It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick Coffee.
As we get closer to Saturn to Saturday, I'm starting to get a little a little more jealous of those that are making the trip. There was no way I'd be able to make it happen, and you know, that's life. You know, sometimes that's just going to be the case. But I get the sense there's gonna be a decent
amount of red up there. I mean, I don't know if we'll see what we saw back in twenty fourteen, because that was insane when Louisville went up there in their first year in the ACC Reggie Bonafin at quarterback. I mean, I'm sure there's been other fans that traveled
and really, you know, made their mark. I mean, obviously you're never going to get a home field advantage at South Bend, but it was honestly something that I look back on when you when you look at highlights of those games and whatnot, or that game, I should say, like you can just tell at any point when they're showing a highlight that like there's there's a there's a small sea of red and of course the Louisville section, but then they're sprinkled in there, and it was a
big moment for the program not to gas up Notre Dame. But you know, there was a while where Louisville, you know, just playing teams like that. It wasn't It was a real rarity. And you know now that's not the case because things have certainly changed. All right, is Coffee and Company hour number two here on a Thursday afternoon. We are fueled by Thornton's. Make sure you sign up to become a member of the Refreshing Awards program. You'll save money at the gas pump and you could take advantage
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Frequency Club. So we are feel about Thornton's I know you knew that, but I like saying it, and I'm supposed to say it, But I mean, if they let me, I'd say it for the next two hours. But we can't do that. We got to talk football. And joining us now to talk some football is Tyler Horker, who joins us not necessarily from behind enemy lines, but he's joining us from the Notre Dame side of things Blue Andgold dot Com. I guess I'll start with this. Can you set the scene for us from the Notre Dame
side of this? I mean, obviously Louisville. These two teams have played each other in recent years. Notre Dame came here last year. But what's the vibe from Notre Dame fans. Are they feeling confident about this one? Obviously with that lost a couple of weeks ago. Every game from here on it is super critical for the Irish.
Yeah, I'd say it's anything but confident, anything but comfortable. That lost in Northern Illinois is still sticking with this fan base, and quite frankly, the way that Notre Dame played last week is kind of sitting with this fan base as well. Almost covered a twenty seven and a half point spread, which is always something admirable, but the way the Irish went about it wasn't convincing for this fan base. I would say, and you know, they're only
up fourteen to three and a half. They're actually losing this game. I believe it was three to zero with around six minutes to go until halftime, and then Riley Leonard does Riley Leonard things and runs into the end zone and then not so Riley Leonard things and throws a touchdown pass a couple of minutes before halftime, his first one of the year. In what was that his I don't know, twelfth thirteenth, fourteenth quarter of football this season.
So it's been a struggle for the offensive side of the ball, for sure, but it's been pretty good for the defensive side of the ball. But that was the case last year, guy is when Notre Dame went down to Louisville, and obviously Louisville kind of had its way, especially on the ground, with a very good Notre Dame defense. So it's a scary proposition because of the opponent. It's one that this fan base obviously fears for very recent reasons.
And then it's a scary proposition because Notre Dame really hasn't looked like a world beater by any means, except for that game against Perdue. But I think there's going to be a lot of teams that look like a world beater against Purdue this season. So it's a tough week, tough game for the fighting Irish.
So with Riley Leonard, you know, anybody in the ACC should be familiar with him because of his time at Duke and he's had success, But what do you think has been the biggest factor in why he's yet to really get it going with his arm? I mean, obviously he's shown his ability to take off and make plays, but it just doesn't seem as if Notre Dame fans and maybe even Marcus Freeman feel as if he's been exactly what they thought they were getting at this point.
A lot of football to be played, but it certainly seems as if, you know, as you mentioned, the office just really hasn't gotten going.
Yeah, it's puzzling. I think last season injuries definitely have a lot to do with it. And I mean he was injured when he arrived at Notre Dame. And I guess Duke once he said he's not playing anymore last season and he was within his right. I mean, he was so banged up, like you said, your listeners know that from being in the ACC. I guess he didn't
get the surgery that he needed at that time. And then he shows up at Notre Dame and tries to go through springball, and within a week Notre Dame realizes, oh man, your ankle is still a little wonky. We probably need to work on me. So he's had a couple of surgeries since he arrived at Notre Dame. He's been good since the summer though, he's been healthy. He looked healthy in fall camp. We got to see a handful of practices, and you know, the body, the physical
part of it was not the issue. It's been the mechanics some of his passes. He's not really stepping into him. He's trying to whip things kind of, you know, trying to do everything with his arm. But he used to know as well as anyone that a lot of this is done through the legs. That's just not running the football. That's throwing the football as well. You've got to throw the football from the ground up. He's not doing that
right now. And it's funny. You go back to twenty twenty two, and let's stay on the theme of y'all's listeners knowing Riley Leonard. He was a great quarterback that season. I put up his stats in that year up against Caleb Williams. That's the same year that Caleb Williams won the Heisman. Bradley Leonard was actually a better deep ball passer in terms of accuracy, touchdowns, you know, you name it, statistics wise, twenty plus yards downfield. Bradley Leonard was better
than Caleb Williams that year. So he has it in him and we saw it last week with the thirty eight yard touchdown pass to Bill Collins, who has been the team's best wide receiver. He can make those throws. He's got a trust that he can make those throws. And I think that has to do with the injury. That has to do with being in a new place, new offensive coordinator, new surroundings, do everything, and you know,
sometimes that takes time to adjust. That's the irony in this transfer portal era, especially if you only have one year of eligibility left, like rydleany Leondard did. You want to go somewhere and you want to make that year your best year in college football. It just hasn't happened in the first month for Riley Leonard. Not to say that it can't. Maybe Louisville is the start of that,
but it just hasn't happened yet. And you feel for him because he's a great kid and you kind of want to see him succeed.
Tyler Horker notre Ame beat Writers our guest joining us here on Sports Talk seven ninety getting ready for the match up here with the cards in the Irish. I would say Jeff Brohm has all but said that the game plan for them is going to be, you know, trying to trying to get Notre Dame off the field on offense and slow that run game down. They are top twenty right now currently nationally and rushing yards per game.
Easier said than done, obviously, And make and make Robby Leonard beat you with his arm, and that's something they'd probably feel like right now would be their best case scenario. Dare him to make plays with his arm and force him to do that. But what would you say on the Notre Dame side. Louisville they had such a weird start of the season with two Nobody opponents in the
first couple of games. They took care of business in those and then at Georgia Tech game where they covered however, you know it was it took a special team's touchdown, a defensive touchdown, and a game then honestly, with with you know, quarter or left, it looked like it could go either way. The Cards end up holding on to
win by twelve. What would you say, you know you've been able to see from the From the Louisville side, that would be you know, something you could exploit if you if you're Marcus Freeman, yeah, stop to run.
I know Dreard Jordan went crazy against Notre Dame last year, and you know it's a new running back contingent back there for Notre Dame. So they're gonna have to really study those guys all week, and that's what they have been doing. But they're a little embarrassed, quite frankly, by the way that that game went last year, because you remember thirty three to twenty, and I think it was even thirty.
Three to you know, Yeah, there was a late score that made it look a little more a little closer.
I remember that, yeah, But I mean when it was tied up or you know, a one score game, whatever it was, both teams felt like they could win. It was Louisville who kind of went on the assertive, went on the offensive on the ground, which which you know, I think really sticks with al Golden defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, sticks with a lot of these guys who have returned. I mean, you guys watched that game last year. Going to you're going to recognize a lot of the
same names back for Notre Dame. And you're talking about all American caliber guys who really haven't some of them have not played all American football this season. So what better opportunity to do that than against a team that beat you last season. So I think number one has stopped to run for Notre Dame, and then number two is winning to turnover battle. I mean, Sam Hartman turned the ball over five times last year and it was
just detrimental in every way. I guarantee you they're telling Riley Leonard, Hey, this is what happened against these guys last year. You know, Sam Hartman just couldn't take care of the football. We need you to take care of the football. And that goes for everybody. Jeremiah loved Jadarion Price, the two running backs who have Notre Dame in the top twenty. Like you said, it's a great rushing attack, but what does it mean if you're putting the ball
on the ground and losing it. What does it mean for Rdy Leonard if you're trying to get better for the air and really trying to make those strides that we were just talking about. If you're going to turn the ball over through the air, have an interception in the offense comes off the field. So yeah, it's kind of that's what's cool about this game. It's similar game plans both ways. Both teams think they can win the
same way. So you're going to kind of see strength on strength, and I think that's what makes this matchup so good. What more would you expect right from the fifteenth and fifteenth ranked teams in the country. I think you're going to see a pretty even balanced football game.
Yeah, no doubt. The biggest matchup on the slate this weekend for college football is the big one Georgia and Alabama. But outside of that, I mean, this will be a game that a lot of folks are focusing on, as you got as you mentioned number sixteen and number fifteen in a game that really is huge for Antor. I mean
it's huge forever. It's hue for both sides. But obviously, with Notre Dame having that lost in Northern Illinois, a loss here would all but eliminate them from the conversation, seemingly from the college football playoff and not to bring up a devastating loss for the Irish, but how did it happen? I mean it was. It's the biggest upset of the season, and seeing how Northern Illinois hasn't really been able to I mean they lost last week to Buffalo, which was a real surprise, So I mean I watched
the end of it. You know, because a lot of people probably tuned in to see is this about to happen? This would be a monster upset. But what was the formula that Northern Illinois used that gave them put them in a position to where they could pull off that kind of an upset because it certainly not as if they had a talent advantage.
Yeah, it shouldn't have been that close in the second half probably, so it was a slow start for Notre Dame. Northern Illinois obviously realized that it could stay in that football game. I wouldn't say it was totally a slow start for Notre Dame, though they went down and scored on their first position. Rylan Leonard had a lot to do with that. With his legs, I mean, quarterback power, quarterback draws, counters, everything. Rydley Leonard was keeping the ball
on the ground. He's the one that ends up scoring the game's opening touchdowns. But after that, MIU got kind of a fluky eighty three yard touchdown pass to tie the game. Thomas Hammock, the head coach, even said, Okay, that was when we realized if we could just stop them the next time with NIU did we're going to be in this thing and in the second half, so Ridley Leonard was dealing with a an injury to his non throwing shoulder labor injury. Still dealing with it. Now,
that's something that doesn't heal. Either play through it or you don't. He's chosen to play through it, and he's played really well. But what he didn't do in the second half that game, play calling and scrambling wise, was run the football. He didn't have one single rusting attempt in the second half. Guys, this is a quarterback who ranked top five among all FBS quarterbacks and total yards
yards per carry. I think he would be close to top five in the FBS if sacks weren't factored into his rushing toal I mean, he's averaging seven yards per carry with sacks. I think it's over eight and a half without the sacks. He's one of the best runners in college football. He didn't run the ball once in the second half of that game. A guy who had one hundred yards and one half against Purdue, a guy who had one hundred and forty three yards on the
ground last week against Miami Ohio. That is the best part of this Notre Dame offense. Right now, especially because he's struggling throwing the ball is when Riley Leonard keeps it and runs it. He didn't do that against Northern Illinois and it cost the Irish. They weren't able to put it up points on the board. They only needed seventeen to win that game sixteen to fourteen final, but because he was not running in the second half, things
went south for the Irish offense. And you know, that's that's the recipe for an upset.
Notre Dame is a program that is always going to have very very high standards for good reason. Uh, Marcus Freeman, if you were to check the pulse of the fan base as of right now, how do you think they feel about him as the head coach. I don't want to indicate that he could be on the hot seat or anything like that. There's a lot of football to be played this year, but you know, Notre Dame you don't need to just be good, You need to be really good. You need to be you need to be elite,
and they're certainly not that right now. And I'm just curious if there's if there's much noise from fans maybe just questioning do you think this guy could could could stick it out long term and be one of the other great coaches that have coached here.
Yeah, there's a ton of fans that have him on the hot seat. Really, you didn't say the words I would say it's the fans. It's the fans though.
As fans do. Yeah.
Yeah, the administration maybe has him on the warm seat. I mean they're looking at things like and you two years ago, Marshall Stanford, and just the overall record as well. I think it's twenty two and nine through thirty one games. He's got nine losses in his first two seasons and change. Brian Kelly and his last five seasons on the way
out to LSU had nine losses. So you're talking about it only took half the time for Marcus Freeman to accumulate as many losses as Brian Kelly had in his last five years.
Wow, that's pretty telling.
