Kentucky Ink

Pro Day is a very exciting time for players, both seniors and underclassmen. The day marks the culmination of an 8-week winter workout period where players have been working out and running five days a week in order to be in top shape for the beginning of Spring football. Although there are new faces on the coaching staff, including Head Conditioning Coach Rock Oliver, the anxiety and anticipation of Pro Day is still the same. What I want to do in this blog is walk you through my senior Pro Day, which I might add was a lot less stressful than someone actually going to the NFL, but it might give you some insight as to what all goes on.

Before the festivities begin, a Scout from an NFL team gathers all the seniors in a room and has them fill out an information card about their careers at UK, including best games, injuries, touchdowns, surgeries, etc. I was the first one done filling my card out.

After the cards were in, we took the Wonderlic Test. The Wonderlic test is a test that measures the knowledge and problem-solving abilities of prospective NFL players.

The test is 12 minutes long and has fifty questions. This was the kickers time to shine.  We all remember Vince Young getting a 6 out of 50 and having to answer questions from the media about whether or not he was capable enough to run an NFL offense. I googled “worst Wonderlic Scores” and you would never guess who is tied for the worst scores ever. Bo Smith. Remember him? He actually did the test at Weber State, but was a fantastic corner for us before the Trevard Lindley days. Anyway, below is a link to a sample Wonderlic Test. Time yourself and let me know what you get. I never found out what I got.

http://walterfootball.com/draftwonderlic.php

The scouts then took us into the weight room, stripped us down to our boxers (remember Myron Pryor was in my senior class), and took our heights, weights, body fat measurements, and arm reaches. We were then ready to perform our physical tests.

Now you have to understand, I was a kicker and never took any of these days seriously, I just went out and had fun. After all, a kicker’s measurements aren’t that important as long as they can consistently kick a ball through the uprights. However, to other guys, this was their day to prove to scouts that they were skilled enough to help an NFL team. As you saw yesterday, the difference between Micah’s 4.9 and 4.7 times on the forty is astronomical. He may have moved up one round because of this. Guys definitely took this day serious. They wore skin-tight clothing to reduce wind resistance and even wore gold-plated track shoes to lighten their feet for the forty-yard dash. They brought out all the stops to ensure they performed to the best of their abilities.

I ran a 5.1 forty-yard dash time. Myron Pryor ran a 4.9. I was 185 lbs. He was 320 lbs. Like I said earlier, it didn’t matter what kickers did. A few other numbers stand out to me as I think back over all the Pro Days I had. I remember one year Alfonso Smith and a skinny up-and-coming Derrick Locke both ran forty-yard dash times in the 4.2s. At the time, both were underclassmen and stole the show from the seniors. Scouts began asking those two questions, even as sophomores and juniors. One year, I remember Rafael Little jumping a 44-inch vertical. That might have been the most outstanding thing I’ve seen at any Pro Day. Little was about 5’9’’ and could stand underneath a basketball rim and dunk a basketball two handed. He was a freak of an athlete. I also remember watching Chip Cosby make a fool out of himself when he swore he could run a 5.0 forty-yard dash and couldn’t see why all the lineman were running times of 5.2 and worse. He ran a 5.81, much to the delight of Coach Brooks.

After all the measurements are in and Pro Day has come and gone, two different stories begin to unfold. In one story, we have the seniors from the last season who have played their last game at Kentucky. Those that had successful Pro Day numbers begin talking with individual teams and scheduling personal workouts with those teams. Those who’s Pro Day was a failure begin gearing up for life after football (this is where I fall). 

In the other story we have the current UK football players. The NFL is a long way away for most every one of them, but their focus has now switched to the next step in the journey: Spring Football. This Pro Day gave us fans and the media a glimpse of what’s to come for next season. It also allowed Coach Ortmayer to find under-the-radar players who ran fast so that he can build next year’s kickoff and punt coverage teams. If nothing else, it marked the end of conditioning and the start of football. The players have a few more days of workouts, Spring Break, and then usually about 10 more days until Spring Practice, and that’s something we all can get excited about. I’m also ready to start writing more!

And today’s extra point is up and good!

If anyone has any suggestions for me to write about, especially in this period of downtime for football, please let me know. I look forward to covering spring football and bringing more insight into this year’s team.

