I've seen enough of the Stoops era

[bballcat4]

UGA will get better, and they will pass us. Recruiting base, simple as that.

Doesnt mean we can never beat them in the future.

They had to kick a last second field goal to beat us, a team that couldn't hold NMSU under 500 yards and playing with a backup QB.

We played with them and had them beat, it's ok to be upset, I'm not one for moral victories either, but it was good to see the toughness on defense and rushing for 186.

Bottom line for me is we've won all the games we said before the year we needed to win (minus Southern Miss.) 90% of knowledgeable FB people said we had to win the first game to have legit shot at a bowl. We lost the first game which put the season in a tailspin. Barring a total disaster of epic proportions against APU, we're going to a bowl. That turnaround took some coaching chops.

When I hear people complain about our wins I keep wanting to ask "what did you want U.K. to do?" 4 SEC wins in a row was a monumental step forward for this program. Winning games we're supposed to win (even when Vegas says otherwise) is a step in the right direction. One win against Ga, UT or UL would be the cherry on top.

Give me another 6 win season next year and I'll consider that the new low bar of expectations. 7 wins in 2018. Building a sustainable winning program in the SEC will be slow and hard, but doable.

 

[Monroe Claxton]

Stoops will here as long as he wants

 

[J. Shellacque]

The people who want Stoops gone will never be happy with UK football unless we magically turn into Alabama. Truth of the matter is UK barely has a .500 all time record and it is going to take years of building to change what has historically been a .500 football program. If you can't see that UK has improved every year since Stoops has been here and is producing good recruiting classes every year then you are blind.

Sure we all want UK football to be what UK basketball is but that doesn't happen overnight especially in football. This program had less then nothing when Stoops took the job and is now heading in the right direction and if anybody wants the program to have any chance of having success in the future then they need to stop making threads like this because all it does is reflect negatively on the program. This isn't the 70's anymore where you talked to the people in your town this is the Information Age and guess what the kids we are recruiting know grew up with the Internet and all know how to use google and I guarantee more then one have found this site and this specific forum. Threads like this make it seem like if UK doesn't go undefeated and win the SEC championship and play in the CFP it is a failure of a season according to the fans and that isn't a place players want to go. If this program is ever going to be a success the fans need to realize seasons like this are what it takes to build a program.

If you are done with Stoops then do us all a favor and go cheer for Alabama because you make the fans who want to see the program succeed look bad. Bear Bryant isn't walking through that door.

Strange. You joined in 2009 and posted only 3 times. That does bring your judgement into question.

 

[brianpoe]

Bottom line for me is we've won all the games we said before the year we needed to win (minus Southern Miss.) 90% of knowledgeable FB people said we had to win the first game to have legit shot at a bowl. We lost the first game which put the season in a tailspin. Barring a total disaster of epic proportions against APU, we're going to a bowl. That turnaround took some coaching chops.

When I hear people complain about our wins I keep wanting to ask "what did you want U.K. to do?" 4 SEC wins in a row was a monumental step forward for this program. Winning games we're supposed to win (even when Vegas says otherwise) is a step in the right direction. One win against Ga, UT or UL would be the cherry on top.

Give me another 6 win season next year and I'll consider that the new low bar of expectations. 7 wins in 2018. Building a sustainable winning program in the SEC will be slow and hard, but doable.

Why will you be satisfied with only 6 wins next year?

We return 90% of our team and will have multiple QB's competing.

We need not lose to Southern Miss next season.

We will beat EKU and Eastern Michigan.

We should beat USCjr, Vandy, and Missouri.

That is 6.

We have proven we can beat MSU. #7

Next year we need to win one big game - UGA, UT, UL, Ole Miss.. #8


7 wins minimum next year with 8 being a great step in the right direction.

 

[BBBLazing]

Had a legit shot at the East until literally the last play of the game, with a QB who can't throw, and you don't see progress? We haven't been to a bowl in ten freaking years. Enough already.

How can you say our qb can't throw? Our wr's can't catch.

 

[brianpoe]

How can you say our qb can't throw? Our wr's can't catch.

That's a bad combination...

 

[BBBLazing]

That is not unreasonable.

I thought UGA would run roughshod over us (they did for 200 yards but it didnt look that bad).

I'm not optimistic about UT either.

