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RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Sports Podcast
Talking all things Las Vegas sports-from UNLV to the pros, and everything in between.
RUNNIN' VEGAS - The John McNamara Sports Podcast
What If UNLV Chose The Pac-12 And Not The Money? | John McNamara & Tyler Bischoff
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Welcome And Vegas Sports Preview
SPEAKER_00Hey guys, John McMahon host is Run in Vegas. We're talking local sports, business, real estate. If you guys see what you like, subscribe, follow us on Run in Vegas podcast. Today, woo. We got a special co-host, Mr. Special. Yes, sir. Mr. Bischoff in the house.
SPEAKER_02I'm excited.
SPEAKER_00Technically correct. Collaborating with Run and Vegas.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you got a good name, by the way.
SPEAKER_00Oh, thank you.
SPEAKER_02I'm surprised nobody had taken that. It's such a great name, though. I know we patent that. We're just ready to go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Because we're running, man. Well, thank you for being on. You have a big voice in this community. I've been listening to you for years, so I'm excited to hear about your thoughts. We got Unileve, we got Raiders.
SPEAKER_02It's we're almost at the best month of the year, which is October, because that's when all of the sports are happening at the same time. So we're we're very close to that. So it's September into October is a phenomenal time to be doing sports. For sure.
SPEAKER_00We almost got nights coming up, too. Yes, they start soon.
SPEAKER_02It's in less than a week. Hockey season at the preseason short now because there's 84 regular season games. So it's like, yeah, the NFL started, and also the Golden Knights start like immediately afterwards.
SPEAKER_00It's gonna be good. A lot to talk about. We're excited.
UNLV Football Panic And Fixes
SPEAKER_00The Unileaf football, I don't know if it's that exciting. One and two start. What do you think here?
SPEAKER_02It's not great. Like it's so it's such a letdown for a program that had genuine playoff hopes. They're not completely dead, but they're almost dead. Like if they win the rest of their games, they'll they'll be in the conversation at the end of the year. But it's such a letdown. They come into the year, they're one of the top, you know, three or four group of six teams that people think could make the playoffs. And three games into the year, it feels like that's completely dead. Uh, and especially the way they lost to North Texas, at least the Memphis loss. You lose by one score, Memphis is pretty good. I don't think North Texas is actually that good. I don't think that's gonna be a loss of the end of the year. You look back and say, oh, well, at least they won nine games, and you got throttled. I mean, at no point were they even in that game. So it's just it's a huge letdown because the program almost in one night flipped from being the worst in Division I college football to being one of the best in the group of six for three years. And now it's like, oh, they're on a bye and they go play at Akron and they're already one and two.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, three years, ten win seasons, now one and two. They basically need to win out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, a third loss anywhere on this schedule is probably gonna doom any playoff hopes. Again, if they win out and they win the Mountain West title, you're 11-2. You might not make it because somebody in the American might be undefeated or something like that. But that's true. 11-2 Mountain West champion is in the conversation. It's it's at least you're gonna be on the graphics in the last couple of weeks of the year of a team that could get into the playoffs.
SPEAKER_00Right. Probably not getting in, but yeah, I agree with you. North Texas just didn't seem like they showed up. Memphis, though, I felt like what was your thoughts on the Memphis game? I thought the game plan was terrible. So what was your thoughts?
SPEAKER_02It was really weird to see first quarter offense couldn't do anything. Yeah. And then they had what, four drives in a row where it looked like they couldn't be stopped. It looked like last year's offense and was like, oh, they figured it out. Like Dan Mullen's good at this, and they're gonna score every drive. And then middle of the third quarter, they just stopped again. Like they just couldn't score again. And I I think a lot of it came down to, at least in the fourth quarter, the offensive line wasn't good enough, and Jackson Arnold was just gonna get sacked all the time. And Arnold has gotten sacked, whether he's been at Oklahoma or in Auburn. He's always been a quarterback that gets sacked a lot. So anytime they need to mount a comeback, that's gonna be an issue. Uh, but that just felt like that was sort of the the nail in that game was they couldn't protect Jackson Arnold, they couldn't keep him upright to lead a drive to try to win the game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, it doesn't help Austin Boyd being out as well, but it seems like, yeah, they want to run the offense through Jackson Arnold and just seems like he's not there yet. It's not AC from last year where he can't take over games, but it was just like a pass every single time. Five wide receiver sets, and I feel like the strength of this offense, they have this giant offensive line and a good couple good running backs.
