I hadn't really looked at list of all the bowl games, but just scrolling through the channel guide and seeing the match ups it is a lot of "not watch" tv. You pretty much only have to win three games a year against a decent opponent and you make it to a bowl. Go 3-6 against the real competition and you are in. Stoops gets this thing a couple of more years in and if we can't get consistently in the eight to nine win seasons in today's college football then I don't know if it can be done here.
You have to be pretty bad not to make a bowl
- Thread starter NoDef
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Let's state the obvious and leave it at that:
1. Kentucky is not very good. All part of rebuilding. It is what it is.
2. If Kentucky played in the Sun Belt, the MWC, so on and so forth, then Kentucky would play in those can't watch TV bowl games too. That's why they're there. To get the bowl eligible teams outside of the P5 conferences.
The program has to get to where 6-6 or sometimes even 7-5 is a disappointment. To also be fair to the Sun Belt, MWC, conference teams, some of them also have to be recruiting at a lower level than the other Sun Belt and MWC teams in the conference and still making bowl games, Yes, we probably could win in the Sun Belt with what should be our SEC talent, but Sun Belt teams are playing with Sun Belt talent. Getting to 6 wins with 12 games and at least three cupcakes has really made from some really bad bowls.
Still, you're saying all these garbage teams are making bowl games, and they are, because they're winning games in relatively garbage conferences. Stick Kentucky in those conferences, and you'll get your bowl game. But, Kentucky is in the SEC. Gonna be harder than that. Kentucky is better than most of those teams, and you decided to compare Kentucky to (or against) those teams. Fact is, those garbage teams don't play in the SEC. Kentucky does. Gonna be harder for UK to get 6 wins than it is for Arkansas State to get 6 wins.
If UK was in a garbage conference our recruiting would dip accordingly. I'm not as convinced we'd be bowling year in and year out .
And, let's not forget the massive TV money all those lesser bowls and the main attraction of the college playoff make.
There are many P5 teams that play in the small (early) bowl games, so to say they're filled w/small conference teams..... "garbage" as you say......is an overreach. As far as UK competing well in any FBS conference, I'm not so sure given our performance against EKU, ULL, Vandy, and UofL.
Some UK fans have "sec affiliation disorder".....in other words, some theorize that because we get our a$$es whipped regularly by SEC teams, our proficiency level in FB is only slightly below those same SEC teams.....and by extension we are supposedly better than most teams in other conferences. Nothing could be further from the truth. We're the worst team in a good conference, one of the worst FBS teams in the country, and we're not on an upward trajectory.
We're in freefall IMO....We just lost two quarterbacks to transfer and will be on our 3rd OC in three years.
We.....are.....a......very.....bad.....FB......team. Half of the 24 playoff teams in the FCS would have beaten UK at the end of this season (EKU gave us all we wanted and didn't make the FCS playoffs). Some FCS teams (NDSU, Jacksonville St for example) would dominate us with only 63 scholarship players. Small conference FBS? I think we're a .500 team (maybe) in conference in the Sunbelt and CUSA this year....probably sub-.500 in AAC. Given that the SB, CUSA, AAC teams play a couple of P5 squads in addition to their "garbage" conference slates.....that means we likely finish below .500 overall if we played in those conferences this year. I think Houston, Navy, Memphis, WKU, SO Miss, Ark St, Ga Southern, App St would have handled us in the last half of this season--some would have blown us out. Finally, as stated by another poster....if we were to down-check our conference membership to sunbelt, cusa, AAC, etc....our "sec recruiting" draw would disappear, and we would likely draw much less talented players than we do now. Translation, until we get our act together with the basics of FB program management & HC fundamentals and pull ourselves out of the abyss, it doesn't matter that much who or where we play.
Or, you play a tough schedule and others play a weak schedule. Look at Nebraska right now. They are 5-7 and technically shouldn't be in a bowl, but are taking it to UCLA right now. You don't think they are better than Toledo, Western Michigan, MTSU, and the likes of those teams? Matter of fact, like stated above, if you swap the schedules of of UK and some of those playing in a bowl, the UK would be playing and not them.
That is why I don't like the 6 win mark as the measuring stick. Strength of schedule should have something to do with, along with the eye test.
That is why I don't like the 6 win mark as the measuring stick. Strength of schedule should have something to do with, along with the eye test.
We have to move beyond this SOS excuse to ever become a winner. EKU took us to overtime. Vandy beat us. A middle of the pack ACC team gave us a good whipping at home. Was non-competitive against UT, Miss ST. , Georgia. Our SOS is going to better than Sun Belt teams every year. Getting throttled by the good teams in your conference helps your SOS, but doesn't prove that you are any better than the teams in other conferences. We have the added advantage of being able to use the SEC label in recruiting so we should be able to win 6 in the Sun Belt.
