More or less honest look week 1

[billoliver40]

ACC looks strong so far. I was surprised at how well Carolina handled South Carolina. I felt LSU strolled into their game with FSU like they were already thinking of a title run and got punched in the mouth. Louisville showed a lotta resilience against Tech....I'm not sure what Tech actually has and I think Brohms boys got a bit overconfident going in, but they did what they needed. The UK Cats were a team that beat Ball State, but boy do they have a bunch to clean up. Plus my Cats may have lost their best offensive lineman out of a retooled line to a leg injury.

Georgia is simply going to try for a 3 peat. Tennessee scores like a pin ball machine. Colorado.....lol!,,Prime has himself set up to be either the hero of coaching heroes or the media whipping post....and you can tell the media is salivating for him to fall.
Ohio State didn't look Ohio State-ish and may have some injury bugs. West Virginia may go coach hunting, the normal big dogs: Bama, Notre Dame, Oklahoma look like, well, the normal big dogs.

Congrats on the win. Could be an interesting season.

 

[Louis III]

How did your QB look? I didnt watch a second, my boys had a game at 1. Other folks I talked to said it was a mixed bag.

 

[ReincarnatedJungleTiger]

Ohio State has a QB problem, as in, that QB is a problem for their goals this year. I watched the UK game a bit. I was shocked that the Wildcats couldn’t seem to impose their will at the line in the first quarter, but depth won out and Kentucky put up points for sure. It will be interesting to see if Stoops can work out all of the kinks before conference play starts. He has plenty of time to make adjustments.

Colorado offense was lights out. I’m curious to see how they do against a more balanced team like Oregon, USC, and Utah. Regardless, Coach Prime has completely changed the trajectory for Colorado football & he deserves all of the flowers for that.

 

[billoliver40]

How did your QB look? I didnt watch a second, my boys had a game at 1. Other folks I talked to said it was a mixed bag.

Leary looked like a guy coming off a bad injury. Good second half, accuracy and timing issues everywhere in the first half. Hope he gets in sync and hope he stays upright. 1 TD, 1 into (his fault) 1 sack...again his fault.

Should have a better handle on him about week 4

 

[2330859]

Ball State, EKU and Murray State are the sort of opponents that provide very little indication of where UK or UL are this early, nor do they provide much in the way of preparation for their respective conference competition.

Conversely, the win over GT will serve this UL staff extremely well, as it prepares for ACC a competition. GT brought a lot of experienced P5 talent on both sides of the football, and will improve once King settles in at QB.

 

[Louis III]

Ball State, EKU and Murray State are the sort of opponents that provide very little indication of where UK or UL are this early, nor do they provide much in the way of preparation for their respective conference competition.

Conversely, the win over GT will serve this UL staff extremely well, as it prepares for ACC a competition. GT brought a lot of experienced P5 talent on both sides of the football, and will improve once King settles in at QB.

Murray is our only non Power 5 opponent, hell you gotta play at least one, lol!

 

[Louis III]

Leary looked like a guy coming off a bad injury. Good second half, accuracy and timing issues everywhere in the first half. Hope he gets in sync and hope he stays upright. 1 TD, 1 into (his fault) 1 sack...again his fault.

Should have a better handle on him about week 4

Yeah your first 3 games are glorified scimmages similar to ours vs Murray tonight. Cant imagine your 4th will be much more difficult, its Vandy. They are Power 5.......barely! The difference in the first 6 vs second 6 is massive regarding schedule. You all could go 5-1 and 2-4.

 

[TheRealVille]

Well, Vandy beat UK last season, so you can't include them as a glorified scrimmage. The Commodores are much the same as Georgia Tech.

 

[RealStateBird]

Well, Vandy beat UK last season, so you can't include them as a glorified scrimmage. The Commodores are much the same as Georgia Tech.

Except GT beat a ranked Pitt, UNC and also a good Duke team. Vandy beat UK and an awful Florida team. GT is better than most people think but we will see.

 

[EKYCard643]

UK's schedule is going to make their season a roller coaster. They have the easiest opening 4 game stretch of any P5 team in the country and game 5 is a home game against UF who looked like wet garbage. So UK's got plenty of time to tweak, fix and experiment before they play a decent team. They will almost certainly be 5-0 heading into what is probably the toughest 7 game stretch of any P5 team in the country and is a stretch of games where they could easily go 0-7 and is a stretch where they're almost guaranteed to lose at least 4.

UKs a single bad tackle away from total disaster. If the OLine doesn't fix their issues Leary is going to get hurt and they have absolutely nothing behind him. I would wager you're going to start seeing a lot more of what Coen did with Levis in 21' , short quick stuff. Levis owes Wandale Robinson half his paycheck for getting him drafted and I'm betting you're going to see more dump off, shallow stuff to Brown, Davis and Robinson to keep Leary upright and help pad Leary's stats so they can sell next Spring's transfer QB on coming to play for them.

