Welcome to the Big Blu. Insider Dick Gabriel with you on a Friday edition of our program, just ahead of game day Kentucky Ole Miss the game you will hear tomorrow at noon kickoff at eleven am local time. Everybody keeps talking about, oh, it's at eleven am, eleven am local time. Those of us who are going on the team, the coaches, media, our bodies will remain on Eastern Time, so I never worry about stuff like that. They might worry about it down there. They're used to it though.
They have noon Eastern time games, which of course they are always for them at eleven am, but they'll just crank up the grove a little earlier and count on their high octane team to get it done. Mark Stoops is counting on his defense to handle that high octane offense, and we'll get a chance to see if that happens.
Ten am is when our pregame Eastern Time is when our pregame covered starts with Christy Thomas, Logan Stenberg and Jeremy Jarman, Tom Leach and Jeppecoro have it for you along with yours truly down on the sideline as the Wildcats take on those Ole Miss rebels. It's gonna be a lot like the last several games you've seen with Kentucky and Old Miss, especially the one down there two years ago where All Miss kind of came in. I won't say they blew the doors off the Wildcats, but
they set them back. They were up at one point, nineteen to six. But you might recall that Kentucky completely turned the game around in the second half. The defense gave up only three points in the second half. Now that of course was the margin. But the Wildcats, again we've talked about this this week, put to go ahead touchdown on the board with not a lot of time left, but lost it because of a penalty and then another
fumble and the game was over. But Kentucky basically stunk it up in the first half and at halftime regrouped played extremely well in the second half. This Ole Miss team, I think, is better than that one. So what I'm telling you is Kentucky can't afford to get behind too far. I mean, they might get behind early, but they can't let Old Miss get too far away because it's going
to be tough to catch up. This is an Old Miss team that has a pretty good defense, maybe the best defense that Lane Kiffin has had since he's been there. Now Kentucky knows what to expect. They've studied all kinds of video. They looked at the bizarre numbers. But how do you duplicate the Old Miss attack in practice with a scout team, Well, it's impossible. We heard Brad White talk about it earlier this week. Mark Stoops talked about just the real challenge of this Old Miss offense.
You know, the first thing with their tempo. Obviously that creates a lot of stress. Then you put the tempo in there with what they do, with how balanced they are. They're committed at running the football, and then the RPOs off of it, and you know Jackson Dart, you know, running this offense now and being so comfortable with it. They put a lot of pressure on you.
In the run games.
You have to play with numbers, and then the RPOs are there, and then of course their play action and the steps of plays they're they're just well designed. They just stress you.
As I said a minute ago, Ole Miss jumped ahead of Kentucky last year and then got further and further ahead, But the Wildcats were able to catch up well this ole Miss offense, especially Stoop said behind Jackson Dart, you can't afford as a defense, you got to be ready every play. You cannot afford to even blink or they will run right by you.
You know, that's that's a that's a big deal because you have to do it. They put pressure on you every every play, and you know, we have to have consistency in that. You know, we've had these before where we played in these games and you play a lot of snaps good, but I think that's part of what they do. And they want explosives and they want to
put that constant pressure on you. And that's where we got to be just dialed in and locked in at all times because the moment you're not, they're gonna they're.
Gonna hit you in the big It's gonna be up to the Kentucky defensive line, of course, to keep Jackson Dart from getting too comfortable. This guy's put up video game numbers so far, admittedly against a week's schedule, but ole Miss has a lot of transfers, including most of the starting twenty two new players on the offensive line, and they're pretty good. Kentucky defensive line has to win that battle, and Dion Walker said, we have got to
get to the quarterback. We can't let him get too comfortable.
I feel like we got you know, we got a great pass rush in the defensive line. You know, we made great strides and just to alleviate the pressure off of our dvs, off of our back end. Just getting to them a fight in the past, get them off the spot is going to help them out.
Now if anything bad quote unquote does happen to the Wildcats, of course, Walker said the entire team has to be like defensive backs. I always talking about how dbacks have short memories. Walker said, everybody has to be that way. If you make a mistake, something happens, you just got to move on.
No matter what they do.
It's that's as first. Don't that they make a good play, Okay, had them on their back to get up. You're ready for nice player. You know that We've got to have an exploy mentality or or if we don't, then I'm down to the dumps.
This way.
Next thing, you know, they make a forty yard games, then twenty and then next thing, you know, their story. He just got to have an exploy mentality and not.
Get down in the dumps.
Some of the Kentucky veterans have been to Oxford before they know what they're getting into. But anytime you go on the road in the SEC, it's a hostile environment. And Zion Childress said he's actually looking forward to it.
I love that because I say, I said, he shows what you really are made of. You know, in the times are adverse times, tough times, you fall on your level of training. And so we'll see how disciplined we are and see how prepared we are and how much will you know lean on Coach White.
You know, Zion has been playing his best football as a Kentucky Wildcat, but he knows Ole Miss has been playing some of the best football in the SEC so far. And as I said, video game numbers, which I don't care who you're playing against, that's impressive. And as Children's pointed out, wild Cats can't let that happen to them.
Offenses don't average six hundred yards a game. You know, that's something that's abnormal. So we just want to be able to you know, see that, Okay, cool, Now what can we do to limit those those players? And so we'll be ready. I think Coach White and the Estaff has done a great Chompion. It's pre pare for practically flown around in these past two days. So really excited for the opportunity.
At Zion Childrens and the player comments come to us courtesy of Jeff Drummond and Cats Illustrated. And by the way, I said Zion was playing his best football as a Wildcat. His numbers back that up. He has fifteen unassisted tackles that leads the team through four games, two assisted for total of seventeen. He has five five tackles for loss. He is leading the team by a wide margin. Trayvon ripkez next with two and a half. Zion also has a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry and a forced fumble.
Man is he playing pretty good football? De Eric Jackson leads the team with nineteen total tackles, eleven unassisted, eight assisted, and one tackle for loss, three pass breakups. In case you're wondering about Dion Walker, who has of course been double team quite a bit, he has eleven total tackles, two unassisted, nine assisted, and one tackle for loss as well as a pass breakup. But again, he's the guy who commands the double teams and that allows everybody else
to go out there and have fun. In case you're wondering about sacks, JJ Weaver has two, Zion has one. Didn't mention that Ribka with one. Maxwell Hairston won coming on a corner blitz. Steven Soles Junior has a sack. The Wildcats have a total of six. They've given up ten, so they need to improve on that number, preferably against this Old Miss team. Kats have picked off four passes. Of course, Maxwell had the one this past week for
the pick six from twenty five yards out. So if they can improve on all these defensive numbers Market League Saturday against Ole Miss, that'll slow down that rebel offense. When we come back, Oakland A's fans said goodbye to their team. They said a lot more about the owner, what a chief skate that and more Coming up at the bottom of the hour. Darren Hedrick joins us here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to Big Blue Insider. Coming up at the bottom of
the hour. Darren Hedrick, who covers football, baseball and basketball for the Wildcats, anchors our football scoreboard on game days. Of course, is the radio voice of UK baseball and women's basketball, and every once in a while fills in for Tom Leach on the radio. And he has also done a little bit of UK basketball for the SEC streaming channels. So Darren well schooled and well versed in
what we like to talk about here. Looking around the country, there was so much weird stuff out there, including a comment on the CNBC Sport newsletter from Alec Sherman. That's the title of it. Former CNN executive Jeff Zucker talked about the what currently faces the industry TV and sports, and he was asked about future investment opportunities in the sports media space, and since he left CNN, he runs a joint venture between Redbird Capitol and International Media Investments.
