Speaker 1: All start Toyota presents Off the Bench with Jacob Hester
and Matt Flynn.
Speaker 2: Okay, here we go where the.
Speaker 1: Plays get broken down, then science gets denied. The bitch
Hour two of Off the Bench Live from the Mercedes
Benz Baton Rouge Studio starts.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna lie to you.
Speaker 3: The last couple of days when I've heard that song,
I have thought that we were about to hear in
sync bye bye bye.
Speaker 2: Just I wouldn't.
Speaker 4: I would not know me neither me neither. But you
need to hear the beginning. Hey, you like hang on?
Speaker 5: Hang on? Hang on?
Speaker 6: Okay, I can kind of see why wins.
Speaker 7: And Matt Flynn.
Speaker 2: Okay, we go where the.
Speaker 1: Plays get broken down, then science gets denied. Our two
of Off the Bench Live from the mers been so
Baton Rouge Studio. There it starts.
Speaker 4: Now, Yeah, it's a banger too.
Speaker 5: I love this song.
Speaker 4: Let's get into a little big deal or no big deal.
Speaker 6: A big deal, no big deal, big deal, no big deal,
big deal, no big deal, no big deal.
Speaker 8: No big deal, a big deal.
Speaker 4: All right, a little refreshment here?
Speaker 9: Is this the segment that when you started with hanging
a head A big deal and no deal.
Speaker 3: I called it a big deal or no deal, and
I was like, this doesn't make any So what.
Speaker 4: What did I call it? Because you made me change
the name of it.
Speaker 2: You called it a big deal or no deal.
Speaker 4: Yeah it was.
Speaker 3: It was it was a big deal or no deal,
and you were like, I don't like that, and so
we changed it to big deal or no big deal.
Speaker 4: You changed. The best part.
Speaker 3: About this is this is a segment that you and
I did when we started radio together. You change a
name and then like, as we're coming back into this segment,
you're like, I got to come.
Speaker 4: Up with one of these. Yes, until we've always done
the segment, you.
Speaker 2: Would tell your co host what we're doing.
Speaker 4: We've we've done it for seven years.
Speaker 9: B wrong when we can bat sign that I did it, well,
I don't care about you.
Speaker 3: I'm saying we started this and then we've done it
on the show here before.
Speaker 4: This is okay.
Speaker 2: This segment is best communication.
Speaker 4: This segment. Just say you're not prepared this segment.
Speaker 3: This segment is for sports topics yep, that are relevant
but maybe not relevant to hear as much, but they're
certainly relevant in the sports world. So we're not going
to spend a full segment on them, but we're gonna
spend some time on them.
Speaker 2: That's what I got.
Speaker 4: That's why this was put in.
Speaker 3: Like the New York Knicks firing Tom Thibodeau after their
best run in the last twenty five years and they
fire their head coach.
Speaker 4: Is that a big deal or no big deal?
Speaker 2: That's a huge deal.
Speaker 4: It's not one of the options.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's a big deal.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: You don't want to rename it again?
Speaker 4: No, I don't stop.
Speaker 9: Uh yeah, because it is kind of wild to me
thinking about it. For what twenty five years, they've been
ultra irrelevant and so this coach comes in and gets
them to a place that maybe they're not fulfilling like
what they should.
Speaker 3: Well, they show their roster, I mean, because he's led
the Knicks to back to back fifty win seasons for
the first time since nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 9: Right, Okay, So maybe I'll say that a different way.
Maybe he didn't fulfill like what the potential could be.
Maybe the front office thinks he's not getting what But
I think it's a little short sighted to say, like, look,
we've been for twenty five years and this is the
dude that has gotten.
Speaker 2: Us to the point where we have this potential. So yeah,
big deal.
Speaker 8: I mean that's a huge deal. And saw something the
other day, I'm Thibodeaux. Twenty four playoff wins with the Knicks.
Every other coach combined in the last twenty years seven.
Speaker 4: Playoffs, solid solid, Oh and it all.
Speaker 2: Came from Mike Woodson.
Speaker 4: So Woods and seven Woodson?
Speaker 2: What's in seven tiboo?
Speaker 8: Twenty four? Every other coach the last twenty years and
no playoff?
Speaker 4: What Mike Woodson? I have not heard that name in
the long Is he still coaching Indiana?
Speaker 2: I don't think so.
Speaker 4: They probably not.
Speaker 3: No, Indiana got a new coach, uh Elandra.
Speaker 4: Is that a big deal or no big deal? The
Nicks fire Tom Thibodeau.
Speaker 5: I think it's a big deal.
Speaker 6: This is somebody who doesn't really pay attention to the
NBA too much, y'all know.
Speaker 5: I just pay attention to.
Speaker 6: Spurs and then when the Luca trade whatever. But I
think it's a big deal because you made a great run.
So what are you firing him for?
Speaker 3: Makes no Stanse like you look at the last couple
of NBA champions. The Bucks have done this. The Nuggets
have done this, Like it's like if you win a championship,
they don't even care y, like move on from you
so quickly.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 6: But also like, haven't the again, I don't know, haven't
the Knicks like historically been not great for the Yeah?
So then your your coach brings you to the conference.
Speaker 3: Finals first time, winning fifty games in back to back
years since ninety five?
Speaker 4: Yeah, were y' all born.
Speaker 2: In ninety five?
Speaker 4: No, I was born in ninety six and y'all worn Yeah,
think how much y'all have lived? Oh yeah, well time
it happened.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So I think that's a huge deal.
