La Tercera Edad

[TheBlueMax]

Literally, this means, "the third age" but it really means a person who is an older or elderly person.

Being a new member of that select group, it means that I've watched a lot of (very bad) Kentucky football. While I am now and have been recently buoyed by our improvements on and off the field, today was another tough loss and bitter pill to swallow.

At some point, we've got to get this thing turned. We needed a "win" today to help turn the many corners we still have to turn. It was yet another kick in the gut, and I'm pretty down about it. I personally thought better news was on the way. True, it's nice now to beat out or at times be considered along with football's heavyweights, but we must still do better in all phases and must start winning some of these big recruiting battles. It is especially tough with an in-state kid who spurns us once again.

Do I blame anyone for not coming to UK when they can compete for a championship? Absolutely not. But, for once in my lifetime--with hopefully many more recruiting classes before I exit, I'd like for Kentucky to develop a winning program. For that to happen, we must start winning these recruiting battles, we must start winning on the field, and we must be able to compete at the very highest levels of college football--all that is a monumental task, and today's bad recruiting news did nothing to help that cause. In other words, good news needs to start flooding in. For us to get appreciably better in the toughest conference, we have to have good news abounding. It's really not, and I'm impatient. Not many years left. I like the trend, slow as it is, but today was hard to take. Gee--yet another bad day for Kentucky football--I am very disappointed.

 

[CoachR35]

Originally posted by TheBlueMax:
Literally, this means, "the third age" but it really means a person who is an older or elderly person.

Being a new member of that select group, it means that I've watched a lot of (very bad) Kentucky football. While I am now and have been recently buoyed by our improvements on and off the field, today was another tough loss and bitter pill to swallow.

At some point, we've got to get this thing turned. We needed a "win" today to help turn the many corners we still have to turn. It was yet another kick in the gut, and I'm pretty down about it. I personally thought better news was on the way. True, it's nice now to beat out or at times be considered along with football's heavyweights, but we must still do better in all phases and must start winning some of these big recruiting battles. It is especially tough with an in-state kid who spurns us once again.

Do I blame anyone for not coming to UK when they can compete for a championship? Absolutely not. But, for once in my lifetime--with hopefully many more recruiting classes before I exit, I'd like for Kentucky to develop a winning program. For that to happen, we must start winning these recruiting battles, we must start winning on the field, and we must be able to compete at the very highest levels of college football--all that is a monumental task, and today's bad recruiting news did nothing to help that cause. In other words, good news needs to start flooding in. For us to get appreciably better in the toughest conference, we have to have good news abounding. It's really not, and I'm impatient. Not many years left. I like the trend, slow as it is, but today was hard to take. Gee--yet another bad day for Kentucky football--I am very disappointed.

I feel you and am more disappointed than I anticipated I would be. Like you, I knew landing a 5 star in-state recruit would be a defining moment for our football program. On the bright side, things are looking better than they have in some time. Maybe more success on the field will equate to more success on the recruiting front as well. We lost this battle today because of a lack of commitment to the sport in the past. Its hard to compete with Bama-type tradition for elite skilled athletes. It really makes me appreciate and respect kids like Matt Elam for taking a chance on us.

I do think the culture is changing and therefore the perception of UK football will change along with it. We'll get there, I really believe that.

 

[subsonic66]

Culture takes time to build, a solid steady improvement will that maintains its footing will go a long way! With Brooks it took him a bit to turn us to a bowl team year in and out! With stoops we already have a ton more talent then Brooks ever had! So if we steadily rise and get back to what we had then we can talk about culture! Oh and no culture will erect with 30+ straight losses to UF, yea that's gotta end!

 

[TheBlueMax]

One thing that hopefully will change is the fact that, currently, we have the no. 29 ranked class coming in--only Missouri at 31 and Vanderbilt considerably farther back have classes ranked worse than UK. All others are considerably higher with Arkansas at 21 and going up from there. Even Mississippi State, whom I think compares with us at least from a historical standpoint, is at 14. In one or two more classes, we need to be there every year to sustain competitiveness and to build a history.

Nothing about our conference is going to change positively until we can somehow get with the rest of the teams--in the top 20 recruiting--on a consistent basis. One would hope in year three that we would be better in recruiting--numbers here do tell a pretty significant story. Conference, history, and tradition all weigh heavily in recruits' minds, so we have a major problem on our hands that others who have turned around did not have to face. I hope it can be done--I've said for two years that if this staff could not do it, it essentially could not be done.

Despite the tenor of our athletic department (outstanding in my view), stadium additions and improvements, a new coaching staff, and what I would term as somewhat--to this point--unremarkable improvement on the field, things overall have to improve if we are ever to get a hint of a chance at getting to the SEC Championship game. The next two years will tell us if that is even possible in my lifetime, and I am currently not optimistic about our chances.