2025-10-27 BBI Statewide

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
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

(00:26):
eight hundred six six four two sixty three. Or you
can tweet the show. That's Big Blue Insider one. Now
here's Tick Gabriel.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hell, everybody through the facilities of the iHeartMedia megaplexus is
Dick Gabriel. It is the state wide edition of the
Big Blue Insider. The overlap period is already officially here.
Tonight we'll talk basketball and football with Cole Park of
the Cats Paws here in.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
The studio with us.

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Jeff Becora will join us as well from the UK
Sports Network. Stay tuned for the state wide bbide.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
From Pikeville to Paduca. It is the Big Blewin Sider.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Cole Park of the Cat's Boss here with us in
the studio working double.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Duty this last few weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Now basketball and football will start with basketball. Purdue comes
to town ranked number one in the country for whatever
it's worth. Kentucky is ninth for the most part, and
the Wildcats battled back. They weren't behind that long or
that much, and they looked good, They looked impressive.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Got a lot of people excited.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
We both know coal it doesn't mean much of any Well,
it does mean I'll put it this way, what do
you think it means at this point here we're not
even in Halloween.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Well not too much in terms of the grand scope
of things. And when you say they came from behind,
they didn't trail that long. Trailed for about a minute
minuteen seconds and led for thirty seven minutes twenty seconds.
It was pretty much from start to finish, and quite frankly,
for most of the second half it was double digits.
I'm trying not to put too much stock into it. Obviously,

(02:07):
it's an exhibition. Both teams are trying stuff out, both
teams are kind of really playing another team for the
first time. You know, you can you can put a
lot of stock in these, But Kansas was number one
last year. We know what happened to Kansas. We saw
some of these exhibition results in the past. They don't
really mean much in the grand scheme of things, but
it was exciting to see. I think the first thing
you know, Kentucky clearly hasn't dropped off too much. Offensively,

(02:29):
they looked pretty solid. They were you know, a couple
of big three pointers and some flashy dunks that we saw.
I think someone I saw put it the best. You
don't necessarily take too much from the team in an exhibition,
but you can take things from the players in an exhibition,
and we saw a lot of very great things from
a lot of players that maybe we had some questions about.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
I was glad that you say that, because my theory
is this or whatever you want to put in my conjecture,
Purdue we see is a really good basketball team Kentucky today.
I mean, check your calendar. Is a election of really
good basketball players that by the end of the year
I think will be a really good team.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
And take it from there. Because my buddy out on
the West Coast was.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Watching on his computer, and you know, Purdue leads for
what'd you say a minute thirty seven, minute thirteen, minute thirteen.
Within that minute thirteen, my buddy, you know, who grew
up here a huge Kentucky fan and immediately being oh
my god, they're no good, you know, and then the
next thing, you know, Wow, you know, so, uh, you know,
calm down, folks, it's October.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
But it's going to be really interesting.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
It's like a big elaborate lab experiment for Mark Pope,
isn't it.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
It really is? And you know, I think there's pros
and cons being this well off together this early, and
it's something he's talked about a lot. You know, my
column that went in our yearbook is how do you
navigate this deep of a roster when there's only one basketball?
And he talks about that. You know, he he did

(03:59):
have a lot of quick it's about that, like he
kind of pondered to us, like in the modern era
in twenty twenty five, can a team actually come together
and be as unselfish as it needs to be to
win a championship like his nineteen ninety six team did.
And so far it looked good. Obviously, the season hasn't
even started yet, so it's kind of putting the cart
before the horse there a little bit. But so far

(04:21):
it looks good, and you know, kind of like kind
of like your friend there, I felt like, you know,
this was one I was talking to some before and
I was like, yeah, I mean I expect Kentucky to lose.
It's number one Perdue. I think that they're going to
get a good test to see where they're at, but
I expect them to lose. And then every time Perdue
would start to get close, to be like, all right,
well here it goes, They're going to take the lead
and it's gonna, you know, be a close one, but
Purdue's gonna win. And they just never did. And it

(04:42):
was really really interesting to see in that way. But
it is also going to be interesting to see how
the team responds to this, not only against Georgetown in
the second exhibition this week, but also once the season
gets going against some of these politely smaller opponents, and
then also once you get into the games that actually
count against very big ranked teams.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
It's amazing when you think about the fact that Mark
Pope's championship year was thirty years ago, and the stakes
now are not only higher, they're different. Stakes are highering
that if you play in the NBA now you signed
for generational wealth right now. You don't have to get
to that second contract. Sure helps if you do, yeah,

(05:22):
but well I shouldn't say that that first contract that slotted,
but you've got a chance to make a lot of money.
Then that second contract is generational. It wasn't that way
back when Pope was playing. And as he points out,
and as Cali Perry endlessly pointed out, the team to
beat his UMAs team had nine future NBA players. Not
everybody stuck for years and years in the NBA, but

(05:43):
they all got a shot. So yeah, you've got that.
But then the stakes are different because of the portal.
You know, that's always I think hanging over everybody's.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Head, right, Yeah, I mean I think the portal coupled
with nil in the modern era, you know, you have
concerns of not only I can just go somewhere else
if I want to play more basketball, but also if
I can bet on myself and play more basketball, I
can go somewhere else right now and make more money,
right maybe playing more basketball and still get to the NBA.
So there is a lot of factors that's a lot
harder to keep players. You know. I think the quote

