Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Oh, guess what day it is?
Speaker 3: Guess what day it is? Huh anybody?
Speaker 2: It's hump Day?
Speaker 3: What day?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hump Day. Dick Gabriel with you on a Wednesday,
Speaker 2: one day closer to Kentucky football. This Saturday night, it's
Speaker 2: the Wildcats and Vanderbilt seven forty five kick. We'll have
Speaker 2: it for you right here on six point thirty WLAP
Speaker 2: at five thirty with Christy, Jeremy and Logan and Tom
Speaker 2: Jeff and I will have the call of the Cats
Speaker 2: and the Commodorees. The two SEC teams coming off the
Speaker 2: biggest upsets in well for Vandy in program history, in
Speaker 2: Kentucky one of the biggest in program history. So both
Speaker 2: teams are on a roll and it should be interesting,
Speaker 2: both teams winning in similar fashions these past Saturdays, both
Speaker 2: teams controlling the football for forty minutes, making plays on defense,
Speaker 2: minimizing mistakes on offense, and doing things that quite frankly,
Speaker 2: surprise their own fan bases, much less the rest of
Speaker 2: college football. So we'll have that one for you right here.
Speaker 2: Why don't we stay with Kentucky football. We got a
Speaker 2: lot of football chatter coming up, did a lot of
Speaker 2: basketball yesterday because of UK Media Day, lots of football
Speaker 2: coming up. Chris Doring of the SEC Network joins us
Speaker 2: next and he'll finish up this first hour. We had
Speaker 2: a lot to catch up on with Chris talking about
Speaker 2: both Vandy and Kentucky, but talking to the Wildcats this week,
Speaker 2: to Mark Stoops and his players. Barrion Brown was front
Speaker 2: and center yesterday and talked about whether or not the
Speaker 2: team was kind of hanging on to the good vibes
Speaker 2: from the old miss win or moving forward a little
Speaker 2: bit of both.
Speaker 3: Actually, I say hold on to it to a certain sting, like,
Speaker 3: don't get the big hit about it, because any given
Speaker 3: week we can be that team to fall if we're
Speaker 3: not prepared or we're not focused.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I pretty should have had that.
Speaker 3: But like I'll be telling the boys, we got to
Speaker 3: stay likeed in everything we wanted right in front of us.
Speaker 3: We just got to keep grinding for.
Speaker 2: It, and then extra week to train their own film
Speaker 2: out here. So it was good. I liked the bowiek
Speaker 2: that's Barran Brown courtesy if Jeff Drummond and Cat illustrated
Speaker 2: and he was right back at practice catching deep throws
Speaker 2: from Rock Vandergriff, he said, so maybe we'll see more
Speaker 2: of the same with Vanderbilt coming in. That win by
Speaker 2: the Commodorees, of course, prompted the field storming at Vandy,
Speaker 2: and it also costs the school one hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: That's what happens when you storm. Now in the Southeastern Conference,
Speaker 2: they're trying to keep people safe. It can get really dangerous,
Speaker 2: especially when goalposts come down. But they revised the policy
Speaker 2: at the spring meeting in twenty twenty three. Fines here
Speaker 2: paid to the opposing institution. So Vandy pays Alabama one
Speaker 2: hundred thousand for the upset victory. Remember when he used
Speaker 2: to be I think the first offense was fifty grand,
Speaker 2: then it got worse. This was Arkansas second offense that
Speaker 2: razorback fans rushed the field after the win over Tennessee.
Speaker 2: So it was actually going back to when they rushed
Speaker 2: the court when men's basketball beat Duke last November. So
Speaker 2: it counts them matter of the sport. So now second
Speaker 2: offense is costing Arkansas two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
Speaker 2: and yep, third offense half a million. So yeah, they're great,
Speaker 2: but they're costly. Not that anybody on that field really
Speaker 2: really cares getting back to basketball for just a moment,
Speaker 2: I was not able to go to Women's Basketball Day.
Speaker 2: We've had some of the UK women that we had
Speaker 2: the coach, Kenny Brooks and one or two players on
Speaker 2: the show. But because I had to rush back for
Speaker 2: Men's Basketball Day to put this show together, I was
Speaker 2: not able to go to Women's Basketball Day. But here's
Speaker 2: a comment from Kenny Brooks at the podium on his
Speaker 2: first media day as the UK head coach, coming over
Speaker 2: from Virginia Tech, and man, he is ready to get going.
Speaker 4: The biggest thing is just a welcoming from Big Blue Nation,
Speaker 4: you know, and how everyone's been so interested in what
Speaker 4: we're doing. Welcoming to Lexington and just a big Blue
Speaker 4: nation has been awesome, And you know, and I'm very
Speaker 4: proud of what we've done in six months put together
Speaker 4: a roster. This day and age freedom of movement, sometimes
Speaker 4: you got to start all over. And we went out
Speaker 4: and we went out and we went in the portal,
Speaker 4: and we didn't want to always just get the best players.
Speaker 4: We want to get the right players, players that can
Speaker 4: come in and represent this university, our program, help us
Speaker 4: start something special, and I thought, you know, we did
Speaker 4: a really good job of assembling a really good roster.
Speaker 4: And it's a group of great kids who just work.
Speaker 4: They work, work, work. I don't know how good they are.
Speaker 4: I don't know how good they're going to be. I
Speaker 4: do know that right now as we speak, I am undefeated.
Speaker 4: So that's a good thing.
Speaker 2: That's Kentucky women's coach Kenny Brooks. I don't know that
Speaker 2: his team will contend or an SEC title this but
Speaker 2: I do know this. They are big, They have got size,
Speaker 2: and they may be the biggest team in UK women's
Speaker 2: basketball history. And you cannot win without size, so they're
Speaker 2: ahead of the game in that department. He's also a
Speaker 2: very good coach, and he has brought some kids over
Speaker 2: from Virginia Tech and kids who are transferred in who
Speaker 2: have had success in other places. So it's gonna be
Speaker 2: fun watching. But unlike a season ever in the history
Speaker 2: of UK basketball, if not college basketball, both the men's
Speaker 2: and women's teams rebuilding just about from the ground up,
Speaker 2: with a fan base that expects a heck of a
Speaker 2: lot up. Dex Chris Doring of the SEC Network. Little later,
Speaker 2: Sean Woods and Weston Buer chief Gary Moore on six
Speaker 2: thirty WLAP joining us on our celebrity hotline now is
Speaker 2: a longtime friend of the show. We love talking football
Speaker 2: with Chris Doring of the SEC Network and full disclosure,
Speaker 2: Christ and Ivert trying to get together last week couldn't
Speaker 2: get schedules to match up. Now, Chris, I'm happy that
Speaker 2: that occurred because we can talk about this Vandy Alabama
Speaker 2: game and watching the coverage out of Tom Hart and
Speaker 2: his whole crew did a great job, and you guys
Speaker 2: chopped it up so well in the studio. What was
Speaker 2: that like covering that story?
Speaker 5: Well, first and foremost, let me tell you the real
Speaker 5: MVP of the whole crew was a list of Lang
Speaker 5: down there battling her crowd as they run the field.
Speaker 5: You know, she's just a little tiny thing, and she
Speaker 5: she was able to track down Diego Pavia better than
Speaker 5: probably any Alabama defended it all day long, so I
Speaker 5: give her credit for that. But yeah, man, I don't
Speaker 5: We don't get Alabama on our network all that often,
Speaker 5: but to have that game on there, you could feel
Speaker 5: that the game was progressing. People changing their channel to
Speaker 5: tune in, like, yeah, beyond disbelief and what was going on.
Speaker 3: It's my only like.
Speaker 5: That was perfect for me because not only did we
Speaker 5: have the Alabama upset on so it was going right
Speaker 5: into the Florida game, and then it ran so long
Speaker 5: we didn't even get to come on camera. We had
Speaker 5: about two minutes we were voicing over the crowd and
Speaker 5: storm in the field and didn't even get any FaceTime. Man,
Speaker 5: So I'll.
Speaker 2: Finally regret those times. Everything, brother, I get that, that's
Speaker 2: right now. My heart went out to Alyssa because and
Speaker 2: thanks to you, she's been on the show with us
Speaker 2: as a fellow sideline reporter. I've covered a couple of
Speaker 2: games like that. Nothing quite as frantic, though. Man. She
Speaker 2: she was running and caught the coach and the players
Speaker 2: and uh and and had great questions for him. So
Speaker 2: much respect to her.
Speaker 5: Yeah, she she kind of went viral with that whole thing.
Speaker 5: And and I did a show with her on Tuesday
Speaker 5: morning on our normal show, and she, uh, she was
Speaker 5: just talking about you know what that was like and
Speaker 5: realizing the importance of making sure she got the papa.
Speaker 5: And you know, I have a lot of respect for
Speaker 5: all of y'all that I've done it before. As well,
Speaker 5: and it's uh one, it's just making sure you're in
Speaker 5: the right place at the right time. It's hard enough,
Speaker 5: but then making sure you're formulating questions that make sense
Speaker 5: and trying to keep your composure about just tough. She
Speaker 5: does a great job, as you know. I'm so fortunate
Speaker 5: to work with the network and so many great people
Speaker 5: that I have such respect for professionally and friendship wise.
Speaker 5: It's it's awesome. And just the additional coverage now with
Speaker 5: ESPN ABC that she network, having that whole contract, it's
Speaker 5: a lot of fun to be a part of.
Speaker 2: Man Diego held it together in that interview. But I
Speaker 2: want to double back to something you said about you
Speaker 2: could kind of feel the nation was tuning in. I
Speaker 2: was one of them. I was spending the dial, saw
Speaker 2: the seven nothing score, I thought that deserves it. Look
Speaker 2: and just as I tuned in, comes to pick six. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but honestly, you know, having done it for so long,
Speaker 2: and I hate to say it is covering Kentucky for
Speaker 2: so long, which has flirted with upsets, you know, and
Speaker 2: every once in a while, Pullster, We'll talk about old
Speaker 2: miss in a minute, they somehow slip away. How did
Speaker 2: Vandy keep that from happening.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I'm like you. And when we had
Speaker 5: Coach Leon after the game on our Saturday night show,
Speaker 5: and you probably may have caught it on Saturday or
Speaker 5: maybe Sunday morning, but I was honest with him. I say, hey, Coach,
Speaker 5: I'm watching this game, thinking, wow, this is cool, but
Speaker 5: how is Vanderbilt going to find a way to lose
Speaker 5: or how is Alabama going to come back and win?
Speaker 5: Like it just felt like it was too good to
Speaker 5: be true almost, And you know, as the game progressed,
Speaker 5: every time Alabama got closed, Vanderbilt made a play. I've
Speaker 5: been from the get go making sure to emphasize to
Speaker 5: everybody those especially they didn't watch it. This was not
Speaker 5: a flukey win. This was not an accident. This was
Speaker 5: not Alabama losing the game. This was Vanderbilt taking it
Speaker 5: to Alabama, not being intimidated at all, having a great
Speaker 5: game plan, having a star quarterback that understands the offense
Speaker 5: after playing it in a couple of years, Guys making plays.
Speaker 5: I mean the third down conversions alone, twelve of eighteen
Speaker 5: on the afternoon, that's how you possessed the foot all
Speaker 5: for over forty two minutes. That's how you keep Jaln
Speaker 5: Milroe on the sideline. And to their credit, I mean
Speaker 5: they were able to I think I want to say
Speaker 5: the average yards to gain on third down was like
Speaker 5: over six yards. So these weren't easy conversions. They were
Speaker 5: guys making plays in the clutch, and nobody more cluts
Speaker 5: than Diego was what. You know, he's able to do
Speaker 5: not only throwing the football but running it and just
Speaker 5: it's a lot of fun to watch. Man as a
Speaker 5: fan of competitors, Man, that's not any in this league
Speaker 5: this year that compete.
Speaker 3: Like that, dude does.
Speaker 2: What a great story a guy couldn't get I heard you,
Speaker 2: and I think it was Peter Burns talking about the
Speaker 2: fact that he couldn't get a scholarship offer from his
Speaker 2: hometown team, University of New Mexico. Two years of JUCO
Speaker 2: ends up in New Mexico State and had success there.
Speaker 2: And I loved the story about Clark Lee who watched
Speaker 2: New Mexico State dismantled Auburn, which had just beaten Vandy,
Speaker 2: and goes out and hires Jerry Kill, hires Tim Beck,
Speaker 2: and now he has Diego on his team. Just an
Speaker 2: incredible story, and that guy that's the story right now,
Speaker 2: one of them at any rate of the college football season.
Speaker 5: It really is. And I think the thing that stands
Speaker 5: out to me about it is, you know, coaches understanding
Speaker 5: what what's needed to get their team to a better spot.
Speaker 5: You know, I think specifically about the Vandy story there,
Speaker 5: Clark Lee not only goes out and gets half the
Speaker 5: team and coaching staff from from New Mexico State, but
Speaker 5: he also goes out and reinserts himself as the defensive coordinator,
Speaker 5: a guy that gave up those play calling duties a
Speaker 5: few years back to try to manage the team as
Speaker 5: the CEO, but understood that they needed they needed his involvement,
Speaker 5: they needed his play calling ability, and the defense has
Speaker 5: been very good as well this year. So I give
Speaker 5: him credit. I give Sam Pittman credit. You know, it's
Speaker 5: a controversial hire to go out to hire Bobby Petrino.
Speaker 5: It's a it's you know, going out and get Taylor
Speaker 5: Green from from Boise State, you know, being able to
Speaker 5: listen into Travis Williams, a defensive coordinator who saw something
Speaker 5: on the tape when Oklahoma was able to defend Tennessee
Speaker 5: a little bit a couple weeks earlier and integrating that
Speaker 5: into the game plan, and coach Pittman being willing to
Speaker 5: completely scrap what they're doing defensively because he trusted his coordinator.
Speaker 5: Like I just I think a lot of coaches that
Speaker 5: are willing to do things that are maybe outside of
Speaker 5: the box, are non conventional, and a lot of those
Speaker 5: things are paying off for those two squads.
Speaker 2: Well. And clark Lee hires Jerry Kill who was a
Speaker 2: head coach but wasn't sure he wanted to be a
Speaker 2: head coach anymore, but it was one of the most
Speaker 2: as you know, well respected coaches in the business. And
Speaker 2: now Harry is in Nashville kind kind of mentoring clark Lee.
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you what. I don't know if you
Speaker 2: if you heard alread any of the transcript or any
Speaker 2: but Mark Troops talked at length about clark Lee has
Speaker 2: enormous respect for him, has known him for quite a while,
Speaker 2: and he said I could see it coming what was
Speaker 2: happening at Vanderbilt. I don't know if he predicted the win,
Speaker 2: but he said I could see it coming with clark Lee,
Speaker 2: And I guess that's kind of what he was talking about.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we saw it. I guess two years ago that
Speaker 5: remember that November you know, well, I know, well, they
Speaker 5: beat Kentucky and Florida in the month of November and
Speaker 5: you're thinking, I, they got a little something figured out here.
Speaker 5: They're gonna build on that in twenty twenty three, and
Speaker 5: they actually took a step back. I don't think people
Speaker 5: thought a lot of what this team was going to
Speaker 5: be this year. I didn't know a ton about Pavia.
Speaker 5: I saw the New Mexico State offense go to Jordan
Speaker 5: Hare last year in Tara Auburn up. But I didn't
Speaker 5: really know what to expect this year until you watched
Speaker 5: that Virginia Tech game in the opening week of the season.
Speaker 5: You immediately see that this is a guy that has
Speaker 5: a little something about him, that attitude, the competitor in him.
Speaker 5: It permeates throughout the team, and honestly, like I think
Speaker 5: it's good that this guy comes from New Mexico. Maybe
Speaker 5: he doesn't know the pre determined thoughts on what Vanderbilt
Speaker 5: can and can't do, what they've done historically. Like me,
Speaker 5: he comes in with a fresh palette, says, you know,
Speaker 5: why wouldn't we go out here and within a day,
Speaker 5: why can't we beat Alabama. And to think that, you know,
Speaker 5: Vandy had had sixty prior beatings with top five teams
Speaker 5: and never won a single one of them. And to
Speaker 5: have finally won their first top five matchup against the
Speaker 5: number one team in the country and it's Alabama. I
Speaker 5: don't think you could have scripted it any better.
Speaker 2: The thing I noticed when I turned the channel immediately,
Speaker 2: Vandy was playing physical football. I mean taking it to Alabama.
Speaker 2: And I've seen Vandy defenses do that, but it was
Speaker 2: on both sides of the ball. How much of that
Speaker 2: did you notice?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I went back and watched the tape on Sunday, Dick,
Speaker 5: I watched. I watched early in that first quarter, you know,
Speaker 5: Vandy's running the football and the piles getting pushed seventy
Speaker 5: eight nine yards. I watched the line up around, you know,
Speaker 5: inside the ten yard line and run power and blow
Speaker 5: the linebacker out of a hole. I watch a kickout
Speaker 5: block that knocks an Alabama player on his back. I
Speaker 5: watched them line up in a heavy formation down at
Speaker 5: the goal line and ended up scoring like they weren't
Speaker 5: intimidated at all. They even though you saw Quincy Skinner
Speaker 5: talking trash right in the face of Alabama defensive backs,
Speaker 5: Like I think there's an intimidation factor that sometimes goes
Speaker 5: along with Alabama. Maybe that's not there as much anymore
Speaker 5: without Nick Staven, but still it holds some weight. And
Speaker 5: you know, you look at the recruiting rankings, there's not
Speaker 5: a chasm that is as big as what you're looking
Speaker 5: at between Alabama and Vanderbilt. And these guys were not intimidated.
Speaker 5: They didn't read any of that. They went out there
Speaker 5: and did their jobs and I thought, you know, the execution.
Speaker 5: You look at what they were able to do. Two takeaways,
Speaker 5: didn't turn the ball over once, did I'm sorry, two
Speaker 5: penalties on the whole afternoon, didn't turn the ball over once,
Speaker 5: didn't allow a sack. That's smart football. That's what you
Speaker 5: should expect at Vanderbilt. And they went out there, had
Speaker 5: a great game plan, executing it and didn't make mistakes
Speaker 5: as we saw you know Alabama make, particularly with the
Speaker 5: pick six.
Speaker 2: Athleticism and smarts tough to be. Chris Doring is my
Speaker 2: guest from the SEC Network. We'll come back and talk
Speaker 2: about Kentucky and Vanderbilt in just a minute here on
Speaker 2: the Big Move Insider six point thirty WLAP Welcome back.
Speaker 2: We're talking with Chris Doring of the SEC Network. Of course,
Speaker 2: covers every game in the conference and talks about it
Speaker 2: on the SEC Final Show and throughout the week on
Speaker 2: the SEC Network. You can hear it as well on
Speaker 2: Channel three seventy four on Sirius XM Radio. As I
Speaker 2: do and Diego Flavia coming to town, what does Kentucky
Speaker 2: have to do? Obviously did a good job against Jackson
Speaker 2: Dart who who can extend to play. But Flaby's got
Speaker 2: a different kind of a different skill set, doesn't he.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Diego Pobby is a guy that can can hurts
Speaker 5: you in a lot of different ways. And let's start
Speaker 5: with what the offense is. I mean, the offense is
Speaker 5: a combination of a lot of different things. You'll see
Speaker 5: a ton of misdirection, So Coach Stukes and Brian Wide
Speaker 5: will talk a lot this week about I discipline. They
Speaker 5: also run a lot of different option games, so you
Speaker 5: got to be assignment sound uh. They also like to
Speaker 5: move Pavia outside of the pocket. He can he can
Speaker 5: hurt you with his legs. He can hurt you by
Speaker 5: extending plays when things break down, but he really throws
Speaker 5: well outside of the pocket, and so you know, it's
Speaker 5: not a guy that's a good runner and can't throw.
Speaker 5: He could throw it really well, made some nice throws
Speaker 5: on some deep balls, including the fourth and one for
Speaker 5: the touchdowns. So he's he's the entire packet. So I
Speaker 5: think the thing that that Kentucky has to do is
Speaker 5: be the more physical team, which they were against Ole
Speaker 5: Miss a couple of weeks ago, which they went toe
Speaker 5: to toe with Georgia before that. Uh, but I think
Speaker 5: they really have to be assignment sound in terms of
Speaker 5: what they have to do and and and defending the
Speaker 5: option and really be tight on the eigeh discipline and
Speaker 5: not let the misdirection catch him out of place.
Speaker 2: Did you see the Kentucky deep ball in real time
Speaker 2: the Barryon Brown cat.
Speaker 3: I did.
Speaker 5: I was watching it live. Uh, we were in the studio,
Speaker 5: and uh, I just I'm marveled. Especially like Brock Vandergrit,
Speaker 5: we hadn't seen we hadn't seen a ball like that
Speaker 5: in his Obviously I didn't see a ton of it
Speaker 5: at Georgia, but since he's been the starter at Kentucky,
Speaker 5: I hadn't seen him throw a ball with that precision.
Speaker 5: I mean, great job, by Barrian Brown, because as a receiver,
Speaker 5: my job is to keep five yards from the sideline
Speaker 5: where the quarterback can drop it over my outside shoulder.
Speaker 5: And even if I'm covered where the guy hit the hip,
Speaker 5: I got my body in good position to catch the
Speaker 5: ball with my arms with the defensive back shield. And
Speaker 5: that's exactly what Barrion Brown did, and that's exactly what
Speaker 5: Rock Vandergriff did and dropping it over his shoulder. And
Speaker 5: let's not forget I mean, Baron Brown's had some inconsistencies
Speaker 5: catching the ball, so you got to You got a
Speaker 5: perfect throw and a great catch exactly when you needed it.
Speaker 5: And we talked about Bandy making plays when you needed it.
Speaker 5: Kentucky made plays. And you heard old miss Kaslayane Kiffin
Speaker 5: lament the fact that they could have closed it out
Speaker 5: on offense, on defense and special teams. And while I
Speaker 5: agree with that, I also commend Kentucky for making them
Speaker 5: play on offensive, defense and special teams to help, you know,
Speaker 5: keep them from winning that football game. So I've been
Speaker 5: really impressed with the improvement that Kentucky's made since that
Speaker 5: awful outing against South Carolina. I thought it was going
Speaker 5: to be a long year, but knowing coach Stops and
Speaker 5: the way that that he's able to rally a team
Speaker 5: and get them to buy in. It's so surprised that
Speaker 5: they're playing a lot better right now.
Speaker 2: It just seems like Chris. Every year they lose, Stoop's
Speaker 2: team will lose a game it shouldn't lose. But to
Speaker 2: your point, he's able to bring him back and talking
Speaker 2: to those players about just going back to work. And
Speaker 2: I remember talking to one of the guys on the
Speaker 2: post game about the fact that he said, you know,
Speaker 2: I couldn't let my guys after the Georgia loss. I
Speaker 2: couldn't let my guys see that I was down. You know.
Speaker 2: One of the vet said that, you know, which I
Speaker 2: think is shows the ownership. They've got Barrion Brown as
Speaker 2: a veteran and made a knucklehead move when he gets
Speaker 2: called for a personal foul coming off the sideline, which
Speaker 2: would it could have been a game ending kind of penalty,
Speaker 2: you know, but they were able to rise above that
Speaker 2: and to your point, made the biggest catch of his
Speaker 2: of his career so far. And then Dane Key as
Speaker 2: a receiver, man, you got to love what he's doing.
Speaker 3: I do.
Speaker 5: I love the rapport that he and Brock vandergriff have created,
Speaker 5: you know, started dating back to what I guess that
Speaker 5: was the Ohio game where he had that big showing
Speaker 5: with the hurdle down there around the end zone. Like
Speaker 5: I've liked these receivers since they were freshmen, as I'm
Speaker 5: sure all Kentucky fans have. I thought they regressed last year,
Speaker 5: maybe a little bit of sophomore slump, maybe reading the
Speaker 5: headlines too much, maybe not you know, being comfortable in
Speaker 5: the Liam Cohen offense, whatever it was. But I think
Speaker 5: there's clearly a focus that wasn't there last year, clearly
Speaker 5: something to prove and and I think that they can,
Speaker 5: you know, start building on some of what you've seen
Speaker 5: in this point of the season and hopefully, you know
Speaker 5: that protection will be a little bit better than it
Speaker 5: was early in the year. It's improved over the last
Speaker 5: couple of weeks, but I think they got something there.
Speaker 5: And you know this a program that's that's trying to
Speaker 5: ascend has to have some proof of concept, Like we
Speaker 5: think we're good, but until we actually go out there
Speaker 5: and do it in the clutch, we don't necessarily know
Speaker 5: that for sure. So I think that game against Old
Speaker 5: miss going on the road in that environment. Winning the
Speaker 5: way that they did can be a real shot in
Speaker 5: the arm for the rest of the season.
Speaker 2: Oh, there's no question about it. And I've covered a
Speaker 2: couple of big wins on the road. That was the biggest,
Speaker 2: of course, but to be in a locker room, and
Speaker 2: that's where they had us set up for post game.
Speaker 2: On the road, we are generally in the locker room
Speaker 2: with music so loud. You know, your own chest is stumping.
Speaker 2: You've been a part of that, I know in the past.
Speaker 2: But just the unmitigated joy these guys were able to share,
Speaker 2: you know, all that hard work paying off and that'll
Speaker 2: pay dividends down the road as long as they get
Speaker 2: right back to work, right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's the thing I missed the most is the
Speaker 5: camaraderie in the locker room, you know, being there with
Speaker 5: your teammates. It's actually something I love about doing the
Speaker 5: TV stuff that I do because there's a lot of
Speaker 5: work that goes into it throughout the week. You know,
Speaker 5: I'm watching tape, I'm reading, We're talking to coaches. You know,
Speaker 5: we get together on Thursday night and kind of plan
Speaker 5: out what we want to do on Friday's show, and
Speaker 5: Saturday we're in the studio like watching all day long,
Speaker 5: taking notes, doing some of the halftime in postgame shows,
Speaker 5: and then we do that one hour show at night
Speaker 5: right and it's like, Hey, all of this work we did,
Speaker 5: you got the adrenaline rush from being on television and
Speaker 5: you get to celebrate with your boys afterwards. You don't
Speaker 5: get that in life much. There's not a whole lot
Speaker 5: of facsimile for that that exists outside of sports. And
Speaker 5: you know, you can talk about the money, you can
Speaker 5: talk about the fame, you can talk about everything else,
Speaker 5: but there's nothing quite like the camaraderie in the locker
Speaker 5: room particular that exists between a football team. And it's
Speaker 5: a lot of fun to win, particularly when you put
Speaker 5: all that hard work in. It's even more fun to
Speaker 5: win when when you have to go through the adversity
Speaker 5: that they did early in the season against South Carolina,
Speaker 5: going on the road, Like, I love playing in the swamp,
Speaker 5: but there wasn't nothing better than going on the road
Speaker 5: and making the opponents fans sad and being able to
Speaker 5: quiet the place down. So yeah, I think that this
Speaker 5: Kentucky team clearly believes in what they're doing. There's a
Speaker 5: lot of veteran players there. These coaches have been with
Speaker 5: these guys for a long time. It's gonna be fun
Speaker 5: to watch. Hopefully as this team continues to ascend, how
Speaker 5: we talk about them from where they came against South
Speaker 5: Carolina to where they.
Speaker 2: End up going more with Chris during of the SEC
Speaker 2: Network when we come back here on a Big bon
Speaker 2: Sider six thirty w l a p. Welcome back to
Speaker 2: the Big Moon Sider. Dick Gabriel, what do you on
Speaker 2: a Wednesday edition of our program? Chris Dring my guest,
Speaker 2: he of course is an analyst or the SEC Network.
Speaker 2: Former Florida Gator, played under Steve Spurrier National Championship Team
Speaker 2: NFL veteran and you see him each week and hear
Speaker 2: him on the radio as well. On the SEC Network.
Speaker 2: We talked a little bit about you mentioned Brad White,
Speaker 2: and man, you know what a well respected decoordinator and
Speaker 2: the job he's done at Kentucky Bush Hamden in his
Speaker 2: first year as the OC. And there have been some
Speaker 2: hiccups on offense, I know, but the way we talked
Speaker 2: about it earlier, the way Kentucky ground out offensive drives
Speaker 2: against Ole miss I got to tell you that took
Speaker 2: me by surprise because Ole Miss comes back this past
Speaker 2: week with an outstanding defensive performance. But the fact that
Speaker 2: Kentucky controlled the ball almost to the minute exactly as
Speaker 2: much as Vandy did against Alabama, I thought that was huge.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's definitely huge. And I think that people have
Speaker 5: minimized the importance of the time of possession yeatistick because
Speaker 5: of all the up tempo offenses and trying to get
Speaker 5: plays off explosiveness of you know, three or four play drives.
Speaker 5: That's all great, but when you look in the box
Speaker 5: score and you see Alabama running forty six plays, you
Speaker 5: know they had That's all they had on the entire afternoon,
Speaker 5: was forty six plays. It minimizes the impact that Jalen
Speaker 5: Milroe and guys like Ryan Williams can have. But it
Speaker 5: also is frustrating too. I can tell you, as an
Speaker 5: offensive player, like I want to get back out there,
Speaker 5: I want to get the ball, I want to move
Speaker 5: the football, I want to catch ball. It's frustrating when
Speaker 5: you're not able to make an impact. And so that
Speaker 5: has had that effect as well. And so I we've
Speaker 5: always looked at Kentucky as a team that's able to
Speaker 5: run the football, it's able to impose their will on
Speaker 5: the opposition, it's able to be more physical. One of
Speaker 5: the great coaching decisions I think the coach Soups made
Speaker 5: was realizing that they had to expand on what they
Speaker 5: were doing throwing the football football down vertically. That's when
Speaker 5: they moved on from Eddie Grant and got Liam Cohen
Speaker 5: the first time. And and the offense has evolved, but
Speaker 5: at the core, it's still being fit the goal. It's
Speaker 5: still running the football, it's still minimizing those mistakes and
Speaker 5: playing great defense. And I think you know, even to
Speaker 5: what you're saying, possessing the football like Ali rush for
Speaker 5: I think what eighty something yards in that game. Like
Speaker 5: if you have told me that Kentucky scored twenty points
Speaker 5: in rush for one hundred yards or under one hundred yards,
Speaker 5: I'd just said they lost by three touchdowns. But this
Speaker 5: was a gutsy, blue collar effort along the lines of
Speaker 5: what we expect from from coach Stukes with his young
Speaker 5: stant Ohio background. And I just it's a lot of
Speaker 5: fun to watch teams that kind of figure things out
Speaker 5: after some trial and adversity.
Speaker 2: I heard you bring up that stat on the show,
Speaker 2: and you're absolutely right. But they had so much success
Speaker 2: throwing the football as they moved the pocket, as they
Speaker 2: went play action. Still struggling Chris with passing on downs
Speaker 2: where everybody knows they're going to throw. Georgia killed them
Speaker 2: on those downs and Ole Miss had something sass. But
Speaker 2: Kentucky is still able to move the chains or you know,
Speaker 2: stay out a third and long against the ale mission.
Speaker 2: I gotta think they got to do that against Vandy again.
Speaker 5: Man, I think the thing that you have to do
Speaker 5: offensively is you got to be unpredictable. You gotta take
Speaker 5: some shots on first and second down. You gotta stay
Speaker 5: in front of the chains. Like Kentucky's not a team
Speaker 5: that's gonna live converting you know, third and eight all
Speaker 5: day long. I don't think there are very few teams
Speaker 5: that that that can do that. But I do think
Speaker 5: what you're you're seeing is a team that understands kind
Speaker 5: of who they are. You know, they they they hit
Speaker 5: some deep shots with Barrion Brown and Dan Key. You
Speaker 5: get some some some some big runs from Sumo Kongba.
Speaker 5: Like I like the pieces here and again, I think
Speaker 5: maybe the most important thing is figuring out, you know,
Speaker 5: the quarterback spot. There would talk I know that in
Speaker 5: the UH, in the in the offseason, we thought, you know,
Speaker 5: maybe there'd be some some two quarterback play. We've been
Speaker 5: it at times. But I do think that that right now,
Speaker 5: Rock Vander Griffin is figuring things out, and he's getting
Speaker 5: confidence in himself and his teammates. And I just I'm
Speaker 5: not a huge fan of riding with the two quarterback system.
Speaker 5: You watch what Mike Elko did with putting Connor Wegman
Speaker 5: in there after Marcel Reid had had won the last
Speaker 5: three ball games. Like I'm frustrated with what Florida continues
Speaker 5: to do. Graham Mertz gives them the best opportunity to
Speaker 5: win and should be in there more and and and
Speaker 5: the coaching staffs inten on playing more DJ, who I
Speaker 5: think is going to be a great player down the road.
Speaker 5: But right now, you know, still young, and we're talking
Speaker 5: about Graham Mertz as a six year senior. So I
Speaker 5: know I'm all over the place and answering your question,
Speaker 5: but I do think there are spots where you can
Speaker 5: put another quarterback in. I didn't agree with what the
Speaker 5: offensive staff did at South Carolina this weekend, putting Robbie
Speaker 5: Ashford in for le Norcelos. The first plays in they
Speaker 5: run zone Reid and the ball is on the round
Speaker 5: and the game never was the same to me. Lenora
Speaker 5: Sellers and Robbie asked for the very similar guys, like
Speaker 5: if you have the contrast between you know, two very
Speaker 5: different quarterbacks, that makes sense compliment each other, but the
Speaker 5: same guy switching off, it doesn't make it doesn't make
Speaker 5: any sense to me.
Speaker 2: Well, and Gavin Wimson came in a little while a
Speaker 2: few times for Kentucky against Ale Miss, but he is
Speaker 2: a different kind of quarterback. And of course the only
Speaker 2: play was in on.
Speaker 5: If Caddy wouldn't have caught that boss.
Speaker 2: Exactly that situation. That's what I was going to get to.
Speaker 2: The only the only play is in on and it's
Speaker 2: almost a disaster. And Chris had happened right in front
Speaker 2: of me. I mean, I'm ten feet away and I've
Speaker 2: seen it so often, disasters and I and you know
Speaker 2: how quickly your brain works. I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: they've given it up at the goal line, but it
Speaker 2: catches Kadis right on the edge.
Speaker 5: I said the same, I literally in the studio said
Speaker 5: to said to the guys in there, I'm like, how
Speaker 5: is Kentucky gonna find a way to mess this up?
Speaker 5: We found it last time they went there two years ago.
Speaker 5: They found a way to mess it up. Driving down there,
Speaker 5: Will Levice gets dripped in the red zone like it's
Speaker 5: become We're conditioned to see that. And again it's part
Speaker 5: of like I give this staff a lot of credit.
Speaker 5: We're conditioned to watch Florida beat Kentucky every year. Then
Speaker 5: what they do. They've turned the tides and one, what
Speaker 5: three the last five? I guess it is like it
Speaker 5: it's sometimes you need folks that can come in and
Speaker 5: change the narrative, and I think this team has a
Speaker 5: little something special about it this year.
Speaker 2: Talking to Chris during at the SEC Network few More
Speaker 2: Minutes with Chris, you mentioned Kentucky's running attack. How surprised
Speaker 2: are you with train them still out with Demi Sumo
Speaker 2: Karnbay running between the tackles Chris and at times moving
Speaker 2: the pile.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I guess I shouldn't be because I remember,
Speaker 5: I guess when Benny Snail got inserted in there the
Speaker 5: first time, he was taking over from somebody else before,
Speaker 5: right he got inserted as a freshman right when they remember.
Speaker 2: Billan Williams and uh and jo Joe Camp back then.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yep, yep, very different styles of runners there. But uh,
Speaker 5: I do think that Kentucky knows how to recruit guys
Speaker 5: that fit who they want to be personal personality, personality wise,
Speaker 5: and so I'm not surprised by it. I'm also not
Speaker 5: surprised that they're improving as the offensive line improves.
Speaker 2: So it's.
Speaker 5: It's gonna be fun to see when they get their
Speaker 5: their full compliment back. You probably can tell me a
Speaker 5: little bit more than what I know. I don't know
Speaker 5: how healthy they are after the bye week, but it'd
Speaker 5: be nice to see this team at full compliment.
Speaker 2: So have said that train him had a setback in practice,
Speaker 2: so we may not see him this week. But I'll
Speaker 2: tell you who has been a pleasant surprise to me
Speaker 2: is Ja Marion Wilcox, freshman running back and man is
Speaker 2: our guy Jeff Picoor. Our color analysts like to say,
Speaker 2: and you've heard it before, he runs angry, and uh,
Speaker 2: he'll his yards after carry or yards after contact. I
Speaker 2: should say, have been really, really impressive. I wanted to
Speaker 2: ask you another question about Dane Key, because it seemed
Speaker 2: like Old Miss had devoted itself to grabbing and hacking
Speaker 2: and clawing at him like a basketball team that figures, well,
Speaker 2: they can't call every foul, and they got nailed a
Speaker 2: few times for interference or holding or whatever. But it
Speaker 2: tells me how much stronger he is now and better
Speaker 2: he is at running routes. Am I seeing that right?
Speaker 5: No question? Yeah, I mean I think that's one of
Speaker 5: the things you see as a freshman. You know, you
Speaker 5: may be a great athlete, you may have great ball skills,
Speaker 5: but physically you're not going to be the same as
Speaker 5: you are once you go through an offseason with the
Speaker 5: conditioning staff that you get a couple of those under
Speaker 5: your belts that you learned. That's what I said about
Speaker 5: Ryan Williams at Alabama. Like Ryan Williams is amazingly talented
Speaker 5: and contract the football well and has great body control
Speaker 5: in this fast and smooth but when he actually learns
Speaker 5: how to run routes, when he knows how to set
Speaker 5: people up, when he learns leverage, like, this guy's gonna
Speaker 5: be tough. I mean, he's already tough to stop, but
Speaker 5: I just I can't wait to see what he becomes
Speaker 5: and what a great you know, think about this, This
Speaker 5: this freshman class of receivers that were watching across the
Speaker 5: country right now, Jeremiah Smith at Alabama's or at I
Speaker 5: think it's been amazing. Obviously, Ryan Williams at Alabama, Wingo
Speaker 5: at Texas, Cam Coleman at AUBURNS had some times like
Speaker 5: these guys, I don't know how they're coming out of
Speaker 5: high school so ready, both physically and I guess maybe
Speaker 5: playing in some of the seven and seven something that
Speaker 5: they do and the way that they proliferation of the
Speaker 5: passing game has seeped all the way down to high
Speaker 5: school football. But these dudes are a lot more prepared
Speaker 5: than I was when I was coming out.
Speaker 2: I got to ask you before I let you go,
Speaker 2: about a couple of coaches, your beloved Gators trying to
Speaker 2: survive under coach Napier. Down there are a lot of people
Speaker 2: thought he'd be gone by now. Of course, not that
Speaker 2: Kentucky's looking ahead, But next up on the schedules a
Speaker 2: trip to Gainesville. What's going on down there? Is he
Speaker 2: going to survive? And then what do you see?
Speaker 5: Think I'll tell this, I'll say this, I am surprised actually.
Speaker 5: With as bad as Florida was in two of the
Speaker 5: first three ball games, with the third being Stamford, I
Speaker 5: think there are a lot of people that were ready
Speaker 5: to make a change. I think Florida was getting embarrassed
Speaker 5: in terms of the lines of scrimmage. I think that
Speaker 5: they were trying to do too much as it related
Speaker 5: to playing too many guys, and I think they're starting
Speaker 5: to figure some things out now. With that being said,
Speaker 5: you know, the last two wins they've had are against
Speaker 5: Mississippi State, who's the probably the worst team in the conference,
Speaker 5: and then against the UCF team that I'm not sure
Speaker 5: is gonna win a whole lot of games the rest
Speaker 5: of the way. As I watched that tape, they're not
Speaker 5: very physical and not very athletics, So I don't know.
Speaker 5: I think you needed it as a bit of confidence.
Speaker 5: But maybe the thing I was most impressed with was
Speaker 5: the swamp energy the fans showed up. I mean, it
Speaker 5: had some electricity in there like the old days, and
Speaker 5: you know, sometimes it's easy to kind of lose interest,
Speaker 5: and I felt like there was a lot of apathy
Speaker 5: creeping into the Florida fan base. But to see them
Speaker 5: show up for a game like that against UCF and
Speaker 5: bring it. It definitely provided a home field advantage. So
Speaker 5: I'm excited to see what Florida can do on the road.
Speaker 5: Not a lot of people giving them much of a
Speaker 5: shot against Tennessee this week, but I do think there's
Speaker 5: some things, like you know this as well as I'm
Speaker 5: watching this conference this year, like I don't know who
Speaker 5: teams are with the week. I mean, they're so inconsistent
Speaker 5: right now, and I think a lot of it has
Speaker 5: to do with the quarterback play. But I do think
Speaker 5: what you saw from Nico on Saturday night at Arkansas
Speaker 5: was a freshman that's still learning, that has great potential,
Speaker 5: that has moments of being sharp, but didn't necessarily have
Speaker 5: his eyes in the right place, didn't anticipate throws very well,
Speaker 5: didn't throw with great accuracy, and at the end of
Speaker 5: the day, you know, there was a lot of energy
Speaker 5: on that Arkansas defense and Travis Williams did a great
Speaker 5: job with the game plan, but there were still a
Speaker 5: lot of guys winning one on one battles, and so
Speaker 5: Florida needs to find that same energy. Sometimes it's good
Speaker 5: to go on the road and kind of have that
Speaker 5: us against the world mentality Florida, as you know, I
Speaker 5: think what's seventeen and three in the last twenty matchups
Speaker 5: between them and the balls. So something a little mastery
Speaker 5: that exists for the Florida side, and I hope it
Speaker 5: becomes the ballgame man. Me being you know, clearly biased here,
Speaker 5: I hope I get a chance to celebrate a Dator
Speaker 5: victory on Saturday night.
Speaker 2: Tennessee's got to get right after that performance just a
Speaker 2: minute or two lit But I gotta ask you your
Speaker 2: reaction to the people who were talking about of course,
Speaker 2: and it was you can set your watch by it.
Speaker 2: This Vandy loss would not have happened if saving had
Speaker 2: been there and you got a player acting out on
Speaker 2: the field and that kind of thing. Is this an
Speaker 2: early I don't know what to call it, a turning point,
Speaker 2: but an important point for Calen de Bore.
Speaker 5: I think it's a massive important point. It was impossible
Speaker 5: for anybody to replace Nick Stavin on the Alabama sideline.
Speaker 5: I think you got to give cut Staban the credit
Speaker 5: for understanding that the game was changing so much that
Speaker 5: maybe he wasn't gonna be as effective as he was
Speaker 5: before and maybe didn't have the patience for it. It's tough,
Speaker 5: and Kirby Smart talked about it this week like it
Speaker 5: is difficult. Teams aren't gonna go undefeated as much anymore
Speaker 5: with the competitiveness of the league is way up.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 5: But really the roster Thinness that you don't have to
Speaker 5: depth of talent that you used to have. Herby talked
Speaker 5: about how you have to develop the bottom half of
Speaker 5: your your roster better now because those guys are are
Speaker 5: gonna inevitably be forced into action. So I do think
Speaker 5: that that Alabama has a lot of young players at
Speaker 5: at different spots. I think they're trying to figure out
Speaker 5: who they're they're going to be from a culture standpoint.
Speaker 5: Quite a shock, I imagine for a lot of those guys
Speaker 5: that were recruited to the play for Nick Staban and
Speaker 5: now find themselves in a much more friendly environment there
Speaker 5: and some probably trying to take advantage of that to
Speaker 5: some degree. But that was a bad look. The losing
Speaker 5: was one thing, but the way that Malachi Moore acted
Speaker 5: was a bad look, and maybe most embarrassing was just
Speaker 5: waving off the substitution when he was coming out there
Speaker 5: telling kay Wama, the defensive coordinator no, and basically just
Speaker 5: completely telling the coaching staff to havevolved. So they've got
Speaker 5: to get that under control this week. But I have
Speaker 5: no doubt that Calen the board is going to be successful.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 2: Chris Doring, you see him and hear him on the
Speaker 2: SEC network, SEC Radio, SEC television. It is an entertaining
Speaker 2: Saturday evening when he and his teammates cover the entire SEC.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much as always, and look forward to
Speaker 2: bumping into you again sometime.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it sounds good. They always fun to be on
Speaker 5: with you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2: Our number two with Sean Woods in West End, BUA.
Speaker 2: Chief Gary Moore is on the way here on a
Speaker 2: Big Blewing Sider six thirty say welcome back to the
Speaker 2: Big Bluins Cider. It is Wednesday, which means we are
Speaker 2: visiting with unforgettable guard Shawn Woods. His jersey hangs in
Speaker 2: the rafters of Rupp and Sean. You were back in
Speaker 2: Memorial Coliseum now Historic Memorial Coliseum for pro Day and
Speaker 2: first of all, what did you think of the renovations
Speaker 2: because you spent many many hours there practicing.
Speaker 3: Man, it looks great. You know. I was sitting there
Speaker 3: with Rock Oliver and we would just talk about old
Speaker 3: times about where the weight room used to be. Even
Speaker 3: before he got there. You know, men'som men's and women's basketball,
Speaker 3: we had to be lift weights the little waits that
Speaker 3: we had underneath the bleaches over there in the corner.
Speaker 3: And then when coach Latino rock Them came they renovated
Speaker 3: a little bit and added a really state of the
Speaker 3: arts at the time weight room with glass windows that
Speaker 3: can look outside to the gym. I think that was
Speaker 3: built in like nineteen nineteen ninety or something like that,
Speaker 3: and now that's completely gone, and you know it looks like,
Speaker 3: you know, a great venue, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: it's a great college venue. Unfortunately, you know, it doesn't
Speaker 3: hold enough to hold Kentucky basketball games, but man, it
Speaker 3: would be a great home court advantage to play in
Speaker 3: that little cracker box. It's a cracker box now, but
Speaker 3: it wasn't fact then.
Speaker 2: Well, it will be for the women and for women's volleyball.
Speaker 2: Of course. You bring up a couple of interesting points.
Speaker 2: Number one, how did you feel about weightlifting when you
Speaker 2: got to college? Had you done much in high school?
Speaker 2: And then what kind of a challenge was that for you?
Speaker 3: Well, we lifted in high school a little bit, you
Speaker 3: know what I mean. And you know our school where
Speaker 3: I went, you know, it was really big in football.
Speaker 3: It was great to audition great wrestling tradition, any basketball tradition,
Speaker 3: So weightlifting was was not foreign to me when I
Speaker 3: got here. It was just it became more intense when
Speaker 3: you ran into to Etcherberry. If everybody remembers him, one
Speaker 3: of the best strength coaches of all time, and I
Speaker 3: was fortunate enough for him to touch me. And then
Speaker 3: Rock Oliver came and shoot, he blew it out of
Speaker 3: the water. I mean, he's the best that they ever
Speaker 3: done it.
Speaker 2: I was going to ask you tell me about your
Speaker 2: relationship with Rock. Were you guys afraid of him? Intimidated
Speaker 2: by him? Because I'm certain it can be kind of
Speaker 2: a scary guy.
Speaker 3: We were intimidated big time. You know. Rock had a great,
Speaker 3: you know, jolly personality, but man, he could get you going.
Speaker 3: And he was a guy that you know, I mean,
Speaker 3: you don't want to mess around with you strictly business.
Speaker 3: And I say all the time that Rock Oliver was
Speaker 3: Coach Patino's best assistant, and Coach Patino had probably the
Speaker 3: best coaching staff in America during that time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, you look at his coach. That was an
Speaker 2: all star coaching staff, wasn't it.
Speaker 3: Oh, no doubt about it, you know, and nobody knew it.
Speaker 3: You know, who would have thought Billy Diving as a
Speaker 3: young grad assistant or whatever he he you know, to
Speaker 3: be a be where he is coaching the Chicago Boys
Speaker 3: making six million the year. Probably the smartest person in
Speaker 3: that bunch was Herb Sinde. Yeah yeah, but the most
Speaker 3: level headed, the smooth coach was Ralph Willard.
Speaker 2: Why do you say that?
Speaker 3: Because he was. I mean, the coach is so smart.
Speaker 3: That's the reason why coach Patino always keeps trust him.
Speaker 3: When he was coaching that team, the Mexican team on
Speaker 3: the Puerto Rican team at one time. I mean coach coach,
Speaker 3: I mean didn't look what he did at at Western
Speaker 3: and tied with Holly nothing. I mean, he's really he's
Speaker 3: really really smart and intelligent guy. And he's a big
Speaker 3: time second guy. You know, he was Coach Patino's main man.
Speaker 3: And and those two like Avid and Stello. You know,
Speaker 3: the personality was so different coaches this raging guy and
Speaker 3: Ralph was this laid back guy that still got his
Speaker 3: point across Yeah, and then you throw Tubby Smith in there. Man.
Speaker 3: You know, now you've add some flavor. Probably you know,
Speaker 3: it comes back and wins the National Championship and going
Speaker 3: to be, you know, a Hall of Fame coach. So
Speaker 3: when you got three Hall of famers for sure in
Speaker 3: that bunch, yeah, you know, I think Billy Donovan eventionally
Speaker 3: be all Hall of Famer. Yeah, I definitely think Tubby
Speaker 3: Smith should be a Hall of Famer. But the two
Speaker 3: most underrated guys on that staff was Ralph Willard and
Speaker 3: Hurts And that interesting.
Speaker 2: You as a head coach have put together more than
Speaker 2: one coaching staff. What goes into that, Sean, You.
Speaker 3: Got to have guys that can trust, that you can trust,
Speaker 3: first of all. Second of all, you want some guys
Speaker 3: that know that can bring something to the table. You know,
Speaker 3: you need some guys that can go out and recruit.
Speaker 3: Of course, you know that can go beat the bushes
Speaker 3: and get but it's still up to you to close
Speaker 3: as a head coach. But you just want some guys
Speaker 3: that you know what I mean, that that that that
Speaker 3: have the same passion and desire and work ethic that
Speaker 3: you have of being great.
Speaker 2: Can you explain the loyalty part you were talking about.
Speaker 2: You have to have people you can trust. Uh. And
Speaker 2: yet you see some coaches who hire people that have
Speaker 2: never worked with them, other people they'll bring from a
Speaker 2: previous job or somebody they've worked with before. You know,
Speaker 2: I mean, are you rolling the dice on a new
Speaker 2: person or is it too easy to surround yourself with
Speaker 2: people you already know?
Speaker 3: Well, I don't say it's too easy, but sometimes you know,
Speaker 3: when you're successful, you've had somebody has around you already. Yeah,
Speaker 3: you know that you can trust, has helped you get
Speaker 3: where you are, and there's a bond and an expectation
Speaker 3: and and the know all you know those guys that
Speaker 3: they know you, they know what makes you take they
Speaker 3: know they know the system, and they could get across
Speaker 3: to the players. You don't want a coach as a
Speaker 3: point at least resistance. And what I mean by that
Speaker 3: is he doesn't like working for you because X, Y
Speaker 3: and Z, And then a player is upset because of X,
Speaker 3: Y and Z, and then he sides with the player.
Speaker 3: That happens a lot, or he sides with the parents,
Speaker 3: or he's just jealous, or he's using you to get
Speaker 3: a job. And sometimes you got guys that are out
Speaker 3: there that are backstabbing you, going to the a D,
Speaker 3: letting the a D know what's going on in camp,
Speaker 3: you know, from a negative standpoint, just trying to you know,
Speaker 3: offset to better themselves and position themselves. And that happens,
Speaker 3: and you know, it's tough. And then sometimes you take
Speaker 3: a job to where, you know, especially small jobs, which
Speaker 3: will happen to me. You know, I was forced to
Speaker 3: keep the staff that was already there, which wasn't good,
Speaker 3: which was a resident for disaster, so you know, and
Speaker 3: and sometimes you know, you see coaches now who've been
Speaker 3: successful for a long time and had a lot of guys,
Speaker 3: you know, had guys that they either played for them
Speaker 3: or work for them for a long time, and then
Speaker 3: all of a sudden they go off the beating path
Speaker 3: and they start getting these guys they think they got players,
Speaker 3: and you just hired a guy because he has a player. Yeah,
Speaker 3: well that's when things start to go wrong.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that happens too, doesn't it Probably more.
Speaker 3: Than people a lot. It happens a lot.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Is it an unpleasant procedure experience? I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: how did you feel when you I mean, I know,
Speaker 2: you're you're always happy to to get a head coaching job,
Speaker 2: but now you've got to turn around and hire a staff.
Speaker 2: Was it a burden?
Speaker 3: It is, Well, it's a burden. It's not a burden.
Speaker 3: But you just got to make sure that she got
Speaker 3: the right guys around you. Yeah, you know, you show
Speaker 3: me a successful program. You know, I'll show you that.
Speaker 3: You know, it's either you have a staff that's been
Speaker 3: around you for a long time, or you're you're hiring
Speaker 3: guys that played for you.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 3: It's it's it's it's it's it's real different, you know,
Speaker 3: and it's it can get sticky, you know, it can
Speaker 3: get tricky. Uh, And it's unfortunate that you have people
Speaker 3: that are unloyal like that and you're giving them an opportunity.
Speaker 2: I know you went to practices a lot when Cali
Speaker 2: Perry was here. I'm assuming you're hoping to do that
Speaker 2: with Mark Pope to drop in every now and then.
Speaker 2: And I was there the other day prior to pro day,
Speaker 2: a lot of input around the court, around the gym
Speaker 2: from the assistant coaches with Cali Perry. All of that
Speaker 2: happened pre practice, but once it began, his was the
Speaker 2: only voice. How are you when you work practices?
Speaker 3: No, I gave my guy free rain, you know, because
Speaker 3: I want everybody engaged. You know, I want my practice
Speaker 3: to be high octane, high enthusiasm, you know, high energy.
Speaker 3: So you know, if you if you're the only one
Speaker 3: who's the rye rock guy and the other coaches that's
Speaker 3: standing around just watching, now, that's that's not a good look.
Speaker 3: You know. I want everybody engaged and excited and enthusiastic,
Speaker 3: you know, all for the same common goal and what
Speaker 3: gets you through practice, especially when you're doing the same
Speaker 3: thing repetitiously over and over again. To be great at it,
Speaker 3: you got to make it exciting. You know, your atmosphere's
Speaker 3: got to be very, very enthusiastic, and that's what gets
Speaker 3: you through. And you know, some people don't. You know,
Speaker 3: you hear one voice, and that voice is positive and negative,
Speaker 3: and sometimes you just start to tune them out.
