It's time for coffee and company. Fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day, Holy crap, I don't know who the hell we think we are.
Get off our show. Idiots. The kids are playing to turn at
the countries are screwing it up. Gold Play Inner Murals, Brother Goal Play
Inner Murals. They're supposed to be mature adults, but they're really not.
Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me?
Now? Here's Nick Coffee. It hadn't crossed my mind until I walked in
here to Studio B at our phenomenal four Street Live setup here at iHeart Louisville.
As soon as I walked in, it felt like, you know what,
that we can went by too fast. I've had a lot of vacation
days and trips, and of course we aren't that far removed from the fourth
of July holiday where we had a nice, a nice five day weekend,
which was great. But yeah, it feels like this weekend went by super
fast. But that's okay because that means summer is going by fast. That
means we're, you know, eventually going to get out of this awful,
awful, disgusting weather. And football season will be here, So you know,
weekend's going by fast as usually never a good thing. But I'm happy
to be here today and hopefully you guys are happy to be here with us.
It is Coffee and Company. If you didn't know, now you do.
My name is Nick Coffee, the company man. Mister John all in
alongside today as we get another week started. And I guess John, I'll
just start with a question. Do you think our listenership has dropped substantially because
that video game came out? You know, if that many people have decided
to take the day off of work, or maybe even the week off of
work, It wouldn't surprise me if those who are playing the new college football
video game have tuned every other aspect of their life, including maybe even Coffee
and Company, if they dare do so. If one thing that makes me
feel a little bit better about the intial threat of losing listeners to a video
game is that nobody could claim that we cater to the video game crowd,
right like, there's nobody that could claim that, you know, we're not
here, we're not breaking down the newest call of duty every year exactly.
So you know that makes me feel as if if you've been a regular listener,
you may not be someone that is just quick to, you know,
forget about all of your real life responsibilities and just you know, turn into
a gamer that doesn't do anything else. But apparently it's only out today if
you are if you purchased some kind of like premium version of it. So
like I think the twenty second a week from today is when is when,
Like I guess that the plebes get it. But if you bought a certain
I don't know, like a And this is how removed I am from the
gaming world. I mean, I was never really a big gamer, but
you know, I used to have a system. PlayStation two, as we've
discussed, was the last one that I had, And I didn't know that
you. I mean, it makes total sense, but I've just you know,
I've never outside of that of mind. I didn't know you download games
now, like you don't go by them. You pay for them and you
download them, which makes total sense. But I didn't know that. So
I'm basing all the new consoles. You can't, I mean, they do
have physical copy versions of games, but you can buy pretty much anything online
now. Yeah, I mean I I I'm sitting here thinking, well,
you know what, there's gonna be a lot of coverage today because they're going
to be showing people lined up outside of game Stop and wherever. And then
I'm like, actually, no, that's that that that that's not pass Yeah,
that's not I mean, are those stores still even I think Working Stop.
I don't think they're out of business, but I think they've shut down
a lot of stores. Yeah. That. I mean, if you don't
need an actual physical copy to have these games, I feel like the only
purpose those stores would have would be to like resell and do like the you
know, because some people still play the old Nintendo games, which you know,
that's more my style. But yeah, it says here that if you
pre ordered the Deluxe edition of EA Sports College Football twenty five, and you
bought the MVP bun with Madden twenty five, or you have an EA Play
Early Access, you'll be able to play the game today. The standard version
of the game will be available to play on Friday to nineteenth, So I
guess some people still have to wait. And again I try not to,
you know, act as if people who play video games are you know,
there's anything wrong with that everybody's got their own vice and things that they're interested
in. If you're a big gamer, then shout out to you. But
I just what I can't relate to and understand is that I don't know if
people realize this isn't real and to be fair to EA Sports, and I
guess just the advanced technology that we have now, some of the things within
this game like make it to where you could get lost and not realize you're
on a controller in front of your TV, you might think it's real life.
Our buddy Chris Venini, who joins us on the show from time to
time talking college football, he I feel like has been the leader when it
comes to coverage of this game returning. I mean, he did a tour
at EA Sports, and of course he had early access to it, but
he shared the road his road to Glory experience. Which road to Glory.
