Contemplating yet another wonder U. K. football season

It may have been the stock market, which has had, lately, all the suave and charm of a bi-polar patient-you know, manic one day, goes up 900 points, then depressive several days in a row, drops 200 points one day, 300 the next, and maybe 500 on the third day, before going manic once again-but something has had me yearning for a bit of stability in my life

It took the University of Kentucky football team this past week-end to awaken me and show me that there, in Lexington, Kentucky, was that epitome of assurance. It was that something on which I could depend, in fact, on which I have always depended, and which was always there for me even in these times of uncertainty that seem to haunt my every waking moment. And that something was the ability of a U. K. football team to find a way to turn even the most promising of seasons into one that is completely devoid of any hope whatsoever.

Well, life is like that, I suppose. It is never enough to take away that prize of which you have always dreamed, in this case, a decent won-loss record for the U. K. football team. No, first you have to have the impression that that prize is winnable. In fact, you have to be able to taste it. It has to be clearly within your sight and seemingly within your grasp. You have to be so sure it is yours that you even begin looking at plans for a case in which to showcase this elusive trophy before reality rears its ugly head, and you are shown, in shore order, that there was never any real chance that this dream would ever come true.

That’s how the season started out for U. K.. The first game of the year, versus those hated Red Birds from Louisville saw the Wildcats showcased what promised to be its ace in the hole, a very experienced defense, and the Cardinals went down to defeat by the lop-sided score of 27-2. Of course, no one was all that surprised that the Cats won. This was not one of those Petrino-coached, Brian Brohm-quarterbacked teams that once gave the Wildcats fits. This was a team that even a Rich Brooks-coached team could handle, but it was the surprising ease with which U. of L. was handled that perhaps got some of us giddy with unrealistic expectations. Yes, there were questions regarding the offensive side of the ball, but we had three patsies lined up following U. of L., and it was these games that would allow U. of K. to hone this aspect of the game, so that we would be ready for the SEC schedule, which contained, as it always does, some of the tougher teams in the nation.

With the exception of the game against Middle Tennessee, which required a last second game-saving tackle at the one-yard line (sadly, this was an omen of things to come) to preserve a 20-14 victory, the patsies performed as expected, and U. K. went into the SEC portion of the schedule undefeated (4-0). Unfortunately, that meant going to Tuscaloosa, where Bama was surpassing pre-season expectations by being undefeated, and was highly-ranked as a result. Yet the Wildcats played the Tide as well as any team did this year. Oh, there were the usual impetuous gifts given in the first quarter in the form of two touchdowns which would cost the Cats the game-one a long run, and the second an intercepted pass returned for a TD-but U. K. took a gut-check, and lost by the surprisingly close score of 17-14. Yes, a loss, but the game was well-played on enemy turf, and U. K. was in it until the final few minutes.

Sadly, the Bama game was the high-light of the year. First came the injuries. Dicky Lyons and Derrick Locke each went down to season-enders, and there was no replacement for either. Then came reality. Reality hit the hardest in the South Carolina game. Here was a coach, Steve Spurrier, that U. K. had never beaten, and it looked like this might be the year, except that this is U. K. we’re talking about. In one of those bizarre moments that is Wildcat football, U. K. had the ball on the Gamecock’s three yard line. The Cats, going for a field goal, with time running out in the first half, saw the Gamecocks block the kick, then return the ball almost the length of the field for a touchdown. Result? Instead of being up 20-7 (or God forbid, 24-7, if someone could have come up with a play that would cover three lousy yards for a U. K. TD), U. K. was up by only 17-14. The Gamecocks rallied for ten in the fourth, and Spurrier is triumphant once again, 24-17.

And so it went. To become “bowl eligible”, U. K. had to come up with two touchdowns against a Petrino-coached Arkansas in the last four minutes of that game, and a two-touchdown third quarter against an equally unimpressive Mississippi State team for the required six-win season. Of course, to make it a complete U. K. season, there had to be one drubbing, and Florida obliged with a 63-5 shellacking. And there had to be one more “we coulda won” game, and U. K. performed down to their usual standards against Georgia, before losing 42-38, by throwing a game ending interception.

I suppose it was kismet that Tennessee and Phillip Fulmer would end U. K.’s season as it has for the past 23, with a loss. Fulmer, as many already know, was on the sidelines for the last time, in spite of having won some 75% of his games at Tennessee, and a national championship. This year he was 2-5 (SEC) and 4-7 coming into the U. K. game. Too bad there weren’t other teams with as high a regard for him as U. K., whose teams have been only too happy to lay down and play dead for him. Heck, too bad U. K. couldn’t find a coach like him. These days, if a U. K. coach had a single season wherein the team won 75% of the time, he’d be enshrined immediately in the Hall of Fame.

Well, there is always that bowl game for which U. K. is supposedly eligible. Which means we fans have one more game wherein we can revel in unrealistic expectations. But that’s what it means being a Wildcat football follower-believing in a team that has rarely given us any reason to believe. Except that this time, it really could be different.