Speaker 1: It's time for Coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on
Speaker 1: Sports Talk seven nine day. Now, here's Nick coffee, all.
Speaker 2: Right, it is Coffee and Company hour number three here
Speaker 2: on a Monday afternoon. Game week is upon US college
Speaker 2: football season. It's been. I mean, we're a weekend week zero.
Speaker 2: It came and went. I was entertained. I want some
Speaker 2: money too, by the way, which I'm just going to
Speaker 2: assume it'll be my last weekend where I walk away up.
Speaker 2: In fact, I shouldn't be so dismissive of myself as
Speaker 2: a sports gambler because I've had good weekends before I
Speaker 2: had bad ones. Like a lot of people, I'd say
Speaker 2: I'm average when it comes to wagering. I'll put it
Speaker 2: this way, very average, maybe below average really when it
Speaker 2: comes to college football, did I say that like I
Speaker 2: was Donald Trump? Very average? I had that very weird
Speaker 2: tone there, but very average, pretty good actually. But when
Speaker 2: it comes to college basketball, I'm not great, but I'm
Speaker 2: It's what I bet best at, and I feel like
Speaker 2: I'm better than average when it comes to that. But again,
Speaker 2: you know, I try not to ever feel like, oh man,
Speaker 2: I don't know what I'm doing here.
Speaker 3: Like this is the year you take a step up
Speaker 3: for college football betting. You think, so it is all right?
Speaker 3: I love to a bad start. As we talked about earlier, I.
Speaker 2: Made some bets or you are but you aren't.
Speaker 3: I made some unofficial bets on my morning show and
Speaker 3: touched in NIA Sports on YouTube.
Speaker 2: Picks not bets.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we call them picks because what I ended up
Speaker 3: doing is I told the listeners that if this is
Speaker 3: what I was going to bet this week, I decided
Speaker 3: to abstain financially from the actual betting portion of it.
Speaker 3: I made four different bets, picks, I should say, just
Speaker 3: like you mentioned, for each game, every single one of
Speaker 3: them hit, but no money was won because I didn't
Speaker 3: put any stake in And.
Speaker 2: Did you want did you keep up with him at all?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Absolutely you had. That had to be a terrible birthday
Speaker 2: for you. It was.
Speaker 3: I think that I should have leaned on the fact
Speaker 3: that it was my birthday, and maybe you know that
Speaker 3: was the sign that I should have a birthday.
Speaker 2: Get to your money from one exactly should have, should have?
Speaker 2: It gets trusted the gut. There's a lot of just
Speaker 2: you know, it's all fun, it's entertaining, it's exciting. I mean,
Speaker 2: even if you had a four hour window where you're
Speaker 2: chasing a parlay or chasing a specific bet and it's
Speaker 2: and it's a bad beat, like that sucks. It's one
Speaker 2: of the bad things about betting when that happens. But
Speaker 2: you had four hours where it was it was electrifying.
Speaker 2: It was exciting because you were chasing it. You're in
Speaker 2: you're in the mix, and that that to me, is
Speaker 2: what makes it entertaining. At the end of the day,
Speaker 2: if I can put a little money in my pocket,
Speaker 2: that's just an added bonus because the little money that
Speaker 2: I do wager, for the most part, is worth the
Speaker 2: entertainment that I get from it, even when I lose.
Speaker 2: But you need wins here and there to make it
Speaker 2: all worth it. If you only lose, then yeah, I
Speaker 2: could see what people were being, like, what am I
Speaker 2: doing here? Was wasting money? Because when you when you
Speaker 2: are in such a cold streak, you really are lifeless
Speaker 2: watching like, well, I mean, of course this is what's
Speaker 2: gonna happen. The most unpredictable thing will happen because all
Speaker 2: I do is lose. But you shouldn't have less confidence
Speaker 2: in yourself after that, right, you should. You should just
Speaker 2: feel like, man, you know what, you should be feeling
Speaker 2: better about yourself more so than ever saying hey, I'm
Speaker 2: getting pretty good at this. I'm not. You know, I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna win them all, but I should. You know,
Speaker 2: I should put something on every pick I make, even
Speaker 2: if it's a small amount of money, because you know,
Speaker 2: that's what makes it fun. So for those who missed it,
Speaker 2: John and I, as far as picks and bets, we are.
Speaker 2: We're undefeated in week zero. Because John didn't make bets,
Speaker 2: I'm officially undefeated. Yeah, because he didn't. He didn't. He
Speaker 2: didn't make any bets, but he made picks and they
Speaker 2: all came through. I went, I went, Uh, I went undefeated.
Speaker 2: Now four different wagers. Well put it this way. I
Speaker 2: was two and zero on straight bets. In fact, three
Speaker 2: and oh on straight bets. I took Georgia Tech to
Speaker 2: cover as a dog. They won outright. I took Nevada
Speaker 2: to cover as a dog. They should have won outright,
Speaker 2: ended up only losing by like maybe five or something
Speaker 2: like that. So I parlayed those. That's one bet, and
Speaker 2: then I had the two individual bets, so that's three.
Speaker 2: And then once New Mexico got off to a lead.
