2025-09-29- KSR - Hour 1

KSR is Live at KSBar & Grille with former UK Football player Dusty Bonner talking Kentucky's loss to South Carolina.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the Bob and Tom Show in tosh Point, Oh.
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Catch John Caparulo October tenth and eleventh. Then it's a
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(00:21):
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Speaker 2 (00:30):
This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now
here's Matt Jones.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Welcome in, lady, gentlemen, boys and girls, Grandpa's and grandma's,
aunts and uncles. This is the Monday morning edition of
Kentucky Sports Radio, and it's gonna be a tough show.
Ryan Lemon, Drew Franklin and our special guest will introduce
here in just a minute. Kentucky Sports Radio sponsored every
day by the TJ. Smith Office called TJ. What happened Shannon?

Speaker 2 (00:54):
He will make them pay.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
He will absolutely make him pay. Our Clark's Pumping Shop
phone number will be open. We'll play group therapy today.
Eight five nine two a H two two eighty seven.
That's the Clark's Pumping Shop phone number. And the Avision
Glass Tex Machine, which I forgot at my house is
five O two seven thirty five thirty six eighty. You
can use my own personal phone cause I forgot to
bring the Avision Glass Tech Machine phone.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
This is twice now, right, twice so instance Mario, Yeah, yeah,
we need to yeah, your consistencies off and we need
to just give out Ryan's phone numbers since you don't
have the other phone number, how well, okay to contact
you without knowing your personal phone number.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Well, you know those people that have it can send
us text match because it was just blowing up all weekend,
the a Vision Glass Tech Machine blew up all weekend. Because
fortunately we have to play Monday morning quarterback and we're
bringing in an old quarterback. Dusty Bonner agreed to do
to the show today. Man, you picked a great day
to do a show after the Kentucky lost kind of

(01:46):
embarrassing at times thirty five to thirteen at South Carolina
on Saturday. First of all, great to have you on.
I think this may be your first time ever on
Kentucky Sports Radio.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
It is I appreciate it having fun. Yeah, well, what
are your you stress the old art there for well
you there was an emphasis on that. He kind of
hung in there a little bit right.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Well, he admitted to me he's forty six years old. Ye,
that makes me feel like ancient when Dusty Bonner is
forty six years old. Well, just the other day you
were playing with the Lexting Horsemen in the UK. Seems
like a different life ago. Man, it does been a
long time. Let's get into it with you. That's we're
playing Monday morning quarterback. What uh, just what are your

(02:25):
thoughts about what you saw on Saturday? But we'll start
with that.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
You know, I think everybody that's ever played has been
in those games where no matter how hard you try,
no matter what you do, it's like the wheels just
keep coming off. And it was just kind of one
of those games where it just felt like no matter
what they did, it just it just you know, the
wheels came off. Man. It was just just started out hot,
looked great, and then it was just things just started
just falling apart, you know. And you know part of

(02:51):
that is as you're playing a quarterback in South Carolina,
the seller's kid. He's a fantastic quarterback, very very difficult
to defend. Uh, probably one of the better players in
the country, So that that certainly is part of it.
But then their defense, you know, the way that we
had to play offensively, and you're trying to come back
and you've made some mistakes and give them the ball
and yeah scored. Now you've got to come back. And

(03:12):
those guys that their defensive style where they can pin
their ears would come after just what we had to
play into and didn't work out very well.

Speaker 5 (03:19):
Tree Franklin, Yeah, I mean I was convinced it would
be a game in the fourth quarter. I picked South
Carolina to win before the season, so I stuck with
that in my final prediction. But I was shocked that
they came back with a thirty five thirteen loss. I mean,
it all happened right there in the second quarter with
those turnovers, completely inexcusable, but it was We knew it
was over from there. It's sometimes it just feels like

(03:41):
a comedy of errors with how Kentucky football loses. Not
to pick on Pete, but if you just fall on
that ball, yeah, and you punt and get out of there,
who knows it's a different game. But you know, they
went up seven oh, scored on the first drive for
the second time this year. Get a little bit of life,
and I think we have something. It just stinks the
way it got absolutely ripped away immediately was all downhill
from there, not really any hope after that first drive.

Speaker 3 (04:01):
So let's let's let's start with that. They go down
March right down in the field and score on their
opening drive that ends up being their only touchdown of
the game. What what happened after that first drive that
was different?

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Well, I mean, I think some of it was just
our own mistakes and things that we did, you know,
not securing the football and then not protecting the quarterback
and some of those deals. But you know, at the
end of the day, our run game was really effective
and really strong in the beginning of that, and I
think South Carolina could just kind of pin their ears
a little bit and load the box and do some
things to take the run away from us. And then
whenever we did get into those those positions where you

(04:35):
get down to the third down and it's not third
and short where you can really you're really a threat
to run the ball, Like if you know, if it's
third nine. They don't have to load the box. They
can play play the pass, and they can still still
stop the run if you decide to do it. But
you know, you're getting those positions where you're behind the
chains a little bit. They know you got to pass
the ball, and they pin the ears and here they come.
And I think that was just you know, they talked
about it on the broadcast a little bit, but you're

(04:56):
really kind of playing in their hands with the defense
that they have, and the Stewart kid in particular, the
defensive end I call him defensive end outside linebacker. But
you know, when when it's when it's an obvious third
down situation where you're going to pass the ball, that's
that's one of the best guys in the country, right,
that's one of the best guys. And so but but
I but I do think, you know, like you said

(05:16):
on the when when Cutter got sacked and fumbled and
we didn't recover that ball, that that was the moment
that everything just kind of went downhill. And and and
that's what I was talking about, like when the wheels
fall off, you know, that was that was the first
sign that the wheels were something bad. Was gonna happen.
We needed something good to happen right away. And again
instead of that, something bad happened right away, and you know,

(05:36):
you just start digging that hole.

