Thoughts on tonight's thumping in Starkville

[UKErik]

Most of us thought the Cats would leave Starkville with an "L", so the outcome isn't all that surprising. With that being said, UK's ineptitude on defense and continued self inflicted wounds on offense weren't any easier to stomach. Overall, tonight was a flashback to the Joker era.

*Dak Prescott is one helluva college quarterback. All credit due to the guy. Still, TWO "LONG" touchdown runs in which the defense DIDN'T EVEN TOUCH HIM????? That's either guys being in the wrong spot OR the coaching staff calling an awful play.

*Mississippi State's offense was never slowed by the UK defense. This game reminded me a lot of the UGA game (where UK didn't force one punt). State probably should have put up 60. And since I'm writing this midway through the 4th quarter, they still might.

*I couldn't be more disappointed in Eliot. The man absolutely refused to bring a ton of heat. Typically, Kentucky brought four. Not nearly enough. Eliot/Stoops didn't give their guys a chance tonight. Just an awful gameplan.

*How many more times will the Kentucky defense be out of position or look clueless at the snap? Beyond frustrating. Poor coaching. There's no excuse. If a stronger, faster guy beats you, that's one thing. If your guys can't get lined up? That's preparation and coaching.

*Speaking of the alignment issues, Mark Stoops is going to start getting the "not well coached" thing tossed at him big time after tonight. The confusion on defense. The timeout that froze his own kicker? This off of the game in which UK had 8 guys on the field for a punt return? There's just no excuse for this stuff. None.

*Speaking of Stoops, down 35-16 and getting NO stops on defense, you punt on 4th and three to start the 4th quarter? Wow. Horrible.

*The offense moved the football pretty well (at least six trips inside MSU territory). Of course, they didn't finish. Too many drops. Two huge interceptions from Towles. Barker just tossed one. Long night.

*Mostly, just a long, ass-whipping kind of night. Looks like State will finish the game with over 600 yards of offense and around 50 points.

*Next up, a Tennessee team that is MUCH better than their record indicates. They've taken Alabama, Oklahoma, and Florida to the wire. Probably should have won two of them.

GBB!!!

 

[Tannerdad]

Wait until Georgia and UT get done with us.

We have beaten very mediocre teams and played one good team well in Florida.

My fear is this is really our team.

 

[mdlUK.1]

And another mobile quarterback next week.

 

[El Gato Calvo]

We can't even get our D guys lined up correctly.

And we have no D line at all.

 

[deadtracker]

At least we don't have to worry about Stoops leaving.

Also- Matt Elam needs to grow up fast because he had another very bad game.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

Dobbs is licking his chops with his twin RB studs for next week against this bunch.

And yes, just a terrible effort/performance tonight Erik. Nevermind, he put him in finally.

 

[ukdesi]

We can compete better against teams with poor offenses. Which doesn't describe UT or UGA.
There's a reason we went to OT to beat EKU......we aren't that good.

 

[LowCountryCat]

I called this after the EKU game, and the usual odds and sods piled on. I really didn't want to be right.

 

[truebluewildcat]

no excuse...

they're not bama, lsu, florida, uga, or hell even auburn...

they're miss st, they were a bottom feeder not even a decade ago...

the fact that we cannot seem to game plan and execute against a running qb is mind boggling...

I mean DP is good...but he ain't all world...the fact that he has put up so many yards and points by himself is absolutely inexcusable...

 

[NCukcat62]

I called this after the EKU game, and the usual odds and sods piled on. I really didn't want to be right.

I remember that and you were right. You go to ot with a FCS team and you really aren't that good. We aren't bad but not good.

 

[UKErik]

Yeah, Dobbs is going to have a field day against this "defense."

GBB!!!

 

[Devils58]

Spot on Erik. Stoops has to take the blame for this debacle.

 

[MKGMVP]

Damn people you have to let the timeout go. If he didn't call it there would have been a delay of game penalty. Why is this so difficult to comprehend. They actually threw the flag.

 

[weezul]

There is no reason for this defense to be this bad...pathetic all the way around. Very poorly coached imo

 

[MKGMVP]

no excuse...

they're not bama, lsu, florida, uga, or hell even auburn...

they're miss st, they were a bottom feeder not even a decade ago...

the fact that we cannot seem to game plan and execute against a running qb is mind boggling...

I mean DP is good...but he ain't all world...the fact that he has put up so many yards and points by himself is absolutely inexcusable...

And they were ranked in the top 5 most of the season last year. Florida wishes they were this good.

 

[LowCountryCat]

no excuse...

they're not bama, lsu, florida, uga, or hell even auburn...

they're miss st, they were a bottom feeder not even a decade ago...

the fact that we cannot seem to game plan and execute against a running qb is mind boggling...

I mean DP is good...but he ain't all world...the fact that he has put up so many yards and points by himself is absolutely inexcusable...

With all due respect, he's a top tier Heisman contender.

That said, our coaching staff deserves 100% of the blame for this one.

Thank God Mullen has called off the dogs, or this would be a massacre.

 

[UKErik]

MKGMVP, there's no excuse for the kick team almost exhausting the play clock. If there was almost a delay of game on that play, wow. That shouldn't happen.

GBB!!!

 

[Cawood86]

This team has regressed tonight. Just awful. Stoops and staff better figure it out and quick. A lot of empty seats will not be pretty sight.
Towles just is not a very good QB. D line took the night off. Dawson is in OJT and it ain't working. Eliot should apologize for his unit tonight.

 

[MKGMVP]

MKGMVP, there's no excuse for the kick team almost exhausting the play clock. If there was almost a delay of game on that play, wow. That shouldn't happen.

GBB!!!

Ok, but it explains the timeout. He didn't ice his own kicker, let's get that straight.

 

[UKWildcats#8]

And they were ranked in the top 5 most of the season last year. Florida wishes they were this good.

FL is better than MSU this year. And if you wanna talk about the past FL has 2 natty titles in the last decade. MSU has not won a conference title since WWII!

 

[ukdesi]

Many good coaches make their mark in year 3.
Not that Stoops is doing bad overall, but a blowout loss to MS State in year 3 is not a good sign.

 

[MKGMVP]

This team has regressed tonight. Just awful. Stoops and staff better figure it out and quick. A lot of empty seats will not be pretty sight.
Towles just is not a very good QB. D line took the night off. Dawson is in OJT and it ain't working. Eliot should apologize for his unit tonight.

What about Barnhart, you putting him on notice also? Did you want Neal Brown fired?

 

[UKErik]

One thing that should be made clear...there was NO expectation that Kentucky would shut this offense down. If anybody expected that, they need their head examined.

And frankly, getting drubbed isn't that stunning either. But the confusion? The inability to get lined up? That's ridiculous. The decision to almost never bring 5-6 rushers? Horrible.

Entering the game, UK had little chance of slowing this offense. The gameplan gave them no chance.

GBB!!!

 

[cats2010]

Was pleasantly surprised how well we played early but said earlier in the day I thought we would take one on the chin tonight. This team looks good at times but only very short periods of time. The defense is always scrambling to get personnel on the field which is terrible coaching. Afraid the next two weeks we will also see not very competitive games. Hope I'm wrong, hate that I was right about tonight.

 

[gojvc]

Yeah, Dobbs is going to have a field day against this "defense."

GBB!!!

I'm not down on Mark Stoops but he has to take a look at Eliot. Getting lined up just shouldn't be this much of a problem.

The other thing - I'm not totally down on the offense BUT it just seem like it produces too many negative plays. And it seems like on the running plays we have either a huge hole or a two yard loss. Just too much feast or famine to sustain drives.

 

[MKGMVP]

FL is better than MSU this year. And if you wanna talk about the past FL has 2 natty titles in the last decade. MSU has not won a conference title since WWII!

Most people feel State is UK's toughest opponent yet.

 

[katwest]

State just did what they wanted to, it was to easy, I thought their secondary was beat up and they still looked good against Kentucky, but we always make players you've never heard of look good. It was hard to watch, hope the kids stay up and are focused next week, being at home is the only positive.

 

[truebluewildcat]

bottom line...you have to game plan for one person when playing state...and thats DP...

he is good...but not even a heisman candidate should be able to beat a team by himself...

it does not take complex football strategy to game plan for this type of player and system...it doesn't take world class 5* talent to execute the game plan to stop it either...

 

[Real Deal 2]

Prescott makes it so you can't bring constant pressure. You have to account for him on the read option run. Difference in our offense being good is we don't have the QB threat run.
-This staff has had really 2 weeks off, they had full week off before AU and they had 3 extra days for MSU. Pretty freaking lousy.

-Losing streak to Miss. St. is a joke, they lost more guys than anyone last year on defense and OL. They were playing a less experienced team than UK was.

Stoops is our answer, still believe in him, Dawson and Eliot have been huge disappointments, both out of their league. Stoops calls most of second half on D, he is going to go back.
-P. Towles experiment is just about over, he will beat EKU and bad teams, he will not will you to win over a better team or even team, A great QB has to win some games for you, just make that throw or play. Beat Charlotte and La. Lafayette but not going to beat AU or another pedestrian SEC team in Miss St. He is what he is, he is not going to be any better. Need a difference maker that will make plays that separate you, Prescott.
-Unless you have a Baylor type QB and offense, I am for the QB run option guy, puts so much pressure on D. They don't even feel like PT can run at all unless run out of pocket. No read option plays, this makes you accountable as a defense.


-

 

[UKErik]

MKGMVP, of course he didn't intentionally ice his own kicker. In effect, UK's inability to get that play off resulted in icing their K though. Blame the TO. Blame their inability to get the kick off on time. Either way, another horrid moment for this staff. JMO.

GBB!!!

 

[deadtracker]

Many good coaches make their mark in year 3.
Not that Stoops is doing bad overall, but a blowout loss to MS State in year 3 is not a good sign.

Nor is an overtime win over EKU...

Guys, we suck. We have a few skill players that we haven't had in recent years, but overall this team is bad. I am shocked at how bad our Defense is- our D-Line was owned all night long by MSU (just like most of the EKU game). I mean this is just not a very good Kentucky team. Again, we have some very good skill players at some positions, but if your D-Line is going to get thrown around like it did tonight you can't expect to compete against the SEC.

 

[LowCountryCat]

bottom line...you have to game plan for one person when playing state...and thats DP...

he is good...but not even a heisman candidate should be able to beat a team by himself...

it does not take complex football strategy to game plan for this type of player and system...it doesn't take world class 5* talent to execute the game plan to stop it either...

You're half right. We never pressured Prescott. His line gave him all day to decide what to do, between paying his bills on his iPhone and physically writing and mailing postcards.

 

[AJ Blue]

Literally looked like high schoolers on D. That's not a dig. . . I really mean it looked like high school kids trying to play college athletes. How is it possible, if you are rushing 4 that you can't stay within 6 feet of 3 guys out in patterns.

Run the tape back to after we missed the field goal andthey scored the touchdown on 5 straight first down passes . . . . I swear you can see Prescott on the sideline saying to Mullen, "This is too easy"

 

[hmt5000]

im not sugar coating that ass whooping but just to look on the positive side a bit so that we dont all jump off all cliff.

ware, edwards, west, jones, dubose, meant, daniel, elam, allen, walker, westry, baity, jackson, walker... are all a step up in raw talent from what we are used to around here but they are all freshmen, rs freshmen or true soph's. we lose 2 guys off the O this year and we will probably upgrade both those spots next year.

the bad thing is we are still probably 2 years away from being solid on the O and D line with upper classmen across the board.

but did anyone else notice that stamps was replaced tonight without a dropoff?

 

[footballfanatic77]

I am not surprised by the outcome of the game or the score necessarily. I think Dak Prescott is a great QB. That was, as I have stated, UK's worst matchup. Next week's matchup against Tennessee is going to be rough too, but I think it should be closer than this game. The game against UGA should be the best matchup out of these three.

 

[hmt5000]

did hatcher play tonight? cant remember ever seeing him out there.

 

[UKRob 73]

Like you mentioned, why Eliot didn't dial up some pressure is mind boggling. Giving Prescott time was a nightmare. The guy had 500 Yards for Gosh sakes.
We gave him all the time he needed the whole game.

 

[TBCat]

Tonight was a major step back. We are very poorly coached team. We can only beat team that we are vastly superior to and even then we narrowly win. We need to count on our staff to negate some of talent gaps instead his poor coaching is making the talent gap even wider. I honestly think we would have competed better if Joker were coaching. We couldn't even get lined up. How? Poor disciple. Stupid penalties. The team is in total confusion most of the game. And having our head coach lose his composure in front of the team was even worse. The game was competitive until that happened. This was probably the worst coached game I've seen as a UK fan in 20 years. And that is saying something.

 

[uk_fan_in_tn]

[QUOTE="Real Deal 2, post: 2535098, member: 5390

-Losing streak to Miss. St. is a joke, they lost more guys than anyone last year on defense and OL. They were playing a less experienced team than UK was.

-[/QUOTE]

This is just wrong. 10 of their 11 starters on defense tonight are JR or SR. That doesn't include their regular starters, who are also upperclassmen, who were out with injuries. 11 out of 11 of their offensive starters are JR or SR.

They're a deeper, more talented football. They lost to LSU by 2, who may be the best team in the SEC. The defense played an all around bad game. The decision to continue to only rush 3-4 is baffling. There were no defensive adjustments at halftime. The defense has improved dramatically over last year but tonight was bad.

 

[LowCountryCat]

[QUOTE="Real Deal 2, post: 2535098, member: 5390

-Losing streak to Miss. St. is a joke, they lost more guys than anyone last year on defense and OL. They were playing a less experienced team than UK was.

-

This is just wrong. 10 of their 11 starters on defense tonight are JR or SR. That doesn't include their regular starters, who are also upperclassmen, who were out with injuries. 11 out of 11 of their offensive starters are JR or SR.

They're a deeper, more talented football. They lost to LSU by 2, who may be the best team in the SEC. The defense played an all around bad game. The decision to continue to only rush 3-4 is baffling. There were no defensive adjustments at halftime. The defense has improved dramatically over last year but tonight was bad.[/QUOTE]
Not making halftime adjustments is one of the staples of the Stoops reign.