8.27: Mother Nature's Revenge - Hour 1

not outside, we're indoors. In fact, the AC's working working great, and we were appreciative of our role here where we get to do broadcast inside during these disgusting temperatures we have going on. And if you're working outside, I'm sorry, I'm sure that's brutal. I hear you get used to it, but days like today. I mean, it's not even safe to be outside, is it. I mean, they've got a

triple digit heat in decks, don't we. Yeah, So let me ask you this, and I could be I'm gonna I'm gonna google this while I'm gonna lay it out there, and I'm gonna trust one of the parents who told me this yesterday of my son's football practice. But I'm gonna I'm gonna google it just to make sure it is correct. If not, I'll find the right number. But do you have a guess as to what the heat in decks needs to be for them to not allow you to practice outside?

year olds that my son plays flag football with. They're not useless, but you know, I mean the majority of an hour and a half practice with four and five year olds playing flag football is just trying to get them to not you know, off or eat grass or lay down or cry. I mean, and it's not because they're bad kids. They're four and five year olds and they've been you know, probably in school. You know, that's the thing. They're so young. I think only one or

two kids on my kid's team is in school. The others, you know, they're in daycare and uh they got sitters or something like that. So you know, anyways, we'll see. But it's hot outside, and uh that what a tease it was last week?

get rolling, and it's just great. But the one downside is that you just get I think you actually get more inconsistent weather when you get to like pre fall or early fall.

if you're outside, stay hydrated. It is funny how whenever you whenever you you know, you are watching local news or listening to news stations like our own news radio eight forty whas down the hall, and we get weather like this to where you know, they're probably going to be potentially canceling practices for some high school teams around the area. If the temperature gets so bad or the

heat index gets so high. And yet, you know, I'd say the you know, the average demo for the news is not young children, you know what I'm saying, Like it's the average demo. I would say for the live audience that's watching the nightly news or even like the six o'clock news, I'm not kidding you. I'd say your average is mid fifties. That's a guess. I could be way wrong. I know young people watch the news, and I do every now and then, but it's not a

regular thing for me. The people who make it an appointment to watch the news in the evening or late night, it's probably people in their fifties or older. Not to say that everybody does, but I'd say that's the bulk of them. And yet the people who you know are our newscasters, they talk to us like we're five. Make sure you drink water, hydrate, make sure you you know, take care of and it's just like you know, I'm away, I'm a grown up.

next three days, but today, once again, no guests. And when I say guests heavy, I don't mean we're gonna literally have a guest every segment. But you know, we do the majority of our check ins with our friends, our regulars Wednesday through Friday, and we're going to continue to do that during football season. So again, if you want to join us on the show, there's options. There's plenty of ways you can contribute and be a part

of the show. Your best bet is to hit us up on the L and N Federal Credit Union text line five h two six five three zero seven ninety. Also give us a call five ho two five seven one seventy nine hundred And if you were on the platform, they now call X. I still call Twitter at the card connect and at Alden On the air, I was typing your name the other day to somebody and I and I wrote John al Dean, oh digit, And I thought, man,

John Alden, you could be a cover guy. You could be a guy who just covers nothing but al Dean hits, and he's got a lot of them by the way he does. And you could be John Alden instead of Jason.

not that difficult to do. But like Louisville has either opened up on a week night against a RANDO team or on a Sunday because they were playing Kentucky, or they've had an opener against a legitimate opponent. And I

love that, And you know, I kind of got spoiled. Now, as we discussed yesterday, there are some benefits here to play Austin P and Jacksonville State and your opener because like a lot of teams, you've got new pieces, right and although a lot of these guys in the portal that you're bringing in are experienced, they've not all played together.

Don't love it, but I get it. So one of the downsides of your Week one opponent being Austin P is that it's Austin P. And like I could sit here and tell you some things about Austin P. But none of you care. We're not worried about Austin P beating Louisville. We don't care about Austin P.

ups about games by just looking at box scores. I don't know how AI works when it comes to that, but they tried it, and you know, it got published and it was a big embarrassment and they'll probably never try that again. But that's just where we are. So you know, we'll give you what you need to know. But then again, what do you really need to know? It's Austin P. And that's no disrespect to Austin P. But as we discussed yesterday, you know, they know what's up.

