In the spirit of @The-Hack ‘s occasional posts from the 34-yard line, I thought I would send greetings from Santorini. My lovely wife and I are on a Mediterranean cruise to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary (Oct 22).
We are seven hours ahead of Lexington, so kickoff for last nights debacle was not until 1:30am local time. The cruise ship doesn’t carry SECN so my only practical option to keep tabs on the game was with ESPN Gamecast. I set my alarm for 2:45am, and woke to a 20-14 score just before the half. I snoozed for 45 minutes, saw UK take a very brief 21-20 lead, only to quickly relinquish it 28-21. After another brief snooze, UK was down 35-21, and Leary threw his second interception, effectively ending what minuscule chance UK had.
Ok, now for my random thoughts:
- [ ] I can only hope the bye week is an opportunity for serious introspection by the coaches and players.
- [ ] The Leary experiment is officially a failure. I believe we’ve all seen enough to show that he just doesn’t have it against top-flight competition. That said, I have no reason to believe the coaching staff will make a QB change barring injury because:
- [ ] Our other QBs simply aren’t ready to step in and effectively run our offense. I would love to be proven wrong on this.
- [ ] Notwithstanding Leary’s shortcomings, he’s not helped by our WR corps. Hopefully we’ll see more of Anthony Brown Stephens and less of Barrion Brown.
- [ ] Special Teams has been relatively decent this season but made their own contribution to the loss with the fake punt going for a TD.
- [ ] I have to believe 7-5 is our ceiling. I’ll be pulling for the Cats to beat the hated Vols, but I realistically don’t expect it. We have a chance to beat State, USC and UofL. I’ll be an optimist and think we’ll win two of those three.
- [ ] I haven’t touched on the defense and the stupid major penalties. Just more stuff for Stoops to “clean up” during the bye week.
- [ ] Always remember to do your part and “Pony Up” to help with NIL. That chapped my ass when I saw Stoops comments on that early last week.
I’ve been enjoying my vacation and hope to continue to do so. You guys take care and I’ll be back home late Tuesday evening 10/24.
We are seven hours ahead of Lexington, so kickoff for last nights debacle was not until 1:30am local time. The cruise ship doesn’t carry SECN so my only practical option to keep tabs on the game was with ESPN Gamecast. I set my alarm for 2:45am, and woke to a 20-14 score just before the half. I snoozed for 45 minutes, saw UK take a very brief 21-20 lead, only to quickly relinquish it 28-21. After another brief snooze, UK was down 35-21, and Leary threw his second interception, effectively ending what minuscule chance UK had.
Ok, now for my random thoughts:
- [ ] I can only hope the bye week is an opportunity for serious introspection by the coaches and players.
- [ ] The Leary experiment is officially a failure. I believe we’ve all seen enough to show that he just doesn’t have it against top-flight competition. That said, I have no reason to believe the coaching staff will make a QB change barring injury because:
- [ ] Our other QBs simply aren’t ready to step in and effectively run our offense. I would love to be proven wrong on this.
- [ ] Notwithstanding Leary’s shortcomings, he’s not helped by our WR corps. Hopefully we’ll see more of Anthony Brown Stephens and less of Barrion Brown.
- [ ] Special Teams has been relatively decent this season but made their own contribution to the loss with the fake punt going for a TD.
- [ ] I have to believe 7-5 is our ceiling. I’ll be pulling for the Cats to beat the hated Vols, but I realistically don’t expect it. We have a chance to beat State, USC and UofL. I’ll be an optimist and think we’ll win two of those three.
- [ ] I haven’t touched on the defense and the stupid major penalties. Just more stuff for Stoops to “clean up” during the bye week.
- [ ] Always remember to do your part and “Pony Up” to help with NIL. That chapped my ass when I saw Stoops comments on that early last week.
I’ve been enjoying my vacation and hope to continue to do so. You guys take care and I’ll be back home late Tuesday evening 10/24.
