Game 1?

As we approach the Ole Miss game on Saturday at 12:21pm est, I feel in some ways like the season really starts tomorrow. Before the year started, I was about 80% sure that we'd be 3-1 going into this week with almost exclusively winnable games left on the schedule. Since then, the plot in the SEC has thickened a little, but we still don't know too much about our Cats. It might be easier to analyze our future opponents than ourselves at this point.

Here is what seems to have shaken loose on that front. First, Auburn (4-0) and South Carolina (3-1, with its lone loss a no shamer at Auburn), look tough to beat. Both have added players who allow them to transcend their recent success. Auburn has a Heisman trophy contender dual threat at QB in Cam Newton, and USClite boasts the most talked about freshman in the SEC, RB Marcus Lattimore. USC is showing some chinks in the armour. Spurrier cannot help himself from creating a quarterback controversy despite having his best signal caller in years and Auburn did manage to bottle up Lattimore after he went absolutely bananas against Georgia.

Auburn has fewer warts, but SEC fans will recall that it started 5-0 last year before settling down to a more pedestrian 7-5 regular season. Of course, UK beat that team on the road.

Georgia looked tougher on the drawing board than it now does. The Bulldogs just got spanked by Mississippi State and are 0-3 in the SEC. AJ Green will be back from suspension and UGa will face a couple of slumpbusters by the time they play Kentucky on 10/23. Still, they are one bad loss away from being in full scale red alert with a coach on a scorching hot seat.

All of which brings us to Ole Miss. The Rebels are 2-2 with embarrassing home losses to Vandy and Jacksonville freakin State already on the resume. They are ranked 100th in scoring defense in the NCAA, having given up 32 points a game (against a very weak schedule). Kentucky has to win this game in order to have a good season. Could we sneak into a bowl at 6-6 without it? Sure. There are other potential wins left on the schedule. But to me, this one is so ripe for the plucking that it would be hard to recover from losing it.

All of which begs the question: Where is our team? A solid win against a weakened rival, two blowouts against clearly inferior competition, and a bad loss in a game we almost always lose badly but which never seems to have much bearing on the outcome of the season. We'll know a lot more after Saturday, I believe.

For me the keys to the game are twofold. One, we need to unleash the Wildcat on Ole Miss. Randall Cobb has only 11 carries in four games, including one or two on reverses. By comparison, he had 94 carries in 12 games last year. Middling SEC teams really had trouble containing him. I think Joker knows this and deliberately hasn't sown much so far. Secondly, the Cats need to hit, wrap and bring guys down on defense. I've decided that we had simply too many holes to fill and our defense has several starters who would not have played at Kentucky in the past 3-4 years. Certain guys, like Jeramiah Masioli, are going to get theirs against us. But when our defenders do get a guy in their arms, they have to bring them down. All in all, I'd like to see some improvement in that area.

More later.

Gameday

* I have deliberately not posted anything about today's game. This is without question a fan site. I'm generally only critical of things that are obvious and I don't want to be a UK Football Fan who drowns in the negative like so many running around Commonwealth Stadium. This week, it seems like everyone from the guy in the office next door to Mark May on ESPN are feeling this as an upset game. But look.

*I've been pleasantly surprised by the passing game and the overall command shown by Mike Hartline. Florida hasn't exactly played clean football in running its record to 3-0. None of that changes my preseason thoughts about today's game.

*Chip Cosby has an excellent look at 10 keys to victory in today's Herald Leader. It may not be enough, but I'll limit my take to one key. In order to stand a chance in this game, Kentucky needs to avoid giving up big plays. Florida is going to score. It will likely do so several times. The Cats need to make the Gators earn it. Longer drives means less pressure on our offense, more chances of a drive killing mistake (which this Florida team has been prone to), and a greater likelihood of putting Florida in a 3rd and long it cannot get out of. If Jeff Demps is running 73 yards for scores, none of those things can happen.

*Nothing from an official outlet, but some Twitter traffic last night indicated that Danny Trevathan will miss the first quarter for disciplinary reasons. That doesn't help.

