Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
Well if you watched the games tonight, you know that the Cats are now in a 4 way tie for the SEC East lead and have been given their third or fourth life in attempting to win the Division title. But I cant have another day of talking about our basketball issues….for in the spirit of bipartisanship, we must talk about some football problems too….mainly, the poor formulation of a football schedule by the UK Athletics Department. Now I must preface this with a point that cannot be said enough….this staff has done an amazing job with the football program and has pushed it to a plateau that I think should be the UK goal……bowl game every year, contend for 8-9 wins in very good years. That is where UK football is right now and Mitch Barnhart as AD, along with Rich Brooks and his staff have made it happen. Not enough can be said for that.
Having said, great staffs can make great mistakes. And the 2009 UK football schedule makes a very good to great season almost impossible. Now some of this is beyond UK’s control. The SEC schedule makers were not kind to the Cats this year…..this is the season where they get the “beatable” teams on the road (mainly South Carolina. Georgia and Auburn) and the best teams at home (Florida, Alabama). That is a tough recipe because it means that the games against teams that you are in the ballpark of talent with are being played at their home field…..where the crowd can make the difference. In addition, the schedule makers have front-loaded the schedule….Games 3-6 have the two best teams in America potentially coming to Lexington, followed by road contests in Columbia and Auburn. Not exactly easy pickings. Winning one of those games would be good and two would be HUGE…..but losing four is a possibility.
What irks me about the scheduling however comes from what UK COULD control. Here is how the schedule looks:
09/05/09 vs Miami (OH), Cincinnati, OH
09/19/09 vs. Louisville Lexington, Ky. TBA
09/26/09 vs. Florida * Lexington, Ky. TBA
10/03/09 vs. Alabama * Lexington, Ky. TBA
10/10/09 at South Carolina * Columbia, S.C. TBA
10/17/09 at Auburn * Auburn, Ala. TBA
10/24/09 vs. Louisiana-Monroe Lexington, Ky. TBA
10/31/09 vs. Mississippi State * Lexington, Ky. TBA
11/07/09 vs. Eastern Kentucky Lexington, Ky. TBA
11/14/09 at Vanderbilt * Nashville, Tenn. TBA
11/21/09 at Georgia * Athens, Ga. TBA
11/28/09 vs. Tennessee * Lexington, Ky. TBA
The schedule as it now stands has the Cats playing in Cincinnati (not official, but is what everyone is assuming) followed by a week off, and then 11 straight games without a bye week. Because of the calendar this year, there are only 13 weeks for football instead of 12….and the Cats have wasted their bye week…..in WEEK 2! And why did this happen? Well it is hard to understand. The Cats scrambled to get the Louisiana-Monroe game, and the only date they had open was October 24. That left the potential open dates being November 7 or September 12….Eastern Kentucky (the 12th opponent) had an open date on both dates….and somehow the game got scheduled for November. Why not the second week of the year? If that had happened, the Cats could have started 3-0, had another game to prepare a young offense (and potentially young QB) and an off-week before the key Georgia and Vandy games that might decide UK’s fate. It makes no sense.
UK’s schedule making has been difficult ever since the Cats made two choices….(1) to move the Louisville home game to the third week of the season, making the first game one of UK’s open dates. Many teams have scheduled games this first week that vary very rarely….that makes it more difficult to find teams to partner up. (2) UK has continually waited until the VERY LAST MINUTE to schedule teams for their games….this is in part seen by the lack of an official announcement yet about the opening game this year. In so doing, all teams are booked up and the Cats are left with scraps and poor dates….causing the situation we have this year.
I think Kentucky will be much better than last season. Their defense will again be solid…the receivers have another year experience and some young talent is coming in. But the schedule will make it very difficult for them to win more than 7 games. If you assume the three easy wins (Miami, Eastern, La-Monroe) and you give the Cats the Mississippi State, Vandy and Louisville games (which is by NO MEANS assured), then the Cats still have to win one of Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, at Georgia, at Auburn and at South Carolina. The most likely of those games is a victory over a team that we havent beaten since 1984….and that we will be playing after a 10 GAME STRETCH WITHOUT A BREAK. Had the Cats had a different schedule, they would hit that game, and the Georgia/Vandy games with a mid-season refreshment. But for reasons that I cant understand they didnt….and thus the games that will decide whether this UK team is ready to take another step forward, just got much harder.
