It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick coffee.
Because it's between the Mountain West and the Pac twelve leftovers, it's not really I mean, it's getting attention, but those are two leagues that you know are in the position they're in because you know they're They're not the SEC Big ten, or even the ACC or the Big twelve for that matter. But like, the way this is playing out is actually one of the more unusual things we've
seen when it comes to conference realignment stuff. Excuse me, made a mistake of trying to eat something very quickly there during the break and then not having any water.
There are some times I'll run and get you water here and just to show to do that I'm good.
Now, okay, there are times where I feel like because of there are times in between breaks during this show where I'll eat snacks very fast, like you just mentioned, I feel like it is the reason for indigestion that.
I experienced sometimes.
Yeah, I mean, because you could be like I could finish eating, but like maybe it's digestion. Maybe it's just like sometimes like I've finished eating but yet we're back from break and I still like, I don't know, like it's almost like my mouth hasn't reset to just start yap and it's still an eating mode. But I can't blame that on that. I just got something stuck in my throat there. But again I powered through.
So weird.
Good to go back to this whole Pack twelve situation. So the PAC two, they're suing the Mountain West over poaching penalties. So they fought a lawsuit against the Mountain West stating that the poaching penalties of course, which you know, there's a reason people sign contracts, right because these these organizations try to protect themselves from things like this happening. But they filed a lawsuit, yeah, in the US District
Court of Northern California. It challenges the validity of a poaching penalty clause included in the scheduling agreement that was between the two conferences. So that was signed in late twenty twenty three, of course, whenever it was quite clear that the PAC twelve was dead and they were trying to find a spot. So I mean the PAC twelve PAC two Oregons. I mean again, when you say the PAC twelve, you're talking about Oregon State and Washington State
and they're just fighting for survival. But they're also I think even going a step further here with this lawsuit against the Mountain West than what was done to them, if that makes sense, Like they just got left out, you know what I mean, Like their conference mates left their league and that's why they're in the situation and you not being able to survive because they wanted to go to a better league, Like they're not a charity, like you know, hate to say it, but like again,
nobody cares because it's Washington State and Oregon State. But if you go back ten years ago and you told somebody there'd be two schools left out when we got to this point, I don't know if you to guess them correctly, but let's just say they gave you a group of six or seven to choose from. These two would have been in that and that's why they're in this position. So I don't really fault them for doing whatever they got to do to survive here, but you know,
it's not actually not exactly a great look. But then again, at this point, I'm sure they don't care at all. So you know, you've got some schools that have decided to join the league from the Mountain West. And here's what's likely going to happen. Then, I don't know, Like the Mountain West and the PAC twelve are clearly not going to work together and moving forward, like they're now fighting for teams. The Mountain West is fighting to keep some teams from leaving and some have decided to stay.
And then of course the PAC twelve is trying to
get anybody they can the American Athletic Conference. I think they assumed a lot of those schools would go and they've said no. So what's likely going to end up happening is whichever league ends up have, Like whatever league ends up having, here's my guess is that the PAC twelve will in fact bring in some other teams, like for example, Gonzaga has already agreed to be a member of the new PAC twelve and basketball only, and they're also, by the way, going to get a full share of
that revenue because you know, they need a member. Although Gonzaga does help you when it comes to basketball, but like they don't have a huge fan base, like they don't have a huge market, so giving them full share when they don't actually give you what you need, what you need in order to you know, obtain a to obtain a television deal, and to have a little bit more, you know, credibility to where the College Football Playoff Committee would make you serious, Like you need a football school.
Knzaga doesn't have football. But Air Force has decided to stay.
