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On game day on Saturday, we will get the pregame show started at eleven o'clock. The Louisville Football Pregame Show presented by Pellow Windows and Doors of Central Kentucky and the Jefferson Animal Hospital kickoffs at noon. As soon as that ends, we will go live here for the Louisville Football postgame Show presented by Alex R. White Sue Distracted Driver dot Com. And I'm hopeful that we'll be reacting to a win for Louisville. Obviously easier said than done.
It's one of those games where you know you could play well and even feel like you might have taken a step forward as far as you know, cleaning things up. That's still really what we're waiting on is them to
just you know, play winning football. And that's so vague and generic, but I mean that's what it is, right, It's just making you know, making winning plays instead of making losing plays that eliminate a drive or you know, give the give the opponent a new set of downs when they're on offense because you committed some kind of a silly penalty, right, you had the chance to get off the field on third down and you know you didn't.
And there have been some calls throughout really the whole season where you know, you feel like, hey, it's it's a bad break, and it's because that was a fifty to fifty call and we got the wrong end of it. And I'm not saying that's not true, but I just I get why fans are complaining about officiating.
I mean, I get it.
It doesn't really it doesn't even really hit the radar for me, because it's no matter what fans are gonna always talk about officiating and officials who are always gonna make mistakes. It's one thing we don't ever bring up when we talk about officiating and bad calls is that everybody should be aware meeting fans, players coaches, referees themselves. They're gonna make mistakes, and I think most refs would
tell you, yeah, like we missed that one. Now, there are some refs I think that their ego would get in the way and they wouldn't acknowledge that.
But they're humans. They make mistakes.
And I think the reason officiating has been talked about so much this year is two things. One, it does kind of feel like there've been some you know, real head scratching calls that didn't go your way in a really big moment in the game. But it was a really big moment in the game, and you not getting the call or it, you know, not going your way. You know, it resulted in really the game being over
for you. Right if you don't, if you don't make so many mistakes that are easily avoidable, you're not weeks later talking about a call against Notre Dame when they call pass interference on both sides or where the spot was in that game, those kind of things, so, you know, or the fumble against SMU that I think was a fumble and they somehow saw evidence that made it look not like a fumble. So you know, I think there
were questionable calls against Georgia Tech too. In fact, when they gave Brient Key that time out after the ball had snapped over Haines King's head, I was losing my mind. My wife told me to calm down. I thought about getting a divorce. I was pissed, but you know what, I forgot about it after the game because they won. I mean, it wasn't really going to get a divorce.
But you know, I can be a lunatic at times when it comes to Louisville football, and you know, for just a brief moment, I'm like, if she thinks that was the right call and she wants me to calm down, then she can get the hell out of my life. I didn't tell her that, but I was thinking it for just a second and then I calm down, you know, because I'm I'm not always a lunatic. It just you know, I I flare up at times. All r let's bring
him in. He's Zach Barnett FootballScoop dot Com. He's he's a lunatic for college football, right Zach.
Oh, Yeah, my my family, my kids, all it's an event in my house now where they'll they'll go alert the others when dad gets up out of his chair to stand up to watch college football.
Yeah, and your kids will do the same thing when they get older, right, I mean, it's it's just it's a way a lot, exactly exactly. And I and I trust that you know, I trust that you out raising him, right that from what I know of you, I'd assume the kids are gonna are going to fall in line and be lunatics about college football, just like the both of us, and that'll be a good thing. But before we dive in here, I got a few things I want to run through with you before we let you go.
And we appreciate you as always making time for us. Do we have your attention this week?
Louisville Miami.
I don't know where it is on the radar for you, but obviously Miami is a team that a lot of folks think are in position to be one of those that get to participate in the first ever expanded college football playoff. A loss here wouldn't eliminate their ability to do that. But is this one of the games you're looking forward to seeing it all? You know, we've had some games this year where I understand why you don't have it as you know, appointment viewing.
Yeah, we'll be doing radio. I'll be doing my radio show during the first hour of the game, so we'll have that on in the studio with one.
Eye on the game and one I one eye on the.
Task, and then I'll certainly be keeping an eye on it from from then on four. But it's also in competition with Nebraska Indiana John Soosiers, that's right at the same time slot.
