Vicky Graff Photo
After having lost three straight games and facing three of its final four games on the road (and the one home game is Alabama), some Kentucky fans are wondering if the Cats will win another game.
Not Van Hiles. The former UK all-SEC defensive back believes more wins are still out there this season.
“In 2021 Kentucky also lost three in a row. It hurts,” Hiles said. “But in this conference it happens.
“This team is going to win more games. I am not worried about that. It’s more can we as a team collectively put together a full game and really get rolling. If you would have told me that Devin Leary would pass for almost 400 yards against Tennessee, I thought it would have been an easy win instead of a loss. But I never expected that defensive front to give up 256 yards rushing. I just never expected that from this defensive group.
“There is a lot of blame to go around with this thing. The Tennessee game was just a few plays away from a win and those are the games that really hurt when you lose. As a defense when someone runs the ball down your throat, that takes your will. The Kentucky defense just did not play well. Sometimes the bright lights come on and guys do weird things.”
Hiles has seen UK fans do some “weird things” this week, too, by blasting UK defensive coordinator Brad White because the defense has allowed 122 points in the three losses.
“Very interesting when the offense couldn’t catch the ball or Devin was missing open WR, no one was blaming Coen. When the defense can’t tackle or miss assignments, it’s Brad White’s fault,” Hiles posted on X.
He’s right about that and noted on WLAP Sunday Morning Sports Talk that coaches can only put players in position and then if tackles are missed or assignments blown there is nothing they can do.
“Brad White did not forget how to coach,” Hiles said.
2 Responses
Kentucky can end up an eight game winner this season if it can put together complete games. Against TN, the Cats looked as good on offense as it ever had was good enough to win. But the defense got trashed. Incomplete Game. Against Missouri, same. It’s easy to sit back and say shoulda, woulda, coulda but putting that knowledge into practice is not so easy.
I just don’t see it happening.
Coaching, I think, is a whole lot more than schemes and fundamentals, a huge part of it is mental preparation of your team, and the ability to get more out of young men than they think they have. Florida, a team UK embarrassed at Kroger this year sent Tennessee packing earlier. It’s called desire. The great coaches do that, consistently.
The Kentucky vs Tennessee football game has become "mind games" for Kentucky football players after decades of losing to that bunch year after year. Stoops has no answer, it seems. Not many football coaches Kentucky has hired had any answers on this rivalry either. Eleven years is long enough to figure this out I think. A win now and again, especially at home, in this rivalry would sure be nice to see and a much needed gift to the BBN. If Kentucky don’t get this figured out soon, it will cost them football talent. UT just seems to reload every year with better athletes than the "Big Blue." Kentucky probably won’t beat them in Knoxville next year either because of this Orange flux, this curse. Kentucky needs a "bad A$$ coach, an enforcer. Not sure they have one now.