Loge Level

Looks like Andre’ Woodson’s draft stock is falling fast.  From MMQB (Link)

Fourth through sixth rounds: Eric Ainge, Tennessee; Andre Woodson, Kentucky; Matt Flynn, LSU; Dennis Dixon, Oregon and Joshua Johnson, San Diego.

Of all the players here, Dixon’s the most intriguing. He’s rehabbing the surgically repaired ACL in his left knee, hoping to work out for scouts in early April and do most of what the pros need to see. Woodson needs to have a good predraft experience with some teams to come out of his free-fall; scouts think he’s a guy who will need max protection because of mediocre mobility. Flynn? Not on many radar screens, but he’ll make someone a good third-string guy while he works 25-hour days adapting to the pro game.

Back in November, King projected that Woodson would be the first QB selected. (Link)

UK fans if you are driving through Tennessee on your way to Atlanta be sure to obey all the traffic laws because if a UT coach sees you, they will turn you in.  Just look at their history:

Phil Fulmer

Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer secretly provided damaging information about Alabama to the NCAA, according to a lawyer for two former Crimson Tide football coaches suing the organization.
Court documents show Fulmer twice called NCAA staffer Rich Johanningmeier, who was probing alleged wrongdoing at Alabama in 2000, and gave him information implicating the Tide in rules violations, according to attorney Tommy Gallion.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/3980616/

Bruce Pearl

Fifteen years ago, Pearl cooperated with an NCAA investigation centering around the recruitment of Deon Thomas, who both Iowa, where Pearl worked as an assistant, and Illinois were courting.
Pearl tape-recorded a telephone conversation with Thomas, who had told Pearl that Illinois had offered him a Chevrolet Blazer and thousands of dollars for his commitment.
http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/3980616/

And most recently Pat Summitt

The University of Connecticut committed a secondary rules violation during the recruitment of star freshman Maya Moore, two sources familiar with the NCAA violation told ESPN.
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The two sources said the NCAA launched its investigation after receiving a complaint from the Southeastern Conference. The SEC asked the NCAA to investigate the allegation that UConn had arranged the ESPN tour after the conference received a complaint from the University of Tennessee. At the time, Tennessee was also recruiting Moore, who starred at Collins Hill High School in Suwannee, Ga.
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=3289808

Sorry, Tru, I commend your resiliency, but the Patrick Patterson news has pretty much ruined my weekend.

What makes this so difficult to swallow is that Kentucky was on the verge of completing a remarkable in-season turnaround. Gardner-Webb . . . San Diego . . . blowing the lead against UAB . . . being simply out-classed by North Carolina, Indiana, and Louisville . . . the 40-point thrashing in Nashville — somehow, it was all going to culminate with a positively mind-blowing bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Now? Uh, not so much.

We’re left with ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi crushing poor Lance from Corbin’s dreams:

Lance (Corbin Ky): Joe, let’s just say that UT does hold home-court advantage and beats UK (respectfully, let’s say by 10), and UK wins out against S. Carolina & Florida (18-11 and 12-4 sec) and has a good showing in the SEC Tournament. Where do you see UK’s seeding? I’m thinking between 7-12 depending on SEC Tournament showing. Also, if you were a 5, 6 or 7 seeded team how scared would you be to see that Kentucky was your first round opponent seeded at 12, 11 or 10? UK has really played well in the SEC this year (with exception of @ Vandy, but EVERY team has a off-night), and yes I understand that the SEC as a whole is a bit down this year to past years but, UT, UK, VANDY, MISS ST, FLORIDA and maybe ARKANSAS could give about any team fits on a neutral court site. GO BIG BLUE NATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SportsNation Joe Lunardi: (4:08 PM ET ) This may all be moot given today’s news about Patrick Patterson. It’s hard to imagine UK getting/staying on a roll without him.

[Link] Ouch, Joe. But, unfortunately, it’ll be surprising if Lunardi’s proven wrong. Even with a healthy Patterson, we were decided underdogs against Tennessee, and the South Carolina and Florida games were far from gimmes. Candidly, I don’t expect to win any of those games now. Not saying it can’t happen — crazier things have — but I’m significantly lowering the bar.

Where do we do go from here? Even if we lose out, I’d think an NIT bid would still be a possibility. But, as a UK fan, I’m unfamiliar with NIT qualifications.

So, yea, what about spring football? Will Curtis Pulley beat out Michael Hartline for the quarterback job? Would an “I *heart* Hartline” shirt be cool or not cool? And just who will Pulley or Hartline be throwing to?

Onward and upward!

A lot is being made about UK’s refusal to move the UK – UofL football game to Monday right now.

I never thought I would be saying this, and I hate the fact that it’s come to this, but we should drop the series. It’s obvious that this is what Kentucky wants, and if it’s going to be like this every year - and at this point why should any of us believe that it isn’t - then the game is going to become far more trouble than it’s worth. (Link)

I honestly think that Barnhart is just trying to stick it to the Cardinals any way he can these days. (Link)

Truth be told, UK’s reluctance to acquiesce to U of L’s wish — the Cards want the Monday night affair — has more to do with the prickly relationship between the cross-state rivals than anything else. (Link)

While most people think UK’s doing this just to stick it to Louisville I’m not so sure. After all UK did acquiesce to moving the basketball game pretty quickly. I actually think it comes down to two things.

