Carrying Cord: A USF Football Pod
Carrying Cord: A USF Football Pod
Mother Rucker (Miami Preview)
Send us whatever is on your mind.
Come find out what Red is wrong about now. Hint its Quailman. What a poor soul, dumb, uncultured, can't last a minute, and he doesn't know anything about football. Pookah brings hard hitting truths about why we will beat Miami.
You're gonna get the two fastest minutes. yeah, it's a special version of carrying cord today. It's ASMR. How are you feeling, Red?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:pretty good.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:That's not ASMR, I need you to,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Oh, you wanted me to ASMR too? I'm sorry.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah, I don't know what that high pitched shit you just laid on our listeners was. it's Karrion Kors. Nope, Red, you're done. You're out. Finished. You're done. is your favorite one stop shop for in season football hot takes. Notice we've dropped the off season from our list of duties. Not doing that shit anymore. It's only in season. We're back. We are pretending that I am still perfect on my predictions. And we beat Bama. Red?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I mean, according to those frat kids
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:that. Nope. You're not allowed to talk today in this pod. I'm Pooka!
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Can I talk now?
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I'm red. And for the second year in a row, we did cover against Bama.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I mean, that's progress, right? That's what we're going
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Consistency.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Consistency in the right direction. Cause I mean, in the past, under Jeff Scott, we were consistent. We were consistently bad.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Consistently getting blown out and going down 14 0 before anything even happened in the game. Oh wait, did that happen again too?
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:on a second. We're a little bit worried. Comfort me, buddy. You know what does scare me? I don't think we're gonna talk about this today, but what does scare me is when you have a team that's trending in the right direction, they tend to get pulled by bigger programs in the state that might be struggling, la FSU or UF. I hope Golish does good, doesn't do good enough to draw any attention.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I hope he does amazing and we just keep him anyways,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I'm good with 7 and 6, man. Really good with it. It's just good with 7 and 6 if I expect 7 and 6. If I expect better than 7 and 6, I'm not happy. not pleased.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:You're not willing to risk it to experience the lows of the past. Yeah, I hear ya.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Just give me that mediocre. That song, I Don't Want No Mediocre, that one missed the mark. I want all the mediocre. Mediocrity is key. least that's how I act in bed. got a couple of games to recap,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Absolutely.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:so we're going to speed it up for the folks today. Are you cool with this? Are you ready?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Yeah, I'm primed and pumped, ready to go.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:You primed and pumped? Did you, cause you never go out with a loaded cannon. So did you unload the cannon beforehand? So you maybe last a little bit longer.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:No, because I'm going to have to go twice, so first one's going to be definitely under a minute, and then we'll see what we can do for the second time.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Folks, it is not just Kay who's pumping, dumping anymore. We have Red's fastest minute in sports and we are bringing it to you for the recap. We're starting out with one. I'm gonna time it. You remember the rules. You got one minute to answer all my questions about whatever happened about the team. I will let you know when the minute's up. If you don't finish, there's a consequence. I don't
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:And I never don't finish.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah. It's, I mean, if you finish too early, there's a consequence. And if you last too long, there's a consequence. There's a sweet spot.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:This is a new rule. This is not how the game was explained to me last time.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:This is democracy, baby. This is,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:There's two of us.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:feel like you have input, but you don't. This is how it works.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Two party system. Got it.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:All right, you ready for this first fastest minute in sports All right. I'm starting the timer in three two One. All right, red. Who do we play?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:We played the University of Alabama.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:What were they ranked at the time?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Good question. Five, I think,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:No, it was four. You're wrong What was the outcome of that game?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Bama one, but we did cover
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Alright, standout player for us on offense.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:on offense, man. That's tough. I guess Byron Brown still, even though he didn't have his best game,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Stand out on defense.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:we'll go with man Rucker
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Ooh. Stand up there on special teams.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:for that game. I'm going to go Nico grammatica with the forced fumble
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Nice.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:recover. He didn't force it. He wasn't that aggressive.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:You're wasting your own time, brother. Why didn't we win that game? I
