Podcast: Previewing Arkansas vs. UAPB, weekend predictions

[Music] you're listening to the hog Sports Network daily podcast now here's your host Matt [Music] Jones happy Thursday it's game day in Arkansas the Raz banks will play uapb tonight at War Memorial Stadium down in Little Rock it's kind of the game I guess everybody's been waiting for even though it's it's the most unappealing game on the schedule but you got to start somewhere Matt Jones with Ethan Westerman this morning in studio our crew most most of us will be headed down to Little Rock tonight to to watch the game I won't because I've got to be in studio tomorrow morning but Ethan's going to hit the road here in just a bit Ethan um Sam Pitman spoke yesterday on the SEC coach's teleconference and there were two kind of big pieces of news that came out of this number one is that Eli Stein who was Arkansas's Long Snapper uh the last uh year or two has left the team and Austin know is going to be their Long Snapper moving forward I've always said and I think I even said this last week when we were talking about this is that when uh you know the long Snappers name it's not a good thing is it's like you want the Long Snapper to be maybe one of the most irrelevant people or most you know one of the people that you don't know so well on your team because when you hear his name it's usually because there's a mistake uh so Austin no is going to be the Long Snapper for Arkansas Eli Stein has gone I want to get your thoughts on that and then also he said that Andrew Armstrong and Rashad deignan are going going to be uh available but potentially limited and will not start against uapb your your thoughts on both of those yeah um like you said the Long Snapper the more you hear their name it's probably not a good thing but Eli Stein head you've been hearing his name this preseason a little bit because he's on you know watch list for best Long Snapper in the nation the Patrick Man Award um he executed all 118 snaps that he did last year um which that's you know that's how you get on a list like that um so clearly a quality Long Snapper for the Razer backs and it's kind of you know a little jarring that happens the week of a game but Sam Pitman did say that Austin no was their going to be their starter at punt snapping anyway so I guess there was a real battle there um in practices they were listed either or on the depth chart on Monday that came out before Pitman said that uh Stein had left the team well it sounds like Stein probably had these conversations with Scott Fountain and I'm assuming Sam Pitman as well early this week probably before they did that um you know listed the depth chart out um but he did say even at our lunch in last week at the Hogs Illustrated Sports Club he said that Austin no was probably going to be doing their punt snapping so um and then it was a close battle with the short snapping so um you know it seems like you know whenever you hear that you're losing a player that was on the national watch list for best at his position like the initial thing is even if it's the Long Snapper to freak out I guess but sounds like this guy Austin know gave him a run for his money in practice anyway um so you know but you are replacing somebody who started 23 games over the last two years um in Eli Stein so not ideal but you know if we hear Austin knows name more I guess that's how you know it really was a bigger deal because as long as we don't hear Austin know's name past should should we be worried about special teams because you've you've got again like like you said he was going to be maybe when I say special teams field goal because now you've got a new Snapper on your field goal field goals are all about timing and Rhythm uh it's like you know hitting a golf ball hitting a baseball it's it's all about just it's all about that timing and now you got a new Snapper it seems like I I don't know if they have an either or at kicker because neither of them have performed well or because both of them have performed well we we don't know that yet it just seems like it's a it's a kind of an interesting Dynamic going into the season that you've got a new Snapper and you've got a kicker battle that's still ongoing yeah well going into this year no matter what Arkansas was about to be having a new punter and a new kicker like at the same time for the first time since I believe Sam pitman's very first season um maybe the point I'm trying to make is that and you would you would hope that they felt a little bit more sure about everything going into their first game yeah I mean it seems like Austin know they they like what he did in Camp I I i' assume with the Special Teams guys because we go to practice and they're always just kind of over on their own just doing a lot of stuff you would think that they've spent a lot of time everybody working with each other but it is an unknown like whenever you look at the team and diagnos it this year there's a lot of unknowns but special teams might be at the very top just because you've never had any of these guys so with Andrew Armstrong not starting does that mean we're going to see Monte Harrison in in the starting role possibly um He's listed behind Armstrong at that position receiver on the dep chart yeah well Sam pitman's also said CJ Brown certainly in that conversation um Jordan Anthony's listed as a two on a on the depth chart uh can't forget that Isaac Tessa started every single game for the Razer backs last year so if you want a guy who's used to starting um you have him but I think this is the right approach to take against uapb is if Andrew Armstrong is still recovering from he tweak this hamstring or something you know in these practices uapb is probably not the game that you want to just go out there and test it um probably give him an extra week to to get healthy he gives some of these other guys a chance but I do think we will see Monte Harrison tonight if we don't um then I think the depth chart I just I think we'll we'll see most receivers tonight and if he's listed as a two on the depth chart then I it would make me think we're going to see him not in garbage time that we'll see him pretty early Deion has been limited for probably close to two weeks now um quindon Jackson also was limited at at one point I think with an ankle injury U is Jackson full go tonight I think so they haven't said anything else um it's funny because with Deion all they said was that he's been beat up a little that's we don't really have a full injury report on deignan but it sounds like um you know Pitman was saying that de got an opportunity to play more tonight than Andrew Armstrong um so it seems like they probably feel better about where he's at in recovery than they do uh Andrew Armstrong but I would expect J Quin and Jackson is back ready to roll because they haven't indicated anything else Arkansas and UAV tonight it's a 6:30 kickoff on ESPNU of course you can watch that through all the the different ESPN platforms as well um Ethan you wrote this morning on our website um just kind of kind of comparing and contrasting I guess a little bit Arkansas and uapb tell us a little bit about that and and just maybe what you're expecting to see tonight and it's it's so hard right now because it's an unknown because we're basing so much of this off of what these players have done in the past and you know really we're going to have a different I feel like you know especially with Arkansas's players we're going