SPEAKER_02Let's run the ball. Yes, it's it should be running the ball more. Like that should be where they're going. And they run a lot with Jackson Arnold and Jaden Thomas. I think even if you factor out sacks, Jackson Arnold was over 40 like designed carries so far this year. So they still run it a lot with Thomas, they run it a lot with uh Jackson Arnold, but it just I the passing game, it's just not there. And the interesting thing is to me, I think we're gonna end the year. Jackson Arnold's gonna have really good numbers because the second half of this schedule is pretty soft. There's a lot of bad Mountain West teams, and I think they're gonna put up a lot of points on San Jose State and Nevada and Wyoming and teams like that and this weekend against Akron, too. Uh, but ultimately, if we're talking about playoff expectations and we're comparing it to Anthony Calandry of last year, he's he's not at that level. He's not to the point where he can save you in a game late like Calandry did so many times last year, overcome some roster flaws, which they very clearly have. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's not fair to compare to AC of last year. I guess my thoughts, and you're absolutely right, they do run the ball. I just don't know if they should be running with Jackson Arnold. I'd rather have it in Jets' hands or Glover's hands, create some play action because when they've done it, it's open up the passing game for him to go deep.
SPEAKER_02So they've had they had some good plays against Hawaii. Like, I like that game. They played tough, they steamed well on defense. The defense helped them out quite a bit because the offense, what they put up 20, was it 21 points in that game? They still didn't score a lot of points, but it it felt better. The interesting thing about the Hawaii game is they really didn't run the ball that well in that game until Thomas broke off the 50-something yard run to kind of seal it up. Like they the offense had quite a few drives there where they could have put that game away late and just didn't do it, but the defense kept stepping up. But eventually, Thomas broke free and kind of sealed that one. But it's a like it's interesting because if I I'd ask you, what's their biggest strength? Like, what are they what are they actually good at right now? I don't know what that I don't know that there's anything you can point to and say, oh yeah, they could be the best in the Mountain West at that. Right. Which is interesting for a team that that should be at the top of the Mountain West, even with two losses already.
SPEAKER_00They're putting up a lot of yards, but not points. Yeah. And the defense, it looks like this defense has gotten a little better, but that's not saying much because it was so bad last year. It was, right? It's a low bar to clear. So yeah, you're right. Where do they my thoughts were going to run the ball, power football, and just Dan's not gonna do it that way?
SPEAKER_02And it probably that probably is the answer. Again, by the end of the year, I think we'll look back and this will be one of the two or three best rushing teams in the Mountain West. I think we'll look back and Jaden Thomas is gonna have a very good season. Arnold is gonna have good numbers at the end of the year, good running numbers too, most likely. It just again, to go back to the original point, it's sort of a letdown because they're already one and two. Like we're talking about all of this from the perspective of well, if they win every single game the rest of the year, as opposed to, well, it's been pretty good so far, and if they get a little bit better, maybe they'll be 12 and 1 in a college football playoff team.
SPEAKER_00Well, I guess that's the question, too, is I mean, is the season over? Or have we got something to play?
SPEAKER_02No, because okay. If they win the Mountain West Championship, it's a good year. I agree. This program winning a conference championship is a good year. Even if they lose to Akron, which would be inexplicable. I don't know. They're bad.
SPEAKER_00It's at 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_02Pacific time. And they they just last year went to Miami of Ohio, played at 9 a.m., and were losing by two scores at halftime.
SPEAKER_00I just watched the Rams game, man. I don't know if that's a gimme now.