I agree we have played bad teams. I agree we have gotten lucky with Vandy, MSU, USCjr and UGA QB's playing awful and those teams having injuries.

The fact is, we have improved, we looked much better tonight.

I really am not worried about this game, or UT, or UL. Just get to the bowl game and use the practice time.

Recruit a good class.

I have said several times that these teams will not stay down, so we must improve.

I am not sold on CMS being a great coach.

But I'm not going to move the goal posts, I said preseason that 6-6 and bowl game was a must for me. And I was very vocal the first 3 games. I brought out the stat that CMS hadnt beaten a winning team other than EKU (regular season).

But he has this year and he met my requirement. I give the guy next year to see if they can improve, if not these other teams will pass us by again.

We have 3 games to continue to grow and get better along with the bowl time, I'm willing to be patient.

Funny how you have requirements. You must be more connected than I thought.

 

[BBBLazing]

The people who want Stoops gone will never be happy with UK football unless we magically turn into Alabama. Truth of the matter is UK barely has a .500 all time record and it is going to take years of building to change what has historically been a .500 football program. If you can't see that UK has improved every year since Stoops has been here and is producing good recruiting classes every year then you are blind.

Sure we all want UK football to be what UK basketball is but that doesn't happen overnight especially in football. This program had less then nothing when Stoops took the job and is now heading in the right direction and if anybody wants the program to have any chance of having success in the future then they need to stop making threads like this because all it does is reflect negatively on the program. This isn't the 70's anymore where you talked to the people in your town this is the Information Age and guess what the kids we are recruiting know grew up with the Internet and all know how to use google and I guarantee more then one have found this site and this specific forum. Threads like this make it seem like if UK doesn't go undefeated and win the SEC championship and play in the CFP it is a failure of a season according to the fans and that isn't a place players want to go. If this program is ever going to be a success the fans need to realize seasons like this are what it takes to build a program.

If you are done with Stoops then do us all a favor and go cheer for Alabama because you make the fans who want to see the program succeed look bad. Bear Bryant isn't walking through that door.

Not sure we want recruits that read this site.

 

[Cornbread Mafia_rivals310119]

Strange. You joined in 2009 and posted only 3 times. That does bring your judgement into question.

How exactly does my join date and post count have anything to do with my judgement? I don't post on any message board often does that somehow cause me to be ignorant? The OP of this thread has 20k+ post and he seems to be an idiot so number of forum post obviously have no impact on someones judgement. I'd imagine Nick Saban doesn't have many forum post under his belt so obviously he is clueless about the game of football (no I'm in no way comparing myself to Saban just pointing out how ridiculous using number of forum posts as a metric to judge ones judgement is)

If my judgement is so bad what exactly in my post is wrong? Is UK football not historically barely a .500 program? Do programs go from 2-10 seasons to 10-2 seasons in one year? Do the players we recruit not know how google works? Has no player ever read a comment on a U.K. message board?

 

[bballcat4]

Why will you be satisfied with only 6 wins next year?

We return 90% of our team and will have multiple QB's competing.

We need not lose to Southern Miss next season.

We will beat EKU and Eastern Michigan.

We should beat USCjr, Vandy, and Missouri.

That is 6.

We have proven we can beat MSU. #7

Next year we need to win one big game - UGA, UT, UL, Ole Miss.. #8


7 wins minimum next year with 8 being a great step in the right direction.

I see where 7 wins are possible. My reason for 6 wins = good year in '17 is my belief that 1 net win every 2 years is the logical trajectory for UK to build a winning/competitive program in the SEC. ONCE we get to 7- 8 wins then anything is possible. (SC & Mo teams in SEC Championship)

Granted, trajectories are rarely straight up or down w/o their bumps. Another SEC school having a terrible year could add an additional win here and there. But, you're right in that Ga, Miss St and SC will probably improve very quickly. Vandy and Mo will probably struggle.

The schedule lines up for possibly 7 wins. I just think slow progress is the more probable direction. UL's surprise jump is another reason for slower progress. UK needs to win every non conference game for 7-8 wins. Outside of Barker, we've been relatively injury free.

 

[brianpoe]

Funny how you have requirements. You must be more connected than I thought.

Really?

Dont play the grumpy old fart with me BBB.

If you dont think each fan can have their own personal expectation of their favorite team then what does that say about you?


I have made many terrible posts for you to complain about but this is really dumb....

