Who wins the I-35 showdown between UTSA and Texas State?

all right let's get to UTSA Texas State obviously I hope everyone has a wonderful uh football season but slightly less wonderful than the Denver Broncos please um UTSA playing Texas State this Saturday 3:00 the I35 Showdown the sixth iteration has a lot of interesting facets to it in my opinion none more important though than the head coach connection between DJ Kenny or excuse me GJ Kenny and uh Jeff trailer and I pulled up a saw from Monday where Jeff kind of illustrates how close these two actually are as far as my relationship with GJ I think that's pretty well documented I mean he was my quarterback and he's like a son to me in every sense of the word we communicate very frequently and I don't really talk to very many head coaches I mean but he's one that we talk to quite a bit and um I'm very happy for his success it doesn't surprise me at all um I coach with him at SMU I coach with him at Arkansas uh um you know I would probably say he would speak to me as one of his mentors or or father figure like and I would say the same of him he's he's literally like one of my own kids and um I'll be rooting for him every single day until Saturday at 3:00 I love the closeness to the two coaches I really do I do too I like the fact this is one hell of a matchup too I like that both of these coaches whatever it is that makes them great coaches obviously they've probably pulled from one another over this time and it's cool to see that coach trayer flipped UTSA and took them to a place they've never been before GJ has done the same thing and even though Texas state has been to the Mountaintop before it's been decades since they were you know a a legit program that people were looking at and you know having wide eyes about you know and not take anything away from you know there's been some in recent memories I mean what coach balb did when he was at Texas State you know a number of years ago but to have this recent UPS surge is so incredibly fun for people that went to school there and you know have your team relevant in some way shape or form I'm super fascinated to see what's going to happen in this ball game and who's who does this mean more for which program I don't know what I can't answer that I don't think as close as uh Jeff trailer and uh GJ are they haven't talked a lot this week and we Jeff was asked about that on Tuesday L I'm surprised we haven't but no we have not I don't know if he's being a little he might be being the old Wy veteran on me right now being a little I don't know what he's up to you're not going to make the first move oh if you know I'll probably reach out if he doesn't holler at me by Wednesday or Thursday just to make sure he's not going to beat me too bad all right Coach Jeff is so o shuy Doodles about things like he beat me too bad like you've beaten him five times not him particularly but UTSA I mean UTSA is in a higher division they're better program than they have been for a longer period of time as of recent memory like you don't have to play it off like that this is all just coach posturing it is but I mean I mean this this is difficult because the this game does mean a lot to both fan bases right but you know there's some real life elements between these two and you've done a very good job of highlighting it but I mean when you talk about GJ playing for Jeff and the circumstances that led up to that which was GJ's dad getting shot in the abdomen because of a parent that was pissed off at him and then GJ coming over and playing for Jeff after that happened I mean like that's how do you put into context that relationship when we're talking about a couple of football teams that want to win a ball game on Saturday I mean there's so many layers to this and I think both guys do a really good job of somehow trying to keep the focus on football without having to bring up some of those memories too which I'm sure for either guy you know that how do you navigate that kind of Life situation you kind of you kind of have both sides of the of the coin right you have the fan bases who I wouldn't say are being nasty but are poking fun at each other on social media and you know 5 and0 and's really clever though and it's clean clever what I'm saying they're not being nasty or anything but there's a lot of smack talk going on and then you have the the level of of incredible respect going on between GJ and Jeff it's just it's very you know Yin toy when it comes to looking at the game but how fans are looking at it and just how the teams are looking at it as far as on the field um UTSA has got to protect Owen mown to win this game this Texas state was 18th last year in Sachs across the entire nation I believe with 34 penalties can't happen but you can't you're going to have to outscore this team obviously you have to outscore a team to win but you're going to really have to have to light it up on the scoreboard this this week and you can't do that if Owen Mac's running for his life I think Texas State's quarterback was running for his life too so I think there's some similar issues but I think you know the old adage about teams making the biggest leap between week one to week two I you know both of these teams will be ready I was astonished at how well Texas state ran the football I mean it was almost like they were trying to give nothing away in the passing game but they didn't necessarily have to with as many guys that they had that had you know so many great numbers in terms of yards per carry again I'm just fascinated because I didn't think last year GJ could flip it like he did at UIW he did I was also shocked with how good UTSA was last year and damn it Texas State hung right with him I mean and you know played the the street brawl game right they matched the physicality that was a tussle last year one score game that was close right up to the end so with both programs I think we both believe that they're going to be good this year let's see some explosions on Saturday for all the right reasons two guys that like each other getting after it my guys against your guys you know at the end we'll we'll hug at Midfield and say see again next year and let the best team win yeah and I think the Texas state has a little bit of a not detriment but I know we're going a little long here sorry uh we are yeah Lis needs a sweater um we we'll wrap it up here in a second the Bobcats brought on a lot of transfers on defense obviously you saw kind of some quirks of that last week against Lamar allowing 27 points it's going to take a little while for those guys to mesh I don't know how that's going to look on uh Saturday are you going to need more time to mesh than a week and a half two weeks uh if they do UTSA can put up points they've shown that they can put up points and they're going to go fast on offense the key for the road runners on defense to me is don't allow the Bobcats to score 35 points it's pretty cut and dry but last year they were seven or0 when they scored 35 points one and four when they scored or excuse me one and five when they scored less than or 34 or less can you stop this offense from scoring last year they did 20 to 13 was the final can they do it again with a new quarterback you got Jordan McLoud that comes in from James Madison a conference player of the year yeah he was one of the best quarterbacks in college football last year they led the uh Sun Belt in yards per game and points per game can you stop them that's G to be something I'm gonna I'm gonna want to keep track of so who wins damn line is nine is one and a half two and a half for Texas State Texas State is favored UTSA will most almost certainly be the underdog in this game that is to me the the most surprising thing of this all so what does Vegas know that we don't but it feels like a trap game I will say UTSA by three UTSA by three yeah me to say that because I love GJ I love my school but I'm just going to go with skins on the wall all right I think a little further along than what Texas state is as we sit here before the ball game I'll let you know differently if it flips the other way one thing I know is that it's going to be a close game I I feel almost certain to say that it's going to be close UTSA only plays close ball games and and not only that I think in a lot of ways because they got your squad coming in the week after ASU baby but this is in a lot of ways this is going to feel like they're super bowl there will be many explosions in this game and I I would say that if you you know maybe not for the kids that aren't from around Texas and you know some of the transfers but who are probably looking forward to showing ASU what they can do more than they are UTSA but for the Texas guys this and and I think for GJ this is this this is literally Super Bowl one for them this is going to be fun I will not be surprised if either team wins but I Nei but I think UTSA has enough to pull it out it's just going to be can they play a clean game and can they capitalize on the mistakes that Texas state will make because they've proven that they will make mistakes whether that's turnovers or penalties I think they had 90 penalties last year for like 9 900 yards and yet still scored a gazillion points in the season so it's going to be a really interesting weekend it's going to be a really interesting game Don and I will be back Monday I don't believe you'll be here because you'll be traveling back from Cleveland so Don Harris and I will be back on Monday to talk about it that's it for the sneakers cleats podcast today remember to download rate review subscribe get a five star rating post pictures of my predictions on your fridge because they're going to be 100% accurate except I would love if uh Chucks were more accurate in the AFC we'll see you guys right back here on Monday