10.28: Rose from the Dead - Hour 1

You know, without kids, you probably you know you would have done it on Saturday, right, Halloween parties, that kind of stuff, So Happy Halloween. Week. We are just a few days away, and I'm hoping that that it doesn't rain. It seems like and I could be way off here. I don't even really like have any it's just gut feeling.

I feel like since i've been taking my kids, both of them, because my son's four, but since like he's been able to walk around, which would I guess, really be the last few christ the last few Halloweens, like it's just been rainy and cold, and I don't know if it's gonna be cold, but I know it's looking like rain. So let's let's hope that doesn't happen. Because Halloween's always been the holiday for me that I've never really understood why people get into it, like I just

never I'm not like anti Halloween. I just I've never been able to match anybody's excitement and love for Halloween. The people who you know, really love it. Now. Christmas, sure, there's people that love Christmas, but like they know they can't reach my level because I wish it was Christmas season every day. I mean, that would be great for me. But I'm kind of getting into Halloween more this year than I ever have, and it's got me excited for Thursday.

I'm also excited for the next few hours because obviously there's a lot to get into. I have a theory on what happened in Boston on Friday night that could be, you know, something we look back on at the end of the season. Wishful thinking, of course, but like it

might have been. And I'll explain why. It might have been a twenty to nothing deficit on the road at Boston College, when you felt like the season was crumbling and slipping away right before our eyes, it might have been then, Like I don't know where you were, if you were watching it at home, maybe it'd made the

trip to Boston. I was out watching the first half with family, having dinner, and like I think we all collectively as the fan base, felt like, okay, yeah, not only has this season been pretty underwhelming, Like they're not twenty to nothing at Boston College and this thing might end up being like really, really bad. But somehow they bounced back and in the end they did what they were supposed to do. They beat a team but didn't cover, so again they won. But still they showed us that

they've got a pretty consistent identity. But the way in which they pulled that off. I think could could end up being I guess I should say, I hope it ends up being what we look back on and say, Okay,

it looked pretty scary there for a little while. It looked like it was about to combust, and then sure enough they turn it around, and no bigger opportunity for them to go out and show that they did learn a lot from the mistakes they've made up to this point when they take on Clemson at their place on Saturday night. So we'll certainly talk about that throughout the week.

But anyways, hopefully everybody had themselves a good weekend. You know, I thought about it on the way in because I was texting my wife after I was I was at the house getting ready, you know, just making sure I've got I tried to clean up the house as best I can John before I leave, just so when she comes home from work, you know, if the kids are driving her crazy and I'm not home yet, that you know, she'll at least walk into a house that's been cleaned

a little bit. I mean, I'm not I'm not on the I'm not mopping the floors, I'm not cleaning the toilets.

you know, clean the house. Yeah, so they appreciated. And my wife, for the most part, has restrained from like, well, why didn't you do this, Why didn't you do this? Or why why did you put the this here? She now just is like, oh, thanks, honey, because because then

you know, at least I'm trying. But I was, uh, I was getting everything straightened up before I left, and I just text her was like I had a great weekend, and I'm like, you know, I didn't tell her this, but I'm like, you know what, I might talk about my weekend on the show, rarely ever do that. And then I realized, like, what I did this weekend that

made it a really really awesome, fun weekend. For me, it would probably not make it, wouldn't hit, wouldn't register to anybody as far as why that's fun, because I'm old and washed. Like what you guys probably do is fun, you know, for fun, maybe hanging out, partying, doing Halloween stuff, you know, nightlife, that kind of stuff. I mean, that's that's not really my life anymore. But you know, I

guess I'm just old and washed. I mean, Friday after the show, and by the way, big thanks to Alex R. White and his team for having us out on Friday, had a good show. He believed in the power of positivity. He was very confident louis was going to be able to come out, play well and get a win, and he was very wrong in the beginning, and then he

ended up being right. So shout out to him for giving me a little more positive vibes because I felt like, I felt like Louisville could play poorly and still win, and I guess you could say they technically did when you consider the beginning of the game. But it was nice to see him get a victory. But after that, I made a trip over to is it the Hill Hillcrest Avenue? You know what you know much about that area, John.

if you live, like on Hillcrest Avenue. I think it's like on the corner of and I'm not super familiar with the area over there, but close to old or do I sound like any No, I don't think it's close to Oldham County, but it's it's like Lexington Road and Hillcrest Avenue they have Yeah, if you just go to if you look up Halloween on Hillcrest, it's got its own Facebook page and it's it's a really nice street.

