7-12-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 3: Surprising SEC numbers ahead of 2024; Robert Allen talks Big 12; Paul Skenes vs. No-Hitter
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All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kubrick in the morning, Friday, July 12th, 9 a.m., JOX 94.5. Listen online, joxfm.com, apps in your app store, iPhone, Android. You can download that for free. Listen on the go. And always tell your home smart speaker to enable the JOX skill. Guys, if you're thinking about selling your home,

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That's behamrealtyco.com. And give them a call at 205-568-2705. All right, Robert Allen covers the Oklahoma State Cowboys. He joins us now on the Buyer's Right Hotline at our Allen Go Pokes on Twitter, pokesreport.com. Sideline for Oklahoma State football as well. Robert, we've had, I don't know, 48, 72 hours now sort of decompressed from Coach Gundy and the comments that had a lot of people on fire after he was there at Big 12 Media Days yesterday.

how are people sort of viewing it now that we've had a little bit of time to calm down? You know, I think Mike Dendy is viewed different locally here than he was at the Big 12 media days with a lot of the national. In fact, one of the things I noticed when we were there,

did radio. We had Mike was, you know, at these media days, those of us that are in the business realize these coaches come and the first place they go is to their local guy, their guy. And so Mike sat down with us and

He actually said he didn't use the 50 carries punishment line with us, but he did use the, I don't know if it was thousands, hundreds, whatever, have made bad decisions.

And I even told my audience, I've known Mike since he was in high school. I was at the NBC affiliate in Oklahoma City and covered Mike when he was a quarterback at West City High School. Know his family. And the thing is, Mike, he doesn't do, when he does do media, he doesn't do media as much as some coaches.

He kind of stays back. But when he does, he doesn't do coach speak. He just tells it the way he thinks it is. And I think in the media they're a little out of practice. What he said, and I said it on my station, I'm not proud of it, but I remember I was a walk-on at Oklahoma State. I remember waking up one morning on a Sunday and looking out the window of the dorm and

is that my car? How'd it get there? You know, and, and that's a terrible, and that was actually a, an eyeopening experience for me. I realized you can't do that. You can't do that. But what I think Mike Gundy was saying, and I, you know, I really don't want to speak for him, but in this case, I'm just sold out. I think he was saying that happens a lot. College kids, kids growing up, uh,

It's not right. We probably should do a better job of trying to nip it in the bud to stop it before it happens. But youthful indiscretion is plentiful.

And I think that's what he was trying to say. He didn't say it well. And he came back on social media, on his Twitter account, and tried to explain what he was saying. I don't think Mike Gundy has gotten behind the wheel of a car a thousand times and been legally intoxicated. Do I think he did it before? No.

Maybe on a couple of occasions. Yeah, I think he probably did. I know he doesn't do it anymore because he, you know, I don't think I've seen him pick up an alcoholic beverage in maybe 20 years now. So, yeah, sometimes when you're a coach and you throw those things out. Mike also likes to be glib at times. That's just his style. And you get punished for that, too.

The glib comment was probably the more, well, if we're going to punish him, we'll give it to him 50 times on August 31st when it's 1 o'clock in the afternoon and we kick off. You know, the people here locally know him a little bit better. I talked to Scott Wright at the Oklahoman afterwards. I talked to several other reporters. I said, what did you think? They said, well, he was Mike being Mike.

But Mike being Mike on a national stage or, in this case, probably a more – well, it was national, national and super regional at the conference media days. That's not going to play as well these days. When he does that in front of his local media group, they're probably not going to bat an eye. And they didn't. It wasn't – you know, the stories around here were more the –

reaction nationally to what Mike said than it was just to what Mike said.

Robert Allen joining us on the Bars Right Hotline covers Oklahoma State football, pokesreport.com. All right, so let's go to this team. And we know what Ollie Gordon is, know what he's capable of, arguably best running back returning in college football, definitely one of the most productive. And you've got a quarterback, Alan Bowman, with a lot of experience in offensive line that essentially brings everybody back and then some. Do you believe Oklahoma State should be the clear favorite to win the Big 12 this year?

No, because I'll tell you guys, an exercise I do every summer, usually in June when it's time to fill out those polls that Big 12 sends out, I go through every team and I pick every game.

Just go through it. I've done this for a lot of years. It's kind of a Phil Steele kind of type exercise. And I had a four-way tie at the top. I had Oklahoma State, Kansas State, and I had two teams. I think people are seriously overlooking West Virginia and UCF, all with seven and two records. I think this league is going to be a battle royale. I don't think there is a clear favorite.