Speaker 2: I bet on them to cover as dogs. They were
Speaker 2: still getting six and a half after winning in the
Speaker 2: first half, and I just felt like, aren't we seeing
Speaker 2: that despite New Mexico being a really, really bad FBS team,
Speaker 2: there's still probably more talented deeper than Montana State, who's
Speaker 2: in FCS, which is essentially Division two. And yes, Montana
Speaker 2: State did claw back and win at the very end,
Speaker 2: but I couldn't believe New Mexico State was still an
Speaker 2: underdog after controlling the first half. So I took a
Speaker 2: live bet there in that one cashed in. So I
Speaker 2: do feel comfortable in saying this. That's probably the last
Speaker 2: weekend where I will be able to come back after
Speaker 2: a college football Saturday and say I didn't lose a
Speaker 2: single bet. Now, the reason for that is because there
Speaker 2: were only four games to bet on. That's you know,
Speaker 2: that's how that played out. So anyways, week zero in
Speaker 2: the books, we got Week one. Now all the local
Speaker 2: teams will officially get their season started on Saturday, and
Speaker 2: they are big time favorites. Louisville thirty six and a
Speaker 2: half right now is to spread against Austin p Indiana
Speaker 2: twenty one and a half favorites against FIU Kentucky. Let
Speaker 2: me see, I just Kentucky is now twenty seven and
Speaker 2: a half. It was twenty eight. It's now twenty seven
Speaker 2: and a half for Kentucky as they'll take on and
Speaker 2: host Southern Myths. So the weekend slate, I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: not complaining, trust me. There's a lot of games that, like,
Speaker 2: I can get excited about a game because of what
Speaker 2: I really like as far as wagering, that has nothing
Speaker 2: to do with like it being a big time game
Speaker 2: with a bunch on the line, Like for example, Carolina
Speaker 2: and Minnesota play each other this weekend on Thursday. Actually,
Speaker 2: I'm really excited about that game from a wager standpoint,
Speaker 2: but like that's not a big game in the grand
Speaker 2: scheme of college football. But then again, if it's a
Speaker 2: non conference game where you got a Big ten team
Speaker 2: playing an ACC team, I mean, that's that's you know, and.
Speaker 3: From the ACC's perspective, you really don't want to lose
Speaker 3: this game after what happened this week.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, which it probably will. And by the way,
Speaker 2: like Carolnason is supposed to be good this year, so
Speaker 2: they want of favored by a point and a half. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean, is it at Minnesota? It is? They must
Speaker 2: not be expected to be good either.
Speaker 3: I don't know a lot about this Minnesota team this year.
Speaker 3: I do think they may have had some turnover at quarterbacks,
Speaker 3: but they're rowing.
Speaker 2: The boat still. I do row the boat. It's still
Speaker 2: PJ flex, So you know, it could be a good atmosphere.
Speaker 2: So as far as the big games this weekend, Georgia
Speaker 2: and Clemson, which, by the way, some real gamesmanship going
Speaker 2: on there as Georgia and Clemson both released both released
Speaker 2: game notes with depth charts that are empty, like it's
Speaker 2: one thing that does not include the depth chart. They
Speaker 2: have a depth chart that just doesn't have any names
Speaker 2: on it. On both sides. Penn State West Virginia actually
Speaker 2: happened to think that could be a pretty decent game.
Speaker 2: I'm not a big believer in Penn State this year.
Speaker 2: I think Neil Brown did bounce back last year. But
Speaker 2: what's the spread in that game? Now? Now eight and
Speaker 2: a half?
Speaker 3: Penn State, man, I'm Tom Allen's de coordinator debut at
Speaker 3: Penn State.
Speaker 2: By the way, Yeah, gim me, gim me give me
Speaker 2: the nears. I mean, Penn State usually Penn State never
Speaker 2: beats teams that like matter, but they usually take care
Speaker 2: of business in a major way against the teams are
Speaker 2: supposed to beat. But yeah, we'll come back to that.
Speaker 2: We'll revisit that one because that's what I do want
Speaker 2: to bet on it, and I'm leaning towards the Mountaineers.
Speaker 2: But Miami plays Florida, which that's a I mean, let's
Speaker 2: be honest here, Billy Napier, the guy that everybody expects
Speaker 2: to be the first coach fire this year. Florida has
Speaker 2: a really really challenging schedule. They're not supposed to be good.
Speaker 2: Miami is a preseason ranked team. This is another chance
Speaker 2: for the ACC to not embarrass themselves because a scenario
Speaker 2: where you lose this game, I mean, it's just another
Speaker 2: data point where people can claim the ACC sucks, and
Speaker 2: I wish I could tell you that it doesn't suck,
Speaker 2: but the ACC keeps giving us results that does, in
Speaker 2: fact make it look like it kind of sucks. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's not a terrible league, but these are games. This game, specifically,
Speaker 2: just this year, this is one you should win and
Speaker 2: it won't mean a whole lot because it'll mean Florida's
Speaker 2: they what we thought they were is not a good
Speaker 2: team that's probably going to be in the last season
Speaker 2: of the billion Napier era. But if you lose, it's
Speaker 2: just a point and laugh opportunity. And unfortunately Georgia Tech
Speaker 2: should have been given a little more love going into
Speaker 2: that game. But the majority of the reaction about what
Speaker 2: happened in Ireland is about Florida State not being legit
Speaker 2: and meaning that the ACC is not worthy of any
Speaker 2: playoff teams, which we know is not going to be
Speaker 2: the case, but still, and I know you can't, like,
Speaker 2: you can't control the perception one thousand percent, but if
Speaker 2: you take care of business and you beat good teams
Speaker 2: in the non conference, meaning the ACC does that, it's
Speaker 2: a start. It's a start to where people will be
Speaker 2: forced to realize, yeah, when they do beat up on
Speaker 2: each other in league play, it's because the league has
Speaker 2: a variety of good teams. And I'm telling you, the
Speaker 2: best example I could think of is Georgia Tech is
Speaker 2: not looked at as a good team. Now. I mean,
Speaker 2: they're getting more respect as they should, but the overall reaction,
Speaker 2: big picture, is that Florida State is not going to
Speaker 2: be a legit team this year because they lost that
Speaker 2: game and that was expected, meaning that was probably what
Speaker 2: we should have expected the reaction to be. But my
Speaker 2: point is this, if the SEC had a similar matchup.
