The Next Step: A Big Upset in the SEC

[HoptownCat93]

Stoops has done his job rebuilding and keeping us steady every year. I'm not a Stoops superfan...but taking a step back and realizing we have gotten better and haven't slid back at all after coming from Joker having us at the bottom of D1.

2-10
5-7
5-7
7-5
7-5

-The talent has been upgraded to Power 5 quality after it was borderline FCS level
-Broke the SEC Losing streak in 2015
-Won an SEC Game on the road
-Made it to the middle tier of the East where they can beat/compete w/ SC..Mizzou...Vandy...and now UT consistently
-Back 2 back bowl games (winning records)
-Broke the losing streak to our in-state rivals (#11 team on the road w/ the Heisman)

I think now is the time for a big upset against a "Big Name" opponent. We've had 3 good chances to beat "down" Florida teams...failed. #1 MSU in 2014 we were close but no cigar. Could not close out against UGA in 2016. I think our team gets in these games and just does not believe they can win them...well because they have not won one yet.

The biggest game for Rich Brooks was beating UGA in 2006. Was that UGA an elite team that season...no...but they were way better than us with a lot of NFL talent. That game led to a change in confidence. It led to knowing they could win the Music city bowl, beating Louisville the next year, beating #1 LSU....etc. From then on...those guys knew they could go head to head with the big boys. Even after 2007...they took #2 Bama to the wire in Tuscaloosa, won on the road at Auburn and UGA, and then under Joker that core of guys in back to back weeks took the National Champs to the last second and then beat top 10 South Carolina and Steve Spurrier for the first time.

The thing I ask most from Kentucky teams are just the ability to compete week in and week out in the SEC. I'd be fine with 6-6...if they were competitive in 11 of the 12 games. The Brooks teams were great because the SEC was at its absolute best and those teams were competitive just about every week.

This year we need a big win to just get over that next hump. We need a win in the swamp....a win at Texas A&M....a field rush against Georgia. These guys need to have that belief they can beat the "Big Names" and get us to the next level in the SEC. We talk about "winning and playing for the East"...but until we can beat 1 big dog we should not even think there's a chance.

 

[cathouse]

You do realize that according to the “experts” we will be the underdog in every SEC game we play with the exception of the Vandy game. Will have 7 chances to pull an upset.

 

[R.O.T.Muckinfush]

Stoops coached teams have struggled with winning the big games. Let's hope that can change. Discipline and consistency is key.

 

[EKCAT4YRS]

I would love to see the day when we beat a big time great team and we DON'T rush the field! When we act like we aren't surprised we won, when us fans EXPECT to win, then we will have us a legit contender for an SEC championship!

 

[Oldtrainer]

Imo CATS now have enough SEC quality players in place to beat Gamecocks, Tigers, MSU Bulldogs, three teams experts have us losing. MUST not have coaching snafus!

 

[Deeeefense]

Although it wasn't an SEC game we beat UofL in 2016 as a 27 1/2 point underdog. The Vegas odds of winning outright would be about 3-4%. That big of an upset only occurs 2 or 3 times a year in college football.

But on the point about having to have a big SEC upset to climb the ladder, I would say if you are building your program a big upset will come at some point, but the larger point is you want to get consistently better so that beating a Georgia or a Auburn isn't that big of an upset or an upset at all.

 

[NoDef]

I would like to pull a "major" upset, but most importantly not get blown out by teams not named Bama. The non-competitive losses to Miss. St. And UofL (two mid-pack P-5 teams) is more of a concern to me this far in the tenure.

 

[matt_man]

I'm not going to beat the dead horse and say Florida. If MSUs coach throws a wrench in the machine, we could come out and surprise them. Obviously we need to beat Mizz, USC, UT, Vandy again.. oh and we really need to beat Florida.

 

[thepip]

I would love to see the day when we beat a big time great team and we DON'T rush the field! When we act like we aren't surprised we won, when us fans EXPECT to win, then we will have us a legit contender for an SEC championship!

Didn't the fans rush the field the last two times we beat EKU?

 

[DreDay247]

We were three trash penalties from going 10-3 last season. I view this team as a 10 win quality team that won 7 and returns most its players off that 10 win quality team that would've won 10 if not for 3 very trash calls/no calls. Stoops needs to get 8/9 this year. I won't be happy with 7-5. I expect a breakthrough season though and think he does.

 

[reflaine]

Could the USC game last season been classified as a big upset Win. We were double digit dogs, on the road, t shirt game, against a team that ended up being pretty good after losing their best player too (we was up couple scores when he went down, so wasn’t reason we won).

That game was the best we have played in a while. Uofl win was good, but everyone said before hand how bad uofl defense was and Lamar just didn’t have much help.

The USC game last year was a thing of beauty. Take out the first play and we played a near perfect game.

 

[Nuke99m]

The big thing to do is not only upset a top team but then have it carry over to the following weeks. We beat LSU in 2007 to go 6-1, but then we lost to Florida and got blown out by unranked Miss St. Ended up ending the regular season on a 1-4 streak to go 7-5.

 

[frost-1]

Think we beat Fl. This year.

 

[ganner918]

IMO the next step is stop struggling with the "cupcakes" and stop getting obliterated by good teams.

 

[WildCard]

Big wins are certainly nice but the Cats are now nothing more than a 7 win team in a 13 game season. The next "step" will be a string of 8/8+ win seasons. Not out of the question to see a good year this year and a relapse next year. That is the way a lot of these true "build a program" efforts go. JMO

Peace

 

[Sawnee Cat]

Let's get it started by beating Florida.

 

[kev69]

We were three trash penalties from going 10-3 last season. I view this team as a 10 win quality team that won 7 and returns most its players off that 10 win quality team that would've won 10 if not for 3 very trash calls/no calls. Stoops needs to get 8/9 this year. I won't be happy with 7-5. I expect a breakthrough season though and think he does.

Pretty much my exact thoughts.

 

[HoptownCat93]

The big thing to do is not only upset a top team but then have it carry over to the following weeks. We beat LSU in 2007 to go 6-1, but then we lost to Florida and got blown out by unranked Miss St. Ended up ending the regular season on a 1-4 streak to go 7-5.

I think we are at the point that can happen now because of the depth that Stoops has built. This is a team that can last a full season...they just need to believe they can. They know now they can get to bowls and they aren't big losers...but they gotta know that they can compete in all 12 games.

 

[Rembrandt90]

Let's get it started by beating Florida.

All of us want to see the UF losing streak end. It has gone on so long that I really can't blame anyone for being preoccupied with it. But we have to stay rational. We can't get blinded. So many people here always assume the worst case and downplay or ignore any good things that happen.

When UF comes up, it's usually a segue to bashing the coach and reliving the blown coverages. Seldom does anyone point out that we would have beaten UF even with the two blown coverage assignments if the zebras had called the game competently. That isn't to excuse blown coverages. It's just the rest of the story that seldom gets said.

The trend in the program is in the right direction. It's not happening fast enough for those who won't ever be satisfied. But there are things to be pleased about, and we seldom see them discussed.

I expect 8-9 wins this year. I like our roster better than a lot of people here do. I hope MS and the coordinators rise to the occasion.

 

[DreDay247]

Pretty much my exact thoughts.

I mean the Florida hold, the non hold call (most obvious hold ive ever seen when there WR held our DB) against ole miss on final drive was the difference, can add the Conrad getting tackled in endzone and no pi call as the cherry on top for that game. And the late hit on SJ vs NW, instead of 15 yards and a first down, instead of a no call and no yards and us in FG range still, WE got called for a penalty that knocked us out of fg range for 4th down, basically a 30 yard penalty with the bad call. If they just did the trash thing by ignoring the late hit, we still get 3, but no, not only they ignored the late hit, they did the super trash thing and had the audacity to take us back 15 yards for asking why no flag was thrown on the late hit and knocking us out fg range.

One of the most mind boggling sequence of events from officials I've ever seen in a game, was even worse than the Snell ejection. The hit couldn't have been any more late and we get called for a flag and get knocked out of fg range. If those 3 plays were called correctly, we win 10 games. Whaddabich and what coulda/shoulda been.

I just really don't understand how that play vs Florida is a hold when it wasnt, and the WR for ole miss didn't hold even though it was obvious as hell he did? Plus the late hit on SJ vs NW where we got flagged for arguing the trash no call which knocked us out of fg range. Just terrible luck. Still not over it.