The thing that galls me the most is that before this game ever kicked off, I said that Napier better have this team prepared for a motivated Kentucky team that ALWAYS comes out ready to play against us under Stoops.
We have the more talented team and there wasn't any reason we couldn't win...except for the "dog" factor and whether or not our team could match what we ALL knew Kentucky would bring.
We didn't.
From the opening whistle to the final one, this team was out-hustled, out-motivated, out-coached, and out-fought.
That's all on Napier.
And in this era of college football, there's no excuse for it. Multiple teams have rebuilt their entire program in one offseason via the portal. Colorado, f$u, LSU, and even Kentucky. Speaking of Kentucky--we've had higher recruiting rankings in all but 2022 (Napier's transition class). So it shouldn't be a talent issue...it's coaching, pure and simple.
Colorado almost came back down 20 points in the fourth quarter. Baylor scored 28 unanswered to beat UCF in the fourth quarter.
There is simply no excuse for the offense Napier is putting out on the field. There's no urgency at any point in the game. No in-game adjustments to what the defense is doing. No downfield passing. If our team gets behind the sticks via a penalty or negative yardage play? Bust out the punter...because we aren't converting. And even if we don't punt...we call absolutely mind-bogglingly dumb fourth down plays.
I'm with the author that said there isn't anything inherently wrong with being relatively mild-mannered, but know when to show emotion too. This is competitive sports and results matter. Show your team it matters. Show the fans it matters. When the refs blow a call at a critical junction in the game and call false start when it was clearly offsides--get in their faces. So what if they call a 15 yd penalty...they'll get the message that you're going to report them to the league and they'll get demoted next week. And in any case, your punter can boot it 60 yards anyway...see if it shakes things up.
And whatever you do, don't sit on the clock down 2+ scores and then mumble that the fanbase doesn't know what they're talking about.