And people say, well, how could you not have Utah? Well, I had Utah going 6-3, and their last game is at UCF on Black Friday. Well, that's a tough place to play. I mean, Utah and Colorado and Arizona and Arizona State, they're going to get some lessons in tough places to play. I want to ask you guys, do you guys think USC, playing in the Coliseum against USC is a tough place to play?

I think it can be. I think it depends on what that team is when you get them. It is on that team, but as far as an atmosphere, it's a big old stadium. It's usually not full. Now, I think Oregon is a terribly tough place to play. I know Washington is a tough place to play and Washington State. But let me tell you something. It's going to be a little different for these guys going to Manhattan, Kansas. That's a tough place to play.

K-State, they fill it up. They're rabid. You go to West Virginia. West Virginia is a tough place to play. Stillwater is a tough place to play. Lubbock can be a pretty challenging place to go play. And Iowa State, it's always full. And those people hit you in the mouth.

And I found out last year, UCF, the bounce house, I think they call it, or the bounce house is Wisconsin. But, um,

No, down there in Orlando. Oklahoma State was their space game, which is kind of like homecoming for a lot of people. They've never lost one of those. In like seven or eight years they've been doing it, they've never lost a space game. Well, they still haven't. They kicked Oklahoma State's butt. So, yeah, I went through the schedule, looked at all these things, where the buys were, who did they play the week before, who did they play the week after, and

and went through the whole thing, and I had four teams tied at first. I had five teams tied at, like, seventh, and I think I had two teams tied for second to last. I just think this league is going to be incredibly difficult to navigate, and I think you're going to have a lot of logjams all over the standings.

We would agree. Greg and I, he's out today, but we have talked about sort of the depth of this league and how many teams seem to be very close to one another. But I think there's some aspects of this Oklahoma State team that looks like they could potentially separate from a few of those. That being said, and what made me think about it is some of the differences that you discussed.

Robert Allen's with us in the Bars Right Hotline. You can find his work at pokesreport.com, at our Allen Go Pokes on Twitter. Coming into a new league, and I was actually surprised. Central Florida was one of the teams. BYU was another team last year that I just thought would have more success.

That being said, because the venues that are going to ramp up from the Pac-12 maybe to the Big 12, it's going to be the same thing from Oklahoma State and Texas going from the Big 12 to the SEC. What do you anticipate? Do you have a different view of Oklahoma especially and of Texas leading the Big 12 to come to the SEC? What are your real expectations for those two teams year one in the Southeastern Conference?

Well, I think Steve Sarkisian's got Texas in a really good position. I know that, you know, Oklahoma State played them in a conference championship game, and I know later on Coach Gundy ran into Sark, and Sark said, what did you think of the team, of my team? And Coach Gundy said, really good. I mean, you guys spanked our butts down there in Arlington. And he said, Mike, that's two years of really unlimited NIL.

So Texas ramped up at exactly the right time. I remember when their second-team defensive line came in in the second half, and I'm looking out there and I'm going, wow, that's the second-team group up front on defense. Damn.

They're a real deal. That's a real deal defensive line. And with the guys that came out last year from Texas, those guys are going to be the starters in this first SEC season. So I see Texas going in there, and I think they're going to challenge. I know how good Georgia is. I know Alabama's great, and I get that. I think Texas is going to be very comfortable. And I think, if I'm not mistaken, they get Georgia and Austin.

They do. Which will be a heck of a game. Oklahoma, on the other hand, they're on the wrong end of the cycle going into the SEC. You know, I've seen Oklahoma for years, obviously, and this is not the best version of Oklahoma. I mean, I think Arnold will be a really good quarterback, but you're asking him to go in there and really start his first season in the SEC? Yeah.

That's going to be difficult. And I'll tell you whether the OU team right now is different from the ones that I had. They're not as good up front. They're not as good up front offensively. They're not as good up front defensively. And in that league, that is a huge difference maker. So I don't know. I haven't looked at their schedule. I don't cover Oklahoma. But just on the eye test,

I would say they're going to have a lot of difficulty where I think Texas is going to be – I think they'll be really good. I think they'll be challenging for the top.

I want to go back to Oklahoma State one more time before we let you run. Yeah, because I didn't talk much about Oklahoma State. I talked more about the league. That's fine. It's an interesting conversation, and it's a topic that we've actually kicked around a lot. What needs to sort of fall into place? What needs to happen as far as question marks for Coach Gundy's team to maybe make a playoff run this year?

