Ghost & Friends: CSU Rams Team Preview

e hi guys welcome back we're here on ghost and friends again we got a really special guest we uh we're trying to learn a little about our opponents this week so we're bringing in Mr Justin t Michael Justin welcome to the channel friend uh if you don't mind give us a little backstory on what you do up there for around Fort Collins Denver area in your coverage of the Rams and uh tell us a little about yourself real quick if you would yeah um I I graduated from CSU when I was a student I I worked for the football program and then I got into some student Media stuff which is kind of how I ultimately landed down this path I kind of ran the student new newspaper there for a while I now work for dmvr sports which is a digital media company based out of Denver we actually just launched in Dallas as well we're part of the All City network dlls but um yeah it's it's it's been fun I've been covering CSU for close to 10 years now we've got live shows daily pod I do written pieces social all kinds of stuff so it's kind of chaotic lots of different stuff but it's a lot of fun I just essentially try and provide the coverage for CSU fans that didn't really exist when I was growing up and I kind of yearned for so that's kind of my goal there well awesome man congrats on uh you know kind of reaching that that dream and also on you know launching in Dallas as well that's big news I didn't realize y were doing that um so I mean congratulations on all the hard work and obviously it's paying off for you man um let's get into week one we talking about the colate Colorado State Rams coming down to Austin Texas uh I love I love the football team you guys have assembled up there I think coach norvell's got a great roster um I know a lot of our Texas viewers are going to be a little bit unfamiliar with it and so go ahead and teach us a little about the Colorado State Rams uh maybe you go ahead and start with your strengths we'll do that yeah um I mean one of the biggest strengths is continuity in particular in the Mountain West there's uh like seven or eight first year coaches in the League this year and CSU was pretty fortunate that they play a lot of those on the schedule so there's kind of some optimism there with kind of what the Rams can achieve based on the talent they return versus you know the talent that other teams around the schedule return have the some continuity within the staff as well same offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator since Norvell came over from Nevada which is which is good that's been a struggle for CSU over the last 10 15 years is hanging on to coaches um biggest strength from uh when you look at the Personnel it's it's definitely the speed they have at wide receiver Tory Horton is probably the best wide receiver not at a power for school and I think he's in the conversation for one of the the top five or six wide receivers in America also brought over Armani Winfield from Baylor Texas fans probably know that name he was committed to Texas at one point former fourstar guy from your neck of the woods so he's been great Ram fans are really excited to see him kind of hit the ground running they did lose their best defensive player from last year Mohamed chimo which is is tough if you tuned into the CU game he was a beast really gave the Buffs trouble was I mean really just a beast all last year double digit sacks I think he had like 14 tackles for loss or something like that I don't have the stat off the top of my head but he was uh really really solid so they're a little bit young there in the defensive line but uh strengthwise it's definitely speed at the skill positions and you know bringing your quarterback back which is is really big and he's a a red shirt sophomore now Braden fer Nicolosi a big arm threw for almost 4,000 yards in his first year as a starter I did have 16 Picks which is going to be the thing that people kind of nitpick at but uh he's got a ton of arm talent and this is an offense that can put points up in a hurry so I'm I'm interested to see kind of how they match up with that Texas Speed absolutely and I mean you referenced the CU game from last fall and um y'all put up a lot of points in a hurry in that one you know and I think that's when a lot of people were introduced to some of the the really big pieces that you had on that offense and then also um you know y' y'all made plays on both sides of the ball it wasn't it wasn't just the offense that won the game for you there obviously but Tory Horton's gonna be a fun to watch I'm curious to see how coach uh PK defends him I I know that there will be a lot of respect shown his way but at the same time they'll probably still do the things that they want to do um so I I'm curious to see what that looks like I I am impressed with your offensive line it seems I I looked over the depth chart you provided y'all have a ton of starts on that offensive line yeah there's a lot of experience um they bring back three of five starters from last year Center and both tackles although the starting right tackle from last year is now the starting Right Guard so he moves on to the inside um they're they're really encouraged I mean they've had some success uh recruiting at the lower level they've been able to find some guys from FCS and D2 ranks that have been able to make the jump uh but they've got close to 70 combined FBS starts between the the line and when you factor in all levels of competition it's like close to 130 a lot of guys that have been starting since they were freshman in college maybe at other programs but a lot of experience and that's again you know kind of one