Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you on a Wednesday as we hit the midweek, and of course every Wednesday we chat with Sean Woods, the Unforgettable Guard and Gary Morrow weston Bureau Chief. We're also going to talk tonight with Kent Spencer from WHAS over in Louisville formerly WTVQ and Lexington and Kent along with Jeff Picoro. They're the guys who cover UK who know what it's like to play in a college football game. So that's
why I like talking football with those guys. And it's going to be a rough one this week. We know that Kentucky and Georgia, especially after the Wildcats performance last Saturday, But how many times have we seen a team that just really lays an egg in one week, rise up and play well the next You know who did that, South Carolina? You know that they played so poorly, should have lost the Old Dominion, but then regrouped and thanks to some holes in the Kentucky attack, really pounded the
Wildcats on Kentucky's home field. Saw you heard it right here, and it's gonna need It's going to take a huge effort by the Wildcats just to hang in there with Georgia. This is a great college football team, as great as other Georgia teams. Well maybe not right now, but we know how talented and deep Georgia is. So but you know Kentucky's kids, they've got pride, they've got smarts, and
they know what they're up against. So we'll hear it right here at a seven thirty start, five thirty pregame with Christy and Jeremy and Logan Stenberg and then of course Tom Leach, Jeff Piicorro and yours truly what the call of the Cats and the Dogs? How bad was it for the Wildcats over the weekend? Well, bleacher Report has a story about college football fan bases that should be worried after Week two, and yes, the Wildcats are there.
And in fact, if you go to bleacher report dot com and click on to it, the lead photograph is Brock Vandergriff. Now they list the teams in alphabetical order, not necessarily which fan base should be worried the most. One of the teams leading it off is Auburn, which is on Kentucky's schedule. Hugh Freeze, though six and seven last year, not doing well this year. Last year, Remember
they lost at home to New Mexico State. But Auburn comes up and then beats Alabama, A and M to open this season, but loses to Cal twenty one to fourteen. Cal came across the country and beat Auburn down on the plains. And now they've got Oklahoma on the road. Georgia and Missouri never gets easier, as you know in
the SEC. How about Colorado as an out of winning season since twenty sixteen, all kinds of headlines when Dion Sanders got there, blew out the roster, talented quarterback, talented running back, but nothing, nothing's happened for coach Prime yet. And Nebraska put them down last week twenty eight to ten. So now you've got the big twelve teams to deal with, and you go to UCF and Texas Tech, which ain't easy four and a last year. They're going to be
any better this year. Moving on alphabetically to Florida Gators. We all know about Florida. Florida's been struggling for a while now fired its coach, brought in Billy Napier. He didn't do so hot last year, losing to among other teams, Kentucky and now they're off to a bad study beat Samford forty five to seven. Miami comes to town and beats Florida by twenty four points. That is embarrassing for
any Florida fan. And Miami right now is really the only successful high profile team in the state of Florida because Florida State is struggling as well. Florida State losing to Georgia Tech and then losing to Boston College State, which wanted out of the ACC, well, they're definitely out
of the playoff race right now. And then again, moving along alphabetically, the Wildcats are listed by bleacher Report after losing to South Carolina thirty one to six, and they underscored the meager passing stats for Brock vandergriv three for ten for thirty yards. We all know that, and of course Keavin wims at three of seven, but with no time to throw, it doesn't matter who's back there. Running game had said labored for one hundred and thirty nine
yards on forty six carries. Actually they ran for about one hundred and eighty yards, but you have to subtract in college ball, the yard did you lose from sacks? Pointed out that the defense held on until the dam opened in the third quarter, and UK's first drives offensively resulted in minus twenty two yards South Carolina with all kinds of fuel positions. So everybody knows it was a rough one for the Wildcats. Oh there's one more SMU.
They've got quarterback issues. They lost to BYU eighteen to fifteen. Now they got TCU coming in, they got Florida State coming in, they got Louisville. Welcome to the ACC. How much did you miss the NFL? Well? The league says they set a new record last week, the most watched Week one of the regular season in league history. The AP reporting that the NFL Week one games were watched by an average of twenty one million viewers per game,
highest ever for Week one. The NFL and Nielsen announcing their combined TV and digital ratings of twelve percent from last year. One hundred and twenty three million people in total watched at least part of one game, which was the most for a Week one schedule since twenty nineteen. NFL is back investigating a lawsuit, another one filed against Deshaun Watson, the Browns quarterback accused of sexual assault that story,
it seems, is never going away. Meanwhile, the Bengals, a source close to the situation, said that they offered Jamar Chase four years, one hundred and forty million with ninety
million guaranteed, including a thirty million signing bonus. So everybody loved that except Chase was willing to take the four year extension, but he wanted guaranteed money and injury protections to kick in earlier in the deal than the team did, so they couldn't get together and they're still apart, and I think it absolutely affected the team and the loss to New England. The Steelers are preparing Justin Fields to be their starting quarterback again. Russell Wilson still recovering, looking
right at you, Jeff Drummond. Russell Wilson with an aggravated calf injury, so Fields will start against Russell's old team one of its old teams, the Denver Broncos on Sunday with Bownicks, who did not play well in his first
game as rookie. While we're talking about leg injuries, the forty nine Ers say Christian McCaffrey has a calf injury himself and achilles tendinitis so they're gonna have to nurse him along literally, and evidently it's the same calf injury that had him listed on the injury report last playoff season against the Packers. He played through that injury, and Kyle Shanahan, head coach, said he'd be playing now if it were the playoffs, but it's the regular season, so
they are exercising more caution. But you cannot lose Christian McCaffery. But an achilles injury that could be nasty. Just ask Aaron Rodgers, who did play the entire game for the Jets, didn't look particularly great. Thirteen of twenty one with one hundred and sixty seven yards and a touchdown in the loss to the Niners. Also had a pick, and he pointed out look, he said, if we win, we're going to the super Bowl. If we lose, we're terrible. So he knows how fit all right, But he also said
get on the bandwagon now. But if you don't get on now, you can't get on later. I'm basically paraphrasing. So while he said he was grateful at a sense of gratitude as he rode the bus over, but he's not happy with some of the criticism from New York fans, but what did you expect? Speaking of New York fans, Aaron Gershawan is one of them, but he is a Giants fan and he ain't liking this today. Our man from the Cat's Boss Daniel Jones, the quarterback for the Giants.
Aaron talked about him on Monday Night on the show, how he stunk it up and probably will keep stinking it up. The Minnesota Vikings, one of the defensive players, Jonathan Greenard, a linebacker, said during their twenty eight to six win over the Giants. He said, we kind of started to feel a little bit bad for Jones and we're still just completely taking away everything he wants to do.
