KSR - 2025-09-29- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

KSR is Live at KSBar & Grille with former UK Football player Dusty Bonner talking Kentucky's loss to South Carolina.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Multi-million dollar house, Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, a billion dollar fraud. But how long can this alliance last? Tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. From the Bob and Tom show in Tosh Point O, Comedy Off Broadway in Lexington, welcomes Greg Hahn, October 2nd through the 4th. And from Chelsea Lately and Comedy Central catch John Caparulo, October 10th and 11th. Then it's a clean comedy show featuring the hilarious Greg Warren, October 16th through the 18th.

For tickets to all comedy off-Broadway shows, call 859, 2,7. one joke or visit comedy off broadway.com. This is Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Now, here's Matt Jones. Welcome in, ladiesy gentlemen, boys and girls, grandpals and grandmas, aunts and uncles. This is the Monday morning edition of Kentucky Sports Radio. And this is going to be a tough show.

Ryan Lemon, Drew Franklin, and our special guest will introduce here in just a minute. Kentucky Sports Radio sponsored every day by the T.J. Smith Law Office called T.J. What happens, Shannon? He'll make them pay. He will absolutely make them pay. Our Clark's Pubbetshop phone number will be open. We'll play group therapy today. 859-2802-287.

That's the Clark's Publish Shop phone number. And the AVision Glass Text Machine, which I forgot at my house. It's 502-7-35-36-60. You can use my own personal phone because I forgot to bring the A-Vision-glass Tech Machine phone. This is twice now, Ryan. Twice. Consistency. Mario.

Yeah, yeah, we need to, yeah, your consistency's off. And we need to just give out Ryan's phone numbers since you don't have the other phone number. How will people contact you without knowing your personal? no phone ever. Well, you know, those people that have it can send us text match because it was just blowing up all weekend. The Avis Glass Tech Machine blew up all weekend because unfortunately we had to play Monday morning quarterback and we're bringing in an old quarterback. Dusty Bonner had agreed to do the show today.

But you picked a great day to do a show after Kentucky lost kind of embarrassingly at times 35 to 13 at South Carolina on Saturday. First of all, great to have you on. I think this may be your first time ever on Kentucky Sports Radio. It is. I appreciate it. Have fun. Well, what are your... You stressed the old part there for a little bit.

There was an emphasis on that. He kind of hung in there a little bit, right? Well, he admitted to me he's 46 years old. That makes me feel like ancient when Dusty Bonner is 46 years old. It was just the other day you were playing with the Lexington Horseman in the UK. Seems like a different life ago, man. It does. It's been a long time.

Let's get into it with you. We're playing Monday morning quarterback. What are your thoughts about what you saw on Saturday? We'll start with that. You know, I think everybody that's ever played has been in those games where no matter how hard you try, no matter what you do, it's like the wheels just keep coming off. And it was just kind of one of those games where it just felt like no matter what they did, it just, you know, the wheels came off, man.

It was just just started out hot, looked great, and then it was just things just started just falling apart, you know. And, you know, part of that is as you're playing a quarterback in the second, Carolina, the seller's kid. He's a fantastic quarterback, very, very difficult to defend. Probably one of the better players in the country. So that certainly is part of it. But then their defense, you know, the way that we had to play offensively and you're trying to come back and you've made some mistakes

and given them the ball and they've scored, now you've got to come back and those guys that their defensive style where they can pin their ears and come after us what we had to play into and it didn't work out very well. Drew Franklin? Yeah, I mean, I was convinced. it would be a game in the fourth quarter. I picked South Carolina to win before the season,

so I stuck with that in my final prediction, but I was shocked that they came back with a 35-13 loss. I mean, it all happened right there in the second quarter with those turnovers. Completely inexcusable, but we knew it was over from there. Sometimes it just feels like a comedy of errors with how Kentucky football loses. Not to pick on Pete, but if you just fall on that ball

and you punt and get out there, who knows it's a different game. But, you know, they went up 70, scored on the first drive for the second time this year, get a little bit of life, and I think we have something. It just stinks the way it got absolutely ripped away. Immediately it was all downhill from there, not really any hope after that first drive. So let's start with that.

They go down, march right down the field and score on their opening drive. That ends up being their only touchdown of the game. What happened after that first drive that was different? Well, I mean, I think some of it was just our own mistakes and things that we did, you know, not securing the football and then not protecting the quarterback in some of those deals. You know, at the end of the day, our run game was really effective and really strong in the beginning of that. And I think South Carolina could just kind of pin their ears a little bit and load the box and do some things to take the run away from us.

And then whenever we did get into those positions where you get down to the third down and it's not third and short where you're really a threat to run the ball. Like if it's third and nine, they don't have to load the box. They can play the pass and they can still stop the run if you decide to do it. But, you know, you get in those positions where you're behind the chains a little bit. They know you've got to pass the ball and they pin the ears and here they come. And I think that was just, you know, they talked about it on the broadcast a little bit, but you're really kind of playing in their hands with the defense that they have. And the Stewart kid in particular, the defensive end.

