Sooner or later, everyone has to deal with death of loved ones. It happened for us last week, and it was very sad. So my attention has been on family matters.
This morning, I saw a DVR replay of UK-SC. Until today, the final score was the only thing I knew about the game. Earlier, I attended the two home games and saw the other two on TV.
I have taken a look at people's assessments on the board. Here are mine.
Offense
UK's running game is averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Benny isn't walking through that door, but this is still a good number. Especially under the circumstances. When you look closely at the SC replay, a couple of things stand out. For one thing, SC was not concerned at all about UK's passing game. Muschamp did a good job of disguising his defenses, but eight defenders were in the box at the snap nearly all day long. Muschamp used all kinds of blitzes, including some creative run blitzes. But UK still managed 4.1 yards per rush in the game, not a bad number at all, given the complete lack of a passing threat.
Of course UK only ran the football 28 times against SC, because we were behind on the scoreboard all day.
In summary, I see two primary problems with our offense. The first one is obvious. TW is out for the season, and SS is very banged up. So, not surprisingly, our QB play has not been good enough to take advantage of opportunities to control tempo of the game and move the football. Not every offensive possession ends in a score. But every offensive possession is an opportunity to flip the field and force the opponent to play on a long field. We simply haven't been getting the QB play necessary to do that. This is not a knock against SS, who is playing hurt. But SS was 13-34 passing against SC, and has turned the football over too much for our football team to be competitive. It is what it is.
The second issue is our OL. I watched our OL closely during the replay of UK-SC. Surprisingly, the left side of our OL is not creating any push. I say surprisingly, because Landon Young and Logan Stenberg were expected to be two of the better players on our offense. Neither played very well against SC, and neither did Drake Jackson. Again, I am not knocking anyone, just saying what I see. Is SC's DL really that good? They may be better than last year, but I didn't expect to see them push Young and Stenberg around. But that's what happened. In particular, Stenberg has not had a very good season so far.
Defense
The story of our defense is pretty much the opposite of what we expected prior to the season. Our secondary, which was considered the weakness of our defense, has played better than expected. Yusuf Corker is an emerging star, and Brandin Echols is turning out to be a very solid player. Other members of the secondary haven't been quite as good, but they are mostly young and will get better.
Our DL, which was considered the strength of our defense, has been outplayed in all three losses. Calvin Taylor has been the best player on our defense, but he gets routinely double-teamed. Taylor will play on Sundays, but SC completely took him out of the game. Quinton Bohanna, considered our best lineman, is overweight and badly out of shape, and has been gassed before the end of the first quarter in all three losses. Marquan McCall is also out of shape, but has outplayed Bohanna when given the opportunity. Phil Hoskins has not played yet because of disciplinary issues and injuries. None of our other linemen has been getting the job done. TJ Carter, who got some preseason headlines, has mainly been a nonfactor. Kordell Looney has not played well, so younger players like Hawkins and Abadi-Fitzgerald are being given a chance to play. This may sound harsh, but I am just saying what I see.
Based on my viewing of the loss to SC, our LBs have been the biggest problem so far. To put it simply, our LBs look slow and are getting blocked. And lots of missed tackles. SC readily handled our LBs. Kash Daniel plays hard, but isn't big enough to make plays unless he puts himself in ideal position on his first read. So far, Daniel has been out of position a lot, and his playing time is on the decline. DeAndre Square, who excelled in the two nonconference games, has been overpowered physically by SEC OLs. Square just isn't very big. None of our edge LBs has played well in the three conference games. There is no pass rush, and they are giving up the edge way too often in the run defense.
Taken as a whole, our defense just hasn't been able to stop two middle of the pack SEC offenses because we haven't been quick enough, strong enough, or sound enough. This kind of thing gets fixed gradually, with player development and reps. But time is not on our side.
What comes next
The current frequency of game changing turnovers by our offense precludes winning conference games, and that potentially includes Arky. Without a passing game, our offense will not be able to move the chains against any SEC defense. The offense is currently predictable and ineffective, and the QB is the problem. Not the HC. Not the OC. I admire SS for playing hurt, and we will never know how this might have gone if he was healthy. But he isn't healthy, and there isn't another QB with any experience behind him. That's a bum deal, but it is what it is.
And since our OL has not yet been able to overcome graduations of Bunchy and Asafo Adjei, the situation upfront is not optimal either.
At some point, either SS will get healthy, or else Stoops and Gran will be forced to turn to some combination of Gilmore and Bowden at QB. Gilmore is talented, but not ready. Some fans have convinced themselves that Bowden is the answer at QB, but I believe they are fooling themselves. Bowden is a fine slot receiver, but he does not have the arm or the physical build of an SEC QB. If it comes to that, I just hope he doesn't get hurt. If he doesn't get hurt, he would be UK's first QB to escape injury this year.
As with the offense, injuries (Davonte Robinson, Phil Hoskins) have had an impact on our defense. Our front seven has been getting out-quicked by SEC offenses. Quinton Bohanna has not only taken himself out of an opportunity to leave early for the NFL, but he is in such poor physical shape that his starting job should be in jeopardy. It would be, if McCall was in shape. I think we will increasingly see younger, less experienced, more athletic linemen and LBs eating into the playing time of current starters. Ultimately, this should work to the benefit of McCall, Wright, Davis, and Oats. Maybe Peters, although he is still way behind at this point.
Productive seasons are always an intersection of skill and luck. Any team has a limit. From the beginning, this was always going to be a retooling season because replacing Benny, Bunchy, Asafo Adjei, Allen, and the entire starting secondary is a lot to ask. Once Davonte Robinson got hurt, the task became more difficult. Once TW got hurt, it became too steep of a mountain to climb. Once SS got hurt, it became a mismatch. If this team wins six games in the regular season with the current healthy personnel, that would be a more monumental accomplishment than winning nine last year with a better roster. It's too bad, but the buzzards need to get a life and stop trying to destroy our coaching staff. Our coaches deserve better, and have certainly earned our respect before all of our experienced QBs got hurt.
Our 2020 team should have nine returning offensive and seven defensive starters, plus a surplus of quality depth. The key to next year's team will be keeping TW healthy or, alternatively, developing Gilmore. But if either of those alternatives works out satisfactorily, another major bowl game should be in cards for UK. In the meantime, people should recognize that the injuries to TW and SS are an unfortunate fluke. Life isn't always a cakewalk. How we cope with adversity is more important than how we behave when everything is great. Our team and coaches deserve everyone's support. That's how I see it.
This morning, I saw a DVR replay of UK-SC. Until today, the final score was the only thing I knew about the game. Earlier, I attended the two home games and saw the other two on TV.
I have taken a look at people's assessments on the board. Here are mine.
Offense
UK's running game is averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Benny isn't walking through that door, but this is still a good number. Especially under the circumstances. When you look closely at the SC replay, a couple of things stand out. For one thing, SC was not concerned at all about UK's passing game. Muschamp did a good job of disguising his defenses, but eight defenders were in the box at the snap nearly all day long. Muschamp used all kinds of blitzes, including some creative run blitzes. But UK still managed 4.1 yards per rush in the game, not a bad number at all, given the complete lack of a passing threat.
Of course UK only ran the football 28 times against SC, because we were behind on the scoreboard all day.
In summary, I see two primary problems with our offense. The first one is obvious. TW is out for the season, and SS is very banged up. So, not surprisingly, our QB play has not been good enough to take advantage of opportunities to control tempo of the game and move the football. Not every offensive possession ends in a score. But every offensive possession is an opportunity to flip the field and force the opponent to play on a long field. We simply haven't been getting the QB play necessary to do that. This is not a knock against SS, who is playing hurt. But SS was 13-34 passing against SC, and has turned the football over too much for our football team to be competitive. It is what it is.
The second issue is our OL. I watched our OL closely during the replay of UK-SC. Surprisingly, the left side of our OL is not creating any push. I say surprisingly, because Landon Young and Logan Stenberg were expected to be two of the better players on our offense. Neither played very well against SC, and neither did Drake Jackson. Again, I am not knocking anyone, just saying what I see. Is SC's DL really that good? They may be better than last year, but I didn't expect to see them push Young and Stenberg around. But that's what happened. In particular, Stenberg has not had a very good season so far.
Defense
The story of our defense is pretty much the opposite of what we expected prior to the season. Our secondary, which was considered the weakness of our defense, has played better than expected. Yusuf Corker is an emerging star, and Brandin Echols is turning out to be a very solid player. Other members of the secondary haven't been quite as good, but they are mostly young and will get better.
Our DL, which was considered the strength of our defense, has been outplayed in all three losses. Calvin Taylor has been the best player on our defense, but he gets routinely double-teamed. Taylor will play on Sundays, but SC completely took him out of the game. Quinton Bohanna, considered our best lineman, is overweight and badly out of shape, and has been gassed before the end of the first quarter in all three losses. Marquan McCall is also out of shape, but has outplayed Bohanna when given the opportunity. Phil Hoskins has not played yet because of disciplinary issues and injuries. None of our other linemen has been getting the job done. TJ Carter, who got some preseason headlines, has mainly been a nonfactor. Kordell Looney has not played well, so younger players like Hawkins and Abadi-Fitzgerald are being given a chance to play. This may sound harsh, but I am just saying what I see.
Based on my viewing of the loss to SC, our LBs have been the biggest problem so far. To put it simply, our LBs look slow and are getting blocked. And lots of missed tackles. SC readily handled our LBs. Kash Daniel plays hard, but isn't big enough to make plays unless he puts himself in ideal position on his first read. So far, Daniel has been out of position a lot, and his playing time is on the decline. DeAndre Square, who excelled in the two nonconference games, has been overpowered physically by SEC OLs. Square just isn't very big. None of our edge LBs has played well in the three conference games. There is no pass rush, and they are giving up the edge way too often in the run defense.
Taken as a whole, our defense just hasn't been able to stop two middle of the pack SEC offenses because we haven't been quick enough, strong enough, or sound enough. This kind of thing gets fixed gradually, with player development and reps. But time is not on our side.
What comes next
The current frequency of game changing turnovers by our offense precludes winning conference games, and that potentially includes Arky. Without a passing game, our offense will not be able to move the chains against any SEC defense. The offense is currently predictable and ineffective, and the QB is the problem. Not the HC. Not the OC. I admire SS for playing hurt, and we will never know how this might have gone if he was healthy. But he isn't healthy, and there isn't another QB with any experience behind him. That's a bum deal, but it is what it is.
And since our OL has not yet been able to overcome graduations of Bunchy and Asafo Adjei, the situation upfront is not optimal either.
At some point, either SS will get healthy, or else Stoops and Gran will be forced to turn to some combination of Gilmore and Bowden at QB. Gilmore is talented, but not ready. Some fans have convinced themselves that Bowden is the answer at QB, but I believe they are fooling themselves. Bowden is a fine slot receiver, but he does not have the arm or the physical build of an SEC QB. If it comes to that, I just hope he doesn't get hurt. If he doesn't get hurt, he would be UK's first QB to escape injury this year.
As with the offense, injuries (Davonte Robinson, Phil Hoskins) have had an impact on our defense. Our front seven has been getting out-quicked by SEC offenses. Quinton Bohanna has not only taken himself out of an opportunity to leave early for the NFL, but he is in such poor physical shape that his starting job should be in jeopardy. It would be, if McCall was in shape. I think we will increasingly see younger, less experienced, more athletic linemen and LBs eating into the playing time of current starters. Ultimately, this should work to the benefit of McCall, Wright, Davis, and Oats. Maybe Peters, although he is still way behind at this point.
Productive seasons are always an intersection of skill and luck. Any team has a limit. From the beginning, this was always going to be a retooling season because replacing Benny, Bunchy, Asafo Adjei, Allen, and the entire starting secondary is a lot to ask. Once Davonte Robinson got hurt, the task became more difficult. Once TW got hurt, it became too steep of a mountain to climb. Once SS got hurt, it became a mismatch. If this team wins six games in the regular season with the current healthy personnel, that would be a more monumental accomplishment than winning nine last year with a better roster. It's too bad, but the buzzards need to get a life and stop trying to destroy our coaching staff. Our coaches deserve better, and have certainly earned our respect before all of our experienced QBs got hurt.
Our 2020 team should have nine returning offensive and seven defensive starters, plus a surplus of quality depth. The key to next year's team will be keeping TW healthy or, alternatively, developing Gilmore. But if either of those alternatives works out satisfactorily, another major bowl game should be in cards for UK. In the meantime, people should recognize that the injuries to TW and SS are an unfortunate fluke. Life isn't always a cakewalk. How we cope with adversity is more important than how we behave when everything is great. Our team and coaches deserve everyone's support. That's how I see it.
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