Weekend Beatdown / Football Recap - UK Loses To #1 LSU 35-7

So, absent from our site last week was my football recap post, just like our offense in that game (and every game for that matter this season). There really wasn't much to say about that game other than for the first five minutes it looked like our defense showed up to play since they forced Florida to punt on their first 2 offensive possessions but then Clemons fumbled the ball, Florida recovered, and the game was over. The only highlight of that game was for the fans like me in attendance that got to watch some other fans play keep away with a ball kicked over the nets on a couple Florida +1's. Security/Police got the first ball back but the second one went about a 1/4 way around the stadium being passed by fans from the endzone to around the 20 yard line and up into the upper stadium section and then either out of the stadium or was hidden. Our backup QB Max Smith got to see his first action that game and did decent for a guy who's first game was against Florida.

So that brings us to this past Saturday. Before the game I was driving around and listening to the radio announcers drop the word upset a few times. I had heard this word a few times last week being that the last time we played LSU they were #1 and we beat them in that unforgettable game where we stopped them in triple OT. That UK team and this UK team are vastly different though and I had to laugh and the slightest suggestion of a possible upset by this team. As expected, this team didn't leave my laughter unfounded as they went to LSU and lost like we all expected.

As fans we wanted to go the first couple games and think we just had a bad game or two, things would get better, we can not really be this bad particularly on offense, and things just had to get better. Unfortunately, we were wrong. One of the greatest strengths Joker talked about heading into the season was our offensive line. Now unless doing a great swiss cheese imitation is a strength then our offensive line is a HUGE weakness. In the LSU game our QB was sacked FIVE times (Newton 3 times in the 2nd quarter and Smith 2 times in the 3rd quarter). Your job is to protect the QB. You are supposed to want to protect him more than they want to get him and show it by your play. Instead they open holes for the defense and let things like in the above photo happen with our QB on the ground and the opposing team running off with our ball.

When it comes to our offense, there are so many problems it is hard to figure out which is the worst. Is the o-line the reason Newton isn't doing as good as we hoped and our run game is not much of a factor at all OR is Newton taking way too long to think and giving the defense time to get him and our runners aren't that great? Are the WR's incapable of catching the ball most of the time OR is Newton not placing them where they need to be and throwing into coverage too often instead of going to a more open, better choice? Is the play calling on the sidelines bad and too conservative OR is Newton changing the play often and it's his choices that are bad and conservative and ultimately get us nowhere? The entire offense is one big question mark in terms of searching for the largest problem. We keep swaping out players on offense trying to improve things and even swapped Newton out for Smith at QB to try to improve things and we are still getting nowhere. The offense is clearly a mixture of all of the above problems with a weak offensive line, a running game thrown fully on the shoulders of a freshman (Clemons) that while doing great I think for a freshman is still a freshman, WR's that drop way too many balls or don't compete hard enough for them, and a QB that takes too long to think and make plays and doesn't always take in the whole field when looking for receivers.

While it is clear this team's performance is quickly getting Joker on the hot seat, you can't say the man isn't trying on some levels. He saw the defense was a major weak point last season especially in the running game and thus in the off season brought in Minter to help with the defense and thus far, seems to have helped some. He has seen Newton hasn't been the star thus far we all hoped for either due to himself, the players around him, or the apparent blame of both sides and thus put Smith in some. The latest news coming from Joker's press conference today is that the staff is looking into Bookie Cobbins some now, a Scout.com 3-star QB from Louisiana listed as the #26 dual threat QB and who had 10 TDs in four games his senior year of high school before he got injured that year. Fans and coaches alike are looking for any help and are giving Cobbins a serious look now to see if he could provide any spark for this offense.

The only positives from last Saturday's game is that the defense seemed to play pretty well considering they were playing the number one team in the country at home and that they at times had to spend a lot of time on the field with little rest thanks to the offense going three and out in 5 tries for the first 20 minutes of the game. Clemons also had a 17-yard rush which the TV announcers stated was the longest rush the LSU defense had allowed all season. Clemons is showing he will be great in time but is still a freshman for now and with our weak o-line can not do that very often. Oh yeah, and Tydlacka had another good team MVP performance with a beautiful 64 yard punt at one point that sent the ball from our 14 yard line to LSU's 22 yard line.

One final point that cannot be overlooked in the LSU game is that the refs definitely favored LSU. Before LSU scored their first TD they were around our one yard line and lined up with 13 players. It appeared that a ref had his hand on the flag, ready to throw it, but just stood there and gave LSU time to call a timeout and thus prevent the penalty. Move forward a bit and the first time we're anywhere close to committing a penalty the flags are flying. I know as fans we often complain about the refs, especially when we lose in basketball (and even sometimes when we win) but it was clear they made a couple really bad calls that went against us and even the TV announcers commented on it.

Overall for the football team right now, the defense seems decent. Still has some problems with the running game like last season and they aren't a top 25 defense by any stretch but our weak offense that forces them out there for stretches at a time doesn't help them any at all. As for our offense well...I'm not sure there is any hope for them at this point. There are so many problems that even if one was fixed, there would still be many issues left. At least we have Tydlacka. That should be a selling point for UK on kickers. "Kickers, come to UK where we can guarantee you'll have more playing time than anywhere else!"