Thoughts on the Tennessee game??

[RockyTopRowdy58]

For Tennessee it will be about slowing down UK's run game and defending the deep ball.

These are two items that Tennessee struggles with and UK seems to do well. Tennessee is decimated with injuries at DT, LB, and in the secondary.

TN's corners do not play the ball well in the air on go routes. Being minus Shy Tuttle, Kahlil McKenzie, Jaylen Reeves-Maybin, Cam Sutton, and others has made a huge difference this season and I'm afraid it will show on Saturday.

The DT and S positions are razor thin and another injury could be insurmountable.

On offense, the run game for Tennessee will be solid. John Kelly looks like the real deal at RB, Kamara should be able to go and he's special. The passing game will depend on which Josh Dobbs shows up. He's been really good and really bad at times this season so we will have to wait and see.

Tennessee's return game has also came back to earth this season, mainly because teams don't kick to us. But Sutton being out and Berry going down last week hasn't helped either.

I do think the SC loss and Jalen Hurd saga have resulted in renewed energy for this Tennessee team. But being minus so many difference makers it's hard to predict a ton of success down the stretch.

I personally expect a high scoring game in Knoxville.

 

[truebluewildcat_rivals34254]

Need a game plan for Dobbs, who has had a career game every time out against us. He has literally been the difference every match up the past 3 years.

If CMS n crew need a game plan to stop Dobbs from making plays in crucial situations. 3rd and redzone stops are a must. In the past the uk's D couldn't get off the field and large reason for that was Dobbs ability to make a play on the ground and/or with a much needed pass.

Offensively I think sticking to our bread and butter should be the primary objective. We have a top tier rushing attack. We need to continue to use that.

In addition to the ground game I think keeping UT's D honest will be crucial, our Oline and two RBs are no secret. Vols, like everyone else, will key on our rushing attack. This obviously means that we need to make a couple plays through the air.

If the O can make some early plays through the air it will go a long way in giving johnson some confidence and opening things up just enough for boom and benny.

 

[RockyTopRowdy58]

Need a game plan for Dobbs, who has had a career game every time out against us. He has literally been the difference every match up the past 3 years.

If CMS n crew need a game plan to stop Dobbs from making plays in crucial situations. 3rd and redzone stops are a must. In the past the uk's D couldn't get off the field and large reason for that was Dobbs ability to make a play on the ground and/or with a much needed pass.

Offensively I think sticking to our bread and butter should be the primary objective. We have a top tier rushing attack. We need to continue to use that.

In addition to the ground game I think keeping UT's D honest will be crucial, our Oline and two RBs are no secret. Vols, like everyone else, will key on our rushing attack. This obviously means that we need to make a couple plays through the air.

If the O can make some early plays through the air it will go a long way in giving johnson some confidence and opening things up just enough for boom and benny.

Just a little more Tennessee info... It has been an unusual year for Tennessee's defense. Statistically, they are very efficient. Meaning about 90% of the time they play really good football, even with all the injury issues. But big plays have been a major issue. The other 10% of the time big plays have absolutely killed us.

I expect this trend to continue to some degree Saturday. Do not be surprised if we defend the wildcat really well, and all of a sudden yall break a big one or hit a long ball.

 

[bluedog79]

My advice? Skip watching this game. Probably won't be good looking at that point spread.

 

[docholiday51]

What is our mindset out of the UGA game? UT is such an up and down team,can we take advantage on offense and put points on the board? The UT injury situation makes it a bit more of an even match up on the field,can we go in and compete over an extended period of time?

As stated above the defense has to be able to get off the field on 3rd down.We can't turn the ball over in key situations,if we could get thru the game even or on the plus side of the turnover stat we give ourselves a real chance in this one

I almost hope we get the first possession and force UT to stop our run game,we can't afford to fall behind early.

We probably don't want a shoot out with Dobbs,the more we can keep him off the field the better. If he starts beating us with his legs we are in big trouble,I'm not sure we can defend him when plays break down.

 

[Deeeefense]

Just a little more Tennessee info... It has been an unusual year for Tennessee's defense. Statistically, they are very efficient. Meaning about 90% of the time they play really good football, even with all the injury issues. But big plays have been a major issue. The other 10% of the time big plays have absolutely killed us.

I expect this trend to continue to some degree Saturday. Do not be surprised if we defend the wildcat really well, and all of a sudden yall break a big one or hit a long ball.

I'm curious is to how many guys, if any, UT will rotate along the D-line with the injuries or will your starters have to play the entire game? That could be crucial, as Kentucky's run game can really wear down a defense.

