Music City Bowl -- Open Game Thread

by Truzenzuzex on Dec 31, 2007 3:14 PM EST in Football

This is the official A Sea of Blue open game thread for the Music City Bowl -- Kentucky vs. Florida State.

Well, here we are again, back in Nashville facing another ACC team, this time one of the most storied and successful programs of the last 40 years -- Florida State University.

Florida State was an all-girl's school from 1905 until 1947, and all the men were moved to the University of Florida. FSU fielded their first football team in 1948, and promptly went 7-1, and have suffered only 10 losing seasons in its entire 59-year football history. Since current coach Bobby Bowden took over at FSU, the Seminoles have amassed an incredible record including two national championships and one perfect season. Florida state has a total of 35 bowl appearances, 28 during the Bowden era, and has an overall record of 20-13-2.

Even though Florida State is wounded by suspensions coming into this game, they are still a very dangerous opponent. Bobby Bowden is a legendary coach, and even though his teams after the turn of the century have not lived up to the school's halcyon performance of the 80's and 90's, this is one of the Great Powers of college football, and that definitely counts for something.

The Cats limp in to this bowl game having lost 4 of its last 5 games, and suffered 2 multiple-overtime games going 1-1: A victory against LSU, and a loss against Tennessee in the last game of the season. UK is without its best offensive lineman, Jason Leger, who was suspended for a violation of team rules. Keenan Burton is said to be available, although it is hard to know exactly what that will mean.

For Florida State, they have a number of defensive and offensive linemen who have started at points throughout the season suspended as a result of the the academic scandal that hit Florida State just after the end of the season. For a list of the most important players affected, you can see my earlier preview of the game .

I will be live-blogging this game below. If you have the time or are so inclined, you may participate in the live blog with us. Also, the thread comments will be available to you as always.

Enjoy the game, Cat fans, this is the last hurrah for our outstanding senior class. Let's cheer them to a victory today.

Go, Cats!

Liveblog moved below the jump.

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This will have to do

I can literally see the freaking stadium from my office building here in downtown Nashville, yet I'm here confined to my desk and not able to attend the game. Bah.

by BlueInNash on Dec 31, 2007 3:56 PM EST 0 recs

hello, fellow Nashvillian

I live in East Nashville near downtown, so will be very close one I get off work tonight...traffic getting home's gonna be a bitch!

by blue kentucky girl on Dec 31, 2007 4:54 PM EST up 0 recs

congratulations coach brooks and seniors

for the first back-to-back bowl victories since the 51-52 seasons!

congrulations to the six seniors who rescued our football program: andre woodson, raphael little, keenan burton, jacob tamme, stevie johnson, and wesley woodyard. we will most definitely miss you next year. thanks for all the wonderful memories!

congrulations most of all to coach rich brooks and his staff, who believed in kentucky football when no one else did.

go 'cats in 2008! we believe!

by ukcatfan191 on Dec 31, 2007 10:30 PM EST 0 recs

congratulations - not congrulations; retry

congratulations coach rich brooks and seniors for the first back-to-back bowl victories since the 51-52 seasons!

congratulations to the six seniors who rescued our football program: andre woodson, raphael little, keenan burton, jacob tamme, steve johnson, and wesley woodyard. we will most definitely miss you next year. thanks for all the wonderful memories!

congratulations most of all to coach brooks and his staff, who believed in kentucky football when no one else did myself included.

i re-typed my last comment again since i fouled up the most important word of it not once but twice and feel these seniors deserved much more from me than me misspelling the most important word of the message.

go 'cats in 2008! we believe!

by ukcatfan191 on Jan 1, 2008 12:37 AM EST 0 recs

Truly ...

Brooks has earned the respect and affection of the Big Blue Nation forever.

He has done the impossible -- made Kentucky football relevant. And I think the 2008 version may be nearly as good as this year's team, despite the loss of many fine players. Our recruiting is going better than I can ever remember.

It's exciting, and I am happy for our seniors and our coach as much as I am our dedicated fans who suffered through year after year of futility.

by Truzenzuzex on Jan 1, 2008 12:45 AM EST up 0 recs

Tall Order

We kind of had the perfect storm this year with all of our seniors. We certainly have some good recruits coming in, but it's going to so tough to replace players like Little, Woodyard, Burton, Johnson, and of course Woodson.

Great win for these cats, I can't be more happy for this great group of seniors who have really leadership and heart and made this university and this commonwealth so proud!

Cheers to the seniors!

by EEWildcat on Jan 1, 2008 12:59 PM EST up 0 recs

Great Game

I had great seats - club level 50-yard line. Excellent game, questionable play calls at the end of the game. Why did we not go for it on fourth and inches in the fourth quarter?

Little had a great game, but the fumbles were a killer.

Still hard to complain, I am very excited about the future of UK football.

by gacatfan on Jan 1, 2008 1:35 PM EST 0 recs

A win is a win ...

and the 'Noles were worthy, for sure.

by Truzenzuzex on Jan 1, 2008 3:09 PM EST up 0 recs

UK v FSU

I was surprised FSU was as game as they were.

Hats off to the players who actually played in the game. They came to play.

People in the sports bar where I watched the game thought I was nuts as I yelled, "fall down, fall down" to Micah Johnson. I had to explain to my wife why I'm NOT insane.

Great game, though. Woodson was superb, Little was big, and my man Stevie Johnson was epic. That freakin' guy can flat out play. If only we had him one more year.

I thought the senior class (offense) came up huge. Woodson, Little, Tamme, Johnson, and Burton all played exceptonally well. The fact that Keenan played at all speaks to his toughness.

I was a bit annoyed with Joker in the fourth quarter. I thought he went conservative too early.

But beyond that I thought he called a masterful game. UK will be lucky to keep him. I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to better their lot in life, but I would sure like to see him stick around.

Seiber disappointed. I thought the kid bounced back with gusto this year. He was reliable inside the 40, and he made a couple of HUGE kicks to win ballgames. But he was off Monday. Maybe the layoff effected his timing, plus he had one bad snap. I thought the holder recovered well, but that could have effected the kick. He's got a leg, and he's only a sophomore. I wager next year he performs well.

My man Dicky Lyons loves to hit, and he sings a pretty good Bocephus song to.

Papa Brooks for Governor.

I wonder if UL fans sense an impending disaster bearing down on their domes? It must be a familiar feeling.

by Ken Howlett on Jan 2, 2008 1:58 AM EST 0 recs