It's very telling. And I put that on social media and people came after me saying, we'll give the guy some credit. He's thirty eight, you know, he's learning how to do this. And I said, no, no, no, I'm not trying to make this about Marcus Freeman versus Brian Kelly, I'm trying to make this about where Notre Dame is with Marcus Freeman versus where it just was with Brian Kelly. And you made the point in prefacing the question, this is not a truly elite program right now. It's not
a top five program. It's a top fifteen to twenty program. And that's appropriately what they are ranked right now in the coaches poll, the AP pole. But that's not where Notre Dame wants to be. And to your point about maybe losing this game and getting knocked out of the college football playerff, nobody who bleeds bloom goal wanted Notre Dame to be out of a twelve teen college football
playoff race before October even hit. I mean, we're not even eating Candy Corner carbon pumpkins yet and Notre Dame is gonna be out of the college football playoff race. That's not a good look on Marcus Freeman. So this is one of his biggest games of his venuine. I mean, I get it, the Irish have to win every game from here on out, probably to get into the playoffs. But again, it's that proposition of already being out that's kind of scary and to your larger point about the fans,
that's what they're worried about. They don't want to go into this by week at three and two. They be feeling a lot better if it was four and one. Obviously they'd be feeling a lot better if it was five to zero. But it's kind of a constant worry. That's the way I would describe the Marcus Freeman eras so far as you got all these great things, the recruiting,
he's a stand up guy. The way he coaches these guys is so admirable, but there's always this constant worry that maybe they're gonna slip up the NIU, maybe they're gonna lose to an acc team like Louisville that Brian Kelly wouldn't have lost to for so long. So it's it's not quite pins and needles, but it's getting to that point.
Last question for you. I saw that they have decided
to wear the green uniforms. How rare is this? I mean, you know, uniform social media stuff has become a big deal with college football fans, and I know each team does a really good job of putting out the UNI thread pictures and whatnot, and you know, fans love that kind of stuff, But is that I mean, I've seen them wear green before, but I do feel like it's pretty rare and given the attention that it's got, I mean, is this like a once a season, once every few seasons kind of thing.
Yeah. Yeah, so it's a once a season thing in the Freeman era. And Freeman's only been here for three years. So he kind of got on social media a couple of years ago and said, we're bringing back irishwear green, and that means the players wear green too, because Notre name has always had an Irish wear green game for I think going back to you know, Dan Devine, heear so we're talking nineteen seventies and they wore the green
jerseys more back then. But it was a thing for the fans to show up in green, which is not always. You know, you'll see Notre Dame Stadium for the Miami Ohio game, for instance, you see a lot of blue and gold in the stand. This week, you're gonna see all green. It's a green out. But that didn't mean that the players were gonna wear green. That announcement came out today and so yeah, in the Freeman are this
would be the third time, so once per year. The Brian Kelly era that was a dozen years, they only wore green jersey six times, So it was very much pick and choose, like every other year type of thing
for Brian Kelly. A lot of times it was the Shamrock series game which Notre Dame goes out and plays at you know, an NFL venue or her historic and you they're playing Army in Yankee Stadium this year and they're wearing some blue gray jerseys to kind of go back to the four Horsemen to allude to that story. But yeah, it's rare in the last two three decades, I would say. But again you go back to like r PR season and Dan Devine, they were wearing green
all the time. Lou Holtz was actually kind of a guy who said, we're not going to be doing this. We're blue and gold. Those are her colors. And I believe in the eleven year Lou Holtz era, they only wore green jerseys twice. So s Upton, the head coach, Marcus Freeman, wants to do it once per year. He wasn't sure if that was going to be a thing for this game because he didn't want distractions. I just talked about how big this game is for Notre Dame.
It's huge. If the team captains would have said, hey, we want to wear our traditional home blue uniforms, that's what they would have done, but Marcus Freeman left it up to the captain. The captain said, let's wear green. And that's what you'll see against Louisville. If you have a Peacock subscription, that's right, what you will see against Louisville on Saturday, the Green Jerseys.
Taler, I really appreciate you making time. Very good stuff, very insightful. I hope you enjoy the game and maybe we'll catch up down the line.
Man.
Absolutely, I appreciate you guys having me young.
Take care. That is Tyler Hooker. Really good stuff there, really, I mean, really good insight from the Notre Dame side of things. And I'm not at all surprised to hear the emphasis here, you know, and we're not in South Bend. There's not a ton of Notre Dame fans around here.
And it's not as if I've been consuming, you know, Notre Dame fan sites or anything like that, but you know, I get since they're even a little surprised by this spread being a touchdown, and it almost feels like, after hearing that, maybe they don't think they even deserve the benefit of the doubt because of that, because the season has not been you know, it's not been great for
him up to this point. So big matchup on Saturday, and I can't tell if that I mean, it's exciting to me knowing that this is a huge game where the opponent is not looking at you like, oh, you know, like you're not gonna sleek up on them. They're they're well aware, and that's exciting because it's a big time game. However, you know, if they can lock in, it makes them even more dangerous, and they have very little room for air.
