More UK thoughts,… from yours truly

1st: Randy Sanders will be calling the plays, NOT Joker. Can’t be overstated. This will make a huge difference.

2nd: The more I think about it, the more I find myself overlooking the UK UL game. My mind has it penciled in as a win. Most of the fans I talk to are also just as dismissive. Well, let me show some respect and offer the thought that, if UK isn’t ready to play against UL, they have a chance of starting 0-3. So, with that thought in mind, let me focus my energy (and somehow transfer that to the team) on UL, and concentrate on whipping our in state rival to start the season. Let’s don’t give Kragthorpe his signature win to prove he belongs. Let’s hit em mouth from the jump, and practice winning against them. GO CATS!!!

3rd: I have stated many times that UK HAS to beat Alabama to get off to the 2-1 start. But,… there’s that part of my mind that says…. Florida may be ripe for the picking. I know it’s crazy. I know it’s hypocrisy. I know the media tells us that, on paper, no way UK can beat…. not Florida, but Tim Tebow. I just get that feeling. Maybe it’s the optimist. Maybe it’s the critic. This Florida team should be good. But, let’s not kid ourselves, or let the what-can-you-sell-for-me-now media kid us either. Florida is beatable. And, I can’t think of a more hostile, hungry crowd, PARTICULARLY after beating an LSU that won the title with a two loss season, than these fans at commonwealth. I think it will be emotional. I think this team will play harder than any team we’ve seen in over twenty years.

So, the ole Katmen is gonna lay it out now. If UK comes into that game 2-0, they will beat Florida. Commonwealth will be so loud and packed with fans that I think the energy will be palpable. There it is. I throw out the caveat of the 2-0 and because football is a game of momentum, and energy. An upset loss to Loserville, or a letdown against Alabama will make room for doubt, and deflate fans. BUT… come in 2-0, and UK will headline the early season by beat Florida.

4th: Folks, I love the SEC. Love it. Admire it. Respect it. But this is the facts. The best conference in college football, THIS year, is the big twelve. AND, the top two teams in the big twelve (OKLAHOMA and Texas) are better than the top two in the SEc. Fact. My early money says, barring critical injury, One of those two teams Will win the national title.

5th: I think the media needs to quit storking its… feathers to Nick Saban and get a reality check. Alabama at #5? Tell you what, if Alabama is in the top ten at the end of the year, I’ll get on this board and call myself stupid. They will be solid, maybe touch good. But, they are an 8 win team at best.

Alabama has got a tougher road than many think, and let me put a little bug in some people’s ears. Like it or not, Bobby Petrino can coach. He’s dirty. he stinks. But, he gets talent on the roster and gets it to perform on the field about as good as some of the best that are in the game. My early predictions are Alabama losing to Va Tech and Arkansas.

Football numbers Up…Offers Fly Out…

When it comes to the numbers, this year’s group of 3 & 4 star designated recruits UK has signed to LOI’s far exceeds any in recent years. It is obvious to me that our 3 consecutive bowl trips have led to some improved numbers in the recruiting arena, on paper. We can always count on Rich Brooks, Joker and Co. to deliver that little known recruit that turns out to be a star and I expect this year will be no exception…

Comparing UK’s recruiting this year, verses year’s past, reveals the discrepancy in the numbers this year, and that is The Good News. Consider that we only had 1-4 star player last year, Aaron Boyd, and 8-3 star players…This year, even with Morgan Newton not getting that 4th star, we have 3-4 star players and 16-3 star players….That is double the 3 star players and 3 times the 4-star….Definately our finest recruiting in decades!

It is hard to tell how good some of these 3-star players will be, especially Morgan Newton. In 2006, considered by many to be a great year – including the recruitment of Micah Johnson as a 4-Star, along with Corey Peters – We had 9-3 star recruits, so again, not in recent memory have we had a class such as this!

Now it appears that Brooks and Joker are keeping the proverbial pedal to the metal, and offering kids early once again…Miles Simpson, he of 6’2” grace and speed, of 6A Power Simon Kenton High, is on everyone’s wish list…Only a junior, he will have America in his back door before he is done. Maybe we need to get Micah to start recruiting him early, along with Chris Collinsworth’s son from the Northern Area of the Commonwealth. We let Shawn Alexander get away from there, and Miles is in that M-O-L-D…

UK is beginning to attract kids nationally with the program, and its unique position in the SEC as the northern-most school don’t hurt when recruiting in Indiana and Ohio where we are South of them, yet still in the SEC! Morgan Newton’s father mentioned location as being a “big factor” in his son’s attending UK as well as the chance to play QB in the SEC!

Indeed, the very thing we complain about – how tough the SEC IS – is our greatest benefactor in many cases…Kids see that the SEC is the toughest conference around, producing multiple consecutive champions, and they have a shot to be on national TV and play early.

Rich Brooks & Joker grabbed Two – Four star players from the juco ranks the last week of recruiting… These kids usually go elsewhere to play…Not any more…!

Ball St?

My daughter returned home for her first college Thanksgiving break. It just so happens that her school played on national TV last night. So of course, I watched and cheered. I have become a sudo Cardinal fan which is something that has always seemed much less likely then needing a heater in hell. Luckily, these Cardinals are of the Ball St. kind. I really do not have a choice in the matter. You see, not only is my daughter a current student; my wife is an alum. So I gladly take to the Cardinals for their sake and have cheered them on many times this season. Now comes the tricky part… Ball State is now 12-0 and is ranked 15 in the BCS standings.

Why is this tricky, you ask? Well, I remember leaving Commonwealth, wife in tow, on a crisp night just after UK had dispatched Western KY. We had already watched a few Ball St games, and the wife had already started to ask the question, “Wonder what would happen if UK played Ball State?” This question came up again as we were finding our way to the car. I had to politely tell her that UK would probably beat Ball St in a similar fashion to Western as UK played in the SEC while Ball St played in the MAC. “What does that matter?” I was asked. I told her the elite leagues were considered elite for a reason, and even though UK wasn’t a top tier team, there was still a considerable difference between them and your standard MAC team.

I was quite proud of my answers. Then last night happened. 12-0 Cardinals, with a few mild wins. The wife wanted to bring on any and all comers. She stopped asking and started stating that she would love a piece of UK. I must say, I am not used to cockiness from my life companion, and I secretly found it quite sexy, which kind of disturbed me.

So this begs the question: There are several non BCS undefeated teams out there. Utah, Boise St, Ball St come to mind. How do those teams really stack up this year? How would UK fare? What would it prove if Boise St ended up in a bowl with Ball St?

I’m scratching my head….