(06:15):
that you heard right when this all start is it's
like coaches have to recruit recruits, portal players and their
own team every off season. You know, you have to
basically go to every single player in your team to be
like hey, like you're coming back, right, And sometimes that
answers yes, and then sometimes that yes becomes a no
because quite frankly.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
Well maybe it's a yesterday and an O tomorrow exactly.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
Quite frankly, I think Travis Perry went into the off
season expecting to still be at Kentucky, and then when
you see who comes in, you see him kind of
get recruited over. Then you kind of have to reevaiably like, Okay,
well where do I fit into this? And it wasn't
what he wanted to do for his career, you know,
he wanted to be in a bigger role at Ole Miss.
So it changes constantly, and we also saw that with
Kentucky's roster. I think it's important that one player on

(06:55):
Kentucky's roster right now, Mohammed Diabata. I believe he only
entered the portal after Alabama got Taylor bol Bowen, who
Kentucky was going after in the first place. Alabama lands Taylor,
and then Moe joins the jumps in the portal because
obviously that would put Taylor above him. If you're going
to bring this guy in, it means you want someone
above me. So he comes here, he looked phenomenal in

(07:17):
that his physicality was on full display. Obviously almost filed
out of an exhibition. We'll see how that goes as
the season progresses, but he was fun to watch a
lot of the you know, he got a lot of
praise from Pope and some of his teammates after, but
a lot of really strong individual performances. And the biggest
thing is going to be how many of these players won.
How many these players, especially depending on how successful Kentucky is,

(07:39):
can go onto the pros, and how many these players
are going to be on Kentucky.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Next year talk to me about point guard.

Speaker 4 (07:44):
Yeah, so that was something that really stuck out to
me obviously going into this when Kentucky was without Jaalen Lowe,
who took his shoulder injury against Otaga away in the
Blue White Game. Updates still positive on that. He seems
like he's going to be back. I don't know that
he'll play against Georgetown. I personally would not predict it,
but once the regular season rolls around, I could I
could see him playing as early as Nichols State. If not,

(08:05):
you know, probably back by the Louisville game. Based on
what we've heard. I don't know that you'd want to
start him off against a Louisville So maybe you do
want to bring him out against like a nicol State
or something like that to get him a tune up
game there. But without him, it didn't seem like Kentucky
missed that much of a beat. That was the thing
that you know, I talked about that with some people after.
But Kentucky was without who we expect to be the

(08:25):
starting big man when he comes back, Jaden and Quainton's
and it was without starting point guard Jalen Lowe, and
it didn't seem like it really missed a beat in
any kind of way. Denzel Abordine did a great job
running when he could, oh take it, oh way had
some time in there. Colin Chandler, did you know he
had the highest plus minus on the team despite just
two points, and those two points coming, mind you, on
a massive dunk that he almost got a he almost

(08:46):
got a call from the officials line because he headbutted
the ball after he dunked. It led to a big
old you know, confusion into a timeout. But just Kentucky
took this opportunity against the number one team in the
country so far preseason obviously with a grain ass salt,
but the number one team in the country without a

(09:06):
starting point guard, and the offense still looks cohesive. The
offense still ran, you know, design plays sets. It looked really,
really good. And I think that's a very positive sign
for Kentucky going forward because you know, obviously we all
hope that every player in this roster remains healthy for
the entire season, but you play sports, that's usually not
how it goes, so worse something to happen. It seems

(09:29):
like Kentucky is going to be in good hands regardless.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yeah, regarding your column, you want Pope to have to
worry about this kind of thing, but that's his job.
But it is amazing when you look again, it's an exhibition,
it's October, but just based on how Kentucky looked, you're
talking about a team that was arguably with that two
of its top five player, not even arguably, it was

(09:54):
without its best point guard, without its.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
Best post player. Do you respect to all the.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Other bigs on the team, Yeah, clearly without his best
defensive big. So it's just gonna and I will be
pleasantly surprised. I don't know anything, but I've just seen
so many shoulder injuries covering football. I would be pleasantly
surprised if Jalen Lowe played against Louisville.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
Yeah, I would. I would.

Speaker 4 (10:19):
I mean, Pope seems really optimistic. The thing I would
be concerned about good. The thing I would be concerned
about is not whether or not he plays against Lovell,
whether or not he plays against Louisville One. I think
if he does play against Lovell, he might not be
one hundred percent doing it.

