Is this who they are? Is this a team that you just have to adjust to the fact that you're probably not going to have a ton of QB hits and sacks this year?

Well, the hits are there a little bit.

The sacks aren't there.

Here's what I will say.

Is this going to be one of those great 55-sack-sack Lake City teams? Well, you're six games in.

That's probably not going to be the case.

You're a half step away about four or five times a game from one of your defensive ends getting home, or maybe a whiff away from grabbing a quarterback who's on a scramble.

So philosophically for the Utah offense, if you're making that decision, are you attacking the defense with the pass or are you letting way Sean Parker eat?

But it's dangerous to have that mentality.

I- i- it is, and I, and let me say this though, Sean, I...

You're right.

Kansas has not been good against the Power Four teams in Missouri and Arizona State they've faced.

They've got a young-ish quarterback who's only started five games.

Utah saw him kind of as a wildcat sub last year.

He's getting a little bit better.

Uh, when you're handicapping this Big 12 Conference and the-- knowing the race and who misses who in the regular season schedule, uh, how, how, how accurate a picture you think you're putting together in your mind of the, the stretch run here?

What have you liked from this Utah team so far? What's been the highs so

far? What I like is the program has continued to ascend.

A lot of people worried when Kyle Whittingham left that the program might take a step backwards.

That's not been the case at all.

Morgan Scali and the staff that he hired came in and really just picked up where they left off.

They had a great year last year.

They were 11-2 last year.

I guess as far as things that need to be improved, what do you think is there?

But how do they get from where they're at now to getting that quarterback down to the ground?

That, that's a good question because, again, you're right.

I mean, they are getting pressures.

They're batting a lot of balls down at the line of scrimmage, too.

Lance Holtzclaw has got a bunch of those this year, and Ethan Day's been really good at pressuring the quarterback.

You know, I just, I just look at it and think it's ju- it, it's just a little odd when you think your defensive tackles have three sacks, your defensive ends have none.

You've got 10 as a team, but none from the edges.

Still, where are we at in, on the spectrum of, well, let's wait and see, or we're still questioning you?

Impressive either way.

Well, if you've looked at the history though, Pete, of Utah football, as I just w- was, was alluding to, physicality on the lines.

When, when Utah was in the, in the Mountain West and in the Pac-12, they were always the most physical team every single week.

Pac-12 coaches talked about it.

You'd play Utah ne- the next week, but you might have to play them again the week after that, too, because the physical toll they took on you.

That part hasn't changed.

They've always been good at the line of scrimmage.

Who do you expect to be someone that can make noise and really help, or, or, or two guys to help Utah get to that next level?

Is there a change coming there?

I don't think so.

I think they really like him.

I think we saw glimpses of what he could be last year.

Took a pretty good shot on that two-point conversion swing and gate play.

I think that may be where he got dinged up a little bit last week.

I think they like mana in that game.

So as you look at kind of the power structure of the Big 12 as it's shuffling out in these first three weeks heading into week four, how do you see it?

So to the people that say, hey, Utah hasn't played anybody this year, what do you say?

Well, I mean, they really haven't, to be fair.

Utah State was okay.

Arkansas was a well below average SEC team in a rebuilding year, and they played a 1-double-A team.

So no, they...

They haven't played anybody yet, but they've steamrolled the three teams and done what they should have done against opponents that they, that they have played.

So yeah, that's, that's the nature of the schedule.

Do you think this thing gets solidified, and who are the guys that have really stood out in terms of this rotation?

I know that I don't think about games the same way that Kevin McGiven and Morgan Scali do, but is this a game where you can kind of silence some doubts or answer some questions you might have in your own building about how potent the run game and the run blocking is because the Aggies are good in that part of this game.

Yeah, they are.

They're number one in the new Pac-12 against the run.

They've only given up, I think, about 95 yards a game right now.

Again, I'm not sure what that means.

I know they did pretty well last week against a good Washington team and bottled up DeMond Williams pretty good.

But, yeah, if you want to test your run game through three games, this is probably the team to do it against.

Who else, Bill, can you see becoming that guy that is the sort of havoc player, is the Gianni Paul, the Chase Hanson, the home run hitter?

So are we starting to get some positive answers from the O-line?

I think we've kind of known it, but as the weeks go by and the numbers that you're kind of putting out there, Spence, are telling us, this offensive line is good.

I thought it was going to be good just based on conversations I had and some of the practices I saw.

But you really want to kind of see it in a game situation.

Here's the thing.

Zero-A Williams is 6'8", 305 pounds.

he's battled injuries and he had a couple of nfl guys in front of him at tackle cedric jefferson won a national championship and started 16 games at right tackle last year for montana state now it's a different level of football i get it but he played for a championship contender and a championship winner and he knows how to play the position those two tackle spots are were the big questions and i think the questions at least so far have been answered who's the better benny Right? It's wild.

Yeah, sure, there are probably some concepts that are similar with some of the motions and formations, but what has stood out most to you about Kevin McGiven as a play caller?

So what is Morgan Scali's team supposed to do against Arkansas?

I think they're supposed to win because they're at home and because I think they're the better team.

So I would say that right now.

I don't think that's speaking out of line.

The guys in the desert agree with that, too.

But I think they've just got to improve on what they did a week ago, Sean.

The level of athleticism is going to be a lot better this week.

How much do you think the atmosphere, maybe the altitude, affects the Razorbacks?

Why has it been so important for this offensive crew to get Ficklin on the field?

field?Well, because he's a weapon.

He's just, he's so good.

Uh, when, when Dampier got dinged up in a couple of games last year, Ficklin was a true freshman.

He came in, and it felt like every time he touched the ball, a big play happened.

He scored 10 touchdowns and ran for over 500 yards in really limited time last year.

Um, he, he's the heir apparent when Dampier's days are done.

What has allowed Utah to be successful at every single level they play?

I just don't think it's talked about as much.

Well, you're, you're...

It's so great that you brought that up.

The, the storyline has been, and, and, and somewhat rightfully so, they had five guys that started for back-to-back.

They made every start for two consecutive years.

Two guys first round picks, two other guys on NFL roster, one other guy hoping to get there, and everybody's pointing at the offensive line.

And I, I get that from the outside, but to your point, they had a bunch of guys that were playing behind those NFL guys that have been in the program three and four years.

Uh, what kinda impact has that had on the program and the ability to, to do what you guys wanna do?

So how much difference, or I guess how much are we close to the same from when Coach Whittingham was there?

Culture's the same, guys.

I mean, Morgan Scali grew up here.

His dad played here.

He was an All-American here.

He's been on the coaching staff for 20 years here.

There's a lot of cohesion here.

I just don't think it's talked about as much.

But what does a successful Saturday night look like in your opinion?

I think it's building on what you did a week ago.

The one area where Arkansas is going to be markedly different than Idaho is the athlete's expense.

Now, they may be in a rebuilding mode right now, and they may be picked near the bottom of the SEC, but bottom-tier SEC teams and or athletes are still light years ahead of 1AA Big Sky athletes.

So the jump in athleticism and overall talent that Arkansas will bring in is going to be a lot higher than what they saw last week.

And in talking to Morgan and some of the coaches this week, the lines of scrimmage are markedly different.

Arkansas's offensive line, Arkansas's defensive line, they've got some big guys and some dudes up there.

Bill, what do you think?

Who else do you think, if it does come down to, instead of what do we have, 10 rushers last night, 10 guys with carries, who are the maybe five that you see get the bulk of the touches in the run game next week?

Well, I think it's always going to be Dampier, and I think as we saw last night, they like using Bird Ficklin.

Um, I mean, bird's just a weapon.

He's just explosive, but I think it's probably those top three running backs.

I mean, Daniel Bray way, Sean Parker and Chavez Soto.

I think those are going to be your primary run game guys.

I mean, I just, I think that's what it's going to be.

What games are you going to be watching this weekend, Bill?

But when that clock hits zero, what are you hoping to see throughout the course of the game?

I think there's to be spent.

There's, there's four things that I would love to see on Thursday night.

One is, Healthy after 60 minutes, no major injuries.

That's great.

Two, and I think I told you this last week too, I would love to see the offensive and defensive lines exert their physicality against an undermanned Idaho team.

Idaho's a nice big sky program, but they're 1AA, and you just saw what happened against Cal Poly.

I wonder where Morgan is at with that.

Would you cooperate that?

No, I completely agree.

It's not to say there aren't some questions.

But, I mean, at your most important position, you're locked, and you've got a great plan B, too.

This isn't Cam Rising coming off of multiple injuries.

Is he going to play? Is he not going to play? Devin Dampier is the guy, and he looks fantastic.

And Bird Ficklin, we saw glimpses of him last year.

But with such a big spread and a game that's not expected to be close, what should Ute fans be hoping to see? Idaho, you know, just over two weeks away now.

And I just wonder from your vantage point, now that you've been up there for a number of months with Morgan running the show, if you have like a li- even more insight on what kind of makes these two men similar and what makes them different.

Well, I think their similar- similarities are their approach to football and the, the, the emphasis of physicality and toughness.

Morgan Scally, I mean, I, I talked to Jordan Gross after practice today and, you know, Morgan Scally has tasked him as an offensive line coach to make sure his group is as tough and as mean and as physical as possible.

Well, who's that sound like? Well, it sounds like the guy Morgan played for and coached with for, you know, 17 years.

So I, I, I think, I think that that, that doesn't change.

The DNA of the program is still gonna be about toughness and physicality.

And, and I think if you look at the best programs, Spence, they are.

Do you agree with that assessment?

I don't think that I can find anything that's quite analogous to really what an unbelievable spectacle it is across the globe, you know?

It does, Spence.

Not even the Olympics stand up.

This is an event.

I mean, the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics, sure, you have some crossover, but they're different events.

But I don't know that the world gets fully engaged in the Olympics, especially today, the same way they do with the World Cup.

The closest thing we have is the Super Bowl.

Do you think that's actually like if the SEC and the Big Ten cannot get Congress to change this thing, does it make it more likely that they will just go do their own thing?

Yeah, well, I think he might

be able to do it this year.

I like the group they've got, and to Sean's point, the schedule's pretty friendly.

So you get out of the gate 5-0, 6-0, 7-0, people are going to start talking about you because I think they're going to be ranked in most of the preseason polls.

The way-too-early stuff had them anywhere from about 17 to 24, which I think they probably are in those late teens is about the right spot, I think, for them.

But if you get off to a good start, all of a sudden people then start talking about you again.

And then November is where you're going to have to probably – late October and November, if you're Utah this year, is where you've got to earn it.

Most exciting names.

How do you feel?

I mean, I'm old enough to remember us hosting in 1994, but it was just different.

I mean, the United States wasn't playing a huge – though they had a great run, a surprising run there.

The game in this country wasn't where it is today.

But to see what this game – I mean, we are – We're such a sporting country, and we can do big events so very well.

To see these crowds, to see these events, whether it's in Kansas City or Seattle or Los Angeles or Atlanta or Miami or Houston or Dallas, everywhere you go, it's been met with just unbelievable enthusiasm by all that have been around.

I've been talking to friends of mine in Kansas City and family that are there.

I just wanted to get your perspective on the Brendan Sorsby resolution of him not playing for Texas Tech this year.