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Speaker 2: all right, let's bring him in. He is mister Alex Cupper,
Speaker 2: former Louisville Cardinal, joining us to talk some football as
Speaker 2: we're getting set with the season opener. Cup. Are you
Speaker 2: feeling Can you feel the vibes? I mean, I think
Speaker 2: right now this is we're getting closer and closer and
Speaker 2: this best time of the year, is it not?
Speaker 3: No, it definitely is, And I can feel something because
Speaker 3: it's hotter than it definitely feels like you know, if
Speaker 3: if I was out on that practice field. Those are
Speaker 3: some tough days. These guys are having to grind through,
Speaker 3: but I know they can't wait till Saturday you and
Speaker 3: get this thing going.
Speaker 2: Is there a specific practice that comes to mind for
Speaker 2: you during your career where you just felt like, Okay,
Speaker 2: it is quite literally hotter than hell outside. I'm sure
Speaker 2: you had many of them. You played football your whole
Speaker 2: life in August and in July even it's it's hot
Speaker 2: as hell in this this whole Ohio valley that we
Speaker 2: live in. But like, there's got to be like a
Speaker 2: maybe a season where you just felt like it was
Speaker 2: worse than usual and you could you couldn't you just
Speaker 2: hated it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean if you look back or think back,
Speaker 3: and it was really every this the previous week, so
Speaker 3: not this week, because this.
Speaker 4: Is yeah, like mid August, right the.
Speaker 3: Prior week when you go back into school. School kicks
Speaker 3: off and you're still in this like in between training
Speaker 3: camp in the regular season because it's so hot and
Speaker 3: you work. You're still needing to put in a lot
Speaker 3: of work. So the coach, you know, the staff is
Speaker 3: still pushing you to to get better and get get
Speaker 3: dialed in on your on your craft and everything. So
Speaker 3: those those days in general. Twenty twelve Uh. I don't
Speaker 3: know if this is a record deal, but I remember
Speaker 3: seeing something that that was one of the hottest August.
Speaker 3: Is this this town's ever seen or whatever? And I
Speaker 3: can prove it because it was there was some absolutely
Speaker 3: felt like I had was being suffocated. It was so human.
Speaker 2: Oh man, I can imagine. I can imagine. All right,
Speaker 2: So when you get done with camp and you start
Speaker 2: preparing for your first opponent, I know when you played
Speaker 2: there were opponents that were similar to the opener here
Speaker 2: against Austin p FCS or maybe just a lower level
Speaker 2: G five. And I know every coach is different, but
Speaker 2: how much do you think this week in practice has
Speaker 2: been about Austin.
Speaker 3: P Probably not a ton. I'm sure it's They can
Speaker 3: use it as more of just carry over from camp
Speaker 3: and keeping that competitive spirit alive. Introduce, you know, being
Speaker 3: able to introduce the the game routine because you do
Speaker 3: have so much turnover on the roster and you want
Speaker 3: to make sure everybody's familiarized with what you're what you're
Speaker 3: gonna do on game day and how you know everything
Speaker 3: from what time you go out to stretch to what
Speaker 3: time you need to be ready to go suit it
Speaker 3: up and ready to roll. So those are those are
Speaker 3: some kind of knickknack things that that turnover no matter
Speaker 3: who you play and whether you're opening up with a
Speaker 3: big you know, a group of five opponents or an FCS.
Speaker 3: So no, I mean it's it's different to the fact
Speaker 3: that you you do have game prep to do. You
Speaker 3: have to understand what what the what looks you're going
Speaker 3: to see, but the competitive spirit and really, you know,
Speaker 3: the energy needs to be up like it's still training camp.
Speaker 2: Former louis of Cardinal Alex Cuppers are guests joining us
Speaker 2: here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Cup was a part
Speaker 2: of that great Charlie Strong era, my favorite era of
Speaker 2: Louisville football at least as of right now. And Charlie,
Speaker 2: you know, he had a lot of success here and
Speaker 2: I feel like one of the things people always mentioned
Speaker 2: about him as a coach was that he had the
Speaker 2: ability to always get you guys motivated to where you know,
Speaker 2: you weren't getting the respect that you deserved and they're
Speaker 2: they're doubting you. And sometimes he didn't have to work
Speaker 2: that hard. You know, the Florida Game and that Sugar Bowl,
Speaker 2: the ESPN folks did enough to where he didn't really
Speaker 2: have to do a lot himself. But when you would
Speaker 2: play opponents that you knew you could play probably a
Speaker 2: B plus kind of game and probably still win. I mean,
Speaker 2: how creative did he have to get back in those times?
Speaker 2: Because again, you know, if you guys were playing sisters
Speaker 2: of the poor coach Strong, I feel like would find
Speaker 2: a way to tell you that they're better than you
Speaker 2: and you got to go prove it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean he would. He It was more you know,
Speaker 3: competition within yourself, and you know it would it would
Speaker 3: turn it turn it on yourself and and not not
Speaker 3: create doubt, but create a sense of hey, if you
Speaker 3: if you slip, you know, not tomorrow's not guaranteed kind
Speaker 3: of thing. You know, it's you got to you gotta
Speaker 3: work like you're you're ready to compete against you know,
Speaker 3: the number one team in the country every day, and
Speaker 3: and that that number one opponents yourself typically. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that he would, he would, you know, he had creative
Speaker 3: ways of getting guys, you know, even across from you know,
Speaker 3: a defensive guy fired up to you know, go up
Speaker 3: against that offensive lineman or whatever what have you, and
Speaker 3: vice versa, just to spur it up a little bit
Speaker 3: just to create some juice and energy.
Speaker 2: And sometimes you got to manufacturer, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well earlier in the season like this, it's good
Speaker 3: to get this game out of the way when you
Speaker 3: have it buried, you know, deep into November and and
Speaker 3: even sometimes you know fourth or or third or fourth
Speaker 3: week where you finally got in the groove and you're
Speaker 3: starting to see you know, you know, good quality competition.
Speaker 3: It's harder to get up for a game like good Point.