I guess it is like a feature where you you know, I guess it's
like the is that even further than like you know they used They had that
on the most recent iteration, which again was ten years ago. But you
take on the role of one player. Okay, you start off in the
high school ranks. Gotch you move up from there. Well, he shared
this earlier that the Road to Glory feature now has a lot of different elements
to it to where you're not only you know, deciding which schools you're going
to consider and then make a commitment and all that stuff, but now like
that, and maybe this existed previously, but he accepted a party invite from
a teammate and the Road to Glory feature, and the coach found a photo
of him partying and it docked his trust points with his coach because of that,
and a classmate helped him cheat on a test and boosted his GPA,
but he got caught a week later. So like, you're going to be
tempted to make decisions like you really would in real life, and it could
potentially you know, you're taking a risk, right, are you're going to
get caught? Is it worth it? And again I'm just thinking, like
this isn't like this is insane. And then there is somebody who I guess
there are certain creators out there that do get early access even like before,
like they probably actually get a physical copy or some way to download it because
EA Sports wants them to promote to their millions of followers. Like gamers clearly
have a big following on the internet. Watching people play games is a big
deal, and I don't I never thought that would be the case. But
either way, there was somebody who got the early access and did like a
journey or what. I don't know. I don't know what the features are.
But they played out Louisville like they simulated Louisville season. And you know,
Tyler Shuck are very injury prone quarterback transfer he got hurt in the first
game and was out for the rest of the year. And I saw people
online acting as if that really happened, is if that was really Like it's
a video game. Everybody like it's not real. I mean people who I
know and like, like they're sharing it as if like, coh, what
are we gonna do? We lost our quarterback this year. I'm like,
it's a freaking video game. It's not real. Now. It being so
seemingly real actually does make it kind of cool. But can't we find the
you know, can't we? I mean I think it's pretty clear like this
is like, you know, it's it's fun in games. It's so realistic,
which makes it, you know, even more enjoyable. But this will
have nothing to do with what actually takes place on the football fields across the
country when college football starts before too long. So happy, you know,
Release day to everybody out there who got the early access. And you know,
I'm sure you're playing it right now, so shout out to you all
right, went in remind you we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk
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app. All right, So we got the email yesterday from the brass here
at iHeartMedia are our leaders, and you know it's to be expected, but
it also makes me kind of like, you know, the Trump stuff,
like I want to talk about it, but I don't know, like what's
the bar because you know, essentially everybody was just told old within the company.
From what I can gather is that, you know, just be you
know, emotions are high. Everybody, you know, be careful. Don't
let the emotions of what happened, regardless of which way you feel about it,
you know, don't let it. Don't let it have you say in
something that you might regret saying something the company could not defend you for saying.
If you know what, if you know what I mean, and to
be honest with you, and I'm being one thousand percent sincere, I don't
know if anybody on our platforms here at iHeart our family of stations that would
you know, even even I don't know if there's anybody that would say something
even in private, that would like be that would cause like such an uproar
just because that's just you know, that's the way. I mean again,
maybe I'm wrong, and I guess any you know, people can be offended
and try to cancel somebody for anything, but like we can talk about it
still, right, Like I actually think there's there's there's parts of this whole
situation that have nothing to do with politics that actually think are an interesting talking
point. But was it not another one of those moments where you sit there
and think, like is this real? I can't believe we're here. I
mean, like somebody shot at the former president of the United States who's now
attempting to be the president once again. Like those kind of things don't happen
very often, and it's getting of course, national coverage. It's the biggest
story on the planet. I'm not trying to act like people are saying it's
no big deal, but it is just kind of crazy that we are in
this era, especially with politics and the presidential situation, to where at the
end of the day, Are you really that surprised by anything anymore? Like,
is that fair to say? Yeah, that's fair and as surprising as
it was. I guess in the on, like, as soon as the
news broke that that is something that happened. He Trump gets shot at during
one of his rallies in Pennsylvania. I was over, I was down in
I guess it was Nolan Lake, somewhere down in one of the rivers down
in Kentucky Lakes and Kentucky hanging out with the in laws this weekend, and
somebody's got to do that exactly. Somebody came outside. We're all hanging out
on the deck, and soone's like, oh, Trump's just been shot,
and we're all like, are you joking? Because that's just just something.
If you say it, it's either you either hope you're you're dead serious about
because you don't joke about that kind of thing. This is kind of the
way you know, your brain works, I feel like, and we all
walk inside and you see moments ago and they're showing the replay live footage of
what happened at that rally in Pennsylvania, and it was very weird, and
you know from that moment on the amount of people we had that were with
us at the uh the location, tensions were high right there because we had
people who like Trump, people who disliked Trump, and it was just kind
of very uncomfortable being in that situation as that stuff is going on that I
hadn't even thought about that I was, you know, i'd heard about it.
We left my nephew's birthday party, and then uh, once I got
to uh meet some friends for dinner, I guess it had it had hit
the news and it had happened, and you know, kind of the aftermath.
