Positives from the Florida game..

[BigBlue75]

(Disclaimer: This is going to be a post containing POSITIVE comments about last night's Florida game. These comments don't mean that I'm happy that we lost nor does it mean I'm blind to areas that need to be corrected. This is simply my take on the game, alright?)

First of all, I need to say how impressed I amat the progress that Andre Woodson has made. He stood his ground in the teeth of a tough defense that had the home crowd on their side, and he didn't flinch. He may not do everything exactly right, but the difference between Andre of a year ago and Andre now is incredible.

Here are some of our stats compared to the Vols against Florida:



Our total yards against Florida in the Swamp: 249 (Tennessee had 220 playing at home in Knoxville.)
3rd down conversions: 4-13 in the Swamp (UT was only slightly better at 6-13)
Our time of possession in the Swamp: 33:31 (UT had 24:56)
Rush yards: UK actually had 66 but only shows 39 due to Andre's sack losses. (UT had minus eleven.)
Andre was 26/37 for 210 yards, 1 TD and zero interceptions. (UT's Eric Ainge was 17/37 for 183 yards, zero TD's and 2 interceptions. )____________________________________________


-Florida was a three touhdown favorite. They won by only 19 playing on the home field.

-Florida was averaging 32 points a game coming into last night's game. UK held them to 26.

-UK came out focused and ready to play. The blowout that a lot of experts predicted never came. Florida wasn't able to seal the deal until the fourth quarter.

- The Wildcats have three proven threats now at the receiver positions with Jacob Tamme, Keenan Burton, and Dicky Lyons, Jr. I'm also pleased at the progress Curtis Pulley is making. I think as he learns the position more he will end up being a difference maker.

Again, I'm never happy that the Wildats lose but all things considered, I think UK managed to play a relatively solid game and gave a good showing for themselves in front of a national television audience on ESPN. They hung tough against the 5th ranked team in the country playing on their home field. I'm pleased with their effort and I think it bodes well for the rest of the season.

Those are just some of my thoughts. Take them for what they're worth.

[gsparks]

Good post. I agree

[tauzreborn]

ditto

[Doug Hardin]

I was going to do a post-game write-up, but I don't know if I can add anything you didn't include. Good analysis.

[SBCatMan]

I thought Dixon and Smith both ran well. When Pulley & Jones get more cocmfortable at their positions and as Burton & Lyons continue to develop. we will have some serious talent & sppeed at the skill positions.

The defense still must continue to improve. I think holding Florida to 26 points was a bit deceptive.

However, IF we play with the intensity and aggressiveness that we showed last night, I'd say a bowl game is a done deal. But, we cannot let up or get overly conservative on offense the next two weeks.

[CatFanForLife]

BigBlue75 wrote: -Florida was averaging 32 points a game coming into last night's game. UK held them to 32.

Unless I am missing something here, didn't UK hold Florida to 26 points??? That would obviously be below their 32 point average, and a big positive for the much maligned defense.

All in all, your post makes somevery good points, and shows improvement from last year's team. Now if we can just get our o-Linemen to do a better job.

[bourboncat]

I'll continue with some more postives.

1) Woodyard continued to look good.

2)Braxton Kelly really looked good to me.

3)Got to rest Little, and Mccutchen.

4)Did not get a demoralizing blowout

5)Established Tamme as a threat for the first time since the 04UT game.

6)Pulley looked really good.

7)UT held UF to 22 at home, we held them to 26 at the Swamp

8)I sat as we gave up 49 in a half last year. We looked like a MUCH better team this year.

9)2-2 baby going into two winnable games without major injuries.

10) We have a qb who just doesn't turn the ball over. This can really help pick up some victories in some of our winnable games.

11)Lyons continues to catch the ball when thrown to him



GOCATS

[BigBlue75]

CatFanForLife wrote: BigBlue75 wrote: -Florida was averaging 32 points a game coming into last night's game. UK held them to 32.

Unless I am missing something here, didn't UK hold Florida to 26 points??? That would obviously be below their 32 point average, and a big positive for the much maligned defense.