You know, I'm going to give you some very recent happenings that I think are going to give this team a chance to do really well. And one is Ollie Gordon's arrest.

Ollie is a good kid. I have no doubt that he is remorseful over this. This is a kid that goes to women's tennis matches, to soccer matches, to men's and women's basketball. He goes and supports all the other athletes. He goes to elementary schools when he's not asked to go.

I mean, he enjoys being Ollie, and he knows Ollie just got knocked down, just got ripped, and he's back to ground zero. So I think he's going to be – he'll come out a hungrier football player, unfortunately, because, I mean, this is a – you don't want to see anybody go through this, and you don't want to see anybody make that kind of mistake. But Ollie's going to come back a better version.

because he's that kind of kid. Alan Bowman, who you guys mentioned, seventh-year quarterback. But Alan Bowman, while he had success last year, he knows he at times was not a reason this team won. They had to overcome his efforts at times because he had a lot of rust. Hadn't played in two years sitting up on the bench in Michigan. He, this offseason, got in better shape.

Lost about 5 to 10 pounds, a little bit quicker. Now instead of throwing it up in the bleachers when he doesn't see anything, he wants to tuck it and try and keep the offense ahead of the chains. He also spent a lot of time in the film room going over all of his mistakes to kind of make himself a better quarterback for this year. And I think in spring it showed up. Then on defense, what they did was they've got some guys you haven't heard of yet. Jaleel Johnson.

is a guy to pay attention to. He's a defensive end. It's his time. It's like his third year in the program. He's bigger, faster, stronger. There's a transfer back there in the secondary at safety, Kobe Hilton.

He was at UTEP. He was a really good player at UTEP. In fact, had a heck of a game last year against Oklahoma and Norman, but nobody at UTEP gets a lot of credit. So there's a guy that's kind of surfaced here. So basically they found a few new things to add to the Nick Martins, the Colin Olivers, the

on offense, the Gordons. De'Jon Stribling is another name to look for because you've got Presley and Owens at receiver. Stribling was the leading receiver after four games last year, which were not very good. They were 2-2 at that point. He got hurt and was out for the season. So you get him back. And I think physically he's probably the most gifted kid in the receiver corps.

So they've got some things that people don't know about that I think are going to take them up a notch, along with all the guys they do know about that are returning that look pretty good. So, yeah, I came out of the spring thinking –

This is the best Oklahoma State team I've seen since 2011, and that was the Whedon Blackman crew that got so close to playing for a national championship and lost to Iowa State in the second-to-last regular season game, and that kicked all their dreams to the curb. So, yeah, I think this team's got a great chance. The unfortunate thing is –

I think Utah's really good. I think Kansas State's really good. I think West Virginia, UCF, Kansas, Arizona. I just think there's a lot of good teams in this league that you've got to be ready to play virtually every week now in the Big 12, which you haven't had to over the years, guys. Now it's getting closer to where you've got to be ready to play almost every week.

Absolutely. Robert, great stuff. Appreciate you taking some time. Talk some Big 12. Talk some Oklahoma State, even some Oklahoma and Texas. Enjoy the visit. Let's do it again soon. All right. Thanks, guys. There you go. Robert Allen, pokesreport.com, at our Allen Go Pokes on Twitter. Not near as confident on Oklahoma State, maybe being the clear favorite of the Big 12 as some other folks.

Not as concerned about Coach Gundy and maybe what some of the people think about him as maybe a lot of the national reporters might believe. All right, we'll get to a break. Come back. Something interesting happened in Major League Baseball yesterday, and I want to know if you agree with the move that took place. We'll discuss it next on Mac and Cube in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kublik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Cup or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning. Get some college football numbers here in just a moment. Have a few more of those left for the week. Before we get to SEC media days, Greg and I will be live in Dallas each and every morning bringing you the latest on what coaches are saying, players are saying, what's going around.

Some of the noise that's being generated. But I want to talk a little Major League Baseball from yesterday first. Phillies take down the Dodgers yesterday 5-1. Dodgers will be at the Tigers at 540 today. Ninth sweep of the season by Philadelphia. That's the most in Major League Baseball. Dodgers score five runs in the series. It's not great. It's not. It's not what you're looking for. Dodgers now four-game losing streak.

