Rough Weekend

As I'm sure many of you noticed, I basically quit posting at about the ninth week of the season, with little more than SEC bowl related posts through the end of the year. There are were several reasons for this; increased use of Twitter/Facebook to post shorter updates, plans to close the site down after the season anyway and a general lack of hits and links. But the most compelling reason is that I've lost faith in the staff and the administration and their ability to give us a product worth writing about in the short and long term. This year's team was incredibly frustrating to watch. The problems I observe seem to be systematic rather than simply relating to individual players.

This weekend didn't do anything to make me feel better. As everyone reading this now knows, fifth year senior Mike Hartline pissed the last game of his career away in a fit of drunken belligerence. Joker's swift justice would indicate that he lent some credence to the allegations involving violence. I feel terrible for Hartline, whose star crossed career deserves its own post. Right now however, I feel worse for Joker, who is losing his grip on the reins of the Wildcat sled.

This week Joker let two assistants go and announced that he'd be bringing in a co-defensive coordinator to work alongside Steve Brown. The latter sounded like a way of pushing Brown out the door politely. I certainly hope so. If UK really told candidates it wanted someone to work alongside someone whose unit completely failed this year, they cut themselves off right at the knees.

Saturday hit, and word came via Twitter that Rick Minter and Steve Pardue (we'll get to them in a minute) were at practice in UK gear. We had apparently filled our two vacancies. At the same time Chip Cosby, Matt May and Brett Dawson were tweeting about the Minter/Pardue sightings, Larry Vaught (who was not at practice) was reporting that recently fired but highly respected former Miami Head Coach would come to UK as the DC. Though Shannon was reportedly contacted early in the week, it sounded to me like fan base appeasement. Truth is, Shannon was likely to land on his feet with a near million dollar gig and clearly UK isn't going to pay that for a coordinator. That this was actually going to happen was huge, and a sign that Joker had more juice than perhaps we realized.

This being Kentucky, Vaught later tweeted that his sources were wrong and that Minter (who is currently the linebacker's coach at Indiana State) would indeed become the DC. This news was bad enough, but it was only the tip of the bitter cold iceberg.

Urban Favre's mid-week decision to quit at Florida for the second year in a row provided good theatre for Cats fans. I was thrilled to have that evil bastard out of the SEC East, don't get me wrong. But I was giddy about the prospect Meyer would be replaced by the coach of one of UK perennial opponents. Louisville's Charlie Strong seemed like a possibility. Mississippi State's Dan Mullen, however, seemed like the logical choice. Louavull and MSU aren't just perennial opponents, they are swing opponents. Along with Vanderbilt (we'll get to them in a minute) and South Carolina, they form the set of schools we need to beat consistently if we ever want to get to "the next level". I'd love for Mississippi State or Louisville to lose their coach and have to start over.

On Saturday, the Gators got their man in Texas Defensive Coordinator and former Coach-in-waiting Will Muschamp. Many are questioning the hire. Not me. Muschamp is young, incredibly passionate and has an impeccable coaching pedigree. He is likely to bring in Major Applewhite as his OC. They'll outwork everyone on the field, own every living room and Florida will continue to be Florida. Mullen and Strong, evidently, will stay put. I'd guess that Mullen was induced to stay by more money and promises from MSU to continue to invest in their program. Not good news for the Cats, whose administration would not have done the same thing if Joker had been the hot commodity. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but we don't know because no one has tried to steal UK's Head Coach for a better job since Christ was a corporal.

Remember now, this all went down in one day. Rumor has it now that Shannon will replace Muschamp as the DC at Texas. Whether that happens remains to be seen. Right now all I see is speculation. But here is some more speculation. It is entirely possible that Shannon was ready to come to Kentucky as its coordinator but backed out when it became clear that Texas had the same vacancy. One could hardly blame Shannon, it is a much better job. Still, the thought that it might have gone down that way stings. How much better off would we be if Mullen bolted Mississippi State for Florida, and we had a DC who could recruit Florida like almost nobody else in college football?

Today added further insult to injury as some outlets are reporting that Vandy has hired Auburn Offensive Coordinator Gus Malzahn as its head guy (reports conflict as some say it isn't a done deal). I'm not as worried about Malzahn as I am what his hire represents. (After all, coaching genius and having Cam Newton running your offense can be easily confused). Vandy supposedly broke the bank and will pay Gus $3million per. If it is willing to pay that, and Malzahn is willing to come, it obviously intends to upgrade its program substantially. Keep in mind this is high tier SEC money, almost twice Joker's salary. Today ESPN's David Pollock observed via Twitter that while Malzahn will "succeed", success at Vandy is 2-3 SEC wins a year and a bowl trip. Great point. Here is another one: if Vandy can consistently win 2-3 SEC games a year, many of those wins are going to be against you know who.

All of which leads me to one conclusion. While the rest of the SEC is moving forward, we are standing still, at best. Rick Minter was indeed the linebacker coach at Indiana State this year. In fairness, has has also been a defensive coordinator at Notre Dame and South Carolina, as well as the head guy at Cincinnati for several years. He is I'm sure a fine coach. He is also a retread who is being rescued from the downside of a career. I know nothing about Pardue, other than that he was the head coach of UK feeder high school LaGrange (Ga.) for a number of years. He was probably due this shot with us.

Perhaps I'm making too big a deal out of a series of things that were almost completely outside of UK's control. But the truth is that this weekend leaves me feeling the way I often feel about UK Football. Even though we seem only inches away at times, they are inches we are destined never to get.

Final SEC Bowl Projections

Here are my final SEC Bowl projections, based in part on Twitter and Internet chatter I gathered yesterday but without consultation with anyone else's final picks. Apparently, the Outback Bowl is going all mercenary and will disappointingly go with a crumbling Florida squad over at least 2 more qualified teams. This sends South Carolina (who deserved a better fate) to the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. The buzz is that the Gator will take 6-6 but surging UT in what can only be described as a New Year's Day gift. The big loser is Mississippi State, which will be rewarded for its best season in recent memory by a mundane trip to the Music City Bowl. If that rodgering doesn't send Dan Mullen into Miami's waiting arms, I don't know what will.
The other big loser in that scenario is our Cats and their beleaguered fanbase, who must now live with the knowledge that a win over a pitiful Tennessee squad probably would have put them in Florida (albeit Jacksonville) on New Year's Day. As it is, there will be no change in the Cats' destination.

National Championship
Auburn v. Oregon

Sugar
Arkansas v. Ohio State

Capital One
Alabama v. Michigan State

Cotton
LSU v. Texas A&M

Outback
Florida v. Michigan

Chick-Fil-A
USC v. Florida State

Gator
UT v. Iowa

Music City
Mississippi State v. North Carolina

Liberty
Georgia v. UCF

BBVA Compass
UK v. South Florida

Quick Preview

Today isn't about the Tennessee Volunteers. It is about Joker Phillips and the Kentucky Wildcats. If the Cats come ready to play and put together 60 minutes of decent football, they win and end the streak. They don't need to play perfectly, or even great, for the entire game. But they have to show up when the bell rings and avoid first half disaster. It is that cut and dried.

Sounds easy enough, but as Lee Corso might say, "Not so fast, my friend". Truth is, through 11 games of the Phillips era the Cats have proven totally incapable of showing up to play. And the more important the game, the less ready to play they've been. It isn't just missed tackles, no pass rush and fumbles. It is blown assignments, false starts and not getting lined up correctly. In short, it are things that relate to effort and discipline. Which means they relate to coaching.

Kentucky exercised some demons with a huge (and quite fortunate) win over South Carolina. We could exercise a lot more today. This season could still end with four straight wins, two big streaks ending, and another nice bowl trophy. But if we don't win today, one big takeaway from 2010 will be my fear that Joker Phillips teams don't answer the bell.

Play hard and smart for 60 minutes. Win. Don't, and we'll be waiting at least another year.

Nov. 21 Pundits Projections

This past weekend in college football was weird because a lot of interesting things almost happened, but none did. LSU, Ohio State and Michigan State almost played themselves out of BCS contention, but didn't. Ole Miss almost got into the bowl conversation, but didn't. Mississippi State almost layed claim to a special season, but didn't. UCLA almost showed up to play, but didn't. The list goes on. Anyway, as of this morning, here is where The People Who Do This For A Living believe the Cats are going bowling, along with brief tidbits about how they got us there:

ESPN.COM Andrea Adelson
Liberty Bowl v. UCF (Adelson apparently believes that we will lose to UT and still make the Liberty. She has Georgia in the Birmingham Bowl and UT going to the MAACO bowl in Las Vegas. Adelson has Oregon v. Boise St. in the National Championship and has only one SEC team in the BCS)

ESPN.COM Mark Schlabach
Birmingham Bowl v. South Florida (As with his collegue, Schlabach predicts a UK loss, and has UT and Georgia both ahead of us in the pecking order. Schlabach has Auburn in the National Championship and LSU in the Sugar, leaving an SEC spot for the Cats)

ESPN.COM Chris Low
Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl v. MAC team (The WWL's outstanding SEC blogger has UK losing to UT and falling out of the SEC bowl picture entirely. Low projects Alabama beating Auburn and only one SEC team in the BCS)

CFN Scout
Birmingham Bowl v. Syracuse (Again, CFN gives UT the win and a better bowl, places Georgia in the Liberty and preserves the bottom SEC rung for UK by virtue of projecting 2 SEC schools into the BCS. Going against the grain, CFN has Auburn in the National Championship, and what would apparently be a 3 loss Alabama team in the Sugar)

SI.Com Stewart Mandel
Music City Bowl v. North Carolina (Mandel bucks conventional wisdom and has UK beating UT. He also puts Auburn in NCG and LSU in Sugar. As a consequence, he does not have the SEC even filling its slots).