I mean, it's probably one of the nicer areas of Louisville as far as just you know, it's just got an awesome vibe to it and older houses but they're

all really nice, kind of classics if you will. But yeah, Hill chrestin Frankfort Avenue is the general area, and like if you live there, I don't know if you have something in like the hoa, if it's in some kind of a contract, but like everybody that lives there does it really big for Halloween, Like they've got all kinds of awesome stuff set up, So we did that on Friday, took the kids for a little while, they got to see some cool spooky stuff, and then of course, you know,

the game Friday night, and yes on Saturday, my son had had his football game, which was a lot of fun, and then in the evening we went to my parents' house, my mom and my stepdad, they had a little Halloween get together and he lives, well, they live in an area where they've got a lot of property behind the house and just kind of a big open field, but there's also a little trail that's back there, and they made what was called us well, I mean what we called it a spooky trail, and it had all kinds

of like cool Halloween stuff, and man, the kids loved it. So we went through that a bunch, hung out yesterday, took my family to Churchill Downs for some obvious day racing, but also they had their trunk retreats. So really it was an awesome family weekend where I did a lot of stuff with my kids, really got in the Halloween spirit, and you know, I'm feeling like this is one of the best weekends I've had in a long time. And then it hit me, well, one, you don't really live

that much of an exciting life, Nick. There's probably not many people that would hear of your weekend shenanigans and say, Man, this guy's living the life. This guy's got it made. And I feel like I do, but others probably don't see it that way, and that's totally fine. So that was one of the observations when I think, like, man,

what a great weekend. You know what else was an observation it shouldn't be this way, because you know, there are more important things than sports, but like, life's better when your team doesn't lose, and Louisville didn't lose and lost more games this year than you know, some people thought they lose all year, and they were down twenty

to oven and then they came back and won. So, like, I'll be honest with you, had they just been in it in a rock fight with Boston College all throughout and then they ended up, you know, just holding on to get a win, and it was a back and forth game where neither team looked very good, but somebody had to win. I mean, you'd still prefer that over a loss. But I really think the way the thing

played out was awesome for everybody involved. Again, from a fan standpoint, I thought it was over, like I thought the season was done. I thought we were dead, and then we rose from the dead and really dominated that game after getting down twenty to nothing. And that's why I would have been so demoralizing if they would have somehow not been able to hold on to win. You know, I don't I don't know if I would have, you know.

I mean I said this as a joke, and it is a joke, and it's really not that funny, but it just popped back in my head as I'm going back to the end of that game as I'm watching, you know, because it was awesome to see them come from behind, especially you know, the circumstances. But whenever Jeff decided to throw the ball there on third down and stop the clock and then give it back to Boston College, just giving them more time and more more snaps to

essentially break our hearts. I mean, I told myself, and I think I'd said it on the postgame show, if he would have if they would have lost that game because Boston College was able to get a few more plays in because of the drop pass, which of course stopped the clock. I would have needed a few minutes before we went live on the air, because I don't know if I'd have been able to do much of

anything without cursing. But they didn't. You know, they were able to hold on and win, and that was great, So, you know, it was scary for a while. It was

sad for a little while. There was a lot of text messages that I was going back and forth with people about to where you know, like Jeff's interview he did, I think think it was after the first quarter, and maybe it was in the first quarter, but he did one of those interviews during the game that you know, they end up showing to you after they come back from break, and I mean his face said it all. Like the game was going really poorly. You saw Jeff's face and like it just seemed as if this thing

was crumbling and everybody knew it, included him. And I thought he said something earlier today in his press conference that was you know, interesting, you know, as far as his philosophy when it comes to like how do you try to you know, how do you get through to the and I'm paraphrasing, I'm not sure. I think it was Alexis with the Courier Journal that asked the question.