Speaker 5 (05:37):
You can't get out of it to when they just
needed to run the ball, Cutter manage get out of
there with autum mistakes once they fell behind. When South
Carolina score like four straight touchdowns there for a stretch, Yeah,
once you get to that point and you can't just
lean on your run game and play field position, you're
actually trying to play from behind. That's that was just
too much task of that offense and Cutter Bowlie, especially
in that spot. And the fact that it's now, what's

(06:00):
the stat every Bush Hampden game SEC game, they haven't
scored more than two touchdowns. It's like ten and oh
or h to ten and to eleven, whatever it is.
I mean, it's the the cast is changing. But it's
now been a year and two more SEC games and
not even being able to score more than two touchdowns
in a game, it just gets frustrating. I didn't expect
this one to be high scoring, but when you turn

(06:20):
it over like that, you can't expect to win it all,
especially in Colombia.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
Well, you know, another part of that is is what
you just ended with. South Carolina is a tough place
to play. Oh my goodness, that is rowdy play. It
was rowdy when I played, and they were like one
in ten, so they were terrible, and it was still rowdy,
you know, until everybody realized they were going to lose
in the left. But you know, so when those big
play type things happened that happened in that game early on,
just all the momentum and all the energies on the
South Carolina sideline and that that plays into it, and

(06:45):
I think it probably did in this game, and.

Speaker 6 (06:47):
They already have energy.

Speaker 5 (06:49):
But when you get back to back defensive touchdowns, yes, yeah,
the place is blowing up.

Speaker 3 (06:53):
You got a scoopid score and a pick six and
then forty five seconds that just makes the roof blow
off the top of a place like that.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
It does. Yep.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
So Drew mentioned Bush Hampton. He's getting a lot of
a lot of pushback. Now, what what's your thoughts about
the game he called? Is he calling the right plays
to put Cutter in the best position we can succeed
or what are your thoughts?

Speaker 4 (07:10):
Well, you know, for me, I'm you know, you remember
when I played, we threw a lot of short passes,
and we threw a lot of short passes and dinked
and dunked all over the field. And you know, that's
something that I would love to see in the Kentucky Arsenal.
Is more just simple pass plays, you know, instead of
instead of kind of some of the longer stuff where
you've got to hold hold the hold the ball for
a deeper drop and then you got to make a
great throw because in the sec if you're throwing a

(07:32):
fifteen yard out route or you're throwing a twenty yard dig,
there's not very much much margin for air when you're
when you're throwing those kind of those kind of big
you're asking a lot of your quarterback in those plays.
And I certainly think Cutter is capable. You know, I'm
very high on Cutter as a quarterback. But just some
of the just some of the little stuff, man, just
just you know, tighty in over the middle five yards,

(07:52):
ten yards, shallow routes, just this little stuff across the
middle of the field, just to help a little bit
get them outside the pocket. I think sometimes when you
have a younger quarterback and you know, you know, get
them outside of the pocket, just give them something easy
to start out with.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
Again, the course of that game kind of kind of
kind of determined what happened. Right when you get behind
like that. Now, all of a sudden, you've you've gone
away from who your identity is, because I think their
identity wants to be let's pound the ball and let's
do enough in the passing game to win, play great defense. Well,
they took that identity away from you, and you had
to be something that you're not, which is now we

(08:27):
got to we've got to figure out a way to
move the ball down the field in the air, and
you know that's that's not our game plan.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
What's your take on the Bush Hampden experience right now?

Speaker 5 (08:39):
Okay, I mean I just said the fact that you
can't score two touchdowns. Also, I keep thinking about this season.
I go back to that safety against Toledo, that fake
pitch on fourth and whatever, when Bowdley first came in
a couple of weeks ago, then what was it third
and five and they tried the little reverse to Gilmore.
You're in It's almost like you were settling for a
field goal. There very aggressive. You know, I'm not going

(09:02):
to sit here and start firing people. That's not my spot.
But it has been very disappointing, extremely disappointing. But it's
also consistent across this several years. It's not just been
on him, but he does not seem like he has
the answers either.

Speaker 6 (09:16):
After two games this year.

Speaker 5 (09:17):
I gave him a little bit of a break last
season because he came in February, wasn't his roster Cohen
kind of left him in a bad spot when he
left for the NFL. I thought maybe we'd see a
big jump. So far through four games, I haven't seen
any jump at all in the play call.

Speaker 4 (09:30):
And that's the other thing too, is when when you
bring in a new offensive coordinator, or you bring any
offensive coordinator, and we don't know all the behind the
scenes stuff. So last year, you don't know, as a
quarterback hurting a little bit, as a shoulder messed up.
Are they afraid that, hey, we can't really pass the
ball because we can't protect the guy. You know that
that kind of stuff. A lot of that plays into
it too, and a hamstrings an offensive coordinator. But to

(09:51):
your point, I think you know regardless of who, you know,
trying to blame who or whatever. The end result is
something's got to happen, something, something's got to change offensively
where we can we can move the ball through the air,
because I just don't think you can line up in
this conference and and we're gonna run. We're gonna run
the ball and we're gonna get away with winning. You know,
I think that was a model of years ago. But

(10:11):
it ebbs and flows and it's back to you gotta
be able to score a lot of points in this
league now. I think if you don't score twenty, if
you score twenty eight, you're in the game. You gotta
be able to score thirty five to win it, you know.
So at the end of the day, I think it's
something's got to be figured out.

Speaker 6 (10:25):
So, you know, it's fun getting the tight ends involved.

