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Season 1 Episode 9
88 Plays2 years ago
On this week's episode, the guys talk about the FIU game and the upcoming game against South Carolina.
They also discuss the upcoming men's and women's basketball seasons.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Weekend Plans
00:00:02
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the 700 Pelham Road podcast.
00:00:08
Speaker
It is week number nine here for 700 Pelham Road.
00:00:11
Speaker
I am Caleb Williams alongside my co-host and partner Jalen Cooper.
00:00:14
Speaker
Jalen, how are you doing today?
00:00:16
Speaker
I am good.
00:00:17
Speaker
I'm good.
00:00:17
Speaker
It's a recording this on Halloween night.
00:00:22
Speaker
A little spooky.
00:00:24
Speaker
A little bit of a spooky recording.
00:00:27
Speaker
Yeah, but, you know, I'm good other than that.
00:00:29
Speaker
I'm just ready for this week to get going so we can, you know, head to Rome on Friday night in preparation for heading to Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday.
Gamecocks' Victory and Fan Attendance
00:00:42
Speaker
Man, it's going to be a weekend.
00:00:45
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:00:46
Speaker
I mean, for those of you that don't know, it's us two and nine other people.
00:00:53
Speaker
We're all going to one of our friends, uh,
00:00:57
Speaker
high school football games the night before he's the band director.
00:01:01
Speaker
So we're going to go over there, support him and his kids.
00:01:04
Speaker
And then we're all waking up bright and early 5 a.m.
00:01:08
Speaker
heading on the road to Columbia, South Carolina to support those Gamecocks.
00:01:15
Speaker
And that also means that we'll be a little bit less than stellar in our happiness Saturday morning.
00:01:23
Speaker
So, Carolina fans, warning, don't piss us off.
00:01:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:01:30
Speaker
And even though it's an early game, that will not stop us from consuming fun drinks, if you know what I mean.
00:01:39
Speaker
What do you mean, man?
00:01:40
Speaker
I'm going to be drinking water the entire weekend.
00:01:44
Speaker
Yeah, okay.
00:01:47
Speaker
But, man, another good week for the Gamecocks.
00:01:51
Speaker
Finally, the first win of the year that didn't feel like we were stressing about it for 60 minutes.
00:02:03
Speaker
Outside of ETSU, at least.
00:02:05
Speaker
Well, okay, yeah.
00:02:06
Speaker
Really kind of bad.
00:02:07
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:02:10
Speaker
They're FCS.
00:02:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:13
Speaker
We can say that now.
00:02:14
Speaker
We can say that other teams are FCS now.
00:02:19
Speaker
No, it was a good game.
00:02:21
Speaker
We struggled there kind of like late second quarter, early third quarter.
00:02:28
Speaker
But offense got the job done.
00:02:32
Speaker
Defense, once again, lights out.
00:02:36
Speaker
Couldn't really ask for much more, you know, heading into the – into the month of November, heading into South Carolina.
00:02:42
Speaker
And for it being the last weekday game, it just kind of culminates that stretch of really tough games.
Challenges of Weekday Games
00:02:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:02:52
Speaker
I am so back and forth on the weekday games.
00:02:55
Speaker
I love it because the exposure and the opportunities are unlike any other, especially once we go back to Saturday –
00:03:04
Speaker
um, here at the end of the season, there's so many bigger games.
00:03:06
Speaker
People aren't going to be watching us.
00:03:08
Speaker
So that's where, you know, we did games are great, but I've seen a lot of, you know, half empty stadiums.
00:03:15
Speaker
If that, um, you know, we were lucky and had pretty decent fan turnout, but just seeing lackluster fan attendance and honestly, I, you talk to a lot of the players and it just throws their whole schedule off.
00:03:31
Speaker
Um,
00:03:33
Speaker
with what's a rest day, what's an off day compared to what it used to be.
00:03:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:41
Speaker
You mentioned the game day schedule getting thrown off.
00:03:45
Speaker
Even the home games, like against Western Kentucky and Liberty, you could tell that the slow starts on offense.
00:03:53
Speaker
I mean, these guys are used to – I think they travel to Oxford maybe, maybe Gadsden Friday night normally.
00:04:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:02
Speaker
I think it's Aniston.
00:04:04
Speaker
I think it's the old fort.
00:04:09
Speaker
Yeah, okay.
00:04:10
Speaker
So, I mean, they travel out of town, and then they come on campus.
00:04:14
Speaker
I don't know that they do that on the weekdays because they've got classes the day before, and I'm sure some of them have morning classes the day of.
00:04:23
Speaker
You know, it's not your normal Saturday routine.
00:04:26
Speaker
So, I mean –
00:04:27
Speaker
It will be nice to kind of get the guys back into their normal Saturday game day routine where they're able to just kind of wake up in their hotel, or I guess it's actually a dorm over there at the fort.
00:04:39
Speaker
Um, and just kind of go through their normal game day routine.
00:04:43
Speaker
So that'll be nice.
00:04:44
Speaker
But, you know, like you mentioned, one, it's weird not coming home on a Tuesday night and not having Yankock football.
National TV Exposure and Schedule Changes
00:04:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:53
Speaker
Two, two.
00:04:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:04:54
Speaker
The exposure was huge.
00:04:55
Speaker
I mean,
00:04:56
Speaker
We were getting shout outs from Pat McAfee, from Big Cat.
00:05:00
Speaker
And those are two of the biggest names in sports.
00:05:03
Speaker
So it'll kind of suck.
00:05:08
Speaker
But, you know, hey, it was a fun month.
00:05:11
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:05:11
Speaker
Definitely something that was a little different for, you know, everybody involved, players, coaches, fans.
00:05:22
Speaker
But I think as –
00:05:24
Speaker
the years go on because we're kind of locked into this.
00:05:27
Speaker
But as the years go on, I think people will start to warm up to it and kind of embrace it and make it a little bit better.
00:05:36
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:37
Speaker
And, you know, we talked about, I think, you know, coming into this, into that stretch of games in October, we talked about how it would give our fans a chance to, you know, to see their school on national TV.
