:lol: Clearly.

 

Sure... the game not being on ESPN stinks for all of us. Most of us realized that this may happen when all of this first went down which is why I'm not very upset now. I've dealt with it and moved on. There is plenty to look forward to this season, like 8 UK home games which probably wouldn't have occured had the game been left the same.

 

I understand the Card fans being upset. But to sit here and rip and thrash the UK program is just childish. If your team is as good as we all think they will be they will have more than enough national exposure this season. This isn't the end of the world like some of you are making it out to be.

:thumb: :thumb: Good post OR, I don't like the game being moved either bc I want to watch it on t.v.. It is what it is and there is nothing that we or the U.L. fans on here are going to do about it. Same thing with the basketball game being moved.

 

(one thing is that "IF" U.L. needs the U.K. game on t.v. to make a statement of some sort then they are not as good as we all think that they will be :sssh: , U.K. is not exactly a national or SEC power )

 

Now.....having said all of this and as I have said plenty of times before, I am U.K. football fan as well as I pull for Bama and UGA but when it gets right down to it in college football...........................GO BUCKEYES!!!!! (lol)

Don't agree with the move, because as most have already stated I enjoyed our two teams basically kicking off the college season. As far as an improvement on the field for UK we'll just have to wait and see. I agree UL has more national games on tv just look at the Thursday, Friday, and Tuesday schedule.

:thumb: U.K. needed this game on t.v. MUCH more than U.L., Brooks and Barhart dropped the ball on this one. JMO

From the looks of this thread it appears that the move has created plenty of publicity.

 

Good or bad doesn't matter. It is still being talked about, at least in this state.

 

Also the game not being on national TV hurts UofL much more than UK. UK still has plenty of games that can be televised either nationally or regionally in the areas that they recruit the most. UofL fans may not want to admit it but Florida, Tenn and LSU are much bigger games in terms of recruiting and national recognition for UK than the UofL game is.

 

Here's the problem with that line of thinking: Recruits watch those games, but they aren't wanting to go anywhere but UF, UT or LSU. Not UK.

They joked all the way to a bowl win last season. As far as I see it, this move does not make or break the program. Not even close. UK is a program on the rise. They have quite a few great players returning from a team that won the Music City Bowl....looks to me like they are on the way up, not down. Think the opposite as much as you want, but I believe UK will continue to improve next year.

 

I've heard that "program on the rise" line for years. Heard it from Jerry Claiborne. Heard it from Hal Mumme. Heard it from Bill Curry. Heard it from Guy Morriss. It's almost like a kiss of death, because soon after some high-water mark that brought about that talk, something goes wrong and UK slips back to its normal, customary place at the lowest levels of D-IA football.

My stance is pretty simple. I think it's an AWFUL decision for UK to move out of the slot the game was aired in the past few years. I see zero good in it for UK. If that's my UK bias showing, so be it...

 

Fair enough. Agree to absolutely disagree. I'm just saying that judgement cannot be passed this early in terms of UK as a program and to say that there is zero good for UK is senseless. If UK wins and not a soul sees it on live television, it's still a huge win for the program.

I've heard that "program on the rise" line for years. Heard it from Jerry Claiborne. Heard it from Hal Mumme. Heard it from Bill Curry. Heard it from Guy Morriss. It's almost like a kiss of death, because soon after some high-water mark that brought about that talk, something goes wrong and UK slips back to its normal, customary place at the lowest levels of D-IA football.

 

What if this is actually the time that they're right? :eek: :scared:

 

After all didn't "The Pipe" say that UL was "on a collision course with the National Title" when he was hired. Turns out he was right, it just took about 20 years to get there........but they're awfully close.

Did someone really say in here that without ESPN there will be less interest in KY for this game? Yet everytime Mitch utters a word a new thread is started?

 

Did someone really say that UK fans don't care about football yet we continue to show up and follow and debate the team's status DESPITE them having a losing record for many years? How many teams with UK's record get the support that UK does? Heck, all they need to do is show that they're heading in the right direction and we go crazy. UK football fans are very loyal and supportive. You don't see UK offering $60 season football tickets , do you?

 

UK's recruiting base has been primarily KY and south. They get exposure. Kids in GA and SC know who UK is and UK is in their homes and on their cell phones and slowly but surely is under the line where they sign their LOI. So if this game is not on Labor Day weekend on ESPN, its not going to kill the program. I think many on here are overestimating how many of the kids actually watch the game itself. Its not a big deal outside of the Commonwealth.

