Make Plays Podcast: Missouri State travels to Texas A&M

[00:00:14] - [Speaker 0]
Hello, Bear Nation, and welcome to the Make Plays podcast. This podcast is gonna focus on Missouri State Football Conference USA football foes and college football in general. We will cover KU from time to time, Mizzou, K State. We got a big battle coming up, Tim, the border war, which we're gonna touch on. But today, we're gonna focus on this upcoming battle we got with Texas A and M.

[00:00:43] - [Speaker 0]
And I wanna introduce my brother, Tim, football hall of famer at, Missouri State, 1978 NFL draftee, Tim Reese. Welcome to Make Plays.

[00:00:54] - [Speaker 1]
Well, thank you. This is my brother, Tom Reese. Tom is a two sport letterman at Missouri State, played football in nineteen eighty and eighty one. And our mission here is is as Tom said, we're gonna talk about bears football. We're gonna talk about the Conference USA that we got into last year, our first year in FBS.

[00:01:17] - [Speaker 1]
We're gonna talk about a little bit about college football in general. And we're here to promote Missouri State University. And on that on that token, I'd like to say, Missouri State University has been really good to both of us. And they've they've offered offered help and we appreciate that. I would like to say give a shout out to president Richard Biff Williams for his backing as well as

[00:01:51] - [Speaker 0]
Patrick Ramsdell, yeah, the athletic director who has made some big decisions here recently folks. You talk about some big decisions. Busy boy. Yes, sir. I mean, you had a whole coaching staff up in leave off to Coastal Carolina with the Petrinos and the Beards who, by the way, we wanna thank them as well, Tim.

[00:02:15] - [Speaker 0]
They did a, the Petrino family and the Beards really helped advance this program forward Quality big

[00:02:23] - [Speaker 1]
people all throughout that family and program. Now we're on to the Casey Woods era. Casey is our new coach. He's from SMU. He was their offensive coordinator.

[00:02:35] - [Speaker 1]
He's a big tall Texan who knows the game and and just full of energy, and we're really excited about what he's bringing to this

[00:02:44] - [Speaker 0]
to this program. Well, Casey Woods is about to get baptized as a head coach into division one football, and you talk about a baptism and probably up in front of a 103,000 screaming fans at College Station, Texas, which we'll get into. But what we really wanna get into right now is Tim and I were down at spring camp. We were invited down to a scrimmage last spring and met all the coaches. Tim met a lot of the players.

[00:03:15] - [Speaker 0]
We were on the sidelines for the scrimmage and at that time, we had a quarterback controversy going on, ladies and gentlemen, and we still have a quarterback controversy. We did have up until last week, which that has been settled, and Skyler Locklear will be our starting quarterback who came from UTEP with Mark Calla who is now the offensive coordinator.

[00:03:39] - [Speaker 1]
Yep. It looks like Skyler won the job. He looked to me like he had the inside edge and I think maybe Henry Belen from Duke who was his main rival in for the job. He got a little banged up and I think that

[00:03:56] - [Speaker 0]
I think he was little bit I think he's nursing a little bit of an injury. Yeah. And I think Skyler ended up getting most of the first team reps and

[00:04:05] - [Speaker 1]
Well, we've got two guys who can really play. I was very impressed with both of them when I saw them in person as far as how they throw the ball, their footwork. So we're gonna find out a lot about them as playmakers.

[00:04:19] - [Speaker 0]
Well, you and I talked after that scrimmage. I could see the synergy between Mark Callah and Skyler Locklear. They worked together at UTEP. Mark Callah brought his whole offensive scheme to Missouri State. I could just see that synergy.

[00:04:38] - [Speaker 0]
Skyler Locklear knows that offense inside and out, and it was our opinion when we left that he had the upper hand at that time last spring.

[00:04:47] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Well, you know, when your offensive coordinator is somebody you've worked with for, I don't know how long, but a a period of time and had success with, then, yeah, you know a little bit more of the ins and outs of the offense and and are gonna have the inside track. But I think coach Woods is the guy who makes the final decisions there, and and and so he's chosen Skyler and we are a 100% behind that and can't wait to see what these guys can do.

[00:05:16] - [Speaker 0]
Well, speaking of our new coach, coach Woods is Missouri State's twenty third head coach in its history, which spans a hundred and fifteen years, I believe. Coach Woods comes to us, as you mentioned, the offensive coordinator at SMU. And I just wonder, and I wanna ask coach Woods this, and hopefully, we're gonna have him on, but what was his opinion last year on September 12 when SMU came to Springfield and played us? What was his opinion of Missouri State before, and what was opinion afterwards?