00:05:52
Speaker
And I...
00:05:55
Speaker
I think at first people, it took a couple games to really kind of warm up to it.
00:06:00
Speaker
You could tell the last few weeks that the energy was a little bit different.
00:06:04
Speaker
It just felt like there was a lot more support for the program, even from outside of our fan base.
00:06:09
Speaker
So, you know, I don't want to fast forward to next year because we still got basketball, baseball, even the rest of this season.
00:06:16
Speaker
But I can't wait to see what October looks like next year when you kind of have people knowing what to expect.
Upcoming Games and Rivalries
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah, no, definitely looking forward to, like you said, looking forward to October next year.
00:06:28
Speaker
I will say, I hope the turnout can be the same because we're not going to have Liberty coming into town.
00:06:36
Speaker
We're not going to have Western Kentucky coming into town.
00:06:38
Speaker
Hopefully we'll get lucky and get Kennesaw State in on the night game.
00:06:42
Speaker
Um, that would be absolutely nuts.
00:06:46
Speaker
Um,
00:06:48
Speaker
So hopefully even without, you know, those two big names coming into town next year, whoever we get, I hope we can still get a huge turnout from it.
00:06:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:06:59
Speaker
Yeah, no doubt.
00:07:00
Speaker
You know, you mentioned Kennesaw, you know, them entering the conference.
00:07:07
Speaker
It finally gives us a real rivalry and not just, you know,
00:07:12
Speaker
the gravy bowl.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:15
Speaker
May it rest in peace forever.
00:07:19
Speaker
But, man, if Kansas all comes over here for a night game, first of all, that might be the most fool that Burgess Snow has been since the 2015 playoffs.
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, no.
00:07:41
Speaker
Honestly, and I'm hoping construction is done on the away side by then because we could easily, easily, easily pack that entire place out.
00:07:55
Speaker
No question.
00:07:55
Speaker
No question.
00:07:56
Speaker
We could.
00:07:58
Speaker
And, you know, even with an unfinished away side.
00:08:00
Speaker
Kennesaw fans travel.
00:08:02
Speaker
I have to give them credit.
00:08:03
Speaker
They travel pretty well for all sports.
00:08:06
Speaker
So I imagine they'd fill out the away stands even if it isn't finished.
FIU Game Strategy and Player Analysis
00:08:13
Speaker
Right now we've got to get that field house finished.
00:08:15
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:08:16
Speaker
It's kind of an eyesore watching on national television.
00:08:20
Speaker
They're kicking field goals and driving down that end, and you see the camera shot.
00:08:27
Speaker
from the scoreboard and it's like there's the net and then there's just a bunch of iron sitting there and a pong table when I notice the pong table that was set up in there that is whoever did that hats off to you that is an absolutely perfect addition
00:08:55
Speaker
nothing screams Alabama state of Alabama football, like, um, like the all state hands and beer pong.
00:09:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:07
Speaker
You know it.
00:09:08
Speaker
But, uh, the man.
00:09:10
Speaker
So, uh, I guess when you talk about this FIU game, cause it, you know, we mentioned it when we first started, you know, start to finish, uh, bless you.
00:09:20
Speaker
Thank you.
00:09:21
Speaker
Uh, start to finish.
00:09:22
Speaker
We, uh,
00:09:24
Speaker
You know, the offense finally, finally came to play in the first quarter, and we saw what, you know, what happens when they actually – I don't want to say get off the bus, but it felt like they finally got off the bus.
00:09:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:38
Speaker
I mean, we came out absolutely hot.
00:09:42
Speaker
I can't remember if we scored the first drive.
00:09:44
Speaker
I don't think we did.
00:09:46
Speaker
But there were three drives in a row that were just masterpiece, you know,
00:09:51
Speaker
Wasn't necessarily looking for the deep ball every play, you know, chunk it down the field.
00:09:56
Speaker
Give Zion a couple of easy, you know, dink and dunk passes.
00:10:01
Speaker
We have Ron Wiggins, Anwar Lewis, Malik Jackson in the backfield, and Zion can run it too.
00:10:09
Speaker
So essentially we have four running backs, you know, in our backfield.
00:10:14
Speaker
And then Zion has an arm.
00:10:15
Speaker
So like we were finally using...
00:10:19
Speaker
the weapon that, you know, the weapon in the game plan that we need to use, you know, yes, we have some really good receivers and, you know, they can burn paths and corners, but as we've seen the beginning of the year, I don't necessarily always trust that.
00:10:37
Speaker
Our passing game is not fully developed.
00:10:40
Speaker
Maybe that comes, you know, next year or maybe that's not even a,
00:10:48
Speaker
a huge priority for Rich Rod in this offense.
00:10:53
Speaker
But yeah, as we saw, especially in the first quarter, you stick to that run game and hand it off to these dudes, everything else will open up.
00:11:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:04
Speaker
And, you know, one of the keys about Rich Rod's offense is that it's all based around one play, right?
00:11:12
Speaker
Read option.
00:11:14
Speaker
And, you know, not to not Logan Smothers
00:11:18
Speaker
or Ashton Frye or Tayshaun Smoot um what have we all seen Zion do well for the last six years run zone region yeah um and so yeah you know Zion's not you know Tom Brady right he's not Kyler Murray for that matter um
00:11:42
Speaker
But, you know, we've seen the last, I guess it's really been three weeks that his arm, when he starts to build some confidence downfield, he becomes one of the better quarterbacks in this conference.
00:11:54
Speaker
Oh, 100%.
00:11:55
Speaker
And, you know, it helps.
00:11:58
Speaker
You know, I got to give a shout out to guys like Quentin Lane,
00:12:04
Speaker
You know, shout out to guys like Sterling Galvan.
00:12:07
Speaker
You know, they're not our top two receivers, right?
00:12:09
Speaker
That's still Michael Pettway.
00:12:14
Speaker
You know, Sean Brown, obviously tied in one, but these guys are kind of glue guys.
00:12:19
Speaker
And we'll come back to Perry Carter in a minute because he's been balling out the last few weeks.
