What Arizona NEEDS To See ANOTHER WIN Against Washington State In Week 4

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1:00Instacart makes grocery shopping easier. And just because you're not doing the shopping yourself doesn't mean you don't care how it's done. With Instacart shopper notes, you can get particular about what you want right in the app. Like rotisserie chicken, that's extra crispy. Stick with marbling the Romans would have loved. And let us you'd actually pick yourself. Just leave a note for your shoppers so they can get it right for you without having to ask. That way, you can get groceries just how you like. Download the Instacart app and shop today. Can Arizona take their winning ways to Pullman Washington this weekend or will some of those old problems arise on the road? And plus we have an exclusive interview with Arizona Point Guard, JJ Mandiquit, all that and more on today's AC Wildcats podcast, which gets kicked off right now. Welcome, welcome, welcome on into the AC Wildcats podcast. Come into you.

2:01La, from studio, okay, presented by our friends over at Circle K. It is your host, Damon Farrell, AK, Damon Dogg with my guy, Kevin Thomas, AK, Kevaux Post, AK the 2026, also your network content creator of the year, right here at pH next HQ three in downtown Phoenix. And of course, Kevin, we have a jam packed Tuesday edition episode of the AC Wildcats podcast for you. We're talking all things Arizona football and lead up to Saturday's game versus Washington state. Of course, yesterday we recapped Arizona's win versus Northern Illinois. Some of our concerns that we have about this team moving forward and today we'll be talking about maybe some of those concerns going into Pullman on the road for the Washington state Super Bowl and how that could potentially factor into Saturday's game. And as well as we have some red blue game preview coverage to get to and Kevin teased it, JJ Mandiquette, one on one exclusive interview from Arizona basketball media day

3:01that we're going to air out to you guys. So it's just an absolutely packed edition of this show today. Excited to be here with all you people. Kevin, how are we doing? Doing good, doing great. It is the week of Arizona red and blue showcase. I am very pumped for that. A huge weekend on the men's basketball recruiting side of things. We're going to get to that at the end of today's episode. But we have some marquee visitors. Excuse me, getting choked up at the idea of Aiden Diggs committing to Arizona and Darius Wobbing to making the same choice. And then what is that by God from the top rope? Is that Comsy or Waka's music? All that and more at the end of today's show, we're going to preview some red and blue game recruiting implications. But yes, Damon, you're right. It is not just red and blue showcase weekend. It is also Game Week fairs on a football. As they have an old pack 12 opponent on the docket in Washington state. Now, honestly, I think I can say that you got me excited for this game months ago, Damon, when we did our expectations for the season schedule

4:03and we kind of looked ahead to see like, oh, well, what do we think Arizona's going to do in this game or that game? And you kind of pointed out to me like, hey, Kevin, like this is not a game that you can just write down Sharpie at W on the schedule for Arizona. Look at the history of it. And when you do look at the history of it, Arizona is 28 and 19 all time against the Washington state Cougars dating back to 1963. Raise your hand. If you saw that first game, I did not. But 21 and 13 record about both teams, remembers of the pack 12. Arizona has a two and five overall record dating back to 2015, including just one and two at home and three straight losses in Pullman until 2023 when you got a huge road win. But yeah, it feels like this is actually somewhat of an important game early on in the season for Arizona. You might call it a level check, Damon. And I might agree with you. But yeah, how do you feel about this game? We got Washington state on the docket coming off of N.I.U. Yeah, Washington state football, you know, certainly has had it.

5:04It's time in the sun, Kevin has had, you know, it's really good seasons and even recently, right? And even recently they've had, you know, guys like who I know has become a butt of the joke recently. But John Matier was their quarterback just a couple of seasons ago before he transfers to Oklahoma. Cam Ward was their quarterback the last time Arizona played in beat Washington state in 2023. You know, they have these guys that are pretty electric under center from time to time. They do have some very good seasons that they put together. But this season is not supposed to be that for Washington state. Their coach, of course, he gets up, he leaves, he goes to wake forest. Real quick. Their new coach is named, Damon. First name Kirby. Last name more. The name Kirby always is strange to me. You know what I mean? I think of the video game, the round pink video game character when I think of Kirby. Do you know what one of their running backs, their returning running backs? Names is I'm going to guess Kirby.

6:06Kirby Voorhees. I don't think you could get a more contrasting name, round pink video game character that goes Kirby or Jason freaking Voorhees. Unbelievable. I just wanted to bring that to the table when we were talking about their old coach. We got double. We have dueling Kirby's on the Kouger side. Former wide receiver at Boise State, Kirby Moore, by the way, in case you were curious, looking at a picture of him lining up. Number 34 out of the slot. So unconventional number there. But yeah, their coach obviously gets up, leaves last season, goes to wake forest. Seems to be a very good coach. A lot of people like him, but that kind of reset the clock in Pullman, right? Because you know, it felt like they had a good young coach that was building something. But when you essentially have gotten relegated to the second division of big time college football as Washington, state and Oregon state, unfortunately have, you know, it's easy to lose your guys.

7:09It's easy to lose those John Matiers. It's easy to lose those camworts. It's easy to lose your head coaches of the world because, frankly, there's more resources in other places. There's more money to be had. There's more nationally televised games and whatnot to be a part of. And yeah, that's the unfortunate part of college football right now. But yeah, it feels like if you played Washington state last year, you might have been in some trouble. You played them the year before. You might have been in some trouble. But if you're playing them right now, you might have gotten them in a good season. I think the comparison is often going to be Oregon state. But Oregon state looks really good this year. Like for, you know, obviously, they're, they're, they're level of college football. They're probably somewhere in and around where Arizona is as a team. But that's pretty impressive given, you know, the, where they're, the conference that they're playing and the resources that they're playing with. But I mean, just this season to start the year, they've, they're, I believe they're one and two.

8:12But again, like it's, it has a lot to do with playing the teams that they do. They start off the season at number 23 Houston, make a game out of it. Had a chance to take the lead in the fourth quarter. Then they go and play number 13, Texas Tech. Of course, that one's being at home, but they could have won that football game. Then they play FCS's number three overall team in Montana, which is a good football team. And you would expect to give a pack 12 team maybe a run for their money, potentially. Just given that that's not a true power for a team anymore. And I believe they absolutely went in there and smoked Montana. After starting off, oh and two, but against two of the, you know, bells of the ball of the big 12 conference being very, very competitive with those teams. So I think that maybe we got Washington state in a good year. Oregon state looks to be a little bit stronger this season. But yeah, I mean, Washington state in a game with Washington 2410. They lose by 14 to rivalry game. You know, ends up being pretty close. But I heard from, you know, people that watch that game that Washington looks pretty,

9:14pretty lackluster and then they go and they play Kansas state on the road. And they lose by 27 to a team that Arizona should be compared to in this big 12, right? Like I think that, you know, maybe after that Houston game and our big 12 power rankings, Kevin, from this past weekend, there's a clear top four in this conference right now. It's the Utah schools. It's Texas Tech. It's Houston. But underneath that, it's Kansas state and it's the Arizona schools. It's Oklahoma state, probably in West Virginia as well. And those are kind of that next crop of teams trying to figure out how good these teams truly are. Kansas state smokes Washington state. If Arizona is to be as good as, you know, I think that we had hoped for going into this season, you get to win. You cover that 12 and a half point spread. You cover it easily. And, you know, you leave Pullman with a three in one record. Yeah, I think that this has to be a game that Arizona looks very strong in.