In the Mountain West. They're going to sign the new grant of rights deal. And then I'm trying to Utah State has to to leave and join the new PAC twelve. So not to nerd out on numbers here, but the decision from Houston, I'm sorry, the decision from Tulane and Memphis to not leave, like it's still getting a lot
of criticism, especially those in Memphis. Like I think Memphis has felt so left out in the American Athletic Conference for many years now because you know, they Memphis, they're not like they've never been a power program by any means. But like, I don't know why they've never been invited to the Big twelve and yet you know, some other teams have. But I'm sure their fans don't want to be in the American anymore because they stay there and the other the other teams that were peers with Memphis
just keep hopping to new leagues. So you know, I get it if I was a Memphis fan. Even though you know the PAC twelve is not what it once was, you probably view it as a more serious league than what you're in now in the American which just keeps getting gutted. But your university can't afford to go to the PAC twelve with such a little payoff in a struggled to even pay to travel in all that, Like the logistics of it, it just doesn't make any sense
at all. And there's a two Lane writer who I thought had a really good breakdown about about the decision from two Lane in Memphis and why it made sense. So Houston, Cincinnati, and Central Florida they paid eighteen million dollars when they left the American So two and a half million of walking around money from the PAC twelve, you know, like it just it's not worth it. Like it's just it's not that much money in the grand
scheme of things. What the PAC twelve is trying to do to entice these teams to leave just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. So here's a rite. Here's
another part of this article. The big difference is that whenever those schools paid that money, right, eighteen million dollars, I mean, I don't know if that's cheap for anybody, but it's certainly you know, I would say for Houston, Cincinnati, I mean again, eighteen million, I'd say the majority of big programs would would look at that as a big expense. But Houston, Cincinnati, and Central Florida they did that because
it was a wise and investment. They paid to leave that league for what will triple their total revenue in just media money. So long term, it's a good investment for them to do that and pay eighteen million to leave, because they'll make way more money now moving forward into the Big twelve. So like, yeah, it's a big it's
a big cost, but it's worth it. So the four AA school the four AAC schools today, if they were to leave to go to the PAC twelve, I mean, they'd have to pay seven million more than what Cincinnati, Central Florida, and Houston paid and they would only get maybe five million extra total. And it just doesn't make any sense. It would you would be doing it for perception of your of your school, and you're not fooling anybody.
The PAC twelve we know is back twelve, right, I mean that's or the PAC twelve as we know it is dead, and this is the PAC two just trying to like fool us. I guess they And here's what's crazy is I wouldn't be shocked if those who are making decisions for those two schools and the PAC two
essentially right now. I'm sure they thought there was no chance that schools would in the Mountain West would turn them down, and like most not most of them, but a lot of them have and now here they are, they're gonna have I mean, they're gonna be able to claim they have their own league. And yes they did ad Gonzaga and basketball, but at the end of the day, like you're gonna like you've added some teams to have your own league, but you're still essentially just a Mountain West team like that.
That's what this is. Like. I don't know.
Why those two schools again, it's probably delusion because I just can't see a scenario where these two schools Oak Oregon State in Washington State could look at the situation, look at what they could potentially do in rebuilding the PAC twelve and think that they'd be able to be in a better situation than just joining the Mountain West. And it is sad, Like, you know, you had PAC twelve money coming in annually to you, even though you weren't a big factor in whatever money the PAC twelve
was making. It's because you were in a league was some much bigger schools and now they're gone, and like, you know, I guess you're just trying to find a way to get closer to where you once were before your league exploded. But that's not realistic. So anyways, that's the to see this deadline. I mean, you've got like imagine being like a Utah State fan or a an Air Force fan, or give me some other Mountain West schools in.
San Diego States.
Yeah, they already decided to go, but yeah, just imagine you're one of those fans of those caliber programs. Yesterday was a day where you're on the edge of your seat waiting to figure out what your school's gonna do. Are they going to stay in the Mountain West and resign for those new media rights deals or are they going to go join this new league that is trying to fool people and thinking it's a legitimate power league. So we've been through it enough over the years as
Louisville fans that you know. I you know, nothing really surprises me anymore with conference realignment, But I complain about the a SEC quite a bit just because I felt I feel like the league has really shot itself in the foot in many ways. I mean, I don't nobody probably cares about it right now. But the fact that the ACC is like offering to restructure so Clemson in Florida State drop their lawsuit like is wild to me. I know they don't like being sued by their two
most prominent members, but like they have no leverage. They signed the deal, They're not getting out of it. It's a bad look for the league, but like you not standing your ground and telling Clemson in Florida State to kick rocks and you know, deal with it is a bad look to your other members in my opinion, But just my thoughts. All right, it's coffee and company we are feel about Thornton's here on Sports Talk seven ninety. Thank you for hanging out with us here on a
Tuesday afternoon. Don't forget coming up next month. Our friends over at the Jefferson Animal Hospital have their big event. It's Pints for paws and people. You can bring your pet to the event and it's a one of a kind type of event.