Speaker 2 (10:33):
Would they bring him back if he's not one hundred
percent I wouldn't.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
I would have said maybe before this exhibition. True, but
seeing how well the team gelled without him, I think
that you would rather just get your starting point guard
to one hundred percent, knowing that your team can handle it.
Something I'd also wanted to highlight about Jalen low there though.
That really stuck out to me. You know, I wrote
a story about it for The Cat's Paul as Pope
said it. But it would have been really easy for

(10:56):
Jalen low You know, to you're missing an exhibition aa'st
the number one team in the country, on your new team,
on a team you're supposed to be leading, it would
have been really easy to kind of feel sorry for
yourself and to kind of just be there. But you know,
Hope gave him his second Player of the Game award,
his first one to Colin Chandler, but he gave his
second Player the Game award to Jaalen low for, you know,
just being the kind of player like he was getting

(11:16):
guys up, holding them accountable, cheering, stay in loud the
whole game. He seemed genuinely thrilled to be there, even
if just on the bench. And it all kind of
goes back to that idea of can this team be
unselfish enough? And I wrote it in that story. I said,
you know, some games, Jalen Lowe's what he needs to
do to help the team win is going to be
to distribute the basketball, maybe to make some tough shots,

(11:39):
to play strong. But going into this exhibition, knowing he
can't play against the number one team in the country,
he decided the best thing he could do to help
his team win was to just be a cheerleader on
the bench, and he did that quite well. So I
think that is a really good sign for Kentucky that
you have players bought in to the level they are
at this level. Of course, obviously we're still talking. The
season hasn't started yet. We'll see how it goes when
adversity comes along. But so far, really positive sign there.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
You and I sit up in the stratosphere and rop arena,
so we can't really hear what's going on in and
around the bench area. I gotta think that Jalen Lowe
was coaching up Jasper Johnson and whoever else was running
a point, just trying to help. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
Absolutely, I mean he seems he's a really positive player.
I think, you know, talking to him media day, is
talking to him every chance I've gotten. He seems like
just one of those really upbeat guys, like someone that's
fun to be around. He seems like he's got a
good head on his shoulders, always in a good mood.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Good leader.

Speaker 4 (12:30):
Yeah, good leader, And that's what you want from That's
what you want from your leader on this team. And
I think that this team is one that could have
several leaders, and going into the season especially, you know,
there were some people that were a bit unsure when
Kentucky first got low because of some of the inefficiency
thinks at Pittsburgh. Obviously, we've since we've discussed that before,
I believe, but not all of that was quite his fault.

(12:51):
He was on a team that if he didn't take
inefficient shots, shots just weren't getting put up. But I
think everything he's shown me thus far, and everything we've
seen and heard from him thus far says that he
can be a very very valuable piece of this team,
even if it is even if it is right now
just having to be on the bench while he recovers
his shoulder from that kind of just freak incident in

(13:13):
the Blue White game.

Speaker 2 (13:14):
We talked about a month ago, you're right after Pope's
initial news conference about the inefficiencies, and I really was
fascinated by Pope's response when you know, he had begun
the news conference to remember with when do you know
to turn away from analytics?

Speaker 3 (13:32):
When do you use analytics?

Speaker 2 (13:34):
And he talked about how analytically they broke down as
they were scouting Jalen Low his game and the fact
that the shots he was taking and not making were
analytically based, not something that he's just a bad shooter.
It's just time and space is what dictated that. And

(13:59):
Pope was the he said they were eager to get
at that and I don't want to say fix it,
but work with him on that.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
And it was almost.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Everybody who knew anything about Jalen Low came to the
same deduction. Look, he's not going to have to carry
this team. He's not going to have to force up shots.
He won't be the guy with a shot clock running
down more than likely who's taking a shot now. So
just almost by default, his shooting is going to get better.

Speaker 4 (14:29):
Right, Yeah, And well that was something It's very symbiotic
in that way because Kentucky saw a guy that they
can kind of develop in that way, a guy who
has the pieces they want, just wasn't necessarily on a
team that catered to his strength, right. And when I
talked to Jalen, you know, that was something he said,
he said when he chose to come to Kentucky, A
big factor in that was looking at otega Oway and
Lamont Butler and how those guys were, for being honest

(14:50):
with ourselves, pretty inefficient offensively before they came to Kentucky
and seeing the way that coach Pope tailored the system
to meet meet their strengths. So that was a big
factor for him. And then on top of that, you know,
I was pretty honest with him. I said, I'm not
going to ask you to talk badly about your previous team,
but compare this team to last year to the last

(15:12):
team you were on. It's got to be very different
for you in terms of how you're going to be
able to distribute this ball with a talent around you.
And he's like everyone wants to. Any point guard wants
to kind a team like that. You know, he's got
plenty of weapons, and like you said, he's not going
to be the guy with the weight on the world
and his shoulders anymore. He's going to have a team
around him, and he can lift up that team and

(15:32):
be a very valuable piece of that.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
It won't be severe Wheeler desperately looking for a way
to get a shot out.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
I hope not.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, with four seconds left on the shot clock. And yeah,
well we don't need to go there, all right, We'll
take a break, come back and talk more Kentucky basketball.
Bottom of the hour will shift over to football. That's
when Jeff Pacorral will join us from the UK Network
back in a minute with Cole Park of the catch
balls here on the State Wide BBI. It is the

(16:05):
Big Blue insider Dick Gabriel Cole Park. We're talking Kentucky basketball.

Speaker 5 (16:08):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
Cats back at it against.

Speaker 2 (16:10):
Georgetown University coming up on Thursday, not Georgetown College, where
mister bul Robinson matriculated correct gott to turn his mic on.
I didn't realize it was that complicated to turn your
mic on.

Speaker 6 (16:26):
Three buttons actually fours one motion up.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
What do we pay for this board?

Speaker 6 (16:32):
Don't ask much? Yes, my beloved Georgetown.

Speaker 5 (16:37):
No.

