It's time for coffee and Company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine day. Now here's Nick Coffee, all.
Right, our number three here on a Wednesday afternoon. Thanks for hanging out with us on a Sports Talk seven ninety. It is coffee and company and we are fueled by Thornton's Nick Coffee. That's me the company man, mister John Alden alongside today another reminder, we've got you covered on Saturday game Day the Louisville Football pregame Show hosted by yours truly.
We'll start at two thirty this year.
Our sponsors for the pregame show Jefferson Animal Hospital, Pello Window and Doors of Central Kentucky. And then as soon as it ends, and I mean as soon as it ends, we go live for the Louisville Football postgame Show with myself taking your calls, reacting to whatever happens. And the postgame show is sponsored by alex Ar White Lawyers, suit Distracted Driver dot Com. So hopefully we end up with the same type of reaction. And what I mean is you go out there and you take care of business.
You do exactly what you are supposed to do against you know, these kind of opponents. And Louisville right now favored by twenty eight and a half against this Jacksonville State team that I don't even know where. They were predicted to finish in the Atlantic Sun this year, but they got off to a rough loss against Coastal Carolina in their first game and now they're underdogs about four touchdowns. So you know, they are a step up from what you would expect from an FCS team, right, I mean,
Austin p is not even Division one. Jacksonville State is. However, they're you know, they're brand new to Division one at least, you know, within the last few years.
So we'll see.
I mean, I would expect Louisville to be pretty dominant, and I think you'll see Jeff Brohm be pretty vanilla, meaning, you know, probably play as quarterback for a half if you know, unless for some reason he thinks that there's more value. You know, there's value in getting him to play more. But I mean, if you're Tyler, you know what you have in Tyler Shuck. The guy's a seventh year senior, so I think it's important for him to get some valuable reps and continue to establish that chemistry
with his offense. But once they've put it on this team, which I hope they do in the first and second quarter, we may it may be a while before we see Tyler Shuck playing in a third quarter. And that's a good thing because that means you're taking care of business
against these type of opponents. So bye week next week, and then you've got George Attack and Georgia Tech only two and a half point favorites against Syracuse, which you know, I know Syracuse made a coaching change, you know, and I know times that Dome can be sneaky because and I can tell you this firsthand just being there for
a football game. It's clearly because it's a dome, but there can be not that many people there at all, and it sound loud as hell in there, which is honestly like, it's got to be confusing as a player, especially if you're playing there for the first time. You're
wondering where all is sound coming from. I mean, they were allowed pretty early when I was there, when Louisville played custon twenty sixteen, when Lamar Jackson, I think on that Friday night, won the Heisman Trophy, and then you know, nobody else did enough to take it from him, although I think he set up himself for that following week when they took on Florida State and demolished them, and that's probably when he actually won the Heisman Trophy for
being honest. But anyways, you know Clemson and not Clemson but Syracuse. You know, I hope they don't beat Georgia Tech because I would love for Louisville to have their first ACC opponent be against a ranked Georgia Tech team and there'd be some real value there. Now again, who cares if people say, well, yeah, I just if Louisville beats Georgia Tech, then they'll fall from the top twenty five and that'll mean that they just stink and the rest of the ACC stinks. Everybody in the ACC just sucks.
I'm sure there'll be some people that say that, but hey, if you're Louisville, take advantage of it, just because you know, you can only control who you can only control.
What happens when you play somebody, right like you can't.
I mean, you got to play who's on the schedule and you're in the ACC, and I don't think anybody wants the league to stink and I'm not here to tell you that it does stink, but I just as we've discussed for a while, including the last two weeks really with FSU and then Clemson and then Virginia Tech losing to Vandy.
I mean, you can't control it. Just go win.