They know what this is. Austin P's getting a big check to come in here and get their ass kicked. They can have the pregame pump up speech in the locker room. They can talk about others that have shocked the world. They can utter things like well, you know, crazier things have happened, But make no mistake about it. In the back of their mind, they know what it is. They know what time it is on Saturday at noon. Bend over and take it, take your check on the

way out. We'll see you later. That's what it is. So you know, I can't wait to actually get real Louisville football at noon on Saturday at Llen N Cardinal Stadium.

realistically what's gonna happen. And when you play other teams, right, like when you got Georgia Tech on the schedule in a few weeks, you know you're gonna get a chance to to you know, learn about your team a little bit there because of what they did in Ireland knocking off FSU, pulling off the first big upset of the season.

But that's not like that's just not what this is, but it's part of it, right, And I don't see a scenario where and by the way, if you ever hear any coaches complain, and I don't think you will, and maybe and I can't. I can't really think of any big storylines or I guess say not storylines, but like headlines, newsworthy stuff from these FCS programs that come

in here to get a check. Like I've not heard many heard of coaches, you know, complaining about the score being run up against them, you know what I mean, Or about somebody doing a pass play on third down when they're up fifty. You know why, because beggars can't beat choosers. Baby, you're coming in here and we're going to decide how this goes. So again I bring that up to say that if they start complaining, you know, all it takes is somebody to you know, realize we

don't need to do this. I mean, we could just get rid of these games. And who would suffer these schools, That's it. That's the only people that would suffer from not having these games against FCS teams. So anyways, with all that said, I do have some fast facts for you about Austin P. And I know you've been on the edge of your seat, John to.

crazy career path if you think about it. But anyways, this guy, Scotty Walden, he's now been hired at UTEP after four seasons at Austin P So with Ferris, he's bringing in is an entire new staff. They've got a they've got an offensive coordinator who was the quarterback coach at Jackson State. That's uh, It's where Dion went right, it was so did he? I wonder if he was the quarterbacks coach for Dion there. He probably was just

there for a year when Dion. You know when Dion moved, because I thought Dion brought his luggage with him.

the scene playing out right absolutely. And then like at one point the trip the dad's son, he gets caught with a joint at school.

in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three. He's not gonna be coaching the tight ends, so I guess he was a legendary high school coach. Made the move at He's to East Tennessee State and now he's on the Austin p staff, So you know, I don't it looks like they've got forty three of their one hundred and two players on their roster were on their team last

year who won the inaugural United Athletic Conference championship. Their quarterback is h looks like their quarterback he's exhausted his eligibility, which means he's not he's not back. But a lot of the other departures, you know, hit via the portal, which that is something I'm I'm curious about, like this, does this level get gutted by the portal as much as G five because I feel like it's a rare.

I know Austin P won their conference last year. Like I know Austin P was nine and three. I don't care. And if you know, and like I understand that if you're Jeff Bram, you're probably telling your guys these that these this team was successful last year and they bring

back some play. I get it, But like, you can't claim that you think Louisville football is remotely decent if you look at this game and feel like you know we we I mean again, by the way, biggest lie you ever hear as when it comes to sports and fans about overlooking an opponent. Remember last year when everybody was told, well, you got hey, Notre Dame's coming up, we got in C State here, can't overlook them, Yeah we can. We don't play, We will have no impact

in the game. We can overlook. We can overlook By two years, I could start talking about, you know, when Louisville plays A and M in a non conference game like five years from now, it won't matter because I don't play.

duty this year. I'll be doing both pregame and postgame for US here at Sports Talk seven ninety for Louisville Football. So an hour before each kickoff, we'll go live right here leading up to you know, kickoff, and then as soon as the game ends, as soon as the buzzer sounds.

and I mean it, we're loaded. I watched The Condors Stallion's documentary, and if I wasn't somebody who's a nerd for great cinematography, great documentaries, just I'm a nerd for that stuff. If I wasn't that, I'd be pissed off for wasting my time. And we'll get into it, and yes, there may be spoilers, but I don't really think you could spoil anything because that's they didn't unveil anything juicy. Also, I've decided Andy Katz is officially banned from the city

of Louisville. And I'm not playing around Andy Kats.

