Fozzy Whittaker, Longhorn Network Analyst

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Terms apply. It's great to see you. Appreciate the time. How you been? Man, I've been well, Zach. I appreciate the opportunity to be on.

I'm kind of in a weird little room right now, so if I echo, don't blame me because I'm trying to figure it out myself. But man, I've been great. Longhorn's been winning, so that's been making me feel better as is as well. We're all trying to figure out what this team was going to be this year. I picked them to win the Big 12 before the start of the season. A lot of people were a little skeptical if Texas would match the hype that was surrounding this team to now be in the Big 12 championship game, be a big favorite up against Oklahoma State.

Just what's been the vibe around the team following it throughout the entire season? Well, I think skepticism was the right word whenever you start talking about what this Texas team has been really over the past decade, right? You look at the Charlie Strong era, obviously the end of the Matt Brown era even before that. But Charlie Strong and then you go into the Tom Herman era and then even the first season for Steve Sarkeesian five and seven and last year eight and five, skepticism was always apparent and Texas fans have been down this road.

Every single season they find a way to get up before the season starts, they experience some wins and all of a sudden everybody wants to hit the we're back conversation, right? We've heard that time and time again and everybody wants to say, OK, this Texas team does look good. And then all of a sudden they stumble lose to an Oklahoma State that they lose to a Kansas state or lose to Iowa State lose to Baylor, whatever the case may be insert Big 12 team where Texas has lost and stumbled along the way. And then ultimately that's kind of defined who Texas was as a program over the past 12, 13 years. And you look at where this Texas team started off the expectation that you mentioned first time being ranked by the preseason media poll as the number one team in the conference since 2009 whenever they actually wanted. And it was a little bit of a different hype surrounding this Texas team, right? You got one of the best quarterbacks that came in from Ohio State transfer last year, Quinn Ewers as an ultimate recruit, right? You had Malik Murphy, which wasn't being talked about a ton. And then you just brought in one of the youngest hotshot guys with the best smoking last name and Arch Manning coming into that staff.

You look at that room and the competition was there. Then you got a guy like Xavier Worthy, he was coming back. One of the Texas is all time leading receivers in multitude of categories.

You bring in a guy like Adonon Mitchell, who's been able to perform in big time games. And then to Von Dre Sweat and Byron Murphy, the emergence of those two guys, the duo that they have on the interior defensive line. It's been unbelievable to watch the culture change, to watch the mentality shift from where Texas has been to where they are now. And it all started with Steve Sarkeesian's first year and how he just kept grinding away. And you can see the same way he was grinding away at the culture and the mentality of the Texas team is the same way that skepticism kept being grounded away from a lot of Texas fans in the Austin area and across the country, right?

It started scooping away, all right? You beat some of your old Big 12 rivals, some of your Big 12-fold. Baylor, right?

Baylor's had your number a couple of seasons ago. You beat them. Kansas State has had their number.

You beat them. You look at Kansas. They beat them two years ago, right? Kansas beat Texas, all right?

You finally avenged that loss. You look at Iowa State. Iowa State has had their number a couple of times as well. And Texas avenged that loss. You look at who they are right now and the opportunity that they have in the Big 12 championship game to play against Oklahoma State, who's also generally has had Texas number over the past decade. And it sets up like a poetic justice type of match.

It almost looks like it's a reality TV show the way that it's playing out. But Steve Sarkeesian has this team believing, and ultimately that belief has spread into the Austin area and Texas fans alike as they're sitting 11-1, haven't been in this position in a very long time. Fauzi Whitaker here with us. Where's your confidence level that they won't stumble this weekend up against Gundy's Oklahoma State team?

My confidence level is sitting pretty high. I know Mike Gundy and that Oklahoma State football team, they're a good team, right? They experienced some adversity early on, losing back to back games against South Alabama and then losing against Iowa State. And then they found a way to just win.

And by any means necessary, they were able to put it together. You got the nation's leading rusher, Ollie Gordon II, playing at an inhumane type of level right now. He is not human. Dude's playing on a superhero type level. If you start talking about him and the things that he's doing this season, and you see some of the records that he's been able to be associated with, that name being Barry Sanders, then that means this guy's doing something in an immaculate way. Mike Gundy, over the course of his tenure at Oklahoma State, knows how to win. He's been the best coach in the Big 12 over the past few seasons as far as what he's been able to navigate his team through. And he's going to throw the kitchen sink at this Texas team.

It's a perfect example. Texas has everything to lose. And Mike Gundy, he's like, we don't have nothing to lose, right?

And we might as well just throw out the kitchen sink. Texas is the one that you feel like they should come in double-digit favorite in some of the Vegas betting odds. And then you look at Oklahoma State, they're like, oh, just don't pay attention to us.

Poor little old us. We only just won nine games and found a way to get into the championship game when nobody counted on us. And ultimately, it's going to be a dogfight in my mind.

