Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
From border to border across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This
is Big Blue Insider. Talk to Tick Gabriel. Call eight
five nine two eight zero Cats. That's eight five nine
two eight zero to two eight seven. Or state wide
that's one eight hundred six oh six game. That's one
(00:28):
eight hundred six oh six four two sixty three. Or
you can tweet the show that's Big Blue Insider one.
Now here's Tick Gabriel.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
From Pike Bill two, Paducah. It is the Big Blue Insider,
Dick Gabriel. What do you on on Monday Night? Coming
up tonight, of course we will shave with Cole Park
of the Cats. Pause Jeff Bcorol of the UK Sports Network,
much to discuss about the football Wildcats with a bitterly
disappointing loss to Texas behind them. Now it's another shade
of orange coming up with those Tennessee volunteers and of
course the basketball Cats. The Blue White game that included
(01:02):
an injury that left the Big Blue Nation stunned and silent.
Now it's time to prepare for an exhibition game with
what might be the number one team in the land.
We'll talk about all of that coming up tonight, right,
here be a part of the BBI Welcome back Border
(01:23):
to Border. It is the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel,
joined now remotely by Cole Parker, once again is out
of town. But I had a busy weekend last weekend,
basketball and football. Cole of course covers the Wildcats for
the Cats, Paws and Cal. I'm gonna start with football,
because man, that was an old school Kentucky disappointment. For
(01:45):
the Asias. You haven't been on the beat too terribly
long for a few years. You have covered some disappointments.
I don't know if it gets any more disappointing to
what we saw Saturday night, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, that was a gut punch in every sense of
the way. I mean. It feels so weird though when
you look at it, when you break it down where
Kentucky had major major problems on you know, you think
of a football team in three pieces, with arguably three
pieces most people would say two offense, defense, but you
include special teams three pieces of a pie, and Kentucky
had glaring flaws on two out of three pieces, and
(02:18):
where a field goal in overtime away from you know,
winning against Texas a ranked team and you know, arguably
one of the big dogs in the SEC now that
they've joined this conference. And it was just it was terrible,
and there was plenty of things in the middle there
that frustrated me. I've taken a lot, a pretty big stand,
but against the special teams play, yes kind of rewarded
(02:40):
to I mean, I think in my column I wrote,
if you consider the missed field goal and the two
really glaring punt returns, not even paying attention to fact
there was multiple muff punts which Kentucky didn't get penalized for.
But that's a thirteen point swing in a game that
ended three points separated and thirteen total points for Kentucky.
Teams allow a thirteen point swing, so that's pretty bad
(03:02):
on its own. But you really look at this game,
most people are going to see a sandwich. And what
I mean by that is plenty of stuff here, good
or bad in the middle there. But this game really
came down to two fourth down failed conversions, one in
the very beginning. Yep, Kentucky could have scored at least
gotten points on their very first drive and obviously failed
(03:25):
to get that fourth down in the first quarter. I
believe that was. I believe it's the same play call
on both of those too. I think it was Dante
Daldell up the middle tried to leap over the line
when there wasn't a gap, and neither time he got close.
And then obviously we all know in overtime, you know,
you choose not to trust the defense to hold Texas
to a field goal, which it ultimately did end up doing.
(03:46):
By the way, you don't you choose not to trust
the defense and just kick the field goal. You choose
to go for it fourth and one on the goal line,
Dante Daldell up the middle tries to jump the line,
he is stopped short. It's a turnover on downs in overtime,
and you know, Texas ran a few plays before they
ended up settling for the field goal anyway, that won it.
But quite frankly, I think when that play happened, I
(04:07):
turned to the person next in the press box and
I said, honestly, if you're Texas, why don't you just
kick the field goal in the first play win the game?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
If you, yeah, don't risk it turnover.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, might as well just kick the field goal on
first down and get this over with, you know, But
that's that's really the story of this game if you
look at it that way, if you if you ignore
all the thros and cons of the whole middle portion
of the game, it really comes down to that sandwich
of two failed fourth down conversions that just completely killed
any chance Kentucky had of getting perhaps, you know, not
(04:37):
perhaps one of the biggest wins it will get all
season long, but at the very least, you know, it's
first SEC win in over a year, and it's first
at home, and I believe over two years now.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So yeah, yeah, And you know, it's interesting about that
first drive. The the way the game ended was so numbing.
And then of course on the network we do the
most game wrap up and we kind of have to
sadly flog that dead horse. Although I gave Cutter Boldie
so much credit. You know, he came into the radio interview,
talked to you guys downstairs, just devastated, took a few
(05:13):
extra minutes, and I don't blame him to compose himself
before he talked to the media, which was smart. But anyhow,
it wasn't until call I got home and I was
sifting through, you know, everything I had just seen, and
then I realized exactly what you had just said. Man,
that game began the way it ended in at least
on offense for Kentucky. And when you think back to
(05:36):
that opening offensive drive by the Wildcats, what did you
think of the efficiency there? Because that really kind of
set the tone. Now, they did it between red zones.
Didn't get into the end zone nearly enough, obviously, but
the fact that they were able to on many occasions
really move the ball against Texas it was hard not
to notice, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Oh? Absolutely, I mean you look at this game, and
I think so many people are feeling you know, maybe
maybe I think a lot more people have perspective that
I'm giving credit for, but a lot of people are
feeling kind of down on the offense after that game,
a game where you only score thirteen points, you lose
in overtime, in a game that you feel like you
should have won. The play calling was, as some people
would say, questionable at times. Yeah, this was honestly a
(06:17):
great offensive game for Kentucky everywhere except the red zone.
I mean, look at that first down or the first
drive there. We saw a Henry Boyer reception just the
second time this season saw passes we saw rushes and
I think, you know, you look at some of the
stats in this game. I asked Cutter about it postgame,
twelve different receiving targets. Can you imagine going back to
Leak two against Ole Miss or even you know, Week
(06:39):
one against Toledo and telling someone after those games, Yeah,
there's gonna be a game this season where Kentucky passes
the football efficiently and has twelve different targets for thirty
one receptions. I don't know that I would have believed
it seeing how the passing game looked at the start
of this season. And you know another game where Seth
mcgallan is a little bit beat up. The run game
struggle a little bit grand that we have to take
into account that Texas has a phenomenal run defense, But
(07:02):
you know where McGowan lacked in the running game, he
made up for in the pass games. Seven receptions for
sixty eight yards. You know, that's a performance that was
worthy of a touchdown. They just couldn't get in there.
The only person ended up coming away with one, I believe,
was Bowley on the ground on a scramble. And you
know another game too where Bully has an interception on
(07:24):
an interception, but it's an interception on a play where
he's trying to throw it out of bounds, so like
it was just a bad read. You don't feel too
bad about that showing for him, especially not considering he
completed nearly eighty percent of his passes thirty one for
thirty nine two hundred and fifty eight passing yards, and
that's you know, not And this is a guy who
got sacked for twenty four yards and finished with forty
(07:44):
five rushing yards. So yeah, a quarterback that's pretty solid,
and you know, just really and truly almost four hundred
yards of total offense for Kentucky. Again, you go back
to earlier this season. Can you imagine telling somebody like
in Week one, after that performance against Toledo that this
would be a Kentucky offense that's putting up nearly four
(08:04):
hundred yards of offense on Texas And you know that
person probably asks you, so surely they win the game,
right and they unfortunately no. And I would also say,
you know, I've just commended the offense a lot for
trying its best to overcome the decision making at times
and overcome and an ability in the red zone. But
I feel like, if anything, the group that surprised me
(08:27):
the most, and the thing I took away the most positive
from this performance that genuinely stunned me was this. The
defense looked phenomenal in this Texas scored sixteen total points,
and in my column about the special teams, the special
teams practically handed them ten of those. Let's you know,
the defense is responsible for playing a ranked team, you know,
(08:48):
when you haven't won a conference game in over a
year and giving up essentially six points two field goals.
I think you take that seven days of the week
twice on Sunday, you know, so a really really strong
showing for Brad White's union. It's just truly a shame
that they weren't able to be rewarded for that effort.
And you know, granted Brad, you know, after the game,
he's a he's a real straightforward guy. He's a very
(09:11):
you know, football guy. So he said, at the end
of the day, it doesn't matter that we lost on
such a good defensive effort. It just matters that we lost.
We're not you know, taking our victory away from you know,
the team's defeat. But it really does feel like in
a lot of ways. I think the common sentiment is
that the players deserve this win and the coaches didn't
have enough to get it done.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And you know, it's interesting too on two different fronts.
Number one, and going back to your your remarks about
Kentucky producing yardage, Kentucky runs eighty one plays and at
twenty six first downs to just eight for Texas. And
again there you go, there's another olive branch for the
for the defense that would just if you just looked
(09:52):
at the stats, you'd say, well, how much did Kentucky
win by? So that's that's that was just another bizarre
element to this game. But speaking about the offense and
the efficiency the quick strike, I think that when they
made a conscious effort going into the Georgia game to
go with shorter drops, quicker passes spread the ball, which
(10:15):
enables them to spread the ball around more. This offense,
you know, I'm amazed it hasn't gotten in to the
end zone more because this is clearly working, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah? Absolutely, I think I think this year's South Carolina
game for the offense is what many people hoped last
year's South Carolina game would have been, where you get
just absolutely punched in the mouth, and you know, you
learn from that and grow from that this. You know,
I feel like we were really down after the South
Carolina game and how bad the offense looked, I mean
practically twenty one South Carolina points for the twenty one
(10:47):
zero second quarter that led to that game. You know,
you had the fumble, scoop and sports interception. It looked
bad quite frankly, and you you look at the schedule
ahead and you're like, this offense, I don't know if
they got it, but this team took what happened in
that game and they built upon it. I mean, we
were talking about two losses here with Georgia and Texas,
but the offense has look much improved in both of those.