Speaker 5 (10:27):
For a couple of weeks, I was going now Catus
I don't think was targeted once. No Columbia, but Rodriguez
leading yards. If there's one thing that that has been
going to the offense, it's after years, you know, Kentucky
fans every season it's when we get the tight ends going,
they've at least gotten that going a little bit. It's
the only thing that's been working in the passing game
so far.

Speaker 3 (10:47):
So you know where Rodriguez had that one long pass play.
Outside of that, they suck the tight ends away. I mean,
obviously the game tape, they know what clutter Bully likes
to do, so that means our receivers need to find
a way to get on. But they went to mic
many a couple of times. But the receivers as a group,
as a corps, have been kind of quiet already this season.
What's what's the problem.

Speaker 4 (11:07):
Well, you know, I'd have to go back and look
at a lot of tape to determine that, because you know,
when you're watching it on TV, you kind of pick
out the one guy or you pick out the one
spot and you watch it. So you know, I think
that's hard to determine without really diving into film. But
I but but but to that point, there has been
times where you'll see the quarterback drop back and it
looks like they're waiting on somebody to get open. Now,
you know that could be something else too, Yeah, but

(11:29):
at the same time, it looks like they're waiting for
folks to get open, and you know, as we we
saw the other night in this league, if you're taking
a five step drop, you can't wait. You don't have
that kind of time. You know you people got to
get open. They got to get open now. And so
I do think that that is a little bit of
a concern. Is is as a group or a receiving corps.
You know, Law's doing a great job and he's getting

(11:51):
some action, but you can't get away with just one.
You got to have more guys than that, or else
they can take that away pretty easily. You get you
get somebody on both sides of the field that they're
worried about, and now all of a sudden, that opens
up everything, particularly in the middle, opens up your tight
ends more. But if they can just say if we
stop this guy outside, then we're good and we can
kind of hunker down and take care of the tight ends,
that puts you in a numbers game. That's that's not

(12:13):
beneficial for you.

Speaker 5 (12:14):
And that one of Rodriguez's catch was absolute chaos when
they started lattering laterally, I didn't love that in the
first half of a game. That's something you do, is
the clocks ring at the end. That could have been
another touchdown. As reckless as they got, but it was good.
They got him going a little bit, but needed a
lot more.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
So we got Drew Franklin and we got Dusty Bonner
here making his KSR debut. We want to hear from
you eight five nine two eight h two two eight seven.
That's the Clark's publish opt phone number eight five nine
two weeto two to eight seven. We're playing Monday Morning Quarterback.
Kentucky now loses their last four games in a row
to South Carolina, all in four against South Carolina in
their last four games. Ouch, well, right back. This is

(12:51):
Kentucky's sports Radio. Welcome back to take a Sports Radio,
Ryan Drew and Shannon with Dusty Bonner here playing Monday
Morning Quarterback. Shan, I didn't ask you what was your
big takeaway from the game on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Then it was over at halftime because when South Carolina
had twenty eight points, I had zero confidence that Kentucky's
offense could score that many points. I mean their last
nine possessions. I had this stat on the pre show.
The last nine possessions they averaged two yards per play,
zero points, four turnovers. And that's now eleven consecutive Power
Conference games without scoring more than two offensive touchdowns in

(13:25):
a game. So once they got to that twenty eight points, really,
once they got to twenty one, I thought, well, it's
probably over at this point.

Speaker 4 (13:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
That second quarter was ridiculous. Scoop and score pick six
South can I scores twenty one and answered like quick?
And that second quarter, I mean, I just you said,
at the wheels just completely fell off, and I think
we all knew his fans there wasn't no coming back.
It was over.

Speaker 4 (13:51):
Yeah, And that's pretty tough, I think as a fan,
you know, it's more fun to lose thirty four to
thirty five, you know, if you got a chance. Yeah,
And but yeah, I mean that's the only way to say.
As the Wheels fault, you know, they just came off.
And look, it happens to to everybody. If you play
long enough, it happens to you. You know, you'll have
that game or those games where you know you just
kind of wish the ground would open up and you

(14:12):
could just hide, you know, because it's just it's it's bad,
and no matter what happens, it just gets a little
bit worse, you know, And you know, I've I've been there.
I've I've been in those spots for you know, Cutter
where you know you get hit you you know, and
that's sill of thing too, is like look at you
know on that on that scoop and score fumble. I mean,
you know, he took a shot, man, he did. He
took a big shot. And and you know, as a

(14:34):
quarterback coach, you always get you gonna tell your guy, hey,
you got to you gotta secure the ball. You gotta
do what you gotta do. And but sometimes you get
hit and the ball, the ball gets separated from you.
And I think it was one of those deals. And
you know, I've been there, done that. I got hit
one time, I got sacked out a Mississippi State and
have no idea where the ball went.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
I gotta tell you my Misissippi State story by Dusty Though.
I'm glad you said that.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
You all said some stuff off there. I want to
hear some of these behind the scenes stories too. We
everybody can talk a little South.

Speaker 4 (15:00):
We may need to approve all this. But in between
the break here, but.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Kentucky was playing at Mississippi State on a Thursday night night. Yeah,
it was a big ESPN game on Thursday night. So
we went down there and got there with the team.
As they're walking on the field, Dusty walked the length
of the field, spit in the end zone. Walk the
length of the field the other way, spit in that
end zone. And I've always remembered there you were spitting
an the end zone, almost like hey, I'll be back,

(15:25):
don't worry.

Speaker 4 (15:26):
So did I ever tell you why I didn't that? No,
so literally, and you know I was back in those days.
I was probably I'm not superstitious at all, but but
in those days, I was a little bit. But every
every pregame, that was my That's what I did every time,
was I'd walk. I'd walk all the way down going
to the end zone, walk all the way down, come
back to this end zone. In my mind, I was like, hey, look,

(15:46):
this is where we're going to be and I'm coming.

