Upon Further Review: Georgia

The Georgia game was truly the tale of two halves and Kentucky’s inept offense of the first round was outshone only by Georgia’s inability to close out the game in the second. Many UK fans where probably close to vomiting after 30 minutes of the game, but all were celebrating after the clock read 00:00 and The Cats emerged victorious for a 34-27 SEC road win. Despite the win, I’ll warn you that this week’s analysis will not be too kind in parts, so brace yourselves. Of course this will be offset by some much-deserved praise.

The Offensive play calling in the first half was awful and I think most Kentucky fans could agree with that regardless of how they feel about the coaching staff. The goal was obviously to limit turnovers and run the ball well, so as bad as the first half looked, I’ll have to say the staff succeeded in their targeted outcome.

A couple of things stood out to me specifically. First of all, the QB stretch, QB sweep, and QB off-tackle plays were not working. Newton is very athletic, but I’d be hesitant to say he’s fast. These types of plays work with Cobb because of his speed. Newton runs like a fullback and is better off not running any plays that stretch the defense out. When the game plan opened up a little more in the second half and allowed Newton to get comfortable passing, we saw the offense move the ball much more consistently. I hope the staff sees this in film review and the game against UT is called more aggressively.
The thing I was most upset with was Kentucky rolling over after the screen to Allen was unsuccessful at the end of the first half. “You play to win the game!” as Herm Edwards once said, and Kentucky gave up a chance to add at least three points on the board with one or two more plays.

The play choice inside of the final 2:00 was not as bad as it looked when watching live. The players’ execution was just awful, and upon further review, the play where Newton ran the ball didn’t appear to be called a naked bootleg but was a botched play. Locke will have to learn how to keep in bounds in that situation as well. This staff and team isn’t used to playing with the lead and the play selection should get better as this happens more often. As long as the ball is kept on the ground and in-bounds, Georgia has to use all their time outs and one first down seals the game for UK.

The Quarterback play this weekend was as hot/cold as it’s been all year. In the first half, Newton appeared to be scared out of his mind and in over his head. The minute the primary receiver wasn’t open the ball was tucked away as he waited to be sacked. In the second half, his pocket presence improved as he was feeling the pressure and reading the defense much better. One point of emphasis the coaches need to make with Morgan is to put more touch on the ball and learn how to drop it in over coverage. Too many players were open but overthrown in this game. I have to admit the pass to King made me a little bit giddy though. The same arm strength that makes it hard to put touch on the ball allowed Newton to throw a perfect pass while falling back, on one foot, and being sacked. That’s the type of throw UK hasn’t had the QB to make since Lorenzon. This might be the best we’ve seen this young man play so far as his stat-line read 9-17 passing for 187 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. The ability of Newton to play in a SEC road game at Georgia as a freshman and throw no interceptions blows me away. Hartline has his work cut out for him if he hopes to get his job back this spring.

John Conner is the most underrated player in the nation, in my opinion. If there’s a better pro-style fullback in the college game today, let me know because I haven’t found one.

The play of the running back Derrick Locke was once again spectacular. Locke averaged 5 yards per carry this week and had previously averaged 4.9 yards per carry this season. The thing that made Locke so dangerous this week was his ability on kickoff returns. Georgia obviously didn’t want to kick to him and Kentucky fans haven’t seen that since Derrick Abney was lining up in blue. Add the way Locke was running with authority, and I don’t know if anyone, including Cobb, is more valuable to UK. It’s great to have weapons like these two that can hurt the opposition in so many ways.

The wide receivers did an outstanding job of blocking down field once again this week. Matthews, Lanxter, King and Cobb were really throwing their bodies into the defensive backs and creating lanes for the runners. It’s really tough to coach receivers to block when they’re not catching the ball, but Joker as shown how you can get the most out of these guys on running plays. Watching the receivers dance and celebrate on big runs is an awesome sight to see, and really rare in the age of the prima donna WR you see so often.

McCaskill’s beautiful throw to Chris Matthews shouldn’t surprise anyone. Rich Brooks and his staff have at least 15 players who lined up as Quarterbacks in high school. This type of versatility amongst the offensive skill players will make a lot of these trick plays look much better than most teams can pull off.

Unfortunately the Offensive Line didn’t look good to me this week. A unit that has been a consistent strength this season really struggled against the Bulldogs. The line as a whole struggled to keep on their assignment on passing plays and where all easily fooled, overpowered, or outmatched on D-Line stunts and pass moves. The running game left much to be desired as very few OL players where finishing blocks the way they were against Vanderbilt. Hopefully the unit can bounce back against a considerably less talented Tennessee defensive line this week

Justin Jeffries, you are a senior. Stop getting stupid penalties.

This week the biggest problems could be found on defense. The defensive play calling in the first half was predictable, ineffective and allowed Georgia to go back to the same plays over and over again. For example, the Tight End (#7) sneaking into the flats repeatedly is inexcusable. You know this is coming and even Simplyblu commented on this very site about how this was one of Georgia’s favorite plays last week. The preparation for the first half was not up to par for an SEC defensive coordinator.
Steve brown’s unit played as bad of a defensive half of football as hey have played in the last five years and allowed a mediocre Georgia offense to get ahead. One of the primary reasons I was pulling my hair out after the first half was that the talent level at Kentucky is real. For the first time in as long as I can remember, UK’s players are as good as Georgia’s. There was very little difference in the quality of athlete between the two schools, but Georgia’s defensive play calling was putting their athletes in position to find success where Kentucky’s play calling was putting their athletes out of position completely. The second half brought pressure from Kentucky’s front seven and forced Cox into mistakes that he would have probably made in the first half if the same pressure was facing him. Great half-time adjustments have been the story of the year for Kentucky, but it would be nice not to have to make them every week.

The defensive line had a tough start to the game, but finished up strong. Corey Peters once again showed that he is a top tier Defensive Tackle in the SEC, and I would find it hard to believe that some team doesn’t have a spot for a player of his talent in the NFL. The play where he knocks the ball out of the Quarterback’s hand as soon as the ball is snapped is a great showcase of the explosiveness that makes him so formidable. Once again this week, the Defensive Line as a whole had trouble getting to the QB. You can’t fault them for their lack of pressure, but I feel like a broken record saying week after week that UK needs to register more sacks.

Watching the first half over again exposed another game of Defensive Linemen and Linebackers not staying in their gaps and getting blown off the ball by the Georgia O-Line. Some of the holes the Georgia backs had to run through were ridiculous and getting pushed around like that is inexcusable. The players have got to learn to just fall down and create a pile if they’re getting trapped or double-teamed on a running play to prevent the type of wide open running lanes we all saw Saturday. This is probably one of the most athletic groups of Defensive Linemen that Kentucky has had in a long time, but they have to learn that they don’t necessarily have to make the stop on running plays, but they can’t give up positioning and allow the offense to man-handle them.

Congratulations to Shane McCord in the biggest game of his career. After picking off Joe Cox, he was running to the end zone like there was a Golden Corral behind the goal post. I love the attempted jukes and spins by the big guy.

The Linebackers had gap responsibility issues as well, but I’ve harped on that enough. Obviously Sam Maxwell played a phenomenal game yet again in front of his home-state crowd in Georgia. I’ve praised Sam’s play in each post-game break down so far, and he’s yet to hit a wall. I wonder how many people thought that Sam Maxwell would be one of the most important players on this team back in July? I’d have to agree with Bob Davie and give the game MVP to Maxwell this week.

The defensive back play really wasn’t horrible all game, although it looked that way on television. To Georgia’s credit, Cox was just putting the ball in the perfect spot almost every throw. I know Burden had to be getting frustrated when he was covering the receiver very well, but getting burnt continuously. Lindley cannot be healthy. He was cutting gingerly and his hip fluidity has never been as bad as it was on Saturday. The receivers that beat him were average compared to the ones he’s shut down in the past.

Calvin Harrison and Ashton Cobb are liabilities on pass plays. I know I’ve given Harrison a tough time in recent posts, but either he’s out of position a lot, or Brown’s defensive schemes revolve around the Safeties covering no one and standing in the center of the field. I know a lot of people are wondering why Kentucky is bringing in so many safety prospects in the 2010 class, and the pass coverage of these two should shed some light on why. In their defense though, Harrison, A. Cobb, and Winston Guy are not afraid to come up and lay a lick on the ball carrier on running plays. Their ability to get involved in run-support prevented several touchdown runs this season and several against Georgia specifically.


Special teams were once again the strongest department of the Kentucky team. Moncell Allen’s hit to open the second half turned the momentum in Kentucky’s favor. Matt Roark has filled the spot once held by Lonell DeWalt as UK’s kick blocking specialist capable of turning in a big play at any second. Locke has proved to be such a spectacular kickoff return man that teams are kicking the ball to the 35-yard line just to avoid him. McIntosh continues to boom the ball and help Kentucky give the opposition a long field. Tydlacka continues to place his kicks remarkably and seldom out-punts his coverage while pinning the return man deep in their own territory. For all the crap we fans give Steve Ortmayer he is probably the coach of the year for Kentucky.

With Mississippi State’s loss to Arkansas, Kentucky will officially be going bowling this season and with the win over Georgia, can finish no worse than 4th in the SEC east. The focus now turns to a Tennessee team that has beat Kentucky so many consecutive times that it’s nauseating. If Kentucky can pull off the win against Tennessee, they will finish second in the SEC east and should go to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando Florida. Let’s get behind the Cats this weekend, yell so loud we deafen the Tennessee offense, and take the kids to Disney World for Christmas!