TheCatsDomain.Com Message Boards: Stoops and Co. have a long way to go

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Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 11-09-2014, 08:36 AM:

You can't argue with that after watching our last few games. The good thing is if we can win one of the last two games we will be going to a bowl.

When Kentucky began the season 5-1 and the fans and experts were patting Mark Stoops on the back, and the administration was lining up a second contract extension in less than two years, consensus held this was a much-improved football team.

Four games later, all losses, including the most recent, Saturday's 63-31 drubbing by visiting Georgia, we must ask if we were operating under a false assumption.

Is this really an improved football team? Is Stoops really making progress, or have the advancements been overvalued by a fan base and an administration that want so badly for Kentucky to finally succeed at football?

After all, Saturday's final game at the "old" Commonwealth Stadium was bereft of any sort of improvement.

"Very embarrassing effort by our team, our coaching staff, starting with myself," is the way Stoops began his post-game news conference.

If you count a kickoff return it touched before fumbling away, Georgia possessed the football 12 times. One possession it took a knee at the end of the first half. Its final possession was stopped by the final horn. The remaining nine times, Georgia scored touchdowns.

No punts. No offensive turnovers. Not even a field goal. The Bulldogs were a perfect eight-for-eight on third-down conversions, prompting a media member to ask Stoops, a former defensive coordinator, if he had ever been part of a game in which his defense failed to get a single stop?

"I can't recall playing defense like that, no," said the head coach.

To be fair, the Cats fell victim to a perfect storm. Georgia was seething from one of the most dispiriting defeats of the Mark Richt era, an unexpected 38-20 loss to a Florida program thought to be a day or two away from firing its head coach. Kentucky just happened to be next.

Still, the 63 points were not just the most allowed in Stoops' two seasons, but the most the Bulldogs had scored in an SEC game since 1942.

Link

[ 11-09-2014, 11:07 AM: Message edited by: catmandoo ]

Posted by WildcatFanatic (Member # 2932) on 11-09-2014, 09:45 AM:

A terrible showing by our Cats. Too many silly mistakes for a team this far into their season. Hopefully they can show they have some pride, work to make something good happen as a team in the last two games.

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 11-10-2014, 06:28 AM:

What really hurts is wehn youknow bringing in a top 25 recruiting class is fantastic, only to find that it ranks 8th or 9th in the SEC!
Hard to get over that hump that way!

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 11-10-2014, 08:28 AM:

It takes time, especially in the SEC to get talented recruiting class to play right away. The SEC is so deep with talented players that our top 25 recruiting class won't show results for another year or more.

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 11-10-2014, 08:26 PM:

This has still ben a better year than the last two combined

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 11-13-2014, 08:56 PM:

The tough thing is even when we are a top 25 recruiting class we still don't get the talent that most every other SEC team gets.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 11-13-2014, 09:02 PM:

Here is a list of the top 30 recruiting classes in the country. We have the 29th best class in the country which is darn good. The bad thing however is that we have only the 8th best recruiting class in the SEC.

Link

Posted by Green-Bean (Member # 13551) on 11-13-2014, 11:44 PM:

THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING ALL THE TIME ABOUT RECRUITING IN SEC, WE CAN BE THE TENTH BEST BUT THE OTHER 9 WILL BE SEC TEAMS, GO LOOK AT MY POST. JUST REALLY HARD FOR A TEAM LIKE US, KY THAT IS TO GET 6 WINS IN THE SEC.

Posted by catmandoo (Member # 1284) on 11-15-2014, 03:02 PM:

G-B it happens every year.

Posted by m hamilton (Member # 127) on 11-15-2014, 03:09 PM:

All one has to do is look at the records of the teams in the SEC. So many with winning records. The talent is amazing. The speed is like no other conference. Today is a must win though!