Kentucky gets run over by Miss State

Kentucky Wildcats 2009 ... Head Coach: Rich Brooks

2009 Schedule
CFN Prediction: 6-6
2009 Record: 4-4

9/5 Miami Univ. (Cin.) W 42-0
9/12 OPEN DATE
9/19 Louisville W 31-27
9/26 Florida  L 41-7
10/3 Alabama L 38-20
10/10 at S Carolina L 28-26
10/17 at Auburn W 21-14
10/24 ULM W 36-13
10/31 Miss St L 31-24
11/7 Eastern Kentucky
11/14 at Vanderbilt
11/21 at Georgia
11/28 Tennessee

2008 Schedule
CFN Prediction: 5-7
2008 Record: 7-6

8/31 at Louisville W 27-2
9/6 Norfolk State W 38-3
9/13 Middle Tenn W 20-14
9/20  OPEN DATE
9/27 Western Kent. W 41-3
10/4 at Alabama L 17-14
10/11 South Carolina L 24-17
10/18 Arkansas W 21-20
10/25 at Florida L 63-5
11/1 at Miss St W 14-13
11/8 Georgia L 42-38
11/15 Vanderbilt L 31-24
11/22 OPEN DATE 
11/29 at Tennessee L 28-10
Liberty Bowl
1/2 East Carolina W 25-17

Kentucky Wildcats

Oct. 31
Mississippi State 31 … at Kentucky 24
Anthony Dixon ran for a Mississippi State record 252 yards with touchdown runs of one and three yards out, and O’Neal Wilder caught a 67-yard touchdown pass to keep bowl hopes alive. Kentucky got short touchdown runs from Derrick Locke, Morgan Newton, and Randall Cobb on the way to a 24-17 fourth quarter lead, but MSU outscored the Cats 21-7 in the third quarter. MSU ran for 348 yards, but only converted 1-of-9 third down chances.
Player of the Game: Mississippi State RB Anthony Dixon ran 33 times for 252 yards and two touchdowns, and he caught two passes for 14 yards.
Mississippi State: Passing: Tyson Lee, 10-17, 145 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Anthony Dixon, 33-252, 2 TD, Receiving: O’Neal Wilder, 2-72, 1 TD
Kentucky: Passing: Morgan Newton, 11-18, 119 yds, 1 INT
Rushing: Derrick Locke, 17-103, 1 TD, Receiving: La’Rod King & Chris Matthews, 2-31
What It All Means: Uhhhhh, the run defense? With quarterback issues, Kentucky doesn’t have the firepower to keep up with most teams right now, Morgan Newton just isn’t getting the passing game going enough, so the defense has to start coming up with bigger performances. The great game in the win over Auburn is a distant memory after getting steamrolled by Mississippi State, but there’s no reason to panic quite yet with Eastern Kentucky and Vanderbilt up next to all but assure a bowl spot. But there can’t be the problems up front like the defense had this week. 

Oct. 24
at Kentucky 36 … ULM 13
Randall Cobb did a little bit of everything for Kentucky with a 73-yard punt return for a score and an 11-yard run for a touchdown, and he also caught a 25-yard touchdown pass on the way to a 28-7 halftime lead. The defense came through late to put the game away with a 50-yard Randall Burden interception return for a score. ULM got a ten-yard Luther Ambrose touchdown catch, and a three-yard Frank Goodin run, but lost three fumbles inside the UK 20.
Player of the Game: Kentucky WR Randall Cobb completed 2-of-4 passes for 46 yards, and ran three times for 41 yards and a score, and returned two punts for 84 yards and a score.
ULM: Passing: Cody Wells, 21-44, 267 yds, 1 TD, 3 INT
Rushing: Frank Goodin, 16-55, 1 TD, Receiving: LaGregory Sapp, 7-121
Kentucky: Passing: Will Fidler, 8-13, 82 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: John Conner, 6-46, 1 TD, Receiving: Randall Cobb, 4-27 
What It All Means: The Wildcats got up early and coasted the rest of the way, but this wasn’t a smooth performance. The defense suffered a blow when LB Micah Johnson hurt his leg, and it struggled in the second half to stop the mediocre ULM passing game. The D had a hard time getting off the field. Fortunately, there shouldn’t be problems against Mississippi State, Eastern Kentucky, or Vanderbilt over the next few weeks before the Georgia game. Now is the time for the Cats to go on a nice run.

Oct. 17
Kentucky 21 … at Auburn 14
Running mostly from the Wildcat formation, Randall Cobb ran for 109 yards with a four-yard touchdown run to give Kentucky the win. On a cold night, Auburn never heated up with just 215 yards of offense and ten penalties (Kentucky didn’t commit any) and got one of its touchdowns on a Neiko Thorpe 69-yard blocked field goal return. Ben Tate gave Auburn a 14-7 halftime lead on a one-yard run, but it was all Kentucky in the fourth quarter with Will Fidler, who came in to replace an ineffective Morgan Newton at quarterback, running for a two-yard score the drive before Cobb took over the game. The two teams combined for 20 completions on 47 passes for 170 yards.
Player of the Game: Kentucky WR Randall Cobb ran 12 times for 109 yards and a touchdown and he caught a pass for 12 yards
Auburn: Passing: Chris Todd, 10-24, 80 yds, 1 INT
Rushing: Ben Tate, 31-132, 1 TD, Receiving: Terrell Zachery, 4-24
Kentucky: Passing: Morgan Newton, 5-13, 39 yds
Rushing: Derrick Locke, 19-126, Receiving: Chris Matthews, 2-30 
What It All Means: Having a playmaker like Randall Cobb helps out in a variety of ways. He saved the offense with his big plays late, and he and RB Derrick Locke are carrying the team. The Wildcat passing game sputtered, and Morgan Newton was awful in place of starting quarterback Mike Hartline, and Will Fidler came in and tried to get the offense moving. But it’s the running game and the pass rush that beat Auburn, while the run defense did what it could with Micah Johnson and Danny Trevathan each coming up with 14 tackles. Now, after the huge win, the Wildcats have to take advantage of an easy stretch against ULM, Mississippi State, Eastern Kentucky, and Vanderbilt to secure a bowl bid.

Oct. 10
at South Carolina 28 … Kentucky 26
Stephen Garcia connected with Alshon Jeffery for touchdown passes from 10, 28, and 22 yards out, and Garcia ran for a one-yard score, but it was a fight. Kentucky matched USC play for play with Derrick Locke running for an 11-yard score and Ashton Cobb catching a seven-yard touchdown pass in the first half, and Randall Cobb pulling the Cats within two on a two-yard run with 4:34 to play. The Gamecocks were able to run out the clock helped by a leaping run from Garcia. In a near dead-even game, South Carolina outgained UK 361 yards to 360.
Player of the Game: South Carolina WR Alshon Jeffery caught seven catches for 138 yards and three touchdowns.
Kentucky: Passing: Mike Hartline, 9-14, 139 yds, 1 TD
Rushing: Derrick Locke, 24-89, 1 TD & Randall Cobb, 13-89, 1 TD, Receiving: Derrick Locke, 4-20
South Carolina: Passing: Stephen Garcia, 16-23, 233 yds, 3 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Kenny Miles, 17-100, Receiving: Alshon Jeffery, 7-138, 3 TD
What It All Means: Kentucky lost the battle and might have lost a lot more with QB Mike Hartline out with a knee problem for a foreseeable future. Junior Will Fidler was a disaster under center against South Carolina, completing 2-of-8 passes for 16 yards, and if he’s not night-and-day better against Auburn, the team will have to get really creative, really quickly. Randall Cobb, who ran 13 times for 89 yards and a touchdown, to go along with his two catches for 62 yards and a score, will have to be more involved, and the ground game that was able to come up with 205 yards against a stout Gamecock run D will have to be even better.

Oct. 3
Alabama 38 … at Kentucky 20
Alabama forced four turnovers with Courtney Upshaw taking a fumble 45 yards for a touchdown, and Greg McElroy threw two short touchdown passes in an easy win. Kentucky stayed alive into the second quarter on two 49-yard Lones Seiber field goals, but a 24-point Tide run, helped by Mark Ingram’s second touchdown run of the day on a 32-yard dash, put the game away. Randall Cobb took a pass 45 yards for a touchdown for UK late in the fourth.
Player of the Game: Alabama RB Mark Ingram ran 22 times for 140 yards and two touchdowns.
Kentucky: Passing: Mike Hartline, 17-31, 168 yds, 1 TD, 3 INT
Rushing: Derrick Locke, 20-75, Receiving: Derrick Locke, 6-63
Alabama: Passing: Greg McElroy, 15-26, 148 yds, 2 TD
Rushing: Mark Ingram, 22-140, 2 TD, Receiving: Colin Peek, 6-65, 1 TD
What It All Means: The Wildcats were way overmatched, but they kept fighting and made the game a little more interesting late, at least on the scoreboard. Alabama’s defense had a lot to do with the various mistakes, but UK can’t turn the ball over four times against a team this good and hope to have any shot. As rough as it might have been to play Florida and Alabama in back-to-back weeks, now UK has to go on the road for more problems with trips to South Carolina and Auburn.

Sept. 26
Florida 41 … at Kentucky 7
Florida won easily as Tim Tebow ran for two short scores and threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez, but the focus was on Tebow as he was knocked out of the game late in the third quarter with a concussion. Chris Rainey added a blocked punt for a Gator touchdown as part of a 24-0 first quarter. Kentucky never threatened getting its only score on a two-yard Ross Bogue catch after getting down 31-0. John Brantley stepped in for Tebow and threw an eight yard touchdown pass to Riley Cooper in the fourth.
Player of the Game: Florida QB Tim Tebow completed 5-of-10 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown and ran 16 times for 123 yards and two scores before getting knocked out off the game in the third quarter.
Kentucky: Passing: Mike Hartline, 13-28, 85 yds, 1 TD, 2 INT
Rushing: Derrick Locke, 13-36, Receiving: Randall Cobb, 5-24
Florida: Passing: Tim Tebow, 5-10, 103 yds, 1 TD
Rushing: Tim Tebow, 16-123, 2 TD, Receiving: Aaron Hernandez, 3-54, 1 TD 
What It All Means: Kentucky got a focused No. 1 team in the nation to deal with. There was no chance from the opening snap. The Wildcat passing game couldn’t do anything to get the offense moving and struggled on third downs, while the run defense was unable to stop Tim Tebow or keep the Gators from scoring at will when it was still a game. Unfortunately, there’s no time to tune up from here with Alabama to deal with next week. To have any chance, the defensive front has to quickly figure out a new wrinkle or the Tide will rumble all game long.

Sept. 19
at Kentucky 31 … at Louisville 27
In a wild back-and-forth shootout, Randall Cobb caught a 12-yard pass for a late Kentucky lead, and the defense held on with a tipped pass for an interception snuffing out one drive, and a missed Hail Mary stopping a final Cardinal chance. Justin Burke threw two fourth quarter touchdown passes for Louisville including a 66-yarder to Trent Guy for its final lead before the Cobb score. Derrick Locke ran for a two-yard score for the Wildcats and answered a six-yard Victor Anderson touchdown run with a 100-yard kickoff return for a score.
Player of the Game: Kentucky RB Derrick Locke ran 15 times for 72 yards and a touchdown, caught four passes for 47 yards, and returned a kickoff for a touchdown.
Louisville: Passing: Justin Burke, 15-28, 245 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Victor Anderson, 19-110, 1 TD, Receiving: Scott Long 5-89
Kentucky: Passing: Mike Hartline, 20-27, 178 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Rushing: Derrick Locke, 15-72, 1 TD, Receiving: Randall Cobb, 6-71, 1 TD
What It All Means: Kentucky wasn’t exactly sharp defensively in the rivalry game, but the offense got the plays needed to pull off the win. There was a solid balance helped by the accurate short-range passing from Mike Hartline, while the special teams provided the pop with a Derrick Locke kickoff return for a score. Micah Johnson had a great day for the UK defense, but to have any shot against Florida next week, the D has to do far better against the short to midrange passes and has to be better at getting off the field. Louisville came up with one big play, but was effective on third downs and was able to keep the chains moving in the second half. 

Sept. 5
Kentucky 42 … Miami University 0
In the first game of the Mike Haywood era at MU, Kentucky won in a blowout with 21 second quarter points making it a blowout, and a Trevard Lindley interception return for a touchdown in the third making it a laugher. Mike Hartline threw two first half scoring passes, including a 27-yarder to Randall Cobb, who also ran for an 11-yard score. Derrick Lock and Moncell Allen each added short scoring runs. MU missed its only scoring chance on a field goal that went wide.
Player of the Game: Kentucky WR Randall Cobb caught seven passes for 96 yards and a score and he ran one time for an 11 yard score.
Miami: Passing: Daniel Raudabaugh, 13-34, 126 yds 2 INT
Rushing: Andre Bratton, 7-37, Receiving: Jamal Rogers, 6-56
Kentucky: Passing: Mike Hartline, 18-27, 222 yds, 2 TD
Rushing: Derrick Lock, 8-61, 1 TD, Receiving: Randall Cobb, 7-96, 1 TD
What It All Means: A new era, same production. The Mike Haywood era didn’t exactly get off to a roaring start as the offense did many of the same poor things it did last season, with QB Daniel Raudabaugh struggling mightily with his accuracy to get the attack moving. In a blowout, the ground game never got a chance to find something that worked. Somewhere, the team has to quickly find one thing it does well; Kentucky was able to do whatever it wanted.
What It All Means: It took a quarter to get hot, but everything clicked all at once with Mike Hartline getting time to work and making the most of it. Randall Cobb once again showed why he’s the team’s star playmaker who needs the ball in a variety of ways, but several players got in on the act with big run after big run. This was as perfect an opener as head coach Rich Brooks could’ve asked for.