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Season 1 Episode 7
83 Plays2 years ago
On this week's episode, the guys discuss the thriller against Sam Houston, the news around Jax State, and then preview the upcoming matchup against MTSU.
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Transcript
Introduction to Jack State Sports
00:00:01
Speaker
Alright, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the 700 Pelham Road Podcast, your one-stop shop for all things Jack State Sports.
00:00:08
Speaker
I am
Weekend Recap: Coffee, Friends, and Football
00:00:09
Speaker
Caleb Williams, alongside my co-host Jalen Cooper.
00:00:11
Speaker
Jalen, how are you doing today?
00:00:13
Speaker
I am doing pretty good.
00:00:14
Speaker
I'm doing pretty good.
00:00:17
Speaker
Just chilling here.
00:00:18
Speaker
Probably going to get some coffee after we finish up.
00:00:23
Speaker
What about you?
00:00:25
Speaker
Man, I might do the same.
00:00:28
Speaker
You know, we had a weekend with the boys.
00:00:32
Speaker
We sure did.
00:00:33
Speaker
We sure did.
00:00:34
Speaker
It was a weekend.
00:00:35
Speaker
And so now we're having a rally to actually be productive.
00:00:41
Speaker
Yeah, you're right about that one.
00:00:44
Speaker
But we are here nonetheless.
00:00:49
Speaker
Man, it was a big week for football.
00:00:52
Speaker
Yeah, we had some
College Football Weekend Highlights
00:00:53
Speaker
pretty big games.
00:00:55
Speaker
You know, we had Auburn.
00:00:59
Speaker
And, you know, their bootie stadium down there, giving it to UGA, honestly should have came away with the win.
00:01:08
Speaker
But compared to how they had been performing all season for them to make that game that close, that was huge in and of itself.
00:01:18
Speaker
So, yeah, you know, that, the Colorado game, Duke-Notre Dame, it was a very exciting weekend for college football.
00:01:31
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of good games.
00:01:33
Speaker
Colorado-USC started out about how we thought it would, and then Colorado stormed back in about the last 20 minutes.
00:01:43
Speaker
Ole Miss-USC might be the highest scoring game of the year.
00:01:53
Speaker
It probably will stay that way.
00:01:57
Speaker
Yeah, talk about, you know,
00:01:59
Speaker
wet napkin defense, but firepower offense.
00:02:05
Speaker
Yeah.
LSU's Offense and Jayden Daniels' Strategy
00:02:06
Speaker
Neither of those defense could stop a slug on a ventilator, but... I feel like that's one thing Lane Kiffin has been known for, Ole Miss especially, though.
00:02:21
Speaker
His offenses have always been known to just light you up for 50, 60 points, but
00:02:28
Speaker
If you have a confident enough offense, you can go right back at them and put a 50-60 and you're looking at a shootout.
00:02:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:41
Speaker
You've got to give credit to LSU for being willing to stay in a shootout.
00:02:50
Speaker
They've historically been a team that wants to play a little more defense.
00:02:53
Speaker
Um, one, one, when your defense is as bad as theirs is, and you're facing a team that also has a defense that bad, you just got to lock in and score.
00:03:03
Speaker
Um, I'll tell you what, they gave us an entertaining game.
00:03:07
Speaker
Um, yeah, I mean, I think one thing, one thing that we have seen that, um,
00:03:21
Speaker
Probably will continue is Jayden Daniels just getting absolutely lit up.
00:03:27
Speaker
He is a quarterback that does not like to go down.
00:03:30
Speaker
He doesn't like to go out of bounds.
00:03:31
Speaker
He wants every single inch.
00:03:34
Speaker
And, you know, these SEC boys, they're making them pay for every single yard he's getting.
00:03:42
Speaker
Yeah.
Kentucky vs. Georgia Predictions
00:03:45
Speaker
One of these hits is going to get to him eventually.
00:03:47
Speaker
I'll say that.
00:03:49
Speaker
I mean, he's a baller.
00:03:50
Speaker
He's
00:03:52
Speaker
He's mobile.
00:03:53
Speaker
He can throw.
00:03:55
Speaker
He's everything you want in a QB.
00:03:56
Speaker
He needs to learn to slide every now and then.
00:04:00
Speaker
I'm sure somebody is in Brian Kelly's ear right now telling this man, you know, get Jim Daniels to slide or get out of bounds by any means possible.
00:04:10
Speaker
Because, yeah, you want to be in the hunt for the SEC championship game.
00:04:16
Speaker
You want to be in the playoff hunt.
00:04:18
Speaker
But if you were limping there,
00:04:21
Speaker
you are not nearly as effective.
00:04:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:29
Speaker
I'll tell you what.
00:04:31
Speaker
He's got Auburn's defense in two weeks, and they're not Ole Miss' defense, that's for sure.
00:04:40
Speaker
No.
00:04:41
Speaker
He's got Auburn's defense.
00:04:42
Speaker
He has to go through Bama's defense.
00:04:46
Speaker
What's been working on some of these –
00:04:49
Speaker
you know, weaker SEC West and, you know, some of the SEC East teams, it's just not going to work whenever he has to, you know, play Auburn, Bama, UGA, et cetera.
00:05:04
Speaker
Yeah, I think if LSU ends up winning the West, which is still possible, I mean, they only have one conference loss.
00:05:14
Speaker
I think the issue you're going to see, and we saw it this week, is what happens when Georgia starts to tee off on them.
00:05:23
Speaker
Yeah, that's a big thing.
00:05:27
Speaker
They're just, the way they play,
00:05:33
Speaker
right now as it sits, unless they can get their defense to figure something out.
00:05:37
Speaker
I just don't know how they fare with the rest of their SEC schedule.
00:05:43
Speaker
I'm not
JSU vs. Sam Houston: Key Plays and Strategies
00:05:44
Speaker
even super confident they can win out and get to the SEC championship game, but we'll see.
00:05:52
Speaker
Yeah, we will see.
00:05:53
Speaker
I guess we should go.
00:05:59
Speaker
Speaking of SEC, we flip over to the East
00:06:03
Speaker
Kentucky-Georgia is a big game to look for, especially after seeing Georgia's lackluster performance against Auburn.
00:06:11
Speaker
I mean, they did what they had to do when they needed to, but it was not a pretty game for them by any means.
00:06:18
Speaker
No, I wouldn't.
00:06:22
Speaker
I'm not going to come right out and say Kentucky beats Georgia this week, though.
00:06:26
Speaker
It certainly is very possible.
00:06:31
Speaker
I do see it being another close game, though.
00:06:32
Speaker
I mean, just
00:06:34
Speaker
We saw it against South Carolina.
00:06:36
Speaker
We saw it against UAB.
00:06:37
Speaker
We saw it really most of the year.
00:06:39
Speaker
Georgia has started really slow.
00:06:45
Speaker
And they've played down to their opponent.
00:06:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:49
Speaker
But here's the issue now is what happens when you play down to an opponent that's also a top 25 team?
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:06:55
Speaker
I think this is the week where – I think this is the make or break week for Georgia.
00:07:00
Speaker
Either they're going to lose a really close one
00:07:04
Speaker
Or they're going to go back home.
00:07:07
Speaker
That's a huge advantage.
00:07:08
Speaker
They have home cooking.
00:07:10
Speaker
And they're coming off of, I wouldn't say an embarrassing win, but it's definitely not a win to be proud of.
00:07:18
Speaker
And so either they're going to lose very close or they're going to come back with a vengeance and hang 60 on Kentucky out of nowhere.
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:29
Speaker
Um, you know, I'll, I'll say this about Kentucky.
