Outside of the Ole Miss debacle, this football season is starting to look like an remake of an old movie we’ve all seen before. The basketball team is the winning-est program in NCAA history and the football team holds the same title for “moral victories”.
Many UK football fans have grown to accept it (and I’m not one of those fans), and now the national media is even taking notice. Here’s an excerpt from a recent USA Today article that suggest “Operation Win” should have been dubbed “Operation De Ja Vu”.
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[QUOTE=USA Today]The mantra is plastered on billboards across the state and is a popular refrain in the locker room. His goal was simple: It was time for Kentucky to take the next step toward relevancy in the Southeastern Conference. Halfway through the season, “Operation Deja Vu” may have been a more appropriate choice.
The Wildcats (3-3, 0-3) head into Saturday’s game against No. 10 South Carolina (4-1, 2-1) lamenting opportunities that slipped away. The latest came in a 37-34 heartbreaker against No. 7 Auburn on Saturday, when the Tigers kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired.
The defeat was Kentucky’s 11th SEC setback by eight-points or less in the last three-plus years. They’re the kind of games that separate the contenders from the also-rans.
Kentucky was hoping this would be the season to take the next step forward. Now, it feels like Wildcats are continuing to run in place.
Though Phillips remains upbeat, he also knows “our guarantees are running out.”
“I think this team definitely has confidence, and they (feel they) can play with anybody in this league,” Phillips said.
The Wildcats just aren’t beating anybody. Kentucky and Tennessee are the only two teams in the SEC without a conference victory. The road doesn’t get any easier. The Gamecocks are coming off an upset of defending national champion Alabama, and coach Steve Spurrier has never lost to the Wildcats, including a 28-26 win last year.
It’s one of the “streaks” that have cast a pall over the program for years. Phillips knows the only way for Kentucky to be taken seriously on a consistent basis is for such streaks to end.
He’s already tired of talking about it. Yet knows the questions will persist until the victories come.
“I’ve tried not to mention things like that because we got to play,” he said. “This is a different team, you know, obviously.”[/QUOTE]
You can [URL=”http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/2010-10-11-3287674334_x.htm?csp=34sports&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomCollegeSports-TopStories+%28Sports+-+College+-+Top+Stories%29”]read the complete article here…[/URL]
So what do you think?
Is there a better name for this season?
I personally like “Operation Win”. I’m the eternal optimist. It doesn’t matter how many games we lose, I’ll always believe we can win when it’s time for kickoff.
