Andy & Ari On3 - Steve Sarkisian TAKES A SHOT AT TEXAS TECH: Why Longhorns vs Red Raiders needs to be scheduled NOW

Starting point is 00:00:00 Ari, it is May, and Steve Sarkesian keeps giving us gifts. Last week, it was a shot at Ole Miss about basket weaving. This week, he's at the Touchdown Club of Houston, and he mentions a certain team in the state. So there's a team of the state that plays in another conference that if Sark played his twos and threes, his team would go undefeated and they make the playoff this year. Speaking of course of the Big 12,

Starting point is 00:00:27 and speaking of course of Texas Tech, which is the favorite to win the big 12. Ari, I love this so much. The Texas tech people are mad. Now the Texas people are mad that the Texas tech people are mad. Just schedule the game. Let's play it. Andy, heroin is technically a semi-synthetic drug because it's chemically derived from morphine,

Starting point is 00:00:48 which occurs naturally in opium poppies. This is full synthetic drugs, right? Like, is this like, it's like this is football drugs. Yes, football drugs. But, you know, Andy, the thing that I love about this specific thing, is that we argue and discuss so many different things about money and scheduling and playoff and blah, blah, lawyers, and blah. This is pure old-fashioned football shit talking. And it's like that's what.

Starting point is 00:01:15 It's great. It's great. And I just, there's so much to unpack here. Before we go stampede on Texas, I want to say one thing. Well, well, let's first show the response from the former. Texas Tech Offensive lineman, who happens to be a billionaire, who happens to be funding the Texas tech roster right now. Cody Campbell, who, he tagged on three in this, by the way. He said, schedule us then. We've been talking about it for years and we are more than willing.

Starting point is 00:01:51 Yeah. Andy, the one thing I have noticed, because we are what, about a week removed from the basket weaving comment that Sark made. Yes. is that if you had any questions about whether you should anticipate whether Texas is going to be good or not, a coach doesn't move like this in the offseason if he doesn't love his team. That's the first thing I took. I was thinking the same thing, Ari. The second I saw this, I was like, Sarks probably got the happy Gilmore people to kill list, the Steve Bushimi people to kill list on his wall.

Starting point is 00:02:22 And he's like, I'm going to take a random shot at Ole Miss today. I'm going to take a random shot at Texas Tech tomorrow. And then next week I'm going to take a random shot at, I don't know. Iowa because if I had the roster that Steve Sarkesian has, I would talk so much crap. So the one thing that I wanted to start with here, because we're going to get into the Texas tech of this, obviously. Yes. Is that there is this assertion from the opposite that people feel like Steve Sarkesian is starting to feel pressure. And I think that that is maybe an okay observation.

Starting point is 00:02:55 There's no question that he feels pressure with as much money as they've invested in this team and what happened last year. of course he feels pressure. But you cannot make, you can make the basket weave in comment. You can pot shot other SEC teams and of course that's going to play well. But when you start doing it to an in state team that used to be in your conference, like there's another level of this like hatred in the state of Texas that makes it a little bit more, like the aftershock of this comment I think was more palpable than it was with the basket weaving. But here's the thing about it.

Starting point is 00:03:27 you were in the Big 12 not that long ago. They didn't go out winning the Big 12. They did, but don't say that your second stringers would beat everybody on the Big 12 schedule when your first stringers had a pretty hard time doing so while you were in the league. And this is even pre-Steef, Sartesian. They went 20 years of losing to weird teams like Kansas, okay? So, but here's the other thing about it, too. Last year's 10, not 20.

Starting point is 00:03:54 Yeah, well, they went 20 years without a first round. offensive draft pick between Vince Young and Bijon Robinson. Something was misfiring during those decades. Right, right, right. And it had nothing to do with the conference. So the one thing that, or the other thing that I wanted to say is, I think it's possible that Steve Sarkesian second string this year would fare well in the Big 12.