They had won 13 straight games against NL East opponents. Those five runs in the series, fewest runs scored in any three or four-game series the Dodgers have played this season. Otani 0-4 struck out twice, snapped a four-game hit streak for him. Also, the Yankees go down to the Rays yesterday, 5-4. They'll be at the Orioles today at 6-0-5. That game's on ESPN+. Yankees 56-39, Rays 46-47. The Yankees haven't won back-to-back games since June 12th.

They're 7-18 since June 13th. That's the worst record of Major League Baseball over that span. Yesterday, Pirates get a 1-0 win over the Brewers. What do you guys think the Pirates' record is this year? I'm going to say they have 22 wins. 45 and 48. That's okay. You're eight and a half games back of the Milwaukee Brewers. Okay. Playoff hunt, it's not looking great. You've got the Cardinals in front of you, Braves in front of you.

Padres in front of you as far as looking at playoffs. Division, probably out of sight. Paul Skeens yesterday for the Pirates. You would say he's been one of, if not the highlight for the Pirates this year, right? Absolutely. Great for the Bucs. Seven innings pitch, zero hits. Did not allow an earned run. He struck out 11. Second start this season, he's allowed zero hits through six innings pitched. At pitch 99 at the end of the seventh inning, Paul Skeens does not come out for the eighth inning.

Once again, had not allowed a hit, had not allowed an earned run, had struck out 11. 99 pitches, does not come out in the eighth inning. Coach's decision? I would imagine it was more of an analytical decision. Oh, boy. But I want to go into two things here. One, how great he's been this year. Two, I understand you have to protect your assets. And I understand that you don't want to overdo it. But kid's got a chance to throw a no-hitter. Yep.

and you're playing the team who actually is ahead of you in the division, well, one of two teams, Milwaukee and St. Louis, but the division-leading team, so you can steal a game in the standings right there, which they would end up doing. By the way, they would load the bases in the eighth and somehow find a way out of that jam. Is that the right move to take him out to allow analytics to say that's your pitch count, that's your limit, you're done? I don't. I don't think it was a smart move. I think you ride until he gets hit.

He's shown that he's been dominant since he stepped foot in the league. Why not add to that by adding a no-hitter to your resume as a rookie to start this thing off? To me, don't overthink it. Keep it simple, stupid. Just, hey, literally, he has a no-hitter rolling until he says that he may have some tightness or something. Other than that, ride it on out until either he completes the no-hitter or they get a hit off of him. Now, Derek Shelton said after the game, quote, he was tired.

It didn't really have anything to do with the pitch count. That's why he didn't start the eighth. Tired. Tired. That's what we're going with. Tired. Everybody makes it about pitch counts. It was about where he was at. It was about trusting your eyes, trusting him. Said he, quote, gave him everything he had. Yeah. Yeah. I'd say so. He's done that about every start this year. Exactly. It's only been done 25 times since 1901.

That a rookie has thrown a no-hitter. Oh, my gosh. Come on, though. He was tired. That's what the coach said. He was tired. I mean, I saw footage of him in the dugout afterwards. He didn't look like he was faded or wasn't moving around very well. Right. You got a chance to do something great. You got a chance to find a milestone, which would be incredible for your franchise, for the individual, for the team. Yes.

I don't know, man. I understand the whole analytics aspect of it, and he says it didn't have to do with the pitch count. But here's how great Paul Skeens has been this year. First rookie with two no-hit bids of six innings or further since – anyone? Babe Ruth. Wow. I'm going to say –

Roger Clemens. Hiroki Kuroda for the Dodgers in 2008. Oh, Hiroki. Fourth pitcher since the mound was extended in... That was 1937. You're already wrong. 1893. To have multiple outings with zero hits and allowed 10 strikeouts in a single season. Verlander, Scherzer, Nolan Ryan, the only others to do that. That's elite of elite company. 89 strikeouts through 11 starts. The most since...

1974. Kerry Woods' first 11 starts in 1998. 89 strikeouts with a 1-9-0 ERA this season, 11 starts, the most strikeouts with a sub-2.0 ERA since ERA became an official stat in 1913. He's doing things no pitchers have ever done. Nobody has ever done. Damien, when were you born? 96. The last Pirates no-hitter came July 12, 1997. Gidrabeck.

I think so. No, no, no, no. That would have been after Draybeck, I think. No, it may have been Draybeck. 34.9% strikeout rate this season. Third highest by a rookie entering the All-Star break, trailing only Spencer Strider and Kerry Wood. 13 strikeouts on pitches of 100-plus miles per hour this year. No other Major League Baseball starter has more than two strikeouts.