It's good to be on the other side of it, and it's our job to not be on that side, absolutely right, And if they're taking everything away, it's not just the quarterback, it's the game plan, it's everybody. But it's not often you hear that from an opposing player. All Right, we'll take a break. When we come back, we'll talk Kentucky football here from the Wildcats a little
bit later on Kent Spencer. We'll break things down when it comes to Kentucky football here on the Big Bloon Sider, six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the Big Boon Sider. A couple of programming notes for you. Coming up tomorrow. We're gonna be chatting with Matthew Sign. He is the COO of the National Football Foundation, and of course that's the outfit that runs the College Football Hall of Fame. You heard from Tim Couch on the show last night, and of course he'll be honored this weekend for his
impending induction into the Hall of Fame. The actual ceremony itself comes up on in December out in Las Vegas. So we'll hear from Matthew Sign about the College Football Hall theme tomorrow, but also tomorrow a kind of a special program for you, at least one half of the show. We're going to look back on Kentucky's two victories over
Georgia that happened back in the aughts under Rich Brooks. Yeah, they don't have him very often wins over Georgia, but in his tenure nine years at Kentucky he beat Georgia twice. He always rude the fact that they couldn't stop the losing skid to Tennessee and he couldn't stop the streak against Florida. And that's one of the reasons that he appreciates Mark Stoops. He really likes Mark Stoops, likes the way he coaches, likes what's happening here, previous game nowithstanding,
But he actually coached two Kentucky teams that beat Georgia. No, Georgia wasn't as good then as it is now, but look, it's Georgia. It's like when anytime any team beats Kentucky in basketball, doesn't matter if it was the Billy gillispe era or the John Caliperry era, whatever. If you beat Kentucky, you beat that name, you beat that tradition. And that's what happened with Georgia. They weren't bad Georgia teams, but Kentucky beat them. Of course they know six the Wildcats
had lost that horrible, horrible game down at LSU. One of the longest nights I ever spent on the sideline. I mean, I kept looking at my watch because Kentucky had no hope. The way that game unfolded was a good LSU team. Most of that team was back the next year that won the national title. Even though it lost to Kentucky, but that night LSU just had its
way with the Wildcats. And I'll never forget standing down there on the sideline thinking, first of all, I will have nothing to talk about with anybody in the post game, and that was if I don't remember who I interviewed after the game. But it was so bad. And Jeremy Jarman has told that story on our show a couple times that he wondered was he in the right place, playing in the in the right conference? Was he good enough to be an SEC football player? That loss made
him doubt himself. And then you might recall Kentucky came back in an open date. Thankfully Rich Brooks really cracked down on the Wildcats. It paid off with a win at Mississippi State. That one was razor thin. And then Kentucky came home and beat Georgia with the kid named Matthew Stafford as a freshman quarterback went on to do great things at Georgia, but Kentucky took advantage of him. Had two crucial interceptions, one at the end of each
half that figured huge in that game. And that was the first goal post game at Commonwealth Stadium, and the video of that goal post coming down is it's really scary. I'm amazed nobody got hurt. But we had Rich Brooks on the line, and he is going to be our celebrity on the logust if you will. He will open our broadcast on Saturday. And I also had a chance to chat with him for quite a while about the
wins over Georgia and six and again in nine. That one was down in Georgia in Athens at Sanford Stadium, and of course they shut the scoreboard off the moment the game was over, but Kentucky pulled off that upset, both wins coming under Rich Brooks. So we'll hear highlights from those games and we will hear from the coach both Tomorrow night on the show, I'm going to play an excerpt from the documentary we did on that sixth season. It was called Believe because that was the name of
the video. Remember that Raymond Claurin and the other Wildcats put together. Raymond wrote it and then they put a video together, very simple video that appeared on the scoreboard on the video big screen back when the season was in doubt. It wasn't a video that they did so they could crow about their accomplishments. It was about the fact that they were not even midway through the year, just about it at the midway point, still believe they
could get things done, and they did. So we'll look back on those wins tomorrow night here on the Big Blue Insider, but looking back at South Carolina as something the media did yesterday last night with Eric Wolford, the O line coach, and he talked about what he saw on video when he stopped to break things down.
I think the biggest thing, you know, after you sit back and take a look at the film, you know everybody has.
A one on one battle.
Very rarely in today's game do you get two guys on one, And when you look at when we had breakdowns, I think it starts with some very simple things as far as your hand placement. You know, that's obviously what triggers Holy calls guys with their hands inside, that's important, playing with the bass, playing with the correct pad level on a consistent way. And then I think there's a point too where when you get on blocks, you need to stick on blocks, and you need to finish and
play with tremendous strain. And those were the things that we felt like that we need to be better on.
And I think the.
Guys are obviously disappointed in the fact that the game didn't go the way that they anticipated and going or wanting it to go, and there's a sense of pride.
And Wolford talked about how his players, the Old Line responded what he saw in them.
I feel like it's a group that's disappointed and they have a sense of urgency to get back because they're a prideful group.
Wilford pointed out it was going to take that kind of response if they had any shot at beating Georgia.
When I when I talked to him on Sunday, I knew that they were bothered.
You know, there wasn't a time to rant and rave.
There's a sense of pride. They're in there watching film, getting started on, they watched the game, got start on the next opponent, all that stuff. But these guys, these guys would they know what it means to play here at Kentucky. They know what the expectation is. These guys have been around here long enough and they're disappointed. But
you know, one game doesn't define you. You know, I say that all the time, And you got to be a head to the league button learn from your mistakes and move forward and make sure that they don't repeat themselves.
But one game doesn't define you.
Then it was bush Ham. Then the Kentucky offensive coordinators stepped in and he talked about a number of topics, including the offensive line, and he said he believes the problems there that raise their ugly heads last Saturday, he believes they're fixable.
You know.
A lot of it just came down to one on one battles, you know, and I think we maybe came into the game and then put a lot of emphasis on protecting those edges and those pass rushers. There were some things in the interior side that hurt us as well, and so again I thought we ran the ball well at times during the game, and I think that's a huge plus, certainly from a protection standpoint. We know what we got to do to take the next step there.
And then starts again with me feel they got, you know, not as aggressive as we should have been to keep them off balanced, and then obviously I got to do a better job.
Out Amton echoed Wolford's comments about the response by the offensive lineman, by the offense in general, and of course in a situation like this, after a loss like that, with a powerhouse coming in proper attitude is essentral.
The good thing about this program, the good think about this culture. I really don't feel like there's a lot of pointing fingers going on. Everybody came back to work on Monday looking at themselves. Certainly from the staff standpoint, our players, we don't got to do better to do all one to eleven the crazy.
Walls we can play That is bush Ham to end alone with Eric Wolford courtesy of the Cats Illustrated Website. I wanted to make a note, of course today, this being nine to eleven in the anniversary of the attacks on our country, and I always think back to a number of things. Obviously that horrible day and where we were on this day. I remember being at Channel twenty seven.
I saw the second plane hit the tower while I was standing in the lobby, and I realized that this country's at war, and of course it disrupted a football season, which it should have. This was the week that Kentucky was to play Indiana, and everything was postponed that weekend properly, so I do recall when they did play the following week. I think they played Florida and well, the national anthem never meant more, did it? And I remember looking I
saw it on video later. I don't know I saw it as it happened, but Steve Moss got an incredible shot close up of UK defensive backs coach Wes McGriff. It was a great guy and a really good coach. He said, Auburn right now for the third time he's coaching at Auburn. But he was saluting. And I did not know that Wes McGriff was a veteran. He was. We asked him about it later he said, you're damn right, I am. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army in nineteen ninety and was a member of
the reserves until twenty oh one. But as veterans often do, even in playing clothes, they salute during the national anthem. I don't know if he ever did it prior to that, or if he does it now, but he did it on that day in twenty oh one, and we did a follow up story on that. But West McGriff, it just made me look back what a career he's had
as a defensive backs coach and a decoordinatory. He's coach, as they often do in a lot of places, but a three job stint had him at Kentucky State, where he was the national Assistant Coach of the Year for Division two. He also coached the secondary at EKU and then coached at Kentucky from one to two before he moved on to Baylor with Guy Morris. But how often do you hear about a college foot fotball coach. He's changed his jobs three times twice technically, but he comes
to Kentucky State and EKU and UK. He's on the move, never had to sell his house, or at least never had to move his stuff, stayed in the same place. But it's just odd what you think back on as nine to eleven comes around. But I know you're keeping everybody in your thoughts on this anniversary. Ken Spencer next in six thirty WLA welcome back to the Big Blue Insider and joining us now from the other side of the interstate a guy who's covered UK football for many,
many years. Ken Spencer's sports director, whas prior to that, he was the sports director of WTVQ here in Lexington, and I need we're going to obviously chop up this game. But I got to go back kent to something you said to me prior to the season about the offensive line. There's so much talk about the Big Blue Wall and John Schlarman's legacy, and you weren't being mean when you said this, but you you said to me, essentially, they need to afford their own identity and instead of you know,
lingering on on the past like that. And I'm wondering if some of us has come home to roost, you know what I'm saying, because these guys are are really struggling.
