SB Nation - Joe Craddock

What to read while thinking of how great you'd be as a debate moderator

Mike Rutherford — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:30:05 -0000

I'd flip out and get way too intense for absolutely no reason. It would be awesome. They'd write about it in the papers.

It's Thursday, the weekend's right around the corner, you're getting drunk and dancing to music at work for seven hours, so it's only right that we kick this thing off with a generic Louisville/Middle Tennessee preview.

Louisville defensive end Earl Heyman remembers last year's game against Middle Tennessee only too well.

The Cardinals won 58-42, but their inability to stop the Blue Raiders from rolling up 555 yards was a troubling sign of things to come as Louisville finished a disappointing 6-6.

"That game was crazy," Heyman said. "They ran up and down the field last year."

Ah, yes the '07 Middle Tennessee game, AKA: "The Day the Music Died...and Louisville Football Started Making me Want to Take a Sledgehammer to my Testicles."

For our part, I thought we handled the whole thing quite well.

MTSU senior quarterback Joe Craddock - who burned Louisville's defense for 97.8% of his season production in 2007 - will apparently be splitting time with the nimble and aptly named Dwight Dasher on Saturday afternoon. The Murfreesboro Post has more on the Blue Raider QB situation as well as a pile of quotes from Rick Stockstill too massive to be handled by any human being in a single sitting. Poe does not approve.

Big ups (ya-huh I can pull it off) to Victor Anderson for landing a spot on the Rivals.com Midseason Freshman All-American Team. Let's just hope he avoids the "Second Running Back Listed on the Rivals.com Midseason Freshman All-American Team Curse." Last year it was O.J.

Thanks to Jerb, I now have images to go with the stories I heard about the '85 Florida State game while growing up.

I had no idea that Gary Montgomery was around (and still bad ass) back in '85. I also didn't have Herb Crook pegged as a kicker.

I haven't checked out USA Today's college basketball preview yet, but if this is true I'll definitely entertain the thought of writing an angry email while knowing full well in the back of my mind that I'll never go through with it.

In the conference preview section, Louisville is picked to finish sixth in the Big East, where Marquette is the projected winner.

That's a bit strange, considering the Golden Eagles have a new coach, replacing Tom Crean. Dick Vitale has Louisville second IN THE NATION and I believe they are Number Three, behind North Carolina and Connecticut, in the Athlon yearbook.

But if you turn to the middle of the USA Today preview and look at their 2009 NCAA Tournament bracket preview, you'll see that Rick Pitino's team is a Number One seed that is projected to lose to North Carolina in the NCAA championship game.

If James Worthy is in charge of the preview section then this whole thing is going to make a lot more sense.

Cardinal Empire takes an in-depth look at Middle Tennessee. Because that's who we play on Saturday. You knew that? OK, just making sure. Where am I?

The subject of which squad Louisville fans should be pulling for in this weekend's Kentucky/Arkansas game has been a fun topic of conversation for the media, but in reality I don't think there's much of a debate. Bobby Petrino could bitch slap me in a room full of models tomorrow and I'd still root for the Hogs to win by 100.

Tom Heiser agrees; at least with the cheering decidedly against UK.

Looking for a completely trifling Louisville football fact that will impress absolutely no one in any plausible social situation? The Cardinals' streak of not being shutout since Sept. 23, 2000 is the 32nd-best in Division I-A.

Note: I haven't let a rhetorical question go un-answered since '89, so if you read the first line of this blurb and said something outloud, we should probably hang out. If your word of approval or disapproval was preceded by an obscenity, then we should definitely hang out.

A blog called Football For Days identifies Hunter Cantwell as one of the five most disappointing players of the college football season so far.

And lastly, if you haven't seen it yet, this Jeff Goodman column has incensed the ordinarily even-keeled and priority appropriate Kentucky basketball fan base.

Make this Thursday the best one of the week.

Middle Tennessee State University @ Kentucky: After Action Report

Truzenzuzex — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:08:15 -0000

OK, I have watched the game on replay (half last night, the second half this morning on ESPN360.com, and I must say I feel a lot better about some things and a lot worse about others.

First of all, MTSU is for real. They have tremendous speed at their skill positions, and I am talking SEC speed. What they do not have is SEC size, and even though the backs and receivers were blazingly fast, they showed very litte ability to get yards after contact. That was a big factor in the game last night.

Watching MTSU, I was transported back in time to the Hal Mumme years at Kentucky. The Spread Option that MTSU uses is eerily similar to Mumme's "Air Raid" variation on the Spread Option, and Joe Craddock is a poor man's version of Tim Couch. Craddock is a very good quarterback, and the SO allows him to minimize his main deficiency, that of height. He sets up mostly in the gun, and that allows him a better view of the field than an offense which forces you to do a drop. Mumme used many more "tricky" type plays than Rick Stockstill's offense. Stockstill's is very much a vanilla SO type offense with very few unusual formations, no "shuffle passes" and fewer bubble screens than we usually see in that offense. Stockstill also sets up with a two-back backfield, which Mumme did not do very often.

Still, this game reminded me of how potent the SO can be with an accurate passer at the helm. The whole purpose, of course, is to create bubbles of "space" around the receivers. When you have outstanding athletes and speed like MTSU, those little bubbles often wind up being the step the receivers need to defeat a linebacker and break a big gain. That's exactly what happened when MTSU scored its first touchdown.

Fortunately for UK, the offensive line also reminded me very much of the lines under Mumme -- competent only in giving a quarterback just a few seconds to get away a pass to the speedy backs and receivers. The MTSU offensive line was totally dominated by the Kentucky front the entire game, and MTSU's running game was unable to do anything against the UK front seven. That's what ultimately enabled UK to win the game.

What I liked:

Mike Hartline is becoming a solid quarterback -- Listening to the game, I thought Hartline was doing a below average job. But after watching the game, I know where the blame truly belongs -- to the offensive line and receivers. More on that later.

I forgive Hartline the fumble, but that's the second time he has just dropped the ball in the middle of his passing motion, unpressured. I used to be a quarterback in high school, and I have no idea how that happens.
Can we kick, or can't we? For the purposes of this bullet point, I will leave aside the field goal unit. Our kicking teams executed almost flawlessly in every respect. They covered well, they pinned the Blue Raiders deep, they returned the football well. It was awesome, something coaches dream of. Special teams playing like that can be a weapon, and they truly were last night.
The running backs ran hard. Unfortunately, the offensive line had another very poor game. More on that later.
T.C. Drake -- Drake had a breakout game, changing the game just like Jacob Tamme used to do. Drake gets my game ball on offense. Just impressive.
The defensive line and linebackers -- Micah Johnson was on his way to a Woowardesque game when he got injured, but Braxton Kelley, Johnny Williams, Sam Maxwell and Michael Schwindel stepped up and played very well in his absence. The D-line completely dominated MTSU on nearly every snap. The defensive front seven gets my game ball on defense.
The coaching -- The coaches made several adjustments at halftime which changed the game dramatically in favor of UK, especially going back to a four-man front with a nickel package in the backfield for most plays, and taking the routes that the Blue Raiders were giving us on offense.
The low number of penalties. The tougher the comp gets, though, the more of those you will see.

What I did not like:

The offensive line -- The O-line played a very weak game except in pass protection. The backs were on their own, getting very few good running holes to hit. Not only that, they failed to fire completely on every screen play -- several of those should have gone for big yardage, but the line did not maintain their blocks and simply took plays off.
The wide receivers -- Dicky Lyons made more good plays than bad, but he still dropped passes he should have caught. But most of my criticism will be directed at Kyrus Lanxter. This young man should not be dropping so many of these passes. He made Hartline sound like a freshman on the radio, but the tape told a different tale. Lanxter was many times breaking off routes, in the wrong pattern, or failing to make a block. Were Randall Cobb available, I expect Lanxter would have seen a lot of time on the bench.
The injuries -- No need to expound on that. Randall Cobb, Ricky Lumpkin and Micah Johnson all with ankle sprains, a couple of which are "high" ankle sprains. Not sure of their prognosis yet.
Lones Seiber -- I hate to rag on a kicker. That is one tough job, and a bad day can be so devastating because you are out there on an island. But Seiber played so badly that he almost cost us the game. That last play was not his fault, the line failed to block properly, leading to the blocked field goal. I leave Brooks and Phillips to deal with him, but Seiber is one of UK's greatest weaknesses at this point in the season.

Kentucky utterly dominated the entire second half on both sides of the football, yet they failed to do what you must do -- put points on the board. The only reason the game was not over early in the fourth was because our O-line, receivers and kicker were playing so badly that UK couldn't score. Hartline's teammates let him down -- big time. I expect that Phillips and Brooks will remind them of that every single day for the next two weeks.

Kentucky was very fortunate to survive the final FG unit gaffe, and Robbie McAtee deserves a pat on the back for that great, game-saving tackle. The O-line and receivers should be washing his laundry for a month. Lones Seiber should fan him with a palm leaf and feed him grapes.

But a win is a win. Let's get healthy and move on. 3-0 is the only stat that matters at the moment.

UK vs. Middle Tennessee: Will MTSU raid UK's (football) field party?

