Speaker 1: It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick Coffee.
Speaker 2: You know, most of our postgame shows for football are
Speaker 2: on Saturday, and I try to have not necessarily a
Speaker 2: different reaction, you know, because I think most people who
Speaker 2: have an immediate reaction after a game, like maybe there's
Speaker 2: some emotion involved that fades away, but like you know,
Speaker 2: it doesn't really change. But what I try to do
Speaker 2: is just to bring some different perspective that maybe wasn't
Speaker 2: discussed in the postgame show. But today's one of those
Speaker 2: days where I feel exactly the same way I did
Speaker 2: on Saturday as soon as we started the postgame shows
Speaker 2: as I do now, although talking through these last couple
Speaker 2: of hours has certainly helped. But when we talked all
Speaker 2: off season about Louisville football expectations and whatnot, I mean,
Speaker 2: I feel like we were kind of on the same page, right,
Speaker 2: like understanding that Louisville, you know, might not be in
Speaker 2: everybody's preseason top twenty five. They're replacing so much at
Speaker 2: running back. They've got transfers that you feel good about,
Speaker 2: but you know what, so does everybody else. And some
Speaker 2: of the transfers that Louisville brought in two of the
Speaker 2: guys that are having really really good seasons. I mean
Speaker 2: Tyler Shuck. I mean he's played five straight games without
Speaker 2: getting injured. And I'm not making a joke. I'm being
Speaker 2: genuine here, Like that was rare for him in his career.
Speaker 2: So now you're seeing him in sync as a quarterback
Speaker 2: and he's really good. You know, I don't think people
Speaker 2: knew he could play the way he's playing before he
Speaker 2: did it this season at Louisville. JA Cory Brooks, you know,
Speaker 2: injuries were a factor, but took a big step back
Speaker 2: last year mostly because injury. But still, like he's been
Speaker 2: better than advertised. I think those two guys specifically have
Speaker 2: been at this point, Dare I say, a lot better
Speaker 2: than anybody would have thought. I mean, I don't think
Speaker 2: anybody expected him to be bombs, but like the way
Speaker 2: they're producing and really just watching Tyler Shuck, like you
Speaker 2: can tell you've got a quarterback who's got the goods.
Speaker 2: So when it comes to expectations, if you would have
Speaker 2: asked the majority of the fan base, well, if you'd
Speaker 2: asked the you know, if you'd pull the fan base
Speaker 2: and asked, Okay, five games in, where do you think
Speaker 2: they are? Three and two? I think would have been
Speaker 2: a real big shocker, but I guess it's not crazy.
Speaker 2: If you were somebody that really believed that SMU was,
Speaker 2: you know, a legitimate ACC contender, then maybe you would
Speaker 2: say that they'd be three and two. But you probably
Speaker 2: also would have said that Louisvill probably wasn't gonna win
Speaker 2: a whole lot of gas this year, because if you
Speaker 2: thought louis would be three and two at this point,
Speaker 2: I bet you probably didn't have them winning eight games.
Speaker 2: And I feel like if that's you, then you know
Speaker 2: you're entitled to your opinion and you may up being right.
Speaker 2: But that's not what the majority I feel like expected here,
Speaker 2: and I think it's it's worth mentioning and it's worth something.
Speaker 2: It's a silver lining that for the most part, when
Speaker 2: it comes to personnel players talent outside of your offensive line,
Speaker 2: I don't think I've seen anything that tells me, uh oh,
Speaker 2: these guys aren't as good as they need to be
Speaker 2: for Louisville to have a really good season this year.
Speaker 2: So the old line has been underwhelming when it comes
Speaker 2: to pass protection, but it's not as if, like it's
Speaker 2: not as if they've cost you games. To be honest
Speaker 2: with you, if Louisville's defense didn't have some of the goofs,
Speaker 2: if Louisville was a little bit more effective on fourth
Speaker 2: down on these last couple of weeks, we'd probably still
Speaker 2: we'd say the same thing about the old line as
Speaker 2: we're saying now. But it only be if, like we're asked, like,
Speaker 2: because you can over the offensive line again, I don't.
Speaker 2: I think it's probably the weakness of this offense. And
Speaker 2: really it's not close, but you can. You can get
Speaker 2: past that. You can still put up a lot of points,
Speaker 2: and they've shown that they can do that. You just can't,
Speaker 2: you know, just on it up and run it down
Speaker 2: somebody's throat with a guy like Donald Cheney. Just you know,
Speaker 2: that doesn't work. We've learned that the hard way. So
Speaker 2: you could be three and two and it could be
Speaker 2: a real, you know, wake up call, a real humbling
Speaker 2: experience to learn that. Yeah, the quarterback you brought in,
Speaker 2: he stinks. Jacorey Brooks, Yeah he's damaged Goods. Colin Lacey,
Speaker 2: which was he was pretty ineffective on Saturday, but I've
Speaker 2: seen enough at South Alabama and even last week at
Speaker 2: South Bend to know that he's got ability and he
Speaker 2: could be a real big weapon for you. Defensively, you're
Speaker 2: you know, you're missing Quincy Riley in a major way,
Speaker 2: and that stinks. But I still don't think Louis's defense
Speaker 2: this year. You know, clearly guy's got to make play.
Speaker 2: So I'm not saying that I'm watching a team when
Speaker 2: it comes to talent and thinking oh, we're loaded. But again,
Speaker 2: I think Louis's the biggest issues have nothing to do
Speaker 2: with talent and personnel. It's about game plan, strategy, organization, communication.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just a mess from top to bottom.
Speaker 2: So it would be worse if you just were sitting
Speaker 2: here at three and two and you felt like, man,
Speaker 2: we went to the portal. And Louisville does, in fact
Speaker 2: rely on the portal a little bit more than most programs.
