My God, What a Difference a Decade Has Made . . .

[The-Hack]

There were threads, even into the Stoops era, saying “we should feel honored” when the occasional Four Star recruit visited campus.

Now dozens of nationally ranked players make their way to Kentucky, annually, for camps and visits.

We land nationally-ranked, high-Star players from multiple states, and seeing competing offers from Ohio State, Bama, Clemson, Georgia, etc., is not that unusual for players on our commitment list.

Ten years, ago, when Stoops committed, I had my doubts: I never said “never” would we climb out of the cellar of college football. But I had a strongly held (quiet) opinion of what our ceiling was, based upon prior results with Jerry Claiborne and Rich Brooks, both high-quality coaches.

And we have exceeded my closely-held, modest expectations.

How much farther can Stoops get us?

It’s debatable, and some few still argue he can’t push Kentucky football farther up the ladder.

Only the future knows for certain, and ours is completely entwined with Coach Stoops and staff. And these coaches seem very motivated to see the climb continue.

 

[1_Cool_CAT]

 

[pauled]

Dang!

 

[NostraDanis]

For a loooong time we had to entertain ourselves with the weather at Claiborne Field.

GBB!

 

[Cobb4uk]

There were threads, even into the Stoops era, saying “we should feel honored” when the occasional Four Star recruit visited campus.

Now dozens of nationally ranked players make their way to Kentucky, annually, for camps and visits.

We land nationally-ranked, high-Star players from multiple states, and seeing competing offers from Ohio State, Bama, Clemson, Georgia, etc., is not that unusual for players on our commitment list.

Ten years, ago, when Stoops committed, I had my doubts: I never said “never” would we climb out of the cellar of college football. But I had a strongly held (quiet) opinion of what our ceiling was, based upon prior results with Jerry Claiborne and Rich Brooks, both high-quality coaches.

And we have exceeded my closely-held, modest expectations.

How much farther can Stoops get us?

It’s debatable, and some few still argue he can’t push Kentucky football farther up the ladder.

Only the future knows for certain, and ours is completely entwined with Coach Stoops and staff. And these coaches seem very motivated to see the climb continue.

Hack, I've followed the Cats since the 60's, thru heart break after heart break seasons. Watching the Cats without depth get hosed in the 2nd half. Always dreaming we could get just a few 3 star recruits with offers from other SEC teams. My how time have changed, the last 2 recruiting cycles we've had near 20 4 star recruits. Our offensive and defensive lines look like the rest of the league, and now the skill positions have greatly improved. The NFL has player all over the league playing major rolls, with starters on several teams. I think we all agree with you that Coach Stoops has exceeded most of our expectations. Ten win seasons were just a dream but he's made our dreams come true, not once but twice. THANKS COACH STOOPS.

 

[Greezy Kreek]

Back when Stoops was hired I held out hope b/c the cats pause had mentioned that Tim Couch was on the committee that helped advise the new coach and he endorsed him. Mainly because of their family ( Vince M. included )
& the influence they had in football rich Ohio. The deuce liked that and his commitment to defense having been a DC at the recent Seminole squads run. I can remember not knowing much about him but hearing Couch was behind him gave me hope for better days.

I’m a long suffering Cats 🏈 fan and appreciate the climb. The great thing about coach Stoops is he is willing to change and adapt.

Our best guys have been developed into their best while here save Wandale and a few other naturaly talented guys. But Josh Allen , Benny & CJ and the many others that were developed here gives hope. Many years hope was about all we had to rely on. So glad the man is always adapting. Just hate to have pay for play move the goalposts( but glad people get compensated for their value) just hope it doesn’t throw us behind after we found a gritty coach who gives a chance on the recruiting trail.

 

[Soupbean]

There were threads, even into the Stoops era, saying “we should feel honored” when the occasional Four Star recruit visited campus.

Now dozens of nationally ranked players make their way to Kentucky, annually, for camps and visits.

We land nationally-ranked, high-Star players from multiple states, and seeing competing offers from Ohio State, Bama, Clemson, Georgia, etc., is not that unusual for players on our commitment list.

Ten years, ago, when Stoops committed, I had my doubts: I never said “never” would we climb out of the cellar of college football. But I had a strongly held (quiet) opinion of what our ceiling was, based upon prior results with Jerry Claiborne and Rich Brooks, both high-quality coaches.

And we have exceeded my closely-held, modest expectations.

How much farther can Stoops get us?

It’s debatable, and some few still argue he can’t push Kentucky football farther up the ladder.

Only the future knows for certain, and ours is completely entwined with Coach Stoops and staff. And these coaches seem very motivated to see the climb continue.

Agree completely. After Brooks left I thought he had reached his max and although that wasnt the highest level I thought the one thing he did was move up our floor to another level. Then the Joker years happened and we kind of had to start over buidling that back.

Stoops and Co have clearly rebuilt our foundation and moved our floor back to a level that we'd have been thrilled with as a yearly goal 10 years ago, going to bowls and such. And as you pointed out they've raised our expectations and ceiling as well, the questions are - how sustainable is this, and how high can we go?

I've used to liken it to a big spring being pressed down and the farther down you pressed it the harder it was to get there and to hold it there.

But I think Stoops and Co have even changed that analogy some because with the spring once you let up it springs back to the starting position and I think they have us to a level now where that is very unlikely to happen again.

The better analogy now may be pushing a snow ball. The farther you push it the heavier it gets and the harder it is go make it bigger but not as much a risk of falling back and starting over. I know we're still pushing it up hill but we're at the point we can take a rest now and then then get back to pushing again. Thats kind of how I feel about the program under this staff now. Whereas before, once took the first breath the snowball rolled right over top of us back down the hill.

 

[dvillecatfan]

All ya need to know
Music City Bowl 2012/2013...Ecstatic
Music City Bowl 2022/2023...Meh

 

[Sawnee Cat]

If you put an emphasis on winning football and you invest in it, you can win. I am thankful Kentucky finally decided to do that and it has paid off.

It is fun now to be a UK football fan. Let's keep it moving up. Thanks Coach Stoops

 

[The-Hack]

I know we're still pushing it up hill but we're at the point we can take a rest now and then then get back to pushing again.

Good analogy/metaphor.

 

[backinky2018]

I think we can all use a frequent reminder of this fact, OP.

I think it's good that our expectations are higher now. I actually think our school's expectations for football are reasonable. We now expect to win more than we lose, we now expect to compete in every game, and we are inching toward competing for the division.

If we "fail" (and this year was seen as a failure by most), then we still finish 7-5 and no one is trying to run stoops out of town.

The tough thing is that it's SO HARD to win this division or this conference. Georgia and Alabama are the creme de la creme and they ain't going anywhere. After them, you have a ton of schools that pour resources and sweat into winning national titles (LSU, UF, UT, A&M, Auburn, and on and on and on). Stoops has done a good job of dominating our peer programs (USC, UL, Vandy ,Mizzou, MSU at home, etc) and he has also made our rivalries with Tennessee and Florida annual competitive affairs (though I think he deserved to win a few more of the Florida games and lord knows I lose sleep over losing to Tennessee even when they stunk).

 

[The-Hack]

The tough thing is that it's SO HARD to win this division or this conference.

Yes, and some bitch that he hasn’t won his division or the league title.

But stop and think for just a second what that really means.

Since our rise in 2016/17, those who have won the conference or the East have been National Championship Calibre teams.

No we have not won a national title with Stoops . . . . that is pretty much the same as winning the SEC, or even just the Eastern division.

 

[rucker4]

There were threads, even into the Stoops era, saying “we should feel honored” when the occasional Four Star recruit visited campus.

Now dozens of nationally ranked players make their way to Kentucky, annually, for camps and visits.

We land nationally-ranked, high-Star players from multiple states, and seeing competing offers from Ohio State, Bama, Clemson, Georgia, etc., is not that unusual for players on our commitment list.

Ten years, ago, when Stoops committed, I had my doubts: I never said “never” would we climb out of the cellar of college football. But I had a strongly held (quiet) opinion of what our ceiling was, based upon prior results with Jerry Claiborne and Rich Brooks, both high-quality coaches.

And we have exceeded my closely-held, modest expectations.

How much farther can Stoops get us?

It’s debatable, and some few still argue he can’t push Kentucky football farther up the ladder.

Only the future knows for certain, and ours is completely entwined with Coach Stoops and staff. And these coaches seem very motivated to see the climb continue.

Sounds like this could have been written by an Iowa fan and could have substituted Ferentz each place Stoops was mentioned :

 

[Deeeefense]

There were threads, even into the Stoops era, saying “we should feel honored” when the occasional Four Star recruit visited campus.

Now dozens of nationally ranked players make their way to Kentucky, annually, for camps and visits.

We land nationally-ranked, high-Star players from multiple states, and seeing competing offers from Ohio State, Bama, Clemson, Georgia, etc., is not that unusual for players on our commitment list.

Ten years, ago, when Stoops committed, I had my doubts: I never said “never” would we climb out of the cellar of college football. But I had a strongly held (quiet) opinion of what our ceiling was, based upon prior results with Jerry Claiborne and Rich Brooks, both high-quality coaches.

And we have exceeded my closely-held, modest expectations.

How much farther can Stoops get us?

It’s debatable, and some few still argue he can’t push Kentucky football farther up the ladder.

Only the future knows for certain, and ours is completely entwined with Coach Stoops and staff. And these coaches seem very motivated to see the climb continue.

Good post and very illustrative of a common fact, and that is many things that may happen in the future cannot be predicted no matter how much people want to predict them and try to predict them.

Every year preseason I get a laugh out of people thinking they can predict not only the win/loss record but which specific games we will win and lose, and even what the scores will be. You can certainly assess probabilities which are something totally different then predictions. For instance the probable win number for UK next season might be 8 with one standard deviation of 7 or 9 and two standard deviations of 6 or 10.
The further you vary from 8 the less probable it will occur.

But the larger question of how far can Kentucky go in football remains an unknown but unlike basketball which is taken seriously by maybe less than a dozen P5 schools, football is taken seriously by most all of them and that is where the money and resourses go, and where competition is extremely wide and deep.

I have always thought Kentucky's central location to many other recruiting hot spots was an advantage not a disadvantage as in-state recruiting is much less important now then in the past, and Kentucky will always have a rabid and now rapidly growing football fan base. With the portal and other dynamics taking place right now there are opportunities to be had, and with the up coming 12 team playoff format Kentucky could conceivably take another step up the football latter by making it to the post season.

At any rate it's quite exciting to me to know that we are now "in the game" and I'm glad the future is not predictable to much of any extent because if it was that would take all the fun out of getting there.

 

[cathouse]

For a loooong time we had to entertain ourselves with the weather at Claiborne Field.

GBB!

Wow. Great memory from the past....

Who was it that used to post that " live look" of weather at Commonwealth??

All we had to look forward to at that time.

 

[The-Hack]

Sounds like this could have been written by an Iowa fan and could have substituted Ferentz each place Stoops was mentioned :

There are parallels, but let’s be clear.

Kirk Ferentz took over from a Coach who had finished with a ranked team 10 out of his 20 seasons, there, the most recent being an 18th ranking with a 9-3 record three years before Ferentz took over the job. Iowa won 10 games in a single season, finishing ranked 10th in 1991, with a record of 10-1-1, eight years prior to Ferentz taking over.

Stoops came to UK in 2013, there having been a 29 year gap since the program last finished ranked (1984, 9-3).

When Stoops took the Kentucky job, Kentucky had the fourth longest streak in P5 in the nation without a ten win season, which he snapped on January 1, 2019, 41 seasons from the last such season (1977, Fran Curci.). The three other P5 programs which exceeded Kentucky’s drought, still have not had a ten win season, Iowa State, Vanderbilt and Indiana.

Ferentz went 1-10 his first season, and had his work cut out for him. He has done much for Iowa Football, but in doing the comparison with Stoops, I can’t help but note the success of his immediate predecessor, whose ten ranked seasons in 20 years equal Kentucky’s post season rankings in 135 years of program history.

In short, Ferentz succeeded a 2003 College Hall of Fame inductee, Hayden Fry.

Stoops succeeded Joker Phillips.

 

[cathouse]

Yes, and some bitch that he hasn’t won his division or the league title.

But stop and think for just a second what that really means.

Since our rise in 2016/17, those who have won the conference or the East have been National Championship Calibre teams.

No we have not won a national title with Stoops . . . . that is pretty much the same as winning the SEC, or even just the Eastern division.

Just can't figure out why some UK fans can't understand this fact of life.

To be good enough to win the SEC East, you have to be good enough to win the National Championship.

We are NOT that far away. Just need a huge break on offense and a little tweaking on defense and we just might get there.

 

[The-Hack]

We are NOT that far away. Just need a huge break on offense and a little tweaking on defense and we just might get there.

If we could find a freak QB who
could have a freakish season, aka Joe Burrow (79.9 completion percentage his championship season) . . . .

But EVERYBODY is looking for the next Joe Burrow.

 

[rucker4]

There are parallels, but let’s be clear.

Kirk Ferentz took over from a Coach who had finished with a ranked team 10 out of his 20 seasons, there, the most recent being an 18th ranking with a 9-3 record three years before Ferentz took over the job. Iowa won 10 games in a single season, finishing ranked 10th in 1991, with a record of 10-1-1, eight years prior to Ferentz taking over.

Stoops came to UK in 2013, there having been a 29 year gap since the program last finished ranked (1984, 9-3).

When Stoops took the Kentucky job, Kentucky had the fourth longest streak in P5 in the nation without a ten win season, which he snapped on January 1, 2019, 41 seasons from the last such season (1977, Fran Curci.). The three other P5 programs which exceeded Kentucky’s drought, still have not had a ten win season, Iowa State, Vanderbilt and Indiana.

Ferentz went 1-10 his first season, and had his work cut out for him. He has done much for Iowa Football, but in doing the comparison with Stoops, I can’t help but note the success of his immediate predecessor, whose ten ranked seasons in 20 years equal Kentucky’s post season rankings in 135 years of program history.

In short, Ferentz succeeded a 2003 College Hall of Fame inductee, Hayden Fry.

Stoops succeeded Joker Phillips.

My reference was the question you posed of how much higher Stoops could take UK, and you noting how 4-star kids are now frequent visiting Lexington whereas before Stoops there were a rarity. I said it sounds just like the "Iowa story" and I still say that.

When Ferentz took Iowa over in 1999, the program was void of talent when Hayden retired. Kirk lost 15 of his first 16 games at Iowa. Won 1 game in year one and won just 3 games in his second year. He built Iowa all over again in many ways.

Kirk has had great stretches at Iowa, he's had down stretches, then good, then not, and now we are on an 8-year roll that's been fantastic. We refer to the situation now as Kirk 3.0, or hell, maybe Kirk 4.0 at this point. I believe only Ohio State and Michigan have won more during the time.

Iowa recruiting the past 4 years in a row now has been better than any 4-years stretch in Iowa history. Seems UKs has been also.

HOWEVER, I among many still wonder if Kirk has taken Iowa to the peak of his ability? Since he will be 68 by the start of next season, not sure he can take it higher-- though expectations will be VERY HIGH for 2023.

As I have stated many times, there are tons of similarities between the two programs.

 

[The-Hack]

Iowa recruiting the past 4 years in a row now has been better than any 4-years stretch in Iowa history. Seems UKs has been also.

There was a thread on your forum questioning why UK inked 9 Four Star players and Iowa 1. Someone said “location.”

Having now spent just over a year observing Iowa football, I honestly think many upper-midwestern kids don’t get as complete an evaluation as players in the Southeast, Ohio, Michigan Texas, etc.

We were fortunate to beat a very talented Iowa in 2022, whose players were obviously a cut above their more modest rankings.

 

[The-Hack]

When Ferentz took Iowa over in 1999, the program was void of talent when Hayden retired.

True, but it was a rapid fall from grace. Did Fry just let recruiting go to Hell the last couple of seasons?

 

[rucker4]

There was a thread on your forum questioning why UK inked 9 Four Star players and Iowa 1. Someone said “location.”

Having now spent just over a year observing Iowa football, I honestly think many upper-midwestern kids don’t get as complete an evaluation as players in the Southeast, Ohio, Michigan Texas, etc.

We were fortunate to beat a very talented Iowa in 2022, whose players were obviously a cut above their more modest rankings.

I think you are generally right about the Midwest high school kids not being evaluated as high of levels as a kid down south or in California or Texas. Yes, the bulk of Iowa's recruits do come from Midwest states-- though each year we have some from outlier areas from the Midwest.

But the Iowa staff has a massive reputation for not just picking up under-valued recruits from high school, but the coaches here are tremendous developers of talent. They have turned countless walk-ons and two star and low three star recruits into NFL players. Even Bill Parcells once said the players coming from Iowa were as well prepared for the NFL as any college in the country.

 

[rucker4]

True, but it was a rapid fall from grace. Did Fry just let recruiting go to Hell the last couple of seasons?

Unbeknownst to everyone until his retirement press conference, Hayden was dealing with cancer treatments his final couple seasons at Iowa and that tremendously hurt his coaching abilities. He said he'd be privately whisked into the hospital for his treatments so as to not bring attention to it.

Because of this, the Iowa program was no longer run like the "tight ship" it had been by Hayden, and yes, recruiting the last 2 if not 3 years at Iowa with him was sub-par. But even before those final years, from the earlier 1990s until the Fry end, the strength of Iowa football under Hayden was slowly sliding. Understand, when Barry Alvarez (he actually left Iowa after '86) took the Wisconsin job in 1990, he poached two of Hayden's best assistants with him to Madison-- guys he worked with while Barry was an assistant at Iowa. In the 1990s, besides Barry and Dan McCarney and Bernie Wyatt, also gone were Bill Snyder, Kirk Ferentz, and GA Bob Stoops. Was impossible for Hayden to ever replace those guys with the same level caliber assistants-- this is what lead to the slow leak during the 1990s.

 

[rucker4]

True, but it was a rapid fall from grace. Did Fry just let recruiting go to Hell the last couple of seasons?

https://cdn2.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/WyckIEEXBVyEznfoX5andqjQnEE=/0x8:928x530/1600x900/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/34541025/83-staff.0.jpg

 

[rucker4]

nt

 

[rucker4]

True, but it was a rapid fall from grace. Did Fry just let recruiting go to Hell the last couple of seasons?

To this day as an Iowan, I must remind myself at a time during the 1980s Hayden had star future HCs as assistants in Bill Snyder, Barry Alvarez, Kirk Ferentz, Bob Stoops, Dan McCarney (he did very well at Iowa State), and Don Patterson (became HC at Western Illinois). All these guys on the staff AT THE SAME TIME! In little ol' Iowa City, Iowa. Never again will we see something like that here.

But Hayden had a key philosophy about his assistants-- he never wanted one who did not aspire to become a Head Coach.

 

[Tf2217]

I would say this rides both ways. kY basketball and football.

Football in a much better space.
Basketball in a much worse.
That’s not a bet I would’ve taken in 2012-2013.

 

[backinky2018]

Good post and very illustrative of a common fact, and that is many things that may happen in the future cannot be predicted no matter how much people want to predict them and try to predict them.

Every year preseason I get a laugh out of people thinking they can predict not only the win/loss record but which specific games we will win and lose, and even what the scores will be. You can certainly assess probabilities which are something totally different then predictions. For instance the probable win number for UK next season might be 8 with one standard deviation of 7 or 9 and two standard deviations of 6 or 10.
The further you vary from 8 the less probable it will occur.

But the larger question of how far can Kentucky go in football remains an unknown but unlike basketball which is taken seriously by maybe less than a dozen P5 schools, football is taken seriously by most all of them and that is where the money and resourses go, and where competition is extremely wide and deep.

I have always thought Kentucky's central location to many other recruiting hot spots was an advantage not a disadvantage as in-state recruiting is much less important now then in the past, and Kentucky will always have a rabid and now rapidly growing football fan base. With the portal and other dynamics taking place right now there are opportunities to be had, and with the up coming 12 team playoff format Kentucky could conceivably take another step up the football latter by making it to the post season.

At any rate it's quite exciting to me to know that we are now "in the game" and I'm glad the future is not predictable to much of any extent because if it was that would take all the fun out of getting there.

I like your point about our centralized location.

There is no doubt that UK having a lack of IN STATE talent is a weakness for us. But, I like how Stoops and his staff have mined the surrounding areas for talent. Michigan is now a recruiting pipeline for us. Past staffs seemed content to take third and fourth tier players from the states of Georgia and Florida.

It's not rocket science, but it seems like Stoops was the first to realize that northern players want to play In the SEC and UK represents a relatively easy drive for players and their families.

 

[The-Hack]

All these guys on the staff AT THE SAME TIME! In little ol' Iowa City, Iowa. Never again will we see something like that here.

There is a famous 1959 photo of Kentucky's Coaches. Head Coach Collier won one or more NFL titles at Cleveland. Then there was Don Shula of 1972 Miami fame, then Howard Schnellenberger, . . . .

Someone might flesh out others in the photo.

 

[cathouse]

If we could find a freak QB who
could have a freakish season, aka Joe Burrow (79.9 completion percentage his championship season) . . . .

But EVERYBODY is looking for the next Joe Burrow.

I feel we have a lot better chance of that actually happening with Coen doing the looking and evaluating QB'S.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

If we could find a freak QB who
could have a freakish season, aka Joe Burrow (79.9 completion percentage his championship season) . . . .

But EVERYBODY is looking for the next Joe Burrow.

I agree with most things you post, but a freakish QB isn't needed to win a NC. Stetson Bennett is proof of that. Just need one who doesn't make mistakes and can convert 3rd downs.

 

[Deeeefense]

I agree with most things you post, but a freakish QB isn't needed to win a NC. Stetson Bennett is proof of that. Just need one who doesn't make mistakes and can convert 3rd downs.

JMO but I think if Stetson Bennet was 4 inches taller and had been ranked a 4 star out of high school he would have won the Heisman this year. I think the kid has been somewhat undervalued by his height and the fact that he was a former walk on. His forth quarter performance against tOSU was nothing short of amazing. Not something "game managers" do.

 

[catben]

I agree with most things you post, but a freakish QB isn't needed to win a NC. Stetson Bennett is proof of that. Just need one who doesn't make mistakes and can convert 3rd downs.

Bennett is a special player. However, your Dawgs have EXTREMELY talented players all around him on BOTH sides of the ball. You have to admit that makes ANY UGA qb’s job MUCH easier.

 

[The-Hack]

I agree with most things you post, but a freakish QB isn't needed to win a NC.

Once, again, Grumpy, we share the planet but live in different worlds.

For Kentucky to win a title, we are likelier to find a freak quarterback, or rear one at home, aka, Tim Couch, than we are to have 70 former 4 and 5 Star talent surrounding a 5’ 10” walk on, on a team of 85.

Citing what UGA has done the last two years to prove what others might do is a slippery slope. Not many teams of the future will accumulate the depth and talent Georgia possesses.

For Kentucky to shock the world with 35 former 4 and 5 Star players, we would need some combination of Couch, Johnny Manziel, Burrow and Bennett.

 

[rucker4]

I agree with most things you post, but a freakish QB isn't needed to win a NC. Stetson Bennett is proof of that. Just need one who doesn't make mistakes and can convert 3rd downs.

This is true, but you also need freakish talent at most every position on the football field to win a NATTY. I think people struggle to realize just how freakish the talent is with the final four teams in the CFP.

 

[The-Hack]

I think people struggle to realize just how freakish the talent is with the final four teams in the CFP.

I drove 7 hours to Athens, two years, ago, knowing the Cats had little chance.

Just seeing that massive D-line in action was worth the trip.

 

[Grumpyolddawg]

Bennett is a special player. However, your Dawgs have EXTREMELY talented players all around him on BOTH sides of the ball. You have to admit that makes ANY UGA qb’s job MUCH easier.

He did have good players around him, but he was freakish. But he doesn't have the freakish ability Burrows had. Just a good college QB who was accurate and made few mistakes.

Once, again, Grumpy, we share the planet but live in different worlds.

For Kentucky to win a title, we are likelier to find a freak quarterback, or rear one at home, aka, Tim Couch, than we are to have 70 former 4 and 5 Star talent surrounding a 5’ 10” walk on, on a team of 85.

Citing what UGA has done the last two years to prove what others might do is a slippery slope. Not many teams of the future will accumulate the depth and talent Georgia possesses.

For Kentucky to shock the world with 35 former 4 and 5 Star players, we would need some combination of Couch, Johnny Manziel, Burrow and Bennett.

If UGA and Richt hadn't parted ways I believe UK would be in UGA's place. Richt was one of the best men in college football, but football wasn't a top priority. He had let recruiting slip, maybe because of his or his wife's sickness. When Kirby took over we didn't have an OT on the roster. We had some backs, but he just didn't think OL was important. We probably had 30 4* on the roster. Kirby and the staff he brought in changed that. Granted talent level wasn't where UK was when Stoops came, but it was a long way from now.

 

[rucker4]

I drove 7 hours to Athens, two years, ago, knowing the Cats had little chance.

Just seeing that massive D-line in action was worth the trip.

And what's so insane about Georgia, for example, is the fact that they lost almost all their defense following the 2021 season then turn right around and replace them with ease for '22 and win it all again and handedly.

 

[*CatinIL*]

For a loooong time we had to entertain ourselves with the weather at Claiborne Field.

GBB!

Good old "It's raining at Jerry Claiborne Field"

 

[CondorCat]

There is a famous 1959 photo of Kentucky's Coaches. Head Coach Collier won one or more NFL titles at Cleveland. Then there was Don Shula of 1972 Miami fame, then Howard Schnellenberger, . . . .

Someone might flesh out others in the photo.