That's right, and hey, I mean who it's a wild world we're in now where Indiana football is in a game that people want to make sure they're watching. But that's the Signetti effect. But when it comes to this Miami team, you know, clearly cam Ward's a difference maker. I mean, he hasn't finished his one season. He's going
to be there at Miami. But I think it's been a real reminder that maybe the biggest reason why the U hasn't at any point really been back to where they once were many many, many years ago is because they've had pretty subpar quarterback play. Cam Ward he's not that. He's pretty damn special, and I think it's one thing to have a guy that has some swagger and his energy is infectious if he's if he's a defensive back, or he's a running back, or he's a defensive lineman that's causing.
Havoc in the backfield.
If your quarterback is that guy, it can make a bigger impact than anybody else, I think, and I think we're seeing that with this Miami team. But are you more inclined to look at their last two games as oh man, they're really vulnerable vulnerable or is it more so of like, wow, they could have easily lost and now they're making winning plays where the old Miami wouldn't
have done that. I'm sure it's a little bit of both, but just curious as to where you see they are coming off a bye week where they again they're fortunate to have those two victories they just had, not to say they didn't earn it, but could have easily gone a different direction in both those games.
Yeah, in regards to cam Ward, you know, I've seen plenty of quarterbacks in my day, as we all have, and I've never seen one play with the coolness to command the casual the casual ness that cam Ward does. I mean he's out there sometimes walking on the field during the middle during live action so I have to imagine that that is infectious to the rest of the team.
And I mean that's proven that they don't panic. They're down thirty five to ten on the road in a night game across the country and came back to win. Usually teams, you know, we'll give everyone one game where you don't come out and play your best and you got to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat, as the saying goes. But when that happens twice in a row, generally it's a sign that the defeats out there waiting for you, and eventually he's gonna knock on the door and walk his way in.
Does that happen Saturday?
I'm not saying that, but I actually picked to Miami to go undefeated preseason, and now I have them losing a game, because generally when you come that close to losing twice, there's some real issues there.
Yeah.
I mean, eventually it's gonna bite you, And as a Louisville fan myself, I'm hoping it bites them this Saturday. Jeff brom has it time. I mean not every year, but more often than not when he's been a head coach, he has found a big opportunity in the month of October and taking advantage of it to get a real
Marque win, and Louisville needs it. I mean a loss here. Again, it's the expectation when it comes to point spreads, and it wouldn't be a bad loss, but when you already have two, this is one that you really need if you're Louisville and you want to continue to at least, you know, monitor the acc standings and potentially see yourself with a shot to maybe get to Charlotte again. I mean Louisville having to play both Miami and Clemson is not ideal with them already having one loss in league play.
But you know, if there was ever a moment to get it turned around, it would certainly be certainly be this Saturday. But Zach Barnette is our guest joining us here talking to some college football on Sports Talk seven ninety. He covers college football for FootballScoop dot com. One of the things act that you put out there earlier today was the most watched games of the college football season
thus far, the twenty five most watched games. Before you had those numbers in front of you, you know, was there I guess the better way to frame the question is, was there any real big surprise as far as which games maybe got more viewers than you would have expected or vice versa.
No, I mean, I think generally it's.
The same teams.
They dominate viewership, right, Yeah, I think the depth of the SEC's dominance was once you kind of see the numbers in front of you, it kind of puts.
The picture in the frame, so to speak.
Because last year, I mean, the SEC was the most watched conference, but it was the viewership was a lot much more spread out last year than it is this year. And even I believe compared to years past, the PAC twelve was a widely watched conference and then we out We also had the Dion effect that it's certainly still there but has worn off quite a bit. It was kind of a one time deal last September. Now, I mean, it's the SEC in the Big.
Ten's world, and everyone else is just just living in it.
You know.
There's I believe two accuh only games involved in in the top twenty five, and they're both Florida State losses, which is fun to watch in the at the time, and certainly Drew drew An audience Florida State's downfall, but not great for the conference's viewership long term.
But wouldn't it wouldn't it be even worse if those Florida State games weren't in like standalone prime time spots Like I found myself and this is just the pessimist in me zact, but like as somebody who knows this stuff matters, people can like, you know, I get it. If you don't really care as a fan, that's fine. But when it comes to the domination by the two top leagues compared to everybody else, this is really what
makes it stand out. Is they just dominate viewership. But if Florida State it's playing Boston College or Georgia Tech and it's not in those spots, like I think you'd have two less ACC games, right.