I call him defensive end, outside linebacker. But, you know, when it's an obvious third down situation where you're going to pass the ball, that's one of the best guys in the country. Right. That's one of the best guys. And so, but I do think, you know, like you said, on the, when Cutter got sacked and fumbled and we didn't recover that ball. That was the moment that everything just kind of went downhill.

And that's what I was talking about. Like when the wheels fall off, that was the first sign that the wheels were, something bad was going to happen. We needed something good to happen right away. And instead of that, something bad happened right away. And, you know, you just start digging that hole and you can't get out of it. To win, they just needed to run the ball, cutter, manage, get out of there without any mistakes.

Once they fell behind, what South Carolina scored, like four straight touchdowns there for a stretch. Yeah. Once you get to that point and you can't just lean on your run game and play field position, you're actually trying to play from behind. That was just too much to ask of that offense and cutter bowling, especially in that spot. And the fact that it's now, what's the stat? Every Bush-Hamden game, SEC game, they haven't scored more than two touchdowns.

It's like 10 and 0-10 and 0-11, whatever it is. I mean, the cast is changing, but it's now been a year in two more SEC games and not even been able to score more than two touchdowns in a game. It just gets frustrating. I didn't expect this one to be high scoring, but when you turn it over like that, you can't expect to win at all, especially in Columbia. You know, another part of that is what you just ended with. South Carolina is a tough place to play.

Oh, my goodness. That is a rowdy play. It was rowdy when I played, and they were like one in ten, so they were terrible, and it was still rowdy, you know, until everybody realized they were going to lose and they left. But, you know, so when those big play-type things happened that happened in that game early on, just all the momentum and all the energies on the South Carolina sideline, and that plays into it, and I think it probably did in this game.

And they already have energy, but when you get back-to-back defensive touchdowns, the place is blowing up. You got a scoop and score and a pick six and then 45 seconds. That just makes the roof blow off the top of a place like that. It does. Yep. So Drew mentioned Bush Hamden. He's getting a lot of pushback now. What's your thoughts about the game he called?

Is he calling the right plays to put Cutter in the best position where he can succeed? Or what are your thoughts? Well, you know, for me, you remember when I played, we threw a lot of short passes. And we threw a lot of short passes and dink and dunked all over the field. And, you know, that's something that I would love to see in the Kentucky Arsenal is more just simple pass plays. You know, instead of kind of some of the longer stuff where you've got to hold the ball for a deeper drop. And then you've got to make a great throw because in the SEC, if you're throwing a 15-yard out route or you're throwing a 20-yard dig, there's not very much margin for error when you're throwing those kind of big.

You're asking a lot of your quarterback in those plays. And I certainly think Cutter is capable. I'm very high on cutter as a quarterback, but just some of the little stuff, man. Just, you know, tidying over the middle, five yards, 10 yards, shallow routes. This little stuff across the middle of the field just to help a little bit. Get them outside the pocket. I think sometimes when you have a younger quarterback, you know, get them outside of the pocket. Just give them something easy to start out with.

Yeah, right. Again, the course of that game kind of determined what happened, right? When you get behind like that, now all of a sudden, you, you, you, you've gone away from who your identity is because I think their identity wants to be, let's pound the ball and let's do enough in the passing game to win, play great defense. Well, they took that identity away from you. And you had to be something that you're not,

which is now we've got to figure out a way to move the ball down the field in the air. And, you know, that's not our game playing. What's your take on the Bush-Hamden experience right now? Okay, I mean, the fact that you can't score two touchdown. Also, I keep thinking about this season. I go back to that safety against Toledo. That fake pitch on fourth and whatever when Bowley first came in a couple weeks ago. Then, what was it, third and five, and they tried the little reverse to Gilmore.

It's almost like you were settling for a field goal there. Weren't very aggressive. You know, I'm not just sit here and start firing people. That's not my spot. But it has been very disappointing, extremely disappointing. But it's also consistent across this several years. It's not just been on him, but he does not seem like he has the answers either after two games this year. I gave him a little bit of a break last season because he came in February.

It wasn't his roster. Cohen kind of left him in a bad spot when he left for the NFL. I thought maybe we'd see a big jump. So far through four games, I haven't seen any jump at all in the play call. And that's the other thing, too, is when you bring in a new offensive coordinator, or you bring any offense coordinator, and we don't know all the behind-the-scenes stuff. So last year, you don't know as the quarterback hurting a little bit, is the shorter? messed up. Are they afraid that, hey, we can't really pass the ball because we can't protect the guy?

You know, that kind of stuff. A lot of that plays into it too, and it hamstrings an offensive coordinator. But to your point, I think, you know, regardless of who, you know, trying to blame who or whatever, the end result is something's got to happen. Something's got to, something's got to change offensively to where we can move the ball through the air because I just don't think you can line up in this conference and we're going to run the ball and we're going to get away with winning. I think that was a model years ago, but it ebbs and flows and it's back to you've got to be able to score a lot of points in this league now.

