Thoughts on UK's bowl clinching win

[UKErik]

*The first quarter...my goodness. Flags. Turnovers. Yet ANOTHER big drop. Kentucky continues to be its own worst enemy.

*Congrats to the team and staff on qualifying for a bowl.

*Happy for Benny Snell. The freshman goes over the 1K yard mark for the season. I've enjoyed watching the young man play this season!

*CJ Conrad. Nice catch on a poorly thrown ball for a TD!. Eddie Gran HAS to get this guy involved more often. He should get half a dozen balls thrown his way every game at a minimum.

*I have no idea why Stephen Johnson didn't start. Knee injury huh? Against this team, him getting touched SHOULDN'T have been a concern. Anyway, Johnson had a couple of nice deep throws. Glad UK at least had him in pads to start the game (LOL).

*UK's defense...I don't care who was on the field in the 4th quarter, there's no way in hell Austin Peay should essentially possess the ball for an entire quarter on ANYONE.

*Kentell Williams ran for 124 yards tonight..124 yards playing behind an offensive line that is probably less talented than some private high school OL's. Austin Peay had THREE runners average five or more yards per carry. Those numbers are a total embarrassment. Jackson might run for 300 next week.

*UK needs to switch to a 4-3. Get another big body out on the field. At times, Austin Peay seemed to be running downhill on Kentucky. That's mind boggling. Austin Peay shouldn't run downhill on 11 random Lair forum members. Kentucky's overall defensive ineptitude is a total joke overall, but ESPECIALLY in a game like this. How does possibly the worst program in D-I pick up 17 first downs, almost 300 yards of offense, and go on what seemed like an 8-9 minute drive against an alleged SEC defense?

*Overall, a win is a win. In two days, we won't care how it happened. In all fairness, UK wasn't the only team in the league to come out flat today against a woefully overmatched opponent (Alabama trailed UT Chat 3-0 into the 2nd quarter...granted, the Mocs are a helluva lot better than Austin Peay, but still...).

Next up, the dirty birds.

GBB!!!

 

[CB3UK]

Fair assessment as always. My takeaways from the game are

-Snell is a once in a lifetime special kind of pkayer I'll be telling my kids and grandkids about.
-The defense continues to be a joke and depth isn't a valid excuse against AP.
-Continue to not be sold on Stoops. Even if we can increase our recruiting standing, his teams continue to be ill prepared, overconfident, or incapable of handling a sizeable lead.

 

[carolinacat]

Our run defense is tragically inept...get rid of Eliot and start over...can't get much worse.

 

[Xception]

We play as young teams do , we're inconsistent and let up when we shouldn't . We had temporarily overcome that but regressed a little tonight . The bowl is great and what would top it off is a bowl victory . I see this year as building on the future , we need another bowl next year and so on .

 

[TuckyFB]

The people complaining about the defense are too stupid to realize that it's led mostly by Sophomores and Juniors and thin Defensive Line.

 

[TXCatFBFan]

The people complaining about the defense are too stupid to realize that it's led mostly by Sophomores and Juniors and thin Defensive Line.

So is UFs

 

[LadyCaytIL]

I think we all can guess why Johnson didnt start........ and the two possible choices are pretty much equally as bad. The way he looked and played....... that knee wasnt bothering him that bad.

 

[TBCat]

The people complaining about the defense are too stupid to realize that it's led mostly by Sophomores and Juniors and thin Defensive Line.

You should chill with the people are too stupid garbage. I get it you are a Stoops fan boy but youth is not a valid excuse for that crap. That team has won 2 games in 4 years. Actual high schoolers should shut them down.

 

[TuckyFB]

You should chill with the people are too stupid garbage. I get it you are a Stoops fan boy but youth is not a valid excuse for that crap. That team has won 2 games in 4 years. Actual high schoolers should shut them down.

Go into your safe space. I think you'll live.

It's just words. Don't cry about it.

 

[WattersonSpeedDemon]

So is UFs

Yea, but the type of player at UF is more than likely ahead of what is coming to UK. The SEC top teams are already working with a fairly solid foundation. Yes, UK is getting better recruits now but they still are in the quantity/quality that the established programs are getting. This stuff takes time.

 

[Glenn Fohr]

*The first quarter...my goodness. Flags. Turnovers. Yet ANOTHER big drop. Kentucky continues to be its own worst enemy.

*Congrats to the team and staff on qualifying for a bowl.

*Happy for Benny Snell. The freshman goes over the 1K yard mark for the season. I've enjoyed watching the young man play this season!

