Losing sucks. I think we can all admit that. No one wants to lose, ever.. This type of performance from AR & the offense would line up with the famous Nick Saban rant about "rat poison." We won last week on the back of AR and his explosive play ability. We got a lofty 12th ranking based on the respect the media has for Utah. AR was getting increased NIL valuations. He was getting compared to Vince Young & Cam Newton. Are we surprised the offense came out a little flat? Maybe the "rat poison" was too much. Kentucky is too good of a football team and too well coached to show up with preparing to your fullest ability every week.
Let's get some positive in before we get to the negative in this post. The defense played outstanding last night. Our front 7 was very tough up front. Even as they wore down they played well. We got beat on a well covered deep ball (which hit the ground), but Kimber was right there in position and a poorly thrown pick 6. Thats 14 points. The other 12 points came from a short field TD and two FGs, one which came at the end of the game after going for it on 4th the 2nd time. We made adjustments to eliminate the TE passing attack which was having success early. Defense did its thing. The offensive positives are by far Montrell & ETN. Montrell runs hard and ETN is sudden and electric with the ball in his hands.
On to the not so good stuff.. I think we all have questioned what type of play caller Billy would be and I think it is warranted. It was apparent that Kentucky was going to force AR to make throws in tight zone windows last night while containing him in the box. AR ultimately struggled to throw guys open and make timely throws and the offense sputtered tremendously because of it. This is going to be how teams defense us moving forward, so my question is how do we adjust? I'm wondering if this is where not having a healthy Jack Miller comes into play. He is more of a natural pocket passer and prolly wouldve been able to spell AR after the continuous stalled drives. THIS DOES NOT MEAN IM SUGGESTING HE SHOULD START AND THERE SHOULD BE A QB CONTROVERSY.
This offense is only going to run at a high level if AR is getting multiple designed runs every week. Maybe the staff needs to go turn on the film of Lamar Jackson at Louisville & steal some play calls, but AR isn't the first QB in history to be defended this way. More QB Powers, More RO with AR pulling the ball, and more TE usage to get the LBS from being able to spy the entire game without having to account for the TEs. If Kentucky is gonna drop 7 in coverage all night and we are only gonna attack with 3 WR route concepts, it is gonna be a long year for us offensively. If the game plan was to try and pass against Kentucky weaker secondary, then why not run 5 receiver sets to play the numbers game in the box. Maybe I'm wrong but I think out offensive scheme played right into the strength of Kentucky defensive scheme.
The good news out of all this is, we got exposed early and now we can try and install/make adjustments. We got a weaker USF team this weekend and can get prepared to take on the chunk of the SEC. More good news is the Swamp has been electric and our staff is built to recruit. Their is opportunity all of the field for this high profile recruits to come in and make an impact early. We need to have patience in year one and remember "Good things take time." Let's see how Billy, the staff and his players respond moving forward. Go Gators!!
Let's get some positive in before we get to the negative in this post. The defense played outstanding last night. Our front 7 was very tough up front. Even as they wore down they played well. We got beat on a well covered deep ball (which hit the ground), but Kimber was right there in position and a poorly thrown pick 6. Thats 14 points. The other 12 points came from a short field TD and two FGs, one which came at the end of the game after going for it on 4th the 2nd time. We made adjustments to eliminate the TE passing attack which was having success early. Defense did its thing. The offensive positives are by far Montrell & ETN. Montrell runs hard and ETN is sudden and electric with the ball in his hands.
On to the not so good stuff.. I think we all have questioned what type of play caller Billy would be and I think it is warranted. It was apparent that Kentucky was going to force AR to make throws in tight zone windows last night while containing him in the box. AR ultimately struggled to throw guys open and make timely throws and the offense sputtered tremendously because of it. This is going to be how teams defense us moving forward, so my question is how do we adjust? I'm wondering if this is where not having a healthy Jack Miller comes into play. He is more of a natural pocket passer and prolly wouldve been able to spell AR after the continuous stalled drives. THIS DOES NOT MEAN IM SUGGESTING HE SHOULD START AND THERE SHOULD BE A QB CONTROVERSY.
This offense is only going to run at a high level if AR is getting multiple designed runs every week. Maybe the staff needs to go turn on the film of Lamar Jackson at Louisville & steal some play calls, but AR isn't the first QB in history to be defended this way. More QB Powers, More RO with AR pulling the ball, and more TE usage to get the LBS from being able to spy the entire game without having to account for the TEs. If Kentucky is gonna drop 7 in coverage all night and we are only gonna attack with 3 WR route concepts, it is gonna be a long year for us offensively. If the game plan was to try and pass against Kentucky weaker secondary, then why not run 5 receiver sets to play the numbers game in the box. Maybe I'm wrong but I think out offensive scheme played right into the strength of Kentucky defensive scheme.
The good news out of all this is, we got exposed early and now we can try and install/make adjustments. We got a weaker USF team this weekend and can get prepared to take on the chunk of the SEC. More good news is the Swamp has been electric and our staff is built to recruit. Their is opportunity all of the field for this high profile recruits to come in and make an impact early. We need to have patience in year one and remember "Good things take time." Let's see how Billy, the staff and his players respond moving forward. Go Gators!!
