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Season 1 Episode 6
81 Plays2 years ago
This week, the guys recap the Eastern Michigan game, discuss the volleyball and golf teams, and then preview the upcoming matchup against Sam Houston State.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Hosts
00:00:01
Speaker
Alright, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Season 1, Episode 6 of the 700 Pelham Road Podcast, your one-stop shop.
00:00:10
Speaker
For all things Jack State Gamecocks, I'm Caleb Williams.
00:00:13
Speaker
I'm alongside our co-host, Jalen Cooper.
00:00:15
Speaker
Jalen, how are you doing tonight?
00:00:17
Speaker
I'm doing good.
00:00:18
Speaker
I'm doing good.
00:00:19
Speaker
Just finished eating dinner.
00:00:21
Speaker
You know, recording this and after this, going to wind down for the night.
00:00:26
Speaker
Try and get some sleep before work tomorrow.
00:00:27
Speaker
How about you?
00:00:29
Speaker
Man, I feel that.
00:00:30
Speaker
I had a little din-din earlier.
00:00:33
Speaker
Did a little homework.
00:00:36
Speaker
So we just late night recording, and we're going to chill out, get ready for work tomorrow, and do it all over again the next day.
00:00:44
Speaker
You know it.
00:00:46
Speaker
Wash, rinse, repeat.
00:00:48
Speaker
Indeed, man.
00:00:49
Speaker
That's the life.
00:00:50
Speaker
That's the life of a college graduate these days.
00:00:52
Speaker
But, um...
Pac-12 Football Season and Future
00:00:55
Speaker
Man, it was a busy week for the Cox in all sports, not just football.
00:00:59
Speaker
We had a lot of stuff going on.
00:01:00
Speaker
Had a lot of stuff going on in college football world in general as well.
00:01:06
Speaker
Had some entertaining games.
00:01:07
Speaker
Had some games that were supposed to be entertaining and
00:01:12
Speaker
Maybe it didn't turn out so entertaining.
00:01:13
Speaker
I think we all kind of know which game I'm talking about.
00:01:16
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:17
Speaker
Sad day, sad day.
00:01:19
Speaker
You know, I think it's pretty well noted here at 700 Pelham Road.
00:01:24
Speaker
We're big Coach Prime fans.
00:01:27
Speaker
We're on the Colorado bandwagon.
00:01:31
Speaker
So it's tough to see our boys go down like that.
00:01:33
Speaker
But –
00:01:35
Speaker
I'm sticking with him, though.
00:01:37
Speaker
Yeah, no, I got to ride it out.
00:01:40
Speaker
I got to ride it out.
00:01:40
Speaker
Wherever Deion goes, I'm going to ride with him.
00:01:42
Speaker
He's one of my favorite people in sports in general.
00:01:46
Speaker
But, man, Oregon looks the part of a real team this year without a doubt.
00:01:52
Speaker
Which is funny because the Pac-12, as we know it, is about to cease to exist.
00:01:57
Speaker
But in their last year, they seem to be the strongest conference top to bottom.
00:02:03
Speaker
Yeah, they took the phrase going out on top just a tad too seriously for my liking.
00:02:10
Speaker
Man, they're not the only – it's not just Oregon, man.
00:02:11
Speaker
It's Washington, Washington State, USC, UCLA, obviously Colorado, Utah.
00:02:25
Speaker
Top to bottom, it's probably the best conference in college football right now.
00:02:30
Speaker
I think I saw – I think it was going into this week, they were the only conference in the country with eight undefeated teams.
00:02:38
Speaker
So, you know, everyone out there is playing pretty well.
00:02:44
Speaker
Alabama kind of gave Kiffin the business again.
00:02:50
Speaker
I hope they're starting to figure it out.
00:02:53
Speaker
There were glimmers of hope.
00:02:55
Speaker
Obviously, the first half was rough.
00:02:56
Speaker
Second half, they looked like, you know, a Bama offense
Alabama's Playoff Hopes
00:03:02
Speaker
should.
00:03:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:05
Speaker
Here's to hoping that that was their clicking point and, you know, they can put together somewhat of a decent season.
00:03:12
Speaker
Because, you know, I mean, as long as Texas keeps playing well, they still have an outside shot at the playoffs, especially.
00:03:19
Speaker
I mean, especially if they went out and, you know, win the SEC championship, they're still in.
00:03:24
Speaker
So the season is not lost.
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, one last SEC champion is going to get in over likely an undefeated Pac-12 champ.
00:03:34
Speaker
Well, I say that, undefeated ACC champion.
00:03:36
Speaker
Okay, yeah, I was about to say.
00:03:39
Speaker
Normally I would say Pac-12, but I can't say it this year.
00:03:42
Speaker
No.
00:03:43
Speaker
Looking at you for the state.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, y'all are the one.
00:03:48
Speaker
You and Duke are in North Carolina.
00:03:50
Speaker
Y'all are it.
00:03:51
Speaker
Yeah.
Notre Dame's Crucial Mistakes
00:03:54
Speaker
Ohio State-Notre Dame was a snooze fest until the last two plays from scrimmage when Notre Dame lost all brain function and failed to have 11 players on the field.
00:04:08
Speaker
I can understand it for one play, but how do you as a –
00:04:12
Speaker
Football staff that gets paid to do this go two plays in a row with ten guys on the field.
00:04:18
Speaker
The two most important plays of the game, arguably, and you do it back-to-back with only ten players on the field.
00:04:27
Speaker
And then he sits there and says, well, I didn't want to take a penalty.
00:04:33
Speaker
I just don't get it.
00:04:36
Speaker
it's six inches that the ball will move if you take a penalty versus losing the game.
00:04:42
Speaker
Exactly.
00:04:43
Speaker
I mean, really.
00:04:44
Speaker
The ball barely moves.
00:04:46
Speaker
I'll tell you what, Lou Holtz didn't have much to say after that game.
00:04:49
Speaker
Ohio State, look, they didn't look great, but they dominated Notre Dame defensively.
00:04:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:58
Speaker
And honestly –
00:05:02
Speaker
I was going to say Notre Dame is a good offensive team.
00:05:08
Speaker
They've got a good quarterback in Sam Hartman.
00:05:12
Speaker
I guess, you know, Will Greer 2.0.
00:05:15
Speaker
But I got to give credit.
00:05:23
Speaker
I'm just glad the Notre Dame over hype ends now.
00:05:27
Speaker
Because, yeah, the offense looks good.
00:05:30
Speaker
But if you have a performance like that against a struggling Ohio State team, ain't no telling what would happen, you know, come playoff time.
00:05:39
Speaker
It always happens where Notre Dame looks really great, and then they get to a high-level bowl game or the playoffs and then just get smacked.
00:05:46
Speaker
And everybody's like, well, why did we give them credit?
00:05:49
Speaker
I'm glad it finally happened early enough to where we can just kind of write them off and go about our day, and college football is back to normal.
00:05:57
Speaker
Yeah, it saves us all a lot of time.
00:06:00
Speaker
when we don't have to put them in the playoff conversation after week three.
00:06:05
Speaker
Instead of getting to the end of the season, we're like, well, you know, they're 12-0, but they didn't play anyone.
00:06:10
Speaker
Maybe we should give them another shot.
00:06:12
Speaker
No, we don't have to give them a shot this year.
00:06:15
Speaker
No, because then they'll mess around and get to the playoff.
00:06:17
Speaker
And it's like, well, we're down two, but I don't want to kick a field goal.
00:06:22
Speaker
I want a touchdown.
00:06:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:27
Speaker
Well, we're up one with 130 left.
00:06:31
Speaker
I think I'm going to throw four verts five times in a row and see what happens.
00:06:35
Speaker
God.
00:06:37
Speaker
Obviously, I don't get paid to be a college football coach, but I feel like I could have managed the end of that game substantially better than Marcus Freeman.
00:06:47
Speaker
Easily.
00:06:48
Speaker
Easily.
00:06:49
Speaker
A brain-dead squirrel probably could have gotten 11 players on the field.
00:06:56
Speaker
I don't know where I came up with that visual.
00:06:57
Speaker
That just kind of came out of nowhere.
00:07:00
Speaker
I don't know if that one will ever make sense to me, but, you know, can't go back and replay the game.
00:07:11
Speaker
No, you can't.
00:07:13
Speaker
Man, good times.
Auburn's Home vs Away Performance
00:07:16
Speaker
We found out a lot about my Auburn Tigers, and it was not a week to –
00:07:24
Speaker
It was not great to be an Auburn Tiger, let's just say that.
00:07:29
Speaker
Definitely not the week they wanted to have going into the UGA game.
00:07:33
Speaker
You wanted to have something to build off of, but it didn't really look like much.
00:07:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:39
Speaker
But I'll tell you what, if the pattern continues, we're going to beat Georgia and then lose to LSU.