Amidst the excitement happening down the street at Rupp Arena, the Kentucky football team has been making some huge strides in the coaching department. To begin with, let me hopefully be the last to introduce you to our new football coach, Joker Phillips. I am a little late on posting my comments about the recent coaching transition. Without further adieu, here you go:

I have always been a fan of Joker. My connection with him goes back to my days in Hazard, KY. Joker actively recruited John Olinger, a star wide receiver from the Hazard area, about 10 years ago. John ultimately decided to go to Cincinnati, but since then, Joker and I have always had the connection of the Eastern Kentucky area.

I hear many complaints about Joker’s play calling. I’m not here to say whether or not I agree with these complaints. I’m here to say none of that matters. The head coach is a figurehead. He has paid his dues by learning the x’s and o’s, but at this point in Joker’s career, the importance of the x’s and o’s has diminished.

Coach Phillips has always been a master recruiter. Our problem, however, has been that he has been the only recruiting genius within the program. Our success has been credited to our veteran coaches turning 2 and 3-star recruits into stars (Randall Cobb, Jeremy Johnson, Stevie Johnson, Jacob Tamme, etc). This strategy has been very successful. It has brought four straight bowl appearances. However, this strategy can only takes us so far.

Joker is out to change this strategy. He has gotten rid of the veteran coaches (Petri and Heggins) and is bringing in recruiters. David Turner and Mike Summers are part of this transition. Two guys that have been retained, Steve Ortmayer and Chris Thurmond, have shown success on the recruiting scene. Thurmond was credited with signing guys like Ryan Mossakowski and Ortmayer has been very successful in the JUCO ranks by signing guys like Chris Matthews and Dequin Evans. Bringing in Tommy Cook as a grad-assistant was also a fantastic choice. I remember playing with Tommy. He was a very talented, tough, hard-nosed individual that will instill the same attitude into the minds of our current receivers.

Joker gets it. He understands that these veteran coaches have been instrumental in building a 7 to 8 win program at UK. He also realizes that 7-8 wins is going to be as good as we can get with 2 and 3 star recruits. Instead, the focus has been shifted to bringing in high-level potential.  I took a look at Alabama’s up-coming recruiting class. They have 13 four-star recruits and 2 five-stars (according to CatsPause).  If we are lucky, we pull one or two four-stars a year. Sure, we all love Randall Cobb (who was a three-star recruit), but it’s time we change our mentality. We simply cannot compete with the talent of these top-tier SEC programs.

I’m excited about the new era in Kentucky football. We’ve hired a coach who doesn’t think 8 wins are good enough. We’ve hired a coach who doesn’t care to break ties with successful coaches in order to shift an attitude. We’ve hired a coach who knows how to relate to young men. We’ve hired a coach who will bring a 9^th win to the Commonwealth in the next one or two years. I’m on board with “Operation Win”, are you?

And today’s extra point is up and good!

 

After a disheartening loss to the Tigers, the talk around the team and the locker room wasn’t so much about the loss to Clemson but rather about the future of Rich Brooks. I’m not going to speculate about Brooks’ decision right now, but the overwhelming response from the players I have talked with say he is done for sure. Of course “for sure” means 100%, and that’s not the percentage Brooks gave to the media in his press conference after the game. His answer to how likely he was to retire was 80%. 80% is far from 100%. Something is keeping him from calling it quits. Think about it, if an antibacterial soap said that it killed 80% of germs, I wouldn’t buy it, would you? A lot can happen during this week of decision-making, so we will have to just stay tuned for his final verdict.

Now, some thoughts from the game:

1.  The Cats jumped out early and looked like they were going to put in a dominant performance. Newton looked focused and prepared out of the gate, but after throwing for 29 yards and a touchdown on the opening drive, he only threw for 69 more yards the rest of the game.  I want to anoint Newton as next year’s starting quarterback, but I just can’t do it yet. His passing skills need to improve during the spring and summer months.

2. He didn’t quite look as athletic as Tim Masthay did during the 2006 Music City Bowl, but Tydlacka nonetheless came up with a huge fake punt at a critical moment in the game.  Unfortunately the Cats couldn’t even convert a first down in 4 plays. This was the game for the Cats. Tydlacka ran it to the Clemson 38-yard line and our offense didn’t step up and score any points. The game was incredibly even throughout, and opportunities such as this one needed to be taken advantage of.

