9.24: Help Me Out, Here - Hour 1

it's in the afternoon if you're listening live. But you know what, I need to have more awareness while on the air that, you know, just because we are a live show that happens to be broadcasting on the strongest sports station in the state of Kentucky as far as our signal, our reach, there's a lot of people that listen days later with the podcast that kind of stuff. So however, you're listening wherever you're listening. We appreciate it. It's coffee and company. We are fueled by Thornton's here

on Sports Talk seven ninety nit coffee. That is me, the company man, mister John Alden alongside. And I'm stressed about some stuff right now, and I'm going to use the show today as some stress relief. John.

was was blown. They had to go get and you know, they had to put a new part in that kind of stuff. And like the dealership is telling me, you know, we'll let you know when it's done. And they've been they've been good, you know that they've been uh, they've they've been way better than than AutoZone. But like, I have this fear that I'm going to show up to get my car and like they're gonna give me a bill for an insane amount of money, and I'm like, I'm not gonna pay it, you know.

you know, forgetting about something. This came up. I don't know, maybe a month and a half ago or something, but I've been selected for Jerry duty and Bullet County totally forgot all about that until today I realized that's tomorrow. So I have Jerry duty tomorrow or like jury duty orientation. I don't even know what that is. I had to call our program director my boss here and say so I've got jury duty tomorrow, but I don't know, like if I'm like, am I gonna be there?

week it has been. But good news is Louisville Football's back in action in uh, you know, five days or so, and they're top fifteen team with a chance to go get a big time victory. That has me excited. And

football season being here is good stuff too. Last night we had two Monday night football games that I you know, I was going back and forth, but I think everything I said yesterday, and I'm sure I sounded like I was just you know, whining and complaining about the NFL because of you know, my inability to win money betting

on the NFL, and that's part of it. But like, even if you don't bet on the NFL, like I don't know how you could look at the product in the last few weeks since the league, since the season started, like it's just it's not great. And you know, NFL snobs used to look down on college football, and look, I'm not here to tell you college football is better

than the NFL. Even if you believe that, and that's your opinion, that's cool, but like you're going to be in the minority because the NFL is king around here. We know that. When I say around here, I mean in this country. But I really don't. I mean again, I think it's more of just like you know, professional sports is so different than college but like if you consider the pro meaning what you're watching on the field, I mean, college football is way more entertaining. I mean,

I don't think I'm biased in saying that. I mean, sometimes you have some really good NFL games, but like, I don't think we've had many of them this year. So last night the Bengals go to oh and three, and man, they look like the Bengals of old. This is gonna this is gonna sound weird, but let me let me get there. I'm actually more impressed with Joe

Burrow now than I've ever been. And it's not because you know, anything he did last night, because you know, they lost once again, and the video of him and Zach Taylor heading towards his office directly from the field right they walked off and did not go to the locker room. Those two just went straight to his office to probably I don't know, hash some things out, figure out what the hell's going on, but not even going to the locker room with the team right afterwards because

they realize, oh and three, this isn't good. But I'm more impressed with Joe Burrow now because we're gonna look back, in my opinion, ten years from now and say, wait, no, no, he goes he didn't go to the Super Bowl. You're out of your mind. You dream that, now you're there's no way like and then you're gonna realize, oh, yeah, they did, and Burrow I think was mostly responsible for that. I think Jamar Chase certainly was a big factor in that too. I mean, I think we all know he was.

But quarterbacks just get more of the credit when things happen in a positive way and they get more of the blame when things happen in a bad way. Like I don't even think Joe Burrow has been like a huge problem for them this year. I mean he probably hadn't played great to his standard, but they're a mess. And then the year so far has been expect the

unexpected as far as just some of the results. But I'm I think that's sort of been the case with quarterbacks as well, not just like with wins and losses with teams, but just again, right now, Sam Darnell would be your MVP in the NFL, Like that's crazy to say. Andy Dalton is the first quarterback of the season to give you three hundred yards and three touchdowns in a game like it's it's insane, And I won't claim to.

