John Clay's Sidelines

(Photo by John Clay)

Will be liveblogging from Rich Brooks’ weekly press luncheon. The Kentucky football coach normally takes the podium around 12:15. Look for video interviews with players on the blog later this afternoon.

• That’s it.

• Asked about the Wildcat formation, “I think against certain defenses the Wildcat can be a lot more effective. Plus, you have to remember that Randall Cobb is not a big physical guy. You run the chance of getting him beat up pretty good. Yes, we will use it. . . . Hopefully in some games, it’ll be a huge portion of what we do. . . But a lot of people are using it, and the more you see it, the better you can stop it.”

• Says John Conner played one of the “poorer games since he’s been here.”

• Bama’s linebackers, “They don’t shed a block, they run through it, and leave the blocker at their feet.”

• On Alabama defense, “They are extremely physical. They have speed like Florida, but they seem to be more physical.”

• “We can’t give up a 78-yard gash up the middle for a touchdown, like they did last year.”

• Says Alabama does a good job of spreading the ball around.

• Asked if he’s worried about team’s confidence, he said, “They should be worried about my confidence in them.” (Said it with a grin.)

• On Hartline, “My overall assessment of Mike Hartline was just like my overall assessment of my team. Wasn’t good enough.”

• On McElroy, “He’s playing with a lot of poise. He’s not a young guy, but he’s a first-time starter. He’s missed some passes, but he’s also made some big-time throws. He understands the situation he can put the ball up to where his receiver can get it.”

• “I would vote that the polls shouldn’t start until at least the first week of October,” he said.

• South Carolina has lost one game to a ranked team, and beat Ole Miss, and “they’re not ranked. What’s with that?”

• Comparing Alabama to Floirda, “they’re not any worse.”

• Gonna shorten pre-game and “pick up our tempo a little bit.”

• Ranks, “right up near the top. Not the loss as much as the first 15 minutes performance. I believe we’re a better football team than that, and that should not have happened. As I said a year ago at the Florida game, I thought we were past that kind of crap. Obviously, we’re not past it.”

• “There’s nothing positive to be gained from a 31-0 embarrassment in the first quarter. Nothing,” he said.

• Says they do script plays before the game. “But if the play isn’t the right play . . . we change it,” he said.

• Going to change fewer players at the line of scrimmage. “When you do that, everybody has to be quick,” he said.

• Said he thought the team was playing hard, but “on defense we were playing with blinders on. We were not adjusting to the shifting of the tight end, we left the middle of the field open . . . stupid things that shouldn’t happen. But the effort was there.”

• On tackling, “They don’t give scholarships to guys who can’t break tackles,” but “some of the tackles we missed were pathetic. Unacceptable.”

• “We need to figure out a lot quicker by the end of the first quarter,” said the coach.

• Says gonna change some things in pre-game.

• “If we played the first quarter even, we’d have a pretty good record in those 16 games,” said Brooks.

• Outscored 139-44 in the first quarter since the first game of last year. That comes from Brett Dawson of the C-J, which Brooks gives a tip of the hat.

• Asked about if he’s thought about how to get a faster start: “Nah, never,” he said. “The first few years here, people wondered why we couldn’t play well in the fourth quarter. We couldn’t finish games. We’re finishing games a lot better, but we’re starting games a lot poorer.”

• Asked about last year’s game, fact that Kentucky hung around in a 17-14 loss. “What we did last year has very little bearing on what we do this year, game-to-game. . . . Bottom line is, we have to go out on the field and play 60 minutes.”

• “Each week is a different challenge. I think these players still realize that we have a good football team, even if we didn’t play like it Saturday. Part of that was Florida, part of that was us.”

• Thinks his team might have a slight advantage this week over Florida week in that Alabama runs a more conventional offense, similar to what Kentucky runs. That should help in practice.

• Said quarterback Greg McElory is “playing extremely well for his first year as a starter.”

• “Alabama defense is scary that they are ranked No. 1 in our league. They give up fewer yards than Florida does,” said the coach.

• Justin Jeffries will not practice Tuesday with achillies problem. Christian Johnson may not go Tuesday because of rib problem. Also doubtful for Tuesday is Paul Warford. Will Johnson has an MCL sprain. “He’s been a huge factor for us in the kicking game,” said Brooks.

• Just announced that with No. 1 Florida and No. 3 Alabama, two highest-ranked teams back-to-back ever on UK schedule.

• Coach Brooks is here a bit early. We’re about to get started.

• There is no gametime set for the UK-South Carolina football game as yet.

• “Florida hits the crap out of the ball . . . we have to slow down the ball,” said Skinner.

• The volleyball team is 13-1 overall and 3-0 in the SEC.

• Says team got down 0-2 at Florida last year, then came back and “played with no fear.”

• Skinner says, “We’ve got to get better at blocking.”

• UK volleyball coach Craig Skinner is now at the podium. Kentucky hasn’t dropped a set in conference play thus far. UK is at No. 5 Florida on Friday.

• Check back around 12:15 for the blog to begin.