Cats will need different winning formula against Georgia

UKErik

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
27,441
3,092
0
After watching a few hours of UGA football, some initial thoughts on the upcoming game (Cats offense vs. UGA defense);

*UK isn't going to run the ball down UGA's throat. Not happening. The Dogs have a solid front seven. Overall, they have a top 20 defense. UK can't be one dimensional and expect to move the football. Which means...

*...this is a game that will require more from Stephen Johnson than any other so far. Kentucky will have to make plays in the passing game. They have the horses to do it, and I think UK will be able to pass protect, but Johnson is gonna have to do a little more.

*Kentucky has gotten away with a woeful turnover margin. It's bottom five in the nation. This is gonna be a tight game, so giving away points can't happen.

GBB!!!
 

ulismyman

All-Conference
Jan 11, 2015
6,451
3,335
0
We couldnt run against Vandy either and that didnt stop us...but i hope we throw more anyway
 

zac_limanni

Heisman
Jan 14, 2013
15,031
23,696
0
After watching a few hours of UGA football, some initial thoughts on the upcoming game (Cats offense vs. UGA defense);

*UK isn't going to run the ball down UGA's throat. Not happening. The Dogs have a solid front seven. Overall, they have a top 20 defense. UK can't be one dimensional and expect to move the football. Which means...

*...this is a game that will require more from Stephen Johnson than any other so far. Kentucky will have to make plays in the passing game. They have the horses to do it, and I think UK will be able to pass protect, but Johnson is gonna have to do a little more.

*Kentucky has gotten away with a woeful turnover margin. It's bottom five in the nation. This is gonna be a tight game, so giving away points can't happen.

GBB!!!
We are also the best run offense they have faced all season.. I think it's a lil early to give up on the run game.. Considering the game doesn't even start for 6 days lol
 
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maverick1rw

Senior
Dec 18, 2006
6,845
527
0
We better be able to run or it will be tough to win. I think we have success. As long as we can get north of 200 yards running I think we can win if special teams and the defense plays well. Really my only 2 concerns are turnovers and punting.
 

Play some D

Junior
Nov 14, 2008
1,183
342
0
I don't think we need to change anything. We are what we are. We got good run blockers and good runningbacks. I would like to see Johnson keep the ball a few times on those read options, but that prolly isn't smart with no backup qb. It's not like Johnson isn't capable of running or throwing, but we don't need to put him in a bad position by asking him to throw the ball 30 times. I say we keep pounding the ball on the ground and let Johnson make enough throws to keep some drives going. We can also rely on our defense to keep us competitive now, where earlier we couldn't. I say we win a 27-21 game. Go Cats
 

Mr Schwump

Heisman
Nov 4, 2006
29,563
23,097
18
Think they are only allowing about 100 rush yards/game. Other teams however don't have Jon Toth...the young man is having one hell of a year. But consider this..UK has not been competitive AT ALL with UGA the last few years. They've been totally dominated and I do mean totally. Remember when GA came to CWS and didn't punt? Hung 60+ on UK and appeared to be playing against air.

To me to win this game UK must have a good game from Johnson but the D needs to make negative plays. Turnovers, tackles for losses, INTs, sacks. Can't let Eason stand tall and make throws. Have a feeling the drops their WRs have been having won't happen this week. Winnable game but UK needs to clean up some things.
 

SDcatfan13

All-Conference
Sep 26, 2003
50,042
3,725
113
I know the stats and everything back up what Erik is saying, but i really feel like were still going to run the ball effectively all game long. Not just on UGA but the rest of our schedule.

But yes, we need to get other things going. Have to hit conrad a few times, get some deep balls out, and hope Boom breaks a big one or two. That's how we win.

I think the staff has some big wildcat package wrinkles that we havent seen, like throws from the running back, reverses, etc. Think Gran will go all out for this one, while still remembering that the power run game is our bread and butter, even against a front 7 like UGA
 

Katwatcher

Sophomore
Feb 17, 2003
563
153
0
After watching a few hours of UGA football, some initial thoughts on the upcoming game (Cats offense vs. UGA defense);

*UK isn't going to run the ball down UGA's throat. Not happening. The Dogs have a solid front seven. Overall, they have a top 20 defense. UK can't be one dimensional and expect to move the football. Which means...

*...this is a game that will require more from Stephen Johnson than any other so far. Kentucky will have to make plays in the passing game. They have the horses to do it, and I think UK will be able to pass protect, but Johnson is gonna have to do a little more.

*Kentucky has gotten away with a woeful turnover margin. It's bottom five in the nation. This is gonna be a tight game, so giving away points can't happen.

