DiderotsGhost
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That was ugly. I definitely have my share of critiques about our performance, but I also want to step back a bit.
This is one of the weirdest games I've ever seen. Why? Because our defense played very well and we completely dominated the line of scrimmage, but somehow managed to lose 34-7. The loss was entirely on the QB position. You put Trevor Lawrence out there and we win this game 38-7. And while that's not a completely fair comparison (Lawrence is, after all, a generational QB), I do think we win this game with even semi-competent QB play. I've never seen a team look so much like "the better team" and still get blown out like this. We'll cut right to the chase.
Quarterbacks
JG. Let's just get it out of the way: that was a dogs#$% performance by JG. 3 turnovers and none of them were "forced" by the defense or even the result of defensive pressure. That's what makes it so infuriating. One of the most inexplicable fumbles I've ever seen, followed by 2 pick 6s where JG just threw extremely ill-advised passes. JG looked completely lost out there. My biggest concern with JG is that he's never improved. In 2018, I thought JG would continue to improve and that by 2020, he'd be one of the better SEC QBs. But honestly, he looks no better than he did in 2018. The only difference is that he now has better talent surrounding him at every position, which makes his performances more baffling.
QB issues. It's not just JG, though. Shrout threw an INT on his first pass. Bailey, who does at least have the excuse of not having much of an offseason to get prepared due to Covid, also looked lost out there. Why were our QBs so unprepared for Kentucky's coverage? This feels as much of a coaching issue as a JG issue; even though I think we've hit the ceiling with JG. Are the QBs not watching film? Whats going on?
Maurer? I'm still curious what happened to Maurer. He's not played a single down this season. But I'm more concerned that they didn't even play him in the scrimmage. Is he still injured? Edit: he is still injured. That's why we haven't seen him.
Solution? I don't know what the solution is at this point. Part of me is in the "let's just give Bailey the reigns and see how it goes" camp. The Covid season is odd anyway and we're all going to look back at it as a weird aberration in a few years. If we know JG is not going to get us anywhere, then maybe we just see what Bailey can do, prepared or not. But I still worry that the problem with the QBs may be in no small part a coaching issue.
Everything Other than QBs
Alright now that the QBs are out of the way, here's the good news: we played pretty well almost everywhere else. Which is why I'm annoyed at all the "FAHR PRUITT" and "PRUITT IS AN ARRFUL COACH" critiques.
The O-line dominated in the run game. After faltering last week against Georgia, our O-line completely dominated again in the run game this week. OK, pass protection wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad either, outside of a few plays. Which does make the QB issues look even worse. Honestly, if we hadn't fallen down 24-7, we could've run the ball almost every single down and won the game.
The defense played very well. I won't quite call it "great", but it was close. The defense gave up 0 points in the 1st half. Yes, Kentucky scored 17, but those were all the result of offensive turnovers. If the offense does its job, we're probably up 17-0 at the half and it's an entirely different ballgame. (Suddenly Kentucky is the team that's forced to pass and Kentucky's passing game is awful). The defense didn't play quite as spectacularly in the 2nd half, but nevertheless, even the 17 2nd half points were partly the result of Kentucky having good field position for every single drive as a result of our offense. If the O does it job, the D probably only gives up 7-14 points for the entire game, which is good enough to win.
Eric Gray is a top SEC RB. Screw all these critiques that we "don't have an SEC RB." Eric Gray may be a top 5 SEC RB at this point. If we hadn't fallen behind so much, he might've run for 200 yards out there. The problem is, that he's really been our only offensive weapon. Albeit, that's partly because JG can't get the ball to some of the other offensive weapons.
Bryce Thompson. That Bryce Thompson strip was a thing of beauty. One of the most impressive defensive plays we've made all season. Too bad it was squandered.
2nd Best D in the SEC? There's a legit case that we have the 2nd, or at least the 3rd, best defense in the SEC right now. I'm so frustrated to see it being wasted.
So let's not go full gloom-and-doom here folks. We have some major issues at QB. But all the people saying the entire team is playing bad are flat-out wrong. This team played well yesterday, outside of 1 position. But Pruitt better figure that position out soon, or it's going to undermine everything else he's done. Right now, I'm worried that he might become the next Will Muschamp; a guy who built elite defenses, but who has never won big, largely due to terrible QB play.
That's all this week.
GBO!
This is one of the weirdest games I've ever seen. Why? Because our defense played very well and we completely dominated the line of scrimmage, but somehow managed to lose 34-7. The loss was entirely on the QB position. You put Trevor Lawrence out there and we win this game 38-7. And while that's not a completely fair comparison (Lawrence is, after all, a generational QB), I do think we win this game with even semi-competent QB play. I've never seen a team look so much like "the better team" and still get blown out like this. We'll cut right to the chase.
Quarterbacks
JG. Let's just get it out of the way: that was a dogs#$% performance by JG. 3 turnovers and none of them were "forced" by the defense or even the result of defensive pressure. That's what makes it so infuriating. One of the most inexplicable fumbles I've ever seen, followed by 2 pick 6s where JG just threw extremely ill-advised passes. JG looked completely lost out there. My biggest concern with JG is that he's never improved. In 2018, I thought JG would continue to improve and that by 2020, he'd be one of the better SEC QBs. But honestly, he looks no better than he did in 2018. The only difference is that he now has better talent surrounding him at every position, which makes his performances more baffling.
QB issues. It's not just JG, though. Shrout threw an INT on his first pass. Bailey, who does at least have the excuse of not having much of an offseason to get prepared due to Covid, also looked lost out there. Why were our QBs so unprepared for Kentucky's coverage? This feels as much of a coaching issue as a JG issue; even though I think we've hit the ceiling with JG. Are the QBs not watching film? Whats going on?
Maurer? I'm still curious what happened to Maurer. He's not played a single down this season. But I'm more concerned that they didn't even play him in the scrimmage. Is he still injured? Edit: he is still injured. That's why we haven't seen him.
Solution? I don't know what the solution is at this point. Part of me is in the "let's just give Bailey the reigns and see how it goes" camp. The Covid season is odd anyway and we're all going to look back at it as a weird aberration in a few years. If we know JG is not going to get us anywhere, then maybe we just see what Bailey can do, prepared or not. But I still worry that the problem with the QBs may be in no small part a coaching issue.
Everything Other than QBs
Alright now that the QBs are out of the way, here's the good news: we played pretty well almost everywhere else. Which is why I'm annoyed at all the "FAHR PRUITT" and "PRUITT IS AN ARRFUL COACH" critiques.
The O-line dominated in the run game. After faltering last week against Georgia, our O-line completely dominated again in the run game this week. OK, pass protection wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad either, outside of a few plays. Which does make the QB issues look even worse. Honestly, if we hadn't fallen down 24-7, we could've run the ball almost every single down and won the game.
The defense played very well. I won't quite call it "great", but it was close. The defense gave up 0 points in the 1st half. Yes, Kentucky scored 17, but those were all the result of offensive turnovers. If the offense does its job, we're probably up 17-0 at the half and it's an entirely different ballgame. (Suddenly Kentucky is the team that's forced to pass and Kentucky's passing game is awful). The defense didn't play quite as spectacularly in the 2nd half, but nevertheless, even the 17 2nd half points were partly the result of Kentucky having good field position for every single drive as a result of our offense. If the O does it job, the D probably only gives up 7-14 points for the entire game, which is good enough to win.
Eric Gray is a top SEC RB. Screw all these critiques that we "don't have an SEC RB." Eric Gray may be a top 5 SEC RB at this point. If we hadn't fallen behind so much, he might've run for 200 yards out there. The problem is, that he's really been our only offensive weapon. Albeit, that's partly because JG can't get the ball to some of the other offensive weapons.
Bryce Thompson. That Bryce Thompson strip was a thing of beauty. One of the most impressive defensive plays we've made all season. Too bad it was squandered.
2nd Best D in the SEC? There's a legit case that we have the 2nd, or at least the 3rd, best defense in the SEC right now. I'm so frustrated to see it being wasted.
So let's not go full gloom-and-doom here folks. We have some major issues at QB. But all the people saying the entire team is playing bad are flat-out wrong. This team played well yesterday, outside of 1 position. But Pruitt better figure that position out soon, or it's going to undermine everything else he's done. Right now, I'm worried that he might become the next Will Muschamp; a guy who built elite defenses, but who has never won big, largely due to terrible QB play.
That's all this week.
GBO!
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