00:07:45
Speaker
Because at our two home games, we've averaged like 600 yards and 50 points.
00:07:52
Speaker
At our two road games, I think we've averaged like 150 yards and 14 points.
00:07:59
Speaker
There's some voodoo in that stadium.
00:08:01
Speaker
There's something going on.
00:08:04
Speaker
It will come out eventually.
00:08:05
Speaker
Y'all got something going on in that stadium.
00:08:10
Speaker
Y'all just win games you shouldn't and some weird stuff be happening, some weird juju there.
00:08:16
Speaker
It's like in the blind side when they were trying to scare Michael away from going to Tennessee by telling him that the university kept the forensics evidence under the field.
00:08:26
Speaker
Oh, boy.
00:08:27
Speaker
It's probably just something.
00:08:29
Speaker
There's probably an Indian burial ground under the stadium that we don't know about.
00:08:33
Speaker
Maybe.
00:08:34
Speaker
Who knows?
00:08:35
Speaker
Somebody's going to figure it out one day.
00:08:37
Speaker
Yeah, it'll blow the news wide open.
Jack State's Victory and Key Players
00:08:41
Speaker
Anyways, I guess we should probably get to Jack State.
00:08:46
Speaker
Man, we whooped up on Eastern Michigan.
00:08:50
Speaker
Yeah, I got a name for you.
00:08:52
Speaker
Logan Smothers.
00:08:54
Speaker
He's a dog, man.
00:08:55
Speaker
He's a dog.
00:08:56
Speaker
That man.
00:08:57
Speaker
I mean...
00:08:59
Speaker
Let's be honest, passing game, another week, still wasn't exactly there.
00:09:04
Speaker
Only completed nine passes for 93 yards.
00:09:08
Speaker
That's not going to get it done against some of the other teams.
00:09:11
Speaker
But, I mean, this dude, let me pull it up just to make sure I have the numbers right.
00:09:17
Speaker
I know he was over 100 yards rushing.
00:09:20
Speaker
And he averaged like six and a half yards a carry, which is insane for your quarterback to be doing that.
00:09:31
Speaker
Let's see.
00:09:32
Speaker
Yeah, he had 18 carries, 118 yards, 6.6 yards per carry with one touchdown.
00:09:40
Speaker
And that tutty was filthy because they ran a little power toss, and he kept it, and no one touched him.
00:09:48
Speaker
And he went like 40 yards away.
00:09:51
Speaker
He's a dog, man.
00:09:52
Speaker
He is a dog.
00:09:55
Speaker
He's got that mentality.
00:09:59
Speaker
I feel like the first play was a zone read that he kept for 15 yards.
00:10:06
Speaker
After that, I knew it was going to be a long day for Eastern Michigan.
00:10:09
Speaker
I think the QB battle is closed after last week.
00:10:15
Speaker
I just – there's a level of confidence that he carries, and you could immediately see it bleed over into the other guys.
00:10:24
Speaker
The offense just played like – it felt like they were playing like they knew they could.
00:10:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:31
Speaker
Which, of course, like I said, passing game is still not 100% there.
00:10:35
Speaker
You know, always still a lot of stuff to improve on, especially this early in the season.
00:10:40
Speaker
But just to see that chemistry and that confidence kind of locking in, it was nice to see because you just don't get that playing the two-quarterback battle the whole season.
00:10:52
Speaker
I even saw an interview or I saw an article where I think it was Michael Petway said they're both great quarterbacks.
00:11:00
Speaker
They're both starting caliber quarterbacks, but they play differently.
00:11:04
Speaker
And you just, as a receiver, as a tight end, even as an offensive line, not having that consistency week in and week out, it's going to kill you.
00:11:14
Speaker
So, like, being able to, you know, go into this week, especially on a short week, knowing, hey, Smothers is the quarterback, I'm –
00:11:25
Speaker
If that's the case, I'm sure that's a huge help compared to the first couple of weeks of the season where it was up in the air up until, you know, two days before the game.
00:11:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:39
Speaker
You know, you mentioned, you know, offensive line, I think especially.
00:11:47
Speaker
in the way that Rich Rock calls his offense where you have a lot of, you know, zone read in the QB could end up running the ball, you know, off, you know, you know, on the perimeter, you know, your tackles and your tight ends, especially really,
00:12:02
Speaker
really want to know, you know, hey, do we have a quarterback that's going to keep?
00:12:06
Speaker
Do we have a quarterback who's going to give?
00:12:08
Speaker
And the thing with Zion is, like, he'd keep a few times a game, but you weren't sure when he'd do it.
00:12:13
Speaker
And I think a lot of it, you know, it goes back to his injury history.
00:12:18
Speaker
I'm sure, you know, running the ball is probably not his favorite thing to do.
00:12:22
Speaker
I mean, he had a pretty nasty knee injury just a couple years ago in a playoff game.
00:12:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:30
Speaker
and so whereas Logan Logan doesn't have an injury history he I mean he just was swamped by other guys who were really talented in Nebraska and he had you know a brain dead chipmunk at quarterback at Scott Frost his coach was not good so I think you know knowing that
00:12:55
Speaker
Especially, you look at a guy like Sean Brown, who's so good, not just as a receiver, but as a blocker, knowing that, all right, we've got a QB that when they crash down, I know I need to be outside to give him a running lane versus, oh, right, should I actually stay inside and give Anwar, who didn't play, but like Anwar or –
00:13:19
Speaker
or any of the running backs on roster.
00:13:22
Speaker
And we'll get to that.
00:13:23
Speaker
But, like, give them more room.
00:13:24
Speaker
Like, it helps.
00:13:25
Speaker
It definitely helps.
00:13:26
Speaker
And the receivers, I'm sure, appreciate a guy who's willing to let it rip.
00:13:30
Speaker
I mean, his first three or four throws were absolutely perfect.
00:13:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:35
Speaker
Threw a fade route down the sideline, threw the little, you know, quick slant for the touchdown.
00:13:39
Speaker
He was on the money.
00:13:42
Speaker
You know, the struggles late really were,
00:13:46
Speaker
There were some timing issues, and I think it was more that we were starting to struggle running the ball.
00:13:50
Speaker
And I think it was more just a – you know, Eastern Michigan really sold out on the run because we go – we're our fastest when we're running the ball.
00:13:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:59
Speaker
And the tempo was killing them.
00:14:02
Speaker
And so when we're behind the chains, we're not as good passing.
00:14:04
Speaker
I mean, that's just true of most teams.
00:14:07
Speaker
But you still saw, you know, flashes of, hey, this offense –
00:14:12
Speaker
one game this year is going to explode for 50 or 60 points.
00:14:16
Speaker
You can just see it coming where there's going to be a team that can't stop them.
00:14:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah, 100%.
00:14:25
Speaker
I mean, speaking of the run game, you know, we touched on Logan and some others.
00:14:29
Speaker
Malik Jackson, insane game.
00:14:32
Speaker
I said we had two over 100 yards.
00:14:34
Speaker
He had 21 carries, 127 yards, and that came out to six yards to carry.
00:14:39
Speaker
I mean –
00:14:41
Speaker
to do that along with Logan Smothers doing what he did.
00:14:45
Speaker
And we didn't have Ron Wiggins.
00:14:49
Speaker
I don't know exactly what happened.
00:14:51
Speaker
I forgot to look up, but I think I heard something on the broadcast about him being down for the season.
00:14:57
Speaker
If that's the case, that's a huge hit.
00:15:00
Speaker
But I know Anwar was warming up before the game, so hopefully he's close.
00:15:08
Speaker
But, yeah, Malik Jackson doing that, Logan Smothers doing that.
00:15:12
Speaker
And, hey, when your punter can get in the box score with a good little run for a first down, you know you're cooking.
00:15:21
Speaker
You know you're cooking.
00:15:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:24
Speaker
I was fortunate.
00:15:25
Speaker
I was sitting in the student section for the game.
00:15:26
Speaker
And for those of you who haven't been to Burgess-Nofield, student section is in the –
00:15:38
Speaker
East end zone, I think is the directions that we have our field oriented.
00:15:42
Speaker
Um, and so, I mean, Jack was probably no more than 50 yards in the student section because he was punting on our side of the field and it was, it was not intentional, but it was saucy.
00:15:54
Speaker
Um,
00:15:56
Speaker
Because he kind of pulled it around his back when he saw that they had a free rush.
00:16:03
Speaker
And after the one guy missed, there was no one in his way.
00:16:07
Speaker
I mean, it was clean.
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:10
Speaker
And, you know, I guess that's a good segue.
00:16:12
Speaker
We had a couple guys get conference honors this week.
00:16:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:16
Speaker
Jack was a Conference USA Specialist of the Week, and I'm sure having a fake punt go for a first down helps a lot.
00:16:24
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:16:25
Speaker
He also had three punts downed inside the 20, which, you know, is also – I mean, always huge, you know, flipping the field, you know, setting up your defense.
