Just to argue, because that's what I like to do...

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

Play calling in the first half, deplorable.

Why on earth were we throwing the ball around in the first half when all we had to do was run the football to win? Putting it up in the air constantly allows for too many potential "breakdowns" I just don't understand why we weren't running on first down at least.

Just very odd play calling by the staff this year and yesterday's first half was just strange.

Great 2nd half adjustments to put it in Lamar's hands and just win with that talent of his.

Sometimes, I just don't understand.

Is it ego of the staff?

 

[seansdad]

Play calling in the first half, deplorable.

Why on earth were we throwing the ball around in the first half when all we had to do was run the football to win? Putting it up in the air constantly allows for too many potential "breakdowns" I just don't understand why we weren't running on first down at least.

Just very odd play calling by the staff this year and yesterday's first half was just strange.

Great 2nd half adjustments to put it in Lamar's hands and just win with that talent of his.

Sometimes, I just don't understand.

Is it ego of the staff?[/QUOTE

Play calling in the first half, deplorable.

Why on earth were we throwing the ball around in the first half when all we had to do was run the football to win? Putting it up in the air constantly allows for too many potential "breakdowns" I just don't understand why we weren't running on first down at least.

Just very odd play calling by the staff this year and yesterday's first half was just strange.

Great 2nd half adjustments to put it in Lamar's hands and just win with that talent of his.

Sometimes, I just don't understand.

Is it ego of the staff?

Big Bolin fan here, but I also wondered why Jackson didn't start. UK had not stopped a running quarterback all year. SMH,

 

[KerryRhodes]

The staff wanted to make ANOTHER dramatic comeback.

Down 13-0 in PJCS. Down 21-0 in crummywealth stadium.

Oh thats GOT TO HURT uofk fans................

 

[zipp]

Who knows for sure because the script probably didn't play out like Petrino planned or hoped. Surely he didn't count on two first quarter INTs.

I'd like to think that Petrino wanted to give significant PT to both Jackson and Bolin. And that he would have each QB play to his strengths. For Bolin, that would have been an emphasis on the passing game. Let's face it, Bolin carried that off pretty well last year against LPT. When Jackson played, it would emphasize running the ball. Of course, there would have been running plays called for Bolin and passing for Jackson.

I do agree though that the first thing we should have tested was LPT's ability to defend the run. And I would have started Jackson to get that early read. If Petrino did anything wrong of significance this year IMO it was not utilizing his QBs the most effectively, dating all the way back to the opener against Auburn...

 

[Cue Card]

I agree with Hop (again). I was SMH wondering why the Cards weren't running the ball down their throats. Why all the passing? Why all the home run passing? I know the Cards hit a couple of those long ball throws but man it was like BAM. a blink of an eye and a 21 point hole to dig out of because of those crazy pass plays.

I'll give the kids and coaching staff credit for digging themselves out of that early 21 point hole. While Petrino will get most of the credit, a lot of the reason for the dramatic comeback was the defense stepping up and shutting UofK OUT in the second half. The Cards held UofK to just 2 first downs in the entire second half, and while I might be wrong, I think both came with Towles throwing the ball down the field late in the game right before he threw his last pass as a UofK Wildcat. It's a fitting end to his crappy career at UofK too. His final pass was another interception and it was thrown against the team he hates the most. I LOL each and every time I think about that. That kid has to deal with that fact for the rest of his life. If only he had chose a different path and a different team to hate. His life might have been better.

 

[BrewCrewCard]

I think the plan was ok. Bolin starts holds his own with Jackson coming in and playing several sets. Jackson was going to be the wildcard no matter what and I think the staff knew he would be effective against UK. We just had to use him sooner than most thought because of Bolins implosion.

 

[nccardfan]

It's because you guys see the result and then question motives. Obviously none of us were at practice. Even though Bolin didn't play well against Pitt it didn't keep CBP from starting him. Maybe by listing both QBs he figured that UK thought we would start LJ given their troubles against a running QB. Our game plan didn't work against Pitt because UK is a much inferior team (right Zipp) which is why we were able to overcome the deficit.

Go Cards!

 

[rockycard]

I was pissed with the first half play calling too. Looking back now, Kentucky played a whole lot of 8 in the box, with the lead they went mostly nickel and Lamar gashed them.

 

[PushupMan]

There are a number of possible explanations to the type of play calling that we saw during the first half, but the one I think that fits best is based on a common "game strategy" of trying several different things early in the game to determine what works best.

Since we started Kyle, we ran the "traditional" Petrino offense. As rockycard pointed out, UK responded to that by loading the box to stop the run, and UofL responded to that by calling more pass plays. Stoops is so far a less than mediocre head coach, but he IS a pretty good defensive coordinator. He succeeded in confusing Kyle and Lamar by mixing up the coverages in the secondary.

Obviously, Petrino didn't expect to be down 21-0 after just a little bit of early game experimentation, but crap like that sometimes happens in a football game. And Petrino learned something valuable from the experiment which was very useful for the second half - not to challenge the UK secondary very much with our passing game, because that is one area where UK is much improved over last year.

 

[CardHack]

I didn't think we ran the ball enough in the first half and also thought we underutilized what had been a November weapon in our tight ends. The staff obviously saw something they liked by attacking deep on first down I guess thinking that they could overcome a low percentage throw in the down series (sort of unconventional wisdom from Petrino based on his history of mixing up and trying to outflank a defense by formation with the running game). The modern trend for fourth and short has become to go up top for a big play because it's guaranteed solo coverage with no over the top help and if you catch a defense by surprise--like we did UK with Standberry, like we did Syracuse with Towbridge on a 4th and 3 at midfield and against NC State with Bonnafon throwing a sure TD to Standberry that was dropped--you get a big play out of it. You dictate personnel package because nobody puts a nickel or dime package out on the field on 4th and short outside of four down territory.

I was sort of intrigued by the decision on 4th and four in four down territory to take the penalty and just what we were doing lined up and clearly trying to run a play with the tight formation and three tight ends with Jackson under center in what I think was Wallace's field goal drive; the one where Hughley kept the ball. I have tried to rewatch the play and can't figure out what was checked into to...you're not going to run over guard on that down and distance unless you've got a matchup of Anthony Munoz on Erkle or something inconceivable. It led me to believe they were running another one man route (perhaps a wheel route but I can't remember if we had two in the backfield) or something naked with Lamar. When we have gone fourth and reasonably long the last couple years Petrino has run the ball for first down on three specific times, one against Auburn on our last scoring drive on a 4th and 7 with the wide zone read with Jackson bellying the Jet Sweep guy and getting ten.

 

[thecycle21]

Stoops has came into both games with a good game plan initially, but just like last year they didn't have the personnel to stop Louisville audible. They couldn't cover a sole last year in the passing game especially Parker.

This year they didn't have the front seven to deal with Jackson.

I think they were taking shots against man in the first half. UK hasn't produced a pass rush all year normally Bolin would be very effective against a average pass rush. He just made two awful throws.