And but yeah, if you if you are, I mean, because
clearly people have strong opinions about this election, both of the candidates, and
people have made it quite clear in less than forty eight hours or I guess
roughly forty eight hours that they have. People have strong opinions about what went
on Saturday. And I'll be honest with you, I don't know what to
believe when it comes to the to the guy to the kid who say kid,
but he's growing up. But you know the young guy who you know
is now dead, who tried to shoot Donald Trump, Like you see coverage
about this guy, his story, his political affiliation, and like, I'm
sure there are outlets that clearly catered to one side and they're gonna run with
it one way. The others are gonna run with it the exact opposite way.
And it's got me to the point where I really don't know what to
believe, And to be honest with you, I don't I don't really care.
I mean, he did something horrible that no one should ever do,
and he paid the ultimate price for it. He's dead, as you know.
That's that's what you should expect if you are somebody going through with what
he went through. But the things I wanted to discuss today are just,
you know again this, I think you can do this and it's not political.
There was a psychic who I've never really fully believed in psychics, you
know, I be honest with you, I've alway kind of felt like it's
nonsense. There was a psychic that four months ago was on some show talking
about the solar solar eclipse. Remember when the solar the solar eclipse was on
its way. It was a big story. Well this this psychic, and
I found me and I did a little internet slew thing. Today I found
the original video that was published on YouTube four months ago. This dude predicted
exactly what happened, like details and all. It's crazy. And also there
was something that that that Trump was highlighting on this graph, you know,
calling out something you know that you know he believes will help him in the
election. As far as basically just talking crap about Biden, which that's what
you do. I mean, I don't say that to be critical, that's
just that's part for the course in a presidential election. But he had to
move to show something, which if he didn't move, and he had he
not moved to like point to something on a board behind him, like the
shot probably would have hit him right in the head and killed him. Like
it's just some of that stuff's crazy. And then to see, you know,
the reaction from the country as far as like you know, fifty cent,
I don't know if you guys saw that he had a performance that night
and put Donald Trump's face on his Get Rich or Died Trying album cover,
Like it's just it's it's crazy, But Saturday, that's such a scary and
awful thing to where it's never gonna feel like, oh yeah, just another
day in America. That's not what I mean. But the level of like,
wow, can you believe that happened, you know, as awful as
it is, I kind of can. I'm not that shocked, So anyways,
I mean, if you think about it, that's one of the I
guess everybody's level of like crazy things that have happened, Like that's all.
It's all a matter of opinion from that one person. But if I don't
think it's crazy to say that somebody attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate who previously
was the president, Like, that's one of the to me, that's one
of the craziest things I could think of that's happened politically in my lifetime.
But yet again, the climate for where we are, the you know,
it's like it's like school shootings and just mass shootings where it's tragic and it's
never something that you're gonna hear and you know be like, oh, you
know whatever, like like it happens thirteen times, you know a day in
every state or something like that. But because something so something so awful has
happened enough times, like again, you're not that surprised. That's kind of
the way I am with this stuff. So anyways, we're not we trust
me, We're not going to spend the entire show talking about it. We're
probably not going to talk much about it at all. But it was a
humongous story and and you know, clearly there's there's a lot of thoughts on
it. All Right, some other things we'll get into today. The SEC
Football media Day's got started today. Sanky. Mister Stanky's out there, you
know, doing stanky things, dismissing expansion, you know, acting as if
the SEC is still the you know, acting as if now geography matters,
right, like he's he's puffing his chest that they're they're the league that I
guess can still claim that they're all regionally, you know, in the same
area. Which are they though, Like I don't know about Texas and Oklahoma.
I don't think Southeast. In fact, I don't think Southeast when it
comes to Texas, A and M Missouri or Arkansas, to be honest with
you, But you know, Sankie, I'll give him this, He's not
you know, he's not. He's not over the top, right, he
didn't really show a whole lot of energy, and you know, he's pretty
even keeled as far as how he speaks, but he's such a powerful figure
within the world of college athletics that when he speaks and shares opinions and he's
asked about expansion, people want to hear what he has to say. And
he didn't say a whole lot today, But with expansion still being a talking
point, there's some stuff I wanted to get into with that, And I
mean, I can't do it again because I you know, it wouldn't be
worth it, It'd be bad radio. I guess we do enough of that
anyway, Who cares? Why not just do more? But I'm I'm so
triggered, so triggered by people continuing to talk about Big twelve expansion as if
like six teams from the ACC are going to the Big twelve. I mean,
it's it's the it. I mean, I guess it's because it's July.
