Pegasus Podcast: Which of UCF's 2024 games scare us the most?

welcome into episode 212 be sure you're following us on Twitter Bailey jadams 22 byca Simmons night Sports now and Pegasus podcast you can also email us at Pegasus podcast by KSN gmail.com Christian how are you I'm doing good I just pressed the record button really quickly to try to catch you off guard and you reacted in no way and that is disappointing to me I thought I was going to trip you up but so now I'm in a bad mood but before that if you would have pressed it I enter like you said I before he started recording I kind of entered a trance if you would have just hit it right then the podcast would have started with me just like staring off into space so we should we talk about what happened there I was speaking to you and I looked at your screen and you're just staring off into the distance and I'm I'm like it was like lights are on but nobody's home like you were just not responding I have no explanation for it I wish I did like I wish I had like some funny or like witty thing to say about it but I just completely checked out was staring at the wall you were like looking you somehow had the ability to look into the future and you're seeing you to lose to Florida like 45 to 14 and it's just incomprehensible horror and you're like I can't repeat this Vision to anyone else yeah I can't I can't say it no I no idea what that was about but doing good we're in the last week of June which I just we were also talking before we recorded that like I don't feel like we're in the last week of June but we're like a couple weeks away from EA college football 25 coming out few weeks away from Big 12 media days we're two months from week zero all media days whatever we're getting there we're getting there and slowly but surely we will get to college football and just football in general and I'm I'm dying for it right now I'm definitely counting down to the game a lot more than I am to the season because it's just a closer date and it's making it mentally easier for me that's fair yeah um all right well kind of speaking speaking about looking forward to the season we're here with our 2024 terrified level ratings I think this is the third year we've done these yep um if I'm not mistaken the I think we've now outed the podcast we stole this from right yeah say is like the further we get away from the origin of this I like it's like people who people who like I don't know anyone who's listened to us for a long time like kind of knows I've mentioned it every year we've done it but it's like every year I keep mentioning it's like that podcast hasn't been a thing for I think maybe two years now um but it was a it was the LSU podcast on the athletic and it was um broy Miller and Chris Branch and I think it was again I said this last year I was like I have always credited Chris Branch with this idea and I don't know if it was actually his um but it's basically going through the team schedule they went through LSU schedule this was years ago um going through UCF schedule and rating each team one to 10 on how terrified we are of them and there's different factors here it can be terrified of the team itself and how good they are or it's just the I think in the case of the Florida game there's like an extra little bit of terrified of just the reaction of what would happen if UCF lost it um but yeah and we learned very early on that you and I interpret this in very different ways because I think it's the first year we did this I gave an FCS team like a three or something and you didn't even think we were ranking the FCS team so it's it's always fun to see how we approach this from wildly different philosophies what's especially funny I meant to bring this up also before we got on the podcast but you sent me a screenshot earlier where you were like oh ignore those numbers because you had showed me some of yours um you put did you not listen did you not ignore I didn't listen because I had already read part of it and then we I won't spoil it but the two team the first two games you had numbers below the scale because I texted you last night and said are we we usually do one to 10 right and you said yes okay what did I do wrong I don't understand all right we'll get I just figured out what I did wrong you want okay let's just start let's start with I almost forgot which one was first let's start with confirmed okay well um what do you have one to 10 for New Hampshire I have a zero for New Hampshire which I especially surprised me because I was like I check I was like I'm pretty sure I checked with him one to 10 last night you did confirm and you know what's even funnier is you sent me that text and which in my defense I think I was at like a party when you sent it so I don't know how like locked in I was but I I I I in my head like I remember you saying that me being like duh what else would we do like being annoyed to be clarified and then still getting it wrong I have New Hampshire at a zero because one implies fear right yeah but it's the lowest on the scale so I put still I have no fear for that I feel no emotions for that game whatsoever I'm like a sociopath as far as that game is concerned there's just nothing to think about for it like I feel nothing for that game that's far as that game is concerned just for that game but I don't know it's just there's not like it's obviously not a game that UCF can lose we've learned over years of experience that even if the score is not gudy like if UCF goes and just wins like 35 to three or something those games just don't matter those opening FCS games they don't mean anything so I just I don't have any emotions for it yeah no that's fair I there's we don't have to spend time on these first two like I put a one because it's the lowest on the scale I'm not scared of them at all yeah I don't even know what like that's going be the funniest possible thing is now if UCF somehow loses to new it's not like I I'm just gonna I'm just gonna say it I'm not even Gonna Knock on before saying it that is a college football result that is not even possible like New Hampshire is not even one of the good FCS programs this is just a game they're playing to have another home game so there's there's really nothing to discuss as far we'll discuss the week of which players will be where all that stuff but as far as like fear and worry about the game there's nothing to discuss all right Sam Houston um 0.5 lowest on the scale yeah um you know what's funny is is last year and this was maybe different because Sam Houston's well I don't know how long was Kent State an FBS program was that last year their first year or no or was it two years ago Kent State Kent State's been in FBS forcades and decades have they really used to have shared a conference with Kent State in the early 2000s what am I thinking of you're thinking of Kennesaw State who joined I'm Year yes you're correct um okay that makes I was very confused for a second I'm like K State's been around but yeah you're thinking of Ken state state that was fun um but no it was funny because I was listening a little bit to last year's terrified level ratings podcast and we talked about Kent State and your big reminder to everyone was like this is actually an FBS team you're like I you're like I just think this game's going to be like 38 to 14 like it's not going to be the score that people think it's going to be and then I was like well I was like I looked I I heard you say that on like as I was Rel listening and I was like what was the score of that game I looked it up it was like 566 to yeah the worst part about that is that that was not the only podcast I said that on that was like a summerlong reminder of me to the audience which I'm GNA defend a little bit because hey Ken state was really bad like UCF is not always goingon to beat a G5 team that badly and B it was just that fans were treating that like the like a New Hampshire game and I just was kind of like there's a big jump from FCS to lowlevel G5 like it's I at no point was I like oh ucf's in danger it was more from a perspective of I'm going to be frustrated if UCF wins that game like 35 to3 and then fans are like panicking that it wasn't by more was where I was coming from but I'm gonna put Sam Houston that same boat though I I gotta say and I feel like I'm an authority on Sam Houston I'm trying to count I think I watched and I'm not exaggerating I think I watched like five or six Sam Houston games last year because Conference USA kept putting them on like Tuesdays and Wednesdays so it be like the only game on TV so even though they literally went three and N last year I think I I seriously think I watched like five or six like I'm looking at the list and I remember these games so I'm an authority on them I've decided and um they they were pretty bad last year they they were a power at the FCS level like they're recent National Champion so I expect they'll get better and eventually be good at FBS but it's not like a game to worry about or anything it just might not be it's kind of like what I said about Ken State last year it just might not be a score that every UCF fan is perfectly happy with it might be like a 38 to1 or something the only thing that qualifies me as an expert or an authority on Sam Houston is the fact that I cover one of their former players who plays for the bucks he's there you go he's going to be a starting back this year so that be do you think it's weird that UCF is playing two different Bearcats this year that's interesting right yeah especially with the Bearcats Sam Houston Bearcats being the K yeah beat I I don't think teddy bear is the um the reason they're that name but oh god um all right let's move into say let's move into the real games oh no um I think I said something like that two years ago and we were like that sounded bad now you called something I think you called one of our one of ucf's I don't know if was a FCS game if it was just a noncon you call it their dumb games that's so insult I've repeat these two games New Hampshire and Sam Houston I've repeatedly referred to as the fake games which is really insulting to those teams and I really need to stop doing that and I understand that you know that's mean and I kind of wonder if because they start with those two games if my number if my rating for this third game at TCU is a little higher just because they will have had they will have not gotten tested at all in two weeks they'll be in week three before they realize like oh okay we're gonna learn nothing for two streams yeah so where do you have TCU uh well you know since I accidentally sent it to you I have I didn't look at that one I didn't look I looked at the first two and was like he didn't listen to me I have TCU a lot higher than where I thought I was going to when we started this podcast I have TCU an 8.0 okay I at 7.5 okay and I'll give you two reasons for it the first is I've been reading about TCU and similar to UCF they're kind of a question mark nationally they returned their quarterback they weren't very good last year they went five and seven but then they went to the national championship game the year before that they returned their quarterback they returned two of their top three wide receivers they turned over their whole defense but like with the idea to improve it they're just they're just in such a like we don't know like they could be anything category and it's a road game and the reason I have it so high is because I realized that if we spent this whole offseason talking about UCF as a potential Big 12 Champion the way we have and then their first real game of the season they lose it's like all the hype and all the interest and all the everything is just gone like literally from game one and I just realized sitting here like oh I'm actually really scared of that happening yeah I had this moment I think I think I texted you it was like two or three weeks ago so we've said on the podcast we're going to the the TCU game Y and it registered with me for the first time where I was like actually kind of nervous about them losing the game like I spent most of the offseason just thinking yeah I mean ucf's going to win that game like I wasn't really worried about it and the more I think about it I'm like I think I put way too much stock into the fact that yeah like they were disappointing last year and I was just like that doesn't mean they're going to be that again um it's such an age old college football mistake that literally everybody makes and I'm talking everybody from a casual fan to like the most seasoned media member is that you just look at teams and you just Envision how they were the year before and that's what you expect it's oh well TCU was bad last year it's like T it's it's they went from they were bad then they went to the national championship game and they were bad again it's like we have no idea TCU could go win the Big 12 this year and it's just given the hype and given how lame those first two games are it just I'm fruited out of the notion of doing all this offseason talk and then they immediately Dro that first game because Also let's be real if they lose their first Big 12 game they're half to the to the title game is already like on very thin ice like you basically have to only lose one more which they're probably not doing if they drop that opening one even then you can lose one more and maybe not make it it it would just suck for all of the goals to just kind of be gone out of literally their first Dr game there's also the fact that it's on the road like that's there's that and then so did you see who their new defensive coordinator is H yeah it's Andy aalos isn't it yeah State coach which I was like that's I don't know I just stuff like that kind of just happens throughout the country and I'm like I miss it when it happens and so as I'm doing research for this I'm like oh wow okay um which you know he has 0 and2 against UCF is head coach so maybe that's some kind of good omen I don't think that means anything but you know something to keep in mind did a good job what was the score last year's game he did a good job defensively UCF yeah it was the UCF well except I don't know I don't know if UCF will go into this year's game against an Andi AOS defense and bat the ball to the to the defense in the Red Zone happened twice twice in that game Kobe and Javon both did that and then Javon went on Twitter after the game and said said I will never ever do that again and I was like why would you have to say that like that's not a thing that happens often and then he did it again against West Virginia the exact same thing yeah so that's great I someone who just understands either football or physics or maybe both a lot better than I do to further explain how Javon two separate times landed in a way where he kicked the ball into the hands of a Defender like I've never seen it happen and then I saw it happen three times in one season I was going to say too but if like the the fact that it happened to UCF three times where like I I've seen like passes go off guys hands and into the defense like I'm not talking about that it was just all three of them were so unique in in the way that they happened that I was like the fact that all of them happened three times like separately three times in the season it's bizarre I don't understand it I I have no answers for you I don't know I will blame Javon for them but I have no answers uh for how they happened yeah um all right the fourth game back home Colorado am I going first every time I'll do no I'll do it I'll do it this time I kind of forgot that you keep going first um I also have this one at 7.5 I have them at 8.0 like I do TC you so we agree that we feel the same about both these games I just feel slightly more worried than you do yeah which I think is is probably like accurate like I just you tend you tend to like in past off seasons and stuff you tend to be a little safer and then I will let my imagination run wild so let me tell you part of why I have this one a little bit higher though is this is probably going to be the most watched game of UCF season because every single colle football game from last season especially the ones early the season we're getting insane numbers like like numbers that were beating out like Ohio State and Alabama like Colorado for a while there transcended just college football and just sort of hit like a cultural level that no one really in college football has hit since probably like Johnny Manzel in 2012 and that's already gearing up again and this is so early in the season that they're still going to be in that boat so this is going to be there's G to be a lot of eyeballs on UCF and on the bounce house and I just hate the idea of them going out there and losing that game and I also feel like we've been like I'm not going to say we've been talking trash about Colorado but like kind of discounting them we look at the schedule as a whole I don't think they're going to be that bad I don't think they're going to be winning the league but I think this is a solid team that can absolutely come in and be UCF yeah and I think I I think I with this one also kind of course corrected on because all all of what you heard about them or most of what you heard about them all offseason was everyone's leaving all the transfers out and they did a really good job of getting transfers in and like I think again the more publicly talked about things were whether it was you know Dion or either of his sons like talking trash about former players who transferred out like that was what got all the attention but they did a good job in who I couldn't remember that's why I didn't say I think very mid very mid at best which is that's just entered my vocabulary now at this point but but you're right 44 players left Colorado in the port in the portal this offseason but yeah the part we ignored was that they brought in a lot of really good players too and they have shador Sanders who's a really good quarterback and they have Travis Hunter who's just flat out one of the best players of college football that's the thing is like you know even if they're not going to be you know winning eight or nine or 10 games this year you know they're going to be talented yeah and I just I don't with UCF like I don't know I feel like sometimes under Gus and like if the other team is more talented like sometimes that like that will just win out and the only thing that I'd give UCF a little bit of a nod on is that that seems to be the home game that the fan base is coales around is being Reed for so I think it'll be a crazy atmosphere but we've seen crazy atmospheres at the bounce house that Maan has still um not one in so you never know that and I look at that game and I I kind of have it up higher too as like I think that game could be like a crazy shootout like that and then when you get into a crazy shootout like it just you can lose like it's just that sounds they're gonna be like looking on tape at like ucf's DBS and they're gonna go to Travis Hunter and be like why don't you just do offense this game and I I don't know because I think last year Colorado's defense was bad and I think it might be bad again there's still a lot of questions there but I think offensively they'll be could and I don't know it's it's going to be it's going to be one of those like you said with with all the attention it's just that heightens the the fear of it too Colorado will have played four games coming in the UCF game North Dakota State at Nebraska at Colorado State and Baylor that they could be literally any combination of Records you want off of that they could be one and three but they could also like very easily be 4-0 there's a very real chance that's a 4-0 Colorado and a three and0 UCF like that's not even sort of off the table and that that scares me a little bit again like it could be anything but and I think again this was more course correction but earlier in the offseason when I saw that game against North Dakota State I was like Colorado might lose that game and I don't know that they will they they probably won't but North Dakota State's one of those like they're good they are a Powerhouse so they are but I've I've also cooled on that a little because I was reading about them too and their coach left this past off season and they've been like they're still really good but they have been on like a little bit of a steady decline the last couple years so I don't know if that's as big of a thing as it would have been three years especially now knowing like Colorado actually did did decently well this off season so yeah um up next is at Florida what do you think I have this at you tell me my number 10 correct okay I didn't put 10 on any of these so I this one I have 8.5 yeah 8.5 yeah for the the highest I have on this on this list is a nine buddy no I don't agree with you no I I don't need you to it's okay I can't it's June and I can't stop thinking about this game like I I just I can't fathom what a terrible Dark World we're going to be living in if UCF doesn't win this game I mean seriously I just feel like it feels like the entire Gus Maan era is riding on this game it kind of weirdly feels like this whole season is riding on this game it feels like ucf's future potential both as a brand and as a recruiting operation rely on this game I can't I don't know and it's so funny because so much of this offseason I've been thinking about what it would be like if UCF won or what it would be like if UCF lost I within the last week started thinking about I'm like what if UCF just gets blown out like i' never considered that option like what if they go into the swamp and just are terrible and it made my I felt my chest actually constrict thinking about that thought I just I can't I can't overstate the pain and stress I have have we ever talked about this is probably bad someone who's in the medical field is going to listen to this and be like what the hell this we I don't know if I ever SE the podcast the Cincinnati game in 2022 when um it was coming down to the liar and you see I've been up the whole game and then I thought they were going to lose and in the Press Box and I'm just you know I'm Calon the box I'm not freaking out and my whole left arm just went numb like went completely numb and I started feeling about on the podcast I twitches and I was like that can't be good like I don't really know what that means and then UCF won and I felt better but yeah .5 really I reserve TENS for games that I just think UCF has absolutely no chance of winning and I I just so I think they have a decent chance of winning this game I it's I'm afraid of it because you know of all the implications but I I don't think and again this is thing where like with Colorado Colorado's going to be talented Florida will be very talented I just don't know if they're going to be I don't know what the vibe around Florida's going to be around that time of the season I don't know if they're going to be that good overall in the season it's also right before they enter like a ridiculous stretch so is it like their last chance to like kind of galvanize the locker room by beating UCF before they get you know they head into the what's probably going to break their season or I don't know I and I I I think this UCF and I'm not saying Florida won't be up for this game but UCF can be so up for this game game which actually now that I think about it might end up being like scary how like how much they're up for this game but I don't know I I have it as one of the second highest on my list and that's that this isn't even the highest on your list wow I said I said I have won at nine um I actually don't know what it could be um but should be obvious there's just nothing on there's just no game that matters even half as much to me as this game on the schedule I I there really isn't agree it doesn't matter to me it does this one matters any more than every other game but it doesn't terrify this is where you and I have a philosophical difference it was what I talked about we always will every year we do this because you said something earlier that you said well it's because I would Reserve 10 for if a game that a team that I knew UCF can't beat if UCF is whenever ucf's gone into a game that we know they can't win I don't feel terrified I just feel resigned to that they're going to lose the game like when they were going to go play Oklahoma this year I wasn't like heart pounding in my chest it was just like yeah they're going to get killed like what can you do we'll watch it it'll be over a game where 's this much on the line I mean this is the most important regular season game when did they last play a regular season game this important The Game Day game prob probably like this is a once in five years regular season game to me maybe even more and I'm just I'm so freaked out by what the potential result can be in this game I also am starting to have the sneaking suspicion that Florida's not going to be as bad as people think because when I start doing research on them it seems like people are more into just how tough the schedule is versus what they actually bring back like Florida's got a lot of really good players I don't like I I don't know if they're I don't know I feel like we're more thinking about the final record than what they actually have I don't think this is some like game where UCF is wildly more talented than them they also weren't that good last year were they no like they're bringing a lot of people back but like they're bringing a lot of people back from a team that was very mid at best very mid at best but again they went five and seven last year it's not like they were a train wreck you know yeah they lost their last five games probably gonna happen again this year honestly maybe the last five or six but I will say another thing because that's been a debate too is I don't remember we talked about in the podcast but the the Athletics podcast did a thing recently where they were talking about potential trap games and they were arguing about whether ucf's a trap game for Florida or not and their argument was because you know it's what you said after UCF it's at Tennessee Kentucky Georgia at Texas LSU on Miss at Florida State like every single game after UCF is a nightmare in its own way but I don't know about the fan base but I know that there is no way Florida staff and Napier in particular don't understand the gravity of losing to UCF like I think they're going to have the team ready for that one because I think also knows that like he's fired if they lose that game yeah that's true um next I don't even have a guess for what game you have that you're more terrified of than Florida so if if you're look at look at it we'll take a pause here look at it through the lens that I look at these ratings of like the team it's just the toughest team they're playing is that essentially like that's that's a large part of it I don't know Utah we'll get there okay um Cincinnati at home is next Umar this game I at 4.5 I have six and a half okay um and I again it's where we go just go to philosophical differences I have it at six and a half just because I'm always going to be terrified of losing to Cincinnati because I hate their fan base so much and they really can they can Trot out a terrible team of Walk-Ons and they'll still be like a little more worried just because it's Cincinnati but now that I now that I re relook at this in my head I think I look at this to the lens of like the how terrified I am of UCF losing the game okay that's what I'm doing too no but like it's it's more so just like them not the implication the outside implications all that it's more so just like two teams on the field like I'm terrified of the just the result not any of the things around it like if this game going to be a Lo is this game going to be a loss yeah because my my notes for Cincinnati for my 4.5 says say they just don't scare me and then under that it says saterfield bad that's all it says I don't think he's a good coach even though he did beat UCF twice at Louisville but so I didn't realize they don't even have a quarterback yet they haven't Nam it's probably GNA be Brendan sorby who came in from Indiana which is like woo congrats but they're I I just I don't think they're going to be good this year I think they're probably going to be better like I think they're probably moving in the right direction I don't think they're be three and nine again but it's just and it being in the bounce house and I think that at the end of the day ucf's just ahead of them in their builds and I I don't know you never know what can happen but I just this isn't one of those games that I'm freaked out about but at the same time it's like it's just so different from I mean when we did this the terrified ratings when they were in the AAC it was like just a bunch of like twos and threes and then there' be like a couple games we'd have ratings for it's like it's still Cincinnati like this would have been if this were in the AAC with Cincinnati's exact roster this would be like one of the two games we're going to talk about and now it's just it's one of the afterthought ones it's so weird here's a nightmare scenario they beat Colorado and Florida and then come back home and lose to Cincinnati that's not a nightmare scenario to me because like if I had to pick in my head like I just want them to be Florida like I but it's also whatever happens after happens i' be I'd be very pissed like it just not it would be so bad I think the nightmare scenario is they go 0 and three in that stretch they lose to Colorado they lose at Florida they lose to Cincinnati is like Gus could never ever win back the fan base after that happened like they could then go undefeated 2025 and he would still not win back the fan base fair or unfair I don't know that he's gonna win back to fan base if they lose to Florida like I think people are just gonna jump and that's kind of what I was getting at with what I was saying with mine was I if they lose to Florida it just feels like there's nothing that can happen the rest of the way that's going to make this season better like they because the truth is is that say that and I would lock this in now if I could probably yeah but that's what I was going to say so say UCF loses to Florida but then they literally go and win the Big 12 and make the playoff that would obviously be amazing and we're all going to be happy but Florida fans are still gonna a it would almost hurt the Big 12 because the narrative would be like wow look the Big 12 Champion couldn't even beat like a lame Florida team like it's just and it just maintains that hierarchy in the state forever of even your very best playoff season you still can hang with us like I I just there's so few ways that the season stays on the r if they if they lose that game yeah um okay we're back to at Iowa State 8. I went first last time I at 7.5 I think I it was like if if I don't know now now that I say this Zach is gonna meme this because it's like any any team on UCF schedule that I was like yeah I think they might be decently good I was just I hit the 7.5 button it was just I that's not that was my third 7.5 on this list already and I have another one later on so I more than decently good they think they're no they are yeah yeah they're good they're good their defense is scary they might be the best defense UCF plays this year um defense is good they've got eight starters or nine starters back on defense eight starters back on offense that is less important I think than the defense because their offense isn't wasn't great last year they had their game like they had some games where they were really good but they also had some games that were some stinkers um I also just like I don't know this is going to be a scary Road game it just is might be cold I don't know what's the temperature like M mid October it's probably cold late October huge Stadium I think it's like the biggest or second biggest stadium in the conference and they fill it for every game let's look up yeah over as Iowa temperatures essentially I put like I had two two like high high high ratings and then all of the other like good teams on their on their schedule I put at 7.5 now that I'm looking at it um weather actually won't be that bad High 63 low 40 or the averages Rock that's actually like lovely football weather so never mind UCF is going to be invigorated by the cool wether weather but no we should not I'm sorry I don't want to offend anybody but I'm not going to am Iowa under any circumstances in my life sorry I just thought about it the other day I was like it's probably gonna be really hot when we go to Fort Worth we ran into this it is because it's Texas in September so it's not looking good um we ran into this when I did for night Sports now a couple years back the ranking the road trip is some man some people really value the charm of small towns and not one of those people at all and I think you people who do feel that way are wrong you people that was I don't know I I just we built big cities for a reason and I'm not saying all small towns are bad I've been to some small towns I like like I I went to Athens you probably need to stop talking you probably a I went to Athens where the University of Georgia is and I loved it like I was like I absolutely could go live here and is a small town I know I mean I I'm just genuinely asking is that a small town but this is what I was going to say is like I don't know now we're going to look up the Athens population which is you know no I guess it's really not um when I thought about it I was like Athens doesn't seem like a small town to me but I might be wrong just I'm just thinking of it in terms at the population of Athens Greece hold on um I feel like 120,000 people I don't have any I well here let me look up the as let me look up the Ames population would you say 120,000 120,000 Ames is 66,000 so aens is twice the size so maybe Athens isn't maybe that's why it's not a small town I have no concept of like how many people live in a given City how many people live in Orlando can you tell me I don't know I could not tell you he said 120,000 in Athens yes I'm gonna embarass myself with this answer um I don't know 620,000 no um how much is it 2.6 million oh really yeah oh okay well then I didn't yeah see I'm telling you I don't have any idea on the scale did you know that Orlando is one of the fastest growing cities in America # Charon # future of college football is future of college footb have they kind of given up on that I haven't seen any future College I feel like it doesn't play as well when you announce that as your new slogan and then do bad and three straight Seasons like I think I said something I said something along those lines I don't remember when it was I don't remember if it was toward the end of 2022 if it was last season but I was like I was like you can't can't call yourself that and then do what you just did I'm not just into uh but do you want to give me the Tampa population do you a guess not really after that last one but uh 1.8 million 3.2 million good see I have no idea yeah not not something I have a room in my head for apparently um this is gonna again we like room there anyway allow little like Windows into my brain but I love population stuff like I literally like I will get like Tik Tok no wonder you hate small towns guess so like I'll get Tik toks that are just charts of like the US population by year and I'm just watching it I'm like dang that's crazy I get Tik toks of like Creed songs playing over like somebody pissing in like a mountainous area that's legit that's legit that's a real thing that has happened in my Tik Tok feed that's interesting I wonder if we have a lot of listeners who are in small towns if so I appreciate you listening and I don't hold anything against you for that and I'm sorry for um anything I've said that has upset you in the last few minutes but we can move on yeah let's move on um BYU at home uh I have BYU at a six this is where my research began to fail me because I kind of just ran out of time and was like I don't know what I put them out of five I I don't know they don't they weren't very good last year I think they're going to be better this year but I don't think they're going to be that good so I was reading the Athlon preview for BYU and it was the first time I'd seen the terms Kanani sataki and hot seat in the same sentence and I did not realize that BYU's getting to that point but it was actually kind of interesting read I started diving a little more into them and yeah they just they weren't very good last year they didn't do a ton to improve this off season and it's also just as a program right now they're not totally clear on what the road map is to getting good in the Big 12 because they obviously have their Situation's a little unique compared to you know basically every other power five program power four program whatever and yeah they just don't there's not really an expectation they're going to be much better this year now that doesn't mean they're not a team that UCF can lose to which is why I have them at a six BYU is always good they're never terrible but this isn't going to be one of the toughest teams they play this year yeah I kind of just look at the other three newcomers from last year as like they're just firmly behind where UCF is right right now that's kind of just how I feel I think BYU is better than Cincy and Houston like they're in a better spot they're closer I think but I still think they're not quite there yet um not that ucf's 100% there we have to wait and see what happens on the field but just everything we know we've declared UCF The Best of The Well Houston also I mean Houston they're breaking a new coach like I think Houston has the potential to be better down the road but they're not now notf plays them but yeah um and with BYU it's like I looked at them and I was like one of their I don't think they have a starting quarterback name yet but one of their quarterback options is Gary bohannan I still remember if it's Gary or Jerry but I think it's Gary I don't know that that doesn't if if he's going to end up being the starting quarterback that doesn't scare me I did we did we have this conversation on the podcast or not because I don't want to repeat if we did when we talked about a by okay well if we're repeating it I apologize um I said to you that it's really eye opening that every team when they bring in a new quarterback they just assume since it's a new quarterback that they're good and I was reading BYU articles this like a week or two we talked about this you remember this and they're like oh yeah see what they have with Bohanan and I'm like you have nothing like I it's just I don't know it's just interesting to me how new equates with better but I yeah they start bannan that's not um that's not a game I'm concerned about yeah um the quarterback in this next game though a little more concerned Arizona at home I am at 6.5 oh I have them I have them at 8.0 oh okay all I know all I really know is Arizona is it's one of those weird situations where like they have a new coaching staff but they don't have that much turnover on the roster like the quarterback and was like their quarterback and star receiver both decided to stay yeah that that's what makes Arizona super unique because we've talked about before on this podcast how these last couple years with unlimited transfers a coach leaves and a roster dissolves it happens everywhere it happened in Alabama when San retired like there's no escaping it just didn't happen at Arizona and apparently that like rubs some people the wrong way in Washington because their coach Jed fish left to take the Washington job and I guess there was sort of a expectation or a belief that him getting that job meant that like these star players would be moving to Washington with him and then they just didn't like Noah fa is one of the best quarterbacks in the conference and maybe in all college football 2800 yards 25 touchdowns to six picks last year I think he was either a freshman or a red shirt freshman too yeah they return a 1400 yard wide receiver I mean they really return they returned their leading tackler this is a team that was won 10 games last year beat Oklahoma they are either top 10 or Fringe top 10 and they're bringing everybody back so and I yeah they lost their coach but this feels like a hyp b in 2018 situation right like if you have a good group of players that know how to play each other you'll probably be okay that next year even if you're breaking a new staff so I just I'm worried about this one they're they're really trying to test the space game magic yeah I probably should have hit the 7.5 button again but it also is the space game and I you knock off some points for space game I can see that I think I do because I don't know last year felt like it was going to be the moment where the space game magic faded just Absolut I think it went to another level actually there is this just Blissful ignorance about the space game now to me like because last year we all were like we all made the jokes like the UN cu the undefeated in space game things was always sort of a joke because UCF would always have the space game against not good teams or Temple was like East Carolina Temple even me they did Memphis one year Memphis was really bad and so last year we're all joking like okay yeah they're playing top 15 team then they destroy them and I'm just like yeah they can't lose the space game now like I've just decided it's not possible they haven't lost and they're they always just score like whatever whatever game it is like there's the most points they score that season like the year before was the 70 point game against Temple last they SC 45 points against Oklahoma State like just they're just Unstoppable on offense and 63 points against East Carolina 2017 52 points against Temple 24 against Memphis that one year I think but that offense was just I think it was like 24 to7 though right it was like really score not even a close game um you know what's funny though is that if they lose this game it doesn't matter what the uniforms are they will immediately become everyone's least favorite uniform and there will be all the like space game uniforms fell off blah blah blah like all that talk just because I was just going to make the joke they should have made the space game a road game for the first time ever and just done it at Florida because then they wouldn't have been able to lose they could they would have they would have won 100% do you have a I'm gonna take us off topic for a second do you have a space game prediction like anything this year like color theming anything I don't think they've teased anything right like I think usually we sometimes get like a patch or something I don't think we've got anything I don't think so um wow I don't I I really don't have a prediction um no okay do you have a prediction no I don't really either that's why I just I mean been thinking glad we deril it for that well I'm I'm curious to see where they take it because it's just also it's like there are only so many obvious space things you can do in a season right but then they can just go back to what they've already done but just do a different spin on it like they I don't I don't doubt would be cool that I'd like to see them do sometime now like welcome to the part of the podcast where we just suggest uniform stuff it could be cool to do a space game that was like a full-on like citronaut fauxback like go to the drawing board of like say that it's like the 1970s and we've just started team as the citronauts like what would that uniform be and just make like a super like space AG like old school like Citron Citron uniform but with canaa blue and not with like the orange and yeah no with like yeah with the cool colors like Canaveral blue and black and all that I don't know that could be a cool take on it at some point I think it I think it could be cool I the only thing that I just I get I cringe a little bit when I hear faux back because the Rays did it one time it was just horrible it was really bad right I remember it was was really I remember more the reaction than what the actual it mean I was in maybe Middle School at the time but I see pictures of them sometimes still and I'm like that's just I was like I was like by that point I was like you have throwback uniforms which is what they wear now actually as I'll give a I'll give a color prediction for this base game I'm gonna say wher gray because they just did blue they did Black the year before it's been a while since they've done white or gray I think it was 2021 and 2020 so there you go yeah do you think because with the white they' have to get Arizona's permission right with gray too probably yeah um that's why I wonder what they could do I don't know is it more like an anthos like a darker gray I don't know it was I'm thinking through the Grays Nike has if it was like wolf gray which is one of Nike Shades then they could probably get away with it because that's why are you laughing I just don't know what that I can't picture like what um it's the gray Memphis has um okay I don't know if that helps in any way that's like a shade lighter than like anite right it's like an in between between pwer and anite it's a really good gray it's gray um so like if they did something like that but like Peter you could not you couldn't you'd have to get the other team to I don't think you could do Peter against white but yeah I'm not it's fine getting back on topic I'm not as afraid of Arizona because it's the space game and that's just that gets points for me y um at Arizona State um I have them at five I don't really know anything about Arizona State I just don't think they're gon be that good so I have them at 6.5 okay um you probably know way more than I do about a little bit anything um the other thing that trying to keep in mind too and it's probably why my ranking is a little higher than yours is like if this exact game was on like the 2022 schedule I feel like I would just have it higher because like it's like I feel like sometimes at all being P4 opponents you start like thinking like and I'm like still I have to go to Arizona State like you know my scale on this slid immediately last year when we did these and I was like the I think the highest one that I had was like eight we were so unaware of going into last season like not really like they were about what we expected they would be they just did not get there in the way I thought they would like even a little bit but yeah I mean so Arizona state was not good last year they haven't been good for a while and they've had a good amount of turnover the reason that I have this a little higher is they're supposed to be better uh Kenny Dillingham is a really good coach too like I think they've got the right coach and it's also just it's a long trip late in the season and it just kind of has those Trap game Vibes to me of like this feels like a team that might hover around bull eligibility and like will steal a game here and there and it feels like this could be if fucf season is going well this could be like they're coming off Arizona the space game they have big 12 title hopes then they just they fall flat it just this doesn't this just feel like a gus Ms on L game like when you look at it like that I'm saying I was thinking the more you were talking I was like yeah I'm kind of with that and then then it entered my brain where I was like yeah Gus always just loses a game that just makes no sense they'll be so for the space game it'll be some big like Arizona and UCF are both like at the top of the Big 12 it's this big hyped game UCF wins everyone's so excited and they go play like whatever their record is like three and six Arizona State and just drop one the only the only two games well I don't know I don't know I don't know lose I think they'll get up for think the only two games I could see on this schedule that are like the Gus Malon random loss game is this game and maybe if if they enter that BYU game and BYU is like not good like if they're just really bad and you're like oh they're gonna they're gonna Crush BYU and then comes out and somehow like those are the two games where I'm like that's the that's the Gus mels on scary game Scary hours game because even if cincy's bad it's still Cincy let me ask you a Cincinnati question really quickly now that since that was many games ago that we talked about them probably should have said this then yeah Cincinnati was bad last year they're supposed to be bad again this year UCF is clearly ascending we don't know yet if they're ascending to like seven and five or 10 and two but they're ascending it do you think that rivalry is at risk of remaining a rivalry if they aren't on the same field as far as as far as talent for for many more years I think within like yeah within a few years yeah because that's the reason I mean there's no connection between them it's just they were both really good in the AAC at the same time so it was always like one's success came at the other's failure or vice versa it feels like the longer they operate and which I know we're only one season into this but it's like if we get to like 2026 and they're still not at the same level I wonder if that's going to start to fade yeah and I think almost I'm this is probably revisionist history definitely is revisionist history but even last year's game I guess just both teams were still kind of just like eh like it didn't have the same feeling that the other ones did yeah that's not revisionistic going well well no because then I thought about it and I was like when you and I were leaving and I guess probably was just because we saw UCF win a game for the first time in six weeks but it was just like when we left that Stadium we were like on cloud n because yes they won a game they beat Cincinnati and I think that was what the game that made Cincinnati bull ineligible and so it was like huge butting Cincinnati is always good the feeling was different because there just weren't tangible Stakes on either side like nothing was really like you know like the feeling in 2022 was like significantly bigger well because they're both trying to win the AAC and Cincinnati's ranked and UCF hadn't beaten them since 2018 and that was just getting like rubbed in our faces over and over like that was yeah like that feeling after being beating them on the freaking RJ Harvey moonwalk touchdown Which we like don't talk about enough in like the pantheon of like modern UCF plays like that was that's such a cool moment and then yeah because then last year like they beat them and it was and it was it was a closer game than it should have been I thought like that was kind of ridiculous how close game was something like that something like yeah they scored late and then oh yeah they scored late and went for two get it they they threw they they dropped back to pass with Emory Jones I think I was when I was like all right I was like where's the twoo conversion from like the two yard line yeah right there yeah it's just dumb I remember thinking I was like okay I was like Gus malan maybe not a great coach but Scott saterfield worse that's how I felt at that point last year that was a week after we watched the towns in throw two-point conversion wasn't it or two weeks after two weeks after yeah yeah yeah yeah wow um all right at West Virginia 8.5 I'm at 7.5 that's this is the last time I smashed 7.5 smashing that 7.5 button um I don't know their offense is very good they beat the crap out of UCF last year and now we have to go there where they have a large and very Rowdy Stadium I'm not feeling great about it it just reeks of late season letdown to me like ucf's done what they need to do to be in the Big 12 like this is the game where they and like they leave the Big 12 title hunt in my mind as far as like ways the season goes like I I'm just gonna tell you right now this is one of those ones where I'm looking at I just I have a hard time unless West Virginia or UCF are dramatically different teams than what we're expecting which like is possible West Virginia was picked to finish last in the Big 12 last year and they won nine games but based on what we know now I just I'm having a hard time seeing how UCF wins this one between the environment the point the schedule and how good West Virginia is in this this this exact spot of the schedule last year was the game where we both felt that same way we I listened back last year's podcast playing at Texas Tech you and I were both like there's no way they win that game and we were right um were right be barely do you think that's just because the Navy game happening has just conditioned us that UCF can't win second to last game of Seas yeah oh that's that's bad that's bad news um yeah they're going to lose at West Virginia that's too bad uh I mean their defense wasn't very good last year maybe it'll not still not be good I don't know their offense was very good their offense shredded UCF last year and hopefully the offense is me the defense UCF defense is better this year and is by that point in the season kind of up to the challenge but not I will say off is good you could argue that if UCF didn't turn the ball over four times oh yeah maybe they would but they did um yeah you know defense still couldn't get a stop in that game though that game that it would have been more like a what was like 42 to 28 I think is that what end being I think that's it probably would have been more like 4942 or something like that I could be wrong so take this with a grain of salt because it's not directly in front of me but I believe that was ucf's first double digit loss at home since 2016 I can't fact check you that quickly so I I believe it yeah I'm I'll just say it it's true guys I'm actually like very confident that that's true um but yeah yeah annoying atmosphere 41 yeah because there were that was the most opposing fans i' ever seen at out a game of the M house unless when I was like a very little kid like maybe like Miami and 09 or something but yeah like that was 41 to 28 is one of those scores that that's two touchdowns but it looks like a blowout I don't know what it is about that score in my brain that just looks it looks like a blowout to me yeah no but that just now I'm thinking back to that atmosphere and just being miserable because there were there were a lot West Virginia fans and there were a lot of them around me so it was they all seemed very nice by the way for the record like it wasn't like are you are you disagreeing you no I don't I don't think so it's just I have a hard time I'm sure they were all they were all actually yeah I think they all seemed pretty nice I just have a hard time and we talked about this in the podcast before I think when when I see opposing fan bases happy at my expense I can't handle it it's true I'm I'm really bad at it and so them being that happy in our Stadium I was like this is miserable but thing like it's just UCF fans aren't used to seeing a lot of opposing fans and even in the Big 12 West Virginia was really the only team that did that like yeah other fan bases got fans in like that's not unusual to see opposing fans second like Oklahoma State Oklahoma State I'd say and there was a big drop from like West Virginia everywhere I looked in the stadium I could find a couple West Virginia fans like that was such a shocking experience to me I still did that yeah yeah that was bad it was bad if like remember weren't there like Twitter Wars with like UCF fans being like if you put your tickets on the market like I hate all this like remember that being a thing yeah yeah um all right Utah I'll go first since we already got to mine earlier was this is the one I have at nine just because I think this is the best team best team UCF playing this year I have it at 8.0 um they're just they've been a good program for like a while now okay well let me ask you a question and maybe this is where I have problems but if you can click a button right now UCF wins at Florida and loses to Utah or loses at Florida and beats Utah which you which you picking I mean it's the I picked the beating Florida but if it changes if you say like if UCF beats Utah to go to the big 12 title game I you wouldn't do it I i' still pick Florida because of what you said earlier you're like win the Big 12 and look I don't know how and we we don't need to keep getting into it because we already did a whole podcast on it to me the result of that Florida game is not a 2024 season result that's a brand altering moment result like so I'm looking beyond the season as far as how important I think that game is do you think though this is where we're getting deep into the Weeds on this like it is I agreee with you on that and I agree what you said earlier about if they win the Big 12 and make the playoff Florida fans are still going to have that like oh well you into the playoff but we more than Florida fans fans there's gonna be there's gonna be that but do you what about what it does outside of that what about what it does if UCF makes the playoff as Big 12 champions in their in the first year of the 12 team playoff not only if they make the playoff but say they win a game I don't know what they're going to but whatever say they win a game like what wouldn't that also I don't know if it would cancel out the Florida stuff cuz when you get into those battles with Florida and recruiting they can say whatever they want about that game but the what what that would do for the brand they're on like the national stage of like the first ever 12 team college football playoff that'd be cool I mean TC went to the national championship game what did it do for them yeah but I don't know we talked about this in the past I think didn't we where I was like I think UCF is in such a good I think UCF would be in such a good position to capitalize off of that better than maybe TCU did so I agree with that but there is something to be said I feel like sometimes when we say the word make the playoff making the 12 team playoff is obviously going to mean a different thing than making the four team playoff does I think within a couple years it's going to be like if you didn't win a game there then no one really cares you made it but there are just even in the four team era where obviously making it and winning a game was huge there it feels like there are a lot of teams that made it and got nothing from it or even won a game and didn't get anything from it like I'm like yeah there were Alabama and Clemson who were Powers but they like whatever happened to Michigan State or Washington made it a few times like I don't know there were just a lot of teams that made it and didn't do with it now and now I want to clarify like UCF making the playoff is huge it is absolutely huge but it's just if in my head the ideal scenario where you're talking about changing everything is if you beat Florida and make the playoff if you made the playoff but you lost to Florida and then you lose your first