 

It was a nice tradition. I liked it. However, moving it every other year is not a big deal. They still play. We'll still talk about it 365 days a year on here. If UL continues their run, it will be another great game on the schedule of many great games. If UL slides, it will still be a great rivalry game.

I thought ESPN Classic was going to pick it up? Everyone with Dish Network and Direct TV has ESPN Classic, as well as some cable customers.

They are not for sure picking it up, and very few people have access to ESPN Classic or ESPN U for that matter, althought more people have ESPNU then Classic. Even still if ESPN Classic does pick it up then I will pipe down on this( I will still think it was a bad move considering it would have been on regular cable if it had not changed but I will pipe down) but as of yet that hasn't happened.

Did someone really say in here that without ESPN there will be less interest in KY for this game? Yet everytime Mitch utters a word a new thread is started?

 

Did someone really say that UK fans don't care about football yet we continue to show up and follow and debate the team's status DESPITE them having a losing record for many years? How many teams with UK's record get the support that UK does? Heck, all they need to do is show that they're heading in the right direction and we go crazy. UK football fans are very loyal and supportive. You don't see UK offering $60 season football tickets , do you?

 

UK's recruiting base has been primarily KY and south. They get exposure. Kids in GA and SC know who UK is and UK is in their homes and on their cell phones and slowly but surely is under the line where they sign their LOI. So if this game is not on Labor Day weekend on ESPN, its not going to kill the program. I think many on here are overestimating how many of the kids actually watch the game itself. Its not a big deal outside of the Commonwealth.

 

It was a nice tradition. I liked it. However, moving it every other year is not a big deal. They still play. We'll still talk about it 365 days a year on here. If UL continues their run, it will be another great game on the schedule of many great games. If UL slides, it will still be a great rivalry game.

 

 

Great post! :thumb:

Bottom line....UK didn't want to get WAXED, AGAIN, in Week 1 so they wanted the game moved...Chicken move, all the way around. Now, the game may not even be televised Live, so that makes it even better for UK. You guys are a riot as far as supporting your team...Say you support them all you want, if you REALLY did, you'd be mad about losing a National TV slot that your program DESPERATELY needs...The UK Football Program always has been and always will be a joke. Live it up, Cats fans.

The joke will be on you if UK turns the table this year and that is a real possibility! I hope the UL team feels the way you do.

Just dumb, a program can't get recognition if you won't let one of the biggest games of the year be televised.

 

 

With all respect, the above post is some of the most illogical thinking I've read on here in quite some time. IF (and I put it in caps because its a pretty big if) UK beats UL, they will get all kinds of recognition. It will be discussed ad nauseum on the college football shows. High school football players nationwide will hear about it on the ESPN recaps. The UK coaches will tell recruits about it far and wide as they do their recruiting. Every high school football player in Ky will know about it through the newspapers and tv shows. The program will certainly be given much recognition if UK wins. If UK believes that moving the game back helps their chances of winning the game, they should do it. Wins over teams like UL get you recognized whether they are on tv or not. On the other hand, losses on tv do not get you recognition (well, at least not the type you want). End of the day, if UK wins getting recognition will not be an issue. And if moving the game back helps improve the chances of winning, I would be mad as hades if Barnhart had sold out just to get more exposure and money by scheduling the game for the first week just so it could be on tv. I commend Barnhart for doing what he did.

 

As for debating whether delaying the game a couple of weeks will improve UK's chances of winning, I would point out that there's a reason that the UK-UL game has been able to get a national tv slot in the past: its because very few programs like playing one of their biggest rivals, if not their biggest rival, in the first game of the year. I would submit that constitutes conventional wisdom and is all the justification that a person would need to understand why UK doesn't want to play UL in the first game of the year. But perhaps the fans upset with the change are smarter than conventional wisdom.

It is not just the fans leatherneck the AD of the Year disagrees with it too, and he seems pretty dialed in to this whole sports thing to me.

It is not just the fans leatherneck the AD of the Year disagrees with it too, and he seems pretty dialed in to this whole sports thing to me.

 

 

And UK's AD didn't really want the basketball game changed either....Of course the other school's AD isn't going to like it....

UL fans have every right to be upset. It's one less game on national TV, and that's bad for their program...

 

 

Sure they have the right to be upset. And UK has the right to not care at all about UL fans being upset. The only think UK should care about (and I mean the only thing) is improving their chances of winning. And if UK believes that playing the game a couple of weeks later improves those chances, so be it.

Does anyone else find it ironic that UK fans have been raked over the coals nationally for the past couple of months for overzealous high expectations that supposedly led to the resignation of Tubby Smith, yet when they show some restraint and support for the AD and head football coach, they are "accepting of mediocracy"?