Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed Dr. K to the newsmakers line.
During the second hour, Dr. K. weighed in on the current state of college football highlighting who will play and who won’t. He later stated that the players would be better suited on college campuses where they could be monitored by their coaches in lieu of the coronavirus concerns.
Leahy: We are talking with Dr. K. And we are talking football. And Dr. K., the AP rankings came out. Did you take a look at them? What do you think of them? And what’s going to happen when some teams don’t play?
Dr. K.: Well those are three questions. First of all, nothing surprising about the Southeastern Conference has seven teams in the top 25. Alabaman number three, Tennessee number 25, Georgia, LSU, and A&M all in the mix. Also not a huge surprise Clemson is number one. Ohio State number two.
So, the same names if you look down the top 25 are present. And that’s kind of been true over the last bunch of years. Last night when I was preparing for the show and doing some evaluating of the Southeastern Conference in particular because that’s where I live and where my attention is focused.
You know I find it very interesting that over the last few years if you look at the conference only six teams in the last 20 or 30 years only six teams in the conference have actually won the conference. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, and Auburn. And I find that consistently true. So the rest of the teams I wonder how they feel about that.
And that’s also true in these national rankings. If I look at last year’s national ranking of where they ended and where we started this year I don’t see a lot of change. I’m curious about that. So that means that those guys that are ranking these teams don’t have any idea of who is going to play. So what value is the top 25 if so many of the teams are in leagues that just don’t play?
Leahy: So let’s talk about the ones that aren’t going to play now, asterisk. At the least, the big Ohio State is ranked number two. Ohio State trying to work with some folks to maybe do their own kind of rogue league. We’ll see how that plays out. Oklahoma, number five. What’s the Big 12 doing? Are they playing or not?
Dr. K.: No. I don’t know! I looked that up last night and they are undecided. ACC says they are going to play. Then you’ve got the Big East we haven’t talked about. Who knows? Maybe they are. Here’s the Big Ten that’s got six teams going, eh, maybe not so much. Why? This is what we talked about moments ago. Money.
Leahy: Do-Rei-Mi. Yeah?
Dr. K.: Do-Rei-Mi. That’s the bottom line. And you know I was telling you a minute ago. I have season tickets to the University of Tennessee. I’m not casting aspirations on the University of Tennessee. The chances of me being selected to be a part of the 25 percent. And by the way, there’s going to be a percentage of the 25 percent allocated to these students is zero. Who is going to get chosen?
Leahy: I can tell you the standard. Who will be chosen do you think?
Dr. K.: Big donors!
Leahy: You think?
Dr. K.: People who donate big money to the University. Don’t you think?
Leahy: You are probably right. I would say from a health perspective you should not take anybody over 50 should be allowed to go in. That would be my view.
Dr. K.: That hasn’t even crossed their mind, Michael Patrick Leahy.
Leahy: It’s money. (Laughs)
Dr. K.: They aren’t even going to think about that. No way baby. They are going to look at that donor book and go, there’s Fred, he gave $25,000. He’s in. Here’s Tom he gave $100,000. He’s in. That’s the way it’s going to be decided. Here’s Dr. K. He just bought two tickets. He’s out.
Leahy: Well, you make a good case there. I’m going down this top 25 teams that aren’t going to play, asterisk. Penn State at seven. Now they are aligned with Nebraska, Ohio State, Iowa. And they are looking to play college football this year and they are trying to talk Michigan and Wisconsin into it. I don’t know how that is going to turn out. Oregon, number nine. Pac-12. They are not playing. That’s for sure.
Dr. K.: You know the commissioner of the Big Ten’s son plays for Mississippi State. You do know that?
Leahy: Yeah. He’s very happy to be playing for Mississippi State.
Dr. K.: Well, guess what? His daddy’s going we ain’t playing in the Big Ten. I wonder how Papa feels about sonny boy when he’s decided for the conference that they are not going to play.
Leahy: My guess is that he’s probably fine with it. And that he got roped into closing things down from political pressures. That would be my guess.
Dr. K.: Political pressures? Oh yeah. You mean…
Leahy: But going down the list here, Texas is 14. Oklahoma State is 15. They are Big 12. They aren’t playing. Southern Cal 17. Pac-12. They’re not playing. Cincinnati, which are they? Are they Big East?
Dr. K.: Big East.
Leahy: Are they playing?
Dr. K.: They haven’t decided yet. At least there’s been no word on whether they are playing or not. The only ones that have come out and made the decision and made a declaration are the ones we’ve talked about so far. The Big Ten has certainly spoken. The Pac-12 has certainly spoken. The ACC is still pondering it. The Big East is pondering it.
The college season begins on September 3. There are a bunch of games on September 3. So they are going to have to make some pretty quick decisions about what they are going to do. And they are in the throws of practice. I’ve heard the arguments that these players are a lot better off being on college campuses under the direction and supervision of the coaches.
Leahy: In sort of a bubble, asterisk right?
Dr. K.: Yes. Exactly. They are being tested frequently. Totally get it. But at the end of the day playing is about one thing.
Leahy: I think I got this wrong. Actually Cincinnati is 20 and Central Florida is 21, I think.
Dr. K.: 21.
Leahy: They are in the American Athletic Conference. They are not Big East.
Dr. K.: No, they are not.
Leahy: Are they playing or not? I think they are playing. I don’t know.
Dr. K.: I have no idea.
Leahy: And then we’ve got rounding out the top 25 Utah Pac-12, 22. They are not playing. Iowa State 23. They are not playing. They are a Big 12. Iowa…
Dr. K.: Iowa is not supposed to play, but they said they might.
Leahy: I would love to have a rogue Big Ten football adventure of these guys that want to play. I would watch that. Would you watch that?
Dr. K.: I’m going to watch any college football that matters.
Leahy: There you go.
Dr. K.: But I would imagine that the conference would have six dissidents that are allowed to play. I don’t know how you fly in the face of the conference.
Leahy: I would love to see that. I’ma rebel! Rebel! We’ll see how it works out.
Listen to the full second hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.Â