I won't claim to you know, be this you know quarterback guru that can evaluate these guys at a really high level, because I mean I can't. But of all the quarterbacks coming out in recent years, one guy that I just kind of had I had a hard time thinking this was really going to work out was Jaden Daniels. And how about this guy last night for the Commanders. I mean, he's been sensational. Really, he's slowly but surely

gotten more and more comfortable. And then last night in his third NFL game, I mean a performance for the ages, twenty one of twenty three passes completed ninety one point three percent ninety one point three completion percentage, which set a record for rookies. I mean two hundred ninety three total yards, tw hundred and fifty four passing yards, had three touchdowns, two passing, one rushing. I mean, this guy was sensational. And you know, let's be real, he didn't

go to some great team. That's why he was drafted where he was, right, Like Anthony Richardson, Does he have a great system around him. No, And that's the Colts fault for just putting a guy out there to see what he can do. Cut his teeth and look, you can do that with certain guys. But Anthony Richardson did not win in high school, did not win at Florida, had a losing I mean, he had a losing record at Florida. And he's his high school team was two

and eight when he was a senior. So to me, he's just a rare guy that yeah, you take him that early in the draft because you need a quarterback, but you got to let him sit because he's never been good at any level. You think you're gonna throw himut in the NFL on a roster that's already not great and have success. Good luck, and you're seeing it now. They did beat the Bears, And I bring all that up to say, like, Jayden Daniels is in a bad

situation too, so is Anthony Richardson. So it's Kayleb Williams. And it's early for both those guys, especially since Richardson didn't play much last year because he couldn't play without getting hurt. But those guys get a bit. Those guys are getting a pass and look, not to say they don't deserve it, but like Kayler Williams has been bad. I mean he's been bad. His offensive line isn't good. But again, like to see this Washington team off to

a two and one start with their rookie quarterback. Again, he didn't walk into a great situation either, So really really impressive last night. And I'm still not sure who is in fact good and who's bad. I mean, I think we know we got a good idea who sucks in the NFL but I don't know if we've ever gone three weeks in and been this unclear about all right, who do we think like might be kind of good?

and they've done that every single time here. But you know they should have lost to the Ravens. That guy doesn't have his you know, that receiver doesn't have his foot on the line. On that opening night, you know they probably don't win. And then the bailout call. I mean again, Cincinnati gave them the game in Kansas City, and we know Cincinnati's not good at least right now. They look terrible. And then against the Falcons. I mean, I don't think the Falcons are great, and they could

have easily you know. Again, the play of the game in that Sunday night game between the Falcons and the Chiefs was from the punter who was able to make some acrobatic athletic catch when the ball was you know, sent ten feet ahead of him or ten feet above him. It seemed so Anyways, Monday night football last night, I mean it was I'm gonna watch it, I'm gonna consume the product. I love it when they give us two

games rather than one. But I still just feel like, you know this, like it's great because we just love it. But as far as like the actual product again, I keep using that word product. What I mean is like it's just not been entertaining at all. And some people don't care about anentertainment value when you're just watching your team play, right, because it doesn't matter when right. You want to you want to see your team win. You want to you want you want them to look good

doing it. But at the end of the day, if your team plays boring, not entertaining football, but yet they win all the time, you're gonna be happy. Right, So, like It's not like I'm saying the NFL sucks, but I just I feel like three weeks in this is an unusual spot. However, records in revenue, I'm sorry, ratings in revenue for the NFL has never been better, and that's all that matters to them, Like they don't have

a there's there's no problem with the NFL. The NFL is going to continue to be king in a major way. But I just think I watch a lot of NFL games without really having a dog in the fight, because you know, a lot of times I watch my Colts. I'm a Colts fan, but I really don't, you know, And there's more often than not, if I found myself rooting for a team in the NFL, it's because I

don't like the other team that they're playing. So, you know, I I'm just curious if if this is going to be the season, or if things kind of settle in and and you know, we get back to getting more entertaining football to watch. I mean, there's some numbers that kind of back this up that I'll get into a little bit later, but as far as like the amount of passing touchdowns three weeks in is way lower than

it's been in forever. So anyways, let's see here, we're gonna have a guest joining us early in the show. At three point thirty, we will be joined by the one, the only, mister Zach Barnetta FootballScoop dot Com get his thoughts on the college football season thus far. Usually we just talk big picture college football stuff with Zach, and

we'll continue to do that. But I would imagine when he's looking at the board the schedule this week as far as games, he's going to really prioritize, as far as watching and doing some coverage for the Football Scoop crew. I can't imagine this Notre Dame Louisville game's not on there. Again, it's easily one of the top three matchups of the weekend. I mean, you've got Georgia Bama and that is that's

a that's a sensational matchup on its own. And then after that, you know, you're probably picking between Louislle Notre Dame, and then Wisconsin.

game is relevant. I can give you thoughts as far as what I hope happens, and I can share you know what, what I expect to see, but like you know, I'm not one that's like I'm gonna guarantee you Louisville's winning. I mean, if I did that, it wouldn't do any good. It's you know. So anyways, here's what I do feel comfortable in saying, I think they're gonna be ready to play.

