Speaker 1: Seven nine day. Now here's Nick Coffee.
Speaker 2: All right, don't forget, we've got you covered. Game day.
Speaker 2: On Saturday, Louisville and pitt kickoff at four o'clock, which
Speaker 2: means we will get our pregame show started at three.
Speaker 2: The Louisville Football Pregame Show is presented by Pillow, Windows
Speaker 2: and Doors of Central Kentucky and Jefferson Animal Hospital. And
Speaker 2: then whatever happens, which I don't know what the hell's
Speaker 2: gonna happen, but we'll react to it. That's what I
Speaker 2: do know. We'll do that on the Louisville Football postgame Show,
Speaker 2: presented by Alex R. White, Alex R. Whitelawyer's so Distracted
Speaker 2: driver dot com. All right, let's bring him in, mister
Speaker 2: Kent Spencer from Whas eleven joins us here, Kent. I think,
Speaker 2: regardless of how you watched the Louisville Stanford game, whether
Speaker 2: you're a Stanford fan, a Louisville fan, a casual observer,
Speaker 2: there's no way if anybody was watching the last ten
Speaker 2: minutes they really felt like Louisville was gonna lose that way.
Speaker 2: But they did just kind of walk me through your
Speaker 2: reaction of kind of seeing uh an implosion that really,
Speaker 2: I mean, it takes a skill, I think to be
Speaker 2: able to lose in that way.
Speaker 3: Well, I want to I want to tell you the
Speaker 3: story of how it all went down for me. Okay,
Speaker 3: So Saturday night, I start watching the game at the house,
Speaker 3: but my wife and daughters are going to go to
Speaker 3: a play that night.
Speaker 4: So me and the seven year old boy, we got us.
Speaker 3: We got ourselves a guys night and I got us,
Speaker 3: I got us a day plan. So I think I
Speaker 3: watched the first half at the house, and then at halftime,
Speaker 3: we drive and we go to Gusses for dinner and
Speaker 3: they've got the game on there, so we're watching.
Speaker 4: We're watching the second half. We're while we're having dinner.
Speaker 4: Then we leave and then I take my man to
Speaker 4: main event. We're going to have ourselves a.
Speaker 3: Night walk in. First thing we go, it's laser tag.
Speaker 3: Let's let's let's get you in some late tag.
Speaker 2: Buddy.
Speaker 3: I don't think he's ever done it before, Like, let's
Speaker 3: go play some laser tag.
Speaker 4: And so we go into laser Tag. Louis's up seven.
Speaker 3: They were up fourteen, now they're up seven.
Speaker 4: A few minutes to go.
Speaker 3: Whatever I go into laser Tag, we come out of
Speaker 3: laser Tag. Stamford is celebrating on the field after the
Speaker 3: walk off field goal. You can imagine my shock in
Speaker 3: all of this, what in the world happened? And then
Speaker 3: obviously I watched the replay, but it was that quick.
Speaker 3: It literally took a game of laser Tag to go
Speaker 3: from up seven to a walk off field goal.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you consider the timeline, I mean, I swear,
Speaker 2: I mean, you would think, how in Okay, how did
Speaker 2: what happened? What transpired where they could win the game
Speaker 2: in this fashion with the last second field goal. And again,
Speaker 2: you know, it makes sense if you watched it, but
Speaker 2: it'd be hard for anybody to believe it until you
Speaker 2: actually saw it with your own eyes. So uh, you know,
Speaker 2: I thought Jeff Brown, as far as the things that
Speaker 2: he said on on Monday at the press conference, you know,
Speaker 2: it was pretty typical of what we get from him
Speaker 2: each week. But you know, I felt like you could
Speaker 2: just tell, I mean, that's probably a loss that might
Speaker 2: be up there. Maybe it is the worst loss he's
Speaker 2: probably ever experienced as a coach. I may none of
Speaker 2: them are good, but again, I'm still days later and
Speaker 2: disbelieve how that happened. It seemed as if the things
Speaker 2: that have held this team back at times this year,
Speaker 2: they all kind of reappeared in that second half and
Speaker 2: worse than ever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean, look, I think it truly comes
Speaker 3: down to this. And I don't know what I've been
Speaker 3: in these you know, I've been in moments before and
Speaker 3: I've never lost my head like this. But how in
Speaker 3: the world And it doesn't even seem like it was
Speaker 3: it was a violent play or anything like that.
Speaker 4: Like, how in the world do you tackle a kid
Speaker 4: out of.
Speaker 3: Bounds, hold his leg and you continue to hold the
Speaker 3: leg and then you just get up and pushy, Like
Speaker 3: what in the world makes you think that's a good idea?
Speaker 2: How can that even I mean, even if you want
Speaker 2: to do it, How could it happen to where you
Speaker 2: can claim you're surprised when you get clearly a penalty
Speaker 2: that's gonna put your team in tough in such a
Speaker 2: tough spot. Like you know, they don't practice like you've played,
Speaker 2: you played football, I'd never have you played in college?
Speaker 2: How can what is the root of a team being undisciplined?
Speaker 2: Because you know the coaches are out there coaching these
Speaker 2: guys to make these kind of mistakes, and you know,
Speaker 2: when they make those mistakes, they clearly emphasize you got
Speaker 2: to clean it up. But like sometimes teams just can't
Speaker 2: get right, and if there was one way to fix it,
Speaker 2: snap your fingers, then you know, obviously coaches would do that.
Speaker 2: But it's just I've never seen a team like Louisville
Speaker 2: just at times. It's again, I think their mistakes, clearly
Speaker 2: they make more than most, but they're not like the
Speaker 2: most penalized team in the country. But you could argue
Speaker 2: that some of the mistakes they make that that are undisciplined.
Speaker 2: I think they come at the worst possible times.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think Nick Saban said it best, and
Speaker 3: he's probably not the only one who's ever said it.
Speaker 3: You know, penalties like that are selfish penalties. Like when
Speaker 3: you do something like that, like you just being selfish.