*I may not be able to watch the game tonight. My law firm party at my partner's farm begins at 7. Apparently he does not have a cable box on his living room television and the basement will be off limits for the 150 or so guests. He swears that he will rig the living room tube, but may be telling me this to get me off his back. I get the impression his wife doesn't want the game on, which any married guy will tell you means I'm fighting a losing battle. Long time readers may remember that I was in a wedding in Atlanta the night of the LSU upset and didn't see a snap. So maybe I can ride the superstition train. On the other hand, if the game is close in the second half and not viewable, all the clients and friends I invited to the party will be gone anyway and I'll just sneak my ass out.

*Maybe I'm drinking the Kool Aid after all.

* On a non-game related note, I should mention that two days after cutting him, the Miami Dolphins did resign Micah Johnson to the practice squad. This move cuts his salary in 1/4, which means he only makes about three to four times what you did in your first job out of college.

My son hits the Catwalk before Akron game

This week's UK Bowl Projections

We'll begin week 4 with a look at where the various outlets project the Cats to end up in their bowl season. The Bowl Projection posts might be a little sparse for a while as MSNBC has apparently quit posting.

A couple of notes about bowl slots. Recall that the Gator Bowl has replaced the Independence in the SEC lineup. This is an obvious upgrade and gives our conference an extra New Year's Day Florida destination. Had this been the lineup over the last 4 years, it is very likely UK would have wound up in either Jacksonville or Atlanta 2-3 times.

With Florida no longer penciled in for 11 wins, there exists at least some possiblity that the SEC will only get one team into the BCS. Under the current format in place since the 2006 season (5 Bowls), this has never happened. This would obviously hurt the SEC by pushing everyone down a slot.

I eyeballing where things stand today, I'd say UK fans should be rooting against Georgia . With 2 SEC losses in the books and Florida, Auburn and UK on the road still on the schedule, they are ripe for overtaking. Georgia is slotted ahead of UK in each of the projections below.

ESPN MARK SCHLABACH
Music City Bowl v. North Carolina

ESPN ANDREA ADELSON
Liberty Bowl v. South Florida (She must mean Central Florida as the CUSA gets an automotic bid)

CFN-SCOUT
Birmingham (Formerly Papajohn's.com) Bowl v. South Florida

CBS SPORTSLINE
Music City Bowl v. NC State

Gameday-SEC style

Not a lot of leftover thoughts about this one. As supportive as I am of UK decisions about scheduling for the football team, I must admit that it leaves me with very little to write about. There isn't a single Kentuckian on Akron's roster, so I don't even have that to talk about. Instead I'll do a very quick look around the SEC.

Today the SEC doesn't have any marquee games, but there are a couple of decent ones where someone has a chance to make a statement. The nooner (ESPN) features Arkansas heading down between the hedges. Having been pretty much owned by Marcus Lattimore and USC last week, this is an important one for Mark Richt and his squad. Win, and they are probably back in the Top 25 with their only loss on the road to a good team. Lose, and coach Richt's seat could start to heat up. For Arkansas, it is the first real test of the year.

Florida heads to Tennessee (3:30 est-CBS) in what used to be a huge early season matchup. This one has lost its luster. Still a UT upset against a Florida squad that hasn't quite found its footing on offense would be a huge boon for new coach Derrick Dooley. Though unlikely, it isn't completely outside the realm. I personally will be rooting for Florida, as I don't want UT to have any excuse to gain confidence at any point this year.

Cam Newton and Auburn host Clemson (7PM-espn) in what I perceive as a matchup of mirror image colleges and athletic programs. Seriously, aren't Clemson and Auburn the same school?

Finally, I'm interested to see if Mississippi State can get anything going at LSU (7PM-ESPNU)today. I cannot escape the notion that MSU might be for real and LSU is primed for a big fall.

The rest of the SEC games are all yawners, including an in conference game between Ole Miss and Vandy (12:21, the telecast formerly known as JP) that I'll lay money will be the lowest rated SEC Network game of the year.

As always, good luck and Go Cats. Have a fun day.

Funky Akron Preview

Cobb for Heisman

Recent talk about the best players in college football by analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. and others has led to some grumblings in Big Blue Nation. Why isn't Randall Cobb mentioned as a Heisman candidate. For anyone who has watched him play, it is hard to argue that he isn't one of the best players in college football. Many if not most believe he will leave Kentucky with the unofficial title of "best player in school history". So here is the question I'll try to answer. What would have to happen for Randall Cobb to win the Heisman, either this year or next?