Speaker 6 (16:37):
And I love the fact that they played Georgetown College
because my loyalties are split. My dad went to Georgetown
and my sister graduated from Georgetown too, so when they
would play Georgetown College, it's a Georgetown College pullover.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
You can't have.

Speaker 6 (16:51):
We mixed it up a couple of times and everything.
But going back to what you and I were talking about,
it was nice to see Kentucky play such a high
cant exhibition game on Friday night and not have much
stress to it.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
How about that?

Speaker 4 (17:06):
It was And I don't know they'll be quite perdue level,
but I think Georgetown will be another good test. I
think Georgetown's one that might be a little bit underrated
in the Big East. Dare I say, I don't know?
They're going to necessarily make a tournament this year, Yeah,
but they could be a lot better. You know, they're
they're kind of still rebuilding from the skeleton that was

(17:26):
left behind in that program for a little while. You know,
I'm not going to go too much into that situation,
but it was they got pretty low down there, and
they're kind of trying to rebuild that. So I think
that could be another good test. And I, you know,
don't know disrespect to Georgetown College. I also have some
memories of Georgetown College. When I was working for Lexman's
Sporting club. We played our entire first year there. But

(17:47):
I do think the Georgetown Hoyas of the Big East
are going to be a bit better of a test
for the Cats than Georgetown College's.

Speaker 2 (17:54):
And I should know this, and I'm sure it's been
written if yet, yes or no, one way to the other.
Is this the first time George chan U has played
in this arena since they won the title here?

Speaker 4 (18:05):
I want to say so.

Speaker 3 (18:06):
I don't recall them playing here. I do not recall
them playing here.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
I don't think they have.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
And Cali Perry played a.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Lot of different but playing George chan You here regular
season had the feel of a game. You've got to
return unless it was part of you know, some sort
of labeled game or made for TV game.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
But I was there actually the first half of the game.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
We were said KYT CBS affiliate. We did a pregame
one hour special which I produced and co anchored.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
And I stood in the control room and I.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Watched the first half because I thought, Wow, George channelbeat Villanova.
I'll go home watch the second half, and had a credential.
But you know, I was tired first half. I'm like, wow,
Villanova's giving them a game. I got in my car
and I sped to up arena. It parked in the
back of the lot back when they had a press lot,

(19:00):
and hustled in and I watched the second half standing
in the corner of the arena by the ushers and
the police officers. Could not believe my eyes. But you know,
you go back and read about that game.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
Kids.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Villanova twice that year had lost to Georgetown, but twice
I think played within a single digit in those classic
Big East battles. I don't know that they played in
the Big East Tournament. They may have, but people who
knew the Big East weren't surprised. They might have been
surprised that Villanova won the game and had to be
almost perfect to win it, but they weren't surprised.

Speaker 3 (19:35):
Villanova gave him a game. Yeah, because they had a
lot of good.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Players on that team. Now, to your point, Villanova's not
as good. Georgetown certainly not as good. But Georgetown couldn't
build on that. That's what was now, that Patrick Ewing
as a player, but they also had him as a coach,
and he couldn't recruit very well, could he.

Speaker 4 (19:53):
No. I mean, it was a tough situation for Georgetown
because obviously, you know, a famous Alama, very great basketball player,
but he just did not have it as a coach,
and they got to some depths with him as a coach.
It just was not working. Recruits weren't really coming in,
the results weren't there. It was very very bad, and
then you you know, you poach away, poach away Providence's coach.

(20:17):
They're still not too happy about it, but they're slowly
starting to get that going back in the right direction. Obviously,
you had a Thomas Sorber last year trending on maybe
being better this year. I still, like I said, I
don't have them projecting in the tournament. I don't think
the Big East will get more than three, maybe four
teams in the field this year, and that's going to

(20:37):
heavily depend on what Villanova and Marquette are this year.
I know Marquette is one that is more highly rated
than Villanova, but they also don't like the transfer portal,
so we'll see how that plays out for him. It's
a bold strategy. Yeah, yeah, really, But obviously I think
we all know Yukon's gonna be good, creating will probably
be good. But Georgetown could also be in the mix there.

(20:59):
It feels like the Big East is often good for
the expected teams being good to maybe one in there
who ends up being better than we thought, and that
could be Georgetown this year.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
Well, and you have to ask yourself if you're looking
at the future of Georgetown University, that is that's a
private school, that's a small private school, but it has
a lums with a lot of money. Now, are they
prone to spending it on athletics?

Speaker 5 (21:24):
Right?

Speaker 3 (21:24):
You know? Will they be a part of the nil.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Program if there is I got to think there is
one at Georgetown University.

Speaker 4 (21:31):
So as far as the Big East is concerned. They're
in a much better spot than Seaton Hall is.

Speaker 3 (21:37):
Yeah, probably Seton Hall.

Speaker 4 (21:38):
Will probably be. Barring some kind of crazy change, You'll
probably just be at the bottom of that conference for
a long time. You have coach, you have rival coaches
in that league feeling sorry for Seen Holloway in that situation.
Obviously sheeen Holloway Seton Hall coach, obviously former coach of the.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
Same paid gus he got paid when he moved.

