The House of Blue

About those state standards, are we done then?

A conference move is #1 on the agenda going forward. I'm not concerned.

Okay, let's rip this apart:

Louisville lost 4 (to 6?) or their top receivers:

Yards in Order:
1. M. Harris - Injured
2. Eli Rogers - Playing
3. Josh Chichester (TE) - Graduated
4. Devante Parker - Playing
5. J. Bellamy - Graduated
6. V. Anderson (RB) - Graduated
7. Andrell Smith - Playing
8. Jarret Davis - Playing

By TDs in Order:
1. Parker - Playing
2. Scott Radcliff - Playing
2. Chichester - Graduated
2. Bellamy - Graduated
2. Harris - Injured
6. Rogers - Playing

So basically to break it down Louisville returns two of their best receivers in Rogers and Parker in terms of yardage, receptions (which I didn't list), and TDs. They also return Andrell Smith who was better than all but two of UKs WRs in terms of yardage.

Harris is obviously the biggest impact because he was our best receiver, but there isn't a big fall off to Rogers. The one thing the Cards need is more consistency out of Parker. Scott Radcliff was one of the best looking WRs in the Spring, and is will probably see the most time in the slot.

It's hard to say that Bellamy is hard to replace. The guy was hugely talented, but couldn't stay on the field and in the starting line up last year. He had the talent, but not quite as much as Rogers and Harris.

The biggest concern is replacing TE Josh Chichester, but I don't think it will be that big of a drop off for the Cards. I'm not sure who will win between Nate Nord and Chris White, but I think they'll be more reliable receivers than Chichester, and both are better blockers. I'm not sure if they'll rack up the same amount of yardage, but I'd say one will at least get close, but do it in more receptions. Both are better blockers than Chi.

Top Rusher:
I honestly couldn't tell you who are top rusher was last year, but I'd say you're probably talking about Greg Scruggs. He will certainly be missed, and is doing well for the Seattle Seahawks so far, but his production wasn't outstanding, but it was above average. There were several guys last year able to make an impact at the position such as B.J. Butler, Marcus Smith, and Dubose, so I'm not concerned at all there. Plenty of talent and experience to go around.

Louisville returns everyone besides Scruggs, who was a part time starter last year thanks to injuries and suspension. I think the defensive line will be fine.

2 (to 4?) Top Tacklers:
I don't know who I'm forgetting here but I'll say Dexter Heyman. Huge loss, guy was a beast, but we're sliding over Preston Brown to fill in the MLB spot. Brown is more athletic and was the 2nd leading tackler on the team last year. I don't know who guys 2 to 4 would be. Scruggs again?

Top Interceptor:
I believe the Top DB with INTs was Andrew Johnson, but we did lose Anthony Conner to graduation and a terrible neck injury against UConn. I like Conner, and I'm sorry for what happened, but I don't think he was one of our better CBs last year. I liked him at Nickle while the other guys grew up, but Bushnell and Johnson were superior starters.

Honestly if you look at the end of the year Louisville returns all 4 starters from both CB and Safety positions for the last 5 games. I believe our safety duo is the best in the Big East, Smith was recognized as such and I believe Pryor was on the freshmen team.

Kicker:
Yea, we're going to miss Philpot this year for sure. He was under-appreciated his last two seasons. Heard the guys coming in are good, but you never really know with a kicker until he's in the game.

So here's how I see it so far, if I try to be as un-biased as possible: Based on returning players and not freshmen (Nothing on this list included freshmen)

QB: Louisville - More experience with better numbers.
HB: Push - Neither team has proven they have a dominate back who will play next Sunday. Both can claim good depth.
WR: Slight Louisville - I'd say without Parker, and Smith this is a push based on last year's numbers
TE: Push - None of them have proven anything
OL: Slight Louisville - Both have a highly touted player, but both are also very young. Gonna give the edge to Louisville for having more played snaps.

DL: UK - UK returns more starters (I believe)
LB: Louisville - UK lost both top tacklers, UofL lost one.
CB: Louisville - UofL has two guys that established themselves as starters in the final 6 games of the season. UK is having depth issues as well.
S: Louisville - All conference nods given to both safeties (as outlined above)

ST: UK - UK returns their kicking star power over Louisville's 0 returners.

I think Louisville looks like the better team, but mistakes keep it closer than most of us want.

17 to 27 Cards win.

Yes, please do. Terrible conference based on what exactly?

You're probably right. Denial is a sad affliction.

I'm interested in seeing how both teams perform in the Special teams. I have heard that uk hasn't named a certain kick/punt return man based on slippery hands issues. Can anyone confirm or deny that report?

I'll make it easy
BE teams in the final baseball Top 25-0
softball Top 25-2
Volleyball-0

Now SEC teams
Baseball-6
softball-4
Volleyball-3
The SEC won NATIONAL Championships in 9 sports this year. They only compete in 21.

