There is plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the way things are going to go for this football team. First I believe in this coaching staff. Joker Phillips is a guy that is just easy to get behind and is a great leader, a great offensive minded coach, and a guy with a whole lot of heart that pumps nothing but wildcat blue blood. During the post game conference he mentioned that he was living out his dream by coaching the team he picked to play for back in 1981. The thing I'm most impressed with is the coaches he's brought into the program this year. The rewards of Mike Summer, Tee Martin, David Turner, and Rock Oliver are already starting to become evident in the short amount of time they have been with us. The offensive line may be the unit I'm most excited about, although not as talented as most SEC lines, they are playing exceptionally well; allowing very few sacks while making pretty good lanes for our running backs to get through. I don't think anyone really expected them to be playing this well with the loss of experience, and the credit should go to Mike Summers. There have been far less injuries compared to years past and I believe Mr. Oliver may have something to do with that as well. Other things like better recruiting, more intensity, better blitz packages, more confidence could also be attributed to the new coaching staff.

   The overall talent is improving substantially. I counted 18 guys that are contributors, guys that either start or key backups, that will be graduating within the next 2 years.  That amount is pretty low considering a recruiting class usually consist of 25+ players. We will be as good or better at almost every position next year. We have two talented QB's that could have probably done an OK job this year. We will have two good running backs that have proven themselves, and Brandon Gainer which I'm excited about seeing play. The offensive line will lose only the center, Marcus Davis, and will have a hand full of sophomores, a couple of juniors, and three seniors that started this year,  also  3 recruits rated in the top 20 at their position coming in. The defense will lose DeQuin Evans and Ricky Lumpkin which hurts, but the secondary will lose no starters and should be quite a bit better overall unit. We will gain more than we lose on defense with guys like Mister Cobble, Glen Faulkner, Dale Trimble coming to play. We will still be undersized, especially at the defensive end position, but the added experience will cancel out at least some of the weaknesses you see this year. Their is always some unplanned misfortunes like kids not being eligible, and injuries that come up every year, but the future looks bright for Kentucky Football.

  Just wanted to share some of my excitement with everyone! GO CATS!!!

   The defense is not improving year to year. It's clear that we don't have the talent that other top tier SEC programs have, but doesn't part of the blame lay on Brown for that as well because of not getting the job done recruiting. I see everything slowly improving around our wildcat football team except the defense. Brown has had talent on his defense's before which includes a list of players that are currently in the NFL, and he couldn't do very well even with the talent. How many years is Urban Meyer going to embarrass our defense? It's not just Fla that's doing it either; a slue of teams have had great rushing games against us. Our SEC opponents 3rd down conversion rate over the last 5 years is probably through the roof. I think a lot has to do with predictable, non-adaptive, and non aggressive game plans by our DC. I think it may be time for Kentucky to dish our some money and hire a new defensive coordinator.

  This is my first ever post here, and it comes out of frustration. I want to know if I'm being to hard on the guy or do you feel the same way? How many of you think Steve gets cut at the end of the season?