[00:05:53] - [Speaker 1]
Well, I think the proof is in the pudding as they say, and he must have been somewhat impressed because he came here to become our next head coach. And this this kind of leads into something else because we have a big interview coming up later in the show. So stick around. And in that interview, the discussion about coach Casey Woods and his take on Missouri State is going to be mentioned.

[00:06:23] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. So right now we wanna shout out to one of our sponsors. Tim, have you ever heard of Alaskan fur? Yes. You okay?

[00:06:33] - [Speaker 0]
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[00:06:56] - [Speaker 0]
They had a jacket in there the other day, Tim, I thought it would look lovely on you.

[00:07:00] - [Speaker 1]
Oh, I'm sure it would.

[00:07:01] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Well, course most things do. Yeah. So if your grandma's coat's

[00:07:05] - [Speaker 1]
been sitting in the closet since the Reagan administration,

[00:07:09] - [Speaker 0]
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[00:07:31] - [Speaker 0]
So they had a gentleman bring in a bear coat who had it all resized, cleaned and everything. Was an actual Not a bear bear coat.

[00:07:40] - [Speaker 1]
No, this was a real bear.

[00:07:42] - [Speaker 0]
It was a real bear coat.

[00:07:43] - [Speaker 1]
Well, these things only.

[00:07:46] - [Speaker 0]
True story though.

[00:07:47] - [Speaker 2]
All right.

[00:07:47] - [Speaker 0]
All right. So we wanna get into a little bit about this Texas A and M group we're getting ready to face down there in College Station. And as I said, Tim, you talk about a baptism by fire for a first year head coach with Missouri State University coming off a good year last year at seven and six and five and three in conference USA. Well, ranked,

[00:08:12] - [Speaker 1]
by some people have them ranked as high as tenth in the nation this year.

[00:08:15] - [Speaker 0]
Texas A and M, yes.

[00:08:17] - [Speaker 1]
Preseason polls.

[00:08:18] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah, yeah. And Mike Elko brings in a really capable group, as Tim mentioned, ranked very high and definitely gonna have a home field advantage. We expect anywhere from 102 to 103,000 people there too.

[00:08:35] - [Speaker 1]
And it's probably gonna be 102 degrees. It's gonna be a tough road game for the Bears, we know that. I think I'm gonna talk first about a and m. Okay. Because I wanna talk about the bears finally.

[00:08:52] - [Speaker 1]
But the keys for a and m are are pretty simple. They need to just play their game. They're at home. They've got super players. They've got quarterback Marcel Reed who is one of the Heisman possibilities for this year.

[00:09:10] - [Speaker 0]
He's on the Heisman watch list.

[00:09:13] - [Speaker 1]
They've got a they've got an offensive line that's been reworked a little bit, so that may be something that the bears defense can take advantage of, we hope. Their o line needs to give Reed enough time to find his targets downfield. Defensively, they just need to try to frustrate frustrate the bears and make the game one dimensional. If they can get a lead and get a big enough lead and force the Bears to have to throw the ball, then we've all seen those kind of games and that becomes a lot more difficult for the Bears

[00:09:51] - [Speaker 0]
to win. Well, I think you in situations like this, you just have to limit your mistakes to nothing. I mean, you mentioned the offensive line. They have a new offensive line that's been put together, so that is gonna be an attack point for Missouri State. A and M is gonna try to establish the run early, and that defensive line of Missouri State, which by the way we can talk about is pretty deep this year with four division one transfers and field position.

[00:10:27] - [Speaker 0]
I mean, in a game like this, you can't turn the ball over, you can't spot them on the your own 20 yard line, and you need to play field position.

[00:10:34] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. The bears the bears have to play mistake free football in order to have a chance to to win this game and really just to make sure they could stay in the game. So they can't turn the ball over. No pre snap penalties, you know, offsides or

[00:10:53] - [Speaker 0]
The pressure's on them. The pressure is The players at Missouri State need to just enjoy every second of this, have fun, play disciplined football and do their job and the pressure's on Texas A and M.

[00:11:09] - [Speaker 1]
It is and I think the other important thing that needs to come out of this game is we need to come out of it without any key injuries. Because Absolutely. It's early in the season.