Yeah, and so they're really struggling. And you know, I thought Mark Stuke's on on Monday, you know, certainly admitted to it, right, like different offensive coordinators, different offensive line coaches. I mean, you know, you go from you know, John Schlarman, then you go to Wolford, then you go to Jenser. Now you're back to Wolford. I mean, there's so many changes. There's nothing consistent, you know, both offensively and with the
offensive line. You know, it's it's it's tough, and you know, we all remember the culture of the Big Blue Wall, and you know, at some point, you know, when when I'm Schlarman passed away. You know, it's it's a it's a natural thing that you know that culture is going to slowly erode. It just is, you know, as guys graduate, as guys move on, as new people come in, and you kind of got to find your You got to find your own thing. And they clearly haven't found it.
But for me, I think it's it's continuity, right, Like you have to have a coach, you have to have a system that can be around for multiple years because so much change for these for these kids, it just takes a toll. And it's and I think you're you're clearly seeing that right.
Now, you are, and and everything evolves and I've kind of beaten this drum all year from the old line. Again, I'm not placing all the blame at their feed, but uh, if you can't move the football, if you can't move the change, you put your defense in a hell of a spot. And you know you're you're hoping for points to come somehow. So that's where it all starts. And you've got to get this thing figured out in a hurry, don't they.
Oh, I mean, look, if we're being honest, I mean, you know when you looked at the schedule, you knew how tough the schedule was anyway, right, And so South Carolina was considered a fifty to fifty game for this to be for this to be a successful Kentucky football season, like they have to win the fifty to fifty games, like that was a must win. And they and they
didn't get it. And not only did they not get it, but they got blown out thirty one to six at home in front of a packed house that was ready to go from the opening kickoff. And to be quite honest with you, Dick, I don't think South Carolina's good and they beat him thirty one to six. Yeah, I mean, I think South Carolina's front seven is really good on defense, but I don't think like overall, like the rest of it, Like,
I don't think they're very good. And so you know, we'll see, you know, south, what South Carolina does for the rest of the season. Maybe I'm completely wrong on that line. I think the football team's in big, big trouble.
Yeah, and they've got, like I said, a lot of work to do. And Rock Vandergriff started his first SEC game and was scrambling almost from the start. You know, and we we talked again preseason about how the schedule, the calendar. I thought my work against the Wildcats, I
certainly didn't expect it in the South Carolina game. But when a new quarterback doesn't have anything beyond a couple of quarters against an inferior team, generally they have two or three games against inferior teams to get their legs under them. And this was a heck of a way for Vandergriff to begin his career in the SEC as a starter, wasn't it. Yeah?
Well, and you know, and I think even the you know, like the Southern Myth game, you know, after they went up thirty one to nothing, even though the game got called, you know, I kind of questioned whether he was going to come back in the game any Yeah, I know, Mark Stoops, I think it was pretty clear that he wanted to get a bunch of dudes reps. And it sounded like that was the moment when guys were really going to start coming in. So, you know, he probably got all the work that he was going to in
that game. But you know, what you really need is when you have a quarterback, and who's a young quarterback. Even though Vander griff has been around for a while in college football, he hasn't been a starter, and so when it comes to those kind of live fire reps when the game is on the line and winning matters, he needed for his offensive line to help him out. He needed guys around him to help him out a little bit for him just to kind of, you know,
almost kind of get his legs underneath um. But you know, he was running from his life from Jump Street in that game. And the next thing, you know, you know, as the game kind of goes on, you can tell the moment that he hit that last you know, that last foot on his up like he wasn't looking downfield, he was looking for the rush. He felt like, man, I'm being headhunted here. And so like it was, it was over. Like they just they never had after the
first couple of series. There was just no confidence to throw the ball because you knew that either you weren't going to have time or he was so uneasy back there it wasn't gonna matter anyway.
And the heck of it is, he didn't even have time to look for the short receiver, the short routes just to dump it off. I mean, you're right, about those edge rushers for South Carolina are terrific and nobody else on that team, in my opinion, measures up. But that gives him a shot, and it took away any chance Vandergriff had of just getting it out of there.
And and and to be honest with you, Dick, it just wasn't the edge like they were getting whipped everywhere. Yeah, you know, I mean there was one sack where I mean, look, when you're when you're left guard is staring at you when his guy is on top of you like that. That's not great.
That's embarrassing, you know, like.
That, I mean that has been that must being properly whipped on that play.
Yeah. I remember a story I heard where many years ago when Bill Ransdell was playing one of the old linemen. It's the exact same thing happened. This guy got through and crushed him and he said, sorry, Bill, my bad, And Bill said, yeah, it was your bad. What are you going to do about it? You know? So now they got to square up and do something about it. With Georgia coming in again, the calendar just could not be worse for this team right now.
No, And you know, like look, you know, losing losing chip train them in training camp. Now, Dennie Thrubo corn Bays done the heck of a job, but you know you really want it. And even like in last week, I mean, Jason Patterson came in and provided a nice, a nice little spark at times. So I mean, like I'm not saying, you know, running back is a detriment, but look, you want to have your full allotment of firepower when you go up against these SEC teams, especially
especially this year. But nothing, nothing matters. There's two things that there's two things that really kind of go into all of this because nothing matters on offense.
And if you can't block anybody.
I mean, Berry and Brown is so fast, doesn't matter, can't block anybody like bron Vandergriff could be the next coming. We don't know. You know why I can't block anybody. If you can't block anybody, you can't do anything.
I remember.
This was, oh I'm blinking, I'm blanking on the offensive coordinator's name at the time. He's West Virginia's deal had his first thing is Neil Neil Brown. Yeah, and you know, like you know he's going on and had, you know, offenses that do think but early on at Kentucky, like obviously they didn't have a whole lot of talent to work with, especially upfront on the offensive line. And I mean, like he would just admit after a games like, look, there's only so much you can do, Like it doesn't
really matter if you can't block anybody. Yeah, and so like you know, that's exactly what it was, like they can't they couldn't block anybody. And and by the way, like you know, there was that there was that one drive where they ran the ball that was straight plays early on in that drive, they had a lot of success that drive and went on in South Carolina said oh,
you're not going to run it. Then all of a sudden, those eight nine yard runs became three two, you know what I mean, Like, you know, they they kind of dug in a little bit, you know, but you have to be you know, you have to be able to balance. They've got to be able to block somebody on the offensive side of the ball. And and let's be honest,
like the defense played well to a certain point. A lot of bloom coverages like and and sellers for South Carolina, in my opinion, isn't a very good quarterback yet and he was finding dudes wide open down down the field. And and to be honest with you, the interception that he threw to Ty Bryant, he had a guy wide open in the middle of the field. He just sailed it.
Yeah. Now he'll be he'll be a nice player. But uh, he did not do nearly as many damaging things to Kentucky as I thought he might. Bunk coverage just because there are there are veterans back there. That's what amazed me. And generally Brad White's units are are are on point, but not once but twice were guys left alone, which reminded you of the old Miss Game a couple of years ago, just done unbelievable mistakes like that. They got to get cleaned up in a hurry.
Yeah, and and and you hit the you hit the nail right on the head. Veteran guys, Guys that should not be making those mistakes, right, So you know that's when you're like, look, you know, are these guys prepared? Are they prepared to play? You know, that's that's a huge thing.
Yeah. Ken Spencer, my guest sports director, whas we'll come back and talk Kentucky football. We're gonna slip in some basketball chatter as well here on the Big Blue Insider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue in Sider. I guess Ken Spencer whas sports director and himself a former college football player, and that in mind, kent let me ask you, we as media people and fans as well, we have a tendessee to dwell on things like this,
churn them in our minds, and players have no chot. Well, there is a choice, but generally they have got to put it behind him, like like DBAs with short memories and move on. And generally they're more resilient mentally than we are. What is that like for a player to try to put something like this behind them?
Well, you know this week, this week in practice, you know, I think it's back to be business as usual. You know, I think that they are quick to put that behind them. They know what lizahead, They know the challenge ahead. You know, one of the things that you're not going to hear this week. Remember the last the last few years when Kentucky was getting ready to play Georgia's just this the year, this is this can be the year, you know what
I mean? Like you're not hearing any of that this week, and so, you know, but I do think that it's easy to go back to work. But here's the key, Dick. And you know, I've been on teams that have that have struggled, and what happens is is the this is the biggest key to Saturday. What happens when the first thing goes wrong? Yeah, it's a football game. Everything goes wrong. Do you have the that's one play, I need to win the next play mentality, because that's what it takes.
Or do you have the here we go again mentality? Because once you get to here we go again mentality, then man, that's that boulder starts really going downhill. Yeah, And so I think that's the that's the biggest key. And I'm sure that you have taught you have covered your fair share of Kentucky teams in your time that you know, and you've talked to guys, especially even after the fact, where they constantly had that mentality.
Yep. And you know what, for all his shortcomings, how mommy, uh did did good things here? I would hear him on the sidelines saying loudly, all right, all right, play the next play, play the next play over and over and you know, trying to instill that that was part of his culture. And for the most part I thought it work. The reason the program failed was off the field stuff. But you heard players repeat that, and you know as well as I when players say it to
each other. Now it's taken hold, hasn't it.
Yeah?
Oh yeah? And you know it's kind of like one of those things where you know, you have to stay super simple and simple things can become big things. And so like the mentality is always do my job on display, win this play, because if you if you if you put wins on top of winds on play, then you're putting the series together, you know what I mean? And
then next thing, you know, you're putting games together. But you know, when when you start saying, you know, here we go again, that's a defeated mind that's a defeatist mindset, and that just leads to bad thing.
Well, and the good news is that we haven't seen as much of that in the Mark Stoops era. Uh, maybe the last couple of years. There have been disappointments because they only won seven, but no, there were there were many You've covered teams too at Kentucky that were hopeless. Uh, oh yeah, you got to avoid that. A few minutes
left at Ken Spencer w HS. Let me shift you over to basketball quickly, because, uh, the good news for UK fans last week Jasper Johnson, Uh it with a florry of endorsements picks Kentucky over Indiana, not Indiana, Alabama and North Carolina and kind of a rhetorical question, but pretty obvious. How huge was that from because for quite a while it looked like it was not going to happen.
If you are going to if you're going to take a job and make a big move like Mark Pope made, you know, coming back to his own the moderate at Kentucky. I think the biggest thing is is, you know, we in this state do not have top twenty five recruits often basketball recruit.
Not anymore, you know what I mean.
Like it's just it's just that those things don't exist really. So to have two in the same class, and for Mark Pope to be able to land both in the same class, you know, during your first real high school recruiting cycle. I think that I think it's massive, and you know it wasn't you know, And I remember last week, you know, Dennis even talked about like, look, you know this is gonna have this had to be his walk. You know, I had my time, Kentucky was my place.
But he had to figure this out for himself obviously. You know in il all that stuff plays a part in all of this now nowadays. And so for them to be able to kind of lock this deal down and keep Jasper Johnson and fight and fend off the Alabama's in the North Carolinas of the world, that's a huge win. This is the twelfth rate player in the class. That's a massive win. Especially early on.
I believe Caliperi would have recruited him, but that would have been quite the unicorn for him because he only signed what a half a dozen kids out of the state of Kentucky over fifteen years, so that could have worked out in a much much different way. But yeah, again, this day and age, who can afford this kid? You know, I mean everything we had heard was Alabama was throwing all of its nil resources at him.
Yeah, now, and you know that's n I L is such a big part. You know, I wonder I will say this though, when they came out like where he was going to announce the decision. Yes. I was like, well, that's it's Kentucky. Of course, Like you don't come back to Woodford County from from Atlanta and overtime elite to announce that you're that you're going to Alabama or North Carolina.
You might have been there when Ryan Timmins announced, and that was a big mystery. And then he announces in the gym and they led everybody out of school to come to the gym and hear what he had to say. And I turned to somebody half an hour before, I said, he's coming to Kentucky. How do you know? I said, look around. He's not going to say North Carolina or whatever in front of all his friends.
So yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean even like like well, I mean like if you think about it, you know when when he first when one Dale Robinson first announced, yes he was in that jail, that's right, any announce any and ounce Kentucky and then like seven seconds later he flipped to Nebraska.
Yeah, but he didn't do it in front of a room full of his classmen.
In a room full of people, he went, he went for the for the home team, and then ultimately, when the smoke dialed down, he was like, Okay, this is actually where I really want to go, right, But.
It worked out for the best for Kentucky fans. It always works out for the best when Ken Spencer joined us. Thank you so much, sir. Will you be up here? Where will you be this weekend?
Yeah, no, I'll be I'll be in uh in Lexington this weekend. We actually uh have the game to you know, Saturday night at seventh Throth, so uh we'll see. We'll see how it all plays out ABC in.
Yeah, I know you're loving that. Thank you so much, sir. We'll see you then, Hi, buddy, I remember doing up next with Sean Woods and Forgettable Guard and West End Bureau Chief Gary Moore Here on the Big Blon Sider six thirty w l a P. Welcome back to the Big Bling Cider and every Wednesday we meet with our favorite unforgettable Guard, Sean Woods. He is actually on the road,
but we are chatting with him. We're going to talk first a little football because coach, you and I have talked before about the NFL teams you root for and the fact that you were a big Kentucky fan still are football fan when you were playing here. But we know things did not go well for Mark Stoops and his team this past Saturday. They're down, They've got a big game coming up, and I know not every game
went perfectly for you. As a coach, you can relate, I'm sure to Mark handling a team that is so disappointed, and yet you can't dwell on a loss like that. Tell me about helping a team bounce back as a coach, what can you do? What can Mark Stoops do to help get his team ready for the next challenge.
Well, first of all, you got a brand new quarterback. I think your line is okay. But it's the first game. You know, everybody had a first game, and everybody didn't win their first game. That doesn't mean that the season's over with, you know, And it's unfortunate that, you know, you got to play probably the number one or two team in America the next game, so you don't have time to dwell on it. All you could do is
go over to things that you didn't do right. And it's so early that you can't be pointing the fingers. Just you know, it was the first game. You know, things didn't go as well as you thought. You know, certain guys didn't do certain things that she has seen in practice. So you just repid, you know, continue to repid for the rest of the week, on top of preparing for the next opponent, which is Georgia.
I always like to say that we, the media and fans, maybe even coaches, dwell maybe too much on the past game, whereas you need the players to move on physically, mentally, and emotionally. But kids are more resilient that way maybe than we are. Am I right about that?
Well?
You know, when you're a Kentucky or anywhere, you know, you always as a player, you're always comparing yourself to the person that you're going up against. And I'm sure because of the score and the loss, those players seem to feel like that they didn't give their best, So they didn't do their best, and hopefully they're hungry enough to where mentally they're saying they're gonna do much better next time, you know what I mean. You know, South
Carolina is not a slouch as you can see. They were a good football team and it was a lot to learn from that game, of course, So you go back to the drag board for me, you know, you go over some things that you didn't get to execute as well as you wanted to. I'm sure you said some weaknesses that they probably exposed, And of course, when you're scouting the other team, you know, Georgia probably seen some things that so what saw some weaknesses that South
Carolina exposed? So you got to cover those things so Georgia didn't do the same thing to you. They continue to get better.
You know. You bring up a great point about measuring yourself and I've thought about that a lot through the years. No matter how good a Kentucky basketball team is, maybe it's a team that's struggling. Back when you were playing, Ultimately you played on some really, really great teams. But early on, you know, for a couple of reasons, you guys lost your share of games. But none of that mattered,
did it When somebody lined up against you. You had that Kentucky on your chest, and they wanted to measure themselves against not just Sean Woods, not just the Kentucky team, but the entire program, the tradition, the jersey, the history, all of that. And now it's kind of in reverse this week, isn't it. With Georgia coming in.
Well, you know, you still got to strap them up, you know, you still got to, you know, play the game. And you know, I'm you know, coach Steubs and his staff are good enough to see where they can expose Georgia because even though no matter how good of a team is they, Steve still has some weaknesses that you're trying to expose. You just try to expose those more so than they expose some of the things that you
don't do well. But it's still a confidence situation. At the end of the day, you get to go up against one of the top five teams in America. Yeah, so from from a competitive standpoint, that's great for me and for any other big time athlete. So you know, I'm looking forward to watching them play. I'm looking forward to the character of this team after a loss. You know, do you dwell on it? Do you do you sunk all week? Or do you try to forget about it?
You go over the things the next day of practice and and failm And let's move on because doctor Alt is gone, Georgia's up next. What do we have to do to beat Georgia? That's the main emphasis that should be in their minds right now.
Well, now you sound like the coach that you are as a player. You were as competitive as a god. What was it like for you though? You know? Did it actually? After a while? I guess you just kind of took it and stride you. You assumed that that people were coming at you because you were Kentucky, you were a UK basketball. They're gonna prove I'm every bit as good as you. I guess you welcome that challenge. But man, that was every game, wasn't it.
But that's what made it fun. You know, you want to, you know, pose your will on people because you know, I think you're the best. You know, you you play for the best, so you know that everybody's gonna give you their best, and you know, if you're a competitor, you know you want to outdo the person that you're going against. So Mono and Mono, if every person who wins their minu and minor battle nine times out of ten,
you're gonna win the game. So as long as you got kids like that on your team that think that way, work as hard as that like that, you know you always have a chance.
And you know, you just described the unforgettables plus Reggie Hanson, didn't you. I mean that's all you guys were like that.
I tell people all the time, they underestimate how good Reggie Hanson was, how good Jo how good Richie Farmer was, how good dafn Feldhouse was.
You know.
But the country and everybody who played against us, after they played against us, they realized how good we were too. So at the end of the day, you know, we had pride too, but we wanted to make sure you knew that. You know, you're not just playing against Kentucky. There's a reason why we're here.
What was it that made Reggie as good as he was? Because I guess obviously his size made him underappreciated and at time overlooked. But here's a guy who he might have been a big guard in some systems, but instead he had to play the post for you guys.
Tell you what Reggie's Reggie Hanson is probably the most underrated UK basketball players in history. He could do it all. But what made him so great was he was the ultimate competitor. You couldn't break his spirit. Now, he was a great competitor. He was a great leader. I mean, he's a captain, but he led by example too. He not just talked to talk, he walked the walk. You know, he was here on time of getting his work in.
You weren't got out working, weren't gone out toughly, and he didn't care who you were, whether you were Shaquille O'Neill or Robert Rorriy. Regie was coming at you and it was gonna be a long night going against him.
And you know, he was a guy who could have left, like a lot of guys did, and no knock on them. I mean, you gotta do what's right for you. But he stuck around and I know people appreciated him for that. I know you did.
I'll tell you what, Jonathan Davis, I hooked up for him. Since I've been back. He brought up a great point. Reggie Hanson should be in the Hall of Fame sometime soon. I mean what he did. He was probably the integral part of the Unforgettables. He's probably the you know, he got us started. He was the guy, and then we took over after he left that one year he left. But man Red is such a great and important part to the success for coach Ratino's first two three years.
Yeah, I'm trying to remember the timeline, but that that upset of LSU you played.
In that game, didn't you, Yes, when we beat him at our player, Yes, Yes, and Rams had to bang up against Shaq and Wayne seems. I don't think Stanley Robins is still there, but I mean Redge every night was out man and underside, but he was still the man at the end of the day.
I don't think it happened in that game, but I think it did happen down at LSU when he dunked on Shaquille O'Neil, which is just man. You you take that home and keep it forever. I think Chris Jackson was on that team, wasn't he.
Yes, Chris Jackson, h h Shaquille O'Neil. Wayne seems very no single thing. Chris Jackson, I'll tell you what it is the best guy I ever played with. You know, from high school to college. High schools we went at each other in Nike camp and I thought I got the best of him, But from there to he got the LSU it was like no other. I mean, you know, Dale Brown gave him the keys. Uh, maybe gave him the keys too much, because you know, he didn't utilize
Shaquille O'Neill as much as he should have. Yeah, or Kelly Roberts. He knows more Chris Jackson, but at the end of the day, he's probably the toughest out that I ever went against in my life.
I always thought it was interesting when Dada would ask Shaquille and New who was the best big man you ever went against. He would say Stanley Roberts in practice at LSU. But that was a guy who just let us, let us tell and go to way Shack certainly didn't, but those were fun times back then. We're talking to Sean Woods, the unforgettable Guard. We'll come back and talk
contemporary basketball. We've been going down memory lane here for a few minutes, but we'll come back and talk about today's game in just a minute on the Big Blue Sider here on six thirty WLA. We'll come back to the Big Blue Sider. We're talking as video every Wednesday with the unforgettable guard, Sean Woods. His jersey hangs in the rafters are up. Since you and I spoke, Coach Jasper Johnson made his commitment. We talked about it ahead
of time. You talked about the fact that it sure looked good for Mark Pope, but that Kentucky has to get a kid like that but we've also talked about kids looking for the bag, as you like to say. And that was a heavily sponsored announcement by Jasper Johnson. I mean you got to tip your cap to him. He made the most of it. But did you get a chance to see that the highlights or see it online when he announced he was coming to Kentucky.
Uh, huh, it's uh, you know, I'll tell you it's a new day, you know. Uh, it's you know, I wanted to get one point three.
Million probably something like that.
But my thing is is this. You know now that you're you know, you're going to Kentucky, stay in the state and play play high school basketball one last year in Kentucky. You know, if you can get you know, the people. From what I understand that I may be talking out of turn, and I don't want to, you know, make anyone mad. But Jeron Browns is a really good friend of mine. He's like a little brother to me. Your dad is the ad at Woodford County. Local people
gave you that are giving you this money. You're going to a prep school to get another bag, which is about three four hundred for what I've heard those say. People can give you that money and you stay at Wildford County and help Wildford County winn a state championship. Last time you played at wood For County, you went to the sweet sixteen, and if I'm not mistaken, you lost in the semi finals. You got a great addition in the Boom Kid, the mellow blue Boom Kid that's
transferred from Douglas. Okay, you add him, you get the Johnson Kid back. Now wood for County is a major contender to win the state championship. And not only do you go to Kentucky, but you leave a legacy as a real Kentucky kid playing high school basketball in the state of Kentucky. Going to Kentucky, and now your legacy is even more of a a folklore. You know, where's the last time a player come out of for Sales, Kentucky to play for Kentucky?
Right at Laner? Probably?
Yeah? And he's a walk on right For what I'm saying is, you know, the same people who put up the money for him to play at Kentucky, what's another three four hundred to stay at Woodford County and help them win a state championship.
You know, I was thinking exactly that last year when there were rumors that he was going to move on. But he goes to the Sweet sixteen. They have a good showing and I'm thinking maybe getting there will get into his blood a little bit, maybe he'll be hungry to come back and win a state title. But yeah, now he's signed with Overtime Elite and I realize, yeah, there's big money at stake, but I'm sure he can help his game there. But what do you win, Sean,
if you go to Overtime Elite. I mean, is there a championship, Is there a trophy? Is there a tournament that to me, I'm like you, and again I'm old fashioned, but I'd love to go back to where I grew up, where my dad's working. He's the ad, like you say, and help them win a state championship. But am I being naive?
No, you're not. But you know, playing the Overtime elegue. Okay, this is when I'm I'm thinking. What they're thinking is you're playing against so called the top talent in the country, but every top twenty five kid is not at prep school. Okay, you know Overtime Eleague. We know how significant they are and players they are as far as these one and does and things like that. But at the end of the day, what else is there? You know, this competition
in the study of Kentucky too. I mean, Reece Shepherd was not even considered and he goes to Lawn County or North Luol wherever you went. That didn't stop him, right, you know, just over a time elite does not signify who you are. Especially if you're trying to be a pro. You're gonna be a pro because of what you do at Kentucky, not what you're doing it over time e leite. You know, you can be a great player at overtime
elite and have a bad year in Kentucky. Now your stocks going down, just like four or five guys that was at Kentucky last year. So my thing is is legacy. My thing is your Kentucky kid. My thing is, you know, boost everything up from there because you're playing with strangers next time. Next year, they're gonna overtime e lease, it's not gonna even be thinking about you. They're gonna be
thinking about the next kid coming through there. But at Roodford County, you're a legend in the state of Kentucky. You're a legend, you know. And my thing is, where are you more significant that it is more important than you know, the quick fix. You know, you proved to everybody that you can play amongst the best Cup petition in America. So now come home here last year and
make it all right. You know, went under your daddy, went under Jerome Brown and not only that win for the state of Kentucky in Woodford County, and you know, you do a press conference at Wilford County. Why don't you do the press conference that overtime e league? We know why, you know, But but that's what I'm saying,
you know what I mean. Yeah, you know, I'm just being biased because I know Jeroon Brown real well, and I know what people in the state of Kentucky field when one of their own, you know, puts on that big blue uniform. He's just a guy that played at Wilford County two years and went on and forgot about it. Nobody has seen him play, and they're not gonna see him play until he plays at Kentucky.
Is Gerond the one who went to Pitt.
Huh?
Is Geronda the one who went to Pitt? Yes, yeah, he was on that real team and they played here in the state turned and roperena.
Yeah they sure did, Sure did, sure did.
Yeah, and his brother went to Morehead and then transferred to U of L. I remember those guys.
They're not brothers, they're not brothers, but they they're both.
Yeah, okay, Well anyway, that was that was quite a run that he had with Pitt. That was fun watching that.
Uh.
And kent State had the kid who was uh, really good but but smallish college basketball center went on to be a tight end in the NFL. I cannot his name escapes me, but uh, yes, that's it Antonio Gates. That's right, very good man. You got a good Your mind is sharper than mine. Just a couple of minutes left with Sean Woods. We're talking, of course about Jasper Johnson coming on to Kentucky. But there's a lot of
basketball to be played between then and now. Uh. But whenever he gets here, Sean, uh, he will be further ahead than Malachi Moreno. There, They're gonna need a little bit of patience with a big guy, don't just about You always have to be patient with bigs, don't you.
Well, yeah you do, you know, but I tell you what now, let me tell you something. I watched Malachi for a little bit a few games last year. He's better than what you think. It's just when you're big and you're playing against smaller guys in high school all the time, you know, you kind of look out plays. But what he showed me was he was still affective even playing against undersized guys. That's what his ball handling ability. You know, he blocked every shot he was supposed to block.
He finished every shot that he was supposed to make. He was able to put the ball on the floor and not look goofy against undersized guys. I think he's a real deal, and I think he's underestimated as far as and he had a great summer. You know, he's going against some of the best guys in America too,
and he wouldn't be recruited by Kentucky, you know. So you know he's legit and he's gonna be you know, he has an opportunity be one of the better guys to play one of the big Blue if he keeps it up and he keeps his work after and he stays empty.
I hope he gets back to the Sweet sixteen. We all know it's not easy. But that's that's when so many people got a chance to see him, and uh, it's gonna be fun. I hope that you get a chance to go to practice as much as you did in the past with this new staff. But we will come back with you and talk more basketball next week. Save travels while you're on the road, coach.
Thanks Dick, I appreciate it, buddy.
That would be cool if Jasper Johnson did go back to Woodford County, but probably a little too late by now, but I enjoyed watching him with little I got to see him in the sweet sixteen last year, didn't get a chance to see him at all during the regular season. But uh, yeah, you know, you can't blame kids for going to the academies. They do get a little money or a lot of money, and uh, they get a chance to be scouted by I don't know who, but he was gonna that was gonna happen with him anyway
if he played at Woodford County. So anyhow, we do appreciate Sean woods it up next. West n Bureau Chief Gary Moore here on the Big Blueing Sider six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blueing cider. It is Wednesdays. Joining us now on our Celebrity hotline is everybody's favorite celebrity. He is our West End bureau chief at the other end of I sixty four. Mister Gary Moore, are just.
Your favorite celebrity.
Well, you know you're here on with us, so that makes you the celebrity of the moment.
Well a week ago I was there in person. Who I had a great thanks again for the Joe Bees by the way afterwards and the tour of I know it's the best and I had been there in forever and still is the greatest.
And we saw Joe b he was there.
It was about that that about that.
Love that guy and the restaurant pool. Oh man, it's I had to get a picture with him. But thank you again.
It's good to go, and thanks for the tour around you know campus in Lexington. You know, Lexington is one of the great cities period with what they've done around there and then the athletic complex and everything.
Well, you know, I told you wouldn't believe it. I mean it's amazing.
For dorms, yeah, yeah, the corporate kind of constructed dorms whatever.
Yep, private money dorms or private companies. But anyhow, yeah, the indoor track facility. And we drove by the stadium. So Gary had been here really very long since the early eighties.
Your alma maters looking good.
Yep.
So here we go, two guys in a six pack, you and me and six topics of interest up first.
Here our first.
Sip and two guys in a six pack dick. Later this month, Saturday Night Live begins its fiftieth season on NBC. Of course, that began with a very talented comedy group called the Not Ready for Primetime Players. We all remember John Belushi and Akaroyd and Chevy Chase and all those folks. You could give that same name to a group of football play by play and color commentator guys who need, in some cases a lot of extra reps to be network primetime ready.
Now. I don't know if Tom Brady.
Sounded game day polished or not, but I can tell tell you who most definitely was not ready for prime time. Former quarterback McCoy on NBC ironically covering coach Prime and Colorado's face plant at Nebraska on Saturday Night. A lot of eyes on that game. I think they had over six million dick watching that game. That was a pretty good raided game. NBC, by the way, the same network that thought Drew Brees would be a fabulous color commentator which lasted all of one game because he was really,
really awful. NBC thought giving McCoy a primetime mike after apparently not working his way up and paying any broadcast dues, thinking that was a splendid job. Yeah, I just put him in there.
It'll be fun.
Well, make that two face plants on Saturday night and you can check social media's reaction if you think I'm joking. I didn't know he was going to be on as the color guy. I had it on. I joined the game late, and I had him on kind of in the background for the first five minutes of the game, and I'm thinking, who is this who along with the play by play guys name I forgot he was actually okay, But McCoy was using this over using phrases like well this here and now watch this on the replays, which
of course is not good. And plus he doesn't have a good speaking voice, kind of a prerequisite for all broadcasting.
And he did.
About as well as this dick as I would have done doing his former job being a quarterback in the NFL. Well, you know, I've covered a lot of football. How tough can it be? Just let me get in there. That seems to be the attitude, isn't it. A lot of guys who played the game, and guys, oh, broadcasting simple, you can do it. Look at all these You'll be fine. Just get in there and we'll do some practice things.
You'll be fine. Meanwhile, a lot of guys who've worked a lot of years and a lot of smaller markets and done a lot of dues paying have made it look easy for a lot of people because they worked hard at it.
There are guys who are great interviews, and you think, and I've worked with some of some people like this, You think this will be really good, and then it's not. It doesn't translate. You made a great point about Drew Brees. Uh, well, let me double back. And I talked about Tom Brady the other day. It was his first game. Ye you, you've been a professional broadcaster your entire career. As of I would you want to go back to the form that you flashed your very first time on the air.
I know I wouldn't know. People people get better peep, So you got to give him a chance to improve. But you knew right away with Drew Brees, this is going to be a problem. Uh you know, and I do believe that Brady will get better. I'll tell you it was really good. I thought was Matty Ice on the on the Uh Matt Ryan, Yes, agreed, he was terrific. But yeah, it ain't easy. And that's all they do
is underscore that. But some people give them time. You know, it was no good honestly when she started Robin Roberts and because she started in sports, now she's one of the best in the business. Somebody James Brown, I knew a little bit back in the day, but people stuck with him. They saw something and then they are given a chance to develop and blossom. But some people know it never happens.
I won't watch well, I was gonna watch Brady anyway because it's the Cowboys. I'm not gonna sit through that, no, guardless of who's doing the game. But I'm not gonna watch Tom for the next If he's on, I don't watch him for a month or two. I'm not gonna watch somebody's very first ever broadcast.
I was curious so I did, but I will not run to a game and watch it because he's on. That's right. Puzzles me.
Same thing in radio in LA, people say, hey, did you hear my first show? No, I'm not going to listen to you for another month or so. Get some get some, get some reps underneath you, and then we'll talk about it about a month. Okay, I'll sit down now our second swig. I think, Dick, this is the earliest I've ever asked this question, either seriously or rhetorically.
But when does UK basketball season start again?
Man?
Well, can you blame UK fans? We're thinking that after Saturday's f minus result against South Carolina Refresher nine half point favorites at home, losing thirty one to six, big Blue Wall now resembling toll free Express Lanes to quarterbacks who had problems throwing for even forty five yards. Partially because of that, and now now, as we know, the number one team in America this Saturday night, seven thirty National TV, even ABC George a twenty four point favorite.
Some say this could be over by the second quarter, but you know, Dick, Saturday's loss to South Carolina was especially egregious not just because UK's lost four out of six now of South Carolina three in a row or eight out of their last ten SEC home games, or because how much Stoops makes, or because he asked people to pony up more dough for in il, or because he had an overnight flirtation with Texas A and M, or even because he supposedly mocked Coach Beamer of Carolina
a couple years ago with the sunglasses and dancing thing.
No, it was one of the.
Worst losses in school history because ESPN and game Day was headed to Lexington, according to Paul Finebaum, but instead, guess where they're going Columbia South Carolina. So we get number one Georgia here. And you remember two years ago it was a close game, sixteen to six, but that was November. The weather was crummy. You were there, you know, and we also had a quarterback who was going to the NFL. I don't think any of those caveats will be in play on Saturday.
Now. It's gonna be tough, it's gonna be rough, and all you can do is hope that you know, the Wildcats have their fundamentals down and have short memories, like defensive backs are supposed to have got it. It's all about play the next play.
Third swig and six pack besides cats and dogs. Saturday night, my WKU boys traveled to Murphreysboro playing Middle Tennessee in a Conference USA showdown, somewhat of a recent rivalry. You know, they trying to make it in one, but it's nothing like Eastern and Western the Battle of the Bluegrass. It happened last Saturday night. Toppers won that one thirty one, and nothing should have been by more. I would have been happy with a sixty to nothing, but I'll take that one.
My thanks to the ill.
Advised EKU Athletic department for making Western wear red jerseys when it had been scheduled for months in advance. It was going to be a wide out, but EKU, being the visiting team, has the option of like, yeah, we're gonna wear white.
How about that?
Thank you for poking the blob, not the bear right to the blah exactly. Some other big college games this week Friday nine, check this out. This will be good eight pm on Fox, Number twenty Arizona at number fourteen Kansas State. Then on Saturday you got number sixteen at South Carolina LSU is a seven point favorite, by the way, that could go down. Number twenty four Boston College at number six missoo Miszoo's now up to a seventeen point favorite,
and number nine Oregon at hated rival Oregon State. This is the Civil War game and it's almost always at the end of the year. Yeah, so Oregon is a sixteen point favorite. I don't know if that's gonna happen. I think Oregon State might surprise some folks. And then you got number four Alabama making a rare public performance outside the the captivity of safe and secure South by playing Wisconsin in Wisconsin, no lame neutral sites above the Masons.
First time in thirteen years, Dick, the Bama's played a non conference game above the Mason Dixon Line. Y'all yelling down there in Dixie. What's going on with that? Bama is a sixteen point favorite. Any of those games you're going to be watching.
Well, I'll tell you that the oddest one is Oregon Oregon State no longer a conference game. True, you know, Oregon State left behind. So I'll spend a dial before I head to the stadium and try to watch as many of them as I can.
By the way U of L's got a SPA day on Saturday.
They have after playing two games, they have a bye week.
Wow, which is kind of odd.
But they have another bye. They've had two bye weeks this season, one coming up between Clemson and Stanford road games in November. All right, now on the NFL, you know, it's a shame we don't have Leonard's losers around anymore, not just for college.
But he would have a field day of course after the UK game.
So many losers on Sunday, NFL you got Cincinnati now losing five of six games under Zach Taylor. Opening games Burrow out played by Jacoby Brissett. As much as I hate the Cowboys, I reveled in their dominance against Cleveland. Some other losers Kirk Cousins, the Falcons, Samuel Daniel Jones, and the gents who were booed off the field Will Levis, former Cat literally throwing away the titles. Yeah, and this week's biggest losers appear to be the Raiders nine and
a half. Dogs at Baltimore probably go to two after being hardbought over the weekend. Second biggest spread Tampa Bay at Detroit. Lions are seven point favorites, and you've also got in there. The Bengals, we're talking about them. They're six point dogs at Kansas City. They're probably oh to two after that one. And Dick watch out for the Saints of Dallas. SAME's looked really good. Of course they're playing Caroline over the weekend and the Boys are six
and a half point favorites. But that could be going down. And I know your Packers are in there as well.
I didn't. Oh yeah, three pointed dogs at home to the Colts. Thanks.
We talk about talking about losers. Yeah, Jordan Love the fifty million dollar man stinks it up down in Brazil and then bad ankle injuries, so you talk about it. That's a double loss.
We had a bad feeling about that game, didn't.
We Yep, all right, Fitthzwig before any of that though.
Tomorrow night in primetime on Amazon eight to fifteen, great match of Buffalo at Miami. Dolphins are at point and a half favorite. Of course, Tyreek, whose street cred is now way off the charts, had seven receptions on Sunday plus a touchdown. And if you're driving your six figure McLaren over the speed limit by the football stadium, and you're pulled over by law enforcement officer for speeding, he taps on your pitch black tinted window. Don't tell him, don't knock on my window.
Seven times. That's how many times he said that.
And you might want to respect of a peace officer, by the way, is a nasty allergy. It causes folks to break out in handcuffs, as.
We saw over the weekend.
By the way, speaking of Thursday night football, the worst, maybe the worst pregame panel I've ever seen, Dick after admitting she made up stuff coming over at halftime when she was on the sidelines, how is Carissa Thompson still even employed? I mean, I ask you, the greatest sideline reporter ever. Yeah, I made up all that stuff. Stoop said, Hey, he's not gonna argue with me. What would happen if something like that came out.
Well, I should be fired if that happened. So that's a good question. There are different standards, evidently for different people and different networks.
Yeah.
Fine, well sixth swig, Dick. If you're any kind of a baseball fan, any level, there's a terrific piece in Money's La Times by Dodgers beat writer Jack Harris and it's got local Lexington appeal titled self fulfilling prophecy the Dodgers role in MLB's pitching injury epidemic and its a
dubious role to the least. Jack points out that since twenty twenty one of the Dodgers have had to put pictures on the injured list ninety eight times, or about twenty four times a season, and of course they started the season with seven pictures on the IL, and one of those seven Walker Buehler from there in Lexington, who's coming back second time from Tommy John surgery. Mixed results
so far, but interesting. He's in the first eleven paragraphs of this story, and Walker says, quote talking about how he started to throw harder and harder as he came up through college and into the minor leagues.
He said, but had I not done that?
Who knows if I get to the big leagues, right, he says, I think if you would have asked me five years ago, just you're gonna have surgery whenever, But here's what your career is gonna look like till then. Then Yeah, that's fine, unquote Walker Buehler. So that's where we are isn't it to keep throwing as hard as you can, as long as you can. If you get the contract, that's great. If you blow out your arm, well, I hope.
It was fun. Hope we got some champions. But I made it.
That's unfortunate. But yeah, that's the way it is. And I always go back to what Auburn's coach told me. A lot of other coaches would say as well. But he is kind of a pitching grove. He says something's got to give, and now we're seeing it. Gary Moore is our West n bureau chief. We'll come back with some hot reads for Gary in just a minute. Here on a big boon sider six thirty WLAPL. Welcome back. We're talking with our West m bureau chief, Gary Moore. We've heard two guys in a six back. Time to
throw a couple of hot reads at Gary. You were talking a lot about the NFL and one of the things I find I don't know if I find it weird, funny, charming, whatever, but a team, any team that is just desperate for success, looking at you, Chicago Bears, when they see any ray of hope, any ray of sunshine, they just lose their minds. That's where we are in the NFL now. And I'm speaking specifically about Kayleb Williams, who is a talented guy,
but he got everybody excited. You and I talked about this in the preseason when he went basically like six or whatever, but flashed him just brilliant plays. And when you look at what he did over the weekend, he became one of, if not the first NFL quarterback in forever to throw twenty five times for less than one hundred yards, completion percent forty eight, no touchdowns, no picks, three point two yards per attempt, and yet they win. And he threw some really nice passes and scrambled once
on third and ten. So Bear's nation, man, they're digging it. What do we make of this?
Well, it's one game, and you know how every year. This happens every year, whether it's a rookie quarterback or a veteran quarterback. If somebody doesn't do what a lot of people thought they were going to do or looked as good as they did playing against second and third and fourth string people in the preseason.
Oh my god.
Well that's I don't know what's gonna happen.
You know, the overreaction in the first actually first couple of weeks. Yeah, is almost something you can predict, like a son un rise. The super Bowl is not in October. A lot of football left. Did they win the game, Yes, they win the game. Did he throw for any interceptions? No, didn't turn the ball over. Did he have horrible offensive line play yes? Did the front seven for the Titans give him a lot of problems yes? Did Will Levis have a worse day?
Yes?
And did Will Levis give like you said, give the game to them? Yes, yes, exactly. Hey, but you're the Bears. You'll grab on a a. And speaking of fans and quarterbacks, what do you think Jets fans are feeling this week because they got their guy back. He got more than four plays in his very first pacity through was dropped by one of his teammates. Yea, you know, and he got the look so.
Yeah, it hit him in a bad place, his hands, right in the hands, that's right.
Our second hot Reid goes to back to a Woodford County Jasper Johnson, as we all know, chooses Kentucky and there was a little bit of theater. I don't know if you got to see it live or on the local news there. But I gotta give him credit, and I know you like a good theatrical moment, but it was creative. It was kind of corny, but creative. What Donato's is on the line or whoever it was. And you know he didn't do the game with the jersey
or with the hats. It was something new and I gave him full credit for that, pulling the jersey out of the pizza box.
And there was a lot of sponsorships there too, wasn't there. Is that the most you've ever seen or any Have you ever seen that kind of sponsorship before one of these kinds of things, whether it's here or some other place.
No, it wasn't well it wasn't legal up until this year, but he had he had two different backdrops with sponsors, had the Morgan and Morgan T shirt and he had the pizza box. I mean, I heard somebody told me, I don't know if it's accurate or not, the figure that he made about twenty five grand just on that day alone.
It's free market, now, isn't it.
That is?
Let me ask you this, And I saw that I got to think and even crazier things do you foresee a time in college sports when ads are on jerseys?
Yeah? I do, simply because you're seeing him now on the scores tables, you're seeing them on the playing surfaces. And we've talked before, schools are running out of revenue streams. We never thought we'd see him on the pants of jockeys, did we. Nope, now we see him. So yeah, I could see just a tasteful patch. Well you already do, Gary, You see a swoosh, you know, So what else is there?
I think it's coming.
I mean at some point probably in our lifetime as well, whether we like it or not.
But one thing we know. They will not consult you and me. But I do consult Gary every week at the other end of I sixty four. He is our West End bureau chief after years as our West Coast bureau chief. Find him at Twitter.
At nine to five five, Gary, the same joint where you're at, a.
Big blue Insider one. Thank you, sir. We will talk to you next week.
Go cats, better do it.
Thanks to my guest, Gary Moore, Shawn Woods, kent Spencer, Kentucky football comes up Saturday five thirty airtime. Right here that said, good night, for the garage in Lexington.
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Since where
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