Ken Howlett — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 06:33:02 -0000

What are the players thinking?

After defeating their chief rival, and FCS member Norfolk State, UK's football team decided to take the week off. Was this a scheduled week off? No.

OK, so they didn't literally take the week off, but Rich Brooks has indicated through his rather emphatic words that the UK football team took a figurative day off this week. To write that the UK head coach was upset would be an understatement, squared.

Asked Wednesday after practice how the team was progressing, Brooks had this delightful ditty:

"We're not practicing well. We've got a lot of work to do. We better understand that we've got to work a lot harder than we are in practice. It was a lack of energy, lack of effort, focus, you name it. We're not getting a lot of leadership in practice, and this is very, very disturbing. We've got a lot of guys talking the talk, abut they're not walking the walk. I'm not very happy."

Thanks for your honesty, coach.

I don't understand this. How a team with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity collectively decides that they are going to let up in their practice effort, after only two games, is beyond my comprehension ability.

It's not as if they have actually accomplished anything meaningful. Coach Brooks agrees:

"What have we done? We haven't done anything."

Call that my favorite quote of the year ( I'm certain Brooks did not intend to deride U of L's football program with his statement, but I thought it was funny ... well, actually hilarious ).

More to the point; what is this group of players thinking? My father would respond, "They aren't thinking." And he would be right.

UK has proved nothing ( other than they have an improved defense ) to this point in the year. They should be focused on getting better, in order to be able to compete once the SEC season starts. That should be their sole goal. For the players to relax, and presumably rest on their laurels at this point in the year is ludicrous, and inexcusable.

Where exactly is Dicky Lyons, Mike Hartline, Trevard Lindley, Jeremy Jarmon, Tony Dixon, and Braxton Kelley? Why aren't they kicking some tail? Why aren't they motivating ( to put it politely ) the younger, dumber guys? There was one area I thought UK would be strong in this year, and that was in the leadership department. They have so many returning players who have vast amounts of experience. There is simply no excuse for there to be a leadership vacuum.

Steve Brown feels the same as Brooks. He cites a lack of leadership as a major problem for the defense:

"All you hear is my voice screaming. I'm tired of screaming. You'd think you'd hear a couple of guys saying, 'Let's go! Let's Go!'. But we're not getting it. No one's assumed the leadership role."

The only thing one can say to the team; "You've been called out men. Will you rise to the challenge, or will you fold like Tony Soprano's 'Benjamins'?

MTSU -- Here comes the 'spread'

Tom Leach told Brooks last week in his post-game interview that Middle Tennessee had beaten Maryland 24-14; the coach responded, as I did, with a "Wow!" Suddenly this game with MTSU, a Sun Belt Conference member, loomed a much tougher task than originally thought.

As the Herald-Leader's Chip Cosby points out in his excellent column on UK's history versus the spread offense ( "Dread the Spread " ), the Wildcats haven't exactly enjoyed great success in stopping the highly fluid offense. Vandy and Florida are two teams that UK has played recently that run the spread, or some variation of, and both teams have lit up the scoreboard with alarming regularity.

So at first blush, this game seems to be a legitimate test of UK's improved defense. But a closer look at MTSU"s "vital stats" tells a slightly different story:

Blue Raider QB, Joe Craddock -- The fifth-year senior has been pretty good through the air; 48 of 72 with one interception and three touchdowns. He's averaging 228 yards passing per game. On the ground, though, he has struggled, rushing 20 times for a net 14 yards. Last year versus U of L ( a 58-42 U of L win ) Craddock was 14-26 for 290 yards and two touchdowns. He has played in 10 career games, starting eight.
Running back Phillip Tanner -- The junior has struggled at times this year, averaging only 3.2 yards per carry ( 38 carries for 122 yards ). He is a physical load, though; he comes in at 6'0", 205 lbs. This is Tanner's first year as a starter.
Running back Desmond Gee -- Also a junior, Gee's yards per carry average is lower than Tanner's, 2.8 ypc to be exact ( 26 rushes for 73 yards ). The 5'8", 165 lb all-purpose back is a two year 1st Team All-Sun Belt performer. Last year he amassed 1,323 all-purpose yards -- 382 receiving, 162 rushing -- the rest of his yards came returning punts and kick-offs. This year he has five kick-off returns for 111 yards ( a respectable, but not great 22.2 yards per return ). He has yet to return a punt ( teams are punting away from him ).
The receiver that stands out to me is freshman Sancho McDonald -- He has 10 catches for 80 yards and one touchdown ( he leads the team in receiving yards and catches ). The 6'3", 197 lb wide receiver is a 3-star recruit out of Miami. He was ranked in the Top 100 recruits in the state of Florida, and was also rated the #15 dual-quarterback threat in the nation by Rivals. As his 8.0 yards per catch average will attest, he has yet to "break-out", but he is a tremendous athlete who poses a very real danger every time he touches the ball, because of his speed and athleticism.
The other wide-out is Wes Caldwell -- Caldwell has made 10 catches for sixty yards.
MTSU, as a team, averages only 2.2 yards per carry, while giving up 5.1 yards per carry, and 5.6 yards per play.
In their 31-17 loss to Troy, MTSU gave up 164 rushing yards on 36 carries ( 4.6 yards per carry ). MTSU ran for 84 yards on 50 rush attempts.
MTSU ran 20 more plays than Troy, but gained 16 less yards.
Middle was down 27-3 going into the fourth quarter of the Troy game.
In their defeat of Maryland, MTSU had three sacks.
Craddock was 28-40 for two touchdowns versus Maryland.
In the Maryland win, MTSU scored on three of their first four possessions. Their sustained drives break down as follows: 10 plays for 80 yards ( TD ), 13 plays for 55 yards ( missed FG ), 17 plays for 59 yards ( made FG ). The other drive was 7 plays for 33 yards, but ended in a lost fumble. The next eight MTSU possessions ended in four punts and one turnover on downs.
One of MTSU's touchdowns versus Maryland came off of an interception returned to the Maryland 10 yard line.
Maryland rushed for 146 yards on only 25 carries ( 5.8 yards per carry ).
MTSU intercepted the Maryland quarterback three times.

The spread offense has been very good to a lot of football teams over the last few years: Utah, Florida, Vandy, Oregon, and West Virginia have all won playing the spread, but MTSU"s numbers just don't add up. They haven't overpowered anybody with their team rushing attack, and the passing numbers are adequate, but not scary good.

This is a game that UK should win, and win easily.

I mean that as no disrespect to MTSU coach, and Georgetown native Rick Stockstill, he's done a good job since taking over the program three years ago ( they went to the '06 Motor City Bowl ), nor do I intend to disrespect the MTSU players, but that doesn't change the fact that UK should dominate this football game. If a team running the spread offense can't average over 2.5 yards per rush, then something is not right within that offense. Let's just hope Stockstill hasn't solved the puzzle in this week's practice.

Miscellaneous stats

Rushing averages -- Derrick Locke - 8.1 yards per carry, Moncell Allen - 7.5 ypc, Randall Cobb - 5.6 ypc, Alfonso Smith - 5.3 ypc. As a team, UK is averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Considering how weak MTSU is against the run, these guys should be salivating.
UK is only 8 for 28 on third down conversions.
UK's opponents are averaging only 2.1 yards per rush.
UK has intercepted four passes, but the offense has produced only one passing touchdown.
Dicky Lyons has returned 10 punts for an exceptional average of 11.7 yards per return.

Brooks on the quarterback situation

Coach Brooks had this to say Thursday about the continuing quarterback battle:

"We'll play both quarterbacks in the first half, and depending on who's moving the ball the best, that one might play more than the other one."

Mike Hartline must begin to move the team, and the team could benefit him by aiding and abetting his efforts by catching his passes, and running the ball a bit better when he is manning the quarterback position. Randall Cobb must cut down on his mistakes, i.e., no more 'thread the needle", Brett Favre impersonations.

I'm rooting for both to experience wild success.

Wildcat's response

How will the football 'Cats respond to the very public criticism directed their way by Brooks? Frankly, I have no idea, but if I had to wager, I would bet that the team will play well. Most know that I am generally optimistic, and I believe in Brooks, but anything less than a three touchdown win will be cause for concern, in my view; Alabama is only three weeks away.

I'm taking a short vacation from my slave-driver cyber-boss, Tru :) I'll return next Friday.

Thanks for reading, and Go Cats!

Previewing the Week Three SEC Matchups

Gamecock Man — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 23:02:04 -0000

Saturday, September 13th

UAB at Tennessee

A cupcake can't come soon enough for Tennessee, who has some major problems to solve before they take on the Gators in Knoxville next week. UAB, meanwhile, has been beaten soundly by upper-tier Sun Belt conference squads Tulsa and Florida Atlantic. Look for the Vols to work on their offensive game, which put up somewhat respectable yardage against UCLA but failed to capitalize on the Bruins' four first-half turnovers. Vols kicker Daniel Lincoln also needs to play better after missing three FGs in the opening loss.

Georgia at South Carolina

Which game would you rather watch?

LSU-Auburn

17 votes

Florida-Tennessee

22 votes

39 votes | Poll has closed