Open Thread: Talk about the Wildcats
by Glenn Logan on Sep 20, 2009 7:04 AM EDT
in Kentucky Wildcats Football
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PrintI'll be out slogging around the golf course today, but before I do, I want to post a few key stats comparisons for everyone to look at and evaluate from yesterday's Governor's Cup game.
After sleeping on it, I am a bit more pleased with the game than I was yesterday. Rivalry games are always hard, and UK's defense really showed a lot of grit staying on the field for the entire third quarter with lousy field position and still managing to hold Louisville to ten points in that stretch. It could easily have been 14, 17 or even 21 points, and crushed Kentucky's hopes of a comeback in the fourth.
I am also more impressed by Hartline on second thought than I was initially. He had a QB rating of almost 174, which is darn good. He did make a couple of bad turnovers, but other than that, he was pretty effective.
Overall, I think we were lucky to win the game, but I also think we clearly had a superior team. Maybe not as superior as many thought, but superior nonetheless.
More after the jump.
| Team Statistics (Final) | ||
| Team Totals | LOU | UK |
| FIRST DOWNS | 19 | 18 |
| Rushing | 9 | 8 |
| Passing | 7 | 10 |
| Penalty | 3 | 0 |
| NET YARDS RUSHING | 133 | 168 |
| Rushing Attempts | 40 | 33 |
| Average Per Rush | 3.3 | 5.1 |
| Rushing Touchdowns | 1 | 2 |
| Yards Gained Rushing | 169 | 172 |
| Yards Lost Rushing | 36 | 4 |
| NET YARDS PASSING | 245 | 178 |
| Completions-Attempts-Int | 15-29-1 | 20-28-1 |
| Average Per Attempt | 8.4 | 6.4 |
| Average Per Completion | 16.3 | 8.9 |
| Passing Touchdowns | 2 | 1 |
| TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS | 378 | 346 |
| Total offense plays | 69 | 61 |
| Average Gain Per Play | 5.5 | 5.7 |
| Fumbles: Number-Lost | 1-1 | 2-2 |
| Penalties: Number-Yards | 6-35 | 8-95 |
| PUNTS-YARDS | 2-87 | 3-103 |
| Average Yards Per Punt | 43.5 | 34.3 |
| Net Yards Per Punt | 33.5 | 34.0 |
| Inside 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 50+ Yards | 0 | 0 |
| Touchbacks | 1 | 0 |
| Fair catch | 0 | 1 |
| KICKOFFS-YARDS | 6-392 | 6-416 |
| Average Yards Per Kickoff | 65.3 | 69.3 |
| Net Yards Per Kickoff | 23.0 | 37.7 |
| Touchbacks | 0 | 1 |
| Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD | 1-1-0 | 1-0-0 |
| Average Per Return | 1.0 | 0.0 |
| Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD | 5-170-0 | 6-254-1 |
| Average Per Return | 34.0 | 42.3 |
| Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD | 1-0-0 | 1-17-0 |
| Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD | 0-0-0 | 0-0-0 |
| Miscellaneous Yards | 0 | 0 |
| Possession Time | 32:32 | 27:28 |
| 1st Quarter | 7:51 | 7:09 |
| 2nd Quarter | 5:54 | 9:06 |
| 3rd Quarter | 13:35 | 1:25 |
| 4th Quarter | 5:12 | 9:48 |
| Third-Down Conversions | 9 of 17 | 6 of 11 |
| Fourth-Down Conversions | 0 of 1 | 1 of 1 |
| Red-Zone Scores-Chances | 4-6 | 4-5 |
| Sacks By: Number-Yards | 0-0 | 2-19 |
| PAT Kicks | 3-3 | 4-4 |
| Field Goals | 2-3 | 1-1 |
I've highlighted the stats that seem particularly important, orange for where the Cards had an advantage and light blue for where the 'Cats came out on top.
This is an open thread. Discuss anything Wildcat related.
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Our kicking game is still weak,
we need a punter that can pinpoint the ball…..Ryan was not up to par yesterday…..and Sieber has to put the ball in the endzone when we need it. We made WAY too many errors yesterday. Some mental, some physical, but all unnecessary. Hartline cannot play like that and get us wins in the SEC. Auburn has an offense that can put up 40-50 points a same, and they did just that last night. Bama will run AND pass us into the ground if the defense does not learn to tackle, and Florida is going to be looking for blood after their sub-par performance against UT. And speaking of UT, they are not near as bad as some think, they will make some mistakes, but they are a well prepared team. AND Miss St beat Vandy last night in what was a boring game, but MS St has a decent defense. All in all, we need to step up our efforts to make sure we hang on to the ball, and play ball like we are capable.
I do not know if we took Louisville lightly, or they are better than we thought, but we didnt impress anyone yesterday…..We showed a lot of weaknesses to everyone…
Remember, we're having fun now!!!
From weakness strength can grow
Gee AllBlu that glass sure is half empty. The football season is a learning process and the Cats showed us how much there is to learn. I will not pass judgment nor lose any sleep over the team at this stage of the process. Next week will not necessarily be a good indicator either since a clearly superior Florida will provide a bunch of new challenges. I will watch to see if the team learns from mistakes as it should or if there are significant weaknesses that cannot be overcome. Barring injuries at critical positions, UK should grow as the season progresses. We may have shown some weaknesses but we also showed we can overcome mistakes and win. The glass is half full.
I'll give you half-full.....but I watch almost every team we play this year
yesterday. None of those teams were making glaring mistakes like we made and some were still getting beat. Just saying I am not real impressed yet. Looks like UL’s first game was as much of an anomaly as UK’s was. We were the better team, physically and structurally……we should have made short work of that team, and if you take away the mental errors and miscues we were. Ill take the win, and be happy for it, but we need to get a lot better really fast……
Remember, we're having fun now!!!
I guess the Wildcats have
once again reminded us we need to “BELIEVE”. They managed to pull out with a win. And a win in the Governor’s Cup is a much-needed win. :-)
How sweet was Locke’s 100 yd return off the kick ? A beauty…His second here at UK . Last year against Western KY?. This made him the first player in Wildcat history to do that twice while here. Way to go Derrick !! I just love football, particularly UK football.
GO CATS ! !
Blue... there is no other color to Bleed !!!
And they all got along too....
Paused for a nice little group hug….LOL :-)
Blue... there is no other color to Bleed !!!
How I Look At This
We won! That is the upside. You are so right that the defense really held when they were pushed! I also think the O-line played a near perfect game.
Still, the only way UK will hope to compete in the SEC is when this game is a blow-out. I mean, UL is not Florida, or Alabama, or Georgia or even SC. UK must find the juggler. Save some bad turn-overs this game could and should have been a route. Hand it to Louisville for being opportunistic but the Cats should not have handed them so many opportunities,
I am going to be optimistic and say that some of the technique issues get worked out. (For instance the over-pursuit on defense) This team does have speed. So much so they made up for some cheating on their individual assignments against a weaker opponent. They will need to play better to beat anybody in the SEC. Giving Vandy the ball the whole 3rd quarter = Loss. Against Florida it means a 40+ point loss.
Still, I want to emphasize this, WE WON! and it was a fun game to watch…For me it was anyway.
Physicality And Athleticism
Having watched all the SEC games yesterday it was obvious that the physicality gap between UK and the other SEC teams – Vandy and MSU might be the exceptions – is considerable. It was particularly evident on defense where UK personnel were constantly out of position and even when in the right place resorted to reaching, grabbing, holding on, dragging down, rather than delivering a blow. Without improved effort and execution Cats will be – due to talent disparity – hard pressed to win an SEC game.
"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
—Thomas Jefferson
But the gap is narrowing.
You are correct. Our team is still not up to the level of the top teams in the SEC in terms of speed and physicality but there can be no doubt that the difference level is much smaller than it has been for a long time. This gives me hope. I saw a Florida team yesterday that looked beatable, an offensively challenged Tennessee team, a Georgia and Arkansas defense that had no idea how to play in the secondary against good but not great quarterbacks. I didn’t get to see the other games but we are as close as we’ve ever been in speed and physicality and with some good game management and preparation I believe this team can win in the SEC. We have speed at skill positions and a very good offensive line and as long as you can put up points, you can win. We didn’t have that last year. We do this year. If our defense can step up, I can see us making some noise despite these deficiencies in the physical department.
Xbox Live Gamertag: hoopchi
youre right hoopchi
Florida is beatable….and we do have good athletes and good speed…..what was really disappointing was that we didnt show it much yesterday. We had a few bright spots….but no consistency. It occurred to me that Rich may have not wanted to show Florida much of the wildcat yesterday so they would not have anything to go on for film study….but that is just a guess.
Remember, we're having fun now!!!
I noticed the lack of...
the wildcat in obvious situations that it would have presented a much bigger challenge to the defense of UL. The third down situation in the opening drive that stalled us out looked like a great place to try the wildcat. I believe with Randall in there we may have ended up with a touchdown. Instead, the first time we see the wildcat was in our own territory later when it didn’t seem necessary to go to it. As you said, Rich might have played this one close to the vest. Could have cost him but we won.
AP Poll: SEC 3 Of Top 4, 4 Top 10
Gators, Tide, Rebs and Tigers in Top 10, Cats no votes and rightly so.
"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
—Thomas Jefferson
Hartine, Matthews and then himself in clock screwup
I see tjhat the Head Cat placed the blame at the end of the first half, 15 seconds to play on Hartline, Matthews and finally on his not coaching then what to do in such a situation when they don’t have a time out left.
I don’t think it was too great of a distance that they couldn’t have run a player on the field to tell Hartline to down the ball. I guess they were out of shouting distance and the signaling from the sidelnes had broken down too. Telling Matthew to intentionally drop the ball, huh? I bet they work on intentionally dropping the ball every day in practice.
I think is mightly big of Brooks to lay the blame on two of his players when he had more coaching experience than anyone in the stadium.
Wonder who will be blamed for the loss if we lose to Florida.
Luckily we did lose to Louisville by less than three. It would have probbably been the band director’s fault before it was all over.
Calling a spade a spade...
That’s what Coach did – BOTH young men messed up; now let’s see if they LEARN from it!
I don't know exactly who to blame for that fiasco...
.
but in some respects I guess it doesn’t really matter.
The point is, I think there are several other SEC teams whose coaching staffs, play callers, play signallers, and players would not have all combined efforts to produce something like that. Even in a mid-September game. And yet it is still a mystery to some why we look up and the end of the SEC schedule to see 2-3 wins…. again.
And practicing for situations like that is something that should be covered in… well, practice. Understanding situations and avoiding bonehead plays like that is not something that a QB and a team plays its way through with more games—— how is that going to help anything? You break the huddle knowing there are only 15 seconds with no timeouts. It is right there on the clock. And it doesn’t matter whether it is September or December— 15 seconds means 15 seconds. This isn’t the very first football game of their lives. There were probably only 15 seconds left at times in some of the Pee Wee football games that they played in.
Wide receivers catch footballs on instincts and muscle memory—- they have to—- asking a wide receiver to intentionally drop a pass is downright ludicrous. It isn’t the receiver’s job to figure out the ball shouldn’t have been thrown to him in that position. Sure, it would be great if the receivers had that presence of mind, and some do— but I don’t want my receivers uniformly being held responsible for taking time (even a split second) away from their instincts and having to think about whether or not to catch a ball.
And no, this is not about just seeing the glass half empty— it is about holding this TALENTED TEAM and COACHING STAFF responsible for stepping up and getting it done against an SEC schedule.
Or else we can all get together after the season and say, “Well, we only won 3 games in the conference this year… but next year our boys will get them— the just need a little more time… we just need to keep believing.”
Situations.
Coach them.
by Sonic on Sep 20, 2009 10:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Cats Are Moving Forward!
I agree with everyone that UK needs to step it up a notch for the SEC. If it wasn’t for the 3rd quarter bloopers we wouldn’t be having much of these conversations. Kentucky obviously didn’t bring out there A+ plays, also we thought that Uof L would be an easy win. I believe with the underachieving plays that were used, kentucky came out on top. I also believe that our SEC opener against Florida is going to be an eye opener. Kentucky is going to put there best on the line and Florida isn’t going to know what hit them. Florida had a struggle agianst Tennessee and afterwards blamed it on the flu. I believe Florida is in the midst of an upset. Kentucky with its rocky rivalry win, will hit the practice hard and bring out the best come saturday. Go Wildcats!
Blue Nation
Yeah ...
… I recall a time when we never would have recovered from three turnovers. We moved the ball on Louisville without difficulty, and I think that’s worth noting. Also, the defense was pretty darned resilient in the face of a bad situation.
There are probably as many negatives as positives, but there are plenty of both, I think.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Ken
Ken, I thougth Louisville had more total yards than the Cats. And more first downs. I must have read it wrong.
As far as Brooks commenting on the Louisville’s coach about going right at All SEC defefensive back, I beleive it was someting about ‘going right at his ass’. Brooks comment in so many words was he hoped others did the same.
Well, they did go at him. They were successful, but hopefully reading the press clippings hasn’t got some feeling they don’t need to prove their worth. Especially in our conference.
Well ....
… they were successful only on one play going at Lindley, and he was gimpy and sat out a good part of the game. The one pass where Lindley got burned was a perfectly thrown ball and a one-handed grab by Scott Long. There is no defense against a perfectly thrown football.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
by Glenn Logan on Sep 21, 2009 11:16 PM EDT up reply actions
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