The House of Blue

Is it just me or is it hard to follow this post with JawSmacker blasting everyone who doesn't fall in line with his "fire Joker" screaming?

We get your point.

You put your faith in the UKAA to hire an upgrade...good luck with that.

His only opportunity is to win bottm line. That is not easy, but it is a must!

Secondly, he better start slinging the ball down the field. Getting beat is easier to take when you are having fun and being unconventional.

Take more chances. Fake punts, onside kicks, throwing on all three downs. Passing to set up the run, instead of vice-versa.

We have proven that we are not going to be able to establish the run so pass and then run when they are not expecting it.

Play action when the do expect run. Be totally unpredictable like Spurrier. If you do that and get beat the fans will be more patient with you.

A key stretch of the South Carolina vs Georgia game was the onside kick by UGA that they recovered and it was questionable that they were offside.

This pissed Spurrier off so on the next possesion when UGA stopped Carolina, Spurrier ran a fake punt with a defensive lineman that really changed the game. It went for a touchdown.

That is why Spurrier is the old ball coach, he has been unpredictable his entire carrer.

On defense we need to load up the box and stop the run, period! Make a team beat us through the air, but don't let them run for 200 yards.

No matter what we do make a commitment to finally stopping the run.

Do all this and no matter what the record is, Joker will have another year.

Play vanilla like he has been and he can kiss it goodbye. If I go down I am going down swinging with everything I've got.

A few thoughts on this:

1. Firing Summers from the OL coaching position would be one of the worst moves Joker could do. Is it Summers fault that over half of the starting OL unit was able to practice less that half of Fall Camp due to injuries and has continued to experience injury problems thus far through the first 3 games of the season? Is he supposed to be able to coach up guys who are playing on bum ankles, knees and shoulders to somehow have the strength or technique to block like All-SEC linemen, irregardless of how injured they may be? Summers is not going anywhere; nor should he. If we can get the OL healthy and then see a strong improvement in run and pass protection as a result, that will go a long way with the fans.

2. Steve Brown, on the other hand, has to go. We have heard time and time again for the last few years how "Well, okay...maybe he's not the best guy for DC, but he is one HELL of a DB position coach." Um, no he's not. Other than the lack of pressure from the DL, our DB's (when in coverage) have been the biggest consistent letdown of our D all year long. From game one they have routinely been beaten deep. Even Joker commented on this the other day. That can't happen when we are employing an aggressive style D like Minter's where the DB's will have to utilize sound technique and knowledge to prevent from getting beat deep. The fanbase has been screaming for Brown's head for 2-3 years now, and after this season it will be time for him to go. That would be one move that would "win back the fanbase" to some degree.

3. Get better pressure from the DL or cut Turner loose as well. I have not been impressed with him since he got here and it continues to get worse. There is absolutely no reason that guys like Cobble, Rumph, and Ukwu shouldn't be able to create pressure against OL's from WKU, CMU and UL. It is a matter of knowing how to use your size and strength for leverage, as well as technique and "tricks of the trade". I don't see any of that, and that is on their coach.

4. Win, win, win. I don't think anyone EXPECTS us to beat UF, LSU, USC, MSU, UGA or UT...maybe not even Vandy after how they have looked so far. We absolutely MUST beat Jacksonville St and Ole Miss, but if we can manage to beat a couple of the other teams that we are not "supposed" to beat this year (I really don't include Vandy in that list, although right now I think they will beat us), it will go a long ways towards helping things out. In fact, that is pretty typical of UK football.....lose to a couple of teams you shouldn't lose to (e.g. Ole Miss last year) and then turn around and beat 1 or 2 that you shouldn't beat (numerous examples over the last 5 years). If we somehow manage to beat UF, LSU, USC or UT and manage to go to another bowl game (albeit a lower tier bowl again), I think the fans will quickly forget about the UL loss and chalk it up to yet another example of "What might have been" for UK football. THAT SAID, I do not expect us to beat any of those teams (or UGA or Vandy) right now, but the question in this thread was what will it take for Joker to win back the fans.

5. Enough with the overly-conservative playcalling (e.g. RB dive on 1st, Newton left or right on 2nd, RB dive on 3rd and long, punt on 4th). Turn things loose, but don't go overboard with it. Release the TE's more and stop trying to keep everyone but 3 WR's (and sometimes less than that) in for protection. Run more playaction pass plays, both where Newton stands in the pocket after the fake handoff and where he rolls out on a bootleg for either the pass or run. Don't coach/play scared on offense. Take the fight to the opposing defense instead of coaching not to lose. If the UF's, LSU's, USC's, etc. of the league beat us, then so be it; but make damn sure they come out of it knowing that they had to focus and bust their ass on every play to do so instead of being able to just bring the heat while you go into a shell and hope they make enough mistakes that you come away with a "Hey, look at what I found" kind of win in the end.

I think the 5 elements above are the recipe for what it will take for Joker to win back the fans during this season and afterwards.

JawJacker: Answer this question please.......WHO is going to coach them when you fire all these coaches?? Are you and are you qualified? It's not like coaches are looking to jump around mid season. Unless you have a proven coach in mind that is committed before you do the firing, you best not be upsetting the entire apple cart. And YES, our young men are learning each and every day, regardless of what you may think. So answer my question please, WHO is gonna be the coach and lead these young men? I know you are frustrated as are many, but I will not chuck the whole season after 3 games.

Win any of the next three games and all will be forgiven/forgotten. A win over Florida or LSU would be worth five wins over Louisville. Hell, maybe ten.

You obviously care very much, you do give a damn, quit pretending you don't. If you didn't care you wouldn't have posted 20 times today with "Fire Everybody" rants. If you didn't "give a damn at this point" we wouldn't know what you opinion was because you'd be off somewhere else...maybe even being productive.

n/m

I'm done with this...

Its really not about winning and losing for me. Its about having a team prepared to play. Its about a team that doesn't beat themselves. It's about being unpredictable on both offense and defense. Sometimes a good coached team lose to teams with more depth or better players but UK should never lose to teams like Louisville. UK is a SEC team. Losing to UL is worse than a lose to any SEC school because it shows the failure of the program to win Kentucky.

Joker seems depressed and shows no passion at all on the sidelines or anywhere else.
He has no fire as said above.
His words dont match his teams effort. "we cant be predictable" (see article on practice preparing for Florida). Yet, so far that is exactly what Randy Sanders offense is-PREDICTABLE.

What joker has to do is put a fire under the posteriors of the OC and the players and call them out for not competing.
He could start with the OL.

Don't let facts rear their ugly heads.

Most of the best coaches in the NFL are very calm or almost boring on the sidelines.
Belicheck (SP) A. Reid and sone others.
The NBA, Phil Jackson.
It's a common trend among successful coaches in nearly every sport. College hoops may be the exception.

For starters, I would take four solid quarters of football where the offense looks prepared and executes while the defense continues to improve. A win here and there would be nice too. I don't think Joker can fully regain the fans this season however. I think 80 proof is right on as to why.

One thing he can do is force Randy Sanders to stop being so conservative with his gameplan.
I know Joker was the same way and he owns the offense as they say and Randy is executing the same old conservative and predictable offense Joker used to run, but if he does not change it, he will go down with the sinking ship.

Joker needs a paradigm shift and a revelation that a conservative cannot get done in the SEC ANYMORE THAN A CONSERVATIVE DEFENSE.

He may never realize this but until he does, UK will be bottom dwellers.
Its his move starting at 7 pm tonight. He has nothing to lose if he rolls the dice.
If he does, I will be one of the first to get on here and praise him because I want him to be a winner.