had not planned on going. late start...blah blah blah.

yesterday morning while eating breakfast with youngest son....a western freshman in his first week of college he asks me if i'm going.

i say probably not and ask him if he's going. he said he doesn't have anyone to ride with. so i tell him come home right after work and we'll jet to nashville. a friend on haven had an extra ticket for sale so i talk to him and my son gets in free as a student.

lots of topper fans and our seats are right on the 45 lower bowl. 2 minutes before game time 7 uk fans come in and occupy the seats next to me. typical uk douchebag fans drunk on their @sses. spilling beers and shite. is their any wonder these hillbillies are a hated class???? i end up moving and sitting somewhere else before i end up punching (and getting punched by) someone.

back to the game.

our offense is still very weak.

our defense is light years ahead of 2 years ago. they will keep us in a lot of games. the west florida hilltoppers (i know jersey says wku but i always keep it real) have so much more size and speed than 2 years ago i am stunned.

i know the haters on the board are gonna say well uk sucks and made your defense look better than it is. there may be some truth but i'm telling you right now guidry has made our dee much better. it's not just the speed. we actually tackle someone when we hit them. our tackling technique (oxymoron in past) has been atrocious.

i don't make predictions of wins and losses in any competition involving 18-23 year old males because they are a retarded species that pretty much can only be counted on to scratch their nuts and tug one out every day.

but this team is gonna surprise some of the haters. (middle fans) we haven't had much speed to match up with the conference the last two years but don't mark down that game against the west florida hilltoppers as an easy out any more.

p.s. i got spend a short road trip with my son. that's a good day in my book.

I think the time with the son is what you'll remember the longest.

(09-02-2011 08:59 AM)SOT1977 Wrote:  I think the time with the son is what you'll remember the longest.

that's why when he even mentioned wanting to go i made the decision.

i've spent many road trips with both sons. all of them memorable. hell, when western won against drake in the ncaa i made a knee jerk decision to drive to tampa in one day and drive back the next just to share the experience with my sons.

we stayed in the same hotel as the toppers and i chilled with courtney lee's dad and my oldest son hung out in orland mendez valdez' room.

oh yeah....we beat san diego the next day to move on to the sweet 16 but i remember more details of the trip with my sons than i do the actual ballgame.

of course we all want to win every ballgame but quite often the experience is worth the trip. that and i'm treated like the mayor whenever i'm in a large gathering of toppah fans.

KY does suck...but WKU has a very good defense. The WKU defense played their game last night and it showed.

The WKU offense, however, was a different story. Run the very good RB off tackle on first down, delayed handoff to RB on second down, and lets see if the fleetfooted QB can complete a long one or scramble on third down. It was very predictable to me.

Overall I was very surprised with how well WKU played, they will stun some teams this year. Offense will get better, and the defense was stout. Barring injury, WKU might have a better season than many predict.

Others have said WKU would win the conference or come close this year and I didn't believe them. I do now. Even if UK is terrible I saw a lot of good stuff from that game. Having said that I hope we beat you guys by a considerable amount.

(09-02-2011 09:27 AM)BlueRaiderFan. Wrote:  Others have said WKU would win the conference or come close this year and I didn't believe them. I do now. Even if UK is terrible I saw a lot of good stuff from that game. Having said that I hope we beat you guys by a considerable amount.

i don't know about win the conf. but we should be able to compete now.

i can't believe i'm getting ready to type this because it will cause the forrest gump fans (troy) to get their second boner of the morning (first was when they let cletus their hound dog out) but our dee last night reminded me of the first time i saw troy in bg.

lots o' speed and attitude on dee. not sayin' we're worldbeaters but it should be somewhat of a level playing field now.

I thought WKU looked really good. I know that UK is on down swing, but those SEC boys and fans were probably crapping themselves. Thought you had a real chance to win it.

Pretty nervous now about opening up with you guys in our new diggs, not a gimmie win like many FAU fans are thinking.