Skeens entered the day as an odds-on favorite to win a rookie of the year. Obviously, that has gone down. Francisco Cardova and Ricardo Rincon. So they did get the shutout. They did not get the combined no-hitter. But I thought it was an interesting kind of discussion to at least bring up and sort of see where it was at, the hows, the whys. I mean, what would the analytics say? Derek Shelton said it wasn't analytics.

It's his body language. He's tired. I guess if you're trying to extend his career, I know he's a rookie, whatever, but if you want to make sure he pitches and hopefully prolong the inevitable Tommy Johns he'll have to have at some point because he is a pitcher, so probably he'll have it. So I guess you load manage him? Yes. And isn't he starting in the All-Star game? I don't know if that's been decided yet. He'll be there. So, I mean, listen, I don't –

He is your most valuable asset right now. For sure. And you want to take care of him. Don't know what he said after the seventh inning, but, man, you'd love to see him give it a go. You'd love to see him get that shot at it. Do you like that the Brewers cheered for him as he was taken off?

It's a sign of respect. It is a bit weird that the opposing fans are cheering, but I do like that they... Sometimes they're that good. Correct. Maybe they were cheering because they knew he wasn't coming back out. Right. We got a chance now. We're thankful. Maybe them cheering thought that they would help and take him out. Now, his last two outings have seen a new career in high pitches, 102 on June 99th and then 107 his previous outing. So he was at 99 here. He's gone further.

But we don't know what those conversations were like in the dugout, how things happened, what he said, what he didn't say. I don't know. But you think as a player, man, in that situation, you just got to dig deep. I just imagine what Nolan Ryan would be saying if a manager tried to take him out of a game.

After seven innings of no-hit baseball. Yeah, the SEC won't allow. You just weren't going to do it. Bob Gibson was coming out after seven innings of no-hit baseball with the division-leading team in the other dugout. Get you to get back out there on the mound. Put old Corleone in or whatever, came in and loaded the bases up for him. That'd be great. Put him back in there. It'd be good. See how that goes. But he is dominant. The future is definitely bright. And I think with baseball...

As we've aged, the game has just changed so much. I mean, you look at with the bases getting wider and things like that. Wearing oven mitts when you steal bases. Right. Like just the game of baseball, Joe. Stand on bases. Yeah.

Yeah, like what Pat said. The numbers of the game is just so different. But Paul Skeens, like he's a young star. Gunnar Henderson, Elie De La Cruz, like this new wave of young stars. Greg says he's not good. Yeah, almost. Not a good player. 250, that's only top 75 in all of baseball. Right. He's not a good player. I almost had to have a conversation with him. Not a good player. The excitement of this younger generation, this younger generation.

I saw him hit the damn tugboat in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago. That's all I need to see. Dead center. Now you're still at home. Choo-choo engine, whatever, steamboat, whatever the hell. I saw him hit that thing. I was just like, I'm good. I'll pay to watch that guy. Listen, I understand it's not – maybe this is a Tuesday discussion. Forgot about it. We're getting away from the team aspect here. But I think we have a chance to make history. You have a chance to allow somebody to do something like John said that's –

Hadn't been done a whole lot, especially as a rookie. And imagine what that does to the morale of the team if he calls that thing out. And you're only three games under .500. Like, you're still in this. If you were 15 and whatever, okay, fine, I get it. I think that might be the other side of the argument, though. We're going to need him 12, 13 more times. But like you said, he's gone longer. Yeah, he had. Like you said, not pitch count. I just don't know if I believe that. He's tired. I get it. I mean, he's throwing like .104.

It's also his first professional year, so he's probably not used to playing this long. So I get it. If you've got to know hitter rolling, I just. There's a guy built for it. It's him. Yeah. Exactly. He's being a little bit older, being a little bit more stout, like his stature, the way, I mean, his mechanics. I think he's built for it. Yeah, it was weird yesterday. I was during Feinbaum. I was actually watching the game, and I'm like, hold on. They took him out? So just crazy to think about. Some people look at it a different way. Was it the right move? I don't know.

Was it the wrong move? Don't know. All right, college football numbers on some SEC teams we'll be hearing from next week at SEC Media Days. We'll discuss those and a little game of what if again next on McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is Jocks 94.5 and jocksfm.com. Hurry and... All right, welcome back in. McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning. Moving on from just a little bit of baseball talk there. I thought it was interesting.

