2025-10-21 BBI

Why the list of coaching "candidates" is usually a sham; (15:00) UK volleyball looking at a brutal stretch of matches; (39:00) Kent Spencer of WHAS-TV on UK-Texas; (39:00) ex-Cat Van Hiles breaks down KY vs the 'Horns; (1:00:00) we talk about Jaland Lowe's injury and prospects on recovery; (1:07:00) it's the anniversary of one of the greatest home runs in World Series history and why the iconic video of it happened by accident...

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Big Blue and Sider Dick Gabriel with
you on a Tuesday edition of our program. It is
Tennessee Week, which used to be a bigger deal around
here before the Louisville game overtook Tennessee as the Kentucky rivalry.
But this is big obviously in the future of Mark
Stoops and his staff. You've got to wonder, you know
or are You got to think they're coaching for their jobs.

(00:23):
But would have went over Tennessee saved their jobs? You
wonder would have went over Texas have saved their jobs.
You hate to talk in terms like that, but that's
where we are right now with college coaches. We're going
to talk about that tonight coming up here on the
Big Blue Side, We're going to talk a lot of football.
Kent Spencer of WHS over in Louisville now the sports
director there. Prior he had been the sports director at

(00:44):
w TVQ and played college football at Morehead State and
has always liked to say he and Jeff Picorol are
the two guys on the beat that I know of.
Correct me out there if you're if I'm wrong, the
only two guys who know what it's like to get
hit in the mouth in a college football game. That's
why talking football with both of those guys. So we're
from kent coming up and also another guy who knows

(01:05):
what it's like to g hid in the mouth in
a pro game, Van Hiles. You hear him all the time.
Tom Leech has him on each week. I have him
on periodically. Everybody now likes to hear from Van Hiles.
And you can too his cut ups of UK football
video on Twitter or x if you will. We'll have
Van coming up in our Number two is he'll break
down the Texas game, which I know he liked because

(01:26):
of the way the defense played, but nobody liked the
way it ended on this end of the country, down
in the Southwest. Of course, they're relieved that they got
away with a win, but Kentucky this is just another
in a series through the years. Haven't had many of
these lately, bitterly disappointing games that got away, but this
one just the fact that Kentucky was in it as

(01:49):
well as it was I think speaks volumes to how
hard this team is playing and the game plan they
had both offensively and defensively. And Stoops talked about it
after the game. Jeff Picorro, Tom Leach and I talked
about it postgame. Punt returns killed him. Punt returns set
up points for Texas. Otherwise, the defense was tremendous, took

(02:12):
away the run game from Texas, and they had a
lot of running backs, but didn't block well enough for
these running backs, and Kentucky made them throw the ball
got a little lucky a few times. Texas had some
receivers who were open and arch Manning did not hit them.
That's the kid, of course, who was loaded down preseason

(02:34):
with all these expectations, and no matter what he said
or anybody else, he was going to win the heistan
he was going to be the number one draft pick.
Blah blah blah, media driven. I'll tell it now, not me.
I mean, I didn't cover the guys camps, but and
I didn't really pass it along either. Whatever I said
about him was delivered with skepticism because he, as he said,

(02:57):
hadn't done anything. He is just another good quarterback. But
he's not the best quarterback in college football. Maybe he
will be someday like his uncle Peyton, but he's not
right now, and Kentucky made him look ordinary and cutter
Bowley absolutely outplayed him. So we'll talk about that a
lot tonight with Kent and with Van Hiles, we'll talk

(03:19):
about the Blue White game. Nothing new on Jalen Low
except this, and I've seen reports quote unquote on this,
but I have heard from at least a couple of
sources that he has had a shoulder issue before he
damaged injured his shoulder maybe a month ago, six weeks ago.

(03:41):
So basically what happened in the Blue A game, if
not a repeat, was an aggravation, and he's day to day,
of course, but it may be as much as a
month before he's ready. I don't that's not official, but
having covered a lot of football players who have had
shoulder injuries, and again, every injury is different. Every sport,

(04:05):
of course, is different. But there's a lot going on
there and they've got to play it as conservatively as
they might because of course they need him for the
long run. But man, watching Twitter blow up after he
was injured, and everybody had the same thought. Here we
go again, and the question is who is the backup now?

(04:30):
And there are candidates. Who is the best candidate? I
don't know, as a jasper Johnson. It might be Mark
Pope will figure that out. But that's tough. That's just
a tough break for this Kentucky team that looked like
a team that has a lot of parts, a lot
of moving parts, moving well in the Blue Eye game,

(04:53):
but didn't look camera ready did it. But that's a
good thing in my opinion. I know you got Purduke
coming up. They may somehow beat Purdue in this exhibition
on Friday night. They may get waxed, but the best
thing is they'll have video what they like to call
still game film whatever to study and see where they are.

(05:15):
But because they look kind of ragged in the Blue
White game, that tells you again, and Pope has been
saying it from day one, how competitive they are, but
how hard they're playing on defense. Man, they were scratching
and clawing you. And I have seen Blue White games
where it was kind of fun and guys were getting
off and scoring twenty thirty, forty, even fifty points. Not

(05:37):
this one. No nobody was getting anything free or easy
in this game. But that's a good thing because that
means I think the defense is ahead of the offense.
And if they win anything this year, like any good
or great team is going to be with defense. So
we'll hear from the basketball cats as well. But I
do want to talk a little bit about the fact that,

(05:59):
you know, the speculation about Mark Stoops is ongoing. He
has talked about it as well, talked about it on
his radio show last night, mentioned it on Monday afternoon
at his news conference. The fact that somebody somewhere we
know he's talking about Mitch Barnard is going to be
in a position to where at the end of the season,

(06:22):
maybe even earlier, he has to make a decision. Barnard
usually waits till the end of the year and evaluates
every coach the same way, different sports, same methodology. Now,
he did inform Joker Phillips before the end of Jokers
last year that he would not be retained. But people
who are comparing the same period of Joker Phillips stay

(06:45):
a Kentucky as a head coach to the last four
seasons under Mark Stoops. Yeah, they are eerily similar in
terms of success or lack of same. But Joker Phillips
did not have the body of work as a head
coach that Mark Stoops has here at Kentucky. Joker Phillips
was not the winning as coach in UK football history.

(07:07):
He did not own multiple wins over Tennessee, over Florida,
over Louisville, multiple bowl trips, multiple bowl victories, et cetera,
et cetera. But in this day and age, especially now,
it's what have you done for me lately? So that's
why the speculation obviously is there now. That brings me
to one of my favorite topics to rail about, and
that is the speculation about coaching. And I'm quoting big

(07:31):
time here air quotes candidates, and I've talked about this before.
It drives me nuts because I have to end up.
I end up chasing my tail when if you're in
my line of work, you want to know what's going on.
If you're a fan, you want to know what's going on.
And yet you see these stories again, air quotes that
come to us now through social media about candidates for jobs,

(07:56):
and there are websites that claim that this guy is
a candidate. There's a website out there that has a
headline that states that Mark Stoops is a candidate for
the Virginia Tech job, when in fact it came up
on a message board. And this could be his agent

(08:17):
floating this and if so, good on him. But it
came up on a Virginia Tech message board. Then one
of these fan sites, a writer picked it up and said,
these are the names that are out there from no
one who has any inside knowledge. Presumably, as I've said
many times, there are candidates for jobs, and oftentimes some

(08:41):
of that has leaked. I will tell you this. When
Sam Newton was looking for a football coach, he told
me this. He told the candidates, if any of this
gets out, you're immediately off the list. And you better
believe they keep their mouths shut and tell their agents
and their lawyers and their family. Keep your mouth shut.

(09:02):
But it just drives you nuts when there are stories
about candidates for jobs out there, when in fact, all
it is is speculation from somebody who needs to fill
column inches, needs to fill space, needs to fill airtime.
So what do they do? And I'm not saying this
is wrong, I'm saying it's how it's perceived is wrong.

(09:24):
They speculate. Look, John Sumraw is a name that's gonna
come up because he played here and he's a head
coach and a successful one at the mid major level.
So if someday there is a coaching change tomorrow, months
from now, years from now, John Someral's name is gonna
come up. But that's what people do. That's what we
do when we speculate fans media. We try to make

(09:46):
a connection a link, and then there are others who
just say, hey, this guy's doing pretty well. How about
that guy, and then it grows legs on social media
and immediately he's a candidate. I'll give you a great example.
Robert Griffin, IID is now a media person and a
good one I think. And he was on the Dan

(10:08):
Patrick Show the other day and he talked about the
fact that, yeah, Florida needs a coach, and RG three
believes they should think seriously about hiring Tim Tebow.