00:12:23
Speaker
But the glue guys, you know, who kind of fill in the rest of the touches, I got to give credit to them because Clinton Lane –
00:12:32
Speaker
before the Sam Houston game when he caught the game-tying touchdown, I really hadn't heard his name much.
00:12:38
Speaker
Yeah, me either.
00:12:39
Speaker
And pretty much really throughout the whole month of October, he's really built himself into a reliable downfield receiver for Zion.
00:12:47
Speaker
And if he keeps it up, I mean, he's got the – here's the thing.
00:12:51
Speaker
He has the build of an NFL receiver.
00:12:53
Speaker
I think he's 6'2", 6'3", good speed, good physicality.
00:12:57
Speaker
I mean, if he keeps developing, we're looking at a guy that could be wide receiver one in a year or two.
00:13:02
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:13:04
Speaker
We have a lot of those kind of guys in our depth chart, and their names, unfortunately for them, haven't been called a lot this year just because of the nature of how this offense runs.
00:13:19
Speaker
But, you know, they're still going out, putting in the work, just waiting for that opportunity and that ball to come their way because, I mean, the way we run, these safeties and these linebackers have to respect that
00:13:31
Speaker
even if Zion pulls it, you know, pulls it down at any second, he could take off if nothing looks available.
00:13:42
Speaker
And in the read option, they have to respect the fact that he could hold it and run it himself.
00:13:48
Speaker
So like every now and then, as you know, as should be the case, you know, we didn't conduct, we get these, these running plays in the field is going to open up and these guys just have to be ready.
00:14:01
Speaker
And,
00:14:02
Speaker
Nine times out of ten, as we've seen so far, you know, they have been ready.
00:14:05
Speaker
They've been right there ready to make the catch, make the big play.
00:14:10
Speaker
Yeah, and I'll say this.
00:14:13
Speaker
You know, we talked about wide receivers making plays downfield.
00:14:18
Speaker
You just touched on it.
00:14:19
Speaker
They really developed well throughout the year, whereas beginning of the season, we really weren't making any plays downfield.
00:14:25
Speaker
It didn't matter who was that quarterback.
00:14:28
Speaker
We weren't.
00:14:30
Speaker
I got to give credit now to Rod Smith and Rich Rod because they've schemed guys open better the last few games than they were previously.
00:14:39
Speaker
And I know with South Carolina coming up, that's going to be a big thing is we saw them against Georgia, right?
00:14:45
Speaker
We saw them against – geez, who else did they play?
00:14:48
Speaker
I think it was against – I think it was against maybe – who did they play?
00:14:52
Speaker
Vanderbilt or Kentucky they played.
00:14:55
Speaker
And they've made these passing games that have normally been elite and pretty explosive –
00:15:00
Speaker
somewhat pedestrian.
00:15:02
Speaker
Um, yeah.
00:15:04
Speaker
Um, so I think the fact that the coaches are actually scheming guys open versus just telling them, Hey, go, go beat a man one-on-one.
00:15:11
Speaker
Um, you know, that's really encouraging, you know, going into this Saturday where we've got, you know, I look, I know that South Carolina is not good, you know, from an sec standpoint, but they're still really, really talented.
00:15:26
Speaker
Um,
00:15:28
Speaker
To be in the middle of the SEC is still insanely good compared to 90% or more of college football teams out there.
South Carolina Game Preparations
00:15:41
Speaker
Just because they are 2-6 or 2-7, something like that, we can't really read too deep into that and walk in here just thinking we're going to come away with it because it's
00:15:55
Speaker
Even with their record being what it is, it's still one of those games where we have to be on our A game and check every single box off just to have a chance to win.
00:16:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:10
Speaker
The good news is we're going in with really no expectations.
00:16:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's house money.
00:16:17
Speaker
I mean, you want to go in and play hard, right?
00:16:20
Speaker
You want to go in and execute well, even, you know, when you're out talented, you still want to go in and execute, you know, and just you want to get beat because they're better than you.
00:16:31
Speaker
You don't want to get beat because you beat yourself.
00:16:34
Speaker
So, I mean, you have to look at the last few weeks saying that you've proven you can execute.
00:16:40
Speaker
Now, they've only proven right now that
00:16:43
Speaker
And I hate to say this, I hate to jump on my team like this, but they've only proven that they're doing it for 30 to 35 minutes a game right now.
00:16:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:50
Speaker
You know, we're still waiting for that 60 minutes of execution.
00:16:53
Speaker
It'd be great if we got it this week.
00:16:55
Speaker
I'll tell you what, because we're going to need it.
00:16:57
Speaker
But, you know, I just – I really just want to see, you know, some execution.
00:17:03
Speaker
And we saw it this last week.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:05
Speaker
And, I mean, there's a little added motivation.
00:17:07
Speaker
I was trying to remember South Carolina's record, but it's two and six because we can –
00:17:12
Speaker
put them out of bowl contention if we go in and win.
00:17:16
Speaker
And, um, for those of you who are unfamiliar, um, we are in the second year of our transition.
00:17:25
Speaker
Unlike James Madison, we took our first year while we were still in the FCS.
00:17:29
Speaker
So we're in our second year of transition, which means just like James Madison, the only way we can play in the post season is if there are not enough teams, uh, bowl eligible come season's end.
00:17:42
Speaker
Um,
00:17:43
Speaker
And I think from one of our good friends, Jim Madison, I think the magic number is 51 for both teams to go bowling.
00:17:55
Speaker
I think it's actually down into the 40s now.
00:17:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:18:00
Speaker
I meant total, but yeah.
00:18:01
Speaker
I think now we're down to 41 or 42.
00:18:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:08
Speaker
And yeah, South Carolina is one of those teams.
00:18:12
Speaker
So it would almost be poetic if in route to getting one of those spots because they don't have enough teams if we were the reason that one of them gets knocked out.
00:18:25
Speaker
Oh, yeah, that would be absolutely amazing.
00:18:29
Speaker
And then, of course, we would have the bragging rights for the mascot name.
00:18:36
Speaker
even though sadly our mascot will not be making the journey.