10:14I will say like I regrettedly, regrettably watched that Apple Cup game to start the season here, Washington, Washington state talking to my girlfriend. Like she's like, why are you watching this game? I thought I called for a ball didn't really start yet. I'm like, oh, it's started. They hate Jed Fish. And I hate Jed Fish. And this is an Arizona opponent of Cummings. So I kind of have to watch this one. But yeah, that game was gross. And I also think like with rivalry games so early on in the season, we just saw this with Iowa State Iowa. Some of these games you might have new regimes on one of the sides, but it's still going to take the shape of that rivalry. You know what I mean? Like Arizona ASU, you're still going to have this kind of like back and forth. You know what I mean? Error dependent kind of thing. But with a lot of these rivalries, Iowa, Iowa State, Washington, and Washington state, it's just going to look a certain way each time. And I feel like that was that. It was a rivalry game a little bit ugly. Each team has their chance to take control, Washington, you know, is gifted more opportunities. Obviously being the better football program and that one. But you mentioned the Kansas State result. I do feel like if Arizona, as you said, is the team that we think that they could be in the big 12 conference,

11:17which is like top five, top four, when it's all said and done. You have to kind of have a performance against Washington states similar to what K state was able to do. I'm not saying you have to go out there, you know, enforce them and hold them to less than 10 points, right? I'm not because not everyone is going to look the exact same. But I do think it has to be just as convincing, right? As the Kansas State win over Washington state was. And you mentioned the Duquesne performance. They beat Duquesne last week 48 to seven. But it did kind of take some miraculous plays to kind of make that one as as a wide of a margin as it was, right? You had two count them, Damon, two different players returning punts for touchdowns on back to back drives in the fourth quarter. In a game that they win 48 to seven. So it's not like that was the game winning play, but that was definitely the couple of daggers in them that they needed to put away. I didn't even know Duquesne had a football game. I mean, the fighting TJ McConnell's.

12:17Well, it could have been the fighting Bryce James' on a different timeline. But did they offer him? I think they did. I think he was one of their last schools that he, the last schools he was interested in. I think it was like Duquesne, Arizona. I want to say like Santa Clara. Side tangent here. I believe TJ McConnell's sister also played for Duquesne and was awesome for their women's basketball program. And it was one of those things where you're sitting there and you're like, why is she not playing for our women's basketball program? We know the McConnell's. We've aware aware. And she's like an all conference type of player for Duquesne who was pretty good. And you're like, can we get her on the team? Maybe that's how it's going to feel if Kamzeo Waka doesn't end up in Tucson. 100% just keeping it real. He's going to be a beast, man. Yeah. And you know what? Like I know that it's, I know that Arizona has somewhat cooled their interests. And largely it's because you know, they probably have higher aspirations. And this player probably wants more playing time.

13:18But it's going to, it's going to be how it feels to if like Jason Gardner Jr. goes to a different school and is just like cooking at point guard. You know what I mean? Like he's averaging like 16 and seven. And we're sitting there and we're like, Jason Gardner Jr. Pretty good. Looking at his, looking at pops his name in the rafters and staring at him on the bench right now. And you're watching five starts around right. Rippy the junior going off on the bench for Duke. Yeah. Little two man game with Wakaimoo, James Boob, Jay off the bench. And you're like, we couldn't get Jason Gardner Jr. to come play off the bench. What are we doing? But yeah, no, Damon, I'm with you on that. Let's get back into this watching the state football matchup. But what I was really getting at, Damon, is that this has to be a performance. Kind of like I expected Arizona versus NIU to be. But don't take that and you know, go off roading with it. I just mean in the sense of the, what's happening? Do Cain. Did you see, have you seen how there are other games on this season? Oh my brother. Do Cain. Oh my lord. Do Cain. So they start off the season and they play Air Force and they lose 30 Ford and nothing.

14:23Which I think is fair. You're playing a mountain west team. You're playing a triple option team. You're playing D1 FPS athletes. You lose by a lot. Do Cain's not expected to be on Air Force's level all well and good. You lose by 34. Then you go line up. Man, young. Against youngstown state. And you lose by a score of 72 to 10. That's wild. To youngstown state. And then you go and play Washington state and you lose by less of a margin. Against Washington state than you did against youngstown state. Now I know of no idea how good youngstown state is. But if they're beating. Do Cain by more points than Washington state is. To me, that tells me Washington state maybe isn't all that's not all that impressive of a win from their standpoint. Like they're playing an awful, awful football program in do Cain. And yeah, you know, Arizona should be able to be the team that, you know, is somewhat on the same level as youngstown state apparently.

15:25Let's get into how Arizona is going to get this done against the team that is pretty much 60 points worse than young town, youngstown state. 62 after after our first break. I think it's actually 63 wasn't I thought it was 72 10. I think it was 70 to 13. Oh, you're right. And so that's 57 to be fair. Even worse. But I will say we'll be right back after our first break on these. Wildcats podcast. Stick around. Share the show with a friend because we have JJ Mandiquit coming up at some point in this show. So leave a like. Don't go anywhere. It is ad break time. And that means I get to tell you about something pretty cool. And this is a newer advertiser here. Chestnut sports club. Light citrus. Logger. Me and Damon are big fans of Chestnut sports club. Not just because they're ran by a wildcat. Not just because they also bear down. But because this is that that that that perfect light beer for any occasion where you really want to have a good time.

16:25But you don't want to take it overboard, right? Not only do you not want to take it overboard. You don't want to feel like you're way down like you're heavy. I mean, this light citrus logger is only 90 calories. Light enough to enjoy throughout the entirety of any given game without feeling way down. And look, I know every time someone comes up to you and goes, oh my god, I had this new light beer. You're thinking, well, it's not going to taste like anything. But not with chest cup. Chestnut sports club. They have real, real citrus in this thing. And it tastes really good. And if you don't believe Kevaux, believe the Valley from Metro Phoenix is 2026. Best of the Valley Awards. It won best logger in Phoenix. Damon did Chestnut sports club. And look at that can. I mean, it is beautiful. As they say, it's playable. It's crispy. I mean, that's a, that is a classy, classy branding on that can there, Kevin. I apparently they have some hats and merchandise and stuff that they've come out with. You know that that is going to hit.

17:26Yeah. And I do think that these were kind of made for your leisurely drinking. Like you're out on the golf course with the fellas having, you know, a couple rounds of golf out there. And you don't want to get, you know, too, too intoxicated out there. So you're going to have a light logger. And this is the perfect one for it, especially if you're in the sun. Me and Damon were saying this thing would go crazy. Like a pool party function with your friends, right? Just hanging out at the pool. Who knows how many hours, you don't know how many you're going to consume. But you want to drink responsibly. Chestnut sports club is the way to go. My friends. So next time you're at the store. And yes, I'm talking fries, total wine, A.J.'s, fine foods, sprouts, anywhere. You can also get it on tap. The place is like cold beer and cheeseburgers, post-tea, no grass clippings, mornish pasty. We got one right downstairs. David, we might have to go partake in some of that tap. Chestnut sports club. But next time you're at the store or out on the town, grab a chestnut sports club. The great tasting light beer you've been waiting for. Look for the green can and welcome to the club. I know it's on the horizon, Kevin, but I cannot wait until Chestnut sports club is inside of the beer cave at Circle K,

18:30where of course I'm buying most of my alcohol most of the time. If I ever need a quick 12-pack, quick six pack, I'm hopping into a Circle K, of course, where there are convenient locations anywhere near you in the state of Arizona. Of course, across the country and even across the world. Circle K is an international brand. Of course, it's a staple of Arizona. And we love being inner circle rewards membership. Few members where, of course, you guys, it's a free to sign up and the savings are all over the place. Get in on it today and download that free Circle K app and sign up for the inner circle rewards membership program. You can save 25 cents off per gallon on your first five Phillips at the plumb. Then every single time that you fill up after that, you start saving three cents off for gallon, five cents off for gallon, once you hit premium status. And when you plug in your phone number at that gas pump or inside at the register, if you're buying some snacks, some caffeine, you name it, those are going to start counting towards qualifying purchases, Kevin, as a part of the new inner circle.

