Published September 2, 2011 - 7:32am
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The Kentucky Wildcats’ offense was almost unbearably too bad to watch last night against Western Kentucky. Please don’t make me watch that game again.
The Wildcats did end up winning 14-3, but it was quite the struggle.
On one particular play deep in their own territory, Kentucky quarterback Morgan Newton was in his three or five-step drop, and he tripped over his own feet and just fell down for a loss of about eight.
That pretty much summed up Kentucky’s offense all night.
Look, we knew this offense would not be as good as last year’s, with the losses of Randall Cobb, Derrick Locke, Chris Matthews and Mike Hartline, but I honestly thought Morgan Newton would be the answer for this team and offense. And he still might be because he certainly looks the part physically and has a big arm, but it certainly was a mighty struggle last night for Joker Phillips and his offense.
I know there is still a lot of time to right the ship, but with game one in the books, there is a ton of progress to be made in order to be able to get in a position to compete in the SEC.
The stat sheet simply does not lie. Kentucky’s offense had a total of 190 yards all night. They had four rushing yards and zero passing yards at the end of the first quarter, and the Wildcats only amassed 14 total yards in the first half. The passing game of Newton only managed to get 97 yards total through the air, with a touchdown and three interceptions, and the running game only amassed 93 yards on the ground, with a touchdown.
Hidden in the 97 yards passing and completions were several dropped balls by the receivers. This team desperately needs a receiver to step up and be the go-to guy for Morgan Newton – whether it is La’Rod King, Gene McCaskill or Matt Roark. It really doesn’t matter but someone needs to step up.
The strength of this team is along the offensive line. There is simply no way I would stray from that until Newton gets settled at the quarterback position, but even the line struggled to establish anything all night. The Wildcats need to find a running game before next week.
A bright spot for this Kentucky team could be on the defensive side of the ball, with the defense creating four interceptions. That is encouraging.
But there is still a long way to go for Kentucky and some kind of offensive progression before Central Michigan comes to town next weekend. Back to the drawing board; however, there is still a lot of time to get this thing pointed in the right direction.
Kentucky played flat, no doubt about it. Western was playing way too conservative as well. In the second quarter, Western had a chance to put UK away. In field goal position a 3rd and medium play, Western runs a delayed hand off and gets stuffed. GO FOR THE TWO POSESSION LEAD! I’m glad the SEC got a win, but c’mon. If western hits a short passing route ( i know their QB struggled as well) they get the first, all of UK’s wind is out of their sails, Western would have scored and go up 10-0. Ball game….. UK would have given up.
…And lets not forget. Western played conservative and still missed that field goal.
Bottom line – you can’t dribble a football.
“…there is a ton of progress to be made in order to be able to get in a position to compete in the SEC.”
WHAT?!?!?!?
After last night’s game, they have a long way to go to not be the SEC’s new Vandy (whipping boy)… let alone compete…
Last night was embarrassing, thank God they won, but really, what a horrible game. And to think I stayed up to 1am to make sure they didn’t lose.