Speaker 6: Why are you firing your coach that brought you further
than you've been since nineteen ninety five?
Speaker 9: There's a problem with in sports and really I guess anything,
but in sports, the people in charge sometimes that aren't
boots on the ground there every day that make decisions.
Sometimes they make decisions based on like stats and putting
stuff thrown stuff against the board and saying, all right,
we got a great team, would we be better off
with this this or this coach than our current coach?
Like could that get this team over the ear? Without
thinking about the relationship that that guy that that coach
has with the players, the everything that he's built there,
that's like his program. They tend to think it happens
a lot like are we better with this player instead
of this player? Not really thinking about what that player
or coach means, doubt everything else operates.
Speaker 2: So I mean, that's again I wonder. I'm with you.
I'm not a basketball gay, but that's a stupid movie.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree, and I know it is in vogue
to do that in the NBA. Still does not make
sense to me. And the Knicks will be worthless and
they'll be relevant because of the next the Knicks.
Speaker 4: But they'll be irrelevant when it comes to winning games.
Speaker 2: Back to the status quo. Let's go not only that
like the best players.
Speaker 8: Jayalen Brunson, the assistant coach for the Knicks is Rick
Brunson under Tom Thibodeau. Jalen Brunson after the game said
he wanted Thibodeau back. Like what's Rick Brunson's future? How
does Jaylen Brunson feel about that? Like this is this
is not good And maybe they think Tibetou can only
take us to the conference finals and that's as far
as we can get damn sure, you get somebody better, though.
Speaker 9: What's a dumber move firing this guy or the GM
trading Luca.
Speaker 4: It's a two pretty dumb moves, GM trading Lucas.
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, both pretty bad.
Speaker 3: He got a bag of boiled peanuts in return. So yeah,
I'm gonna go with that one. But both are pretty bad.
Speaker 4: All right? Are you ready?
Speaker 2: I got one?
Speaker 4: All right, let's go.
Speaker 9: It's not a big deal. You didn't tell me anything
about the show until right now, but.
Speaker 4: Here we go.
Speaker 3: It is on the rundown at six big deals or
no big deal.
Speaker 9: The Saints currently are plus four to twenty five to
make the playoffs. The Pacers are currently plus five hundred
to win NBA championship in this series that they're yeah, yeah,
So is it a big deal that the Saints have
a better betting record to make the playoffs and the
Pacers do to win the current NBA.
Speaker 3: I actually think that's a huge deal. Like you would say,
that's a very big deal. I would like if my
money is on the line here, I would much rather
give it to the Pacers and a series are already
in and the way they've been playing in this postseason,
the way they've come back like ninety seven times from
these scores that nobody's supposed to come back from before
the Saints make the playoffs.
Speaker 9: Right, it's seventy five dollars difference too, plus four twenty five.
Speaker 3: I mean that that's actually pretty wild. I that's one
of those deals where I hope I'm wrong. But as
we're sitting there talking to Ross, I'm looking at the
Saint's depth chart and I'm like, oh, ooh, ooh, they
got some holes there, man.
Speaker 4: And the roster it's thin.
Speaker 3: It's it's got some it does have some juice to it,
but it's so thin.
Speaker 4: If you hear a couple of injuries away from just
total tank mode.
Speaker 2: And I get it. Like the Pacers are fighting uphill.
Speaker 9: They're playing a team that's got one of the best,
like the greatest records of all time in the NBA.
It's an all time like team they're playing right now.
Speaker 3: But plus five hundred, I'm actually going to go bet that, yeah,
right right, that little shocking going to bet that breaking
everybody everybody in here, Yeah you are everybody in here,
everybody in here, and that's that's Pacers to win the series.
Speaker 4: So that's kind of been twenty five bucks.
Speaker 2: Let's go.
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, we're good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 8: It bothers me, Like we were talking about this when
the playoffs started. Everybody's like, oh, the Pacers came out
of nowhere. They were in the conference finals last year's year.
Speaker 2: Like they're not.
Speaker 8: They're not out of nowhere. You have a bona fide
superstar and Halliburton. This is a young team. They can
do everything. Like nobody's giving them a chance against Okay,
see it's wild.
Speaker 9: So their best player, Halliburton, yep, PACER's best player didn't
didn't make the awesome team.
Speaker 5: That's crazy.
Speaker 8: Also, like we didn't talk about this, Why are.
Speaker 5: We disrespecting the Pacers.
Speaker 2: Right, well we didn't. We didn't talk about this.
Speaker 4: Well me, No, the wolf Pack's not yeah a wolf pag.
I just put twenty five dollars win.
Speaker 8: We'll pack that thought about putting this in weekend winners
that we did on Monday. Tyree's Hullaburton, I mean we
talked about his historical triple double where he had like
fifteen assists, no turnovers whatever. Was not the m v
P of the Eastern Conference Finals. No, it missed about
what one one vote was great?
Speaker 4: Did take over one game?
Speaker 7: He did.
Speaker 10: He had a couple of thirty point games, but like,
I mean, Albert was almost going to be a weekend
loser for me. For that clip of him walking up
when they announced that, all right, this guy walking up
in fairness like the camera guys wanted.
Speaker 8: Because the camera guys like, all right, he's winning it,
so they zoom in on him.
Speaker 5: Not a good look. He played it off right, he
was like, I was just stretching, bro.
Speaker 2: I did like his big nuts, big nuts celebrations.
Speaker 8: What celebration celebration clip, It's like, yeah, whoa the Asian
guy on Major League too, he did the same.
Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah exactly, So my bad too big of a pause, No, no.
Speaker 11: No.
Speaker 5: It, Ladra A big dealer, no big deal.
Speaker 6: We haven't talked about this yet, so I'll give a
little bit of context behind the big dealer, no big deal.
So actually, maybe there's two in one. So Oklahoma is
out of the Women's College World Series for the first
time since twenty twenty. The boy yeah exactly, And then
before twenty twenty, they were the chants like twenty sixteen
to twenty nineteen. So They're just like a ridiculously good program, right,
Patty Gasso is out there making history and stuff.
Speaker 5: Texas Tech knocks them.
Speaker 6: Out of the Women's College World Series with their million
dollar pitcher, Kennedy. So last night they're playing Texas in
the finals and Kennedy is asked to walk Reese Atwood,
their catcher. She throws them a little too much in
the zone. Count is three zero, and Atwood just goes
for it and she knocks in the time run and
the run for the lead. So Texas Tech loses that game.
Kennedy owns up to it. She's like, that's on me.
I couldn't throw a ball whatever, So big dealer, no
big deal. The million dollar pitcher, Yeah, make it a
little oopsie.
Speaker 3: She is a incredible She's pitched every inning for them, yeah,
in the College World Series. But it's a big deal
because they were trying to put her own base. The
catchers standing up, throw a ball. It's three to zero,
and that's the hit that loses you the game because
you couldn't throw a ball, you throw two hit a
ble too good of a kitch when you're trying to
intentional walk one of their better hitters. It was a
wild scene and credit to her for being locked in
and ready to hit.
Speaker 4: I mean it is.
Speaker 6: Well, so they asked Reese, well, they asked both of
them after the game obviously what happened there, and Reese
was like, I knew.
Speaker 5: That they were intentionally trying to walk me.
Speaker 6: She was zero for ten in the tournament so far,
Reese Atwood was and she was just she said that
she was just watching the pitches and she was like, okay,
I got to make a play for my team here.
So that last three to zero pitch she went out
and she got it, and she did. She made the
play for her team. They went up to one after that.
Speaker 3: So it probably would have been a hit anyways. But
you can tell, like, yeah, obviously Texas Tech was flat footed. Yeah,
you get catcher standing up and you're thinking, oh, they're
about to walk her.
Speaker 2: So they in softbare they got to pitch it, like
they actually got to throw them. Yeah, the four balls.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah wait what do you mean.
Speaker 4: Well like in baseball?
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, okay, yeah yeah yeah yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah man, yeah, that's a big deal. Uh, that's the game.
I'll be talking about that game a lot later on
this afternoon.
Speaker 6: So, well, I mean, it's just crazy that Oklahoma gets
knocked out of it, but from one person. Well, like
Texas beat them Saturday and then Tech beat them I
think it was Monday. So just crazy that that program's
not winning another Natty.
Speaker 5: That's all they do is I.
Speaker 3: Know in Texas has been in that Championship Series for
you know, many of those losses to Oklahoma. So this
for them is getting over at that Oklahoma home. Yeah
all right, Tata.
Speaker 8: Well before we before we get to mind, like that
million dollar pitcher, I'm actually at home yesterday.
Speaker 2: They're doing a story on her.
Speaker 8: So I think her total like in IL things like
one point three one point four yep, previous high softball
nil deal was one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars.
That's crazy versus one point four million.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 6: Well, like she single handedly took two teams to the
Women's College World Series, Like she was a Stanford last
year yep, Eli, she faced her.
Speaker 3: Stanford was not great, their lineup was not great at all,
and they got there.
Speaker 5: Because of her.
Speaker 6: I could say the same thing for Texas Tech, like
they're not bad, but she's like their biggest Yeah. Oh yeah,
any team that has Kennedy's that's their biggest weapon.
Speaker 5: But it's just insane. She took two teams there.
Speaker 4: Yep, right.
Speaker 8: The twenty twenty five FPI for college football, like National
Championship bods, came out yesterday. The Tigers have a thirty
point three percent chance of making the playoffs. They have
a one point eight percent chance of making the National championship,
and according to FBI projected wins, seven point nine wins
for the Tigers, A big dealer, new big deal. It's
a big deal because those numbers are low and they've
gotten lower.
Speaker 4: And there was some teams on that.
Speaker 3: List because I talked about this yesterday that were highly surprising.
Speaker 4: Tennessee is higher on that list than LSU. Tennessee's odds
are better. Nico im Maliaba is no longer there.
Speaker 3: He's at UCLA, right, and Aguilar comes in from UCLA.
He's not the same quarterback. I mean, Nico still had
some struggles last year. You lose Pierce, you lose the
SEC offensive player of the year at running back. Tennessee
being that high on that list was highly surprising. Like
I would have LSU more in the range of where
Clemson and Miami are than where they're at. So I
say it's a big deal just because I think more
of LSU than seven point nine wins and one point
eight percent chance to win a champion.
Speaker 2: A ten point nine wins. Yeah, you said to make
the playoffs, so give it. So give it.
Speaker 9: What Jake just said, what's Clemson?
Speaker 3: Clemson nine point seven wins, forty seven point three percent
chance to make the playoff and three point eight percent
chance to win the championship in Miami's very similar.
Speaker 9: I would say this is no big deal because this
sounds like a really dumb list.
Speaker 4: It is Texas, right again, whoever.
Speaker 2: Wrote this list and carout with these stats get trash well.