1. The Cats go at least 9-3, if not 10-2. Here is the great limiting factor that is well out of Cobb's exclusive control. The Heisman is not a team award, but the winner is overwhelmingly more likely to come from a very good team. Since 1981, only five players whose team lost more than 2 games won the Heisman, and most came from football royalty schools: Tim Tebow, Ricky Williams, Ty Detmer, Tim Brown, Bo Jackson.

This isn't just about penalizing players who don't win. It is about exposure. If UK is in the Top 10 or 15 late in the season, it is going to get that good ESPN slot, rather than being on regional SEC Network or Fox Sports South. If we are in contention in the SEC East, our highlights are automatically on Sportscenter. There is no Heisman if you aren't a feature player on the Worldwide Leader week after week.

2. Score at least 20 touchdowns. Desmond Howard is the last non-QB or RB to win the Heisman. He did it back in 1991 in what I think would have to be a blueprint for Cobb's chances at the award. Howard did not get to 1000 receiving yards. That is important, because with all Cobb is asked to do, I don't see him having a 1000 yard season this year or next. What Howard did was find the end zone in myriad ways. Coincidentally, this is Randall's specialty. Howard's 1991 campaign featured 19 receiving TDs, 2 rushing and one each on a kickoff and punt.

3. Go bezerk in one game. As I mentioned, Cobb does so many things that his yardage numbers in any one category are never going to jump out at voters, at least not over the course of a season. But having eye popping numbers in a single game is a different matter. A review of Cobb's career indicated that he has only gone over 100 yards in rushing twice and has never had a 100 yard receiving game. A 300 yard combined game of rushing, receivng and returning is in play for Randall, and would probably be impressive enough to do the trick.

4. Have a signature play. Cobb's greatest physical asset (besides his heart) is his balance. It is uncanny. For Cobb to get the Heisman, he'd need to have one play that shows this off, spinning off someone's back without his knees touching the ground, flipping and keeping his feet, something that makes everyone in the country say "whoa".

5. Some luck and a bad bounce or two for other contenders. If Michael Crabtree doesn't haul in a pass with 7 seconds left against UT, Colt McCoy wins the Heisman instead of Sam Bradford. There is an element to winning the Heisman that is out of any one player's hands.

OR, in lieu of at least some of these requirements, Cobb could instead play some defense. Babe Ruth was the best baseball player of all time. You want to know why? Make your argument for Willie Mays, Hank Aaron or Ted Williams and then hear my trump card. In addition to being no worse than a top 5 hitter of all time, Ruth went 94-46 as a pitcher and was 3-0 with a 0.87 ERA in two World Series appearances. I win. If the Cats could win 9 games next year while lining Cobb up as a full-time corner, he gets a couple of picks in addition to an expected offensive output, it would be time to hand him the trophy. Before you jump all over me, I realize this isn't going to happen and I'm just joking. Kinda.

Sunday Notes Not Published Until Wednesday

*While the headlines belonged to Randall Cobb, the real story of this game for the Wildcats was Mike Hartline, whose confidence has to be through the roof at this point. No matter who you are going against, going 16 for 20 is tough. Mike put a number of throws on the money and managed things like a champ.


*The wide receiving corps are the most improved thing about the team. LaRod King and Matt Roark have really stepped up to provide depth.



*I did not think the offensive line played all that well. While the pass blocking was generally good, I don't feel like they were getting off the ball in the running game all that well. Moncell Allen did have another solid game blocking for Locke at fullback.



*The defense was obviously a little suspect in this game. I would note a couple of things, though. First, Martavius Neloms was out for the game at corner (I'm not sure why). Second, the Cats were substiting liberally even in the first half. Qua Huzzie and Ridge Wilson played quite a bit, Josh Gibbs got a couple of series in at safety, and there was also movement at defensive line and corner.

*Anthony Mosely and Cartier Rice played pretty well in Neloms absence.

*In two games, captain DeQuin Evans has yet to register a tackle.

Notes while waiting on the mail

Interesting morning here in the UK Football Fan household. First of all, we know that football season is in full swing because my son and I have restarted our ritual of playing catch while watching games. Every once in a while I'll have him stop and do some situps (he sucks at pushups). We call this his training. During a typical college football game, we'll probably pass the ball 1000 times. When we aren't watching games during football season, he is usually playing Madden on the Wii (which he is doing right now). Despite not listening to a thing I tell him about anything else, he has developed a real love for football. Its pretty cool.

All of which factors heavily into the dilemma that has presented itself here today. Last Sunday my Uncle texted me to say that he is leaving town and asking if I wanted his tickets for this game and his Orange lot pass. Hell yes. He mailed them to me on Tuesday, from Danville. As of yesterday's mail, the package hasn't arrived. So as of this morning, I have no idea what my Commonwealth experience will entail today. Either I'll be full on tailgating on my own with sweet 40 yard line seats for my son and I, or I'll be wandering around the parking lot at 6:30 looking for cheap tickets for my kids for whom I've secured no babysitter. We'll see what today's mail brings.

Tonight's game should be a walkover for the Cats. Western has not won a game since UK throttled them 41-3 at Commonwealth in 2008. Though I expect Willie Taggart to breath new life in the program, it is going to have to wait another week.

A couple of good games are on tap in the SEC today. Of course the marquee matchup is Penn State at Alabama at 7. But I am a lot more interest in watching UGa-USC at noon. This game could have a lot to do with the SEC East race, what with SC looking very good against Southern Miss last week and Florida not exactly coming out like world beaters against Miami(OH). Last year the Bulldogs eeked one out in Athens, 41-37 in a game that went down to the last possession. Can the Cocks turn the tables in Columbia?

This is actually one of the better college football days I can remember. I'm excited for the UK game, but sometimes it is a bit of a bummer to know that I'm missing a ton of good games to spend all day there. I'll miss the 3:30 and 7pm games, but with the aforementioned SEC tilt at noon, and my UCLA Bruins playing the nightcap against Stanford at 10:30 est, I am still going to get a lot in.

Have a great day everyone and go Cats. Did the mail come yet?

Hartline

With the benefit now of a little bit of hindsight, I want to talk today about Joker's decision to got with Mike Hartline as the starting quarterback in the opener against Louisville. Since Mike played well in that game (very well, if you ask me), the debate has died down a bit. You know as well as I do that if UK starts collection three and outs like baseball cards in the next two weeks, or Hartline throws a couple of bad picks against Florida, things are going to pick back up again. So, with very little of substance to say about Saturday's game, now seems like a good time to explore it.

When the decision was announced, the reaction from UK fans was basically split in thirds. Some, like me, accepted that Hartline won the job though even many of those people were sceptical. Many people were disappointed that Morgan Newton was not named the starter. After all, he was 5-3 last year as a true freshman starting in the SEC, and came into the program with a lot of hype. There was still a third faction who insisted that Ryan Mossakowski was the future of the program, and needed to be installed as the starter immediately.

What I never understand about this debate is how anyone unconnected with the the football program can pretend to know what Joker should do. With the exception of the first fall scrimmage (which I saw and didn't glean much from) no one has seen these players practice since spring. Not even the media. What we have to go on is the player's histories, that is about it. Reasonable minds might differ about who played better last year, Newton or Hartline, but for people to act as if Joker is missing something obvious by not starting Newton seems like a stretch.

Last year Morgan Newton signed my son's UK shirt the night before the Music City Bowl. I still have a picture of it on my phone. Newton shows up and keeps score at Eastern Little League games, I suppose because he is hanging out with Sam Simpson, whose family is a fixture at Ecton Park. There aren't too many quarterbacks who are best buddies with reserve offensive linemen. My point is that you'll won't find a bigger Morgan Newton fan than me. But the idea that he clearly outplayed Mike Hartline when he took the field last year is absurd.

Yes, Newton was 5-3 as the starter, but that isn't really the whole story. First, two of the wins were against EKU and Louisianna-Monroe. Newton started in the huge win against Auburn, but was only 5 of 13 and gave way to Will Fidler in the second half. In a win against Vandy, he threw for fewer yards than RB Derrick Locke, who completed a 41 yarder to Newton on a trick play in the third quarter. Newton did have a signature game against Georgia, throwing for three TDs in a huge road win. Even still, he threw for less than 150 yards, and a lot of the damages on his throws was done after the catches. In fairness, he is also a better runner than Hartline and obviously there would have been something to gain by starting a sophomore as opposed to a senior. Still, the idea that his play in 2009 earned him the right to the job carries no weight.

The win against Louisville this past week aside, Hartline was a mediocre 8-6 as a starter. But if you look at the 6 losses, that record is better than it sounds. Four of the losses were to Alabama and Florida. If I'm not mistaken, each of those game was contested while the other team was in the top 3 in the nation. The other losses were to South Carolina, and I firmly believe that UK would have won last year's game in Colombia had Hartline not been injured shortly after halftime. In fifteen career starts, he's never been the goat.

Mike was given a helmet sticker by Reece Davis on ESPN after throwing 2 TDs in the last five minutes against Arkansas in 2008, was SEC Offensive Player of the Week against Middle Tennessee State that same year and led the Cats to a second half comeback in the Liberty Bowl. He has had his moments.

Those who insisted Mossakowski should start don't merit a whole lot of discussion. They are the same ones who insisted Newton was better than Hartline without ever having seen him throw a pass in early 2009. These people are convinced a bird in the bush beats two in the hand. All I know if this: If the coaching staff thought he was the best guy for the job, he'd be throwing the ball.

I've been critical of Mike Hartline's ability in this space before. He certainly has a ceiling as a QB. He cannot make every single throw, cannot zip the ball into tight spots and makes his share of mistakes when facing a good defense. But he has done everything he was supposed to do to get himself into this spot, never embarrassed himself or the program and isn't exactly stopping off a UK on his way to NFL glory. Why he has become such a lightening rod over the last three years is puzzling. Is he a good MAC quarterback thrust into being a three year starter at an SEC school? Perhaps. But all that means is that he is better at it than you are, but not as good as Ryan Mallett. That doesn't make him a bad guy, it just makes him a like 99.9% of the other people in the world.

Mike Hartline deserves to hear cheers in Commonwealth tomorrow and throughout the season. Unless things go horribly awry in the few weeks, he is going to be your guy this year. Lets embrace him, because whether you are in his camp or not, it doesn't make sense to do much else.

Quick Thoughts on last Saturday

Three days late and a dollar short to do any kind of real recap on Saturday's win over Louisville. Here are a few leftover thoughts before we turn our attention to WKU.

* One person who hasn't gotten much mention is CB Martavius Neloms. Neloms started for the second time on Saturday (having been pushed into duty against USC with both starters out last year). Officially he was credited with 3 tackles, one for a ten yard loss. Unofficially, he was all over the field. Mychal Bailey also played well, and I feel great about the Cats' secondary at the moment.

*That said, UK got nothing out of the Sam Linebacker spot. Jacob Dufrene was credited with two tackles though I don't even remember seeing him on the field. Ridge Wilson committed the roughing the passer penalty that basically kept Louisville alive for the last five minutes of the game. I've begun to wonder why Qua Huzzie is not working out there. It would seem that having Travathan, Huzzie and Ronnie Sneed on the field would be using our three best linebackers without sacrificing size or speed.

*I suppose no one is second guessing Strong's decision not to try an onside kick with 3:10 left, down by a touchdown. Conventional wisdom would be to kick away with two TOs left and that much time. Since they never stopped our offense without our help the entire game, I thought it was a tough call.

*If you watched my video preview, I'm sure you can guess that I was thrilled with Mike Hartline's performance in this game. Mike made some plays, never forced anything and threw the ball away when he needed to. These are the things I expect from him. It looks like his feel for the game has improved. He move out of the pocket and continued to look downfield, tucked the ball up and ran once or twice and just seemed to be more in his element.

*My father-in-law played halfback at UK before a bad knee and Charlie Bradshaw chased him away in 1962. He said something interesting about Derrick Locke after the game. "If he doesn't start protecting himself, he won't last past the third game". I don't know enough about playing the position to make that kind of assessment, so I thought that was interesting. What I know is this: Louisville got several clean licks on Derrick that look like they hurt. I'd like to see him get some rest over the next couple of weeks.

*New coach, same problems on special teams. Ryan Tydlacka is a good punter, but I think Joe Mansour's time as our placekicker is now. His redshirt was burned Saturday, so I have to think that was the plan all along.

*First half Kentucky was an eight win team. Second half Kentucky was a five win team.

*The Pizza Pit is a very nice facility. I won't lie, I enjoyed my chair back immensely.

*More coming as this week unfolds.

Final thought

I've read all there is to read about this game and have come to the conclusion that, on paper, it is a frighteningly even matchup. The difference? There will only be one Randall Cobb on the field, and he'll be wearing blue. Go Cats.