3. The defense did a fantastic job containing the explosive Clemson offense. Most of Spiller’s receiving yards were gained on one play, and he only gained 67 yards rushing. I’m excited about our offensive potential next year, but it may be difficult to sustain some of our success with the departure of so many of these defensive stars.

4. As I watched the game, I noticed that the body language of Brooks was different than it had been in awhile.  Besides the one tirade thrown on our punter after a 14-yard punt, Brooks was relatively lifeless out there. It seemed as though his heart wasn’t in it anymore (which may be the case).  

I must say the season has to be called a success.  For the fourth year in a row, the Cats have finished with more wins than losses. I remember in my first few years as a player, wins were hard to come by. Now, they are beginning to become expected. The atmosphere around the program has changed for the better, and this attitude will continue, whether Brooks is the leader or the reigns are turned over to Joker. 

Remember to stay tuned this week to discover the future of Rich Brooks.

And today’s extra point is up and good!

As the Cats prepare for their third Music City Bowl appearance in the last four years, you can’t help but to realize the eerie similarity between this year’s matchup

and the 2006 Music City Bowl matchup. Coach Brooks may simply need to look to the 2006 game film to figure out how to win his fourth consecutive bowl game. Take a look:

1. Let’s start with the obvious. Our opponents, once again, are the orange-clad Tigers from Clemson.

2. The starting running back for the Tigers in 2006 was the up-and-coming star C.J. Spiller. The starting running back for the Tigers in 2009 is the All-American C.J. Spiller. As a side note, the starting kicker for the Cats in 2006 was Lones Seiber and what do you know: same in 2009.

3. The Cats come into the game 7-5, the same record as in 2006. The Tigers come into this game with 8 wins (8-5). The Tigers came into the 2006 game with 8 wins as well (8-4).

4. Although the seasons for the Tigers were mirror opposites in 2006 and 2009, both teams wanted/want nothing to do with the Wildcats and the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl. If you remember, in 2006 the Tigers began their season 7-1 and climbed to as high as #12 in the AP poll. This year, the Tigers started slow, but finished with 6 straight victories before losses to rival South Carolina and Georgia Tech in the ACC championship. The Tigers were looking for their first ever BCS bowl game. The consolation prize: the Music City Bowl.

I vividly remember how much Clemson despised Nashville and the Music City Bowl in 2006. Their players never attended any of the voluntary bowl functions and they showed no emotion when introduced at the opening banquet. Their attendance for such functions as the FCA breakfast was slim and those that did attend were poorly dressed for the occasion. I also remember during C.J. Spiller’s speech at the FCA breakfast (both universities were represented), he explicitly said that he and his teammates knew that the season was a disappointment and Nashville was not where they were supposed to be.

5. The Cats come into the 2009 game with an inexperienced, talented quarterback with tons of potential, waiting for a chance to prove his talents to the national media. In 2006, some would argue that Andre Woodson was that same guy, an inexperienced, unproven, talented quarterback looking to prove something to his fans and the nation. Let’s only hope Morgan Newton has the success that Andre did in his next season.

6. The game in 2006 was between an over-achieving Kentucky team and an under-achieving Clemson team. This year’s matchup is no different.

7. How about this for coincidence: The Cats are going to be playing Clemson this year (the team they played in the 2006 Music City Bowl) because of Bobby Bowden’s (the team they played in the 2007 Music City Bowl) preference to want to coach his last game in the state of Florida.

As I reminisce on that game from 2006, I remember all the praise that the then “fresh on the scene” coach Rich Brooks was getting. He had accomplished the improbable and not only coached UK to a bowl game, but also came away with the victory. In 2007 and 2008, the “never-old” praise that the program and Coach Brooks received kept pouring in. Now here we are in 2009. The praise is still the same. However, Papaw Brooks is not a youngster anymore. Talks of retirement have come with this Music City Bowl bid, and the thoughts of beginning the 2010 season without our fearless leader are becoming more and more likely. I don’t have the answer on whether or not Brooks is done, but I am here to say that we can wait on the Joker Phillips era. I think Joker is a fantastic coach, guy, and recruiter, but there’s no hurry for the transition. 

Despite his age, Brooks has been a breath of fresh air for this program and for the SEC. He has done everything by the books and has brought a program out of the depths of probation to become one of the most successful postseason teams of the last 3-4 years. 

