Welcome to the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel with you Friday edition of our program, the eve of Game Night, when Wildcats take on Tennessee tomorrow night, it is gonna be a tough one. We'll have it for you right here. Five point thirty pre game with Christy, Jeremy and Logan seven forty five. Kick the Cats and the ball's gonna be nasty down there. Weather might be a little nasty, but there's gonna be a blackout. Tennessee's got the orange uniforms,
kind of the Halloween uniforms. They'll have their lights show going like they did two years ago. Kentucky's got the same technology now, really most SEC teams do. But yeah, it's gonna be stiff because Tennessee's really good. It's not the jail break stuff that we've seen in the past. It's a strong run game and a really good defense. And we're gonna talk more about that tonight. Well here
in a minute from Mark Stoops about that. A little bit later on, we're gonna play an excerpt from the Wildcat Whip, Tom Leach and Jeff Picoro talking about this Tennessee Kentucky matchup. If you haven't heard the Whip yet, well, we directed to my Facebook page, also to Twitter or x if you will, to the UK Sports Network account. It's also on mine where Tom and Jeff and I get together at South of Wrigley Great Sandwich Shop over
on Southland Drive and talk about each game. It goes up on Thursday afternoons, and what it is is basically an extended version of what you hear in the pregame show when we get together. Our segments like two two and a half minutes, so we thought we're gonna do a little bit more or a lot more. So that's what the Wildcat Whip has become. And again it's online
right now on social media. So if you really like hearing the two guys who are gonna call the game break things down, then yeah, I direct you to that. I just kind of make sure it gets on the airs. What I do I just bring up a topic and sit back and listen and enjoy what they're saying. So that's coming up in hour number two. But we're also gonna hear from Mark Pope again coming up a little bit later on because his team opens up play on Monday, as does Kenny Brooks UK women, So that's coming up
in our next segment. At the bottom of the hour, Tom Leech will chavel us just Tom on both football and basketball. He's my guest at the bottom of the hour, and in the second hour, Rick Russo will join us. Rickman on the show several times. Haven't heard from him in a while, but he is the sports director down a WVLT in Knoxville. He's been there forever and we're going to chat with him about just what's gotten into these walls this season. They got a really good team.
The rank seventh right now. So busy show coming up. We'll talk a little bit more about the Dodgers and the World Series. Also, we're going to present, as we usually do on Friday one weekend Hero Schools and Flakes. But Mark Stoops talked to the media yesterday. Of course, he was up north with his family following the funeral of his mother on Monday, so he wasn't on his
show or at the Monday news conference. But Stoops met with the media last night and somebody asked him about this Tennessee team and just what makes this particular Tennessee team so different.
You know, you see the offense obviously, coming coming along to where they want it to be or you know, getting that way. I mean, obviously they could strike at any moment, you know, again, much like last year, very physical, very good in the run game, and getting more and more explosive and more comfortable, you know, with with the big plays. I think the big thing is is how good they are defensively, you know, very very good football team, very disruptive and very strong, you know, and they and
they're deep. They're deep. So they have some big guys line, yeah, without question, Yeah, very very much. So you know, any great defense usually starts up front, and they're no different.
You know.
I think they're very deep, they're very big, they're long, they're strong. They do a good job.
And that D line, that defense pretty strong, pretty big, and they have not given up a lot of points. And it's going to be a challenge for the Wildcats to move the football, keep the chains moving. And throughout the year, when Kentucky's been successful, the Cats have basically been able to play some power football. I haven't scored a lot of points, haven't put up enough yards a lot of times, but when they have been able to get things done against the likes of Georgia and Ole Miss.
They have held on to the football. They've been a possession ball control team. Stoop said, it's vital for Kentucky, which is, you know, dealing with so many injuries, but just try to stay with what they do and as he said, be who we are, and he referenced comments Brad White, the defensive coordinator, made earlier this week about just looking for answers and trying different things to.
You know, coach, you know White's defense. I think you know, when you get a little bit banged up, when you're trying to start throwing things. You've heard me say that over years. I've been there as a play call. You know, when you feel like you're trying to throw things at a wall. Sometimes you know it doesn't always.
Stick, you know.
So we just got to be who we are and just be a better version of us. And we've proven we could do that. We just gotta we got to strain and play with great pad level and play all together and you know, and execute.
I mentioned what the catcher getting into tomorrow night, there's going to be, like I said, the blackout. The uniform is going to be a huge crowd on hand. They're going to go nuts. It's the SEC, Welcome to life and the SEC and Stupe said that's just something you can expect wherever you go in the Southeastern Conference.
I understand I didn't see it. I don't I don't really want on social media, but I understand that's pretty cool that they got a blackout going and the fans have embraced it, you know, And I'm sure that'll be a it'll be a hostile environment and uh, it generally is when you play on the SECT, you know, particularly at night, so it'll be it'll be a challenge.
Toward the end of the news conference, John Hall or rather a John Clay with a Harold Leader with a with a really good question for Mark. He said, when it comes to offense, he said, I'm not talking about play calling, but he basically said to Stoops, how can you as the head coach, what can you do to help the OC to help the offensive coordinator? Short of
just taken over calling the plays. Stoops talked about how bush ham Dan eventually found a groove and found some success calling plays for the Wildcast before these injuries began to pile up. But really the back end of the comment I thought was really telling. It was. It was pointed directly at apparently what Stoops has seen as the breakdowns of this team, and he made some references to work he has to do with the program, particularly in the off season.
The number one objective right now is to go try to get a victory, but by any means necessary. And so I think he does a really good job that way. And as smart you know, we know we have some some you know, shortcomings and some areas of concern and some areas that we have to get addressed.
You know.
And you know that's a there's a things that that you know, I you know that that you know I got to get fixed, you know. And so you know, but he's done a nice job of trying to adapt the best he can to what we can do.
