Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - KU vs TCU & College Gameday with Locked On Big 12

Episode Date: October 7, 2022

Previewing the KU Football vs TCU Football game and College Gameday as part of a roundtable conversation on Locked On Big 12 with Josh Neighbors and Stephen Simcox of Locked On TCU. What a 6th win would mean for Lance Leipold and Kansas, plus what it will take for the Horned Frogs or Jayhawks to come out on top.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!LinkedInLinkedIn jobs helps you find the candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at Linkedin.com/lockedoncollege Terms and conditions apply.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!UpsideDownload the FREE Upside App and use promo code Locked to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more.Underdog FantasySign up on underdogfantasy.com with the promo code LOCKED ON and get your first deposit doubled up to $100!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnCollege to learn more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's Locked On Jayhawks, we hear from the TCU side of things, Josh Nabors as well from Locked On Big 12, and preview part of the KUTCU game. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well on Rock Chalk Sports Talk, Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 on KLWN. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We're free and available wherever you get your podcasts. Today's episode is brought to you by Upside.

Download the free Upside app and use promo code LOCKED to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more. On today's edition of Locked on Jayhawks, had another appearance on Locked on Big 12 with Josh Neighbors. We had a little bit of a roundtable discussion with myself and Stephen Simcox, who runs the TCU version, basically, of the show with Locked On TCU. Had an opportunity to kind of talk about everything going on this week and the game itself a little bit.

Here's our roundtable discussion, starting with Josh. Guess what, boys? Game day is coming to see these two teams play. Not OU. We're not going to Texas State Fair. We are going this week, college game day, to TCU and

Kansas. We have our thoughts on the game, where they seem that two teams are. All that coming up next. You are Locked On Big 12. Your daily podcast on the Big 12 Conference. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every

day. Once again, Josh Nabors here, Locked On Big 12 Podcast. Make sure you guys subscribe to not only Locked On Big 12, but Locked On TCU and Locked On Jayhawks as well. So, guys, this week at noon Eastern time, 11 a.m. Central,

there is a game between two Big 12 teams that are both ranked into the top 20 that College Game Day is attending that has Big 12 title implications and also Red River is being played at the same time. That is like a crazy statement to make. TCU and Kansas are the two top 20 teams, not OU and Texas. And, Stephen, I'll go to you first. Just the fact that College Game Day is going to this game in Lawrence, Kansas, and that both of these teams are involved is awesome for the league

and its future because guess which two teams are leaving? OU and Texas. The game is on ABC. I know it's a big deal. It's still a big deal. Those teams have had a rocky start, but TCU and Kansas is getting all the shot. No, it's great.

And it's been a really good offseason for the future of the Big 12. I mean, the Pac-12 losing USC and UCLA, showing some vulnerability there, the unstableness of that conference. But, of course, the big question has been, and it's been looming over the conference since those two schools decided they were going to move on to the SEC. You take these two big brands out, you know, what does that leave

as far as the future of the league, the eyeballs that are going to be watching the quality of the football teams. And you have two teams that are really upstarts. I mean, I'll defer to Derek on KU in their season, but I know from hearing you, Josh and others around the big 12, there was some optimism, right? Like we were all like, Oh yeah, that over under of, I think it was like two and a half before the season for Kansas. You got to smash the over there. Like, they're definitely going to win three or four games. Didn't expect this.

Like, didn't expect them to be undefeated at this point in the year. And then for TCU, I mean, I think it was a good first step to take care of business and non-conference play and be 3-0. And you felt good about that. And on Saturday, I mean, completely unexpected, just dismantling Oklahoma and almost hanging 60 points on them. So now you have two really good programs with a ton of energy behind them. The fans are going to be stoked.

I know, you know, game day in Lawrence is going to be appointment television. And then the game itself at 11 a.m., hopefully both these offenses play well, like they have all year. And it's an entertaining game to watch, but it's great for the league. Yeah. I mean, you really couldn't write a better script than two teams outside of the OU in Texas bubble thriving. And it's not even the ones you might expect, like Oklahoma State and Baylor, even though those programs are having good years as well. It's, you know, TCU and Kansas kind of coming out of nowhere.

