2025-11-10 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

(00:25):
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 (00:35):
Hell everybody through the facility of the iHeartMedia megaplex. This
is Dick Gabriel. This is the state wide edition of
the Big Blue Society. You've heard Tom Leach and Mark
Stoops and Darren Hedrick along with Kenny Brooks and Jack Gibbons.
We're gonna keep right on rolling tonight. We're gonna talk
Kentucky basketball, football, and volleyball with Cole Park and Jeff
Picoro and Leah Edmond will join us as well.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
Stay with us.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
So you're listening to the state wide BBI from Pikeville too, Paduka,
it is the Big Bloon Sider, Dick Abriel. Cole Park's
here in the studio with us. He of course covers
the Wildcats for the Cats pause. He is a busy,
busy young man covering both football and basketball. We will

(01:18):
start with basketball, given the fact that Tomorrow night it's
Kentucky and Louisville and Cole. I know you've not been
on the beat that long, but you grew up in
the state of Kentucky. Before you began to cover the Wildcats,
you would you could root for the Cats. And it
just feels weird, doesn't it that it's not uku l
with the players looking forward to Christmas, you know, I
mean they are, but it's not coming right up.

Speaker 4 (01:40):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
It's it's just odd that basketball is going to proceed football.

Speaker 5 (01:44):
Yeah, it almost seems like nature is responding to this
schedule by letting it snow today.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
You know, this early on in the cycle.

Speaker 5 (01:51):
But no, it is weird, right like, you know, you're
so used to this being a December game, closer to
Christmas later in the year. But no, it's it's exciting.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:59):
Kentucky will still have a couple of big games they're
non conference leading up to it, but this is a
mighty big test. Obviously, some of the louisvill fans are
a bit frustrated by the AP rankings that came out today.
I believe they suffered because Alabama thrived with their big
win over believe it was Saint John's. Yeah, yeah, the
fighting Rick Patinos. But it's exciting, you know. Kentucky maybe

(02:23):
was dreading that level matchup a little bit after the
Nichols first half, but then you come out against Valpariza,
you look really really good offensively, you have a lot
better of a showing, and now you got your roster
mostly healthy again. Eager to get up there to the
Young Center once again. And I've only ever covered a
game there once in my years covering.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
It is a really nice arena, but it'd better be
for the money they spent.

Speaker 5 (02:47):
Yeah, I mean, you're trying to attract an NBA team
that I would hope. It's a pretty nice arena. But
it was nice when I was up there last time,
and I'm excited to see this one. Hopefully this time
will be a bit better of a game than it
was last when I was up there, because that was
the Kenny Payne era.

Speaker 2 (03:00):
Yeah. And what's weird about this game, though, excuse me,
is we don't know that much really about either team.
We know a lot about Kentucky having covered this team,
seen the exhibitions. It all been in terms of ballgame reactions,
you know, game action. Like you said, we've seen a
couple of exhibitions, we've seen a couple of regular season game.

(03:21):
Same thing with Louisville. Usually when these teams play, there's
a pretty substantial body of work, you know, so they'll
they'll go at each other while they're learning about themselves,
won't they.

Speaker 5 (03:32):
Yeah, I mean certainly it's you know, watching other than
exhibitions and stuff from years prior. With some of these players.
The four teams you have to look at film for
to watch on these teams are Nichols, Valparizo, South Carolina State,
and Jackson State. So not a lot of no disrespect
to any of those schools, but not a lot of
teams that are really going to challenge you that much

(03:54):
this early in the season when you're a team the
caliber of Kentucky or Louisville, So you're going to be
kind of learning on the fly a little bit too.
And then you always have those questions of you know,
in both cases, what have these coaches shown so far?
Would they have any kind of tricks up their sleeves
they've been waiting to pull out because they knew this
one was this early in the schedule. Obviously, for Kentucky,
we haven't really seen them with their true lineup yet

(04:15):
with you know, Nichols. Obviously Denzel was a bit limited
in that one. You got Jalen Low back for Valparaiso.
Trenton Noah was out for Valparaiso. So we'll see what
that looks like when it comes time for the Louisville game.
And I'm very excited for it personally.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
How do you feel about where Kentucky is right now
with its point guard situation? I mean, Lois back didn't start.
I can't really comment on how good he looked because
I watched that one on TV, and you know, I
couldn't really watch him off the ball, but I can't
imagine he's one hundred percent yet, you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, I mean I felt pretty good watching him play.

Speaker 5 (04:52):
I mean, he his efficiency wasn't the best for two
from beyond the arc, two for seven from the field
for six points, but he he finished with five assists
and no turnovers a plus minus of twenty three, which
was pretty high up on the team there. So it
felt clear that even if maybe his shots didn't fall
at all times, it felt like there was a comfortability

(05:14):
when he came out on the floor, you know, not
that not that there isn't a comfortability with Denzel, you know,
running it there, but certainly compared to when Colin Chandler's running.
And that's not a knock on Colin Chandler. He's not
a true point guard and he's been kind of had
to play that role and he's done the best he
can with it. I would even say Colin Chandler looks
better himself when he's able to play his true position more.
But you can tell that this team is ready for

(05:36):
Jalen to be the point guard. Yeah, they looked like
they settled in a lot when he was out there.
They looked comfortable. He was distributing. I mean five assists
and no turnovers for a guy coming off a shoulder
injury his.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Very first game. And I don't care who you're playing, Yeah,
it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
At the center.

