If Eddie Gran is the new OC, what is your outlook going into next year?
- Thread starter ThwKentuckyKid
- Start date
My outlook will be improved, that is for sure. Next year's schedule is still going to be brutal, but with Gran, I at least feel like we will go into these games without having one arm tied behind our backs. The guy will get the most out of this offense and put his players in the best position to succeed.
Better outlook on offense if Stoops lets him have his way. Worried about defense and overall organization.
Much improved. With Dawson here I thought there would never be hope under stoops and that we were doomed for a long time coming. Surprisingly though, stoops had the cajones to pull the trigger and let Dawson go. Now I could maybe seeing us getting to 6-6 next year. Before Dawson being let go I thought 4-8 was going to be our ceiling next year. Now I think 6-6 is the ceiling under stoops as long as he is here but at least it's a bowl game! Drastic improvement.
FWIW, S&P+ efficiency number comparison from this year (adjusted for SOS).
Overall offensive efficiency:
Cincinnati: 33rd
Kentucky: 108th
Rushing offense efficiency:
Kentucky: 42nd
Cincinnati: 62nd
Passing offense efficiency:
Cincinnati: 20th
Kentucky: 93rd
Per play numbers:
Yards per rushing attempt:
Kentucky: 26th
Cincinnati: 62nd
Yards per passing attempt:
Cincinnati: 15th
Kentucky: 103rd
Unfortunately, I don't think he'd get to bring Gunner Kiel with him.
Overall offensive efficiency:
Cincinnati: 33rd
Kentucky: 108th
Rushing offense efficiency:
Kentucky: 42nd
Cincinnati: 62nd
Passing offense efficiency:
Cincinnati: 20th
Kentucky: 93rd
Per play numbers:
Yards per rushing attempt:
Kentucky: 26th
Cincinnati: 62nd
Yards per passing attempt:
Cincinnati: 15th
Kentucky: 103rd
Unfortunately, I don't think he'd get to bring Gunner Kiel with him.
I would be feeling really good! Gran is who i wanted last year. As a UK alumni who grew up in Cincinnati i have seen UC play plenty of times. Gran runs a nice uptempo offense who uses a nice mix of run and pass. I love that he has almost 30 years of coaching experience with 15 years in the SEC. Add in the fact he coached at FSU with Stoops its a no brainer.
Doesn't change anything for me. People went gaga when Dawson got here. I refuse to get sucked in on excitement until proven otherwise.
also AAC versus SEC Defenses are going to skew output - But I like the possibility of this hire for TE use and for increased Passing proficiency
Gran is an experienced OC who has a history of playing to the strength of his personnel. Our personnel is just now starting to mature. The transition from the "morphed Air Raid spread" to a spread offense shouldn't take too long. I would hope that better and proven coaching would lead to better execution. And given that we were just a few plays away from 7-5 last yr, I would expect an offense that could get us to 7-5.
Now we just have hope that the defense and ST improves to the point to carry us even further.
Now we just have hope that the defense and ST improves to the point to carry us even further.
It's obviously going to take time. It's hard on offensive players to learn a new system, but I think this would be a spark to reignite a lot of fans interest in the program. I'm gonna be at every home game again next year regardless, but this would definitely excite me.
In theory, the S&P+ it's controlled for quality of opponent. It has us at 76th SOS nationally and Cincinnati 102nd.
But absolutely would skew the YPP numbers some.
I think even with him UK will be lucky to go 6-6. What will calm the waters for Stoops is if UK can at least be much more entertaining to watch on offense and the entire team not fall apart the second half of the season. He is in a unique position right now. Expectations were very low when he first got to UK and now expectations are back to being low due to how poorly the team performed this past season. I think what fans want to see at this point in time is just a competent program and I think Gran is the type of coach who can at least help Stoops in that regard. Wins wise, anything above 6 wins is a major overachievement when looking a that schedule and current roster.