Does that mean they win? No, But I think Louisville football has has come a long way since the first time you played Notre Dame many many years ago, and in fact, when you did that, you beat them to where now, like we know, Notre Dame is legitimately a top you know, top twenty program right now as we speak, historically they're one of the best ever. But I get the sense that the fan base isn't like, oh, we're gonna kill them. They stink we're gonna shock the world.

I think you just kind of have. I just get the sense that the fans, and I'm sure it's the same way with Jeff Brohm and his team, they're comfortable with where they are and they know that if they go play good football, they play clean football. They don't

you know, they don't make a ton of me. Again, I'm about to give you all the cliches like don't like don't turn it over, like turnovers are you know, anytime people do keys to the game and they mention turnovers like yeah, anytime you just start turning the ball over, that's gonna be crucial. So again, I feel good about the matchup. I'm not worried about Notre Dame just being able to throw some dudes out there that we can't

account for. But really, for me, it's just about the injury situation, and I don't think we're gonna get any update until we get closer to this thing actually kicking off. No other guests are going to join us other than Zach, so after three thirty, it'll be it'll be wide open for you guys to be a part of the show.

Five O two five seven seventy nine hundred is the number if you guys would like to give us a call, and then five O two sixty five three zero seven ninety is the ln N Federal Credit Union text line if you want to text end of the show. So can somebody help me out here? Jury duty orientation? Does that mean? Like I've been selected and I am part of a jury, therefore we're gonna have orientation?

so you don't have to get ready. In fact, I don't know what they would do, but I did at least tell Gus like we'll see and what I don't know, like do they take your phone away? Like can, I have no clue what to expect. The only thing I know about a Jerry, and I guess Jerry duty is whenever I've seen like courtroom TV shows where they I can see the Jerry sitting over there, like I know that they've got a spot in the in the courtroom and that's where they sit. Other than that, I don't know.

So we shall see, all right. So before we take a break and bring in Zach Barnett, we've got another game. We now know as far as the date and the time and the opponent for the Louisville basketball team. And they kind of I mean this, they put it out yesterday, the ACC did as well as U of L on their social media, and I think today later today the ACC will unveil the entire schedule for the basketball uh. And I mean, I haven't had the time to go look into it, and I will at some point. But

Louisville they're gonna play Duke in December. Here their ACC opener will be again the Duke Blue Devils. It'll be six pm on December eighth. They're gonna host, Yeah, on the ACC network, They're gonna host Duke. So if you look at Louisville's schedule. Pat Kelsey year one, he's gonna have one of the toughest non conference schedules that anybody's

gonna have. In that I mean, maybe not even just non non conference, because Duke is a conference game, but because of the ACC network they do, they do require you play at least one ACC games when most people are playing their non conference games. So I mean, you've got let's start with the fact that your second game of the season is at your third game.

So you got the number thirteen team in the country in your second in your second game as the head coach at Louisville. Well, then you're gonna take on the Indiana Hoosiers, a team that also is expected to be

pretty good this year. In fact, I think Indiana, not to say they're getting that, they're getting like a ton of Like I think it's understandable why they're like borderline like eighteen to twenty in a lot of these preseason rankings, because you know, with them, it's it's more based off of, Okay, did the guys they bring back get better? And are these trendsfers going to really work? But I feel like you could say that about just about any team, by

about any team in the country. But I actually think from a personnel standpoint, I mean with Miles, Rice, Cannan, Carlisle, and Bacco renew Ballow, I mean, that's a hell of a starting five. Like as far as talent, now, how it all works together, I don't know. But Indiana, that's gonna be a tough game. So that's two top twenty matchups for for Pat Kelce in his first five games. And then after that you could be playing Gonzaga, you could be playing West Virginia. I mean Gonzaga. I don't

