As I sit here in lex pondering last night, I want to preface this by saying for UGA football I get nervous. At 53 yrs old I only wanted one title as an adult, and I got 2. Being around some of the guys was a plus, but I still worried a ton about this game, so some thoughts before I head home:
1. The mizzou effect: yep, this was mizzou 2.0 from 2 yrs ago save the turnovers. We could not run the ball, they had a kicker make every fg from 50+ , and like mizzou, who was coming off a tough loss at AU the week before, no one gave KY a chance. That, my friends, is a recipe for what happened.. walking around before the game every cat fan was saying the same thing….yall take it easy on us.. yall will be up by 40 in the 3rd.. ect.. we’ll, stoops is a FOOTBALL coach, and that is why Kirby likes him. You had to know they would come out and be physical, and they punched us in the face. It took a while, but we finally started punching back
2. The bobo effect: yes, mike had a rough night. BUT, his game planning is predicated on play action, and up until the 3/4 qtr we could not run for $hit, so play action did not work. BUT, when it does, it is beautiful, and saved us. The last possession for us deep in our own territory was a thing of beauty, and the play action to Lovett saved our butts. Huge play, and no one gives credit for that. Also, and I don’t like banging on kids, but the Stanford kid has killed us this yr with blocks.. bobo early on set up a great play deep in our territory and if he makes the block we have a huge gain, maybe 6. I need to do a rewatch to see but we had plays to make, we just did not make them
3. The delp effect: Delp is not Brock… no one is.. but we need more from him. And he needs to hold onto the ball thank g-d for a smith being alert and jumping on ball or we lose that game
4. The rod rob effect: last night we missed him. Plain and simple. He is a physical runner, and that would have helped. ETN is turning out to be a GREAT leader, and we needed him last night. Stud who did what he needed to do to help us win
I have a ton more on the o (getting bell involved) but we have some major things to work on
5. The D: I will be short here. Thought Humphrie’s played very well, lost in the Harris deal. I also think we have a stud at STAR. 11 is great, and getting back Warren and Williams will be HUGE. We have NOT given up a TD yet, and unlike Some teams, we actually played 2 with a pulse. Yes, we need to wrap up better, but you knew KY would be physical. That is stoops, and they played like it. But we made them fight for every yard. I was surprised we did not play back on last play, but that is Kirby aggressive style D. More on the D after I watch the tape
6 ref effects: I usually don’t blame the refs (save playing Bama) but man was it bad. It was almost like they were trying to keep KY in the game. The PF call vs 11 was a joke. Get the punt at start of game and it is different ball game. The non calls on fair punts had me perplexed.. and, like sand though the hour glass, holding is allowed vs UGA
In closing, this is my 49th straight game going to home and away.. we have lost 2 times in that stretch, 2… and my wife asked me last night “are you not pisses?” I said “nope, this is an unreal ride. Beyond my wildest dream”. We are the team everyone acts like it is the Super Bowl when we play them” and I reminded her how many times Bama ALMOST lost. Well, ALMOST does not count. We got the W. And I can’t remember (2018 or 2020) when we played Bama where everyone did not pick us. I like this setup, and it is a long road (need to split Bama/tx) but we are the kings.. everyone comes for the kings, but like most of CFB, even when we play like shit, you better not miss. We won, JTR out and more later
1. The mizzou effect: yep, this was mizzou 2.0 from 2 yrs ago save the turnovers. We could not run the ball, they had a kicker make every fg from 50+ , and like mizzou, who was coming off a tough loss at AU the week before, no one gave KY a chance. That, my friends, is a recipe for what happened.. walking around before the game every cat fan was saying the same thing….yall take it easy on us.. yall will be up by 40 in the 3rd.. ect.. we’ll, stoops is a FOOTBALL coach, and that is why Kirby likes him. You had to know they would come out and be physical, and they punched us in the face. It took a while, but we finally started punching back
2. The bobo effect: yes, mike had a rough night. BUT, his game planning is predicated on play action, and up until the 3/4 qtr we could not run for $hit, so play action did not work. BUT, when it does, it is beautiful, and saved us. The last possession for us deep in our own territory was a thing of beauty, and the play action to Lovett saved our butts. Huge play, and no one gives credit for that. Also, and I don’t like banging on kids, but the Stanford kid has killed us this yr with blocks.. bobo early on set up a great play deep in our territory and if he makes the block we have a huge gain, maybe 6. I need to do a rewatch to see but we had plays to make, we just did not make them
3. The delp effect: Delp is not Brock… no one is.. but we need more from him. And he needs to hold onto the ball thank g-d for a smith being alert and jumping on ball or we lose that game
4. The rod rob effect: last night we missed him. Plain and simple. He is a physical runner, and that would have helped. ETN is turning out to be a GREAT leader, and we needed him last night. Stud who did what he needed to do to help us win
I have a ton more on the o (getting bell involved) but we have some major things to work on
5. The D: I will be short here. Thought Humphrie’s played very well, lost in the Harris deal. I also think we have a stud at STAR. 11 is great, and getting back Warren and Williams will be HUGE. We have NOT given up a TD yet, and unlike Some teams, we actually played 2 with a pulse. Yes, we need to wrap up better, but you knew KY would be physical. That is stoops, and they played like it. But we made them fight for every yard. I was surprised we did not play back on last play, but that is Kirby aggressive style D. More on the D after I watch the tape
6 ref effects: I usually don’t blame the refs (save playing Bama) but man was it bad. It was almost like they were trying to keep KY in the game. The PF call vs 11 was a joke. Get the punt at start of game and it is different ball game. The non calls on fair punts had me perplexed.. and, like sand though the hour glass, holding is allowed vs UGA
In closing, this is my 49th straight game going to home and away.. we have lost 2 times in that stretch, 2… and my wife asked me last night “are you not pisses?” I said “nope, this is an unreal ride. Beyond my wildest dream”. We are the team everyone acts like it is the Super Bowl when we play them” and I reminded her how many times Bama ALMOST lost. Well, ALMOST does not count. We got the W. And I can’t remember (2018 or 2020) when we played Bama where everyone did not pick us. I like this setup, and it is a long road (need to split Bama/tx) but we are the kings.. everyone comes for the kings, but like most of CFB, even when we play like shit, you better not miss. We won, JTR out and more later
