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, all.
Speaker 2: Right, our number three here on a Wednesday afternoon. Thanks
Speaker 2: for hanging out with us on a Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: It is coffee and company and we are fueled by
Speaker 2: Thornton's Nick Coffee. That's me the company man, mister John
Speaker 2: Alden alongside today another reminder, we've got you covered on
Speaker 2: Saturday game Day the Louisville Football pregame Show hosted by
Speaker 2: yours truly.
Speaker 3: We'll start at two thirty this year.
Speaker 2: Our sponsors for the pregame show Jefferson Animal Hospital, Pello
Speaker 2: Window and Doors of Central Kentucky. And then as soon
Speaker 2: as it ends, and I mean as soon as it ends,
Speaker 2: we go live for the Louisville Football postgame Show with
Speaker 2: myself taking your calls, reacting to whatever happens. And the
Speaker 2: postgame show is sponsored by alex Ar White Lawyers, suit
Speaker 2: Distracted Driver dot Com. So hopefully we end up with
Speaker 2: the same type of reaction. And what I mean is
Speaker 2: you go out there and you take care of business.
Speaker 2: You do exactly what you are supposed to do against
Speaker 2: you know, these kind of opponents. And Louisville right now
Speaker 2: favored by twenty eight and a half against this Jacksonville
Speaker 2: State team that I don't even know where. They were
Speaker 2: predicted to finish in the Atlantic Sun this year, but
Speaker 2: they got off to a rough loss against Coastal Carolina
Speaker 2: in their first game and now they're underdogs about four touchdowns.
Speaker 2: So you know, they are a step up from what
Speaker 2: you would expect from an FCS team, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: Austin p is not even Division one. Jacksonville State is. However,
Speaker 2: they're you know, they're brand new to Division one at least,
Speaker 2: you know, within the last few years.
Speaker 3: So we'll see.
Speaker 2: I mean, I would expect Louisville to be pretty dominant,
Speaker 2: and I think you'll see Jeff Brohm be pretty vanilla, meaning,
Speaker 2: you know, probably play as quarterback for a half if
Speaker 2: you know, unless for some reason he thinks that there's
Speaker 2: more value. You know, there's value in getting him to
Speaker 2: play more. But I mean, if you're Tyler, you know
Speaker 2: what you have in Tyler Shuck. The guy's a seventh
Speaker 2: year senior, so I think it's important for him to
Speaker 2: get some valuable reps and continue to establish that chemistry
Speaker 2: with his offense. But once they've put it on this team,
Speaker 2: which I hope they do in the first and second quarter,
Speaker 2: we may it may be a while before we see
Speaker 2: Tyler Shuck playing in a third quarter. And that's a
Speaker 2: good thing because that means you're taking care of business
Speaker 2: against these type of opponents. So bye week next week,
Speaker 2: and then you've got George Attack and Georgia Tech only
Speaker 2: two and a half point favorites against Syracuse, which you know,
Speaker 2: I know Syracuse made a coaching change, you know, and
Speaker 2: I know times that Dome can be sneaky because and
Speaker 2: I can tell you this firsthand just being there for
Speaker 2: a football game. It's clearly because it's a dome, but
Speaker 2: there can be not that many people there at all,
Speaker 2: and it sound loud as hell in there, which is
Speaker 2: honestly like, it's got to be confusing as a player,
Speaker 2: especially if you're playing there for the first time. You're
Speaker 2: wondering where all is sound coming from. I mean, they
Speaker 2: were allowed pretty early when I was there, when Louisville
Speaker 2: played custon twenty sixteen, when Lamar Jackson, I think on
Speaker 2: that Friday night, won the Heisman Trophy, and then you know,
Speaker 2: nobody else did enough to take it from him, although
Speaker 2: I think he set up himself for that following week
Speaker 2: when they took on Florida State and demolished them, and
Speaker 2: that's probably when he actually won the Heisman Trophy for
Speaker 2: being honest. But anyways, you know Clemson and not Clemson
Speaker 2: but Syracuse. You know, I hope they don't beat Georgia
Speaker 2: Tech because I would love for Louisville to have their
Speaker 2: first ACC opponent be against a ranked Georgia Tech team
Speaker 2: and there'd be some real value there. Now again, who
Speaker 2: cares if people say, well, yeah, I just if Louisville
Speaker 2: beats Georgia Tech, then they'll fall from the top twenty
Speaker 2: five and that'll mean that they just stink and the
Speaker 2: rest of the ACC stinks. Everybody in the ACC just sucks.
Speaker 2: I'm sure there'll be some people that say that, but hey,
Speaker 2: if you're Louisville, take advantage of it, just because you know,
Speaker 2: you can only control who you can only control.
Speaker 3: What happens when you play somebody, right like you can't.
Speaker 2: I mean, you got to play who's on the schedule
Speaker 2: and you're in the ACC, and I don't think anybody
Speaker 2: wants the league to stink and I'm not here to
Speaker 2: tell you that it does stink, but I just as
Speaker 2: we've discussed for a while, including the last two weeks
Speaker 2: really with FSU and then Clemson and then Virginia Tech
Speaker 2: losing to Vandy.
Speaker 3: I mean, you can't control it. Just go win.
Speaker 2: And now, in fact, it doesn't really like if you
Speaker 2: think you're really really if you feel like you've got
Speaker 2: a team that once you get there, you could actually
Speaker 2: be competitive in the College Football Playoff. I feel like,
Speaker 2: now you know, you probably want the ACC to suck
Speaker 2: every year because hey, right now, with the playoff structure
Speaker 2: of the way it is, it doesn't matter if you
Speaker 2: win that league. You're getting a spot in the playoff
Speaker 2: schedule as lightly as possible, right Go play a bunch
Speaker 2: of Patsy's in the non conference and then go play
Speaker 2: in your league, and if it's down, who cares. I mean,
Speaker 2: you're still you're still slotted with a spot in the
Speaker 2: playoff because it's one of the Power four leagues. And
Speaker 2: again I'm not saying that I think the ACC is trash.