Starting point is 00:04:13 But I'm not sure Texas's ones would have beaten Texas Tech last year. So, like, it's just you better deliver now. And there's one way to deliver, which is what you've been presenting since this all came out. What is that presentation? To me, this is him saying Texas Tech, you have my attention. Because you are beating me for players in the transfer portal sometimes, which you never could have done before. You are beating me for players at a high school sometimes,

Starting point is 00:04:42 which you never could have done before. And that's what's interesting about this. Now, they don't play. The beauty of the Ole Miss comment is they play this year. They're on the schedule. So that'll get sorted out. I'm sure he'll be pelted with baskets. Now, they're at Texas, so there won't be that many baskets thrown at him.

Starting point is 00:05:03 But the Texas Tech thing, they don't play, but they could play. It is a highly realistic possibility that Texas and Texas Tech could meet the college football playoff, and that would be spectacular. Yeah, I think what Sark was getting at is that he resents the fact that Texas Tech is beating him for players while also playing in a conference where it's a foregone conclusion that regardless what happens to Brendan Sorsby, the tech will be in the playoff. If Texas Tech invests the way Texas invests, they will win their league. Texas investing like this guarantees nothing because they didn't even make the playoff last year.

Starting point is 00:05:43 They went, you know, they lost at Ohio State, but they also lost to another SEC team that had eight losses at the end of the season. it's so funny of all the years that you and I've been doing the show together. I feel like a little bit like we start thinking the same. I posted to Twitter at 4 o'clock central time on Thursday. If I'm a Texas tech fan, I'm ecstatic about Steve Sarkesian taking a shot at you. There was a time not too long ago when Steve Sarkisian wasn't thinking about you at all,

Starting point is 00:06:13 which I think is an important context. You don't rise. And it's the same thing happened with Ole Miss too, right? Like Ole Miss was a cool, solid program or whatever. They make the playoff. and then all of a sudden everyone's taking pot shots out. Sart did say, because he got asked about the Ole Miss thing, he did say Ole Miss came to his mind because Lane Kiffin and Pete Golding

Starting point is 00:06:33 are two of his best friends in the business. And they, obviously, Lane is the former Ole Miss coach. And Pete is the current Ole Miss. So that was his reasoning behind picking Ole Miss. He feels bad. He said basket weaving. He could have said yoga, he said. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:06:47 Well, that would have been more appropriate considering the coach's activities. But on one hand, I think, on one hand here if you're Texas Tech, you have Texas's attention, which I think is kind of like kind of like the baseline thing in this state, right? Isn't that why Texas A&M hates them so much? Because Texas levitates above the rest of us.

Starting point is 00:07:05 Like the fact that he's, right. And Texas, Texas fans understandably say like, we can't play every little brother. That's their thing. Because TCU feels the same way and Baylor feels the same way. And Texas Tech feels the same way. A&M feels the same way.

Starting point is 00:07:22 they're going to play every year now. But you tweeted something that really was like a lightning bolt to the tip of my member. And that was pay Texas State and Abilene Christian to play each other in week one. You two quit yapping and settle it on the field. Let's do it. And like that to me, it just reminded me of when coastal Carolina and BYU played during COVID. Right. Like it's like, well, you have two teams out there that are undefeated and two teams that, you know, figure that they want to.

Starting point is 00:07:52 All right, line them up. Always, let's play. That was on Tuesday. We need a game. And the BYU truck driver is like, let's go. Let's go. It's a pretty short trip. If I remember correctly, that was in Carolina, wasn't it?

Starting point is 00:08:05 They played, yeah, they played in Conway, South Carolina. So, like, BYU semi rolled out of Provo. It's like, we're not stopping, baby. Like in this world of expanding the playoff to be 24 teams and this is how much you're paying, whatever, isn't there room in this sport for a good old-fashioned spot the ball? If there was a way to do that, if there was a way to just leave one schedule spot open for every team, every year. And then insert whatever. And then the second somebody talks shit about somebody who's not on the schedule, we schedule the game.

