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Strategic Scheduling

  • Jeff broached this topic a week or so back, but with these criteria in mind, who would you like to see UK schedule in football?

    Criteria:
    1) An away game at the opponent's location would help UK's recruiting efforts,
    2) It has to be someone that UK has at least a 50/50 shot at beating on the road (i.e., no Ohio State), and
    3) It has to be someone that UK has a realistic shot at scheduling.

    My preferences (not necessarily in order of preference):
    - Georgia State: probably can get a two home for one away del, and they play their home games in the Georgia Dome
    - Florida Atlantic: Howard would jump at the chance and we are hitting Florida harder than ever, could likely get the two for one deal here too
    - Cincinnati in Paul Brown: we've got to crack the Cincy recruiting puzzle and beating those guys at "home" would help
    - IU in Indianapolis (Lucas Oil?)

    This post was edited by DACats86 on 6/16/2011 at 10:04 AM

    DACats86

  • 1.Clemson
    2.GTech
    3.UNC
    4.Illinois
    5.USF

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    "Kentucky Football needs to be and will be a championship contender in the SEC."~Mitch Barnhart 11/4/12

    rgunslinger

  • rgunslinger said...

    1.Clemson 2.GTech 3.UNC 4.Illinois 5.USF

    Why? I doubt we have a 50/50 shot of beating any one of those teams at home, much less on the road. Also, the only one of those teams that might schedule UK is USF in hopes of knocking off an SEC team. The other teams have more to lose playing UK than they have to gain.

    DACats86

  • I like your first two suggestions a lot. I think they're ideal for the *current* state of UK football, and in both cases, they can assist in recruiting efforts.

    I would not play Cincinnati. That's one of those where it's a no-win situation IMO. It may help recruiting a bit, but you might as well jump up a notch higher and play someone even better for the exposure gain.

    Re: IU, I spent too many years railing for that series to end. I think you know my thoughts on that. biggrin

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    E-mail: JDRUM@247SPORTS.COM Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/JDrumUK

    Jeff Drummond

  • I wouldn't want to play IU and UC on a year-in, year-out basis. Maybe rotate UL, IU and Cincy (though I know they will never let the UL series go to that)? I strongly think we're going to have to beat UC to make any headway recruiting Cincinnati. And no, I don't want to see the IU series reinstated long-term, but we are trying to recruit Indy, and it would go with the current theme of playing away games in an NFL stadium.

    DACats86

  • DACats86 said...

    Why? I doubt we have a 50/50 shot of beating any one of those teams at home, much less on the road. Also, the only one of those teams that might schedule UK is USF in hopes of knocking off an SEC team. The other teams have more to lose playing UK than they have to gain.

    I think you are underestimating UK, I def. think we would have a 50/50 shot at any of those teams. I also believe that any of those would like a shot at UK just because they can hype a game against SEC competition. Lastly all those teams play in an area where UK recruits heavily aside from UNC and there is quite a bit of talent in that area.

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    "Kentucky Football needs to be and will be a championship contender in the SEC."~Mitch Barnhart 11/4/12

    rgunslinger

  • Matt May said...

    Are you willing to lose those games? Will you be okay if they miss a bowl because they lost one? That, to me, is a big question. People want to see more high profile opponents but I'm not sure they're okay with what happens if they lose that game.

    First I'm definitely not one of those that wants to upgrade the schedule or schedule another BCS team for OOC. Personally I think having a rivalry game and the usual SEC schedule is plenty tough as it is.

    But that wasn't the question. The question was who would I want to schedule for an away game with the particular criteria laid out by the OP, so I answered the question.

    To answer your question, I'd hate to lose one of those games thats why I don't think UK should do anything more than what we are right now.

    This post was edited by rgunslinger on 6/16/2011 at 11:48 AM

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    "Kentucky Football needs to be and will be a championship contender in the SEC."~Mitch Barnhart 11/4/12

    rgunslinger

  • I'd like to see us playing some of the lower-to-mid tier ACC schools whose areas we tend to recruit. NC State and Virginia would be up there on my list. Maybe Wake, but I don't think that would help us as much. UNC would be a fun one to pick up but, with all the talent they get to the NFL each year, they'll have to put it together one of these years and have a big season. And, chances are, it'd be when we play 'em. lol

    Playing Illinois, Indiana or Purdue would probably help out recruiting a bit. Mizzou would be another possibility, but they've gotten a lot tougher over the last few years.

    The problem, as Matt said, is that taking on any of these teams in addition to Louisville, who are still fully capable of beating us despite the Kragthorpe debacle, makes the road to a bowl game much, much more difficult. On the one hand, I'd love to see some of these teams and get onto recruits TVs in those areas, but we've gotta win to really make a difference.

    Delirium

  • Vandy 2008. Won 4 SEC games. That's what we think we should be doing right now right?

    Played two BCS opponents OOC like has been kicked around. Duke (lol, right?) and Wake Forest (not exactly a rep builder but a UC-type team)

    Lost both of those games.

    Finished 6-6 instead of 8-4 if they had played a Miami(OH)-type team.

    Instead of possibly playing in the Outback bowl, they stayed in their own city for the bowl game.

    Beat Boston College to finish 7-6.

    Wouldn't a 9-4 record look much better than 7-6? Nobody cares who you play OOC in SEC football. It's all about wins if you are in the SEC.

    But, to get back to the original topic. You go all or nothing for the next BCS team. Add FSU or Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech or Ohio State. Either go all out or keep it the way it is.

    This post was edited by blue mold on 6/16/2011 at 12:53 PM

    blue mold

  • Matt May said...

    Are you willing to lose those games? Will you be okay if they miss a bowl because they lost one? That, to me, is a big question. People want to see more high profile opponents but I'm not sure they're okay with what happens if they lose that game.

    That's a valid question, but I already hear grumblings out there that people are tired of beating four chumps and going 2-6 in the SEC in order to go bowling. Eventually, I think UK is going to have to spice things up a little bit. They'll have to be smart when they do it and pick their spots. And, as we know, sometimes you wind up getting more than you originally bargained for.

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    Jeff Drummond

  • Jeff, I'm fully convinced people are complaining about UK's football schedule just so they can poo-poo our accomplishments recently. We are not doing anything different than anyone else in the SEC.

    I know DAcats isn't doing this, but a lot of people are.

    blue mold

  • I don't think UK plays a much different schedule than the rest of the SEC (when you're talking about overall strength) but it just feels much more "routine." You can pretty much count on UofL, MAC school and in-state school being 3 of the 4. It gets a little stale at times.

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    Jeff Drummond

  • I agree with the poster above and said this earlier...start with ACC like Va/NC State/Duke. Drop the UL series all together...we get absoltely nothing at all. It is like arguing with a fool you can never win!! How about N'western at Soldier Field? Baylor or Rice in the southwest/Tx. Tulane, So Mississippi or Memphis. I think we would travel well, give us exposure in our recruiting areas and better than average opportunity to win. Another possibility would be service academies. I think a game with Army would be good for fan interest due to retired military from Ft Knox and the connections from Ft Campbell plus would be a fun away game. This is all in line with our SEC brethern. Yet gives us a breather from MAC teams.

    bigsam2

  • blue mold said...

    Jeff, I'm fully convinced people are complaining about UK's football schedule just so they can poo-poo our accomplishments recently. We are not doing anything different than anyone else in the SEC.

    I know DAcats isn't doing this, but a lot of people are.

    No, I'm not. I'm pretty happy with the "degree of difficulty" of the current OOC schedule - I would just like to see if it can be geographically shifted a bit to help in recruiting. I don't want it to get more difficult. UF, LSU, UGA, UT, Ole Miss, MSU, etc. provide more than enough "marquee" games. That's why I proposed teams like GSU (second year of football), and FAU (who are actaully pretty good) rather than GaTech or USF. My thought process was primarily directed toward the away game giving us a recruiting presence, not another "big" game.

    That said, I think slinger overestimates UK - teams like Clemson, UNC, GaTech, USF, etc. could easily, and would likely, mop the field against UK. I would rather take my chances against teams like that in bowl games.

    DACats86

  • UofL really limits our options because every so often they will have a good team, not often, but occasionally. We are never dropping the UofL series, so we are pretty much stuck until we get to the point we are winning 8-9 games consistently.

    blue mold

  • We aren't stuck with UL. We could opt out and move on. We gain nothing from them. The only acrimony would be from UL administration since they depend so heavily on that one game to pay for their stadium. Hell, I live in Louisville and am a season UK ticket holder but I drew the line last year when UL charged $72 per ticket. If you think they dont' need us, guess again. All we get in helping them pay their bills is endless whinning and bitching from their fanbase and TJ.

    bigsam2

  • DACats86 said...

    No, I'm not. I'm pretty happy with the "degree of difficulty" of the current OOC schedule - I would just like to see if it can be geographically shifted a bit to help in recruiting. I don't want it to get more difficult. UF, LSU, UGA, UT, Ole Miss, MSU, etc. provide more than enough "marquee" games. That's why I proposed teams like GSU (second year of football), and FAU (who are actaully pretty good) rather than GaTech or USF. My thought process was primarily directed toward the away game giving us a recruiting presence, not another "big" game.

    That said, I think slinger overestimates UK - teams like Clemson, UNC, GaTech, USF, etc. could easily, and would likely, mop the field against UK. I would rather take my chances against teams like that in bowl games.

    Really? We can go to Georgia and Auburn and get wins but Clemson and USF would mop the field with us? The only team in the SEC we haven't been competitive with over the last few years is Florida and I don't see any of those teams being that good.

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    "Kentucky Football needs to be and will be a championship contender in the SEC."~Mitch Barnhart 11/4/12

    rgunslinger

  • Yes, we are stuck with UofL until THEY drop the series. Nobody from UK will have the nads to drop them.

    blue mold

  • If they wont play us in basketball lets play Duke in football. Should be a easy win every year and its looks better on the schedule then some of these other teams we play. Opening up some exposure over there could help us pull some kids to KY, its not that far and seems to be a untapped recruiting ground for the SEC.

    justinbarker2

  • With UGa on the schedule, I'm not sure we need a series with GT. But, I feel it would be a great series for both teams.

    Playing Cincy would be ideal.

    A series with a south FL school, like FAU or FIU, would also be great.

    If UK is serious about getting into NC, then playing UNC, NC St., Duke, or Wake is needed.

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    alphacat93

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