All in all, your post makes somevery good points, and shows improvement from last year team. Now if we can just get our o-Linemen to do a better job.




Just have a good laugh on me for that one. :DI try and double check everything but I obviously missed that part. I had "26" on my mind but typed "32" for some reason. I went back and made the correction.

[BigblueDrew]

I must say that for where our program is right now we played a good(not great) game. Florida wasn't flat and they had to play thier best game to beat us. It was a competative SEC football game. Thats the kind of game we need to play consitantly in the conference. If we do so eventually we will come out on the right side of one of these contests. Four games into the seasonI am cautuisly optimistic.If our quarterbacking continues at it's current rate and our defense continues to inprove i think we can win 7 games this year. GO CATS>

[Will Lavender]

BigblueDrew wrote: I must say that for where our program is right now we played a good(not great) game. Florida wasn't flat and they had to play thier best game to beat us. It was a competative SEC football game. Thats the kind of game we need to play consitantly in the conference. If we do so eventually we will come out on the right side of one of these contests. Four games into the seasonI am cautuisly optimistic.If our quarterbacking continues at it's current rate and our defense continues to inprove i think we can win 7 games this year. GO CATS>
I'm beginning to think that 7 might be attainable, too.

Six will still be a good season, though.

Five will be a disappointment.

[Terry L. Wildcat]

:cool:One at a time ;)

[trublue4life]

Your analysis is solid. The most encouraging thing to me is we competed for the entire game. We ran out of gas a little in the 2nd half and Florida took advantage, which is what you expect from a top 10 team at home, but our guys never laid down. We went on the road in a hostile environment and for the most part played with great poise and with a competitive fire. Then when I look up and down our roster and see so many young players who are only going to get better week by week...well I am encouraged. I'm really starting to think we can get 7 wins. I feel like we will win one we're not supposed to (South Carolina and/or Georgia) and hopefully hold serve on the ones we're supposed to win. We must beware the trip to Starkville and not have a letdown there, but overall I am optimistic about doing a little hloiday bowling this year:).

[RV]

We are currently giving up 26 ppg - down over a TD per game from 34 ppg last year and have played two of the top offenses in the nation in our four games thus far. The last three games we have given up an average of 16 ppg and if we can continue that trend we'll win several games. We're doing this with around 15 Freshmen and Sophs in our two deep on D. Keep watching as we mature weekly.

[Mountain Cat]

It was nowhere near as embarrassing as I thought it was going to be. That in itself is positive.

However, keep a bit of perspective on where we are, consider the following.

We went into Gainesville with the 103 ranked defense, and left with the 112th ranked defense. Defense still sucks badly.

We went into the swamp with the 58th ranked offense, and left with the 70th ranked offense. Good in 1st half only. In second half UK only amassed a total of 55 yards of offense. In fact our possessions produced 27yrds, 24yrds, -11yrds, -5yrds, 0yrds and 20yrds to total 55 net yards.

Offense moved the chains well off creative 1st half play calling, but was poor in the second half. I really enjoyed the first half, and saw plenty to be happy about in that part of the game. The second half got away from us, and we wound up getting spanked. There is no moral victory in the 26-7 loss. But we did give the Gator faithful a scare with 1:59 to go in the first half eh? That was fun, and worth the price of admission.

[sojourner]

MC, I agree that our defense is lousy and I wonder what will happen to Archewr after the season but are you basing the 112th worst defense on points allowed or yards? Just curious as I would think on points allowed there have to be quite a few worse than us. Like Stanford for example.

[RV]

.

[RV]

sojourner wrote: MC, I agree that our defense is lousy and I wonder what will happen to Archewr after the season but are you basing the 112th worst defense on points allowed or yards? Just curious as I would think on points allowed there have to be quite a few worse than us. Like Stanford for example.

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?div=4

We're 89 in scoring defense. If you take out the ul game we'd be 32.

[7lives]

"We went into the swamp with the 58th ranked offense, and left with the 70th ranked offense. Good in 1st half only. In second half UK only amassed a total of 55 yards of offense. In fact our possessions produced 27yrds, 24yrds, -11yrds, -5yrds, 0yrds and 20yrds to total 55 net yards."