And I picked these teams, like, I forget where I picked them, but I picked them between 8 and 10 from the conference this year. That's what these two teams were for me. And, Derek, you and I talked, like, I think a couple weeks ago when they were 2-0 or 3-0. I mean, to be all the way here now, it's really funny because them actually getting to 5-0 was not a big story in the conference this week like the number for you i'm sure it was but the number one story in the conference this week was was what tcu did to oklahoma that was number one in my opinion a

lot of people's opinions just because it exposed a lot of things but kansas gets the 14 to 11 win over iowa state you know game day kind of writes the wrong of the Duke game, because it was a fun basketball story of them. You know, they take Tennessee and Florida instead, but they're going to a game on FS1 at noon while OU and Texas are playing. I mean, all of it, just all

the, you know, even with, like, okay, it's game day at Lawrence. It's awesome. But the entire thing is just, it's kind of bizarro world isn't it oh absolutely I mean we just go back it feels like this whole thing the birth of it all was when KU went down to Austin last year and beat Texas because it feels like that was kind of the birth of the Lance Leipold era and kind of proof of concept they're turning into this year and now circle back and now instead of being able to

you know watch on game day go and seeing someone eating fried butter you can come to lawrence and get some bill self mac and cheese at 23rd street brewery or something right so um it's just a complete surprise at this point and it's like impossible here to try to figure out what should be the expectations anymore for ku football like uh you know as you keep winning no longer with you starting five and oh is it oh but can this team make a bowl game because if you go one and six the last seven after the way it started like that's almost going to feel a little bit disappointing so I kind of wonder too like not just the environment and everything that's cool about this I think whoever wins this game between TCU and Kansas, there's going to be real talk about, like, okay,

Oklahoma State is, like, the team to beat right now, and that battle for number two, like, they're in it as much as anyone else in the conference. Yeah, that's the next part of this. Like, this game is going to produce a Big 12 title challenger, right? If KU wins this, they are 3-0 in the Big 12. They are bowl eligible and you know it's like and I assuming they win again you know you're talking about them having one of the one

of the best two or three quarterbacks in the conference another way around a TCU wins it and I think I think if TCU wins it like there's a certain way they're going to win it to where Steven would like, okay, this group is seriously athletic. They are – because I think that's the one thing. When you watch this offense, they've got some dudes at every single offensive position, wide receiver, running back. We've had a lot of conversations about Max Duggan, but this is like – this is – I mean, explosive plays to the max.

I actually looked it up today. They have the most plays over 30, the second most plays in the country over 30 plus yards. And they've played one fewer game than all the teams around them. The only team that has more is Ohio State with 21, I think TCU's at 19. I mean, this game, you know, if kansas wins it it's like proof of concept serious contender if tcu wins it it's further proof of what they showed against ou like i think one of whoever wins this game steven has to be considered as a big 12 title challenger

now i'd agree with that and it's funny you know before the year i said i thought tcu would go seven and five and uh you you guys probably don't do this, but I'll speak for myself. Sometimes you throw a prediction out there, and you don't really do a ton of research, and then later you look back at the schedule, and you're like, oh, okay, now I've got to figure out where these seven wins are going to come from. I just sort of abstractly said 7-5 because I felt right,

but you're like, oh, Oklahoma State, that's tough. OU at home, how are you going to win that? Going to Morgantown, that seems like a tricky game. But if you win your first two conference games, stealing one from Oklahoma and beating a really good upstart Kansas team, then everything looks a lot more manageable just based on how everyone else is playing. And, yeah, the offense has been incredible. You know, I've had to apologize and I have to Max Duggan.

Like, the first few years of his career, he was not an accurate passer. He did some great things with his legs. He had a ton of intangibles, but I thought Chandler Morris was going to win this job, which in fairness he did. And he would just keep it for, you know, the entirety of the season. But he went down on the third quarter of that Colorado game and, and Max walked in and hasn't let the job back.