In fact, they have no room for air when it comes to winning and losing the rest of the way if they want to sniff the playoff. But let's get to a quick break. We'll come back on the other side. Keep it rolling along. It's coffee and company. We are feel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety. It seems like it's already kind of died down a little bit. As far as the UNLV situation yesterday where two players on a three and zero team it was,
or were they four and no? Either way, they were undefeated with not big wins. But they did beat Kansas before people realize Kansas stunk, and they beat Houston, so you know, they're beating G five teams, G four teams, and those are supposed to be the really hard games for them, and they're expected to be the best team in the Mountain West. So they are a team that is certainly in the mix for the playoff. And they
had their quarterback walk away. Now we know now that he did not get any of the money that he was told by an assistant coach that he was going to get, and that I don't want to get all into the entire thing we did yesterday, but I still am surprised that there are many that you know, are bringing up this kid. Quit this again. It's it's a job. Now, it's work, It's not I mean, and this guy is not going to go to the NFL. He knows that this guy is really not solely responsible for their great start.
He's been their quarterback, so he's been a part of it, but he is utilizing the new world of college football. He's a good enough quarterback that schools would want him, and he's going to make football his job for a year and probably make more money in his first year in his only year doing that, than he would in his first year in whatever career he decides, if that makes sense. So, like, I still think fans aren't programmed to look at it that way. You know, I he
quit on his team, He's a quitter. This is a job now. I mean, I just I don't know.
I want to throw this aspect out there. Do you think because of the nature of how he's handled do you think that from other coaches perspectives, not un LV head coaches, but guys who may want to have him on their team in the future, do you think the way that Matt Sluca has handled it could be problematic for him moving forward with other coaches.
I am sure he probably had that in mind when he made the decision and was willing to do what's best for him. And I don't blame him and coaches. I mean, they're going to continue to complain about this new world, you know, and talk about it, and it's legitimately complaining about when it comes to there being no real like, if we're gonna do this, we gotta have guard rails, we gotta have a system that's that's that's legit. But yeah, I mean these coaches, they they would they
wouldn't coach if they weren't getting paid. And that's that's unusual for them to even be in that spot because those who coached college football for a long time, it's never been a job before, but now it is. I mean, especially for guys in that situation who's just sticking around to play because he is taking advantage of not only a fifty year guy they can transfer and use one more year, but also he can make some money. So no, I think that'll be a red flag in the eyes
of some. But those who adapt and just accept for it, accept it for what it is, they're the ones who are gonna have the best success navigating through this. So I don't think the guy's even that special because U and LV was the best school that that that was in on him. But that doesn't changed the fact that he is entitled to not continue to perform and work
a job that he's not getting paid. And I'm sure he learned the hard way about getting in and writing, getting an agent that's actually certified in the state that he's gonna be playing and all that, but that really is beside the point, because you know, either way, he still isn't getting paid what he was told by the coach, and that's something he's you know, he's gonna take the matter into his own hands and just say, look, all right, that's bad business. I'm gonna walk away, and I'll still
have a year to play elsewhere. But those are those that are asking why UNLV is in such a tough spot within il and and also financially, you know, apparently they are. They are one of the Mountain West schools that, from a financial standpoint is is just desperate to get the most money they can because they need it. They're broke and the and I don't want to nerd out on Mountain West packed to nonsense because I don't know
nobody really cares. But one thing that I did not know is that when it comes to the there's a certain fee sociated with all this stuff. Right, You've got a poaching fee or something that a conference would pay for taking your tea, your got your your member, and then you've got the buyout fee and whatnot. And no, no, no, no, no, no, UNLV is banking on doing whatever is going to get
in the most money. But yet there's a lot of UNLV fans that are acknowledging they're they're going to put the conference in a worse spot from their from their or they're gonna put there, They're gonna put the program, the school and a worse spot as far as conference filiation because they're desperate for money, when a lot of people in their same situation don't believe that all that money is is coming just because it'll be in court forever,
and you know, it's such a such a mess. But one thing when it comes to NIL that I think hurts U n l V is that, yes, they are a big market and they haven't really had pro teams until recently. Now they have the Raiders and they've got who else.
Do they have?
They get a baseball team they are they're getting the A's I think, and then they also have the the hockey team that, yeah, the hockey team who got off to a great start. And then of course their WNBA team does really well there. So you know, they are becoming a pro sports town and they'll be they'll they'll be a team there in Vegas. I'm sure at some point, But there's no city maybe in the country as far as the size that is filled with more people who
are not from there. It is transplant city. I bet a lot of people who live there they got a story about how they ended up living there. Right, So nobody cares about UNLV among those people because they don't have any connection to it, right, They just don't care. They didn't go to school. But you know, so it's just a different type of city. Yeah, it's larger, I mean, it's I mean, it's a hell of a place. It's a lot of fun. There's a lot of money there,
But UNLV doesn't. I mean, again, the majority of the people that I that I think live there, even those that are in in business and have success there, probably are not. You know, they're not from there and they're not affiliated there. And now you know, like the Raiders, when they host teams, they're going to get a lot of fans from I mean sometimes depending on who they play, they'll be the road team because yeah, one one, that
stadium's humongous. But also like the Raiders, they moved all over they you know, they bounced around, and I'd still say the bulk of their fans are not in Vegas.
They're in Oakland in the Bay Area, So I can see how they would struggle in that aspect to where there's just not a whole like there's not a lot of like community funding for NIL and really just with you know, before NIL existed, they probably weren't doing great when it comes to just getting like corporate donations from certain you know, from from from you know, local like for example, Louisville. Let's look at all the great corporations here that have local ties that have been generous to
the University of Louisville. Obviously not anymore, but Papa John's, I mean that's a company that was started right here and that was the that mean without Papa John himself and the money that that was that was given, I mean, you eventually would have had somebody, but they helped you put your big stadium together. That really changed a lot for you as a football program. Not to say there aren't companies that have started in Vegas, but like, I
just don't think there's there's there's all. It's not a local community with a lot of people who have been born and who were born and raised there and this and that kind of stuff. It's just different. So not to say that they shouldn't have better resources, I don't know, but like, I'm not surprised in the grand scheme of things that UNLV doesn't have a big, a big bank roll when it comes to big fans with big money in Vegas, because I think people with big money in
Vegas do not care how UNLV football. I mentioned they beat Kansas before anybody knew that Kansas stunk, and I mean, it seems silly now that they ranked Kansas in the preseason, like Kansas sucked for so long and then they like weren't terrible and then they became decent to kind of good, and it just it made you think that they were actually better than they were because the shock value of Kansas actually winning games made it seem as if like,
instead of being you know, seven and five, you thought they were felt like die in three because it's Kansas and they have gotten off to a terrible start this year that like, again, nobody cares about it's Kansas. They're gonna go back to being irrelevant like they've been for the bulk of my life. I would say, but this is a wild stat They've been out scored forty eight to seventeen in the final five minutes of halves this season, so towards the end of each half, first half, second half.
Throughout all of their games, they've been outscored forty eight to seventeen. And again, they were ranked in the preseason. They've lost now three consecutive games where they had fourth quarter leads, including an eleven point blown lead that they had this past weekend before losing. Not even sure, I don't remember who it was they lost to, but yeah, they're they're not having a good star, which is the
norm for them. But man, how about being a Kansas football fan with the last eighteen months or so, you kind of felt like, oh, we're getting we're getting good. You know what it is?
It's Indiana and Kansas keep trading back and forth. Only one of those teams can be good at the same time.
I'll be honest with you, I don't think Indiana has ever been as bad as Kansas was for a while. I mean, again, you all are in that tier of like never really consistently having like relevant football, you know. Yeah, and they and they're there too, but like there were a few years where they were I mean, they were worse than some FCS teams like they were God off, they're zero to.
Twelve, one and eleven.
That ian stuff. I mean in credit to Lance Leepold. I mean, I he should have got out of there whenever he had the chance. I mean, because I mean he could still potentially probably get out after this year. But I don't know. Maybe he's not that great of a coach. How are you feeling about the Hoosiers game this weekend.
I've got him covering, But that was also before which the spread seven seven and a half by the way, for those interested, But with the you know, the hurricane stuff coming in, it's it's expected to potentially impact Bloomington, So I don't know how that's going to affect the style of play. But I'm confident that Signett he's gonna have him ready for anything. We'll see.
What does Maryland have.
I mean, they've got a really good wide receiver named ty Helton or Felton. I don't remember how you say, is ya I've heard of I know you're talking about, and he's one of the top receivers I believe in the entire country.
To me, like, with it being this early in the season, wouldn't they just be a team that you just you throw them in the middle right now in the Big Ten and know that they're probably not They're not towards the top, but they're not towards the bottom. Yeah.
What's interesting, Usually the winner of this game between Indiana and Maryland they used to be division rivals. The winner would usually go on to have a fairly decent season. Maryland killed Indiana last year. I believe they ended up being eight and four. And Indiana's had years in the past, you know, during the Tom Allen era where they beat Maryland and they went on to have good seasons.