to have a different perception of them in a week or two after we actually see them you know in in a razor back uniform in a lot of cases but then with some of of them you know they're going to be different players than they were last year good or bad yeah well comparing and contrasting Arkansas uapb is pretty hard to just not say I don't want to just say you know Arkansas should beat him at every position but it's the truth like they should they should they it's you have more players yeah more scholarships to to give out you're in the SEC you've got to have a roster that's supposed to compete with the SEC teams you should outg glass them at every single position handl I mean it shouldn't even be a question and uapb Alonzo Hampton their coach he's been saying like this is actually year one for them because last year he came in and just did not have the roster that he wanted at all but if you look at what they've done this year they've added so many people just this summer I believe um like there's for them I would worry about just are they have they had enough time to even practice with each other know each other um they've added about 50 new people to their team um recently so I don't think that Arkansas should have much problem with uapb but then again that's how you get into a trap is that you go into a game thinking that you won't you don't got to worry about them well I mean even the last couple years when they played an FCS team last year against Western Carolina you think that they're going to wipe the floor with them and they did they beat him 56 to 13 but they had the offensive line issues in that game two years ago when Missouri State came in Missouri state was a a good FCS team coached by patrino but it was a tough game I mean a real tough game one where you know they they the Razorbacks that is they breathed the real sigh of relief when that game was over to me some of the things that I think I'm watching for tonight are the offensive line can they blow uapb off the ball because if you can't if you can't push uapb off the line of scrimmage you're not going to push Oklahoma State off the line of scrimmage next week you're not going to push the teams off the line of scrimmage in the SEC and you know I just want to pause for a second and say that I'm fully aware that what you see tonight is not going to be a finished product for either of these teams but it's not a finished product for the other teams either and you know what's on the schedule later on with the type of you know defensive lines they're going to see so that's number one number two I want to see What's the timing like between the quarterbacks and the receivers petrino's offense is is you know every offense is built on timing but you know he's so there's such an intention to detail with patrino that I'm interested to see just just how well that operates tonight defensively kind of the same thing with the offense the offensive line can they blow the defensive line off the ball defensive line can they get a push against the uapb offensive front because again it's not going to be anything like what they're going to see uh on Down the Line beginning next week with Oklahoma State who has the oldest offensive line in college football are you giving up big plays defensively uh what what do things look like in the Special Teams this feels like a game the FCS game where you should score or or you've got a a higher probability to score a a touchdown on special teams think about when Arkansas in uapb played last time Nathan per had a punt return for a touchdown right was only one of his career yeah uh Bryce Stevens against Missouri state had a big punt return touchdown that was a huge part of that fourth quarter uh comeback in that game they had some some big plays I think they had a about a 40s something yard kickoff last year against Western Carolina so these are the types of games because special teams is always where you can tell the depth of a team and the and the skill set and the talent um it feels like you know satania could he have a big play tonight in either the kickoff or the punt return game can you block a punt in this game those are just some of the things that I'm interested in seeing and I wrote about that um in this piece about could satania get loose on him in a pun return if you look at uapb I know they don't even have the same roster really as last year but so it's kind of comparing apples to oranges when you look at their last last year numbers but they were 114th in FCS last year which is nine away from worst uh in kick return defense um so could be susceptible to a big satania turn against them um I think that that is if Arkansas wins the the coin toss I think they probably elect to receive the ball because number one if you love doing that yeah if you get the ball and you can I think what you want to do again against an FCS team is take take the spirit out of them right away if you can return the opening kickoff number one you're already a I don't even know what the Line is now it it was 48 and a half maybe it's grown maybe it's shrunk I don't know but they're already a big Underdog I think it was 52 and a half and it came down a little bit to 48 goodness but they're already you know facing the underdog you know they're already having to embrace that mentality but if you can get off to either a like you know a kickoff return at the beginning that gets you way down the field or a touchdown and you on offense score really quick the underdog really starts feeling it I think right away I feel like in this game it's not so much they're playing against uapb and uapb is is again we're talking about not just a conference level between these two teams we're talking about subdivisions an FCS team and then uapb is one of the the worst teams on the FCS level it's not so much playing against uapb Ethan as I think it is playing against Perfection how close can we get to doing everything that we want to do perfectly if is is achievable in this game tonight and if you come you know even even halfway there you're probably going to win the game by a a very comfortable margin and I think that honestly you want to go into a game I think I might have said this yesterday you want to go into a game like this and your goal is to be as close just at every facet to just looking good because here's the thing you can look good against an FCS team like really good and it doesn't mean anything because you NE the next week against Oklahoma State you don't look good there but if you look bad against uapb in anything that does speak volumes because if you look bad against uapb in run blocking you better believe you look bad against against Oklahoma State um there is I think watching the field goal kicking tonight you know I don't think they want to have to settle for many of them I think they want to get in the end zone with patrino but if they have to kick a 35 yard field goal and it's a miss you know you just aren't used to that with having Cam little the past few years um you know that would be a little telling I think that you look for how close we get to if you're the Razer back you look at how close can we get to just not having any glaring problems you can get the latest uh Razorback news at wholehogsports.com we think it's the most in-depth source for all of your Arkansas sports analysis latest in recruiting from Richard Davenport unique stories on all the teams this morning at hhog sports.com you can read Anthony christenson's preview of a soccer match this evening between Arkansas and Gonzaga over at Razer Back Field the Razer banks are number six in this week's National poll uh we'll we'll have a recap of that game tonight as well as on our website you can subcribe you can subscribe right now at wholehogsports.com another story that we've got up today uh Ethan talks about the uh improvements that the the Folks At War Memorial say that they've made since last year's um I guess maybe just kind of disaster that seemed like they had all kinds of Game Day Management problems down at the stadium last year they've got uh they're expecting it's going to be another hot night tonight now last year they played Western Carolina Ina in the middle of the day on a Saturday it was uh you know close to 100 degrees I I think the heat index was over 100 during that game obviously it's a night game so that will help but they're expecting a real muggy hot night tonight down um as this game gets going and of course it gets going during the daytime even though it's not the middle of the day it'll still be daytime outside uh at 6:30 when this game gets going uh they've got fans installed at the main gates Around The Concourse they've got cooling tents and cool down rooms uh around the stadium fre water stations are in the stadium tonight additional concession stands four drink only stands of course one of the big problems last year was that the stadium acknowledged that they ran out of water bottles at some of their concession stands uh before the fourth quarter began last year and they've got some um they have a thing called the the water monster they're doing this year now the water monster yes it holds 250 gallons of cold water so it seems like they were like we're not just we're not just fixing what happened last year we're trying to we're overcorrecting majorly like I cuz I saw some stuff about the water monster that's now going to be a more Memorial okay so I mean I guess they they said you know we ran out of water last year let's get you a big old tank that'll hold 250 gallons you know what the the big I shouldn't say it's it's the big water concern this year but there's there's a chance when it's this humid that you could have some some rain and maybe even a lightning delay in this game tonight do not even wish that upon us that I my brain had not even gone there there and if that happens tonight I just I hope that the mercy rule can come into effect again well there there is no mercy rule though that's the thing that was what was so weird about when Arkansas and uapb played a few years ago was that I have never seen a college football game where the coaches got together half times like hey you want to shorten the second half they're like please show Mercy that was wild I mean they they they shortened the second half by three more three minutes in each quarter uh six minutes overall but in this story on our site uh they do talk to one of the meteorologists from the national other service down in Little Rock and they say that that there's a little bit of a chance for lightning tonight they not a great chance but a little bit and you know how the lightning rule goes is that if you have lightning within eight miles of the stadium that's an automatic 30 minute timeout from the game so I'm getting absolute PTSD from baseball regionals oh you need you need to cover baseball more because baseball gets you ready for this I'd cover softball and let me tell you the weather at Bogle Park is usually the same as down there at bomb hey we're going to tell you real quick about the Hogs Illustrated Sports Club Sam Pitman I'm sorry uh Kevin trainer is our next speaker at the Hogs Illustrated Sports Club Pitman was there last week Kevin will be there on September 4th Kevin longtime administrator with the Razer backs also the president of what used to be called kosida but it's a a network of of communication professionals across college sports interested to talk to him later this month or next month Brandon Marcelo on September 11th Jordan Weber the Arkansas gymnastics coach on September 18th hun EUR Che on September 25th we also have some dates going into October You Can Read All About It uh and and reserve your tickets for those lunchin at Ozark tix.com that's ozar KS tix.com all right when we come back uh there's a lot of new rule changes in college football this year we're going to go over those rule changes but first the word from our sponsors LPGA week in Northwest Arkansas returns September 23rd through the 29th for the 18th consecutive year watch former Razer backs and 2024 Olympians Maria FY and Gabby Lopez compete against the world's best female golfers at the Walmart Northwest Arkansas Championship presented by PNG at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers the NWA Championship is so much more than a golf tournament with something for everyone to enjoy in activities for fans of all ages daily tickets are only $10 and kids 17 and under getting free with a ticket at adult get your tickets today at NWA championship. at Kindle King we're proud of over four Decades of design we're continuing the legacy of great Creative Design by combining our brands of Kindle King soapbox and Shop cart together these Brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas through our design expertise supported by a team of talented professionals we showcase our best we are Kindle King we are soapbox we are shop cart we are design [Music] and welcome back we appreciate you being with us this morning as we uh kind of count down to tonight's game between Arkansas and uapb at War Memorial Stadium we want to tell you about Hogs illustrated by the way you can stay on top of all the Razorback sports with a digital subscription to the Hogs Illustrated app it gives you complete access to our website at wholehogsports.com monthly subscriptions begin at $17 this is this month's uh or this is the latest magazine that we have here there's a cover story on ton green that Ethan wrote uh plenty of plenty of stuff inside this magazine I'm looking at it here Anthony Christensen with a feature on Darius Acuff the latest Razer B basketball commit talking to some of his coaches so Hogs Illustrated will get subscribed now you can get our basketball preview that's coming up uh here in a few weeks uh we're in the process of putting that together right now all right new rules in college football this year Ethan we saw these if if you watch the week zero games you know five days ago you saw a lot of these uh that were already in place I guess it's hard to say that there's one that's any bigger than the other but I think probably just from an operational standpoint the the biggest change this year is the communications between the coach and the players on the field each offense each defense gets one player with a radio in his helmet you can tell who that is because they've got a little Green Dot on the back of their helmet you see this in the NFL for 30 years this came into the NFL in 1994 uh really cost measures is is what's kept this out of college football and then Conor stallions comes along and everybody's ready to to pay the price to get this uh implemented really moved fast uh lot lot faster than maybe a lot of rule changes move but you know Bobby patrino Sam Pitman tayen green they've all talked about this on the offensive side we heard from Travis Williams and the different defensive players who are going to be wearing these headsets too just what's been their kind of feedback about this new role yeah well I have what Travis Williams said fresh on my mind because I was listening to it on the way over here just to kind of refresh and it it it aligns with Bobby patrino and Sam Pitman have indicated that really the headset communication will probably B will probably benefit the offense um Travis Williams was saying that like all these teams will just go Tempo now um You Go Tempo go really fast and the defense you're you don't really have a lot of time to to adjust um you know he said that he expects scoring to be up in college football this year across the board he thinks offenses will score more um it's really yeah just kind of uncharted waters for college football as far as we haven't seen exactly how this is going to if if it will benefit the offense but the consensus right now is it really will the defense is having to just get better at still signal signaling on the sidelines to kind of adjust to what the offense is doing he said that Travis Williams said that Arkansas's like nine of the 12 teams that they're playing this year expected to go Tempo and so he thinks that they just have to be ready to to Really signal fast and change their signals um to to get to make adjustments on the fly as the offense just kind of sits and dissects you know what are they in what can we run you get you get to have this on till 15 seconds left on the play clock and then it goes off I want to know who is the guy who gets to turn the the communications off I mean like is there somebody sitting there in the like maybe the replay booth and they just yeah that's what I I've actually wor wondered about this too because I'm like when is the first time that we get our Scandal about did that team really turn theirs off yeah is it run by the home team is it run by I don't know I'd be interested to know I'm thinking that it probably has to be run in in some way by whoever the conference is that's officiating the game yeah well for like this non-conference game I I don't know who the officiating crew is Arkansas um uapb but do you have an extra official that goes now and they're just in charge of headset communication turning off and on I don't know it's just it's it's really a lot of I would like to know the actual you know your one thing to tell me it turns off in 15 seconds I want to know how it's actually being operated what this does is it's going to give I think the coaches a lot of opportunity because you know in the past you you signal in the play or you hold up one of those uh you know big big boards and they give them the play but now the coach can communicate with them and it's more than just saying hey run this play Hey when you run this play watch this guy and what he does and if he does that then maybe you go to this I think it's going to allow the coaches to have a lot more more input on what's going on in the field than before this technology yeah and I think that you know whenever you have a Bobby patrino who's just known for being an offensive kind of Mastermind um it'll be Cur I'll be curious to see you know how big the Razorbacks can adjust like if you see them U maybe the first driver to struggle MH see if they they have a tendency to maybe to kind of pick it up as the game goes as you have Bobby patrino just kind of diagnosing and talking to ton green you know was talking about how well this is actually kind of a conflation of of of two conversations that I've had in the last year or so but patrino has talked about he didn't get to you know run his Playbook at Texas A&M he had to learn someone else's language and then he had to call plays from that Playbook and then you know I was talking to Sam Pitman about when you hire an offensive coordinator how you have to let them do what they want to do because they have to be able to get that stuff out of their mouth fast and that's important you know when when you've got now this this technology where I mean you're only going to have at at most 25 seconds to to talk to your players can you imagine Jimbo Fisher by the way with this is fast he talk like an au he's gonna get normal 15 amount 15 uh seconds amount worth of words he'll fit 30 seconds worth in there I mean oh my goodness I can't imagine having him in my ear during a game I always felt bad for the A&M beat reporters cuz they had to transcribe his press conference oh my goodness that's the beauty of going to AT&T Stadium I mean won't have won't have this this year when you when you cover him you need one of those court reporters you know the people who they they've got their machines where they you know speeds up I also be curious to hear if like you know what happens there are some hothead coaches across the country plenty of them yeah what happens the first time that you have a offensive coordinator who's in his quarterback who's struggling ear when with his team down like 24 to3 or something and he's just ticked off at this point do we hear stories about the quarterbacks like yeah the headset communication all it was was me getting chewed out well and it'll be interesting like does this work um routinely or are we going to see a lot of times where we hear Hey the headset is you hear this in baseball because they wear you know they wear headsets in in baseball too and of course they got pitchcombe been talking about like what they got to do when the first time that it just isn't working mhm you got to have a plan uh tablets are going to be allowed on the sideline this year again NFL we've seen this for several years you see the Microsoft tablets on the NFL Sidelines this is the first time that that college teams are going to be able to have this yeah and this is actually Travis Williams said on whenever he was speaking about the rule changes he said that everybody loves to talk about the helmet Communications but he said this is probably bigger um because now now if you aren't ready to make adjustments at halftime as a defense MH you said you better believe with these tablets the offense is like you're going to it seems like the biggest thing with these tablets is just adjustments you just make if you aren't ready to use them to make those adjustments the the and the other team is uh get ready to to be in for a day um you know I'm not too Savvy on like you know how exactly like the technology on these iPads are like what what all you can do but it seems from hearing him speak that what you're going to be able to do is just really in quick time be able to pull up you know um the last Drive point out they were in this defense um you know if you see them in this defense we're going to check to this um and then at halftime you can really really do a lot of uh make a lot of changes so I don't really know a lot about the iPads all I know is Travis Williams said he thinks that they're probably a bigger deal yeah there's some new clock rolles that are supposed to to change things up in terms of you know first downs and incompletions I think that's going to make it maybe a little bit more like NFL timing rules and then you got the two-minute warning now they don't want you to call it the two-minute warning in college football they're they're asking for it to be called the two-minute time out but it's the two-minute warning I I don't think they're going to win that argument um we saw this in Florida state Georgia Tech the other day it seemed like the game went by really fast even with this two-minute warning and all the timeouts at the end and the commercials