Braves did go down to the D-backs yesterday. 1-0. Six shutout of the season for the Diamondbacks. Four of those six have come at home. Braves shutout for the fourth time this season. All four have been on the road and all since June the 5th. All right, so some college football numbers. We've done a pretty decent amount of these throughout the course of this week. I think it's been interesting to kind of talk about. We mentioned a little bit of Jalen Milrow's numbers yesterday. Could he get there? Will he be back where he was? Graham Mertz.

We've talked a lot about Florida, a lot about Mertz, his numbers, and how some people maybe don't really respect what he did. He had the highest QBR of sub-500 quarterbacks last year. Now, I realize that there are literally two sides to that coin. One, highest QBR. Two, you're under 500. However, there were some pretty decent quarterbacks that were under 500 last year. Spencer Rattler, Cam Ward, Shador Sanders.

Pretty big names. Yep. Pretty big quarterback names. People feel like those are pretty good quarterbacks. He had the highest QBR of all of them. That's good. Third fewest interceptions amongst qualified quarterbacks last year. Will Graham Mertz's numbers be better in 2024? It's a pretty simple question. Yes. You think about what he did a year ago. Now, he lost Ricky Pearsall. Yeah.

But lost 18, got Montrell Johnson back. I think Trevor Ball is going to have a breakout season. I think he's going to be a big-time running back for Florida. But will Graham Mertz go past 2,903 yards, 20 touchdowns, three interceptions, and maybe most importantly, 72.9% completed?

That, I don't know. I don't think he can do better than that. That's going to be tough. You're saying Yard's touchdown is better? Yeah, because one way or the other, either they'll be behind to where he'll have to throw, or maybe this team is better than we thought and will be able to move the ball that way. But either way, yeah, I do think his numbers will improve.

Touchdowns and yards will improve. I don't know about accuracy. So if you say he's going to improve, does that change your opinion on games Florida will win, amount of games Florida will win this upcoming season? No, because, again, they could be behind to where he has to throw.

Fair. Pat, some stats? Yeah, I think the yards and the touchdowns will be more. And also I think, you know, if Wilson is going to be that guy, can he truly step up and be your number one target? I know you're replacing everything in the production as far as Ricky Pierce saw, but I do think that just off of pure talent, he can get it done. And I think for Florida, like I don't think they're going to be as bad. I know that month of November is absolutely brutal for them.

But I think something's giving me a hunch about Florida. I think they're going to be better than we expect. It's going to be difficult, but I think they're going to be better. All right, I want to move to Mississippi State. Speaking of quarterbacks, Blake Chapin comes in, new quarterback at State. A lot of new people are going to be on that offense. Jeff Levy takes over as head coach. I do think that we have forgotten how bad it was offensively last year.

103rd in total offense. Wow. 329 yards per game. There were only two SEC teams that were worse than that last year. Arkansas and Vandy? Great guesses. 327 and 319 per game. Wow.

So here's my question for you with Mississippi State this year. We've talked about some of the bodies that they've gone out to get. Shapen has been great for Baylor when he's been healthy. You go get Kelly Akari, a 1,000-yard receiver last year for UTEP. Kevin Coleman, 362 yards at Louisville. And then Jacksonville State, you get a couple tight ends, Justin Ball, Cameron Ball, Vanderbilt, and Buffalo that could help a little bit. You've gotten some new offensive linemen. How many teams –

will finish below Mississippi State in total offense in the SEC this year? Because only two did last year. Only two, and we just mentioned them, Arkansas and Vanderbilt. So if you're looking at total offense, and it was bad, bad for Mississippi State a year ago, how many teams will finish below them in total offense this season? I think we can probably pick the ones that will finish above them pretty easily. LSU will, Georgia will, Ole Miss will, Tennessee will, Missouri will.

Alabama will. Texas will. Texas and Oklahoma both will. That's eight. My first thought was obviously Vandy. I'm thinking South Carolina will finish behind them. I don't know about Arkansas because I think Bobby P can bring enough to at least they're better than. I'm going to tell you guys what. I wouldn't watch some Taylor Greene yesterday. Not that guy. No. Bobby's great.

But you don't think. But I'm not. Greg's got confidence in him. I kind of don't see it. He's a long strider. He's good when he gets moving. But I don't. It's some inconsistency he's throwing the football. I don't see it. No. Arkansas will be one. I actually think Vanderbilt has a chance to not be one.