But my confidence is high. The way Steve Sarkeesian has gotten this team to be able to rally from some of the deficits that they were facing, some of the adversity that this Texas team has gone through. Winning the close games, finding a way to win that had been the Achilles heel was like Texas would get up and then somehow they would squander the lead and find a way to lose. Or Texas would start off slow and then ultimately not make a play at the end of the game that resulted in another loss. And we've seen that over the past decade. But Steve Sarkeesian has found a way to get this team to win in their three and one and one score possession games this season.

And that's the difference maker. You found a way to close out games by any means necessary, whether you lose a lead, whether you pull it out late, whether you just blow them out by 50 points like we saw last Friday. This Texas team has found a way to win in a multitude and variety of ways. And I think ultimately that brings my confidence level high as they are preparing for another opportunity to kind of showcase their last ditch effort of leaving the Big 12 and hopefully riding out on a high note with the Big 12 championship.

Fuzzy Whitaker, what would you say? They went on Saturday. There are one loss, Big 12 champ. Only loss was to a close margin by Oklahoma.

And then come Sunday, they're not one of the four teams remaining in the college football playoff. What would you say to that? The first thing I would say was don't lose, right? Ultimately, you're in control of your own fate. You're in control of your own destiny. And there are a lot of Texas fans that probably don't want to hear that.

And I understand. But do you think they're automatically losses? No, not at all.

Not at all. You look at the other power five conferences and the champions of those. If the ones that are currently in position and stay undefeated, then you already got your top four, right? Florida State, you're looking at Michigan, you're looking at Georgia, you're looking at Washington. Those are the undefeateds right now.

If they stay undefeated, then you don't have a leg to stand on from the standpoint of you had your chance, you lost and you weren't able to come out on top and you'll be one or the second best one loss team that is sitting there on the outside looking in. If we go over all the other different scenarios, you could probably look at the one that's probably most straightforward for most Texas fans to believe in and could possibly happen is Texas fans got to be Louisville fans right now. They're pulling out all the Lamar Jackson jerseys.

They're pulling out everything that they can, whatever you want to say. That's what Texas fans are saying. They need them to upset Florida State. And ultimately, I think that's the cleanest path to allow Texas to be one of the four teams to compete for the national championship making the CFP in those top four. You kind of believe that a PAC 12 team is going to get in. They've been ranked, both of those teams have been ranked ahead of Texas all season long, so they'll probably stay there. Same way with the SEC, right? You got to believe that Georgia is going to stay there. If Alabama wins, there's a different conversation.

That's the big one. You guys beat them by points in Tuscaloosa. And this is what I say.

Fuzzy Whitaker. I understand right now. It's Texas seven Alabama eight.

You know this. Alabama is a one loss sec champ. I have a tough time seeing the committee leaving them out. And this could be some real chaos that happens. They wouldn't. They wouldn't leave them out. You know, I think, and this is a probably a crazy scenario, but I think it'd be more likely to happen that Georgia would be left out as crazy as it seems as a one loss non conference champion versus Texas. And I could see a pathway where Texas and Alabama get into the playoffs with the one loss, even though Georgia only faced the one loss in the conference championship game.

So I could see a pathway there. I don't Michigan. I don't expect much to happen there. But you never know.

That's why the games are played right. You never know. But I fully probably 99.9% expect Michigan to win that game. Michigan may have the same amount of points as punts that Iowa has. I would think the numbers would be comparable.

I wouldn't be surprised. But yeah, it's a lot of different scenarios. Ultimately, Texas needs to win. Let everything else unfold itself. You can't worry about anything but what you can control and what you can handle. And that's probably the same message that Steve Sarkeesian is telling his group of guys, especially the leaders, guys like Jordan Whittington, when you were to bond race with, you know, Byron Murphy guys that get their last chance to play in a big 12 game.

That's the message right handle what you can control, let everything else sort itself out, and ultimately go put your best foot forward and that's all you can do. With the Longhorn hat off Fosse Whitaker, you got to tell me who you think the four teams are remaining on Sunday, who do you think gets the invite. Ultimately thing, it'll be Georgia. Still standing at number one I think it'll be Michigan at number two I think it'll be Florida State as the third unbeaten number three. This is where it gets tricky right the Washington Oregon game.

It can go either way. And I know the point spread is way high in Oregon's favor, but I just cannot take out of my mind that these two teams have played. Also Washington has found a way to win gritty games. Now it's not the way that you want to Oregon's been on blemish, since their loss to Washington they look really good.

I'm not taking that away. I just, aside with people knowing how to get a win in a multitude of ways and Washington has been able to do that. And so ultimately I think on Friday night they prevail Michael pennies Jr. puts on one of his best performances, and I think it's the four undefeated teams playing in the CFP. That's probably what the book Oregon and the CFP committee want to hear to to make their jobs easier, not have to turn it into a calculus program which one lost team deserves to be in there, which one lost team is going to be in there or is the best right that's the conversation in and of itself most deserving versus best team. But for me, man, I see it playing out as the undefeated are right now I think it stays that way.

And those top four teams will make it to the CFP. I gotta ask you one question for next year with Texas, it looks like I know nothing's official yet there was a report a few weeks ago and then it was refuted that Quinn Ewers is going to come back if Quinn Ewers comes back. What happens with arch Manning next year.

I think arch man is still stays. The reason why is because everything that I've seen of him, everything that I've heard of him is it's okay to continue to get better while you're not necessarily the starter. I think the bigger conversational topic goes around Malik Murphy. That's a guy that I don't think stays around because Texas fan base got a little taste of art right they got a glimpse and it was because I think Murphy got hurt inadvertently got rolled up on the sideline against Texas Tech last Friday. He's not available to play you see the insertion of arch many, and he made some place it wasn't like this, oh he's about to win the Heisman type of plays but you could see the potential and the ability that he possesses, and he has that wow factor about himself, not to mention, he's a little more athletic than his uncles, as far as running the ball as well so that adds to a bit of that wow factor that he possesses but I don't ultimately think it changes anything if when yours comes back. I think the belief that, you know, Mr. Manny Cooper Manning arch manning Archie man all of the Manning family household have in the decision making that allow arch to get to the University of Texas was in what Steve Sarkeesian was building and how well Steve Sarkeesian has been able to develop quarterbacks over their 10 year at a school and not necessarily because it's just one season but over the course of 234 seasons at that university and I think that's ultimately the bigger picture of where arch man wants to be with this Texas program especially going into the SEC, a perfect opportunity to continue to develop, and we know, like every quarterback, and every powerful conference, there have been injuries football is a arduous sport. I look at Jordan Travis a couple of weeks ago right and hopefully a speedy recovery for him but injuries happen when you were.

This is the second year straight, he hasn't been able to finish the entire season without missing time. So if there's any opportunity to be able to realize your potential on the field during a season. You're one play away as the backup quarterback so I think that's why arch manage stays. The faith and the belief that he has and Steve Sarkeesian will remain true. And he'll still be a part of the Texas football team next season.

I don't know if I can say the same about Malik Murphy though. Last thing I'll ask you, I gotta just factor in one NFL question here one of our great fans, Brian is a big Panthers fan and he's got a lot to do. From your days with the Carolina Panthers how much you've been following what's going on with your pro football team is David Tepper just keeps on firing coaches left and right and has absolutely zero patients.

Unfortunately I'm trying to cross that out of my mind. It's the Panther program that I was a part of that's not the franchise that I was able to help field and reach the Super Bowl with and ultimately man it's just been agony, and obviously he can attest to it being a Panther fan he's seen the ups and Carolina going through the lows right now. It's unfortunate, you hire a phenomenal staff that you think on paper should work out, you think they would have more success than one in 10 at this moment in the football season, and David Tepper says not not happening he gets rid of mid season first year. Do Staley is out as well as the associate head coach running back coach, and it's just unfortunate you can't build stability, but I'm not creating a stable environment and I think that's where we look at how the organization has fared since the firing of Ron Rivera, and ultimately I think that decision probably has backfired a little on David Tepper as he's trying to find the right mixture of group of guys to help lead this organization. The timing could be even more worse, what they gave up to be able to draft rice young what CJ Stroud is doing right now probably motivated. Mr Tepper to make the decision that he did in the middle of the season to fire his staff in the manner that he did it's some growing pains that they're going to have to fight through. They're going to have to find some consistency and continuity in order to get back to the level of degree that that we got to see them whenever I played there, right, you got to find that franchise piece, and it's going to be a rebuilding phase for the next couple of seasons, most likely, and ultimately whenever you get the right group of guys in, you can feel the difference it's the same way with Texas football right now, right, it's been a carousel of coaches, you had seen the culture and not where it needed to be. And then ultimately, you got the right guy and Steve Sarkeesian it took now you're number three for start to be able to experience that you see a similar type of progression happened in the NFL, where the guys got to be married to the coaches the coaches got to be married to the guys in that relationship has to flow, hand in hand and ultimately David Tepper hasn't been able to find that consistent relationship between coach and players. So he's going to need that if he wants this program and franchise to be successful. Fossey Whitaker always great conversations whenever we get your own thanks so much have a great weekend enjoy the football.

I appreciate it man enjoy the football as well it is going to be a weekend to remember so much is on the line I'm excited for this weekend. Imagine you're looking at a balancing scale with everything you do for other people on one side, and everything you do on the other side. If it isn't balanced, maybe it's time to spend a little more time on you and therapy is a great place to start better help connects you with a licensed therapist online, who can help you find that balance and stick to it. BetterHelp.com slash positive to get 10% off your first month.

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