Ari Temkin, SiriusXM Big 12 Radio

We miss college football. Bennett takes the snap and the shotgun throws for the corner. Brock Bowers one-on-one. Caught. Touchdown.

He ate him alive. Falls down into the end zone. Six more for Georgia. We can't wait for the 2023 season. Caleb Williams throws the fade in the corner.

Oh my. Touchdown Trojans. And we're counting down the days to kick off. Are we there yet? No. Are we there yet? I said no. Are we there yet?

What's wrong with your ears? Here is your college football fix. Only on the Zach Gelb Show. We continue the Zach Gelb Show coast to coast on CBS Sports Radio. Time to preview the Big 12 for this upcoming football season with Big 12 Media Days underway out in Jerry's World. And now joining us from Big 12 Radio, obviously a part of Sirius XM.

And that, of course, is our pal and Ari Temkin. Ari, appreciate the time. How are you? Doing great, Zach. How are you, buddy?

Well, I'm doing fantastic. There's, for the first time in a while, excitement around this Texas football program. And it's actually warranted. I don't want to go, is Texas back the first question out of the gate?

Because we've been asking that for a long time. But what are your expectations on Longhorns this year? Yeah, I mean, look, you know, there have been high expectations for Texas football a lot in recent history.

But for being honest, not quite like this. I mean, they haven't been picked to win the Big 12 in the preseason poll in a long time. And, you know, look, as somebody that did not pick Texas to win the Big 12 this year, I would certainly not be surprised at all if they won it.

I mean, and beyond. I mean, their talent level is very high. And look, Zach, we've been talking about their talent level for years, right?

It's different, though. They've got three offensive linemen that are NFL players, okay? Two guys, Cole Hudson and Calvin Banks, that could probably be in the NFL this season. Banks is certainly what he did as a true freshman last year.

And that's, to me, where I start, right? Like, we know this team has had talent. They've had skill position talent. They've had quarterback talent. But it's the substantive stuff. It's the offensive line stuff.

That's, I think, what separates them this year. The big question to me is based on a guy we just spoke with to end our first day here at Big 12 Media Days, which is Steve Sarkisian. He checks off a lot of boxes. The guy knows offensive football. He knows quarterbacks. He does have developed quarterbacks. He can recruit.

They're recruiting. He's done Texas. He's been second to none. But can he be a head coach? And there's a track record here that questions that. And last year, this team was in position to win a lot of games. They blew leads. They did not finish. And so there are questions about Sark as a head coach. And until we can see it, those remain. But, look, their talent is there.

And sometimes talent wins out more than anything else. So we were expecting this epic QB battle between Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning. I know Malik Murphy has been a part of it as well. Ewers wins that QB job rather quickly. There's so much to ask about with Arch Manning. Out of 100 percent, what are the chances at some point this year that we see Arch Manning on the field for the Longhorns starting again?

Man, that's a great question because they'd have to get through two quarterbacks to get to them. You know, Malik Murphy is their backup. It's funny because Murphy is, I mean, first of all, I don't know how he keeps all three of these guys on campus. And that's something I asked him. And he said, look, you just got to be honest with everybody throughout the process. And, you know, hope that your track record and ability to develop stands tall.

But it's super funny. Last year, Quinn Ewers wasn't here. He was in a quarterback competition, quote unquote, with Hudson Card. And all the hype was around Quinn Ewers. I mean, you know, Quinn Ewers was as hyped as a quarterback as ever. And yet now here we are with a guy that was hyped even more than Ewers was in Arch Manning. And it's like suddenly Quinn Ewers, all the hype is gone.

It's all washed off. And so it's such an interesting dynamic where a year later he's here and all the questions to him are more about Arch Manning as opposed to previously, where it's like we're all asking questions about how Quinn Ewers looks, even though he's in the middle of a competition. So, look, I don't know that there's a very high percentage that we see Arch Manning this year again, because it's not like he's going to back up Quinn. He's going to be the first string quarterback. Mike Murphy is an absolute monster.

