Kentucky WIldcats Football – Monday Afternoon Quarterback: Louisville Cardinals Edition

Another season has commenced for UK football, but it sure feels like déjà vu all over again. In a game that should have been closer than it was, self inflicted wounds kept the Wildcats from playing competitively and eventually cost the team it’s season opener. As we will do all season, we will play Monday afternoon QB and put the past weeks game to bed.

Bright spots:
You have to be impressed with the offense when compared to last years production. Maxwell Smith looked comfortable in the pocket and the offensive line was markedly better than it was last year. The receivers did a much better job of catching the ball and bringing it in Sunday as well and the no-huddle scheme appears to be the shot in the arm this team needed.

The young offensive players actually turned out to be some of the strongest on the team. Redshirt freshmen Daryl Collins and Zach West had solid games and sophomores Maxwell Smith and Darrian Miller performed well too.

The defensive line came alive in the second half and began to get a real push and cause some pressure.

The play of punter Landon Foster and the return men was very encouraging.

Joker showed some gumption with a successful onside kick to start the second half. Don’t know of anyone who saw that coming.

Areas for improvement:

The defense had a rough outing and I think Rick Minter might need to take a look at his personnel at this point. There was a pretty obvious lack of urgency early in the game and the team had a very confused, almost lackadaisical look for most of the first half.

Similar to the offensive line last year, the defensive line was supposed to be the strongest group on the team this season. Unfortunately, the Louisville offense was able to dominate the Kentucky front seven and utilize outside runs for most of the game. This has got to stop for Kentucky to win.

The defensive backs were as bad as originally feared. Teddy Bridgewater and the Louisville receivers were able to pick them apart (partly due to no pressure on the quarterback) throughout the game and got very little resistance. Nelson’s and Rice are seniors and MUST play better.