Speaker 3 (15:48):
Back, so I'm got to find my way to get there.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
Just go ahead and get our path lined out here
because this is what we're But it also had helped
remind me like, look, your your job as a quarterback
is to get there, Like that's your purpose is to
get in the end zone. And so that was that
was for me. That was That was kind of how
I did it, Like, Hey, I'm gonna go ahead and
do this now, and we're just gonna keep doing it
during the game.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
Now you obviously you're a former Kentucky quarterback won the
Harlan Hill Trophy of Valdosta Quarterback. You know the game.
I know you're an LCA guy too. Cutters an LCA guy.
He's got got a lot of pushback after the game
Saturday night. Is it deserved or what are your what's
your thoughts about Cutter as the quarterback?

Speaker 4 (16:25):
Well, first, you know, whether it's deserved or not, it's
just part of the deal. You know, that's just what happens.
You know, people give you that. But you know, I
remember before I ever saw him play in high school,
I talked to another guy that knows a couple of
things about quarterback couch and.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
And and him Couch yeah, and he heard of him.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
He yeah, yeah. And he told me, you know, he said, hey,
have you seen this Cutter kid. He's the real deal,
you know. And when he says that that that's that's
pretty good indicator. But then I wanted watched him play,
and I mean, you know, he is the real deal.
And I, And like I said, I'm high on him.
I think he's got a bright, bright future. I think
he's a guy that can play on Sundays. He's got
that kind of arm. But the other thing, you know,

(17:00):
I saw him in high school throwing throw an interception
that wasn't his fault, by the way. It got tipped
and he got intercepted, and I was watching the guy
return the return it and out of nowhere, you just
see this blur and this kid just drills him as
hard as he can. And it was Cutter, you know,
And that that's I think there's some things you learned
about Cutter on Saturday night that were for me. You know,

(17:20):
he took some shots, he got right back up. Every
single time he got right back up, things the wheels
fell off. I don't think he ever really looked flustered.
He never looked flustered to me. Frustrated, yeah, because you
can't not be frustrated in that situation, but he never
looked like flustered. He never looked like bright eyed, like
oh my goodness, this is too big of a moment

(17:41):
for me. He didn't look like that at all. And
so to me, you know, like I said, he's got
a tonne of talent. He's got the arm talent, but
he's got a little bit of vinegar in his veins too.
And by that, you know, he's just he's he's not like, hey,
I'm the quarterback, look at me. He's a guy that's like, hey,
I threw a pick and I'm fixing right over here
and try to knock somebody down. And I think the
other night one of the picks, like you couldn't see

(18:01):
it real well because it was kind of a kind
of a group of bodies, but I think he was
one of the He was and you could see him.
He was full speed, but he didn't make to play,
but he was.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Blocked by our own guy.

Speaker 4 (18:13):
And so like to me, like if I'm taking away
anything from that game on on Cutter, those are the
two things. Is number one, he got he took some
shots and he got sack what six times? Yeah, he
took some and he got hit more than that, But
he took some shots and he got right back up
and he never really looked like he lost his composure.
And so I think those are both really really good
signs for him. But again, talent wise, like I think

(18:35):
he's a guy that plays on Sundays, he's got that
kind of arm. But I think he's got that attitude
and that confidence. And like I said, I said vinegar
in the veins is kind of the way to express it.
He's just he's a competitor. So I think he's got
a bright future.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Where are you on Cutter?

Speaker 5 (18:49):
Right as you mentioned him bouncing back after play, I mean,
he's gonna have to bounce back after an ugly Saturday
and getting some criticism. You think he's got that that
switch where he can I mean, of course it's Georgia
and your big underdog, but can he at least put
that behind him and try to put his best foot
forward for next Saturday.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
So I think those things that I just talked about,
like where he never looked, you know, sometimes you can
see it in the guy's face when things are going
that bad, where they just kind of like the moments
too big for him and and and wasn't for him.
And so I think that that is like answers to
that question of like, yeah, I think I don't think
there's gonna be any problem with that. But but I
will say this, you know, when you're playing and it
was a completely different world when I was playing. I mean, like,

(19:26):
you know, information you had to go look for, you
had to go on the websites and stuff and look
what people were saying about you. And we used to
look at it, you know. You know Nolan DeVaughn, who
was my center, he'd be like, hey, bon or guess.

Speaker 6 (19:36):
What they're saying about you?

Speaker 4 (19:37):
Man, don't don't tell me. I don't want to know.
But you know, nowadays, with the way social media is,
I mean, these kids can't hide from it. But you're right, like, listen,
I don't I don't care. I don't care if you're
making money. I don't care if you're if you're the
best player on the team. That kind of stuff. You say, Hey,
don't let it bother you. It bothers you. I mean,
you know, so that's part of it now and it's

(19:57):
more so than ever. But I don't to me, he
doesn't strike me as the kind of guy that's gonna
get too bogged down and that I think he's gonna
be fun.

Speaker 5 (20:04):
And right now, I think most fans are all behind
I mean, and you can be disappointing the game. There's
a little bit of that, but people still want him
to work out and be the future of being local.
They know the circumstances he was just put in. Yeah,
he expected to have a probably a full year behind
Calzada and next thing, you know what, you're going to Columbia.
So as far as the criticism he's getting, I think
most fans are still behind him and kind of aware
of the circumstances even though they wanted it to go better.