UKs line looked good. Secondary is very beatable this year....I would wager when UK plays competent QBs it will be a situation similar to UofL last year.....you better get to the QB before he throws it because if the QB has time he's probably going to pick you apart.

 

[502 Wildcat]

UK's schedule is going to make their season a roller coaster. They have the easiest opening 4 game stretch of any P5 team in the country and game 5 is a home game against UF who looked like wet garbage. So UK's got plenty of time to tweak, fix and experiment before they play a decent team. They will almost certainly be 5-0 heading into what is probably the toughest 7 game stretch of any P5 team in the country and is a stretch of games where they could easily go 0-7 and is a stretch where they're almost guaranteed to lose at least 4.

UKs a single bad tackle away from total disaster. If the OLine doesn't fix their issues Leary is going to get hurt and they have absolutely nothing behind him. I would wager you're going to start seeing a lot more of what Coen did with Levis in 21' , short quick stuff. Levis owes Wandale Robinson half his paycheck for getting him drafted and I'm betting you're going to see more dump off, shallow stuff to Brown, Davis and Robinson to keep Leary upright and help pad Leary's stats so they can sell next Spring's transfer QB on coming to play for them.

UKs line looked good. Secondary is very beatable this year....I would wager when UK plays competent QBs it will be a situation similar to UofL last year.....you better get to the QB before he throws it because if the QB has time he's probably going to pick you apart.

The O-Line definitely seems better (Leary had 1 sack, last year Will was pressured/sacked multiple times every game, including the non-Power 5 games) and the secondary is solid. Not 2018 level elite, but still good. Stoops/White are always super conservative and soft with the defense in these buy games. It's frustrating for me as a fan because, IMO, you have to get your backups some reps. You just have to in order to build depth going forward. We never tend to get our backups much, if any, reps because we don't put teams truly away until late. The furthest UK got down the bench was two-deep, and only at certain positions. Sheron or Wade didn't get a single snap at QB. I'm no head coach, but to me, that is more valuable than trying to masquerade your defensive playbook until conference play...but it is what it is.

Defense won't be a problem for UK this season. Offensively, going to come down to the O-Line and keeping Leary healthy. So far, the line has been better, but it is still early and we already have one injury there (Horsey out for a couple weeks). Marques Cox, Dylan Ray, and Courtland Ford have been very good additions so far. I think Tanner Bowles will be helpful this season as well in the two-deep at Guard. He mysteriously didn't get any snaps against BSU either, despite being very good in camp.

At any rate, very excited that the season if finally here and hopeful that both teams can stay healthy. I think Brohm is going to be a significant upgrade over Satterfield (what the hell was Cincy thinking?)

 

[Louis III]

Just having a coach that understands this rivalry helps. Satt didnt get it, I know for 1000% certainty, Brohm does not care for UK. Should be interesting!

 

[billoliver40]

Most fans really don't like the early cupcake schedule bit. I know you have to have a couple of those, but it really does little benefit when you play the big dogs in consecutive weeks.

No doubt the Louisville win was the 'better' win because of the competition level. We will see what Tech turns out to be.

Fingers crossed for no major injuries to anyone.

 

[EKYCard643]

The O-Line definitely seems better (Leary had 1 sack, last year Will was pressured/sacked multiple times every game, including the non-Power 5 games) and the secondary is solid. Not 2018 level elite, but still good. Stoops/White are always super conservative and soft with the defense in these buy games. It's frustrating for me as a fan because, IMO, you have to get your backups some reps. You just have to in order to build depth going forward. We never tend to get our backups much, if any, reps because we don't put teams truly away until late. The furthest UK got down the bench was two-deep, and only at certain positions. Sheron or Wade didn't get a single snap at QB. I'm no head coach, but to me, that is more valuable than trying to masquerade your defensive playbook until conference play...but it is what it is.

Defense won't be a problem for UK this season. Offensively, going to come down to the O-Line and keeping Leary healthy. So far, the line has been better, but it is still early and we already have one injury there (Horsey out for a couple weeks). Marques Cox, Dylan Ray, and Courtland Ford have been very good additions so far. I think Tanner Bowles will be helpful this season as well in the two-deep at Guard. He mysteriously didn't get any snaps against BSU either, despite being very good in camp.

At any rate, very excited that the season if finally here and hopeful that both teams can stay healthy. I think Brohm is going to be a significant upgrade over Satterfield (what the hell was Cincy thinking?)