GBB!!!
I agree with most of what you are saying. This is a game thats going to require a little more from everyone and I think we have a little more to give.

This team has improved big time in so many different ways. They will be playing a big name school and I feel like they all have gained a lot of confidence in last few games.

I doubt if there will be much of a change in their game plan. I'm hoping to see more of the same as last few games.

Every yard is going to be more difficult than past games and Georgia is gong to face a running game that is better than any they have faced this season in my opinion.

If we can keep the turnovers to minimum, I think we can play with them. Johnson will have a lot of pressure on him but I think he can handle it .He has come a long ways.GO CATS
 

vhcat70

Heisman
Feb 5, 2003
57,418
38,482
0
I don't think we need to change anything. We are what we are. We got good run blockers and good runningbacks. I would like to see Johnson keep the ball a few times on those read options, but that prolly isn't smart with no backup qb. It's not like Johnson isn't capable of running or throwing, but we don't need to put him in a bad position by asking him to throw the ball 30 times. I say we keep pounding the ball on the ground :fistbump: and let Johnson make enough throws to keep some drives going. We can also rely on our defense to keep us competitive now, where earlier we couldn't. I say we win a 27-21 game. Go Cats
You think real good. Smash mouth. Keeps everybody mean. [thumb2]
 

Poetax

Heisman
Apr 4, 2002
29,410
20,887
0
I know the stats and everything back up what Erik is saying, but i really feel like were still going to run the ball effectively all game long. Not just on UGA but the rest of our schedule.

But yes, we need to get other things going. Have to hit conrad a few times, get some deep balls out, and hope Boom breaks a big one or two. That's how we win.

I think the staff has some big wildcat package wrinkles that we havent seen, like throws from the running back, reverses, etc. Think Gran will go all out for this one, while still remembering that the power run game is our bread and butter, even against a front 7 like UGA



Heard them say that Snell has the best arm of all the running backs maybe he'll be the one who throws for their first TD.
 

CondorCat

All-Conference
Oct 22, 2010
2,012
1,888
0
Dawgs will be a tough out. They rank higher than us in total defense and total offense, and have played a tougher schedule than we have.

UGA is 13th nationally in rushing defense. Not too shabby. Yet they were destroyed by the cellar team in the SEC West (Ole' Miss, 1-4) through the air. I say we MUST throw the ball some on 'em to be successful.
 

Comebakatz3

Heisman
Aug 8, 2008
41,399
31,411
113
Should be interesting. The real key is on defense. We need to put pressure on Eason and force him into mistakes. If we do that then we can run the ball and get just enough to win. Florida ran the ball 48 times against them and they weren't overly effective doing it, but they did enough to get a pretty good win 24-10. They did that with just 230 some odd yards of total offense. Vanderbilt got beat up all game, but they kept Georgia out of the endzone and got the win. I think if we can avoid big plays and grind out some drives then we can win this game. Of course, it might depend on what type of attitude Georgia brings to the game. They may very well kind of be packing it in at this point.
 

vhcat70

Heisman
Feb 5, 2003
57,418
38,482
0
Dawgs will be a tough out. Yet they were destroyed by the cellar team in the SEC West (Ole' Miss, 1-4) through the air. I say we MUST throw the ball some on 'em to be successful.
OM is good regardless of record. AL's toughest out to date.
 

allabouttheUK

All-Conference
Jan 28, 2015
3,079
3,390
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I don't think it's a good idea to use the UGA UF game as any type of measure for what UGA will be like next weekend. That game for them and UF is a HUGE rivalry game and we all know what those are like. I'm not saying it's meaningless, but the lower team usually plays up in this situations.
They won't come in very banged up physically, but where are they mentally?
 

WildCard

All-American
May 29, 2001
65,040
7,390
0
After watching a few hours of UGA football, some initial thoughts on the upcoming game (Cats offense vs. UGA defense);

*UK isn't going to run the ball down UGA's throat. Not happening. The Dogs have a solid front seven. Overall, they have a top 20 defense. UK can't be one dimensional and expect to move the football. Which means...

*...this is a game that will require more from Stephen Johnson than any other so far. Kentucky will have to make plays in the passing game. They have the horses to do it, and I think UK will be able to pass protect, but Johnson is gonna have to do a little more.

*Kentucky has gotten away with a woeful turnover margin. It's bottom five in the nation. This is gonna be a tight game, so giving away points can't happen.

