Speaker 1: Welcome to the Big Blue and sider Dick Gabriel with
Speaker 1: you on a Friday, the eve of game day, but
Speaker 1: also it is event is tonight Big Blue Madness unveils
Speaker 1: the glass court basically at Rupperena. You can see it
Speaker 1: on the SEC Network. And a man who will be
Speaker 1: there for the SEC Network, Tom Hart, also called Vandy
Speaker 1: Alabama last Saturday. He will work the Kentucky Vanderbilt game
Speaker 1: tomorrow night, So double dipping here and lexing, and also
Speaker 1: we'll be with us coming up a little bit later
Speaker 1: on in the show. In fact, after the next break,
Speaker 1: he'll be working with Jimmy Dikes tonight and our own
Speaker 1: Christy Thomas will pop in and talk about the UK
Speaker 1: women's team on the SEC broadcast. She of course part
Speaker 1: of SEC plus coverage of UK women's basketball, along with
Speaker 1: our own Jeff Bicoro. So that comes up tonight in
Speaker 1: Rupperina Football Tomorrow night seven forty five kick five point
Speaker 1: thirty pre game with Christy, Jeremy Jarman, and Logan Salo
Speaker 1: and then of course it's Logan Salo, Logan Stenburg. We
Speaker 1: Logan s on last night the baseball coach, but Jeff
Speaker 1: and Tom and I will have the action for you.
Speaker 1: A huge game coming up a little bit later on,
Speaker 1: we'll hear Diego Pavia part of his conversation with Dan
Speaker 1: Patrick courtesy of The Dan Patrick Show, and Billy Derek
Speaker 1: from vandysports dot Com. We'll tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: more about those Commodorees. We talked to my friend George
Speaker 1: Plaster the other night just about the history of Andy
Speaker 1: football and what this all meant. But we get more
Speaker 1: of a breakdown from Billy about the Cats and the
Speaker 1: Commodoores coming up tomorrow night. We're also gonna hear from
Speaker 1: Walt Wells, the EKU head football coach. Colonels have won
Speaker 1: three straight coming off in bye week. They're on the
Speaker 1: road tomorrow in Cedar, Utah against Southern Utah. So it's
Speaker 1: a pretty long road trip for the Colonels, but a
Speaker 1: chance to make it four straight. We're also going to
Speaker 1: relive the highlights again. I know I had them last week,
Speaker 1: but people have hit me up on social media and
Speaker 1: they really like it when we play the melted highlights,
Speaker 1: if you will, of the entire ball game. And so
Speaker 1: you will hear once more the upset of old miss
Speaker 1: think about this now Kentucky and Vanderbilt playing tomorrow night
Speaker 1: right here in our town. Those are the two teams
Speaker 1: coming off the biggest upsets so far in college football
Speaker 1: this year. The only thing that knocked Kentucky off the
Speaker 1: top of the coverage charts two saturdays back was that
Speaker 1: great Alabama Georgia game. Even if Alabama had finished up
Speaker 1: the blowout of Georgia, which of course it did not.
Speaker 1: Georgia made a hell of a game of it. But
Speaker 1: even if Alabama had beaten Georgia badly that day, it
Speaker 1: might have still been the lead story. But I don't know.
Speaker 1: Kentucky knocking off the top ten team and in some
Speaker 1: polls top five or six team of Old miss might
Speaker 1: have led the college football world. At any rate, it
Speaker 1: was the biggest upset of the day. And then, of
Speaker 1: course Vandy does its thing against Alabama. Those two teams
Speaker 1: now will clash tomorrow night, and we'll see which team
Speaker 1: keeps the momentum going one of the biggest games, probably
Speaker 1: the biggest game in the country, Tomorrow's Ohio State Oregon.
Speaker 1: I have already predicted to our man, our West NBA
Speaker 1: chief Gary Moore and Ohio State blowout. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: And I'll be rooting for Oregon primarily because my cousins
Speaker 1: live in Oregon, A bunch of my cousins and they're
Speaker 1: all Duck fans, and I'll behalf of rich Brooks. But
Speaker 1: I know my man Ocorro is a big Ohio State
Speaker 1: fan because his dad played baseball there. So anyway, I'm
Speaker 1: still rooting for Oregon. But I do believe Ohio State
Speaker 1: not just whin, but blow them out. I don't know why,
Speaker 1: I just think that's going to be the case. One
Speaker 1: other note about madness tonight, Well, there are several notes,
Speaker 1: but if you need information and you're probably on your
Speaker 1: way for listening in the car right now and it
Speaker 1: being a little bit after six, that's whyse doors have
Speaker 1: been opened since five point thirty. But it's getting close
Speaker 1: now to event time. But access your mobile tickets and
Speaker 1: parking pass before you get there. You know what to do.
Speaker 1: Parking is twenty seven bucks at the gate, no cash accepted.
Speaker 1: And remember now Rupperina has gone entirely cash less, all right,
Speaker 1: so you got to have your credit card. They need
Speaker 1: those clear bags. There's a temporary box office area set
Speaker 1: up inside the High Street instance of Rupperina it is
Speaker 1: already open, and if you're still needing information, you can
Speaker 1: go online and find it through the UK website. There's
Speaker 1: gamed assistance there if you need it, and all kinds
Speaker 1: of info on the UK website. So have fun at Madness.
Speaker 1: But if you can't get there, it will be on
Speaker 1: the SEC network, as will tomorrow night's football game, but
Speaker 1: we know you will have your radio close at hand.
Speaker 1: By the way, the SEC has released it's times for
Speaker 1: TV for college basketball games men's games. And you're not
Speaker 1: gonna like this, but Kentucky plays a couple of nine
Speaker 1: o'clock games nine pm Eastern time. Although the first game
Speaker 1: on the schedule Florida at Kentucky, that's an eleven am start.
Speaker 1: A lot of you don't like that one, But that
Speaker 1: one starts at eleven am. You probably like that more
Speaker 1: than the nine pm games. There are at least a
Speaker 1: couple of those. One is iffy. But February first, Alabama
Speaker 1: at Kentucky, that is a nine o'clock start, even though
Speaker 1: it's in the Eastern time zone. The Oklahoma game, which
Speaker 1: comes up on February toward was a twenty sixth I
Speaker 1: think it is, Yeah, is a nine o'clock start, and
Speaker 1: then the LSU game, which is on March fourth. That's
Speaker 1: either a seven o'clock or a nine o'clock game, So
Speaker 1: is Auburn and Texas A and I guess they'll figure
Speaker 1: out which game is bigger and decide then which game
Speaker 1: is a seven o'clock start which game is a nine
Speaker 1: o'clock start. Go to UK Athletics dot com you can
Speaker 1: find out all the other start times. There are some
Speaker 1: noon starts, mostly seven o'clock and two thirty in the
Speaker 1: afternoon on the weekends. But getting ready for the nine
Speaker 1: pm games. They are coming at you. While we're on football.
Speaker 1: Last night's Thursday night football game, Seahawks Niners. Niners turned
Speaker 1: it over way too many times, rather than Seahawks turned
Speaker 1: it over way too many times. Niners come back after
Speaker 1: that shocking loss to the Cardinals. But I bring it
Speaker 1: up because it was an historic game for Deebo Samuel,
Speaker 1: the all purpose wide receiver slash running back for the
Speaker 1: forty nine ers. He became the first wide receiver in
Speaker 1: NFL history with twenty touchdowns, twenty touchdown catches and twenty
Speaker 1: touchdown runs twenty of eight. That's pretty amazing. And remember
Speaker 1: now he was a South Carolina game cock and you
Speaker 1: might recall back I want to say it was eight
Speaker 1: years ago. The Wildcats go to South Carolina, fall behind
Speaker 1: because Deebo scores like on the first play from scrimmage
Speaker 1: for South Carolina, and we wondered, how in the world
Speaker 1: are they going to handle this guy? Well, he had
Speaker 1: a big game, but Kentucky actually came back and won
Speaker 1: that one. I was actually twenty seventeen, that's right, and
Speaker 1: Deebo caught a sixty eight yard pass from Jake Bentley
Speaker 1: first played from scrimmage thirteen seconds into the game and
Speaker 1: Kentucky was behind seven nothing, but the Wildcats answered with
Speaker 1: the Benny Snell touchdown run later in the quarter and
Speaker 1: ended up winning at twenty three to thirteen. And that's
Speaker 1: the game where Jojo Kimp talked about the Wildcats celebrating
Speaker 1: in the locker room and it was just nuts. After
Speaker 1: that game, Deebo Samuel getting it done still in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. Tom hard of the SEC Network next
Speaker 1: on six thirty WLAP welcome back to the Big bluin Cider,
Speaker 1: joining us now. One of our favorite broadcasters and a
Speaker 1: good dude because we've watched him on ESPN, the SEC Network,
Speaker 1: Tom Hart, he'll be in town. In fact, he is
Speaker 1: doing Friday Night Big Move Madness and Tom, I texted you,
Speaker 1: and I know you've got tweets about it. What a
Speaker 1: great job you and your entire crew did on that
Speaker 1: Vandy Alabama game. What was that like for you? Because
Speaker 1: that was a slice of history.
Speaker 2: So I really appreciate that, Dick, and thanks for having
Speaker 2: me on. It was you know, it was thrilling in
Speaker 2: many ways. And I think there's this great responsibility and
Speaker 2: others may roll their eyes at this, but in a
Speaker 2: scenario like that, you said, you s the word history,
Speaker 2: and it is historic. And so there are times I
Speaker 2: like to be loose in the air. I like to
Speaker 2: show some personality, you know, have fun. But it was
Speaker 2: one of those moments where I didn't have to remind myself,
Speaker 2: but I was hyper aware that, you know, a reference
Speaker 2: to you know, famous comedian Theo Vaughn in this game,
Speaker 2: in this moment, it's not going to hold up when
Speaker 2: somebody watches that back twenty years from now, you know,
Speaker 2: or anyway, just my way of saying that, I take
Speaker 2: that responsibility seriously and our first goal is to document
Speaker 2: the game. I really appreciated what it meant for Clark
Speaker 2: Lee into the Vanderbilt program. And I got a message
Speaker 2: from a Vanderbilt fan and he said the game moved
Speaker 2: him to tears.
Speaker 1: Oh wow wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so to try to you know, that's hard to
Speaker 2: process on air. But after the fact of all the
Speaker 2: messages I got, that one really hit home.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and you know, and me being a TV
Speaker 1: and do you guys notice these things? But the graphics
Speaker 1: you guys had that frame the picture so well the
Speaker 1: first time this and all the record you've got to
Speaker 1: be ready for that in the unlikely event that this
Speaker 1: upset occurs. But you and your producer, as your whole
Speaker 1: your graphics people were right on the money with that,
Speaker 1: weren't they.
Speaker 2: Well, I really appreciate that. Yeah, and I am not
Speaker 2: going to take credit for that, but I want to
Speaker 2: bring up something that I brought up to our team,
Speaker 2: and I said, we need these graphics. And you may
Speaker 2: say to yourself, or some may say in a different light, well,
Speaker 2: why are you making fun of Vanderbilt or why are
Speaker 2: you poking at all of this failure? And I said, regardless,
Speaker 2: if this is a game in the second half or
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter, to your point, it frames what it means, Yes,
Speaker 2: And I don't know that quite honestly, I don't think that,
Speaker 2: you know, the people put it together really thought that
Speaker 2: it was going to air in that way. But I'm
Speaker 2: really glad, you know's that and appreciated that. I'm really
Speaker 2: proud of our team for being on top of it.