00:07:33
Speaker
Um, Devin Leary is one big game away from Kentucky turning into a real contender in the, in the sec.
00:07:44
Speaker
Um, I, um, he, he was a great player at NC state.
00:07:53
Speaker
He just had a lot of injury issues.
00:07:55
Speaker
Um,
00:07:57
Speaker
Now, he hasn't been as good here, and part of that is, one, the defenses are a little bit better.
00:08:02
Speaker
Two, he doesn't really have the weapons that he had at NC State.
00:08:06
Speaker
He doesn't have Wondell Moore anymore.
00:08:15
Speaker
He doesn't have Chris Rodriguez anymore either, I don't think.
00:08:18
Speaker
No, he's in the league.
00:08:20
Speaker
Chris is a Washington commander now.
00:08:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's like all those guys that were playing with Will Levis who were really good.
00:08:27
Speaker
I said Wondell Moore.
00:08:28
Speaker
I meant Wondell Robinson.
00:08:32
Speaker
But he just doesn't have the weapons that he needs really to attack, and yet they're still making plays.
00:08:44
Speaker
Yeah, to still
Conference Standings and JSU's Impact
00:08:45
Speaker
be 5-0, with a somewhat depleted offense around, like you said, compared to years past,
00:08:53
Speaker
very huge, and that's the kind of guy you've got to be wary of, especially with UGA.
00:08:59
Speaker
Like you said, having the slow starts they've been having, their defense not being the same defense we saw the past two seasons.
00:09:07
Speaker
So that's definitely what some people would call a trap game for them because you're not used to going into Kentucky being seriously worried about Kentucky, but here we are.
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:09:24
Speaker
Um, definitely going to be a good game.
00:09:25
Speaker
And it'll probably be the, uh, hoping it'll be the, uh, two 30 CBS game so that we have a little time to get ready for it.
00:09:34
Speaker
And then a little time after to react to it.
00:09:37
Speaker
I think that one, I actually, I think they got them at night.
00:09:40
Speaker
I think it's a night game in Athens.
00:09:42
Speaker
Oh man.
00:09:43
Speaker
That's that'll be an atmosphere.
00:09:47
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:09:47
Speaker
100%.
00:09:47
Speaker
Um,
00:09:50
Speaker
But yeah, we had an exciting weekend of college football, but we also had a very exciting midweek of college football.
00:09:58
Speaker
Our very own conference, Conference USA, we got to start the midweek slate with a couple of good games.
00:10:09
Speaker
Sure did.
00:10:12
Speaker
One in particular that I think we all have a little vested interest in.
00:10:18
Speaker
JSU Gamecocks hit on the road to Texas.
00:10:24
Speaker
And we'll get into it, but probably one of the most exciting finishes that I have seen really since the 20, I think the 2021 season is
00:10:41
Speaker
We didn't really have a lot of super close games last year.
00:10:48
Speaker
This one, we had an overtime game where we were down three scores and came all the way back.
00:10:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:10:57
Speaker
I definitely think that was, even from an outsider's perspective, a lot of other CUSA fans and just college football fans in general,
00:11:07
Speaker
really seemed to enjoy that game.
00:11:09
Speaker
I saw a lot of, if you're not on ESPNU right now, you're missing out.
00:11:16
Speaker
So yeah, I was happy we were able to have a marquee game, especially because the other game going on at the same time was not as fun or exciting.
JSU's Upcoming Challenges and Opportunities
00:11:31
Speaker
I think preseason conference champion favorite, Western Kentucky, they
00:11:36
Speaker
MTSU came into town and it just, it was never close.
00:11:40
Speaker
It was 23 to three at halftime and the final score was 31 to 10.
00:11:45
Speaker
Um, which is kind of what you expect.
00:11:48
Speaker
MTSU has not had a great season so far.
00:11:52
Speaker
Um, and Western Kentucky, although they're three and two, they have still very much looked the part of, you know, a conference championship contender.
00:12:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:05
Speaker
Um,
00:12:09
Speaker
I'll say this though, and I'll have to apologize if it's taking me a few seconds to respond.
00:12:12
Speaker
I've been getting a lot of texts from work about some stuff that happened last week, and so I'm having to respond to that.
00:12:24
Speaker
I'll say this.
00:12:27
Speaker
We've got three games coming up that's going to really decide how this conference goes.
00:12:30
Speaker
I'll say this.
00:12:34
Speaker
and I know we're about to get into kind of really what, what went down, you know, in Texas, but just to something really, I mean, if we have to sum it up into one sentence before we get into it, the way that we played in the second half, the way we responded to such a slow start, that's why I think we have a chance to, to quote unquote, win the conference.
00:12:57
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:12:59
Speaker
100%.
00:13:00
Speaker
Um,
00:13:01
Speaker
And that probably wasn't even the answer to what you said.
00:13:04
Speaker
Just because I was having to respond to a text, I didn't hear it.
00:13:08
Speaker
So hopefully I don't sound too disjointed.
00:13:12
Speaker
No, you're good.
00:13:15
Speaker
Hopefully that thing that just happened is taken care of now so I can kind of lock in.
00:13:30
Speaker
went to El Paso, took care of business there 24 to 10.
00:13:38
Speaker
So they're sitting along with us and Liberty as the somewhat tied at the top of the conference leaderboard.
00:13:47
Speaker
All three of us are at 2-0, Western Kentucky is at 1-0.
00:13:50
Speaker
And the rest of our conference mates have yet to get a conference win.
00:13:54
Speaker
So like you said, going into these next three weeks, we can
00:14:00
Speaker
be the James Madison of CUSA, we can come up in here and we pull off some upsets, we could quote unquote win the conference even though we can't.
JSU Player Performance and Strategies
00:14:12
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, our next two of our next three games, well, actually all three of our
00:14:20
Speaker
of our next three games are against teams that are in the top six of the conference.
00:14:24
Speaker
Now, MTSU has kind of fallen flat this year.
00:14:27
Speaker
It hasn't been a good start to the season.
00:14:31
Speaker
But Western Kentucky, they're three and two, and they've only played one conference game.
00:14:37
Speaker
So that kind of tells you what their schedule's been like.
00:14:39
Speaker
Of course, Liberty, 4-0.
00:14:40
Speaker
They're probably going to be 4-0 just about every year they play as long as they aren't playing any big teams.
00:14:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:53
Speaker
I think outside of us, they don't have a percentage lower than like 65%.
00:15:00
Speaker
So the chance of Liberty ending the season is fairly high.
00:15:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's, it's, it's very likely.
00:15:09
Speaker
I mean, now the beauty of that game is they're coming from Virginia, you know, on a Tuesday night, um, down to Jacksonville, um,
00:15:23
Speaker
So the hope is that they'll be way more out of rhythm than we are, because at least we'll be, you know, our gals will get to sleep in their normal beds, kind of go through their normal, you know, Jacksonville routine.
00:15:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:38
Speaker
Whereas, you know, they're going to have to be on the road in the middle of the week.
00:15:41
Speaker
And so you hope that what, you know, kind of what happened to us with, uh,
00:15:48
Speaker
um, you know, getting over to Huntsville, Texas, what happens to them or you get a slow start just from not responding to the travel well.
00:15:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:57
Speaker
Um, but I mean, that's a, that's a few weeks from now.
00:16:00
Speaker
So we, we, first we got to get past NTSU, um, which we'll get into after, you know, we talk about last week's game.
00:16:11
Speaker
Um, but overall the conference is looking, looking pretty strong.
