Kentucky Observations

Sideways

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After watching the better part of three games from the Wildcats today, I have put together a rather lengthy series of observations that will probably be derided as being superficial but here goes.

* On offense, they run exclusively out of the gun. Badget is the game breaker at wide receiver. Generally three wide out sets often in trips. Pretty much a standard spread option but they have a good tight end named Conrad who is effective as a blocker and receiver. Excellent backs. Only team in the SEC with two backs going over 1,000 yards each. Boom Williams is the scat back who has nice cuts and jumps to the outside, while freshman Ben Snell is a 220 lb power back with fine balance and vision. Big and physical offensive line.

* Quarterback is an athletic but rail thin JUCO transfer named Johnson. Erratic as a passer but dangerous on the outside. MUST respect his zone reads as he is more apt than most spread option quarterbacks to tuck it and run. He appears to be most effective on simple one or two option roll outs with the ability to tuck and run at any time. Fast but easily tackled.

* Remind me of UGA without the hype. I am especially concerned about their power running game behind a pretty good offensive line. That said, the quarterbacks are very different. This is much more of a true spread option attack and Kentucky's quarterback does not have near the arm or talent of the "Golden Boy" from Athens. They run a lot of "Wildcat" with the freshman Snell.

*Negatives: They do not convert third downs well. Quarterback is prone to throw face palming type interceptions. Throws a sort of flat ball at times and sometimes makes late throws that can be picked off.

* On defense. Huge cornerbacks. One of them is 6-4 200 lbs. Physical on the perimeter. Seem to run a lot of man coverage and they are good at open field tackling. Huge nose tackle named Pringle. Well over 300 lbs and he doesn't look all that fat. Good defensive end. They play fast and are physical. That said they are vulnerable to good running games. Defense gets tired because the offense is prone to three and outs during long stretches of the game. Pretty good kicker.
 

Sideways

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If there is anything that it seems we have problems with are athletic and agile LB. Are their LB's any good?
Good observation. They don't have anyone the caliber of Zach Cunningham of Vanderbilt but then who does? Nonetheless, Jordan Jones is among the SEC leaders in tackles. They go through stretches where there are breakdowns in the secondary. Tennessee just absolutely had a field day with big plays on the Cats.
 

1979jacket

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Duke killed us with the read option - I think Kentucky runs it a lot and that is my worry. Have only seen them once. I expect our offense to have its way with them.
 

Sideways

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Duke killed us with the read option - I think Kentucky runs it a lot and that is my worry. Have only seen them once. I expect our offense to have its way with them.
Yep, they did and Kentucky runs it effectively because Johnson is a real threat to take it outside and he is pretty fast. I do not pretend to know what our most effective defense should be against this kind of team but I trust Coach Roof to come up with something. I will say that in the three games I watched they were reluctant to throw the ball deep especially down the middle. FWIW
 

iceeater1969

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Good info.
Did you notice how Nose G lines up and his move. Does he line up the gt way = head on center -push, peek, then flow or ?
 

Sideways

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Good info.
Did you notice how Nose G lines up and his move. Does he line up the gt way = head on center -push, peek, then flow or ?

The nose guard is #77 Powell. He is huge but upon further review he plays too upright and is slow I watched him against Alabama and they did not bother to double team him. He was blocked almost exclusively by the center so yes he is head on the center. He was not blown off the ball but he made few if any plays. Once he ran to the sideline after the Tide running back and just kind of waved at him as he went by. Boy did he get chewed out by the Kentucky assistant coach for that. Basically, a space eater. Has big arms I will give him that but is just too slow and largely ineffective by the middle of the second quarter. Kentucky does not have a lot of depth on their defensive line. I noticed that Kentucky will take him out on clear passing downs and play what appears to be an even front. They did run a couple of stunts with him going outside but that was a waste of time. He just could not move quickly enough for it to be worth while. There was a lot of, well, "leaning" going on. There aren't any Luther Maddys or that dude from Pitt a few years ago to worry about. They have two that they play Pringle and Powell I think. Pretty much the same though. Both of them are space eaters.
 
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iceeater1969

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The nose guard is #77 Powell. He is huge but upon further review he plays too upright and is slow I watched him against Alabama and they did not bother to double team him. He was blocked almost exclusively by the center so yes he is head on the center. He was not blown off the ball but he made few if any plays. Once he ran to the sideline after the Tide running back and just kind of waved at him as he went by. Boy did he get chewed out by the Kentucky assistant coach for that. Basically, a space eater. Has big arms I will give him that but is just too slow and largely ineffective by the middle of the second quarter. Kentucky does not have a lot of depth on their defensive line. I noticed that Kentucky will take him out on clear passing downs and play what appears to be an even front. They did run a couple of stunts with him going outside but that was a waste of time. He just could not move quickly enough for it to be worth while. There was a lot of, well, "leaning" going on. There aren't any Luther Maddys or that dude from Pitt a few years ago to worry about. They have two that they play Pringle and Powell I think. Pretty much the same though. Both of them are space eaters.
So maybe we first run wide to get the ng gassed.
 

Yaller Jacket

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My initial impression is that this game might look like the UGA game. I doubt we will get many three and outs and neither will they. If we can tighten up in the red zone, we might be able to trade touchdowns for field goals as we did versus Georgia.
 

AE 87

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According to my points/drive vs pwr5 stat, they are the number 44 offense (2.00 ppd) and number 41 defense (2.34 ppd allowed). This -0.34 differential puts them as the number 40 team, behind us at #33 (-0.03). They are #105 in ypc rush defense, #88 in ypa pass defense (all games).
 
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