19:32That's right. The inner circle 2.0 is here. It's better than ever. And now there are ways to start earning on every single visit at a Circle K. Just make a qualifying purchase of minimum of $3 in store or five gallons at the gas pump. And it will check that box and start adding to your qualifying visits. And then of course, you can trade in those visits for rewards like $1 off per gallon, in store merchandise, free food and drinks and so much more. All you have to do is enter your phone number at checkout or the plumb to ensure that each visit gets counted. New and rollies can still save 25 cents off per gallon on their first five Phillips. And make sure to mark your calendars October 8 through 15th. We have inner circle fuel week. Fuel week. Kevin doesn't get me better than that. Shout out to our friends over at Circle K. Join the new inner circle 2.0 for free by downloading the Circle cap today. Turns in conditions apply. I've participated locations. This is circle K dot com for all the details. Welcome on back to the AZ Wildcat's podcast where we are previewing Arizona versus

20:33Washington state. The Cougars as Carl Schroeder says is our second chance to beat some Cougar ass this year. I will say. But Damon, I feel like this game is a game for Arizona to build on the three performances that they've had so far. We wanted that against N.I.U. We wanted them to go up, be up at the half against BYU and yeah, we didn't want them to lose in that second half, but they did. But there were still some positives, some silver linings to build on from that BYU loss. And I think we all expected them to come out on fire against N.I.U. and really showcase that. We went up against BYU, maybe the best team in the conference. We came up a little bit short. Okay, cool. We're about to go whoop on N.I.U. early and often and get no if a feed off the fields. We can go to Washington state and get another dub. And it didn't start that way and ended that way. And I think it left a weird taste and specifically Damon and I's mouth. I know that some people in our comments of our last show kind of feel like we were a little bit too harsh on them getting a win. And I do understand that. But I also think that we can all objectively say our goal is to not

21:34you know, simply best N.I.U. it's to really make N.I.U. look like food. And I don't think that they did that for long enough periods of the game. Well, I mean, you're down 10-0 to start the game. So I think that like obviously I think we probably feel differently about the game if the game is ordered differently. The order of operations go down differently. I mean, literally if you bet on Northern Illinois first quarter money line, you would have been getting insane odds. Probably would have gotten it like plus 1,500 or something. That's how crazy it is that Arizona was down in the first quarter against N.I.U. And it's frankly unacceptable. So I do think that yes, Arizona then did the difficult thing of having to work through that pressure of being down that early and being like, oh my god, are we in for a little bit of a run for our money here? And so they deserve credit for putting that game away in the second quarter, essentially, with the 21 points that they scored.

22:36But again, it wasn't a clean performance for four quarters. Like we have been kind of begging for all season long at this point. Like it felt like in the N.I.U. game, you play a good opening two frames. And then the third and fourth quarter leave a lot to be desired. Same thing against BYU, right? And then you go play Northern Illinois and it's almost flipped. It's the beginning portion of the game you look off. And the final three quarters, you look ready to actually play some football. So yeah, I mean, it's just this team is worth three games through the season, a quarter of the way through the season, right? I mean, it's that's already moving on as pretty fast, Kevin. That's wild. And time flies. We have yet to see a complete football game from the Arizona Wildcats this year. And I don't think that you could say that about last season. I think last season, even when things weren't necessarily going all that great at times, the team was fully engaged, fully in it. And you can't tell me this team is fully engaged if they're going to tend nothing down to Northern Illinois.

23:36Because frankly, there's no way, shape or form. They should be able to do that to you in the opening quarter of a football game. Diesel prices just hit a record high. There goes my margin. Not mine, brother. I switched to mudflap. But those other fuel cars just nail you with the fees. No, not mudflap. They don't have any fees. They'll monthly, annual, out of network. Not a what I say. I keep that was up mudflap has your back. Carriers like you save thousands per year with mudflap. Get $100 in pre-fuel credits after approval when you sign up at muddy.com slash podcast. Spailed MUDDY.com slash podcast terms of restrictions apply to mudflaping.com. Mudflap, flea card is issued by Celtic Bank or Community Federal Savings Bank. We're soon into a license from Visa USA. When you have the talent discrepancy that Arizona has versus the other guys. So it's just, you know, I think that on the one hand, yes, we can give them credit for working through that and dealing with that pressure of being down early. And we can also, you know, praise, he praise at our quarterback, Noah Fafita, who deserves all the praise in the world. And that's why that thumbnail says Fafita forever and not, you know,

24:40horrible first quarter or something like that, right? Like that is the main story. But I think the second story is that this team has yet to put together a complete performance that Arizona fans can hang their hat on and say, yeah, we got a good football team to root for this year. And I think it shows when you look at the crowd as well to be honest with you. Yeah, I think so. I really is mostly wanted to express that like we do feel a little bit critical about that win. But I think both of us do acknowledge that like, winning is most important. They are two in one, which is exactly how we thought they would be three. If we had to guess, yeah, we would have said two and one. And I think that, you know, that that is something to build on going forward. We can have all these critiques. We can have all these gripes, but they're still time to fix those. And they haven't necessarily cost their Arizona in a way that is shocking yet. So hopefully they can continue to build through this season. But Damon, how are they going to do that against Washington state? That is kind of why I started us down this track is like, yes, we've been critical. Their performance is so far. But what do they have to do against Washington state to maybe shut guys like us up? And I do think it starts

25:45maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you feel differently. But it starts with what Justin Spears had to put out the other day, Damon, where they've been asking Brent Brennan at these press conferences like, what are some things you're focusing on after last week going into this week? You know, and against BYU, he had a list of things coming out of that game, you know, going into the Niu game, he had a list of things they wanted to emphasize. And honestly, I do feel like they checked those four boxes against Niu despite the things that they did not do well against Niu. Here is what Brent Brennan said Arizona is focusing on the week heading into Washington state. Turn over battle, tackling, special teams, penalty avoidance. I would love if he had blocking in there. Because I do think that despite those four things, which I do want to touch on with you, I feel like success against Washington state starts with a better offensive line performance than they showed against Niu. Like I think that this game honestly could get a little scary. If no

26:45if a Fida is running for his life as much as he was against Niu, I know it wasn't every play. There might be someone that says, well, you know, they got better off the off the left side of the offensive line. We cannot allow was it four sacks against Niu? Could have been more if no if Fida is not as elusive as he is 3.1 yards per carry running the football against a bad mountain west team. The offensive line has to be better in this game. You know what I mean? You don't want to keep pushing this one back until well, they have to be better against what was Virginia on the road. Because I don't think that that is a situation where you can expect them to get better. I think you have to show that this week. You have to show that the week after before you go into these real crazy road environments like like Morgantown. You know what I mean? Yeah. I think it's start to the old line. That's why I think success starts this week for Arizona. I think so too. And I think that honestly that probably has been the most disappointing unit this season, which is, you know, it hurts me to say that because my preseason take was that it was going to be the unit of the year and that we were going to be heaping praise on the on the old line. There is, but