00:16:16
Speaker
The only thing I hate about that is right now it's looking like there's enough teams that are going to be eligible to at least fill out our conference contractual obligations, which is nice because you want a strong conference, but also I'm a little selfish, and I want us to walk in and just walk into a bowl game and shut everybody up.
00:16:40
Speaker
Yeah, I would greatly prefer to be able to
00:16:47
Speaker
you know, kind of announce ourselves and say, hey, you know, we might have been FCS for the last infinity years, but, you know, a lot like James Madison where you come in and say, hey, we've got talent.
00:16:59
Speaker
We just need a chance.
00:17:01
Speaker
I really would love to see that we can continue doing that.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:06
Speaker
I'm hoping some of the other G5 teams kind of fall off a little bit and there's a bowl spot open somewhere.
00:17:17
Speaker
I would just love to be able to say, hey, we walked in, you know, year two of our transition, but first year was FVF schedule and walked right into a bowl game.
00:17:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yeah, no question.
00:17:31
Speaker
It's a hard ask.
00:17:33
Speaker
We put ourselves in a position where we're two wins away from being bowl eligible.
00:17:39
Speaker
And I see really, I can see three or four wins left on the schedule.
00:17:44
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:17:45
Speaker
I see it.
00:17:46
Speaker
I see a potential in the schedule where we can legitimately walk out at eight and four and I can see where some things fall our way and we walk out nine and three.
00:17:56
Speaker
Um, it really just depends on, you know, how we handle business mainly these next three weeks.
00:18:04
Speaker
Um,
JSU vs. Sam Houston: Game Breakdown
00:18:05
Speaker
NTSU, Liberty, Western Kentucky, um,
00:18:11
Speaker
Yeah, we can walk out of here 8-4, 9-3 and be way above, you know, all of our expectations coming into this season.
00:18:19
Speaker
And honestly, just giving, you know, Liberty and Western Kentucky, two of our strongest conference mates, you know, something to look at and be like, okay, maybe JSU was a good addition to the conference.
00:18:31
Speaker
Maybe they do, you know, help, you know,
00:18:42
Speaker
So, you know, hopefully we can go into good performances, walk away with a good record and, you know, just overall help, you know, grow the strength of our conference.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:18:55
Speaker
You know, I'm not really quite as loyal to certain conferences.
00:19:02
Speaker
as some people would be, but you do want your conference to be good enough that, you know, your schedule, your strength of schedule isn't, you know, lasting the FPS.
00:19:13
Speaker
Yeah, because right now, right now we're sitting at like, I think we have like six of the seven easiest schedules according to strength of, strength of record or whatever.
00:19:26
Speaker
So you want to build up your conference in the sense that
00:19:31
Speaker
when it comes time for, you know, the 12-team playoff and they're looking for the highest-ranked group of five champion, you know, you want us to actually be able to have some respect and not just be like, yeah, well, you're playing obviously the weakest conference out of all of them, so why should we even look at you?
00:19:51
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:19:54
Speaker
But, you know, you know, the hope is that
00:19:59
Speaker
you know, you take care of business and then, you know, you don't need strength or schedule to, you know, have any influence.
00:20:10
Speaker
You know, you hope you can be seven and five, eight and four and not have to feel like you're having to justify to anyone, you know, that you belong.
00:20:20
Speaker
You know, I think we go eight and four year one.
00:20:23
Speaker
I think people know that we have a chance to really be a power in this conference for a few years.
00:20:30
Speaker
For sure, for sure.
00:20:32
Speaker
And especially if it was eight and four, you know, year one, still running mainly off of FCS-level recruits, that would be huge because, one, you know, when Rich Rodden and the boys, you know, hit the recruiting trail, they can look at some of these three- and four-star guys that are looking at, you know,
00:20:56
Speaker
possibly sitting the bench at some of these higher G5, lower P5 schools and say, hey, you can come here and really put in the work and you might see the field right away if you're, you know, dedicated enough and, you know, willing to show that you got it.
00:21:11
Speaker
And we're not, you know, some school to laugh at.
00:21:13
Speaker
We came in and went eight before we were off the bat.
00:21:17
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:21:21
Speaker
With that, I guess we should probably get into it, kind of talking about this last game
00:21:30
Speaker
Going into Huntsville, I think we all kind of overlooked Sam Houston's ability to perform at home.
00:21:39
Speaker
In part just because of who they played.
00:21:40
Speaker
They faced off against a lot of really good teams.
00:21:48
Speaker
They played BYU.
00:21:51
Speaker
They played Air Force.
00:21:54
Speaker
you know, the teams they played were very, very good teams with really, really good football coaches.
00:22:01
Speaker
And so actually I'll go on the record and say I was wrong.
00:22:05
Speaker
This is a team that still can put some points up and they can still hang around with, you know, with teams.
00:22:15
Speaker
I'll go on record and say I was wrong.
00:22:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:18
Speaker
Yeah, no, same here.
00:22:19
Speaker
I think a lot of other JSU fans can say the same.
00:22:23
Speaker
Um,
00:22:25
Speaker
I'm not going to say the team was, you know, looking past San Houston.
00:22:29
Speaker
I think a lot of fans were for sure.
00:22:34
Speaker
But it was definitely a shock for us, you know, going in and seeing them with their record.
00:22:40
Speaker
And then, you know, we go into the game and almost immediately go down.
00:22:45
Speaker
Let's see what we were.
00:22:49
Speaker
We were down 21 or we started off pretty good, but then we were down 21 to seven.
00:22:54
Speaker
going to the half,
Game Adjustments and Offensive Changes
00:22:55
Speaker
and it was not looking pretty whatsoever.
00:23:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:02
Speaker
You know, and a lot of it started with, you know, I think in part due to how many struggles Sam Houston has had on offense.
00:23:12
Speaker
They went – they did a lot of different things.
00:23:15
Speaker
This last week they did a lot of Wildcat stuff, a lot of QB run.
00:23:19
Speaker
And their first touchdown really –
00:23:22
Speaker
was a QB run RPO with, with a running back, you know, leaking into the secondary and no one covered him.
00:23:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:32
Speaker
Just a wide open throw.
00:23:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:23:35
Speaker
I think them kind of experimenting on offense caught us off guard on defense.
00:23:39
Speaker
Cause it just seemed like there were a lot of simple missed assignments or, you know, simple miscommunication.
00:23:46
Speaker
Um,
00:23:47
Speaker
And I say simple because obviously it looks like, you know, whatever it was, they figured it out, cleared it up in the second half.
00:23:55
Speaker
So I think, you know, they just came out with something different than what they had been showing on tape, on film, which was, you know, really big for them because we just did not look like we had any sort of clue or any sort of answer for anything at all.
00:24:15
Speaker
after they got rolling there in the first half.
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:22
Speaker
And, you know, you have to compare to their defense, too, because, you know, I'm not saying that Logan was playing poorly, but he definitely was not responding well at first.
00:24:34
Speaker
you know, to the weekday game, to the, to the travel.
00:24:37
Speaker
I mean, and the offense really as a whole outside of Malik Jackson, um, you know, popping a few big runs, you know, we really didn't have any offense to speak of in the first half.
00:24:49
Speaker
Um, yeah.
00:24:50
Speaker
And the first half he, he picked up what 80 yards or 85 yards on that first drive alone.
00:25:00
Speaker
And then after that, our offense kind of went dormant for the rest of the half.
00:25:06
Speaker
I don't know if we even crossed 150 total yards in the first half at all.
00:25:12
Speaker
I don't think we did.
00:25:14
Speaker
I mean, most of our yards really were one drive.
00:25:21
Speaker
And, again, that one drive was Malik Jackson with two big runs.