I have no idea what those are what they do, but what he said I thought was pretty fascinating, which he believes is going to be the prospect of owned and operated sports properties by media outlets. In other words,
networks will own the sports leagues in the future. I don't know if it's the near future, but with all these huge contracts that are being negotiated and spread among all the different outlets both over the air, you know, the conventional networks plus ESPN, cable streaming, Amazon, and you could see at some point networks owning the sports leagues networks ESPN owns most of the ballgames. People wonder why
there's so many ballgames. It gives ESPN programming, and programming equals commercial sales, and commercial sales is how they stay alive. And again, John Skipper, the former head of ESPN, said it famously a few years ago. He could see the time when the Super Bowl is pay per view. Look, so many other things are pay per view. And by that I mean, I don't mean remember when you get the box and you have to call a number and
give them a credit card number, that kind of thing. Well, what you're doing now if you have to sign up for Peacock or Paramount to get sporting events that you want to watch, that's pay per view and more and more of it's coming. So much big money out there, and in fact, that's what killed the Oakland A's, or I should say the A's in Oakland. Now they're going to be the Sacramento A's for a while. And allegedly we'll get a new stadium in Las Vegas. There are
people who believe that that won't happen. But the A's last night played their last game apparently in Oakland, beating the Texas Rangers three to two, and national media all over John Fisher, the owner, who was being accused of greed and a lot more, and Jeff Passing, the great baseball writer said he tweeted it the A's were killed by greed. Do not allow the people responsible for this
to spin it any other way. He said, John Fisher did not have to move the team, and he accused Major League Baseball's owners and commissioner of being complicit in it. He said this was a choice of wrong, one history, will sneer and one woman, a fan held up a sign and said, today there is crying in baseball, and here's an odd one for you. The play by player one of the announcers for the Oakland A's female, Jenny Kavner, a former WKYT intern from way back in the day.
How about that? And sadly she signed off along with Dallas Braden. The last game in Oakland forty A's football last night again on Amazon you know Amazon Prime, so you basically had to pay to see that. Giants gave the Cowboys a good run but fell short. Once again. Wandale Robinson had a huge game eleven catches and naturally, Corey Price had a great stat He's our statistician on the UK Network. Most receptions in an NFL regular season game by a former UK player. Wandale tied the mark
set by Let's see who did it first. Doug Kotar, UK starback in the early seventies played for the Giants, had eleven back in nineteen seventy six. You got to go to twenty oh three before Moe Williams did it again for the Vikings. Jacob Tammy had eleven catches for the Colts against Philly in twenty ten. I remember that game same season, In fact, same day, November seven, twenty ten, Stevie Johnson had eleven for the Bills against the Bears.
Randall Cobb did it twice for my Packers, once in twenty fourteen against the Bucks, once against the Bears in twenty sixteen, and now Wandal did it last night. Although Wandell had a couple of plays where toward the end, if he had hauled one in and held on to it, it would have kept the Giants alive, and he had another catch where they needed a first down and he kind of I guess rounded off his route. He was short.
But still Daniel Jones had a big game last night. However, the critics will come after him again because they didn't win, and I'm not here to carry his mail. But he was twenty nine to forty for two eighty one one pick, no touchdowns. But for wow, there was he twenty one to twenty three. So he completed only his last eight of seventeen or something like that. But still Giants were in the game. They just couldn't run the ball. Devin
Singletary was their leading rusher fourteen carries twenty four yards. However, the Cowboys terrible past secondary. That's been the knock on them all year. And Rex Ryan now says that he would have been the defensive coordinator for the Cowboys, and he said I would have fixed that defense. In a New York minute, of course he says that, but he said they wouldn't pony up the money. He was on a podcast with Jack mckessey of USA Today and he was ready to pull the trigger, but he said Jerry
Jones wouldn't pony up the money. Instead, I hired Mike Zimmer, who had been on the Cowboys staff from ninety four to six, was the Vikings head coach from fourteen to twenty one, and then came back and the Cowboys d secondary not great. Didn't look good. Last night, while we're on NFL, Justin Fields fires a shot at the Bears, the team that drafted him with the eleventh pick in
the twenty twenty one draft. He was on a podcast with Steelers defensive a lineman Cam Hayward, and he asked him to choose between the coaches on his current and former team, and Field said, Pittsburgh, it's not even close. And of course Fields is starting right now because Russell Wilson is missing time with a calf injury. Kind of took the decision out of the hands of Mike Tomlin.
He's got a decision to make when Wilson's healthy. But Justin Fields is completing seventy three point three percent of his passes five hundred and eighteen yards, two touchdowns, one pick, and he has rushed for an additional ninety yards and a touchdown. So Chicago media will have fun with that, but right now they don't care because they have CAITLEB. Williams and they believe he is the answer to their
quarterbacking problems. Maybe he is who knows up? Next Darren Hedrick, We'll talk to Darren about some of the great matchups this weekend in college football, including Alabama and Georgia and Washington visiting Rutgers in Biscataway, New Jersey, which is two thousand, four hundred two air miles from Sea Tech International Airport. The Huskies will travel more than four thousand miles to play this game. That's ridiculous. Back with more of the Big Blue Sider in just a minute here on six
point thirty WLA. Welcome back to the Big Blue Sider, joining us down a celebrity hotline as a guy who can talk baseball, football and basketball because he does it all for the UK Sports Network. That's Darren Hedrick. You're gonna hear him tomorrow morning. Good morning on Kentucky Omen's football covers Darren. Of course, anchors are scoreboards, segments, the radio voice of the baseball Wildcats, UK Women's basketball, and
fills in for Tom LEAs occasionally with men's basketball. Let me start with football, though, Darren, and unfortunately, well you know, I don't I know, you don't mind getting up early but some of the best games you'll be previewing, including Alabama Georgia. It is a big weekend, though, isn't it.
Yeah, it really is.
You know.
I think it's one of those weekends where George and
Alabama is obviously the premier game everybody's talking about. But then you've got, obviously Kentucky and Old Miss, and it's going to be another great opportunity for the Wildcats show just how far this team has come from that South Carolina game in terms of getting better, and we're going to find out a lot about Old Miss too, because you know, I guess you could say that Old Miss has done exactly what elite teams are supposed to do against their competition, but still they in terms of the
physicality and the talent, Kentucky will be by fall are the best team they've played so far.
It will, But I also think that this is probably Kiffin's best Ole Miss team. So that's what's going to really make it interesting, isn't it.
Yeah it is.
Their offense is really explosive. Obviously a lot made about Jackson Dart, but their skill position players are just phenomenal explosive and on the defensive side, I think this. Like you said, this is one of the best teams that Kiffin has put on the field from top to bottom. So I'm really interested to Kentucky tomorrow.
Yeah, can they bounce back? You know, someone will make a mistake somewhere, an ole miss will take advantage. But we heard earlier in the show from players and Mark Stewps talking about how you just got to put that behind you have a short memory and move on, which is easier said than done, isn't it.
Yeah?
It is. And I think for me that probably the most critical part of the game is just going to be avoid the slow start.
Against Old Mitz because I.