[00:11:20] - [Speaker 0]
We're we're in a very tough environment, playing a very tough opponent. They're gonna be physical. We're gonna have to match that physicality. So we need to come out of this without being beaten up because we got some more big games coming up quick. Yes.

[00:11:38] - [Speaker 0]
It is gauntlet indeed for Missouri State football and but also a big payday for Missouri State football going down to Texas A and M. Yes. And one of the really iconic stadiums, ladies and gentlemen, in the college football circuit, Kyle Field. I've not been there, but definitely one I wanna go to, and it is a game that make plays. I ran a prediction.

[00:12:16] - [Speaker 0]
Right now, Tim, the spread is 41 and a half points. It went up a little bit from last week at 39.5. I think Missouri State's gonna cover. I think you're looking at a football score of Texas A and M 45, Missouri State 13. I think they'll cover.

[00:12:36] - [Speaker 0]
But again, I think one of the most important things you said, no major injuries, have fun, play disciplined football and compete. They just, let's let's compete.

[00:12:46] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. We gotta be gotta be able to go out there and compete, play mistake free and and be tough. Be physical. Don't be don't be playing afraid. Go out there and make plays to win.

[00:13:00] - [Speaker 0]
Make plays. Sounds familiar. Who on the Bears side are gonna make plays? Well, we're gonna find out and we want to also recognize our second sponsor today on make plays, Innovative Facility Solutions. Innovative Facility Solutions has been a total turnkey energy efficiency company for over twenty years featuring energy efficient systems for industrial commercial buildings.

[00:13:34] - [Speaker 0]
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[00:14:14] - [Speaker 0]
We are gonna get into Conference USA a little bit here. Okay. And we were picked in whatever polls you wanna look at anywhere from eight to nine preseason polls for Conference USA for Missouri State.

[00:14:39] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. And you know, I wanna talk about these preseason polls just for a second because in my opinion, they become less and less of a factor because there's so much turnover now in college football. How can you predict who's gonna be what? Now you could say, okay, the Texas A and M has, I don't know, 60 players coming back and the Bears have 12. That's a big deal.

[00:15:04] - [Speaker 1]
That's a big deal for a lot of reasons. But if you if you look from team to team across the country in the FBS division, you're gonna you're gonna see that there's a lot of players who've jumped and moved and and gone here, gone there. And that just makes it, in my opinion, really tough to say this team is gonna be the the winner and this team is gonna be the loser. We had a game this weekend that showed Jacksonville State playing up at North Dakota State, our old conference foe

[00:15:37] - [Speaker 0]
Yes.

[00:15:37] - [Speaker 1]
Up in

[00:15:38] - [Speaker 0]
Fargo and Was it pretty?

[00:15:40] - [Speaker 1]
They got a bit of a whooping.

[00:15:42] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. The Fargo Dome, Jacksonville State, I believe that score ended up at 33 to seven. Jacksonville State lost that game. I really thought that was gonna be a much more competitive game too. But Jacksonville State was preseason ranked number three.

[00:16:01] - [Speaker 0]
Well, think North Dakota State has jumped into the Mountain West Conference. This is their first year in FBS and their preseason ranked number three in the Mountain West Conference. Well,

[00:16:14] - [Speaker 1]
we know what it feels like to go up there to Fargo and

[00:16:16] - [Speaker 0]
Where teams go to die generally. Go up

[00:16:19] - [Speaker 1]
there and get your butt kicked.

[00:16:21] - [Speaker 0]
Well, I could tell you right now, any team in our conference, if they go up to North to go to State, it's

[00:16:27] - [Speaker 1]
gonna be really tough.

[00:16:28] - [Speaker 0]
Gonna be

[00:16:28] - [Speaker 1]
really tough. It's not gonna be you can't compare it to us going down to College Station and playing in that place with all the tradition and so forth. Correct. But over the years, North Dakota State has been really good and Jacksonville State, you know, I'm not going to judge them completely by that one game. No.

[00:16:49] - [Speaker 1]
No. But the predicted order by ESPN has Western Kentucky as the predicted favorite, followed by Liberty, Jacksonville State, Kennesaw State, Delaware, Florida International, then New Mexico State. And coming in at eighth are the Missouri State University Bears, followed by Middle Tennessee at nine and Sam Houston rounding it out at number 10.

[00:17:22] - [Speaker 0]
I'm gonna tell you the sleeper team in this conference this year.

[00:17:24] - [Speaker 1]
Who's that?

