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: All right, let's get it started. The five o'clock hour
Speaker 2: here on a Wednesday afternoon, a warm It was warm
Speaker 2: at least when I got here. In fact, I think
Speaker 2: it's almost up to eighty degrees today, which is not
Speaker 2: a bad thing. But I started to get a little
Speaker 2: worried that the you know, the warm weather when it's
Speaker 2: been a little chilly and we are getting, you know,
Speaker 2: close to November, that like that just means the rain's
Speaker 2: on the way. And I really hope that it doesn't
Speaker 2: rain all evening tomorrow, but just our luck, it probably will.
Speaker 2: But let's believe in the power of positivity because I
Speaker 2: again I don't know what it is, probably just me
Speaker 2: being a dad where my kids are getting older and
Speaker 2: they really enjoy Halloween more because you know, they're older,
Speaker 2: they understand it more. But I mean, I've got the
Speaker 2: Halloween vibes like like I never had before. Like I'm
Speaker 2: sad tomorrow it's all over, although it's gonna be great
Speaker 2: because that I get to put the Christmas tree up.
Speaker 3: What's the earliest do you always put it up on
Speaker 3: November first.
Speaker 2: I don't think we've ever done it on the day
Speaker 2: after the day after Halloween until last year, but usually
Speaker 2: it's pretty early. But we did it last year. I
Speaker 2: don't really know how it played out, but like I remember,
Speaker 2: my wife was like, do you want to go ahead
Speaker 2: and put them? I'm like, yes, ran downstairs, carried that tree.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm yeah, let's do it. Let's let's I
Speaker 2: mean love Christmas time. So we went. You know, we
Speaker 2: did a lot this Halloween season. But tomorrow it all ends,
Speaker 2: and fingers crossed that the rain holds off, especially considering
Speaker 2: where hosts, you know, big group of people I mean
Speaker 2: mostly my friends and that are bringing their kids. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's become like a thing I look forward to every year,
Speaker 2: trick or treating. But this year it's just been it's been.
Speaker 2: It's been fun, but we haven't had rain. And how
Speaker 2: long it's been two or three weeks. Yeah, And for
Speaker 2: it to reappear the rain right as soon as the
Speaker 2: kids are going to trick or treat, that'd be a
Speaker 2: real bummer. And I do think it, you know, it's
Speaker 2: it makes sense for certain communities, certain areas to say, hey,
Speaker 2: we're going to do. We're going to do trigger treating
Speaker 2: the next day or the day before because of weather.
Speaker 2: But you know, you're not gonna it's not the same. Like,
Speaker 2: you know, if enough people in the neighborhood say, okay,
Speaker 2: we'll follow, we'll follow what the mayor of this area said.
Speaker 2: And there was some area in southern Indian I don't
Speaker 2: know which one it is that said that they were
Speaker 2: gonna they were gonna mix it, mix it up. And
Speaker 2: actually I think do Friday, and I'm sure there'll be
Speaker 2: plenty of people that do follow with that and kids
Speaker 2: will still have a good time. But look, you know
Speaker 2: it needs to be on Halloween, which hopefully rain doesn't
Speaker 2: get in the way there. I don't forget. We've got
Speaker 2: you covered. On Saturday game Day Louisville and Clemson, we'll
Speaker 2: get the pregame show started at six point thirty, presented
Speaker 2: by Pellow Windows and Doors of Central Kentucky and Jefferson
Speaker 2: Animal Hospital. And then after the game, it'll be a
Speaker 2: late night, but we'll be reacting to whatever it is
Speaker 2: that happens there in Death Valley as the Cards hopefully
Speaker 2: can pick up a big victory. But it's the postgame show,
Speaker 2: The Louisville Football Postgame Show presented by Alex rwy Lawyer's
Speaker 2: suit Distracted Driver dot Com. We had a texture in
Speaker 2: the four o'clock hour that said they're making the trip
Speaker 2: to Clemson and asking if I had any suggestions recommendations.
Speaker 2: I've never been to Clemson and I really don't have
Speaker 2: any interest in going. I'm not somebody that's real big
Speaker 2: in like, I'm sure the atmosphere would be great, and
Speaker 2: I'm sure people have gone. And clearly, if you're a
Speaker 2: Louisville fan and you've gone, you've never experienced to win.
Speaker 2: So if you're going back, then you must have had
Speaker 2: a good time despite the loss. So I'm sure the
Speaker 2: atmosphere is everything people say that it is. I remember
Speaker 2: Louisville being relatively new to the ACC and this is
Speaker 2: when Kupp was working with Paul as the color analyst
Speaker 2: on the radio broadcast. And you know, this guy played
Speaker 2: college football for many years and played at a lot
Speaker 2: of different places. But you know, I remember him telling
Speaker 2: me just how like you wouldn't believe how insanely awesome
Speaker 2: the tailgating is the atmosphere. So I'm sure it's a
Speaker 2: lot of fun. But like if I ever went to Clemson,
Speaker 2: I would go and then not go to the game,
Speaker 2: which a lot of people would say, well, well that defeats
Speaker 2: the purpose of the trip fair enough, But I would
Speaker 2: find a way to, you know, make some content out
Speaker 2: of it, clearly, have some fun with the vibe check stuff,
Speaker 2: because man, as far as material, I got endless things
Speaker 2: I could throw at Clemson fans because they're easy targets.
Speaker 2: But you know, you can still enjoy the atmosphere, taking
Speaker 2: the vibes and then you know, watch the game at
Speaker 2: a tailgate or you know, do what I do at times,
Speaker 2: go back to my hotel room, or maybe just watch
Speaker 2: it at home. And I used the postgame show as
Speaker 2: an excuse because it is a legitimate excuse, Like I
Speaker 2: cannot stay at a game at a certain time because
Speaker 2: I've got to be situated either here in studio or
Speaker 2: I have to be set up somewhere to do the
Speaker 2: postgame show, and you know, it's not really easy to do.
