48:58 He said, guys, last week,
49:01 I told you you'd be feeding off the energy of the crowd.
49:05 And he said, did I lie to you?
49:06 They're like, no, no, no.
49:07 He's like, this week,
49:08 they're gonna need to feed off your energy.
49:11 You create it and they'll feed off of it.
49:13 And I keep thinking of guys like you,
49:15 that's your job is to create that energy in the crowd
49:17 and help the team fire everybody up.
49:19 - I wanna see Owen's reaction to this.
49:22 I found out this weekend, I got a text,
49:25 I went back and I checked Twitter and it's accurate.
49:27 Kevin Nash, Diesel, from the NWO WWE
49:33 knows about our NWO defense video
49:37 and has retweeted it back out into the world.
49:40 So- - Wow, really?
49:42 - The wrestling mark in me is absolutely elated
49:45 and now I'm gonna be with him the rest of the season
49:48 to see if we can do anything.
49:49 So I told Chris O that this morning
49:52 and he just stood in the hallway for about two minutes.
49:54 I had to go to the press conference.
49:55 I just left him to be with his thoughts
49:57 to figure it all out.
49:59 So apparently Kevin Nash knows-
50:01 - That's awesome.
50:02 - Bischoff, I haven't seen anything from Bischoff,
50:04 but come, come to us.
50:06 Let us old wrestling marks enjoy
50:08 what our majesty was back in '98, '99.
50:11 - Let's give a round of applause for Big Daddy and his team.
50:14 'Cause if you think about it,
50:15 that the atmosphere for Texas Tech,
50:18 I wasn't there for that, but the Pitt game,
50:20 we hadn't talked about it since you,
50:21 'cause we did it, I think, after the fact.
50:23 We actually posted the video.
50:25 I got a video of the Rasheed Marshall video.
50:27 - Oh, that was you, Rasheed?
50:29 That video, by the way, well done.
50:30 - That was amazing.
50:31 Everybody that had been looking for that video,
50:35 we put it up.
50:36 You could just hear the, as soon as he said,
50:40 and Pitt, everyone just was waiting
50:42 to see what he was about to say.
50:43 When he dropped the line, it was like, oh!
50:46 - And fan base. - It was fantastic.