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24 minutes of football completely changed the ...

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bballcat4

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... attitude around UK football. Think about this. What's the attitude around UK football if they win the Southern Miss game? I don't care how bad they looked against Fla and NMSt. Most everyone expected a loss in the Swamp and a victory in week 3.

If nothing changed except the outcome of game #1, then there's a totally different vibe sitting after a bye week at 4-2.

Bottom line is we didn't win. We could play the 'what-if' game forever. (What if, "Hatcher, Meant, Tubman, etc...) Most teams have similar things happen to them.

Things are never as good as you think after a win and never as bad as you think after a loss. We're not in terrible shape today. (Certainly not as terrible as people made it out to be on here.) Stoops is responsible for having a team ready to play and it's obvious the defense wasn't ready when the season began. Kudos for recent improvement. I hope that's a lesson learned.

I've said since Stoops arrival that 1 net victory increase every 2 years is realistic expectations for building a program in the SEC. That's not loser mentality or settling for mediocrity. It's realistic and steady which is what we desperately need. Stoops needs 6 wins this year.

I'm sure Stoops would like a mulligan for the 2nd half of that first game. Let's see if he can steal a game down the stretch.
 
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TotesMcGotes

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Chance plays a big role in life. Imagine if we picked off the ball to end the Louisville game in 2014, instead of dropping it. We go bowling. Then again ifwe didnt injure kyle bolin against Louisville last year. Or if we can score on 1st and goal at the 1 against vandy. That would be bowling 2 years in a row.
 
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TDredbird

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TotesMcGotes said:
Chance plays a big role in life. Imagine if we picked off the ball to end the Louisville game in 2014, instead of dropping it. We go bowling. Then again ifwe didnt injure kyle bolin against Louisville last year. Or if we can score on 1st and goal at the 1 against vandy. That would be bowling 2 years in a row.
Click to expand...

Bolin wasn't injured. He was pulled for throwing two interceptions. Our backup proved to be more than capable though.
 
BigBluePhantom

BigBluePhantom

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Very nice post OP. You obviously put a lot of thought into it. So far, there are 7 replies before this one and only one of those replies supports that the person read and understood your post.
 
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TeoJ

Heisman
Oct 19, 2001
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If the dog hadn't stopped to crap he would have caught that rabbit.
 
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KY1WING

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Understand what you are saying but if Reed doesn't get hurt against us, they hit FGs vs SC and they manage the clock better and catch a pass or two vs UF, Vandy is sitting on top of the East undefeated ...
 
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billoliver40

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The one victory every two years would depend a lot on the schedule. I believe Southern Miss was a replacement for UAB. The SEC east continues to be weak though, and we likely have caught a break (Saturday will tell) with Mississippi State this year. I agree though, that the UK record is one game off ....actually one half game off from what even the most optimistic would have thought. 4-2 would have been right there.

That bad half is a costly one though. Still not sure this team will be able to overcome it. APSU seems for sure, and Mizzou better than an average chance. State is a huge, huge, huge game.
 
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JHB4UK

Heisman
May 29, 2001
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live in the precious present & not the miserable mistakes of the past is the best advice I can give ya

maybe the 2nd half slipup against S Miss accelerated the need by Stoops to take more involvement in the defense....which leads us to more wins the rest of the season than if he had not done that?

instead or reliving the S Miss game & what could have been why not instead focus your time & efforts on the exciting opportunities in front of us with State on Sat night, Mizzou on the road 10/29, reeling Georgia at home 11/5, chopped up hamburger UT in vile Knoxville 11/12? look forward, walking while eyes focused on what is past & done will only result in tripping.
 
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bballcat4

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BigBluePhantom said:
Very nice post OP. You obviously put a lot of thought into it. So far, there are 7 replies before this one and only one of those replies supports that the person read and understood your post.
Click to expand...

I agree ;-) My point was that things are never as good or bad as they first appear. UK is not the dumpster fire everyone made it out to be after the first game.

We Can't and Shouldn't play the 'what-if game.' Every team deals with injuries, loss of players, etc.

24 minutes of football caused many in our fanbase to think Stoops can't find his butt with his own hand. A victory over South Carolina a couple years ago caused many in our fanbase to think we were going to win the SEC East the next year and that Stoops was Bear Bryant incarnate. Both reactions were wrong.
 
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bballcat4

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billoliver40 said:
The one victory every two years would depend a lot on the schedule. I believe Southern Miss was a replacement for UAB. The SEC east continues to be weak though, and we likely have caught a break (Saturday will tell) with Mississippi State this year. I agree though, that the UK record is one game off ....actually one half game off from what even the most optimistic would have thought. 4-2 would have been right there.

That bad half is a costly one though. Still not sure this team will be able to overcome it. APSU seems for sure, and Mizzou better than an average chance. State is a huge, huge, huge game.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%.

MSU will be a tough game. It will be interesting to see if Stoops can steal a victory at GA or UT. Both will be tough. I didn't think we had a chance in either game 2 weeks ago. Ga may be reeling. UT has been hit with a plague of injuries to key players. Butch is going to have to coach his butt off to prevent the season from sliding off the rails.
 