More all day as we build towards Seth Davis for Friday. Stay tuned…..
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February 18th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Welcome to big time college football. We shouldn’t be relying on the schedule being just right in order to win.
You guys have to do the Tennessee hate thing again on Saturday, right?
February 18th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I couldn’t read much off the article, that Blonde is amazing. We need cloning technology to really take off under the Obama administration
February 18th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Wow, that is brutal. Let’s hope we don’t have any big time injuries.
February 18th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
I would pop Couches Wife…..damn…
February 19th, 2009 at 12:00 am
this is off subject, but I just listened to coach gillispie’s call in show online and a fan asked the coach that since he was an ambassador for the university, would he please be a little nicer to the sideline reporters that interview him at halftime. gillispie responded by saying that one of his jobs is to defend his players, and if someone (edwards) asks a question that may insult players on his team, then he will defend his players everytime. if that comes off as rude or demeaning, then so be it. interesting
February 19th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Does it matter than Miami OH already has Sept 5 and Sept 12 dates filled on their calendar?
February 19th, 2009 at 12:13 am
So what!! If the CATS want to prove themselves then they will definitely have the opportunity to do that this upcoming season. Whine all you want about the schedule but no one said that making a name for yourself in the SEC was easy. Heres to embracing the challenge.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:24 am
I completely support the football program, but am pissed about the competition level in out of conference games. Respect is earned and we’re not going to get it playing suck ass teams like Louisiana-Monroe, EKU, and Miami(OH). Yes, Miami was good a few years ago, but that was then, this is now. Somebody needs to grow a set and schedule tougher opponents!
February 19th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Forgot to mention UL will suck ass this year too, but at least they are in a BCS conference.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:31 am
#8, no need to add more losses to a tough conference schedule. your logic only holds for top tier programs in BCS conferences and we are not that.
NOBOBY laughs at schools like UK for scheduling crap teams. they save that for title contenders.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:31 am
Thanks Matt for taking the attention off bball for a moment.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:32 am
8, are you serious? florida,alabama,tennessee,georgia does not define a tough schedule? cats play one of the toughest schedules game every year. usc,texas,ohio state do not play the type of schedule that the cats play every year. plus they play louisville every year. a tougher schedule? you must be kidding
February 19th, 2009 at 12:37 am
Just saying there are better opponents available…we could schedule Notre Dame, Michigan, Arizona State, etc. The next two years will be the best time to schedule these teams. Yes, I like winning too, but think beating school for the blind doesn’t help matters.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:39 am
12) Are you illiterate? I said out of conference. It wouldn’t be that difficult to up the level of competition and still win.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:44 am
14, name me one team that does not schedule a couple of easy games. If UK didn’t, there probably would not be any bowl games lined up for the cats. lets be realistic here, SEC is the best conference in the country, what good would it do to schedule a big name non conference school? for the cats, it makes no sense to do that.
February 19th, 2009 at 12:51 am
15) Not saying everyone doesn’t do it, but most don’t schedule 3 cupcakes. A big name isn’t necessarily what’s needed, just at least one more team from a BCS conference. There are tons available. Why not pick Duke or another ACC school? I agree the SEC is the best conference and am not looking to take on USC, Oklahoma, or Texas, but a step up might help at season’s end. Instead of saying we beat the hell out of 0-13 LMU, it sure would be nice to say we also beat a 7-5 Duke team. Wouldn’t you agree?
February 19th, 2009 at 12:55 am
I meant to say before bowl bids are announced or considered, it would be nice to have a win against another (bowl bound) BCS school out of conference, i.e. Duke or (insert other school here).
February 19th, 2009 at 1:10 am
17, maybe a lower tiered bcs conference team. Duke, Northwestern, Baylor are a few teams that come to mind, problem is teams like that are not going to schedule a SEC team,even Kentucky, as a nonconference opponent when they are going to be facing the top teams from their own conference. Now, I can see a Ohio State, or USC, or Oklahoma wanting to schedule us as that would be a guaranteed win for them and help them look good with the BCS computers, getting a win with a SEC school. I think that until UK really becomes a SEC contender, then you will get the same type of schedule year in,year out.
February 19th, 2009 at 1:15 am
Correct - a lower tiered bcs conference team. You are probably correct in them not wanting to schedule UK, but it would be worth the attempt.