The SEC East only had three teams with a winning record and we played the two worst teams in the SEC West. No way you could draw up an easier SEC schedule than what UK played this year. To go bowling all you have to win is two out of eight games against SEC opponents, beat 3 cupcakes and a middle of the pack ACC team at home. No excuse that MB and all of the previous AD's to let the program get to this point.
SAD - that's a great description of what ails far to many UK fans who know so little about college football that their only explanation after yet another disappointing season is "yeah, but we play in the SEC". But as the LB from Western once said, "they s'posed to be SEC".
The fact is the SEC usually will have a couple of more good teams than other conferences, but beyond that just like any other league filled out with mediocre to bad teams. And this year, the SEC was arguably as weak as an SEC division has ever been. Look no further than the team that won it - the team that clinched the spot in EARLY November - and you realize how bad it really was.
IMO, this is the most disappointing UK football season in a very long time.
But we here are so thankful for your great and wise counsel, that we may finally after fifty years a fan, can now understand football. Thank you oh great FB master.
It isn't an excuse, it is a fact. Those weak SEC teams would also look strong against the teams I mentioned. You can't tell me that record tells the entire story. It doesn't. If we played MAC teams every week I am positive that we would be in a bowl game with as good if not better records than the teams that made it. I really don't see how you can argue that strength of schedule means a lot.
There is not as much difference in those mid to lower level SEC teams than the top teams in the mid majors, there is just not. You bring up Western Michigan, Toledo etc... but the truth is Toledo beat Arkansas at Arkansas. Western Michigan played Michigan State within 2 touchdowns, do you really think we could have played with Michigan State this year?
We beat a very bad Missouri team, a horrible South Carolina team...the freaking Citadel beat them.
Just because we get blown out by some SEC teams doesn't mean we are better than the upper half of other conferences. We are on about the Middle Tennessee level as far as competition right now. We play them 10 times on a neutral field we win half. If we had Memphis or WKU schedule, we would still be struggling for 6 wins.
Dave
We beat a very bad Missouri team, a horrible South Carolina team...the freaking Citadel beat them.
Just because we get blown out by some SEC teams doesn't mean we are better than the upper half of other conferences. We are on about the Middle Tennessee level as far as competition right now. We play them 10 times on a neutral field we win half. If we had Memphis or WKU schedule, we would still be struggling for 6 wins.
Dave
SOS schedule is just what it is. Being non-competitive against the teams that make your SOS high make SOS a little misleading. We beat a 4-8 Sun Belt team by 7 at Commonwealth.
We beat a 3-9 (1-7 SEC) team USC . Beat a 5-7 (1-7 SEC) team SEC team Missouri. Charlotte was 2-10 and 0-8 in CUSA. EKU was the fourth place team in the OVC with a 6-5 record in a lower division and took us to overtime at Commonwealth. I would think that our recruiting rankings are better than 98% of the non-P5 Programs, so there is no excuse not to put a thumping on non-P5 schools using the argument about lack of talent that is always thrown out when we get throttled by the better SEC programs.
Beat vandy, mizzou, and scar every year and you are in with at least 6 wins.
You can't keep losing to vandy.
You can't keep losing to vandy.
What's a shame is I found myself fascinated watching the Duke/ IU game. Kids played their hearts out.....not necessarily pretty or even well...but hard and with all the effort they had.
If the kids wearing the UK uniform had done that they may be playing one of those games instead of looking for other schools.
I guess I'm nuts, but football is a whole lotta 'want-to'. There were whole games where I saw a whole lotta 'really don't want to be here.'
Players fault, coaches fault....equal shares.
Hard to understand.
If the kids wearing the UK uniform had done that they may be playing one of those games instead of looking for other schools.
I guess I'm nuts, but football is a whole lotta 'want-to'. There were whole games where I saw a whole lotta 'really don't want to be here.'
Players fault, coaches fault....equal shares.
Hard to understand.
I agree we would be in much better shape record wise if we played in the MAC or even the AAC and Big East from a few years ago. It's a battle in the SEC and getting dominated week in and week out doesn't help morale or depth. However, if you take a look at WKU, there isn't a snowball's chance in Southtown that they wouldn't beat us and probably beat us soundly. That's ridiculous entering year 4. thats why so many are ticked off.
I disagree that we couldn't beat them. But it would also depend on what part of the season we are talking about. Is it after we are already beaten up and down to players that are MAC level, or at the beginning when we have our best in? Now, in the next couple of years, the depth should be there with the way Stoops is recruiting.