Rocky: 0:34

Good evening, everybody. Welcome to episode number six. How fast a season's going already. Episode number six of Inside Utica University Football Podcast with head coach Blaise Fazziano and myself. Thanks for tuning in tonight here across all social media channels, iHeartRadio, Spotify, and more. This is the first night in all the shows I've done in the last five years. We are live on TikTok. So we'll see how we do on TikTok tonight. But if you're watching on any of the channels tonight, make sure you hit subscribe, follow the show anywhere you can. And if you have any questions, comments for Coach, put them in any of the comment box. I'll try to bring over as many as I can. We're going to bring Coach on, talk to Coach about the big game last week against Nationally Marine Cortland. They return home this week for another Empire 8 matchup against Morrisville. We'll talk to Coach about both of those here and much more. I did pick up a pick on Coach last week as I was just telling him before we went on live. I think Coach picked with his heart last week with Syracuse. I picked against Syracuse, so he gave me one there. So he's now one up on me. So maybe I'll give him one at the end of tonight's show. So we'll see how we do with that. But without further ado, let's bring Coach on now. Coach, always good to talk to you. What's going on?

Coach Faggiano: 1:50

Good to talk to you too, Rock. I do want to just take a minute and thank you for uh doing this every week and uh exciting. We're on TikTok. And uh from what you say, we've had a good, a good following. So all the people that are listening, you know, our pioneer nation, our alumni out there, uh D3 football fans. So certainly appreciate the opportunity to spread the word on Utica Football and Prairie Football and chop it up with you a little bit.

Rocky: 2:11

Coach, how crazy before we get into this, and we're talking about social media, and I know you you joked the first episode and said, You're the old guy, you're the old coach now, you're the veteran coach. How crazy has social media been now compared to what it was many years ago with what you can do with it?

Coach Faggiano: 2:27

You know what? I'm a pretty glass half-ful type of guy, and certainly a positive on social media. Um, you know, being able to promote our program through social media has been huge for us uh over the last, you know, at least for 10 years for sure, with the Twitter and now X. And then like this year, we're trying to get back on you know on TikTok and doing all that stuff too. So it's interesting that we're on there tonight. Um, just a really good way to give, you know, to promote our university and all the good things that we're doing outside of football, and a great way to promote Division III football for sure. I think that's really put D3 football on the radar.

Rocky: 3:01

So, coach, let's talk about last week. And I was following you online as the game was going on, and you guys are right there, neck and neck. It seemed like the three turnovers for you guys, you're in the red zone, kind of ended up costing you here late, but a close game. You were in the game for four the full four quarters. Talk to us about the game last week.

Coach Faggiano: 3:19

I mean, it used to be a hard-fought game. Uh certainly are in it, you know, 14-7 at half. Certainly a couple of the turnovers hurt, but there was the one that it wasn't necessarily a turnover, but we, you know, we have a huge run and at times ran the ball as good as we've run on them in a few years. Huge run. We're getting down in that high red zone, and then we have a fumble, we recover it, but then we get no points from that that situation. And that's key. Like right there, you got to take advantage of the opportunity, tie the game or at least get a field goal in that situation, get a score. Um, they hit us on a huge trick play, which was a good play, you know, good play call. We were really concerned on the perimeter run and trying to hit the perimeter run and fit it right and a little over-aggressive, and they got us on a on a trick play, which was you know a good call by them. Um, you know, again, I was I was pleased with our special teams, you know, way different uh than say in the Hobart game, uh all overall and how and how they played. Uh they continue to play hard. And so, you know, that's a tough one as we as we aspire to can for our program to continue to rise its level of competition, and the whole team knows that we closed the gap. You know, last four or five years, I give them credit, they they've gotten after us a little bit. And so we you know, we didn't go there just to play nice, we went there to go in, and you can see we played like that, and unfortunately, you know, couldn't do that. And uh you know, I think just talking to our leaders is you know, you know, disappointed, upset for the right reasons, and know that all right, hey, you know what we got to learn from that game, like we've learned other games and and use the things so we can move forward in our conference. And I've told them very simply, and I don't mean to jump ahead on here, but like uh like any other football team we control our destiny, we got to find a way to win one week at a time. As you go each week, you know, people will start talking about NPI and it's gonna come out at some point. It was interesting on d3football.com today, they just ranked all the conferences because conference play was done. And they actually mentioned that one of the key wins for the Empire 8 was its win over WJ, our win there. So, like our guys know, yeah, we're mad about the two losses, but our three wins were very good. And and RPI and WJ may win their conferences, you know. So at the end of this thing, we may have a really high NPI, but there's a lot of work to be done. Yeah, a lot of work to be done.