Speaker 2: I think Boston College. I know it's all about Florida State,
Speaker 2: but they look pretty damn good the other night. I
Speaker 2: know Castellanos can play. We saw that first hand last year.
Speaker 2: Georgia Tech. They finished with nine wins this year or
Speaker 2: I'm sorry last year, and they're coming off a top
Speaker 2: four finish in the league. Maybe they are legitimately a
Speaker 2: top twenty five caliber team. Miami looks really really good. Clemson,
Speaker 2: Maybe we find out that they're a solid team this
Speaker 2: year that's going to be a top twenty team all year.
Speaker 2: They just happen to run into, you know, Georgia, who
Speaker 2: is dominant. So either way, like I I'm trying to
Speaker 2: psych myself up for a potential matchup against a ranked
Speaker 2: team in a couple of weeks when they get off
Speaker 2: the buy. But then again, like you know, it's like
Speaker 2: I'm searching for validation and I'm never gonna get it
Speaker 2: when it comes to the ACC because I don't even
Speaker 2: think the ACC. I'm not even really sure what they
Speaker 2: could do this current season for the narrative to be
Speaker 2: different about them as a league. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 2: even really sure what scenario like what could play out
Speaker 2: to where at the end of the season people say, wow,
Speaker 2: the ACC really proved this wrong.
Speaker 3: They're legit.
Speaker 2: I mean, the only thing that could happen was maybe
Speaker 2: the national champion be an ACC team, and maybe you
Speaker 2: get a second team in the league, I'm sorry, the
Speaker 2: second team from the league in the playoffs and they
Speaker 2: compete and make a run in the playoff as well, Like, oh,
Speaker 2: that's really unlikely. But I feel like outside of that,
Speaker 2: what else could happen to where people will look back
Speaker 2: and say, well, you know what, the ACC really got
Speaker 2: better this year. We should stop treating this as if
Speaker 2: it's the worst league in the history of college football.
Speaker 3: Anyways, We'll move on.
Speaker 2: I'm a little envious of Kentucky's matchup in Week two,
Speaker 2: just because you can tell that this is a big
Speaker 2: game for both of these teams, not because it will
Speaker 2: really set up anything special, but these two programs, I
Speaker 2: feel view themselves as if they're kind of competing for
Speaker 2: that for that spot in the SEC. Realistically speaking, obviously,
Speaker 2: you want to win your league, you want to compete
Speaker 2: at the very top. But these two programs, I think,
Speaker 2: deep down know that that's not realistically possible. Obviously, Steve
Speaker 2: Spurrier did a pretty good job there for a while.
Speaker 2: The Jadevian Clowney era was pretty special for him. But
Speaker 2: I feel like since then, and since Mark Stoops got
Speaker 2: to Kentucky, I feel like these two schools are kind
Speaker 2: of in the same spot.
Speaker 3: I don't even know what their head to head record is.
Speaker 3: I mean, I honestly have no.
Speaker 2: Clue, but in the previous divisions, which now there aren't divisions,
Speaker 2: like I think South Carolina and Kentucky are programs that
Speaker 2: could be four and four in conference play with a
Speaker 2: seven and five maybe eight and four season, and they
Speaker 2: would look at where they finished in their league at
Speaker 2: five hundred and yet they can feel like, oh, we're great.
Speaker 2: It's just we're in this great league because they realistically
Speaker 2: know they're not going to consistently compete at the top
Speaker 2: of that league with the likes of Georgia, Alabama and
Speaker 2: even Florida when they're rolling, which by the way, you
Speaker 2: know they haven't been rolling in quite some time. But
Speaker 2: you know, Ole miss has got some momentum now. LSU
Speaker 2: like they kind of know where they stand to where
Speaker 2: they can live comfortably knowing that they're not really relevant
Speaker 2: in the grand scheme of things of their conference, but
Speaker 2: they're not at the bottom. And this matchup here, I
Speaker 2: feel like has kind of annually become you in this one,
Speaker 2: you know you're going to be above the bottom. Although
Speaker 2: last year South Carolina sucked out loud, what were they
Speaker 2: like four and eight and then still beat Kentucky. Maybe
Speaker 2: I'm wrong. I feel like Shane Beemer, like he's a character,
Speaker 2: of course, and you know, I don't think he's a
Speaker 2: terrible coach, but like, if they're terrible this year, like
Speaker 2: how much longer does he keep his job? I mean
Speaker 2: they did have two years ago they went eight and five.
Speaker 2: Last year five and seven, three and five overall, they
Speaker 2: nearly lost to Old Dominion in their first game. In
Speaker 2: his first season, they went seven and six. So he's
Speaker 2: ten and fourteen in the SEC twenty one and eighteen
Speaker 2: overall right now, And I kind of feel like this,
Speaker 2: I mean, this is probably a bigger I don't know,
Speaker 2: is it a bigger game for Kentucky or for South Carolina,
Speaker 2: because I think it really depends on I mean again,
Speaker 2: for each of these two teams. If you want to
Speaker 2: be six and six or better, I feel like you
Speaker 2: look at this as a game that you need to win.
Speaker 2: Because if you're South Carolina, let's look up their schedule.
Speaker 3: I mean, they.
Speaker 2: Let's see here, because there's a chance they could have
Speaker 2: a really much tougher or much a much lighter schedule
Speaker 2: than Kentucky depending on how it, you know, how.
Speaker 3: Played out with the schedule.
Speaker 2: So if you're South Carolina and you know you're actually
Speaker 2: if you're Shane Beemer and you know you need to
Speaker 2: not only not be at the bottom of the league,
Speaker 2: you probably need to have a winning record overall and
Speaker 2: at least be four and four in SEC play. A
Speaker 2: lot easier said than done because they have Kentucky this
Speaker 2: week and then they play LSU that'll be at home.