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:36
Speaker
Shout out to Jack.
00:16:38
Speaker
I think anyone who's around the university kind of knows what has gone on with him the last couple of years.
00:16:43
Speaker
And, you know, whichever side of that argument you come down on, it's good to see that he's still able to, you know, play the game that he loves and have success doing it.
00:16:55
Speaker
Shout out to Chris Hardy, man.
00:16:56
Speaker
He had a game.
00:16:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:17:00
Speaker
I think he ended up with, what, one and a half sacks?
00:17:04
Speaker
I'm pulling it up right now.
00:17:06
Speaker
He, where are you, Chris?
00:17:11
Speaker
There you are.
00:17:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:13
Speaker
One and a half sacks, two and a half tackles for loss.
00:17:19
Speaker
And a, and a past deflection.
00:17:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:24
Speaker
So, I mean, he had a really good game.
00:17:27
Speaker
I mean, he was just a springboard for the entire defense.
00:17:32
Speaker
I mean, the defense on Saturday looked elite.
00:17:35
Speaker
They were eating.
00:17:36
Speaker
They had, what, six sacks, three interceptions.
00:17:41
Speaker
Some guys had one of both, you know, or at least I think.
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, Larry Wirth had half a sack and an interception.
00:17:50
Speaker
I mean –
00:17:52
Speaker
Defense was eaten.
00:17:53
Speaker
They could not be stopped.
00:17:56
Speaker
No.
00:17:56
Speaker
And, you know, people will say it was only Eastern Michigan, but this was a team, I think they won, what, seven or eight
Jack State's Unexpected Season Success
00:18:02
Speaker
games last year?
00:18:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think they won eight games.
00:18:05
Speaker
Let me look at it, actually.
00:18:07
Speaker
I was looking at it before the season.
00:18:09
Speaker
They were 9-4 and won the Idaho Potato Bowl against San Jose State.
00:18:17
Speaker
Yeah, so, like, they're not, you know, the greatest team ever, but they're also, at least based on last season, you know, not a team that just anybody can walk over.
00:18:29
Speaker
So I think that was a huge win, especially to put up a donut on them.
00:18:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:35
Speaker
You know, I think that was a pretty big win, you know, for our FBS tenure.
00:18:40
Speaker
Puts us at 3-1.
00:18:41
Speaker
And I think we are currently sitting second in the conference.
00:18:45
Speaker
You know, we're not really into conference play, so the same things will definitely shake out differently a little bit.
00:18:52
Speaker
But we're sitting second in the conference, 3-1.
00:18:54
Speaker
A lot of people...
00:18:58
Speaker
Especially people super familiar with a group of five, a lot of people were only giving us three to four wins on the season before the season started.
00:19:09
Speaker
And now we're sitting at three, and I'm seeing a lot of people now moving our floor to seven and five.
00:19:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:19
Speaker
which is huge to get a win like this over Eastern Michigan.
00:19:23
Speaker
Hopefully, you know, get a win this week over our transition mate in Sam Houston.
00:19:29
Speaker
And, you know, put ourselves in line for an upset of one of, you know, the two big games that we have right after that.
00:19:39
Speaker
But, I mean, yeah, this was a game where, for all intents and purposes, we shouldn't be sitting at 3-1 afterwards.
00:19:48
Speaker
according to what everybody said going into the season.
00:19:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:54
Speaker
You know, you mentioned, you know, that seven and five number ESPN FPI now actually has us at seven and five.
00:20:02
Speaker
So that that's kind of what they're predicting the rest of the year.
00:20:05
Speaker
So they, I mean, they're winnable games.
00:20:06
Speaker
We still got Louisiana tech.
00:20:08
Speaker
Obviously, you know, we mentioned Sam Houston.
00:20:11
Speaker
I'm like, I don't want to dog on teams.
00:20:12
Speaker
Cause I mean, this is, this is FBS football.
00:20:14
Speaker
You could lose any game any week if you don't show up.
00:20:19
Speaker
Like they're a winnable game still on the schedule.
00:20:21
Speaker
Um,
00:20:23
Speaker
One, two, three, five of which we have not played yet.
00:20:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:29
Speaker
I mean, I even – I know going into this season –
00:20:36
Speaker
even we were, you know, on the fence about a possible Liberty or Western Kentucky win, but, you know, I've talked to a couple of Liberty fans on Twitter and they're a little scared.
00:20:47
Speaker
They're a little worried, you know, based on how our defense is playing and especially with it being a home game for us, they're a little worried that we could pull off the upset there.
00:20:57
Speaker
So, yeah, this season definitely is taking a turn that a lot of people didn't see coming.
00:21:06
Speaker
I know we both had confidence that we could put ourselves in the running, you know, for an emergency bowl game spot.
00:21:13
Speaker
Um, some people laughed at us when we said that, but you know, as it sits right now, we very well could be sitting here waiting for a phone call.
00:21:24
Speaker
If, uh, CUSA doesn't fill all of their contractual obligations for bowl games.
00:21:30
Speaker
Um,
00:21:32
Speaker
It's a very real possibility, and I think it'll happen.
00:21:37
Speaker
Obviously, whether or not we actually get the call, like I said, depends on how everything shakes out.
00:21:42
Speaker
But we're very much on pace, you know, for a 7-5, maybe even an 8-4 season if everything shakes out the way we want it to.
00:21:56
Speaker
I'll tell you what, if we get that call, I'm going to be there.
00:21:58
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:22:00
Speaker
Okay, unless...
00:22:01
Speaker
Because CUSA has a couple of really weird ones.
00:22:03
Speaker
Unless it's like the Bahamas Bowl, yeah, I'm going to be there.
00:22:08
Speaker
I'm going to Jamaica in April.
00:22:09
Speaker
I'm not spending money to go to the Bahamas.
00:22:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:13
Speaker
But yeah, if it's feasible, I'm there for sure, 100%.
00:22:16
Speaker
If it is on this side of the Rocky Mountains, I'll be there.
00:22:25
Speaker
I think I can make it out to Texas for a bowl game, I think.
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:29
Speaker
It's times like these where I wish CUSA was partnered with the Birmingham Bowl because that's right down the street from both of us.
00:22:36
Speaker
Yeah, man, I could drive there in a day.
00:22:40
Speaker
It would take me all of 10 minutes to get to the stadium.
00:22:44
Speaker
Yeah, I think it takes me 30 to get to parking.
00:22:46
Speaker
So, man, it would be ideal if – I hate that it's SEC American, but still.
00:22:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:57
Speaker
I need to look up what bowls CSA has because we've got to start getting prepared for this.
00:23:02
Speaker
I can pull it up while you transition real quick because I had it pulled up the other day.
00:23:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:08
Speaker
I'm going to go ahead and start in on the other sports real quick, and I guess we'll finish up with this week's game.
Jack State's Volleyball and Golf Updates
00:23:17
Speaker
So volleyball, first of all, and maybe this is a preview for what's going to happen Thursday.
00:23:23
Speaker
Volleyball smacks down.
00:23:24
Speaker
Sam Houston, two straight sweeps.
00:23:32
Speaker
Ellie Garrett, CUSA setter of the week.
00:23:35
Speaker
And then I'm going to butcher this, but I'm going to give it a shot anyway.
00:23:39
Speaker
Hannah Aena, that's my best guess.
00:23:43
Speaker
I think it's Hannah Aena or something like that.
00:23:46
Speaker
Hannah Iannimati?
00:23:48
Speaker
I think.
00:23:49
Speaker
I hope that's correct.
00:23:51
Speaker
We'll reach out to her during this week and we'll figure out how to pronounce it.
00:23:58
Speaker
We'll probably hear her name a few more times this year.
00:24:01
Speaker
She's a Conference USA Freshman of the Week, so great week for volleyball.
00:24:04
Speaker
We've been looking forward to a good week from volleyball to talk about.
00:24:09
Speaker
I think we've made it pretty clear we support all sports here at JSU and volleyball.
00:24:13
Speaker
I don't know how many matches you've been to.
00:24:15
Speaker
I know with Hardcore, we played at a handful over my five years.
00:24:20
Speaker
I've been to like two or three.
00:24:22
Speaker
They're pretty fun.
00:24:24
Speaker
They're really fast-paced.
00:24:26
Speaker
I think the matches usually last no more than an hour, hour and a half.
00:24:31
Speaker
They're pretty fun.
00:24:34
Speaker
Moving on to golf, what were they playing?
00:24:39
Speaker
I actually had it pulled up.
00:24:39
Speaker
Let's see here.
00:24:41
Speaker
I think they were at UAV this week.
00:24:45
Speaker
They were in my backyard this week.
00:24:49
Speaker
Showing up.
00:24:50
Speaker
They were like 20 minutes from here.
00:24:52
Speaker
Not even 20 minutes.
