From "Operation Win" to "Operation Whine"
By Paul Jordan
It has now been a tad bit over 72 hours since Kentucky lost to Tennessee for the 26th straight time and you would think that will all losses, the pain and anger would eventually subside. You would think that the possibility of a fifth straight bowl game would ease some of the anger of a once promising season that ended up 6-6. You would think that in Kentucky, where basketball is king, that Kentucky fans merely regard the football season as a slight passage of time distraction until Big Blue Madness kicks off.
And that had been the consensus of most Kentucky fans for quite a while. Until the last few years. And I have to admit that we have Rich Brooks and in part Joker Phillips to thank from pulling Kentucky out of the SEC cesspool and into making it a competitive program that we can all be proud of. And I have to admit, very few schools can boast about five bowls in a row. So kudos go out to Brooks and Phillips for building a program the Kentucky fans care enough about to obsess over, to root for, and to get mad when we feel the program is not reaching it’s full potential.
But to be honest, Kentucky football has reached a point in my eyes where I feel that 6-6 is not good enough and that a bowl trip to Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham, or Detroit does not whet my appetite. Granted, I don’t expect Kentucky to contend for a national title in football every year and I think I have pretty attainable goals for the program every year: finish in the top three of the SEC East and to play in a Florida bowl game. And this is not unattainable for Kentucky football. We have been there before. I remember the chill of an 11:00AM New Years Day kickoff in Tampa and looking across the field to see Joe Paterno roaming the sidelines and thinking that Kentucky football had finally arrived.
.
We all know what happened to the program since then and I am not going to rehash that. And once again, Rich Brooks was the right man for the program and we are grateful Kentucky football is at least in the annual bowl picture. But unfortunately you also get the picture that Kentucky football has hit a wall and changes, major changes need to be made to get us over that wall.
I know that a lot of this is going to come as a negative diatribe against Joker Phillips. And I just want to say that I like Joker personally. But if any team was going to make that leap to the top three in the SEC and make a real statement for Kentucky football, it had to be this team — this year, and unfortunately this season was one major missed opportunity. As fate would have it, Joker is the head coach so he becomes the punching bag of frustration that fans will rail against. And unfortunately, there is going to be an off-season of questioning by the fans as to whether Joker was/is the right chance to lead the program.
Don’t get me wrong. I am in no way advocating a charge to fire Joker Phillips. I think he deserves the chance to see what he can do with his players that he recruited. And from all indications, he has done a very good job with Kentucky’s 2011 class. But what I am questioning is the UK administration to make him the head coach in waiting without first doing a national search to see who may be available for the job. I had this opinion a year ago and still maintain that. It’s not to bash Joker and or to say that he is not the best man for the job, but that Kentucky did not give any thought as to who else may want to come and take this program to the next level. We see the excitement that Charlie Strong has created in Louisville and in that sense, Joker was not really given a honeymoon period. He had expectations from Day One. I just don’t see the harm of a national search and if after the national search, UK brass feels Joker is the man, so be it.
Don’t get me wrong. I am well aware of the history of Kentucky football. Traditionally, Kentucky has never been a giant killer in football. Since 1974, Kentucky has gone 39-185-5 against teams that were ranked in the top 25. That equates to about a 19% winning percentage. Now given the recent resurgence of Kentucky football, you would think that the last five bowl teams would boast a better record than the past teams. Even Vanderbilt and Mississippi State, teams that Kentucky had considerable success with over the past five years had better winning rates against the big boys than that 19% Kentucky rate.
Over the past five years, Vanderbilt finished 5-18 versus ranked teams, a 21.7% rate. The Bulldogs went 5-21 over that span for 19.2%. What about Kentucky and it’s five straight bowl years? They have actually regressed going just 3-17 versus ranked team the past 5 years … a 15% success rate. As a matter of fact, it appears that Kentucky has had arrested development since the 2006 and 2007 seasons. During those two seasons, UK went 14-10 in the regular season and finished with a 7-9 SEC mark. Those teams went 2-7 versus ranked teams. In the three seasons since, Kentucky is 19-17 regular season, 7-17 in the SEC, and 1-7 versus ranked teams.
As I said earlier, regardless of a new coach or not, this was the year for Kentucky to make a move in the SEC East. Florida was especially vulnerable and Tennessee and Georgia both needed late charges to finish 6-6. Kentucky had a pretty solid offensive line returning, twin WR threats in Randall Cobb and Chris Mathews, Derrick Locke, and as it turns out, the best QB play since the days of Andre Woodson. Take that and also the fact UK had a very favorable schedule, and there is no reason why Kentucky could not reach the 8 or even 9 win mark.
And focusing on this year alone, Joker Phillips has to take a lot of the blame. As the losses mounted, we saw more and more player incidents where players were suspended for parts of games. Tennessee actually took advantage of a Neloms suspension to pick on Kentucky’s secondary in the first half. Likewise Florida did with the suspension of Danny Trevathan. Along the way, we had mothers of players taking to the internet (Donald Russell) and blasting Phillip’s handling of the team and hinted there was a general mutiny brewing. Such things are expected with a new coach however and that may not be warning flags if Kentucky finished 8-4.
All of that may have been forgiven had Kentucky simply ended “the streak” on Saturday. Instead, after an inspired start, Kentucky was basically lifeless for the rest of the first half. They regrouped at halftime and tied the game and was driving for go ahead points … when “the call” occurred. Faced with a 4th and 2 at the Tennessee 37, Phillips opted to punt the ball. That decision was made worse when the punt only accounted for a net of 17 yards since it was a touchback. A coach needs to know the strengths of his team and what they can achieve and in that moment, Joker Phillips told Randall Cobb, Derrick Locke, and Mike Hartline that he did not think they could gain two yards and he had no faith in them. He gave up on his team and his team gave up on him. Such a scenario was similar to last years Tennessee game when Kentucky rode Randall Co
bb down to the Tennessee 10 yard line, took the ball out his hands and settled for overtime than going for the win. Granted, Joker was offensive co-ordinator but it was his call. As as ironic as it is, Jokers playing it safe has led to the last two Tennessee defeats.
Other stats this season place at least a part of the blame on the coaching staff. Looking at the score by quarters for all games (except Akron, WKU, and Charleston Southern), here is what we see for this season:
- Opponents 76 Kentucky 47
- Opponents 93 Kentucky 61
- Kentucky 69 Opponents 47
- Kentucky 60 Opponents 57
So with a team that is outscored 169-108 in the first half, you have to blame a lack of preparation by the coaching staff for at least of the problem. Then in the third quarter, after halftime adjustments, Kentucky comes out a good third quarter team. I’m sorry, but you have to take the fact that Kentucky trailed at halftime of every single SEC game as a direct result of lack of preparation or an insufficient game plan by the coaching staff at some point. This is not a bad football team. As a matter of fact, Kentucky played the two division champions in the SEC, Auburn and South Carolina, to a virtual tie this season. With that type of talent, there is no reason to come out flat every single game and put yourself into an early hole.
Most of the Kentucky fan ire is focused at defensive co-ordinator Steve Brown and for the most part I would say that is is deserved. Kentucky usually has had a bend but don’t break defense but this year, the defense could stop no one, particularly in the running game. And when teams did not try to run on Kentucky like Tennessee did, they found no resistance through the air either. The fact that Kentucky had themselves in every game except for the Florida game was it’s well tuned offensive machine, the same one that could not be trusted to gain two yards against Tennessee.
To be honest, I would be shocked if the tenure of Steve Brown extended to the bowl game and even more so if he was still in place by the end of January. But already there is chatter about David Turner being put in that position. Nothing against Turner and I am a fan of promoting from within is some instances, but not necessarily for a maligned unit in the Southeastern Conference. If in fact, Brown leaves or is fired, there is no harm in conducting a search for the best replacement. I don’t know if Kentucky can land him, but I think that former Steeler linebacker and current Packers LB coach Kevin Greene could make an intriguing option. And if not Greene, there were be literally dozens of other candidates as the football season enters it’s off season. If David Turner is the best option for defensive co-ordinator, so be it.
But the one thing for certain is that Kentucky football is in need of change heading into the 2011 season. And don’t the long suffering fans deserve a program that will go after the best of the best to fill the spots in the organization? I’m not saying that Kentucky will hit a home run if they pursue Greene or other high profile names to fill possible openings on their staff this off season, but Kentucky fans deserve them at least stepping up to the plate and swinging for the fences.
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