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By: LONNY DEMAREE
Please don’t misconstrue anything we print in this article as a prediction for the season because we are not for that yet. Stay tuned! Okay the Wildcats had an eight-game home schedule for the first time in UK history and they didn’t take advantage of it. There have been many comments in my email box referring to what they perceive as the 2016 schedule being markedly more difficult. Well let’s throw last year’s anomaly out. Back to what been the norm (seven home games) over the last three decades. So what makes this schedule so much tougher? What is the difference in playing Alabama on the road and playing Auburn at home which they lost? What’s the difference in a possible loss at Alabama when you have fallen to Mississippi State seven straight times? I contend you have to play who is on the schedule – just get better and beat them.
Since we are talking about the schedule, now on to something a little bit more on the positive side. As we do every season looking for a more doable stretch in the schedule let’s take a look at a few things.
Mark Stoops, after getting over his upset stomach ingesting a bottle of Tums and some “rice tea,” we are reasonably sure the Vanderbilt game still sticks in his craw. Though he would never admit it and the recruiting exploits of Vince Marrow, that game perhaps cost them three or four 4-star recruits. He got hoodwinked and out-coached in a game that should have been a bowl trip. How embarrassed he might have been. Yours truly was there at the post-game press conference that even through Stoops putting on his best face, you could see the pain oozing from his pores.
Getting that part out of the way Vanderbilt is where we will start. We will fast forward to the middle of the season where there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. On October 8th there’s Vandy at Commonwealth Stadium. On October 1st they will have played Florida at their place. This should give Stoops a good gauge as to what to expect. All of this is what coaches do in preparation but in this case Stoops in memory of last season should have fire coming out of his nostrils and the game-plan burned up from the fire. Vandy will have a formidable trio coming to town in quarterback Kyle Shurmur, running back Ralph Webb, and wide receiver Trent Sherfield. Then there’s an open date for the Cats.
Before proceed let’s talk about UK’s Wild-Card in one Ryan Timmons that unfortunately gave them a cameo when Barker came into the game at Vanderbilt Stadium. Surprisingly Darin Hinshaw boldly state that the offense was very discombobulated when he and Eddie Gran arrived. Hence the stated confusion Timmons expressed he suffered. His freshman and sophomore years yielded 77 receptions combined and in twelve games last season he had only twelve receptions. Every indication points to a breakout year for Timmons.
After the open date MS State comes to CMS without Dak Prescott. This being State’s second straight road game and having played BYU in Utah. The Cougars are never a soft touch at their place.
Then the Cats are on the road at Missouri that has a new coach and still picking up the pieces of a social-upheaval. They are still adjusting to a new era at quarterback from Maty Mauk who is now at Eastern Kentucky University. Having defeated the Tigers last season maybe they’ve caught up with them.
This is a crucial four week stretch after forty-months of much higher level of recruiting than the five consecutive bowl game stretch before three years prior to Stoops arrival.
Could there some upsets? Well let’s look at that stretch. In 2006 Georgia, Clemson, and Mississippi State; ’07 LSU and Florida State; ’08 Louisville and MS State; ’09 Auburn and Georgia away; and Louisville and South Carolina.
So strap it up BBN and let’s just play the games with an oddly shaped ball that bounces funny.
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