The other thing I'm curious about is the team mood and moral. UT was the odds on favorite to win the East going in, and they looked to be a solid pick, but now with the injuries defections, and losing to USCjr, what effect has that had, and what type of energy and effort do you expect? Will the crowd by jacked or passive?

We're in relatively good shape injury wise but I think they may be a little bit deflated after losing a heart breaker to UGA and dropping into 2nd place.

Thanks for stopping by and adding your info and opinions.

 

[RockyTopRowdy58]

I'm curious is to how many guys, if any, UT will rotate along the D-line with the injuries or will your starters have to play the entire game? That could be crucial, as Kentucky's run game can really wear down a defense.

The other thing I'm curious about is the team mood and moral. UT was the odds on favorite to win the East going in, and they looked to be a solid pick, but now with the injuries defections, and losing to USCjr, what effect has that had, and what type of energy and effort do you expect? Will the crowd by jacked or passive?

We're in relatively good shape injury wise but I think they may be a little bit deflated after losing a heart breaker to UGA and dropping into 2nd place.

Thanks for stopping by and adding your info and opinions.

We are okay at defensive end. Barnett, Kongbo, Vereen, Lewis, and Mixon are a solid group. Defensive tackle is the question. I am afraid that being short on numbers and undersized will result in us getting pushed around inside. Of our top 4 DT's, only 1 will be playing Saturday.

We did move OG Charles Mosley (6'4 340) to DT this week. I wouldn't expect major contributions, but it is a big body. Kyle Phillips, a converted DE, is slated to start but he banged his shoulder up vs Tennessee Tech.

Winning 1st and 2nd down, putting UK in passing situations will be huge. We can play with 4 DE's if UK is in 3rd and 7+.

 

[Anon1660081258]

Thin at DT? Sounds like Benny in the Wildcat to me. Exhaust and demoralize the DTs available, and go from there. Opportunities will expand if the middle of the defense is reeling.

 

[Deeeefense]

Thin at DT? Sounds like Benny in the Wildcat to me. Exhaust and demoralize the DTs available, and go from there. Opportunities will expand if the middle of the defense is reeling.

If their middle is soft, their DEs are more likly to crash, opening the read option keeper. We need to take advantage of any over pursuit in the run game.

 

[akaukswoosh]

Need a game plan for Dobbs, who has had a career game every time out against us.

This!

 

[Anon1660081258]

I feel like our defense can contend with most anything at this point if they will just finish growing up and play assignment football without over pursuing. We looked like hell at CB on the long Michel TD run. CB headed inside when he should have loitered.

 

[docholiday51]

If their middle is soft, their DEs are more likly to crash, opening the read option keeper. We need to take advantage of any over pursuit in the run game.

We have to take advantage where we can,the read option might be there and the jet sweep might keep them off balance.Boom and Snell could really burn them in the middle if we get a block or two at the right time.

 

[LeonThe Camel]

Have to remain confident and healthy. Tennessee is not a must win, but it is a we sure would like to win. Do not want to hang the hat on Austin Peay and Louisville to have a winning season.

 

[docholiday51]

Have to remain confident and healthy. Tennessee is not a must win, but it is a we sure would like to win. Do not want to hang the hat on Austin Peay and Louisville to have a winning season.

The AP game is one we have in the hip pocket,just like the Charlotte game of last year.This year it means more because it insures a bowl game.The UT and UL games are house money,play like your hair is on fire and let it all hang out.Win either and things go thru the roof,play to win and don't even worry about losing.That is how I would approach these two games if I were in Stoops shoes,we have been in must win games for over a month,go out play hard and have fun would be my message to the team.

 

[JasonRDunn]

Thanks for RockyTopRowdy58 for coming over here and sharing his thoughts. Good stuff, all.

 

[lex cath]

We are more physical than UT on both sides of the ball IMO but can we keep them honest with passing the football efficiently and completing the passes if we can. Gotta find a way to incorporate CJ more

 

[DACats86]

We are who we are. Continue to run the ball and hope we get into the 4Q with a chance to win. I do think they can try some different things in the wildcat, though.

 

[RockyTopRowdy58]

Thin at DT? Sounds like Benny in the Wildcat to me. Exhaust and demoralize the DTs available, and go from there. Opportunities will expand if the middle of the defense is reeling.

Thin might be somewhat relative... From Tennessee's perspective we have lost two 5 stars and a 3 year starter who was a 4 star..

Still some solid, able-bodied guys there... Just not going to be as good as we should be if we were healthy.

We will run a lot of run blitzes and gap exchanges to compensate for being undermanned and undersized though.

 

[Tskware]

We are who we are. Continue to run the ball and hope we get into the 4Q with a chance to win. I do think they can try some different things in the wildcat, though.

Yep, pretty much. Due to UT's disappointing season and tons of injuries, I expect us to be comptetive, would be surprised and very disappointed if we get blown out.

That being said, would be surprised to see Kentucky actually win. Have played quite a few close games against UT in Knoxville, e.g., 2004, 2006, 2010, but it never seems to go our way in the end.

 

[Anon1660081258]

Thin might be somewhat relative... From Tennessee's perspective we have lost two 5 stars and a 3 year starter who was a 4 star..

Still some solid, able-bodied guys there... Just not going to be as good as we should be if we were healthy.

We will run a lot of run blitzes and gap exchanges to compensate for being undermanned and undersized though.

Oh, I'm confident you guys won't be playing some guys you collected at the Student Union. The middle of our O line is a real strength for us. I think you might sorely miss having your best.

 

[LeonThe Camel]

The AP game is one we have in the hip pocket,just like the Charlotte game of last year.This year it means more because it insures a bowl game.The UT and UL games are house money,play like your hair is on fire and let it all hang out.Win either and things go thru the roof,play to win and don't even worry about losing.That is how I would approach these two games if I were in Stoops shoes,we have been in must win games for over a month,go out play hard and have fun would be my message to the team.

Yep.

 

[vikingfoer]

I feel like our defense can contend with most anything at this point if they will just finish growing up and play assignment football without over pursuing. We looked like hell at CB on the long Michel TD run. CB headed inside when he should have loitered.

I watched 21 westry ,he looked afraid to tackle anyone

 

[sluggercatfan]

My advice? Skip watching this game. Probably won't be good looking at that point spread.

You do realize that the filthy orange has beaten only one team this season worse than the spread on this game and that includes Appy St and Ohio U..

 

[sluggercatfan]

I watched 21 westry ,he looked afraid to tackle anyone

He seems to be having a rough sophomore season

 

[vikingfoer]

He seems to be having a rough sophomore season

He seems to be having a rough sophomore season

I didn't mean to put him down ,I love my cats and wish the best for the kid

 

[Crankdatmustard_rivals66299]

Yep, pretty much. Due to UT's disappointing season and tons of injuries, I expect us to be comptetive, would be surprised and very disappointed if we get blown out.

That being said, would be surprised to see Kentucky actually win. Have played quite a few close games against UT in Knoxville, e.g., 2004, 2006, 2010, but it never seems to go our way in the end.

2006 we def should have won the game. :chairshot:

 

[Eddie Gran can coach]

Just a little more Tennessee info... It has been an unusual year for Tennessee's defense. Statistically, they are very efficient. Meaning about 90% of the time they play really good football, even with all the injury issues. But big plays have been a major issue. The other 10% of the time big plays have absolutely killed us.

I expect this trend to continue to some degree Saturday. Do not be surprised if we defend the wildcat really well, and all of a sudden yall break a big one or hit a long ball.

Frankly this reasoning holds no water, you can say that for just about every team, i heard their DC say that 90 percent of their run defense snaps have resulted in a 2.9 yard per carry, However, Coach Shoop failed to mention the other 10 percent yielded about 15 yards per tote.

So I'm not buying this reasoning at all.

 

[Tskware]

2006 we def should have won the game. :chairshot:

Isn't that the one that Sieber missed a short FG and an extra point, in what ended up a 17-12 loss or something like that? I remember if he had made those two, we could have taken the lead late in the game with another short FG, but had to go for a TD instead on 4th and goal. Is that about right?

 

[Deeeefense]

Frankly this reasoning holds no water, you can say that for just about every team, i heard their DC say that 90 percent of their run defense snaps have resulted in a 2.9 yard per carry, However, Coach Shoop failed to mention the other 10 percent yielded about 15 yards per tote.

So I'm not buying this reasoning at all.

I think what he described is what you might call a "break but don't bend" defense. That typically features a lot of man/press coverage, and heavy box. Works great most of the time but you're vulnerable to the big plays.

 

[RockyTopRowdy58]

Frankly this reasoning holds no water, you can say that for just about every team, i heard their DC say that 90 percent of their run defense snaps have resulted in a 2.9 yard per carry, However, Coach Shoop failed to mention the other 10 percent yielded about 15 yards per tote.

So I'm not buying this reasoning at all.

I don't mean to argumentative, but it isn't 'reasoning' when it is statistically based.

Pretty clear big plays have been an Achilles heel.

 

[KWilt43atbuzz]

Limit turnovers and UK will be in it all afternoon.
Fumble and throw picks?
Blowout.

 

[ukalum1988]

Isn't that the one that Sieber missed a short FG and an extra point, in what ended up a 17-12 loss or something like that? I remember if he had made those two, we could have taken the lead late in the game with another short FG, but had to go for a TD instead on 4th and goal. Is that about right?

You pretty much got it right. From the shoot yourself in the foot department, we had the ball on the UT 2 yd line but had a bone-headed delay of game penalty that effectively took running plays out of the playbook.

There's a looooooong history of missed opportunities for UK to beat UT over the years....

 

[RockyTopRowdy58]

You pretty much got it right. From the shoot yourself in the foot department, we had the ball on the UT 2 yd line but had a bone-headed delay of game penalty that effectively took running plays out of the playbook.

There's a looooooong history of missed opportunities for UK to beat UT over the years....

I would think Wildcats view their history with Tennessee a lot like Tennessee sees their history with Florida.

 

[Gene1864]

Our containment is getting better but still needs discipline...Love is getting better but still filled some empty holes last week. Jordan Jones is a freak so he can limit some things but he's only one man.

Biggest concern to me is our inability to pressure Dobbs without blitzing. We leave a lot of **** open when we do and it depends on the question if he can make the read quick enough and torch us in the short/intermediate game.

We'll run the ball but that won't get us within a couple of scores. We absolutely have to throw the ball which a concern...if SMITH could be consistent on the intermediate routes, it would definitely help. The kid is gaining confidence every week but playing in Knoxville is not a place where you want to learn how to develop your game.

Anyhow, slightly optimistic but am old enough to remember our win three decades before we finally broke the streak. I don't expect a blowout but it would take a monumental effort and all cards to fall in place if we come out with a win.

 

[DACats86]

My honest thought on the Tennessee game is that I would like nothing any more than to kick their orange-clad asses up and down the field. Just say'n...

 

[Cmarcell2006]

This is what is still driving me crazy about this team/staff. Golden opportunities are there to be seized and they just can't do it. I can't understand why they can't just get over that hump.

What is our mindset out of the UGA game? UT is such an up and down team,can we take advantage on offense and put points on the board? The UT injury situation makes it a bit more of an even match up on the field,can we go in and compete over an extended period of time?

As stated above the defense has to be able to get off the field on 3rd down.We can't turn the ball over in key situations,if we could get thru the game even or on the plus side of the turnover stat we give ourselves a real chance in this one

I almost hope we get the first possession and force UT to stop our run game,we can't afford to fall behind early.

We probably don't want a shoot out with Dobbs,the more we can keep him off the field the better. If he starts beating us with his legs we are in big trouble,I'm not sure we can defend him when plays break down.

 

[Poetax]

Thin might be somewhat relative... From Tennessee's perspective we have lost two 5 stars and a 3 year starter who was a 4 star..

Still some solid, able-bodied guys there... Just not going to be as good as we should be if we were healthy.

We will run a lot of run blitzes and gap exchanges to compensate for being undermanned and undersized though.

Yeah we know how important it is to keep the trench guys fresh, when you can't the fourth quarter can become your enemy.

 

[Crankdatmustard_rivals66299]

Isn't that the one that Sieber missed a short FG and an extra point, in what ended up a 17-12 loss or something like that? I remember if he had made those two, we could have taken the lead late in the game with another short FG, but had to go for a TD instead on 4th and goal. Is that about right?

Not only that but we had the ball 2nd and goal from the 2 with about 3 min left and had been running down UT throat the entire drive. Woodson then takes a delay of game penalty

We ran Little for 2 yard then were forced to pass on 3rd and 4th down.

 

[BlueVelvetFog]

I like this UT fan. Not like some fans that come to the board, butter up our fans and prog for 7 paragraphs and then say "I expect a good game like 63-10 Vols"

[sick][sick]:uzi::uzi:[pfftt][pfftt][eyeroll]

 

[BIGBLUEQ]

You pretty much got it right. From the shoot yourself in the foot department, we had the ball on the UT 2 yd line but had a bone-headed delay of game penalty that effectively took running plays out of the playbook.

There's a looooooong history of missed opportunities for UK to beat UT over the years....

I was at that game down in Knoxville, and the reason for that boneheaded delay of game penalty is because Woodson couldn't see the play clock. There were two guys in the endzone standing in front of the play clock. I watched the refs go make them move after the penalty was called. The play clock is on the wall in the endzone about 5 feet off the ground, not up high like it is in most stadiums.