8.8: Running Smoothly - Hour 1

Jefferson County. But you know, I think even if you're someone that does not have kids in the school system, you don't even have like nephews or grandparents or grand grandkids or nieces or anything like that, you don't work in the school system. Given how big of a nightmare last year was it becoming a national story, you gotta be at least a little curious to see how it's going, right, I mean I have been and it hit me like, you know, two o'clock, Like wait a second, like I haven't.

I've been active on social media today, I mean, not posting anything, but just you know, checking out what's going on. That's usually sort of how I get ready for the show, figure out what people are talking about, things we can discuss. Right, and I haven't heard a whole lot, which I assume means that it's going well, That's what I assume we'll see, though maybe I'm wrong. All Right, welcome in. It is coffee and company. Feel about Thornton's here on Sports Talk

seven ninety. Thanks for hanging out with us, and we're gonna be here for the next three hours. So hang out, make yourself at home, and if you have to, you know, do other things. Just know that you can take us with you. You can listen live on the Aheart Radio ab listen live at seven ninety Louisville dot com. And we're gonna be loaded for the next three hours. So again, as I mentioned, you should stick around all right, real

quick on the JCPS stuff. I mean, John, you know you don't keep up with, you know, the internet, if you have a life more so than I do, where you're probably not you know, checking Twitter as much as I am, or checking what's going on on the World Wide Web as much, just because again you have you know,

hobbies and a life. But I mean, you feel like it's been pretty quiet, Like I haven't heard of any nightmare stories yet about kids getting left somewhere, dropped off at the wrong school or anything like that.

wasn't aware of as far as changes. They cut bussing for most of the Magnet and traditional schools, meaning there's a lot more car riders, because if you go to those schools, you need to I guess, you know, depending on where you live, there's no way for you to get there without somebody bringing you because you can't you can't get on a bus, at least not you know, a JCPS bus. So that was a known thing, and I guess that could make it to where it's going to be a little more. I mean, you just tr't

to worry. You're not relying as much on buses. You're relying on people to bring the kids to school. So the only thing I can tell is that there has been a lot of traffic because of more I guess car riders. And it's never going to be a perfect day when you start school for the first time. But as far as getting kids to school, it seems as if if they are in a much better situation than

they were a year ago. Whenever they brought kids back to school last school year, and some kids didn't get home until after ten pm, and then they pulled the plug and said, Okay, we're going to cancel the next two days of school and come back next week and try to start all over. And it became a national story, so you know, it seems like so far they're not even close to the Mets they had a year ago, and maybe they end up having a pretty smooth day.

I want to WKY is great for doing this on Facebook, by the way, every new station should do it, and maybe they have. But earlier this afternoon on the WLKY News Facebook page, they just said JCPS parents, how is this summer or how is this morning going so far? Which you got to think, like, if people are looking to go complain about something, where are they going? They're going to Facebook? Especially parents, older people, right, And I must when I say older people like I mean people

my age too. So I when I saw that they have this embedded post, I clicked on and it opened up in Facebook and my web browser, and I'm like, oh man, this is going to be nothing but parents just losing their minds complaining, And it really isn't. I think people had expectations probably so low because of what happened a year ago, and yet a lot of the comments I'm seeing are are not only some positive, but the complaints are more so just about traffic flow, which

really isn't mean. I guess you could say that's somewhat the responsibility of the school JCPS, But I don't know. I mean, if I mean, let's be real, I think if in fact there are certain schools where there's way more car writers than there used to be, there's just going to be more traffic. There's no way. There's no way around that. So thumbs up. I don't want to speak too soon, because you know, John made a good point.

It really didn't get out of hand until they started to try to take the kids home and they didn't. You know, things didn't go well. Kids didn't get home till you know, well after ten o'clock. Some kids ended up like ten miles from where they were supposed to be, kids ended up getting off at the wrong bus stop, not knowing where they are. I mean, it was it was an I mean, it was really about as big of a disaster as JCPS has probably ever had an

its existence. I'm not you know, I've not been around long enough to really know about the history of the disasters that they've had. But I mean, that was a national news story. So apparently school begins to let out at two ten pms, so that was roughly an hour ago, and the latest dismissal at JCPS is four twenty pm.

