247 predicts Kentucky going 4-8 (1-7)

[bluecoon1]

Things change every year. Five tough away games at UF, aTm, UT, Missouri, and UL. MSt, Georgia, and SC at home are going to also be tough.

If we can make it to the second half of the season healthy with an established QB I hope we can win 7-8. It’s football, we could win four or we could win nine. Just saying that we need to figure out a way to keep giving these SEC qb’s time to pick us apart...it will expose the secondary who didn’t play disciplined ball last year anyhow IMO. Just calling it as I see it. He’ll, I hope we win them all but I’d take another 4-4 conference record and a bowl win right now and call it a good year.

 

[Special Teams Player]

Hartline was the smartest QB to ever play at UK (imo).

It was Tim Couch by a wide margin. But Hartline sure was underappreciated for what he accomplished.

 

[BlueTick2]

It was Tim Couch by a wide margin. But Hartline sure was underappreciated for what he accomplished.

Couch had a cannon for a arm, all Hartline had was his brain and a weenie arm.
I guess my point is UK could have a great season and not have a rocket arm QB.
Be smart, check into the right play vs defense and don't turn the ball over will win a bunch of games.

 

[kev69]

Things change every year. Five tough away games at UF, aTm, UT, Missouri, and UL. MSt, Georgia, and SC at home are going to also be tough.

If we can make it to the second half of the season healthy with an established QB I hope we can win 7-8. It’s football, we could win four or we could win nine. Just saying that we need to figure out a way to keep giving these SEC qb’s time to pick us apart...it will expose the secondary who didn’t play disciplined ball last year anyhow IMO. Just calling it as I see it. He’ll, I hope we win them all but I’d take another 4-4 conference record and a bowl win right now and call it a good year.

At least we’re not playing at Alabama, LSU, Auburn, or Miss St.

Our schedule could be a lot tougher imo.

 

[Special Teams Player]

Couch had a cannon for a arm, all Hartline had was his brain and a weenie arm.
I guess my point is UK could have a great season and not have a rocket arm QB.
Be smart, check into the right play vs defense and don't turn the ball over will win a bunch of games.

In theory I agree, because we have a pretty good OL and other weapons with Snell, Rose, Baker, and Bowden. But the point is moot, since all of our QBs have better than average arm strength, and a couple of them are well above average in that department.

 

[kev69]

Couch had a cannon for a arm, all Hartline had was his brain and a weenie arm.
I guess my point is UK could have a great season and not have a rocket arm QB.
Be smart, check into the right play vs defense and don't turn the ball over will win a bunch of games.

I don’t like bad mouthing Hartline. Mike didn’t have a strong arm, but he was accurate, and made mostly good decisions. We could have done a lot worse.

 

[RV2]

I don’t like bad mouthing Hartline. Mike didn’t have a strong arm, but he was accurate, and made mostly good decisions. We could have done a lot worse.

We certainly could have used a 'Hartline' type performance on most any team we've had since he graduated.

 

[Cats78]

A lot of that has to do with Barker's unfortunate and unpredictable injury. Had he been as fortunate as say Bridgewaer/Jackson injury-free wise UK would be in much better shape.

After Barker's injury a QB (Johnson) came in and won a lot of football games under UK standards. You think Barker was gonna win more games than him the past 2 years?

The Barker injury as an excuse is silly. Fact is, Barker just wasn't very good, injury or not. He was also a turd off the field. Also, why the hell are you mentioned Lamar Jackson and Teddy Bridgewater when talking about Drew Barker? That's laughable. Again, Barker just wasn't very good. He had plenty of chances.

 

[Deeeefense]

We've won 7 regular season games last two years with poor defense and below average qb play lol.

I'm awfully afraid some of you people that thought we got "below average QB play" last year are going to be in a for a disappointing reality check this year.

 

[mrschwump]

After Barker's injury a QB (Johnson) came in and won a lot of football games under UK standards. You think Barker was gonna win more games than him the past 2 years?

The Barker injury as an excuse is silly. Fact is, Barker just wasn't very good, injury or not. He was also a turd off the field. Also, why the hell are you mentioned Lamar Jackson and Teddy Bridgewater when talking about Drew Barker? That's laughable. Again, Barker just wasn't very good. He had plenty of chances.

Who knows what UK had with Barker, that was the whole idea of the post. Pre-injury DB had thrown for like 300-350 yds/4 TDs...in a half of football. Would that have been the norm? We'll never know. The mention of Bridgewater/Jackson was to point out they never dealt with a crippling injury in 3 years of football...they were just one example of players who had injury-free careers, something UK hasn't had at the QB position the last decade plus. You don't like Barker for whatever reason, fine but an injury-free career likely would've ended much differently for Barker and UK.

 

[BlueTick2]

I don’t like bad mouthing Hartline. Mike didn’t have a strong arm, but he was accurate, and made mostly good decisions. We could have done a lot worse.

Didn't mean it as bad mouthing, Hartline was one of my favorite players. He was very accurate and smart. If we could get that kind of play this season from any QB along with the other offensive weapons UK will have a big big year.

