If I am going to pay $40 for a ticket than I’d rather the game be against a quality opponent. That’s the same for basketball or football or any other sport. I understand, and unquestionably support, the logic behind playing (supposedly) less quality teams, but that makes those games no less appetizing (provided the Cats dominate)

On other hand, I don’t find it very entertaining to go visit the #1 team in the country and get spanked 49-0. I honestly don’t know how good or bad this year’s team is. Should be a fun year if only to answer so many unknowns. 23 days.

Get outside and enjoy the nice weather if you can.

... the “Money thing” is one big driver, but not the only one. Here’s my answer:

I would rather see Kentucky play a schedule that gives them a legitimate shot to get to the post season. Stacking BCS home-and-home games into the schedule (keep in mind, most teams only play one BCS team home and home OOC except for the very best ones). In other words, having 3 easy games is fine, because you are going to play an 8-game meatgrinder in the nation’s toughest football conference and a 9th tough game against Louisville. 9 tough BCS games out of 12 is plenty.

Think about all this for a minute. Our recruiting has improved primarily due to our success on the field. If we sacrifice some of that success on the altar of your premise and start missing the post season and see a consequent recruiting decline, how are we supposed to get better? Recruits don’t want to know that we were close to going 6-6 every year. They want to be on winning teams, not losers, and there is no shortage of competitive football every year in the SEC.

On another note, please stop hijacking the threads. If you have a question like this you want answered, you can always make it a Fanpost, and that way we can keep the topical nature of the blog intact. This thread is supposed to be about Louisville, not the football schedule.

Or as Tru suggested post a fanshot or whatever.

If I’m not mistaken, contractually the SEC team that finishes round-abouts where Kentucky generally finishes the SEC goes to the Music City Bowl. If we move up one slot in the standings we could potentially go to the Peach or Outback Bowl.

You accuse posters here of being “Rah, Rah” but I would say that we are the only ones in this conversation facing reality. You can bemoan the lack of competitive opponents, but the reality is… football teams aren’t built over night. In basketball, one good recruiting class can change your fortunes immensely. In football it takes 4 or 5 consistent classes to build the kind of depth it takes to compete. In order to get those kinds of classes, you have to win first. And no… it doesn’t matter who you win against. At the end of the day, people see 8 wins. If you stack three other games on there, they won’t say, “Oh, they won five games last year… but you know, three of those blow out losses were to BCS schools!”

You point out SEC schedules and their opponents. Lets look at last year:

Georgia: Oklahoma State, Troy, W. Carolina, Georgia Tech. 1 more BCS game than UK
LSU: (The national champion in case you forgot) VaTech, MTSU, Tulane, LaTech. Same BCS as UK.
UT: Cal, Southern Miss, Arkansas St, Louisiana Lafayette. Same BCS as UK.
Alabama: W. Carolina, Florida St, Houston, Louisiana Monroe (they lost). Same BCS as UK.
Auburn: Kansas State, S. Florida, N. Mexico State, Tenn Tech. 1 more BCS game than UK
S. Carolina: Louisiana Lafayette, SC State, UNC, Clemson. 1 more BCS game than UK

So with just that sampling, I think you can see that you are arguing for something that the SEC as a whole does not do. No one schedules more than one or two BCS games out of conference. Again, accuse posters around here of wearing blinders all you want… but the reality is that you are the one that is not facing reality.

... that’s up to you. I am not trying to make you feel unwelcome, but the points I have made are ones that have been made to others as well. If that bothers you, then life goes on.

First, this is not only a “rah rah” board, but I do want a generally positive tone. Criticism, especially solid, factual criticism based on sound reasoning is welcome. What is not welcome is moving the same debate from thread to thread regardless of the topic just to make sure it’s heard. We have Fanposts just for that reason, so you can start your own topic and keep from having the threads stray too far. Badgering of coaches, athletics department personnel and, well, anyone … even our foes, is not welcome.

Second, I don’t welcome anyone who just wants to be a pain in the ass. We don’t need that. It drives readers away and discourages them from making comments. We want reasoned discussion here, not blanket condemnations.

Third, there is no “correct” or “incorrect” - people just want to encourage their team. Everyone has opinions, and as Americans are a generally hopeful society, they tend to be positive and hopeful in their opinions. Dissenting is fine, but you weren’t doing that - you’re just raining on everybody’s parade. I have seen not one sincere positive comment from you. We have lots of people who come in here and take an alternative viewpoint, but you are the only one I have ever seen that wasn’t a fan of another team that could only be negative every single time.

So do what you will. But realize this—I’m not asking you to leave, nor threatening to throw you off. All I am asking is that you comport yourself with the proper decorum. That doesn’t mean “rah rah,” but it does mean staying on topic and not taking every opportunity to condemn the entire Kentucky athletics department.