Because they brought in Pavia, a couple of his teammates, and that entire offensive staff. I think they'll be better. They're going to have to chase points, too. But I also think Mississippi State will be better, too. Mississippi State's going to be better, too. Yeah, yeah. So I still think they'll win. And they're going to take a shot, too. Vanderbilt and South Carolina, I think, will be below them. It's hard to think what the talent A&M has that they'll be below them. I can't really say that. We don't know about Kentucky. But with the talent at receiver that they have, they shouldn't be. They should not be. Shouldn't be.

So will it only be the same two teams or will it be three now with South Carolina? Will it be four with a Florida, Auburn, Kentucky or A&M? Is it three or four that are below Mississippi State in total offense? Or is Mississippi State even better than we think and there's more? And it's not just because those teams are that bad. It's because State's actually really good on offense. And they're going to have to keep trying to score by the way. The defense is not going to be great. It's not going to be great. I think it'll be two.

I think in a year or so, there'll be more because I think he'll get the players that he wants in. The offense will start to click a little bit more. I don't know about the defensive. They'll catch up. But I think offensively, they'll be in the I don't want to see top half, but they'll be right in the middle of the pack at least. I think it'll be three. I think it'll be three. I think South Carolina, Vanderbilt,

I feel confident that they'll be behind them, and I'm probably going to put Arkansas in that boat too. I'm going to go four, and I'm not 100% sure who the teams are, and I'll just offer you this. Jeff Lebby is an offensive coordinator, yards per game, nationally, second, third, sixth, 13th, third. They're going to move up. Yeah. They're going to be a little better than people think. The team that I feel like we know nothing about that we just mentioned, the Arkansas Razorbacks.

4-12 in the SEC the last two years. There's only one team that's worse. I don't even have to ask you to guess. Vanderbilt's 2-14 the last two years. 201.3 rushing yards per game allowed. That's not good. They're the only SEC team that allowed more than 200 rushing yards per game last year. 16 turnovers in SEC play last year alone for the Razorbacks.

Now, Talon Green, he's had more than 1,000 yards rushing the last two years, 19 rushing touchdowns. The only quarterbacks with more rushing touchdowns the last two years, Wilkins, Nix, and Daniels. So Williams, Nix, and Daniels, excuse me. So he's in some pretty good company there running the football, but he's going to have to throw the football. How much can Arkansas improve on those two numbers, 201.3 rushing yards per game, 16 turnovers in SEC play?

Can they get those numbers? Can they cut those down by 20%, 30%? You lost your two best linebackers. I mean, I don't know how anybody could look at it and say the rush defense is going to be that much better. And by the way, until I started doing it, I didn't know it was that bad. I didn't know it was good. I didn't know it was that 200. Wow. Because you had a couple guys on the defense that could play. Like Chris Paul can play. Jaheim Thomas can move. He had 90 tackles last year. He's gone. So it's hard for me to say, oh, yeah, it's definitely going to be better.

And the turnover, too, man. So let me ask you this. Let's put it this way. For Arkansas to be a better football team, which one of those numbers needs to change the most? The rushing yards allowed per game or the turnovers in Southeastern Conference play? I think the turnovers because maybe you don't have as many more possessions. So, yeah.

Because you giving the ball to the other team is always a negative. Well, then you can't stop the run. And then you can't, yeah. So I think you have to cut down on the turnover. I think it's a rushing defense. As bad and as much as a shot in the foot a turnover can be, if you just can't stop the run, you can't do anything else.

If a team can run the ball, everything is open to them. It is very annoying when you turn the ball over, but you can overcome that. Just because you have a lot of turnovers doesn't mean you're losing the game. You're more likely to, but it's not a guarantee. But giving up 200-plus yards a game, that's... Kalen Green, the last two seasons, 25 touchdowns, 15 interceptions. He has given it back. Maybe Bobby P can... I think it's the turnovers as well, because I feel like you've...

Even if you're giving up rushing yards, you've got to find ways to have more opportunities to score points. And giving the ball back obviously negates that. I think the turnovers have to be repaired first. Because if you're going to win some games, it's probably going to be track meets anyway. Yeah. And you're finding ways to score. So don't give the ball back. If somebody's running up and down the field on you, that's great. But you've got to find a way to keep up and at least put the ball in the end zone. You turn it over, you're not doing that.