And I'm paraphrasing here, so don't you know if I if I throw it out there and it don't make a whole lot of sense, don't put that on her. It's just me, you know, not remembering exactly word for word what she said, because I'm sure she's much much more, much more well spoken than I am. But the question was like, how do you or I'm sorry it was

it was Russ Brown. I think you might have asked it, but somebody asked about the message at halftime and basically said like, how do you balance if you're going to you know, raise hell or not? And Jeff kind of laughed and he was like, you know, well, I've I've done a whole lot of a whole lot of hell

raising this year, and I don't. I don't And I didn't get the sense and how he described it almost because it was almost like, as he was talking to this press conference earlier today, it was almost as if like that moment was kind of coming back to him as well. And you can to me, it just seemed as if he didn't really remember if it was a planned thing, to not, but it sounds like halftime was actually kind of calm and it worked. You know, it worked.

So I mean, again, the result itself is not anything that we should be overall, you know, celebrating, and you should always feel good if your team wins, especially when it looked as if they were potentially going to get blown out and buy a bad team on the road. But how they did it and really what they had to do again, I think it could be the building block for this team to clean some things up, stop

playing sloppy football, and finish this season strong. And I really, you know, get the sense that those guys for the first time proved something to themselves in a major way. And again it's not because they beat Boston College at

their place when they were favored by a touchdown. It's because, you know, they really did have to manufacture some momentum on there, and there was nowhere near the amount of fans there as is what it sounded like when I was on my way back home from from from dinner at halftime, if we left dinner, went back home and I was listening as the third quarter had started, and I was listening to Paul Rodgers and he you know, I don't get that. I don't listen to them to

many games very often. And you know, Paul does a great job. We're lucky to have him. And I think that crew they've got this year doing football, the trio of Craig, Jody and Paul, I mean, they're phenomenal. But I was listening to the beginning of the third quarter in a little bit at the end of the of the halftime update, and Paul made a comment about how, you know, yeah, there's some people here tonight, but man,

the fake piped in crowd noise is borderline obnoxious. Which that's why a lot of times they don't show a full panned crowd at a game because they don't want to make a network partner look bad, right like the ACC and even the SEC like they're in bed with ESPN. So it's not a good look if you're just going to make sure all your shots are an empty stadium. But nonetheless, like it was an empty stadium for the

most part. It's cold, you're on the road, you're down twenty to nothing, like you've got to dig deep all on your own, Like there's no crowd on your end that's going to build you up, you're gonna have to you know, start twenty points in the hole and find a way to win this game. And did that. And again I don't think they should be feeling cocky as

if they've shown that there's some great team. But I think internally there's a lot that you can take from what they ended up having to do the rest of that because again I hate giving people credit, and I said this on the postgame show, there's you know, we got to find a better word than credit, like somewhere where you're saying, you know, credit and praise just doesn't seem to fit. But you shouldn't get credit for not quitting,

like for actually trying. Should not be something well, hey, that they try, Like usually that's what you throw out there when you realize there's no other compliment to make. Well, at least they're trying, but like you should always try. So again I hate giving them credit for not mailing it in, but man, it would have been so easy. It would have been like human nature for them to just you know, realize, hey, we're down twenty to nothing.

We all know this season has been unsuccessful as far as where we thought we'd be at this time, and these guys probably know it's on them, right. I mean, I'm sure they're upset about some of the bad officiating that's happened from time to time. I'm sure they've been unhappy with some play calls at times, but like they have to know, especially when you've got a group of veterans that have played so much football because of the portal, like they know they had underwhelmed, and you got yourself

in a big hole. One of your top playmakers decided to opt out midweek, You've already got some other guys injured, like it would have been I think very normal, and dare I say, the expectation for most to kind of just mail it in there. So again, it's kind of tricky. I'm balancing it as best I can because I don't want to say, well, hey, at least they didn't quit

when they could have. But like I think it would have been a lot easier to do than most people realize, even if they told themselves we're not going to I think you start to go through the motions. You hear me say this all the time. The human element within sports is way more powerful than I feel like most people give it credit for. So the fact that they did climb out of a hole, come back and win. I mean it gives them a chance to grasp on to not only momentum if you want to call it that.