My prediction for the game will come later, but after analyzing some of the points mentioned above, I think we already know the outcome.  LP Field will be packed with Kentucky blue; Clemson won’t care what the final score is, and the Cats WILL WIN. History has already told us so.

And today’s extra point is up and good!

 

There’s not much left to say about this game. It was a textbook UK-UT game, and the ending is oh-so familiar. This season seemed so different, and even as we ran into the locker room at halftime, I sensed that this time was different.

We fell right into the Vols’ trap. They fooled us again, and unfortunately, we fooled ourselves again. I hate to sound like the pessimist, but this season wasn’t any different. We’re so soon to forget two years ago in this very stadium. Andre Woodson, Jacob Tamme, Rafael Little, Kenan Burton, Stevie Johnson. Remember those guys? Those 6 pros had that very same feeling as we did this year. We were looking for an 8-4 season that year as well and Tennessee came stumbling into that game, much like they did this year. There was no way we were going to lose that 2007 game, and then...opening play goes to the UT tight end and he rumbles some 70 yards for a heartbreaking opening blow. We for sure were going to end the streak that year, but multiple overtimes and the home crowd couldn’t even end it.

We begin searching for answers. Immediately people look towards the play-calling, but I thought Joker had a good game plan in place. Sure, we didn’t use the “WildCobb” much in that last quarter and overtime, but overall I thought the offense did a good job.

The defense played hard. Unfortunately, they ran into a possessed Montario Hardesty playing in his final regular season game of his career. Regardless of that pounding, we, for the most part, shut down the passing game and controlled their other play-makers.

Special Teams was adequate. The 48-yard field goal that missed wide left was not the reason we lost. The reason we lost was because we let a running back run 20 yards untouched into the end zone in overtime.

Heck, we even had one of our own (Luke Stocker) give us the ball at the end of the game because he wanted to give us a chance. He felt bad for scoring a touchdown earlier, so he graciously coughed up the football to give us one more shot. Does anyone kind of feel like that was scripted, like that was part of their viscous plan?

We are all out of answers. The only realistic solution left to consider is a curse. We’ve lost 25 straight games, the longest streak for a team that plays another team each year. When you think of curses, the one that immediately comes into my mind is the curse of the Chicago Cubs. That is the “mother of all curses” in many people’s minds. However, this current steak against UT is worse than the streak of over 100 years without winning the World Series and here is why. For a team to make it to the World Series, they must beat out 15-16 other teams in their league. They then have to play a team that also beat out 15-16 other teams in their respective league. Therefore, a team has about a 1 in 30 chance to win the World Series. The odds are not very good. UK, on the other hand, has a 50-50 shot at beating UT every year (granted some UK teams have been better than others). Each time they take the field, the have a shot at breaking the curse, and over the last 25 years they can’t do it.

What’s left to do? Well, we could get back to practice and make sure we put in a good showing at whatever third-tier bowl we play in. We could begin looking foreword to next year and develop some of our young players. I say we begin searching for the source of the curse. People say it’s the curse of Bear Bryant, but that doesn’t make any sense, he stopped coaching long before we started this current streak. I thought it was the curse of ol’ Phil Fulmer. That apparently isn’t the source either. I’ve ran out of ideas, that and I wasn’t even alive the last time we beat the Vols. If anyone has any ideas, let me know, because I think it’s time to put an end to this curse once and for all. There’s always next year, or is there?

 And today’s extra point is up and good!

The Cats roared into Athens and came out with a 34-27 victory. As I watched Georgia fans file out of the stadium between the famous “hedges”, I couldn’t help but to smile and think about how far this team has come. At the time, I thought the win against Georgia in 2006 was one of the biggest victories in team history. Georgia once again was involved in a marquis victory for the Cats, but this time it may have been the greatest win in UK history.

This has been a funny year. I just had a conversation with UK great Taylor Begley this afternoon and we were both in shock at how this season has unfolded. We have won 7 games this season, 3-1 on the road in the SEC, and most of the games have been played with no production from a quarterback. Don’t get me wrong, Newton is going to be a star, but he has looked uncomfortable in the offense up to this point. Many players have been dinged up throughout the year, however we have guys step up each week to fill in for the injured player’s missing production. In the past, injuries usually equated with bad seasons for the Cats. The 2004 and 2005 seasons specifically come to mind. We’ve been able to play decent defense all season with our future first-round draft pick corner on the sidelines. Special Teams have been adequate at best, and yet this team continues to win. I thought my 8-4 prediction at the beginning of the year was a bit optimistic, but if you really think about it, we have no business having 4 losses. We should be sitting at 8-3 at worst.