Not really sure. If it is Gran the offense should be a little better. I've been watching the replay of Miami and Cincinnati. The differences in systems looks really small. I don't think there will be any real learning curve. I also don't know that it would substantively change our offense. The only benefit would be having an OC that isn't in his first year. That might not seem like much but we are very likely in a bowl if we had that this season.
On the other hand the schedule is much harder next year. 6 wins next year will be tougher than 8 would have been this season. Stoops really really needed a bowl game in year 3. It's extremely unlikely that he gets one in year 4. That will effectively end the Stoops era. Whether he loses his job or not at the end of the year it will likely be over at some point if he doesn't get to a bowl game next year.
On the other hand the schedule is much harder next year. 6 wins next year will be tougher than 8 would have been this season. Stoops really really needed a bowl game in year 3. It's extremely unlikely that he gets one in year 4. That will effectively end the Stoops era. Whether he loses his job or not at the end of the year it will likely be over at some point if he doesn't get to a bowl game next year.
Maybe, maybe not. I do tend to agree. However... Georgia has a new coach. South Carolina has a new coach & will be without P Cooper. Mizzou has a new coach. Alabama has already lost a DC & they will lose a lot of elite players. Miss State is losing Prescott. Florida will be without Grier & they lose Hargraves, etc. It's really impossible to say how some of UK's opponents will actually look next year.
Even with the turnover at Georgia, So. Car. and Mizzou their coaching staff outclasses the one here.
This is why UK is in a no win situation with a lot of fans...it is crazy to say SC and Mizzou coaching staffs outclass UKs, but people believe it...
I just hope our offense looks competent and the play calling has some semblance of a game plan. There's not a whole lot we can do about our schedule. It is what it is. But there are enough winnable games that a competent OC could get us to a bowl game.
I live in Utah and have season tickets to BYU. Cincinnatti came out here to play this year. They ultimately lost, but they got down big in the first half, made a switch at QB and came back to tie the game. BYU needed a last minute drive to pull back ahead. I liked seeing that the coaches were willing to play multiple QBs to see which player had the hot-hand that night. That might work all the time, it might not even be needed next year. But I like to see coaches that will make a switch when needed instead of sending out the same player that keep making the same mistakes.
I live in Utah and have season tickets to BYU. Cincinnatti came out here to play this year. They ultimately lost, but they got down big in the first half, made a switch at QB and came back to tie the game. BYU needed a last minute drive to pull back ahead. I liked seeing that the coaches were willing to play multiple QBs to see which player had the hot-hand that night. That might work all the time, it might not even be needed next year. But I like to see coaches that will make a switch when needed instead of sending out the same player that keep making the same mistakes.
No more optimism till I see...is Stoops going to chase him all over the field like it has the last two OC
If 6 - 6 is the best folks like you ever think we're going to be we should shut down the football program
Well under stoops I feel like 6-6 is the ceiling, if we make the right hire under the next staff then I feel like that's when the program takes the next step
Same offensive line and receiver performance same results as this year. I'll wait until all of Joker's boys are gone before expecting much more from an OC.
Man, I love your optimism, but UT, Alabama and Florida are all on the road and are 99.9% certain losses, no matter how they look when we play them. Actually, Alabama is probably 100% but I suppose the game could get cancelled on account of a tornado. Georgia is at home, but they have beaten us 80 or 90% of the time historically and flat manhandled us in recent years, cannot see how Kirby Smart will make them worse. And on paper at least, So. Miss. is a much tougher opponent than ULL (who had a losing season) turned out to be.
So bottom line is that our schedule is much more difficult than last year.
Yeah, but then you don't even know how to spell Optimism.
From your earlier post, you expected 4-8 before this change, but still your ceiling for Stoops is six wins for AS LONG AS HE IS HERE, it doesn't matter to you that in two years we will have the best class EVER (not close, possibly Bird, Norton, Kestner, Ball, etc or the Bear) as senior leaders AND some more very good players to fill weak spots, the weak OL upgraded to maybe AA, three four stars, (two of them a 5.9 and a 6.0), AND a FIVE STAR. And the D should also be much better,
This staff has PROVEN that they are going to bring in excellent talent (for UK) even in bad times, and their coaching will improve IMO. MAYBE this change is a great improvement, but no one knows yet.