I went back and looked at the Kentucky roster. I don't remember what I was looking for, but I remember I went back and looked at the twenty eighteen roster. That was probably Stoop's best team. That was the year that Josh Allen won every award you probably possibly could as a defender, and Kentucky wins ten games and wins
the Citrus Bowl. It was fun wasn't it. But the one thing that jumped out at me was as I ran my finger down the list of Kentucky players from that team, it was the number of guys who got a shot at the NFL, maybe didn't make a team, that maybe did, but got to a camp, signed a contract, and it seemed like and they weren't all seniors, you know, but it just seemed like every five six names on that roster, you'd say to yourself, Oh, that guy got it, that guy made it, that guy signed. And now do
the same thing with this roster. And I'm not knocking these kids sound like Caliperry, don't I. But the bottom line is this team just isn't as good obviously as that team. But that goes back to Stoops and his staff. How well have they recruited, how well if they evaluated. They'll be the first to tell you they've made some mistakes. They'll be the first to tell you that some kids who came through the portal just haven't worked out. There's a reason some guys are in the portal because they
just aren't getting enough clock, enough plays at their previous school. Well, why is that? Because they weren't good enough to play there. Not everybody is Awandale Robinson obviously, who came back home because he needed to be near his family, And not everybody is Will Levis, who was probably misused or misevaluated up at Penn State. No, he's not having a great pro career right now, but he had a terrific time in college, at least with a good offensive line under
Liam Cohen. And he's a guy who was used primarily as a runner, and he's a good runner at Penn State, but they didn't really have the same kind of offense in which he flourished at Kentucky his first year. Rock Vandergriff has not had similar success. But I will always wonder what his season or seasons would have looked like
at Kentucky or elsewhere. He's got another year after this season, if he was playing behind an offensive line with three, four or five guys who were heading for the NFL, and with all due respect to the kids they've got, now, that's not what he's got. I still believe that the crux of the problems for this team is a line
that is better. They're developing. They played really well against Georgia and against Ole Miss and honestly, they did against Vandy when they weren't shooting themselves in there and both feet with penalties. But they're just not consistently good and they are gonna have one hell of a challenge tomorrow night, as they have against Auburn and Florida, because they're gonna be running into some lines linemen who are huge. That's been the biggest difference. I think no pun intended uh
with these last couple of losses, big linemen. Same thing for the Kentucky D line. They run into huge offensive lineman. But getting back to the old line, when that group is on its game and if Demi Shumol Karnbay is healthy, Kentucky has a chance to move the chains. And if you do that against Tennessee, it doesn't matter what the lights show does. It doesn't matter what the crowd's wearing, doesn't matter what the uniforms are on the other team. You take the crowd out, you control the clock. You
saw the game at all, Missi either there. You watched on TV while you were listening to the radio, and you saw how Kentucky took that crowd out of the game, and for a little while, Kentucky did it at Florida, believe it or not, might not feel like it after the final score, but when Kentucky was coming back and made it a one score game and again the old line was getting the job done, it silenced that crowd and that was a really it was one of the better crowds I've seen at the Swamp of late, not
back to the Spurier days, but you know how Kentucky's gone down to the Swamp and pushed the Gators around, and even one down there A couple of times that place has been silent, and it started to get that way until Kentucky made some mistakes and Florida came back and poured it on. There's a chance they can do that tomorrow night. But it starts with the offensive line. And again, when I was a young reporter, Frank Kersey
took me to school in a good way. Wasn't yelling at me or anything, but he basically educated me on the fact that success up and down your football program throughout depends on your offensive line, because of course that says how much you're going to score, how long you're going to be on the field, how much time your defense has off the field. A smart talking head I listened to said, the best defenses aren't on the field a lot. The less time you're on the field is
the defense, the better you are. That's what needs to happen Tomorrow night. We'll shift you over to basketball when we come back. You're on the big boon Sider six thirty. You come back to the big boon sider coming up in just a few minutes, Tom Leech. She'll call the action tomorrow night Tennessee Kentucky and then on Monday, Wright State and the basketball Cats. And we talked with Mark Pope yesterday. His weekly news conference apparently will be on Thursday.
He's going to show up for him and answer questions. How about that? And one of the questions put the Pope in light of the shooting slump in the at the beginning of the game against Minnesota State was somebody suggested, if a guy is not hitting, do you maybe take the green light away? Do you shut that down?
Yeah, we don't do that. You drive your guys all crazy, are you really?
Now?
It's part of the game. So so guess what if you're trying to scout us out and someone someone that shot, well, the last couple of games, watch out because the numbers, the numbers bear true. You know, every time you miss a shot, you're one shot closer to making one. Like that's just the truth. That's the data, that's the numbers, And so you kind of got to pick your poison, do you got You know, the numbers might say, hey, next game, don't guard Jackson Robinson because he was eight
for twelve last game. So the chances are the numbers say he's not going to make his first one, right, I wouldn't do that because Jackson is just that way.
You kind of had a grin in his face. Yeah, we don't do that, So don't expect that to happen, even if the Cats aren't hitting from the outside. As for Kenny Brooks, the UK women's coach, his team opens up at USC Upstate on Monday. Can he talk to us about how well he's been accepted here by the big Blue Nation.
I can't go anywhere in Lexington without somebody coming up, you know, saying how excited they are to have us here, and and that that didn't happen, you know when I got to Virginia Tech. When I got to Virginia Tech, I don't think anybody knew that I was the head coach there, and they grew to know and they grew to appreciate what we were doing. But to come here and yet before you've even played a game and have everything sold out, it just goes. It's an attestament to
the fan base. And that was a big reason why I wanted to come here, because I felt like it was a sleeping giant.
Kyraelsey struggled with the job. Matthew Mitchell took the wild Cats to the Elite eight a couple of times, knocked on the door of the Final four, and the crowd showed up. The fans loved it, obviously, and that just showed Kentucky fans are ready for women's basketball to be big. One other note before we hit the break, I didn't really talk much Halloween last night. We had so much to talk about. Hope you had a good one, Hope your kids did terrible. Did it rain? I felt so
sorry for the kids who came to our house. Well, we got more kids last night than we've had, maybe combined, in the last three years. That's a good sign. My granddaughter's got a chance to see them all dressed up, you know, and it always raises this time of year, the never ending debate about candy corn, which is awesome.
Love candy corn, my favorite vegetable. A lot of people don't like it, and three years ago it became kind of a national topic for two or three days when our friend Alyssa Lang from the SEC Network was working in Mississippi State game back when the late great Mike Leach was the coach there and the Bulldogs rolled to a big win. So she had a chance to have fun with Mike Leach, who had made it clear at
some point that he did not like candy corn. And in fact, I think Kentucky played down there a week before or after, and some of the students in the front row one of the end zones painted their chest. I have a picture of it where they spell that candy corn sucks. Of course they're wrong as well. But Alyssa talk to Mike Leech, who never hesitates to get off football and talk about something that's more fun.
We talked about on the broadcast, how you hate candy corn?
What's your favorite Halloween nycorn?
I mean, I completely hate candy corn when I was a kid. Well, gummy bears, Let's see gummy bears for sure, now we're regular.
The airboon. It's got to be the airbow once.
And then the other thing I like is when they used to have the sprees in a box outstanding. You have to go to the dollar store to find it, but I do. And then the latest, the latest, you know, there's still candy innovation, although a while back the Europe had better candy than we did overall because they have got me everything.
And then but the uh, you.
Know, they have those nerds clusters.
Which is new.
Yeah, which is good.
The nerds clusters is good. And then if you go chocolate, probably all them enjoy I love it. Hopefully you'll get some of that next week.
Yeah, yeah, we'll see. Thanks coaching, all right, thank you. That's Alyssa Lang of the SEC Network. And then Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach posted on October twenty third, twenty twenty one, and less than a year and a half later he was gone. Died on December twelfth, twenty twenty two. And I remember talking to Neil Price about him after he passed and just how much fun Neil and everybody had with Mike Leach, who was pretty good football coach and as you know, at one point was
coaching here on staff with hel Mummy. Up next Tom Leach, the voice of the Cats, to talk about a big weekend coming up for him. I mean works football on Saturday night and basketball on Monday night. That's next here on the first day of November. Can you believe it? We flew through October. Joining us now is the voice Tom Leech, who is a busy, busy man. This Timmy, you were going to talk both football and basketball with him. Although Tom, you've been working hard on Breeders' Cup picks.
I mean it's too Is it too much of a good thing for you?
Probably not.
No, it's fun, but it's just kind of test your time management. So yeah, I'm busy.
Uh.
