Kentucky Wildcat Football: On the Other Side of the Bowl Streak

So even if I joked about it last week, I am certainly not happy to be looking at the other side of the fence, where the grass was most certainly greener.. the side we just left. Saturday I watched a valiant effort, and more effort than I had seen out of several games this year, but it was all for naught. There were moments of hope, going into halftime only down two to Georgia was reason enough to think that such a dream was possible, but then the 4th quarter started and five seconds in, the gap was widened and would never shrink again. The loss was as admirable as one could be, easily covering that 31 point line (31 points? Eat it, Vegas oddsmakers) and showing some signs of life amid Max Smith getting beaten to a pulp (his stat lines are still better than Newton’s), even holding a lead against the Bulldogs for more than seven minutes (the first seven, unfortunately). There were very good parts (forcing four turnovers) and very bad parts (giving up just as many turnovers when we didn’t need them in the worst way) and some plays that should have gone another way, but in the end we have to look at the reality of the situation: we will be watching our last football game of this year next weekend, and we will we will have to settle for watching the basketball team and hoping they have some success. Fat chance

So, as I asked last week, what should we, and Joker, do with our winter that just got a little longer? There are all things we can do in preparation for this offseason that can possibly end this season on a high note and give Joker at least a couple of warm fuzzy feelings to hold him over until spring. Well, I’ve whipped up a nice little wish list for the three groups to make things seem a little better when we are watching practically everyone else in the SEC play after Christmas.

Fans- I know we’ve had our rough spots this year; I get frustrated and call you out for being poor fans, you respond by not caring, my despair grows, and we keep the cycle going. The blackout went okay, but this one is it; we need to come together on a common ground and make this happen. We need to treat this like our bowl game. Streaks in college are transient because nobody that was here for any other loss in this streak, save for the last four or five years. But this streak has gone on longer than these kids have been alive. As I’ve said almost every year writing for this blog, Tennessee is down this year and just picked up their only win in the SEC last week on a very controversial and emotional game, the recipe for a hangover has been made. They are weak. If we can make Saturday’s game as loud as possible, then the fans will have done all they can.

Players-As I said, none of them were alive when this streak started. It doesn’t matter, what the players have to do is focus and play as hard as you can. But shouldn’t that be the goal every week? Far be it from me to question the effort of those players but when you look at the players that will be playing their last game this Saturday, it makes you want to throw up your hands at the futility to which they gave their year for. Trevathan will be going the way of Randall Cobb (the NFL, not Green Bay) in a few short months and we will once again be left without a cyborg from the future. Literally the entire offensive line will be gone, as will Winston Guy (although I’m not nearly as torn up about that one as the first two). The chance to have one thing they can take away from their college careers would almost be as good as any bowl game we could have made it to.

Coaches- This is your last chance to give yourself an uninterrupted meal in Lexington until next summer. If you win this one the dirty looks and snide, under the breath comments made when you pass by will disappear.  Watch as much tape as you can this week, and get ready to break out the dusty pages of the playbook. It’s not just the opportunity to win this game, it’s an opportunity to impress some recruits. As I said last week in my Wednesday post, we don’t have many highlight reel players coming in next year and the coaches have already ripped on the current players for not getting it done, so the last chance to get out of the cellar offensively and put a few smiles on some faces should be enough motivation to get a little aggressive. This isn’t LSU, they won’t be as capable of destroying us one-on-one.