00:18:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:42
Speaker
Cocky cheerleaders, Southerners, they're all staying home.
00:18:47
Speaker
So it's on us.
00:18:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:18:50
Speaker
We got to be loud.
00:18:51
Speaker
We got to be obnoxious.
00:18:54
Speaker
Just got to avoid the, the, the drunk middle-aged white, white guy that's going to punch you.
00:19:03
Speaker
It's all right.
00:19:04
Speaker
Hey, look, Shane Bieber broke his foot after a loss.
00:19:09
Speaker
I can only imagine what these fans will do if they lose to us.
00:19:12
Speaker
Oh, God.
00:19:13
Speaker
We just got to duck and run.
00:19:16
Speaker
Yeah, we got to get back to the hotel safely and then take off all of our Jacksonville State stuff.
00:19:23
Speaker
What are you talking about?
00:19:24
Speaker
I'm going out in Columbia wearing that off if we win.
00:19:28
Speaker
Oh, man.
00:19:30
Speaker
Oh, man.
00:19:30
Speaker
But, yeah, so, you know, good win against FIU.
00:19:35
Speaker
That gives us three straight dubs over the Golden Panthers.
00:19:41
Speaker
And, you know, they were – I mean, we beat them twice while we were still FCS.
00:19:46
Speaker
And then, obviously, this last week, go in and beat them by about 30.
00:19:50
Speaker
So, it, you know –
00:19:53
Speaker
Going into this week, I mean, we've got a lot of confidence.
00:19:55
Speaker
We've played well.
00:19:56
Speaker
We're 7-2.
00:19:57
Speaker
And our two losses, you know, one is at Coastal Carolina, who I think if you gave us a second chance right now, I think we beat them.
00:20:04
Speaker
And the other is at Liberty.
00:20:06
Speaker
And I'm not going to say that we beat Liberty if we play them again, but I would love to see what that game, how that game goes with a fully healthy Zion and a fully healthy running back room.
00:20:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:20:21
Speaker
Or just at least, you know, not losing both QB ones in a tight game.
00:20:27
Speaker
It was 17 to 13 going into the fourth.
00:20:31
Speaker
Obviously, the final score looks like it was more of a blowout than it was because they scored, you know, one touchdown, I think, pretty early in the fourth.
00:20:41
Speaker
And then they got that that like nail in the coffin.
00:20:44
Speaker
So like it was a closer game than QB.
00:20:47
Speaker
most people would like to think.
00:20:49
Speaker
But yeah, no, having a fully healthy team, especially you look at those two losses and we could easily be sitting here, sitting here right now, talking to y'all at nine and O if the ball just bounced our way, just, just, you know, one or two times differently.
00:21:12
Speaker
I, I just, especially looking at our defense, I think we can go into Columbia and win this weekend.
00:21:18
Speaker
We have an absolutely insane defense.
00:21:21
Speaker
The guys up front, the linebackers, the corners are showing up.
00:21:29
Speaker
They have been locking down and just staying hip to hip on these receivers and not letting them get an inch of space.
00:21:40
Speaker
Now, some of these corners are mismatched as far as height goes and yoke.
00:21:45
Speaker
They've given up some plays to wide receivers just because, you know, those guys have the reach.
00:21:51
Speaker
But when it comes to that, if you play coverage 99.9% and a dude is just four inches taller than you and he can get up and get it, there's honestly not much you can do there.
00:22:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:07
Speaker
At the end of the day, you know, you watch Western Kentucky who just three years ago,
00:22:14
Speaker
led the FPS in passing yards per game.
00:22:19
Speaker
And they didn't do much against us.
00:22:21
Speaker
You look at FIU, and I didn't realize this, FIU is one of the fastest offenses in all of college football.
00:22:30
Speaker
And we, for the most part, shut their offense down.
00:22:33
Speaker
Outside of really just – outside of one big pass play, that was about it.
00:22:37
Speaker
I honestly wouldn't have known they were one of the fastest offenses because –
00:22:42
Speaker
we kind of force them to slow down a little bit.
00:22:45
Speaker
But also, whenever we're snapping the ball every 20 seconds in real time on average, other offenses just tend to look slow.
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:22:57
Speaker
We run faster than actually everyone right now.
00:23:02
Speaker
It's not an official stat for us because, you know, we're still transitioning.
00:23:07
Speaker
But, yeah, we're the fastest offense in the NCAA right now.
00:23:11
Speaker
And it's
00:23:12
Speaker
absolutely beautiful to watch when it's clicking like clockwork.
00:23:18
Speaker
Now, when we're getting three and outs in 20 seconds, maybe not so much, but yeah, we don't, we don't talk about that.
00:23:26
Speaker
It's one of those.
00:23:27
Speaker
It's truly a win-lose.
00:23:28
Speaker
If you can execute and get your four or five yards here and just chunk it down the field and not allow the defense to sub in and then just hit them, it works beautifully.
00:23:39
Speaker
If you get that three and out, though, and it's only been 30 seconds and your defense is still sucking down air, it can get rough, and we've seen that.
00:23:53
Speaker
For sure.
00:23:56
Speaker
All right.
00:23:57
Speaker
Well, going into this South Carolina game, you know, one of the big concerns is which Spencer Rattler do we get, right?
00:24:04
Speaker
Do we get the 2020 Spencer Rattler that was – that looked like the next great Oklahoma Heisman winner, or do we get the 2021 Spencer Rattler that got minched after three games?
00:24:18
Speaker
You know, that –
00:24:21
Speaker
I've said all along that Spencer Radler is one of the most talented quarterbacks in all of college football.
00:24:27
Speaker
And it's just this square foot of real estate right here is just not quite there for him.
00:24:35
Speaker
I'll go ahead and make a prediction right now.
00:24:38
Speaker
If we manage to get three or more sacks this week, we win this game.
00:24:45
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:45
Speaker
I mean, I could see it.
00:24:47
Speaker
The only thing was bringing that much pressure though is that man,
00:24:51
Speaker
respectfully, that man got wheels.
00:24:54
Speaker
So if he manages to get outside the pocket and we don't have a spy or any sort of contain, I mean, it could get real ugly real fast.