Bowie looks like he's getting more and more comfortable every week.
(11:10):
The passing game has appeared really, I mean, I was
going to say came back to life, but really just
appeared these last two games. And it's been efficient. They've
been doing those quick passes, they've been doing better reads.
They've been getting the wide receivers involved, Moore, they've been
mixing the running backs into the passing game. We saw
receivers catch a ball that haven't caught a ball all
(11:30):
year long, right, So it was truly truly a special
game for them. And like you said, it's phenomenal to
look at how bad it was against South Carolina and
how much you know, you hear about adjustments, but I
don't know that in my time covering Kentucky, I've seen
adjustments as blatant and apparent as these ones have been,
(11:54):
because it looks like two completely different teams on offense,
you know, just a few weeks ago versus now. And also,
you know, one thing I noticed too that was interesting
is I asked Cutter about this post game. But we
saw at Georgia two weeks ago. Now with the bye week,
you know, they were able to go to cam Miller
on some tough spots. On one play that really stuck
out to me in particular, right before the game tying
(12:16):
field goal at the end of regulation. You know, they
they had a third and short and it was kind
of a must get there for for yardage sake at
the time. You know, they were playing for a touchdown,
I'm sure, but ended up taking the field well after
Cutter Bally got sacked. It's a third and two, and
you know you can go anywhere on the field. You
can pass to anybody that you have. Kendrick Law out
in the field. You got hardly Gilmour on the field.
(12:37):
Cutter Bully takes the takes the snap. He makes a
quick pass on a short route to true freshman DJ Miller,
who at that point had had one reception in his
collegiate career earlier this very game. So you know that
to put the confidence in him to make that play
him And but Bully was extremely confidentary. He said he
wasn't afraid of contact. He's a true freshman out there.
(12:58):
He put his head down, he took the contact. He
did it when you didn't do He made big plays.
And I think that's just a testament to Kentucky realizing
where it was offensively and where it needed to be.
In san Let's try some stuff out and at some
point I just wish that they would try some more
stuff out in the red zone. But overall, you know,
(13:20):
in terms of.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Well, the play that got them to the three, the
wide receiver screen basically to Kendrick Law with the two
tight ends out there blocking. I asked Mark Stoops about
that earlier today. I think you saw and I said
had you run that play, and he said, we had
run it, but not like that, not with that blocking scheme,
and it was brilliant and it almost got him into
(13:41):
the end zone. He was tackled right in front of
me at the three yard line. I thought that was
such a great call because it took advantage of Texas
overly aggressive approach on defense on that play and laws,
you know, speed nearly burned them to the ground on that.
So anyway, I'm with you. I enjoyed seeing, as you said,
the adjustments they made. When we come back, we're talking
(14:04):
with Cole Park at the Cat's Poss covers the Wildcats football, basketball,
whatever they've got, he'll cover it. And he was a
busy man. As we said this weekend. The basketball Cats
were in action over the weekend and will be again
coming up with the very first exhibition game coming up
on Friday. We'll talk basketball on the other side of
the break. It is the statewide Big Blue Insider come
(14:24):
back where chatting with Cole Park bordered a border from
Pikeville to Paduco. On the statewide edition of The Big
Blue Insider. Cole, of course, the staff writer for the
Cat's Poss coming up in just a few minutes, Jeff
Pecora will join us, and Jeff and I will look
ahead to Tennessee football. Jeff hates Tennessee because when he
played football that was their travel. But Cole we got
to talk basketball, and before we talk about anything with
(14:46):
the upcoming game. Well, I guess this rolls into it.
Who's going to be the point guard? You know, the
entire place, you know, the coliseum fell silent. BBN was
bemoaning the injury to Jailen Low on the on the
social media. That's a blow that the basketball Cats absolutely
didn't need, especially and light of what happened last year
(15:09):
with the mock Butler. That was that was a stunn
or wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, it certainly was. That was disappointing to see, and uh,
you know, it's the Blue White game and it's nothing
too serious. But at the end of the day, it
felt like, you know, we were there side by side
actually at that one on pressure, I felt like there
wasn't a whole lot to really note going on in
that one. You know, I learned a little bit more
about some of the schemes and how this team likes
to play. I guess, but it didn't feel like a
(15:35):
whole lot was going on. You know, the both scrimmages
were pretty short overall. But then that happens, and like
you said, there's just silence, and you know, even on
press row, people were just like, oh my god, you
know what did we just witnessed Tucky starting point guard
just get injured in the Blue White game, and you know,
still fingers crossed on a you know, we've heard, you know,
(15:57):
some rumblings from here, rumblings from there, you know, little
stuff inside hope. We're still waiting on a more like
a formal, formal update on his status and what what
that's going to look like going forward. So still I
will say, still fingers crossed on him being able to
be on the better side of things and get back
as early as possible within reason. Of course, you don't
want him to get back still hurt. But yeah, I
(16:20):
mean that was a disaster to see, especially you know, again,
exhibitions don't really matter that much at the end of
the day, but especially knowing you know, this weekend you
got number one perdue coming into Lexington. It's not quite
a game you want to not have a point guard for.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
But if Otago ends up running a point again. Now
you've got him doing something that ideally he's not doing.
You know, you'd rather have him obviously the two or
even the three. But prior to that moment, what was
going to be the lead coming out of there, the
good old fashioned lead. What was the most noticeable thing
(16:54):
that you took away from that scrimmage?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, I mean, uh, well, one I would also say,
if you want to keep Otago away at the two
or three, you can lean on Denzel Aberdeen a little bit.
Jashtra Pompson said after the game, he's, well, you know,
it's a true freshman. I understand. But Jasper Johnson said
he's wanting to take on more responsibilities. You had Colin Chandler,
who ran a little bit of the point last year
at times did lose Travis Perry. But alas, there's a
(17:18):
few options you can play and kind of mix a
match there. But I honestly think the biggest headline of
the thing that I would have spoken about following the game,
had Jalen Low knock gone down, actually arguably came after
Jalen Low went down, And that was really to me.
You know, you look at that one. It ended up
using elm rules to end at thirty five. It was
first team to thirty four I believe, right, but this
(17:40):
one was. It ended up thirty five twenty six after
a run by the White team. It was a bit
more lopsided than that for most of the showing, and
the only reason it was even as close as it
was in the end, I would say is because of
Mohammed Diabase. I mean, he put on a show. He
had eight points in there, but it felt like, especially
late there, when the Blue team was on the cusp
(18:02):
of getting closer and closer to that score, he just
took over. I mean, he was doing some great things
in that basketball court, really showing why he was such
a highly touted transfer when he entered the portal. While
there was so much excitement when Kentucky landed him, I
was really impressed with his play and what he was
able to do on the court, and very excited to
(18:23):
see what he does with the entire team when he's
playing against somebody other than his own teammates.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I thought it was interesting that we are not yet
seeing the cutting being done by guys getting passes from
the high post that they know it was kind of
a specialty. Last year thanks to a Mari Williams and
Brandon Garrison, and we will see that. I think that
when the offense has more polished. But what I also liked,
and I saw this in practice when I went over
(18:50):
there prior to Pro Day, and we saw it some
in Pro Day as well, and then the Blue White,
of course, was the way they're pounding the low post
with some of these big and the way Moreno was
going after the offensive rebounds. I think this team will
have a much better presence in the low post than
it had last year.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, I would agree. I think that there's a lot
to look forward to in this team, and I think
there were a few other things that stuck out to
me as well. I thought there were a couple moments
there that I noted. I thought Brandon Garrison made a
couple of big plays, Andrea Yelovich making some threes out
there training some threes. It was exciting to see Denzel
Aberdeen had a big steal and a dunk on the
(19:30):
other end that was fun to watch that brought out
a time out. Make it twenty five to thirteen, Blue Team.
You know, there was a lot going on in this game,
and like you said, I was a bit surprised that
some of the things we didn't quite see and some
of the things that there's still potential to see going forward.
But I do think there was a lot to be
excited about in this one.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And I tweeted about the fact that we saw an
all Kentucky kid fast break with Trent no featuring Trent Noah,
Jasper Johnson, and Malachai Moreno. Yeah, people who liked this
see the home grown guys do well had to take
a had to get a kick.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Out of that, right, Yeah, certainly. I mean it's always fun.
I've got a hopefully a piece coming shortly, not actually
too shortly, but in the near future. I mean, you know,
I read a book recently from Russell Rice, you know
about how Kentucky basketball was really built on the back
of in state kids. You know, people from Kentucky that
played for Kentucky and for a long time under Patino
(20:27):
in Calipari, you kind of got away from that getting
some of the big city recruits, and you're still getting
a lot of these big recruits, a lot of these
transfer portal guys under Pope. But there's a lot of
Kentucky kids on this team. Aren't there. You know, you
got the obvious ones in the freshman Malachaim Reno, Jasper Johnson,
we all know Trent Noah. You know, we got Rhys
Potter coming back to ye he was at Oxford in
(20:49):
you know, Miami, Ohio, but he went to He's from Lexington,
He's he's back here now and you got you got
I believe he did. Yeah, I think so. But we
we got a lot of Kentucky kids on this team,
and it's, uh, it's kind of exciting to see the
Wildcats sort of keep getting some of this high end
talent but also sort of get back to their roots
(21:10):
a little bit. And uh, you know, especially you grew
up around the around the Commonwealth. It really is this
thing that Kentucky doesn't have any pro teams, but it
doesn't necessarily need them because how big the brands are
and Kentucky basketball is a monolith around here. So seeing
people that grew up witnessing Kentucky basketball grow living Kentucky
(21:31):
basketball playing for the program, it's just so special. I
think it was a a media day. I mean, Trent Noah,
back for year two, said that every time he puts
on the jersey, the magic is still there. It hasn't
went off. It's still just so special. I think walk
on Zach Tao he told me. I think I asked
him like four questions, and I think he used the word
sacred like four times talking about Kentucky, like like the
(21:53):
love of these guys have for the programs. Just on
another level.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
You get that word from his coach. You also shared
that word and a jersey with Adam sam over the weekend,
so that was pretty cool. All right, we got about
a minute. Let but I gotta I'm not gonna bust you,
but I want to share with the audience. Tell everybody
what you wore to the game Saturday night. You made
quite a quite a statement.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Well, I'm quite well known in the media for my
my man in black suit, had my black button up,
the black black dress, pants, and black shoes. But I
had to add the special edition of the all black
cowboy hat to complete the outfit. All outfit obviously always
a ode to one of my favorites of all time,
d Johnny Cash, but cowboy hat was a truly special one.