Here are some of my thoughts from the game:

1. Has anyone figured out my title yet? It of course refers to the American comic book great Charlie Brown. In this case, Lones Seiber is Charlie Brown and Randall Cobb is Lucy. After our first touchdown, Lones looked like Charlie Brown as he whiffed at the ball after Randall dropped it. I’ll say from experience, that doesn’t feel too good.

2. The player of the game was definitely Ryan Tydlacka. His numbers were average: 41.1 yards per punt and 36.1 net yards per punt. However, he made Prince Miller, a very dangerous return guy, fair-catch 4 punts. The biggest play of the game, however, was the punt out of our own end zone at the end of the game when we needed a big punt. Whenever we are punting out the end zone, the goal is to punt it to the opposite side of midfield. That is exactly what Tydlacka did. It put Georgia at a disadvantage and ultimately was the play of the game in my opinion.

3. One of the keys to the game was going to be how Newton threw the ball against the weak Georgia pass defense. Throughout the game, and early on in particular, we hardly even threw the ball. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to take advantage of an opponent’s weakness. Obviously, the staff knew something, because we were successful on offense and won the game, but one of these days we’re going to have to air it out to win. It may be this Saturday.

4. Lindley had an opportunity to seal the game early but he dropped the interception with 6:07 left in the fourth quarter. I couldn’t help thinking back to the game in 2006 when it was Trevard Lindley, an up-and-coming youngster, who made the game-clinching interception late in the fourth quarter against Matthew Stafford. That interception very well may be the reason why we are where we are right now. We’ve come a long way!

5. We keep talking about what it’s going to take for us to take the next step. Get this: with this win against Georgia, we are now 2-37 against SEC East teams in the Rich Brooks era, not counting Vanderbilt. That stat is the reason why we haven’t been able to take the next step yet.

6. With the pass from McCaskill, we have now used six quarterbacks behind center. Like I said, it’s been an odd season.

We are now faced with the biggest game in recent history for the Cats. A win would mean a possible trip to the Capital One Bowl or Outback Bowl. A loss would put us at an all to familiar 7-5. This feels like a different season; it almost feels special. However, over the past 4 seasons, we’ve been in this very same situation: needing a win against the Vols to win our eighth game. We again have an incredible opportunity to end the dreaded streak against Tennessee. We are better than them, we’re at home, and we have all the momentum. Until we actually beat them, however, it’s tough to bet against the Vols when they’re playing the Cats. After all, it’s been since 1984.

And today’s extra point is up and good!

Have you ever heard the rap song where the artist yells “baaalllin!” throughout the song? I remember in 2006 when Wesley Woodyard and others thought it would be cool to start yelling "boowwwlllin'" around the locker room and on all of our highlight films after we became bowl eligible in 2006. The saying stuck with us throughout bowl preparation that season and even filtered over to the next season as we again became bowl eligible. Saturday, the Cats became bowl eligible for the fourth straight season.

That saying is old hat by now, but it will never be forgotten. Guys like Wesley Woodyard, Andre Woodson, Jacob Tamme, and many others instilled a winning attitude, a swagger if you will, to this program and it’s still here in 2009. These fourth-year seniors now have been to a bowl game every year since they’ve been here. It’s because of those winning attitudes that these seniors don’t know any better but to go to a bowl game every year. You really can’t give Coach Brooks enough credit. His tough, do-it-by-the-books attitude has been a great change of pace for this university, and it’s turned out to be the winning recipe. Joker is going to be a great addition to this team, but I’m not ready for the current campaign to end anytime soon.

Now, a few words about the Vanderbilt game:

1. Is anything ever easy for the Wildcat football team? Vanderbilt is a horrible team and we were letting them hang right in there. For once, I would like us to beat a team and beat them bad.

2. It don’t even need to say it because everyone’s been talking about it, but the way Newton and Hartline were substituted in the first half was ridiculous. We won this game because the staff realized this at halftime. As I watched the game, my answer to the quarterback situation was simple: play Cobb now, Hartline the rest of this season, and Newton/Mossakowski for the next four years. I like Hartline, but he just won’t be able to compete with the two freshman. Also, the staff wouldn’t have brought in two highly-touted quarterbacks if they were satisfied with our current situation. It’s unfortunate but true. Politics is such a big part of college football and many people don’t realize this.  When Hartline is eventually forced out however, we can’t forget what he has done for this program. He took over for one of the greatest quarterbacks in Kentucky history and, despite his struggles at times, has continued our winning ways by taking us to two more bowl games.

3. Randall Cobb is a safety net for this team. We can experiment at all positions, but when the game is on the line it’s nice to know that if we want to win it’s as easy as inserting Cobb as the quarterback.

History has shown he is not effective as a starting quarterback, but the coaching staff has very effectively used his talents. I have a hunch he is going to be a guy that sticks around all four years. He has embraced this city and we’ve definitely embraced him. He seems to be right at home when he’s on the field and I think he’ll use every bit of his eligibility.

4. Don’t look now but this team still has the possibility of reaching 8 wins. Winning out will bring our conference record to 4-4 and may shut-up all these stupid media outlets say that UK and Vandy are still the “bottom-dwellers” of the SEC (Vandy is, not us). Wins over Georgia and UT are not totally out of the question (although no matter how good we seem to match up with the Vols we always seem to lose). Finishing with two wins would move us to second in the SEC East and would ensure us of a very nice bowl. The future could be now for the Cats.

5. I’m going to stop wasting blog space by posting a Special Teams breakdown. I’ll just start mentioning the goals in this blog. We actually only achieved one of our goals and that was the goal to make 100% of our kicks. Ryan Tydlacka absolutely bombed the football, but Vandy was able to return some of them so the net average wasn’t over 40 yards. He averaged 45.2 yards per punt, though. Seiber is 8 out 12 on the year and continues to fly under the radar. I bet fans are disappointed that Lones hasn’t really given them anything to talk about this year!

That’s it for now. Tune in next week for a HUGE showdown against the Bulldogs. It’s cliché to say, but this really is a one game season. If the Cats can put in two more great efforts, their holiday season may be a little warmer than the last few seasons.

And today’s extra point is up and good!

The Cats took care of the Colonels Saturday, improving their record to 5-4. The Cats were without their two top playmakers, Derrick Locke and Randall Cobb, but were still able to put 37 points on the board. It’s always nice to step out of the grueling SEC conference schedule in November and pick up a “W”. Although nothing overly exciting happened in the game, here are some of my thoughts from Saturday:

1. Will Filder saw some action starting in the second quarter. I thought he should’ve been given a chance to play last week against Mississippi State. I don’t understand, however, why the staff sat him last week and played him this week. Morgan Newton was putting together some good drives, connecting on most of his passes, and was putting points on the board. He also threw 2 touchdowns and had plenty of momentum. Fidler seemed to kill some of the success that the offense was having up to that point. He shouldn’t have been put in until either Newton started struggling or the game was out of hand. Filder’s a good quarterback, it’s just asking a lot to put him in cold in the second quarter and expect him to have success. Last week was the perfect time to put Fidler in and they didn’t do it.

2. Brooks proclaimed the phrase “Quarterback Controversy” during the post-game press conference. I never thought I would say this, but I would personally go with Hartline if he were able to go. I don’t believe someone should lose his job because of an injury, and Mike was starting to have some success throwing the football. He’s not the long-term solution, but he should be playing right now. What do you think?

3. One thing that bothers me about Newton is his release. He has a very high release, much like Andre did, but I actually think it is slower than Woodson’s was.

The biggest knock on Woodson, aside from taking too many sacks, was his slow release. Newton has not learned how to make his progressions and look for his number 2 and 3 receivers if his go-to guy is covered, but this will come with more experience and I’m not worried. I am worried about his slow release, though. This characteristic sometimes is usually difficult to change.

4. I wanted to mention something about the fake field EKU ran during the game. I learned so much from talking with Coach Ortmayer over my career, and one thing he taught me was that if the defense holds a team to a field goal, more than likely they will take the next play off because they feel as though they’ve already accomplished their job: hold the opposing team to a field goal. If the defense gives up a touchdown, they are usually ticked off and will give it everything they have to try to block the extra point. Teams are very vulnerable to fakes on field goals, and the Cats should have known that EKU would try something tricky.

5. Did anyone else notice how long it took EKU to kick the ball off after their first touchdown? The ball kept falling off the tee because of the wind, the kicker kicked one out of bounds, and then there was a procedure call on the Colonels. I randomly looked at the clock, and it took them about 10 minutes to get a successful kickoff. These were just some of the plays that made for a long, boring game in my opinion.

6. I was finally impressed with the play calling. I thought Joker allowed Morgan to throw the football more than usual, and he was successful in doing so.

7. Tyler Sargent was holding, taking the place of Randall Cobb, and you could tell that Lones was never comfortable. He hit a few ugly kicks and the kicks he did make weren’t pretty either. I think fans automatically assume that no matter what, kickers are supposed to make every kick, but little things such as changing holders has a huge impact on how comfortable we feel during a kick. Lones was just starting to get used to Cobb and now he may have to use Sargent for the rest of the season.

8. Did anyone noticed how ugly EKU’s yellowish-tan footballs were?

9. When John Conner and Moncell Allen finish their football careers, whether it is in college or NFL, I think they could always find jobs as bouncers or bodyguards. I’d hire them.

The Wildcats find themselves in an all to familiar position: needing a victory against Vanderbilt to become bowl eligible. Vanderbilt is having their typical “out of bowl contention by October” season, but the Cats should have plenty of motivation. After all, they ruined my Senior Night last year! All joking aside, the team needs to play their best game of the season because wins against Georgia and Tennessee are no guarantee. We also need to have a good showing in Nashville because who knows, we may be back down there in a few months.

I won’t be putting up a long Special Teams breakdown because I’ve been busy studying, but I will say that we only met 2 of the 6 goals: net kickoff returns past the 35-yard line and holding the opposing kicker to 50% or less on kicks. It might be time to adjust some of these goals!

And today’s extra point is up and good!

My Mississippi State Special Teams breakdown:

1. Net 40 yards from scrimmage on Punts or pin opponents inside the 15 yard-line.

Ryan had another good game. He netted 42.5 yards per punt. His net average for the year is just under the usual benchmark for punters of 40.0 yards per punt. I jokingly said to him that his season average would be much longer if he didn’t have punts that hit the ground and bounced backwards (South Carolina 5-yard punt). Nonetheless, Tydlacka is having a good season and he will only get better as the years go on. We met this goal.

2. Have opposing punters net less than 30 yards.

Randall Cobb again gave opposing kickers and punters fit. His punt returns were one reason that Mississippi State’s punter netted 17.8 yards per punt. We met this goal.

3. Net the 20 yard-line or less on kickoffs.

McIntosh continues to fall just shy of our goal, however, he has done an adequate job up to this point. He and the team netted the 24.5 yard-line. This goal was not met.

4. Net the 35 yard-line or greater on kickoff returns.

Cobb and Locke are a dynamic duo on kickoff returns. If a team chooses to kick away from one, the other is just as likely to break a big return. The main reason why these guys are so successful is because when they catch a kick, they immediately hit the hole and don’t “dance” around. With their speed alone, they ought to return the ball to the 30 yard-line each time before the opposing team even reaches them. They netted the 40.3 yard-line on Saturday. This goal was met.

5. Block one kick or have opposing kicker go less than 50% on field goals.

Nothing exciting here. 1-1 on FG’s and 4-4 on EP’s. This goal was not met.

6. 100% on field goals and extra points.

Seiber has been flying under the radar for most of the season. The more we don’t talk about Seiber the better. Much of the controversy has been swarming around the offense this year and I think Seiber is enjoying his “time-off” from all the attention and pressure. He seems more comfortable than any other time during his career. He had another workman-like 1-1 on FG’s and 3-3 on EP’s. This goal was met.

Seiber’s season field goal totals: 6 for 9

We met 4 out of 6 goals. Like I said in my game summary, I thought we dominated the kicking game and the offensive side of the ball. The Special Teams goals that we didn’t meet were very close to being met. I look for us to do some big things in the kicking game next week against EKU and get this season back on track.

The website’s new format has messed up my “check” marks and “x” marks, so I’m sad to say that I won’t be incorporating any easy visuals for quick reference anymore. Oh well, I’m sure everyone’s disappointed.

And today’s extra point is up and good!

On a cool, brisk Halloween night, the Wildcats fell victim to Anthony Dixon and the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

The talk all week was whether or not the Wildcats would wear black uniforms and get into the spirit of the self-proclaimed “blackout”, but perhaps the focus should’ve been on how to contain the SEC’s third ranked rusher. Anthony Dixon pranced for 252 yards on 33 carries as the Bulldogs rushed for 348 yards. The Cats took a serious step backward on their quest for that elusive “better” bowl and now are faced with a serious fight if they want to reach their fourth consecutive bowl game.  Here are some of my thoughts as I watched from my seat inside Commonwealth:

1. I saw many good costumes in the crowd. I saw Darth Vadar getting chased up and down an isle because he wouldn’t remove his mask (I guess it’s a rule that you can’t wear a mask). I saw Macho Man Randy Savage, Superman, and four or five U.S. presidents. But, the best costumes I saw all night were the UK defensive lineman costumes that those guys wore out on the field. Those couldn’t be our real defensive linemen out there. Corey Peters and Ricky Lumpkin are future NFL prospects and there is no excuse to allow a guy to dominate the ground game like they allowed Dixon.

2. I understand the need to get Morgan Newton some experience from here on, but I don’t understand the way they’re going about doing it. I could be wrong, but aren’t we still trying to win football games? The three-headed balanced quarterback attack is the way to win right now. Coach Brooks claimed that Fidler would be inserted when Newton struggled, but that wasn’t the case tonight. Sure Newton ended the game with decent stats (11 for 18), but most of his stats came on that final drive. Fidler didn’t touch the field, and Randall touched the ball only 11 times on offense. I just don’t understand it.

3. The recipe to succeed is very simple. Hand the ball off to Locke (who once again rushed for over 100 yards) and have him run the ball to the left, put Cobb in the Wildcat and run the ball to the right, and then allow Fidler/Newton to throw the ball 15-20 times.

4. Has anyone noticed that Locke runs the ball to the left probably 19 out of 20 carries? I’m not saying it doesn’t work, because it obviously does, but it seems as though other teams would begin to pick up on this.

5. Who’s our #1 receiver? I don’t think we have a go-to guy. Five guys had two catches and one guy had one catch on Saturday. I really wish Matthews would separate as the guy who becomes that go-to guy, but for whatever reason the quarterbacks won’t look his way. Newton finally started looking downfield on that last drive, you just wander why he doesn’t open it up earlier on in the game. I understand he is young and inexperienced, but you would think that he would take advantage of all these talented receivers.

6. Newton seems to like La’Rod King. Look for him to start seeing more passes come his way.

7. Does anyone wonder why Newton got the nod over Ryan Mossakowski as the freshman to lose his redshirt? People haven’t really talked about this much, but I think it is a valid argument. I understand that Newton can move better than Mossakowski, but we don’t have any problems with running the football. Cobb and Locke are averaging around 150 yards a game together. If we wanted a running quarterback we should’ve appointed Cobb as the starter. Why not give Mossakowski, who is a pocket-passer with a great arm, a chance to show his skill of throwing the football? Our problem right now is a lack of production in the passing game. If we want to compete in the SEC now and in the future, our passing game needs to improve. When Andre Woodson was quarterback, we had a great passing game but we didn’t have a running game. Perhaps finding that balance would be what it takes to get the Cats to the next level.  

8. When Anthony Dixon scored the go-ahead touchdown, was that not a celebration penalty when he threw the ball up in the air? The NCAA needs to get rid of the penalty altogether if the refs are going to call it half the time. It’s an opinion call and has no place in the college game. Let college athletes have fun; if anyone should be flagged for excessive celebration it should be the professionals.

9. If you analyze the 3 phases of the game, we dominated the Special Teams and for the most part had our way on Offense. After all, as bad as we’re complaining about the offense, we did score 24 points. The only phase that kept us from winning was our defense, and boy was it ugly.

My how the tables have turned. Last week we were trying to figure out which city in Florida we would like to play a bowl game. Now, we may be trying to figure out which city in Florida we would like to go to for Christmas vacation. I really hate when people turn on a team just for losing a game, but our hopes for the rest of the season took a serious hit on Saturday.  Coach Brooks has always been known for losing games he shouldn’t and winning games he shouldn’t, so, I wouldn’t count this team out yet.

And today’s extra point is up and good!