27:49that feels it doesn't feel like it's going to go from your Achilles heel to a strength of the football team. It might, you know, you might be able to throw some flex seal on top of it and say, you know, Louis Ackpo, you're the left tackle and Matthew Lotto, you haven't been cutting it, brother. And maybe that helps or something. You know, I'm not, you know, in that locker room. I'm not at practice every day. I'm not Josh Ogles be a line expert. But that being said, you know, I do think that yeah, this old line has to play a lot better. I thought they were going to be pretty good with the continuity on the right side, which to be fair. I think the right side, we haven't really even heard their names at all this season, which, you know, is, you know, great. They're doing their job between Tristan Bounds and Alexander Doost, but that left side is just killing you, man. It's killing you weak by weak. It's also no if a feat is blind spot. And you're just not getting the type of performances that you need to see over there out of those two players. Rhino Tapa Auto tie and Matthew Lotto in particular. But I got to be honest with you, Kevin.

28:53I think that the sack numbers concern me a lot less than the running game numbers. I think that those almost go hand in hand in a way. When you can't run the football effectively, teams are going to pin their ears back because they know Noah Fafita is throwing. They know it. You don't think BYU knew Noah Fafita was throwing the football that entire second half? They 100% did. That's part of the reason why the offense was as bad as it was because it was so one dimensional. BYU knew exactly what was coming. And so they were able to just go full fledged pass rush on almost every single play. And when you allow a team to pin their ears back like that because you have a one dimensional offense, it's just frankly going to lead to more sacks because they don't have to play the run. They don't have to set the edge in, you know, worry that, oh, that play action pass is actually going to be a handoff to their running back. So let me, let me set this edge real quick and not just fly up the field and, you know, give away my run

29:55gap that I'm supposed to be defending. And so yeah, I personally, I think that the sack numbers are almost in effect of causation effect of the run game being as piss poor as it is, which it frankly is about as bad as you could have possibly imagined through the first three games of the season. It's worse than last seasons. We talked about like, we need this run game to be better than last years. Right now is currently constituted. It's a lot worse. That can't be state game in week one or week two or week three last year, whatever it was. I think week three Arizona runs for over 200 yards on a good defense. Best performance of the season that year, but you proved that you were capable of doing it. And other teams had to respect your ability to run the football. Right now, if you're watching state, you're going into this game going, okay, well, we're going to rush three every play rush four every play have a bunch of DBs on the field. We're not going to stack the box. We know they can't run the football. And you know, maybe it'll work. Maybe it'll be a good game

30:59plan. But I think that when you talk about like what Brent Brennan is saying, like he needs to see and you say you want to hear him say better align play. I specifically would like to hear him say like five plus yards per carry. Why is that unacceptable? That's the makings of a good college offense. You know, this isn't the NFL where four and a half yards per carry is a good, good average. In college, like the best running backs are five, six, seven, sometimes eight yards per carry. And Arizona's averaging three with guys that they had on the team last year who played better, which tells me that it's the old line taking a step back rather than those guys taking a step back necessarily. So yeah, I hear you on that. And I, you know, I think when Brent Brennan talks about needing to see improvement from week over week, I agree. I want to hear him specifically call out this run game in particular. And the lack of push you're getting on that old line in the trenches. You know, I do think that Justin Spears has asked Brent Brennan about, you know, the running game.

32:02And if you don't agree with Damon, I do have some stats to back up. The Arizona run game being kind of future it. For lack of better phrase to start the season. Arizona enters the week last in the big 12 in rushing and by a considerable margin. Arizona's averaging 123.3 yards per game. The second to last Baylor Bears are averaging 162.3 rushing yards per game. That is a 40 yard difference from Arizona to the second to last team in the big 12 in rushing yards per game. I did not realize we were last in the conference as currently standing by about 40 yards. Damon, there are also last in the big 12 in rushing attempts and are the only team in the conference with fewer than 100 rushing attempts. So the run game in general, I think you could say it's probably multiple things. It's probably the offensive line, a little bit of your running backs, but it's also the play calling, right? You cannot be the only team with less than 100 rushing attempts unless the run game is truly something that you're trying to avoid because it is so unsuccessful, so far. Yeah. And I think that it's like a it's a multifaceted problem, right? The reason I said

33:06it starts the old line is because you're right. It extends to the running game as well. It extends to protecting Nova Fita set. Degie said today at a press conference that he actually doesn't think that the sex last week against NIU were the offensive lines problem and him and Nova Fita were kind of putting the blame on our quarterback saying like, Hey man, if you know, Hey man, this is on me. I have to not hold the ball for so long and maybe make it easier for them to block by moving less and things like that. And I'm sure Degie and him are working on the quarterback side of things on how to protect him. But, Ogles being this line have to also work on letting him roll out and not letting it be if he moves, he gets sacked. You know what I mean? Like I think it is all multifaceted and it does start with the offensive line. But yeah, last in the conference in rushing both attempts by a lot and yards by a lot. So not good enough and certainly, you know, not the year start to the year I was expecting out of Seth Degie. You know, there's nine football games left. Things can turn around, as you said, Kevin. But I think that the the true sign of

34:08like an elite coach in the making is a guy that, you know, I thought last year was a very strong year one with being, you know, a play collar for a power for type of offense for the first time in his career. But I wanted to see that next step happen in year two. I thought we had the pieces to do it with a lot of returners and a lot of development on that O line in that running back room. Hopefully with these receivers. But so far this season Seth Degie has not proven that he can be multifaceted on offense. He's proven that when he has no of a feed as his quarterback, he can be successful at a baseline level by throwing the football a bunch. But even when, you know, Sawyer Anderson goes in there and I don't want to put that all on him. But to be fair, he recruited Sawyer Anderson and chose him as the second string quarterback, it looks like a disaster when he has to come in and start running the offense, even against northern Illinois, even against NAU.

35:09It doesn't look good enough. So that's almost on Degie as well. I feel like the defense wasn't good enough in last game. That's for sure. And I didn't love the defense in the NAU game. I thought against BYU, they got gassed. And so I won't even really blame for that. The offense was giving you nothing in that second half. But so far, I think that Degie has had a pretty down year to start this season. I want to see a lot more as we kind of get into conference play. But that's a tall task because you start playing better, more talented teams with better athletes. Is that going to be the time where you really start figuring out the run game? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, that seems like it's going to be a tall task to me. It is going to be a tall task. And again, shots of Justin Spears for obviously I could have told you anyone could have used Google and told you the running numbers. But I do think the way he's compiled it here in his article is very sequentially intelligent. He goes on to say in the last six quarters, going back to the loss to BYU in Provo, Damon, Arizona has 82 net rushing yards,

36:10minus two yards against BYU in 84 against NAU, a rushing defense that's in the bottom half of the mountain west. And so yes, when me and Damon come on this show and we say like the performances have given us more questions than answers. Like I do think that's fair to say. And I, again, I also think it's fair to say like, hey, we're two and one. It's exactly where I thought me would be. Has it been perfect? No, you guys are being too harsh. I get that. But I do think it's fair. I think his air is on a wildcat fans. It's fair to maybe look in the mirror and say like, I get that we're not Alabama historically as a football program. But the expectation should be higher than well, we came back 10 down against NAU. And the fact that we came back is good enough. Like I don't think that that's where I'm at. And the rushing yards and the rushing game, I think on offense specifically is kind of a big reason why we're not fulfilling the expectation that we had for this team coming into the year. Damon, I want to get our final thoughts on the Washington State preview side of things. Before we get into the J.J. Mandiq, interview in some

