Recruiting Forum Football Talk IV

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#129,677
#129,677
Continuing the look at preseason SP+ previews this time with Kentucky and Pittsburgh –

As noted previously, Kentucky has a new offensive coordinator this year (Rich Scangarello). Scangarello’s biggest job before this was as the OC for the Denver Broncos in 2019. (On January 16, 2019, Scangarello was hired by the Denver Broncos as their offensive coordinator. On January 12, 2020, Scangarello was fired by head coach Vic Fangio after Denver finished last in several offensive categories).

They also have a new offensive line coach after Alabama hire away the guy they hired last year. Their offensive line lost 3 starters, all with some measure of NFL prospect. Their offense lost its 2 leading receivers. They are likely to ride the running game much more this year than last but first they have to figure out the line. Rodriguez is back and the new OL coach has a good reputation in the run game.

On defense they have to replace 3 guys up front but the guys who provided depth in the rotation last year, Octavious Oxendine, Justin Rogers, Tre’vonn Rybka and Josaih Hayes all return so they’re really just looking for depth. They didn’t really lose anything at linebacker but they lost 3 guys in the secondary. They’re likely going to be looking to the portal after spring for help in the back end.

Early indications are they might be favored in 8 games but there’s probably at least 5 toss-ups in their schedule. Last year we played 5 AP ranked teams, Kentucky played 2, so when looking at year end records it sort of helps to understand that they generally almost always play one of the softest schedules in the conference. Last year they only lost 3 games, first on the road to Kirby, the next week on the road to the Pirate, and the following week at home to Heupel.

For Pitt, they also have a new OC this year. Narduzzi is a defensive guy and when he took over in 2015 the Pitt defense was a bottom dweller in the ACC. It took him until 2019 to get it in the top 3 or 4 of the conference and it’s remained there since. Last year was his best overall year at Pitt both in terms of records and in winning the ACC championship game. Frank Cignetti Jr. replaces Whipple as the OC. Whipple went to help Frost out at Nebraska. Cignetti comes directly from Boston College where their offense the last two years under his direction completely sucked. Boston college was able to win 6 games a year those two years owing to the strength of its defense. jmo.

Slovis, the QB transfer from USC, is expected to replace Pickett. Slovis took over for JT Daniels in the Fresno State game to open the 2019 season after JT was injured late in the first half. The team was demoralized as you can imagine. It took a momentum changing 100 yard kickoff return for a TD early in the 3rd quarter to get the team back on track, and by none other than VFL Velus Jones Jr.

Slovis as a freshman ended the season as the 7th best passer in the Nation that season (2019), he dropped to #34 in 2020, and then to #78 in 2021 before he was eventually benched and of course got his coach fired. Slovis isn’t a threat to run but he has Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison back to throw to as well as a solid No. 2 receiver in Jared Wayne. They have all 3 of the guys back from their running back rotation. Unfortunately they return their entire offensive line from last year. Narduzzi says his running game will be much better this year. It may be. jmo.

On defense, they have some depth issues at linebacker because some guys opted to transfer out to find more playing time. The lost 4 starters overall on that side of the ball, 2 in the secondary. Their secondary sucks for the same reason ours does, an aggressive up front defense. They recorded 54 sacks last year. We had 34 but of course we face SEC offensive lines/future NFL linemen. I think Pitt will still be tough on defense.

The thing that I take note of is that last year as a team we only threw 3 interceptions, tied for best in the conference, but we gave up 44 sacks. This is important because we coughed up 10 fumbles or at least lost that many, tied for 2nd worst in the conference. One fumble was the muffed punt VJ had against Ole Miss, one was by Marcus Pierce against BGSU, 3 were from Milton, BGSU, Pitt, and Vandy. Five were by Hooker, Pitt, Tennessee Tech, Georgia, Kentucky, and Purdue. That’s 80% of our fumbles lost were from our QBs. I think we may need some added ball security drills for our QBs. jmo.

Anyway, here’s the thing with Pitt. They don’t play nobody. We should have beat them last year and that would be us beating the ACC champ. I think we could probably win the ACC right now, maybe could have won it last year. If I plug our SP+ rating into their schedule for this year we go undefeated, at least on paper. Still, I think being on the road this is probably a toss-up game for us until proven otherwise. Narduzzi will try to stop or at least slow down our run game and if he does it may be up to our defense to win the day. jmo.

I think we can win both of these games. I think both teams, while solid, are slightly overrated due to their schedules. jmo.

Here are the schedules:

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#129,679
#129,679
UTProf said:
I've never tried any of the newfangled marijuanas. Although at this point I probably should. It certainly can't do me harm lol.
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Lol this post reminds me of a laugh I had this past Sat. night. The wife and I went to a local bar and grill to meet up with some friends to hear a couple of bands play. I stepped outside with a friend to have a smoke and an old friend we both knew and who played drums on occasion joined us. Over to the left of us there was 4 or 5 young people gathered smoking a joint that smelled a bit different than what we were accustomed to back in the 70's and 80's. The drummer friend(who still hits one on occasion) then says "I went to sit in for the regular drummer last Fri. night for a band I knew and while we were on a break, a group of guys were wanting to smoke some pot and one says you should try this cherry, another says try this kiwi, and another says let's hit this peach.. I asked these dudes if we were gonna smoke a joint or eat a f$*^K$ng fruit salad?" Me and my friend about peed our pants laughing so hard.
 
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#129,682
#129,682
lilesrt said:
You think it’s safer to stay in it? I’d be in the woods.
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While traffic is still heading your way it is safer to stay in the metal cage. When the coast is clear head for the woods but don't get out and stand there while cars, trucks and semis are still heading towards you!
 
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#129,693
#129,693
Orange_Crush said:
The Guvs. I remember that place. Got into some scrapes there myself. As well as the rock and country. Gilligan's. Yesterday's.
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We usually went the R&C because our best friend was dating the DJ there for a while. I never got into any scrapes there..that I remember anyway...but we decided to go to Guv's one night with my lil sister and her husband because he knew somebody in the band.

We went to Yesterdays once, and my ex got in a brawl with another woman who was along with us that night that was a friend of our best friend over her flirting with me pretty blatantly, my wife saw her slip a note in my pocket and went ballistic. I don't remember ever going to Gilligans.

We used to go to Atlanta on Saturday nights quite a bit also, but I don't remember the names of the clubs we frequented besides Club Anytime.
 
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#129,697
#129,697
UTProf said:
Why are they getting out of the car? OMG don't they have any clue how dangerous it is to get out of the car in a situation like that?? I'm afraid to keep watching...
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Stay in your car so a 18 wheeler can come flying and squash you like a bug? The best thing you could do in a pileup in whiteout conditions is get as far away from the road as possible
 
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