He's 6'5", he's 250 pounds, and he's a big boy. And so he brings another dynamic to this offense that, you know, if something were to happen to Ewers in terms of an injury, you know, I think we would see Murphy. And I think if things go horribly awry for this team this year, then we see Manning. But I do expect this team in Texas to be towards the top of the conference all year to be competing for a Big 12 championship. And I think they only do that with Quinn Ewers as a quarterback. Yeah, Fauzi Whitaker, what you just said a few weeks ago basically told me the same thing.

And I'll just follow up this way, Ari Temkin. If Ewers either stinks or gets hurt like what happened last year, and it's one thing in relief during a game to put Murphy in, but the next week, I know he's listed as two on the depth chart. Is Sark really going to have the stones where the hype is all going to be all the fans, and you know what Texas fans could be, wanting to see Arch Manning? I mean, yes.

I really believe so. Because, you know, even though it's a hard decision, fans want to see him, I mean, you listen to fans, Zach, sooner or later you end up sitting with them. And, you know, Sark mentioned this, and I don't know, you know, how offhanded it was, but he's got to, he's got to, he's developed quarterbacks for a long time now, and we can question his head coaching record, we can question a lot of things about Sark, but the development of quarterbacks is something we can't really question.

And he has, there's a process there, and there's no skipping steps within that process. And that's not to say that a true freshman couldn't start, but Malik Murphy is further ahead in that process, and he's up against it. Like, this team is picked to win the Big 12, the Big 12 is wide open, it's a league of parity. Like, you've got to win the league this year, or at least get to AT&T Stadium, where I'm standing right now on the field at AT&T Stadium, and play for a Big 12 championship, because otherwise you go into the hardest conference in America next year with negative momentum, and that is devastating for Texas. Then you start to wonder, if they don't play in the game here at AT&T Stadium, and things go awry, is Sark going year one in the SEC on the hot seat? So, he's got to do what he needs to do to put the best team on the field to be successful, and at least right now it appears Malik Murphy is the second best guy that he has on his roster, and second best in terms of positioning, to be a starting quarterback if, as you mentioned, you were suffers an injury, or he is, as we saw, kind of in the back half last year, not as good. You know the Manning family is very calculated. There's a reason why they selected Texas for Arch Manning, whatever it was. For next year, though, like at the end of this season, with what you just said about Murphy, you know, Quinn Ewers, if he plays well, will be off to the NFL, you would think. Would it surprise you if Arch, at the end of this year, transfers and goes somewhere else in this football climate that we're in right now?

Yeah, it would surprise me. It would, because I think as impatient as everybody is, and certainly the fans you alluded to, I think this family has a level of patience. They didn't just choose Sark of Texas for the ability to try to play this year. They chose Sark of Texas for a bunch of reasons, and one of those, what we just talked about in terms of the ability to develop quarterbacks, and they know that that's a long process. You know, they, I believe as a family, as they do the right things for him, know that this is well beyond a one-year process.

And so, yeah, I mean, I absolutely think that, I'll say it this way. I would be shocked if Arch Manning left after one year and entered the transit portal, regardless of any of the circumstances surrounding what happened to Texas this year, because a lot of contacts were missing there when we had these conversations. I would be a lot less shocked if Malik Murphy transferred after this year. I think if anybody transfers after this season in a very crowded quarterback room, it could be Malik Murphy.

Talking to Ari Temkin right now on CBS Sports Radio, a little college football fix on the Zach Gelb show. So you said you didn't pick Texas to win the Big 12. Who was your pick? Oh, so if you saw the Big 12 preseason poll, you might have seen a number next to each team that was picked to win the Big 12, and there was only one team that had a one next to its name. That would be the team that I picked.

That would be the Oklahoma State Cowboys. And people are very upset at me. They're up in arms as if like I've done something that's egregious and terrible and like I should, I should be shunned.