So I kind of feel like we're gonna be in this three hour window here that we have, Like I'm gonna be monitoring this just to kind of keep up with, you know, what's going on, and I'm not rooting for a disaster. I mean, I'm hoping it's smooth. And you know, somebody on the text line made a good point. I mean they were kind of nasty about it, but they also made me realize that, you know, I should be a little bit more mindful in how I discussed these things because I don't feel as if I'm making fun

of them. I mean, I don't think I'm doing that at all, but like last year, I mean, I'm just sharing facts about the story and just the big mess that it was. But a woman texted in and said that, you know, I was really really making her anxiety and stress worse by talking about it, and I'm thinking, well, I mean, what do you want me? I mean, like it's it's quite clear like any news station, any any anything you turn on locally here, like news. I guarantee it's been a huge topic this week on HAS our

sister station here. I know it's been a huge topic on every news station in town just coverage up back to school. It always is, but when they bring it up this time of year or this this go around, I should say, they're going to reference last year's mess. So like it's not as if I'm going out of my way to do it, it's it's probably unavoidable for you.

But maybe you come to this show not to hear about it, because again, as I started, as I started the show today, I doubt that's what anybody would be here for us to hear about JCPS and how they're getting kids back to school. However, you know, like you're right, I bet it was a very stressful situation for parents in a scary situation, especially those that were impacted by it last year, and they have to put the trust in JCPS again to get their kid to school and

bring them home. So, you know, it made me appreciate the fact that I don't, you know, at this point in my life as a parent. You know, my daughter she special needs, and I don't know if she'll ever be a bus rider. And my son will see you know, he's got another year before he starts kindergarten. Maybe he'll be a bus rider. But you know, my kids go to a different school district, which doesn't mean that they can't have issues as well. But yes, if I I mean as much as a parent, like I'm a worrier.

That's that's my one of my biggest flaws as a human being. Like if my kid didn't get off the bus and I called the school and they didn't know what, like where, Well, hey, call back the call this one a hundred number. They may know where your kid, we don't. They may know where your kid is, but we don't. Like and I'm sure that wasn't exactly the exchange, but yeah, like I mean that helpless feeling. I don't know what I would do if I didn't know where my kid was.

So anyways, so far, so good, it seems for JCPS, and we'll see if if that's the case the rest of the way here.

are complaining is just about traffic. And I did actually see one of the new stations did cover this in their coverage of back to School Today, and that was the fact that because there's a lot of these high schools and even middle schools I suppose that are actually in residential areas. Like that's one of the things about

j CPS. There's like there's certain schools. I mean, one that I can think of off top of my head is like Jeffersontown High School like that that's like to me, that's like if I've been in a long time, but I feel like it's in a residential neighborhood and if you've got like way more kid And I'm not saying that's that's one of those schools where you have a

lot more car riders. But apparently people like trying to leave for work could not back out of their driveway to leave because of all the traffic from from you know, kids waiting to get it dropped off at school, which again that would be that would be real pain in the ass, no doubt about that. But like, I'm not really sure who the direct Like, whose fault is that? Right, Like, I mean, who do you like? Is it the school's fault?

is that Louisville Alive is coming back. I didn't expect it to just disappear, but we did not have it this past year, and you know, I was pretty I still stand by what I said. I was critical of the decision of them to just not have Louisville Live and to then blame it on money and like cost because I felt like, you know, that's a fan event like that and that, and there's no scenario Louisville loses.

Like I think we all knew this past basketball season that was the last year of the Kenny Payne Era was not going to be super successful, but like, that's the kind of event you could go to and kind of distract yourself from it, right like, because there's no you can't lose, right you have to worry about Kentucky Wesley and or Leanne Rhyme's going out there and beating you in an exhibition game. You can just watch these

guys dunk and you know, drink beer with fans. If it was going to be at Slugger or at Churchill or here at four Street Live right like it really I thought was a bad look because your your cost cutting measure is an event that fans specifically, like, that's what that's catered for as fans. So you know, I won't complain and act like well I would have been there. Would have been great, because you know, everything about the last two years really sucked, if we're being honest. So

I'm glad they are bringing it back. I'm a little curious as the decision as to where they're having it instead of having it at one of the I mean that's what made it cool. And I'm a little biased because we're right here broadcasting live and it would be amazing if they did it right here, you know, right in front of us where we'd be doing the show right there in front of it. But for Shoot Live was awesome, and then I thought Churchill Downs was even better.

