Game Thread ***OFFICIAL GAME THREAD: UF vs Kentucky***

[jdh5484]

Agree on the "quality" component but last night sure amped up "experience' and "depth". Quality????? still a bridge too far.

I would feel better if we had a couple of 5 stars OLs in the class.

But it is what it is.

 

[Lake Gator]

Karma.

 

[Oklahoma Gator]

I actually see a game like last night as a positive for a young team like ours. We are frankly not good enough to just roll out of Of Bed on Saturday and beat anyone with subpar execution. I felt like generally speaking the effort was there, but they get to learn how important the Monday through Friday preparation is before you get into a game where it’s going to cost them like this Kentucky game.

 

[URGatorBait]

We're gonna win.
Fuch Kentucky

 

[Ironhead]

I actually see a game like last night as a positive for a young team like ours. We are frankly not good enough to just roll out of Of Bed on Saturday and beat anyone with subpar execution. I felt like generally speaking the effort was there, but they get to learn how important the Monday through Friday preparation is before you get into a game where it’s going to cost them like this Kentucky game.

I like your take here.
I just can't get past last year, and what happened as the season unfolded.
I see the EXACT same issues rearing their ugly heads.
Same things that haunted this team last year, again.

Offense is pedestrian.
Special Teams are High School level.
Time management is.....well, absent. There is none. There is no time management. No strategy.... It's spur of the moment and play to play. No thinking ahead.

Your take is the positive take, I want to get there, but, The same things keep happening , over and over again.

Next week, is yet another huge game for our program and the direction we're headed with Napier at the helm.

 

[Saulgoodman]

I'm not on suicide watch after last night but some things are definitely concerning and should be easy fixes.

I feel like this game has become Stoops and Kentuckys superbowl for the last 4 to 5 years. Feels like they have a mindset of expecting a win when they play us now.

IMO this will come down to who wins the LOS. Kentucky is going to stack the box and force Mertz and our WRs to beat them. Etienne should be RB1 and get the majority of the work load for this one. Hopefully we will have Wilson back for this game to see if he can inject some explosiveness into our methodical offense.

As for our D, the way they have played in all 4 games has given me a quiet confidence in them going up against any opponent. Our depth in the D line has helped a ton, the backers with another year of experience supplemented with portal players has been a drastic improvement, and our secondary seems to be in the right place the majority of the time to give themselves a chance to make a play.

If we are clicking like the Tennessee game, I see it playing out identical. We will eat up clock and punch it in to get a lead and sit on it if our D is suffocating.

 

[TN G8tr]

So let's talk Kentucky vs Vanderbilt this week.

UK's new QB, Devin Leary, sucked donkey nuts against the vaunted Vandy defense, with barely over 50% completion and 2 interceptions. On the season, he has 9 TD's and 5 picks, and has a rating making him the 83rd best QB in the nation. In short, Mertz looks like Patrick Mahomes in comparison.

This is Kentucky's worst team in at least 5 years.

Yep donkey balls for sure.

Not to mention that the two INT's went for pick 6's. Without those the Commode-doors would have had a 7pt game. Leary is not a run threat. the D and Sandlot need to keep dialing up what they've been doing. We have not seen a lot of blitz packages yet thus far. I suspect Sandlot will be dialing his azz up and bringing some heat. But in the same matter, if Scooby, Princely, and Co. keep bring heat without all the packages, then so be it. It'll be a good day. UF will do fine if they just stick to what they are. And, most of all, we should have the entire OL back.

 

[Bernardo de la Paz]

We opened as 2.5 point underdogs. Hopefully that's motivation for the team to prepare better than they did last week.

 

[MooseSmack]

Hopefully the team has one hell of a week of practice and smack the dog sh!t out of Kentucky. Go Gators!

 

[URGatorBait]

We opened as 2.5 point underdogs. Hopefully that's motivation for the team to prepare better than they did last week.