And now, in fact, it doesn't really like if you think you're really really if you feel like you've got a team that once you get there, you could actually be competitive in the College Football Playoff. I feel like, now you know, you probably want the ACC to suck every year because hey, right now, with the playoff structure of the way it is, it doesn't matter if you
win that league. You're getting a spot in the playoff schedule as lightly as possible, right Go play a bunch of Patsy's in the non conference and then go play in your league, and if it's down, who cares. I mean, you're still you're still slotted with a spot in the playoff because it's one of the Power four leagues. And again I'm not saying that I think the ACC is trash. I think Boston College. I know it's all about Florida State, but they look pretty damn good the other night. I
know Castellanos can play. We saw that first hand last year. Georgia Tech. They finished with nine wins this year or I'm sorry last year, and they're coming off a top four finish in the league. Maybe they are legitimately a top twenty five caliber team. Miami looks really really good. Clemson, Maybe we find out that they're a solid team this year that's going to be a top twenty team all year. They just happen to run into, you know, Georgia, who
is dominant. So either way, like I I'm trying to psych myself up for a potential matchup against a ranked team in a couple of weeks when they get off the buy. But then again, like you know, it's like I'm searching for validation and I'm never gonna get it when it comes to the ACC because I don't even think the ACC. I'm not even really sure what they could do this current season for the narrative to be
different about them as a league. I mean, I'm not even really sure what scenario like what could play out to where at the end of the season people say, wow, the ACC really proved this wrong.
They're legit.
I mean, the only thing that could happen was maybe the national champion be an ACC team, and maybe you get a second team in the league, I'm sorry, the second team from the league in the playoffs and they compete and make a run in the playoff as well, Like, oh, that's really unlikely. But I feel like outside of that, what else could happen to where people will look back and say, well, you know what, the ACC really got
better this year. We should stop treating this as if it's the worst league in the history of college football.
Anyways, We'll move on.
I'm a little envious of Kentucky's matchup in Week two, just because you can tell that this is a big game for both of these teams, not because it will really set up anything special, but these two programs, I feel view themselves as if they're kind of competing for that for that spot in the SEC. Realistically speaking, obviously, you want to win your league, you want to compete at the very top. But these two programs, I think,
deep down know that that's not realistically possible. Obviously, Steve Spurrier did a pretty good job there for a while. The Jadevian Clowney era was pretty special for him. But I feel like since then, and since Mark Stoops got to Kentucky, I feel like these two schools are kind of in the same spot.
I don't even know what their head to head record is. I mean, I honestly have no.
Clue, but in the previous divisions, which now there aren't divisions, like I think South Carolina and Kentucky are programs that could be four and four in conference play with a seven and five maybe eight and four season, and they would look at where they finished in their league at five hundred and yet they can feel like, oh, we're great.
It's just we're in this great league because they realistically know they're not going to consistently compete at the top of that league with the likes of Georgia, Alabama and even Florida when they're rolling, which by the way, you know they haven't been rolling in quite some time. But
you know, Ole miss has got some momentum now. LSU like they kind of know where they stand to where they can live comfortably knowing that they're not really relevant in the grand scheme of things of their conference, but they're not at the bottom. And this matchup here, I feel like has kind of annually become you in this one, you know you're going to be above the bottom. Although last year South Carolina sucked out loud, what were they like four and eight and then still beat Kentucky. Maybe
I'm wrong. I feel like Shane Beemer, like he's a character, of course, and you know, I don't think he's a terrible coach, but like, if they're terrible this year, like how much longer does he keep his job? I mean they did have two years ago they went eight and five. Last year five and seven, three and five overall, they nearly lost to Old Dominion in their first game. In
his first season, they went seven and six. So he's ten and fourteen in the SEC twenty one and eighteen overall right now, And I kind of feel like this, I mean, this is probably a bigger I don't know, is it a bigger game for Kentucky or for South Carolina, because I think it really depends on I mean again, for each of these two teams. If you want to be six and six or better, I feel like you look at this as a game that you need to win.
Because if you're South Carolina, let's look up their schedule.
I mean, they.
Let's see here, because there's a chance they could have a really much tougher or much a much lighter schedule than Kentucky depending on how it, you know, how.
Played out with the schedule.
