Kentucky Wildcat Football: Updating My Previous Statement….
By Zach Rosen
Call me an optimist. Call me deluded, if you want. You can even call me an idiot (it’s happened before), but I messed up. I sipped on the sweet Kool-aid of misguided confidence in our abilities as a football team. I figured Morgan Newton would make the Woodson Jump, and Josh Clemons would do his best Michael Dyer impersonation. But that was my slip, I listened to the off season reports too closely. Fact is, Joker had too many playmakers and too many skill positions that left last year to come even close to matching the kind of offensive production that we had last year, and if you remember correctly, even that wasn’t much.
When we did our preseason predictions for how the season would go, I was riding high. A bit too high apparently. I predicted the Cats to be just a four loss team, and making it to a bowl that wasn’t in Nashville, but now….now I have seen the error of my ways. I should have known, I’ve been going to UK games since the Bill Curry era and was a season ticket holder from 2002-2007 and now am a season ticket holder again. But I didn’t listen to the little voice in my head. The little blue-clad pessimist sequestered in the back corner of my brain saying in a Randy Quaid voice saying “They’re gonna blow it!” I looked back fondly on my last season long journey through UK football and smiled, thinking of the thrilling finishes and downright ecstasy that came with that season. And I made those predictions based on my feelings from that season, and I messed up. So for that, I say “I’m sorry” and we can now move on. But I would like a do-over. Here is my revised and updated season prediction, now with added realism flavor.
9/31 @ LSU- I called the upset special on this one, when I though that half the team was going to jail. I should have known Les Miles and the assuredly biased police/prosecuting forces in Baton Rouge wouldn’t let that happen. UK-17 LSU-42
10/8 @ South Carolina- The visor has proven to be legit this year, there are way too many playmakers on that team and way too many reasons for the Cocks to be very fired up for this game. UK- 17 SC-35
10/22 v. Jacksonville St.- Thank God, a break from top-10 teams. At least we can recycle all the signs and cheers from the week before. UK- 28 JSU-10
10/29 v. Miss. St.- Whoever is on the road for this game always seems to win this one, plus the fact that we haven’t figured out how to stop a solid rushing attack. Also, they have a true dual threat QB in Chris Relf. CUE THE SCARY MUSIC *DUH* *DUH* *DUUUUUUUH*
UK-14 MSU- 28
11/5 v. Ole Miss- Finally, the section of the conference schedule that doesn’t make me want to cry. Ole Miss has looked like the only team in the SEC that is capable of appearing just as inept as the Cats and one of the few teams with a record worse than ours. UK-24 Miss-13
11/12 @ Vanderbilt- We can’t lose to them, can we? Despite looking much better than past years, their only good win was against Ole Miss but were unable to find the end zone against South Carolina. If Minter can stop the run, Vandy’s 115th ranked pass offense won’t be able to win the game. UK-24 Vandy-20
11/19 @ Georgia- This game depends on what Georgia team runs out of the tunnel on Saturday but if the Bulldogs level out their consistency by this point in the season it could spell bad news down in Athens. UK-21 UGA- 35
11/26 v. Tennessee- D-day. I don’t care if UK is 2-8 before this game, I will never, repeat, never, pick the filthy snitches from down the road. Plus it’s a home game and UT is one of the few teams more dinged up and more in the gutter than we are. But their home is close, if not originating from the gutter. UK-28 UT-24
So after my depression and subsequent home redecoration has ended, my do-over season prediction has the Cats at 6-6 and probably bound for another city with absolutely no other tourist value besides the bowl game. Start packing for Shreveport, Cats fans.
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