I think we will probably have a more competitive team this upcoming season. Of course that depends on better offensive line play (we still do not have a left tackle), better QB play, better defensive line play, and better overall team discipline and effort. However, I don't think we win more than 4 or 5 games. The schedule is just too tough. My guess is we will be favored in only 3 games. The middle of the schedule has 6 SEC games that we have practically no chance at winning. Of course strange things do happen (Indiana makes the playoffs). That's my take on things right now. We really have no idea how the 18 portal players will perform or if any of the incoming freshmen can contribute. Love to see us win 7 or 8 games but it will take a major turn around.
Better Team in 2025 But Not a Better Record
- Thread starter Oldfootballguy
- Start date
I agree this is a better team after the winter portal. But the schedule was very difficult last fall. I can't buy into the idea it will be worse this year even though the SEC is always tough. We are one player away from a winning record. A LT who can block SEC edge rushers. We will get that one in the spring portal if not sooner. With a better OL, our team will be respectable and more successful. It all starts upfront in the trenches. The groundwork for the rebuilt OL has been laid.
Valid points. However, if you believe it was coaching as more than roster this past season - I would post the following question to you? If this team is equal or better as many are starting to think - why can this team not win 7 games or more? I say this with a straight face - because most people that are upset thought we should have won 8 games this past year. I agree our schedule it difficult - but in reality it is actually easier than last year. Most of the teams we lost to will not be any stronger than this year. So, if the coach is really working to do better - with tougher conditioning, stricter discipline and better game planning - it should be a better year for us!
Go Big Blue!
Hopefully they get a LT. ON3 predicting pate to Nebraska
So you feel good about going 4-8 or 3-9 because it was a "better team?"
What on earth are we doing?
What on earth are we doing?
No, I did not say I feel "good" about going 4-8 or 3-9. I will not feel good unless we can get to 6, 7 or more wins. All I am saying is we can have a better team than 2024 and still only win 3 or 4 games because I believe the schedule is too difficult. Hope coaching and great play will turn us back to a winning team. It is possible.
Oldfootballguy, when has UK ever had an easy schedule, never in my 50 plus years of following.
I strongly disagree on the 6 games in the middle of the schedule that we "practically have no chance to win".
In the end your 3/4 win season may come to be.
But this will not be like the 0-10-1 team.
Hope for a 6 plus win season myself. Stoops is a damn good defense coach, now the offence not so much.
I strongly disagree on the 6 games in the middle of the schedule that we "practically have no chance to win".
In the end your 3/4 win season may come to be.
But this will not be like the 0-10-1 team.
Hope for a 6 plus win season myself. Stoops is a damn good defense coach, now the offence not so much.
Well we were competitive in games this year. We just lost every competitive game we played against anyone halfway decent except Ole Miss.
The roster looks like it may be better in certain spots. The offensive line looks to be much improved once we add Pete to the fold. The RBs (Patterson, Wilcox, Mizell) will get bigger and stronger. Dowdell is a good addition. I have no clue how good the QB (Calzada/Boley) will be. I am hoping for 6 wins.
The roster looks like it may be better in certain spots. The offensive line looks to be much improved once we add Pete to the fold. The RBs (Patterson, Wilcox, Mizell) will get bigger and stronger. Dowdell is a good addition. I have no clue how good the QB (Calzada/Boley) will be. I am hoping for 6 wins.
A lot of good comments here. However as someone mentioned about the coaching staff etc…. Until Mark Stoops begins to decide he wants to be at UK, and not somewhere else, Texas AM, late night bourbon and babe escapades, at practice full time instead of part time, his side businesses and the like, we won’t be dangerous on the football field. Our coaches and players, just like the vast majority of people on the planet, take their direction from leadership and can tell if a leader is not plugged in.
Being pessimistic (not saying it is completely unwarranted in this case) is a defense mechanism. Some fans are fragile and this is exacerbated after a year in which the hype train was running a bit faster than normal. So while many fans can get their hopes up every year and deal with the disappointment of unmet expectations, other preemptively expect disaster, so anything better is a blessing in some way. We all have our line when we turn into a snowflake, I'm just not there yet and a big part of that is due to having been a UK FB fan for over 40 years and as someone who make their living analyzing risk, I know it could get much worse than this, so the lower risk option is supporting this team wholeheartedly.
Not competitive in USC, Florida, Auburn or Louisville games.
Competitive losses...UGA, Vandy, Texas to a degree and Tennessee.
So, it's mixed bag but it's not reality to argue we were a hair away from being 6-7 wins....we had no shot in 4 games and were soundly thumped. And very disappointing as Florida, Auburn and UL were not really good teams by any stretch.
Not to be argumentative here but we were not competitive against South Carolina, Auburn, Florida, U of L, Texas, and could say we played poorly against Vandy.
Pretty good take IMO. If Stoops and Hamden have a better year themselves then 5/6 is the floor and 7/8 is attainable.
The Auburn and Tennessee games I'd consider competitive. There were moments in those games where if they get 1 score theres a chance to win. Not that I'm defending this shit storm of a season or coaching staff. The losses are still losses. I think Florida and Louisville were good teams.