And obviously the ACC's future does look, you know, not great,
and just based off the fact that they're locked into their gor until twenty thirty
four and two schools are suing the league. The league's counter is suing like
it's a mess, but that doesn't change the facts, and I do have
We'll get into it later. Because I don't want to if I just start
rolling with it now, just you know, probably run right through the first
two commercial breaks, because it just it's that kind of thing. It triggers
me. But there is something I want to add that I haven't brought up
yet that you know, it makes even more sense as to why this is
just a non story and people need to leave it alone. So we'll get
into that a little bit later on. Also, strength the schedule talk,
you want to do it, let's do it today, because Louisville and Kentucky
no longer playing on the first week of the season or the third week.
You know, we now play the last game of the season, and I
hate it, but you know, there's nothing we can do about it as
long as this game is played. Still, it'll be played in the last
game of the season. But it's made it to where it's it's really hard
to talk about the game until you get to like week up because you're gonna
you know, you know, you're gonna play eleven more game. You'rena play
eleven games before you get a chance to see your rival. So one of
the things we've always done, but we've definitely turned it up a notch since
this game got moved at the end of the season, as we always because
because we can't prove it right, we can't. We can't actually see a
result as far as who's better until we get to the end of November.
So until then we just talk about strength to schedule. They ain't played nobody.
Kentucky's played a couple of MAC teams this year. They got Vandy and
they got the worst SEC West team on their schedule, and of course Louisville
schedule last year. It's all Kentucky fans talked about because it wasn't strong by
any means. But there's a pro football focus breakdown of strength to schedule that
I think we'll have some surprising results as far as who's schedules terrible, Who's
schedule's pretty tough. So we'll get into that and we'll have some fun today.
There's another list out there that everybody gets worked up about ESPN. I
mean, they're getting into the weeds with a lot of the other folks out
there on the internet as far as list season, right, just throw a
list out there, get people engaging with the content because everybody's got strong opinions
about certain things. But ESPN, I guess is now giving us their top
one hundred athletes since the year two thousand and today they released seventy five through
one hundred. I don't know when they're going to unveil the rest of them,
but you know, certainly some strong reactions to how this was put together
and where certain athletes ended up. Also, we're not that far away from
starting to talk about some college football wagering. I've got some good takeaways from
a great breakdown that I read earlier from the one of the only mister Brad
Powers, who's a great college football handicapper. But he's found some teams that
he has favored in eleven games this season, about ten teams or so.
He's also found team. He's also found four teams that he has favored in
every single game this year. And the reason I want to bring this up
is because it'll give you a chance to potentially look at the win totals for
some of these teams and say, hey, they're gonna be favored in eleven
of twelve games and their win total six and a half. We got a
hammer the over. I mean, you never know, but Brad Powers is
somebody that I do trust when it comes to that kind of stuff, So
we can get into that. He also has teams that are favored in zero
games this upcoming season, which means you probably would want to fade, so
we'll get into that. Also on the NBA Summer League, again, I
haven't watched a whole lot of it, but I did see what Reaed Shepherd's
doing, and he's gonna be a Rookie of the year. I mean,
summer league is not I mean more often than not, you should just ignore
if you see something good or bad from a guy in the summer league because
it really doesn't translate. But I watched Reed Shepherd at Kentucky and I've seen
him in the sum Like he's gonna be really, really, really good in
the NBA. I would not be shocked if maybe he isn't the best player
to come out of this draft, like ten years from now, but right
away, like I think he's gonna be ready to play. These two dudes
for France that are the first and second pick, they may be really productive
down the line. But you got to keep in mind even in the league
they played in prior to the NBA, I mean, it was all based
off potential. They weren't exactly lighting up the stat sheet or anything like that.
And I think Reed Shepherd, I don't know if he's going to average
twenty two and a half points a game like he has in his first two
Summer League games, but man, he's gonna be special. And it's weird
because I like him a lot, and I I, you know, it
makes me feel gross, which I shouldn't feel that way. He's I mean,
he's he's not. I mean, it's not as if like he ripped
my heart out as a Kentucky player. He played one season and happened to
be one of the worst seasons of all time for Louisville basketball. He didn't
make a deep tournament run, so it really isn't like I'm like, he
didn't experience anything crazy as far as success to Kentucky that would make him,
you know, be a thorn in my side or something like that. So
I don't know, this is you know, it's weird. It's unusual to
have, you know, to like a Kentucky player to that level. I
mean, I don't root against those guys been to get to the NBA because
I really don't care. But like, I'm kind of I gotta say it.
I'm kind of dancing around it, John, But I think I'm a
big Read Shepherd fan, Like I think I think I might need a jersey
or something that made me crossing the line. But this, this is unfamiliar
territory. I don't know how to I don't I don't know what to do.