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andreIGUODOLLAsigns4UK

Senior
Nov 29, 2015
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bballcat4 said:
... attitude around UK football. Think about this. What's the attitude around UK football if they win the Southern Miss game? I don't care how bad they looked against Fla and NMSt. Most everyone expected a loss in the Swamp and a victory in week 3.

If nothing changed except the outcome of game #1, then there's a totally different vibe sitting after a bye week at 4-2.

Bottom line is we didn't win. We could play the 'what-if' game forever. (What if, "Hatcher, Meant, Tubman, etc...) Most teams have similar things happen to them.

Things are never as good as you think after a win and never as bad as you think after a loss. We're not in terrible shape today. (Certainly not as terrible as people made it out to be on here.) Stoops is responsible for having a team ready to play and it's obvious the defense wasn't ready when the season began. Kudos for recent improvement. I hope that's a lesson learned.

I've said since Stoops arrival that 1 net victory increase every 2 years is realistic expectations for building a program in the SEC. That's not loser mentality or settling for mediocrity. It's realistic and steady which is what we desperately need. Stoops needs 6 wins this year.

I'm sure Stoops would like a mulligan for the 2nd half of that first game. Let's see if he can steal a game down the stretch.
Click to expand...
31 minutes is how long the come back happened for. They didn't own us for just part of the 2nd half. USM owned us the ENTIRE 2nd half.
 
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SanAntonioCat_rivals376502

All-Conference
Oct 1, 2001
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CatGotMyTongue said:
I didn't realize he coached a champion HS football AND basketball team in VA.
Amazing guy who shadowed Bear Bryant in a lot of ways
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Coach Claiborne was passed over for Charlie Bradshaw in 1962. This was the single worst decision in UK athletics history. Coach Claiborne went to great success at Virginia Tech and UK began a decades long slide into SEC obscurity where we remain mired to today.
 
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willievic

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Aug 28, 2005
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It's always easy to play the "What If" game. Most of the time, that is just an excuse for a job, poorly performed. That was definitely the case in the second half against USM, NO EXCUSES!

OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!
 
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sluggercatfan

Heisman
Aug 17, 2004
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SanAntonioCat said:
Coach Claiborne was passed over for Charlie Bradshaw in 1962. This was the single worst decision in UK athletics history. Coach Claiborne went to great success at Virginia Tech and UK began a decades long slide into SEC obscurity where we remain mired to today.
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And Maryland..
 
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sluggercatfan

Heisman
Aug 17, 2004
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bballcat4 said:
Agree 100%.

MSU will be a tough game. It will be interesting to see if Stoops can steal a victory at GA or UT. Both will be tough. I didn't think we had a chance in either game 2 weeks ago. Ga may be reeling. UT has been hit with a plague of injuries to key players. Butch is going to have to coach his butt off to prevent the season from sliding off the rails.
Click to expand...
Ga game is UK home game..
 
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Tomsong

Redshirt
Oct 2, 2016
29
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Beat Southern Miss and maybe this team and staff doesn't have the chip on their shoulder and doesn't fight as hard against SC and Vandy and we would be sitting 2-4 right now. Ifs ands and buts.....
 
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andreIGUODOLLAsigns4UK

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BigBluePhantom said:
If you read the entire OP it is actually an anti-what if thread. Did you miss this part?
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Yea well by not playing the what if game. Then you can't say what if we didn't allow 34 unanswered to USM and the terrible OC we just fired. That is clearly a what if scenario. Therefor explains the ensuing what if scenarios. It's definitely a what if thread. He says 'what if we didn't lose to USM' that's the definition of the 'what if game'. What if Dorian Baker doesn't make that catch to complete miracle comeback vs EKU? He made a what if scenario of his own. Which is begging for this thread to be a what if thread.
 
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bballcat4

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andreIGUODOLLAsigns4UK said:
Yea well by not playing the what if game. Then you can't say what if we didn't allow 34 unanswered to USM and the terrible OC we just fired. That is clearly a what if scenario. Therefor explains the ensuing what if scenarios. It's definitely a what if thread. He says 'what if we didn't lose to USM' that's the definition of the 'what if game'. What if Dorian Baker doesn't make that catch to complete miracle comeback vs EKU? He made a what if scenario of his own. Which is begging for this thread to be a what if thread.
Click to expand...

Think you missed my point. I apologize for not making it more clear. Thought I wrote,

We Can't and Shouldn't play the 'what-if game.' Every team deals with injuries, loss of players, etc.​

24 minutes of football caused many in our fanbase to think Stoops can't find his butt with his own hand. A victory over South Carolina a couple years ago caused many in our fanbase to think we were going to win the SEC East the next year and that Stoops was Bear Bryant incarnate. Both reactions were wrong.
​
Again, my intention was to communicate that UK Football & Stoops is not the dumpster fire everyone made it out to be in the first 3 weeks. NEITHER is he Bear Bryant incarnate that many made him out to be a few years ago. The program is somewhere in between those 2 extremes.

Our fanbase (along with most other fanbases) overreacts to good wins and bad losses.
 
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