I mean, maybe it's momentum they have internally, but they I think they prove something to themselves with how they were able to come back and win, and no better

time than now to get it turned around. And as far as learning, if in fact there was a whole lot of value to take with you out of Boston, we'll find out on Saturday, because again, they're gonna play Clemson, a team they've never beat before, a team that you know, has really dominated this league for the most part since the level has been in it, and there's gonna be a big challenge there. They're eleven point underdogs, and I can't tell you right now that I think they're gonna win,

but I do. I do feel like this this team. You know what, have you heard a lot of fans say for lack of a better well not only for a lack of like a better description, but really because nobody can quite pinpoint why they've just had the struggles they've had this year and why they've been sloppy they just something's off. Like I remember watching the Miami game. I mean, I feel like every game this year, even games when they've won, like the Virginia game, like I

felt it. I've heard fans say it, something's just off. Well, maybe whatever happened on Friday night in Boston, they were able to kind of come together, and now they're going to be more in sync. And look, they could play much better and still lose to Clemson. To Clemson because Clemson's obviously a good team that's playing really good football right now. Rarely do teams go into Death Valley and leave with a victory. But I do love knowing that, Hey, it was, it was almost over, and then now you

did find a way to win. You clawed back for an exciting finish, and now you get to go see what you're made of. I mean, the point still needs to be to be made about Louisville's current season as of now. I mean, they did move to five and three, and they are four and two or two. I think they're two. What are they? They got four games left? So are they three? Yeah, they're three and two in the ACC.

So of the three teams that have beat you, all of them are still playing really really good football right now, and they're still top twenty teams. That doesn't mean Louisville, you know, can just act like those losses didn't happen. But you've had three chances to beat good teams and you were there and you just couldn't get it done for various reasons.

damn good. But you know, you eliminate maybe one of those drives from happening so effortlessly on the first two possessions, then maybe you're you're able to ride some momentum in the second half and win that game. And then obviously Miami, I mean, you made some mistakes, but I think that you just lost that game because you know, they were better than you. So some of the losses have been kind of demoralizing the way in which they've played out.

But the result itself isn't something that means all we need to panic something's wrong, And that's what I think is different about Boston. Yeah, the result itself is whatever, Like, it's not that big of a deal on a positive side, just like losing to Notre Dame SMU and Miami, you don't ever want to lose. But it's not like people look at those losses and say, well, that means Louis

was a fraud. So we've kind of had a little bit of a role reversal here to where, hey, maybe a win that really, you know, in the eyes of outsiders, isn't that impressive because we were down twenty to nothing and you know, beat a Boston college team and didn't cover. But again, it's not about the overall result. It's about

how it all happened. And that's again all this is wishful thinking on my end because I'd love nothing more to see this team come out and and you know, put together their first complete game where not they're not perfect, but you know, the mistakes aren't as crucial and they you know, can compete with a really good team. So we got you know, six days before, five days I should say, before we get to game day. But I'm very excited, to be honest with you, and I didn't.

I didn't. And again, I think if Louisa would have been, Louisa would have just held on and won a rock fight. I think I kind of would have, you know, not been as excited. And again it's not that I think, you know, I'm not ready to say they're going to win. I probably won't do that or even say they're gonna lose, because none of us know until we will get there

on Saturday. But I think the momentum, the vibe, whatever you want to call it, whatever word you want to use, I think it's in a better spot than I would have anticipated. And that's a good thing. All right. Some of the things we'll get into throughout the afternoon here. Obviously, we've got some basketball tonight, Louisville taken on Spaulding, another

exhibition game. We will have another post game show. Tip Off is at seven o'clock, and I would imagine you're going to see a lot of what you saw last Monday, when they played young Harris. This is a Division three team in Spaulding, and I you know, I don't. I don't know a whole lot about their program as of now, like meeting as of you know, the last couple of years. But this is a Division three team, meaning these are not scholarship players. So I mean no disrespect to Spaulding.

