Big 12 Preview 2026: Texas Tech and the Chasers

Summary

Split Zone Duo Podcast Summary

Episode: Big 12 Preview 2026: Texas Tech and the Chasers
Date: July 29, 2026
Hosts: Richard Johnson & Alex Kirshner

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Episode Overview

Richard Johnson and Alex Kirshner deliver an in-depth preview of the 2026 Big 12 Conference college football season. Using their “Rose-Bud-Thorn” framework (one thing they like, one thing they’re curious or intrigued about, and one thing they’re worried about/dislike), they analyze all 16 league teams: roster moves, coaching changes, quarterback battles, off-field stories, and breakout candidates. The episode maintains the duo’s signature mix of wit, skepticism, deep knowledge, and occasional skepticism for off-field drama, focusing intently on the most interesting narratives entering the season.

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00:00-00:53 | Setting the Table: State of the Big 12

• Conference Power Ranking: The hosts debate if the bottom of the Big 12 is stronger than the ACC, tentatively giving the nod to the Big 12’s upside.
  • Richard: “The bottom of this league is better than the bottom of the ACC or at least has a little more upside potential, or maybe I’m just a little more interested in it.” (00:38)
• Preview Structure: Teams are discussed in reverse standings order, beginning with Texas Tech.

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00:53-11:34 | Texas Tech Red Raiders

Rose:

• Roster-building lessons applied from last season; focused lines recruiting, infusion of talent (Adam Trick, Bryce Butler, etc.).
• Defense remains a strength—multiple additions at edge and tackle.
• Team found a high floor by investing in the lines.
• Alex: “From a roster-building standpoint, they took the right lessons from last season... they really built this thing once again through the lines.” (09:15-10:45)

Bud:

• Will Hammond’s return from injury at QB—uncertainty, but potential is high.
• Some intrigue around five-star true freshman edge rusher Ladamian Guyton joining.

Thorn:

• Off-field drama with NIL power broker Cody Campbell; the now-infamous situation with Brendan Sorsby, the Texas Attorney General, and high-dollar campaign donations.
• Alex: “Texas Tech probably should have professionals in crisis management... leading their response when they should find themselves in very high stakes legal matters.” (04:46)
• Slight QB downgrade after the loss of Sorsby; big media attention and disruption.

Notable Quote:

• Richard: “It’s not that nefarious... as much as it’s just a bad chess move, like you played yourself in this situation.” (03:55)

Outlook:

• Vegas favorite to win the league. High expectations; playoff run possible given roster quality and favorable schedule early.

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11:34-15:01 | BYU Cougars

Rose:

• Coach Clonuse Takane praised for program-building and consistent 10-win seasons.
• Transfer linebacker Caleb Uluave (from Cal) and WR JoJo Phillips as breakout candidates.

Bud:

• Optimism around QB Bear Bachmar now with a full off-season as a starter.
• Incoming tight end Walker Lyons from USC; depth continuing to build.

Thorn:

• Star QB-in-waiting Ryder Lyons on a mission and unavailable; DC J. Hill departed for Michigan, presenting some transition risk.
• Can coaching continuity persist amid staff changes?

Outlook:

• BYU’s high organizational floor and a history of development mean they are likely to stay near the top of the league.

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15:01-20:44 | Utah Utes

Rose:

• QB room considered solid: Devin Dampier (two years of eligibility left) and dual-threat Bird Ficklin bring depth and variety.

Bud:

• Big unknown around Morgan Scally’s identity as a head coach—defensive continuity vs. need to develop and draft QBs.

Thorn:

• Devastating attrition: five all-Big 12 offensive lineman gone (two in NFL), all four starting D-linemen gone.
• Massive pressure/regression expected up front; loss of head coach Whittingham and O-line coach Jim Harding.
• Alex: “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one position group in a one-year period, other than just picking one great quarterback, lose as much as Utah is losing on the offensive line this year. It’s insane.” (18:42)

Outlook:

• Underperformance relative to last year’s record is likely; Scally has a hard first test and may be a sleeper for Big 12 Coach of the Year if he can manage the transition.

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20:44-24:20 | Houston Cougars

Rose:

• Connor Wegman at QB had a strong season, and the arrival of five-star backup Keyshawn Henderson bodes well long-term.
• Makai Hughes reunites with coach Willie Fritz after a short stint at Oregon; Amari Thomas (WR/TE) stays, adding needed stability.

Bud:

• Watch for pressure to play five-star Henderson quickly, despite Wegman’s quality play.

Thorn:

• Defensive front seven “pretty hewn out”; concern about replicating solid defensive play after key departures, especially of coordinator Sheil Woods to Texas Tech.

Outlook:

• Could overachieve if QB continuity and running game thrive, but talent depth and defensive disruption are threats.

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24:20-28:24 | Arizona Wildcats

Rose:

• Defense looks sharp, especially the back end: Despite secondary losses, development at corner and linebacker is a program identity.
• Promising playmaker Trey Smith and DT Mays Pesse anchor the front seven.

Bud:

• QB Noah Fifita: Talent is there, but can he return to 2023 levels with less proven receiver corps?

Thorn:

• O-line is an ongoing concern; sacks (26 last season) and offensive line losses (especially all-conference players) loom large.
• Brutally challenging schedule (at BYU, at Texas Tech, Utah, Kansas State, Arizona State).

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28:24-34:55 | Arizona State Sun Devils

Rose:

• WR Amari Miller (Colorado transfer) is a bright spot; Kenny Dillingham still inspires confidence in longer-term outlook.

Bud:

• QB competition between Cutter Bowley (Kentucky) and veteran Mikey Keene (on his fifth school); neither is an ideal option.
• RB Marquis Gills (1,200 yards in FCS) is a wildcard.

Thorn:

• Defense "too gutted"; annual high defensive turnover is unsustainable.
• RB Relique Brown lost to Texas; symbol of Big 12 teams losing key playmakers to Longhorns.
• Richard: "I just really do not like this quarterback situation." (30:35)

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34:55-38:54 | Iowa State Cyclones

Rose:

• Coaching overhaul: Matt Campbell out, Jimmy Rogers (from South Dakota State via Wazzu) in.
• Defense may hold up, bringing in 12 players (including Malachi Taase and Isaac Terrell) and jump in defensive SP+ at Wazzu.

Bud:

• QB Jalen Rayner, Sun Belt transfer, is a curiosity; solid athletic traits if undersized.

Thorn:

• Massive attrition at WR/TE as Campbell took core weapons to Penn State; Rayner will work with a thin and unproven group.
• Jamie Pollard retired—huge administrative transition.

Outlook:

• Definite rebuild year; success = showing developmental "process" under very new leadership.

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38:54-42:15 | Kansas State Wildcats

Rose:

• QB Avery Johnson returns, offering continuity.
• Schedule is manageable with favorable draws (no Tech, BYU, Utah).

Bud:

• Ex-coach Chris Klieman stays to mentor Colin Klein; lots of program "legacy" figures in the building bring both continuity and risk of too-many-cooks.

Thorn:

• May lack NIL/Rev Share muscle to keep pace; step back expected in first year under Klein.

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42:15-48:54 | TCU Horned Frogs

Rose:

• Run game should be back: Jeremy Payne and Kavorian Barnes healthy, new OC Gordon Thomas (UConn) promises more rushing emphasis.
• Offensive line has more depth and experience, too.

Bud:

• Ivy League transfer Jaden Craig (Harvard) at QB—rare and fascinating move.
• Expected to limit turnovers compared to Josh Hoover; strong leadership traits.

Thorn:

• Defense regressed last year; Bud Clark and two top linebackers gone.
• Multiple position groups have to break out to maintain competitiveness on both sides.

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48:54-55:56 | Cincinnati Bearcats

Rose:

• Dodged NCAA trouble for now (re: Brendan Sorsby); WRT off-field noise.

Bud:

• Skill positions: Explosive transfer WR Cade Wolford (Kent State) and dynamic JV Gibson (via HBCUs, Oklahoma) give upside for the pass game.

Thorn:

• No clear answer at QB (JC French or Liam O’Brien?); heavy development needed.
• Lost “Godfather” DT Dante Corleone and other key front players; switching to a 4-2-5 defensive look.

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55:56-61:31 | Baylor Bears

Rose:

• New DC Joe Klanderman (from K-State) brought in; hope he can turn around porous unit.

Bud:

• QB DJ Lagway (transfers in, once a can’t-miss recruit) gets a rehab shot after disastrous year, but questions abound.
• Alex: “Which DJ Lagway will we see?” (56:13)

Thorn:

• O-line gutted, replaced with unknowns, and skill position losses sting.
• Hosea Wheeler (transfer pass rusher) fighting for eligibility after Indiana.

Outlook:

• If defense isn’t dramatically improved or Lagway doesn’t rebound, Dave Aranda is likely out.

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61:31-65:07 | Kansas Jayhawks

Rose:

• OC Andy Kotelnicki returns from Penn State; will bring “weirdness” to play-calling.
• RB Nick McMillan (Buffalo transfer) nearly 1,000 yards.

Bud:

• QB competition between Cole Ballard, Isaiah Marshall, and Rice transfer Chase Jenkins.

Thorn:

• Loss of WR Emmanuel Henderson (burner, all-Big 12) may sap explosiveness.
• D-line and front-seven depth questionable.

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65:07-69:42 | UCF Knights

Rose:

• Roster churn, but core players mostly retained.
• Defense improved marginally under Alex Grinch.

Bud:

• QB situation improved: Alonzo Barnett (JMU SBPOY), Keon Jenkins (FIU dual threat), Rocco Marriott (top recruit) competing.

Thorn:

• RB duo (Miles Montgomery, Jaden Nixon) gone to NFL; no spike in recruiting to offset.

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69:42-72:17 | West Virginia Mountaineers

Rose:

• Health: “No way this team can be more injured than it was last year.” (Richard, 69:59)
• Michael Hawkins and Scotty Fox battle at QB; Camp Cook (Jacksonville State RB) comes in.

Bud:

• Local optimism around Rich Rodriguez's recruiting and energy.

Thorn:

• Defense gutted and new; continual question about year-over-year continuity.

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72:17-79:41 | Colorado Buffaloes

Rose:

• Deion Sanders is healthier and arguably “more himself”; energy and innovation return.
• WR room boasts DENNIS CEDARA (San Jose State star), DeAndre Moore (Texas), and Camp Perry (Miami-Ohio)—high production expected.

Bud:

• All eyes on QB Julian Lewis (reclassified teen, offense tailored to take pressure off).
• Brennan Marion’s new offense: heavy on formations, “Go-Go” looks expected to help mask O-line issues.

