- Jun 12, 2014
- 9,016
- 32,574
Founding Member
Again I’ll start with a couple of apologies. First, I’m going ahead and posting the article now instead of in the morning. No ‘Breakfast’ version unless you’re busy drinking, doing the crossword, or something to take your mind off of today’s setback. Second, I’m not inclined to talk about firing and hiring and so forth. There’s already enough of that going on in other threads, chats, etc. At this point I’d rather not keep chewing that same mouthful of cabbage. What I’d rather do is stick to some of the specifics of why UK had such an easy time with us.
I don’t believe you have to be a football savant to grasp the fact that we were dominated by UK’s OL and DL that allowed them to rush for 329 yds against us and score 33 pts while limiting us to 69 yds rushing and 14 pts. Their rushing total was predominantly on the shoulders (and legs) of Vandy transfer Re’Mahn Davis, who ran over and around us for 280 yds, Lord knows how many came after contact, on 26 carries, scoring three times. It was clear that our front seven were effectively blocked or cut off on most every rushing attempt early on which left run support squarely on the safeties (and other secondary) who, after getting blasted by Davis, exhibited quite a bit of grabbing, wildly diving as he ran by, or simply following him with no real intent to catch or engage. Not the same effort we displayed in a very nice defensive performance against UT or even McNeese. The question is WHY?
I have couple of theories, not pulled from my nether regions, but based on years dealing with high school athletes at various stages of learning to compete and win. I wouldn’t dare to say that my examples are identical, but I believe there are physical and psychological similarities that bear consideration. First of all, I believe our overall dependence on so many young players has an impact on performance, particularly when considering the size, athleticism, strength, and cohesion of the OL/DL units we faced today. There wasn’t much slow-playing, reading, etc. There was a helluva lot of GATA’ing and pressure placed on our OL and D as a whole. In that vein, I’d say we thought we had a pretty good plan going into the game, but it got quickly thrown out the window when the Cats started continuously punching us in the mouth. Younger teams, regardless of how physically talented they may be or how potentially good they will be, generally do not have that experienced leadership base that has been run through the sawmill, learning from those that came before and had it to pass along. I don’t believe we’ve had enough of that, if any, based on the state of the team dynamics that resulted from the recent coaching transitions to include transfers out preceded by piss poor roster management.
This does not mean Billy and staff get a pass; rather, it means he better get damn creative in a hurry. Right now, we have 3 wins, which is the high water mark several pundits have allowed when making predictions for the season. We are also squarely in a struggle to stay out of the SEC cellar. I think it’s doable, but certainly not a given if we nut up against a strong, aggressive, well-prepared team. Another fear that comes from a game like this is will a similar performance transfer to a lesser team on the schedule?
Now how do you fix this predicament? Time and hanging onto your better players is important. You have to recreate in preparatory practices what you expect the other teams will throw at you, which schematically is the easy part, but replicating speed and physicality is the problem. So Billy’s got to be creative in making sure our kids are prepared somehow to get hit in the mouth and start hitting back. He’s got the template dumped in his lap. It should be a daily/weekly part of their training and development for every game going forward. Successful football depends on a high level of sustained aggression to include being able to impose your will on your opponents consistently.
I should probably stop there since I sincerely believe this is the most fundamental challenge we face that is holding back chances for successes throughout the entire scheme, but there were a couple of notable things that were somewhat good that occurred. Mertz can do a lot more than we were initially lead to believe, particularly with his arm. It was nice to see a semblance of a passing attack. He made a couple of nice throws intermediate and over the top and has shown he can check down when necessary. I wish it would have come earlier in the game and perhaps it will moving forward. Mertz can handle it and when teams are able to stymie your ground game, you’ve got to have a foil, especially if your D is getting its stool pushed in and you’ve got to find a way to both match their scores and maybe stretch the field and give your D time to regroup. We’ve got some good young receivers coming who need the game reps as part of their development.
To close, games like this always yield more questions than answers and we seem to have had too long a span of these experiences. I’m going to throw out an immediate goal for Billy, the staff, and the team…start with a win and follow it up with another one. Find a way to convince us tangibly that we are making progress. I think we all get that the kids are learning to trust each other and are trying to get better each week. We just need a way to better see it.
Go Gators!
I don’t believe you have to be a football savant to grasp the fact that we were dominated by UK’s OL and DL that allowed them to rush for 329 yds against us and score 33 pts while limiting us to 69 yds rushing and 14 pts. Their rushing total was predominantly on the shoulders (and legs) of Vandy transfer Re’Mahn Davis, who ran over and around us for 280 yds, Lord knows how many came after contact, on 26 carries, scoring three times. It was clear that our front seven were effectively blocked or cut off on most every rushing attempt early on which left run support squarely on the safeties (and other secondary) who, after getting blasted by Davis, exhibited quite a bit of grabbing, wildly diving as he ran by, or simply following him with no real intent to catch or engage. Not the same effort we displayed in a very nice defensive performance against UT or even McNeese. The question is WHY?
I have couple of theories, not pulled from my nether regions, but based on years dealing with high school athletes at various stages of learning to compete and win. I wouldn’t dare to say that my examples are identical, but I believe there are physical and psychological similarities that bear consideration. First of all, I believe our overall dependence on so many young players has an impact on performance, particularly when considering the size, athleticism, strength, and cohesion of the OL/DL units we faced today. There wasn’t much slow-playing, reading, etc. There was a helluva lot of GATA’ing and pressure placed on our OL and D as a whole. In that vein, I’d say we thought we had a pretty good plan going into the game, but it got quickly thrown out the window when the Cats started continuously punching us in the mouth. Younger teams, regardless of how physically talented they may be or how potentially good they will be, generally do not have that experienced leadership base that has been run through the sawmill, learning from those that came before and had it to pass along. I don’t believe we’ve had enough of that, if any, based on the state of the team dynamics that resulted from the recent coaching transitions to include transfers out preceded by piss poor roster management.
This does not mean Billy and staff get a pass; rather, it means he better get damn creative in a hurry. Right now, we have 3 wins, which is the high water mark several pundits have allowed when making predictions for the season. We are also squarely in a struggle to stay out of the SEC cellar. I think it’s doable, but certainly not a given if we nut up against a strong, aggressive, well-prepared team. Another fear that comes from a game like this is will a similar performance transfer to a lesser team on the schedule?
Now how do you fix this predicament? Time and hanging onto your better players is important. You have to recreate in preparatory practices what you expect the other teams will throw at you, which schematically is the easy part, but replicating speed and physicality is the problem. So Billy’s got to be creative in making sure our kids are prepared somehow to get hit in the mouth and start hitting back. He’s got the template dumped in his lap. It should be a daily/weekly part of their training and development for every game going forward. Successful football depends on a high level of sustained aggression to include being able to impose your will on your opponents consistently.
I should probably stop there since I sincerely believe this is the most fundamental challenge we face that is holding back chances for successes throughout the entire scheme, but there were a couple of notable things that were somewhat good that occurred. Mertz can do a lot more than we were initially lead to believe, particularly with his arm. It was nice to see a semblance of a passing attack. He made a couple of nice throws intermediate and over the top and has shown he can check down when necessary. I wish it would have come earlier in the game and perhaps it will moving forward. Mertz can handle it and when teams are able to stymie your ground game, you’ve got to have a foil, especially if your D is getting its stool pushed in and you’ve got to find a way to both match their scores and maybe stretch the field and give your D time to regroup. We’ve got some good young receivers coming who need the game reps as part of their development.
To close, games like this always yield more questions than answers and we seem to have had too long a span of these experiences. I’m going to throw out an immediate goal for Billy, the staff, and the team…start with a win and follow it up with another one. Find a way to convince us tangibly that we are making progress. I think we all get that the kids are learning to trust each other and are trying to get better each week. We just need a way to better see it.
Go Gators!
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