I think if you don't score 20, if you score 28, you're in the game. You've got to be able to score 35 to win it, you know? So at the end of the day, I think it's something's got to be figured out. So, you know. It's fun getting the tight ends involved for a couple weeks. That's where I was going. Now, Caddus, I don't think, was targeted once in Columbia, but Rodriguez led in yards.

If there's one thing that has been good at the offense, it's after years, you know, Kentucky fans every season. It's when we get the tight ends going. They've at least gotten that going a little bit. It's the only thing that's been working in the passing game so far. So, you know, Rodriguez had that one long pass play. Outside of that, they, South can I have the tight ends away. I mean, obviously, they know the game tape.

They know what Cudder Bowie likes to do. So that means our receivers need to find a way to get open. They went to Mackman a couple times. But the receivers as a group, as a core, have been kind of quiet already this season. What's the problem? Well, you know, I'd have to go back and look at a lot of tape to determine that because you know when you're watching it on TV you kind of pick out the one guy

you pick out the one spot and you watch it so you know I think that's hard to determine without really diving into film but I but but but to that point there has been times where you'll see the quarterback drop back and it looks like they're waiting on somebody to get open now you know that could be something else too yeah but at the same time it looks like they're waiting for folks to get open and you know as we we saw the other night in this league if you're taking a five-step drop you can't wait you don't have that kind of time You know, people got to get open. They've got to get open now.

And so I do think that that is a little bit of a concern is as a group or our receiving corps, you know, Law is doing a great job and he's getting some action, but you can't get away with just one. You've got to have more guys than that or else they can take that away pretty easily. You get somebody on both sides of the field that they're worried about. Now a sudden that opens up everything, particularly in the middle, opens up your tight ends more. But if they can just say, hey, if we stop this guy outside, then we're good, and we can kind of hunker down and take care of the tight ends.

That puts you in a numbers game that's not beneficial for you. And one of Rodriguez's catch was absolute chaos when they started laterally. I didn't love that in the first half of a game. That's something you do is the clock's running. At the end. That could have been another touchdown. Could have been. As reckless as they got.

But it was good. They got him going a little bit, but needed a lot more. So we got Drew Franklin and we got Dusty Bonner here making his KSR debut. We want to hear from you. 859-280-287. That's the Clark's Publish Shop phone number. 859-2802-87. We're playing Monday morning quarterback.

Kentucky now loses their last four games in a row to South Carolina. O'N-4 against South Carolina in their last four games. Ouch. We're right back. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,

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Shane, I didn't ask you, what was your big takeaway from the game on Saturday? But it was over at halftime, because when South Carolina had 28 points, I had zero confidence that Kentucky's offense could score that many points. I mean, their last nine possessions, I had this stat on the pre-show, The last nine possessions, they averaged two yards per play, zero points, four turnovers, and that's now 11 consecutive power conference games without scoring more than two offensive touchdowns in a game. So once they got to that 28 points, really once they got to 21, I thought, well, it's probably over at this point. Yeah, that second quarter was ridiculous.

Scoop and score, pick six. South Carolina scores 21, and I answered like quick in that second quarter. I mean, I just, you said it the wheels just completely fell off. And I think we all knew as fans, there wasn't no coming back. It was over. And that's pretty tough. I think as a fan, you know, it's more fun to lose 34 to 35, you know, if you got a chance. Yeah.

But, but, yeah, I mean, that's the only way to say that is the wheels, you know, they just came off. And look, it happens to everybody. If you play long enough, it happens to, you know, you'll have that game or those games where, you know, you just kind of wish the ground would open up. and you could just hide you know because it's just it's it's bad and no matter what happens it just gets a little bit worse you know and you know I've I've been there I've been in those spots where you know cutter where you know you get hit you know and that silly thing too is like look you know on that on that scoop and score fumble I mean you

know he took a shot man he did he took a big shot and and and you know as a quarterback coach you always you're going to tell your guy hey you got to you got to secure the ball you got to do and but sometimes you get hit and the ball the ball the The ball gets separated from you, and I think it was one of those deals. And, you know, I've been there done that. I got hit one time. I got sacked out at Mississippi State, and I have no idea where the ball went. I got to tell you my Mississippi State story about Dusty, though.

I'm glad you said that. You all have said some stuff off there. I want to hear some of these behind-the-scenes stories, too. Everybody can talk a little South Carolina. We may need to approve all this in between the break here. Kentucky was playing at Mississippi State on a Thursday night. It was a big ESPN game on Thursday night. So we went down there and got there with the team.

team as they're walking on the field. Dusty walked the length of the field, spit in the end zone, walked the length of the field the other way, spit in that end zone. And I've always remembered though, we're spitting in the end zone almost like, hey, I'll be back, don't worry.

So did I ever tell you why I did that? No. So literally, and I was, back in those days, I was probably, I'm not superstitious at all. But in those days I was a little bit. But every pregame, that's what I did every time. I'd walk all the way down, go into the end zone, walk all the way down, come back to this end zone.

In my mind, it was like, hey, look, this is where we're going to be, and I'm coming back. Got to find my way to get there. Let's just go ahead and get our path lined out here because this is what we're, but it also helped remind me like, look, your job as a quarterback is to get there. Like, that's your purpose is to get in the end zone. And so that was, that was for me. That was kind of how I did it.

Like, hey, I'm going to go ahead and do this now, and we're just going to keep doing it during the game. Now, you, obviously, you're the former Kentucky quarterback, won the Harland Hill trophy at Val Dostin quarterback. You know the game. I know you're an LCA guy, too. Cutter's an LCA guy. He's got a lot of pushback after the game Saturday night. Is it deserved?

What's your thoughts about Cutter as a quarterback? Well, first, you know, whether it's reserved or not, it's just part of the deal. You know, that's just what happens. Yeah. People give you that. But, you know, I remember before I ever saw him play in high school, I talked to another guy that knows a couple things about quarterback couch. Tim Couch?

Yeah. I've heard of him. Yeah. And he told me, you know, he said, hey, have you seen this cutter kid? He's the real deal. You know, and when he says that, that's pretty good indicator. But then I wasn't watched him play. And, I mean, you know, he is the real deal.

And like I said, I'm high on him. I think he's got a bright, bright future. I think he's a guy that can play on Sundays. He's got that kind of arm. But the other thing, you know, I saw him in high school throwing interception. That wasn't his fault, by the way. It got tipped and he got intercepted. And I was watching the guy return it.

And out of nowhere, you just see this blur and this kid. just drills him as hard as he can, and it was Cutter. You know, and that's, I think there's some things you learned about Cutter on Saturday night that were, for me, you know, he took some shots. He got right back up. Yeah. Every single time he got right back up. Things, the wheels fell off.

I don't think you ever really looked flustered. He never looked flustered to me. Frustrated, yeah, because you can't not be frustrated in that situation. But he never looked like flustered. He never looked like bright-eyed, like, oh, my goodness, this is too bad. big of a moment for me. He didn't look like that at all. And so to me, you know, like I said, he's got a ton of talent. He's got the arm talent, but he's got a little bit of vinegar in his veins too. And by that, you know, he's just, he's not like, hey, I'm the quarterback. Look at me.

He's a guy that's like, hey, I threw a pick and I'm fixing him up here and try to knock somebody down. And I think the other night, and one of the picks, like you couldn't see it real well because it was kind of a kind of a group of bodies, but I think he was one of the guys that went over. He was. And you could see him. He was full speed, but he didn't make the play, but he Got blocked by our own guy, I think got his way. And so, like, to me, like, if I'm taking away anything from that game on cutter, those are the two things. It's number one, he got, he took some shots.

And he got, what, six times? Yeah. He took some, and he got hit more than that, but he took some shots, and he got right back up, and he never really looked like he lost his composure. And so I think those are both really, really good signs for him. But, again, talent-wise, I think he's a guy that plays on Sundays. He's got that kind of arm. but I think he's got that attitude and that confidence.

And like I said, I said vinegar in the veins is kind of the way to express it. He's just, he's a competitor. So I think he's got a bright future. Where are you on Cutter right now? As you mentioned him bouncing back after a play. I mean, he's got to bounce back after an ugly Saturday and getting some criticism. You think he's got that switch where he can, I mean, of course it's Georgia and you're a big underdog, but can he at least put that behind him and try to put his best foot forward for the next Saturday?

So I think those things that I just talked about, like where he never looked, Sometimes you can see it in the guy's face when things are going that bad where they just kind of like the moment's too big for him and wasn't for him. So I think that is like answers to that question of like, yeah, I don't think there's going to be any problem with that. But I will say this, you know, when you're playing, and it was a completely different world when I was playing. I mean, like, you know, information you had to go look for, you had to go on the websites and stuff and look what people were saying about you.

And we used to look at it, you know, you know, Nolan Devon, who was my center, he'd be like, hey, Bauder, guess what they're saying about you? But, man, don't tell me. I don't want to know. But, you know, nowadays, with the way social media is, I mean, these kids can't hide from it. Yeah. But you're right. Like, listen, I don't care if you're making money.

I don't care if you're the best player on the team. That kind of stuff you say, hey, don't let it bother you. It bothers you a little bit. Sure it does. I mean, you know, so that's part of it now, and it's more so than ever. But I don't, to me, he doesn't strike me as a kind of guy that's going to get too bogged down. And I think he's going to be fun. And right now, I think most fans are all behind me.

you can be disappointed in the game. There's a little bit of that. But people still want him to work out and be the future, being local. They know the circumstances he was just put in. Yeah. He expected to have probably a full year behind Calzada, and next thing you're going to Columbia. So as far as the criticism he's getting,

I think most fans are still behind him and kind of aware of the circumstances, even though they wanted it to go better. Listen, I mean, I think if you could frame it the right way, and I'm not trying to ride off the rest of the season because we don't know what's going to happen. But, you know, to me, this year is about, like, hey, let's let's, let's,

Let's get him some experience. Let's build him. And then next year is kind of the year. I don't think that's a bad plan at all. I think you've got to shift. Maybe you're shifting your expectations as a fan a little bit. But to me, you know, I thought he was in a good spot, sitting behind a quarterback, getting that. Because I didn't start and play until my third year.

I was a red shirt sophomore. And having those two years, man, it helps out a lot, both physically and mentally. Sure. And so I don't think he was in a bad spot. But at the same time, you know, now that he's playing, I think you just, I think it's, You let them go out there and you realize there's going to be bumps in the roads. There's going to be learning, but you're building towards something else, and I think that's the future, and I do think it's him.

Drew, you and I both got tons of messages about fire stoops now. They need to have a clean, clean the house. That's not going to happen. They're not going to fire stoops in the middle of the season. The buyout is just too big, and I don't think Mitch Barnhart would do that to the program. How do you respond to all these people that want stoops gone now? Well, I host the post game show, and I think Billy could confirm, I think we batted a thousand on people wanting them out. Like, not even me asking, just the calls.

That's what they were saying. It was just about every single. Where are you on it? Me personally, I don't see this to get any better. I mean, I don't have a lot of faith. I don't think you fire the guy now. I said this, and it sounds like there's a lot of comparisons to basketball. With football, you're not going to get that hard lost to a 15 seat in your season, which is obvious.

Yeah. It's these gradual keep losing SEC game. There's not going to be a loss where you're just like, oh, my, that's cannot do it anymore like we had with Cal with Oakland, St. Peters. But I'll admit, I don't see him winning an SEC game the rest of this season. And I think you'll have to have that conversation. Now, now if they were to do it, we all know it's like $38 million, got to be paid in 60 days. You can't do that either. So when it gets to that point, I think they'll have to come to an agreement.

Stoops might have to look around and see that his legacy isn't what he wants to be, and you'll have to come up with something. But, you know, Matt always says, no point in talk about it. can't afford it. I really don't know how they would afford it if they wanted to do it right now, but the fans are definitely upset as if anyone heard Saturday night at 1 a.m. I want your thoughts on that, too. We come back. We've got to take a break. Ryan, Drew Franklin, Shannon, the dude, and Dusty Bonner, KSbar Patio. We've got talking about the Reds, Ryder Cup, a lot of stuff to talk about yet. Don't go away. This is Kentucky Sports Radio.

T.J. Smith, personal injury attorney. Call T.J. He'll make them pay. Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones. Ryan Lemon and Drew Franklin, sharing the dude and Dusty Bonner here on playing Monday morning quarterback on KSR. And I got, Dusty, stop over paying for sunglasses, would you? Are you tired of buying expensive sunglasses

only to lose them or break them or worse? You never even wear them at all because you can't find them? Well, you don't want them to get dirty. You need shady rays, Dusty, Shady Raise sunglasses. They're an independent, American-owned company. It started right here in Kentucky. Shady Race has premium polarized shades for every activity. Running, fishing, biking, watching bad

football, you name it, from their tangle free aviators that won't get stuck in your hair to their color rush lenses that provide ultimate color enhanced visibility. Every member of the family, all three your kids, Dusty, can find their perfect pair at Shady Ray's. Shearay's offers the best protection program in the industry with lost and broken replacements. So take on your next adventure with the team that has your back, shady raised sunglasses. All right, Drew said his thoughts about Mark Stoops, the buyout, coaching change. I want to give you time to absorb it because I want to hear what you have to say about it. Well, I think, you know, first of all, when you talk about, we talk about where do we go from

here in the season and you talk about wheels falling off. And this is a different world now. Like with transfer portal and everything that's going on, like, you know, you got to keep your team together. And when all those whispers are out there about your coach and all that kind of stuff, is you'll see teams generally do one or two things. They either come together as a team and they all stick together and they rally behind their coach or they don't. And so I think that's, that's kind of what you'll see in the future. And I expect them to rally around stoops. And You know, the whole Stoops conversation about trying to get rid of him or not, you know, at the end of the day, I want to say this. You know, I think Mark Stoops has done as good of a job as anybody's ever done here as a head coach.

It's fair. Through a period of time. Totally fair. So I do think there's a, there is an amount of grace that he's probably, he's earned, in my opinion. At the same time, I understand the fact that in the last couple of years it's not going in the direction everybody wants it to go with. And I think, you know, particularly offensively, that's where we. We've struggled and we've seen the turnover in offensive coordinators. And so I think something's going to have to happen, whether it's this offense comes alive under Bush Hamden or there's going to have to be a big move made on the offensive coordinator side.

That's what I think. And a big move. It's kind of maybe like something like Florida State did with Miles on. And I'm not saying that they need to get rid of Hamden. I'm just saying, because I'm like you, I'm not in the firing business. But I do think something's got to change there because the SEC has changed a lot. And when Stoops was really doing well and winning here, there were a lot of teams that focused on let's run the ball and let's play defense.

And we got really good at it. If you told me, hey, we're going to be as good on the offensive and defensive lines as everybody else we play, I'd have been like, that's not a great plan here. That's what he did. Yeah. You know, and so, you know, I think he's earned some grace there. But at the same time, I totally understand the fact, like, look, this world, and we all know it is what have you done for me lately.

You know, yesterday doesn't count. It's all about today and what you're giving me to today. So, you know, and I think the other. part of it too and I talked about this briefly in the break with you know where are we at in the nile world and i and i and i and i say this because i think that the athletic directors are going to start being put more in the spotlight for every team where it's a what are they doing in the nil world to make sure their coaches have the resources to get the players that they need and if they don't then it's going to shine back on them and it should because that's just the world that we're in

right now i don't love it i don't love the whole nil world i don't love you know all this stuff but at the end of the day that's where we're at and it's like you know you got to have the money to go get the players don't love that that's the way it is but that's the way it is and so where are we at there when you're looking at the rest of the SEC where do we rank in that I wish they would put out standings every year in the SEC of NIL. NIL money because because at the bottom probably because at the end of the day I guarantee you

I guarantee you it'll line up where you finish in the SEC I completely agree and they said they're not going to do it I wish they would show how the revenue is split up because it's not fair to a coach if they're coaching and recruiting with one hand behind their back. Fans need to judge them and grade them kind of based on the scenario they're in.

So I did wish we knew more about whenever you show up at a stadium, which side has the big bank roll because your expectations would be a little different. And I would guess that in most games, Kentucky's going to be a little lower. Now, I don't think that's an excuse to lose however many straight SEC games.

But you look at that and you look at pro sports and that's really what this is all kind of turned into a little bit more than before. Yeah. You know, the GMs get looked at a lot too. They get looked at a lot too. So anytime there's dysfunctional team, they look at the coaches, they look at the GMs. And I think that's going to be a trend moving forward in college football where the GMs are going to be looked at. They're going to be looked at pretty harshly, too.

I look at GMs for the Titans because I want all of them fired, including the new one. I can name them all. Let me take your UK hats off for just a minute. You know, you're wearing a UK pullover. Memorial Golf Tournament So take your UK stuff off If you tell me your current coach Has won three of their last 16 SEC

Games They lost their last four to South Carolina in a row Their 16th out of 16 in the SEC They're the worst team in the SEC right now How can you be supportive? I guess that's what a lot of fans are saying right now Yeah I think that's a fair argument And I totally understand it

I would say this that I think in the last, I think our defense has been good enough to win a lot more games than we've won. I think our offense is where we've struggled at. Stoops is a defensive guy. Yeah. And I'm making the argument you asked me to make. Yes.

The other part of it too is, and I had somebody mention this to me, you know, let's say, okay, you're going to fire Stoops and you're going to pay him $30-something million. That's going to deplete whatever you, it's supposed to be going into your NIL. And so now we're in this world of college sports where it's like, if you really want to pay the buyout, that's fine, but where's the money going to come from the NIL? Because you've got to have that.

Got to have it. And so, you know, the flip side of it is, hey, instead of us firing you and paying you $38 million, we're going to give you $10 million next year for NIL and let's see what we can do with it. And I don't know how all that works, but I'm just saying in this world, you know, if you go out and you, I mean, look at Ole Miss, the quarterback they got from the D2 school that's doing so well. You go out and get the right player. You can make a huge difference. But again, I understand from a fan perspective, I understand.

like things got to change. Things got to get better one way or another, but they got to get better. We all agree on that. It's just how you go about doing it. I don't think they'll really fill it over at the stadium until maybe the end of the year because the schedule bails them out a little bit to actually see. You know, if we played Eastern Michigan in a week,

I think you'd see a lot of bleachers. But you have Georgia, then you have, what, Tennessee and Texas? I think that'll be full, even if it's mostly orange and burnt orange. So you won't actually fill the fan disappointment until you have Florida later in the year. So they're bailed out a little bit. If you had a Toledo or Tennessee Tech or one of these games at noon coming up, I think the fans would be sending a message coming up very soon.

But those two being the games, Keenland season, people have already planned weekends around that. I think they're kind of lucky. They won't actually fill it over at Kroger Field if it stays on this course until later in the year. That's a really good point. So how can they save it? How can they save the fan? Because basketball is coming up. People are all going to switch to basketball.

How do you save, keep the fans interested in what's going on on the football field? I think you got to figure out, you got to fix the offense. Because to that point, the fans are going to show up for these games. Hey, if you go out there and you lose to Georgia 3528, but we're out there scoring points and it's a great game that the fans are in, I think most of them are going to be happy about that. I think they're going to celebrate. And you got the fact that, like, hey, we've got a young guy cutter.

We're rolling with him. We're going to do some bumps and bruises, but we're growing him for the future. But I think at the end of the day, what they have to do, offense has to start scoring some points. and I think they got to do that through the air. And I don't know all the ways and how they're going to do that because I don't know what their system is. But I think they got to, I think they got to,

the offense has to come alive. And I think if the offense does come alive and they can go out there and compete, I don't think it's, I think that's one of the more, the more difficult, one of the hardest things for the fan base is that it's not that, it's not that we've lost some of these games against teams that are really tough. It's that how competitive were we in some of these games.

And I think if we can go out there and compete and listen, And we used to say that in the mummy days, you know, we won six games a year, and people were thrilled. Having parties, naming streets after the man over there. But we could, but we could, you know, we might lose, but it'd be 40 to 45. You know, and that's a lot more fun for a fan in a stadium than 28-7. And of all the teams to play next, I mean, you have played Georgia close. Like peak of Georgia.

Well, you lose by one last year. I think they lost by two or three, three years before. or two years before that. You know, I don't know that I'll expect that this year. I mean, you've got Georgia coming off a loss, which is unique. They're going to be dialed in. Lost at home, and now you've got hosting us. And I don't know that a moral victory could save anything right now,

but it is. So how do you save it? I hate saying Georgia's a good matchup, but their style of play can't allow you to at least not get smoked in this game, which would might have people hang on another week. For whatever reason, we've always played Georgia well. Yeah. That's just one of the teams we've played well.

And that's just one of the teams we've played well. South Carolina, for whatever reason, that's not the team that we've played. We did, though, for so long we won like, what was it? Eight out of nine, and now they've won the last four in a row. Turnovers flip that. And Stoops and Kirby are really close, not that Kirby's going to let up. You know, he's trying to win a national championship, and they just lost. But that might play into it a little bit.

Style of plays kind of similar. They're obviously on a complete other level of talent. But if Kentucky can hang in, I'm in no way saying they're going to win, but at least play Georgia close like they have many times in the past when they were a big underdog. maybe you can keep fans somewhat interested to see if Cutter can turn it around beyond that. I think you hit the nail on the head when you talk about style of play with Georgia because a lot of times when Georgia comes in here, it's in a colder month, the weather's not good.

And they're just, they run the ball and play good defense. And once they get up by 14, they're just trying to get the game over with. And so I think that style of play we match up really well with, because that's what we try to do is we try to run the ball and play good defense. They're probably going to want to kill us after losing less. That's what I'm afraid of. First needed Georgia would probably win that one. Matt is a hornet we walk in there on Saturday.

You know, I think the apathy is something that it's not just started. It's been going on for the last couple of years. You know, they can't win an SEC home game. The Georgia game last really didn't go on fourth down. The Missouri game was that three or four years ago. There's just kind of stuff's been kind of building this apathy, and now it's all come to a head. That's why I wanted to ask you guys, how can they stop it? How can they save it?

And I like what you said about, well, fix the offense, score some points, get us a little, hopeful for Cutter as our future quarterback. Yeah, I mean, I think at this point, I mean, you got nothing to lose, you got to let it rip, you know, and I think that, but again, you know, how do they, can they do that? Can they pull it off where they can go, you know what, we're going to go out there and score 35 points?

That's just what we're going to do. We're going to let it rip and we're going to absolutely attack on offense. And, you know, you can't completely get away from the run game because we're so good at it. But, I mean, I would, I would go out there and be like, hey, look, this is, you know, and you got to be careful, too, because as a coach, you can't, I can't say

things on the radio that a coach can't say in the locker room. Like you can't say, hey, look, this is about, we're going to go out here and we're just going to attack, we're going to score a bunch of points, we're going to get Cutter really ready for next year. Can't do that because the senior that's sitting there is going, wait a minute, what about me? You know, you can't say that. And I don't think it's just that, but I think at this point, what do you have to lose? And I think that's the way you, I mean, you ask the answer to the question of, you know, how can you get the fans to re-engage?

And I think that's one way you can, other than going out and winning a bunch of ball games. I know not everybody watches the Titans In fact, you shouldn't. Maybe I'm the only one But there's so many comparisons with them With Kentucky and the Titans And like this year, I'm watching the Titans We have a rookie quarterback. People want to see what we have for the future. Nobody knows we're not making the playoffs.

Okay, third and four, why don't we just go for it? Why not? Let's see what we have. Let's have some fun. I feel the same way about Kentucky at this point. You needed to beat Ole Miss or South Carolina to really want to get back to a bowl game. I think everyone can agree

This isn't going to be some special season. Like they're going to flip a switch. So moving forward, let's take some shots. Let's gamble a little bit. Let's see what we have. We're all on the same page as it doesn't look good right now. I know Stoops can't just abandon his philosophy and get reckless. But let's play with a little aggression and see what we have

and at least give Cutter a few more opportunities to prove that he can be the guy on down the road. Maybe they will. We've got one more segment with Dusty Bonner. He's been great so far breaking it down, playing Monday morning quarterback. I said you picked a heck of a Monday to come in, man. Time is everything, man. view coming in. Thanks for letting me do the postgame show Saturday.

That was my first ever postgame show. First time ever. Wow. Appreciate it. Perfect time for Trudity. Post game. Perfect time for you to come into your first KSR. All right.

Well, take our final break. Come back. Our final side with Dusty Bonner. This is Kentucky Sports Radio. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending. Opinions are flying.

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I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Final segment with Dusty Bonner here on Kentucky Sports Radio. Ryan, Drew, Shannon and Dusty. Drew, who's this a segment sponsored by? This segment is brought to you by our good friends at court. When it comes to your physical health, you want a physical therapist you can trust. That's court physical therapy for over 35 years.

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We've got some callers want to ask you some question, Dusty. So let's get to him real quick, Shannon. Who we got first? All right, let's go to Mike. Mike, go ahead, you know, Dusty Bonner. Good morning. I really don't have a question. I should have this a statement.

Two weeks to prepare, and this is what we get. We don't even really have a chance to win the game. And then if we look to compare to other schools, Stoops has got a foundation here. He's been here a while. Two years' time, what Indiana has done and what little brother has done. Are we being too hard? I don't blame the quarterback.

Appreciate it. Okay, appreciate it. What do you think about that, Dusty? I mean, I understand that he's upset about it. I mean, I get it. I mean, he's got a point. It's not going in the right direction. Yeah.

You know, and it's... When other schools seem to be going in the right direction. Yeah, and I think that makes it even all the worse, you know. And so I think it's, at the end of the day, something has to change. And it's, it's, we'll see. It's got to change, though. Shannon, who's next? Let's go to J.C.

J.C. Go ahead, J.C. Hey, guys. Thanks, all. He forgot to mention Vanderbilt and Tulane and online. That's true. Other schools that turned it around pretty quick. Right. I just don't understand something you can look at them,

and several of them, particular teams we just mentioned, is they have dual-threat quarterbacks. And students insistence on being a pro-style, offense being a little Georgia ain't going to work. I mean, I just get sick and it's like we have a good defense, take care of defense, hire an exciting, explosive offensive coordinator, and let him do his job. It's like when Mommy was coach, it was like, oh my gosh, our offense is great. Just hire a defensive coordinator and let him do his job.

I just get so frustrated. I appreciate you. All right. Take my call. Okay, J.C., appreciate it. Thank you, J.C. So one of the downsides or one of the knocks on like the mummy-style air-ray type offense, and this is kind of throughout college football, is that, you know,

it's great when it works, and it's really bad for the defense when it doesn't. You know, when you go three-and-out and you put the defense out there, and the defense is on the field the whole time. So a lot of these, you know, if you look at some of the bigger coaches in the SEC, like they really got away from that, and they really went more to kind of the run game, playing good defense. Now those schools have opened up their offenses more because they realized they had to. There came a point.

I think Nick Saban kind of made some comments about this, but where you had to change the style of your offense because running the ball and scoring 21 points wasn't going to win. You couldn't. The offenses were so good. The defenses couldn't hold them to 21 points anymore. And so you do have to adjust. I don't think you have to go all the way to the air rate. Hey, I'm a big fan of the air rate.

I like it a lot. I still got the hat. Yeah. And I mean, and again, from a fan perspective, I mean, you know, if you're in every game you play, I think that's what a lot of the fans want. You know, they want to see that. But to the caller's point, I mean, you know, it's,

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

You've got to be able to run the ball, but you've got to be able to pass the ball. You've got at the end of the day in today's SEC, you've got to be capable of scoring 35 points to have a chance to win most of your games. Will Levisors don't grow on trees, but we saw how fun it was when you had a guy that could do a little bit. They could do both. Yeah, especially at Wondell. If there's any of those laying around, too, if we can go out, get more of those. Those don't hurt.

The Wondell's don't hurt. Let's get open. Let's get one more call before we go to the break, Shannon. Who we got? Andy. Andy, you got about a minute. Okay. If we finish three and nine, which it seems very likely,

and Mitch does not pay the buyout, and that seems very likely, what does Mark Stoops do? I mean, the schedule is going to get nothing but harder going to nine games next year. I mean, how about for his mental health? If he really want to stick around with a fan base is checked out and has no faith in him for another year of this, I mean, I think that's a realistic question. Appreciate it, Andy.

Yeah, I think that's tough. I think, you know, that'd be hard as a head coach, and it's kind of something that's been created with the way these buyouts are and the way NIL is now is where maybe they stay longer than what they normally would have. But, you know, again, if it were me, and I'm not taking a shot at anybody, but if it were me and they were going to sign me back up for next year, we finished three and nine, they're going to sign me back up for next year, I'd probably go find that huge name, offensive coordinator,

and then just recruit around that like crazy from quarterbacks and receivers and playmaker type guys. And then I'd look at the athletic director and I'd say, I need some money. I need some help. And I'm not going to be silent if I don't get it. Dude, appreciate you coming in. You picked the heck of a Monday to come in and play Monday, Monday, quarterback. Good to have you on the years. We miss you on the JMI pregame show, but you always did a great job with Christy Thomas and Jeremy Jarman.

So I appreciate to join us on KSR this morning. Absolutely. All right. Dusty Bonner, former UK quarterback. playing Monday, money and quarterback. We'll be back with Drew and Shannon right here on Kentucky Sports Radio. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite.

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