Here.
You're not only going to be able to learn about how your pets could potentially be blood donors, you could also donate blood yourself to the American Red Cross. So they're gonna give They're gonna show you how this is done. They're gonna give live demonstrations on PEP BLOAW and pet blood donations. Just because I'm sure there are people that are you know, they don't they're worried. They've never had their pet give blood and you know your cats would
have to be sedated, so maybe that scares you. But they're going to walk you through it just to let you know, Hey, we're professionals. You know your pets are going to be aoka And not only is that the case, but you're gonna help save lives. Every pet blood donation can save up to four to six lives. So a great event for a great cause. Coming up here next month again October the nineteenth at the Jefferson Animal Hospital over there on outer Loop. That'll be from ten am
to two pm. You can come on, bring your family. Pets are welcome, people are welcome. They're gonna have food. So again October nineteenth, ten to two, ten am to two pm at the Jefferson Animal Hospital. And if you want more information, you can give them a call at five two nine hundred Pets or visit petbloodbank dot com. All right, so this Notre Dame matchup I talked about
at the beginning of the show. I just I like where we are as a fan base, and everybody's different, so shouldn't act like I speak for the whole fan base. But we now know as a program with the guy that's running the show here, Jeff Brom. And it's not to say that Jeff Brom, you know, is perfect and he'll never lose a game like he you know, he makes mistakes. I mean, heck, I don't know why he
had Quincy Riley out there on punt return duty. I think that was silly and it might have backfired, you know, having your guy run play action on the inch yard line the other day, Like, I don't think that was the right decision. But again, you know, nobody's perfect, but just knowing that he puts you in a position in games like this to take advantage of it, like he's gonna have his guys ready to play. He did it a Purdue. He did it last year when Louisville. You know,
I know they lost to Kentucky and that sucks. And I know they lost to Florida State. Florida State was better than them, Like, I think that was a big factor in it. But last year the Notre Dame game. And I don't want to just single it out like he's only done it once. He's only done it once here at louis But he's also only coached fifteen games here, or I guess. I guess now it's closer to eighteen games here because of the championship game, the Bowl game
and whatnot. But nonetheless, Jet browm thrives in these kind of games. Now, he usually doesn't do well after these kind of games, but he thrives in matchups like this. But I do think that his success in these matchups has actually come more often whenever he's not ranked and
his team is like a big underdog. And right now, I mean, maybe it's the homer in me, because I got a little homer in me, right, I mean, I try to be objective, but like to see Louisville move from an opening line of what three and a half four and a half to now it's at a touchdown, Like I think that's a little bit surprising, But I also have to remind myself you don't really go into Notre Dame and.
Win very often.
I don't know whether Illinois did it, but still it's not something that happens that often. And they're a team that you know is always going to have really good talent and personnel. But it's just nice to know that they're gonna be ready. And again, maybe they don't and we're surprised, but he's earned the benefit of the doubt as the coach that he will have his guys ready in this spot. And it's nice to know that even if you lose, it won't be because Marcus Freeman's a better coach.
And I don't know why, but I just I don't.
I don't think he's gonna be there long term at Notre Dame. And you may start to actually hear that more than you've ever had, more than you ever have in his young in his early tenure there, if they lose this game, because what that does is that eliminates them, Like I think they should already be eliminated from the playoff.
But if they already have two losses before the end of September and one of those is to a bad Northern Illinois team, like I mean, they can just not even finish the season if they don't want to, because what are they gonna what are they playing for? I mean, I know they wouldn't happen, but you know what I mean. So I'm well aware they could lose like I think
they should. They should be underdogs here. I don't think it should be that big of a line, but I think they're gonna be ready to play and that you know,
and I know we got the better coach. So this is something I wanted to share with you guys that I just found to be interesting because, you know, beating ranked teams, Like a lot of really good coaches don't have good records against ranked teams because you know, you don't play ranked teams all that often, and you've got to be really, really good to win a much more amount of games than you lose when you play ranked teams.