00:24:53
Speaker
Maybe more like 5 or 10 minutes.
00:24:55
Speaker
Depending on where they were playing.
00:25:00
Speaker
Okay, yes.
00:25:01
Speaker
They were at UAB's GMAC Invitational.
00:25:12
Speaker
It doesn't show the scores, but... Well, no.
00:25:15
Speaker
Here we go.
00:25:15
Speaker
Final results.
00:25:16
Speaker
Maybe this will tell us what course they were playing at.
00:25:21
Speaker
No, it doesn't.
00:25:24
Speaker
That's no fun.
00:25:27
Speaker
But, yeah, so finished fifth at a tournament with what looks like some decent teams, UAB, losing to Lafayette.
00:25:37
Speaker
Hey, we beat UNA and Troy.
00:25:39
Speaker
Hey, always a great day when we beat UNA and Troy.
00:25:44
Speaker
We beat Sanford.
00:25:45
Speaker
So we beat really our three main Alabama rivals.
00:25:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:50
Speaker
always a great day when we can beat them.
00:25:53
Speaker
Yeah, no, no kidding.
00:25:57
Speaker
Oh, man, Sanford was plus 14.
00:25:59
Speaker
Man, I feel bad for Tarleton State and USC Upstate.
00:26:08
Speaker
Were they just very other place?
00:26:11
Speaker
They combined to go plus 67.
00:26:14
Speaker
Oh, God, that does not sound good at all.
00:26:18
Speaker
No, that's rough.
00:26:20
Speaker
Yeah, so you finish fifth, minus five.
00:26:23
Speaker
UAB shoots minus 22 over two days.
00:26:25
Speaker
You really can't.
00:26:27
Speaker
Can't do much of there.
00:26:30
Speaker
No, no, you can't.
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah, there's some good teams.
00:26:33
Speaker
So, hey, you know, good week for golf.
00:26:38
Speaker
Eric Jansen, fourth overall in the individual competition.
00:26:44
Speaker
Goes 61-71.
00:26:48
Speaker
the open tournament that's pretty that's around that actually it wouldn't surprise me if that's course record in fact I bet it would say so on the article no not 61 67 I think I typed that in wrong I got myself really excited
00:27:18
Speaker
Yeah, 61 would have been insane.
00:27:20
Speaker
I was going to say 61.
00:27:22
Speaker
Good Lord.
00:27:22
Speaker
Okay, so they were playing at Limestone Springs up in Oniana.
00:27:26
Speaker
Gotcha.
00:27:27
Speaker
They weren't too far away from you.
00:27:29
Speaker
But, hey, shout out to the men's golf.
00:27:32
Speaker
We love to hear about the golf teams playing well.
00:27:36
Speaker
You know, we are, after all, a Masters winning program.
00:27:41
Speaker
Got to keep the legacy going.
00:27:43
Speaker
Yeah, when you've got a green jacket in your backyard, you've got to represent.
00:27:48
Speaker
I don't think Danny Willett, he didn't waste blood, sweat, and tears for us to not perform.
00:27:57
Speaker
I feel like we will hold on to that for as long as we possibly can.
00:28:03
Speaker
There are a few things in life that JSU will have over a lot of schools just because of how small we are, but we can say that we have a green jacket.
00:28:15
Speaker
And that's something you can really never take away.
00:28:17
Speaker
Like.
00:28:18
Speaker
No.
00:28:19
Speaker
There's almost no instance where they will go and take that green jacket away.
00:28:25
Speaker
Well, and, and you even look at who Danny beat that year, beating up on Jordan Spieth.
00:28:31
Speaker
Uh, poor Jordan couldn't, couldn't help but find the water over and over again.
00:28:35
Speaker
And Danny's sitting there like, man, this is easy.
00:28:38
Speaker
All you have to do is find the green.
00:28:40
Speaker
But, uh,
00:28:42
Speaker
Well, we've gotten that out of the way.
The "Gravy Bowl" Rivalry Discussion
00:28:44
Speaker
I think it's time to hit the segment that we've been most looking forward to, and that is making fun of whatever this god-awful nickname has been given to this game that we're playing this weekend against San Houston State.
00:28:57
Speaker
I hate that the logic of the naming of this rivalry is some dude on Twitter said, I think we should name the game this game.
00:29:08
Speaker
And whoever it was just kind of picked it up and said, okay, we're going with it.
00:29:14
Speaker
I don't think it's officially recognized between the two schools.
00:29:19
Speaker
I don't think the coaches know anything about it.
00:29:21
Speaker
I don't think there's any sort of officialness to it.
00:29:24
Speaker
I think it's purely Twitter.
00:29:28
Speaker
And not even just Twitter.
00:29:30
Speaker
I've talked to some Sam Houston fans, you know, kind of in the last week as we've led up into the end of quote unquote, a rivalry week.
00:29:39
Speaker
Apparently it's just one account too.
00:29:41
Speaker
It's the best.
00:29:41
Speaker
It's like the craziest thing is most, most, even like most Sam Houston fans don't call it the gravy bowl.
00:29:48
Speaker
And most of them also don't see it as a rivalry.
00:29:52
Speaker
I was talking to one of them, and one of the biggest things you always take into account when you consider who's a rival is fan attendance at road games.
00:30:04
Speaker
I don't know about you.
00:30:05
Speaker
I don't see Jacksonville State fans traveling in droves to Sam Houston.
00:30:11
Speaker
I don't see their fans doing the same to Jacksonville.
00:30:15
Speaker
And it's just something we've only ever played them like two or three times.
00:30:22
Speaker
Never really had any close or chippy games.
00:30:27
Speaker
There's just nothing there that naturally forms a rivalry.
00:30:31
Speaker
So why are we trying to make it a thing?
00:30:36
Speaker
It's crazy.
00:30:38
Speaker
I feel zero hate towards Sam Houston.
00:30:42
Speaker
I actually, before they came to FBS and now all of a sudden their offense looks like 2016 Jacksonville State with Brian Horn.
00:31:00
Speaker
Um, I actually really enjoyed watching Sam Houston state.
00:31:04
Speaker
Um, um, I mean, I have no hate towards them.
00:31:08
Speaker
I wouldn't net, I wouldn't call this a rivalry.
00:31:10
Speaker
I wouldn't call it anything close to a rivalry.
00:31:12
Speaker
Nope.
00:31:13
Speaker
We have two rivals.
00:31:15
Speaker
Um, we have UNA and we have Kennesaw state.
00:31:19
Speaker
Those are our two rivals.
00:31:20
Speaker
And then Troy in other sports.
00:31:23
Speaker
Cause we don't play them in football.
00:31:24
Speaker
Um,
00:31:27
Speaker
But Sam Houston's not a rivalry by any means.
00:31:31
Speaker
And it definitely is not, even if it was a rivalry, it's not deserving of a nickname like Gravy Bowl.
00:31:39
Speaker
Gravy Bowl.
00:31:40
Speaker
And the thing is, who calls it a Gravy Bowl?
00:31:44
Speaker
It's a gravy boat.
00:31:45
Speaker
Yeah, it's just a gravy boat.
00:31:47
Speaker
We have all watched the first episode of Friends when Rachel says she was looking at a gravy boat, and that's why she left Barry.
00:31:54
Speaker
We've all seen it.
00:31:56
Speaker
It's not a gravy bowl.
00:31:57
Speaker
It's a gravy boat.
00:31:58
Speaker
Let's get that out of the way.
00:32:00
Speaker
Yeah, whoever it was that came up with that, I don't get it.
00:32:05
Speaker
I think it's stupid.
00:32:07
Speaker
This is just a game between two teams that are kind of indifferent towards each other.
00:32:13
Speaker
Yeah, we exist in the same conference.
00:32:15
Speaker
That's the most we have in common.
00:32:18
Speaker
Look, a team is going to win a game.
00:32:20
Speaker
A team is going to lose a game.
00:32:22
Speaker
But afterwards, there's not going to be a bunch of hate spewed.
00:32:25
Speaker
Now, 2024, when Kennesaw State joins this conference, that's different.
00:32:33
Speaker
Yeah, no.
00:32:35
Speaker
Whenever Kennesaw State gets here –
00:32:38
Speaker
It's on.
00:32:39
Speaker
Those are games where I promise you, if you show up to a game, whether it be in Kennesaw or whether it's in Jacksonville, it'll probably be close to 50-50 as far as fan attendance goes because they're going to travel.
00:32:56
Speaker
There will be a bunch of crap talk.
00:32:58
Speaker
There will be borderline fighting going on.
00:33:03
Speaker
At least after the game.
00:33:04
Speaker
Before the game, there will be a lot of drinks and food shared both ways.
00:33:07
Speaker
After the game, though, yeah, no, it ain't pretty.
00:33:12
Speaker
Yeah, that's when the alcohol starts to set in.