And he's from Louisville. He's going to have a chance to, you know, go wherever he wants, do whatever he wants. But his first official visit is going to be to Louisville. And that's not just because you know he happens to be from Louisville and his family. Still here's that's I mean, that's a factor clearly. But also this staff and you know the nil folks out there that help Louisville five h two circle those guys like they know what time it is when it comes to getting a kid like this.

Didn't talk about it yesterday, but Yukon to the Big twelve.

I want to save it. But the question was if a kid stays all four years at the same school, should they be granted a fifth year of eligibility? Interesting question, The results might surprise you. So again we're loaded today a minute when I said it, stick with us, We'll take you up. We will take you up till six o'clock. Right here, it's Coffee and Company Feielbut Thornton's on Sports Talk seven to ninety Who.

at home. This is your place too, so you know, make yourself comfortable and stick with us for the next two and a half hours. All right, let's go to the text line five h two six five three zero seven ninety. It's the Ellen n Federal Credit Union text line. Members get more at Ellen and Federal Credit Union. You can learn what open your account today at LNFCU dot com.

This's Texas Nick. I'm with you when it comes to not knowing if we should feel disrespected as Louisville fans with how the team is being talked about nationally, but them not even mentioning Louisville while six other schools were mentioned during game day certainly seems like disrespect to Jeff Brahm in the program.

a bad show. It's just not you know, I don't really make it a priority to listen to all the analysis. In fact, the best part of that show is when they give picks, and it's just to see sort of what every one of them is going to go with and you can make fun of them if they get it wrong and doubted your team and all that kind of stuff, which, by the way, the stuff I did here on Saturday, Nick Saban's going to be a great

addition to game day. I mean, I don't need to tell you he knows a lot about football, but he's made a pretty seemingly smooth transition from sideline to the broadcast side of things. And he did, in fact mention Louisville by the way, So I think two things. One, there's a little bit of you know, manufacturing disrespect that always seems to take place with fans, not just Louisville fans,

But you know, you want to find it. You want to find somebody that's not giving your team the love that you think they deserve because you have the belief that your team will prove them wrong when they get a chance. So you know, full context, they were just throwing out names about who could potentially contend for the acc and it did take them all the way for everybody, everybody talked and then saving just through Louisville out there.

So yeah, I mean for Louisville not to come to mind for some of those guys could have been, you know, a brain fart, or could be that they are not

high on Louisville. I don't really know, but there's a difference in kind of being ignored and that This is kind of the piece I made with it because I kept going back and forth, like its Louisville being disrespected or am I just so excited and I have such belief in Brahm and this team that I am full Homer here and just you know, understanding the fair view that others have right like AP voters voting them right outside the top two twenty five, they were the twenty sixteen.

When it comes to receiving votes in the AP pole like that, that's legit, that's not anybody that's a hater. But I feel they're better than that. So you know, every now and then I would think, like, man, they're not giving Louisville love. The hell's up with that. But there's a difference in that then like being disrespected. Nobody's out there claiming Louisville's going to stink this year. I'm

not hurt anybody say that. I mean Louisville, I mean Kentucky fans probably are going to say that, maybe other ACC fans. So it's not that they're being disrespected, but you could certainly make the case that they're not. They're not getting any I know I said this at one point something along the lines of this.

when they played. But if you go back and look at louisville schedule in twenty twenty three, I'm not going to sit here and claim they played the toughest schedule in the country, but they every FBS team they played was from the Power five level. They didn't play at G five, and there's some games that they played early on that looked like you know, like for example, Georgia Tech finished fourth in the league. Louisll beat him last year.