Speaker 2: And I agree, and I think I think one thing
Speaker 2: we have to remind ourselves that too, is like, there
Speaker 2: are a lot of people watching the game that were
Speaker 2: at other games or at a bar or that you know,
Speaker 2: maybe just start popping up on restaurant screens. And somebody
Speaker 2: looks at her husband and says, well, what's the big
Speaker 2: deal about this, and goes, look, they're all in sixty gets,
Speaker 2: top five teams. They've never beaten Number one ever, That's
Speaker 2: why it's the big deal.
Speaker 1: I had Chris Doring from your network on the other
Speaker 1: night and he talked about just in the studio, you know,
Speaker 1: they could feel and it was pretty obvious that that
Speaker 1: audience had to be growing. And I know you you
Speaker 1: you were processing so much in your mind, but looking
Speaker 1: back on it, somebody liked me. I was watching another game,
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, and I saw the score, I thought,
Speaker 1: I mean early, I thought, oh that's interesting, flipped over
Speaker 1: and never left the game. And you had to know
Speaker 1: that was happening across the country, right, one.
Speaker 2: Hundred percent, And especially with some of the you know,
Speaker 2: of all the media that I have an appetite for
Speaker 2: during the week, hearing the different podcasts talk about it
Speaker 2: and radio shows, it was evident that you know, you
Speaker 2: weren't the only one. Yeah, and to your point, I
Speaker 2: know you have an appreciation for this. Somebody said, well,
Speaker 2: sometimes those stats or those nuggets were redundant, and I said, yes,
Speaker 2: but our audience grew every minute of the second half,
Speaker 2: and I don't We don't have the numbers, but I
Speaker 2: would venture to believe that you know, the audience from
Speaker 2: the beginning of the third quarter to the beginning of
Speaker 2: the fourth quarter probably doubled.
Speaker 1: Well, no question, they measure it by fifteen minutes. Of that, yeah,
Speaker 1: they measured it by every fifteen minutes. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: guarantee you're right, every minute the audience grows. Tom hard
Speaker 1: of the SEC Network, you see his work on ESPN
Speaker 1: and SEC as well, worked the Kentucky as working Madness,
Speaker 1: but also work Vanderbilt in Alabama, I got to tell
Speaker 1: you a couple of weeks ago down in Oxford work
Speaker 1: in that game, and you know, I've worked Kentucky football forever.
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of near misses. And when Vandy
Speaker 1: took or rather Ole mist took the late lead, I
Speaker 1: was kind of bracing myself for the late hammer, wondering
Speaker 1: about how am I going to phrase this postgame interview
Speaker 1: with one that got away? And then they win it.
Speaker 1: At what point did you, well, I'm not going to say,
Speaker 1: did you think Vanderbilt had it, but were you bracing
Speaker 1: yourself for the late hammer? Because Alabama did show some
Speaker 1: life in the second half.
Speaker 2: Alabama is an elite team and I think I still
Speaker 2: think Jalen Milroe is one of the best quarterbacks in
Speaker 2: college football. And what Vanderbilt did in that game, and
Speaker 2: you know, I'm lucky that I get a double dip
Speaker 2: this weekend. But they're going to try to do Saturday
Speaker 2: night against Kentucky. Is possessed the football and keep Kentucky's
Speaker 2: offense off the field, and they were able to do
Speaker 2: that with Jalen Milroe and Ryan Williams, maybe the best
Speaker 2: receiver in the country, and they limited them to only
Speaker 2: a handful of possessions. So when Van when Alabama was
Speaker 2: driving in the fourth quarter and they had a they
Speaker 2: had a sack fumble. The guy came basically untouched to
Speaker 2: Milroe's right side when he was looking left and forced
Speaker 2: that fumble. Then then, and only then because they took
Speaker 2: the ball out of Jaln Milroe's hands, and I knew
Speaker 2: they were going to be able to flate it going
Speaker 2: forward and run some clock. And their offensive play calling
Speaker 2: I thought was absolutely perfect. And they knew him to
Speaker 2: take a shot, they knew when to keep it on
Speaker 2: the ground, and they didn't. They avoided mistakes and all
Speaker 2: the while scoring forty points with these long drawn out
Speaker 2: drives just led the clock. That's a lot of points
Speaker 2: to put up. Their points per possession would be something
Speaker 2: that Kentucky basketballill be proud of this year, for sure.
Speaker 1: A couple of minutes left with Tom Hard of the
Speaker 1: SEC Network, all right, we got to talk about Diego Pavia.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's become I don't know if folk hero
Speaker 1: is the right term, but he's a heck of a
Speaker 1: football player. And you pointed out more than once what
Speaker 1: a story he couldn't get the SCOLLI offer from the
Speaker 1: hometown team Juco New Mexico State, And the next thing
Speaker 1: you know, half the New Mexico State personnel had moved
Speaker 1: to Nashville. This kid's a good ballplayer, isn't he?
Speaker 3: He is?
Speaker 2: And it is a very unlikely marriage. I don't think
Speaker 2: New Mexico State and Vanderbilt have anything in common academically
Speaker 2: or otherwise, right, but to get Jerry Kill, Tim Back
Speaker 2: and the coaches and Diego Pavia to come over, Eli
Speaker 2: Stowers had a bunch of huge catches in the game
Speaker 2: at their death conversions. He's not just this gritty ballplayer
Speaker 2: who wills his team to success, although that's a big
Speaker 2: part of his persona. He is incredibly efficient in that offense.
Speaker 2: In fact, they were telling us that there was a
Speaker 2: time earlier the season where they lost helmet communication and
Speaker 2: the offensive coordinator. They got to signal out to him
Speaker 2: just right, and he calls his own plays, and he
Speaker 2: runs the offense and he knows the balance. You know,
Speaker 2: I don't know that he gambles. He seems like the gambler,
Speaker 2: but he'd be someone you would never want to play
Speaker 2: poker against. Right, he just has an eight feel for
Speaker 2: what card is coming next? And when you run an
Speaker 2: offense like that that you know, shows one play to
Speaker 2: set you up for another, and everything is this long string.
Speaker 2: It's like a popcorn string around the Christmas tree. Right,
Speaker 2: one leads to another, leads to another. And even though
Speaker 2: it looks like a failure of a play, in fact,
Speaker 2: they had a first down on their last possession where
Speaker 2: he kind of tucked it and tried to stumble to
Speaker 2: the left and boss two yards. And I said that
Speaker 2: Cole Kublack, who's in the root for the game? I said, well,
Speaker 2: are they not playing too conservatively? And he said, just wait,
Speaker 2: let's see what that sets up. And that set up
Speaker 2: a roll out to the right, the pass to the flat,
Speaker 2: the first down, and it was you know, to have
Speaker 2: someone with that high level of football like to run
Speaker 2: the offense really what makes it work?
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Cole did such a great job. Alyssa Lang
Speaker 1: fighting for her life down there. My heart goes out
Speaker 1: to a fellow sideline reporter, and just a great job
Speaker 1: she did getting those interviews. I mean, that was athletic
Speaker 1: what she did. But I know, you got to wrap
Speaker 1: things up. But what's the storyline on Kentucky coming in?
Speaker 1: As you've done your research.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's really similar to what Vanderbilt wants
Speaker 2: to do. And I think the big picture is, you know,
Speaker 2: Mark Stoops has vacillated over the years with what he
Speaker 2: wants his offense to be. And I think they came
Speaker 2: into the season certainly wanting to run more plays last
Speaker 2: in the country in place per game last year, and
Speaker 2: to be more explosive. And the thought is kind of
Speaker 2: like we'll see with Mark Pope's basketball team. The more
Speaker 2: possessions you have, the more you can share the ball,
Speaker 2: the more guys get shot, the more guys get touched. Sure,
Speaker 2: it's evident now that it back a little bit and
Speaker 2: being an old school ground and pound and then take
Speaker 2: shots offense is what is going to fit fit Kentucky best. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And I think styles make fights, and I think they
Speaker 2: have the you know it's in Vanderbilt obviously with toe
Speaker 2: to toe in Alabama from a size and frisicality standards, Yes,
Speaker 2: Saturday Night, but I still think that's an advantage for
Speaker 2: Kentucky given what they have, especially on the defensive line.
Speaker 1: This Saturday Night amazing that time of possession, which doesn't
Speaker 1: always tell the right story, it did on both Kentucky Ole,
Speaker 1: miss Andy, Alabama and was almost identical forty to twenty. Basically,
Speaker 1: I know you've done the madness football double dip before,
Speaker 1: but you know, do you like that? Do you enjoy
Speaker 1: coming to madness and then you know, how do you
Speaker 1: work that compared to a ballgame?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it. I think it gives
Speaker 2: me great energy. I really like to see a basketball
Speaker 2: especially as many teams I can before we get into season,
Speaker 2: because certainly football takes takes priority, and so to build
Speaker 2: relationships and to get to know players and get your
Speaker 2: eyes on helps. Then when you show back up and
Speaker 2: with two more teams in the league, you might be
Speaker 2: seeing it teams less often than than you did if
Speaker 2: you have my schedule now. It gives me a great
Speaker 2: feel for the fan base and their excitement and what
Speaker 2: they're thinking and kind of their their state of mind.
Speaker 2: And I'm just I especially like it when there is
Speaker 2: such a high level of excitement around Mark Pope's energy
Speaker 2: and enthusiasm and the ties to the past, which obviously
Speaker 2: is such a huge part of Kentucky basketball, and that
Speaker 2: the football team's coming off of it such a huge win. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it certainly makes a lot more fun.
Speaker 1: Oh, it's been fun around here, trust me, and an
Speaker 1: extra week to enjoy it because of the open date.
Speaker 1: Do you get to sneak off to Keenland on a
Speaker 1: weekend like this because I know you're working your butt off?
Speaker 2: I usually try to. I don't know, Madness, I'm going
Speaker 2: to be able to, But it depends on how much
Speaker 2: work I could knock out in the hotel. Maybe I'll
Speaker 2: free to sneak be free to sneak out their Saturday morning.
Speaker 1: I get it. Hey, thanks, brother, We'll see it safe travels.
Speaker 2: Thanks great to talk to you'll. I'll see you Saturday.
Speaker 1: Tom Hard He'll be on the call tonight for Madness
Speaker 1: at Rupp Arena, and then he'll head over Saturday to
Speaker 1: Kroger Field for the Wildcats and the Vanderbilt Commodorees. And
Speaker 1: when we come back, we'll talk more basketball. We'll hear
Speaker 1: from some of the Cats in just a minute on
Speaker 1: six thirty WLAP Welcome back tonight. It is Madness. Some
Speaker 1: of you are already there, many of you are on
Speaker 1: your way, and we thought we would help prepare you
Speaker 1: by sharing with you some of the conversations we had
Speaker 1: in case you didn't see him and if you did well,
Speaker 1: you'll enjoy him again. The conversations we had with some
Speaker 1: of the Wildcats before Pro Day on Monday. Of course,
Speaker 1: it's been a big week for Kentucky basketball fans as
Speaker 1: the Mark Pope era slowly begins to unfolds. Start off
Speaker 1: with one of the guys I talked to. They were
Speaker 1: all really interesting and they all did a really nice job.
