Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down - UK /UL Edition
- Rating: No Rating
Thumbs Up
Max Smith - The Silverhammer had one of the best games by a UK QB since Andre Woodson exited stage left. He was 35-50 for 280 yds and 2 TD's, with no INT's. Made some tight throws and generally made you wonder why there was even a QB competition.
Landon Foster - Nice leg for 1st collegiate game ever.
Offensive line - Light years better than this point last year. Protected Max very well in 1st half and even though the Cats had to abandon the run, the Cats still averaged 4.9 yds per carry.
Offensive Coaches - The line was better, the WR's were better, the QB was better. While I'd like to seem the stretch the field more (which they did in the 3rd quarter when they were forced to do so,) I loved the no huddle and the different pacing they were doing at the line of scrimmage in the 1st half. Remember UofL was a top 25 defense last year and returned many starters.
U of L WR's - They just don't drop passes. Guess there coach recruited actual WR's instead of athletes who were fast. Notice the difference? I'm not even sure our WR corp with no defense could play a whole game and only miss 4 passes
Thumbs Down
Coaching staff (outside of offense) - Played scared before halftime, instead of being aggressive and trying to score. Also got scared and tried a field goal they missed only to then try a 4th and 14 fake punt? If it was too scary to go for it on 4th and 4, why oh why do you try a 4th and 14 on your own side of the field. Then there is the defensive issues....
UK Defense-Louisville had 4 total incomplete passes out of 26 attempts, they had 2 players with more than 100 rush yards. Just putrid from line, to linebackers to secondary.An embarrassment to the SEC. If this team has any shot to save their coaches job, this unit is going to have to improve otherwise it is goodbye Joker
3rd down defense- The entire 1st half when we actually go them to 3rd down, we simply sat back and rushed 3. No blitzing, no stunts, just set back and give Mr. Bridgewater all day to pick us apart and he did. This was especially puzzling with the knowledge that the secondary was the weakest part of the defense. That is Steve Brown type coaching guys, get it together!
ESPN Announcers- The only thing worse than the UK D. Some gems from them this week: "Louisville has dominated this series" (really they are 1-4 over last 5) "Winston Gay played for UK last year" and my personal favorite: "Even with the rain it is very humid"
Comment
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Comment by C Dogg on September 4, 2012 at 9:22am -
Great points Rob. Here are my two cents:
Offense: Joker and Sanders did what they did at the Spring game. They brought UK out in a no huddle, shotgun offense and passed the ball like Mike Leach was coaching UK. It was very encouraging. Smith looked good. The offensive line, overall, won the line of scrimmage versus UofL's front 7. What a difference a year makes. UofL's defensive line easily won the battle last year. West and Miller had good games for how young they are. Warford and Smith also consistently pushed their men backwards on run plays and protected Smith on pass plays. The RBs hit the holes fast and ran strong. Loved the way Coshik ran the ball. The fumble was a tough call. The WRS? Again, what a difference a year makes. Pat Washington has done a a good job coaching these guys up. Collins showed he is ready to be a starter. The TEs didn't have a strong game. Tyler Robinson dropped a pass. Shields missed a block causing a sack and didn't do much in the passing game.
Defense: Incompetent and an embarrassment. It reminds me somewhat of 2006 when UK last lost a opening game. In 2006, there were some changes made with the offense and some players who started pretty much didn't play the rest of the season. Jason Leger even moved from DT to OG to bolster the line play. The same needs to happen on defense this year. The entire defense was just horrible and the coaching was a puzzling at best. On 4th and 2, UK went small and only had 3 true defensive linemen on the field as UofL easily ran over them. Bridgewater had all day to throw. UK couldn't stop the run. Mister Cobble and Bud Dupree were the only players who put any heat on UofL at all as those two did penetrate the UofL backfield on many occasions. I suspect we will see Taylor Wyndham more because he got into the backfield a few times when he was in the game. It's time to quit hyping this defensive line. It's pretty scary what SEC teams are going to do.
Special teams: Very positive improvement. Punter played great for a senior much less a true freshman. Both return games were good. McIntosh supposedly missed a field goal but it looked good to me. The kickoff coverage was good. The only negative was why did Demarcus Sweat not return all the kickoffs? He reportedly returned 2 for TDs in the last scrimmage. UK has to put their best players on the field regardless of class. There is nothing real complicated about running back a kickoff so there is no reason not to put the best player back there, even if he is a freshman.
The announcers: What an embarrassment. Before the 10 minute mark of the 1st quarter, Rod Gilmore had on 3 separate occasions said that UofL has dominated the series in recent years. He also said that UK wanted to get back to throwing the ball like they did with Tim Couch. Has he never heard of Andre Woodson and Jared Lorenzen? Even Mike Hartline was 2nd in the SEC in passing yardage his senior year. Couch hasn't been at UK in nearly 15 years. Gilmore apparently did no homework whatsoever.
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Comment by The Krystal Ball on September 3, 2012 at 4:26pm -
Good stuff as always Rob...I would like to give a different finger to the defense and to the announcing, I finally just turned the sound down.
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