I do a pot Jim Goodman, I do a podcast for Queenlan every weekend and for their adw site and Breeders Cup time like an Oaks and Derby Day or Breeders Cup. We do all the stakes races for both days, and so I've been busy toiling over numbers.
You know, when I was working for KYT and covering horse races, I love covering the Breeders Cup. But I'll he was always at a loss. I mean you cover, you do a story on the Classic and some of the horse in there. But it's the All Star Game and the World Championships rolled into one. As I always say, Yeah, so you can't go wrong picking a horse. But where do you start? So, but that's what's great about it. What was it? This is the fortieth anniversary?
Right?
Did it start about eighty four?
It is?
It's the fortieth.
Last year they celebrated the fortieth because it was the fortieth breeders couch. Okay, but this is the fortieth year. Yeah, So it's always one of those deals that they they started basically at zero, right with having.
It at eighty four.
So John Gaines had a great idea and they made it work. Yes, you did well. Let us first talk about what's happening in Knoxville Saturday evening and you and Jeff and I and boy going back to the Jeff Fan No Days and others. We covered some games down there that couldn't go fast enough. It just wasn't competitive. Do you think the Cats can keep it competitive and give themselves a chance against the balls?
It's anywhere close to the team that we saw in Oxford, Mississippi or here against Georgia in September. Absolutely, if it's the team we've seen in October, then it will be tough to say the least Tennessee. If you look at the numbers, they're kind of scary. You know what you have to news.
Take out the non conference numbers because especially on the offensive side, they look much more mortal when they've played in league games.
But their defense has been tremendous. I mean, whether they're playing SEC teams or somebody else, their numbers are tremendous. You know, Kentucky has struggled to finish drives and it's got to find a way to make some place. Hopefully they get Sumo Karnbay back. That would help the running game. You think back to the Georgia and the Ole Miss games. His ability to get some tough yards and keep drives going was the big part of that.
Yeah, and again he was a guy that we all knew had speed, could catch the ball out of the backfield or in the slot, but he proved to be a power back. He could he could run between the tackles, but not quite as strong as Benny Steller or Chris Rodriguez. And of course, the old line has been struggling still a little bit, but getting those final one or two yards, especially in the red zone. I can't remember, Tom and it's been as frustrating, can.
You, No, it's been. And then we've seen teams even I go back far enough to where they just struggle offensively to the point of their punter was the most important player that they Yeah, this team has been able to move the ball that I don't know what the number is, but I've been a pretty healthy percentage of drives that have gotten onto the other side of the fifty yard line.
Yep.
So they've picked up a first down or two and they get to, you know, somewhere around the forty in that neighborhood, and then it stalls. And if they could just make even sometimes one or two more plays to just get a field goal out of it, because you feel pretty confident you can get points if you can just get the chance to let rain or kick it all right, you know.
In the quarterback situation, it's not necessarily a controversy except for the fact that people have been talking on social media on talk shows. I mean, what's up with two quarterbacks? Does it ever work? It rarely works? And yet I don't know about you, but it's hard for me to close the book on Rock Vandergrip when it comes to evaluating him, simply because we haven't had a chance to see him with many clean pockets, you know, and they wisely move the pocket, but as you know, that cuts
the field in half. And there are very few quarterbacks as effective throwing on the run as they are in the pocket. So I don't know you, and you've seen more practices than I have. I don't have a great read on this kid yet, you know as a drop back passer.
To you, no, that's fair. I mean, he has had some tremendous throws that he's made, most notably the one to Bari and Brown down at old Miss. But then there's other times where you know, he's the tendency to hold onto the ball too long at times or has uh missed guys through a bad interception in the second quarter last week, and that's probably guessing what maybe led to trying trying the other guy, and that's understandable when it's it's not working. But uh, you know, we'll see
what they end up doing this week. But Brock is a guy that has made some enough plays that you can see potential there and he is in his first year as a starter, so you hope that he can continue to develop and as you get you know that are offensive line with them all the wink the offensive line, to be fair, it's improved from where it was in that South Carolina game. So it's just, you know, it's it's not any one thing. They don't have a you know,
great running game. They the one thing that they really seem to lack is explosive plays. They made three of them on those first two drives last week too by Dane Key, and then those went away, and you know it's it's.
Hard to.
Live on, you know, being able. Then that's you know, probably inevitably why drives stalls that you know, they just have to be so perfect. It's you know, such a thin margin for error in terms of getting plays to be successful and nobody executes at one hundred percent efficiency, and that's I'm sure it probably to them feels like what do they have to do?
You know.
The most puzzling thing to me, the last even more so than the problems in the red zone, is the way the defensive line has has been sort of pushed around or manhandled however you want to call it the last couple of games, both Florida and Auburn, and some of that I know, and Mark Steukes talked to you before and after those games about the relative size of the line when they were going against. But I am surprised, especially about the way Auburn gas the wildcast for big
plays and Florida. Of course, Vandy did too on the first down plays. Although Kentucky was able to stiffen on several drives against Vandy could not fight off Florida and Auburn, you know what I'm saying.
And the offensive lines are big at Ole Miss and Georgia, and so they handed them then. So you know there's an element of it of just you know, being beat up physically, and you know it's been hit a little hard in the defensive line. You know, last week you saw the entire starting defensive line I think was on
the availability report. Now, guys were able to eventually play, although they lost Jackson and we in the second half, right that certainly seemed to be a noworthy absence and that's when they had the most difficulty getting off the field against Alivern.
Well, there was a game not too long ago when the Wildcats went down and had a couple of picks sixes early. I don't see that happening, but you know it would be if Kentucky be fortuitous, if Kentucky could steal a score, steal a possession, that kind of thing. It almost has to happen, doesn't it.
You would think so something like that. But you do have a red shirt freshman quarterback from Tennessee who has had some struggles once they've gotten in the league play and they've turned it over five times in the last two games, So that would be the script. And you get a break early like that, take advantage of it. And you know, Tennessee's the big favorite, and Tennessee's got a sight set on the college football playoff, so the
longer as the underdog, you can hang around. Yeah, you know, here they get and so that's what you hope to do. And just you know, they're in a situation that where they really need to get to the open date from the standpoint of just the help of the team to get a little bit of recovery. And then they come out of that with a game in which they be
a massive favorite. So uh, this, but you got to get through this one, and so you've got to find a way to uh, you know, it's it's one game to go out there, and you know at this point they they can't some of the goals that they had are unattainable, right, But you always still have a chance to just as a competitor, say let's do something that nobody thinks we can do.
Yeah, yeah, and.
They you don't have a couple of chances left to do that, and they've already done it once. So they've got to find a way to tap into that mindset, which hopefully then leads you to sharper focus, better execution, and then hopefully little luck.
He is Tom Leech's the voice of the Wildcats. He'll call football Saturday for the Big Moon Network and then again on Monday. It'll turn around and we're Kentucky basketball. He's already called two exhibition games. We'll talk about that on the other side of the break here on the Big Moon Sider six thirty come back. We're visiting with the voice of the Wildcats, Tom Leach, who will call two UK men's basketball games next Week's already got two
in the can two exhibition games. I listened to you and Jack the last few minutes of the game and then the post game, and Jack made a great point I thought Tom in the latter stages when he talked about the fact that you have so many veteran players out there that they don't need to look to the sideline constantly for guidance. They can make some decisions or work it out on their own. They can talk amongst
themselves and make things happen. I know that's what Mark Pope's looking for, and it's kind of refreshing, isn't it. Not a knock on Caliperry, but that's just the way they're doing business this year.