(09-02-2011 09:35 AM)dahbeed Wrote:  

(09-02-2011 09:27 AM)BlueRaiderFan. Wrote:  Others have said WKU would win the conference or come close this year and I didn't believe them. I do now. Even if UK is terrible I saw a lot of good stuff from that game. Having said that I hope we beat you guys by a considerable amount.

i don't know about win the conf. but we should be able to compete now.

i can't believe i'm getting ready to type this because it will cause the forrest gump fans (troy) to get their second boner of the morning (first was when they let cletus their hound dog out) but our dee last night reminded me of the first time i saw troy in bg.

lots o' speed and attitude on dee. not sayin' we're worldbeaters but it should be somewhat of a level playing field now.

Hill Billies making fun of forest gump jk

But indeed! Clemson has it coming to them you guys reminded me of how our defense will look this year. Our pass rush is going to be top notch and we have a talented defensive backfield. Don't expect to see this Troy last year we have some talented running backs great defensive players and the best passer in the conference.

Clemson better be ready if we had proven receivers this would be one of the best Troy teams we have had at this level.

I said it before the season that WKU is the team that scared me. The defense played well and got good penetration. I like the CB turned Safety turned Linebacker (don't know his name). He seemed to be all over the place last night for the parts I watched. Good running back but if your QB can't learn to throw the ball, expect to see 8 men in the box all season long.

Doesn't matter if UK sucks, took WKU lightly, WKU played out of their minds, whatever anyone wants to say, too many points left on the field and from what I saw I think that lays squarely at the feet of the QB. He becomes accurate, WKU is dangerous. He continues like he was last night, then I don't care how many times you run the ball, you can't over come the numbers.

(09-02-2011 09:35 AM)dahbeed Wrote:  

(09-02-2011 09:27 AM)BlueRaiderFan. Wrote:  Others have said WKU would win the conference or come close this year and I didn't believe them. I do now. Even if UK is terrible I saw a lot of good stuff from that game. Having said that I hope we beat you guys by a considerable amount.

i don't know about win the conf. but we should be able to compete now.

i can't believe i'm getting ready to type this because it will cause the forrest gump fans (troy) to get their second boner of the morning (first was when they let cletus their hound dog out) but our dee last night reminded me of the first time i saw troy in bg.

lots o' speed and attitude on dee. not sayin' we're worldbeaters but it should be somewhat of a level playing field now.

So far, even when we have a good team we struggle with Troy. I don't know why other teams can beat them on occasion and we can't but just beware that they have always been a problem...to this date anyway.

Kentucky sucks, there's no disputing that, but Western's defense did look much improved.

The problem Western will face is there's probably at least four offenses significantly better in the Sun Belt better than Kentucky's and Kawaun Jakes may be the only quarterback in the conference worse than Morgan Newton.

Guidry was a good hire and the combination of his scheme and Western's team speed, and the workhorse Rainey on the other side, Western will stay in more games this year, but they are still not ready to compete for the title. An all conference running back and an improved D won't get it done. I can see WKU beating UNT, FAU and ULL...I could see them maybe stealing one more out of MT, ASU or ULM(but I doubt it) but they definitely aren't ready to compete with Troy or FIU. If they can manage 3-5 or 4-4 in conference and beat Indiana State it will be a very successful season.

Feel bad for both Rainey and Dunbar that neither will see postseason play in their entire career.

Being at the game last night, the thing I was most encouraged by was how WKU dominated the line of scrimmage. WKU's D-line was getting a push on a UK O-line (4 seniors) with plenty of SEC experience. We were also getting to the QB with 4 sacks (13 all of last yr).

WKU's O-line was getting a push on UK's D-line and gaining about about 8 yards on 1st and 2nd down. It left us with a lot of 3rd and shorts when we didn't get penalties.

Our problem is our QB, PK. We will be able to pass a little better against SBC competition, but not a whole lot better. We will depend very heavily on our run game and controlling clock.

Our PK will cost us 2 wins this year. He has been about 50-50 the last 2 years. You never know what you are going to get with him. Extra points and short FG attempts are not automatic. Hopefully, we use our backup more.

There is no doubt our overall talent level has improved greatly over the last 24 months. We were giving up 50-70 pts / game a few years ago...