your home for the best college football coverage in Utah is on the KSL Sports song it's a Saturday matina battle for the youths as they welcome in Balor to rackle Stadium your home for the best coverage of Utah football is right here on 975 the KSL Sports Zone this is Jake Scott and Ben Anderson on 975 the KSL Sports song [Music] Jacob Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone it's uh time to talk some conference SL nonconference football non-conference Inc Conference football but it's Conference football uh of course Utah taking on Baylor coming up this week uh joining us now he covers the Bears for the Waco Tribune heral he's Zack Smith with us here on Jacob Ben what's going on Zach thanks for a few minutes yeah no problem I uh not much it's you know just getting getting ready to head out to Salt Lake City I'm packing my hiking shoes and uh ready to explore a place that I've never been but I'm looking forward to it oh it's terrible you're going to hate it here um that's what I hear Baylor like a lot of the big 12 crushed their non P5 non G5 whatever FCS opponent to open the season they beat Tarleton State 45 to3 but this was a Bor program that needs positive momentum this year for Dave Randa uh what did you see in game one and was there enough to say hey that was a step in the right direction that that's exactly what we saw and that's exactly what Baylor and Dave Randa really wanted to see I mean last year was a disaster for Bears injury piled up on them um you know and they only won three games so they plugged the holes that they needed to with a bunch of transfers including quarterback dcoin Finn uh tight end Michael Trigg uh wide receiver Ashton Hawkins and all of them literally all of them uh showed up in that first game uh dcoin threw for two touchdowns ran for another one Michael Trigg the tight end caught one so did Ashton Hawkins even a transfer linebacker returned an interception for a line for for a touchdown so really all of the things all of the bad vibes that were coming out of last year and all of the problems that really continued to rear their ugly head last year you know yes yes that first game was against Charlton an FCS team that is kind of middle of the pack but in every facet of the game pretty much Baylor saw the a step in the right direction it's not the final step but it was a step in the right direction so the the the positive momentum is out of this world in wo and you know Utah is going to be a stiffer test and a bigger test but you know Baylor is at least headed in the right directions which is more than I could say last year so coming off a Bad season you know there's always kind of a standard going into the next year for the coach you know especially in today's day nent college football Ben and I have talked about it a lot with BYU for example you know colan's had some really good job security there but coming off last year there's some certain marks that he kind of has to get to what would you say is that or in your opinion that with Dave Randa and Baylor this year that's that's a difficult question I've been asked that a few times and I I think you know I I think his this is GNA sound weird I think his job is relatively safe uh you know I think that I think that they really need to make a ball game which I think is very achievable for this team but there's so much momentum off the field that they have one of the best recruiting classes coming in next year year in the Big 12 they have you know a lot of these players that are expected to play a huge role for the team this year are not seniors and so I think there is you can see the vision of what davand is building and with some of the assistant coaches he brought in some of the changes he made you know I I think that he needs to get to a bowl game but if they don't get to a bowl game I am would not be surprised in the slightest if he is around next year and for a few years to come here because what he has laid out for his plan for Baylor is is coming to fruition at least since he did at the end of last season so um to answer your question I think I think they can get to a bowl game and I think they should get to a bowl game but by no means do I think that is uh you know gonna cost him his job if they don't can you give us some background on Dean Finn coming over from Toledo what the process was of landing at Baylor and how much rides on his shoulders yeah he was one of the top uh transfer quarterbacks in the portal um but I certainly think that he was Baylor's number one target uh by far they brought in a new offensive coordinator Jake spavital who spent last year at Cal he was a head coach at Texas State down here for four years before that he really flipped the offense on its head Baylor for the last couple years was playing an offense that resembled what Utah is currently doing with a lot of tight ends and all that uh and so they switch to a spread uptempo quick offense and dcoin fin fin kind of fits that mold exactly he's got the he's got the playmaking ability to kind of make those plays outside the pocket I mentioned that he he rushed for a touchdown that was on the first drive of the game again the season opener and he's certainly got a plenty of receiving weapons um to throw to I think that's probably the deepest position on the team as the bayor receiver so what he did at Toledo he was the Mac most Valuable Player he took Toledo to the conference uh championship game last year he started for three years at Toledo so he's got all of this experience under his belt which Baylor desperately needed after being literally the youngest team in the Big 12 last year and he kind of fits what Jake spavital and everything that's