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.