I was supposed to take it down to Austin last
(22:33):
year before we had some vehicle. Our vehicle literally gave
out on us on the way to Austin, got strained
to Nashville. Did wear it to Texas for basketball last year,
and I figured with tech has come into town, now
had to had to bring it back out. So we
had the We had the black cowboy hat in the
press box.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So you've had this hat for a while.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
I have.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
I actually my at there early on, you know, my
my now girlfriend, she worked for the magazine at the
Kentucky Current, all the student newspapers, magazine and whenever they do,
they release one big magazine every semester and they have
a big launch party for it. And launch party, you
know with the fashion team they always have. Sure, we
(23:12):
had a western theme one early on senior year, my
senior year of college. So I got the cowboy hat
at a tractor supply in Nicholasville. So I've had that
black cowboy hat for now a little all right.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I think, all right? Sounds good. Hey, thanks and we
will talk to you at the next ballgame and on
the air next week.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Sounds great, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
That is true. When I got to the press box,
and who's one of the first people I see sauntering
toward me in his customary black garb and a black cowboy.
It was pretty snazzy too, I getting him credit for that.
So thanks to Cole Park Jefficarl's next here on the
BBI quorder to word is the big New Excier. Join
(23:54):
now by my partner on the UK Sports Network, one
of our teammates, mister JEPPIICORL color commentator and of course
former football wildcat himself. And Jeff. You and I have
talked about this.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
You're gonna partner. You were gonna say partner in crime.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
No, No, that is as tired an expression as you'll
ever hear. I will not say that partner in time.
Maybe because you're getting up there in years. Yeah, see
what I did?
Speaker 4 (24:20):
Yeah? Uh?
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Anyway, you and I have talked about this game on
more than one occasion, and you kept pointing out to
me during the broadcast and during the breaks the insane
imbalance on the stat sheet. More than anything, I think
that's what puzzles me about this game. I just don't
see how this happened, you know, you know, you.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Look at it, You're just like, how did they not win?
I mean I just did a whole thing on on
you know, tonight on television and put the numbers up,
and it's just it's crazy. Yeah, and listen and listening
to more. It was just you could tell that he
was You could tell Saturday evening that he was a
(25:03):
little missed. But yeah, that was that was absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
You're in the car, aren't you. You just switched over
to the car speaker.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Oh I sure did see.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Now your dulcet tones sound much better. Uh, well, let's
do this. We you know, we've we've beaten ourselves up
and you know the coaches will be beating up about
this game forever. But let us ask this question. Why
did Kentucky and how I'll start with the offense. How
did Kentucky play so well? Granted didn't score enough points,
but until the bitter end, how and why did Kentucky
(25:37):
play so effectively on offense?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
I think that's the better thing. Effectively, they they kind
of started to change their offense a little bit and
they've taken a little bit out of what oh Miss
does and some other teams. Because remember they went to
tempo one point in the game and really advanced the ball.
But the quick short passing game was there. They didn't
(26:04):
get any big plays down the field. Because I talked
about this all week. Texas doesn't allow that. But it
was just five A, ten A, four A, you know,
all night long they ran what thirty one more plays.
It's just crazy, but they did. Yeah, yes, yes, and
(26:27):
I you know, and then you're only allow You're only
I was gonna say, allow, you're only asking your offensive
lineman to really block for two three seconds?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yes, yes, absolutely, so much easier.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Yeah, because look, these guys are big, strong monsters on
the other side, and for the most part they held
him out and did a nice job.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Texas, as we knew going in, really good against the run. Uh,
Kentucky ran the ball for the most part effectively, but
like you said, they kept it's not dinking and duncan.
It's five yards eight yards. They're not explosives, but they're
kind of manageable chunks. And you know, you always talk
about it, and you're not the only you didn't invent this,
but you bring it up and rightfully. So you don't
(27:09):
want to get behind the chains, but you don't want
to be second. I guess second and eight is behind
the chains a little bit. But Kentucky made up a
couple times when it was behind the chains before the
most part was second and manageable most of the night,
wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
Yeah, And here was the problem for Texas. They couldn't
really drop another safety into the box, which they liked
to do at times, because Kentucky was throwing the ball
well with that short to medium passing game, so they
had to keep them back on the on the hashes, okay,
and so that only leaves six or seven in the
(27:48):
box to defend because they were playing nickel most of
the game with an extra guy. But you still have
the two safeties back there, right, So that opened up
the running game a little bit. And when you started
running the ball, well, you started throwing the ball. So
they play off of each other, and that's why they
had four hundred yards of offense. And again, look, I'm
(28:08):
not second guessing. You're playing a top twenty team, you know,
a team like that. Do you take the points? I
think Mark thought, we're moving the ball really well, let's
continue on. The Only thing I didn't like was that call,
which you're trying to run it right up the middle,
and they get stopped at the sixteen yard line on
(28:29):
the very first drive, so they came away with no points.
Then at the end. Again, I think that Mark was
a little upset with it too. You you know, you
run it twice the exact same play right up the middle,
and that's the brunt of that Texas, that's their strength.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yeah, yeah, I get that. And again, I know we
were talking about it at lunch today part of the
press conference, and somebody said, well, why not just kick
the field goal and give your defense? Well, yeah, I
see that. But at the time I said to myself,
I like this when never going for it, because I thought, look, yeah,
you you have to steal this game from Texas, right,
(29:07):
I mean when you're when you're trying to pull it
up like that, you're trying to steal the game. And
I felt like that's what they were trying to do,
and I was I was in favor of that.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Well, I think that you're going to hear seventy five
to eighty five percent of the coaches say at home,
you go for it. Yes, on the road, you kick
the field goal and you go you try, you hope
to play a second. You know that that's kind of
has always been the the what the car accent or
whatever the thing people talk about.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah, so yeah, I get that. Let's talk a little
bit about Bush ham Dan because of course he's catching
a lot of criticism. Uh, and you know, Mark didn't
want a second guess. I mean mytho. Mark was pretty
frank with Tom to and I on his show and
with us today at his news conference. But I think
people need to remember that while they're busy criticizing bush
(29:56):
ham Dan to no end, they're heaping praise as well.
They should Uncutter Boldie, as did we everybody. I mean,
how can you not, Okay, who's the guy helping him
develop into a SEC quarterback? Him down?
Speaker 4 (30:11):
Yeah, you took you took the words right out of
my mouth. Who's the guy that has developed him? And
that's Bush. And who's the guy that ran the offense
for three hundred and ninety five yards? That's Bush hand On.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
And again I'm sure he would love to have that
last play over again, the fourth down play and run
something different. But you know, all year long, their strength
has been basically the center and two guards, and I
think he trusted them. But you know, when I watched
that play several times, number two on the edge on
(30:46):
one side, I think it's four on the other side,
they were really crashing down hard if Balli's able to
pull that and you know, and and release a release
a guy, you know, a tight end or or trying
to get to the edge. Possibly, but again high sight's
really easy because now you're watching it going, oh, man,
if they would have only done this, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah, and you know we saw this coming. This stretch
of the games we saw. We talked preseason, we talked
after the first game. You know, when Kentucky winsday, there's
tougher games coming up. But this is the teeth of
this schedule that we all saw coming, even though there
was a bye. Now another loss on the Mark Stoops
worksheet after a bye week with hello, they're playing Texas.
(31:29):
But I think going back to the Georgia game when
they really first employed the quicker drops, quicker passing game,
began to employ more receivers, and now, especially with a
Texas game, you can't argue with the fact that they
are getting better. That might not stave off the wolves
at the Mark Stoops store, right, But I firmly believe
they're getting better. And Stoops has said that all along.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Yeah, yeah, And I'll tell you what, Dick, this is crazy.
What is going on? In the coaching breaks. Oh man,
we're gonna play a Florida team with a different coach,
and Jo Freeze is on one of the hottest seats
in America right right now. You know that's a team
that's he may not be there after this weekend games.
(32:11):
You just don't know with these with all these athletic
directors pulling the plugs on these guys. I mean there's
nine Division one FBS Power Conference guys out of jobs
right right now.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
That's right. And you know what's odd about Auburn. I
know we're getting ahead of our show. We'll talk about
Tennessee here in a minute, but Jeff hates Tennessee. When
you look at these teams that are firing their coaches,
it might not be a long term for the rest
of the season solution, but as often as not, or
more often than not, what does a team do. They
(32:46):
bounce back and they play hard because they feel bad,
they get their coach fired, like UAB got Trent dilf
for fired. And when they jumped up and beat Memphis,
which I think had only one loss at the time,
Let's say Kentucky goes down there, Memphis was under Okay,
that's right, Kentucky might go down to Auburn even a
(33:07):
few freezes there. That team is in disarray after he
threw his players under the bus, some of them and
one guy quit. They're they're they're an absolute disarray right now.
So this is a weird chapter in college football history,
isn't it?