Speaker 8: Tex favorites to win the national title like arch Manning
might be good hasn't started yet. The ridiculous that's the
FBI for you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the Texas stuff is something I certainly want to
get into with Flynn because you've got a quarterback in
Arch Manning who we've talked about for four or five
years now and he is still yet to be the
full time starter. And Texas is one of the teams
with the best national championship odds, but there's still so
much to prove for him for them too.
Speaker 4: I mean they lost a lot.
Speaker 3: Now they got some guys coming back, and so I
think Texas going to be right there in the fould.
And I think a lot of Steve Sarkisian. I think
he's a top three play caller in the country. I
mean what he does pre snap, it's like window dressing,
but with a purpose.
Speaker 4: I love it.
Speaker 3: Like he he is going to know what you're doing
before you know the ball snap. But I don't know, man,
when you've got as many returning quarterbacks as we have
in the country and the top three teams right now,
actually top four teams in the FBI, Texas, Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama,
we don't know anything about what they're going to be
at quarterback.
Speaker 2: Like its look good, arches look good.
Speaker 9: It's almost unfair, like the expectations, But you want to
be at the position where you have expectations put on you.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I hope they're not good because Ulsu plays them
in the opener. But like we know what Clubnick is,
we don't know what arches. If they're top three receivers
back from a year ago through at a weaker conference,
Texas has none of those things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, look when you look at the FBI and actually,
let's do this. Let's take a break, we'll come back.
We'll look at some of these teams that are in
Here is a nice one by Ta Tay to pull
this one up, because there's some returning quarterbacks that aren't
getting near the love leading their team as some of
these first time starting quarterbacks. And we'll break it all
down here on o tvpter bench. I go to Pelicanroof
dot compelicanroof dot com, where you can get that instant
roof quote right there on the homepage the website. I mean,
you put in your address and it's going to Google
map it. It's going to get an outline of your
roof and give you an idea of what it is
going to cost you. Just an incredible tool they have
there on the homepage. I was actually taking my daughter
Harlowe on a walk last night kind of late evening.
Man Pelican Roof was still hard at work in our
neighborhood and it was so cool because you know, I
saw the Pelican Roof flag that they were working there,
and everything was like in order, like as they're working
on the roof, like everything was still like cleaned up
and kept tight. You know, stuff wasn't everywhere and making
this big mess. And that's just like a great example.
Almost took a picture. I was like, I don't want
to mean, why this gotta take a picture of my
house so I could talk about it on the radio.
I mean, that's just the kind of service you're gonna
get pelicanroof dot com here.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that means they take pride in what they do.
They take pride in their job. They operate with integrity
and that's at the core of everything they do. So
if you need to get your roof checked out, go
to pelicanroof dot Com.
Speaker 7: Two thousand and seven.
Speaker 1: Champs Purple and Gold to the core. This is off
the Bench with Hester and Flynn Baton Rougees go to
for all things Louisiana Sports.
Speaker 2: I love Gold.
Speaker 4: Tell the people about something while I confirm with.
Speaker 9: Jay, Hey can we get that clip of gold number
saying that? So every time that what they call it
the rejoin everything that rejoined good love good.
Speaker 3: We also gotta play the Scratch of Cats video at
some point today we forget.
Speaker 9: That the other day, Hey, welcome back. Like the fact
that it's real to I think that's the first time
I've ever heard you do a voice of any type.
Speaker 3: Besides like Jim voice Jim on that one that in Australia.
Speaker 4: I don't I don't remember why.
Speaker 2: The one you just did, though, is most like committed
i've ever heard.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Yeah, that that was do like a radio voice,
like an exaggerated.
Speaker 4: I did do that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, the big guy you should sit over here was
pretty uh, you know, I'm pretty good at doing those,
and he you know, he did them often as well.
Speaker 9: There's a couple of real life people that do big
time radio voice.
Speaker 3: Hey, welcome back in oh TV here on one four five, ESPN,
Baton Rouge coming to you a lot from the Mercedes
Bens and Baton Rouge studios.
Speaker 2: Like that at a triangle desk.
Speaker 4: Well, okay, that was terrible, by the way, that's not bad.
That was so low energy.
Speaker 3: It was that a triangle desk you I don't know,
you don't have it.
Speaker 4: You know you didn't listen to Casey case I'm growing
up and it shows are.
Speaker 2: You kidding me?
Speaker 4: Does sound like it?
Speaker 2: I still listen to?
Speaker 4: Does it sound like it?
Speaker 2: There is a radio.
Speaker 5: It just means you can't be fake.
Speaker 9: It's right, it's kind of like that picture. Can't can't
throw a ball, she can't throw a sorry, coach, let
me me strike this person out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I do. I do redneck all the time.
Speaker 2: That is true. But that's that's kind of easy though.
It is.
Speaker 4: It's in the wheelhouse.
Speaker 2: I so fella.
Speaker 9: Yeah, they were were they were kind of calling us
a little bit of redneck in the huddle.
Speaker 2: I keep on the dhot everybody.
Speaker 9: I was like, yeah, we're we are concrete rednecks.
Speaker 4: Who was calling us that?
Speaker 2: I don't remember.
Speaker 9: It was a while back, I mean earlier. It is
a term that you're like, we had no disrespect. Now
we are who we are, but we are concrete redneck.
Is the is the term because you know, you know,
we like our amenities every now and then.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it is, but you do do it well.
But that voice that you just did with the with
the gigam pretty good.
Speaker 4: Okay, thank you.
Speaker 2: I don't even think now.
