Looks like Hamdan had no problem....
- Thread starter Blueathletics
- Start date
You're blaming the wrong coach, how about the head of the beast STOOPS
I think it’s well established, with 12 years of data, that Hamadan isn’t the issue.
If he is really the one purging the O, then good. He’s getting rid of a bunch of players who couldn’t move the ball and score enough to win even 6 games.
I hope he has been given more power and autonomy to run the show. That would be a sign of some willingness to change.
If he is really the one purging the O, then good. He’s getting rid of a bunch of players who couldn’t move the ball and score enough to win even 6 games.
I hope he has been given more power and autonomy to run the show. That would be a sign of some willingness to change.
Hamdan may not be the critical culprit in our offensive impotency this year. But, it IS his offense, his play calling, his personnel rotations decisions that, quite frankly, made no sense whatsoever.
How many times did we have 3rd and a manageable distance only to send all 4 receivers 15+ yards down the field and subject BV to heavy pressure and multiple hits? How many consecutive times did we bring in Wimsatt on 2nd and 7 to run a QB keeper and then send BV back to convert on 3rd and 7 (or worse)? How many times were we deep in the red zone and could not score a TD?
Stoops is ultimately responsible for the cluster that was our offense (and has been our offense with a few exceptions), but Hamdan was very poor this year at his job. Several games I felt like our scouting report was laughably bad and completely wrong. Midgame adjustments were MIA the entire season. Any thoughts of trying to establish something and then keep doing it until the defense made an adjustment were misguided as we seemingly never attempted to do anything like that. Blame for those items are Hamdan's and no one else's.
How many times did we have 3rd and a manageable distance only to send all 4 receivers 15+ yards down the field and subject BV to heavy pressure and multiple hits? How many consecutive times did we bring in Wimsatt on 2nd and 7 to run a QB keeper and then send BV back to convert on 3rd and 7 (or worse)? How many times were we deep in the red zone and could not score a TD?
Stoops is ultimately responsible for the cluster that was our offense (and has been our offense with a few exceptions), but Hamdan was very poor this year at his job. Several games I felt like our scouting report was laughably bad and completely wrong. Midgame adjustments were MIA the entire season. Any thoughts of trying to establish something and then keep doing it until the defense made an adjustment were misguided as we seemingly never attempted to do anything like that. Blame for those items are Hamdan's and no one else's.
Unless Stoops had a QUOTA with certain players that had to be met due to NIL. That is EXACTLY what it looked like this season. That is ALL on Stoops.
When Coach Stoops stated after the last game that things were going to "change", I figured it was about the demands he MET with certain players. JMHO, but that's what seemed to be the problem. Hence ALL of the departures from those kids or the ones that didn't get what they wanted.
I'm sure he ran off Shorts also. Shorts went to be with his old coach Hogerson (sp) at Nebraska, their OC, and Key followed. Hamdan's not the one running anyone off. Now we just lost our most talented WR, Gilmore, to the portal.
Or……the WR coach who bolted after one year. The position coach and the OC actually work closely with the receivers. Much more so than the head coach
And Boise St increased there offensive production after he left.
Another thing Boise St is like the georgia or Alabama in there conference. They recruit head and shoulders above there counterparts
And yet, I'm willing to bet, once he leaves here he'll do just fine.
There's always one common thing here
Hamdan is ok at best. I suspect he is fine when working with a talent advantage. Unfortunately here he will always have a talent disadvantage.
Some of his route concepts and play designs are actually nice. There is just zero setup from week to week or even in game. The good ones always show things one week, then later counter off those for big gains. He just calls plays.
He clearly isnt a difference maker able to punch up, which is what we need. The only thing ill credit him with is finally getting stoops to understand the need for some discipline for the nil divas.
Some of his route concepts and play designs are actually nice. There is just zero setup from week to week or even in game. The good ones always show things one week, then later counter off those for big gains. He just calls plays.
He clearly isnt a difference maker able to punch up, which is what we need. The only thing ill credit him with is finally getting stoops to understand the need for some discipline for the nil divas.
Correction, Stoops has done that.
Just out of curiosity, how many of those players were recruited by Hamden for his Offensive philosophy?
Let's see. How many did he recruit for his offense.? How long did he have his guys? He have them long enough to develop into upperclassmen? Injuries made his offense not work. Etc etc etc
Excuses never end
Good question.
However:
1) Hamdan (and Stoops) knew that he was bringing a new system to the team. Did we go after the personnel he would ideally like to have to run his system in the portal? Did BH have any luck recruiting once he was on board? In this most recent HS recruiting class, are the offensive signees good fits for his 'offensive philosophy'? What makes them that way vs what he walked into as OC?
2) Hamdan and every other OC worth his salt tweaks his system to fit the personnel. Even if he'd been here 5 years Wilson, Levis, Leary and BV do NOT have the same physical attributes. Ditto for the RB, OL, WR and TE rooms. His system can't be tweaked?
3) Eddie Gran changed his entire system and playcalling in the middle of a season to accommodate Lynn Bowden's skillset with the other offensive talent we had on hand. Did he have LB make 7-step drops and throw 25-yard out patterns? Run a lot of PA and hit the TE for big gains? I saw nothing that Hamdan adjusted throughout the season - nothing.
4) If he didn't have the personnel to run jet sweeps effectively or the Wildcat with Wimsatt why in God's name did we continue to run those plays throughout the season? He didn't recognize he didn't have the personnel?
5) Can you honestly say that you believe we had a well-designed game plan for every opponent this year? Do you think our play design was appropriate for the talent we had vs the team we were playing? Did you EVER see significant adjustments during the games? Were there portions of every game that the offense looked like it was in a groove and the defense was back on its heels? Did we have well-designed plays and play selection once we got into the red zone consistently? Preparation, imo, is what separates the top OCs from the guys who do well when they have a talent advantage and struggle when the talent is even or at a disadvantage.
I could go on but you get the point. We were one of the worst offenses in all of CFB. Looking at our roster just before the season began, did anyone think that would be the case this year? Our offensive talent was above average for UK. Some rooms, on paper, were WAY above average. Yes, the OL was a big question mark and turned into a big disappointment. So, what did he do with it? How did he work around that? Crickets...
He may improve. But, another year like this one and he has to go.
Very valid points...but, when the pyramid is weak at the base (Offensive Line), there is no structural stability and therefore limited or no success at the top.
1) BVG does not seem to be in the mold of a Hamdan desired QB mold. Hamdan was handcuffed by BVG being the starting QB from Day 1.
2) Square peg and round hole. BVG didn't fit the system, but you can't attempt to tweak the system because OL is horrible. It is a perpetual failure machine, unless we have an outlier at QB, WR, or RB.
3) Without LB, that's not even possible. Freakish college athlete who carried this team on his shoulders. See Pavia from Vandy for a modern version. Crap tastes like crap no matter how many ways you prepare it. Adjust what? A poor OL? Bad attitudes? Go back and give BVG experience he sorely needed? Team didn't gel, and there was nothing any adjustments would have made to change that this season.
4) Valid point. Hope and looking for a miracle would be the only response.
5) Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the nose...I would assume we had a well designed game plan entering the game. What I do know is that you can't effectively execute a game plan, make adjustments, get in a groove, improve, etc. without a good team. A good team requires everyone to work together and overcome those obstacles...while the team may look great on paper, I do not think that they came together in the locker room or on the field this year.
I see this daily. My team trains every day we work, however when the shit hits the fan the limitations of my team members somehow always creates a speed bump in the game plan. It may be something simple as an attitude, however it affects the team immensely. My only solution is to mix and match team members until they gel and work efficiently together. That takes time....
I dunno, I look at the NFL...teams with poor OL don't do well with that and rarely do they work around that. Look at the current "bad" teams in the NFL and a lot of the poor offensive performances are a direct reflection of OL talent and/or fitment. OL is the base of the offense...
I don't disagree, if the offense struggle this year he should go. But, I also believe that Stoops has a heavy hand in the failure of the offense as well. Would like to see them both go, and a new enthusiastic leadership team enter the scene.
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Disagree to some extent.
Hamdan was also the QB coach, let's not forget. Did BV or Wimsatt ever look like they were well coached, read the defense accurately, climbed the pocket, checked down to avoid a sack, etc?
BV didn't possess the ideal skill set to run his offense - no argument from me. What did he do to work around that?
An argument could be made that the game plan for many of our games was just plain wrong. Let's take USC. Everyone knew their edge rushers were going to be trouble. What did we do offensively to counteract that fact? Screens? Nope. Quick slants? Nope. Run right at them? For part of one series that was relatively successful and then we abandoned that strategy. Did we change our approach during the game? Nope - same DA plays didn't work in the 4th quarter that got stonewalled in the first. I could make a reasonable argument along these same lines against almost every opponent this year.
The OL was trash, no doubt. They had their moments but, in toto, they were not good. And, yet, Wilcox and Demi had pretty darned good ypc averages. We were pathetic in the red zone. Did we improve as the season wore on? Nope.
It's not all Hamdan's fault. Plenty to be shared among the staff from Stoops on down. But it's Hamdan's responsibility to give our guys the best chance to succeed. By any measure, he failed miserably. Looking at the roster for next year, does anyone truly expect better results? Calzada doesn't have the same skill set as BV - will we run the same plays the same way? With a significant turnover in personnel this off-season, will Hamdan adjust to the newcomers? I'm very doubtful.
Hamdan was also the QB coach, let's not forget. Did BV or Wimsatt ever look like they were well coached, read the defense accurately, climbed the pocket, checked down to avoid a sack, etc?
BV didn't possess the ideal skill set to run his offense - no argument from me. What did he do to work around that?
An argument could be made that the game plan for many of our games was just plain wrong. Let's take USC. Everyone knew their edge rushers were going to be trouble. What did we do offensively to counteract that fact? Screens? Nope. Quick slants? Nope. Run right at them? For part of one series that was relatively successful and then we abandoned that strategy. Did we change our approach during the game? Nope - same DA plays didn't work in the 4th quarter that got stonewalled in the first. I could make a reasonable argument along these same lines against almost every opponent this year.
The OL was trash, no doubt. They had their moments but, in toto, they were not good. And, yet, Wilcox and Demi had pretty darned good ypc averages. We were pathetic in the red zone. Did we improve as the season wore on? Nope.
It's not all Hamdan's fault. Plenty to be shared among the staff from Stoops on down. But it's Hamdan's responsibility to give our guys the best chance to succeed. By any measure, he failed miserably. Looking at the roster for next year, does anyone truly expect better results? Calzada doesn't have the same skill set as BV - will we run the same plays the same way? With a significant turnover in personnel this off-season, will Hamdan adjust to the newcomers? I'm very doubtful.
Here's an updated look at where Kentucky ranks in a lot of NCAA statistical categories after Week 8 of the 2024 season. Scoring Offense: 20.4 (115th NCAA) Total Offense: 319.9 YPG (115th) Yards Per Play: 5.02 YPP (113th) Passing Offense: 167.9 YPG (121st) Passer Rating: 113.93 (124th)
And looking back at it we've only had a few top 50 offenses and never a top 20 offense. We've been outside the top 100 4 or 5 times under stoops. Hard to compete in a game that determines the winner by who scores the most points if our coach has an aversion to scoring points.
And looking back at it we've only had a few top 50 offenses and never a top 20 offense. We've been outside the top 100 4 or 5 times under stoops. Hard to compete in a game that determines the winner by who scores the most points if our coach has an aversion to scoring points.
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