So in the last five years, here are the top ten coaches in games where they are facing ranked opponents, and this does not matter if they are ranked at the time. There's all kinds of different ways to look at this, but this is just head coaches going up against ranked teams. In the last five years since twenty eighteen, Kaylin de boor twelve and two overall eighty five percent winning percentage. And I mean that's now again, most of that came. I mean, in fact, I think all of that came.
It might be in Fresno State.
He was there for a couple of years on the Yeah, that's right.
No, no, you're right. He did knock off San Diego State when they were ranked. Good call, because that was part of the numbers I was looking at earlier. So at Washington he probably played mostly ranked Pack twelve teams, right, but he also played ranked teams in the playoff last year when he got to the championship game. So you know that's impressive. Not as much data there to I mean, you know, only fourteen games, but still that's that's you know,
so far, so good for him. And now he just happened to be working with better resources than maybe any program in the country. Kirby Smart He's second with a seventy seven percentage rate. Twenty eight and eight is his record against ranked teams. Ryan Day, Ohio State's head coach.
He's twenty two and eight seventy three percent. Davo Sweeney, despite Dabo and Clemson, you know, taking some steps back here recently, he is still sixteen and eight in the last five years when he's played ranked teams sixty six percent. Mike Gundy. That was the surprise. Mike Gundy's seventeen and eleven in the last five years against ranked teams. Dan Lanning seven and five. Obviously he's not been a head coach that long, but he's got a winning record against
ranked teams, not much but slightly. Lincoln Riley, now this is Lincoln Riley at both Oklahoma and USC. He is fourteen and twelve fifty three percent. Josh Hipel He's eleven and ten fifty two point three percent. That's not only at Tennessee, that's also I believe a year or two maybe when he was at Central Florida. So he's got
a winning record eleven and ten. Brian Kelly some at Notre Dame, some at LSU he is fourteen and thirteen and by the way, this is factoring in this current season as well, because he's already I think zero to one against a ranked team, maybe because they lost to USC And then Jeff Brom is number ten at nine and nine, five hundred record, So nobody else in college football that's actively coaching in the last five years has
a five hundred or better record against ranked teams. So if Jeff can get this win on Saturday, that'll put him with a winning record ten and nine. And it's not that you know, you win awards or get incentivized with your contract by that, but like, I think that is worth reminding you, guys, this guy. Not that you need reminding. If you're a louisvill fan, i'd assume you're pretty pleased with Jeff Brom.
But I am.
I'm amp for this game just because I feel justified in knowing all. I feel justified in believing that they're gonna be ready to play. Now, does that mean they're gonna win?
I don't know. We'll see.
All right, let's do this, let's take a quick break. We'll come back on the other side. We've got some people ask them on the text line about ul I guess not selling out. They're allotted tickets for South Bend. I did see that Notre Dame announced that they had some tickets returned. I mean, I can't say like I'm surprised, but we can certainly discuss it if you'd like. Some other texts that have come in that I want to get to as well, and you know, we'll mix it
up the rest of the way. I'm getting more information about Jerry Duty, and I appreciate those of you that are looking out for me. Hopefully you're sharing like legit information. I think some of you guys actually know. I'll believe anything you say, and you might just want to mess with me. Don't do that.
That wouldn't be nice, all right, don't go anywhere.
It is Coffee and Company with myself, Nick Coffee, the company man alongside taking you up till six o'clock right here on Sports Talk seven ninety So. I guess Notre Dame has their own ticket office Twitter account, and yesterday they tweeted out that a limited amount of visiting team tickets have been returned, uh and they'll be released. They've been released for Saturday's game against Louisville. Get them before
they're gone. That's what that's what the the tweet here says, and you know, anytime this stuff like, it's just uh, it's just an invitation for Notre Dame fans or of course, you know, Kentucky fans. And by the way, the first the first two responses I seen to this tweet are from Kentucky trolls.
Uh.
It's actually a clever uh name for a for a twitter Uh for a Kentucky big Blue bozo. It's actually pretty clever. Uh. The handle is at Wildcat's tongue, and there used to be a tongue, the tongue for the old UK mascot. I think like nineties maybe it looked exactly like a penis. I mean, so Wildcat's tongue. That's what that means. You'd never seen it, John.