And then at Slugger I did not attend that one, and it sounds like that one did not go well as far as the amount of money that like went into it, and it just didn't you know, there was

not a lot of return on that investment. Because again, that's an event for fans to get people excited, to get enthusiasm up, to host recruits and potentially really show off the program and get them excited about potentially committing and like nothing, you know, and that's really not anybody at u of L's fault as far as like marketing pr events. That's you know, the basketball program was in

a really really tough spot. So they're doing it at the UMP Center this year, which I have no problem with. I just kind of I just assumed that, like in its existence, it's always been in different places within Louisville that I thought made it super cool.

upper level. Like you could have a pretty light crowd as far as just numbers, but you could make this place look like everybody in downtown Louisville is dying to get in, and the streets are just like packed with people that are trying to make their way to four Street Live because you know, it's Louisville Live. So I'm sure there's plenty of reasons as to why they're doing it at the YOUM Center, and one I would assume is because they probably don't need to pay to use

the event to the event venue. It's it's you know, it's THEIRS. I mean it's not technically THEIRS, but you know it is. So I'm excited, and uh, who knows what to expect, you know, Pat Kelsey, I'm sure will use this event to be a big weekend to host recruits. You know it's gonna be on Friday, October the fourth. Let me double check. I should have done this before the uh for the show started today. But yeah, so Friday,

October the fourth. Louisville football will play at home against SMU that next day, So maybe that should be the weekend we circle as a big time recruiting weekend for Pat Kelsey and his staff because they'll be able to show off a lot of things about their program at

Louisville Live in the next day. You know, you take you take the recruits to a football game, and we all know that's a huge, huge part of recruiting when these guys take their official visits in the fall, which it is kind of weird, you know, you know they're not going to play football, but I guess more than anything, it does speak to like the atmosphere and the fans and whatnot. But you know, there's certain schools where like I can't think of an example, maybe you can think

of one in the Big Ten. Actually I've got one. Like if you're if you're a Clemson basketball recruit and you go to Clemson for a football game, like, that's gonna be awesome because that atmosphere, by all accounts, is one of the best in college football. But like, are they gonna try to sell you that, Yeah, you get the same kind of atmosphere whenever we play basketball here too, And like you're gonna know, even as a kid being recruited, that's a lie. But either way, you know you've got.

He would just do a handful of different Red White scrimmages, which I love being able to watch the guys play, you know, more than one time, you know, to get

more familiar with your roster, that kind of stuff. But it was, in my opinion, it was really difficult to promote because to make it to where you had a big crowd, because maybe some people will come to all three, but like having one event that you know, is sort of the kickoff to get things started, and it's more of a it's really just a party than it is anything,

kind of like a pep rally for fans. You know, Louisville would try to host recruits and you know they would lose them because they're going instead of the Louisville Red White Scrimmage, they're going to go to uh, They're gonna go to Big Blue Maddness or who's he Rhysteria. So I'm glad Louisville has this because it's important and it's been I mean since they've had it, and I know they took a year off, it's been it's been a super success. So again, tickets will go on sale.

It looks like in September, students will be able to attend free, but you will have to purchase a ticket if you want to go. And yeah, October the fourth is the date, and it'll be of course not only an event for Pat Kelsey and his crew, but it's also an event for Jeff Walls in his team. So looking forward to looking forward to that all right. Again, as I mentioned, we are loaded the rest of the way here. We've got a guest going to join us

coming up around four twenty. We will talk to Kent Spencer, whas eleven. We haven't chatted with Kent in quite some time. I feel like, you know, some of our regular guests, they kind of had a summer break, right because I'd ask him enough about the offseason. I'd ask him enough about you know, the rosters coming together for Pat Kelsey,