[00:17:25] - [Speaker 0]
Delaware. Delaware. Delaware has got a favorable schedule, Tim. They have a lot of players back, 12 returning starters, and they have one of the top quarterbacks in Conference USA. So I look I look to see Delaware really to surprise some people this year and could contend for the conference USA championship.

[00:17:49] - [Speaker 0]
That's gonna be my The

[00:17:50] - [Speaker 1]
Delaware blue hens, right?

[00:17:51] - [Speaker 0]
The blue hens. Yeah. Yes. Don't know. Have you ever seen a blue hen?

[00:17:54] - [Speaker 1]
No, but they sound scary. I think I'm

[00:17:58] - [Speaker 0]
gonna be one for Halloween maybe. But anyway, I also wanna note that Missouri State out of this conference has the toughest all around schedule than any other team in the conference. We rank number 83 nationally in schedule, toughness, and that ranks number one in conference USA.

[00:18:20] - [Speaker 1]
Yes, our athletic director who we gave a shout out to, Pat Ramsdale, You know, he's done a great job of getting us into some big games right off the bat and we're playing two ranked teams out of our first

[00:18:35] - [Speaker 0]
He sure has. Well, and moving on, Tim, another game that was played, a conference USA team, New Mexico State went down to Florida State last Saturday night. Hats off to the New Mexico State Aggies, really played an impressive game into the fourth quarter in I Florida saw

[00:18:55] - [Speaker 1]
that, I saw on my, one of the news feeds that I look at that the Florida coach is maybe in trouble because of the

[00:19:05] - [Speaker 0]
Well, yeah, well he's been on the hot seat even last year. But the score ended up thirty four seventeen, but it was tied into the fourth quarter. And hats off to New Mexico State. That's another difficult place to play there in Tallahassee. One of our CUSA games of the week, Tim, I think it's really gonna be a really good game as Liberty's gonna be at James Madison.

[00:19:31] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah.

[00:19:32] - [Speaker 1]
And I don't know much about James Madison other than that they can be tough and you're playing a road game so it's always gonna be tough.

[00:19:39] - [Speaker 0]
It's going to be tough. Other Conference USA matchups coming up this week. We finally get to talk about football, guys, rather than about all this other wild things going on in college football. We got Merrimack at Delaware, West Georgia at Kennesaw State, West Georgia's a new FCS team. Florida International's going down to South Florida.

[00:20:05] - [Speaker 0]
That's gonna be a

[00:20:06] - [Speaker 1]
That'll be tough.

[00:20:06] - [Speaker 0]
That'll be a good matchup. Murray State, one of our old Missouri Valley Conference foes is gonna travel to Middle Tennessee. Eastern Kentucky is gonna be at Jacksonville State. I kinda feel sorry for Eastern Kentucky in that one. Sam Houston will be at Troy.

[00:20:26] - [Speaker 0]
Mercyhurst will be at New Mexico State and then this one is very intriguing. Western Kentucky is gonna go out to Reno, Nevada and play the Wolfpack of Nevada which

[00:20:37] - [Speaker 1]
that's a big game for them. But I don't think any of these teams' preseason schedule holds a candle to what the Bears are doing. We're taking on.

[00:20:51] - [Speaker 0]
Western Kentucky has the second toughest schedule. I think they come in at one zero two ranked according to Phil Steele's schedule tough schedule tough ranking, toughness ranking, but I really think Western Kentucky will play well out there in Nevada. Nevada's kinda a program that's kinda finding their way. They're in the Mountain West Conference and they're in that mid to lower tier. So Western Kentucky, year in and year out seems to always put a team on the field.

[00:21:28] - [Speaker 0]
By the way, ladies and gentlemen, that is probably our new conference rival, I would think, in Conference USA. A lot of people don't know it, but Western Kentucky used to be in a conference with Missouri State when we were in the Gateway Conference and then transitioned into the Missouri Valley Conference.

[00:21:48] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah, were a natural rival when we had Ryan as our head coach because Ryan played there.

[00:21:54] - [Speaker 0]
Correct.

[00:21:55] - [Speaker 1]
Now as we move forward, I still think geographically they're they're a natural and because of our histories, they're a natural rival for us. So that'll be fun watching them and playing them.

[00:22:10] - [Speaker 0]
So Tim, back to Missouri State at Texas A and M. I gave a prediction. Do you have a feel of how the Bears are gonna fare down there in College Station?

