Kentucky @ Alabama Game Thread.

[Uncle Dave]

Hindsight's 20/20 but I'm glad I found something better to do than spend 3 hours of my aging life watching UK stinking up the place. Don't need it.

[KCKUKFan]

Kentucky would probably finish 8-4 this year with a normal schedule.

Losses to Georgia, Florida, Missouri and Auburn.

Wins against Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and four out of conference teams.

No Ole Miss or Alabama on the schedule if not for COVID related schedule changes.

8-4 and on to the Outback Bowl, most likely, to play (and probably beat) someone like Iowa or Wisconsin for a 9-4 finish in the Top 25.

Ever the optimist.

This is a bad football team.

[Old School]

Ever the optimist.

This is a bad football team.

Which, if any, of those games do you think would have gone differently, and why? How would you see the initial 12 game schedule going differently?

Losses to Georgia, Florida, Missouri and Auburn.

Wins against Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and four out of conference teams.

No Ole Miss or Alabama on the schedule if not for COVID related schedule changes.

[Dwight Schrute]

I think we beat Louisville if we had played them, they look even worse than we do.

[KCKUKFan]

Which, if any, of those games do you think would have gone differently, and why? How would you see the initial 12 game schedule going differently?

Losses to Georgia, Florida, Missouri and Auburn.

Wins against Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, South Carolina, and four out of conference teams.

No Ole Miss or Alabama on the schedule if not for COVID related schedule changes.

If pulling out an 8-4 schedule against two cupcake games and a down Louisville team, while dodging two of the better teams in the SEC makes you feel better, then that's fine.

This year has provided us with a unique opportunity to see how far we've really come under Stoops against our (better) conference competitors, without the buffer of mid-major safety nets and lucky schedule draws. And, predictably, we're still not very good.

This is a mediocre football team, and padding the final record against bad teams and other bottom-feeder SEC teams doesn't salve that wound. There seems to be a complete disconnect between coaches and players from the top down. Some of that can probably be attributed to factors out of their control -- COVID restrictions, Schlarmann's passing, etc -- but a lot of it is just ineptitude. Our offense is anemic, we have no receivers beyond Josh Ali, the play-calling is ridiculously conservative, the defense gets gashed for big passing plays constantly, and our line play on both sides of the ball (supposedly our biggest strength) has been underwhelming.

There is no excuse for a Stoops team this far into his tenure to lose by 60 points. I don't care who the opponent is. He deserves credit for having been able to build an average football program from almost nothing, but average is all we'll ever be. I'm still seeing the same braindead penalties, mistakes, and in-game mismanagement that I saw in his first year. Lynn Bowden's heroics single-handedly saved last season from being a dumpster fire, and before that we have the (admittedly awesome) 10-3 season and a bunch of mediocre junk.

You're also giving us a win against South Carolina, and I'm not sure why. The team that took the field the last three games isn't beating Florida or South Carolina.

But, hey, we're just gettin' started, bro. Let that win against a putrid Tennessee team shade those glasses just a lil' bit bluer.

[TrueblueCATfan]

now that was one ugly game....if we had players out due to covid related issues why wasn't this game cancelled

[KCKUKFan]

now that was one ugly game....if we had players out due to covid related issues why wasn't this game cancelled

Probably because Stoops knew we weren't coming within five touchdowns of Alabama even if we had a full compliment of players.

[Lighthouse]

Probably because Stoops knew we weren't coming within five touchdowns of Alabama even if we had a full compliment of players.

It's bad enough we got shellacked yesterday with several key players missing. Do we need to take cheap shots at our Coach?

[KCKUKFan]

It's bad enough we got shellacked yesterday with several key players missing. Do we need to take cheap shots at our Coach?

I wasn't taking shots at our coach.

I said that he probably realized that we didn't stand a chance against Alabama even with our full roster, so he wanted to just move past the game rather than dealing with the headache of rescheduling it.

[Blue Heaven]

This is likely the wrong time to write this, but coach made a comment earlier this week that what he saw was players playing for stats, not team. Not going for 50/50 balls, not playing positions. Okay.
why tolerate it if you see it? I've watched Saban and Smart personally lecture players after hurting the team, pulling them and sitting them. There comes a point as head coach that you gotta say 'guys, if you're gonna lose, at least you're gonna play and play it right.'
I dont see that. Havent more than once. I've seen PLAYERS step up and take charge...Allen, Snell, Bowden...to name some. But our COACHES seem hesitant to be enforcers.
i really like Coach and what he has done....but this many years in and to lose by 60 and two qbs laughing on the sideline while the third gets sacked twice is pretty unacceptable.
Staff lost this crew somewhere. Dont know where. Just a really, really, really bitter disappointment with last years success and a huge number of returnees...including a true quarterback.

Dunno. Seems like looking back, season ended in Missouri.

There was a play late in the game where we tackled a guy behind the LOS. Our guy taunted and yelled and flexed all while we were getting flat waxed. I have an issue with that.

[DA#23]

^ Yep, demonstrates a lack of discipline IMO.

I'd love to see a clip of Terry Wilson and Joey Gatewood on the sideline following Allen getting sacked. I can't tell if they were already talking/goofing off prior to the play or if that began after the sack. I think the former is bad enough, but the latter scenario would be infuriating.

[Lighthouse]

I wasn't taking shots at our coach.

I said that he probably realized that we didn't stand a chance against Alabama even with our full roster, so he wanted to just move past the game rather than dealing with the headache of rescheduling it.

I apologize if I read your post the wrong way. With the SEC making the decisions on whether or not to play, reschedule or a game, I doubt CS had much to say about it.

[KCKUKFan]

I apologize if I read your post the wrong way. With the SEC making the decisions on whether or not to play, reschedule or a game, I doubt CS had much to say about it.

No problem.

[Dwight Schrute]

Probably because Stoops knew we weren't coming within five touchdowns of Alabama even if we had a full compliment of players.

Man, you're really competiting with JFCats for the negative Norman title.

[KCKUKFan]

Man, you're really competiting with JFCats for the negative Norman title.

JFCats is constantly negative about our basketball team, which has won more games than any program in the past decade.

I'm a realist about out football program, which is... a football program.