Speaker 2: Sean Woods, my guest, the Unforgettable Guard is Jersey Hangs,
Speaker 2: inter Raptors of rupp. But we'll come back and talk
Speaker 2: about UK Pro Day in just a minute. Here on
Speaker 2: the Big Blue Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back. We're
Speaker 2: talking with Sean Woods. We do that each and every Wednesday,
Speaker 2: the Unforgettable Guard and we talked a little bit about
Speaker 2: coaching in general. And you were at Pro Day. You
Speaker 2: got a chance to take a peek at Mark Pope's
Speaker 2: ball club. And really Pro Day was basically a practice
Speaker 2: just in front of a lot of scouts. Did anything
Speaker 2: in particular jump out at you.
Speaker 3: No, not really, you know, I just thought it was
Speaker 3: a typical practice, you know, not a lot of things
Speaker 3: for the pros to see. As far as you know,
Speaker 3: what Kyle would do is and most other guys would
Speaker 3: do if you did have significant, highly projected pro prospects
Speaker 3: on your team, you know, you would do a couple
Speaker 3: of things to show scouts. You know, I thought, Mark,
Speaker 3: did you know what he does is you know they're
Speaker 3: going to hang their head on shooting basketball, so that
Speaker 3: you saw a lot of shooting more soon than anything else. Yeah,
Speaker 3: And that's that's about it for right now, for what
Speaker 3: I can tell you know what I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: he that's what he's going to hang his head on,
Speaker 3: and that's who he is. And when you go to
Speaker 3: his practices, you know it's more offense, it's more generated
Speaker 3: on you know, making you know, making shots more than
Speaker 3: anything else. So you know that that that's what I
Speaker 3: gathered from it.
Speaker 2: You know, I saw a lot of people on Twitter
Speaker 2: raving about Mark Pope's offense, and I gotta thank Sean.
Speaker 2: It was simply because maybe I'm oversimplifying, but because they
Speaker 2: put up so many shots, people love that. Uh, you know,
Speaker 2: but they got to go in, don't they. Obviously you got.
Speaker 3: To have a physical presence, and you've got to have
Speaker 3: some great defense, and you gotta be physical, and you've
Speaker 3: got to be tenacious, you know, And so it's going
Speaker 3: to be interesting, you know for me. You know, I'm I'm,
Speaker 3: I'm I'm you know, I'm all four putting up threes.
Speaker 3: But my coaching style and his coaching style is is
Speaker 3: quite different. You know, I played fast, and you know,
Speaker 3: we try to have a seventy five eighty points a game.
Speaker 3: But you gotta play defense, and you gotta have some
Speaker 3: physicality down there from you know, you gotta have an
Speaker 3: inside presence, and I thought last year with Cal that
Speaker 3: was a major, major, major downfall with had no physicality inside.
Speaker 3: And when you don't have any physicality inside, whether offensively
Speaker 3: going to get your bucket or defensively protecting the basket.
Speaker 3: You're gonna struggle. I don't care how good your offense is.
Speaker 3: And it showed, and it put a lot more pressure
Speaker 3: on those young guards last year because they had to
Speaker 3: do so much, because they were so so weak and
Speaker 3: seeing on the interior.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I have to admit that all of us,
Speaker 2: anybody and including myself, and I went up to Toronto
Speaker 2: and watched this team, and I dismissed the lack of
Speaker 2: interior presence by saying, well, when the Biggs get here,
Speaker 2: they'll be different defensively. They remember they were missing all
Speaker 2: three And I was totally wrong, exactly to your point.
Speaker 2: There was just never a consistent presence down there. One guy,
Speaker 2: two guys, three guys. No rim protector. And Kentucky was
Speaker 2: a finesse team last year, wasn't it.
Speaker 3: They were? And I thought they got worse when the
Speaker 3: Bigs came back because you had to play them, but
Speaker 3: they gave you no physical presence. I thought that the
Speaker 3: kid from West Virginia, you know, when he was had
Speaker 3: to play the four and the five, a dude brought
Speaker 3: a physical presence that did the other The real true
Speaker 3: Bigs didn't bring. So I thought they got weaker once
Speaker 3: those bigs came back because you played them, but they
Speaker 3: were like tissue paper. You know, none of them were
Speaker 3: strong enough. You know, you had Big Z coming from overseas,
Speaker 3: hadn't played all year and kept getting sick, kept losing weight,
Speaker 3: never could get his strength. You know, you had the
Speaker 3: other two guys that were just you know, one one
Speaker 3: just didn't have a lot of experience, but he did
Speaker 3: bring some some tenasty from a shot blocking standpoint. But
Speaker 3: the kids from New Jersey just couldn't get it going.
Speaker 3: I mean he realized that, hey, you know, this game
Speaker 3: is more physical than I thought. Yeah, and I thought
Speaker 3: he you know, he's the one who had, you know,
Speaker 3: had a hard time find his way.
Speaker 2: One of the observation, well I saw it more than once,
Speaker 2: was that Pope has got a lot of talented players,
Speaker 2: but nobody who's really elite. You know, probably won't be
Speaker 2: a lottery pick or something like that.
Speaker 3: Did you agree with that, Oh, no doubt about it.
Speaker 3: The landscape looks totally different. You know, you don't have
Speaker 3: great playmakers. You know, you don't have pros that can
Speaker 3: go make plays. You know, he's going to really rely
Speaker 3: on his offense. His motion and hopefully you know, he
Speaker 3: could shoot the basketball good enough to give him a chance.
Speaker 3: You know, that's why recruiting is so so important in
Speaker 3: the game. You know, you got to have players. I
Speaker 3: don't care what type of coach you are. You know,
Speaker 3: you can have like that old saying, you can have
Speaker 3: you know, all the excellent those but if you don't
Speaker 3: have the right Jim and Jones, you're in trouble, that's right.
Speaker 3: And right now he's really got to get these guys.
Speaker 3: That's why he's been so positive, you know, and getting
Speaker 3: these guys to just overachieve, you know, because it's going
Speaker 3: to take a team to that team to overachieve to
Speaker 3: really be successful or have the success that Kentechee fans
Speaker 3: are looking for what he starts to get, you know,
Speaker 3: being and it's his first year, so you know, this
Speaker 3: is his opportunity to really you know, get his his
Speaker 3: his his deal going as far as his system. And
Speaker 3: you know, unfortunately, after this year, he's got to start
Speaker 3: all over again because he's got some transfers. But you know,
Speaker 3: it's fun to watch the offense, the movement and shooting threes.
Speaker 3: I just hope that somehow, some way that you know,
Speaker 3: they can become more physical and and be athletic enough
Speaker 3: to sustain the athleticism and the sec Have you.
Speaker 2: Decided yet what you think this team can accomplish, because
Speaker 2: I've heard, you know, say, oh if we make the tournament,
Speaker 2: Oh if we get a win or two. But you
Speaker 2: know how Kentucky fans are shown the closer that season comes,
Speaker 2: the more excited they.
Speaker 3: Get, no doubt about it. And my thing is this,
Speaker 3: you know, we live in a microwave society. Okay. One
Speaker 3: thing coach Patino had going for him when he first
Speaker 3: got him was we didn't lose a game at home,
Speaker 3: so and our games on the road were and televised,
Speaker 3: so he had a pass when when he got this play.
Speaker 3: In front of the fans, we won. They never saw
Speaker 3: us lose. But on the road we didn't win a game, right,
Speaker 3: But it wasn't that big of a deal, you know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, because you came home in front of
Speaker 3: your fans, you so everybody thought, you know, and we
Speaker 3: were successful and fun to watch and fun to watch.
Speaker 3: So I'm thinking and hoping that Mark has the same
Speaker 3: type of impact. You know, when the games at home,
Speaker 3: you know, use the crowd and home court advantage to
Speaker 3: your advantage and then grow and try to steal one
Speaker 3: or two on the road, just overachieving out playing somebody
Speaker 3: you know, and with your scheme. But right now, you
Speaker 3: know what I'm saying, it's the positivity is what I'm
Speaker 3: very impressed with in his camp. You know, just just
Speaker 3: getting guys to just play as hard as they can
Speaker 3: for as long as they can and not kind of
Speaker 3: making it a drag. So, you know, we got to
Speaker 3: shoot the ball well to be successful. I'll tell you
Speaker 3: that that's for sure.
Speaker 2: Well, if you're going to shoot that many times, they
Speaker 2: better go in. I mean, you can be a volume shooter,
Speaker 2: as you well know, but you've got to make them
Speaker 2: as well. I mean, Aaron Rodgers threw the ball fifty
Speaker 2: four times in the Jets last lost, but only completed
Speaker 2: twenty nine of them. You know, you got to connect.
Speaker 3: You remember the games we used to lose. We used
Speaker 3: to lose because we didn't shoot the ball. Well, yeah,
Speaker 3: you know, we didn't shoot the ball. Well, we were
Speaker 3: in trouble because we at that first year, we just
Speaker 3: didn't have enough. We didn't have enough interior. You know,
Speaker 3: we didn't have enough you know, taking you off the bounce,
Speaker 3: things like that. We got better at it because we
Speaker 3: were young. We were sophomoors when coach came. So each
Speaker 3: year we got better that summer, we got better for
Speaker 3: that next year, and we won last you see that,
Speaker 3: you know. But but you know those guys that you
Speaker 3: know had to change ropes, John Pelfrey, who had played
Speaker 3: the big all his last in high school. Dan you know,
Speaker 3: never shot threes. You know, all these guys, you know,
Speaker 3: we didn't have any. You know, I was the only
Speaker 3: pretty much playmaker that could put the ball on the
Speaker 3: on the floor. But you know that next year, everybody
Speaker 3: got better. Everybody got better. So now you know that's
Speaker 3: the difference with this makeup, well Mark post makeup compared
Speaker 3: to Coach Fatino's makeup. We all came back for that
Speaker 3: year and the year after these guys here they're gonna
Speaker 3: be gone. So now you got to start all over
Speaker 3: and hopefully you can get some freshmen that can help you.
Speaker 3: You know, you're gonna have to get a top twenty
Speaker 3: five freshman here there. You know, you got one, you know,
Speaker 3: but you're gonna have to get a couple more. And
Speaker 3: then you got to wait from a recruiting standpoint, and
Speaker 3: see who's gonna get in the transfer portal. So now
Speaker 3: you know it's not You know you can get your
Speaker 3: freshmen already. Now you got to go get get some
Speaker 3: some some older kids. And where you're gonna get that from.
Speaker 3: You have no idea because the decision is just starting. You
Speaker 3: have no idea. Who's transformed?
Speaker 2: He Sean Woods. He joined us every Wednesday, and watch
Speaker 2: for his jersey and the Raptors are up because RUP's
Speaker 2: going to be open soon for basketball. Thank you, coach,
Speaker 2: no poble, appreciate you. Dick West NBA Chief Gary Moore
Speaker 2: up next here on six thirty w LA P Welcome
Speaker 2: back to the Big Moonsider, joining us now as he
Speaker 2: does each and every Wednesday, schedule permitting. YEP is our
Speaker 2: Western Bureau Chief. Gary moorees at the other end of
Speaker 2: I sixty four and keeps an eye on sports. He
Speaker 2: for the longest time was our West Coast Bureau chief
Speaker 2: and back in LA the Louisville area and joins us
Speaker 2: each week with a list of topics, knee complaints.
Speaker 1: Two guys in a six pack, US two guys, six topics,
Speaker 1: six swigs as they were our first Swig Dick a
Speaker 1: big thanks first of all to kick off the show
Speaker 1: for the epic fail down in Music City by the
Speaker 1: Alabama Crimson Tide. Apparently the fan base has not been
Speaker 1: this upset since the cancelation of Here Comes Honey, Boo
Speaker 1: boo remember that years ago. Thanks for giving us Bama
Speaker 1: a heads up that UK's next opponent is not only
Speaker 1: not your father's Vanderbilt, they're not even your grandkids as Vandy.
Speaker 1: They're actually pretty good. Apparently Cat's thirteen and a half
Speaker 1: point favorites. Though Saturday night you'll be down there on
Speaker 1: the field seven forty five. Also in the SEC network,
Speaker 1: It's still gonna be about UK's defense. We know that
Speaker 1: fifth overall in the nation, Cats are number six against
Speaker 1: the run, which is important because Vandy ran for one
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty six yards against the Tide. Basically, the
Speaker 1: Cats have to pretty much duplicate that old mess game dominate,
Speaker 1: time of possession, limit, undersides offense the rest of the season.
Speaker 2: Right, Oh yeah, interesting. You know I've talked about it
Speaker 2: all week, that the time of possession stat which sometimes
Speaker 2: you throw it out the window, like if they score
Speaker 2: on special teams or defense and the offense doesn't need
Speaker 2: to get back on the field. But interesting, it was
Speaker 2: almost a mirror image Vandy and Kentucky both forty to twenty. Yeah,
Speaker 2: time of possession and that's what it takes.
Speaker 1: Absolutely hopefully that'll happen for our side on Saturday night,
Speaker 1: our second swig in the six packs. So Southern Methodist University,
Speaker 1: as you know, was here last weekend, reminded me of
Speaker 1: arguably their most popular alum, Dandy Don Meridith So who
Speaker 1: was so popular during his college day. You know this
Speaker 1: will be not in Dallas that SMU was nicknamed for
Speaker 1: a while Southern Meredith University. But I think back to
Speaker 1: what Don said he's miked up for NFL films when
Speaker 1: he played for Dallas. He said some of the effective
Speaker 1: not now listen and listen good. We're going to run
Speaker 1: the ball, were going pass the ball. We're going right
Speaker 1: down this field and we're going to score, which is
Speaker 1: exactly what as Almama Mater did on the opening drive
Speaker 1: against Louisville, and again and again and again they basically
Speaker 1: punked the cards on their own field. Louisville was so
Speaker 1: dominated on both sides of the ball that fans took
Speaker 1: to social media so vehemently that star defensive end Ashton
Speaker 1: Julyatti's mom had to post her own defense of her
Speaker 1: boy and the team, which is now, by the way,
Speaker 1: a seven and a half point favorite at Virginia. On Saturday,
Speaker 1: wdrb's Eric Crawford, who you know, wrote that now with
Speaker 1: players taking the dough, they're basically pro athletes got to
Speaker 1: take the extra booze and criticism. So ask you, are
Speaker 1: college players now fair game for more intensified criticism like
Speaker 1: the pros?
Speaker 2: Absolutely? Because my contention had always been, yeah, you can
Speaker 2: boo the coach, although it's hard to do that with
Speaker 2: that ripping the player, but yeah, the coaches paid big
Speaker 2: bucks and they're paid to take that kind of flack.
Speaker 2: That's what they sign up for. And it might have
Speaker 2: been naive of me to think that college kids should
Speaker 2: not be booed because they were not, But as you
Speaker 2: point out, now they are. Yeah. Not only are they
Speaker 2: accepting it and that's all well and good, they're going
Speaker 2: after it, they're shopping for it. And now, of course
Speaker 2: you've got a rule that that was just handed down
Speaker 2: about the fact that the letter of intents going away
Speaker 2: in say schools have decided no more Loi financial aid
Speaker 2: and scholarship agreements are going to be used basically like contracts.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's going to be more much more professional.
Speaker 7: Third swig and a six pack.
Speaker 1: But before those Cats and Cards games on Saturday Tomorrow night,
Speaker 1: big doings down in Bowling Green. My Hilltoppers with a
Speaker 1: new big red mascot eyes on the Helmet's got a
Speaker 1: big redout against oh to five UTEP. That'll be on
Speaker 1: ESPN U eight pm tomorrow night. Hey Toppers number five
Speaker 1: in the country, red zone defense. Just got to say
Speaker 1: back to Saturday in the matchup of the season since
Speaker 1: Bama and Georgia number two, Ohio State at number three
Speaker 1: Oregon such a huge game that ESPN Game Day is
Speaker 1: going to be there in Eugene. By the way, if
Speaker 1: you haven't been to Eugene, great college town is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite college towns, like where they were last
Speaker 1: week for Berkeley. If I had seen Berkeley before Bowling Green, Dick,
Speaker 1: I would have sold it. I would have sold as
Speaker 1: much plasma as possible to get out there to enroll
Speaker 1: Bucks over the Ducks by three and a half. Currently,
Speaker 1: that's the latest line that's at seven thirty Saturday on
Speaker 1: NBC also on Saturday, Number one Texas, Number eighteen Oklahoma
Speaker 1: the Red River rivalry in the Cotton Bowl. Number four
Speaker 1: Penn State now goes the other side of the country
Speaker 1: to reeling USC after the other LA school, UCLA travel
Speaker 1: forty five hundred miles to Penn State.
Speaker 7: Last week.
Speaker 1: You also got number nine, old mess at number thirteen LSU.
Speaker 1: I ask you though, on the first big game, can
Speaker 1: the quack attack fly past and Ohio State University.
Speaker 2: No, here's what's gonna happen. And I'll start with your Hilltoppers, who,
Speaker 2: by the way, according to a way too soon prediction
Speaker 2: column in USA today, will win the conference and we'll
Speaker 2: play get sell your plasma now Gary in the Hawaii Bowl.
Speaker 2: So that's the prediction. Yeah, so you need to be
Speaker 2: ready for that. No, Western Kentucky will will win, Ohio
Speaker 2: State will destroy Oregon. That's going to be a blowout. Yeah,
Speaker 2: Texas will spank Oklahoma. Okay, Penn State will spank Southern
Speaker 2: col I do believe Ole Miss LSU will be a
Speaker 2: good game. But those three high profile games that the
Speaker 2: network suits are drooling over right now, I don't think
Speaker 2: they'll be And I hope I'm wrong. I hope they're
Speaker 2: great games, but that's my prediction. I think they're gonna
Speaker 2: be buck kickings. And I think Texas and Ohio State
Speaker 2: will separate themselves. And as you said, Southern col is reeling.
Speaker 2: Penn State's probably better than we think it is.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'll keep those in mind.
Speaker 2: Thanks buddy.
Speaker 1: All Right, our fourth swig besides my toppers on a
Speaker 1: screen near you tomorrow night, my Seahawks Thursday Night Football
Speaker 1: three and a half Underbirds to the Niners, and I
Speaker 1: will tell you if Seattle plays like they did against
Speaker 1: the crummy Giants last Sunday, a team that defensive end
Speaker 1: for Seattle, Leonard Williams said we kind of underestimated, then
Speaker 1: the Hawks will lose by more than three and a
Speaker 1: half Tomorrow night. I guarantee you that after that. My
Speaker 1: top three to see in the NFL on Sunday check
Speaker 1: these out. Washington Jade and Daniels Show at Baltimore with
Speaker 1: La Marvelous and the Ravens. You also got the Chargers
Speaker 1: at the Broncos Big AFC West game, and of course
Speaker 1: we got Detroit at Dallas Lions looking to avenge that
Speaker 1: Week seventeen loss. We all remember that controversial call against
Speaker 1: the Lions and left tackle Taylor Decker.
Speaker 7: Who did report as eligible by God.
Speaker 1: And you also have Monday night the Bills now two
Speaker 1: and a half point favorites at the Jets, who, as
Speaker 1: we know, fired Robert Sala yesterday, but at least they
Speaker 1: still have head coach.
Speaker 7: Aaron Rodgers at that part.
Speaker 2: Let's see.
Speaker 7: You got the Lions, Ravens, Chargers favorites. Who you like
Speaker 7: in any of those?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, it's interesting to me watching San Francisco
Speaker 2: crumble a little bit, and I do think Seattle bounces back.
Speaker 2: I think that's a well coached team with an underrated quarterback.
Speaker 2: So I wouldn't be at all surprised if Seattle pulls
Speaker 2: off that win and kind of shakes off what happened.
Speaker 2: And I'm not just saying I like Seattle as well.
Speaker 2: And by the way, I constantly remind you the play
Speaker 2: but play man is Steve rabel A, Proud Trinity Shamrock.
Speaker 7: Great guy, too, great, does a great job.
Speaker 2: I love this, it really does. It's a good dude.
Speaker 2: Played I think eight years at Georgia Tech and gave
Speaker 2: up his final year. He's gonna play one more year
Speaker 2: and They're like, we got this TV and radio gig
Speaker 2: over here. Okay, I'm good by football. So the next thing,
Speaker 2: you know, he's a media star. Boy. You talk about
Speaker 2: a Beltway rivalry, Washington and Baltimore means something. Now, yeh.
Speaker 2: With Jaden Daniels, you know, the most exciting young quarterback
Speaker 2: in the league, and and against Lamar Jackson, I think
Speaker 2: that's gonna be a tight one. But I like, I
Speaker 2: do like Baltimore. That Detroit Dallas game. I think Detroit
Speaker 2: beats up Dallas in that game. I really do. I
Speaker 2: think Detroit it's like, we got something for you. I'm
Speaker 2: looking forward, not just because I hate Dallas, but yeah,
Speaker 2: that was that controversy that never went away. Bill's Jets.
Speaker 2: I don't think it matters right now who the head
Speaker 2: coach is. Their offense is so dysfunctional. Got a really
Speaker 2: great defense, but I could see that going down to
Speaker 2: the last position. There's something wrong with the Bills right now.
Speaker 7: Jets the worst rushing team in NFL.
Speaker 2: By the way, well that's not.
Speaker 1: Good fitthswig and a six pack dick. Having grown up
Speaker 1: here in the Commonwealth and living in LA for many years,
Speaker 1: as you know, I can tell you. There are many
Speaker 1: things the Kentucky Basketball and the Dodgers and their fan
Speaker 1: bases all have in common, sides wearing lovely shades of
Speaker 1: blue to the ball games. Both UK and the Dodgers
Speaker 1: have rich traditions of winning. As we know, UK has
Speaker 1: eight national championships, Dodgers seven World Series. Played before yearly
Speaker 1: packed houses and showcase houses at that demanding fan bases
Speaker 1: that ultimately judge both on what they do in the postseason.
Speaker 1: For the Cats, what matters is March. The Dodgers, it's
Speaker 1: now October, and tonight the Dodgers are a game away
Speaker 1: from failing to reach the second round of the National
Speaker 1: League Playoffs again for the third agonizing year in a row.
Speaker 1: Lexington's Walker Bueller again last night had problems putting away
Speaker 1: hitters with two strikes. His defense also let him down,
Speaker 1: and that six to five loss. Big bottom line on
Speaker 1: this Padre Superstar Tatis is out hitting Dodgers impending mvpd
Speaker 1: otani as are all the Padres for that matter, and
Speaker 1: they're out the Dodgers, who, by the way, are going
Speaker 1: to have the duct tape together. A bullpen game tonight,
Speaker 1: the most important game of the year, which is part
Speaker 1: for their season, Dick. It feels like the Padres are
Speaker 1: not only on a roll to get to the NLCS,
Speaker 1: but probably to the World Series, probably will win it.
Speaker 2: Which is the team of destiny? Is that the Padres,
Speaker 2: the Mets or the Tigers. That's why these playoffs are fun. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, people didn't expect these teams to make runs
Speaker 2: like that. You know, every year, Gary, and we talk
Speaker 2: about it as seams. Every year there's a great hitter,
Speaker 2: a hot hitter who suddenly buried in the postseason. But
Speaker 2: then we wisely talk about the fact that, well, great
Speaker 2: pitching takes care of great hitting.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: So I am a bit surprised at Otani is struggling
Speaker 2: the way he is, But to your point, I'm more
Speaker 2: surprised that as a team, San Diego is out performing
Speaker 2: the Dodgers until you take a look, as you said,
Speaker 2: at that roster of pitchers, and that's what we all
Speaker 2: thought would carry the Dodgers this year. And nobody's Otto
Speaker 2: Tani whatever year like this, you know, but pitching was
Speaker 2: the thing. And you know, you can spend, spend, spend,
Speaker 2: but if you're not healthy, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Sixth and final swig let's talk a little bit aboot hockey.
Speaker 1: Last night, the NHL opened their twenty four to twenty
Speaker 1: five season, the first game ever for the Utah Hockey Club.
Speaker 1: That's their name, is no mascot or real name yet,
Speaker 1: and they won their first game over the Blackhawks five
Speaker 1: to two. They're in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake basically
Speaker 1: inherited the Arizona Coyotes in April. They had one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy three days, just one hundred and seventy three days,
Speaker 1: to re establish the organization, transport people, infrastructure, outfit the
Speaker 1: Delta Center for hockey as well as hoops, get sponsors,
Speaker 1: sell to the public, and oh yeah, take up a
Speaker 1: cool color scheme in uniforms and a team name. So
Speaker 1: it's just gonna be a hockey club for now. And
Speaker 1: they amazing to do all of that in one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy three days. Hopefully Utah won't use the same
Speaker 1: sports consultants that Washington used for a whole year plus.
Speaker 1: Then they finally came up with the perpetually lame commander's name.
Speaker 1: But they did do one thing really right. They made
Speaker 1: some concessions affordable, a lot of concessions hot dogs, popcorn, nachos,
Speaker 1: ice cream three bucks each, bottled water two bucks. Of course,
Speaker 1: you don't go to sporting events for health food, but
Speaker 1: you also don't want to get gorged while you're gouged.
Speaker 1: While you're there as well, you can get gorged obviously.
Speaker 1: Kind of reminds me of when the Angels new owners
Speaker 1: cut their beer prices by almost fifty percent twenty years ago,
Speaker 1: which you, of all people remember and commented on still
Speaker 1: to this day.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, and the Falcons have done that as well.
Speaker 7: They sell more beer.
Speaker 2: Yeah, their concessions are quite affordable, even though you can't
Speaker 2: get Chick fil A in the stadium on Sunday. How
Speaker 2: about that. Gary Moore is our Western bureau chief. We'll
Speaker 2: come back with a couple of hot reads for Gary
Speaker 2: in just a minute here on the Big Bloon Sider
Speaker 2: six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider,
Speaker 2: talking with our Western Bureau chief, Gary Moore. Time for
Speaker 2: a couple of hot reds and Gary, you touched on
Speaker 2: this earlier Robert sala out as the head coach with
Speaker 2: the Jets Woody Johnson when he showed up for work.
Speaker 2: When Salad did said hit for a minute and it
Speaker 2: was all over. Yeah, speculation is that Aaron Rodgers fired
Speaker 2: him out la Lebron James. But what he Johnson swears
Speaker 2: that's not the case. But the word is Gary that
Speaker 2: Johnson wanted to sack or at least demote offensive coordinator
Speaker 2: Nathaniel Hackett, and that's where it all came together. But
Speaker 2: keep in mind, Hackett is Rogers guy. So it's just
Speaker 2: I don't know if you call an experiment gone wrong,
Speaker 2: but it's a mess.
Speaker 1: Supposedly, Rogers talked with Johnson after the London game, and
Speaker 1: he also talked with him and met with him Monday night,
Speaker 1: and Sally got it yesterday morning. His ID card didn't
Speaker 1: work when he's trying to open the door or something.
Speaker 1: But I hate when that happens. And but Johnson goes
Speaker 1: on and says, no, Aaron had nothing to do with
Speaker 1: the whole decision. Yeah, right, give us some of that.
Speaker 1: They give us some of that ocean side property in
Speaker 1: Arizona while you're at it.
Speaker 2: Everybody who's working here, step forward, not so fast. Our
Speaker 2: second high read for Gary is the change of management
Speaker 2: in Cincinnati. Now we know that David Bell was out.
Speaker 2: In all fairness, he was dealt to losing hand, so
Speaker 2: many injuries to the pitching staff and another payroll being
Speaker 2: what it was. But now I think Gary, they make
Speaker 2: a brilliant move. They go hire Tito Francona, who proved
Speaker 2: he could do it in Boston, proved he could do
Speaker 2: it in Cleveland, took a year off for his health
Speaker 2: and now has come back and he's one of those
Speaker 2: managers players love. But one of the reasons is he'll
Speaker 2: tell him what maybe they don't like, but what they
Speaker 2: need to hear. And somebody asked him after he was
Speaker 2: presented his jersey, which apparently is number seventy seven, can
Speaker 2: he win a World Series title in Cincinnati? Terry?
Speaker 7: Can you win a championship in Cincinnati?
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, I'm not going to sit here and
Speaker 6: proclaim anything because that's I'm not smart, but I'm not
Speaker 6: that dumb.
Speaker 2: But that's our goal.
Speaker 6: You better believe it. Man, we show up. We're going
Speaker 6: to show up, win and be the best team we
Speaker 6: can be. In god man, we're heck, yeah, we're going
Speaker 6: to try to win.
Speaker 2: That's not a guarantee, but that's brilliant coach speak right there,
Speaker 2: isn't it. Yeah, We're going to try to win, of course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've got a couple of rings here that you
Speaker 1: might be interested in what looking at very closely, especially
Speaker 1: the two thousand and four one which brought people. Look
Speaker 1: at the context of the two thousand and four Red
Speaker 1: Sox win. How many years jinks jinks, jinks every all
Speaker 1: those years people didn't think in their lifetime. You know,
Speaker 1: people in the whole New England area, especially Boston Wept
Speaker 1: who'd been Red Sox fans for years.
Speaker 7: He's a good guy.
Speaker 1: And look, Bruce Bochie came back and he's three years
Speaker 1: older than Terry Yep. Came back and for the same
Speaker 1: reasons that he kind of left. There was a management
Speaker 1: change in in San Francisco as well, but he had
Speaker 1: some health issues, came back.
Speaker 7: And can do it.
Speaker 1: I'm just wondering if the Cardinals now get rid of
Speaker 1: Ali and get Larusa back in the dugout, maybe maybe not.
Speaker 2: You can keep him awake during the game, it might help. Well.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the Red Sox eighty six year drought ended, thanks
Speaker 2: in large part to Tito. Reds have only been without
Speaker 2: for what thirty odd years. That ain't nothing compared to
Speaker 2: what was going on in New England. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was there for that two thousand and four coronation
Speaker 1: there at Bush Stadium when they start up the Cardinals.
Speaker 1: I mean, you just knew that you're in the statey like, nah, this,
Speaker 1: this ain't going to happen. There's a mojo going on
Speaker 1: over there in that visiting.
Speaker 2: Dug out well after they came back against the Yankees.
Speaker 2: The way they did it was it was destined.
Speaker 1: I think with that Dave Roberts guy who stole second Gee,
Speaker 1: what's he doing nowadays? HU, hope he's not going to
Speaker 1: be an unemployment line.
Speaker 2: Next year to say, I know he's pulling his hair out.
Speaker 2: Gary mars Our, West End Bureau Chief. Find him on
Speaker 2: Twitter at at nine to.
Speaker 7: Five five Gary, where you're also located at.
Speaker 2: At Big Boon Cider one.
Speaker 7: Have a good weekend you too, my friend go toppers
Speaker 7: and cats.
Speaker 2: Always fun talking to Gary. Enjoy that every week. And
Speaker 2: I did want to come back to the story about
Speaker 2: the NLI going away. The INSA Division one council and
Speaker 2: that's how it works. I keep trying to hammer that
Speaker 2: into everybody. It's not this one small group of people
Speaker 2: deciding everything for the NSA. It's the member institutions. They
Speaker 2: nominate and elect people on committees and councils, men and
Speaker 2: women from various universities and colleges. And the council has approved,
Speaker 2: with membership on board, the elimination of the NLI program
Speaker 2: national Letter of Intent. So that's all with the backdrop
Speaker 2: of that lawsuit that is going to allow schools to
Speaker 2: pay athletes as a group more than twenty million dollars annually,
Speaker 2: and so they've got to rethink the amateurism rules. Obviously
Speaker 2: that's going away quite frankly. The NLI program started in
Speaker 2: sixty four to kind of protect the schools from poaching.
Speaker 2: They were proaching each other's players. A guy would agree
Speaker 2: to play one school, next thing you know, he's planned
Speaker 2: somewhere else. And let's face it, they were being bribed oftentimes.
Speaker 2: But now financial aid and scholarship agreement are expected to
Speaker 2: be used. They are not going to entirely ditch the
Speaker 2: NLI program, though there will be recruiting rules around the
Speaker 2: program still in place. And you might think right now
Speaker 2: there aren't any rules in place, but there are. Why Well,
Speaker 2: because anytime you've got competition, you're going to have people
Speaker 2: who want to cheat. And I can tell you as
Speaker 2: coaches want structure. They want calendars that are not nearly
Speaker 2: as broad as they are now, so they won't be
Speaker 2: expected to go out on the recruiting trail because everybody
Speaker 2: else is. They want those windows to be shut down
Speaker 2: a little bit more. But they want rules they can
Speaker 2: all handle. And this is a big step today, So
Speaker 2: keep an eye. Will try to keep you up to
Speaker 2: date on this as well, but it is an historic
Speaker 2: decision by the NCAA. Thanks to Sean Woods, Chris Doraan
Speaker 2: to Gary Moore, thanks to you for listening back again
Speaker 2: tomorrow night.
Speaker 8: That's it.
Speaker 2: Good night from the garage in Lexington.
Speaker 8: The heroes of the sixties, like the game itself, seem
Speaker 8: larger than life size.
Speaker 3: Listen to me and listen good. This is what we're
Speaker 3: gonna do.
Speaker 8: We're gonna run the ball, we're gonna pass the ball,
Speaker 8: we're gonna ride down this field and we're gonna score.
Speaker 2: Man say