Untitled Document

BIG BLUE FANS FOR

FOOTBALL

2011

Could 2011 Be THE YEAR
That Kentucky Football Sheds
The Big Orange Gorilla?

Not since 1984 has a UK football player been able to end a regular football season with a win! Think about that for just a moment and consider how important ending seasons on an uptick is for the image of a program, and the psyche of the players, coaches, and fans. However, that is the hard cold fact of the matter. No UK player or coach has been able to end a regular season with a win since 1984!

The pessimism throughout the Big Blue Nation about THE STREAK has become epidemic over the last 4 seasons because most Big Blue fans have sensed each of those seasons [2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010] that the UK football team was every bit as good as, if not better than, the corresponding Tennessee football team. Yet, in each of those games, the Blue team seemed to find some way to let potential wins slip away into that dreadful loss column, as the orange clad fans, players, and coaches publically gloated about THE STREAK and the inevitability of a season ending Tennessee win.

Frustrations, anger, and resentment about the situation simply expands to new levels with each new sad chapter, making Big Blue footballers wonder what there really is to give Thanks for on Turkey Day.

Risking the familiar chorus of pessimism that has become the state of being for UK Football fans, I suggest that 2011 can be the year that Kentucky Football gets that Big Orange Gorilla off its back. Here is why.

Long Term Trends For UK and UT Football; 1998 Through 2010
(See The Trend Graphs for All SEC Opponents Here)

Most observers will agree that UK football has been a program on the rise over the last 5 years. It has risen relative to the NCAA D1 field as well as its very tough SEC field. In contrast, the Tennessee football program has been in decline over the last many years. As evidence of these trends, consider the year ending Sagarin ratings for each program from 1998 through 2010 as shown above.

These long-term trends that most observers, including Big Blue Fans, have sensed and frequently expressed are also clear from the Sagarin Ratings trends for these two programs. The Trend Lines will cross in 2011!!! The Cats' 2010 performance was a one year down turn in an overall rising trend while the Vols' 2010 performance was just another step down in their long-term decline. Coach Joker Phillips' second year, by all accounts, should be marked by improvement consistent with that long term rising trend. However, Tennessee athletics are in disarray. The NCAA is on their case about football, regarding infractions in recent years and many believe the hammer may be about to fall, given the resignation this week of Mike Hamilton, the UT AD who has overseen this decline, made questionable coaching hires, as well as other had his finger prints on many other difficult issues in Knoxville.

I believe!

I believe 2011 will be the year that UK Football players, coaches, and fans will give Thanks on Turkey Day for a season ending victory over the Big Orange as excitement builds for a trip to a more significant bowl game than UK football has enjoyed since the days of Tim Couch.

Go Big Blue!

Submitted by Richard Cheeks

2011 Season Projections Based Solely on 2010 Season Statistics for All Teams

Go Back To 2010 Overview Page

Submitted by Richard Cheeks