new about the offense he fits it to a T and you know he gives that dual threat ability where he can throw it and run it and you know again it's the first game but uh he showed a lot of positive signs uh after that first game so yeah so broadening things out just a little bit and talking to you as somebody who covers kind of an Old School Big 12 team and covers the has covered the old league and the the Whirlwind that we've seen over the past couple of years I'm curious to your broad take on the direction of the league the new additions Brett ymar and how he's doing I think it's overall good I mean I like it it's it's hard to say because there's so much changing so quickly and I know we kind of feel like we're maybe at least for the next few years we are hopefully in a little bit of a w but I generally like the way Brett ymar is taking the conference I think that to I don't think the Big 12 will ever be the SEC or the Big 10 so you need to stand out in some other ways and I think Brett ymark in what he's trying to do and you know selling the name and and taking the conference to other countries is is different it's a different Outlook and I think that's a positive thing for everyone everyone in the conference I think that's going to create some long-term success in terms of bringing in Utah and Colorado and the Arizona schools I think you really can't get much better than that like the year before you brought in Cincinnati uh us or UCF and Houston and you know respectfully those are a different level than what Utah and Colorado and Arizona schools are so I think in terms of what he's done and the vision he has for the you know the conference you know moving forward I think it's all good things even if the Big 12 is not the number one conference like he says it wants to be um you know I think he's it's headed in the right direction so I I'm genuinely optimistic about what his vision for the conference is overall so Zach we've generally kind of got it nailed down I feel like with Utah we're talking between you know nine wins maybe worst case scenario 11 or 12 wins best case scenario Yu it's like between five wins and seven wins what is that window for Baylor how big is it that uh yeah that's that's a great question because I think that um I think the Vegas had the over under five and a half I want to say um I think I don't think it's going to be five I think it's going to be seven or eight or three I I don't there's much of I think it's either going to work out or it's not and um so like I I am generally an optimistic person and I think that things are going to work out especially in a place like Baylor where you've had so much patience and you know with Dave Randa and what he wants to do and I think that the pieces that they brought in um are are working and will work and will continue to kind of get better even if they don't beat Utah on Saturday I think that this is a seven or eight win team I think a bowl game is definitely um within their grasp and and I would be you you know I'm I wouldn't be shocked if they didn't make a bowl game but you know I think that seven or eight wins is very very much in the purview of Baylor how has Baylor played the nil game have they been at good at at fundraising and how has that distribution gone between football and basketball well that has been a huge part of why what Dave Randa has kind of changed his tune on before this year they had a they had a model where every single football player basically got the same amount of money and that didn't work right you know it's like you if you want to create a you know that that's good at like getting a three star kid or a two star kid and trying to coach him up but you're not gonna land those four-star kids without you know promising them a little bit more and so like this year was a a switch in that facet in in that you know a quarterback is going to get more than a reserve running back and and so that had they really up their game in that regard and focused on you know um focused on nil and and kind of pinpointing who they want where they want to spend it and who is most important on the roster and uh they've done that's why dcoin Finn came to Baylor because you know he got on top of being pretty much named the starter from the jump uh maybe with not officially but pretty much he got a pretty big nil package whereas last year he wouldn't have and so he would not have probably chosen Baylor so um really Dave Rand I give Dave Rand a lot of credit he said he was not very good at nil and he didn't really embrace it but he has to and you know I think at Big 12 media dates he was saying we pay players that was his big quote they even made t-shirts for that and so they have really stepped up their game in the nil front and in terms of basketball basketball has always been like top tier nil they just built a brand new facility that is awesome there's a lot of boosters in the Baylor basketball program that will give whatever it takes for that program uh to to to win so um as far as the distribution between the two basketball had a higher you know success rate but football is very quickly catching up to what the basketball program C of set yeah we've got a lot of weird connections with Baylor locally here obviously Gary bannan's at BYU now Dennis Lindsay Royce O'Neal keontay George on the basketball side with the Utah Jazz but the weirdest one right now is Caleb loner former dyu basketball player turned Baylor basketball player turned Utah touchdown catching tight end is there does he register at all on the in Baylor scene in Waco as as far as playing for Utah now oh absolutely he does he was Lov to I'm actually doing a story on him today I'm talking