And Florida's defense ( one of the best in the country) had absolutely nothing to do with that. Absolutely NOTHING!
:rolleyes:

[Spanish Moss]

When you sit in the Swamp and look around at the stadium you come to the reality of what we are facing and what we have to overcome to be a successful program in the SEC.

Florida is an elite football program right now and they have everything in place. Their fans are passionate, their facilities are first class and the campus is one of the nicest in the world. It is very easy to recruit to this school in any sport. Who wouldn't want to go there if they had the chance?

The fact we competed with them for a half gives me a positive feeling. They have superior coaches, superior players, superior facilities and superior tradition so the truth is we had a lot to overcome. Our players played hard and had it not been for a few miscues by the officials and had we had a defensive coordinator on the level of Florida's it would have been closer.

I came out of that stadium wearing my UK blue with my head high. Not a single Florida fan made fun of our team or said they felt sorry for us. That is a step in the right direction because they have said that in the past.

[heatwave13]

Did any of you all listen to the Florida post game show with Urban Meyer and Mick Hubert? It was all positives coming from Meyer. He said that he and Brooks have been friends for a long time and that he thinks UK is stepping forward and is well coached on offense. In the post game locker room interviews with the Florida players, to a man, each of them talked about how hard UK played, how much effort they put into the game, and how they are not be taken lightly. They respect us, but one player did mention that UK really needs an SEC calibre defense.

[Mountain Cat]

sojourner wrote: MC, I agree that our defense is lousy and I wonder what will happen to Archewr after the season but are you basing the 112th worst defense on points allowed or yards? Just curious as I would think on points allowed there have to be quite a few worse than us. Like Stanford for example.

yardage

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2006&div=4&rpt=IA_teamtotdef&sit e=org

[Spanish Moss]

heatwave13 wrote: Did any of you all listen to the Florida post game show with Urban Meyer and Mick Hubert? It was all positives coming from Meyer. He said that he and Brooks have been friends for a long time and that he thinks UK is stepping forward and is well coached on offense. In the post game locker room interviews with the Florida players, to a man, each of them talked about how hard UK played, how much effort they put into the game, and how they are not be taken lightly. They respect us, but one player did mention that UK really needs an SEC calibre defense.

Good comments. The Gators were gracious in their victory and see UK as an up and coming solid team. If we had that defensive coordinator, we would be a step ahead. We have the players on that side of the ball, we just need someone to get the best out of them.

[Mountain Cat]

RV wrote: sojourner wrote: MC, I agree that our defense is lousy and I wonder what will happen to Archewr after the season but are you basing the 112th worst defense on points allowed or yards? Just curious as I would think on points allowed there have to be quite a few worse than us. Like Stanford for example.

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?div=4

We're 89 in scoring defense. If you take out the ul game we'd be 32.


Wow, think how good we would look if we played only Div II schools! :thumbupjk:lol:

Seriously, we cannot cherry-pick our stats and have them mean anything. Like poodoo once said, stats don't lie, but they don't tell everything either.

We did show some life in the 1st half. I was very happy with the opening play calling. We caught UF off guard and it took them until halftime to make the adjustments they needed to shut us down. We got a coaching lesson in the second half. Same players in both halves, so the talent is there. 2nd half gameplan sucked. When you only put 55yrds up in a half, then your offense is fair game for criticism (not the players).

[kyjones]

As encouraged as many of us are about our team now, we cannot overlook Central Michigan. They are a good team and have played a couple ranked teams very tough. I am excited about the prospect of winning 6+ games, but remain cautious and try not to underestimate thisnext foe.

[lotsaloans]

If I may add two cents-

I saw our offensive strategy adapt to its environment.

We did not put up huge numbers on the scoreboard or the statbook, but we did a great job of getting our defense rest by moving the chains pretty well especially in the first half. Joker evidently saw what Florida was able to do to the TN running game, and substituted the running game with ashort passing game that was successful for the most part in plays that picked up 5 to 6 yards and helped to gain a new set of downs.

Getting a chance to go downfield more would have opened up this aspect of the game even more for UK but Woodson just didn't have alot of time with so many blitzes from Florida coming at him.

[Chaz]

Mountain Cat wrote:
Seriously, we cannot cherry-pick our stats and have them mean anything. Like poodoo once said, stats don't lie, but they don't tell everything either.


This is just what YOUare doing. Picking the stat that "fits" your agenda. The bottom line is the SCORE. Giving up 600 yards means very little if we win 7-0. Its better to look for the positives than continously looking for the negative. Let's look forward to winning this Saturday rather than lamenting giving up yards.

[poodoo]

kyjones wrote: As encouraged as many of us are about our team now, we cannot overlook Central Michigan. They are a good team and have played a couple ranked teams very tough. I am excited about the prospect of winning 6+ games, but remain cautious and try not to underestimate thisnext foe.

I so agree, kyjones. Central Michigan scares me to death, not only because of how it has performed against a couple of ranked teams on the road, one of which it should have beaten, BUT ALSO where itfalls in our schedule, between Florida(whichthe players thought they COULD beat, according to Coach Brooks on his show) and South Carolina.

Now let's go back to the positives, though, which I always think are good to discuss. :)

[poodoo]

Nice analysis, Big Blue 75. Too, FWIW, by the day of the game Florida was actually favored by 261/2 points (and beat us by 19 points, of course).

Another positive, to me, is that we were without three starters on offense and still performed well offensively. Little's absence and center McCutchan's absence were particularly huge.

The players went into the gamebelieving that they could win and did not sway from that belief at all when Florida scored early on the trick play. Stopping Florida on three of its fourfirst possessionsespecially impressed me.

There were manypositives. NOW we must build on those positives and not be discouraged by our eventually succumbing to Florida and losing by those nineteen points.

[poodoo]

Spanish Moss wrote: When you sit in the Swamp and look around at the stadium you come to the reality of what we are facing and what we have to overcome to be a successful program in the SEC.

Florida is an elite football program right now and they have everything in place. Their fans are passionate, their facilities are first class and the campus is one of the nicest in the world. It is very easy to recruit to this school in any sport. Who wouldn't want to go there if they had the chance?

The fact we competed with them for a half gives me a positive feeling. They have superior coaches, superior players, superior facilities and superior tradition so the truth is we had a lot to overcome. Our players played hard and had it not been for a few miscues by the officials and had we had a defensive coordinator on the level of Florida's it would have been closer.

I came out of that stadium wearing my UK blue with my head high. Not a single Florida fan made fun of our team or said they felt sorry for us. That is a step in the right direction because they have said that in the past.



I surely enjoyed reading this post, John. I wish Mr. Poodoo and I could have been there with you. We would have come out with our heads high, too. :)

The thread is about POSITIVES, and the way we competed with them in the first half gave you a POSITIVE feeling. Too, their players' and fans' reactions is indeed a STEP in the RIGHT direction. Now our players must get THEIR HEADS BACK UP before playing Central Michigan this weekend.

[poodoo]

Seriously, we cannot cherry-pick our stats and have them mean anything. Like poodoo once said, stats don't lie, but they don't tell everything either. QUOTE by Mountain Cat

________

Okay, Mountain Cat, you brought me into this one, so here goes! :ggrin:

You cannot say with a straight face (and, no, we don't get to see your real expression here):D that UK has NOT improved defensively over that performance against Louisville, even if it is NOW ranked #112 in defense, as you just quoted STATISTICALLY. As you quoted me, yes, stats do not tell EVERYTHING.

You were there this time. Even though our defense still needs A LOT more improvement, it has at least improved since that Louisville game. You saw it with your own eyes. You know it, even though those stats SAY we are now #112. Right? :D

It is a FACT that UK's defense, as much as it is still hurting, STOPPED the #5 team in the nation THREE out of its FOUR first possesssions, and the one we did not stop Florida was when Florida successfully executed the trick play. Even on that one UK had been ready for the reverse itself. That was progress, maybe a baby step, but progress.

