WBN Hot Links-It's Not My Fault Edition

Good Morning Cats Fans, another Monday here in the Big Blue Nation, and another review of a Saturday gone bad. Usually I would reserve the phrase 3 up 3 down for baseball, but then I get to thinking about the Reds and that just makes it worse.

So, we shall reflect a little on what went well, what did not, and dispel a few myths along the way. First one being that Mike Hartline is not the man for the job in Lexington. Mike has been stellar for the most part, playing in what is an excellent Kentucky offense, with a balanced attack and intelligent scheme. Mike, in this game had the highest completion percentage of any Kentucky QB since 1998 and has been not only an effective game manager, he has really made some good plays this year. I have been one of the biggest Hartline critics in the world, and I can safely say, that short of a couple of badly thrown balls, I think he has done an outstanding job. He ranks 32nd in the nation in pass efficiency, and considering where his numbers were even a year ago, I did not expect this much improvement. So before the Hartline critics start screaming for his head, don’t. There is plenty of blame to go around in Lexington, but a huge portion of it belongs on the defensive side of the ball.

There are those that saw promise in the second half against Auburn from the defense, and admittedly they played much better than the first half, but you cannot play one half of football against a team like Auburn and expect to win, it just does not happen. John Clay says the team showed a lot of heart in the game, and they did. But heart alone is not going to get it done against the #8 team in the country. You cannot give up 132 rushing yds to one man in one half and call yourself much of a defense. We need serious help defensively and I have no idea where it is going to come from. Glenn Logan gives a post-mortem over at A Sea Of Blue, in which he is gracious and forgiving of what has occurred over the last two weeks. I, on the other hand, am not. We lost two very winnable games in a row which would have defined our season, and this team is better than that. The drubbings will probably continue this week with South Carolina, fresh off of their whipping of #1 Alabama, which the Boise State folks are probably ready to sacrifice virgins over on the lawn at S.C.

Last link here is from Bleed Blue Kentucky. Aaron over there did a great breakdown of the game, and also had a good assessment of the Cats possibilities before the game as well. In his breakdown which you will find here, Aaron points out that there is a sector of the fanbase that has been extremely vocal in their continued displeasure of the state of UK Football. They are not happy with Hartline, whom they consider to be a “second-tier” QB, most would not have chose Joker as a Head Coach, since there were experienced head coaches out there who could bring more to the table, and they are not convinced that this staff and roster can bring success to the Cats. The flipside of this argument has persons who would tell you that Kentucky is never going to be a SEC powerhouse in football. I have listened to both sides of this argument, and taken the position of being both defender and antagonist in these discussions, because frankly I think that both sides have a point.

Kentucky has never been a “football school”. Does this mean it cannot be? No. Schools like Florida have proved that it is indeed possible to have both football and basketball be successful at the same time. My business sense tells me that there is a lot of money to be made from a top tier football program at UK. And even as the state of the program is at this point, UK football still outearns UK basketball. The economics of the situation are not lost on me. Recruiting is also where games are won and lost, and some believe that because we supposedly cannot recruit in Florida and football rich places like Texas and California, we will never be anything more that what we are.

Then the fan in me creeps out and says, you know what, if you want to change something, you have to start somewhere. You have to take the approach and the mentality that you are going to draw a line in the sand, and say no one crosses it. No one. We have people who do decent jobs at a lot of things at UK from the top downward. But we have no one who is willing to draw that line in the sand. If we did, things like the last two weeks would not happen. You do not lose two winnable games in a row when you are trying to take a program to the next level. Five years ago, yes, we lose these games, but not now. Aaron says show restraint, us constructive criticism, and be careful with your words as not to offend, nor impede the progress of the process we are going through. I can appreciate that stance, and applaud his support of the Cats, because I too want to see them succeed. But in order to do that, we have to have someone, somewhere, in some capacity say that things like the last two weeks are not going to happen anymore. Then they have to go out and back that up and do whatever it takes to see that progress continues. I no only understand fan frustration, I applaud it. Yes, there is nothing to be gained by making a bad situation worse with random and senseless rhetoric, I completely agree. But if the fans don’t keep their displeasure at the forefront of their commentary, then there is no system of checks and balances. I think about everything that is said and written about the football program and the personnel and players involved. Then I take those same thoughts, and I try to imagine what would happen if they were applied to Kentucky Basketball. Hehehe……you can guess what would happen next.

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