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:kick the field goals, they're going for the tying touchdown. I'd say we lost a lot earlier than that with just missed opportunities. We were hanging around for a long time in the game being annoying, but we, you know, we covered those fumbles. Didn't turn them into points. Really had an opportunity to see some momentum in the play. That is not a minute.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:swear, baby, that wasn't a minute. I can go longer. I promise.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Exactly. Exactly. You know, my routine.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:it. You were saying something I think was important though. And it ties into the last question. Biggest takeaway.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Yeah, we just missed opportunities, really, coming out of the second half, three and out, three and out, three and out just couldn't capitalize and then let it slip away late. Alabama just dominated us for the last six minutes of that game.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:There were, there was this moment when we were, we're in the fourth quarter and we are like actually taken to Alabama on defense. For anyone that was there, the game knows what I'm talking about. There was a crisis in Tuscaloosa. It's probably the quietest that stadium has ever been. They were in the middle of an existential crisis. They had just dedicated Saban, whatever field, he was there. Which was actually a pretty cool experience. They're like realizing, holy crap, like we might not win this game they're holding us on defense. They're doing a pretty good job. the wheels came off after that, but for one glorious moment, we were infinite. It felt great.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Side note, for anybody who was at the game, you would have also probably noticed Puka dancing in the middle of the aisle at one point as well.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Now they know who I am. it. Damn it. They're on to me. I
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:And also, just biggest takeaway, I mean, just that we could play with the big boys.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:mean, we really could. We kept it. Byram hits a couple, because those receivers on those go routes were open early on, right? We hit those, we actually go up early. a different game, in my opinion. Instead of kind of trailing the whole game, trying to get into it, holding them. It felt like every defensive drive was just us. Just don't let the, don't let the dam break. Please God, just keep it in this a little bit longer, so that the offense can maybe do something. They didn't.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:They didn't.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:They didn't. But
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:They were frustrating.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:to, it is. That takes us to Red's Fastest Minute Part 2. I need you to reload. you to get that rebound ready, baby.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I didn't even finish the first time, so I'm still ready to go.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:still ready to go. Alright, I'm going to start the timer. Are you ready?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Southern Miss, I can knock this out for sure.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:this one good? Alright. we go. Starting the timer. In 3, 2, 1. How many nights a week do you cry yourself to sleep?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Seven.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Who do we play?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Southern Piss.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:How did that game end?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:USF ass kicking all the way.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Beat that ass. Standout player. Offense.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Offense will go Kelly Joyner.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Ooh, standout player on defense.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Defense, Doug Blue Eli.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Ooh, oh, with the big boy pick. Standout player on special teams.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Special teams That's a tough one. John Cannon.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:John Cannon, baby. Why'd we win that game?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Changing mindset. That's all I've got. No. I don't. I want to finish.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:This is your time, not mine. Biggest takeaway.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:We did what we needed to do. Handle business.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:You just, I mean, you finished before one minute. You just give me short answers because you want to finish before
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Yeah. You have to deploy strategies to adjust, you know, like picturing your grandma over here, all that kind of stuff.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:So you, she's a beautiful woman. You leave her fucking name out your mouth. Man, that was a fun game, but early on it was not.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:It was not, it was scary
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:No, you, so you argued with me. Because in the beginning I said, oh, I think I'm a little scared. And you said, I'm not. They needed a trick play. And a penalty to keep that drive going and score. And then they came right back and didn't need any of that and went up 14, nothing. And that's when you said, okay, I'm worried now too.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:trauma there of previous teams going down early and then just not being able to recover from it.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:The reason I get scared initially is because it was obvious we were just a better team, even though we were down offense quickly then got it rolling and tied it up and we were fine, but coming off of the getting dominated and the Bama game and then, you know, bad combined quarter that two half quarters there, so
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:It was, I mean, that was. I was scared. I was really scared, because last season coming out of Bama, we trounced, I think it was Rice, that very next game. So we didn't have a lot of information about okay, what does it look like when we hold a better team close? how do we rebound from that? I mean, we do now, pretty consistently, we're gonna kick the shit out of whatever team comes next. And we were worried about it, though. We thought maybe, not in the preview, but definitely in the preseason. man, there were just some There's just no quit in this team. I'm thinking about that, touchdown that was saved by Petway that ends up being the big boy pick and what a beautiful, put that Blue Eagle, I mean, if you are listening to me right now, if you got past that really grody ASMR thing we did at the beginning, and you're still here listening. Change size of the ball man. You need to be on offense.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:we need to play making wide receiver.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I'm telling you. It is a new jumbo package where
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Just imagine him blocking out there on the edge on a perimeter screen, too.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:that would be Amazing or maybe he lines up in the backfield comes out chips a dude but his chip like drives a guy 15 yards into the ground and then he just Releases and catches like a short out or something.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I don't know if this is sustainable for my conditioning perspective, but maybe like a goal line trick play, I think we could put this in.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I only need him to do it once I don't need him to do it every play. I just need one touchdown Doug. We're calling your name Doug Blue Eli baby. What a cool name too, Doug. Brings me back to my childhood. Remember that show?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:That's a great show.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:No, that's a
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Underpants.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:different.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:No, that was him.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:He didn't have
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:was his alternate ego or whatever.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:it Captain Underpants?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:sure.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Who's the guy on Joe Rogan that looks shit up? I don't listen to that asshole.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I don't know. We need one of them, though.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah, he yells at him all the time. Look that up! Somebody look it up.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I would, but then he'll yell at me for clicking in the background and shit,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:do that. It's gonna sound like you're sending Morse code about an iceberg we hit. What else do you think? I mean, that's pretty much the big takeaways from Alabama Southern Miss. I feel, after those two games, I feel okay about the season. Conference play is really going to define how I feel about the season, but I feel okay.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Yeah, exactly. I think we're on track of where we We're expecting played tough against a better team and missed some opportunities can learn from that played down to start the game against a weaker team, but then adjusted and right at it and played the way we wanted to play for the rest of the game. Still plenty of stuff to work on. Offense isn't, you know, scored a lot of points, but still not clicking on all cylinders there. We had drops played us in this game. Oh, line still struggling in some situations. So
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:just, I gotta wonder because the drops sure, right? There's drops, uncharacteristic drops. My boy Atkins, man, a little bit of coming down, regressing to the mean,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:had the fumble too.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah. I had that fumble hate that for you, bud, but I mean, The run game is getting established. I feel like we've got a good running back room, right? We got Joiner, got Wright, we got Keith. I feel like you put any one of those guys back there and we're going to get some good.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:It's good. It's not great. I just feel if you, what's the old, like with quarterbacks, if you have two, you don't have one type thing. I would want one of those three guys to say, assert themselves as I am the feature back, but I agree. They're all three capable and in any game.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:But I don't know that it's entirely on the running backs. This gets to the other piece of, you know, it's pretty hard to complete good passes when you're getting pressured constantly because the O line is collapsing, especially at the tackles. Love, love all the players because you're supposed to, but man, our tackles just getting the doors kicked in Perry and whatever his face was, yeah, getting rocked.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Yeah, it was not pretty for, especially in some of those early drives.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah. I mean, so it's tough to really set up in complete good passes. And then if you guys are going to drop them, I mean, we had a great game from, you've seen not so great against Southern Miss great game in Alabama, not so great against Southern Miss.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Yeah, he didn't play bad or anything. He was just quiet. I don't know what he wasn't getting targeted or wasn't getting open or what. We were, we seem to be pushing the freshman Porter quite a bit. He was getting some end around touches, things like that. We talked about the drops. Oh, we didn't talk about the one nice catch Hardeman, the transfer number one. That was a nice catch.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:that was a beautiful catch. I didn't think he had that for a
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I still question whether it was really technically a catch or not, but I'm happy to take it. It was a super athletic play either way,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:was there were a couple times in this game where you questioned my football knowledge, and I don't know why
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:And you're right,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:would
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I'm wrong as always,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:constantly fucking wrong. I don't know why I let you be on this podcast. I should do it with Bobby Where's Bobby someone get Bobby look up Bobby's number get Bobby on the phone
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:If only we had a guy who did that. Bobby could be our guy!