As positive as I am, I know we still have weaknesses. I am concerned about Central Michigan. However, you are so RIGHT. Stats do NOT tell EVERYTHING, and those negative stats you are purposefully throwing out to balance this thread on positives are misleading. So there! :ggrin:

By the way, I'm glad you are saying that the way we played the first half was worth your admission. That is a positive in itself. :)Too, admittedly, that's a step from last year, right? :)Now let's just all hope, together, that we BEAT CENTRAL MICHIGAN and are one step closer to a bowl, and I KNOW that you are right there with me on that one, throwing out those misleading stats and upsettingWCN membersor not! By the way, FWIW, I have been smiling the entire time I have been writing this post. :)

[Mountain Cat]

Chaz wrote: Mountain Cat wrote:
Seriously, we cannot cherry-pick our stats and have them mean anything. Like poodoo once said, stats don't lie, but they don't tell everything either.


This is just what YOUare doing. Picking the stat that "fits" your agenda. The bottom line is the SCORE. Giving up 600 yards means very little if we win 7-0. Its better to look for the positives than continously looking for the negative. Let's look forward to winning this Saturday rather than lamenting giving up yards.

You lost me there partner. I used all the stats for total offense and total defensive yardage for the entire season. If I wanted to cherry-pick to make a negative I would have just used this game, or kicked out the Division II stats, but I did not. My cherry picking comment was when someone wanted to brag about how our stats looked against our lessor opposition, as if that indicated we werebetter.

I think if you refer to my original post in this thread, I state that I was happy with, and sawgood things in the 1st half. That is not negative. However, stats do mean things. If we had continued to play at the pace of the first half......for 4 quarters, we would have had oneHell of a game. But we did not. 55 yards is all we could muster over the entire second half. That is not something to celebrate.

[Mountain Cat]

poodoo wrote: Seriously, we cannot cherry-pick our stats and have them mean anything. Like poodoo once said, stats don't lie, but they don't tell everything either. QUOTE by Mountain Cat

________

Okay, Mountain Cat, you brought me into this one, so here goes! :ggrin:

You cannot say with a straight face (and, no, we don't get to see your real expression here):D that UK has NOT improved defensively over that performance against Louisville, even if it is NOW ranked #112 in defense, as you just quoted STATISTICALLY. As you quoted me, yes, stats do not tell EVERYTHING.

You were there this time. Even though our defense still needs A LOT more improvement, it has at least improved since that Louisville game. You saw it with your own eyes. You know it, even though those stats SAY we are now #112. Right? :D

It is a FACT that UK's defense, as much as it is still hurting, STOPPED the #5 team in the nation THREE out of its FOUR first possesssions, and the one we did not stop Florida was when Florida successfully executed the trick play. Even on that one UK had been ready for the reverse itself. That was progress, maybe a baby step, but progress.

As positive as I am, I know we still have weaknesses. I am concerned about Central Michigan. However, you are so RIGHT. Stats do NOT tell EVERYTHING, and those negative stats you are purposefully throwing out to balance this thread on positives are misleading. So there! :ggrin:

By the way, I'm glad you are saying that the way we played the first half was worth your admission. That is a positive in itself. :)Too, admittedly, that's a step from last year, right? :)Now let's just all hope, together, that we BEAT CENTRAL MICHIGAN and are one step closer to a bowl, and I KNOW that you are right there with me on that one, throwing out those misleading stats and upsettingWCN membersor not! By the way, FWIW, I have been smiling the entire time I have been writing this post. :)



:lol:did I really seem that negative? :lol: Balance in all things.

[BigBlue75]

MC, I know how you feel about Rich Brooks so your comments up to now haven't surprised me. I also know that none of what you said was directed at me but I feel like some clarification is in order here since I started the thread.

Just for the record: I used Tennessee's stats against the Gators and compared them to ours to show that UK held it's own and in some cases did a bit better than the Vols, and the Vols were playing at home while we had the Gators in the Swamp. As I said at the beginning, I'm not happy that we lost but at the same time I DID NOT cherry pick stats to try and make the 'Cats look good. I respect the fact that you don't agree but there WERE positives to be taken from that game and they are solid positives that we can build on.

I'm not trying to goad you into an argument and I have no desire to get involved in this little debate that's developed in the last few posts. I just wanted to make my position clear.

[poodoo]

did I really seem that negative? :lol: Balance in all things. QUOTE by Mountain Cat

___________

Actually, you didn't, Mountain Cat. In fact, FOR YOU, it wasn't that negative at all. :ggrin:That is why I had been posting with a SMILE on my face. You know I like ANY POSITIVE I found, and I found some positives within your post. The team, especially the defense, is taking "baby steps," and so are you! :)

Big Blue 75, I don't believe Mountain Cat really meant his post to be negative toward your thread, although I can also understand how it might feel that way. Also, Mountain Cat surely knows that stats can be used to back up almost any argument. Further, most of all, the stat that matters far the most is HOW MANY POINTS the other team scores, and we are showing improvement there (knock on wood), even with playing both Louisville and Florida. :)

I guess I just remember how Mountain Cat similarly posted the NEGATIVE stats after the Ole Miss performance. I didn't like that, either, to be honest, BUT he went on to admit that he had not been to the game AND that he is still concerned that our defense, especially, has not yet arrived, and we must improve to get that bowl game we want. He seemed to want us to get there, not being one that wants Coach Brooks to fail so that he will be proven right, and those fans do exist. As long as UK fans are pulling their hardest for us to get to a bowl game, I'm not going to be too upset. :)If he is merely keeping us from getting too high before the chickens are hatched, then I can handle that. :)

Thanks, Mountain Cat, for understanding that I was joking around in my post (although still hoping to get you to admit that there WAS some defensive improvement in person! :)). I intentionally said, "So there!" to show that. Then in the middle of the night I woke up, thinking, "Oh, my goodness. Someone could have thought that I was "telling you off" or something," and that wasFAR from the case!

Again, serious this time, let's all pull together for these guys to make it to a BOWL GAME! The ONLY STAT that matters to me this year is getting SIX WINS! :)

[BigBlue75]

poodoo wrote: did I really seem that negative? :lol: Balance in all things. QUOTE by Mountain Cat

___________


Big Blue 75, I don't believe Mountain Cat really meant his post to be negative toward your thread, although I can also understand how it might feel that way. Also, Mountain Cat surely knows that stats can be used to back up almost any argument. Further, most of all, the stat that matters far the most is HOW MANY POINTS the other team scores, and we are showing improvement there (knock on wood), even with playing both Louisville and Florida. :)







Thanks, poodoo, and yes, I know MC wasn't trying to hijack the thread. I was just making sure that it was understood that I wasn't selectively picking certain stats to make UK look good. MC and I graduated from the same high school so I know he's not going to give me too hard of a time. ;):D

When we make it to a bowl this year we can all look back on this and laugh. :thumbup

[Mountain Cat]

:cool::thumbupThat would be good.

[poodoo]

Mountain Cat wrote: :cool::thumbupThat would be good.


This post is an example of why I love this site. :)I truly believe everyone here WANTS Coach Brooks to succeed, regardless how much faith (a lot down to a little to almost none)he orshe hasin that happening. Mountain Cat wants us ALL to be laughing together about this thread at a bowl game THIS SEASON. Who could hope any differently!

Too, again, to be honest, MC sometimes DRIVES ME CRAZY (or crazier, some might be saying! :ggrin:) with all those NEGATIVE stats. Yet, I know he WANTS the same thing that this somewhat :Dmore positive poodoo wants, a WINNING UK football program and bowl appearances.

Too, continuting to be honest (which is honestly the only way I tend to know to be:) ), the stats do show that our defense is still far from where we want it to be, and we had better notrelax and assume anything about the Central Michigan game (which MC has also posted).Mainly, though, we are all HOPING that the defense AND offense will get closer and closer to where we want it to be as the season progresses. I see positives and improvement, and I honestly :)believe it can happen!

P.S. I have a "bad habit" of not letting folks fight. :)Sorry! Perhaps it's the "momma" in me, although, no, while I'm "old," I'm not old enough to be you guys' momma! :D