By LARRY VAUGHT
I got this note from long-time Kentucky football fan — and former journalist — Barry Peel after Louisville’s win over Florida in the Sugar Bowl?
“I don’t get it. I just don’t get it. An inability to attract premium players always is given as a major weakness for UK football and at least a dozen excuses offered to explain it. So how is it that Louisville can attract enough players to be ranked and to embarrass Florida? Why can’t UK find a “Bridgewater” occasionally and end this annual hand-wringing over the quarterback position? I don’t get it. I just don’t get it!”
Great questions and obvious frustration.
So I want to see how you would explain this situation to Peel because it does make one wonder why Louisville made it look so easy against the Gators and UK can’t beat Florida.
50 Responses to Fan wants to know why Cards can beat Florida and UK cannot
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You answered your own question ! Teddy ” Bear ” Bridgewater and his receiving Corp. NFL Size and tremendous accuracy…did I mention, he can take a ” Hit ” and keep on rolling….Louisville Fan Or Not, you had to Love seeing Florida Gators, Beat by a Kentucky School…Little Brother got some payback for Us, we should acknowledge and appreciate that ! ” I Do “.
You can’t be serious. UK fans should get no satisfaction in what UL does. I respect your opinion, but this is ridiculous. This “little brother” thing doesn’t sound so well when “big brother” can’t get it done. In over two decades at that.
Hey I am a big UK fan but I believe for the first time I was U of L fan. It was really good to see them beat up on Florida. Our time is coming to! We have a good coach and a good coaching staff and they are working on recruits. Give them time.
To each his own, as I do Larry, I respect your opinion as well.
I hated going to bed and knowing that ‘other’ school was beating an SEC school. What does that say about the SEC? How is Texas A&M going to turn in the SEC?
If you have not heard, that ‘other’ school broke an NC2A infraction by tweeting Quick was going to sign with the ugly birds, Quick is from Trinity in Lexington West. It’s a small infraction but how many more have they broken? I know persoanlly a former coach for the b-ball team broke some but I kept my mouth shut and didn’t even like that school then or the coach.
There is some rumors about Strong when he was in Florida and the players that were recruited there. I just wonder if little girls had anything to do with the players he has gotten. Rumor has it the alumni association bent over backwards to get guys to the school he use to coach.
I hate the gators, hate the ugly birds, but was pulling for the gators because I hate the ugly birds with a purple passion, almost as much as I hate a certain politician from the Commonwealth.
The world would be a better place if the chicken bucket would slide into the mighty Ohio and if Papa John’s Stadium would disappear in a gigantic sink hole in the almost 200 year old sewers!
And in case you did not know, I”m Livin’ Blue and Lovin’ It!
Here we go again Larry T, bless your little heart. We have given Louisville enough appreciation on this blog. Enough is enough, you are killing me! Don’t explain, I have heard it before how you grew to like Louisville. They will be throwing this up in our faces forever my friend. They need an ass kicking to take them off their high horse! I still don’t like em! Never will, and I just wanted to clarify my position on that again.
As for their success, consider this. They are well coached, with better athletes than we have right now. That’s the bottom line as I see it. They are top loaded with Florida athletes. They were just as big, and fast, and strong as Florida. A blind man could see it. UofL played with extreme confidence, and a will to win. They were not intimidated. Bridgewater is no Johnny Manziel, but he is one great QB who is just a soph (to bad). He throws the ball to guys who get open and catch it. Their defense brought some thunder. They lose six seniors off their 2 deep offensive unit, and only 1 senior off their defense. They will be bringing in a great recruiting class to reload with. Coach Strong has a pipeline from Florida. You can look in his eyes and know he means business.
Let me add right here that UK needs to bring it when this bunch arrives at CWS in 2013. We need a great gameplan and a big victory to slow this team down. With coach Brown on the UK staff they must realize the magnitude and how important this game is on UK’s schedule. Since Louisville beat Florida it just proves to me they are beatable. 26 staight losses, somebody help me!
All I’ve done is give ” my ” honest opinion on the subject at hand…” It’s Larry Vaught’s Fault “, he posted the story (LOL, think it will work)….Anyway Larry Pup, gave me the go ahead, when it comes to U of L. Don’t take it away Larry P…I only respond to THE STORY AT HAND, LV’s fault, not mine…
Larry T..you are appreciated by this old fart. Your enthusiasm for the Big Blue is tempered with kindness. But UofL is the enemy. Love you man.
Larry T..look at the pressure Louisville was able to get on the Florida signal callers, they sacked Driskel several times and pressured him all night. They ate Burton’s lunch all night. I think Florida would have been more successful if Driskel would have gotten the ball out quicker He holds it. Get the ball out!
Hey Bros, let’s not get too intimate here…
The Gators, were Shell Shocked…From the opening Play ! Linda, just sharing conversations and good vibrations…
I know, Larry T, I know!
As far as explaining it, it’s simple. Better players and better coaches. Florida had one of the weakest passing games in the country, Strong (knowing the personnel over there) had a great game plan. UL came to play, are well coached and the majority of his players are on the same level as Florida. Obviously they are from the “hot” spot of Florida and they raise ‘em pretty well down there.
The rest is the same ole UK. Lack of talent and UK did find a “Bridgewater”, his name is Randall Cobb. As we all know, the young man did darn near everything but Kick Field Goals.
I believe 33 players from the state of Florida makes up UofL roster for one thing. That is called recruiting. Two Charlie Stong knows how to be a HC. Joker Phillips proved in 3 yrs he is a coordinator not a HC. Look at how unprepared we looked every game under Joker. Out coached, out played, out recruited. Anything else?
Ira, I agree that UK has been out coached and out recruited in every game for a long, long period of time. Well….dating back to the Rich Brooks era anyway.
Out played? ….no! The kids went on to the field at Commonwealth or in an opponents sandbox and played their hearts out. They didn’t always have an even decent gameplan nor did they have the support of a coaching staff that could make adjustments on the fly but they tried !
The paramount reason for the UK failure, after an inept coaching staff, has to be the recruiting effort. We had a kid out here in Danville who was a linebacker at Boyle County HS. His high school head coach would have been his position coach at UK but he chose Southern California rather than be embarrassed at UK.
Now many say that he has had a “karma” attack since USC now has the Kifen duo as leaders of the coaching staff but that was the straw that broke the camels back as far as I was concerned. Joker never seemed to care, one way or the other, if the kid enrolled at UK. If was one small example out of so very many when the subject was UK football recruiting.
We are going in the same direction with Stoops! Look at the recruits and coaches he is bringing in! That game against Florida was a one in a million where everything went UL way. They were just extremely lucky to have it happen in the Sugar Bowl.
I must add that UK does not have a winning tradition in football now. That must change. We are laughed at and looked upon as just a basketball school. It has been that way for years. I heard it implied again last night as two announcers called a bowl game. It is very difficult to recruit top football talent when you are perceived in that manner and people on the national level keep singing that song. Kids playing the game in high school know the score. Our coaches, players, and fans must find a way to change that. We must start finding a way to win. UK must promote football with just as much vigor and enthusiasm as we do our great basketball program. We need to market it and package it better. If you were a high school hotshot would you want to come to UK to play football or Alabama? UofL is recruiting better football athletes right now IMO because they are winning on the field. Also, they don’t face sec competition every week. They are building a better resume of football success than we have. They are building a winning tradition. We must return to the days of “the Babe”, Derrick Ramsey, Art Still, and company. Build on the tradition we do have. Sorry didn’t aim to preach.
Some ESPN guru just completed a big ND pep rally with Ara Parseghian, Lou Holtz, and Brian Kelly. I say “ROLL TIDE”!!!!! SEC all the way!!!
Don’t forget the ghost of the Bear!
Our Bear…Wildcat First !
Yeah.. they gave him a watch and Rupp a car legend has it. Off to Texas A&M he went. That was the blow we have never fully recovered from. I have often wondered what would have happened had the Bear put down roots in the “blue grass.”
We would have two World Class Historic Programs….all it would have taken was a Car…times do a change.
Don’t undestimate this UL win, we have been trying to beat FL for XXX amount of years. Right now they are much better, they manhandled FL, hopefully Coach Stoops and staff will recruit and change the culture, but I have watched a lot of coaches for many years (50) and damn few have been successful (season ticket holder since 1973) GO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve said before UK needs a PR firm to handle UK football marketing and give them a pretty decent budget. Let them tackle all the perceived issues with UK football. It’s all how you package things.
I agree Ira, football brings in more money then any of the other sports including basketball. If they want a premier program they need to spend the money. Hopefully this is going to happen now.
Amen Linda. By the way, if what you said above is true about Quick, I figured he would. Everything is just lining up for the red birds it seems. The more reason we gotta go out and get our own “Quicks”. I think we will.
It is all over FB. that ‘other’ school even twitted it, that was the infraction. I so hope for the football fans this is the turning point. I was at UK when Dicky Lyons was there, Bradhaw…don’t think he has been that good since or was that good or just the Rum talking back then? LOL
The Fla coach said all. They got out coached and out played. It’s really quite simple.
It will take a couple years of good recruiting, but I really do believe Coach Stoops will get the recruits we need. UL is living large right now, but in the long run we will come out on top. We are the SEC school. Now with that said, I hope that comes to be the norm. I am sooooo tired of the product we keep putting on the field. Coach Brooks gave us hope, but I want more than the Liberty or the Nashville Bowl. I have had season tickets for 20 years and I have to admit, I’m not sure I would be back if we didn’t hire Stoops. It is still a short lease on me paying for tickets, parking, and not getting anything back on the field. I have seen ticket holders come and go every year. Let’s start a tradition!
Just one more comment, Parking is way too high. I may keep my season tickets and dump my parking pass. My first parking pass in the Orange lot was $35.00 now I have Purple which is not all that great and it is $300.
Stoops just picked up a 4 star CB commit and is poised to pull in more high profile recruits. UK doesn’t have a Bridgewater, but they may soon have a dual threat QB to push or leap over the guys at QB that they already have. It appears that recruiting is already taking a major step up with Coach Stoops. Cal landing the center commit may be a big deal, but the Stoops commit that was announced the same day was a bigger deal for the football program. It shows that Kentucky is going to be a player for the better rated recruits.
Florida is having a down year for them, this season, but Kentucky was having their worst season in decades at the same time.
Jim…. if the CB signee you are talking about is Cincy’s Jaleel Hytchye the CJ lists him as a 3* at 5-11, 165. Is this the one you are referring to? Hytchye is also ranked No. 50 at his position by Rivals.com. I hope you are talking about another 4*.
It depends on which rating system you look at.
The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Hytchye is rated a four-star player by ESPN and Rivals.com and a three-star prospect by Scout.com.
I see that. Thanks
The question is why UL is moving up in the football world and UK is…well UK.
The answer is simple and a lot of people are not going to like it. UK has been a loser for over a half century. I cannot see any type of organization failing for so long IF it really tried. UK is THE basketball power in a Football School. UK has been willing to provide wins for the elite SEC teams in exchange for the 20,000,000.00 dollar payoff. Enough fans have been willing to buy season tickets over the years in order to keep the money rolling in.
UL has committed itself to winning and that will continue. Little brother cannot dominate us in basketball as long as Calipari runs his one and done show, but they can humble us in football UNLESS the University backs the new coaches and unless enough of the BBN are willing to share the basketball limelight with football.
Enough with the handwringing and excuse making. Either we compete or we don’t.
I explain the outcome of the Florida – UofL game as the result of the perfect storm.
First of all, Bridgewater is ten times better at QB than the Gator QB.
Second, for whatever reason, Florida didn’t want to be there and took the Dirty Red Chickens for granted. If you don’t respect your opponent, bad things happen and it’s been that way since folks started playing team sports.
Regular season conference games mean something when the goal is to win the division and get to the SEC championship game. Florida views any game against KY as important, just like they do every other conference game. That same mind set does not apply in any bowl game other than the title game.
Amen AndyP. I think you nailed it. Let Louisville lineup against sec talent every week and see what their record is at the end of the season. They can be beaten, Syracuse did, Conn. did.
Love Joker but next season it will be apparent that we had the talent to be successful. I love what Rich Brooks (Love ol’ Papaw Brooks) did while he was here so please do not take this the wrong way but… we could’ve done better and we should have, beating FL a long time ago, as the streaks were a result the poor product on the field (see coaching timeline). I do not know that Stoops is the answer but I have a great feeling about his motivational skills and recruiting capabilities thus far. We have finally taken a step in the right direction and I applaud UofL for making strides with their program. I don’t like losing to the dirty birds or seeing them dominate an SEC team but I can’t knock their success because our program felt the need to put football in the trunk for the last 25 years.
Marshall:
Brooks did make his teams more competetive. His SEC loses were by fewer points that we have been used to. He did upset LSU. He did take us to low level bowl games. Part of the improvement in total wins came from the schedule since Indiana was replaced by a sure win cup cake and part of was due to the demise of UL because of Kragthorpe.
I appreciate Brooks, but the problem, as I see it, is that we got happy about these bowl games and excused the fact that Brooks actually lost more games than he won and that two to three conference wins is not competing in the SEC.
Also, UofL does not play in the SEC where injuries are apparently like hiccups and competition doesn’t allow a clumsy fall into the BCS game every year. UofL almost lost 7 games in their Big East schedule this year… so I agree with the perfect storm ideology. It is not that hard to be a Boise or UofL and win one big game a year but wait until they make the ACC move and realize getting to the BCS game is the challenge. Florida could not have been more thrilled with playing a team from Louisville, KY when they felt like they deserved to play the Irish.
IMO the Big East is a bit underrated and the SEC a bit overrated. No conference can compare to the upper two or three SEC teams. SEC bottom feeders would lose in most major conferences. SEC mid level teams would be a challenge for any college team, but they can be beat. The Big East is an example of a conference that is too ballanced. The have no top teams and the bottom teams are capable of beating any Big East team. Yet the Big East is capable of producing a team which defeated the number 4 team in the country and an SEC team. Notra Dame will play (and lose I think) for the national championship. One of the weaker Big East teams, Pittsburg, took Notra Dame to three overtimes and could have won had their kicker made a short field goal.
Could UL have won big time in the SEC this year? I don’t think so. But IMO they could have competed with the mid level teams and beaten a good many of the bottom feeders.
I can’t buy that Florida laid down. I cannot discredit UL’s win over them. I do think that going into the ACC will be both a challenge and an opportunity for UL. An athletic director who is determined to fully support both basketball and football will make it easier.
I think we will know after the Miami of Ohio game this year if we are ready to give Louisville a run for their money on 9/14/13 at CWS. If Stoops and company have us at 2-0 when we face the birds, look out. The key to beating Louisville is stopping Bridgewater. I know you are saying “no kidding!” That is a tough job, no doubt, but we have some young men who were coming on at the end of the 2012 season. It can be done. Louisville can be beaten. Especially at our house They also lose some people off their offense. I believe they lose their LT, their Center, and several other seniors off their 2 deep. I look to see our defense vastly improved with new coaching. I know this, CWS will be rocking.
We will win in CWS! I disagree with Kokamo… the Big East is a notch above the C-USA in my book. UofL’s win against FL was made possible by a flawed BCS (Not Discrediting) not by battling a tough conference week in week out. FL was not the fourth best SEC team IMO anyway… rankings are garbage and that is why the playoff will be great. UofL would’ve lost to UGA, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, and TX A&M. With that said, HUGE W for the Cards and I’m proud of them. Go CATS!
I HAVE BEEN AROUND UK FB SINCE 52 WITH COACH BRYANT[52 AND 53]COACH COLLIER IN 54–55–56–I HAVE SEEN A LOT OF MIS–FITS COME AND GO–
JOKER AND STRONG BOTH CAME ON BOARD AS HEAD COACHES WITH THE CATS IN A BETTTER POSITON–STRONGER POSITION–JOKER HAD MULTIPLE YEARS EXPERIENCE AT UK[BOTH AS A PLAYER AND ASST COACH]
STRONG HAD NO EXPERIENCE AT UL–BUT IN THE 3 YEARS THAT FOLLOWED STRONG OUTWORKED AND OUTCOACHED JOKER–HIS UL TEAM OUTPLAYED THE GATORS–STRONG OUTCOACHED MUSCHAMP–
THE SEC HAS QUICKLY CHANGED–IN THE PAST IT WAS—BAMA–LSU–GATORS–
NOW IT’S BAMA–TEXAS A&M–SOUTH CAROLINA–
LET THE GATORS GET OFF NEXT YEAR WITH A BAD START AND MUSCHAMP WILL BE GONE–
THE CARD’S WIN OVER THE GATORS MAKES IT HARDER FOR STOOPS AND ASST COACHES TO RECRUIT NOW–BUT STOOPS AND HIS GANG WILL WORK HARD–
BOTH STOOPS AND UL WILL RECRUIT HARD IN FLORIDA WHERE THE GATORS ONCE FLOURISHED–IT WILL BE TOUGHER FOR THE GATORS NOW–BAMA WILL TAKE THE TOP RECRUITS–TEXAS A&M WILL COME CALLING–SPURRIER HAS A LOT OF CONTACTS IN FLORIDA[AFTER ALL HE WON THE HEISMAN AS A GATOR]
SO THE GAME IS CHANGING–BUT IT WILL GET HARDER TO WIN IN THE SEC–
ONLY TIME WILL TELL IF STOOPS RISES ABOVE THE BAR??? I THINK HE WILL BUT IT WON’T BE EASY AND QUICK[5 YEARS TO REACH THE PINNACLE]
HONDO2
great post Hondo
I agree and have been saying that the more success UofL has in football just makes it more difficult for UK football recruiting. Time wiull tell. Hope I’m wrong.
We need to get our share from Florida. and hold serve here in Kentucky for the home grown boys.
I’m hoping five years and a run at the NATO title!
National title