Mark Pope and whatnot. But we'll catch up with Kent in the four o'clock hour and I want to get his thoughts on realistic expectations for the football programs around here. Also see if he has any any takeaways from the boys in the Bahamas last week. And Kent is always a great, great guest, and we're looking forward to bringing him back on I think it's been gosh, maybe a couple months since we've had Kenton, so again he'll join us in the four o'clock hour. Some other things we'll

get into today. There's more takeaways from Louisville football practices. You know, these are open to fans. They did let some of the local which I guess fans aren't necessarily allowed to go in and like just film the whole practice. That is open to fans, but they do allow those that work here for the local news stations to get

some footage and stuff for their newscasts. And Tyler Griever had some clips and it's just you know, a few clips here and there, but he shared some takeaways from one of the most recent practices and some good, good updates. Let's put it that way, right, There's some guys that in the transfer portal. I think where they initially got here there was a little bit of an adjustment, maybe not because they were stepping up a level from where they transferred from, but just you know, a new maybe

that's part of it, but also just getting acclimated. Right, if you've been playing for the same program, same system for the last four years, three years, whatever it may be, there's going to be an adjustment process. So there's some guys that I think in the spring maybe you felt a little underwhelmed by because of just you know, they didn't seem to get a lot of buzz despite being a big name in the portal that you felt like

was going to be a big addition. Well, now it sounds like some of those guys are really starting to come on and practice, which which is certainly good. So again, also, we'll let you guys be a part of the show today. Five oh two five seven seventy nine hundred is the number if you want to give us a call. We'll open up the phone lines a little bit later on. You can text in as well five O two sixty five three zero seven ninety on the L and N

Federal Credit Union text line. When it comes to Nolan Smith, I don't want to act as if like we're gonna spend a ton of time talking about that today, but it sounds like there are reports out there that he is about to be hired at Memphis, and uh, I'm not going to use this as a chance to like remind everybody about how things allegedly went down at the

end with Nolan Smith and whatnot. But I'm rooting for that guy in all honesty, and I just you know, I'm getting little PTSD just kind of thinking about the previous regime, the previous coaching staff. But there is something I wanted to share sort of about that situation with him in Memphis. Also, Marvin Harrison Junior, one of the top rookies in the NFL. He'll be playing in his first preseason game, I think in the next couple of days maybe, and he'll be making history. But it's not

for something you would ever expect, so we'll get into that. Also, it's already happening once again with the second Lebron James Son. I don't know if you guys have seen this, but you know, apparently his youngest Bryce. You know, he's not even close to, I guess, being the prospect that Browny

allegedly was. And yet you're already seeing people starting to create this narrative that like he's going to be this NBA prospect at some point, and like, at what point does somebody like kind of step in and just say, look, let's all actively agree to not run with this nonsense. And there's some other nonsense in fact that I've got planned for the rest of the show today, so we'll have some fun. We'll mix it up as we take you up until six o'clock. Stick around again. It is

Coffee and Company here on a Thursday afternoon. We're fueled by Thornton's. On Sports Talk seven ninety after we had at least one poor edit on YouTube. I was really hoping that this was a good edit. That is that is that song has I mean, there's quite anybody who knows that song. John knows what was said right as see as we were coming back. But yeah, anyways, let's keep it rolling along here. It's Coffee and Company. We

are fueled by Thornton's. Make sure you sign up to become a member of the Refreshing Awards program at Thornton's. With that you will save money at the pump and you'll also be able to take advantage of the frequency Club. That is when you purchase something so frequently that eventually it becomes a freebie. Right like, you purchase nine of this item and the tenth time you purchase it, it's free.

So take advantage. Go to Refreshing Awards dot com, download the app, and we will you'll be happy that you did. I'll be happy that you did. We'll both be happy that we are collectively part of the Refreshing Awards program. All right? Text line five two six five three zero seven to ninety if you guys want to text in on the Ellen N Federal Credit Union. Text on this text says Nick, now that you've watched this team in the Bahamas, who is your favorite for the dunk contest

and the three point shootout? Your question? Three point shootout should be a lot of fun because this team has a lot of shooters, you know, I think it'll be rare for them to have more than one guy on the floor that you don't feel comfortable taking an open look. I would say Big Frank and Trey Ore probably the two guys that like you just like, that's so not

their game, but really everybody else that you play. I mean, if they get an open look and it's it's you know, in transition, it's off of an extra pass, they're set, then they'll probably you know, get the green light to knock it down. And there'll be games where this team, you know, shoots it poorly, but you know, there's there's not many guys on this team when you think of Okay, what are they bringing to the table. What do they do well? Shooting is a big part of it for

a lot of these guys. So, but three point shootouts are different, right, I mean there are guys who are really good shooters that in their career they're shooting close to forty percent from three, but you know, just picking it up off the rack, moving or like, it's just a different it's a different thing than shooting a three point shot in a game. Now, there are some that have been great at both, right, Like they're elite shooters in game and they can light up a three point shootout.

So I don't know, I would say, like, I can just see Corin Johnson being a guy that could get really hot in a three point shootout. But then again, Rain Smith is somebody that Pat Kelsey still, I mean, he doesn't just say this to say it. I think he believes it that when Rain Smith has got it rolling, like he is one of the shooters he's ever seen in his in his life. So he'd probably be the betting favorite if somebody really put in the work to

give us some odds. But I would say, I would say corn Johnson would be my would be my pick to win a three point shootout at Louisville Live and the dunk contest. Uh, I don't know. I would. I would go with Cater Treore just because he's got such

an insane vertical leap in insane reach. And when you when you're in a dunk contest, I feel like if you're really tall, like you can do something that is super impressive, but it doesn't look as impressive if you're really tall, because you know, it just it just doesn't look that flashy, doesn't look as if you really did something that creative and cool if you're already you know,

three feet from the rim. Like Dwight Howard, like he won a couple dunk contests, I think, but I'm not sure I ever remember him doing anything in the dunk contest that it looked like, Wow, that was impressive, thinking like, okay, he put on a Superman cape and dunked it and it looked easy to do. Like there are a lot of props with guys like that, saying with Blake Griffin, who is a phenomenal dunker, but at times, like you know, it just didn't look that impressive. So with trei Ora,

you know, he's got the link. But he's only six five, so like I could see him doing something and looking like, you know, something that you belong in an NBA dunk contest as far as like style points, maybe case in pryor No, that's a good one. I'd have a tougher time picking a dunk contest winner just because I've not seen a lot of these guys throw it down. Although I will say Chucky hepburn in his h in his Which game was that was that? The Yeah? I think it was the second game the uh? Or was it

the first game? I think it was the second game when they played the team from Canada, you know, in a half court set, like not even you know, it wasn't like he was going downhill, but he you know, he saw a path to the lane, took it and completely just off two feet just dunk on somebody, which I did not know he had that. I didn't know he had that in the bag.

staffs around here when it comes to hosting recruits. Will get back to the text line coming up here shortly five O two six five three zero seven to ninety Again, it's the l and N Federal Credit Union tex Lin members get more at Ellenn Federal Credit Union. You can learn more and open your account today at LNFCU dot com. All right, so, every year ESPN they give us a promo video commercial essentially for the upcoming college football season, and it includes a song that is kind of like,

in their mind, the anthem for college football. And they kind of determined that because again, let's be real, the majority of big games in college football take place on the four letter network, not all of them, right, I mean, obviously the Big Ten is a huge league, and they don't have any affiliation with ESPN, do they not anymore? Yeah, so you know they don't. ESPN kind of owns college football.

But then again, you know there's still some other networks that that you know, might might have something to say

about that. But anyways, they play these this, you know, they play it nonstyle, like I We'll go through and look at some of the older songs that you know, you'll you'll you'll remember them because either they became radio hits or you just remember, Oh yeah, I remember during foot during or before football season, and all throughout football season they played this a billion times every day, it seemed.

But here is the upcoming twenty twenty four college football season anthem from ESPN, and it has a guy who I feel like has become like maybe one of them. I mean, I'm not like a big fan. I don't dislike the guy, just he's not really my cup of tea. I actually enjoyed him whenever he did more rap than he does whatever he's doing now. He's one of those guys that kind of is becoming a star. And you don't really know what Geen wre to put him in,

but he goes by jelly roll. You know jelly roll, right, John I do.

But here it is obviously there's a visual component that you guys don't get if you're just listening right now. But there was an appearance from Jeff Brown that clip that was pretty popular. It was shared quite a bit after the game when Louisville went down to Miami and won. I think it was the last game before they ended

up hosting Kentucky. In fact, I think that was the game that clinched their their spot in the ACC Championship game and Brom got the gatorade bath from behind and that was featured in that one minute and thirty four second promo reel and the song you know it fits right, I mean it's uh, you know, it's not really again my cup of tea. But for what they were trying to accomplish there, you know, I think they did a

pretty good job. Now, speaking of ESPN's coverage, there's always some new coaches that you know, that that make their day, they make their they make their way to the broadcast world because they've you know, no longer been able to get a job in coaching. One of those is Dan Mullen, who I believe is still is still gonna to be working free ESPN this year, and I would assume he is. He didn't get a job anywhere. But Steve Dazio, you guys remember, you guys may remember Steve Dazio from his

time at Boston College, Temple Colorado State. In fact, did you know he was an assistant in Indiana John I'm looking at his uh recently, I don't know, but it was this is uh, I didn't know it was on his bio here. He has an assistant coaching stints at Syracuse, Indiana, Notre Dame in Florida. Huh. But he was on Urban Meyers staff when they won national championships, and he was on Jimbo's staff last year. Of course that ended. So now he's going to be one of the UH one

of the new analysts for UH. For for the four latter network, there was an imagined Dragons song that I remember being the It just it stuck in my head.

promotional video footage for the upcoming college football season. So I'm curious if these are songs, I would imagine that they they probably have a big pool of songs to choose from and then go from there. But like, it's clearly beneficial for any artists to have their music selected for this because it's just free promotion for.

it because he wouldn't want any money. He would do it for free because he you know, hasn't had any new music in a long time, and maybe I don't know, maybe it kind of revives things for him. But that's why like Taylor Swift I think has been asked to do it a couple of times and wouldn't do it

because she's not going to do it for free. Which I can respect that too, especially when she doesn't need to do anything for promotion right now because you know, she's on you know, she's seemingly on top of the world.

So if I can find like the list of the other songs that have that have been used for this, because I'm telling you, man, they get played over and over and over and they just get stuck in my head to whear Like, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that I like the song, but you know, if it's on you may see me, you know, singing along to it because it's just instilled in my brain. All right, quick break, we'll come back here on the other side, finish up the three o'clock hour to'll forget.

We will bring in Ken Spencer from w h A S eleven. He'll join us, uh at some point in the four o'clock hour. I'm pretty sure it'll be around like four four twenty, so we may actually cut our first segment a little bit shorter today. In the four o'clock hour, so we have some more time with kent So stick around. There's a lot more to get into the rest of the way, including the text line. And uh, we'll have some fun. I mean I've got When I say have some fun, I mean I think it'll be fun.

But I'll worry sometimes, like whenever I veer away from sports. Like you know, I know there's some people that punch the radio and say, you but took, this is a sports station, you son of them, bitch. So ESPN has released their preseason power rankings for the SEC, which, of course you know, a loaded league always and it's got even more loaded now with the likes of Texas and

Oklahoma joining. But any guest, John as to where Kentucky comes in in the sixteen team SEC preseason power rankings, I bet they've got them at number eleven, close number ten Okay, so Georgia number one, Texas to Alabama three, Ole miss for Missouri five, Tennessee six, LSU seven, Oklahoma eight, Texas A and M nine in Kentucky ten. After Kentucky, it's Auburn, Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Vanderbilt.

So I'll bring this up because if you're a Kentucky fan and you know you're being realistic knowing that you know you could have a really good year, you could have another not I mean, maybe you have that year this year, but just two three years from now, let's just say some kind of magical ride happened and Stoops really put together a great team with the Portal. They developed some guys and it looks as if they got a chance to be pretty good. I mean maybe one

of his best teams. Right, What do you think the ceiling is for Kentucky in the SEC moving forward? Because they I mean, they've always had well, let me back up a second year, because I want they've been clearly better in the Stoop's hair than they've really ever been as far as consistency, Like they've had years where they weren't that good, but still you know, they've not been the dorm out of that league in quite some time.

But even in their years where they were you know, five and three, you know they still were middle of the packet best because you know, the top of that league is so good, but now it's even better. And you got to wonder when Stoops was having his better seasons right, And they were getting to five and three a couple of times, which now we know one of those seasons has been vacated, but still, you know, they

went they won five games. I mean, having a winning record in the SEC for Kentucky is not something I ever thought we'd see. And he's done it a couple of times. They've had some years where they were four and four and then they've had many years where they were three and five or worse. So with that, you know, you're doing that at times when teams that you would play every year in the East are going through you know,

a rough patch, right. They were able to get Tennessee a couple of times, a few times really, you know, before Hypel got there. Now Tennessee seems to be in a solid spot. And I don't think anybody that's objective would say that Tennessee right now is not a program that's ahead of Kentucky and football. I mean, they always have been, but you know, they had a rough little stretch there where they were going. I mean really since since Fulmer moved on, I mean, they really had a

tough time sustaining any consistent success. And you know, we'll see it looks like Hypel's going to be the guy that will be there for a long time. Will they ever win a national championship again? Probably not, But hey, they're they're better than they were with Kiffin and Derek Dooley evenber that guy, Butch Jones and Jeremy Pruett. I mean, they've they've found a guy who I think gives them hope to you know, not have to go hire a new coach anytime soon. Right now, Florida is down. Florida's

behind them. Florida's at number twelve in these rankings that I'm referencing, and Florida's expected to be a team that doesn't win many games because they have a really, really tough schedule and that's why their head coach is believed to be maybe the first guy to get fired this year during the season. So do we expect Florida to

stay down long? Right? Like if Florida ends up hiring Lane Kiffin after this upcoming season, I mean at that point, like would Kentucky fans realistically expect Florida to be behind them? I mean, I don't think they should. Auburn is behind them right now. Like Auburn, what I'm getting at is there are teams that'll have stretches where they're looking at a down year where they're likely going to be making a coaching change before too long. Again, I think Auburn

and Florida are two of those teams. Auburn maybe not as much because they have gusmells On and he'll probably get some time there just because he has shown as a head coach to be able to be successful. But maybe eventually Missouri falls off and they're behind you. But I just I if I was in the SEC and I was a Kentucky fan, I mean, yeah, there's benefits to playing in a really good league, but like, what's the best you could realistically ever finish in your own conference?

And look, the reason that it's so tough to imagine them ever being like a top five or even six team in that league is not because of their inabilities. It's just because the league is that good. It's loaded. And I just had never really thought about it from like the louisvill fans perspective, Like I have no problem acknowledging the SEC is a much better football league than

the ACC. No brainer. Everybody knows that. I would never deny that, and I wish the ACC was a better league, just because at that point, you know, you'd have a little more respect when you do, in fact, go out and win league games. And heck, Louisville went seven to one last year played in the ACC conference championship game, and I'm not sure anybody thought that that was impressive,

and you know, I think that's nonsense. But either way, like there are benefits to knowing that in your league, you know you could have a once in a decade type season and know that, yeah, with that, you could win the whole thing, meaning your conference. In the SEC, I think there are a ton of teams that could have maybe they're once in a two three decade type season and know that they're probably playing for fifth place,

and that wouldn't be a lot of fun. So I have found myself kind of appreciating the ACC being a power for that has national championship caliber programs that have, you know, won a title in the last ten years in Clemson, in Florida State and other programs that have won one before although it's been a long time, but you know, it's not loaded to the point where like your ceiling is probably like top five at best, and

if you're in the Big Ten. I think you can say the same thing, but not to the same extent, if that makes sense. Maybe it's a little different now that you've added Oregon and Washington and USC and UCLA. But like all of those schools have had years where they were mid and they weren't like a juggernaut. I mean, Ohio State, I think has been the most consistent bully of the Big Ten, wouldn't you agree, John.

what they were in the last few years. And even when Penn State feels like they're getting they're getting you know, dangerous we'll still probably beat them, right or whenever Michigan State has a randomly really good year, Yeah we can. There's still Michigan State and we're Ohio State. We'll we'll take care of them. So I don't know, I just I think there's benefits to playing in a league that, you know, we'll give you the chance to win a lot of games in said league and put yourself in

the playoff. But man, like the SEC is dominant. I mean, it's it just is. And to be a middle of a pack team in that league could also mean you're like a top twenty five caliber program, maybe fairly consistently, but like in your own league, you're you know, not even maybe you're barely top ten. It's just crazy, all right, You're crazy if you don't stick around. We got two more hours to go and a lot to get to.

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