Careful what I wish for

[Joneslab]

Further, when the game was on the line and we needed to score what did we do? Run the ball right at them same in the UT game! Was that conservative "playing not to loose"? Obviously not, it is calling what we are best at against those teams to drive down the field and score.

There were a couple of huge passes missed in with that last drive though. There was the huge third-down catch that was made in the middle of the drive. There was another completion in there.

I think on that earlier drive one of the plays was King in the wildcat. I may be wrong about that. And then we came back out for the following drive and ran it three more straight times. It reminded me of Cal trying to just squeak out of there against Wisconsin when we got up by a couple of baskets late.

This staff loves nothing more than to try to just grind games out. And I'm not really knocking that philosophy: it works most of the time. But if you play like that you're going to have virtually no margin for error. It will come down to the last possession even against teams like Eastern Michigan.

[wildcatdon]

Get rid of Matt House and have Stoops go to DC and let Dean Hood coach the team.. We have thrown 2 games away this season and what to looked to be a good chance to be 9-3 is falling rapidly..Eli Brown needs to play more and Love needs to sit. He is too slow...Go back to a 4-3 alignment across the front. We dont have the players for the 3-4. There . See how easy that is.

[Spiritof96]

There were a couple of huge passes missed in with that last drive though. There was the huge third-down catch that was made in the middle of the drive. There was another completion in there.

I think on that earlier drive one of the plays was King in the wildcat. I may be wrong about that. And then we came back out for the following drive and ran it three more straight times. It reminded me of Cal trying to just squeak out of there against Wisconsin when we got up by a couple of baskets late.

This staff loves nothing more than to try to just grind games out. And I'm not really knocking that philosophy: it works most of the time. But if you play like that you're going to have virtually no margin for error. It will come down to the last possession even against teams like Eastern Michigan.

I don't understand your point. We attempted quite a few passes in our 4 3-&-out drives.

http://kentuckysportsradio.com/football-2/hot-take-playing-conservative-is-the-wrong-complaint/

[surveyor]

I don't understand your point. We attempted quite a few passes in our 4 3-&-out drives.

http://kentuckysportsradio.com/football-2/hot-take-playing-conservative-is-the-wrong-complaint/

Key to that article is "Monday morning quarterbacking".

To Will's contention that the staff "loves nothing more than to grind it out", dismisses that the staff more than likely does so out of necessity for the defense (and to a degree, the limitations of the offense) than the sheer joy of running the ball.

[40bill]

Key to that article is "Monday morning quarterbacking".

To Will's contention that the staff "loves nothing more than to grind it out", dismisses that the staff more than likely does so out of necessity for the defense (and to a degree, the limitations of the offense) than the sheer joy of running the ball.

There it is. The elephant in the room. We do have some playmakers. About four. We have a lot of weak spots though. Smoke and mirrors get dissipated and shattered.

[Joneslab]

Key to that article is "Monday morning quarterbacking".

To Will's contention that the staff "loves nothing more than to grind it out", dismisses that the staff more than likely does so out of necessity for the defense (and to a degree, the limitations of the offense) than the sheer joy of running the ball.

I sort of chalk up their conservative nature to the same reason they have their defense backs play ten yards off of pass-catchers so as to not get beat over the top. I think he's conservative because the whole thing has a "bend but don't break" mentality to it. Defense and offense.

Clearly there's a lot of smoke and mirrors to what Kentucky has to do. Masking deficiencies all over the field pretty much. I've said that all year and going back into last year. But we didn't have to mask much against Ole Miss: at some point Johnson was something like 16/17. Yet you knew what Gran/Stoops were going to do when we got up 10...as did Ole Miss, obviously.

[johnkyblue]

That's the only problem I have, really. Ole Miss knew what we were going to do. But like Stoops has said, did they not know on the last drive? They sure as heck did, and couldn't stop it then. I think there is a mental aspect with the team. Maybe this one will teach them?

[johnkyblue]

Or maybe there is a mental aspect with the teams we are playing? Maybe they get up knowing they have to scratch back into the game and it's THEM?

[Joneslab]

I don't understand your point. We attempted quite a few passes in our 4 3-&-out drives.

http://kentuckysportsradio.com/football-2/hot-take-playing-conservative-is-the-wrong-complaint/

The very first three and out, with momentum and up ten, we ran it three straight times.

That was the drive that ended up coming back around and giving them the ball on the last drive. Everything was falling UK's way at that point, but instead of hitting the gas pedal he clearly thought he could squeeze some time off.

It's why every game is close. Because even though we don't have a great roster, we've got a roster that should've beaten Eastern Michigan and Eastern Kentucky by worse than we did. But if you play games so close to the vest you're going to be in a lot of dogfights. If you're in dogfights every week then you're going to drop some close ones at the horn.

[Spiritof96]

I sort of chalk up their conservative nature to the same reason they have their defense backs play ten yards off of pass-catchers so as to not get beat over the top. I think he's conservative because the whole thing has a "bend but don't break" mentality to it. Defense and offense.

Clearly there's a lot of smoke and mirrors to what Kentucky has to do. Masking deficiencies all over the field pretty much. I've said that all year and going back into last year. But we didn't have to mask much against Ole Miss: at some point Johnson was something like 16/17. Yet you knew what Gran/Stoops were going to do when we got up 10...as did Ole Miss, obviously.

Did you not read the article? The play calling didn't change our execution did.

[Joneslab]

That's the only problem I have, really. Ole Miss knew what we were going to do. But like Stoops has said, did they not know on the last drive? They sure as heck did, and couldn't stop it then. I think there is a mental aspect with the team. Maybe this one will teach them?

We were bailed out on a tiptoe catch on that last drive that kept it going. It was mixed up way more than just running it up the gut every time. There was even a trick play in there IIRC that was snuffed out. So we at least gave them a wrinkle.

[Spiritof96]

The very first three and out, with momentum and up ten, we ran it three straight times.

That was the drive that ended up coming back around and giving them the ball on the last drive. Everything was falling UK's way at that point, but instead of hitting the gas pedal he clearly thought he could squeeze some time off.

It's why every game is close. Because even though we don't have a great roster, we've got a roster that should've beaten Eastern Michigan and Eastern Kentucky by worse than we did. But if you play games so close to the vest you're going to be in a lot of dogfights. If you're in dogfights every week then you're going to drop some close ones at the horn.

We ran it three straight times because after running twice we had a 3rd a 2. (and the intent was to go for it on 3rd down) How mad would the internet have been if we passed on 3rd and 2 and missed?

[Joneslab]

Did you not read the article? The play calling didn't change our execution did.

The playcalling definitely changed a little because before that point, I can't recall another drive where we'd run it three straight times.

When we get leads often what they'll do is remove the quarterback. I'm not arguing that that never works: it's obviously the best way to keep the defense rested. All I'm saying is that if you decide to play that way, you're going to be in brawls every Saturday.

[TrueblueCATfan]

I really like Mark Stoops....but I think he is terrible coach.....not sure what else to say

[Spiritof96]

The playcalling definitely changed a little because before that point, I can't recall another drive where we'd run it three straight times.

When we get leads often what they'll do is remove the quarterback. I'm not arguing that that never works: it's obviously the best way to keep the defense rested. All I'm saying is that if you decide to play that way, you're going to be in brawls every Saturday.

Ok, but that is one possession out of 4. I totally reject this idea of "conservative play calling" in the Ole Miss 3rd quarter. We ran our normal offense. Poorly.