Speaker 4 (33:21):
It really is, and and it's really going to be
interesting to see how this all falls, you know, falls
into place, the dominoes, if you will. Uh, somebody had
already said from from the Pennsylvania area that there was
a plane they were tracking to Florida, a private plane
that left Pennsylvania heading to Florida. You would assume much
(33:43):
James Franklin possibly talking to Alford or Strickland that Florida
and or Florida state. You know, it's there's just so
much conjuncture right now, he's going to go somewhere. But
the thing that just blows my mind, Dick, and we've
talked about this is the colleges have kind of done
this to themselves with these indorbous buyouts that they're they're
(34:07):
paying these coaches. It's absolutely staggering.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
I heard I want to say it's Peter Burns on
the SEC network this morning talking about exactly what you
just mentioned and the staggering amount of money. And by
the time the season is over, and however, many coaches
get fired with whatever buyouts they have. College of the
colleges that are paying buyouts, it could add up, jeff
to a quarter of a billion with a B dollars.
(34:34):
So don't don't pour them out anymore. Don't pour them out, right, Yeah?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Yeah, Well, and here's the whole thing about this too.
A lot of this is coming from the fans, the money,
all this nil money that is pouring into these colleges. Yeah,
or the people that they turned to, the Joe Crafts
of the world to say, Joe, I need thirty five
million dollars to buy out. You know, is he supposed
(35:00):
she just hand it over and then next year give
you more money to pay the new guy that's coming in.
It's just it's just staggering to be the money. It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
People assume it works that way, but it doesn't. I mean,
you know, you always hear about that out of the
boosters will write the checks, but they don't. And now
the schools have to rob they have to rob the
east side of their campus to pay off the west
side of their campus. Let's get back to the actual
game zone. As I mentioned, Jeff, uh, he's like Jack Gibbons.
Jeff grumbles and grinds his teeth when you talk about Tennessee,
(35:31):
maybe even more than Jack, because Jack, you guys beat
Tennessee a couple times while you were playing twice, right, Yeah, yeah,
see Jack. Jack played against them more than you did,
so it might have lost more, but he probably won more. Anyway,
this is a Tennessee team that hasn't made a lot
of headlines in terms of challenging for a national title,
(35:52):
and yet Mark Stoops today was just talking about the fact,
and he talked about it on the show again tonight.
They may be better throwing the foot ball this year
then they've been in the past. And that's been a
real Achilley's heel for Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Boy, it really has. You know, when Nico left, I
can't ever say it's last them. What to Ucla? Yeah,
then UCLA's quarterback Joyaguilar, who's only been there one year,
he started at Appalachian State three years ago, said Okay, then
Tennessee you want me? And they said sure? And what
did they get? The guy that's leading the Southeastern Conference
(36:29):
with fourteen ninety eight I'm sorry, nineteen hundred and forty
eight yards and fifteen touchdowns already halfway through the year.
Two of his receivers are two of the top five.
You got one, that's what is it? I think number
two and number five receiver in the conference. They're running
back that they got. Remember they lost one of the
best running backs in the SEC, or the best running
(36:52):
back in the SEC last year the to the NFL.
So they bring in a guy I can't remember. I
think it's a guy I haven't done my chart yet,
but you know he's fourth in the conference in rushing.
This offense is it's so hard when you think of
Old Miss. It's all Miss on steroids. They staff the
ball faster than Ole Miss does and it's amazing to
(37:13):
make the plays they get off. It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
The Kentucky d line, though, has played well. Do you
think it's good enough to gum things up?
Speaker 4 (37:22):
Well? I think that they showed this week against a
really big, strong front how good they can be. Look
if they come out with the same vim and bigger
and aggressiveness and confidence that they did against Texas, they're
a hardbeat. They really are. I mean that that was amazing.
(37:44):
They got arch Manning to have happy feet back there.
They hit him repeatedly. He was missing throws, he was
throwing high, he was throwing low, he was throwing wide.
He was just trying to get the heck out of
there and not get his head taken off. So if
they can get that same type of pressure on Aguilar,
I don't see why not. You know, I hope they can.
(38:08):
But again, my hope is that they play the same
way they did last Saturday. This Saturday.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
He is jeffi Corral, the UK Network. We'll come back
and talk sports basketball with Jeff because he covered sports
as well for WTVQTV here in town back in a
minutes on the state wide BBI welcome back border and
border Pikeville to Paducah. It is a big boon sider
Tock Gabriel. If you're talking to Jeff of Corral, the
(38:35):
UK Sports Network, who also covers local sports, UK sports,
anything in general for WTVQ, including Kentucky basketball, Jeff, I
know you're at covering high school football on Friday night,
but you also know and you've seen the video of
the Blue White game and how much of a concern
do you think this injury is to Jalen Lowe and
the fact that this may be a Kentucky team starting
(38:57):
the season as it ended last year with the point
guard if he's in the lineup may not be one
hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (39:05):
Is that you know? That's crazy, Dick. I think back
through the years, I can never remember that type of
injury to any point guard that Kentucky's had in the past,
and it's happened back to back seasons. Mark at his
tip off lunching today down in Louisville talked about it
and then he was pretty upbeat about it. So you know,
(39:29):
they can't give us exactly what's wrong and what he
hurt and all that kind of stuff. But Mark seemed
seemed to be, you know, in a pretty good mood
when he was asked that question talking about Jalen.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Gonna be hard to find Mark Pope when he's never
not in a good mood. But he does have a
really talented roster, though it's not deep at point guard,
not extraordinarily deep. But there are a lot of polls
out there that don't even have him in the top fifteen.
But some are calling Kentucky a Final four contender, and
I guess that's what we're used to hearing, right.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
Yeah, and that's what twenty two million dollars will get you,
if that's the number, that that is correct. But yeah,
they are so talented. But again, to me, it's the
tip of the sword, so to speak. The tip of
the spear is your point guard. And LaMonte Butler last
year was so so important to the way not just
(40:24):
the offense ran, but the defense too. And I think
Jalen is the same way. And if he has to
spend time on the bench, I mean, who who takes
over that position? You lose you You're gonna lose a
little bit on both ends of the floor without him.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
I'm curious about Jasper Johnson because he is one guy
I would rather see him than'll take away because Oway
is their best guy off the ball. But yeah, yeah,
well Johnson is just he's just got mad skills, doesn't he.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
Yeah, And he's just a kid, you know. But the
cool thing that he has going for him, and this
is the great thing with the high school prep basketball.
Now he's been playing over you know, overseas, He's played
for Team USA, so he's kind of used to. And
the other thing with him, he's kind of used to
all this fanfare around UK basketball because he's lived through it,
(41:14):
especially you know, with his dad and with himself being
such a great player, so it's second nature. And because
sometimes players can just you know, get crushed by the
pressure of playing with that Kentucky written on the chest.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
I've got about a minute lefter. So you were a
high school quarterback and you switched the receiver, I think
you said your second day at practice the UK as
a walk on. Jasper was a high school quarterback, and
a good one, not unlike Rajon Rondo. I don't know
who was better, but I know I talked to his
middle school coach a few months ago and he said,
he's the guy who convinced or helped convince Dennis Johnson. Hey,
(41:52):
this kid's a future NBA potential potential player. I mean,
it's this kid's a basketball player and Dennis you know
kind of and man Jasper said he had given up
playing quarterback. You can understand that, right.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
Yeah, you know, I like a player that plays different
sports in high school, you know, football and baseball, or
basketball and baseball, or basketball and football. I think guys
can can get worn out because there's the travel that
these kids do now. But you got a twelve year
old kid, he's going to play seventy to one hundred
(42:25):
games a year now. I mean we went through it
with Christy and her daughter, you know.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Of all the games Ristie Thomas.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
Yeah, this is crazy. But yeah, and now daughter's going
to Liberty.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Oh yeah, got a scholarship. Good for her, got a
full ride. Yeah, Jeff ro I appreciate it. We will
see you at practice and we'll see you at the
stadium on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (42:42):
Hi, Chief, see you all.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
Right, just a minute or two left. But of course
Bo Robinson is our in studio producer. He is also
very close to the Go Big Blues brothers who were
at the Blue White game and as I understand that
they were concerned. But yes, I saw one of the
posters they were holding up. Can you can you ate
me on that? Which one?
Speaker 5 (43:01):
They switched posters in and out? So was it the
Mark Pope for president?
Speaker 2 (43:05):
No, I've seen that one before.
Speaker 5 (43:07):
We're on a mission from Joe by Hall.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
No, Yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 5 (43:09):
I love it a great tribute to their favorite Kentucky
basketball coach of all time. Joeby Hall and just how
great he was when the Blues Brothers first started showing
up at Roppe Arena. The signs change every game. I
have no clue what they're going to do for Friday Night.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
My favorite, though, is when Joe first met them and
said I want to Did he say I want a
blue jacket?
Speaker 5 (43:29):
I want a blue jacket? I want to be a
Blues brother And I heard the conversation, Coach, you are
the original go big Blues brother oh Man, and then
his son looked at the Blues Brothers and said, he
has enough blue jacket.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
But did he ever get the shades or the hat?
Speaker 5 (43:45):
No, we did not, and that should have been passed
along to him.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
I ran an audio clip on my local show here
in Lexington a couple of weeks ago. It came across
it must have been Instagram, but Bear Bryant was soliciting
help from fans to get himself a new hat. He
had a specific type of hound's tooth hat that he
liked to wear, and he I guess had worn out,
(44:11):
worn out all his hats or lost him. He needed
at least one or two new ones, but you couldn't
find him anymore. And the bear asked for help. I
got to assume he got some, So maybe the Blues
Brothers can help there.
Speaker 5 (44:24):
I'm sure they could have. So appreciate it, Dick, thank you,
thanks for.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Jeff, thanks to Bow and to Cole. That's a good
night from Lexington.
From border to border across the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This
is Big Blue Insider. Talk to Tick Gabriel. Call eight
five nine two eight zero Cats. That's eight five nine
two eight zero to two eight seven. Or state wide
that's one eight hundred six oh six game. That's one
(00:28):
eight hundred six oh six four two sixty three. Or
you can tweet the show that's Big Blue Insider one.