Like one person was like, oh, I should have his credential revoked. Like, I mean, I get the vitriol at times when like voters vote for egregious people when it comes to an MVP or a Heisman or like substance. This is a preseason standing like that doesn't matter. I thought this was about having fun and, you know, get ready for the season. Like none of the preseason poll doesn't matter. And here's the other thing. If you believe that Oklahoma State cannot win the Big 12 this year and you remember watching the Big 12, I'm making a bet on the surprise, who the surprise team is going to be this year.

Here's a guarantee for you, Zach. There's going to be a surprise team in the Big 12 this year. That's a fact because this is a league of parody and it has been. Oklahoma won the conference six straight years. And since then, we saw a team in 2020 that won two games win the conference the next year in Baylor. And then we saw a team that people picked in the preseason to finish seventh last year go play for the national championship. Oh, by the way, K-State won the conference last year. Nobody expected K-State to win the conference. There's going to be a surprise team that competes for a conference championship this year. I placed a bet on it being Oklahoma State.

And I did that for a couple of reasons. I did that because I, of all the coaches, right, we've got questions about Brett Venable as the head coach, right? I mean, second year for him as the head coach, great track record as a DC, different animals as head coach.

We've got questions about Sark. We've got, I mean, how can you not have questions about Sonny Dykes even after the year that he had? So of all these coaches within this conference, the one coach I'm going to bet on is Mike Gundy. Now people will say, well, they only have won one Big 12 championship in his history.

Okay, I get that. But they've won 17 consecutive winning seasons. He's won 10 games seven times.

He has a proven track record of success. That's where, that's why I'm betting on Oklahoma State. But look, for me it was really about who's the surprise team? It could be Iowa State. It could be Baylor. It could be Oklahoma State.

It could be Kansas. But there's going, it is a guarantee Zach, there's going to be a surprise team that nobody expected to be competing towards the top of the conference it's going to. Why did Spencer Sanders transfer from Oklahoma State?

It's a great question. I think sometimes you've, I don't want to say you've worn out your welcome, because that isn't exactly the case here. But I do think there was like an element from both sides of wanting to move on. And look, I mean, this is a program at Oklahoma State that's purged a lot of its roster. A lot of guys left. Sure, some of them were not guys that Oklahoma State wanted to leave and might not have wanted to leave. But a lot of times when you look at the roster turnover that they've had, you look at that as a negative. I think it's a positive.

I do. And, you know, Alan Bowman comes in and started quarterback. This is a guy that is a prime candidate to be a max dugout of this year, if you will. And again, I'm painting that picture because that's the way that I went and my preseason ball.

And chances are I'm an idiot and I'm wrong. But Bowman's a guy that had a ton of success at Texas Tech. I mean, he started as a true freshman and lit it up. Then, of course, he goes and spends two years. So he's under Cliff Kingsbury at Texas Tech.

Right. Then he goes and spends two years under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. A completely different offense. Something he had to relearn how to play offensive football. Doesn't play.

So I think this is a smart player. He's 24 years old. He's experienced. Yeah, he's had some injury issues.

But I mean, what quarterback do we not say, well, if they stay healthy? Right. I'm like, that's just that's football. That's the sport.

So everybody's got to stay healthy. So I'm betting big on Alan Bowman that he's going to come in here and have a ton of upside. It helps that you've got a guy like Brendan Presley out wide, a proven guy that can be can be a feature, wide receiver for you.

And here's the other thing. And I think this is where people are sort of misunderstanding how to pay attention to the Big 12 this year. This is not you get to play everybody this year.

So it's the 14 team league now. So the schedule matters because you're not playing everybody. Texas has a very difficult schedule of the preseason favorites. Texas plays everybody in the top four. Oklahoma State does not. They have a very easy schedule by Big 12 standards. In fact, they they close the season playing the four newcomers.

And in their five final games, it's believe it's UCF and then Oklahoma. Then they play three more newcomers. I'm of the belief you'd rather play the new members of the Big 12 late, because I think the biggest difference between power five and group of five is depth like eleven eleven. You can match up pretty well.

But how deep can you go when you suffer injuries? So as we know in football, you're going to have injuries. I think playing those teams the end of the year are really going to test their depth. So the schedule to Zach has played a major role in why I picked Oklahoma State. Again, maybe it's the dumbest pick ever, but somebody's going to surprise this conference. Are tempted here with us.