February 19th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Maybe schedule Utah or Boise State or another top non BCS school could be the way to go. Plenty of good football programs out there that are not in BCS conferences. Schedule a Houston or a Memphis or maybe East Carolina. Beating a tough non bcs school can carry the same weight or better than playing a lower tiered BCS conference school.
February 19th, 2009 at 3:31 am
19, making our schedule anymore difficult would be insane at this time. UK needs all the cupcakes they can get just to be bowl eligilbe. They barely got to six wins this year. What if they had faced one of these better teams and lost? No bowl for UK last year! Getting to a bowl is the most important thing that the Cats need to do to keep moving in the right direction. That is what improves recuiting and ultimatly will improve our program. At the end of the day recruites don’t care about the number of cupcakes that UK consumes. They only care about bowl games and the fact we play in the SEC and already have one of the most difficult schedules in the nation year in and year out.
February 19th, 2009 at 4:29 am
Read somewhere that the coaches weren’t responsible for the screwup, forgot who it was but they waited too long to get us a bye during the season. Guess we will have to treat the Louisiana Monroe game as a bye. Wait a minute, we have done that before.
February 19th, 2009 at 7:29 am
#11, amen, please lets talk some football because UK basketball makes me blue; and that’s not blue in a good way. this 4 way race in the sec east is ridiculous. does anyone want to step up and win the east?? who would have thunk it?? LSU is going to win the overall championship with a first year coach?? Go figure. Maybe BCG could use some tips from LSU’s coach because they aren’t loaded with talent either.
February 19th, 2009 at 7:56 am
Matt……..”Because of the calendar this year, there are only 13 weeks for football instead of 12….and the Cats have wasted their bye week…..in WEEK 2!” How does this sentence make sense?
February 19th, 2009 at 7:58 am
I’ve seen Couch’s wife Naked.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:18 am
November 7th is a bye week. I know that sounds arrogant, but come on…We hopefully won’t have to play the starters past the 1st quarter; and then we can let Hartline have clean up duty. It’s a glorified scrimmage and one that won’t hurt us prior to our game with Vandy. What about injuries? Just as likely to get injured in practice as you would in a game against EKU. If we didn’t have EKU in that slot in lieu of an SEC foe, then I might be fairly concerned, but that game should prove to be a nice way to prepare for the last three games. I actually like this schedule, call me crazy… There’s a very real chance we take a 3-4 game winning streak into the Vandy game. I like that kind of momentum at the end of year, the same momentum we have NOT had the last 2 years. GO CATS! Looking forward to Saturdays at Commonwealth!
February 19th, 2009 at 8:26 am
Is there any chance this could change?I was excited about the season before i started hearing this.And what happened to the second bye week everybody just get one now?
February 19th, 2009 at 8:51 am
26 I hear you. I think the schedule is going to work out fine. Two easier games in 3 weeks in the middle of the season
February 19th, 2009 at 9:05 am
[...] At Kentucky Sports Radio, Matt Jones discusses the “ill-conceived” UK football schedule. [...]
February 19th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Everyone beware: the Grammer police are out in full force.
24) Don’t be an ahole, we all know he meant 14 weeks. This is a UK sports blog, not the Harvard Law Review. Can we just come on here, get a few quick comments posted without worring about being corrected by some nerd who had to wrestle or keep stats becasue they were cut from the basketball team.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I wonder if Tim Couch has “the” best couch in the world. I know I would if I was him.
Maybe that’s how he got the hot chick, he lured her with his memory foam corinthian leather luxury leg rester.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:09 am
24) Sorry, should have ended that in ?
February 19th, 2009 at 9:21 am
I would pop her…..
February 19th, 2009 at 9:22 am
I think the biggest problem with this schedule is the bye week. Don’t most schools get more than one bye week?
February 19th, 2009 at 9:28 am
That girl is a buttaface…
February 19th, 2009 at 9:29 am
we have no control over our SEC schedule…the games alternate home every year for the SEC East so how can we really control that…after a tough start, we could potentially take a 4 game winning streak into the Georgia game, which sounds better than winning at the beginning of the season and fizzling out at the end of our SEC schedule like we have in the past…
the fact that couch’s “arm candy” is tan and blonde doesn’t necessarily mean she is hot…i couldn’t get past that lopsided smile or that out of proportion arm…well, maybe i could, but i’m just saying there are tons more beautiful women on college campuses across this great nation…
February 19th, 2009 at 9:37 am
the problem is that the college football season starts during labor day weekend and labor day is not until september 7th this year. There is your second bye week right there. Blame the calendar gods, not the uk coaching staff.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:40 am
#36 - drizzlemizzle - So she could hit the gym to be “perfect”. That’s not the point, the point is from what we see in this pic she can be considered to be hot by the masses.