Speaker 5 (05:51):
Yeah like that, that's a good showing for a point guard.
And you know it showed in the end of the day.
I mean, Kentucky was shooting the ball well, they were
moving the ball well offensively, and they played some good
defense too. But one hundred and seven points. I mean,
I think that's the last the first time they've scored
one hundred points since the Florida game last year in January.
So it was a fun one and it was one

(06:12):
that unlike the Nickels game, there wasn't a ton in
this one that you're like, uh, don't love that. Now,
You're like, this is what I expected Kentucky to be.
Now let's see him against a more actual opponent.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
And we haven't spoken that because we were prempted last
week since the Nickels game, I don't think. Yeah, And
I was amazed, and I guess everybody was. I'm sure
Mark Pope was. And how often the shot clock was
in the last final ticks, Yeah, I mean shades of
severe Wheelers year right or years and which wasn't entirely

(06:45):
his fault, but that's just the way that offense. As
the previous coach, they would get stuck. And it did
get stuck, which was I think ninety five percent about it.
And I'm not again Blay mc collin Chandler just they
didn't their proper point guard in place. So it just
makes a huge difference, doesn't it.

Speaker 5 (07:03):
Yeah, absolutely, I mean I I think when you can
see the offense kind of scheming and setting something up
early in the shot clock, there's less of that hasn't see.
I mean, I think as a fan and a media
member watching it, you can feel it. But I'm sure
you feel it on the core too. And you see
those numbers start clocking down, getting closer and closer to zero,
you know, the adrenaline starts to rise that we're like,
all right, I need to make something happen here. I
need to do something now. And that's where you start

(07:25):
seeing those those bad shots, those four shots, the things
that aren't quite ready, trying to force a pass that's
not there yet, and there turnovers come from that, and
bad shots come from that. And I think we saw
a decent amount of that against Nichols and still feels
weird not to call them Nickel state.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yes, that's going to take some adjusting for.

Speaker 5 (07:42):
Me, but regardless, it looked a lot more comfortable against Valparizo.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
It looked a lot better. And we saw that in
the point scored.

Speaker 5 (07:50):
I mean it was across the board forty eight points
in the paint, forty bench points, fifteen points off turnovers.
You know, just a really, really good offensive showing, and
it felt a lot more cohesion. It felt more cohesive
than we've seen in the Georgetown exhibition Nichols game, And
depending on who you ask, I would say it even
looked more cohesive than the Purdue game. And that might

(08:10):
not feel like it because the Perdue game was a
really big win over the number one team, which is
not the number one team anymore. But I think in
terms of just pure offense, this was a better game
than even that. This is probably the best the Cats
all his shots. Yeah, this is the best they've looked
all year.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
They were on fire early. Yeah, you know, now you
mentioned Georgetown again an exhibition, but Georgetown did a superb job,
maybe better than anybody they played last year, of taking
away the back door cuts, and of course Amrio Williams
was a wizard at that kind of thing, and boy,
what a game he had in a gelague heetter I
but they did look better at that against Valpo. But

(08:49):
my point is, I think what Georgetown did now that's
going to be the blueprint or taking that away, or
at least trying to take that away from this Mark
Pope offense, because it's such a vital call in that attack,
isn't it. Yeah?

Speaker 5 (09:02):
Absolutely, I mean it's it's something that they they really
you know, make kind of their bread and butter at times.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
It's something that they work really well with.

Speaker 5 (09:09):
And I think Mark Pope admitted that after the Georgetown
get me said they exposed us in ways that you know,
Purdue didn't and that we didn't expose ourselves. And granted
it's still outside of the top twenty five right now,
they received a vote with some respect, they received a vote,
but Georgetown did just get a big win over Buzz
Williams at Maryland.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
Big win.

Speaker 5 (09:27):
They're they're they're trying to get that program back, but
they did. They did show the blueprint, didn't they. And
I think the the interesting thing now is people want
to say it's easy now the blueprints out there, but
do you have a team that can actually execute the blueprint?
Because I quite frankly, I'm not trying to diss but
I think even if Valparizo knew that there wasn't a.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
Hole up, they could do about it.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
But Louisville, yes, it's the key got more athletes.

Speaker 5 (09:49):
It does Louisville, Yeah, can they actually capitalize on that
blueprint and make the most we'll see. And you know, Kentucky,
you also know if you're Kentucky, that.

Speaker 3 (09:59):
You did get exposed in that one.

Speaker 5 (10:01):
You know, you know that that tapes out there, and
what kind of corrections do you make to overcome your
own weaknesses now that you know that that's out there,
because a lot of teams can't do that.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Kenny Brooks spoke to Darren Hendrick a few minutes ago
about the value of going on the road, you know,
and of course they wanted to take Claria Strack home
and she had a wonderful game and that was great.
But he just talked about, you know, getting a feel
for what it's going to be like on the road.
And granted, this isn't a plane ride. I don't know
if they stayed in a hotel last night, you know,

(10:31):
in Louisville, but they're going to get a real taste
of what it's going to be like in a hostile environment.
That's that's a big plus regardless, isn't it. Yeah?

Speaker 5 (10:40):
Absolutely, And I think that, you know, it was easy
to kind of make fun during the Kenny Payne era
when you know, Blue was in that stadium more than Red.
At times, it felt like, oh yeah, I think that,
you know, it feels odd to give credit to Louisville
at times, but Louisville is a big program and they're
a good program, and they're one of those programs that
I can of feel like, you know, with the sport,

(11:02):
college basketball is better when Kentucky and Louisville are both good.
You know, one of my favorite games of all time
to go back and watch is that Final four game
between the Guy and Okad T A good game. It
was a great game and it could have gone either way.
I think that was better than the actual championship quite
frankly against Kansas.

Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well they knew each other.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yeah, So like the.

Speaker 5 (11:22):
Team, the sport is better when those two teams are good,
and those are two very big brands in the sport.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
And when Louisville is good and they are.

Speaker 5 (11:28):
Good right now, you know, they've got excitement again with
Pat Kelsey, They've got recruits again with Pat Kelsey. They've
got a pretty big ranking with Pat Kelcey. They got
back to the tournament. So I expect it to be
a very hostile environment. You know, this is probably the
last year a little bit. They're pretty injured by the
time Kentucky went to play and they were STI kind
of favorite things out. This year is probably gonna be
the first real year for Louisville. They want to get

(11:50):
their get back on Kentucky and they feel like they're
in a position to do so. So Kentucky feels like
they're in a position to keep them down longer. Louill
feels like they're in a position to get back on top.
So I think that's going to be a really rowdy atmosphere.
I think it's going to be a very hostile one,
and I think it's going to be very valuable for
Kentucky going forward.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
And what's also fascinating is you've got new faces on
both rosters who have never been a part of this.
But you know, from the moment both sides set foot
on campus, they both heard, Hey, you've got to get
those guys for us. You got to get Louisville for you,
Gotta get Kentucky for us. So should be fun when
we come back. Speaking the fun, we're going to talk
volleyball with Leah Edmund of the SEC Network. A little

(12:27):
bit later on, we'll talk with Jeff pericorl about Kentucky
Football Cats coming up with a chance to make it
three straight back in just a minute on the state
Wide BBI from Pike hild Too, Paduki it is the
Big Will Insider, Dick Gabriel Cole Park from the cash
Ball let us welcome in on our Celebrity Highline, my

(12:49):
broadcast partner on SEC Plus, and a lady who worked
Kentucky Tennessee Volleyball for ESPN on Sunday afternoon, Miss Lee
Edmund the All America.

Speaker 4 (12:59):
How are you so I'm doing?

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Tell me a little bit about your stress level, and
you've got to play it right down the middle. You've
got to be objective, as objective as possible. But Tennessee
took that first set and they were making life difficult
in set number two. What was your stress level like
on the inside.

Speaker 4 (13:19):
Uh, it was a little high. They came out strong
that first set, and I was like, oh my goodness,
because the first thing that came to mind was the
last game that Craig wanted a bunch of people to
be at was my sophomore year against Florida, and we
did it and then we got swept, and I was like,
oh my gosh, please don't let that happen. That would
be the worst possible thing to happen right now, but

(13:42):
they made up for it. But especially after Eva kind
of tweaked her ankle, I was like, oh, my goodness,
what is about to happen?

Speaker 2 (13:48):
Oh, you and me, book, because that happened right in
front of me and right up from you. She was
in some serious pain, wasn't she.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
Yeah, it looked like it. And I was kind of
frustrated from a volleyball standpoint because when we saw the replay,
like what was clearly fully over under the net, and
so it should have been a Kentucky point in that situation.
So from a player standpoint, you hate when that happens,
and you hate when it gets called even more so
I was happy that they at least replayed the point.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Well, yeah, it was weird. It was a do over,
which you know, I didn't understand anyhow. What what did
Tennessee do? Did they expose something Kentucky was not doing well?
Or how did that happen?

Speaker 4 (14:28):
I think the thing with Tennessee compared to a lot
of the other SEC schools is that some of the
other SEC schools have like that one player or maybe
a one or two player that really does it all
for them. And if you can shut those people down,
then you're in a good spot. But Tennessee, almost all
their hitters contributed, and especially their right side hitter contributed

(14:51):
a lot, and she was getting killed in the same
place over and over again. And it's just they have
so many different weapons. You have multiple people that had
at least five kilds on side, and it wasn't like
it was happening just one set Like this set, this
person was going off, and then the next set it
was another person. It was consistently the same people over
and over here and getting killed. And as a defense

(15:12):
that's really difficult because now you have to sit there
and actually have to play defense. You can't kind of scheme.
You might be able to scheme a little bit in
an out of system situation, but for the most part
you're sitting there and waiting and seeing who's going to
get set because they have so many different options and
their setterre is really really good, and her being offensive
too kind of adds on to that level of like
we have no clue who's going to get the ball

(15:33):
at any given point.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
See, and that's usually what Kentucky does to other people, right.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
Yes, it was kind of flipped. You saw it on
both sides for ones.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, and of course Kentucky with the two big hitters
in Brooklyn delay on an Eva who you know, sat
out for a little while. It wasn't that weird to
see her sitting on the sideline for a while.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
Yeah. We kind of at first didn't catch it because
we just like she played the rest of the first set,
so we assumed and we didn't se anything of it
until we saw a trainee Wards standing in front of
and we were like, wait a second, Yeah, he was
not in, And I was really I mean, knowing how
she is, that is not shocking that she wanted to
get in. She even said to us post game that

(16:11):
she was just shocked that she didn't start the second set.
She was ready to go. I was like, well, that
is adrenaline one, because I definitely know that you're feeling
that ankle now that you've had a second to sit
down and you're not playing anymore. But yeah, it was
very weird to.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
Not sear before We talk with Liam in the UK
Al American of course, as part of the coverage of
Kentucky Tennessee. She'll join me on Friday on SEC Plus
when the Wildcats have a weekend to close things out
at home. Let's back up to the days prior when
Craig Skinner jumped up on the desk at the press
conference to shot from the rooftops and I hear you giggling.