37:11red and blue game preview, after our second break, stick around. Leave a like. Don't go anywhere. Welcome to the newest grocery outlet location. Your couch. No parking lot. No shoes required. And the commute is approximately zero feet. Because now you can shop Instacart or DoorDash and get your grocery outlet favorites delivered right to your door with the same great item prices as in store. Your couch has never been this productive. Gross Reoutlet. Big deals. Now delivered. I mean, Damon, if Arizona wins out this year and if Arizona goes 11 and one, I hate to say it. But Seth DeGhi is probably buying a new home. And he's probably selling his home. And if he's going to sell his home because he's getting the promo somewhere, Kim Cabalero should be the number that he calls 480-489-5012. Kim Cabalero has a deal for you. Yes, you. I'm not going to touch the

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39:20builders and developers to help you secure those terms. So call Kim Cabalero today at 480-489-5012. That's 480-489-5012. I'll let her know. pH next sent you over. Shout out to Kim Cabalero in the business realm in Arizona for over 25 years. Kevin, it got me thinking. Arizona's number one casino destination, Heeler River Resorts in Casinos. How long have they been? Mastering the casino game here in state 48. Could you give me a guess? 75, isn't it? How long is it? 1994 was when they built the first location. It was lone but the one that I have not gone to, there's lone but you keep a santae and mountain. And of course, the staple wild horse pass where we do all of our cardinals away, watch parties, Johnny and Bo, Britain, Golden Noah Woolbrick, every single away game the cardinals play on a Sunday. They're up there at the upper deck, kitchen and bar, but Kevin, we love Heeler River Resorts in Casinos. We're always doing events out there. We're always trying to find out any way that we can, you know, have an excuse to go hang out at the casino and truly find

40:22out all the ways you can do you. If you want to go hang out at the pools, you want to go see a concert or a comedy show you want to maybe go get yourself a nice steak dinner, get dressed up nice and fancy or you just want to staycation here in the valley, get out of the house, maybe leave the kids at the grandparents house. I'm telling you, Heeler River Resorts in Casinos is going to be your best option. Guys, it's like having Vegas in your backyard. You get to get in on the action, watch games, gamble, have fun every single week over at Bed MGM, the Bed MGM sports book at Heeler River Resorts in Casinos Wild Horse Pass. But Heeler River Resorting Casinos all the ways you do you visit playatheela.com for more details and find out all the ways that you can truly live your best life. Wow, beautifully said by the Damon Dawg. I'm living my best life every time I go to Wild Horse Pass. Well, I'm living my best life every time I talk to the great people in the chat who have always left their like on today's show. Have you done your part for the AZ Wild Guests podcast today? Have you left your like? I don't think you have. If you haven't, please do mean the world to us.

41:25And also, I want to give a quick plug right now on this YouTube channel live. I have an interview with CBS Sports National Basketball writer Cameron Salerno. And we kind of broke down R.J. Godfrey's eligibility, his impact, the Arizona team. Do you think Arizona's a top five team with or without him? All that and more in that little interview on our YouTube channel right now. So after today's show, go check that out. But Damon, I got one last offer today on Washington State before we get to J.J. Mandiquit and before we get to Red and Blue recruiting updates. And that is a little PTSD, brother. A little PTSD. And if you're thinking from what, brother, like genuinely from what? We're playing the Washington State Cougars. They have a whole new regime over there. Where is your PTSD coming from? Kevin, well, last year Arizona's defense had one major kryptonite, the mobile quarterback. Oh, bearbock, Meyer. Just six yards of pop boom right down your throat. Oh, who else

42:26you got? Every Johnson boom, he's getting to the outside down the sideline. Oh, um, help. Brennan Sores be. You know what I mean? Be picked them off. But he's still able to use his big frame to get a couple of first downs. Got a little bit of PTSD coming into this one because. Kaden Pinnick, the FCF, FCS UC Davis transfer is that dual threat kind of quarterback. Now, can he really hurt you with his arm? Is something I say he's kind of a singular threat quarterback, actually. But in the more stereotypical kind of generic naming of labels, he is a dual threat in the sense that he's your quarterback and he can run it. He does have just 42 completions for 403 yards and two touchdowns three interceptions in three games. Yes. Seven sacks through their first three games. And Washington states 134.3 passing yards per game is 130 second out of 138 FBS teams. So his 42 completions is 98 among all quarterbacks. The passing game for Washington state is atrocious.

43:27All right. If Arizona's secondary is not able to shut down this passing game, I'm not confident they can shut down any passing game. So I'm not really necessarily worried about him passing the ball. Yeah. However, comma, he does have 166 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground. And he's one of three Cougar ball carriers over 150 yards so far this season. So the rushing attack, it might not be described as prolific. But if Washington state is going to have success in this game, it looks like one thing and it looks like they're running attack, both running backs and hit their Kaden Pinnick, getting going. And I really hope Arizona is able to stifle that, smother it and force him to throw the ball. That I would be really concerned if he is able to get success on the ground. And this one despite his talent. You know what I mean? Damon, where are you at with Arizona playing another duel threat, QB this week? We talked on Saturday's post game and on yesterday's episode about maybe the DBs, you know, being not as good as the DBs were last year, Arizona needs to play a

44:32slightly different style of defense, less of putting your guys out on an island and coverage. You know, and throwing these crazy blitz packages at QBs because, frankly, we don't have trade in stucco, Dalton, Johnson and Genesis Smith, Michael, Dan's be even like we did last season, giving you the ability to do that kind of stuff. This game though almost changes that for me. Like when you read out those passing statistics, Kevin, 400 yards and three football games, three picks, your DBs need to be able to go on an island with these wide receivers and win versus this passing game. Turnovers were had better be coming with us. For sure. And as you said, Kevin, like it would be deeply concerning if this passing game finds its ability to, you know, actually be competitive and make winning type of plays be efficient against Arizona's defense when they've only been able to show success against Duquesne thus far. That's the one team they've had any sort of passing success

45:35against when they played Kansas State, they were atrocious. And so yeah, on the on the one hand, like I think when I say that when I make that take about, maybe we need to start switching up the way we play defense a little bit, not leave our guys on islands as much. I say that in regards to like big 12 conference play, but right now, if your DBs can't win on an island versus these skill position players versus this quarterback and this passing attack, you're in a heap of trouble. So yeah, I definitely think, you know, this this game for sure, like it benefits Washington state in that yes, we have struggled against more mobile quarterbacks in recent years, but it benefits in Arizona, Arizona in the way that, you know, you can kind of make their team into a one-dimensional offense by saying, you guys aren't going to be able to pass on us at all. Try running it. And now we'll use a linebacker to spy your quarterback, you know, because he likes to get out on the run. He likes to scramble. And so yeah, I do think that this the way that Washington state plays offense,

