Updated UK stats at the halfway mark

[K_TIME]

124 teams are part of the rankings.

Scoring Defense - 89th (31pts a game)
Scoring Offense - 98th (24 pts a game)

Total Defense - 95th (437 yards a game)
Total Offense - 111 (344 yards a game)

Rushing Defense - 90th (189 yards a game)
Rushing Offense - 55th (186 yards a game)

Passing Offense - 114 (158 yards a game)

Turnover Margin - 122 (-8 for the season...16 Lost)

- UK is slowing down the games by running way more lately and keeping the ball away from opponents. I'd argue USC and Vandy while not good teams on the whole are not bad defensive teams at all ...and UK was able to run teh ball on both and keep our defense off teh field. With Snell and Johnson added to running game....I think we have a legit top 30 rushing attack the rest of the way to lean on.

- UK was bottom 5 defense the first 3 games of this years...that ranking has risen dramatically the last 3 games (all SEC teams). So I don't think we're projecting quite as bad on defensive side of ball the rest of the way year as we currently stand.

- UK has got to stop the massive turnover issues on offense. For a run team to be this bad in TO's is quite alarming. Johnson, for all the good he does at times on run game, is a TO machine out there and could have easily had 2 more vs. Vandy yesterday. Gran has got to lower the TOs on his side of the ball.

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Another stat that goes unnoticed by many, last year UK had 17 sacks total for the season, the Cats have 14 already in 6 games this year.
Now, we have 3 more powerful offenses yet to play UGA, UT, and UofL, and 3 not as strong in MSU, Mizzou, and AP. If the D keeps improving the Cats could win 3 more, and get Bowl eligible.

 

[K_TIME]

Updated thru Miss St game...

Scoring Defense - 96th (32pts a game)
Scoring Offense - 79th (26 pts a game)

Total Defense - 80th (426 yards a game)
Total Offense - 98 (374 yards a game)

Rushing Defense - 93rd (202 yards a game)
Rushing Offense - 43rd (197 yards a game)

Passing Offense - 109 (177 yards a game)

Turnover Margin - 125 (-9 for the season...18 Lost)

- UK's rushing attack is scoring the ball, protecting a below average throwing QB and keeping our defense off the field. So great credit to Schlarman's unit, Coach Gran's playcalling mentality and really Benny Snell is a game changer we've not had in a long time. He allows UK to run the ball but also he churns out so many first downs with his style vs. Boom who can hit a big play but he struggles to maintain first downs with his running style. I do think the contrast they provide is a legit top of SEC threat that not many of our foes can handle.

- The defense is still improving which looked like a lost cause to me...but give Stoops credit on getting this side of ball back on track.

- UK is still a TO machine and we're going to start losing games if we can't correct Johnson's fumblitis. UK handled Vandy and Miss St but those games went back to nail bitters due to TOs. We need to get that corrected...or is Johnson just a small guy that will cough it up due to his size?

 

[docholiday51]

Do you think we are a better team than the stats show or are we about what they say we are?

I think one can make a case for either,in the last two games we are one play away in each from a comfortable win and one play away from a loss

UK football has a long history of what ifs,near misses and strange occurrences that change seasons.Depending on how the next few games play out this may be one of the most interesting UK teams in a long time, maybe they already are.They are really back from the dead after the first two games,who thought they could get to this position? No one knows what will happen going forward but this team has put up more of a fight for this season than I ever thought they would.

 

[Nuke99m.]

Are we ranked according to pts per game or yards per game? It seems like we are averaging a bunch of yards on the ground but the stat may be skewed because of the poor performance against Florida and Alabama.

 

[Black Diamond Cat]

Updated thru Miss St game...

Scoring Defense - 96th (32pts a game)
Scoring Offense - 79th (26 pts a game)

Total Defense - 80th (426 yards a game)
Total Offense - 98 (374 yards a game)

Rushing Defense - 93rd (202 yards a game)
Rushing Offense - 43rd (197 yards a game)

Passing Offense - 109 (177 yards a game)

Turnover Margin - 125 (-9 for the season...18 Lost)

- UK's rushing attack is scoring the ball, protecting a below average throwing QB and keeping our defense off the field. So great credit to Schlarman's unit, Coach Gran's playcalling mentality and really Benny Snell is a game changer we've not had in a long time. He allows UK to run the ball but also he churns out so many first downs with his style vs. Boom who can hit a big play but he struggles to maintain first downs with his running style. I do think the contrast they provide is a legit top of SEC threat that not many of our foes can handle.

- The defense is still improving which looked like a lost cause to me...but give Stoops credit on getting this side of ball back on track.