[00:22:28] - [Speaker 1]
I'm going to say I would like to see Missouri State hold A and M under 50 points. So I'm gonna say 48 and I'm gonna say we're gonna get on the board. 48 to 17 Texas A

[00:22:48] - [Speaker 0]
and M. Okay, okay. That's pretty close to what I had to say.

[00:22:53] - [Speaker 1]
We don't wanna go down there and get embarrassed. It doesn't do anything. Know, we get paid but it doesn't really help us. So we wanna go down there and

[00:23:05] - [Speaker 0]
be respectable. Did your wife do your makeup before the show for you? Yeah. Oh, okay. Just checking.

[00:23:11] - [Speaker 0]
I thought she did.

[00:23:12] - [Speaker 2]
It's either mine or yours.

[00:23:15] - [Speaker 0]
Well, know, I spoke a little bit before ladies and gentlemen on this Missouri State Bears football program which started in 1909 and this program has seen a lot of changes over the years. We're on our twenty third head coach and Casey Woods is our twenty third head coach.

[00:23:43] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. And it's it's great having Casey. And speaking of Casey, we've got an interview coming up here with a man who is on the board of governors at Missouri State University and was one of the men who was instrumental in choosing Casey as our coach. He was also instrumental in the move from FCS to FBS by Missouri State. So I would like to introduce to Bear Nation our friend and our board of governor.

[00:24:20] - [Speaker 1]
And former player. Former teammate. Played with him back in the day. Mister Chris Waters. Chris, you were the board chair when the decision got made to transition at Missouri State from FCS to FBS.

[00:24:44] - [Speaker 1]
Kinda take us through how that happened and conversations that went on.

[00:24:50] - [Speaker 2]
Well, it was a was a long process to get to the point where we finally are in a conversation. And really the whole way it started was we were invited. I mean, there's not openings all the time for positions at any level. The FBS, the Conference USA gave us an opening, we had an opportunity to make the decision, which which is great because it put the onus on us to and the board to come up with a decision as to whether or not we wanted to do it. We we I mean, in my heart, I wanted to do it, but at the time it was Cliff Smart was still president and and he had to make the final decision and and with our approval.

[00:25:35] - [Speaker 2]
And so that was that was, you know, a a key moment to be invited into it because don't open up every day.

[00:25:42] - [Speaker 1]
Were there were there any other offers or was Conference USA the the

[00:25:45] - [Speaker 2]
long question. That at the time was the only one. I mean, obviously, you know, you gotta start somewhere. I'd love to have been to Sunbelt or the ACC had an opening, but they didn't invite us. So we we we went where we thought we could.

[00:25:59] - [Speaker 2]
And and and geographically, it made some sense. Now now, honestly, we've got to see the changes that have been made there. So there's a lot of new teams there. They're everywhere from Delaware to Houston to Utah. To Utah.

[00:26:13] - [Speaker 2]
I mean, they're all over the place. So and that's just the way college football is and it's not slowing down anytime soon. Okay.

[00:26:21] - [Speaker 0]
So Chris, what about this skeptical bears fan worry about making this jump from FCS to FBS, what we might lose or or what we have to gain?

[00:26:34] - [Speaker 2]
Well, it's couple things about that. I mean, I don't think most of the programs at Missouri State have been division one in the FBS conferences. The only laggard was us, the football program. So I I think I think that alone is something. But I I think I think Missouri State was was certainly in a position to to make that move.

[00:27:02] - [Speaker 2]
And to a skeptic, all I'd have to say is, did you go to the SMU game? Because that SMU game was a glimpse of

[00:27:09] - [Speaker 0]
the Excited.

[00:27:10] - [Speaker 2]
And if you don't think that game mattered, the head coach that we have now was the offensive coordinator for SMU. The reason he's here and no question about it, no even he didn't that was the sale point right there. When he saw what was going on there, he was excited about it and he took and and that's why he's our coach. And whether he ends up being any good or not

[00:27:32] - [Speaker 0]
So he walked away impressed with what he saw.

[00:27:35] - [Speaker 2]
Absolutely.

[00:27:36] - [Speaker 1]
Casey told me when I was down there for spring practice that he saw more upside here at Missouri State than than any other job offers that were out there. But also, he's he even compared to the SMU and said he thought, yeah, we might have a little more upside possibility than SMU which to me was a little surprising but

[00:27:59] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Nice to hear. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:01] - [Speaker 1]
So so Chris, was there a time or a a moment or a conversation or a feeling you had when you knew that this was gonna be inevitable that we were making the move, making this big because it was a big move. It was a big push.

