As a staff, this year ranks right up there with worst collective performance

[gamecockcat]

There is 8-win talent or better on this team. The offense fiddles around and barely gets plays off before a penalty. We've thrown 20 bombs to Barion Brown this year and maybe completed two, yet continue to throw deep balls that are automatic incompletions. Shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties and dumb turnovers. First Levis in '21 and now Leary continues to make bad decisions, lock onto receivers, have no touch on their short passes, almost never check down to open guys in the flat, don't use TEs or middle of the field often enough. Is the system too complicated? It takes nearly all 35 seconds for us to snap the damn ball. And, even then, we look like we're confused on far too many plays.

Defense plays too tentative, especially in crunch time before the half and end of the game. Why we come out so vanilla in every game and give up an easy score early is beyond me.

Clock management is still a huge obstacle for this staff and there is no excuse for that. Players are not being developed like they were earlier in Stoops' regime. The same bonehead mistakes made in Games 1 and 2 are being made in Game 11. We haven't developed a QB since George W was President. We had all the momentum in quarters 2 and 3 and managed a measly 14 points against USC who is bad this year with a complete dumbass for a coach. Yet, he got his team a win when they had no business even being in the game.

In all the years I've watched UK football, this may be the most frustrating year yet. Lots of preseason hype and anticipation of a really solid season only to end up at .500 once UofL kicks our ass.

So frustrated that I'm not even going to watch that game. I firmly believe we'll lose and I don't want to watch them lose to those no-class clowns like they lost tonight to no-class clowns.

 

[seccats04]

This is two straight years of absolute shit football. Stoops and his conservative, grind it out style on both sides of the ball, suck.

 

[gamecockcat]

Let's look at the position groups:
WR - definitely took a step back, didn't use TRob nearly enough, who are the 2nd stringers- none made any impact.
TEs- as a group, much less than promised, each had a game or two where they were used but didn't throw to them very often, Kattus took a big step back and got called for holding every game
OL - Flax improved, Burton and Eli were disappointing and didn't seem to get any better this year, Horsey about as expected, M Cox less than expected, too many plays blown up early, too few drives/games where OL was in control, dumb penalties consistently, lost on DL stunts most games
RB- Davis darn good, then who?, McClain gave us nothing, DSK had flashes but not an every down back, Jefferson only recently got the ball
QB - Leary much less than expected and promised, backups are clipboard holders only as we never have developed a backup since Stoops has been here, poor decisions making at times, hesitance to take what the D is giving to force the ball downfield, a ton of balls tipped at the line, locking onto receivers too often

Secondary - pretty horrible all year except for Hairston, way too many wide open receivers, safety play was consistently bad, some games very bad, gave way too many yards away every game by leaving too much cushion, could not get stops on 3rd and long
LB- very spotty, no pass rush from the edge, poor in pass coverage, did not make difference in many games, pedestrian play all year long
DL - Walker is very good, the remainder had a moment of two but nothing consistent, missed too many tackles, let QBs break contain too often, very little pressure on the QB or TFL (most likely the scheme)

I mean, do any of the coaches of the above position groups deserve any positive comments for the job they did this year?

Stoops clock management, the pervasive conservatism and tentativeness of his style, the play not to lose strategies, the horrible 'middle 8' in many games, inexplicable hoarding of timeouts - all of these are his shortcomings this year.

How are we fans supposed to be enthused at all about this year? Or next unless a lot of turnover on the staff occurs? Won't we see more of the same with many players stagnating or regressing? I'm starting to feel hopeless again about the program, like we're slowly slipping back into the abyss.

 

[K_TIME]

It's where do you start to fix things mindset to me

1. Offense...To be honest...NFL offenses do run down the play clock, make adjustments at LOS, etc....I wonder if this is just too complicated a scheme for college football? We are a penalty magnet the last 2 years offensively. But if Coen does not pan out....Stoops is sunk. There is no coming back from yet another re-tooling of offense.
2. Defense is the shocking part for me. There is way too much experience and good talent at spots to play this poorly on the year.
3. THe biggest drop for me....is we've lost our edge in the trenches. We used to dominate USC and Mizzou and give headaches to the bigger teams in defeat. Now...we are just as another team in terms of physicality and toughness. I don't know if Coen's outside run scheme is taking that away from OL, Schlarman's death, etc... But none of this explains why teams can run at our defense....

Really feel like 2024 is just buying time to save up enough money to pay off Stoops insane contract is where I see the program at.

 

[wildcatglenn]

We have an Aussie punter, but for sone reason they are hell bent on him kicking traditional. Blows my mind

 

[law1127]

Stoops has lost his focus,and it shows in the lack of physicality, penalties, and blown execution on both sides of the ball. He has to decide if he’s a football coach,or an investor,and right now it looks like he’s leaning in the investor direction! His teams lately,reflect his lack of focus,and stagnation.

 

[sluggercatfan]

We have an Aussie punter, but for sone reason they are hell bent on him kicking traditional. Blows my mind

I'd like the punter come out against u6 and kick it like he wants. It's his/teams last game. What's his coach going to do?

 

[bigbluedon]

Stoops has lost his focus,and it shows in the lack of physicality, penalties, and blown execution on both sides of the ball. He has to decide if he’s a football coach,or an investor,and right now it looks like he’s leaning in the investor direction! His teams lately,reflect his lack of focus,and stagnation.

He’s a drinker.

 

[ManitouDan]

Let's look at the position groups:
WR - definitely took a step back, didn't use TRob nearly enough, who are the 2nd stringers- none made any impact.
TEs- as a group, much less than promised, each had a game or two where they were used but didn't throw to them very often, Kattus took a big step back and got called for holding every game
OL - Flax improved, Burton and Eli were disappointing and didn't seem to get any better this year, Horsey about as expected, M Cox less than expected, too many plays blown up early, too few drives/games where OL was in control, dumb penalties consistently, lost on DL stunts most games
RB- Davis darn good, then who?, McClain gave us nothing, DSK had flashes but not an every down back, Jefferson only recently got the ball
QB - Leary much less than expected and promised, backups are clipboard holders only as we never have developed a backup since Stoops has been here, poor decisions making at times, hesitance to take what the D is giving to force the ball downfield, a ton of balls tipped at the line, locking onto receivers too often

Secondary - pretty horrible all year except for Hairston, way too many wide open receivers, safety play was consistently bad, some games very bad, gave way too many yards away every game by leaving too much cushion, could not get stops on 3rd and long
LB- very spotty, no pass rush from the edge, poor in pass coverage, did not make difference in many games, pedestrian play all year long
DL - Walker is very good, the remainder had a moment of two but nothing consistent, missed too many tackles, let QBs break contain too often, very little pressure on the QB or TFL (most likely the scheme)

I mean, do any of the coaches of the above position groups deserve any positive comments for the job they did this year?

Stoops clock management, the pervasive conservatism and tentativeness of his style, the play not to lose strategies, the horrible 'middle 8' in many games, inexplicable hoarding of timeouts - all of these are his shortcomings this year.

How are we fans supposed to be enthused at all about this year? Or next unless a lot of turnover on the staff occurs? Won't we see more of the same with many players stagnating or regressing? I'm starting to feel hopeless again about the program, like we're slowly slipping back into the abyss.

Accurate sad description . Should have started developing a QB in those blow outs . Even early in the year .. Let them play . And this non aggressive D obviously doesnt work if the front four apply no pressure , I'd love to see a Chicago Bears approach again .. we are bringing 6-8 .. can you block them ? Can you keep your QB healthy thru a game ? What would happen on say ... 3rd and 15 if we played straight man and brought 7 ??? The other teams QB would panic more than likely , its called the element of surprise .. but we are far too anal retentive for that !

 

[ManitouDan]

He’s a drinker.

Man plus ETOH = it doesnt take a mathematician to see where I'm going .