Speaker 2: They play Akron, they play Ole Miss at home, they
Speaker 2: play Bama, They've got Oklahoma on the road.
Speaker 3: I mean, their schedule is pretty damn tough. I mean
Speaker 3: they I mean, and they play Clemson to close out
Speaker 3: the year.
Speaker 2: So if you're if you're South Carolina and Beemer, like
Speaker 2: you gotta win this one because LSU is going to
Speaker 2: be a loss for you. Ole Miss is going to
Speaker 2: be a loss for you. Alabama's going to be a
Speaker 2: loss for you. Oklahoma, We'll have to wait and see,
Speaker 2: but I would imagine that's probably going to be a loss.
Speaker 2: Considering that game is in Norman A and M I'd
Speaker 2: say that's kind of a coin toss that one's at
Speaker 2: home for you. You should beat Vandy Missouri. I mean,
Speaker 2: they've been better than you recently. And then you play
Speaker 2: Wafford and then you play Clemson.
Speaker 3: So I mean.
Speaker 2: You could always pull off an upset, but I think
Speaker 2: you need to bank on two upsets happening if you
Speaker 2: want to finish six and six without a loss to Kentuck.
Speaker 2: I mean, like again, this is a game that South
Speaker 2: Carolina has to look at on their schedule and say
Speaker 2: we have to have that. Now if you're Kentucky, I'd
Speaker 2: think the optics of this would be bad. That stoops
Speaker 2: coming off of a three and five SEC season a
Speaker 2: year ago. Yeah, they did beat Louisville, which was a
Speaker 2: big win for him, was a win against the rank
Speaker 2: the top ten team at their place. But he's three
Speaker 2: and five in the SEC in his last two seasons,
Speaker 2: seven and six overall in each of his last two seasons.
Speaker 2: And if they come out and start one in one
Speaker 2: and they lose to South Carolina, I mean I think
Speaker 2: not even just I would I wouldn't even say that
Speaker 2: this is this is like a fact. It's just I
Speaker 2: think you'll start to hear more of Well, the best
Speaker 2: football for Kentucky under Mark Stoops is in the past.
Speaker 2: They can still be a bold caliber team. Maybe they'll
Speaker 2: get to five hundred and SEC play, But now that
Speaker 2: Texas and Oklahoma in the league, they can't beat South
Speaker 2: Carolina consistently anymore. Tennesse sees ahead of them, Missouri has
Speaker 2: surpassed them. Like I think you would hear more. I
Speaker 2: think you'll hear more noise about Mark Stoops. Not to
Speaker 2: say that fans will be demanding he'd be fired, because
Speaker 2: I think even if you wanted a fresh start, I
Speaker 2: think you know Mark Stoops is not getting fired. If
Speaker 2: he ever is not Kentucky's head coach, it'll be because
Speaker 2: he decides not to be Kentucky's head coach. And trust me,
Speaker 2: I'm not saying fans should be should be leading some
Speaker 2: kind of a charge because Stoops has done a great
Speaker 2: job there in the grand scheme of things, especially considering
Speaker 2: where the program was when he inherited it.
Speaker 3: But like, how much happened? Can you all?
Speaker 2: I mean, haven't you maybe kept? Like are you still
Speaker 2: satisfied with seven and six overall? Three and five in
Speaker 2: the league play? I think some of you are if
Speaker 2: it includes betting Louisville. But if you go six and
Speaker 2: six in the regular season, three and five in the
Speaker 2: SEC and you start losing to Louisville, which is going
Speaker 2: to start happening, by the way, I'm speaking into existence here.
Speaker 2: But like you, you wouldn't be happy Withtoops anymore, right,
Speaker 2: You would probably be in a loveless marriage where you
Speaker 2: thank him for everything he did to actually give you
Speaker 2: an extended period of time where you were way more
Speaker 2: successful than you've really ever been. He proved the administration
Speaker 2: into the state and to their fans that if you
Speaker 2: do invest in football and you have a guy who
Speaker 2: can recruit to a place like Kentucky, you can be
Speaker 2: different than what you were for a long long time,
Speaker 2: which was for the most part the doormat of your league.
Speaker 2: But like if it's capped out, like does he get
Speaker 2: tired and want to move on? There's some talk of
Speaker 2: like he may just retire and not coach football anymore.
Speaker 2: I don't know enough about Mark Stoops to know that,
Speaker 2: if you know, he would be fine with football not being.
Speaker 3: A part of his life.
Speaker 2: But you got to keep mind his brother did retire
Speaker 2: pretty early and has had no real interest in coming
Speaker 2: back to the college game, which I think surprised a
Speaker 2: lot of people, including myself. I just mean he was
Speaker 2: young when he retired his brother Bob.
Speaker 4: So I still think, and people may disagree with this,
Speaker 4: that as soon as the Iowa job opens up, Kirk
Speaker 4: Ferns people know that Mark Stoops is an aluma of Iowa.
Speaker 4: It wouldn't surprise me if things are still kind of
Speaker 4: sour with Kentucky if he made that move over to
Speaker 4: the big ten in the Midwest.
Speaker 3: You never know, it could be wrong.
Speaker 2: No, I think that's something a lot of folks have
Speaker 2: mentioned as far as a potential that could get him
Speaker 2: away because the best and biggest jobs aren't coming after him. No,
Speaker 2: and to be fair, Kentucky has made it to where
Speaker 2: he'd be foolish to leave because you would need I
Speaker 2: think you would need a bigger and better, like an
Speaker 2: elite job. Would be the kind of job that would
Speaker 2: pay him enough to get him out of there. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of a school that would be
Speaker 2: a good like for example, Miami. They would never hire him,
Speaker 2: but like if they did, they would pay him a
Speaker 2: lot more than what they're paying their current coach and
Speaker 2: Miami's a way better program, better resources, and better tradition.
