Thoughts on UKs o line so far?
- Thread starter screwduke
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The line is playing great. we have run the ball well and given Towles a lot of time to throw the ball the vast majority of the time. Of course he is going to get pressured but usually he has more than enough time and space. The line is more than fine.
He's had a few mistakes but when GAA is good he's really good. He is special and oozes with potential.
I think the interior OL is playing very well, the OT have held up well but they haven't faced a speed rusher yet.
I am re-watching the game and keying in on the offensive line. Here are some thoughts and observations:
1. Our 3 most important players on offense are Swindle, Toth, and Towles. Pretty sure that those are the only 3 players that play every single snap on offense. Swindle gets some flak, but the fact that no one ever replaced him in the game shows me that he is probably by far the best that we have.
2. The 2nd string O-line played both the 2nd and 3rd series on offense in the first half and they did extremely well. Meadows played RT, Mosier played RG, and Haynes played LG. All three did quite well. Meadows was only beaten on time. They came back in on the 3rd series in the 2nd half and the 4th series.
3. I think our lack of success in the 2nd half may have had a lot to do with not having our tight end(s)/fullback in to block. We went to a lot more 3 and 4 WR sets and our o-line struggled a bit more without the extra help.
1. Our 3 most important players on offense are Swindle, Toth, and Towles. Pretty sure that those are the only 3 players that play every single snap on offense. Swindle gets some flak, but the fact that no one ever replaced him in the game shows me that he is probably by far the best that we have.
2. The 2nd string O-line played both the 2nd and 3rd series on offense in the first half and they did extremely well. Meadows played RT, Mosier played RG, and Haynes played LG. All three did quite well. Meadows was only beaten on time. They came back in on the 3rd series in the 2nd half and the 4th series.
3. I think our lack of success in the 2nd half may have had a lot to do with not having our tight end(s)/fullback in to block. We went to a lot more 3 and 4 WR sets and our o-line struggled a bit more without the extra help.
. Swindle had issues at right tackle last year, speed guys eat him up, caused him to move several times, he looks like he has worked hard and improved, but he isn't one of the better OT in the conference and he wasn't All SEC as you stated earlier, wasn't on preseason team this year and wasn't on the first or second team last year. Other teams have good players too man, UK doesn't have the best player in the conference at every position, just like UGA doesn't or even Bama.
In regard to a TE discussion in another thread, I re-watched UK's possessions in the first half noting plays with the TE. IIRC, of some 40 plays only 10 used a "true" TE. In the first half the Cats ran that 4 back "inverted wishbone" set numerous times. I did not count up TE "equivalents" which to me would be a FB/H-back in or motioning to a tight wing position but I don't think they did that much if at all.
Peace
Not very good, but better than last season. And, improving. The lack of depth clearly showed up against USC in the 2nd half. Obviously the O-line has done enough to win two games against mediocre opponents, but how will it hold up against good defenses? We'll find out soon.
You're right. It was totally the lack of depth that showed up. That's why UK displayed outstanding execution on the very last drive of the game. It was totally depth though, yeah. Had nothing to do with 2 holding penalties on the first plays of the first 2 drives in the 2nd half.
No, I'm being sarcastic. You're blind. Of course, this is expected of you. You say this about everything involving UK football. Not entirely sure why, or if you're a fan.
Happy with the O line. Really surprised in looking back how little we all talked about how a projected starter at RT Meadows was lost due to migraines & the staff plugged a true frosh in his spot without a worry.
just like last year, Swindle will have 1 awful play a game....usually at the beginning of the 1st or 3rd quarter, a holding penalty or gets whipped by a rusher....and is great the rest of the game. But fans focus on that 1 bad play out of 60 or 70 snaps and think he is terrible, lol.
just like last year, Swindle will have 1 awful play a game....usually at the beginning of the 1st or 3rd quarter, a holding penalty or gets whipped by a rusher....and is great the rest of the game. But fans focus on that 1 bad play out of 60 or 70 snaps and think he is terrible, lol.
I didn't lay the blame entirely on the offensive line. It was the entire offense and that included the offensive line. There is a reason that the offense didn't score a single point in the second half and it wasn't just all on the QB or the refs (or whatever excuse you would like to make). I don't really care if you disagree with me, it's a free country we are all allowed our opinions, but it's stupid to attack someone just because they disagree with you. The O-line play will either prove you right or me right over the course of the season, there is no need to get hostile about it today.
I'm not sure what you mean by "you say this about everything involving UK football" so I can't really respond to that until you make it more clear.
You've yet to say one positive thing about our football program since the season kicked off. I'm not attacking you, I'm calling you out on your crap. Something that many people here have done.
I also want to add, did the lack of depth show when we had the 2nd string offensive line in (aside from Swindle and Toth) on the 2nd and 4th possessions of the first half, and the transition was seamless?
- Boom Williams is excellent.
- The WR corp is one of the deepest in the SEC.
- People are too quick to jump on the QB, PT has a lot of potential and the mistakes weren't all on him.
- This staff definitely has UK trending up
- This team is almost certainly a bowl team.
- There is improvement across the board with this team.
- I expect UK to go 7-5
- Mark Stoops may ultimately turn out to be the best hire UK has made in my lifetime.
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The lack of depth showed when the entire offense sputtered in the second half and didn't score any more points. Meanwhile, the lack of depth on defense meant that a tiring defense began to leak and nearly allowed a South Carolina comeback. Florida will be a perfect opportunity for the offense to show what they are made of: Florida has an atrocious offensive line. The defense should be able to keep them off the board pretty well. Florida still has a good defense so I would expect that to be a huge challenge for the O-Line, particularly toward the end of the game.
We rarely used the tight end in the traditional end of the line sense, but I believe we used Conrad quite frequently to block in the first half, and in multiple positions. On the second possession we had 10 plays and 7 of those plays included Conrad in some capacity. On the third drive we used our fullback a lot more. He was in there blocking. The inverted pistol wishbone was extremely effective in the first half. We were exclusively in that formation (IIRC) on the final drive of the half. I don't think we used it too much in the second half.
My point being, that I feel like in the second half we didn't use a fullback or tight end (in whatever formation or position) to help our line block. Instead, we often had empty backfields or we had the lone back go out into coverage. I think the extra blockers helped us be more successful, and not using them in the second half may have been part of the reason our offense struggled.
I don't think you can blame depth. We sputtered out of the gate in the second half and not late in the 4th. There is no way our o-line could have been tired considering that 3 of the 5 linemen were basically changing out every other possession in the first half. So, that shouldn't have been an issue. Receiver depth is definitely not an issue. Only place that could have been would be RB and we interchanged them quite regularly. If I am not mistaken, the starting OL played the 2nd series and the last series of the half. Probably also played the 1st. That's 2 extremely short series and then one long one. So, there isn't any way they should have been tired.
On defense, it's possible depth was a bit of a factor, but I think it was probably more of the fact that USC used a bit more of an accurate passer and ended up doing a better job protecting that passer in the second half. I also think UK was a bit less aggressive on defense. Still, UK's defense didn't show a lack of depth when it was needed. They stopped USC time and time again in the redzone rather than giving up touchdowns. Spurrier is an excellent coach and probably also had a lot to do with the increase in success that USC had in the second half.
No, lack of discipline on the field, and continuity led to the entire offense sputtering in the second half. It was the final drive of the game that they pulled it together, and moved it down field just like the 2nd drive of the entire game.
In the 2nd half, maybe the defense didn't hold South Carolina to 11 yards of total offense, but they gave up one touchdown, just as many as in the first half, and allowed 0 red zone touchdowns in the second half. Only gave up field goals, which is a far, far cry from what we seen last season.
^ Lack of depth didn't play into not scoring on offense in the second half. We actually rotated offensive linemen which teams typically don't do. We are pretty deep at RB and also at receiver, so not sure where you are coming up with lack of depth on offense.
Granted we didn't score in the second half on offense, but we are still sitting here 2-0 unlike another team that didn't score in the second half and lost at home after dominating the 1st half. Guess they have a lack of depth as wel.
Granted we didn't score in the second half on offense, but we are still sitting here 2-0 unlike another team that didn't score in the second half and lost at home after dominating the 1st half. Guess they have a lack of depth as wel.
You are not the police of the forum. You are a know-it-all who consistently calls people derogatory names if they don't see sunshine in everything related to UK football.
We are allowed to criticize the coaches, players and team whenever we want and we are still UK fans.
Try getting rid of your fragile little ego and stop calling people names behind a keyboard whenever they give a negative critique of the team. We're not going to stop posting the way we see it, whether that be positive or negative. So you're wasting your time.
I've been a UK fan for over 30 years and reserve the right to critique the team any way I wish. You never give credit to posters when they post positive comments, but just look for any negative critique and start attacking them behind a keyboard because you never would in-person.
You never have in those exact words, but you claimed a kid was all SEC and he hasn't been. UK could very well have the best an in the conference, the we are a very good group and one of the best groups in the conference, Boom is a very good back, the ok is improved, by quite a bit, it is the weak link in offense. Defense is better against the pass, very athletic secondary. But the front 7 WHO HAVE PLAYED SO FAR.this season is not an athletic group and a step slow. I think that is a fair assessment of UK. Overall I think UK is much improved and does have a shot at the East, but unfortunately I think there are 3 teams in the west better than anyone in the East this year.When did I ever say this? Ever?![[roll]](http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/img/emoticons/classic/roll.r191677.gif "roll [roll]")
We may or may not near USC this weekend, either way with the an play we are having Bama is going to drill us in 2 weeks. Until I saw our an play I thought we would beat them.
It's less a problem with depth and more a problem with quality depth. Experience. I haven't been impressed with OL play in either of the first two games against inferior opponents, so I expect the problems I see on the line to really come to light against quality teams. I do think the o-line is improved over last season, but I also still think it's the weakest unit on offense, probably due primarily to age and inexperience.
It isn't because the players decided to have no discipline. When people get tired they get sloppy. The defense isn't great, but they did a good job in the South Carolina game. They can't be expected to hold teams scoreless, the offense has to do their part. In the first half the offense did, in the second they didn't.
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