I know coach both coach Grays have done a great job over there, and they're they I think they've been really competitive at D three level. I think they've actually been better at the D three level than they were when they were in AI for a long time. But as a long winded way of me saying like, I wouldn't be shocked if Louisville wins this game about eighty tonight. Now, I highly doubt that happens because again it's just hard

to envision a game playing out that way. But I think with the way Louisville wants to play and knowing that these guys, these players are you know, Division three athletes, not Division two, which is the next best level outside of D one, who you played last week and you won by what fifty or something, So I doubt should you embarrass them in a major way. But like this thing could get ugly. Loisvill's never played a program of

this caliber an exhibition play that I know of. You know, usually when you play Wesleyan, I mean Bellerman before they were before they were D one, they were D two, I mean Shamanad. Weren't they an exhibition opponent a couple years ago?

you know. I thought to myself, well, man, I wish I could see him get challenged because I'm jealous. John got to see his Hoosier's knock off Tennessee yesterday in a charity exhibition game.

I don't know. But anyways, I was getting jealous of these exhibitions because you're getting a chance to see like there's no like you're gonna you're gonna be discouraged if your team loses, but you also know that, like you know, it doesn't count. So I would just love to see where Louisville stands against, you know, a legitimate team, and

they're certainly not gonna get that tonight. But as I thought about that earlier, and I was like, well man, another night where we watched them kill somebody, that'll be fun. But then I'm like, nope, you set up a bit. You better cheer up. You better realize where you were a year ago. You better realize you used to lose these games, You ungrateful piece of garbage. I felt like a piece of garbage for a moment there, because I'm like,

what is wrong with you? If we played Spalding every game for thirty games of the season, I wish I should enjoy that and appreciate that we're in this position and not the you know, the position we were in last year, in the year before. So hell yeah, Spaulding tonight might beat them by one hundred and we're going to be fired up and ready. On the Kentucky side.

And the worse they get in the closer we get to the end of November, the more I think, well, are we going to be in that position again where it's like, well, hey, if if, if you don't get them this year? I mean, like, do we need to just cancel the series like that? I don't want to go there, but like, kind I'm kind of there to be honest with you, because Kentucky looks really bad and it's only gonna get worse. They got to go to Tennessee this weekend, and then they got Murray, then they

go to Texas. I mean, it could be bad by the time we get to that Louisville game, which you know typically would be all hell yeah, but if it actually makes me more scared to be honest with you, all right, I gotta get to a break. It's Coffee and Company. We all feel about Thorton. If you want to join us, you can't foe lines are open five point two five seven one seventy nine hundred. Again it's Coffee and Company. Field by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety.

That's right, Coffee and Company are rolling along here on a Monday afternoon. Thanks for hanging out with us. We are fueled by Thornton's. She already knew that, but you know, I'm supposed to remind you, and I'm happy to remind you because that way you you'll never not know that we are, in fact a Thornton's show. All right, So real quick, one of the things I wanted to make sure I mentioned about Thornton's because there's all kinds of perks, as you know, that come with being a member of

their Refreshment Awards program. But as of late, I mean, they've got deals that like even surprise me. But they're always hooking you up, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised. Right now, red Bull, you can get three for eight bucks of their twelve ounce cans different flavors. Obviously they've got the sugar free, the regular three of them for eight bucks. That's a pretty good deal. Red Bull is

usually pretty expensive. You can get three of them for eight bucks, especially in this economy, I feel like that's a pretty good deal. Also, you can get two free Gatorades when you buy two Gatorades, so again, take advantage. It's Refreshman Awards dot com. Download the app on your Android or your iPhone and you'll be good to go, all right, so I mentioned the charity exhibition scrimmages that are going on in college basketball, and I actually haven't

watched any of them. Actually, no, I take that back. There was one that was on I think I might have been last week of the week before Carolina and Memphis played, and I watched a little bit of that and I wasn't super impressed with it with either team.

