(12-02-2014 09:43 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 09:38 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 09:06 AM)mikecat Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 12:09 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  BK left while the leaving was good.

Dont think he is having a whole lot of fun right now,they are killing him on the irish message boards.

My point is that BK left the program when it was on top. I know many will disagree with me, but I don't think that BK would have stayed for the bowl game...BCSCG or not...because the Bearcats were going to, in all likelihood, get beaten badly in that game. Our Defense that year had always been atrocious. As we saw in the Sugar Bowl, our players were, in every category, just one step lower than the Florida players (ie. a little slower, a little smaller, etc...). That team is one of my favorites, but they were just plain outmatched on the field. BK left BEFORE the blemish could get on his record.

And before anyone says "Well, he said..." remember, please, that the players said on the bus down from Pittsburgh that BK said "I'm not going anywhere..." (And I trust the players more than I trust BK.) Brian Kelly--like Butch Jones--was a slick salesman; he said all sorts of things that he never personally lived up to. So, if he in fact did say something to the fact that "I'm not leaving if we're playing for the National Championship," I still do not believe it.

What's more, it's regularly accepted that when you take a new job ahead of a Bowl Game, you LEAVE the program immediately to get recruiting for the new program. Notre Dame wasn't going to wait, they had been in discussions with BK from BEFORE the start of the 2009 season (this was well documented), the Kellys had even vacated their house in October so that it was ready to go on the market in December... I'm sorry, but I think the die was cast well before the B12 CCG. Brian Kelly was not going to coach the 2010 bowl game regardless of what that game was.

But that's all history. I'm actually getting excited for THIS YEAR's Bowl game... Hopefully it's a decent game.

Disagree on BK not staying to coach in a national title game. Had we made that game, he would have coached us.

a. you never pass that up, you never know if you will get another shot. Even if you think you will get killed.

b. you parlay that into a bigger paycheck for your next gig. Being able to say "I led Cincinnati into THE National Title Game" garners even more pay. Everyone would have understood if UC got hammered by Bama.

Agree with #1 here. Nobody has ever left a team before playing in the NCG, regardless of how well you think you would fare. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity that even BK could not pass up. Do you realize how much that would stroke his enormous ego?

As to the actual game I think we would have matched up better against 2009 Alabama than 2009 Florida. IMO that 2009 Florida team, if given a rematch, would have taken the Tide to the woodshed. There was a reason why they had been #1 in all the polls for the entire season until that SEC CCG game-- they were loaded with talent.

@Mods;

Can we split off some of the back and forth vs. the actual info related to bowl projections?

(12-02-2014 09:06 AM)mikecat Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 12:09 AM)BearcatJerry Wrote:  BK left while the leaving was good.

Dont think he is having a whole lot of fun right now,they are killing him on the irish message boards.

He's getting close to his ND expiration date.

Still a better situation than competing with Memphis for an AAC title.