Think the Rebels are averaging like eighteen points a game in the first quarter, and they typically if they win the coin toss, they take the ball and they're looking to put their opponent in an early hole. So you know,
Kentucky's got to start fast. But I heard Cole cuberle At say something interesting on a radio show yesterday, and he talked about a lot of times when you have these eleven am Central time kickoffs, the visiting team is almost at an advantage because these home teams the reward is normally getting to sleep in your own bed or at least a familiar hotel near campus. Right then you've
got to get up at five am. Whereas the road team, they're used to weird or not weird, but different hotels or unknown hotels, and they're sort of used to things being out of the norm. And you know, Old Miss is one of those pres precision offenses. They do a lot of things with timing and precision routes and different things, and sometimes that can be off in these early kickoffs.
That's a great point. I didn't even thought about that, all right, Well that's something to hang on to. By the way, this game Kentucky Ole Miss is one of like eight or nine noon kickoffs, so they're not the lone rang including Western Kentucky at Boston College at noon on the ACC network. But I tell you one of the ones I think is really intriguing, Daran, I know you'll be keeping an eye on Maryland at Indiana, and that's not something that we thought we would say ordinarily.
And of course of covering football. Indiana is four and oh and it was a new head coach guy who came from Coastal and it includes a win at UCLA, so that is a real curious matchup.
I think, yeah, Indiana's surprised a lot of people and how good they've been so far this year, and they certainly gave UCLA a rude welcoming into the Big Ten. So yeah, in Indiana is a team that is an intriguing matchup to watch. And of course Maryland. Maryland's kind of had it up and down the year, but hey, they're still dangerous. But you're right about all these new kickoffs. I think everybody's just trying to get their game underweight and get out of the way so we can all
enjoy Georgia Alabama tomorrow night at seven thirty. But you know, another matchup that's intriguing to me is Arkansas and Texas A and M. Because Arkansas is just a couple of plays away from being undefeated right now. A and M is a team that loses to Notre Dame at home. Notre Dame has proven to be a team that can be up and down, and A and M themselves they go to Gamesville and steamroll Florida and then they come back and really struggle against Bolding Green out of the MAC.
So that's an intriguing matchup for me, you know, what kind of how just how improved is this Arkansas team because they host Tennessee and Fayetteville next weekend.
Yeah, there are all kinds of interesting matchups. Now, I don't know that this will be interesting, but at least we can get a scouting report on Texas from Neil Price, Mississippi State at Texas heading into Austin. But you mentioned Notre Dame. The Irish are home with Louisville, so that's one to keep an eye on with U of L. Of course, on Kentucky's schedule later this season. And a lot of people are picking Louisville in that one, Darren.
Yeah, and Louisville really handed it to Notre Dame last year. Yeah, and I think Notre Dame's going to have a little bit of revenge on their minds. And I've seen a couple of people pick Notre Dame. But you're right, Louisville's a trendy pick in this one. And we're going to find out just how good this Louisville team is because a lot of folks are picking between Miami, Clemson and Louisville. Is the overwhelming favorers to win the ACC this year.
One of the games involving ranked teams, both of them is number nineteen Illinois at number nine Penn State. But you know one I find intriguing as well Florida State at SMU. And of course we all know SMU's history, but recent history tells you that Florida State just isn't very good. SMU is coming off a sixty six to forty two win over its arch rival TCU. I mean Florida State one in three. Now, what a dumpster fire.
Yeah, And you know, it was interesting how some of the experts on college game, they including Nick Saban, really put a spotlight on Florida State. And I thought it was kind of the eye opening when Nick Saban, who was still coaching, when a lot of these guys that played for Florida State were at their former schools, but
he said, there's a reason those guys transferred. And I thought, well, and I think Florida State might have a little bit of an issue right now with culture inside that locker room. And you know, sometimes you can have a big transfer portal class and they mash and things work out well.
You know, I love to talk about Kentucky baseball. It's a great example of how you can use the transfer portal to complement a program for the right pieces and get where you want to go, like the College World Series. But then there's other times where it doesn't quite work out, and I think that's what we're seeing with Florida State. And meanwhile that CMU has looked really good so far in this season, even though it's still odd that I think of them as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Another one to keep an eye on Fresno State at UNLV for one reason, holy and that's because, as we all know, the Rebels just lost their starting quarterback. I said, I ain't getting my money, I ain't gonna play, And they had a running back who wasn't getting enough carries, so he was their starting running back for their opener,
so he's leaving. So man. College football is just so weird this year, including yes, Darren, Rutgers and Washington, Washington coming all the way across the country to play a conference game, traveling round trip more than four thousand miles. And that's just getting started, isn't it.
Yeah?
How about that? And who also had Rutgers on their bingo card as being a team that's the factor right now? Is in Big ten. So you're right, it's just been a really topsy turvy season. But man, it's been fun. And then I'm enjoying the parody and some of these new matchups. But I do not feel for these West Coast teams having to come all the way to the Scataway, New Jersey or Champagne, Illinois and.
Who but Wisconsin plays. I think at Southern col By the way that Washington Rutgers game is tonight if you want to peek at it. But I didn't know this. They had a home and home what was it twenty sixteen and seventeen, and I got to think that both coaches when that was over thought to themselves. Man, I'll never do that again.
Guess what exactly?
Darren Hedrick is my guest. When we come back, we'll talk Kentucky basketball and some baseball here in the Big Moon Sider six thirty WLAP, Welcome back. We're talking with Darren Hedrick. He is the radio voice the baseball Wildcats and the UK women's basketball Wildcats and phills in for Tom on men's basketball. Hey, before I get to the Wildcats,
your buddy Aaron Judge. Man, and this has not been this has not been just a smooth sailing kind of season for him, but what incredible numbers he's putting up. I mean, did you see this coming from him?
You know what, when you look at his prior seasons, you knew that you knew he had it in him. I never thought I would see him sit there in Homer in five straight games for I think, what is he up to now? Fifty eight first player since it's two thousand and nine, first player to have over one hundred and forty RBIs the batting average? Is compete? I mean, this is a guy that could win the Triple Crown this year.
He is.
Up there right now with some of the stuff that Miguel Cabrera was doing with the Tigers in his prime. And so it's been amazing to watch. And I know, for a little while there was the conversation of oh, who's the MVP. Is it Bobby Witt from Kansas City or is it Aaron Judge from New York? And there was debates on who's doing wad who's the most valuable in everything? But at this point, I think that conversation is over. I don't see how you could vote against Judge.
It's MVP. And then what we're seeing from Sho hey Otani in the National League. It's just man, I hope baseball fans are able to watch these guys and appreciate it, because we haven't seen the hitter like Aaron Judge since very bond and Aaron's doing it cleanly.
So and you know, you may have known this. You probably did by the way Darren covered Aaron Judge as a minor leaguer when Judge was in the minors, so they developed a relationship. You probably noticed. This is the second time he's homer and in five straight games. It happened back in twenty twenty at MLB dot Com is reporting that, and this is really hard to believe, but I guess I could see it. He's the first player in Yankees history with multiple home run streaks of at
least five games in his career. Now we're talking Ruth and Caring and Mannel and Marrison and other Yankees, and he's the first to do that.
Yeah, he's he's in rarefied air, and as long as he doesn't suffer any more major injuries, it'll keep him out for months at a time. He's already approaching three hundred home runs. He is an older player coming out of college at Fresno State, and he did have a couple of seasons there when he was younger, where injuries sidelined him for months at a time. So I don't know if we'll see him hit that seven hundred mark. Yeah,
but he's going to take a run at it. And I think we're seeing a guy that, like I say, barring something unforeseen, he's already putting his they're already fitting his plaque for Cooperstown. And he's just an amazing player. And I've tried to tell people he's more than just a home run hitter. I mean, this guy could hit for average. We're seeing that this year.