*CJ Conrad. Nice catch on a poorly thrown ball for a TD!. Eddie Gran HAS to get this guy involved more often. He should get half a dozen balls thrown his way every game at a minimum.

*I have no idea why Stephen Johnson didn't start. Knee injury huh? Against this team, him getting touched SHOULDN'T have been a concern. Anyway, Johnson had a couple of nice deep throws. Glad UK at least had him in pads to start the game (LOL).

*UK's defense...I don't care who was on the field in the 4th quarter, there's no way in hell Austin Peay should essentially possess the ball for an entire quarter on ANYONE.

*Kentell Williams ran for 124 yards tonight..124 yards playing behind an offensive line that is probably less talented than some private high school OL's. Austin Peay had THREE runners average five or more yards per carry. Those numbers are a total embarrassment. Jackson might run for 300 next week.

*UK needs to switch to a 4-3. Get another big body out on the field. At times, Austin Peay seemed to be running downhill on Kentucky. That's mind boggling. Austin Peay shouldn't run downhill on 11 random Lair forum members. Kentucky's overall defensive ineptitude is a total joke overall, but ESPECIALLY in a game like this. How does possibly the worst program in D-I pick up 17 first downs, almost 300 yards of offense, and go on what seemed like an 8-9 minute drive against an alleged SEC defense?

*Overall, a win is a win. In two days, we won't care how it happened. In all fairness, UK wasn't the only team in the league to come out flat today against a woefully overmatched opponent (Alabama trailed UT Chat 3-0 into the 2nd quarter...granted, the Mocs are a helluva lot better than Austin Peay, but still...).

Next up, the dirty birds.

GBB!!!

Yep, got to change to 4-3. 3-4 is a joke.

 

[BlueRunner11]

The people complaining about the defense are too stupid to realize that it's led mostly by Sophomores and Juniors and thin Defensive Line.

Lmao at this. :joy:

It was 0-10 Austin effing Peay.

 

[Mikey Likes It]

It was ugly but it's a win. I'll always take that

 

[MirageSmack]

A win is a win. Don't care much that they played like doo doo the first wuarter, it's now in my rear view mirror, even though it was painful to watch. A lot of that may have just been the UK football gods feeling their wrath. Every game is unique and hopefully they got that out of their system. Go Cats.

 

[Cawood86_rivals]

Glad for these kids that they get a bowl game. That's really all I want to say because if I go further I will end up saying too much.

 

[Fresh Start]

After the first two drives AP did little on offense until the game was over. It was a terrible, frustrating start but wasn't 100% unexpected.

 

[billoliver40]

Poor prep on everyone's part that almost led to disaster.
Johnson is the engine that drives this offense. Disorganized and half hearted without him.
No way APSUV should have ever been in the lead or in the game at any time....regression to game one defensively.
UK 's defense will get lit up like Times Square against the Cards next week unless Jackson has the flu instead of capping off his Heismann creds.
Good to see bowl eligible, no matter where.
Kemp is a special kind of kid and player.
The coaching staff will have to continue an accelerated improvement curve next year to maintain or improve the record.

 

[BBBLazing]

*The first quarter...my goodness. Flags. Turnovers. Yet ANOTHER big drop. Kentucky continues to be its own worst enemy.

*Congrats to the team and staff on qualifying for a bowl.

*Happy for Benny Snell. The freshman goes over the 1K yard mark for the season. I've enjoyed watching the young man play this season!

*CJ Conrad. Nice catch on a poorly thrown ball for a TD!. Eddie Gran HAS to get this guy involved more often. He should get half a dozen balls thrown his way every game at a minimum.

*I have no idea why Stephen Johnson didn't start. Knee injury huh? Against this team, him getting touched SHOULDN'T have been a concern. Anyway, Johnson had a couple of nice deep throws. Glad UK at least had him in pads to start the game (LOL).

*UK's defense...I don't care who was on the field in the 4th quarter, there's no way in hell Austin Peay should essentially possess the ball for an entire quarter on ANYONE.

*Kentell Williams ran for 124 yards tonight..124 yards playing behind an offensive line that is probably less talented than some private high school OL's. Austin Peay had THREE runners average five or more yards per carry. Those numbers are a total embarrassment. Jackson might run for 300 next week.

*UK needs to switch to a 4-3. Get another big body out on the field. At times, Austin Peay seemed to be running downhill on Kentucky. That's mind boggling. Austin Peay shouldn't run downhill on 11 random Lair forum members. Kentucky's overall defensive ineptitude is a total joke overall, but ESPECIALLY in a game like this. How does possibly the worst program in D-I pick up 17 first downs, almost 300 yards of offense, and go on what seemed like an 8-9 minute drive against an alleged SEC defense?