So if you're South Carolina and you know you're actually if you're Shane Beemer and you know you need to not only not be at the bottom of the league, you probably need to have a winning record overall and at least be four and four in SEC play. A lot easier said than done because they have Kentucky this week and then they play LSU that'll be at home. They play Akron, they play Ole Miss at home, they play Bama, They've got Oklahoma on the road.
I mean, their schedule is pretty damn tough. I mean they I mean, and they play Clemson to close out the year.
So if you're if you're South Carolina and Beemer, like you gotta win this one because LSU is going to be a loss for you. Ole Miss is going to be a loss for you. Alabama's going to be a loss for you. Oklahoma, We'll have to wait and see, but I would imagine that's probably going to be a loss. Considering that game is in Norman A and M I'd say that's kind of a coin toss that one's at home for you. You should beat Vandy Missouri. I mean,
they've been better than you recently. And then you play Wafford and then you play Clemson.
So I mean.
You could always pull off an upset, but I think you need to bank on two upsets happening if you want to finish six and six without a loss to Kentuck. I mean, like again, this is a game that South Carolina has to look at on their schedule and say we have to have that. Now if you're Kentucky, I'd think the optics of this would be bad. That stoops coming off of a three and five SEC season a year ago. Yeah, they did beat Louisville, which was a big win for him, was a win against the rank
the top ten team at their place. But he's three and five in the SEC in his last two seasons, seven and six overall in each of his last two seasons. And if they come out and start one in one and they lose to South Carolina, I mean I think not even just I would I wouldn't even say that this is this is like a fact. It's just I think you'll start to hear more of Well, the best football for Kentucky under Mark Stoops is in the past.
They can still be a bold caliber team. Maybe they'll get to five hundred and SEC play, But now that Texas and Oklahoma in the league, they can't beat South Carolina consistently anymore. Tennesse sees ahead of them, Missouri has surpassed them. Like I think you would hear more. I think you'll hear more noise about Mark Stoops. Not to say that fans will be demanding he'd be fired, because I think even if you wanted a fresh start, I
think you know Mark Stoops is not getting fired. If he ever is not Kentucky's head coach, it'll be because he decides not to be Kentucky's head coach. And trust me, I'm not saying fans should be should be leading some kind of a charge because Stoops has done a great job there in the grand scheme of things, especially considering where the program was when he inherited it.
But like, how much happened? Can you all?
I mean, haven't you maybe kept? Like are you still satisfied with seven and six overall? Three and five in the league play? I think some of you are if it includes betting Louisville. But if you go six and six in the regular season, three and five in the SEC and you start losing to Louisville, which is going to start happening, by the way, I'm speaking into existence here.
But like you, you wouldn't be happy Withtoops anymore, right, You would probably be in a loveless marriage where you thank him for everything he did to actually give you an extended period of time where you were way more
successful than you've really ever been. He proved the administration into the state and to their fans that if you do invest in football and you have a guy who can recruit to a place like Kentucky, you can be different than what you were for a long long time, which was for the most part the doormat of your league. But like if it's capped out, like does he get tired and want to move on? There's some talk of like he may just retire and not coach football anymore.
I don't know enough about Mark Stoops to know that, if you know, he would be fine with football not being.
A part of his life.
But you got to keep mind his brother did retire pretty early and has had no real interest in coming back to the college game, which I think surprised a lot of people, including myself. I just mean he was young when he retired his brother Bob.
So I still think, and people may disagree with this, that as soon as the Iowa job opens up, Kirk Ferns people know that Mark Stoops is an aluma of Iowa. It wouldn't surprise me if things are still kind of sour with Kentucky if he made that move over to the big ten in the Midwest.
You never know, it could be wrong.
No, I think that's something a lot of folks have mentioned as far as a potential that could get him away because the best and biggest jobs aren't coming after him. No, and to be fair, Kentucky has made it to where he'd be foolish to leave because you would need I think you would need a bigger and better, like an elite job. Would be the kind of job that would pay him enough to get him out of there. You know, I'm trying to think of a school that would be
a good like for example, Miami. They would never hire him, but like if they did, they would pay him a lot more than what they're paying their current coach and Miami's a way better program, better resources, and better tradition. It's not viewed as a doormat of a league like
Kentucky has been for a long time. But if your Stoops like, yeah, they got more tradition, But like, I'm already paid a lot and make a ton of money, and I can go seven and five here and know that I'm never gonna have to worry about my job. I could go six and six and never have to worry about my job. To be honest with you, as long as Minch Barnhardt's there, So I think Iowa would make sense because of the connection that he he played there. But if you're Iowa, is that the direction you would
want to go? Like Stoops is weird, And this is not meant to be like a dig at him because he has mean I don't even find Mark Stoops to be that unlikable. I don't like him as a football coach because he coaches the rival, right, he's the enemy,
He's the Kentucky coach. But I do respect the fact that he has turned Kentucky around and done something that nobody's ever done there, meaning, you know, have this type of success consistently, and he doesn't seem like, you know, like I just don't know if a program like IOWA
will be energized at Stoops. Because again, it all comes back to this when you see those out there that cover college football that are respected in regards to their opinion on the sport, A lot of those guys still view Mark Stoops as one of the top twenty five coaches in the country.
Some think he's a top twenty, top twenty, top fifteen coach.
The only thing they can point to to make that make any sense is that Kentucky used to be the biggest joke in their league outside of Andy, and now they're not. Like there's no record at Kentucky, Like he's thirty three and fifty five overall an SEC play and I know he went oh to eight, two and six, two and six in his first three seasons, but even since then he has a losing record, which again, it's tough to win. I mean, it's tough to have a
winning record in the SEC. Like I'll acknowledge that, But my point is this, like, I just don't know if a program like IOWA or a program like A and M and it played out this way if you're going for Stoops and all you can give me is, well, you know, he Kentucky doesn't suck anymore like that? That falls flat, does it not, especially if you're a program that feels like you can compete at the highest level of the sport.
Yeah, and I was weird. They've only had two head coaches in the last forty years, so they've had guys who have been there for a very long time. They're weird in a variety of ways, aren't they they. I mean, yeah, they play very weird style. I mean maybe it's changed this year. They hung forty in their first week, so we'll see. But yeah, that's I was an interesting program. It'd be interesting if down the line, Mark Stoopson's up at his alumni home.
I mean, how old as Mark Stoups. Let's see here is he? I think it is fifty. He's fifty seven.
Fifty seven, so he just turned fifty seven a couple months ago, so he's still I mean, that's young for a ball coach. I mean, and yes, I'm doing a little bit of the you know, mocking the robble here, but I'm also not making something up. He was crying before the season started about having to do his job like that's unusual behavior. It's another example of stoops, in my opinion, having like one of the like it sounds hyperbole, it sounds like a backhanded compliment. It sounds like you're
making a joke. But I also think if you really give it some thought, it's not crazy to say that he might have the best job in college football, because what coach could make that kind of money with you know, not a whole lot to show for it, meaning not a whole lot of I mean, other coaches that make that kind of money have way more of an impressive resume.
But Kentucky realizes, Hey, this guy is as good as we've ever had as far as what we're doing, and you know, consistently, So let's pay him whatever we got to pay him to keep him around. And I can't fall Kentucky for doing that, but it's just, you know, he's a made man. This is a guy who had a whole season vacated, which is stupid, right, and he's coming off of back to back years where they were disappointing. Like Kentucky last year did not meet expectations. They had
Devin Leary and the portal. Everybody thought that was going to be going to be special. They went three and five in their league, and without a win against Louisville, a big upset for them, they would have been six and six, and I don't mean and it probably would have been the worst Offseasonstoops has experienced to Kentucky. But he beat the rival and it was a big win for him. I don't think that Kentucky fans went from viewing the season as a disappointment to claiming it was
the best season ever. But let's not be foolish. Year beating your rival when they're really good can change a lot. If Louisville was in the same situation last year and Kentucky was in the top ten and louisll beat them, hell yeah, it would change a little bit as far as how you view your league. That's just how the rivalry works. But the year before that, in twenty twenty two, Will loves Is last year three and five again in the SEC, lost it home to Vandy. Underwhelming. So he's
coming off of like back to back underwhelming seasons. Yet he still makes a ton of money. He got a huge extension and raise when they lost to Bandy during that season, and you know you listen to him before the season starts, and he's, Oh, I just don't know how much longer I can do this. I'm not sure if he said it like that because we only had quotes, but like that's quite literally word for word what he said, doesn't know how much longer he can keep doing this?
Just unusual behavior from a coach.
So I bring all that up to say, like, if they somehow slip up to South Carolina they have a who hum season once again where they're flirting with Bowl eligibility, it might make It might take another win over Louisville, an upset over the Cards again that could get their fan base feeling good about football, because I don't think that they're gloom and doom and they have mean again. Who knows, maybe they end up having a good year
this year. But I feel like their fans sort of, you know, their expectations for this upcoming, for this current season that we're in right now, they just started. I feel like what happens Saturday against the game Cocks will be a big factor in sort of Okay, maybe Stoops has capped out here, or hey, we beat the breaks off this South CA A lot of team, let's see what we can do the rest of the way. It's a big game, no doubt. All right, quick break, we'll
come back on the other side. Keep it rolling along. Talk some NFL because the Athletic has given us their annual rundown where they ask I think seven eight different questions to different NFL coaches and executives, and their answers to some of these questions may surprise you. Which quarterback is going to have the biggest breakout season, Which team is going to be the most disappointing. Which player would you like to start a franchise with if you can
only pick one. So we'll take a look at that and a lot more. It's Coffee and company. Feel about Thornton's on Sports Talk seven to ninety So not news you usually see in early September once school has started in college basketball. But Penny Hardaway, he's looking for I mean, he's looking for a brand new coaching staff because he has gotten rid of all of his assistant coaches outside of you know, let's see here, it's double check here.
Because I.
There's no way he could have gotten rid of his like how I mean, how did you go about like your day to day if you don't have anybody on your staff. But there was a total of four including Rick Stansbury that as of now is no longer with the Memphis staff at Penny Hardaway. So yeah, you've got Jermaine Johnson, Jamie Rosser, a guy with a lot with a last named Phillips, and Rick Stansbury all out at Memphis.
So there's just no scenario. The timing here makes it to where he's just decided, well, I'm gonna have to regroup and get a new coaching staff. You do that after your season, not now. So maybe there's a story, some controversy that's gonna come out. I don't know, but maybe this does open up a spot for Nolan Smith,
who I mean, there's two different jobs that ever. But I mean, again, if it's not coming from the newsbreakers in the college basketball world, I guess now we have to kind of just, you know, wait and see if there's any legitimacy. Because Trilli Donovan, Jeff Goodman, Matt Norlander, Gary Parrish, John Rothstein, would you say that's the top tier as far as people who break news in college hoops?
John laid them all out of Yeah, so you know, nobody's reported on Nolan from that group, but there were there was you know, no, basically, it's just websites who cover certain programs. They mentioned Nolan being a guy that could be taking a spot on Penny Hardaway's staff a couple months ago. I thought for sure that meant that it was happening, and it didn't. Same thing for Central Florida.
There's the connection with Johnny Dawkins, who was close friends with Nolan's father, who had an opening on his staff at Central Florida, and they went and when they went in a different direction.
So I mean, you've got five.
Openings right now, according to this this person who covers Memphis for one of the newspapers there. In fact, overall seven staff members lost this offseason, which, by the way, Stansbury people can make jokes, but he's a I mean, he's a great recruiter. I will remember Stell. I remember Rick Stansbury not for the good teams he had at Mississippi State or the success that he had at Western. As far as recruiting, I'll just remember him doing so
little with a lot for a program like Western. Like I'm sure Western fans who are really into Western's basketball program don't want to hear this because it makes them sad. They had about a four to five year window with Stansbury where they brought in dudes who'd start for Louisville and some would start for Kentucky. Like they had really good players there, I mean, and they never made the tournament,
which is crazy. And then the guy comes last year in his first year there, wins Conference USA, goes to the tournament, and then leaves and ends up getting the job at Oklahoma State. So yeah, Rick Stansbury out, but everybody's out. Penny has no staff. Like again, maybe there is maybe maybe these guys just you know, it was a mutual thing. I don't know, but I am I wrong here, Like this can't be just coincidence. Something had to have happened to where he just everybody left.