00:25:06
Speaker
And the thing about that offense, especially once they get the rhythm and the momentum, it gets really hard to stop because then they start playing really quick and
00:25:18
Speaker
they're going to be one of the more talented offenses we see, especially, you know, when it comes to wide receivers, you know, so if they get to the point where they start gassing our corners and we don't have the proper, you know, help over top, it could get real ugly real quick.
00:25:33
Speaker
So, yeah, I would love to see the pressure because that's just who Zach Alley is.
00:25:37
Speaker
He's aggressive.
00:25:39
Speaker
He's going to go after him.
00:25:40
Speaker
But I just hope we have, you know, measures in place to where if he tries to slip out,
00:25:46
Speaker
you know, somebody's right there to pull them down.
00:25:50
Speaker
Yeah, and that's something that Spencer Rattler has done so good this year.
00:25:54
Speaker
I got to give him credit because, I mean, he came in off of one of the hottest five-game streaks that you've seen at the end of the year.
00:26:01
Speaker
It didn't start great this season, but he's really picked it up.
00:26:05
Speaker
He played really well against Georgia.
00:26:09
Speaker
And, yeah, look, South Carolina's 2-6 or whatever.
00:26:11
Speaker
All right, a 2-6 SEC team wins a lot of G5 conferences.
00:26:18
Speaker
I mean, let's just – Yeah.
00:26:19
Speaker
Let's just call a spade a spade.
00:26:21
Speaker
This is still one of the most talented rosters, you know, in the upper echelons of college football.
00:26:28
Speaker
And, unfortunately – I mean, well, actually, I say fortunately for us.
00:26:31
Speaker
It's an 11 o'clock game.
00:26:33
Speaker
Fans probably won't be all that awake.
00:26:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:38
Speaker
You hope that they sleepwalk through the first quarter and a half to two quarters and you're able to get some kind of a lead.
00:26:45
Speaker
But at the end of the day, I mean, it's going to come down to execution on the defensive side of the ball.
00:26:51
Speaker
Corners can't.
00:26:54
Speaker
They can't give too much room because South Carolina will take the underneath all day.
00:27:00
Speaker
And you can't get beat and press.
00:27:03
Speaker
And as much pressure as Zach Alley gets, and I'll drop a little football mound for y'all who maybe haven't played or maybe don't study, Zach Alley runs a lot of cover one.
00:27:14
Speaker
He wants to play one safety high a lot on early downs and get an extra guy into the box and then play man across the board.
00:27:25
Speaker
That's his base defense.
00:27:26
Speaker
He'll send bullets from everywhere, but generally you're going to see a lot of one high defenses.
00:27:31
Speaker
When that happens, you've got to get home.
00:27:33
Speaker
Um, that's that, that single high safety can only cover one side of the field.
00:27:38
Speaker
Um,
00:27:40
Speaker
So I actually, I would not be surprised if we run a lot of cover to, you know, try to get two safeties deep because you can't run pressed against this team and not get home because they will eat us alive downfield.
00:27:53
Speaker
And we've seen it.
00:27:53
Speaker
We're, we're susceptible to deep shots.
00:27:55
Speaker
We really are.
00:27:58
Speaker
Yeah, that's, that's the biggest thing.
00:28:01
Speaker
Um,
00:28:02
Speaker
leaving that one safety out there to dry, especially when you have as good of a QB as Spencer Rattler can be.
00:28:08
Speaker
You know, he'll make that safety drift left and then the pass is going right.
00:28:13
Speaker
And I don't care who you are unless you're Superman.
00:28:16
Speaker
There's no way you're recovering, you know, to go help that corner if he's beat.
00:28:22
Speaker
So, yeah, it's really one of those where defense is going to have to lock in.
00:28:28
Speaker
I'm going to need to see, you know, Chris Hardy and company in the backfield with their hands on Caleb Williams some way, somehow, you know, making him uncomfortable, you know, not allowing him to get through all of his reads, making him want to leave the pocket.
00:28:47
Speaker
You know, if we do have a spy or somebody there ready to take him down, don't biggest thing is just interrupt everything, anything and everything we can.
Run Game Importance and Strategy
00:28:58
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
00:29:01
Speaker
This defense has been disruptive, but I just said it.
00:29:03
Speaker
We've been susceptible to deep shots.
00:29:06
Speaker
They haven't been that we're just getting out physical.
00:29:11
Speaker
These guys aren't hitting 50-50 balls.
00:29:12
Speaker
A lot of these are getting beaten coverage.
00:29:16
Speaker
I would love to focus to be maybe playing a soft man so that they can't just run curl routes all day, but force them
00:29:27
Speaker
to run slants, force them to run crossing routes, force them to hit guys on the move instead of an easy five-yard hitch that turns into 10 yards because we're playing off coverage.
00:29:37
Speaker
But, you know, all in all, you know, if we execute on defense, especially in the back end and then on offense, I'm not going to say we can't throw the ball, but we need to run to set up the throw.
00:29:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:50
Speaker
And we don't need to take those.
00:29:51
Speaker
We take those short throws, that five and 10 yards.
00:29:54
Speaker
We don't always have to go for, you know, the 25, 30, 35-yard bomb.
00:29:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:02
Speaker
You know, one thing about Rich Rod, you know, at his best, offenses, believe it or not, have actually – they've thrown the ball for almost 300 yards a game.
00:30:12
Speaker
I was looking at – I mean, his numbers at Arizona, they slung the ball all over the place.
00:30:17
Speaker
But they had one of the best QBs in the Pac-12 that year.
00:30:22
Speaker
But when he's had a runner like Zion, I mean, I think he had Khalil Tate his last year at Arizona, and they led the country in rushing yards per game.
00:30:31
Speaker
So, I mean, that's – his M.O.
00:30:33
Speaker
is still to run the football.
00:30:34
Speaker
So, I don't – I would hate to see us get away from that this week.
00:30:38
Speaker
I mean, right now I think we're averaging almost 50 rushing attempts a game.