Speaker 1: But let's start with the point guard, the guy I
Speaker 1: will handle the ball quite a bit for the Wildcats.
Speaker 1: Here's my conversation with the San Diego State transfer and
Speaker 1: a tremendous defensive player, Lamont Butler.
Speaker 5: It's been a dream of mine for a long time
Speaker 5: to play in the NBA, So you know, I'm really
Speaker 5: excited to have them, you know, come out here see
Speaker 5: me and my teammates, and you know, it's just another
Speaker 5: prep day for us to get ready for our season.
Speaker 5: So it's gonna be a fun day.
Speaker 1: You have Final Four experience. So a lot of scouts
Speaker 1: have already seen you. What have they seen in Lamont Butler?
Speaker 5: I think they've seen now. I'm a winner. I do
Speaker 5: anything to go out there and win. I think I'm
Speaker 5: a high level defender. I hang my hat on that
Speaker 5: in and then you know, offensively, I feel like my
Speaker 5: game is continuing the girl. I feel like I'm a
Speaker 5: great facilitator and then you know, just getting my shot
Speaker 5: up to par and you know, just just making shots
Speaker 5: at the end of the day, and you know, I
Speaker 5: feel like I've improved that. I'm ready to show that today.
Speaker 1: Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year. And people don't
Speaker 1: really understand they do play defense in the NBA, don't they.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you need to show Yeah, definitely, definitely. I mean
Speaker 5: it's gonna be a great year for us.
Speaker 1: That's something you bring to this team. But you bring scoring.
Speaker 1: Do you think that's that's overlooked a little bit?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean I think so. I think, you know,
Speaker 5: I've put a lot more into my offensive game. And
Speaker 5: then you know, just Coach Pope's offense is gonna be
Speaker 5: you know, great for me to you know, open up
Speaker 5: my game and uh, you know, I'm gonna just go
Speaker 5: out there, you know, play hard, try to find my teammates,
Speaker 5: and you know, score when I need to.
Speaker 1: It's easy to see when you guys go five on
Speaker 1: five and practice. You're a leader. You got the ball
Speaker 1: in your hands, so you gotta be. I got to
Speaker 1: think you enjoy that role.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, you know, as the point guard, you
Speaker 5: got to be a leader, like you said, you know,
Speaker 5: from the greats like Chris Paul, you know, guys in
Speaker 5: the league now, John Morant. You know, they're very vocal
Speaker 5: and you know they lead by example as well. So
Speaker 5: I'm a guy that tries to go out there every day,
Speaker 5: you know, just set an example for the team, you know,
Speaker 5: set the tone in you know, try to be just
Speaker 5: a you know, a great role model for everybody.
Speaker 1: Just about everybody on this roster is an experienced college player. Yeah, refreshmen,
Speaker 1: but otherwise lots of years in the game. Have they
Speaker 1: given themselves over? Do they want to be led?
Speaker 6: Yeah?
Speaker 5: No, That's that's one thing that we you know, uh,
Speaker 5: that I you know, I admire from everybody else is
Speaker 5: that you know, everybody, you know, no matter how much
Speaker 5: college experience they have, they're they're willing to be led
Speaker 5: and they want me to you know, go out there
Speaker 5: and you know, be a leader. So you know, I uh,
Speaker 5: you know, I definitely admire that from them. You know,
Speaker 5: let me uh, you know, become a late leader with
Speaker 5: you know, all these older guys so I'm very thankful.
Speaker 5: You know, I'm just ready for the year to start.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows this team's gonna shoot and shoot a lot
Speaker 1: make well, we'll find out. But uh Mark Pope started
Speaker 1: building with defense when he put this roster together. That's
Speaker 1: gonna make you feel pretty good.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I feel like I'm ahead of the
Speaker 5: snake there me, Me and Amari. I feel like we're
Speaker 5: you know, we're the top defenders on the team. You know,
Speaker 5: we just set the tone every day and practice, so
Speaker 5: you know, just try to, you know, get the guys
Speaker 5: up up to that. You know, like if we guard,
Speaker 5: you know, whole team's a low point. Is gonna be
Speaker 5: hard to beat this because, like you said, we can
Speaker 5: shoot the ball at a high level, so then we're
Speaker 5: gonna be scoring the ball a lot. So if we
Speaker 5: can guard, it's gonna be it's gonna be hard to
Speaker 5: beat this.
Speaker 1: They're a long way from San Diego, but you're playing
Speaker 1: basketball at Kentucky, So I've got to think that pretty
Speaker 1: good trade off.
Speaker 5: Yeah, definitely, definitely. I mean it's gonna be a you know,
Speaker 5: a great year. Kentucky is you know, one of the
Speaker 5: biggest programs in the nation. So you know, it's a
Speaker 5: blessing and I'm very grateful to be here and I
Speaker 5: just can't wait to go out there. And so what
Speaker 5: I can do.
Speaker 1: That's la Mott Butler. He will be wearing number one,
Speaker 1: and as I mentioned, he can score a thousand career
Speaker 1: points at San Diego State. But he is fifth all
Speaker 1: time for the Aztecs and Steels and the Mountain West
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the Year NCAA All Tournament Team as
Speaker 1: a junior when he helped that ball club make the Final four,
Speaker 1: and in fact began showing up on the All Defensive
Speaker 1: team as a sophomore. So watch for him with the
Speaker 1: ball in his hands and taking the ball away from
Speaker 1: other people. I know you're thinking about three pointers, and
Speaker 1: Kobe Brea is the man now. He was two times
Speaker 1: a ten to six Man of the Year, did it
Speaker 1: as a sophomore, battled injuries as a junior, came back
Speaker 1: and won the award again as a senior. He had
Speaker 1: one hundred of two hundred and one three pointers last year,
Speaker 1: just the one miss. Otherwise he's an even fifty percent.
Speaker 1: That was the best three point shooting in NSA Basketball
Speaker 1: Division One in the last six seasons. Kobe Bray of
Speaker 1: the transfer from Dayton Kobe, you have a real varied
Speaker 1: skill set. What do you hope the scouts notice about
Speaker 1: you tonight?
Speaker 7: Yeah, just sting to continue showing my shooting ability, you know,
Speaker 7: and what more I could bring to the team, you know,
Speaker 7: So just play making, leadership defense on the other end,
Speaker 7: and you know, just keep showing that I'm not just
Speaker 7: a shooter, but I'm actually more than that.
Speaker 1: Well that's why you were two times six Man of
Speaker 1: the Year in the A ten. What do you think
Speaker 1: that tells the scouts?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think that just shows that, you know, I'm
Speaker 7: able to accept the role. You know, everybody wants to
Speaker 7: be a starter nowadays, but sometimes you know that's not
Speaker 7: what you're brought into the team to do. And so
Speaker 7: you know, I'm just able to bring a spark off
Speaker 7: the bench and whatever the team needs, whatever the coach needs.
Speaker 7: You know, I'm willing to do that.
Speaker 1: So you're a guy who can come off the bench
Speaker 1: and start hacking down three, which is not easy if
Speaker 1: you haven't even broken a sweat yet. Have you always
Speaker 1: been able to do that?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it's just about being ready, you know,
Speaker 7: just waiting your turn and understanding where in the game
Speaker 7: we are, you know, and what's needed. And sometimes you know,
Speaker 7: games start off a little slow and the coaches just
Speaker 7: need somebody to come in, you know, hit a couple
Speaker 7: of shots to get things going a little bit. And
Speaker 7: that's something that I've always been able to do and
Speaker 7: you know, I'll continue to do.
Speaker 1: When Mark Pool came to you about playing here, how
Speaker 1: soon did he tell you about how much you guys
Speaker 1: are going to shoot three pointers? Is that before avenue?
Speaker 1: You agree?
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 7: Any waste no time? Saying that waste no time? That
Speaker 7: was probably the first thing he told me. You know
Speaker 7: that we're going to be a team that's going to
Speaker 7: be shooting threes all game long, you know, and he
Speaker 7: made a note that he wants to be the team
Speaker 7: that shoots the mosteries actually the whole season. And so
Speaker 7: that kind of just shows how much of a perfect
Speaker 7: system this is for me and what I do. And
Speaker 7: we have a lot of guys that are able to
Speaker 7: do the same team. So it's going to be pretty
Speaker 7: interesting for being.
Speaker 1: At practicing around here today. It's pretty easy to see
Speaker 1: you guys like being around each other. How big is
Speaker 1: that for a team coming together like this.
Speaker 7: I think that's the biggest thing, you know, just making
Speaker 7: sure that the team chemistry is right. You know, throughout
Speaker 7: the season, there's gonna be adversity, it's gonna be times
Speaker 7: where we're gonna need the person next to us, you know,
Speaker 7: and you know, just like you said, any anytime people
Speaker 7: see as they see automatically that we're just a group
Speaker 7: that bonds well together. And I think that's really important
Speaker 7: for us off the court, but like even more on
Speaker 7: the court. So that'll definitely be shown.
Speaker 1: That's Kobe Brea. He'll wear number four, Thank you, mister Macy.
Speaker 1: Overall shot fifty one percent from the field. This guy
Speaker 1: can knock it down now. And a side note on
Speaker 1: him as godfather is Felipe Lopez. He was a start
Speaker 1: Saint John's went on to do an NBA career. You
Speaker 1: might remember those of you at a certain age. Felipe
Speaker 1: Lopez as a high schooler got his picture on the
Speaker 1: cover of Sports Illustrated. Lebron was not the first. So
Speaker 1: Kobe Brea is a guy I think Kentucky fans will
Speaker 1: fall in love with the guy who led the nation
Speaker 1: in three point shooting last year. We also talked to Kerkkrisa.
Speaker 1: He is kid from Estonia and you may already know
Speaker 1: about him, not just because of his Kentucky experience, because
Speaker 1: during a FOEBA World Cup qualifier, he went head to
Speaker 1: head was mouthing off challenging Luka Donsich, the Slovenian superstar.
Speaker 1: Donsic apparently was called for a foul, went after the
Speaker 1: referee to argue about it, and then Creasa reportedly waved
Speaker 1: his finger at Donsage, basically saying shouldn't argue about the call.
Speaker 1: They exchange words, glared at each other, But it kind
Speaker 1: of shows a little bit about Kerr Crease's personality. But
Speaker 1: it's a personality that also has brought him to Kentucky
Speaker 1: after a couple of prior stops, and he's a guy
Speaker 1: who won't back down from anybody. Kurtis is your third
Speaker 1: stop in college basketball Arizona, West Virginia, but your first
Speaker 1: experience with Pro Day. What's this been like for you?
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's been cool.
Speaker 9: You know, usually the last i mean four years that
Speaker 9: I've been in college, I've been I've been watching it
Speaker 9: from TV. You know, when the guys go through the
Speaker 9: through the draft and my old teammates and Uh, but
Speaker 9: just to get to do it myself, it was it
Speaker 9: was a good experience.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 9: And as a competitor, I think it's it's fun that
Speaker 9: you get your results and and everybody else's results are
Speaker 9: online so you can compare and like kind of see
Speaker 9: you know where you need to improve and and what
Speaker 9: is the average like numbers.
Speaker 6: So it's been good.
Speaker 1: I know you like to distribute the ball team player,
Speaker 1: but today is much about individual skills. What do you
Speaker 1: hope in you show?
Speaker 9: I'm just showing who I am. I mean, I for me,
Speaker 9: it's another day. I'm not gonna be somebody who I'm not.
Speaker 9: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna give extra energy just
Speaker 9: because there's a few important guys in the house.
Speaker 6: I'm I'm gonna be me.
Speaker 9: I'm gonna be who I've been, you know, all my career,
Speaker 9: all my life.
Speaker 6: And uh yeah, for me, it's another day.
Speaker 1: You are, like I said, a guy who passes the basketball,
Speaker 1: but you shoot it well as well. That's gonna be
Speaker 1: your role with this Kentucky team.
Speaker 9: Right, Yeah, Well we get to shoot a lot of
Speaker 9: threes and uh like that. Yeah, yeah, because you know
Speaker 9: three is more than two, so you know, good. So
Speaker 9: people are like, oh, he doesn't shoot layups, but like,
Speaker 9: why I shoot threes?
Speaker 1: What has it been like being a part of this
Speaker 1: group that has come together in a way no other
Speaker 1: basketball team in the history of the schools come together
Speaker 1: with all the new faces and you got to get
Speaker 1: to know each other in a relatively short amount of time.
Speaker 9: Honestly, it's been it's been amazing, just like having this
Speaker 9: veteran group that we have and the guys being college
Speaker 9: five years guys are you know we're making fun in
Speaker 9: locker room.
Speaker 6: How old we are college wise? You know.
Speaker 9: So it's you know, it's been a pretty smooth transition.
Speaker 3: And uh.
Speaker 9: And also like I mean I got guys who have
Speaker 9: played against you know, so it's like, you know, we.
Speaker 6: Have we have a very good squad.
Speaker 9: I'm actually I'm very I'm very, very excited for a
Speaker 9: season to start. Yeah, you like the chemistry, oh, absolutely, amazing, amazing,
Speaker 9: And uh, I think that's the you know, that's a
Speaker 9: big part that our coach is preaching is you know,
Speaker 9: is the culture. And uh and I think even if
Speaker 9: coach wasn't preaching that, like, the guys are mature enough
Speaker 9: and old enough to understand that this wins games and
Speaker 9: it's important, and it's it's really been very it's been
Speaker 9: been a blessing.
Speaker 1: You're from Estonia, Yes, sir, I have to admit I
Speaker 1: had to go to the internet to find out exactly
Speaker 1: where that was.
Speaker 6: Oh, you're not the only one.
Speaker 1: I was going to say. You're hearing that a lot,
Speaker 1: aren't You tell me about just it's an overused term,
Speaker 1: but the journey. But in your case, it's a literal
Speaker 1: from Estonia all the way to election in Kentucky and
Speaker 1: you're playing in front of NBA scouts.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I think that just shows how how amazing basketball
Speaker 9: is and what basketball can do your life.
Speaker 6: You know, Estonia for people who don't know.
Speaker 9: One million pie you know my hometown one hundred thousand people.
Speaker 9: I mean now ro Kroger Field here, football field is
Speaker 9: you know, my whole hometown.
Speaker 6: Would fit it into, you know, in there.
Speaker 9: So I think it's just, you know, I'm taking one
Speaker 9: day at the time. Obviously it's super cool to play
Speaker 9: in front of scouts, but like I said, for me,
Speaker 9: it's another day. I'm I'm just happy that I get
Speaker 9: to play Bagh school another day.
Speaker 1: That is Kerkkrisa. He will wear number seventy seven. Name
Speaker 1: for Steve Kerr. That was his dad's favorite player, but
Speaker 1: his favorite player it's Steve Nash. But started off at Arizona,
Speaker 1: had a triple double as a sophomore, just a tenth
Speaker 1: in school history. Transferred to West Virginia, but is a
Speaker 1: shooter now he'll hit for He hit forty two percent
Speaker 1: from outside last year, made sixty one to three pointers
Speaker 1: and we'll also give it up. As a junior, he
Speaker 1: led the Pac twelve and assists for a second straight season.
Speaker 1: Only one other person, Brandon Granville of USC has ever
Speaker 1: done that in the Pac twelve. And he had still
Speaker 1: another triple double when he was a junior, but ultimately
Speaker 1: he was an assist man one hundred and eighty assists,
Speaker 1: twentieth in the NCAA. It's going to be an interesting
Speaker 1: Kentucky team, all right, we're gonna shift you back to
Speaker 1: football and number number two. We're gonna learn more about
Speaker 1: those Vanderbilt Commodore. Stay with us more than Big Blonsider
Speaker 1: coming up on six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Big bloon Sider. Coming up tomorrow at five thirty airtime
Speaker 1: for Kentucky Vanderbilt with Christy Logan and Jeremy. Then at
Speaker 1: seven forty five, Tom and Jeff and I will have
Speaker 1: the call of the Cats and the Commodores. Talking to
Speaker 1: Kentucky players and coaches all week, including of course Mark Stoops,
Speaker 1: and he pointed out and didn't really need to that
Speaker 1: the Wildcats the coaches had their full attention this week
Speaker 1: after what Vandy did with Alabama. But something that I
Speaker 1: have been lost I think in that game story was
Speaker 1: the fact that Yeah and Andy pulled off a huge upset,
Speaker 1: But one of the ways that the Commodores did it
Speaker 1: was by playing really physical football against Alabama, really took
Speaker 1: the fight to the Crimson Tide. And Stoop said he
Speaker 1: expects that kind of game tomorrow night.
Speaker 10: You saw creativity in their offense, and you you saw
Speaker 10: physicality and obviously tremendous efficiency from their quarterback position. So
Speaker 10: you know, you put those things together and it's hard
Speaker 10: to defend no matter who they're playing against. So I
Speaker 10: think it's important for us to match them physically, but
Speaker 10: also be very sharp in our assignments, are very disciplined
Speaker 10: in what we're doing.
Speaker 1: Going into the Georgia game and especially going into the
Speaker 1: Old Miss game. We heard a lot of the defensive
Speaker 1: Wildcats talk about I discipline, you know, keep your eyes
Speaker 1: where they're supposed to be, either on your man on
Speaker 1: the quarterback, do your job being the right place at
Speaker 1: the right time. And it was incredibly important again going
Speaker 1: miss with the offense that the Rebels run, and Stoops
Speaker 1: brought it up again going into this game with Vanderbilt,
Speaker 1: especially with a guy like Diego Pavia calling the shots
Speaker 1: at quarterback.
Speaker 10: As a secondary player. I think, you know, as a defense,
Speaker 10: it's it's critically important to where our eyes are. This
Speaker 10: is a perfect example of that, you know, like we
Speaker 10: have to have great eye discipline. Whatever our keys are,
Speaker 10: our guys, because they do a good job, as I mentioned,
Speaker 10: they'll stay front side and then they'll also come back,
Speaker 10: you know, and so you know, you really got to
Speaker 10: be dialed in on what your assignment is.
Speaker 1: Earlier this week, Stoops talked about Diego Pavi. You talked
Speaker 1: about the perseverance this kid has for not being recruited
Speaker 1: by his hometown University of New Mexico. Goes juco plays
Speaker 1: at New Mexico State, the worst program in America, and
Speaker 1: they win ten games, and then because his head coach
Speaker 1: Jerry Kill retired but then came back to move to
Speaker 1: Vandy and be the decoordinator. He came to him he
Speaker 1: was going to go to Nevadorno, but Jerry Kill called
Speaker 1: him up and said, I'm going to Vandy. You're going
Speaker 1: with me? H And Pavio said yeah, even though people
Speaker 1: told him, you don't want to do that.
Speaker 11: A lot of people when I first, you know, told
Speaker 11: him that, you know, there's possibility of me going to Vanderbilt,
Speaker 11: they said like, hey, like, don't go, don't go. Don't go, Like,
Speaker 11: you're not gonna be able to win there. You know,
Speaker 11: you're not gonna be able to to get drafted there.
Speaker 11: You're not gonna be able to do anything. And so
Speaker 11: I like challenge, Like, if you know me, that's like
Speaker 11: you tell me I can't do something, I'm gonna do
Speaker 11: it that day.
Speaker 1: So now he's one of the architects of one of
Speaker 1: the biggest upsets in the history of college football, clearly
Speaker 1: the biggest upset in the history of Vanderbilt football. This
Speaker 1: audio coming to your courtesy of The Dan Patrick Show.
Speaker 1: Patrick asked him what was it like in the huddle
Speaker 1: late when Vandy was trying to nail down the win.
Speaker 11: So when we got when we got the ball back,
Speaker 11: but it was like, hey, we got to go. When
Speaker 11: they scored and we were up by five, I said, hey,
Speaker 11: two first downs, we win this game. You changed You
Speaker 11: change your life forever, Like that's just reality. You change
Speaker 11: his program's life forever. And so we were, you know,
Speaker 11: we were hype. I said, no dumb penalties, we can't,
Speaker 11: can't get behind the sticks. Just just play smart, play fast.
Speaker 11: Let's go do this thing.
Speaker 1: That's what you got to say when you're a leader.
Speaker 1: Don't do anything stupid. No stupid penalties. But I love
Speaker 1: the fact that he told his team, if you pull
Speaker 1: this off, you'll change your life forever. And he ain't wrong,
Speaker 1: is he? But what happens if Vandy comes in here
Speaker 1: and loses to Kentucky and they're two touchdown underdogs, will
Speaker 1: that mean they give back all the goodwill? No, it
Speaker 1: won't because you'll always own that win over Alabama. But
Speaker 1: Dan Patrick, who played I think freshman basketball, maybe more,
Speaker 1: but I know he played his first year at e KU.
Speaker 1: He's from Dayton, but he came down here and played
Speaker 1: basketball for at least a year. So he's always kind
Speaker 1: of aware of what's going on here in Kentucky. And
Speaker 1: he gave the warning to Diego.
Speaker 3: Pavia, Kentucky, don't sleep on Kentucky.
Speaker 6: Don't sleep on Kentucky.
Speaker 11: The truth, yes, the truth, and a lot of people don't.
Speaker 11: Really they are freaking good, very good on defense top Dan.
Speaker 1: Patrick and Diego Pavia, who if he has studied one
Speaker 1: frame of video of UK defense, and you know he's
Speaker 1: studied a lot he has seen this is becoming an
Speaker 1: elite defense nationally. But can they contain this guy who
Speaker 1: can make things happen? Remember now, he not only threw
Speaker 1: the ball well against Alabama, he ran the ball as well,
Speaker 1: not just escaping from on rushing tacklers would be tacklers,
Speaker 1: but moving the chains. Wildcats have to keep him from
Speaker 1: doing that. Tomorrow night, obviously, we'll have it for you
Speaker 1: right here, and we'll have our number two coming up
Speaker 1: with more UK basketball and football. You're on the Big
Speaker 1: Gold Insider six thirty Wlapang Welcome back to the Big
Speaker 1: Moon Sider. Coming up tomorrow, it's Kentucky Vanderbilt five thirty airtimes,
Speaker 1: seven thirty kickof actually seven forty five kickoff Christy Thomas
Speaker 1: Logan Stenberg Jeremy Jarma will get things started, Jeff pikorl
Speaker 1: Tom Leech and I will take over after that. And
Speaker 1: we thought we were going to the weekend with another
Speaker 1: reminder of what happened two saturdays ago when the Cats
Speaker 1: pulled off the upset of Ole Miss. We played these
Speaker 1: highlights last week. We've had people who requested to hear
Speaker 1: them again. Remember you can hear them on the podcast
Speaker 1: version of the show, but we'll go ahead and share
Speaker 1: him again. And this time we're going to add our
Speaker 1: celebrity monologue at the beginning. We've done it all season long.
Speaker 1: Tomorrow it's going to be Van Hiles, our buddy who's
Speaker 1: on every radio show in Lexion. But Van was the
Speaker 1: defensive back and a really good one at Kentucky back
Speaker 1: in the mid nineties when they weren't winning a lot
Speaker 1: of games, but they did shut out Vanderbilt in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety six snapped a five game losing skid. But prior
Speaker 1: to Ole Miss, we employed the talents of Bernie Scruggs,
Speaker 1: the quarterback who led Kentucky to the upset win over
Speaker 1: the Rebels at nineteen sixty nine. Here they are the
Speaker 1: highlights from the upset win over ole Miss.
Speaker 3: Did you know Kentucky has taken down top ten ole
Speaker 3: Miss teams in the past, including one in nineteen sixty
Speaker 3: nine quarterback to by Archie Manny. The Kentucky quarterback was
Speaker 3: Bernie Scruggs.
Speaker 12: Back in nineteen sixty nine, nobody expected us to beat
Speaker 12: ol Miss and we were playing in stone Field. The
Speaker 12: Rebels were ranked ninth in the country. They opened the
Speaker 12: season with an easy win over Memphis State. The Wildcats. Well,
Speaker 12: we were coming in after a wild one with Indiana.
Speaker 12: We put it up thirty points, usually good enough to win.
Speaker 12: Trouble is the who's you scored fifty eight? That's whys?
Speaker 12: Casts were such underdogs when over Miss came to town.
Speaker 12: But believe it or not, we pulled off one of
Speaker 12: the biggest of sets in the history of UK football.
Speaker 12: The Rebels took an early lead in the second quarter
Speaker 12: on the field goal in a sixty four yard run
Speaker 12: by the great Archie Manity, but our Dave Hunter blocked
Speaker 12: the extra point and that came up big down the stretch.
Speaker 12: In the third quarter, we were down nine to three
Speaker 12: in driving at the Old Miss twenty three Houston Hogg
Speaker 12: made a big run for.
Speaker 13: Us Later on the drive, Houston Hogg makes this fine.
Speaker 13: I put on a big third down play for Kentucky.
Speaker 13: He got the first down at the all.
Speaker 12: Miss six, and then I was able to slip.
Speaker 13: The Bernie Scruggs wrongs out to take it in Park
Speaker 13: Kentucky when.
Speaker 12: Bobby Jones came in and kicked the crucial extra for
Speaker 12: in the fourth quarter, he forced an ole Miss funneled
Speaker 12: at the three yard line and picked off an Archie
Speaker 12: Manny pass. We held on for a ten to nine
Speaker 12: win over the Rebels, who would belong to win the
Speaker 12: Sugar bart but that day belonged to the Wildcats. It
Speaker 12: can happen again today.
Speaker 11: Wow.
Speaker 3: Famed novelist John Grisham is an old Miss Law School graduate,
Speaker 3: so he's likely rooting for the undefeated Rebels in this
Speaker 3: matchup with Kentucky, but his books frequently follow a plotline
Speaker 3: that would serve the Wildcats well against number six Ole Miss,
Speaker 3: with underdogs overcoming seemingly insurmountable.
Speaker 14: Odds to win the day.
Speaker 3: Good afternoon from vont Hemingway Stadium on the campus of
Speaker 3: the University of Mississippi and Oxford. I'm Tom Lynch along
Speaker 3: the former Wildcat White out Jeff Pikoro, Dick Gabriel down
Speaker 3: on the sign lines. Us moves on the football. It
Speaker 3: is high, but it's not gonna make the end zone.
Speaker 3: Data slapes over the left, fiels into the left. Nash
Speaker 3: Mark at the two hit strings wild good Willy ron
Speaker 3: Regas got it handed the.
Speaker 14: Ball by saying.
Speaker 15: Dude, he got absolute Willy ron Regez trying the booma
Speaker 15: at the seventeen yard line.
Speaker 3: Yes, sir, that's the ruling on the field for Country
Speaker 3: by Kentucky.
Speaker 14: After the hit by Rodriguez, What a way to start.
Speaker 6: If it holds up.
Speaker 15: By goodness, he got absolutely rocked. The problem is he
Speaker 15: got hit so hard he fell straight down the balls,
Speaker 15: laying on his chest and just rolls off watching on
Speaker 15: the scoreboards.
Speaker 1: There was no problem there, Zoey.
Speaker 3: You bring the rebels dark with a plate faith. Now
Speaker 3: he's pressured, moves up into the pocket, throws down the middle.
Speaker 14: Line open, he's got Harris and he is going to
Speaker 14: get closer to the touchdown. No, he's down a one yard.
Speaker 3: Line first and goal to go or Ole miss at
Speaker 3: the one and I'll Parrish straight ahead.
Speaker 14: He got out and.
Speaker 15: All this that is just four defense, right, there, you're
Speaker 15: walking to the line of crivage. Nobody was even ready
Speaker 15: for Kentucky and ole Miss just walked into the zone.
Speaker 3: Vandergrim On a keeper, heads off to the right, gets
Speaker 3: across the thirty, breaks a tackle across the twenty five,
Speaker 3: still going and knocked out of bounds over on the
Speaker 3: far side at the twenty two yard line. It's eleven
Speaker 3: yards and another first downs for Kentucky.
Speaker 14: Cabin into the.
Speaker 15: Game now as Rock gets a brillier after that run.
Speaker 14: Thinke By Whim said.
Speaker 3: He goes straight ahead, breaks a couple of tackles, gets
Speaker 3: inside of fifteen and has a first down to the
Speaker 3: eleven yard line. Rainer twenty seven yarders. It's going to
Speaker 3: be spotted if you'll miss seventeen yard line. I'm trying
Speaker 3: to get Kentucky on the board. It's good. I'm thirteen
Speaker 3: left to play here.
Speaker 14: At the opening quarter.
Speaker 3: Each team scores on its opening drive, but it's ole
Speaker 3: Miss seven in Kentucky. Three on the UK sports Edward
Speaker 3: dark and empty backfield heading the football and he's out.
Speaker 14: He's sacked.
Speaker 15: Nice Tom Kentucky was playing. We call it cover seven.
Speaker 15: They're five under in two team and there was no
Speaker 15: place for Dart to throw him. When he stepped up,
Speaker 15: they just swallowed him up.
Speaker 14: That brings the first quarter to an end.
Speaker 3: It's seven three rebels, third and seventh Kentucky showing blitz
Speaker 3: off the edges.
Speaker 6: They bring six.
Speaker 3: Dart in trouble dancing around and he sacked eah back
Speaker 3: of the forty one yard line.
Speaker 14: Dion Walker and Jamon Dumas Johnson drop.
Speaker 3: Him for a loss of five. Bill first out for Kentucky.
Speaker 3: Vandergrip sliding left on the option, makes the pitch Casumo
Speaker 3: Karme's got room up the far side. He has the
Speaker 3: first down forced out of bounds, out of the thirty
Speaker 3: one yard line. After a game of fourteen yards. What's
Speaker 3: a new look and Kentucky makes it work. Dark the
Speaker 3: play fake. He is throwing deep up the near sideline
Speaker 3: and it's broken up at the Kentucky forty yard line
Speaker 3: by Waller and Bryan. They were both there going step
Speaker 3: for step with Juice Wells in South Carolina transfer.
Speaker 15: And there you see they you know, they take that
Speaker 15: deep shine again all the way down to the forty
Speaker 15: yard line where that ball came down, but no pressure
Speaker 15: on dark Lander.
Speaker 3: Grip fakes it to Sumo Carnbay. Quick throw into the middle.
Speaker 14: He's got key.
Speaker 3: First down into Ole Miss territory at the Rebels forty
Speaker 3: nine yard line.
Speaker 14: He picked up sixteen.
Speaker 15: Boy really liked danked. He knows going over the middle,
Speaker 15: he's gonna get clocked, but man, he has gotten some
Speaker 15: guts to do that. He comes right into the teeth
Speaker 15: of the deep fense, finds it opening and rock double
Speaker 15: clutches and puts it on the money.
Speaker 3: To white outs right, one tight end each way for vandergrid.
Speaker 3: Let's coming up the middle. Playfa Vandergrim setting deep fires
Speaker 3: into the middle of the Family's got key inside the
Speaker 3: Old Miss forty pulled down close to the thirty five
Speaker 3: yard line, up the Rebels twenty four yard game.
Speaker 14: Turning on the.
Speaker 15: Tackle again, Key gets inside the corner. A beautiful move
Speaker 15: to the post.
Speaker 3: Second down five the Ole Miss fifteen. Two tight ends right,
Speaker 3: two wideouts left hand off. Sumo Carba bounces it out left.
Speaker 3: He's got space at the tent, cuts back right and
Speaker 3: drives his way down close to the five yard line.
Speaker 15: First down.
Speaker 3: Maybe that'll be first in gold to go. After a
Speaker 3: ten yard run by Demi Sumocarnbay, but great blocking on
Speaker 3: the outside by day. Ke could have held, but he
Speaker 3: did it. He stayed in front of his van. Beautifully done.
Speaker 3: He'd love to get zeven here instead of three numbers.
Speaker 3: Vander Gref fires into the middle, broke it up, black
Speaker 3: Hunter down pass interference. They were trying to get Key
Speaker 3: in the middle of the end zone, right under the
Speaker 3: gold Boats. And they're gonna call holding first down, automatic
Speaker 3: first down either way.
Speaker 14: Seven penalties forty eight.
Speaker 3: Yards today whistled against old miss one for ten for Kentucky.
Speaker 3: Vandergrift play fake retreating, throwing it to.
Speaker 15: The back of the m zone, touch touchdownser taste k.
Speaker 3: Tracking the back line of the intone is Vandergriff just
Speaker 3: floaded it out there to him, and Keith reached down
Speaker 3: and snatched it with two hands.
Speaker 14: The Wildcats are in front.
Speaker 3: Twenty seven play in the half trips to the left,
Speaker 3: one white out right, Darth for sure coming.
Speaker 14: Again, he shading.
Speaker 3: Oxen done got it, yep, big fella got a little
Speaker 3: ticked off.
Speaker 14: He just said, you won't call it. I'll just go
Speaker 14: get it. He did.
Speaker 3: Boy, loss of six back to the twenty ole miss
Speaker 3: out of timeouts.
Speaker 14: That's it.
Speaker 3: Kentucky is going to take the lead into the locker
Speaker 3: room at halftime on the home field of the number
Speaker 3: sixteen in the country, the Wildcat's ten, the Old miss
Speaker 3: Rebels seven and inspired first thirty minutes for Kentucky.
Speaker 14: Gabriel's gonna catch up with coach Mark students.
Speaker 1: Coach, I gotta think you love the pace of this game.
Speaker 1: You've really controlled it.
Speaker 16: We have controlled the pace of the game and both sides.
Speaker 16: Defense has to get stopped. We've been disruptive, we've covered well.
Speaker 16: As we talked about all week. The pace of playing
Speaker 16: early got us and then we settled right in and offensively,
Speaker 16: it really kept us in the game controlling it. Obviously
Speaker 16: we knew we had to score there, but you know,
Speaker 16: so it's really important to.
Speaker 5: Get in the end zone.
Speaker 16: We got to continue to play aggressive. I went for
Speaker 16: a couple of those fourth downs, and you know, it's
Speaker 16: worked out. So, you know, so far, so good. A big,
Speaker 16: big half here.
Speaker 1: Kind of a physical game, you like, isn't.
Speaker 14: It it is?
Speaker 16: I think that's the one thing that we have to
Speaker 16: keep up. Our guys are playing really physical. Offensively, we're
Speaker 16: getting some dirty, tough runs. Three four yard runs, you know,
Speaker 16: two three four yard runs are are good because we
Speaker 16: gotta we gotta keep them off balance. And then and
Speaker 16: as you can see, our game is done. You gotta
Speaker 16: play action pass drop back pass with struggle. But if
Speaker 16: we could run it and be physical, then the play
Speaker 16: action sets up.
Speaker 11: Well.
Speaker 1: We'll coach, thank you.
Speaker 3: And the Wildcats take a ten to seven lead into
Speaker 3: the locker room here in Oxford. Two minutes gone in
Speaker 3: this third quarter, three and out for Kentucky and off
Speaker 3: the Paris straight ahead breaks away, got a big game
Speaker 3: into Kentucky territory to the forty nine yard line.
Speaker 14: Jeff. They had it for a game of a yard
Speaker 14: or two.
Speaker 15: Yeah, they had he'd right at the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 15: but he just ran through two arm tackles.
Speaker 3: Jackson, Dart Hump Bake right. He is gonna run and
Speaker 3: left and he is in trouble. He's gonna be hitting
Speaker 3: drop for a loss. Walker Dumas, Johnson time, Ryan not fooled.
Speaker 3: They drop in for a loss of three, fourth and six,
Speaker 3: trying to tie the game with nine fifty four to
Speaker 3: play here in the third quarter, Suns back under the
Speaker 3: clouds now here in Oxford. It's that way up high
Speaker 3: and it's good and the game is tied Ole Miss
Speaker 3: ten and Kentucky ten. Vandergriff. The receivers each way fakes left,
Speaker 3: throws rights, complete the key thirty five forty breaks through
Speaker 3: a tackle up the far side line, out of bounds
Speaker 3: up at the Kentucky forty six yard line twenty one
Speaker 3: yard game. They give it to Wilcox's running left, got
Speaker 3: an alley across the fifty forty five runs over a tackler,
Speaker 3: knocks an old Miss defender back, goes inside the forty
Speaker 3: to the rebels thirty seven yard line. Donnery finally made
Speaker 3: the tackle on in the game of seventeen, so it'll
Speaker 3: be a forty eight yard field goal attempt. Or Rainer,
Speaker 3: I gonna pull this back to the left a little bit.
Speaker 3: He's hid already from twenty seven today money a leg.
Speaker 6: It's good.
Speaker 14: Thirteen in a row.
Speaker 3: Kentucky retakes the lead with six thirty one to play
Speaker 3: in the third Kentucky thirteen pull Miss ten. On the
Speaker 3: UK Sports Network, fourth and seven. Two receivers each Way
Speaker 3: or Dart coming down to the end of the third quarter,
Speaker 3: Blitz coming Dart throws it into the middle and its
Speaker 3: pot for the first down.
Speaker 14: And it's a lot more Harris running through the middle
Speaker 14: of the defense.
Speaker 3: Cutch lant, you'll go into the touchdown. Kentucky brought everybody
Speaker 3: and all outlitz Ole Miss picks it up.
Speaker 1: Harris on a deep slant, makes the catch, and I
Speaker 1: don't know that anybody.
Speaker 3: Ever touched a forty seven yard touchdown pass on fourth
Speaker 3: and seven.
Speaker 15: Well, when you give it up like that, you've got
Speaker 15: to get on your guy. And he was wide open,
Speaker 15: streaking right through the middle of the field of post
Speaker 15: pattern if you.
Speaker 14: Will, skinny pose.
Speaker 15: And once they picked up the blintz Dart was able
Speaker 15: to pat it and then fire it right to him.
Speaker 15: And and that kid when he gets into the open field,
Speaker 15: you can forget about it.
Speaker 3: Ten seconds to play the third quarter, and old Miss
Speaker 3: goes back in front. Here in onscrew seventeen to thirteen
Speaker 3: on a forty eight yard touchdown pass on fourth and seven,
Speaker 3: So fourth and eight from its own nineteen Mark stoops
Speaker 3: pushing the chips to the center of the table. The
Speaker 3: four O four to play, trailing seventeen thirteen. They don't
Speaker 3: make it on this as a minimum, starts.
Speaker 6: In fieldal ring.
Speaker 1: Vandergriff drops.
Speaker 14: Let's coming. He's throwing it up the far sideline and
Speaker 14: it's cold Brown at the thirty four.
Speaker 3: He stayed himself, comes back across the near side of
Speaker 3: the thirty and the twenty down of the seventeen yard
Speaker 3: line of Ole Miss.
Speaker 14: Wanna throw.
Speaker 3: Vander Griff dropped it in and right into the hands
Speaker 3: of Brown streaking down the left side.
Speaker 15: There's the chunk play you were looking for. And Ivy
Speaker 15: is down back in the fifteen yard line. He started
Speaker 15: to run up the field and he just fell down.
Speaker 15: It's gonna give the team a blue, but Kentucky has
Speaker 15: it inside the red zone.
Speaker 14: Now wow.
Speaker 15: He tiptoed the sidelines top stadium bounds and got himself
Speaker 15: an extra ten or twelve yards.
Speaker 3: Sixty two yards on the completion to Baryon Brown. As
Speaker 3: the Cats are back in the red zone first and
Speaker 3: ten Kentucky just inside the left hash mark of the
Speaker 3: old Miss seventeen yard line. They give it the Sumo
Speaker 3: Carbay bouncing that left. He's got room fifteen ten carry
Speaker 3: as a tackler for a first down to the six
Speaker 3: yard line. Wimsen now the quarterbacks who woke Carnbay to
Speaker 3: his left. Wimsit on a keeper running left at the
Speaker 3: five drops his shoulder cap so the two bubble. The
Speaker 3: football did then go into the end.
Speaker 14: Zone, touchdown.
Speaker 15: Kentucky.
Speaker 14: On the recovery in the en zone.
Speaker 3: Trying to see who got it, Cattis Josh Cattis recover
Speaker 3: the ball. It popped out of wimsit at the two.
Speaker 3: It went right to Canis in the end zone. Kentucky
Speaker 3: twenty ole Miss seventeen with two twenty five to play
Speaker 3: in the game. Here and on s Mississippi dart set
Speaker 3: Steve stunted up throat all miss kicks it up. He
Speaker 3: scrambles off to the right, throws it deep into the
Speaker 3: middle of.
Speaker 14: The field like be good, damn time. Kate Grace carn
Speaker 14: Kristen story. Kristen's story got lost?
Speaker 15: What are you doing?
Speaker 3: Makes the catch at the Kentucky thirty four yard line.
Speaker 14: You got Kayden Davis, a senior.
Speaker 3: The ball's gonna be spotted just shy of the thirty
Speaker 3: nine yard line of Kentucky.
Speaker 15: Let's get big, boys.
Speaker 3: We'll call this a forty nine yard field goal attempt
Speaker 3: off the right hashbar. Davis is a right footed kicker,
Speaker 3: so he has to pull this back to the left
Speaker 3: a little bit to try and tie the game. With
Speaker 3: fifty three seconds left, welling of a low staff, they
Speaker 3: get it down, kicks on the way.
Speaker 6: No, that hold.
Speaker 3: Forty eight seconds to play and all this comes up empty.
Speaker 14: Yes, how about that? The sidelines FDN. Mark Stoopson is
Speaker 14: Kentucky Wildcats have shot the.
Speaker 1: Comics football world.
Speaker 3: It go Bubba, a miracle in the Magnolia State. We're
Speaker 3: Kentucky Wildcats twenty the Old Miss Rebels seventeen.
Speaker 1: We'll talk more Vandy Kentucky football on the other side
Speaker 1: of the break here on six thirty WLA. Welcome back,
Speaker 1: and we welcome to the show. Billy Derek of The
Speaker 1: George Paster Show in Nashville and vandysports dot Com. Billy,
Speaker 1: welcome to the show.
Speaker 4: Hey, Dick, how you doing.
Speaker 1: I'm well, Thanks so much. What has life been like
Speaker 1: since Vandy upset Alabama?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's been unlike any other week I've seen, Dick,
Speaker 4: and I've talked a lot with some older fans that
Speaker 4: even them, you know, even for them, they've never seen
Speaker 4: anything quite like this.
Speaker 2: And of course we're in the.
Speaker 4: Modern age of sports coverage, so you've got all kinds
Speaker 4: of shows. You know that people once you've got podcasts,
Speaker 4: you've got, you know, articles being written so that there's
Speaker 4: all kinds of cover. So for this to happen in
Speaker 4: twenty twenty four is even more magnified. And I just
Speaker 4: think it's interesting. I never thought I would see a
Speaker 4: Vannerbil quarterback on the Dan Patrick Show on Monday morning.
Speaker 4: Oh you know, I mean, I I so to see
Speaker 4: Diego Poppy and just the way he carries himself too,
Speaker 4: So I think that's been a really cool part of it.
Speaker 4: I was born and raised in Nashville, grew up going
Speaker 4: to Vannerable games, and you know, it was always the
Speaker 4: basketball program that would be top fifteen or top twenty
Speaker 4: with Kentucky coming in town and and you know, you've
Speaker 4: got game day and it's fun to go into Memorial.
Speaker 4: It's never really been the football program other than eight
Speaker 4: when Game DWO was here against Auburn, and obviously Vanderbilt
Speaker 4: pulled that off. And then you fast forward to some
Speaker 4: James Franklin, you know, years and some of those big games.
Speaker 4: But this surpasses anything that's ever happened in Vanderbilt football.
Speaker 4: And it's been cool to see the older people sit
Speaker 4: here and say that too. You know that that's even
Speaker 4: going back to the last win over Alabama. Alabama wasn't
Speaker 4: wasn't number one. So it's just been cool and it's
Speaker 4: it's been rewarding for these guys. Now you gotta you
Speaker 4: gotta come back down to earth eventually. Does it happen
Speaker 4: this weekend? Who knows. But that's a tough, tough team
Speaker 4: to have to play at your Vanderbilt coming off the
Speaker 4: biggest winning school history.
Speaker 1: You know, way back in the day, even before I
Speaker 1: got to college, that's a long time ago. Vandy was
Speaker 1: doing some good things and then they kind of tightened
Speaker 1: up on academic requirements and things like that, and it's
Speaker 1: just been a super challenge down there in Nashville. But
Speaker 1: you mentioned James Franklin. He got it done and we
Speaker 1: all know that he almost door to door asking people
Speaker 1: to come to the games. But he also brought in talent,
Speaker 1: and that's clearly the key. It's what's what's Risen helped
Speaker 1: Stoops drag Kentucky uh in to relevance here, Ken, Do
Speaker 1: you think they can get that done consistent? Really, now
Speaker 1: that the facilities are being upgraded.