Open Letter To Mike Hartline

Speaking of Steve Johnson

I'm slightly embarassed to say that this might be one of the ten happiest moments of my life.

Stevie says its almost Gameday

Chip Cosby Visits UK Football Fan

Today on UK Football Fan we are visited by Lexington Herald-Leader writer Chip Cosby. Aside from being a hell of a good guy, Chip does an excellent job covering the Football Cats for the local paper and has been real generous in agreeing to do this Q and A with me for the second year in a row. A link his UK Football blog is on the right and here.

Questions below are mine, Chip's responses are in bold.

1. Last year you correctly predicted in this space that Sam Maxwell
would be the veteran Cat to blow up in 2009. What about 2010?


I'm going to go with another guy on the defensive side, Mychal Bailey. The fact that he came in and won the starter's job at safety in just three weeks after arriving from junior-college speaks volumes about how much the coaching staff trusts his talent. A sub 4.4 guy and a big hitter, he could immediately become a household name as he gets more comfortable throughout the season.


2. Mike Hartline won the starting job for the Louisville game, but
there has been no heaping praise for his play this summer. This makes me a
little nervous but the optimist in me hopes that it's the coaching staff's
effort to manage expectations. Have you heard anything that indicates that
2010 Hartline will be a step up from the 2008-2009 version?


Hartline has his critics, but I do believe he'll be better in 2010. Let's face it. He is what he is. He doesn't have a cannon for an arm, and he's not going to overwhelm you with his speed. He looked horrible against Florida and Alabama, but so did Arkansas' Ryan Mallett, who might end up being the No. 1 pick in next year's Draft. He has done some good things: the late comeback against Arkansas, MVP of the Liberty Bowl, the solid first half at South Carolina. Also, he's a fifth-year senior who understands the offense, and seems to have regained the respect and trust of his teammates after he made some critical comments after being benched two years ago. I think the offense will once again rely heavily on Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke. They just need Hartline to step up and make the throws when they need him to make them, and I think he can do that.



3. Hope springs eternal in the Commonwealth, and the schedule sets up
nicely, but looking at it empirically, this team has a lot of holes to fill
defensively. Outside of Travathan, Guy and Burden, where are you expecting
the production to come from?

They really need some guys to come through up front, particularly at tackle. Ricky Lumpkin needs to become a high-impact player, and it would be nice if they could get something out of Shane McCord. Donte Rumph should be an impact player once he shakes off the rust and gets into shape. I think DeQuin Evans is set for a solid year at end.


4. Setting aside K Joe Mansour, who is kind of a special case, what
true freshman do you see making an impact for this year's Cats, if any?


Interestingly enough, Mansour might not make as big an impact as originally thought, as Ryan Tydlacka is currently the starting placekicker. Jerrell Priester will definitely see time at corner, and Nermin Delic is in the rotation at end. While the Cats have plenty of depth at tailback, the coaches really like Raymond Sanders. Tyler Robinson is backing up Jordan Aumiller at tight end, and big things are expected of Rumph.

5. What are the biggest change you see thus far in the Joker era? Is
there any difference with how the team and staff interact with the media.
Understanding that nearly all the practices have been closed to the media,
do you have any feel for how the Cats might look different on the field this
year?

It's really hard to tell with practices being closed. You pretty much have to go on what you hear from the coaches and people who are close enough to the program to be able to go watch practice. But we won't really know for sure until the ball is kicked off. I've heard plenty of stories out of fall camp over the years that became myths once the lights came on. Not much has changed with Joker as far as the media goes. He's been accessible and friendly, although he doesn't reveal injury information quite to the extent that Rich Brooks did.


6. Do any streaks end this year?

I know it sounds crazy, but I think South Carolina and Tennessee both go down this year. Fact of the matter is, South Carolina has been no better than UK over the last 3-4 years overall; they've just managed to find ways to beat the Cats head-to-head. With the game being at home and UK coming so close in past years, I think they finally get it done. I know that Spurrier owns UK, but the Spurrier mystique is nowhere near what it used to be.
I also think this is the year they get Tennessee. There's all kinds of turmoil going on down there, and I'm not sure just how Derek Dooley will handle it. The talent's down, probation is possibly on the horizon. Plus, UT could already be out of bowl contention by the time the game rolls around. I know we've heard this before, but if it doesn't happen this year, it may never happen.