Um, is there a place between the end of the Tennessee game and the end of the EW game that is kind of...sober? I still saw a front 7 on defense that was not ready for prime-time. And I am talking about the real players and not the scrubs. Dexter is not a true 5-star talent. Perhaps he will morph into one before the end of his junior year but still, he isn't a key piece to get it all together on defense. Until further notice, Watson is our best player on the line. Miller is the only consistent LB (the freshmen CAN grow up this year, just don't expect it) and the safeties are, safe to say, damn lacking in talent, IQ, want to, or a combination of all three. Burney is the best example of a "bless his heart" kind of player. His starting, along with Dean, is VERY telling. We...just don't have good alternatives. It is what it is. If anything happened yesterday, besides the effect of Napier liking the audition by Kitna, it is that perhaps a few WRs are less scary to him than they were before the game. Not that they will be magical, but rather he can sit anyone who seems less tuned in on the field than what he demands. The bench IS his best teaching tool. TEs are...befuddling. That is as good as I have.
Um, okay. I think what you mean is, "I believe we can be a little bit pregnant." Until further notice, we will lose as many games as we win. This is how we are built.
Wouldn't argue against that, I totally agree. We did play something like 81 players vs EW so there's hope that giving some kid's experience contributed both to Washington's ease in moving the chains and hopefully some development of our defense moving forward.
One-hit wonders with a great combine can get you drafted. A no-hit wonder will get you a HS coaching internship.
Hmm, the failed HC at this school, and now the DC at our biggest hurdle, likes a coaching hire? Makes you wonder... I wonder whether Dumbo likes Dean's playing?
See my "sober" post above this. Do we have to remind ourselves that when our O-line has played against a real SEC D-line, our running game gets shut down? Unless AR's passing game light is turning on in earnest, we HAVE to run the ball to win a game. And right now, our O-line is effective but not THAT effective.
I know I am repeating myself (like plenty of us here) but the best thing I can say about Kitna's performance is that it should allow Napier to let AR be AR more than he has. He now has a viable Plan B at the QB position.
What I saw on the throw wasn't that it was a poor decision per se (even though there were 3 defenders around) but rather the throw was too far off. Had he done what Kitna did on his TD pass, it would have been close to a TD.
Missouri isn't "Kentucky pissed" but I have to believe they are going to want to prove that they are "second place worthy". And that is concerning, if we all believe we are turning the corner. I see fits and starts. And if the EW game was a start, then...
Women like it slow and evolving, that is the way reading a book works. Men always have the motor running and just need to pop the clutch. "Other means" works that way.
We are improving @tegator80. That’s all we can ask for at this point. Maybe the defense can put it all together at some point. It’s just not clicking for a lot of these guys and the lack of depth/talent is showing.
Being there it felt like 45,000 would be a good number, I was curious what the reported attendance number would be.
As has been stated we all know the D is a mess. Complaining won't help and I don't feel your post was complaining but pointing out the obvious. I think a real fan looks at both sides of a coin. We all want our team to be the best it can be. The question then is, what to do about it. Obviously, we have to recruit better. We will have to use the portal especially in the area of our front 7. I believe we have to do a better job of player development as in tackling. But one area seldom addressed is in game adjustments and schemes. Take UK and UT for instance, they changed up their D in order to shut down our running game. Yes, they gambled a bit but it paid off. Instead, we are stuck with a soft bend don't break, read and react kind of passive D that allows teams to eat clock, wear out our D, and limits our O to produce. Rarely are our guys breaking up passes. Rarely are we disrupting timing passes. Rarely do we get off blocks and get penetration to stop the running game before they get 5 yards. It appears our D is taught this style of play and boy are we executing it to perfection. The question is, is this going to be what we run with our current DC moving forward? If so, I just don't see it working in the SEC even with better players.
Good post and I agree . . . but wanted to point out that if some are still having problems in the base defense . . . missing assignments and leaving WRs or RBs open for easy pitch-and-catches or wide open holes to get 8-10-12 yards running . . . wouldn't the coaches be smart to expect even worse results if they start moving people around and changing what they've practiced all week? I think once we have a better defense established it would be easier for the DC to make those kind of adjustments at halftime. The kids have had all Camp and 5 games to learn the base defense so maybe we'll start to see some of those adjustments we all want (and none more than the coaches).
Now maybe I can use the backward pass to Whittemore, throw back to Richardson for a first TD of the game prediction!