Never to early to go out on a limb

With a little over two months left till the football season starts its time to talk about what sort of season the Cats will have this year.

Starting off the season with Miami of Ohio 2-10 last year should give the Cats an easy win although the hiring of Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Haywood as head coach should put a little spunk in the Redhawks offense. Haywood has worked as an assistant at Texas, LSU, Ball State, Ohio, Army and Minnesota and in 2005, he was named NCAA Division I-A assistant coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association. Kentucky 1-0.

Louisville 5-7 last year should be another win but this is a rivalry game. With Hunter Cantwell’s back up Matt Simms transferring Louisville has no experience at quarterback making it a little more difficult for Louisville to come away with win. Kentucky 2-0.

The third game of the season brings Florida 13-1 to Lexington. The best we can realistically hope for is that the Gators stomp Tennessee the week before and the Cats play the Gators much better than they did last year. A good game could be a launching board for a great season. Kentucky 2-1.

Alabama 12-2 last year is the next visitor to Lexington. Last year with one or two breaks the Cats could have beaten the Tide. Having them in Lexington and without an experienced quarterback they can be beaten. If Mike Hartline can connect with our receivers and couple of defensive stops go our way and this could be a big upset. Kentucky 2-2.

OK the Really Ole Ball Coach thinks he’s finally found his quarter back at South Carolina 7-6 last year. The Cats are due to win this game. Kentucky 3-2.

Auburn 5-7 last year had a problem the Cats use to have. According to Gene Chizik “Depth is an issue at this point, and I think that’s glaring”. Their offense also stinks so this is close but another winnable game. Kentucky 4-2.

We then get Louisiana Monroe 4-8 last year at home. The Warhawks beat Alabama in 2007 but wont beat the Cats in Lexington. This will be the game where a freshman quarterback gets a decent amount of playing time. Kentucky 5-2.

Mississippi State 4-8 last year doesn’t come to Lexington and win. Kentucky 6-2.

Eastern Kentucky 8-4 won the OVC last year but don’t look to match up with the Cats although they might play them better than people expect. Kentucky 7-2.

Vanderbilt 7-6 came into Lexington and beat the Cats. Mackenzi Adams is a good quarterback and running back Jared Hawkins should be much improved as a senior. This game is a toss up but I think injuries will be starting to plague the Cats by this time of the season. Kentucky 7-3.

Georgia 10-3 last year will be a tough game for the Cats. If they can go thru the season without as many injuries as last year they should beat the Cats. Kentucky 7-4.

The final game of the season is against Tennessee 5-7 last year. With Lane Kiffin bringing the Vols to Lexington the Cats welcome him to Kentucky. I’m gonna get out on my limb and say the Cats win with Morgan Newton running for a touchdown and tossing a touchdown to Cobb with little time left in the game. Kentucky 8-4.

Kentucky 27 Louisville 2

Kentucky’s defense stiffled Louisville’s offense scoring on a Ashton Cobb return of a Louisville fumble for 28 yards and 310 lb Myron Pryor’s return of another fumble 72 yards for a score as the Wildcats embarrassed Louisville 27-2 in the Governor’s Cup on Sunday.

The Cats defense held Louisville to 205 yards total offense with 153 yards of that on 20-43 passing by Hunter Cantwell. Mike Hartline was 16 of 31 for 147 yards and only one mistake in his first start. Neither team could get much of a rushing game going although Kentucky managed to score a td by Tony Dixon in the second half.

The brightest spot of the game was shared between the defense which was outstanding and Randall Cobb who showed that he has the potential to be a really great reciever for Kentucky. The dullest spot of the game was the offense which showed none of the spark Kentucky fans have become use to. Coach Brooks made it as simple as possible for Hartline which was good enough for Louisville and possibly in the next 3 games. Hopefully by using Cobb more as a reciever they will move the ball on a consistent basis in the future.

The biggest looser in the game was Kragthorp. Brooks and Kragthorpe are a whole lot alike when it comes to doing things the right way but Kragthorpe probably wont last long enough to straighten out Louisville. Keeping that in mind if we keep winning for a while we will be getting more Kentucky players to commit to UK.