- UK is still a TO machine and we're going to start losing games if we can't correct Johnson's fumblitis. UK handled Vandy and Miss St but those games went back to nail bitters due to TOs. We need to get that corrected...or is Johnson just a small guy that will cough it up due to his size?

Yes Stephen Johnson needs to stop with the fumbling, although it was Boom who coughed up the fumble return for a TD against Vandy.
He must still carry the ball in the RPO occasionally, to keep the D off Boom and Snell. His passing was actually good against State, especially in the 2nd half.
I must say despite the pick 6 by McWilson, the D reverted back a little to the pre-Stoops taking over play calling days. Thy allowed some gaping holes for the Bulldogs to rush for over 200 plus yards.

 

[LeonThe Camel]

Based on those stats, Missouri should go balls out and try and stop the run. I would play man-to-man against us and stack the box.

 

[K_TIME]

Do you think we are a better team than the stats show or are we about what they say we are?

I think one can make a case for either,in the last two games we are one play away in each from a comfortable win and one play away from a loss

I'd argue we are landing to a point statistically that we are a bit better than where the data is ranking us. Given that after 3 games we were in bottom 3 of about all defensive stats and the offensive numbers were a mixed bag...we've come a long way to get those defensive stats to at least approaching below average vs. just awful. I see UK as a team in the 60's or so...but not in the 100's which is where we were staring at after New Mexico St game.

As far as the close wins...USC was the one that was more close to how the teams played on that day. We were down most of the game and pulled ahead at the end of game. Vandy and Miss St game we gave up some odd TDs on fumbles to them that I don't think they caused as much as we messed up. We out gained them both big time and controlled the ball. And people tend to forget, Vandy was scoring to tie the game (we could have easily won in overtime). If Miss St doesn't get that odd TD fumble, we go up 13 or 17 with less than 7 minutes...that would have been way hard on them to win otherwise. Even as a UK fan..>I'd argue the SO Miss game and USC games were toss ups that we split. The Miss St and Vandy games we controlled and screwed up to win late. So I think we are about where we deserve.

 

[Johnfarrel]

How many other teams have a winning record with those kinds of numbers? Certainly no other SEC team.

 

[irishcat1965]

If a team rushes for almost 200 yards a game, it is a tremendous help to the defense staying off the field.

 

[carolinacat]

How many other teams have a winning record with those kinds of numbers? Certainly no other SEC team.

Our offensive numbers in particular are skewed by the road blowouts to Alabama and Florida. We played with a hurt QB against UF and UA is simply the best team in the country. Not sure any team in the conference has already played the two division leaders on the road. In fairness, we've obviously played a few bottom feeders as well.

 

[cardinals1970]

http://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/21

124 teams are part of the rankings.

Scoring Defense - 89th (31pts a game)
Scoring Offense - 98th (24 pts a game)

Total Defense - 95th (437 yards a game)
Total Offense - 111 (344 yards a game)

Rushing Defense - 90th (189 yards a game)
Rushing Offense - 55th (186 yards a game)

Passing Offense - 114 (158 yards a game)

Turnover Margin - 122 (-8 for the season...16 Lost)

- UK is slowing down the games by running way more lately and keeping the ball away from opponents. I'd argue USC and Vandy while not good teams on the whole are not bad defensive teams at all ...and UK was able to run teh ball on both and keep our defense off teh field. With Snell and Johnson added to running game....I think we have a legit top 30 rushing attack the rest of the way to lean on.

- UK was bottom 5 defense the first 3 games of this years...that ranking has risen dramatically the last 3 games (all SEC teams). So I don't think we're projecting quite as bad on defensive side of ball the rest of the way year as we currently stand.

- UK has got to stop the massive turnover issues on offense. For a run team to be this bad in TO's is quite alarming. Johnson, for all the good he does at times on run game, is a TO machine out there and could have easily had 2 more vs. Vandy yesterday. Gran has got to lower the TOs on his side of the ball.

NCAA.com has U.K. With better Total Offense and Total Defense than what you have posted

 

[The-Hack]

I seriously doubt (and did not check) that there is any team with a winning record currently with such a negative turnover margin.

We've all heard for decades "you must run the ball effectively" and given that our only "good" stat is rushing, it would seem that the oldest rule in football may still be the most important.

Hey, I just amended my original post. The poster above says in the original that 124 teams are part of the rankings, then later, in the post-Miss St. numbers, that our turnover margin is ranked 125th. I know we are bad at turnovers, but to land below the bottom possible range . . . .!?! LOL

We MUST get better.

 

[KentuckyStout]

Statistically, we are still recovering from the first 10 putrid quarters of this football season.

 

[DACats86]

UGA is NOT a strong offensive team.

 

[lex cath]

I hope Gran has been practicing Johnson to roll out the pocket and throw it away if someone gets within 10 yards of him all week :football: