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Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now, here's Nick Coffee.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get it started.
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Speaker 2: Be good to go. Busy Show has always on a Monday.
Speaker 2: It is game Day.
Speaker 3: Louisll in action tonight, taken on Spaulding an exhibition play,
Speaker 3: which I think we're going to see something very similar
Speaker 3: to what we saw last week. But I think there's
Speaker 3: some potential here for this to get a little uglier
Speaker 3: than what we saw last week.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe I'm not given Spaulding a whole lot of credit,
Speaker 3: but you know, their Division three team, these are athletes
Speaker 3: that are not on scholarship, and look, they may give
Speaker 3: Louisville a better challenge than what Young Harris did, but
Speaker 3: young Harris it's Division two' that's the level just below
Speaker 3: D one and DVD three is far away from that.
Speaker 3: So no disrespect to Spaulding in their program. I know
Speaker 3: coach Gray's been there a long time and they've had
Speaker 3: a lot of success. They've transitioned pretty nicely from the
Speaker 3: NAI level to the Division III level. And I know
Speaker 3: there's a lot of guys in this community the city
Speaker 3: that grew up here and played at Spaulding and had
Speaker 3: had good runs. So you know, it's just to see
Speaker 3: them on the schedule is not something you typically see.
Speaker 3: But again, it's an exhibition game. It doesn't matter, and
Speaker 3: I don't mean if you play. We talked about this
Speaker 3: earlier because Jerry called in and by the way. You know,
Speaker 3: a lot of reaction on the text line to Jerry,
Speaker 3: just because you know, if he ever wanted to like
Speaker 3: prove that he can be the most pessimistic person out there,
Speaker 3: he did that today. And it wasn't even like it
Speaker 3: was him going out of his way. I just think
Speaker 3: his nature is always glass half MD And he'd tell
Speaker 3: you the same thing. And sometimes he says things that
Speaker 3: I think a lot of us don't agree with, or
Speaker 3: that we do agree with, we just don't really want
Speaker 3: to acknowledge it. Maybe, but sometimes you know, he can
Speaker 3: be a little negative. And he would even tell you that.
Speaker 3: But he was complaining that Spaulding's on the schedule. How
Speaker 3: are we not playing? You know, like, how do we
Speaker 3: benefit from this game? Somebody could get hurt? And to
Speaker 3: be fair, I guess we'll start with this. You're coming
Speaker 3: off for two straight years where you couldn't beat exhibition opponents,
Speaker 3: so like, I don't care who they scheduled this year, Like,
Speaker 3: I mean, let's just get past. I mean, do you
Speaker 3: want to go play a really good in AI school
Speaker 3: or a really good Division two school like Kentucky's playing
Speaker 3: a team that I think won the Division two national
Speaker 3: championship multiple times in the last decade. Like they'll probably
Speaker 3: still blow them out. But like, if you're going to
Speaker 3: play a team of that level and it's not a
Speaker 3: real game, play one of the worst, Now, maybe that
Speaker 3: won't benefit you in a hope. And you know it's
Speaker 3: not gonna benefit you because you're being challenged in a
Speaker 3: major way. But let's be real, I don't think you
Speaker 3: really learn much about your team at all in these
Speaker 3: kind of games. I just don't. That's why I've never
Speaker 3: been a big fan of them. I've always hated them,
Speaker 3: and then we'll start losing them. So now you know,
Speaker 3: like Spaulding is probably one of outside of Semons College,
Speaker 3: they're probably the lowest level of college basketball program that
Speaker 3: I know of Louisville playing in an exhibition in my lifetime.
Speaker 3: But you know, to me, I don't really care. I'm
Speaker 3: jealous that you're not able to see Louisville go up
Speaker 3: against like real, legitimate top twenty five caliber teams like
Speaker 3: we're seeing with some of these other matchups in these
Speaker 3: exhibition charity scrimmages. So but you know, I have no
Speaker 3: problem with Spalding being here tonight, and in fact, I
Speaker 3: wish should get rid of these games. And instead of
Speaker 3: having exhibition games like we've always had like Spaulding and
Speaker 3: Young Harris and last year was Wesleyan and Simmons and whatnot.
Speaker 3: I'd rather just do those charity exhibition games and do
Speaker 3: two of them, or do one of them, because it's
Speaker 3: not a real game. You can, you know, get one
Speaker 3: out of the way if you end up losing to
Speaker 3: a good team, and you know, you feel like you
Speaker 3: got a lot to learn, and you'll learn about your team,
Speaker 3: like the coaching staff will make we'll we'll certainly be
Speaker 3: able to take more from watching his team play another
Speaker 3: power for caliber program in a scrimmage than he will
Speaker 3: watching them play Spalding. And there's also a lot of
Speaker 3: money raised.
Speaker 2: If it's charity. I don't know what I mean.
Speaker 3: I'm sure there's different causes, different charities that benefit from
Speaker 3: these games happening, but like to me, this just seems
Speaker 3: like the better way to go about it than all
Speaker 3: aspects for everybody involved. Other than of course, you know,
Speaker 3: programs like Spaulding who probably are going to get a
Speaker 3: pretty big paycheck to come in here tonight. So you know,
Speaker 3: I've never been a big fan of these games, and
Speaker 3: you know, you guys heard me complaining about the team's
Speaker 3: Louisville played to start the year in football, Like, I
Speaker 3: know why you have those kind of games, but man
Speaker 3: like they don't. They're They're kind of a waste of
Speaker 3: time in my opinion. But I found myself not going
Speaker 3: the direction Jerry was going when I was thinking about
Speaker 3: it earlier today, because I don't mean Louisville lost these
Speaker 3: games last year.
Speaker 2: And the year before that.
Speaker 3: They went two and two in exhibition games in the
Speaker 3: last two seasons, which you know, I'm just happy to
Speaker 3: know that we don't have to sweat out of potential
Speaker 3: loss tonight. And yeah, we won't learn a whole lot,
Speaker 3: but if this team buries a bunch of threes, blows
Speaker 3: out this opponent, plays hard from start to finish, I'll
Speaker 3: be entertained and I'll enjoy every second of it. Now,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna have to remind myself, Hey, Nick, let's let's
Speaker 3: get let's let's realize the situation here. But I'm ready
Speaker 3: to see where they stand against Morehead stayed a week
Speaker 3: from today, because Morehead's going to be substantially better than
Speaker 3: anybody they've played in the Bahamas. Or in these exhibition games,
Speaker 3: and then of course you got Tennessee that following Saturday,
Speaker 3: where you really get a chance to see where you stand.
Speaker 3: So exciting stuff. But tonight, as soon as the game ends,
Speaker 3: we'll go live for the postgame show right here on
Speaker 3: Sports Talk seven ninety. I would assume it'll be around
Speaker 3: nine o'clock, so two in, and we will react to
Speaker 3: whatever it is that happens tonight. All right, So when
Speaker 3: it comes to Louisville football, if you are just now
Speaker 3: joining us, I'll kind of tell you where I'm at
Speaker 3: with it, because I would imagine I'm probably a little
Speaker 3: more optimistic than maybe you would have expected, because and
Speaker 3: I look, I I take it. I understand that like
Speaker 3: me at times for three you know, I got a
Speaker 3: three hour radio show. So like when Louisville loses a
Speaker 3: game and we're discussing the obvious issues that led you
Speaker 3: to a loss in reacting to it, like some people
Speaker 3: just think, well that means you're negative. No, Like I'm
Speaker 3: just being honest, Like I mean to lie and act
Speaker 3: like Louisville's not four and three going into the Boston
Speaker 3: College game. Like I'm just being honest with you and
Speaker 3: I've learned to kind of balance that and not you know,
Speaker 3: if you just get me for five minutes on your
Speaker 3: drive home, and you know, I'm referencing, you know, a
Speaker 3: game where Louisville lost and they made a lot of
Speaker 3: mistakes that seemed avoidable. Like that's not negative, that's just
Speaker 3: the truth that like sometimes people just don't want to hear.
Speaker 3: But throughout the entire year, what's made this season really
Speaker 3: frustrating is that it's not about who they're losing to,
Speaker 3: or the fact that, like we've learned that they just
Speaker 3: happened to really strike out in the portal they would
Speaker 3: and thought they got a quarterback who's good, and the
Speaker 3: stings like it's nothing like that. It's just shooting yourself
Speaker 3: on the foot as many times as they have. Like
Speaker 3: that's what's made the losses real frustrating. I mean, you
Speaker 3: never want to lose. But again, I kind of put
Speaker 3: this together earlier on the fly, when I was trying
Speaker 3: to explain myself as to why I feel so much
Speaker 3: better about a Boston College win than I did, you know,
Speaker 3: really any other result this year. The result itself with
Speaker 3: a loss at Notre Dame, at home to Miami and
Speaker 3: at home to SMU. You never want to lose, but
Speaker 3: those aren't alarming losses to where you feel like you
Speaker 3: got to panic, Uh, oh, we're in trouble. This could
Speaker 3: be really bad. Like, no, those aren't bad losses. You
Speaker 3: never want to lose, but it's not as if you
Speaker 3: did something that's just you know, a catastrophe. But everything
Speaker 3: that played out in nearly all of those games is
Speaker 3: what made it so frustrating, because you're still making mistakes
Speaker 3: that you feel like are avoidable. I mean, you saw
Speaker 3: Brahm's face after the first quarter or whenever, that interview
Speaker 3: he did in the game, the interview he did early
Speaker 3: in the game at Boston College, like he's beside himself,
Speaker 3: like he can't hide it on his face, like he's
Speaker 3: in disbelief. It's some of the mistakes that these teams
Speaker 3: make that his team makes at times. So you know,
Speaker 3: I was just frustrated, really not at a maximum level,
Speaker 3: but like it was just really awful to be in
Speaker 3: that position and know that like a mistake here or
Speaker 3: there that you clean up, like you might have won
Speaker 3: two of those three games. Like let leave me give
Speaker 3: you example Tyler Shuck running out of bounds and throwing
Speaker 3: an interception like instead of just completely throwing it away,
Speaker 3: like that's avoidable, and that's that's a goof that I
Speaker 3: think is quite literally. Something you can say is shooting
Speaker 3: yourself in the foot Amaro Ugans Bruce catching the ball
Speaker 3: over the middle, getting popped, fumbling it right after the catch.
Speaker 3: That's more of a maybe you can say somebody made
Speaker 3: a good play, but obviously it's your job. Did not
Speaker 3: fumble it in that situation when you're coming across the
Speaker 3: middle like that, You could have one of those mistakes happened,
Speaker 3: one of those two and feel like, damn, hope they
Speaker 3: didn't come back to bite us. We should have, We
Speaker 3: should have and could have avoided that. So like, you
Speaker 3: can have one and it's still frustrating, But when you
Speaker 3: have two and sometimes three or four, like the Notre
Speaker 3: Dame game like that, that's why it's so frustrating. It's
Speaker 3: not because you lost by a score to three teams
Speaker 3: that are currently ranked in the top twenty. It's because
Speaker 3: the things that happened that led to you there should
Speaker 3: be avoidable. So I think the same thing can be
Speaker 3: said about the Boston College win. The result itself not impressive,
Speaker 3: it's what you were supposed to do. Win at Boston
Speaker 3: College because they're not as good as you.
Speaker 2: You didn't even cover.
Speaker 3: So maybe in the eyes of those who really evaluate
Speaker 3: things when it comes to point spread, maybe you didn't
Speaker 3: do what you were supposed to do because you didn't cover.
Speaker 3: But that's not what it's about. It's about what happened
Speaker 3: throughout and I think the way this team was able
Speaker 3: to dig deep, and I gonna give you all the
Speaker 3: cliche corny stuff. They kept fighting, they dug deep, they
Speaker 3: locked in whichever one you want to go with, they
Speaker 3: did that, and that what you're supposed to do. That's
Speaker 3: what you're expected to do because you know, you always
Speaker 3: want to play hard and not get caught up in
Speaker 3: the score and fight till the end. Again, I'm giving
Speaker 3: you all the cliche, corny stuff, but like that's impossible
Speaker 3: at times, and I think most teams will never know.
Speaker 3: But I believe most teams in that position down twenty
Speaker 3: to nothing on the road when you already have had
Speaker 3: an underwhelming season, that you have to look in the
Speaker 3: mirror about one of your top playmakers just decided to
Speaker 3: opt out. He don't want to play with you anymore.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of talk about him still getting paid
Speaker 3: despite not playing like I think most teams would have
Speaker 3: really gone through the motions from then on and it
Speaker 3: would have been a blowout in Boston College a favor.
Speaker 3: This team didn't do that, and coming back from being
Speaker 3: down twenty to nothing on the road and winning is
Speaker 3: worth something.
Speaker 2: There's value there.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: I don't know the exact value. I can't give you
Speaker 3: the you know, the dollar amount. But if these guys choose,
Speaker 3: I think that moment could be where they finally come together,
Speaker 3: put it all together, and maybe start playing much cleaner
Speaker 3: football without the sloppy mistakes that they've made all throughout
Speaker 3: the year. Because look, they still made them against Boston College.
Speaker 3: It's just they avoided them late and really came from behind.
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, I think they prove something
Speaker 3: to themselves. Now, does that mean they can go and
Speaker 3: beat I mean they can go beat Clemson. I'm not
Speaker 3: saying that that. You know, if they lose at Death Valley,
Speaker 3: then we were wrong and they didn't actually get better
Speaker 3: against Boston College. But I think we'll know. I mean,
Speaker 3: obviously I want them to win, and I think they
Speaker 3: can win. We haven't we haven't even seen this team
Speaker 3: put together a game where they don't make multiple avoidable mistakes.
Speaker 3: And again, nobody's asking to be perfect, but it's one
Speaker 3: thing to like drop a pass. It's one thing to
Speaker 3: you know, miss a tackle or even just have a
Speaker 3: you know, flukey turnover. Hey games in let's be real.
Speaker 3: Some of the things we've seen from this team, like
Speaker 3: you got to ask yourself, like what the hell's going on?
Speaker 3: So I doubt we completely gotten rid of that altogether,
Speaker 3: but there's something you can really build from with what
Speaker 3: happened and how it played out in Boston, and I'm
Speaker 3: hoping that they do exactly that. And the defense, you know,
Speaker 3: I think Ron English at times, he's like he's been
Speaker 3: like the toughest guy to figure out because the results,
Speaker 3: things you see with your eyeballs tell you this defense
Speaker 3: is not good enough. And seeing guys just somehow completely
Speaker 3: run wide open, sometimes out of a timeout, like I'm
Speaker 3: sure the players are responsible. In fact, I know they are,
Speaker 3: but like that's that's a really bad look on the coach.
Speaker 3: So I think the criticism has been fair. I still
Speaker 3: think at times Louisvill's biggest issues look like they're disorganized.
Speaker 3: They don't have an identity. They switch things up too much.
Speaker 3: I mean, they didn't tackle against Miami like at times
Speaker 3: it's looked like, really in all systems failure. But on Saturday,
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I'm Friday against Boston College. Again. I know
Speaker 3: the opponent's not great, but thirty one plays for a
Speaker 3: total of sixty eight yards and no points allowed in
Speaker 3: the final six possessions for Boston College. That's got to
Speaker 3: be the best this defense has played consecutively at any
Speaker 3: point this year. I mean, also, let's look at and
Speaker 3: let's look at let's see. Yeah, after the first score
Speaker 3: for in the first drive of the second half, Boston
Speaker 3: College scored, which again I thought that was a potential
Speaker 3: death blow, Like I thought, hey, you did, in fact
Speaker 3: generate some momentum. And then they came out and scored
Speaker 3: right away and that probably quieted things, but they didn't stop.
Speaker 3: I mean, this game, I said it during the postgame
Speaker 3: show and it just came to me out of nowhere.
Speaker 3: But I think a few days later, I think it
Speaker 3: still fits. That game was a lot like Georgia Tech
Speaker 3: last year. You come out, you're getting blitzed early by
Speaker 3: a team you know you're not supposed to be getting
Speaker 3: beat that badly. It's the first game for Jeff Brown.
Speaker 3: People are panicking. It looks like it's going to be
Speaker 3: really bad. And then it wasn't like two big plays
Speaker 3: that flipped it all around in a matter of you know,
Speaker 3: five minutes of game clock.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 3: It was gradual, but slowly but surely you came back
Speaker 3: and not only one you dominated that game. You got
Speaker 3: down twenty was it twenty to Yeah, you were done
Speaker 3: twenty to nothing in that game. And you came back
Speaker 3: and after you spotted them twenty points, you beat them
Speaker 3: thirty one to seven. So again after that first score
Speaker 3: in the third quarter for Boston College, from then on
Speaker 3: for Boston College, they had four points and turned it
Speaker 3: over twice on downs. Again, that's what they did in
Speaker 3: the last six possessions. So really a good job of
Speaker 3: the defense and in the offense. You know, I've never
Speaker 3: really worried. I mean that they've been good enough this year.
Speaker 3: Let's be honest. They've made mistakes, there have been some turnovers.
Speaker 3: The old line has not been consistent when it comes
Speaker 3: to pass protection. Like you can nitpick and find areas,
Speaker 3: find specific parts of games where you can be critical
Speaker 3: of the offense, but to be honest.
Speaker 2: With you, they've.
Speaker 3: Really done enough, and at times they've done more than enough.
Speaker 3: I think that's why the numbers love Louisville. And again
Speaker 3: I'm not somebody that's telling we should trust what the
Speaker 3: computers say and not what results say. But you're seeing
Speaker 3: Louisville in like the top twenty in some of these metrics,
Speaker 3: because you know, Louisville has played pretty good football this year.
Speaker 3: They just have made some killer mistakes that have put
Speaker 3: them in a position to have the record that they
Speaker 3: have right now, I mean going into last week's game,
Speaker 3: and I don't know if it's still the same now
Speaker 3: I can look it up. Nine power for offenses are
Speaker 3: in the top twenty five of passing and rushing, meaning
Speaker 3: you've got a really good offense and it's balanced because
Speaker 3: you're good at both Texas, Oregon, Ole, miss Ohio State, Miami, Alabama, Indiana, Louisville.
Speaker 3: What's different about Louisville than all those other teams. Louisville's
Speaker 3: lost way more games than them, Like, you have been
Speaker 3: good offensively and you've been good defensively at times, Like
Speaker 3: that's sounds crazy, and the numbers may not back it
Speaker 3: up here and there. But like, it sounds so foolish
Speaker 3: because you know, it sounds like what a loser would say.
Speaker 3: It sounds like somebody who's trying to find a way
Speaker 3: to tell you, yeah, my team loses a lot, but no,
Speaker 3: we're good.
Speaker 2: We're not a bad Like.
Speaker 3: I know it sounds like that, but I still actually
Speaker 3: think Louisville could be a really good team. That's what
Speaker 3: it could have should. At this point, you've already lost
Speaker 3: enough games to where the thought of you getting in
Speaker 3: the ACC Championship game is just a dream. But you
Speaker 3: can still finish strong, and I look, there's still a
Speaker 3: lot of value there the rest of the way. I mean,
Speaker 3: you play two top twenty teams in your next two games.
Speaker 3: Then you've got Pitt, I'm sorry, Then you've got Stanford,
Speaker 3: maybe Stanford.
Speaker 2: Stanford's in between them.
Speaker 3: So you've got Clemson, Stanford, Pitt, and Kentucky. Two of
Speaker 3: those teams are in the top twenty right now, and
Speaker 3: Pitt looks really good. You got them at home Clemson.
Speaker 3: We all know what the challenge is there. So again
Speaker 3: I'm not telling you, hey, everything's fine now, they're gonna
Speaker 3: win out. You're gonna go nine and three and we're
Speaker 3: gonna feel great. Like I hope that happens. I can't
Speaker 3: tell you that I believe it's gonna happen, but the
Speaker 3: way in which they pulled it out at Boston gives
Speaker 3: me more belief to think that they could have found
Speaker 3: a moment to really kind of come together, put it
Speaker 3: all together. But also, I know that a win against
Speaker 3: Clemson would be awesome because we've never done it. I
Speaker 3: know a win against Kentucky, even if they're terrible, is
Speaker 3: needed now more than it's ever been in the history
Speaker 3: of this Leva football program. So not only could you
Speaker 3: finish strong, but two, I mean, honestly, three of these
Speaker 3: wins will likely give you a better feeling than what
Speaker 3: you have when you beat Virginia and you beat who
Speaker 3: else Georgia Tech and Boston College. These are wins that
Speaker 3: would give you a little more, I guess, feel as
Speaker 3: if you actually did something. And who knows, maybe they
Speaker 3: don't end up doing that, but they still have opportunities
Speaker 3: to go out and finish this thing strong in a
Speaker 3: way to where you won't look back and say, well,
Speaker 3: we only beat the teams on our schedule that work Again,
Speaker 3: if you end up going if you end up finishing
Speaker 3: the season with I mean, heck, let's be real, what
Speaker 3: are they four? Are they five and three?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 3: I mean they're going to They're gonna be they should
Speaker 3: become Bowl eligible with their game at Stanford, because Stanford's
Speaker 3: really bad, I think. But you know, there's a lot
Speaker 3: on the table that could happen. You could end up
Speaker 3: going six and six, or you could end up going
Speaker 3: nine and three, or you could end up, you know,
Speaker 3: going eight and four, and how it looks, you know,
Speaker 3: will be a big factor I think in how fans,
Speaker 3: I guess reflect on year two of BROM. It's been
Speaker 3: underwhelming at this point, but they could still finish strong
Speaker 3: to where we don't look back and say, man, they really,
Speaker 3: you know, underwhelm, because again, six and six would be
Speaker 3: a big disappointment, seven and five would be a big disappointment.
Speaker 3: But eight and four, I think it depends on who
Speaker 3: those eight wins are against. And I think at nine
Speaker 3: and three, you know, you got to run the table
Speaker 3: to do that, but that would be I think it'd
Speaker 3: be hard for people to say that they didn't have
Speaker 3: a really good year at that point. And I would
Speaker 3: hate though, to be a seven and five or six
Speaker 3: and six, because one that it's not what you strive for.
Speaker 3: You should be better than that. But like that would
Speaker 3: give you one of those years where you get to
Speaker 3: the end of the season and because there's only twelve
Speaker 3: games in a football season in college, like you really
Speaker 3: don't know where you stand. Yeah, we beat the teams
Speaker 3: who are supposed to beat and we lost to the
Speaker 3: teams that, like you know, were expected to beat us. Like,
Speaker 3: I guess that means we're what average. Look, all you
Speaker 3: can do is players in your schedule, which actually I
Speaker 3: want to get to that. On the other side, because
Speaker 3: with Indiana, they're clearly the most one of the most
Speaker 3: talked about teams in college football right now. I mean
Speaker 3: they've kind of been that, but now here they are eight, no,
Speaker 3: And it'd be a shocker if they get to the
Speaker 3: Ohio State game and you know, aren't undefeated, right, I.
Speaker 2: Mean, yeah, that's fair to say. I mean, it'd be.
Speaker 3: A shocker if they finish I think eleven, and if
Speaker 3: they finish worse than eleven in one Like maybe I'm
Speaker 3: getting a little too carried away here, but like everybody
Speaker 3: else they play outside of Ohio State, from what I've
Speaker 3: seen from both sides, meaning Indiana and these other teams,
Speaker 3: they should finish the season eleven and one at worse,
Speaker 3: which is a crazy thing to say out loud and
Speaker 3: not have people think you need to be committed to
Speaker 3: a mental institution. But that's where we are. Signette's got
Speaker 3: it rolling, and I'm gonna slightly defend Indiana on the
Speaker 3: other side, but also give you an example of something
Speaker 3: you hear me say a lot, not just one thing
Speaker 3: has to be the truth, like multiple things can be
Speaker 3: true and you don't have to Like Indiana has had
Speaker 3: a schedule that has been very weak compared to what
Speaker 3: you typically get in the Big Ten, but that doesn't
Speaker 3: prove anything.
Speaker 2: At this point.
Speaker 3: All they've done is played who is on the schedule,
Speaker 3: and they've demolished them. Literally all they can do. Our
Speaker 3: quick break, don't go anwhere, keep it locked right here.
Speaker 3: On Sports Talk seven ninety. When college football fans go
Speaker 3: back and forth with their rival or other fan bases,
Speaker 3: I mean, it's oftentimes a bitching session about well, your
Speaker 3: league stinks, you know, you ain't play nobody. And I
Speaker 3: was thinking to myself, why don't we get that as
Speaker 3: much in college basketball, you do every now and then, right,
Speaker 3: like you know, you'll hear people mention, you know, Gonzaga, right,
Speaker 3: they clear beef up their non conference schedule because they
Speaker 3: have to because of the league they currently play in.
Speaker 3: So I think with college football, you only have twelve games,
Speaker 3: and it feels like unfortunately politics and perception matter way more.
Speaker 3: And some say, well, no, it doesn't matter. You go
Speaker 3: out there, you play the games. Well, you know, I
Speaker 3: think it's been proven year in and year out that
Speaker 3: how you are viewed, because again this is not a
Speaker 3: I mean, I guess in basketball, if you get in
Speaker 3: the tournament, like the selection committee puts you in as
Speaker 3: one of sixty eight teams, then you know, you know
Speaker 3: you got in and you can go prove of how
Speaker 3: good you are.
Speaker 2: Right But in.
Speaker 3: Football, like four and four teams in the Big ten
Speaker 3: in the ACC are not going to be treated the
Speaker 3: same way as four and four teams in the ACC,
Speaker 3: like they're just not like, well, let me back up
Speaker 3: the SEC.
Speaker 2: I think I said that backwards.
Speaker 3: The SEC will have a four and four team that
Speaker 3: people will try to tell you that team's great because
Speaker 3: they're in the SEC and they lost to other really
Speaker 3: good SEC teams. You could be four and four in
Speaker 3: the Big Ten or four and four in the ACC,
Speaker 3: and you're not gonna get any sniff of respect because well,
Speaker 3: I mean, and I'm not even here to tell you
Speaker 3: that the SEC is not the best league. But it's
Speaker 3: quite clear when you see not only the A people,
Speaker 3: which I know doesn't matter, but in the college football
Speaker 3: playoff rankings, which we're gonna get our first look at
Speaker 3: them is that next week or this week.
Speaker 2: Next Tuesday, next Tuesday.
Speaker 3: So you'll see teams that really the only reason they
Speaker 3: would be where they are is because of the league
Speaker 3: they plan and they're not getting as much. They're not
Speaker 3: held accountable the same way other teams that lose league games.
Speaker 3: Like there is nothing, and I mean not a thing
Speaker 3: that would indicate that Missouri football is a good team
Speaker 3: this year. I mean nothing. I mean, I mean I
Speaker 3: talked about that. I think that wasn't one of my
Speaker 3: picks that I put out there.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, Like I mean.
Speaker 3: The fact that Bama was only favored by like fourteen
Speaker 3: and a half or something like it made no sense.
Speaker 3: There was nothing, and I mean not a thing on
Speaker 3: Missouri's resume that would indicate to you that they're even
Speaker 3: a decent team. In fact, the best way to just
Speaker 3: be honest about assessing a six and two Missouri team
Speaker 3: right now would be undefined. We don't know what they are,
Speaker 3: but AP voters and probably the playoff committee would put
Speaker 3: them in the top twenty five. You know why because
Speaker 3: they're in the SEC and they're getting a benefit of
Speaker 3: the doubt. So, like, perception does matter, Like I know
Speaker 3: the ape pole doesn't, but it creates a perception that
Speaker 3: the same you know, not the same people because it's different.
Speaker 3: But like humans who vote on the A people, they
Speaker 3: create a narrative, they create the perception, and then you
Speaker 3: have other humans that sit on a committee that decide
Speaker 3: how these teams are going to be ranked. And to
Speaker 3: think that that doesn't matter, I just I don't. I
Speaker 3: don't see how you could make the argument that it doesn't. Yeah,
Speaker 3: they're not the same rankings, but we talk about who's
Speaker 3: ranked unranked all the time, like it's there's value whenever
Speaker 3: you discuss it. It may not be the same number
Speaker 3: that you're seeing what the AP pole has.
Speaker 2: But like.
Speaker 3: Missouri top twenty five team right now, their best win
Speaker 3: is Vandy, I mean it is their best win's Vandy,
Speaker 3: they beat Murray State, they beat Buffalo, They beat Boston
Speaker 3: College barely, who we know isn't very good. They beat
Speaker 3: Vandy in double overtime, they got killed by anm They
Speaker 3: beat UMass, who sucks. They barely beat Auburn, who didn't
Speaker 3: get their first win in league play until Saturday against Kentucky,
Speaker 3: and then they got beat thirty four to nothing to Alabama.
Speaker 3: What in the world will make anybody think that team
Speaker 3: is top fifty? Like it's embarrassing. So, you know, the
Speaker 3: SEC is still getting just the benefit of the doubt
Speaker 3: that nobody else gets.
Speaker 2: And maybe I.
Speaker 3: Just am maybe I'm biased and I'm not realizing that
Speaker 3: they're actually deserving of that. I don't know how you
Speaker 3: would ever know. But like again, Missouri was preseason top
Speaker 3: ten and they've not beaten the team we're talking about,
Speaker 3: and they played two good teams and got bent over,
Speaker 3: Like what would make you think they're they're a ranked team?
Speaker 3: So another issue that I have with with the with
Speaker 3: the A people is like the brand like brand bumps
Speaker 3: always going to exist to an extent, but like Notre Dame.
Speaker 3: Notre Dame is what number eight in the A people? Yes,
Speaker 3: they'll probably be right around there in the playoff rankings too,
Speaker 3: I would assume, I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if
Speaker 3: they are. Now if they end up a little bit
Speaker 3: further down, because you know, the playoff committee is going
Speaker 3: to really factor in. Yes, they only have one loss,
Speaker 3: but man, that loss, you know was bad. But like
Speaker 3: right now with AP voters, and this is what I
Speaker 3: think is stupid, And I'm gonna use my own team
Speaker 3: for as an example here, Like Notre Dame beat A
Speaker 3: and M, and that win has value. Now, like that
Speaker 3: win looks pretty good. Like A and M's rolling really
Speaker 3: valuable win, probably as good of a win as anybody has.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm sure there's others. I mean obviously Oregon
Speaker 3: beat Ohio State was lost twice. Yeah, I mean Tennessee
Speaker 3: beat them, beat beat So like there's other good valuable
Speaker 3: wins out there. But like that's a really that's a
Speaker 3: win that is aged really really well. That's a top
Speaker 3: twenty five team when you played them, and they've only
Speaker 3: gotten better. But Notre Dame got credit for beating Louisville
Speaker 3: and Louisville what do they do after that lost.
Speaker 2: Two more games?
Speaker 3: I still think Louisville has a chance to be good,
Speaker 3: and I think they can be good this year. But
Speaker 3: I think they're actually a good example. Notre Dame is
Speaker 3: still sitting in the top ten because people are viewing
Speaker 3: their win against Louisville as if it was a win
Speaker 3: against the fifteenth best team in the country. Like you
Speaker 3: should reset if your voter, if you're voting in the apeopole,
Speaker 3: if you're somebody that has to say so with the
Speaker 3: playoff committee, you can't evaluate a win win it happened.
Speaker 3: You have to evaluate it week by week. I mean,
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think of an example of this sea
Speaker 3: where somebody beat somebody early on. Oh yeah, I mean,
Speaker 3: like Boston College was ranked when they played Missouri. They
Speaker 3: were ranked number twenty four. You know why because they
Speaker 3: just beat the hell out of Florida State and nobody
Speaker 3: knew Florida State was this bad. So like that should
Speaker 3: always be considered when I'm doing an ap you know.
Speaker 3: And I mean, again, maybe they're rules I don't know about,
Speaker 3: but like if your rule is that it doesn't matter
Speaker 3: it only is this week, like then that's a stupid
Speaker 3: way to have any poll. But like the app pole,
Speaker 3: if you're a voter, you should know. Okay, Yes, two
Speaker 3: weeks ago I had this team as the eighteenth best
Speaker 3: team in the country, and yes they've not lost, but man,
Speaker 3: I had them at eighteen because they had two ranked
Speaker 3: wins in two weeks. Times those wins have very little value.
Speaker 3: Now I'm not going to drop them out, but like,
Speaker 3: I don't what I thought two weeks ago when I
Speaker 3: put them there, I ended up being wrong. Like, I
Speaker 3: just don't know why there's not.
Speaker 2: More of a.
Speaker 3: Overall check in of where you are throughout this season.
Speaker 3: And again, John, you said it best earlier. They people
Speaker 3: really doesn't matter when it comes to life. You don't
Speaker 3: have to look at where you are there and worry.
Speaker 3: But also, let's not act like it doesn't create a
Speaker 3: perception week to week until we get the college football
Speaker 3: playoff rankings in Indiana where they at in the top
Speaker 3: twenty five thirteen. Yeah, I mean Indiana's undefeated. I mean again,
Speaker 3: their schedule has not been challenging. We all know that.
Speaker 3: But here's what gets me about the about the schedule talk.
Speaker 3: And I was trying to get to this earlier and
Speaker 3: I just got sidetracked. But I guess in football, like
Speaker 3: Indiana could let's say, win every game, but they lose
Speaker 3: to Ohio State, and then what would be the scenario
Speaker 3: where they play in the they play in the Big
Speaker 3: Ten Championship, Like, who would their opponent be if if
Speaker 3: they end up getting in with that one loss?
Speaker 2: Could it be Organ? I guess it would, Yeah, more
Speaker 2: than likely to be Organ. So let's stay unbeaten.
Speaker 3: Let's say it's Oregon in Ohio State. I'm sorry, Oregon
Speaker 3: in Indiana in the Big Ten Championship and Indiana loses
Speaker 3: again and they lose by seven to Ohio State, lose
Speaker 3: by thirteen to Oregon. There will be people that claimed
Speaker 3: that means Indiana wasn't any good this year. And that's
Speaker 3: a battle you'll never win with people who just shout
Speaker 3: about strength to schedule and they shout about your league sucks,
Speaker 3: and they probably are people who do it from the
Speaker 3: sec To be honest with you, like that's probably where
Speaker 3: where the majority that noise would be coming from. And
Speaker 3: you can't like you're never gonna end that. But that's
Speaker 3: what irritates me is that people feel like they were
Speaker 3: they were proven right when a team takes advantage of
Speaker 3: a schedule and only really gets one or two opportunities
Speaker 3: against really really good teams, and like, if they lose
Speaker 3: close games, then that proves that that everything else they
Speaker 3: did didn't matter. And again, like, I think the reason
Speaker 3: you don't see that as much in basketball is because
Speaker 3: we know that with the tournament, that's all that matters.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean, Like, everything you did in
Speaker 3: the regular season is a factor in where you start
Speaker 3: and where you know if you get to the tournament.
Speaker 3: But we all all collectively know what march madness is
Speaker 3: all about, Like, you better do something here and doesn't matter.
Speaker 3: Great regular season, but an early exit. Man, that's tough
Speaker 3: to take. Mediocre regular season, but you found a way
Speaker 3: to make the tournament and you go win big. Nobody
Speaker 3: cares about the regular season, and football's different, and football
Speaker 3: you can get to the end of the year and
Speaker 3: not really know where you stand and it can trigger
Speaker 3: fans who like no, Like, if Indiana's season plays out
Speaker 3: the exact way I just described, that would be a phenomenal,
Speaker 3: phenomenal season. But on this ride Indiana fans have been on,
Speaker 3: and I don't know, you can tell me if I'm
Speaker 3: wrong here, John, Like, I think it would be infuriating again,
Speaker 3: you can't control it, but like you know, people would
Speaker 3: have that reaction and it would make you want to,
Speaker 3: you know, rip your hair out right.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And I think in the scenario that you mentioned, if
Speaker 4: you make the Big Ten title game and you end
Speaker 4: up having that second loss, you'd still be in the
Speaker 4: College Football Playoff because you are technically the Big Ten
Speaker 4: runner up.
Speaker 2: You'd have to be in.
Speaker 3: If they put anybody else in the Big Ten in,
Speaker 3: you know, like that would be the biggest that would
Speaker 3: be the first controversy they.
Speaker 2: Ever had, because if they did do that, they would
Speaker 2: just say, well.
Speaker 3: You know what, Indiana had got there, but they didn't
Speaker 3: play you know, Penn State, they didn't play Illinois and
Speaker 3: Iowa or whatever, and that would be you know, that'd
Speaker 3: be a fraud. Like that would be you know, I'm
Speaker 3: not saying you all are for sure better than those teams,
Speaker 3: but like you WI, you'd be getting screwed more than
Speaker 3: Florida State got screwed last year.
Speaker 2: I feel like I and that would be.
Speaker 4: The true nightmare scenario. It's not make the Big Ten
Speaker 4: title game and somebody who doesn't. Let's just say that
Speaker 4: that does happen. And in Ohio State who's right behind
Speaker 4: you in the big ten standings does get in. I
Speaker 4: feel like though that wouldn't happen, but imagine that happens.
Speaker 3: Yeah, But I feel like the fact that you get
Speaker 3: to play them so late it helps because if you
Speaker 3: beat them, like there would be no scenario you could
Speaker 3: claim that they belong. Yeah, because they've had close law.
Speaker 3: I mean, they should have lost the Nebraska. Well maybe
Speaker 3: that's a stretch, but like that was a they could
Speaker 3: have lost it. Yeah, they could have lost the Nebraska
Speaker 3: and Nebraska lost Indiana. I got forty five points the
Speaker 3: week before, So I mean that kind of stuff matters.
Speaker 3: And look Indiana, I mean it's insane to look at
Speaker 3: these numbers. They're the first team in FBS to start
Speaker 3: eight to zer without trailing at any point in a game,
Speaker 3: and at least the last twenty years. That's per ESPN
Speaker 3: Stats and Info. Now with that said, they also are
Speaker 3: on pace to according to Sports Reference, they're on pace
Speaker 3: to play their easiest modern day schedule in you know,
Speaker 3: the common era of football, which I think is like
Speaker 3: twenty twelve on so, and apparently it's the easiest strength
Speaker 3: to schedule of any power for team since twenty twelve.
Speaker 3: Those are numbers that don't really tell you anything. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's I mean, you know, they've been able to pull
Speaker 3: off victories with teams that aren't elite. But like the
Speaker 3: way in which people use that what I just said,
Speaker 3: And it's not like it's everywhere, but you know, there's
Speaker 3: certain people that feel that way right, Like, they won't
Speaker 3: even entertain Indiana being a decent team. They're just gonna
Speaker 3: know that their schedules lighter and more manageable and that
Speaker 3: they just suck. And you know, again, idiots on the
Speaker 3: internet don't control gets in the playoff. But like the more,
Speaker 3: the louder that that kind of noise gets. Like I
Speaker 3: just in college football specifically, I think perception matters way
Speaker 3: more than people think. In basketball it doesn't because everybody
Speaker 3: gets into the tournament and everybody is on the same
Speaker 3: page knowing that what you do there is how you are,
Speaker 3: how you evaluated. That is where you have a chance
Speaker 3: to cash in and truly like do something that or
Speaker 3: you have a chance to fail miserably. Like Kentucky. I mean,
Speaker 3: they had two phenomenal regular seasons for the most part.
Speaker 3: I mean, maybe not phenomenal. That's probably a stretch. But
Speaker 3: when they lost in the first round to Saint Peter's
Speaker 3: and Oakland, they got really good seats because they were
Speaker 3: really good in the regular season, but they did nothing
Speaker 3: in the tournament, got upset and doesn't matter. In football,
Speaker 3: we don't really have like it's such a different way
Speaker 3: in which we determine a champion and you get much
Speaker 3: fewer games like it. You know, perception matters more than
Speaker 3: it should in college football, and unfortunately, I don't think
Speaker 3: that's going away because if anything, these these you know,
Speaker 3: the Super League that is the SEC every you know,
Speaker 3: every few weeks they're doing something to kind of remind everybody,
Speaker 3: oh yeah, we could you know, we control everything. And
Speaker 3: I just don't think that's ever ending. But I'm hoping
Speaker 3: Indiana can shut everybody up and just keep winning because
Speaker 3: at that point, I mean, and again to be fair,
Speaker 3: they're getting a lot of love, more so than they.
Speaker 2: Ever gotten because this is this is rare.
Speaker 3: But I guess I'm a little triggered about the schedule
Speaker 3: stuff because that was Louisville last year, right, Like, you know,
Speaker 3: they were actually able to end up beating some decent
Speaker 3: teams along the way, but like what like they said, hey,
Speaker 3: acc in our first year of Jeff brom Let's just
Speaker 3: give us the most manageable conference schedule.
Speaker 2: Like it just worked out that way. Same thing for Indiana.
Speaker 3: You know, they didn't know Michigan was going to be
Speaker 3: the national champion one one year and then be pretty
Speaker 3: mediocre the next. But that's how it played out. All right,
Speaker 3: quick break, we'll come back on the other side. Wrap
Speaker 3: this thing up right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 3: Don't forget tonight we will have the Louisville basketball postgame
Speaker 3: show starting as soon as it ends between the Cards
Speaker 3: and the Eagles, Louisville and Spaulding tipping off at seven o'clock.
Speaker 3: Same thing as last week. As far as how you
Speaker 3: watch it, it's gonna be on watch ESPN, And if
Speaker 3: you just go to the ESPN app on your device
Speaker 3: or your smart TV or your Roku then or your
Speaker 3: laptop for that matter, you will be prompted to provide
Speaker 3: your television provider. And if you have a provider that
Speaker 3: allows you to watch ESPN, then you will be able
Speaker 3: to watch this. The only people I feel like they
Speaker 3: would have a difficult time is somebody that doesn't have
Speaker 3: a smartphone or somebody that I guess still only relies
Speaker 3: on like standard cable like Spectrum, you know what I mean,
Speaker 3: like where you don't have any type.
Speaker 2: Of like a no streaming service.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I mean, but I guess technically you could
Speaker 3: have like no, that's the thing. I mean, you could
Speaker 3: have Spectrum. But if you do have like a smart
Speaker 3: TV that allows you to have apps, or a Roku
Speaker 3: or a fire stick, you know, that would really be
Speaker 3: I mean, it's it's rare. It's one thing to put
Speaker 3: in the effort, which I don't think is much effort
Speaker 3: at all. And it you know, if people who genuinely
Speaker 3: don't have the ability to watch this like, it'd be
Speaker 3: pretty it'd be pretty rare, I would say. But I'm
Speaker 3: sure there'll be plenty of people ven o'clock. Well, the
Speaker 3: hell's a game. You know that's gonna happen, right, it will? Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, so just just just prepare for it if
Speaker 3: you're somebody. I mean, that's why I try to give
Speaker 3: everybody heads up. But tonight's crowd, can we please not
Speaker 3: talk about it on the postgame show?
Speaker 2: Please? I mean we can.
Speaker 3: I mean, you're you're all's opportunity to sound off and
Speaker 3: react to whatever you want. But like, I don't think
Speaker 3: there's gonna be a crazy, big crowd, and I understand why,
Speaker 3: and I'm not gonna think anything of it. I'm gonna
Speaker 3: watch this team play, hopefully dominate, and get set for
Speaker 3: the real game that starts next week. All right, let's
Speaker 3: talk about Jeffersonnimal Hospital before we say goodbye. Keep them
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Speaker 3: dot com. Again, we're at a time, have a good evening,
Speaker 3: enjoy the game if you're going, and come back right
Speaker 3: here around nine o'clock and we'll talk about it on
Speaker 3: Sports Talk seven ninety