By the way, the Yankees record for consecutive games at the homer don Mattingly Donnie Baseball at eight straight back in nineteen eighty seven. Maris did a six game streak himself, and Gary did a six game streak. So you could see Judge putting up one more. But I don't know if you'll get to ay, but you're right about average, Ben, he's a complete player. You're right about that. All right, Let's talk Kentucky baseball. You and Doug Flynn and Keith
Madison and anybody who covers the team. We're all going to be learning a lot of new names, aren't we. But you just refer to the portal working so well. You got to tip your cat to Nickmnngione. And right now it's Austin Kuzeno and some other assistants who are doing their homework finding talented guys who they believe will fit in. And they were masterful with that over the last couple of years, weren't they.
Yeah, this has been just a phenomenal run in recruiting for Kentucky, and not just the transfer portal, but we're starting to see more and more of the high school kids take notice of what is happening in Lexington. And you know, I think there's so much momentum coming off a run to the College World Series for the first time in program history that's been to fact to back
super Regionals. But also I mean just the fact that you were able to get Tyler Bell to campus, one of the top ranked shortstops in the twenty twenty five class. He was drafted by the Rays and what you could consider the first round, even though it was the compensatory round, which is just an odd deal there with the way Major League Baseball does the draft. It's not the first round, but it's also not the second round. It's kind of a purgatory in between the two rounds, but still is
a high ranking pick that brings money with it. He Alecx to come to campus and has talked about how Lexington in Kentucky's where he wants to be and to have a player of that caliber. I know they're putting together a strong class for twenty twenty six. You know, the funny thing is about where Kentucky is in recruiting right now, Dick, is they can put together top twenty five classes and you could still if you're not in the top five or top ten, then you've still got
several league opponents ahead of you in the rankings. It's just amazing how good the SEC is in baseball. But they're doing a great job in recruiting, man, and I'm excited to see what the future holds. And like you say, there's going to be a lot of new faces and they're doing a tremendous job with the transfer portal as well as recruiting the high school kids.
Man.
I remember before you got here, Gary Henderson signed a recruiting class that was like top five in the country but third in the SEC East. So that shows life in the SEC, isn't it.
Yeah, it really is. And when you add in Oklahoma and Texas, that just deep.
Yeah. Yeah, And it appears that they have signed a pretty good balance of pitching and position players. So uh yeah, I can't wait to see these guys get started. And of course they've got an exhibition coming up at Wright State up in Mason, Ohio. And they've got another one here though, right.
Yes, yeah, they'll host Morehead State. I think that one is at the end of October, towards the end of Paul practice.
Yeah, you're right. Let me shift you over to basketball while we have a few minutes left. Me let me real quickly talk about the men because, as I said, Darren fills in with the men every once in a while, and you got to know them as well as the women's players. But again, you're going to have to do a lot of homework, aren't you, because it's a brand new roster. What more than anything intrigues you about this men's team.
I just think it's going to be the style of play that Mark Pope brings in the fact that he has recruited some guys to fit into that style. I think we're going to see a team that really gets up and down. They're going to get after it defensively, but I also think they're going to be a fun, run and gun style offensively, just off of what Cameron
Mills has talked about in his practice reports. I'm really interested to see how this goes and how he structures the program because I think Mark is going to want to get the kind of players that Kentucky fans are used to seeing in terms of the talent level, and we've seen that in recruiting so far. He's landed some outstanding high school players that are going to come to Lexington in the future. And so I think for me, it's just going to be that style of play defensively,
getting after it and then really attacking on offense. I think this will be a fun brand of basketball too.
And I've followed along with Cameron, had him in the garage last night in fact, and he said that, Yeah, this team not only will shoot a lot of threes, Darren, They're going to make a lot of threes. So that's going to be a real real part of this and of course that was a Patino signature that'll be a part of this team's personality. A couple of minutes left
with Darren Hedrick. Let me ask you about the women we'll have a chance to meet, and we've already had a chance to literally meet them at media Day, but the fans will get to see him at Madness And again, almost an entirely new roster for Kenny Brooks. But he's getting it done on a recruiting trail as well, isn't he.
Yes, there's a lot of excitement and momentum with coach Brooks being in lex and it's starting to show up on the recruiting trail. And you know, I've had a chance to attend a few practices and it's like walking into a brand new program. Were the only thing that saying is the brand on the jersey. You've got so many new players and new staff. I can tell you this practice has been fun. It's been exciting to watch this week. The team is continuing to learn the system
that coach Brooks wants to run. They're learning his style, he's learning what you know, he's learning his players and what they need. And Georgia Amore has been a huge factor on the floor and trying to help the players understand what the expectations are, what Coach Brooks is looking for. So I'm excited to see this team this year, and I think fans are going to enjoy how hard this team competes and how hard they work.
You feel like that's going to be the brand of basketball or what else can you tell us about style of play that kind of thing.
Well, I can tell you that offensively, they're going to be flowing, That basketball is going to be moving, and Dick the biggest thing. And I know fans have talked about this for years or asked for it. I can tell you there will be linked on the floor at just about every position. One thing that has amazed me is the eyes of this team. You know, now Georgia Amore, this is the point guard, but beyond her, she's such a dynamic facilitator. But beyond her, I mean, there's there's
just so much size and linked to this team. And you know, Coach Brooks keeps telling him we're going to be the smartest team on the floor, We're going to play the smartest brand of basketball, and then that's what he's looking for, right now in practice.
He is Darren hedrick O hereing tomorrow morning on the Kentucky Football broadcast, also on the broadcast for the UK women's games and some of the men games as well. He's a busy man.
Thank you brother, no problem, Dick, thanks for having me, Bun. Good luck down in Oxford.
Thank you, and good luck to the pilots getting us there. Coming up in hour number two, Tom Leach and Jeff Picorral will hear an excerpt from the Wildcat Whip as they prep us for the Cats and the Rebels. Look back on the win over Ohio You and we'll take a look back at the week that was here on the Big One Sider six thirty w Lapero. Welcome back to the Big Boone Cider. I remember two of our program. Coming up a little later on, we'll relive the highlights
from the IHOU game. It was a big day for Kentucky fans who finally got to see their favorite football team finally get into the end zone, score a touchdown. They go on eighth straight quarters without so we'll relive some of those moments and maybe some more will pop up. When the Wildcats take on the Old Miss Rebels tomorrow. We'll have it for you right here noonkickoff ten am. Broadcast time should have mentioned this off the top, but UK women's soccer a little bit of a setback last night,
not a loss. It is soccer. We have draws, we have ties, and they tied Georgia. Kentucky was up one nothing for most of the match, but in the eightieth minute Georgia scores, so it ends up in a draw one to one, despite the fact that the Wildcats outshot Georgia seventeen to nine with seven shots on goal to three by Georgia. And Georgia is not a bad ball club five three and three, but is also the defending SEC tournament champion. So UK now is eight one and
two with two points through three SEC matches. Now the Cats hit their They go to Oklahoma this Sunday, first time in program history, and a week from today they visit Alabama. So it's back to back road games for UK women's soccer. Right now on social media, if you want to take a deeper dive into the upcoming UKO and Miss game, it's the Wildcat Whip with yours truly Jeff Picorrol, Tom Leach and we record it at South of Wrigley, which is a little sandwich shop. The shops
a little bit. The sandwiches are not on Southland Drive, and it's called South of Wrigley because it basically serves Chicago style sandwiches, including the Italian beef and the Italian sausage and pub fries and things like that. It's phenomenal and they sponsor our podcast and that's where we record it. So I've got a little bit of it for you, a little teaser if you'd like to listen to the rest. But you can hear the background noise, customers going by,
and the eyes behind the counter serving enough sandwiches. It's a lot of fun, really. But here we are Tom and Jeff and me talking about the Cats and the ReBs, starting with me bringing up last year's game where the Wildcats came back in the second half. It was a disaster in the first half and it looked like they were on their way to a blowout, and somehow Tom Kentucky turned that game around, starting with a defense to
that high powered offense. Gave up three points in the second half, nineteen to six.