00:25:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:30
Speaker
And really both the same play, just a simple zone read play.
00:25:35
Speaker
And Logan gave it to him, and he popped two big runs.
00:25:39
Speaker
And that was – I mean, that was it.
00:25:41
Speaker
But, no, the rest of the first half we didn't have any offense, really didn't have any success defensively.
00:25:46
Speaker
And, you know, it's – you know, I think we both said it already.
00:25:50
Speaker
It wasn't so much that we –
00:25:53
Speaker
were playing poorly, but they were doing a lot of things differently that we have not seen.
00:25:57
Speaker
I think even on tape, you know, it's stuff that they have not been doing and stuff that Casey Keeler as a coach has never really done.
00:26:09
Speaker
But, I mean, it's a long year.
00:26:11
Speaker
They've got eight games left and they need to find a way to get some rhythm and they found it in the first half.
00:26:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:22
Speaker
Whatever –
00:26:23
Speaker
whatever had been plaguing them.
00:26:25
Speaker
I don't know if it was, like you said, simply the level of competition they had been playing against or if it was just a matter of, you know, trying to find something that would stick.
00:26:37
Speaker
They figured it out.
00:26:39
Speaker
And I don't know if it's something that they will just kind of stay with and work out the kinks or if they'll, you know, add or subtract because, you know,
00:26:52
Speaker
whether it was our defense or whether they just kind of fizzled out their second half, this game was truly a tale of two halves, um, where, you know, they won the first half 21 to seven, and then we turned around and won the second half 21 to seven.
00:27:08
Speaker
Um, it was, it just seemed like whatever was working for them the first half, it just kind of fell apart in the second half.
00:27:20
Speaker
Um,
00:27:21
Speaker
But like I said, you've got to give credit to our defense because they also went into that locker room and they were like, okay, this is what they're giving us.
00:27:32
Speaker
Even though we may have seen X, Y, Z, they're giving us A, V, C. And they were able to flip the switch real quick.
00:27:40
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:27:43
Speaker
You know, I think one of the big things that we've talked about before is
00:27:48
Speaker
We have a coach who knows how to make adjustments at the FBS level.
00:27:54
Speaker
You know, you go into the locker room and have and say, hey, look, we'll be honest, we're getting gashed offensively.
00:27:58
Speaker
We're turning the ball over.
00:27:59
Speaker
We're just being sloppy all over the place.
00:28:01
Speaker
Here's what we've got to do.
00:28:04
Speaker
You know, yeah, I'm sure there were some other things said in the locker room that I probably can't say on this podcast.
00:28:10
Speaker
But that was probably the gist of the messages.
00:28:15
Speaker
Look, we've got to strap in if we want to win.
00:28:18
Speaker
And, hey, second half they strapped in, especially defensively.
00:28:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:28:23
Speaker
They didn't give up a touchdown until that last drive, which came off of a fumble inside of our own 30.
00:28:29
Speaker
Like,
Key Player Performances in JSU's Victory
00:28:30
Speaker
it's not like they drove the length of the field on us.
00:28:34
Speaker
You know, we got strip sacked inside the 30, and they scored on fourth and one after we stood them up three times.
00:28:42
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:44
Speaker
So, again, like second half, really, they didn't do anything offensively.
00:28:48
Speaker
It was one short, like 25-yard drive that they scored on.
00:28:54
Speaker
That was it.
00:28:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:58
Speaker
And whereas they weren't really doing much offensively, I think Logan Smothers finally settled in and found whatever groove he needed, which is what I've been saying the whole time.
00:29:10
Speaker
I think he just needs the time, especially, you know,
00:29:14
Speaker
he wasn't here for the spring.
00:29:15
Speaker
He came in in the summer, which is a huge disadvantage when you're the quarterback and, you know, you have to learn the whole playbook.
00:29:24
Speaker
Um, so I've said for the longest, if we're going to play him, he needs to just, he needs to have the time to work through whatever's going on and kind of settle down.
00:29:33
Speaker
That's why, you know, I wasn't a fan.
00:29:35
Speaker
I know you weren't a fan.
00:29:36
Speaker
I know a lot of people weren't a fan of the random, you know, two Zion web drives.
00:29:40
Speaker
Um,
00:29:41
Speaker
because we all believe, you know, especially with them deeming Smothers the starter, he just needed time to work through it and calm himself down.
00:29:51
Speaker
Now, maybe that was the point of the two Zion web drives, but I still just didn't like it.
00:29:58
Speaker
Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of it.
00:30:00
Speaker
And, again, it more goes to if you're going to –
00:30:07
Speaker
If you're looking to have one guy as a starter, you have to let that guy play out his struggles.
00:30:15
Speaker
Because if he's shown that, hey, you're struggling and we're going to take you out,
00:30:20
Speaker
He's going to play scared.
00:30:21
Speaker
He's going to play tight, right?
00:30:22
Speaker
But if you say, hey, we trust you, we know that even if you make mistakes and you're struggling that you can get it back together.
00:30:29
Speaker
He's going to go out and play loose, and he's going to start to play well.
00:30:32
Speaker
And when you're a guy who's as talented as Logan Smothers, you know, former four-star recruit,
00:30:38
Speaker
The talent is in there.
00:30:40
Speaker
It's just a matter of getting him really a few easy throws.
00:30:44
Speaker
And I'll go on record and say this.
00:30:46
Speaker
I don't think we did a good job of getting him any easy completions in the first half.
00:30:51
Speaker
But in the second half,
00:30:53
Speaker
I don't know what it was.
00:30:54
Speaker
The game plan completely changed.
00:30:55
Speaker
They went more to the short passing game to set up the deep ball instead of trying to force the issue downfield.
00:31:02
Speaker
And, I mean, it worked.
00:31:04
Speaker
It worked.
00:31:05
Speaker
I think – what did he start?
00:31:06
Speaker
I think our quarterback started, what, one for their first 12?
00:31:09
Speaker
One for their first 15 or 16, actually.
00:31:13
Speaker
Okay, yeah.
00:31:13
Speaker
So – and then from there, Logan –
00:31:18
Speaker
finished 16 of 28.
00:31:18
Speaker
So that kind of tells you that he got on a heater in the second half.
00:31:22
Speaker
And I think it was just all, you know, it was all game plan.
00:31:24
Speaker
It's all, you know, simplifying it, you know, repetitively doing what he's good at.
00:31:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:31
Speaker
And like you said, I think them finally going to the short game and then allowing that to translate into the deep balls of what did it.
00:31:39
Speaker
When we have players like Sean Brown, Michael Pettway, Sterling Galvan,
00:31:45
Speaker
we can win a lot of these mismatches, you know, in the slot against linebackers.
00:31:51
Speaker
We can get a lot of these, you know, 10, 15-yard middle of the field, 10, 15-yard out routes.
00:31:58
Speaker
You know, we can get a lot of these like we saw in Sam Houston.
00:32:02
Speaker
And then from there, that will translate to the safeties pulling up, the corners playing a little tighter.
00:32:08
Speaker
Sterling Galvan and Michael Petway have that breakaway speed.
00:32:11
Speaker
And, you know, Sean Brown, too, as we saw in overtime,
00:32:15
Speaker
they can get down the field and, you know, have all the space in the world.
00:32:21
Speaker
It's just one of those where we actually have to utilize those players, others, and just, hey, go run 40 yards down the field and let me sling it.
00:32:31
Speaker
Yeah, and, you know, I'm not saying that we don't need to throw deep balls because that's how you break games open, but it shouldn't be the meat of your offense if you haven't been very successful doing it, right?