Speaker 2: It's not viewed as a doormat of a league like
Speaker 2: Kentucky has been for a long time. But if your
Speaker 2: Stoops like, yeah, they got more tradition, But like, I'm
Speaker 2: already paid a lot and make a ton of money,
Speaker 2: and I can go seven and five here and know
Speaker 2: that I'm never gonna have to worry about my job.
Speaker 2: I could go six and six and never have to
Speaker 2: worry about my job. To be honest with you, as
Speaker 2: long as Minch Barnhardt's there, So I think Iowa would
Speaker 2: make sense because of the connection that he he played there.
Speaker 2: But if you're Iowa, is that the direction you would
Speaker 2: want to go? Like Stoops is weird, And this is
Speaker 2: not meant to be like a dig at him because
Speaker 2: he has mean I don't even find Mark Stoops to
Speaker 2: be that unlikable. I don't like him as a football
Speaker 2: coach because he coaches the rival, right, he's the enemy,
Speaker 2: He's the Kentucky coach. But I do respect the fact
Speaker 2: that he has turned Kentucky around and done something that
Speaker 2: nobody's ever done there, meaning, you know, have this type
Speaker 2: of success consistently, and he doesn't seem like, you know,
Speaker 2: like I just don't know if a program like IOWA
Speaker 2: will be energized at Stoops. Because again, it all comes
Speaker 2: back to this when you see those out there that
Speaker 2: cover college football that are respected in regards to their
Speaker 2: opinion on the sport, A lot of those guys still
Speaker 2: view Mark Stoops as one of the top twenty five
Speaker 2: coaches in the country.
Speaker 3: Some think he's a top twenty, top twenty, top fifteen coach.
Speaker 2: The only thing they can point to to make that
Speaker 2: make any sense is that Kentucky used to be the
Speaker 2: biggest joke in their league outside of Andy, and now
Speaker 2: they're not. Like there's no record at Kentucky, Like he's
Speaker 2: thirty three and fifty five overall an SEC play and
Speaker 2: I know he went oh to eight, two and six,
Speaker 2: two and six in his first three seasons, but even
Speaker 2: since then he has a losing record, which again, it's
Speaker 2: tough to win. I mean, it's tough to have a
Speaker 2: winning record in the SEC. Like I'll acknowledge that, But
Speaker 2: my point is this, like, I just don't know if
Speaker 2: a program like IOWA or a program like A and
Speaker 2: M and it played out this way if you're going
Speaker 2: for Stoops and all you can give me is, well,
Speaker 2: you know, he Kentucky doesn't suck anymore like that? That
Speaker 2: falls flat, does it not, especially if you're a program
Speaker 2: that feels like you can compete at the highest level
Speaker 2: of the sport.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I was weird. They've only had two head
Speaker 4: coaches in the last forty years, so they've had guys
Speaker 4: who have been there for a very long time. They're
Speaker 4: weird in a variety of ways, aren't they they. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 4: they play very weird style. I mean maybe it's changed
Speaker 4: this year. They hung forty in their first week, so
Speaker 4: we'll see. But yeah, that's I was an interesting program.
Speaker 4: It'd be interesting if down the line, Mark Stoopson's up
Speaker 4: at his alumni home.
Speaker 3: I mean, how old as Mark Stoups. Let's see here
Speaker 3: is he? I think it is fifty. He's fifty seven.
Speaker 2: Fifty seven, so he just turned fifty seven a couple
Speaker 2: months ago, so he's still I mean, that's young for
Speaker 2: a ball coach. I mean, and yes, I'm doing a
Speaker 2: little bit of the you know, mocking the robble here,
Speaker 2: but I'm also not making something up. He was crying
Speaker 2: before the season started about having to do his job
Speaker 2: like that's unusual behavior. It's another example of stoops, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, having like one of the like it sounds hyperbole,
Speaker 2: it sounds like a backhanded compliment. It sounds like you're
Speaker 2: making a joke. But I also think if you really
Speaker 2: give it some thought, it's not crazy to say that
Speaker 2: he might have the best job in college football, because
Speaker 2: what coach could make that kind of money with you know,
Speaker 2: not a whole lot to show for it, meaning not
Speaker 2: a whole lot of I mean, other coaches that make
Speaker 2: that kind of money have way more of an impressive resume.
Speaker 2: But Kentucky realizes, Hey, this guy is as good as
Speaker 2: we've ever had as far as what we're doing, and
Speaker 2: you know, consistently, So let's pay him whatever we got
Speaker 2: to pay him to keep him around. And I can't
Speaker 2: fall Kentucky for doing that, but it's just, you know,
Speaker 2: he's a made man. This is a guy who had
Speaker 2: a whole season vacated, which is stupid, right, and he's
Speaker 2: coming off of back to back years where they were disappointing.
Speaker 2: Like Kentucky last year did not meet expectations. They had
Speaker 2: Devin Leary and the portal. Everybody thought that was going
Speaker 2: to be going to be special. They went three and
Speaker 2: five in their league, and without a win against Louisville,
Speaker 2: a big upset for them, they would have been six
Speaker 2: and six, and I don't mean and it probably would
Speaker 2: have been the worst Offseasonstoops has experienced to Kentucky. But
Speaker 2: he beat the rival and it was a big win
Speaker 2: for him. I don't think that Kentucky fans went from
Speaker 2: viewing the season as a disappointment to claiming it was
Speaker 2: the best season ever. But let's not be foolish. Year
Speaker 2: beating your rival when they're really good can change a lot.