I said this the other day it from the from the point that the two-minute warning started to the time Georgia Tech kicked that field goal to win the game was 17 minutes in real time and that was because and then you didn't have any you know replays or anything like that it was just because Florida State kept calling timeouts and you had the two-minute warning in there too so it's going to slow I feel like it's going to slow the game down at the end of the half potentially especially for teams that have timeouts and and when it's a close game but the games may be sped up you know for the first 28 minutes of each half yeah I mean if you're on the offense and you're down by Four Points you got the ball with two minutes I don't know 2 minutes 15 seconds left you're trying to squeeze an extra play in before before that two-minute warning comes um you know it's it's just going to be a ton of situational I mean everybody's familiar with it that watches the NFL like how it affects the game um essentially you know for a defense um you get down in the end of the game and you're you're down and you need the ball back this two minute warning can be huge two minute timeout I need to stop calling it the warning but um it can be huge to try and get to get you the ball back I think anybody who's familiar you know has watched the NFL for a number of years you know how like it's one of those things that is so important whenever you get down to situational and needing needing an extra time out you don't have and then from a a television production standpoint U again more NFL style stuff I think that's kind of the you know the the real theme that we're we're hitting on here uh couple of things that stand out to me maybe three number one after a touchdown after change of possession you're going to see the steady cams come out on the field and you know be right up in the right up there with the players that's going to be allowed now U you know one of the the network cameras is is going to be allowed you're going to see head coach interviews between quarters and then one of the things that really stood out to me watching Georgia Tech Florida State the other day was that it was not Georgia Tech's head coach Brent key who got interviewed going off the field it was their quarterback Haynes King you're going to see player interviews in gamees now at least at least before halftime yeah I mean like you said just seems like a lot of things kind of Shifting to what you see in the NFL getting it treated like you know and you think about it it just goes to play with goes hand inand with you know athletes are getting paid now um with nil and it's just kind of like trying to no it's not going to be exactly like the NFL of course but incorporate more into into the college game that that fits that you know semi-professional uh feel it's a viewing experience that people look the NFL viewing experience is a lot better than the college viewing experience by and large I mean I I don't think if if you turn on NBC Sunday night football it's going to be a better production than say Notre Dame's football game on NBC same thing can go for CBS broadcast whatever uh and so it's it's adapting those things that have become popular in the NFL whether or not you know I mean you can think what you want to about in-game head coach interviews they usually stink you know I mean a good coach is not going to say anything sometimes the coach will actually be you know forthcoming and they'll give some good Insight but uh whether you like it or not it's something that's popular it's something that I think has kind of become expected and it's something that's now trickling its way down to college football yeah for sure and those are always interesting seeing the coaches in the middle of a you know at a timeout cuz well they're not live by the way the interviews are not live so what's going to happen is that you know the first quarter will end Kyle Parkinson who's Arkansas sports information director or communications director whatever they they call themselves now he'll be standing there with the reporter and with Sam Pitman and pretty much the minute that quarter ends they're going to get on camera they're going to talk for 30 40 seconds and then pitman's going to get back to you know coaching the team for the rest of that time out I will say something that is this is this is related but unrelated I was watching WNBA the other day and they are having the the coaches get interviewed like in-game interview and they hate it it was so clear it was so terrible I was like this is painful to watch watching these coaches get is that at the end of the quarter or is it like as the game's going see because the NFL's talking about this this year yeah about the network can can choose whenever they want to talked to the head coach one time and the coaches aren't happy about this at all and it was I think it was Becky uh Hannah um who I was watching get interviewed in the middle of a game and the audio she couldn't hear them and she was so she was trying to coach in the middle of trying to hear them with and she was so frustrated she finally was like I I have to take this off I can't do this it's one thing to do it in a game that doesn't matter yeah like I was watching uh KU in Illinois during a basketball exhibition last year here back in October and you know they're interviewing Bill self as the game's going on they're interviewing Brad Underwood as a game okay that's a game that even though it matters it doesn't matter it's one thing to do it then just doing it in a game that's going to you know affect potentially your your playoff seating or if you even make the playoffs at all so well coaches know that you know it's not like they aren't watching games uh all the time from their own home they understand the value that it adds you know that a good production adds that it is got to be frustrating you know you got to cross you that's a fine line you cross of like at what point are you really hindering a coach from being able to do their job and frustrating them as opposed to enhancing the you know the overall quality of the broadcast all right we got plenty more to get to uh the SEC has released its new theme song with ABC we want to react to this also going to give you our predictions for the weekend but first another word from our sponsors taste sip sample and discover the very best restaurants and chefs Northwest Arkansas has to offer at the bite experience at the LPGA a unique culinary experience on site at the Northwest Arkansas Championship tickets are available Friday September 27th through Sunday September 29th offering access to the best golf viewing and food and beverage samples from over 30 local restaurants you don't want to miss this tickets are available for $45 a day get yours before they sell out at B nwa.com at kle King we're proud of over four Decades of design we're continuing the y of great Creative Design by combining our brands of Kindle King soapbox and Shop cart together these Brands represent a new focus in marketing design with individual attention to specific areas through our design expertise supported by a team of talented professionals we showcase our best we are Kindle King we are soapbox we are shop cart we are [Music] design welcome back back as we uh continue to countd down to Arkansas and uapb tonight at War Memorial Stadium want to tell you about Bentonville glass serving its Community since 1971 they're committed professional versatile if you're looking for a quality leader in Northwest Arkansas or looking for skilled craftsmanship look no further than Bentonville glass for all your glass Market needs and the highest quality products you can come by and see them right now at 507 South Main in Bentonville or online at Bentonville glass.com okay so the uh SEC this morning rele finally you know it's like they they have guarded this music like a state secret by the way um they put out the music that they're going to have for the SEC on ABC Package no more SEC games on CBS This Year everything is on ESPN affiliate or Disney maybe might be the better word to use but you know ESPN Disney affiliate so you have games on ABC you'll have games on ESPN ESPN2 ESPNU and on and on SEC network and uh so they put this new music out and there have been a lot of people that have been kind of anticipating this cuz you know they they've been on CBS for so long and that CBS theme is such an iconic tune it's like so you know what what are they going to do well Blake uh Blake's got it pulled up here and this is the music that they have chosen to have for the SEC on ABC it's a it's a Twist it's a new Twist on an old ESPN tune have you heard this by the way [Music] no okay so it doesn't get much better than that that's that's about the the climax of the song I kept waiting for it you know to like just okay just hit you know I don't know it's it it falls flat to me give me the CBS theme song back I know maybe I'm just a you know it's my childhood yeah but the first time I hear that song with Northwestern Ruckers it's just going to make me want to puke I mean that that was a masterpiece and but it predated the SEC on C you know that song was actually written for a Super Bowl it was written for the Super Bowl that had the Broncos and the Giants in the 80s I think oh well and then somehow it it you know I think CBS got college football rights within a couple of years this was in in that range where the Supreme Court case was kind of manifesting itself and then you know it's it's it it has stuck with college football and then of course SEC was on there for so long that a lot of people just associate with the SEC here okay so you heard that song we had another One queued up this is the old ESPN tune that they're trying to kind of spoof off [Music] now this is this is the music of my childhood right here and by the way this is way better I think than the new uh bles going pull this down but this is this is way better than the new one and and that's when I hear that I think of Ron Franklin uh coming on from Legion Field and Birmingham and I'm about to watch pton Manning play against the Crimson Tide I mean that's I love that song Nostalgia is a strong thing it and let me tell you I think for me they could have chosen that they've still got the rights to that song only thing for me is I need my SEC on CBS with Vern linquist getting ready to come on or Blake is he's gonna pull this one up uh they had the old ABC tune that they could have played [Music] are you old enough to remember that one no if I'm ranking my from what I just heard from the three I think that one's my last place is that really yeah see that's my first place right there I hear that I think of uh John Saunders in New York I think of Brad nestler Brent musberger uh I'm watching some random midafternoon noon game on the west coast Pack 12 well or pack 10 I guess at that time give me um you know I I the one the first one that we listen to the one that they're using for this year it didn't I didn't hate it didn't love it though I need to love it you know I I think Sam pitman's used this this quote referencing players on the Arkansas football team as far as they're on the field Play I Like It need to love it okay and then I mean of course this is what they're all being judged against yeah doesn't get better I mean what are we doing I mean are you ready to a part of me just died now are you ready to see the Horseshoe from the air with that song hitting oh my goodness I that like I I mean it seriously a part of me has died without that being a part of SEC games this you're going to have that song playing with snow falling Penn State in an arbor and I won't be watching I can't do it you know what I'm going to do I'm just gonna mute the TV when the game's starting and play that what we just listened to maybe maybe for every game yeah I that's a great strategy I'll just mute the start of the Arkansas Texas game and you know voice over so Blake and I were talking about this earlier you know why CBS has been so successful is because they just play the hits right I mean they're playing Merl Haggard they're playing wh and Jennings before every game and that's what the people want to hear there's something about college football and we talked about this earlier this week with war memorial it's about tradition it's like you want to be able to come to the table or come to the couch in 2024 and turn on a college football game and feel the same way you did 20 years ago you want to and that's why CBS in in addition to many other things CBS their production value way better than the other networks by the way uh that's why that that there's a there's a Nostalgia there that I think people have have really appreciated with CBS whether it be the music whether it be they know they're going to kind of get the same camera angles uh they know that they're going to have the familiar voices whether it be Vern Lundquist or or now uh Brad Brad nestler Gary danielson's been with him for a long time love him or hate him he's he's a constant figure on that Network um I'm interested ESPN is going to be fine this year ABC is going to be fine doing these SEC games it is going to take a little bit of time to get used to it I think mhm yeah and I I think that they'll probably do a good job with the ESP on or SEC on ABC um it's just going to take time to you know appreciate it probably hey by the way uh did you see the Razer Banks who made the NFL rosters I have not looked at the fullest I could guess who all of them are here here's a here's a trivia question for you there are two NFL rosters that have three former Razer backs do you know the two um Lions that's one I feel like this next one's a trick one there's there's there's a little bit of a theme between the two is it the Vikings no no the Jaguars oh wow with brown it's because they both have kickers Cam little is with the Jaguars Jake Bates is with the Lions the Lions also have Dan Skipper and Frank ragnell Jaguars also have Jeremiah letter lead better and and monter brown that's I knew Brown and Cam little because monter Brown had a good season last year um but I didn't know Le better was with them he here's the rest of the list real quick John ridgeways with the Saints cam curl and Bo limmer are with the Rams both of those are are new players there this year Brandon Allen and Dre Greenlaw are both with the 49ers but Greenlaw is still out with that Achilles injury he's on the physically unable to perform list yela frol is with the Cardinals Dwight McGloin is with the Vikings we mentioned that uh yesterday TJ Smith is with the Panthers Drew Sanders is on the pup list with the Broncos so he's not able to play right now and trayon Burks is with the Titans uh one of the cuts that I thought was really interesting this week and it's because he's only a couple of years in there is that Ricky Stromberg who I think got some some decent playing time last year with commanders was cut by them oh wow that's I had heard that I would I would think that he probably gets picked up quickly yeah assigned to somebody's either active roster or at least to their prti last year was his rookie year right yeah yeah I it's kind of surprising yeah so uh anyway we'll talk more about the NFL Razer backs the progs as they were called as we get closer to the NFL season next week all right let's go through predictions we do this at the end of uh usually we do this on our Friday show but because it's a a Thursday game week this week uh we're going to do that this week we'll end with Arkansas and and Arkansas Pine Bluff but we'll run through some of the other big games a couple of them tonight worth note North Carolina is at Minnesota who you got you know couple of former Arkansas or or uh Arkansas born QBs in this game I don't know that either of them are going to play but you've got jacobe Criswell at North Carolina you got Drake uh Lindsay at Minnesota I'm gonna pick Minnesota I don't really know why couldn't give you a great reason I just like these early season games if you're playing at some like I like the home team A lot of times I mean you think about Utah at Florida a few years ago I'm not sure Florida was the better team that year but it was early in the season playing in the swamp remember last year Minnesota beat Nebraska on like on the last or I think like a last minute last couple of minutes uh on on this Thursday night game I'm gonna go with Minnesota too just because I think it's a tossup even though I think North Carolina could be really good with m brown uh there is a lot of interest tonight in this game in Boulder you've got Colorado hosting North Dakota State obviously you a lot of people call North Dakota State the Alabama of the FCS I'm going to do it I'm going to pick North Dakota State you're going with I'm going with it I think about a nineo underdog yeah and I really don't know like I don't know why people are so high on Colorado still like what have they done to make I mean it's they've got sedor Sanders and Travis Hunter first round and they won four games hunter was hurt most last I'm I'm totally with you by the way I I totally understand I think Colorado the amount of coverage they get for the you know the product on the field it doesn't that up yeah but I just have respect for North Dakota State and I I'm going to pick him I think Colorado will win again it's a home and I think it's one of those deals where they've heard all offseason like hey you guys are going to be the team that gets picked off in week one I think Colorado I think it could be a really really fun competitive game moving to Saturday games Miami goes to Florida a lot of people are are wondering about the job status of the two head coaches in this game who do you think wins in the swamp I'm picking Miami um I went back and forth with this one I just think Miami has a decent team this year like I expect them to finish toward the top of their conference um and I don't I don't think Florida's very good they've got uh who's it cam cam Ward is coming in at quarterback at Miami I've gone with Florida and again it goes back to it's that week one I feel like when you're at home there's a huge advantage to being at home in week one for for for some reason Maybe I'm Wrong about this yeah remember Florida beat Utah two years ago in the swamp on the opening weekend and Utah was a far superior team to Florida yeah I just said that a second ago oh did you say that yeah that's why I said picking the I was looking at Blake through the producer that's why I said I'm picking Minnesota was based off Utah Florida a couple years ago I missed that no you're good yeah so anyway I I got Florida Miami you see how much I pay attention uh the one of the big games Saturday is uh Notre Dame goes to Texas A&M college game day is going to be there um I feel bad for not listening to you by the way no it's funny it's more it's more L I promise I listen I I think 88% of what you say I listen to I thought it was int I thought it was intentional at first till I realized no we're at a point where you don't remember I said this Notre Dave goes to Texas say him Kyle Field's going to be rocking Saturday night game day is going to be there Saturday morning both of these teams are ranked uh Mike Elco he's got ties to both of these teams of course was the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame then went to to A&M obviously been the the head coach at Duke in between this is this is a tough one I feel like yeah this is a good game this is maybe my favorite of week one um I really like this it's going to be like very entertaining um two fan bases that are just talk about having a presence everywhere um I'm going to pick Notre Dame I think that it's really tough in your first game with a new coach I like Mike Elco I really do um I just think it's tough to get asked to get a win against Notre Dame in your first game and uh I it's like I go back and forth but I'm picking Notre Dame couple of defensive-minded head coaches in this game you got Mike Elco and Marcus Freeman I like the fact that the aies have got Conor Wegman back at quarterback they're at home they've got Wegman back I think they pull the upset I think there's going to be so much M it feels even though when Pitman beat Texas it was year two it was the first time that the fans could really come out and you know watch them in a big game that's what that kind of feels like to me right now and Kyle Field is a hard hard place to win I think I think A&M could beat him the crazy thing about that game too is it's an upset upset based on the AP ranking Notre Dame seven A&M's 20 but I think a favor they have the betting favorite right now so three-point favorite just depends how you look at it but it's that's that's maybe for me the hardest one to pick all week hey another FCS FBS game South Dakota State goes to Oklahoma State of course we're interested in this because the Razer backs go to Still Water next weekend South Dakota state has won the last two FCS national championships and Oklahoma State hasn't been real good early in the season they had some struggles in the past whether it be Missouri State coming in there and giving him a game early South Alabama beat him really bad in Still Water last season they struggle with an FCS team uh another FCS team at home South Dakota State this could be another one where it feels like Oklahoma State should win but but it's probably not going to be you know that traditional FBS FCS score yeah talking about North Dakota State Colorado that's a nine and a half point spread South Dakota State Oklahoma State's also a nine and a half point spread which tells you a lot um you know what people how I think it tells you more of how people view those FCS programs than really how they view the maybe the Colorado one has a little bit to do with people thinking they're not all that but Oklahoma state has respect I mean they were in the Big 12 championship game a year ago and they're coming out against an FCS team that and they're not a double digit favorite um I'm going to go Oklahoma State I think they've got a good team I do think this will be close I was reading a column the other day by Barry treml over at the Tulsa World who's who's covered Sports in Oklahoma forever and he said that when Matt rule got the job at Nebraska he said one of the first things that he told the uh the schedule the people who helped him make the schedule was