Oh yeah, I mean there was the Florid State Clemson game, which is traditionally an event within the ACC, and I mean not that long ago. It was one of the the highlight on your schedule and put it on your fridge when you're jones and for college football in July, that was one of those games and.
They went by without a blip.
It didn't even get two million viewers I believe, and obviously Florida State's not what they not what they were last season. But at the same time, if the everyone's gonna say, well the SEC ABC is in the tank for the SEC, well there's SEC games going on in the in the eleven AM tire the noon time slot this coming week. But Miami Louisville got the time slot because Disney believes that that's going to draw the most
viewers in that time slot. So it is to a point true that the ESPN is in the tank for the SEC, but ESPN is mostly in the tank for itself, and they're going to pump up the games they think they're going to draw the most eyeballs.
Yeah.
So for those who haven't seen the breakdown again, it's over at FootballScoop dot com. But when you look at the appearances when it comes to the league's no surprise, I mean domination by the SEC with twenty eight appearances in the top twenty five, twelve for the Big Ten, six for the ACC, two for the Big twelve, the
Big twelve. Again, I mean, I guess I hadn't really given it much thought out of side, out of mind, but they really the biggest issue for them is they just don't have any type of a big brand that's going to generate much of a following outside of its own fan base. And you could say the same thing about the ACC overall, and it'll certainly be that way
if some of these teams don't get better. But you know, if I'm a Big twelve fan like this because again this stuff, I mean, look, if you go out there and win, that's great, and if you're a fan, that's all you probably really care about. But when it comes to this survival of you know, you've got one Power five league that is no more. We can call the Pac twelve whatever they want to call it, but it's
not what it once was. Like viewership and how much you know, how much how many people you reach, Like that's the ultimate thing that it comes down to, right when it comes to conference re alignment and really getting a big, big revenue deal for your league, right if people are watching, that gives you a chance to go back to the table and get get more money on
your next reup. But I think if you're the ACC and the Big twelve and you're looking to potentially close this gap, so far this year numbers don't necessarily look as if you're going to be able to do that.
Yeah, the Big twelve saving grace is that it doesn't have a behemous fan base a great team like they've had in the past. But they've got a bunch of smaller engaged fan bases and a bunch of competitive teams. So whereas the September October might not ever be great from a viewership standpoint, with these new twelve team playoffs, there's gonna be a bunch of games every November. I mean, you're gonna go in with half the conference seemingly.
In the hunt for the Big Twelve championship games.
So you're gonna have a lot of Big Twelve games that are material to the conference championship race. So that's gonna be true for every conference, but I think it's gonna be more true for the Big Twelve, given that the floor and the ceiling of the conference are.
Closer together than they are in any other conference.
All Right, one more question for you, Zach, one of the I don't know how much you've if you've even seen this or followed it at all. In fact, even before this came out today from the USA today, you probably would have a good idea as far as how this breaks down. As far as the highest paid coaches in college football, Kirby Smart has created some separation between
him and everybody else. He's making thirteen million, Dabbo eleven point one, Sark ten point six, and Lincoln Ryley just over ten, Ryan Day just over ten, Mike Norvell at ten million a year. Same thing with with Kaylen nevorr. Of a lot of these coaches in the top ten, many of them are struggling, or at least you know, the reason they're making a lot of money at these schools is because they're expected to have really, really good results.
And you know, Mike Norvell, it's been a disaster. Ryan Day just lost another game against a good team, but you know he's supposed to win those games. He's at Ohio State, Lincoln Riley at USC. I mean, they're nowhere near what they thought they were getting with him.
Dabo. You know, they've been.
Playing really good football, but obviously it's been a talking point for the last couple of years that he's not really adjusted to this new world of college football. I guess my question here is of these coaches that are making an insane amount of money is any of these Are any of these guys legitimately, you know, in danger of losing their job anytime soon. I mean, I would imagine they have pretty hefty buyouts, but you know, I
don't know. I just feel like looking at this list, it kind of reminded me that there's coaches that we thought were going to be, you know, next up, that really have delivered. And then it also is just a reminder that, you know, I'm not really sure how, you know, how I would rank the best coaches in the sport right now.
