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  • How Does UK Handle Bully Wanna Be’s?

    By: LONNY DEMAREE



    What does Vanderbilt University football and Mississippi State football have in common? Both have owned the Wildcat football team as of late. They both have coaches – Dan Mullen and Derek Mason - that came from programs that were winning on a big time scale when they left to take head coaching jobs. They both are programs that UK in the recent past have had a measure of success against on the gridiron.

    No, the Mayor is not turning doomsayer but he has to be a realist and calling it like it is. Vandy has a three game winning streak over the Wildcats. And the only thing UK has to show for against Miss State Bulldogs since Mullen came to them from the Florida Gators is a five game losing streak. The last win against the Bulldogs was 14-13 win in 2009 at Mississippi State.

    These are programs that in the past the UK fan when perusing the upcoming schedule, would mark that down for a win. Unfortunately for the Cats, no more. And that’s just what the Wildcats didn’t need was wanna-be bullies that when their fans peruse their schedule they legitimately, automatically mark down a win against UK.

    At the SEC Media Days this writer picked the Bulldogs to be the surprise team in the SEC this season. The Bulldogs have seventeen starters returning and what I think in Dak Prescott, one of the league’s best quarterbacks. What makes MS so dangerous this season? “I think for us when you look at expectations on the season, said Coach Dan Mullen, “I think of how last season ended. With a lot of young guys coming back on our team, our team immediately put a lot of expectation on themselves.” The Bulldogs are one of the teams in the SEC who are clawing their way up the hill to respectability and a team UK has to defeat to start their climb.

    Yes, Vanderbilt Head Coach Derek Mason, in replacing James Franklin, has some big shoes to fill. Franklin is the first Commodore head coach to defeat Tennessee in back to back years since 1926. However Vandy made what could be a smart hire because of Mason coming from Stanford University understanding the landscape of building a program at a high academic school. A question put to Mason at the media days was Stanford having four ten-win seasons and what did it take to have that level of success at a high academic school like Stanford? How does that translate to Vanderbilt and what are the challenges? Mason said – “Jim (Harbaugh) had already recruited a certain type of young man that fit that scheme, that system a little bit, both offensively and defensively. For us at Vanderbilt, we’re actually changing over in the scheme, that right now offensively and defensively. That brings about a need for immediate buy-in. For us the buy-in has been really, really good.”

    For Vandy, Patton Robinette has the edge for the starting quarterback job. This youngster started ten games last season as opposed to UK’s quarterback is likely to be a first time starter. Some of the UK faithful are looking for Vandy to drop back and be the old Vandy but that ship hasn’t sailed yet. Vandy has the second fewest starters returning in the SEC but when you scan their roster you see a bevy of red shirts in all classes. Except for the 2010 (Robbie Caldwell 2-10) blip on the radar screen Vandy has systematically compiled a competitive roster starting back with Head Coach Bobby Johnson. Johnson’s team were always very competitive in the early season until depth caught up with them later in the season. The UK-Vandy games back in the Johnson years were extremely hard-hitting tough games, competitive games and likely will be again.

    The moral of the story is that the Commodores and Bulldogs stand in the way of UK’s quest for respectability. And are not going to easily clear the path. That’s all in the hands of the University of Kentucky Wildcats.
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    Harlow

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    Darrell KSR

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    DanISSELisdaman

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