know if I believe they're that good. They're good they're gonna it's gonna be a tough and they'll better than they were a year ago. But I don't know if I think they're top five. But you know, ESPN hasn't ranked number five in the country. So from then you return from the Bahamas to get Ole Miss who you know, Chris Beard in his second season there. They're a top twenty team. They're ranked number twenty. So now you throw in two other teams to round out the non con

the I guess pre Christmas schedule. You've got Kentucky on December fourteenth at roupp Aerna. And where are they at in this ranking? I think they're They're in there somewhere right. Yeah, they're number twenty three, which I think that's a little I mean, I have no clue how good they're gonna be, But I feel like in most early rankings, John, I've seen Kentucky higher than that. Would you agree?

And I know that we are in the We're in a new world of college basketball where a lot of these guys that he's going to be going up against are grown men compared to him. He's fresh out of high school. But this is a guy who is in that elite tier. And what really really made it clear to me that this guy is different. He's special. First guy in a long time to hit the college game. That's just different. As a freshman was whenever he was working out and competing with the the United States team

that we sent to the Olympics. I mean, he was competing with those guys and holding his own and in fact, at time's getting the best of them, Like there's video footage of that, and to see that he was unanimously voted by college basketball coaches in that CBS piece the Candid Coaches Series, as as the number one player in the country. So you know, Duke has not been the

same Duke necessarily under John Shire. But there's still Duke and this guy is I mean, this guy is gonna be appointment viewing for a lot of people just because people want to People are gonna want to see is this guy the real deal? And I think he is. So Duke is number eight in these rankings, so let's count him out. Now you've got let's see here we just you know, just I was gonna say, it's not really math, it's just counting. I just want to make sure I get because I get, I want to go.

I'm gonna go look at it. And I don't know where where Louisville's gonna end up, but I feel like there's gonna it's gonna be hard to find teams that have as many challenging games in November and December. Maybe I'm way off here, but again, Tennessee, Indiana I guess West Virginia and Zaget really depends.

teams that are even in it. So, you know, it's exciting because, you know, I feel really good about where Louisville basketball is with Pat Kelsey. He hadn't coached a game yet, so we shall see. But like it's nice to be involved in these games where you don't just have to dread the overall situation and worry about you know,

are we gonna lose bout thirty five? Is it gonna be another national situation to where the only reason this game is getting attention is because people are saying to themselves, can you believe what happened to Louisville GE's we won't have that issue. But like ready or not, Pat Kelsey's gonna be challenged in a major ways as he gets his tenure here at Louisville started. And I'm sure he's

gonna be ready. He's a competitor, But I'm curious if like he would have signed up with this if he had a choice as far as this schedule, not the job but I think he's he's happy.

expecting to talk Brooks and done, but we did. So I'm going to start with a question that I'm sure you're not prepared for. Have you ever been to jury duty? Have you ever been a part of a jury.

in jail, Zach. So I'm just I'm convinced that, like if I mess up something with jury duty, They're gonna put out a warrant for me and throw me in the slammer. So if somebody called me and told me, like, hey, you need to do this because you missed jerry duty, Like I don't know if that's what happened to you, but I would fall for it all the time.

who cover this sport nationally, but Notre Dame Louisville. I mean, is it safe to say this is one of the bigger matchups on the card? I mean, obviously Georgia and Bama's in a world of its own, but it's a decent matchup for those who aren't necessarily rooting for either team here, right.

go up in flames before October even gets here. So yeah, and then Louisville is a team that's quasi interesting, but as you said, hasn't really played anyone yet and uh won't really for a while outside of this game.

not aging. Well, I'm just curious what you did this is a game where Notre Dame if they lose, they're out, Like nobody's gonna consider that. They're not even going to be in the conversation for the playoff at all. I personally don't even think they should be right now because of how bad that one loss is. But I guess what I'm asking here is like, do you feel like Notre Dame, even though they had that slip up, those things happen, are they?