Speaker 2: If Louisville was in the same situation last year and
Speaker 2: Kentucky was in the top ten and louisll beat them,
Speaker 2: hell yeah, it would change a little bit as far
Speaker 2: as how you view your league. That's just how the
Speaker 2: rivalry works. But the year before that, in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: Will loves Is last year three and five again in
Speaker 2: the SEC, lost it home to Vandy. Underwhelming. So he's
Speaker 2: coming off of like back to back underwhelming seasons. Yet
Speaker 2: he still makes a ton of money. He got a
Speaker 2: huge extension and raise when they lost to Bandy during
Speaker 2: that season, and you know you listen to him before
Speaker 2: the season starts, and he's, Oh, I just don't know
Speaker 2: how much longer I can do this. I'm not sure
Speaker 2: if he said it like that because we only had quotes,
Speaker 2: but like that's quite literally word for word what he said,
Speaker 2: doesn't know how much longer he can keep doing this?
Speaker 3: Just unusual behavior from a coach.
Speaker 2: So I bring all that up to say, like, if
Speaker 2: they somehow slip up to South Carolina they have a
Speaker 2: who hum season once again where they're flirting with Bowl eligibility,
Speaker 2: it might make It might take another win over Louisville,
Speaker 2: an upset over the Cards again that could get their
Speaker 2: fan base feeling good about football, because I don't think
Speaker 2: that they're gloom and doom and they have mean again.
Speaker 2: Who knows, maybe they end up having a good year
Speaker 2: this year. But I feel like their fans sort of,
Speaker 2: you know, their expectations for this upcoming, for this current
Speaker 2: season that we're in right now, they just started. I
Speaker 2: feel like what happens Saturday against the game Cocks will
Speaker 2: be a big factor in sort of Okay, maybe Stoops
Speaker 2: has capped out here, or hey, we beat the breaks
Speaker 2: off this South CA A lot of team, let's see
Speaker 2: what we can do the rest of the way. It's
Speaker 2: a big game, no doubt. All right, quick break, we'll
Speaker 2: come back on the other side. Keep it rolling along.
Speaker 2: Talk some NFL because the Athletic has given us their
Speaker 2: annual rundown where they ask I think seven eight different
Speaker 2: questions to different NFL coaches and executives, and their answers
Speaker 2: to some of these questions may surprise you. Which quarterback
Speaker 2: is going to have the biggest breakout season, Which team
Speaker 2: is going to be the most disappointing. Which player would
Speaker 2: you like to start a franchise with if you can
Speaker 2: only pick one. So we'll take a look at that
Speaker 2: and a lot more. It's Coffee and company. Feel about
Speaker 2: Thornton's on Sports Talk seven to ninety So not news
Speaker 2: you usually see in early September once school has started
Speaker 2: in college basketball. But Penny Hardaway, he's looking for I mean,
Speaker 2: he's looking for a brand new coaching staff because he
Speaker 2: has gotten rid of all of his assistant coaches outside
Speaker 2: of you know, let's see here, it's double check here.
Speaker 1: Because I.
Speaker 2: There's no way he could have gotten rid of his
Speaker 2: like how I mean, how did you go about like
Speaker 2: your day to day if you don't have anybody on
Speaker 2: your staff. But there was a total of four including
Speaker 2: Rick Stansbury that as of now is no longer with
Speaker 2: the Memphis staff at Penny Hardaway. So yeah, you've got
Speaker 2: Jermaine Johnson, Jamie Rosser, a guy with a lot with
Speaker 2: a last named Phillips, and Rick Stansbury all out at Memphis.
Speaker 2: So there's just no scenario. The timing here makes it
Speaker 2: to where he's just decided, well, I'm gonna have to
Speaker 2: regroup and get a new coaching staff. You do that
Speaker 2: after your season, not now. So maybe there's a story,
Speaker 2: some controversy that's gonna come out. I don't know, but
Speaker 2: maybe this does open up a spot for Nolan Smith,
Speaker 2: who I mean, there's two different jobs that ever. But
Speaker 2: I mean, again, if it's not coming from the newsbreakers
Speaker 2: in the college basketball world, I guess now we have
Speaker 2: to kind of just, you know, wait and see if
Speaker 2: there's any legitimacy. Because Trilli Donovan, Jeff Goodman, Matt Norlander,
Speaker 2: Gary Parrish, John Rothstein, would you say that's the top
Speaker 2: tier as far as people who break news in college hoops?
Speaker 2: John laid them all out of Yeah, so you know,
Speaker 2: nobody's reported on Nolan from that group, but there were
Speaker 2: there was you know, no, basically, it's just websites who
Speaker 2: cover certain programs. They mentioned Nolan being a guy that
Speaker 2: could be taking a spot on Penny Hardaway's staff a
Speaker 2: couple months ago. I thought for sure that meant that
Speaker 2: it was happening, and it didn't. Same thing for Central Florida.
Speaker 2: There's the connection with Johnny Dawkins, who was close friends
Speaker 2: with Nolan's father, who had an opening on his staff
Speaker 2: at Central Florida, and they went and when they went
Speaker 2: in a different direction.
Speaker 3: So I mean, you've got five.
Speaker 2: Openings right now, according to this this person who covers
Speaker 2: Memphis for one of the newspapers there. In fact, overall
Speaker 2: seven staff members lost this offseason, which, by the way,
Speaker 2: Stansbury people can make jokes, but he's a I mean,
Speaker 2: he's a great recruiter. I will remember Stell. I remember
Speaker 2: Rick Stansbury not for the good teams he had at
Speaker 2: Mississippi State or the success that he had at Western.
Speaker 2: As far as recruiting, I'll just remember him doing so
Speaker 2: little with a lot for a program like Western. Like
Speaker 2: I'm sure Western fans who are really into Western's basketball
Speaker 2: program don't want to hear this because it makes them sad.