Optimists live longer, and if that is true I will probably live three times as long as you, probably already have.
PS: If we do sign the IN STATE five star OL we could start an OL with a 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 6.0, and a 6.1, averaging OVER a four star (like Florida with their 5.9 for their TWO DEEP on Offense and Defense in 2010). AND we will have most of the two deep this year as backups.
When have we ever had ONE four star OL starting, let alone all five of them averaging a 5.9?
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Gotcha...Agree ...IF we will go out and hire an aggressive HC that is offensive minded.
Jauk, actually pessimists live longer. I attribute that to very few pessimists go sky diving, swimming with great whites or becoming OC at UK.
That being said your view that talent is slowly getting better and I agree. Who knows, someday we may be able to redshirt some four stars.
I'm not as optimistic about stoops as you sorry man I still have to see something from this staff on the field before I jump to conclusions, I do think 6-6 is the ceiling with him and maybe with a favorable schedule IMO could get lucky and go 7-5. And that's a lot better than 2-10 so I'll give him that. I just don't see anything out of him as far as coaching ability. Errors were at an all time high his 3rd year on the job. I think Dawson was a huge issue and I'm glad we got him out. But I'm not going to call stoops a savior for firing him just yet granted we have a way better chance now. I still feel like stoops is a very inept in game head coach. He has a mountain of mistakes to learn from that people claim is such a simple fix. I just don't know about that the mistakes had become habitual. His seat will be very warm this year. If the same mistakes occur this season, which so far I haven't seen a reason it won't considering the schedule. Then idk why we should expect greatness from him.
He's the only coach in the game I feel like that stays upset and emotional thru out an entire game he looks panicky on the sidelines which I think translates to the players on the field and in turn makes them nervous. His sideline antics have to be fixed IMO. I understand being emotional, but man don't let it effect your coaching. That's just my observation i feel like he always lets his anger from one mistake or bad call from a ref effect his coaching the next play or so. And like a QB a head coach coach also has to just know when to move on and forget what happened and not let one mistake turn into 2. I just can't call him a savior yet. People like to bring up cal in basketball as a reason talent trumps experience. Basketball is not near as much of a team sport as football. It's no comparison. There is not a more team oriented sport than football. So IMO. You can have all the talent in the world, if you don't put the pieces together then it won't work.
If you want to use a basketball as an example look at this years rockets. If it don't gel, it don't work. And idk why people have so much faith stoops can gel it all together. Talent doesn't trump talent and knowledge IN THE SEC. These teams have great talent AND GREAT COACHES whom I don't think any would've made near the same kind of mistakes stoops makes in the game. what I'm saying is these coaches in the SEC I feel like will out coach stoops all day everyday of the week while having as much or more talent. Did you see the in game adjustments this year? Yea me neither. You can be hopeful, but keep it realistic. If Kentucky football has taught me anything it's don't get your hopes up til you actually see it. Muschamp had upper echelon talent at Florida and sucked. So why is it so gauranteed stoops is going to be great once he has some talent? Sorry that I try to keep things in perspective. You're always replying to me and idk why.
for me, this past season has almost been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back . . . and I am in the camp that thinks poor coaching, particularly in-game but also player development, cost us more than the kids . . . with that being said, everything I have read and heard about Gran is extremely positive . . . if he is available, I am not sure why we didn't hire him over Dawson (shoulda coulda hired Riley) . . . I think the experience he can bring may be as important as anything he would do as OC . . . I think he would be a great hire!!! GBB
Time for calm and relax. There is no way to go but up. Gran would bring talent, experience and the ability to communicate with players that is badly needed. This is no disrespect to Shannon Dawson. He is a good coach who simply wasn't a good fit with CMS.
Yeah, kind of a weird take. Kirby Smart has never coached a game, nor has Mizzou's ..... You have to have some sort of sample size before making that type of conclusion. Muschamp? Not completely "sold" that he outclasses UK s staff, either.