Speaker 2: And if I was scrambling to find a spot while
Speaker 2: the game is finishing and it's a tight game like that,
Speaker 2: would that would be the worst case scenario because then
Speaker 2: I wouldn't really be able to see how it ended.
Speaker 2: I could see a score and maybe see a play
Speaker 2: here and there, but like you know, it's kind of
Speaker 2: important when you do a postgame show to see exactly
Speaker 2: what happens in the game you're supposed to react to.
Speaker 2: So again, it is a legitimate reason why I don't
Speaker 2: go to as many games as I used to and
Speaker 2: why I don't stay long. But also, like if I
Speaker 2: like when I used to sit it at press row,
Speaker 2: is that I feel like that's not what they call
Speaker 2: it anymore. I don't know when I used to sit
Speaker 2: at my seat that was, you know, an assigned seat
Speaker 2: for media when it was basketball, or the press box
Speaker 2: for football when it got close in like a big
Speaker 2: game in both basketball and football. I'm not sure i'd
Speaker 2: rather be let me afraid, let me rephrase that. I'm
Speaker 2: not sure there's anywhere i'd less like to be than
Speaker 2: in the press box or at my seat at the
Speaker 2: media spot in basketball, because like, I'm a fan, like
Speaker 2: you know, and I'm over the point where I worry
Speaker 2: about like and I used to do this, and I
Speaker 2: kind of feel like a d bag because like I
Speaker 2: I've always been a Louisville fan. I've never once shot
Speaker 2: away from that. But like I used to feel like, well,
Speaker 2: you got to wear neutral colors if you're pressed, because
Speaker 2: you know, like you're supposed to act like you're I'm
Speaker 2: not object I mean I am objective, but like there's
Speaker 2: no reason for me to show up to a game
Speaker 2: in disguise. That's if I'm not a Louisville fan, right,
Speaker 2: But in games where I really want to, like, you know,
Speaker 2: it's you know, I'm on the edge of my seat,
Speaker 2: like if I'm sitting at you know, I can't jump
Speaker 2: up and scream whenever I'm sitting you know, court side
Speaker 2: in my seat. I mean, that would be unprofessional of me.
Speaker 2: And you know, Tim Sillan doesn't want to hear me
Speaker 2: hollering and yelling because you know, Sully's a capital Jay,
Speaker 2: He's got the sharp pencil. He's there not as a
Speaker 2: fan I am. And in the press box like it's silent,
Speaker 2: like it's completely quiet, and they take good care of you.
Speaker 2: Up there. You got a good I mean, they've got
Speaker 2: a bunch of seats, they've got an area for you
Speaker 2: to set up, they've got a great spread for the
Speaker 2: for the food. You get your halftime popcorn or your
Speaker 2: halftime cookie that you got, you know, unlimited soft drinks,
Speaker 2: like they take great care of you and it's awesome.
Speaker 2: But like in a big game, I'm to the point
Speaker 2: now where like I want to, I want to I
Speaker 2: want to be among fans or be by myself because
Speaker 2: I don't want anybody to see how I behave and
Speaker 2: act when there's really close games that are getting down
Speaker 2: to the wire. And if you know me, and I
Speaker 2: mean like you actually know me, like personally, then you
Speaker 2: know exactly what I'm talking about. Like I bet my
Speaker 2: mom's listening and she's thinking, like of all the times
Speaker 2: that I behaved like a lunatic and she worried what
Speaker 2: went wrong with her son because he's a madman when
Speaker 2: it's a close game in Louisville basketball or football's playing
Speaker 2: and it's you know, it's crunch time. I've gotten better,
Speaker 2: Like I refrain from cursing now if my kids are
Speaker 2: with me, because you know that that could be bad.
Speaker 2: Like my son's at a very impressionable age to where
Speaker 2: he would absolutely like that's Pete what you say. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't know what that means, but that's what Dad
Speaker 2: said during the game. I'm gonna yeah, you h an effort,
Speaker 2: like you know, talking about he might just do that
Speaker 2: not knowing that it's wrong. So I gotta be I
Speaker 2: gotta be mindful of that. That's what Twitter's for though,
Speaker 2: right yeah, oh yeah, scream into the look. I mean,
Speaker 2: we've all gotten loose on Twitter in the heat of
Speaker 2: the moment, and I kind of lean into it now,
Speaker 2: like I have a pretty good balance to where like
Speaker 2: all rage tweet, but like I now know not to
Speaker 2: not to you know, drop a bunch of curse words
Speaker 2: or you know, say something that is really just I
Speaker 2: mean Twitter in a game is there's a much better
Speaker 2: chance of it making you look like a lunatic or
Speaker 2: hurting you, especially someone in you know, a position like this.
Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is where you know,
Speaker 2: like you know, these jobs are somewhat public, right, like
Speaker 2: you don't want to. You don't want to, you know,
Speaker 2: nobody wants to look like a lunatic. But anyways, I
Speaker 2: won't be a Clemson, And I have no advice for
Speaker 2: you as far as what to do, because I've never been,
Speaker 2: but I would imagine you'll find, uh, you'll find you'll
Speaker 2: find the vibes.