I think now that you mentioned think I have you google it?
I mean, you know when you cat in trouble at work, you know, googling something that FW Yeah, exactly, but that's what this, that's that's this account, Wildcat's Tongue says. I mean, the weather forecast is just dreadful. Don't blame you of l fans here, and it's actually good weather. So he's you know, making fun of us, and then he also says, I'm sure there's a packed schedule of YMCA League soccer games going on Saturday. It's a wonder why they sold
any tickets at all. And again that's why on Friday, I'm not coming at anybody like I don't because I don't. You know, when you when you have an account that I can't. You can't take anything personal when you are running an account that is anonymous. But the tweet that came out last week that mentioned all the events going on in Louisville, I think they were coming from a
good place. But like, why are we walking in to get I mean again, like we we live this lie that you don't get bothered by you know, the other fan base, ribbon you and I know some people really don't care, but others clearly telling themselves every day when they go back and forth with UK fans or vice versa, because we do care.
It's what a rivalry is. But like mentioned, like, just think it through.
Right, putting out a tweet before your first conference home game when weather looks good, it's gonna be hot, and it was hot, but you know, throwing out the bats game night racing its slugger youth football. Like again, no lies were told, but like again, have a little self awareness of what that is. It's going to make it seem as if Louisville football fans would rather go to the Bats game, and we know that's not true, but
like you walked into that one. And then Jeff Brahm making a tongue in cheek comment about the refs in the UK game last year, like that turned into a story. I mean that. I mean again the clip that just has audio of him saying it, and it's eleven seconds long. I mean, I haven't checked since last week, but it had like a quarter of a million views and it's not being shared because he said something hilarious or cont reversal, but like people are sharing it. You got the blogger
boys writing stuff. Oh, Jeff Brams says Kentucky beat Louisville because of the refs, which again is not at all what he said. Like and that was put out by Louisville people like just be just you know, be why you know, i'd be be be.
A little be self aware.
Yeah, it's not just that because again, like I don't know, it's a never ending it's a never ending cycle here because if I was to go to whoever it was that started putting that stuff out there, and I was like.
Why would you do that?
They would say you think I care what Kentucky fans say, and I'd have to say, yes, you do, because that's how this works. Like you're not losing sleep over it, but like you're gonna alway. You just you're gonna always go back and forth with them, and you know they won't leave this alone. Like any Louisville football attendance thing is now going to be brought up. That tweet's are going to be brought up, and it's just you know, it was avoidable. That's it's not a big deal, but
it was avoidable. But yeah, the uh, the other tweet, the second tweet that responds to in response to the Notre Dame announcement that they have tickets left over, says U of l is the gift that keeps on giving lmao. Notre Dame fans inde fanatic. He says, we're buying them all. Yeah, you're gonna have a home field advantage. That's kind of how it works. I can't tell if we should be flattered that Notre Dame is like really doing it big because apparently they're gonna wear their green uniforms.
Well, I don't know.
This tweet from one of the writers for Notre Dame says Marcus Freeman says he's gonna meet with Notre Dame's team captains this afternoon on whether or not the Irish will wear they're green against Louisville.
Big business decisions.
Yeah, I mean that makes you want to take a Louisville money line.
Right, it's a green out, So why wouldn't they wear it, you know what I mean? So, and look, it has nothing really to do with Louisville specifically. It's not because they are sitting around thinking, if we can beat Louisville, man, you know, that would be an all timer for me. I'm been a Notre Dame fan my whole life, and man, if we can beat Louisville, hope.
You know.
It's not like that, but it's circumstance. And by the way, even if you don't believe Louisville's a top fifteen team, perception wise, they are, so it would be looked at as a big bounce back win for Notre Dame after their embarrassing loss earlier this year, they already have a win against a ranked team, so a loss here puts them out of the playoff conversation for good. So it's not really just because it's Louisville. It's because of their situation.
But either way, them being really up for this game, you know, it adds a little more excitement to it, right. And I did a lot of talking to Notre Dame fans before the game last year when they came here to play. Great atmosphere, I mean, what a night, What
a night? Couldn't have worked out better? I mean, you got Jeff Brohm on the field, fans running out there, Katie George interviewing her, Jack Harlowe just you know, jumping around in the background as if he's not a famous celebrit He's just out there catching vibes with Louisville fans because Jeff came home and knocked off Notre Dame.
In his first big game. Like you make movies about it.
I don't know if that'd be a great movie, but you know what I mean, Like it worked, It played out perfectly, so it was awesome. But Notre Dame fans, they were respectfully arrogant.
Can you be respectfully arrogant. I feel like arrogance is like an oxy moron or yeah, I feel like.
Being arrogant in fact, actually means you are not being respectful, I guess. But they had they had a very very respectful confidence in that game, and they were favorites because at that time they'd only lost to Ohio State, who at that time nobody knew Ohio State was going to take a big step back last year. And you know, Louisville hadn't played anybody really good yet and had some close wins against teams that we thought were bad, so like they were deserving favorites.
But they really even they wouldn't.
They wouldn't they wouldn't go back and forth with me, if you know what I mean, Like they wouldn't even like like we weren't we were beneath them so much that they wouldn't like talk trash with you know what I'm saying. Yeah, like they thought we were. We got a cute little program here and they're happy to be here. But now I'm not gonna I'm not going to engage with you because we're Notre Dame and you're Louisville. And they were confident I mean, the vibe check videos was
it was evident of that. So you know, anyways, they've bring all that up to say, like they probably feel stunned that they lost to louisvill last year, but then again, they've since lost in Northern Illinois, but they're gonna be ready to play too. I just I think we got a better team. I think we've got a better coach.
I think Jeff Brohm is once again going to be able to and again he's when you're an offensive coach, rarely do people give you credit for anything defensively and right, Jeff doesn't run the Louisville defense, but he certainly has an influence and it he's the head coach. And last year when Notre Dame came to Louisville, it was it's the guy's name is Sam Hartman?
Is that right? Is that a real name? Yeah, Sam Hartman?
I mean, and Jeff, you know, respectfully, I mean, I guess I don't know if you ever did talk about it publicly, but it was pretty well known that he knew that Sam Hartman was not as good as the numbers indicated, and that they could do some things to really expose him. And they did exactly that, and then you know what he did the next week. The next time they played a good team. It was Riley Leonard when Duke came to town, and he was terrible. Duke
didn't score touchdown. I mean, their offense was dreadful. So a lot of those guys that were bullying Riley Leonard last year when he was.
At Duke, they're here at Louisville still.
So you know, I have a level of confidence in this game that makes me a little uncomfortable, if that makes sense, because you know, usually when I get my hopes up and feel super confident, it doesn't work out. But I'm just being honest with you, and I think Louisville fans feel the same way. Although I can definitely sense that everybody's worried about the injuries, and you know, I get it. Are this text game in earlier it says, Nick, you've mentioned for the last few weeks not being able
to determine if your team's any good or not. Imagine being a Kentucky fan. We got our ass kicked by South Carolina and then should to beat Georgia. I have no clue what to expect against Ole. Miss good point it's a good point. You know, you can make the case that Kentucky might be like one of the at
this point. They played four games, right, I think they have, and they are two and two with wins against teams that they were supposed to beat, a loss against a team they were supposed to beat, and they got killed in that game, and they messed around and played Georgia
as close as anybody has in recent years. In fact, you know, I mentioned that the situation with Auburn last year in Missouri the year before that, where they also did what Kentucky did, hosted Georgia in their prime and should have beat them, but Kentucky actually played them better
than those two teams did. So yeah, you're right, you know, because Ohio solid team, and you know, it's one of those games where you feel justified in how your team played, but you also kind of feel like, hey, we should have beat them by more considering.
What we just did against Georgia.
You didn't get to finish the game against Southern Miss and you were doing pretty well in that one. I don't remember what the score when that one ended, but then Southern Miss actually got demolished by Jacksonville State, who got their first win against Southern Miss. So one of the wins you have is against one of the worst
teams in the country. You got killed in home by South Carolina, who nobody really thinks is good, and then you nearly beat Georgia, and then you played pretty well, really took care of business against an inferior Ohio team. Like if I would if I had to just bet on this game and it's the only game I could bet on, I don't know what i'd do. I would probably take Old Miss just because I feel like they are pretty damn good. But Kentucky's a toss up.
