Normally, this would sound clichéd…
SUDGE: What will it take for Kentucky to pull an upset in Athens?
MOORE: There has only been one game where Kentucky didn’t find itself in a hole in the first quarter. They can’t let that happen against Georgia and let it get out of hand fast. Kentucky also has 16 turnovers this season if you count turnovers on downs, and they have to win the turnover battle.
They have to try and do what they did against Arkansas. Georgia’s running backs are a totally different animal in terms of depth, but I think they need to keep the explosive plays to a minimum. I think Georgia will run all over them, but it’s about containing the big bursts. Kentucky has to try to shorten the game in order to have its best shot.
… but after last week, it sounds like a credible game plan. It’s up to the home team to make that revert to mere wishful thinking.
That being said, it’s a little weird for both teams to share a goal of shortening the game. If you’re Kirby Smart, dominating time of possession is nice until it isn’t.
Get The Picture 
Why in the world do we want to shorten the game other than after we are up by 4 scores?
Shortening the game reduces the number of possessions and makes you walk a razor-thin line. You get on the wrong side of that line and last Saturday happens.
I’m not paid $6m+ to figure that out nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but, damn, this isn’t rocket science.
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EE, I fully expect Coley and Kirby to attempt to shorten the game, read manball, read same game plan we have seen all season. This is the why I have little to no confidence in this particular group. Something is missing with this team. Is it a true center? Is it a better QB? Is it a better game plan? Yes, yes, and heck yes.
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True center?
I thought the recruiting services had Hill as one of the top 3 centers in the country last year. I said before the season, losing Lamont Gailliard was the thing I worried most about.
Better QB?
Depends on what you mean by better … Jake Fromm is one of the reasons we are 29-6 over the last 2+ years.
Better game plan?
Absolutely!
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Hill will be a beast eventually, but he’s learning under fire this season.
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29-6. Yeah that’s a good record but what was Bama over the same period? What was Clemson over the same period. 29-6 gets you participation trophies.
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Natty or bust, baby!
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It’s not about shortening the game, but it is about grinding your opponent into dust. I’m not going to sit here and completely defend “man ball” because it got our asses kicked last week, but I am not going to pretend that it hasn’t had good results in other games. When we dominate time of possession it keeps our defense rested and normally results in us pulling away handily by mid-3rd quarter when the other team’s defensive line begins laying around injured all over the field. We have all seen it many times in the last 3 years. There has to be some balance, because we need to be able to score in tight games that are not gong to script, but I don’t want to see us end up in shootouts like we always did when Murray was QB either. We would score quickly and run our defense back out on the field after they didn’t even have time to let their asses warm the bench. LSU’s offense looks pretty awesome right now, but I find it a bit ironic that their defense looks like crap all of a sudden. I wonder what the correlation could be.
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I get the concern … by the way, I think time of possession is the most overrated statistic in the sport. If ToP were meaningful, Fech would have never lost a game under Fish Fry because his defense would always be rested.
If you are going to play the way we currently are, you better end drives with points or at least a field position changing kick. When you have a drive chart like we did last week, you lose the margin of error as you bleed the clock with yards and with nothing to show for it on the scoreboard.
Spurrier in his Fun N Gun days played manball in reverse. His FU teams would put up yards and points early and get control of the game. In the 2nd half, his team would run into a demoralized defense. He never had a “generational” talent at QB, but he let players make plays.
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And Spurrier’s defense’s under Stoops would feed off the quick strike offense. Did they get into shootouts? Yes, but not as much as you would think.
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Not gonna disagree with most of what you posted, but I think the main reason Fech could not stop anyone from scoring was because their defense didn’t have a quality scout offense to practice against all week…thanks to the triple option. That is the main reason VanGorder got rid of the option at GSU, and was quoted as saying so.
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I understand that … my point is I think time of possession is an overrated statistic. If the defense is tired, there’s one way to get rest. Force a turnover or a 3 and out.
I finally went back and looked at the drive chart. The defense forced all of 2 three and outs against the South Carolina offense.
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We have seen it a lot over the last 3 years? Maybe against lesser teams, but not against better ones.
Other than South Carolina, what big game would you say “manball” won in 2017? Our offense played pretty wide open in Florida, both Auburn games and Rose Bowl. I would say the MNC was “half-a-manball”, and Notre Dame was simply an ugly slugfest.
2018? LSU was a “manball” loss for sure, maybe the Sugar Bowl too. Maybe you could call the Kentucky game a “manball” win against a decent opponent. Would say we were fairly wide-open against SCar, Florida, Auburn and Alabama last year too.
2019: Almost lost Notre Dame because of it and absolutely cost us the game last week.
When it has worked, it has done so against much lesser teams, in games “we should have won anyway.” “Manball” is not a winning formula against better teams, although it can certainly be pretty convincing against lesser teams. And as seen last week, against middling teams, it can get you beat against lesser teams as well.
OPEN UP THE CRAYON BOX!!!!
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Didn’t we throw it only 7 times vs UF in 2017 ?
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but i agree with you though
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Thank goodness you didn’t say “revert back.” I would have to quit this site for good. And if you ever say “irregardless” – well, do I even have to go there?
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That’s a whole nother conversation.
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I could care less about that stuff.
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And I just want to see us make positive gains Saturday night.
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Use that dual threat QB and play defense. If your defense isn’t very good then play defense with your offense. I expect UK to at least try and make the most of their QB’s abilities.
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A rainy game slows quick feet…on both sides. UGA’s “mudder” probably wont play….and there wont be mud…Dooley Field is too well-drained, naturally.
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“What will it take for Kentucky to pull an upset in Athens?”
Put your biggest & best athlete (NG) over our center. Load the box, twist and slant DL….send the backers every now and then. Man up on the receivers. Take shots downfield…..play ball control. Play more physical and want it more than the dawgs do.
Then, hope for the best.
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Two teams trying to win the game in the 4th quarter in driving rain and tropical storm force winds. And you know we are not going to run it outside. Could be the shortest game in college football history. Lucky you.
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Was thinking the same thing, where do I go to get my refund for 3.5+ hours of “entertainment”???
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Hearing from my student daughter that students are dumping their tickets in anticipation of the weather tomorrow night … sounds like the home field advantage tomorrow night may be disappearing.
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Tell her to tell them to toughen up. Back in my day (uncle rico), I got booted from the gate at the deluge that was Ole Miss 2000 because they found my whisky bags….. but they didn’t find ALLL MY WHISKY BAGS and i scalped a $5 ticket on the bridge and turned right back around (and past the guard who was still holding my confiscated whisky bags that he thought was my whole stash)
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