TJ
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 15, 2007
- Messages
- 2,036
LinZ said:
What can I say? I take my hat off to South Carolina.
Injury wise, we were in pretty good shape tonight. They were banged up a little bit more than we were & we still got beat. We had more total yards than South Carolina, we had 6 more 1st downs, but the big difference in this game was the fact that we had 4 costly turnovers (SC scored 14 points on 2 of those turnovers & we lost a scoring oppurtunity on another). We also fumbled on a "would have been" touchdown play & because of that fumble, we had to settle for 3 points instead of 7. South Carolina deserves credit for taking advatage of the oppurtunities that they were presented, for creating some of those oppurtunities, & for being able to make plays when they had to make plays. Tonight they deserved the victory & we deserved the loss.
South Carolina is a very athletic team. They wanted the victory & they were fired up to beat a top 10 team! Norwood is a tremendous player... at least he was tonight!! Smelley is not a great QB, but he is a better QB than Mitchell & Smelley can get the job done. I also see why they were statistically the #1 pass defense in the USA. They are very athletic on defense... not so great against the run, but they can put pressure on the QB & they can play pass coverage about as well as anybody in the country. Before tonights game, they were only allowing 15.6 points per game & thye held us to 1/2 of our scoring average... their defense is tough. Also, they have now beaten 3 SEC teams Georgia, Kentucky & Miss State. Their only loss was to LSU & that was only by 12 points!! IMHO, that's downright impressive!! I expect South Carolina to move up into the top 10 when the polls come out. They also have to be considered the favorite to win the SEC East... at least in my mind they are now the clear favorites.
RE UK... all I can say is disappointing!! Woodson throwing an interception at the goal line, fumbling the ball to give them a 7-0 lead & the lateral that led to another TD is giving up way too many points. Rafael Little also had 2 huge fumbles. Although SC deserves credit for a couple of those turnovers & for getting us rattled, I honestly think that we shot ourselves in the foot a few times tonight too (Rafael wasn't touched on either of his fumbles) & we just can't play sloppy football like that & expect to win!! On a positive note... Our defense forced four 3 & outs on South Carolina, including forcing South Carolina into 3 consecutive 3 & outs to start the 2nd half. Also, we outgained SC & had 6 more first downs than they had, but that just goes to show that stats don't mean everything... you have to make plays when you need to make plays... we had trouble making enough good plays tonight against SC's defense & that is why we lost. Credit the Carolina defense for a big part of that, because every single time that we would start to gain momentum, they would find a way to take the wind out of our sails. Good teams can do that & South Carolina is a good team.
With all that said, this loss was a setback, but it isn't even close to the end of the world. Losing to a team, on the road, that will be ranked in the top 10 next week & whose only loss is to LSU is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. I also wonder if the national spotlight hasn't gone to a few of our offensive players heads!! One thing about it, if that was the case, this loss will take care of that problem. We are still 5-1. Not very many teams are still undefeated. AS a matter of fact, EVERY SEC East team has now lost at least 1 game & only LSU is undefeated in the conference. We only have 2 more road games the rest of the season & we play everybody else at home. I can still see us finishing at 10-2 or 9-3 & that would be impressive for UK football!! Actually, I'll be happy with 8 wins & a bowl victory & the hope that we can accomplish even greater things next year!!
Right now we have 10 days to heal & rest up & that will really help us. Then we host LSU at home!!! I'm still proud of my cats... (clapping) GO BIG BLUE!!
3 Key SEC games this weekend...
*Vandy plays Auburn (Will Vandy pull an upset or will they pick up their 2nd conference loss?)
*Georgia plays Tennessee (One of those SEC East teams will be sitting at 2 losses in the conference this week! (clapping) )
*Florida plays LSU (Can Florida rebound after last weeks loss & after winning a close one over Ole Miss the week before? Or will they also pick up their 2nd conference loss? )