Yeah, I mean we're we've kind of been having this conversation in a different way here in Dallas with Dak ps Dak Prescott's contract and now he's getting sixty million dollars a year or whatever it is, and it's like, yeah, the number itself is eye popping, but it's his turn, and it's not necessarily a reflection of his quality.
It's what's the.
Market at when he gets a turn to uh, reset the price.
And at the same time, it's.
The number is bigger, but the impact on the cap doesn't necessarily change. And it's also not going to turn him into a different quarterback.
So I mean, it's kind of the same.
It's kind of what you need in Dallas, right, we need a new order. Yeah that's true, that's true.
But yeah, let's just say South Carolina.
Is going to go hire a new coach before too long.
They're gonna pay that guy probably seven eight million a year to keep him to stay what competitive with with the with the Clemson in Georgia and every all of their neighbors. But that just because they're paying whoever that that guy is, that doesn't necessarily make him the tenth best coach in college football or whatever.
I'm sure.
Yeah, a lot of it's timing and what the market is and all that. Yeah, I lied one more question, and it's this is kind of piggybacking off of what we're discussing here as far as what these coaches are
making annually. I don't say this to troll Kentucky fans, because I'm sure they're going to hear it and think that, But I mean, when you look at Mark Stoops making over nine million a year, making more than Lane Kiffin, more than Josh Heipel, I mean, he doesn't have the best job in the country, but maybe he has the best situation. No, because he I mean, he's making over nine million a year and if he kind of stays the same where they're, you know, not the worst team
in the SEC. They go to bowl games, you know, regularly. Like I don't know, I just feel like you can't find many coaches that don't have to do Like there's not nearly the pressure on him to make that nine million and get results like there is all the other coaches. I just I don't think it's crazy to say that he is one of the best situations you'll find in college football.
Did you watch Game of Thrones? No?
And I feel like a loser anytime I have to answer that question because I love television and I talk a lot about it, But it's the that and ted Lasso are the two shows that I've yet to hear a single person tell me that they don't love and yet I still haven't gotten around to watching him yet.
Well there's a this is this example I'm gonna use. Isn't he actually in the show as a deleted seed, but Grand Master Paisel, who's just one of the palace attendance to the actual powerful people in the show, is having a conversation with Tywan Manister who's the most powerful person in the show, and they're just kind of getting into his whole bit and everything, and he kind of plays up how old he is and all that stuff, and it kind of boils down to, look, I just
want to be involved in the game. I just want to be there. I don't want to be the most powerful person. I just want to be be around. And his the metaphor he uses the the tallest flower eventually gets picked and I just want to stay in the garden. And that's kind of Mark stoops, Like he's gotten so much praise that so many people would believe he's.
A college football Hall of Famer. Uh, and I would have to.
I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I bet you his career winning percentage is somewhere in there, in the range of six hundred.
And he's never gonna sniff a Contage championship.
So he's he's played the business side of it very smart, and that he's constantly he's reset the expectations at Kentucky and then and then stayed there for a long time.
But there's a lot of guys who could win as.
Many games at Kentucky as Mark Stewkes says.
Like he's he's better than Joker Phillips. There, there's no denying that. But there's a bunch of guys out there that could do what he's doing at Kentucky.
Yeah, and I think their fans, to be honest with you, I think a lot of them are starting to realize that. And that's why, I mean, they're they're kind of stuck because, you know, he he would take him getting a job that would pay him somewhere close to what he's making now, and I don't see that happening or him just deciding to walk away. But who's walking away from nine million dollars?
I mean, you'd have to really just want to do something different and be very well off financially to just walk away from a nine million dollar a year deal.
But yeah, I think what you just said is what I think most Kentucky fans have started to realize this year with some of their head scratching losses, that you know what, like, this guy's done a good job, he's changed the standard, and we appreciate all that he's done, but for nine million, you could go get somebody to probably give you very similar results and do it for a lot less, but as a Louisville fan, I've you know, I've enjoyed seeing them lose to Vandy and to I'm
gonna take it. I'm gonna take satisfaction in them losing these games because I still worry about when Louisvill plays him at the end of the year. But anyways, I'll quit rambling.