But again, it was also a reminder that usually good teams are not in a position to where you know, they're playing other good teams this early in not only the season because the season hasn't started yet, but like usually I mean, especially if that I mean some of these scrimmages took place within the last two weeks, which again is super early. I mean we're talking like right

as soon as practice is allowed to happen, seemingly. So, John, you said, Tennessee and Indiana yesterday, both of them shot pretty poorly.

the transfer from Washington State, the point guard. He looked really good in Indiana's first outing.

end up getting to the end of the year in Tennessee. Stinks, but because all I know is that whenever they do play them in a couple of weeks, less than two weeks. By the way, they're going to still be ranked in the top fifteen at that time. And if Louisville can somehow start their season with game number two getting a huge, huge victory, that would be that'd be amazing. So I may go back in. And by the way, for those who don't know that, that's going to be a wide out,

that's Louisville's last bye week in football. So you'll play Saturday afternoon at the Young Center, and it is going to be a wide out, and I'm hoping that there is a huge crowd there. Now exhibition games, I didn't see this one, and I'm not sure if it's available to watch, and it probably wouldn't be worth watching as far as like competitiveness. But did you see what Duke did to Arizona State? Beat him by over fifty points?

wrong about him for the last like three years. Like I felt like Duke has had rosters in recent years and it's not just trust me, it's not just Shire. Even towards the end with Coach K, like I remember thinking like, look, you guys should be better, Like why are you not better? Like you're good, but like there's no reason, like you should be middle of the pack

in your league or whatever. So I kind of feel like they've gotten the benefit of it out because one coach K seemed to always get a pass for having a loaded team that falls short of expectations, doesn't make a deep run of the tournament. He did, We'll put it this way, he got to pass more so than others. Now, for those who used to claim, well, what are you well, Coach K doesn't have you know, multiple games, like what

is it Saint Peter's in Oakland? I mean he did have that loss to who was it that beat him Lee High got him once or no, who did Lee High get Maybe it was Lee High got Duke. Yeah, Duke got Lee High and then at Mercer. Yeah, that's

what I'm saying. So like they I guess they have had him, but nonetheless, like this may be the year where Duke ends up just having so much talent that is, you know, NBA type talent that they're not going to go undefeed it, but like maybe they do end up being like the team that throughout the year you're saying, Okay, we know they've taken a loss in December and they slipped up and lost one in early February, but make no mistake about it, when they're playing their best, there's

nobody that's better than them. We haven't had that in college basketball in a long time. I'm not saying that like I need that or want that, but it does bring more attention to college basketball that you otherwise wouldn't get.

If there's a team that has a bunch of future NBA guys on it that everybody wants to see an action and Cooper flag of course is I mean, there's people that think he could be playing in the NBA right now and starting and that's you know, that's that sounds a little crazy, But again, the hype for him, He's entering the college game with more hype and expectation than any freshman. Again, I was gonna say since Zion,

but people forget Zion when the season started. Zion's hype and real buzz came when he was like a junior and senior in high school. By the time Zion played his first game at Duke, just about everybody thought he was the third best freshman on his team because of RJ. Barrett and Cam Reddish, and then they realized, oh yeah, you know, despite him maybe not looking I mean, he's

I mean, Zion was a bigger guy, right. There was a lot of jokes about his weight, but like good Luck Garden him, a guy that does carry around that much weight shouldn't be able to move as quickly as he does and bounce off the ground as high as he does. So anyways, with Cooper Flag, I mean, he's obviously a guy that is probably going to be the National Player of the Year this year. But there's also a guy on their team named con Canoople and I'm

probably saying that incorrectly. He's also a freshman.

you know, nobody's got nipples. You could say nipples.

