By: LONNY DEMAREE
There is doubt in the air everywhere but over the practice facility and practice field looking out on Alumni Drive on the southeast side of town. When given the recipe of how to pull it off on Saturday the “Yeahbut's” are alive and well. They live in the museum of history which is a safe haven to reside for the nattering-nabobs. Most of which, they don't have to do any personal thinking or research. “They are strong at every position with no weaknesses,” Stoops said. “They will be a strong challenge. They are strong across the board.
“What I admire most about Lamar Jackson is you can see his leadership and you can see his toughness.” Stoops opined. “It helps that when things break down to have a Lamar Jackson.”
Much of the BBN are holding back their enthusiasm because to them it's hard to let go on the Stoops Troops because of the sorrow hangs over the heads of them when five consecutive years of Cardinal feathers are hovering over the the Bluegrass. There are actually fans that would trade a couple of 2016 wins for a win over their only true rival.
The recipe goes something like this. The Wildcats have for the first time in history twin one thousand yard backs in the same year, Stanley “Boom” Williams and Benny Snell. Eddie Gran has previously experienced having the same situation while coaching at Auburn University, Carnell Lamar “Cadillac” Williams and Ronnie Brown both of whom played in the NFL. So it is obvious he knows how to coach and utilize running backs. One of the major keys to a Wildcat victory is to perhaps not stop the U of L quarterback Lamar Jackson but to slow him down. For the Cats to accomplish that feat they must play keep-away from the dynamic game changer.
So the other part of that recipe is for the Cats to run the football which they have shown they can do against most anybody. So run, run, and more run and kill the clock which is how Duke University did and nearly created something magical.
The last part of that recipe is to strategically mix in play action and let Stephen Johnson throw the deep post which he is most adept in.
Benny Snell is a phenom that in his case he defied all the ranking services and saved the best for the Wildcats. Coming out of high school he had seventy-three running backs ranked ahead of him. His most most prestigious offers coming out of high school were the University of Iowa and the University of Cincinnati. The NFL is full of those type of misses by universities. Snell is arguably the best freshman running back in the country. Stoops said Snell is a solid guy, a discipline guy, a strong guy, and a fast learner. He said he knew Snell would be good but not this quickly.
Stoops said he put this rivalry right up there with the rest of them he's been involved in.
So can the cats execute the recipe laid out in the aforementioned lines. Just keep the ball out of the hands of the dynamic Lamar Jackson.
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