Zach.
We appreciate you making time as always. Enjoy another great weekend of college football, and we'll.
Talk to you soon, brother, Some good things, all right.
That's Zach Barnett FootballScoop dot Com. You know, he said what I think A lot of his colleagues that cover college football nationally have hesitated to say that, Yeah, Mark Shuss has done a good job at Kentucky for Kentucky, but you could get many to be able to kind of give you really the same, the same thing, and he is. I mean, every year there's an annual list of the top coaches in college football, and for a while he's fallen in the top twenty, sometimes top fifteen,
depending on where you look. And I mean it's it's just, you know, whoever's putting that list together, it's just their opinion.
But like.
It's just because he's manipulated that Kentucky sucked for so long and now he's been average for the most part, and yet it just looks like it's way more impressive than it actually is. But anyways, quick break, we'll come back on the other side. Keep this thing rolling along its coffee and company. Fiel about Thorn's right here on
Sports Talk seven ninety. If you guys want to join us on the show, you can five h two five seven one seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to give us a call, and you could also text in on the L and N Federal Credit Union text line five h two six five three zero seven ninety. This text came in a little bit earlier. We were talking about the.
The Patino thing.
I mean, we weren't really getting into it, but I did mention what you guys probably already knew, and that was that since Rick talked about Louisville during his appearance at the Kentucky football game on Saturday and said that he's never had an invite back, but he loves his players and the fans, that has now been you know, has been shot down because I mean, that's just Rick, not being real smart, or he has a bad memory, maybe because he's really old.
I don't know.
But if in fact, you know that you have been invited back, not just by your former players who wanted you to come to the TBT or come to you know, just come back to Louisville whenever they're getting together. And
then you know to hear that the university. I don't know who it was, if it was the new president or if it was Josh, I don't know, but it sounds like he was invited to come back when they honored the twenty thirteen team on the ten year anniversary, and he just chose not to so he didn't have to write He's not like, it's not as if he
has to come back here. I mean, it's his choice, but to lie and say that you've never been invited back, like he got caught in the lie and it really shouldn't be a big surprise.
But a couple of people have.
Texted in kind of saying that that now that this is out there, this should be the old if it wasn't already, it should be the ultimate, Like, hey, the hell with this guy? And if you already feel that way, that's cool. If you're somebody that still just doesn't care because you appreciate that he did kind of revive the program at a time that it was needed in a
major way. And you know, I kind of feel like this has been a reminder of the different eras of fans, meaning like really just age difference, you know, like I mean, those that are older than me are well aware that, Like when Rick came back, that was huge for Louisville because we lost momentum and relevance nationally just because in the nineties Denny had some good teams, but it was nowhere near what it was in the eighties. And you know, Rick was fresh off of a failed stint with the Celtics.
But when he had left the college game just a few years before that, when he was at Kentucky, he was a rock star in a way that I'm not really sure. I mean, I can't remember. And again I was young at the time. But when Rick became, you know, a big, big name, not just in college.
Troops but in sports like that was a big deal and it helped that.
You know, he'd been a coach with the Knicks and was successful there, and then they decided to get rid of him. For you know, silly reasons it seemed. So you know, I think there are sort of different generations here that probably view this differently, And I think depending upon the circumstance, meaning like the age range in the the era that you kind of like were introduced to Rick, rather it be at Kentucky, rather it be at Louisville. Like I can, I can see everybody's perspective here, and
I can see why some feel differently than others. In fact, I mean, you know, and everybody can you know, you don't have to feel a certain way because you're this.
Age range or you're that age range.
But I mean, I do get why the older fans aren't as much bothered by it because they lived and experienced Rick coaching at Kentucky and they do understand that like that is a place that would be special to him. But if you're somebody that only knows Louisville basketball when you're a kid and being Rick Patino as the coach, and even if you knew that he was previously a Kentucky you never lived to see it, you didn't experience it, Like I can see why just seeing him in that.
Blue would be would be tough for you, But yeah.
I mean, I still think eventually he'll come back, but I don't, you know, I don't know when that is. I hope, I kind of hope it's not soon, you know, because I'm hopeful that Pat Kelsey gets off to a pretty good start, and like nobody's thinking about any other coach that coached here, and that could happen, right I mean, I think right now, obviously there's a lot of momentum for Pat and there's a lot of belief from the fan base that this thing is going to get turned around.