Rocky: 5:33

Coach, I know prior to coming on the air, you mentioned that this game in the past two to three years was was different than this game was, right? This game, you guys had a chance to win this thing, you hung tight with them. And I was even more impressed that I was reading the box score and looking at the stat lines, and I'm like, you guys had, I think, a yard less than what they had in total yards of offense. Now, you guys had more passing yards, they rushed for more, but you held you held their stud running back, I think, the 50 or 55 yards rushing. But talk to us this year how this game was different than the prior couple years for you guys.

Coach Faggiano: 6:03

Yeah, I think you know, just our mindset of our team. Um, and you know, it's funny, like they, you know, our guys were just confident, you know, going into the game. And um uh, you know, new coaching staff. Uh, you know, we liked we liked our matchup with the run game, but their quarterback is very good, right? So we have unblocked guys and he's making guys miss. And we we just needed to make a couple more plays on defense for sure. Uh, you know, offense needed to you know have some more opportunities there. Well, you know, being being in the red zone and making sure we get points, and that's why it's so tough, right? Because we know that those two games, you know, we certainly uh you know did some things on our end that didn't help, you know. And like I think at the end, uh you know, we play better and you flip a coin at the end of the game, that type of game. You know what I mean? I want to give Cortland some props. They're they're a well-coached team, they're a good football team. Um, but it's really interesting in the Empire 8 as it goes on. You know, uh you know, it was funny, you know, Fisher um you know loses to Rochester, but they beat Brockport in overtime to win the Courage Bowl. I was happy as you know, I coached there for eight years and I was a part of that game, so I was happy for Coach Raby. Um, you know, RPI continues to to smash people now, which is wild. So um it's gonna be it'll be interesting a few weeks. You know, you just certainly have to take it one week at a time. Uh this is this this game's big Saturday because then we have a bye. And I think it's just very important to go into the to the bye uh you know with a win, and it gives you an opportunity to get healthy for sure.

Rocky: 7:34

And coach, I know you don't like any sympathy points, but you know, when when you look back and you look at this game and say, geez, you know, we're right in this game. I mean, there's not a game on the schedule uh the rest of the way where you say, Yeah, we don't have a chance to to win this game or compete. You guys just competed with the the best team probably in the Empire Eight. But um, what's this do for the mindset for your kids the rest of the way now, going into the rest of the Empire 8 conference?

Coach Faggiano: 7:58

I mean, it continues to give them confidence. It's been a confident group, you know, um, continues to give them confidence. Um, certainly Cortland, you know, coming into the season and what they're doing now, you know, uh the the quarterback run game is tough. You know, it's like pretty much like you're playing the option. Um, you know, and uh you know, they've done a good job executing that. And what's tough about that too is it limits your possessions, right? So we have a you know, we have a strong offense, we can put up points, and then they're limiting the possessions. Now the time possession actually is pretty close. I think we're finished a couple minutes, just with a couple minutes as I say that. So like that's why you know pain, you know, the whole painfully close thing. But um, you know, uh, I was just again glad how our guys battled, you know, people that watch it online know we battled right to the end. And like we fully felt we're gonna go down score and we're kicking an onside kick, we're gonna get it and go take a shot of the end zone. Like that was the mindset. I really liked our leadership, guys like Nick DeForest and Tony Ciamferrani, their leadership right to the end with the guys. And and uh, you know, it was definitely different than the end of the Hobart game. End of the Hobart game, we had some guys that handle that loss very well, you know what I mean? And some guys that are young and trying to figure it out. And I thought they handled that as best you can, you know what I mean. Like you want them upset, certainly they're upset. No one likes to lose, but just the way that the way you handle it, you got to win and lose with class, you know. And our guys did did that uh Saturday.

Rocky: 9:20

Coach, talk to us a little bit about your your senior tight end that had a really good game for you guys, Logan Frederick. I think he had nine catches for a buck 35 and a score. Talk to about how special performance he what he had.

