HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF GOD DO WE NEED MARCUS THOMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I was a little kid (you know 25, 26) I used to dream about being the starting quarterback in the Super Bowl and calling a double reverse flee-flicker for the very first play of the game – so I was thrilled when Meyer called it and we got six. Still it was a disjointed play that Kentucky almost blew up and probably wouldn’t work against tougher competition.
When I first read that Marcus Thomas was suspended (“because I got high, dodi do di do do…”) for five games I sent out an email to some of you that said “We’re done.” Before the game I was calling him the second most important player on the team, but even I didn’t realize how much we were going to miss him. Good Lord!! I know it was extra-humid and we were coming off an emotional win, and won by 19, but Kentucky simply isn’t at our level and it is inexcusable that we played that way.
QB: You know it’s funny, when I first showed up here three years ago I heard about how great the Leakster was. I watched him and said, hey he’s not an accurate thrower. People used to crack on me for that, but I trusted my eyes rather than the hype. I very clearly remember watching us at Tennessee (the infamous Baker push back game) and he threw a TD pass to O.J. Small. The commentators watched a replay and talked about what an accurate passer Leak is while I watched Small have to reach behind his head to get the ball (as an aside – Small had good hands). For a good year I was the voice in the wilderness (NOTE: I was right, as is now generally acknowledged, which is why I feel justified in sending you all these writeups – and why your job is to read them) as I explained that he was pretty good at everything else, but not at putting the ball where he wanted (I say this less now, he doesn’t see defenders occasionally – which happened on his pick). Now Gainesville’s love affair with Leak is over and ironically I find myself defending him. He’s actually become a little more accurate, he hits most of his passes – just not in stride. In the end Chris Leak is a good quarterback: not just a not bad quarterback, but a good quarterback. Will Tebow eventually be better? Seems possible, but he is not right now. Leak gives us the best chance to win against the brutal Double-Tiger-Dawg October schedule. Meyer has been spot using Tim well so everyone thinks is he the second coming, but he is not being asked to read defenses. On that touchdown throw (that was called back) all he did was turn and fire – and it might have been picked or swatted down if two Wildcats had not Keystone Kopped into each other. Leak’s game was decent, nothing to write home about considering the competition.
GRADE: B
RB: Wynn (21) did not do as well as he did in Knoxville. He and Moore (33) put up some nice stats (and a fumble) but it never seemed that we could count on getting yards when we needed them – we piled up yards but did not score that much. Tebow ran the best of anyone. I still like Latsko (42), but the way they use him telegraphs that we are going to run – he is only on the field when the play is a run right behind him.
GRADE B- (this is Kentucky we are talking about after all).
WR: Baker (81) is beginning to establish himself as the dominant receiver of the bunch. I’m surprised how much Caldwell (5) has struggled to come back – thankfully we still have Cornelius (6), but I’m alarmed not to have three steady guys at this point in the season. Last year we ran too many shovel passes because Meyer loved them so much he ignored that misdirection plays only work if you use them occasionally – if you throw twenty shovel passes a game the defense isn’t going to fall for it. This year’s version of the shovel pass is the end around. Whenever I see one of our receivers in motion back towards the center of the field before the same I figure the odds are better than 50-50 he is going to get a handoff. Knock that off Urban.
GRADE: A-
TE: Poor Tater Salad (number 84 in your program, number one in your heart) barely made the field.
GRADE: NA
OL: This line is better at run blocking that pass protecting, save for our left tackle Phil Trautwein Jr. (75). Your left tackle should be primarily a pass blocker, he watches the blindside after all, and Trautwein (can’t think of a nickname – yet) holds his own on passes, but one runs he was repeatedly just blow back off the line on running plays. He isn’t just bad individually, he’s so bad I noticed twice he got pushed into Latsko’s way so Billy could not make his block. And the line as a whole got several false starts and holding calls.
GRADE: C+
DL: Kentucky didn’t even try to run – their first rush wasn’t until well into the second quarter for Pete’s sake (rarely see that) – yet they still managed to gash us a few times. Maybe you can say we weren’t expecting it, but I am worried that better teams will be able to do even more damage to us. Rather than just replace Thomas with the backup (#93 Steve Harris – I think) they juggled the line so now McDonald (95) is back at DT for the first time in close to two years and Derrick Harvey (91) starts opposite Moss (94). Harvey looks okay, he is raw – might get better. They flop the ends occasionally, a tactic I have always favored: don’t allow the OL to get comfortable. Without Thomas I supposed the passrush might be better – especially with a rusher inside now – but the run defense will be weaker. And I’m not seeing the rush develop yet. I know we got a bunch of sacks, but that was later in the game when our depth and athleticism (and the humidity) started to add up, early on their guy had time. Again this is Kentucky – not good.
GRADE: B-
LB: No one misses MT more than Brandon Siler (40), who had his least explosive game in a long, long while. We bring our linebackers up to show blitz and then drop out of it too much, our guys don’t back into the pass lanes quickly enough sometimes. Let’s stop being cutesy and rather than do that all the time just play good football. Also I’m ready to make my first call for a change of the year. Brian Crum (13) is lanky, but not great in coverage and has not done much in four games. Brandon Spikes (51) is a true freshman, but just seems more natural in coverage – where we really need help. The downside is he might be small against the run – but that is what Siler and Everett (30) are for (and Marcus Thomas – opps). As an aside Everett is good against the pass too, he is a pretty complete player, more so than Siler who, while still more valuable, is really only useful around the line and takes bad angles in coverage. Get Spikes in the lineup now so he can start the Bama game and have that experience before that killer October.
GRADE: B- (other than Everett and Spikes each knocking a pass down I don’t remember the corps making any other notable plays – do you?)
DB: There was less confusion in coverage this game, but I told you our corners were bad. Tremaine McCollum (18) either corner blitzes or fakes it presnap all the time, but must be the worst actor in the world – every time you can tell what he is going to really do.
GRADE: B (did clamp down after a while and did not have any problems with Nelson (1) got dinged and left the field).
ST: I don’t care if you have to put the whole starting offensive line, Leak, and Tebow out there to block, we have to change the bodies out there now because it horrific how bad we are. Let’s review: in four games we’ve missed FIVE extra points. FIVE!!! Three were blocked (not that the two botched snaps are any better). Maybe UT’s special teams just suck because Brandon James (25) did not find any space.
GRADE: F (and it is going to stay at F every single game until I see them make some positive plays – just average won’t cut it).
Coaching: I’ve already mentioned I don’t like all the end-arounds and fake blitzes. Nor do I care for not just running a weaker team over when we have lead – stop passing and just beat them up – we could use the fine tuning in the running game anyway. I liked the double reverse flee-flicker (but I thought of that years ago so I’m not giving Meyer many props), but you know I am going to pound Meyer for the 4th and goal fake field goal from the 22. What could possibly be the justification for that in a game that is already won with a kicking unit that needs the practice and confidence? Unless he was so worried they would botch it and drop morale even lower. But it was only a 40 yarder: we hopefully could have executed that and gotten our first fieldgoal of the year and if we couldn’t then it is just time to close up shop for the season. Yes we beat Kentucky, but they are awful (their coach has been a lame duck for over year – amazing I know) and there was not one clever coaching decision that contributed to the victory after the first touchdown.
GRADE: D
Football 101: I considered doing “misdirection,” but decided to give the defense some love – plus it gives me a chance to add another point. A “Zone Defense” one of two ways a team can try to stop another from passing. One is man-to-man coverage, where the defenders each pick and offensive player (well usually one or both safeties stay deep down the field to prevent a big play) and follows him around the field, staying close to knock down the pass if the opposing quarterback passes to him. The risk of this defense is that if the receiver can get away from his man he can make a big play. Teams that constantly play man defenses need to have very good corners (all teams play man when blitzing). The University of Florida Gators do not have good corners…ergo we should play zone. In zone a defender is responsible for a certain area of the field, not a particular player. Should a receiver enter his “zone,” the defender covers him until he leaves (and is passed off to another defender). There are many varieties of zone, were various players go to different spots in the field (even defensive linemen) – quarterbacks have a harder time reading these defenses and are more likely to make mistakes (they are also more likely to complete passes because receivers can “sit down” in the zone – that is run to a spot between two defenders and stop). Some coaches don’t like zone because they feel it is less aggressive – the defense waits and reacts rather than attacking the offense and forcing it to react (every defense should mix in both types of coverage). Our personnel (especially with Spikes) is more suited to zone: Everett and Spikes underneath to cover the short passes – Siler can clear a few heads in the middle – and our talented (and sure tackling) safeties deep, will protect our corners. Also, it is not relevant to us because we don’t play any (I think), but zone is better against running QBs because the defenders face the offense and watch it in zone, rather than running around and ignoring everything but their man.
Fans: Boy were they ever angry when Kentucky got up 7-6 late in the first half. And we were generally bitter for the whole game as everyone seemed to realize we were not smacking the WildCats around the way we should. Pretty impressive awareness from a group that often seems to be 99% drunk freshman girls in skimpy outfits (NOT A COMPLAINT!). Yes they are morons for wanting Tebow, but everyone always wants the other QB (49ers fans, NOT ME, once called for Joe Montana to be benched). Finally I was right behind an Alumni section (my seats were okay, not great) and they are not as into it. They don’t stand up all game the way the students do.
GRADE: A (good for not being happy complacent and realizing we need to be better)
Play of the Game: Come on, how can you even ask?
Player of the Game: Dallas Baker, his second of the year. There weren’t too many other candidates.
Looking forward: Alabama should be a win, but we have a lot of issues to work out for LSU, Auburn, Georgia. We are not going to go 3-0, and 1-2 seems just as likely as 2-1 right now. Hell 0-3 is not outside of the realm of possibility if we can’t kick extra freaking points. I can smell Jackie O’s $20. Maybe we can look the other way on Marcus Thomas? It was just pot…
When I first read that Marcus Thomas was suspended (“because I got high, dodi do di do do…”) for five games I sent out an email to some of you that said “We’re done.” Before the game I was calling him the second most important player on the team, but even I didn’t realize how much we were going to miss him. Good Lord!! I know it was extra-humid and we were coming off an emotional win, and won by 19, but Kentucky simply isn’t at our level and it is inexcusable that we played that way.
QB: You know it’s funny, when I first showed up here three years ago I heard about how great the Leakster was. I watched him and said, hey he’s not an accurate thrower. People used to crack on me for that, but I trusted my eyes rather than the hype. I very clearly remember watching us at Tennessee (the infamous Baker push back game) and he threw a TD pass to O.J. Small. The commentators watched a replay and talked about what an accurate passer Leak is while I watched Small have to reach behind his head to get the ball (as an aside – Small had good hands). For a good year I was the voice in the wilderness (NOTE: I was right, as is now generally acknowledged, which is why I feel justified in sending you all these writeups – and why your job is to read them) as I explained that he was pretty good at everything else, but not at putting the ball where he wanted (I say this less now, he doesn’t see defenders occasionally – which happened on his pick). Now Gainesville’s love affair with Leak is over and ironically I find myself defending him. He’s actually become a little more accurate, he hits most of his passes – just not in stride. In the end Chris Leak is a good quarterback: not just a not bad quarterback, but a good quarterback. Will Tebow eventually be better? Seems possible, but he is not right now. Leak gives us the best chance to win against the brutal Double-Tiger-Dawg October schedule. Meyer has been spot using Tim well so everyone thinks is he the second coming, but he is not being asked to read defenses. On that touchdown throw (that was called back) all he did was turn and fire – and it might have been picked or swatted down if two Wildcats had not Keystone Kopped into each other. Leak’s game was decent, nothing to write home about considering the competition.
GRADE: B
RB: Wynn (21) did not do as well as he did in Knoxville. He and Moore (33) put up some nice stats (and a fumble) but it never seemed that we could count on getting yards when we needed them – we piled up yards but did not score that much. Tebow ran the best of anyone. I still like Latsko (42), but the way they use him telegraphs that we are going to run – he is only on the field when the play is a run right behind him.
GRADE B- (this is Kentucky we are talking about after all).
WR: Baker (81) is beginning to establish himself as the dominant receiver of the bunch. I’m surprised how much Caldwell (5) has struggled to come back – thankfully we still have Cornelius (6), but I’m alarmed not to have three steady guys at this point in the season. Last year we ran too many shovel passes because Meyer loved them so much he ignored that misdirection plays only work if you use them occasionally – if you throw twenty shovel passes a game the defense isn’t going to fall for it. This year’s version of the shovel pass is the end around. Whenever I see one of our receivers in motion back towards the center of the field before the same I figure the odds are better than 50-50 he is going to get a handoff. Knock that off Urban.
GRADE: A-
TE: Poor Tater Salad (number 84 in your program, number one in your heart) barely made the field.
GRADE: NA
OL: This line is better at run blocking that pass protecting, save for our left tackle Phil Trautwein Jr. (75). Your left tackle should be primarily a pass blocker, he watches the blindside after all, and Trautwein (can’t think of a nickname – yet) holds his own on passes, but one runs he was repeatedly just blow back off the line on running plays. He isn’t just bad individually, he’s so bad I noticed twice he got pushed into Latsko’s way so Billy could not make his block. And the line as a whole got several false starts and holding calls.
GRADE: C+
DL: Kentucky didn’t even try to run – their first rush wasn’t until well into the second quarter for Pete’s sake (rarely see that) – yet they still managed to gash us a few times. Maybe you can say we weren’t expecting it, but I am worried that better teams will be able to do even more damage to us. Rather than just replace Thomas with the backup (#93 Steve Harris – I think) they juggled the line so now McDonald (95) is back at DT for the first time in close to two years and Derrick Harvey (91) starts opposite Moss (94). Harvey looks okay, he is raw – might get better. They flop the ends occasionally, a tactic I have always favored: don’t allow the OL to get comfortable. Without Thomas I supposed the passrush might be better – especially with a rusher inside now – but the run defense will be weaker. And I’m not seeing the rush develop yet. I know we got a bunch of sacks, but that was later in the game when our depth and athleticism (and the humidity) started to add up, early on their guy had time. Again this is Kentucky – not good.
GRADE: B-
LB: No one misses MT more than Brandon Siler (40), who had his least explosive game in a long, long while. We bring our linebackers up to show blitz and then drop out of it too much, our guys don’t back into the pass lanes quickly enough sometimes. Let’s stop being cutesy and rather than do that all the time just play good football. Also I’m ready to make my first call for a change of the year. Brian Crum (13) is lanky, but not great in coverage and has not done much in four games. Brandon Spikes (51) is a true freshman, but just seems more natural in coverage – where we really need help. The downside is he might be small against the run – but that is what Siler and Everett (30) are for (and Marcus Thomas – opps). As an aside Everett is good against the pass too, he is a pretty complete player, more so than Siler who, while still more valuable, is really only useful around the line and takes bad angles in coverage. Get Spikes in the lineup now so he can start the Bama game and have that experience before that killer October.
GRADE: B- (other than Everett and Spikes each knocking a pass down I don’t remember the corps making any other notable plays – do you?)
DB: There was less confusion in coverage this game, but I told you our corners were bad. Tremaine McCollum (18) either corner blitzes or fakes it presnap all the time, but must be the worst actor in the world – every time you can tell what he is going to really do.
GRADE: B (did clamp down after a while and did not have any problems with Nelson (1) got dinged and left the field).
ST: I don’t care if you have to put the whole starting offensive line, Leak, and Tebow out there to block, we have to change the bodies out there now because it horrific how bad we are. Let’s review: in four games we’ve missed FIVE extra points. FIVE!!! Three were blocked (not that the two botched snaps are any better). Maybe UT’s special teams just suck because Brandon James (25) did not find any space.
GRADE: F (and it is going to stay at F every single game until I see them make some positive plays – just average won’t cut it).
Coaching: I’ve already mentioned I don’t like all the end-arounds and fake blitzes. Nor do I care for not just running a weaker team over when we have lead – stop passing and just beat them up – we could use the fine tuning in the running game anyway. I liked the double reverse flee-flicker (but I thought of that years ago so I’m not giving Meyer many props), but you know I am going to pound Meyer for the 4th and goal fake field goal from the 22. What could possibly be the justification for that in a game that is already won with a kicking unit that needs the practice and confidence? Unless he was so worried they would botch it and drop morale even lower. But it was only a 40 yarder: we hopefully could have executed that and gotten our first fieldgoal of the year and if we couldn’t then it is just time to close up shop for the season. Yes we beat Kentucky, but they are awful (their coach has been a lame duck for over year – amazing I know) and there was not one clever coaching decision that contributed to the victory after the first touchdown.
GRADE: D
Football 101: I considered doing “misdirection,” but decided to give the defense some love – plus it gives me a chance to add another point. A “Zone Defense” one of two ways a team can try to stop another from passing. One is man-to-man coverage, where the defenders each pick and offensive player (well usually one or both safeties stay deep down the field to prevent a big play) and follows him around the field, staying close to knock down the pass if the opposing quarterback passes to him. The risk of this defense is that if the receiver can get away from his man he can make a big play. Teams that constantly play man defenses need to have very good corners (all teams play man when blitzing). The University of Florida Gators do not have good corners…ergo we should play zone. In zone a defender is responsible for a certain area of the field, not a particular player. Should a receiver enter his “zone,” the defender covers him until he leaves (and is passed off to another defender). There are many varieties of zone, were various players go to different spots in the field (even defensive linemen) – quarterbacks have a harder time reading these defenses and are more likely to make mistakes (they are also more likely to complete passes because receivers can “sit down” in the zone – that is run to a spot between two defenders and stop). Some coaches don’t like zone because they feel it is less aggressive – the defense waits and reacts rather than attacking the offense and forcing it to react (every defense should mix in both types of coverage). Our personnel (especially with Spikes) is more suited to zone: Everett and Spikes underneath to cover the short passes – Siler can clear a few heads in the middle – and our talented (and sure tackling) safeties deep, will protect our corners. Also, it is not relevant to us because we don’t play any (I think), but zone is better against running QBs because the defenders face the offense and watch it in zone, rather than running around and ignoring everything but their man.
Fans: Boy were they ever angry when Kentucky got up 7-6 late in the first half. And we were generally bitter for the whole game as everyone seemed to realize we were not smacking the WildCats around the way we should. Pretty impressive awareness from a group that often seems to be 99% drunk freshman girls in skimpy outfits (NOT A COMPLAINT!). Yes they are morons for wanting Tebow, but everyone always wants the other QB (49ers fans, NOT ME, once called for Joe Montana to be benched). Finally I was right behind an Alumni section (my seats were okay, not great) and they are not as into it. They don’t stand up all game the way the students do.
GRADE: A (good for not being happy complacent and realizing we need to be better)
Play of the Game: Come on, how can you even ask?
Player of the Game: Dallas Baker, his second of the year. There weren’t too many other candidates.
Looking forward: Alabama should be a win, but we have a lot of issues to work out for LSU, Auburn, Georgia. We are not going to go 3-0, and 1-2 seems just as likely as 2-1 right now. Hell 0-3 is not outside of the realm of possibility if we can’t kick extra freaking points. I can smell Jackie O’s $20. Maybe we can look the other way on Marcus Thomas? It was just pot…
posted by El Breto @ 2:04 AM
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