Kentucky football: OC Eddie Gran says he was ‘too stubborn’ with wildcat formation

[Lighthouse]

Any news on the players who were injured?

[Trueblujr]

boomdaddy just about nails it. i find this game to be VERY concerning. I am trying to remember if we have EVER played worse and still won the game.

I realize this is the first game of the year, and I'm not giving up on anything yet. But, right now, I am very, very concerned. The offense was just terrible. If USM doesn't urn the ball over the way they did, the mood around here would be even worse this morning.

I think the thing being overlooked is just how USM turned the ball over. The vast majority were forced by us, not by their mistake or by them just putting the ball on the ground. Our defense was VERY active in attacking the ball, they were stripping, punching, the ball, doing everything possible to knock the ball away from them. We were much more aggressive doing that than I think I've ever seen us.

[SBCatMan]

^True enough, James. You make a good point. So, maybe I should rephrase my observation: "If our defense doesn't force all those turnovers, the mood around here would be even worse this morning."

But, the good news is that the defense DID force the turnovers. Now, the offense must catch up. A win is a win, and we'll take all that we can get.

[Matt Dillon]

One has to wonder how the game would have turned out if coach Hopson hadn't called for the fake punt late in the fourth qtr. I feel like we were back on our heels at that point.

[40bill]

I could fall back on the football is a game of inches thing, but in a nutshell....
I was pleasantly surprised by the defense. I still think the secondary isn't living up to lofty hype.
I was really pleased with the overall play of the special teams units.
I don't like playing so conservative when you get a ten point lead. I would have thought Gran would've opened up more.
Im glad Gran admits to staying too long at the fair with the wildcat. With Cobb we had a dual threat. With Benny, it's a dive play. With King, it's a loss. I don't know if Gran has the read option in this year's playbook, but I would think King would be better on a toss going around the edge....if our o line can make that happen

Glad for the win. I have to point out though....Florida was short ten players and had Michigan's number for a half, Vanderbilt looked really good against MTSU, MISSOURI has a pinball offense, South Carolina looks for real and so does Georgia.

UK actually has about one more game to get the offense thing clicking.
Fingers crossed.

[Spiritof96]

Re: The Wildcat. I agree with Coach Gran.

They had more beef on their D line than last year. Everyone knew it and we played to the strength of their defense. Further it cuts the things the d needs to worry about in half making it easy to defend. Also, as has been pointed out we ran NO action off it. Couldn't have been more predictable.

[johnkyblue]

First play of the game shows why they quit with the motion regarding the wildcat. Over the next couple weeks that will get fixed in practice and the coaches can be confident to re-install it.

Stallings snapped the ball when Benny called for motion and wasn't looking for it.

[Bubs72]

I was pleased with what I saw Saturday. I thought the defense played great for most of the game, but you could tell they we're tired at the end; missed tackles, cramps, things like that. But I thought they flew around and hit people, special teams looked good, we continually flipped the field on them with our punt game. Offense was predictable, but with the Wildcat it always is, not a lot of deception with the direct snap.

[VirginiaBlue]

Any news on the players who were injured?

I think I heard CMS say that everybody will be ready for EKU. Anybody know for sure?

[Joneslab]

I think I heard CMS say that everybody will be ready for EKU. Anybody know for sure?

He indeed did say that.

[Joneslab]

You have to worry about big-play guys in this offense out of the run or the pass. Maybe one will emerge but the huge-yardage players we had are mostly gone and the grinders returned. Looks like Juice Johnson and (hopefully) Conrad may be it.

I thought Benny got a little stronger as the game went on but if that's what we're going to get from King we may not get to 7 wins. You can't just ride one guy every game. King looked hesitant and unsure and weak. He got the one terrible call from the coaching staff in the wildcat but even before that he looked like he was running in quicksand. Not a good sign.

Thought the defense was stout until the secondary started to shrink away from physicality in the third quarter. Think that's something that can be fixed and was fixed as last year went along. Westry is a guy who looks like he really has to be coached and prodded to play at a high level.

[boomdaddy]

I hope to see Rose get some time in the EKU game. King did not get up the field. Not entirely his fault, but I would like to see another back get a chance.

[Matt Dillon]

I hope to see Rose get some time in the EKU game. King did not get up the field. Not entirely his fault, but I would like to see another back get a chance.

Agree.

[Spiritof96]

Was King appreciably worse than Snell? For most of the game, it looked like both guys ran into the pile (not a hole) and fell down.

As for Rose, I thought pass blocking was an issue...

[Joneslab]

Snell had some decent runs late. Benny seems to want to run into piles and try to carry guys when the outside looked to be open quite a few times. I still thought he ran hard; also thought the O-line was missing blocks that it didn't miss last year.

King had 12 yards and looked hapless. I want to chalk that up to first-game-as-the-backup jitters. A game like EKU is perfect for King because you can envision him breaking off a couple of big runs. That may be perfect for his confidence.