Coach Faggiano: 9:32

Well, I'd love to tell you about this. So, like, this is a great story. I mean, so he made a D3 football national team of the weeks, which is wild. That's our our I think our third one. Because Tyler had made it, IT had made it. I think this is our third one. And I don't know if we've had last time we've had one, right? It's been a bit. So he's got a great story. Like, he he he I actually talked to Ron Mosier recently about it. They're gonna put an article in the in the Rome Sentinel. I think it may have come out today. I guess I gotta go, gotta make sure I grab one. Um, you know, graduated from Hercker, played basketball, you know, went away, family moved around a little bit, was in Pennsylvania, comes back to Little Falls, you know, his area where he's from, and just walks in her office with his dad. You know, I want to play football. And so here's this, you know, athletic, uh, smart as a whip, you know, physical therapy major, gonna be a doctor someday. And you know, we say, why not? So we're in the program, plays as receiver for a year, kind of JV. Second year, he's kind of a backup RCD guy, not really a specs guy. You know, we had talked to him about, you know, we thought potentially that he could be a tight end, and you know, a couple years back, I really wasn't seeing it. And then when I tell you that he made his mind up, he made his mind up and put the work in the winner, played tight end all spring. And I think he's one of the best tight ends around. I mean, he can block in line, he can block out in space, uh, great hands. Um, you know, definitely one of the best tight ends that we've had at Utica. And so it's just a great story about developing guys and when they really get committed in the program and then finding what the best role is for the team, even if they don't see it. And uh, you know, so I know you know tough loss, but it was it was nice to see him get that recognition because we really think he's a dude.

Rocky: 11:10

Coach Antonio had a good day too for his seven catches. I think he was over 100 yards in the score. I know we've talked about him on the show a few times, but as we've we've talked about all year, that receiver crew, that skill group you have is a special group um that kind of covers for each other because Bryce had three catches, which is low for him, but I'm sure they probably took him away at times that opens it up for other people. But your skill group has been really good this year.

Coach Faggiano: 11:34

Well, it's tough. Like so, Antonio just got a thousand yards career receiving. I know Bryce isn't far away, right? And they were they were bracketing Bryce, right? So then sometimes we're putting Bryce out at the single receiver because they're doubling him to help free up some other people, which which really worked, you know what I mean. And be able to be able to move Bryce around is important, and we're seeing teams when they can, they know where where Bryce Palmer is, you know. And I'm really proud of him. Um, you know, he's been battling, you know, through some some dings, and you know, but he's okay. Really been battling each week. And uh, you know, I know his brother uh be proud of him and how he's playing this year. And um, I know he's close to a thousand yards himself. So you know, I think the key that we just gotta make sure is that we're balanced. Yeah, I think we just gotta make sure we're we're again those RPOs can be deceiving. You're calling a run, but you still throw it. Yeah, but you know, we gotta be able to run the ball more, we gotta be able to be more successful in the run game, and we're always better when we're all more balanced. And I think anytime you know you're you're we're throwing the ball 50 times a game, that's probably 10 times too much for any quarterback. And we think we have a very special quarterback for sure. So um, you know, I think that's like a key for us is making sure, you know, from last week, what do we take? We got to run the ball better, right? And we did run the ball well, got to do it more often and within our schemes, and then you know, the our tackling on the perimeter run. And that's got in our fits that has to improve because Morrisville, uh, like an Alfred State, even like a Cortland, like spreading you out to run the ball. Um, you know, uh we're you know, we're expecting some quarterback run from Morrisville for sure. Uh they did a nice job doing that with us last year. The quarterbacks are always tough and um very good scramblers, you know. But um, so you know those are some takeaways from from this last week, you know, as we continue to to chip away at the Empire Eight.

Rocky: 13:23

Hey coach, before we get into Morrisville, I know you've talked about it a few times, and maybe you can just kind of echo it again, but you've talked really high on the on the leadership group that you have um you know coming into this season. You that you talked a lot about that. Talk to us a little bit more about that because you you come off a loss like this. You you had a win against Hobart that slipped away from you guys, and that leadership group you talked about has really been key for you. Just talk to us about that group if you can and the impact they've had.