Speaker 5 (21:54):
He did.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
But that's a tough situation in the Big East. But
the Big East is also especially in the new era
of revenue sharing, it's going to interesting. But in the
NIL are just a lot. It's very interesting to look
at how the Big East is operated compared to how
the SEC or the Big Ten is operated with the
new the new era of com man.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
I can't even get into the TV networks and all that.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
Just a minute or two left of Cole Park as
we talk about Kentucky basketball. We'll shift to football here
at the bottom of the hour. But is there anything
in particular you're going to be looking for when Kentucky
takes on Georgetown.

Speaker 4 (22:25):
Yeah, I think the biggest thing I'll be looking for
is just a continuation of what we saw against Purdue,
and not just in the dominating the other opponent thing, more
so in the players. I want to see Malachi Marino.
You know, he surprised me with how physical and dominant
he looked in that game. I want to see more
of that. That'll be interesting to see how he and
Garrison kind of divide those minutes and how he continues

(22:46):
to look. I want to see Jasper Johnson continue to
show the confidence he had against Purdue because he was
a rocket fifteen points led the Cats and on what
was a pretty quiet night, you know, in the grand
scheme of things, prettyquilt for Denzel Aberte, you know, take
it away a lot of those guys a lot of
minutes there, but.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
They had to hold no way back.

Speaker 4 (23:05):
Yeah, they had to. Alway was obviously still limited as
he's returning from his turf toe out over the summer.
But I'll be interesting to see how these players continue
to grow in their roles and get a better feel
for what this team's really going to look like when
the games start mattering up.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Next Jeff of Corel the UK Sports Network will join us.
We'll talk with him about Kentucky football and more.

Speaker 3 (23:28):
Stay with us.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
You're listening to the state wide edition of The Big
Blue Insider. Frumpike Kilchopuka. It is the Big Blue Insider.
J Gabriel cole Park joined now on the celebrity headline
by Jeff Picorol. And if you follow Twitter, you saw

(23:51):
our men Billy Rutledge tweet about one of Jeff's exploits
with the JV team about fifty years ago against Tennessee Military.
Yeah t m I, but you had your best game
against Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
Didn't you.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
Yes?

Speaker 5 (24:06):
I did.

Speaker 3 (24:06):
But tell everybody, tell everybody how that went.

Speaker 5 (24:10):
No, that team great? Uh I had. I had two
touchdown passes in that game and another one called back.
So that was fun.

Speaker 2 (24:17):
Against tm I. But against Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
Come on, you.

Speaker 5 (24:20):
Don't need to get into that.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
You don't want to talk about Tennessee touchdown catches for.

Speaker 5 (24:26):
Tennessee, I know.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
And that's a record that will stand forever because it
ain't no more JV teams more at least.

Speaker 5 (24:34):
Said I really think they should. I really wish they
still did that. It should really Helpsybe.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
Yeah, I agree, and basketball too.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
And remember Patino created a JV team just so Nazi
Mohammed could get into play, so you know, Mills and
everybody played.

Speaker 5 (24:55):
Here's the thing the Billy and I really didn't get
into but you know, we will get the popularity of
what's happened now. With basketball. It used to be where
like Mark Pope would take his team up to Columbus
and play Ohio State and to close gym and they'd
have a scrimmage. Right, Baseball scrimmages other Division One teams

(25:16):
all the time. Volleyball's Volleyball's done it. Everybody does it
except football and Mark. Look, the Blue White game is
no more football, right, it hasn't been a game in years,
So why not why not have an exhibition game against
Ohio State Incati Notre Dame. Right, coach would love.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
Jeff will give you one good reason, because you could
have a game of sorts. But here's the thing. In
the spring anymore, you don't know who's coming and going
right now the portals.

Speaker 5 (25:51):
Well, that's true, but you could still have a controlled
scrimmage if you would. But the one thing Mark Pope
says is the reason he can't is because of the depth.
We don't have the death to put two teams out there.
Mark Stus a blue team and a white team, Mark Stu,
so sorry, a blue team that have an offense and
the defense and a white team. So if you play Eastern,

(26:12):
I'd rather do it with a big school. I'm not
I'm not knocking Easter, but bring Notre Dame and play
a controlled scrimmage game, or Ohio State or someone like that.
Coach Stoops has said, why can't we do it? Everybody
else does that.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Well, if there's an antiquated rule.

Speaker 2 (26:28):
If there's a check involved, I just assume be a
stage school.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
But I hear you. I hear what you're saying. Well,
let's talk some football.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
And I know you hate to look back at this
past game because it was Tennessee, but if nothing else,
and Cole and I were talking about this, I felt
like the offense took another big step forward. Clearly Tennessee's
defense not as good as Texas, but we're crying out loud.
Five touchdown passes, young guys, veterans, everybody catching the ball.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
I like what I saw.

Speaker 5 (26:58):
You know, I agree. I don't want to. I don't
want to say that it's amazing or unbelievable, but he's
growing up right in front of us right. And I
think that now they've they've they've kind of, I don't
want to say, taken out the plays that Zach was
good at, but I think they're doing more what is
his strength, and they're doing that empty backfield allowing him

(27:23):
to to move around in the pocket. He's really good
at keeping his eyes down the field right when he's
when he's when he's moving out of the pocket. So
now they've done a lot more of that, you know,
And I think that that's something that he's really strong at.
And and he's a he's a natural leader, and these
guys are following him and they're getting comfortable with him.

(27:44):
And I think the other thing is too they're playing.
Guys said, look, you catch the ball, you're gonna play
and and and we saw seven, we saw four, we
saw twenty two. These are numbers where we're not usually
calling Miller Miller hester. I mean, look at what they did.
I want I want to win. I don't care if
you're a senior or you're a freshman. If you can,

(28:05):
if you could win, you're gonna play for me.

Speaker 4 (28:08):
Yeah, absolutely. I Mean this was a pretty strong offensive
showing for Kentucky, probably their best against a Power Conference opponent,
I think the second most points they've scored on the
Eastern Michigan game. But in the end, thirty four points
did not prevent a twenty two point loss. You know,
we we've talked about some of the some of the
injuries that are on the d in the dB group,
some of the some of those issues, but playing in

(28:30):
his zone pretty much the whole game, What where did
it go so wrong for this this Kentucky defense and
it just looked like they couldn't stop Tennessee for the
life of them.

Speaker 5 (28:40):
You know, it's if DJ Waller's playing, it's a totally
different game, you know, But unfortunately he's not. They just
happened to get hit in the worst spot with injuries,
and you basically have one starter plan and your your
your other corner and your nickel guy are back our
backups who really would be playing maybe ten snaps a game.

(29:02):
Instead they're playing fifty and sixty snaps the game. And
Mark said it today, you were there, it is at
the press conference. He said, I have to look in
excuse me, to our depth issue at that position, and
it's something where you need more than four or five guys. Now,
it just is that it's a position that really hurts

(29:24):
them in the SEC because of the offenses in the SEC.
You know, you go right down the line, LSU, Alabama,
Georgia's receivers, the ones that Kentucky's played, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Vanderbilt,
all these guys, they all have six three, six, four,
six y five receivers that could really run and that

(29:44):
exposes you on the outside. A cornerback is the one
position that you really can't cover for. You can cover
for one because you can roll coverages that way and
things like that, but you can't cover for two. And
that's the problem because if you if you bracket each side,
then the middle of the middle of the fields wide

(30:05):
open and they'll they'll they'll kill you. And unfortunately, Kentucky
just doesn't have the personnel on the outside against these receivers.
And Tennessee was the first school to really do this.
I think it was Johnny Majors when he got when
he when he brought in Willie golf and and those
types of receivers that were track players and they ran

(30:26):
track and he got him to come into football, talked
him into coming over. And you know, all they do
is run. I mean, the greatest stat I've ever heard
in a football game passes over twenty yards. Aggie Are
was six for six or two hundred and seventy four yards.
That means the rest of the game he only threw
for seventy yards, played for two seventy on six completions.

(30:48):
That's crazy.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
And obviously, just to add on to what we did
just discuss, Stoops seemed to indicate after the game that,
even in still playing back up to Ryan Nichols is
also kind of a little bit banged up right now,
dealing with some injuries there, so just didn't finish the game.
Did not finish the game.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
Yea.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
It is interesting to see the lack of depth Kentucky
has that position. Obviously Stoops has a history as a
DB's coach, you know you would have I don't know,
but there is a pretty apparent lack of depth of
that position, and it was very obvious and Tennessee exploited it.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
Yeah, and of.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
All schools to be facing it, when you run up
against that problem, it's the school. And you brought it
up last week, Jeff. Two of the top five receivers
in the conference three the top ten, Yeah, of all
schools to run into. It couldn't have come in a
worse time. So now you go up against an Auburn team,
different style of play, and again bad matchup. Style of

(31:44):
play with Tennessee, bad matchup Auburn more traditional. Auburn was
not doing well, gets a win against Arkansas, thanks my friend,
to four turnovers in the fourth quarter by the Razorbacks.
You turn it over that many times in one quarter
against anybody, you're not going to win.

Speaker 5 (32:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
So I don't know what that tells us about Auburn.
They got good players, They've got a talented QB. But
Ken Kentucky go down to the planes, Jeff and make
something happen.

Speaker 5 (32:13):
Well, like you said, it's a different style, uh. They
It's interesting too because they play two quarterbacks now and
I don't know what started at I haven't got my
deep dive yet.

Speaker 3 (32:23):
An injury, I think to them.

Speaker 5 (32:25):
Yeah, but but it's interesting because they continue to do
that with the guys healthy. It's almost like the Craig
Morton Roger Stallbach situation.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
Wow you are going back.

Speaker 5 (32:37):
Yeah, nobody knows, he has no idea who I'm talking about,
but you know you're you're playing two quarterbacks both of
them similar, but they're a big power type team, so
a lot different than Tennessee. It's gonna be real interesting
to see what defense for Kentucky shows up, because if
it's the one that played against Texas two weeks ago,

(32:58):
then I think you've got a really good chance in
this game because your offense is really is I mean,
you played two really tough stout defenses, especially Tennessee against
the run, and you had over one hundred yards I mean, yeah,
you had what one hundred and thirty something, and then
you had to basically give up the running game at
the end because you got to throw it every play.
But they was, you know, there's and if they get

(33:20):
mcgoughlin back, mcawan back, then you know you got another
player that didn't even play against Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (33:28):
Obviously an interesting situation with Auburn two. You know, the
Arkansas win might have bought him a little bit of time,
but they also have a coach kind of planned for
his life there, coaching for his life, I should say
in Hugh Freeze, But I had a question for you, Jeff.
You know, obviously you've made your hatred of Tennessee well
known into the game. There what was worse for you
and or what would have been worse for you Tennessee

(33:48):
in the red zone in that game, would you have
rather them just scored the touchdown to put up sixty
or kneel it out in the red zone like they
did in Krogerfield.

Speaker 5 (33:57):
No. I mean, here's the thing, too out was the
right thing to do. I mean, the one thing that
you don't want to do when you play and again
it's a rival, even though it's a one sided rivalry,
but it's still a rival, and you don't want to
do anything that can rile them up. And you know,

(34:18):
if you keep running it and you score sixty, look
that's kind of a fifties, a big number, but sixties
like a magical number, right, and no defense wants to
give up sixty points? And I thought, I thought Hypel
did the exact right thing.

Speaker 2 (34:35):
We'll take a break, come back and talk more football
with Jeff corral Or the UK Sports Network.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
And Cole Park of the Cats Paws. It is the
state wide BBI.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
It is a stay wide addition at a big win
sider Dicabriel.

Speaker 3 (34:51):
With Cole Park here in the studio with a Cat's Pas.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Jeff of Coorral or the UK Sports Network and guys,
just one more note on Tennessee as we kind of
morph into the R game. If they can, as Jeff said,
play the way they did against Texas, they got a
shot even on the road, because I firmly believe that. Yeah,
they won against Arkansas last week. But Auburn fans they're
mad at their coach the way Kentucky fans are mad

(35:15):
at their coach. So they'd like to be able to
give up on him that night if they can't. But
Cole and I were going through some of the scoring
from the Tennessee game. Jeff and Kentucky won handily time
of possession against Tennessee and Texas, but for two different
reasons as we know, and Kentucky made life miserable for

(35:40):
arch Manning Aguilar sat back and got the pack of football.
So two different situations, aren't they?

Speaker 5 (35:47):
Yeah, totally different situations. Tennessee. I just great concepts on offense,
and I barely got dirty in the game. I mean
the game was over and he had a white unil
for him on they they're gonna have to get pressure
on the quarterback because when Aguilar had to move, he
wasn't you know. He missed a couple of times, he

(36:08):
missed open receiver once another time he threw he missed
by three yards to a guy that was trying to
run a seam pattern because he was he was on
the run. So they have to bring that. And obviously
getting Souls back helps a little bit there and Jansen Dunn,
both of those guys will probably be back this week.
Waller is still a question mark. I you know, I
just I just don't see him playing. The hamstring is

(36:30):
something you've got to be one hundred percent. You can't
come back at eighty or ninety because you're just gonna
injure it again. But you know, they've got to get
pressure up front. And the problem with Tennessee is they
have three great receivers. If you've got one, you can blitz.
If you got two, you can still bitz. But when
you have three great receivers like Cincinnati does, it makes
it really hard to blitz. So Kentucky was trying to

(36:53):
cover at times, you know, dropping seven and then at
times dropping even eight and only rushing three. But then
that gave agg you know, our time to you know,
go to his third and fourth receivers. In man, they've
got three really good receivers in a really good tight end.
And if you can't win the one on ones up front,
then you're you know, that's where the casses trouble.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
Yeah, I mean, Dick and I were just in here
talking the actual numbers on that. Kentucky held the ball
for thirty six minutes and three seconds while Tennessee had
twenty three minutes fifty seven seconds. Kentucky seventy three plays
of Tennessee's fifty nine and a big part of that
when you look at the drives. I mean, Tennessee's opening
drive to start the game was four plays seventy five
yards for a touchdown. They started the second half after

(37:35):
Kentucky had to you know, wasn't quite able to do
anything with the ball to start the second half. That
drive the first of the third quarter for Tennessee two
plays seventy yards. It's just simply not going to get
it done.

Speaker 5 (37:49):
I mean I can't. Yeah, You're you're exactly right. For
whatever reason, and you know, Dick and I have talked
about this through the years, Like Mississippi State was kind
of a tough team for Kentucky to play because they
were big and strong and really dominated the line of
scrimmage against everybody through the nineties. In two thousands, they're

(38:12):
a little bit different team now they've kind of gone
to more of a spread offense and stuff. But Tennessee
has just always been a really bad matchup for Kentucky
and they're going to be a bad matchup for a
lot of teams. You've got to have an elite defense
and especially an elite secondary to beat them. Ohio State
had that last year and really throut on them because

(38:32):
once they couldn't throw the ball, they could do nothing
even with Stampston at running back against Ohio State. So
it's going to take an elite defense like that to
slow them down. And the games they've played, they've had
some turnovers which they didn't have against Kentucky. And again,
Kentucky still has to play a clean game with whoever
they play. They gave South Carolina fourteen points, it changed

(38:52):
the game. They basically gave Tennessee fourteen points. It changed
the game. They against Texas two punt returns gave fourteen points,
changed the game. You know, it's just they have to
play clean.

Speaker 4 (39:08):
I also have a question for you on the some
of those points Kentucky gave Tennessee. The big one that
sticks out is obviously Cutter Buwlli's pick six tipped right
in the air to the defender. From your perspective, is
that on Cutter Bully to not see him that close
or is that just a really great play made by
the defender there.

Speaker 5 (39:25):
I think it was just a really good play made
by the defensive defensive end there. You know, if he
gets it over his head, if he just throws a
little air underneath it, you know, it gets over his head.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
And he hit him in a helmet, didn't it.

Speaker 5 (39:38):
Yeah, hitting, Yeah, and popped straight up in the air.
But you know, but for Ruke, again, that's a guy
that you're not think is going to be there. He's
the safety and he's the free safety. He came flying
up on that play. I'll tell you what I'll thay
the game. He gave really good run support. He came
flying up on that play thinking it's a run or
an RPO. And yeah, and he threw it and he

(39:59):
was to just knock get it straight up in the here.
And again it's not a basketball, it's the football's oblong,
but it bound straight up in the air and straight
down to it.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Cole and I were talking about the fact that this
game got ugly so quickly, and give Kentucky credit now
cut it down to a twenty eight twenty one at
one point, and it just got away, especially on the road.

Speaker 3 (40:20):
Jeff.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
They cannot let Auburn, which is just looking for anything,
any shred of hope to latch onto. I think, well,
you and I always talk when we talk hees of
the game. Yeah, it's kind of obvious, it's almost cliche,
get off to the good start. But this game, in particular,
this is a kind of game where you might not
win the game in the first few minutes. You could
lose it right.

Speaker 5 (40:40):
Absolutely right, And that's the way it is against Tennessee.
Just a few minutes and the game's over. Yeah, I
mean if you score to make it twenty eight to
twenty one with a minute and ten seconds left in
the half, and they go right down the field and score,
and that I think was the turning point in the game,
makes it thirty five. You know, you can't do anything.
They get it back, boom boom, touchdown. All of a sudden,

(41:00):
it's forty two twenty one. They doubled you up and
literally about five minutes of play on the clock.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
Col and I were talking before went on the air
about the fact that, you know, the offense everyone was
grumbling about, and rightly so the first couple of three
games now is the bright spot. It's fun to watch.
You know what's going to happen next with Cutter? Bowie,
what have you seen in Cutter? And maybe even in
the play calling, although some of Cutter's best moments have
been unbroken plays, you know, but but what have you

(41:27):
seen lately?

Speaker 5 (41:29):
I just think that they're giving him enough time now
to throw and he I think he really likes empty
sets when there's nobody in the backfield, because that's what
he played all through high school with right and like
saintay Christian, they played a wide open offense. So he's
consortable in that. And I think that what they've done

(41:49):
is they've basically eliminated the plays that Calzada enjoyed doing,
and now they've tailored their book more to Cutter's strengths.
And that's what you do as an offensive coordinator. You
go to the quartervet. What do you like? What do
you don't like? I don't like this I don't like this.
I don't like this, all right, that's out of our offense.
Now we do this. I think they're being a little
more creative with their wide receivers and what they're doing

(42:13):
moving Kendrick Law, for instance, putting him in motion and
then throwing it to him down the field on little
outs or little ups or wheels type routes. That's something
they didn't do early this season. All they were doing
was trying to get the jet sweep with him. If
you remember, Now they're moving him from a receiver position
and throwing it to him out in the flat. So
it's totally different defense you're seeing on those plays. And

(42:36):
I just think it's him being comfortable. Look, he's a
big kid. He's six foot five. He's getting more comfortable,
and once you get comfortable, the game has slowed down
to him, and he's I think the sky's the limits
for this kid. I think he has the arm, strength
and the abilities to go to the next level and
play too. I mean, if he keeps improving the way
he is each week. I mean he's through five touchdowns.

(42:59):
I hadn't done since two thousand and seven, and it
took five overtimes. You know, it was a five overtime
game when he threw six. So I mean, and you're
playing against a pretty decent defense too. It's not like
you're playing, you know, in one of the directional schools.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean certainly.

Speaker 5 (43:18):
For Tennessee Military.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
Now, on the notion of being comfortable and broken plays, obviously,
DJ Miller admitted that one of his touchdowns was just
a straight up brooken play. Obviously, Stoops came out also
admitted that another one of DJ Miller's big catches was
a brooke and play. But what I wanted to ask you,
you know, we just talked about how you might not
win this game in the first like right at the beginning,
but you can easily lose this game early on. It's
become a talking point. Obviously, Kentucky got back within striking

(43:44):
range of Tennessee still failed. I believe the stat I've
seen now is that it's a decade since Kentucky's come
back from trailing fourteen ohero for this team. We've seen
multiple offensive coordinators, we've seen multiple players, quarterbacks, all kinds
of why can Kentucky not come back from deathics in
thirty seconds?

Speaker 5 (44:03):
In thirty seconds Wow, that's a great question. Look, ever
since Flarman's been gone, they haven't had the line to
tell you the truth, to be able to just keep
five guys back and keep the quarterback on his feet.
So until they do that, which they're getting better at,
it's going to be really tough to come back from deathics.
It's like that because you've got to throw the ball
down the field instead of short pathy.

Speaker 3 (44:24):
Thank you, Jeff next week.

Speaker 4 (44:25):
That was impressive.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
So long everybody