Reflections

[EricBigNally]

This is more or less a shorter list than the real thing as I'm sure will be pointed out at some point in time for those that aren't too sick to read at this point.

Negative:

Defense is lightyears behind where it needs to be. I could have rushed against them.

Flat Starts. It was a huge problem last year and it apparently is back this season. They have to get a jump on teams or there will be no way to try and compete against the likes of the big boys or even the mediocre ones for that matter.

What happened to having a premier rushing attack with great running backs? That didn't fair so well.

Missed Opportunities: There were at least two passes that should have been picked off and it didn't happen.

Punt Returning: Little never had a shot at it.I know he didn't get many attempts but on all the punts he was well coverered. He has to be able to get omving, fair catches won't help us much through out the year. We know he is explosive and able to break a punt return big. To be successful, that has to happen again this year.



Positive:

Woodson looked good...after a bit. He settles down and looked like he had solid composure. He was far from perfect, but when Pulley was in, i wans't impressed at all. Woodson is more mobile and made some good throws. The biggest play he had was when he picked up his own fumble and competed the pass. Normally I freak when offensive players pick up a fumble but it worked. I just don't want to see it again.

Burton was impressive. He showed well and showed he is the explosive person we had hoped he would be.

Woodyard looked good. I don't know how many tackles he had but he played well most of the game.

Micah Johnson made one tackle that got me. The one where he grabbed the RB's jersey (not Bush) and slammed him to the ground. He should have a wonderful career. Maybe he isn't ready to be out there every play, but he does give some solid answersfor the future.

Youth: again this year, the cats are young and will be gettng better as the year goes on. with the low number of seniors, a lot of key players and a lot of talent will be back again next year.

Special Teams: Burton had a TD Kickoff Return (I believe a shade over 100 hards since it came out of the end zone, I tihnk) and made some impressive moves. Obviously, that should be a strong point again. That may win a game down the raod.

Overall, it wasn't a pretty game. But, it's just one game. The schedule goes on from here. If Louisville is a true top 15 team (as they appeared tonight) then UK didn't do that bad. I think we all knew UK isn't a top 15 team and most likely wont be all season. The defense doesn't just need tweaking, it needs an overhaul. Supposedly we are both talented and have depth. Neither appeared to slow anything down tonight. I understand that everyone is upset, as am I, but remember that it is the first game. Don't call for Rich Brooks' head just yet. it will be a few weeks before we play a team that is as good as Louisville. A bowl is still in reach. It's an 11 game season until the possibility of a bowl. Give him a shot to get through Texas State and Ole Miss to see where we stand before all that "Fire Rich Now!) things make it all over the place. Everyone is upset because we lost to our rival...as expected. He didn't lose a game we were supposed to win. He should have had them ready and they were. That is where the problem truly lies in my opinion. If you come out as flat as they did you can't expect to win anything anwhere anytime. That needs to be fixed. What's done is done. Lets see what happens.

[Trueblujr]

It was a stretch to find any positives from last nights game, THere was only one certain positive and that is Keenan Burton is a gamer as well as one heck of a classy young man. it was a very classy move on his part to go over and console his friend Michael Bush as he was being carted off.

Burton has to stay healthy this season for us to have any sort of success at all.

Dicky Lyons. Jr. played pretty well himself. other than that though we stunk up the place.

Where was Steve Johnson? Demoreo Ford? why did Jacob Tamme only get a couple of looks? Alfonso (sp)Smith?

I have to believe at some point this is coaching pure and simple. or maybe the system being coached. Louisvilles players are not 31 points better than ours. Position by position, they are not tons more experienced than us. They aren't lining up 4 and 5 star recruits across the board over there. sure they have a couple sprinkled in there, but it's not like USC and Texas, their recruiting classes haven't ranked worlds better than ours the past few years. But apparantly Louisvilles players are being taught to play like 4 & 5 star guys, they play nearly flawless football, they show up for the first game prepared and execute like they've been playing that system all their lives.

Maybe it is just the system, who knows, I don't know what the heck our system is, I have yet to figure that out. Why nobody else has adopted Louisvilles system is beyond me? Why hasn't it caught on elsewhere? Why aren't their assistants being hired away to be head coaches?

Louisville demoralized us last night, The hype machine was not just all media chatter, Louisville went out and lived up to it, and once again we played lost and intimidated. We failed to live up to any sort of renewed expectations we thought we had. We were whipped in just about every facet of the game except for maybespecial teams.

[Doug Hardin]

Positives:


Andre' Woodson had 231 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT. The vertical passing game looked pretty good. (I think they threw more deep balls last night than they did during the entire 2-year Ron Hudson era).
Keenan Burton - great game all-around
Dicky Lyons - is he a legitimate #2 to Burton? 84 yards and 2 TDs
Tim Masthay looks like he's improved a lot. 40 yard average with good hangtime (no long returns), no shanks, only one punt where it looked like it might get blocked. He also did a pretty solid job on kickoff duties.
Wes Woodyard. 8 tackles, 5 assists, 2 TFL's
Micah Johnson was the #2 tackler (6)despite not playing a lot of snaps
Very few penalties for either side. It was a pretty clean game.Negatives


Andre' was only 9-24 passing, which means the intermediate passing game pretty much got shut down.
Rafael Little: 7 carries, 21 yards. UK's not going to beat anybody unless they can get their running game going.
Curtis Pulley wasn't very sharp, and if last night was any indication of how fall camp went, I think it's pretty obvious the coaches made the right call about the starting QB.
To go along with a lack of an intermediate passing game, UK's receivers other than Burton and Lyons never got into it. Ford, Johnson, and Strickland each failed to catch a pass (though Woodson barely overthrew Strickland on a long pass in the 3rd quarter). Tamme only caught 2 balls for minimal yardage.
Basically everything on the defense outside of Woodyard and Johnson. No pass rush (just 1 sack), inability to stop the run (321 yards). Louisville's receivers seemed to get open at will in the UK secondary. And when your safeties (McClinton and Williams) are among your top tacklers, you're in trouble.
A lot of true freshmen played, but that was to be expected: Micah Johnson, Ashton Cobb, Calvin Harrison, Paul Warford, Ricky Lumpkin, Mike Strickland, Jamil Paris, Corey Peters, and Josh Minton (and I might have missed a few)

[boomdaddy]

negatives:

I was not fond of the play calling, especially not running the ball when you have 3rd and short or the 4th and 1 call.

Was it the coaches' decision or the QB, to ignore Tamme most of the game. Woodsons 1st completion was 8yards to Tamme, after whiffing on his first 5 or 6 throws. There is nothing wrong with running your TE deep, but UL's TE caught at least three 10 ~ 15yarders. I saw a lot of routes where Tamme was going deep. The TEs, along with a RB out of the back field are the safety valves for pressure.

Handling the blitz: Why not keep two RBs in the back field and let them release to catch a pass after they make an initial block?

Defense:

Does UK's DEs know that their job is to control the outside? ULs propenisty to run right up the gut for big yards, was also very hard to watch.

Bush breaking his leg. I never like to see anyone get injured. I hope he makes a full recovery and makes it to the pros.



Positives:

The defense didn;t give up, even if they got beat, they still gave effort.

Woodson coming back to life, after looking like a deer in the headlights, the first 3 or 4 series. The fumble and long bomb was a great "Malox" moment.

Micah made a good showing at the MLB spot.

Unless I missed it, no major injuries reported for UK's players.

[RedandBlackATTACK]

They aren't lining up 4 and 5 star recruits across the board over there. sure they have a couple sprinkled in there, but it's not like USC and Texas, their recruiting classes haven't ranked worlds better than ours the past few years. But apparantly Louisvilles players are being taught to play like 4 & 5 star guys, they play nearly flawless football, they show up for the first game prepared and execute like they've been playing that system all their lives.
Great observations TrueBlue. You can in fact be successful without a roster full of 4 and 5 star players, if your 2 and 3 star guys believe they can play the game. Howard was a master coach in this regard, "upcoaching" I believe is the term now used to describe, what used to be known simply motivating a team to play at a higher level.

Rick

C-Bus

[gerntz]

" The defense didn;t give up, even if they got beat, they still gave effort."

Even if they got beat? Doesn't 600 yds of TO say they did?

They gave effort? Explain that, please. Thanks.

[ukfubar]

Pretty much all my positive and negatives were said.

Only positive I can add:

It was hard to tell because I was not at the game, but Woodson did look like a leader from the television. He was consistantly clapping his hands getting the players back to the huddle. When Strickland layed out to catch the pass that went off his fingertips you could tell he was telling Strickland to run harder.

Negative:

The play calling at first. I understand the idea to ram the ball thought down the throat to keep that offense off the field, but it was evident early that it was not going to work until we opened up our passing game. It took us being down 28-0 before that occurred. We adjusted too late. Hopefully Joker can learn from this game.

[poodoo]

Missed Opportunities: There were at least two passes that should have been picked off and it didn't happen. QUOTE by EricBigNally

____________

One of those sort of broke my heart for a special young man, and that young man is one of our team captains this year, Lamar Mills. Bless his heart. Last year at this time he was dealing with his family's losing their home to Katrina and going out with a season-ending knee injury near the end of the Louisville game, after having lead the team in tackles. Well, a Brohm pass had been tipped, and Karl Booker was just bringing ball in just as Lamar, giving great effort to get there and get the ball, inadvertedly knocked the ball out of Booker's hands. Lamar Mills appeared devastated.That was just a shame for Lamar Mills, besides for Booker and the Cats. :(

I am glad to see this thread, EricBigNally. Yes, the negatives were most obvious, and the positives were few and far between.Regardless, it is good for us fansnot toignore those few positives,in my opinion.

The mainpositive, though, was what boomdaddy pointed out,ournot having any key injuries (andhow I feel forLouisville's Michael Bush).Defensive tackle (who has shined during the spring and preseason) went out with a"turf toe," said Coach Brooks, and will likely not play this Saturday. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, though, in regard tothe lack of injuries for UK.

In regard to theother discussion of positives,my favorite play was Keenan's kickoff return. Ihope this young man remains healthy. That's a necessity for our season's sake, but I also sobadly want it for Keenan himself. He has NFL talent. Isn't it wonderful that hometown Louisville did not offer this young man ascholarship!

My other three favorite plays were Woodson's recovery after the fumble andpass completion, Micah's tackle by just pulling on the jersey, and Ashton Cobb's hit on special teams.

These guys have some growing to do. That wasobvious. There werea few positives, though. I hope thecoaches can get these guys' heads back up for Saturday's game, besides showing them their mistakes and getting them corrected.