Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Game Blog Nominees; Kent St. Got Checked

A 56-20 win over Kent St. should please the Big Blue Nation, after all by all indications of the first half, Kent St showed up and was going to fight to the bitter end but the Kentucky defense showed up in the second half and only allowed six points to the pleasing fans of many. Woodyard and Kelley combined for 26 tackles alone maybe hinting at a little halftime spill by the coach telling those guys to step it up because the talents of Kent St won't amount to what they will go up against in the SEC this year. So congrats to these kids, Kentucky is 2-0 going up against L'ville, a top 10 opponent, this weekend which should be a dandy, Brohm vs Woodson.

Fantasy

I didn't do as well as I would have hoped. Woodson was in fantasy terms decent but could've been better, but I'll credit Kent St's D for that. They did hang with us for one half. Here's where I stand on the year …

Week 1 Actual: 66 Earned: 40
Week 2 Actual: 47 Earned: 56
Diff: -57

Game Blog Nominees

Here are this week's Week 2 Game Blog Nominees vs Kent St. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong I suppose or maybe even agree with me.

#4 Rafael Little
Little ran 102 yards on 13 carries averaging over 7 yds a carry. That's game blog material, yo!

#3 Keenan Burton
Keenan showed us why he's still #1 WR for UK with 109 yds receiving and a score. Lyons and Tamme were quiet while sleeper pick wideout Stevie Johnson made a showing.

#2 Braxton KelleyKelley totalled 11 tackles for the game and for a defense that showed up in the second half of this game, that's reason enough this kid gets number two.

#1 Wesley Woodyard
Woodyard led Kentucky with 15 tackles and combined with Kelley totalled over 25 tackles which helped lead Kentucky to a second half rout of Kent St. Woodyard more than held his own here. Well done. Now it's time to see this type of performance against ninth ranked Louisville this Saturday.

Items of Interest

· Basketball: It's official, Tracy Webster is Giddyup's third and final assistant coach, who also was the lead recruiter in Darius Miller's recruiting. My question is what took so long?

· Little has good chance to put up huge numbers as he leads the team in rushing, however, as pointed out by Jody Demling it's not all Little. In fact, in my opinion, the healthier Little is, the more opportunity guys like Dixon will score the TDs, you know except when Little busts a 50 yarder on ya. Either way, it bids well for UK this week that he's healthy.

‘ "Rafael's had a great career for us, and two years ago he's all we had," UK coach Rich Brooks said. "Now we have some other things to go with him." ’

Reason enough in that statement that we'll be seeing more Dixon as well - possibly in goalline situations?

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Friday, September 7, 2007

Welcome To Camp; Who's Da Bad A** Now?!

Rafael Little is funny, yo. Seriously funny. na na na na naaaaa ... Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah!



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Thursday, September 6, 2007

Football Week 2: Kent State

Despite offending a few Kent St fans, the fact is that Kentucky has high expectations based on who they return this year and how they ended their season last year. Whatever Kent St has for Kentucky, the Wildcats D should have an answer. As I've said before, Kentucky has to beat teams like Kent St and EKU if they expect to be taken seriously surrounded by their own hype (ie. Believe). So other than a win, it's a disappointment. Now when we start getting into the SEC schedule expectations will be high but realistic. Needless to say, it's realistic to beat teams like Kent St. if Rich Brooks expects to ever visit the SEC Championship with Kentucky, so whatever Kent St has, Kentucky better have an answer for it because I don't care how improved Kent St may be, Kentucky clearly has enough playmakers to shut them and their fans up as far as I'm concerned. And if the Wildcats can't beat a team like Kent St., how the hell do you expect them to do anything worthwhile in SEC play? Believe? well honestly, Kentucky still has to prove they can go undefeated in non-conference play first. And I do believe, it's just the proving process ain't over yet folks. Show me they can beat the teams they're supposed to beat first, and then I'll start believing more. This should be a win and if any player on Kentucky's team wants to make another video telling us to “believe”, well, how bout takin' care of the non-conference sched first, then I'll believe even more. There's a reason you schedule a team like Kent St early in the season because it tests you just good enough without sacrificing a loss. At least you hope so, go ask Michigan. The season just began and it's not time to fold on us now kids. You only beat EKU at home, and you're next opponent is only Kent St. These are teams you have to beat FIRST before you can ever begin thinking of making a visit to the SEC Championship, right Coach Brooks?

Let's take care of these kids from Kent St. the way you're supposed to and expected to.

That said, I think and yes, believe as if that's not getting old (I wanna see results!), that Kentucky will give up no more than 10 points to Kent St. Here are my adjusted fantasy predictions …

Woodson: 240, 4 TDs
Little: 85 yards rushing, TD
Burton: 80 yards 2TDs
Lyons: 70 yards TD
Tamme: 50 yards TD
K: 2 FGs

DEF: 10 pts allowed, 2 FR, 2 INTs
FINAL SCORE: 34-10 Kentucky

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Monday, September 3, 2007

Football: Game Blog Nominees


From the guy behind Barnhart and Lyons in the blue striped shirt: “Hello Big Blue!”

From the Wildcat Blog's Prediction Headquarters:

“Woodson: 250 yds, 2TDs
Little: 80 yards rushing, 35 receiving, TD
Burton: 100 yard rec., TD
Lyons: 65 rec.,
Tamme: 40 yards rec.,
K: 2 FGs
DEF: 10 pts allowed, fumble rec., int

Predicted Score: Kentucky 34 EKU 10

Well a little over a day has passed since the home opener, and season opener for that matter, win against EKU has settled upon the mind. A couple of things I'm proud of … all involving my predictions.

· Andre Woodson threw for 250 and 3 scores -- I predicted 250 and 2 scores.

· I wasn't that far off from Rafael Little's stats of 135 and a score -- I predicted 80 and a score.

· Defense allowed 10 and picked EKU off once in a 50-10 win -- I predicted exactly 10 pts to EKU and an INT in predicted score of 34-10.

So while that wasn't amazing stats or anything in comparison, you have to give me some credit in at least being close to near dead on without even seeing this team prior to. So I'm happy. The only thing I'm truly amazed at, and yes I'm probably the last fan to finally realize it and accept it, but Tony Dixon is a beast man. The kid can juke and that's no fluke, yo. He's the real deal. Kentucky has two starting running backs in my opinion in Little and Dixon. And as I've said this before, Little could've own the game against EKU, however after sitting on it, so would've Tony Dixon - he only had 9 carries for 77 yds and 2 scores.

And yet while I was wrong about Keenan Burton, I learned my lesson. Burton's game is going to open up a lot opportunities for Lyons and Johnson and even Tamme. Even though Burton's 49 and one score is respectable, the game ball would've been given to Dicky Lyons simply for Kentucky's first offensive play of the game that went in the air to Lyons for six. You know what they say man, pump fakin' is for chump takin'. I kid, I kid. But how the heck does play action pass be THAT effective from the get go? Thank you Keenan! :). With that said, it's time for the Wildcat Blog's Game Blog Nominees and we've got some good ones, yo. So good I had to name six kids with Nominees that truely deserves mentioning, and don't forget at the end of the month, all my Game Blog Nominees will be presented at Wildcats Thunder for a decisive vote from it's members to decide who will be the Game Blog of the Month recipient of September, so remember to go register at THUNDER so you can vote, but I'll have a poll on this blog as well which will be added to WT's result.

Here are the Wildcat Blog's Game Blog Nominees for the game vs EKU

At #5, Johnny Williams - kid led Kentucky with 7 tackles, 5 of which he assisted on.

At #4, Rafael Little - the double back tandem of Little and Dixon proved to be too much for EKU, UK rushed for over 280 on 'em. Little rushed for 135 and a score and proved to me that he's back to be the SEC best back -- if only he could get 25-30 carries a game?

At #3, Sam Maxwell - kid was up there with 6 tackles and led Kentucky with 5 solo tackles. Not being named Woodyard nor Kelley, Maxwell deserves to be nominated.

At #2, Tony Dixon - 9 carries, 77 yards and 2 scores. Helped Kentucky put the rout into EKU and was surprisingly delicious addition in the backfield backing up Little. He was just 23 yards away from Kentucky having two 100 yard rushers in the season home opener!

At #1, Andre Woodson - 20-29, 250 yards, 3 TDs and most importantly, no interceptions! Kid wasn't quite was Brohm did in his opener given the two are being included in Heisman talk around the country but the kid was effecient. The opening pump-fake-jam to Lyons for six was as sweet as spring time honey-dew, yo! You just knew Woodson was going to have a great game and he did. And droppin 50 on a team like EKU is what you're expected to do, and he did.

Fantasy Update

You can do the calculations or you can trust me, I'm an honest person, but here's where I sit after one game in my predicted fantasy points …

Actual Fantasy Points Scored: 66
My Predicted Fantasy Points Earned: 40
DIFFERENCE: -26

Not bad, I busted goose eggs on Burton, Tamme, and our K - what's his name? lol, and I only earned 2 pts for Lyons' 113, TD performance because I only predicted he would have only 65 rec. LOL, that's how it goes.

Wildcats Thunder Record

I'm tied for 3rd going 8-2 over the weekend where members pick 10 games. Not bad since I normally don't pick college games. Straight up - no spread.

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Sunday, September 2, 2007

Kentucky Lays It On EKU

Wildcats 50 EKU 10



Woodson: 20-29, 250 yds, 3TDs
Lyons: 113 yds, TD
Little: 135 yds, TD

· Game Stats
· photo gallery
· Quotes

“I was pleased with how we ran the football. Above anything, that was probably the thing I was most pleased with, about how hard our backs ran. I don’t know if you guys noticed, but I noticed how our offensive line got up the field for our backs to run outside. The athleticism of this offensive line is better.” -- Rich Brooks

Stat of the Game

Kentucky had six guys who averaged 4 per carry or more. They had three guys who ran for over 50, including Dixon who ran for over 75 and Little who ran for 135.

Little had only 12 carries. Now I know Dixon impressed me immensely and I know he's playing a backup roll to Little however Little could have busted this game open for over 200 had he more carries than just 12. That's surprising my friends, Little could've owned this game, but that doesn't take away from the performance of Dixon who impressed me just as much with his running.

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