00:30:44
Speaker
So, I'd love to see us really ground and pound with some tempo and force South Carolina to get an extra man in the box so we can throw it.
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:56
Speaker
It's been pretty evident the more we stray from using the run game as a base, the more our offense tends to struggle.
00:31:05
Speaker
Usually those three and outs, you see a lot of, you know, we run on first down and only get a yard.
00:31:10
Speaker
And then all of a sudden our next two plays are pass plays.
00:31:14
Speaker
And those typically never tend to work out well, because if we pass on second down, I'm like second and nine, second and 10 and don't get anything.
00:31:23
Speaker
Of course, you know, the defense knows a pass play is coming on third down.
00:31:26
Speaker
So I would love to see us kind of stick to the running game.
00:31:31
Speaker
And eventually something will break loose.
00:31:34
Speaker
We have those kind of guys in the backfield.
00:31:36
Speaker
Something's going to break loose at some point.
00:31:41
Speaker
We just have to, you know, weather the storm and stick to the game plan.
00:31:45
Speaker
And we'll be good.
00:31:46
Speaker
We'll be all right.
00:31:49
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:31:49
Speaker
You know, hey, what happens happens.
00:31:52
Speaker
We're going to have a ball either way.
Basketball Season Excitement
00:31:54
Speaker
And one way or another, Rich Rod's going to have these guys scratching and clawing for 60 minutes.
00:32:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:01
Speaker
So, all right.
00:32:02
Speaker
Well, I guess the next biggest news around the campus is we got some basketball action now.
00:32:11
Speaker
We finally, finally, finally are back to games in the Pete baby.
00:32:18
Speaker
We've got two exhibitions.
00:32:19
Speaker
We're recording this Tuesday night and the exhibitions are Wednesday night.
00:32:22
Speaker
So it'll probably come out just before the games.
00:32:28
Speaker
I know the women play Montevallo.
00:32:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:32
Speaker
And the men have Talladega College.
00:32:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:32:36
Speaker
So, you know, I don't know if it's, I mean, I don't think they're at risk of losing the exhibitions, but at least you wouldn't hope.
00:32:46
Speaker
I was about to say, you say that, but we, I don't know if you saw, but Rick Pitino and St.
00:32:53
Speaker
John just lost to a D2 school in their exhibition.
00:32:57
Speaker
A D2 school.
00:33:00
Speaker
I forgot that he left Iona.
00:33:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:03
Speaker
St.
00:33:03
Speaker
John came with the Brinks truck.
00:33:08
Speaker
But, man, I'll tell you what.
00:33:09
Speaker
Having games back in the Pete feels good.
00:33:13
Speaker
Obviously, NBA just started, and us and all of our friends, we're all huge basketball fans.
00:33:20
Speaker
As much as I love football, basketball is the one game I can sit down and just chill out and watch all day long.
00:33:27
Speaker
Oh, same.
00:33:28
Speaker
Hours.
00:33:28
Speaker
Hours and hours on end.
00:33:30
Speaker
Um, everything.
00:33:31
Speaker
I I'm a football junkie.
00:33:32
Speaker
I study the game, but football for me is probably the most watchable sport.
00:33:38
Speaker
So it, it's good to have it back.
00:33:40
Speaker
Um, it's gonna be good to have the Cox on TV.
00:33:43
Speaker
Hopefully on national TV, we start playing really well.
00:33:47
Speaker
This is a good, really good basketball conference.
00:33:50
Speaker
So.
00:33:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:33:52
Speaker
Uh, I was looking and I see USA release their national TV.
00:33:57
Speaker
Um,
00:33:58
Speaker
listings.
00:33:59
Speaker
I think we only have one and it's an away game.
00:34:02
Speaker
I think it's our away game at Liberty.
00:34:05
Speaker
That's going to be on national TV.
00:34:06
Speaker
All the rest are going to be ESPN plus except for the conference conference tournament.
00:34:13
Speaker
Conference tournament will be national TV.
00:34:16
Speaker
And I ain't saying that I'm going to be at the conference tournament, but I'm going to be at the conference tournament.
00:34:23
Speaker
I mean, it's right up the road.
00:34:25
Speaker
So why wouldn't we go to rocket center?
00:34:28
Speaker
Better than having to make the 10 hour, 11 hour trek up to Evansville.
00:34:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:35
Speaker
Now we can just go to downtown Huntsville, go to the Von Braun center, eat a bunch of good food.
00:34:41
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:34:42
Speaker
I know I'll probably go.
00:34:43
Speaker
Hey, we can, we can go, go to the space and rockets and they're just a,
00:34:49
Speaker
look around and have some fun.
00:34:52
Speaker
Exactly, man.
00:34:53
Speaker
Hey, Space and Rocket Center is fun.
00:34:55
Speaker
There's a lot of stuff.
00:34:55
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:34:56
Speaker
I haven't been since I was like six, too.
00:34:59
Speaker
It's honestly, it's pretty cool.
00:35:01
Speaker
You'll learn a lot of stuff no matter how old you are.
00:35:05
Speaker
Indeed, indeed.
00:35:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's huge, man.
00:35:10
Speaker
You know, with the A-Sun, it was home court advantage.
00:35:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:16
Speaker
for the tournament, which was neat until you weren't the high seed and then it sucked.
00:35:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:35:24
Speaker
Our first year in the A-Sun, it was fun because, you know, we were what, the two seed?
00:35:29
Speaker
So we hosted every game up until the semifinal when we lost.
00:35:34
Speaker
But yeah, when you're not the high seed and with the way the A-Sun was traveling easy midweek for a basketball game,
00:35:45
Speaker
Kind of sucked.
00:35:48
Speaker
And, of course, you know, the city that shall not be named that the OVC tournament was held in.
00:35:56
Speaker
I'm going to go on record and say that, look, Evansville, a lot of nice people.
00:36:02
Speaker
And the arena is super nice.
00:36:05
Speaker
There is nothing in Evansville, Indiana.
00:36:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:36:09
Speaker
And luckily there's everything and more in Huntsville.
00:36:12
Speaker
Exactly.