At one point.
Yeah, you got a touchdown right before halftime.
In there and had two drives into the red zone in the last quarter to tie it or win it.
For two fumbles. Yeah, Jeff, the first thing that Mark Tups said to us when he came in are when we do the post game after the Georgia game. He was so dejected, but he said we had the right resting and so based on that game two years ago. And obviously you got to execute, you got to take care of the ball. But Brad White at least has the recipe. Now can they put it together?
Yeah, it's gonna be really interesting.
I guess if you look at the teams they played, maybe Wake Forest is the toughest team they They've played.
Four teams between their FBF fcs, but four teams have five wins.
And they've beat and they've beat them by a total score of two hundred twenty to twenty two.
So I'm sure Ole Miss is good, but they can't be as good as everything is the.
Play.
You know what's amazing.
When I'm doing my charts here, I think it's twenty the twenty two too deep on defense or all transfers. Yes, i mean, I'm like every guy. I'm right in Texas, Miami Florida.
They're from all over. There's not one.
Conscious transfer because like you said, SEC's.
Yeah, oh yes, yes, No one does it as good as him, And I don't know what the secret sauce is.
And they have guys who they're getting them, getting them where they have them for a while, like dark Transfer southerns third year in that system. Correct Ivy who made the Levis to force the Bowl.
Lad he's back.
He came in from Georgia Tech. He played in the game twenty two, so he's in his third.
Okay, how did he say Princely's last name? He came from Florida.
He was phonetically on my board ACK's Saturday.
He was their best defensive lineman when we played him in Florida two years ago, and now he's there is one of their top defensively.
It's crazy.
I mean in all the.
Backups, linebackers, best linebackers from Arkansas.
Yeah, they get that pe Geese guy, I think, say you say it, Yeah, it's it's just from.
A crazy whatever they're doing, like I said, it's working, but just they're going to run into a defense that held Georgia to thirteen points and they're studying that they know that. And the one play that hurt Kentucky the most in that game was that long pass play that ended really any shot Kentucky had laid in the ball game. That team down to miscommunication and that has got to be so vital in this game.
And you know, it's interesting, Tom.
I don't know if you saw the interviews yesterday with the players, but dion Dian's interview yesterday, he was talking about They said, what's it like, you know, playing it, and he said, well, the first thing is it's so loud you can't hear anything and you just have to kind of hand signal and look at the guy next to you because you just.
Can't hear it.
And there's only and that's not a huge stadium, sixty seven thousand, so just a little bigger than Kentucky Stadium than Kroger Field, but.
It's got the one airly tall. Yeah, the other end is not so it doesn't trap all that noise. But the other end is a student reception. Yes, they get it done.
Kentucky's played really well defensively save for one area, and it's some.
Communication issues in the secondary.
In the secondary, we assume there were three three of them maybe South Carolina really only one against Georgia m was a huge one laid on the thirty three yard pass play after the Fudge discussed punk where that got you out of the hole? That was this communication kind of switching a pick. A lot of this is it's like basketball, and you know you're do you go over the top of the screen and stay with your guy?
Do you switch it?
And that's kind of what a lot of this is. And Ole Miss is they're playing fast and they're doing a lot of that, and so that's the thing. And if you're you're gonna get burned sometimes what you have to do is burn them back.
It's like when you played Tennessee.
You know they're gonna hit a big.
Exactly right. But Tom to me, Dick, I'm not as.
Worried about the defense as I am the offense. And again, I don't know how good those four Georgia Southern Wake Forest deferment. Don't know how good those guys were, but they've only given them thirty four yards rushing a.
Game a game.
That right, I'm saying is that because they get ahead so early and you just had to have to throw the run game away.
Or are they that good up front.
If they are, that's really going to pose a problem because Kentucky's running game sets up their passing game.
That's just a brief portion of the Wildcat Whip, and you can listen to the entirety of it via either my Facebook page or the UK Sports Network Twitter feed. Just to bring up UK Sports Network and you will find it The Wildcat Whip with Tom and Jeff and yours truly, and we go about twenty minutes on that game. So I think you will enjoy it, and if you go to South of Brigley, I know you will enjoy that on Southland Drive right across from the Good Foods
co op up. Next, we'll relivet Kentucky and IOU here on six thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue and Sider. We're coming up in a few minutes. We'll look back on an eventful week, which included dating back to last Saturday, Kentucky's win over OHIOU. And as we often do after a win, we take the radio broadcasts and melt it down into one manageable chunk. Because many of you are either at the game or you give in you watch it on TV. Maybe you don't have
Tom and Jeff alongside. And I know it's hard because of the delay, But that said, we decided to bring you to highlights and there were a lot of them of the Ohio You gang. We thought we weld give him a second run here on the Friday edition of The Big Blue Insider.
Ad A Griff settles into Shaune gun formation, dingle tight end, going in motion wide to the right and they give it to Wilcox sweeping left. He's got a hole across the board. He breaks and tackle into Ohio territory down to the Bobcats forty five yard line. Is Shamerion Wilcox running with that physical style that we've seen in that time. We got to see a little bit of that juice that he is.
Yeah, you pull that time.
They pulled Cox, Eli Cox, I should say, and Dylan Ray and they just blasted out that whole left side.
Nice pickup, nice blocket, I said. The field goal unit out there, and it's much to the chagrin of.
A little bit of a low step.
He gets it down and Rainer puts it through and Kentucky is on the board first with five forty eight left to play. Here in this opening quarter in Kroger Field, Kentucky three Ohio nothing back sumo tar Bank lay fake to him, land a grip, getting pressure and fires it off to the far side and it's caught if through that chet from the left hash mark all the way to the right sideline to Barry and Brown and it's a gain of fourteen out to the thirty nine yard line.
Yeah, forty nine yards basically in the air and right on the money.
And off the will Cox sweeping right has.
It out outs up back down across the fording and he can't rank away in there, and.
A big game for Jamarry and will Cox.
And he gets away from that guy, this Dustin Johnson over the far side.
It's see you later. Instead he takes it down to the ohio forty it's forty one.
More yard Yeah, really nice blocking and it's Eli Cox who's pulling from the center spot like Dermani Dawson.
Used to do and makes the nice kickout block.
Second time they've done that.
Heat tight ends right Caddison.
Dingle handoff, will cut for it and clips of tackle angles right twenty five uses a stick arm, gets inside the twenty and out of bounds at the seventeen yard line of Ohio tenty three more yards for Kentucky breaking off those big chunk plays that have been missing from the first three weeks.