Speaker 3: You're just thinking about yourself, like either I need to
Speaker 3: prove a point to this guy or this or this,
Speaker 3: Like you're not thinking about anything else. You're just thinking
Speaker 3: about you, And that's a self that Those are selfish penalties,
Speaker 3: and that's what we saw on Saturday night. Now, look,
Speaker 3: I get you know, the it was terrible timing for
Speaker 3: Quincy Riley to jump off sides, but he's at least
Speaker 3: trying to make a you know, like in that movement,
Speaker 3: you're trying to make a play.
Speaker 4: You got to be smarter than that.
Speaker 2: It's still something you can't do, but it's it's understandable
Speaker 2: that it happened. I mean, it's a mistake, but yeah,
Speaker 2: it happens.
Speaker 4: But see, like the thing about it is is like
Speaker 4: where they were and.
Speaker 3: Extra five yards doesn't kill him. The extra fifteen is
Speaker 3: the one that gave him a chance to even think about.
Speaker 4: A field goal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like that's what it the scenario to where you
Speaker 2: get there with them kicking that field goal. I mean again,
Speaker 2: all right, we got one penalty, but that didn't moveing
Speaker 2: up enough. Let's and again, I don't even to make
Speaker 2: the joke that they were trying to do it, because
Speaker 2: that's insane. But I'm telling you, man, if there was,
Speaker 2: if there was a certain way to make it happen
Speaker 2: the way it did at the end, I think Louisville
Speaker 2: would have fought. I mean you could convince the Louisville
Speaker 2: followed that script, you know to a te so ten
Speaker 2: games in I youan know you are who you are.
Speaker 2: I mean, I could I think Louisville could come out
Speaker 2: and you know, play well enough to be Pittsburgh. I
Speaker 2: could also see him coming out being in a tight
Speaker 2: game because of mistakes and maybe they come up short.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's tough to know what we're gonna get here,
Speaker 2: but I mean, any any any guesses. I mean, I
Speaker 2: guess I'll ask you to predict the future here because
Speaker 2: I could see it being a lot of different results
Speaker 2: on Saturday, and I have no clue which one it's
Speaker 2: going to be.
Speaker 3: I think sometimes I think, you know, as crazy as
Speaker 3: this sounds, to be honest with you, Nick, like I
Speaker 3: think whatever you're feeling that week, it feels like they
Speaker 3: do the opposite that Saturday. Like nobody's really feeling good
Speaker 3: about the outlook of the season at this point in
Speaker 3: time and so and I think that was almost like
Speaker 3: the same feeling with the Clemson game coming up a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago, and they ended up playing really
Speaker 3: well that week. You know, It's almost like the ebbs
Speaker 3: and flows of a season. Like I think people were
Speaker 3: feeling a lot better about, you know, going into that
Speaker 3: SMU game that didn't go so well, even maybe the
Speaker 3: you know, like the Miami game.
Speaker 4: And by the way, those are two pretty good teams.
Speaker 4: But uh, you know, like the Clemson game.
Speaker 3: Like I said, and you know, I remember you asked
Speaker 3: me on the show, how shocked would you be if
Speaker 3: they won down in Death Valley? And I think I
Speaker 3: said eight, just because it was at night. Nobody ever
Speaker 3: really wins down there all this stuff, And I mean
Speaker 3: like they handled it Clemson.
Speaker 2: So yeah, probably beating more than a score indicates.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we know, really good football is in that locker
Speaker 3: room and it's it's on that sidelines, but you just
Speaker 3: don't see it consistent enough. And that's a I think
Speaker 3: that's a problem. And so I think that they could
Speaker 3: play really really well these last two weeks, but you
Speaker 3: just never know who's.
Speaker 4: Going to show up on Saturday.
Speaker 3: But I'll say this, I mean, you know, when you
Speaker 3: have the playmakers that they have on offense, they've always
Speaker 3: got a chance.
Speaker 2: Yep, no doubt about it.
Speaker 4: All.
Speaker 2: Right, let's switch heres here to Kentucky. They had their
Speaker 2: Murray State game last week, obviously a big time win
Speaker 2: for them. Now they head to Texas and obviously the
Speaker 2: Governor's Cup just a week away, did can? I mean,
Speaker 2: is it is it possible to know if Kentucky took
Speaker 2: steps forward or backwards? I mean, I think those games,
Speaker 2: even when they're played in week one or week two,
Speaker 2: maybe week three, it's tough to know. But in week eleven,
Speaker 2: it just feels a week ten. It just feels kind
Speaker 2: of weird. And I'm sure there were plays where they
Speaker 2: look great sometimes plays where they didn't look great, but
Speaker 2: I think it's tough to know of in that game
Speaker 2: against that kind of opponent, especially that time of the year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think they just I think they're just kind
Speaker 3: of on the same road as they were before the game.
Speaker 3: You know, I watched, you know, some of that game
Speaker 3: and and Brock Vandergriff, you know, through some really poor
Speaker 3: deep balls that to guys that were wide open, one
Speaker 3: that should have been picked was a touchdown, and one
Speaker 3: that actually was picked.
Speaker 4: And so yeah, that was pretty bad. You know, Yeah,
Speaker 4: he made.
Speaker 3: Some he made some some good throws, but you know,
Speaker 3: it's a it's against a really really bad defense. I
Speaker 3: don't think that you take too much away from that
Speaker 3: game whatsoever. You know, they're just kind of going down
Speaker 3: this this this road that they're they're traveling on where
Speaker 3: I don't think anybody thinks even though mathematically they're still
Speaker 3: in it. I don't think anybody thinks they're going to
Speaker 3: get it done at Texas on Saturday and thinks that,
Speaker 3: you know that their their bid to go to another
Speaker 3: bowl game goes up in flames in that one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if you are, let me just ask
Speaker 2: you to put yourself in Mark Shoes's position here, as
Speaker 2: you've you've got a really, you know, a really small
Speaker 2: percentage chance of getting to a bowl game. You kind of,
Speaker 2: you know, the season's kind of a wash cutter bowlie.