You're just a cat, yeah, I mean no, I'm a rock
people, I'm a Rocket. It's all yeah, true, that's what it
is. I you know, Read Shepherd's always been five and I've always've actually
always been a diehard Rockets fan. So now you know, I've got no
choice but to, you know, cheer for for Reed Shepherd. So anyways,
we're loaded the rest of the way. Hopefully you guys will stick with
us. Some uvel recruiting updates too. I don't want to, you know,
act as if that's going to dominate the show, but some good news
for Jeff Brahma over the weekend, and a new local recruit here in basketball
that has picked up an offer from Pat Kelsey. So stick with us.
We're gonna take you up till six o'clock. Right here, it's coffee and
company, and we are fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety so UVEL
has just announced that when they go to Charlotte next week for the ACC football
Kickoff, which is the media day, they're going to be taking Tyler Shuck,
Ashton Jilotti, and Quincy Riley. No surprise that those will be the
three that are representing U of L. I mean, makes sense to take
your quarterback, especially when he's new to the league, and look in a
way, this is kind of a marketing thing for some of these players.
I mean, I don't know if they care. I mean, I think
they do, but it would never be a great look to say, Hey,
y'all really want to make a good impression with all the media members so
they vote for me for all conference. But I mean, it's natural to
want those kind of accomplishments. So I'm not really sure what we'll get from
next week's ACC kickoff. Usually media days are pretty underwhelming. But again,
the current drama and the i mean just the overall situation of the ACC could
lead to something. But I feel like we've been saying that for a couple
of years now. But again, you've got your two top brands in the
league both suing the League. The league counter suing. It's just, you
know, it's been a mess. But hey, whatever happens, we'll,
you know, we'll certainly react to it. All right. It's coffee and
company and we are fueled by Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Appreciate
you hanging out with us. Don't forget you could take us with you wherever
you go. Listen live on the Ouhurt Radio app Listen live at seven ninety
Louisville dot com. Also make sure you guys check out my friends over at
the Louisville Men's Clinic. Fellas, I'm telling you, there's a lot of
different services that they provide. They can help you in a major way,
and they've done it with me. The low testosterone issue that I had,
I was educated on and sort of how that happens and wasn't anything I did
wrong. It's just it's life. You know, you turn a certain age,
your natural testosterone starts to decrease, and it's not gonna it's gonna make
it's not gonna make you sick, it's not gonna You're not in danger,
but it could make it to where you know you are not having the same
workout you once, did you feel lethargic, You could be really tired.
You could start to just add some you know, some some fat because again,
testosterone. There's a lot of a lot of important things within your body
that needs testosterone. And when you don't have the level that you have that
you're supposed to have for your age, it can it can cause a lot
of symptoms. And again, these are symptoms that really just a lot of
folks out there, I believe, chalk it up to getting older. They
just assume, well, what are you gonna do, I'm getting older,
it's father time. Well it could be that, but it also could be
that just for whatever reason, your levels are way lower than they're supposed to
be. And that was me. And even if you feel like, hey,
you know, I'm okay, I'm tough, Well, why wouldn't you
want to feel better? I mean, if you get your levels check,
you tell them about some of your symptoms, you know, you may realize,
you know what, maybe they're right, maybe I do need a little
bit of a boost. So again, Louisvillman's clinic dot com is the website.
Give them a call. FABO two four four four thousand, all right,
so SEC kickoff, go. SEC media days going on right now.
They don't have a dumb name for theirs like the ACC does. And Sankie
was asked about the expansion, and I guess any interest if the league has
any. Obviously Texas Oklahoma are the newcomers this year, and this is a
small expansion compared to what the Big Ten is doing. They're adding quite a
few obviously the Big twelve they gobbled up quite a bit of the pack Pac
twelve before it completely died. And you know, the SEC could get anybody
they want, right Like, the SEC is the league that for the most
part, like there's not a team that would ever turn down an invitation of
that league unless you know you're in the Big Ten and you're you know,
you're already set. But I'll be honest with you, I think even there's
some Big Ten teams that if they got offered to go to the SEC and
they could do it, they might do it. So here's what he had
to say about expansion. He was asked about Florida State and Clemson specifically with
in the ACC, and I get why he asked the question, but he
was never going to answer that. He went on to say something along the
lines of, you know, he and the SEC meaning Sankie, they respect
the legal process and they're not actively recruiting. He reiterated the SEC's commitment to
maintaining its current composition and standards of excellence. And that's why when it comes
to the SEC and even the Big Ten, to be honest with you,
Big ten's different because Big ten could really like the Big Ten is now,
they just don't have any presence in the South, and they don't have any
presence in you know, I guess the Texas area, and I'm not really
sure they need it, right. They've got Oregon, Washington, and USC
and UCLA. Those are the four. Those are the four newcomers, right,
yes, and they're all coming this year, correct, Yes, So
you know they now can say that they go you know, from coast to
coast because they do, but they don't have anything in Florida or in the
South, and I'm not really sure they need it, right. Like if
you add two schools that are from you know, Florida, maybe it's Florida
State, maybe it's Miami, then maybe you go get Clemson. I mean,
that does give you a presence that you don't have and there could still
be some value there. And brands matter too, and those are schools that
absolutely will give you a brand bump and they would give you something that you
don't have, meaning a footprint in that region of the country. So I
still don't think these there's going to be any big expansion anytime soon from the
Big ten. But maybe I'm wrong. But the SEC I mean, who
could they like, what could they do that gives them, you know,
legitimate value in an expansion, meaning reaching way more than they're already reaching being.
I mean again, they could go to the they don't need to be
on the West coast, right, they don't need and who would they go
get? Right, Like anybody that was worth the damn? I feel like
from the western part of the country is it just got to the Big twelve
and really wasn't that valuable to begin with? Or I mean the Big ten
took the four schools that would actually give you something to LA schools, right,
I mean had Tewmungus in that market, and then the Pacific Northwest,
which you know Oregon and Washington, those are those schools have a big alumni
base and there's a lot of people in that region of the country. So
I just I kind of feel like the SEC they would be expanding just to
expand, and I don't think there's any reason to do that. You have,
I mean, I think the only team left out there that would truly
make a massive impact ratings, I you know, him to say go ahead
Notre Dame. Yep, Notre Dame. And it's not necessarily just because obviously
they're in the North or like you know, more so the Midwest than any
other SEC team. But they're a program that they have fans who just watch
them wherever. Oh. Yeah, they've always been so exclusive to NBC that
they've always kind of been on their own little island. And if you can
snatch up that market, that's something that obviously hasn't been tapped into yet.
Yeah, and either of those two, I think with Notre Dame, they've
been so consistent to not have any interest in joining any league, and you
know, the ACC is dumb enough to keep letting them, you know,
get away with it. They benefit from us in every other sport, but
they don't. They don't join the league in football now, they do play
a certain amount of ACC teams a year, which not to gas up Notre
Dame and their value. But that does help, I mean, it just
does. I mean that having Notre Dame on your schedule for Louisville like they
have this year and even last like that's you know, they're required to play
a certain amount of ACC teams and when you get Notre Dame, you usually
get a chance to get a big victory that you wouldn't get if it's replaced
by just about any other ACC team. But here's where I feel like Notre
Dame may at you know, they know that with the way they're currently independent,
they'll never be able to host a playoff game and if they make it,
because they don't have the ability to win a league title, so that
puts them at a disadvantage. Now, since this was even being discussed,
meaning before the playoff expansion was approved, everybody around Notre Dame claim that they're
totally fine with that. They're not going to sacrifice their independence to get a
home game. They could still get in at you know, the fifth spot
or something like that, and if they do, you know, they'll not
be at home, but they didn't think it was worth it. So once
if we get five years or so into this level of the expanded playoff and
Notre Dame feels as if they truly have, like you know, been suffering
because of their independence, then maybe they would consider and any lead. I
mean they would, they could, they could pick where they want to go.
The Big Ten would would take them in a heartbeat, the SEC would
take them in a heart beat. I mean, any league would take them.
So, you know, I think you're right. I think that's the
one school that clearly would add value to any league just because they're so different.
And for those you know, two people have hit up the text line
saying nobody's going to expand, just to expand, and then mentioning that the
ACC did it with Texas, with with you know, SMU and in Texas
and also the two West Coast schools, which is Stanford and cal And I
mean, it's quite clear why they did that. It wasn't, you know,
just because they felt I mean, those schools didn't really do anything to
add value other than potentially just putting you well, I'll take I'll take a
step back because I've been corrected on this. The ACC is more valuable by
reaching the state of Texas and to the West Coast, but it's not like
a substantial thing to where like, oh wow, the worry of you know,
being so behind everybody else when it comes to granted rights deals. It's
okay now because we have you know, we have these three schools, but
it is at least something. However, the reason that Jim Phillips and his
crew whoever's working alongside him with the ACC, the reason that they added those
teams is because of the current ongoing fight that they have with Clemson and Florida
State. Because as much as everybody complains about the twenty thirty four and when
I say complain, I'm including myself, because it's crazy that you would agree
to a deal that there's no there's no re up for that long until twenty
thirty four. So the ESPN, of course they are you know that they
own the ACC network, that is the partner that the ACC has. Their
network is under the ESPN umbrella. If the league falls short of I think
it's fifteen members, then ESPN has a clause where they can they can renegotiate
with you and if you if you would have lost Clemson in Florida State and
somebody else because they were able to get out of the Grand of Rights deal
somehow, and you didn't have fifteen members minimum, ESPN would say, all
right, we're gonna pay you like substantially less now because as much as you've
been complaining about being left behind, you're actually not even worth what we're paying
you now because you've lost those two huge brands. So this may you're gonna
continue to see that happen. Right, if there's other guys, if people
find a way out, they're going to add schools to the league so they
never fall below fifteen, because if they do, that could actually be the
ultimate ending of the league. This may be a stupid question, but based
on that reasoning, why would they not have brought in Oregon State and Washington
State along as well, just for the you know, the sake of numbers.