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Bobby could be
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:It'd be perfect for that, he was always down with the latest conspiracy theories and
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Seriously,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:news.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:He's probably got some thoughts about pagers and stuff.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Oh, that's some wild shit.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I know, we probably need to, we need to get him on the pod. All right, we're not talking current events, we just talk football. And the most current event Wait,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:If you're listening to us on a pager, by the way, please put that shit down.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Put it down and run back away from the pager. I don't think they have anything to worry about. As far as I know, no one that listens to this pod is part of Hezbollah. Please don't join. It's not a thing that we want you to
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Oh god.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Do we got anything
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:That's only Miami fans.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Only Miami fans. They're coming to town and they're bringing their pagers. Cannon. I feel like we should talk about Cannon before we move on to the preview. What do you think?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Last year, I thought he was quite honestly a joke of a kicker. Like his max range was like 40 yards. He still missed this year he's been hitting long kicks. I mean, he barely missed like a 50 yarder or something in Alabama. And then he got the wheels out of nowhere for Southern miss. I mean, he's killing it out there.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:He turned on those fucking jets. I was like, where did that? That dude is fast. That's where he should have been the whole time.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Put him at wide receiver too.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah, put him in a wide receiver and then he can kick it. You can
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Oh,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:kick it, we can
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:That'd be some crazy rugby plays out there. Just the drop kick mid play. Yeah.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Is that illegal? Can you do that? Can you drop it and then kick it?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Doug Flutie did it in some NFL game or something for an extra point. I don't know the exact rules on that shit though. That's some
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:shit.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:that's some deep rule book type shit.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:But as far as I'm concerned, it's, you know, I thought. Nico grammatically was going to come in here and it'd be his job to lose, but Canon's got a firm, secure hold on that right now.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah, I think that's been maybe, as a team overall, some of the most interesting, I think for me, This has been some of the most interesting things to watch around the team this season. The folks who we thought were going to be playing, Brown Bunkley comes to mind. And then we're looking at Austin and Rucker who are playing and doing a damn good job. And we thought, man, he's, Brown Bunkley's, and he's a great player, right? Thinking grammatica. Now Cannon's come back and he's got the starting job. I really, it goes to show, at least from the outside looking in, prioritizing work. not saying Brown Buckley isn't working right, but you work, you earn the starting job, you play your ass off every single down, and you're going to be out there. You're going to be playing.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Absolutely. And it's a lot of transfers. A lot of freshmen have been playing too, especially against the Southern Miss game. I don't know if that was just a Lack of respect factor where we kind of treated it almost like another FCS opponent. And we just wanted to give them a chance to get some snaps or what, but I
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:man.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:saw a lot of rotation. And look, like you said, I mean, there's some real productive guys who we thought would be starters who aren't playing a whole lot right now. At least not. When in crunch time minutes tight end, you haven't, you've seen rotation there. Wider seers we just talked about where some of the guys and some of it is injury too. We don't have a whole lot of injury disclosures of who's in and out for that. So something maybe guys are banged up and they're resting or they may be out for the season. There's not kind of like disclosing it.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Sure. It's
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:a, it's been a lot more guys contributing to this team than I thought coming into the season for sure.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:fun to watch. It makes it interesting, right? And get the guys the opportunity, because that's how you find, I mean, that's how you find the next guy.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:For sure.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:riding the bench, he's, Maybe he hasn't had a lot of opportunities. Maybe he hasn't looked great on, in practice, but he gets out there and for some reason just makes plays in the game and becomes that next
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:You take a guy who you were just saying was your player of the game with his hustle, you know, pet way coming in for an injured guy, so it's nice to be 25, 30 guys deep and not just, hey, we need these 22 guys to go all the time, and if we lose any of them, we're getting burned for touchdowns every play because we have no one who can cover a simple cover, right?
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:about that play. He ran that guy down the sideline and all he had to do was push him out and he did it. He didn't save the touchdown and then took a touchdown off the board because that possession back from them. I mean, it's awesome.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:All right, that's enough reminiscing. Everything's awesome, but now we need to get to
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:awesome.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:We need to get down to business.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Down to business, Ami, as
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Let's get down to business. To defeat the Huns
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:All right, come
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:of the Hurricanes.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I didn't know you could sing. Thank you. Thank you for that. Now do it in your showtunes voice.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Let's get down to business.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Hold on, I'm not gonna last a minute if you keep doing that. I gotta take my headphones off. This is kind of, this is intense. Woo! Miami, baby. They're ranked two. Four
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:top ten teams, man, that's crazy.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:ten teams. USF is really having to work for it What'd you see when you were out there scouting?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:it's gonna be a tough opponent. They've looked a lot better than I thought. Like we said, they had a lot of questions coming in with a lot of transfers to their team. And they've been producing they haven't really played anyone though. Florida, and it's a bad Florida team is their best win. Then they beat up on fam you, and then they beat up on a bad ball state team too. So not a whole lot to go off of, but,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I feel like you're underselling how bad they beat up on Ball State, though. It's not just hey, we put up a couple touchdowns on old Ball State. They embarrassed Ball State. Embarrass them. It's not like it's not like Ball State just doesn't know how to play football. They're just not very good They just embarrass them.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:but Alabama embarrassed Western Kentucky the week before they played us. And that was a different story.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Okay. All right touche. Look at you.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:but look, I mean, it's been since we still get another chance at
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:you
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:a top 10 team non conference it's been long time, but Hey, Take your shot, play loose, have some fun. Maybe we catch them looking ahead to their ACC schedule. They got Virginia tech on a short week right after us. So maybe they're take us a little lightly.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:know, they're trying to make that college football playoff trying to get that top spot in the ACC All
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:The history against Miami is not great.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yes.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:We were around for some of it, 2005. I went down to that game where we lost. We're one in five overall against them and never won at home. I won three at home,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:game was a nice one. I was still a fan at that point. I hadn't started working for USF.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:He hadn't Yet.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:But traveled down there, college student, you know, I was first, that's probably my first road game.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:It was exciting. Had some friends down in university of Miami and we got our ass kicked. Let me just give you this stat line to summarize how the game went. Probably not surprising cause you knew Pat Joel missed, but he completed eight of 25 passes for 47 yards and three interceptions.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I do Remember Petrel Missman. He threw the football so hard. So hard. Guys hate him. Like why are you throwing it so hard, man? Gosh
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I did have one good memory from that game of one of my favorite players Mike Jenkins, ran down Greg Olson, which tells you how long ago this is, because Greg Olson is now a announcer. He's done with his NFL career.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:He The whole career and now announces.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Yes but Mike Jenkins ran him down like 60 yards at the 5 yard line just to punch out a football out the back of the end zone,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I've got some, I got some great memories from that road trip was a really cool I was working for the team then. That was such a cool road trip being around the team. Actually, because this was still when they were in the old stadium. A lot of history in that stadium. It was in the middle of not a great neighborhood. So you had to walk through the neighborhood. We had to walk out of that stadium at two in the morning. Pod's driving me back. We're driving back to Tampa. He falls asleep. We go across three lanes of traffic. I scream. He wakes up. We were fuckin wired the next two hours on the drive. We couldn't find the locks, so it's late. We couldn't find the locks to lock the truck back up. And everyone's we gotta find the locks. And then Parsons goes, we don't need the locks! What, is somebody gonna fuckin skyjack us?! I mean, that was just such, we got our asses kicked, but it was so much fun. And such a great time.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Now I'm picturing some Fast and Furious scene on Alligator Alley of the USF equipment truck just getting robbed.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:we didn't have an equipment truck back then, we rented like Penske's and U Hauls and
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Oh, that's right.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:just some nondescript, unmarked truck with a couple schmucks driving it back up to Tampa.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I also remember someone backing up one of those trucks into our plane one time as well,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:not gonna talk about that. I'm not gonna talk about that at all. They should never have let me drive that shit. I don't know why I was the guy they picked to drive that fucking truck.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Onto the current Miami team. Enough old memories. Make some new ones.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:They're coming in. We were worried about this guy already. We knew he was potentially going to be a problem. And he has given team some fits. Cam Ward.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Cam Ward looks good. He looks, everything is advertised. He's played a lot of football for a lot of different teams and seems to be translating his skills well to this Miami system,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Damn. That's not good. Not good for us. Who's he throwing to?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Xavier Restrepo, number seven.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:It's a really good movie if you've never seen a good documentary.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Okay. I have not,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:you should check it out. It's good. About anyway,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:but yeah, this may be blasphemous to you, but I would consider him a more athletic Sean Atkins. He's undersized great route runner,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:The only person more athletic than Shawn Atkins is Jesus, so I don't know, like, how that's possible, but okay.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:but Restrepo had a thousand yards last year. He's got touchdowns all over the place. He's going to be a tough guy to cover. And even if we do cover him, then they got a bunch of running backs. Biggest one is Martinez. He transferred in from Oregon state. I think he's. my problem is, you know, we named these guys off. They got a lot of weapons all over the place. So maybe we shut one or two of them down can focus there, but I think it's gonna be hard to shut down all of the offense. Yeah.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:We've done a pretty good job stopping offense. Eventually we adjust, and we do pretty well. But we've done a pretty good job stopping the run, too, the past couple weeks, which has been really impressive.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Look, defense has not been the problem so far this season. They've kept us in. Every game played well, shut down the other team for large portions of the game. If they can do that in this game, we got us flip it to the other side of the ball and see offense really pull it together and go win us a football game. I mean, they played well against other myths, but I'd still wouldn't say that they were the sole reason we won. If we can get a game like that out of them here, that'd be great. Especially because Miami's defense, I think is where there's probably a little more question marks. I've got a lot of different draftable weapons on offense, but on defense, you know, they've got a good D line, but maybe some questions in the
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:And look, we exploited secondary. Especially early on. Like I said, we had those go routes that were open. Byron connects on those. And that's a different game. So hopefully he's gotten the yips out. He feels a lot more comfortable back there. We get him just enough time, right? And then if the, if it's open, take the ball and run, but don't get smoked.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:that's the number one thing. If nothing else, even if we get blown out in this game,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:want to see something that I can hang my hat on for when the real season starts next week.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah. Oh man. That's the biggest thing. Let's not get hurt. Let's take it into conference play.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Defensively, you know, like you said, they've been strong, we've seen a lot of good run defense. I'd say, we've seen some Moments of weakness in tackling, you know, that's when the Bama game got blown open as we missed an open field tackle on the wide receiver.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Mhm.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:then after that, all hell broke loose of trying to tackle their running back. That was the problem early in the Southern Miss game is we missed some bad form tackling on like that screen play or that outside sweep that they scored the touchdown on. But then you saw where good tackling, you know, like with pet way, hustle play can save you in a game, can turn a drive around. And we've seen some great tackling out of our corners with Rucker
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Oh,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:excellent tackler out there, which may be why he's starting, you know, I have no problem with his coverage skills either, but when you see a corner come down and make some of those tackles short of the sticks, it's beautiful. So
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I mean, just ball seeking. They sniff it out, and they're just right there. And that's what you want to see. I mean, stop it before there's any game. Be able to stop it when they get into the second level. Yeah, never quitting on it.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Wrapping up against Miami, go let it hang loose. They're a good test. Again, not a whole lot of expectations for me. I don't think there's any reason we can't go out there and win, but I think they're the better team still. I think it'd be a nice staple moment if we can do something, but I'm not going to get too concerned if we end up losing.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I like that you kind of mentioned that they're the better team. a certain point where you can capitalize on mistakes, where you can have clean execution, where you can do everything right and still lose just because there's a talent mismatch. And I think for anyone that was disappointed about the Alabama loss, not to go back. I think we kind of failed to mention that a lot of, at a lot of points across the ball, Alabama just had more talent on one side or the other. And so where we had good execution, they're just doing what they're supposed to be doing. And eventually it worked, right? Eventually they wore us down and cracked it open in the fourth quarter. I think the same thing. we're looking at with Miami. We can execute, we can do everything we need to do. Good teams on mistakes, execute perfectly, and sometimes still lose.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:It's a great point. And frankly, as we look towards the whole season with that kind of mentality and attitude, look, we're the more talented team for at least eight out of the remaining games. Wait, no, that's bad math. We're the more talented team for at least six out of the remaining games. Two were probably a toss up with Tulane and Memphis, but the other six, so you just go out there and do your thing and execute. You're looking at a successful season.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I mean, you may be looking at their chops though. They us last year. Not looking.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:all right, let's get to some score predictions here. What do you got?
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:all right, you want it? I think I did mine first last time. So you
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Okay,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:this time.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:people aren't gonna like mine. I think I think our defense gets exposed a little bit. 52 24 Miami. Just because you paid for bots to
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:people already don't like you, though. They come and listen to the pod for me. It's not like it, no.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:come comment on our podcast.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Wow, I don't like Red more.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Didn't you just discover some new feature on our buzzsprout or whatever where people can comment?
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I was gonna talk about it. Thanks for reminding me. You can send us fan mail. Talk about it at the end, so you can actually send us some stuff.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I don't want to talk about it.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Will talk about it. I got it. You're just stealing my thunder on the score prediction here, man.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Oh, my bad. No one knows your, we all know your score prediction is gonna be wrong. No one cares.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Mine was there was a moment in Alabama where my score prediction I was like, all right, what we need to do is we got to go down. We got to get the two point conversion and then we get the score and my score prediction holds. And obviously that didn't happen. But anyway, I think we ended up getting a shootout. I think the defense does let some squeakers through, some that they're not too happy about. I think our offense starts clicking. We end up in a shootout, 35, Cannon wins it for us with a field goal.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:With a field goal, not a walk off touch, fake field goal touchdown.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:walk off fake field goal touchdown, although that would be awesome. That'd be so
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:We might have shown our hand against Southern Miss there and ruined his highlight moment.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I mean, Southern Miss Kev Hitton is with all their razzle dazzle. We had to give them a little bit of something too. And talking about giving them a little bit of something, it's time for Kay's pumper top.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:So since we just gave our USF predictions, we'll hit you with Katie there too. He thinks we will cover the 16 and a half, but we will not win again. Similar to what he had for Alabama.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:and a half is a lot less than 30.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:That's a little more respect. I don't know if that's just us being at home or if they like what they see now the last two weeks.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:A little
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:cause Miami's look good too, you would've thought maybe,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:it's who looks better naked. I think it's
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:also speaking of how people looked against bones, Alabama went out there and whooped that Wisconsin ass
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah,
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:too.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:It's a little bit of fuck man, I just, I really wish those Alabama fans could learn what losing means, but then also we want them to win because it makes us look a little
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:right.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:and strength the schedule whatever. He's
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:And then
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:though.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:a huge matchup after nailing the Texas, Michigan game, K comes back with America's matchup of the week army minus five at home against rice. Lock it in folks. Pump the army.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:he's got a problem. I think someone needs to check on him. Why did he pick this game?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:American conference matchup
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:his ass was sittin in Alabama with all his bettin slips laid out on the bed, tearin him up one by one, cause he sucks at this.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:at least it's not a five game parlay. So
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:not. Man, what's even better is he'll hit four of the five. It's always the fifth one that misses.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:that's why we've brought K's Pumping Up Down to one game.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:One
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:And so far he's one for one.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah, so far he's doin pretty good. Ask him how Cincinnati did for him two weeks ago. The Bengals. On that 16 bet parlay or somethin he had that would've won him like 400
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I mean, they got me in the survivor pool too, and they would've gotten you too, if we hadn't told you to switch your pick. So
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:no, You didn't say, hey Pooka, switch your pick. You said something about somebody not
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Jamar Chase may not play or whatever. Yeah.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:wasn't playing. I said, that doesn't make me feel comfortable. I'm changing that. You
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:And then he ended up playing and they lost anyways,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:yeah, there you go.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:NFL.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:speaking of losers, Twitter X. Twitter X, baby. Not a lot's been going on.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I, I, it's too much to keep up with Alabama Hate Week was such a success, it's now become a tradition among USF Twitter and they've struck a nerve with Miami, so it's a full on brawl in the streets out there, and
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Gosh, I
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:then Kay's just a little kid humming away, posting some nice GIFs out there from the carrying court account, you know, we're Make
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:That's pretty amazing. I'm pretty impressed with his abilities to skill.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:sure you talk about that in the fan mail as well.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah. I'm not ready for the fan mail
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Oh, I forgot.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I'm saving it to the end. Can you jump in ahead? Can you kind of, hold on, should I type it into the Let
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Yeah. Look, I only go strictly off the outline, except when I then try to switch segments around in the outline on the fly.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:in the You know he's going to read what's
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Exactly. Exactly.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:case of emotion.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I am red.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I am red? Hi, I'm Pooka. I feel like there's probably something to talk about around how dumb the Alabama fans were. God, and then we're holding it close all game. They're really scared, and then when they win, they gloat. You would think there'd be like an opportunity for them to be like, all right, let's just sneak out the back door real quick and act like nobody saw this happening. Let's just, no. They're like shit talking as we're walking. They're in your face. Roll Tide! Roll Tide, you saw that? You saw that? We kicked your ass! I'm having to pull K away from people, cause he's getting angry at folks. There's frat boys in blue jackets and red ties Roll Tide, did you see what Jalen Millrow did in your mouth? I'm like, that doesn't even make sense. He came nowhere near me.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I was red only.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:it was yeah, it was only near what are you talking about? Oh, whoa, Ted. Hey, honey. No, not you. My sister. Dad I mean they're walking the streets and then you get out past the stadium and it's fucking escaped from New York There's like people line everywhere. There's people everywhere Oh my god, Moe's burrito place look like Jonestown. There's people laid out all over the place. There's college students. There's a line out the door like they're selling Taylor Swift tickets. There's there's lines to get into every bar. I can't believe we did this as college kids. We did this. We went to places like that and waited in line.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:USF doesn't quite have the same environment yet. Maybe once we get that on Campus Stadium, we can build
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:it's
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:some nice restaurants right around it.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:growth mindset, baby I will say probably one of the funniest moments of the weekend Was us going into a bar where we had to pay cover and we're in line behind a group of college kids and Called us out for having gray hair said Got mad at one of us and said you're 40 years too late old man Then he's absolutely right. We should not have been there. We should not have been in that place, but it was fun It was a great experience. You know, what else is gonna be fun
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Beating Miami?
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Kickoff folks on espn. What were you about to say? You're about to throw off my outro.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I already threw it off, so you can just do it again and just ignore that. I was gonna say anything. It was not exciting.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:No, I want to hear what you have to say. It's
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I was saying beating Miami would also be fun.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:all Yeah Hot take from Red.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:I mean, you said, do you know what would be fun? And then you pause. I thought you wanted me to talk.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:No, I paused for effect. It's part of the thing. We're just completely on two different pages. It's 7pm kickoff. It's playing on ESPN, folks. So if you've been just doing ESPN Plus lately, you've been able to catch a The games without having to actually pay for some sort of streaming service.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Oh, we didn't even talk about that.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:What?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:How great the commercial breaks were on ESPN plus.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Oh my gosh, we can't move on from that! That was the best on ESPN Commercial Breaks, Southern Miss. 100 percent we should do it like that every single game from here on out. We were watching people dance, we were watching the mascot, we were watching people on the stands. I really enjoyed that coverage. coverage so far. A time it's gonna just be on ESPN at Jim Levitt Field. Have we
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Also known as Raymond James.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Yeah, have we re renamed it Jim Lovefield though?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:No, but I just felt like it was appropriate. You know, it was Nick Saban field last time. And we just wanted to,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:I like it. that name slaps.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:it's never going to happen though. Oh, amen. Hey, maybe some students, they're at least showing up 15,
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Weather looks amazing. Red will be out there tailgating in his electric vehicle. Sunny with a high of 89, low of 71, so it will be a little sweaty. at least it's not a noon game. You're going to get to kind of tailgate around dinner, so bring your nummies, bring your food. Make sure you don't drink on an empty stomach or consume non alcoholic beverages. You should always eat for your health. No matter what you're drinking, they're opening up the upper level for you schmucks. So you all better show up. Every last one of you that's listening to this podcast, so all 13 of you, you better go. You better get out to this game.
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:000 strong.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Have they figured out getting the students to the stadium yet?
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Oh, I thought you were going to say they figured out getting this podcast to students yet. And I was going to say, no, definitely not.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:need to do what they used to do and get little cards printed out and hand them out in Greek Village. You know, they would, they hand them out to bars like you get a free drink if you bring this in, but we need to do just this podcast. Get it
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Maybe CaringCore can sponsor a bus to the stadium.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Oh, that'd be great. All right, you heard it here first. Bernie Sanders style I am asking you once again to donate to cause here You catch us on x bulls pen listen to the pod wherever you get the pods And as red mentioned earlier, you will see a new link On our pods a little description where you can click on it and send us messages. It comes right to us. I read them I well there hasn't been anything to read. I would read them if they came in You I
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:We're now soliciting for fan mail. Got it.
pookah_1_09-17-2024_191958:Please clap. I just we're having such a good time really having a blast folks Wherever you listen the pod go listen to it as always. We appreciate you being with us and go bulls
squadcaster-e5j5_1_09-17-2024_191957:Go Bulls!