Thorn:

• Offensive line still a liability after star Jordan Seaton left for LSU.
• Defense expected to be “worse than mediocre”; portal recruiting unproven.
• Alex: “Sacks are bad. Everyone else is too afraid. They’re too afraid to say it, but we’re willing to say it... Dion is just attempting to build a program without ever really figuring out offensive line.” (77:13)

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79:41-82:57 | Oklahoma State Cowboys

Rose & Bud:

• Eric Morris recruited star QB (unnamed but implied to be Drew Mess), considered “best in the league.”
• Wyatt Young (WR), Caleb Hawkins (RB), Justin Bullock (WR), and LSU TE Donovan Green join.
• Will score in bunches—most fun watch in the league.
• Alex: “Every game is going to have a million points, and that will be fun.” (82:17)

Thorn:

• Defense not expected to improve—“Let’s just move it along.”
• All-in on offense, Texas State-style philosophy.

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82:57-End | Quickfire Preseason Superlatives

Offense and Defense Players of the Year

• Offense: Drew Mess (OK St.); LJ Martin (BYU) as a wild card (83:01)
• Defense: Texas Tech front; A.J. Holmes (DT); Adam Trick or Trey White also possibilities. BYU LB Caleb Uluave will rack up tackles (83:35)

Coach Likeliest to Be Gone

• Consensus Pick: Dave Aranda, Baylor (84:29)
• “Wildcard” option: Deion Sanders—nobody knows until it happens.

Schematic/Minority Coach of Note

• Chris Marv (Colorado DC): rising reputation, praised by Deion for “head coach” qualities; Colorado with two black coordinators (85:06)

Low-Key Games to Watch

• BYU at Arizona (week 3): “meaty matchup” (85:53)
• Texas Tech vs. Cincinnati (week 8): "who knew what when bowl," expected to be "so toxic" (86:20)
• Oklahoma State at Oregon (week 2): test for Big 12’s fun offense (86:37)
• Arizona at Texas Tech (late Oct): could determine a rare Texas Tech loss (87:03)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Alex, on Utah OL attrition: “It’s insane. I’ve never. We’ve never seen this before at this level of offensive line just all gone at once, have we?” (18:42)
• Richard, on Texas Tech donor drama: “It’s just a bad chess move, like you played yourself in this situation.” (03:55)
• Alex, on UCF QBs: “They have three quarterbacks here who are in different ways and on different timelines and for different roles. Interesting. That does not mean that that will convey this year to having some of the better passing offense in the Big 12. But I can look at this and say, huh, interesting.” (68:26)
• Richard, on Oklahoma State’s offense-first identity: “They’re going to score a truckload of points. They’re going to be the most fun watch in this league because they’re not going to defend anything. And that’s fine for us.” (81:59)

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Tone & Style

• Analytical, conversational, and deeply knowledgeable—filled with dry humor, skepticism for off-field drama, and love for tactical/roster details.
• Focus on labor, transfer movement, and portal impacts mirrors current college football landscape.

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Key Takeaways

• Texas Tech is the favorite, but not without off-field concerns; defensive front is a league highlight.
• BYU, Oklahoma State, Arizona have strong player cores and could push the favorites.
• Utah, Baylor, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Arizona State, Kansas all face major roster or coaching transition and uncertainty.
• Colorado will be fascinating but remains high-variance; offensive line remains unsolved.
• Most teams have vulnerable position groups—no dominant “super-team” like past years.
• Multiple programs (Texas Tech, Houston, Cincinnati) dealing with recent NIL- or transfer-related drama.
• The “fire watch” is pointed at Baylor’s Dave Aranda; several coaches are in “prove it” seasons.

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Transcript

[Richard Johnson]

We're coming and we ain't backing down. We don't need a bunch of cats in here looking in the mirror. Everybody just do your job. You understand that? Hey, will you shut up? I'm bitterly disappointed with the officiating today. Guys being dudes, and they run through our. Like, through a tin horn, man.

[Alex Kirshner]

Thank you, Lee. Thank you, Richard Johnson. Thank you, Split Zone Duo listeners. I'm Alex Kirshner, and it is still conference preview season here for 2026. Today we've got Rose Bud Thorn. That's one thing we like, one thing we're kind of intrigued by, one thing we don't really like about every team in the Big 12 Conference. How you feeling about this league, Richard? You went to Big 12 media days.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah. I think it's interesting. I think I asked you the question, is the bottom of this league better than the bottom of the acc? And I think when we went through it, I think the bottom of this league is better than the bottom of the acc or at least has a little bit more upside potential, or maybe I'm just a little bit more interested in it.

[Alex Kirshner]

Who do we think is the very bottom of this league? West Virginia, ucf, Colorado? Is that better than Syracuse, Boston College types? Yeah, probably. But maybe we'll revisit. Maybe we'll revisit that after we've shared our notes and talked about some of these teams down the stretch. Here we go in reverse standings order when we can for these previews, which means I'm starting Richard with the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

[Richard Johnson]

I am going to say, I would say $50 in the swear jar anytime you bring up Brendan Sorsby's name in this team.

[Alex Kirshner]

I think that's fair. My Thorn has to do with that situation, but is not exactly that situation. And then if we're lucky, this will be the last time that we ever talk about it. I think Texas Tech, this off season started to see the downside, which does not outweigh the upside, but is still real, of having one guy who is everything to your university, who is your big nil kingpin, who is your board chair, who seems to function in a lot of ways. And I'm of course talking about Cody Campbell seems to function, whether he thinks it or realizes it or not, like an NFL team owner. And the best example of this came out after the fact of the case that we've talked about, which was Texas Tech ultimately being on the losing side of that situation because the Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, had sent a threatening letter to the Big 12 over what he and the state of Texas would do if the Big 12 took steps against Texas Tech or the player at issue in the situation for Texas Tech. And there was some good reporting by Ross Dellinger of Yahoo Sports that indicated that it was that threat made by the Texas attorney general that actually allowed the Big 12's very expensive private counsel to make a counter argument that they could not have otherwise made, which resulted in the gears of justice moving against the player and really the school, which was on the player's side in that matter. And so the player is no longer on the team, will not be playing for the team this year. Just recently, the Texas Tribune reported, of course, that the day before Ken Paxton sent that letter, who sent him $274,000, or rather, who sent $274,000 to a fundraising committee for Ken Paxton, who is running for Senate in Texas? You guessed it, Cody Campbell. Cody Campbell has waved it away. Says he just wanted to support the campaign. If he wanted to make a, quote, nefarious deal, he could do it with somewhere else.

[Richard Johnson]

I don't think it's the vet. I don't think it's nefarious. I just think it, like, I don't think there's. There's not anything in it.

[Alex Kirshner]

Well, you don't think Cody was expecting anything in return from Ken when he sent him that, that 274 grand?

[Richard Johnson]

Sure. Yeah. But what this is, what I wrote at the time is like, I don't want to do a Dodd Frank discussion about campaign finance reform, but, like, what I do think is. It's what I do think is it. It's a dumb legal gambit to get your mans to, to open you up and to give, as you're saying, lawyers the opportunity, the. The. The window of opportunity to bring in litigation that was going to involve going to the mat with multiple attorneys general. Like, I, I don't know if that's nefarious as much as it's just a bad chess move, like, you played yourself in this situation, which is a thing that I wrote at CBS Sports at the time, and I didn't even know that he sent him however much money, what, $275,000.

[Alex Kirshner]

I would never, nor would anyone, including Texas Republicans, do anything to suggest that Ken Paxton might be corrupt or viable in any way. I don't think that's a fair thing to say about Ken Paxton. I think he's a dutiful public servant doing his work the best he can. But at best, I think we could now say that Texas Tech probably should have professionals in crisis management, program, organization, et cetera, leading their response when they should find themselves in very high stakes legal matters and political matters. Maybe Cody Campbell should just give them money and let other people do more stuff for them. That's how it works at Oregon. I mean, not to say that your money comes free and that you don't throw your weight around, but in most of the successful cases of people giving a ton of money to college football programs and the college football programs using that money, there's some separation of powers that I think has served those places well. And while Campbell's the board chair and the donor and all of this, it just seems like it could get a little messy. And I'm going to be watching that going forward for Texas Tech.

[Richard Johnson]

The one thing I will say about the Cody Campbell thing and why it's I think the Jerry Jones, the, the, the Jerry Jones connection or Jerry Jones comparison plays here is I think there's a misnomer about the Cowboys because they're a meme. Because they're literally the Cowboys. The Cowboys are never bad. They have not been bad under Jerry Jones. Safer. I think it's like one year, like really like bottom out bad. At least in recent times now they've had some eight Nates and like NFC east will get you to the playoffs with a name, as we have seen. But they draft, the Cowboys draft really well. They develop really well. Dak Prescott, Tony Romo, obviously the shining examples of that. But and look, Micah Parsons trade notwithstanding, for the most part, the football with Jerry has been. I don't want to say what you want because you're a Cowboys fan. You want to win a goddamn Super Bowl. But like, from a football perspective, Jerry Jones, your billionaire loudmouth owner, can more or less find talent. And Cody Campbell, we've said it on the show before, has more or less found out, which is why. And this is the question, what's the thorn in this entire situation now that we're a month clear of it, in your opinion, what's the, what's the 2026 on field thorn from this?

[Alex Kirshner]

Well, it goes into my butt. I think they have a slight downgrade at quarterback from what they otherwise would have had. But it's also, I, I disagree with that. By the way, I'm curious in what way. I'll explain my point. I think Brendan Sorsby was a solid college quarterback. I know there's a reason why I just said his name, but there's a reason why Texas Tech paid that money. There's a reason why NFL teams were maybe going to be interested in the supplemental draft before the league decided not to hold one. But also, I mean we've covered the sport for his entire career. I wasn't before this going, oh my God, Texas Tech needs Brendan Shoresby to be really good this year.

[Richard Johnson]

Well, Alex, Texas Tech wasn't.

[Alex Kirshner]

Injury is complicating though.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, Texas Tech wasn't saying that either. If Will Hammond doesn't tear his acl, they don't add Brendan Sourceback. That's a fact. Yeah, they add, I think they add something like Kirk Francis, which is the other quarterback in the room who is a Tulsa transfer and who is your, your backup veteran and was not going to push to be a starter. But if Hammond doesn't tear his acl, you don't add source mean you don't do any of this. But in November or January when you're, when you're going to assemble your roster, you don't know that this guy's going to return from a knee injury ahead of schedule. You don't know if your mobile quarterback is going to be able to figure it out. I think it's fair for them to have gone out and added a bonafide starter and say will, don't rush yourself back. If we need you, we need you. Which is sort of how it was last year. Will Hammond era paramount and look now it seems like he will be cleared by the end of August to go and schedule game. They don't need him. They will need him Week 3 When Houston comes to call him. But they don't need him in the beginning of the season. They don't need him to be ready to Rock Week 1 or Week 2. They play Oregon State and I believe Abilene Christian in the early part of that schedule.

