(SEC) The Wildcats play on a grass field at Commonwealth Stadium (seats 67,942)
- Joker Phillips is in his 2nd year as head coach at Kentucky. Last year his team went 6-7 and played in its 5th straight bowl game. This is a record for Kentucky, but Phillips would prefer to focus on being a contender for the SEC championship and not just achieving a .500 record. Currently, to be eligible for a bowl game a team must have a .500 regular season record (only one win against an FCS Div I opponent can count towards that, previously known as Division I-AA). Perhaps Phillips thinks that winning half of their games ins’t really something to celebrate and consider a goal, but for Kentucky fans, six straight seasons without a losing record during the regular season would be a victory as that hasn’t happened since the 1950s.
- The offense is starting fresh this year with their skill positions (quarterback, running back, wide receiver). The biggest loss is receiver Randall Cobb who had over 1,000 yards receiving last year and was quite versatile, playing quarterback at times as well. He was drafted by Green Bay in the 2nd round in April’s NFL Draft.
- The good news for the offense is the return of the linemen–they are very experienced and will help provide a less experienced quarterback. Quarterback Morgan Newton has 9 starts, including some big game win experience.
- Defense gets a big change this year. They are going to incorporate the 4-3, 3-4 and the 4-2-5. New co-defensive coordinator Rick Minter will be calling plays. And with this mix of scheme there will be several hybrid players who play both defensive line and linebacker or both linebacker and defensive back.
- The secondary is very experienced this year. 4-2-5 defense. With five defensive backs, the emphasis is on defending against the passing game and that is probably smart for this team given the fact that they had the 3rd worst passing defense in the country in 2010 (118 out of 120).
- Even if Kentucky does great this year, with their tough SEC schedule, the best case scenario would be about 8-4.
