Monday Afternoon Quarterback: Kyle's final thoughts on Auburn

I really don’t know what to say this week. On one hand, I’ve got so much on my mind after the game, but on the other hand, I’m almost speechless.

So I guess all the folks that hated on Mike Hartline before the season are going to have to officially accept that they were wrong. The Wildcat offense was able to move the ball against Auburn at will and Mike did a great job of not making any mistakes. People like to complain when the guy checks down to a running back or tight end because he won’t throw it deep, and then complain when he tries to force things and causes a turnover. I’ll take the version we saw against Auburn where he takes what the defense gives and throws 23-28 for 220 yards. It’s even more impressive when you consider that there were two really bad drops and a pass that was really well thrown, but the defensive back just made a really good play knocking it away from Cobb. Hartline is executing his role in the offense really well right now.

So how good is derrick Locke? Well, let me tell you. The man piled up 31 rushing yards on five carries, 47 passing yards on five catches, and 63 return yards on two kickoffs. That’s a total of 141 all-purpose yards on 12 touches, or just less than 12 yards per touch. Not bad when you consider he was injured around the 13:00 mark of the third quarter. Now If he could hold on to the damn ball, that would be REALLY impressive.

Since we’re talking about the running game here, how about Donald Russell? I can’t think of a better way to respond to being passed up on the depth chart than to go out and play like there’s no tomorrow. Russell was constantly hit behind the line of scrimmage and he drove his legs and fought for some tough yards and willed his way forward to keep Kentucky from being stopped for a loss. He reminded me a lot of Artose Pinner when he ran. Between he and Sanders, the future of the running back position is looking brighter by the game.

When it comes to Randall Cobb, I really just don’t know what to say. The man did absolutely everything he could to win the game and he played as gutsy as I’ve seen in years. It’s almost like someone forgot to tell him his not a big guy, because he fought for every yard he could and his catapult into the air for the first down was indicative of the type of urgency he played with. Cobb threw a touchdown, caught one, and ran for two. Everyone wants to talk about Cameron Newton and how great he was but Randall Cobb had 201 all-purpose yards and had an equally important impact on the game. The scrambling run he had was made for highlight reels. I just can’t say enough about how well he played. If he could eliminate the drops, we’re talking legitimate Heisman numbers.

The throw that Newton made when he was falling out of bounds was pure luck. Quit showing it as a highlight ESPN, because that was one of the stupidest decisions I have ever seen a QB make. He’s lucky the UK defensive backfield forgot to cover Kodi Burns, because that play is an interception at least 70% of the time. I pray to god we never have a signal caller that makes that throw.

I’ll throw LaRod King some props for a really solid game. I was extremely disappointed by Chris Matthews though. This was the kind of match up where he could use his size and speed to tear through the opponent’s defensive backfield and put up 150+ yards. Instead he disappeared at times and only caught two balls for 18 yards. I will give the coaches some blame for not targeting him more, but at some point you have to take things into your own hands and work to get open. I guarantee you that Hartline will target him on every play if he’s consistently beating his man and giving his QB an easy completion.

Congratulations to Jordan Aumiller on his first collegiate touchdown.

The offensive line had a lukewarm game. The rushing attack was more about the runners making plays and breaking tackles than it should ever be. There weren’t many holes and the Auburn defensive line was able to fight through their blocks and force the running backs to bounce the play outside and cutback away from their blockers. On the flipside though, One of the best defensive tackles in the country was held sack-less and the entire defensive line was not able to bring down Hartline once all night. If the team keeps playing like they have so far, Randy Sanders might want to consider scrapping the running game altogether and adapting a Texas Tech type of offense for the rest of the year.

I do want to recognize Chandler Burden for playing with some tenacity. He was pulling and annihilating defenders and he blocked through the whistle consistently all night.

The defensive line did a really good job of getting pressure on Cam Newton, but they failed to seal the deal and get a sack or to stay in their running lanes and prevent him from scrambling. When the Tigers were running the ball with a back though, the line was much more disciplined and this was a veteran offensive line they were playing against. I really wanted to see the ends contain Newton though and funnel him inside when he tried to break off the play and run and they were inconsistent in their ability to keep outside of the quarterback. I did notice that Collins Ukwu played his but off at DE and was simply not fast enough to keep up with Newton when he was in pursuit.

I really thought that Taylor Wyndham had a chance to take the wind out of Auburn when he grabbed Newton, but unfortunately he couldn’t finish and Newton ran off for positive yards instead of being sacked for a loss.

And once again, DeQuin Evans is M.I.A. Did anyone else think it was funny when he was listed as our defensive impact player? Do the people at ESPN even watch each team’s previous games?

I really can’t say enough about Danny Trevathan. This week he comes up big again and tallies 13.5 tackles in addition to his forced fumble. He’s still got some polishing to do, but if we can get the damn cast off of his hand Trevathan might end up being the best linebacker in UK history by the time he graduates. I know how big of a statement that is, but the guy can cover, hit, fill lanes, and he’s as fast as a corner. Think about what he might be able to accomplish if he has the use of both hands for a whole season.

The rest of the linebackers where noticeably absent from the game for the most part, as they were to busy getting blocked to have much of an impact. Ronnie Sneed was trying to keep an eye on the quarterback, but he had to fight through so many blocks that by the time he was in position to make a play, Newton was already running down the field. Part of this is one Ronnie for not getting through the blocks, and part of it is on the defensive line for not keeping the monstrous offensive line off of him.

The defensive backs had a rough game a week after playing pretty well. Tackling was still good, but the Auburn receivers had too easy of a time getting open and the unit was picked apart on the last drive of the fourth quarter. I was happy to see Winston Guy step up and play really well after struggling so far this season. He had his first career interception and I thought he made some tough tackles look easy.

I have no idea what happened to Mychal Bailey. The play where he was playing really solid defense on the receiver, then he lets up and allows his guy to catch the ball and run was really confusing. I’ve heard that he didn’t want to get pass interference, so he didn’t wrap up after
he assumed the ball was incomplete, and I’ve also heard that he thought he heard a whistle and was in no hurry to get an unsportsmanlike penalty on the play. It was extremely strange by any account.

Great job by McCintosh. 100% on field goals and PATs is what will help your team win.

This game really ended up coming down to a couple of factors.

The Kentucky defense was flat for the entire first half ad allowed the Tigers to build a big lead going into halftime.

Cameron Newton is a freak of nature.

The Tigers capitalized and got three points out of the Locke fumble and the Wildcats couldn’t convert the Winston Guy interception into anything.

The Wildcats could not recover a single one of the four Auburn fumbles. That’s four lost opportunities to have won the game.

The Tiger defense prevented the big play, the Wildcat defense allowed the big play.

The Wildcat defense could not stop the Tiger offense on the last drive of the game and allowed Auburn to finish the game with a 19-play drive for 86 yards. That drive ate up the final 7 minutes and 22 seconds of the game clock and essentially put the nail in the coffin for UK. I thought that bringing pressure on Newton was working and I’m not really sure why we decided to sit back and let him pick the defense apart and run all over it instead of trying to stop him.

I thought the broadcast of the game was awful. When I watched the recording I set, I don’t know how Bob Davie has a job? He might honestly be worse at being a color analyst than his monumental failure as the head coach of Notre Dame. I asked myself “where did he come up with that? multiple times. The notion of letting the other team score at the end made me want to vomit. How about you don’t give coaching advice? That’s like Tiger Woods giving marital tips, or asking Ben Roethlisberger for tips on how to get women, or going to BP for advice on how to drill for oil, or asking Lindsey Lohan for counseling on substance abuse, or asking Sarah Pailin how to be a hippie, and I could go on. Taking pointers from someone who majorly sucks at something is not a good idea. In my opinion, Brown should have blitzed the crap out of Newton and made him beat you with his arm. If you give up the big play, there’s still time for your offense to come back. That “roll over and let them score” crap is for {insert insulting expletive here}!!!

The referees were worse than Davie. Sorry UK fans, but they hosed Auburn on a couple calls even though they missed a couple against the Cats too.

All in all, this was a good outing for Kentucky and they played right with an opponent that was favored to beat them. There hasn’t been a team that’s beaten Auburn yet this year and they have a serious Heisman candidate at quarterback. What I saw during the third quarter was a team that was aggressive and talented on offense AND defense, and if the coaches can channel that team for four quarters, the Wildcats will be tough for anyone to beat. They’ll have their work cut out for them this Saturday when South Carolina comes into Commonwealth fresh off an upset of #1 Alabama. I kind of feel like Joker has something up his sleeve for this one, but I don’t know what.

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