Speaker 2: Let's say, let's say Kentucky beats ole Miss, who's a
Speaker 2: top ten team. Kentucky would clearly be ian. That'd be
Speaker 2: a damn good win for him, right, But let's say
Speaker 2: they played each other in Week zero and the talk
Speaker 2: I mean again, we're talking two top ten teams. Ole
Speaker 2: Miss is a preseason top ten team. People think they're
Speaker 2: going to be a playoff team this year, So if
Speaker 2: they lost to Kentucky, the reaction wouldn't be point and
Speaker 2: laugh at ole Miss. It would be wow, just another
Speaker 2: tough day, hitt the office when you play in the SEC. Again,
Speaker 2: a lot of the reasons why people are pointing and
Speaker 2: laughing at Florida State is because of the lawsuits they
Speaker 2: started filing when they got left out of the playoff,
Speaker 2: and they have a very very high opinion of themselves
Speaker 2: that is much different than I think the opinion that
Speaker 2: others have of Florida State football. But yeah, I mean again,
Speaker 2: just looking at other notable games, Notre Dame A and
Speaker 2: M that's a big one. I will watch a lot
Speaker 2: of that game because I want to see what Notre
Speaker 2: Dame looks like. And I'm pulling for Notre Dame because
Speaker 2: you want Notre Dame to be ranked a high as
Speaker 2: possible when you go in there and play. I mean,
Speaker 2: here's the thing. Because Georgia TACK did beat Florida State,
Speaker 2: they beat a top ten team, I would imagine they'll
Speaker 2: probably find themselves anywhere between like twenty one and twenty
Speaker 2: five in next week's rankings. But again, as we discussed earlier,
Speaker 2: I kind of think they're not going to get as
Speaker 2: much as much love with the AP voters because that
Speaker 2: is not as recent. I mean, they played Georgia State
Speaker 2: this weekend. They could beat them by forty, but I
Speaker 2: still feel like they would have gotten into the top
Speaker 2: twenty five more safely if there were votes this week.
Speaker 2: But they don't do a week They don't do a
Speaker 2: vote after week zero, and I guess you could understand
Speaker 2: considering that there's very few games. So back to what
Speaker 2: I was saying about those two back to back games.
Speaker 2: When you've got Georgia Tech and Notre Dame, they could
Speaker 2: be back to back opportunities for Louisville beaten ranked teams,
Speaker 2: So you know, we're getting ahead of ourselves here. Louis
Speaker 2: has got to still get passed, you know, and they
Speaker 2: will get passed. I mean, if they don't get past
Speaker 2: Jacksonville State and Austin p We've got a much different
Speaker 2: season ahead of us than I think any of us
Speaker 2: would have predicted. But it's just nice knowing that it's here.
Speaker 2: College football is here and I love it. And one
Speaker 2: of the questions that was asked, I think on the
Speaker 2: text line last week that we discussed was Hey, what's
Speaker 2: the better scenario for the ACC Florida State losing or
Speaker 2: Florida State winning? And I thought to myself, well, I mean,
Speaker 2: there's no doubt about it. If in fact Florida State
Speaker 2: was to lose, and I didn't think they would, it'll
Speaker 2: be about the ACC sucking, and that's kind of exactly
Speaker 2: where we are. I didn't expect it to happen, but
Speaker 2: it did. And let's be real, SMU did not do
Speaker 2: us any favors in the ACC because they should have
Speaker 2: lost to Nevada, who I believe was picked to finish
Speaker 2: dead last in the Mountain West, and Nevada was the
Speaker 2: better team for the majority of that game. But to
Speaker 2: go back to something I mentioned in the three o'clock hour,
Speaker 2: I think, without us realizing it, the way some of
Speaker 2: these teams were being talked about, in the way these
Speaker 2: games were set up. Not that SMU and Nevada was
Speaker 2: a big time game, but again it was a standalone
Speaker 2: game when there's no other college football on so it
Speaker 2: actually probably did get a lot of viewership on the
Speaker 2: CBS Sports Network. But now that I can reflect on it,
Speaker 2: Georgia Tech would have gotten more love if they played
Speaker 2: in a different league, Like if they had the same
Speaker 2: exact season but they were in the Big Twelve, even
Speaker 2: they would have gotten more respect in this game. They
Speaker 2: finished fourth in the ACC last year. I'll admit, hand up,
Speaker 2: I didn't know that. I knew they were better last
Speaker 2: year under brin Key. I knew that, but they finished
Speaker 2: fourth in the league. They returned twelve starters, including their
Speaker 2: quarterback and one thousand yard rusher Jamal Haynes, who ran
Speaker 2: all over Florida State on Saturday. They also bring back
Speaker 2: their leading receiver, who was a freshman All American last year.
Speaker 2: On defense, they went out and hired a new coordinator
Speaker 2: because their defense stunk, and there's no way anybody would
Speaker 2: have known, but Tyler Santucci did a great job defensively,
Speaker 2: at least in his first game coaching. He comes from
Speaker 2: the David Elco tree. He was the guy who was
Speaker 2: the DC last year at Duke. And by the way,
Speaker 2: I know nobody ever throws out Duke football as like
Speaker 2: a good thing, but Duke last year led the ACC
Speaker 2: in scoring defense and they were ranked sixteenth in the country,
Speaker 2: only giving up nineteen points a game. He was the
Speaker 2: guy leading that defense, along with Mike Elco. Throwing the
Speaker 2: fact that the quarterback Haynes King for Georgia Tech. He's
Speaker 2: one of only four quarterbacks last year to have twenty
Speaker 2: five or more passing touchdowns and ten or more rushing touchdowns.
Speaker 2: The others are Jaden Daniels and Caleb Williams, who by
Speaker 2: the way, are starting in the NFL this year, and
Speaker 2: Dylan Gabriel who has proven to be a really good
Speaker 2: player and he's at Oregon now. So not to say that, like, hey,
Speaker 2: we should have looked at this and expected Georgia Tech
Speaker 2: to win, but nobody gave them any like they were just,
Speaker 2: you know, the cute team that maybe will keep it
Speaker 2: close for a quarter and that the results were right
Speaker 2: in front of you from a year ago and what
Speaker 2: they brought back, and you never know, right, sometimes things
Speaker 2: don't carry over. But I just think because the ACC
Speaker 2: has viewed the way it is, Florida State probably already
Speaker 2: isn't getting the respect they deserve or wasn't getting the
Speaker 2: respect they deserve. But like nobody considers anybody else in
Speaker 2: this league worth of dam and I hate that and
Speaker 2: I just wish it wasn't the case. And SMU again
Speaker 2: another example as far as like just the perception of
Speaker 2: the ACC. They were this cute see team that people
Speaker 2: thought would really transition well to power for football because
Speaker 2: they won their league a year ago and they won
Speaker 2: eleven games in fact, and because the ACC is, you know,
Speaker 2: this bomb ass league, everybody said, well, SMU, they'll be fine.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're only in the ACC. They'll probably like
Speaker 2: top five ten because that jumps not that big. We're
Speaker 2: talking about the ACC here like that. That is how
Speaker 2: I think people view it, and I just, you know,
Speaker 2: in a way, I get it. I just wish it
Speaker 2: wasn't the case. I mean, last year again, they won
Speaker 2: eleven games, winning eleven games is not a down year
Speaker 2: for anybody, but there is context. They won eleven games
Speaker 2: in the American Conference. The year that Houston left, the
Speaker 2: year that Cincinnati left, the year that Central Florida left,
Speaker 2: they won eleven games. All of those teams were non
Speaker 2: Power five teams. They played three Power five teams. You
Speaker 2: know what they did in those three games, They lost
Speaker 2: all of them. They did not compete against Oklahoma, they
Speaker 2: did not compete against TCU lost those games about seventeen points.
Speaker 2: And then they lost to Boston College, who was also
Speaker 2: in the ACC. I kept bringing that up randomly when
Speaker 2: talking about SMU, Like people don't realize. And I know
Speaker 2: bowl games are tough to really know the value or
Speaker 2: lack thereof, because who plays and you know that kind
Speaker 2: of stuff. But you lose to Boston College by double
Speaker 2: fur figures in a bowl game, and then you come
Speaker 2: into their league and people rank you way higher than
Speaker 2: Boston College, Like, letn't make any sense. And I know
Speaker 2: it's two different seasons, but still so Louisville, let's hope
Speaker 2: they can take if if what everybody says about the
Speaker 2: ACC is correct, Let's just hope louisvill can take advantage
Speaker 2: of it. And I found myself over the weekend kind
Speaker 2: of for the first time, kind of shifting a little
Speaker 2: bit in regards to sort of how I maybe not
Speaker 2: how I view the league, but I would really hate
Speaker 2: for Louisville to put together a really good season this
Speaker 2: year that on paper and you know, the numbers and
Speaker 2: all that, maybe even the eye test from the objective
Speaker 2: folks like Louisville looks like they could be a team
Speaker 2: that maybe steals a playoff spot because they got a
Speaker 2: bunch of wins. They played for the conference championship and
Speaker 2: they lost to I don't know, Clemson or something like that.
Speaker 2: But it would just really suck in the first year
Speaker 2: of the expanded playoff off to get to get, you know,
Speaker 2: the short end of the stick because of how people
Speaker 2: view your league. There's nothing you can do about it
Speaker 2: other than go play the games on your schedule and
Speaker 2: win as much as you can. But I just, you know,
Speaker 2: I think years of the ACC struggling in non conference
Speaker 2: games has you know, has come back to bite him
Speaker 2: to where now when you have an opener where Georgia Tech,
Speaker 2: maybe they are a top twenty five team this year,
Speaker 2: but that wasn't the way people are looking at it
Speaker 2: now because it's the ACC and that just proves that
Speaker 2: everybody in that league must stink if Georgia Tech and
Speaker 2: beat Florida State. Although with all that said, it's not
Speaker 2: a pity pot mean, I'm not sad for Florida State.
Speaker 2: In fact, I took great satisfaction in seeing them lose.
Speaker 2: And man, some of those message board screenshots from Tallahassee,
Speaker 2: they didn't take that loss. Well, all right, let's get
Speaker 2: to let's get to our first break here in the
Speaker 2: five o'clock are a lot more to get into. We'll
Speaker 2: let you guys hear what Jeff Brum had to say
Speaker 2: when he was asked about Amari Huggins Bruce. Also some
Speaker 2: things I'm I'm specifically looking for on Saturday, other than
Speaker 2: of course a beat down VIC. And we'll go to
Speaker 2: the text line. I've neglected you guys. On the text line,
Speaker 2: I do apologize. Some good stuff coming in. We'll get
Speaker 2: to it next. This is Coffee and Company. We are
Speaker 2: feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety so.
Speaker 2: One name we have talked about quite a bit in
Speaker 2: the last week is the name that Jeff Brown can
Speaker 2: still not talk about publicly, and that is a Mariy
Speaker 2: Huggins Bruce. So he's at Louisville meeting at school, but
Speaker 2: he's not on the roster, not with the team, but
Speaker 2: maybe that changes sometime soon. Jeff was asked as I'm
Speaker 2: sure he was expected to be asked about a Marii
Speaker 2: Huggins Bruce at his press conference earlier today, and this
Speaker 2: is what he had to say. Is he back on
Speaker 2: the team, what's his role going to be with the team,
Speaker 2: and maybe walk us through the process of him coming
Speaker 2: back to Louisville. Well, right now, I probably can just
Speaker 2: talk about people that are on.
Speaker 3: Our roster, so we'll just have to leave it at
Speaker 3: that for this current moment, not.
