Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Quarter to four, this is ESPN 1530, Mo Egger. On
Thursdays at this time, we're joined by Chad Brendel from Bearcatjournal.com.
Very busy man, football, basketball starting, Hall of Fame, dinner
tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
A lot going on. Hi, Chad.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Hi, Mo.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
I need to know something important.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I live in Northern Kentucky. Am I forgiven? Or is
the river the cutoff point? Like, am I not forgiven?
Speaker 2 (00:38):
By Trey Hendrickson or by God?
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Trey Hendrickson.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Okay, um.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Yes, I'll say that Trey's forgiveness today, the announcement that
he's forgiving people, I think that covers independence. I'm not
sure how deep into Kentucky it goes. If you live
in like Morning View or down in Dry Ridge, I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
But I think you're covered.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Below Walton is probably the cutoff.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, right. The I-71 split, I think.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Anything south of that, it's a little dicey. But I
think you are covered by the Trey Hendrickson forgiveness plan.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
I feel better. I feel better.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
We said last week that the UC football team had
to win that game against West Virginia.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
They didn't. So now what?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Now you have to win a game against one of
the three best, 10 best teams in the country. That's
a less likely scenario than beating a West Virginia defense
that I think Tony Pike probably could have thrown for
600 yards against West Virginia. Today. Today.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Today.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Tony could have thrown for 600 yards.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
With me catching passes from him. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Should they have gone for it on fourth and three?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Oh, uh, sure. I mean, the problem is you didn't
go for it. You got the result. You like the
only result that was like, like pin them at the one,
not only pin them at the one Mo, but stop
(02:25):
them on first and second down third and nine from
the two. And you give up 41 yards. And then
two plays later, a guy that looked like Audie ran
for 39 yards to get him in field goal range. Like,
sorry for the, that was an unnecessary shot at Audie.
(02:46):
I feel, I apologize. But I mean, yes, sure. Go
for it on fourth and three, like whatever. But you
got exactly what you wanted out of that. The last
three drives, third and eight, you jump off sides twice.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Uh-huh.
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Third and nine, you can't stop them. Third and nine
from their own two, you can't stop them. That's why
you lost the game. Like, the defense, and it sucks
because the first half, the defense did exactly what you
needed them to do against a really good West Virginia offense.
And then the second half, woof. That's up there with
(03:27):
some of the worst halves of football I've ever seen
a UC defense play.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Why is this defense so bad?
Speaker 3 (03:36):
I think some of it is, I think we're seeing why.
I know everybody was very critical of Tyson Veidt, but
I think we're seeing why Tyson Veidt, after being here
for two years, decided my best option is to play
it safe, keep everything in front of me, Not allow
any big plays because this team is a little bit
(03:59):
more aggressive. Sure, they're doing a better job forcing turnovers,
but Saturday is what happens when you don't force any turnovers.
You just let the other team march right up and
down the field. They're not getting any pressure from their
defensive line. They're having a couple guys make a play
(04:19):
here and there, but do you really feel like the
quarterback is ever uncomfortable?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
No.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
In the pocket?
Speaker 1 (04:26):
No.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
They're not getting any pressure. They're making their defensive backs
cover for days. The tackling was atrocious. I mean, some
of it is coaching. It's always a piece of that.
But I just don't think there's a lot of talent.
And then once the starters started getting banged up in
that game, the depth was exposed on a disastrous level.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
What did we learn about Jared Calhoun's team in the
Illinois game?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
They're fighters. I mean, there were a couple times in
that game Illinois could have blown their doors off. And
they battled. I mean, they were up four in the
second half. Now, Illinois is right there for me with
Florida and Duke as the best teams in the country
coming into the season. The defense has to be better defensively.
(05:21):
but I think Illinois will end up number one in
offensive efficiency in the country. And it might not be
particularly close. Like the way that they move the ball
and both teams, like watching that was watching like a
revelation that basketball in 2026 has finally come to Cincinnati.
(05:42):
The way that the ball got up and down the
court and moved and, got into the paint and then
kicked out to the open shooter and the open shooter
shot it in. Cincinnati made 12 threes and it felt
like Illinois made 10 more. And how many times, Mo,
would we have given a finger, maybe parts of an arm?
(06:05):
for UC to make 12 threes.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
In a game.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
And it felt like, oh, they shot it okay.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
They shot it all right. Right.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I think they're pretty good. I think they acclimated very
well against a great opponent.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
They've been picked to finish eighth in the Big 12,
tied for eighth in the Big 12. These are unscientific polls,
and they were before this era that we're in. Does
eighth seem about right to you?
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Anywhere from 6th to 8th, 9th, somewhere in there feels
about right. I think that group is probably going to
be decided by a game if they're not all tied.
You know, they're going to be jostling right in that position.
Here's the interesting thing, Mo. Last year, I was pretty
(06:57):
confident the Big 12 had five elite teams, like five
teams that really could be great. I.
I don't have that feeling this year. Like, obviously, Kelvin
Sampson gets the benefit of the doubt. Right. Arizona's loaded.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I don't know that BYU is great.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
I watched Kansas last night. I watched Kansas last night,
and yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
So, you know, Iowa State, you lost. Josh Jefferson and
Milan Momchilovic, I do not believe they are just going
to easily replace two of my favorite players. If you
watched Iowa State, they were two of the easiest, funnest
players to watch in the league last year. I don't
(07:43):
think you just snap your fingers, go out in the
portal and replace them. So I think the top of
the league is gettable.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
About this time yesterday, we get the release from the
University of Cincinnati in conjunction with Bob Huggins' family about
his cognitive issues. And I'm trying to be as semantically
responsible as possible. I know I watch you and Dave
talk about Bob Huggins on your pod last night. But
when his name comes up, what's the first thing that
(08:12):
comes to mind?
Speaker 3 (08:14):
Mo, you're literally 14 days older than me. We grew up.
Through the same things. I was going to games with
my dad at a very young age. My dad loves
Bob Huggins, loved him then, still loves him now. We
were at the final radio show after he got let go.
(08:36):
We went to games together most of my life. Bob
Huggins was the coach for most of that. Unfortunately, I,
over the years, heard him say some things about Cincinnati
on the road. AAU tournaments, casual conversation that angered me
a little bit with him, but I get it. I'm
(08:57):
a little older. I've got a little bit better perspective.
He was mad. He, you know, he, he was mad
that the way things went down, went down. And it's
great that they are going to have everybody back. Like
if you're talking, if you're a UC basketball fan of
our age, tomorrow night might be the epitome of like,
(09:20):
our childhood. Everybody, Nick, Corey, Ruben, Kenyon, Eric Hicks was
around today. I saw him on campus. It's going to
be awesome for us and hopefully Bob gets a chance
to be able to soak it all in and realize
(09:41):
what he meant to this community because Dave and I
talked about this last night. You see basketball and that
period of the nineties was the thing.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
It owned the city. It owned the city.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
It owned the city.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
And you know, everybody was. was looking forward to every
moment of those teams and those games and and that
era the city has kind of a thing for being
the bad like you know we don't mind being the
bad guy we we don't mind being the black hat
i think everybody loved it embraced it um So I
(10:19):
think it's going to be really cool and even more
cool that it's happening while one of his guys is
back running the program. I think it's kind of full circle.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Yeah. Well said. Do we have the Chad and Rick
preview on the books? Do we nail that down?
Speaker 3 (10:38):
It has not been booked yet. I have not gotten
a text to book it yet.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Taren and I talked yesterday. I think we're aiming for
next Wednesday in the first hour of the show.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Because we have a, we have a short show. So
we're done at four 30 for UK basketball. So we
were going to try to do the first hour, uh, the, the,
the Chad and Rick college basketball. I'm booking the show
live on the air.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
This is great.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
I should be able to make that work. Well, I'm not, I,
my calendar says I'm not filling in for you. Okay.
And there's, there's not a UC basketball game that day.
The game is the night before. So we'll have something to,
to chat about, uh, You can pencil me in. All right. Now,
are we, like, on location somewhere?
Speaker 1 (11:23):
No.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I mean, so you're welcome to come in studio.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
But now that we have this wonderful technology where I'm
watching you right now, if you're like, look, I'll do it,
but I don't feel like leaving my house, that's fine, too.
I would prefer you guys be here. And if one
of you is here, I would want both of you here. But,
you know, you're doing me a favor, so beggars can't
be choosers. Okay.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I'll yeah, I'll be there. You can pencil me in
for being, I didn't know if we were going to like,
sometimes we do this.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I'll somewhere out at a restaurant.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I would love to be great, but, but not, no, the, the,
the way that the timing works, I want to do
it next Wednesday. Now we got to know, do we
have to like pop in Rick and see if he
could do it too?
Speaker 3 (12:04):
Possibly yeah okay i mean you've got my commitment all right.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Chad is in now i'm putting a circle i'm working
on rick as we speak is the chad but taryn's
working on we will have this booked maybe by the
time we come back from.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Break the the 29th like one week from.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Today yes one week from today yesterday one week from
yesterday yeah the 28th uh the first hour of the
show the annual chad and rick college basketball.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Preview You can write it in pen if you want.
All right.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Well, if Rick says no, we'll just get somebody else.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
That's fine. I mean, Fred Schnur will probably do it.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
I would love to have Paul.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
That's conversation for a different day and time.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
All right.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Appreciate it, Mo.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
All right.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Chad Brentel, BearcatJournal.com. I'm not going to say anything. I
don't want to get in trouble. I don't want to
get anybody mad at me, but that'd be. Cool on
my end.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
A couple away from 4 o'clock. What are we doing now?
Speaker 1 (13:03):
We're going to go to Baltimore in 15 minutes and
talk with Jonah Schaefer. Wait, we got a few minutes
between now and then. Maybe like 10 minutes. 513-749-1530.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.