Kentucky Football: The Good, The Bad, And The Studly
by Glenn Logan on Sep 5, 2010 5:18 PM EDT
in Kentucky Wildcats Football
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The Governor's Cup game is now in the history books, and as widely expected, the Kentucky Wildcats once again proved to have the superior football team versus the Louisville Cardinals, although perhaps by not as much as many of us hoped after the first half.
Now that we've all had time to digest and consider the events of yesterday, a little more analysis is in order. We here at A Sea of Blue, always the trend-setters, will change up the Good/Bad/Ugly scenario with one that is uniquely our own.
More Good
- The receiving corps. This was undoubtedly the best day catching the football that the Kentucky receiving corps has had in three years. The only dropped pass all day was an over-the-middle play that Randall Cobb, of all people, mishandled. He more than made up for it with the superhuman one-handed cuffing of a poorly-thrown ball, though. But Matt Roark had his best day as a Wildcat, and LaRod King and Chris Matthews were also extremely impressive.
- The offensive line. Hartline was rarely in trouble, and the line did a good job opening holes. Joker was right about them.
- Mike Hartline. 17-26 for 217 yards is hardly Heisman-quality numbers, but they are pretty good. In the second half, Hartline was far less efficient than in the first, but overall he had a good game.
- The running backs. Locke and Russell were very good today. Obviously Locke will get mentioned in studly, but as a group, the backs were excellent.
- The pass defense. Well, I am giving them the benefit of the doubt. The truth is, Louisville had no receivers to speak of, so guarding them was not that tough.
More after the jump.
More Bad
- The rushing defense. We knew the defense was young, and it looked young. Perhaps "bad" is a bit too strong, they really weren't bad. But they did allow Louisville to largely dominate them in the second half, and that is the kiss of death versus an SEC opponent. Bilal Powell racked up 153 yards rushing, most of it in the second half.
- Mike Hartline's arm. I gave Hartline credit for a good game, but his arm is still bad. He threw a couple of wounded ducks that an SEC defense would have picked off.
- The offensive kicking team. Ryan Tydlacka was 50% on field goal attempts and only slightly better on extra points.
- Special teams as a whole. Giving up a special teams near-touchdown and missing four points qualifies as bad.
The Studly
- Randall Cobb. Likely to be a fixture here. He had 169 all-purpose yards and a touchdown.
- Derrick Locke. Like Cobb, likely to be a fixture. 148 all-purpose yards, 104 yards rushing, two touchdowns.
- Moncell Allen. If he continues to pancake foes like he did any number of times versus Louisville, we won't miss John Connor.
- Joe Mansour. That kid kills the ball. Every kickoff got to the end zone. That's all a kicker can do.
Overall, a great win for Kentucky. The Birds bite the bullet. Next, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, my alma mater, come to town.
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Still no acknowledgement
of the Hartline’s scrambling out of trouble twice and turning them into first downs? Those were big plays.
Okay.
I’ll acknowledge it now.:-)
Those were big plays. Hartline played a very heady game and did some good things out there. What he did not do well, though, were the same things he did not do well before.
But I will say that I’m willing to give him a chance. He has got to find a way to throw the deep ball better, though.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
Thank you Tru, I didn't like
acting like a stuborn child about it. I am not to sure at this stage they will turn Hartline loose with the deep ball. We shall see over the next two weeks if they are going to though. Moss might be the only QB that UK has that has that capability of pleasing the fans with the deep ball. Newton has the arm for sure but probably not the accuracy or the patience right now to go long.
Grasslands,
I hope you didn’t get the impression (in the game thread) that I am against Mike as our QB. I simply was inquiring why our offense had so many short passes. (Could it be fatigue or O-coach’s call?) I thought everyone knew that I have an inquiring mind about a game I happen to really enjoy and am feverishly seeking insights about my questions.
I am a UK fan, period. If it helps, I even have a Wildcat shirt (football jersey style) with the number 5 on it, which I bought for myself. :-)
I noticed team fatigue in the second half, but it was our first game. Rock Oliver has been working them, but game play is different.
Blue... there is no other color to Bleed !!!
Hartline doesn't have the strong accurate
arm to throw long consistently. Like I mention above we will find out if Joker is going to let Hartline throw long this year in the next two weeks. He is what he is guys and gals and I do believe that he does give us the best chance to win.
When you look
at what happened to Ole Miss and Kansas yesterday, we look rather silly grumbling over our victory because it wasn’t good enough.
It was the first game with a lot of young new faces and history will always show a W. Now comes a couple of games where hopefully we can work on strengthening the weak spots and fine tune a little for Florida.
As for Hartline, I still wish someone would take him to a shooting range and let him shoot skeet until he learns how to lead his target consistently. Other than that, I think he played an excellent game and showed an hitherto unseen ability to scramble and make a play. Here’s hoping he builds on that and has a Senior season to remember.
I woke up feeling BLUE this morning. It's gonna be a great day.
amen....
i have a number of ole miss friends on suicide watch. believe me, they would switch with us in a heart beat.
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Sep 5, 2010 8:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Heh.
Yeah, that’s absolutely true.
But grumbling is part of being a fan, and certainly a part of being a blogger. If you can’t grumble a little about imperfections, well, life just isn’t any fun. :-)
Seriously though, you’re right. This was a good victory and Kentucky fans should be very proud. It wasn’t perfect — games never are — but it was satisfying. As I said earlier, it had the advantage of identifying some of our problem areas without having to suffer the ignominy of defeat to do so.