00:36:13
Speaker
And if it's not in Huntsville, it's in Decatur or Athens.
00:36:16
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:36:19
Speaker
Um, and if you want to make a road trip to Birmingham, you're like an hour and 15 minutes away.
00:36:25
Speaker
So not, not too far at all.
00:36:27
Speaker
So, you know, it, um, I certainly plan to be at the tournament.
00:36:34
Speaker
Um,
00:36:37
Speaker
But, man, it's huge.
00:36:39
Speaker
It's going to be really cool having the tournament in your home state.
00:36:41
Speaker
And just for me, it's not even two hours from where I live.
00:36:45
Speaker
So I can make a date for that.
00:36:46
Speaker
Yeah, me neither.
00:36:48
Speaker
Same here.
00:36:50
Speaker
Sam, I know that – I know the guys are excited.
00:36:54
Speaker
I know that Coach Harper and Coach Petrie are excited for the season.
00:36:59
Speaker
I mean, we've mentioned it in prior episodes, two of the most fiery coaches in all of college basketball.
00:37:05
Speaker
Regardless of men's or women's, they've got to be in the top ten.
00:37:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:37:10
Speaker
People just need to go watch a doubleheader and just –
00:37:15
Speaker
Watch, you don't want something to go wrong, but just hope that when you're a doubleheader, something goes wrong because the amount of emotion and the, the amount of foot stomping you will see between the two of them.
00:37:31
Speaker
Oh goodness.
00:37:32
Speaker
It's, it's a sight to see, but I mean, you love to see it coming out of your coaches.
00:37:38
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:38
Speaker
And, you know, credit to coach Petrie, you know, I, I hate this cause I, I enjoy women's basketball.
00:37:43
Speaker
Um,
00:37:44
Speaker
There aren't a lot of women's coaches that are all that fiery.
00:37:48
Speaker
Coach Petrie, it's like he's coaching in the NBA Finals, Game 7, Cavs-Warriors.
00:37:56
Speaker
I mean, that's what he looks like every game.
00:37:59
Speaker
That man reminds me of George Carl sometimes.
00:38:04
Speaker
Without the racism.
00:38:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, without that.
00:38:10
Speaker
Yeah, without DeMarcus Cousins going on Twitter and calling you a racist.
00:38:14
Speaker
But no, man, it's going to be a good season.
00:38:17
Speaker
Even if – I mean, even when the teams aren't great, it's a fun time in the Pete.
00:38:21
Speaker
We make sure that they – we make sure that it's not easy.
00:38:25
Speaker
I mean, obviously we're five feet from the other bench, and it seems like every time we're getting in an argument with someone, so.
00:38:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:38:34
Speaker
And it's not exactly a doubleheader.
00:38:37
Speaker
What is tomorrow night while we're recording?
00:38:40
Speaker
Because women play at 1130 in the morning, which is weird.
00:38:44
Speaker
And then the guys play at six.
00:38:46
Speaker
So it's not a doubleheader, but they both play tomorrow.
00:38:51
Speaker
So, yeah, if you don't have class and you're not, you know, feeling the type of way after the Halloween festivities, I hope you went and enjoyed some basketball.
00:39:02
Speaker
And if you are feeling the type of way, pop yourself a little packet of liquid IV and go to the game.
00:39:09
Speaker
Yeah, you're definitely going to need some liquid IV and ibuprofen because I'm not sure if hardcore is there, but if they're there.
00:39:17
Speaker
you're going to need some, you're going to need some medicine.
00:39:20
Speaker
Take some earplugs.
00:39:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:23
Speaker
Oh man.
00:39:24
Speaker
But man, it's going to be a great season.
00:39:26
Speaker
It's going to be an exciting season.
00:39:29
Speaker
I have a sneaky suspicion that the basketball team has the same thing in store versus the football team did.
00:39:35
Speaker
Dude.
00:39:35
Speaker
I hope so.
00:39:37
Speaker
Here's, I really hope so.
00:39:40
Speaker
We're, we're jumping up in competition this year.
00:39:42
Speaker
So,
00:39:43
Speaker
But, I mean, we're also – we've got some pretty good transfers.
00:39:47
Speaker
I've been looking at the transfer portal.
00:39:50
Speaker
Coach Harper, you know, went out and got some absolute dogs.
00:39:55
Speaker
We went from ASUN, which was, I think, 20th ranked in Ken Palm, to CUSA, which is like 11th.
00:40:03
Speaker
So we jumped up big time.
00:40:06
Speaker
But, I mean, if we can go out and do what we did in football on the hard court,
00:40:13
Speaker
it will be nothing but, you know, an outpouring of respect.
00:40:17
Speaker
And, I mean, hey, let's see if we can go dancing for a third time in the Harper era.
00:40:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:23
Speaker
And, you know, you mentioned that Ken Palm rating.
00:40:25
Speaker
You start doing the math.
00:40:26
Speaker
This is not in order, but SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12, West Coast Conference, MEAC,
00:40:41
Speaker
You start doing the math, you get real close to some of the best conferences in college basketball when you're number 11.
00:40:47
Speaker
Yeah, and especially coming from 20, yeah, that's a lot to climb.
00:40:55
Speaker
So we're definitely going to see some fun basketball on the Pete.
00:40:58
Speaker
We're going to see some fun basketball, you know, on ESPN+, ESPNU, wherever we can watch the games.
00:41:08
Speaker
You know, it's going to be pretty exciting.
00:41:10
Speaker
It's going to
00:41:11
Speaker
I'm hoping that kind of parlays into some pretty big names coming to Jacksonville in the years to come.
00:41:19
Speaker
Absolutely, man.
00:41:20
Speaker
Hey, look, there are some good guards in Alabama.
00:41:22
Speaker
I'll tell you what, we got good guards.
00:41:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:41:26
Speaker
So if we can start to tap into some of these three, even three-star, maybe even some four-stars, we're going to start to play like a really good basketball team.
00:41:38
Speaker
And
00:41:40
Speaker
Prediction.
00:41:41
Speaker
We make the tournament in the next three years.
00:41:43
Speaker
I think we do it.