Then maybe you don't even know who I'm talking about, but you could pay at ten just a little bit. And you've probably been hearing about this guy for the last two years and he's about to play is one and only season in college basketball for Duke. And again, one of the CBS Sports Candid Coaches Corner thing or Candid Coaches series that they do one of the questions you know they do every year is who are the

best players in America? And I think by like a seventy percent vote, like coaches college high level college basketball coaches said that they think Cooper Flag is the best player in college basketball. And he's had to play a game yet. So anyways, Duke beating Arizona State by that much, I mean, yeah, it's a it's an exhibition, charity scrimmage type situation, and Arizona State's not expected to be good, I mean at least not you know, Duke level good.

But to beat anybody by fifty that you know, we're talking to power four team. We're not talking about you know Spaulding, who's in town to night, Well, I guess

they live in town. They're not intown they're just making a quick trip up the road essentially to take on Louisll And again we will have postgame coverage tonight nine o'clock, probably going to be similar to last last week's postgame show, just you know, because even though we got it last week right the first time, watching this new era of basketball, Pat Kelsey coaching the squad, clearly seeing their identity, seeing that they are seemingly a reflection of that guy coaching

them when they're on the floor, which is what you want. Like it was awesome to see. Like again, wasn't really competitive. You just drained threes and won by a bunch of points.

But if that's what happens against tonight, which I think it will, I think we're going to be feeling the same way because again, you know, hopefully, like myself, you guys won't take this stuff for granted because we we went through a couple of years when you had to actually worry about winning these exhibition games and being happy. Oh well, at least it doesn't count. Like I remember, I remember doing a postgame show for the Kentucky Wesleyan game last year. No, no, it was the show because we

didn't do exhibition postgame shows last year. It was the first show we did after they lost to Westley. I guess that next day, and you know what that did was essentially like anybody that was holding out hope that this year was going to be way different, like you were confirmed to be wrang right out of the jump. So that was really demoralizing. There's also a lot of us, like myself that that knew like, hey, no matter what players he gets in here, this thing is not going

to work out. And you know, that's what happened. But I remember there were a couple of people, one in particular. The other one didn't say it, but he kind of was getting there but didn't want to say it. Another person straight up called in and was like, were you

so upset? It wasn't a real game, it doesn't count, and like that's when it hit me and again I'm having like flashbacks here, like that was one of those one of the many things that I remember when I think back on last year, like we haven't even started playing real games yet, and I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to take calls from people who act like this is not an issue, and that like the house h isn't burning down and we're all stuck inside, Like you know, I mean to give you what Kenny told

us at the end of the year the Titanic. I mean, like he said it, not me, Like it was the Titanic and there were people not jumping off, and I'm like, what the hell's wrong with you? Like we want to go down with the Titanic. And Kenny, you know, the last time we ever heard from him, that's when he mentioned that, right the Titanic game.

have to worry about winning or losing. You're gonna win by a lot, And I'm happy that's Balden gets a chance to bring their team in here and they get to play in the Young Center, and I'm sure there's many guys on their roster that are from the area, maybe some that grew up Louisville fans. So all in all, that's cool. But it's going to be a beat down the night, and I'm here for it. All right, we

got to get to a quick break. We got to come back on the other side and talk about what happened with Kentucky football over the weekend, because they're as down as they've ever been, to a point where like it's really not even like I mean, I enjoyed. I wouldn't have it any other way, but like, you know, they're not even fighting back, like they're not like acting as if their season is anything other than what it is.

But one thing I wanted to bring up is that there were some signs before this and started even last year during the summer, not that you would be in this situation where it's falling apart this badly, but like they ignored some signs that I think were pretty alarming about where like where their head coach was, like where their program was as far as culture and whatnot. And

now you're seeing that they're a mess. All right, quick break, come back on the other side, wrap up at three o'clock hour right here on Sports Talk seven ninety Jay Sean right. Correct, when this song was a big hit, I thought this guy was about to take over, like and be like the new biggest pop star. And then I don't know, did he have another song?

