Against Vandy, Kick Field Goals If Available.

[The-Hack]

Unless Vandy is boat racing us in the first half, my head will explode if we pass on field goal opportunities to hunt for 4th down conversions.

Honestly, most college teams consider field goals a 65-75% proposition from 30 yards out. I will not “curse” our kicker by going farther in the thought, but 3 points ain’t nothing to sneeze at in close fought football games.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

Pavia does not give up. In the two games I have watched, he does not rattle and makes great decisions on the run. Vandy is multiple. They get you up the middle with the spread option and then love to get Pavia on the perimeter for passing laterals and throws up the field. UK will need to play 40 minutes. Vandy does not get a home field advantage from its crowd (see Saban’s comments), but they have played worse on the road. Not sure how they lost to Georgia State. Missouri may not be top 10, but Columbia ain’t no cake walk.

 

[Doodah859]

Pavia does not give up. In the two games I have watched, he does not rattle and makes great decisions on the run. Vandy is multiple. They get you up the middle with the spread option and then love to get Pavia on the perimeter for passing laterals and throws up the field. UK will need to play 40 minutes. Vandy does not get a home field advantage from its crowd (see Saban’s comments), but they have played worse on the road. Not sure how they lost to Georgia State. Missouri may not be top 10, but Columbia ain’t no cake walk.

They probably better play 60 minutes

 

[Bluefield88]

Unless Vandy is boat racing us in the first half, my head will explode if we pass on field goal opportunities to hunt for 4th down conversions.

Honestly, most college teams consider field goals a 65-75% proposition from 30 yards out. I will not “curse” our kicker by going farther in the thought, but 3 points ain’t nothing to sneeze at in close fought football games.

Gotta listen to the 26-year-old, 5’10, 155 lbs. analytical nerds who have their faces stuck inside a tablet and their butts.

 

[Caveman Catfan]

I have not seen a ton of him, just two games, but when he rolls right, he tends to run or throw up field. When he rolls left, he runs or throws the lateral to the sideline.

 

[Soupbean]

Unless Vandy is boat racing us in the first half, my head will explode if we pass on field goal opportunities to hunt for 4th down conversions.

Honestly, most college teams consider field goals a 65-75% proposition from 30 yards out. I will not “curse” our kicker by going farther in the thought, but 3 points ain’t nothing to sneeze at in close fought football games.

Interesting discussion Hack and I see your point. There is a tendancy in games against teams that we traditionally "should handle" to think that we go into it with a cushion or margin of error that would allow us to take more chances knowing that if they dont work out we got time to make up for it because its just a matter of time before things kick in and our talent starts taking over. You know first series we get down the their 30, fourth and 4 and we take a shot at it because heck we'll hold them anyway . . . .

This Vandy team is not one of those, heck a lot of Vandy teams we've faced in recent years havent been that way. But this one in particular should get our full focus and play it like its a pickem game. That doesnt mean we play careful or scared as thats what Vandy wants us to do, but we certainly cant be cavalier and coaches need to be on their game decision making for sure.

My gut (which is right over 20% of the time) tells me we're built better to give their offense fits and slow down the option stuff and our offense I think grew up quite a bit at Ole Miss and I look for them to continue that, so I'll be surprised if we dont play well this week. But none of that matters if we dont bring intensity that had against UGA and OLE MISS.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

I have not seen a ton of him, just two games, but when he rolls right, he tends to run or throw up field. When he rolls left, he runs or throws the lateral to the sideline.

Under white we historically do an excellent job vs mobile QBs. This is for many reasons but below are some.

1) he focuses on contain to the qb dominant arm. This prevents them from being really dangerous downfield.

2) cross reads the read option. This makes it very difficult to even run that play. In fact the cross read basically destroyed that play across the nation.

3) Some obvious pass be twists or stunts to muddy the run lanes for the qb. Qb sees what looks like de losing contain but jack or mlb is stunting around to replace.

 

[FanofUK]

I have no idea why the line is so high for us, only thing I can guess is our zone gives this style of offense fits.

 

[The-Hack]

2) cross reads the read option.

Could you explain this in some detail? I am not questioning your statement, but do not know what a “cross read” is.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Could you explain this in some detail? I am not questioning your statement, but do not know what a “cross read” is.

Glad to. Usually the read option reads the edge defender. If he stays, qb gives and lbr has to beat a block to stop. If he crashes, qb keeps and gets a good gain. There is a reason it dominated football at all levels for 10+ years

White was a pioneer of cross reading. That means he intentionally has the edge crash to take the rb but the play side lbr stuns around to replace the edge and tackles the qb.

Qb pulls because he sees the edge crash only to find an inside lb right in his face replacing the edge. It completely ruins the entire play concept.

 

[Chad Rock]

Unless Vandy is boat racing us in the first half, my head will explode if we pass on field goal opportunities to hunt for 4th down conversions.

Honestly, most college teams consider field goals a 65-75% proposition from 30 yards out. I will not “curse” our kicker by going farther in the thought, but 3 points ain’t nothing to sneeze at in close fought football games.

I'm fine with a well placed 4th down attempt but not in predictable situations. For instance, if Wimsatt comes in on 4th and 1...otherwise, yeah, get the sure 3 with our AA kicker.

 

[The-Hack]

Glad to. Usually the read option reads the edge defender. If he stays, qb gives and lbr has to beat a block to stop. If he crashes, qb keeps and gets a good gain. There is a reason it dominated football at all levels for 10+ years

White was a pioneer of cross reading. That means he intentionally has the edge crash to take the rb but the play side lbr stuns around to replace the edge and tackles the qb.

Qb pulls because he sees the edge crash only to find an inside lb right in his face replacing the edge. It completely ruins the entire play concept.

So, an ILB essentially follows the edge rusher and goes for the QB while the original edge crashes down
On the back?

Was this what was used to limit Lamar Jackson in 2016?

Or is it a more recent idea?

 

[bigblueinsanity]

So, an ILB essentially follows the edge rusher and goes for the QB while the original edge crashes down
On the back?

Was this what was used to limit Lamar Jackson in 2016?

Or is it a more recent idea?

Yes.

More recent. It really started the year before Anthony Richardson's freshman year. Its why we could stop him and many other mobile guys that used to murder us.

He uses a similar concept to confuse them in the pocket because run lanes aren't where they should be.

He really exorcized the demon of mobile qbs haunting uk for decades.

 

[The-Hack]

It really started the year before Anthony Richardson's freshman year.

So around 2019.

AR-15 never did us much damage.

Against Lamar Jackson in 2016, I thought we held our edge rushers back, and created sort of an umbrella. When the interior guys got through, the edges then closed. It looked like gap integrity and not over-running the play became more important than actual speed to the quarterback.

 

[bbncal02]

You should always take the FG if available, unless:

1) Your defense is having major trouble keeping the offense out of the endzone.
2) Time is running short and you need 6.

Never look 3 points in the mouth unless you are reasonably sure you can get 6 on the next play. And even then, it's a calculated risk.

Point being, points are points. And 3 is greater than 0.

 

[ManitouDan]

I expect a grind it out low scoring game , decided by a FG .. We cant afford to drop this game , got to have it , whether it's 40-38 or 16-13 . Got to have the W ... The Ole Miss win could change the course of our season . But we cant keep losing SEC games at home.

 

[ManitouDan]

Hack - or any other Big Blue fans from here , we will be eating and drinking a few in the purple lot , close to the helicopter pad . Stop by !

 

[bigblueinsanity]

So around 2019.

AR-15 never did us much damage.

Against Lamar Jackson in 2016, I thought we held our edge rushers back, and created sort of an umbrella. When the interior guys got through, the edges then closed. It looked like gap integrity and not over-running the play became more important than actual speed to the quarterback.

We shut him down and he crushed everyone else. His freshman year he waa firmly in the Heisman talk before we completely gave him nothing. Then next year was even more embarrassing for him vs uk.

We definitely played lamar pretty decent the one year. He killed us the rest. Even the year we played him decent, it wasnt great and he had plenty of stats. Offense just kept up.

Vandy has a very good staff which i pointed out when they impressed me beating us two years ago. I figure we'll see switch routes because historically that causes us to bust. We definitely dont want to blitz much because a mobile qb just kills that and they feed off him. Zone is definitely better because all eyes are on the qb. Just cant bust.

 

[CrimsonCats]

I don’t really agree with this approach. I know “take the points” has been a football cliche probably since before I was born, but the logic of it somewhat ignores that not all possessions ending with points are equally valuable. A touchdown being worth slightly more than two field goals assuming you can hit an extra point is actually a huge deal strategically, and coaches don’t always act accordingly out of fear of the criticism that will come if an appropriately aggressive decision doesn’t work out. In reality though, a close game means that maximizing your possessions should become more important rather than less. I’m not saying we should go crazy and refuse to ever kick, but that going for 4th downs that are 3-4 yards or less can actually be a better chance at winning than just automatically taking the field goal whenever it’s available because touchdowns are that much more valuable.

 

[The-Hack]

it’s available because touchdowns are that much more valuable.

Yes.

But if your calling card is defense, and your defense is working well, and if you have an outstanding kicker, those guaranteed 3 points become more valuable.

But I’ll say this: that long completion to Barion and Kattus’s catch/touchdown might light a “fire of inevitability” in this team’s offense.

 

[The-Hack]

Hack - or any other Big Blue fans from here , we will be eating and drinking a few in the purple lot , close to the helicopter pad . Stop by !

Looks like I’ll in purple with the family/staff of Ray’s Pizzeria (of Hustonville). I’m not in charge of the tailgate, so I don’t know if Dustin will be flying flags, etc. Dustin says he will set up fairly near the round-about.

ManitouDan, you all got any distinctive flags/vehicles that would identify you all?