I hope Hartline succeeds, but yesterday he did not show me enough improvement in his throwing technique. You can be a good quarterback with a weaker arm — just ask Fran Tarkenton or Ken Stabler, among others — but you do need to throw a good spiral. Wounded ducks get picked in the SEC.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
I also was impressed eith the Turtle
He’s still not John Connor though, lets not get ahead of ourselves. But he was damn good yesterday.
Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel, is just a freight train coming your way...
@btcoop71
If Turtle would have blocked
against Tennessee in the last offensive series like that last year, we would have won that game. It looks like Turtle has certainly stepped it up.
Let me add to
my skeet shooting suggestion. When hunting and shooting at a moving target, the worst thing you can do is think. Thinking will make you miss every time. Through practice your eye/hand coordination becomes automatic and the more you practice the better you get. I get the feeling that Hartline is thinking a little too much before he throws the ball. The best passes I saw from him yesterday were when he scrambled and reacted without enough time to think.
I woke up feeling BLUE this morning. It's gonna be a great day.
agree again...
i will add that initially, i thought there were several passes that would have been intercepted had they been against SEC competition. however, i do believe UofL’s corners were good (especially making some open field tackles of Locke trying to get to the corner) so I will reserve judgement.
you would think being a 5th year senior with all (or 4) years under sanders that he would have developed some arm strength. Maybe he has and Joker just does not want to reveal it until we get into the meat of the schedule…here’s hoping…
only one rule in my house - uk has to be your favorite college bball team
by memphis wildcat on Sep 5, 2010 8:48 PM EDT up reply actions
Passing ....
Not to stir the pot here …. but obviously there is more to QBing the game than just passing …. might Hartline’s poor passing problems (the dreaded “PPP”) .. be the lesser of several evils amongst the QB’s?? Just saying ….. :) … He does have the experience.
Maybe.
The thing is, if UK can’t throw the ball downfield, we will struggle to beat good teams. Hartline can’t be throwing that end-over-end crap he threw a couple of times against SEC defenses. The ball sails and floats, and the DB’s can jump on it. You saw UK get a pick on a wounded duck from Froman. That will happen to Hartline in the SEC.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
I think we are going
to struggle to beat good teams regardless. The problems that come with replacing 11 starters is going to show up more so when we play the good teams. Remember, that Louisville is picked to finish last in a weak Big East. We are going to have to get six wins against the six bad teams and hope we can pull a victory out somewhere else.
Louisville is similar to UK
Both teams working to finish higher than projected in their conference. Strong seems to be on his way there; Louisville played a good game for their talent level and have a shot at finishing above Cincinnati and the always underperfoming Pittsburgh. Maybe when we look back on this game, we’ll be looking at a solid win over a rising team that plays up to the level of their competition. They better they do the rest of the season, the better it is for us.
Poor Mike Hartline. According to many he’s not worth a pair of worn out shoes. Mabye they ought to just throw him under the train and claim he stumbled and fell.
There is a sense of right and wrong about the bias against this young man that makes me want to yell at the top of my lungs.
I can’t say anymore than that or I will most definitely be invited to leave. ’nuff said.
Happy days are here again,
The skies are Wildcat Blue again,
We've got the best recruits again,
Happy days are here again.
Nah
I think everyone’s welcome to voice opinions here. As long as there is no personal attacks we can argue all day. There are definitely different camps on the Hartline issue and as the season goes there be an ebb and flow of memberships in these camps. For instance, right now you and I are in different camps but the season is young and I don’t think anyone wants to throw Hartline under the train at this point; although, some might be nudging him a little closer to the edge of the platform.
A comment
on one of the most overlooked plays of the game. Jordan Aumiller’s 19 yard reception from Randall Cobb on UK’s last possession may well have sealed the victory. If UK bogged down on the first series of downs, UL gets the ball with plenty of time to tie the game. He was wide open and showed no signs of freshman jitters as he wrapped the pass up. This was a gutsy call with the game on the line and will probably pay big dividends in upcoming games.
I woke up feeling BLUE this morning. It's gonna be a great day.
Yes, it will be nice
to see the TE back in the receiving game. It adds a great dimension to the offense.
Did we ever throw to the TE last year?
If so, it was so rarely I don’t remember it.
A Sea of Blue -- Kentucky Sports for the Discerning Fan
The more I think
about the play to Aumiller, the more I like it. When was the last time UK had possession of the ball in a one possession game with the lead and actually made a first down, let alone threw a pass in the other team’s territory on first down? Gotta love it.
I woke up feeling BLUE this morning. It's gonna be a great day.
That was a great call.
I liked it for 2 reasons. It showed the guts to call a pass when we needed a first time AND needed to run the clock.
It used Cobb out of the Wildcat to throw, not just run sweeps after fake handoffs to a motion back.
If Cobb is seen as a true triple threat, he needs to pass a little more than last year. That would, I think, make him even more effective when he runs the ball.
Crawford Suspended For 'Toppers
The all-inclusive team rules infraction. Otherwise — much to like, much to fix.
"People unfit for freedom -- who cannot do much with it -- are hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a 'have' type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of a 'have not' type of self." — Eric Hoffer
Serious question --
Why isn’t Mansour the place kicker?
We punted from the 38 – a FG well within his range (~55 yards).
We missed a chip shot FG and an extra-point.
I don’t see the upside of going with experience given these results.
Is he just erratic as helk in practice?
There was one comment last week
that he needed to get the ball out quicker. That’s a big adjustment coming out of high school – trying to take one less step.
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