So they've been able to find a way to get the ball to their playmakers. You know, I spent all offseason talking about Quentin Johnson being a first-round draft pick, and he's only got 200 yards receiving on the year. But it's not because, like, he's been terrible. It's just because they have so many different guys that they're spreading the ball around to. I mean, you know, Darius Davis has been fantastic.

Tate Barber made some plays last week. I could go down the list. But, yeah, it's a fascinating game. And the one thing I'll say about TCU is it sounds strange. I still don't really know completely what this defense is because the first two games of the year they played, you know, Colorado, God bless them, they're not going to win a football game, I don't think. They suck.

They're so bad. And then Tarleton was their FCS game. SMU, they were able to force a few turnovers, but there were some explosive plays by Tanner Mordecai and that team. And then in the OU game, I mean, Dylan Gabriel was struggling, but I think if he plays four quarters, then it's just really hard to measure what was going on. Because once Beville came in the game, OU really couldn't do anything on offense. So we'll find out because Jalen Daniels is fantastic. I know Kansas does a lot of cool things, you know,

schematically that makes it tough for defense is a ton of misdirection. So that'll be the big test in my mind this week is can this defense sort of hold up and we'll sort of get a bigger picture, a fuller picture of where they're at under first year defense coordinator, Joe Gillespie. And then Derek over to you about like winning a sixth game, because after this they've got at oklahoma they're at baylor they're at oklahoma state that's really tough and they're at texas

tech after that too um so just getting to six like what you know and everything else outside of that great what does getting to six mean for kuU and the program? More of our conversation with Stephen and Josh talking the KUTCU game, game day, everything else in just a moment. But first, from cringing at the pump to getting an eye-popping check at your favorite restaurant, inflation is hitting us all where it hurts, and it really hurts. That's why I started using Upside. Upside is an incredible app for anyone who buys gas, groceries, or dines out. With every purchase, I'm earning cash back thanks to Upside. You just go to the pump, you pull it out.

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That's probably why they have a 4.8 star rating on the App Store. Download the free Upside app and use promo code LOCKED to get $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more. That's $5 or more cash back on your first purchase of $10 or more using promo code LOCKED. It means so much. It's the proof both from a just you know the guys who are on the team trying to get them to wins both from a you know recruiting locally uh that's been a big talk like over this off season that k-state is doing so much more than ku recruiting locally and they have been kind of recently but if you go up to any you know 16 17 18 year old they've

seen kansas state be good for their entire life growing up watching football that hasn't been the case for ku so just from like a local recruiting perspective it's huge as well to see them go to a bowl game haven't been to a bowl game obviously since 2008 when they played in the inside bowl and beat minnesota it'd be huge for this program to get to that sixth win and like you said it's one of those weird things because right now at five and oh you don't want to just sit there and say oh our expectation is only to go in six games but you still can't take it for granted if you do only get to six because like you said there's tough opponents coming up the KU Baylor series has been really really one-sided for Baylor with blowout scores lately maybe the OU game is a little bit more winnable than we think, especially last year.

KU almost beat Oklahoma in that game in Lawrence, but Oklahoma State looks really good. So there are no gimmies in the Big 12. You can't take anything for granted. If they get that sixth win, I mean, it's going to be – I don't know. Fans might storm Mass Street. Usually that's reserved for, like, Final Fours

or something crazy winning the national championship. But at this point, especially if it's over TCU with game day in town, wouldn't shock me. Well, also, they've been underdogs in five of those six games. And, I mean, let's see, Tennessee Tech – well, four of those six games. Tennessee Tech, obviously, you know, it's whatever. West Virginia doubled as underdog. Houston, they were around nine and a half at one point with that one.

Duke, they were seven-point favorite. Then Iowa State, they were dogs once again for that one. And now this week, I think it's now a seven-point underdog at home. I mean, I think like, oh, my God, storming the streets. And I remember talking to Jesse Mule, who now covers Kansas City Chiefs, him saying at five wins they build the statue of Lance Leipold. Well, they're going to build the statue range. I'll ask you guys both now, Stephen, how does TCU go about winning this football game?

What is the key for them? And specifically on defense, like what do they do? Because we talked on the show we're going to be on SiriusXM, we talked to Sonny dykes last week and he said our defense is fast i'm not sure he's all the way sold in and they shouldn't be yet because of the year they had last year not sure he's 110 sold what this defense is just yet but what are the keys for tcu to win this game and really the defense, what's the key for them to slow down Jalen Daniels? Yeah, I mean, defensively, they switched schemes here. So they're running a lot of three-man fronts.

And I think the big key is this is something they haven't really had is rushing the passer. And especially with those front three guys, you know, Dominic Williams is a true freshman. He's been starting to no-sackle. He's done a really nice job, but it's hard to get pressure from that interior spot. Dylan Horton is kind of their main defensive end, who they hope can generate some buzz off the edge. So I think it starts there. In the secondary, they have a lot of experience. They've been kind of inconsistent at times, but Travius Hodges-Tomlinson and Josh Newton are two guys that have been asked to do a lot, and they're going to have to play well and play disciplined and make plays. If they can slow down KU in their run game, that'll be a huge key. One guy to watch, Marcel Brooks. He was a five-star recruit

out of high school. He went to LSU, transferred to TCU a few years ago, and the previous staff didn't really know what to do with him. They moved him to wide receiver last year. That didn't work. And so now he's playing linebacker. He got injured during fall camp, so his first action was against Oklahoma. And he only played about 20, 22 snaps. But he was able to get some pressure off the edge, you know, coming off blitzes.

And I wonder if they use him to kind of generate some of that pressure on Jalen Daniels that they haven't been able to get with their defensive linemen so far this year. Some turnovers would help. Offensively, I think it's just sticking with what they do, which is kind of starting with Kendra Miller and Amari DiMercato, those backs in the backfield, and then using that to get going in the pass game with all their wide receivers and Max Duggan.

They're going to keep their foot on the gas pedal. I expect this to be a shootout. I think TCU is comfortable if they're in that style of game. And so I don't think they're going to want to play ball control and necessarily help their defense. I think they're most comfortable trying to score and letting their athletes make plays in space. And then, Derek, what do you think is –

how does Kansas win this football game? What's the keys for them? Well, I want to see because it's interesting the offense had been so explosive and and we hadn't seen any signs of it slowing down through the first four games we saw it against Iowa State is that just something that Iowa State did schematically is it just Iowa State's defense is that good I mean we do know they have typically had a really good defense year in, year out, and it's looked to be that way so far this season. Was it just a bad game from KU?

I don't know, because kind of what Steven's talking about there, like TCU is going to put up points in this game. So the offense is going to have to be able to match for KU. But then also, like, what do we know about the defense? Because the defense has been showing signs of kind of turning the corner here and maybe that's what it was against Iowa State you hold them to 11 points you make big play after big play certainly you're not going to hold TCU to that many points but if you can hold TCU to 35 points I think of this game I don't think you're necessarily guaranteed a win or anything but I think you might take that going into the game just knowing how explosive and how great this TCU offense has been.

Number one in the country in yards per play, second in the country in yards per game, points per game. So if you said, hey, they're going to score 35, I think you'd probably take your chances and hope that the offense is back to what it was and that they're able to kind of establish that running game with their spread triple option, because that's part of it too. Is there a book out on KU now with what specifically they're doing

with this counter triple option spread type game to where teams are starting to pick up how to defend them? Or is it something where this week, even without Daniel High, Sean, the injury, you still have Kai Thomas and Savion Morrison transfers from the Big Ten at Nebraska and Minnesota that can come in and be talented guys along with Devin Neal. And if they can do that, then I think we should be in for a barn burner and KU could win the game. And it's kind of funny because weirdly enough, like the KU-TCU matchup has, I know there's a couple in there.

Like there was a game KU had 21 yards of offense, but this has been kind of a weirdly competitive series over the last decade or so. We had the three-point game last year. We had the butt fumble game in Lawrence where TCU lost that game on a weird play. So maybe we have another good one, and I hope we do with game day in town this week. Steven, my question is, when's a team just going to rush three or four guys and drop eight in passing situations against TCU? Because I've been talking about this, and I'll ask you for your keys to the game,

but like what's the strategy to beat this team? Because there was still some underneath throws last week or Max Douglas just air mailing him. That was like, is he still kind of that guy a little bit? I didn't know. But what do you think the key is here for TCU to get the job done? Like what do they have to do well? I already asked that. What's your prediction?

How do you think this one plays out? Do they do the things that you already talked about a second ago to win? How do you see this one playing out? Yeah, he missed some throws. I mean, I never thought I would say this. I don't really know how much you can take from last week because Oklahoma's defense was so bad. Like, I think TCU's offense is legit, but they had touchdowns.

They had a 73-yard touchdown pass, a 67-yard touchdown pass. Max Duggan had a 62-yard touchdown run. And, like, plays where there was nobody within five or ten yards of guys. So, like, I don't know. I don't really feel like that was a great measuring stick for what they're going to see the rest of the year. I feel like teams will probably drop back and force Max to make some throws. You have to at some point.

I feel like the reason teams haven't done that is just because they haven't been able to stop the run. You know, Andre Miller and those guys have been getting things done, running the football, and so you can't really commit to just sitting back and allowing them to sort of take the underneath routes. I'm going to take TCU to win the ballgame. I think it's going to be close. I think it's highly contested.

But I feel like they score, you know, consistently, and I think the defense does enough. I feel like they force a couple turnovers and they win the game. I'm just – I'm loving what I'm seeing from the energy of the program, the way they're approaching things. I think Sonny Dyches has his team playing loose. They're responding to his voice. And so I don't, I don't really see them. You know, I think Kansas obviously win the game, but if I'm making a prediction, I'll take TCU to win. And I think they score over 40 points. I don't feel like they punked the Kansas defense, but they're effective, and the defense makes enough stops to win the football game.

Derek, what about you? Yeah, the key to me is something Stephen was touching on earlier, like how legit is the TCU defense, right? Because if you look at, for instance, ESPN's College Football Power Index, their top 25 defense, and they put up good numbers, but what you mentioned with Colorado and Tarleton State, or is SMU putting up 34 points? Is that indicative that you can score on this defense?

Because like I said, KU's defense has been really opportunistic. And it's actually interesting. KU's defensive side of the ball has been one of the better teams in the Big 12 and in the country at limiting big plays. So I do expect TCU to have to maybe grind out drives a little bit more. Last year they were able to run all over KU, but the run defense has gotten a lot better. But if you can hold the TCU offense down a little bit,

what can the offense score here for KU? Jalen Daniels had a down game, didn't even eclipse 100 passing yards. They struggled against Iowa State. Can you really get back to what you were doing offensively? If you can, if this is back to the offense that put up 42 in regulation 55 for the game against West Virginia and 48 points against a Houston defense that has one of the best pass rushes in the country then I think KU can win this game but otherwise if this is starting to be kind of figured out how to defend this offense

and KU can only put up 28 points 31 points or something like that then I think TCU can win all right that was the appearance on locked on big 12 with Josh Nabors and Steven Simcox that'll do it for today's edition of locked on Jayhawks obviously we've been kind of on a one-day delay with me not being here Monday so everything's been pushed back a day we'll have our our full KUTCU preview coming on tomorrow's show. If you have anything you'd like for the show to talk about or want to follow along in the action, you can reach out at DJohnsonRadio on Twitter.

And don't forget to subscribe to the show so you're getting all the latest with Locked on Jayhawks. That'll do it for today's episode. Stick around for our KUTCU preview tomorrow before the game. Have a good rest of your day. I'll see some of you on Rock Chalk Sports Talk later today. Deuces.