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

Looks like I’ll in purple with the family/staff of Ray’s Pizzeria (of Hustonville). I’m not in charge of the tailgate, so I don’t know if Dustin will be flying flags, etc. Dustin says he will set up fairly near the round-about.

ManitouDan, you all got any distinctive flags/vehicles that would identify you all?

Let us know on this @ManitouDan - give us some sort of distinction. I’d like to stop by and say hello. Same for you @The-Hack.

Which purple lot will you be in?

 

[ManitouDan]

Hey — we are near the helicopter pad . There is a white cement block building with a pair of Porta Potty’s- we are about 25 yards to the west of that ( towards the round a bout ) we do fly a flag .. I’ll get details as it belongs to a friend … wife got sick as hell at work today , hope we make it . Vertigo, N/V etc

 

[docholiday51]

I expect a grind it out low scoring game , decided by a FG .. We cant afford to drop this game , got to have it , whether it's 40-38 or 16-13 . Got to have the W ... The Ole Miss win could change the course of our season . But we cant keep losing SEC games at home.

I think we have to put up around 30 to win this one, I wonder if our offense is up to the task. The Vandy QB takes a lot of chances maybe we can cause a few of them to blow up in his face

 

[ManitouDan]

Looks like I’ll in purple with the family/staff of Ray’s Pizzeria (of Hustonville). I’m not in charge of the tailgate, so I don’t know if Dustin will be flying flags, etc. Dustin says he will set up fairly near the round-about.

ManitouDan, you all got any distinctive flags/vehicles that would identify you all?

Let us know on this @ManitouDan - give us some sort of distinction. I’d like to stop by and say hello. Same for you @The-Hack.

Which purple lot will you be in?

Wife said she will decide this am if she can make the trip .. bad sick on Thursday , severe vertigo , like couldn't open her eyes for 3 hours bad , felt hungover from it yesterday . Anyway you see a Black Ram 1500 beside a big silver Lexus SUV , I think out flag has a blue checkered UK pattern . Thats if we make it . Been looking forward to this game for 2 weeks now. , friends flew in from NC . HOPEFULLY we make it . I'll keep you posted .

 

[CatPatrick13]

Glad to. Usually the read option reads the edge defender. If he stays, qb gives and lbr has to beat a block to stop. If he crashes, qb keeps and gets a good gain. There is a reason it dominated football at all levels for 10+ years

White was a pioneer of cross reading. That means he intentionally has the edge crash to take the rb but the play side lbr stuns around to replace the edge and tackles the qb.

Qb pulls because he sees the edge crash only to find an inside lb right in his face replacing the edge. It completely ruins the entire play concept.

This..... only one issue, and Bama was beat on it a ton, is that the Vandy QB rolled after the read, turning his back to the defense and taking off the opposite way of the play... from their he found running room and an open receiver. Kid has awesome footwork.

 

[ManitouDan]

More simply on location , we are the first tailgate on your left as you come in from the round a bout .. across the street from the baseball / softball turn off

 

[billoliver40]

ANY team that beats the number one team in the nation and play another (then) top ten team off their feet BETTER get your full focus and effort. This is going to be a real test. This isn't grandpa's Vanderbilt. They deserve respect. That quarterback is the real deal and they controlled the lines against Alabama....read that again. This is a very dangerous team the Cats are playing.

 

[ganner918]

Under white we historically do an excellent job vs mobile QBs. This is for many reasons but below are some.

1) he focuses on contain to the qb dominant arm. This prevents them from being really dangerous downfield.

2) cross reads the read option. This makes it very difficult to even run that play. In fact the cross read basically destroyed that play across the nation.

3) Some obvious pass be twists or stunts to muddy the run lanes for the qb. Qb sees what looks like de losing contain but jack or mlb is stunting around to replace.

There are a lot of people with PTSD from the pre-Stoops era when we did seem to get eaten alive by mobile QBs. But people also just underestimate how difficult it is to defend a dual threat QB, and how defenses across the country were NOT built for it in the past. We haven't had any unusual susceptibility to mobile quarterbacks in recent years.

 

[ukfan1622]

I don’t really agree with this approach. I know “take the points” has been a football cliche probably since before I was born, but the logic of it somewhat ignores that not all possessions ending with points are equally valuable. A touchdown being worth slightly more than two field goals assuming you can hit an extra point is actually a huge deal strategically, and coaches don’t always act accordingly out of fear of the criticism that will come if an appropriately aggressive decision doesn’t work out. In reality though, a close game means that maximizing your possessions should become more important rather than less. I’m not saying we should go crazy and refuse to ever kick, but that going for 4th downs that are 3-4 yards or less can actually be a better chance at winning than just automatically taking the field goal whenever it’s available because touchdowns are that much more valuable.

I agree completely. I hate punting and field goals and I'd never kick a field goal on 4th and goal at the 2 yard line unless a field goal wins the game. When you miss the first down from there your defense stands a good chance to score and if your defense stops them you're already back in field goal position.