Cats Illustrated is a place where fans enjoy digging deeper, and that's the purpose of this analysis.
Play counts for every Kentucky player and a deeper dive into what happened after an exhaustive film study.
— David Bouvier has undoubtedly been one of the surprises of the early season for Kentucky, spanning the time during which he excelled in camp through the first game. He was targeted a team-high seven times, had three catches and UK's only touchdown reception of the game.
It is worth noting that the film shows that Bouvier had some struggles as a blocker. On Kentucky's running plays when Bouvier was in the game, and blocking, he was routinely pushed backwards and that sometimes contributed to difficulties for Kentucky's backs and ball-carriers.
— CMU's first scoring drive in the game came late in the first quarter. The Chippewas went seven plays and 41 yards in 2:57 of game time. The pivotal play of that drive was on a third and distant. Kentucky's second string defensive line did not get pressure and Tony Poljan hit Cameron Cole on a crossing pattern underneath for 34 yards. Upon further review, the problem was the angle linebacker Josh Allen took in coverage. He tracked too far inside and his legs buckled so he was unable to keep Cole towards the middle of the field and gave up the sideline. That's why Cole was able to pick up so many yards after the catch.
— CMU had apparently scouted Kentucky well, because one of the questions about Rose going into this season was his ability to do the "little things" like picking up protections. On his first play in the game CMU sent a delayed blitz, which he did not pick up and which led to a sack of Terry Wilson.
— On Kentucky's first touchdown of the day, a 55-yard run by A.J. Rose, key blocks were made by Drake Jackson (pancaking the interior defensive lineman), E.J. Price (sealing the edge) and Josh Ali (engaging the field corner on the sideline).
— In third and long situations on defense Kentucky often substituted out one of their nose tackles and ran two down linemen with Josh Allen and Boogie Watson on the edge plus Jordan Griffin deep at safety with Mike Edwards covering a receiver.
— When CMU was backed up against the goal line Kentucky tended to run a bigger defensive line (naturally), such as Quinton Bohanna, Phil Hoskins and TJ Carter, along with Kengera Daniel and another outside linebacker on the edge.
— While Terry Wilson's first interception came only after he eluded what should have been a sack, it wasn't merely the case that Tavin Richardson falling down caused the pick. The throw was more in a place where the defensive back could make a play on it. This throw was not Wilson's fault as much as the second interception, and was a case of the DB making a great play, but Richardson falling down probably didn't directly cause the pick.
— This shouldn't come as a big surprise but Terry Wilson's best run (13 yards) and Benny Snell's long touchdown run, which both came on the same drive in the second quarter (resulting in a touchdown to cut CMU's lead to 17-14) both came with left guard Logan Stenberg pulling over to the right side and blowing open a hole.
— On Gunnar Hoak's touchdown drive he really only connected on two passes that moved the ball down the field but a pass interference call also helped the Wildcats. That flag was drawn because Isaiah Epps sold the inside route to the cornerback playing press coverage, and when he went outside on his vertical route the defensive back felt like he was beat. He shouldn't have interfered because the safety was there in help.
— It appears that Kengera Daniel is someone the staff is comfortable with in the game when the opposing team is backed up against its goal line or in run situations but less so when there is the possibility of a pass. I noticed once or twice he came out in third down situations.
— We've known that Boogie Watson is an exceptional athlete but it was striking to see how frequently he was spread out wide covering a receiver as a LB/DB hybrid of sorts.
— For the most part Naasir Watkins and E.J. Price were both solid in pass protection situations: Better than they were probably given credit for during some live in-game commentary. Watson received far more first half snaps. The plan was never for him to take all of the snaps, but he came out for Price, for the first time, after being beat on a shoulder-dip by the right defensive end and being flagged for holding. Price appears to be a better run blocker because of his aggressiveness with his hands and the way he quickly gets to the second level, but Watkins was very solid for a redshirt freshman in pass sets.
— I noticed that on one obvious passing situation on 3rd down, Darius West came out at safety in favor of Jordan Griffin. However, this was not common practice and West remained Kentucky's free safety shortly thereafter on a 3rd and 17 in the third quarter.
— Kash Daniel was Kentucky's leading tackler and it should come as no surprise that he played as much as any Wildcat in the game. The first time I saw Jamin Davis on defense rather than special teams was on third down (that same 3rd and 17 play) with 2:54 to play in the third quarter. We know Daniel is likely to be better against the run than pass so that helps explain it. It does appear that Daniel is likely to be Kentucky's Mike in more standard 3rd and medium/long situations.
— Upon further review, it seems like a lot of Wilson's problems with throwing the ball into trouble spots was related to locking onto his first option instead of going through his reads. I did notice Hoak go through his reads once or twice, so probably more than Wilson on average, but this is something both can improve on. When Hoak threw to his second option those passes tended to be high.
— Kentucky did run some two tight end sets, but not too many. They took one of two forms. Either Justin Rigg was in line with Conrad in the backfield in an H-Back role generally blocking or they were both split out (once side by side to the right, once on opposite sides of the field). In the latter case, with both tight ends split out, Kentucky tended to use them as diversions and as blockers.
— One of the things I have noticed about Lynn Bowden on his short catches is he does not immediately plant and cut to explode upfield. Oftentimes his first move is a little shuffle step to square his body and survey the defense. From there he sometimes goes east/west instead of north south trying to make defenders miss. His footwork is clearly impressive but this is the equivalent of a running back that is cutting too much in the backfield and could be one reason he is not picking up more yards after the catch when most seem to believe that shouldn't be a problem.
— I counted 18 snaps for Justin Rigg but a lot of that was padded by the effort to run out the clock late, so 10 of those snaps were in the fourth quarter. Similarly, while I counted 30 snaps each for Isaiah Epps and Josh Ali, the majority of those (17) came in the fourth quarter with the game mostly decided (or so it felt that way). During the first three quarters about 3/4 of the reps went to the Baker/Richardson tandem.
— The following exercise was very tedious and time consuming. It also doesn't add up perfectly for a number of reasons. This is a snap count, and it's meant to be a rough but fairly accurate sketch of how many plays each Kentucky player served on offense and defense. Special teams reps are not counted. You might notice that the offensive numbers add up to more than 75 plays. Some plays were negated because of flags or whistles.
Here's my unofficial play count tally.
OFFENSE
Logan Stenberg: 70
Drake Jackson: 75
Bunchy Stallings: 70
George Asafo-Adjei: 75
Terry Wilson: 59
Lynn Bowden: 49
Dorian Baker: 45
Tavin Richardson: 45
C.J. Conrad: 43
Naasir Watkins: 42
Benny Snell: 38
E.J. Price: 33
Isaiah Epps: 30
Josh Ali: 30
Sihiem King: 19
Justin Rigg: 18
David Bouvier: 18
A.J. Rose: 16
Gunnar Hoak: 15
Clevan Thomas: 7
Luke Fortner: 5
Mason Wolfe: 5
(estimates on Fortner/Wolfe)
DEFENSE
Kash Daniel: 64
Derrick Baity: 64
Josh Allen: 58
Lonnie Johnson: 58
Mike Edwards: 57
Darius West: 47
Boogie Watson: 46
Adrian Middleton: 43
Tymere Dubose: 31
Calvin Taylor: 27
T.J. Carter: 25
Phil Hoskins: 20
Kordell Looney: 18
Davonte Robinson: 18
Quinton Bohanna: 18
Jordan Griffin: 16
Kengera Daniel: 10
DeAndre Square: 6
Chris Westry: 3
Jamin Davis: 1
One thing that stands out is the snaps at nose, where Dubose's action far exceeded that of Bohanna.
Play counts for every Kentucky player and a deeper dive into what happened after an exhaustive film study.
— David Bouvier has undoubtedly been one of the surprises of the early season for Kentucky, spanning the time during which he excelled in camp through the first game. He was targeted a team-high seven times, had three catches and UK's only touchdown reception of the game.
It is worth noting that the film shows that Bouvier had some struggles as a blocker. On Kentucky's running plays when Bouvier was in the game, and blocking, he was routinely pushed backwards and that sometimes contributed to difficulties for Kentucky's backs and ball-carriers.
— CMU's first scoring drive in the game came late in the first quarter. The Chippewas went seven plays and 41 yards in 2:57 of game time. The pivotal play of that drive was on a third and distant. Kentucky's second string defensive line did not get pressure and Tony Poljan hit Cameron Cole on a crossing pattern underneath for 34 yards. Upon further review, the problem was the angle linebacker Josh Allen took in coverage. He tracked too far inside and his legs buckled so he was unable to keep Cole towards the middle of the field and gave up the sideline. That's why Cole was able to pick up so many yards after the catch.
— CMU had apparently scouted Kentucky well, because one of the questions about Rose going into this season was his ability to do the "little things" like picking up protections. On his first play in the game CMU sent a delayed blitz, which he did not pick up and which led to a sack of Terry Wilson.
— On Kentucky's first touchdown of the day, a 55-yard run by A.J. Rose, key blocks were made by Drake Jackson (pancaking the interior defensive lineman), E.J. Price (sealing the edge) and Josh Ali (engaging the field corner on the sideline).
— In third and long situations on defense Kentucky often substituted out one of their nose tackles and ran two down linemen with Josh Allen and Boogie Watson on the edge plus Jordan Griffin deep at safety with Mike Edwards covering a receiver.
— When CMU was backed up against the goal line Kentucky tended to run a bigger defensive line (naturally), such as Quinton Bohanna, Phil Hoskins and TJ Carter, along with Kengera Daniel and another outside linebacker on the edge.
— While Terry Wilson's first interception came only after he eluded what should have been a sack, it wasn't merely the case that Tavin Richardson falling down caused the pick. The throw was more in a place where the defensive back could make a play on it. This throw was not Wilson's fault as much as the second interception, and was a case of the DB making a great play, but Richardson falling down probably didn't directly cause the pick.
— This shouldn't come as a big surprise but Terry Wilson's best run (13 yards) and Benny Snell's long touchdown run, which both came on the same drive in the second quarter (resulting in a touchdown to cut CMU's lead to 17-14) both came with left guard Logan Stenberg pulling over to the right side and blowing open a hole.
— On Gunnar Hoak's touchdown drive he really only connected on two passes that moved the ball down the field but a pass interference call also helped the Wildcats. That flag was drawn because Isaiah Epps sold the inside route to the cornerback playing press coverage, and when he went outside on his vertical route the defensive back felt like he was beat. He shouldn't have interfered because the safety was there in help.
— It appears that Kengera Daniel is someone the staff is comfortable with in the game when the opposing team is backed up against its goal line or in run situations but less so when there is the possibility of a pass. I noticed once or twice he came out in third down situations.
— We've known that Boogie Watson is an exceptional athlete but it was striking to see how frequently he was spread out wide covering a receiver as a LB/DB hybrid of sorts.
— For the most part Naasir Watkins and E.J. Price were both solid in pass protection situations: Better than they were probably given credit for during some live in-game commentary. Watson received far more first half snaps. The plan was never for him to take all of the snaps, but he came out for Price, for the first time, after being beat on a shoulder-dip by the right defensive end and being flagged for holding. Price appears to be a better run blocker because of his aggressiveness with his hands and the way he quickly gets to the second level, but Watkins was very solid for a redshirt freshman in pass sets.
— I noticed that on one obvious passing situation on 3rd down, Darius West came out at safety in favor of Jordan Griffin. However, this was not common practice and West remained Kentucky's free safety shortly thereafter on a 3rd and 17 in the third quarter.
— Kash Daniel was Kentucky's leading tackler and it should come as no surprise that he played as much as any Wildcat in the game. The first time I saw Jamin Davis on defense rather than special teams was on third down (that same 3rd and 17 play) with 2:54 to play in the third quarter. We know Daniel is likely to be better against the run than pass so that helps explain it. It does appear that Daniel is likely to be Kentucky's Mike in more standard 3rd and medium/long situations.
— Upon further review, it seems like a lot of Wilson's problems with throwing the ball into trouble spots was related to locking onto his first option instead of going through his reads. I did notice Hoak go through his reads once or twice, so probably more than Wilson on average, but this is something both can improve on. When Hoak threw to his second option those passes tended to be high.
— Kentucky did run some two tight end sets, but not too many. They took one of two forms. Either Justin Rigg was in line with Conrad in the backfield in an H-Back role generally blocking or they were both split out (once side by side to the right, once on opposite sides of the field). In the latter case, with both tight ends split out, Kentucky tended to use them as diversions and as blockers.
— One of the things I have noticed about Lynn Bowden on his short catches is he does not immediately plant and cut to explode upfield. Oftentimes his first move is a little shuffle step to square his body and survey the defense. From there he sometimes goes east/west instead of north south trying to make defenders miss. His footwork is clearly impressive but this is the equivalent of a running back that is cutting too much in the backfield and could be one reason he is not picking up more yards after the catch when most seem to believe that shouldn't be a problem.
— I counted 18 snaps for Justin Rigg but a lot of that was padded by the effort to run out the clock late, so 10 of those snaps were in the fourth quarter. Similarly, while I counted 30 snaps each for Isaiah Epps and Josh Ali, the majority of those (17) came in the fourth quarter with the game mostly decided (or so it felt that way). During the first three quarters about 3/4 of the reps went to the Baker/Richardson tandem.
— The following exercise was very tedious and time consuming. It also doesn't add up perfectly for a number of reasons. This is a snap count, and it's meant to be a rough but fairly accurate sketch of how many plays each Kentucky player served on offense and defense. Special teams reps are not counted. You might notice that the offensive numbers add up to more than 75 plays. Some plays were negated because of flags or whistles.
Here's my unofficial play count tally.
OFFENSE
Logan Stenberg: 70
Drake Jackson: 75
Bunchy Stallings: 70
George Asafo-Adjei: 75
Terry Wilson: 59
Lynn Bowden: 49
Dorian Baker: 45
Tavin Richardson: 45
C.J. Conrad: 43
Naasir Watkins: 42
Benny Snell: 38
E.J. Price: 33
Isaiah Epps: 30
Josh Ali: 30
Sihiem King: 19
Justin Rigg: 18
David Bouvier: 18
A.J. Rose: 16
Gunnar Hoak: 15
Clevan Thomas: 7
Luke Fortner: 5
Mason Wolfe: 5
(estimates on Fortner/Wolfe)
DEFENSE
Kash Daniel: 64
Derrick Baity: 64
Josh Allen: 58
Lonnie Johnson: 58
Mike Edwards: 57
Darius West: 47
Boogie Watson: 46
Adrian Middleton: 43
Tymere Dubose: 31
Calvin Taylor: 27
T.J. Carter: 25
Phil Hoskins: 20
Kordell Looney: 18
Davonte Robinson: 18
Quinton Bohanna: 18
Jordan Griffin: 16
Kengera Daniel: 10
DeAndre Square: 6
Chris Westry: 3
Jamin Davis: 1
One thing that stands out is the snaps at nose, where Dubose's action far exceeded that of Bohanna.
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