Meltdown

[billoliver40]

Just a few words:

Concern on a lot of boards that the team is starting into meltdown and Coach Brooks will have to start a different QB to save the team.

Bull

Coach is hired to be the boss. I think he's proved he is.
A football team is not a democracy. It's not a popularity contest.
I imagine if the coaching staff felt Randall Cobb, Mr Fidler or any other player was the best option at quarterback, we would see them there.
If that's the decision, it's his. Not ours, not the player's. His alone.

If receivers want to give up, I imagine someone on the bench wants to play. Likewise with any position on this team.

Early this year, most of us agreed that 6 and 6 would be a remarkable achievement for this team. It's still attainable, just not as much as it would have been with a win over the Gamecocks. Arkansas is beatable.
Mississippi State is beatable. Vandy is coming back to earth. Georgia and Florida have both lost once already. Tennessee could me in melt down mode by the last game of the year.

The success of this team lies in the desire and play execution of the kids playing it. They have the talent. If they feel they want to riot about who the QB or any other position is, they aren't ready to be a team.

Time to learn and grow up.
Welcome to the big leagues.

[BigBlue75]

Good Post. I echo your sentiments.

[scathendo]

i respect your opinion and agree with you about the players having to follow the coaches lead...

but i, as a fan, will continue to watch games and praise where i feel praise is due and question when i have a question. what i've seen is a team that is now 0-2 in the SEC and had a very good chance to be 2-0. they were so close in both contests and the main reason for the shortcoming is poor offensive play calling and execution. it may be time for a change in strategy and/or a change in personel. like you say ....welcome to the big leagues. this is not one of those 'everyone gets a trophy' leagues. if you don't produce....step aside and give someone else a chance.

[Matt Dillon]

Great post, Bill. The fans can rant and rave and opinionate, but the coaches will run the team (thank goodness).

[scathendo]

i would add that you may call it a 'meltdown' but you could also look at it as the team losing confidence in the qb's ability to lead them.

i have no way of knowing if this is the case.

if it is, and coach would be the best one to judge, then he may have to try someone else. not because he's lettting the inmates run the asylum but because, as the coach, he knows that you can't demand that confidence. that confidence has to be earned. you can stomp and spit and yell all you want but confidence in your leader comes from merit.

your right. the coach is the boss. your also right that a football team is not a beauty contest or democracy. your also right that the coach will run this team regardless of fan ranting. but the team does have a collective psyche and sometimes coaching is as much about managing this psyche as it is running the x's and o's. if the team has collectively given up on the qb then demanding that they follow him is futile.

if this is the case, and again i emphasize i have no idea, i don't think it's a dislike or favortism or anything like that that is at the heart of how the players may be feeling. it's just a gut thing that you can't fight or force. i only get to see game performance so i'm not privy to hartlines leadership in a way that the players are but just looking at game performance i could certainly understand how they might be starting to think it's not working.

[Rockober]

Hartline will never be a John Elway but South Carolina and Bama also don't have cupcake defenses. Both these teams play some mean "D" and can make very good QB's look pretty bad. Cobb has been injured and is just coming back. He may be a viable option in the near future but Cobb won't get it done in the SEC if he in not healthy. Everybody knew Hartline is not in the same league as Woodson but Kentucky lost to a top 5 team in Bama and a South Carolina team that has lost tough games at Vandy and Georgia. This South Carolina is a pretty good team and I really thought UK would get over the hump with a victory over Spurrier this game.

Lets not forget that Hartline lost his favorite option once Dickey went out and Special teams pretty much cost the CATS 14 points(really 17pts if you count the fact UK should hit the fieldgoal)

Lastly, this team may have a chance to be one the first UK teams I have seen go to three straight bowl games. I know all UK fans want to contend for the SEC Championship, I know I do, but it usually takes time and I have been pleased with the direction the UK program is headed the last few years.

[CatFanInTheBathtub]

Early this year, most of us agreed that 6 and 6 would be a remarkable achievement for this team.

i'm not going to go into detail but I just can't agree with this.

[KentuckyKajun]

Just a few words:

Concern on a lot of boards that the team is starting into meltdown and Coach Brooks will have to start a different QB to save the team.

Bull

Coach is hired to be the boss. I think he's proved he is.
A football team is not a democracy. It's not a popularity contest.
I imagine if the coaching staff felt Randall Cobb, Mr Fidler or any other player was the best option at quarterback, we would see them there.
If that's the decision, it's his. Not ours, not the player's. His alone.

If receivers want to give up, I imagine someone on the bench wants to play. Likewise with any position on this team.

Early this year, most of us agreed that 6 and 6 would be a remarkable achievement for this team. It's still attainable, just not as much as it would have been with a win over the Gamecocks. Arkansas is beatable.
Mississippi State is beatable. Vandy is coming back to earth. Georgia and Florida have both lost once already. Tennessee could me in melt down mode by the last game of the year.

The success of this team lies in the desire and play execution of the kids playing it. They have the talent. If they feel they want to riot about who the QB or any other position is, they aren't ready to be a team.

Time to learn and grow up.
Welcome to the big leagues.

Great post. Win or lose, I love Wildcat Football. None of want to lose but I am not jumping ship just because we lost two games. That is crazy :confused:

[Matt Dillon]

As I stated, on another thread, one of the worse offenses in the nation going up against one of the best defenses in the SEC. I don't know why so many people are surprised at the outcome and are pointing fingers at players and coaches.

[I. Melvin]

As I stated, on another thread, one of the worse offenses in the nation going up against one of the best defenses in the SEC. I don't know why so many people are surprised at the outcome and are pointing fingers at players and coaches.

Uh, maybe it's because the coaches are paid and the players are given scholarships to NOT be one of the worst offenses in the nation.

Horrible job by the coaching staff of preparing for this year. And if there's not some dissonance between CRB and Joker right now, I'm not sure I want Joker taking over.

[scathendo]

As I stated, on another thread, one of the worse offenses in the nation going up against one of the best defenses in the SEC. I don't know why so many people are surprised at the outcome and are pointing fingers at players and coaches.

i don't think it's a surprise that the one of the worst offenses lost to one of the best defenses. you could have described a kentucky victory the same way.

i think we're surprised that we continue to be one of the worst offenses as this season unfolds and there seems to be very little improvement so far. i think that if you look at these two teams, they both have great defenses and offenses that started the season trying to find tehmselves. the difference is the team that won this game showed an offense that was not afraid/able to change it up and take a chance. the team that won showed an offense that is improving.

[Blue Heaven]

I've heard some rumblings from people in the know, that Joker wanted Cobb at QB from the get go. TIFWIW, but I've been hearing that for a while now. And no, I won't elaborate on the subject.

[poodoo]

Great post, Bill. The fans can rant and rave and opinionate, but the coaches will run the team (thank goodness).

DITTO from this corner on both statements, Matt. Great post, Bill, AND, yes, the coaches will indeed run the team, thank goodness. GO CATS! BEAT THE HOGS!

[Wildkatsssss]

The bottom line....

If we are solely depending on Hartline leading this team, then we are in for a very tough time in the last half of the season.

Coaches choice....Your right it is his decision on his team. Spurier saw that Smelly was having an off game, so he brought in Garcia. Brooks sees Hartline having an off game, leaves Hartline in.

[RV]

The bottom line....

If we are solely depending on Hartline leading this team, then we are in for a very tough time in the last half of the season.

Coaches choice....Your right it is his decision on his team. Spurier saw that Smelly was having an off game, so he brought in Garcia. Brooks sees Hartline having an off game, leaves Hartline in.

Perceived off game to you, maybe not so much in reality.

[keycat41]

Who would have thought that UK football fans would be going crazy over a 4-2 record? Must be the newbies that are just following new players on the team or something. The offense is a collection of first year players and you expect to win an SEC championship with that? Who do you think Brooks or Joker for that matter is, Harry Potter? Do they have a magic wand that makes Freshmen into Juniors overnight? The line is young, the QB is young, the backs are young, and the receivers are...you guessed it YOUNG. Unfortunately, the defense has some seasoning and has the chance to be the best UK defense since the 80's but that is the way the ball bounces. And don't forget, our freshmen are not normally 5 star players, but 2 and 3 stars which means that they will take some time to get bigger or better or both before they are expected to make a huge difference in a college game.

So far after half the schedule has been played, I give the team an average grade of a B. Consequently, I give the coaching staff an A. The offense is a C, would be lower if the line was healthy and the results were the same. The defense is an A++, they have stopped people and turned them over even after being on the field way too long in every game. They were horrible on third down against South Carolina, but they turned them over enough times that they still could have won.

If they can turn it up in the next 6 games, we are still looking at a special season, I would be happy with 6-6 as long as they beat UT and or UF.

[Matt Dillon]

Good post, keycat41.

[Levi]

Who would have ever known that University of Kentucky had so many hall-of-fame football coaches sitting in the stands?

[poodoo]

Who would have ever known that University of Kentucky had so many hall-of-fame football coaches sitting in the stands?

;):icon_biggrin: GO CATS! BEAT THE HOGS!

[poodoo]

The bottom line....

If we are solely depending on Hartline leading this team, then we are in for a very tough time in the last half of the season.

Coaches choice....Your right it is his decision on his team. Spurier saw that Smelly was having an off game, so he brought in Garcia. Brooks sees Hartline having an off game, leaves Hartline in.

I suspect our coaches themselves are currently second-guessing themselves on that decision not to bring Randall into the game. Too, I surely wish that had happened, as Randall MIGHT have provided a spark and have moved the ball down for a score.

YET, it's really easy to make that decision AFTER Hartline's performance on that last drive (although it could have been so different if the first well-thrown ball had not been dropped). At Saturday's game I had even thought that Hartline had previously performed BETTER later in the games (including the previous week at Alabama). Perhaps the coaches were expecting the same against South Carolina. Perhaps Randall Cobb had not performed well at practice at the quarterback position, especially with his ankle not fully healed. Perhaps the coaches felt that the true freshman was not ready to play against SEC competition. Perhaps the coaches feared taking him away from the wide receiver position after Dicky's having gone down. :shrug1: Who knows? The answer is NONE of us.

As Coach Brooks noted on his show, Randall certainly has talent at the qb position, BUT that he is ALSO our best wide receiver right now. Matt May said on the Cats' Pause show Monday night, it is NOT an easy decision for the coaches to make. That surely makes sense to me.

Personally, I have really liked what I have seen from Randall at quarterback against lesser competition. Frankly, though, I don't KNOW what we will see from him against a tough SEC defense (and Arkansas' defense is probably going to let us see him more this week :)). I suspect we may need both young men at the quarterback position. Here's hoping that BOTH of them develop and quicky improve :) (but how hard the decision becomes because of Dicky's having gone down). GO CATS! BEAT THE HOGS!

[lighthouse]

As Coach Brooks noted on his show, Randall certainly has talent at the qb position, BUT that he is ALSO our best wide receiver right now. Matt May said on the Cats' Pause show Monday night, it is NOT an easy decision for the coaches to make. That surely makes sense to me.

I agree your whole post poodoo, but I want to point out something. I feel Aaron Boyd is going to have a breakout game at some point. He's healthy now, and should be close to top shape. He has game breaking talent, and should take off some of the pressure at wr. Also, with Demoreo back will help too.