Coco

Using the court as an excuse for losing to UNCW makes me cringe. I'm hoping the final score is not the reason for changing the court.

Welcome, Brock! Very excited to have you.

The injury to DJ Wagner could be a little bit of a blessing in disguise. I hope DJ is back 100% soon because he's a good player and we need him, but this will probably cause Cal to start Reed the next game or two--which he should already be doing. This gives him an excuse to start Reed without hurting anyone's confidence by benching them. And I do think Kentucky is back--at least this year. We're deep, share the ball, play hard, and have skill. Once we get better rebounding and interior defense when the 7-footers come back, we'll be on our way.

Stoops probably could have just said that part of the reason UK loses to UGA is because UGA has a far better overall roster, and part of the reason for that (among several other reasons) is because UGA has a better NIL operation in place. It's a bad look for Stoops to call it "buying players," even if it essentially is. But he's definitely not taking a dig at UGA because he said that's what we need to be doing, too! I'm sure Stoops is just frustrated, and he probably regrets saying that. Congrats to UGA on an epic beatdown.

Keep in mind Kentucky's deepest and most talented position group is D line. Will be a good matchup.

Good breakdown. Hope we win! Will likely be a good game, either way.

I think Trevin Wallace deserves a mention. Probably Kentucky's best player so far. Barion has also made some big plays, but Trevin has been awesome.

Whoo!

I'll never forget that Meeks performance. I was watching the game at my old go-to sports bar with one of my best friends who is a huge Tennessee fan. It was an amazing couple of hours laughing every time Meeks hit another three. But every time I think of Meeks, I can't help but lament that he turned pro instead of coming back to play with Wall, Bledsoe, Patterson, and Cousins. That team might have gone undefeated.

No, but I'm going to try to make it to the Vandy game, at least. I live in TN.

I'd expect Kentucky to use a lot of 12 personnel and give Mr. Flax some help in pass pro.

Gotta love these. Congrats, bud!

It sounds like the o-line will be fine, with the exception of possible RT being a little shaky. But there is speculation that the coaching staff has not named Courtland Ford the starter yet because they don't want Jeremy Flax to transfer. Probably will rotate them the first few games, which might be a good development move, anyway, and then probably have Ford getting the majority of the snaps once we start conference play. But the RT spot seems like the only question mark on the team, considering Maxwell Hairston apparently looks good at CB2. Of course, it will all go to hell if Leary gets hurt.

I don't take it as a given that we lose to Bama. We should be able to somewhat bottle up their run game and force the new QB to make plays in the passing game. If they can't score TDs in the red zone and are forced to kick FGs, that game will be winnable at home.

MacGruber pulling out all the stops! Should be a fun game.

The two things I'm most interested to see from UT this year is if Joe Milton can be nearly as accurate as Hooker and whether UT can convert on short yardage, obvious running plays. In other words, can UT sustain drives like last year, or will more drives stall before UT is in FG range. Like one of the other posters mentioned, sustaining drives was a big factor in helping UT's defense limit scoring last year.

Here are my forecasts, based on the Coco PI: Sept. 2 vs. Ball State — 95% Sept. 9 vs. EKU — 92% Sept. 16 vs. Akron — 95% Sept. 23 at Vanderbilt — 80% Sept. 30 vs. Florida — 70% Oct. 7 at Georgia — 15% Oct. 14 vs. Mizzou — 75% Oct. 28 vs. Tennessee — 51% Nov. 4 at Mississippi State — 49% Nov. 11 vs. Alabama — 25% Nov. 18 at South Carolina — 60% Nov. 25 at Louisville — 80% I think UK will go 8-4 or 9-3, with the most likely losses being at UGA, home vs Bama, home vs UT, and at MSU.

That actually doesn't look as bad as I expected. Hopefully he's only out weeks and not months or a full season. He's having a great camp.

Welcome! I'm curious to see how he compares to Aaron Bradshaw. They seem like similar players.

Yeah, I'd be fairly shocked if Kentucky loses to Louisville this year, considering this should be a very good Kentucky team, and we've beaten Louisville the last four years by a combined score of 179-57. Jeff Brohm should make it a more competitive series going forward, though. I also think Kentucky should beat Florida in Lexington this year, considering we beat them in the Swamp last year, and Kentucky is probably better and Florida a little worse than last year. Tennessee pretty much has our number, but Kentucky gets them in Lexington this year. Should be a great game, IMO. And, perhaps most importantly, I think Kentucky will go into Columbia, SC and smack the sunglasses off MacGruber's stupid face. I think Kentucky's only for-sure loss is at Georgia. I think Kentucky will give Bama all it wants in Lexington, and it will be a good game. If Bama's QB throws a couple picks, who knows?

Wow, no Devin Leary!

Welcome! Huge get!

Welcome! Looks kinda like Kristaps Porzingis. Hopefully he enjoys Lexington and has a good year!

Great write-up! As you said, I think Leary is well positioned to have a very good year if the line can keep him clean. I'm cautiously optimistic the line will be significantly better than last year with the new additions and also guys returning to their natural positions. Kentucky also has a great group of running backs and tight ends, so I think it really does come down to the O-line doing its job. Very excited to see this group play and for Coen to be calling the plays.

I'm not seeing it. Maybe I'm just biased against Rattler, but I've never been impressed with him--dating back to his appearance on QB1 on Netflix. After watching that show, I was dumbfounded as to why Lincoln Riley would sign him. Maybe SC's O-line and defense are better than what I perceive them to be. I would pick SC to finish 4th in the East behind UGA, UK, and UT.

So, is this INTERNAL rat poison? I'm sure Nick is not too pleased.

Very encouraged by what I saw from the Cats in Toronto. Very solid guard play, as well as ball movement from all positions (with the caveat that our centers didn't play). Rim protection is a big problem, but that obviously will be alleviated by the big men getting healthy. Reed Shepherd and Adou Thiero looked ready to be solid rotation players (maybe more), and both Antonio Reeves and Tre Mitchell looked really good. Of course the blue chippers (DJ, Rob, and Justin) will get better and better over the course of the season, as they're all super talented. Looks like a really good team.

I'll trust the staff on this one. Carrington Valentine was the lowest ranked player in UK's class a few years ago, but he was an athletic freak. Worked out pretty well.

Welcome!

Welcome!