00:32:43
Speaker
We're not –
00:32:45
Speaker
We're not 2013 – you're not the early 2010s Baylor with Art Riles when they're throwing all those deep shots, but they're hitting them because they've got track stars at receiver who run in the four threes and you can't keep up with them.
00:33:00
Speaker
Like we're not that kind of team right now.
00:33:02
Speaker
We're a zone read, play action type team.
00:33:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:08
Speaker
And I think we got a little bit out of that element in the first half.
00:33:12
Speaker
I mean, we were still trying to run the football, but I think our passing game was a little too drop-back oriented, whereas now, you know, look at the second half, there's a lot more play action, a lot more short stuff, you know, really just try to get Logan easy completions or open completions.
00:33:30
Speaker
Yeah, because the small stuff, the easy stuff, like we said, it builds up and then you get the big plays.
00:33:38
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:33:39
Speaker
And you even saw, you know, the big, you know, the big completion to Michael that kind of broke the offense open in the second half was off play action.
00:33:50
Speaker
And for that matter, it was off of a pulling guard.
00:33:54
Speaker
So it was dressed like a run play.
00:33:56
Speaker
And
00:34:00
Speaker
it's really hard as a safety to maintain in zone when you're watching the QB and you see the pulling guard and play action.
00:34:09
Speaker
It's hard
Coach's Influence and Team Adjustments
00:34:10
Speaker
to maintain integrity and not come down to try and, you know, work the run.
00:34:14
Speaker
And that's exactly what happened.
00:34:16
Speaker
You know, safety's bit, Michael runs a post over the top, and Logan threw an absolute dot.
00:34:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:25
Speaker
And, you know, I think if, you know, going into a game against MTSU where I'm pulling up their defensive stats now, I don't think they've been that great defensively.
00:34:38
Speaker
Let me see here.
00:34:42
Speaker
Yeah, so looking at their defense, they're giving up around 400 yards a game.
00:34:45
Speaker
250 of us through the air.
00:34:48
Speaker
I mean, they're allowing over two touchdowns passing.
00:34:54
Speaker
on the season, almost two touchdowns rushing.
00:34:56
Speaker
Like it's, it's, they're not a great defensive team.
00:34:59
Speaker
I think this is a game where we've got to really put the pedal to the metal in terms of, all right, this is what we're good at.
00:35:05
Speaker
This is what just scored us, you know, 28 points and essentially 35 minutes of play.
00:35:12
Speaker
You know, I think this is the week where we kind of really put a stamp on our identity as a team this year.
00:35:18
Speaker
Um, yeah, 100%.
00:35:20
Speaker
This is very much our make or break stretch.
00:35:23
Speaker
Um,
00:35:25
Speaker
not like we've necessarily had a cakewalk leading up to this point, but this is like the meat and potatoes of our season right here coming up.
00:35:35
Speaker
So at this point, it seems like some others is the starting quarterback.
00:35:39
Speaker
And, you know, with the way injuries and whatnot have shaken out Malik Jackson is RB1.
00:35:45
Speaker
So we really just got to lock in and have a game plan tailored to where,
00:35:52
Speaker
at least coming out of in the first half, it needs to be kind of simple, just kind of dink and dunk to, you know, get those chunk yards that way we're not, especially with how fast we're in our offense, we're not going three and out 30 seconds.
00:36:09
Speaker
And then the defense is on the field.
00:36:12
Speaker
And then, you know, we come back out and we're only on the field for another 30 to 45 seconds.
00:36:16
Speaker
And then we're right back on the field or, and then our defense is right back on the field.
00:36:20
Speaker
Um,
00:36:21
Speaker
so yeah, coming up on this stretch, we definitely just have to get those, those easy plays.
00:36:26
Speaker
Um, that way our offense can kind of build the confidence and build the momentum.
00:36:31
Speaker
And then as everything kind of comes together and we're moving the defense around the way we want, then you, you know, you open up the big shots.
00:36:41
Speaker
Um, but yeah, definitely a lot of good things that we saw in the second half, both from the defense and the offense.
00:36:50
Speaker
Um,
00:36:51
Speaker
And I think he just kind of carried into overtime.
00:36:54
Speaker
Us having to come out, score first.
00:36:57
Speaker
As you, I mean, like you said, that throw was a fairly simple throw.
00:37:05
Speaker
And Sean Brown took it in and we got the extra point.
00:37:09
Speaker
And then the defense just really locked down and got off the field in four plays in overtime.
00:37:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:20
Speaker
I really want to give credit to the receivers.
00:37:28
Speaker
We haven't really seen a lot of explosiveness in the passing game, and I don't want to pin all of it on the quarterbacks.
00:37:38
Speaker
Logan made some great throws even the first half that just weren't caught.
00:37:43
Speaker
And I think that was a big thing is we needed some guys who were going to step up and be explosive.
00:37:48
Speaker
And we finally saw Sterling downfield.
00:37:50
Speaker
We saw Michael Pettway downfield.
00:37:52
Speaker
We saw Perry Carter downfield.
00:37:56
Speaker
You know, we just – it really felt – I even saw, again, Sean Brown, like you said, in overtime downfield.
00:38:02
Speaker
Like it felt like we finally found a way to balance –
00:38:08
Speaker
find a way to get the intermediate game going and not being a screen and deep ball type team like we have been under previous coaching staffs where it's been, all right, we're going to throw wide receiver screens and we're going to throw deep shots, and that's really it.
00:38:21
Speaker
Yeah, which can get very annoying when you're sitting at third and nine and then you see a screen.
00:38:28
Speaker
We lived that life for way too long, and our fans are tired of it, and I think we're finally past it.
00:38:34
Speaker
Obviously you're still going to see screens because they just work.
00:38:37
Speaker
And especially depending on how the defense has been moving around and what coverage they're in.
00:38:41
Speaker
Sometimes the screen is just the best option, um, statistically, but we're not seeing a drive where two out of every three places a screen anymore.
00:38:52
Speaker
And that is very refreshing.
00:38:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:58
Speaker
Um,
00:39:00
Speaker
Obviously, I want to see it.
00:39:02
Speaker
I want to see us not have such a slow start, you know, this next week when we go on the road.
00:39:06
Speaker
But it was encouraging with the adjustments we made that, hey, this week, you know, you have, you know, a little bit longer turnover, right?
00:39:15
Speaker
You don't go from Saturday, Thursday.
00:39:17
Speaker
You're going from Thursday, Wednesday.
00:39:19
Speaker
So you're getting those two extra days to kind of get ready.
00:39:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:25
Speaker
You know, I really would – if we can come out firing first half this next week, you know, I really like our chances.
00:39:36
Speaker
And then, you know, leading into Liberty and Western Kentucky, I think that, you know, if you could – you know, and I don't want to, like, say that, you know, a loss is whatever, but even if we lose, but you could tell that it wasn't because we played poorly, that at least gives you a little confidence going into those two home games.
00:39:54
Speaker
where you certainly would hope with it being a weekend and no one really having anything else to do that they'll show up and be a little belligerent for a few hours.
00:40:03
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:40:04
Speaker
100%.
00:40:04
Speaker
But, yeah, I mean, overall, not a great performance from start to finish, but a good...
00:40:15
Speaker
great adjustments and that's what you love to see that even though we were down and kind of just looking hopeless we were able to you know pick ourselves up hit a complete 180 and you know come out with the win um people will say well they were 0-3 or 0-4 whatever their record is but they sure as hell weren't playing like it and so I think
00:40:46
Speaker
Regardless of record, the way we were able to turn it around and come back and win says a lot about us as a team.