Speaker 2 (10:23):
Of all people, I've said this for years now, I
think they should hire Tim Tebow. I think they should
hurt Tim Tbow. If Tim Tebow goes into any home
in Florida, you're telling me that those parents aren't saying yep,
sign me up, I'm coming. You got to put a
great staff around him, because.

Speaker 3 (10:39):
You can't hire somebody that you can't fire Robert.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
They can fire Tim t Bo.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yeah, I know, but that's you don't want to do that.
It's just like we've seen that, you know, Patrick Ewing
at Georgetown, Chris Mallan at Saint John's, Clyde Drexler at Houston.
To fire your guy.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Now, Dan, do any of those guys give speeches like
Tim Tebow? Do any of those guys motivate like Tim
Tbo motivates. I'm not saying Tebow would take the job.
I'm great friends with him. I don't think you take
the job. But if I'm Florida, I'm trying to do
that because you need that level of exposure.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Now you ask him about the Florida job I have,
I have, and what did he say?

Speaker 2 (11:17):
His response is, you know, he's not chasing that. He's
not that, he's not interested at all. He's just not
chasing that. And I understand it. You're the favorite son.
We saw that with Frost that dead Nebraska. You don't
want to have to fire your guy. But I'm just
talking about the overall thought process of teams in college
football today.

Speaker 4 (11:35):
He got to give these.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Young men a reason to want to go there because
they can go to seven different schools and still make
it to the NFL. Before it was you go Tobama,
You going to the league. You go to Georgia, you
go in to the league, and you're gonna win a
national championship. It's no longer that way.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Griffin made great points. He talked about says Tibo going
into living rooms. Yeah, everybody in the state of Florida
is going to listen. Even Florida State fans are going
to listen. And he would need to surround himself with
a great staff because head coaches are managers and now
they're general managers thanks to Nil and some even call plays.

(12:13):
Some don't, usually the more successful ones don't. But they
surround themselves with smart people. And Dan Patrick had the
great follow up, a question, have you asked him about it?
An interesting answer from Tebow to RG three. He's not
chasing it. That's the right way to play it. But
does that make him a candidate? Does that mean Scott Strickland,

(12:35):
former Kentucky assistant AD now the AD at Florida who
just fired Billy Napier. Does that mean that Scott Strickland
is considering even talking to Tim Tebow. No, because he
apparently has not told that to RG three, to Dan Patrick,
to anybody who is speaking about it publicly. So just

(12:56):
drives you nuts. At least it does me. All these
folks who claim to be in the know and so
and so as a candidate for a job. No they
are not unless whoever is reporting it air quotes got
it from someone directly attached to the ad or the

(13:19):
said coach. It's all speculation, and it again just drives
me nuts. I know it sounds like a small thing,
but it always has. And in fact, Mike Elco Texas
A and M coach after their win over the weekend,
he was asked about being a quote unquote candidate.

Speaker 5 (13:39):
Check this out, and then there's multiple national reports out
that you're a possible candidate for the Penn State job.
I'm just curious your thoughts on that, how you handle
your name being linked to that kind of job, and
if that's something you've been discussed with your players.

Speaker 6 (13:54):
I don't discuss it with my players. I think it's
absolutely hilarious. How you guys cover coaches think three weeks
ago I was getting fired, now I'm getting hired. Now
you don't want me to stay, but I'm leading like
It's just it's absolutely hilarious. It is a waste of
brain space to spend any time talking or thinking about
any of that stupidity.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
And look, Elko might be checking out other jobs. But
what the questioner was asking about the national reports and
air quotes. I promise you that was something on a
message board or a website that somebody else, maybe with
a national website, picked up and ran. And now that
makes it a national report, but it doesn't make it accurate.

(14:38):
So you got to take what Elko said to heart,
at least in part. And by the way, why would
you leave Texas A and M. It's a bottomless pit
of money in a state with the bottomless pit of
high school football talent. Or to come six thirty WLAP

(15:00):
Welcome back to the Big Bluonsider. Coming up in a
couple of minutes, Kent Spencer talks Kentucky football. Alur number two,
Van Hiles talks about the close shave with Texas. We'll
also hear from Mark Pope and the basketball Cats following
the Blue White scrimmage and what they've got coming up
this week with Purdue. And we'll hear from Pope later
in a week, of course, as he previews that exhibition game,

(15:22):
which he loves having is said it more than once
loves the Nocean wants to play even more games, so
we'll talk about that as well. It is game week,
Tennessee week. As we said, it's also game week for
the UK volleyball team, which got a huge win over Florida,
tougher than some might have expected. I have to be honest,
I didn't know that Texas, or rather Florida would take

(15:43):
Kentucky to five, but the Wildcats win in the fifth set.
They take Florida down three to two, remain undefeated in
the league. They do not play midweek, but they are
on the road this weekend against Mississippi State in Starkville.
That's a dangerous team Alabama, as I am stand that
not real great this year, but they've got Alabama on Sunday.

(16:04):
It's on the road, anything can happen. It's a tough
road stretch for the Wildcats because after this weekend they
come back the following Friday and play Vanderbilt, which is
interesting because Vandy hasn't had women's volleyball since the early eighties.
I think they resurrected the program and hired Craig Skinner's

(16:24):
top assistant, Anders Nelson, who was a great recruiter to
coach their team. They kind of took a page at
a Mitch Barnard's book. He likes to hire talented veteran
seconds in command, and that's what Vandy did. So they're
building a program, but this one's in electionon. Kentucky should
win it handily. But then two days later the Wildcats

(16:46):
go to Austin and take on those Texas Longhorns, and
if all goes as planned for both Kentucky and Texas,
those two teams will be undefeated at the top of
the SEC. Then after that, Kentucky goes to Missouri Dangerous,
then finishes up the regular season with three straight home

(17:07):
games Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Arkansas before heading to the SEC Tournament.
It's a great Texas team, it's a great Kentucky team.
That match might decide the SEC championship, whether or not
Kentucky wins it's ninth straight, but there are matches to
be played ahead of that. The Wildcats right now once

(17:27):
again celebrating awards. Cassie O'Brien Mally Tuzzo getting SEC weekly Awards.
Cassie O'Brien for the fourth week in a row and
fifth time this season getting an award from the SEC
SEC Freshman of the Week. Mall Tuzzo wins the SEC
Defensive Player of the Week, shares the award per the SEC.

(17:50):
That's what happens when you have great players. But the
Wildcats seven to zero league play. They're at the midway
point and again a lot of tough ones coming up.
But if you haven't seen them play yet, check them out.
They're a lot of fun. Getting back to college football
for a minute, Tennessee Alabama big game USC Notre Dame,

(18:13):
they say may not keep happening because people wonder is
it's still a big game. Well, the answer per TV
ratings is yeah, thirty seven point nine percent on the
national rating scale on NBC for Notre Dame sc UT
Alabama thirty seven percent. So essentially the same Southern coln

(18:34):
Notre Dame then needs to keep happening. It says here
that to me is a tradition. I know Notre Dame
is not a conference team, it's an independent situation, but
that needs to keep happening if you ask me up next,
Ken Spencer here on six thirty WLAP welcome back to
the Big Blue Insider. Joining us now in our celebrity

(18:56):
hotline is a longtime friend and of course a friend
of the show or WTVQ sports director Kent Spencer now
has the same position at w HS in Louisville, so
covers both the Cats and the Cards. And we looked
up Kent and we were standing next to each other
in the closing minutes of the Texas Kentucky game, just

(19:16):
as we were for the LSU Kentucky upset back in seven.
I really thought, man, we might share that moment again,
did you well?

Speaker 7 (19:24):
And especially when Kendrick Lawl took the down of the
three yard line, I thought, when that happened, there was
so much use in the place and the momentum I was.
I was almost like it was almost not if they
were gonna score a touchdown there and take a nice lead,
but it was almost like when and it just it

(19:47):
just didn't happen, and the short yardage bugaboo bit them again.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
Yeah, and then you know, as I've said more than
once fans and coaches Mark Stroops, She'll be you know,
I don't know the he's second guess in himself, but
kicking himself for an opportunity missed. And we can debate
that all night. How surprised were you. I got to
think you were pretty surprised that they twice went into
the teeth of that Texas D line on third and
fourth downs.