You're two for Brenton Venables. What happens with Oklahoma? So I picked Oklahoma State to play Oklahoma individual championship game, which would be, in my opinion, best case scenario for the conference. What this the conference that obviously has centered a lot on the brand of Texas and the involvement of Texas. But I think there'd be no better way to sort of close this era of the Big 12 than Bedlam, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State.

Seeing as we have no idea when or if we'll ever see that game again. And so, look, I have high expectations for OU because I just don't believe that a Brenton Venable defense will be that bad in consecutive seasons. And look, there's reasons for why their defense was bad last year. Brenton Venables chose to rip the Band-Aid fully off last year.

He did not do a transitional here. When you talk about, you know, the personnel that he had from OU's previous defense under Alex Grinch, versus the personnel that Brenton Venables traditionally needs to run his defense. So they were the wrong personnel running the wrong scheme.

And that was by design. I think they're going to have more players that fit the scheme, despite their bad record last year at 6 and 7. They still recruited an extremely high level. They brought in a big time transfer as a true fresh pick from Indiana to Sami Kola, who I picked as the newcomer of the year in the Big 12.

I think he's going to be a monster. And I think the fact remains that OU's offense was really good last year. But we don't really recognize how good it was because it was overshadowed by how bad OU's defense was.

Dylan Gabriel was really good. I think Jeff Lebby, in terms of his smarts, his offensive play, Clark. How many times, Zach, do we see a defensive-minded head coach come in and hire a defensive-minded offensive coordinator, right? They don't usually hire guys to spread you out and want to throw the ball a ton.

That's what I love about the Lebby hire from Brenton Venables when he was hired. It was not a defensive-minded head coach type offensive coordinator hire. So, I am bullish on OU this year.

Again, there's major questions, right? I mean, Brenton Venables had a ton of success as a defensive coordinator at Clemson. The results speak for itself, but it's different from a defensive coordinator to becoming a head coach. He's got to prove that this year. Ari Temkin, Kansas State must have been the quietest conference champion ever because of what TCU has done.

Totally. Like, they haven't even gotten their praise, and Kleiman's done a fantastic job there. What's kind of the vibe around that team this year? Yeah, breaking news, Kansas State won the Big 12 last year. I mean, seriously, it's like been a major talking point for us on Big 12 radio.

By the way, I hate to say this. They shouldn't have because, and I said this to Sonny Dykes when he joined me a few weeks ago, should have gave the ball to Duncan at the end. What did Sonny say? He actually agreed with me. He talked about how Max was winded, and that's why it went into that decision, right? And they asked so much of him, but he agreed with me. Like, looking back, and he said, I can't really say that you're wrong on that one.

But you're right. I mean, this, and look, this was a year of purple in the Big 12. You know, obviously K-State winning the Big 12 championship, TCU playing for national championship, TCU's baseball team went to the Final Four, their basketball team made it to the second round. K-State, I mean, their basketball team made it to the Elite Eight, their football team won a Big 12 championship. So, I mean, this was the year of purple, certainly, from all sports, and certainly the big ones that we pay attention to. You know, when I just talked about the favorites of this conference, the question marks around head coach, there's somebody I didn't mention, and that would be Chris Kleiman, because there really aren't questions about Chris Kleiman, right?

I mean, this is a guy with a proven track record of success. First, you know, at the FCS level, winning championship after championship after championship, and then now here with what he's done at K-State, you know, culture, understanding how to win at K-State, development of players, that's what he's done. You know, I'm a KU alum, and it's sort of funny how much attention there's been on Kansas football. Jalen Daniels is the offensive player of the year, and he was remarkable last season. He was transcendent, but if anybody had a Jalen Daniels end to the season, that'd be Will Howard at K-State, and he is very quiet.

Like, there's just not a lot of talk around Will Howard. Jalen Daniels started off the year in the Heisman Trophy race, but he was injured at the end of the year. Will Howard stepped in for Adrian Martinez and led K-State to a Big 12 championship. Kansas State does not win a Big 12 championship without the play of Will Howard.

And so, I just think they're severely underrated. Talk for a Big 12 championship is Texas versus Kansas State, because though Kansas State lost Luis Vaughn and lost Felix Aniduke Izama, two very impactful players, they still have Will Howard back. They have the best offensive line, or one of the best offensive lines in the Big 12, along with West Virginia, and those two have some of the best offensive lines in all of college football. And again, we talked about how Texas has three guys that are NFL players along their offensive line. So, you know, I'm also bullish on K-State, and a lot of that has to do with a proven track record of success from a proven head coach with a lot of talent back and a really talented quarterback. What is Dave Aranda as a head football coach? Because we saw first year not so good, second year amazing, and then last year very underwhelming. They're the biggest wild card at the conference, Zach.

I mean, their floor, their ceiling is about as wide as you can get. Aranda, I don't know if you've had a chance to interview him. One time.

But you only need about 45 minutes to get three questions in. He's awesome. I like him. He's unlike any other coach I've ever been around ever. He is the most introspective, deep thinker. Normally, coaches are not introspective, at least publicly. They don't admit their flaws.

They only talk about, well, we'll watch it on film and get better. I told him he had to smile more. I said even when he won that championship, he had resting coach face. He kind of got a chuckle out of that out of him. First time I heard him laugh, actually. He probably listened to that. He internalizes things that people say.

He's the smartest guy in the room because he knows the things that he doesn't know. He mentioned when we talked to him last year, he was probably a little bit too loose. He probably gave guys a little bit too much of a leash. He probably didn't have a willingness to be tougher on certain guys at certain times. I think the willingness to be that introspective, to understand you need to make changes, you need to evolve and get better. From what I've seen, it's just unprecedented in all sports in terms of coaching.

For me, that's a breath of fresh air. How does that translate to wins? They've turned over coaching staffs a couple of times now in terms of after year one, he hired a new offensive coordinator. Now he's hired a new defensive coordinator in Matt Powledge who comes over after Ron Roberts. Aranda coached under Ron Roberts.

He's a tremendous amount of respect for him, but he knew he needed to move on from him after last season. I think the willingness to get better, to evolve from your mistakes, that's what I love about Baylor and Dave Aranda. We'll see. Again, this is a team I picked last year to win the conference. Obviously, they did not play well. They were very inexperienced. Their quarterback took a lot of the lumps for their lack of success last year in Blake Chapin. They think they're better in terms of their weapons on the outside.

They're going to need to be. That was probably their biggest issue. They've been a proven group of running backs in Robert Richard Greece and Quaalyn Jones. Now it's about can they get the firepower down the field with weapons. Because they run that Jeff Grimes outside zone, they're going to run the football a ton, but they need to be able to hit down the field off play action. They didn't do that enough last year, and that was what killed them. All right, Tim, only got a minute left.

I really do appreciate the time today. Out of the newcomers to the Big 12, can anyone go make a run this year in your opinion? The answer here is UCF, but I'm starting to believe it's BYU. And look, BYU played five power fives last year. Now they play ten this year. However, one of those that doesn't count last year is UCF and Cincinnati, right? And Houston, the team they played in conference, those are all power five opponents this year.

So you can make that stat, say whatever you want. But when you look at just historically BYU, the physicality offensively and defensively, and these are grown men, right? Like in the sport, it has a lot of kids. To be able to have guys that come back off of missions and be 22, 23 years old, that's huge. You know, obviously UCF in terms of newcomers is the one that returns to the starting quarterback.

Everybody else is replacing a lot of players. But I just look at BYU culturally, and I think they're a team that can have a lot of success this season. But I picked three of those four to finish the bottom three in this conference, and I think it's going to be tough for all four of them to have success this year, year one in the Big 12. Ari Temkin, kickass job as always. Make sure you listen to him, Big 12 Radio out in Jerry's World for Big 12 Media Days. We appreciate the time as always, Ari. Appreciate you, Zach. Take care, brother.