Yeah, when you have all of that experience and they still have to uh get to a level of expertise in Mark Pope's offense, and that's still what they're working toward. But yeah, they're I don't think they're gonna, you know, guys put that much experience or are going to panic. They'll you know, know, how to figure things out. And I'm just eager now to they open up next week in Write States. I think preseason fifth in the Horizon League. I haven't looked ahead to do much prep on Buckneil yet,
but those are teams. Those are names that sometimes in an NCAA tournament throw a scare into somebody from team you know, out of that league, out of the horizon for example. Yeah, and so it uh, I know Jumps are starting to do some prep on it.
They shoot a lot of threes like Kentucky does, if they were one of the better shooting team. Fact, they led the nation in field goal percentage last year. So that we'll you know, maybe test Kentucky's defense. But I'm just kind of eager, assuming they take care of business in those two games next week, like we expect eager to see them play Duke and get a really big
test and you just see where they are. It's, you know, not the end of the world if it doesn't go well, and it's a tremendous boost that does, but just to see them tested to that level the thing. And Jack talked about this on the Morning Show a couple of weeks ago. I said, you know, you've been watching practice since July. Is there anything they're better at than you
thought they would be? And he went to defense, And that's I think that I thought that was noteworthy because you know, last night they started out two for thirteen on three. It it'll be nights when they don't make as many shots, or maybe that's because they're who, you know, the level of competition they're playing, but they if they're gonna be good, really good defensively. That keeps you in range to and try to find a way to pull
it out late. And you've got a guard in Butler that looks like he can just be a lockdown defender out on the perimeter. And then assuming Williams is back healthy on Monday night, you've got a big guy to the three time defensive player of the year in his league, seven feet tall with long wingspan, so he can protect the paint. So that's those two things are all nice to have.
And then the rest of the guys just learn how to communicate and pass things off. And you you know, you don't have the one. People have compared this, and I've been with them comparing this to some of the early Patino teams in terms of the number of threes.
That they're shooting.
Now, this team doesn't have a Mashburn, but it has, you know, probably more overall talent to go seven, eight, nine, ten deep. I mean, no I thought played well on any game on Tuesday night.
Oh, I agree, and got things started with that three pointer did Yeah, I really enjoy the new format. I don't know who's responsible from our network for switching things up a little bit, but having a table out there and you guys facing the crowd and taking questions from
the audience, either via social media or in person. But I got a big kick out of Mark when he sat down on the first thing out of his mouth about the cold Star was major guys nervous, didn't we But I think it's all part of the education process because I don't know. You know, you're you're busy working, but up in the boonies where I am now where they the media stuffed up into the corner of rupp Arena. It's a good look, but you're so far from the court. But on the other hand, you could kind of feel
the audience getting nervous. You hear the groans on a mystery, I'm sure you can hear that, but there's this nervous tittering, you know, when when the missed shots begin to pile up, And I think Mark Pope is just trying to condition everybody. You can only say, don't worry about it. So many times. But his attitude is that this is what happens.
You know, got to condition his own players too, because Jackson Robins is the only one that understands that he guys. Trust me, he really does wants you to keep shooting it. He's not going to, you know, pull the reins in when you're you're missing, you know, and I'm sure there's still you know, when you start two for thirteen, I have to think, you know, there's somewhere in somebody's head there are more than one guy. It's like, should we really keep shooting these? Should we you know, try to
get to the line or something. But you uh, they've got anything is they've got enough shooters, so you would think the chances of a toll freeze out would be minimal because you know, it's not like they have just a couple of guys that they rely on for three point shooting, a bunch of guys that can hit the three, and they their offense is geared toward kicking it, moving
it around, kicking it out for those particular shots. Right boy, once they got started last night, and really he's a lot of tension, and that's when they got the separation, and you know without as I said earlier, the don't have that Nashburne type guy. So you've got to rely on kind of the system and the some being greater than the individual parts to accomplish more than what people might expect you can accomplish.
I loved it as well when he said we're going to be belligerent, you know, get again, trying to get people ready. We're gonna stick with what we do, and uh uh it was just so much. It was fun
to watch it all unfold. And I made the same point as Sean Woods on my show on Wednesday on the show Wednesday, and we talked about that, and I also told him, I said, I said, Butler reminds me a little bit of you, Sean, you know, as a physical point guard and uh, you know, a guy not known for a shooting, but a guy who can get to the rim and finish. So I don't know, it's just kind of fun. But uh yeah, he's uh, he's trying to ed to BBN, but also the impassion play,
like he's got to please show up and support us. Yeah, I think that's gonna happen, you know.
Oh yeah, they won't have to worry about that. But you know, you make a good point about Sean. You know, it's like kind of like a great cornerback that could take out the other team's best wide receiver. You know, if you can the quarterback point guards to the quarterback of the team and so your quarterback can you know, shut down their quarterback. That's huge. And Sean is that
kind of player. And then at ninety three Final four team and they had him and Dale Brown, they had two guys that could do.
Oh yeah, I'll let you go with this. The thing I really like the most about this team is the way it's come together so quickly from all over the country. That's what's amazing about this And it's just I guess what great basketball does. Not that this is a great team yet, but it's a great situation, a great opportunity. And here are guys, like I said, like most teams, but it is as unique as any team in the history of this program and many in college basketball starting over.
You know, it's almost like tom an exhibition, not an exhibition, but what's the word I'm looking for a new franchise. It's almost like an expansion Yeah, it's almost like an expansion team. And yet you're not starting from scratch when it comes to tradition, facilities, crowd all that stuff. So it's just a real fascinating story, I think.
Yeah, And with an expansion team, you get, you know, access to some players at the bottom of everybody's roster to form your team. Here Pope pad access to really
pretty much anybody in the transfer portal. And yet he had to pretty quickly go about assessing those those parts he was going to put together into his machine or his stew I think, as he's called it, and I have a good who One of the reasons he became successful in his business is that he was identified as early on rose up the ranks in his company.
Is they would send him to problem areas and he could quickly assess the problem and turn it around. And that's a skill to be able to go in and quickly be able to assess things. And that seemingly is what more Pope has done. And in terms of you know, contacting all these guys, and I'm sure he didn't know
a lot of them. I mean they'd recruited creasea before, for example, but not a lot of the other guys to go in and you know, have conversations and you know, you know, assess, okay, this is this is one of our kind of guys. And it sort of looks like I mean, the time will tell, but it surely looks like he did an excellent job of identifying those guys that would fit together and not just trying to go get twelve talented players and then try to figure it out.
He is Tom Leech. He is the voice of the Wildcatch. You'll hear him calling Kentucky football on Saturday evening, and then you'll hear him calling Kentucky basketball on Monday evening. And in the meantime, you can hear the Leech Report on this Ferry radio station at eight am every day. Follow him on at Tom Leachky. Thank you, brother, and we will see you in Knoxville.
That sounds great.