Good work Tim!
February 19th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Silly negativity - I just see a bunch of great home games. Brooks strikes me as one who could give a rats ass about “bye” weeks….likely why we don’t seem to do much with them when we’ve had them. I like the fact that there’s some “easier” games later in the season. to me, thats as good if not better than bye weeks when this season continuity will be important to developing young skill players. Brooks doesn’t say much about scheduling, which makes me fear UK pulls favors for basketball scheduling it buys at the expense of football. I sure hope not. I much prefer teams that do more with less than less with more.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:43 am
36 Make that a 5 game winning streak. Why does everyone assume that auburn is going to be good? They won 5 games last year, and then brought in a coach that may win in the future, but I think is going to have a Brooks like battle his first couple of years.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Will someone explain to me how we are going to play Miami (OH) on September 5th when they are already scheduled to play Northwestern?! And they have Colorado scheduled for September 12th. And I checked each of those schools sites and they have the same thing. Doesn’t sound too tentative to me. How is this “rumored” game even being talked about?
Miami U has a open date on September 12th. That could bring some attention to the game.
February 19th, 2009 at 9:59 am
36, that’s a Playmate of the Year. If there is a college crawling with those, then I’m going back to school.
February 19th, 2009 at 10:07 am
[...] Jones discusses UK’s ill-conceived football schedule of next year. Isn’t football in the SEC [...]
February 19th, 2009 at 10:07 am
[...] At Kentucky Sports Radio, Matt Jones discusses the “ill-conceived” UK football schedule. [...]
February 19th, 2009 at 10:10 am
26 and 39. Spot on. I also like having a streak of easier games at the end instead of the beginning. We always end up having a bunch of injuries in the 2nd half of the season, and we seem to play better early. This way our best players are healthy early against the good teams, and we get to see them in good weather. Now all the older fans who skip out on cold weather can do it to teams like EKU, UL-Monroe, and MSU. They always come back out for UT. I would love to see us have a 4 game winning streak going into Georgia and UT. There should be 6 wins on this schedule without us pulling any surprises. Any of those surprises are going to be huge!
February 19th, 2009 at 10:36 am
42. must have been the Soviet Socialist Republic Playmate of the Year 1988…
February 19th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I apologize…Heather Kozar was in fact playmate of the year 1999…she definitely was hotter 10 years ago, but hey, so was I(and in fairness that picture does her no justice)…good job timmy!!
February 19th, 2009 at 10:51 am
If you gotta have a woman hotter than Heather Kozar before you’ll take her, you must be spending a lot of nights getting acquainted with your palm.
February 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
30) I’m not the Grammer police. Plus what does grammer actually have to do with someone getting facts wrong. I was asking an honest question. Nerd? lol. Ur the nerd that got cut from all the sports teams for athletic studs like me. I’ve gotten more poon in the last year than you’ve ever seen in your entire pathetic existence life. You’re obviously a D-bag….Don’t you need to get to your Star Wars convention Pee wee?
February 19th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
While I agree that some of the games could’ve been against a little better quality of opponent I still think with the schedule that UK plays year in and year out against the Nations best we need all the cupcake games we can get. At least three of those teams on the schedule as it stands are easily top ten teams. UF and Bama will be in the top five. UL is always overranked and will probably be in the preseason top 25 again this season, just as UGA will be and possibly UT. So I don’t see that we have a reason to complain….we need all the wins we can get to get to a bowl, which attracts recruits and only makes our cats better. But take a look at the recruiting classes of the SEC. UK signed a top 30 class….good for 11th in the SEC. I think that speaks for itself. Brooks and company have done a remarkable job to date, and would have been at or near the top in many conferences outside of the SEC. So those that think we should play tougher, patience grasshopper, we’re getting there.
February 19th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
8 wins
February 19th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
UK has sucked under Brooks after bye weeks anyway so what’s the big deal?
February 19th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
#25, hope you don’t have some pictures you are planning to sell to Tim.
February 19th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
#35 you must be gay!!She is smoking..id hit that