John Clay's Sidelines

This is one of those rare Saturday nights when two major broadcast networks will have two college football showdowns going head-to-head. At 8 p.m. Saturday, ABC will have Nebraska making its official Big Ten debut at Wisconsin, while CBS is showing Alabama at Florida.

This week’s Thursday night matchup has Big East (for now) combatants South Florida at Pittsburgh. Pitt is coming off back-to-back close losses to Iowa (31-27) and Notre Dame (15-12).

There are a couple of other interesting Saturday matchups. In a noon matchup between two teams coming off big losses last week, Arkansas meets Texas A&M on ESPN. At 3:30 on CBS, a dangerous Auburn travels to Columbia to play South Craolina. Over on ESPN/ABC at 3:30, Michigan State is at Ohio State. At 6 p.m. on ESPN2, a red-hot Clemson travels to Blacksburg to take on No. 11 Virginia Tech.

After Wednesday’s practice, Kentucky football coach Joker Phillips had a message for his team: “Treat yourself like a man.”

In other practice notes:

• Phillips said that Josh Clemons practiced and would play on Saturday.
• The coach used noise during practice to help the team prepare for the atmosphere at Tiger Stadium.
• Phillips said that running back CoShik Williams is a good example of how his program needs to do a job finding walk-ons who can turn into contributing players.
• Wide receivers coach Tee Martin said that Brian Adams has had a good week of practice and expects to make a contribution on Saturday.

Related links:

• Phillips says he sees a difference in offensive line
• Phillips trying to keep Cats out of the ditch
• Gap between UK and SEC elite widens

When reporting my story for today’s print product about Kentucky’s defense facing a different challenge in a more straight-ahead LSU offense, I talked to defensive coordinator Rick Minter.

The man has done his homework. He notes that of something like 160 runs this season, LSU has made 120 of those between the tackles. He also mentions that LSU’s style makes it hard for defenses to get turnovers. LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee has thrown for six touchdowns, compared to just one interception.

Related links:

• LSU’s day-game record and other notes
• Joker Phillips trying to keep Cats out of the ditch
• Video: Rick Minter on his defense allowing 405 rushing yards

Alex Poythress

Keith Easterwood, described as a “noted AAU insider” in Memphis, says Alex Poythress is coming to Kentucky.

Appearing on the Gary Parrish radio show, Easterwood was asked about Poythress, the 6-foot-7 forward from Cookeville, Tenn.

“He’s going to Kentucky,” replied Easterwood.

Poythress is down to Kentucky, Memphis, Vanderbilt and Florida. He is expected to attend Big Blue Madness on October 14.

Hat tip to UK Sports Info.

Related links:

• Duke no longer on list for UK target Poythress
• UK target Poythress doesn’t have a favorite
• Poythress had lots of questions for Calipari on visit

CBS Sports’ Garry Parrish has shed some light on a largely ignored byproduct of head coach firings.

What happens to the assistant coaches?

The head coach usually is provided a rather large buyout. What about the assistant coaches? Sorry for your luck. Almost all are sent scrambling for other jobs, hoping to catch on somewhere with staffs.

Parrish uses Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl and his assistants to illustrate what happens.

An excerpt:

“My family is split up for the first time ever,” said Steve Forbes, a former Pearl assistant who is now the head coach at Northwest Florida State. “My daughter is a senior at Tennessee. She lived at home with us. But now we don’t have her because we don’t live there anymore.”

The whys and whats and whens of the demise of Pearl and his staff can be spun 100 different ways, and they have been. The assistants feel like they are mostly just guilty of protecting their head coach, and their head coach believes he lied to the NCAA only to protect his assistants, who were already on record claiming they couldn’t recall where the now infamous picture of Pearl and Aaron Craft was snapped.

Either way, the truth is this: Had Pearl not been photographed doing what he did, Forbes wouldn’t be the head coach at a junior college here in the panhandle. And Shay wouldn’t be his assistant. And Shay’s two young children wouldn’t be sharing bunk beds in a two-bedroom apartment. And they wouldn’t have had to leave the family dog with relatives because dogs aren’t allowed in the complex.

It’s a very good story, be sure and check it out.

(H-L photo/Charles Bertram)

The first sign of basketball season isn’t the game. It isn’t the first practice. It isn’t Big Blue Madness. It isn’t even the ticket distribution for Big Blue Madness.

The first official sign of another basketball season is when the tents start popping up on the grounds of Memorial Coliseum, put up by those who are merely getting ready for the ticket distribution for Big Blue Madness. And the tent poles were put in place before sunrise this morning along the Avenue of Champions.

Basketball is here. Almost.

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• Ex-UK players schedule exhibitions, reports H-L.
• The line has (unofficially) formed, reports Jerry Tipton of H-L.
• LSU still has something to prove, writes Times-Picayune’s Peter Finney.
• Mathieu highlights mount, writes Les East of The Advocate.
• LSU wants to bloody Kentucky’s nose, writes John Clay of H-L.
• LSU’s secondary has high standards, says Advocate’s Scott Rabalais.
• UK’s line coming together, reports Kyle Tucker of the C-J.
• Jefferson faces grand jury, reports Glenn Guilbeau of Shreveport Times.
• Phillips unsure adding A&M will affect recruiting, says Larry Vaught of A-M.
• Calipari has more expansion ideas, writes Kernel’s Aaron Smith.

The Lane Kiffin Era is the gift that just keeps on giving in Knoxville. The brat-boy coach spent one year leading Tennessee football before bolting for Southern Cal. He left behind an NCAA investigation that ended with some self-imposed penalties.

But just when UT fans thought the worst was over, more allegations keep popping out of the orange woodwork. First came news that a former Kiffin assistant allegedly paid for a recruit’s visit. Now come allegations UT was in on the Willie Lyles recruiting service scam.

SEC links for Wednesday:

• Weis will throw kitchen sink at Tide, says Robbie Andreu of Gainesville Sun.
• Five keys for Florida vs. Bama, from Rachel George of Orlando Sentinel.
• Florida is ready to run, writes Matt Watts of the Miami Herald.
• Tennessee paid recruiting service, reports KNS’ Andrew Gribble.
• Kiffin capers won’t go away, writes Mark Weidmer of Times Free Press.
• Rivalries a thing of the past? asks Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News.
• Alabama backing up its talk, writes Don Kaulser of the Birmingham News.
• Auburn may use Frazier more, reports Jay G. Tate of the Montgomery Advertiser.
• Auburn WR Reed to miss USC game, reports Andy Bitter of Ledger-Enquirer.
• Gamecocks ready to face Dyer, reports Andrew Miller of Post and Courier.
• Lattimore fine with workload, writes Edward Aschoff of espn.
• Georgia may lose another player to transfer, reports Chip Towers of AJC.
• Last year’s loss still hurts Dogs, says Seth Emerson of Macon Telegraph.

Some LSU notes:

• Saturday’s 12:21 p.m. ET start is the earliest at Tiger Stadium since the 2008 season opener against Appalachian State was moved up to 10 a.m. because of Hurricane Gustav.
•  Over the last 51 years, LSU’s home day record is 24-25-3.
• Kentucky is 5-22-1 against LSU in Baton Rouge, and has lost four of last five.
• LSU quarterback Jarrett Lee on playing a team like Kentucky, which is a 30-point underdog on Saturday: “We know they can ruin our season very easily.”
• West Virginia outgained LSU 533-366 last Saturday in LSU’s 47-21 win in Morgantown. WVU quarterback Geno Smith threw for a school-record 463 yards.

Kentucky football coach Joker Phillips said he thought team competed well in practice today, except when it went against the scout team showing LSU looks.  Other highlights:

• The coach said that safety Martavius Neloms did practice. He said running back Josh Clemons only went through individual drills.
• He also talked about LSU running a “downhill” offense, which is different from a speedy Florida offense that got out on the edge.
•  The coach said that he is seeing a difference in his offensive line now that all five starters are back. He said the footwork of the line was “atrocious” the first couple of weeks and is now getting cleaner.
• He also said that freshman Mike Douglas played well against Florida and will start Saturday at defensive end in place of the injured Collins Ukwu.
• He also talked about the shiftiness of running back CoShik Williams, whom he said “pound-for-pound is probably the strongest guy on our football team.”

Some reactions to Monday’s column on UK football and Mitch Barnhart:

Kevin writes:

Do you think Joker is on the hot seat? I know he’s feeling the pressure, but wow. He’s only like 15 games into his tenure here at UK.

I really hope we don’t push him out the door. He got rid of some great position coaches and tried to upgrade with coaches who were better recruiters. I thought that those moves on the staff might have a drop off. We’ve lost tons of play makers off of some solid UK football teams over the past few years.

I’m not just being a homer in support of Joker. I do see some huge problems. Newton holds the ball forever. If you’d let him he’d still be holding the ball. The O-line is getting pushed around. Its horrible. The receivers are God awful.

Anyhow, I enjoy reading your columns, but I just hope people learn from how we gave Brooks time. Hopefully Joker gets a couple of years. he may not have it, but we’ll see.

Continue reading ‘E-mailbag: More reaction to Mitch Barnhart column’