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Matching donor today.

….Michigan moves on to play the winner of Texas-Washington

Game tied, Bama needs a field goal for the win. Mich rushes 4, 5 and 6 EVERY play. pressures Milroe into errant throws and ends with a punt.

Is there even any question how Stoops would have played that series? Rush 3 all day or get really crazy and send 4 once....maybe. Would have been a walkoff field goal or TD win for Bama against UK. zero doubt. The game has changed. Change with it!

signed,

please F'n adapt your scheme/philosophy!

2023 KENTUCKY FOOTBALL WRAPUP NOTES


Kentucky finished the season with a 7-6 record. UK has won at least seven games in seven of the last eight seasons, with the only exception being the Covid-shortened 2020 season.


Kentucky posted two wins against opponents who were in The Associated Press top 25 poll at the time of the game, defeating then-No. 22 Florida and then-No. 9 Louisville.

• It is the fourth straight season that UK has defeated at least two AP-ranked opponents. It is the longest such streak in school history.
• Coach Mark Stoops now has 13 wins against ranked opponents, more than any coach in school history.
• In recognition of the win at Louisville, UK was named National Team of the Week by the Football Writers Association of America.

UK went 3-5 in the Southeastern Conference, tying for fourth place in the SEC Eastern Division.

• In the 32 seasons of divisional standings (1992-2023), UK’s highest finish was second place in 2016, 2018 and 2021, all under Coach Stoops.

Kentucky extended its bowl streak to eight consecutive seasons by playing in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. It is the eighth-longest active streak in the nation.


In addition to extending his school record for wins against ranked opponents, Coach Stoops also improved his UK record for total victories to 73. He has completed 11 seasons at Kentucky and ranks No. 7 in longevity (at his current school) among the coaches in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision.


Offensive Notes


Kentucky averaged 29.1 points per game, an improvement of 8.7 points per game from 2022 (20.4).


UK averaged 339.5 yards per game, an improvement of 14.8 yards per game from 2022 (324.7).


In addition to the blocking for the stats listed above, UK’s offensive line reduced quarterback sacks by more than half, allowing 22 sacks this season after allowing 47 sacks in 2022.

• UK’s O-Line was on the midseason honor roll for the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s best offensive line.
• Center Eli Cox was named second-team All-SEC by league coaches and tackle Marques Cox was a third-team All-SEC choice by Phil Steele.

Quarterback Devin Leary threw for 2,746 yards, the ninth-highest single-season mark in Wildcat history. He threw 25 touchdowns passes, entering bowl season second in the SEC in touchdown passes. It is the most TD tosses for a UK quarterback since Andre’ Woodson in 2007.


Running back Ray Davis rushed for 1,129 yards. He leads the SEC in total touchdowns (21) and scoring (9.7 points per game). He was National Player of the Week after running for 280 yards and totaling a school-record-tying four touchdowns in the win over Florida. He is believed to be the first player in NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision history to rush for at least 1,000 career yards at three schools (Temple, Vanderbilt, Kentucky). For the season, he was named first-team All-SEC by three selectors.


Three wide receivers, Tayvion Robinson, Barion Brown and Dane Key, caught at least 40 passes this season. It is the first time that UK had three players catch at least 40 in a season since 2007. All three went over the 1,000-yard mark in UK career receiving yards this season.


Defensive Notes


Kentucky allowed 25.8 points per game, extending its streak of six straight seasons allowing fewer than 26 points per game. In this era of high-scoring offenses, you have to go back to the 1980s to find six straight seasons of UK allowing fewer than 26 points per game.

• UK kept this streak going despite entering the season with massive personnel losses. UK lost seven players from the ’22 defense (DeAndre Square, Jordan Wright, Jacquez Jones, Carrington Valentine, Keidron Smith, Tyrell Ajian and Justin Rogers) who had combined for 20 seasons of starting experience in the SEC.

Kentucky scored four defensive touchdowns this season, tied for seventh in the nation.


Kentucky allowed 113.1 rushing yards per game this season, ranking 18th in the nation.


For the second straight season, linebacker D’Eryk Jackson led the team in tackles, totaling 89 stops. He also had eight tackles for loss and two pass interceptions, one returned for a touchdown. He was named first-team All-SEC by Pro Football Focus.


Despite battling frequent double teams, defensive lineman Deone Walker led the team in tackles for loss (12.5), quarterback sacks (7.5) and quarterback hurries (8). He was a third-team All-America pick by College Football Network and a first-team All-SEC choice by three outlets.


Linebacker J.J. Weaver was second on the team in tackles for loss (8.5) and QB sacks (7). He won the Howard Schnellenberger Award as the Most Valuable Player of the Governor’s Cup win over Louisville.


Cornerback Maxwell Hairston tied for the SEC lead and was fifth in the nation in interceptions with five. He was National Defensive Player of the Week when he had two interception returns for touchdowns at Vanderbilt. He earned second-team All-SEC from three selectors.


Special Teams Notes


UK was second in the nation in kickoff return average with 30.1 yards per runback. (Worth noting that the NCAA leader, Rutgers, only returned five kickoffs this season with a 33.0-yard average.)

• The 30.1 average broke the UK single-season team record.

Barion Brown led the nation in kickoff returns by averaging 36 yards per runback. In the process, he broke the UK single-season and career records for KO return average.

• Brown returned three kickoffs for touchdowns, breaking the UK single-season and career record (4) for kickoff return TDs. He tied the SEC records in both categories. He was named first-team All-America by The Sporting News and first-team All-SEC by Pro Football Focus and Phil Steele.

Kicker Alex Raynor made 10 of 11 field goals, with his only miss coming from 53 yards. He made 90.9 percent of his field goals. He did not have the minimum number of attempts needed to be officially ranked, but if he had, his percentage would rank seventh in the nation and second in the SEC.

UK hasn't won a NCAA Basketball Title when an SEC Football team didn't win the Football championship since 1949.

Interestingly enough, '48-'49 is the last time we went back to back for NCAA Basketball titles.

So we are either not winning the title this year, or we are and going back to back!

New Year Nonsense, you're welcome...

2012- Bama
1998- Tennessee
1996- Florida
1978- Bama
1958- LSU
1951- Tennessee
1949- Notre Dame
1948- Michigan

That KY beats Clemson
Or
Alabama beats Michigan

You dont put garbage teams in new years day bowls. Should have been Georgia vs. Oregon.

Watched KSR Video last night, they were saying that NCAA was satisfied with scores. He is enrolled in classes, 'and will be back in a couple days

He has always been a Bama fan and I thought got personal in his comments on Harbaugh at times this year

Huge break for Michigan on the opening INT

I want to punch him in the face. His players should, too. They should've been up 3 TDs with 7 minutes left. What a cretin. That 3rd down call on UW's second to last possession made me want to kick puppies into coal furnaces.

better than DJ? He seems to impact the game more.

Anyone see this? Wonder if it'll be worth watching. I'm all for more football so hopefully itll be at least decent

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HOW BOUT THEM COWBOYS????

It’s obvious Kentucky has one of the top offenses in the country, even with their lackluster defense they are still beating teams by 20+. The thing I fear is them getting cold in a very big game and then having to rely on the defense to make plays. The defense could improve between now and March, and hopefully it does because there will come a game where defense will need to win it for them.

The way we should have finished off Clemson. 4&25. 3&19 2&13. Pressured qb into 3 straight fumbles. Pressure. Pressure. Pressure. Further, the almos never got pressure on the qb during the game. Didn’t wait to lose it. Coached to win it. Sorry. Still frustrated.

Sends 6 and 5 standing on the 1st down line sack and fumble that's taking it not like Stoops bend don't break mentality uggh still makes me sick

Last night was an improvement, even with the poor rebounding.

I think it’s safe to call us a contender at this point, but I would still have us in the second tier.

