WBN College Football Weekend Wrap Up
By Paul Jordan
With lofty preseason predictions now officially crushed, it’s time for a reality check in the Kentucky football department. I have been saying for months that the Louisville game was the most important game on the schedule because of bowl game implications. With this loss, Kentucky could be in big trouble further down the road.
A winnable game against Jacksonville State is still in the future, but Vandy does not look like the Shoe-in game it once was. They now sit at 3-0 after a blow out victory over Ole Miss. Luckily Ole Miss is on our schedule, so hopefully that game will be a W and we can still beat Vanderbilt. So, that possibly puts us at 5 wins, hoping a sixth win comes with an upset.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Kentucky could be finished after the next three weeks. They are getting ready to go through a gauntlet of SEC games that would decimate just about anybody. Florida is coming to town and then the Cats go on the road for two straight games to face LSU and South Carolina.
I am not going to dwell on the Louisville game. Paul pretty much covered everything I was thinking the morning after with his post but I did want to add a few things.
First off, the play calling was a total joke. I’m not sure how many times a draw play was called on third down? I knew it was coming. The obnoxious female UofL fan behind knew it was coming. And the guy that blew the whistle in the stands knew it was coming.
Louisville opened up their play book against Kentucky, running Teddy Bridgewater at QB (that kid is going to be very good) and putting another quarter back, Dominique Brown, at quarterback, running back and receiver. The offense was shifting and moving all over the place, making UK’s offense look like something my brother’s Catholic School grade school team runs.
And the crowd was pathetic. The atmosphere was deflated and there was not sense of excitement at all. The crowd only got into the game at the beginning and in the end while we were trying to urge the Cats to come back. Other than that it was awful. All around there was a sense of loathing and an expectation of losing. Everybody I talked to before the game picked Kentucky to win but there was no confidence in their voice.
If Joker Phillips wants to keep his job past next season he needs to do something now. The fans are restless. We have been led to believe that Rich Brooks started us on the comeback trail and that Joker Phillips was ready to take us to the next level. Regression is the word, not progression. I hate to be a Debbie Downer but nothing I saw Saturday left me optimistic. And this is coming from a guy that picked the Cats to go 8-4.
Big Time Teams Pass Road Test
ESPN billed this weekend as “Road Test Weekend” because of the amount of ranked teams going on the road. The two big ones were LSU at Mississippi State and Oklahoma at Florida State. Both LSU and Oklahoma came out on top looking like the real deal.
Auburn’s magic finally ran out against Clemson. The defending champs were unable to come back to win a third week in a row and finally looked like a team that was depleted by an Exodus of players to the NFL.
Boise State was also a marquis team on the road this week but they handled Toledo quite easily.
I still think LSU is the best team in college football. Nothing I saw this weekend changed my mind about that. Oklahoma is right there with them as is Alabama. I know Wisconsin is killing every team they play but I have ZERO faith in the Big 10.
Picks
I went 3-2 on the week which puts me at 8-3 overall for the first two weeks. Not too shabby for my first attempts at picking games.
The Week to Come
Kentucky will see a Florida team come in on Saturday that is on the verge of being dominant again. The game will probably be on ESPNU instead of ESPN because of their dismal performance on Saturday. Joker better get imaginative against the Gators or it could be over before half time.
Other big games include LSU at West Virginia, Missouri at Oklahoma, Arkansas at Alabama and Oklahoma State at Texas A&M.
My Irish finally got a big win over Michigan State. They travel to Pitt for a match up against a seemingly bad Big East team. I know you probably don’t care about Notre Dame but it is becoming apparent that they may be my college football saving grace this season.
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