Coach Faggiano: 13:50

Well, you know, any any successful team you know need to be player-led, and I believe they're doing a great job and they're learning. Um, you know, obviously everyone knows we have our captains, you know, and Jordan Davis and um Antonio Chanferrani, Eli Douglas, and uh Teller Zowkowski, but you know, we have a big huge leadership council of guys that do a great job. I know I'm gonna forget someone as I mentioned the names, but you know, this past week, you know, we meet every week, and uh, you know, I don't just do all the talking. You know, sometimes what I have is I have one of them present to the group and they'll have a video or quotes, and and sometimes I'll go like this week. I went around the room and asked them, well, where do you think we are and where are we where are we moving forward? And each one of those guys, whether it was Scotty Thompson, uh Nick DeForest, you know, Eli's on there, Dante Bianchino, Mike Belzon, uh Mason Payton, uh X, uh Isaiah Thomas, um, Caden Knott, these guys do a great job. You know, and so it's nice when that leadership council represents, you know, it's voted on by the team, but it's you know, different positions, different c classes, and um they've been great. You know, they we're on the same page. Um yeah, I think one thing that they know is that all of us are coaches and players, when we look at a game, you know, we don't play the blame game, right? We all look, what could we have done better? As coaches, what could we have done different? As players, hey, what can you have done different? And when we can do that, I know we're functioning in a high level and it's a special group, and that's kind of where we're at right now.

Rocky: 15:17

So, coach, going into this week, you you face a Morrisville team that's off to a little bit of a rough start, right? They're off to an 0-5 start, they're coming off a loss last week to uh Alfred State. Um, new coach who's I believe he's a Cortland alumni. It's his first year um at Morrisville. But talk to us about some of the challenges that they present um compared to, I know you were mentioning last year Morrisville beat you guys, and a lot of those guys are still on this team. Um, but talk to us about Morrisville.

Coach Faggiano: 15:43

You know, Morrisville, you know, just tough, uh athletic, um, scrappy guys, man. They they they come to play, you know, and and uh you know the Alfred State game was was a was a game, you know, going into the fourth quarter, and then Alfred State, I think, scored too late to kind of pull away. Um, you know, but that was like a well-fought you know game at Alfred State. I think Alfred State's a really good addition to our conference. They do some nice things, have some good players. I know they're running back. You know, we kind of kept him in check, but he still scored two touchdowns against us. You know what I mean? Like he's a good player. And uh, and I know he had a good day against Morrisville. So um coach Jendryzek, I know well. He actually is a Rush Henriette grad like myself. He's from Rochester originally, kind of followed him. He used to go to my TNT lineman camps for years uh as a high schooler and came back and coached it as a college coach. And he had been in New Jersey for a long time, you know, and he and his wife wanted to get back to the area. Um, you know, so I know him well as we talk every week about these staffs. You know, Walter Burks is calling the defense, and uh, you know, uh he was on our staff at Uduka for a long time, great coach. Um, coaches their secondary, and um, they're just tough kids. And it's it's really uh uh become a great local rivalry game. You know, a couple years ago we scored in the last play of the game, which was crazy. And last year we almost did the same thing again. Um a couple years ago, but back in our you know, at our place, it was really a close game until we pulled away late. You know, really close game at half. I think it was maybe 10-0 at half, kind of thing. So um they again they play this, they're still playing that same Iowa State three high defense that that Coach Raby brought to Morrisville. Coach Burks is doing that, and uh, and that's always gives you some challenges. You know, they they're daring you to run the football. It's hard to throw the football against that, you know, type of three high shell. You don't know what coverages they're playing, it's easy for them to disguise things. So um, you know, it's it's gonna be a good matchup. And I, you know, our guys know better from last year. You know, last year's you know, still things um on you know, we had three straight winning seasons and three straight postseasons, right? So five and five was below the standard that they set. Not not myself, but that the kids set. And I know that's been you know helping driving them throughout the year, throughout all the workouts in the in this in the winter and in the summer. And they're they're smart enough and they're mature enough to know that we've been in some battles in the first half of our season and we are well tested, and we need now need to show that and respond here for a few weeks um and get back in the in the win column. And I tell them all the time that good things happen to good people, and if this team continues to win and can find a way to win, good things will happen. I think our NPI will be through the roof, so you never know at eight and two uh about the end to the black tournament. And we've never had a home playoff game, right? So if the backup prize is to is to have a home ECAC game, I've never never I've always been um uh a proponent of ECAC, I've never been against. I think it's great. You know, some schools get funny about that. Like, hey, if you can play an extra football game, that's huge. That's that's what's propelled our program. You know, I sent a picture of the 2018 captains walking out at Cornell, and we've done some special things since 18, and that was Jack Derby, Peyton Miller, Malcolm Stowe, and Matt McCoy, head coach of VBS, right? And I just all just out of the blue, I just text them the picture in my office, and um, you know, and they're all fired up and you know, looking forward to watching us play the remainder of the season. So um, so yeah, definitely they're they're gonna come and bring bring it. You know, I mean they got to get you know on track, they've had a tough start for sure. Um, but again, they have a lot of the same guys they had from a year ago.