(16:49):
Did that surprise you much, because you know he has
been trying to get folks to fill that place. Really
since you all started winning championships here, he's been a
little frustrated. There have been some great crowds, but not
consistently great. The message got through, But what was your
reaction when you saw that.

Speaker 4 (17:07):
I was like, there is no way he's on a table,
because at first I saw the video and I was like, oh, like,
you's telling people that come. And then I kept watching
and I saw him stand up and I was like,
oh my god. I mean, I am not shocked that
he didn't, because he is very much like if he's
really trying to get something done, he will go to
the extreme. So I thought it was hilarious. And then

(17:27):
we just kept I kept seeing like different edits of it,
and then they when they dug into it and had
him at the top of rep I was like, oh
my goodness. I was like, if this doesn't get a
bunch of fans to come to the game. I mean,
I don't know what else he could possibly do. I
told him he needs to go shoot the fireworks off
the top of the football stadium with the guy that
does it, And I said that would really hammer it
in to be that guy that stands over there in
the corner. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Yeah, did you all get frustrated a minute to me
now when you were playing that your crowds weren't bigger
moll you guys were doing was winning championships.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
Yeah. I mean from that standpoint that it is frustrating
when you're playing so well, when you're top ten team
in the nation and you just are still kind of like, well,
where's everybody? Like, we're top ten and usually when you're
top ten, everybody wants to see you, and it still
didn't feel like that. So it was kind of like
seeing that line outside of Memorial, I was like, well,

(18:17):
finally we've hit a point that now people want to
see and like it sucks because now there's only two
games left, But I'm just kind of like, just because
you did it on Sunday does not mean Friday and
this Sunday that you don't still come out, like you
can still come out and watch them, especially because it
is the last two times you're going to be able
to watch them the regular season, because tournament is a
completely different situation of your kind of neutral. You don't

(18:40):
get the same allotment because technically you're just hosting. So
I hope people will continue to come out. But it's
just a thing of like they've been top five the
entire year, and that was the first game that you
had that they really showed out for, and that's kind
of sad that it took that long to do it
with how well they've been playing. But I'm hoping that
it became comes a normal that it should be that

(19:01):
passed because there hasn't been a year yet where you
can say, well, there was a down year, so after
people haven't come out yet like they need to prove
themselves again, Like no, they're continuing to go up, and
this is probably one of those teams that's going to
make a really deep front. So it's going to really
suck for some of those fans that didn't to see
them play and say that they got to watch greatness
right happen right in front of them.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
I got there, super early, just for one thing, I
wanted a parking place. But yeah, the first thing Lea
said to me was she pointed to the line out front, said,
this is insane. But that's good. That's a good thing.
And you know you've played in places, well you know
what it's like in Nebraska, Creighton and you know some
of the big ten spots. Yeah, they packed the house
like that. A few minutes up with Leah, edmund U

(19:42):
Calle American worked the Kentucky Tennessee match for ESPN. So
now let's go to the end of set to and beyond.
How did Kentucky turn that match around?

Speaker 4 (19:55):
Well, I think, first of all, it kind of I
think the offense changed a little bit for Kentucky because
it was clear that they weren't setting EVA anymore. And
I think that allowed, I guess, new opportunities for other people.
And I think Tennessee had a really high error amount
and that was kind of like the thing that we
were talking about, and the thing that we were watching
is that they were giving a lot of points to Kentucky.

(20:15):
And that's kudos to Kentucky of putting them in situations
that made them very uncomfortable. I mean, Kentucky had fourteen blocks.
When you have fourteen blocks, you get inside of the
hitter's head. So you saw a lot of those Tennessee
hitters starting to hit balls out. They were hitting balls
into the net, hipping balls out like they just started
making mistakes because they were like, I don't want to
get blocked. I don't want to have to deal with that.
And so just Kentucky put a lot more pressure on them.

(20:36):
You saw the pressure from the service line increase a lot.
You saw a lot more aces, miscommunications, and those situations
where you saw your setter there set are running to
try to get a ball, and those are the situations
that allowed Kentucky to capitalize. Because you're getting easy ball back,
you can run your entire offense. And even though they
didn't set her a lot, Eva Hudson still was getting
killed because I just don't think Tennessee was expecting her

(20:57):
to swing a lot, and so then when she did
get the swing, she was only in one on one situations,
maybe had two blockers. If they did come to her,
they were late, and so she was still getting opportunities.
But I think Kentucky just capitalized on all the errors
that Tennessee made and they played cleaner volleyball for a
longer period of time.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Got good serving runs from Molly Tuzzo from Eva they
didn't get, for obvious reasons, the defense that they had
been getting. She didn't block it quite as effectively because
I guess she obviously couldn't push off on that ankle,
didn't have quite as many digs. But people picked up
the slack, didn't they.

Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, definitely, And we talked to her, She's like that
was like a relief knowing that you don't have to
be the person getting all the kills and you're gonna
win a game. I mean, that's been the story for
Kentucky all year, is that so many different people have
showed up for them, and that's what makes them so
hard to stop because you just never know who's going
to have a good game.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
You got to think that they're going to be primed
and ready this weekend with so much on the line, right, Oh.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
Yeah, I mean it's not a weekend to kind of
take off. Yes, you've played probably the hardest team you've played.
Maybe the past two weekends have been their biggest challenges
in terms of teams, and you know you're you've already
secured the top seed or top four seed for the tournament.
So it's definitely just because you have all that does
not mean that changes. You still have to at least

(22:15):
win on Friday to get a share. So like you
have to be just as focused now than you were
maybe three weeks ago, because this is when it really matters,
is how you show maturity, especially going into that tournament.
You don't come in and take anything off, especially against
two teams that have the people that can knock off
a team and would love to do nothing more to
an endur season that.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Way, Hey, looking forward to working with your Friday. A
nice job the other night, and we'll see you soon.

Speaker 4 (22:39):
I appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
Thanks, thank you so much. Leah Edmund, who's a multiple
All American at Kentucky. And of course the Wildcats looking
for their ninth consecutive SEC championship. Truth be told, had
they loss to Tennessee, they could have absorbed that loss.
They might have had to share the championship, but they
want to win it out right, of course, and every
time you win, you improve your seating and your situation.

(23:04):
They're already, Leah referred to hosting. They're already gonna host
the first couple of rounds. You got to win. Of
course there's no buy, but Kentucky's used to hosting, and
now it's just no matter how far the Wildcat's going
to be able to go in postseason play. But they
got Oklahoma coming up and you'll see it on SEC
Plus when we come back. JEFFI Coro the UK network

(23:25):
joints Cold and Me and we'll be talking Kentucky football
here on the Statewide BBI. It is the state wide
edition of the Big Bloon Sider that Gabriel Cole Bark.
We'll be joining Jeff of Corrol Binkers Cross Bey opened
a little while but I mentioned earlier Cole has been

(23:45):
busy covering both football and basketball. I've asked everybody, and
I think I know the answer. Well, well, I've already
talked to you about it because we bumped into each
other after the game. But nobody could have seen that
coming Saturday night. All due respect, so the Wildcats did
her families anybody. I can't imagine. Mark Stoops thought that
he would have settled a course for a one point win,

(24:07):
but come on, that was a blowout. How did this happen?

Speaker 5 (24:13):
Yeah, I mean, this caught me very off guard. I
did predict Kentucky would win. I went into a percting.
I just felt I felt it, you know, I felt
last time they got a home win was against Florida
in the SEC. I felt like, you know, they've kind
of had Florida's number a little bit more lately under
Mark Stoops. And I also felt like, you know, the
win against Auburn. This this has always kind of felt

(24:36):
like a team to me. Mark Stoops has said it
all year that this is a better football team than
last year, and whether or not those results were there,
I felt like this was one of those teams that
was just waiting to finally break through. And when they
finally got that win in Auburn, I thought they might
be able to carry it over into a second one.
But I guessed twenty eight to twenty four was my
prediction for this one. I thought it was going to
be a bit closer.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
It was not.

Speaker 5 (24:58):
It was a pretty much start to finish. I mean, granted,
Florida ended the first quarter leading seven to three after
basically being awarded a touchdown on a silver platter.

Speaker 3 (25:06):
Obviously, that's that's tough.

Speaker 5 (25:07):
With a muffed punt there that sets them up for
a first down in the red zone, but Kentucky responds
with a twenty one zero second quarter. Imagine telling Kentucky
after the South Carolina game, just wait, just wait, you'll
get an SEC win on the back of a twenty
one zero second quarter in your favor. I asked Busch
about that. He had a he appreciated it, but I mean,

(25:31):
after the game, you know, you get into the second quarter,
Kentucky scores thirty five unanswered points. I mean, that's ridiculous.
I don't want to say any kind of thing about
this Florida team that isn't fair. I don't want to
pretend that I'm in that Florida locker room. But it
kind of felt like Kentucky a little bit last year
in terms of I don't know that.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
Letting go of the row, quitting.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Quite frankly, it felt like a cliche.

Speaker 5 (25:57):
Yeah, it felt like after it started to get out
of hand, it was a lot easier for Florida to say,
we fired our coach, this game is not going our way,
we don't want to be here.

Speaker 3 (26:10):
Let's get out.

Speaker 5 (26:11):
It's cold as usually, but it was cold.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
It was a special one.

Speaker 5 (26:19):
Though, I think that, you know, you can't put too
much stock in beating Auburn and Florida. You don't want
to act like you know they're completely back, but they won.
These are games they should have won, and they won them.
So I don't really know why some people are still
trying to downplay that.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
I mean, may I interject, yeah, of course, because it's
given what had happened with Kentucky and some of the
mistakes it had made, it's difficult to look at that
team and think you should win at Auburn. I don't
care how many problems Auburn's had, but it's still a
road to SEC game against the team that's got really

(26:55):
good players. Same deal with Florida. You know you should
win this game. Well, Florida had a lead on Georgia
with the ball in the fourth quarter last week. Yeah,
So how do you look at a Kentucky at a
Kentucky and say you should win this game. I know
you're at home, but you should win that game. That
to me, I felt like when I was thinking in
those regards that was it was a bit of a stretch,

(27:17):
and yet in hindsight, we should have been thinking that, right.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
Yeah, I agree.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
I think that these were I guess maybe not should win,
but they were WINNA Bowl games for Kentucky and the
grand scheme of this schedule, and Kentucky won them. And
that sets up a whole lot of really interesting conversations
because now you went from two and five to four
and five. You've got an FCS school, a good one
at that, a top ten one at that, but an
FCS school, and the schedule left, and then you got