[00:28:15] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. I I hate to be redundant, but it's kind of the the point that we were invited, which I to my knowledge has not happened before. So that has to happen first. You know, you gotta be you gotta have a seat at the table. And so that was a big thing.

[00:28:31] - [Speaker 2]
And of course, I'll just go back to the rest of the programs at the university is at that level already. So I think it was inevitable. I've always thought it was going to happen. It's taken a little longer like a lot of things do but Yeah. Here we are.

[00:28:49] - [Speaker 0]
So as a former player yourself, you graduated in '80, right?

[00:28:53] - [Speaker 2]
Was '81.

[00:28:54] - [Speaker 0]
'81. How does what does it mean to you that Missouri State's going FBS, the top level football?

[00:29:04] - [Speaker 2]
Well, mean, it's it's obviously something that I think is long overdue. I mean, I when I was recruited to go to school there and this guy showed me around for years as an upperclassman, which is a great role model he is and was and still is. I knew that this there was a lot of potential at this at at Southwest Missouri State. And and it was really we and we got there. It take a little while, but and the the process is is taking a while, but,

[00:29:42] - [Speaker 0]
you know

[00:29:42] - [Speaker 2]
Yeah. It's it's the show me state.

[00:29:45] - [Speaker 0]
Exactly. First. The show me state.

[00:29:47] - [Speaker 1]
So I'm gonna ask you to be a little bit of a prognosticator here. And what what do you think that Bears fans don't quite understand yet about the significance of us making this move? About how it feels and and the good and the bad, you know? What what is it that we don't know?

[00:30:08] - [Speaker 2]
Well, mean, I think that's a great question because when you look at what does athletics mean to the university.

[00:30:15] - [Speaker 0]
Mhmm.

[00:30:15] - [Speaker 2]
I mean, other than, you know, people believe that you to spend all this money to stay in the game and blah blah blah. You know, the the numbers are what they are. The retention rates for students at universities that have significant athletic programs, football the retention rates are higher. It's just a fact. I mean, you can look at this across the board.

[00:30:39] - [Speaker 2]
And so, in in in not just retention, but also attracting students there. And so, we have a job to do and that is to increase the visibility of our program. But what it's done and what it's already starting to be shown, you know, the the where these students are coming from. From our just our exposure last year, I went to Conference USA games in the middle of the week. Mean, people are watching this stuff.

[00:31:06] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah.

[00:31:06] - [Speaker 2]
And there is no question. I mean, it's just a statistical fact and I don't have them all in front of me and there's a lot of data behind all this. The whole goal here is to make the student experience better and to keep our university thriving long term. And to do that, you have to offer these things to get these kids to come to your school and they'll stay there and they'll build the programs out. And so when people buy into this the way they should and have and the staff and the faculty both have all bought into this.

[00:31:40] - [Speaker 2]
So this is a big program. It's not just athletics. It's the university and it's for the betterment of the university. I would never have gone to the school if I wasn't playing here and then that's no knock on the school. It's just that I didn't know anything about it.

[00:31:56] - [Speaker 2]
So I went down there and you see the campus and and and it's just it's the the potential is is really pretty amazing.

[00:32:05] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. Well, and for those of you who don't know, this is we're doing this in the Kansas City area. And for years, Kansas City has kind of been a blank spot for Missouri State and prior to that Southwest Missouri State In terms of coverage, media coverage, whatever. And that's because of the proximity to the University of Kansas. It's a great athletic school as well as University of Missouri.

[00:32:30] - [Speaker 1]
And then you've got K State out in Manhattan. So we were kind of forgotten guys and part of this make plays show cast that we're doing here is to bring out more information and about Missouri State and

[00:32:49] - [Speaker 0]
why It takes us all, Tim. And I think that's Casey Woods. That's what

[00:32:52] - [Speaker 1]
he says.

[00:32:53] - [Speaker 0]
This is part of that all. Yeah. And so Chris, we've got Casey Woods. Casey's gonna be our twenty third head coach in this program. And if you could give us like a quick elevator pitch on what you think of Casey and why he's the right guy, let us know.

[00:33:16] - [Speaker 2]
Well

[00:33:16] - [Speaker 1]
Elevator pitch.