Now here's Tick Gabriel.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
From Pike Bill two, Paducah. It is the Big Blue Insider,
Dick Gabriel. What do you on on Monday Night? Coming
up tonight, of course we will shave with Cole Park
of the Cats. Pause Jeff Bcorol of the UK Sports Network,
much to discuss about the football Wildcats with a bitterly
disappointing loss to Texas behind them. Now it's another shade
of orange coming up with those Tennessee volunteers and of
course the basketball Cats. The Blue White game that included
(01:02):
an injury that left the Big Blue Nation stunned and silent.
Now it's time to prepare for an exhibition game with
what might be the number one team in the land.
We'll talk about all of that coming up tonight, right,
here be a part of the BBI Welcome back Border
(01:23):
to Border. It is the Big Blue Insider. Dick Gabriel,
joined now remotely by Cole Parker, once again is out
of town. But I had a busy weekend last weekend,
basketball and football. Cole of course covers the Wildcats for
the Cats, Paws and Cal. I'm gonna start with football,
because man, that was an old school Kentucky disappointment. For
(01:45):
the Asias. You haven't been on the beat too terribly
long for a few years. You have covered some disappointments.
I don't know if it gets any more disappointing to
what we saw Saturday night, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yeah, that was a gut punch in every sense of
the way. I mean. It feels so weird though when
you look at it, when you break it down where
Kentucky had major major problems on you know, you think
of a football team in three pieces, with arguably three
pieces most people would say two offense, defense, but you
include special teams three pieces of a pie, and Kentucky
had glaring flaws on two out of three pieces, and
(02:18):
where a field goal in overtime away from you know,
winning against Texas a ranked team and you know, arguably
one of the big dogs in the SEC now that
they've joined this conference. And it was just it was terrible,
and there was plenty of things in the middle there
that frustrated me. I've taken a lot, a pretty big stand,
but against the special teams play, yes kind of rewarded
(02:40):
to I mean, I think in my column I wrote,
if you consider the missed field goal and the two
really glaring punt returns, not even paying attention to fact
there was multiple muff punts which Kentucky didn't get penalized for.
But that's a thirteen point swing in a game that
ended three points separated and thirteen total points for Kentucky.
Teams allow a thirteen point swing, so that's pretty bad
(03:02):
on its own. But you really look at this game,
most people are going to see a sandwich. And what
I mean by that is plenty of stuff here, good
or bad in the middle there. But this game really
came down to two fourth down failed conversions, one in
the very beginning. Yep, Kentucky could have scored at least
gotten points on their very first drive and obviously failed
(03:25):
to get that fourth down in the first quarter. I
believe that was. I believe it's the same play call
on both of those too. I think it was Dante
Daldell up the middle tried to leap over the line
when there wasn't a gap, and neither time he got close.
And then obviously we all know in overtime, you know,
you choose not to trust the defense to hold Texas
to a field goal, which it ultimately did end up doing.
(03:46):
By the way, you don't you choose not to trust
the defense and just kick the field goal. You choose
to go for it fourth and one on the goal line,
Dante Daldell up the middle tries to jump the line,
he is stopped short. It's a turnover on downs in overtime,
and you know, Texas ran a few plays before they
ended up settling for the field goal anyway, that won it.
But quite frankly, I think when that play happened, I
(04:07):
turned to the person next in the press box and
I said, honestly, if you're Texas, why don't you just
kick the field goal in the first play win the game?
Speaker 2 (04:14):
If you, yeah, don't risk it turnover.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Yeah, might as well just kick the field goal on
first down and get this over with, you know, But
that's that's really the story of this game if you
look at it that way, if you if you ignore
all the thros and cons of the whole middle portion
of the game, it really comes down to that sandwich
of two failed fourth down conversions that just completely killed
any chance Kentucky had of getting perhaps, you know, not
(04:37):
perhaps one of the biggest wins it will get all
season long, but at the very least, you know, it's
first SEC win in over a year, and it's first
at home, and I believe over two years now.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So yeah, yeah, And you know, it's interesting about that
first drive. The the way the game ended was so numbing.
And then of course on the network we do the
most game wrap up and we kind of have to
sadly flog that dead horse. Although I gave Cutter Boldie
so much credit. You know, he came into the radio interview,
talked to you guys downstairs, just devastated, took a few
(05:13):
extra minutes, and I don't blame him to compose himself
before he talked to the media, which was smart. But anyhow,
it wasn't until call I got home and I was
sifting through, you know, everything I had just seen, and
then I realized exactly what you had just said. Man,
that game began the way it ended in at least
on offense for Kentucky. And when you think back to
(05:36):
that opening offensive drive by the Wildcats, what did you
think of the efficiency there? Because that really kind of
set the tone. Now, they did it between red zones.
Didn't get into the end zone nearly enough, obviously, but
the fact that they were able to on many occasions
really move the ball against Texas it was hard not
to notice, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Oh? Absolutely, I mean you look at this game, and
I think so many people are feeling you know, maybe
maybe I think a lot more people have perspective that
I'm giving credit for, but a lot of people are
feeling kind of down on the offense after that game,
a game where you only score thirteen points, you lose
in overtime, in a game that you feel like you
should have won. The play calling was, as some people
would say, questionable at times. Yeah, this was honestly a
(06:17):
great offensive game for Kentucky everywhere except the red zone.
I mean, look at that first down or the first
drive there. We saw a Henry Boyer reception just the
second time this season saw passes we saw rushes and
I think, you know, you look at some of the
stats in this game. I asked Cutter about it postgame,
twelve different receiving targets. Can you imagine going back to
Leak two against Ole Miss or even you know, Week
(06:39):
one against Toledo and telling someone after those games, Yeah,
there's gonna be a game this season where Kentucky passes
the football efficiently and has twelve different targets for thirty
one receptions. I don't know that I would have believed
it seeing how the passing game looked at the start
of this season. And you know another game where Seth
mcgallan is a little bit beat up. The run game
struggle a little bit grand that we have to take
into account that Texas has a phenomenal run defense, But
(07:02):
you know where McGowan lacked in the running game, he
made up for in the pass games. Seven receptions for
sixty eight yards. You know, that's a performance that was
worthy of a touchdown. They just couldn't get in there.
The only person ended up coming away with one, I believe,
was Bowley on the ground on a scramble. And you
know another game too where Bully has an interception on
(07:24):
an interception, but it's an interception on a play where
he's trying to throw it out of bounds, so like
it was just a bad read. You don't feel too
bad about that showing for him, especially not considering he
completed nearly eighty percent of his passes thirty one for
thirty nine two hundred and fifty eight passing yards, and
that's you know, not And this is a guy who
got sacked for twenty four yards and finished with forty
(07:44):
five rushing yards. So yeah, a quarterback that's pretty solid,
and you know, just really and truly almost four hundred
yards of total offense for Kentucky. Again, you go back
to earlier this season. Can you imagine telling somebody like
in Week one, after that performance against Toledo that this
would be a Kentucky offense that's putting up nearly four
(08:04):
hundred yards of offense on Texas And you know that
person probably asks you, so surely they win the game,
right and they unfortunately no. And I would also say,
you know, I've just commended the offense a lot for
trying its best to overcome the decision making at times
and overcome and an ability in the red zone. But
I feel like, if anything, the group that surprised me
(08:27):
the most, and the thing I took away the most positive
from this performance that genuinely stunned me was this. The
defense looked phenomenal in this Texas scored sixteen total points,
and in my column about the special teams, the special
teams practically handed them ten of those. Let's you know,
the defense is responsible for playing a ranked team, you know,
(08:48):
when you haven't won a conference game in over a
year and giving up essentially six points two field goals.
I think you take that seven days of the week
twice on Sunday, you know, so a really really strong
showing for Brad White's union. It's just truly a shame
that they weren't able to be rewarded for that effort.
And you know, granted Brad, you know, after the game,
he's a he's a real straightforward guy. He's a very
(09:11):
you know, football guy. So he said, at the end
of the day, it doesn't matter that we lost on
such a good defensive effort. It just matters that we lost.
We're not you know, taking our victory away from you know,
the team's defeat. But it really does feel like in
a lot of ways. I think the common sentiment is
that the players deserve this win and the coaches didn't
have enough to get it done.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
And you know, it's interesting too on two different fronts.
Number one, and going back to your your remarks about
Kentucky producing yardage, Kentucky runs eighty one plays and at
twenty six first downs to just eight for Texas. And
again there you go, there's another olive branch for the
for the defense that would just if you just looked
(09:52):
at the stats, you'd say, well, how much did Kentucky
win by? So that's that's that was just another bizarre
element to this game. But speaking about the offense and
the efficiency the quick strike, I think that when they
made a conscious effort going into the Georgia game to
go with shorter drops, quicker passes spread the ball, which
(10:15):
enables them to spread the ball around more. This offense,
you know, I'm amazed it hasn't gotten in to the
end zone more because this is clearly working, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Yeah? Absolutely, I think I think this year's South Carolina
game for the offense is what many people hoped last
year's South Carolina game would have been, where you get
just absolutely punched in the mouth, and you know, you
learn from that and grow from that this. You know,
I feel like we were really down after the South
Carolina game and how bad the offense looked, I mean
practically twenty one South Carolina points for the twenty one
(10:47):
zero second quarter that led to that game. You know,
you had the fumble, scoop and sports interception. It looked
bad quite frankly, and you you look at the schedule
ahead and you're like, this offense, I don't know if
they got it, but this team took what happened in
that game and they built upon it. I mean, we
were talking about two losses here with Georgia and Texas,
but the offense has look much improved in both of those.
Bowie looks like he's getting more and more comfortable every week.
(11:10):
The passing game has appeared really, I mean, I was
going to say came back to life, but really just
appeared these last two games. And it's been efficient. They've
been doing those quick passes, they've been doing better reads.
They've been getting the wide receivers involved, Moore, they've been
mixing the running backs into the passing game. We saw
receivers catch a ball that haven't caught a ball all
(11:30):
year long, right, So it was truly truly a special
game for them. And like you said, it's phenomenal to
look at how bad it was against South Carolina and
how much you know, you hear about adjustments, but I
don't know that in my time covering Kentucky, I've seen
adjustments as blatant and apparent as these ones have been,
(11:54):
because it looks like two completely different teams on offense,
you know, just a few weeks ago versus now. And also,
you know, one thing I noticed too that was interesting
is I asked Cutter about this post game. But we
saw at Georgia two weeks ago. Now with the bye week,
you know, they were able to go to cam Miller
on some tough spots. On one play that really stuck
out to me in particular, right before the game tying
(12:16):
field goal at the end of regulation. You know, they
they had a third and short and it was kind
of a must get there for for yardage sake at
the time. You know, they were playing for a touchdown,
I'm sure, but ended up taking the field well after
Cutter Bally got sacked. It's a third and two, and
you know you can go anywhere on the field. You
can pass to anybody that you have. Kendrick Law out
in the field. You got hardly Gilmour on the field.
(12:37):
Cutter Bully takes the takes the snap. He makes a
quick pass on a short route to true freshman DJ Miller,
who at that point had had one reception in his
collegiate career earlier this very game. So you know that
to put the confidence in him to make that play
him And but Bully was extremely confidentary. He said he
wasn't afraid of contact. He's a true freshman out there.
(12:58):
He put his head down, he took the contact. He
did it when you didn't do He made big plays.
And I think that's just a testament to Kentucky realizing
where it was offensively and where it needed to be.
In san Let's try some stuff out and at some
point I just wish that they would try some more
stuff out in the red zone. But overall, you know,
(13:20):
in terms of.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Well, the play that got them to the three, the
wide receiver screen basically to Kendrick Law with the two
tight ends out there blocking. I asked Mark Stoops about
that earlier today. I think you saw and I said
had you run that play, and he said, we had
run it, but not like that, not with that blocking scheme,
and it was brilliant and it almost got him into
(13:41):
the end zone. He was tackled right in front of
me at the three yard line. I thought that was
such a great call because it took advantage of Texas
overly aggressive approach on defense on that play and laws,
you know, speed nearly burned them to the ground on that.
So anyway, I'm with you. I enjoyed seeing, as you said,
the adjustments they made. When we come back, we're talking
(14:04):
with Cole Park at the Cat's Poss covers the Wildcats football, basketball,
whatever they've got, he'll cover it. And he was a
busy man. As we said this weekend. The basketball Cats
were in action over the weekend and will be again
coming up with the very first exhibition game coming up
on Friday. We'll talk basketball on the other side of
the break. It is the statewide Big Blue Insider come
(14:24):
back where chatting with Cole Park bordered a border from
Pikeville to Paduco. On the statewide edition of The Big
Blue Insider. Cole, of course, the staff writer for the
Cat's Poss coming up in just a few minutes, Jeff
Pecora will join us, and Jeff and I will look
ahead to Tennessee football. Jeff hates Tennessee because when he
played football that was their travel. But Cole we got
to talk basketball, and before we talk about anything with
(14:46):
the upcoming game. Well, I guess this rolls into it.
Who's going to be the point guard? You know, the
entire place, you know, the coliseum fell silent. BBN was
bemoaning the injury to Jailen Low on the on the
social media. That's a blow that the basketball Cats absolutely
didn't need, especially and light of what happened last year
(15:09):
with the mock Butler. That was that was a stunn
or wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
Yeah, it certainly was. That was disappointing to see, and uh,
you know, it's the Blue White game and it's nothing
too serious. But at the end of the day, it
felt like, you know, we were there side by side
actually at that one on pressure, I felt like there
wasn't a whole lot to really note going on in
that one. You know, I learned a little bit more
about some of the schemes and how this team likes
to play. I guess, but it didn't feel like a
(15:35):
whole lot was going on. You know, the both scrimmages
were pretty short overall. But then that happens, and like
you said, there's just silence, and you know, even on
press row, people were just like, oh my god, you
know what did we just witnessed Tucky starting point guard
just get injured in the Blue White game, and you know,
still fingers crossed on a you know, we've heard, you know,
(15:57):
some rumblings from here, rumblings from there, you know, little
stuff inside hope. We're still waiting on a more like
a formal, formal update on his status and what what
that's going to look like going forward. So still I
will say, still fingers crossed on him being able to
be on the better side of things and get back
as early as possible within reason. Of course, you don't
want him to get back still hurt. But yeah, I
(16:20):
mean that was a disaster to see, especially you know, again,
exhibitions don't really matter that much at the end of
the day, but especially knowing you know, this weekend you
got number one perdue coming into Lexington. It's not quite
a game you want to not have a point guard for.
Speaker 2 (16:34):
But if Otago ends up running a point again. Now
you've got him doing something that ideally he's not doing.
You know, you'd rather have him obviously the two or
even the three. But prior to that moment, what was
going to be the lead coming out of there, the
good old fashioned lead. What was the most noticeable thing
(16:54):
that you took away from that scrimmage?
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Yeah, I mean, uh, well, one I would also say,
if you want to keep Otago away at the two
or three, you can lean on Denzel Aberdeen a little bit.
Jashtra Pompson said after the game, he's, well, you know,
it's a true freshman. I understand. But Jasper Johnson said
he's wanting to take on more responsibilities. You had Colin Chandler,
who ran a little bit of the point last year
at times did lose Travis Perry. But alas, there's a
(17:18):
few options you can play and kind of mix a
match there. But I honestly think the biggest headline of
the thing that I would have spoken about following the game,
had Jalen Low knock gone down, actually arguably came after
Jalen Low went down, And that was really to me.
You know, you look at that one. It ended up
using elm rules to end at thirty five. It was
first team to thirty four I believe, right, but this
(17:40):
one was. It ended up thirty five twenty six after
a run by the White team. It was a bit
more lopsided than that for most of the showing, and
the only reason it was even as close as it
was in the end, I would say is because of
Mohammed Diabase. I mean, he put on a show. He
had eight points in there, but it felt like, especially
late there, when the Blue team was on the cusp
(18:02):
of getting closer and closer to that score, he just
took over. I mean, he was doing some great things
in that basketball court, really showing why he was such
a highly touted transfer when he entered the portal. While
there was so much excitement when Kentucky landed him, I
was really impressed with his play and what he was
able to do on the court, and very excited to
(18:23):
see what he does with the entire team when he's
playing against somebody other than his own teammates.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I thought it was interesting that we are not yet
seeing the cutting being done by guys getting passes from
the high post that they know it was kind of
a specialty. Last year thanks to a Mari Williams and
Brandon Garrison, and we will see that. I think that
when the offense has more polished. But what I also liked,
and I saw this in practice when I went over
(18:50):
there prior to Pro Day, and we saw it some
in Pro Day as well, and then the Blue White,
of course, was the way they're pounding the low post
with some of these big and the way Moreno was
going after the offensive rebounds. I think this team will
have a much better presence in the low post than
it had last year.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah, I would agree. I think that there's a lot
to look forward to in this team, and I think
there were a few other things that stuck out to
me as well. I thought there were a couple moments
there that I noted. I thought Brandon Garrison made a
couple of big plays, Andrea Yelovich making some threes out
there training some threes. It was exciting to see Denzel
Aberdeen had a big steal and a dunk on the
(19:30):
other end that was fun to watch that brought out
a time out. Make it twenty five to thirteen, Blue Team.
You know, there was a lot going on in this game,
and like you said, I was a bit surprised that
some of the things we didn't quite see and some
of the things that there's still potential to see going forward.
But I do think there was a lot to be
excited about in this one.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And I tweeted about the fact that we saw an
all Kentucky kid fast break with Trent no featuring Trent Noah,
Jasper Johnson, and Malachai Moreno. Yeah, people who liked this
see the home grown guys do well had to take
a had to get a kick.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Out of that, right, Yeah, certainly. I mean it's always fun.
I've got a hopefully a piece coming shortly, not actually
too shortly, but in the near future. I mean, you know,
I read a book recently from Russell Rice, you know
about how Kentucky basketball was really built on the back
of in state kids. You know, people from Kentucky that
played for Kentucky and for a long time under Patino
(20:27):
in Calipari, you kind of got away from that getting
some of the big city recruits, and you're still getting
a lot of these big recruits, a lot of these
transfer portal guys under Pope. But there's a lot of
Kentucky kids on this team. Aren't there. You know, you
got the obvious ones in the freshman Malachaim Reno, Jasper Johnson,
we all know Trent Noah. You know, we got Rhys
Potter coming back to ye he was at Oxford in
(20:49):
you know, Miami, Ohio, but he went to He's from Lexington,
He's he's back here now and you got you got
I believe he did. Yeah, I think so. But we
we got a lot of Kentucky kids on this team,
and it's, uh, it's kind of exciting to see the
Wildcats sort of keep getting some of this high end
talent but also sort of get back to their roots
(21:10):
a little bit. And uh, you know, especially you grew
up around the around the Commonwealth. It really is this
thing that Kentucky doesn't have any pro teams, but it
doesn't necessarily need them because how big the brands are
and Kentucky basketball is a monolith around here. So seeing
people that grew up witnessing Kentucky basketball grow living Kentucky
(21:31):
basketball playing for the program, it's just so special. I
think it was a a media day. I mean, Trent Noah,
back for year two, said that every time he puts
on the jersey, the magic is still there. It hasn't
went off. It's still just so special. I think walk
on Zach Tao he told me. I think I asked
him like four questions, and I think he used the word
sacred like four times talking about Kentucky, like like the
(21:53):
love of these guys have for the programs. Just on
another level.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
You get that word from his coach. You also shared
that word and a jersey with Adam sam over the weekend,
so that was pretty cool. All right, we got about
a minute. Let but I gotta I'm not gonna bust you,
but I want to share with the audience. Tell everybody
what you wore to the game Saturday night. You made
quite a quite a statement.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Well, I'm quite well known in the media for my
my man in black suit, had my black button up,
the black black dress, pants, and black shoes. But I
had to add the special edition of the all black
cowboy hat to complete the outfit. All outfit obviously always
a ode to one of my favorites of all time,
d Johnny Cash, but cowboy hat was a truly special one.
I was supposed to take it down to Austin last
(22:33):
year before we had some vehicle. Our vehicle literally gave
out on us on the way to Austin, got strained
to Nashville. Did wear it to Texas for basketball last year,
and I figured with tech has come into town, now
had to had to bring it back out. So we
had the We had the black cowboy hat in the
press box.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
So you've had this hat for a while.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
I have.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
I actually my at there early on, you know, my
my now girlfriend, she worked for the magazine at the
Kentucky Current, all the student newspapers, magazine and whenever they do,
they release one big magazine every semester and they have
a big launch party for it. And launch party, you
know with the fashion team they always have. Sure, we
(23:12):
had a western theme one early on senior year, my
senior year of college. So I got the cowboy hat
at a tractor supply in Nicholasville. So I've had that
black cowboy hat for now a little all right.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
I think, all right? Sounds good. Hey, thanks and we
will talk to you at the next ballgame and on
the air next week.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Sounds great, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
That is true. When I got to the press box,
and who's one of the first people I see sauntering
toward me in his customary black garb and a black cowboy.
It was pretty snazzy too, I getting him credit for that.
So thanks to Cole Park Jefficarl's next here on the
BBI quorder to word is the big New Excier. Join
(23:54):
now by my partner on the UK Sports Network, one
of our teammates, mister JEPPIICORL color commentator and of course
former football wildcat himself. And Jeff. You and I have
talked about this.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
You're gonna partner. You were gonna say partner in crime.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
No, No, that is as tired an expression as you'll
ever hear. I will not say that partner in time.
Maybe because you're getting up there in years. Yeah, see
what I did?
Speaker 4 (24:20):
Yeah? Uh?
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Anyway, you and I have talked about this game on
more than one occasion, and you kept pointing out to
me during the broadcast and during the breaks the insane
imbalance on the stat sheet. More than anything, I think
that's what puzzles me about this game. I just don't
see how this happened, you know, you know, you.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Look at it, You're just like, how did they not win?
I mean I just did a whole thing on on
you know, tonight on television and put the numbers up,
and it's just it's crazy. Yeah, and listen and listening
to more. It was just you could tell that he
was You could tell Saturday evening that he was a
(25:03):
little missed. But yeah, that was that was absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
You're in the car, aren't you. You just switched over
to the car speaker.
Speaker 4 (25:11):
Oh I sure did see.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Now your dulcet tones sound much better. Uh, well, let's
do this. We you know, we've we've beaten ourselves up
and you know the coaches will be beating up about
this game forever. But let us ask this question. Why
did Kentucky and how I'll start with the offense. How
did Kentucky play so well? Granted didn't score enough points,
but until the bitter end, how and why did Kentucky
(25:37):
play so effectively on offense?
Speaker 4 (25:41):
I think that's the better thing. Effectively, they they kind
of started to change their offense a little bit and
they've taken a little bit out of what oh Miss
does and some other teams. Because remember they went to
tempo one point in the game and really advanced the ball.
But the quick short passing game was there. They didn't
(26:04):
get any big plays down the field. Because I talked
about this all week. Texas doesn't allow that. But it
was just five A, ten A, four A, you know,
all night long they ran what thirty one more plays.
It's just crazy, but they did. Yeah, yes, yes, and
(26:27):
I you know, and then you're only allow You're only
I was gonna say, allow, you're only asking your offensive
lineman to really block for two three seconds?
Speaker 2 (26:36):
Yes, yes, absolutely, so much easier.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
Yeah, because look, these guys are big, strong monsters on
the other side, and for the most part they held
him out and did a nice job.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
Texas, as we knew going in, really good against the run. Uh,
Kentucky ran the ball for the most part effectively, but
like you said, they kept it's not dinking and duncan.
It's five yards eight yards. They're not explosives, but they're
kind of manageable chunks. And you know, you always talk
about it, and you're not the only you didn't invent this,
but you bring it up and rightfully. So you don't
(27:09):
want to get behind the chains, but you don't want
to be second. I guess second and eight is behind
the chains a little bit. But Kentucky made up a
couple times when it was behind the chains before the
most part was second and manageable most of the night,
wasn't it.
Speaker 4 (27:26):
Yeah, And here was the problem for Texas. They couldn't
really drop another safety into the box, which they liked
to do at times, because Kentucky was throwing the ball
well with that short to medium passing game, so they
had to keep them back on the on the hashes, okay,
and so that only leaves six or seven in the
(27:48):
box to defend because they were playing nickel most of
the game with an extra guy. But you still have
the two safeties back there, right, So that opened up
the running game a little bit. And when you started
running the ball, well, you started throwing the ball. So
they play off of each other, and that's why they
had four hundred yards of offense. And again, look, I'm
(28:08):
not second guessing. You're playing a top twenty team, you know,
a team like that. Do you take the points? I
think Mark thought, we're moving the ball really well, let's
continue on. The Only thing I didn't like was that call,
which you're trying to run it right up the middle,
and they get stopped at the sixteen yard line on
(28:29):
the very first drive, so they came away with no points.
Then at the end. Again, I think that Mark was
a little upset with it too. You you know, you
run it twice the exact same play right up the middle,
and that's the brunt of that Texas, that's their strength.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
Yeah, yeah, I get that. And again, I know we
were talking about it at lunch today part of the
press conference, and somebody said, well, why not just kick
the field goal and give your defense? Well, yeah, I
see that. But at the time I said to myself,
I like this when never going for it, because I thought, look, yeah,
you you have to steal this game from Texas, right,
(29:07):
I mean when you're when you're trying to pull it
up like that, you're trying to steal the game. And
I felt like that's what they were trying to do,
and I was I was in favor of that.
Speaker 4 (29:16):
Well, I think that you're going to hear seventy five
to eighty five percent of the coaches say at home,
you go for it. Yes, on the road, you kick
the field goal and you go you try, you hope
to play a second. You know that that's kind of
has always been the the what the car accent or
whatever the thing people talk about.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Yeah, so yeah, I get that. Let's talk a little
bit about Bush ham Dan because of course he's catching
a lot of criticism. Uh, and you know, Mark didn't
want a second guess. I mean mytho. Mark was pretty
frank with Tom to and I on his show and
with us today at his news conference. But I think
people need to remember that while they're busy criticizing bush
(29:56):
ham Dan to no end, they're heaping praise as well.
They should Uncutter Boldie, as did we everybody. I mean,
how can you not, Okay, who's the guy helping him
develop into a SEC quarterback? Him down?
Speaker 4 (30:11):
Yeah, you took you took the words right out of
my mouth. Who's the guy that has developed him? And
that's Bush. And who's the guy that ran the offense
for three hundred and ninety five yards? That's Bush hand On.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:23):
And again I'm sure he would love to have that
last play over again, the fourth down play and run
something different. But you know, all year long, their strength
has been basically the center and two guards, and I
think he trusted them. But you know, when I watched
that play several times, number two on the edge on
(30:46):
one side, I think it's four on the other side,
they were really crashing down hard if Balli's able to
pull that and you know, and and release a release
a guy, you know, a tight end or or trying
to get to the edge. Possibly, but again high sight's
really easy because now you're watching it going, oh, man,
if they would have only done this, you know.
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Yeah, and you know we saw this coming. This stretch
of the games we saw. We talked preseason, we talked
after the first game. You know, when Kentucky winsday, there's
tougher games coming up. But this is the teeth of
this schedule that we all saw coming, even though there
was a bye. Now another loss on the Mark Stoops
worksheet after a bye week with hello, they're playing Texas.
(31:29):
But I think going back to the Georgia game when
they really first employed the quicker drops, quicker passing game,
began to employ more receivers, and now, especially with a
Texas game, you can't argue with the fact that they
are getting better. That might not stave off the wolves
at the Mark Stoops store, right, But I firmly believe
they're getting better. And Stoops has said that all along.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
Yeah, yeah, And I'll tell you what, Dick, this is crazy.
What is going on? In the coaching breaks. Oh man,
we're gonna play a Florida team with a different coach,
and Jo Freeze is on one of the hottest seats
in America right right now. You know that's a team
that's he may not be there after this weekend games.
(32:11):
You just don't know with these with all these athletic
directors pulling the plugs on these guys. I mean there's
nine Division one FBS Power Conference guys out of jobs
right right now.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
That's right. And you know what's odd about Auburn. I
know we're getting ahead of our show. We'll talk about
Tennessee here in a minute, but Jeff hates Tennessee. When
you look at these teams that are firing their coaches,
it might not be a long term for the rest
of the season solution, but as often as not, or
more often than not, what does a team do. They
(32:46):
bounce back and they play hard because they feel bad,
they get their coach fired, like UAB got Trent dilf
for fired. And when they jumped up and beat Memphis,
which I think had only one loss at the time,
Let's say Kentucky goes down there, Memphis was under Okay,
that's right, Kentucky might go down to Auburn even a
(33:07):
few freezes there. That team is in disarray after he
threw his players under the bus, some of them and
one guy quit. They're they're they're an absolute disarray right now.
So this is a weird chapter in college football history,
isn't it?