The most yards that Riley Leonard's thrown for is one hundred and sixty two, and that was in the Northern Illinois game when it took him like thirty two passes to do it. He's if we assume his nil salary is a million dollars, then he's making a million dollars per touchdown pass right now he's throwing all over one.

that investment. But before we get to that, the big matchup Georgia Bama. Georgia, you know, they've they've looked phenomenal for years and then they had that really close game against Kentucky, and you know that I think that said, I don't know, I don't know what that game told us other than this has become kind of a theme for Georgia because they had a really close game last year against a bad Auburn team who lost to New

Mexico State after they nearly beat Georgia. Missouri outplayed them two years ago and still couldn't hold on, and neither team was able to really take that and finish strong, if you know what I mean. Whereas Kentucky, I guess we'll see if that ends up happening with them. But like Georgia in Bama, I don't know. I just I wouldn't be shocked if Georgia wins this thing, not necessarily going away, but like, I just think they're the much

better team. But I'm just curious what your thoughts here on this matchup?

talking scale here. If they're playing Louisville tomorrow, then Georgia's receivers are scary. But going it's the quality of athlete that Alabama has. I think that's a draw and that's a relative weakness for Alabama. I just the fact that it's at home leads me to believe Alabama wins. If this game was in Athens, I'd probably take Georgia. But I feel reasonably confident Alabama wins.

time opponents. If in fact Bama does does get the victory, I kind of feel like that people are going to, like not say that this guy's better than saving but how how huge would that be early on in his first you know, month on the job.

be extremely impressive. Obviously, Alabama lost some guys, but it's still the most talented roster of college football. But I mean your game four and Kirby Smart is what game seventy? I don't have no off the top of my head, but I mean they've been the They've won what forty one straight regular season games. This is the ultimate death

machine in college football right now. So to be able to beat them in your fourth game with obviously a really good quarterback, but not a guy that you recruited, you know, you didn't have multiple years to develop your offense like you did at Washington. You're doing it relatively on the fly. So if you can do that a month in that's certainly in his home base, that would be more impressive. Than even winning the national championship at Washington.

Not that they you know, not that they need anymore, and not that Georgia would feel like they're in shambles, but to the elite, the two elite programs, I feel like in college football, going head to head this Saturday should be should be a great game. But Zack Barnett is our guest joining us here talking to some college football on Sports Talk seven nine. You guys can read Zach's work at FootballScoop dot com. I know you guys enjoy his analysis each week, but does great work as well.

And I really enjoyed the piece in regards to the quarterback free agency situation. And I don't I mean again, I just mentioned in a moment ago, I don't know how a lot of these coaches, programs andil collectives could say that they're getting like a return on their investment. But if somehow somebody's able to round up in ile money, I don't even think they think about our and they

just say, hey, let's go get a good player. But I mean, the the early I guess part of this wave of the portal and the quarterbacks are gonna be the guys that get all the money. I mean, I don't see any change, Like I think, despite there there's gonna be way more examples of guys that got a lot of money to come in and transfer and it really they just didn't come close to living up to it.

But I feel like if coaches know they've got money aside somewhere, it's not their money, it's money from a collective or money from you know, an individual supporter who's a big donor, Like they're gonna still go pay whatever they can to go get whoever they want. Like, I don't think they're gonna learn from these bad investments. Just curious your thoughts on it. I know you are much more connected in the college football world than I'll ever be.

But again, it's embarrassing to see some of these, again big investments that have no chance of paying off. But yet I don't see it ending.

Like that guy's been every bit a franchise player. But then you go next to if you're Florida State, well, okay, we missed a number one. Who's number two on our board? Okay, dju all right, well let's go get him. He's the next best thing. And just because he's necessarily the number two guy on your board doesn't make him, you know, that much closer to number one. I think you've seen other than cam Award, you haven't seen these guys come

in and be transformational players. Like even Grayson McCall at NC State has struggled before he got hurt, and obviously that team is a disaster maybe the worst team of the ACC But he even said that he's not a guy that's going to lift him from three wins to

six wins or anything like that. So, I mean, I don't know when NC State paid him, but if you're a collective, you're thinking, maybe we're better off roll than what we got and spreading that out over you know, three defensive players that can help us at every level. But yeah, I think people are always going to be enamored, uh with with the big quarterback, the star quarterback, the five star quarterback. You know at Oklahoma there that was kind of the genesis of the piece of what's going

on in Oklahoma. After saving saying goodbye to Dylan Gabriel and then promoting Jackson Arnold a lot, pretty much every single Oklahoma fanils like, good ridden, Yeah, we got a guy who's more talented, who's going to be here longer. This is a sound investment for us. And then now they're going into their fourth game with a true freshman quarterback.