[00:33:18] - [Speaker 2]
I don't have an elevator pitch. You know, his just three words, really. I mean, and and hopefully, I can remember the three words that I was thinking. But enthusiasm, his experience, and his vision. I mean, when you meet the guy, if you don't like him, then you don't like people.

[00:33:39] - [Speaker 2]
I mean, it's just that simple. And so his ability to immediately ingrace people is important. Now does that mean he's a good coach? We'll find out. I mean, he's never been more popular than he is right now.

[00:33:54] - [Speaker 0]
All right. Well, we appreciate the time here. But one thing I wanna say in closing is, I really think the term is alignment. I really feel like the president, the athletic director and the head coach, the board of governors, think are more aligned on this program than they ever have.

[00:34:14] - [Speaker 2]
Question.

[00:34:14] - [Speaker 0]
And I feel really good about that. And the one thing I wanna bring up is I got a question for Chris in closing. Okay. Who holds the record in a per game, one game? Who holds that record?

[00:34:31] - [Speaker 1]
Single game interception record at Missouri State University.

[00:34:34] - [Speaker 2]
I have not.

[00:34:35] - [Speaker 1]
Who holds that?

[00:34:36] - [Speaker 0]
I think it was a safety.

[00:34:37] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. He was number two, number two in your program.

[00:34:40] - [Speaker 2]
Number one in yard.

[00:34:45] - [Speaker 0]
Well,

[00:34:48] - [Speaker 1]
thank you mister Christopher Waters for that great interview. I think there's a lot of good information in there for us and our listeners. And I think the point that Chris made about Casey and his impressions that he got when when the bears played at home against SMU and he saw what was going on in Springfield. Saw a lot of upside. Yeah.

[00:35:12] - [Speaker 1]
He saw a lot of upside and it influenced his decision to come and be the Bears next head footballer.

[00:35:19] - [Speaker 0]
Well, he's gonna learn real quick that you have to do a lot more with a lot less down at Missouri State, but it can be done. It was proven it can be done. Ryan Beard and Bobby Petrino and their crew certainly did it. And, you know, we really appreciate Chris coming on the show. He's been, you know, I think TMI was adding it up the other day and a butt fell out of my chair.

[00:35:45] - [Speaker 0]
Between the two of us, we got over a hundred years involved in this Missouri State football program from starting out as players to being actively involved in the Alumni Association through the whole time and you know what? Chris was right there with us.

[00:36:01] - [Speaker 1]
There are days when I feel like I'm a 100

[00:36:03] - [Speaker 0]
years old. Well, you do kinda look, yeah, a little old but anyhoo, so we really appreciate Chris's time. He's a busy man and all his support through the years on advancing this football program forward. Tim, it's not too long ago, They were talking about getting rid of

[00:36:26] - [Speaker 1]
this program. Yes. Yeah. And here we are. Yeah.

[00:36:29] - [Speaker 1]
And and as coach Woods says, it it takes us all and that's that takes it takes us, it takes Chris Waters, it takes coach. This show is part of that all. Yeah. It takes us all.

[00:36:43] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. And that includes you. Yes. So, do your part. Go and support the Bears.

[00:36:48] - [Speaker 0]
We need all the support we can get. Yes. We see a lot of good trajectory going with this program, ladies and gentlemen and last year was really good momentum and I gotta tell you, we met most of those coaches down there, Tim, and very impressive. And I gotta say, I talked to some of the players. These guys were really impressive and very courteous.

[00:37:13] - [Speaker 0]
I mean, lot nicer than I was at that age.

[00:37:17] - [Speaker 1]
Yes. They're just first, we're gonna talk about the players for a minute and I can just give my general opinion having been around them for a short period of time. They seem like a really good group of kids who are are enjoying themselves or having fun. They're very bright. I sat in on one of the cornerback meetings when they went over one of their new coverages and I gotta tell you it was complex.

[00:37:46] - [Speaker 1]
I mean compared to the game has just rolled over into being much more complex.

[00:37:53] - [Speaker 0]
It really has.

[00:37:54] - [Speaker 1]
And so these guys are very bright kids and then they have to be because in order to keep track of what's going on

[00:38:04] - [Speaker 0]
out there. As we've talked before, I don't think people realize the kind of pressure these kids are on. You're basically doing a full time job and there's a lot expected of you and there is a lot of pressure. These football games are hard to win. We know that, they just are and you're out in front of 102,000 screaming fans for an 18, 22 year old.

[00:38:33] - [Speaker 0]
That's a lot of pressure.