Speaker 4 (20:26):
Listen, I mean, I think if if you can frame
it the right way, and I'm not trying to ride
off the rest of the season because we don't know
what's gonna happen. But but uh, you know, to me,
this year is about like, hey, let's let's let's let's
get him some experience, let's build him, and then next
year is kind of is kind of the year. I
don't think that's a bad plan at all. I think
you gotta shift. Maybe you're shifting your expectations as a

(20:46):
fan a little bit, But to me, you know, I
thought he was in a good spot sitting behind a
quarterback getting that because I didn't I didn't start and
play until my third year. I was a rich shirt
sophomore and having those two years, man, it helps out
a lot, both phys physically and sure, and so I
don't think he was in a bad spot. But at
the same time, you know, now that he's playing, I
think you just I think it's you know, you just

(21:08):
you let him go out there and you realize there's
gonna be bumps on the roads, there's gonna be learning,
but you're building towards something else, and I think that's
the future. And I do think it's him. Drue.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
You and I both got tons of messages about fire
Stoops now they need to have a clean clean the house.
It's not gonna happen. They're not gonna fire Stoops in
the middle of the season. The buyout is just too big,
and I don't think Mitch Barnhart would do that to
the program. What how do you respond to all these
people that want Stoops gone? Now?

Speaker 5 (21:37):
Well, I hosted the postgame show, and I think Billy
could confirm. I think we batted a thousand on people
wanting them out, like not even me asking just the calls.

Speaker 6 (21:47):
That's what they were saying.

Speaker 3 (21:48):
It was just about are you on it?

Speaker 4 (21:51):
Me?

Speaker 5 (21:51):
Personally, I don't see this get any better. I mean,
I don't have a lot of faith. I don't think
you fired the guy now. I said this, and it
sounds like there's a lot of comparisons to basket with football.
You're not gonna get that hard lost to a fifteen
seed in your season, which is obvious. Yeah, it's these
gradual keep losing SEC game. There's not gonna be a
loss where you're just like, oh, that's cannot do it
anymore like we had with Cal, with Oakland Saint Peter's.

(22:14):
But I'll admit I don't see him winning an SEC
game the rest of this season, and I think you'll
have to have that conversation now. Now if they were
to do it, we all know it's like thirty eight
million got to be paid to sixty Day. You can't
do that either. So when it gets to that point,
I think they'll have to come to an agreement. Stoops
might have to look around and see that his legacy
and what he wants to be, and you'll have to
come up with something.

Speaker 6 (22:32):
But you know it's Matt always says, no point talk
about it. Can't afford it.

Speaker 5 (22:36):
I really don't know how they would afford it if
they wanted to do it right now, but the fans
are definitely upset as if anyone heard Saturday night at
one am.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
I wonder your thoughts on that team we come back.
We got to take a break, Ryan Drew Franklin, Shan
the Dude and Dusty Bonner ks bar Patio. We gotta
talk about the reds Ryder Cup. A lot of stuff
talk about yet don't go ahead. This is Kentucky's Ports Radio.

Speaker 6 (22:54):
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Speaker 2 (22:57):
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Stockton Mortgage.

Speaker 4 (23:02):
Here's Matt Jones.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
Ryan Lemon, Drew Franklin sharing the Dude in Dusty Bonner
here on the playing Monday Morning Quarterback on KSR, and
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(23:47):
on your next adventure with the team that has your back.
Shady Rais Sunglasses. All Right, Drew said his thoughts about
Mark Stoops the buyout coaching change. I want to give
you time to absorb it because I want to hear
what you have to say about it.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
I think you know, first of all, when you talk
about we talk about where do we go from here
in the season, and you talk about wheels falling off
and this is a different world now, like the wo
would transfer portal and everything that's going on, Like you know,
you got to keep your team together, and when all
those whispers are out there about your coach and all
that kind of stuff is you'll see teams generally do
one or two things. They either come together as a

(24:21):
team and they all stick together and they rally behind
their coach, or they don't. And so I think that's
that's kind of what you'll see in the future. And
I expect them to rally around Stoops and you know,
the whole Stoops conversation about trying to get rid of
him or not. You know, at the end of the day,
I want to say this, you know, I think I
think Mark Stoops has done as good of a job
as anybody's ever done here as a head coach through

(24:41):
a period of time.

Speaker 3 (24:42):
Charlie.

Speaker 4 (24:43):
So I do think there's a there's a there is
a an amount of grace that he's probably he's earned
in my opinion. Uh. At the same time, I understand
the fact that in the last couple of years it's
it's not going in the direction everybody wants it to
go with. And I think, you know, particularly offensively, that's
where we struggled, and we've seeing the turnover and offensive coordinators,
and so I think something's going to have to happen,

(25:04):
whether it's this offense comes a line under Bush Hampden,
or there's gonna have to be a big move made
on the offensive coordinator side. That that's that's that's what
I think, And what a big move. It's kind of
a kind of kind of maybe like something like Florida
State did with myles On. And I'm not saying that
they need to get rid of Hamden. I'm just saying
because I'm like you, I'm not in the firing business,
but I do think something's got to change there because

(25:27):
the SEC has changed a lot, you know, and when
Stoops was really doing well and winning here, there were
a lot of teams that focused on let's run the
ball and let's play defense, and we got really good
at it. If you'd have told me, hey, we're going
to be as good on the offensive and defensive lines
as everybody else we play, I'd have been like, that's
not a great plan here. That's what he did, yeah,
you know, And so you know, I think he's earned

(25:48):
some grace there. But at the same time, I totally
understand the factor, like, look this world, and we all
know it is what have you done for me lately?
You know, yesterday doesn't count. It's all about today and
and what you're giving me to today. So you know,
and I think the other part of it too, And
I talked about this briefly on the break with you. You know,
where are we at in the nil world, and I
and I and I say this because I think that
the athletic directors are going to start being put more

(26:08):
in the spotlight for every team where it's a what
are they doing in the NIL world to make sure
their coaches have the resources to get the players that
they need and if they don't, then it's going to
shine back on them, and it should because that's just
the world that we're in right now. I don't love it.
I don't love the whole NIL world. I don't love
you know, all this stuff. But at the end of
the day, that's where we're at, and it's like, you know,

(26:29):
you got to have the money to go get the players.
Don't love that that's the way it is. But that's
the way it is. And so where are we at
there when you're looking at the rest of the SEC?
Where do we ranking that. I wish they would put
out standings every year in the SEC of NIL because
because at the bottom probably because at the end of
the day, I guarantee you, I guarantee you it'll line
up where you finish in the SEC.