The first being UK truly doesn’t want a four day turnaround for Norfolk State. Brooks knows that no matter what the circumstances UK should win this game. But it’s only been the last couple of years that UK being favored has translated to on the field success. A loss against Louisville, while crushing to the fans, would not derail the season; however losing at home to Norfolk State would. To this point Eric Crawford writes:

That’s a bit shaky. It’s no different from playing a Thursday night game after a Saturday game. The turnaround is the same. What is different is the night of the week. (Link)

But UK doesn’t typically play Thursday night games. When they did last year they were embarrassed by a team they should have been able to play with.

The second thing that is being overlooked is that unlike UofL, UK under Rich Brooks typically doesn’t factor TV exposure into their decision making.  As John Clay notes:

Louisville has already shown it would play a football game at 3 a.m. in the Freedom Hall parking lot if ESPN asked. Kentucky has already shown it could care less (a) what Louisville wants or (b) if there are any TV cameras at all on hand for the annual rivalry game. (Link)

While this position goes against the grain the on the field results back up Brooks. After all Louisville has been willing to play anytime just to be on TV but that exposure hasn’t translated to better recruiting classes.

Finally in regards to Rick Bozich’s comment:

Schedule the game for Labor Day Night. If Kentucky doesn’t show up, mark it down as a forfeit. (Link)

Maybe if Louisville wanted to play on a Monday so bad they should have put that in the contract. After all it looks a bit odd that the so-called best AD in the world — Tom Jurich — keeps getting out maneuvered by Mitch in regards to football scheduling.

SEC Football Power Rankings in February, huh?

If you’re curious, ESPN.com’s Chris Lowe has Kentucky at No. 11 — in front of only Vanderbilt.

What we know: Rich Brooks has restored credibility back to Kentucky football.
What we don’t know: Is there life after Andre’ Woodson?
How the Wildcats can get to Atlanta: Buying a ticket would be their best bet.

[Link]

In his overview of Spring Football in the Conference, Lowe says the positions to watch at Kentucky are quarterback and wide receiver. I’d have to agree.

With football signing day having come and gone, I wanted to take a look at Kentucky’s last six recruiting classes to see how the members of those classes performed over the last two seasons — Kentucky’s most successful seasons in decades.

I chose to go all the way back to the 2002 class (Guy Morriss’ last class) because members of that class who redshirted were eligible during Kentucky’s 2006 season. (Plus, the furthest Rivals’* recruiting ranking archives go back is 2002, so that worked out well.)

First, a macro analysis (and I use that word loosely). I want to see where Kentucky’s last six classes rank, where Kentucky’s 2006 and 2007 opponents’ classes rank, and how Kentucky did against those opponents. [Hat tip to SMQ for the inspiration for this. If you want to see something like what’s below, but for all the Bowl Championship Series schools, by all means, click here.] Crappy Word tables and ‘analysis’ after the jump!

(more…)

Eli gets his. Hey-yo Rick Bozich!

From December 5, 2006:

My guess is their reasoning had something to do with SEC tradition and the league’s record of producing quality NFL players. You know the names — quarterbacks who are turning the NFL upside down, like Rex Grossman, Eli Manning, Tim Couch, Eric Zeier and Heath Shuler.

PS. And what about Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart in Peyton’s booth?

One time UK celebrity fan Eddie Montgomery is playing a concert for Tennessee’s Orange and White game.  (Link)

Country singers Taylor Swift and Montgomery Gentry will headline a Neyland Stadium concert the day before Tennessee’s Orange and White spring game.

Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton compares the football spring game to “midnight madness” in basketball and says the inaugural pre-game Gridiron Bash will boost the fan experience.

This decision is kind of hard to reconcile with Montgomery’s previous comments concerning Kentucky football. (Link)

I love (Kentucky) football and I’ve taken a lot of grief from a lot of guys for a long time over that, especially those guys from Tennessee. They rag on me all the time during football.

Richard Justice, in a column about college football coaches takes a shot at Gillispie.

Sometimes, coaches negotiate deals and announce they’re happy to be staying put. Only they never sign the new deal and keep listening to offers. Hey, Billy Gillispie, know anyone like that?

We’re a few days late on this, but — as promised — here are our thoughts on the University of Kentucky’s decision to name Joker Phillips as Rich Brooks’ eventual successor:

It’s a great move and an important move. It’s a great move because of the continuity it provides. (We certainly won’t claim to be the first to proclaim this.) It’s important because Phillips would be Kentucky’s first African American football coach and the Southeastern Conference’s second. (Again, we’re not breaking new ground by stating this.) (more…)

Per Chip Cosby of the Athens of the West’s leading newpaper, the Herald-Leader, our beloved Kentucky Wildcats are going all Florida State and Purdue on us and announcing today that Offensive Coordinator Joker Phillips will be Head Coach Rich Brooks’ eventual successor. 
 
We’re going out of town for the holiday weekend, but we promise eventual analysis. (We know you wait with baited breath.)  We’ll hazard a quick guess that Phillips must have gotten a pretty sweet offer over the last couple of weeks

I just noticed last week that UK has already posted the 2008 football schedule on Limestone.  A quick glance at revels that there are not a lot of appealing home games.  Based on Stewart Mandel’s projected power rankings (Link) UK will only play one team at home in the top 25 (#1 UGA).

It looks like Woodson’s draft stock might be slipping a bit.

A month ago Peter King wrote: 

I think the first quarterback chosen in a good draft for quarterbacks next April will be Kentucky’s Andre’ Woodson, over Brian Brohm of Louisville and Matt Ryan of BC. All good choices, though. (Link)

However, today he added:

I think Matt Ryan, the Boston College quarterback, is starting to distance himself in scouts’ eyes from the two other top quarterback candidates, Andre Woodson of Kentucky and Brian Brohm of Louisville. Colt Brennan will have the eyes of the NFL on him in Hawaii’s bowl game against Georgia. Second-round mini-sleeper: Joe Flacco of Delaware, who’s got a big arm and could climb the ladder. (Link)

University of Louisville junior wide receiver Mario Urrutia has declared for the NFL draft. (Link)

His decision raises a couple of questions 1) Who will Cantwell throw to next season and 2) how is this Petrino’s fault?

Is this man responsible for ruining Louisville football? 

One of the interesting things that has come out of Louisville’s disappointing season and Bobby Petrino’s surprising move to Arkansas is how a lot of the blame for this years Louisville football team has been shifted to Bobby Petrino.

Kragthorpe started the shift by routinely referring to off the field issues he was not aware of:

“There are only so many things that I’m allowed to say because of legalities. I feel like I’ve been as forthright as I possibly could. But there are certain things that I cannot say whether it’s due to injuries or off the field situations. There are certain things that I would lose my job if I were to divulge them. So I can’t do that.”
“It’s certainly been a challenge in terms of things that I inherited. But that’s the situation I’m in and I have to play the hand I’m dealt. I work hard every day to try to reflect a positive attitude and I’ll continue to do that every day.” (Link)

“Certainly there have been some challenges with some off-the-field situations that I did not anticipate, but we’re working through those.” (Link)

Initially these comments were met by the local media as well as Louisville bloggers with some skepticism.

Vague charges are unfair to Petrino, his assistants and the guys who played for U of L the past four seasons.
What are we talking about? Marijuana? HGH? The clear and the cream? Guys betting on games? My imagination is only getting warmed up.
If there was a drug problem, why not say you’ve eliminated it? If guys were routinely cutting class, why not say you’ve fixed that, too?  (Link)

That skepticism however appears to be short lived.  As Petrino’s behavior in leaving Atlanta brought out an assault on his character the supposed mess he left behind in Louisville is being brought up any many columns.

Stewart Mandel on SI.com (Link)

An ineffective (or, quite possibly, non-existent) disciplinarian. As Louisville’s disastrous 6-6 season played out this year, some unsavory details began to emerge about the way Petrino ran his program. New coach Steve Kragthorpe dealt with a litany of off-the-field issues that his predecessor either overlooked, or possibly covered up, involving some bad seeds he recruited.

Pat Forde on ESPN.com (Link)

Petrino left behind many talented players for Kragthorpe, but sources say he also left behind some off-field issues that the new coach has tried to address. Kragthorpe has suspended and/or dismissed numerous players this season.

And locally

What happens around U of L when you don’t make a BCS game? Ask Kragthorpe.
Fans don’t applaud you for trying to clean up Petrino’s mess. They tell you that players don’t fear you the way they feared Petrino. They tell you that you’re not the motivator, strategist and — gulp — genius that he was.
Let the new coach lose to Kentucky and Syracuse, and people will forget what a liar the old coach was. (Link)

The sad part of this is that Petrino was, and may still be, a remarkable college coach, if he can just get recruits and their parents to stop laughing. Though all of a sudden, all of these off-the-field messes that U of L has been hinting that he left here are much more pertinent, now that he’s returning to the college game. (Link)

While Petrino certainly has some character issues and is clearly looking out for himself. It is a bit disingenuous to blame Louisville’s problems on him.  After all, these are he same players who went to a BCS game just last season.  A season in which things like flipping off opposing fans and spitting on opposing players did not occur.  Not to mention the fact that prior to the season Kragthorpe himself said.

“I don’t think there’s any question we want to play in the national championship game this year. People may say that’s a bold statement. Well, if we don’t have that type of thought process, we really don’t need to be out there practicing right now.”

So over the 9 months prior to the season Kragthorpe didn’t realize he had any off the field problems and felt he could compete for a national championship.  Yet as losses started to mount these problems all arose over a period of 14 weeks.  Luckily for Kragthorpe, Petrino is the perfect scapegoat because he’s so toxic right now he can be blamed for anything.