Hello HOB. I'll be following along with the HBC's weekly radio show again tonight and sharing the major talking points here for those of you who may not be able to listen in live. Show starts at 6 ET. Stay tuned...
* Auburn is a team very similar to us, sitting around wondering how their record is what it is. There's a very thin line between success and failure in this league, and that's where both of us are. We are trying to look at in terms of let's go 1-0 this week.
* Defense did some uncharacteristic things last week, bad fits, bad eyes, trying to do more than we ask them to do. There were something like 43-45 plays totally normal, but 10 that were completely unacceptable. You can't win with that many.
* Cats have punted 5x over two weeks and lost both games with low scores on UK side. Stoops sighs, searching for answers to why they're moving the ball and can't finish drives. He doesn't want to say more that will end up being twisted or misconstrued, only that it's his job to fix it.
* Chip Trayanum looked pretty good last week, still not 100% A bit of an ankle deal now after all that he went thru with his hand.
* Auburn has one of, if not the best RB in the league. Big challenge for the D this week.
* Listener asks why Dane Key and Barion Brown weren't in the game on late 4th down... That was a personnel issue on a particular grouping. Stoops says he agrees, they absolutely have to get that fixed. Should not have happened.
* Caller says he thinks the team can beat anyone in the league. Feels like Cats are snakebit with bad luck and are due some good things happening. Stoops says "We've got to make our own luck by doing things better that we can control."
* Listener wants to know more about Jamarion Wilcox.... Great young man, doing better, Stoops said. The issue with the shoes is pretty simple. (laughs) We gotta keep his shoes on his feet. We're trying all options to get that done.
* Listener asks why they don't use more tempo like they did after getting behind Vandy, looking good to come back... Stoops agrees, thinks they can mix in a little tempo. Sometimes need to be more methodical to help out with the protection issues. Have to play different ways for different situations.
* Caller asks Stoops what happened with Liam Coen, did he just want to be in the NFL. Stoops flatly says, yes. No further comment.
* Barion Brown is a kid who has come a long way in his accountability, Stoops says. Felt horrible about his mistake that led to the INT. Was still down, even after the 99-yard TD return, apologized to Stoops on the sideline. Stoops said his response was more important. Need more guys to respond like that.
* Listener says it's been driving him nuts all season with punt returners not fielding punts, losing a ton of hidden yardage... Stoops says he is correct. We've let too many drop. This past week, we had guys really blocked on one in particular and did not field it. It was there for a big return. In his defense, the wind was really swirling in that stadium that night. It's not always easy, especially with a high punt ... Listener also asks if the constant personnel changes could be leading to some of the miscues on offense... Stoops says this past week they only had one offensive penalty, so they cleaned that up with focus and discipline, but maybe some other times they can be better with the sub packages.
* They made a change at place-kicking snapper because they were so concerned about what they were seeing was becoming a mental block. It's unusual to be that good for 4-5 weeks, then turn that bad at this point in the season, so they didn't want to wait and watch that potentially get worse.
* Auburn is a team very similar to us, sitting around wondering how their record is what it is. There's a very thin line between success and failure in this league, and that's where both of us are. We are trying to look at in terms of let's go 1-0 this week.
* Defense did some uncharacteristic things last week, bad fits, bad eyes, trying to do more than we ask them to do. There were something like 43-45 plays totally normal, but 10 that were completely unacceptable. You can't win with that many.
* Cats have punted 5x over two weeks and lost both games with low scores on UK side. Stoops sighs, searching for answers to why they're moving the ball and can't finish drives. He doesn't want to say more that will end up being twisted or misconstrued, only that it's his job to fix it.
* Chip Trayanum looked pretty good last week, still not 100% A bit of an ankle deal now after all that he went thru with his hand.
* Auburn has one of, if not the best RB in the league. Big challenge for the D this week.
* Listener asks why Dane Key and Barion Brown weren't in the game on late 4th down... That was a personnel issue on a particular grouping. Stoops says he agrees, they absolutely have to get that fixed. Should not have happened.
* Caller says he thinks the team can beat anyone in the league. Feels like Cats are snakebit with bad luck and are due some good things happening. Stoops says "We've got to make our own luck by doing things better that we can control."
* Listener wants to know more about Jamarion Wilcox.... Great young man, doing better, Stoops said. The issue with the shoes is pretty simple. (laughs) We gotta keep his shoes on his feet. We're trying all options to get that done.
* Listener asks why they don't use more tempo like they did after getting behind Vandy, looking good to come back... Stoops agrees, thinks they can mix in a little tempo. Sometimes need to be more methodical to help out with the protection issues. Have to play different ways for different situations.
* Caller asks Stoops what happened with Liam Coen, did he just want to be in the NFL. Stoops flatly says, yes. No further comment.
* Barion Brown is a kid who has come a long way in his accountability, Stoops says. Felt horrible about his mistake that led to the INT. Was still down, even after the 99-yard TD return, apologized to Stoops on the sideline. Stoops said his response was more important. Need more guys to respond like that.
* Listener says it's been driving him nuts all season with punt returners not fielding punts, losing a ton of hidden yardage... Stoops says he is correct. We've let too many drop. This past week, we had guys really blocked on one in particular and did not field it. It was there for a big return. In his defense, the wind was really swirling in that stadium that night. It's not always easy, especially with a high punt ... Listener also asks if the constant personnel changes could be leading to some of the miscues on offense... Stoops says this past week they only had one offensive penalty, so they cleaned that up with focus and discipline, but maybe some other times they can be better with the sub packages.
* They made a change at place-kicking snapper because they were so concerned about what they were seeing was becoming a mental block. It's unusual to be that good for 4-5 weeks, then turn that bad at this point in the season, so they didn't want to wait and watch that potentially get worse.