 

[buster3.0]

Who knows what UK had with Barker, that was the whole idea of the post. Pre-injury DB had thrown for like 300-350 yds/4 TDs...in a half of football. Would that have been the norm? We'll never know. The mention of Bridgewater/Jackson was to point out they never dealt with a crippling injury in 3 years of football...they were just one example of players who had injury-free careers, something UK hasn't had at the QB position the last decade plus. You don't like Barker for whatever reason, fine but an injury-free career likely would've ended much differently for Barker and UK.

I do remember Barker in that 45-7 loss to Florida. He was just awful, awful. That would likely have been more the norm that what he did against Southern Miss.

2 -10 20 yards/ 3ints/ 0 TDs/ -31.6 QB rating
That is about as bad of a game as you are going to see in this sport.

 

[mrschwump]

I do remember Barker in that 45-7 loss to Florida. He was just awful, awful. That would likely have been more the norm that what he did against Southern Miss.

2 -10 20 yards/ 3ints/ 0 TDs/ -31.6 QB rating
That is about as bad of a game as you are going to see in this sport.

I totally agree, he was beyond awful. My point is that other than the first half vs S Miss we never really saw a healthy Barker. And he should be commended for getting his degree in 3 years and moving on to grad school.

 

[RV2]

I do remember Barker in that 45-7 loss to Florida. He was just awful, awful. That would likely have been more the norm that what he did against Southern Miss.

2 -10 20 yards/ 3ints/ 0 TDs/ -31.6 QB rating
That is about as bad of a game as you are going to see in this sport.

So the norm is a player AFTER he's been injured and tries to tough it out the next game on the road in the SEC vs the #14 team and not the week before when he is reasonably healthy.

Got it.

 

[WildCard]

Who knows what UK had with Barker, that was the whole idea of the post. Pre-injury DB had thrown for like 300-350 yds/4 TDs...in a half of football. Would that have been the norm? We'll never know.

Exactly. Not the point of this thread but we will never really know "how good" was Drew Barker.

His "career" was a total of 12 games over 4 years including 4 starts (last 2 games r-FR year, first 2 game r-SO year). In that career he threw for 747 yards of which 323 came in the USM game (almost all in the first half). I think he took what effectively became a career ending injury the next game. I'm not sure that one outstanding half of football reflects how his future might have gone but I would have loved to have seen how it went. JMO

Peace

 

[WildcatofNati]

I totally agree, he was beyond awful. My point is that other than the first half vs S Miss we never really saw a healthy Barker. And he should be commended for getting his degree in 3 years and moving on to grad school.

We saw a healthy Barker against Vandy, Louisville, and Charlotte in 2015, and what we saw was not impressive- even against Charlotte. Granted, he was a r-freshman. But one half of great play does not mean that he was otherwise a star in the making.

 

[mrschwump]

We saw a healthy Barker against Vandy, Louisville, and Charlotte in 2015, and what we saw was not impressive- even against Charlotte. Granted, he was a r-freshman. But one half of great play does not mean that he was otherwise a star in the making.

Never said he was a star in the making, we'll never know. What I am saying is the injury prevented him from developing. Can't see why that's so hard to understand.

 

[RV2]

We saw a healthy Barker against Vandy, Louisville, and Charlotte in 2015, and what we saw was not impressive- even against Charlotte. Granted, he was a r-freshman. But one half of great play does not mean that he was otherwise a star in the making.

Nor does it prove he wasn't. So you want to judge him as a player as he was the year prior. Is that it? What if we judged Artose Pinner on his years prior to his Senior year or Mike Hartline before his Senior year or any number of other players before they became who we remember them as the player they became?

 

[3kidsandme]

I'm awfully afraid some of you people that thought we got "below average QB play" last year are going to be in a for a disappointing reality check this year.

I loved Smitty but the qb play was borderline awful the end of the year. If we have a 6 game stretch with 125 ypg and 1 passing td your right I will be very pissed. Smitty beat who we should beat with grit and the ability to take care of the ball. I believe we get much better qb play than what I saw down the stretch.

 

[LowCountryCat]

The bigger question is how badly can the posters in this forum misspell our QBs' last names this season.

Hoke
Hoka
Haok
Willson
Wislon

etc.

 

[Deeeefense]

The bigger question is how badly can the posters in this forum misspell our QBs' last names this season.

Hoke
Hoka
Haok
Willson
Wislon

etc.

Let's just call any quarterback we have Smitty. That's a lot easier.

 

[Wildcats1st]

If stoops doesn’t win this season then he’s not gonna win at UK.

 

[RV2]

If stoops doesn’t win this season then he’s not gonna win at UK.

Define win.

Two straight winning seasons, two bowl games and two straight 4-4 SEC marks hasn't happened in decades at UK.

As for me, I expect more than that and will be disappointed if it doesn't occur but if it doesn't happen that doesn't mean it won't happen under Stoops.

 

[1977CatFan]

11-1

 

[RV2]

11-1

If that's the bar then you're right, given that's only occurred one time in UK football history by none other than arguably the greatest college football coach of all time.

 

[1977CatFan]

11-1

We are on our way to 11-1

 

[KYNC89]

247 is stupid as hell.

 

[Poetax]

If stoops doesn’t win this season then he’s not gonna win at UK.

I have a question was that your statement BEFORE the season started or since we were 4-0?

 

[JC CATS]

It is tough to win without a QB. This has been Stoops Achilles heal since he arrived.

Thank God we have one,...Yet again

 

[JC CATS]

4-8 is just as possible as some members on here saying 9-3. Im still holding firm at 5-7.

Still?

 

[FtWorthCat]

Since Stoops has "put up", it's time for people like the OP to shut up.

 

[Big_Blue_1018]

Still?

Look, I'm not against eating crow but I'm not ashamed of my prediction. I honestly thought with the uncertainty of a new QB, unproven wideouts and a questionable defense, 5-7 was a legitimate chance. Thank god I was wrong.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Their analysis:

“This could be the year the Wildcats take a step back after back-to-back bowl berths under Mark Stoops. On offense, Kentucky has Benny Snell in the backfield but still has to find a quarterback capable of winning games in the SEC. The Wildcats probably won’t get shutout in conference play, but fans may be looking forward to basketball a little sooner than usual.”

They predict UK to finish tied with Vandy for the worst record in the league.

Their full prediction list:

1. Alabama 12-0 (8-0)
2. Georgia 11-1 (7-1)
3. MSU 10-2 (6-2)
4. Auburn 10-2 (6-2)
5. SCAR 9-3 (6-2)
6. A&M 8-4 (5-3)
7. Mizzou 8-4 (5-3)
8. LSU 7-5 (4-4)
9. Fla 6-6 (3-5)
10. Ole Miss 6-6 (2-6)
11. Tenn 5-7 (2-6)
12. Ark 5-7 (1-7)
13. Kentucky 4-8 (1-7)
14. Vandy 4-8 (1-7)

The little zinger about our fans looking forward to basketball early is always nice. Just a nice little reminder of our perception in everyone else’s eyes.

Have to say that if you would’ve told me when Stoops arrived that in year 5 the perception of our program would still be this unbelievably low, I think most of us would’ve been highly disappointed. It’s time for Stoops to put up or shut up this year. 6 or 7 wins and a trip to the Meineke bowl aren’t going to cut it. It’s time for Stoops to do what he told us and to take us to a different level. 6 wins and a trip to a no name bowl gets us only slightly more respect than we had under Joker. These preseason predictions from national and regional outlets only prove that.

They don’t care about 6 wins and a trip to a participation bowl. To them we’re still a basketball school. Also, recruits aren’t buying the hype that Stoops was selling his first year or two when he landed some big names who he sold on hope and big things. Now recruits are saying “show me”. It’s time to put up or a shut up, Stoops. I like coach, but this isn’t the March of dimes, it’s dog eat dog, multi-million dollar SEC football. There’s no reason that the state of our program (which is national and regional perception, let’s just be honest) should be this pitifully low in year 5.

Oops!

 

[morgousky]

No I said 4 (of the 5) other than Georgia and Vandy could be a darkhorse winner of the East and Tennessee is the one that I think can't get there due to current condition of the program - I think the best they could possibly do this year is 2nd and that is highly unlikely.

Really really really really really really unlikely or just kind of maybe unlikely?

 

[Deeeefense]

Really really really really really really unlikely or just kind of maybe unlikely?

On July 28th I think "highly unlikely" was about right, but having the benefit of seeing how bad this team is now, yea you can add some "reallys" to it

 

[vhcat70]

247 is stupid as hell.

 

[1977CatFan]

I have a question was that your statement BEFORE the season started or since we were 4-0?

look at the date.....it was in August.

 

[sambowieshin]

Good post, but none of this matters. They are making a superficial prediction based on Stephen Johnson, Courtney Love, Denzil Ware, and Austin MacGinnis being gone.

The real story is that Kentucky lost less than most other SEC teams lost. Allen and Edwards decided to come back. I still don't think Snell, Conrad, and our OL get the credit they have earned. To understand all of this, you need to study rosters in depth, and that is something most bloggers don't have time or desire to do.

People can predict whatever they want. When the season begins, none of this means anything more than bulletin board material for our locker room. The more it pisses Benny off, the better.

Nice call on the Benny Snell factor!

 

[CUJO_1970]

We are a helluva lot better than I thought we would be before the season started that's for sure.

I like it, and I'm glad I was wrong.

What we did to Florida and Miss. State I've never seen a Kentucky team manhandle other SEC teams like that and I'm 48 years old. The second half of the Miss State game was just a physical beat-down. Did NOT see that coming.

 

[RV2]

I'm sorry but to realistically look at what we had returning - 17 starters and something like 38 of the 44 on the two deep, and then to think this team would regress by almost half in the win column after boasting two straight 4-4 SEC records was, well...

just dumb.