00:40:55
Speaker
And I think going forward, you know, if we ever do find ourselves down two or maybe even three scores, I'm not going to be so quick to count this out.
00:41:06
Speaker
No, no, neither would I. Yeah.
00:41:12
Speaker
Now, and you know, before we move on, I do want to touch, this isn't the first time we've seen this go down by a few scores and win.
00:41:18
Speaker
I mean, the Eastern Washington game a few years ago, I think we were down, what, like 28-7 to start the game?
00:41:24
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:25
Speaker
And came all the way back to win in the final minute.
00:41:28
Speaker
So it, now obviously that was a different coaching staff, but like we're not, this isn't new to us.
00:41:37
Speaker
Like we've seen it happen several times before.
00:41:40
Speaker
It's just a matter
Celebrating JSU Sports Achievements
00:41:41
Speaker
of,
00:41:43
Speaker
you know, seeing it with this team on the road, that's, I think that's where the difference is.
00:41:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:50
Speaker
Seeing it on the road, seeing it for a night game, midweek game, you know, just totally new environment.
00:41:58
Speaker
I think that was really huge for us to just be able to gain a sense of composure and, you know, come away with the win.
00:42:04
Speaker
So definitely a lot of great things to take away from that game and a lot of great things to look forward to.
00:42:12
Speaker
And hopefully we can just keep progressing and, you know, see USA and really just let everybody know, you know, we're not to be messed around with.
00:42:21
Speaker
We're here for a good little bit.
00:42:25
Speaker
No doubt.
00:42:25
Speaker
I think we're definitely proving we're here to stay.
00:42:30
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:42:32
Speaker
So before we get into the preview of this week's game, a couple of other sports shout outs.
00:42:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:41
Speaker
Our women's soccer team got their first conference win over UTEP.
00:42:44
Speaker
They went into El Paso, came away with a 1-0 shutout, which is huge.
00:42:50
Speaker
I think that puts our conference record at 1-1-2 and our overall record at 6-5-2.
00:43:01
Speaker
So not a bad start at all.
00:43:03
Speaker
I know their next game is against conference leader New Mexico State.
00:43:11
Speaker
Um, and I believe that's a home game.
00:43:17
Speaker
Um, so yeah, definitely good to get that first conference to win under your belt.
00:43:22
Speaker
Hopefully they can build some momentum off of it and keep it going.
00:43:26
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:43:27
Speaker
Um, you know, we, we,
00:43:30
Speaker
We're all about the other – not just football and basketball, you know, at the podcast.
00:43:34
Speaker
We're all about the other sports.
00:43:37
Speaker
And seeing their success is a big part of, you know, what makes us proud to be JSU alumni.
00:43:42
Speaker
Because we truly try to be in everything school, and for the most part we are.
00:43:46
Speaker
I mean –
00:43:48
Speaker
Well, you've got a lot of competitive squads that are not football and basketball.
00:43:52
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:43:53
Speaker
So, yeah, shout out to the soccer team.
00:43:57
Speaker
You know, getting a win over UTEP seems to be a trend with our squads this year, getting a win over UTEP.
00:44:05
Speaker
So, yeah, shout out to soccer.
00:44:07
Speaker
Huge win.
00:44:08
Speaker
I hope to see you guys continue to have some success this year.
00:44:12
Speaker
Yeah, same.
00:44:14
Speaker
I'm always rooting for all of our teams, no matter what, to come up with a win.
00:44:20
Speaker
Cross-country, we actually came away with a huge win.
00:44:26
Speaker
I apologize if I pronounce the name wrong.
00:44:31
Speaker
Bethlehem Manzano Jimeno.
00:44:35
Speaker
won, she actually won the individual cross country title at the live and loot classic in Louisville.
00:44:42
Speaker
Um, and she finished 30 seconds ahead of second place.
00:44:46
Speaker
Um, which for those of you out there that aren't necessarily familiar with cross country or track or anything, 30 seconds is a very huge gap.
00:44:56
Speaker
Um, so yeah, she, she didn't just win.
00:45:00
Speaker
I dare, I say she dominated that race.
00:45:04
Speaker
Um,
00:45:05
Speaker
So definitely a huge shout out to her.
00:45:09
Speaker
That's a lot of running to do.
00:45:10
Speaker
A lot of non-stop running to do.
00:45:14
Speaker
Yeah, I could never run cross country, that's for sure.
00:45:16
Speaker
I mean, I can't run that far anyway, but definitely cannot run the kind of length that these people are running.
00:45:27
Speaker
So huge credit for
00:45:31
Speaker
And I'm assuming, you know, if, if the race was in Louisville, that means there's probably some pretty hefty squads there.
00:45:38
Speaker
Oh yeah, probably.
00:45:38
Speaker
Um, I ran cross country and long distance in high school and I wasn't super great then.
00:45:47
Speaker
I definitely could not do it now at the college level.
00:45:51
Speaker
Um, I would get embarrassed whether it be running against men or women.
00:45:57
Speaker
Um,
00:45:59
Speaker
Definitely a huge accomplishment, a huge feat.
00:46:03
Speaker
And I wish her and the rest of the team a lot of success going forward.
00:46:07
Speaker
Hopefully we can come away with some more individual titles or, hey, maybe even a team title, you know, coming up here soon.
00:46:15
Speaker
We're definitely going to keep our eyes on them.
00:46:20
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:46:21
Speaker
The
Basketball Season Preview
00:46:23
Speaker
first news we've really heard, you know, with cross country this year, so it's a new sport we'll be able to report on.
00:46:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:46:33
Speaker
Speaking of new sport, I know we don't necessarily have it in our notes, but I saw that bowling was seventh in, I don't know what standing it was, but they were seventh in preseason standing.
00:46:45
Speaker
I don't think it was for conference.
00:46:46
Speaker
I think it was just for whatever league they're in.
00:46:50
Speaker
So that's huge.
00:46:51
Speaker
It's seeming like we got a pretty solid team there.
00:46:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:57
Speaker
Can't wait to see what scores they put up.
00:46:59
Speaker
Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be higher than my 120 average.
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:08
Speaker
Now, I'm not as familiar with collegiate bowling as I probably am other sports.
00:47:15
Speaker
Well, we haven't had a bowling team until now, so we really didn't need to.
00:47:21
Speaker
That's true.
00:47:22
Speaker
We didn't really have a reason to pay attention to it.
00:47:24
Speaker
Here's the thing.
00:47:26
Speaker
Bowling is...
00:47:28
Speaker
Bowling is, it's kind of like, you know, cornhole, um, or fishing.
00:47:34
Speaker
Like it's one of those things that, that a regular person can enjoy, right?
00:47:39
Speaker
You don't have to be six, eight, you know, two, two 40 to be good at.
00:47:45
Speaker
Um, that's not a knock on the people who are bowlers or fishers, um, or playing cornhole.
00:47:51
Speaker
Like,
00:47:53
Speaker
That's not a knock on y'all.
00:47:54
Speaker
But it's a much easier sport to relate to because it's things that we've done.
00:48:02
Speaker
So, yeah, like hopefully our bowling team turns out pretty good.
00:48:08
Speaker
We've got some lanes in the Jacksonville area, so I'm sure some of these local kids have been playing a lot in their junior high and high school lives.
00:48:18
Speaker
So, hey, hopefully we have a good year.
00:48:20
Speaker
Yeah, I hope so.
00:48:21
Speaker
Definitely will be something to keep track of with it being so fresh and so new.
00:48:26
Speaker
Um, hopefully we can get a lot of our fans, you know, involved in it and, you know, cheering on these girls as the season progresses.
