Somebody else pointed it out earlier this year but the recipe for UofL was the same all year. Get ahead early, dial up pressure on D against a team trying to come back from a big deficit and blow them out (Charlotte, Syracuse, FSU, Marshall, NC St. & BC) OR struggle offensively early with penalties, turnovers, negative yardage plays (OLine), etc. and play a close game (Duke, UVa, Wake Forest, UK). The 2 outliers were high profile games: Clemson where they came back from a 1st half deficit and Houston where they were dominated in every facet. This suggests immaturity and coaching weakness to me.

 

Told my son walking out of the game, Lamar is like watching Russ Smith play basketball. You love the great plays and cringe at the crazy bad plays. 3.5 turnovers in the 2nd half of a close game is obviously too many. He's a SOPH who has only played 1.5 full seasons. Hopefully he gets better at decision making & reading defenses over the offseason and has a great final year at UofL.

 

Defense was awful in every phase. Props to UK OLine. They kept UofL from pressuring Johnson which exposed poor execution and schemes by UofL. When they did get any pressure, they failed to maintain gaps and allowed huge scrambles by Johnson on key plays. Secondary was playing with backups and UK made them pay. 3rd down efficiency was awful for UofL D / great for UK O.

 

Assume Staples was injured? Did not see him entire game.

 

Goal line stand in 2nd Q was big. Thought 8 got a poor spot at the 2 on 1st down. Thought 23 got in on 2nd down. 23 had carried the load on that drive and presume Petrino wanted to reward him with the TD. That has typically been a situation where 34 would be brought in as a bigger back. 3rd down call appeared hurried and disjointed for no reason. Didn't like the play call, particularly with UofL's OLine. Credit to UK defense for stepping up.

 

Will be interesting to see where they end up going. Would love to see a rematch in Nashville, but suspect that won't happen.

 

Will also be interesting to analyze what UofL has coming back on the defensive side of the ball. They should be fine offensively with several skill players returning. No clue how many of the OLine will be moving on, but whatever comes in next year can't be much worse - I hope.

Bowl predictions I'm seeing this morning seem to like Louisville heading to the Citrus Bowl... or whatever that's called now.

ROFL. Wow. And UL was a playoff team?

 

Agree. Overrated is true for soooo many teams this year at some point. Baylor (#3 in ESPN preseason poll), Stanford (#8), Notre Dame (#9), Houston (#10), Tennessee (#11), Ole Miss (#13), Mich. St. (#14), UNC (#17), Oregon (#18), Texas A&M (#4 in initial Committee poll). Further evidence that any poll prior to 4-6 games into the year is ridiculous AND that polls overall are fairly ridiculous.

SEC! SEC! SEC! CATS! CATS! CATS!

 

Slow your roll there. Check the Clemson and FSU results. Also, Vandy over Tennessee shows that, at least this year, SEC football closely approximates SEC basketball (Bama / UK and a bunch of "also participated" teams). ACC is no better, but the whole SEC worship is completely undeserved - as usual.

Bowl predictions I'm seeing this morning seem to like Louisville heading to the Citrus Bowl... or whatever that's called now.

 

Russell Athletic Bowl

Louisville being projected to the Russell Athletic Bowl now.

 

Where?

Slow your roll there. Check the Clemson and FSU results. Also, Vandy over Tennessee shows that, at least this year, SEC football closely approximates SEC basketball (Bama / UK and a bunch of "also participated" teams). ACC is no better, but the whole SEC worship is completely undeserved - as usual.

 

As usual? The SEC has won 8 of the past 10 national championships. This includes 4 different teams Alabama,Auburn, Florida and LSU. Nearly 20 percent of NFL is made

up of former SEC players. Agreed that this may be a bit of a down year, but to insinuate that the conference is typically overrated is way off base.

Saw a stat earlier, with the U.K. Win over UL the SEC has the most non conference wins against top 25 opponents of any conference. Haven't had a chance to verify if true.

Saw a stat earlier, with the U.K. Win over UL the SEC has the most non conference wins against top 25 opponents of any conference. Haven't had a chance to verify if true.

 

If true, how many of those wins are against SEC Top 25 teams AND in games where 2 overrated SEC teams are facing each other (assuring the SEC of a Top 25 win in each of those games)?

As usual? The SEC has won 8 of the past 10 national championships. This includes 4 different teams Alabama,Auburn, Florida and LSU. Nearly 20 percent of NFL is made

up of former SEC players. Agreed that this may be a bit of a down year, but to insinuate that the conference is typically overrated is way off base.

 

When the system of getting into the playoffs is predicated on "rankings," by definition any overrated conference is going to have more opportunities to win that National Championship. This makes my point rather than refuting it.

The Eddie Gran OC upgrade for UK was such an improvement from Dawson. Oh, and how did things work out at Cincinnati where they were better off with Gran and Hinshaw leaving for UK? That's right, they were flat out wrong. You know who you are.

Where?

 

Appears from the "tie-ins" that it comes down to FSU & UofL for the Orange (DEC 31 - Miami) and Citrus / Russell Athletic Bowls (DEC 28 - Orlando).

 

ACC is assured of a spot in the Orange and that goes to the ACC Champ if they are not in the Playoff. Assuming Clemson beats VaTech, Orange spot likely goes to either UofL or FSU. (From reading things, it appears that VaTech would go to Orange if they beat Clemson since they are the ACC Champ and not in the Playoff.)

 

Assuming the Orange Bowl officials get to make the choice, they have to decide between 2 teams with 3 losses (both losing to Clemson) where UofL drubbed FSU at home early in the season but FSU finished stronger than the collapsing Cards and who would presumably sell more tix. I suspect $ speaks louder and FSU goes to Orange (probably against Michigan) leaving UofL in the Russell Athletic against a Big12 team.

Appears from the "tie-ins" that it comes down to FSU & UofL for the Orange (DEC 31 - Miami) and Citrus / Russell Athletic Bowls (DEC 28 - Orlando).

 

ACC is assured of a spot in the Orange and that goes to the ACC Champ if they are not in the Playoff. Assuming Clemson beats VaTech, Orange spot likely goes to either UofL or FSU. (From reading things, it appears that VaTech would go to Orange if they beat Clemson since they are the ACC Champ and not in the Playoff.)

 

Assuming the Orange Bowl officials get to make the choice, they have to decide between 2 teams with 3 losses (both losing to Clemson) where UofL drubbed FSU at home early in the season but FSU finished stronger than the collapsing Cards and who would presumably sell more tix. I suspect $ speaks louder and FSU goes to Orange (probably against Michigan) leaving UofL in the Russell Athletic against a Big12 team.

 

I get all that...

 

But who is currently projecting UofL to the RAB? That was my question to him. I can't find any outlet projecting that.

If true, how many of those wins are against SEC Top 25 teams AND in games where 2 overrated SEC teams are facing each other (assuring the SEC of a Top 25 win in each of those games)?

I would guess none since I said NON conference wins.

 

Defense was awful in every phase. Props to UK OLine. They kept UofL from pressuring Johnson which exposed poor execution and schemes by UofL. When they did get any pressure, they failed to maintain gaps and allowed huge scrambles by Johnson on key plays. Secondary was playing with backups and UK made them pay. 3rd down efficiency was awful for UofL D / great for UK O.

 

This is where UK won the game. They executed these areas of the game almost to perfection. Kudos to them for that.