Southern Miss

[johnkyblue]

This preview, a few weeks early, used to be reserved for UL. But, UL balked, and UK was like, "good, cause screw that" too. Football teams are always their worst in the first game of the season.

This is a great preview of our first opponent:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/2/22/11063040/southern-miss-football-2016-preview-schedule-roster

[Matt Dillon]

Interesting article, John, thanks for posting it.

[Uncle Dave]

UK better be loaded for bear for this one. At this point, my confidence level is shaky.

[KevinHall]

Lot of good stats in that article. Southern Miss QB is very very good. One of the better ones in the nation. They also have a RB that rushed for over 1100 yards and caught passes for over 500. They are going to be a handful. USM's defense was very suspect last year so UK may be able to score on them pretty well. This could be an old fashion shoot out.
Also they rated this game as pretty much a toss up, giving USM a 49% chance to win. USM is favored in every game this year except at LSU. They said that was the only game that really wasn't winnable for them.

[Matt Dillon]

I expect a shoot out. I just hope we have more bullets in our gun than they do in theirs.

[SBCatMan]

Shoot outs frequently turn on "other" plays, for lack of a better word. When teams are moving the ball up and down the field and scoring at will, turnovers become critical as do points of defense and ST.

[Joneslab]

This preview, a few weeks early, used to be reserved for UL. But, UL balked, and UK was like, "good, cause screw that" too. Football teams are always their worst in the first game of the season.

I don't think this is how it quite went down, lol.

But it has turned out, ironically, to have worked against UK. If Kentucky would've gotten Louisville in the first game the last two years they might be 2-0. Kentucky has started out much better than they turned out to be late, and UofL has been the opposite. Last year especially Louisville wasn't very good at all in September and turned into a formidable team late.

[Catatonic]

Moving the UL game to the end of the year was a terrible move for UK. They get to improve over their season and play a team that has been demoralized by SEC play.

[KevinHall]

Actually moving the UL game to the last game of the season was a TV deal. ESPN wanted a in state rivals weekend around Thanksgiving. This game goes along with UGA/Ga Tech, South Carolina/Clemson,UT/Vandy and maybe some others. Originally UK did not want to play UL the first week. They settled on the home team picking the week to play. UL always chose the first week and UK too the third week or so of the season. They did that a few seasons until TV intervened.

[Old School]

Moving the UL game to the end of the year was a terrible move for UK. They get to improve over their season and play a team that has been demoralized by SEC play.

Agreeing to change it to home and home was a mistake for UK and not in UK's best interests. It was a catalyst for building Louisville's new stadium. UK could've told them they could come play in Commonwealth every year, or take a hike.

[johnkyblue]

UK integrated 10 years before Southern Miss academically.

[johnkyblue]

http://collegefootballnews.com/2016/...l-preview-2016

[johnkyblue]

I hope the team is more worried about this game than I am.

[40bill]

The Cats need to worry about everybody.

[40bill]

Both teams have tons of question marks. No matter what he did at UK, Dawson had been with successful offenses. UK with a new OC and plenty of other new coaches. New quarterback at the helm. Southern Miss with new head men all around and big graduation losses in the lines.
Southern Miss was a dominant team last year until they moved out of weight class....this will give an indicator if the UK program will begin to move into that upper weight class themselves.
Line play on the offensive side and running back depth favors UK....as does the fact that Southern Miss ran an aggressive defense that gave up lots of big plays. UK will have to find a way defensively to contain a similar big play Southern Miss offense.....and seems to have the secondary to so it.
We will see if the coaching staff has taken the reigns on this crew and manages to balance passion with discipline. If so, should be a comfortable Kentucky win.
If those reigns come off and we see out of control play though......wellllllllllll.....
Could turn into a long, long, bitter season.