Speaker 7 (20:14):
Well, I asked us handled about it after the game,
because I don't know, if you know, it was more
maybe my gut than anything, but everything that told me
that any successful run that they had in that game
was was either inside just inside the tackle, or off tackle,

(20:35):
and that's where they were able to gain some yards.
They didn't they there was no sledding up the middle
against that detail. Oh and I'm talking for four quarters,
you know, like it just wasn't happening. Anything that went
up the middle, and we're talking, I mean we're talking
first and ten only went for like maybe a yard

(20:58):
or shuit, right, And so like now you're talking about,
oh heay, go up against that defense. Your offensive line
still looks the exact same, but they've added more big
bodies in there because they know that they know where
you're trying to do. I asked Bushamond if he thought
about maybe attacking the perimeter in some of those situations.

(21:23):
He said, yes, But then you know they did what
they did. And you know, let me say this, if
I notice that how is somebody being paid a lot
of money not notice?

Speaker 1 (21:36):
True? True, And you did play college football, but it
was pretty evident to those of us who did not.
And yet you know, it's almost like they were leaning
on and this happened so often in football, maybe more
than any other sport. And you can speak to that
the old football axiom where if you need a yard,
you ought to be able to get it, and I'm

(21:56):
paraphrasing you ought to be able to at least open
up a hole enough. And they were close, I get
that on one of those downs. But yeah, and they
did take a couple of other shots first and second down.
But oh man, it's tough to swallow, isn't it.

Speaker 8 (22:10):
No.

Speaker 7 (22:10):
I mean, it's you know, I'm sure it's one of
those games that there there was probably a lot of
sleep that was lost over the last couple of days.

Speaker 8 (22:20):
You know.

Speaker 7 (22:20):
It's like you will always if you're on that staff
and you're on that roster, and honestly, if you were
in the if you were in the stamps that night,
like you're gonna always look at that game as man,
that is a game that truly got away.

Speaker 1 (22:35):
Yeah, and a terrible time for this coaching staff.

Speaker 7 (22:38):
And and and when you really need one, like you
really needed that because like I don't, I don't think
Texas is a is a great team, but they were
just coming off of their Red Red River rivalry win
against Oklahoma and they kind of blew Oklahoma out in
that regard. There, it's had it's a name brand in

(23:00):
your house, yes, and if you you know, that can
go a long way and it and it's just a
like you said, it's it's another opportunity loss.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
And it would have been even better than the upset
win over Alabama back in the Mummy era, because that
was not a great Alabama team. But like you said,
you know, it's it's a win over the brand. It's
like it's like whenever a team beats a Kentucky basketball team,
it's down. And I go back to that one losing
season Caliparia and when everybody was beating Kentucky, they celebrated

(23:31):
like they won the national championship, you know, but it
wasn't well classic Kentucky.

Speaker 7 (23:36):
There is a specific moment that has happened in the
history of Kentucky football that involves you and myself. It's
not the LSU gate. It's when Kentucky beat a down
South Carolina team, an unranked South Carolina team. It's fer
was the coach they rushed the field. Yes, I looked
at you and I said, I can't believe they are

(23:57):
rushing the field off of an unraked out Carolina teat like,
I was like, what are you doing? I mean, and
you said to me it's Burrier. Yeah, I remember, and
at that point, like I got it. You know what
I mean. But this thing still holds true and some
some wins, whether it's if you win, if you win

(24:18):
over a brand, if you went over a specific coach,
it's just it carries more weight.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
You're exactly right talking again. Spencer W. H as sports
director over in Louisville covered UK Texas. You know, the
saddest thing of all, well, there's a lot of sad things,
but one of the saddest things is lost in all
the discussion about how they lost, why they lost, is
the fact they played so well on two out of

(24:43):
three elements. You know, you got to look at the
punt returns. Those cost them the game. But offense, they
were efficient and effective until they got close to the
to the goal line. Of course, defense was terrific. And
I'm with you, Texas is good, not great. And we'll
talk about arch Manning in a minute, but talk to
me Kent about what Kentucky has done against Georgia and

(25:04):
against Texas in the short passing game, spreading the ball
around and and moving the ball down the field, moving
the chains.

Speaker 7 (25:13):
Well, yeah, and and honestly it speaks to the to
the growth of cutter bowling and how far I think
he has grown in a short amount of time under
the fire. He has done a nice job reading, reading
the defense, taking what the defense gives him. And still
I mean it's not just it's not like it's just checkdowns,

(25:37):
like there are some intermediate routes that he's been able
to complete and some things down the field to tight end.
I thought he had a really nice ball I want
to say it was to the end of the first
half the Jamoria Macklin and I thought that was a
that was a really nice ball that, as you know,
led to a field goal attempt. But they don't make it,

(25:57):
but it leads to the field goal attempt. Those are
the kind of plays that that you have to make
and not just I thought early on, because they wanted
the threat of the downfield pass so much. I thought
he was he was forcing some of those passes when
when you didn't really need to force them at times.
I don't think you saw that against Texas. Yeah, but

(26:18):
he took a couple of shots. I mean, you've got
to Texas did a good job of really not letting
them take the top off of anything, and say, if
you're going to drive down the field, you're gonna have
to be patient. And I thought Bowldi for the most part,
was patient. If you think about it, Nick, it was
the run game that let him down. And obviously they

(26:38):
got they got they got to him a couple of
times in the in the backfield, and and look, I think, Bollie,
there's some of those sacks he could have done it.
You know, you're just gonna take sacks, right, But I
think some of those moments, I think he is still
learning on you know, when to throw the ball away,
when to live to play another day, this is this
you know what what to do. Even his interception, I mean,

(26:58):
he admitted it wasn't a bad read. He just didn't
get enough ball. He was trying to throw it out
of a bounce exactly.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
You're right, yeah. And then I know you know this,
but Jeff Picorrel pointed out to our listeners the Texas
plays two deep safeties routinely, meaning you ain't gonna beat
us deep. It's it's exactly what a lot of teams
did when Tim Katz was here. You're not gonna beat
us deep. You're gonna have to make it. Throw a
lot of passes, make a lot of plays, and somewhere
along the line, you're gonna make a mistake. We're gonna

(27:28):
capitalize on that. But Kentucky didn't make many mistakes on offense.
I did question a couple of plays within the body
of the game kent on third down when all they
needed to do was go short, move the chains, and
he went a little deep. But you know, they took
some shots. But yeah, I think Cutter Bowley has has
grown enormously over the last month or so. And then defensively,

(27:49):
I thought Brad White called a terrific game. And again,
arch Manning's good. He's not a Heisman Trophy winner, shouldn't
even be a candidate right now right now. He may
be in the next year or two. But I thought
Kentucky's defensive game plan was terrific. What did you see.

Speaker 7 (28:04):
Well in regards to arts, that's that's the first full
game that I've ever seen him play.

Speaker 8 (28:11):
So if I was.

Speaker 7 (28:13):
His night on Saturday Night, I would say he was poor.
And I think overall, I think you saw you saw
tools that can make him really good. Like I think
he's athletic enough. I think he's athletic enough. He can
scramble enough. I think at times you know he can

(28:36):
pull it and put it on target.

Speaker 1 (28:38):
He was.

Speaker 7 (28:40):
He was so off target so many times on throws
that need to be you know, like a pitch and catch.
That's why he had a poor knight. Yeah, And so
I think Kentucky's defense I think I think Holden Texas's
offense was a combination of I think to Kentucky's defense
was good. But I also think Archman he was really,

(29:01):
really poor.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, he missed some wide open throws, didn't he.

Speaker 7 (29:05):
I mean there was I'll be honest with you, he
missed a tight end that was wide open and there
was nobody within twenty yards of him. And I'll be
honest with you. When I was sitting at the booth,
I literally said, before the snap, the tight end is
going to be wide open here. They they're not. They're
not checking the tight end. He goes down, hooks around
a little like twenty yards down the field, and I

(29:26):
mean there's nobody near him and he and he misses
the throw and I'm like, you know, that's that's I
I say this at times. That's a ten out of
ten throw. You got to complete that ball ten out
ten out of ten times.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
Yeah, we talked about that on the show last night.
It was just a Kentucky mistake, wasn't it.

Speaker 8 (29:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (29:45):
I mean it was just they they you know, it
was a it was a coverage bus, but you can
see and honestly, and it wasn't really even a coverage
bus like after the snap. It was already before the snap,
like they just they were not lined up properly. And
i mean, I'm sitting there going they don't have anybody
to check.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
The tight end with shades at at old miscar that
was it ole, mister Florida. But they twice left the
receivers uncovered. But they survived it. They got away with it,
only to have their hearts broken. We'll talk more football
with Ken Spencer on the other side of the break
here on six point thirty WLAP Welcome back. We are
talking with Ken Spencer is the sports director whas over
in Louisville, formerly sports director WTVQ here in Lexington and

(30:27):
as such kent You have seen coaches come and go
here to Kentucky. Not lately, of course, because Mark Stoops
has been here for so long. But this is a
story nobody likes to cover when a coach is struggling
to hang on to his job. And Stoops has made
reference his last couple of appearances with the media about
forcing people to make decisions. That's where we are right

(30:48):
now in college football. And it's kind of nuts how
it's happening mid season in a lot of places we
haven't seen I don't know if we've ever seen it
like this, have we?

Speaker 8 (30:57):
No?

Speaker 7 (30:57):
I mean, I think you know, honestly, because when you're
paying players the way that you're paying them now, and
when the money that's flowing in the college athletics right
now that continues to flow in, like the pressure has
never been as great as it is now, And you know,
to be honest with you, like I know this for

(31:18):
a fact, like Mark stop nupe before the season, Like, look,
there's a lot of noise, there's a lot of unrest
in the fan base. The only way to you know,
cool that down is you got to win, like he
you know, like I bet when you talk, when you
ask him, like he just he knows like you either
win or you don't. And if you don't win, then

(31:40):
you're gonna get fired. I mean that, you know, And
I'm not just talking about him specifically, I'm just talking
about overall, Like he knows the only way to comb
all this down is.

Speaker 8 (31:48):
To win games.

Speaker 7 (31:50):
And you know, they're just they're not able to win
games right now.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, I don't know that Stoops has ever been fired.
I know his brother, his younger brother was fired, but
Stoops had left his staff out of Arizona before that
staff got blown out. But he's you know, Mark Stewarts
has been around the block. You look at his resume.
He has coached and worked at a lot of high
profile places. So you know, it's not like he doesn't

(32:14):
know what's going on, like you said, But you talk
about a challenge going into this year, he absolutely had
to have a productive season, and yet this is one
of the toughest schedules that they've ever played, and they're
in the teeth of it right now, and they put
Texas behind him all that bitterness, and now they got
to play a Tennessee team that I think kent is

(32:35):
a tougher matchup than Texas. So it's it's just a
rough stretch right now for.

Speaker 7 (32:41):
Kentucky, a tougher matchup than Texas. And they're mad. Yep,
Tennessee's mad, you know what I mean. They're coming off
you know, like they you know, they they feel like
they're back are against the wall. Yeah, and so like
they want this game as bad as Kentucky does. And

(33:05):
and you know, like obviously you should want every game,
but like you know, look when your backs are against
the wall a little bit and and you've lost the games,
like come on now, you know, like you dig in
a little deeper. It's just, you know, it's just human nature.
And so that's that's one of those things that make
this so difficult. And I think it's it would be

(33:30):
I'm thinking about a nice kind way to say this.
Brad White and Mark scoops have had trouble figuring out
Josh Typel's offense.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
You're bad matchup.

Speaker 7 (33:40):
You're right, it's a bad matchup and for whatever reason,
they've had trouble with this offense, and they Tennessee goes
up and down the field on Kentucky like they are
an absolute race car.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
That's right. The best the best game they had against
them was a track meet when they had Will Levis,
you know, and and weapons, and they were able to
almost match them stride for stride. Now they have beaten Tennessee, uh,
you know, beat beat a weak tennis in that week,
but a team that not as good as this one
down in Knoxville a couple of times. But yeah, of late, No,

(34:13):
it's not been It's not been easy, has it.

Speaker 7 (34:16):
But that wasn't the hypel tennis, That's right. You know,
it's a that's a that's a different that's a different
beast to match up with with with how he how
he's able to spread you out and do the things
that they do, and you know he takes he takes
care of you know, he he really picks out matchups.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
Ken Why do no more? I watched them do that,
and I guess it's a it's a matter, like we said,
of matchups. But I see teams like Tennessee and Old
Miss just spraying it around quick stuff. I'm wondering why
more teams don't do that, you know what.

Speaker 7 (34:53):
It's it's honestly, I was thinking about this the other day,
and honestly, a couple of weeks ago, like I watched
one of the drives that he called against Georgia and
obviously Tennessee, Tennessee loses that game, and I got to thinking,
and I spent way too much time on it. I
was thinking about, like what makes him such a good

(35:13):
play caller and what makes him you know, so good
you know, if you think about it, when he was
the quarterback at Oklahoma, like it felt like when you
watched him play quarterbacks, Yeah, yeah, he didn't have a
great arm right at all, But the way that that offense,
that the way that that offense worked, he was so like,

(35:35):
when you don't have a great arm, you've got to
be elite at reading defenses and seeing matchups and knowing
exactly where to go with the ball. Like, I just
think that that makes him such a better play caller
than like somebody who has like the golden arms. Yeah,
and you you have to be you have to be

(35:56):
a thinker and you have to think it, you know,
think this thing out. And that's why honestly, like, I
think that he's been so good at all of that.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
Maybe because somebody who had a golden arm in the
back of his mind is winning doubt. Just chuck it deep,
we'll complete it. Whereas if you don't have the golden arm,
you're thinking, man, I got to make this work.

Speaker 7 (36:15):
Well and and and it's not even about chucking it deep.
It's about like the golden arm can fitted the windows,
you're not supposed to be.

Speaker 8 (36:21):
Able to fit it.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
That's a great point.

Speaker 7 (36:24):
But the guy without the arm has to be able
to anticipate and see it clear.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
Yeah, Hendon Hooker was such a great fit for that offense.
And this is not a knock on him because it's
hard to make the league. But he just got cut
pre season h in the NFL, you know, I mean
he had he had a great college career, first in
Virginia Tech then Tennessee, but having a hard time finding
a job in the NFL. I just got a couple
of minutes left with Ken Spencer from whas big win

(36:52):
for the Louisville Cardinals on Friday. I guess you didn't
get a chance to go to Miami, unfortunately. But Brom's
got him rolling the litt looks like.

Speaker 7 (37:01):
Well, And it's so funny how how quickly one week,
like how you look at a team and the projection
completely changes. You know, they lose, they lose to Virginia,
they go into a bye week, because like if you
would have asked me before the season, I would have
thought they would have been undefeated going into Virginia. Pittsburgh

(37:25):
was going to be a toss up for me, right,
But I still thought they were going to be undefeated
going into Miami, and they would lose the Miami game, right,
And I think people would would have taken that. Now
you look at them, your one losses against Virginia, who,
if I'm not mistaken, is still ranked. I don't even
think Virginia is that good. But the more they just

(37:47):
keep winning and have a number next to their name,
the better that loss looks. And then now your win
is against the second ranked team of the country on
the road, so the perception is completely changed. And when
it looked bleak after the Virginia lost and they really
honestly like they weren't playing that well, and then all
of a sudden, now you look at it and everything

(38:09):
that you would ever want is completely in front of you.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yeah, that's the nature of college football, pro football as well.
But it just seems like in college football because fans
go crazy. You know, you're only as good as your
last game, you know, for better or worse.

Speaker 7 (38:24):
And we'll think about this, like how things change a
month ago. James Franklin was a darling at Penn State.
They were highly ranked, and now he's looking for a job.

Speaker 1 (38:38):
Yeah, unbelievable. Well, that's the world in which we live.
You lived it as a player and now a journalist,
and I do appreciate the time. It's always a pleasure,
my friend. And we'll bump into each other again soon
on the sideline, I hope.

Speaker 7 (38:51):
Yeah, absolutely, see you, buddy.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
And up next hour number two, we will talk more
Kentucky football with Van Hiles, will break things down Kentucky Texas.
Just look ahead to tennessee more. Come on six thirty
w A D L A P. Welcome back. Joining us

(40:58):
now on the Celebrity Highline is a long time favorite
of ours here on the Big Blue Sider. Mister Van House,
former Kentucky defensive back, co host of the Locker four
to one one, host of Driving with Styles and uh
not just a former Wildcat, but a former Chicago Bear
and a guy who has been cutting up Kentucky and
Texas and Van that's a heartbreaker. What's it like for

(41:20):
a former player, especially a guy who does deep dives.
It's tough on the fans. What's it like for you?

Speaker 8 (41:27):
Oh? Man, it's it's tougher because when you really look
at play in and play out, you look at situations
that are not deemed as important plays but are very
important that could have eliminated certain plays that fans are
really upset about right now. And those are the little

(41:47):
intricacies that that will make me stay up late because
even though fans will say, or anyone would say, man,
that game was close, we could have had it. You
look at every place, like we play all most was
a person game and we had every break and go
all way, and he still couldn't win a game.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Yeah, all they needed was one at the right spot,
one turnover, you know, turn them over and maybe maybe maybe,
But anyhow, it's x's and O's and Jimmy's and Joe's.
Let us start, I think with Jimmy's and Joe's, man,
because we can talk about play calling forever, literally, but
I felt like it was something that Mark's tubes had

(42:28):
mentioned so many times before and after games. Execution. They're
got to call the right player's got to put him
in the right spots. Obviously, but execution had been lacking
in so many places going into this game. As you said,
they were almost flawless if you throw out the punting game,
the punt return game. I was so impressed. What did you.

Speaker 8 (42:50):
Think, Yeah, honestly, no one. I mean we all every
player shoot focus, shoots for perfection, every coach shoots focused perfection.
You're not going to get there. But they were really
really close. You only have offensively one play where the
interception where colored through a ball he shouldn't have thrown.

(43:11):
Other than that, he played for a red shirt freshman
and it's like fifth sixth start. That was a great
demonstration of what he can be of becoming a future
And I said, going through the week is and it's
unfortunate that you have to do this, but nowadays offense
is all on quarterback shoulders, and he took all of

(43:34):
that and played his best game ever. Same thing. Defensively,
we knew that when you watch Texas, you know that
offensive line isn't great. You know that they're putting a
lot of pressure on arch Manning too. They have no
running game and we made them one dimensional and they
had to pay for it. If wasn't for these special teams,

(43:56):
this defense probably gives up three points most. You're right
because their s field position was outrageous for the game.
So if if that's the case, these guys played on
this game their best game since probably Old Miss last year.

Speaker 1 (44:14):
I agree, And to your point, and everybody's seen the numbers,
who cares to see them? Texas ran for a net
rushing total of forty seven yards. Now in college football,
you got to add in the sacks, which is silly
to me, but net yards forty seven to one thirty
seven for the Wildcats. Texas ran at twenty eight times

(44:35):
Kentucky forty six times. Kentucky had eighty one plays, twenty
six first downs to eight for Texas. Look at the
stat sheet and I knowing the score, you wonder, well,
how much did Kentucky win by? That's what makes it crazy.

Speaker 8 (44:47):
Right, you know? I would say this, even with the sacks,
they have a stack that says as a sack adjustice
of rushing ut it was still under eighty yards if
you take off the sacks, they still have under eighty
yards Russians. You can hold any football team, even a

(45:07):
high school team, under one hundred yards rushing. You should
win ninety games when their passing yards is under one fifty. Now,
some teams pass a lot, so they might not have
a lot of rushing yard, but when you hold an
offense to under two hundy yards cod offense under one
hundred yards rushing, you should win ninety pas.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
Seventy five rushing yards gross that yards passing one thirty
two Just crazy, that's crazy, Yeah, it really is. Uh
and Cutter Bowlie, I've played the Heisman candidate air quotes
and he's not anymore. Archs He'll be a nice quarterback,
but not right now. But you know it's interesting to
me over the weekend, Van and you can tell me
if you think this is crazy or not. But I

(45:49):
heard one of the talking heads say in the SEC
anymore to be successful, you have to have a mobile quarterback.
And I believe what he was talking about. Was it
Leonora Sellers or Diego Pavia who were threats to bust
it at any time? And look, Kentucky had that, and
Terry Wilson and you may be one of the twiler guys,

(46:10):
but that's not cutter bully. But I think what we
saw was he is now capable of helping himself with
his feet more than maybe we thought he was going
in because he said before the season again, I am
not a running court he said his last year. I'm
not a quarter court running quarterback. But he certainly runs
it well enough now. But what do you think of

(46:31):
that assessment that you have to have someone in the
mold of a Leonora Sellers or a Pavia or somebody
like that.

Speaker 8 (46:38):
Okay, you don't have to have a guy who's exactly
like those guys, but you need a guy who is
who is able to extend place when needed. That's right,
because in this game there are too many opportunities. Look,
the game has become complicated in the way it used
to be very simple. And it's still simple, but it's

(47:00):
more complicated than it was when I played. And there
are a lot of defensive coverages that can fool quarterbacks.
There's a lot of teams that play a lot of
mando man. And if a quarterback sees man the man,
and he sees a sliver of daylight, he should go forward.
Because everybody's back is to him. So those are the
situations like his scoring fresh down run is everybody backs

(47:24):
to him and there's a lane, and you take that
if you can, if you either. I mean, look, Joe
Flacco did it last Sunday, and we know Joe Flacco
came out run my four year old nephew, but he
made he ran for that was a big play for Cincinnati.
So that's just the threat of a quarterback running really

(47:47):
affects a defense. And you don't have to run a
foward to a four to three like the Diego or Leonoris,
who are proven runners. You don't have to be that
kind of guy. You just got to be that threat.
And he showed, he showed last year it's the Michigan
that he can run the ball, and he needs to
take advantage of that more when he has pressure on it.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
Yeah, and it was after that game where he said,
I'm not a running you know, one of those runs,
he said, that's the longest I've ever run in my life.
Why this share look pretty good on that quarterback? I
run the scramble for the touchdown?

Speaker 8 (48:20):
Didn't he every? I won't say every because I don't
know all, but the runs. I remember, he shows he's
athletic enough to extend plays. I mean on the first
drive when he slid, that was athletic. I'm not asking
him to be a zone read quarterback, but I would
say this, and I truly believe this is even on

(48:41):
the zone read, he has to take it and pull
it a few times to give the defense, to give
that guy who's reading it it's a runner or he's
taking it a true read. That he's got to be
a little bit patient and not dive on the runner back.
If he takes it, Look if he runs five or six,
I think that's all he needs to do.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
Well, let's get to play calling. In fact, I'll tell
you what. Let's take a break and then we will
talk about that. On the other side, we're talking to
Van Hiles. He is, of course the former Kentucky defensive
back and now you can see his cutups on Twitter.
He is a co host to the Locker four one one,
the host of Driving with Styles, and a grill master.
We will talk about that. I'm leaving time to talk
about the grilling, but because this is a good time

(49:24):
of year for that. Here on the Big Blue Siders
six thirty WLAP Welcome back. We're chatting with Van Hiles,
the former Kentucky defensive back, a guy who shares his
knowledge and teaches us about football on social media with
his cutups and of course on the locker four one
one driving with styles and you hear him on Sunday
Morning Sports Talk with Anthony White in a cast of hundreds.

(49:45):
But Van, again, you can second guess play calling all
for the rest of our lives on this game. But
Kentucky had trouble all night running between the guards at
the very most, between the ten at the very least.
But they you know, the popular football action is one yard.

(50:07):
You ought to be able to get one yard, you know,
slamming it up there in the middle, but it just
didn't work. What were your thoughts when you saw this?

Speaker 8 (50:15):
Yeah, I'm you are playing the top fourward, top five
rush defense in the country. Their defense is amazing, the
front seven and you. I mean, if you watched the game,
I think we had one hundred and some yards rushing too.
It's not like we had two hundred yards rushing. Running

(50:36):
against them were was almost impossible. And for me, I
think in those situations it shouldn't even come to that
I think on both drives we should have kicked field goals.
And the crazy part about it is, Coach Smith used
to tell us and Day, it's the play before the play.
There were two plays before those instances that would have minimize,

(51:00):
totally negated that option. If cut a Bowlie wasn't a slid,
we get the first down on the first drive, Cuttle Bully.
If Cuttle Bully continues to press the outside on second
down and goal, he probably scores. And we're not even
talking about these two plays. Those two plays shouldn't even
happen because of that, and Coach Stoop shouldnt allow those

(51:22):
plays to happen because he could because he should have
kicked the field goal.

Speaker 1 (51:26):
You know, I wish you'd kick the field go the
first time, but I know that the theory is you
need sevens not threes. But the first time was the
first drive of the game. Honestly, standing there at the
goal line and I was swept up in it all,
but I remember thinking, I'm good with this right because
to me, you got to steal this game from Texas,

(51:47):
and I really believe that how well the defense was playing,
kick a field goal there you give Texas the opportunity
to be as well as your defense was playing. Texas
still has a chance to beat you if you know,
they could have been you to two point conversion if
you scored a touchdown. But I like the idea of
trying to steal the game. Does that make sense?

Speaker 8 (52:07):
It does? But see for me, is the the such
situation in the play it takes how you call that situation.
Their office, as we just discussed, had under twenty yards
on this defense. They did not. And when Texas wins
the talls, they want to go second to see what

(52:28):
they have to do to win the game. Sure, so
the great thing about is when you go when you
kick a field goal, and I would say this, I
feel like nine nine nine percent time that they were
going to kick a field goal, But that means you
go to the second over time. No, what happened in the
second overtime, Now you go second. Now in that situation,
I would have no problem for a we don't want

(52:49):
to go into this two point baniansa where they put
the ball in a two yard line. You only get
one play in that situation after the first in the
second overtime. Then I would not have had an issue
going for it. Because you know what happens if you
score a touchdown. The fans rush the field and there's
no let me see what the other team does because
you just won the game on that play. I don't

(53:11):
think you do it when you're the first team three
to go for in overtime.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
That's a great point. I hadn't even thought about that.
That's why you're the expert, and I'm sitting here in
my garage. Again, we talked earlier about Jimmy's and Joe's
and you're a defensive guy. You had to love the execution,
the pass rush you said, you said correctly. They made
Texas one dimensional. And this is a Kentucky team that

(53:36):
lost a starting defensive back. They had schemed all week
to have their starter back in and then they had
to adjust at kickoff time, Van and they still got
it done for the most part.

Speaker 8 (53:49):
Yeah, that was I would say this too, and I
am extremely hard on the defensive back. That's the position
that play. That front four has played remarkable all seasons
that there is nothing you can say about that front
four weekend week out. They'll think consistent. Now the other

(54:11):
seven have not, And if I'm being honest, they really
saved us because in Arch many say us on a
couple of times they had guys running open to you
fortunate and that's why I said that we had every
everything was going our way and we still lost the game.

(54:32):
They had guys running open and they could not hit
him even when he was not rushed. So h the
front four is remarkable for us. They have they have done.
I can't say anything negative about them, and they're not
taking plays off. They're running to the ball. Now, the

(54:52):
back four, I can say some things that they need
to to get better at every week, and if they
get better, it is a great thing about football. Each
week is a different weekness, right. If the back seven
can match the front four this defense in these last
six games, it'll be the best defense we have had

(55:13):
since twenty eighteen.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
Well, you've been making the media rounds as you always
do your own, mister Leach, as you are every Monday,
and we like to catch up with you every now
and then because we don't like to work you to death,
but we love talking football with you. And now you
got those Tennessee valls coming up. And I was talking
with Ken Spencer earlier in the show tonight. I think
that's a tougher match up in Texas just because they've
always had trouble because of that up tempo and Tennessee

(55:38):
is throwing the ball better now than when I thought
they had maybe even a better quarterback in Hnton Hooker.
But how do you stop or least slow this Tennessee offense?
This attack?

Speaker 8 (55:50):
You slow down Tennessee with a great offense because that
defense this year is not as good as they have been.
That's one thing that that is underrated during the hypel era,
at least the last two years I know, is that
defense has been very, very good and this defense this

(56:11):
year is not as good as as it's been. And
if this offense can be progressing from last week, they
have a chance to keep that offense off the field
and keep that defense on the field, because there's the
thing all of Texas one or two possessions for all
defense to stop them. And at the rate that they're playing,

(56:34):
it can be another game where we have eighty plays
and they have fifty plays and at the fourth quarter,
if you look at that last fifty second drive, Texas
was tied. Their defense was tired, and we can have
the same thing happened this week but the offense has
to help the defense out this week with milking that cloud,

(56:54):
taking the air out the ball as much as possible.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
All right, before I ask you about grilling real quick,
retweeted Richard Sherman. I really like a lot. I like
his work. Don't always agree with him, but I really
like his work. And he tweeted about how people think
zone defense is easier than man or at least in
the NFL. Guys, I'm courting out getting killed because in
it because of bad eyes, lack of spatial awareness, and

(57:17):
mental lapses. This is in the NFL. M do kids
do you think van in zone defenses? At least in
the college game? Do they get a little complacent maybe
in zone as opposed to man to man.

Speaker 8 (57:33):
Look, no, it's this is playing zone is a thinking
man's games. When you play man the man. The reason
why it's so easy it's easy mentally. It's not easy
as far as physically because you got to run, you
got to chase the guy all over the field. But
it's easy mentally because I got that dude in front

(57:55):
of him, right. We call it dune defense. I got
that dude, You got that dude. It's easy when you
play zone. You have to understand route combinations. You have
to understand how offenses are going to try to bait
you with putting a guy right in front of you,
so you're going to attack him and send a guy
right behind you, and they're gonna try to throw the
deeper route, so instead of completing the five yard route,

(58:17):
they're gonna entice you with the five yard hitch, but
they're gonna throw a dig route fifteen yards behind you,
and if you come up, they're gonna take the fifteen
yard route. Those are the things that are the ability
to route recognize, spatial awareness is humongous. There's too many
times where we have two guys and close proximity of
each other and it makes a window bigger. Those are

(58:40):
the things that make zone defense harder if the guys
not execute them. However, if they do execute, it makes
a quarterback have to hold the ball a little longer
because guys have to find green grass, and if everybody's
distributed fairly, it's hard to find that green grass well.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
And I think getting back to the Kentucky Tech game,
I think they rattled arch Manning when they made Texas
one dimensional, and that's I think one of the reasons
he misfired on some of those passes. All right, we
just got a couple of minutes left, but I did
want to save time. This is a great time of
year for grilling, isn't it. I mean, well, it's always
a good time for grilling.

Speaker 8 (59:17):
But because good for me?

Speaker 1 (59:18):
Well yeah, because you're in Louisiana. But give me some recommendations,
if you will, for folks up here that may want
to mix up and shake up their grill game. Now
it's the fall, it's a little bit cooler up here,
the weather, and uh, you know, it's the kind of
thing maybe you can experiment a little bit, or if not,
with dishes, with the way you cook them. What are

(59:39):
some creative things people might want to try.

Speaker 8 (59:43):
I would say this when I was in Chicago and
I grilled all year round, even when those degrees outside. Yeah,
there was no day I won't say to day, but
there was no instance when I wanted the grill I grilled.
Here's the thing, right, yes, here's the thing. If you
are cooking a bread skiff, are you cooking a pool pork?
And and if you'll really know, it takes probably ten twelve,

(01:00:04):
fourteen hours, If and it's gonna come out as it's
gonna come out pretty good, in my opinion, out as
great if you just cook it without doing this method.
I just did a couple of days ago because I'm
coaching busy and I don't have the fourteen hours. So
there's a such thing called as a Texas crutch. So

(01:00:26):
you you grill, yes, So pull pork's got to get
to an internal temperature about two oh one, two oh three.
I get two o three and I take it off. Okay,
So there's a there's a there's a moment where the
marshal of the meat starts to cool down the meat,

(01:00:47):
so to speak. What you can do is you can
wrap it in Butcher's paper. I would say Butcher's paper
more than aluminum four, but it works on both. And
you wrap it, and what it does is increases the
temperature in only it cooks a little faster because you
don't have that stall. There's a stall between one seventy
one sixty five wu's seventy and it takes hours to

(01:01:09):
get out of that stall because of the marsh on
the outside. If you crutch it, it probably improves cooked
time by three to five hours.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
Wow.

Speaker 8 (01:01:17):
So instead of fourteen and go nine or eight.

Speaker 1 (01:01:20):
Wow. And Brisket's the thing now, isn't it? People seem
to be I see it everywhere.

Speaker 8 (01:01:27):
Brisket is the toughest thing to cook, but in my opinion,
is the best need off of a cow probably you
can ever get, in my opinion. And I love steak,
but the taste of the brisket when it's done properly
is amazing, the flat and the point.

Speaker 1 (01:01:48):
And you're not big on seasonings and sauces and things
like that, right, I mean you just like it as
it is.

Speaker 8 (01:01:54):
Yeah, I mean, now, I know my wife and my kids,
they like the barbecue sauce, but I tell them at
least take a like a quarters cup full of whatever
meat it is and taste it without adding those external sauces,
because that's the true essence of the meat. Yeah. I

(01:02:15):
try to stick away from sauces, except on ribs. I
put a little ribs a little different than everything else. Nah,
I don't put sauta.

Speaker 1 (01:02:24):
Do you have a barbecue sauce in particular that you
can recommend?

Speaker 8 (01:02:28):
I would say this my favorite sweet baby Rais.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
I like him too.

Speaker 8 (01:02:33):
Yeah, I've been a fan since I've been in Chicago
originated in Chicago years ago. And yeah, and that's and
that's my that's my go to. That's the only thing
I really use.

Speaker 1 (01:02:45):
And folks, if you're diabetic as I am, you can
get a sugar free or you know sugar man. It adds.

Speaker 8 (01:02:55):
Right, Yes, you're right. I never thought about that.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
You gotn't worry about that. Van. I all always a pleasure, sir.
We will talk against soon, but I do appreciate the
time and the knowledge as always, and we will shift
to Kentucky basketball when we come back here on the
Big Bluon Sider six thirty WLAP Welcome back to the
Big Moon Sider. Thanks again to Van Hiles for talking
football with us. We always love talking with v Styles

(01:03:20):
and we always learned football when we talked to Van.
It is, of course game week for the basketball Wildcats.
They take on Purdue in an exhibition game and Rupp
Arena six o'clock Friday night. We will actually have that
one for you own radio as Cameron Mills, Dave Baker,
and Andrew Kapis have pregame at four point thirty. Jack

(01:03:40):
Gibbons Tom Leach with a call for the Cats and
the Boilers on Friday night. It is one of those
games that Mark Pope has talked about he can't wait
for exhibitions against real, live, good competition. Nothing against the
smaller schools, but these are D one powers, both Purdue
and George Town is supposed to be pretty good. George

(01:04:01):
Stown you this year. So the Wildcats will learn a
lot about themselves coming up Friday. But we're all going
to learn together about Jalen Lowell. We're gonna learn more Thursday.
Mark Pope's going to talk to the media and we'll
find out more about Kentucky's injured point guard. And as
I mentioned earlier, I do not have any inside information

(01:04:22):
except what I've heard from people I trust that this
is an injury, a shoulder injury that really happened, maybe
not as seriously as it did the other night, but
he had a shoulder injury four or five weeks ago,
and that it was an aggravation of that same injury
at the Blue White Game. And it's not going to

(01:04:44):
be anything I from what I understand, where he'll be back,
maybe not even in time for the regular season opener.
But we're all going to find out, and I'm sure
what we're gonna hear from Mark Pope on Thursday is
that it's day to day that he's working hard to
come back, and it's day to day. I just know
that having covered football for so long and I've seen

(01:05:04):
guys coming back from injuries, dealing with shoulder injuries. And
because when he first went down low, immediately I knew
it was bad because he was laying there and I
was at the game court side. I don't know what
kind of angle television had, of course, but laying flat,
clutching in his shoulder, kicking his legs, clearly in a

(01:05:25):
lot of pain. And now what my first thought was,
my God, I hope he didn't dislocate his shoulder. Now,
stingers are painful injuries, but you don't see them in
basketball games. Stingers are stretched nerves, as they've been described
to me, that run alongside the neck and in the
shoulder area. Then they happen in football games where players

(01:05:47):
collide and the helmet goes this way, the shoulder pad
goes that way, and it kind of stretches the nerve
there and it's painful and it's a burning sensation. It's
almost like banging your elbow, your funny bone on the table.
Only it's more painful. But I knew this was not that.
And again we'll find out Thursday about it. I doubt

(01:06:09):
if they give us a timetable, I'm sure they'll say
it's day to day. They don't want to rush him,
nor should they. But it's just sad. There's no other
word for it. That I know. It's a coincidence, but
more than anything, sad that the players, the fans, the coaches, everybody.
They're dealing with a second consecutive year with an injury,

(01:06:32):
not just to a key player, but to the point
guard in a position where they don't have a lot
of proven depth. Yeah, Denzel Aberdeen could play point, it'll
take an Ohway could play point. Jasper Johnson, Colin Chandler,
but none of those guys is a point guard by trade.
They can do it, but when you put them there,

(01:06:53):
of course, you're taking away from where they might be ordinarily,
and then the guy who's back backing them up, you're
affecting him as well. So it's a tough spot for
Mark Pope. The positive is if and when Jalen Low
does come back, now you've got experience as a backup

(01:07:14):
point guard whoever that might be, So that's one way
of looking at it. Here's what a Mark Pope had
to say about it immediately after the game. He may
have heard this already, but this is really all he
could say.

Speaker 7 (01:07:23):
Yeah, he just he tweaked his shoulder, So we'll see
kind of set him down out of precaution.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
We'll know more tomorrow.

Speaker 6 (01:07:30):
We'll probably get some imagy tomorrow and kind of see
how it responds tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
But he's an incredibly tough young man, so I'm sure
he'll whatever it is, he'll battle through it well. And
he will and he'll have excellent medical care and rehab
and all that. It's just going to take a while,
and the tough schedule Kentucky has early may well be
affected by whether or not Low can get back in

(01:07:54):
time for some of these big, high profile games. They
got a lot of talent and they should win him
majority of these games. But you know as well as
I there's gonna come a point where you need the
point where you need your number one point guard, and
that's Jalen Lows. So we're all gonna find out together,
aren't we. One thing we know is this team is competitive.

(01:08:14):
We saw that in the Blue White game. You've heard
about it from Mark Pope. I got to see it
myself in practice the day before the Pro Day event
which we televised along with the Jack Gibbons. Got to
see it there in some of the scrimmaging and then
in the Blue White game, and there's a lot of
smack talk as well. And after the Blue White game,

(01:08:37):
I asked the players. One of them was Jasper Johnson,
the other was Mo Diabate about who's the instigator, and
Jasper immediately pointed to his teammates sitting next to him.

Speaker 9 (01:08:49):
I'm gonna definitely say it's a couple guys obviously, Mo,
you know, being the physical person who will always be
the first to initiate that. You know, it may be
a shot goes up and practice first play, he might
hit somebody and then you know, we all snap into
that mode and get into it. I say, Brandon Garrison
as well, one of our returners, so he knows how

(01:09:11):
things go. He's always trying to pick on me as
a freshman. But he's definitely one of those guys who
compete at a high level. But Denzel as well, he's
a crazy one out there. He's fouls, he grabs, he smacks,
but he does whatever he can to win, and he's
definitely it gets gets me Jayalen Lowe, Colin Chandler, all

(01:09:31):
the guards better because you know, coming from a national championship,
he knows what it is to win and he'll do
whatever it takes to get that done.

Speaker 8 (01:09:41):
Yeah, I mean I.

Speaker 10 (01:09:41):
Can agree with him.

Speaker 6 (01:09:45):
You know.

Speaker 10 (01:09:45):
I just try to bring the energy to practice every day.
You know, you know, I understand how much these guys
want to win, and you know, for a guy that's
played at his level before, you know, I know what
it takes to win. So I try to bring that
to practice every day.

Speaker 8 (01:10:00):
Better.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
Up next, we're going to take you back to the
seventy five World Series, Red's Red Sox, a famous home run.
Some things you might not know about that here on
six point thirty WLAP. Welcome back to the Big Moons Cider,
final segment of our program. And I do need to
mention the fact that the World Series is set. It
is going to be Toronto, Los Angeles. I guess I'll
root for the Dodgers because my man Gary Moore, who's

(01:10:23):
gonna be on with us tomorrow, our Western Bureau chief,
is a huge Dodgers fan, I'd be okay if the
Blue Jays won it. They won back to back back
in ninety two, in ninety three, and when Kentucky played
basketball in Toronto a couple of years ago. I finally
got a chance to go up to that city and
it is wonderful as advertised, and got to see a
ball game, got to see a Blue Jays game up there,

(01:10:44):
so great stadium. I have a Blue Jays cap right
here in the garage with me because my son in
literal league played on a team called the Blue Jays.
I just always liked their hats. So anyhow, don't have
a hunt. But it would be a great better story
I think in terms of the team winning it if

(01:11:06):
it was Toronto. But the story of the postseason. But
all due respect, the last night's game between the Mariners
and the Blue Jays has been Shoaiohtani. But last night
George Springer, with his team down two runs, goes Yard
with two on and it's three run homer put Toronto
into the World Series. And by the way, if you're

(01:11:29):
a baseball fan and you were watching with you had
a hitter at the plate, Rodriguez with big Dumper on deck,
Cayl Raley best home run hitter in baseball this year,
with due respect to Aaron Jodge on deck. You need
to get that guy to the play, right. Rodriguez jumps
out to a two old to nothing count. Right, what

(01:11:51):
does he do with the next pitch? He swings And
not only does he swing against a pitcher who was struggling,
he swings at a pitch almost in the dirt, and
the pitcher fights back and strikes him out on a
pitch that was in the dirt. A terrible at bat
when he needed a great at bat and he was

(01:12:14):
halfway there. He needed it in the worst possible way.
But the Mariners will not be in the World Series.
They're the only big league franchise that has never been
in the World Series, and they've been in existence for
what fifty five years something like that. Anyhow, it does

(01:12:35):
remind one that big home run of the Carlton Fisk
home run that happened on this day fifty years ago,
Game six, Reds Red Sox Fenway Park. Pat Darcy on
the bump, Carlton Fisk at the plate, Dick Stockton behind

(01:12:57):
the mic for NBC. And he is a famous, legendary sportscaster,
and he called the legendary home Lon Babyclong.

Speaker 4 (01:13:09):
Five if it stays fair, oh wrang.

Speaker 8 (01:13:14):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:13:14):
One of the amazing things about that moment, where, of course,
this was nineteen seventy five. The fans did not storm
the field right then, but they had their fun. In Boston.

Speaker 4 (01:13:23):
Red Sox went at seven to six in twelve innings
and Carl Fisk had a lot of little boy in
him right there, Joe, he took one step, knew it
was gonna be close. He knew it was gone, and
it was dancing in the streets all the way around.
Johnny Pesky treets him at first base and he is
dancing a lot of body.

Speaker 8 (01:13:43):
English for Carl the fist. I watch it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:47):
How many steps does he take one?

Speaker 8 (01:13:49):
He waits to.

Speaker 1 (01:13:50):
See it get over.

Speaker 7 (01:13:53):
He knew it there it is.

Speaker 8 (01:13:57):
Again.

Speaker 1 (01:13:57):
That's the TV call from NBC. But they were narrating
over the isolated camera shot of Carts and Fisk, which
is one of the most famous camera shots in the
history of TELEVII sports. And I've mentioned this before. I
read this in Sports Illustrated, so it has to be true.
But I read this that that angle, that isolated shot

(01:14:19):
was a happy accident because there was a camera, of course,
in the outfield there. I think it was somewhere within
the Big Green Monster somewhere around in there. And the
cameraman was supposed to follow Fisk, I'm sorry, follow the ball, okay,
off the bat and we see that angle. We saw

(01:14:40):
several of those angles when Otani was hitting bombs out
of the stadium in Los Angeles. But according to the story,
and they had a graphic with the almost like a
cartoon drawing, there was a rat. I mean there were
rats everywhere around apparently Fenway Park, and there was a
rat on top of the camera. He had made his
way to at the top of the camera. I don't

(01:15:01):
know if because it was warm or whatever, but the
camera guys looking through his viewfinder. That's how he's watching.
It's like a mini TV within the camera. And he
suddenly looks up and notices the rat and he's like,
oh my god, and he gets distracted. Then he goes
back to the viewfinder and Fisk had already hit the ball,
so this guy has no way of finding the ball,

(01:15:23):
so he stays on Fisk, and Fisk was jumping up
and down and waving his arms doing the body English,
go fair, go fair, and he stayed with Fisk, and
it was brilliant by accident, and now that is a
standard way. One of the cameras. Now they have a
million cameras, but one of the cameras, and we saw
that last night when George Springer hit the home run

(01:15:45):
for Toronto. They followed him around the bases. They got
his expression as it left the yard. They followed him
celebrating around the base. Is one of many replays, but
the best known is that one from when Carlton Fisk
hit home run against the Reds, and of course the
Reds would win the series the next night with a
plucky backup infielder named Doug Flynn. But Game six still

(01:16:09):
the greatest game ever, and Carlton Fisk's home run on
this day in nineteen seventy five is a huge reason.
You know what else happened during that series, And actually
during that game, at one point, Dick Stockton, the playbook
play man, and I also think Joe Gergiola was in
on that discussion because they said, hey Joe, and it
sounded like him, But according to Wikipedia, it was Stockton

(01:16:32):
and Kurt Gowdi. But anyhow, Dick Stockton met a Boston
Globe sports writer named Leslie Visser, who would go on
to do a lot of work for years with CBS.
They hit it off, they started going out, and they
got married and stayed married for twenty seven years. They met.
I didn't know this at Game six, never met her

(01:16:56):
work was Stockton literally when I was they're in school
or right out of school, I want to say right
out of school. I every now and then would do
stats for Network TV people doing UK basketball games. I
was working at another radio station. NBC was doing the
Kentucky game in Freedom Hall, and it was I think

(01:17:17):
the Notre Dame game, the night that Dwight Anderson became
a superstar. I believe it was Dick Stockton, I think
in al McGuire. But anyhow, Stockton could not have been
kinder to me.

Speaker 3 (01:17:29):
No, no, no.

Speaker 1 (01:17:30):
I was in college now, remember, because I was working
for the campus radio station, and I said something to
him about doing radio versus television, and Dick Stockton took
the time to explain to me the basic nuts and
bolts and gave me advice on radio versus television play
by play. And I remember looking at my watch because

(01:17:52):
it's two entirely different things, in my opinion, similar but different.
It was ten minutes to tip off, and I remember thinking,
you don't have anything better to do than talk to
this kid about your line at work and how you
do things. But you know what, he was so experienced
and so prepared. He knew he was ready. He wasn't

(01:18:14):
sitting there fretting or shuffling through papers. He was good.
He was good to go, just waiting to talk on camera,
which I appreciated. So now fast forward, Yes, that was
nineteen seventy five. I remember, now fast forward nine years
nineteen eighty four, Final four in Seattle. I'm working for
Host Communications. I'm one of the assistant producers for the

(01:18:39):
Final four radio broadcast the National NCA network. Dick Stockton
was our play by play guy and I had to
do a little bit of work with him, and so
I remember after our production meeting the day before, I
think it was Friday, I walked up to him and
stuck out my hand, introduced myself. I said, you know,
this isn't the first time we've worked again, and he says,

(01:19:00):
I swear to God, yeah, I thought we had a history,
and I kind of smiled and nodded. I thought he
was being polite. Then he rattled off the day, the place,
the game. He remembered me working alongside him feeding him
stats for the Kentucky game in Freedom Hall. And I
always appreciated Dick Stockton from that point forward. I appreciated

(01:19:24):
his talent, his skills, but at that point as a person,
and that was the last time I ever got it
was even around him. Was when we worked together in Seattle,
worked together, but I always thought that was pretty cool.
As well as this call of the carp and fish
home run. That's going to do it, thanks so much
to my guest, Van Hiles Kent Spencer. That's it. Good

(01:19:45):
night from the garage in Lexington.

Speaker 8 (01:19:49):
A long time.

Speaker 1 (01:19:50):
If it stains fair.

Speaker 8 (01:19:52):
A.

Speaker 11 (01:20:01):
Tett tact, canna tat tooth.

Speaker 4 (01:21:31):
It don't

Speaker 11 (01:21:35):
Don't