[Demarcus ware]

Lamar Thomas leaving U of L to become UK wide receiver coach. This is a great move by Stoops.

[cats98]

With the schedule this upcoming season Kentucky could be a much improved team, and still have the same record as last season, or possibly worse than last season. However with the uncertainty at Missouri and South Carolina there is a path to 6 wins.

[OldJacket]

Lamar Thomas leaving U of L to become UK wide receiver coach. This is a great move by Stoops.

Assembling a pretty good staff, finally...Thomas has done a good job recruiting at UL...

[honestjchsfan]

2-10 at best.

Hopefully this entire staff is cleaned out from top to bottom.
Not even a waterboy left.

When a coach hypes up his recruiting selling it as the best in school history but fails to produce a winning record makes it very difficult to pull for that coach. IMO if Stoops fails to make a Bowl he will get one more season then it will be bye bye for him. As a UK fan I hope by some miracle that UK can have a winning season for once but my gut tells me that it's a long shot at best. I am hoping that the new OC can improve UK enough to turn the corner. My hope is that if Stoops fails again this year that the AD fires him and hires a coach who has Head Coaching experience. A David Cutcliffe type of hire. The SEC is not the place to break in a Rookie head coach hopefully.

[insideinfo]

When a coach hypes up his recruiting selling it as the best in school history but fails to produce a winning record makes it very difficult to pull for that coach. IMO if Stoops fails to make a Bowl he will get one more season then it will be bye bye for him. As a UK fan I hope by some miracle that UK can have a winning season for once but my gut tells me that it's a long shot at best. I am hoping that the new OC can improve UK enough to turn the corner. My hope is that if Stoops fails again this year that the AD fires him and hires a coach who has Head Coaching experience. A David Cutcliffe type of hire. The SEC is not the place to break in a Rookie head coach hopefully.

If Stoops has another year like last year, and gets one more year, I'm not sure the Cheerleaders will even show up the following year.

[panther nation]

^
It will be like jokers last year.. no one in the stands..

[Bluto]

Schedule:
9/3 Southern Miss W
9/10 at Florida Possible
9/17 New Mexico State W
9/24 South Carolina W
10/1 at Alabama L
10/8 Vanderbilt W
10/22 Mississippi State Possible
10/29 at Missouri W
11/5 Georgia L
11/12 at Tennessee L
11/19 Austin Peay W
11/26 at Louisville Possible

[honestjchsfan]

^
It will be like jokers last year.. no one in the stands..

It's becoming clear to me that Joker Phillips was actually a better football coach than Mark Stoops. Joker had a 4 Star QB he was bringing along slowly from a shoulder injury transfer out on him, Stud running back Josh Clemons got hurt as freshman, 7 Ft high jumper and WR Sweat transferred out of program. Joker had a lot of injury problems and bad luck but if you look at the final score against SEC teams UGA, and UT Joker's team were much more competitive even with a true Freshmen QB. Stoops on the other hand has been lucky with injuries. Last season he had a veteran with a full SEC season under his belt returning at QB. The problem with Mark Stoops is talent evaluation. WRs that can't catch become DBs at most places, OTs that repeat the same mistakes are benched or forced out of winning programs. The best defensive player on UKs team last year was a JUCO SR. Why didn't he play as JR? Joker was a much better game manager than Stoops. You win 5 games with your returning QB right? Why decide a key game that your whole post season is riding on (Vandy) is a good time to play your recruit at QB? Terrible timing and coaching! Stoops lack the natural feel and instints to manange a team or to be a Head Coach at the SEC level. Great coachs are not made they are BORN they are natural leaders of men and when the pressure is the greatest they are at their best. Stoops doesn't have it and it's that simple!

[walterwhite]

It's time for results, not talk! Way past the talking time, walk the walk!

[insideinfo]

Where is everybody at, this time last year there was bunch on here talking about 8 or 9 wins. The so called experts on the mother ship was feeding the frenzy, and ever body was jumping all over it. Well this year even the Herald Leader is still doing more basketball stories in July than Football. Well we open a 45million dollar practice facility today and there very little news on that. I think even the ever optimistic local media has even gave up.

[UK1fan]

They won't win much.

[dore20]

8-4. Losses to Bama, Georgia, Tenn and Louisville. Need linebackers to step up on D. Need a QB to step up on O.

[Axel Foley]

7-5.

[cougarpride08]

7-5...this team will be a surprise... New facilities and new attitude will equal a great year. Mark it down. U guys with the 2 win season must be UL fans. Defense will be key but I think they have enough to get a bowl win.

[Spirit100]

I'm sticking to 5 wins...

You 7 and 8 win folks may have just been exposed to too much unicorn and rainbow dust!

And if it works well then GO C-A-T-S!!!

5 folks, 5 wins and a greater push to recruit 4-5* lineman in the trenches and a stud QB who can run read option!

I honestly will be shocked if Barker is still "healthy" after 10/22 if not sooner! Hoping he masters the 1-3 step drop and quick release xtremely quick to stay healthy! GO CATS...

[Ballers]

We actually do this every single year, and every single year the 8-4's, and the 7-5's, turn into the opposite, 4-8 or 5-7. I hope I am wrong this year. I will go out and say 7-5.

[Motley]

Gonna play it safe and go with a 6-6 record.

[Black Bear Cuz]

Schedule:
9/3 Southern Miss W
9/10 at Florida Possible
9/17 New Mexico State W
9/24 South Carolina W
10/1 at Alabama L
10/8 Vanderbilt W
10/22 Mississippi State Possible
10/29 at Missouri W
11/5 Georgia L
11/12 at Tennessee L
11/19 Austin Peay W
11/26 at Louisville Possible

S Carolina, Vandy and Missouri are all expected to be very weak. Until Stoops proves he can win 3 SEC games I will not be a believer. I don't believe these Cats beat S Miss in the first game and I don't believe they will win 6 games.

[insideinfo]

I don't how anybody who watched last years team think we can go Bowling.

[Big Blue 4 Life]

It won't be long until another year of looking forward to Kentucky football becomes another disappointment. I hope I am wrong.

[geauxtigers75]

I'm cautiously optimistic, the only places I have any concerns are depth and talent at DL and LB. Reggie Meant, Jason Hatcher, and Lloyd Tubman departing for various reasons really hurts our depth there. I think our secondary is tough as nails; Edwards, Baity and Westry are a tough matchup for any receiving corps in the country IMHO, even with the loss of a guy as good as safety Darius West.

On the offensive side of the ball, if Barker can get going he should have a plethora of weapons at his disposal, hopefully CJ Conrad steps up and makes big noise in Eddie Gran's offense. Also, our WR corps looks very deep and talented with Baker, Bone, Timmons, Johnson, and newcomers like Kayaune Ross should give us a SEC Caliber position group. The RBs also seem to be very solid with Boom, JoJo, Mikel Horton and Benny Snell. The O-Line is anchored by one of the best Centers in college football in Jon Toth. Overall, I expect the offense to be good, and the defense to progress through the season barring any injuries. I don't want to predict a record because I hate the taste of crow and very cautious optimism is my modus operandi with UK Football.

[rawlingsfan]

(5-7), W- S. Miss, N. Mexico St., Austin Peay, Vandy, and at Mizzou

But if they can get off to the hot start like they have the last two seasons (5-1) and (4-1) this years schedule is much friendier on the front side, and UK should be favored in 6 of the first 8 games.
More talent than Vandy, S. Miss, and New Mexico St.
Miss. State lost Dak Prescott to graduation
South Carolina and Mizzou have new coaches and UK had wins over both last year (Stoops is in his 4th year)

Not to mention we lost to Florida by scores of 36-30 (3 o.t.'s) and 14-9 the last two seasons.

If history repeats UK will lose 3 of it's last 4. Not sure what it is whether it's lack of depth and the players are tired, or if they just quit responding to Stoops after 6 games. But they sure have QUIT on him the last half of the season. With only one win over Charlotte last season, and close losses to UofL and Mizzou in '14, and Vandy in '15. Everything else was a blowout.

[LWC]

My predictions with a Southern Miss loss.
9/3 Southern Miss
9/10 at Florida
9/17 New Mexico State
9/24 South Carolina
10/1 at Alabama
10/8 Vanderbilt
10/22 Mississippi State
10/29 at Missouri
11/5 Georgia
11/12 at Tennessee
11/19 Austin Peay
11/26 at Louisville

5 wins. Southern Miss is a top 40 team AND their strengths are UK's weaknesses. Terrible match-up for UK. The team will be relatively deflated and the fan base will have checked out on the season. This team has the talent to win 7 or 8 games but will only get 5.

My predictions with a Southern Miss win:

9/3 Southern Miss
9/10 at Florida
9/17 New Mexico State
9/24 South Carolina
10/1 at Alabama
10/8 Vanderbilt
10/22 Mississippi State
10/29 at Missouri
11/5 Georgia
11/12 at Tennessee
11/19 Austin Peay
11/26 at Louisville

I think we get 7 wins if we beat Southern Miss. Here is why. If UK beats Southern Miss, that would mean that our weaknesses are not as weak as we thought. To win that game, the D-Line has to contribute in putting pressure on the QB and in stuffing the run. If that can happen then I believe we certainly beat Vanderbilt because we can help prevent Vanderbilt from controlling the clock and grinding the game out.

I think Missouri and South Carolina are going to be historically bad. In addition, I believe it is safe to say that New Mexico State and Austin Peay are going to be wins barring strange occurrences. The question is where do the other two wins come from to go bowling? Between Vanderbilt, Southern Miss, and Mississippi State, 7 total wins are possible. Strangely, Miss State seems easier in match-ups than Southern Miss will be though I think Miss State has more talent and certainly the better coach. I think Vandy is the easier of the three teams to be and will push the wall to 5 wins. I would be shocked if KY has less than 5 wins this season.

I believe Alabama, Louisville, and Tennessee all on the road are definite losses. I know the UL game is generally a toss-up but they have a scrambling QB and a stout defense including who I believe may be one of the best defensive players in America.

Can this team go to the Swamp and beat Florida? They have the talent to do so but a lot depends on Drew Barker and the D-Line. Even when we had Zadarius and company we could not stop the run against any SEC team. Hard to imagine that starts now.
Still I give UK a 65% chance in that game.

Georgia is a toss-up only because they have a new coach. How good will Kirby Smart be? I personally wanted him at UK over Stoops but I think Stoops has done reasonably well, especially in recruiting. Because of UGA's running backs and offensive line, I only give UK a 40% chance in this game. It is a punchers chance but it is still a chance.

--------
At the end of the day, I think if UK beats Southern Miss, I think the Cats get 7 wins. If they lose to Southern Miss, I think they get 5 wins.

[geauxtigers75]

Would it be a stretch to say that the Southern Miss game is the biggest of Stoops career thus far? A lot in terms of momentum and fan interest are riding on that game.

[LWC]

Would it be a stretch to say that the Southern Miss game is the biggest of Stoops career thus far? A lot in terms of momentum and fan interest are riding on that game.

I think it is in terms of fan momentum and really a needed win for bowl eligibility.

[dore20]

SEC Network preview show of UK has us going 7-5. Which is cool and all but last year they predicted 8-4. Soooooooooooooo yea.

[hop24]

Certain players will be exposed this year and I predict after Southern Miss beats them at home everyone will be looking forward to Big Blue Madness and the start of BBall season.

[T24]

In Kirk Herbstreit's "Herbies", he predicted UK as a surprise bowl game member. I think it will all start with a solid showing against Southern Miss. Beating Southern Miss along with Austin Peay and New Mexico State gets them halfway. Have to beat any combination of South Carolina, Mizzou, Vandy, Mississippi State, or Louisville to become bowl eligible. Probable losses against UGA, UF, UT, and Bama. Will be interesting to watch throughout the course of the year

[RunItUpTheGut]

We will get run on like a beat mule.

If UK loses the Southern Miss game right off the bat, which is very possible, Stoops shouldn't even be invited back into the locker room.

[rawlingsfan]

After watching the Thurs. night South Carolina win over Vandy. UK should beat both of them, and both games are at Commonwealth. Southern Miss, Mississippi St. (with a QB not named Dak Prescott), N. Mexico State and Austin Peay are all at HOME too. UK plays at Mizzou under a first year coach.

If Stoops doesn't go (6-1) in those games then he's not even as good of a coach as Claiborne, Brooks, or Mumme was at UK. I think all three of those coaches go 6-1 with the talent Stoops has brought in, and they would have also been competitive vs. the rest of the Cats '16 schedule IMO. Possibly even pulling an upset.