The softball may be wrong because USA Today never updated their rankings for the final week.

First, at what point did this turn into Big East vs SEC? You have changed the topic.

Second, I will have to look more carefully at OOC competitions for those sports before accurately rebutting.

Third, since you brought up the SEC (which is obviously what you were waiting with baited breath to do), I will leave you with this.

-uk trumpeting the SEC is akin to the nail trumpeting the hammer.

Who is really the school that doesn't belong in their respective conference? UofL or uk

UofL has dominated so much that the Big12 was scared to take them. lol.

Take a look around other teams boards...the perception is UL's begging. Need more? Look at the Jurich's public quotes stating UL's openness to other options. Privately, he's turning over every leaf to get out of the BE...see Mitch McConnell's involvement in the B12 - WVU fiasco. It's sad, Texas likes having their arse kissed and their still not impressed with you.

Agreed, the ACC has been on a downward swing for 5-10 years, minus BB.

Since UL joined the BE in 2005, I'll go from there. IMO, the BE has been completely different since UL joined. The BE is 4-4, none of those games were Championship games. Three of those wins just ran out the door with WVU, who had an exciting win over a good Okla team, an unranked UGA team and most recently over Clemson...from that terrible conference called the ACC. The other W came by defeating Wake freakin Forest, another team from that terrible ACC conference! I know you guys are proud of that, but really your thumping your chest for Wake Forest? Really? So really, your argument comes down to the BE demanding respect for beating Wake. It's just not going to happen.

OOC win % is worthless stat. Were teams eating cupcakes or beating BCS team? That applies for all BCS conferences.

Are you really happy with the BE bowl tie ins? There pathetic. Even you should be able to agree to that. Does a Win % really matter when its in the Toilet Bowl verse a bottom tier BCS team or a Non-BCS team?

IMO, the national media perception of the BE is spot on. Recently, the BE has been involved in the lowest TV viewer rated BCS games. Are you telling me that the majority of college FB fans are wrong about the BE? Clearly, other BCS conferences voting to removing all AQ status shows that the BE's peers felt they were piggy backing. Now only the best of the best make it, regardless of conference affiliation. It's finally how it should have always been.

Agree, the OL should be much improved over last year. Talent wise they are equal or better than last year. Then factor in the health compared to last year and I see significant hope for improvement. I am a bit concerned about RT though. But I've also heard Mitchell is having a nice camp.

If I remember correctly Newton had his best passing game against UL. Smith is a more capable passer than Newton and we'll have more options at WR and TE. If given time I can see him surpassing Newtons numbers last year and opening things up for our running game.

The DL with another year of experience should be more capable of stopping the run. But really UL had a very good game plan last year. Just ram the ball down Winston Guys throat and run over top freaky Luke McDermott. They just weren't strong enough to hold the point of attack. I believe Simpson and the Rumph/Cobble/Coleman combo are more capable run stoppers. This allowed UL to take shots deep when the box was stacked. So they were able to complete some deep passes against 1 on 1 for TD's. IMO, the D is more capable of stopping the run mostly due to the DL development and a LB corp that's more physical at the point of attack. So we should be able to focus on limiting UL's deep threat/quick score possibilities. We need to make this a grinder where one big play can win the game.

I honestly believe that uk has one player on d that could start for us. If your front 4 was that good we would have been the ones running for our lives in last years game. Looked to be the other way around to me. Don't give me the.... "well our online sucked". UofL started 3 true freshman on oline last year and FIU and Marshal had much better pass rush against us than uk did last year. We really weren't a very good football team when we beat uk in lessington last year. But we ran for 5 times as many yards and were in newtons face the entire game. I've always said..... "if you beat uk you still might not be any good, but if you loose to uk then you know you suck"

This is why I hesitate even trying to communicate with U of L fans. You are so consumed with your own team that you know nothing about the other team. Over and over in this thread people have told you about UK's team last year, and the changes from the first of the season to the end, but UL fans seem to ignore the facts.
Severely injured O-line
installing a completely new Defense
not game-planning for Bridgewater and Brown

By the end of the year, we lost to Georgia by about the same amount as we lost to U of L. Our offense was still a MASH unit, but our defense had finally clicked. We have 1 player on D that could start for U of L? Cobble, Rumph, Williamson, Dupree are names to give you some idea of who you'll see on Sept 2nd.
Honestly, I hope U of L fans continue to believe that UK is terrible, doesn't practice hard, has no talent, and won't even compete on Sept 2nd. History says otherwise, but if you want to set yourselves up for a crushing loss, then who am I to stop you.

We all realize you weren't very good last year. Thats really a point you don't have to make twice.

Really? The majority of your program's success came in the effing metro. Dear lord, please make this nonsense stop.