(27:42):
two ranked matchups in the season. A bowl game is
back on the table, you know, and both winnable. Both
winnable too. I mean these are ranked games, yes, but
to say that Louisville and Vandy are the same tier
as Georgia, per se, I wouldn't say that, not even close.
So they're winnable game. It's I mean seven and five
six and is on the table now. Kentucky needs to
keep its foot on the gas, for sure. But we're

(28:05):
looking at a completely different season now than we were
just a few weeks ago. We're looking at a completely
different outlook or on this program than we were a
few weeks ago. And I just I don't know. Going
into the Florida game, I think I had that feeling.
I think after the Auburn win, I was like, everything
they've been saying about this being a better team that
just needs to finally break through, I said, maybe, just

(28:29):
maybe they were telling the truth.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
And to your point about the ad look on the season,
I fully agree and two big reasons. Number one the
Vandy Auburn game. I mean, we all saw what Kentucky
did to Auburn. Right at Auburn and same team, same coaches,
same play callers. Maybe could have and maybe should have
won that game. A Vandy at Vandy now, well without

(28:54):
Hugh Freeze right, true, Well that's right, Yeah, they weren't
the same play callers. You're right about that, they did
things differently. I stand corrected there, but same players.

Speaker 3 (29:02):
Talents, the players are exactly right.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Louisville, which has had a nice season going but has
lost inexplicably two games at home one of You know,
Virginia is a pretty good team.

Speaker 3 (29:14):
The gold Bears will come for you all.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Cat's right. Cal has not been but Cal has a
superbly talented freshman quarterback. But still Louisville shouldn't lose that game.
So now they look more, they look mortal compared not
that they looked immortal before, but a little more beatable,
I guess I should say.

Speaker 4 (29:31):
So.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
Yeah, here's why I thought Kentucky could beat Florida, and
I thought I had a really good shot. And you
touched on some of these already. As we mentioned, they
lose to Georgia, spit the lead, blow the opportunity, kids
were in tears on the sideline, and I remember watching
that thing. That's going to be really hard to come
back from. And then Kentucky with all kinds of confidence

(29:55):
coming in and I thought, just come close to duplicating
that defensive effort against Florida. You got a real shot.
And now I did not expect the blowout. No, I
did not. And I thought Cutter Bowley, who was okay
at Auburn good enough, managed the game pretty well, took
another big step forward. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (30:14):
I mean, if you want me to go more in
depth on some of that after the Tennessee game, I
think the Tennessee game, obviously, I know that was a
particular week point for Kentucky. You know, they were really
beaten up in the DBS in the corners, and Tennessee
has that special offense that can really exploit that. I
thought the Tennessee game. Regardless of those factors, that would
have been an easy opportunity for this team to let

(30:35):
go of the rope, to give up. But going into
Auburn week, I just I don't know. I still predicted
Kentucky to lose in my official predictions, but like there
was a little pit in my gut that I was like,
they could win this one at Auburn because it's Auburn
and Auburn is shaky right now, that's true. And then
to win, not even just to win, but to win
the way they did at Auburn. I know the offense

(30:56):
wasn't necessarily there. People felt frustrated by.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
That in that one.

Speaker 5 (30:58):
But the defense, I mean that was a masterclass defensively
in Auburn. The special teams was phenomenal in Auburn, and
the offense did enough to get him there. So going
into the Florida week, you know, I felt more confidence
because obviously this defense has been a bit of a
rollercoaster at times this year. But based on what we
saw at Auburn, Nasir Addison looks phenomenal at corner. He

(31:19):
filled that role by Ryan Nichols really really well. With
Ryan going down DJ Waller's getting closer and closer to
getting back.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
We also saw, you.

Speaker 5 (31:27):
Know, the DB's playing well, the linebackers playing well enough,
the defensively line doing well. And on offense, even in
spite of some of those performances, even in spite of
some of the struggles Bolldy had in Auburn, the offensive
line has been blocking significantly better. SETH McGowan is, you know,
kind of getting his groove back after being kind of
beaten up for a little while there. He scored some

(31:48):
touchdowns against Florida, and I also felt like against Florida,
Dante kind of found his stride again, got another one
of those really long rushes that he like he did
in this season open against Toledo. The passing attack has
been getting better and better, mixing, incorporating guys. I mean,
we saw Jason Patterson catch a touchdown against Florida, you know,
I And it was early on. It wasn't like that
was in garbage time. It was pretty early on that

(32:09):
Jason Patterson got a touchdown, So that surprised me a
little bit. But and the special teams, I mean, Aiden
Laurross just been phenomenal punting that football, and they didn't
have to quite as many times against Florida as they
did against Auburn. Uh yeah, not a one, not a one.
But you know, he was reliable if you needed him
to be. He's been doing really, really well at pinning

(32:30):
that really brilliant.

Speaker 3 (32:32):
I mean it was. It was.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
Honestly, it feels like one of the if not something
you highlight that often, but probably one of the best
punting performances I've ever seen, you know, just being able
to pin them right against their own end zone consistently
and then giving your defense, which having been shaky prior.
I mean, Brad White wasn't kidding when he said they
had a bad taste in their mouth after the Tennessee game,
that they wanted to get that taste out of their
mouth because they they were phenomenal. I mean, the last

(32:55):
two games of the season, they've allowed to combined ten points.
I mean, that's ridiculous, and Kentucky I believe maybe I
wouldn't have in them after Week one, but after what
we've seen from Cutter Bull in this offense and how
it's shifted and grown throughout the season. If the defense
is allowing less than ten points a game, Kentucky has
the offense to score more than ten points, and so

(33:15):
far they've scored at or more than ten points and
back to back weeks. While the defense has been phenomenal,
the special team has been holding up its end of
the bargain with the muff punt.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
Admittedly, but.

Speaker 5 (33:26):
I think that I just I believe. I'm not going
to say that it's necessarily what some people hoped it.

Speaker 3 (33:32):
Would be when the season started.

Speaker 5 (33:34):
You know, there's certainly been some of those trials and
tribulations out the year, but I believe it's very evident
this is a much better Kentucky football team. And so
many of these position groups are just one to one comparison,
vastly improved. And the biggest thing to me. Stoops can
continue to decline to make an official comment, and I
respect him for doing so. I want to say that

(33:56):
I respect that he will not comment on it. The
culture of this team, locker room, the way these guys
don't quit, the way these guys want to win, the
way these guys talk after every loss, after every win.
This is just a much better football team. It's a
very professional football team, it feels at times, and.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
Well, I travel with them, yeah, and win or lose,
and we have not yet traveled until this past weekend.
I mean, Auburn was like they won the SC title,
but prior to that, you know, you could tell they
were still engaged with each other even after a loss
on the road, and that's a telltale sign.

Speaker 6 (34:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (34:30):
I mean I think that this group, you can just
you can tell they care about each other. And you
can tell that, as weird as it sounds in the
modern era with the transfer portal and some man of
these guys are in transfers, that you can tell they
actually care about this team. They care about their coaches,
and they care about representing this you know Kentucky right well,
they care about the name on the front of their jersey,
and that to me is a very special thing in

(34:51):
this modern era, especially of you know, nil and the
transfer portal and so many of these guys coming from
other places. And I got to have a prett good conversation
actually after the Florida game with Josh Brown about kind
of some of that and that topic that I'll have
coming in a story later this week. But I just
think that the way this team carries themselves compared to
a year ago, the way this team responds to adversity

(35:13):
compared to a week ago. I mean, it was fitting
that one of the first questions Stoops got asked after
the Florida game is this team could have imploded.

Speaker 3 (35:20):
Why didn't they?

Speaker 2 (35:21):
You know, it's a great question.

Speaker 5 (35:22):
It's a great question because you look at everything that happened.
I don't want to say better, but teams that had
more maybe pure talent than this one have fallen apart
with the circumstances of Kentucky's face and they haven't.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
All right, we have mister Jeff Pecorral on the line
from the UK Sports Network Champion. Hello, let me ask
you the question that somebody put to Mark Stoops when
you and I were up doing the postgame radio show.
Why do you believe this Kentucky team did not implode
when it had every opportunity prior to the win at
Auburn and of course to the win versus Florida.

Speaker 6 (36:01):
I just think that this team took time to gel
to come together. I mean, Dick, you and I have
talked about this. It's a different era of college football now,
and I just think it takes time, especially on the
offensive line, to get in sync with each other. We

(36:22):
talk about it being a dance and it's like dance steps,
and I just think it's taken a while for them
to get comfortable with each other. Against a really good
defense at Auburn and it's against a really good defense
at Florida. They really kind of didn't what they wanted.
You know, they controlled the clock at Auburn and really

(36:43):
could have been Florida fifty to nothing.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Did you see any of that coming, Jeff? On Saturday night,
because you and I hung out after the game, we
talked to a lot of people, you know who had
this on their Bengo card, But any part of that
win over Florida did you see it?

Speaker 6 (37:03):
I didn't think that it would be as big a
victory as it was. I thought Kentucky could win. Yeah,
I just didn't think it would be. And to put
it bluntly, as easy as it was, I mean that
was an easy win. Yeah, I mean they just they
just steamrolled them. I know, I did not see that coming.
You know. The the unfortunate thing is you lost three players,

(37:25):
and that's huge, and two of them for the rest
of the season. That that really hurts. But you know,
he's built some depth on this team at Key positions
and you know hopefully, well, you know, hopefully they can
come through it.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
Jeff.

Speaker 5 (37:39):
Obviously Auburn was a bit of a you know, defensive
battle there, but coming back to this one, it felt
like another continuation with some minor errors in there from
you know, different players at times. But the offense put
up four hundred and one yards you know, one hundred
and sixty others in the air, Cutter Bowlly throws for
two more touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
You just want to ask you again.

Speaker 5 (37:56):
I feel like I've asked this before, but just the
revitalization of this offense and what they've been doing, the
receivers getting more involved, the receivers that you know couldn't
seem to get open before making multiple receptions, big receptions.
I mean, what, what does Kentucky change so much in
this offense that's worked so well to lead to these
kind of performances.

Speaker 6 (38:14):
Well, I think that as an offensive player, Okay, and
I'm coming from from when I played. And this has
nothing to do with Zach's leadership ability or quarterbacking skills,
but when you got a guy that is a likable
cat back there at quarterback, is a confident dude, is

(38:37):
a is a you know, just tried and true blue blood.
You know you're gonna run through a wall for that guy.
We had that in Bill Ramstall. You know, he was
a guy that we liked as a person. It's a
guy that was a Kentucky bread you know, who had
ties to the University of Kentucky. And I just think

(38:59):
the guy like that, especially in this day and age
with so much movement, when you've got a guy that
you can get behind, who you know is going to
play as hard as a tough kid, I just think
you respond to that better. And they have responded to
what Cutter has been able to do.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Yeah, we'll take a break, come back and talk more
football with Jeff and Cole here on the state wide
edition of the Big Blue and Cider Welcome Back final
segment with Jeffercorro the UK Sports Network and Cole Park
from the Cat's Balls Wildcats if Tennessee Tech coming up

(39:37):
attended no team a good FCS team, Jeff, where as
you and I grew up calling it one double A.
But people talked about the Georgia Mississippi State game being
a potential trap game, and Kirby Smart is fond of
saying it's not a trap game if you prepare. Mark
Stoop said a similar thing on the show Tonight said

(39:58):
it to us today at his news conference. You've got
to prepare the way you prepare for the last two
games really all year for this team. But is it
still subconsciously do you think it's a danger?

Speaker 6 (40:13):
Yes and no. No, because they're undefeated and they score
like fifty a games, so you know this isn't you know,
some sister of the poor Cuminator play. These guys can
really play, So no, I think because they're undefeated too,
they want to prove, so you know you're going to
be in a football game. Dick, I do have to
add one quick thing for your listeners out there. I
seventy five North is a parking lot. Do not get

(40:35):
on it New Circle Road. I'm sorry, man. A war
road is closed from Nicholas Bow Road all the way
past there, and there's a six car pile up there,
so be careful if you have to get out there.
There's a lot of slick spots. Anyway, go ahead, thank
you anyway.

Speaker 3 (40:50):
Yeah, that on that note too, you know it feels weird.

Speaker 5 (40:54):
Dick and I were talking earlier in the show that
you know you're looking at this program right now, the
last two weeks, it's almost a completely different outlook, almost
a different look to this program and feel. You know,
a few weeks ago you were talking about where that's
the record going to be? You know, even bigger conversations
than that. Now you're looking at as Mark stoops is
asked today, potentially a bowl game. You know, you have
to take care of business against Tennessee Tech. Obviously, Kentucky

(41:16):
opens is a I believe twenty two point five point favorite,
which feels high to me considering what areac Tech looks like.
But regardless, they open as a pretty big favorite. And
then you have to pick off one of or both
of Louisville and Vandy to potentially get to a bowl game. Jeff,
from your perspective, just from where we were just a
few weeks ago and where we could be going with

(41:39):
a potential bowl berth, do you think that's you know, realistic?
And how important would that be for this program right now?

Speaker 4 (41:46):
Oh?

Speaker 6 (41:46):
It would be huge for this program because again, and
a coach will tell you, it's those extra practices that
you get that the teams that don't go to bulls
don't get that to me is the key. And look,
even if you're going to the Liberty Bowls of the world,
it's still a fun time. It's a reward for the kids,

(42:08):
you know, and it's it's a great time. But but
the thing is this, toouse, you've got to win Saturday
to have it, you know, to realistically go into those
final two games. If you win Saturday, you're at five.
You're saying, okay, six and six, we know, but seven
and five we get a nice bowl.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
You know.

Speaker 6 (42:28):
It's a difference between playing in a you know, a
shremeport or something and playing in Florida. So there's a
big difference in six and seven wins.

Speaker 2 (42:36):
I will ask you this because I always do on
senior Day. Excuse me going in, but you went through
senior Day. What's it like?

Speaker 6 (42:44):
Yeah, it is very very emotional.

Speaker 4 (42:47):
It was.

Speaker 6 (42:47):
It was a lot different for us because Happy Chandler
was still like yeah, excuse me, and knew every one
of us by name as Theydotas singletary. He was the
president of the school. It was kind of cool. They
came into your locker room before the game and and
then he sings the song and you're standing out there
just by yourself and your parents, and it is it
is a real emotional time. And then you got to

(43:08):
play football. So it's it's difficult. I'll tell you that.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
They score a lot of points, as you said, but
this Kentucky d line much more so against Auburn, which
really has trouble with this offensive line. But even Florida,
I mean, Kentucky was disruptive defensively. So you know, just
just stick to their knitting right, keep doing what they've
been doing, and you don't let Tennessee Tech get started.

Speaker 6 (43:33):
That's you're exactly right. And if you get Gatson back,
what a huge plus that'll be. Williams played really nice,
Ramsey played pretty good. But you know, if you get
him back, now you know you've got five six guys
that you can just intertwine, you know, in out and out,
keep them fresh and wear out the smaller Tennessee Tech team.

(43:53):
That's what they have to do is beat them up
at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
It might be close at halftime, but in the second
and a half you start to wear them down and
wear them out.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
Yeah, just take care of business right, and then things
should go your way to jeffro thank you so much.
Be safe out there.

Speaker 6 (44:10):
Yeah you guys be safe any way home.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
Thank Garret, thanks so much. And as Jeff said, seventy
five avoided if you can, man a warning in one stretch.
Avoided if you can, But don't avoid basketball Tomorrow night,
Kentucky Louisville volleyball's coming up this weekend. You've got football
coming up, Fault. It's a great week.

Speaker 3 (44:27):
It is a great week, should be fun, should be
a lot of run.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
We'll talk about it next Monday night. Thanks so much
all of you. Thanks to our studio producer Bo Robinson
who puts in a lot of time here on Monday nights.
That's going to do it for now. That's a good
night from Lexington.