John Clay’s Sidelines

Georgia had 11 offensive plays of 20+ yards in the Bulldogs’ 42-38 win over Kentucky.

Four of those came in the fourth quarter:

Photo by Mark Cornelison.

From Commonwealth Stadium:

• Final: Georgia 42, Kentucky 38.

• Dobbs intercepts Cobb screen pass with 46 seconds left. The big lineman reaches up and grabs ball with 1-hand.

• Georgia called for face mask penalty — Cobb was grabbed by face mask. Cats on 14 with 51 seconds left.

• UK facing 4th-and-2 with 58 seconds left.

• A 29-yard pass from Cobb to Grinter on first play. Then Dixon gains two yards to Georgia 32. UK calls time with 1:27 left.

• UK starts drive at own 37 with 1:46 left. Cats need a touchdown.

• Third-and-goal from 11, Stafford scrambles and throws over about four defenders and A.J. Green makes a great catch in back of end zone for TD. Georgia now up 42-38 with 1:54 left. Just a great play by both quarterback and receiver.

• Stafford to Massaquoi for 77 yards all the way down to UK 7. Moreno gets four yards on first down. But on second down, UK’s Sam Maxwell sacks Stafford for loss back to 11. Georgia calls time with 2:05 remaining. Third-and-goal.

• Georgia takes punt, start at 16 with 3:55 left.

• Massaquoi fumbles for second time. Micah Johnson forced it. McAtee recovers. UK has it with 9:28 left.

• Kentucky has to punt and Georgia starts drive on own 35 with 10:17 left.

Continue reading ‘Liveblog: UK-Georgia second half’

Photo by David Perry.

Just back from Rich Brooks press luncheon, where the Kentucky head coach named freshman Randall Cobb as the team’s starting quarterback for Saturday’s game at Mississippi State.

I’ve been a supporter of Mike Hartline, or of the coaching staff’s willingness to stick with Hartline, but Brooks had no choice but to go with Cobb.

When asked the reason for the change, the coach said simply, “Production.”

Saturday at Florida, Cobb produced and Hartline did not. Let’s not go crazy here. Cobb didn’t get Kentucky into the end zone. And the Cats did lose by 58 points in The Swamp. The quarterback did not lose the football game. But Cobb moved the team, and Hartline did not. The Cats began the game with five consecutive three-and-outs. Hartline was the quarterback for the first four series, Cobb the fifth.

Continue reading ‘First thoughts on Cobb as starter’

Kentucky coaches and players after being routed 65-3 at Florida:

• UK coach Rich Brooks says he didn’t believe that he would have to stand up and explain such a lopsided loss again.

• Special teams coach Steve Ortmayer talks about having two punts and a field goal blocked by the Gators.

• Offensive coordinator Joker Phillips says the offense did a few good things, but not enough.

• Defensive coordinator Steve Brown talks about the loss and moving on to next week and Mississippi State.

• Quarterback Mike Hartline talks about the 58-point defeat.

• Quarterback/wide out Randall Cobb talks about where the team goes from here.

From press box, under overcast skies, at The Swamp:

• Halftime: Florida 42-3

• Gators drive 80 yards in 10 plays with Tebow scoring from three yards out to make it 42-3 with 26 seconds left before halftime. Fifty-five of those yards came on the ground. Just one pass thrown.

• As I feared, UK defense having trouble with Florida’s little, swift backs. Gator at Uk 16 with 1:39 left in half.

• Cobb has 21 yards on four carries. One was a sack.

• Cobb directs a 14-play, 76-yard drive that ends with Lones Seiber kicking a 27-yard field goal to get UK on board. Florida lead now 35-3 with 5:03 left. Not going to do much on scoreboard, but score did at least give Cats sense of accomplishment. Cobb has looked very good at quarterback, both running and throwing. He’s 6-of-10 for 61 yards through the air at this point.

• Cobb has team on move. Will this be remembered as day UK got drilled but found its quarterback?

• Cobb has hit five of his first seven passes for 53 yards.

• Cobb much more effective at quarterback than Hartline. Hits Adams for 16-yard gain, then 14-yard gain to Conner.

• UK was outgained 126-46 in the first quarter, by the way.

• In that 2006 game that UK lost 49-0 at LSU, Kentucky trailed 28-0 at half.

• Florida fans may leave early for an entirely different reason than UK fans did last week. Demps takes short pass and outruns Cats to end zone for 61-yard touchdown and Florida 35-0 lead with 11:26 left in half.

• Embarrassing. Seiber’s 32-yard field goal is blocked. That’s the third blocked kick of the game. Two punts and a field goal.

Continue reading ‘Liveblog: UK-Florida first half’

After Kentucky’s miraculous 21-20 win over Arkansas:

• Rich Brooks on the comeback: “Well, I think it’s huge. I told them in the locker room football is a reflection of life in a lot of ways. When it’s the very darkest of the very worst, you have to keep on believing because giving up is not an answer, it’s not an alternative. For them to actually make it happen and make those words real, I am very proud of them.”

• Bobby Petrino: “That’s a hard one for us. We had a lot of chances to win the football game, starting in the first quarter when we had the ball down in there and didn’t get any points, and fumbled on the one and threw an interception on the one. All those things add up and end up hurting you. We had chances in the end to run the clock out and fumbled it back. Obviously, we feel like our defense has to come up with the stop at that time and we couldn’t do it. Give credit to Kentucky, they hung in there and made the plays at the end of the game and we didn’t.”

• Petrino is right. The play of the game may have happened with 1:12 left in the first quarter when, on third-and-goal from the one-yard line, Arkansas running back Michael Smith was hit by UK safety Calvin Harrison, causing a fumble. Kentucky’s Corey Peters recovered. Had Smith scored, the Razorbacks would have led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

• Arkansas quarterback Casey Dick, “This one hurts. We thought we had the game in control, and the bottom line is that we have to find a way to play good at the end and make plays. No matter what we are doing, we have to move the ball and play well.”

• Petrino said that Michael Smith, who rushed for 192 yards on 35 carries, may have suffered a concussion right before Arkansas kicked the field goal for a 20-7 lead with 10 minutes remaining. “He probably has a concussion which is scary because we don’t know how long he’ll be out with that,” said Petrino. “It’s a shame because he was playing his heart out, doing a great job running the ball, catching the ball.”

• UK running back Derrick Locke has at least a sprained knee. UK fears that there may be a ligament tear, but won’t know until an MRI is done on Monday.

• Mike Hartline ended up completing 17 of 32 passes for 239 yards and a career-high three touchdowns with two interceptions. His quarterback rating was 134.3, his highest this season.

• Brooks on Hartline: “Mike is a very confident guy and his confidence has been shaken recently. It was probably shaken early in this game. I don’t think there has ever been a young quarterback that has been able to come ack and do this at Kentucky in a long time. In game where the only way we can win is to throw it and he makes the plays necessary to win the game. I hope this does a lot for his confidence and other’s confidence in him.”

• Hartline on Hartline: “It’s really surreal. I don’t know whether to be really excited to just realize what just happened. Everything went so fast. I’m really proud of our offense the way they just didn’t quit. All the coaches believed in us throughout the game. We weren’t going to quit even though we didn’t have much success in the first half. There is no quitting in the offense.”

• Alfonso Smith caught five passes for 108 yards and one touchdown.

• Randall Cobb caught five passes for 73 yards and two touchdowns.

• Casey Dick completed 11 of 29 passes for 94 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. His passing rating was 62.2.

• UK linebacker Micah Johnson: “This game is huge. It would have been a difficult situation to go to Florida 0-3 in the SEC. Getting this win lightens things up and if we can keep this heart and fight, with little mistakes, we can beat anyone.”

• Cobb: “It’s all about heart and seeing how deep you can dig to get the job done.”

• UK is saying this ties UK’s best fourth-quarter comeback. The Cats trailed Vanderbilt 13-0 in the fourth quarter before winning 14-13 in 2004. That was Brooks’ second season.

• This was just Kentucky’s second one-point win in the past 20 years. The Vandy win in ‘04 was the other. Before that, you have to go back to 1988 when UK beat Vanderbilt.

• UK forced four turnovers, and leads the SEC with 20 forced turnovers.

Photo by Mark Cornelison.

From Commonwealth Stadium:

• That may have been UK’s worst half of the season. The Cats continue to be ineffective on offense, only this time the defense has not played well. Michael Smith has ripped through the defense for 114 yards on 16 carries. The Razorbacks could easily be up 21-0 had Calvin Harrison knocked the ball loose from Smith on a goal-line stand in the first quarter.

• It doesn’t help that Derrick Locke appears to be out the rest of the way with a sprained shoulder. Look for Moncel Allen in the second half. Might go back to Cobb at quarterback, as well. And linebacker Braxton Kelley apparently has an injured shoulder.

• When Rich Brooks was asked by Dick Gabriel what UK needed to do in the second half, the UK coach replied, “Play football.”

• Halftime: Arkansas 14, Kentucky 0

• Cats reach 32-yard line but Hartline hit from behind and fumbles and clock runs out.

• UK now at the Arkansas 44 with 33 seconds and one timeout left.

• Arkansas turns turnover into 14-0 lead with 1:15 left in the half. Dick hits speedy Michael Smith, who gets a step on linebacker Sam Maxwell on a crossing route. The result is an 18-yard score for the visitors. Arkansas’ two scores have both come off Kentucky turnovers. If not for that goal-line stand in first quarter, Razorbacks would be up three scores.

• Ruling on field stands. Arkansas has ball at UK 18 with 1:47 left.

• Locke fumbles and Arkansas recovers after catching pass, but not sure that the UK back had possession. Play is under review.

• Michael Smith has 114 yards on 16 carries with 3:29 left in first half.

• Drive stalls and then Tydlacka misses a 30-yard field goal. There’s 5:32 left in half.

• Kentucky facing a third-and-eight at the Arkansas 12 with 5:43 left in first half.

• Arkansas punts. UK takes over at Arkansas 37-yard-line with 9:06 left in the half and Hartline is back in at qb.

• Members of the 1998 Outback Bowl team were honored during the last timeout.

• Been critical of UK’s special teams, but having Ryan Tydlacka as pooch punter has really worked. His very high punt is downed at the 6.

• Cobb’s 37-yard pass to T.C. Drake ties for fourth longest this season for UK.

• Moncel Allen running hard, why he’s in there instead of Locke at moment.

• End of first quarter: Arkansas up 7-0 (and Kentucky is lucky it isn’t more).

• Smith has 86 yards on 11 carries, but the Razorbacks have turned it over twice.

• On third-and-goal from 2, Smith tries to reach ball across and Harrison causes fumble. Corey Peters recovers at 1:12. Harrison caused fumble with his shoulder.

• Smith pops a 51-yard run to the UK 28.

• Moncel Allen bursts for a 23-yard run, but Cobb’s first series ends shortly thereafter. After punt, Arkansas takes over at own 21 with 4:49 left in first quarter.

• Randall Cobb in at quarterback for UK. He’s wearing No. 12 to honor Dicky Lyons.

• Kentucky looks very, very flat in these first few minutes.

• Arkansas cashes in on the turnover to take 7-0 lead with 8:09 left in first quarter. Michael Smith carried all five plays of the 24-yard drive. Hartline has thrown four interceptions in three conference games. By the way, that’s the first first-quarter TD the Razorbacks have scored this season.

• Hartline throws way high and Arkansas’ Elton Ford intercepts and, after penalty, Razorbacks take over at UK 24 with 9:50 left in first quarter.

• David Jones makes his first career interception and Kentucky takes over for second time

From Commonwealth Stadium:

• South Carolina wins toss and defers to second half. Kentucky will get the ball first.

• I cannot tell you how much I hate those fireworks. Every single week, they scare the you-know-what out of me when they go off. They also can’t be good for global warming.

• Remember, if you don’t want to post a comment on the blog, shoot me an e-mail at jclay@herald-leader.com during the game.

• South Carolina should be helped by having wide receiver Kenny McKinley closer to full strength. McKinley had not played for a month when he caught four passes for 58 yards last week at Ole Miss. He had been out with a hamstring problem.

• In case you haven’t heard, Kentucky is 0-15 versus Spurrier.

• After Kentucky opened the week as a one-point favorite, but the last I saw South Carolina is now a 1-point favorite.

• It’s sunny and 73 degrees in Lexington at 11:55 a.m.

• Three keys to a Kentucky victory today:
  1. Win the turnover battle. With fewer plays under the new clock rules, turnovers are at a premium. Kentucky’s turnovers cost the Cats a chance to win last year in Columbia. Can’t do that and win here today.
  2. Rush the passer. My good friend Dick Gabriel pointed out that Kentucky did get pressure on Steve Spurrier’s team back in 1993, intercepting the Gators seven times, and still couldn’t beat the Ol’ Ball Coach. But for the most part, Spurrier’s quarterbacks have had plenty of time to throw against the Cats. UK’s pass rush is much improved this year. It needs to make life uncomfortable for Smelley. And Spurrier.
  3. Establish a run game. Don’t care if its Derrick Locke. Or Tony Dixon. Or Alfonso Smith. Or Moncel Allen. Kentucky has to run the ball better if it wants to win in this league. With all the changes on the offensive line, and Carolina’s love of multiple fronts, that could be difficult today.

Update: Check out Chip Cosby’s talk with Joker Phillips about criticism thrown at UK offense.

Asked what it was going to take to get the moribund UK running game cranked up, sophomore speedster Derrick Locke replied: run the ball.

Ok.

That’s understandable. Locke was afforded just six carries in UK’s 17-14 loss at Alabama on Saturday. Like most backs, he’d like more than a half-dozen totes. But fact is, Kentucky tried to run the football against the nation’s best run defense, and got absolutely nowhere. As Rich Brooks pointed out Monday, the Cats fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter. With the running game stuffed, and a two-touchdown deficit, Kentucky was forced to put the ball in the air.

Let’s go back to my favorite stat, the successful run. A review of how it works: A first-down run of four-or-more yards is deemed a successful run. If a run nets 60 percent of the yardage needed on second down, it’s a successful run. If a third-down run gains the needed yardage for a first down, it’s a successful run.

Here’s how UK did at Auburn Alabama:

From press box at Bryant-Denny Stadium:

• Spoke too soon: Here’s “Sweet Home Alabama.” Turn it up!

• E-mailer wanted to know the last time UK beat a Top 10 team on the road. It was Fran Curci’s 1977 team. It beat No. 4-ranked Penn State 24-20 in University Park. That UK team finished 10-1.

• I thought Auburn had the loudest public address system in college football. Alabama is giving its cross-state rival a run for its money. You could hear this system in Mississippi, and beyond. The pre-game music has included Black Crowes, Van Halen, AC/DC, Foo Fighters (fearlessly fighting foo), etc. No “Sweet Home Alabama.” Not yet, anyway.

• They are making sure to show plenty of highlights on the video boards of the Bama win over Georgia last week.

• Three keys to a UK upset: 1. Get some turnovers. Only way I see the Cats having a shot is if Bama turns the ball over. 2. Run the football. Kentucky will have to establish some sort of running game, which will not be easy against the best run defense in the SEC. 3. Get off to a good start.