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UK offensive coordinator Randy Sanders talks to the media about Maxwell Smith and his offense after team’s 28-16 loss to Mississippi State.

Kentucky true freshman quarterback Maxwell Smith talks to media after completing 26 of 33 passes for 174 yards.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Ten quick notes on the Kentucky loss:

1. Maxwell Smith looked better than any UK quarterback has looked all season. The true freshamsn came in for the injured Morgan Newton and completed 26 of 33 passes for 174 yards. He did not throw for a touchdown, but he did not throw an interception either. He threw the ball on time and on target. His completion percentage of 78.8 percent was the best by a UK quarterback since Mike Hartline was 23 of 28 (82.1 percent) last season.

He should start next week.

2. Randy Sanders on Smith: “I hesitate to say this, but I will anyway, he has much arm talent as anyone I’ve ever coached.”

3. The much-maligned Matt Roark caught a career-high 13 balls for 116 yards. He said after the game he had to “focus on being focused.”

Did Roark have a better game because Smith threw a more catchable ball? “I wouldn’t say that,” said Joker Phillips. I would say that.

4. Rick Minter’s defense did a poor job defending the thing that Mississippi State does poorly – throw the football. The Bulldogs hit on 15 of 21 passes for 264 yards and two touchdowns. Minter called UK’s pass defense unacceptable.

Continue reading ‘Ten quick things on Kentucky’s loss to Mississippi St’

The first 4:30 of Joker Phillips’ press conference with media after the Cats dropped to 3-5 overall and 0-4 in the SEC.

Full transcript of Joker Phillips’ press conference after UK’s 28-16 loss to Mississippi State.

Opening statement

COACH PHILLIPS: The injury situation is Morgan Newton has a right shoulder and right ankle. Looks like it’s a high ankle sprain. We’ll take a look at it tomorrow. After the half, he thought he could go back in, but we were just afraid of him not being able to protect himself. So did not put him back in.

Anthony Mosley during the scuffle got punched in the diaphragm and missed the first half. It was after the first or second touchdown.

Then (Donte) Rumph has a left knee. That’s the injury situation.

Hard‑fought game. Defensively three turnovers that they created, and no turnovers that we gave up offensively usually equals a win. I think we were like 5‑0 when we hadn’t turned the football over. We actually got three. You got to explain you’re playing to win to your football team when you create that many turnovers and don’t give up any and not win.

Well, it’s easy. It’s simple. Too many big plays that we gave up. It was three 80‑yard drives. If you talk about the drive chart, we talked about that this week, it’s hard for people to drive on anyone, and we gave up three of them today. A lot of them came with big plays. When you drive 80 yards, there’s usually some big plays involved.

In one of the 80 yards, there were four plays, so it’s got to be big plays. We gave up a big play, a big pass, touchdown in the end zone.

Then offensively we had a chance for short fields with the turnovers that the defense gave us, and we only got six points out of it. Then we got the ball down again in the second half and only got three, which gives us nine points.

Continue reading ‘Transcript of Phillips’ press conference after loss to MSU’

(H-L photo/Pablo Alcala)

Big Blue Links for Saturday:

• Bowl streak a major motivator for Kentucky’s football players
• Kentucky football Q & A with wide receivers coach Tee Martin
• UK offensive line starting to meet expectations
• Offensive line finally healthy, ready to live up to the hype
• Kentucky often key to Mississippi State’s bowl chances
• Five things to watch tonight for UK-Mississippi State
• MSU coach Dan Mullen bashes recruiting rankings
• Gary Harris nearing a decision on a college?
• UK basketball now ranked No. 2 in both major polls
• What do the pre-season basketball rankings really mean?
• Calipari corners NBA’s coaches
• UK eyes title with mix of veterans and freshmen
• Andrew Alberts road back is paved with Canada gold
• Kentucky volleyball sweeps South Carolina to earn 20th win
• UK women’s soccer beats Vanderbilt 4-2 on Friday

Kristina Akra

TV crews for today’s SEC games:

• Arkansas at Vanderbilt (12:21 p.m., SEC)
• Dave Neal, Andre Ware, Cara Capuano
• Florida vs. Georgia (3:30 p.m., CBS)
• Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson
• Ole Miss at Auburn (7 p.m., ESPNU)
• Clay Matvick, Brian Griese, Allison Williams
• Mississippi State at Kentucky (7 p.m., Fox Sports South)
• Bob Rathburn, Tim Couch, Kristina Akra
• South Carolina at Tennessee (7:15 p.m., ESPN2)
• Mark Jones, Ed Cunningham, Jessica Mendoza

When it comes to conference expansion, Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi has some advice for Rick Pitino.

Sit down and shut up.

Excerpt:

Actually, let me answer my own question: Because Pitino epitomizes why the Big East is in the shape it’s in; because he is among the basketball coaches in the league who have way too much power and influence. The basketball boneheads have been making all of the decisions, and that’s why there has been a mass exodus of the league’s football schools over the years. Just think how enormous the Big East football TV deal would be if it had catered to the football schools from the beginning and kept programs like Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Pitt, West Virginia, etc. in the fold?

Bianchi has been advocating that the Big East take Central Florida as a member. Pitino has been publicly more interested in recruiting Temple and Memphis.

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Louisville announced tonight that heralded freshman Wayne Blackshear has been lost for the season with a shoulder injury. Here’s the release:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – University of Louisville freshman Wayne Blackshear will miss the 2011-12 season after suffering a shoulder injury in practice.

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test performed at Jewish Hospital in Louisville points to a torn labrum in his right shoulder, which will require surgery to repair. With an expected recovery time of at least four months, Blackshear will effectively miss the entire season.

A 6-5 McDonald’s High School All-American from Chicago, Blackshear had just been cleared by the NCAA initial eligibility center to participate as a freshman a week ago. He had suffered an injury to his left shoulder as he closed out his high school career, had surgery to repair it, and had spent the summer rehabilitating that shoulder. He averaged 32.6 points, 14.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 3.7 steals as a senior for Morgan Park High School last season.