Question about the defense

[gamecockcat]

Brad White does a really good job.

However, why does it seem like we play very vanilla, soft zone on the first series and give up a ton of yards and/or points? I mean the D may pitch a shutout or nearly so after the first series but we look awful on the first series most games.

Am I only remembering bad starts or does that scenario seem to play out a lot?

 

[PhattyJ4UK]

Whole team seems to start vanilla... get the other in a groove they like and lock down. Hell I think if you remove first drive of every game- defense has scored same amount of points as given up.

Would be nice not to assume points scores against drive 1 though.

 

[YaketySax]

Because they are playing the numbers game. You play a "soft zone" to keep everything in front of you. You make the tackle and force the offense to execute again on the next play. You assume college players can't execute across 100 yards of field more than 1-3 times per game and then you win. You make calls to put you in the best position across the span of a 75-85 play game.

You play press man (like the Cover 0 against UF on that Valentine deflected 4th down) regularly then you will give up huge gains because DBs will give up passes sometimes. Offenses will get smarter with the play-calling too and adjust even if coverage is good sometimes.

Mixing zone, pattern-matching, and man is the defensive equivalent of having a diversified portfolio. Get that 10-12% return and don't chase 30% returns cause they could also be -10% returns.

 

[gamecockcat]

Because they are playing the numbers game. You play a "soft zone" to keep everything in front of you. You make the tackle and force the offense to execute again on the next play. You assume college players can't execute across 100 yards of field more than 1-3 times per game and then you win. You make calls to put you in the best position across the span of a 75-85 play game.

You play press man (like the Cover 0 against UF on that Valentine deflected 4th down) regularly then you will give up huge gains because DBs will give up passes sometimes. Offenses will get smarter with the play-calling too and adjust even if coverage is good sometimes.

Mixing zone, pattern-matching, and man is the defensive equivalent of having a diversified portfolio. Get that 10-12% return and don't chase 30% returns cause they could also be -10% returns.

I understand. But, it really seems like we have no idea what the opponent is likely to do, what their tendencies are, blocking schemes, etc. Almost like we have no game plan until we see that first drive.

Again, BW is doing a good job. But, giving up a long drive and/or points consistently on that first drive is maddening. Seems we start the game in a hole way too often. Certainly don't need to take a bunch of chances but being very passive doesn't seem to work, either.

 

[YaketySax]

I understand. But, it really seems like we have no idea what the opponent is likely to do, what their tendencies are, blocking schemes, etc. Almost like we have no game plan until we see that first drive.

Again, BW is doing a good job. But, giving up a long drive and/or points consistently on that first drive is maddening. Seems we start the game in a hole way too often. Certainly don't need to take a bunch of chances but being very passive doesn't seem to work, either.

I think you are underestimating them. I think most coaches have a good idea of their opponents and game plans are done before the season starts, but sometimes they get it wrong. I think the players came out flat tonight, personally.

I'm fine with DBs giving two or three yards presnap on the WRs prior to snap on a 2nd or 3rd and medium or long. The defense has been very good on 3rd down this season. There was probably going to be some regression, but they seem to be very good. Tonight, they were only bad on that early drive. The last TD came from a fumble on UK's side of the 30 yard line and then a trick play in the red zone.

 

[Bluesbrother]

Brad White does a really good job.

However, why does it seem like we play very vanilla, soft zone on the first series and give up a ton of yards and/or points? I mean the D may pitch a shutout or nearly so after the first series but we look awful on the first series most games.

Am I only remembering bad starts or does that scenario seem to play out a lot?

"Brad White does a really good job" ... Really? Wreaks of "virtue signaling". This is what Roman is talking about. This is what "soft" looks like. If UK wins this game by 30, the only thing that will be remembered is the first half and how bad we played. Win tonight ... we drop in the rankings, and we should because this team does not deserve to be ranked in the top 10. It just doesn't. A much better team is not in the top 10 because UK is wrongly occupying no. 8 slot.

 

[gamecockcat]

"Brad White does a really good job" ... Really? Wreaks of "virtue signaling". This is what Roman is talking about. This is what "soft" looks like. "Play out a lot"? ... This is our consistency ... we are consistently soft in games like this. If UK wins this game by 30, the only thing that will be remembered is the first half and how bad we played. We win tonight ... we drop in the rankings, and we should because this team does not deserve to be ranked in the top 20. It just doesn't.

How can you look at the consistent results White's defenses have achieved for several years in a row and not concede he's doing a 'good job'?

My complaint was directed at first series lack of success. Other than that, he consistently puts a solid defense on the field and has done so for several years now. Hard to argue with those facts.

 

[SpamburgerHamburger]

First drives are usually scripted and heavily practiced by offenses and are generally different each week. And a lot of times don't follow their tendencies on tape and are harder to predict.

 

[Bluesbrother]

How can you look at the consistent results White's defenses have achieved for several years in a row and not concede he's doing a 'good job'?

My complaint was directed at first series lack of success. Other than that, he consistently puts a solid defense on the field and has done so for several years now. Hard to argue with those facts.

By all means ... reason to celebrate. Especially if you're NIU. I hope they can work out the obvious kinks but this lack of "consistency", it seems, will always be their achilles heel.

 

[K_TIME]

"Brad White does a really good job" ... Really? Wreaks of "virtue signaling". This is what Roman is talking about. This is what "soft" looks like. If UK wins this game by 30, the only thing that will be remembered is the first half and how bad we played. Win tonight ... we drop in the rankings, and we should because this team does not deserve to be ranked in the top 10. It just doesn't. A much better team is not in the top 10 because UK is wrongly occupying no. 8 slot.

What the heck does that entire post mean?

- How is saying Brad White does really good.....in what world does that equate to virtue signaling?
- If you think UK is soft based upon Roman Harper's dumb take....UK is 13th in county in scoring defense. Only UGA, Bama, Ole Miss and Texas AM are ahead of UK in SEC scoring D....so are we soft but Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, Miss St, Arkansas, South Carolilna, etc... really soft?
- So who would you drop ahead of UK in rankings? Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma St, NC State, Utah (please), Oregon (double please)? I'd argue teams ahead of UK in Clemson, Southern Cal and probably Oklahoma are more iffy than UK.

 

[Bluesbrother]

What the heck does that entire post mean?

- How is saying Brad White does really good.....in what world does that equate to virtue signaling?
- If you think UK is soft based upon Roman Harper's dumb take....UK is 13th in county in scoring defense. Only UGA, Bama, Ole Miss and Texas AM are ahead of UK in SEC scoring D....so are we soft but Florida, Tennessee, Auburn, Miss St, Arkansas, South Carolilna, etc... really soft?
- So who would you drop ahead of UK in rankings? Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma St, NC State, Utah (please), Oregon (double please)? I'd argue teams ahead of UK in Clemson, Southern Cal and probably Oklahoma are more iffy than UK.

UK has only played a mediocre Florida team while Richardson laid probably the largest egg of the season, leaving to other 3 opponents from second rate conferences. UK is soft and they proved again today. UK, if not soft, should have buried this team in the 1st half ... they didn't. They're not the 8th best team in the land ... they're just not. Wish they were but they're not.

 

[K_TIME]

UK has only played a mediocre Florida team while Richardson laid probably the largest egg of the season, leaving to other 3 opponents from second rate conferences. UK is soft and they proved again today. UK, if not soft, should have buried this team in the 1st half ... they didn't. They're not the 8th best team in the land ... they're just not. Wish they were but they're not.

So does UK get any credit for playing a part of why Richardson laid an egg? You sound like the SEC/ESPN game analysts that kiss AR15 rear end while giving UK zero credit.

So is Clemson soft...gave up 45 to Wake Forest? Oklahoma is about to lose at home to Kansas St? Maybe UK ain't 8th best team....they have 7 SEC games to prove it or lose it. But it's moronic to argue UK is soft but Clemson/OKlahoma...heck USC look to be way more fraud-ish than UK

 

[Bluesbrother]

So does UK get any credit for playing a part of why Richardson laid an egg? You sound like the SEC/ESPN game analysts that kiss AR15 rear end while giving UK zero credit.

So is Clemson soft...gave up 45 to Wake Forest? Oklahoma is about to lose at home to Kansas St? Maybe UK ain't 8th best team....they have 7 SEC games to prove it or lose it. But it's moronic to argue UK is soft but Clemson/OKlahoma...heck USC look to be way more fraud-ish than UK

Stop comparing UK to other teams and look at the UK team on the field playing the opponent in front of them. UK sucked tonight against an opponent they should have crushed if they were truly the 8th ranked team in the country. There's really not much else to say about it. You can try to defend that if you want but they simply sucked tonight, and I've watched many UK games that looked eerily similar. I will just leave you to defend them, if that's what you want ... that's fine. To me, I don't see an 8th ranked team, and I won't defend them as such ... because they're not. It's embarrassing to win against this team at home and struggle like we did, winning by such a small margin. I won't be surprised if they fall in the rankings. The laughable part is when some fans get all butt-hurt when the national pundits don't give UK the respect, after struggling to beat a team like this. It's not defensible and Roman Harper is laughing at all of his detractors ... and he should be laughing. Stoops was pissed last week, and nothing got fixed and no body listened ... oops.