Man. Those results are that's a mixed bag right there.
But for what it's worth this, I mean Old Miss, they really can't they really can't slip up because they're out of conference. Schedule was so weak, and you know they're gonna you know, their schedule in conference play. I'm pretty sure it's it's built in that even if they are as good as they've ever been, they're probably gonna have a loss because you know, they're in Georgia, right, I mean, yeah, they've got let's see here, Kentucky this weekend.
They will travel to South Carolina next weekend. They will play at Ole Miss, They're going to host Oklahoma, They're at Arkansas, they host Georgia, they go to Florida, and then they play Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl Game. So you know, they could slip up and maybe still make it. But I don't know when you look at the teams they played up to this point, I mean Furman, Middle, Tennessee State, Wake Forest, Georgia Southern, and they've killed those teams.
But I mean, that's kind of what you're supposed to do, especially if you are a top ten team like they're ranked right now. All right, let's do this. Let's get to a quick break. We'll come back on the other side. Wrap up the four o'clock hour. Talk a little Louisville basketball recruiting. As Pat Kelcey, he's I think before too long, you're going to see one of these kids in the twenty twenty five class, give Louisville a commitment, give them their first here in this class. And there's a rook
that's going to be arriving I believe later today. That is, he's got to be one of the highest ranked recruits that Louisville's hosted in recent years, regardless of who the coach was. So some good stuff we'll get to. And something was said on the SVP podcast. It's something that Jeff I'm sorry, it's something that Nick Saban said about Jeff Brahm behind closed doors that SBP opened up about. I want you guys to hear it, so stick with us.
It's Coffee and Company feel about Thorton's on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, Coffee and Company wrapping up the four o'clock hour here on Sports Talk seven ninety. As you know, we are fueled by Thornton's and a lot of you know that, but maybe you still haven't signed up to be a member of the Refreshing Awards program at Thornton's. I mean, I kind of makes me uneasy thinking that you people wouldn't wouldn't have taken my advice up to this point.
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They can't get out of their own way, you know what I mean, Like hear they have an opportunity to save money at the gas pump here, they have an opportunity to just improve the quality of life as a member of the Refreshment Awards program, and yet they choose not to do it. I mean I I mean some point you know you got to help yourself, and I'm hoping that you will now. If you have not yet
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All right.
So, not a whole lot of time left here in the UH in the four o'clock hour, but a lot left in the in the five o'clock hour. There's a lot of things I've figured I would have gotten to by now, but I haven't yet, So stick stick with us again. I want you guys to hear what SVP said about or. SVP shared a story of Nick Saban
discussing Jeff Brom. Obviously, Sabin has moved on from coaching and he's now working for ESPN and has been around SVP and other ESPN big timers, and Bram came up recently and what he shared is just another reminder that we got ourselves some pretty good coach So we'll get to that. Also, we'll let you hear Jeff Brom as he talked earlier this week about this matchup, so we'll
get into that. Also, I want to revisit the Louisville basketball schedule update because we're going to find out later the entire schedule.
I would imagine.
Louisville will release their entire basketball schedule once the ACC unveils everybody's league schedule. They're going to be doing that tonight on the ACC network. So if you just look at what we know right now, because they announced yesterday that Duke is going to be the ACC opener on December eighth, and I know Duke's a conference opponent, but you throw Duke in there with all the other teams you play in November and December that are going to be really good teams, or at least expected to be
really good teams. I mean, I don't even know how you'd be able to determine it as far as knowing for sure, but I think you could make a good case that just on paper, this schedule, as we know now right obviously, you end up playing teams that you thought were going to be great sometimes and they think.
But just on paper, this is one of the most challenging early schedules I've seen ever for Louisville basketball, and I can't imagine that Pat Kelsey, you know, would have you know, designed this on his own.
But I don't know, maybe I'm wrong.
We're going to learn about Pat is he has his first year as our coach, and we'll learn about him over the years, hopefully easier for a long time. And there's a lot of success. But you know, I don't know, is he going to be somebody that wants to schedule like this whenever he can, or is he going to be somebody that will schedule dependent upon what he thinks this roster is going to be like. So those are things we won't know until you know, we get there.