MSNBC John Temanaha
Birmingham v. South Florida (John's picks are a little wild. He has Auburn tumbling to both Alabama and South Carolina, sending USC to the Sugar. He then places LSU in the Orange above TCU, making him the only pundit to believe that the SEC will get 2 in the BCS without Auburn making the National Championship.)

Week 12 SEC Bowl Projections

SEC bowl slotting continues to hinge largely on whether the conference gets 2 teams into BCS Bowls. As I've mentioned in previous posts, if Auburn wins the Iron Bowl the SEC will almost assuredly get 2 in. If Alabama wins, it most likely will not. With that in mind, I'll run 2 sets of projections. These picks are predicated on Georgia beating Georgia Tech, Mississippi failing to gain bowl eligibility and Tennessee doing so by winning out, including defeating UK.

Important: (If you are reading this later, this was posted before any results of the November 20th games)

Auburn wins:

National Championship
Auburn

Sugar
LSU

Capital One
Alabama

Cotton
Arkansas

Ouback
South Carolina

Chick-Fil-A
Mississippi State

Gator
Florida

Music City
Tennessee

Liberty
Kentucky

Birmingham
Georgia


Auburn loses to Alabama

Sugar
Auburn

Capital One
LSU

Cotton
Alabama

Outback
Arkansas

Chick-Fil-A
South Carolina

Gator
Florida

Music City
Tennessee

Liberty
Mississippi State

Birmingham
Georgia

Maaco-Las Vegas Dec 22, 8pm (replaces PAC-10 team)
UK

Discuss.

UK Bowl Projection Contingencies

The Cats secured bowl eligibility with a shaky but ultimately satisfying win over Vandy on Saturday. There is an awful lot of uncertainty still about where the Cats may land. With USC winning over Florida, there is now no chance that the Cats land above the Tennessee tier of bowls. With UT winning easily over Ole Miss, and apparently finding its savior on Quarterback Tyler Bray, they are now a sexy pick to win out (@Vandy, UK) and gain bowl eligibility.

Assuming that is how it plays out, that would leave the SEC with three 6-6 teams (assuming Georgia can beat Georgia Tech at home on 11/27). Presumably, these three teams would fill the final 3 bowl spots in Nashville, Memphis and Birmingham. Unless the SEC only gets one team in the BCS, in which case there will only be two bowls for these three schools to go to.

In other words, UK is bowl eligible, but it is not guaranteed to go to a bowl. There are and endless number of "outs" though, that make a bowl trip a near certainty. Here are all the things that could happen, any one of which would land UK in a bowl:

1. Beating Tennessee. This is the easy one. This puts us at 7-5, knocks UT out, and puts us in either the Liberty or Music City.

2. Vandy beats UT at home. LSU takes care of business against Ole Miss. This guarantees there are enough spots for the Cats whether we beat UT or not. Frankly, I do not see Vandy pulling this off. They are truly awful.

3. Auburn beats Alabama and LSU wins out. Assuming Auburn beats Alabama, it is a lock for a BCS bowl (barring #5 below). If it goes to the National Championship, a one loss LSU is a lock for the Sugar.

4. Auburn beats Alabama, loses SEC Championship. This puts USC in the Sugar but makes a one loss Auburn almost a sure bet for another BCS bowl.

5. Cam Newton declared ineligible before SEC Championship game. If Auburn forfeits all of its wins, everyone moves up a notch.

6. Georgia loses to Georgia Tech on 11/27. The Dogs would sit at 5-7 and could not go to a bowl.

7. UK gets invited to a bowl ahead of UT or Georgia. I'd say this one is a total crapshoot. If UT beats UK, it will have a better league record and will be riding a three game streak on the back of a new QB. UT has not had a disappointing season when you get down to it. They were supposed to be god awful. Georgia is Georgia, and would seem to be a much better pull. If the Birmingham Bowl had to choose between us, well, Birmingham is close to practically all of Georgia. As little as Cats fans would want of U of L rematch in this game, the possibility of putting that game together in Birmingham might save the Cats' skin if none of these other contingencies work out.

8. Cats are invited to a bowl game outside the SEC chain. Every year there are conferences that cannot fill their bowl allotments. When this happens, bowls must fill slots with either a conference with which is has an existing agreement, then must take any 7 team, then may take a 6 win team. You are truly looking at scraps at this point. . . . .unless. . . .unless, Kentucky can take the Pac-1o's spot in the MAACO Bowl in Las Vegas on December 22. They are practically giving hotel rooms away in Vegas that week and you can get there from SDF pretty darned reasonably. However, if it plays out this way, my guess is you'll be much more likely to see UK taking on a MAC team in the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl in Detroit on December 26th.

As UK Football Fans know, it is a cruel, cruel world.

More on the pundits' predictions and my actual projections in separate posts.

This is it.

Quick post.
* This is a must win game for Joker. Vandy is weak, depleated and isn't playing for anything. It is our senior day and we are playing for a bowl berth. If the Cats cannot secure this victory it will be one of the worst losses in Commonwealth imaginable.

*If there is any justice in the world, Commonwealth will give Mike Hartline a send-off for the ages today. He has earned it.

*The thought that this might be Randall Cobb's last home game makes me physically ill. I wasn't expecting this to be an issue, which in retrospect was pretty naive.

*DeQuin Evans deserves to have a good game. I thought Trevard Lindley had a tough senior year. DeQuin's makes Trevard's look like a Heisman campaign.

*I'm glad that Derrick Locke is going to be able to go on senior day, but outside of actually winning the game, the next most important thing from a tactical standpoint would be for us to get through today without him being reinjured.

*Trying breakfast burritos in my Orange lot tailgate this morning. If I can avoid poisoning my family, it should be a good day. My friend Lee said it. There is zero reason to lose this game. Zero.

Last Game For Cobb?

The internet is abuzz today with conjecture that this coming Saturday will be Randall Cobb's last game at Commonwealth. Selfishly, I hope that isn't true. But the truth is, I have no idea whether leaving is a good idea for Cobb or not. Here is what I do know:

1. Cobb has nothing left to prove as a college player. At least from a pro scout perspective, Cobb has done about all he can do on the field to show he can play football. Elusiveness, balance, smarts, toughness and big play ability. It has all been on display. If you had to pick nits, I suppose you could say that he could return and show he is a little more surehanded. But you might as well be looking for flaws on Jennifer Anniston.

2. Cobb is a certain type of player, and another year of college will not change that. At 5'10" 190 without game breaking speed, Cobb will make his way in the NFL as a slot receiver and probably punt returner. He isn't a prototypical #1 guy, but I would not put it past him to have Wes Welker or Hines Ward's career. I'd take that, wouldn't you? He isn't going to get faster or appreciably bigger in the intervening year, so the die is pretty well cast as far as his upside.

3. The decisions of others may dictate whether Cobb leaves this year. AJ Green and Julio Jones will almost assuredly leave this year and will probably be the first two recevers drafted when they do leave. Cobb may also want to know what some other top flight guys such as Notre Dame's Michael Floyd and Oklahoma's Ryan Broyles will do. All are juniors, and if many go, Cobb might improve his stock by waiting a year. This year's sophomore class isn't nearly as stacked. On the other hand, if a lot of the other juniors will stay put, it might be time to boogie.

4. Cobb has compelling reasons to return. The twitter fit notwithstanding, Cobb seems to recognize his place in the hearts of the Big Blue Nation and at least based on his Tweets seems to enjoy college and is happy here. He is arguably the best player in program history. If he returns for his senior season and produces consistently, it erases all doubt. How many people can say that they are the best football player in the history of an SEC school? Those guys have names like Manning, Walker and Jackson. That is a club to aspire to.
There is also the matter of Cobb obtaining a degree. This isn't basketball. A pro football player, especially a non-star, has a week to week existence. The average career lasts fewer than three years and no part of a salary except a signing bonus is guaranteed. Also, football offers many more coaching opportunities for former players than do other sports. A degree is a necessity for a college assistant.

5. Cobb has compelling reasons not to return. Randall has given his heart and soul to the program for three years. Though UK has seemed close to turning the corner a couple of times, it hasn't quite happened. It could happen next year, but there is no particular reason to believe it will. Cobb is probably looking at another 7-5 or 6-6 season ending with a bowl he has already played in for his senior year. He has taken an incredible amount of punishment. At his size, he only has a certain number of hits left in his body. Every one he takes next year is one he isn't getting paid for. Also, it would appear that every Cat who has had the chance to leave early and returned has fallen in the process. After seeing Trevard fall out of the first round and Micah go completely undrafted, could anyone blame Cobb for striking while the iron is hot.

6. This decision might be best made by consulting a stopwatch. The knock on Cobb has always been a lack of top end speed. I've never seen him caught from behind. He looks plenty fast to me. But what do I know. Cobb reportedly ran a 4.43 forty at last year's UK Pro Day. If he has those wheels in the combine (and this includes the bar of injury) he is safely in the middle rounds of the draft (maybe as high as a late 2) and safely making an NFL team. No matter when he leaves. On the other hand, if he is more in the range of 4.60-4.65, I could see him falling and things get dicey. If the latter is the case, Cobb would be wise to come back, get his degree, and try to collect a couple more SEC scalps.