Speaker 2: You know, apparently he looked pretty good at times. I
Speaker 2: mean stoops wanting to still go with brock Deeth, I mean,
Speaker 2: would you do the same thing? And do you think
Speaker 2: it's more so because he just thinks that they are
Speaker 2: going to beat Texas. The the more experienced quarterback, even
Speaker 2: though it's not about that much, gives you a better chance.
Speaker 2: Because it wouldn't have shocked me to hear that they
Speaker 2: might they might have chose to go in a different
Speaker 2: direction this week.
Speaker 3: I would have been I honestly would have been shocked.
Speaker 3: And here's the here's the two reasons why is cutter bowllie.
Speaker 3: I I don't know what the future holds for him
Speaker 3: as far as like, I don't know how good he's
Speaker 3: gonna be. I mean, he showed definitely, he shows flashes
Speaker 3: and he throws a really good ball in the second
Speaker 3: half against against that Murray State team. But I don't
Speaker 3: know if i'd give him his first start on the
Speaker 3: road and a yeah in All Texas against the third
Speaker 3: ranked team in the country, who right.
Speaker 2: Has a real has a whole lot to play for
Speaker 2: in this game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And then by the way, the following week, I
Speaker 3: don't know if I give him a start in the
Speaker 3: rivalry game against Louisville when you're trying to keep the governor's.
Speaker 2: Cut and he's from you know, he could be emotionally
Speaker 2: charged in that one. You know, I made a fool
Speaker 2: of myself because I just because of all these transfers
Speaker 2: typically are guys that have been on their sixth or
Speaker 2: seventh tier. I'm just assuming Vandergrift's gone after this year,
Speaker 2: and he might be, but like he's young, this is
Speaker 2: his first time starting, so yeah, that makesh make a
Speaker 2: little more since why they wouldn't make a change. I
Speaker 2: didn't even mean it to where they were going to
Speaker 2: be benching Vandr Griffin just moving on from him. But you know,
Speaker 2: maybe give somebody else a shot who you know could
Speaker 2: potentially spark the offense. But to your point, putting him
Speaker 2: in those two games back to back would be would
Speaker 2: be a tough ask.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And honestly, in those moments, like, not only is
Speaker 3: it really not fair to that kid, it's not fair
Speaker 3: to a lot of you know, your older kids who
Speaker 3: have a couple games left to go, Like, give those
Speaker 3: give those guys the best chance you have to win,
Speaker 3: because if you do open it up in the spring
Speaker 3: and you have a true quarterback competition, and then you know,
Speaker 3: you've got fall camp and then if it fully ends up,
Speaker 3: you know, being the guy going into next year. I mean,
Speaker 3: I haven't looked at their schedule right off hand, but
Speaker 3: I'm sure they probably have a couple layups to start
Speaker 3: the season with.
Speaker 2: All right, let let's let's talk basketball when it comes
Speaker 2: to Mark, actually gonna I'm gonna challenge Ken Spencer here,
Speaker 2: are you ready for a challenge for Mark Pope? I'd
Speaker 2: challenge you to tell me one thing that is not
Speaker 2: gone really good or damn near perfect for him since
Speaker 2: he got the job.
Speaker 4: Uh, yeah, I can't.
Speaker 2: It's a tough ask, isn't it.
Speaker 3: I got well, I mean, and and you could even
Speaker 3: like look at look at like recruiting. He they've done
Speaker 3: really well on the recruiting trail as far as high
Speaker 3: school high school kids.
Speaker 4: It also like, how nice was it that you.
Speaker 3: Had two kids ranked in the top twenty five from
Speaker 3: basically grew up right down the street from where your
Speaker 3: office is.
Speaker 4: Yep, And then they did it? You know.
Speaker 3: Then he then he put this team together and then
Speaker 3: everything so far in the season, and also they look
Speaker 3: so good, he says, almost like he says all the
Speaker 3: right things almost all the time, like he handles everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been it's been a heck of a start
Speaker 2: for him. I mean, he's clearly gonna lose games this
Speaker 2: year and they're probably not going to win the national
Speaker 2: chap and shipped. But you know, I got to say,
Speaker 2: I think they have enough talent to you know, if
Speaker 2: they play well, they could they could probably be just
Speaker 2: about anybody. I mean, again, they're gonna have games where
Speaker 2: they're underdogs and they're gonna lose games, but you know,
Speaker 2: I kind of feel like so far, or they've had
Speaker 2: one really big test and they look really good. I
Speaker 2: don't even think they play. I mean we talked about
Speaker 2: it last week. It wasn't like you felt like they
Speaker 2: did something that they couldn't recreate again to knock off
Speaker 2: this great duke team with Cooper Flag. So you know,
Speaker 2: they're they're they're really good and I didn't expect them
Speaker 2: to be bad. But when I watched them play, I mean,
Speaker 2: not only do you feel like they have enough talent,
Speaker 2: but I'm watching basketball and this isn't really a shot
Speaker 2: at cow but it's just you know, it's the truth.
Speaker 2: I mean, you felt like you could see a lot
Speaker 2: of future talent or future NBA players on its teams.
Speaker 2: But you watch them, you think, Okay, what are they doing?
Speaker 2: What what's their strategy? This doesn't this is kind of
Speaker 2: hard to watch. This is ugly basketball, and with Pope
Speaker 2: it's the exact opposite. I mean, not only is it
Speaker 2: is it proven to be successful to play that way
Speaker 2: if you've got the pieces, but from a fan standpoint,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's got to be the funnest team
Speaker 2: they've watched in a long time.
Speaker 4: Well, and I.
Speaker 3: Don't know if you saw the video that the that
Speaker 3: Kentucky put out called the Journey that it was like
Speaker 3: a it was a long video going into the duke game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, where he predicted what Flag was going to do. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was.
Speaker 4: And he did it and they got the turnover.
Speaker 3: Like you know, I think you know for a lot
Speaker 3: of Kentucky fans who had criticism of of Caliperry, like
Speaker 3: there it is right there, like that's that's just that's
Speaker 3: the visual proof of like what you may not have
Speaker 3: known or what you think and all this other stuff.
Speaker 4: You know, right there.
Speaker 3: The one one of the pushbacks Nick that I would
Speaker 3: have on on what people would say, and I would
Speaker 3: lump about Kentucky.
Speaker 4: And Louisville in this in this mix.
Speaker 3: So I've heard a lot of people and they talk
Speaker 3: about that they've talked about like the Kentucky duke game,
Speaker 3: and they go down this path and they're like, well
Speaker 3: they're older and I and I, like I.
Speaker 4: Said, I'd love Louisville in into this as well.
Speaker 3: They've got older guys who've been in the fight before,
Speaker 3: they're they're much closer to their ceiling than some of
Speaker 3: these young teams and and lay out like a duke
Speaker 3: for example, or or whatever.
Speaker 4: And I remember thinking, like.
Speaker 3: Like I understood that, like last year when you had
Speaker 3: a Purdue you know, at the beginning of the year,
Speaker 3: or remember years ago, remember when Wisconsin had the they
Speaker 3: had the back to back Final four teams, and they
Speaker 3: ran it back the next year, and it was pretty
Speaker 3: much everybody like I get that with those teams. But
Speaker 3: when you've constructed and you've got a completely new staff
Speaker 3: and you've got a completely new roster, Yes, they're older players,
Speaker 3: but these guys have never played in the systems in
Speaker 3: which they're playing in right now, and they've never.
Speaker 4: Played together before. So to say that like Kentucky.
Speaker 3: And Louisville are near their ceilings, I think it's I
Speaker 3: think that's pretty lazy in my opinion that I think
Speaker 3: both of these teams still have a long way to
Speaker 3: go to figure everything out and and get it going. Yeah,
Speaker 3: they're they're older, and their bodies more you know, mature
Speaker 3: and stuff like that, but there's a I think for
Speaker 3: both schools, like in both teams, like, I think there's
Speaker 3: a lot more lesson to take there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and the Tennessee game was you know, tough to
Speaker 2: see for for Louisville, fans, and certainly was a rough
Speaker 2: game for coach Kelsey in his second career game here
Speaker 2: at Louisville. But you know that that's when it really
Speaker 2: hit me. You know what, this isn't good, but it
Speaker 2: makes total sense. There was no scenario where they could
Speaker 2: replicate what they were going to see, not only from
Speaker 2: what Tennessee does defensively, but just like you know, in
Speaker 2: that moment, and you learn a lot about each other
Speaker 2: when you experience a variety of things like adversity, like
Speaker 2: you know, having to really you know, be tested and challenged,
Speaker 2: and there was really no way to Like again, Kentucky,
Speaker 2: they passed their test, but that was the first time
Speaker 2: those guys had ever really been challenged in any way.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that's a good point because you're right, I
Speaker 2: think you hear what Hey, these guys, you know, they're
Speaker 2: all veterans. They shouldn't have to be taught anything. But
Speaker 2: it's it's not about teaching them something. It's about gelling
Speaker 2: and developing chemistry and coaches. It's I mean, I think
Speaker 2: that's one thing Pat Kelsey would probably tell you is
Speaker 2: that he knows what he wants to do from a
Speaker 2: stylistic standpoint, but he's still learning who all works together
Speaker 2: against different looks because again, you know know until you
Speaker 2: get out there and you play different teams. So with that,
Speaker 2: I guess I'll leave this as my last question. Who
Speaker 2: do you think, from what you've seen, would be the
Speaker 2: best lineup for Pat Kelsey? Which is I think a
Speaker 2: tough ask because I think there's a lot of guys
Speaker 2: that you feel like are kind of the same level player.
Speaker 2: But if you had to put five guys on the
Speaker 2: floor for Pat Kelsea right now, get you know, with
Speaker 2: everybody healthy, I know two guys aren't. Who would who?
Speaker 2: Who do you think would give Louisville the best chance
Speaker 2: to beat a really good team?
Speaker 3: So we're gonna make sure And then you know, there's
Speaker 3: so many guys, so I'm going to make sure that
Speaker 3: I'm going to go slow on this one.
Speaker 4: You got a commercial break probably.
Speaker 3: Coming up, but definitely definitely Chucky Yepburn, Definitely Terrence Edwards Jr.
Speaker 4: I would put definitely James Scott in the game.
Speaker 2: Would you bring Prior off the bench like like Kelsey's.
Speaker 3: Doing, I don't know, If I I don't know, I
Speaker 3: would probably start Prior same here and I would so
Speaker 3: I probably have him as as four, and then I
Speaker 3: like rain Smith coming off the bench. But I do
Speaker 3: feel like like if you're if you just need five
Speaker 3: on the floor, Like I feel like him being a
Speaker 3: threat really helps you.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he understands spacing and he's somebody that they
Speaker 2: know they have to account for. Clearly, everybody on the
Speaker 2: team is going to have the green light, but he
Speaker 2: would be the one that on the scout they're more
Speaker 2: shading him, So I would I would actually have gone
Speaker 2: with the same exact lineup. To be honest with you, Okay.
Speaker 4: Good, good good.
Speaker 3: I feel like I'm but but I was just thinking like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, you could put Headley in there, but like
Speaker 3: in the stretch, in the in the in that crunch
Speaker 3: time moment, the threat of him and just kind of
Speaker 3: understanding he.
Speaker 2: Understands spacing really well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's that perfect middleman on the floor. But
Speaker 3: between Kelsey and the rest of the guys.
Speaker 2: Yep, that's right because he's played for him for now
Speaker 2: seemingly six years. I think it is, So that makes sense.
Speaker 2: Can't has always appreciate the time, enjoy the conversation, enjoy
Speaker 2: your cold evening, and we'll talk to some brother good stuff.
Speaker 4: And you never know what can happen when you go
Speaker 4: into laser tag.
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. That's a story that you'll have
Speaker 2: for a long time. Good stuff, man, take care. That's
Speaker 2: Kent Spencer whas love and laser tag sounds fun as
Speaker 2: hell Right now. I'm played laser tag in probably fifteen years.