Rocky: 19:16

So yeah, and I know, coach, you said too with with Morrisville, and then uh, you know, looking ahead to Alfred, there are two teams that got you guys last year. They did. Um, so if the the team needs motivation, you got two games where it's it's revenge games to try to get back. And I haven't looked at Alfred yet, but I'm sure some of those kids are back too. But they're two games where they're two motivated games for your for your guys to get back at them.

Coach Faggiano: 19:39

For sure. I mean it's always tough to play in Alfred Station. I don't care. You know, they're just that there's tough kids. And that's the thing about our conference. It's like a very physical conference, you know, and uh every week. And you see, you see Hartwick is much improved as well. You know, uh Coach Coach uh Rogers done a nice job with those guys.

Rocky: 19:57

And Coach, looking at your Empire Eight, I was I was just going through it tonight. I mean, you look at you know, Fisher last season was two and five, they're off to a really good start. They had the big win against Brockport. And you know, when you look at the NCAA tournament, I always say it's kind of like the Patriot League when I played. I know Patriot League was always a one-team league. There was a couple of years where the Patriot League got a couple teams in, but when I look at the Empire Eight, again, top to bottom, as we've talked about on the show, there's a lot of good teams that, you know, like you said, if you guys can finish with a good record and you know, Cortland or whoever, you guys could potentially get a couple teams from the Empire Eight end.

Coach Faggiano: 20:31

You could. I mean, that you know, being on the committee, nine wins really get you in. It's really hard to if you're with with eight to two, but that again, it's not as much, it's all about what that NPI number is, you know. And I think you know, they take your top five teams. Well, geez, our top five teams are pretty good who we're gonna play. Obviously, we you know got a lot of work to do, but um you know, I think you know, looking back those first two games, you know, that's gonna help our NPI for sure. You know, and I it's really nice now because all the the human elements out, right? So it's all the numbers and the numbers come out, and like you almost kind of know you know, going into it what your chances are. And and um but again, like the guys, it it's really been in the Morrisville game plan. Um, you know, getting ready for these guys, it's our breast cancer awareness game. So we have uh some some uh sponsors in the tent. We have GKG, uh Larry Gilroy, uh is a former board member at Utica, uh, and uh you know, Ross Kraft and the GKG guys, along with Sullivan Contracting and Strategic Financial, uh helping uh helping myself support the Menware Pink campaign, which is right here in the Mohawk Valley, where a lot of local businessmen uh raise money for breast cancer awareness. And so that's our gonna be our game Saturday, and uh you know looking forward to to doing that.

Rocky: 21:46

Coach, I was looking at the Empire Rate stats. You guys have offensively one of the top offenses uh in the Empire eight, and defensively, you guys are right up there too. I think Tyler leads the league in passing, and your receiving core is all in the top half too. And defensively, you're right there in the middle too. So offensively, you guys are in the are one of the top offenses. Defensively, you're right in that middle part too. So both areas for you guys peaking.

Coach Faggiano: 22:11

I know the one area we want to improve on is the run. I think that was a little lower down.

Rocky: 22:15

You're low. Yep.

Coach Faggiano: 22:16

So yeah, I may have peaked at that myself.

Rocky: 22:20

Yeah, it's like you know, mid-season. I did want to bring that up, but you were a little towards the bottom and running.