Yeah, And I hate to kind of predict this without having any context, but I feel like this is I mean, maybe the beginning of the end already started. But I feel like this maybe the upcoming final season for Penny Hardaway if things don't really look.
Yeah, and it should be.
I mean, he's he's a legend there at Memphis, but I mean, guys who go from the NBA to being coaches. I mean, who's left to kind of prove that it can be done and be successful. It's got to be your boy Woodson, right.
Woodson's the only the last kind of experiment remaining. We had Juwan Howard and Michigan doing well for a while, but that fell off harder than.
And that's what happens here.
Like not to compare the two things, but these dudes who come from the pros, it's not a slow gradual. It didn't just work out. It falls off a cliff. I mean pat Jwan Howard had Michigan in the Elite eight and then he started punching coaches after a game, and.
Then last year they won.
I mean, he was just as bad as Kenny Payne.
And he was doing weird stuff, like he just decided he wasn't going to coach one game. He was gonna have Phil mar Telly do it because he wanted like it was just and they suspended a guy only for road games, remember, yes, like just weird weird things going on there. So anyways, that that's a big story because Memphis is one of those kind of programs that they're
they're in comfort or they're in the Americans. So they're just you know, and I know basketball it's not as important, but you know, it is as far as visibility, right Like, if you want to play, you want to play for a program where you're on national television, you're playing in prime time games. I mean, Memphis is at a disadvantage because of the league that they're in right now. There's
just no way around it. And they're not good enough to where they can actually get some standalone games like a Gonzaga can or who else out there is I mean, I was gonna say Yukon, but they're not there. I mean, they're they're in the Big East and that's a good league. So if Memphis opens up that that's a that's a good enough job to wear, Like it wouldn't be a shocker if a young up and comer or maybe I don't know, I mean, who would even be in line
for that job. But Memphis has resources to where you could succeed. They have a lot of tradition in basketball, they care about hoops, and they've got FedEx in their backyard in IL, which not only is a potential thing, Memphis is already getting a certain amount of money every year from FedEx for men's basketball, women's basketball, and football. All let's talk NFL. We got the NFL season starting tomorrow. I can't wait. Excited. Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes. I mean, obviously,
I'm all in on the Ravens in this game. Hopefully they can pull off the upset, but gonna be tough to do considering you know the opponent. It's the Kansas City Chiefs. They're coming off a Super Bowl victory, and we all know what they bring to the table. And you know, I don't see that dynasty. If you can, if you want to call it that, I call it that. If you don't want to call it that, that's fine.
But I don't see that slowing down anytime soon. But anyways, this is something the Athletic has done for at least the past few years. They will talk to different executives and coaches. So here I'll read it directly from the Athletic dot Com. Twenty seven coaches and executives were asked the same seven questions throughout training camp in preseason. They voted on condition of being anonymous, and some abstain from certain questions they didn't want to answer because they probably
didn't you know, coaches are paranoid. They probably didn't believe that it would truly remain anonymous if they gave an answer. And it may be that they trust this reporter, Jeff Howell, but they also just don't want them to know their honest answer, you know what I mean? So who will
win MVP? One guy got eighteen votes and he was the leader, and there were two guys they got two votes, So Patrick Mahomes eighteen votes, Lamar got to, Joe Burrow got to and then there were there was one vote for Josh Allen, Matt Stafford, Sequon Barkley, and Aaron Rodgers. Who the hell voted for Sequon Barksley. It's very random. You're starting a franchise from scratch. Who are the top three quarterbacks you'd want? Patrick Mahomes got twenty five votes.
C J.