Speaker 2: I mean, if you just look at the amount of
Speaker 2: guys they bring in, I think Jeffs can always do that.
Speaker 2: You know, if you learn that all those guys weren't
Speaker 2: that good, then maybe you felt like, Okay, we just
Speaker 2: got a bad batch. It happens, but that's not the case,
Speaker 2: you have good players, so again that is a silver lining,
Speaker 2: but on the other end, it actually makes it more
Speaker 2: frustrating to know that it's these kind of things that
Speaker 2: have nothing to do with ability that are putting you
Speaker 2: in this spot. So I talked about this at the
Speaker 2: beginning of the show for those just now joining us.
Speaker 2: I've never thought, with the expanded playoff, if that means
Speaker 2: Louisville football should have a pass bail season every year
Speaker 2: based upon getting into that twelve team playoff, because that's
Speaker 2: setting yourself up to be miserable. And you can do
Speaker 2: that if you want. You could be a fan whateverywhere
Speaker 2: you want. But like, if they win nine games this year,
Speaker 2: which I'm not saying they are right now now, and
Speaker 2: they're not really sniffing the playoff because of how the
Speaker 2: ACC played out, that's going to be a bummer. I'm
Speaker 2: going to be disappointed with that. But I'm also not
Speaker 2: going to say, you know, things are broken and this
Speaker 2: was devastating. So I don't want to talk about the
Speaker 2: ACC race. I don't want to talk about rankings. I
Speaker 2: don't want to talk about you know, can you pull
Speaker 2: off an upset against Miami or Clemson but it's not.
Speaker 2: When I say I don't want to talk about it,
Speaker 2: it's not because I'm saying that, you know, none of
Speaker 2: it matters, because the season's already a complete failure. I
Speaker 2: just don't really have I would feel foolish talking about
Speaker 2: it knowing that, like we just need to beat Virginia
Speaker 2: and you know, clean up some things so they can
Speaker 2: absolutely get this thing turned around. Absolutely they can. But
Speaker 2: it's hard for me to like say that it's going
Speaker 2: to happen until we see that they go out there
Speaker 2: and actually do it. And I kind of feel like,
Speaker 2: you've really just played three games this year, to be
Speaker 2: honest with you, you know what I mean, Like the first two, Yeah,
Speaker 2: they just it sucked for everybody involved, and it might
Speaker 2: have actually honestly sucked for Louisville too. I mean, you
Speaker 2: can't control it, but like I don't know, part of
Speaker 2: me says that you would have, you know, if you had,
Speaker 2: you'd have had a wake up call early if you
Speaker 2: played you know, a different team than those two games.
Speaker 2: But like, I don't know, maybe it was counter productive.
Speaker 2: Maybe you didn't you didn't emphasize and highlight the mistakes
Speaker 2: and the sloppy played because you were winning by more
Speaker 2: than the spread, but they were still You can go
Speaker 2: back and watch it if you want. I don't know
Speaker 2: why you would want to watch it, but they were
Speaker 2: still making some of these kind of mistakes against those
Speaker 2: inferior opponents, but you didn't remember, you didn't care because
Speaker 2: they were winning by a billion seemingly. So you know,
Speaker 2: they've kind of been this team all year. So I'm
Speaker 2: bringing that up to say that five games in, yeah,
Speaker 2: they can, they can get better. They can stop making
Speaker 2: those kind of mistakes. They can absolutely simplify the defense
Speaker 2: and just become more you know better, more aggressive, get
Speaker 2: get a you know, get off the field on third down.
Speaker 2: I mean they didn't would they make Smu punt it
Speaker 2: three times or something like that. So like they can
Speaker 2: do that, But at this point, five games in, you
Speaker 2: have established that identity, and your identity is that you're
Speaker 2: you're you're sloppy. You got some playmakers. At any moment,
Speaker 2: you could you could flip the game, but at any
Speaker 2: moment you could also implode with a boneheaded mistake or
Speaker 2: a you know, bad fourth down call. So it's not over.
Speaker 2: It's not like I'm thinking that the season's ruined because
Speaker 2: they do have an opportunity. I mean, if you if
Speaker 2: you go out there and you play well against Virginia
Speaker 2: and you show that you can put together a you know,
Speaker 2: a much sharp, sharp performance overall, that'll be very encouraging
Speaker 2: when you bring Miami in and Miami's on a bye
Speaker 2: week now and they're due for a loss. But like,
Speaker 2: I can't go there yet as far as like, yeah,
Speaker 2: here we go, like because I got to. I mean,
Speaker 2: they five games in, they haven't shown us that they
Speaker 2: can do the little things that are needed or avoid
Speaker 2: making these silly mistakes. So again, it's it's it's a balance,
Speaker 2: and I'm trying my best to balance it because on
Speaker 2: one end, it is nice knowing that it's not like
Speaker 2: you got to go bench everybody and give true freshmen
Speaker 2: a chance to see if they're better players. You have
Speaker 2: to do that, and that's a good thing, but it's
Speaker 2: even more frustrating to know that like these, these the
Speaker 2: issues that you have right now shouldn't be such a
Speaker 2: problem for you. And I know we just talked about
Speaker 2: this in the four o'clock hour, but I do want
Speaker 2: to reference it once again for our new listeners because
Speaker 2: I I'm glad Alison called in and mentioned this, and
Speaker 2: by the way, you guys can give us a call
Speaker 2: too if you like. Five oh two, five to seven
Speaker 2: to one seventy nine hundred is the number if you
Speaker 2: want to give us a call. We do some phone
Speaker 2: lines open. Been a very busy show today as far
Speaker 2: as callers, so again, five O two five' seven one
Speaker 2: seventy nine hundred. But Allison called and mentioned a article
Speaker 2: that was written by Rick Bozicch in August where Ron
Speaker 2: English after one of the practices, when asked about the
Speaker 2: defense falling off last year, he said it was on him.