[Alex Kirshner]

Correct. Real heads will remember Abilene Christian actually scared them to within an inch of their lives a couple years ago. But that was a different Texas Tech.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, they ain't doing that.

[Alex Kirshner]

Ain't doing that this year it was so Will Hammond was really good when we saw him last year. He was actually better than Baron Morton in the game against Utah when he came in in relief. I don't think that you debase and disgrace yourselves in public the way that they did over the other player. If you didn't think he was really worth having and improving your chances to win a national championship. But I think this is still a good, interesting young quarterback. The health thing is the health thing, but it's the definition of a bud. It could be really good for them and I'm curious to see how it goes. My rose is that from a roster building standpoint they took the right lessons from last season. Yes, they paid for the quarterback who didn't wind up playing but they really built this thing once again through the lines. It was so successful last year. Famously this year they're trying to do it again and they don't have a David Bailey falling into their laps. Nobody that good, but still really good. Miami University's Adam Trick, San Diego State's Trey White are in at the edges. Mateen Ibarragba from Wake Forest, Bryce Butler from Washington at defensive tackle. Funny enough, neither of them might even be the best defensive tackle on the team because they've got AJ Holmes who came in last year from Houston and was second team all Big 12. When they also add Lee Hunter they, they like to have two to three really good defensive tackles at a time. That's the business. Yeah, same they also have a five star true freshman edge Ladamian Guyton in the building. Now they're getting a little bit more into the high school recruiting business. So they saw how it worked last year. They said we'll have another with the lines and it's going to, it's going to mean a very high floor again because as you say it's a blocking and tackling sport and they're going to be good at those things.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, I mean this team will be judged by can you win the Big 12 again and how do you look when you get to College Football Playoff? It's just. And I think that's fair. And they exceeded, not exceeded expectation. They met expectation last year as far as we were concerned and I expect them to do it again. Like you didn't need Brendan Sorsby now again you went and got him for understandable reasons but you didn't need Brendan Sorsby to navigate this schedule.

[Alex Kirshner]

They are the biggest favorite in sports betting terms in the country to win their conference this season. Richard, maybe the top competitor. Take us to Provo, Utah.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, we can joke about Mickey Mouse this, Mickey Mouse that with BYU and close shaves which lord knows they have. But the guys won four 10 win seasons in the last six years in and out of a power conference. So I think we can joke about Clonus take and we can say what we want about it but like prove me put it here and I know that when they got, when the rubber met the road against Texas Tech last year it was fairly non competitive. So I, I think you have to hold both things in your mind at the same time. But I the results are the results for what this guy has done.

[Alex Kirshner]

Great football coach, a reason Penn State wanted him. I don't see him on your notes. So I want to quickly talk about Barkmeyer.

[Richard Johnson]

I think I'm kind of that's the one. And you know this with Baron Bachman I'm kind of like all right. Well I do think last year he

[Alex Kirshner]

was less of a caretaker and more of a more of a value add and he was just this freshman.

[Richard Johnson]

The one thing I will say about Bear Mokmar is when you're not thrown into the starting role on July, whatever that was last year, I think you look a lot more I think you look a lot more optimistically on Behr Bachmar.

[Alex Kirshner]

Overall I'm pretty up on him right now. I think he's good and I think he will have a good career and looked more like a serious guy as last season went along. Richard Budweiser, the linebackers there have been so good in recent years they might have another one.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, Kate Olave like will be good all ACC linebacker last year at Cal. That's going to work. I think that's one of the ones that you sort of look at and you're like all right. Yep, I'm in Very, very intriguing wide receiver that they have as well in in JoJo Phillips potential for a breakout this year. I think for him I remains to be seen a little bit but I think potential breakout for him on offense and I think especially because they are not going to get Parker Kingston who was expelled from the school after a felony charge that's happened earlier this off season bringing a tight end that they

[Alex Kirshner]

it had sounded for a moment like he might be back. The charge was dismissed but he is not on the team.

[Richard Johnson]

Bringing a tight end Walker Lyons as well from USC who I think is going to give you a little bit of production. So Rider Lions, the five the thorn here. I actually didn't realize this and you look at and you're like no shit. But Ryder Lyons is on a mission so he's not going to be the heir apparent starter this year because that's how BYU gets it done. And J. Hill, a defensive coordinator, is gone from the staff. He went with Cal Whittingham to I believe Michigan. So you got a little bit of chop and change but just you kind of have to say you bet on colonies attack Kane's program, colonies attack his continuity and colonies talk as coaching bonafides I should say to keep BYU at or near the top of this big 12.

[Alex Kirshner]

Let's stay in state. Let's go to Salt lake, the Utah Utes. I'm going to start with the bud. What is Morgan Scally's identity going to be in this job? I don't know a lot about him. Here's the list of things that I know. The first thing that I've really heard about him was in 2020. I know that 13 years ago or so he texted a racial slur and got in trouble for it later in 2020, which nobody talks about anymore but still happened and is an unusual resume line for a head coach.

[Richard Johnson]

He actually got the head coach in waiting things stripped from him at the time and then got it back.

[Alex Kirshner]

Number two, I know they still thought enough of him to give him that designation back. I know in fact number three that they thought so much of him that they politely nudged Kyle Whittingham, arguably their best coach ever, not arguably to the doorway after naming Scally again coach and waiting pushed out Kyle Whittingham. Pretty great football coach for him. This is not a program that seems to me to be run by unintelligent people. So I am wondering what they see in this guy. I'm asking that in a non loaded way. I'm assuming there's something he, he did run some good defenses there. I mean let's just say Kyle helped with that. I, I like, I'm not being unfair. I'm literally asking what is his, what is his modest operandi going to be like? What is his thing that they have been so eager to to retain him as coach in waiting to put him in this chair. He talked to Victor media days. He wants to improve their quarterback development. They haven't had a guy drafted since Alex Smith. I'm not trying to be mean about it. I'm really just asking like what is the, the thing I think you're being

[Richard Johnson]

a little obtuse about defensive coordinator, longtime defensive coordinator, program guy who has led a great defense year over year over year and embodies your program ID taking this thing over for the older coach who as you said, you pretty much nudged out. Like I don't. It's just not that deep.

[Alex Kirshner]

Okay. Yes. The defenses at Utah have been the defenses at Utah. If it was that, then that's that. Sure, totally.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah. Like it's, there's just not, there's just not much of anything to look for as far as like deeper meaning to all this. I mean they did the thing many a college football program has done before and we'll do again.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah. He was talking at Big 12 media days about how he'd like to get a quarterback drafted. They're acutely aware that they haven't had one since Alex Smith in 05 and that's interesting. It dovetails to my rose which is good quarterback room I think Devin Dampier who I think now has two years of eligibility left because of the five year change is proven and Bird Ficklin played in 12 games last year and was really good left hander, did what they asked him to do. Not throwing the ball very much. Threw the ball less than three times a game. But they used him in the battering, not even battering ram way but in the quarterback run game. Designed quarterback run game, often on the edges. He was very effective doing that. My thorn for this year specifically. There's a lot of them actually. You could do a general Michigan exodus thing here and pick on a lot of different players who left John Henry Daly, the edge rusher, J.J. buchanan, mini breakout as a receiver, tight end Flex Smith Snowden who I know you love corner back. Those guys all play for Michigan and a lot of the staff coach for Michigan now. But I want to focus on one position group particularly which is not even really part of the Michigan story. It is judgment day for the Utah offensive line. These dudes were dominant last year. Whittingham said it was the best offensive line he ever had. They played that way against everybody except Texas Tech. Five all Big 12 players, two of them first round NFL tackles Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu. All of them gone. Whittingham gone, line coach Jim Harding gone with him at Michigan. I don't know if I've ever seen one position group in a one year period other than just picking one great quarterback lose as much as Utah is losing on the offensive line this year. It's insane. I've never. We've never seen this before at this level of offensive line just all gone at once, have we?

[Richard Johnson]

I don't know. But at this level, no, nothing jumps to mind. I'm sure there's one of them.

[Alex Kirshner]

But it's brutal to deal with this on a one year turnaround and it also presents fair questions about Dampier and Ficklin who are both promising guys in different ways. But they're not really conventional drop back guys who stand in there, you know, like they're guys who run downhill and really, really benefited from playing behind those dudes that Oregon had on the offense Oregon that Utah had on the offensive line. It just is a question of what the Regression will look like how big will it be? It has to be. It's not like they're just sitting by and doing nothing. By the way. Of course they're not. Their right tackle is coming over from the FCS champs, Montana State. That's Cedric Jefferson. They have a five star true freshman, one of their biggest recruits ever, Kelvin Oboe, who might play left tackle. My guess is that some of the Utah line development is in the walls, it's in the recruiting footprint. It might not even depend on a specific coaching staff, but this is just so daunting. And also by the way, they lost all four starting defensive linemen. It's just, it's a lot and I am expecting them to underperform a, you know, the record that they ultimately got to last year. I think it just, it feels like it's, it has to be a little bit of a step back because of what they're losing on the lines. I just, if not Scally should probably be coach of the year in the Big 12.

[Richard Johnson]

From underperform to a team that I think might overperform, quite frankly, or at least did last year. Houston, they actually, I think they have an anmish dynamic at, at quarterback where if Connor Wegman goes down for whatever reason as a guy who can move a little bit and maybe could get himself into trouble here and there. You've got Keyshawn Henderson who you're probably not ready to start right now, but five star player coming in right now and hopefully, hopefully sitting on the bench, sit down and learn. So. And I think even Wegman has said like this kid is crazy good. So Houston, maybe I'm a year early on this, but your friend and mine, Makai Hughes returns to the Willie Fritz program. He went to Oregon from Tulane. We thought it was going to be really good. Was not a factor for Oregon left the program and is now at with Fritz at Houston. Bringing Amari Thomas back I think for Houston is massive. I think you're losing some players on that roster. Yeah, you're losing some players on that roster for pass catchers, especially Tanner Causal who is on the Jags right now and is. Is a player who was really a change agent for you last year. But bringing Amari Thomas back is big and I think if you're going to have Wegman, if you're going to depend on Wegman, you're going to depend on Hughes running the ball and thinking that we can just reinsert him into our thing and get the best version out of him. And you're. I don't want to say pivoting the offense because Dean Connors was good for them as a running back last year. But I think you say, all right, we've got Amari Thomas, we've got something in the passing game that we can, that we can build on.

[Alex Kirshner]

I'm waiting for the quarterback change. I'm waiting for it.

[Richard Johnson]

I don't think, I don't think you're going to need one, to be honest with you. I think it's an if he gets hurt situation. Wegman was not the problem last year.

[Alex Kirshner]

No, he was. Wegman played fine for them last year. Wegman played fine for them last year. He was the best version that we've seen of him. But when they recruited this kid who's the sun, the moon and the stars, the recruiting press around him was that part of the deal was that he expected to play quickly. And you know how these things go with retention and the pressures to get guys like that on the field when they're a possibly transformative player for you. Wegman just had the best year of his career and they won 10 games, so this is not really fair to him. But I'm just waiting until we see the possibly the greatest recruit that they've ever had. Not going to say possibly the greatest quarterback they've ever had because Andre Ware exists. Of course students of history will know, but this guy's everything for them. If, if it works out long run, he could be everything for them.

[Richard Johnson]

Patrick Overmeyer in a tight end from UTSA I think is going to be a really intriguing player for them and maybe they slot him in. I don't think he's going to be like, like for like with what they lost at tight end but maybe, maybe give you enough and if you pair that with the Mark Thomas, you have something in the passing. And the thorn here though however is a pretty hewn out front seven which is tough. You know, I, I thought their defense is going to be pretty tough, pretty bad. After She'll Wood, she'll. Woods left for Texas Tech, right? Yes, he left for Texas Tech. But Houston's defense was able to kind of hold their water. I mean they were not, you know, they weren't 20, 21 Georgia, but they're pretty good last year.

[Alex Kirshner]

We have Arizona up next here. Arizona last year was an upstart, surprisingly good 9 and 3 plus a bowl loss and probably should have been 10 and 2 with a great win over BYU that they frittered away late. My rose defense should be really good again. They seemingly hit a home run Coordinator higher with Danny Gonzalez there. And they have some serious losses to contend with. Trade on stukes. The cornerback was a second round pick among a secondary that has five guys currently on NFL rosters from Arizona. That's quite an export of talent at one position for a program like this. Four of them got drafted. They still have an all big 12 corner back in the fold in Jvon Cole and seem to have something going developmentally at that position that makes you think that the back end of the defense will be surehanded or will be stout. I say sure handed. It's an interception term. I think the front will be good. Trey Smith is a really good hybrid player who came with Brent Brennan a couple years back from San Jose State. He was good in 24. He got hurt last year, but he's back. He's a captain for them. They have Mays Pesse, who's a defensive tackle who was as a true freshman very promising for them, plugging up the run. Tay Brown, off ball linebacker, was third team all league. He's back. He's an athlete, very rangy type of player. So they got major losses, especially at defensive back, but they just seem pretty good at this. We talked in the preview last year about how Brennan seemed to be gearing up for a real identity shift after Tedro McMillan moved on to the NFL to become a program that, you know, won games primarily by keeping you off the board. And it is in progress. I think that's happening. My bud. Richard, you think there's anything left in the no FA feeda banana stand that we have not seen yet, but they

[Richard Johnson]

sure as hell do.

[Alex Kirshner]

I mean, I got him.

[Richard Johnson]

Brent Brennan handed me a resume that was the beginning of no fit as Heisman campaign.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah, personally handed it to. I noticed this. I didn't know that. That's good. That's good. It's good when the head coach gets involved in a Heisman campaign in July. He has never been as good as he was in his debut years. The starter in 23. With McMillan, that was the breakout year for both of them. Then they were both back in 24. It didn't go very well. McMillan was in the NFL last year. He gave them pretty Much average Big 12 quarterback production last year. And some of the counting stats say it was better. But if you look at down to down, you include this next thing, which was a big problem that they're probably banking that Heisman voters won't notice. He got sacked 26 times last year, comfortably tops in the league because Shedeur Sanders no longer Played for Colorado. It's an offensive line stat, but it's also quarterback stat. It's both. And they need to stop doing that. Like he needs to stop doing that. Everyone needs to stop doing that. The wideout group that he has this year is a little unproven, but it's interesting. They got a guy, Trey Spivey, who had get this 23 catches last year, but seven touchdowns make them count.

[Richard Johnson]

It's about efficiency is what it's about.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah. Nobody else, I assure you in college football or pro football last year had a ratio like that of that many touchdowns against that few catches. My thorn two things. Offensive line and Fafita is getting the ball out of his hands continues to be an issue. And the losses from the line include the one all conference guy on that line. So I'm worried about the protection and the ability to get the run game going with this offensive line. I think that could be a recurring issue. Also they got a bad schedule break which in the Big 12 and ACC, especially in all the leagues. Now the powers, but especially these two, it really matters. They got at byu, at Texas Tech, they got Utah, they got at Kansas State, they got Arizona State all on here. That's tough. And that is why this probably is a 4 to 6 win team instead of a 6 to 8 win team just as we look at it right now.

[Richard Johnson]

They were also, they were also way better on defense last year than I think I kind of realized and given credit for which I say on in one breath, which is when I also tell you that Deshaun McKnight who had like 12 tackles for loss for the defensive tackle position now plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yes, that's a good point. Thank you for adding that. I should have mentioned that. I think Brennan has had, has earned some faith after last year. They didn't have last year, but it could get a little rough around the edges because of the offensive line and the schedule. One thing that is not rough around the edges is the desert mark with the cactus. That Arizona logo that you can get on a sweatshirt from our friends at home field. I remember talking about this with Jacob Bucher, a friend of ours who works at home field a couple months ago. There's certain logo marks, Richard, that just never miss that. Just anybody could wear them. You could put them on anything and you would think, wow, the University of Arizona Tucson looks like the coolest place in the world. The Arizona desert mark with the cactus is a top five logo in all of college sports. It's one of the greatest now, don't get. Don't get jealous, everyone. If you're not an Arizona fan, your logos are great, too. And the home field promise is that when they put your logos on, sweatshirts, T shirts, joggers, hats, what have you, they're going to put a lot of thought, a lot of care into it because they know that these shirts are going to be bought, these pants are going to be bought, these sweatshirts are going to be bought by people who really care. And so if they're not made by people who care, who honor that level of commitment, they're not going to be good. This is why home [e-mail] is a, in my opinion, complete standout, best in the business of collegiate apparel. Thank you very much to our longtime [e-mail] seriously, the cactus is amazing. Speaking of cacti, see what I did? Arizona State,

[Richard Johnson]

the Sun Devils. I do love Amari Miller as a transfer wide receiver, if we're going to. But anything on this, I like.

[Alex Kirshner]

Sorry, Colorado.

[Richard Johnson]

We both like Kenny Dillingham, obviously, and I just don't really know how he. He's gonna do it again.

[Alex Kirshner]

Then why stay?

[Richard Johnson]

Well, he stayed because I think he felt that the program was leveling up in the way that it needed to. Now, I don't know that they necessarily did that immediately with this roster, but I do think in a medium term, I think he can see that. All right, we're. We're leveling up. We're going to continue to kind of stairstep our stair step, our contributions. I don't know if he got his $25 million whale donor that he went out and sought, but I'm sure they got a couple donors in the boat to give big amounts and help them out. I just really do not like this quarterback situation. I mean, Cutter Bowley comes in from Kentucky, who. I think it wasn't all on him last year at Kentucky.

[Alex Kirshner]

Well, it wasn't. It got better with him. It kind of for a moment, looked like he might be saving Mark Stoops his job after the disastrous Zach Calzada thing.

[Richard Johnson]

He.

[Alex Kirshner]

He was. I mean, I don't want to get carried away, but he was.

[Richard Johnson]

But, yes, I. Yes. What you're saying is. Yes, that. That's about how I see it. It's about how I see it as well. However, that guy is an interception. Like, I. I stick in. Not all his fault. I get that. But that's also in there. So there's that or there's Mikey Keane, which What?

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah. Still doing it. Still doing it. That's a long time college football career.

[Richard Johnson]

Yes, yes. Obviously your best running back is not here in Relig Brown who now plays at Texas. However, they bring in a 1200 yard rusher in marquis gills from an FCS which. Okay, all right. You went and you took FCS production. I am interested in how this is going to work.

[Alex Kirshner]

Mikey Keane was at UCF in 2021. In 2022.

[Richard Johnson]

Incredible.

[Alex Kirshner]

He was at Fresno State in 2023 and 24. He was at Michigan last year, right?

[Richard Johnson]

Yes, yes.

[Alex Kirshner]

So 2021. So that's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I mean, it's only six years. Only this, which in this, in this economy.

[Richard Johnson]

I will also say like this defense is too gutted for me to. This is when I talk about like, all right, maybe not immediately. Are you seeing the, the. The. Whatever you needed to see from a resource perspective because it's a brand new defense and I just, I don't think Arizona State should be turning over the defense year in, year out.

[Alex Kirshner]

Sometimes that's the game.

[Richard Johnson]

I get it. But if you're. I'm not arguing with you, but I'm just saying kind of thinking out loud here. If you're trying to be this a Big 12 contender year in, a year out, you gotta try to build something year over year. Um, also, this is an open question. I'm gonna look this up live. There's no way Jeff Sims is still on this team. There's just no way.

[Alex Kirshner]

Uh, he. No, come on. No way. No, no, no, don't. No, come on. He is not. Although there is no chance. Dude, no, he is not.

[Richard Johnson]

No, he's a giant. Yeah, he. Yes, he actually is switching positions at Giants minicamp. That is where Jeff Simpson.

[Alex Kirshner]

Great story last year though, when Sam Levitt was hurt. The way that he came in at the end of last season and had a legacy game for them, played pretty well for a few weeks for them, was cool and I think very worthy of respect. The Relik Brown thing does suck, huh? Him being at Texas, that's tough. That stinks. I like a 1200 yard FCS guy. That's cool. That's cool to replace, but that's. It does feel like this has come up a lot in preview season this year. It's just like this team's like best or second or third best player just plays for Texas. Now. This is. You can say this about a lot of teams. You can say this about NC State, you can say this about Auburn, you can say this about Pittsburgh. You can say this about Arizona State. There's probably more. We haven't done the SEC yet.

[Richard Johnson]

Championship or bus.

[Alex Kirshner]

Maybe. Maybe something's got to be done about

[Richard Johnson]

Texas Championship or Boston. Awesome.

[Alex Kirshner]

Better win, Steve. Better win because this is at least the fourth team we've encountered that I can think of already that their best player plays for you now, so better do something with it. Or not. He wasn't their best player, but one of their best players.

[Richard Johnson]

Yes.

[Alex Kirshner]

Really. Brown, Iowa State Disclaimer Guess what we're doing here, Richard. We are. Drumroll.