*Overall, a win is a win. In two days, we won't care how it happened. In all fairness, UK wasn't the only team in the league to come out flat today against a woefully overmatched opponent (Alabama trailed UT Chat 3-0 into the 2nd quarter...granted, the Mocs are a helluva lot better than Austin Peay, but still...).

Next up, the dirty birds.

GBB!!!

I've never been a football coach, so correct me if I'm wrong. But does adding another big, slow lineman work better than having another fast linebacker? I don't think we have the personnel to run a 4-3. Hell, we don't have 3 worth a ****, where are we going to get a 4th?

 

[ukwazoo]

DL blllooowwwsss

 

[ScrewDuke1]

I think we all can guess why Johnson didnt start........ and the two possible choices are pretty much equally as bad. The way he looked and played....... that knee wasnt bothering him that bad.

They were wanting to rest him for UL. Which is understandable, no one thought he would be needed but sadly he was. If he did have a hurt knee it was hard to tell. He looked as good as he did all year IMO. He doesn't get enough credit for how good his deep passes are. He is money on those.

 

[jte123]

whats the over under on Lamar Jackson getting 10000 yards against us next week?

 

[yoshukai]

I've never been a football coach, so correct me if I'm wrong. But does adding another big, slow lineman work better than having another fast linebacker? I don't think we have the personnel to run a 4-3. Hell, we don't have 3 worth a ****, where are we going to get a 4th?

All I know is , when Mike Archer was our defensive coordinator he said that in order to run a 3-4 , the 3 linemen HAVE to be studs . Ours aren't studs .

 

[UKErik]

Reference the 3-4, you need a VERY GOOD LB/DE hybrid. Those guys are far and few between. Depending on what technique (gap or nose up) each lineman is playing on a given play, an opponent can easily release at least one OL and possibly two on the snap. Keeping o-lineman from running freely to the next level is vital to stop a running game. Then again, I admit, I just like the 4-3 better (just about any scheme will work if you have the people for it though). I like having a couple of 300+ pounders at tackle and a couple of 270+ pounders at end.

For the poster above that gave this defense an excuse based on playing young players, that might have flown back in week one. Not so much when you're playing your next-to-last game of the season. Mistakes from early in the season should have been corrected long ago. Reading keys and understanding what your responsibility is on each snap should be areas of strength by now, ESPECIALLY against a football team like the one Kentucky played yesterday.

Biggest thing next week...Kentucky has to crowd the LOS and pressure the backfield (and seal the edge...keep Jackson in between the tackles). The only way to even PRAY to contain Jackson is to stack the box, send people after him, and hope your secondary can cover. If UK plays soft/conservative football defensively, U of L will put up 600 yards.

GBB!!!

 

[UKvisitor_rivals101449]

If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!:

 

[acatnamedmyra]

All you have to do is watch Stoops on the sideline, and listen to anything he says. The answer is obvious.

 

[K_TIME]

It all boils down to UK's hapless defense and this will be the sore thumb vs. UL and bowl game to come.

Why we are back to more 3-4 sets is beyond me. We look just like the So Miss/New Mexico St unit early in season here lately. It is really simple..Pringle/Middleton at DT and Allen/Ware at DE and 3 LBers behind them is our best scheme. I'm beyond words for why our defensive head coach can't get our defense from looking liking a hybrid Joker/Mumme/Curry era units.

 

[reflaine]

Some of the reasons we looked as bad yesterday early was we ran a vanilla base defense. No blitzes dropped two safety's man on outside.

Once we adjusted we pretty much dominated. It's easier to call plays to run on offense when you know exactly what defense is going to do. They gave up 7 pts.

How much time do you think we spent this week preparing for their option offense? Everything we done was uofl this week

 

[tonybigblue1]

Minus the first two games and the last two games I think the defense had done a pretty good job. A couple of more solid recruiting classes will go a long way. I like where the program is heading.

 

[Tskware]

I've never been a football coach, so correct me if I'm wrong. But does adding another big, slow lineman work better than having another fast linebacker? I don't think we have the personnel to run a 4-3. Hell, we don't have 3 worth a ****, where are we going to get a 4th?

Pretty much.

 

[Levibooty]

Anybody with a mere smidgen of understanding the game of football could look at our roster for this year and realize we were talent and experience challenged this year. That was before we lost Hatcher and Meant and realized Elam would not meet expectations.

Actually there is a case to be made that these coaches have done wonders working around all the shortcomings on this roster to be where they are at. I dare say SM would not win a game if we were to play now.

 

[GridCats]

His brothers run the same defense he's trying to run. Maybe that's all they know.
And don't like getting on a young man, but Elam was being pushed around last night and he wasn't any help at all. He seems to have no strength, so that's one of the three that's just takes up space. To slow and weak to be as big as he is.

 

[BoulderCat_rivals187983]

There's a lot to be pleased about. Getting that 6th win makes sure that the guys left from Stoop's first class get to play in a bowl before they leave. I'm happy for them. Having 2 backs with over a 1,000 rushing yards and a game left to play is an amazing accomplishment for the program. I'm excited we finally got over the hump.

I'm disappointed to though. I really feel this team should be sitting on 8 wins, not 6 having beaten S Miss and Georgia. Particularly that S Miss game. That one still irks me. We saw some of that problem in the first quarter yesterday. How the heck do you get down 13-0 to a team that hasn't won a game in 2 years? So while Stoops has made strides in my mind he's still got a ways to go to be a great HC.

 

[JABJRS]

So is UFs

Yes, and that is the difference between 4/5 stars vs 3 stars.

Thank you for pointing this out!

 

[JABJRS]

There's a lot to be pleased about. Getting that 6th win makes sure that the guys left from Stoop's first class get to play in a bowl before they leave. I'm happy for them. Having 2 backs with over a 1,000 rushing yards and a game left to play is an amazing accomplishment for the program. I'm excited we finally got over the hump.

I'm disappointed to though. I really feel this team should be sitting on 8 wins, not 6 having beaten S Miss and Georgia. Particularly that S Miss game. That one still irks me. We saw some of that problem in the first quarter yesterday. How the heck do you get down 13-0 to a team that hasn't won a game in 2 years? So while Stoops has made strides in my mind he's still got a ways to go to be a great HC.

Alabama was down 3 to Chatanooga well into the 2nd quarter.......let downs happen against lesser competition, just the way football is.

Coaches and fans hate it, but it's human nature.

 

[Oldtrainer_rivals]

Congrats CATS staff and team on bowl eligible win! Must admit after New Mexico State I had major doubts.
True Blue Loyal Fans deserved this!

 

[1Blouman]

The people complaining about the defense are too stupid to realize that it's led mostly by Sophomores and Juniors and thin Defensive Line.

It was Austin Peay!!

 

[Mr Schwump]

Alabama was down 3 to Chatanooga well into the 2nd quarter.......let downs happen against lesser competition, just the way football is.

Coaches and fans hate it, but it's human nature.

True. It's easy to see why the lapse...UK's coming off 2 disappointing losses with a rival on deck and AP sandwiched in between. I commented last week that UK would win the game but has a history of screwing up these types of games and the game will have it's ugly moments. Indeed, it's human nature.

 

[carolinacat]

His brothers run the same defense he's trying to run. Maybe that's all they know.
And don't like getting on a young man, but Elam was being pushed around last night and he wasn't any help at all. He seems to have no strength, so that's one of the three that's just takes up space. To slow and weak to be as big as he is.

Alas, the Elam comment is on target. I watched him exclusively when he got some PT, and it was ugly. How a 360 lb guy gets pushed 5 yards off the LOS by a FCS lineman is beyond me. He's too slow to shed blocks as well.

 

[docholiday51]

If we had Stephen Johnson last year we might be going to a second straight bowl game this year,I like the kid he gives you what he has got every game out.

 

[ArtSmass]

Alas, the Elam comment is on target. I watched him exclusively when he got some PT, and it was ugly. How a 360 lb guy gets pushed 5 yards off the LOS by a FCS lineman is beyond me. He's too slow to shed blocks as well.

It's his STANCE. Go back and look at how his leg closest to LOS is; it is almost directly under his chest. This causes ZERO forward push into the OL (who is firing out into him).

The more I watch this, the more I think that's actually what they WANT him to do. Basically, I think they think he's sturdy enough to completely hold his ground against the center or even a doubleteam, stay right at the LOS, and simply play both A-gaps and that's it.

That might be okay if he actually COULD hold his ground (as was stated earlier, he got pushed around BADLY against a bad FCS team) and even if he could, I see zero ability to get off a block. Twice last night in 4th quarter the ball carrier flew by him within an arm's length.

I think the plan is also to only play him on 'run-downs' but if offense happens to call a pass there will be ZERO push from him -- you'd think a 360lb. man could at least bull-rush a 50-60lb. lighter man into the QB's lap. =

My guess is they thought they got a great deal on a Porsche but when they got it home they realized it was because it has a Prius engine. Don't want to admit you over-spent so you take it out each day and pretend it's a real BMW around your friends...just have to hope nobody wants you to take them out and 'see what it can really do.'