I have not seen them play yet....
Who here thinks we should be favored against Miss State at home?
Who here thinks we should be favored against Miss State at home?
Honestly, Can We Beat Miss State?
- Thread starter UKWinsAgainYep
- Start date
Can we beat them? Possibly but I doubt it. Auburn blew them out today but Auburn's defense scored two touchdowns in the first half that completely changed the game. I have a hard time seeing UK's defense doing that. They handled USCjr easier than we did. So we'll see.
We have a bye week to strategize and get healthy before Miss St. and the gm is in Ky. and the Bulldogs are down this season.
UK is on an uptick after winning 3 of 4.
All of that equates into a defensive struggle with UK prevailing by 4 ...17-13.
UK is on an uptick after winning 3 of 4.
All of that equates into a defensive struggle with UK prevailing by 4 ...17-13.
Can we? Yes. Will we? Probably not. They are probably a slightly better team then Vandy and South Carolina and we struggled with both. They appear to rely on their running game a lot again this year and that could cause us some problems. They do have to travel cross country the week before our game to play BYU and that will probably be a tough game for them while we sit and rest up with a bye week. It is a must win (along with Missouri) if Stoops wants to help guarantee his stay here another year. If he can't beat another mediocre team at home with an extra week to prepare, I don't think he will survive this season.
If we had a decent quarterback we win by 10 or better. But naw this is a big L for us. Dawgs 23 Cat 10
Johnson throws 2 int's in this one.
Run game looks good but the passing game kills our best drives.
Johnson throws 2 int's in this one.
Run game looks good but the passing game kills our best drives.
I disagree. I'm starting to see a much improved football team. Especially on the defensive end. UK needs a lot more from the QB but they can absolutely beat Mississippi State.
I'd love to promote the buy week as a huge advantage, but then again we had 9 months to prepare for Southern Miss...
SJ better find a new arm in the next 2 weeks.
SJ better find a new arm in the next 2 weeks.
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Maybe with the off week, we take the redshirt off Hoak and get him some snaps with the 1st team. We can't keep relying on just a running game. Got to have a little bit of a passing game to let the running game keep gaining yards.
Kentucky can absolutely beat Mississippi State. It won't be easy (nothing is for UK), but there's no reason the Cats can't leave Commonwealth 4-3 in two weeks. They'll need an improved passing game though.
GBB!!!
GBB!!!
MSU for years has bullied UK on both L.O.S. and that has to end for CATS to get a victory. Have not seen Bulldogs play this season but have sent steady improvement in play by CATS line both side of the ball. Bye week comes at a great time and should refresh both bodies and spirits of WILDCAT players.
MSt is not explosive and has as much trouble scoring as UK at times. QB 57% passer for 800 yards.
SJ a 56% passer for 700 yards.
Should look a lot like UK vs Vandy
SJ a 56% passer for 700 yards.
Should look a lot like UK vs Vandy
Without any semblance of a passing game and the turnover problem it won't be easy to get another win this year other than against Austin Peay. Maybe with the bye week the lights come on for Johnson and he looks a little more comfortable throwing the ball downfield. It's a shame the qb play has been so bad because I think this team could make a little noise with just average production from that position.
A
anon_q409idbs5m40a
Guest
Not the same Miss St. team we've seen the past few season. UK can beat this team but needs better QB plays.
While I don't have any love for the classless remarks that have been directed at S Johnson, I am prepared to see G Hoak given a try if we cannot produce more in the passing game than we have so far in SEC play, and the staff thinks he is ready. I know we have very good receivers. Someone needs to get them the ball. I advocate for a balanced attack. The utter lack of a passing game will cost us games we could win. It almost cost us yesterday, and likely will in two weeks if we don't fix it. We will not beat State without throwing the ball effectively.
I'd like to see those numbers since NMS.
Our D is leaps and bounds better than they were a month ago.
Don't think we will be favored. But, they are beatable. Clearly. We need to seriously improve our passing game to maximize our running attack. If this team continues to improve, a bowl is a real possibility.
FWIW, total offense of the teams we've played (Louisville is #1....ugh)
#4 Southern Miss
#14 Alabama
#75 New Mexico State
#91 Florida
#118 Vanderbilt
#127 South Carolina
It's numbers like those which cause me to repeatedly caution fans that this big defensive improvement they are seeing may be fool's gold. Have we seen improvement? Yes. Have they done what they were expected to do the last three weeks? Yes. But whether fans like these cold hard facts or not because they put a negative light on perceived progress, you HAVE to factor the quality of the offenses it's come against. The two worst. Alabama did not go full throttle on us, as anyone who watched them humiliate Arkansas can plainly see.
My hope is that Stoops taking the defensive reigns when he did has allowed the guys to refocus and hone their fundamentals, and most importantly build their confidence. Maybe I have battered fan syndrome and feel like I've seen this movie one too many times. I need to see the defense dominate Missouri. They have a solid offense. Then I will believe its not fool's gold.
It's obvious, we have to get better offensively if we have any chance against MSU. Hopefully, Barker is back to give us an alternative at QB if Johnson is still having troubles.
I don't know about being favored! I do think we beat them by two touchdowns!
Remember, the D gave up 6 TDs to #91 Florida and 0 to #118 Vandy. I believe the improvement is real.
I don't know who will be favored, and it doesn't matter. The single factor that is hurting Kentucky most this year has been turnovers. We are 1 of the worst teams in the country when it comes to turnovers. The next biggest problem has been an inconsistent pass rush. The other big problem is Steve Johnson's poor mastery of fundamentals in the pocket. At least 2 of those problems can be improved during the bye week. Mississippi State is 2-3, lost to South Alabama at home. Yesterday they were dominated at home by Auburn. Of course we can beat them, but not if we turn the football over 3-4 times.
It's another desperation game to make a bowl game a possibility and it's at home so I'd say we have slightly better than 50-50 chance to win. To become bowl eligible we have to beat Miss St, Missouri, and Austin Peay. The other games will be damn near impossible to win. Stoops better pull a rabbit out of his *** because he has to win those three or he'll be looking at 4-8, 5-7 once again in his fourth year. Going to be interesting to say the least.
All you say there is true. But IMO, Kentucky is not going to beat Missouri in Columbia. Missouri has a better defense and a better offense than Vandy or South Carolina. We can blow out Austin Peay, and I think we have a great shot to beat Mississippi State. But I have been predicting 4-5 wins since June, and I still think that's the likely end result for this team. If Stoops squeezes 6 wins out of this team, he would be a miracle worker but he would never be given credit by this crowd.
That "if" may not be realistic in the next 2 weeks. The situation is what it is. Towles is gone. Barker has a back injury. Ironically, Reese Phillips would be the starting quarterback now if he had stayed. Steve Johnson is our quarterback. Johnson has quickly become the new whipping boy for the our fan base. He is a 180 pound juco who has started 3 games. Johnson is a stop gap. The good news is that Danny Clark can see Johnson is a stop gap.
Sad but true. not beating up on our qb. i don't get why or howcome we have such a hard time finding a reliable, not great, qb.
You bet we can beat Miss. State. We are a different team with Coach Stoops handling the defense. Johnson isn't as bad as he looked against Vandy. Yes, I'll admit he looked bad, but he has two weeks to prepare. Our defense is much improved, and should keep us in the game against Miss. State, especially at home.
OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!
OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!
I am predicting that Steve Johnson has a good game.
You could tell against Vandy he was aiming the ball into the dirt because Coach Gran and Coach Stoops told him "don't throw an interception or fumble no matter what"....
He was really trying to avoid that on a few plays where he just threw it into the dirt in front of our receivers.
Hopefully he will settle down and make enough passes to beat Miss State.
I've heard our QB coach say that Steve Johnson does throw a nice catchable pass consistently in practice at least....
One thing I like about Steve Johnson.....He is much calmer and collected than Barker and Towles most of the time.
I can't stand watching a QB who is a deer in headlights and afraid the whole time. That's what I saw with Towles and now that's what I see in Barker.
I am not at all impressed with Barker's mental capacity as a QB. He looks very shaky and will probably end up like another Towles.
I really hope Gunner has a better head for the QB position.
You could tell against Vandy he was aiming the ball into the dirt because Coach Gran and Coach Stoops told him "don't throw an interception or fumble no matter what"....
He was really trying to avoid that on a few plays where he just threw it into the dirt in front of our receivers.
Hopefully he will settle down and make enough passes to beat Miss State.
I've heard our QB coach say that Steve Johnson does throw a nice catchable pass consistently in practice at least....
One thing I like about Steve Johnson.....He is much calmer and collected than Barker and Towles most of the time.
I can't stand watching a QB who is a deer in headlights and afraid the whole time. That's what I saw with Towles and now that's what I see in Barker.
I am not at all impressed with Barker's mental capacity as a QB. He looks very shaky and will probably end up like another Towles.
I really hope Gunner has a better head for the QB position.
Yes, beating Southern Miss requires miracles evidently. [laughing] Just ask Texas-San Antonio. I also predict LSU will have no issues performing that miracle next weekend. I mean seriously, all he had to do was beat USM at home to get to 6 and he couldn't do it.
If SJ is our qb we will lose. There are no more teams in the Sec we can beat without a qb who can stop us from being so one dimensional. If SJ is the qb the rest of the year, we only win one more game. MSU has the 30th ranked D in the country, it's an absolute must we throw the ball. They do have a pewtred offense however, so if our D stays improved, they may keep us in this... I sadly think they have the better coach as well.
And just a disclaimer ...I want our team to be good. I'm just being honest. A lot of the sunshine pumpers are bashing anyone who is being real about us being bad. It's not that I like writing what I did above , just the sad truth as I see things
And just a disclaimer ...I want our team to be good. I'm just being honest. A lot of the sunshine pumpers are bashing anyone who is being real about us being bad. It's not that I like writing what I did above , just the sad truth as I see things
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Game is winnable but not sure it's probable. Winning would be a nice shot in the arm for Stoops and team morale.