[Richard Johnson]

Turn it over.

[Alex Kirshner]

We're just guessing. Yeah, we are guessing. Jimmy Rogers in Matt Campbell out. A lot of their good players out with Matt Campbell to Penn state. They have 13 returning starts according to the Bill Connolly calculation, though they are importing 110 other starts from the portal. Reminder about Jimmy Rogers. He was very successful at South Dakota State. He spent a year at Washington State. Left in a huff when Matt Campbell went to Penn State. Rose is that this was an encouraging offseason arc, as much as it could be with the guesswork implied for the defense. They went at Washington State last year from the 90s to the 30s in defensive SP plus in his one year there, Jimmy Rogers, and he is bringing the coordinator Jesse Bobbitt and 12 guys from that defense. The two big names here, Richard, you already mentioned one of them. We were doing the PAC12 preview. Isaac Terrell was really good at Wazoo and Malachi Taase plays for Iowa State now. Coming with Rogers, my bud is the quarterback Jalen Rayner. Jalen Rayner has been starting for parts of three years, two full ones for Arkansas State. His numbers are more fine than great, but first impressions really matter and he kind of turned that program around when it looked a couple years ago like Butch Jones was about to get fired. If you remember those those days, he's played in four power conference games and got dump trucked in three of them. Funny enough, the exception was against Iowa State last year when he played solidly against what was then the number 14 team in the land and they lost 24 to 16. I don't want to get overhyped about this because I think it is easy to get overhyped about the G6 quarterback coming up and it can work, but it also very much can't. But I think in general, just the chance to see what this guy will do, what the upside is at this level is interesting. Do you or your NFL draft friends who love quarterback evals on mechanics, things like that, have any takes on Jalen Rayner.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, I think there's some, some people who sort of take a look at it and you say, all right, maybe we can do something a little bit with that. Obviously a little small. He's only like 6ft tall, but the athleticism is there. I mean, it's, it. Yeah, it's in there.

[Alex Kirshner]

He's a little bit similar to Rocco Becht, actually, stature wise, like not big, not big people. Neither of them. Beckt, of course, the quarterback of the last few seasons. My thorn is that if you were going to be elevating a quarterback from the Sun Belt to the Big 12 and hoping to get good results, you probably would not have wanted your old coach to take your five best receivers and tight ends with him to Penn State. Those being generally all conference guys. You. That wouldn't be the best. So you're not putting him into the most proven or stable environment of weapons. And yeah, those guys are at Penn State. Remember those, those good tight ends who were doing all that work for Iowa State last year. Good wide receivers. They're just not here anymore. And so Jalen Rayner has to figure this out on the fly with a new group and probably in year one, a lesser group than they had at those positions last year. That's tough.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, I think that Iowa State. So also Jamie Pollard retiring, by the way, at Iowa State as well.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yes, absolutely.

[Richard Johnson]

Just a whole lot of new day at Iowa State. I don't think anybody's diluted enough to think this is going to be Atwater instant. I don't think it can be at Iowa State for a lot of different reasons. You just have to hope that by the end of the season you are seeing part of the developmental build for the program that you are going to have to be.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yep, it's. It's not exactly year zero, but it's very much a year one. And I think just you're hoping for some concept to be demonstrated. Kansas State. Richard, speaking of new head coaches.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, Kansas State. I think that Kansas State is interesting because I don't think. What I think is under the radar with Chris Climan is I'm not sure Kansas State was ready to meet the moment. In as far as rev share and Il stuff. I don't know if we really talked about this, but I tend to think that Kansas State was hoping that their culture would win out and I actually thought that that was a decent bet with Climan and it just. It just didn't end up working out. Climb and I don't know if they called it a Retirement, maybe a step aside or whatever it was when he left at the end of the season. I think that Kansas State, obviously, as we also know, was probably going to miss out on Colin Klein if they hadn't moved when they did. Because Colin Klein was going somewhere last year, I would imagine if it wasn't Kansas State. So they went and did that. They went and got general manager and Trey Scott, who was with the Raiders for some years and brings in your NFL GM plaudits. He was actually clients backup at Kansas State. They know each other and they go way back. So how they're building it for the medium term. Avery Johnson is back quarterback, which I thought he's another guy who. God, he has been in my zeitgeist for so long as a quarterback. So Avery Johnson comes back. You know the deal with him if he doesn't turn the ball over. All right. It's kind of interesting. You know, he can move, yada, yada yada. You know what it is with Avery Johnson? The schedule's good. No Texas Tech, no byu, no Utah.

[Alex Kirshner]

It's good for them. It's a manageable schedule. You mean. Yeah, it's good. You kind of mean it's bad.

[Richard Johnson]

Yes. By good, I mean bad. And for if you're going to be Kansas State, year one, I think that's about what you want. They get a Belichick overseas in week one when they go to. I think it's the Ireland game, I believe.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yes.

[Richard Johnson]

Is this the second year in a row they've played the Ireland game?

[Alex Kirshner]

Yep.

[Richard Johnson]

Okay. All right. Well, they love starting the season over in Ireland.

[Alex Kirshner]

Congratulations. But I got to catch you now. I'm noticing this. Sorry, but I'm noticing this in real time. You're mixing up purple teams. It's TCU that is playing North Carolina in Dublin. Oh.

[Richard Johnson]

Oh, okay. All right. Thank you.

[Alex Kirshner]

Sorry, I.

[Richard Johnson]

We.

[Alex Kirshner]

My fault for not catching. Yeah, we also. Second half of that series, they're going to Dublin.

[Richard Johnson]

Yes. We are also talking about TCU next on our list. Excuse me. Joe Jackson actually was proof positive of the former Ohio State skill position player that you can get something out of. Had a truckload of yards for them last year as an offensive player, offensive contributor. And you're hoping that you get that again for him. So year one at Kansas State just like it is year one at Iowa State. Don't necessarily think this thing is going to come in and we get back to 10 and 2, for instance. Intriguing also about climate. Climate is still around. He is kind of helping Colin Klein get on his feet and kind of as a first year head coach. And Kleiman knows the program. I'm not saying Colin Klein is another program, but Chris Kleiman kind of knows the current, where the program currently is. And there's been a little bit of that in the building as well there over the last couple months.

[Alex Kirshner]

Maybe it works for them because it just works for them. I have not spent time in that building. I don't really know the Manhattan, Kansas local culture in any special way. So I don't want to overstate this, but they literally play in the Bill Snyder Stadium. There's Kleiman still in the building. Not that Snyder actually read a story in the Topeka Capital Journal some time ago about how he lives. Kind of just a quiet retirement now, but there's a lot of, a lot of legacy, you know, a lot of people floating around. And Snyder, of course, is still kind of around the program. Like he came to Colin Klein, he played for him and then he had Snyder at his press conference when he got hired. I'm not implying meddling, it's just, you know, a lot of, a lot of names, a lot of potential cooks around the program. At Kansas State it is probably fine, but that's a lot of people. TCU sticking with purple in this league. Rose I think they're going to run the ball in a way they didn't last year. They had Kvorian Barnes get hurt with plenty of Runway left in the season and then Jeremy Payne came on pretty strong at the end of the year. Had nice counting stats, but gotta be careful overall. The run stats last year were not very good on an efficiency basis and so they weren't very good for scoring points. I don't think that when Kendall Briles is the offensive coordinator there that they were really putting their back into developing a running game in the way that they could have. You only have so many minutes of practice and dollars in recruiting to build an offense a certain way. And my guess is that with the new offensive coordinator, Gordon Samas from UConn, they're going to sort of shift their specialty a bit to running the damn ball this year. They also have a mix of portal guys returning injured players, a seventh year guy on the offensive line who won an appeal that I think would suggest they should be able to get a little bit more push on the offensive line run blocking this year. And that was just what UConn was good at under Gordon Samas, the new offensive coordinator. And you also kind of look at the personnel Josh Hoover is at Indiana now quarterback. That's one thing. Even a slightly different problem is that Eric McAllister, one of the great wide receivers in the sport the last few years is now in the National Football League. So I think this has to be a more running based TCU team. It just seems unlikely that they would be able to play the same way or that they would want to play the same way that they have in the past. And I say that knowing who their head coach is and knowing what tree the Air Raid tree, Mike Leach's tree, Sonny Dykes comes from, that will be a bit of a change. But I, I think they're going in that direction. My bud is however the quarterback Richard. Has there ever been that you can think of Because I couldn't an Ivy League to power four transfer QB who started right away.

[Richard Johnson]

I'm. Somebody's gonna regale us.

[Alex Kirshner]

But not I hope someone does.

[Richard Johnson]

Obviously not off the top of my head. I am actually really interested in how this is gonna work. Jaden Craig had some NFL draft burn the year before. It kind of tapered off but he had some some NFL draft burn the year before and he comes in from Harvard. I think Texas. Excuse me. I think TCU is in a situation where they are just hoping that they get a guy who doesn't turn the ball over. I think Sonny Dykes has made some interested, interesting comments about the fact that Josh Hoover's ball security was a problem last year and really sunk them in some games. So they are hoping. Jaden, I don't, I'm not really trying to do like a full on game manager thing with Jaden Craig but like

[Alex Kirshner]

25 to 7, don't turn the ball over. Yes. He didn't throw them at. He did not throw him really at Harvard. 25, seven touchdowns picks, which is good.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, it's just a please don't turn

[Alex Kirshner]

the ball over dude. Yeah. This dude also is. I think he's the kind of player which will surprise nobody because he comes from Harvard who you're also hoping is a culture guy, leader, captain like he it's smartest guy in the room. He looks the part right like he's an economics concentration at Harvard. Went to Seton Hall Prep before that. He's from Montclair, New Jersey, one of the ritzy suburbs around New York. Walter Payton finalist. Everyone says he's just an amazing leader and guy. I think they're hoping for. Hoping for culture, hoping for needless to say quick picking up of the playbook.

[Richard Johnson]

Well I think part of that quick pickup is I think Thomas is going to bring some. It's funny because like Browse is doing some of the same stuff. Like I think you're going to look and you say Thomas offensive line coach by trade, they're going to be smashy. Smashy. But like there were things that UConn did on offense that were easy buttons for Joe Finana. And I think when you had a guy who didn't have any arm strength, which Joe Finana did, you did some things screen wise and short area stuff that really helped that offense out. In the passing game they had Skyler Bella and. Yes, yes. And you did some of that stuff. You just. Because that's, I mean, that's the air raid. So I think if I'm Sunny Dykes, I understand. Or I understand how if I'm Sonny Dykes, I sort of think, well, we can bolt on some of the running bona fides and we can do a couple things. Well, in the running game, we can bolt it onto a passing game that's not terribly dissimilar from what we had. It is because it's not air raid. But there's some stuff in there that we had always done. And I'm high on tcu, to be honest with you. I'm interested in how it's going to work.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah, I mean, we put a couple weeks back, when you're listening to this, we put Sonny Dykes on our coach Departure Confidence draft just because he's kind of been a fan base name the last couple of years. But after the five and seven following the national title game season, nine wins, nine wins. Couple nine and fours for them the last couple years. And they look stable. The record says they're stable. And I agree with you that what they are probably going to try to do on offense this year is at least going to be interesting. Richard, one of the teams that had one of the busiest off seasons in a weird way in this league, the Cincinnati Bearcats. Oh, excuse me, I forgot my thorn for tcu. A below average defense last year regressed in Andy Avalos's second season as coordinator. You don't like regression in your second year. Bunch of the good players are gone. Bud Clark, the safety, iconic player for them, finally gone. Couple of very athletic linebackers.

[Richard Johnson]

Finally gone.

[Alex Kirshner]

So far, yes, he'd been there for a while.

[Richard Johnson]

He'd been there for a long time. Yeah, he was on the champ. He was on the.

[Alex Kirshner]

He was on the title. TCU playoff team. Yeah. Yeah. Couple of very good linebackers drafted into the NFL. They need several breakouts from several different position groups might get them, but I'm not banking on them winning slugfests this year. Take us to Cincinnati.

[Richard Johnson]

Cincinnati, a team that absolutely nothing happened for in the off season. As we know. The Rose, weirdly enough. Now, I don't know if it's going to be a long term rose for them, but the Rose is at least in the immediacy dodging the Brendan Sorsby bullet. If that was a thing that was always coming, you did find your way around it. Now again, you may not find your way around it in the medium term, but you do, at least for this season.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah. Just to be clear about that, where are we on that? Because it was obviously used as a whataboutist point by Texas Tech fans and such while that was all going on. Because. And why was that the case? Why was people focusing on Texas Tech? Well, it's because you put out the active fire before you investigate previous fires, obviously. Let's not play stupid. But what is the deal with Cincinnati in that as far as like an investigation is that.

[Richard Johnson]

Well, I don't know if it's a formal investigation, but the NCAA did send them an inquiry letter. Obviously today's not talking about it. We don't comment on pending anymore. So the NCAA is looking into it. I don't know. A full on investigation is the way to say it, but looking into is probably the way to term it. So you know, check back here later when the NCAA either announces a full on investigation or not.

[Alex Kirshner]

Fair enough. So for this year they dodge it. Except there is Richard. Richard, a question I have which is who's going to play quarterback? Because Brendan Sorsby was the guy. He is no longer.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah. And I think when you look at it with Cincinnati, they have a real. The bud is this dude Cade Wolford who comes in from Kent State who I think is going to give them some explosion in the passing game. He had whatever, 19 catches, which you're like, huh, that's kind of weird. Then you see 509 yards and you're

[Alex Kirshner]

like, huh, pay me in large Bills, please.

[Richard Johnson]

What do we got there? So they're doing. You might remember this name at quarterback. J.C. french. Georgia Southern.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yes. And.

[Richard Johnson]

Or, and, or Liam O' Brien from Penn is coming in here.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah.

[Richard Johnson]

So maybe J.C. french. Maybe J.C. french gives you what you want.

[Alex Kirshner]

Maybe it isn't great for them at that position right now. It requires some unforeseen development which may be big job on Scott Satterfield's hands. Defensively they no longer have the Godfather. Dante Corleone. Yeah, that's tough.

[Richard Johnson]

They're. They're switching the vibes on defense and I think that's more or less fine. They were not getting at the quarterback at all. They were not really pressuring, not really tfl, not really their thing. Now they were playing more of a drop 8ish system. I think you can do that if you had a guy like Dante Corleone who you trusted up front to kind of hold water and, and do kind of the work of a man and a half, maybe two because he was such a good player for them. They also lost their other defensive tackle as well. But they are also switching. They're switching to more kind of like a 4 to 5 on defense. So they are switching to ID on defense.

[Alex Kirshner]

You mentioned Wolford from Kent State. They also have J.V. gibson from Oklahoma. I mentioned him a couple years ago. He had. He was an FCS transfer up to Oklahoma who had been like interesting and was thought like he could be a guy who would help turn around the Brett Venables tenure there, which sort of wound up happening. Anyway, he's here now and the thing that I know about him is that he's a complete burner. Just has like incredible speed. Really keeps it moving. Oh wait, I'm talking. Oh wait, hold on, hold on. It's a different player. It's J. That's hilarious. Jaden and JB. Sorry. 3, 2, 1. Richard, you mentioned Wolford from Kent State. They also have another very interesting kind of call up wide receiver who. His name is JV Gibson. He had put up big numbers at a couple of different Arkansas smaller schools. Like he played at Arkansas at Monticello. He played at Arkansas. Pine bluff.

[Richard Johnson]

Incredible.

[Alex Kirshner]

Like second team FCS all American in 24. Went to Oklahoma last year and was. Was basically buried on the chart. Had 18 catches. So he was playing a little bit but just was behind people. He is now here at Cincinnati. They have to do a lot at the skill position department because one of their like seminal players under Satterfield, Joe Royer, the tight end who did a lot for them blocking and catching the last two years, is gone. He plays for the Browns now. They need wideouts to be game breakers this year. They have a couple interesting candidates to be that for whoever winds up throwing the ball. So I'm intrigued by that. I'm also intrigued Richard, as always by our partners at Nokian Tires who are entering their fifth season as a sponsor of Split Zone duo Nokian Tires. The inventor of the winter tire obviously is widely known for making A tire that performs particularly well, that is sustainably made, that is durable, that will do well for you and in wintry conditions. But guess what? Nokian is a multipurpose tire company and also makes tires. In fact, oftentimes the same tires that we believe will do a wonderful job for you any time of year, including when you are doing your preseason college football road trips, getting out on the road. Before you are glued to your television every Saturday, we want to say thank you to Nokian Tires, their team at home and abroad. We've got listeners in Finland now. We've got listeners I know in the great state of Tennessee where Nokian makes tires right now, right here in the United States of America. Thank you to Nokian Tires for your sponsorship of Split Zone Duo. Richard, what do you think about Baylor this year? Probably time to cop to a mistake that I made in prepping the notes for the Coach Confidence Draft, huh?

[Richard Johnson]

If it's not missing miss leaving off a coach, it might be leaving off a team from a. From a preview, which I don't think we've done, but we'll figure it out

[Alex Kirshner]

by the end to that. Yeah. So we obviously got some feedback on this. We did the Coach Confidence Draft during relaunch week.

[Richard Johnson]

We're just so confident about Dave Aranda that we didn't even put him on the list. That is, by the way, that is what it will be if Baylor ends up being good this year.

[Alex Kirshner]

We named 27 coaches that we wanted to at least talk about if they might be fired or retire, and we didn't put Dave Aranda on there. There's nothing to it, folks. No expression of confidence other than too much confidence in my ability to put down a spreadsheet that matches what was in my brain. So that's all that happened there. I do not come into this with a great deal of optimism that Dave Randa is definitely good in that job. But my question to you, Richard, this is my bud, but I'm making you do the work. Obviously, my bud is the quarterback, D.J. lagway. One year ago, we thought this guy was unreal. He had a terrible year in a crumbling program that got the coach fired. He's Baylor's now tell us, which DJ Lagway will we see?

[Richard Johnson]

I mean, you just have to hope that the complete and total lost season last year is something that can totally wash away. You hope that in a new experience and closer to home, which Spavital's offensive coordinator in that system and with hopefully a clean bill of health. I mean, it was literally A lost, not just season, a lost calendar year last year for DJ Lagway and you just hope that with some health, hopefully some better decision making and maybe some more running, I think he's going to run a little bit more too. You hope that you put all those, those things together and you say, all right, he, we're going to get the best out of him. However, you're dropping him into a Baylor offense. If you would have dropped him in the Baylor offense, this Baylor offense last year, you're like, whoa, now you may, you may really have something, but you drop him into this current Baylor offensive architecture and not super optimistic about it.

[Alex Kirshner]

Thorne, by the way. Exactly. I agree. Last year I was so excited about the skill positions and like the offensive line too. They had Josh Cameron, Ashton Hawkins, Kobe Prentice, a wide receiver. Michael Trigg, the tight end who was force fed last year, just threw him the ball all the time they, they wasted that year. It didn't happen. It didn't work. Despite some good performances, especially from Trig. Offensive line is four or five new guys. And let's be discerning about what that means when we say four or five new guys because there can be offensive lines that need to be changed. Out of the four guys who are gone from that offensive line, you have an all big 12 guy who graduated and you have a guy at LSU and you have a guy at Kentucky, which is spending money. Doesn't smell great, doesn't smell great. Smells like might like to still have those guys. As best we can tell as we look at the composition of that room, offense still might be okay, but it's taking a lot on faith and a lot of hope in DJ Lagway's development this season. There's my rose is that Dave Aranda is taking attempt number three at defensive coordinator, but really it's attempt number two. Ron Roberts did well there way back when when they were winning the Big 12 and they had three really bad years under Matt Powledge, the defensive coordinator. Now they hire Joe Klanderman from K State who Dave Aranda is talking like he's going to be actually in charge of the defense. Of course, Dave Aranda, prolific defensive coach, national championship defensive coordinator at lsu. Kansas State had some really good defenses under this guy Clanderman. Felix and Adike Uzama became an all American edge rusher. There's a variety of Kansas State Wildcats from the past few years who are currently having NFL careers. Last year's Kansas State group was top five in turnovers, generated and had some good pass Rushing stats. This is useful because they have not had the juice up front in a long, long time. They have Hosea Wheeler maybe, but Richard, I have to come back to this one because we talked about Hosea wheeler in our 26 transfers for 2026 episode. They have him. But as I record this and we might edit this by the time it comes up. We might not or we might just put it in the show notes depending on if this changes in the next days because we get at least a few days before this is going to come out. He's fighting for eligibility and we don't know if he's going to get it. It seems like everyone gets it.

[Richard Johnson]

This is why. Yeah, this is why he's not at Indiana. And we asked this, I think in the vibe checks, the open question we were like, why did Indiana let him leave? And this is why.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah, correct. We didn't flag it at the time. It slipped past the goalie. But we don't know yet if they're going to have him. He would be an amazing get for them for what has been a juiceless defensive front. But let's say even that he doesn't come new coordinator who has put up really good results in this league. They are projected 88th in defensive SP plus, which is terrible. So for this thing to go any way other than Dave Aranda getting fired, they have to outperform what they are supposed to do on defense. One way that you might do that is by having a coordinator that's not accounted for in SP plus projections by having a coordinator make a lot of changes and find some things that stick. All that is at stake there is Dave Randa's career as far as I'm concerned. At least his job career might be

[Richard Johnson]

a little career career is a little dark. But he is, he is stepping away from play calling. That's the one. Hands on. Like he's not calling plays anymore. So. All right, let's see it. All right, we're moving on to Kansas. Andy Kotelniki is so, so back coming from the Penn State experience that was last year. He returns. Jalen Daniels is not back. I am not sure that Jalen Daniels doesn't have eligibility. I'll believe it when I see it when they hit the field the first weekend of September. But yeah, Jalen Daniels is not back on this roster. Cole Ballard and Isaiah Marshall will battle it out at quarterback. They brought in a Chase Jenkins from Rice as well. One thing that I actually hadn't realized that that glance Leipold actually mentioned to Me in front of the program. Chanteraja is Jalen Daniels actually never had a full spring because of all of this kind of injury issues and I hadn't realized that. So these guys have actually played funny enough or they're not real games but these guys actually have some sort of experience chemistry with the offense. Now granted, new slash old offensive coordinator coming back. But you would imagine that Kansas is going to do the thing that Kansas has to do to to win games, which is come in and be weird. So maybe you'll see all three quarterbacks. Man, I don't no. Yeah.

[Alex Kirshner]

The Kansas Jayhawks taught us that it was okay to be weird.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah. Nick McMillan, a Buffalo transfer, almost got over a thousand yards last year at at running back. So it's a lot of new parts that are coming in for this team and we'll see how it goes on offense. I would imagine that they're going to throw it in the stew and and see what comes out and I think that's fine if you're Kansas. Leroy Harris on defense is my bud. He is edge rusher for them who's a contributor. He comes back not a lot, not a lot else on defense comes back.

[Alex Kirshner]

One thing that I'm a little down on here, well, there's a lot that I'm down on and you know, the repeated inability to beat Kansas State. They even threw back in losing to Missouri last year when that came back. One concern is that they actually did have one part of this team that I really liked was the explosive element on offense. They were pretty good at that. They had one of the more frequent explosive play rates. I've got IT at about 80 80th percentile nationally. About a 13% explosive play rate last year. That's very good. The guy who is most responsible for that, most interesting in that area was Emmanuel Henderson, all Big 12 receiver. A true burner, real burner. He is gone. So where will that come from and if that declines, how much will that offset other improvements that Kotelniki is able to make to the offense is a question I have.

[Richard Johnson]

I just think you're, you're really. I'm really interested in how this team balances out because I don't know what they're going to look like up front on defense. And I misspoke when I said they're not bringing a lot back. I meant on the defensive line. I should said I should have been clear about that. They do have an interesting two lane transfer though. Trayvon McAlpine who was all AAC player last year for two lane, so he was a contributor for them, so hopefully bring him in. He contributes to the Big 12 and you can sort of plug and play

[Alex Kirshner]

along the defensive front there on ucf. Let's move to Orlando. I'm still a little stuck in neutral here. I don't really get it as we've talked about and I don't think the Scott Frost hire was imaginative nor is the arc looking that good. But part of preview season is to challenge your priors a bit and see where you might have missed something and where something could change. So I'm going to try to do that. My rose is that they kept their core together pretty well despite a lacking losing first year under Scott Frost. They did not gain a player with a four star transfer rating according to On3, but they didn't lose one either. They did lose some people, but they kept Dwayne Thomas Jr. Their leading receiver, among a few other pass catchers who gave them real production. Last year they kept Lewis Carter their best linebacker, honorable mention, all conference player. They did have like 60 guys go out in the portal and they essentially swapped that for a lot of high school recruiting. So by no means am I saying that this is an especially stable roster, but I think the important people who they wanted to keep they mostly not all mostly kept. And their defense marginally improved last year under do you remember who their coordinator is? Our listeners will love it. No Alex Grinch Wow.

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, I re. I did forget about that.

[Alex Kirshner]

Wow. Yes, he's there. I had forgotten about it as well and had a year of marginal improvement like 10, 15 spots in SP. They were decent. Not good, but decent on that side. So that's something. That's a starting point. My bud, which honestly could have been interchangeable with the rows, is the quarterback room. Last year their quarterback situation was really bad. They were trying to make fetch happen with Taven Jackson, the long ago blue chipper. Just didn't work. Didn't happen. He wasn't good. Cam Thatcher was playing. They had a third quarterback playing parts of last year as well. Didn't work. Not good. This year they got kind of a grab bag. Alonzo Barnett is in from James Madison. I don't think he's great. I don't think he's the reason they made the playoff, but he was the Sunbelt Offensive player of the year. I think at worst Culture guy. Yeah

[Richard Johnson]

yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alex Kirshner]

At worst culture guy they got Keon Jenkins from FIU as the backup. Ostensibly he was FIU's best quarterback in a while, which you know, I know, I know. But he was, he was a solid G6 quarterback last year, among the better quarterbacks in Conference USA. And he's a legit dual threat who will run and who will make a few really exciting plays carrying the football. He's a backup. But they also signed their highest rated quarterback recruit ever out of high school, Rocco Marriott. Top 25 quarterback, four stars on the 247 sports composite.

[Richard Johnson]

Marriott like the hotel, by the way.

[Alex Kirshner]

Marriott like the hotel. Pronounced like the hotel. I always pronounce the hotel Marriott, even though I know it's wrong. That is why it's. It's Marriott. It's Marriott Hotels.

[Richard Johnson]

Is it really?

[Alex Kirshner]

It is, but I always do it wrong as well. And I bet 95% of our list as well. And I typically try to stay at Marriott's because there's more of them. So, you know, it's. I, I've gotten enough for like two free hotel rooms in my, in my life. It's great. Yeah. There's nothing that makes you feel better than a free night in the courtyard when you're, when you're able to book it on points. So they have three quarterbacks here who are in different ways and on different timelines and for different roles. Interesting. That does not mean that that will convey this year to having some of the better passing offense in the Big 12. But I can look at this and say, huh, interesting. Maybe something there. And I wasn't saying that last year. You can go and check the tape. So that's something. The thorn is that there is nothing to be overjoyed or thrilled about at all. They had a good running back duo last year, Miles Montgomery and Jaden Nixon. They're both trying to stick in the NFL and they didn't win when they had them. And nothing in the recruiting world has made it look like the calvary is galvanized and like they're on the way up. Unless I've missed it.

[Richard Johnson]

I think that's about the long and short of it for your friends at ucf. I also have a general. I don't really know what you're playing at situation there with ucf. I don't know, man. Yes. We're just going to have to see it. West Virginia definitely going to have to see it.

[Alex Kirshner]

Rose.

[Richard Johnson]

There is just no way this team can be more injured than it was last year. There's just no way. Played five quarterbacks last year. Okay. The Michael Hawkins experience comes to West Virginia. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but for the Reasons you can assume. I'm actually kinda interested in how this is going to look. I think this could be kind of cool.

[Alex Kirshner]

Upgrade.

[Richard Johnson]

He will battle with, with. With Scotty Fox. Scotty Fox was pressed into duty last year, probably a little bit too early for him, but they will battle the quarterback or the quarterback competition in camp, maybe you play two quarterbacks. Why wouldn't Rich Rod play two quarterbacks? The obvious bud is Camp Cook. It's probably a rose if we're honest. Camp Cook situation comes in from Jack State at running back. So you're going to have the thing that we want with Richard offense, a quarterback who can go, a running back who can definitely go. All right. You'll at least have that.

[Alex Kirshner]

I got the impression from my western Pennsylvania area birds that West Virginia is comporting itself with more seriousness on the recruiting trail as Rich Rod's tenure gets longer.

[Richard Johnson]

Okay. All right. That's interesting.

[Alex Kirshner]

Something it doesn't. It's not like massively obvious from the recruiting rankings, but I think at least the locals, the Morgantown people, are excited and somewhat activated, which is now a huge part of any head coach's job is do you have people feeling in such a way that they are likelier to give you some money? I think it really helped that he came back last year and they beat Pitt in that stupid game in that stupid backyard brawl that was in like his second or third week in that job. I think that actually really helped that they got to play Country Roads three weeks into his tenure in an overtime win over a team that they hate. Not that that paid a lot of dividends over the course of last season. They won, what, two games in the Big 12. But long run, people seem activated there and that's very good for them. Colorado good?

[Richard Johnson]

Well, I was just quickly gutted on defense. Oh, brand new. Brand new cast characters on defense. So I take your pick.

[Alex Kirshner]

So Colorado goes into the fourth year of Deion Sanders having finished last in the Big 12 and looking not hopeless, but hope challenged. I think Dion is not really building a program. He is basically putting together a roster every year in the way that I would play fantasy baseball. Like, I have a couple keepers, I have a couple of rookie draft picks. I enjoy putting together my lineup week to week, and that's how I do it. And I think that's kind of just what it is. Now at Colorado, new offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, new defensive coordinator Chris Marv. Marion comes over after a year as the head coach at Sac State. Marv is an internal promotion after the last coordinator went to an NFL job. Do you think that I should try to do this preview in a way that's different than just reading off a transfer portal list?

[Richard Johnson]

I mean, kind of. Because what I think Colorado has in a couple of different spots. Interesting. I think you do obviously have to start with Dion himself. I think Dion is. He's telling everybody that he's more himself this year. I think he is pretty openly copying to the fact that and this is understandable, the cancer situation that he had last year took a lot out of him. I mean, he's away from this team for months on end last off season. It seems like he's beaten that and is past that. We're thankful for that, obviously, that he's in good health, but it, it seems like he's kind of admitting that he was a diminished version of himself last year and that he's back to the old self and that you're hoping that you're hoping that pays well. Dividends where exactly? I'm not so sure they have an interesting situation with Julian Lewis quarterback, because I think they are very. They are very clearly taking the pressure off of him. I've never heard a coach say I don't need my quarterback to be the leader of the team, which is what Deion has said about Julian Lewis. Now, Julian Lewis does not turn 19 until September, so that is something. Remember, he reclassified to be on Colorado's team, so there's something to that. But that's, that's part of the deal here. You're hoping, I think if you're a Colorado person, that the combination of a go go offense, which hopefully can help mask some of your deficiencies along the offensive line by funky looks, funky formations, motion shifts, et cetera, different personnel looks than you may get week in and week out in college football. You're hoping like that's the upside on offense.

[Alex Kirshner]

Brennan runs a different offense. There's going to be two running backs. A lot is one thing that you should expect.

[Richard Johnson]

They will a lot of formation into the boundary. A lot of things that make Colorado something of a change agent week in and week out. I do though have a very open question at what point in time do we get a more public significant schism indict in the wool Colorado people and Dion people. And I think it's if you pull another 4 and 8 ish season.

[Alex Kirshner]

We have done an episode about this before. It was our Dead Letters Colorado episode that you can probably scroll back in this podcast feed and find Colorado under Bill McCartney had a Dion like figure. I think the comps are. We all know the differences, there are many. But Colorado's best coach ever also very much like tried to mold the program in his image and personality. I wouldn't necessarily call it a cult of personality, but really tried to mold the program in a personality based image, let's just put it that way. And it worked because he won. And I think that Deion came in and even in the first year, just by giving them that first month, even though they had a bad year, I think really did some audience capture with Colorado fans and I think when they won, was it nine games or whatever? Like I don't know that there's a huge schism even.

[Richard Johnson]

Like I don't know that there is yet. Go three and nine again and I think there will be.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah, I think Colorado fans have been thrilled to be along for the ride. But if he goes 39 again, yeah, there's some good news on that front. I'll finish on Lewis. He's my bud. He needs to not take a lot of sacks. Last year, his best game, the one that Colorado fans will talk about where he put up a bunch of yards and didn't throw any picks was against West Virginia. But then you look and he took seven sacks and they scored 22 points. Sacks are bad. They are the hidden.

[Richard Johnson]

You heard it here first, let me tell you. But there is not another football podcast that will give you that in depth analysis. I'll tell you that right now.

[Alex Kirshner]

Sacks are bad. Everyone else is is too afraid. They're too afraid to say it, but we're willing to say it. And you have to bring it up with Colorado because Deion is just attempting to build a program without ever really figuring out offensive line. By the way, the one area where they did figure it out is Jordan Seaton who's at LSU now. Working assumption until we see otherwise is the offensive line is bad and so Julian Lewis is going to have to work around that. Brennan's going to try to help with the weird formation stuff and maybe they will succeed. Shedeur kind of made it work, really made it work for one year without it happening. So maybe I don't think they're going to go three and nine again. In part because. Not just in part. I think the main reason is because they pursued a high floor portal strategy and maybe the best example of this is what they did at wide receiver. They have Danny Scudera who is the leading receiver in the country last year from San Francisco State.

[Richard Johnson]

By the way, I don't know that Dion will ever Talk about a player like he talked about Travis. But Dennis Cadaro is getting pretty close,

[Alex Kirshner]

glowing about him like.

[Richard Johnson]

Yes, yes.

[Alex Kirshner]

Okay. Yeah. San Jose State had the leading receiver last year and the second leading receiver, Nick Nash two years ago. So. Or, sorry, the. Yeah, the second leading receiver two years ago. They, they have not just him, they have DeAndre Moore in from Texas, they have Camp Perry, really good receiver from Miami University, the Ohio version. They're going to have productive players at the skill positions. At worst, I think they will be able to score some points in the way they were able to do that under Chedeur where they just, you know, you're not blocking, but you assemble enough skill position talent and do enough formationally, schematically that you can score. And that is generally how their portal approach looked around the roster this year. But my thorn is sort of good luck finding me a path to this defense being better than mediocre and is probably worse than that. You can imagine whatever you want when it might be 11 new transfers and you could say, oh well, this could work if it all fits together. And sure, you could leave that possibility. But what in Dion's tenure so far would make you think that they are some special evaluators of defensive talent despite him being one of the great dbs ever?

[Richard Johnson]

Yeah, I think that's pretty fair overall.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah, they hit big in the portal last year on DJ McKinney. He's at Notre Dame now cornerback. They are portal to the gills with G6 guys, which can work, but you have to be that kind of talent identifiers and developers and I just don't know if they are. They haven't shown an indicator of that. We're going to get an interesting early look because they open with a trip to Georgia Tech which has a lot of turnover. They have an FCS game, then they have Northwestern and Baylor both on the road. So they have a lot of kind of toss up games pretty early in the season that they could win where you don't just know as an article of faith they're going to get blown out. And so there'll be a September team to react pretty strongly too based on what we see before they get forced to play Texas Tech in Utah. I think in back to back games with a bye week between them. Start stronger. Richard. We close with the worst team in the power conferences last year, the Oklahoma State Cowboys under new management.

[Richard Johnson]

Yes, Eric Morris comes in for Oklahoma State. The rose is obvious. They got the quarterback, as far as I'm concerned is the best quarterback in the league. I don't know if they've got. I don't know if they got what they need around him, but best quarterback in the league gives you massive upside because of it. And that's the deal. Bud is what they also brought with him. Now they brought a ton with him, obviously, but bringing Wyatt Young in. In wide receiver, I should say, is really good. He's a slot maven, absolute bucket getter. And they also brought Caleb Hawkins in at. At running back. So they not only brought him, but they brought skill position players who were really helping him. And they have an Illinois transfer as well. Justin Bullock, who is a massive like is probably going to be their fade guy. So the, the. There's gonna be interesting dichotomy because Young is obviously your slot short maven as well. So also Donovan Green comes in from lsu.

[Alex Kirshner]

Sure.

[Richard Johnson]

As. As tight end. So you got something. We know the deal here, man. They're going to score a truckload of points.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah.

[Richard Johnson]

They're going to be the most fun watch in this league because they're not going to defend anything. And that's fine for us. Not for.

[Alex Kirshner]

No, I agree. Let's keep it simple with these guys. It's important to note that this team finished number one in offensive SP plus last year.

[Richard Johnson]

North Texas.

[Alex Kirshner]

Incredible.

[Richard Johnson]

North Texas.

[Alex Kirshner]

North Texas. Sorry. By this team, I mean this team. But they were wearing green. Yes, this team. Yes.

[Richard Johnson]

This team in Denton.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah, they were wearing green. But number one, and that is an opponent adjusted, you know, level of competition. Adjusted number number one. It's why I wish they'd have made the playoff because I think they could have created some problems. Probably not one, but created some problems in the first round that Tulane and James Madison could not create. Every game is going to have a million points and that will be fun. And I'm. We don't need to talk about their defense. Let's just. Let's move it along. It's the Texas State rule, Richard. Preseason awards and superlatives in this conference.

[Richard Johnson]

My obvious offense is Drew Mess.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah, agreed. But I might pick someone else just for fun. I'm taking LJ Martin, BYU running back. Good player. I don't think we talked about him, but good player. Proven bucket getter. Likely going to go ahead and get a lot of yards for the boys in Provo this season. Defensive dude of the year. I just have to pick a Texas Tech front player. And I picked A.J. holmes, the tackle. But it could be Adam Trick, it could be Trey White, could be one of their other defensive transfers. Someone on the Texas Tech defensive front will be this person and I'm picking Holmes the defensive tackle.

[Richard Johnson]

I'm in for the defensive end they got from San Diego State. By the way, for Texas Tech. The linebacker that I mentioned for BYU, Caleb Lave, easy 100 tackles. Probably more than that. He's a BYU linebacker at orc.

[Alex Kirshner]

Yeah. Kate Uluave is just the latest in a very long line of crunching BYU linebackers who they do seem to just happen a tree for. And good for them for that because it keeps a high floor on that defense. The coach who is not going to be here next year. Last year we like to show our work in these segments. I took Kyle Whittingham. Bang. And Richard took Mike Gundy. Bang. Also kudos to our guest Shahanjay Araj last year who was with me on Whittingham. So two for two. Richard, who are we firing this year?

[Richard Johnson]

Well, are you taking Aranda? Are you taking old Dave?

[Alex Kirshner]

Yes.

[Richard Johnson]

I don't know that there will be a firing in this league this year.

[Alex Kirshner]

I don't either, but you got to pick one.

[Richard Johnson]

I think somebody won't be here. I mean Aranda's probably the odds on bet for it, but I don't think there's gonna be a firing now. There could be a leaving situation, but I don't necessarily think there's gonna be a firing. And then obviously wildcard Dion, who knows?

[Alex Kirshner]

Sure. Right. We are as we talked about, we are not going to know with Dion until it is happening. Richard, the minority coach of the week of the year in an interesting schematic spot.

[Richard Johnson]

I am actually going to take the other Colorado coordinator, not Brendan Marin, Chris Marv. Chris Marv's defensive coordinator at Colorado was something of a rising star when he was at Vanderbilt a few years ago. Went to Florida State, didn't really do well at Florida State. I think there were some recruiting issues with them at Florida State and then went to Virginia Tech and Virginia Tech happened while he was there. So I'm gonna take him and what he can do potentially for this Colorado defense. If in Dion's sort of talked about him as like a head coach in waiting guy, he said he's got a head coach on both sides of the ball, which is interesting. I also think it should also be noted and Deon should be credited with the fact that he has two black coordinators on both sides of the ball. And I just think that's something that should be pointed out as far as Colorado is concerned.

[Alex Kirshner]

Certainly agree, Richard. The low key game of the year in this conference. I've actually got a couple picks. BYU at Arizona, Week three. I think that that is potentially a very meaty matchup where I'd like to see a lot of physicality and possibly a really good Arizona defense going up against what could be a really good BYU offense. We got Texas Tech, Cincinnati in the who knew what when bowl in week eight. Eight.

[Richard Johnson]

That is going to be. It's not going to be lsu Ole Miss toxic. And because source is not on the team, it's not going to be as bad.

[Alex Kirshner]

But it's going to be so toxic. Yes, that's why it's on there. It's going to be ugly. And I also am calling out Oklahoma State against Oregon in Week two.

[Richard Johnson]

What?

[Alex Kirshner]

Well, because you were just talking about this, so don't give me that.

[Richard Johnson]

I don't know that they're going to score on Oregon.

[Alex Kirshner]

What I'm saying is last year they lost 69 to 3. Can you lose 55 to 31 this year? I'm not even saying keep it close. I'm saying can you lose by some ridiculous margin where you also score a lot of points? That's what I'm hoping to see to show some early growth from Oklahoma State.

[Richard Johnson]

I'm going to go Arizona, Texas Tech. Because if Fafita is that dude and you're looking for losses on that Texas schedule, as we've said, ain't a lot of them. And so if there's a chance Arizona, Texas Tech. Believe it's at the end of October, Richard.

[Alex Kirshner]

That is the Big 12 Conference, my friend. It's a pleasure. Split Zone Duo 2026 Conference Preview Season rolls on. Thank you very much to our [e-mail] subscribe you make all of this possible. Thank you to Home Field, thank you to Nokian Tires and thank you to you specifically, yes you for listening. We'll talk very soon.