Speaker 2: I love lasers. Actually, can I tell you something that
Speaker 2: just made me feel really old because I said, like
Speaker 2: fifteen years Like, man, that's so long ago. Fifteen years ago,
Speaker 2: I was, you know, I was a grown adult, Like
Speaker 2: I'm more like twenty twenty ish years because you know,
Speaker 2: it's probably when I was in middle school or early
Speaker 2: high school. So I'm washed fifteen years ago Earl Clark
Speaker 2: was playing here, shut your mouths. That's talk. I don't
Speaker 2: want to feel old. Yeah, me, we'll be. We'll be
Speaker 2: immature the rest of the way to feel like we're
Speaker 2: you know, not getting too old. I mean, I'm always
Speaker 2: speak it for myself. Good stuff. Alright, stick with us
Speaker 2: right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
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Speaker 2: All right, let's hit the text line five x two
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Speaker 2: you've got, feel free to send them our way. This
Speaker 2: text says, Nick, I'm a miserable Kentucky fan. Am I
Speaker 2: wrong for wanting them not to go to a bowl
Speaker 2: game so they can focus more on the portal than
Speaker 2: a meaningless exhibition? I mean, I would say this, if
Speaker 2: you are a coach that is not going to be
Speaker 2: going to a bowl game that would really do anything
Speaker 2: for you, then, although you still are in a situation
Speaker 2: you don't want to be in, there's no scenario if
Speaker 2: you're not going to it. If you didn't become bowl eligible,
Speaker 2: that means you were a loser. Quite literally, by definition,
Speaker 2: you didn't win enough games. You have a losing record.
Speaker 2: So that's a bad situation. There's no way around it. However,
Speaker 2: you can benefit from your bad situation by being ahead
Speaker 2: of others that are coaching in a bowl game. Now,
Speaker 2: to be fair, you're probably gonna have more time on
Speaker 2: your hands, but as far as you know, I mean,
Speaker 2: you've got more time to do it. Coaches in these
Speaker 2: bowl games coaches in the playoffs are still going to
Speaker 2: be active in the portal because you have to. I mean,
Speaker 2: you just do so. And I know they change the
Speaker 2: window and I need to look that up. We'll do
Speaker 2: that here in the next break, just because I think
Speaker 2: it's important to know, because it's gonna be crazy for
Speaker 2: everybody once the regular season comes to an end, because
Speaker 2: these meaningless bowl games, there's gonna be a lot of them,
Speaker 2: and they're gonna happen. But coaches are going to be
Speaker 2: prioritizing the portal. And even if the portal did in
Speaker 2: fact have a change in date to where you don't
Speaker 2: get to talk to players in the portal until later,
Speaker 2: which I don't think that's the case I did, it
Speaker 2: wouldn't matter because I mean, there's tampering going on right
Speaker 2: now as we speak. I'm sure there are coaches out
Speaker 2: there talking to somebody they're probably not supposed to be
Speaker 2: talking to, or maybe talking to somebody that's going to
Speaker 2: talk to somebody on their behalf. It just happens. I mean,
Speaker 2: how can you see how can you look at guys
Speaker 2: that are hit that announced their intention to hit the
Speaker 2: portal in season lead the team and then they've already committed.
Speaker 2: I mean, like it's blatantly a fact. It's blatantly telling
Speaker 2: you that tampering was going on. Now with that said,
Speaker 2: you know, you can't really prove it because the kid
Speaker 2: from USC who lit Louisville up last year, Miller Moss.
Speaker 2: If you remember, he was on fire last year and
Speaker 2: he started off the year really hot. When I say
Speaker 2: on fire, he was on fire against Louisville, I mean
Speaker 2: that was his career game. So then at USC starts
Speaker 2: to struggle, Well, he gets bingched one game and he
Speaker 2: hits the portal and then commits to Minnesota in the season,
Speaker 2: Like I guess he could tell the Innstada. Oh, I
Speaker 2: didn't need to talk to anybody. I just knew that's
Speaker 2: where I wanted to go, and I committed, hoping that
Speaker 2: they would have a scholarship for me once they're allowed
Speaker 2: to talk talk to me. Like, I mean, nobody would
Speaker 2: believe that, But you know, can you actually punish somebody
Speaker 2: without any proof? So tamperings going on, and it's good,
Speaker 2: But like even right now, I would be willing to
Speaker 2: bet that coaches are already starting to work on the
Speaker 2: roster for next year. Even if you're not tampering, and
Speaker 2: you're not able to contact players. You're probably having conversations
Speaker 2: with guys on your team that have taken up a
Speaker 2: scholarship all year that clearly aren't going to be a
Speaker 2: factor for you next year, and you're probably giving them
Speaker 2: the indication that you're going to go to go in
Speaker 2: a different direction, or maybe you initiate the conversation and
Speaker 2: then they end up, you know, taking it in that direction.
Speaker 2: You just, you know, you never really know. So it's
Speaker 2: already happening, and I would be you know, I don't
Speaker 2: know what I'm predicting here. I can't think of anything
Speaker 2: that would that would really back this up. But with
Speaker 2: there now being an expanded playoff and it's so clearly
Speaker 2: being important to do well in the portal, these bowl
Speaker 2: games are just gonna be like, I don't know if
Speaker 2: coaches are even going to be able to fake it
Speaker 2: that they care about them, and they've already done a
Speaker 2: pretty bad job of it, at least, you know, coaches
Speaker 2: that have higher standards than being on the outside looking
Speaker 2: at a twelve team playoff. Now, there's still gonna be
Speaker 2: some good bowl games, and there's a lot of teams
Speaker 2: that you know, their realistic chance of making the College
Speaker 2: Football Playoff with it. Expanding the twelve really didn't change
Speaker 2: a whole lot because you know, they're in the MAC
Speaker 2: and they're a mid team in the Sun Belt, meaning
Speaker 2: you know, they'd have to be the best of all
Speaker 2: of those mid level conferences to get that spot. So
Speaker 2: they'll still probably value bowl games. But they're players. I
Speaker 2: don't know, right if you're a G four guy and
Speaker 2: you're at the you know, or G five guy and
Speaker 2: you're at the H is it G four G five?
Speaker 2: I think it's G five, it's now power four G five.
Speaker 2: Either way, when you're if you're in one of the
Speaker 2: non power leagues, you know, you may say, all right,
Speaker 2: I could I could practice for three weeks and get
Speaker 2: ready to go to this bowl game in the Bahamas
Speaker 2: or in Florida or wherever and put on you know,
Speaker 2: put more film out there, maybe have another good performance.
Speaker 2: Or I could go ahead and tell him I'm not playing.
Speaker 2: Hit the portal and you know, not have to wait,
Speaker 2: because if you wait to enter the portal after your
Speaker 2: bowl game, you know, think about how many guys there
Speaker 2: are out there from the from the mid level that
Speaker 2: are kind of you know Dom a dozen, right, So
Speaker 2: like it's I think it's early to be competitive. Now,
Speaker 2: if you're gonna be going from one Power five to
Speaker 2: another Power five or I guess Power four, now, you
Speaker 2: know you probably have you probably have to have been
Speaker 2: pretty good at that level. It's the intrigue of the unknown.
Speaker 2: If somebody's really productive or pretty productive at a lower level.
Speaker 2: I'm sure there are power Power four coaches that think that, hey,
Speaker 2: that guy, you know, he'll really work with us and
Speaker 2: and he'll be even better here. But the portal is
Speaker 2: essentially a crabshoot for everybody for the most part. Now,
Speaker 2: there are certain guys where you know what you're getting, right,
Speaker 2: Like if you go and get a bit your quarterback
Speaker 2: who's started for three years at a good school and
Speaker 2: been really successful. I mean, there's no guarantee that he's
Speaker 2: as successful, but you know what you're getting. He might
Speaker 2: just turn out to play portly. But yeah, you're not
Speaker 2: crazy to look at the upside. Yeah, because Kentucky needs
Speaker 2: to win these next two to go to a ball game,
Speaker 2: and I don't think they're winning on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 2: I don't know what's going to happen when they play Louisville,
Speaker 2: which we'll talk about that, by the way, in the
Speaker 2: five o'clock hour. We'll get the hour started with that
Speaker 2: because that is there's an updated spread for that game.
Speaker 2: And I want to give you kind of some belated
Speaker 2: thoughts I have on just this whole thing, because it's
Speaker 2: not just a game, like there's a lot that comes
Speaker 2: with it. It's a rivalry game, and this thing is
Speaker 2: messed around and positioned to be you know, maybe the
Speaker 2: word I don't know, losing to Stanford sucks, but if
Speaker 2: you lose to Kentucky now because of what happened at Stanford,
Speaker 2: you'd still be bummed, and it'd be worse than losing
Speaker 2: the Stanford because it's the rival. But like you can't
Speaker 2: say you'd be that shocked had you rolled against Stanford
Speaker 2: and you you know, rolled against pitt this week and
Speaker 2: you really have just built off the momentum that you
Speaker 2: got it Clemson up until the Governor's Cup game, and
Speaker 2: then you lose to Kentucky. That would be awful. I mean,
Speaker 2: ain losing them in any way is gonna be awful
Speaker 2: if that happens. But I actually think if there's a
Speaker 2: way to positively view the terrible result that is losing
Speaker 2: to Stanford the way you did. It's that if you
Speaker 2: do lose to Kentucky probably won't be as big of
Speaker 2: a shocker. Still will suck, but it'll be I guess
Speaker 2: maybe a little less painful for some now if you're
Speaker 2: you know, if you're I'm trying to give myself legitimate,
Speaker 2: you know, in the you know, in the moment confidence
Speaker 2: for that game. But I just when you saw the
Speaker 2: way Louisville lost the game against Stanford, I'm well aware
Speaker 2: they can play well enough to beat both these teams
Speaker 2: on their schedule, Pittsburgh and Kentucky, but just the most
Speaker 2: recent examples of what this team does was the last
Speaker 2: thing we saw. I mean, like, it's it's just hard
Speaker 2: for me to envision them succeeding when that's the most fresh.
Speaker 2: That's the freshest thing on my mind when it comes
Speaker 2: to this team. But yeah, so looking at the the
Speaker 2: positive of Stanford is that maybe the Kentucky Walls loss
Speaker 2: won't be so bad if it happens, and the Kentucky
Speaker 2: team not going to a bowl game, I guess maybe
Speaker 2: the positive in that is, like this Texter said that
Speaker 2: they can even get a head start in the portal.
Speaker 2: But also, let's be real. I mean, I said we're
Speaker 2: going to get to it in the five o'clock hour,
Speaker 2: and I just can't help myself. I just can't quit
Speaker 2: yapping because it's just, you know, it's it's a big deal.
Speaker 2: I don't want to keep losing the tuck to Kentucky
Speaker 2: and football. And here we are where Louisville despite their struggles,
Speaker 2: like we know they can, but you know, expecting it
Speaker 2: is is pretty tough now. But we'll save it for
Speaker 2: the five o'clock hour because I do want to get
Speaker 2: to this. I don't have much of an update, but
Speaker 2: just real quick and you can you can go and
Speaker 2: ride us out Austin. But I do want to mention
Speaker 2: the I don't have any update on it, but there's
Speaker 2: three people that have seent it now. On the on
Speaker 2: the text line, it's a screenshot of Korn Johnson's Instagram.
Speaker 2: As you likely know, Corean Johnson did not play the
Speaker 2: other night again Bellerman. He's dealing with a shoulder injury.
Speaker 2: And I don't believe, you know, I think what Pacielsei
Speaker 2: said word for word was we don't have the same
Speaker 2: type of timetable yet on his injury compared to Treiures,
Speaker 2: who's going to be out about six weeks whenever his
Speaker 2: arm heels well. Korn Johnson, you know, posted an Instagram
Speaker 2: story saying nothing about his injury, but he just said
Speaker 2: it was the cliche quote minors set back for a
Speaker 2: major comeback, which again, that doesn't really tell us anything.
Speaker 2: But if you are somebody that sees that as okay,
Speaker 2: he's probably going to be out a long time and
Speaker 2: that sucks. Like again, we don't know that for sure,
Speaker 2: but yeah, I mean that that's not a good sign.
Speaker 2: But maybe he meant something else. I don't know. We'll
Speaker 2: talk about it next right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 1: Now back to coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine.
Speaker 2: Day as I'm looking here at the board tonight for
Speaker 2: a college BA basketball, college football, and NFL. We've got
Speaker 2: a lot of things to wager on tonight if you
Speaker 2: partake in such a thing. But it hit me that
Speaker 2: there's already the holiday not holiday break. I don't know
Speaker 2: if many people are on holiday breaks just yet. We're
Speaker 2: a week away from Thanksgiving, but there's already daytime basketball
Speaker 2: going on in November, which is an awesome thing. Had
Speaker 2: I seen that Oklahoma State in Florid Atlantic were playing early,
Speaker 2: I would have gotten involved here. But if you're not,
Speaker 2: I mean again, college basketball, I feel like right now
Speaker 2: it's not to the point where you're watching it, like
Speaker 2: you probably are gonna watch it in January and February.
Speaker 2: What I mean by that is, if you're a Louisville
Speaker 2: and Kentucky fan, you're watching your team play, but whenever
Speaker 2: there's not other things going on in January and February,
Speaker 2: you're probably gonna watch still mostly your team, but you're
Speaker 2: going to be more into you know, college basketball season,
Speaker 2: knowing that, hey, there's probably gonna be some decent games
Speaker 2: on tonight when you get into conference play. Well, the
Speaker 2: majority of the games taking place right now are you know,
Speaker 2: Toledo and Stetson and Radford and Clemson, Kent stayed in Niagara.
Speaker 2: So I'm just looking at games that are taking place tonight,
Speaker 2: which I'm telling you, like, I don't blame you if
Speaker 2: you're not watching, but there are some good games going
Speaker 2: on in November that if you like college hoops, like
Speaker 2: I think, I feel like you're missing out. I want
Speaker 2: to help you like tonight, you've got Syracuse in Texas.
Speaker 2: That's a damn good basketball game for November. That's at
Speaker 2: seven o'clock. Last night Alabama hosted uh who was it?
Speaker 2: Was it Purdue?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 2: Was it Purrdue? I can't think of who it was.
Speaker 2: Who did I watch Alabama beat last night? It's gonna
Speaker 2: drive me crazy. Oh was Illinois? That's a good game.
Speaker 2: And then the night before that, as we discussed, it
Speaker 2: was Marquette that that beat Perdue and that was a
Speaker 2: hell of a game. So, you know, I give India again.
Speaker 2: I'm getting distracted because I'm looking at Indiana. They played
Speaker 2: a night against UNCG and I'm thinking about taking the
Speaker 2: Hoosiers to cover because I think they're able to cover eighteen.
Speaker 2: But nonetheless, I give the college basketball who whoever decided
Speaker 2: collectively to start scheduling you know, more of these type
Speaker 2: games in November that aren't just associated with the Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: break events. Like it's good. I mean, I'm enjoying it.
Speaker 2: So just no, if you're listening, at least one person
Speaker 2: is enjoying it. I know I'm not the only one.
Speaker 2: But again, there'll be way more viewers on college hoops
Speaker 2: in January than there is now, and you know, I
Speaker 2: get it, there'll be better games going on then because
Speaker 2: everybody's in conference play. But you know, also, you know
Speaker 2: people are just still in football mode, and you know,
Speaker 2: I totally get it all right for those just just
Speaker 2: now joining us. Corn Johnson posted something on Instagram that
Speaker 2: has some people worried that maybe his injury is going
Speaker 2: to be serious to where he doesn't return anytime soon.
Speaker 2: And again, I don't think it's silly for people to
Speaker 2: come to this conclusion, but I also don't want to
Speaker 2: just assume that this confirms anything doesn't look good. And
Speaker 2: if I had to guess, I would say it again,
Speaker 2: I had to guess keyword there being guessed, I would
Speaker 2: say that this is not a good sign for him
Speaker 2: returning anytime soon. But it you know, how many times
Speaker 2: have you seen a player or recruit, anybody maybe somebody
Speaker 2: know post something on social media? You know that is
Speaker 2: that is pretty telling, but they won't actually say it
Speaker 2: like this isn't the level of like wow, And I
Speaker 2: haven't seen it as much lately. Maybe it's because I'm
Speaker 2: just not friends with these people on Facebook anymore, or
Speaker 2: maybe the algorithm is is working out for me. To
Speaker 2: where I don't see these people on my timeline or
Speaker 2: maybe you know, people that I am friends with have
Speaker 2: just grown up and realize how silly it is. But
Speaker 2: like we've all seen the post hey, or you know,
Speaker 2: they'll put something out there, could this day get any worse?
Speaker 2: Or wow? This again just something vague, like something's wrong
Speaker 2: because you know why, Yes, they're begging somebody to say
Speaker 2: that they hope they're okay, or they're begging somebody to
Speaker 2: ask them what's going on?
Speaker 5: Oh that's my move.
Speaker 2: Really, I'm friends with you on all platforms and I
Speaker 2: cannot think of any scenario where I've ever seen you
Speaker 2: like I know your type on I know how you
Speaker 2: are on social media. You usually are super negative about
Speaker 2: sports and you know, but as far as like attention
Speaker 2: seeking vagueness, like I don't, I don't, I don't, I
Speaker 2: don't see it.
Speaker 5: I've been I've been known to do that. I guess
Speaker 5: it's I guess it's not like my forte but I
Speaker 5: I just know how to to grab some sympathy attention,
Speaker 5: and I don't know it's trickled down.
Speaker 2: Into the younger generation. Does it benefit you?
Speaker 5: Well, sometimes I kind of did it for my my
Speaker 5: podcast the other day. I don't know if you saw it,
Speaker 5: but we kind of did with the uh oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was kind of I thought. I thought that
Speaker 2: was just because you were taking a.
Speaker 5: Break well at that man, because we just haven't had
Speaker 5: a lot of things to do recently, and I haven't had.
Speaker 2: A lot of like so you post you posted that
Speaker 2: knowing that, like people would I would say, hey, what's
Speaker 2: going on? We really yeah, because you need that check in,
Speaker 2: that a reminder that hey, despite it being a little
Speaker 2: bit slower, there are still people that really value what
Speaker 2: you do. And hey, it's always this is something in
Speaker 2: in radio. You know, we don't get a you know,
Speaker 2: we don't get a report card after every show as
Speaker 2: far as how well we did and who listened. And
Speaker 2: you know, there's no way to know who exactly is listening.
Speaker 2: I mean you can gather numbers. I mean, like, you know,
Speaker 2: they may be listening and they hate it. I don't know. Again,
Speaker 2: it's if they were listening in any way, it's great.
Speaker 2: But that's why to me, like somebody does come out
Speaker 2: and say something to me whenever they see me in
Speaker 2: public that they listen to the show and they like it,
Speaker 2: Like that'll never get old. And I always appreciate that
Speaker 2: because one, I have an ego like every human being,
Speaker 2: but also, you know, we don't you know, without that,
Speaker 2: you really just can believe what you want as far
Speaker 2: as your listenership, not necessarily the number of listeners, but
Speaker 2: just kind of how they feel about it. So you know,
Speaker 2: I get it, you know, and I hope, I hope
Speaker 2: you were made aware that you know, despite your all's
Speaker 2: brief break here, that you're gonna be going on like
Speaker 2: it is a show that people are gonna are gonna
Speaker 2: miss and they're gonna want it back. So it's good.
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying, by any way, in any means
Speaker 2: that Korin Johnson did this for sympathy. He may not,
Speaker 2: you know, he may have been told, hey, despite this
Speaker 2: bad news, let's let us put a press release out,
Speaker 2: or maybe you know, maybe he's somebody that, like, I mean,
Speaker 2: I have a hard time thinking somebody this this age.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's a little bit older of a player
Speaker 2: at the college level, Like I doubt that he would
Speaker 2: do this if it wasn't about his shoulder injury. And
Speaker 2: if he did, I would refuse to believe that he
Speaker 2: was like Oh, what's the big deal I was talking about?
Speaker 2: You know, I had a flat tire. Uh, oh my
Speaker 2: my my car got totaled or something. You are right
Speaker 2: in there.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you always have to have I'm just like kind
Speaker 5: of laughing. I just you always have to pivot this
Speaker 5: something that oh I was Yeah, like I said, I
Speaker 5: got hacked.
Speaker 2: Or or yeah, I don't know why anybody. You know,
Speaker 2: you can know what you're doing, but it not be
Speaker 2: proven that like you were, you had you had a
Speaker 2: specific motive to put something out there, you could easily
Speaker 2: play done without it being proven that you were, you know,
Speaker 2: just trying to seek attention. And again, in no way
Speaker 2: am I saying that Korin is doing that. And again
Speaker 2: the more I think about it, the more I would say,
Speaker 2: this probably is not encouraging. I was actually thinking about
Speaker 2: it the other night. I was listening to Pat Kelsey
Speaker 2: after the game in the post game, and we're learning
Speaker 2: a lot about these coaches that are new around here,
Speaker 2: Mark Pope, Pat Kelcey, and it hit me that we've
Speaker 2: never really heard him talk about an entry before, and
Speaker 2: it was impossible for me to truly take anything other
Speaker 2: than what he was saying that Trey Ora is going
Speaker 2: to be out for you know, for a little while
Speaker 2: until his fracture heels in his arm, and with Corn Johnson,
Speaker 2: it's a shoulder and we don't have a timetable just yet.
Speaker 2: It's tough. We're waiting to figure out what the timeline
Speaker 2: is and I'm pare for anything. I don't think that's
Speaker 2: word for word what he said, but that could just be,
Speaker 2: you know, the facts. I think that is the facts.
Speaker 2: But the way he said it, I kind of felt
Speaker 2: like he didn't seem very you know, enthusiastic. And by
Speaker 2: the way, he can be average level enthusiastic and positive
Speaker 2: and sound like a depressed human being because my man
Speaker 2: usually is bringing it at a high level, right like
Speaker 2: Pat Kelsey, you know, maybe a little hungover or maybe
Speaker 2: a little sleepy, might seem like his dog died because
Speaker 2: usually he's just so energetic and he's just ready to,
Speaker 2: you know, motivate everybody in front of him. He's got
Speaker 2: a very infectious spirit in a good way. So it's
Speaker 2: probably it's probably nothing. He probably just gave them facts.
Speaker 2: But I thought to myself, you know what, maybe I
Speaker 2: just learned something there about our new ball coach, because
Speaker 2: maybe him not being his typical self, but also not
Speaker 2: really sounding sad, but just being, you know, not as
Speaker 2: enthusiastic as usual. Maybe that's a sign that he thinks
Speaker 2: it's gonna be bad news when it comes to Korn Johnson.
Speaker 2: Now again, as of now, we still have no clue,
Speaker 2: but not a good not a good sign, I would say.
Speaker 2: And maybe we'll have a press release or maybe we'll
Speaker 2: find out tomorrow after the game when they play Winthrop
Speaker 2: and they're asked about it. So anyways, we got a
Speaker 2: run two well, no, not too we got one more hour.
Speaker 2: How was it already five o'clock? Dume, just fly Tom's
Speaker 2: flying by. You know what they say, Tom flows when
Speaker 2: you're having a fun Thursday fun or well Thursday Dad
Speaker 2: the team dad joke for you. There five o'clock hours
Speaker 2: next right here on Sports Talk seven ninety