Speaker 4: I mean because I told Jay we'd come to him
like seven eight minutes. Yeah, let's yeah, all right.
Speaker 2: Now there's a bunch. I just picked one.
Speaker 4: I don't They're all going to be great.
Speaker 11: I'm going to Texas Christy University.
Speaker 4: Mine day, and I'm going to Texas Christion University.
Speaker 5: How much I'm going to say, I'm Julian.
Speaker 4: I'm going to Ally Christian, scratch your cat.
Speaker 7: I'm Jillian.
Speaker 4: I'm going to Alley Christian, scratch your cat.
Speaker 5: Claire Jenson and I'm going to.
Speaker 4: Be why you, La Jenson And I'm going to be
why you.
Speaker 5: I'm Sidney Person.
Speaker 6: I'm going Texas at University.
Speaker 10: I'm Chimney Person and I'm going to Texa Tech University.
Speaker 1: How many I'm going to Louisiana say Anniversity, Go Tigers.
Speaker 4: Litters using the state university, Go caucas Go caucas.
Speaker 5: The gigaboo was so accurate.
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 4: So Texas A and M.
Speaker 3: Shout out to the the Abilene Christian in the midst
of an M and Texas Tech and l s U.
Speaker 2: Cat I mean wow, scratch them capes.
Speaker 4: That's what she said.
Speaker 2: Uh oh man.
Speaker 8: Have bad like Sayan's like okay, Like Arizona, the University
of Arizona, the Wildcats on their football field says beared down.
They are the Wildcats.
Speaker 3: I just don't bear down. Well, there's a lot of
people that identity crisis. I mean Auburn, like we don't
question Auburn as much I do. It's a great place
to play, though, I actually think for me, for my money,
outside of Tiger Stadium, I think it's the loudest I've
ever played in.
Speaker 4: Jordan Harri Cane get loud.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm trying to think an.
Speaker 4: Four o four that weird. Like Ronnie Prude got called
for leaping?
Speaker 2: Yeah, what what is that?
Speaker 4: You know it is?
Speaker 3: So they tie the game, they go to kick the
extra point, they miss it. But Ronnie Prude, the only
time I ever heard it ever got a call for leaping.
Speaker 4: They get a chance to rekick it ten to nine.
Speaker 2: Maybe because an extra point.
Speaker 3: And then we had like a Chris Jackson, right I think,
So it wasn't Chris Jackson.
Speaker 4: You were holding?
Speaker 2: I was holding? Was it your fault? I mean yeah,
I was Who was it? Four year starter?
Speaker 4: I mean, it doesn't matter. I mean, I can go
look it up or you can just tell me.
Speaker 2: I believe it was Ryan Godey.
Speaker 3: Okay, there you go, shout out Ryan gode and Sean
Godey kick. And then we had like a seven to
five or something there and six that was uh that
was Auburn.
Speaker 9: Something like that was was four, the exavior Carter Neil.
Speaker 4: That was Georgia.
Speaker 2: That was Georgia. Okay, all right, that's.
Speaker 3: The only time in my L s U football career
that it was so bad. And from the very get
go we knew it wasn't gonna go. Only fumbling my
career was in that game. It just wasn't right that day.
David Green could not miss in the corner. I don't
even remember what receiver he was throwing to. But whatever
the peak version of David Green was, you got it
that day in Athens.
Speaker 2: Just firing it in about seven miles an hour.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it's Tucker spun about three thousand times a second.
Speaker 11: Though.
Speaker 3: I mean they had, you know, David Pollack, like real
David Pollack before he got skinny. Uh Odell Thurman, who
was I believe, like in jail for something the week
before and then got out and played against us, and
he was like a grown man. Greg Bleue Thomas Davis
playing safety, a fifteen year middle linebacker in the NFL
safety plaid safety for Georgia. Yes, that's who made me
fight for Yes, he played safety.
Speaker 2: I forgot about that.
Speaker 4: I didn't.
Speaker 3: Dude hit me, I was I broke a run like
I'm talking twenty yards, I'm out in the open. I'm like, man,
I'm gonna go set a tone on Thomas Davis. This
guy's an All American. I'm a freshman. That story ends.
Speaker 2: You set the tone.
Speaker 4: Thomas Davis won me nothing.
Speaker 9: You didn't know, but in fairness, you didn't know he
was going to be like one of the best linebackers
in the NFL.
Speaker 4: I had both hands on the ball the whole like
good not didn't matter.
Speaker 2: He hit me.
Speaker 4: That bog was about fifteen yards up in the air.
Speaker 9: My mind is absolutely blown right now that Thomas Davis
played safety.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we'll find some highlights.
Speaker 3: So but we do need to go to break because
when we come back, we're gonna be joined by the
head baseball coach the LSUE fighting Tigers.
Speaker 4: Let's go Jay Johnson.
Speaker 1: Off the bench.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 3: We are super excited to tell you about Rowse's Obviously
we told you, I mean, Matt has a great relationship
with them.
Speaker 4: There we do as well. Loved going in there.
Speaker 3: And summer is here, and Rouses has you covered all
summer long.
Speaker 4: So right now, from right now until.
Speaker 3: June the eleventh, stock up on twenty four ounce packs
of right bacon for just eight ninety nine.
Speaker 4: And let's be honest, bacon makes everything better.
Speaker 3: And if King Curtis once taught me anything is bacon
is good for me, Okay, it's gonna be good for
you as well. Go to Rouses. Check out all the
deals they've got going on right now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, summertime you need to cool off.
Speaker 9: Ralses has a perfect summer fruit sweet juicy candloop mini
seedless watermelons and honeydew melons. Get two for only five
bucks right now. And it's grilling season two. Get your
grill ready with some USDA Prime beef hole boneless New
York strip for just ten ninety seven a pound. Go
visit right now your local Rouse's Market.
Speaker 1: Locked in on LSU football twenty four to seven. You're
listening to off the Bench.
Speaker 4: All right, Dan, welcome back in.
Speaker 3: It is otb here one O four to five, ESPN
Baton Rouge. And we were always excited every single Thursday
to catch up with the head coach of LSU baseball,
Jay Johnson, who joins US now.
Speaker 4: Coach. Always appreciate the time. Hope you're doing well.
Speaker 11: Doing great. How are you guys doing this morning?
Speaker 4: Doing fantastic.
Speaker 3: Man. We are so fired up to get a super
regional here in Baton Rouge. But before we go forward,
let's kind of look back to the regional and across
college baseball coach. I mean, there was teams that were
just fighting and scratching and clawing, and we saw like
historic upsets, and we saw four four seeds win on
opening day alone. There was some real competitive baseball coach
across the country, and you had some teams fighting in
some big, big venues and didn't back down.
Speaker 11: Yeah, no doubt about it. I think it's one of
the things that makes baseball one of the most interesting,
intriguing sports, even though it moves slower than football and basketball.
Is it's in football and basketball, the talent advantage ninety
percent of the time is probably gonna went out, and
in baseball because of the pitcher, it's the team that
plays the best that day. And I think you saw
that in this NCAA tournament. I think seven hosts lost
or did not advance. And yeah, if everything screams baseball,
that's it. And we're fortunate that we played well and
we're able to advance out and really excited about what
we have coming this weekend.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Coach in the box was electric all weekend long.
It was.
Speaker 3: But I was there on Sunday night and the same
fans came back on Monday night and it was a
great atmosphere. And you made some changes coach to the
line up, and those paid off in a big way.
And Ethan Fry they're in the two hole. He gets
on base six times, four for four, a couple of doubles,
a home run. I mean, those changes worked out perfectly.
What went into the thought process of kind of switching
some things around with really the season on the line.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I've been asked a lot about this, and we've
had a very good year in my opinion, very consistent offensively.
You know, I've always operated though that, you know, the
only day that matters is the one in front of you.
And when you're in a winter home winner, go home game,
championship game, elimination game, obviously you have a lot to
gain by taking some risks. And we did it in
the National Championship Game in twenty three. Shuffle in the
deck a little bit and obviously paid off, and just
kind of looking at where all the players were like today,
because I believe young players change day to day. We're
not major leaguers. They're not major leaguers, and you know,
given the circumstances of the game, how did we want
to set the lineup? He mentioned Ethan. I think he's
easily the hottest, in my opinion, one of the best
players in the country right now today. So I wanted
to get him to the plate as many times as
we could. He just got a good, slow heartbeat, very
mature player, in control of himself. And then Steven Mile
and put him behind him. He's taken the advat that
we believe he's capable of right now, and I wanted
to get those guys up as many times as we could.
Danny had hit a four or excuse me, hit a
couple home runs against Little Rock on Friday. They obviously
viewed him as a threat, thought Jake Brown was just
a good matchup for the pitcher, and then put in
Jared in the sixth hole. If those guys in front
of him did their job, you know, it might make
things a little bit easier on him where they they'd
almost lose track of him, forget about him. And obviously
he popped a big home run, you know, and then
obviously you know what I said to the team, having
Luise in the eighth hole, that's as good a whole
hitter as you're going to have in the country tonight.
And he popped two home runs, so it worked out great.
But it was really just a sign of you know,
we gave everybody a job to do in the lineup
that day and the guys did a good job executing it.
Speaker 9: Coach introduced myself to you, Matt Flynn. It's a it's
a pleasure to talk to you. Looking forward to to
to talking with you every week the rest of the season.
So look, my question is the big decison You're going
into this this regional and it's different than any other
week of the season. You have a lot to think about,
You have a lot of from a pitching standpoint, how
are we gonna what's the rotation going to be, when
do you guys come in, how many innings? Everything like that.
It's different than any other week of the season leading
up to that point. So what kind of goes into
like the game three, what goes into your decision on
who's starting and what you know, how many rotations to
the lineup you wanted to go and what kind of
goes into that preparation of Game three from a starter standpoint,
but also knowing that you kind of have to be
prepared for a potential Game four as well.
Speaker 11: Yeah, great question, and you know, I don't know that
Chief would have articulated it. Yeah, let's go. Good way
to give him a hard time. Very nice to meet you.
First off. Second off, a lot, honestly. I mean Game
one and two are pretty easy with the guys that
we have. It's not easy in terms of winning, but
you're going to go with those two guys. It was
just a matter of determining what order. And you know,
I had a thought out deal of why we were
going to do Anthony and then Kate and and so
that was in place, and then you know, really game
three wasn't as hard as you would think. I mean,
Jayden Knut has thrown the ball really well for us
for the last three or four weeks and felt like
he could get us off to a good start. Didn't
have his best outing, and then you're right, it gets
a little tricky. You know. Obviously I would have loved
to have ended the deal on Sunday night, but you
have to play that thing smart because the worst thing
that you could do is burn through your best guys
and lose that game. And so we're fortunate where we
feel like we had multiple options at that point. When
I say that about four or five guys, Chase Shores
had been throwing the ball. Well, we were up three
to two, you know, velocity in that team's second game
in the doubleheader, I thought would give him problem. And
he immediately got us out of that inning, you know,
with the lead, and then went out and got the
leadoff guy and felt like he could get us three
to four innings, which would give us the time to
see where the game was at now if we're up
five to one or excuse me, at that point five
to two. Cason Evans was going in the game on
Sunday night, you know, to finish it. But they took
the lead, you know, at five to three, stretched it
to six to four, I believe, or six to three,
then six to four, and then ultimately ten to four.
And that's one of the weird games of the year
where it's great that you're in the winners bracket, but
you have to do that the right way, and I
feel like that we did, and it was honestly like
ten to four and the ninth it was it was
almost better that it was ten to five four then
had stayed six to four, and you know, it put
us in a good spot. I felt really good about
Monday thing. We had Zach, Cason, and Anthony for the
very back end of the game and felt like we
would hit. You know, we didn't come through necessarily on
Sunday night, but I felt like our offense was in
a good spot those three pitchers, maybe a couple other
guys for short bolts, that we were in a good
spot to win on Monday.
Speaker 3: And Coach, I mean Cason Evans, I mean, what can
you say about him? He didn't start the game on Monday,
but when he comes in strikes out nine straight guys,
I mean, he was unhittable, and he had this look
about him, and he had this energy about him. He
was wasting no time on the mound. It's like, catcher,
get me the ball as soon as you can batter,
get in the box, and I'm going to strike you out.
Like there was some big alpha energy from him. And
I've asked you this before and I'm just gonna keep
harping on it. You're not supposed to have that as
a freshman, certainly a true freshman in that venue, in
the best stadium in college baseball, with everything on the line.
Speaker 4: But he's got it and then.
Speaker 11: Some there's no doubt. I mean, that's one of the
most important players we've recruited here in my four years.
Knew at the second we got him, knew at the
second we got him through the draft. I don't know
if I said this earlier in the year when we
were talking about him. Well, I was supposed to go
to one of my friend's wedding in California, and then
he on a Saturday. I was going to leave on Friday,
and then Thursday he called me and said, hey, my
parents and I want to come back out for a
second visit. So I called my buddy and I said, hey, man, sorry,
we're not coming. Like this is uh, you'll it's a
base he's a baseball guy. I was like, you'll get it.
You'll get it when this dude shows up. And the
night I called him on Monday night and he's like,
that what the guy was? And then I was like,
that's exactly who that was.
Speaker 3: So he understood that, right, I mean as soon as
like you like, hey, that was the guy that just
struck out nine straight guys in the postseason, Like you're
forgiven forever for that, right.
Speaker 11: Yeah, no doubt. He's a he's a baseball agent. So
he was like, he knows very well who he.
Speaker 2: Is now, you know, coach.
Speaker 9: I was curious watching watching on on Monday the what
are the end game adjustments?
Speaker 2: Is there?
Speaker 9: Is there anything said from a coaching staff to a
lineup if there's a tight strike zone in a game,
Because I thought watching the game, and I'm a very
novice baseball knowledge guy, but I'm watching the game and
I'm thinking one of the big differences right now is
it seems that our guys LSU is adjusting to a
tighter strike zone from a discipline standpoint in the batter's box,
is there something like you in the first couple of innings.
Is there a mid game adjustment that you tell all
your guys, we got a tight strike zone, We're gonna
implement this a different type of game plan in the
batter's box one.
Speaker 11: Hundred and you always are adjusting to the pitcher having
a good game plan there. I think you know the umpire,
you know you can tell pretty quickly and you know
most of the time, not the other night, but most
of the time we're the home team. And based on
you know, yeah, the two of the elite strike throwers
in the history of whatever. When k An Anthony like,
depending on you know, whether the guys are raising his
right arm. If he's not raising his right arm, when
those guys are throwing in the first inning, you're like, Okay, guys,
let's button this thing down a little bit. And so
that's definitely a thing. It doesn't happen as much as
you think. And I would say this, like, and I've
felt this coming out of the NCAA tournament's different because
you're you're getting the best of the best umpires. But
I think they've done a great job and they do
a good job in the SEC and the guys this weekend,
I thought behind the plate did a really good job.
And you know, and sometimes you know, you get them
from different parts of the country and the NCAA tournament,
that's kind of how they do it. And I actually
worry about it going the other way sometimes where it
opens up a little bit, you know. And but yeah,
I thought our guys did a good job. I mean,
we got a bunch of walks the other night, which
you know, that's a big part of our offense. It's
like turnovers in football. You know, let's just take what
they give us and turn it into something big. And yeah,
I thought our hitters did a good job with that.
Speaker 3: Cause no what else you have baseball coach Jay Johnson
here on OTB. All right, coach, let's go to West Virginia.
They won the Big twelve in the regular season. Really
good baseball team. They go to Clemson South Carolina, they
win that regional against you know, look a pretty good
field with Clemson, Kentucky and others. Initial look at West
Virginia kind of your initial breakdown of what they're bringing
to town.
Speaker 11: Yeah, two really good starting pitchers. They're they're Friday guy
or number one guy. They lean on a lot. They
actually brought him in like we did with Anthony, but
on one day's rest to finish up the regional, So
they really lean on him a lot. Those guys throw
a lot of pitches. They're going to stay in the game.
They ride them on. Offense, impressive in terms of how
they play, I would say, you know, they obviously have
like one hundred and eight stolen bases or something like
that they do a really good job with the playing game.
They have old position players that take really good at bats,
they don't strike out very much, and I think most importantly,
and you got to know how important they believe that
they can win. And they're championship caliber team and one
of the best leagues in college baseball. And we're gonna
have to play great, you know, to advance out of this,
and we're excited about that challenge.
Speaker 9: Coach, I'm not gonna not going to ask you, like
what your lineup decisions and.
Speaker 2: What it's going to be good to tell you, yeah, obviously,
but like when you.
Speaker 9: Go into making a decision like that, especially this time
of the year, do you kind of go with like
hothand do you go with what's happened in the short term,
or do you kind of look at it as, all right,
we're resetting, this is a brand new weekend. Let's go
with what kind of the long term plan is.
Speaker 11: Well, your season's on the line every every day now,
so it's really what's best for today. And you know,
like I said, it's a little bit unconventional thinking. But
you know, our players again in eighteen to twenty one,
twenty two, they change a little bit more than the
professional player. And then sometimes there's just a matchup thing, like, hey,
we work really hard on that and you're great guy,
and Jamie Tucco and helps me with like some data
and analytics and evaluated matchups, and then we'll set the lineup,
you know. I mean, I'll consider starting a guy that
hadn't started in a long time on Monday night just
because we felt like we like where he's at with
his abats, that he's taken right now, and you know
he's going to impact the game some way, shape or form,
and so it's a little more like what's best for today.
Speaker 10: Now.
Speaker 11: With that being said, we've been very consistent this year
and very good throughout the season. We had one hiccup
at Auburn, but other than that, you know, it doesn't
mean we've scored seven or eight every game, But I
feel like I have a pretty good idea of what
I'm going to get and sometimes it's just slotting them
for what's best for that day.
Speaker 3: And we look forward to it coming up this weekend
inside Alec Box Stadium, West Virginia coming to town for
a super regional coach Man Me and the family had
such a good time with the Regional. Can't wait to
be back at the box for the Super Regional. The
stadium was electric. It's going to be turned up to
an absolute eleven. We look forward to and we always
appreciate your time.
Speaker 11: All right, guys, have a great day.
Speaker 2: Thanks coach.
Speaker 3: All right there he is head baseball coach for the
LSU Tigers, Jay Johnson, good enough to join us every
single week here on OTB. All right, we will step
away one final time here in our number two coming back.
I'm going to hit on some of what Jay talked
about there and we'll do it right here on ESPN.
Speaker 2: Baton rouge off the bench.
Speaker 4: I go to budros Electrical dot Com.
Speaker 3: Bujo's electrical dot com is the websites, and it is
true all the time, but certainly here during storm season
it is a coming, right, And we have all been
through hurricanes, and we've probably all been through a power outage,
and we've all been through a power outage that didn't
have a whole home generator before. And I can just
tell you, as someone that now has a whole home generator,
it is a completely different peace of mind.
Speaker 4: And so Boudro is going to come out.
Speaker 3: They give you that quote to exactly what it's going
to be for your home, for your business. That's why
their tagline is more Power, more protect and it is
going to protect you against that outage. It's ultimate peace
of mind and you're gonna get that at Bujo's Electrical dot.
Speaker 9: Com generators generators generators here pretty soon. That Gulf of
America is going to be eating up. So call a
team that consists of highly skilled electricians along with factory
train and certified generator technicians. That's boudros Eelectrical dot Com.
Speaker 1: From players to legends, Hester and Flynn breakdown L s
U Football like only champions can.
Speaker 3: Maybe maybe maybe my favorite R and B song of
all time?
Speaker 4: Certain like you know early two thousands, for sure, I've
never heard the song.
Speaker 3: Issue you shut your mouth right now, let's wait to
like where's the drop?
Speaker 4: You don't believe the stories?
Speaker 6: They're all us as you are stick around and I
just don't know why I number Baby, you.
Speaker 2: Ever worry about what I do, I'd be coming home
back to you.
Speaker 5: Still you still don't know it.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna say I've never heard it.
Speaker 6: I just wanted to show you you are.
Speaker 7: You don't know.
Speaker 9: It sounds like a familiar beat.
Speaker 2: I like it. I respect it.
Speaker 5: Mario.
Speaker 3: Braid my hair, Mario. You know that one No raid
my hair Mario. Mario is a singer. He has a song,
Braive my hair, Mario Webb Mario Mario.
Speaker 2: One word. It's a good video game.
Speaker 9: Mario is the ultimate meadthead of video games.
Speaker 3: I just saw the comment, Yeah it's not true.
Speaker 4: I don't take it off our number three O two
B off the bench.
Speaker 3: Yeah that's Mario that segment. You're Goodwood dot Com. Your
Goodwood dot Com for Goodwood Men Sexual Wellness two five
four gd Wood.
Speaker 4: Is the number.
Speaker 3: Give that number a call if you're going through something
and you want to find out how Goodwood can help you, right,
because they're going to be able to help you. If
you have got a question, they're going to help answer
that question. We've been saying it for the last couple
of weeks and months. You shouldn't be embarrassed either, like
there should be no hesitation. You call the number or
you go book the consultation online. Again, your Goodwood dot com.
Because they can't help you, they can help you move
forward with whatever you're going through, right, now you can
check out a full list of services pricing on the website.
Speaker 4: You're a goodwood dot com.
Speaker 9: Yeah, go see what they have available. Just take a
look on the internet. I mean, we're men, we're humans.
We suffer from things suffering sexual performance, low testosterone. They
can help you. Just go to their website you're goodwood
dot com and check out what they can do for you.