Speaker 3: I have one more common for you. I love that
Speaker 3: you have a specific gift designated for certain moments during game.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, one is one is a gift, One is
Speaker 2: a VID. The gift for when things go bad is
Speaker 2: that guy who head and and you know what, Like,
Speaker 2: I'm sure this isn't like a super secret kind of thing,
Speaker 2: but I've had people ask me, and I've never told them,
Speaker 2: what do you search on Twitter to get that? And
Speaker 2: the keyword that brings that up You'd never guess, because
Speaker 2: I've had people ask me like where do you like,
Speaker 2: where do you find that? Like? How do you get that?
Speaker 2: And I'll you know, I'm going to keep it and
Speaker 2: keep it close to the best cause am I wrong?
Speaker 2: You've not seen many people use that other than me.
Speaker 3: No clue who it is, if it's a real person,
Speaker 3: if it's a movie character, whatever it may be.
Speaker 2: I don't know where it came from, and I don't
Speaker 2: even know how I found it, but I remember what
Speaker 2: got me there, and it's it's consistent. But the let's
Speaker 2: play some ball. You know that that doesn't even really
Speaker 2: make a lot of sense because I don't. I mean,
Speaker 2: I've I've never live tweeted baseball in my life. That's
Speaker 2: from but like I think it's the timing of that one.
Speaker 2: It's it's Niel Stern, who plays Phil Brickma in Rookie
Speaker 2: of the Year. One of the best characters ever in
Speaker 2: a movie. He's great, by the way, too, he was
Speaker 2: the voice in The Wonder Years. Obviously he was Marvin
Speaker 2: home alone like he's great, and you know, he gets
Speaker 2: himself locked into uh, locked into the you know, one
Speaker 2: of the cages in the locker room where I guess
Speaker 2: they like, you know, keep stuff like bats and whatnot.
Speaker 2: And he's locked in there. They're out there playing in
Speaker 2: a big game, and you know, he can hear what's
Speaker 2: going on. Maybe there's a TV in there, and he's
Speaker 2: let's play some ball, Let's play some ball like that.
Speaker 2: When I send that, that's like here we go, like,
Speaker 2: uh oh, this we got some momentum now. And then
Speaker 2: there's the one that I'm probably gonna retire. That's me
Speaker 2: banging the drum at the at the at the Louisville
Speaker 2: basketball game.
Speaker 3: Because it's a Kenny Pain era thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, people don't really associate it with KP but I do,
Speaker 2: and believe it or not, I've actually lost a lot
Speaker 2: of weight since then, so I don't really like how
Speaker 2: I look in that, but yeah, like it's better off
Speaker 2: to just you know, not take not get too crazy
Speaker 2: and just send out gifts or little clips rather than
Speaker 2: typing out something. And you know, because I've had many,
Speaker 2: I mean, not as much in recent years, but like,
Speaker 2: you know, Twitter really is I think probably of all
Speaker 2: the things that if at times kind of stopped me
Speaker 2: in my tracks and made me reevaluate how much I
Speaker 2: care about, like Louisville winning and losing games, the rapid
Speaker 2: you know, the rapid fire tweets in the heat of
Speaker 2: the moment like that. That's one of the one of
Speaker 2: the three things that I would say, is like a
Speaker 2: real reminder like wait a second, do you need you
Speaker 2: need to reevaluate some things?
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: People think I'm joking when I say it, and I'm not,
Speaker 2: because it's really It wouldn't be a funny joke. It's
Speaker 2: just the truth. Like if I get really really sad
Speaker 2: about Louisville sports, I just go play with my kids
Speaker 2: because then it's like a reminder of like what really matters.
Speaker 2: And they're so sweet and if they're nice, you know,
Speaker 2: and they're at the age now where they still love
Speaker 2: playing with me and like it just it makes me
Speaker 2: at least forget about the fact that Louisville football or
Speaker 2: basketball broke my heart and then I get to come
Speaker 2: to work and talk about it, and you know, used
Speaker 2: to be therapeutic. Now it just makes me sad at times.
Speaker 2: I've had a really I mean, it could be worse,
Speaker 2: but like this year's football season has been weird because
Speaker 2: they're not in a position to where we can say
Speaker 2: the season has been a disaster. They really don't have
Speaker 2: a result as far as a loss that you're thinking, Man,
Speaker 2: how the hell bad happen? But you know that they
Speaker 2: could have cleaned some things up and the results will
Speaker 2: be different, and you might be talking about finding yourself
Speaker 2: in Charlotte for the second straight year. So it's just
Speaker 2: been in you know, the results overall. I mean, having
Speaker 2: three losses at this point is not what anybody would
Speaker 2: have wanted, but they're also not bad losses, and you
Speaker 2: realize that moving forward, if you do clean some things up,
Speaker 2: you probably can finish with still having a really good
Speaker 2: record and a good season. But Louisville finding a way
Speaker 2: to win against Boston College in that like giving me
Speaker 2: such a good vibe and a good feel really the
Speaker 2: rest of the weekend and here on Wednesday, many days later,
Speaker 2: like it's another sad thing, Like my mood and my
Speaker 2: demeanor should not be so impacted by what college kids
Speaker 2: do in a football field. But that's that's life, and
Speaker 2: I'm one of millions, right, Let's be real, like Indiana
Speaker 2: having this run for John has probably given him joy
Speaker 2: he did not know existed when it comes to college football.
Speaker 2: And I don't mean that, I'm not like joking like
Speaker 2: this this probably at times doesn't seem real to you, right.
Speaker 3: It doesn't seem real, and it's we I was telling
Speaker 3: you this during one of the breaks earlier, Like it's
Speaker 3: weird being nervous every week for Indiana football knowing that
Speaker 3: they're playing for something and that there's things on the
Speaker 3: line that they've never had at stake before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's gonna be a real heartbreaker whenever, you know,
Speaker 2: if the first loss happens, I mean, it's still what
Speaker 2: doesn't change how awesome of a season it is. But again,
Speaker 2: you don't get to like results change expectations throughout a season.
Speaker 2: And I don't just mean like, hey, we lost a
Speaker 2: couple I guess we should now stop talk talking about
Speaker 2: the playoff. I mean, Indiana was coming off of a
Speaker 2: few really bad seasons the end of the Tom Allen era,
Speaker 2: and now they're freaking eight to o and they have
Speaker 2: a realistic path to the Big Ten championship in the playoff.
Speaker 2: So before the season, you would have said a bowl
Speaker 2: game would be a great early sign for Signetti, considering
Speaker 2: Indiana hadn't gone bowling consistently in a long time. But no,
Speaker 2: I mean, now you're already way past bowling. But like,
Speaker 2: if you somehow went eight and four, it's crazy, but it.
Speaker 3: Just would be a disappointment.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it would be. It would be a disaster. Like
Speaker 2: it wouldn't mean that you're doomed and that you didn't
Speaker 2: have a good year, but the emotion from your fans
Speaker 2: would be devastation. And that's not realistic. They're not going
Speaker 2: to go eight and four. I mean, I guess it's
Speaker 2: technically possible. Who's the worst team they play the rest
Speaker 2: of the war and produce, Yeah, produce. Look, Prdue might.
Speaker 3: Be one eleven.
Speaker 2: Prdue might fire their coach after this year. And if they,
Speaker 2: if they, if they're serious about football, might want to
Speaker 2: And I don't know, I remember just being in disbelief
Speaker 2: that it worked out the way it did with Saderfield
Speaker 2: and Cincinnati, which, by the way, I'll give set Off
Speaker 2: a credit. He's winning, Like I don't know how they're
Speaker 2: going to finish the rest of the way. They did
Speaker 2: lose to Colorado, but like Saderfield has has had a
Speaker 2: solid second season thus far at Cincinnati, so credit to him.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: I don't think the ceilings high was sad anywhere, because
Speaker 2: that's just who he is. But you know, I thought
Speaker 2: they were going to be doomed this year, and so
Speaker 2: far he's done better than most would have expected. So
Speaker 2: when it played out the way it did, was sad.
Speaker 2: Like I was just in disbelief that, like we got
Speaker 2: that lucky and the scenario played out to bring Jeff bromhome,
Speaker 2: meaning SAT's gone, Cincinnati paid you to take him off
Speaker 2: your hands, and Brahms here, and you know, that was
Speaker 2: what a lot of us wanted, most of us wanted.
Speaker 2: So because of that, I don't really remember the produced
Speaker 2: search at all. But that guy, I mean, how do
Speaker 2: he get the job? And I don't even mean just results,
Speaker 2: but like I don't know, like he's a young guy,
Speaker 2: former player, but like he doesn't even come from like
Speaker 2: a coaching tree to where he was looked at as
Speaker 2: like next man up. And Jeff said something the other day.
Speaker 2: I think it was in his press conference. It might not. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was his press conference because he was talking about how,
Speaker 2: you know, believe it or not, he's been here before,
Speaker 2: where he's had teams that you know, have losses you
Speaker 2: feel like they shouldn't have. Like, Jeff was good at Purdue,
Speaker 2: but what really made it impressive was not a number
Speaker 2: as far as the amount of wins you had. It
Speaker 2: was the fact that you were able to consistently become
Speaker 2: competitive in the Big Ten when they hadn't done it
Speaker 2: in a long time. And along the way you got
Speaker 2: to the Big Ten championship game and you beat a
Speaker 2: bunch of ranked teams. So, you know, but he I
Speaker 2: don't think he went out of his way because that's
Speaker 2: just not Jeff. But he did mention. He said, believe
Speaker 2: it or not, we've been here before. You know, at Purdue,
Speaker 2: it's not an easy place to win. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: how many people realize that, but it's not an easy
Speaker 2: place to win. Like I kind of feel like he
Speaker 2: wanted people to realize like what I did at Purdue
Speaker 2: was probably more the most people realize. But again, if
Speaker 2: he didn't do it for that reason, it wouldn't shock
Speaker 2: me because that's not really his demeanor. But you know,
Speaker 2: Purdue hired a guy that is incompetent, and you know,
Speaker 2: it's another reminder that they were lucky to have Jeff.
Speaker 2: But the thought of him staying at Purdue forever was,
Speaker 2: I mean unrealistic. If Louisville ever opened up, and let's
Speaker 2: be real, if Louisville opened up and Jeff Brawm was
Speaker 2: just Jeff Bram and he wasn't from Louisville, he was
Speaker 2: from Cincinnati and had no connection, then he probably wouldn't
Speaker 2: have come to Louisville, to be honest with you, But
Speaker 2: clearly he is Jeff Brom and he is from Louisville,
Speaker 2: and he's he's our coach. And you know, I want
Speaker 2: so badly for this team to finish strong for obvious reasons.
Speaker 2: I'm a Louisville fan, and I want him to beat Clemson,
Speaker 2: beat Kentucky in that streak, and of course beat Clemson
Speaker 2: for the first time. But you know, I results clearly
Speaker 2: are how you were evaluated as a program as a coach,
Speaker 2: and like, if they end up seven and five and
Speaker 2: we know that they should have been a lot better,
Speaker 2: where are the fingers going to be pointing towards him?
Speaker 2: And that's deserved, Like I'm but like it won't mean
Speaker 2: that he's not a good coach and won't mean that,
Speaker 2: like you still can't have a really good tenure here
Speaker 2: with him here. But I just am not prepared for,
Speaker 2: you know, the comments about we got rid of him
Speaker 2: and got us a new sadder for you. I mean
Speaker 2: that was already being set after the SMU loss and whatnot.
Speaker 2: So you know, look, it's part of the gig. If
Speaker 2: that's what people want to say, then you know, we'll
Speaker 2: have to We'll have to, you know, let them say it.
Speaker 2: They can say whatever they want. But man, I'm hoping
Speaker 2: they can take advantage of this big opportunity on Saturday
Speaker 2: against Clemson. If you missed it earlier, we had David
Speaker 2: Hale of ESPN, who covers the acc on with us
Speaker 2: and a good a good back and forth with him
Speaker 2: about this matchup against Clemson, and we're going to find
Speaker 2: out about both teams late in the year here on
Speaker 2: Saturday for Louisville what I think we're going to find
Speaker 2: out is, Okay, did they really come together and were
Speaker 2: they really able to utilize digging deep, finding a way
Speaker 2: to a RaSE a twenty point deficit on the road
Speaker 2: and play their best defense consistently throughout? Like they looked
Speaker 2: like they had an identity, an identity defensively where they
Speaker 2: were out, They're bouncing around, they had some swagger. I mean,
Speaker 2: they were bullies. They were dominant really after Boston College
Speaker 2: scored that touchdown in the third quarter. And the offense
Speaker 2: has been good all year. Let's be real, the offense
Speaker 2: has been good enough and sometimes really good. So what
Speaker 2: we're gonna learn about Louisville is did they really carry
Speaker 2: over something from that Boston College game? Did they find themselves?
Speaker 2: So to speak? And then for Clemson, I believe we're
Speaker 2: going to find out if, like, if they come out
Speaker 2: and they roll Louisville, some will say, well, hey, Lowell's
Speaker 2: now I got four losses. Clemson's benefiting from the lousy
Speaker 2: acc And maybe they're right if they say that. But
Speaker 2: what I think we're going to learn is if you know,
Speaker 2: if their recent play is more of a product of
Speaker 2: who they're playing or more of a product of that.
Speaker 2: They're actually really, really good. Kate Klebnick is getting a
Speaker 2: lot of love, there's no doubt about it. But I
Speaker 2: feel good about this quarterback matchup. Sounds like a dangerous
Speaker 2: thing to say, given Ron English's defense this year, but
Speaker 2: the quarterbacks who've given Louis problems have done what run
Speaker 2: and obviously they've done other things too, Like it wasn't
Speaker 2: the legs necessarily that that killed you with cam Ward,
Speaker 2: it was a little bit of everything. But he's a
Speaker 2: Heisman favorite right now. Other guys that have been able
Speaker 2: to make plays with their legs, they've been a real
Speaker 2: kryptonite for you. Kate Clubdon couldn't do that. So if
Speaker 2: he's sitting back in the pocket like a statue and
Speaker 2: this defense can get loose, I mean, it could be
Speaker 2: a good recipe. So I'm anxious for Saturday night. For sure.
Speaker 2: We'll talk about Kentucky on the other side, because I
Speaker 2: watched a little bit of their scrimmage last night, their
Speaker 2: exhibition game in the first half, and you know, I
Speaker 2: could I could feel them sweating a little bit now
Speaker 2: that they thought they were going to lose, but they
Speaker 2: probably went through with what they probably went through what
Speaker 2: Louisville fans went through at times in the Spaulding Exhibition,
Speaker 2: where you know you're still up a bunch, you're not
Speaker 2: worried about losing, but because of your opponent, you feel
Speaker 2: like any little, any little play that maybe they get
Speaker 2: the best of you, you start to panic. And I
Speaker 2: think that's a norm I do. I quick break, will
Speaker 2: go back on the other side, keep it rolling along.
Speaker 2: It's coffee and company. Phil about Thorton's on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven ninety when I saw Kentucky, you know, up like
Speaker 2: four or five or something early on in the game
Speaker 2: last night against Minnesota State, which, by the way, Minnesota State,
Speaker 2: for what it's worth, didn't have I think their leading
Speaker 2: scorer they held out because he's dealing with an injury,
Speaker 2: and obviously they play a real game starting next week
Speaker 2: like everybody else. But Doug getting up winning by a lot.
Speaker 2: They went on like an eighteen old run and the
Speaker 2: second in I guess the late late first half, and
Speaker 2: then really never looked back. But I was checking Twitter
Speaker 2: to see sort of what the reaction was from their fans,
Speaker 2: and it wasn't like full meltdown. But when Amari Williams
Speaker 2: went down with an injury. I mean, obviously that's a
Speaker 2: concern because he's likely going to be your best big
Speaker 2: And I have no clue if there's been any kind
Speaker 2: of an update as far as you know what his
Speaker 2: status is, not sure if it's serious or not. But
Speaker 2: he did come back out in sweatpants, didn't play, but
Speaker 2: you know they were losing the rebounding battle point they
Speaker 2: got scored on a couple of times. I mean, again,
Speaker 2: it wasn't anything alarming, but when it's new and you
Speaker 2: are aware that it's not a real game and it
Speaker 2: doesn't really count, Like I could sense that both fan
Speaker 2: bases were kind of in the same spot with their
Speaker 2: exhibition games because you weren't worried about losing, and you
Speaker 2: try to remind yourself or you're having to remind yourself
Speaker 2: over and over that like, hey, like it's just an exhibition,
Speaker 2: good or bad. If you feel optimistic or pessimistic, it
Speaker 2: really likely won't mean anything because it's impossible. I mean,
Speaker 2: you never talk about exhibition games after the fact unless
Speaker 2: you lose. And sometimes there have been exhibition opponents that
Speaker 2: are exhibition games where a D two team will beat
Speaker 2: a D one team and that D one team it's
Speaker 2: actually being really good. Like Chris Mack lost to Scotty
Speaker 2: Davenport and Bellerman whenever Bellerman was D two, and I
Speaker 2: believe that was one of Chris's better teams at Xavier.
Speaker 2: So you know what happens. But because it's new and
Speaker 2: it's your first time seeing them, or at least second
Speaker 2: time seeing this new era with this new coach, seeing
Speaker 2: his team go up against a different team, you know
Speaker 2: you're probably over analyzing more than anything else. But again,
Speaker 2: they won big same thing with Louisville, and you really
Speaker 2: won't find out where either of these teams are, and
Speaker 2: if they're you know where they are next week or
Speaker 2: the week after. I'm sure it'll be much different one
Speaker 2: weeket to February. But because it's new and there's so
Speaker 2: much excitement, I mean, I think there's gonna be a
Speaker 2: lot of overreaction both ways with some of the results
Speaker 2: that you're gonna get from both sides this year. Like
Speaker 2: if Kentucky gets blown out by Duke in the Champions
Speaker 2: Classic in a couple of weeks, I mean, that probably
Speaker 2: doesn't mean that they're going to be bad, because Duke's
Speaker 2: really good at least should be really good. You know,
Speaker 2: if Louisville ends up, you know, beating Tennessee somehow, that
Speaker 2: may not mean that they're going to be great, because
Speaker 2: maybe Tennessee's not that good. I mean, as we get
Speaker 2: closer and closer, now what five days away from regular
Speaker 2: season games for both teams next Monday, what I think
Speaker 2: I'm more eager to see is the reaction from fans,
Speaker 2: regardless of results. Right, Like, let's say Louisville has a
Speaker 2: close game against Morehead State, are fans going to lose
Speaker 2: their mind? If Kentucky has a you know, close game
Speaker 2: against Ohio, how are their fans going to react? Like,
Speaker 2: It'll be interesting to see how everything plays out, not
Speaker 2: just how good these teams are in year one, but
Speaker 2: how the fan bases adjust. Clearly, Louisville has a low bar.
Speaker 2: There's no scenario that Pat Kelsey could take you lower
Speaker 2: than what you have been. However, we all know we
Speaker 2: didn't hire Pat Kelcey to be better than Kenny Penn.
Speaker 2: You could have hired me saved a lot of money, you,
Speaker 2: Josh Hurd, because I think I could have been better,
Speaker 2: And like I don't say that, like I'm not even
Speaker 2: really joking. I could have been worse right, I don't
Speaker 2: know if I'd have been able to go get players.
Speaker 2: But you know that's going to be what is fascinating
Speaker 2: to me how how fans are balancing that, meaning, are
Speaker 2: you going to be more of the on the side
Speaker 2: of like, well, hey, yeah, we haven't looked great against
Speaker 2: these bum teams we're playing, but by the way you
Speaker 2: don't play. I mean, loul was non converse sketches, really tough.
Speaker 2: But like, the pessimist and the optimist are going to
Speaker 2: be pretty easy to identify because I think you'll have
Speaker 2: some that are more so riding the wave of like, hey,
Speaker 2: it's new and we'll see how good it is down
Speaker 2: the road. But man, I'm just happy we're not losing
Speaker 2: to you know, Lipscomb anymore, or whoever it was that came.
Speaker 2: Was it Lipscomb to beat him a couple years ago, yeah,
Speaker 2: Lipscomb or right State? Yeah, right State. So those are
Speaker 2: going to be the optimists. And I don't mean like
Speaker 2: that you're being like overly optimistic and you're being like
Speaker 2: a homer, Like I get it. Watching Louisville drain twenty
Speaker 2: four threes against young Harris that felt better than it
Speaker 2: ever would have had it not been for the last
Speaker 2: few years, and for Kentucky. You know, I guess for
Speaker 2: the pessimist on the Louisville side would be Okay, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're beating these teams, but man, we don't look good.
Speaker 2: What's going to happen when we get to the Bahamas?
Speaker 2: So again, the balance among Louisville fans collectively is going
Speaker 2: to be interesting for me. Again, you can react however
Speaker 2: you want. I'm just saying, like, we have high expectations
Speaker 2: still around here, but are people going to be willing
Speaker 2: to just acknowledge that this a brand new team? And hell,
Speaker 2: even if Louisville struggles early on this year might because
Speaker 2: they're playing really good teams and they're still trying to
Speaker 2: put it all together, but they maybe maybe they peak
Speaker 2: late in the year and they finish strong. We'll know
Speaker 2: when we get there. On the Kentucky side, there's not
Speaker 2: really like Again, you can sit back and say, well,
Speaker 2: you know, I know Mark Pope wouldn't have lost to
Speaker 2: Saint Peter's or Oakland, and you're right, but he ain't
Speaker 2: gonna be there until late, you know, early March. So
Speaker 2: until then, is he gonna be giving you a product
Speaker 2: that you feel like is close to what you had before.
Speaker 2: Because as much as the cal thing needed to end
Speaker 2: for a variety of reasons, you know it was really
Speaker 2: because it run its course and he stopped winning when
Speaker 2: it mattered, he still kept you relevant and he still
Speaker 2: got you really good seeds for the most part. Can
Speaker 2: Pope do that? In him? Not being able to do
Speaker 2: it potentially in year one wouldn't mean he can't do
Speaker 2: it over time. But I think because they haven't. I
Speaker 2: mean they've been good, they just have had embarrassing postseason losses,
Speaker 2: which that's all that matters, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2: I mean, what you do in the postseason is how
Speaker 2: you evaluated at big time jobs. So they've been heartbroken
Speaker 2: when it comes to that. But like, if they're middle
Speaker 2: of a pack SEC all year, maybe fighting for a
Speaker 2: spot in the tournament, and I'm not saying they will be,
Speaker 2: but if they are, I have no clue how the
Speaker 2: fans are going to react. I kind of feel like
Speaker 2: they're gonna be pretty critical and worry. Okay, did we
Speaker 2: go get a guy that is that is capable of
Speaker 2: Kentucky basketball putting Kentucky basketball where they belong. But I'm
Speaker 2: excited for hoops season. It'll be here soon. He kind
Speaker 2: of already is here, but real games will start next Monday.
Speaker 2: New eras here for both fan bases and kind of
Speaker 2: feels like the rivalry is renewed. And yes, it would
Speaker 2: be easy for a Louisville fan like myself to say
Speaker 2: that because Louisvell has been on the losing end for
Speaker 2: quite some time. But I feel confident in saying, like
Speaker 2: Mark Pope, no scenario he dominates the rivalry like Caliperry did. Right,
Speaker 2: I mean, please God, no, Please God, don't let that happen.
Speaker 2: That would be bad for me and everybody else who's
Speaker 2: a Louisville fan. All right, let's take a quick break.
Speaker 2: We'll come back on the other side because I want
Speaker 2: to come on a little more time than we usually
Speaker 2: have because the scenario here that is likely to happen,
Speaker 2: I guess more likely than not to happen, is a
Speaker 2: three way tie for first place in the ACC. Obviously,
Speaker 2: three teams can't play in the ACC championship game. How
Speaker 2: they determine who gets to go? I think, I mean,
Speaker 2: I can't give you a better way to do it,
Speaker 2: But man if I came out on the wrong end
Speaker 2: of that one, I would be very bitter towards the
Speaker 2: acc So we'll get to that as we wrap it
Speaker 2: up on the other side. Keep it locked right here,
Speaker 2: it's coffee and company. Feel about Thornton's on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven to ninety. You know, sometimes I get a little
Speaker 2: discouraged with people doing really good deeds and it seeming
Speaker 2: as if they're only doing it because they want to
Speaker 2: be able to tell people about it. But regardless, if
Speaker 2: you're doing something good, and maybe the incentive for you
Speaker 2: is to not only feel good about helping people, but
Speaker 2: you want to be able to show, hey, look how
Speaker 2: nice of a person I am. At the end of
Speaker 2: the day, the deed is still done, and that's great.
Speaker 2: But I'm telling you, if you want to do something
Speaker 2: good and help save the lives of pets, then you
Speaker 2: should have you should have your well, you need to
Speaker 2: take them. You need to take your pet, your dog
Speaker 2: or your cat to the Jefferson Animal Hospital to see
Speaker 2: if they qualify to be a pet blood donor. I
Speaker 2: didn't even know that was a thing. Obviously it is,
Speaker 2: and anytime your pet donates blood, they can help save
Speaker 2: up to four to six lives. So if you want to,
Speaker 2: you know, put it on a T shirt, put it
Speaker 2: on your Facebook that you donate your pet donated blood
Speaker 2: and you helped save four to six lives. Do it.
Speaker 2: It's the Jefferson Animal Hospital that is so you can
Speaker 2: get more information on if your pet qualifies to be
Speaker 2: a pet blood donor at pet bloodbank dot com. And
Speaker 2: again it's the Jefferson Animal Hospital. Bibo two nine hundred pets.
Speaker 2: Who would't want to help save the lives of pets
Speaker 2: and with Jefferson Animal Hospital you can you can do that,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? John, Like, there's certain like
Speaker 2: there's certain really good deeds that get done, and and
Speaker 2: I used to just think, like, oh, you're just doing
Speaker 2: that for you know, so you can so you can
Speaker 2: look like you're so great.
Speaker 3: That's usually what politicians do for.
Speaker 2: Being asked you're right. But but then you know, I realized,
Speaker 2: either way they're still doing it. Yeah, but if they
Speaker 2: couldn't showcase on social media or you know, have somebody
Speaker 2: video it and make the news or something, then like
Speaker 2: then then you know they wouldn't do it, and that
Speaker 2: would be a bad thing. That would be you know,
Speaker 2: a negative. The people who donate a massive amount of
Speaker 2: money anonymously, are truly the best people on the planet.
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe they're doing that because they're trying to
Speaker 2: cover or trying to even out because they do bad
Speaker 2: things in the I mean, we'll never know because what
Speaker 2: they're anonymous. But like when you hear people that donated
Speaker 2: like half a million dollars to a foundation and they
Speaker 2: don't want to be known, like that's think about that, Like,
Speaker 2: you should be out there letting people know, Hey, listen,
Speaker 2: I did that because it's awesome. You should be letting
Speaker 2: people know, and they should be saying, well, good on you,
Speaker 2: because that's that's all. I mean. You shouldn't. I wouldn't
Speaker 2: make it, you know, your whole brand. But I think
Speaker 2: I can't think of what it what there was some
Speaker 2: kind of foundation the other day that I was I
Speaker 2: was talking to somebody who works for a foundation and
Speaker 2: they they had received in the the at this point
Speaker 2: in the twenty twenty four year upwards of like three
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars total from about five different people and
Speaker 2: they all are anonymous. Like that's awesome. Anyways, what won't
Speaker 2: be awesome if you finish undefeated in the ACC this
Speaker 2: year and don't get to play for the a SEC Championship.
Speaker 2: That's a real possibility. In fact, I'd say it's more
Speaker 2: likely than not. So here's what they're gonna do. The
Speaker 2: ACC tie breaker, which I guess was approved. It looks
Speaker 2: like in May of twenty twenty three, that was when
Speaker 2: the league went divisionless for the first time. So if
Speaker 2: number one and number two involving a head you know,
Speaker 2: involving head to head winning percent Yeah, so steps number
Speaker 2: one and number two involve head to head winning percentage,
Speaker 2: which wouldn't really matter because right now in the ACC,
Speaker 2: if Clemson, Miami and SMU you all finished, you know eight, No,
Speaker 2: but there's no head to head winning percentage when the
Speaker 2: three teams that are undefeated never played each other, which
Speaker 2: is again probably the biggest factor in why you got
Speaker 2: three teams unbeaten. So what they ended up doing is
Speaker 2: looking at the winning percentage of your opponents, and that's
Speaker 2: something you can't control. Now, I think if you have
Speaker 2: a three way tie, there's gonna be whoever's left out,
Speaker 2: they're gonna have a gripe. That's like, we did all
Speaker 2: we could do. How can we not be able to play?
Speaker 2: But I feel like there's got to be a bet,
Speaker 2: like you can't control who the league scheduled you to play.
Speaker 2: So if you are dominating teams, but the teams you've
Speaker 2: dominated happen to be bad, like their winning percentage is terrible,
Speaker 2: and you end up being you know that would be
Speaker 2: I mean, I can't think of a worse way to
Speaker 2: be left out. I mean, anyway you get left out,
Speaker 2: it's gonna suck. But right now, Clemson's acc opponents currently
Speaker 2: have a forty three percent winning percentage. Miamis have a
Speaker 2: forty two percent winning percentage, so they're right there neck
Speaker 2: and neck SMU thirty five. Now it's some us about
Speaker 2: to play an undefeated pit team and that would certainly
Speaker 2: help them. But I mean again, it's one thing if
Speaker 2: like your margin of Again, either way, if you get screwed,
Speaker 2: you're gonna get screwed. You're gonna feel like you you know,
Speaker 2: you did all you could because I mean fight. Literally,
Speaker 2: if you go eight to zero in the league and
Speaker 2: don't get to play, you did, you won every game
Speaker 2: you played, and you still got left out. But I
Speaker 2: think it should be more based off of of something
Speaker 2: about what you do, right, meaning like your margins, how
Speaker 2: dominant you were because if it's just based off what
Speaker 2: other teams did, even though you might have blitzed them,
Speaker 2: that's just the luck of the draw and the league.
Speaker 2: Can you know, beat a blame for that because they
Speaker 2: gave you a soft schedule. Now, in the end, what
Speaker 2: really made this mean? I'm sure they thought the schedules
Speaker 2: were pretty balanced until they saw Florida State, right, Like,
Speaker 2: that's what really made this unique is that nobody like
Speaker 2: Florida State's on Clemson schedule, Florida State's on Miami schedule,
Speaker 2: Florida State's on SMU schedule. So like, going in, every
Speaker 2: one of these teams had to play a team that
Speaker 2: you probably expected to win the league. Again, I mean,
Speaker 2: they were the favorite and now they suck. So like
Speaker 2: that's how you ended up in this situation like Indiana
Speaker 2: for example. I don't know what the tie breaker would
Speaker 2: be or if it's even possible, but like they were
Speaker 2: given a schedule they just so happened to play out.
Speaker 2: I mean, look, one team they just played and beat
Speaker 2: played in the National Championship game last year, right like
Speaker 2: Nebraska were supposed to be a lot better. Sorry, go ahead,
Speaker 2: I was gonna say Nebraska supposed to be a lot better.
Speaker 2: Michigan also won the national championship last year, and you
Speaker 2: know they're not very good, so like you can't control that.
Speaker 2: But like, for if you get left out and you
Speaker 2: steamroll everybody like Indiana has, like that would suck. Now,
Speaker 2: there's no scenario where they get left out because if
Speaker 2: they went out there in but yeah, just.
Speaker 3: If they're eleven and one. There's a scenario where both
Speaker 3: Ohio State and Penn State are also eleven and one,
Speaker 3: and in that case, you'd have an undefeated organ was
Speaker 3: in the Big Ten Championship and then you'd have the
Speaker 3: three way tie for second, which in that case would
Speaker 3: go to Ohio State because they'd have the head to
Speaker 3: head over Penn State and the end.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, so and look, I would I mean I
Speaker 2: would rather. I mean it's weird. I mean, say you'd
Speaker 2: rather have a loss sounds odd, but like to never
Speaker 2: know if you were truly you know, able to win
Speaker 2: the league or not, Like to not have that closure
Speaker 2: I think would be the worst experience from a fans perspective.
Speaker 2: But again, you all will have an opportunity, right, You're
Speaker 2: gonna be able to prove what you guys can do.
Speaker 2: You went out. There's no there's no conversation. Yeah, which
Speaker 2: I cannot wait to see where things are when that
Speaker 2: game is played, because it's the second to last game
Speaker 2: for you, right it is. Yeah, I mean just a
Speaker 2: couple away, and like, who knows, maybe by that point
Speaker 2: people are looking at Indiana. It's like the favorite there.
Speaker 2: Crazier things have happened, or maybe they haven't. I don't know.
Speaker 2: That would be really wild. But hey, it's already been
Speaker 2: a wild and seemingly unreal season for the Hoosiers, and
Speaker 2: I'm sure you're loving every minute of a John I
Speaker 2: am good stuff. All Right, we're out of town. Talk
Speaker 2: to you tomorrow right here on Sports Talk seven ninety