Speaker 2: I mean, here's the headline at wdrb Ron English just
Speaker 2: blamed Ron English for Louisvill's defensive breakdown last season. Here's
Speaker 2: the quote. I didn't coach as well as I needed to.
Speaker 2: I didn't put the players in the positions they needed
Speaker 2: to be in and that was and that was the facts.
Speaker 2: So here we are, we're blaming Ron English and Jeff
Speaker 2: Brohm's not blaming him directly, but we know who he's
Speaker 2: talking about. We know that like he's I mean, it
Speaker 2: wasn't necessarily what Jeff said, it was what he looked
Speaker 2: like when he said it. In the postgame press conference,
Speaker 2: and it sounds like even when he did his radio
Speaker 2: interview with Jodi Dimmling that like he was even more
Speaker 2: like just mean the more he talked about it. I
Speaker 2: think he was closer to exploding. And he kept his
Speaker 2: composure and didn't get over, you know, didn't get worked up,
Speaker 2: but like you could just tell the more he talked
Speaker 2: about their issues, especially those issues defensively, I think he
Speaker 2: just got more more pissed. And Ron English is still
Speaker 2: the defensive coordinator CODC, I should say, But like, I
Speaker 2: would not be shocked at all if they've made some
Speaker 2: changes this week as far as who's calling the shots.
Speaker 2: Clearly they're going to simplify some things. But I have
Speaker 2: a hard time thinking that this would be the first
Speaker 2: time that Jeff had talked to Ron English and told him, like,
Speaker 2: what you're doing isn't working. Let's let's let's mix it up,
Speaker 2: let's simplify it. And yet they were a mess against
Speaker 2: that SMU offense. So again with Ron English saying that
Speaker 2: in fall camp, that tells me that there was probably
Speaker 2: a conversation between Ron English and Jeff Brohm about that.
Speaker 2: In fact, there was, and it was like, hey, you know,
Speaker 2: we got we gotta get better. And then here you are.
Speaker 2: You come out in the first five games, and you know,
Speaker 2: as far as organization and just game plan strategy really
Speaker 2: from top to bottom defensively, these guys have made some
Speaker 2: timely plays here and there, but overall, like they're kind
Speaker 2: of a mess. So if you're Jeff brom and you
Speaker 2: don't mix it up and have somebody else give it
Speaker 2: a shot as far as kind of maybe leading the
Speaker 2: game plan or calling the game, like, that's on you.
Speaker 2: If we see the same thing and there were no
Speaker 2: changes made. I mean, if we see the same thing
Speaker 2: and their word changes made, then you know, I guess
Speaker 2: it's still on you. You are the head coach. But
Speaker 2: like you got to truyt something different here, and I
Speaker 2: think they will. And when I say trust something different,
Speaker 2: I mean just letting somebody else be much more involved
Speaker 2: in the game plan and you know, maybe calling the game.
Speaker 2: And here's the sound from after the game. And I
Speaker 2: know Jeff talked earlier today and you know his press conference,
Speaker 2: you know it's kind of the same thing. But I
Speaker 2: think he had a little little time to kind of
Speaker 2: cool off a little bit. He did give us an
Speaker 2: injury update. That isn't you know, much of an update,
Speaker 2: but I guess it's something. So it sounds like Quincy
Speaker 2: Riley is really just a week to week kind of thing.
Speaker 2: Brom said that it's going to come down to when
Speaker 2: he's comfortable enough play, which hopefully he's comfortable to play asap.
Speaker 2: Destel did not dress out, and it sounds like he's
Speaker 2: gonna miss some time lower extremity injury. I think Brom
Speaker 2: said he I think Bram's words exactly where I don't
Speaker 2: want to say he'll be out this week, but we'll
Speaker 2: have to see. So I'm not really sure what that means.
Speaker 2: But I wouldn't expect him to be here or be
Speaker 2: ready to play against Virginia, but we shall see. So
Speaker 2: it's presser today, you know, kind of said the same
Speaker 2: things in regards to like needing to simplify the defense
Speaker 2: and whatnot. But here is what he said after the
Speaker 2: game on Saturday, And again i'd encourage you to go
Speaker 2: watch it on on social media or maybe find the
Speaker 2: press conference somewhere. They're usually all over the place after
Speaker 2: the game because it's not necessarily what he says, it's
Speaker 2: how he looks when he says that you can tell
Speaker 2: he's about to understandably explode because it's just, you know,
Speaker 2: it's got to be frustrating for him, but it's but
Speaker 2: it's also on him too, and he knows that. And
Speaker 2: I think that's why you'll see him take action this week,
Speaker 2: not by firing anybody necessarily, but mixing it up so
Speaker 2: you don't find yourself in the same position for the
Speaker 2: third straight week. Pressure package to kind of get Jenning's
Speaker 2: uncomfortable in the backfield.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was talked about all week and it wasn't
Speaker 3: carried out. So we've got to you know, call a
Speaker 3: better game uh and and make sure that we're way
Speaker 3: more aggressive and that we have a consistent plan that
Speaker 3: doesn't have adjustments when they do something different. Uh and
Speaker 3: uh that starts with us. Well, quite frankly, we need
Speaker 3: to coach better. I don't think the uh, the plan
Speaker 3: had too many adjustments for different formations and and emp
Speaker 3: sets and some things like that. And I don't want
Speaker 3: get in too much detail, but it needs to be simpler.
Speaker 3: It needs to be uh sound and then carried out.