Yeah. I mean, look, they beat Yukon fifty to seven, they beat Virginia twenty seven thirteen. Virgina sucks. They beat Villanova, who's FCS, and then they lost to Michigan State, which is not a good loss for them. I mean, Michigan State just lost to Boston College. So in Boston College is not you know what. They they're not terrible, but that's not something you'd look at in the Big Ten and say, yeah, that's a quality loss. Yeah. So yeah, I'm I'm eager. I'm gonna I'm gonna watch a lot
of that game. I haven't seen the Hoosiers a whole lot this year, but they're at noon. Louivill done play till later in the day. So I'm gonna check it out and see it and I'll be pulled. I'm not gonna bet on it, but I'm gonna be going.
For me because I'll be I mean, unless something happens, I'll be out loud than like.
I'll take your shift for the Hoosier game and we'll you know, we'll see what happens real quick before we get to our next break. If you are interested in in some of these some of these stats and facts. In the first four weeks of college football, when it comes to sports betting, there are looks like six teams seven teams that are zero to four against the spread that have not have not covered yet this year, regardless
off it's because they're favored or you know, underdogs. Wyoming Actually here it is these are her and four against the spread teams with non cover margin for game. So these are the teams that haven't covered, but also like they've been way off, like the sports books can't figure them out. Wyoming minus nineteen point one, that's how off
they've been and not covered. NC State minus sixteen point four, Kent State minus fifteen point three, Middle Tennessee State minus fourteen point six, LSU minus ten point four, TCU minus seven point six, and Kansas minus seven point five. Teams that have not covered it all this year. A lot of those are included, but North Carolina hadn't covered a
game this year, Wake Forest, Middle Tennessee State, Arizona. These are teams that it might not And I haven't looked at the lines on these games specifically, but those are teams that you might start fading because stubbornness can be a thing within within the initial line that you see that comes out now. Obviously there's a lot that impacts if it moves one way or the other throughout the week.
But Louisville, for example, you made a lot of money when Bobby was here in his last year because they would still get a respectable line as an underdog, because everybody would just know, like, hey, Louisville, they suck, but they got better players than Virginia in Boston College. So like they'd be eighteen point dogs and I'd be sitting here thinking they'll lose by double that, Like I'm watching this team playing and play like they're gonna get killed
and you can make money doing that. So I'm not sure what potential team that is this year, but keep that in mind now. As far as teams that are perfect against the spread, Louisville and Indiana are two of those teams. Other teams Army, Boston College, Bowling, Green BYU, Eastern Michigan, Illinois, Ole, Miss Pitts, San Jose State, Tennessee, Texas,
Central Florida, and UNLV who we just talked about. So you know, I don't know if that's interesting to you, but these are teams that have absolutely taken care of business one way or the other. Right, they've either won every game with some cushion or they've lost but did better than the odds makers expected. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side and wrap up the four o'clock hour. Keep this thing rolling along. It is Coffee and Company here on Sports Talk seven ninety,
So you're going a louder than live tonight. Who's the is it? Slip Knot?
Slip Knot, five Finger, Death Punch and the Offspring the three biggest names tonight.
I've heard of all of these, All of these groups don't know a whole lot about them. I know that they're a big deal in there, you know, in that in that genre, in that space rock uh, slipknot more metal, yeah, slip not really.
All three of the offspring is kind of punk rocket yeah, but both of those Finger Death, Punch and Slip not they fit into that heavy metal category.
So you've gone to this event many years, right, it's to be the fourth year, I believe. For me, what do you expect in as far as the crowd, I mean, I get a similar vibe to last week. As far as just there's a lot of people here in town. I don't really know what to expect.
I do think it's going to be not as croud as Bourbon and Beyond for the first time probably in the history of both of these festivals, and maybe even less so because of the rain. I do think for people who come out of town, they're going to go regardless. But I think you may see locals, potentially, especially in the coming days, maybe decide not to go. But I mean, people spend a lot of money on these tickets as well, so maybe if as long as they don't cancel it,
maybe you won't see that much of a difference. When it comes to turn out.