Well, at that point, I mean, well, those two schools,
I don't I don't know. I was gonna say those two those two
schools I wouldn't even say have the value that Stanford Cal and even SMU have.
But at the time, they'd already like the way it played out with
the PAC twelve like you would have done two expands. Essentially, you would
have expanded to even though they're both packed twelve like they settled with those three
that they added, which all the way, I guess SMUs from coming from
the American Conference. But like you weren't, No, no conference is out
recruiting those two schools, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, so they
were just left over. So then you like it would I mean, one,
you wouldn't get better, There would be no value in doing that,
and it would be a clear act of desperation just just just to have more.
It would be the ultimate expanding, just to expand. I mean,
it would give you, I guess, a little bit more security that if
a few teams do leave, you won't fall below that number. But the
PAC twelve didn't blow up until like a few months ago, Like you know
what I'm saying, Like those like it wasn't It wasn't because it wasn't a
few months ago. But like, well, I'm trying to think of if
you were in real time, Stanford and Call as much as I don't really
know, they don't fit, they don't make a lot of sense, and
they've not been good at anything in a long time than you know, well,
they've been good in the non revenue sports, especially Stanford. But like
I guess I would say they give you more value because you're in California.
Stanford's in the Bay area. Cal is in Berkeley, which I'm not really
sure exactly where that is, but like, if you're going to at least
try to sell us that it's about reaching more people in an area you're not
in, I would go to California rather than rural Oregon State or Oregon in
Washington and nobody would want those schools. Like no, they are honestly two
of the least attractive former Power five schools out there. No events to them,
but like that's just like they don't do anything. They're I mean,
they're significantly smaller than the state schools that are there. All right, let's
get to a quick break. We'll come back here on the other side.
Wrap at the three o'clock hour, don't forget coming up around four o'clock.
We'll talk a little strength to schedule because I think Pro Football Focus they're analytics.
As far as strength to schedule for the upcoming season, I think the
results may surprise you as far as Kentucky strength to schedule, Louisville strength to
schedule, and we love to yell about that, right they played nobody.
That's just what you hear from from both sides pretty often throughout the season because
we got to wait till the end of the year to actually, you know,
settle it on the field. All right, it's coffee and company again,
we're fuel about Thorn's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I think
Nick Saban is going to be a pretty popular analyst for the SEC network.
He I mean, I don't think he was ever truly like a villain in
college football. I mean, he was just really good, and he was
pretty sure with the media often and didn't seem like the most pleasant guy.
But you know, I think he got a little bit more you know,
easy going as he got a little older in his career. But certainly one
of the best coaches to ever coach the game. In fact, I think
you can make the case that he is in fact the very best. But
that did not get him to be able to bypass the credential process at the
SEC kickoff. Apparently he tried to get in and they told him he couldn't
because you know, he needed a credential. Oh it's a little different.
I've never won a credential in my life, and as always for seventeen years
able to get in the SEC media day without a credential. I had to
go back to the room today and get my credential to get in. So
that's one of the biggest changes I see. It's not like it used to
be. So can you imagine being the SEC staffer that had to tell Saban,
hey, sorry, I know who you are, but you've got to
have a credential just like everybody else. I don't know why, but for
some reason, when I heard that SoundBite, I went back to thinking of
Rick Patino if he was in the situation. Do you think he would have
gone in without his credential anyway? Or would he have gone back for it
if he was doing media. Yeah, I think he would have. I'll
put it this way. I think he probably would not. I don't know
if he'd have gone back for it. He probably would have gotten some kind
of exception to where somebody gave him like a temporary one that just made him
compliant, if you know what I mean, Like he was he had some
type of identification badge on a lanyard that that you know, stated that with
that, he's allowed to be wherever he wants to be. As far as
media coverage, I think the old Rick Patino would have would have not mean
he would have, I mean he probably wouldn't mean you wouldn't even be able
to get to Rick to tell him he can't be here without the credential,
Like that's just how Rick's a larger than life kind of guy, and I
guess so is Saban. But yeah, I think he's going to be really,
really, really good as an analyst. And there's no doubt about it.