00:48:35
Speaker
Um,
00:48:36
Speaker
the one sport I do know we will have a lot of fans for is, uh, basketball.
00:48:43
Speaker
We are one month away from some game action.
00:48:48
Speaker
I'll be at an exhibition.
00:48:50
Speaker
Um, we are one month away from game action at the Pete, um, November 1st, both, I believe November 1st, both the women and the men, um,
00:49:03
Speaker
have exhibition games.
00:49:06
Speaker
The women, let me pull it up real quick.
00:49:09
Speaker
The women play Montevallo at 1130 AM on November 1st.
00:49:17
Speaker
And the men, if my phone will stop being slow, here we go.
00:49:25
Speaker
The men play, I think it's Talladega College.
00:49:29
Speaker
I kind of pulled it up to make sure.
00:49:36
Speaker
Here it is.
00:49:37
Speaker
Yeah, the men play Talladega College on November 1st at 6 p.m.
00:49:42
Speaker
That's a lot of time in between the two games.
00:49:44
Speaker
Usually we have double headers when they both play in the Pete.
00:49:48
Speaker
But women at 1130 that morning, or men at 6 p.m.
00:49:52
Speaker
that afternoon.
00:49:56
Speaker
So, yeah, we are very close to Gamecock basketball.
00:50:00
Speaker
And...
00:50:01
Speaker
I know you love being in the Pete.
00:50:03
Speaker
I know all of our fans that go to basketball games in the Pete love being there.
00:50:07
Speaker
It's just a great atmosphere all around.
00:50:10
Speaker
Yeah, the Pete is an underrated, underrated atmosphere in college basketball.
00:50:17
Speaker
I mean, I remember in John Morant's last year at Murray State, and we played them.
00:50:24
Speaker
And I'll be honest, we kind of ran them off the floor, and their coach came up afterwards.
00:50:31
Speaker
and was like yelling at us about just how good of an atmosphere we were.
00:50:35
Speaker
Now he's yelling because he couldn't really hear, hear himself think because we were still getting after it, but we've gotten recognitions from other coaches about just how good of an atmosphere we put on.
00:50:49
Speaker
So hopefully it keeps up this year, you know, new conference.
00:50:53
Speaker
I think that first time Liberty comes to town, it's going to be a party.
00:50:57
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:50:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:00
Speaker
between hardcore, which is, you know, the best pet man in the land and the cock flock, the unofficial student section, as far as, you know, where they deem the student section is supposed to be.
00:51:13
Speaker
That little area right there behind the basket can get rowdy.
00:51:18
Speaker
That being said, I think the university should move the student section in general to being, you know, all around hardcore because we could really make
00:51:30
Speaker
the opposing team's lives hell.
00:51:35
Speaker
Cause I mean, we get really great student turnout at basketball games.
00:51:38
Speaker
So if we were to move everybody over there to that section, all around hardcore, that would be, that would be hard to, you know, not pay attention to as an opposing coach or an opposing player.
00:51:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:56
Speaker
I mean, I can say after five years of being in hardcore and then last year being my first year in the student section, like for real, for real.
00:52:03
Speaker
Because I'll be honest, I don't think I went to hardly any basketball games my freshman year.
00:52:06
Speaker
I think I went to one.
00:52:10
Speaker
Big mistake.
00:52:10
Speaker
But last year, like, it gets loud on that end of the court.
00:52:17
Speaker
Now, I don't know whether it was intentional or not that they put us right next to the opposing bench.
00:52:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:27
Speaker
but we have gotten some guys kicked off the team for, for trying to punch us.
00:52:32
Speaker
So maybe I can tell you something's here.
00:52:35
Speaker
One of them was not an attempt.
00:52:36
Speaker
One of them, he fully landed.
00:52:37
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:39
Speaker
One of them was a punch.
00:52:40
Speaker
That, that is true.
00:52:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:42
Speaker
One of them, he fully landed it.
00:52:44
Speaker
Um, but you know, we, we definitely get under their skin a little bit.
00:52:48
Speaker
Um, some opposing players play into it and make it, make it a great game.
00:52:53
Speaker
Um, and then we get to laugh with them after, uh,
00:52:57
Speaker
Some of them, you can tell it gets under their skin and they get really annoyed.
00:53:00
Speaker
So I'm ready for that atmosphere.
00:53:04
Speaker
Hopefully we can run it back and make it even better this next year.
00:53:08
Speaker
Because I'm definitely ready to travel to Jacksonville and catch a couple of games.
00:53:16
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
Upcoming Game Against MTSU
00:53:17
Speaker
And I know I'll be there for at least a few weekend games this next spring.
00:53:25
Speaker
So...
00:53:27
Speaker
So look out for me and Jalen to be leading some belligerency at the Pete.
00:53:34
Speaker
You know it.
00:53:35
Speaker
You know it.
00:53:37
Speaker
Well, with that being said, I think we can head on to a quick little preview of next week.
00:53:43
Speaker
I think so.
00:53:46
Speaker
The Jacksonville football Gamecocks are traveling up to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to play Middle Tennessee State University.
00:53:58
Speaker
Yeah, so MTSU, you know, they're one and four.
00:54:04
Speaker
When you look at the games they've played, they played at Alabama, at Missouri, home Murray State, home Colorado State, and then at Western Kentucky.
00:54:12
Speaker
You know, those first two games went about the way you thought they would, yet run off the field by Alabama.
00:54:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:22
Speaker
I'll give them credit.
00:54:23
Speaker
They held their own at Missouri, who's 5-0.
00:54:24
Speaker
You know, they beat Murray State.
00:54:28
Speaker
But then they lose to Colorado State, who is not a bad team, though you would have loved to see them play a lot better.
00:54:37
Speaker
And then Western Kentucky, no surprise, Western Kentucky beats them by a few scores.
00:54:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:45
Speaker
I mean, we all know what Western Kentucky's about.
00:54:47
Speaker
They know how to put some points up.
00:54:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:54:53
Speaker
You know, looking at the numbers, they're not a great – they don't have a great secondary.
00:55:02
Speaker
And I think, you know, the progress we saw in the second half from Logan Smothers and the receivers, I think that has to be encouraging.
00:55:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:14
Speaker
We're not a spread triple option, run it 60, 70 times a game type team.
00:55:18
Speaker
We still want to throw the ball.
00:55:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:21
Speaker
And so I think seeing the progress that we made during the second half in the passing game and knowing what MTSU is about defensively where they're more looking to stop the run, I think we can find some opportunities early to throw the ball and force them to not stack the box.
00:55:38
Speaker
So that's just me.
00:55:40
Speaker
The biggest thing –
00:55:42
Speaker
I worry about is doing what we did against Sam Houston and kind of reading into the record.
00:55:47
Speaker
I think the record can be a little bit deceiving.
00:55:49
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:55:51
Speaker
Based on who they have played so far, their one and four is a little bit different because, like you said, they played Bama, they played Mizzou, they played Colorado State, and then last week they had Western Kentucky.
00:56:08
Speaker
I definitely think we should be able to walk in after watching
00:56:10
Speaker
how they played against Western Kentucky.
00:56:12
Speaker
We should be able to walk in and handle business.
00:56:16
Speaker
I just don't want us as a team, which I know the coaching staff, I doubt it will happen.
00:56:21
Speaker
I don't want them to read into the record and the stats too much because then we'll come off flat like we did against Houston.
00:56:27
Speaker
They're definitely not a team to look past.
00:56:29
Speaker
We have to respect, you know, who they are and what they are.