00:33:15
Speaker
And one team's fans is walking away losers.
00:33:19
Speaker
And, look, I ain't going to say it because I was in Southerners, so obviously we didn't do anything.
00:33:26
Speaker
But I can tell you that a lot of us walk away with our tails tucked after that 2021 loss in Ross's last year.
00:33:34
Speaker
And it was really hard to not, you know, commit crimes after that game.
00:33:40
Speaker
I mean, it was really hard.
00:33:43
Speaker
And, you know, and that game, here's the thing, that's not just a rivalry.
00:33:47
Speaker
It's got a good nickname.
00:33:48
Speaker
It's the War on I-20.
00:33:50
Speaker
That's a great nickname.
00:33:51
Speaker
That is a great nickname for a rivalry.
00:33:54
Speaker
The gravy bowl, on the other hand, sounds like we're all really obese people who eat KFC mashed potatoes three times a day.
00:34:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:06
Speaker
And that's to be honest.
00:34:08
Speaker
KFC mashed potatoes aren't that good.
00:34:10
Speaker
I just don't get it.
00:34:12
Speaker
Maybe it's because Sam Houston doesn't have a built-in rivalry coming in.
00:34:20
Speaker
The person I was talking to said, if anything, they should look at LaTex or UTEP.
00:34:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:28
Speaker
But especially when we already have one built in, especially with somebody who's coming into the conference at that, you know, next year, I just on our end, I know our fans don't really recognize it.
00:34:40
Speaker
We make fun of it.
00:34:42
Speaker
It's just a game.
00:34:44
Speaker
I think for the team going into it, it's just a game.
00:34:49
Speaker
We got to check it off, you know, move on to the next afterwards.
00:34:54
Speaker
I don't think there's any extra incentive.
00:34:56
Speaker
And, you know, for all those people out there who were hoping it was an actual thing, sorry, you will not see a coach doused in gravy afterwards.
00:35:07
Speaker
Yeah, this will not be the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
00:35:10
Speaker
I can confirm there will not be any disgusting condiments dumped on the winning coach.
00:35:16
Speaker
See, I think gravy would be worse than mayo too because at least mayo is kind of thick and it would just rub it off.
00:35:25
Speaker
Gravy soaks into your stuff.
00:35:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:29
Speaker
Anything anybody's wearing, if you get it soaked in gravy, that's it.
00:35:33
Speaker
Throw it away.
00:35:35
Speaker
If you're wearing khakis and someone dumps gravy on you, it's curtains.
00:35:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's it.
00:35:42
Speaker
That's lights out.
00:35:43
Speaker
Oh, man.
00:35:46
Speaker
Oh, but before we get into the game, I found – so CUSA has the Bahamas Bowl, obviously, and Nassau, Bahamas.
00:35:56
Speaker
They have the Arnell Careers New Orleans Bowl.
00:35:58
Speaker
That would be a nice one.
00:35:59
Speaker
Hey.
00:36:00
Speaker
Hey.
00:36:02
Speaker
And then they have a couple that rotate as far as, you know, guaranteed selections.
00:36:07
Speaker
The one this year is the Easy Post Hawaii Bowl.
00:36:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:15
Speaker
And then there are a couple where, you know, they just rotate among all of the G5s.
00:36:21
Speaker
I'm not sure which ones we have this year.
00:36:24
Speaker
But one of them is as close as Mobile.
00:36:26
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:36:30
Speaker
Camellia Bowl, isn't it?
00:36:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:32
Speaker
Or, no, Mobile is the 68 Ventures Bowl.
00:36:36
Speaker
Oh, that's right.
00:36:37
Speaker
They got a new – that's right.
00:36:39
Speaker
That's right.
00:36:40
Speaker
Camellia Bowl is in Montgomery.
00:36:42
Speaker
Montgomery, which is also on the list.
00:36:46
Speaker
And, you know, JSU is very familiar with that stadium.
00:36:49
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:36:50
Speaker
We know the Crampton Bowl.
00:36:52
Speaker
And it looks like the Birmingham Bowl is actually in a rotation this year.
00:36:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:59
Speaker
So that is a outside possibility.
00:37:02
Speaker
We have three in-state possibilities.
00:37:05
Speaker
And then there's a couple in Florida.
00:37:10
Speaker
And then you're looking at South Carolina.
00:37:11
Speaker
So very good chance, you know, if we get the call, you know, hypothetical, if we get the call, if we keep handling business the way we're supposed to, good possibility we could end up.
00:37:27
Speaker
Playing fairly close.
00:37:29
Speaker
You know, our fans could enjoy that experience because I know the first bowl game we do get called up to, our fans are going to go crazy.
00:37:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:41
Speaker
I'll tell you right now, if it's –
00:37:44
Speaker
any of the Alabama games or even the, the new Orleans bowl, I'm going to be there.
00:37:51
Speaker
So the new war, the new Orleans bowl is not played at, you know, some high school or college.
00:37:56
Speaker
It's played at the superdome.
00:37:58
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:37:59
Speaker
A hundred percent.
00:37:59
Speaker
So watching JSU play in the superdome.
00:38:04
Speaker
That would be nuts.
00:38:05
Speaker
That would be insane.
00:38:07
Speaker
First bowl game and you get to play at the site of, you know, the infamous lights out Super Bowl, you know, Ravens Niners.
00:38:17
Speaker
Get to play at the place where Joe Burrow won the national championship.
00:38:22
Speaker
It would be a crazy one for sure.
00:38:26
Speaker
I know a certain Saints fan who's a friend of ours, Mr. Gabriel Trotter.
00:38:32
Speaker
I'm sure he'd be there.
00:38:34
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:38:34
Speaker
I mean, you know he'd be there.
00:38:36
Speaker
They would have the Southerners there some way, somehow.
00:38:39
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:38:39
Speaker
Oh, yeah, man.
00:38:40
Speaker
That'd be – as long as it's not Hawaii or the Bahamas, I'm going to try to be there.
00:38:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:48
Speaker
As much as I would love to be in the Bahamas or go back to Hawaii because Hawaii is beautiful, I just could not pull that on such short notice.
00:38:59
Speaker
I ain't got it like that.
00:39:01
Speaker
Yeah, I don't have that much leave, and my honeymoon is already expensive.
00:39:06
Speaker
Unless we have some amazing listeners out there that would love to sponsor a trip.
00:39:11
Speaker
Hey, if you are a local business and you want to sponsor the 700 Pelomo podcast, send us on the road for a game and then make it be a bowl game.
00:39:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:25
Speaker
We'll put you.
00:39:27
Speaker
You would get lifetime advertisement on this podcast for sure.
00:39:37
Speaker
Oh, man.
00:39:40
Speaker
Top to bottom, this season so far is looking way better than most people could have ever thought.
00:39:47
Speaker
It's looking like we're on track to, you know...
00:39:51
Speaker
have a pretty solid stepping stone going forward.
00:39:55
Speaker
Um, second year of our transition, first year, full FBS schedule.
00:40:01
Speaker
Most people weren't expecting us to come out being three and one and be on track for seven and five.
00:40:09
Speaker
you know, really breaking a lot of expectations and just setting ourselves up to be very successful going forward.
00:40:16
Speaker
Because as much as it helps right now, you know, talking about a hypothetical bowl game and just a record in numbers, it helps with recruitment too.
00:40:27
Speaker
You know, Rich Rod and all the other coaches can go out on the recruiting trail and look at these kids in the face and say, hey, you're a three-star, you're a four-star.
00:40:37
Speaker
You may have...
00:40:39
Speaker
You may have offers or you may be getting looks from all these Power 5 schools, but you may sit for two or three years.
00:40:50
Speaker
You can come here, look what we're building.
00:40:53
Speaker
You can go out right away, make an impact, show everybody what you're made of, who you got.
00:40:58
Speaker
One of the biggest things at JSU is always proving all the doubters wrong.
00:41:04
Speaker
Come on down to Jacksonville, show everybody that not only is this school and this team better than everybody expects and thinks, that you're way better than what some of these other coaches and recruits or recruiters and scouts think.
00:41:23
Speaker
I think it is a great situation all around for somebody to come in and just blow the competition away.
00:41:32
Speaker
I fully agree, man.
00:41:33
Speaker
I fully agree.
00:41:34
Speaker
And it's, you know, it's been that way.
00:41:36
Speaker
Even when we were FCS, when we were winning so many games in the OVC, we had some national attention.
00:41:45
Speaker
But now, you know, FBS –
00:41:50
Speaker
We've already beaten two FBS teams, one of which, again, won a bowl game and won nine games last year.
00:42:00
Speaker
I'm not saying we're going to beat Liberty or Western Kentucky, but let's say we win Thursday and we split those two games.
00:42:07
Speaker
We're now 5-2 with five games left on the schedule, and every team left on the schedule after Western Kentucky is behind us in the conference standings.