46:39the lack of passing game, it makes it where it's almost like there's no excuse for this to even be a close football game. If Washington state is able to cover the 12 and a half points bread with that offense, I think we got some real problems to be talking about in Tucson. I agree with you Damon, but that is a little, I mean, not a little, but a sneak peak at our Washington state preview. We're off tomorrow, right? But Thursday, Friday, pregame on Saturday, you can expect more Washington state preview content. But for now, we're wrapping that part of the show up. There's this kind of goes into news and notes, but it's also a football thing. So I kind of want to just bridge the gap. But there was a clip that was kind of rolling around the Twitter streets, Kevin. I don't know if you saw it this morning, but David Kelly put out a clip. DK on the sports tip. DK on the sports tip put out a clip, basically saying, you know, in regards to no if a feeder and the legacy that he's helped cultivate in Tucson, he kind of calling out

47:40you, they fans on that game on Saturday and said, you know, I think he basically says something to the effect of I've been doing this for 18 years in this city. And I'll tell you what, no if a feeder didn't didn't walk out on this program, but the fans walked out on Saturday night when he had a record on the line. And they all left the stadium. See, like, any thoughts on that kind of conversation that's been ongoing in the Arizona fan base is a flat idiot. But no, you know, okay. I think you and I had a very similar conversation on our post game of like, hold on, I actually have to fix my circle, okay, microphone. How did chat? We're just going to let that happen and no one's going to tell me my K is upside down. Either way, I feel as though DK is not wrong. Like, you and I talked about it. We need more people to stay for a moment like that, right? However, I also think as you and I have already done, so I don't want to relitigate too much of this on this show because that they're hardworking people too. And doing a thankless job for the

48:43most part as well. I also think like the marketing and events staff, I don't know who runs like the the ticker. If there was a ticker, whoever, like the in game promo staff, we got to do something for this game. I know it was a spandic heritage night, right? I know that took up a lot of the promo coming into the week. But I think like, to answer your question, Damon, I'm not out right, agreeing or disagreeing with DK. I think he has a good point there that no of a feat has been so loyal that least you could do is stay an extra hour, you know, at the end of the game. But I do think his criticism this time is slightly misdirected. I think this is on the people that were promoing this game. I think most people, like if you're a casual Arizona football fan, you probably didn't know he was close to that record for this game. You probably could have assumed like, oh yeah, he's probably close. He had the touchdown record last year. I remember that. But you probably couldn't have told me, oh, he's 320 yards away. I think that that is on the football program social team and the team that puts up the stuff on the screen when Nick Folls has a video,

49:44we got to have a ticker before that. We talked about this on the show. You got to have a ticker showing how many yards away he is. If it's during timeouts or whatever it is, you got to have some sort of vignette of like maybe Les Fafita talking about how much Tucson means to him at half time, right? Like there are things you can do during the game to get people to stay at the end of the game when they think something might happen. But from what I heard, I saw Kobe Tweet about this online. He was in attendance. I asked you, Damon, because you were in attendance. It seemed like there was no form of like, oh, guys, pay attention. Our quarterback is about to do something big tonight. It felt like it was just Hispanic Heritage Night. We're playing Niu. Last highway says here, like zero awareness in that stadium that it was happening or even close to it. And so I think it's on the program this time. I think usually DK would be right to say, like, man, this is a big moment. Like the fans can't leave early, but it's Niu. Respectfully, I'm leaving early if I'm a college student. Make me want to stay. Make me want to stay. You know what I mean? Yeah. Why should I advertise it? You know, you know, people in Tucson are early

50:44exitors, right? So like, what's how are we going to keep them in their seats? How are we going to keep butts in seats? You got a Diplo concert coming up on Saturday for a red and blue showcase. You're telling me you couldn't get anybody to come in and perform for this game. You couldn't get Derek's buddy Grammy nominated artist Megarendt to come perform. What about his favorite like reggae artist? What about his, yeah, his favorite reggae, you know, Hawaiian artist. Fefita Polusa. Come on, man. We could have threw from Fefita Polusa after the game. You got to get people in the stands. Harvey Manfred Jensen saying, do a coupon if he hits the record, right? Like, if no, if he hits the record, tonight, everybody in this section gets, I don't know, a window depot free vanity. You know what I mean? But like, I, and I hate to promote is important for these kind of things. I hate to call out like the athletic department because obviously we have a good relationship with those people. There's a tough job. There's a lot of hardworking good people that are in that athletic department. No doubt about it. But it does feel like the ball has been dropped on some things in this football program in the last couple of years where people just kind of go, what can we do? There's nothing we can do to make Fefita's care.

51:48And it's like, you got to pull out all the stops. You got like, like you said, Kevin, how was not one per I mean, I didn't think of it beforehand. But you are not a marketer. You are not a, you know, in person video board expert. And yet on the post game show, you're literally throwing at me on the spot without having any creative planning process. What if, why is there, is, was there a tracker, yardage tracker of how many yards he needs to, to pass Nick Folls on the bill on the board? No, not a chance. How is not one person who is actually being paid to do that kind of stuff thinking of this? And I think it's because it's the easy way out. Right? It's like, it's like, oh, well, what can we do guys? It's, you know, like what we're never going to be able to get fans to care. If you have that attitude. And for me, it's, it's a, it's a big chicken or the egg situation this one, Kevin. It always is with the fan base and Tucson with this football program. Can Arizona football get to the place it needs to go with the lack of fan support? Can the lack of fan support or like, you know, drive Arizona football to more success? I really do think it's,

52:54it's like a really difficult question to kind of ponder and, and work over. But I hear you on that. Like I think the football program could have done a much better job promoting, but it also goes down to our fans being so uninformed of what's happening in and around the football program because people just don't care. You're telling me if, if there was a, a, a chance for someone to break the all-time Arizona basketball scoring record in our own arena that, is it talking the week? There wouldn't the whole everybody would be talking about it in the entire arena. Man, even car Chen cause about to break the record tonight. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, we're the world where he stays for five years. Wow. And we win four national championships in a row. But yeah, it's just, you know, that's, it's, it's, it's always chicken or the egg for me. Who's truly to blame? Arizona football and the people in and around the athletics program that market and are supposed to like make inroads with the community or the fans who consistently do

54:00not show up consistently, do not support. And, you know, definitely are not helping the issue of, you know, making your college football program prosper because you need the fans financially in this era of college football to be successful. And Arizona is very cash strapped, obviously. I wonder if you, I wonder if you like lose some employees when, you know, like you're making those cuts around the athletic department that now things out these departments and like, makes it where it's difficult to come up with these things. But again, it just feels like it's like Kevin's coming up with it as a one-man team. And then he could use AI to create that ticker. Literally. And if Kevin can do it, then someone in and around the athletic department needs to be able to come up with those ideas and implement them. And I will say comment on the show so far goes to Los Highway who says, I can already see Tommy say, hey, look guys, I'm a basketball coach. I'm not even aware of that kind of stuff. That's up to you guys, you know. You know, you know, we just want to get to know what we're talking about. I'm concerned about winning basketball games.