Speaker 5 (26:50):
I completely agree, And they said they're not going to
do it. I wish they would show how the revenue
is split up because it's not fair to a coach
if they're coaching and recruiting on one hand, by on
their back. Fans need to judge them and grade them
kind of based on the scenario they're in. So I
did wish we knew more about whenever you show up
at a stadium which side has the big bank roll,
because you would your expectations would be a little different,

(27:13):
and I would guess that in most games, Kentucky's is
gonna be a little lower. Now, I don't think that's
an excuse to lose, however many straight SEC.

Speaker 4 (27:20):
Games or but you look at that, and you look
at you look at pro sports, and that's really what
this is all kind of turned into a little bit
more than before. Yeah, you know, the gms get looked
at a lot too. They get looked at a lot too.
So anytime there's dysfunctional team, they look at the coaches,
they look at the GMS, And I think that's gonna
be a trend moving forward in college football where the
GM's are gonna be looked at. They're gonna be looked

(27:41):
at pretty harshly too.

Speaker 5 (27:42):
I look at GMS for the Titans because I want
all of them fired, including the new one.

Speaker 6 (27:46):
I can name them all on me.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Take your UK hats off for just a minute. You
know you're wearing a UK pullover memorial golf tournament, So
take your UK stuff off. If you tell me your
your current coach has won three EI their last sixteen
SEC games, They're lost their last four to South Carolina
in a row. They're sixteenth out of sixteen in the SEC.

(28:09):
They're the worst team in the SEC right now? How
can you be supportive? I guess that's what the lot
of fans are saying right now.

Speaker 4 (28:16):
Yeah. I think that's a fair argument, and I totally
understand it. I would say this that that I think
I think in the last I think our defense has
been good enough to win a lot more games than
we've won. I think our offense is is where we
struggled at the Stoops is a defensive guy. Yeah, and
it's so I'm making the argument you asked me to make.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (28:34):
The other part of it too is and I had
somebody mentioned this to me. You know, let's say, Okay,
you're gonna fire Stoops and you're gonna pay the thirty
something million dollars that's going to deplete whatever you that's
supposed to be going into your NIL. And so now
now we're in this world of college sports where it's like,
if you really want to pay the buy out, that's fine,
But where's the money gonna come from the nil? Because
you got to have that kinda have And so you know,

(28:56):
the flip side of it is, hey, instead of us
firing you and paying you thirty eight million dollars, we're
gonna give you ten million bucks next year for nil
and let's see what we can do with it. And
I don't know how that works, but I'm just saying
in this world, you know, if you go out and
you I mean, look at Old miss the quarterback they
got from the D two school that's doing so well. Yeah,
you go out and get the right player, you can

(29:17):
make a huge difference. But again, I understand from a
fan perspective, I understand like that things got to change,
Things got to get better one way or another. But
but they got to get better. That's we all agree
on that. It's just how you go about doing it.

Speaker 5 (29:29):
I don't think they'll really fill it over at the
stadium until maybe the end of the year because the
schedule bails them out a little bit to actually see.
You know, if we played Eastern Michigan in a week,
I think you'd see a lot of bleachers. But you
have Georgia, then you have what Tennessee and Texas. I
think that'll be full, even if it's mostly orange and
burnt and orange. So you won't actually fill the fan
disappointment until you have Florida later in the year.

Speaker 6 (29:51):
So they're bailed out a little bit.

Speaker 5 (29:52):
If you had a Toledo or Tennessee Tech or one
of these games at noon coming up, I think the
fans would be sending a message coming up very soon.
But with those two be in the games Keenland season,
people have already playing weekends around that. I think they're
kind of lucky. They won't actually feel it over at
Kroger Field if it stays on this course still later
in the year.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
That's a really good point.

Speaker 3 (30:10):
So how do how can they save it? How can
they save the fan because basketball is coming up, people
are gonna switch to basketball. How do you save keep
the fans in in in interested in what's going on
on the football field.

Speaker 4 (30:21):
Yeah, I think you gotta figure out you gotta fix
the offense because because you know to that point, the
fans are gonna show up for these games. Hey, if
you go out there and you lose to Georgia thirty
five to twenty eight, but we we're out there scoring
points and it's a great game. But the fans are in.
I think most of them are gonna be happy about that.
I think they're gonna celebrate. And you got the fact
that like, hey, we got a young guy cutter, we're

(30:41):
rolling with him. We're gonna do some bumps and bruises,
but we're growing him for the future. But I think
at the end of the day, what they have to do,
offense gotta start scoring some points. And they gotta and
I think they gotta. They gotta do that through the air,
and I don't I don't know all the ways and
how they're gonna do that, because I don't know what
their system is, but I think they got to. I
think they got to. The offense has to come alive.
And I think if the offense does come alive and

(31:03):
they can go out there and compete, I don't think
it's I think that's one of the more one of
the hardest things for the fan base is that it's
not that it's not that we've we've lost some of
these games against teams that are really tough. Is that
How competitive were we in some of these games? And
I think if we can go out there and compete
and listen, you know, we used to say that in
the Mummy days. You know, we won six games a
year and people were thrilled.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
It's having parties naming streets after the man over there.

Speaker 4 (31:27):
But but we could, but we could. You know, we
might lose, but it'd be forty to forty five, you know,
and that's a lot more fun for a fan in
a stadium than twenty eight seven.

