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It’s Time

I can't recall a game where Stoops ever coached this bad. For all the penalties, PAT hi-jinx, etc. there's 2 things that still piss me off:

1-Throwing late in the first half. It totally goes against Stoops' philosophy and I know fans want AGGRESSIVE PLAY-CALLING(!!!!!), but there was no reason to start throwing it at your own 20 with 2 minutes left in a tie game. We have a mediocre QB, a poorly-coached OL and 2 AWFUL punters. Just run it, probably get a first down, and get to halftime tied. If you break off a chunk run, you reexamine. Otherwise, worst case we're tied at half. Instead, Vandy gets a gift TD and all the momentum.

2-The panic to get a play in before the 2-minute warning in the 4th quarter. Two minutes, 2 timeouts, ball at midfield. PLENTY of time. Instead Stoops shits himself in fear and argues to get 3 more seconds added to the clock for some bizarre reason. We literally had time to run the ball 8 times in a row. Exaggerating a bit, but you get my drift. Instead we rush a play in instead of taking a timeout and regrouping and get (yet another) holding penalty. Except this one effectively cost us the game.
 
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As for the penalties, that's coaching. And we had 12 for 105 yards. Pathetic.
The perfect encapsulation of the night was the stupid Dane Key football to the back of the head of the Vandy player. Takes a 3rd and short in FG range(we’ll skip over that operation for this post) and pushes it back to 3rd and 17 out of scoring position.

If I recall right, he also did this stupid act RIGHT in front of the coaches!!

Self inflicted idiocy, that in my opinion has happened far too often to just blame the changing players that commit the acts.
 
I agree. I like Stoops a lot - he’s a good guy, down to earth, and handles the position well. A great fit for KY culturally. He’s given us a lot of fun moments and a taste of being in the top 3rd of the conference two years. But it’s time. The overall trajectory of the program is down since 2021. You can’t lose games like this and USC. I hope he decides to walk away at the end of the year.
 
The perfect encapsulation of the night was the stupid Dane Key football to the back of the head of the Vandy player. Takes a 3rd and short in FG range(we’ll skip over that operation for this post) and pushes it back to 3rd and 17 out of scoring position.

If I recall right, he also did this stupid act RIGHT in front of the coaches!!

Self inflicted idiocy, that in my opinion has happened far too often to just blame the changing players that commit the acts.
I really dislike Key , he acts sooooooo very cocky , and hes a weak fumbling machine . but that mouth , oh it's always in gear .
 
I've never thought it was time, but I'm starting to now. But UK can't fire him yet. It might take another year or two. He needs to leave on his own.
 
If you would ask UK fans ten years ago if they wanted to win 7-8 games a year, go to a bowl, beat the teams they should (most of the time) I think they’d sign up for that deal. This is his ceiling, you won’t will the big ones and get shafted by rivals but UK is a competent program for the first time in a while. You probably would do a lot worse in hiring a new coach because it took him years to get to this point. But he was definitely out coached in this game and honestly the better team won. It wouldn’t of been close if it wasn’t for the overturned calls and horse collar sack
 
If you would ask UK fans ten years ago if they wanted to win 7-8 games a year, go to a bowl, beat the teams they should (most of the time) I think they’d sign up for that deal. This is his ceiling, you won’t will the big ones and get shafted by rivals but UK is a competent program for the first time in a while. You probably would do a lot worse in hiring a new coach because it took him years to get to this point. But he was definitely out coached in this game and honestly the better team won. It wouldn’t of been close if it wasn’t for the overturned calls and horse collar sack

No. The better team did not win last night, which is why we are extremely frustrated. If not for a false start and a second botched kick attempt, UK wins by 1. And that’s not changing anything else on all the penalties. We played a C- game last night.

Vandy has a nice team this year. I’m glad they do. Hope you all do great from here out. But UK lost that game last night. Not the other way around.
 
The only way Stoops leaves is on his own. I'm thinking his buyout is more than Calipari's(feel free to fact check I could be wrong) so there is no way he's getting canned. I'm guessing the earliest UK would let him go is after the 28 season. Thanks again Barnhart.
 
The only way Stoops leaves is on his own. I'm thinking his buyout is more than Calipari's(feel free to fact check I could be wrong) so there is no way he's getting canned. I'm guessing the earliest UK would let him go is after the 28 season. Thanks again Barnhart.
This is the bottom line. Just like with Cal, Stoops buyout is so massive, that we are STUCK with him for at least 3-4 more seasons. The ONLY way we get out of it is IF he fixes this, gets another job offer or the heat gets high enough for him to walk away from a ton of money. Unfortunately, I am skeptical that any of those things happen.

And YES, Mitch is the very reason we are STUCK with him!!! SAD
 
How many of them have !ost two straight games to Vandy at home.
And, how many got to coach against a historically down SEC East for years? How many were top 10 paid coaches in the country? How many automatic wins were on their 10 game schedules? How many had the support from donors & administration that Stoops has had?

Stoops has benefited from several advantages that past coaches just didn’t have. And, I’ll always give him credit for turning us into a legit SEC program. He’s very good at recruiting & team building. But, philosophically & schematically, he’s a cowardly bum. There are at least 50 coaches who could average 6-7 wins per season, here. It’s not that hard when you have 3-4 cupcakes, minimum, on the schedule every year.

Bottom line is that he peaked in 18 & 21 & has been the definition of average in every other season. The offense has been a huge problem most every season. How are you 12 years in & still can’t produce a competent or halfway consistent offense? Coaching scared is a big part of the problem. And, his spineless approach will never win shit in this league.

He’s all smoke & mirrors & it’s easy to see if you really look at his tenure, game by game. He has literally had TWO really good seasons out of 12, soon to be 13. The other 11 have been average or flat out embarrassing failures. I just can’t understand the ppl who think Stoops is the only guy who can elevate us to the middle of the SEC pack. I’m the opposite. If HE can do that, any decent coach can, IMO.
 
Stoops wanted to leave last year. I believe he will after this year. It is definitely time.
Him leaving is the only way a change happens. We can’t afford to fire him and I don’t think Mitch wants to anyways. Even still, the season is still young. Who knows
 
The product being put on the field is not good. It has not been good all year. Defense hid 2 games (1-1) but the rest is not good.

I only watched till about 5 minutes left in the first half. DID not watch or read anything else from yesterday. This will be the last time I watch UK football this year. I turned over and watched Ole Miss vs LSU game. Was a better watch.
I love the players but they are being set up for failure each and every week. We should have a better offense than we do. We have had like 10 offense guys that were gurus (i know i went high on the number) but we have had many guys. All have been collared by STOOPS. He lies about it each year. Hamden better get out of dodge before Stoops ruins him.

I love our guys. The style sucks and we are back in the 50s maybe 40s for football. Stoops calls it the SEC. Well we are the only SEC (besides Miss St this year) that look just unprepared. Florida will win easy this coming week is my prediction and UT will do their normal against Stoops. Auburn will be the last letdown home game and we will be 1-8 in the SEC this year. Maybe basement dweller or next to last at best. I have not faith in this team. Ole Miss overlooked UK for some reason. That is the only reason we will have 1 SEC win.

I hope I eat all the words on the predictions. No way to eat the words besides that. Stoops continues to live in football past.
 
Oddly this year in conference play when we were double digit favorites we lost twice, but when we were double digit dogs one won 1 and lost 1 by 1 point.
Go figure.
 
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The money invested and the old SEC East taking a nosedive for about 8 years is what “made” Stoops.

Rich Brooks is a far superior coach who dealt with lack of resources his entire career at Oregon and Kentucky.

If Rich Brooks had coached the two best teams that Stoops had we would have played in at least one NY6 Bowl and played for an SEC championship.
 
He already tried to leave. Seems like everyone has already forgotten.
Hard to blame him with so many trying to run him off. The Vandy game sucked but the program is actually still in very good condition. Part of the problem is simply people wrongly believing us to be so superior to Vandy. Historically it's been pretty close and they did just beat Alabama. This is not the same as losing to Evansville on the hardwood.
 
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Usually, a game like this had me upset for several days.

Last night, I turned off Tom, Jeff and the tv after the last offensive down and the wife and I continued watching El Accidente on Netflix. Usually I’d listen to the post game then turn over to Larry Glover to hear reaction from Richmond Chris. Not last night.

I didn’t really think much or care at all about the loss today because that “type” of loss is becoming the norm.

Unfortunately, I really don’t care to even watch the UF game although when I don’t, I’m sure we will win something like 33-14 in a dominating performance.

I guess apathy is setting in. Honestly, I used to get mad at some of our older posters throwing in the towel but now I understand.

“Snatch the people from my hand” is all too relatable to Lucy pulling that football away from Charlie’s foot.

However, it is UK football and week to week, we never know if it will be a Couch to Yeast or a Coach Morriss Gatorade dump.

I will continue to read things here and post but damn, I feel like a 20 year old rented mule.
 
I left at halftime .. at the 9 min mark of half time I took my seat , at about the 4 minute mark the team came out of tunnel . I saw no fire , no emotion , I thought it was unlikely we played any better in the 2nd half so I took off to join my wife in the parking lot and start the 2 hour drive home . She was feeling sick and left 5 min before me . Glad I left , somehow H2 was worse than H1
 
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Hard to blame him with so many trying to run him off. The Vandy game sucked but the program is actually still in very good condition. Part of the problem is simply people wrongly believing us to be so superior to Vandy. Historically it's been pretty close and they did just beat Alabama. This is not the same as losing to Evansville on the hardwood.
Wrongly? Check out each roster & their HS/portal rankings. They tell a different story. We’ve maintained, basically, a top 25 roster over the past 5+ years. Vandy has broken the top 50 only twice in the last 6 classes. Here are both teams’ overall class rankings (247) since 2019, with transfer classes included.

Vandy
2019-53
2020-53
2021-54
2022-45
2023-69
2024-42

UK
2019-36
2020-25
2021-23
2022-20
2023-30
2024-24

Our worst class in that span is better than their best class. We were inside the top 25 in 4/6 classes & the lowest ranked was 36. We have a significant talent advantage going by player rankings. It might be kinda close, historically. But, recent history suggests that we should clearly have a better team.

But, what Vandy lacks in talent, they compensate with the sideline advantage. They are a better coached team, plain & simple. And, like so many others, the loss last night falls right at the feet of our staff & their chickenshit mindset. We recruit top 25 talent, pay our coach a top 10 salary & yet, we can’t even sniff the rankings or a major bowl. Something isn’t adding up.
 
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Hard to blame him with so many trying to run him off. The Vandy game sucked but the program is actually still in very good condition. Part of the problem is simply people wrongly believing us to be so superior to Vandy. Historically it's been pretty close and they did just beat Alabama. This is not the same as losing to Evansville on the hardwood.
It's not so much that they lost but how they lost that is upsetting fans. They essentially beat themselves.
 
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