 

[K_TIME]

Stop comparing UK to other teams and look at the UK team on the field playing the opponent in front of them. UK sucked tonight against an opponent they should have crushed if they were truly the 8th ranked team in the country. There's really not much else to say about it. You can try to defend that if you want but they simply sucked tonight, and I've watched many UK games that looked eerily similar. I will just leave you to defend them, if that's what you want ... that's fine. To me, I don't see an 8th ranked team, and I won't defend them as such ... because they're not. It's embarrassing to win against this team at home and struggle like we did, winning by such a small margin. I won't be surprised if they fall in the rankings. The laughable part is when some fans get all butt-hurt when the national pundits don't give UK the respect, after struggling to beat a team like this. It's not defensible and Roman Harper is laughing at all of his detractors ... and he should be laughing. Stoops was pissed last week, and nothing got fixed and no body listened ... oops.

1. UK beat Florida on the road...who they played on the field
2. Tennessee just hung on to beat the same FLorida team at home by 5

Yet...you argue UK sucks. So I'll ask for the third time. If UK drops....whom is yoru top 10?

 

[ColonelCat]

Brad White does a really good job.

However, why does it seem like we play very vanilla, soft zone on the first series and give up a ton of yards and/or points? I mean the D may pitch a shutout or nearly so after the first series but we look awful on the first series most games.

Am I only remembering bad starts or does that scenario seem to play out a lot?

wasn't pretty

 

[Bluesbrother]

1. UK beat Florida on the road...who they played on the field
2. Tennessee just hung on to beat the same FLorida team at home by 5

Yet...you argue UK sucks. So I'll ask for the third time. If UK drops....whom is yoru top 10?

The Florida team that lost to Tenn today was not the same team UK beat. AR is working out his issues evidenced at the Swamp against UK. Tenn is a good team, and I was not surprised to see UT win that game at home. That said, FL played a much better game against TN than we saw a few weeks ago. I said UK sucked against NIU and they did. If they keep playing this way, they won't be ranked 8th for long. With regard to who should be ranked 8th rather than UK ... it doesn't matter because if UK doesn't fix things quickly, you'll be asking why they were knocked out of the top 20. This is not an 8th ranked team nationally ... trust me, I hope they prove me wrong but there's much too much to fix for them to do that, I'm afraid.

 

[K_TIME]

The Florida team that lost to Tenn today was not the same team UK beat. AR is working out his issues evidenced at the Swamp against UK. Tenn is a good team, and I was not surprised to see UT win that game at home. That said, FL played a much better game against TN than we saw a few weeks ago. I said UK sucked against NIU and they did. If they keep playing this way, they won't be ranked 8th for long. With regard to who should be ranked 8th rather than UK ... it doesn't matter because if UK doesn't fix things quickly, you'll be asking why they were knocked out of the top 20. This is not an 8th ranked team nationally ... trust me, I hope they prove me wrong but there's much too much to fix for them to do that, I'm afraid.

Goodness gracious...it was 2 freaking weeks ago we played Florida. And last week Florida looked pretty poor in scraping by USF. Maybe..just maybe...Tennessee isn't all that amazing as you're leading them on to be. They have a very high risk/reward defense. Maybe just maybe...UK defense is pretty stout and plays very disciplined that forced AR15 to play to his weaknesses and if we played them again....he's struggle all the same.

I get UK's Oline is a major problem and I dont' think it's going to resolve itself now that 4 weeks in it's still an issue. But to dismiss the rest of strength is just silly hater mentality.. Levis along with Key, Robinson and Brown could be the best QB/WR tandem in all of college football. We do get CRod back. We will have a top 20 defense when it's all said and done this year. That easily could be a top 10 team....for damn sure it will be a top 20 team when the dust settles.

 

[Gromcat]

I understand. But, it really seems like we have no idea what the opponent is likely to do, what their tendencies are, blocking schemes, etc. Almost like we have no game plan until we see that first drive.

Again, BW is doing a good job. But, giving up a long drive and/or points consistently on that first drive is maddening. Seems we start the game in a hole way too often. Certainly don't need to take a bunch of chances but being very passive doesn't seem to work, either.

Analytics are really rotting these coaches brains in a bad way. A lot of this is analytical thinking. Look at what Napier is doing, using analytics and it’s making him look like a fool. I mean it’s gotta be analytics, he’s not coaching football that’s for sure.

I will say Kentucky has always had to account for a lack of talent, can’t risk too much. I’ve always taken issue with this under stoops, but this is how we play.

 

[Gromcat]

The Florida team that lost to Tenn today was not the same team UK beat. AR is working out his issues evidenced at the Swamp against UK. Tenn is a good team, and I was not surprised to see UT win that game at home. That said, FL played a much better game against TN than we saw a few weeks ago. I said UK sucked against NIU and they did. If they keep playing this way, they won't be ranked 8th for long. With regard to who should be ranked 8th rather than UK ... it doesn't matter because if UK doesn't fix things quickly, you'll be asking why they were knocked out of the top 20. This is not an 8th ranked team nationally ... trust me, I hope they prove me wrong but there's much too much to fix for them to do that, I'm afraid.

Yes it was lol. Wasn’t that a week or 2 ago? Same exact teams. Lol damn I’m a hard ass but shit y’all acting crazy.