Speaker 2: As of right now, so he's not on the roster now.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to figure out what would make it to
Speaker 2: where they get a thumbs up from the NCAA that
Speaker 2: they're good to add him to the roster and welcome
Speaker 2: him back to the program. I just looked the NAA
Speaker 2: is unpredictable, so I guess nothing should surprise me if
Speaker 2: they decide to just say, okay, yeah, that's fine. He
Speaker 2: never played a game at South Carolina and he was
Speaker 2: already enrolled at school at UFL prior to that, So
Speaker 2: you know, that's fine, We'll we'll grant you a waiver
Speaker 2: in this situation where he doesn't have to enter the portal,
Speaker 2: like maybe that's what it is. But again, the portal
Speaker 2: exists so that you can be contacted by schools once
Speaker 2: you get released from the school that you were playing at.
Speaker 2: And he never played a game, but he was enrolled
Speaker 2: at school in South Carolina since last January and was
Speaker 2: going through camp with him until last week. He just
Speaker 2: decided to bail and has now made his way back
Speaker 2: to Louisville. He has enrolled as a student, and you know,
Speaker 2: I guess it's now the waiting game. And that's really
Speaker 2: two different obstacles, right. One is just waiting for the
Speaker 2: NCAA to potentially address your situation, address your question, but
Speaker 2: also you know, getting them to actually sign off on it.
Speaker 2: That's a different obstacle. So we shall see. I I
Speaker 2: know I don't sound, you know, overly positive about this
Speaker 2: overall thing, but it's if he's able to play, then
Speaker 2: that'd be great, right. You get another receiver, especially knowing
Speaker 2: that you have an injury to a guy that was
Speaker 2: expected to play a lot of a lot at the
Speaker 2: slot this year. And Huggins Bruce, you know, wouldn't shock
Speaker 2: me if that he is here and healthy. He is,
Speaker 2: you know, still the same kind of guy that you
Speaker 2: see him out there. He'll make a play every now
Speaker 2: and then, but he's not a guy that you know,
Speaker 2: can really be your lead receiver at that position, meaning
Speaker 2: the slot. And maybe, like you realize, the other guys
Speaker 2: that are getting an opportunity because Colin Lacy's hurt that
Speaker 2: they actually make more sense to get the majority of
Speaker 2: the reps. So it's a positive to have him back
Speaker 2: if he can play. I just think because of the
Speaker 2: unusualness here and because of the worry about life without
Speaker 2: Colin Lacey, I think there's there's been an inflated perception
Speaker 2: of what he brings to the table. Meeting of Mary
Speaker 2: Huggins Bruce. Now I say all that knowing maybe you know,
Speaker 2: maybe you got better. Maybe his time at South Carolina,
Speaker 2: you know, really helped him, and and you know he'll
Speaker 2: come back here and and we'll we'll be looking back
Speaker 2: at this time thinking, man, what a crazy scenario. I'm
Speaker 2: so glad that worked out, But you know, we'll see
Speaker 2: it sounds like at the receiver spot in place of
Speaker 2: Colin Lacey, you're likely going to see you on Jayden
Speaker 2: Thompson be the starter there. And he's a guy that's
Speaker 2: played a lot of football, was at Cincinnati before he
Speaker 2: transferred to Louisville, was involved in the offense a little
Speaker 2: bit last year. Not a guy you saw a whole lot,
Speaker 2: making a whole lot of plays, but you know he's
Speaker 2: gonna get an opportunity now. I think Kataras Hicks is
Speaker 2: also a guy that that that they like. It's just
Speaker 2: it comes down to can you go out there and
Speaker 2: be week in and week out a reliable weapon for
Speaker 2: this offense? Can you you know, can you create? Can
Speaker 2: you get open? Can you make can you make the
Speaker 2: catches consistently? If you're in a position where shut just
Speaker 2: got to throw it up and you've got to go
Speaker 2: make a play, can you do that? Now? Sometimes that's
Speaker 2: easier said than done. For example, we've seen Chris Bell
Speaker 2: do that, it just hasn't been consistent. Now it needs
Speaker 2: to be consistent. So I think Chris Bell has a
Speaker 2: chance to be your top receiver, and I mean even
Speaker 2: ahead of somebody like ja Corey Brooks. That's how talented
Speaker 2: Chris Bell is. But now gonna he's gonna need to
Speaker 2: emerge as a guy that is sort of, you know,
Speaker 2: the lead guy at receiver. And I think with the
Speaker 2: way Jeff calls plays and with the depth that they
Speaker 2: believe they have, I'm not saying Chris Bell is gonna
Speaker 2: have to come out there and catch more balls than
Speaker 2: anybody every single game, but he's shown the flashes to
Speaker 2: where now it's time to make it a consistent thing.
Speaker 2: The other guys haven't really shown that because, to be
Speaker 2: fair to them, they haven't had the opportunity. And I'd
Speaker 2: say that the opportunity wasn't there because there were guys
Speaker 2: ahead of them last year, you know, like a you know,
Speaker 2: like a Jamari Thrash who's now in the NFL with
Speaker 2: the Browns. So I think you'll see a lot of receiver.
Speaker 2: In fact, I think you're gonna see a ton of
Speaker 2: guys get legit rap on Saturday because you're gonna be
Speaker 2: winning by that much, and that's what you should do
Speaker 2: in games like this. All right, five two six, five
Speaker 2: three zero seven nineties the number if you guys would
Speaker 2: like to text in on the Ellenn Federal Credit Union
Speaker 2: text line members get more at Ellen NFC. You can
Speaker 2: learn more at Open your Account Today at lnfcu dot com.
Speaker 2: This text says Nick seeing Jack Plumber ball out for
Speaker 2: the Panthers, what does that do to you? It doesn't
Speaker 2: do anything to me. I mean, he had a really
Speaker 2: good game the other night. He's probably gonna be their
Speaker 2: emergency quarterback. They did change the rule in the NFL
Speaker 2: where you can keep an emergency third quarterback, so he'll be.
Speaker 2: I mean, right now, they've got obviously the kid Stroud,
Speaker 2: not Stroud, but is Bryce Young? Yeah? Bryce Young is
Speaker 2: their quarterback in Carolina, and then Andy Dalton is the backup.
Speaker 2: And then it sounds like Jack Plumber will be the
Speaker 2: third guy, so he'll be practice squad emergency quarterback if
Speaker 2: the Panthers decide to do that. But I mean, look,
Speaker 2: Jack is like Jack. And I said this a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks ago, and I'm sure it sounded really stupid.
Speaker 2: I'll have to make it sound a little less supid
Speaker 2: this time around. Jack Plumber and Malie Cunningham are a
Speaker 2: lot more like than you would think. And what I
Speaker 2: mean by that is you would see them at times
Speaker 2: showcase an arm that you feel like is a good arm,
Speaker 2: maybe an NFL arm. I mean, Malik was really really
Speaker 2: accurate with the deep ball at times, and he'd have
Speaker 2: games and drives where he looks all American caliber, and
Speaker 2: then he'd have a throw that you think, what the
Speaker 2: hell you doing? Were you thinking? Or man, how can
Speaker 2: you not make that throw that's a lot easier than
Speaker 2: the last five throws you made? Jack was the same way.
Speaker 2: It's all about. I think what separates a lot of
Speaker 2: you know, athletes is consistency. But I'd say quarterback, man,
Speaker 2: it's even I mean, there are throws you can make
Speaker 2: here and there, but what makes you know being able
Speaker 2: to stay in the NFL for a number of years,
Speaker 2: even in a backup role. It's about doing it consistently.
Speaker 2: And I think Jack is such a good dude and
Speaker 2: a good locker room guy, good teammate, good leader. Jack
Speaker 2: Jack Plumber is a really good guy. By the way.
Speaker 2: I won't claim to know him, like you know, we're
Speaker 2: talking every now and the phone, but I got to
Speaker 2: know him a little bit and he's a really, really
Speaker 2: good guy to where I can see that Carolina will
Speaker 2: would love to have him in their locker room as
Speaker 2: the guy that is in that type of situation as
Speaker 2: the third string quarterback that might need to be used
Speaker 2: in an emergency situation, a guy that's practice squad. And
Speaker 2: I think he was good enough to do that. With Jackie,
Speaker 2: it was just it was just inconsistency and at times,
Speaker 2: you know, I think he let a mistake turn into
Speaker 2: three because he was trying to double down at times
Speaker 2: to make up for a bad decision that he'd made prior.
Speaker 2: So look, it'd be different if he was going to
Speaker 2: be the starter. Like, I don't know people trying to
Speaker 2: use Jack plumber success in the NFL preseason as a
Speaker 2: sign that, uh oh we thought Jack was the problem.
Speaker 2: Maybe he was brawm Like, I don't I mean, I
Speaker 2: don't think anybody's doing that. But like, what do you mean?
Speaker 2: What is Jack Plumber? What does it do to me?
Speaker 2: I don't know what that means? Whoever asked that on
Speaker 2: the text line, still trying to figure out what that Like, Oh,
Speaker 2: I mean, go go Jack Plumber? Does that mean that
Speaker 2: what you wanted? I don't know. I mean I feel
Speaker 2: like I was way more nice in kind of Plumber
Speaker 2: than most. I defended him at times, you know, all
Speaker 2: it took was me saying something not mean about him,
Speaker 2: and phone lines would light up on the postgame show
Speaker 2: for people just wanting to get in for fifteen seconds
Speaker 2: to tell me sucked. I gotta say, I do.
Speaker 3: Feel like the talk about Jack Plumber's career, at least
Speaker 3: his season with Louisville in the offseason has been a
Speaker 3: lot more negative than when it was during the season.
Speaker 2: If that makes sense. Maybe it's just recentcy. If that's
Speaker 2: the case, I would say it's because the guy that
Speaker 2: you listen yap about Louisville football was not as mean
Speaker 2: as others. It's probably what it is because I mean,
Speaker 2: it was uncomfortable to do. But I don't feel like
Speaker 2: it was wrong to say that the weakness of the
Speaker 2: offense last year was him. Yeah, Now you could counter
Speaker 2: that by saying the tight end position there just wasn't
Speaker 2: a whole lot to work with there. Now it's totally different.
Speaker 2: They got packages for four or five different tight ends
Speaker 2: at times to where not that they can all have
Speaker 2: them on the field at the same time. But I
Speaker 2: think they're going to play a lot of tight ends
Speaker 2: this year. And if you know, if Jack had these
Speaker 2: weapons last year, maybe it would be a little bit different,
Speaker 2: but I mean he made a lot of mistakes in
Speaker 2: crucial times, and you know that's something people remember. I mean,
Speaker 2: he was a big factor in why you lost to
Speaker 2: Florida State the way you did, and you could have
Speaker 2: won that game. And I hate you could ever blame
Speaker 2: it on one guy, one play, but you could also say, hey,
Speaker 2: that specific play, you know that that guy didn't make
Speaker 2: or really messed up like that, that that was a
Speaker 2: huge factor in the overall result of winning and losing.
Speaker 2: This Tech says, you think bron will try to keep
Speaker 2: some tricks in the bag in the first few weeks
Speaker 2: just to just to throw off the Yeah, so maybe,
Speaker 2: I mean, I Louil hasn't been in this position in
Speaker 2: a long time. I mean people last year were saying
Speaker 2: he's gonna keep some tricks in the bag against Georgia
Speaker 2: Tech when Georgia Tech, you know, was housing you halftime.
Speaker 2: So I mean they've had close enough games, Like last year,
Speaker 2: they had close enough games against teams that you should
Speaker 2: have beat pretty bad or teams you just expected to
Speaker 2: be bad and they weren't to where I don't know,
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know that that's a really good
Speaker 2: That's a good off the record question for Jeff because
Speaker 2: he would give you a very expected coaches answer if
Speaker 2: you asked him, hey, when you playing, when you're playing
Speaker 2: Austin p and Jacksonville State, you're gonna you're not gonna
Speaker 2: really show anybody what you want to do the regular
Speaker 2: season right the rest of the season. He would say, well,
Speaker 2: you know, we respect our opponent, we're gonna we're coming out.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm gonna try to win or do whatever
Speaker 2: it takes. I mean, he would probably give you a
Speaker 2: coach's answer, as most coaches would, but off the record
Speaker 2: he might say, oh, yeah, we're not really gonna show
Speaker 2: some of the some of the trick plays or some
Speaker 2: of the you know, maybe some maybe there's gonna be
Speaker 2: some some things we throw out there that nobody would
Speaker 2: have expected given the personnel that we have and all that.
Speaker 2: So he'd never give you an answer, but it would
Speaker 2: make total sense that if you get to that Georgia
Speaker 2: Tech game, let's say it's a top twenty five matchup,
Speaker 2: that maybe you see a wrinkle that wasn't there against
Speaker 2: these weak opponents that you have in your first couple
Speaker 2: of games. Uh. This text says Nick do you think
Speaker 2: it makes more sense to try to embarrass Austin P
Speaker 2: and jack State because of the perception for the playoff off?
Speaker 2: And then this text also goes on to mention that
Speaker 2: the acc being you know what it is, You're gonna
Speaker 2: need some style points. I've got a probably unpopular opinion
Speaker 2: about playing these teams that I'll share with you given
Speaker 2: that question. So, if a team is coming in and
Speaker 2: you are paying them money to be here, which is
Speaker 2: a it's a bye game for for Jacksonville State next
Speaker 2: week in Austin P this week, just like it was
Speaker 2: for Montana State. Montana State got paid three hundred and
Speaker 2: sixty thousand dollars to go to New Mexico and beat them.
Speaker 2: If I'm paying you to be here and that bill
Speaker 2: or that that check is is really footing the bill
Speaker 2: for your program to exist, bend over and take it.
Speaker 2: If you're getting paid to be here, I'm not gonna
Speaker 2: embar I'm not gonna try to get anybody hurt. I'm
Speaker 2: not going to, you know, try to make an example
Speaker 2: out of you. But I'm not worried if I'm up eighty.
Speaker 2: If I'm paying you to be here, that's what you're
Speaker 2: paid to do, show up, bend over, and take it.
Speaker 2: Why are you comfortable, John, I'm not uncomfortable. I'm just
Speaker 2: sitting thinking should that be the title of the show today. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but it makes sense that it does. It does like.
Speaker 2: It doesn't make me an a hole. It doesn't make
Speaker 2: me you know somebody that you know is picking. I'm
Speaker 2: not a bully. These people are being paid to be here.
Speaker 2: And I don't think you'll ever look bad by beating
Speaker 2: somebody's brains out in football, Like I mean, in that situation. Now,
Speaker 2: there's a level of gamesmanship like running up the score
Speaker 2: and all that. But no, like when when Kentucky and
Speaker 2: Louisville play each other, that's not and sorry, let me
Speaker 2: back up, that's not a good example because that's a rivalry. Like, oh,
Speaker 2: you will use this game that's on Thursday. It's Minnesota
Speaker 2: and North Carolina. Like if if Carolina is getting beat
Speaker 2: by thirty five and you know, Minnesota's running out the
Speaker 2: clock and then they run one more pass play and
Speaker 2: they score again, some would say that that's like, you know,
Speaker 2: that's doing too much. You were trying to embarrass them
Speaker 2: that and I you know, I still think that's kind
Speaker 2: of weak. If you don't like it, stop it. But
Speaker 2: I do understand it from that standpoint, because that's just
Speaker 2: you know, the game's over at that point. Now you're
Speaker 2: trying to pile on, but nobody's been paid to be there.
Speaker 2: That's a that's a that's two powerful programs. Scheduling a
Speaker 2: home at home, Like if I pay you to, if
Speaker 2: i'm if I'm giving you a gift, you cannot be
Speaker 2: choosy how I beat you, Like you can't cry victim
Speaker 2: whenever you go to the press conference afterwards because you
Speaker 2: got a check in your hand on the way out,
Speaker 2: like again, and sometimes you lose those games. You're not
Speaker 2: gonna take it easy on us? Why will we take
Speaker 2: it easy on you? I guess I probably could have
Speaker 2: worded it a little bit differently than you know, bend
Speaker 2: over and take it, but like take your ass, that's
Speaker 2: what needs to happen. No, No, it's another one of
Speaker 2: those moments and the show where I thought to myself,
Speaker 2: like what if somebody just tuned in right at that
Speaker 2: second and like the butt stuff yeah last week, Oh yeah,
Speaker 2: a lot of butt stuff, A lot of butt stuff.
Speaker 2: We have a I'm sure you're not a big Jim
Speaker 2: Rome guy. But he had a he had a caller
Speaker 2: that has a drop that said something that is it
Speaker 2: is I think still a legendary drop within the Jim
Speaker 2: Rome show, and that is Bohica Buddy bend over here
Speaker 2: it comes again. You ever heard that? I have not.
Speaker 2: That's pretty funny though, you know. So after we put
Speaker 2: up fifty in the first half against Austin p Bohica
Speaker 2: Buddy bend over here it comes again for another two quarters.
Speaker 2: We had somebody earlier on the text line. I kind
Speaker 2: of just ignored it because I didn't it was it's
Speaker 2: uncomfortable to even think about. But we did talk about it.
Speaker 2: Last week. They had a coach on their staff, their
Speaker 2: offensive coordinator, their co oed C last week resigned because
Speaker 2: he got caught up in a child sex trafficking thing,
Speaker 2: which is, you know, not good, disgusting. So like somebody
Speaker 2: was alluding to the fact that, you know, maybe maybe
Speaker 2: that'll keep the staff from taking their foot off the pedal,
Speaker 2: because you know, they employed a predator, which they did
Speaker 2: and that's awful. But anyways, let's get our last break
Speaker 2: out of the way. I gotta remember the five o'clock
Speaker 2: hours of my Mom's on her way from work, so
Speaker 2: she's probably like, why Nick, why are you saying bend over?
Speaker 2: Take it? Come on, grow up. I can't grow up, mom.
Speaker 2: That's why I do this. That's what this is. This
Speaker 2: is me, this is your son. I'm not really an adult,
Speaker 2: just kind of kind of getting by as one pretending
Speaker 2: to be one. All right, it's coffee and Company. We're
Speaker 2: fuel about Thorton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
Speaker 2: We can get into this a little bit more throughout
Speaker 2: the week, but I do see here that Jasper Johnson,
Speaker 2: one of the top players in the country, who of
Speaker 2: course is considering Kentucky, and it sounds like it's gonna
Speaker 2: be Kentucky and Alabama. But Woodford County native has a
Speaker 2: lot of Kentucky connections. But it's gone back and forth,
Speaker 2: according to those who cover his recruitment. Is it gonna
Speaker 2: be Bama or is it gonna be Kentucky and Mark
Speaker 2: Pope and he's gonna make his decision looks like next Thursday,
Speaker 2: September the fifth, And I mean he's doing it at
Speaker 2: Woodford County High School, which I don't know. Maybe I'm
Speaker 2: wrong to just assume that means he's going to Kentucky,
Speaker 2: but I mean where else would he do right, like
Speaker 2: if he's back here, I mean, he's not going to
Speaker 2: do it at over time elite. I don't mean I
Speaker 2: guess he could. I don't know, but you know that
Speaker 2: would be massive. I've talked about it here and there
Speaker 2: whenever we've discussed his recruitment. And of course, obviously Malachi
Speaker 2: Moreno from Scott County also committed to Kentucky. So for
Speaker 2: Kentucky to get two local kids that really wouldn't have
Speaker 2: been recruited like this if the previous staff was still here.
Speaker 2: Jasper Johnson would have, but he probably wouldn't have been
Speaker 2: prioritized quite like the Pope staff has done. And I
Speaker 2: think i'd heard I think it might have been something
Speaker 2: mentioned on KSR that Jasper Johnson's first nil offer from
Speaker 2: Kentucky was you know, like disrespectful almost as far as
Speaker 2: how little it was compared to what Carolina and Alabama
Speaker 2: and even Louisville was prepared to offer. So, you know,
Speaker 2: anytime you can get to top thirty players, I mean
Speaker 2: that's good for anybody. Even cow Was you know, would
Speaker 2: get those guys. But if they're from Kentucky and they're
Speaker 2: you know, this highly touted as the Kentucky brand is
Speaker 2: kind of shifting back to being more about Kentucky and
Speaker 2: not just about Caliperry. Like, I think that would be
Speaker 2: a really good I mean, who knows how you know
Speaker 2: how good the teams would be under Mark Prope. Who knows. Again,
Speaker 2: these guys are still going to play another season of
Speaker 2: high school ball before they get to Kentucky. But I
Speaker 2: feel like if you would have told Kentucky fans that
Speaker 2: the first class Pope puts together from the high school
Speaker 2: ranks is going to include these two guys, I mean,
Speaker 2: that would have been best case scenario for them. Now, again,
Speaker 2: the portal still matters in a major way, and you know,
Speaker 2: freshmen aren't relied upon quite as much. But Jasper Johnson's
Speaker 2: a special player, and I believe I've got a piece
Speaker 2: of use is Trivia. The first coach to ever get
Speaker 2: Jasper Johnson on campus for a visit, Scott Saderfield. He
Speaker 2: was a football recruit before he was a basketball recruit.
Speaker 2: I think I whan he was like a freshman in
Speaker 2: high school, he was believed to be a guy that
Speaker 2: had a future of playing at the next level in
Speaker 2: football more than basketball, and then you know that changed.
Speaker 2: I think he's probably influenced as well to go to
Speaker 2: the football route, considering the fact that you know, his
Speaker 2: father was a player at Kentucky. I think his uncle
Speaker 2: might have been. His grandfather was also a player there.
Speaker 2: So anyways, Jasper Johnson making his decision next week. Somebody
Speaker 2: had asked me earlier why Louisville is still being meant,
Speaker 2: there's a graphic that like shows his final six or
Speaker 2: five and Louisville's in there. But I mean, I've heard
Speaker 2: nothing about Louisville being in the mix at all here,
Speaker 2: which again that doesn't mean I don't see that to
Speaker 2: be critical. I just think, you know, it was going
Speaker 2: to come down to three schools, Kentucky, Alabama, North Carolina,
Speaker 2: and now I think it's just to Alabama in Kentucky.
Speaker 2: So we shall see. All right, We're back at it tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Hopefully you guys will join us as we continue to
Speaker 2: get set for the opener Louisville Austin p. I mean,
Speaker 2: it's not a big time game. I said that, and
Speaker 2: I couldn't even fake it that it was like, you know,
Speaker 2: big time action. The Governor's coming to town. Come on,
Speaker 2: they're coming to town. They're gonna bend over and they're
Speaker 2: gonna take it. They want that check to be here,
Speaker 2: they better bend over and take it. Sorry, Mom, have
Speaker 2: a good done everybody,