But I wanted to real quick, if you'll let me veer away from sports. There's a New York Post article that I that I found to be interesting informative, but it's the top frustrations in Corporate America. It's a survey. So the is a new survey where they asked one thousand human resource professionals and they revealed the biggest challenges facing the workforce today along with you know, pain points HR problem solvers are feeling in their departments. I'm reading
here directly from the article, and it won't surprise you. Twenty nine percent of respondents said feeling under paid is the most common source of discontent for workers at their company, along with being underappreciated, and then poor work life balance was right, right, I mean, honestly, it's almost like a tie between being underappreciated and poor work life balance, and
dissatisfaction with benefits was also up there. So it's just according to the survey, the most common type of issues that get brought up to the h R Department are rooted in poor communication at number one forty four percent, rule violations forty percent, toxic negativity thirty eight percent, and gossip thirty seven percent. So at fifth training and upskilling talent. So I just want to I just I find this
to be legit. Now, I don't you know, we work for a corporation and we don't have a lot of day to day and you know, communication with anybody that works like for corporate I don't. I'm sure you don't either, John, But if you do, yeah, so, and that's normal because there are a lot of employees across the planet that work for the company that we work for. But our issue, and you know, I hope I'm not getting in trouble for saying this, but poor communication is it's you know,
it's an issue everywhere, including here. Like not to say that like there's one thing in particular, but like I just think the way we are now working, where a lot of people are working remotely, I just can't. I just have a hard time thinking that that if anything is not a factor in a negative way, like everybody working from home or a lot of people working from home, that can't make the communication aspect better. How much it
hurts it. If it hurts it, I don't know. But if it does have any factor, it's got to be negative. So and here's here's one of those like I don't know why this has always been like a pet pee for me When people mention are you a good communicator or a bad communicator? I don't even think that's legit.
Either you communicator, you don't like if I'm communicating with you, I guess maybe some truths or maybe part like I don't know, like either your communicator you don't And if you communicate, that makes you a good communicator in my book. But I feel like everybody that I talk to that works for a bigger company doesn't have to be like a large corporation that's across the planet, but just a
big company. Like they always mention poor communication, and a lot of times the bigger the company the worst to communication, because like you're talking to four or five different people and nobody really seems to know what's going on because you know, you got too many cooks in the kitchen. As they say, failure to follow rules? Does that mean like you are Again, I don't really, I didn't really
know what to make of that. Do you think they mean John that they're they're upset with their companies failure to follow rules? Because if if HR representatives are being hurt or being talked to by employees about rule following, who are they talking about, Like, are they getting in.
Trouble for me?
Maybe they're complaining to HR about rules somebody else who gets special treatment because they're allowed to break the rules.
Oh yeah, that's I mean, Look, here's a reality, it's just life. If you bitch and complain a whole lot, you'll get your way more than the others that don't. Now, eventually you might just wear at your welcome and probably you know, be on the bad side of things. But like there are so many people in position that just take complaining from from from employees that like they're eventually just gonna give them what they want, so they shut the hell up. And I'm not somebody that would ever.
I just I don't complain enough about certain things not to say it would do anything, but I'd at least feel better if I did, because I would get it off my chest. But that was one that was kind
of a head scratcher. The toxic negativity. I don't I don't think any big company is unique here because I think if you don't have a whole lot in common with your employees, like from a social aspect, and like your communication is mostly just work, you end up, you know, in the break room or on your lunch break or I don't know, by the water cooler, complaining about where you work together, Like that's what you have in common.
That's how you socialize. You just bitch about where you work.
And that's that's been that's been around forever, right, sticking it to the man, like everybody who works for the company rallying together to stand up for themselves like that, Like that's a big fancy way to describe it. Toxic negativity, But I just think that's you know, that happens everywhere. Cheer about what this guy did. You know, the small talk among employees that aren't like close personal friends, they
just know each other from work. It's usually about how they're underappreciated, how it's not fair that this person got to do that, and like, I think that's just life. But anyways, I thought that was interesting. Quick break, five o'clock hours. Next, a lot to get to before we get out of here, so stick well, that's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety