Last nights game was certainly a disappointment for Kentucky fans as WKU defeated Uk 35-26 for their second straight win over the Wildcats. Let’s will take a look at the positives and negatives from last night’s performance.
The positives we can look at were Raymond Sanders, Ryan Timmons, Max Smith, and Demarco Robinson.
Raymond Sanders
Sanders had a productive night carrying the ball 14 times for 98 yards averaging 7.8 yards per carry. Kentucky is going to need this kind of production out of Sanders if this team is going to have any success this season.
Ryan Timmons
Even though Ryan Timmons is just a true freshman he showed how much talent he has in the open field. The one play he had that was really impressive was the 33 yard run. The only down fall to the run was the fact he fumbled as he was being tackled. I think you will see great things out of Ryan this season. Ryan had 1 catch for 6 yards and carried the ball for 33 yards on 1 carry.
Max Smith
It took three quarters for the coaches to finally put Smith in the game, but when they did he was productive. Max was 8-13 passing for 125 yards and 1 touchdown. If this team is going to run the true air-raid offense, I think they are going to have to consider giving Smith the majority of the snaps. I am not completely against the two quarterback system, because I think we have two quarterbacks that can lead this team, so why not give it a chance. I don’t know whether or not Max will start at quarterback next week but, I do think you will see him for more than one quarter.
Demarco Robinson
Dermarco Robinson had a productive game on offense and on special teams. Robinson caught 5 passes for 69 yards and a touchdown. Demarco also returned 2 punts for 54 yards averaging 27 yards per return, which isn’t bad. He returned 3 kickoffs for 74 yards with a long return of 26 yards. Demarco is one player that has to continue this type of play on the field as everyone else tries to catch up to his productivity.
There are several negatives that Kentucky needs to improve on for this team to start winning football games.
Defense
Last night the defense looked completely lost on the field. They couldn’t tackle for one, and the reason for that is they didn’t wrap up after they made initial contact with the Western’s ball carriers. I know we were a little short handed on this side of the ball with Cody Quinn not playing, but the secondary was getting burned all night long. Western had their way, they could throw the short passes and turn them into big gains, or they could complete longer passes. Either way Kentucky’s secondary got abused all night. Avery Williamson was Kentucky’s leader in tackles last night with 14. Za’Darius Smith had five tackles and Bud Dupree had 3 tackles. You have to have a lot more production out Smith and Dupree, they are to talented not to have better stats than that. Kentucky’s defense only had 1 sack and 3 tackle for loss. On the positive note they did force and recover two fumbles.
Penalties
Kentucky was penalized 10 times for 69 yards compared to Western’s 5-35. Many of Kentucky’s penalties were procedure penalties, that were totally uncalled for. Every time we met with Coach Stoops during the fall camp press conferences he was asked how they were doing with off sides penalties, he would say they have been clean. They had SEC officials at most of the practices. I’m not saying they weren’t clean throughout camp, because I believe Coach Stoops, but they need to be just as clean during the games. I know first game jitters came into play last night, but those should have went away midway through the first quarter.
Extra points
Extra points are very key components during a football game, and the one Joe Mansour missed late in the fourth quarter was totally unnecessary. To hit the upright on what is the equivalent to a 20 yard field goal should never happen. If Joe had made that extra point, that made it a one possession ball game. I watched Joe kick for an hour during warm-ups and he was hitting field goals from 55 yards. I know he has the ability to make these kicks, he just needs to be more accurate. Now the onside kick was one of the worst attempts I have ever seen. There is no way that ball should have been kicked that hard or that high. An onside kick needs to hit the ground and take the right bounce before the kicking team has a chance to recover it.
Overall this Kentucky team has a long way to go, but you have to remember Mark Stoops is going to do the things to make it right. He has already shown he has the ability to recruit the way you need to in order to be competetive in this league, he just needs time to get some more talent at very important positions.
Coach Stoops said last night in his post game press conference that Kentucky was out played and out coached. I don’t think they were out coached, I just think WKU had a little more talent and definitely outplayed Kentucky.
Some player that could potentially become impact players for this team are Javess Blue, Steven Borden, and Jason Hatcher. Blue had 3 catches for 25 yards, with a long of yards. Steven Borden had one of the better catches of the night as he caught 1 pass for 13 yards. With that one catch he showed he had the athletic ability to make a catch while keeping one foot in bounds on the sidelines. Jason Hatcher played throughout the second half, and show he had the ability to make some play at defensive end recording 3 total tackles.
Big Blue Nation remember this is just one game, we can still improve and have a successful season, but they are going to need the support or the fans. So don’t give up on this team after just one game, stay behind them and show up at Commonwealth Stadium next Saturday and show them the support they deserve.
See you Saturday.
GO CATS!!!
