I think the biggest thing we have to avoid is Chip Trayanum playing with a "Chip" on his shoulder (pun intended) and running all over us.
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"It don't make much sense that common sense don't make no sense no more" John Prine -
Vegas Insider still has the Cats favored by 7.5.Philippians 4:11-4:13Comment
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Just listening to Stoops I'm sure he isn't overlooking.
Soooooo...Toledo beat Mississippi State then went bowling and beat Pitt.
Definitely not a program to over look.Comment
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I honestly believe we will be ready to go Saturday I expect a beatdown at Kroger field Saturday...... There is way to much chatter of an upset and that is bullet board material.....Comment
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Until they prove me otherwise, I'm going to be a little more optimistic than you and say 6-7 wins isn't off the table. Now I may change that after the first couple of weeks, but I do think there are a lot of unknowns but also improvements from last year roster wise, so I'm not going to sit here today and say that Vandy, South Carolina, Louisville and even Florida and Auburn are automatic L's. At this point in Stoops tenure, those are teams we should be competing with. We just have to hope the roster turnover was enough to remove whatever cancers we had and they resolved some key problems. QB room, for all intents and purposes, better. RB room much better, OL much better (but lacks some depth) WR room, not necessarily "better" overall, but deeper I think. Defense should be a touch better too, getting Josiah Hayes back is big. It will all hinge on year two of Bush Hamden being much improved from last year, I think that now that more of the pieces are his and not inherited, we should see some improvement.
Stoops has to improve too. There have been things that have plagued Stoops teams over the years that drive me up the wall and I can virtually predict them when they are about to happen.
- Giving up third and forevers. We can play lights out on 1st and second down, then give up a 3rd and 13 in a heartbeat.
- Giving up a cheap score right before the half. I believe it was the 2022 or 2023 season, there was a stretch of 6 games in which in 5 of them we gave up a TD or a FG or multiple scores within under two minutes left in the half. That was a particularly bad stretch, but it's not an uncommon occurrence and happens quite often.
- Cheap drive killing penalties. How many times did we see some huge gains get called back last year alone. How many times have we see a 1st and 10 in enemy territory turn into a third and 18 from inside our own 20 (or something to that effect) because of a hold or unsportsmanlike conduct or something.
- And like you state, allowing teams to stay in the game with us. Going conservative when up a couple of scores. This is big boy football, put you foot on their neck and grind. I Hope Stoops finally has a chip on his shoulder big enough that he's not afraid to run up a score if the chance is there to do it. I don't mean taking a cheap score as the clock expires when you're up 20, but quit calling off the dogs when we're only up by 2-3 scores. during the game."It don't make much sense that common sense don't make no sense no more" John PrineComment
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Losing the 1st game, especially at home, tends to leave a bad taste in fans’ mouths. I don’t care how much the margin is, just WIN!Comment
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"It don't make much sense that common sense don't make no sense no more" John PrineComment
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I don't have huge expectations for the coming season. But I think we will be better than last season. How much better? That is the real question and the answer remains to be seen. If we come out and put Toledo away pretty easily, then that gives us some hope that UK might be working back toward becoming a mid-tier SEC team again, like we were during Stoops' better seasons. If we struggle against Toledo, then that will likely mean we may be among the two worst teams in the entire conference. And Heaven forbid, if we lose, it will probably mean we are the worst team in the entire conference by far and will have an absolutely miserable season that will be so horrible Stoops will pretty much have to be fired at the end of the year. I hope we show significant improvement and consistency, but we really won't know for sure what we have until we see them in actual competition on the field. I guess you can say that I'm in wait and see mode.Comment
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I'm going with what a good friend used to say ......... Cautiously Pessimistic!Comment
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I've been watching/listening to UK football since the BABE, I take nothing for granted. Hope for the best, dread the worst.
GBBComment
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Looks like powers that be we're right. Pretty evenComment
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