Stroud came in at number two with sixteen votes, Joe Burrow got thirteen votes, Josh Allen got ten votes, and then both Caleb Williams and Lamar Jackson got five, and then Brock Purdy got too, which is kind of a
head scratcher. So again, this is quarterback specifically. Somebody's still voting Aaron Rodgers, and I don't know this year for Rodgers, he's either gonna be like really good in remind us, oh yeah, this a hole is still an elite quarterback because I don't I mean, I don't think I'm alone here. I don't like Aaron Rodgers. I find him to be
pretty easy to not like. I felt that way for a long time, even before he became this weirdo conspiracy theorist dude who likes to go into the woods and hang out, like he just seems like a smug a hole. But I've always felt like when he's rolling, he's as good as any quarterback I've seen in the last twenty years. I know he didn't have the credentials the resume that you see with somebody like a Tom Brady or even a Pat Mahomes, But like Aaron Rodgers, he's never shown
us that he's not really really really good. It's just he got hurt as soon as he hit the field last year for the Jets. All Right, the other questions, who's the league's best offensive player that's not a quarterback? Twenty six votes came in because this is one of those questions that for some reason, one person did not want to answer. Pretty competitive here, best offensive player in the NFL that's not a quarterback? The leader with nine
votes was Justin Jefferson. Eight votes for Tyreek Hill and seven votes for Christian McCaffrey, one for Chase and Jamar Chason, then one for Trent Williams.
I could see that.
I think I'd probably still take Tyreek Hill as the best offensive player that's not a quarterback. But hey, Justin Jefferson's prett damn good too. Who's the league's best defensive player? Twenty six votes? Again, somebody didn't want to answer. Miles Garrett had thirteen votes. The runaway winner, Micah Parsons had five votes in second place, and then you had Nick Bosa with three.
TJ Watt got.
To and then there were one vote apiece for Kyle Hamilton other Ravens, Max Crosby of the Raiders, and Chris Jones of the Chiefs. So again, Miles Garrett, the reigning defensive Player of the Year, took the vote by a landslide, which QB will deliver the best rookie season big time winner here, Kayleb Williams got eighteen votes. Jayden Daniels with five, and bow Knicks with three. I think bo Nicks has
a chance to be pretty good as a rookie. I don't know if he'll, you know, take the Broncos deep into the postseason or anything, but I think I think bow Knicks is it is pretty damn good. And I don't think Jayden Daniels will have a great NFL career. Maybe I'm wrong, but I just I kind of feel like he was not a flash in the pan. But I just I don't know. I just to me, he doesn't seem like a franchise quarterback. But I've been wrong about a lot of things. Maybe I'm wrong.
About that too.
All Right, name three teams that'll surprise you in a good way. Twenty one votes came in for this, so these are good surprises with seven votes. The surprise team pleasantly surprising team I should say here with how they framed it the Arizona Cardinals, which I wouldn't be shocked
if that's the case. They got a good coach, and I think Kyler Murray, despite him being undersized and the weird couple years where the Cardinals seemed to be legitimately concerned that he played video games too much like outside of that, like he's shown to to I think, be a really good quarterback in the NFL. So the Cardinals are the leader as far as the most votes as
far as being a pleasant surprise. And then six votes came in right behind the Cardinals for the Falcons and the Seahawks, and then the Colts and the Chargers got five votes. I hope whoever said the Colts are going to be a pleasant surprise, I hope you guys are right. I happen to think we're gonna stink really, really bad
this year. And then the three teams that are gonna surprise in a negative way, meaning these are teams that people probably have expectations for, but these twenty seven coaches and executives within the NFL don't think they're going to be good this year, or at least not live up to that standard. The leader was the Dallas Cowboys with nine coming in behind them as the Dolphins at number seven, and then in third place it was a tie with
the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets. So again I find that to be interesting because again not to say that you know your opinion if you're not an NFL executive or a coach, doesn't matter, because you know, you can have your opinion and heck, you could be you could be you could disagree with these guys who are in the you know, in the uh the league as they you know, the shield as Jim Rome calls it, but you could you know, you could still be right and may be wrong.