Speaker 2: They had about a four to five year window with
Speaker 2: Stansbury where they brought in dudes who'd start for Louisville
Speaker 2: and some would start for Kentucky. Like they had really
Speaker 2: good players there, I mean, and they never made the tournament,
Speaker 2: which is crazy. And then the guy comes last year
Speaker 2: in his first year there, wins Conference USA, goes to
Speaker 2: the tournament, and then leaves and ends up getting the
Speaker 2: job at Oklahoma State. So yeah, Rick Stansbury out, but
Speaker 2: everybody's out. Penny has no staff. Like again, maybe there
Speaker 2: is maybe maybe these guys just you know, it was
Speaker 2: a mutual thing. I don't know, but I am I
Speaker 2: wrong here, Like this can't be just coincidence. Something had
Speaker 2: to have happened to where he just everybody left.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And I hate to kind of predict this without
Speaker 4: having any context, but I feel like this is I mean,
Speaker 4: maybe the beginning of the end already started. But I
Speaker 4: feel like this maybe the upcoming final season for Penny
Speaker 4: Hardaway if things don't really look.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it should be.
Speaker 2: I mean, he's he's a legend there at Memphis, but
Speaker 2: I mean, guys who go from the NBA to being coaches.
Speaker 2: I mean, who's left to kind of prove that it
Speaker 2: can be done and be successful. It's got to be
Speaker 2: your boy Woodson, right.
Speaker 4: Woodson's the only the last kind of experiment remaining. We
Speaker 4: had Juwan Howard and Michigan doing well for a while,
Speaker 4: but that fell off harder than.
Speaker 3: And that's what happens here.
Speaker 2: Like not to compare the two things, but these dudes
Speaker 2: who come from the pros, it's not a slow gradual.
Speaker 2: It didn't just work out. It falls off a cliff.
Speaker 2: I mean pat Jwan Howard had Michigan in the Elite
Speaker 2: eight and then he started punching coaches after a game, and.
Speaker 3: Then last year they won.
Speaker 4: I mean, he was just as bad as Kenny Payne.
Speaker 2: And he was doing weird stuff, like he just decided
Speaker 2: he wasn't going to coach one game. He was gonna
Speaker 2: have Phil mar Telly do it because he wanted like
Speaker 2: it was just and they suspended a guy only for
Speaker 2: road games, remember, yes, like just weird weird things going
Speaker 2: on there. So anyways, that that's a big story because
Speaker 2: Memphis is one of those kind of programs that they're
Speaker 2: they're in comfort or they're in the Americans. So they're
Speaker 2: just you know, and I know basketball it's not as important,
Speaker 2: but you know, it is as far as visibility, right Like,
Speaker 2: if you want to play, you want to play for
Speaker 2: a program where you're on national television, you're playing in
Speaker 2: prime time games. I mean, Memphis is at a disadvantage
Speaker 2: because of the league that they're in right now. There's
Speaker 2: just no way around it. And they're not good enough
Speaker 2: to where they can actually get some standalone games like
Speaker 2: a Gonzaga can or who else out there is I mean,
Speaker 2: I was gonna say Yukon, but they're not there. I mean,
Speaker 2: they're they're in the Big East and that's a good league.
Speaker 2: So if Memphis opens up that that's a that's a
Speaker 2: good enough job to wear, Like it wouldn't be a
Speaker 2: shocker if a young up and comer or maybe I
Speaker 2: don't know, I mean, who would even be in line
Speaker 2: for that job. But Memphis has resources to where you
Speaker 2: could succeed. They have a lot of tradition in basketball,
Speaker 2: they care about hoops, and they've got FedEx in their
Speaker 2: backyard in IL, which not only is a potential thing,
Speaker 2: Memphis is already getting a certain amount of money every
Speaker 2: year from FedEx for men's basketball, women's basketball, and football.
Speaker 2: All let's talk NFL. We got the NFL season starting tomorrow.
Speaker 2: I can't wait. Excited. Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes. I mean, obviously,
Speaker 2: I'm all in on the Ravens in this game. Hopefully
Speaker 2: they can pull off the upset, but gonna be tough
Speaker 2: to do considering you know the opponent. It's the Kansas
Speaker 2: City Chiefs. They're coming off a Super Bowl victory, and
Speaker 2: we all know what they bring to the table. And
Speaker 2: you know, I don't see that dynasty. If you can,
Speaker 2: if you want to call it that, I call it that.
Speaker 2: If you don't want to call it that, that's fine.
Speaker 2: But I don't see that slowing down anytime soon. But anyways,
Speaker 2: this is something the Athletic has done for at least
Speaker 2: the past few years. They will talk to different executives
Speaker 2: and coaches. So here I'll read it directly from the
Speaker 2: Athletic dot Com. Twenty seven coaches and executives were asked
Speaker 2: the same seven questions throughout training camp in preseason. They
Speaker 2: voted on condition of being anonymous, and some abstain from
Speaker 2: certain questions they didn't want to answer because they probably
Speaker 2: didn't you know, coaches are paranoid. They probably didn't believe
Speaker 2: that it would truly remain anonymous if they gave an answer.
Speaker 2: And it may be that they trust this reporter, Jeff Howell,
Speaker 2: but they also just don't want them to know their
Speaker 2: honest answer, you know what I mean? So who will
Speaker 2: win MVP? One guy got eighteen votes and he was
Speaker 2: the leader, and there were two guys they got two votes,
Speaker 2: So Patrick Mahomes eighteen votes, Lamar got to, Joe Burrow
Speaker 2: got to and then there were there was one vote
Speaker 2: for Josh Allen, Matt Stafford, Sequon Barkley, and Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2: Who the hell voted for Sequon Barksley. It's very random.
Speaker 2: You're starting a franchise from scratch. Who are the top
Speaker 2: three quarterbacks you'd want? Patrick Mahomes got twenty five votes.
Speaker 1: C J.
Speaker 2: Stroud came in at number two with sixteen votes, Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow got thirteen votes, Josh Allen got ten votes, and
Speaker 2: then both Caleb Williams and Lamar Jackson got five, and
Speaker 2: then Brock Purdy got too, which is kind of a
Speaker 2: head scratcher. So again, this is quarterback specifically. Somebody's still
Speaker 2: voting Aaron Rodgers, and I don't know this year for Rodgers,
Speaker 2: he's either gonna be like really good in remind us,
Speaker 2: oh yeah, this a hole is still an elite quarterback
Speaker 2: because I don't I mean, I don't think I'm alone here.
Speaker 2: I don't like Aaron Rodgers. I find him to be
Speaker 2: pretty easy to not like. I felt that way for
Speaker 2: a long time, even before he became this weirdo conspiracy
Speaker 2: theorist dude who likes to go into the woods and
Speaker 2: hang out, like he just seems like a smug a hole.
Speaker 2: But I've always felt like when he's rolling, he's as
Speaker 2: good as any quarterback I've seen in the last twenty years.
Speaker 2: I know he didn't have the credentials the resume that
Speaker 2: you see with somebody like a Tom Brady or even
Speaker 2: a Pat Mahomes, But like Aaron Rodgers, he's never shown
Speaker 2: us that he's not really really really good. It's just
Speaker 2: he got hurt as soon as he hit the field
Speaker 2: last year for the Jets. All Right, the other questions,
Speaker 2: who's the league's best offensive player that's not a quarterback?
Speaker 2: Twenty six votes came in because this is one of
Speaker 2: those questions that for some reason, one person did not
Speaker 2: want to answer. Pretty competitive here, best offensive player in
Speaker 2: the NFL that's not a quarterback? The leader with nine
Speaker 2: votes was Justin Jefferson. Eight votes for Tyreek Hill and
Speaker 2: seven votes for Christian McCaffrey, one for Chase and Jamar Chason,
Speaker 2: then one for Trent Williams.
Speaker 3: I could see that.
Speaker 2: I think I'd probably still take Tyreek Hill as the
Speaker 2: best offensive player that's not a quarterback. But hey, Justin
Speaker 2: Jefferson's prett damn good too. Who's the league's best defensive player?
Speaker 2: Twenty six votes? Again, somebody didn't want to answer. Miles
Speaker 2: Garrett had thirteen votes. The runaway winner, Micah Parsons had
Speaker 2: five votes in second place, and then you had Nick
Speaker 2: Bosa with three.
Speaker 3: TJ Watt got.
Speaker 2: To and then there were one vote apiece for Kyle
Speaker 2: Hamilton other Ravens, Max Crosby of the Raiders, and Chris
Speaker 2: Jones of the Chiefs. So again, Miles Garrett, the reigning
Speaker 2: defensive Player of the Year, took the vote by a landslide,
Speaker 2: which QB will deliver the best rookie season big time
Speaker 2: winner here, Kayleb Williams got eighteen votes. Jayden Daniels with five,
Speaker 2: and bow Knicks with three. I think bo Nicks has
Speaker 2: a chance to be pretty good as a rookie. I
Speaker 2: don't know if he'll, you know, take the Broncos deep
Speaker 2: into the postseason or anything, but I think I think
Speaker 2: bow Knicks is it is pretty damn good. And I
Speaker 2: don't think Jayden Daniels will have a great NFL career.
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm wrong, but I just I kind of feel
Speaker 2: like he was not a flash in the pan. But
Speaker 2: I just I don't know. I just to me, he
Speaker 2: doesn't seem like a franchise quarterback. But I've been wrong
Speaker 2: about a lot of things. Maybe I'm wrong.
Speaker 3: About that too.
Speaker 2: All Right, name three teams that'll surprise you in a
Speaker 2: good way. Twenty one votes came in for this, so
Speaker 2: these are good surprises with seven votes. The surprise team
Speaker 2: pleasantly surprising team I should say here with how they
Speaker 2: framed it the Arizona Cardinals, which I wouldn't be shocked
Speaker 2: if that's the case. They got a good coach, and
Speaker 2: I think Kyler Murray, despite him being undersized and the
Speaker 2: weird couple years where the Cardinals seemed to be legitimately
Speaker 2: concerned that he played video games too much like outside
Speaker 2: of that, like he's shown to to I think, be
Speaker 2: a really good quarterback in the NFL. So the Cardinals
Speaker 2: are the leader as far as the most votes as
Speaker 2: far as being a pleasant surprise. And then six votes
Speaker 2: came in right behind the Cardinals for the Falcons and
Speaker 2: the Seahawks, and then the Colts and the Chargers got
Speaker 2: five votes. I hope whoever said the Colts are going
Speaker 2: to be a pleasant surprise, I hope you guys are right.
Speaker 2: I happen to think we're gonna stink really, really bad
Speaker 2: this year. And then the three teams that are gonna
Speaker 2: surprise in a negative way, meaning these are teams that
Speaker 2: people probably have expectations for, but these twenty seven coaches
Speaker 2: and executives within the NFL don't think they're going to
Speaker 2: be good this year, or at least not live up
Speaker 2: to that standard. The leader was the Dallas Cowboys with
Speaker 2: nine coming in behind them as the Dolphins at number seven,
Speaker 2: and then in third place it was a tie with
Speaker 2: the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets. So again
Speaker 2: I find that to be interesting because again not to
Speaker 2: say that you know your opinion if you're not an
Speaker 2: NFL executive or a coach, doesn't matter, because you know,
Speaker 2: you can have your opinion and heck, you could be
Speaker 2: you could be you could disagree with these guys who
Speaker 2: are in the you know, in the uh the league
Speaker 2: as they you know, the shield as Jim Rome calls it,
Speaker 2: but you could you know, you could still be right
Speaker 2: and may be wrong.
Speaker 3: You never know.
Speaker 2: We're all just kind of guessing when it comes to
Speaker 2: some of this stuff. But I do find it interesting
Speaker 2: to hear what those on the inside kind of, you know.
Speaker 2: The biggest surprise to me was to see that when
Speaker 2: it comes to starting, you know, a quarterback starting a
Speaker 2: franchise from scratch with a quarterback that Straub came in
Speaker 2: at number two. I mean, yeah, he's he looked really
Speaker 2: good in his rookie season. But I mean Joe Burrow,
Speaker 2: Josh Adam, Lamar Jackson, those guys have proven to be
Speaker 2: pretty damn good too. All right, Uh, let's see here. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and this is this is really telling one guy who
Speaker 2: gets talked about a lot it has never really done
Speaker 2: much to I think prove that he's nearly he's anywhere
Speaker 2: close to his good and has accomplished as some people
Speaker 2: view him Justin Herbert. Only one vote came in for
Speaker 2: Justin Herbert as far as who you'd want to start
Speaker 2: a franchise with, which I think that's pretty telling. I
Speaker 2: think those in the NFL also probably view him as
Speaker 2: being pretty overrated. All right, quick break, we'll come back
Speaker 2: on the other side. We still got a couple of
Speaker 2: days where we get to the college football action. But
Speaker 2: John and I have already made some wagers, at least
Speaker 2: John has. I've yet to pull the trigger, but I
Speaker 2: got some I got some games I'm very, very very
Speaker 2: interested in as far as making a waitress, so we'll
Speaker 2: get to that as we wrap it up here. On
Speaker 2: the other side, don't go anywhere, keep it locked on
Speaker 2: Sports Talk seven to ninety. All right, not a lot
Speaker 2: of time left here in the show, so let's just
Speaker 2: get right to it. We'll talk more about what we're
Speaker 2: going to be interested in watching due to wagering. We
Speaker 2: got the rest of the week to do it. But John,
Speaker 2: what pick of your you know? I know you got
Speaker 2: a parlay, but like, of all the legs and the
Speaker 2: multiple parlays you're building, which one is the one you're
Speaker 2: most confident in?
Speaker 4: The one I'm most confident in is Iowa to cover.
Speaker 4: I believe it's still a two and a half point
Speaker 4: spread against Iowa State. Iowa's had the cyclone's number for
Speaker 4: the past I think seven out of the last eight years,
Speaker 4: something along those lines. And if they have an offense
Speaker 4: that is anything like they put up last week, I
Speaker 4: think they'll take care of Iowa State at home, by
Speaker 4: the way, pretty easily. And Iowa State struggled last week
Speaker 4: with North Dakota for a while before beating him twenty
Speaker 4: one to three, So I think this is an easy one.
Speaker 2: Matt Campbell should have left when he had the chance, right, yes,
Speaker 2: because I don't know how sustainable football success is at
Speaker 2: Iowa State. Whenever in il is clearly a big factor, right,
Speaker 2: I mean, they don't have a lot of history in
Speaker 2: fact before Matt Campbell. When you're talking about Power five
Speaker 2: programs that like historically just have had the least relevance
Speaker 2: over many, many decades. You're talking Vandy, you're talking Duke,
Speaker 2: you're talking Kentucky, talking Indiana, you're talking Indiana, you're talking Iowa.
Speaker 2: I mean that's the reality of it. So you know,
Speaker 2: I'm not sure if I'm going to touch that one.
Speaker 2: But if I did, it would be it would be
Speaker 2: exactly that, just because I was clearly better. And it
Speaker 2: is a rivalry, but that rivalry even in game like
Speaker 2: Iowa was dominated, but they've won some weird games in
Speaker 2: that one too, I feel like, And there was the
Speaker 2: random year where Iowa State was actually really good and
Speaker 2: still end up losing to them. I feel like, So
Speaker 2: for me, I'm sure there's some emotion involved here, which
Speaker 2: is never what you want to do, right. Don't bet
Speaker 2: with your emotions, bet with your brain, right, even if
Speaker 2: you know it's a result you don't want, but you
Speaker 2: feel like the money's there. You still got to trust
Speaker 2: what you think is going to is going to happen,
Speaker 2: regardless of how it makes you feel.
Speaker 3: But the hell with that?
Speaker 2: Pittsburgh plus two and a half against Cincinnati, I mean
Speaker 2: Saderfield's team. I mean they gave up over four hundred
Speaker 2: yards to.
Speaker 3: Who was it?
Speaker 2: I mean a bum team? I mean who they play?
Speaker 2: Was it pm I or something? So Pittsburgh, you know,
Speaker 2: they've won fifty five to twenty four against Kent State.
Speaker 2: I just think I think Cincinnati is gonna stink out
Speaker 2: loud this year, and I think Pittsburgh is you know,
Speaker 2: getting two and a half. I mean, I think they
Speaker 2: win this one. I'm gonna take them to win. Money line,
Speaker 2: And who is it that Cincinnati played last week? Because
Speaker 2: it's alarming if you're a Cincinnati fan and Sadderfield I'm
Speaker 2: sure acted like, Yeah, they probably threw a party in
Speaker 2: the locker room because that's what he does, right, even
Speaker 2: if they beat an FCS team by two, he'll party
Speaker 2: in the locker room.
Speaker 3: Because that was his culture.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they beat Towson thirty eight to twenty, gave up
Speaker 2: four hundred yards to Towson. Again, clearly some emotion involved here,
Speaker 2: but like, I also think this is where the money's
Speaker 2: gonna be, Pittsburgh money line, baby, go acc right. All right,
Speaker 2: we're out of time, you guys.
Speaker 3: Enjoy your evening.
Speaker 2: We're back at it tomorrow right here, as the NFL
Speaker 2: season get started.
Speaker 3: Yeah,