That was a Walter Payton Jim Brown for arm right to Austin Browley's helmet.
It just knocked him off of him.
Wild Kats will turn around and go left to rival. We come back to start the second fifteen minutes at Broger Field where Kentucky leads Ohio.
Three to nothing. From Vander Griff, pressure coming fires into.
The middle caught him the one yard line. It'll be first in Gold to go. Dan Key tried to stretch it into the end zone, but he was already down perfect.
Brow Yeah, they're right up.
Back to the line of Scrimach. I'll talk to you in a second.
Dustin Johnson making a hit.
Lander Griff gives it to Sumo Carnbay and he's head touchdown Kentucky. A little push from the back from Jordan Dingall helped make it happened as the Wildcats get into the end zone. Second play of the second quarter results in the first touchdown of the game. The Wildcats have eat ten nothing lead. Pull Us takes the snap, rolls knock loom all Ben Kentucky's got it.
Oh and then it pops out of JJ Weaver's hands.
And did Ohio get it back? JJ? No, cat's got it.
Weaver was thinking scoop and score and he kind of lost his balance as he'd been over to scoop it up, but a teammate was able to fall on the football at Kentucky gets its first takeaway of the day and Loved was diving for it. I don't think it was him that got it.
JJ Weaver got it back.
They just rushed three and has plenty of time sliding off to his right. Now the protection breaks down, crows it up the far side. It's put on game key hand sign Ohio Territory pulled down of the forty one yard line.
Well, that was a nice play by Brock.
I was getting ready to say he needs to step up in the pocket instead of gain out of the pocket.
But his arm is strong enough. Dame Key just took off and he do it. Man.
That was about a fifty five yards off his back leg.
Vandergrim against a four man rush, rolling out to his right, fires back into the middle. He's got keen and seven and twenty here's sideline ten pearls.
Ont time Clerk buckets down to the two yard line.
Send him with Lucklin and LOBRONI.
Would like that move well, Tom the toughest play for defense to try to defend his crossing patterns. And that time they had a guy short crossing and Dane about eighteen yards crossing.
He he'd even stride.
Ain't he having a big day?
Second time he set him up inside the five with one of his catches, that one for thirty two yards thirty six yards.
Off the right Hashvart.
They give it to simlparn Bay and he's got a second touchdown right up the middle. Kentucky seventeen Ohio nothing. Four oh seven left the play of the first half of seventeen nothing. Kentucky is a high repares once again for a third and ten play.
They bring three drop eight. Pulis throws near.
Side and it is broken up down at the thirty yard line, and that was the freshman to Ryan Nichols breaking it up. Seventeen nothing Kentucky leads Ohio. It is halftime on the Hall of Fame weekend at UK empty backfield.
Polish, that's it's gonna be a pick.
Six, and it's Maxwell hairston time Dallas, it's.
With his third career pick six.
Well, he locked on late to this, Paulus, He'll learn from this. You cannot do this versus sec. The corners are too quick, Harston bluffing. He looked like he was going to lay off one, the guy that was running to the middle, and he baited him and he'd do it out there, and that was easy pickings.
Since the start of.
The twenty twenty season, Kentucky now has eleven pick sixes, tied with Ohio State and Iowa with the most.
In the ne Through twenty seven nothing Kentucky leeds with.
Five twelve to play here in the third quarter, and it's a quarterback keeper Vandergraff. He's got the first down breaks away from a tackler inside the thirty five knockdown at the thirty two yard line of Ohio for a first down Prodi and Johnson on the tackle hill spot at at the Ohio thirty three in a game of fourteen yards for Kentucky. Six catches on the day for Key under fifteen yards in short of his career best.
That's already a career high in yarding. The andander grip sliding left sets throughout his dear side catch pay for the first down. It's diving grabbed five day cann Dame Keith Kotul was a six or five.
He stands up, I know it's six.
Just a corner pattern Toobby.
He fates the post and he cuts out into the sidelines and he's wide open.
Needed sixteen. Got sixteen consecutive completions to Dame Keith.
They make up first to thirty in two.
Passes and they give it on the jet sweep to Barion Brown trying to get outside across the twenty.
Got an alley at the tent at the five touch. Wow, Kentucky. They finally hit on the jets.
Sweep around the left edge dummy that looked like those dvs were running in quicksand I mean they had him dead to rights and he just out ran up to the end zone.
He hit the gas and it was goodbye.
I mean, tank was at the five yard line and that was like both Jackson ran.
By him Kentucky thirty four Ohio six.
He did the freshman white out wide right set, looks right, I rolls back to his left, floats it down the near side.
Coil.
Nice beautiful row.
My Whimsend drops it right into the red basket of Anthony brown Stevens as he went out of bounds at the thirty one yard line.
Really nice play, kind of reverse out to his left on the run. He squares his shoulders and puts a dark right on number five that he Brown steven He couldn't drop a.
Nine h or thinner into the green than that.
Through trips to the right for Whimsit tight end left third nineteen Whimsit's setting up deep steps up in the pocket, throws it complete, Farrier with the catch for a first down of the twenty Wow.
How smart is that kid? Farrier?
He gets right where he has to go for the first down and then takes one more step, then comes across and Gavin puts it right there.
Then says I'm the two, gotta keep it himself, and he goes and standing up touchdown Kentucky the first one for Owensborough High School's Gavin Wimsit Rainer puts it through.
We will keep it here.
As Kentucky moves the lead out to forty one to six over the Ohio Bobcat.
Player of the game's Dame Key and was the game plan such that you thought you could get to the spots on the field that you did successfully.
You know, I wasn't really thinking about like, oh, like I'm gonna have a career game. I was really just wanting to go out there and play for the team. And you know, when you play for the team, I just feel like the ball tends to find you. So that's really what I was just trying to go out there and do and just play for my teammates. And whenever the ball came out way, I was just trying to make that play.
All right, we're gonna sell bad now. We were just about ready to hear from Jeff Bloro, but he gave way to somebody a little more important, and that said coach Mark Stoops. So I had this off with Tom Leech, Tom calling me the host.
Okay, coach Stoops here, coach is ready to get the heck out of here?
Go home? Did the pool? Mark? Where would you like to start?
There's a lot to like today, I think, you know, just I knew it wasn't just gonna be just like real easy.
You know that, like you and I talk, never is against those MAC teams never.
And uh, our team I think really bought in early the week and understood that it just the course and continue to concentrate on us and getting better and improving and getting some plays. And we've got a lot of players in the game, and you know, still made a lot of mistakes, but did a lot of good things as well.
So the Wildcats get their second win of the season, bounce back from him the heartbreak last week to get a decisive win today over Ohio University Kentucky forty one the Bobcats six.
As we said, a lot to like about the win over Ohio. How much of that can the Wildcats press into service coming up tomorrow against Ole Miss down in Oxford. Whatever happens, you will hear it right here. And with any luck, maybe we'll have a highlight melt for you next week when the Cats beat the Rebels. But they got to make that happen. Won't be easy, but not impossible. Up next. The week that was here in the Big Moon Siders six thirty WLAP, that.
Was the week talk waver let it go.
That was the week talk wise.
It started way up talk and he's playing them all.
I don't know.