Speaker 3: But we can't blame all our players that the plan
Speaker 3: needs to be better. That falls on us and me. Uh,
Speaker 3: so we've got to go to work and make sure
Speaker 3: that you know that part doesn't happen again, because we
Speaker 3: have not gotten off to good starts and it has
Speaker 3: been costly.
Speaker 1: This thing from snowballing and becoming three losses or or
Speaker 1: really getting off the rails.
Speaker 3: Well, uh, you know that's why football is a great
Speaker 3: game to play, and it teaches your lessons uh that
Speaker 3: will last for a lifetime because you've got to go
Speaker 3: through some hard times and uh. You can either be
Speaker 3: mad enough to identify what the problem is, uh, figure
Speaker 3: out way to fix it and then go to work
Speaker 3: to get better and uh and still have the same
Speaker 3: energy and fight and determination to get that done. Or
Speaker 3: you can wallow a little bit and feel sorry for
Speaker 3: yourself and point the finger at somebody else or say,
Speaker 3: you know, what, is it really worth it? So you
Speaker 3: know that's what you got to do. And uh, you
Speaker 3: know if you if you're going to play the game
Speaker 3: and spend a lot of time doing it, these things
Speaker 3: are gonna happen. You're gonna have some tough days. You
Speaker 3: try not to have them, but you are. But you've
Speaker 3: got to respond. H. So you know, I have to
Speaker 3: do better our coach need to do better. The plan
Speaker 3: needs to be better, and then we've got to figure
Speaker 3: out a way to uh simplify it so that we
Speaker 3: can execute it better.
Speaker 2: So that was him directly after the game. And you know,
Speaker 2: words aren't going to make anybody feel better, I don't think.
Speaker 2: But if it is worth anything, you know, I don't.
Speaker 2: I don't see. This is a situation where like there's
Speaker 2: not a lot of finger pointing with the players, which
Speaker 2: I think is good. And I think that's you know,
Speaker 2: I think a lot of coaches would start pointing fingers
Speaker 2: at players and maybe deflecting a little bit. You're not
Speaker 2: You're not seeing that from from coach Brohm. All right,
Speaker 2: let's see here. Do I want to go ahead and
Speaker 2: get to a break. Let me get to one more
Speaker 2: thing here before we get to a break. I'll try
Speaker 2: not to make this, you know, any longer than it
Speaker 2: needs to be. But we've had a few people ask
Speaker 2: about Devin Neil, who it was unusual to see it
Speaker 2: announced right before the game that he's left the team.
Speaker 2: He was a former starting defensive defensive back, and I
Speaker 2: think we can say former starting. He was still listed
Speaker 2: as a or on the depth chart. Which means, you know,
Speaker 2: they they and I don't know why they do that.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's because both guys play, but like there's really
Speaker 2: no either way. He was listed as an or on
Speaker 2: the depth chart in the last the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: In fact, he might have honestly been all season now
Speaker 2: that I think about it, but he had lost his
Speaker 2: spot essentially, and that you know, he'd stopped. I think
Speaker 2: he played less each week. But to Mary McDonald, the
Speaker 2: transfer had kind of taken Devin Neil's spot. And Devin Neil,
Speaker 2: like a lot of players, you know, he could see
Speaker 2: that and his role was getting smaller each week, and
Speaker 2: he did what a lot of players have decided to do. Realize, Hey,
Speaker 2: I've played three games. If I play one more, i
Speaker 2: don't have a red shirt to use. So I'm gonna
Speaker 2: go ahead and kind of opt out, sit out, quit,
Speaker 2: whatever you want to call it, and I'm going to
Speaker 2: transfer and use my final year elsewhere because i want
Speaker 2: to play or I want to you know, make more money.
Speaker 2: So you know, like I'm not trying to you know,
Speaker 2: be a over you know, to be overly defensive for
Speaker 2: the program, because you know that's never a good thing.
Speaker 2: But like that's not like that has nothing to do
Speaker 2: with what's going on right now, Like that has that
Speaker 2: has no factor. And Devin Neil, I think wanted to
Speaker 2: stick around. He just was making And this goes back
Speaker 2: to what I talked about last week, because you're seeing
Speaker 2: it because everybody's played roughly three games, four games the
Speaker 2: last two weeks is when it's really you know, in
Speaker 2: moving forward, there's probably a lot of guys who well
Speaker 2: have already made the decision or they've already played more
Speaker 2: than three to where you don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 2: But every year, as long as this red shirt rules
Speaker 2: in place where if you play three games or less
Speaker 2: you don't have to burn a year, every year late
Speaker 2: September early October, you're gonna see a wave of players
Speaker 2: who decided to take advantage of that rule. So, you know,
Speaker 2: I think Devin Neil probably did what was the best option, right.
Speaker 2: You don't want to be out. You want to keep
Speaker 2: it from the coaches and tell them, hey, no, I'm
Speaker 2: not going in the game, because that'd be a really
Speaker 2: bad look on you. Even worse and saying hey I'm
Speaker 2: going to opt out and quit. So I think you
Speaker 2: need to be direct if you know you're not going
Speaker 2: to play anymore because you don't want to finish the
Speaker 2: season at that school. You want to take advantage of
Speaker 2: the chance to go play elsewhere for one more year.
Speaker 2: Tell the coach directly. That's what Devin Neil did, and
Speaker 2: they told him, well, you can't stay here, So he's
Speaker 2: no longer with the program. He's actually already in the
Speaker 2: transfer portal because he's a grad transfer, so that you
Speaker 2: don't have to wait for that window to open, So
Speaker 2: he's actually available in the portal now and can be
Speaker 2: recruited by anybody. And Lexington, kid from Frederick Douglas High School,
Speaker 2: started his career Baylor didn't play a whole lot and
Speaker 2: last year he did end up with a lot of
Speaker 2: tackles on that defense. But you know, no offense to
Speaker 2: Devin Neil. I wish him the best moving forward. But
Speaker 2: when I think of Devin Neil, I'm going to think
Speaker 2: about him just getting insanely abused by USC in that
Speaker 2: bowl game, so much so that I felt bad for him.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if it was like the break,
Speaker 2: meaning the break between the last game and then the
Speaker 2: bowl game, but like I feel like he gained twenty
Speaker 2: pounds in that game. But yeah, I mean that's unusual
Speaker 2: because it's you know, still new that like players can
Speaker 2: do this. But if you look around the country, that's
Speaker 2: I bet every power for a program, not every one
Speaker 2: of them, but a lot of them have had guys
Speaker 2: do exactly that quick break will come back on the
Speaker 2: other side. Keep it rolling along. Also, don't forget, I
Speaker 2: do want to talk some basketball because the Sports Illustrated
Speaker 2: acc Basketball Preview has been published by our frequent guest
Speaker 2: who covers college hoops, Kevin Sweeney of SI and he
Speaker 2: is higher and louis than I think I've seen anybody.
Speaker 2: So we'll get to that in a lot more. It's
Speaker 2: coffee and company. I feel Abu Thorn's right here on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven ninety. There's no doubt that when it
Speaker 2: comes to how losses are going to be valued, you know,
Speaker 2: in the matter, you know, as far as public opinion perception,
Speaker 2: like Bama, that loss that they took to Vandy, make
Speaker 2: no mistake about it is a really bad loss. I
Speaker 2: actually think that the reaction to it was such a
Speaker 2: surprising upset that nobody's really talking about like what it
Speaker 2: means for the SEC. It's just something you really never
Speaker 2: thought you'd see before. But if the AP pole is
Speaker 2: any reflection, which sometimes you see whenever you get to
Speaker 2: the college football playoff rankings, the initial ones that we
Speaker 2: get that they're not a whole lot different than the
Speaker 2: AP pole, but sometimes they can be different. But if
Speaker 2: Miami would have lost to Cal, make no mistake about it,
Speaker 2: they would have not gotten the benefit of the doubt
Speaker 2: from anybody. Fandy losing or Vandy beating Bama. They're still
Speaker 2: going to get the benefit of a doubt, and maybe
Speaker 2: they deserve it because it's like, to me, nobody would
Speaker 2: really argue that the SEC is not the best league, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe you could make the case that it's
Speaker 2: the Big Ten if you really wanted to go that route.
Speaker 2: I mean, I guess you could make the claim, But
Speaker 2: I don't think you think.
Speaker 4: You'd say the conference might be more top heavy than
Speaker 4: the SEC this year, but maybe overall body of work. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I think I would still say the SEC.
Speaker 1: Is the best.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But who's like, who's elite in the Big Ten.
Speaker 4: Three of the top four teams are Big Ten teams
Speaker 4: are now Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State, and two
Speaker 4: of those are going to play each other with the
Speaker 4: Oregon and Ohio State this weekend. Penn State has yet
Speaker 4: to really be challenged, so we'll see how good they
Speaker 4: end up being.
Speaker 2: I don't think Oregon looked anywhere close to what we
Speaker 2: thought they'd be. I mean they had a lot of
Speaker 2: moment I mean they made up being really good. They
Speaker 2: haven't lost yet, but like they should have lost to
Speaker 2: Boise State, which maybe they wouldn't make potentially it's right one, Yeah,
Speaker 2: they were in a game there till the fourth quarter.
Speaker 2: So either way, like me saying that that SEC teams
Speaker 2: and even Big Ten teams should be held accountable for
Speaker 2: a bad loss regardless of you know, how good the
Speaker 2: league is, doesn't mean I'm saying that the SEC and
Speaker 2: the Big Ten aren't the best leagues. But like Miami,
Speaker 2: losing would have been good for for anybody in the
Speaker 2: ACC that's trying to find their spot in Charlotte. But
Speaker 2: I actually think it would have been It would have
Speaker 2: been a huge point in laugh and overall BAM has
Speaker 2: earned the benefit of the doubt. They just beat Georgia
Speaker 2: last week. I mean, talk about a crazy two week
Speaker 2: stretch there. But it's just a double standard and I
Speaker 2: you know, I can't defend the ACC a whole lot,
Speaker 2: but just because your league is good, and like, put
Speaker 2: it this way, Bama, we all know Bama is good
Speaker 2: enough to win a national championship. They're one of many
Speaker 2: teams I think, Well, I don't know about many, but
Speaker 2: I'd say they're probably one of six or seven teams
Speaker 2: that you feel like has the actual depth, talent, coaching
Speaker 2: been there before. Like six or seven teams it could
Speaker 2: win it all, and Bama is one of them. We
Speaker 2: know that now, we'll know that in six weeks. But
Speaker 2: if from now till six weeks later they have a
Speaker 2: couple more losses, nobody would be talking about them getting in.