have you back. John had a nice long, nice long weekend as Hoosiers keep winning, and we'll certainly talk about them a little bit later because I mean, I'm I'm intrigued by the whole debate about favoritism and you know, benefit of the doubt being given to the sec still when you know.

it was. It's the most telling thing in regards to they just assume, well, because they're in the SEC, they must be a top twenty five team, like they shouldn't. Mean, we'll get to that later on, but yeah, Indiana, there's some wild numbers about how impressive they are. There's some wild as far as how dominant they've been, but there's also some wild numbers as far as like the competition that they played. And I just find it fascinating because I don't see them slowing down at any point until

they get to Ohio State. And like, if they're eleven and zero and they're playing when they play them.

we're up against it. But what I meant earlier when I said that, you know, maybe there should have been some signs that like this, this could happen, not to this level. Like I don't think anybody can point to how things fell apart last year for them, and in a year that they were very underwhelming, fell short of expectations, carried themselves as if they were that ten win team they had with Will Evis in his first year there, and like they got humbled in a major way and

they got blown out by Georgia. Stoops told fans to pony up, and I know a lot of people like point to that moment is like, Okay, that really bit him in the ass because then his record and home games against SEC competition's been you know, abysmal. And by the way, are they they're out of SEC home games,

aren't they? Yeah, they went winless this year in SEC home games because they'll they'll play both A and M and I'm sorry, they'll play Texas and Tennessee on the road and then they play Murray at home in the rules. So they went on you know, they didn't win a game.

So you know, like there are some numbers that you can point back to that and where it all started, and maybe that is like, you know, maybe that maybe that was Stoops's first tell that, like he's not able to have the culture that he wants right, the ingredients, the recipe, if you will, is not working like it once worked when he had some success pre and il and pre portal. I think Kentucky has been pro portal.

I mean Stoops has been somebody that has complained about it, but like you know, they've been able to add some good players to their roster and football and retain good players. That's the biggest thing for them. They landed some dudes in the portal that they had to go pay a lot of money for, including the two quarterbacks that they've gotten in the last couple of years that had been underwhelming.

But I think the best sign for their NIL is the fact that they were able to pay enough money to keep guys like Dame Key and Dion Walker and even Barrian Brown. Like that that's telling. So you know, last year they should have been better than they were, and then you know what you did, You beat a top ten opponent at their place. It just so happens

to be your rival. And I don't know if that win made everybody just kind of like forget that they were going in a really really bad direction at a pretty high rate of speed before they spoiled Louisville's season at the end there, and you were able to kind of just get lost in that moment, because look, one thing of Kentucky One think Kentucky fans can never claim unless they just want to be presented evidence that's endless. They go insane when they beat us, and look, I

would do the same thing. I'm not being critical, but like I say that because there are still some that act as if like, well, I don't care if they'd be Well, yeah you do, because last year your team was in every way underwhelming and not as good as they should have been. But they beat Louisville, and you know what helped you. Louisville was really good last year. I mean you beat him, so I guess you know that proves in your mind that they're not as good

as they were ranked. And I'm not sure they were either, but they were a top ten team. If you'd beat Louville, they were six and six last year, Yeah, it would have helped Stoops, but it would not have given him the boost that he needed at such a time. And then he wanted to go to A and M, and then they didn't want him at the last minute. And I love how now that people who covered Kentucky and that are connected, they're not as willing to say, oh, yeah,

he turned him down. He didn't want to go, like no, he know, everybody knows what happened. They wanted him, and then they realized those that helped kind of fund that whole thing down there, they didn't want him. So like there were some signs that they were not in a good place, including right before the season started. You know,

he sounded defeated. Mark Stoops talking at the SEC media days about how he's so burned out, doesn't know how much longer he can do it, because you know, he's now got to do everything all on his own with nil and worry about guys getting paid, Like that's your coach defeated with the new job that is a college football coach. Before you played a game this year, and you came out in your first SEC game, you got whacked,

and yeah you were competitive against Georgia. You beat Ole Miss which again that wind doesn't look as good now, right, But also keep in mind that's the outlier. Now you've played what eight games, the other six are.