Ded As Ned Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 UK gets rid of that gawd-awful trophy they had made up and replaced it with the actual trophy from the 1951 Sugar Bowl. Still wish they'd get rid of that "THE National Champion" on the stand, but this is still a vast improvement imo. EDIT: Getting closer to kickoff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbunting Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 On 7/28/2016 at 1:32 PM, DireWolfSpirit said: The turnaround in Ann Arbor is pretty complete now with Harbaugh having a few seasons to infuse the roster with his own personale and recruits. I look for Michigan to be very strong this season- I am not as confident as you. This is only his second season here and they have no QB as of now, kind of an important part. Harbaugh is really good with QB's so that will help. I could see them having just two losses heading into bowl season, which compared to where we have been the last few years is great. But to me until they beat MSU and OSU in the same season Michigan is still not back. That said, I will be there a few times again this year partying it up at the golf course and hopefully being happy after the game as I am before it! Now, time for the fan in me to speak. I think that if things keep heading the way they are, Michigan will be in the playoffs next season, and will be regular participants after that. Say every third year or so, being in the playoffs. To me that is all you can ask for. I can see a championship in the next four years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireWolfSpirit Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 ^^^ Yes each year towards infusing the Harbaugh recruit classes should make the roster stronger......and by that 4th/5th year out, the program should be at "Full Tilt Boogie!" and a title contender imo. I think the Spartans and Buckeyes will be very competitive games that could go either way this season. My guess would be a split for those contests if they play both this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted August 9, 2016 Share Posted August 9, 2016 10 hours ago, Ded As Ned said: UK gets rid of that gawd-awful trophy they had made up and replaced it with the actual trophy from the 1951 Sugar Bowl. Still wish they'd get rid of that "THE National Champion" on the stand, but this is still a vast improvement imo. EDIT: Getting closer to kickoff! I'm on record as hating the trophy... But by Gawd, I'll be damned if the ridicule from a couple of UofL and Tennessee fans would make me take it down!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Seswatha Jordan Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 @S John, so what your outlook on the year? I think we're going go 8-4, 9-3. Howard should show some improvements from lat year. That JUCO running back we got seems to be the real deal. I think our line will be a definite plus. What scares me is defense. Lost alot of DB's and that bad in the BiGXXII. Hopefully someone will step up and fill the holes. Though, I think LB's and DL should be pretty solid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireWolfSpirit Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Lol is the Big 12 up to twenty two teams now or did you drop an extra X on us there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ded As Ned Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 I'm still on the fence on whether UK can break through to a bowl this year... they could dubitably go 7-5, or just as easily 5-7 or worse. The defense concerns me greatly, The DL is very thin, as we've lost almost all of our tackling from last year. The secondary should be great, meaning opposing teams will run on us for 200+ yards a game as is typical. The offense needs to average about 35 PPG to overcome the weak defense and make a bowl. If not, Stoops will be on the hot seat for sure next season (he will get another season barring disaster). An injury to starting QB Barker would pretty much end the season as well, from what i've seen of the backup QB's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterOJ Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 23 minutes ago, Ded As Ned said: I'm still on the fence on whether UK can break through to a bowl this year... they could easily go 7-5, or just as easily 5-7 or worse. The defense concerns me greatly, The DL is very thin, as we've lost almost all of our tackling from last year. The secondary should be great, meaning opposing teams will run on us for 200+ yards a game as is typical. The offense needs to average about 35 PPG to overcome the weak defense and make a bowl. If not, Stoops will be on the hot seat for sure next season (he will get another season barring disaster). An injury to starting QB Barker would pretty much end the season as well, from what i've seen of the backup QB's. I like your optimism, but if UK somehow manages to go 7-5, there won't be anything "easy" about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ded As Ned Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 1 hour ago, MisterOJ said: I like your optimism, but if UK somehow manages to go 7-5, there won't be anything "easy" about it. There I fixed my post (no more strikethrough on edits?). To go 7-5, they'd have to go 4-4 in SEC play (beating SC, Vandy, @Mizzou, MSU), or beat 3 of those and also Louisville. Were that to happen, Stoops would get a 30 year bajillion dollar contract extension and have his own statue erected at CWS. This is the only time of year for optimism in UK football right? Let me ride my wave before it all comes crashing down in week 1 (a very losabe game against SoMiss). EDIT: RIP John Saunders, one of the few commentators/hosts that never got on my nerves and seemed like a genuine person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S John Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 16 hours ago, Michael Seswatha Jordan said: @S John, so what your outlook on the year? I think we're going go 8-4, 9-3. Howard should show some improvements from lat year. That JUCO running back we got seems to be the real deal. I think our line will be a definite plus. What scares me is defense. Lost alot of DB's and that bad in the BiGXXII. Hopefully someone will step up and fill the holes. Though, I think LB's and DL should be pretty solid. I agree. 