playoff game whatever the narrative that's already taking hold is just going to continue that well that's the gap between the SEC and the Big 10 and everyone else like yeah they made the playoff because they got an auto bid but like the big 12 isn't good like that will be how people spin that I have another hypothetical what if they lose to Florida they beat UT saw they win the Big 12 they get into the playoff and then they face off against an SEC team and they beat the SEC team then I think that yeah I think that makes it creating scenarios where it's okay to lose that Florida game it depends on the SEC team man like if it's Old Miss because they're supposed to be really good this year I feel like it matters less than if it's like Georgia or something but and either way Florida fans are still got I just I don't know man the because to me it's there's multiple issues here it's not just would be so SEC though if like a really if Miss is really good and then UCF beat them in the playoff okay it's Old Miss though like that's exactly what would happen like literally exactly what would happen it's 12- one Old Miss like yeah like whatever well you think about the seeding if UCF makes the playoff they're Pro like the big 12 champ will probably be the four seed right because I'm just assuming based on how Big Ten will be one and two I'm giving ACC the not over them because of the names of the teams like it's supposed to be Miami Clemson or Florida State this year all of those probably get that third seed so you're the fourth seed UCF gets a first round by they're going to play the five seed the five seed will almost certainly be the SEC runner up like it'll be like 12-1 Georgia or 12-1 LSU or something so like probably not winning that game um that's but I just to me beating Florida like I know this sounds insane like like here's Christian where he says that making the playoff wouldn't be as big of a deal as you know going on the road and beating a bad SEC team but to me it's it's the regionality of it it's that everything that UCF wants to achieve in the coming years relies upon them being viewed as on equal footing with Florida Florida State and Miami and they are not even sort of there right now and if you lose that game you're just setting yourself back even more this is what makes college football college football because when you think about like in NFL terms there's no one that would ever say like yeah like oh like the Bucks have to beat the Dolphins in the in week five and and it be they need to do that rather than make the playoff and go go on a run to the Super Bowl like whatever it's just it's such a college football thing and I love it but it is it's honestly you're absolutely right and like a perfect example of that is like how many games total has Ohio State lost in the last three seasons isn't it like four like three of them into M Michigan something like that four or five they've lost they've lost six games in the last two years but unfortunately half of those have been to Michigan so everyone wants Ryan Dave fired and I now it's funny because so I've talked about it many times I listen to a lot of college football put podcast my favorite is probably the Athletics and their one of their guys is Ario waserman who was an Ohio State beat writer for a long time and there was a show that I found so interesting a couple months ago where he said that at Ohio State it's a bigger deal to beat Michigan than to win a National Championship and the other host laughed at him were like okay relax that's not true and then they talked about the next week they got all these ridens from Ohio State fans who were like no no like National Championship is great but beating Michigan is what matters and that is the thing about college football is it's it's stupid but it's there are individual matchups that just mean a lot more than other aspects of the season and when you look at UCF and what they want to be it's like you can't lose to the big three when you play them you have to beat them it is so critical and it's why Billy Napier is probably waking up middle of the night seeing KJ Jefferson his dreams freaked out because he knows what happens to him in his future future if they lose that game so I just I want that win I want it really badly yeah anyway but to wrap this up back to Utah like they've got on Utah we they've got one of the best quarterbacks in the conference in cam Rising as long as he's healthy K Wham I think of fantastic coach uh his defenses are always very good and I just think this is going to be a really good like Utah Utah I don't know I feel like they people ignore a little bit not Utah fans because Utah fans very loud and annoying but people I think nationally kind of I don't know it's like they miss it with Utah sometimes like they kind of just forget how good and consistent Utah's been and what's interesting about Utah is they're maybe never Elite right like they I can't remember the last time they had like a truly Elite season but they are never ever close to bad like they are always good to I think my opinion of Utah was legitimately warped by was it was it last year two years ago I think was when they got to the Pack 12 title game and played USC and just absolutely murdered them yeah years ago because they were just they're a were just a way more physical team and just they could not be stopped no tough to play like and that's been a thing for the whole Winningham era is I don't know how they do that they just build these really gritty awful teams that you hate every second against um part of the reason I have it a little lower and this is where like I'm going back on some of the stuff I just said but in my head I'm kind of like if they actually manage to get to Black Friday with Big 12 implications on the line then like the season was a success like it's what we were hoping it was going to be I'm I'm too afraid if we get there and this game is big for Utah but not big for UCF and I I am a little curious about cam Rising because when he was healthy he was really good he hasn't played since 2022 like I don't know what type of player he's coming back as and also just blind ignorant faith in UCF I just can't fathom them losing a prime time Black Friday game in the bounce house like I can't picture that in my brain I just can't just can't do it yeah all right well that was fun ah man the we always do is when we get into these like kind of I don't know what you call them like the gold standard um topics of like the Pegasus podcast that we do every single year when we get into these it's like that's when I start to feel like the season's so much closer like I said to you before we got on the podcast was like we're at the end of June but I don't feel like we're that close to college football now said it on the podcast oh did I I think I said it both but it's like it doesn't feel that close and then now we've had this conversation I'm like man it feels like it's actually like tomorrow I know cuz you start to think like these are real games that are going to happen in in just a couple months or two or two and a half months so I mean we're not that it's it always for me I don't know about you media days is when it really starts feeling real like something about just like cuz then just the hype sort of turns from like looking back to looking forward I don't know July July like that second half of July is when I start to feel like all right like all the media days are happening across college football like it feels like it's coming up then you get into August and those first like or those maybe not the first week of August but like the second and third week of August you're like oh it's dragging like oh my God so damn long once day is an eternity then you get to week zero it's like okay I'll watch these like few games that are on and I think this year like week zero is pretty decent it has like Florida State and Georgia Tech and Ireland is one of them yep um not that win that by like I always like watching ever since the UCF Ireland game I always like watching the Ireland game though because it's just like it's also though I only say that game because it's like you have some weak zero sometimes where it really is just like teams playing but it's like no one you can really like you're like oh yeah I'm looking forward to this game it's just kind of like San Jose State and Utah State and stuff like that like I know this is where I'm a sicko but like I watch the hell out of those games like even yeah no I watch them because it's like college football's on but it's like I get a little bit more excited I guess when I see the two that I have have written down are Florida State and Georgia Tech and Ireland and then SMU at Nevada we've also got we've also got Delaware State at Hawaii who I hate to say I don't even think I'm gonna be watching that one and uh Montana State at New Mexico which is on FS1 so I might have that one on while I'm waiting for FS unada yeah um I can't wait man and you know what sucks is I can't wait I I live a cursed existence I live a cursed existence Bailey because I spend what like eight months of the year just waiting for it to be college football and then when it is this another staple of the Pegasus podcast is we have this realization so many times but it just flies by like the season always feels like it lasts half a second it always shocks me how fast it goes by it's just the best time of the year you got like the holidays and stuff the weather's User it's just it's a good time I I spend all year waiting for the fall and the fall just flies by and we us to talk about this in college when Bailey and I were in college together we would both just always get depressed in Spring and just be like yeah spring cuz it's just not as good first of all and second of all like this is just maybe a specific to me thing but all of my spring schedules like for classes were way worse than my fall schedule all my bad classes were in Spring too I don't know if that's a thing do you think it's just cuz we didn't care as much about our classes in fall like we had other priorities wasn't taking up the same brain power yeah oh yeah know but spring ended up always being like the the drag but Falls ious to hear from listeners we have who are like current college students is that true or is that just a very specific to us thing that spring is just worse because I always hated Spring but yeah because they just fall you and I've said this on the podcast before too it's like in the fall that's you have it's the thing that gets you through the week and like especially with like college football is on College college football and then NFL's on all the time too but it's like you can kind of get through oh yeah let me just get to Thursday night and there's this game on and like that that's what you start to look forward to and then like you're like okay UCF plays on Saturday like that's my thing forward to I I don't know how many times in the spring or summer or whatever where you're just kind of like I have nothing to do this weekend it's like I don't especially for me CU you at least are an MLB fan so like you have the Rays and whatever like it's like I have nothing we have the Olympics we do have the Olympics when the Rays when the rays are like very mid at best like they are this year it's like all right let me just get to college football like I need it I need it back but everything's better NBA's coming back College basketball's coming back it's like Fall's just good it's a good time yeah all right Football news we get through some of this stuff real quick um UCF had I guess I think probably every program had their two nominees but ucf's nominees for 2023 2024 Big 12 athletes of the year um for men's it was RJ Harvey and for women's it was Rah Jones who I think because and I was going to say this I think one of the past podcasts like because people don't pay as much attention to you know track and field and just kind of even more like the individual sports like they don't pay attention to like tennis or golf that much people kind of I don't know if everybody really realizes just how insane Ria Jones is and was as a UCF like alltime alltime Star so that's a that's a cool thing there for the Big 12 athlete year nominees um also this kind of did make me feel like it was a little bit closer to the season was last week it was announced that UCF Colorado UCF BYU and UCF Arizona are all sold out um and more more of those will come along uh then again the preseason stuff nine nine UCF players were on Athlon Sports preseason all Big 12 teams on the first team it was Malachi Lawrence Lee Hunter Kobe Hudson on the second team it was RJ Harvey Deshawn pace and on the third team Xavier Townsen as a Return Man and on the fourth team Brandon Adams Ricky Barber and Amari kite and then the most recent piece of news on Monday UCF got a commitment from 2025 Tampa Bay Tech quarterback Raheem stad uh flipping from Wisconsin um pretty cool there's been some gross recruiting news lately just you know you see a potentially losing a couple guys so that was nice to see it was particularly nice to see a I love that um Brandon helwick interviewed him and the interview Rahe stad literally he committed to Wisconsin not too long ago and according to the interview UCF was this month I think yeah it was like a few weeks ago and UCF calls him and says we'd like to offer you and he was like well that's great I'm coming there then like done deal hey I think that's cool that we're at the point where I mean he's a pretty highly rated player he's not a fourstar but he's a top 500 player he's borderline borderline blue Tripper and and a I love that for all the big 10c breaking away talk you can still see a situation like this and I also just love how Luke fickle must just want to pull his hair out he's like no matter what I do no matter where I go UCF is still there being annoying what I kind of Wonder is like he's a guy from obviously from almost like my backyard Tampa Bay Tampa Bay Tech and it's like UCF a power four program only a couple hours away calls and he's like all right do I really want to go to Wisconsin he's like no I just I'll rather stay stay home and you know be be closer to home be in the Florida heat and not have to go up to Wisconsin Winters and all that I hear Madison Wisconsin is I don't know why I'm trying to sell it doesn't matter yeah I'm glad he's coming here I don't know why I was gonna try I've heard great things about Wisconsin as well and I just it's one of those obviously camp randle's on my my list of stadiums to go to but no I just think when you're when you're in that position if it's like all right I'm committed to Wisconsin but then it's like all right you know power for program over here all right let's let's just let's stick around so tweet of the week tweet of the week I don't have one this week um I there's not we talked about this at length before we started I tried to find something and you if if you're listening to this and I missed some major Twitter controversy this week let me know but I could not find anything and I was on social media tell this weekend I just couldn't find anything so I'm just gonna go ahead and read one of Bailey's tweets um from this week so that we don't have so you know you you said this was gonna happen before you like all right you like all I found something and I was like it's going to be one of my tweets isn't it and you were like we we'll get there and then I forgot about that for this entire episode and then I said tweet of the I said the words tweet of the week and then I felt a surge of like there's like a pit in my stomach now where I'm like oh what's this going to be but it's not a bad tweet like I'm don't this tweet of the week I just I feel weird not ending the podcast with a tweet so I figured we' use one of yours so you tweeted a couple days ago picked up a baseball bat for the first time in several months and took about 55 swings off the tea during the hottest part of the day can confirm that I'm extremely washed feels bad so I guess my question is why did you do that because I like to do that like that's a that's one of the a yeah like it's a kind of I haven't done it in a while but it's one of those things that I like to do in my free time and just kind of let off some steam go back out and see if I can still hit baseballs off the te which like I still can but like I got tired very quickly and overheated very quickly and I was like yeah this is bad like I just feel I feel old and out of shape which I mean I kind of knew I was out of shape and a little older now but no it was it was I was dying but part part part of the reason I like that tweet is because two days before you tweet tweeted watching the 2024 Tampa Bay Rays makes me wish I could go back to when I was a kid so that I could tell myself not to watch baseball and I love that you went from that to like back on the grind like two days later like fun back in this isn't why but I tweeted that about the raay and they won that day like end coming back and winning um but yeah no I went and did that yesterday afternoon do something with my Sunday and it was steaming hot outside and I just so it makes sense to that you sit because it got me thinking because you said that it was your first time holding a baseball bat in several months I don't believe I've held a baseball bat in the last 10 years I can't think of a time that it would have happened but I guess if it's part of your if it's part of your activity that's just you know it's part of your it's a it's almost like a form of therapy for me sometimes like it is like I just it's I go listen to music and hit baseballs when I was a little kid I got on a t-ball team and got on a t-ball team you said that I was recruited got on a team I was recruited I got a good offer and um I was pretty bad at it couldn't I I tried out a few Sports was pretty bad at all them that's why I podcast about them now and and I don't really remember this cuz I was like seven but I know that my famous moment was I actually managed to hit one and I like just smacked it like got that great noise flying through the air and everyone's like clapping and my parents said that I didn't do anything I was just watching it I was like ah nice and that my coach had to run out and shove me with both hands and be like go to the base and I was like oh dang I did I like I've never done this part before I thought that I just hit it and I'm done but that was probably around the last time I held a baseball bat was it really I I don't know when it would have been since then I guess you wouldn't really just have a reason to just pick up a baseball bat you own a baseball bat you don't know why you would what no I haven't held one in years but I have one like hidden somewhere just I know you in your closet or something I don't own a baseball bat growing up I don't think my parents own a baseball bat I I couldn't tell you when the last time is that I held one it might have been when I was like eight who knows okay crazy all right that was fun I'm glad you to end the podcast with that tweet um well I'm just proud of you for getting back out there even though you're watch it's over it's over for me um my dad it's funny things my dad text me I posted it on my Instagram too my dad texts me like 20 minutes later he goes why are you washed and I was like I just I was like I was tired um bad tough bad but I'm glad I did it was fun um all right thank you guys so much for listening we'll be back next week with episode 2113 until then you can find us on Twitter Bailey jadams 22 byca Simmons night Sports now and Pegasus podcast thank you guys so much for being with us and we will talk to you next week bye everybody