SPEAKER_02But Akron's bad. So, but even if they like lost to Akron, lost to Cal, and lost all their non-conference games, if they win the Mountain West title, even if they were seven and five in the right season, that's still an accomplishment, especially for this program. That I mean, what have they ever accomplished, right? Like, even these last three years, their accomplishments have been almost as good as Boise State.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So winning the conference is good. But I think the thing I want to see is from now to the end of the year, do they play like a legitimate group of six playoff contender? Like, they they don't have to win all of the games, but when you play Cal, North Dakota State, and uh New Mexico, the three good teams left on the schedule, beat them, or if you lose to Cal by a field goal, okay, that's not the end of the world, but like look like a team that's competitive with the top of the group of six. And then when you play Akron, when you play San Jose State, when you play Wyoming, beat them by 20. Those are bad programs. And if you're a legitimate playoff level team, you should be beating those teams by three touchdowns or more. Doesn't mean they'll make the playoffs, but I think the expectations for UNLV now should be, as a program in whole, should be we're competing for the playoffs most years. So show us that this team is still capable of that because next year, when we start talking about the beginning of the season, hey, should UNLV go to the playoffs? The answer should be yes. Like they should be in the group of six conversation pretty much every year because they're invested in it more than most group of six teams.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree. That's a great take. And I never really actually thought they were gonna go to the playoffs. That's they're like the preseason darling, and I'm like, they got a lot to show. You know? And I agree. I think we gotta walk before we run, so to speak, and we gotta win Mountain West championships.
SPEAKER_02Especially now that it's a worse Mountain West. Like with Boise State gone and San Diego State, like there's other good programs in there. Yeah, like they should be winning the Mountain West. Not necessarily every single year, but they should be one of the best programs. And this year, New Mexico and North Dakota State look like the two most likely contenders to go and win it. But UNLV should be right there with them, and if not this year, in the very near future, win a Mountain West championship. Yeah, get a trophy, hang a banner. I don't know if the Raiders let them hang banners and allegiate, but that's another story. But get a banner somewhere, uh, and yeah, have have some sort of accomplishment that's not just hey, we won 10 games and we're really close to Boise State. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, we have three big games uh to go, which you've already said. Cal, North Dakota State, ah, New Mexico down the road. How do you think we we stack up?
SPEAKER_02So I don't know the answer to the North Dakota State one because they haven't played anybody. They beat Air Force, uh, but they gave up 32 points to Air Force. The rest of their games are Fordham, Jacksonville States, and I'm blanking uh Sacramento State. Yeah, not good teams. Right. Like they I don't know what to make of them. But they are 4-0 and they do have a conference win over Air Force. Maybe they're good. So I don't know. They've they've played well, but again, it hasn't been very good opponents. New Mexico looks pretty good. They lost their quarterback before the start of the year, but it hasn't mattered a whole lot. They went to Oklahoma and were in a one-possession game in the fourth quarter. Good defensive performance there by New Mexico. So that's probably gonna be a bit problematic. I'm curious with Cal, because Cal's quarterback is very good. And a stat for you uh on what Cal does offensively. They have thrown 23 passes behind the line of scrimmage this year. They've completed 22 of them, which is not that surprising. They're high percentage passes, but their average yards per attempt on that is 8.7. So they throw behind the line of scrimmage and almost get a first down. They're very, very good at yards after catch on those passes. Can UNLV, in a couple of weeks, do anything to stop that? And I'll give you the UNLV stat there. Jackson Arnold this year is eight of nine on those passes. Again, high percentage. He has 11 yards on those eight completions. Interesting. So UNLV doesn't go anywhere when they throw behind the line of scrimmage. Cal is very, very good at it. They're very good at getting a lot of yards on these high percentage throws. Does UNLV have anything for that? Can they, do they have the athletes out wide to actually make enough plays to tackle guys in space? Cal's great at it. And I don't know if UNLV's, they haven't faced anything as good as that so far this year. I don't know how that will fare. It might be a game where it's just infuriating because, oh, they just threw it out wide quick. There's nine yards half the time, and it's just a lot of easy first downs for Cal.
SPEAKER_00I love that stat. I love crazy stats like that. Uh, I don't think it's gonna go well against Cal. No, I'm not. Um I think that's not gonna be good. I actually think the most important game of this year as of today is North Dakota State at home. They have to win that game. You don't need to lose to North Dakota State. The first year coming into the conference and losing that game, and then you gotta win at New Mexico. That defense looks legit. We lost to New Mexico last year. So that is not a gimme game. You don't want to go into that game as a must-win. So North Dakota State gives me like boise state vibes a little bit.
SPEAKER_01Already, they just they just got a little bit. They just got a bit. I get scared.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, I'm not liking the Cal game. I don't they have a great quarterback. I think that's gonna be very tough. I think North Dakota State, but you're right, they haven't really played anybody yet. Air Force is interesting. Air Force has been bad the last two years, but before that, they were a legitimate Mountain West contender every year. So what team is that? We don't know that either.
SPEAKER_02The defense has just been awful for a couple of years, which is a huge surprise because their defense is normally not awful. But like you remember the Air Force game last year was wild with the NLV, and it was just a matter of who had the ball last. And that was most Air Force games. Yeah, like that's just how Air Force played last year, which is interesting. And then they play North Dakota State and lose, I think it was 38 to 32. Just another game where it's like, yeah, everybody's gonna score points. So yeah, I don't know. What do you make of Air Force? I don't really know. Good quarterback, or at least in their offense, good quarterback, but probably not a great Mountain West team by any means.
Pac-12 Or Mountain West Debate
SPEAKER_00No. And you brought it up too. I mean, what are your thoughts now? Because the Mountain West is definitely it's not worse. Yeah. It's come down as a conference. Is there, I think you were a big Unil V should have gone to PAC, right? Yes. Okay, cool. Oh, that I remember that correctly. So what are your thoughts? Do you still feel that way that uh Unil V should have gone to the pack? Or we should be in the Mountain West, win a Mountain West championships, kind of build that up a little bit, take that money. I mean, now that we kind of have an idea of what they made of the settlement, which wasn't great. Yeah, if your thoughts, you know, what are your thoughts now? Now, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so ultimately ultimately the Pac-12 looks like a better conference and is probably gonna be that way for the foreseeable future. And I think you're smarter going into the better conference, even if, oh, we don't get the $15 million payday that roughly they're gonna get now from this settlement. Because I think one of the hypotheticals that we don't know exactly how would have played out, but if you remember, there was a 48-hour period where UNLV was making the decision in all of college sports. The Pac-12 struck out on Memphis and the other American schools, they came back and said, UNLV, we want you. And UNLV took like two days to decide. And they said, No. If UNLV had left, Air Force was reportedly leaving to go join the American and play with Army and Navy. If both of those programs leave, does the Mountain West even exist anymore? Like the idea that if UNLV had left, they would have owed the Mountain West this this uh exit fee and all of that, I don't know that they would have. Yeah, I don't know if there would have been a Mountain West left for them to pay. So, but the money side, obviously UNLV stayed in the Mountain West for the money. I would have rather have seen them go to the Pac-12. I don't think it'll affect football nearly as much because they could have beaten Memphis and they can beat Cal. Like you can take care of business. I think where we're gonna see it is in basketball. The basketball conference is bad. It's genuinely going to be an awful conference. Like Grand Canyon's gonna come in and be the best team in this conference. And it it they're gonna get one bid out of the Mountain West pretty much every single year. So what you do most years until about the first week of March is irrelevant. Like they're just they're not gonna be important games because they're not gonna have a real chance to go into the NCAA tournament unless they just win the Mountain West tournament. And so the Mountain West being so much worse, I think it's gonna hurt so much more in basketball. Football, we won't notice it quite as much, but in basketball, it's absolutely gonna kill them. Meanwhile, the Pac-12 took most of the best programs, and they're gonna get Gonzaga for basketball. Yeah, like it's significantly better in basketball. So I think that's where we'll feel it the most. I don't like that Pac-12 logo though. So Yeah, they change, and they didn't need to change it, just leave it the same. Just say, yeah, we're back. That's kind of fun. You don't recognize any of the schools, but don't worry. We're still the Pac-12.
SPEAKER_00We don't have to have that stupid logo. So good segue.
UNLV Basketball Roster And Pastner
SPEAKER_00Uniley basketball. What do you think of the roster? Pasner building. Are we taking threes this year or not?
SPEAKER_02Can I can I answer the question about the roster when I know if AJ Stor is playing or not? Right.
SPEAKER_00I know. What happened with that? We literally, me and Ryan. We had a pod about AJ Store. We're like, this is amazing. We're competing for Mountain West Chair. A week later, he's he's not playing. He's he's ineligible. As far as I know, he's playing. He's still on the roster, though. Yes. I checked it.
SPEAKER_02Well, as far as I know, he's still ineligible. And I'll steal Josh Pastor's quote on this that could change three times before the season starts. Okay. Right? Like it changed three times in the summer. So if AJ Storr is eligible, I like the roster. Because AJ Storr, uh, he's played at four different schools, but when he was at Wisconsin three years ago, proved that he could score at a high level in the Big Ten. When he was at Ole Miss last year, he was their leading scorer in the SEC. Two different times in a power conference, he's been a high-level scorer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's something UNLV doesn't usually add. UNLV usually gets sort of end-of-the-bench players from the power conference or guys that are coming up from like Lindenwood this year. Getting a guy who has led a Big Ten and led an SEC team in scoring, even if there's some efficiency questions, even if there's some fit questions, that's just a skill set UNLV doesn't normally get in the transfer portal. So if Stor is playing, I think there's a real chance he could come to UNLV, be first team All Mountain West, maybe even Mountain West player of the year, and sort of change that. If he's not here, I think it's a lot like we've seen the last five years, 15 years, 20 years, how many years you want to go back?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Where there's a bunch of pieces that could be good, but you need what, six or seven of them of them to work out really well. And they'll probably get two or three to work out really well. And two or three will be kind of bad, and the rest will be average, and it won't be good enough to go to the NCAA tournament, which is what we've seen over and over and over from UNLB.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. No, I agree with you. I like uh the signings of Tyler Harris and obviously Jones coming back to the store. And you've talked about this before. I've listened to your pods over the years or um on the radio, that they they never really had like a big three or three really good scorers. Yeah, and they're lacking that one guy. Sebastian Mack's kind of interesting, right? He may be the guy, but he hasn't proven that yet. You know, he had a he got a lot of touches at UCLA and then he fell off in Missouri. But SEC is like a totally different animal when it comes to basketball, as you know. So interesting roster. Um he's got more depth this year and he likes to run, which if you're a ULV fan, you love that. And does it actually happen? You know, last year he did, though.
SPEAKER_01Right, right.
SPEAKER_00So he has been um what do you think of Passner?
SPEAKER_02So I love Josh Pastner as somebody to interview or just talk to. Like he's he's great and he's a great guy as well. Like, love that part of it. I'm not convinced he's gonna take UNLV to the NCAA tournament. I don't know that there's anything special about Josh Passner that uh he can get better players out of the transfer portal than previous UNLV coaches, or that he can recruit high schoolers better than previous UNLV coaches, or that he can coach them up better, right? Like you could have an average roster and have the best coach in the conference and you win the conference because the coach is so good. I'm not convinced he's anything better than average at any of those aspects. He was known as a good recruiter when he was at Memphis. You're not really recruiting high school anymore. Like you'll bring in a couple of high school kids every year, but it's about the transfer portal. That's that's what this is about. And NIL money plays a big deal. It's why he was selling the program over the summer. Trying to get $10 million.
SPEAKER_00I liked it. I don't think you should apologize.
SPEAKER_02I was like, good. So I like Pastner. I'm not convinced he's the coach that's gonna take UNLV back to the NCAA tournament. Now, maybe they win the Mountain West tournament because it's gonna be easier to win than ever before this year, and they get in that way. But if we're talking like, hey, are you an at-large team that gets an 11, 10, 9 seed, something like that? I just don't know that we're gonna see it from Pastner.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I like Passner too, but I agree with you. I don't know. He's doing all the things, it's kind of hard. Right. Because right now with Unileve, they need money. So I think he's doing everything in his uh ability to go on podcasts or to promote the program. We haven't seen that in a very long time.
SPEAKER_02He's the most outgoing coach they've had. Yeah. Like in since I've been here. He's unreal in that.
SPEAKER_00And I think he's very honest, which I like.
SPEAKER_02I don't think a little too honest sometimes, but I do like from a coach perspective, too honest, but yes, be as honest as possible.
SPEAKER_00I kind of know where he stands or how he thinks. He doesn't give it all away, but it's not a lot of coach speak. So it's something, there's something that's one of the things I like about him, though, for sure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, he put his foot in his mouth last year when he unintentionally criticized the fan base for not being as as passionate as he thought it was gonna be when he showed up. Yeah. Which is an accurate statement. Like if you if you hear about UNLV, you're like, oh yeah, that's been a good basketball program. They should have good support and fan base and everything. But then you actually come to UNLV game, and unless they're playing Nevada or San Diego State, like it's it's not the greatest crowds. And so he just you just shouldn't say it out loud if you're a coach because you kind of anger your your fans a little bit. It doesn't help. But I do like the honesty too. Yeah. It's most of his press conferences are good in that regard, as opposed to like Clint Kubiak, for example. Oh yeah. Doesn't say anything. He answers questions with four words, and that's it.