Speaker 5 (31:38):
And of all the teams to play next, I mean,
you have played Georgia close, Like, yeah, Georgia when you
lose by one last year, I think they lost by
two or three h three years before or two years
before that. You know, I don't know that I'll expect
that this year. I mean, you got Georgia coming off
of a loss, which is unique. They're going to be dialed.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
In lost at home, and now you got hosting US.

Speaker 5 (31:59):
And I don't know that a moral victory could save
anything right now, but it is so how do you say?
I hate saying george is a good matchup, but their
style of play can't allow you to at least not
get smoked in this game, which would which would might
have people hang on another week.

Speaker 4 (32:13):
For whatever reason, we've always played Georgia will Yeah, that's
just one of the teams we've played well, and that's
South Carolina. For whatever reason, that's not the team that
we've played.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
We did though for so long we won like, what
was it, eight out of nine, and now they've won
the last four in a row.

Speaker 5 (32:25):
Turnovers flipped that and Stoops and Kirby are really close.
Not that Kirby's gonna let up, you know, he's trying
to win a national championship and they've lost, but that
might play into it a little bit. Style of plays
kind of similar. They're obviously on a complete other level
of talent, But uh, if Kentucky can hang in, I'm
in no way saying they're gonna win, but at least
play Georgia close like they have many times in the

(32:45):
past when they were a big underdog. Maybe you can
keep fans somewhat interested to see if Cutter can turn
it around.

Speaker 4 (32:51):
Beyond that, I think you're I think you hit the
nail on the head when you talk about style of
play with Georgia, because a lot of times when Georgia
comes in here, it's in a colder month, the weather's
not good, and and they're just they run the ball
and play good defense, and once they get up by fourteen,
they're just trying to get the game over with, you know.
And so I think that style of play we match
up really well with because that's what we try to do,
is we try to run the ball and play good defense.

Speaker 6 (33:12):
It's probably gonna want to kill us after losing that.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
That's what I'm afraid of.

Speaker 6 (33:15):
First needed Georgian and probably whin that mad.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
As a hornet we walk in there on Saturday. You know,
this is I think it's the apathy is something that's
It's not just started. It's been going on for the
last couple of years. You know, they can't win an
SEC home game, the Georgia game last year, he didn't
going on fourth down. The Missouri game. Was that three
or four years ago. They're just kind of stuff's been
kind of building, this apathy and now it's all come
to a head. That's why I wanted to ask you guys,

(33:38):
how can they stop it? How can they save it?
And I like what you said about, well, fix the offense,
score some points, get us a little hopeful for Cutter
as our future quarterback.

Speaker 4 (33:48):
Yeah, I mean I think at this point, I mean,
you got nothing to lose. You gotta let it rip,
you know, And I think that. But but again, you know,
how how do they can can they can they do that?
Can they pull it off where they can go? Hell,
you know what, We're gonna go out there and score
thirty five points. That's just what we're gonna do. We're
gonna let it rip and we're gonna absolutely attack on offense.
And you know, you don't. You can't completely get away
from the run game because we're so good at it.

(34:08):
But I mean I would, I would go out there
and be like, hey, look this is you know, and
you gotta be careful too, because as a coach you can't.
I can say things on the radio that a coach
can't say in the locker room, Like you can't say, hey,
look this is about We're gonna go out here and
we're just gonna attack. We're gonna score a bunch of points.
We're gonna get Cutter really ready for next year. Can't
do that because a senior that's sitting there is going,
wait a minute, what about me? Yeah, you know, you
can't say that. And I don't think it's just that,

(34:30):
but I think at this point, what do you have
to lose? And I think that's the way you I mean,
you ask for the answer to the question of you know,
how can you get the fans to re engage? And
I think that's one way you can other than going
out and winning a bunch of ball games.

Speaker 6 (34:43):
I know not everybody watching the Titans. In fact you shouldn't.

Speaker 5 (34:46):
Maybe I'm the only one, but there's so many comparisons
with them, every with Kentucky and the Titans, and like
this year, I'm watching the Titans. We have a rookie quarterback.
People want to see what we have for the future.
Nobody knows we're not making the playoffs. Okay, third and four,
why don't we just go for it? We get why not,
Let's see what we have, Let's have some fun. I
feel the same way about Kentucky. At this point, you
needed to beat Ole miss or South Carolina to really

(35:07):
want to get back to a Bowl game.

Speaker 6 (35:09):
I think everyone can agree.

Speaker 5 (35:10):
This isn't gonna be some special season that they're gonna
flip a switch. So moving forward, let's take some shots,
Let's gamble a little bit, let's see what we have.
We're all on the same page as it doesn't look
good right now. I know Stoops can't just abandon his
philosophy and get reckless. But let's play with a little
aggression and see what we have and at least give
Cutter a few more opportunities to prove that he can
be the guy on down the road.

Speaker 6 (35:30):
Maybe they will.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
We got one more segment with Dusty Bonner. He's been
great so far, breaking it down playing Monday Morning quarterback.
I said, you picked a heck of a Monday to
come in. Man debut coming in.

Speaker 6 (35:40):
Let me do the post game show Saturday. Yeah, that
was my first ever postgame.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
Perfect time for first postgame, Perfect time for you to
come into your first KSR. All right, we'll take our
final break, come back, our final side with Dusty Bonner.
This is Kentucky's Ports Radio Final set with Dusty Bonner.
Here in Kentucky's Ports Radio, Ryan Drew, Shannon, Dusty Drew.
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Speaker 3 (36:29):
Back to you, right, That's when callers want to ask
you some question, Dusty, So let's get to him real quick. Shannon,
who we got first?