Coming up in our number two, we're gonna go down to Knoxville and visit with Rick Russo, longtime sports director WVLT TV, and find out why these valls have become so good. Also in our number two, a preview of the Wildcat Whip because Tom and Jeff broke things down extremely well. Also a comment from Mitch Barnhardt about the state of college football right now, the residual effect of the nil and the poor rule that it's having across
the country. That's coming up next on the Big Moon Insider six thirty WLAP.
Everything.
Welcome back to the Big Blue and Cider and joining us now as an old friend and a guy. We've worked actually together on some projects and we have bumped into each other for years. Used to be part of the family when I was at wkyt Rick Russo from w VOT down in Knoxville. How are you, young man?
Oh, thanks for calling me young. I am doing this well. More importantly, how is your health, my friend?
How you doing good? I'm good, Thank you so much. I'm coming up on a year and I'm healthy. I appreciate that. And I know you've had some some health challenges as well, and I know you oh yeah, but yeah, you know, as they all say, it beats the alternative. How many years now for you in Knoxville?
Just shy of one hundred and seven. I you know, I've never claimed to be good at math, Dick, but I got here in East Tennessee, in Knoxville in August of nineteen eighty seven. Yeah, I know, the first the first Tennessee game that I covered. I was a low man on the totem pole, so I didn't get to go but the vaults. But do you remember Tennessee played Iowa in the Kickoff Classic up in the Midlands, Okay, and that was my first Tennessee game, and it's and the rest is history.
Literally. Yeah, you covered national championships both in football and baseball. Now we'll get to that in a minute, But got to talk about the game tomorrow night. And when the season began, I think Kentucky fans had such high hopes for their team and they looked at the Tennessee game as well, maybe we can get that one. But now Kentucky's going in the wrong direction in Tennessee. Tell me about this ball clubs. It's got a great ground game
and a hell of a defense. Rick, That's gotta be a lot of fun.
You know, it has been fun to watch in the first three games, Dick. I mean, this team was scoring fifty plus and everybody thinks, you know, good night, this is a done deal. But then they've been stuck in the mud a little bit here of late. Offensively, now, Tennessee has not scored in the first half of their last three games. They trailed Arkansas three nothing, they trailed Floor to three nothing before coming back to win that one.
And then Alabama they trailed seven nothing a couple weeks ago and then came back and real strong in the second half with their ground game and defense, and then were able to hang on at the end there to beat the Crimson Tide for the second time in three years. But my gosh, that's been the talk of the town here. Two things, One what does this offense need to do
to get going? And two just a tremendous defense. First of all, offensively, they've got that talented young quarterback, but you know what, he's going through some growing paints, and the offensive line a lot of times Dick hasn't been helping him out, so he's been a little ants feedback there. But what's helped him and the offense, especially in the second half of games, has been Dylan Sampson and that running game. So you got to give the offensive line
a little credit in that regard. Sampsons has been just phenomenal, as you know, one of the best backs in the country. Six one hundred yard rushing games this year, seventeen rushing touchdowns, the most by an SEC player since Nazie Harris did so for Alabama. And then I'll throw one more stat at you. He's averaging an SEC best one hundred and twenty yards a game. So that certainly dick something Kentucky's gonna have to watch out.
For, my goodness, Yes, especially the way Auburn and Florida gashed in with a run game. And I give the staff there Hypelin this people credit because they basically, I mean, everybody wants a great defense, but in terms of the offense, they've adjusted to what they have. It's not the jail break. I know it's up tempo, but it's not to chuck it down the field jail break that that was killing Kentucky the last couple of times. And they've gone to the ground and pound, haven't they.
They really have. You know a lot of people think about this up tempo offense and they think pass past past, but it's it's been a lot of run. It's been a lot of run to set up the pack.
Ye.
Unfortunately, Nico you know, hasn't been able to hit on some of the these d throws down the field. And that's something that they're hoping will come sooner than later. But but yeah, and they've got a good backup running back and Deshaun Bishop, he's a he's a local kid here from Knoxville, played at Carns High School. He's a eight mister football, so he redshirted. He didn't play last year. But when he comes in to spell Samson, he runs hard,
he runs downhill. They've got a good stable of running backs. But the storyline this year has been that defense man. They've been phenomenal, and it goes back to uh to spring. They were talking back then in the spring that they could very well have one of the best defensive fronts in the country, and it's kind of proven that way. It's been a welcome thing and a pleasure for Hypel to be able to turn the reins over to Ten Banks, who's just been terrific as a defensive coordinator. Rodney Garner
is a fantastic defensive line coach. All the kids, you know, they fear him, but they love him. He's one of those type of guys. But the thing about that defensive front is they're so darned deep he brings. I mean, he is constantly replenishing that that front, and they stay fresh and by the end of games, Dick, they're where they're wearing teams out there on the offensive side.
Talking to Rick Russo, sports director WVLT down in Knoxville, he'll be covering the Cats and the ball Saturday night, and we talked about the run game in the d line.
But as I said on on this show earlier tonight, Uh, Kentucky's problems, I believe, and I'm not laying at all at their feet, begin with the offensive line, which has improved this year, I believe from last year, but still has a lot of work to do dealing with injuries and what you just described in the Tennessee run game, Rick, I got to think they're ecstatic with their old line.
Oh you mean Tennessee's offensive line. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, they're you know, they're doing a good job of giving Nico a little time to throw, especially later in games when they really needed to have it.
Uh.
But uh, but that's the thing that Typel's looking for this squad to start fast this week. It just hasn't happened the last few weeks for whatever reason, whether self inflicted or you know, Arkansas maybe playing well or whatever. But but Tennessee just hasn't played well from the get go. And then the other thing to watch out for is that Arkansas loss came after a buy an open date.
So that's been a point of emphasis over the last two weeks is to to you know, keep that momentum going, especially coming off that Alabama game, because Tennessee came out and laid an egg early on against Arkansas and that
was coming off an open date. But this this defense, man, I'll tell you, and I keep going back to it, but I mean you've probably seen the numbers, but they haven't allowed a team to score twenty points through through seven games, and they would be or the fifth team to do that, you know, and and the other four teams that that did that, and I'm not saying this is gonna happened to.
We got a log log way to go.
But O three, LSU eleven and twelve them and twenty one Georgia all started like Tennessee in this regard, giving up under twenty points and they went on to win national championship. I don't know that Tennessee is as well rounded as those teams I just mentioned, but uh, but they've looked great, Dick, They've looked fantastic.
Tough to expect with such a young quarterback, though, right.
Pernico, Yeah, yeah, you know, there were a lot of expectations. He came out like gangbusters last year in the bowl game against Iowa, and everybody was saying, the sky is the limit, and uh, you know, when you come out and score so what sixty nine points against Utz, you know, everybody's thinking, hey, here we go. But it's really been
a matter of everybody being on the same page. And when you get some guys nicked up or what have you, and the timings off and things aren't there, then that's going to happen, especially for a younger quarterback like that, And so far that's that been the case. As he looks to try to uh you know, they're waiting. They're waiting here for him to really break out in a big SEC game, uh you know, like like like with the one we're about to have tomorrow night against Kentucky.
Talking to Rick Russo, WVLT TV sports director will come back with more questions for Rick about the Valls. On the other side of the break here on the Big Bloon Siders six come back, we're talking with Rick Russo. He is a longtime sports director WVLT down in Knoxville. He'll be there when the Cats and the Balls go after each other tomorrow night at Naland Stadium. And we keep hearing about these uniforms, Rick, the helmets, oh the black at all this. I mean, they can't wait, can they? Oh?