I think Leary is a massive upgrade over Levis. I know Levis is super easy to hate and maybe I'm allowing that dislike to cloud my judgement but I never thought he was a very good QB and I don't think he'll be successful in the NFL either. For me, the real question with Leary is his durability and seeing him against SEC defenses. His record and stats against the best teams in the ACC weren't good. To me he's always been a weird case because Leary is a QB that doesn't throw interceptions but he's also not very accurate. He put up good numbers all around in that '21 season and those numbers account for nearly half of his total career numbers in 4 years but the data in his other 3 years and the first game at UK seem to show us that the '21 season was more of a career high than an accurate expectation for the 23' season. Again I think he's a better QB than Levis and I think if he stays healthy he'll be fine at UK, but I would be floored if Leary stepped in the SEC, threw for 3,000 yards, 30 TDs, and completed 65% of his passes for only the second time in his career. I think Leary will disappoint UK fans this year only because I feel like they're expecting him to throw for 4,000 yards and 35 TDs. I would say Leary likely throws for 2,500-2,800 yards, 25 TDs, and completes 61% of his passes.

I assume UK will allow their backups to play a bunch the next 2 weeks because Stoops has to fix the QB room. He has still not recruited and developed a QB since he's been at UK. I know he's got Boley coming but I'm always skeptical of KY bred QBs.

 

[billoliver40]

My Cats have a bad history of not getting backups playing time. Steven Johnson was luck, Ly, Bowden a freak of a college athlete. Stoops gave a number of I think 70 reps for his offense.
That could be a lot. I think 51 was the number saturday. That 70 number sure doesnt give much for backups, especially when the head coach loves milking the time of possession. Throw in that most true backups transfer out these days, and developing a qb is a big ask. Coaches decision...i aint gotta agree, but i sure would like to see kids get a chance to develop without being an emergency fill in. Schlarmann did a great job with rotating his o line, White plugs and plays a lot. That qb spot though...well...

 

[rockycard]

Brohm played all of the nine quarterbacks that are on the roster last night. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have done this last week, but Stoops had his starters in the whole game in the Ball St blowout. Two totally different styles of coaching

 

[KozmasAgain]

One has class the other doesn’t. I liked that he played all the quarterbacks and a lot of other players in other positions. It gives them a chance to see what they can do I a real time situation. It also builds good team chemistry the team as a whole looked like they were having a good time.

 

[OldhamCard335]

Brohm played all of the nine quarterbacks that are on the roster last night. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have done this last week, but Stoops had his starters in the whole game in the Ball St blowout. Two totally different styles of coaching

I was halfway expecting a phone call from CJB in the fourth quarter asking if I would want to come in for a a few QB snaps!!!

 

[LeFors4Ever]

I feel like during the Krag years we played 5 QBs per game sometimes because we never had any clarity lol

 

[CTownCard]

I feel like during the Krag years we played 5 QBs per game sometimes because we never had any clarity lol

HWSNBN! No serious, Petrino 1.0, HWSNBN, and to some extent even Strong left our QB cupboard somewhat bare. At least Satt secured a commitment from Pierce. But after B Brohm who did P 1.0 recruit and sign at quarterback who proved out. Several were academically ineligible, the SIMMS kid turned out to be a dude. Sorry Hunter was a great backup, but was never talented enough to be a Power 5 starter. Then Krag had The sausage king, who again was decent but not the quality we needed. I forget the other kid from Kentucky. Strong brought in Reggie and Kyle, but I was disappointed Teddy's last year that we had so many close games that Will did not get meaningful snaps. Like it or not with the transport portal, we will have to sign a four star QB every year and if someone transfers, so be it.

 

[LeFors4Ever]

HWSNBN! No serious, Petrino 1.0, HWSNBN, and to some extent even Strong left our QB cupboard somewhat bare. At least Satt secured a commitment from Pierce. But after B Brohm who did P 1.0 recruit and sign at quarterback who proved out. Several were academically ineligible, the SIMMS kid turned out to be a dude. Sorry Hunter was a great backup, but was never talented enough to be a Power 5 starter. Then Krag had The sausage king, who again was decent but not the quality we needed. I forget the other kid from Kentucky. Strong brought in Reggie and Kyle, but I was disappointed Teddy's last year that we had so many close games that Will did not get meaningful snaps. Like it or not with the transport portal, we will have to sign a four star QB every year and if someone transfers, so be it.

Imagine how history changes if Teddy goes to Miami and we try to make it work with Stein and Damascus Smith? We may not be in the ACC today.

And Bobby didn’t recruit Brian Brohm just the same as Josh didn’t have to hire Jeff Brohm. They were playing here no matter what.

 

[Thecycle27]

SEC-Georgia schedule is really favorable. It will give them time to figure things out. UK-TN will both give them a game and push for East. How Florida can struggle this much is surprising. The West is full of teams that can get you.

ACC-FSU has all the pieces to win it. Clemson Dabo is either going to adapt or he is going to get fired. Their skill positions are unimpressive. Can Miami Louisville and VT become consistently really good? VT with right coaching is going to be a problem. They have the fan support. Louisville and Miami fan support is awful. Strong 35,000 but very fickle 20,000. Support is far too reliant on being great.

PAC 12 is really good which is unreal considering it has been blow up.

Colarado is a problem. Not sure their Oline will hold up but man their skill positions rival the elite teams. Interested to see how they do against Nebraska.

Kansas offense is fun to watch.