00:42:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean... Except for South Carolina, but, you know, that's a different monster.
00:42:23
Speaker
Yeah, totally different monster.
00:42:24
Speaker
But, I mean, yeah, like you said, we go in here, handle business, get this win, split those two.
00:42:34
Speaker
Looking at the rest of it, Middle Tennessee could be somewhat of a difficult game.
00:42:41
Speaker
And like you said, don't ever want to...
00:42:44
Speaker
crap on, you know, other teams because it's FBS.
00:42:46
Speaker
But as it sits right now, I don't see us necessarily struggling with FIU or New Mexico State or La Tech.
00:42:56
Speaker
Obviously, as the season goes on, things could change.
00:42:58
Speaker
You never know.
00:42:59
Speaker
It's a long season.
00:43:00
Speaker
But it's just one of those where I think we have finally found the recipe and we're playing up to our potential.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:10
Speaker
And now we have the chance to play above what many people have set our potential at.
00:43:16
Speaker
And it's a great spot to be in.
00:43:19
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:43:20
Speaker
I mean, if you had told me that after the first four games of the year that nine and three would potentially be on the table, I would have laughed at you.
00:43:30
Speaker
Because I'd be like, no, because we'll lose to Coastal Carolina.
00:43:33
Speaker
We'll lose to Eastern Michigan.
00:43:35
Speaker
We might lose to UTEP.
00:43:37
Speaker
Um, and instead we come out and our defense has been, even against coastal, our defense was elite for three quarters, but we just had no offense and they were exhausted.
00:43:49
Speaker
Um, and again, I, I still, I, I refuse to believe we lose that game if Logan Smothers starts.
00:43:56
Speaker
Um, I refuse to believe.
00:44:00
Speaker
I honestly think we could be sitting here looking at four and O right now.
00:44:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:06
Speaker
Um,
00:44:08
Speaker
But, you know, it is what it is.
00:44:08
Speaker
You know, you take those lumps, you learn your lessons.
00:44:16
Speaker
And, you know, we're fortunate to have a coach who's won at the FBS level.
00:44:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:22
Speaker
Um, so we, he, he knows what it takes.
00:44:26
Speaker
Um, and you know what, most of his staff members are guys who he's coached with the whole time.
00:44:31
Speaker
Like, it's not like he went out and got it, you know, oh, you know, got this first big job.
00:44:35
Speaker
So now he goes and, and hires a brand new staff.
00:44:37
Speaker
Like he, he brought his guys with him.
00:44:40
Speaker
Um, so the staff is uniquely familiar with each other.
00:44:45
Speaker
So you know there's a lot of chemistry with the coaching staff, which is good because I think we sat pretty close to the sideline for the first game.
00:44:53
Speaker
And Rich Rod, he's an intense coach.
00:44:56
Speaker
You've got to know what you're getting into when you work for him because he's intense, but he wants to win.
00:45:01
Speaker
So it says something that all of these guys who he's coached with his whole career continue to stay with him.
00:45:08
Speaker
And it's because they believe in his process.
00:45:12
Speaker
They believe in the goals that he sets forth.
00:45:18
Speaker
You know, they believe in him as a coach.
00:45:19
Speaker
I mean, obviously we believe in him as a coach.
00:45:21
Speaker
We hope Rich Rod never leaves.
00:45:22
Speaker
He's already a legend at JSU because, I mean, we're sitting here after –
00:45:30
Speaker
14 career games and he's lost three of them.
00:45:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:34
Speaker
So, I mean, he's came into a situation basically playing with house money after our, the last couple of years of our last head coach.
00:45:45
Speaker
Um, and he defied expectations from game one.
00:45:49
Speaker
Um, um,
00:45:51
Speaker
to come in and just absolutely smack Stephen F. Austin in the mouth your first game, to pretty much carry that success through that first season, win the conference, and now to lead the transition in the FBS, start off 3-1, looking at, like I said, if we handle business, looking at a potential bowl game in year one,
00:46:18
Speaker
At that point, there's not much you can say except for constructive criticism, which it's always a great position to be where you can only provide constructive criticism and not just downright, you're a horrible coach.
00:46:34
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:46:35
Speaker
I mean, you know, I think I remember, you know, kind of something, you know, that I've heard, you know, Nick Saban say in several press conferences, you know, when Alabama, you know, if they lose a game and they didn't play well, like obviously he expects perfection out of his players, but what does he always lean back on?
00:46:55
Speaker
He leans back on, I'm the coach.
00:46:57
Speaker
It's my responsibility to put them in position in the first place.
00:47:00
Speaker
And that's the same thing Rich Rod does.
00:47:01
Speaker
He, uh,
00:47:02
Speaker
he 100% takes responsibility, you know, for the players if they don't play well and says, hey, it's on me as the coach to, you know, to teach them better, you know, and he's like, you know, they can only, you know, one person can only do so much, you know, and it's up to coaches to help build the players further.
00:47:22
Speaker
So, you know, having a coach like that who,
00:47:25
Speaker
who truly understands the landscape of college sports.
00:47:30
Speaker
Like, I mean, we're blessed.
00:47:31
Speaker
We are truly blessed.
00:47:33
Speaker
And, you know, we still got a long, long season ahead of us.
00:47:38
Speaker
I mean, what we saw against Eastern Michigan was just the start.
00:47:41
Speaker
You know, we haven't even really talked about, about this Thursday and I'm sure we're going to real quickly before we end the episode, but, you know, I mentioned it there.
00:47:50
Speaker
there's a route for us to win, I think, every game on the schedule.
00:47:55
Speaker
And, you know, I even look at South Carolina, I think, you know, if we get bad Spencer Rattler for one day, there's no guarantee we don't go into Williams-Bryson win.
00:48:08
Speaker
So –
00:48:09
Speaker
Hey, we'll be there for that game.
00:48:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:12
Speaker
Jalen and I are leading a contingency of JSU alumni to head over to Columbus – not Columbus, Columbia.
00:48:22
Speaker
No, yeah, Columbia, South Carolina to be at that game and support the Gamecocks.
00:48:30
Speaker
Even if we are the only 10 that go, we'll be there.
00:48:34
Speaker
Front row of the JSU section just causing all kinds of ruckus.
00:48:39
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:48:40
Speaker
You know it.
00:48:41
Speaker
We are not win or lose from kickoff until the clock hits triple zeros.
00:48:48
Speaker
We will be loud and raucous and rowdy.
00:48:52
Speaker
Even if we're down by 28 points, I'm still going to be annoying.
00:48:57
Speaker
We've been trained in the art of belligerency by the JSU Pet Band.
00:49:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:04
Speaker
That's basically a four-hour scholarship to show up and yell at the other team.
00:49:10
Speaker
So we know what it's about, and I assure you we bring in that energy to Columbia.
00:49:17
Speaker
And we hope to meet some of y'all South Carolina fans.
00:49:19
Speaker
For any of you who may stumble upon the podcast, hopefully we'll get out and about and meet some of y'all and show y'all what the other Gamecocks are about.
00:49:31
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
Preview of Jack State vs Sam Houston Game
00:49:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:33
Speaker
All right, I say we kind of dive into Sam Houston real quick.
00:49:36
Speaker
There's not much to talk about besides their offense is – look, Sam Houston fans, I have a lot of respect for you guys.
00:49:45
Speaker
Y'all have put up some insane offensive numbers the last 10, 15 years.
00:49:50
Speaker
Y'all's offense is awful.
00:49:52
Speaker
Yeah, this year.
00:49:54
Speaker
I just – you know, it is what it is.
00:49:57
Speaker
And it's not – I mean, it's not, you know, Casey Keeler's fault.
00:50:01
Speaker
Like, you know, not every team responds to an FCS transition the same way.
00:50:06
Speaker
You know, part of the reason that we're performing well is because of who our coach is.
00:50:11
Speaker
You know, it's not necessary that we're just across the board more talented than every team we play, but we've got a coach who is probably more experienced at the FCS level than every other coach we're facing.
00:50:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:23
Speaker
But I'll just be honest.
00:50:25
Speaker
I mean, Sam Houston's offense is averaging 42 rushing yards a game.
00:50:28
Speaker
They're averaging less than, I think, less than 150 yards total per game.
00:50:33
Speaker
They have yet to score.
00:50:35
Speaker
I think, let me see if they, I don't think they've scored double digits once all season.
00:50:40
Speaker
No, because they have 10 total points on the season.
00:50:43
Speaker
Yeah, so there you go.
00:50:44
Speaker
So they're averaging three and a third points a game, which is last in FPS.
00:50:51
Speaker
Now their defense is not bad.
00:50:53
Speaker
They're only giving up 22 points a game.
00:50:57
Speaker
They held BYU and Air Force to 27 combined points.
00:51:01
Speaker
But, man, Houston did y'all dirty.
00:51:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:06
Speaker
Put up a 38 spot.
00:51:09
Speaker
Y'all gave up 538 yards of offense.
00:51:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:13
Speaker
Which, saying all of this, we definitely have to be a little careful considering their first three games were BYU, Air Force, and Houston.
00:51:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:39
Speaker
I think that kind of puts us in a trap game type situation where they're pissed off.
00:51:45
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:51:47
Speaker
They want something to start working and start clicking.
00:51:51
Speaker
I don't want our defense to fall into the JSU syndrome of playing down to the level of competition.
00:52:00
Speaker
We definitely have to be careful there.
00:52:05
Speaker
And just...
00:52:06
Speaker
stay on track, you know, keep that hard edge, as the football team says, and just give it to them just like we did to Eastern Michigan last week.
00:52:17
Speaker
If we can do that against Eastern Michigan, there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to hold Sam Houston to zero the same exact way.
00:52:26
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I think this game comes down to does our offense travel.
00:52:32
Speaker
Now that we kind of have the QB situation figured out, we want to see Logan perform a little bit better in the passing game, but does the running game travel enough to give him that time?
00:52:44
Speaker
Because if we show up and we're running the football really effectively, it'll give Logan the freedom in the passing game to not feel like he's got to go be Joe Burrow.
00:52:57
Speaker
He doesn't have to be Joe Burrow.
00:52:58
Speaker
He needs to be
00:53:00
Speaker
I mean, realistically, he needs to be Nick Marshall.
00:53:02
Speaker
That's really all he needs to be in this offense.
00:53:06
Speaker
So, you know, for running the ball, especially, you know, maybe if Anwar is back and at least can get, you know, five, ten touches, you know, we could –
00:53:19
Speaker
again, I like our chances, but again, this is a Thursday night game, you know, we're out in Texas.
00:53:24
Speaker
So, you know, it's going to be kind of a weird little situation.
00:53:29
Speaker
Um, yeah, especially with the short week, you know, Saturday flipping the Thursday.
00:53:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:36
Speaker
Especially when you have to account for a travel day in there too.
00:53:41
Speaker
Um, I'm not sure if they're flying out Wednesday night or if they're flying out Thursday morning, but, um,
00:53:47
Speaker
Very short week.
00:53:48
Speaker
You got to stay focused.
00:53:51
Speaker
It's going to change up the routine.
00:53:52
Speaker
So, you know, this is going to be a really important game because, you know, some guys are really, really big on routine and doing the same thing, you know, week to week.
00:54:03
Speaker
It's going to cut some of that just because you're losing two days.
00:54:09
Speaker
So I'm just hoping that the short week and the travel don't affect us too terribly much.
00:54:18
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, we've seen teams go cross-country.
00:54:22
Speaker
And obviously, this is a cross-country.
00:54:24
Speaker
We're going three states over, which in the grand scheme of things is not that far.
00:54:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:34
Speaker
Um, but you know, it'll be intriguing to see.
00:54:36
Speaker
I would imagine they'll fly out Wednesday, let the guys get a good night's sleep.
00:54:41
Speaker
Um, wake up, wake up at a reasonable time that day and just kind of go through their game day routine.
00:54:46
Speaker
Cause I mean, kickoff wise, it's, you know, it's a regular night game.
00:54:49
Speaker
Um, it's, it's just more a matter of, you don't want to take these guys out of their element the day of you want them to wake up and be on site, um, and be ready to go.
00:55:04
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I think it comes down to the offense.
00:55:06
Speaker
If our offense travels, I think we have a really good chance to win, put up some points.
00:55:12
Speaker
But, again, Sam Houston's defense is not bad.
00:55:14
Speaker
I mean, you know, Houston – here's the thing.
00:55:16
Speaker
Houston's head coach –
00:55:19
Speaker
was one of Mike Leach's top assistants and Dana Holgerson.
00:55:25
Speaker
They know how to put points up.
00:55:27
Speaker
But you kept a really good Air Force team.
00:55:29
Speaker
And by all accounts, a solid BYU team to 27 combined points.
00:55:35
Speaker
Neither got to 400 total yards.
00:55:37
Speaker
And –
00:55:44
Speaker
Air Force especially, now they're triple option teams.
00:55:47
Speaker
It's a little bit different.
00:55:48
Speaker
But they only ran for 244.
00:55:50
Speaker
They threw for 14.
00:55:51
Speaker
So, I mean, this is a good defense for the level that we play at.
00:55:59
Speaker
Um, you know, I mean, it'll be fun to watch.
00:56:01
Speaker
It'll be great coming home from work on a weekday and you've got, you know, Gamecock football.
00:56:05
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:56:06
Speaker
Um, that, that, that's going to be a really fun thing about the TV deal is coming home on, you know, on Tuesday, Wednesday nights, having nothing to do and just, and they're like, I've got Gamecock football tonight.
00:56:16
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:56:17
Speaker
But, but yeah, you know, I'm excited.
00:56:19
Speaker
I'm excited to kind of get back out on the road.
00:56:24
Speaker
Um, you know, see how the guys respond to a,
00:56:27
Speaker
to a weird schedule.
00:56:29
Speaker
If they get through this week, they've got 10 days.
00:56:35
Speaker
No, they've got more than that.
00:56:37
Speaker
They'll have...
00:56:39
Speaker
I think 11 or 12 days before the Liberty game.
00:56:43
Speaker
Well, no.
00:56:44
Speaker
You got MTSD on the road.
00:56:48
Speaker
I don't know why I thought next week was a bye week.
00:56:51
Speaker
So it's a short turnaround followed by another short turnaround.
00:56:55
Speaker
That one's not too bad, though.
00:56:57
Speaker
That one's a Thursday to Wednesday.
00:56:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:00
Speaker
Yeah, Thursday to Wednesday, and that one you're just going up to Tennessee, up to Murfreesboro, which isn't super far from Jacksonville.
00:57:07
Speaker
I think it's just a few hours.
00:57:11
Speaker
I almost was going to be at that game, but instead I'm either going to be a Liberty or a Western Kentucky.
00:57:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:21
Speaker
I potentially might be at both, actually.
00:57:24
Speaker
Depending on how everything shakes out, I might make the drive up to Murfreesboro to see that game.
00:57:30
Speaker
It is far enough that it would make just going up there for a game a little bit of a hassle, though.
00:57:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:38
Speaker
But yeah, no, I definitely want to be in town for that Liberty game.
00:57:43
Speaker
It'll be weird to be in Jacksonville in Burgessville on a Tuesday night, but I can't wait.
00:57:49
Speaker
Yeah, that's one of those games where I think it's a 6.30 kickoff.
00:57:53
Speaker
I may try to get out of work a little bit early so that I can maybe get there on time.
00:58:01
Speaker
I know I've got a meeting in – here's the thing.
00:58:02
Speaker
It's crazy.
00:58:03
Speaker
I've got a meeting in Scottsboro up in North Alabama the next day, and it would actually – shoot, I'm going to try and be at that Liberty game.
00:58:13
Speaker
Because I know a few people that we know are going to be there.
00:58:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:58:19
Speaker
and it would, it would be fun to get us all together.
00:58:21
Speaker
But, uh,
00:58:23
Speaker
But, yeah, I mean, that's really it.
00:58:24
Speaker
It's just, I mean, you can tell me if you disagree, but I think it comes down to if the offense travels.
00:58:29
Speaker
I think our defense has proven in the Coastal game the defense will travel.
00:58:33
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:58:34
Speaker
The defense will definitely travel.
00:58:36
Speaker
And looking at Sam Houston's offense, like you said, not really super great.
00:58:44
Speaker
Their rushing offense is basically nonexistent.
00:58:47
Speaker
I think they have less than 50 rushing yards on the season.
00:58:51
Speaker
or somewhere around it, they're averaging like one and a half yards per carry.
00:58:56
Speaker
As long as our secondary can show up and hold their own, at that point, everything rests in the hands of the offense.
00:59:06
Speaker
And I think this will be their first game to really, if Logan gets the start again, you know, they go into it knowing he's the starter.
00:59:15
Speaker
I think this is their first game to really lock in and, you know, show us what they got.
00:59:20
Speaker
Um, obviously we've seen the run game.
00:59:22
Speaker
I want to see what we can do passing.
00:59:24
Speaker
If that is, you know, going to be a significant element to our offense, which I think we at least need to be a little bit more prevalent than it is.
00:59:32
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I'm really excited for this game.
00:59:35
Speaker
Really excited to see our potential because this really lays the groundwork for us going into the rest of conference play.
00:59:44
Speaker
But yeah, all around just super excited.
00:59:47
Speaker
I think our fans will be a little bit thrown off about the conference midweek games at first.
00:59:54
Speaker
But I think they'll warm up to it.
00:59:56
Speaker
It's a pretty unique situation.
00:59:58
Speaker
It allows us to get primetime games.
01:00:00
Speaker
Like you said, come home, turn on ESPN, CVS, whatever channel we're on.
01:00:08
Speaker
Watch some Gamecock football on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday night.
01:00:14
Speaker
I think our fans will warm up to it.
01:00:16
Speaker
I'm hoping people will actually show up and be in the stands.
01:00:20
Speaker
I hope students show up because unlike Saturday games, they're not going to be going home.
01:00:26
Speaker
You'll be right there on campus.
01:00:28
Speaker
So might as well go to the stadium for a couple hours, have some fun, let loose, watch some football.
01:00:36
Speaker
So I hope our students show up.
01:00:38
Speaker
I hope they stay.
01:00:40
Speaker
because they won't have the excuse of Auburn or UGA or Alabama or whoever else playing later on in the day because it just won't be the case.
01:00:51
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:52
Speaker
So, yeah, I hope all around everybody shows up, enjoys the nights, has a great time, because I think it's something that could be really good for Jacksonville.
01:01:04
Speaker
I fully agree, man.
01:01:05
Speaker
I'm excited.
01:01:07
Speaker
It's going to be –
01:01:09
Speaker
It's going to be cool.
01:01:10
Speaker
It's going to be fun.
01:01:13
Speaker
Hopefully we come away with a dub.
01:01:16
Speaker
I'm hoping so.
01:01:20
Speaker
Only other thing I really have is, and we touched on some of the other sports earlier, one of the things I left off I forgot to mention is,
01:01:30
Speaker
JSU bowling, our bowling team first year, they posted the other day, they're doing a meet and greet with the ladies of the bowling team over at big time entertainment in Oxford.
01:01:42
Speaker
That'll be on October 6th at 1 PM.
01:01:46
Speaker
I think everybody gets a free poster and I'm sure they'll probably do some autographs if you want to do that.
01:01:52
Speaker
Um, so yeah, always, you know, go show up, support all of our athletics if you can.
01:02:01
Speaker
They all deserve it, not just football, not just basketball, baseball.
01:02:05
Speaker
I think all of our athletics need to know that our fan base is behind them 110%.
01:02:12
Speaker
So, yeah, if you have the free time and the availability, go show up, get to know our head coach, some of the amazing women that will be on that team, because this is something new and they need our support from the jump.
01:02:28
Speaker
Yep, absolutely, man.
01:02:31
Speaker
Man, I'm yawning a lot.
01:02:32
Speaker
It's late.
01:02:36
Speaker
You know, we're in it for a good time, not a long time.
01:02:40
Speaker
So you do what you got to do.
01:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, man.
01:02:45
Speaker
I fully agree.
01:02:47
Speaker
I mean, we got to show the smaller sports support.
01:02:52
Speaker
Obviously, you know, we all talk about football being the sport that brings in the money, but
01:02:58
Speaker
The other sports are the ones that really support the university's publicity when football is not going on.
01:03:06
Speaker
So make sure you're showing them love, whether that's soccer, whether it's volleyball, whether it's softball, women's basketball, women's tennis, women's golf.
01:03:19
Speaker
Show the women some love because they work hard.
01:03:24
Speaker
And most of the squads are actually pretty good squads.
01:03:29
Speaker
and they just haven't been getting the recognition they need, especially women's basketball.
01:03:34
Speaker
And I actually do have one note on that.
01:03:38
Speaker
With them starting practice this week, it's another year where I argue we probably have two of the most passionate coaches on the hardwood in the conference.
01:03:50
Speaker
100%.
01:03:51
Speaker
Honestly, in all of NCAA.
01:03:53
Speaker
NCAA.
01:03:55
Speaker
We got Ray Harper, who's liable to murder referees at any time.
01:04:01
Speaker
And then we got Rick Petrie, who's liable to murder his own players at any time.
01:04:08
Speaker
Man, for anybody who has never been to a Jacksonville State basketball home game, whether it be men or women's, just pay attention to both of our head coaches.
01:04:17
Speaker
They are two of, like Caleb said, two of the most passionate coaches on that court.
01:04:25
Speaker
I have seen Harper, you know, almost throw hands with another coach.
01:04:29
Speaker
Uh, so yeah, you're definitely not gonna be disappointed there.
01:04:35
Speaker
They, they care so much.
01:04:38
Speaker
Um,
01:04:39
Speaker
But they also are very quick to let the fans and the student section and Hardcore know they appreciate them for being there.
01:04:48
Speaker
That's why I have so much respect for both of them.
01:04:51
Speaker
They will go out of their way to make sure everybody in attendance gets the recognition they deserve to.
01:04:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:05:01
Speaker
Just two great guys all around.
01:05:03
Speaker
I hope they stay at JSU for many, many years.
01:05:06
Speaker
I hope they stay until they choose to retire because we are definitely blessed when it comes to the coaches that grace the court at Pete Matthews Coliseum.
01:05:18
Speaker
Yeah, man.
01:05:19
Speaker
Pete's an underrated home environment.
01:05:22
Speaker
We've had many teams come in there and good teams like Murray State and Belmont who have come in there and we've beaten them by 20 or 30.
01:05:31
Speaker
just because we packed it out.
01:05:32
Speaker
And that place, I'll tell you what, you wouldn't go in there and think it's this loud place, but then you realize that it's concrete all around, and so the noise just bounces off the walls.
01:05:44
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
01:05:46
Speaker
So it's a – no, it's fun.
01:05:49
Speaker
I'm excited for basketball season.
01:05:50
Speaker
I'm going to be at – I don't know how many basketball games I'm actually going to be able to make it to, but I'm going to find –
01:05:56
Speaker
some weekends, you know, one or two weekends this spring and make it to some basketball games.
01:06:05
Speaker
Same, same.
01:06:05
Speaker
I'm going to try and get there.
01:06:08
Speaker
It works out well, actually.
01:06:10
Speaker
Starting the week of Thanksgiving, I'll actually be working from home full time while our building renovates.
01:06:20
Speaker
And I'll have Fridays off now instead of Mondays.
01:06:23
Speaker
So I'll be in town like the whole weekend, like leading up to all these games in the spring.
01:06:32
Speaker
So it's going to be lit.
01:06:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
01:06:38
Speaker
I definitely plan to be there a couple of them.
01:06:42
Speaker
And if I can catch some back-to-backs with some baseball games, you know, I definitely will do that too.
01:06:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
01:06:48
Speaker
If you see me and Jalen being belligerent and leading the cockflock at basketball games, just know that we warned you.
01:06:57
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
01:06:57
Speaker
We've been doing that for quite a long time, and we're going to enjoy it while we still can.
01:07:02
Speaker
Yep.
01:07:03
Speaker
Yeah.
01:07:04
Speaker
Can't let it go until our health or our jobs tells us otherwise.
01:07:09
Speaker
You know it.
01:07:11
Speaker
All right, man.
01:07:12
Speaker
Well, I think that pretty much wraps it up for this week.
01:07:14
Speaker
Um, I don't think I have anything else.
01:07:17
Speaker
Um, I think we're good.
01:07:21
Speaker
Awesome.
01:07:22
Speaker
It was another great episode.
01:07:23
Speaker
Um, those of you who, who find the podcast, um,
01:07:29
Speaker
I just realized I haven't been looking at the camera hardly at all.
01:07:31
Speaker
So y'all are going to see me looking down at like my, my keyboard at the mic and my TV.
01:07:36
Speaker
I'm going to, my ADHD was peaking a little bit today.
01:07:39
Speaker
So it's, it's going to be, it is what it is.
01:07:41
Speaker
But, uh, but thank you guys for, uh, any, you know, everyone who showed us support these first six weeks.
01:07:47
Speaker
Um,
01:07:49
Speaker
We really do this for fun.
01:07:52
Speaker
We don't make any money off of this podcast.
01:07:54
Speaker
We strictly do it for the fun of talking about JSU, talking about the school we went to.
01:08:02
Speaker
Appreciate the love and support.
01:08:04
Speaker
Shout out to Sidelines Sports Network.
01:08:08
Speaker
Our boss over at Sidelines is really the one who kind of steered.
01:08:12
Speaker
When we floated the idea of a podcast, he told us to go for it.
01:08:16
Speaker
Shout out to Troy Taylor with Totem Pole Nation.
01:08:20
Speaker
He's our boss over there.
01:08:21
Speaker
And he's been super instrumental in getting us going in terms of getting us put on on the network.
01:08:29
Speaker
So it's been a quick two weeks, but I had to make those shout outs before we left.
01:08:33
Speaker
So with that being said, I think it's time to sign off.
01:08:36
Speaker
So –
01:08:40
Speaker
It's another great week.
01:08:41
Speaker
We will see you all next week.
01:08:42
Speaker
Hopefully we're back after a JSU dub in Texas.
01:08:46
Speaker
Hopefully.
01:08:48
Speaker
With that, 700 Pelham Road is signing off.