Tearz49ers presents: In Pursuit of Perfection (NCAA Football '14)

[Tearz49ers]

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2018 SEASON PREVIEW.....2018 ROSTER.....2018 SCHEDULE.....
2018 RECRUITING BOARD.....


WEEK THREE




#18 KENTUCKY WILDCATS (1-0, 1-0)
AT.
LOUISVILLE CARDINALS (1-0, 0-0)

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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky -- In the Bluegrass State there is only one rivalry that matters when it comes down to the Gridiron and that's the Governor's Cup Classic battle between Louisville and Kentucky. Up until last season, Kentucky hadn't won this rivalry game since 2010 but a 34-24 win back in Lexington was good enough for Kentucky to have ended a seven year losing streak. Today the Wildcats made it two on the bounce with a last ditch touchdown reception from true freshman Jaylon Brown to take this one 32-27 inside a hostile Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and breaking close to 56,000 Cardinal' fans hearts.

Jaylon Brown would finish the game with 8 receptions for 113-yards and that game winning touchdown in the back of the endzone; Brown was also named the Howard Schnellenberger Award winner at the end of the game, which is handed to the games MVP.

"You dream about these moments from the minute you step foot onto the field as a peewee." Brown told ESPN sideline reporter Laura Rutledge after the game. "Brandon (Brandon Dixon, QB) had the guts to throw up a deuce in the endzone and I just went up and got it; It just goes to show you what a quarterback he is after taking so many hits today. I'm just happy I was able to go out and help this team win this one."

Whilst Brown saluted his quarterback's performance it wasn't exactly pretty nor was it without mistakes. In fact the sophomore had two interceptions and fumbled the ball twice, but those fumbles didn't result in any turnovers.

Dixon was forced to throw the ball a career high forty two times in the win and that could be down to the fact the Kentucky rushing game was held to 77-yards by the Louisville defense. Dixon completed 33 of 42 for 357-yards and tossed touchdown passes to Swae Jones-Hall, Jaylon Brown and tight end C.J. Conrad and for one of the best players on the Kentucky roster at running ball he had just 6-yards on 4 carries.

The offensive line also allowed Dixon to be sacked four times, but it was the serious amount of times the quarterback was either hit or pressured that will alarming to head coach Lincoln Riley.

"Problems aside, we won the game. "Riley told the press after the game. "Well addressed the issues we have with protecting Brandon, our lacklustre running attack this week in practice. For know, I am going to join them in their celebrations in what is a massive win again for this team."

Louisville's Lamar Jackson threw four touchdown passes, which was a complete transition from last season when he threw three interceptions. Jackson was by far the best player on the field today as his Heisman push continues on. Jackson finished the game completing 17 of 23 passes for 310-yards; his 75-yard touchdown pass to Dez Fitpatrick looked to have won the game for Lousiville but that wasn't the case, and you could see just how dejected he was after the game.

He also tossed touchdown passes to Jaylen Smith, Traveon Samuel and Micky Crum III.

Kentucky's running game has taken a slight dip compared to last season through their first two games but that's to be expected when you lose a talent like Stanley Williams and are rushing the ball with a true freshman. Malik Dixon rushed for just 66-yards on 20 carries but the freshman did get his second touchdown this season and it couldn't have been any easier, the running back just waltzed into the endzone untouched by any Louisville defender and the freshman will not get an easier touchdown for the rest of his Kentucky career.

The Wildcats defense may have been torched by Lamar Jackson but it did its job against the Louisville running game holding Jeremy Smith to 18-yards on 11 carries.

Safety Marcus Walker who has been given a lot more freedom in Chris Rumph's new 3-4 defense was on hand to jump in front of Louisville's Traveon Samuel and record the only turnover the Wildcats defense made today. Kengara Daniel, Denzil Ware and Ja'Quize Cross all had their turn at pushing Jackson's face into the turf with sacks.

Next week, the now ranked #16 Kentucky Wildcats (2-0, 1-0) return to Lexington to host #25 LSU (1-1, 1-0). Last season Austin MacGinnis kicked five field goals for Kentucky to beat LSU 22-17 on their own turf and the Tigers come into this game off the back of a 42-32 loss to Northern Illinois.

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[Tearz49ers]

[Tearz49ers]

[Tearz49ers]

Offensive Stats Comparison 29.5 (#62nd) Points Per Game 28.0 (#70th) 431.0 (#43rd) Total Offense 394.5 (#64th) 193.0 (#49th) Rush Offense 123.5 (#111th) 238.0 (#42nd) Pass Offense 271.0 (#29th) Defensive Stats Comparison 385.5 (#76th) Total Defense 324.5 (#44th) 167.5 (#74th) Rush Defense 102.0 (#11th) 218.0 (#84th) Pass Defense 222.5 (#87th) -2 (#95th) Turnover Difference -1 (#77th) Injury Report LE Glen Logan (Broken Fibula) Eight Weeks

[gsutiger]

Hopefully the home crowd comes through in this game for your team, big SEC Match up. Will really need the run game to start to come together Dixon won't be able to do it all by himself this season.

[Tearz49ers]

Quote: Originally Posted by gsutiger

Hopefully the home crowd comes through in this game for your team, big SEC Match up. Will really need the run game to start to come together Dixon won't be able to do it all by himself this season.

You are 100% correct on the run game, we are really feeling the effects of loosing Boom and the main part of our offensive line.. the two backs we have in Malik Dixon and Corey Booth on paper have the talent but so far havent translated that onto the field, and as you say thats the main reason im relying on Brandon to do so much for the offense at the moment, but its still early days for this to all change.

[Tearz49ers]

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2018 SEASON PREVIEW.....2018 ROSTER.....2018 SCHEDULE.....
2018 RECRUITING BOARD.....


WEEK FOUR




#25 LSU TIGERS (1-1, 1-0)
AT.
#16 KENTUCKY WILDCATS (2-0, 1-0)

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LEXINGTON, Kentucky -- Kentucky head coach Lincoln Riley challenged his offense to pick things up this week against #25 LSU. He asked his O-Line to get up in faces off the LSU defensive line, protect his quarterback and open the holes needed for his true freshman running back to exploit what he though wasn't the strongest of LSU linebacking cores that his counterpart Les Miles had at his disposal. Whilst LSU's Arden Key was able to make LT Landon Young look stupid on three different occasions it was in fact a much improved offensive line for the Wildcats.

This was a real chance to prove if this current crop of Kentucky players were really legit.

"I told them to go out there and push peoples faces into the dirt," Riley said after the game. "There was no disrespect to the kids over at LSU but I needed to pull on anything that would spur my own team on. This was a much improved performance from the guys upfront, not perfect but much improved. Look at how much more comfortable Brandon looked, how Malik played.. it worked didn't it?"

With the four touchdowns thrown by Brandon Dixon today you could almost forgive the sophomore's stupid interception he threw to Saivion Smith. The Kentucky quarterback was 14-of-21 for 176 yards and whilst this is the lowest overall yardage he has thrown this season the quarterback did look much improved.

Like Dixon, you can see another true sophomore starting to make a big impact on this Wildcats offense this season and that's receiver Swae Jones-Hall who caught two touchdown passes today on just four receptions.

"It's one thing I want to improve on every week," Jones-Hall said after the game. "Getting open, and giving my quarterback the easy option."

True freshman Malik Dixon broke the 100-yard barrier for the first time in his career and I am sure it wont be the last time either if the Kentucky offense can roll like they did today. Dixon finished the game with 113-yards on 20 carries but did not find the endzone rushing.

LSU's Justin McMillan who like Kentucky's offensive line has had his fair share of critics through the first four weeks again had two costly turnovers. On what look like a routine option run McMillan seemed to pull the ball back out of Derrius Guice's hands and subsequently took a big hit off Kentucky defensive end Kengera Daniel and the junior would fumble the ball right into the hands of Mike Edwards. Not only the fumble but as the Tigers looked to be building momentum in the third quarter it was quickly squashed when McMillan threw the ball right into the path of Jordan Griffin who couldn't have had an easier pick.

All that aside McMillan was still a handful for the Kentucky defense when he pulled the ball down a ran. The Tigers combined for 216-yards and a touchdown rushing the ball and that wont help improve the Wildcats rush defense which was ranked 11th in the country coming into the game. Derrius Guice rushed for 124-yards on 24 carries whilst Justin McMillan added 89 and a touchdown.

"There's a long laundry list today," LSU head coach Les Miles said when he was asked what went wrong today. "We didn't do a very good job of finishing of the drives we had with points. We have to improve when stopping the run, against the pass and most importantly on these stupid mistakes.

LSU have now lost back-to-back games after a 42-32 loss to Northern Illinois last week already put some heat on the seat under Les Miles.

Kentucky (3-0, 2-0) will now have the audacious task of ending a 31 year wait for a win over Florida next week as they host the now #1 ranked Florida Gators in Lexington. The Gators ended Tennessee's championship hopes even this early on last weekend when quarterback Luke Del Rio passed for three touchdowns in a 37-24 win over the Vols. Florida has already registered three back-to-back wins over Eastern Michigan, Ole Miss and Teneessee.

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[ZSmit88]

Big win! LSU is looking like they might just be pretenders this season.