 

[brianpoe]

I see where 7 wins are possible. My reason for 6 wins = good year in '17 is my belief that 1 net win every 2 years is the logical trajectory for UK to build a winning/competitive program in the SEC. ONCE we get to 7- 8 wins then anything is possible. (SC & Mo teams in SEC Championship)

Granted, trajectories are rarely straight up or down w/o their bumps. Another SEC school having a terrible year could add an additional win here and there. But, you're right in that Ga, Miss St and SC will probably improve very quickly. Vandy and Mo will probably struggle.

The schedule lines up for possibly 7 wins. I just think slow progress is the more probable direction. UL's surprise jump is another reason for slower progress. UK needs to win every non conference game for 7-8 wins. Outside of Barker, we've been relatively injury free.

You hit the nail on the head, we will never reach the solid foundation taking this 2 year approach.

UGA, MSU, USCjr fans will not allow their programs to take a long time to recover.

 

[bballcat4]

How exactly does my join date and post count have anything to do with my judgement? I don't post on any message board often does that somehow cause me to be ignorant? The OP of this thread has 20k+ post and he seems to be an idiot so number of forum post obviously have no impact on their judgement. I'd imagine Nick Saban doesn't have many forum post under his belt so obviously he is clueless about the game of football (no I'm in no way comparing myself to Saban just pointing out how ridiculous using number of forum posts as a metric to judge ones judgement is)

If my judgement is so bad what exactly in my post is wrong? Is UK football not historically barely a .500 program? Do programs go from 2-10 seasons to 10-2 seasons in one year? Do the players we recruit not know how google works? Has no player ever read a comment on a U.K. message board?

I'd rather read from people with fewer posts that make sense than from someone with thousands of posts that doesn't use any logic or display any history of FB knowledge. (This is true whether I agree or disagree with a poster.)

You have more "likes" than "posts." May be time to shut it down ;-) Don't let the emotional crowd discourage you from posting. There are a few solid posters that demonstrate logic with their posts ;-)

 

[LadyCaytIL]

all it takes to make me happy in football is 6 wins. At least for now. if we can keep going to bowl games over the course of 5 or more years then I'll want a little more.

We have a lot of things off the field to improve on. Whether we like it or not... we've got to find ways to game the system to compete with the big boys on a regular basis. And as long as we have Mitch... its not gonna happen . For not bending the rules...or not flat out breaking them like other schools in the SEC........ I'm amazed we won this many SEC games.

 

[bballcat4]

You hit the nail on the head, we will never reach the solid foundation taking this 2 year approach.

UGA, MSU, USCjr fans will not allow their programs to take a long time to recover.

I think we can. (I may be wrong.). Use this year as an example. Win game #1 and we're looking at 7 wins. To get to 7 wins on regular basis we have to pass up an SEC team that historically is better than us. Im guessing that is SC or Miss St. (We beat both this year, but they're historically better than us.) 8 wins on regular basis requires a 2nd SEC school to be passed up that's historically better than us. That's the reason I think 1 net win every 2 years is more probable. Passing up schools in SEC is different than other leagues.

 

[brianpoe]

I think we can. (I may be wrong.). Use this year as an example. Win game #1 and we're looking at 7 wins. To get to 7 wins on regular basis we have to pass up an SEC team that historically is better than us. Im guessing that is SC or Miss St. (We beat both this year, but they're historically better than us.) 8 wins on regular basis requires a 2nd SEC school to be passed up that's historically better than us. That's the reason I think 1 net win every 2 years is more probable. Passing up schools in SEC is different than other leagues.

IMO, you are stating exactly why the 1 net every 2 years is not good enough.

This is the SEC. These teams will recover faster. The longer we stagnate the more our recruiting will be diminished.

I think an 8 win season should be considered a good year, with an occasional 9 win being a fantastic year.

I think UK's ceiling is 7 wins on a regular basis and I think we need to get there next season with the personnel we have coming back.

 

[bballcat4]

IMO, you are stating exactly why the 1 net every 2 years is not good enough.

This is the SEC. These teams will recover faster. The longer we stagnate the more our recruiting will be diminished.

I think an 8 win season should be considered a good year, with an occasional 9 win being a fantastic year.

I think UK's ceiling is 7 wins on a regular basis and I think we need to get there next season with the personnel we have coming back.

