Saturday Review-Look ahead

How about that? Yesterday, I said the Cats would need to play a near perfect game to win, and I was about right. I cannot remember a game where a team did not commit a penalty. Add to that some great D, tremendous running and run blocking, and just enough passing game to keep Auburn's defense honest, and you have a huge SEC road win, a potential season altering momentum swing, and one of the five or six best wins of the Rich Brooks era.


There is a lot to go over and a lot of love to spread around. I'll start with Will Fidler. Sometimes things don't go your way as an athlete. Hearing that he wasn't starting this game had to be crushing for Will. As a fourth year senior, his chance had finally come, until he learned that his freshman teammate who had never thrown a college pass was taking what I'm sure he thought was a spot he'd earned. Will kept his head up and delivered when he was called upon. I feel great for him.



As I said before the game Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke are All-SEC talents. The world is about to know it soon. I think Cobb is a four year player here, and I think when he is done he goes down as one of the best to ever wear Blue and White.



The Offensive line is the most underrated aspect of the team. We've run successfully against nearly every team on the schedule. That is because of these guys. Between the legs of Cobb and Locke, and the holes the line is opening up, this team has found its identity.



Obviously the defense played well, with Warford back the secondary was much improved. Yesterday belonged to the linebackers, particularly OLB's Danny Travathan and Sam Maxwell, who joined Micah as leading tacklers this week.



Finally, I cannot say enough about the special teams. Steve Ortmeyer has them rounding into fine form. We had one field goal attempt that was not blocked and run back for a touchdown, and for the first straight week, all of the Cat's punts went for at least double digit yards.



Okay, so it isn't all gushing. While I am picking nits, Winston Guy needs to stop headhunting and start hitting and wrapping. One, he is going to hurt himself or someone else, and two, he is missing sure tackles while trying to create highlights.



Anyway, this is one hell of a win. When you consider how badly the deck was stacked against them, the Cats really did have what ESPN.com's SEC blogger termed the "gutsiest win in the SEC this year".



In the context of the whole season, this is a very good thing. If you'd asked me point blank before the season started, I would have been very happy with 3-3 at this point. Looking back at my preseason predictions, I did have UK winning this game. But I didn't know then that Auburn would be 5-1 and only one week removed from being #17 in the country then. In fact, I did not have Auburn going to a bowl in the preseason.



We line up with what looks like four straight winnable games. This weekend, I hope, will not be a toe stub. The Cats need to move the chains, put some points on the board, and tear the hearts out of ULA-Monroe early.


Next comes an intriguing matchup against a pretty fair Mississippi State team. New coach Dan Mullins has these guys playing ball. The Bulldogs came within a foot of beating LSU and were tied with Houston going into the fourth quarter last week. They have manhandled Vandy and taken care of non conference opponents thus far. Don't forget it was Mississippi State that came into Commonwealth in 2007 and stunned the best UK team this decade 31-14, ruining our chance at a special season. I'd like to see this game played at night. We'll find that out tomorrow. This should be the toughest of the four games, and assuming nothing goes haywire next week, we are probably 3-4 point favorites.



EKU should provide a safe win and pave the way for a November 14th roadie at Vandy. I expected this to be a big game, but the 'Dores are reeling at 2-5, and have South Carolina, Georgia Tech and Florida over the next three weeks. Bowl eligibility will probably be out the window, but the chance to play spoiler for a team that has spoiled a lot of its seasons will not be. On the other hand, Vandy may have thrown in the towel by then. We won't know that until we get down there, so I wouldn't take it lightly.

More to come this week. It is starting to get interesting.