55:05But hey, man, I will say like, rally towel, like with just the amount of yardage that he has, like, for feet of posters before the game. And look, maybe the argument is like, well, we didn't know that he was for sure going to break it on this night. It's kind of embarrassing if you roll out of towel. And then he doesn't get it or whatever. Okay, cool. First home game back. Give me a promo item because we know he's breaking it sometime early in the season. So it's not like you're just going to print out a bunch of towels and then send him to Africa. If he doesn't get the record, he's going to get the record. It's a matter of when, not if. So yeah, I just felt like an SOG saying lots of recruits of the game, bad look in my opinion. But I just, I mean, it's kind of like the, the no if a feet of high has been conversation, right? Where it's like, yeah, I want to do it for anybody. You do it for no if a feet. If you're not going to promote a record being broken, like the all-time passing record, then what are you, when are you ever going to promote any player? Ever. How much to get you play, Damon? Not these days. None. You're on a 2k lost a lost and

56:09absolute soldier in Damon Doug. Yeah, that guy about five years ago. That guy's a bum. But look, in 2k, when you break a record, it's pretty like ho hum to be honest with you. Like, if you break the scoring record at the all time, like let's say you put 102 in a game somehow, right? It's really just the score bug like goes golden for a second and it's like 102 points. He broke the record. That's kind of how it felt. Like when no feet have broke the record. Like they threw Nick Fulz's video up and we're like, congrats Noah. It was a cool little like TV time out. They interviewed his dad and then it was like, well, Arizona has defeated NIU. Go, you don't got to go home. But you can't stay here, everybody. And it's like, damn, like that's really what we're doing. But either way, Damon, I want to get to our final ad break and I do want to hit this J.J. Manick with interview. But yeah, I think DK brings up some good points. Sorry. I just said that was like, and then we could roll across my Twitter today that I was like, it interested me. And I know that DK gets a decent amount of flack on the social media streets. So like I'm not necessarily

57:09like, you know, just like defending him. But I do think that his take on that matter is partially true, which is the fans aren't doing a good enough job. The fans are not supporting the greatest quarterback in program history in the way that they should. Kind of similar to last year where we're talking about the Baylor senior day game. And you got guys like Traden Stookes and Dalton Johnson, who have given everything to this football program, stuck out the Summlin years, stuck out the year one under Jed Fish, where we went one in 11 and lost to NAU. And continued to come back and invest into this football program to the point where they turn this chip around. And yet you got 35,000 people in the stands in a 50,000 person stadium to celebrate those dudes. And that kind of stuff makes me sad. As an Arizona football fan, as you know, in the 1% probably of Arizona football fans

58:10that I am, I want to see more love and support for those type of guys. It just makes it difficult when, you know, you, you, you just, you can't consistently get the people that want to go to the games. I just don't know what they're doing to be honest with you. Like I, I, I say it all the time, I love two sons, my city, but on a Saturday, I know there's nothing better to do. So I'm wondering where all the million people in the city are and why we can't get 50,000 of them in one stadium. I got two and a half words for you. Fruit, loop, shots. All right. Damon, we'll be right back with our JJ Mandiquit interview. Yeah, like Fruit Loop, you can hyphenate it, you can make it two words, you can make two and a half words. Figure it out during our last break after this. We got JJ Mandiquit live for media day. Well, not live, but live and you get the point. Damon, I got to tell the good people about the husband and wife law team because if you've been involved in a serious accident, the result that it's serious injury, the only thing you can do is your research and when you do that research, you're going to find that you need a specialist when you, when you look for specialists, you're going to find the husband and wife law team. Everybody, they employ the specialist that get the job done. I'm talking serious, injury and wrongful death

59:15specialist. And if you do need to go to trial, they have hundreds of years of combined trial experience on their team and they are ready for that smoke. If they need to when you're telling yourself, Kevin, I've seen these blocs on social media. They're silly. You want me to trust them with my legal case? Yes, I do because while they're silly on social media, they're serious in the courtroom. They just want to show you that they have a personality on social media, but they actually go to trial. They're practicing 100% dedicated to injury and wrongful death, experience and specialize as well as being a clip with the expertise to handle every aspect of your case. And when you get there, they're going to tell you both the strengths and the weaknesses. So you work with a fully informed decision, which I think in this day and age transparency, an authenticity is king. It's paramount and you're getting that with the husband and wife law team. 602, 7a 3881. That's the number you should call if you've had a serious injury. Call the husband and wife law team first. That's 602, 7a 3881 or visit that link on our show on what's below. Let him know. Page next century. The summer may be winding down, but home project

1:00:18renovation season is fully, fully underway, Kevin. It's the holidays. That means, you know, you got people that are going to be coming over to your house, whether it's Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, even just football season. That's a holiday in its own right, in my opinion. And, you know, there's all types of family friend gatherings that are happening right now. Make your space something that you're proud of with the help of our friends over at the window. Depot, if you have any sort of project that you're looking at in your home or taking it to the next level, whether that's, you know, redoing the kitchen, redoing those cabinets, those countertops, maybe doing something in the bathroom, maybe getting yourself a new vanity, new sink, or, you know, you just want to like make some additions to your home guys. The window depot is your one stop shop for all of your home renovation needs, whether you're a contractor or just a homeowner, you know, this, you know, I don't want to make that seem like that means nothing. If you own a home, congratulations. You're winning. You are winning in life right now. But if you are a contractor or a homeowner just looking to make their space something that they're more proud of guys,

1:01:23the window depot is your one stop shop for any and all that are in the renovation business. It's not a service or discount store, but it offers new home improvement products at incredible prices every single day. And if you find, if you don't find what you like, they of course have custom order options as well available to you at any of their eight Arizona locations. Stop in and compare option C products in person and talk through the project with their experts that are there in store. The window depot. It's the absolute best guys. Visit the window depot.com and start planning your next project today. Stop by one of any of the eight Arizona locations, including IntuSon and Phoenix and see why they are so much more than just a window store. And without further ado, we've been teasing it all episode. You've all been very good loyal listeners sticking in hour for the JJ Mandiquit interview. And I'm sure you wanted to talk a little bit of Washington state as well. But without further ado, let's talk with JJ Mandiquit. Got Arizona guard JJ Mandiquit with us here on the Easy Wildcats podcast. JJ, how are you doing today? Doing great. Thanks for having me. Now, one of the newest members to Arizona.

1:02:24First question is why Arizona why now? You have a previous connection with Tommy Lloyd from TV USA. I'm assuming maybe you could have taken that route before going to Washington last year, but I've chosen to transfer to Tucson and Arizona. Why Arizona why now? Yeah, I would say Tommy's vision obviously getting in play for him, getting to know him over the last summer with USA basketball. And you know, obviously after my last experience at Washington last year, what's the answer to the portal and Tommy came calling? It was an easy choice. Now let's talk about that experience of Washington a little bit. He played with some very high quality bigs over there as well as another garden zoomed yellow. When you look at this roster, right? How is that experience informing the way you play with a guy like Mo Kreevaz? I know you're very good at finding those lob passes. Has that been something you're really looking forward to getting out there? Not for sure. I think just seeing the roster as two, I mean, this year we're loaded man at every position and it's going to be a lot of fun. Just the way Arizona plays, their play style, their offense, it's going to be very exciting. Now, you are a guy that has played

1:03:26under Tommy Lloyd now in two different contexts, TME USA and for Arizona. What does he like as a coach? And if you had to describe him to somebody you had in play form or maybe was thinking of playing form, maybe you recruit out there somewhere? What is playing for Tommy Lloyd? He's a great teacher. He's big on learning and learning quickly. He's passionate about learning and he's a really good teacher. I'd say that's the biggest thing and then he's always just so composed. Now this back court that you are a part of, Caleb Holt, Derek Dixon, yourself, right? It's very balanced, very versatile. You each bring different things to the table and it feels like you're kind of like the orchestrator in a lot of ways when you're out there. The true point guard, so to speak. How do you see your game and how would you describe it as someone who maybe hasn't watched JJ Manickly Hoop before? Yeah, I say really just trying to be a dog. I mean, last year, playing for Tommy in the summer, like I came off the bench and it was really, I mean, show love to a former wildcat, but TJ McConnell wrote. And so, really just trying to be able to fit in wherever I can, help the team win, bring a lot of energy. And then like you said, kind of be a quarterback on the

1:04:27floor, put people in the right spots, put them in the right places and give them the ball and places that they can be successful. Now with the departure of Jaden Bradley, you invoke the name TJ McConnell and I instantly think that it's something that we've seen on social media a ton, people kind of earmarking your play style with the way that he played back in the day for Arizona. Is that something that's kind of been talked about? Is hey, if you play like this, you could maybe be very successful here at Arizona. Yeah, I mean, obviously, I want you to play your game. For sure, yeah, I mean, too. Like people, some people would take that as a dig, but if people are comparing me to TJ McConnell, I love it. Ball, no, no, no, no, exactly. That's what I'm saying. I know his name's been hot and immediately, but he can hook, he can hook, he's a dog. And I think that's the biggest thing. Just his competitiveness, like if I can have that level of competitiveness and go out there and play like he does and bring him, he brings so much now you to a team. And so if I can be that for Arizona, I'd love to be that. Now, you mentioned teaching and you mentioned, obviously,

1:05:29when you do other interviews about your upbringing and your hometown and how much connection you share with Hawaii, JJ Cooks, man. JJ Cooks, hottest IG cooking show on the internet right now. Some people in our chat are saying that you got to teach me how to make some Hawaiian food. Can we get this in the works potentially? We can. I think there's been a lot of talk about getting it back. I haven't done episodes since I've been here. Correct. The streets are waiting. Yes. I think we're going to have to keep building this suspense and wait for the off season. But no, definitely. I think get us some Hawaiian food out there, teach them the community about that. And then we have a lot of foreign guys. So hopefully, we'll have some guest episodes and they can make us a dish from their hometown as well. I think I was talking to Jackson Cook and he said he had yet to try Hawaiian barbecue. And I said that that is not your job to make sure that that boy has some Hawaiian barbecue in his life. But yeah, check out JJ Cooks. It is incredible stuff. What made you start that? Honestly, it was just like for fun. Obviously, I was hurt and really just needed to find new hobbies,

1:06:33find ways to kill time. And I've gotten really passionate about what I put into my body and stuff. And so why not learn how to cook and be able to control all that stuff myself? All right. This is a very important last question. The perfect Hawaiian barbecue plate. What is on it for JJ Mandakwit? Um, guys probably won't know what a lot of this stuff is. But we got to go with po'er, Hawaiian staple. Um, white rice just because I need rice with everything. And then on the rice, this is the secret you got to put squid lua. Yeah. You search it up. I don't think you can like what you see. But I promise you it's amazing. Um, I had some poque, some fried fish. Um, yeah, I'm a big fish, guys. So that's cow beef short ribs. And some smoked meat, smoked sausage. Okay, that's a large plate. And I love it. JJ Mandakwit, newest point guard at the University of Arizona. Thanks for joining us JJ.

1:07:35Thank you so much. Shout out to JJ Mandakwit for joining the AZ Wildcats podcast letting us in to the origin of JJ Cooks is TJ McConnell mentality. I feel like that whenever any Arizona fan that's watching this live, watching this, you know, on demand. So to speak damn I'm dating myself with that term. But, you know what I mean? I feel like anytime you invoke the name TJ McConnell, I'm gonna call it a time is on the sports day. Say it again. KT on the sports day. Yeah, I had you muted from our interview still. Uh, so I wanted you to get that off there. But like anytime you invoke the name TJ McConnell, I feel like it is something to not be taken lightly. Yeah. I think it's clear that he understands that. But I think it's also clear that he understands he could be like that kind of a guard for Arizona and impact Arizona in that kind of way. Great interview. Although it was a short one with our guy JJ Mandakwit. Hopefully we can get him on the show again. Maybe cooking in the off season. He said we're going to have to let the anticipation build. I hear you JJ. But my anticipate is already out of fever. Pitch. You know what I mean?

1:08:36So there's nothing Kevin gets more hyped about than Arizona basketball and Hawaiian barbecue. You combine those two things together. Plus maybe we're talking some UFC while we're cooking. Maybe I have a little clip of him talking about that. Maybe Max Hallways coming to an Arizona game. Maybe not. It's in the works. Maybe it's not. I don't know. But Damon has been a good show. Everybody leave a comment as we go off air about your favorite answer from JJ Mandakwit in that interview. Any other thoughts before we get out of here today Damon go check out our latest YouTube video on this channel about RJ Godfrey's eligibility with Cameron Selerino of CBS sports. Yeah. And also if you want maybe to check out our big dual power rankings yesterday and you missed them. We have that video up on our channel as well where Texas tech fans want my head on a stick for putting them at number three in my power rankings apparently. Apparently rough week apparently your quarterback through three games having three touchdowns and two interceptions is elite level stuff. How could I ever say anything nasty about Will Hammond

1:09:37in his season thus far Kevin attacking me and you for not appreciating Will Hammond enough. We really the last two appreciates Will Hammond. We were the last two guys on the boat. Yeah. We went down on the Titanic that was the Will Hammond ship the floating ham. Yeah. The flying Hammond. And we went down on the ship. What everybody else jumped off. And then now you want to come at us for just stating facts. The passing game at Texas tech has not been impressive and has not looked very good to start this season. You end up winning the game versus Houston. You have the crowd the momentum on your side. You win. Good game. Great win. But we can't seriously be thinking right now that Will Hammond is playing good enough level football for Texas tech to be big 12 champions. Come on, dude. No way. Come on. Also shout out Carl Schroeder. Nine months of membership. Yes, great. We appreciate you. My guy almost coming up on a year here. Nine months of membership says Wilbur and Wilma are the husband and wife. Claude team. He's a dog, honestly.

1:10:42I mean, bro, do you want to sit up here and start doing the show, Carl? We do need like a one lecture. Punn. We get it. One one pun per show out of Carl. Maybe multiple. And we thank you every time, Carl. Absolutely. But a long time listener. Obviously, the nine months of membership shows that. But even beyond the nine months, been listening to the AZ Wildcats podcast. Yep. And only that on Thursday. No show tomorrow. No show tomorrow. We're back on Thursday, 2 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. And then of course, pregame post game on Saturday for Arizona versus Washington state. Keep it locked right here to the PHNX Sports YouTube channel in the meantime. For all of our content. If there's anything that happens, getting emotional. There's anything that happens breaking news wise, Kevin and I are all over it on the YouTube channel on our social media. Of course, at PHNX underscore Wildcats at Kevaux Posts from my guy Kevin Thomas at Damon dog for me. We are your one stop shop for Arizona athletics content. Of course, keep it locked right here to PHNX Sports. But you have been listening to

1:11:43KT and D F on the sports tip today. Throw us both a follow follow. You know, you know, you don't do anything on the sports tip is just DK on the sports tip. We might have to change that. D and K on the sports tip. DK on the sports tip. No way, he's patented them both. No, no, no chance. Why would it be David and Kelly on the sports tip? You've been listening to DK on the sports tip today on the PHNX Sports YouTube channel. We appreciate you guys for copyright reasons is DK on the sports tip. We love you guys. We appreciate you and we'll see you on Thursday at 2 p.m. Until then peace out bear down and go cats. Is a flat idiot.