Coach Faggiano: 22:25

I'm gonna tell them to tell it how it is. Um, but it's good, I think, midseason to look at some of those things and hey, you know, what's your top run play and what's your top pass play? Yep, what formations have been successful for us. And same thing on defense, you know, we got self-scout ourselves and what's working, what's not working, and now you got a body of work of five games to really look at that and see um to see what you're doing well. Because at the end of the day, it's about executing, right? It's how much can the guys handle? And uh, so they can go out on Saturday and execute.

Rocky: 22:52

Coach, do you think next year down the road we'll see more teams come into the Empire 8? You think that the conference will just keep getting bigger?

Coach Faggiano: 23:00

You know, uh that's a great question. You always wonder about Buff State, you know, since we have all the state schools.

Rocky: 23:06

If they're that's one of the ones I was thinking of.

Coach Faggiano: 23:09

Yeah, you you kind of wonder about that. You know, I I liked going out to Buffalo. We like to recruit Buffalo. Um, you know, certainly like, you know, again, playing uh, you know, battling against Coach Morgan, you know. Um but uh I'm not sure. I think right now it's in a pretty good place, and I think what's helped solidify is this this Liberty League deal, which is a four years, really helps all of us. And now you're only worried about a week one game, most of us, which it which is nice. And then the it helps with the bye being consistent. And the one thing that always throws it off is you know, uh, you know, Ithaca playing Court, but now because we have this Liberty League deal, that helps all of us all have you know that midseason buy. This is the first time we've had the bye right before midterms, which is great for our guys academically, you know.

Rocky: 23:54

Yeah, it can't come probably at a better time for you.

Coach Faggiano: 23:56

Yeah, it's a good time.

Rocky: 23:59

All right, coach. So I picked up one game on you. So I you are one up on me. So I was looking to see where we are at, and right now you probably do that every week.

Coach Faggiano: 24:11

You always write little C, Coach Little C.

Rocky: 24:13

I'm always coach. That's what I'm so there's Coach Big C and Little C. Everybody. He follows you, he loves you. All right, um, all right. So let I I think we might agree on some of these, but I do think we're gonna have some different ones here. So the first one, Ohio State, uh, who I think right now is the best. And my wife's a diehard, so I don't want to say it too loud. I think they're the best all-around team on both sides of the ball, but they're gonna get a fight in a line I team that's tough up front. It's at home. Um, any chance you think that uh Brett Bielama's team can pull one off here in Champaign?

Coach Faggiano: 24:49

I mean, they've certainly come back strong since that Indiana showing, right? Certainly. Last I think they've won two since that, right?

Rocky: 24:56

They have. Yep.

Coach Faggiano: 24:57

Yeah. Um, but I think in this one, I gotta go Ohio State.

Rocky: 25:01

Yeah, I would love to see the Buckeyes go down here, but I think right now, what I'm really surprised at, Matt Patricia came in, obviously, from the NFL, and man, he's that defense, I think, is better this year than what it when it was last year. They graduated a lot of players. They are really scary right now. So I'm gonna I'm gonna stay with Ohio State, but I'm gonna be polling for the fight in line eye to beat them, that's for sure.

Coach Faggiano: 25:23

I would vote for Coach Bieleman and knock him off for sure. But I got to get the game back on you.

Rocky: 25:29

All right. We got Alabama who's playing really well, and uh Ms. Mizzou, who's undefeated. The backup quarterback for the for Penn State, the Bull, um, but I don't know, Padula or uh Pabula, the quarterback there, what was the backup, is lighting it up at Mizzou. And they did an interesting thing today on TV. They put two blind resumes up, and they said if you would have known that the the one record, the five and oh, and the stats and everything wasn't Missouri, you would have thought Missouri should have been ranked ahead of Alabama in the rankings, but they got Bama ahead of them and they're playing really well, and this is at Mizzou. Mizzou's only a two and they're getting two and a half at home. You think Mizzou continues this thing and beats Alabama?

Coach Faggiano: 26:13

I'm pausing because I mean I think that that could be one of those upsets like a year ago with the Vanderbilt, but I think I think Alabama's on on, they got their hairs on fire, so I'm gonna go Alabama.

Rocky: 26:24

Yeah, I'm I'm with you. I do like Alabama in this one.

Coach Faggiano: 26:27

Um this game could be closer than everyone.