The dark mode. Man, I'll tell you, but you know it. Uh, you know. The first time Tennessee War dark jerseys was in nine and Lane Kiffen's lone season when they played South Carolina. And I don't know if you remember this, Dick, but the Vaults actually came out that game in their traditional orange for War up and then went back in and then came out with the with the black jersey. But they kept the they kept the orange pants on
and the white helmets. I wasn't crazy about the overall look it really They used to play South Carolina every year either on Halloween or around that time, so they were feeling good about and the fans loved it, you know, But it's evolved over the years. They wore it in the twenty one game against South Carolina, the twenty two game against Kentucky, and the twenty three game against South Carolina.
Twenty two is when they came out with the dark helmets, and the fans really the players too, of course, they really love the black helmets. And and here they are, they're going dark mode again. And you know, I go back to you know who's really taking it to another level is the baseball team. And you know how baseball players and coaches can be superstitious. Oh yeah, the vault, the valls out in Omaha in the not the championship game, but the game before that. They were the dark Jerseys.
They won, and I'll be darned as they didn't come out on another one hundred degree day. And we're the black Jerseys in the title game, and by gosh, they wanted But man, oh man, it's become a thing here, no doubt about that.
I hear every once in a while an old school person grumbling that's not our school colors. But I'm like, just think of it as a template, you know, your school colors against the background, the backdrop, And like you said, the fans love it. And two years ago when Tennessee turned on the light show during the Kentucky game, and UK fans are grumming, why don't we have that when in fact the school was already in the process of
pulling together the money because that's not cheap. But that's a thing, now, isn't it that like because you see it all over college football?
No, it is. And when you've got Nike backing in they come up with this stuff and provide it for some players and staff, you know, why not go for it. But you know what, Ultimately it's gonna come down to the play on the field, the play in particular in the trenches. You mentioned that game a couple years ago. Poor Will Levis was under the rest all night. So uniforms are not. You've got to block, you've got to protect the quarterback, and you got to get it done.
And but Tennessee had certainly had some talented guys on that team, and including one named Jalen Hyatt who who did his thing and now he's in the National Football League. But yeah, uniform or not, you got to get out there and get it done between the lines.
I was talking earlier about the fact that this Kentucky team just doesn't have as much talent as some of Stoops's teams. Everyone wants to blame the coaches, and ultimately they're responsible for putting the roster together. And I'm looking at Tennessee, thinking, man, these guys have done a nice job of constructing this roster, haven't they.
You know, they really have. But one of the things they've done nice job of constructing is building that chemistry and that that closeness within the program. I mean, we've thrown you throw out that that word culture a lot, but but I'm a firm believer that if if you don't care about the player to your left and to your right, you're not going to get it done. And Dick I saw that, for instance, with the baseball team,
you know, back during the spring and summer. I saw the closeness that those guys had, and and it's it's the same type of thing I'm seeing with football and some of the other teams. And it's really refreshing because I listen recently here on Rocky Top. We've had some lean years in football and several of the other sports. But but you see everybody playing off what that baseball team did and talking about, Yeah, we want to come together, we want to win a national championship and be as
good as we can possibly be. I think it all starts there. And we've seen a lot of that this season with the football program.
Interesting, yeah, because it starts with your coach with baseball. Interesting personality there, and he kind of let you and your team had an interesting personality and kind of let the balls be the balls, didn't he?
Oh my goodness, he really did.
You know.
From time to time he'll try to rain them in, but he he tries to give them as much leeway as he possibly can, let them have fun, because after all, you got to have fun along the way. Otherwise it's just not going to work out for you. But he's done. He's like that, you know, and they feed off him and he's just right in the mix. Man, He's right in there every step of the way.
Yeah. And some similarities with that team and Kentucky's. You know, they just had a really entertaining personality and you know some of the superstitions that they embraced in the traditions and things like that. And you see it more in baseball because you know, just the nature of the sport, the nature of the doug, the sideline, different intensity. But you know, carrying it over to football now, it seems like this Tennessee program in general, Rick is going back
in the direction that it used to. I mean, they hit some real low spots, didn't they. And it looks like they finally got the coach thing straightened out and they're bringing in again top notch talent they're dealing I guess well with the Portal and Nil. Is that the way it is?
Yeah, you know, it really is. I mean we were talking earlier today. We're getting ready for a for a broadcast that we're doing for previewing the game, and we talked to a couple of Portal guys during the week. Jackson moy a defensive lineman excuse yeah for defensive lineman that that's that's really played well. He's out of California. But the biggest newsmaker for Tennessee this year has been
Jermad McCoy. He's a terrific defensive back. He was in Corvallis last year, played for Oregon State, and all he's done has come in and become a shutdown corner. And then on the other side, you've got Ricky Gibson the third and the two of them together have really produced what a lot of folks are calling one of the one of the best cornerback duos in the Southeastern Conference.
They they've been huge in helping that defense. You know, one of the neat things about this Tennessee defense sometimes vick they'll bend, but they won't break, and they really come up big when they when it's needed. There there's red zone defense is absolutely phenomenal, and they've done a terrific job at turning teams away once they get inside the twenty yard line.
Oh, that's been a problem for the Wildcats this year. That inside the two yard line has been a problem.
Well here here, let me throw this one at your opponents. Opponent's third down conversion rate against Tennessee's defense downs. Man, the walls are getting off the field, which, as you know, on offense you want to keep drives going and on defense you want to get off the field. And Tennessee has done a terrific job of getting off the field against Against Alabama, the valls had and this is a
concern for Kentucky the way they protected the quarterback. But Tennessee had three sacks, nine tackles for lost, two interceptions, and twelve quarterback hurry against the Crimson Tide. Yeah, so they brought it against the Jalen Milroe and company no doubt.
Yeah, And I watched that game and I kept saying that to myself, because I asked Kentucky DC about that one day. I said, quarterback hurries oftentimes are more damaging than sacks because it forces a quarterback to do something that he doesn't want to do yet throw the ball or move out of the pocket or whatever. So that's been a problem for the Wildcats too.
Yeah, exactly, especially when you got a younger quarterback like Nikola Maliava. You give him time, he's gonna hurt you, He's gonna burn you. But yeah, anybody is susceptible to that when you get that kind of pressure, especially from a strong, physical, defensive front like Tennessee. Has no doubt about it.
He is Rick Russo. He is the sports director WVLT who'll be on the scene when the catch play the balls tomorrow night. Thank you, buddy, Looking forward to seeing you man.
Always great to talk with you. God bless and yeah, look forward to it.
Man up next. Tom Leach and Jef Picole breakdown UT and UK plus a comment from Mitch Barnhard about college athletics and where we are now thanks to the portal and Nil, I want to come him on six thirty WLAP Welcome back, thanks once again to Rick Russo, And you can tell he's an upbeat kind of guy anyway and does a great job down there. But you can tell by the sound of his voice how much fun it's been to cover Tennessee football this year. And we
know that feeling. Don't we having fun with college football up here? Not so much this season, but it has happened under Mark Stoops. They're just trying to figure out
how to get it back. College athletics, as you well know, have changed so much through the last three or four years because of the portal and in il not just the free movement, but just the way teams come together, the way they're put together, the way players interact, And that sort of came up because I think one of the problems I think we've all seen this and Stoops has talked about it as well, that this Kentucky team is enduring right now is a lack of on field leadership.
Some of that's because of injuries, but some of that, quite frankly, is because some of the leadership positions on the field. And I'm not blaming these guys, but you know your quarterback one of your middle linebackers, some of the other spots where you need leadership from older players. It's just not as strong as it might be if these kids came up through the program as recruits, work their way up as freshmen, things like that. And I don't begrudge them their movement, but it does have a
profound effect now. Sometimes it works for the better and sometimes it doesn't. And I was interviewing Mitch Barnard for our pregame show tomorrow full disclosure, we interview him if not on game day than a day or two prior because of travel, and he brought up a great point. We talked about on field leadership again, something that Stoops has brought up, and Mitch made a great point about that sort of thing across the board, not just in football, but in all sports throughout college athletics.
I think it's not just at Kentucky. I think it is in college athletics in general. The movement of nil and transfers. It's causing rosters to flip more regularly. You're getting a lot of new faces in the locker room, and it's really really difficult to rally around one or two people, especially if they're new into your program, and it's hard for that to coll less together A lot the days of lots of fifth year, fourth and fifth year seniors that you build that culture around is difficult.
And we've got some, we may not have enough, we might not have the right person in the right place, right fit. And just not football, but in all sports. I think it's difficult. And you're seeing that manifested all across the landscape of college athletic and.
Look, that's one of these things we should have seen coming. But I guess maybe if you don't work in that industry, you don't think about that kind of thing. Now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what has happened. And I talked about it when the nil rule came down, when the decision was made to basically open the floodgates for money and player movement. And I wasn't the only one who said this, but I did say, this is
the end of college athletics as we know it. And I really didn't even think about that sort of thing. The interaction of players and leadership was on and off the field. I guess if I'd sat down and thought about it for a little while, or talk to even more people that might have come up. But this all began, as you know, without guardrails with regard to how the rules were going to be followed or not followed. In Kentucky found itself on the outside of some rules and
had to work hard to rectify things. But in terms of how teams are put together, well, for instance, look at what Nick Minjiona has done with the baseball program. So many transfers, and that's the rule of life in baseball ors always player movement, always has been because of what had been a lack of scholarship money. Now that's been taken care of, but they've reduced the rosters, so a lot of kids aren't gonna have a chance to
play D one baseball that they might have had. But Benji One and his staff over the last couple of years, and it looks like they've done it again this year, we'll find out have done a great job of putting a roster together with new faces coming in who aren't just talented, but can assimilate with the guys who are already here basically get along. You know, everybody worked together,
play together. All that and I remember Luke Mayley who's now with the Reds back up catcher with the Reds telling me we were talking about team chemistry, and I said, it's got to be more challenging with baseball because of all the downtime, you know, even during games and the dugout in the bullpen, but travel practice days all that. He said, yeah, and because of the losing. I said, what he said, you lose more games. He said, you lose more games in baseball than you do in other
sports because you play more games. So how do you handle that? How do you deal with it? And he was absolutely right. So it's all about chemistry on the roster. And Barnard made a great point there. I thought you can hear the entire interview tomorrow in our pregame show with Christy and Jeremy and Logan here on six point thirty. Wlap mentioned earlier that the Wildcat Whip is up on
social media. Go to my Facebook, go to UK Sports Network Twitter page and or x if you will, their account, and you can listen to Jeff and Tom break things down a deep dive on UK Tennessee. We taped it yesterday and I got a little preview for you, a little portion of it to what's your appetite, and I mentioned to Tom that the availability report does not look good for the Wildcats.
A bunch of outs, including the leading tackler, de Eric Jackson, the leading sacker uh JJ Weaver, starting tight end, uh, DJ Waller's questionable, which I assumed meet you said starting tight end, Yeah, and then DJ Waller's questionable, but I would assume that would mean he would likely be out there be on Walker was probable. So sorry, more editing.
So Kentucky is gonna have to to find a way to come up with some kind of performance that we certainly haven't seen the last couple of weeks, and that maybe we saw down there four years ago, where you get a couple of pick sixes, maybe you get a defensive score of some type, or you get a special team score of some type. Because Tennessee hadn't given up twenty points to anybody else season, Kentucky struggled to score. So nothing about this on paper looks good for Kentucky.
I think that of all the names you said they're the one that really sticks out to me is Deerck Jackson because he's he's just so steady, and they really haven't groomed a back up, yet they don't have anybody that's that's stepped up. I mean, you can throw Alex Afari there, but then you'd have to probably move, you know, it's just too much. He's two forty five, Alex is two fifteen wet.
Maybe I think it's voice saw last week.
Yeah. But the thing that's amazing to me about the Tennessee, if you want to flip it over, is you know when they got Nico at quarterback and they're paying him all that money, you're thinking, Okay, they're scoring all these points, especially in the first five games anyway, you're thinking they're throwing the ball everywhere. They're not. They are running it
down people's throats. And that's why when you come up with the linebacker and alignment and this guy JJ not playing, those are huge minuses for Kentucky not having them to try to stop this running game of Tennessee.
Somebody's say on that outside and doan Matthews Tyree s Furby. Somebody needs to to grow up as a football player in a hurry, and you'll play at a level that they have not played at before.
And that happens. So if you guys had a chance to study much video of Tennessee because you assume that because they're running the ball, it's not the jail break offense chucking it down the field. But you can still go up tempo and run the football really tempo.
They go up tempo, they spread out, Yeah, they spread you out, but when by spreading out, they're opening running lanes. And when you've got two running backs like they do, you got to let them eat man. I mean, Niko's only thrown six touchdown passes and he's got four interceptions, So that tells you their best running backs go with thirteen I think eighteen touchdowns.
Seventeen seventeen.
Yeah, I knew it's a ton.
Yeah.
I would think it would be a big plus if the Corners could play a game like they played at Ole Miss, Yes, where they covered well and tackled well, Yes they did. And if you could then count on them to be able to cover those guys out really wide and then be able to you know, have a little more help, you know, in against the run. But you know, the corners, I don't. I don't think anybody really tackled particularly well last.
Week right now, Yeah, I mean if you look at last week's game, what Auburn. Did Tennessee run Now, I'm talking about running the football wise, Tennessee is two steps beyond them. Tennessee is maybe the best running team of the SEC's how good they are. And then and it's just and they're huge upfront. I mean they're They're Tennessee. They're always big up.
They do have a young quarterback. So if you could have some success against the run and get them in those third and long situations once in a while, that's where you maybe get a mistake.
That's exactly what I was getting. If you can make them one dimensional, which nobody really has. But you know the thing is, once they've upped the competition level, once they got into playing the good SEC teams, their points were who were they was going fifty a game?
Now down to thirty eight. There's a stat I was putting it in the notes and like in the first quarter they've outscored people like eighty seven to nine. You know what it is against conference teams ten to nine.
There it is, Well, you mentioned size. Jeff mark Soups mentions in his pregame. He mentions in his postgame talked about it not this week, but week prior referencing Florida and Auburn size on the front line and the d line for Kentucky, which had been playing so well now not only banged up but overpowered by size. And these are not just fat guys, but pretty good athletes. They're running up against me, they are.