Speaker 4 (33:21):
It really is, and and it's really going to be
interesting to see how this all falls, you know, falls
into place, the dominoes, if you will. Uh, somebody had
already said from from the Pennsylvania area that there was
a plane they were tracking to Florida, a private plane
that left Pennsylvania heading to Florida. You would assume much
(33:43):
James Franklin possibly talking to Alford or Strickland that Florida
and or Florida state. You know, it's there's just so
much conjuncture right now, he's going to go somewhere. But
the thing that just blows my mind, Dick, and we've
talked about this is the colleges have kind of done
this to themselves with these indorbous buyouts that they're they're
(34:07):
paying these coaches. It's absolutely staggering.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
I heard I want to say it's Peter Burns on
the SEC network this morning talking about exactly what you
just mentioned and the staggering amount of money. And by
the time the season is over, and however, many coaches
get fired with whatever buyouts they have. College of the
colleges that are paying buyouts, it could add up, jeff
to a quarter of a billion with a B dollars.
(34:34):
So don't don't pour them out anymore. Don't pour them out, right, Yeah?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
Yeah, Well, and here's the whole thing about this too.
A lot of this is coming from the fans, the money,
all this nil money that is pouring into these colleges. Yeah,
or the people that they turned to, the Joe Crafts
of the world to say, Joe, I need thirty five
million dollars to buy out. You know, is he supposed
(35:00):
she just hand it over and then next year give
you more money to pay the new guy that's coming in.
It's just it's just staggering to be the money. It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
People assume it works that way, but it doesn't. I mean,
you know, you always hear about that out of the
boosters will write the checks, but they don't. And now
the schools have to rob they have to rob the
east side of their campus to pay off the west
side of their campus. Let's get back to the actual
game zone. As I mentioned, Jeff, uh, he's like Jack Gibbons.
Jeff grumbles and grinds his teeth when you talk about Tennessee,
(35:31):
maybe even more than Jack, because Jack, you guys beat
Tennessee a couple times while you were playing twice, right, Yeah, yeah,
see Jack. Jack played against them more than you did,
so it might have lost more, but he probably won more. Anyway,
this is a Tennessee team that hasn't made a lot
of headlines in terms of challenging for a national title,
(35:52):
and yet Mark Stoops today was just talking about the fact,
and he talked about it on the show again tonight.
They may be better throwing the foot ball this year
then they've been in the past. And that's been a
real Achilley's heel for Kentucky.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
Boy, it really has. You know, when Nico left, I
can't ever say it's last them. What to Ucla? Yeah,
then UCLA's quarterback Joyaguilar, who's only been there one year,
he started at Appalachian State three years ago, said Okay, then
Tennessee you want me? And they said sure? And what
did they get? The guy that's leading the Southeastern Conference
(36:29):
with fourteen ninety eight I'm sorry, nineteen hundred and forty
eight yards and fifteen touchdowns already halfway through the year.
Two of his receivers are two of the top five.
You got one, that's what is it? I think number
two and number five receiver in the conference. They're running
back that they got. Remember they lost one of the
best running backs in the SEC, or the best running
(36:52):
back in the SEC last year the to the NFL.
So they bring in a guy I can't remember. I
think it's a guy I haven't done my chart yet,
but you know he's fourth in the conference in rushing.
This offense is it's so hard when you think of
Old Miss. It's all Miss on steroids. They staff the
ball faster than Ole Miss does and it's amazing to
(37:13):
make the plays they get off. It's just crazy.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
The Kentucky d line, though, has played well. Do you
think it's good enough to gum things up?
Speaker 4 (37:22):
Well? I think that they showed this week against a
really big, strong front how good they can be. Look
if they come out with the same vim and bigger
and aggressiveness and confidence that they did against Texas, they're
a hardbeat. They really are. I mean that that was amazing.
(37:44):
They got arch Manning to have happy feet back there.
They hit him repeatedly. He was missing throws, he was
throwing high, he was throwing low, he was throwing wide.
He was just trying to get the heck out of
there and not get his head taken off. So if
they can get that same type of pressure on Aguilar,
I don't see why not. You know, I hope they can.
(38:08):
But again, my hope is that they play the same
way they did last Saturday. This Saturday.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
He is jeffi Corral, the UK Network. We'll come back
and talk sports basketball with Jeff because he covered sports
as well for WTVQTV here in town back in a
minutes on the state wide BBI welcome back border and
border Pikeville to Paducah. It is a big boon sider
Tock Gabriel. If you're talking to Jeff of Corral, the
(38:35):
UK Sports Network, who also covers local sports, UK sports,
anything in general for WTVQ, including Kentucky basketball, Jeff, I
know you're at covering high school football on Friday night,
but you also know and you've seen the video of
the Blue White game and how much of a concern
do you think this injury is to Jalen Lowe and
the fact that this may be a Kentucky team starting
(38:57):
the season as it ended last year with the point
guard if he's in the lineup may not be one
hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (39:05):
Is that you know? That's crazy, Dick. I think back
through the years, I can never remember that type of
injury to any point guard that Kentucky's had in the past,
and it's happened back to back seasons. Mark at his
tip off lunching today down in Louisville talked about it
and then he was pretty upbeat about it. So you know,
(39:29):
they can't give us exactly what's wrong and what he
hurt and all that kind of stuff. But Mark seemed
seemed to be, you know, in a pretty good mood
when he was asked that question talking about Jalen.
Speaker 2 (39:40):
Gonna be hard to find Mark Pope when he's never
not in a good mood. But he does have a
really talented roster, though it's not deep at point guard,
not extraordinarily deep. But there are a lot of polls
out there that don't even have him in the top fifteen.
But some are calling Kentucky a Final four contender, and
I guess that's what we're used to hearing, right.
Speaker 4 (40:02):
Yeah, and that's what twenty two million dollars will get you,
if that's the number, that that is correct. But yeah,
they are so talented. But again, to me, it's the
tip of the sword, so to speak. The tip of
the spear is your point guard. And LaMonte Butler last
year was so so important to the way not just
(40:24):
the offense ran, but the defense too. And I think
Jalen is the same way. And if he has to
spend time on the bench, I mean, who who takes
over that position? You lose you You're gonna lose a
little bit on both ends of the floor without him.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
I'm curious about Jasper Johnson because he is one guy
I would rather see him than'll take away because Oway
is their best guy off the ball. But yeah, yeah,
well Johnson is just he's just got mad skills, doesn't he.
Speaker 4 (40:51):
Yeah, And he's just a kid, you know. But the
cool thing that he has going for him, and this
is the great thing with the high school prep basketball.
Now he's been playing over you know, overseas, He's played
for Team USA, so he's kind of used to. And
the other thing with him, he's kind of used to
all this fanfare around UK basketball because he's lived through it,
(41:14):
especially you know, with his dad and with himself being
such a great player, so it's second nature. And because
sometimes players can just you know, get crushed by the
pressure of playing with that Kentucky written on the chest.
Speaker 2 (41:29):
I've got about a minute lefter. So you were a
high school quarterback and you switched the receiver, I think
you said your second day at practice the UK as
a walk on. Jasper was a high school quarterback, and
a good one, not unlike Rajon Rondo. I don't know
who was better, but I know I talked to his
middle school coach a few months ago and he said,
he's the guy who convinced or helped convince Dennis Johnson. Hey,
(41:52):
this kid's a future NBA potential potential player. I mean,
it's this kid's a basketball player and Dennis you know
kind of and man Jasper said he had given up
playing quarterback. You can understand that, right.
Speaker 4 (42:04):
Yeah, you know, I like a player that plays different
sports in high school, you know, football and baseball, or
basketball and baseball, or basketball and football. I think guys
can can get worn out because there's the travel that
these kids do now. But you got a twelve year
old kid, he's going to play seventy to one hundred
(42:25):
games a year now. I mean we went through it
with Christy and her daughter, you know.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
Of all the games Ristie Thomas.
Speaker 4 (42:31):
Yeah, this is crazy. But yeah, and now daughter's going
to Liberty.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
Oh yeah, got a scholarship. Good for her, got a
full ride. Yeah, Jeff ro I appreciate it. We will
see you at practice and we'll see you at the
stadium on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (42:42):
Hi, Chief, see you all.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
Right, just a minute or two left. But of course
Bo Robinson is our in studio producer. He is also
very close to the Go Big Blues brothers who were
at the Blue White game and as I understand that
they were concerned. But yes, I saw one of the
posters they were holding up. Can you can you ate
me on that? Which one?
Speaker 5 (43:01):
They switched posters in and out? So was it the
Mark Pope for president?
Speaker 2 (43:05):
No, I've seen that one before.
Speaker 5 (43:07):
We're on a mission from Joe by Hall.
Speaker 2 (43:08):
No, Yeah, that's yeah.
Speaker 5 (43:09):
I love it a great tribute to their favorite Kentucky
basketball coach of all time. Joeby Hall and just how
great he was when the Blues Brothers first started showing
up at Roppe Arena. The signs change every game. I
have no clue what they're going to do for Friday Night.
Speaker 2 (43:24):
My favorite, though, is when Joe first met them and
said I want to Did he say I want a
blue jacket?
Speaker 5 (43:29):
I want a blue jacket? I want to be a
Blues brother And I heard the conversation, Coach, you are
the original go big Blues brother oh Man, and then
his son looked at the Blues Brothers and said, he
has enough blue jacket.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
But did he ever get the shades or the hat?
Speaker 5 (43:45):
No, we did not, and that should have been passed
along to him.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
I ran an audio clip on my local show here
in Lexington a couple of weeks ago. It came across
it must have been Instagram, but Bear Bryant was soliciting
help from fans to get himself a new hat. He
had a specific type of hound's tooth hat that he
liked to wear, and he I guess had worn out,
(44:11):
worn out all his hats or lost him. He needed
at least one or two new ones, but you couldn't
find him anymore. And the bear asked for help. I
got to assume he got some, So maybe the Blues
Brothers can help there.
Speaker 5 (44:24):
I'm sure they could have. So appreciate it, Dick, thank you,
thanks for.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
Jeff, thanks to Bow and to Cole. That's a good
night from Lexington.
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