of the things that's exciting for CSU fans is you have all this speed and you have you know a ton of arm Talent under Center but as we experience kind of brutally in 2022 if you don't got the horses and the trenches it's it's pretty tough to go so I'm I think that's going to be a big um strength for the Rams as a whole but I mean you know just keeping it real obviously Texas is kind of a different beast and in that heat you know I I am interested to see kind of what that looks like in the trenches what kind of you know attrition happens there kind of who's able to last but U we we'll see I I do think that is going to be one of the the bigger strong points for the CSU offense is definitely that o line absolutely I I mean it's really impressive when you look at the total starts that you mentioned and um continuity plays into that as well you talk about the coaching staff you got a quarterback that's returning um I a little bit of turnover receiver Armani's a great talent you know um I'm always kind of rooted for the guy especially post Baylor I'm not like the biggest Baylor fan but post Baylor definitely rooting for the guy pretty hard but uh you know it's something that as Texas fans I look at it and I was like man what two weeks ago on the show I think I talked a little about I was like 35 and a half like that's a that's a really big number for all the experience um CAU it carryover that Colorado State's bringing to Austin and so I mean obviously it's it's trimmed down a little bit which I think is more than fair to you guys um we have our own question marks over here and yeah there's a lot of talent going around but if I don't know how much homework or you've done on Texas or how much you've looked into our side but um you know of any maybe uh rumored weaknesses or uh points of attack that color and I'm not affiliated with Texas whatsoever bu so I just curious you think maybe sure own personal opinion you think there's anywhere that Colorado State tries to hit Texas in particular h i mean I think some of it is going to be really situational like just in terms of what the game plan is I think a lot of that is going to be dictated you know what kind of score is it like going in you know to the beginning of second quarter going into halftime you know if you're CSU you've got CU in a couple weeks and and the trip Oregon State looming so those are probably more winnable power four games like in your estimation so I imagine you're not trying to like give away too much but I mean I think you'd say the same thing with Texas in terms of having that trip to an Harbor coming up you know I don't think they're trying to give away everything um I mean in terms of diving into Texas I am interested to see how the the ground game is impacted you know losing two of the the top four backs I read they were kind of thinking about moving a guy over to from receiver I know they still got what is it blue back from last year yes sir but so I am kind of interested to see there I mean obviously a Quinn's really experienced um but if it is a situation where they're not running the ball super effectively if you know like CSU can get a couple of quick stops they do have a very explosive offense so like to me that's that's kind of how you try and stay in this game if Fe the Rams you got to try and force some some three and outs I mean obviously if you can get turnovers those are big momentum swings and then you've got to be able to strike and kind of take advantage of those opportune moments um CSU has a lot of speed but I mean kind of going into this I'd be lying if I was looking at Texas and was like oh Ram fans should be be licking their chops I mean I think you still return what like 15 starters from a team that was a handful of plays away from playing for a national title yeah I mean we're we're definitely confident but then there's a large portion of us that you know we haven't forgotten the last 10 12 years and um some of the surprises that popped up and we've lost to I think you know with all due respect we've lost to the worst football teams in program in Colorado State you know in the Big 12 and it's just I don't sleep easy on any game man somebody asked me the other day they're like you're nervous I'm like I'm always nervous I mean go look at the ear line go you know I mean Tory that's that's that got scary I mean so absolutely I get the point the burden of expectation right like that's the mean you know you go from five wins to eight wins to double digit wins last year and now it kind of feels like SAR has reset that expectation of Texas football is back I know that was always like the me online you know is Texas back and and I'm not saying that like trying to take shots or anything but it it feels like he's legitimized the program in a way that was kind of lacking for a while in a way that I would say like Nebraska's kind of been in the last 15 20 years where it's like you know what's what's possible you know what this program can be and that's what makes it so con confusing when you see it down for so long but you know I'll be honest I I went on the longhorn report and I I said Texas was my preseason pi pick to win the national championship I I I believe in sarc offensively I was I was a bam of fan so I kind of I really appreciate what he did down there as well um I thought that was a pretty significant loss for the program I I had a lot of confidence that he was going to go in there and and write the ship and honestly man I I I think you guys are solid like the running back situation hurts uh you know you lose a couple really solid dline and I'm not telling you guys anything you don't know but these are just my opinions on Texas um I will say though I'm with you I 35 and a half or whatever the spread was in early August I mean I could see it there is a world I'm not saying that Texas isn't that good but right I think you guys are going to rotate a lot I think you guys are going to sub the way you guys did very similarly against rice last year and when you look at that score the game was never truly in compet competitive or in doubt but it's also not like a 40-point route and that's kind of my mindset going in is I I like CSU to cover I just wonder how competitive competitive is the game actually you know come third fourth quarter I mean no you make a great point because I mean like you kind of talked about earlier there will be a little cat and mouse being played because you all have big games coming up Texas has a big trip to Ann Arbor and Michigan and so yeah how much do you show how early if you're Colorado state do you start saying like all right let's rotate extra how you know and is is there any point for Texas and they're like okay we we're not g to rotate as much and so I mean it's it'll be interesting to see how norvale and Sark play it um I definitely think obviously Colorado's goingon to go color State's going to go in and give their best effort to to win the football game given like you said situational opportunities that present themselves and if they can take advantage um but yeah I mean I will say this might be really fortunate with the weather it's been pretty uh for Texas August pretty cool down here a lot of overcast looks like rain but not really Rain slight drizzles um and it looks like it's going to carry over into the weekend I'm not sure but fingers crossed man they'll take what they can get it feels great out outside right now I was like I need to go walk 18 today we had had to get kids from school so but yeah I I personally am a big fan of Kosh Orville uh there's a lot to be um if you Colorado State fan a lot to be excited about so I'm gonna ping over here we're g take a look to your schedule real quick and um if it'll pop up come up we can go through it too I mean I I know the schedule weird that it's not popping up okay let's go through it you know the schedule so it's Texas First why is that not working on pulled yeah you get the week one trip to Austin uh Northern Colorado will then come to town out of the FCS they're a lower level team out of the Big Sky Big Sky a really good FCS league but that that's not typically a very good program Colorado comes to Fort Collins for the first time since 1996 in week three finally stopped ducking us that way UTEP then comes and then uh they round out the non-conference with a trip to Oregon state with a weird weird kind of CSU or the Mountain West I guess I should say has this scheduling agreement right now with Washington State and Oregon State where everybody plays at least one of them okay they're not actually part of the Mountain West they can't play for a conference Championship doesn't count towards the standings I don't really see what the benefit of it was to be honest but we got a random trip to Oregon State that's the that's the nonon there's some weird matchups this year just I mean with some weird stipulations you know I think Arizona's playing Kansas State or like in a non conference game than a conference game or I I don't know but then Baylor I guess that makes sense because the weird the Big 12 stuff huh I'm sure they had some there's non-con scheduled that are now conference games but you don't have time to fill it with someone else exactly Baylor Utah played one last year and Waco I believe they play up there that's right I forgot about that Utah and then there's another team that they start a two game set this year where this year and next year will be non-conference conference games I don't know cool but yeah crazy time to be a college football fan absolutely let me ask you this and I'm not trying to hijack your show here but I'm just kind of curious Texas is obviously no stranger to realignment I mean you guys were in the Southwest Conference for like 80 years or whatever join the what was the big eight then comes the Big 12 does it feel weird being in the SEC like even grabbing my Phil steel preview today to go look at the Texas roster just naturally I go to the big 12 because I've watched Texas in the Big 12 my whole life I'm 29 it just it's not that they don't feel like they belong from a brand size or anything like that competitive I'm not even saying that it just something about it feels weird to me having been a lifelong college football guy no I mean I can uh I can definitely see why you would say that and I felt that way for a while you know the move gets announced in what's July of 2021 so we've had a lot of time to kind of yeah you've had time to sit with it fill more and more Su but it definitely felt really weird at first it was like we're not going to be playing Oklahoma State and Kansas State and TCU and Tech and instead we'll have Florida and South Carolina and like you know some some matchups that are random and it's just really hard to you know I'm a a big Visionary guy I just always paint a picture and to see you know I'm trying to see Texas on the field with LSU and like it it looks cool it's awesome but it's just it is weird it's it's different and when you're around for so long and it took me forever to get used to and I I don't even think I was fully used to TCU in West Virginia like in TCU beat our brains in most of the time but the old Big 12 to me was so cool man withm Missouri you have the old Big 12 would you because I'd take that back in a heart like I grew up watching that you know like Colorado Texas and Y Oklahoma and all that I just there was something to that regionality it was well also man when that conference got popped off you know I mean they were they were really really strong obviously Nebraska was coming off um two in a row or two titles in a row Colorado had won a title a handful of years before the conference was founded Kansas state was pretty dang good back in the day with Michael Bishop and Bill snd I mean that was a a great quarterback in the Big 12 they just could never really get over the hump I think A&M upset them in 98 to keep them out of the title game um and then even in 2001 2002 2003 I mean there's name any of those schools and there was always a handful or three or four of them that were in the top three top four in the country and they were all you know they all beat each other up and kind of kept teams out of the playoffs which I guess at the end of the day I mean Oklahoma had a couple chances at title and lost to SEC schools Texas beat USC obviously but um I thought for a while there it was the premier conference in college football I thought it was the most fun just as somebody that grew up in a what was I mean I guess it is again a big 12 state but what was a big 12 State back then yeah I mean that it's frustrating for me when CU leaves and then comes back you know and obviously like we don't have anything to do with it anymore but I was so annoyed when Colorado left because I I loved going to Boulder for games I thought it was a terrific setting um Colorado fans you know I mean we normally took care of them up there and so they it wasn't too much chirping going on or anything like that so I've seen a lot of stories in the last year or so um about some of their fans and I didn't see any culture changed a little bit with neon Dion but yeah it's crazy how quick a culture can change you know three or four years ago Texas was still getting ragged on National Television pieces you know pretty consistently about culture and Tom Herman had all types of issues and yeah we're we're really happy and blessed to have Coach Sark I'm also a pretty big fan I think that's what you got to remind yourself when you start feeling that anxiousness and the burden that comes with expectation is I'd way rather have something to lose than be you know the like well I sure hope we can sneak out seven wins this year you know what I mean yeah I told a story the other night about how um I Charlie Strong's last year you know we beat Notre Dame in the opener and so my wife like for my birthday gets tickets in um late October October to go to Texas at Kansas State in Manhattan well a lot of things happened between yeah it was a great time but a lot of things happened between Notre Dame and K State I think we picked up four or five losses and so I'm driving all the way up through Oklahoma and Kansas and I'm just like man we're like we're going to watch a K State team I think that lost four games Texas they lost maybe five games and it's late October I'm like these these might lose seven times and we're driving eight nine 10 hour whatever it was um to go watch it but hey we love the sport um good or bad you know we're still here that's that's the fun part about it you know we're never going to go away we could go 0 and2 this year which would obviously be a nightmare but I'm gonna keep doing what we're doing here and I'll show up at Old DKR on Saturdays hey you gota the the hard times are will make the good times so sweet so I mean about 10 years ago I drove shoot it was like nine hours from Kansas to Colorado Springs CSU was 10 and one they were ranked they win they get a spot in the Mountain West Championship Jim McAn was the head coach at the time but he kind of had one foot out the door had already accepted the Florida gig um blue that game just frankly didn't have his head in it and they they lost in a really dumb way but I just remember thinking like man I I drove half a day to be here to experience this heartbreak the coach who's doesn't even have half his heart into it could care less about the outcome and already knew he had his next move and that whole I mean that whole situation gets wonky whenever you have the the coach that succeeds that moves on but I guess that's not that's probably not something you guys have to worry about that often in Austin which is which is nice I mean it still doesn't make it fair though man you see you know you look over the entire landscape and I'm a I mean I love Texas but I I care about college football just as much and um it's frustrating to see schools and most importantly kids and families that are done wrong by coaches in in today's world and as a former High School coach I I also understand that it's not an easy business there's a lot of change and variables that all go into everything and so I mean I try to have empathy for the coaches but I have a a great bit more for the coaches and players and families that get left behind and they put in raw spots kind of like Colorado state was right there well not that even left man had a lot of assistance that just bought in houses I I actually worked for the staff at the time I thought I was going to go into a future of college football coaching and I just kind of looked around and was like you want know what let's go try that media side out not that media has been much easier but hey you're doing well all things happen for a reason and uh we wouldn't be sitting here with two live viewers if you know you were still coaching for the Rams but no we'll uh I I normally go live on both X and YouTube X is where I built up my following and I'm trying to get everyone to move over to YouTube a little bit and so but I'll replay this on x2 as well um real quick though I want to get right back so I took it away from you but talk to me on that schedule two give me a two or three game stretch that is essential for Colorado state if you want to reach season's goals this year I mean the conference games obviously count the most because in theory you could go 0 and five in non-conference play and if you went you know undefeated against the M West slate then you could play for a conference Championship um right but to me I mean it's really it's week three through five you got Colorado at home you've got UTEP at home and then you have a trip to Oregon State and I think if you go two- one versus 1-2 that kind of greatly impacts what type of season you're playing for you go two- one pretty good possibility you're looking at 4- one going into the conference slate you're feeling really good you know you're hoping you know can we play for a conference Championship especially with a pretty favorable Mountain West slate if you go one and two it's more like man like we cannot blow this again we haven't been to a bowl since 2017 if if we don't get this together here I just I think that stretch there right around week three through five kind of greatly determines you know what type of season is this are we hoping to scratch 500 or do we maybe have some Conference Championship implication yeah I mean I think that you know obviously it takes a special season to win a conference Championship I mean we've won one in the last 14 years and you know it it we still took an L in the middle of the season and had to have some things go our way uh I definitely think that that's something that could be within y'all's grasp I I don't see why not um outside of a Colorado State and and I'm not saying that you are a sleeper team definitely don't get please don't let me imply that but outside of Colorado State give me a team in the Mountain West that you might consider to be a sleeper team uh through sleeper and like what context like for the playoff that a team that I think is better than is getting fored okay I don't know if you if you pay much attention I think thinking you DOA but just total win win totals expected win totals who do you think has a chance to overachieve from your expected win total the most so could be a team that has a chance for the conference maybe it's a team that has an over over under four and a half wins and win seven ball games uh Hawaii I like Hawaii I think under Timmy Chang they pulled I think it's six or seven true upsets in the last two years uh their schedule's a little bit more lenient this year than what we've seen the last couple years not quite of a blood bath in terms of having so many buy games um but yeah they've got Braden shager back they've got a really good wide receiver core how they play fast and physical defensively they don't have the depth I still think they're going to play in a lot of shootouts uh but I do think offensively and and that combined with having one of the more unique HomeField advantages and you know just just so wonky traveling there it's it's a hard game to play and I can tell you that a lot of Mountain West coaches wish that they weren't in the league oh I can imagine you can't practice for that travel regiment or schedule you know I mean it is what it is you're going to do it that once every I don't know how often you'll have to go to Hawaii if it's every every other year so depending on how things work out but yeah I guess just try to adjust and do it better the next time I I don't really know if you you know even if you can do it better that's just like you said it's going be a whirlwind like you know I think a lot of people think it's you know oh you go out to Maui for the week and you know but especially Mountain West schools they don't have the budget to be you know paying for that kind of hotels so it's kind of like you fly in you're getting there probably like on Friday morning go through your routine trying to adjust to a four or five hour time different play that next night potentially at times like what is 9 or 10 p.m. local of of your time I mean it's just a it's a really wonky setting I'm as a college football purist I love Hawaii and I really like Timmy changen so I'm I'm very much rooting for him to turn it around I think it's good for the sport to have a relevant Hawaii brand uh but as a CSU guy as somebody who's been around it I can tell you it's just it's a nightmare I I can imagine I've always wanted to get down there just as to see she know one game one time um but yeah it's it's you got to commit because it's a heck of a journey I can't imagine doing that coming back all on one weekend's time man those kids hopefully uh I don't know find something to do in those hotel rooms man because I can't imagine just sitting there just hanging out knowing that you're in Hawaii and it's just like dang okay it's all right is right there I can almost hear it from the hotel room right well uh I gotta ask you what nuggets Jersey are you rocking right now I got a mellow on right now kind of saage to certain nuggets fans because we have all we've accepted nicoa yic as the one and true 15 here but I personally I grew up a NBA fan because of Carmelo Anthony I wouldn't be in a Nuggets basketball fan if it wasn't for him so I understand that it didn't end on the best of terms but it's all good you know we got to let it go let by gon be by gon well he he's also somewhat you know unspeakable an unspeakable name down in Austin after what he did to us in the 2003 Final Four he uh man he was Flawless they were all they were insane I think we scored 90 points and lost by 11 or 12 I mean like they they just lit us up maybe it wasn't that maybe they scored 90 we scored 80 but I mean they uh Jerry magera um Hakeem Mor and then obviously Carmelo like I I thought we had the better team and I I was really looking towards the championship game that was dumb uh that freshman ate us alive but same thing man I bought my first n Jersey was a Carmelo Jersey um thought I I thought that those nuggets jerseys were so so cool and then I I love J.R Smith I love na I I I just wish there for a while 0 what 0809 or so you know y'all thought y had the inbound and we beat the Lakers and go on and beat the magic easy but yeah exactly that that's my point I was going to bring up the magic like are you serious like how did they get through the East I guess Boston was Boston was getting a little older and then LeBron was still not uh I'm not going to get them on to LeBron right now I'm I'm a Kobe guy first but um yeah man those series were a lot of fun to watch and I I really thought y'all had La down to their last draw I uh it was tough I was definitely a bandwagon nugget there for a while and then Durant got drafted by the SuperSonics and so I pledged my loyalty to them for a year which was a blast because then we moved to Oklahoma City and so I'm a longhorn rooting for Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder and I'm going up there the time and hanging out with Sooners and cowboys and it's just that felt weird that felt way more weird than Texas being in the SEC me I could see that yeah rooting for the Thunder but and so then when he left there it essentially ruined my NBA fanhood because he I can't just go root for the Warriors who just rallied you know in a insane series from down 3-1 to beat us in seven games so yeah yeah it was I love KD um I remember KD playing for Texas and like being obsessed with him um but yeah that that one's tough to defend say I was big LeBron fan growing up but Lakers er a LeBron's tough for me so we don't I don't want to derail the Pod getting on there I am curious though just since we are on Hoops real quick obviously CSU and Texas played in the the NCA tournament this past year what is uh what's the vibe with Rodney Terry amongst Longhorn fans they like what he's got going on they want more like kind of what's the deal there I think and once again not affiliate with Texas whatsoever so I'm going to be fully transparent with you on my thoughts here um I think a lot of people um kind of expect it to fail but then and I mean me personally once and I'll say I should have prefaced with after he lost the big two five-star recruits right after he you know basically became the permanent head coach and signed his contract that was that was a huge um huge thing that the fan base struggled to get over they don't understand um football recruiting at times so I don't know why sometimes we're trying to get into basketball recruiting and thinking that we know all the details I don't even know all the details with those two recruitments but that definitely soured a lot of uh Texas fans's Minds in regards to Rodney early on but I mean at the same time like I'm a basketball guy too tried to play in college like I might be basketball minded first and you I'm gonna give him his chance and so he did a great job of flipping the roster obviously you know Texas made not the same Elite eight run made the tournament played in a very very difficult Big 12 won some games that we probably shouldn't have won and you have to credit coaching there and so um he did a really good job with the roster this year heading into suc for uh for year one you can tell they want to compete and they went out and made a ton of moves now um my only concern is you know how does it all fit together there's a lot of pieces and um there is not a ton there's some continuity a little bit of carryover but not not much and so we've got upper classman transfers we've got really good freshman coming in um I'm just curious to see how it all mixes and I I'm really hoping he is the guy that that knows how to do it all because he's a standup guy he really is the horns down thing I'll speak on that that bothered me a lot and I think that you know that's something that he would he regretted and probably wouldn't do again but he's standing up for his kids and as a former coach D3 you know I've been caught up in the moment and over defended overprotected a little bit myself self and so I I you know I made some jokes on Twitter about it but I don't hold that against him so I do I hope that uh it works out and maybe I'm wrong um but overall I can kind of I kind of feel like the vibe from the fan base is that they don't expect it to work I've already seen a ton of names thrown out for the next tire but sometimes that's life as a Texas Fan man that's really hard group to please and I've been one of them before yeah I mean it it was surprising to me I followed him a long time he was at Fresno State for a while had them kind of roll in step down actually for like UTEP or wherever he was at in between there um so he's always just been an interesting guy to me like I I remember at the time being like wait you're leaving amountain West school to go to what but then you find that Fresno does not support basketball and at all like the fact that he was able to be competitive there gives me reason to like give him some time and if he if he could build it at Fresno like I I think he could do something with those Austin resources so as a Mountain West guy that's my advice to Texas fans just give them a couple years I like it man I mean look at the recruiting that recruiting Waters he's in you know I mean Houston's a hot bed Dallas you know they put out some good recruits as well and it's not like you know Texas is getting first dibs on these guys where you know there's Bluer blooded basketb basketball schools and US not we're not a blue blood and so it's hard for us to go in and you know you lose your your big-time kids to dukes and Carolinas and Kansas's and um hopefully with nil we can start battling back and negating that a little bit but I'm telling you what man I've seen a Texas football national championship I would do a lot of things to see us cut the Nets down in the final four just once in my life I uh obviously we've never done it before we've never even made the title game but it would mean a lot to this old ghost right here if we could just uh just break through one time man I I that Miami game from two Springs ago man I I still have nightmares there's something about a Deep Run in the tournament because you get like a month of sweetness out of it and I guess the expanded college football playoff could be a similar experience nowadays where you get that just month of euphoria and getting to talk about your team every day but I'll say that it was really cruel in the four team format um obviously we hadn't experienced this until last year um I guess I should have asked our buddies up north in Oklahoma because they have a lot of experience with this but to be laid off for a whole month and then to just go lose your playoff game and to be done with the season it's a weird feeling um it's was like man this is fun we're back football 4 Hour it ends in heartbreak and it's like you're done okay sweet now we have to wait eight and a half months again before you can get on the field and so uh yeah I mean I think it's going to be a beautiful thing for the sport the 12 team playoff I know that there's a lot of controversy that comes with it um I think for the time being they' they've done a pretty good job you know awarding the conference champions the top four buys or Top Four Season buys and everything um gives the Oklahoma States and Kansas States and who who knows chance uh people of the world a chance to host a game and I think that's super cool um for those campuses and those towns obviously for the businesses all that's really neat so um I can't wait man I just really really really hope we're one of the 12 and um we got to get through you first that's just step one not Overlook not overlooking I won't ask you for a prediction what I will ask you this do do the Rams cover the 32 and a half I think is what I saw this morning for the current spread yeah they'll cover that it's I think it's closer to like 20ish but part of that I think too is again like I think if these teams played in November maybe Texas does cover but I don't think they have the incentive to run it up on on multiple levels from an attrition standpoint you got a massive game coming up against Michigan playing in the heat from what I've heard it's not that weak it's the recovery process where you really feel it and it's kind of going into that next week so I I just think there's major incentive on both sides to I'm not saying get this game over with but kind of if that makes sense if you're CSU and you're sitting there and it's a onore game like Wyoming was then obviously you're trying of course to shock the world you're you're hoping for an app State situation and if you talk to the players you want them to say all the cliches you know it's just another game there it's just football and some of that is true it's also that big of a spread probably for a reason so you know I just a little drastic to me I do think the Rams cover um but I don't think it's an over like tight game or a game where Texas fans are sweating too much and that's just being real I hope it's not similar similar to the the Wyoming Game you referenced because that uh that was a little sweaty and definitely um you referenced app App State also who did who did they beat uh just thinking about that Michigan upset or whatever from 2000 I mean if you are a 34o dog if you won that game I I would say it would be in that conversation I was uh I know I was I was trying to set you up to say Texas A&M right there so I could dog the yeah it's okay they were only I think they were only 19 and a half Point favorites so you know not even 20 point mark we'll let the agie slide for a minute on there but Justin I know you got to get ready for another show here soon man thanks a lot it was great talking to you love to do it again man let's chop it up a anytime dude this is a blast I love talking college football with people that love college football so best of luck to you guys with your season obviously I'm a CSU guy through and through I'll be pulling for my Rams but you know as as somebody that enjoys College tra as a sport there's certain brands where when they are up it's better for the sport as a whole and I would put Texas in that conversation it's just it's more interesting it's more intriguing to me when teams like Texas matter and we need to get USC back in that mix I know they they haven't been quite is down but and I think back to that 06 Rose bow and how far those programs have come from that like let's get it going that would be cool man I actually said something very similar today um in regards to Miami I think college football elevates a little bit Alabama obviously struggled before saving Oklahoma was down in the 90s I mean I I fully agree but um budy best of luck to you guys up in Fort Collins I hope you have a great year um you do you're doing great things man keep with it at dmvr um yeah man have a good one we'll see you on Saturday much love my guy