GBB!!!
Totally agree with this. JawJaw is more offensively challenged than I ever remember them to be but are very good against the rush (#10 @110 YPG allowed). If you enjoy old fashioned defensive football I hope you watched the GA/FL game. Not diminishing the beat down laid on Mizzou but their run defense is now ranked #123 at 266 YPGA. BIG difference this weekend but the 'Dawgs offensive ineptness (#92 TO @ 373 YPG; #97 Scoring @ 22.9 PPG) makes this one very winnable.

Peace
 
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TheySoSensitive

Heisman
Dec 1, 2012
30,831
43,762
113
The key to our run game is going to be SJs ability to hit the short easy passes to the TE and continuing to hit on our deep balls. With the recent play of Badet most likely commanding safety help you have to think that Baker is due for a breakout game.

Think we could really do some damage with the short quick throws if we get him some one on ones. There isn't a corner in the country that can bring him down without getting drug 3+ yards and that's if they manage to hang on. Of course we need him to catch for all of this to work out, but when he is locked in he's one of the better football players we've got.
 
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gobgblu37

Senior
Aug 1, 2007
4,457
817
0
After watching a few hours of UGA football, some initial thoughts on the upcoming game (Cats offense vs. UGA defense);

*UK isn't going to run the ball down UGA's throat. Not happening. The Dogs have a solid front seven. Overall, they have a top 20 defense. UK can't be one dimensional and expect to move the football. Which means...

*...this is a game that will require more from Stephen Johnson than any other so far. Kentucky will have to make plays in the passing game. They have the horses to do it, and I think UK will be able to pass protect, but Johnson is gonna have to do a little more.

*Kentucky has gotten away with a woeful turnover margin. It's bottom five in the nation. This is gonna be a tight game, so giving away points can't happen.

GBB!!![/

Johnson is definitely going to have to make some throws against the dawgs but he did yesterday and the running game took over. If you remember the first two plays of the game were completed passes. I got a feeling we will see the same thing against the UGA, show them the threat of a passing game then run the ball down their throats and this team can run on them!
 

cookscats

Freshman
Aug 1, 2006
1,089
61
0
After watching a few hours of UGA football, some initial thoughts on the upcoming game (Cats offense vs. UGA defense);

*UK isn't going to run the ball down UGA's throat. Not happening. The Dogs have a solid front seven. Overall, they have a top 20 defense. UK can't be one dimensional and expect to move the football. Which means...

*...this is a game that will require more from Stephen Johnson than any other so far. Kentucky will have to make plays in the passing game. They have the horses to do it, and I think UK will be able to pass protect, but Johnson is gonna have to do a little more.

*Kentucky has gotten away with a woeful turnover margin. It's bottom five in the nation. This is gonna be a tight game, so giving away points can't happen.

GBB!!!
 

jnewc2_rivals30628

All-Conference
Nov 22, 2006
6,564
3,919
0
We don't need a different formula at all, switching it up would be silly at this point..we just need to continue to do what we've been doing while just trying to cut down on some of the fumbles and INT's..if we try to start getting fancy and fit a square peg in a round hole by getting SJ to throw the ball more than he's comfortable with then it's only going to end up biting us in the ***..if we keep doing what we've been doing with running to set up the pass then I'm confident we will move the ball on Georgia..we just have to make sure we cut down on the mistakes..there's no point in trying to make SJ do something he's not comfortable with, especially when you have one of the best rushing attacks in the league
 

cookscats

Freshman
Aug 1, 2006
1,089
61
0
Blocking is everything in running the football and yes it will be tough to run but I have watched Georgia and believe they looked better under Richt. It will be like any other game in that if Johnson can complete some passes this running can get going. Maybe not like it did against Missouri but it will be a threat
 

CB3UK

Hall of Famer
Apr 15, 2012
62,983
103,708
78
Georgia's OL is awful. I agree with OP, but I think our biggest focus needs to be getting after Eason.
 
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Cawood86_rivals

Heisman
Feb 20, 2005
36,711
64,713
0
I agree. Georgia has studs all over the place. UK has to be turnover free and get a couple from Georgia. I think UK may need a special teams TD or turnover to win this one.
Defense will have to get a pass rush. Offense needs to run the ball like they did this week, but will have to make key plays in the passing game.
 

Johnfarrel

All-American
Oct 9, 2001
5,257
5,262
113
"The key to our run game is going to be SJs ability to hit the short easy passes to the TE and continuing to hit on our deep balls. With the recent play of Badet most likely commanding safety help you have to think that Baker is due for a breakout game."

Agree Kentucky needs to throw the ball. Johnson made some great throws in the Missouri game except for his inability to hit the short ones to the TEs. I don't know what the problem is there, but he can put a good touch on the long ball. The pass to Badet for the long touchdown was a thing of beauty.