The House of Blue

3-5 wins with some huge improvements on defense. Don't see a bowl team right now based on three things 1. Who is still going to be here after Spring 2. Massive problems at the DE position 3. Chemistry.

I think next years record will have to do with who Stoops gets at OC to a small extent. I can see them going 6-6 which I think would be a good start to the Stoops era.The defense will be better from the beginning and the offense has potential to put up significant numbers on the board.

I think the OC will be a large extent to what the outcome of next years games will be. How much will the current players have to re-learn? With the right OC..Max Smith's arm and leadership, our stable of backs..if we can find a way to hang 28 to 30 a game ..We could bowl..if we struggle to put up 21..then a 3 or 4 win season is in store. Stoops will have our defense improving..but not as fast as at FSU..we dont have the luxury of having 50 4 star kids on our roster. I see steady improvement..holding foes to 21-24ppg next year..dipping down to 17-19 in 2014. I think 2014 could be a great year. All these frosh and sophs will be veterans..Stoops will have some 4 star talent on our roster.
By playing SEC caliber defense..it puts you in good shape to be "in" all your games. I think Stoops will upset a big team or two next year..mabye drop 1 we should win..it all equals out to a interesting ride imo..the experts will forecast a 4 to 5 win year..as a Uk fan..im biased..Im hoping for a 7 or 8 win year..6 is probably the better predict at this time.
Im thinking that if Stoops wins all the non-conference games..mabye upset a big SEC foe..this could give the Cats the confidence and MO to have a great year. Myself..Id trade a win over Florida or Bama..over going to a mid level bowl..
Good stuff guys!

http://kentucky.247sports.com/Season/2013-Football/Schedule

It is really hard to say what next season will bring without knowing what additions or loses of players we have. Knowing the coaching staff will help too. Personally, I am not looking for more than 4 wins next season. Tough schedule! That could change to maybe, MAYBE, 6 wins with the right staff and players brought in.

If Smith stayed healthy we'd likely have won 3-4 games this past yr.....with Joker coaching. With most everyone returning I would normally say 5-6 wins, but we are going to install a completely new offense, new defense, new special teams. New coaches will use new terminology, new drills, preach new techniques, run different plays, and have different philosophies. The first yr for a new coach is usually the transition yr.

2013 = 4-6 wins

The following yr we'll return almost everyone again. The system has been learned. We aren't sophomores anymore. We are juniors who have waaay more playing experience than they should have. This is where you will see the bigger jump. Stoops first "full and real" recruiting class will be freshmen and some may have immediate impact.

2014 = 6-8 wins

The following yr we return most again. System is now 2nd nature. The starters are mainly a bunch of seniors who have WAAAAAAAYY more experience than they should have had. Now things are really rolling and looking good for the promise of the future. Recruiting is at an all time high as recruits are starting to see the forward progress. Stoops first real recruiting class are now soph's and are likely making an impact.

2015 = 7-9 wins......with the real possibility of bouncing in/out of the top 25 rankings throughout the yr.

The following yr we have a max exodus of waaaay over experienced seniors. With that much experience leaving we would normally experience a decrease in production, however the better talent are now juniors and ready to make things interesting. Resulting in a step sideways.

2016 = 7-9 wins

The following yr Stoops first real class are now seniors. The talent on this team is the best it ever has been at UK. Folks are really biting their nails at the prospect that Stoops may be growing to the point where he may leave in the next yr or two.....worried. Recruiting is now looking phenomenal and we are starting to see our ceiling level off. This is likely our peak. We'll run in cycles where depending on our personnel we could have ups and downs......about every 2-4 yrs between peaks of personnel.

2017 and beyond = 7-10 wins with top 25 rankings depending on personnel peaks/valleys

People I have this from 2 yrs ago. It will take UK 3 yrs to get enough talent ready to win 6 games or more. Joker would have had that talent next yr.

Stoops will now have a team much better than the team Joker had 3 yrs ago. Talent wise.

UK played so many true freshman red shirt fresh and Soph's that UK will be ready to move up the wins list next yr. It all now depends on well they learn yet a new system on D and a new Offensive sysytem

Hard to say, plenty of young talent on defense and, IMO, some pretty decent receivers that would fit Brown's system. I think a lot of the offense will depend on who is the o-line coach but I think we have some bodies that will fit into the spread.

I honestly look for serious improvement on defense the moment we step onto the field, serious improvement. Not saying that Towles will be named the man but I love the fact that he took his snaps out of the gun in HS.

Heck, we could win four games but we all know and expect that we will will see some serious improvement in the entire program. Coaches, players, facilities...it's all looking good at this point. Buzz, good to have it, especially at the level it is now after only a week.

hartline as your QB who was our RB. We had one player on offense Cobb. No wr none no te none

UK had no D. Who was on our D that yr who ????????

UK had no talent Jokers first yr. MY GOD MAN.

But the upcoming senior class is, just like this past season, pretty small and not that talented. Only a couple have any chance getting into the NFL (maybe Williamson and ???). The talent and depth is just not there in the upcoming senior class. The junior and sophomore classes are solid and deeper. Honestly, it won't be until the 2014 season when we see UK possibly being bowl-eligible.

Interesting numbers:
1) Upcoming junior class had 15 players that played in 8 or more games this past season.
2) Upcoming sophomore class had 20 players that played in 8 or more games this past season.
3) When combining all the games played by each class this past season, this upcoming senior class (juniors this season) played the least amount. Here are the numbers:
Freshmen: 243
Sophomores: 173
Juniors: 116
Seniors: 169
If these numbers don't rattle your cage, then you don't understand them.

Yeah. We were lacking on defense. Ukwu and Wyndham were playing faaar too young as well. The d-line as a whole was not stellar.

It didn't bother me a ton that we didn't win at least 7. With new coaches (as Joker was that yr) you often see rookie coaching mistakes. I expected some and so my expectations were slightly lower.

I expect the same with Stoops. I'm not predicting a bowl game next yr although it's possible and it would be absolutely wonderful. He's going to make mistakes, the systems are going to be new, players are going to look lost at times, our starters are still underclassmen mostly.

I do expect us to win more than 2 games though. We shouldn't have too much trouble doubling that to 4 games even with a new system, coaching mistakes, lost players etc.

I say next year UK will win maybe 4-5 games (WKU, Miami of Ohio, Alabama St, maybe Mizzou and Tenn). I think it will take 4 years to get things back to where Brooks left off. I say the first 2 years the teams shows signs of improvement but they will not be at the level of where Stoops was at FSU. I think in the 3rd year we will suprise people and make it to a lower level bowl with maybe 7 wins. Then the fourth year I expect that Stoops will have everything he needs to get us to a major bowl game with maybe 8-9 wins on the year. It does not seem so impossible that Stoops can get us to the SEC Championship game because it was not long ago that Brooks had us close.

Go Big Blue

I came up with the same # of games 4-5 and the same teams u have listed.
But i really think we gave way to many unknowns to make a real educated guess we dont know who may coach, what players we will have IMO