and keep up the great work, Zach. I appreciate you making time for us on short notice, and I'll keep you updated on my jury situation, although I won't be able to give you the details till the case is over, but just you know it's If it's something juicy, I'll let you know.

just talking about how he he almost was scammed. Did you appear that part of the interview.

arrest warrant by phone. Real valid arrest warrants are always served in person. So if I got a call that told me I missed jury duty and that if I don't pay, there would be a warning out for my arrest, I think I would pay. I think too that I think I would pay. And look, just saying that is probably enough, like putting fear, Like that's a good way to scam somebody put fear into them, right, That's how a lot of this works, right, Like they'll target elderly

people via phone, who a little bit more. You know, they don't know as much about this criminal world, but just praise on people like them. But you know, if if they give them a call asking for the personal information saying it has something to do with like their medicaid or something like that, like they're gonna they're gonna be worried about their livelihood. Therefore, they're going to just

hope and assume this is legit. And and you know that because what they do is they reach out with some of these scams and whatnot as if they're trying to help you, right, And that's just you know, that's that's awful to do. So, yeah, scammers out there. Uh And by the way, I can't confirm mine was not

a scam. It was legit. But I'll never forget. We were in we were in Florida a few years ago and we went to a Publix and got groceries and uh, I got a text message that was from the bank that said an unexpected purchase at at this play where we went. So it was like an extra charge that they said via phone in the text message, Hey, please call this number to to UH to confirm or deny

if this is a legitimate purchase or not. And I knew that what the phone told me was charged, like what the message told me was charged was not legit. So I called the number and I thought I was talking to like a legitimate customer service person, and uh, you know, they they kept I mean, they they did a really good job of fooling me. Maybe that's just me being an idiot, but like they were very like

they knew that I'd been to to publics. So that made me already think that they were they were legit, because how would they know that if they didn't, you know, if they if they weren't really with the bank. So and they call in the number that I that I that I that I ended up calling them from the number I called when they sent in a message. Uh, they said, somebody will be back in touch with you, you know, YadA YadA, YadA. You know, we're we're working

on fraud prevention stuff. We'll be in touch to to to to determine if other charges were legitimate or not. And they really didn't care about any of the charges. They just wanted me to give them my information. But they had a really impressive scam to make to do all this stuff to where I'm like, you know that they're doing the job and all all they really wanted was just my information, and they did a lot of stuff to where if I didn't give them my info,

they were going to be just wasting time. But I'm sure they sit around and do it all day and all it takes them to probably get one person, and they've probably made a lot of money. So here I am on the phone with them because I ended up calling.

I ended up getting a call from them after we initially talked, and they were asking legitimate questions, like they could see transactions on my account, and finally when they asked me like for they asked for something, they asked for some security question that I know was not a security question within the bank. So I told them, I'm not sure if this is legit or not, Like I'm not sure if this is like something I don't know.

Some's not adding up here because my wife told me, hey, that much the charge they're claiming that it that they flagged didn't even hit our account, like it's not like it's not real. And I told them that and they said, well, it just hasn't come through yet. We blocked it, so you probably won't see it on your on your account. Well, my wife works at the bank that we bank at, so you know, she's even like, okay, it could be you know, that's sure enough. The number you got a

text message from, that's our automated system. So then she's on vacation, she checks her email and there's a company wide email that's telling everyone, buddy, hey, be on the lookout. We've got people that are targeting our members specifically. So I said that to the guy and he said, look, if you don't think that I'm legit. I mean, he didn't use those words, but you know, he was very professional,

like a real customer service guy. He said, look on the back of your debit card and look at that number that it says to call if you have issues. And it was the number that I was connected with. But it was something called spoofing. He was able to discuss. He was able to make it appear when he would call or text me that it was really his number when it wasn't, which is scary that you can do that.

So I was I was like, very I was almost entertained by the whole thing, very very happy that we were able to never give them the info and it was all just you know, we avoided it. But it also made me realize, like damn, like, I'm sure they get a lot of people like that, So be careful, all right, quick bright, We'll come back on the other side. Two hours left here on a Tuesday, it's coffee and company fuel about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety