Week 7 - 'Dogs > Kats

'DOGS > KATS

Of course, dyed in the wool MSU pessimists who complain about everything might possibly find some fault with the Bulldogs' trouncing of Kentucky, but even they would have to acknowledge that it was much more aesthetically pleasing than the BYU win.  It was a throrough butt-whuppin'.  I'll be honest:  I had been worried about this game for several weeks ... so much so that I had watched some of several UK games, including their win over Mizzou last weekend, trying to find that I was overly worried.  The problem was that the UKats were whatever you wanted to see, i.e., they played pretty well against the better teams they faced, but lousy against bad teams.  Their rushing defense was statistically good, which seemed to present problems for State.  Their passing defense was woeful, but that didn't seem to help us since our passing game had looked ordinary at best.  They had some good receivers and a QB who was both mobile and able to make the occasional big throw, which caused me some heartburn since the 'Dogs' secondary had given up big plays against even anemic BYU.  And if the game was close, they had a kicker who could bang them in from 50+ yards, as we learned to our sorrow last year.  I honestly thought we had more and better athletes, and we were playing at home, but ....

No worries, mate!  The Bulldogs were just physically superior to the Wildcats, and the State line whipped UK's consistently on both sides.  That's what almost always wins games, and this one was no exception.  The defense shut down Kentucky's running game, which had been pretty darn decent for the past couple of seasons.  It was interesting that they didn't run Jojo Kemp from the wildcat a single time, which is usually one of their bread and butter plays.  That to me signaled that Stoops and his staff figured out early on that the 'Dog front 7 were going to eat alive anything they tried in the running game.  In the end this was the proverbial "Billy Jack game," i.e., one which is like the line in the movie where Billy Jack tells the bad guy, "You see this foot [pointing to his own foot]?  I'm going to take it and put it right there [pointing to the bad guy's face] over that eye.  And you know what ...?  There's not a damn thing you can do about it."

I'll eschew my usual bullet points for a narrative this week ...

Offense

Interestingly, despite UK's lofty rushing defense stats and their porous pass defense, the coach who spoke to our QB Club last week said, "We're going to run the ball on them."  Then when we came out throwing on that first drive, I thought he'd suckered us.  Quite clearly our staff knew that we could whip UK mano a mano.  I was really impressed with our young offensive line!  UK has a few good D linement, but our guys pushed theirs around, and we steadily wore them down ... like Joe Frazier body shots.  Aeris ran hard and well.  He didn't have but a couple of relatively long runs, but he just always ends up going forward and getting something out of nothing.  And both Fitz and Keytaon were tough too, with Fitz steadily giving better than he got, and Key looking like a gazelle racing past the worn our Kat D.  As good as the line was, the highest praise could well go to the receivers.  After all of the (justifiable) criticism in the past games, they caught almost all of the 50/50 balls.  Not only did they catch well, they blocked well too.  Justin Johnson and Farrod Green almost always block well, but "the Reverend" (Jesse Jackson), Couch, and Todd did too.  In fact, Todd, a former basketball star, seemed to absolutely delight that he could legally set a moving pick when he just ground the poor little DB into the ground on Keytaon's last TD!

Defense

I'd be embarrassed to find fault with the Bulldog defense's performance.  They were just dominating.  Grantham talks about being fast, physical, and aggressive ... and they were consistently all of those.  He talks about a) stopping the run [check], b) pressuring the QB so that he rushes his throws and has to throw into tight coverage [check], and c) causing turnovers [check].  Simmons and Lewis justified their hype with consistent play.  Guys like Sweat, Dez, Gray, Spencer, and Green were dominating.  I continue to be impressed with the play of Erroll Thompson, Grant Harris, and Tre Brown ... there's just no dropoff when they're in there.  I thought Willie Gay made the play of the day when he covered the tight end and batted the pass away when they tried to sucker us on that short yardage play.  And Mark McLaurin and Johnathan Abrams hit like LB's ... as does Brandon Bryant, who has rediscovered his "on" switch.  The corners did a good job, sticking close to the UK receivers and never letting them get open deep.  Again, UK has a balanced offense, and their O line had been highly regarded ... and the 'Dog D just swatted them around like green flies.

Special teams

What wasn't to like?  Cooke continues to boom punts.  Christmann continues to make kicks.  Gray had a nice return.  I must confess that I'm not sure why Cooke's kickoffs weren't going out the back of the end zone -- whether the wind was holding them up or whether it was a strategy to make them return the kicks, thinking they weren't going to make it to the 25.  (I know Mullen did that some last year.) If the latter, it worked.  

So ...?

Quite honestly, I had written the aTm game off.  A&M looked like they were getting steadily better, and State seemed to have dropped off after the LSU game.  After the way the 'Dogs throttled what is quite possibly the 2nd best team in the East (just as they did LSU), I think this weekend's game is a toss up.  I know that Aggies are tougher at home and that the 'Dogs looked meek in Athens and Auburn.  I know the Aggies have had 2 weeks to get ready for State.  I know that, as is true with most teams, the 'Dogs have no one who can stay with Christian Kirk.  I know Kellen Mond has continually improved and is a true dual threat.   But ... I also remember what the Bulldog running game did to aTm last year, and most of the culprits are back.  Plus I think that Rankin, Cory Thomas, and Mixon will be back this week.  Once again it will come down to whose line whips whose and which team can run it most effectively ... and turnovers.  I'm looking forward to the Battle of the Maroon & White.