You're 1 game and 2-3 years ahead of my expectations.

Hope I'm wrong and you're right ;-) One key recruit (QB) on offense and a stud (DL) on defense can speed up the process. Who saw Snell coming? We desperately need to find one on DL.

 

[Lionel_Hutz]

Can't remember a better UK team.

Were you in a coma from 2006-2009?

 

[Lionel_Hutz]

Stoops has been at UK for 45 games. 45 games, almost 4 seasons in, and how many "signature" wins does he have? 1?

That's simply not good enough.

 

[Lionel_Hutz]

Stoops will here as long as he wants

True...because Barnhart gave him an absurd contract extension.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Bottom line for me is we've won all the games we said before the year we needed to win (minus Southern Miss.) 90% of knowledgeable FB people said we had to win the first game to have legit shot at a bowl. We lost the first game which put the season in a tailspin. Barring a total disaster of epic proportions against APU, we're going to a bowl. That turnaround took some coaching chops.

When I hear people complain about our wins I keep wanting to ask "what did you want U.K. to do?" 4 SEC wins in a row was a monumental step forward for this program. Winning games we're supposed to win (even when Vegas says otherwise) is a step in the right direction. One win against Ga, UT or UL would be the cherry on top.

Give me another 6 win season next year and I'll consider that the new low bar of expectations. 7 wins in 2018. Building a sustainable winning program in the SEC will be slow and hard, but doable.

Look once we got the ball at the 9yd line first and goal I thought the staff did a bad job with play calling, but it should never have gotten to that...players did not make several winning plays that would have secured the game I think

 

[sluggercatfan]

Had a legit shot at the East until literally the last play of the game, with a QB who can't throw, and you don't see progress? We haven't been to a bowl in ten freaking years. Enough already.

Still have a shot just a long one, but still have one.

 

[Randy Bob]

Life goes on after a loss..We have been beating some bad teams, this Ga. team has alot of 4 stars out of high school, Ky is still Ky, like most yrs all we can do with hope this team keep improving we have been close the last 4 yrs, but this yr we should beat AP and go to a bowl..

 

[Kampus Korner_rivals164031]

bowl or not, he has gotta go. Enough is enough.

"The Stoops Era" isn't much different than any other "Era" since Blanton Collier got fired in 1962 (the last UK coach to achieve a winning record during their tenure as UK coach).

 

[Myron Gaines]

In OP's defense of posts to likes ratio, didn't the old post count (before likes were a thing) carry over when they made the forum switch?

 

[Randy Bob]

We had better improve next yr, you can bet that SC, UM, Vandy and MS will all be better next yr and of course getting beat by the ville every yr..

 

[RackOps]

If my judgement is so bad what exactly in my post is wrong? Is UK football not historically barely a .500 program? Do programs go from 2-10 seasons to 10-2 seasons in one year?

Actually, we are a below .500 team historically, we crossed that milestone during the Joker era.

 

[Mike-D]

I just don't see why folks feel good after a loss. I never have felt that way in my life. UK lost. Nothing good about it IMO. WR's should be apologizing to the whole team IMO.
Stoops should have tried the FG after the holding penalty. Gran had a bad night as well. UK was in a chance to do something it may never do again and they failed. No way to spin it IMO.

There's not. Our receivers laid an egg. We had a legitimate chance to win the SEC East, and you've got people that want to spin it and deflect.

 

[JC CATS]

I'll say one thing... some UK fans are loyal to a fault. How people continue to think this season has been a monumental upgrade is beyond me. We have beaten TERRIBLE teams that have been a lot better in the past. Those teams WILL right the ship and we'll still be bad. If we can't beat GA at home this year we'll never beat them.

I have heard it all. You would have posted this if yesterday was the Cats first loss. MSU vs A&M

 

[BBBLazing]

Really?

Dont play the grumpy old fart with me BBB.

If you dont think each fan can have their own personal expectation of their favorite team then what does that say about you?


I have made many terrible posts for you to complain about but this is really dumb....

Take a little ball breaking for Christ's sake.

 

[BoNicholas]

6-6 gets him another year every time, but that's all it should get him IMO. Until he starts beating quality teams, he shouldn't get more than a year at a time. At some point he has to beat someone or are we up or they down?

 

[allabouttheUK]

Why will you be satisfied with only 6 wins next year?