Yeah, I just saw that. Mayor Greenberg tweeted out the severity of these these storms heading our way, says attention level. We were expected to have heavy rainfall all day Friday and into the weekend, so it's important to stay safe, monitor the weather except expect severe conditions this weekend. Please take precautions, uh, and be and be prepared. So, I mean, I don't know if if there's like a a level of fear or level of threat that that does require
the mayor to tell people to be careful. I mean, or he's just you know, being nice and trying to keep people, you know, aware of what's going on. Because if you, like, if you if you are unplugged, and I find it hard to believe, but if you're unplugged from anything when it comes to the news. You don't listen to the radio, you don't turn your TV on. You know, you're on the internet. But you know it's
not about like anybody covering local weather around here. Like I guess you could be you know, in the dark on this whole thing. But I don't know, I get the sense that like this is hitting a level of like, oh, guys, it's gonna be crazy. Everybody be prepared, which you know,
better safe than sorry. But I just would be really sad for everybody involved in the Louder Than Live festival if there was like a day they couldn't do it because of how windy it was and just because of how you know, how severe the rain and the flooding was. But not to insult them, but like I kind of feel like this group would not care, like a lot of people who those who are here traveling, that are here for four straight days of being there all day,
like they ain't scared of right, they ain't scared to win. No, they're lost to this.
As long as old Danny Wimmer lets everybody into the festival, they're gonna be there.
And I'm curious, not that it matters, but like can he be shut down? Like you know what I mean? Like does somebody somebody have authority to say you're not allowed to have this event because of how severe the weather.
Is looking like I don't know if the City of Louisville has I don't authority over there or maybe the Expo Center that type of thing.
Because like I know it's certain like certain places it's in fact Like whenever you've got a weather situation at a stadium for a football game, it is a the host, the school, they're following their own conferences protocols for weather and whatnot. But like for an event like this, I really don't, you know.
Obviously lightning is the big one. I don't know how big of a threat lightning is in what's coming over the next couple of days. But the biggest things that we've both been hearing is heavy rain and potentially really high winds.
Yeah, I'm I'm a little skeptical that it's going to be as bad as they say, because typically that's that's you know, that's the and I hope it's not as bad as they see. And that's not and that's not you know, that's not to say they suck. They're always wrong, because again they're even if you are somebody that believes they are at times trying to worry us a little bit, to get us on the edge of our seats, so we are likely to tune into what they're saying and doing.
Even if you believe that a little bit, which I do, it's still their job to, like, you know, give you the give you the full like you know, the full worst case, best case kind of thing. So again, I'm hopeful that it's not that bad. Not because I want to dunk on them and say that they're idiots, but just because you know that would be when you have a big event that brings so much to the city of Louisville, with tourism and just people here enjoying Louisville.
You know you don't want whether to get in the way. But you know, it's one thing we don't control. Mother Nature decides what happens with that kind of stuff, nobody else, and hopefully she's she's a fan of rock metal music, and she decides.
Mother Nature has a name this week too, it's Helene.
It's right Helene. That get her out of here. John. We don't want, we don't want any of Helene heading our way. You're not gonna be watching football saturdaycause you're gonna be a loter than life. But are you Are you betting anything?
I am bet and I already mentioned I'm taking Indiana minus seven and a half.
I wish I had it.
I wish you're gonna ask me, and it's not your fas Okay, I would have had it pulled up and let you know, my other two legs are. But I am getting in on some action this weekend.
I don't have a lot of confidence because last week I was really confident about a few picks and they were way off. But I do think Miami minus seventeen and a half against Virginia Tech. I like that. I know it's a lot of points, but Virginia Tech is just not that good of a football team, and as of now, I'm gonna that Miami is as good as advertised. Cam Ward is the real difference maker in my opinion for Miami, not just being okay, hey, they're pretty good
this year. They're usually underwhelming. I think they could be like as good as not anybody, but they're they're loaded and talent's always been in a good place for Miami obviously in certain I mean, they had they teams back in the early two thousands that had the insane amount of NFL players on them. But like that's what people say, why is Miami? Why have they not been able to get back to being the U and winning national championships?
They recruit really well every year, and that's true, but they've never It's been a long time since they had a really good quarterback, and I think cam Ward's that guy. And a really really good quarterback that's in a good system with talent everywhere else. That's a good recipe to have success. So I like Miami minus seventeen and a half. I've got some other games that I that I'm kind of wavering on as far as what I want to do. We can get to that in the five o'clock hour.
But let's get a quick break out of the way and we'll get to the five o'clock hour and welcome in Ken Spencer from WHAS eleven. Get his thoughts on both matchups for the local teams this weekend, and uh finished this thing strong. One more hour to go. It's coffee and company. We are fuel about Thornton's right here on Sports Talk seven ninety