FanPost

Kentucky Football: Mid-season Reality Check

John Sommers II

Whew! Made it through the first half of the schedule and we're 5 – 1, one game away from bowl eligibility. Surely a giddy time for any UK fan and proof that we are enjoying New Kentucky football, and not just on the field. In less than two years and with no head coaching experience, Stoops has set up a new coaching staff, a new defense, a new offense, a new level of recruiting, new accountability, new infrastructure and a new aura around the entire program. Get out the polish we've got a brand new program rebuilt from the ground up. Regardless of what happens the second half of the year, we are already in the Kentucky Football Renaissance.

So how did we get to 5 – 1? Once Stoops had accomplished the above the easy answer is ..... Schedule. It wasn't a huge stretch to reason a single-loss record at this point. After all, we had 3 pay-to-play OOCs, a gutted Vanderbilt, a Florida team in turmoil and an enigma known as South Carolina. We needed to get a win either UF or USC to reach 5. The Aggies thrashing of USC to start the season gave further hope that a split could happen. The stage was set and Kentucky exploded out of the gate against UT-Martin then, after waking up, beat Ohio. Then came Florida (grr … got a clock?), Vanderbilt (an SEC win, yay!), South Carolina (heart still beating 120 bpm) and ULM (expected win ← new term for Kentucky fans).

These first games were vital to how we finish. Our very young team has gained experience and confidence against progressively harder opponents. They learned about adversity (14 point comeback, twice, to win against South Carolina), playing in a hostile environment (Florida), overcoming early game shortfalls (ULM), how to win important games (Vanderbilt) and team chemistry (all of them).

From here on it gets real. Our schedule will now get harder, much harder. In fact, if UK's next six opponents played our first six opponents they would go 6 – 0. Further, they could do it in several combinations of match ups, not just best vs best on down to worst vs worst. So we sit at 5 – 1 and peer into the second half of the season with hope and trepidation. Is there another win in the next six games to qualify for a bowl?

First up – LSU. Guess what? Last Saturday they found their running game. And we get to play them at Death Valley.........at night.

Next up – Mississippi State. Only the number 1 ranked team in the country.

Followed by – Missouri. Well, nobody really knows but the game is at Columbia if that even matters.

Then – Georgia. No Gurley? No problem, they got more great running backs.

After that, things ease up (?) with the rival games of Tennessee and Louisville where emotions will be running high and any combination of teams may be fighting for a bowl berth.

To get through the second half of the schedule Kentucky has to get their act together. Stoops has repeatedly spoken about how his team has still not played its best game and it's true. There have been flashes of wow on both sides of the ball (defensively more than offensively) but flashes won't cut it. Kentucky needs sustained high level execution from kickoff to the final gun. The Wildcats will have to bring focus into each game and play near the top of their game week in and week out to come out on top for any of these games. We will see some great running offenses, some great defenses and great teams with portions of the same. Slow starts and lackadaisical play will not win games in the second half of the season.

Rather than specifically point out where Kentucky has under performed or lacked consistent play or even excelled below I listed a number of areas where the Wildcats have to improve. Since we can't expect the team to suddenly transform and play perfectly in all areas of the game this is somewhat of a wish list setting the order of improvement I'd like to see which gives us the best chance over these next six games. Those areas where Kentucky has done well or improvement is not as pressing (strictly in my view) are toward the bottom of the list. There will, no doubt, be areas I have totally forgotten – help me out.

  1. Start fast

  2. Improved run defense

  3. Calm Towles down

  4. Offensive run blocking

  5. Eliminate dumb penalties

  6. Pass blocking

  7. Increase tempo

  8. Linebacker gap control

  9. Avoid injuries

  10. Don't look ahead

  11. Special teams consistency

  12. Pass defense

If we can dramatically improve the first four, I like our chances. Kentucky has done a lot of good but we need some complete games. Playing equal to the first four games should gain us bowl eligibility but little else except knowing the team IS improving and is going to be even better in the years to come.