John Clay's Sidelines

(AP Photo/Phil Sandlin, Pool)

SEC links for Sunday:

• Mark Bradley of the AJC reports that Georgia finds the power to topple Georgia Tech.
• Doug Roberson of the AJC reports on the Bulldogs’ stunner.
• David Ching of the Athens Banner-Herald admits he was wrong about Georgia.
• David Paschall of the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports on the running Dogs.
• Pat Dooley of the Gainesville Sun writes that Florida lives the dream in Tim Tebow’s final home game.
• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Florida has turned FSU into FIU.

Continue reading ‘SEC links: Georgia shocks Tech, Tebow bows out’

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Some thoughts and stats from Kentucky’s 30-24 overtime loss to Tennessee:

• Here’s the quick column I did for tomorrow.

• A great second-half team of late, Kentucky wilted in the second half in this one. The Cats were outgained 209-80 in the second half by the victorious Vols. That’s not counting the overtime. Kentucky couldn’t get off the field on defense and couldn’t stay on the field on offense. The play-calling was suspect, especially going away from Randall Cobb down the stretch, though Rich Brooks said that Cobb was beat-up and had to take fluids for dehydration.

• In the past two games, against Georgia and Tennessee, UK was outgained 933-521. Georgia gained 486 yards. Tennessee gained 467.

• The biggest head-scratcher was third-and-five from the Tennessee 8-yard line with under a minute remaining, UK had quarterback Morgan Newton run around right end. It seemed the same play the Cats ran against Mississippi State. The play didn’t work there either. And UK lost that game, as well. On this night, Newton gained just three yards, setting up Lones Seiber’s tying field goal.

• Tennessee’s Montario Hardesty, who had the game-winner, rushed for 179 yards on 39 carries. It was his fifth 100-yard game of the season, and followed a 171-yard effort last week against Vanderbilt.

• This was Tennessee’s first road win of the year. The Vols had lost at Florida 23-13, at Alabama 12-10 and at Ole Miss 42-17. It was also the first time in five games that Tennessee won after trailing at halftime.

• Cobb ended up with 101 yards on 18 carries. He completed a 31-yard pass and caught four passes for 24 yards. He returned a punt 18 yards and a kickoff 43 yards.

Continue reading ‘Thoughts/stats on 25th UK loss to Tennessee’

Charlie Strong

To me, from the outside looking in, Steve Kragthorpe seemed like the plastic man. Sure he is a good coach and a good offensive coordinator, but there wasn’t much else there. He was nice enough, but no personality. No spark. No passion. John L. Smith had personality. Bobby Petrino didn’t have a lot of personality, and he could certainly be a jerk, but he had passion, aggressiveness, fire. Plus, he’s a heckuva football coach, which is what you need at a Louisville, which is trying to get attention in the same state with an SEC school.

Some will tell you that Krags was trying to clean up a program that was riding on the edge with Petrino, and that may be true. But Louisville’s recruiting was abysmal under Kragthorpe. It didn’t follow up on U of L’s bowl trip, nor did it capitalize on the offensive tradition that started with Howard Schnellenberger, encountered a speed bump with Ron Cooper, then picked back up with John L, and was expanded by Petrino. When you go from Jeff Brohm to Dave Ragone to Stefan LeFors to Brian Brohm to Adam Froman as your quarterback, something’s wrong.

Continue reading ‘Quick take on the Steve Kraghtorpe firing’

Who should Louisville hire as its football coach now that Steve Kragthorpe has been officially pink-slipped?

Louisville has called a noon press conference amidst reports that Steve Kragthorpe has been relieved of his duties as the school’s football coach.

Pat Forde reports for ESPN that sources have told him that Kragthorpe has been fired: “The Cardinals’ 34-14 loss to Rutgers ends Kragthorpe’s tenure after three disappointing seasons. Kragthorpe, who went 15-21 at Louisville, will meet with athletic director Tom Jurich Saturday, according to sources, to determine the best way to handle his departure.”

Pat mentions Houston coach Kevin Sumlin and Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong as leading candidates.

Big Blue Links for Saturday:

• Chip Cosby of the Herald-Leader writes that UK looks to end streak: “While a few tears will be shed, the UK players know they can’t let themselves get too emotionally caught up in the moment. The Cats are just 2-4 under Rich Brooks on Senior Day, including last year’s 31-24 loss to Vanderbilt. The Cats have seen first hand the past two weeks how Senior Day can go awry. They beat Vanderbilt 24-13 in its home finale and followed that with a 34-27 win over Georgia on the Bulldogs’ Senior Day in Athens.”

• Chip’s notes lead with the bowl possibilities: “The Cotton Bowl won’t have any representatives in Lexington, but Cotton Bowl vice president of communications Charlie Fiss said they are keeping an eye on the Wildcats. The Cotton Bowl typically selects a team from the SEC West. Fiss said Mississippi, Louisiana State and Arkansas are the main teams on the radar. But a Kentucky win over Tennessee could shake things up.”

• Mark Wiedmer of the Chattanooga Times Free Press writes on Randall Cobb: “When Tennessee’s Volunteers and the Wildcats renew one of the more lopsided rivalries in Southeastern Conference history tonight at 7 in UK’s Commonwealth Stadium, it’s hard to envision anyone being a better fit for a program than Cobb with the Cats. Tennessee’s 2007 2A Mr. Football, Cobb has scored touchdowns by run (9), reception (4) and return (1). That’s 14 total, and his 8.4 points per game lead the SEC among non-kickers.”

• Wes Rucker of the Times Free Press writes that history won’t help UT: “Past games have no bearing on tonight’s Southeastern Conference meeting in Lexington, the Volunteers and their coaches have said.‘The history of this series means nothing to this game,’ first-year head coach Lane Kiffin said. ‘I’m sorry. It doesn’t.‘”

• Mike Strange of the Knoxville News-Sentinel picks a UK win: “I went into the week with a gut feeling this would be Kentucky’s year. UT’s 24-game winning streak against the Cats is remarkable. Kentucky, in the Jared Lorenzen and Andre Woodson years, had enough horses to end that streak somewhere along the line.”

Continue reading ‘BBL: The Kentucky-Tennessee streak is on the line’

Exchanged e-mails (or Facebook messages) with my friend Clay Travis, Nashville attorney, FanHouse columnist, and author of two terrific books, “Dixieland Delight” and the most recent “On Rocky Top.”

Asked Clay three questions about the Big Orange Nation, and here are the responses:

How would you rate the job Lane Kiffin has done this season?

Travis: I’d give Kiffin a B-. Prior to the Ole Miss game, and you could point to the season and Tennessee was two plays away from being 7-2 (gain the extra half yard on fourth down against UCLA and make one of the three missed field goals against Alabama). But the Ole Miss game zapped a lot of the optimism that came from dominating Georgia and South Carolina on either side of that Bama game.

Even still all six of Tennessee’s wins have been by double digits and all but the Ole Miss game have been losses by 10 or fewer points.

Also, even though most Vol fans won’t mention it, Tennessee has been favored in 9 of 12 games this season. It’s not like they’re taking the field with a high school team.

Continue reading ‘Clay Travis on Tennessee football this season’