Speaker 2: So like, even though you know, it's not about how
Speaker 2: good you are, it's about what you do, and if
Speaker 2: you lose, that is a hit to being able to
Speaker 2: claim how good you are. One lost, two losses didn't
Speaker 2: mean you're a bad football team, but like you should be. Like, again,
Speaker 2: how many teams don't make the tournament in the NAAA
Speaker 2: basketball tournament that you know have the ability to make
Speaker 2: it to the Elite eight. I mean, there's sometimes teams
Speaker 2: that have talent where you feel like, yeah, they can
Speaker 2: mess around and may look, North Carolina State nearly lost
Speaker 2: to Louisville and in the ACC opener, in the tournament,
Speaker 2: in the AC's tournament last year, and they made a
Speaker 2: final four. But it's not about like what you can
Speaker 2: do on paper, it's about what you actually do. Results
Speaker 2: in games should matter, and Bama losing to Vandy doesn't
Speaker 2: mean that Bama still is not an elite team that
Speaker 2: could win the whole thing. But you should still be
Speaker 2: held accountable for losing to a really bad team regardless
Speaker 2: of what league they're in, and maybe they will be
Speaker 2: down the line. But like to still see that Bama
Speaker 2: is viewed as a playoff team. I got to remind myself. One,
Speaker 2: they do have a really good win against Georgia that
Speaker 2: is really valuable. But also there's twelve teams that get
Speaker 2: in now. And this is the first point where we
Speaker 2: are realizing, okay, because there's losses that have happened this
Speaker 2: year where you know, hey, they ain't getting in if
Speaker 2: it's a fourteen playoff, but it's not now now it's
Speaker 2: you know now, it's uh, that's twelve. So again, it's
Speaker 2: never been about me saying that the that the the
Speaker 2: ACC is a better league than like people think it is,
Speaker 2: but it should be more overall, regardless of your league,
Speaker 2: you should be able, like you should be held accountable
Speaker 2: if you lose to bad teams and bandy. I'm not
Speaker 2: saying they're close to what they usually are, because hey,
Speaker 2: they've proven this year they can. They beat Virginia Tech,
Speaker 2: they beat they beat Bama. I think they I'm sure
Speaker 2: they have other wins than that, but they also Georgia State.
Speaker 2: That's I mean for SEC standard, that's not a good
Speaker 2: that's not a good loss. But for those just not
Speaker 2: joining us when it comes to like playoff picture and
Speaker 2: all that kind of stuff, like I don't even want
Speaker 2: to talk about it from the lower old perspective, not
Speaker 2: because I'm telling you that, like there's no scenario. Clearly
Speaker 2: they they need a lot of help if they were
Speaker 2: going to somehow find themselves with an opportunity to play
Speaker 2: for the AEC Championship game. However, you know, it's feel
Speaker 2: silly talking about that kind of stuff from the louisvill
Speaker 2: perspective until we actually see this team come out and
Speaker 2: show us that they can clean some things up and
Speaker 2: not be a sloppy team that puts themselves in a
Speaker 2: position to lose these last two games like they've lost
Speaker 2: them and they can. It's just a matter of I
Speaker 2: need to see it before I'm going to one believe it,
Speaker 2: and I'll probably need to see it more than once
Speaker 2: to actually expect it. All right, Five two, five seventy
Speaker 2: nine hundred is the number. If you guys want to
Speaker 2: jump in and join us. Let's go to the phone lines,
Speaker 2: and now we'll welcome in. Mike. Mike, you're on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 5: How are you, hey, man? Hey, So, the benefit of
Speaker 5: the doubt, I think I mean Georgia. No Georgia win
Speaker 5: pro Alabama certainly gave them the benefit of the doubt
Speaker 5: with that win, But like I think Louisville got the
Speaker 5: benefit of the doubt with a close loss to Notre Dame.
Speaker 5: And Notre Dame's not any good. If you look at
Speaker 5: where they were in the ap and then where they dropped,
Speaker 5: they got the benefit of the out and they just
Speaker 5: didn't take advantage of it.
Speaker 2: I Notre Dame. I'm not saying that I think Notre
Speaker 2: Dame is truly like a top ten caliber team, but
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say that they're not any good. I mean,
Speaker 2: they did beat A and M. At A and M.
Speaker 2: That's a win that I would assume has value in
Speaker 2: your mind.
Speaker 5: No, I think that has some value. Also think they
Speaker 5: I think that they also got the benefit there of
Speaker 5: some injuries to A and M that allowed them to win.
Speaker 5: I think when it's all said and done, you're gonna
Speaker 5: look at it and you're gonna say Notre Dame was
Speaker 5: not very good and we failed to take advantage of that.
Speaker 5: As a Louisville fan, I've already said that we really, yeah,
Speaker 5: we gave away, we gave away opportunities, And I said,
Speaker 5: I don't think the ACC is just very good at all,
Speaker 5: To be honest with you, I think that.
Speaker 2: But Miami, Mike, are you basing that off of just
Speaker 2: previous years or what you've watched this year.
Speaker 5: I'm based off what I've watched this year. Miami is
Speaker 5: Miami literally could have lost the last three games they played,
Speaker 5: and should have lost two of them if you're objectively
Speaker 5: watching it. Clemson got ran off the field by Georgia,
Speaker 5: and Georgia's not the Georgia passed. So those are your
Speaker 5: two best teams. So you in your mind though.
Speaker 2: That Bandy's actually like elite then, right.
Speaker 5: No, I don't think Bandy's elite. I think Bandy's better
Speaker 5: than people.
Speaker 2: Think, and they're there's no doubt about that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and I think that people were not really caught
Speaker 5: up to their offensive scheme yet.
Speaker 2: What's what's the what's the three games Miami should have lost?
Speaker 5: I don't have a schedule in front. I'm just based
Speaker 5: off my memory of that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they I think they should have lost in Virginia
Speaker 2: Tech against cal a little bit more questionable, but certainly
Speaker 2: it could have gone either way. But the game before
Speaker 2: that they won fifty to fifteen. The game before that
Speaker 2: they won sixty two to nothing. The game before that
Speaker 2: they won fifty six to nine. The game before that
Speaker 2: against Florida they won forty one to seventeen at Florida.
Speaker 5: Well, so I'm sorry I last two games then, Yeah,
Speaker 5: so look, I apologize. As I'm driving here, I don't
Speaker 5: have the schedule necessarily in front of me, but I
Speaker 5: can tell you the Virginia Tech game they absolutely should
Speaker 5: have lost, and you could even say that they got
Speaker 5: kind of got jobbed by the referees on that game.
Speaker 5: I remember vividly watching that game. They can they got.
Speaker 2: Hopes let me ask you this. You said, no, we're
Speaker 2: going to look back at the Notre Dame loss and
Speaker 2: feel like we lost to a bad Notre Dame team
Speaker 2: who's beaten Notre Dame, Stanford, Georgia Tech, Navy, Florida State,
Speaker 2: Virginia Army like Notre Dame does. I mean, I think
Speaker 2: Notre Dame's probably gonna finish the season eleven and one.
Speaker 5: They may, but I'm telling you they're not that good
Speaker 5: when you watch them. And you you said watched the
Speaker 5: whole game. Did you leave that game thinking, man, that's
Speaker 5: a playoff team and they got a chance to win
Speaker 5: this whole thing, or did you leave that thinking that
Speaker 5: team was there for the taking and they're not that good?
Speaker 5: I mean at their place, they're not that good.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not,
Speaker 2: because I've that's all I've said about the Notre Dame
Speaker 2: game is that it was so.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, they're not that good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Mike, I appreciate the call, man, Like, it's quite
Speaker 2: clear where you were going with there is just that
Speaker 2: the SEC is the best and that's why they get
Speaker 2: the benefit of it out The a SEC sucks there's
Speaker 2: no way anybody could be good. I mean that, and
Speaker 2: and that's Look, if you have that opinion, that's totally fine.
Speaker 2: But you brought up the Northern Illinois beating Notre Dame
Speaker 2: as if that that's the ultimate point that they suck. Well,
Speaker 2: you can now do that to Alabama. I mean you can't.
Speaker 2: And I think Alabama is a lot better than Notre Dame.
Speaker 2: I do, But like people are very very selective when
Speaker 2: they choose to bring up those isolated data points and
Speaker 2: act as if that tells the whole story. Because again,
Speaker 2: if the Northern Illinois lost means that Notre Dame sucks,
Speaker 2: then I mean, again, Vandy's better than what they than
Speaker 2: what they've typically been. But like, would anybody be shocked
Speaker 2: if Vandy Vandy could not win a game the rest
Speaker 2: of the year, And who could say that they'll be shocked.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that that's the case. They certainly have
Speaker 2: some momentum, but like Vandy's next game is against Kentucky.
Speaker 2: They'll lose ball State, They'll win that one, at least
Speaker 2: they should Texas, Auburn, South Carolina, LSU, and Tennessee. Vandy
Speaker 2: right now is a three win team. They're three and two.
Speaker 2: I bet they don't go to a ball and Bama
Speaker 2: won't be held accountable for that, and it'll just be
Speaker 2: because well it's Alabama, and.
Speaker 4: They may not need to be held accountable because if
Speaker 4: they go on to win the SEC, they'll get the
Speaker 4: auto bid.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course. And look, I'm not saying that, I
Speaker 2: think because it's not about who you think is good
Speaker 2: and who has the highest ceiling. Like we all know
Speaker 2: that Bama, Georgia, all these teams, Like we know what
Speaker 2: the elite tier is. But if the elite tier slips
Speaker 2: up and loses, you got to be held accountable for
Speaker 2: that because it's about what you do, not about what
Speaker 2: you can do and what you're capable of. And again,
Speaker 2: like all it took was me mentioning benefited out for
Speaker 2: the SEC and then these you know, the people who
Speaker 2: are clearly very you know, protective of their conference. Again,
Speaker 2: that's why I quite literally made it as clear as possible.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying the s he is not the best league,
Speaker 2: but you got to be held accountable for what you
Speaker 2: do in said league. But if the SEC just thinks, well, hey,
Speaker 2: you know Vandy b Bama, that just means that's just
Speaker 2: because our league is so great, Like that's actually one
Speaker 2: where you can't have that preposterous take. Doesn't prove that
Speaker 2: Bama stinks, but they should be held accountable for a
Speaker 2: really bad loss. No matter how you look at it.
Speaker 2: The only reason anybody could claim that that's not a
Speaker 2: bad loss would be because they're They would say it's
Speaker 2: because it's the SEC. There's no other factor you can use.
Speaker 2: I mean, they lost to a Conference USA team two
Speaker 2: weeks before they beat Bama. They did beat Virginia Tech,
Speaker 2: which that's that's that's a good win for them. Virginia Tech, though,
Speaker 2: I mean, what's their record. I mean, Jinia Tech right now?
Speaker 2: Did they win this week? And I think they did.
Speaker 2: Virginia Tech's three and three one in one in league play.
Speaker 2: They're coming off the win against Stanford. So if Vandy
Speaker 2: loses to Kentucky, Texas, Auburn, South Carolina, LSU, and Tennessee,
Speaker 2: that'll give them six more losses. I mean, is anybody
Speaker 2: gonna claim that that's not a terrible law like that
Speaker 2: that would be If we get to the end of
Speaker 2: the year and that loss ages poorly for Bama, that
Speaker 2: alone should eliminate them unless they win the league, of course,
Speaker 2: but it won't, you know, so again, it's not about
Speaker 2: an argument of who's good who's not. It's about you
Speaker 2: should be held accountable if you aren't if you lose.
Speaker 2: Good teams lose all the time. Great teams lose all
Speaker 2: the time, and doesn't mean that they don't have the
Speaker 2: ability to be great and go out and beat anybody
Speaker 2: on any given night. But like I thought, it was
Speaker 2: about lining up and playing and seeing who wins the game.
Speaker 2: All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side.