The vacated 9 win season and bowl win was one of the easiest sec schedules in sec history.
That’s the year a competent coach would have won 11 regular season games. We had a similar schedule to Indiana this year. And blew it.
Funniest post I have ever read on the Liar in my 18 years here.
The 2021 schedule was pretty easy when you look at how bad the teams were.
UL Monroe 4-8
Chatanooga 6-5
NM State 2-10
Vandy 2-10
Fla 6-7
Mizzou 6-7
SC 7-6
LSU 6-7
Tennessee 7-6
Miss State 7-6
Georgia 14-1
Louisville 9-4
We played 10 teams who had at least five losses, one team with a four loss (Louisville), and Georgia. In reality, Georgia was the only tough game and we went 10-3. Most favorable schedule I can recall.
I don’t feel good about 4-8 or 5-7. But I’m also a realist and I’m happy with the changes but unfortunately the schedule sucks. Best case scenario is 6-6 realistically. IMO
That's ridiculous. No one has ever accused Stoops of being lazy and it has been reported widely that they routinely have 18-20 hour days during the season. It is irresponsible to report unsubstantiated libel like that without corroborating evidence that doesn't rise above, "I heard from a guy I know."
Explain why anyone believes we will have a better team next year.At this time we have a makeshift incomplete offensive line. Our defensive line lost its best players.We are playing a quarterback who hasn't played D1 ball in a while and wasn't very good when he did. We have one semi proven running back who has never been a full time starter and a couple of guys we hope will be serviceable. The only position I see improvement in is the receiver room, but without a decent online it will not matter. I think a bunch of you guys are whistling past the grave yard. I won't even begin to go into the coaching problems we have.
Best case scenario is four wins next year. Like you, I have no idea how anyone could expect anything different.
Bet you were one of those, "you should have meet my hot summer girlfriend at the beach. She was from Canada, so you can't meet her"
You say "makeshift" and every portal player is more experienced and grades out better than the guy they replaced. Our D line lost it's best player who was dogging it most of last year and the portal players replacing the others were higher rated and experienced. Our new QB went 8-4 in the SEC and beat Bama, then replaced a Heisman finalist at IW and had similar results there. RB is fine, though not enough bodies if we have injuries, but SEC kevel explosive back and SEC level bruiser for short yardage at RB1 and 2. WR room probably has less talent, but the bad locker room guys are gone, so hoping for addition by subtraction.
So, whenever you have a bunch of portal turnover, you can never know for sure what the end product is going to look like, but I'd say your premises are all wrong, so I would start there.
Several former Stoops players have publicly questioned the discipline of the top leadership.
That's right. Well said. And nobody is pointing this out yet, but EVERY SEC team has big portal turnover. Now, UK is having bigger portal turnover this year, so it's just dawning on some posters. But most SEC coaching staffs have been dealing with this every year for a while. The reality is that Stoops has been good at managing the portal on the whole, but we are living in a new era where a lot of players are becoming hired guns and you can never be sure how dedicated they will be in a new program. Gerald Mincey was a good example of a journeyman who looked good on paper but just didn't give a damn. We just need to find more committed guys like Zion Childress. That's exactly what Stoops is trying to do.
The coaches are playing Russian roulette in the portal now because they have to. Are the naysayers here helping the cause by contributing to 15? In most cases, of course not. The BBN is huge. Huge. When it comes to the size of our fan base, we don't play second fiddle to other schools. But other SEC schools have hungry, competitive fans who contribute to NIL and support their team. UK has some of those, but not enough. Our fan base is still largely trying to drive off our football coach, exactly as they tried to do in 2005 and 2015. This is the culture until more people stand up and put their beer and pizza money where their keyboard is. That's where we are. Time to stop bitching and start building, everyone. If you are already contributing, hats off to you. But if not, then get real and start now. And maybe you will be pleasantly surprised.
It's an analogy about highlighting that when one makes a fantastical statement with an unprovable premise or source. "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," was coined by everyone's favorite astrophysicist, Carl Sagan, who actually stole it from the French physicist Laplace which essentially means that the further your claim is from what has been observed by all, the stronger your evidence must be. It's basic logic. So you can say whatever you want, but without evidence to support, most will just ignore you and I will draw attention to the logical fallacy in an attempt to get clarification (if it is true) or to shine a light on the absurdity (if it is not).
We beat ole miss, hung with Georgia and lost by 1, kept it close against UT into the 4th and so on. Improvement should lead to a better record IMO. Going 4 and 8 again is nonsense.
Totally agree. Given the entire regime overhaul in college athletics, I'm of the opinion that if you don't have season tix or contribute to NIL, then your opinion is closer to worthless than relevant. I get that many cannot afford to contribute, but if we are buying a keg for a party and you can't pitch in, then you have no say in which beer is chosen, but if you're nice and quiet we'll let you drink up.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
When officiating is consistently being discussed then it’s a problem -- Latest: Jeff Drummond
-