And you look at Kentucky's defensive line where a guy like Josiah Hayes was hurt they lead up to the season or in the offseason, and there's a guy that's like three fifteen or whatever that would rotate in with silver at the nose. Instead you got Kendrick Gilbert, who's going to be a good player, but as a red shirt frashman, that's yeah, that's just you know an example. Now you got Ribke and Oxen Dne a little Oxes like two seventy five.
Doesn't look it though, does he now?
And then you know on the other side you have Dion and Saunders behind him as good size. But you know that you know that second line there's a drop off in terms of just the uh, the wait.
And again that is the Wildcat Whip. We tape it every Thursday at South of Wrigley over on Southland Drive. Great place for sandwiches. They're open on Saturday. I recommend go over and get one or three and hang on to them and then you'll have you'll be ready for a game night. But be hungry because I'm telling you these sandwiches will fill you up in a hurry. But
I can't recommend them. Looking around Pro sports, we were talking the other day about Devin Booker and the shoes that he sent to Mark Pope, and we played a clip with Pope talking about Devin Booker in the year he spent at Kentucky coming off the bench, averaging ten points a game, never had more than nineteen in one game.
And then look what he's done in the pros and in fact, last night, as if on Q he takes over for Phoenix, which was down twenty one points to the Clippers, and Booker puts up forty and helps lead them back to a victory. They were down nineteen in the first quarter, twenty one in the third quarter, and Phoenix comes back to winning one twenty five to one to nineteen. Five players in double figures for Phoenix. But that's why when you're watching an NBA game, oftentimes a
lead that big early just doesn't mean much. Because you know the other team's going to go on a run. And it's not that they don't play defense. They do, but it's like Pope talked last night about being in huddles with George Carl and he said, we might have been down fifteen, but Carl said, we're good, the energy's good, everything's good. We'll be fine. And sure enough, Phoenix was last night. And by the way, Booker also eight assists
and five rebounds. Alo Bancaro had fifty the other night, but now he has a torn obleak, so he'll be out for a while. Man, you hate that For the young guys. Coming up next, Heroes, Fools and Flakes, including the voice of NFL Films. He's long gone but not forgotten. Stay with us here on the Big Wooon Sider six
thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Blue Insider as we wrap up this week, and of course again Kentucky, Tennessee tomorrow night seven forty five will have it for you right here at five point thirty on six thirty WLAP, we leave you once again with Heroes, fools and Flakes and our hero Tonight believe it or not. And I say this because he is in some corners known as
the worst owner in pro football. David Tepper. He is a hedge fun guy, a billionaire, and he owns the Carolina Panthers, who are terrible and they make terrible moves in the NFL. He also owns the Charlotte Football Club in Major League Soccer. But he did a great thing last week. They had what was called a concert for the Carolinas as they looked to raise money for people who were hurt in the producing hurricanes at Bank of
America Stadium, which he owns. Tepper gave the stadium to whoever organized the event for free, including parking and concessions. It didn't cost the people who put the concert on a dime, so every bit of the money that they could raise went to the victim. Oftentimes, people who are in the position of Tepper's in look just to cover
their expenses, which can be formidable. Just to open the doors and turn on the lights is really expensive, not to mention security and as I said, concession stands and things like that. But Tepper, from what I read, basically gave him a blank slate said whatever you need, you can have it, and they raised more than twenty five million and it's still coming in. So tip of the BBI cap to David Tepper or the Panthers. You're still a bad football owner, but he did a great thing.
That means you're probably not a bad guy, but you're not good with an NFL team. Our full tonight is Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, and I was going to jump on him because the guys who fought with Mookie Betts over a foul ball. Initially, the reports were they would be allowed to come back to the game. On the following game, they were not. They were banned, but so far no word yet on whether they'll ever be allowed back in the stadium. Some believe a lifetime ban. I
would think a one year band would be okay. But the fact that you haven't made a move in that direction has signaled fans everywhere, and really in any sport, but mostly in baseball obviously, that it's okay to put your hands on an athlete. It's okay if they come near you, you know, in your area, which these idiots said, you know where they were sitting, and it's okay to grab an athlete. And if you read Rex Chapman's book about how fans are getting more and more. They're getting
bolder and bolder. And I don't know if it's social media or what, but athletes do live in fear of that of interacting in a bad way with fans at the games because they get drunk, they yell stuff, they threaten, and there have been many, many incidents throughout pro sports through the years, but not so much in American sports. But the other night, two fans laid hands on Mookie Betts. They missed the next game, which was their beloved Yankees losing.
But so far that's it for the punishment. Thanks to Manfred our flight tonight. This could go in the fools category, but to me, it's just bizarre. The John Pasenda didn't even make the finals list for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Now, those of you of a certain age, you know who that is. If you're younger, you don't know him, but you know his voice.
It was a game.
A handful of spectators came to see a tug of war twenty two nameless men grappling in the mud.
They call it pro football.
That is John Pacinda, the original voice of NFL films. Facinda, it was from Philadelphia, became a news anchor, very popular to CBS affiliate there WCAU, and from nineteen forty eight to nineteen seventy three he was a news anchor. He was one of those guys with the gravitas, the voice, the reputation. People trusted. He was like the local Walter Cronkite.
He was also a sports fan, and as the story goes, one night in nineteen sixty five, he went to a tavern in Philly which was showing footage produced by NFL Films. You know, the slow motion game sequences that people already loved. But back then, prior to Facinda, they would just use the play by play voices from the respective NFL teams, which was fine, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as what we came to expect. And here's how it happened.
Vacinda said. He told his story. He said, I would start to rhapsodize about how beautiful the slow mo film was, and a guy named Ed Sable, he's the man who founded NFL Films, happened to be sitting at the bar and he heard Facinda with that great voice, and he walks up and he says, if I give you a script, could you repeat what you just did for Senda said I'll try, and it absolutely was a perfect match.
It starts with a whistle and ends with a gun. Sixty minutes of close inaction from kickoff to touchdown. This is pro football, the sport of all time. The men who play it of a best bearer.
Can you imagine? That's how the Voice of God as he became known, got the gig with NFL films by a happy accident. And again, if you've never heard the name, and you weren't around when when he was narrating everything, it became Harry Callus after Facinda died, I don't know who does it now. You've probably at some point heard, if you're a football fan, or uttered the phrase the frozen tundra of lambeau Field. That was John Facinda. That was one of the lines in an early film that
Ed Sable wrote. Ed Sable got the rights to NFL films for next to nothing from the National Football League, and he and then his son who grew up working for him with these little cameras, turned it into a huge industry, billion dollar industry that they sold to the NFL but maintained some sort of rights. Now that is you know, Google NFL Films if you want to know more about that incredible operation they have now and how it works. And both Ed and Steve Sable have since passed,
but go back and find a again. Use your Google machine and find John Facenda F A C E N D A and you'll see what I mean. And the fact that he is not already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. It's just bizarre. That's going to do it. Thanks to my guests, Rick Russo, Tom Leach, see you on the radio tomorrow night. That's it. Good night from the garage in Lexington.
That brug really tied the room together, did it not?
Hey said.
The very
Lan