SPEAKER_00As Bauer's injured, no. Next week he's out. Yeah. No, I I I can appreciate Pat. And I think the reality with the only basketball, they're gonna have to win not only this year, but a couple years get the fans back. I mean, I I moved here 18 years ago. That place was packed. Right. It was so much fun to watch basketball. And now I haven't gone in two years. I've it's depressing now to go. Right. So they not only did it have to do good this year, I think it's gonna take another year. People showed up like we had something to root for, like we're back, you know, and then it just fell off again.
SPEAKER_02I I think they need to go to the NCA tournament and then the next year be ranked. Yeah. Have the little number by your name because people see the little number and they're like, oh, it must be good. Even if you're not fair, even if you shouldn't be ranked, they see the little number and it's like, oh, that's a big deal. Yeah. Go to the tournament and then sometime in the non-conference, you know, start 5-0 and get ranked 24th in the country. And people are like, oh, they went to the NCA tournament? They're ranked 24th? Yeah, let's go watch them play.
SPEAKER_00This is this is worth this is worth going out for. Will you want to be basketball ranked again?
SPEAKER_02That's a good question.
SPEAKER_00That has not happened in a long time. Oh God, it's been a minute. That's a stat I haven't looked up.
SPEAKER_02I should look that one up.
SPEAKER_00Gosh, I think it's about a decade. Oh no. Oh man. So what do you think of the schedule this year? Is it tough enough? Um, it's okay. Like they they do say they do well. So still gotta win the Mountain West uh tournament?
SPEAKER_02It's good enough that they they conceivably could get an at large bid. Yeah. But that means 12 and 3 in the non-conference, right? Like they that's the right look to have. Um but like they they they play five teams that are probably gonna be in the top 100 of like Ken Pom or Net and stuff like that once we get into the season, maybe six. But they might only play one top 50 team, and that's Kansas in the players era. They could get Florida or Houston if things go well in the players era tournament, but probably not. Um so they they don't play the top end of the schedule, it's not like we're gonna play really good teams. They play a lot of teams that are gonna be ranked like 55th or 65th, like San Diego State or Stanford or SMU, which can be good because those could be quad one wins. Like if you beat SMU, it could be a quad one win at the end of the year. Same for San Diego State. And those are important, but they're not awesome wins. Like if they beat Kansas, that's gonna be incredible. I don't think that's gonna happen, but if they beat Kansas, that's incredible. Whereas if you beat San Diego State, it's good, but it's not awesome. My big fear on the schedule is they play a lot of teams, it's like five, I think, that are like Washington State. Uh, Eastern Washington's one of them. Those are teams that are gonna be ranked like 120th, 170th. They're not bad teams, but they're not good wins if you beat them. The problem is that they're good enough to beat you. And if you lose two or three of those, which they tend to do every year, that starts to sink your resume. And so they play a lot of teams sort of in that middle ground that could beat them, and all of a sudden you're like, well, it's understandable they lost that game. Washington State's not awful, but Washington State's also not going to be a quad one opponent. They're not gonna go to the NCAA tournament or something like that. And now it's like, oh wow, we might have a couple of decent wins, but we also have a few bad losses already, and we go into the Mountain West where there will be no chances for good wins because nobody in the conference is any good.
SPEAKER_00Right, yeah. What did you think of the preseason? Preseason's wild. I kind of like it though, because I think Passner said, I mean, it's tough schedule. It's BYU. They're all at Thomas and Matt. Right, they're all at home, too. I'm like, I don't, this has never happened before. The best games are in the preseason. I think Passenger is like, we're not doing what we did last year. We're gonna play really tough teams at home, don't have to go anywhere. Come to Vegas, you guys can party, play us basketball, but kind of build that up a little bit versus losing to the Montanas or the Chattanooga. Chattanooga didn't have a bit that bad. But you know, I thought it was interesting.
SPEAKER_02It's BYU, Missouri, and Utah, I believe is the third one in there. Yeah, it's like got a chance against Utah. Yeah, yeah. It's like three preseason games that are like, oh, those are all they are they all gonna go to the NCAA tournament? Like those are all good programs. And I don't know. It's you now get to play all your preseason games in front of crowds when it used to be secret scrimmages. So I'd be curious to see if they're trying to. I don't know, do you have to pay? I don't know if you have to pay to get into those or if they're making them free. I don't know. Maybe they're trying to make some money. I don't really know.
