Keyshawn Simpson had 4 short yardage touchdowns against Georgia State, notably with Kadeem Jones or Nick Baisch at fullback. Hmmm….seems like I remember seeing that some in the Kentucky game at the beginning of the season.
Kinda makes you wonder where it has been since then.
I’d have to go back over the past several games and review what may or may not have allowed us to execute those yards in the two games prior, ULaLA and Troy, which loses have placed Coach Bobby Petrino’s first WKU squad in a precarious position to get into a bowl.
It is my opinion that WKU is actually the best team in the Sun Belt, but turnovers and lack of execution on critical plays have placed the team at the bottom of the standings.
In addition, everyone needs to stop kidding themselves…the WKU defense wasn’t so good last year and it isn’t so good this year either. I find the secondary very suspect and even though the stats may show that opposing teams don’t pile up many yards against the Tops, that is more due to the offense’s ability to keep possession of the ball for an overwhelming advantage. This team gets beat on pass plays pretty easily, they have a very low turnover rate and spend more time celebrating than they do actually winning games.
Doughty’s injury forced Petrino into the obvious best choice for WKU even with Doughty, known as the Andrews, Allen, Simpson, Jones, Baisch show. After Doughty went down, hope he is ok, and the Tops hit the field running it was lights out. Keeping in mind that Georgia State has the worst defense against the run in the conference, you’d still have a hard time convincing me that this strategy isn’t the best for the Tops against any opposition.
WKU looks best when it is grinding with the run and passing off of that, not the other way around.
OK, it is my blog, right? So I get to air my opinion and I am no expert, but, Doughty needs to learn to get more air under the ball. This was Jakes problem as well. He throws the ball too flat, so on long balls or on corner routes the ball doesn’t drop in, it comes in too low making it easy for defenders to break up the pass or intercept it, and the directness of short throws, makes it difficult for receivers to handles as well, without an arch, you can’t time the catch. I love Doughty’s accuracy, but wished he would take off the blinders and see more peripherally. It isn’t good to throw the ball while getting hit. When I hear the commentators say it is a good thing to stand there and take the hit to get the throw off I can’t get over how bad a plan that is. This gets you injured, creates fumbles and interceptions and you get sacked.
That can’t be a good plan. Scramble and make a play, but don’t risk bad throws. Doughty’s mistakes have really hurt the success of this team, even considering how his statistics otherwise look.
I gotta tell you, I was relieved when Fishback took the helm. He looks like a gamer to me, and while he may not be the arm that Doughty is, he sure looks a lot more like a leader and can make plays.
Petrino is a renowned coach, and I have no doubt that when he gets his type of players in his system, his system will function the way he is accustomed to, and create some great memories for the Topper nation. Nobody wants it more than I. In fact, you can already see how much better the team is performing statistically than last year.
In addition, isn’t anyone else surprised that Andrews is having another banner year, leading the nation in rushing IN A PASSING OFFENSE? I find that incredible. Man, whats not to like about AA’s game? I don’t think I remember ever seeing a back at WKU where you know that they got every yard possible on every play, although Rainey had that quality.
The bottom line is this…Tops must win out, meaning, Army, Texas State and Arkansas State, and there is no more time to fool around. If Doughty does return, which I assume he will, he must stop giving the game to the opposition, and I will repeat, the offense that gets you from the 20 to the 20 is not the same offense that can get you from the 20 into the end zone. Doughty isn’t a play maker, put in Fishback, mash it around with your back smashmouth backs and throw some dinky dropoffs to those great Tight ends and backs that you have.
If you ask me, that would be hard to stop.
Go Tops…