So just a couple of interesting numbers on a couple of SEC teams. We head to SEC Media Days next week. Greg and I live from Dallas every morning all next week. And we'll be back to wrap up today's show. Super Sofa Game of the Week. Maybe a bad box score. Next on McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning. Catch up with all things McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, welcome back in. McIlroy and Kubelik in the morning wrapping up a Friday edition. July 12th, 9.50 a.m. right here on JOX 94.5. Told you about a couple commitments. Alabama, South Carolina gets a four-star receiver that commits. Monty Kiffin has passed away. Thoughts and prayers with the Kiffin family there. Nick Saban wins the Icon Award last night at the ESPYs. We didn't even know that was a thing, but apparently now it is.

We'll get to our bad box scores, our super sofa game of the week here in just a moment. But first, tell you about our friends at Game Day Men's Health. If you want to feel better, if you want more energy, better sleep, if you're feeling on edge and kind of want that to correct itself, it could all be the effects of low testosterone. A lot of guys experience low testosterone and don't know the kind of impact that it's having on their daily routine. Game Day Men's Health can help that.

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And when you mention Cube, save 10% on any service at Game Day Men's Health. All right, let's get to our bad box score of the day. Personal file, 69. Offense is giving them the business. Potential rounding. Offense number seven. It's a 10-yard penalty. I'm talking to America here. That's game. I'm going to go back just a little bit to our friends in the Arena Football League. Don't forget, next Friday, 4.30 p.m.

The American Dream. Dusty Rhodes? No. Oh. Come on, what are you talking about? What? It's Arena Bowl. Oh, yeah. XXXIII. Oh, what happened? 33? Triple X. Three I's. Oh, yeah, 33. Wow, who knew? The American Dream is what they're selling it as. Okay. TheArenaBowl.com. One American Dream. To be canceled after a couple weeks? Stop. East Rutherford, New Jersey is where it's going to happen. Somewhere in that mall. The house Eli built.

No, not no. It's going to be in a mall. They're playing the game in a mall. In the mall? Yes. I don't know if you can stop by Hibbets and pick up a pair of kicks or foot action. Orange Julius has got the present. Get a Cinnabon. Watch the game. Post up. Check that out. Cindy's is still in the Galleria. There you go. Still smells good. All right. The Orlando Predators took out the Wichita Regulators.

Mountdown. They lost 63-18. Whoa, whoa. Drew Powell threw seven incompletions and seven touchdown passes in the game for the Preds. Did not throw an interception. Only 209 yards. But, hey, the field's not quite as long, so it doesn't really work that way. Clarence Williams. Damian, this is for you. Five catches, 57 yards, four touchdown receptions. Atta baby.

That is one of your bad box scores of the day. Also, yesterday, Major League Baseball, the Mariners took down the Angels 11-0 yesterday. Wow. 15 hits from the Mariners in this game. Only five from the Angels yesterday. I feel like 11-0 in Major League Baseball qualifies as bad box score material. I would concur. It does. So we are going to give that to them. And the Mariners, by the way, pretty good yesterday. Season high for runs in a game.

scored 10 or more runs in the game three times this season. They're 4-0 versus the Angels this season. 11th time this year the Angels have allowed 10 or more runs in the game. Believe it or not, that's only second worst. The Rockies have done it 16 times. Worst home shutout loss since 1998 for the Angels.

It was 11-0 versus the Cleveland Indians at the time. Oh, so it has been a while. It has been a minute. And finally, in your bad box scores of the day, I will take you to the real AFL. That is the Australian rules football. Oh, okay. Where the Geelong, it might be Geelong. Oh, okay. G-E-E-Long. They're the Guardians. They're not. No, the Minutemen. They're the Cats. Oh.

They smashed the Hawthorne Hawks. They are the Hawks. Absolutely. They are. 100%. That game was 110-59. Hold on. Huh? 110-59. Double up. Okay. In football. In football. Yep. That offensive coordinator needs a raise.

Inside 50, 63 to 40. Take the defensive coordinator's money. Free kicks for 19 to 15. I don't know what any of that means. What does that mean? But it sounds like it was a blowout in blowout fashion. Either way. 110 to 59. That's what you got going. So...

All right, appreciate Jake Rowe being with us today, Ross Dellinger being with us today, Robert Allen with us today. Any that you miss, go to joxfm.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify. You can always pick those up there. We'll be back Monday live from SEC Media Days. Your Super Sofa Game of the Weekend.

Brought to you by our friends at TD's Fine Furniture. There's only two. Selena Liberty versus the Albany Firebirds Saturday at 1.30. And Damien's Nashville Cats versus the Billings Outlaws Saturday at 7. Applause out. This is McElroy and Cubelik in the morning. At your job, do you ever have to deal with a nose roller? How about a snub pulley?

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