Was it defense? Offense? It's like we had this major turn around and looked like a diffrent team. It's just blowing my mind lol
What changed this season?
- Thread starter bigblue_07_rivals
- Start date
line play, both sides..............that's almost always the answer. It's the result of recruiting at a higher level.
No truer words can be spoken
at the beginning of the year our O-line was not very good, our D-line was atrocious
both got better
the O-line got great
I know this won't be a popular answer on here but coaching. The coaches stepped up to the plate and hit a gRand slam the last 10 games.
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I believe when stoops took over the defense it got a lot better.
If I remember from the beginning of the season our year was dependent on Barker and Elam having big years. So those guys must have played great. Right?
Gland slams hurt like hell...
I think that being forced to go to a running game caused the OL to get an edge and gel. Stoops taking over defensive play calling was big for the defense. Gran brought maturity and calmness to the entire team, and he is an elite play caller.
After 2 and 1/2 games, Coach Stoops awakened and realized that he was a HC & if he didn't take an emotional and "hands on" approach to this team, (A good Team), he had stated, the season would be lost, and that his tenure as HC was over unless he demonstrated that he did have coaching ability!
His subsequent actions; utilization of his FB knowledge, his ability to motivate & inspire young athletes, and to inspire his staff and have everyone "buy in", all led to what we fans were privaliged to witness!!!
His subsequent actions; utilization of his FB knowledge, his ability to motivate & inspire young athletes, and to inspire his staff and have everyone "buy in", all led to what we fans were privaliged to witness!!!
The emergence of Jordan Jones and Bennie Snell, from a player performance view.
Barker getting hurt changed the offense to more run based. If Johnson doesn't take over I don't think we have 2 -1000 yard rushers. Barker going down helped this team find their true identity.
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1. The most obvious was Eddie Gran is light years ahead of Shannon Dawson. We improved from 24 pts a game to 31 in one year. That is a major difference in performance on offensive side of ball.
2. TO go along with #1...the OL play was way better especially at the tackle spots. How Cole Mosier did what he did this...I was stunned and proud of Cole's work. Schlarman as maligned as he's been...he did a great job under Gran's offensive game planning.
3. I'd argue Benny Snell was a major talent shot in arm we haven't had in a long time. Boom is a tremendous big play back but he can't play a ton of snaps. So having a banger like Benny was a match made in heaven for this offense.
Personally, I can't say the defense improved much at all from last this to this year. I think pass rushing from Ware/Allen was a big lift from last year but the DL play regressed from Melvin Lewis/CJ Johnson.
2. TO go along with #1...the OL play was way better especially at the tackle spots. How Cole Mosier did what he did this...I was stunned and proud of Cole's work. Schlarman as maligned as he's been...he did a great job under Gran's offensive game planning.
3. I'd argue Benny Snell was a major talent shot in arm we haven't had in a long time. Boom is a tremendous big play back but he can't play a ton of snaps. So having a banger like Benny was a match made in heaven for this offense.
Personally, I can't say the defense improved much at all from last this to this year. I think pass rushing from Ware/Allen was a big lift from last year but the DL play regressed from Melvin Lewis/CJ Johnson.
Lot of factors, but it looks like the players took some accountability and didn't wither and die when things went bad. Benny really brought a nice attitude to the offense that others played off of. I've never seen Boom run as hard as he has after Snell's emergence. The SEC was down again and UK took some advantage of that and we got some bounces and breaks this year. Think back, Kentucky could of easily lost to Vandy, South Carolina and Louisville.
Vandy dropped a couple picks plus a game tying TD. South Carolina had a blunder and Lamar Jackson wrist fumbles on the 10 yard line. That's football but that's the difference between bowling and not bowling. You can also argue if we don't have a couple blunders in the Southern Miss and Georgia we're sitting at 9-2 right now.
The saying of never get too high and never get too low during a season is very applicable esp this Kentucky football season. It's not easy to do but hopefully fans remember that next year.
Vandy dropped a couple picks plus a game tying TD. South Carolina had a blunder and Lamar Jackson wrist fumbles on the 10 yard line. That's football but that's the difference between bowling and not bowling. You can also argue if we don't have a couple blunders in the Southern Miss and Georgia we're sitting at 9-2 right now.
The saying of never get too high and never get too low during a season is very applicable esp this Kentucky football season. It's not easy to do but hopefully fans remember that next year.
O-Line, QB play, Benny Snell, and the D play-calling starting with NMSU.
Stoops realized he had to be a coach first and a friend second. Huge decision to take over the defensive play calling. Will be interesting to see if he makes a move in the off season to get another D coordinator. Eliot just doesn't appear to have what it takes. I've been critical of CMS for awhile and still not sold 100%. The first quarter of the Austin Peay game still makes me cringe. Next year will be telling. There's no reason the team shouldn't be competitive in every single game - barring injuries of course. No excuses next year..
Gran got his groove on.. Seemed to be some friction between him and Stoops but appears they got that ironed out.
Stephen Johnson was not given enough credit above . All post above have good points but without Stephen it would have been a disaster
Agree on coaching. Gran needed some time to figure out what we did well and he rode that (and made it better). Stoops got more heavily involved (at least it appears so) in the D.
First change I saw was when Stoops took over the defense.
Second change was the emergence of Benny Snell.
After that, things started to fall in place - Gran had great game plans, Johnson began to calm the team down and become the leader, and the offensive line began to run over some fools.
Sorry to say it, but I wonder how much better we would have been without Barker to start the season. What if we started the season with Johnson as the quarterback and leader of the team and Benny Snell as a featured back? IMO, that would have gotten us one more win - we would be sitting on 8 wins right now with a possibility of a 9th win coming in the bowl game.
We also benefited a little bit from a down SEC East but I don't give a damn.
Second change was the emergence of Benny Snell.
After that, things started to fall in place - Gran had great game plans, Johnson began to calm the team down and become the leader, and the offensive line began to run over some fools.
Sorry to say it, but I wonder how much better we would have been without Barker to start the season. What if we started the season with Johnson as the quarterback and leader of the team and Benny Snell as a featured back? IMO, that would have gotten us one more win - we would be sitting on 8 wins right now with a possibility of a 9th win coming in the bowl game.
We also benefited a little bit from a down SEC East but I don't give a damn.
Exactly. The university did not know the east would be a steaming dung heap this year. Have to play who's on the schedule.
It started with the SC game. And when we kept pulling out close wins those next few weeks, it set the stage for what happened this past Saturday.
There were 3 big changes that changed everything. First was Stoops taking over the defense. The defense prior to that was extremely prone to blown coverages and over pursuit. With the exception of the Austin Peay game bad coverage and over pursuit stopped after Stoops took over. Eliot might not be a bad DC as far as knowledge goes but he certainly wasn't communicating well to the defense. The discipline on that side of the ball was extremely poor. Remember last year Jackson ran wild on us because we kept crashing down on the running back and Jackson would just pull the ball out and run around us. that didn't happen on Saturday. Jackson still had a good game but he did most of his damage between the tackles. We didn't lose contain which meant he still put up yards but didn't destroy us like he did the previous year.
The second change was Johnson at QB. I can't say for sure that Johnson is a better QB but he was a better fit. His mobility made the assignments easier for the OL. DEs that were whipping our tackles before are now hesitating a beat allowing our tackles to get their hands on them. If a 300+ pound guy gets his hand on even an elite pass rusher it's over. Johnson's mobility open that up.
The final thing that changed the season was arguably the most important which is the emergence of Benny Snell. We had good RBs but Boom and JoJo were more explosive play guys. They aren't time of possession guys. We had the ability to run the ball but we couldn't possess it. Benny gave us the ability to sustain drives as opposed to relying on 80 yard runs at once.
The second change was Johnson at QB. I can't say for sure that Johnson is a better QB but he was a better fit. His mobility made the assignments easier for the OL. DEs that were whipping our tackles before are now hesitating a beat allowing our tackles to get their hands on them. If a 300+ pound guy gets his hand on even an elite pass rusher it's over. Johnson's mobility open that up.
The final thing that changed the season was arguably the most important which is the emergence of Benny Snell. We had good RBs but Boom and JoJo were more explosive play guys. They aren't time of possession guys. We had the ability to run the ball but we couldn't possess it. Benny gave us the ability to sustain drives as opposed to relying on 80 yard runs at once.
Nothing really. We could have easily lost Louisville and Mississippi state but could have easily won against Georgia and the opener. I think this team just had to believe in themselves and gain some experience. Start this year over and Kentucky could have nine wins.
This is the correct answer. You could possibly throw that players only meeting in there as well. I think at some point the players took some pride and decided they weren't going to look like that out there anymore.
Honestly I think when those stupid rumors that started around week 3 about Stoops the team rallied around him and got tougher. We lost Barker and it forced us to become a running team which suited the line Stoops has been recruiting since he got here.