Here’s my question? How many analysts are allowed on a team? Feel like the consistent programs have a lot. When I mean pour money it’s for those type of people who really break things down and that’s what they are for! Bring them in and let’s ride! I feel could be wrong that our coaches are spending lots of extra time on these things and not tweaking when it needs to be bc it gets forgotten about! The details matter! We have been short on the details.

I’ve had pretty high expectations for this team the last two years, and both of those years turned out to be two of the most disappointing UK teams that I can remember. I try to be as level headed as possible, but I really struggle to be too optimistic going into next year. Some reasons why:

Offense
-UK will be breaking in an unproven, inexperienced QB. Brock has all the physical traits you’d want out of a QB, but we just don’t know if that will all pan out or not.

-UK has some obvious talent at receiver, but they’ve been incredibly inconsistent and inefficient. Barion and Dane have to live in the weight room this off-season so they can fight through physical play more effectively. I shouldn’t need to mention drops, as we all know both guys simply dropped way too many balls all year. They have a penchant to make special plays, but we need them both to become more consistent and make routine plays.

-UK’s offensive line is probably not going to be good in the run game based off the personnel we have right now. I think they’re okay in pass protection for the most part, but they’ve struggled to move people off the ball in recent years in the run game. The interior OL in particular has been a disappointment with Burton and Cox heading that group. This means that our offense next year is probably going to have to rely heavily on the unproven QB and inefficient receivers I mentioned above…could put us in a tough spot if things don’t pan out.

I like Chip, and I think UK has some decent depth at RB…but will we continue the trend of insanely high level RB play here that we’ve seen for years now? Or does UK finally take a small step back here?

Defense/Special Teams
-If you’re not questioning UK’s incredibly passive and “safe” tendencies on this side of the ball at this point then I’m not sure what to tell you. Opposing coaches and QBs have routinely commented on how our tendency to just give up yards through the air has allowed them to get in a rhythm and execute their offense more effectively. We tend to stop the run pretty well against teams not named Tennessee(because their scheme kills us) and Georgia(because their talent overwhelms us), but we so often allow teams the opportunity of getting a favorable down/distance with quick easy completions that it almost doesn’t matter. I’ve said it before, but anytime UK goes against a solid QB I’d expect us to struggle.

-I’m really concerned about UK’s secondary going into next year. Hairston is really good and Childress is fine in run support, but that’s all I feel good about. We probably need several players from the portal here before I feel comfortable with that position group. Our depth here is a huge concern as well.

-I still have questions on UK’s pass rush outside of Walker. The Gator Bowl probably gave us the best pass rushing game from our edge positions that we’ve had all year, but will that carry over or was it a one time thing? I said it before when the Wade twins transferred that Fearbry probably has better physical traits as a pass rusher than Keaton did, but will his body be ready to play outside of mostly pass rushing situations?

-UK simply has to find a way to be better at punter next year. I’m not trying to throw anyone under the bus, but we simply can’t be that bad again there next season. It absolutely killed us against Clemson in the bowl game.

-Does Raynor have any eligibility remaining? Does he return if so? I feel comfortable at kicker next year if he’s the guy, but if not then that’s another question mark going into the season.

Looking at the schedule I think there are 4 games you can look at and say we’ll have a really tough time winning. Georgia is simply on another level than we are in terms of talent, @Ole Miss has stacked its roster through the portal and we’ve struggled against them recently, @Tennessee flat out beats our defense with scheme every year and I’m not expecting that to change until I see it with my own eyes, and @Texas is another team that’s simply a lot more talented than us. From there it’s a question of how many eggs we lay, because historically we’re good for at least 1-2 a year under Stoops. Right now I think 6-6/7-5 is what I’m going with, another mediocre record which will kind of cement the fact that we’ve declined somewhat after winning 10 games a couple times recently.

Very long here. Tons of info. Will roll out a lot more but here's a start on offense with the year just wrapped up.

By himself, he is costing the Cats one full spot in the rankings.

It’s a thing!!!!! This program is a daggum MACHINE!!!
Saban has a blueprint and he just plugs and plays….whether it’s players or staff!!! Very impressive!!!