8-4 or 9-3. The defense does worry me, but it isn't the complete rebuild of the 2012 season when we went 4-8 and were playing true freshman all over the field. We will have a bunch of new starters in 2016, but most of the replacements have been in the program a year or two and many of them have played meaningful time in games. Even if they're relatively inexperienced I think that just having had a year or two at the college level of physical training should keep us from falling too far off. We also have continuity at D coordinator, which helps. I think we have a couple JUCO transfers as well that are expected to be pretty good. So we will take a step back on D, most likely, but I don't think it'll be the dumpster fire it was the last time we had a young D. The O should be slightly better than last year. Howard is punching above his weight in terms of being a D1 QB, BUT he has a ton of weapons around him and has experience. We will again have a good RB group, our O-line may be the strength of the team, and the receivers are all very fast (and several of them are also big dudes). We have the potential to be a very dangerous offense. QB is our weakest spot on that side of the ball, and Howard isn't that bad. It's cliche, but he just needs to manage the game. Just get the ball to the play-makers and let them do their thing. We also get a lot of our tougher games at home. Baylor, Oklahoma, Kansas State (I include them because they have had our number), TCU, all at home. Baylor is playing with only 70 guys and we get them last game of the season when lack of depth will be an issue and in Morgantown where they have not beaten us. I don't think we'll be favored there but I like our chances in that one. I also think we can take TCU @ home, they've made a couple lucky escapes in Morgantown and this year they won't have Boykin and Doctson. We have a pretty decent OOC schedule, but both are kind of home games with the BYU game being in Maryland and Mizzou in Morgantown. Missouri has a new head coach and a new OC and is coming off a pretty bad year - but they do have a legit defense. Will be a good test for the first game, as it'll be strength against strength. That said, I will be extremely disappointed if we lose to them. It's a game we should win @ home, especially if we are looking to improve on last year's record. We'll need that one. BYU will be tough, no idea what to expect there but I'll take WVU to hang on for a W. I'm worried about @ TTU, @ Texas, @ Oklahoma State but I think we'll sneak a win out of at least one of those. @ ISU is always potentially dangerous. pulled out of my ass prediction: Missouri W Youngstown State W vs. BYU W Kansas State W (finally) at Texas Tech L TCU W at Oklahoma State L Kansas W at Texas W Oklahoma L at Iowa State W Baylor W Could definitely see a number of these going the other way, but I think we'll scrounge up at least 8 W's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 3 hours ago, Ded As Ned said: EDIT: RIP John Saunders, one of the few commentators/hosts that never got on my nerves and seemed like a genuine person. I am exceedingly bummed about this. He was by far my favorite ESPN personality and even though I hardly watch the network anymore, his death is a shock. On to football. Damn this schedule. With strong units on both sides of the ball and one of the top returning QBs in the nation, Ole Miss could be a top-10 caliber team and still lose 4 or 5 games. The opener against FSU in Orlando will obviously be huge. The conference opener a mere two weeks later against Bama will be even huger. I will be thrilled if we can manage to win one of those. In reality I think we'll finish 8-4 with losses to FSU, Bama, at LSU and one other random conference game (probably at Arkansas, because reasons). Of course I'm also obligated to mention the outcome of the NCAA investigation, which should hit around mid-October from what I've heard. I suspect in the end we'll get dinged a few more scholarships than the 11-over-4-years already self-imposed, plus probation. None of the violations was severe enough to merit worse (unless you count the Nutt-era academic fraud, for which precedent was already set with the same cast of characters at ULL). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sperry Posted August 10, 2016 Author Share Posted August 10, 2016 It's pretty laughable what the state of the NCAA is when a program can be caught red handed having athletic department officials handing out illegal payments to players, and the punishment is the loss of a handful of scholarships. It has been very obvious to any impartial observer that things are not on the up and up at Ole Miss, there is a high profile instance of exactly those allegations being true, and yet it appears nothing of consequence is going to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ded As Ned Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 Wasn't that the screenshot where the NFL prosepect (forget his name) was asking a coach for some money to pay his moms' electric bill or similar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhom Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 15 minutes ago, Ded As Ned said: Wasn't that the screenshot where the NFL prosepect (forget his name) was asking a coach for some money to pay his moms' electric bill or similar? There is actually a procedure in place where that is legal, and somehow Miss says that's what they were doing. We have tickets to the opening game for UK against Southern Miss. Its no pushover, and I figure if they lose that one I can safely tune out and wait patiently for the quest for title number 9 to begin in November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S John Posted August 10, 2016 Share Posted August 10, 2016 I really wanted to go to the Notre Dame @ Texas game here in Austin to open the season, but tickets were ridiculously pricey. As I'm sure I have mentioned before, in the interest of domestic tranquility I have been working on cheering for the Longhorns when WVU is not the opponent. That being the case (similar to last seasons' basketball game between Texas and UNC), Notre Dame is one opponent where I wouldn't have to fake my enthusiasm for a UT victory even one little bit. But I'm not gonna pay a couple hundred bucks a ticket for the privilege and the 'Horns will probably lose anyway. Girlfriend and I did manage to get a 3-pack deal for UT games, though. I was open to it this year since the WVU game was one of the options. Got tickets for the Iowa State, WVU, and Baylor games in Austin so that'll be pretty cool. We got the tickets through UT so I'm sure I'll be the lone Mountaineer in the section. I'll keep fighting the good fight, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.