I don't know how quickly that will happen, but you know, if this thing is successful, and I guess everybody's way of viewing it as a success could be different. But we know what happens around here when we've got good basketball to watch, When the product's good, the results are there, you feel as if you can compete at a really high level. I mean, that's where you want to be and that's where you can be. And now we just have to wait and see if and when that does happen.
But as far as being able to like realistically feel good about it, we're already there. And I think a lot of us had a couple of years where you tried to convince yourself that maybe you could get there, but it just you know, it wasn't it wasn't realistic with the previous regime. And now we wait and see if this new staff, this new era gets us back
to where we want to be. All right, So let's talk about the team photo, and I I kind of feel, you know, like I don't even need to bring it up because it you know, it's not a good look. It wasn't a good look for U of L yesterday, and it really is a silly thing that was created just by trolls from our from you know, the rivalry Kentucky fans on the internet and you know KSR having fun with it because that's that's what a you know,
that's what a rivalry is. But for those who missed my comments on it in the three o'clock hour, I
guess I'll resettle overall here. There was a picture yesterday taken before they were actually taking the team photo, before the team photographer, the you you know, somebody the photographer who works for UL Athletics, before they got the flash set up and all the lighting and took a real professional photo the guys were just kind of sitting there waiting to eventually have their picture taken and be told, hey, everybody, look on the counter of three, I'm going to snap
this picture. So those covering media Day, Matt mcgavick was the one who snapped the picture and posted up on Twitter, and of course it had a quarter of a million views within twenty four hours. And everybody's making fun of the facial expressions, the look on their face, the body language. I mean, it just it was not a flattering look in any way. And it's understandable because again, like they weren't they weren't they didn't know they were getting their
picture taken. I mean, maybe they should have been a little more aware, but I'm not gonna blame any of these guys who were just sitting there getting ready to have their picture taken. But it kind of became, you know, it was, hey, look, Louisville fans on you know, even those that you know are often times, you know, in the trenches, if you will, on the toxic wasteland that is Twitter, battling with Kentucky fans over the rivalry. Like even some of those people were like, man, come on,
like like why did somebody share this picture? Like who would look at this and think, hey, let's put this on the internet for everybody to dissect and let's be aware of the rival and know how they can be when it comes to things like this. But I'm gonna defend Matt mcgavick because he's one of many people that took a picture yesterday, but his is the one that ended up, I think, being the least flattering and being
the one that you know, went viral. And I can appreciate some awareness here from the U OFL men's basketball Twitter kind I'm not sure who runs that, but it said the actual twenty twenty four twenty five Louisville men's basketball team photo and it looks a lot better. I mean, it's again, it's I'm sure many of you have had your picture taken without knowing and you look at it and you think, delete that right now. You m effort like, what the hell was that? My facial expression's way off.
I look ridiculous, And that's kind of what this turned into. And you know, I don't have a strong reaction to it other than just knowing that like I don't, I don't know, like I think if Matt looked at it and thought about it. He might not have posted it, but I get why he didn't because most people wouldn't like analyze the facial expressions and the body language of every single person when you're taking a picture of you know,
sixteen people sitting down. But we have had a few moments in the last I don't know, maybe it's been longer than the last couple of months. But putting out the clip from Jeff Bram's radio show of him making a tongue in cheek comment that was a non second
clip about the officiating in the Governor's Cup game. He wasn't blaming the officials, but you know what, to put that out there, all it did was give the rival an opportunity to claim that Jeff Brom is blaming officiating for why Louisville lost to Kentucky last year, which Jeff didn't do that. That really wasn't what it was. But like, you gave the rival ammunition to just clown you. And you can say you don't care, but you do. Some people don't, some care more than others. But like, that's
what makes this rivalry great. It's just the constant back and forth between both sides. And then there was another Twitter account, State of Louisville, and I believe that whoever runs that account, Like as far as the Twitter account, I think there's multiple people that are affiliated, but I think they are big louisvill fans and they care about U of L and they wouldn't never do anything to
try to like make them look bad. But you know, listing all of the events going on on a Saturday, including you know, a Bats game, night, racing at slugger,
kids soccer games, and little league football. Like again, I think you were coming from a good spot, but all it did was hand a weapon too the rival and be like these losers are gonna have anybody at their game because they're gonna go to the Bats game and participate in Star Wars night like you know, Like maybe again you can say you don't care, and again I think all this is just what the rivalry is and
nobody's got it. But like I would advise those to be a little more, just a little bit more mindful of like, Okay, how can this be perceived even if you don't mean for it to be taken in a certain direction, Just be a little you know, cause again that it wasn't just UK fans like that. Make sure yesterday on Twitter was being shared by I mean, Trilly Donovan, who,
let's be honest. Is there a guy with more juice right now when it comes to covering college basketball and reaching college basketball fans than Trilly?