do not schedule me a team from the dtas yeah uh so I mean this is this is an interesting game Oklahoma state does not play well at the beginning of the year this it's a continual thing you remember the year that Arkansas it was the year before Arkansas Missouri State played Bobby patrino Missouri State I just said that by the way oh see so now you've gotten me back there we go we we're not listening to each other very well today we we've we've got communication problems here Clemson plays Georgia in Atlanta Saturday this is uh if you listen to the athletic these are two tier one head coaches dbo swinny and Kirby smartr the only two coaches in in football right now with two national championships Clemson you know they're not far from Atlanta but but obviously Atlanta that's that's that's a bulldog town it's going to be more of a home game for the Bulldogs um I think it's like a 13-point spread right now between Georgia and Clemson do you think Clemson's got any chance no I'm picking Georgia by they're going to cover by a lot in my opinion Kirby's smart and again he comes from the Sabin tree Sabin whenever you would give his teams very much time to prepare for a team no contest and I feel like that's what it's like with Georgia remember Oregon went in there with a really good team a couple of years ago and Georgia wiped the floor with them in this same game in Atlanta uh I think Clemson could be really good I like what I like the fact that they don't do things the way everybody else does it I know dbo gets a lot of crap for that but I I like the fact that you know they've got a model they've got something that has worked for them and they've been really good with it for a lot of years um Phil still said the other day that he thought Clemson could be a team that a lot of people are sleeping on uh I still think Geor beats him I think Georgia uh there's a lot they they've got they've had to live for the entire offseason here and about how they didn't get to win their third consecutive National Championship I think those players are going to be U you know really out to to prove a point on Saturday one more before we get to Arkansas and uapb uh Sunday night in Las Vegas USC and LSU this should be maybe the game to watch this weekend see on the outset I think that this is the game to watch this weekend I think LSU is going to handle business though I just do you I do I even with a new quarterback that's even with a new quarterback um USC's got a new quarterback too both of these teams are having to replace the last two highman Trophy winners at quarterback then again last year I said the same thing about that game in was it Orlando or charlot against Florida State oh Orlando I think um and Florida State came out and just took it to him yeah um I like LS State can play defense though I don't know that USC knows how to exists I it's LSU's fourpoint favorite I like him by more than that that' be interesting game I I think I'm going with LSU uh just because I I I like LSU more I think they're a better Coach team I think Kelly puts a more he puts more emphasis on the whole product as opposed to you know like it or not I feel like Lincoln Riley is is very narrowly focused on offense and I think he's just kind of got a and I'm not saying they don't care about defense there but I think they've got kind of a philosophy that we can just outscore everybody you can't out SC everybody and I think that's kind of been USC's problem all right Arkansas and uapb tonight down at War Memorial Stadium Arkansas is a 48 A2 Point favorite in this game and when you get these games like this we think Arkansas is going to win the game the question is Ethan can they cover I'm going to say they will not cover just and that's not me saying I don't think they'll dominate that's me saying I think this is a crazy big spread to cover um uapb some against FBS stats they're 0 and 10 all time they've never scored more than 11 points against an FBS team they've been beaten by an average 50 to six score so if that's your average I mean you're averaging getting beat by 44 um but all that to say 40 they're not good they aren't going to win this game it's going to be a blowout in my opinion if it's anything other than that Arkansas's got some serious problems but um but 48 points to cover that is a lot I don't know if they're going to switch to you know Arkansas beat him 45 to3 in 2021 would have been a lot worse before they switched to the mercy rule or whatever that we don't know how it happened uh and put in you know very very backups um I I don't think they cover but I do think it's close 48 49 points that's a lot to cover for any team in any game the reason I I want to say they will because the last two times they played at War Memorial against FCS teams they've beaten Pine Bluff by 42 like you said I was listening this time and they beat Western Carolina last year by 43 there in the season opening game and so I want to say that they're going to cover and I think they're probably going to put a lot of points on the board tonight just because of they've got a they got a new coordinator who knows what the heck he's doing yeah and but that's still a lot of points and the other thing is I don't know how long they're going to want to keep their best players in the game they want to get them out they want to get them work tonight but they also want to get them out I think at a a decent time and keep them as fresh as they possibly can for Oklahoma State next week so I say they don't cover but that doesn't mean that I don't think they'll dominate I'm yeah I think they could cover I don't think they will if they played if they played their starters for four quarters I think they'd win by six exactly the reason I'm not willing to go on a limb and say they're going to cover is because I don't think that they're going to have their starters in that long I don't either yeah so what do you think maybe third quarter they pull them all out maybe they make it to the third quarter how many quarterbacks take snaps three I think three I think three okay I think this is that should have been the question I think this has all the makings for ugly ugly ugly so you think it goes green Singleton yeah I Jackson here's my bold if we're I don't know if we're doing bold predictions my bold prediction you will see Malachi Singleton to start the second half really I think it will be really ugly really really fast interesting I could I could see where if it's a a a blowout at halftime maybe they bring green back out for one more possession in the second half try to get a touchdown and then get him out uh but yeah I mean I look I I think they're going to win this game by a lot and again if they don't Lord help us when we come back tomorrow to talk about Arkansas and uapb uh hope you go to our website at wholehogsports.com tonight after the game or in the morning uh whenever you're able to read we'll have a lot of coverage from Little Rock from the Razer Banks and uapb and we'll be back with another podcast tomorrow I'll be on on the desk here uh we'll have Christina long joining us from Little Rock I think Ethan's going to be joining us too he doesn't know that yet but uh he's going to be joining us as well tomorrow from Little Rock after Arkansas and uapb we appreciate you being with us it'll be back tomorrow Rocky boyman who's calling the game tonight on ESPNU he'll also be a guest on tomorrow's show hope you have a great day everyone and we'll see you after the game