00:56:36
Speaker
Because if not, we will end up right back in the same situation we were in last week, and we do not want to get in the habit of that whatsoever.
00:56:42
Speaker
No.
00:56:44
Speaker
And you brought up a good point, you know.
00:56:45
Speaker
And I think I mentioned, like, not only is the schedule deceiving, but a lot of – I will say their passing numbers aren't just –
00:56:57
Speaker
not having a great secondary.
00:56:58
Speaker
And I don't know that their secondary is elite, but they've been trying to stop the run.
00:57:02
Speaker
Right.
00:57:03
Speaker
And that, because just because that's, that's still how you win football games is to run the ball and stop the run.
00:57:11
Speaker
Now I'm not saying their secondary is elite and that we need to, you know, change our game plan in terms of how we throw the ball, but,
00:57:18
Speaker
I do think that if they continue to look towards stopping the run more, I think we should lean into it a little bit, right?
00:57:24
Speaker
Try to throw the ball around, force them not to stack the box, and then see what happens from there.
00:57:32
Speaker
Yes, 100%.
00:57:33
Speaker
Honestly, top to bottom, if I think we play like we did the second half in judging how they played against Western Kentucky, I think if we play like we did the second half for the whole game,
00:57:47
Speaker
we should be able to come out of there with a fairly easy win.
00:57:50
Speaker
Um, looking at all the predictions right now, ESPN has us as a 56% favorite.
00:58:01
Speaker
Um, the money line in Vegas, Oh, it keeps moving early today.
00:58:05
Speaker
I looked and it was MTSU three and a half.
00:58:08
Speaker
Now it's down to MTSU three point favorite.
00:58:11
Speaker
Um,
00:58:12
Speaker
So basically, for all intents and purposes, everybody is calling this game a toss-up with the over-under at 51.5.
00:58:17
Speaker
So yeah, I think those lines and those numbers are about right.
00:58:28
Speaker
I would honestly have us as a favorite, but only having him as a three-point favorite, and we still get a couple of days before game time, I see that line moving much closer to a toss-up.
00:58:40
Speaker
But...
00:58:42
Speaker
I think we can go ahead and handle business, come away with a lot of momentum going into Liberty Week.
00:58:49
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:58:54
Speaker
You know, I think this game, you know, Sam Houston, you know, is a little bit different because we've played them before, so we're familiar with each other as opponents.
00:59:06
Speaker
I don't know that we've ever
Closing Thoughts and Season Excitement
00:59:07
Speaker
played in TSU, and if we have, I certainly don't remember it.
00:59:10
Speaker
It hasn't been in the recent past, at least.
00:59:15
Speaker
Yeah, no, this is a – which we'll have a lot of these experiences as we go forward, you know, being FBS, especially with out-of-conference games.
00:59:27
Speaker
Very much a new opponent.
00:59:29
Speaker
We don't know the history of their play style.
00:59:32
Speaker
We don't really know the environment of their stadium.
00:59:35
Speaker
You know how their crowds are.
00:59:36
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:38
Speaker
especially with it being a midweek night game, this is a huge chance for us to kind of show them what we're made of.
00:59:45
Speaker
Because, you know, they've seen it from the outside looking in.
00:59:48
Speaker
But this is our first chance to, you know, give their fans and their team an up-close view of, you know, this is Jack State.
00:59:55
Speaker
Don't mess with us.
00:59:56
Speaker
You know, don't take us lightly.
00:59:58
Speaker
We're here for a long time.
01:00:00
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:02
Speaker
Normally I say we're not here for a long time.
01:00:03
Speaker
We're here for a fun time.
01:00:04
Speaker
But,
01:00:06
Speaker
this is a week to prove we are actually here for a long time as well.
01:00:09
Speaker
Um, uh, you know, it, I would love to go on the road and get a dub.
01:00:15
Speaker
Um, I would more like to go on the road and play the way we did the second half against Sam Houston.
01:00:21
Speaker
Um,
01:00:23
Speaker
That's really what I want to see.
01:00:24
Speaker
Even if MTSU hangs with us in a shootout, I want to see the offense move the way they did because the defense, more often than not, is going to get their own.
01:00:33
Speaker
It's when the offense is moving that we turn into a really, really good football team.
01:00:38
Speaker
Yeah.
01:00:39
Speaker
Yeah, once the offense gets rolling, especially because of the tempo, once the offense gets rolling and, you know, we can put points up every drive, every other drive,
01:00:50
Speaker
that's when overall the team, you know, the confidence is really high and you can see it.
01:00:55
Speaker
Those guys start to, they start to get really confident and they start playing really hard.
01:01:01
Speaker
Um, and then it just bounces back and forth.
01:01:04
Speaker
And when you have a coach like Rich Rod and you get that confidence, that energy, that momentum, that you get all of that, you know, high levels, that sideline becomes electric.
01:01:15
Speaker
I mean, we've seen that firsthand and we've seen it on TV.
01:01:19
Speaker
This team, if they can get everything rolling the way they need, it's a scary team.
01:01:26
Speaker
Yeah, it really is, for sure.
01:01:30
Speaker
For sure.
01:01:32
Speaker
Yeah, well, I'm just hoping we can go in and come away with a win and be one step closer to waiting on that phone call that they don't have enough bowl teams.
01:01:41
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:42
Speaker
Yeah.
01:01:43
Speaker
Yeah, man, I'll tell you what, and I know we've said it before, but when we get the call, as long as it's reasonable driving distance, I'll be there.
01:01:51
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
01:01:52
Speaker
The only thing is I hate that we're going to be last priority, so we'll end up getting some, we'll end up getting like the Idaho potato bowl or something, and I'm not going to Idaho.
01:02:04
Speaker
No, if I'm going to go to Idaho, I've got to be getting paid to do it.
01:02:07
Speaker
Yeah.
01:02:08
Speaker
No offense, people who live in Idaho, but there ain't much up there.
01:02:13
Speaker
Potatoes.
01:02:14
Speaker
There are potatoes.
01:02:15
Speaker
Good potatoes.
01:02:16
Speaker
Get yourself some mashed potatoes.
01:02:20
Speaker
I don't really have anything else to talk about, do you?
01:02:24
Speaker
No, I don't.
01:02:24
Speaker
I think it's just a matter of, let's get to Wednesday night.
01:02:28
Speaker
It's only two nights away when we're recording.
01:02:30
Speaker
It'll be one night when we post this tomorrow.
01:02:34
Speaker
Or maybe if I can get it out later today.
01:02:40
Speaker
It's weird.
01:02:41
Speaker
We're only two nights away.
01:02:44
Speaker
you know, from Gamecock football, and we still haven't even played Monday Night Football when we're recording.
01:02:51
Speaker
Yeah, you know, last Thursday, it was weird sitting there.
01:02:55
Speaker
Because I honestly forgot that we even, like, I knew we had a game, but I kind of forgot until I was like, wait, it's Thursday and we got a football game, y'all.
01:03:04
Speaker
This is, we're here.
01:03:06
Speaker
Midweek action is here.
01:03:09
Speaker
We officially have football seven days a week in some form or fashion for the next month, month and a half.
01:03:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's the most wonderful time of the year.
01:03:22
Speaker
You know it.
01:03:24
Speaker
Who needs Christmas when you've got football?
01:03:29
Speaker
But no, I'm excited.
01:03:32
Speaker
It's going to be, you know, hopefully we come home, you know, night after work and
01:03:37
Speaker
Get the dub against MTSU, and that's the way it'll roll.
01:03:43
Speaker
So.
01:03:43
Speaker
All right, you got anything else?
01:03:47
Speaker
No, I think that's it.