to Scott drew about him and kind of what he meant to the Baylor program and you know this is he told me that this has kind of been a running joke throughout his high school and even college career you know he had the size to play football so now he's he's actually doing it so when he was here at Baylor and just playing basketball um you don't play basketball at Baylor even if you're coming off the bench if you're not a superstar and uh you know he was loved he was so outgoing so friendly so just just a great human being and uh you know yes so when that news came down that he was switching to football uh it got a lot of attention here and you know he told me that everybody in the Baylor program was super supportive and you know he he's taking a lot of the things he learned from Baylor and kind of Scott drew and the way he goes about his business on the basketball court uh to the football field in Utah and I I think he expects to contribute for Utah this year not not that he's just catching touchdowns in the end of a blowout win but I think you know Utah has a pretty good uh track record recently of developing some really good tight ends and not saying that he can go to the n NL but you know he can at least contribute in a high level so last year's game between these two teams I don't know been what would you say set football back 20 years oh 20 25 years maybe more decades than that and so it's been interesting to hear you talk about the evolution of of the offense and Utah then gets players back that they didn't have in that game so I guess my question is what kind of game do you think we're in store for are we going to see oh man hopefully more fireworks than last year I mean what what do you think we're in for I would be shocked if we didn't like those two teams are completely different because yall didn't Utah didn't have Cam Rising he didn't have you know your tight end right um Baylor you know didn't have dcoin Finn and half the weapons that are out there right now and plus they've rebuilt their offensive line and everything so I think we're going to see a wildly entertaining game I think the spread was like 14 points I think that's probably about right I think Utah is probably easily going to win this game but I would be shocked if we didn't see some fireworks and some big plays especially what Baylor wants to do on offense and what they are very clearly trying to get to before conference play begins um you know I I think this is a great chance for them to kind of see what they have against the top tier opponent and um you know I I understand that Utah is down one of their best corners and like I said before the the wide receiver receivers on Baylor are probably the deepest on the on the team and with the Quan throwing to them you know I I think there's going to be some big fireworks I think it's going to be a wildly entertaining game that uh you know it's going to look completely different from last year I can guarantee you that well Zach brace yourself for some beautiful weather because it's been awesome around here but yeah nice it's been really really good you're going to love it and uh yeah we look forward to seeing you this weekend before I go any food recommendations where do I go where do I go to eat here's the problem a lot of our recommendations are Mexican food rightfully so but you're in Texas so you also have really good Mexican food right I mean Waco probably has to has to have really good Mexican food it's yeah it's it's really good yes but well there are multiple really good Italian restaurants downtown uh downtown's probably where I'd start there's a lot of good stuff down there if you if your boss is paying go to Walters if you're paying go to Red Iguana yeah yeah good point yeah right there I've never aana come up before so that might be uh that might be on the list there and you'll get uh yeah you'll you'll get the full view of Salt Lake City beautiful enjoy well I can't wait me I love the Chili's I mean it's it's really it's great we appreciate you Zach thank you very much thank you so much for having me yeah you bet that was great good info from Zach he he's uh he's great we'll have to have him back on there's a lot of places I like there's a lot of places I'd recommend uh I've told you that um well I've told people out there you know obviously that my wife and I do the uh the echo tickets or whatever and it's given us really good excuse to try all the different restaurants downtown and there's a lot of great stuff there are and there are some old classics I like Desert Edge Brewery still at uh charliie Square the pub as they call it it's good not sure that's still there but yeah absolutely it's still there unless they left in like the last six months yeah it's still there yeah the Pub's great it's kind of a nice time they'll have a game on like you want to go Friday night if he's in town they'll have something going on I worked at Charlie corners for years we did a lot of meetings at the Desert Edge lot of them they're in the the Italian tuis the Italian restaurant right there yeah what was the old uh they sell the Brazilian barbecue there I don't know if they do or whatever the bra Brazilian Grill I'm sure they do roodo yeah rodio we're giving out a lot of free ads on this segment well we don't have a restaurant sponsor for our show so if you want to Corner that market uh stay tuned call me up volters what you got Wednesday is next God I'm not looking I never look forward to it I'm not looking forward to it oh I've been putting my list together I'm G to avoid the disastrous performance I had two weeks ago Never Gonna live that down stay tuned more next Jake and Ben 975 the KSL Sports Zone