That game was stolen from us. That is all.

that we can not have college amateur athletics anymore. It used to be so much fun to pull for the players who were OUR team. Now the major sports will be professional players who are just looking for a payday. The more I think about it - the more I see my fan days are over. It really doesn't matter who wins anymore. I see it is now starting to enter the High School level as well. Sports is really about entertaining the common people. Much like the Romans did with the Coliseum. The more things change the more they remain the same - lol! When UK fails now it is not about having the best team anymore- it is about having the team with the most money behind it.

Western, Eastern, Murray and Morehead will be the legitimate college teams - and their best players will be poached by the big teams every year. But what could happen is that college football may die as a sport. Think about it - how are the teams that are being poached really going to survive in the future. Those schools have to be looking at losing their fan base and their major income stream. How many paydays can they get from Ohio State and Kentucky? Will it be enough to keep their programs going? Some kind of decent plan for everyone better show up soon - or it will be over!

Go Big Blue! Because thats what I grew up with and I know!

A pass rusher is a huge need. Haven't had a good rusher in 5 plus years.

Sit Down!!!

The blue hairs told the Blue Coats to call the Blue Wall.

If I had to guess I would say Calzada is most likely to end up as UK's QB as of right now. That is the feel after Murphy's visit. Calzada has a ton of game experience and is more of a fit in what Hamdan wants to do on offense.

Dave Clawson just resigned as the head coach at Wake Forest. This is Brad White's alma mater, and he's probably at the top of their list to succeed Clawson.

https://www.espn.com/college-footba...urces-wake-forest-dave-clawson-stepping-coach

TLDR; We are 45th in defensive efficiency. No team has ever won an NC outside the top 25 in defensive efficiency



Kentucky continues to win, but defensive challenges should not be overlooked

The return of Lamont Butler (33 points, 10-for-10) from an ankle injury sparked a 93-85 win for the Kentucky Wildcats over rival Louisville on Saturday, giving Mark Pope another victory to satisfy the program's rabid fan base. Kentucky's wins over Gonzaga and Duke, along with the other quality wins the program has amassed, have put the Wildcats in the early running for a top seed in the NCAA tournament.

They're playing at a top-25 pace, connecting on 37% of their 3-point attempts, and Pope's system has also allowed five different players to finish with a team-high in scoring over the course of their 11 games. Against Louisville, however, the Wildcats also surrendered 85 points (116 points per 100 possessions). The Cardinals committed just seven turnovers in a high-paced game, too.

Right now, the Wildcats are ranked 45th in adjusted defensive efficiency on KenPom. Since the 1996-97 season, there hasn't been a national champion end a season ranked lower than 22nd. While some of the champions over that span improved in the postseason, the one-month mark of the season is a solid snapshot of where a team stands.

And the truth is that the Wildcats have to be more disciplined on defense to reach their ceiling. They gave up 50 points in the first half against Gonzaga before their great comeback in Seattle earlier this month. They missed key stops in a loss to Clemson, too. Part of the challenge is the Wildcats play a defensive style that doesn't include a lot of gambles to force turnovers. Kentucky entered the week ranked 340th nationally in opponents' turnover rate. The Wildcats are so diverse and effective on offense that their defensive lapses have not outweighed their offensive gifts. But even a marginal defensive improvement could elevate the program to another level in the weeks and months ahead. -- Medcalf

Haven't seen it posted.

How many of our 22 starters will move on to another school. When you take graduation/draft out of it. Who is going to stick around from our top 22 guys?

I’m curious how many starters we are expected to lose to other schools.

to this year's team in 2025.

From KSRadio-

"Netflix's SEC Football series featuring Kentucky will come out next summer

You may recall that Kentucky was one of several SEC schools Netflix chose to feature in its new docuseries about SEC football. Film crews were in town throughout the season to document Mark Stoops’ squad, specifically the weeks of the South Carolina and Louisville games. We now have a few more details about the series, including when it will be released"

I had no idea this was going on, and I'm not paid to know, but just the fact that they were in our facilities with cameras tells me why this team fell apart (aside from bad playcalling, time management, and execution). No wonder our receivers got big heads and hurt their team with untimely penalties

I predict the Cats will be 12-1 and ranked #1 or #2 and Florida will still be unbeaten and ranked in the top five. Rupp should be rocking for that one.
I'm hoping with the new excitement with Pope's style of play and the fact that Kentucky fans are so in love with this team that we get back to whether
it's only a question of whether we lose one game in a year at Rupp or zero. I know that's going to be difficult this year with the league not only being the strongest ever in relation to other conferences but maybe the strongest league ever in relation to other conferences. I could see us maybe winning the regular season with 2 home losses if we went 5-4 on the road but, even as tough as the league is this year it might take 13-5 to win it so we really need to hold court at home.

1 Tennessee
2 Auburn
3 Alabama
4 Florida
5 Iowa State
6 Kentucky

DEC 17...this is the SEC

Login to view embedded media
Truly nice to see our coach "get the assignment."

I hope he can keep winning- he's the coach we need.

Per Twitter

That’s the buyout after next season, so I STILL can’t see Mitch paying the $35 million either.

So, are we stuck with Stoops for at least 3 more seasons no matter how bad it gets???

I don't think this is some life raft trying to get out, it's a school he played at and he wants to see succeed. I think Brad White might be on the way out.

Vote and tell me why you chose your answer. I chose a portal QB to compete against Boley for the job. If we bring in a sure fire starter, Boley won't get many game reps and won't be able to grow as a QB. You can't develop a QB if they aren't getting meaningful snaps.

And please spare me with the it doesn't matter who we bring in. Stoops sucks, etc. Save it for all of the other threads.

OT Gunnar Hansen to Florida State and LB Reginald Hughes to Colorado. I know both had been scheduled to visit. Don't think they are big losses or anything but I wouldn't have been upset to get Hansen.

Have you guys noticed that the service is getting slower and slower when dining in? Chick Fil A used to have very quick service but now it’s worse than McDonalds
I don’t blame it on the employees, I blame the fact that to go like uber eats and drive through have about 90% of the attention

Folks the information is flying left and right. I'm sorry for having so many posts, but it's a busy time and things change. This is all the latest, and I'm confident of it.

***

Kentucky feels very good about Zach Calzada. There have been a lot of rumors out there but I am confident of this. The quarterback board at the end of the regular season looked like this:

1. Darian Mensah (Tulane)
2. Zach Calzada (Incarnate Word)
3. Kyron Drones (Virginia Tech)
4. Maalik Murphy (Duke)

Mensah was someone they really liked a lot but he went to Duke. You remember we mentioned Calzada very early on. So I am confident he was No. 2 on the wish list.

Apparently Calzada was thinking about going into the 2025 NFL Draft. Scouts had given him as high as a 4th round grade, some between 5th and 7th, others that he was in that conversation.

The combination of Calzada's arm ability, decision making, experience, and running ability made him high on their wish list. He went 8-4 with Texas A&M, and 4-4 in the SEC. Other A&M quarterbacks didn't do better than that for Jimbo.

Calzada would have started at A&M again but Jimbo got fired.

During Austin Davis' short stint as Auburn's offensive coordinator at the end of 2021 going into 2022, he targeted Calzada as the guy he wanted to be the Tigers' quarterback after watching him with Texas A&M. But Calzada was injured, hurt his shoulder, and that's the reason he never got a chance there.

Fast forward to Incarnate Word, he could have come out and had FBS opportunities last season but he stuck around and became a more coveted commodity. That is the case for Calzada, and there is a sense that Incarnate Word has done a good job developing quarterbacks.

As for the Nebraska running back, Dante Dowdell, I'm hearing that he's someone that Kentucky likes and it seems like it could definitely happen. At the same time, there are some mixed feelings on Chip Trayanum leaving. He was brought in because they did like him but he got hurt and that's why he didn't get more of a workload. But again, it was a given they were going to take a portal running back. Would certainly cost a lot less than Ahmad Hardy, who has been/was reported to be visiting soon as well.

Finally, keep an eye on that Illinois tight end I told you about, Hunter Boyer. Could beef up the run blocking significantly (6'7, 265).

Additionally, I have heard of an offensive tackle, possibly a LT, who hasn't gone into the portal but is someone who might go in and there would be interest.
So here is where things stand, in my view.

QB - Likely Calzada
RB - Likely Dowdell
WR - Likely Law from Alabama and then size from elsewhere, maybe Bowick?
TE - Boyer
OT - Still need a LT but that's about it

Those are the offensive needs. Still dialed into what's happening with the defense.

Have heard that Kentucky has interest in Georgia defensive lineman Jamaal Jarrett. Eric Wolford was his lead area recruiter when he was around the first time. However I have not heard of a visit and there has been talk of visits elsewhere.

Jacob Polacheck had a report on Ball State CB Myles Norwood who is likely to visit Kentucky. TBD on where he falls on the wish list as there are several corners they've been looking at.

UK's also looking at 6'3, 303-pound Louisiana Tech defensive lineman David Blay. He was a first team All-Conference USA selection this year and I hope to have more on him soon but can confirm some interest.

@JRowland - can you provide us with the list in order of who UK’s top targets at Left Tackle have been thus far?

As great as Butler played Saturday night he has got to improve his free throw shooting. Not really sure, just asking but have we had another point guard shoot free throws at a 62.8% clip? There was a thread that stated that we were the best in the nation, my thought is that we could be but having a team average of 70.3% is well below the 73 -75 national percentile. Even though it was a good win it should not have been that close, of the 10 free throws missed Butler missed 5.

Kid been around started his career at Texas A&M then went to Auburn and finally the last 2 years in FCS at Incarnate Ward.