Speaker 2: Talk some hoops. It's Coffee and company. Feel about Thorntons
Speaker 2: right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I was really
Speaker 2: happy that the Bengals handled overtime the way they did
Speaker 2: because it would have been tough for Lamar to have
Speaker 2: such a good day and then that fumbled be what
Speaker 2: cost him, and it nearly did, but the Bengals held
Speaker 2: on to win. And that play he made where he
Speaker 2: hit likely in the end zone after stiff arming one
Speaker 2: of the defensive linemen for the Bengals. I mean, it's
Speaker 2: just one of the many plays Lamar Jackson makes that
Speaker 2: really nobody else can. I mean, maybe others can, but
Speaker 2: they haven't, and they don't, and he's now done things
Speaker 2: like that rather consistently. He's a special player. And right
Speaker 2: now through his first five games this year, he's got
Speaker 2: the same record that they had last year, and he
Speaker 2: has a better passer rating. He was ninety three point
Speaker 2: nine passer rating last year five games in one hundred
Speaker 2: and four I'm sorry, one hundred and seven point three
Speaker 2: this year. As far as total yards, he's got roughly
Speaker 2: three hundred more total yards now than he did last year.
Speaker 2: Five games in eleven total touchdowns compared to eight last year.
Speaker 2: So again, he's gonna have to keep up that awesome pace,
Speaker 2: which he can, and they're gonna have to keep winning,
Speaker 2: and they will. I mean, I don't know if they're
Speaker 2: gonna end up being a team that gets you know,
Speaker 2: home build advantage in the playoff, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: But really, three time MVP for Lamar Jackson is very
Speaker 2: much on the table. I don't think he cares about that, though.
Speaker 2: I think he's well aware and we all are that
Speaker 2: for Lamar, the individual accolades are great, but for him
Speaker 2: to in fact, so let me let me let me
Speaker 2: retract that no matter what, there'll always be some criticism
Speaker 2: out there for Lamar, and I don't mean to say
Speaker 2: that because everybody's picking on it. Maybe some people do,
Speaker 2: but like he has entered a level of as an
Speaker 2: athlete with two MVP trophies in the case and already
Speaker 2: proven people wrong that said he couldn't play quarterback in
Speaker 2: the NFL. But like there's really nothing that is going
Speaker 2: to happen to where he'll he'll not be criticized at
Speaker 2: some point by the talking heads. And it really isn't
Speaker 2: even because they're out to get him. It's because that's
Speaker 2: just how unfortunately, that's how that works. Like the hot
Speaker 2: take roundtable shows are positioned where one guy's gonna yell this,
Speaker 2: the other guy's gonna yell the opposite, and that's that's
Speaker 2: what they do. So really happy he was able to
Speaker 2: win yesterday. I was gonna have to just not be
Speaker 2: on my phone for twenty four hours straight if if
Speaker 2: that fumble would have led to them losing, because I
Speaker 2: would have been the would have been the ultimate way
Speaker 2: to end my weekend and misery. Louisville. Of course, lets
Speaker 2: me down against Simu. Let it let us all down, right,
Speaker 2: that was a game they should have won, not to
Speaker 2: say SMU didn't deserve to win, but you know, Louisville
Speaker 2: continued to make mistakes that should be cleaned up by now,
Speaker 2: and then the Colts they gave the Jacks their first
Speaker 2: win of the season, and then I thought it was
Speaker 2: going to be bad for Lamar and at that point
Speaker 2: I was just going to go home and cry. But
Speaker 2: they found a way to win and that was great.
Speaker 2: So we didn't have much time here because again, mondays
Speaker 2: are usually just mostly reacting to what happened over the
Speaker 2: weekend when it comes to football. But Kevin Sweeney, who
Speaker 2: covers college hoops for Sports Illustrated, he put out his
Speaker 2: ACC basketball preview and he has Louisville at number three,
Speaker 2: Duke at won Carolina two, and then Louisville right after
Speaker 2: that at number three, Wake Forest at number four, Clemson
Speaker 2: at number five, and then you know one of the
Speaker 2: things that I think actually helps Pat Kelsey and I
Speaker 2: hope this is not the case for the next I
Speaker 2: don't know, ten years or so, but it is what
Speaker 2: it is. The ACC has a basketball league. People can
Speaker 2: bring up n C State making the final four, People
Speaker 2: can bring up other random tournament wins, and tournament wins
Speaker 2: do matter. But like the ACC basketball, the ACC Conference
Speaker 2: as a whole as far as basketball, has completely completely
Speaker 2: dropped off a cliff in the last six seven years.
Speaker 2: I mean, Duke and Carolina at any moment could win
Speaker 2: it all because that's who they are. But other than that,
Speaker 2: and Louisll is a factor in that, louisvill basketball has
Speaker 2: fallen off really since two thousand and them being the
Speaker 2: worst team in a league that's completely fallen off is
Speaker 2: a really bad look for U of L. Trust me,
Speaker 2: I'm aware when I talk about how bad the ACC
Speaker 2: is in basketball, I'm aware that that could be viewed
Speaker 2: as a self own because of Louisville being so bad
Speaker 2: the last two years. But there's I mean, Louisville could
Speaker 2: be mid this year, which I think they have a
Speaker 2: chance to be better than that. But like the teams
Speaker 2: that they're going to play night at night on in
Speaker 2: conference play don't really scare you. I mean, Wake Forest
Speaker 2: being the fourth best team. Okay, Clemson Brad brown Well
Speaker 2: and they did make a run last year, but like sorry,
Speaker 2: I'm not really sure that's sustainable for Brad brown Well
Speaker 2: to go deep into the tournament at Clemson. But anyways,
Speaker 2: so We'll talk more basketball tomorrow because I do have
Speaker 2: some thoughts on just you know, just some takeaways from
Speaker 2: Louisville Live. Don't go anywhere we actually you can if
Speaker 2: you want, you can go where you WHOA. We're gonna
Speaker 2: take a break. That's gonna be twenty one hours. So
Speaker 2: we're back tomorrow at three o'clock right here on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety