Kentucky football's best chances for a BIG upset this year; what does Texas bring to SEC?

Kentucky Sports Radio is at SEC media days here in Dallas and we're joined by Andy stapes Andy Staples on three if you aren't subscribed what are you doing get over there do it right now Andy has been covering college football for not too long I want to say a long long time but you're okay so you are old confirmed old but you've been we're in the SEC footprint y we haven't been out of it we haven't ventured out of it I don't know what to expect from Texas I don't know much about Texas so what what are we in store for what's Big Blue Nation going to experience when they go down to 40 acres in November oh it's going to be well tons of good food so you got to figure out what you want you got to figure out your barbecue plan of attack but don't just do barbecue do some other variation there's also Burgers tacos now you could do a variation of barbecue like you do brisket Ramen brisket Ramen Cur tatuan they also have octopus Fredo pie at this place what oh yeah oh yeah what you're saying is Texas rules there's a place called Loro that's like Korean Mexican Fusion barbecue it's unbelievable they the wantons and guacamole like it sounds weird you will not stop eating them you'll just be the whole time I'm I'm a a little speechless is is is brisket the prefer is brisket the best barbecue I don't necessarily think so I mean I I grew up in the Deep South so I'm a pork guy for the most part like pull pork sandwiches pork ribs in Texas they have what they call the Texas Trinity which is brisket pork ribs and sausage and I like sausage but it does terrible things to me so like brisket and pork ribs are the two things I'm probably going to get the most but then the thing about the Texas folks is they do beef rib too and the beef rib is sort of the Cadillac order it's it's the thing that now it of course with beef prices it's it's like 48 bucks for one but if you want the impressive tray with just the giant long bone the huge meaty rib like that's that's what you're going for so on our series football question with Texas the 2005 team that was for a Kentucky basketball Centric state that was the first year that everybody in my middle school had an opinion about college football because USC dominated the sport Vince Young comes in he's awesome on the video game video game is very hot on the streets topic right now but we've always heard this notion of Texas being back is can they ever be back in the SEC were they ever see the thing that that you have to remember about Texas is they're historically inconsistent Texas has not had these massive like Oklahoma is the one that has the massive periods of dominance Texas has had some good stretches but they've also had some lows like they're much more of a they're more like Auburn like roller coaster R actually USC is probably the best example where it's they've got all the resources they've got the location they've got the the name but they've had these really up and down and when they're up they're really up but they also can be really down and you know I I think that's what makes them weird like it's very strange because Oklahoma is the more consistent program Through The Years Texas has that all the capability to do everything and then when you saw like 2005 is when they put it all together but that m brown run was pretty spectacular you know from 2000 to 2009 Texas was awesome I guess you you can go back to 98 when when Ricky Williams won the heisen but you know Texas was awesome during that span and then they wandered through the Wilderness for a while like that's that's the thing they they have that tendency and and they've done that in the past as well so you know we'll see cuz Texas is good right now I don't know how long that's going to last none of us does that's what's fascinating to me I think with this trans position is because we've known Oklahoma to just be consistent top 10 consistent consistent but now it's kind of flipped like it seems like Texas has entering the league in better position but we don't know if is Texas about to go on a decade run or was that a one-year Wonder type thing that's that's what's so fascinating I think and we don't really know because there's a lot of unknown Sabin gone there there's a lot of unknowns I think outside of the Juggernaut in Athens like where where does the hierarchy end up and that's what that's why this year on top of the playoff and revenue sharing all that coming it's why it's so like intriguing and entering the season well remember the last time the SEC added teams so Texas A&M and Missouri come in Texas A&M was amazing right out of the shoot that's Johnny football wins the Heisman That season they go 10-2 if there had been a 12 team playoff they'd have been the team nobody wanted to play in the 12 team playoff might might have won the national title they beat the national champ on the road that season so but who's had the more successful run in the A&M or Missouri it's easy Missouri I I'll help you there two championship game appearances East wins and they were really good last like they they've been more consistent over the years and so I I think you you got to take that into consideration like Texas is is there right now but Oklahoma's going to be fine because Oklahoma is never bad like they've had one down period in their entire history as a program and that was the the mid to late 90s essentially weird and well then John Blake yeah and and then once Bob stops got hired that's it they're great again and great for a long time CU you think about as good as those Texas teams where we just talked about who won more Big 12 titles during that stretch Oklahoma Oklahoma did so I have no doubt that Oklahoma's going to be fine it's tough to come into the SEC in a year when you're retooling your offensive line completely but that's not really it's just sort of the the breaks of the game in this case but I will say since Brent vbl has been there he's worked pretty hard to get their roster into a shape that it should be as they enter the SEC if Lincoln Riley had stayed I don't know that they would have had the right kind of roster coming in but this is as deep defensively as Oklahoma's been in a long time and you got to remember when when venables was the DC at Clemson what was Clemson's goal every year they were they were trying to win a National Title and they knew to do it they were going to have to play Alabama or whoever came out of the SEC and have to be able to to be as good as them so venal knew exactly what kind of roster he had to build whereas I I think a lot of other people might not now Steve sarkeesian same thing he worked at Alabama understood what he's going to be up against and began recruiting to it immediately cuz remember we find out that Texas is coming to the league right before sarkeesian's first season now he'd been hired he'd had you know a pretty full off season and then we find out at SEC media days are coming I'm sure he found out significantly before that but but probably not that's probably not something he was told when he got hired cuz don't know that those conversations has even started yet so he's done a good job and and really from that first full recruiting class after you found out they were going to the SEC that class of 22 which is where a lot of their starting offensive lineman came from Kelvin Banks their left tackle was in there DJ Campbell was in there uh that that one sort of said to the world we're taking this seriously we're going to try to build in the trenches so that when we get to the SEC we'll fit in I think that's the reason why you would buy stock on Texas it's because they're building they're building they're building a team to beat in Alabama to beat a Georgia on a neutral field in December or whatever December January in game 15 they're building a roster like that and that's why but it's interesting to Andy's point is because we we haven't really seen them do it back toback years in a a long long time so what's to say and Steve Cari I can't talk now Sark has a checkered pass like last year the before going in the last year was like can he win double digit games can he do it and now you're asking can he do it year over year over year and they're like you know it's they Texas they got cool cool colors and they got the logo and they're just a fascinating team I think headed into the year and will I don't think anybody knows kind of where to put put I know where to put them this year but maybe not next year in 5 years or in 10 years and I think you know if they keep I think the nil era has been good for them I think they figured that part out they can use those resources and cuz remember as as great as Texas is resources were they still weren't getting the best players they were getting good recruits but Alabama Georgia Ohio State they were getting the best recruits well Texas is getting some of those guys now Oregon is getting some of those guys now so the the Gap is closing between the superpowers and the ones who are in that next level down and so Texas can make itself a superpower or at least help close the gap some more and make it where instead of this little tiny select group there's this bigger group of teams that's capable of playing for national titles to bring it a little bit back to Kentucky going into the 16 team sec I think if you went back I don't know to tradition right we talk about history history says if this happens in any other era ky's walking into a bus haul and the it's just the program systemically is just not set up for that but if you want to make a case for Mark stops' greatest accomplishment his greatest Legacy it's having a roster that's ready for the SEC in this form but it still might not be good enough so I think that's my question to you is can can it be done and does it have to be done this year when they do have a very experienced roster going up against this tal this tough schedule it doesn't have to be done this year because I think you've seen over the years that that Stoops has been able to consistantly reproduce quality rosters like they can evaluate they can velop I I don't think they're ever going as long as STS is there they're not ever going back to what they were now the question is how much will Kentucky fans clamor to go up a level and I think that's harder I think for all the non- Georgia SEC east teams the world has gotten much more difficult for the for the SEC West teams the old SEC West teams they're going to be like well our schedule was already hard like ours was already brutal there's nothing you can do to us that will hurt us now but if you're Florida Kentucky Tennessee South Carolina not Missouri this year in Missouri like yeah and no no Missouri's got a nice draw this year that's true one Tennessee did too actually but but for the most part your schedule's going to be harder most years than it was so and you're look at Florida and Georgia this year they got the bad into the stick like they got the draw so uh the you have four Road games at Florida at Miss at Texas and at at Tennessee that's super easy yeah yeah yeah yeah of those four games let's let's throw Florida out because Kentucky Kentucky wins they did win the last time there Kentucky wins there now it's weird they can win four in a row but so let's say the other three y we've Le Mark stops over the years he'll probably lose a game he shouldn't he'll probably win a game he shouldn't so what's the most likely win that he probably shouldn't get on paper May and you know what you might even throw Auburn at home in there well the Auburn the Auburn thing is amazing to me because it feels like so many and then Kentucky fans are not guilty of this but so many other fan bases that have Auburn on the schedule are just penciling in Auburn as a win I'm like did you guys not watch you freeze it all Miss have you not learned your lesson here like this is not a cakewalk team but as far as those Road games go I none of them sound appealing those three that you gave me like I was just going to say Florida cuz like that's they seem to be fine against Florida now but I guess Tennessee but I don't like Tennessee is going to be really good this year I don't think people understand how limited their offense was with Joe Milton and how much better it's going to be with Nico yeah and like we've been cheering for Nico's downfall volleyball player yeah the volleyball player we we've been we've been hoping for it but like that that feels like a wishful thinking and it's also Tennessee we've seen this song and dance before but I don't know about you like it but like the old Miss how close Kentucky has played them over the years has me intrigued by it yeah the one thing I don't miss and this is more of a general question Andy like I keep waiting for the transfer thing to maybe blow up on him one year when like when does that happen chemistry keep working when does it blow up and we talk about that a lot locally with Louisville like this is what bram's doing is eventually not this isn't going to work it doesn't make sense in my how to build a roster mind that you can do this but like is there a team that you're looking at this week that maybe is you know a top 10 or playoff Contender a lot of playoffs that you think you could see like coming up short like who is who is the team that that you know falls on their face this year well all Miss is the one that everybody seems worried about but the thing and and that's for the reasons you just suggested like how can they continue to have good chemistry when they basically revamp the roster every single season and I would argue that you haven't watched how they've done this if you think that's what's going to happen if you think they'll just fall apart because they've done a good job of taking guys for the most part with a ton of Eligibility left now this is this is like the Walter Nolan Prince Le Mellen is a little bit different thing where those guys they're off to the NFL after this year uh but for the most part Old Miss has taken guys that had more time and that has actually helped them kind of congeal and I was talking to Jared Ivy about this today Jared's been there three years this is three years now he was at Georgia Tech for two years early in his career the core of their team came from somewhere else but it's been there for a while and that's they they kind of know how they play together there there's there's certainly value in that um can I just I just I I watched Shane Beamer go up there today and there's just everything in my soul just it like cringes and he's talking about rocket being a rocket the South Carolina game can be the swing game for the season what what could South Carolina do that would maybe make Kentucky fans a little worried that somehow this dork is going to beat them three straight Seasons that Lenora sers is The X Factor that he might be but if he was wouldn't Beamer just say you're the quarterback go do it no they're sandbagging remember remember Manzel in 2012 remember when they announced him as the starter people said who like the fir it was like the week of the first game like they they ran that thing and but they knew all along who the starter was going to be okay so you're saying that the maybe he is the the TBO that they talked about as a recruit that could come up maybe maybe Nick Harbor can play receiver even though he should be a defensive lineman well look listen you can't you can't have an Olympic sprint career as a defensive line I guess apparently that that seems to be the the consensus so that I'm curious to see what they do with Nick Harper but the thing about South Carolina is they have of teams at that level they have gotten more kind of special Blue Chip Talent than anybody else like even more than maybe Auburn cuz like well cam Coleman now at Auburn but the last few years Auburn hasn't been doing that that you know the Brian harson years were were a thing so but South Carolina has some some actually really special players now do they have a very deep roster no like I still worry about their offensive line but if Lenor sers is very special he can Elevate them and that's where you have to worry if you're playing them if they've got a truly dangerous quarterback and we don't know that until we see them you you got anything else you don't other thing you don't know if it's Anthony Richardson stuck in a system around that's not not the pieces do not fit or is it you know a version of Dak Prescott at Mississippi State where they just where they just go where they just take off I would that Kentucky just broke Anthony Richardson that's the look on his face after that one the one-handed interception or when the even even sooner when the the little linebacker from Old Miss picked him up and suplexed him he he was like that doesn't happen Andy you're talking college football all season long if youall aren't subscribed like I said do it it's great show live 8: a.m. every day on all of the YouTubes and twitters and X's whatever my Eastern Time Brethren that's beautiful love love to hear it love to hear it I'm I'm throwing off all this week central time but there's there's thousands and thousands of reasons to be excited about this college football season but you got to pick one right what's going to be your favorite thing to talk about on a regular basis throughout this crazy college football season just the playoff race because there going be so many teams in it you know the in the 14 playoff that there's like by the middle of October there's like six teams left truly In Contention right at that point there's going to be like 25 teams in contention and I think you probably be still around 20 when you get to November and I think that's going to be great we're going to be scoreboard watching like crazy we be watching this big 12 game to see how it affects this big 10 team this ACC game to see how it affects the SEC team like it's going to be so much fun it's going to feel more like we're NCAA tournament resume watching right like well scoreboard math absolutely now with Kentucky that's not usually a problem like they're usually safely in but like the bubble watch for this is going to it's going to be like the basketball Bubble Watch on steroids spreadsheets will be popping we we'll be crunching numbers and if you're six and two iner November you're alive you're more than alive you're playing like real meaningful football games you're playing what you could say po postseason games I mean we might get coraki up there drawing up what the percentages are we don't know it's just going to be wild and it's going to be our first time all of us have experienced it so we really don't know and we don't know what the committee is going to Value one year to the next we've learned this from from March all these years and so that's going to be a thing that swings every year and it's just going to I think it's going to give programs like Kentucky if you can get to 6-2 7-1 start if you're having a good year you're going to be not only alive but even if you don't make it you're going to be playing in games that are really really important and you're also going to get to play spoiler Nick kuy's had a few seasons in the last few years there's one where they would have made it mhm and then there's a couple where they would have been in the thick of it right up until the end yeah so I think that's that's exciting like playing spoiler with your rival I mean they would have spoiled lille's playoff chances last year absolutely and I I would vote for them to continue doing that until Louisville proves otherwise and it's it's it's like the the Backyard Brawl when pit beat West Virginia what 137 or 137 yeah the Steve Slayton Pat white I mean that that is what makes college football great and it's kind of hater mentality and loser mentality but ruining your least favorite teams best season ever is almost as good as having that great season it's right up there oh man and it's going to be here before you know college football will be here in no time we appreciate youall following us follow along Andy Staples Andy Staples on three we'll see youall around