Speaker 3: It's the first one you should be locked in and
Speaker 3: rate a role. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I hadn't thought about that, but yeah, when when the
Speaker 2: SEC teams play in week eleven, the you know FCS
Speaker 2: opponent like Bam playing the Citadel or something, I just
Speaker 2: feel like, what are we doing as a waste of time?
Speaker 2: You're right, getting these out of the way early is
Speaker 2: the right way to go about it, I would say.
Speaker 2: But for Louisville it's actually been this is rare. I
Speaker 2: mean it's been a long time. Were you on the
Speaker 2: team when you guys open up against Indiana State? Was
Speaker 2: that one of your first years there?
Speaker 3: No, that was that was a Bobby here. I was
Speaker 3: actually calling calling games.
Speaker 2: In the booth of Paul Still Okay, so that was
Speaker 2: really well no, no, no, I'm talking no, I'm talking
Speaker 2: crack for it.
Speaker 3: You're right, you're right, Yeah, that was a crack. Yes,
Speaker 3: I was. I was on that was Do.
Speaker 2: You know that's the last time. That's the last time
Speaker 2: Louisville opened up their season on a Saturday against an
Speaker 2: FCS opponent. And most schools do that, right like it's
Speaker 2: it's it's a very common thing in college football, but
Speaker 2: for some reason we've been I say, as from a
Speaker 2: fans perspective, I like having a game where I feel
Speaker 2: like I'm going to learn something right out of the gate.
Speaker 2: And we had a good run there where there were
Speaker 2: some legitimate opponents to get the season started. And now
Speaker 2: you know, uh, we don't have that. But as you said,
Speaker 2: it's good to get out of the way.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy how fast time goes. All right, So
Speaker 2: AMRII Huggins Bruce a name we've talked about quite a
Speaker 2: bit here on this show in the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 2: Just given the circumstances he left South Carolina, he's back
Speaker 2: at Louisville and he's on the roster, he's practicing. Given
Speaker 2: the fact that he was just here and he's somebody
Speaker 2: that does have experience like the acclamation. I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: sure there's some new wrinkles within the offense like there
Speaker 2: is every season, But you know, from a former player
Speaker 2: who's been in camp and you've you've been around Jeff
Speaker 2: Brohm as a player yourself, I mean, how realistic is
Speaker 2: it that this guy could kind of just get caught
Speaker 2: up to speed and be one of the many receivers
Speaker 2: available like asap.
Speaker 3: I mean, it is a unique situation where not they're
Speaker 3: very limited scenarios where a receiver can just leave a
Speaker 3: program and pop right in and even think about playing
Speaker 3: in a football game, you know, seven days later. So yeah, no,
Speaker 3: I think I think it's realistic that he can get
Speaker 3: some run when it comes to Yeah, every coaching staff
Speaker 3: always creates. You know, they have their core principles and
Speaker 3: what they want to teach. So with in that wide
Speaker 3: receiver room within the offense, there is the core discipline
Speaker 3: of hey, we run this route this way and this
Speaker 3: is why. Now over time, you know, coaches pick up
Speaker 3: on learnings and they share information. When you know, when
Speaker 3: there's new coaches that come in and you got to
Speaker 3: got of techniques and all kinds of different things that
Speaker 3: you try and add that you think you can improve
Speaker 3: your room with. So those those are things that should
Speaker 3: be easy to pick up on, I would think, but
Speaker 3: they are something to learn. Really. The biggest thing that
Speaker 3: you would question would be the timing aspect. So in
Speaker 3: any big time timing route that would that would take,
Speaker 3: you know, repetition with with the quarterbacks, you probably don't
Speaker 3: want to toss me in on that because if there
Speaker 3: is a little delay in how he needs to break
Speaker 3: or or when he needs to release across the field.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's those things matter, and you know, how
Speaker 3: the quarterback sees it is most important obviously because they're
Speaker 3: delivering the ball. So yeah, I would expect it, but
Speaker 3: you I mean, I'm not. I'm not in anticipating a
Speaker 3: ton of I mean, if he goes for one hundred yards,
Speaker 3: but if he goes in and subs some guys out,
Speaker 3: that's probably more of the expectation.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's no harm here. If they can
Speaker 2: get him cleared somehow and he's able to go, it
Speaker 2: just gives you another option at receiver, especially knowing that
Speaker 2: he is a guy who can play in the slot
Speaker 2: and Colin Lacey was obviously expected to be on the
Speaker 2: field a lot this year went healthy, but we all
Speaker 2: know that that's not the case right now. But is
Speaker 2: Huggins Bruce being here and just the circumstances of how
Speaker 2: it's played out in the last couple of weeks, is
Speaker 2: this not one of the best examples cup as far
Speaker 2: as the n S doua A like, are there rules anymore?
Speaker 2: Like you could kind of do? I mean again, I'm
Speaker 2: not anti Amuriy Huggins Bruce. If they can make it work,
Speaker 2: it's great. But I just to me, this has played
Speaker 2: out to where I'm thinking, yeah, I'm not sure anybody
Speaker 2: knows what rules are. They're just gonna do whatever and
Speaker 2: see what they can get away with.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I gotta be honest. I mean, it's kind
Speaker 3: of crazy to think at least we know his name,
Speaker 3: I guess because there's about, you know, thirty guys on
Speaker 3: that rosters. First time when I looked at the depth
Speaker 3: chart first time, I'm seeing them and it's like, okay,
Speaker 3: let's see, you know, looks looks good on paper. Well,
Speaker 3: hopefully they can perform and and and build and and
Speaker 3: build that camaraderie team element that you need to win
Speaker 3: to win type all games.
Speaker 2: Alex Copper's our guests joining us here on Sports Talk
Speaker 2: seven ninety getting set for the Louisville Cardinal opener. The
Speaker 2: Cards taken on Austin p H. When it comes to
Speaker 2: this team, you mentioned looking at the depth chart, is
Speaker 2: there a position group that you feel maybe not not
Speaker 2: that you're lacking confidence in them, but you kind of,
Speaker 2: you know, you put a question mark there saying maybe
Speaker 2: you like what you've seen on paper. You know what
Speaker 2: these guys bring to the table from their previous school,
Speaker 2: but you kind of, you know, you maybe not worried,
Speaker 2: but just wanting to see what they can do before
Speaker 2: you feel like you know you're in a good place
Speaker 2: at that position.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean when you look at running back and
Speaker 3: just what's what And that's more so the production that
Speaker 3: you lose with Jordan and Grindo being gone. I know,
Speaker 3: Murray's Turner's back, but it's I mean, that's there's a
Speaker 3: that's a bit boy, that's a and that's a big
Speaker 3: part Jefs offense. You know, Yeah, we want to we
Speaker 3: want to rip and roar and move the ball down
Speaker 3: the field, but you got you got to start somewhere
Speaker 3: and and that's somewhere in any offense, you want to
Speaker 3: have at least a compatible running game, so that you
Speaker 3: know that's the that's the question mark, I would say.
Speaker 3: I mean that coupled with the offensive line, because you
Speaker 3: lose you lose so much experience up front. I know
Speaker 3: you got Ronaldo and Gonzales back, which is good, but
Speaker 3: you replace them with three transfers, which I mean, those
Speaker 3: were three names that I had to learn, and it's
Speaker 3: they Again, it looks like we have really great size.
Speaker 3: Hopefully that those five can really mold together and be
Speaker 3: a really tight group similar to the one with the
Speaker 3: ones we've had in the past, especially last year. So
Speaker 3: I think that together has a question mark, but hopefully
Speaker 3: we can answer it pretty early on and have confidence
Speaker 3: moving forward into the season.
Speaker 2: Let's flip it the other way. Is there an again? I
Speaker 2: think there's probably a few options here, But which group
Speaker 2: do you feel the best about to work? You're not
Speaker 2: really worried at all about what they can do. It's
Speaker 2: more about, hey, let's just make sure they stay healthy.
Speaker 3: H I think that yeah, this group, hopefully mate is
Speaker 3: making that uh that last part possible with the defensive
Speaker 3: line and and just the experience that we have, and
Speaker 3: you add a guy like Griffith and and you have
Speaker 3: Jilotti coming back per year and Desmond. I mean, those
Speaker 3: are those are guys that have We've I've seen on
Speaker 3: the depth charts several years, and you've seen them.
Speaker 4: Make plays against too.
Speaker 3: Against good opponents. So production wise, I mean, I don't
Speaker 3: want to put numbers on them, but I would expect
Speaker 3: that we're gonna we should be able, uh to control
Speaker 3: the line of scrimmage in most scenarios when you're when
Speaker 3: you're talking about the depth, experience and and just the
Speaker 3: size and and and really quality of football that we
Speaker 3: know we have and that that too deep on the
Speaker 3: defensive line should should give us some confidence that we
Speaker 3: can at least control the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2: All right, Cup, I got a few rapid fire questions
Speaker 2: for you before we let you go. I'll start with tailgating.
Speaker 2: You don't you're not a player anymore. You're getting old
Speaker 2: like me, So I'm sure you know you experienced the
Speaker 2: game much different. Now you go your tailgate, you take
Speaker 2: it in.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: If I wanted to throw an invite to a non
Speaker 2: existent tailgate setup that I might have and I wanted
Speaker 2: to make sure we had accommodations for Cup, make sure
Speaker 2: we we treat him with hospital. What's the word hospital, hospital, hospitable,
Speaker 2: something like that. Yeah, yeah, it's something like that. I
Speaker 2: was in this. I was in the right arena when
Speaker 2: it comes to that word. But what would we need
Speaker 2: to provide three things that like Cup would want to
Speaker 2: make sure is going to be there if he's deciding
Speaker 2: which tailgate he's gonna hang.
Speaker 3: Out at, well, if it's on a day like today, Well,
Speaker 3: but you know, some pops would be good.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's a.
Speaker 3: Good start, you know when it comes to like a
Speaker 3: dip summertime and all that, like anything taco flavored or
Speaker 3: like a like a corn dip.
Speaker 2: Oh, my wife's got a great fiesta dip.
Speaker 3: Cup. Oh hell yeah, yes, that's what I'm talking about
Speaker 3: with some fridos. That's that. You got me right there, dude,
Speaker 3: I'll be I'll be around for a while.
Speaker 2: Fiesta DIP's good stuff. What about what about like, you know,
Speaker 2: I will admit I enjoy going to a tailgate, but
Speaker 2: I'm not one that would ever be tasked to put
Speaker 2: one together. But like, what do you think of people
Speaker 2: like bring pizza, like I've been to tailgates where people
Speaker 2: kind of just bring food and it's not like they've
Speaker 2: got the grill. It's probably frowned upon by those old school,
Speaker 2: diehard tailgaters, but like, I think that's okay.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's totally fine, especially if you got kids that
Speaker 3: are picky eaters and they don't you.
Speaker 2: Know, aren't old kids picky eaters.
Speaker 3: This is coffee, Yeah, fiesta dip. They want to just
Speaker 3: cheese pizza, you know, yes, all kids, my kids are,
Speaker 3: and I know a lot of them are. But yeah,
Speaker 3: pizza's fine. But I mean that, you know, if you're
Speaker 3: trying to uh, trying to really embrace it, you got
Speaker 3: to get the smell. There's not a whole lot of
Speaker 3: smell that a pizza can put off. So you need
Speaker 3: to get some charcoal going there somewhere.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because that's that. Yeah, the vibe is really dependent
Speaker 2: upon atmosphere smell and and yeah, that can go a
Speaker 2: long way. All right, last question for you. I'm not
Speaker 2: I don't mean to pile on you about your age.
Speaker 3: Cup.
Speaker 2: Cup is younger than me, but it has been a
Speaker 2: long time since you played. And one of the things
Speaker 2: that really reminded me of that was a picture that
Speaker 2: I saw a few weeks ago, and if it made
Speaker 2: me feel old, it probably made you feel old too.
Speaker 2: You're one of your both your former quarterbacks, two of
Speaker 2: your former quarterbacks, I should say, we're in a picture together.
Speaker 2: Teddy Bridgewater was it Miami Northwestern High School whre he's
Speaker 2: now the head coach, and will Stein lil Of a native,
Speaker 2: your your teammate at Trinity High School, and of course
Speaker 2: at Uel as well, he's the OC at Oregon's. He's
Speaker 2: a star in college football right now when it comes
Speaker 2: to assistant coaches and offensive coordinators, and he's there recruiting,
Speaker 2: and those two got a picture together. I'm sure you've
Speaker 2: seen it. I mean, did that take you back?
Speaker 3: Yeah? No, that's that is something special obviously for all
Speaker 3: the reasons that you mentioned, and just a connection that
Speaker 3: they had playing together and really you know, providing some
Speaker 3: really great moments for the program. For myself, yeah, those
Speaker 3: are those are two really high quality individuals first and foremost,
Speaker 3: and then you know their play on the field wasn't
Speaker 3: so bad either. So I'm super excited for Teddy obviously
Speaker 3: Will and and his his future and the profession is
Speaker 3: super bright. And for Teddy getting recognized this year is
Speaker 3: going to be a big moment for that just generation
Speaker 3: that we always call back on with Coach Strong and
Speaker 3: a lot of the success that we had.
Speaker 2: Cup, you are the man. Appreciate you's always making time
Speaker 2: for us and we will talk soon. My friend.
Speaker 3: All right, good man, take care.
Speaker 2: That is Alex Cupp, former little of Cardinal. Always appreciate
Speaker 2: him making time for us. A little nostalgia there, Maybe
Speaker 2: that was the first sign that will Stein I didn't
Speaker 2: mean it around there that he really was meant to
Speaker 2: be a coach, because here he is. He's the guy.
Speaker 2: You know, he's he's the quarterback that Charlie Strong inherited.
Speaker 2: And he wasn't a highly recruited guy by any means,
Speaker 2: but hey, you know he was around. He helped them
Speaker 2: win some games during the Crackthorpe era, not a lot
Speaker 2: of them because we didn't have a lot of wins
Speaker 2: during that time. However, you know, he knew Teddy Bridgewater
Speaker 2: was the guy that was supposed to come in here
Speaker 2: and get this thing turned around, the prize recruit for
Speaker 2: Charlie Strong, and you know, will Stein was fine with
Speaker 2: taking the back seat once it was handed over to
Speaker 2: Teddy and really provided coaching and I'm sure guidance and
Speaker 2: just you know, being a mentor. And now both both
Speaker 2: have gone on to have great success just a little
Speaker 2: bit differently. Teddy had a ten year career in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Nice coach in high school, and of course will Stein
Speaker 2: he'll be a head coach at a Power five school
Speaker 2: before too long. I believe that, all right, stick around.
Speaker 2: I think you should do that. I believe you should
Speaker 2: stick with us for the next hour and twenty seven
Speaker 2: minutes or thirty seven minutes. I should say, I can't count,
Speaker 2: I can't talk, I can't count, I can't read, but
Speaker 2: I can yap. That's what I can do. Stick with
Speaker 2: us right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I mean
Speaker 2: it when I say it. I really love this rivalry,
Speaker 2: the pettiness of it.
Speaker 4: It's great.
Speaker 2: And I think I know this came up briefly yesterday
Speaker 2: on the show, but it continues to be all over
Speaker 2: Twitter and there's people still texting in about it on
Speaker 2: the text line with pictures and really just a screenshot
Speaker 2: of Tyler Griever of WHS Select. Actually I'm sorry, sorry, Tyler.
Speaker 2: He's now with WDRB, but he posted a picture of
Speaker 2: of Louisville football tickets for sale at Costco. You can
Speaker 2: get two tickets in the two hundred level end zone
Speaker 2: for seventy bucks. And you know it's just sitting on
Speaker 2: the rack at Costco and UK fans of course running
Speaker 2: with that as if you know, poverty program.
Speaker 5: These bums gotta hustle tickets at Costco, which again I
Speaker 5: get it, like it' that's you know, any any little
Speaker 5: even if it's minor, and it's not even really like
Speaker 5: there are things that we'll get petty about and make
Speaker 5: a big deal out of it, sometimes not even true,
Speaker 5: just because you know you got a rival.
Speaker 2: It's part of it. But this is not, I mean,
Speaker 2: this is not one of them, like F one racing, NASCAR,
Speaker 2: the Yankees, the Dodgers, the Giants, Florida Football, like there
Speaker 2: are countless franchises in sports and college programs that do
Speaker 2: the same thing. And what it is is it's a
Speaker 2: Costco buy. Costco buys these tickets and sells them. And
Speaker 2: if you are somebody that you know works for the
Speaker 2: ticket office, works for the university, it works for your franchise.
Speaker 2: And I mean that's the goals to get people buy tickets,
Speaker 2: so I'm sure Costco buys them in bulk and probably
Speaker 2: at a you know, cheaper rate, and then they resell
Speaker 2: them and they make money. They wouldn't do that to
Speaker 2: lose money, So I get it. It's a weird look
Speaker 2: and it might make it seem like a desperate kind
Speaker 2: of thing for tickets, and maybe you choose to view
Speaker 2: it that way, and that's your opinion, but it's it's
Speaker 2: a very common thing, So just wanted to share that.
Speaker 2: All right, It's Coffee and Company we are feel about
Speaker 2: Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I got
Speaker 2: a little extra pepp in my step today, not only
Speaker 2: because we're getting closer and closer to Louisville football actually
Speaker 2: being here on Saturday, but because I had a breakfast
Speaker 2: sandwich at Thornton's, the legendary sausage, egg and cheese croissant.
Speaker 2: No better way to start your day. Thornton's is great
Speaker 2: for a lot of things, but I'm telling you, if
Speaker 2: you haven't given their food a shot, you should, because
Speaker 2: it'll be one of those things where and when you
Speaker 2: think about lunch, you're not thinking about waiting to drive
Speaker 2: through McDonald or Taco Bell you're gonna go to Thornton's.
Speaker 2: You're gonna walk in there, grab one of the fresh
Speaker 2: delicious food items they have. Maybe it's one of their
Speaker 2: their Pretzel Bites packs that they have now, maybe it's
Speaker 2: the many tacos, or maybe it is a I mean,
Speaker 2: if they ever bring it back, the pizza wedge. So
Speaker 2: I think they are a big factor in the way
Speaker 2: people viewing gas station convenience stores being so different now
Speaker 2: compared to what it was years ago. So again, shout
Speaker 2: out to our friends over there at Thornton's. Can we
Speaker 2: talk to Midian? Who's your football? Really quickly?
Speaker 3: Here?
Speaker 2: John, I want to are you sigged up?
Speaker 4: I'm very sigged up.
Speaker 2: That's what that walk was about, wasn't it when you
Speaker 2: were walking in today and the garage just looking like
Speaker 2: you were about to I mean, again, I talked about
Speaker 2: it earlier in the show for those who mentioned it
Speaker 2: or who missed it. I was in my car waiting
Speaker 2: to walk get and get out, and John's walking up
Speaker 2: the garage looking like a guy that you know was
Speaker 2: about to be the star for an NBA team, looking
Speaker 2: like one of you know when you see those videos
Speaker 2: they show pregame on ESPN for an NBA game, the
Speaker 2: star is walking in the bowels of the arena wearing
Speaker 2: usually something ridiculous. John's not wearing anying ridiculous. She just
Speaker 2: says an Indian who's shirt it's us fair enough, fair enough,
Speaker 2: But I only want to bring this up just because
Speaker 2: of the the scenario where this plays out would be insane.
Speaker 2: So Indiana beat writer who works for let me pull
Speaker 2: it up here? Make sure the indie star, Yeah, the
Speaker 2: indie star. Who is it that wrote it?
Speaker 4: I believe it was Zach Osterman.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's our man Osterman. So Zach Ostraman put together
Speaker 2: his game by game picks for year one of Kurt Signetti,
Speaker 2: and he's got the Hoosiers winning nine. Hard to imagine
Speaker 2: you'll find somebody more high on the Hoosiers than him, right,
Speaker 2: I mean that's a lot an eight and four season
Speaker 2: with a ninth win coming in a bowl game. So
Speaker 2: he has all the wins against teams you would expect.
Speaker 2: And by the way, UCLA is a game that, like,
Speaker 2: I don't know if you should expect to win it,
Speaker 2: but like that's a game given where UCLA is, and
Speaker 2: given that UCLA's head coach kind of showed us a
Speaker 2: little bit about his preparation when he walked up to
Speaker 2: the podium at the Big Ten Media Day and couldn't
Speaker 2: I mean just I mean that was I'm getting uncomfortable
Speaker 2: thinking about how embarrassing that was. But he's got the
Speaker 2: Hoosiers beaten Maryland, he does, have him losing to Northwestern,
Speaker 2: has him beaten Nebraska, which that's a stretch, hasn't beaten Washington,
Speaker 2: has them losing to Michigan State, has them losing to Michigan,
Speaker 2: losing to Ohio State, beating Purdue, so that would put
Speaker 2: them in BOL that mean clearly bail eligibility, that would
Speaker 2: be eight and four. Well, he has their Music City
Speaker 2: Bowl opponent being the Kentucky Wildcats, and he has Indiana
Speaker 2: knocking off the Cats twenty eight to twenty. So what
Speaker 2: I want to talk about really quickly here not just
Speaker 2: the hypothetical of like them being that good, but a
Speaker 2: scenario where Indiana played Kentucky in a bowl game and
Speaker 2: Kentucky lost to the Hoosiers. I'm not sure there could
Speaker 2: be a more humbling situation with the Kentucky football fan
Speaker 2: base than that.
Speaker 6: No, oh, absolutely, I mean it almost happened back in
Speaker 6: I think it was twenty nineteen. The Gator Bowl was
Speaker 6: initially supposed to be Indiana and Kentucky, but because Tennessee
Speaker 6: was whining so much they wanted to play in a
Speaker 6: better bowl game, they put the volunteers in the Gator
Speaker 6: Bowl instead of Kentucky and sent them to I think
Speaker 6: it might have been the Belk Bowl or.
Speaker 4: Something like that.
Speaker 6: But it would be a very humbling experience when you've
Speaker 6: had this stretch for so long of kind of being
Speaker 6: this football program that has risen from the seller of
Speaker 6: the sec you haven't really gone further than the middle
Speaker 6: of the Yeah, but you're no longer in the seller.
Speaker 6: Well put losing to a team who has been in
Speaker 6: the Big ten seller for most of forever.
Speaker 2: I mean really ninety nine percent of its existence, right.
Speaker 6: Yes, other than a few outliers here and there. Losing
Speaker 6: to a team like that obviously would be great for Indiana,
Speaker 6: but it would be terrible for Mark Stoops in Kentucky.
Speaker 2: So, Kentucky football they have clearly been put in a
Speaker 2: different planet with Mark Stoops because they're solid, and they
Speaker 2: recruit well, and there's no way to ever and I've
Speaker 2: tried many times, I can't figure out how to say
Speaker 2: this without it sounding like a backhanded compliment. And I
Speaker 2: don't intend it to be that way, but it is
Speaker 2: what it is. Mark Stoops is viewed as a good coach.
Speaker 2: In fact, in the eyes of some a really good coach.
Speaker 2: Some people think he's one of the top twenty coaches
Speaker 2: in the country. I don't believe that, but some people do.
Speaker 2: But it's not about anything he's done. It's not about
Speaker 2: a big monumental victory, it's not about a big run,
Speaker 2: and it's about winning at Kentucky. That doesn't mean he's
Speaker 2: a bad coach. But the reason he is viewed the
Speaker 2: way he is is because Kentucky doesn't suck anymore now.
Speaker 2: They have had a couple of years where they were
Speaker 2: pretty damn good.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I think some of that was situational, but either way,
Speaker 2: I mean, he's he's crushing it at Kentucky. He's not
Speaker 2: crushing it when it you know, his results wouldn't be
Speaker 2: crushing it in the in a lot of places, but
Speaker 2: at Kentucky he's a rock star. Like I get it.
Speaker 2: So because they just don't stink anymore, but yet they
Speaker 2: don't really have anything to hold their hat on as
Speaker 2: far as a big accomplishment, no SEC championship game appearance,
Speaker 2: no real big win. I mean they've never played in
Speaker 2: a BCS or a New Year six Bowl game. I
Speaker 2: mean they that's you know, that's just the reality of it.
Speaker 2: So because they don't really have that, they just and
Speaker 2: and by the way, you should feel good about where
Speaker 2: you are, given where you were, but you can't really
Speaker 2: pump your chest out.
Speaker 4: We used to suck.
Speaker 2: Now we don't eat it, Like what kind of you know,
Speaker 2: what is that?
Speaker 7: Like?
Speaker 2: They didn't do anything. That's I mean, who.
Speaker 1: Would do that.
Speaker 2: So they just throw in the face of Louisville that
Speaker 2: they beat Louisville a lot, which they do, and Louisville
Speaker 2: fans got to eat it. I gotta eat it. They've
Speaker 2: dominated the rivalry in the last I don't know, seven
Speaker 2: years or so, and that sucks. So that's why, you know,
Speaker 2: when they want to like really find something to pull
Speaker 2: out of the bag to really highlight this come up
Speaker 2: that they've been on, they bring up Louisville. And that's
Speaker 2: why they do. L's down at every moment. And if
Speaker 2: Louisville fans want that to stop, Louisll's got to beat them. Now,
Speaker 2: the fans can't do it. Players in the team have
Speaker 2: to do it. But like there's not really any huge
Speaker 2: monumental achievement that stands out, but they feel like they
Speaker 2: can be little Louisville, which they can. I mean, they
Speaker 2: haven't accomplished what Louisville has as a football program. But
Speaker 2: either way, when these two teams meet on the field
Speaker 2: every year since twenty seventeen, they've handled Louisville. And that
Speaker 2: it sucks, but it's just, you know, it's it is
Speaker 2: what it is. I can't really dispute that. If I
Speaker 2: was them, I would do the same thing. So Indiana
Speaker 2: is clearly beneath Louisville and football historically and just recently,
Speaker 2: and just you know, it's it is what it is.
Speaker 2: John knows that I'm not picking on Indiana. It's just
Speaker 2: the truth it is. So if they if they lost
Speaker 2: to Louisville this year and then lost to Indiana in
Speaker 2: a bowl game, I think they might once Stoop's gone,
Speaker 2: That'd be ridiculous. It would never happen. But like, what
Speaker 2: would they What could they say? Because right now I
Speaker 2: can easily debunk anything about them claiming they're good by
Speaker 2: acknowledging that they don't beat anybody good in their league,
Speaker 2: and despite no longer sucking, they still do not matter
Speaker 2: in any way in their league and will matter even
Speaker 2: less now with the addition of Texas and Oklahoma. But
Speaker 2: they can say scoreboard cardboy, eat that ls down loser
Speaker 2: like that, and you know that's again that's what they do.
Speaker 2: That's what they're gonna do. That's how this works. But
Speaker 2: if they were to lose to Louisville and now, you know,
Speaker 2: be one and one against Jeff Brahm, and they now
Speaker 2: would realize, ce, it's long gone, the days of that,
Speaker 2: that's gone. And then my man sig he takes down Stoops,
Speaker 2: offers them a postgame cigarette after the game for his troubles,
Speaker 2: for that spank, and he gave him. Kentucky fans would melt.
Speaker 2: They would lose their mind. I mean they would. They
Speaker 2: would want Stoops gone, not all of them, And again
Speaker 2: that would never happen, And maybe they would wake up
Speaker 2: the next day and realize they overreacted, but like they
Speaker 2: would be the that would be embarrassing for them in
Speaker 2: a way they haven't felt. Because there's the thing, they're
Speaker 2: not embarrassing anymore. They were embarrassing forever. So now the
Speaker 2: fact that they're not embarrassing, they feel, they feel great
Speaker 2: about themselves. And again I think that's normal. That's not
Speaker 2: a criticism.
Speaker 4: I get that.
Speaker 2: But when you say, like, yeah, you still don't really matter,
Speaker 2: You're just you don't suck anymore, Well, Eil's down, we
Speaker 2: own you. So like if they didn't have that anymore
Speaker 2: and then Indiana beat him in a Bowl game, like, well,
Speaker 2: they would want they would want stoops gone. I mean
Speaker 2: they would probably think to themselves, well, well you know
Speaker 2: who else were gonna get it? Sucks? Will be better
Speaker 2: next year. Like maybe they would have some cooler heads
Speaker 2: a few days later. But like I just I'm just
Speaker 2: envisioning Matt's postgame show.
Speaker 6: If that happened, the amount of Indiana people who would
Speaker 6: likely call into that postgame show would do and I
Speaker 6: don't know if any of them would get through, but
Speaker 6: you'd probably have a few guys, cause there's the set
Speaker 6: the Indiana.
Speaker 4: Fan based up.
Speaker 6: How many fans exist, how many what Indiana and football like,
Speaker 6: there's a lot of them.
Speaker 2: Like around here because I've never heard anybody question because you,
Speaker 2: I mean, before we work together, I knew that you
Speaker 2: weren't just a basketball guy. You you supported and what
Speaker 2: you you know, you care about Indian football in.
Speaker 4: A major way.
Speaker 6: I just assumed that a lot of Indiana basketball fans
Speaker 6: are also closet Indiana football fans, and I feel like
Speaker 6: that's the case, but most of them just won't say
Speaker 6: anything unless they're good.
Speaker 4: Which isn't very awful.
Speaker 2: It looked to be fair. Indiana football as a product
Speaker 2: in a program has not given them really anything to
Speaker 2: be raw raw about, and the university has not really
Speaker 2: invested in the program a whole lot to where now
Speaker 2: really yeah, exactly. I mean their first big investment that
Speaker 2: they cared was what they paid Tom her or not
Speaker 2: Tom Harmon, but Tom alt Mallen and honestly paying to
Speaker 2: get rid of him was another sign that they do care.
Speaker 2: They yeah, and they understand that because I think, if anything,
Speaker 2: the success that that Tom Allen had, even though it
Speaker 2: wasn't like you know, major to where they were, you know,
Speaker 2: winning national championships, but it was like Kentucky they were.
Speaker 2: They went from being you know, consistently really bad to
Speaker 2: where they were solid to then they were winning. You know,
Speaker 2: they won eight games, I think one year, and.
Speaker 4: Then after that was the six and ten twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: So you know that that showed their fans, meaning Indiana,
Speaker 2: the administration was able to see, Okay, we could maybe
Speaker 2: be decent in football and it would go a long
Speaker 2: way because we have a huge fan base and because
Speaker 2: of where we've been the benefit of being terrible for
Speaker 2: so long. If there is one, it would be the
Speaker 2: fact that when you do you you rise from the
Speaker 2: cellar and your average that's a lot better than where
Speaker 2: you were to where there's gonna be excitement there. Now
Speaker 2: that'll get stale, which I think has happened at Kentucky
Speaker 2: a little bit, like they don't want to be three
Speaker 2: and five in the SEC four and four every year,
Speaker 2: but you know it's going to be tough. So I
Speaker 2: don't like Indiana fans were Indiana basketball jerseys to the
Speaker 2: louisvill game last year. That said a lot to me.
Speaker 2: And that's I mean, but that's just the culture of
Speaker 2: Indiana fans is that football has just never really been
Speaker 2: a consistent thing, right Like, And I if I was,
Speaker 2: if I was an Indiana fan and I was in
Speaker 2: your situation, I mean, I'm sure I would be like
Speaker 2: John and not like the fact that, you know, Indiana
Speaker 2: fans just look at their football program, or at least
Speaker 2: they did look at their football program as lifeless. But
Speaker 2: I kind of get it, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: Like I understand it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is kind of tough to see.
Speaker 6: But I think I like what you said a couple
Speaker 6: of weeks ago about how you need the casuals to
Speaker 6: buy in. Yeah, Indiana has a lot more casual football
Speaker 6: fans that will come to games at least sporadically if
Speaker 6: their success, and I think that's hopefully the direction they're
Speaker 6: headed in this year.
Speaker 2: We're we're so tied up in our programs and the
Speaker 2: tradition and we care, we support. We're die hard. Not
Speaker 2: that you know, not that Louisville, Kentucky or Indiana fans
Speaker 2: are claiming that we are as a fan base in
Speaker 2: football like Alabama or Ohio State, But you know what
Speaker 2: I mean, it just comes with being a diehard college
Speaker 2: sports fan. However, there's this hesitancy to acknowledge something that
Speaker 2: is rather obvious. And that's what I talked about a
Speaker 2: couple weeks ago. If you have a full stadium sold out,
Speaker 2: a huge chunk of those people are casuals. They'll say
Speaker 2: they're a Kentucky or a Louisville or an Indiana fan
Speaker 2: if they're asked, but they it's just a small segment
Speaker 2: of the little I mean, they may not even know
Speaker 2: five guys on the team, and that's okay because not
Speaker 2: everybody's die hard like you need. And again, when Louisville
Speaker 2: football has a sellout, you just have to understand that
Speaker 2: there's a huge chunk. And it doesn't matter. I'm not
Speaker 2: saying these people are beneath. In fact, they may have
Speaker 2: more of they may have more lives than us, right like,
Speaker 2: they may have more of a social life, more where
Speaker 2: they can't listen to a sports talk show for very long,
Speaker 2: and they don't get on the message boards, they're not
Speaker 2: active on Twitter, but you know what, they know that
Speaker 2: that's their team and if hey, hey, I'm more inclined
Speaker 2: to want to get a ticket and be there when
Speaker 2: the team's better because it's something cool to be a
Speaker 2: part of. So anyways, I again, I have no clue
Speaker 2: that what's going to play out because Indiana went in
Speaker 2: eight games and getting a nice one ball, but like,
Speaker 2: let's be real, there's bowl tie ins between the SEC
Speaker 2: and the Big Ten, and if Indiana gets to a
Speaker 2: bowl game in Kentucky gets to a bowl game in
Speaker 2: Kentucky seven and five and Indiana six and six, like
Speaker 2: that could happen, and I would love it. I'd go.
Speaker 2: It'd be so I would go, and I would wear
Speaker 2: candy stripe tops a bottom.
Speaker 4: You should wear basketball jersey.
Speaker 2: Probably fit in with everybody else there, right, you would?
Speaker 2: All right, real quick, let's go to the phone lines
Speaker 2: before we get to our last break here in the
Speaker 2: four o'clock hour, five two, five, seven, one seventy nine
Speaker 2: hundred is the number if you want to give us
Speaker 2: a call. Let's go to Danny. Danny, you're on Sports
Speaker 2: Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 4: What's up, hey, Nick?
Speaker 7: Admittedly UK fan here and just kind of playing devil's advocate.
Speaker 7: We we went every year, or you know, the past
Speaker 7: two years we've won.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, But I.
Speaker 7: Feel like when you ask Louisville fans about what's changed
Speaker 7: their only players Jeff Brown. We got Jeff brom now.
Speaker 7: But and I'm being sincere. I'm not I'm not trying
Speaker 7: to be a jerk, but it's like he was thirty
Speaker 7: six and thirty four per any the big games, you know,
Speaker 7: every year he loses the big game, lost mediocre.
Speaker 2: Danny, Danny, Danny, Danny. Jeff doesn't lose the big game,
Speaker 2: he loses the small game. Jeff Brom beat red, Jeff
Speaker 2: Brown beat three top three teams at Purdue. Jeff Brom
Speaker 2: went thirty six, thirty four adeo. Yeah, and let me
Speaker 2: tell you listen, listen, let's send Danny. Before before Jeff
Speaker 2: Brown was at Purdue, the previous coaches were thirteen and
Speaker 2: nineteen in four seasons and three and twenty four in
Speaker 2: four seasons. Him winning at Purdue and making them even
Speaker 2: relevant for an hour was good work on his part.
Speaker 2: So look, Jeff wins big games. He you know, he
Speaker 2: didn't beat Kentucky last year and that that sucked. But
Speaker 2: his issue is actually he'll win a big game then
Speaker 2: lose to Pittsburgh like he did last year. So you know,
Speaker 2: like and and I think you're being sincere, but Jeff
Speaker 2: Brom has more coaching ability in one of his testicles
Speaker 2: than Sky Sadderfield has, if he has any. They're therefore
Speaker 2: like that, like if if you're if you take issue
Speaker 2: with Louisville fans claiming that you know it, what do
Speaker 2: you mean it's different. It's clearly different, Jeff Browm. Look,
Speaker 2: Louisville gets respected by everybody more because Sadderfield's not here
Speaker 2: and bram Is doesn't mean Jeff's gonna beat you this year.
Speaker 2: I have no clue what's gonna happen. But Louisville football
Speaker 2: is clearly in a much different world now than they were.
Speaker 2: And that's not to say the elite, but with Sadderfield,
Speaker 2: they they capped out like they they never won a
Speaker 2: games with him.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I agree, I just like I said, I
Speaker 7: think the argument is just UK's improved, they got new
Speaker 7: transfers players, louis was improved. But it's like it's unfathomable
Speaker 7: but that that Jeff Brohm could could lose again, or
Speaker 7: that he's already won or somehow.
Speaker 2: Last year in that game, last game last year, when
Speaker 2: that game was played beforehand, did did you did you
Speaker 2: think Kentucky was gonna win? Because I didn't hear a
Speaker 2: single call.
Speaker 7: And I'm gonna tell you what. I wasn't convinced say
Speaker 7: we're gonna lose, and I got a draft Kings received
Speaker 7: I'll send you because the big uglies are the SEC.
Speaker 7: We could literally be the twelfth or thirteenth ranked team
Speaker 7: in the country this year. If everything played out on
Speaker 7: paper and we'd be seven and five, and so when
Speaker 7: we go into a game six and six or seven
Speaker 7: and five, it does matter. It's like saying, well, throw
Speaker 7: out the schedules. Well, yeah, if we played in the
Speaker 7: American League, yeah we'd have or whatever conference Louisle's been in.
Speaker 2: I think thank you for the called in. I me,
Speaker 2: if you don't even mean you were way off with
Speaker 2: a lot of things. You just started yapping about and
Speaker 2: I had to correct you, and then you don't even
Speaker 2: know what Lee I mean, I mean the American Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, And I don't even think that was like
Speaker 2: a jab. I think he just didn't know, because he
Speaker 2: clearly didn't. I mean, Jeff Browm has a bad thing
Speaker 2: that stands out on his resume. He loses games he
Speaker 2: shouldn't lose following big wins. And again his static Purdue
Speaker 2: is insane. I mean again, he went three and oh
Speaker 2: versus top three teams when he was unranked at Purdue
Speaker 2: and against Louisville. They played one top ten team last
Speaker 2: year and they beat him all right quick break. Once again,
Speaker 2: I found myself in a situation where I have very
Speaker 2: little time in our last segment, but we still got
Speaker 2: another hour to go in a lot to get to
Speaker 2: Brian Edwards Vegas Insider dot com is going to join
Speaker 2: us at five point thirty. So with a little time,
Speaker 2: let's go back to the phone lines and welcome in Allison. Allison,
Speaker 2: how are you doing this afternoon?
Speaker 8: I'm good, Nick, how are you doing well? I think
Speaker 8: the most interesting thing about the last caller is I'm
Speaker 8: not sure what Mark Stoop's record is, but I'm pretty
Speaker 8: sure it's a losing record, even considering they lost half
Speaker 8: of their wins because it was vacated. But produes are
Speaker 8: really hard school.
Speaker 7: To recruit to which people don't understand that either.
Speaker 8: But just get just kind of getting your thoughts, Nick
Speaker 8: on some possible football players for U of L. Do
Speaker 8: you think you're going to be standout that not a
Speaker 8: lot of people are talking about. Mine would probably be
Speaker 8: store And I'll hang up and listen.
Speaker 2: Thanks Nick, Thanks Allison. Yeah, Thor Griffin, I mean he's
Speaker 2: one of those guys that man very intriguing just giving
Speaker 2: a story comes from the Ivy League. Did make Bruce
Speaker 2: Feldman's annual Freaks List, which you know in a way,
Speaker 2: being on a freak list would not be a good thing.
Speaker 2: But it's a compliment when you make the freaklist of
Speaker 2: college football because you're an athletic specimen and he's got
Speaker 2: impressive stats highlights at Harvard. It's just a question of
Speaker 2: can can he perform at this level? And by all accounts,
Speaker 2: they think he can and the NFL. I mean, I
Speaker 2: remember shortly after he decided to he decided to transfer
Speaker 2: to Louisville, one of the guys on staff told me that,
Speaker 2: you know, his NFL connections have told him that they
Speaker 2: were really happy to see that he decided to move
Speaker 2: on to where they could get a look at him
Speaker 2: in you know, a higher level of football because they
Speaker 2: love what I mean, he might have been drafted this
Speaker 2: year just given the fact that he you know, IVY
Speaker 2: League or not, like he just has some measurables and
Speaker 2: some ability that even if he was raw completely as
Speaker 2: a player, there's a lot to like there. So that's
Speaker 2: a good one for me. I'm gonna go there's there's
Speaker 2: a there's a couple, but I feel really really good
Speaker 2: about the tight end position being one that will really
Speaker 2: really thrive this year and it'll be there'll be more
Speaker 2: than just one. But for me, the guy that I
Speaker 2: think really stands to in a major way kind of
Speaker 2: make an impact. And I shouldn't say it's out of nowhere,
Speaker 2: it's not. But Jamari Johnson. I mean that's a guy
Speaker 2: who was a red shirt freshman true freshman last year,
Speaker 2: was a big time recruit, one of the California kids
Speaker 2: that came with Pierce Clarkson. I mean we're talking six five,
Speaker 2: two sixty five, great athlete. I think he'll be somebody
Speaker 2: that really stands out this year within this offense. But
Speaker 2: he's not the only Titan. There'll be some others I
Speaker 2: think that also have good years. But thank you for
Speaker 2: the call, Allison, appreciate it. We got another hour to go,
Speaker 2: so stick with us. I apologize for the bad clock management.
Speaker 2: I'll try to do better.