Speaker 6 (36:34):
All right, let's go to Mike.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
Mike, go ahead, and you're own. Dusty Bonner, Good morning.

Speaker 7 (36:43):
I really don't have a question. This statement. Two weeks
to prepare and this is what we get. We don't
even really have a chance to win the game. And
then if we look to compare to other schools, Stoops
has gather foundation here, he's been here a while two
years time. What Indiana has done and what little brother

(37:07):
has done. Are we being too hard. I don't blame
the quarter.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
I appreciate it, Okay, appreciate what you think about that, Dusty.

Speaker 4 (37:16):
I mean I understand that he's upset about it. I
mean I get it. I mean he's he's got a point.
It's not it's not going in the right direction. Yeah,
you know.

Speaker 3 (37:23):
And it's when other schools seem to be going.

Speaker 4 (37:26):
Seemed to be Yeah, And I think that makes it,
That makes it all the world. And so I think
it's at the end of the day, something something has
to change, and it's it's we'll see, it's gotta change, though, Shan.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
Who's next. Let's go to j C. J C. Go ahead,
j C.

Speaker 7 (37:43):
Hey, guys, thanks, thanks.

Speaker 8 (37:45):
Well. Uh, he forgot to mention Vanderbilt in too lane, And.

Speaker 4 (37:51):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
Other schools that turned it around.

Speaker 4 (37:53):
Pretty quick, right.

Speaker 8 (37:56):
Uh. I just don't understand, uh something. You can look
at them as several of them, particular the teams we
just mentioned as they all they have dual threat quarterbacks
and student's insistence on being a pro style offense. Being
a little Georgia ain't gonna work. I mean, I just

(38:20):
get sick, and it's like we have a good defense,
take care of the defense. Hire an exciting, explosive offensive
coordinator and let him do his job. It's likely when
mommy was coach is like, oh my gosh, offense is great.
Just hire a defensive coordinator and let him do his job.
I just get so frustrated. I appreciate your appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (38:44):
JC so. So one of the downsides are one of
the knocks on like the mummy style air rai type offense,
and this is kind of throughout college football, is that
you know, it's great when it works, and it's really
bad for the defense when it doesn't. You know, when
you go three and out and the defense out there,
the defenses on the field the whole time, and so
a lot of these you know, if you look at

(39:05):
the some of the bigger coaches in the SEC, like
they really got away from that and they really went
more to kind of the run game, playing good defense.
Now those schools have opened up their offenses more because
they realized they had to. There came a point I
think Nick Saban kind of made some comments about this,
but you know where you had to change the style
of your offense because running the ball and scoring twenty
one points wasn't gonna want you couldn't. The offenses were

(39:27):
so good, the defenses couldn't hold them to twenty one
points anymore. And so you do have to adjust. I
don't think you have to go all the way to
the air RAI Hey, I'm a big fan of the
air raid. I like it a lot. Thet Yeah, and
I mean, and again from a fan perspective, I mean,
you know, if you're in every game you play, I
think that's what a lot of the fans want, you know,
they want to see that. But but uh, to the

(39:50):
college point, I mean, you know, it's I think we've
we've been hopeful on the different offense coordators that it
was going to turn into something more than what it's been.
But you know, it's something. Something's got to get better.
They got to figure something out. And they know that.
They don't need me to tell them that. But we've
got to be able to pass them. You got to
be able to do both. You got to be able

(40:11):
to run the ball, but you got to be able
to pass the ball. You got at the end of
the day, in this in today's sec you gotta be
you gotta be capable of score and score in thirty
five points to have a chance to win most of
your games.

Speaker 5 (40:20):
Will levis Is don't grow on trees. But we saw
how fun it was when you had a guy that
could do a both. Yeah, especially at WANDELL. If there's
any of those laying around too, When God get more.

Speaker 4 (40:28):
Of those, those don't hurt, and the wandlle's don't hurt,
you could get open.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
Let's get one more call before we go to the break, Shaan?
Who we got?

Speaker 4 (40:35):
Andy?

Speaker 3 (40:36):
Andy, you got about a minute?

Speaker 9 (40:38):
Okay? If if we get finished three and nine, which
it seems very likely, and Mitch does not pay the buyout,
and that seems very likely, what does more stukes do?
I mean, the schedule is going to get nothing but harder,
going to nine games next year. I mean, how about
where his mental health is even one sick with the

(41:00):
fan base is checked out and has no faith in
it for another year of this. I mean, I think
that's a realistic question.

Speaker 4 (41:09):
Appreciate it, Andy, Yeah, you know, I think that's tough.
I think you know that'd be hard as a head coach.
And it's kind of something that's been created with the
way these buyouts are on the way nil is now
is where maybe they stay longer than what they normally
would have. But you know, again, if it were me
and this is this is not I'm not taking a
shot at anybody. But if it were me and they

(41:29):
were gonna sign me back up for next year, we
finished three and nine, they're gonna sign me back up
for next year, I'd have to. I'd probably go find
that huge name offensive coordinator and then just recruit around
that like crazy, from quarterbacks and receivers and playmaker type guys.
And then I'd look at the athletic director and I'd
say I need some money. I need some help, and

(41:49):
I'm not gonna be silent if I don't get it.

Speaker 3 (41:52):
Dude, appreciate you coming in.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
You picked that.

Speaker 3 (41:54):
I said a heck of my money to come in
play Money Money Quarterback. Good to heg on here. Then
we miss you on the JMI pregame show. But you
always did a great job with Christy Thomas and Jeremy Jarman,
so appreciate you join us on KSR this morning.

Speaker 4 (42:04):
Absolutely all right.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
Dusty Bonner, former UK quarterback, play Monday Money Quarterback. We're
back with Drew and Shannon right here. I'm gon take
his Ports Radio