Starting point is 00:08:39 But like, it's doable. What you just said isn't Fantasyland. They literally could pay those teams. I don't know what Texas State is not going to do it because they play Ohio State the next week. I get it. I'm not going to go too hard on. Texas because they're playing Ohio State. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:08:55 And I ended up at that game, they're playing it. But I will say this. If Texas Tech continues on its trajectory and last year's team turns into this year's team, which turns in the following year's team, and they turn out to be a, the constant that the Big 12 has been looking for, which is the team every year that they're going to put into the playoff and has a chance to make a run. At some point, you know, this is going to have to come to a head. And I think they're going to have to schedule this.

Starting point is 00:09:22 at some point just for the sake of all of our sanity because Texas now has the benefit of playing A&M again every year. I don't think they're going to schedule it because I think Texas feels like it's a no-win situation for them because they're supposed to win. But if they don't win, it's terrible for them. So which is it that will change if Texas Tech. It's a cowardly way to look at the world. But I also think it will change because I think at a certain point Texas Tech has a chance to get good enough where that we're supposed to win thing goes out the window. which is what I'm assuming is Steve Sarkesian's number one fear in life. Or, or Ari, or they just get matched up and they don't control it,

Starting point is 00:10:03 which would be even better because, and I don't care, I don't care where it is it, you know, because in the playoff, we don't know how it wind up with Texas Tech. Texas would be going to Lubbock? Would it be in a bowl? Like, I don't care. Imagine the cotton ball. The Cotton Bowl.

Starting point is 00:10:21 I would like that. I would like that very much. But I think that Texas makes a point, and I also understand we can't just pretend to live in a box. We have to at least address. No, and somebody tweeted at me. He's like, you didn't address the Texas Tech Schedule is easy. And I'm like, their schedule is easy.

Starting point is 00:10:40 Everyone knows. I'm not going to defend that. It's easy. It's much easier than Texas is much easier. I also think that a coach should know that going undefeated against any schedule is very difficult. I also think that Steve Sarkesian, while taking a pot shot of Texas Tech, also basically took a dump on the entire Big 12. Because he was...

Starting point is 00:10:59 Oh, I think it was way more of a shot at the Big 12 than it was at Texas Tech. Because he wasn't saying his twos and threes could beat Texas Tech. He was saying his twos and threes could beat everybody else, which that includes his own alma mater. And I don't think his twos or threes could beat his alma mater because they're pretty good, too. Yeah. And... BYU, by the way. Yeah, BYU.

Starting point is 00:11:18 you. But you do understand what he's saying because you have to put yourself in Steve Sarkesian's position, too. He is one offseason removed from going nine and three and missing the playoff. Yeah. He feels that the team last year, although was clearly flawed, at least for the first half of the year, would have fared the big 12 better. And that's probably a fact. So there are ways of saying things, too, that are true, that are still hurtful. And like, I don't think that anything that he said That's the thing. It's true, and I don't begrudge him. In fact, I celebrate him saying it. But guess what, Texas fans?

Starting point is 00:11:57 When your coach says that, they're going to yell at you from the other side and call you cowards for not wanting to play them. Yeah. And I'm assuming that this was going to happen. And you have James Blanchard, one of their main person, you know, one of the, their general manager, GMs, but one of the biggest main brainchilds of, like, great personnel people in here starting the fight or continuing the fight, I should say. for the longest time he tweeted it just means more now it's a bunch of excuses and i gotta say and i know that like i ruffled some southern feathers every now and then but there's been a lot of like soft sec viewpoints recently online like even with lane kiffin said on part of my take again

Starting point is 00:12:36 it's just like the same talking point of i've been very critical about them saying rly such a grind if it your league is then your champion should kick the crap out of everybody in the playoff they're not. I also think that we're just tired of playing hypothetical games. Why don't we just use the games that were no, no, no. The thing was, I was, I would defend them when they kept winning the national championship and people would be like, oh, yes, the SEC's a media create. No, it's not. They would beat your ass in the national title game. And they did for 20 years. And they, right. So, you know, so the thing that's really frustrating about it isn't that the SEC is lying. They're accustomed to this being true. And maybe it certainly is like, for, from a depth standpoint. We talk about the NFL draft numbers. They had more players and less teams. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:13:23 Still more talented top to bottom. But I'm tired of hearing about all the, like everybody's tweeting charts at me and here's what would have happened and bowl games don't matter. And I'm tired of you saying this is why we don't need to schedule tough out of conference games. Quit whining, win a national championship. And then you can talk as much trash as you want again. And if you're, but now to defend the SEC, if you are BYU or Tech.

Starting point is 00:13:48 Texas Tech or a Big 12 team who complains about having to win the Big 12 or not getting in, do yourself a favor the way that BYU did with Notre Dame and what Texas Tech would like to do with Texas and schedule some of these freaking games and play them. Yeah, and Texas Tech, by the way, there are other schools besides Texas you could schedule that would challenge you and you didn't. Billy Lucie said this, the Texas A&M media mogul. Is that a good way to refer to him? Yeah, TechSags founder.

Starting point is 00:14:19 The founder of Techsags that, you know, in fairness to Texas, like there are other non-conference opponents that Texas Tech could play that aren't just Texas and A&M. And that's also true, and I think that Texas Tech, and we even, if I remember correctly when Joey McGuire was on the show, we did challenge him on, are you going to play a tough or none? Because Texas Tech needs it. That's the thing, like Texas Tech is taking next year's playoff for granted.

Starting point is 00:14:42 Buddy, if you slip up and you get somehow left out of the Big 12 championship game, you ain't going. That's the peril of having that schedule. So I think it's fun to fantasize about what. Notre Dame would probably love to play Texas Tech. Notre Dame needs better games. I think Texas Tech with the commitment to spending that they have shown is an attractive non-conference foe for any power team that needs to bolster their schedule.

Starting point is 00:15:05 And it doesn't have to be a Texas region. It doesn't have to be in Oklahoma. They can go play South Carolina for all I care. But any point that you can make on your resume for data is, helpful to us. It's more entertaining to us, and it's more helpful for you to safeguard yourself from being left out for the very reason that BYU was left out last year. They played Oregon not long ago. Like, it's not that they've never done this, but they're not doing it now. And BYU was left out last year. They deserve all the criticism in the world for that.

Starting point is 00:15:33 BYU was rightfully left out last year because they didn't play a tough non-conference game. And they didn't get that win. Schedule them. They're going to play it this year. And they're going to play it this year. And guess what? You might lose or guess what you might win. but guess what, that's sports. That's competition. That's the reason they play the games. And that's why you talk trash. And hopefully you wind up on the field against each other

Starting point is 00:15:56 and you either back it up or you don't. I'm guessing, Ariya, that Sark is talking this trash because he thinks his team can back it up. So I want to see your Steve Buschemy list. Like, is it Michigan next week? Is it who you got? Who are you coming after next week? Yeah.

Starting point is 00:16:13 Yeah. But he's been. spicy since after the A&M win. That's when this started. We beat two playoff teams. We're probably not going to the playoff. It's time to unload the clip. And you know what the best way to unload the clip is, Andy?

Starting point is 00:16:30 Win the national championship. Yeah, on the football field on fall Saturday. So here's the thing I'll leave you guys with, Andy. And this is maybe the nicest way I can deal with a beef because usually I'm on a side. I understand Texas's. I understand Sark's comments and I think that there's some merit to them. I also understand why Texas Tech would be pissed. Can we like can they both be true?

Starting point is 00:16:54 They are both. And so I will again reiterate what I tweeted. Call Abilene Christian and call Texas State and say, we're going to give you two and a half million dollars to split and y'all can go play each other. Cody Campbell probably write that check out of his personal checkbook. And we're and we're going to play. We're going to play. and we're going to settle this on the field.

Starting point is 00:17:17 Yeah, that would be fun. You can give me all the reasons. Why not? I don't care. I would love to see them play. Play the game, cowards. Play the game. You're both cowards.

Starting point is 00:17:31 Play the game.

Andy & Ari On3 - Steve Sarkisian TAKES A SHOT AT TEXAS TECH: Why Longhorns vs Red Raiders needs to be scheduled NOW

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