I haven't researched everyone, but it sure seems like we opened the season with one of the toughest opening stretches. Of our 5 games, we've played 3 teams in the top 25 with a combined record of 13-1.
It seems most other teams have played at least 2 cupcakes and some have played 3 already. UK opened with Ball St., Eastern Kentucky and Akron.
There are pros and cons to both.
If you open with a couple cupcakes, it gives you a couple "scrimmage" games to continue working on things from fall practice. On the other hand, you don't really learn anything about your team from those games, so you may go into your serious games with a distorted view of your team.
If you open with a tough slate of opponents like we have, I guess you have the advantage of having been battle-tested, but it comes at the cost taking early losses, your team getting beat up early in the season and possibly having morale take a hit.
It's not an excuse for our current situation. We can't always just whine about having played a lot of top 25 teams. But it does seem that it could be more advantageous to have had the Jax game earlier in the season as opposed to our 9th game. Of course, our situation is a bit more complicated since our rival is a P5 OOC team, which takes away some of our scheduling flexibility.
It seems most other teams have played at least 2 cupcakes and some have played 3 already. UK opened with Ball St., Eastern Kentucky and Akron.
There are pros and cons to both.
If you open with a couple cupcakes, it gives you a couple "scrimmage" games to continue working on things from fall practice. On the other hand, you don't really learn anything about your team from those games, so you may go into your serious games with a distorted view of your team.
If you open with a tough slate of opponents like we have, I guess you have the advantage of having been battle-tested, but it comes at the cost taking early losses, your team getting beat up early in the season and possibly having morale take a hit.
It's not an excuse for our current situation. We can't always just whine about having played a lot of top 25 teams. But it does seem that it could be more advantageous to have had the Jax game earlier in the season as opposed to our 9th game. Of course, our situation is a bit more complicated since our rival is a P5 OOC team, which takes away some of our scheduling flexibility.