SPEAKER_00But we're gonna make us pay. We gotta we need some money. Yeah, he needs that 10 million to buy his roster next week. Well, that's what I thought happened when we got AJ Shore. I'm like, somebody gave him the 10 million. Let's go.
SPEAKER_02Give it to a judge in some states and make him eligible. So that might work. Right? Exactly.
SPEAKER_00I love it. Okay,
Raiders Reality Check And Mayer Deal
SPEAKER_00cool. Well, we got a little more time. We got Raiders. 2-0. Oh, they're going to the Super Bowl. Super Bowl division champs. I don't know. It's a good start. It is. So did they play good teams?
SPEAKER_02No. I so I think two things can be true. Okay. The Dolphins are probably gonna be the worst team in the NFL, and the Chargers are below average. I don't think they're awful, but they're below average. Two things can be true. Their schedule's been easy. They've also beat those teams by multiple scores. They haven't, it's not like they've struggled with the Dolphins. No. The Chargers did have the ball down one score in the fourth quarter in Amari and Hampton fumble, but like they've done to those teams what you would expect a good team to do. Yeah. So do I think the Raiders are going to the playoffs? No. Do I think their schedule's been very easy? Yes. But this is a huge improvement in the first two weeks of Clint Kubiak. And I think the the optimism around the Raiders is warranted. Yeah. Like, again, not necessarily for this year, not necessarily for like, oh, they're gonna catch the Chiefs and win the AFC West and go to playoffs, but I think it's a good sign for what Clint Kubiak could be as a head coach. It is only two weeks, and after they play the Saints, it's like the Chiefs and the Rams and the Bills and the Broncos back to back to back or something like that. It'll get real in a hurry. But I do think there's real reason for optimism.
SPEAKER_00Oh too. That defense is running around. Kubiak's offense is fun to watch. I think they're gonna have some stinky wins. Don't think they're winning the division. Don't think they're gonna win the Super Bowl, but it's been fun. So you're a writer for the Raiders. Yes. Michael Mayer. Oh boy. I'm a Notre Dame guy. Yeah. I love Michael Mayer. I don't know if he's worth the fourth highest contract as a tight end. So you gotta have an inside Scoopia. What happened here?
SPEAKER_02I don't know. Nobody knows. He's in his fourth season. He's a really good block. He's in his fourth season in the NFL. He does not have a thousand receiving yards yet.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02They just played two games without Brock Bowers. He got to be the number one tight end.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02He has 55 receiving yards.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You don't pay top five tight end money for a guy that's going to put up 55 yards in two games. Right. It's it's it's not understanding the value of a position, I think. And yes, there's more two tight end sets in the NFL, but I'll give you this stat. Last year, Clint Kubiak in Seattle, they ran two tight end sets at like the eighth most in all of the NFL. None of his tight ends made $2 million. Not one of them made two million. The Raiders are going to have $45 billion tied up in tight ends pretty soon when they pay Brock Bowers. That's right. He just did it with cheap tight ends. You don't need to pay Mayer a bunch of money. Go get somebody else and say, Kubiak, make it work. That's why we hired you. You're good at this, right? Right. It's wild. Mayor's good. I like Michael Mayer. I think he's important to the team. Giving him a top five tight end contract is absurd.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. It's a lot of money. It is? Yeah, and I like Michael Mayor. He makes the tough catch. Great blocker. I'm like, this must be like a culture guy. I know the white tight ends in right now, but like fourth highest. Oh my God.
SPEAKER_02Wild. Absolutely insane.
SPEAKER_00Like, what do you have to pay Brock Ball?
SPEAKER_02It's 30 million a year. He's going to get so much money. He's going to reset the market. Right. And you just, you're going to have, I mean, the mayor come down a little bit, but you're going to have the seventh and the first highest paid tight ends next year, which is a ridiculous thing to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's crazy.
Final Thoughts And Where To Follow
SPEAKER_00All right, we're out of time. Tyler, thanks for being on, brother. I appreciate you guys. It was a lot of fun. Check out technically correct podcasts. Good good information on Raiders, Unal V. Guys, this is Running Vegas. Take care of yourself today.