MEET TEXAS STATE
I hope you are all ready to meet the Texas State Fighting Armadillos... Oops I mean the Texas State Bobcats (congrats for all of you that got the 'Necessary Roughness' reference). You all know Kentucky by now, so I won't bore you by going through their lineup again. Also, to be honest, with all the changes Coach Brooks told us he's going to make at the press conference, there are some spots that I will be unsure of until the game on Saturday.
Offense
QB - #14 Chase Wasson 5-11 180 Jr - he made his 5th career start last week
RB - #8 Daniel Jolly 6-1 237 Sr (Scored 2 TDs and ran for 37 yards on 13 carries last week)
FB - #18 Blake Burton 6-0 237 Sr
WR - #4 Ronnie Miller 6-0 180 Sr
WR - # 5 Tyrone Scott 6-0 185 Jr
Slot - #21 Morris Crosby 5-9 184 So
LT - #79 Matt Pardon 6-5 277 Sr
LG - #72 Crawford May 6-1 292 Jr (Transfer)
C - #59 Ryne Miller 6-3 309 Sr
RG - #56 Adrian Dayse 6-4 300 Jr (Transfer)
RT - #53 Calvin Gore 6-5 296 Fr (Red Shirt)
TE - #88 Galen Dunk 6-5 222 Fr (Red Shirt)
Defense
DE - #50 Nick Clark 6-0 253 Jr (51 Tackles in 2005)
DT - #77 Clifford Gardner 6-1 314 Fr (Red Shirt)
NG - #60 Ramel Borner 6-0 304 Jr
DE -#46 Nate Langford 6-1 248 Jr
SLB - #37 Jeremy Castillo 5-11 220 Sr (246 career tackles, 10 last week)
MLB - #12 Shola Obafemi 6-1 208 Sr (1st start last week)
CB - #24 Jamarqus O'Neal 6-1 192 Sr (4 tackles and ff last week)
SS - #41 Jameil Turner 6-0 202 So
FS - #13 Daniel Varvel 6-3 216 Sr (50 tackles last year, transfer from Arizona St.)
KAT - #48 Epsilon Williams 5-10 209 Sr.
CB - # 15 Walter Musgrove 5-9 190 Sr (1st team All-Southland Conference)
Special Teams
P - #34 Chris MacDonald 6-4 215 Jr (Transfer, avg 44 yds per punt last week)
PK - #93 Kyle Bronson (Transfer, was 11 of 16 for FG last year at South Florida)
PR and KR - #21 Morris Crosby 5-9 184 So
Okay... So here's the deal. It would be a waste of time for me to rank these compared to each other because on paper, Kentucky is far better than Texas State. I mean faaaaaaaaaarrrrrr better. It would be a waste of mine and your time. But, as was seen last week by Montana St. beating Colorado, anything can happen.
Let's go over what I do know. Defensively, Texas state runs a 4-2-5. For those of you that don't know, that's four down linemen, two linebackers, and five defensive backs. Obviously, this means they're stacked for the pass. They play to defend the pass. For Kentucky, that's the one thing that was working for them against Louisville. On paper, Texas State shouldn't be able to take away the air from UK, but you never know. If it was before last week, I would have said that it wouldn't have mattered because Kentucky is just going to beat them both ways... The running game HAS to show up in order for Kentucky to keep them honest. Otherwise, they'll just put everyone back in pass defenses.
On offense, Texas State runs a spread option from the gun. Kinda reminds me of Florida, but I'm sure Urban Meyer runs it better. I'm concerned about runs to the outside if the cornerbacks can't step up to defend the run. The defensive ends are EXTREMELY important in this game. They MUST contain in order for the UK defense to be able to stop the Bobcats. What that means, is that they're responsible for anything that is outside the tackles. When preparing for the option, the DEs understand that they have to make contact with the quarterback when he moves outside. By hitting the quarterback, #1 you're hitting the quarterback which is always good, and #2 you're making the QB make a decision. The QB must then decide to hold onto the ball or pitch it to his back. If he pitches it to his back, the DE is hoping that a linebacker will be there to make the tackle. The defensive line's job is to bascially create havok on the line. Offensive linemen on Texas State will be pulling and trying to kick out or log off so that the backs can run outside. The DTs must knock those linemen on their butt so that they can't make their blocks. If those things happen, Texas State's offense will be unsuccessful.
(Sorry I love preparing for option teams. As a former defensive lineman, it was one of my favorite weeks whenever I knew I just had to create a mess for the OL.)
So that's Texas State and some keys to the game. Keep coming to the blog this week for more keys to the game against the Texas State Bobcats. Feel free to let everyone know what you think about this game coming up.
1 comment:
Hahahah I'm glad we're the topic of you and your doctors conversations. What did he have to say about the Sports Huddle? Is he a fan?
Yeah, I put out the information for the UK v. Texas State game and was also surprised that it didn't cause more discussion.
I'm more shocked that UK didn't compete in the game against Louisville not that they lost. I just wanted to see how they were going to come out in the beginning of the game. Honestly, it was flat. No hiding it. The first 20 minutes, Kentucky wasn't ready to play.
As for Brooks, I truly believe that he NEEDS to win a big game and go to a bowl. Going to a bowl with the schedule that UK has would be an ok feat. However, beating a team like Georgia, LSU, Florida, or Auburn would be one of those things that could cause people to overlook Brooks' prior record...
As for the cupcake games, UK just can't win them, they have to destroy the teams. This win can't be a 28-21 win... It NEEDS to be a 59-10 win. Fans, UK Higher-ups, and boosters need to see an IMPROVEMENT with the UK football team in order for Brooks to be safe. The team seems to be rallying around Brooks, I just wonder if they're going to rally around him on the field as well.
I wish more people would be on here commenting on UK football.
By the way, the show starts at 4:06 so you would have had 3 more minutes for him to take out your stitches. But thank you for being a great fan... We're glad to have people like you listening to the Sports Huddle.
By the way do you have any thoughts as to what the score would be on Saturday?
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