Rocky: 26:30

I agree. I think Mizzou can beat them. I think they're really good. That quarterback is playing really, really good right now for Missouri. All right, Indiana. This is Coach Signetti, who just says all he does is win. Google me. I I saw that. You know, he's it he's an interesting dude, man. But I'll tell you what, the kids play hard for him. He's a confident coach. Um, you know, he's turned kind of Indiana into what, a football school, not a basketball school. This would be a huge win for them to go down to Eugene and beat Oregon, who again, I think Oregon's as good as anybody. Yeah, they're a seven and a half point favorite at home against Indiana.

Coach Faggiano: 27:10

Again, I'm pausing because I think this is going to be this could be really if Indiana plays well, it could be a really good game, but I'm gonna go with Oregon. Now there's the speed that they have on offense is just different.

Rocky: 27:19

Yeah, I uh I'm with you, but I do think that if Indiana, even if Indiana loses this game, and they I think they still got to play Penn State um left on the schedule. It could be another year Indiana goes to the playoff, but I think Signetti's gonna get a lot of calls for some of these big jobs that are gonna come open here at the end of the year. So so far we're in an agreement on those three. Oklahoma's gonna get their quarterback, John Mateer, I believe, is back. Um, Texas, Archman in Texas has not looked good at all. I know they're putting a lot on Arch, but they haven't been able to protect him. They're not running the ball well. There was a lot of hype on Texas of how good defensively they were gonna be. They've struggled. You think Arch shows up and they find a way to beat Oklahoma?

Coach Faggiano: 28:05

No, I'll go Oklahoma.

Rocky: 28:08

Oh, okay. I'm I'm with you.

Coach Faggiano: 28:11

If we agree at all, we have to like add a game.

Rocky: 28:13

I'm with you. I'm with you. So I think I think we're gonna have a couple here coming up that I think we're gonna disagree on, but we'll we'll see what happens here. All right. So the other one here, we're gonna go Florida. Had the big win last week. They beat Texas. Um, Texas AM. I still don't think a lot of people are giving AM any credit. They're 5-0. They're at home. Um, I think Billy Napier's gotten a raw deal here. I think they've had a tough schedule every year. And I was looking at their schedule the rest of the way. I think they have like six games against top ten teams in the SEC. They really looked good last week against Texas. Can they go in?

Coach Faggiano: 28:50

Who did Florida beat last week?

Rocky: 28:52

Florida beat Texas last week.

Coach Faggiano: 28:55

Right.

Rocky: 28:56

They looked good, but Texas didn't look that great.

Coach Faggiano: 28:58

This could be the this could be the one we go different on. You know what? I'm gonna go Florida. This is upset.

Rocky: 29:03

You're gonna go Florida. All right, then I'm gonna have to go AM. I'll have I'll I'll go against you. But I I think Florida's got a real good shot to beat them. Yeah, they got the talent.

Coach Faggiano: 29:13

Yeah.

Rocky: 29:14

That uh that quarterback, DJ Lagway, is finally getting under uh, you know, he missed half.

Coach Faggiano: 29:19

Yeah, I think he's a really good coach, and that you know, real good coaches like as the team as the year goes on, they get better.

Rocky: 29:25

Yeah.

Coach Faggiano: 29:30

You're kind of figuring out your team and making some moves here and there, and I think Coach Coach Snaper didn't do that.

Rocky: 29:36

So here's a big one. We may disagree on this one. Michigan at USC. USC's a two and a half point favorite. USC doesn't play the run well. Michigan likes to run the football. Michigan hasn't really had to throw much with Underwood, but this a lot of people are picking USC to win this one. It's in uh Southern Cal. So you think Michigan keeps this thing going?

Coach Faggiano: 30:00

I do. I'm going to go Michigan.

Rocky: 30:01

All right. I'm a Michigan guy, so I'm going to go Michigan. So we got a chance to maybe pick up uh pick up one game here. But off topic, Coach, I got to ask you. And again, I don't know if you follow the whole James Franklin, and I love Coach Franklin. I think he's one of my favorite coaches in the knock is. He hasn't really been able to win that big game. I think he's like one in 15 in ranked games. I think he's 0 for whatever against Ohio State. He hasn't had a good record against Penn State. They just had the horrible loss to UCLA that was a 25-26 point underdog. A lot of people are calling for Franklin. He's either got to resign or they're going to get rid of him. He's still got a chance to beat the buttons. They got to play Ohio State here in a couple weeks. What's your thoughts on Coach Franklin and Penn State?

Coach Faggiano: 30:45

I think he's a great coach and they got to stop. I think it's crazy. He's a great coach. You know, I you know, he you know, hearing him speak at the convention, and um, you know, he's the type of guy you want your son to play for. Um, it's crazy out there. Not everyone's gonna win the national championship. How much did they the national champion? How much money was wasn't it like something like someone say 29 million or 20 million dollars?

Rocky: 31:10

They spent Ohio State spent 20 million to keep that roster.

Coach Faggiano: 31:14

Oh, like great. Like I'm like, when I heard that, I'm like, are you kidding me? Like that's crazy. That's just crazy. So it's like, you know, I think you gotta you just gotta be patient, you know what I mean? And like in and you know, uh, he's had a lot of success there, right? And like, yeah, I think it's great, it's crazy when you think about how big football is and how much it affects your school. That if your coach doesn't win a championship, you're gonna fire him. It's the most crazy thing I ever heard of. Because not everyone gets to do that. You know, if you have an opportunity to, you're competing to, you may have a chance to, you know, and then the only way you're gonna is to help, like that kind of talk doesn't help you get there. Yeah, it's a speculation.

Rocky: 31:53

They got a really tough schedule left. They still gotta play, they gotta go to Columbus and play Ohio State, which they haven't had a great record against Ohio State.

Coach Faggiano: 32:01

I think I did I say last week the whole like um problem the Browns had and the Bills for so long. I think I said that before. Million coaches. They just had a thing up with the Browns quarterbacks, how many starting quarterbacks they've had. It's like ridiculous. Yeah, right. Like with the Steelers and the Patriots, right? They had the same coach for forever. I think you gotta the Bills now, right? They've been patient with their coach.

Rocky: 32:24

Coach, the other one off topic college football I wanted to ask you your thoughts on was gonna be on Bill Belichick. A lot of heat here coming out, you know, this week on the atmosphere there. He's kind of packed it in, he's looking for a way out, and they've looked really, really bad on both sides of the ball. Uh, what's your thoughts on Coach Belichick?

Coach Faggiano: 32:43

Oh, it's so hard because I you know, I can't say that I really, you know, I haven't heard him like some of these coaches I've heard speak two, three, four times where I fouled him, and like you know, I don't know what you know. I think college, I do things different than the pros. Yeah, you know what I mean, and I do. And and I I really believe in you know, like when you watch the guys play and how they play, regardless of like a score, it can be a reflection of the coach, right? So like not sure what's going on, you know, not sure what's going on there.

Rocky: 33:16

You know what I mean?

Coach Faggiano: 33:17

And again, you gotta get you, yeah, you gotta give them unbelievable coach and the benefit of the doubt, and you gotta give him time, right? He just got there. Um you know, sometimes it takes a little bit to to get going. You know, everyone wants to win now, wants to win now. Like that's not how that's not how football is, maybe that's how basketball is, but typically that's not how football is. Football takes time.

Rocky: 33:36

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what they do uh with him because I keep reading reports that he's looking for looking for a way out. He's interested in negotiating a buyout already. That's not the right fit. He's lost the team and he's lost, you know, the locker. So it'll be interesting to see what happens with with him.

Coach Faggiano: 33:53

So I haven't really followed that this much, but that's tough.

Rocky: 33:58

Well, coach, listen, good luck this weekend. I think the weather's supposed to be decent this weekend again. Should be another nice day for uh for some football. So good luck and uh get a win, and we'll talk in the bye week.

Coach Faggiano: 34:08

Excellent. Appreciate you. Fear of the moves.

Rocky: 34:10

All right, coach. Thank you. So that was Coach Faziano. As they they head home this week to take on Morrisville. As we said, Morrisville's off to a little bit of a slow start. But as Coach said, this Morrisville team is the same team that beat them last year, and they return a lot of those guys this week. So, best of luck to uh coach and thank everybody for tuning in tonight. Um, make sure to follow me on YouTube across all social media channels. I really appreciate everybody's following. So, on behalf of myself tonight here on the Rock Pile and inside Utica University Football Podcast, thanks for tuning in. And the rock pile is where dreams become reality. Have a good evening, everybody.