We return 90% of our team and will have multiple QB's competing.

We need not lose to Southern Miss next season.

We will beat EKU and Eastern Michigan.

We should beat USCjr, Vandy, and Missouri.

That is 6.

We have proven we can beat MSU. #7

Next year we need to win one big game - UGA, UT, UL, Ole Miss.. #8


7 wins minimum next year with 8 being a great step in the right direction.

I could be wrong, but I think what he is saying is that 6 wins next year would be the minimum, and I would agree with that. There are so many question marks about teams on our schedule next year, and the schedule isn't as favorable. Also keep in mind what our roster for the year looked like at this time the prior year...things happen.

GIVEN wins - SMU, EKU, EMU, Missouri (Missouri is hurting and will continue to hurt)
Should win - Vandy, Ole Miss (Vandy looses some defense and still has no offense, Bye Chad Kelly)
Could win - Miss St, UF, UT, USC, UGA (Fitzgerald is worrisome, Bentley has changed USC, UT will look different, UF looses some major pieces)
Pray UofL (freakin Lamar Jackson)

I see 6 to probably 9 wins. Just because we beat someone or lost to someone this year doesn't mean the same is a given for next. Each season is different and a LOT of things can happen between now and then.

 

[ukgrad83]

Had a legit shot at the East until literally the last play of the game, with a QB who can't throw, and you don't see progress? We haven't been to a bowl in ten freaking years. Enough already.

Went to a bowl in 2010.

 

[ukdoc11]

I'm not saying Stoops is worse than a HS coach at all. All I'm saying is that we beat bad teams that have a history of being better. I'm not bashing UK, I'm just telling the truth and sometimes the truth hurts. Our improvement is inflated but if you feel like this has been a good season then I say you have every right to feel good about it.

So, every team is going to improve with the exception of UK because we always suck?

You do realize most of, if not all the teams we've played are lining up with veteran players. We are a very young team, which means we have a higher ceiling
than most, AND we are either beating them or playing with them.

At the beginning of the season most everyone predicted 6-6 maybe a few 7-5 and now that we're there, it's, oh the east is down, they suck, etc,.

I get the whole wins don't count and loses count as two crowd, I just don't understand them.

Rather live positive than walk around miserable.

 

[DACats86]

bowl or not, he has gotta go. Enough is enough.

So, we reset (again), and get who? Saban? Meyer? Chip Kelly? Who's your guy?

 

[DACats86]

As an aside, I am more convinced than ever that if Stoops can't get it done here, no one else can/will.

 

[megablue]

I am not a Stoops fan, but we will win 6 games and go to a bowl, which is improvement. With only 11 Seniors graduating, it will not be unreasonable to expect a little more next year. 2018 and beyond will be the true test of whether the upward momentum will be sustained. For now, enjoy the team's improvement and hope for a nice bowl win.

I do think they need to re-visit their recruiting strategy. Hopefully, Gran and Hinshaw will have input into what I hope is a shift in geographic emphasis. I want them to continue to recruit Ohio thoroughly, but without carpet-bombing it with scholarship offers.

 

[reflaine]

To the poster about a bowl in ten freaking years. He must been off the grid for 06.07.08,09,2010.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Had a legit shot at the East until literally the last play of the game, with a QB who can't throw, and you don't see progress? We haven't been to a bowl in ten freaking years. Enough already.

You need to go back and rewatch the game...If not for drops and fumbles by the WR group then SJ was over 70% for 200+ yds and SJ is 6-1 as a starter!

 

[Hjack]

We were better than MSU that game.

UGA would have gone down by 2 TD's tonight if we were only a little less one dimensional.

(I'm not going to use the turnovers as an excuse, as UGA had plenty of goofs.)

We are definitley looking much better.

I agree MSU, UGA, and USCjr will get better. But as of today they are not.

Can we continue to improve and does CMS and staff have a ceiling?


I thought the effort and toughness was there tonight, no major coaching screw ups and we were not out-manned horribly in the trenches.

Never played football, so can't comment about the intricacies. I have, however, been a fan for 60+ years, and decidedly, this team shows a definite amount of improvement. Our O line and our D have shown dramatic positive change. We lost because of a couple of badly timed fumbles.

We probably should seriously consider giving credit to the team and the coaching staff for a well-played game rather than continuing to pick apart every play.