[00:38:34] - [Speaker 1]
Game, I think every game this

[00:38:36] - [Speaker 0]
year that the Bears play will be televised. Well, yes. I think they have five nationally televised games between CBSSN and ESPN and then but all of them that are not on the national platform is gonna be on ESPN plus.

[00:38:52] - [Speaker 1]
Yeah. And as Chris mentioned in his interview, you know, midweek games Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, sometimes we're the only game in town. So it's gonna be watched by a lot of people and that's that's great for Missouri State football.

[00:39:09] - [Speaker 0]
Well, I am so excited, Tim. We have got college football is kicked off. Boy, we have just been chomping at the bits.

[00:39:17] - [Speaker 1]
What about these guys coming back from the NFL to play another year in in college football? What the what the heck is going on with that?

[00:39:24] - [Speaker 0]
Well, it's very interesting.

[00:39:26] - [Speaker 1]
Are they making more in college now than they're making in the NFL? I think some of them are. You know, and I think that's a problem. When you get to the NFL and you're a rookie and you're used to, you know, you got some veteran who tells you to carry his pads around and you say, you

[00:39:43] - [Speaker 0]
know what, I don't carry pads. I I'm used to making a million dollars a year in college. If it was allowed back when you played and you were done at the Oilers, would you have and you were allowed to go back to Southwest Missouri State at that time, would you have gone back and played for another year? I don't know if

[00:40:03] - [Speaker 1]
I could have made the team.

[00:40:07] - [Speaker 0]
Yeah. Well, after being pummeled by Earl Campbell in practice, I could understand that. Tim, there's some other college games, that's another topic we will want to get into but we really are excited and focused on getting this season kicked off. It's really an exciting week, ladies and gentlemen, moving into the Labor Day weekend and just a whole host of games. One that jumps out on me that touches on this topic we just talked about is Clemson's gonna be at LSU with Lane Kiffin.

[00:40:40] - [Speaker 0]
Oh, boy. Here we go. Here we go. Yes, sir.

[00:40:45] - [Speaker 1]
I wanna just talk we're gonna be here every week, folks. We're gonna be here. You'll you'll have the full version of our podcast released at 6PM on every Thursday. And you'll also be able to catch us. Now, see, you don't have time to listen to the whole thing, which is crazy.

[00:41:02] - [Speaker 1]
You all got time. Okay? But we're on Instagram, TikTok, X. Spotify. You can listen to YouTube.

[00:41:10] - [Speaker 1]
Short clips. We're on YouTube. So you can listen to us just about anywhere at your leisure and we enjoy having you with us every week here where we teach and we learn how to make plays.

[00:41:26] - [Speaker 0]
Yes. And we're excited about the games. Tim, there's a interesting game I do wanna mention. Wisconsin's gonna play Notre Dame at Lambeau Field this weekend.

[00:41:36] - [Speaker 1]
Well, How about there'll probably be a couple of those guys playing there every week next year.

[00:41:40] - [Speaker 0]
And Louisville's gonna be at Ole Miss. I know producer Blake is interested in that game. SMU is gonna be at Florida State. One of the FCS foes of ours, South Dakota State Jackrabbits Tim, are traveling to Northwestern up in Evanston, Illinois, Big Ten School. And you know what?

[00:42:03] - [Speaker 0]
Northwestern is getting ready to unveil their state of the art stadium and the Jackrabbits may beat them. I'll tell you what,

[00:42:11] - [Speaker 1]
Northwestern better have it strapped on tight, you know. Worst game of the season, you never

[00:42:16] - [Speaker 0]
know what's gonna happen and they're playing a tough team and we know that. And finally, you know, we've been in the FCS league for so long, Missouri State has been, and we're just gonna I like kind of picking a FCS game of the week. My game this week for FCS game of the week is our old rival, Northern Iowa Panthers, are gonna travel out to Eastern Washington. Two very good FCS programs traditionally so that really should be a pretty good game as well. Yep, good

[00:42:49] - [Speaker 1]
for them. I'm glad we don't have to play them anymore. Yes. I wanna also say thank you to our producer, Mr. Blake Levine.

[00:42:58] - [Speaker 0]
Yes. Thank you, Blake.

[00:42:59] - [Speaker 1]
He's done a great job getting us in the right place.

[00:43:03] - [Speaker 0]
Trying to keep those puppies in line.

[00:43:05] - [Speaker 1]
Until next time, guys. Go Bears. Make plays. Make plays.