So we're really 0.5 pt favorites

 

[jdh5484]

 

[Gatorraid81]

This is a game where special teams blunders can bite us in the ass. The last 2 games against UK, they didn't do much on offense, they just let us make the mistakes and they take advantage. Our defense should be able to keep their offense in check, I just wish our defense was more opportunistic, that's really the on negative I have about our defense so far. I think we're doing better about getting pressure on the QB. I'm glad it's a noon game and not at night. I'm sure they're going to use the Utah strategy and load the box to stuff our run. We should have our starting o-line fully back. I'm confident we'll look sharper in this game than last night. Billy has been sh!tty on the road thus far, time for him to start turning that around.

 

[abefroman]

I actually see a game like last night as a positive for a young team like ours. We are frankly not good enough to just roll out of Of Bed on Saturday and beat anyone with subpar execution. I felt like generally speaking the effort was there, but they get to learn how important the Monday through Friday preparation is before you get into a game where it’s going to cost them like this Kentucky game.

 

[Sec14Gator]

True for quite a few of our recent wins over them. Even ‘93 is insane to think about overcoming like 5 Ints and pulling out a win on the road. Then last year it was us playing better than them almost all night and AR handing them two TDs to lose it.

I’ve seen you blame that game on AR a lot recently. One play I recall was a great defensive play/effort. The other seems to be a total miscommunication. Maybe that was all AR’s fault but he and the receiver were so far apart, it’s hard to know unless one of them explained it post game. I don’t recLl.

I do know for certain, AR would have been the blame for last night from many here if he was QB, even absent a single game changing blunder.

 

[Sec14Gator]

Posting official game thread about Kentucky game before even playing Charlotte is bad karma. Post-Tennessee euphoria will evaporate faster than a fart in a hurricane with a stinker performance come Saturday.

Maybe Okeechobee should not have rated you stoned if he’s read the Charlotte game thread.

 

[GatorJB]

I’ve seen you blame that game on AR a lot recently. One play I recall was a great defensive play/effort. The other seems to be a total miscommunication. Maybe that was all AR’s fault but he and the receiver were so far apart, it’s hard to know unless one of them explained it post game. I don’t recLl.

I do know for certain, AR would have been the blame for last night from many here if he was QB, even absent a single game changing blunder.

AR had a 40% completion percentage against UK on top of the 2 picks and a 2.6 QBR for the game. He was dreadful start to finish.

 

[soflagator]

I’ve seen you blame that game on AR a lot recently. One play I recall was a great defensive play/effort. The other seems to be a total miscommunication. Maybe that was all AR’s fault but he and the receiver were so far apart, it’s hard to know unless one of them explained it post game. I don’t recLl.

I do know for certain, AR would have been the blame for last night from many here if he was QB, even absent a single game changing blunder.

What compounded the Uk game was the follow up performance against Usf, and the admission(paraphrasing) that he felt like he was a quarterback and shouldn’t be just making plays with his legs. His pressing in those games almost cost us 2 losses. And it’s not like he couldn’t have bounced back the rest of the game against the wildcats after those two plays. But he didn’t. He went 14-35 and no TDs that game. Even if you take away the disasters it was an awful game.

To your second point, which game last year fits that criteria of a decent game by AR, no major blunder but still blamed for the loss? The closest would probably be the Vu, a game where he admitted afterward that had he run on several occasions he could’ve walked into the end zone backwards, but decided not to. The other would be fsu where he was 5 of 17 on the night.

As I have said, Richardson is a very unique combination almost unheard of in college football. He was always ultra talented, but barely used. Then he plays one year as a starter for the first time since(really) 2019 when he was on a terrible HS team, while learning a new system, his third in three years. Not to mention he’d already been slated as a potential Top-10 pick before he took his first snap against Utah. Bizarre doesn’t begin to describe it, but you can acknowledge it wasn’t a great setup while also still recognizing his important role in the failure. It was a no win for all parties.

 

[Sec14Gator]

AR had a 40% completion percentage against UK on top of the 2 picks and a 2.6 QBR for the game. He was dreadful start to finish.

 

[TN G8tr]

AR had a 40% completion percentage against UK on top of the 2 picks and a 2.6 QBR for the game. He was dreadful start to finish.

I believe also it was early in the UK game he took a hit (questionable) low in the leg. From that point on it was like something was in his head. Very bad night for him.

 

[fischerwood]

Boo - the only positive is that it will hopefully be upper 70’s and a glorious day in the Bluegrass. Noon games suck.

Not if we win Gator!!!