7. I'll be very sad if Randall Cobb is not playing football at Kentucky next year.

8. But I will not blame him one bit.

Updated Bowl Projections

All in all, this weekend's games did have somewhat of an impact on the SEC bowl picture. LSU's defeat of Alabama takes the latter out of national championship picture. Though the Bayou Bengals could be in line for a Sugar Bowl birth, it is unlikely that they can get to the National Championship game themselves. With TCU tearing #5 Utah apart yesterday and Alabama losing again, a one loss SEC team probably can't do it.

SEC fans should be hoping for Auburn and LSU to win out. In that scenario, Auburn would obviously play for the national title and LSU would almost certainly be snapped up by the Sugar Bowl. Even if Auburn were to lose in the SEC Championship after winning out in the regular season, the SEC should still get 2 in the BCS. At that point the SEC East team would go to the Sugar (it is an automatic bid), and Auburn 12-1 with the Heisman Trophy winner on its roster would probably still get an At-large BCS bid.

Things could get dicey, though, if Auburn loses to Alabama but then goes on to win the SEC Championship. Then Auburn is Sugar Bowl bound and LSU or Alabama would be fighting for BCS scraps. Boise State and TCU are virtual locks, which leaves only 2 At-large BCS spots. The Big 10 has a trio of one loss teams, Ohio State, Michigan State and Wisconsin. The PAC-10 has Stanford, which would be a natural substitute pick for the Rose Bowl if Oregon goes to the National Championship.

If you want to get all starry eyed, I guess you could argue that South Carolina's loss to Arkansas puts the Gamecocks back in the Cats crosshairs. There is still a good chance that USC falls to 7-5 and would no longer be a clear better choice. In that scenario, assuming 2 in the BCS, my current projection would be:

Auburn and LSU-BCS
Alabama-Capital One
Arkansas-Cotton
Florida-Outback
Mississippi State-Chick-Fil-A

The Gator would then be choosing between 7-5 Kentucky and a 7-5 South Carolina. Under this scenario, we would have ended the season with 3 straight wins, including a historical victory over UT. USC would have lost 3 of its last 4 and basically have free fallen once again after another great start. Bad news: Geography. Columbia is a lot closer to Jacksonville than Lexington. Parts of South Carolina are only about 3 hours away by car. Worse news: This assumes Kentucky can win out, which is far from a given at this point.

As I mentioned last week, Mississippi State could still lose out an fall to 7-5. At this point, I think it is more likely that USC will lose to Florida and Clemson, making them a better leapfrog possibility.

The point has been made several times that the Liberty Bowl and the UK-U of L Football game are at the same time on December 31st. Truth be told, I have no earthly clue how that will impact the process.

You'll note that I changed things up a bit this week. And if you are looking at this critically, you'll see that yes, there is a chance that UK could get to 6-6 and still be shut out of the SEC bowls.


Without further adieu:

National Championship
Auburn

Sugar
LSU

Capital One
Alabama

Cotton
Arkansas

Outback
Florida/USC winner

Chick-Fil-A
Mississippi State

Gator
Florida/USC loser

Music City
Tennessee

Liberty
Georgia

Birmingham Bowl
Kentucky

Reality Bites

If Kentucky plays the last two games of the season the way it played yesterday, it will finish 5-7 and Joker Phillips seat will rightfully be scortching hot in 2011.

Bowl Projection Post

We've come to the part of the year where UK Football Fan really has to earn its keep. As the plot thickens on the bowl season, here is a look at where I project the SEC going. I've tried to construct a scenario in my head that could put UK above the Tennessee-Alabama trio of lower tiered bowls. The Cats currently sit 9th in the SEC Bowl pecking order, ahead of Vandy and UT (which are very unlikely to become bowl eligible) and Ole Miss (which might). I assume the SEC will get 2 teams in the BCS. The reasons why that is almost a lock could use their own post, but trust me. Assuming that is true, the Cats would need to move up to 7th in the pecking order to get to either the Gator or Chick-Fil-A Bowls.

Any scenario that gets us out of Tennessee will involve the Cats winning out. There are 7 SEC teams who are basically guaranteed 7 wins at this point, so it is safe to say that a 6-6 Cats team isn't going to be invited to a bowl over one of them.

Who to jump? The most likely candidate is Georgia, who sits at 4-5, 3-4 in the SEC, with Idaho St., @Auburn and Georgia Tech remaining. Though it currently has a much better league record, I'd argue that Georgia has a much tougher road to 7-5 than do the Cats. They will not be an attractive bowl team as I'd assume their fan base has about had it.

The next most likely candidate is Mississippi State, which is 7-2, 3-2 but must close @Alabama, Arkansas, @Ole Miss. If the Dawgs lose out and we win out, we will have identical 7-5, 3-5 records. Sure, they beat us head to head and have more impressive wins on the resume. But that isn't what bowl scouts are looking for. The Dawgs play boring football and are basically on par with UK from a prestige standpoint. If the Gator Bowl is forced to choose between these two teams, it could easily opt for the Cats, whose fans historically travel well. Note, however, that Starkville is a couple hours closer to Jacksonville by car than is Lexington.

The only other team that could be leapfrogged is Arkansas, and that seems unlikely. The Razorbacks are 6-2, 3-2 but will be girding their loins jockeying for position among the mid-tier SEC schools over the season's final weeks. They still have to play @South Carolina, @Mississippi State and at home against LSU, and could very easily lose all three. However, Arkansas still has a guaranteed win on its schedule against UTEP and with Ryan Mallett still a huge draw, would appear to be more attractive even if both they and the Cats are 7-5.

So, truth be told, the Cats' bowl situation is probably immutable, unless it cannot get a sixth win. (On a side note, go ahead and circle November 13th on your calender. Lose that game, and the Joker Phillips era might be over before it really begins). Here is where I project things currently:

1. Auburn- National Championship
2. Alabama- Sugar Bowl
3. LSU-Capital One
4. Florida/South Carolina Winner- Outback
5. Arkansas-Cotton
6. Florida/South Carolina loser- Chick-Fil-A
7. Mississippi State- Gator
8. Georgia- Music City
9. Kentucky-Liberty
No qualifier for Birmingham Bowl

Around the world in 10 minutes

I have ten minutes to write this post. Here goes:

Today I am heading down in the general direction of Starkville to catch the Cats tomorrow night. This year's road trip features my football fanatic son, 7 year old Ethan and my fun loving Uncle Scott, who just decided to come with us a couple of days ago.
We are 6.5 point dogs in this game. This seemed high until I saw a pretty harrowing stat this week. We have given up 26 touchdowns this year. Mississippi State has given up 6. Kentucky's opponents are basically playing on an 80 yard field as we have essentially no red zone stops all year.

That said, I think we have a fighting chance in this game if the D can hold its ground just a few times. The Dawgs barely beat UAB last week, so it isn't as if they are infallible. Also, with King, Matthews and Cobb all ready to go, I just don't see them holding us down completely. The Cats will get to the mid-twenties at least. Where it goes from there is anyone's guess.

Tonight we are staying in Birmingham, AL so that I can drive through Tuscaloosa tomorrow on my way to Starkville. Though I spent parts of my childhood in Kentucky and most of it in San Diego, I lived in Tuscaloosa for four or five years while my Dad was at the University of Alabama. It was a good time in my football fan development as he took me to the games in the 1979 championship year, and I can also remember Alabama's shared national championship year in 1978.

So even though we aren't playing Alabama tomorrow, I am going to replicate our walks to the game with my son, snap a picture at Denny Chimes, drive by my old house and get on the road to Starkville.

When I asked my friend this week what there was to do in Starkville he replied, "Watch Football". I am not sure what we'll do when we get there but we'll have fun doing it.

After the game Saturday we'll make a tired hour long trek to Tupelo where there is a musty Howard Johnson's bed waiting for me.

*Anyone think you'd ever hear a radio show talking about Mike Hartline's draft status? I did today. What a great story Hartline has been.

*The bowl picture in the SEC is going to get a lot clearer after tomorrow. This is probably the Cats' last chance to rise above the Tennesse bowl scene. Also, the World's Largest Cocktail party will be huge for the winner, who'll have an inside track at a New Year's Day Bowl despite the fact that neither team has had much of a year.

*I am putting Auburn on upset alert. Even setting aside that the #1 has lost three weeks in a row, the Tigers trip to Oxford has all the trappings of a spit the bit game. If Auburn loses, there is a creeper of a chance that the SEC will not get two BCS bids. That would be bad for other SEC teams, espectially one that might only get to 6-6.

Where we are

First off, I am taking my son down to Starkville this weekend for the game. I'm very excited about this and the trip will get its own separate post this week and hopefully a wrapup post next week. We are going to make our own fun. My friend Chuck put it best when I asked him what there was to do in Starkville, "Watch football." Still, I'll end up breaking it all down before and after.

With that said, it does appear that UK Football Fan is on its last legs. While I really appreciate the people who are still reading, I've lost some interest in the project somewhere along the way. It has nothing to do with the team or this season, it is more the writing aspect that has me. I'm not happy with the product and just don't think it is fresh or interesting. I'm so passionate and nerdily well informed about the topic that the writing is dry. Also, the site is never going to reach a wide audience if it isn't updated regularly, which is not something I don't have the time or inclination to do.

My failure to post anything about the South Carolina win was the deathknell. That was a #1 or #2 moment in Commonwealth for me. Right up there with Louisville 07. If not for a time like that, there isn't any point in having a fan site.

I will continue to post content occasionally, particularly as it relates to the SEC bowl picture, always my favorite line of discussion. But we are certainly running out of steam. Again, thanks for reading.

UK-USC video post

Here is the video referred to in the above post in case you missed it last weekend. In Garcia's defense, he did beat the #1 team in the country that day

Good Karma Friday

This post started as a comment to a post made by Bryan the Intern on Kentucky Sports Radio where he chronicalled the admittedly staggering number of heartbreaking losses the Wildcats have sustained over the last 8 years. My point is that in the new Kentucky era 2006-present, we have had just as many wins where we got the good bounces or made out own luck in the end. Because I put some time into researching it, I reprint it here. Here are some good moments to think about to psyche yourself up for tomorrow's game:


2009
1. UK scores 14 points off of 4 second half Ga. turnovers to win 34-27
2. UK beats Auburn 21-14 on 2 fourth quarter TDs after trailing almost entire game
3. Beat Vandy 24-13 after trailing at halftime
2008
4. Win Liberty bowl 25-19 with Ventrell Jenkins scoring the game winner on a fumble recovery
5. Miracle 21-20 win over Arkansas with two TDs in final minutes
6. Shoestring tackle by backup DB preserves win against Middle Tennessee
7. Block extra point and watch opposing field goal kicker miss 27 yarder, both in the 4Q to win 14-13 at Miss St.

2007
8. Triple overtime win over then #1 LSU
9. Trailing 29-21 with 11:40 left, Cats score final 21 points of game to beat Arkansas
10. Stevie gets looooose!

2006
11. Avoided disaster by stuffing 2 point conversion with a minute left that would have tied game with Louisianna-Monroe at 42 all.
12. Beat Georgia on a go ahead TD by Tony Dixon with 1:21 left. We trailed 14-3 in this game at one point.

Defensive woes continue

UK Football Fan was on hiatus last week as the Floridays Resort in Orlando, for all of its virtues, did not have wifi in the room. I generally haven't summarized games this year but must say this one really hurt. We haven't had too many chances to beat top 10 teams here recently, especially at a time when our program so desperately needed a win. Auburn's final drive had an air of inevitability about it that made it particularly hard to watch. Once Newton completed that miracle pass on 3rd and 9 early in the drive, you and I both knew that the Tigers were going to methodically march down the field and score with little or no time left on the clock. The Cats sit at 3-3, which is exactly where I predicted they'd be at this point. So why does it feel like such a letdown? Several reasons.

I had Ole Miss pegged as a decent team, which it is not. A good football team should not have lost to them on October 2. Second, I wasn't expecting Mike Hartline to play as well as he has. To put it in perspective, his 143.5 QB rating is ahead of any full season rating Jared Lorenzen ever had here and within one point of the Andre Woodson's 2007 rating. If you'd told me Hartline would throw for at least 200 yards in every game, with only one non-Florida interception to this point, I would have thought the Cats were on their way to a nine win season.

But the biggest reason I feel let down with 3-3 is the realization that our defense is pretty bad, and it is bad in ways that aren't likely to be fixed before the end of the year. Steve Brown is taking a lot of criticism this week, and some of it is warranted. After all the defenses Cameron Newton has torched this year, Kentucky had to game plan to stop him. Clearly it didn't. The Cats seemed unaware that he would keep the ball on the majority of plays. If you've watched film, how could you not know that. Also, allowing Trey Burton to score 6 TDs for Florida, 4 of which were out of the same play, is inexcusable. That isn't good preparation.

But it is also poor tackling. Unlike in the Mumme era, I think these players do practice tackling. Unfortunately, most of them aren't "SEC starter" good at it. Danny Trevathan has been a 5 star beast. It is hard to imagine how bad our defense would be without him. But, and I hate to say this in this forum, that is kind of where the party ends right now.

The Cats next three best players on D were supposed to be DeQuin Evans, Winston Guy and Rickey Lumpkin, in that order. Evans has fallen into a wormhole, with only one sack, averaging a tackle a game, and committing numerous stupid penalties. Guy has been solid, if decidedly unspectacular. He did make a key play with an interception against Auburn, the first of his career. For a kid with that kind of talent, that play needs to be the rule and not the exception. Lumpkin has been outperformed by Mark Crawford and Luke McDermott, who wasn't even supposed to be a contributor on this year's team.

The secondary play has been fair, with Martavious Neloms, Anthony Mosely and Mychal Bailey stepping up as contributors. But the front seven outside of Travathan has been woefully unproductive. That is what happens when the teams loses the likes of Corey Peters, Micah Johnson and Sam Maxwell and guys like Mister Cobble and Matt Lentz (who would have started at OLB or safty) aren't able to play for various reasons. Throw in the loss of Paul Warford, and the ranks are just a little thin. Brown can only play the hand he is dealt.

I hope for improvement, because some of our talented guys aren't really producing, but I also know things don't get any easier this week. For Steve Brown and his defense, it will continue to be a wild ride.

Look at the week after Florida 2006-2009

Yesterday I alluded to a hypothesis about our annual beatdown by Florida. My feeling is that the game generally has little to do with what happens the rest of the season. The possible reasons for this are hard to swallow, it is either about an ever present and insurmountable talent gap or that this is the one game, year in and year out, that the Cats don't believe they can win. Whatever the reason, I thought it might be interesting to test the hypothesis by looking at the week after Florida in the New Kentucky (2006-present) era.

September 23, 2006
Lost at Florida 26-7 to fall to 2-2. Cats played okay against eventual national champs. Were winning the game 7-6 with a minute left in the first half.

Following Week
UK defeats Dan LeFevour led Central Michigan 45-36. After a weak game against the Gators, Andre Woodson and the UK offense came alive with four TDs through the air.

Rest of the story
UK would sustain a 24-17 home loss to USC the next week, then suffer a now well chronicled 49-0 beat down at LSU before going on a streak that would usher in a series of four straight bowl trips.

October 20, 2007
In one of the most electric games in Commonwealth Stadium history, then #7 (but 7pt. underdog) Cats lose 45-37 to eventual Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow and a Gator team that would finish the season 9-4. This was the week after the epic LSU win with the Gameday crew in tow. Cats fall to 6-2 and drop to #15 or thereabouts the following week.

Following Week
UK crapped the bed with a 31-14 home loss to Mississippi State, arguably ruining what could have been a pretty special season.

Rest of the story
Cats limped home the rest of the way (1- 2 with Vandy the lone victory) before scoring an anticlimactic MCB win over depleted Florida State.

October 25, 2008
Cats fall 63-5 at the Swamp in the most embarrassing loss of the Cats' four year bowl run. If you don't remember this game, here are three words for you, "blocked punt orgy". We were riding pretty high coming into this game, having just scored our fifth win with an improbable comeback against Arkansas.

Following week
UK wins 14-13 uglyfest at Mississippi State. Get bowl eligible at 6-3.

Rest of the story
Regular season falls apart when Cats let one get away against Georgia then play abysmally against the Tennessee schools. Fun comeback win against East Carolina in Liberty ends season on a high note.

October 26, 2009
Cats look like crap again in a 41-7 home loss. Sole highlight of the game comes when Tim Tebow gets absolutely laid out by Taylor Windham, but even that moment is ruined by the aftermath when the icon remained motionless for what seemed like an hour. Moment redeemed somewhat by him barfing in a bag.

Following week
Crappy scheduling, Cats look better, but still take a beating from eventual national champion Alabama.

Rest of the story
Switch gets flipped the following week when Hartline goes out for the season in a tight loss to USC. Cats pull off a couple of sweet road upsets and go 5-2 the rest of the regular season.

Analysis: UK has competed once in this game in four years, and had its worst finish despite having had its best team. Otherwise, we've managed to play pretty well the following week and in 2006 and 2009, we put a crappy game behind us to finish the whole season strong.

Now lets go beat Ole Miss.

Game 1?

As we approach the Ole Miss game on Saturday at 12:21pm est, I feel in some ways like the season really starts tomorrow. Before the year started, I was about 80% sure that we'd be 3-1 going into this week with almost exclusively winnable games left on the schedule. Since then, the plot in the SEC has thickened a little, but we still don't know too much about our Cats. It might be easier to analyze our future opponents than ourselves at this point.

Here is what seems to have shaken loose on that front. First, Auburn (4-0) and South Carolina (3-1, with its lone loss a no shamer at Auburn), look tough to beat. Both have added players who allow them to transcend their recent success. Auburn has a Heisman trophy contender dual threat at QB in Cam Newton, and USClite boasts the most talked about freshman in the SEC, RB Marcus Lattimore. USC is showing some chinks in the armour. Spurrier cannot help himself from creating a quarterback controversy despite having his best signal caller in years and Auburn did manage to bottle up Lattimore after he went absolutely bananas against Georgia.

Auburn has fewer warts, but SEC fans will recall that it started 5-0 last year before settling down to a more pedestrian 7-5 regular season. Of course, UK beat that team on the road.

Georgia looked tougher on the drawing board than it now does. The Bulldogs just got spanked by Mississippi State and are 0-3 in the SEC. AJ Green will be back from suspension and UGa will face a couple of slumpbusters by the time they play Kentucky on 10/23. Still, they are one bad loss away from being in full scale red alert with a coach on a scorching hot seat.

All of which brings us to Ole Miss. The Rebels are 2-2 with embarrassing home losses to Vandy and Jacksonville freakin State already on the resume. They are ranked 100th in scoring defense in the NCAA, having given up 32 points a game (against a very weak schedule). Kentucky has to win this game in order to have a good season. Could we sneak into a bowl at 6-6 without it? Sure. There are other potential wins left on the schedule. But to me, this one is so ripe for the plucking that it would be hard to recover from losing it.

All of which begs the question: Where is our team? A solid win against a weakened rival, two blowouts against clearly inferior competition, and a bad loss in a game we almost always lose badly but which never seems to have much bearing on the outcome of the season. We'll know a lot more after Saturday, I believe.

For me the keys to the game are twofold. One, we need to unleash the Wildcat on Ole Miss. Randall Cobb has only 11 carries in four games, including one or two on reverses. By comparison, he had 94 carries in 12 games last year. Middling SEC teams really had trouble containing him. I think Joker knows this and deliberately hasn't sown much so far. Secondly, the Cats need to hit, wrap and bring guys down on defense. I've decided that we had simply too many holes to fill and our defense has several starters who would not have played at Kentucky in the past 3-4 years. Certain guys, like Jeramiah Masioli, are going to get theirs against us. But when our defenders do get a guy in their arms, they have to bring them down. All in all, I'd like to see some improvement in that area.

More later.

Gameday

* I have deliberately not posted anything about today's game. This is without question a fan site. I'm generally only critical of things that are obvious and I don't want to be a UK Football Fan who drowns in the negative like so many running around Commonwealth Stadium. This week, it seems like everyone from the guy in the office next door to Mark May on ESPN are feeling this as an upset game. But look.

*I've been pleasantly surprised by the passing game and the overall command shown by Mike Hartline. Florida hasn't exactly played clean football in running its record to 3-0. None of that changes my preseason thoughts about today's game.

*Chip Cosby has an excellent look at 10 keys to victory in today's Herald Leader. It may not be enough, but I'll limit my take to one key. In order to stand a chance in this game, Kentucky needs to avoid giving up big plays. Florida is going to score. It will likely do so several times. The Cats need to make the Gators earn it. Longer drives means less pressure on our offense, more chances of a drive killing mistake (which this Florida team has been prone to), and a greater likelihood of putting Florida in a 3rd and long it cannot get out of. If Jeff Demps is running 73 yards for scores, none of those things can happen.

*Nothing from an official outlet, but some Twitter traffic last night indicated that Danny Trevathan will miss the first quarter for disciplinary reasons. That doesn't help.

*I may not be able to watch the game tonight. My law firm party at my partner's farm begins at 7. Apparently he does not have a cable box on his living room television and the basement will be off limits for the 150 or so guests. He swears that he will rig the living room tube, but may be telling me this to get me off his back. I get the impression his wife doesn't want the game on, which any married guy will tell you means I'm fighting a losing battle. Long time readers may remember that I was in a wedding in Atlanta the night of the LSU upset and didn't see a snap. So maybe I can ride the superstition train. On the other hand, if the game is close in the second half and not viewable, all the clients and friends I invited to the party will be gone anyway and I'll just sneak my ass out.

*Maybe I'm drinking the Kool Aid after all.

* On a non-game related note, I should mention that two days after cutting him, the Miami Dolphins did resign Micah Johnson to the practice squad. This move cuts his salary in 1/4, which means he only makes about three to four times what you did in your first job out of college.

My son hits the Catwalk before Akron game

This week's UK Bowl Projections

We'll begin week 4 with a look at where the various outlets project the Cats to end up in their bowl season. The Bowl Projection posts might be a little sparse for a while as MSNBC has apparently quit posting.

A couple of notes about bowl slots. Recall that the Gator Bowl has replaced the Independence in the SEC lineup. This is an obvious upgrade and gives our conference an extra New Year's Day Florida destination. Had this been the lineup over the last 4 years, it is very likely UK would have wound up in either Jacksonville or Atlanta 2-3 times.

With Florida no longer penciled in for 11 wins, there exists at least some possiblity that the SEC will only get one team into the BCS. Under the current format in place since the 2006 season (5 Bowls), this has never happened. This would obviously hurt the SEC by pushing everyone down a slot.

I eyeballing where things stand today, I'd say UK fans should be rooting against Georgia . With 2 SEC losses in the books and Florida, Auburn and UK on the road still on the schedule, they are ripe for overtaking. Georgia is slotted ahead of UK in each of the projections below.

ESPN MARK SCHLABACH
Music City Bowl v. North Carolina

ESPN ANDREA ADELSON
Liberty Bowl v. South Florida (She must mean Central Florida as the CUSA gets an automotic bid)

CFN-SCOUT
Birmingham (Formerly Papajohn's.com) Bowl v. South Florida

CBS SPORTSLINE
Music City Bowl v. NC State

Gameday-SEC style

Not a lot of leftover thoughts about this one. As supportive as I am of UK decisions about scheduling for the football team, I must admit that it leaves me with very little to write about. There isn't a single Kentuckian on Akron's roster, so I don't even have that to talk about. Instead I'll do a very quick look around the SEC.

Today the SEC doesn't have any marquee games, but there are a couple of decent ones where someone has a chance to make a statement. The nooner (ESPN) features Arkansas heading down between the hedges. Having been pretty much owned by Marcus Lattimore and USC last week, this is an important one for Mark Richt and his squad. Win, and they are probably back in the Top 25 with their only loss on the road to a good team. Lose, and coach Richt's seat could start to heat up. For Arkansas, it is the first real test of the year.

Florida heads to Tennessee (3:30 est-CBS) in what used to be a huge early season matchup. This one has lost its luster. Still a UT upset against a Florida squad that hasn't quite found its footing on offense would be a huge boon for new coach Derrick Dooley. Though unlikely, it isn't completely outside the realm. I personally will be rooting for Florida, as I don't want UT to have any excuse to gain confidence at any point this year.

Cam Newton and Auburn host Clemson (7PM-espn) in what I perceive as a matchup of mirror image colleges and athletic programs. Seriously, aren't Clemson and Auburn the same school?

Finally, I'm interested to see if Mississippi State can get anything going at LSU (7PM-ESPNU)today. I cannot escape the notion that MSU might be for real and LSU is primed for a big fall.

The rest of the SEC games are all yawners, including an in conference game between Ole Miss and Vandy (12:21, the telecast formerly known as JP) that I'll lay money will be the lowest rated SEC Network game of the year.

As always, good luck and Go Cats. Have a fun day.

Funky Akron Preview

Cobb for Heisman

Recent talk about the best players in college football by analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. and others has led to some grumblings in Big Blue Nation. Why isn't Randall Cobb mentioned as a Heisman candidate. For anyone who has watched him play, it is hard to argue that he isn't one of the best players in college football. Many if not most believe he will leave Kentucky with the unofficial title of "best player in school history". So here is the question I'll try to answer. What would have to happen for Randall Cobb to win the Heisman, either this year or next?

1. The Cats go at least 9-3, if not 10-2. Here is the great limiting factor that is well out of Cobb's exclusive control. The Heisman is not a team award, but the winner is overwhelmingly more likely to come from a very good team. Since 1981, only five players whose team lost more than 2 games won the Heisman, and most came from football royalty schools: Tim Tebow, Ricky Williams, Ty Detmer, Tim Brown, Bo Jackson.

This isn't just about penalizing players who don't win. It is about exposure. If UK is in the Top 10 or 15 late in the season, it is going to get that good ESPN slot, rather than being on regional SEC Network or Fox Sports South. If we are in contention in the SEC East, our highlights are automatically on Sportscenter. There is no Heisman if you aren't a feature player on the Worldwide Leader week after week.

2. Score at least 20 touchdowns. Desmond Howard is the last non-QB or RB to win the Heisman. He did it back in 1991 in what I think would have to be a blueprint for Cobb's chances at the award. Howard did not get to 1000 receiving yards. That is important, because with all Cobb is asked to do, I don't see him having a 1000 yard season this year or next. What Howard did was find the end zone in myriad ways. Coincidentally, this is Randall's specialty. Howard's 1991 campaign featured 19 receiving TDs, 2 rushing and one each on a kickoff and punt.

3. Go bezerk in one game. As I mentioned, Cobb does so many things that his yardage numbers in any one category are never going to jump out at voters, at least not over the course of a season. But having eye popping numbers in a single game is a different matter. A review of Cobb's career indicated that he has only gone over 100 yards in rushing twice and has never had a 100 yard receiving game. A 300 yard combined game of rushing, receivng and returning is in play for Randall, and would probably be impressive enough to do the trick.

4. Have a signature play. Cobb's greatest physical asset (besides his heart) is his balance. It is uncanny. For Cobb to get the Heisman, he'd need to have one play that shows this off, spinning off someone's back without his knees touching the ground, flipping and keeping his feet, something that makes everyone in the country say "whoa".

5. Some luck and a bad bounce or two for other contenders. If Michael Crabtree doesn't haul in a pass with 7 seconds left against UT, Colt McCoy wins the Heisman instead of Sam Bradford. There is an element to winning the Heisman that is out of any one player's hands.

OR, in lieu of at least some of these requirements, Cobb could instead play some defense. Babe Ruth was the best baseball player of all time. You want to know why? Make your argument for Willie Mays, Hank Aaron or Ted Williams and then hear my trump card. In addition to being no worse than a top 5 hitter of all time, Ruth went 94-46 as a pitcher and was 3-0 with a 0.87 ERA in two World Series appearances. I win. If the Cats could win 9 games next year while lining Cobb up as a full-time corner, he gets a couple of picks in addition to an expected offensive output, it would be time to hand him the trophy. Before you jump all over me, I realize this isn't going to happen and I'm just joking. Kinda.

Sunday Notes Not Published Until Wednesday

*While the headlines belonged to Randall Cobb, the real story of this game for the Wildcats was Mike Hartline, whose confidence has to be through the roof at this point. No matter who you are going against, going 16 for 20 is tough. Mike put a number of throws on the money and managed things like a champ.


*The wide receiving corps are the most improved thing about the team. LaRod King and Matt Roark have really stepped up to provide depth.



*I did not think the offensive line played all that well. While the pass blocking was generally good, I don't feel like they were getting off the ball in the running game all that well. Moncell Allen did have another solid game blocking for Locke at fullback.



*The defense was obviously a little suspect in this game. I would note a couple of things, though. First, Martavius Neloms was out for the game at corner (I'm not sure why). Second, the Cats were substiting liberally even in the first half. Qua Huzzie and Ridge Wilson played quite a bit, Josh Gibbs got a couple of series in at safety, and there was also movement at defensive line and corner.

*Anthony Mosely and Cartier Rice played pretty well in Neloms absence.

*In two games, captain DeQuin Evans has yet to register a tackle.

Notes while waiting on the mail

Interesting morning here in the UK Football Fan household. First of all, we know that football season is in full swing because my son and I have restarted our ritual of playing catch while watching games. Every once in a while I'll have him stop and do some situps (he sucks at pushups). We call this his training. During a typical college football game, we'll probably pass the ball 1000 times. When we aren't watching games during football season, he is usually playing Madden on the Wii (which he is doing right now). Despite not listening to a thing I tell him about anything else, he has developed a real love for football. Its pretty cool.

All of which factors heavily into the dilemma that has presented itself here today. Last Sunday my Uncle texted me to say that he is leaving town and asking if I wanted his tickets for this game and his Orange lot pass. Hell yes. He mailed them to me on Tuesday, from Danville. As of yesterday's mail, the package hasn't arrived. So as of this morning, I have no idea what my Commonwealth experience will entail today. Either I'll be full on tailgating on my own with sweet 40 yard line seats for my son and I, or I'll be wandering around the parking lot at 6:30 looking for cheap tickets for my kids for whom I've secured no babysitter. We'll see what today's mail brings.

Tonight's game should be a walkover for the Cats. Western has not won a game since UK throttled them 41-3 at Commonwealth in 2008. Though I expect Willie Taggart to breath new life in the program, it is going to have to wait another week.

A couple of good games are on tap in the SEC today. Of course the marquee matchup is Penn State at Alabama at 7. But I am a lot more interest in watching UGa-USC at noon. This game could have a lot to do with the SEC East race, what with SC looking very good against Southern Miss last week and Florida not exactly coming out like world beaters against Miami(OH). Last year the Bulldogs eeked one out in Athens, 41-37 in a game that went down to the last possession. Can the Cocks turn the tables in Columbia?

This is actually one of the better college football days I can remember. I'm excited for the UK game, but sometimes it is a bit of a bummer to know that I'm missing a ton of good games to spend all day there. I'll miss the 3:30 and 7pm games, but with the aforementioned SEC tilt at noon, and my UCLA Bruins playing the nightcap against Stanford at 10:30 est, I am still going to get a lot in.

Have a great day everyone and go Cats. Did the mail come yet?

Hartline

With the benefit now of a little bit of hindsight, I want to talk today about Joker's decision to got with Mike Hartline as the starting quarterback in the opener against Louisville. Since Mike played well in that game (very well, if you ask me), the debate has died down a bit. You know as well as I do that if UK starts collection three and outs like baseball cards in the next two weeks, or Hartline throws a couple of bad picks against Florida, things are going to pick back up again. So, with very little of substance to say about Saturday's game, now seems like a good time to explore it.

When the decision was announced, the reaction from UK fans was basically split in thirds. Some, like me, accepted that Hartline won the job though even many of those people were sceptical. Many people were disappointed that Morgan Newton was not named the starter. After all, he was 5-3 last year as a true freshman starting in the SEC, and came into the program with a lot of hype. There was still a third faction who insisted that Ryan Mossakowski was the future of the program, and needed to be installed as the starter immediately.

What I never understand about this debate is how anyone unconnected with the the football program can pretend to know what Joker should do. With the exception of the first fall scrimmage (which I saw and didn't glean much from) no one has seen these players practice since spring. Not even the media. What we have to go on is the player's histories, that is about it. Reasonable minds might differ about who played better last year, Newton or Hartline, but for people to act as if Joker is missing something obvious by not starting Newton seems like a stretch.

Last year Morgan Newton signed my son's UK shirt the night before the Music City Bowl. I still have a picture of it on my phone. Newton shows up and keeps score at Eastern Little League games, I suppose because he is hanging out with Sam Simpson, whose family is a fixture at Ecton Park. There aren't too many quarterbacks who are best buddies with reserve offensive linemen. My point is that you'll won't find a bigger Morgan Newton fan than me. But the idea that he clearly outplayed Mike Hartline when he took the field last year is absurd.

Yes, Newton was 5-3 as the starter, but that isn't really the whole story. First, two of the wins were against EKU and Louisianna-Monroe. Newton started in the huge win against Auburn, but was only 5 of 13 and gave way to Will Fidler in the second half. In a win against Vandy, he threw for fewer yards than RB Derrick Locke, who completed a 41 yarder to Newton on a trick play in the third quarter. Newton did have a signature game against Georgia, throwing for three TDs in a huge road win. Even still, he threw for less than 150 yards, and a lot of the damages on his throws was done after the catches. In fairness, he is also a better runner than Hartline and obviously there would have been something to gain by starting a sophomore as opposed to a senior. Still, the idea that his play in 2009 earned him the right to the job carries no weight.

The win against Louisville this past week aside, Hartline was a mediocre 8-6 as a starter. But if you look at the 6 losses, that record is better than it sounds. Four of the losses were to Alabama and Florida. If I'm not mistaken, each of those game was contested while the other team was in the top 3 in the nation. The other losses were to South Carolina, and I firmly believe that UK would have won last year's game in Colombia had Hartline not been injured shortly after halftime. In fifteen career starts, he's never been the goat.

Mike was given a helmet sticker by Reece Davis on ESPN after throwing 2 TDs in the last five minutes against Arkansas in 2008, was SEC Offensive Player of the Week against Middle Tennessee State that same year and led the Cats to a second half comeback in the Liberty Bowl. He has had his moments.

Those who insisted Mossakowski should start don't merit a whole lot of discussion. They are the same ones who insisted Newton was better than Hartline without ever having seen him throw a pass in early 2009. These people are convinced a bird in the bush beats two in the hand. All I know if this: If the coaching staff thought he was the best guy for the job, he'd be throwing the ball.

I've been critical of Mike Hartline's ability in this space before. He certainly has a ceiling as a QB. He cannot make every single throw, cannot zip the ball into tight spots and makes his share of mistakes when facing a good defense. But he has done everything he was supposed to do to get himself into this spot, never embarrassed himself or the program and isn't exactly stopping off a UK on his way to NFL glory. Why he has become such a lightening rod over the last three years is puzzling. Is he a good MAC quarterback thrust into being a three year starter at an SEC school? Perhaps. But all that means is that he is better at it than you are, but not as good as Ryan Mallett. That doesn't make him a bad guy, it just makes him a like 99.9% of the other people in the world.

Mike Hartline deserves to hear cheers in Commonwealth tomorrow and throughout the season. Unless things go horribly awry in the few weeks, he is going to be your guy this year. Lets embrace him, because whether you are in his camp or not, it doesn't make sense to do much else.

Quick Thoughts on last Saturday

Three days late and a dollar short to do any kind of real recap on Saturday's win over Louisville. Here are a few leftover thoughts before we turn our attention to WKU.

* One person who hasn't gotten much mention is CB Martavius Neloms. Neloms started for the second time on Saturday (having been pushed into duty against USC with both starters out last year). Officially he was credited with 3 tackles, one for a ten yard loss. Unofficially, he was all over the field. Mychal Bailey also played well, and I feel great about the Cats' secondary at the moment.

*That said, UK got nothing out of the Sam Linebacker spot. Jacob Dufrene was credited with two tackles though I don't even remember seeing him on the field. Ridge Wilson committed the roughing the passer penalty that basically kept Louisville alive for the last five minutes of the game. I've begun to wonder why Qua Huzzie is not working out there. It would seem that having Travathan, Huzzie and Ronnie Sneed on the field would be using our three best linebackers without sacrificing size or speed.

*I suppose no one is second guessing Strong's decision not to try an onside kick with 3:10 left, down by a touchdown. Conventional wisdom would be to kick away with two TOs left and that much time. Since they never stopped our offense without our help the entire game, I thought it was a tough call.

*If you watched my video preview, I'm sure you can guess that I was thrilled with Mike Hartline's performance in this game. Mike made some plays, never forced anything and threw the ball away when he needed to. These are the things I expect from him. It looks like his feel for the game has improved. He move out of the pocket and continued to look downfield, tucked the ball up and ran once or twice and just seemed to be more in his element.

*My father-in-law played halfback at UK before a bad knee and Charlie Bradshaw chased him away in 1962. He said something interesting about Derrick Locke after the game. "If he doesn't start protecting himself, he won't last past the third game". I don't know enough about playing the position to make that kind of assessment, so I thought that was interesting. What I know is this: Louisville got several clean licks on Derrick that look like they hurt. I'd like to see him get some rest over the next couple of weeks.

*New coach, same problems on special teams. Ryan Tydlacka is a good punter, but I think Joe Mansour's time as our placekicker is now. His redshirt was burned Saturday, so I have to think that was the plan all along.

*First half Kentucky was an eight win team. Second half Kentucky was a five win team.

*The Pizza Pit is a very nice facility. I won't lie, I enjoyed my chair back immensely.

*More coming as this week unfolds.

Final thought

I've read all there is to read about this game and have come to the conclusion that, on paper, it is a frighteningly even matchup. The difference? There will only be one Randall Cobb on the field, and he'll be wearing blue. Go Cats.

Open Letter To Mike Hartline

Speaking of Steve Johnson

I'm slightly embarassed to say that this might be one of the ten happiest moments of my life.

Stevie says its almost Gameday

Chip Cosby Visits UK Football Fan

Today on UK Football Fan we are visited by Lexington Herald-Leader writer Chip Cosby. Aside from being a hell of a good guy, Chip does an excellent job covering the Football Cats for the local paper and has been real generous in agreeing to do this Q and A with me for the second year in a row. A link his UK Football blog is on the right and here.

Questions below are mine, Chip's responses are in bold.

1. Last year you correctly predicted in this space that Sam Maxwell
would be the veteran Cat to blow up in 2009. What about 2010?


I'm going to go with another guy on the defensive side, Mychal Bailey. The fact that he came in and won the starter's job at safety in just three weeks after arriving from junior-college speaks volumes about how much the coaching staff trusts his talent. A sub 4.4 guy and a big hitter, he could immediately become a household name as he gets more comfortable throughout the season.


2. Mike Hartline won the starting job for the Louisville game, but
there has been no heaping praise for his play this summer. This makes me a
little nervous but the optimist in me hopes that it's the coaching staff's
effort to manage expectations. Have you heard anything that indicates that
2010 Hartline will be a step up from the 2008-2009 version?


Hartline has his critics, but I do believe he'll be better in 2010. Let's face it. He is what he is. He doesn't have a cannon for an arm, and he's not going to overwhelm you with his speed. He looked horrible against Florida and Alabama, but so did Arkansas' Ryan Mallett, who might end up being the No. 1 pick in next year's Draft. He has done some good things: the late comeback against Arkansas, MVP of the Liberty Bowl, the solid first half at South Carolina. Also, he's a fifth-year senior who understands the offense, and seems to have regained the respect and trust of his teammates after he made some critical comments after being benched two years ago. I think the offense will once again rely heavily on Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke. They just need Hartline to step up and make the throws when they need him to make them, and I think he can do that.



3. Hope springs eternal in the Commonwealth, and the schedule sets up
nicely, but looking at it empirically, this team has a lot of holes to fill
defensively. Outside of Travathan, Guy and Burden, where are you expecting
the production to come from?

They really need some guys to come through up front, particularly at tackle. Ricky Lumpkin needs to become a high-impact player, and it would be nice if they could get something out of Shane McCord. Donte Rumph should be an impact player once he shakes off the rust and gets into shape. I think DeQuin Evans is set for a solid year at end.


4. Setting aside K Joe Mansour, who is kind of a special case, what
true freshman do you see making an impact for this year's Cats, if any?


Interestingly enough, Mansour might not make as big an impact as originally thought, as Ryan Tydlacka is currently the starting placekicker. Jerrell Priester will definitely see time at corner, and Nermin Delic is in the rotation at end. While the Cats have plenty of depth at tailback, the coaches really like Raymond Sanders. Tyler Robinson is backing up Jordan Aumiller at tight end, and big things are expected of Rumph.

5. What are the biggest change you see thus far in the Joker era? Is
there any difference with how the team and staff interact with the media.
Understanding that nearly all the practices have been closed to the media,
do you have any feel for how the Cats might look different on the field this
year?

It's really hard to tell with practices being closed. You pretty much have to go on what you hear from the coaches and people who are close enough to the program to be able to go watch practice. But we won't really know for sure until the ball is kicked off. I've heard plenty of stories out of fall camp over the years that became myths once the lights came on. Not much has changed with Joker as far as the media goes. He's been accessible and friendly, although he doesn't reveal injury information quite to the extent that Rich Brooks did.


6. Do any streaks end this year?

I know it sounds crazy, but I think South Carolina and Tennessee both go down this year. Fact of the matter is, South Carolina has been no better than UK over the last 3-4 years overall; they've just managed to find ways to beat the Cats head-to-head. With the game being at home and UK coming so close in past years, I think they finally get it done. I know that Spurrier owns UK, but the Spurrier mystique is nowhere near what it used to be.
I also think this is the year they get Tennessee. There's all kinds of turmoil going on down there, and I'm not sure just how Derek Dooley will handle it. The talent's down, probation is possibly on the horizon. Plus, UT could already be out of bowl contention by the time the game rolls around. I know we've heard this before, but if it doesn't happen this year, it may never happen.

Projected SEC Standings/Bowl Projections

Here are unscientific and way too soon projected SEC standings, together with resulting predictions regarding bowl game slots.



SEC East



Florida
11-1, 7-1
Sugar


Georgia
8-4, 5-3
Outback


USC
7-5, 4-4
Gator


UK
7-5, 3-5
Music City


UT
5-7, 2-6


Vandy
1-11, 0-8





SEC West


Alabama
12-0, 8-0
National Campionship


Arkansas
9-3, 5-3
Capital One


LSU
8-4, 5-3
Cotton


Auburn
7-5, 3-5
Chick-Fil-A


Ole Miss
7-5, 3-5
Liberty


Mississippi State
5-7, 2-6

Keys to the season

As spring ball ended and the schedule started to shape up, I felt that the biggest key to the 2010 season for the Cats would be quarterback play. If Kentucky could mount an effective vertical attack on offense, the schedule set up for 8 wins. If it could not, we were looking at the potential end to our bowl streak.

With the quarterbacking decision made, at least in the short run, I am placing less emphasis on this now. I'll talk more about Joker's election to go with Mike Hartline in a separate post. For now, I think we are going to know what to expect from the quarterback position based on several things left unspoken in fall camp. There was no ringing endorsement, no claims of vast improvement and no easy decision. It is safe to say that the quarterback who started 14 games for the Wildcats in 2008 and 2009 is the one you'll see on the field against Louisville September 4.

So, what are the important variables:

• 1. The Defensive Tackle position has been as important to the 2006-2009 resurgence of the Kentucky program as anything. Past UK teams have lacked size up front and were constantly blown off the ball. Guys like Myron Pryor, Ventrell Jenkins and Corey Peters have helped to change all that. There looks to be a significant dropoff here. Ricky Lumpkin returns as a starter. There is some experience around him with Shane McCord and Mark Crawford, but not a lot. The Cats were really counting on Soph. Mister Cobble to come in and be the second starter, but he is ineligible. Can these guys, or surprise last minute recruit Elliot Porter step up? If not, our run defense may really struggle.
• 2. Once thought to be a team strength, the secondary is starting to look like a question mark. The Cats were set at corner with Randall Burden and Paul Warford, then Warford got bit by the academic bug. Once thought to be a sure fire star, UK is still wondering if the light is going to come on completely for FS Winston Guy. The good news, even with Warford out there is quality depth at corner, and several newcomers will challenge for time at safety.
• 3. The O-Line should have sufficient talent to replace four departing starters. With position battles still going on at Center and RT, how well they will gel as a unit is a great unknown. With what will likely be a heavy reliance on the running game, the big guys will be carrying this offense.
• 4. Injuries. As always, the Cats' big bugaboo. Can we remain healthy? Last year Cobb and Locke suffered dings and dents, but were largely able to remain on the field throughout the year. Had either or both of these guys gone down, it would have been a long season. That will also be the case this year. And as always, the Cats need to avoid a late season swoon that sometimes happens when our guys get ground down. The November 6 game against Charleston Southern and November 20th bye should help.
• 5. Joker. Phillips has served notice over the past 8 months that it isn't going to be business as usual at UK. What does he have in store for 2010? The new boss wasn't the same as the old boss in the preseason. Will there be new wrinkles on the field as well?

Season preview: Home stretch

After about a three week hiatus, I'm back to give the final segment of my season preview. If you haven't been keeping up, we've already looked at the Non conference games, a huge three game Keeneland style homestand, and a couple of early season road games. At this point, we have UK at 5-4, with wins over YouofL, WKU, Akron, Georgia and Charleston Southern as well as losses against Florida, Ole Miss, Auburn and South Carolina.

Today we look at three more winnable games which, along with the aforementioned laugher against Charleston Southern, make up the last third of the season.

UK visits Mississippi State on October 30th. The Bulldogs should be roughly 4-4 going into this game and still entertaining bowl hopes. Expectation are higher in Dan Mullins' second year. Fortunately, Anthony Dixon is now a San Francisco 49er. During the Cats' current bowl streak the road team is 4-0 in this game, though why is anyone's guess. (It should tell you something else about what Rich Brooks accomplished that his teams went to bowls in 2007 and 2009 despite losing to Mississippi State.) By this point in the season, UK should have settled into a rhythm with its quarterback situation, and the new defensive players given a chance to gel. I like us to win another road squeeker. UK 24 MSU 21

After the Charleston Southern game on November 6, Vandy comes back to town on November 13th. Cats fans will recall a rainy, freezing cold night at Commonwealth in 2008 when Vandy got bowl eligible by beating us 31-24. The Cats brainfarted their way to a 24-10 halftime deficit, then proceeded to piss away their comeback with stupid penalties, including a brain searing three roughing the punter fouls. Well, this isn't the 2008 Vandy team. Coming off a winless SEC campaign in 2009, Vandy figures to have trouble scoring points against SEC competition. Led by All-SEC LB Chris Marve and what is said to be a solid secondary, the D should be solid. Like last year, expect this game to be Cobb, Locke, Cobb, Locke. As always, this game will be chippy, but as in most season's past, we'll have more than enough for the 'Dores. UK 24 Vandy 14.

On paper, this is the year that we finally go down and take one from Tennessee. We've been so close so many times. Derrick Dooley said that on September 4th half of his starters will be seeing their first major college snap. Think about that for a minute. That is a program in shambles. When the Cats visit Neyland on November 27th, the Vols will likely be out of the bowl picture, playing for nothing. So how could I not pick our boys to win? As I said last year, too much pain has been inflicted for me to think rationally about this game. Even though hope springs eternal. . . .UT 28 UT 24.

So there you go, another 7-5, 3-5 season with a repeat trip to the Music City Bowl. If my season previews are starting to sound like a broken record, such is life. But there are a lot of games for the Cats to go out and get this year. Will start talking about how that might happen this week.

Early season road games

Today I continue our Pulp Fictionesque, non-linear look at UK's schedule and where it might lead us. If you aren't caught up, take a look at my most recent posts on the non-conference games as well as a critical three game October homestand. Of the seven games I've picked thus far, I have the Cats at 5-2, with home losses to South Carolina and Auburn.

After three non-conference games to start the schedule, the Cats will travel in back to back weeks with a Bataan death march down to Gainesville and a trip to Oxford.

If you are a college football fan, you have a good handle on the outlook as Kentucky heads to Florida on September 25th. The bad news? It is the only one on the schedule the Cats simply cannot win. Yes, Kentucky had some competitive games with Florida in the last decade, Tim Tebow is gone, our program is greatly improved and it has to happen sometime. Simply put, Florida will once again be putting too much talent on the field for our guys to compete.

There is good news. Assuming UK gets past Louisville, it will be almost assuredly be 3-0 going into this game, albeit without having played a top 60 division one program. This game comes along at a perfect time to allow us to not get big headed, and to see who we really are. A good showing here could set the tone for the rest of the season, not unlike our solid effort at Alabama in 2008. In any event, absent injury, there is no downside to having Florida on your schedule in the fourth game. That said, Florida 45 UK 14.

The addition of Jeremy Masoli adds intrigue to the Cats' matchup against the Ole Miss Rebels at The Grove. Ole Miss was looking ripe for the plucking with all of its offensive production graduated and having come off a mildly disappointing year. A year ago, the Rebs were a sexy top 10 pick and Jevan Snead considered a sure fire first rounder. Instead, they ended up with four losses and Snead is coaching the scout team at his old middle school. Houston "Left" Nutt is clearly feeling the heat, as he has brought in Masoli, who was dismissed from Oregon after continued legal troubles. The kid has a world of talent and is a hell of a leader. Nutt wouldn't take the heat for bringing him in only to have Masoli sit the bench. On defense, five of the front seven starters return, including All-SEC caliber DT Jerrell Powe and DE Kentrell Locket. I can see this being one game where UK has trouble moving the ball on the ground. As you know, that spells trouble. This could be a war of attrition, and it is imminently winnable. Still I see: Ole Miss 21 UK 17. On a side note, I really want to get this one, because I'll be following the Cats to Oxford this year. Holla.

Homestand

We continue our season preview/predictions with a look at what should be a critical three game homestand in October. Three games against beatable but capable SEC East teams. Three games that can make or break a season.

Last year it was back to back road weeks at USC and Auburn. With the way the schedule shaped up, my preseason hopes were pinned on getting a rip in those two games and starting the season 3-3. Of course, the rest was history. After a narrow, no Wildcat on the 2 point conversion, miss at Spurrier Tech, the Cats got touchdown runs from three different Quarterbacks and stole one at Auburn. We used that momentum to turn in a pretty good regular season for a team that had modest expectations.

This year, the Cats have three straight winnable but challenging tilts in games 6, 7 and 8. Dead in the heart of the season. Getting one win would be satisfying, two huge. Three and the season could be a magical one. The Cats beat two of these opponents, Georgia and Auburn, on their own turf last year. The third, USCJr., has had our goat of late, but always shows up with comparable talent. Anything is possible in this stretch. As true as that statement is, so it this one: If these games were played tomorrow, UK would not be favored in any one.

How might it shake out?

On October 9, The Fighting Chizeks come to town. Auburn could be flying high at this point of the season, 4-1 or 5-0 (the Cats should be no worse than 3-2). Auburn has to replace QB Chris Todd and 1,300 yard rusher Ben Tate, but should be in good hands with JC transfer Cam Newton and several talented backs. The whole O-Line and both starting wide receivers return. The Tigers' defense was not good last year, but with seven returning starters and Chizek's focus on that side of the ball, it should be much improved. I think UK has much more than a puncher's chance in this game. If our anointed quarterback has found a groove by then, we should score some points. Still, Auburn should be improved this year and frankly, I cannot see beating them back to back years. Aub 28-21.

October 16th bring the Gamecocks and a game that could be a battle for the upper eschelon of the SEC East. I'm still having Alshon Jeffrey flashbacks from last year's game. Our secondary was depleted, and the freshman wideout caught everything in site. I wonder if he is going to be the next in the Munnerlyn, Norwood line of Cats killers. In any event, I cannot predict a win against these guys again until one comes. I just can't. USC 21-13.

The homestand closes with the Georgia Bulldogs on October 23rd. The complexion of that game will be shaped somewhat by what happens up until that point. Georgia will be thin at the quarterback position and thick just about everywhere else on offense. Washaun Ealey, who was not technically a starter last year, will be one of the SEC's best backs. A.J. Green is one of the SEC's best receivers. The entire offensive line returns. As set as UGa appears on O, it is a mess defensively. Mark Richt blew out his whole defensive staff and will change schemes to a 3-4. Few starters return. Even though last year's defense was not good, it had several talented players who won't be back, most notably LB Rennie Curren. I like Kentucky in this game, especially if it is riding some momentum. The Dogs couldn't hold last year's team under 30 at home. Can they really do it now? UK 34-31.

Keep in mind these are some tough predictions. I would not be surprised if UK won or lost any one of these games. The season will be made or broken here.

Season preview: Non conference games

For this year's game by game preview, we'll look at the regular season in semi-chronological sections. UK starts with three straight non-conference games, hits Florida and Ole Miss, then slides into a crucial three game homestand against beatable conference foes. After a trip to Starkville, Charleston Southern and Vandy visit. Then, of course, the Cats close out the year in Knoxville. We'll start with a look at the non-conference schedule, including the late season game.

On September 4, at 3:30pm the Cats take on what should be a slightly overmatched Louisville squad at a recently expanded Papa John's Stadium. Two years ago we walked into the pizza bowl and rode a surging defense to an easy 27-2 victory. Last year was a different story, when the homestanding Cats needed a Whodini act by Randall Cobb, a 100 Yard KO return by Derrick Locke and a serious miscue on a kick return to hold off the Cards 31-27.
The 2009 game had a pall over it which will continue this year; if the Cats are going to go bowling, they cannot afford to lose the game. The Cards are too weak, and there aren't enough other wins on the schedule.
Former 1000 yard rusher Victor Anderson missed the end of last season with a broken clavicle and is listed behind Bilal Powell on the Cards' depth chart. On the plus side, the Cards return four starters on the offensive line and have a weapon in senior mighty mite WR Doug Beamont. It is not yet clear who will be under center, but Adam Froman, a 6-4 senior, is your leader in the clubhouse.
The Cards defense returns little from a unit that simply wasn't very good.
I'd look for this game to be high scoring. U of L should come out with guns blazing and will be testing an inexperienced UK linebacking crew. By the same token, I'd be shocked if the Cards can contain Cobb, Locke and Chris Matthews. We are on the road, but we will have a better squad. In the end Kentucky spoils Charlie Strong's debut 34-21.

On September 11th, WKU comes to town. The game will be televised on College Sports South at 7:30pm. I have a soft spot for the Hilltoppers. Many friends either went there or have children going there. Western has a strong Henry Clay connection with WR Clark Jeter, LB Mike Federspiel and FB Rod Johnson all on the squad. Western will come into this game fresh off a trip to Nebraska, playing "the" Nebraska, so I think they'll know what to expect in this game and not be overwhelmed. That said, WKU is still looking for its footing in Division 1A and is one of its worst programs, not having won a game last year. If this game is competitive, then the Cats are in deep trouble for the rest of the year. UK 31-WKU 7.

UK isn't going to strain itself much in the early going. Akron visits on September 18th. The game will be at 7:00pm and televised on Fox Sports South. Akron was a 3-9 MAC team last year, finishing ahead of only Miami (OH) in the MAC east. The Zips return starting QB Patrick Nicely, as well as their two leading rushers. Nicely is not much of a running threat (42 carries for 46 years, 0TD in 2009) which is always nice to hear if you are a Cats fans in a game like this. Still, I see the Zips being more game than the 'Toppers, and other than Louisville, this is the non-conference game I'm most concerned with. UK 35 Akron 21.

The Cats final game outside the SEC comes November 6th at home against FCS foe Charleston Southern. To give you an idea, Charleston Southern plays in a stadium without a field house with locker rooms so far away that occasionally opposing teams will sit under a tent at halftime instead of returning. Again, there is no reason to think this game will be competitive. It will be important, though, as it begins and end of season stretch that includes a home game against Vandy and ends at Tennessee. The Cats need to play hard, get the starters off the field and win convincingly. UK 42 CSU 3.