I think this past week started above par and stayed there. We had a big week here on the Big Blue Inside or lots to talk about already shared with you the Ohio You Melt, But in case you missed some of the interviews, I want to start off with part of the conversation we have with Van Hiles. I love talking to Van. You hear him on Sunday Morning Sports Talk, here, him on Monday Morning Now with Tom Leash Monday Morning
Quarterback Segments, and all over social media. He's really made a name for himself breaking down and examining Kentucky football corps. Van played back in the nineties under Bill Curry, defensive back who played a little while in the NFL. Now living in his native Louisiana and coaching. But I like to talk football Van, and we had to especially talk this week about Kentucky's defense taking on they will miss with their jail break offense. With this jail break offense,
what would you say to Kentucky defensive backs. You got to assume they're going to prepare as best they can. But once once the game begins for real, what's the best advice you can give them? Because they're going to be really tested.
For me, as a DC is I'm simplifying because I don't have the luxury to match personnel with what they are doing. Maybe I see everything that you don't have that uh, that ability the match personnel with down the distance and all that good stuff. Simplify. Then the guys have to trust their themselves and their instincts and their abilities. That's all. It's a confidence thing when you play in this conference. If you're not confident, it will get exposed.
So you got to play confidently, not afraid to get beat, deep, not afraid to get beat. Because those guys on scholarship too, they're gonna catch balls. So if they catch it all it's no big deal. Just don't give up the big play.
That's really it.
Make them keep snapping the bone.
Yeah, I was going to say, how does that manifest this? So playing with confidence against this offense.
So for me, it's like you have studied all you can study. You see things before the snap. Okay, they come out of a certain formation, this is what they're probably going to run. That's the confidence. When you're not when you're not able to, as I would say, eliminate routes before snap. Now you're just guessing. But if I can eliminate half the routes that they can run out
of this formation. Now I can anticipate. Anticipate it is a totally different thing from guessing, because now I have an idea of what they might run, and now I can jump on that when they run it. The guys have to get in the film room to get into a game plan, have to know what have an idea of what they're going to do before they snap.
You also can't just let Jackson Darks sit back there and pick and choose. I mean to get help up front, don't they?
Yes, you you have to play a little bit of both. You have there sometimes when you can confuse a quarterback. You can't rely on that all the time, but there are instances where you can simulate the blitz and drop out. But then there's sometime you're gonna ssimilate the blitz and actually come. So you have to mix it up. You can't blitz all the time because then he's gonna get It's like someone pitching fastball, fastball, fastball. Eventually he's gonna
time it ups the same thing. You can't blitz all the time. You got to mix it up. And Brad White does a great job of that anyway, So I don't know if that's an issue. Now his guys just have to execute.
That was my next question. What do you think of the way Brad White picks and chooses when it's time to blitz, Because obviously we've talked about this before. You'd love to be able to get to the quarterback without blitzing, which sometimes you gotta come right.
Yeah, you look as a I can speak at it from a corner. Is I don't want to play man a man all day every day?
Right?
Is taxing? Because I don't think fans understand that dbs don't come off the field. They're not like receivers run a goal route and then they tap themselves out and then the nerve receiver comes in. A corner stays on the field. So therefore, if you're gonna put me in a man the man situation eighty percent of the game, I better be in the best shape of my life to even command that. Then it doesn't matter how good is ship I am. A first receiver is coming in
every other play. So when you mix it up, you allow a corner to mix up his his techniques and his advantages to possly bet a guy into a trap coverage or or rest on the play because he just ran a nine route Like those Those things are important for decent coordinator to understand. Are your corners tired, have they just ran a nine route? Or we might need to run a different coverage than this.
They didn't I assume a nine routes of deep ball.
Yes, I'm sorry, nine rout as a goal. It's a fly whatever the old terminology.
Is, gotcha, Well I'm old. So yeah, you need to run. I thought that was really interesting what Van had to say. And yeah, it's going to come down to execution and communications. Saying that all week so the coaches obviously and the players will remind themselves of that going into tomorrow's game. Something else we shared this week with you. We had talked before with Oscar Combs when he was notified that he was going into the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame,
and it happened this week. It happened Monday night. He went in with another Kentucky figure from back in the nineties. Of course, Oscar started the Cats Balls back in what nineteen seventy six, but Tony Delk went in as well, along with Teddy Bridgewater from U of L and Roy Pickerel from Kentucky Wesleyan. But we shared with you the conversation we had with Oscar sometime back when he first found out that he was a Hall of Famer.
Well, you know, Dick, thank you first of all. And I was inducting to the Kentucky journalist some Hall of Fame Max in two thousand and To most Kentuckians, they would say that would be the ultimate honor for a journalist in the state of Kentucky. But I'm more of a specialist than just a general practitioner.
And I really have to.
Say, with apologies to the Usk Journey School of journalism, that this was the biggest honor of all because it comes from my peers, people in the sports world, writers and journalists, and it's all about Kentucky's sports. I don't know where people like Nick gabron Us Combs would be if we were born without sports, that's right.
I shudder to think. And we've had a lot of enjoyable, enjoyable moments, haven't we. And this had to be what what was your reactional when you got the call?
Uh?
I know, a numbness couple of minutes and like no this is not happening, you know, And then, Uh, I gotta be honest with it.
It was just sure, joy, have you ever.
Been to the event? I was part of it for a long time, and forgive me, I can't remember if you were there or not. I'm sure you've been at least once, right, No, I haven't said that.
I was at several of the UK Hall of Fame. I was on the voting committee for years, but I've never I've never been to the Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame.
Well, i'll tell you.
Stay was my first trip to Churchill down.
I heard that, Yeah, that's that's where they had the event. And uh, you're not a gambler, you're not a horse player. Uh, but what did you think of Churchill?
Overwhelming?
Really?
I mean, and and this was a small crowd today versus what's going to be their Friday and Saturday.
But uh, it's two mongos.
I mean it's uh after being there for a day and going through this, and the governor had a conference immediately before airs where they're talking about you know, dollars for state and what it produces the state, the economy, the economic impact. And I understand how the horse and industry carries a lot of weight in frankt n So happy.
For Oscar who was running a newspaper in eastern Kentucky when he decided to start the Cats Pause. And it was a wild success right off the bat, and it set the standard for fan magazines everywhere and still going strong under Daryl Birrd, Aaron Gershan and their crew. So Oscar Combs, as he said in the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame and now in the Kentucky Sports Hall of
Fame as well. Sticking with football, the Bengals now in three and Chris Canty, a former NFL defensive lineman, took off on the Bengals and he really went after Joe Burrow, which I thought was pretty interesting given the fact that they always talk about football is the ultimate team sport, and this guy lays everything at the feet of the Bengals multi monthly million dollar quarterback.
When your quarterback has a chance to go win the game, he's gotta win the game.
And Joe Burrow didn't do that.
Jadon Daniels did. That's the problem that I have the Cincinnati Bengals. They have a very very specific formula for how they're gonna have to win games. They're gonna have to be led by their offense. You know how, I know that how they spend money. The Cincinnati Bengals are top five and spend on the offensive side.
Of the ball.
Relative to the rest of the league. They're twenty second in cash spend on defense. News flash, the defense for the Bengals ain't gonna be as good as the offense. The offense is what's gonna have to win the day. Only problem is the Commander's offense, with a rookie quarterback in his third start, won the damn game. I'm tired of all the excuses for Joe Burrow, all the defense, let Joe Burrow, no Joe Burrow, let Joe Burrow down, Joe Burrow, let the offense down, Joe Burrow, let the
team down. Great stats, great stat line. Oh what's amazing is that all of these touchdowns, no interceptions. But what did you do when the game was in the balance. What did you do when the game was on the line. You know the answer is it's not enough. You know how, I know it's not enough because your team doesn't have a win and you're going into Week four. The damn Carolina Panthers got a win before the Cincinnati Bengals did. Let that sink in.
You know, I watched that game and Kanty talked about down the stretch. He was basically referring to plays late in the ball game. I don't remember thinking to myself, boy Burrow is really stinking it up. But I do know that Burrow had phenomenal numbers. I mean he had more than three or Dar's passing, three touchdown passes, no turnovers. So I think it's got to be as much or
more of a team situation. And this is a former d lineman going after a quarterback, used to go after him on the football field, and now going after him on TV and radio. We also shared with you some comments from Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey that we collected over the last week or two. Kelsey speaking at an event in Louisville, Mark Pope talking to Maggie Davis a BBN tonight about the importance of the Kentucky Louisville series,
and obviously Mark Pope lived it. Kelsey knows immediately as soon as he got n even before he got to Louisville, how important this rivalry was, so he kind of went back and forth on the comments shared by the two brand new head coaches at their respective institutions. They've been head coaches before and nothing like this.
This rivalry is beautiful and it's and there's no holes barred. It's a backyard brawl and it matters, and it matters to everybody involved.
You know.
I got introduced to this rivalry when I first got here thirty years ago, and it is as good as it gets in the sport of basketball, not just college basketball, but at any level. And we're excited about it. It's a defining moment in every single Kentucky season and something we take really seriously.
And I love it.
It's one of the great rivalries in collegiate sports. It is. I know how important it is to the people of this town. You know. I've gotten to know Mark a little bit, you.
Know, and I can't probably shouldn't say it very loud, but try not.
To like him. But he's a pretty good dude. I was like, why you got to be not why you got to be a good dude? I'm supposed to like dislike you, you know.
I think Pat's terrific. I think he's a great coach. I think he's doing a great job. He's in use so much energy and Louisville and I have a ton of respect for him. I'm incredibly excited to compete against him, and both of us will be at a point and a friendly where we want to rip each other's heads off during the game, because that's how you're supposed to be, and then I'm going to continue to like him after the game.
I'm just excited to be a part of it.
It is.
I think rivalries are what makes college sports great. And you know they stopped being rivalries if you don't win one every once in a while.
So let's stink and go, let's go, let's go.
In athletics, we have a beautiful opportunity to compete harder than anybody can possibly imagine that people can compete and then to show mutual respect and love each other aside from that, I think that's really important. That's a real thing, and we know that area can talk.
And one other football note as we wrap up this segment, because tomorrow, when Kentucky takes on Ole Miss, we will open up with Bernie Scruggs, who quarterback the Wildcats to the upsid win over Ole Miss in nineteen sixty nine. He's going to be our celebrity who opens the broadcast. And we talked with Bernie for the show about the fact that Kentucky was coming off a wild fifty eight to thirty loss to Indiana, and it was a tough loss,
but it gave the Wildcats confidence they could score points. Now, they only scored ten against Ole Miss, but the Rebels only scored nine, so that was enough to pull off the upset.
Yeah, I felt like we were going to put some points up, and it was that Old Miss game was a really hard hitting ball game.
It was.
I don't know how many people realize, but that defense that we had. We had Dick Palmer at one end, Dave hard at the other, we had Dave Rohler, Bill bush All, had Joe Fetish bil at linebacker with Wilbur Hackett, and I mean five out of six of those guys played pro and played for a while. Yeah, I mean they were a good defensive unit. So I felt like we had a good chance to beat these guys.
You had to get excited every time they turned them over because it wasn't just those turnovers in the fourth quarter either, was it.
No, it really wasn't we played them tough the whole game.
Yeah, John Ray was confident going into the game, Wasn't He was quoting the newspaper beforehand is saying he thought you all would win. Well.
I think he was confident up until we went down to Halvard. I think that that's that was a tailor moment force. I think he kind of got shook at that point.
The joke there was that Kentucky went down to Auburn and it was beaten forty four to three. So you come off a wild game where you score a bunch of points against Indiana, you lose it, but then you upset Ole Miss and then you're really lay an egg down at Jordan Air Stadium. We'll come back and wrap up, but Heroes, fools and Flakes. In just a minute, you're on the Big Blue Insider six thirty.
Wap none the week, Let it go.
That's the Week one. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider. As we wrap up this week, I'm for Heroes, fools and Flakes and our hero tonight, it's actually the Mountain West Conference because the Mountain West is staying together and looking for new members and signing people up through the year twenty thirty two. I don't know if it's the best thing in the long run for all the member institutions, but for the fans of those schools, it's clearly the
best thing. Some might have wanted them to move, I don't know, and I know schools that did move did so in order to stay financially solvent. As I've said before, USC and UCLA for bleeding money. They had to leave the PAC twelve, which was being run so poorly, and go to a different league just to keep their heads above financial waters. But the Mountain West is hanging in there, and in fact, they've got commitments from seven remaining members
and they're looking for more. They're trying to go after Texas State. They're taking a look at Northern Illinois, which is in the MAC. And yeah, I realized that this would apply in the face of conferences staying together if they poached some other schools. But right now, Air Force Vegas, New Mexico and Nevada Staytasday State, Wyoming and Hawaii, which is a foot fall lonely Fountain West member have signed
a memorandum of understanding. They they're going to stay in the league till twenty thirty two, So some semblance of normalcy in the Mountain West our fool tonight is twofold. Primarily John Fisher, the guy who let the Oakland A's die. They played their last game last night, as I mentioned earlier, and this is the guy who let them go. And you can blame City fothers because they've let the Warriors get away, they let the Raiders get away, they let a hockey team get away, and now they've let the
A's get away. But Fisher, as I mentioned earlier, exacerbated the situation by being such a tight wad, and fans hate him and you can understand why, our flake, but this is a weird situation. A Florida man is suing to temporarily stop the sale of Shoho Tany's fiftieth home run ball from being sold at auction. This guy says it was stolen from him right after he's cured it.
A guy named Max Matus. He's eighteen years old, and he says he procured the ball on September nineteenth, which was his eighteenth birthday, and then he claims a guy named Chris Bolanski yanked it away from him, and of course wouldn't give you back to Oldtani And now they're going to sell it, but he's gone to court in Miami. Of course, the home run came against the Marlins, which
gave him fifty homers and fifty stolen bases. But this guy before they sell it, or at least while the opening miss half a million dollars, says the ball belongs to him, and I kind of hope he wins this because how many times have you seen that somebody grabs a baseball, catches it or gets it on the caram and somebody else steps in and rips it away from him. There's got to be video. I would think that if there is, and if it's compelling, this guy could be
making serious bank. That's going to do it. Thanks so much to Darren Hendrick, Thanks to all of you. Join us tomorrow for Kentucky Old Miss right here starting at ten am. That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington. What the hell is going on out here?
Well, Nook scared because his eyelids are jammed and his old man's here.
We need a live it, a live rooster.
We need a live rooster to take the curse off Jose's glob and nobody seems to know what to get Millie or Jimmy for their wedding present. About right, that's right, we're dealing with a.
Lot of.
Well, camel sticks always make a nice gift, and maybe can find out what she's registered and maybe a play setting or have your silverware pounds day.
Okay, let's get.
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