His opinion what I think, He'll give you honest opinions. He'll shoot
you straight. He's not going to, you know, just sit up there
and you know, spew nonsense that he doesn't believe, which unfortunately has kind
of become what a lot of analysts end up doing, it seems. But
uh, he's going to give you his honest opinion, and you feel like
his opinion is super valuable because again we're talking about somebody who is maybe the
best college football coach of all time. I did. I don't know why,
but I do like the thought of Texas being humbled. You know,
I'm not an SEC fan by any means, and I know it's the best
conference in the country and it's really not close. But you know, Texas
is consistent, and what I mean by that is they're consistently oblivious to the
fact that they've never actually produced results that would warrant the attitude that they have
about themselves. I mean Nick Saban, this is what he had to say
on Texas. You know what kind of tickles me is all these people asking
these questions about how Texas always ran the conference they were in. They're not
going to run the SEC. Yeah, there's a whole lot of a people
in a lot of places in so I can forget all about it. Yeah,
they'll be a good team and a great program and Startcle'll do a great
job. But that's not going to be a problem. I haven't heard anybody
really say Texas is going to run the SEC, and I think honestly,
timing is on their side. We talked about this a few weeks ago.
For Texas to be making the jump to the SEC, it really couldn't have
happened at a better time for them because they actually are coming off of a
breakthrough season where they did finally punch their ticket to the college football Playoff.
They've got their quarterback returning, who's really really good quinn Ewers. Obviously Sark
has done a good job there, so they are in a good spot.
But even with that, they still probably are going to be, you know,
in that second tier. Maybe not this year because again they're good,
but I think that top tier right now is Georgia and then you know,
we'll see what we'll see about Bama after saving But I wouldn't be shocked if
they're still really really good there this year. But this notion that Texas dominated
and ran their league, they bullied their league. They were the bully of
the Big twelve when it comes to like, you know, how things are
gonna work, right, They've got more influence when it comes to that league
than anybody else them in Oklahoma. Just like in the ACC the Carolina schools,
we can all act like everybody's equal, we're not those schools and what
they do and what they want matters way more than anybody else because they are
the Ogs and league headquarters and you know, the good old boys in Carolina
right back o Road. But when it comes to Texas and Oklahoma, how
about this stat for you, John, You ready to be blown away?
Do it? Texas and Oklahoma only won eleven of the last twenty seven Big
Twelve titles before leaving for the SEC collectively, that's pretty crazy. I mean
that tells you like they didn't they didn't rule the Big Twelve no at all.
I mean twenty seven years, that's a long time. It's a long
time. So you know, Oklahoma, I think it's really kind of a
like to me, I have no clue Oklahoma may end up because what Oklahoma's
gonna tell us? I think unless they're like really unless they're really good this
year unexpectedly, I don't think aybody thinks they're gonna stink. But like if
Oklahoma comes in and they get kind of humbled a little bit in there,
you know, middle of the pack, that'll be a good look on the
SEC. But if Oklahoma comes in and like, you know, they're handling
everybody outside of Georgia, Bama, Texas and you know, like everybody,
because I think they're gonna be a good study as far as the rest of
the SEC, because there's so many teams in the SEC that really don't accomplish
anything substantial. But they end up seven and five, six and six,
But because they play in the SEC, they're viewed as well. If they
were in this league, they'd have three more wins, And to be honest
with you, we'll never know, right, but I always thought that they've
not deserved the benefit of the doubt whenever they get it. Like last year,
the SEC did not do well in non conference games, and I think
that should always factor in when you get the benefit of out. If you
beat up on each other in conference play, that's where you really have to
factor in what you did against the other conferences, because beating up on each
other and everybody kind of having the same record doesn't mean everybody's great and it's
just too tough to win because everybody's good. It could mean everybody kind of
stinks or everybody's kind of average. All right, we got to run two
more hours left, so stick with us. Four o'clock hour on the way.
We'll talk some strength to schedule. We'll give you some updates on recruiting.
We've got that as well. And I'm gonna give you the warning when
we talk about the Donald Trump stuff. As always, it's not gonna be
political at all. But I just cannot believe and maybe I'm maybe I'm the
goof that's getting, you know, getting got here, and this is all
fake news. But there is a psychic who four months ago, whenever he
was talking about the solar eclipses, he threw out some crazy things and visions
that he has seen and one of them was exactly what happened Saturday, and
it freaks me out. Let's get freaky