Speaker 4: You know, I think they can. It's not going to
Speaker 4: be as quick or swift as most programs. You know,
Speaker 4: you could you could see a lot quicker bill that
Speaker 4: at most other SEC schools. But I think this past
Speaker 4: off season showed that Vanderbilt and il resources can be there.
Speaker 4: And I think there's still people, well maybe not after
Speaker 4: the Alabama win, but before the Alabama win, we're sort
Speaker 4: of waiting, sitting on the side saying, hey, I want
Speaker 4: to support this program. You know, I want to do
Speaker 4: whatever it takes to get Vanderbilt back to relevance in football,
Speaker 4: but I need to see something. I need to see
Speaker 4: something that makes me go, Okay, that's what I'll support.
Speaker 4: So I think this win certainly helps for that. But
Speaker 4: I also think there's people out there. We've got a
Speaker 4: lot of people on our board Danny sports dot Com
Speaker 4: that this is not enough, and I don't think it.
Speaker 4: I don't think it should be enough. You know, for
Speaker 4: Vannerabile and their mentality has been really interesting to track.
Speaker 4: After the game, we had to walk walk back as
Speaker 4: the locker room, and you know, there wasn't any hooping
Speaker 4: and hollering. I mean, it was, they were excited, but
Speaker 4: I mean it was it felt like this team took
Speaker 4: care of business against Alabama, which which which was mind boggling,
Speaker 4: and so I think just changing the mentality dick it
Speaker 4: is has been so hard. I think for Clark Lely
Speaker 4: that's been a huge battle for him, and I think
Speaker 4: he's finally got a good pulse of his team. Now
Speaker 4: they're not they're not perfect, and they have to play
Speaker 4: to a formula each week. And if they do that,
Speaker 4: I do believe they can they can beat anybody. But
Speaker 4: that's not always easy. You've got to take care of
Speaker 4: the football. They've only got one turnover this season. So
Speaker 4: but to answer your question, I just I think they can.
Speaker 4: But it's all about the administration, and I think the
Speaker 4: administration has done a good job and in helping Clark
Speaker 4: Lee with whatever he's needed. It hasn't been shown like
Speaker 4: there hasn't been a ton of proof that that has happened.
Speaker 4: But now you get this Alabama win. And I talked
Speaker 4: about this with Chris Lee. You know, the the hot
Speaker 4: dogs taste better, you know the lines, don't you know?
Speaker 4: Waiting in the line lines doesn't feel as bad at you.
Speaker 3: Know, during a game.
Speaker 4: So no, I think it will. I just think in time,
Speaker 4: you know, they've still got to continue to build off
Speaker 4: this and continue to get talent in there More.
Speaker 1: With Billy derekavandysports dot Com. After this on six thirty WLAP,
Speaker 1: we're talking with Billy Derek of the George Plasters show
Speaker 1: down in Nashville, also works for vandysports dot com. Tell
Speaker 1: us what else we need to know about this Vandy team.
Speaker 1: You don't need to mention everybody, but in terms of
Speaker 1: the way Vandy gets it done taking care of the football.
Speaker 1: But they played enough defense against Alabama, didn't they?
Speaker 6: They did?
Speaker 4: They made enough plays. You know that they're an opportunistic defense.
Speaker 4: They're not you know, I don't even know that. I
Speaker 4: would say they're an above average defense. Their playmakers do enough.
Speaker 4: You know, they've got a guy number two, Randon Fontinett,
Speaker 4: who plays their star position. You back and look at
Speaker 4: some of the Clark Polieves players at Notre Dames. He's in
Speaker 4: compared to a Kyle Hamilton and Uusu Cormoa and and
Speaker 4: I mean he sacks the quarterback, he's making tackles and
Speaker 4: running backs. He's he's going out and covering receivers. He
Speaker 4: does it all for this defense. And he made a
Speaker 4: big play on a pick six there early in Alabama
Speaker 4: to go up a couple of scores, but they've got
Speaker 4: some some long, twitchy edge guys. Miles Capersnber twenty nine
Speaker 4: had a huge strips back against Jaln Milroe and and
Speaker 4: Vanderbilt fell on it and that was a huge turning
Speaker 4: point in the game. So they've come up with big plays.
Speaker 4: And I think Dick that's the sign of a program
Speaker 4: that is that is united, that he's playing together, that
Speaker 4: that has meshed all three phases together. That's not always easy,
Speaker 4: and it hasn't happened every game obviously, s Vanderbilt. You know,
Speaker 4: you saw the loss of Georgia State Missouri. They missed
Speaker 4: a few field goals that were big. So you know,
Speaker 4: I just think you look at the rest of this group.
Speaker 4: Obviously you go to Diego Pavi and the offense, but
Speaker 4: there is you know, other than Eli's hours the tight
Speaker 4: end who's been phenomenal. The other guys are are are
Speaker 4: just sort of doing their part. You know, They've got
Speaker 4: a good running back in Cedric Alexander Newberry is good
Speaker 4: as well. They got a couple of good receivers, so
Speaker 4: you know, offensively, Pavia is the engine obviously, but everybody
Speaker 4: else kind of works around him. And and does their
Speaker 4: part here or there, and and it's worked out. But
Speaker 4: I like how you mentioned the defense because they have
Speaker 4: they've made just enough plays. You know, they haven't been dominant. Uh,
Speaker 4: they've made teams go the long hard way. They've they've
Speaker 4: held in the red zone at times to field goals.
Speaker 4: So obviously that'll be a key against Kentucky. Is Kentucky
Speaker 4: getting touchdowns? I think that's gonna be tough for Vannerbilt. Yeah,
Speaker 4: but you're right, Dick, that this defense and that that's
Speaker 4: a credit to clark Lee. He has figured out, all right,
Speaker 4: how can this defense work. They lost a couple of
Speaker 4: corners before the season, you know, they've They've had a
Speaker 4: couple other injuries, but for the most part, they've been healthy.
Speaker 4: He's been able to squeeze as much out of this
Speaker 4: group as as can. Their linebackers are good, their safeties
Speaker 4: are good. The middle of the defense is strength. And yeah,
Speaker 4: you're right that the defense has made just enough plays,
Speaker 4: and that's exactly what happened against against all of that.
Speaker 1: The series is going back and forth between a couple
Speaker 1: of what have been traditional have nots in the.
Speaker 4: Sec Absolutely, I mean this game this weekend, I don't
Speaker 4: know that I've I've been this excited for Vannerbilt Kentucky
Speaker 4: game in a long time. I mean, I think you
Speaker 4: might have to go back to the game where Kentucky
Speaker 4: came in here, and I think it was Benny Snell
Speaker 4: just ran all over Vanderbilt when when Vanderbilt had Derek
Speaker 4: Mason and some of those games Franklin. Obviously those games
Speaker 4: were some lean times for Kentucky fans. But I mean
Speaker 4: it's been it's been an even series, and you know,
Speaker 4: you go back and yeah, you're right, this is a
Speaker 4: game that you circle if you're Vanderbilt, but you also
Speaker 4: circle if you're Kentucky, and this is a brutal loss
Speaker 4: for either team. I mean, you know last year throw
Speaker 4: last year out. I thought that win a couple of
Speaker 4: years ago, twenty twenty two was massive for this program.
Speaker 4: Obviously it broke a twenty four game SEC losing streak.
Speaker 4: You go on the road and be the top twenty
Speaker 4: five team of respectable and I think that's the big thing.
Speaker 4: Park and Mark Stoops, so I they're very similar to
Speaker 4: me in my mind, and I think, you know, they
Speaker 4: they have so much respect for each other. So I'm
Speaker 4: excited to see just the dog fight. And you know,
Speaker 4: we talked about it on my podcast yesterday. You know,
Speaker 4: this is going to be a knockdown, drag out fight
Speaker 4: and I can't wait to see, you know, who comes
Speaker 4: away the victor because and that that home crowd. I
Speaker 4: look at that as that's not always the case for
Speaker 4: Vanderbilt Kentucky games. I mean you go back just to
Speaker 4: the game a couple of years ago. Obviously that was
Speaker 4: a frigid day there up in Lexington, but not not
Speaker 4: a huge crowd, especially in Nashville. But there's been some
Speaker 4: big Kentucky crowds. But you know a lot of times
Speaker 4: Kentucky fans maybe don't travel as well to Nashville, has
Speaker 4: some other SEC teams just because you know, the draw
Speaker 4: of that game that you know, maybe not be as
Speaker 4: not maybe wasn't as big as it is this year.
Speaker 2: So Jake, I can't wait.
Speaker 4: It's going to be fun. And you know, just the styles,
Speaker 4: you know, styles make fights, and you know this Kentucky
Speaker 4: defense will be a challenge for Vannerbilt, but I think
Speaker 4: you know that this Vanderbold offense will be We'll be
Speaker 4: able to hold their own and create a challenge as well.
Speaker 4: So I can't wait to see what happened.
Speaker 1: Billy Derek at the George Plasters Show and vandysports dot Com.
Speaker 1: Thank you, sir, We'll talk to you again soon, I hope.
Speaker 4: Thanks, Dick appreciate it.
Speaker 1: You can use Walt Wells next on six thirty w
Speaker 1: l A. P. Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider,
Speaker 1: final segment of our program. We've talked a lot of
Speaker 1: Kentucky football this week. We do not want to forget
Speaker 1: about e k U Colonels had the week off last
Speaker 1: week as well. That came after a three game winning streak.
Speaker 1: They lost their first couple of games to Division one
Speaker 1: teams Mississippi State and Western Kentucky which is now Division one,
Speaker 1: but then three straight does he drop back into one
Speaker 1: double a FCS if you will? Southern Utah added Cedar
Speaker 1: Utah is the team that they're gonna play tomorrow and
Speaker 1: again it's a one double A team. UH got to
Speaker 1: go a long way to play, but that's the way
Speaker 1: the conference is laid out. We had a chance yesterday
Speaker 1: to catch up with Walt Wells, the head coach, coming
Speaker 1: off and open date. How much did that help you guys?
Speaker 8: I think it helped us a lot, especially with you know,
Speaker 8: some minor injuries that we had and some injuries that
Speaker 8: we that we might be able to get some use back.
Speaker 8: We were finding out today basically we're getting who we
Speaker 8: are getting back and who are not getting back.
Speaker 2: But also just.
Speaker 8: Some rest, a chance to do some self scout stuff.
Speaker 8: And you know, we're five games into it. We'll play
Speaker 8: two FBS opponents and three SDS opponents and and just
Speaker 8: you know, sitting at three and two and seeing where
Speaker 8: we're at.
Speaker 2: So it was a good week.
Speaker 8: Gave him the weekend off, got what's the the Vandy
Speaker 8: Alabama upset and many others, and uh, it was a
Speaker 8: good week to I was very thankful not to be playing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Started off with the losses of Mississippi State and
Speaker 1: to Western Kentucky which is now Division one. Uh, didn't
Speaker 1: score a lot of points, gave up too many. But
Speaker 1: now you're on a three game against teams in your division.
Speaker 1: You're on a three game winning streak. What and you're
Speaker 1: scoring your scoring points and you're stopping the other guys
Speaker 1: as have been in all around successful program.
Speaker 8: Plus it has you know, those first two games kind
Speaker 8: of you know, they tested you obviously in a lot
Speaker 8: of different ways, and you know, you can list all
Speaker 8: the advantages that go the other way. But in the end,
Speaker 8: you know, I thought we did some things, even though
Speaker 8: the score looked lopsided when we played them, and I
Speaker 8: felt like when we got it to our level, which
Speaker 8: is at the FDS level, I thought we we'd have
Speaker 8: an opportunity to do what we did and we were
Speaker 8: Forcingnate to do it. So now we're going to get
Speaker 8: on a bird tomorrow and head out to Cedar City, Utah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Southern Utah is up next. And I believe you
Speaker 1: beat them in Richmond last year, and have I got
Speaker 1: that right?
Speaker 8: It was a year before twenty two.
Speaker 1: Okay, tell me a little bit about what you hope
Speaker 1: to accomplish on offense, because, like I said, you've scored,
Speaker 1: you got a new quarterback, said goodbye to maybe the
Speaker 1: greatest quarterback in EKU history. But in the last three games,
Speaker 1: you've put up a lot of points.
Speaker 8: Yeah, he's uh, he's coming around. You know, Matt Morrissey
Speaker 8: had finally got all our receivers healthy. You know, we
Speaker 8: we were missing a lot during training camp. So really
Speaker 8: for some of them, they got the week before Mississippi
Speaker 8: State and then we went out and played and so
Speaker 8: Matt's gotten comfortable with those guys. He's also gotten comfortable
Speaker 8: with Andy Richmond, our offensive coordinator, and you know, it
Speaker 8: takes a little time to understand who each other are
Speaker 8: and what they can do, both the guys on the
Speaker 8: field and our coaching staff. And so with that, Matt's done.
Speaker 6: A good job.
Speaker 8: And you know, knock on wood, he hasn't turned the
Speaker 8: ball over I think once he has in his five
Speaker 8: games here, and so you know, he's getting the ball
Speaker 8: to different so many different playmakers and giving them the opportunity.
Speaker 8: And the other thing that's going on is our running
Speaker 8: game has really been good for us, and it was
Speaker 8: actually good against Western and Mississippi State, and so our
Speaker 8: running games allowing us to be able to have more
Speaker 8: open throws and he's getting the ball to them and
Speaker 8: he's playing at a high level right now.
Speaker 1: You coaches love your balance, don't you. Most coaches do.
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 8: I love it. You know, I was an on line
Speaker 8: coach for thirty years, So when we can run the ball,
Speaker 8: I'm really happy.
Speaker 1: Yeah, unless your name's Hall, mummy, you know you like
Speaker 1: that balance.
Speaker 6: That's right.
Speaker 8: That's exactly right. I don't like to he throw it
Speaker 8: all over the yard, man.
Speaker 1: I remember Roy Kid once told me that one of
Speaker 1: his Ekau teams knocked I don't remember where where how
Speaker 1: was coaching, but knocked them out of the playoffs. And
Speaker 1: and and Roy said, he meets him in midfield and says,
Speaker 1: a great game. How Sorry, he had a great season.
Speaker 1: I said, can you believe we had five hundred yards
Speaker 1: of offense? And then walks off.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I believe it, but I believe it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he was the mad scientist talking to wal Wells,
Speaker 1: Eku's hit football coach. Not only are you scoring, but
Speaker 1: against FCS opponents, you got to love what your defense
Speaker 1: is doing. You've given up what three or four touchdowns?
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 8: And uh I am, I'm I'm proud of those guys.
Speaker 8: They're they're starting to scale together. You know, we we
Speaker 8: we've been fortunate to keep most of them around, and
Speaker 8: so I think we had seven returning starters from last
Speaker 8: year's team. Our defense wasn't very good last year year
Speaker 8: and this year, you know, in our SDS games, they've
Speaker 8: done a great job. And they've got to continue that
Speaker 8: because if we're gonna win a championship. They're gonna be
Speaker 8: the reason, you know, because defense wins those and we
Speaker 8: need them to continue playing the way they are. But
Speaker 8: the addition of veto Tisdale's been nice. The addition of
Speaker 8: Braden Sullivan, who's playing middle linebacker forrest has been nice.
Speaker 8: And uh, and so those are really the two new
Speaker 8: guys that we have on defense, and then the rest
Speaker 8: of them are returning guys, and they're they're understanding what
Speaker 8: coach Johnson's doing. Jake Johnson's my defensive coordinator, and uh,
Speaker 8: they're understanding what he wants done, and I think we're
Speaker 8: keeping it simple enough for him that they can.
Speaker 2: Get it done.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the open date and a chance to sit
Speaker 1: down and watch some football players and coaches alike. But
Speaker 1: when kids you're coaching, when your guys see a Vandy
Speaker 1: upset in Alabama, and I don't know if you guys
Speaker 1: had much chance because you were busy playing to pay
Speaker 1: attention to Kentucky's upset of Old Miss. But in both games,
Speaker 1: both teams, obviously the winners executed their game plan. They
Speaker 1: were disciplined, they controlled the football, they minimized damage on defense,
Speaker 1: They executed a game plan well, how much does that
Speaker 1: help guys like you to reinforce what you try to
Speaker 1: teach like fellas, just do your job and good things
Speaker 1: can happen.
Speaker 8: That's been our number one preciating point this week is
Speaker 8: you know you're going on the road.
Speaker 2: We've got a lot of distractions.
Speaker 8: A four hour flight, you know, altitude, all these things
Speaker 8: can be a distraction. But you know, I've been telling
Speaker 8: them all week. Your number one job is to execute
Speaker 8: at a high level.
Speaker 4: And if you do that, you'll give you.
Speaker 8: You know, all the other side factors won't be a problem.
Speaker 8: And it's the number one thing. I mean, you're dealing
Speaker 8: with seventeen to twenty two year olds at every level.
Speaker 8: And you know, whether it's Vanderbilt last week or Kentucky
Speaker 8: the two weeks ago, I mean, just look at the
Speaker 8: two weeks from South Carolina to the to the Georgia
Speaker 8: to the ole Miss games in the University of Kentucky.
Speaker 8: I mean, it's their execution that won the game for them.
Speaker 8: And uh and that you know, it's not that Ole
Speaker 8: Miss is a bad football team or anything like that.
Speaker 8: They're a really good football team and you saw the
Speaker 8: very next week. But you have to execute at a high level.
Speaker 8: You have to do your job, and the biggest thing
Speaker 8: is taking all the voices out of it and just knowing.
Speaker 4: What you're supposed to do and doing what you're supposed
Speaker 4: to do.
Speaker 8: It's hard to be out there and think, I think
Speaker 8: this guy's going to run out, so I'm gonna jump
Speaker 8: it instead of doing what I'm supposed to do, and
Speaker 8: he runs a houting up and runs right by. It's
Speaker 8: hard to not listen to that voice to tell you
Speaker 8: to go get yours because everybody in this world you know,
Speaker 8: wants you to go get yours. Well, yours will come
Speaker 8: to you if you just do the little things, you know,
Speaker 8: and I learned that from coach kids. Just do the
Speaker 8: little things and the big thing will happen. And but
Speaker 8: patience is what you got to have in that, and
Speaker 8: the and the and the willingness to just do your job.
Speaker 8: And sometimes your job is boring. Sometimes you don't get
Speaker 8: anything coming your way. For I don't ten plays at
Speaker 8: the corner maybe, and then all of a sudden, here
Speaker 8: it comes two or three in a row. And you
Speaker 8: you've got to be willing to be patient and do
Speaker 8: do what you're supposed to do and have your eyes
Speaker 8: where they're supposed to be, and you know, remember your
Speaker 8: training and your coaching.
Speaker 1: That's mental discipline, isn't it.
Speaker 8: It's all. Yeah, it's hard for anybody. Sure, yeah, I
Speaker 8: mean that's just hard to do in life because everybody
Speaker 8: wants to do what they want to do. And you know,
Speaker 8: football is the ultimate team sport. You got eleven guys
Speaker 8: out there trying to do the same thing, and that
Speaker 8: that's hard to you know, do everything the way it's
Speaker 8: supposed to be done. That's hard. It's hard enough to
Speaker 8: get two people to do it's supposed to be done.
Speaker 1: Hurting cats. Uh, you talked about that's that's right. You
Speaker 1: talked about jumping on the bird and flying out to Utah,
Speaker 1: and then you've worked at so many different levels, including
Speaker 1: D one and free ku. Especially back when it was
Speaker 1: in the OVC, that meant a lot of bus rides
Speaker 1: for for logical reasons. But now conferences being what they are,
Speaker 1: you play games in Utah, Texas, you know, all over
Speaker 1: the country, so it means more plane rides and your
Speaker 1: AD's got to worry about the budget. But when you
Speaker 1: move a small army like that, there there are a
Speaker 1: lot of different headaches aren't you aren't there, and it's
Speaker 1: just something else to deal with.
Speaker 8: It's always something. I mean, the biggest thing, you know,
Speaker 8: we just had a staff Meete and Biech. Thing I
Speaker 8: was talking to our support staff about is making sure
Speaker 8: everybody had their you know, and our coaches, Hey, make
Speaker 8: sure they got their driver's license. When we come up
Speaker 8: through the DA you know all those you know, and
Speaker 8: you think about, all right, who's lost for driver's licenses.
Speaker 8: Then we got to get another form of idd get
Speaker 8: it to prove so we don't hold up everything and
Speaker 8: get off because we want to get out there early
Speaker 8: and go through. You know, we're going to practice out there.
Speaker 8: We normally practice at home and then travel, but because
Speaker 8: of the elevation, I want to get out and get
Speaker 8: get our guys acclimated to it and uh and let
Speaker 8: them run around in it so they can feel it
Speaker 8: and understand it that, you know, so it's not you know,
Speaker 8: two hours before kickoff the first time they feel Yeah,
Speaker 8: it's all those little things that you got to you know,
Speaker 8: I got to get the bust here on time to
Speaker 8: get to Lectington. And you can't leave it to the
Speaker 8: kids to drive up on their own because somebody's going
Speaker 8: to be late, or somebody's going to get in the
Speaker 8: rest or somebody's gonna you know, all these things you
Speaker 8: got to prepare for. And uh, you know, I have
Speaker 8: a great support staff that does that with Jeff Griffiths
Speaker 8: and Dan Breswitz and and uh and all the people
Speaker 8: that are involved in that, so they do a great job.
Speaker 1: Well, I wish you the best of luck, and I
Speaker 1: know you've got it going right now. I hope you
Speaker 1: made and I'm sure you did good use of the
Speaker 1: open date, but good luck on making it four straight.
Speaker 8: Well, I appreciate that. I hope we did too. We'll
Speaker 8: find out Saturday around four o'clock our five. But I'm
Speaker 8: looking forward to it and appreciate your having it all.
Speaker 1: That is Walt Wells e K you hit football coach
Speaker 1: Colonel's taking on Southern Utah tomorrow afternoon. That's going to
Speaker 1: do it. Thanks so much to my guest Billy Derek
Speaker 1: tom Hart. That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 6: Life moves pretty fast.
Speaker 3: You don't stop and look around once in a while,
Speaker 3: you could miss it.
Speaker 14: SA