And by the way, George Tech beat three ranked teams last year at the time they played, you know, Boston College, they beat them fifty six twenty eight, and Boston College wasn't good. But you know what, they went to a bowl game and beat SMU, who you know, people think is legitimately going to come in and compete in this league, at least until I saw him play. N C State is getting way more love than Louisville. Lois beat them last year in Raleigh beat.

bunch of patsies. So you know, going back to my original point, ten wins ACC championship game appearance, usually you would just walk into a preseason ranking, and if they were way outside the top twenty five, I could have had a little bit more of a grid. But they were right there. They were just right there. Which, by

the way, I didn't even think about this yesterday. Had LIU had had they done an AP vote after the UH, had they done an AP vote after the week zero games, Louis would have been ranked, There's no doubt because Florida State, I mean, there would have been enough shake up. Well I guess maybe not, because again, you only have such a small amount of teams you can actually assess, and

the only ranked team that played was Florida State. So maybe I'm wrong there, But in fact, Georgia Tech would have probably jumped in ahead of you, and maybe you would have. Actually, it makes total sense why they wouldn't do that, because who would you take out of the top twenty five to put Georgia Tech in because nobody played,

you know what I mean? So yeah, I guess it makes sense to not do an updated poll when not only do you have just such a few games, but like it's just not fair considering like not everybody played. And I guess that happens on bye weeks. But that's that's you know, I'm talking about a small I mean, rarely do you have. I mean, I don't the average amount of teams each week in college football that are on a buye.

to be able to purchase season tickets. Uh, I think I heard something. I think I heard something on KSR about that the other day, Matt mentioning that and kind of acting as if that's a you know, that's a you know, that's a big deal and that I mean, if you think of it. And I don't know how much you have to donate. But like for Louisville, I think it's called it used to be called the Cardinal Athletic Fund. That is, yeah, it still is, by the way,

I thought maybe they'd renamed it. But the Cardinal Athletic Fund is is, you know, a fundraising group that works for the University of looisal athletics. And you know, as you know, fundraising has always been really important. It's been different in recent years because now you have, you know, fundraising that's needed for players' money. When it comes to nil AM that has nothing to do with you know them,

like they can't do that. In fact, for those who don't know a lot of the guy, well I shouldn't say a lot because I think they have a pretty small crew. But Dan Furman, who is the president of the five oh two Circle, he used to work for the Cardinal Athletic Fund, so he made that shift over and you know, now you have two big, big needs when it comes to raising money. You have the nil side and then you have again the athletic department side. So in order to be a season ticket holder, you

have to make a donation. And I will say as somebody who's never had season tickets, because I've never you know, I've been fortunate to get a credential. And also, you know, when I was growing up, we couldn't afford season tickets.

So with all that said, if you could take that donation, which I believe is you know, a few thousand dollars and donate that to the five oh two circle, and yet that that counts to where you like, that's like, even though the Cardinal Athletic Fund's not getting it, your collective is getting it. They'll still honor that as your donation for you to get season tickets. That is I mean, I'm surprised that UK did that, but it's awesome for them to do that, and I think Louisville should do

it if they can. Again, I won't pretend to know the you know, if that would be something they could financially do, and it'd be you know, because you have to keep in mind the Cardonal Athletic Fund as far as raising money for the athletic department, A lot of that money being raised is gonna be in the future going to players because you know, you gotta pay players now, and I l will still exist maybe in a smaller, a smaller you know way, But it also wouldn't shock

me as if, like, you know, you're getting your base pay, but like you know, your endorsement or not. I mean, I guess in al's not really an endorsement. Sometimes they parade it around as that if it is like that you put this kid on a billboard because you think he's gonna sell you cars. But overall, like maybe it's just a signing bonus. Right if you transfer in, you're gonna you're gonna walk into this amount of money that the athletic department's paying you because the school now is

footing the bill for that. But also here's what you're gonna get for you know, nil through the five V two circle or maybe through an outside company or something

like that. So I'm just thinking out loud here when it comes to nil, you know, you got to like for example, Cooper Flag, he signed a huge deal with New Balance, And we can get into that later, because I really think it's and I'm a nerd for this, and I know a lot of people don't care, but Cooper Flag, the hype he has for him to choose New Balance when he easily could have had any deal he wanted really surprising. But then again, he is a white guy. For Maine, maybe the New Balance brand is

just it means more up there. I could see New Balance in Maine being being Balance.

for Cooper Flag. But what I'm getting at is, if you've got like for example, Tyron Stokes, a kid were going to talk abo a little bit later on number one player in America in twenty twenty six, he'll have an nil deal making money before he ends up, you know, going to the NBA. But it won't be because they're shifting him to a school. You know what I'm saying, Like he's gonna Cooper Flag didn't sign with New Balance

because Duke got him money through New Balance. He could have signed a New Balance and gone and played at Spaulding. So you know, there's there's a good I think you're gonna see Nil not be as big of a thing for guys that don't have that kind of leverage. But again, they're getting that money and it has nothing to do

with where they're going to school. Like New Balances, Nike could be different because again Nike has you know, Nike's huge, you know, gazillion dollar company, and they have an owner of that company that happens to be desperate for Oregon to be competitive at the top to where Nike could sign these kids and say, look, if you want this,

you come to Oregon now for business. They shouldn't do that because if they really want I mean, if you told Tyrone Stokes or Cooper Flag you only getting the Nike money now if you go to Oregon, you know they might do it. But also that would be foolish because long term, once they get out of school for one year, they're only gonna be in college one year.

So once they get to the league. You know, if you don't see the value when those guys are selling sneakers when they have their own deal, because by the way, both those guys could end up having Nike. I mean not only just Nike. Obviously Cooper flags with Do Balance. But like those two guys, it wouldn't be a shocker if down the line they all they each have a signature shoe, all right, So real quick to wrap up

that text. I had heard that, and I don't know if other schools are going to do that, but for Kentucky that's that's a good way to not only continue to get your season tickets sales, but also you're helping because again those guy who work together for things to be a okay for programs, meaning your nil collectives and your you know, athletic department fundraising team, they're going to be competing for money. But if you're on the same page and working together, that's where you have a best

chance for success. I think, all right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side. Wrap up at three o'clock hour. It's coffee and company. Feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety So some breaking news here for Louisville football. Mari Huggins Bruce will be added to the roster and join the Louisville Cardinals on the practice field this afternoon. So added to the roster, being on the practice field, does that mean he's eligible.

you know, this is unusual. But my guess is that him being here has avoided the portal situation because again, the portal exists so that you can you can get cleared to be contacted and recruited portal was closed when the Marii Huggins Bruce left South Carolina, so you know he couldn't go into the portal. But I don't know, very very very brief statement in an email that came in at three nineteen wide receiver Marriy Huggins Bruce will be added to the roster and joined the Cardinals on

the practice field this afternoon. So was that was sent out about twenty minutes ago. And again that's good news, right, you want to add more depth at receiver, especially at a position you just lost a guy. Not to mention, he happens to play the same position that you lost with Colin Lacey. He's not a superstar by any means, but he's experienced, he's produced here at Louisville. He knows Jeff Brahm's offense and systems. So this is good news.

But again, what I don't notice does this mean he's eligible? So fingers crossed. And again when I say that, I don't you know, I don't really know. I don't want to act as if this guy's not worthy of people getting excited about. But I just think because of the circumstance here in every way, it's led to their being

I think a bigger expectation. So, like, I just wouldn't be shocked if three games in we get a caller into the postgame and Mary Huggins Bruce has caught two passes in three games, people are dogging him and I you know, you shouldn't do that anyway, But nonetheless like that, he's not somebody that like if he never would have transferred and stayed here and Colin Lacy was healthy, I

would imagine that he would be a backup. However, if Colin Lacy got injured and Mary Huggins Bruce never left, he probably would have been the guy that emerged right away as a guy that you think, Okay, well, I'm glad we have some depth here. This guy may not be able to produce the way Colin Lacey did at South Alabama, but hey, he's shown and he's capable of making some place for us here, and with a Mario Huggins worse, He's always shown that he has talent and ability.

It's just never been consistent. And that's really a lot of the receivers on this roster right now. I think Huggins Bruce coming back. He now joins the mix, although he has proven more than you know, somebody like a guitarist Hicks because Tara six says, you know, he's a retro freshman.

don't like what they have at receiver. I've never heard that they are worried about receiver.

So now's the time for these guys to you know, to prove it and really, you know, emerge as as reliable playmakers. I don't think it's a matter of having bad hands. I don't think it's a matter of skill level. It's just you know, when the lights are on, you can you be a gamer? All right, we got one more. In fact, we have two more hours left. I'm getting ahead of myself here. One hour in the books, two more to go.