I don't know.
And he's sharing it making fun a louisval. I mean, you know, it's just one of those things that even if you can just claim it's nonsense on the internet trolls being trolls, you still would prefer not to have it out there for people to just make fun of. But I will defend Mat mcavit because I don't think, you know, there was any intent there at all, and he did later delete it, and that's one question I would ask Matt. Maybe I will ask him, like it's
one thing to delete it, you know, right away. It's another thing to delete it when the damage has already done.
But maybe he was asked to delete it by somebody at uve L. I don't know, and you know they probably didn't and they shouldn't, but it is nice to at least, you know, kind of be in the in the in the weeds again with with you know, the other side of this rivalry, Like, I don't think any of us In fact, here's something none of us know how how either coach is going to work out, right, Pat Kelsey or Mark Pope, But we are kind of both starting in a relatively similar spot as far as
like how good the teams could be. Now, maybe we're wrong. Maybe Kentucky ends up being way better than Louisville this year. Maybe Louisille ends up being way better than them. None of us really know, and we can guess, and that's fine. That's what you do, right, That's all you can do
until you actually get results. But for it to be new for both sides, you know, it's you know, it's better than than than where it was in recent years where we had a really good coach for a while, but he couldn't beat Calip Perry and that was Rick didn't beat him very often. And then you know you had the whole Mac thing, and you know he did beat him once in the what two three times they played,
I think it was. And then with Kenny, like it was just weird, Like the rivalry will never be more weird than it was with Kenny here because when we were so lifeless, when we played anybody, let alone our rival, and yet we knew that the guy that was here like loved Kentucky seemingly more than he loved us, Which, you.
Know what, the biggest moment in the rivalry during the kiny Paign era was your rant last year about the redout.
Yeah, yeah, I don't I would like it.
I loved it.
I'd probably be uncomfortable if I heard that, but you know, but I mean I meant it.
You know, it was it was.
It was genuinely something that I you know, I felt was you know, avoidable. All right, we got a lot of I mean, I think that wasn't that announced, Like the day we had three different press releases about what the hell's going on with Karan Davis?
Remember that whole mess that day? That was the day because you had.
The Koran Davis Shenanigans, that whole circus. You had the announcement of a redout whenever, Like it was quite clear that when this game takes place in a week, there's going to be more blue than red. Let's not give them an invitation to start monitoring the crowd to see how our redout is going. And then you turned around that night and lost to Arkansas State and insane and
insane embarrassment and in a very embarrassing way. And it wasn't like a big surprise, but like that was just the cherry on top that you got demolished by a bad Arkansas State team when you're coming off of a very embarrassing loss to the Paul And I remember that night we had a post game, so I think that game started later. I don't know if it was a nine o'clock tip, but it it was later than seven,
so it might have been eight or nine o'clock. And I remember ended up happening very often, Like you know, you hear from people who work at Ourheart they're like, wait a second, Like you are getting more people to listen than like ever.
And it was.
Because I feel like that was sort of like I doubt that was the moment where a lot of people knew that it was not going to work out well, because you know, I think people knew long before that, but that was like that was the night where I knew. Given the whole day and the overall situation U of l Hoops was in, there were probably a lot of people who are at all Louisville fans that were trying to find a Louisville basketball postgame show because they're bored
and they like to just enjoy others misery. And I was the beginning of the I hope we gave him a treat.
And that was the beginning of the conversations of whether or not he would be fired before Yeah. Yeah, the end of the year, yep, because it was round.
It was in December and it was starting to you know, and that was when, I mean, that was gosh, it's such a mess.
But yeah, that was.
That was.
I'm trying to think of.
It doesn't matter who they played, but they ended up beating somebody, and then Kenny talked about bringing in some visitor. It might have been Carter Knox, and it was just embarrassing, how you know, anybody was trying to act like this wasn't a complete train wreck that needed to end as soon as possible. And it did end, which is good and now we've got some positive energy. But I mean, I I you know, I kind of just did it
there without realizing. Like thinking back on that era, I think the longer time, the more time passes, hopefully the PTSD will fade, but also it'll seem more unbelovable. It'll seem more like no way that happened, right, And I don't mean just that era, I mean everything included. I mean it was it was wild. All right, quick break, We'll come back on the other side. Wrap at the four o'clock hour.
Keep this thing rolling along.
It's coffee and company field about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.
So.
One of the things we discussed with Zach Barnett earlier who joined us at the beginning of the four o'clock hour was the list of the top twenty five most watched college football games so far this season. And it's probably not a surprise to anybody to see which games
ended up getting the most viewers. It's games that feature, you know, the biggest brands in the sport, George Alabama number one, just under twelve million, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Michigan, USC, LSU, Notre Dame, Texas, A and M. So you know, it's not a huge surprise. But when it comes to how you know your league, if you're not the Big ten or the SEC, if you're trying to close the gap, and look, fans can't do anything about it. I mean other than potentially watch. But I mean, you know, if
you're a fan, you're already watching. You need people to watch that aren't typically you know, they aren't huge fans, they're just watching because they're you know, they they want to see good football. You know, it's out, it's out of your control as a fan, and it really is. I mean, I don't even really know. There's nothing you can do to like just you can't implement some kind of change that has people wanting to watch Virginia Tech and Clemson at the same level they want to watch
Georgia Alabama. It's just really not realistic. However, that matters, right, I mean, if you're ESPN and the ACC is going to come to you and say we need more money, we're falling behind, this is where you would be able to claim that you you have maybe not leverage, but here's why we deserve more money, because we're bringing a lot of eyeballs to Disney, of course, which owns ESPN.
And I mean, again it's not surprise, it's just you know, I guess a reminder that there's a reason why the Big ten and the SEC are able to bring in annually such a huge amount of money for each member because they got a lot of people watching. And yeah, teams like Mississippi State and Vandy in South Carolina and Kentucky, they're not commanding a big number unless they're playing a big time opponent. But either way, it's a collective share.
That's how it works. But this is where Florida State and Clemson and maybe even Miami can look at the rest of the league and say, we should be getting a lot more money than everybody else. And they've made some kind of incentive based performance bonuses. I guess you could call them that to where if you are somebody that is bringing in a lot more than you're gonna take a little bit more. But the most watched ACC game that did not include Florida State, Clemson, Miami is
SMU and Louisville, which drew one point four million. And this isn't like I told you so a moment, But remember when I kept saying, hey, you're leading right in two game days ending on ESPN and they're going right d You're gonna have just a built in audience at the beginning of that that will impact your number. So clearly, Louisville's most watched game at this point has been that
SMU game, which is what I kind of thought. It sounded crazy, but you just have to keep in mind if you're on you know, the big stick that is just standard ESPN, you're gonna get a lot of viewers. You get a lot of viewers on Saturday as well, because it's ABC at noon and it's Miami, a team that does not have maybe a huge national audience, but
more than most. But you know, that's where it really comes down to, right when it comes to being able to get more money, you need to bring more eyeballs to your league overall, and I just don't really know.
How you can do that.
Like maybe if, in fact, like Virginia Tech gets back to where they once were many many years ago, because they used to be a bigger brand in the sport, maybe not an elite one, but certainly better than they've been in a long time. You know, Louisville does decent, but you know, they're not a team that people just sit around and watch because they just are entertained by Louisville.
It's mostly Louisville fans, or Louisville playing in a big game that's going to attract interest or you know, you have a once in a lifetime player named Lamar Jackson that people want to watch. So again, it's not a surprised, it's not really like negative news. It's just I guess you know, that's something that is going to always keep
you very far behind. I think the big ten in the SEC is that people just don't tune in to watch you like they watch those leagues, and that's why they've got so much more money than you.
All right, quick break five o'clock hours.
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