00:41:45
Speaker
I could see it.
00:41:46
Speaker
I could honestly see it.
00:41:48
Speaker
I actually think we win conference in the next five.
00:41:53
Speaker
As long as Ray Harper is still the coach, I think we win the conference in the next five years.
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah, I can see it for sure.
00:42:02
Speaker
But I mean, so we got basketball.
00:42:08
Speaker
We're still waiting on baseball.
00:42:10
Speaker
I know softball has played an exhibition or two.
00:42:13
Speaker
Their season is about to start.
00:42:16
Speaker
Women's bowling.
00:42:18
Speaker
We have one of our new additions.
Women's Bowling Team Debut
00:42:22
Speaker
Their very first tournament down in Orlando, they got second place.
00:42:27
Speaker
And I was reading the article about some of the teams they beat.
00:42:32
Speaker
And for those of you who don't remember, they got placed in a preseason top 10 poll for all of women's bowling.
00:42:41
Speaker
And there were some people that were like, this team never existed before.
00:42:45
Speaker
How are they top 10?
00:42:48
Speaker
Let me just read you off a list of the rankings of the teams they beat in this tournament.
00:42:53
Speaker
They beat number one in defending NCAA champion Vanderbilt.
00:42:58
Speaker
They beat number five, Stephen F. Austin, number six, Youngstown State, number 22, Tulane, number 27, Monmouth, number 33, Damon, and number 35, UAB.
00:43:10
Speaker
Glad they beat UAB.
00:43:12
Speaker
Always great to take down an in-state team.
00:43:15
Speaker
But yeah, no, these women are no joke.
00:43:20
Speaker
And to play second in your very first tournament together,
00:43:25
Speaker
That's absolutely nuts and only a great sign of what's to come.
00:43:30
Speaker
Yeah, and I think, I mean, preseason, we were top 10 in the rankings.
00:43:37
Speaker
And our coach, keep in mind, first year's program.
00:43:42
Speaker
And Greg Sides went out and hired a two-time national champion.
00:43:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:47
Speaker
Who's been a national coach of the year seven – at one point seven consecutive seasons was the national coach of the year.
Coaching Hires and Game Attendance Plans
00:43:57
Speaker
I don't care what people say about that man.
00:43:59
Speaker
He has made some of the best – I mean absolute best coaching searches and coaching finds out of any athletic director.
00:44:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:12
Speaker
He's got – just in the last three years, Rich Rodriguez –
00:44:17
Speaker
one of the inventors of the spread offense.
00:44:22
Speaker
He went out and got Missouri's former baseball coach, who actually was pretty good there.
00:44:27
Speaker
They just wanted a little bit more in a really tough baseball conference and then go out and get arguably the best bowling coach on the planet.
00:44:38
Speaker
I don't know how he keeps doing it, but he doesn't miss.
00:44:45
Speaker
And these people don't leave either.
00:44:47
Speaker
They stick around for the long haul.
00:44:49
Speaker
I mean, whatever he's doing, I need him to just keep to, you know, bottle it up.
00:44:57
Speaker
And whenever he inevitably retires or moves on, pass it on to the next athletic director, because it's working.
00:45:04
Speaker
That man has the, the Krabby Patty secret formula.
00:45:08
Speaker
He does.
00:45:12
Speaker
Oh man.
00:45:12
Speaker
But, uh,
00:45:14
Speaker
man, I, I think that about wraps it up.
00:45:16
Speaker
I think we've hit everything.
00:45:20
Speaker
I think so too.
00:45:21
Speaker
Uh, I'm like I said earlier, I'm just looking forward to this, this game this weekend.
00:45:27
Speaker
Um, my first time at South Carolina, not my first time in SEC stadium, both of us were lucky, you know, being in Southerners, we got to be in a lot of SEC stadiums, you know, as a, as a JSU Gamecock fan.
00:45:43
Speaker
Um,
00:45:44
Speaker
SEC and ACC because of where we're located.
00:45:49
Speaker
But yeah, I'm excited.
00:45:51
Speaker
This will be my first one not in uniform.
00:45:58
Speaker
So that will be fun, you know, to actually harass the fans a little bit and be a little bit rowdy and PG-13 plus.
00:46:06
Speaker
Because, you know, we had to respect the uniform.
00:46:10
Speaker
We couldn't do that.
00:46:11
Speaker
But, you know, now...
00:46:13
Speaker
There are other factors at play, so it'll be fun.
00:46:17
Speaker
God help all of our girlfriends, fiancés, wives.
00:46:21
Speaker
Man, there are...
00:46:29
Speaker
Four coming?
00:46:31
Speaker
Yeah, four couples and then three flying solo.
00:46:36
Speaker
Yeah, three single Pringles that are coming.
00:46:38
Speaker
We got four wives, fiancés, or girlfriends that are going to have to put up with us for 48 hours.
00:46:47
Speaker
Luckily for them, we've stacked the seats.
00:46:49
Speaker
If they want to sit together and avoid us for a little bit, they can.
00:46:54
Speaker
I guarantee you that ends up being the move.
00:46:57
Speaker
Honestly, I don't blame them if that's how they go about it.
00:47:03
Speaker
All right, man.
00:47:03
Speaker
Well, it's been another successful week.
00:47:06
Speaker
If you're listening to this, it is Tuesday night, and I will hopefully have it out by Wednesday night.
Conclusion and Sign Off
00:47:14
Speaker
So all you Gamecock fans, we hope you have a great week.
00:47:20
Speaker
and we will be reporting live on the Twitter page from Williams-Brice Stadium and from around the campus all day.
00:47:30
Speaker
And so if you're getting a lot of posts in quick succession, it's because we're both right there live, and we both have our phones on us.
00:47:37
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:47:37
Speaker
I'm going to keep that thing on me, charged and ready to go.
00:47:40
Speaker
But, man, another good week.
00:47:44
Speaker
Jalen, hope you have a great rest of the week.
00:47:47
Speaker
You too.
00:47:48
Speaker
See you Friday night.
00:47:52
Speaker
That's 700 Pelham Road Podcast signing off.