You never know.
We're all just kind of guessing when it comes to some of this stuff. But I do find it interesting to hear what those on the inside kind of, you know. The biggest surprise to me was to see that when it comes to starting, you know, a quarterback starting a franchise from scratch with a quarterback that Straub came in at number two. I mean, yeah, he's he looked really good in his rookie season. But I mean Joe Burrow, Josh Adam, Lamar Jackson, those guys have proven to be
pretty damn good too. All right, Uh, let's see here. Yeah, and this is this is really telling one guy who gets talked about a lot it has never really done much to I think prove that he's nearly he's anywhere close to his good and has accomplished as some people view him Justin Herbert. Only one vote came in for Justin Herbert as far as who you'd want to start a franchise with, which I think that's pretty telling. I think those in the NFL also probably view him as
being pretty overrated. All right, quick break, we'll come back on the other side. We still got a couple of days where we get to the college football action. But John and I have already made some wagers, at least John has. I've yet to pull the trigger, but I got some I got some games I'm very, very very interested in as far as making a waitress, so we'll get to that as we wrap it up here. On the other side, don't go anywhere, keep it locked on
Sports Talk seven to ninety. All right, not a lot of time left here in the show, so let's just get right to it. We'll talk more about what we're going to be interested in watching due to wagering. We got the rest of the week to do it. But John, what pick of your you know? I know you got a parlay, but like, of all the legs and the multiple parlays you're building, which one is the one you're most confident in?
The one I'm most confident in is Iowa to cover. I believe it's still a two and a half point spread against Iowa State. Iowa's had the cyclone's number for the past I think seven out of the last eight years, something along those lines. And if they have an offense that is anything like they put up last week, I think they'll take care of Iowa State at home, by
the way, pretty easily. And Iowa State struggled last week with North Dakota for a while before beating him twenty one to three, So I think this is an easy one.
Matt Campbell should have left when he had the chance, right, yes, because I don't know how sustainable football success is at Iowa State. Whenever in il is clearly a big factor, right, I mean, they don't have a lot of history in fact before Matt Campbell. When you're talking about Power five programs that like historically just have had the least relevance
over many, many decades. You're talking Vandy, you're talking Duke, you're talking Kentucky, talking Indiana, you're talking Indiana, you're talking Iowa. I mean that's the reality of it. So you know, I'm not sure if I'm going to touch that one. But if I did, it would be it would be
exactly that, just because I was clearly better. And it is a rivalry, but that rivalry even in game like Iowa was dominated, but they've won some weird games in that one too, I feel like, And there was the random year where Iowa State was actually really good and still end up losing to them. I feel like, So for me, I'm sure there's some emotion involved here, which
is never what you want to do, right. Don't bet with your emotions, bet with your brain, right, even if you know it's a result you don't want, but you feel like the money's there. You still got to trust what you think is going to is going to happen, regardless of how it makes you feel.
But the hell with that?
Pittsburgh plus two and a half against Cincinnati, I mean Saderfield's team. I mean they gave up over four hundred yards to.
Who was it?
I mean a bum team? I mean who they play? Was it pm I or something? So Pittsburgh, you know, they've won fifty five to twenty four against Kent State. I just think I think Cincinnati is gonna stink out loud this year, and I think Pittsburgh is you know, getting two and a half. I mean, I think they win this one. I'm gonna take them to win. Money line,
And who is it that Cincinnati played last week? Because it's alarming if you're a Cincinnati fan and Sadderfield I'm sure acted like, Yeah, they probably threw a party in the locker room because that's what he does, right, even if they beat an FCS team by two, he'll party in the locker room.
Because that was his culture.
Yeah, they beat Towson thirty eight to twenty, gave up four hundred yards to Towson. Again, clearly some emotion involved here, but like, I also think this is where the money's gonna be, Pittsburgh money line, baby, go acc right. All right, we're out of time, you guys.
Enjoy your evening.
We're back at it tomorrow right here, as the NFL season get started.
Yeah,