John Clay’s Sidelines

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’

Ex-LSU quarterback Matt Flynn has surpassed former U of L star Brian Brohm as Green Bay's No. 2 quarterback

An interesting tidbit jumped from the news reports this week concerning the playing status of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whose aching shoulder keep him out of Sunday’s game with the Atlanta Falcons.

With Rodgers possibly on the shelf, you might think that ex-Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, the team’s second-round draft pick, would be the obvious replacement starter.

You thought wrong.

Ex-LSU quarterback Matt Flynn, a seventh-round selection last year, will make the start against the Falcons should Rodgers be unable to go.

As Lori Nickel writes in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Flynn’s unflappable style and hard-charging exhibition performances propelled him past the polished and game-ready Brohm. It’s not every day you see a seventh-round draft pick bypass a second-round pick in a high profile position in a few short weeks. But the coaches chose Flynn over Brohm, knowing full well that the day might come that they would have to replace an injured Rodgers with one of the rookies.

It’s been a tough year for Brohm. U of L dipped to 6-6 his senior season. Then after a year in which many of the mock draft projected the ex-Trinity star as the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, Brohm slid to the second round. Now, he has been beaten out for the second-string spot by someone who may believed wasn’t the best quarterback at LSU last season. (Ryan Perrilloux possessed more athletic skills.)

On the other hand, perhaps Brohm is being afforded a blessing. Recent history shows that quarterbacks rushed into action before they’re ready rarely fare well in the long-run. Ask Tim Couch. Ask David Carr. Better that Brohm stands and watches from an upright position than learn flat on his back.

Louisville may not be all the way back, but the Cards are on the right track.

Ask Kansas State.

Indeed, the Cards drilled K-State 38-29 last night at Papa John’s.
It wasn’t that close. Louisville led 35-14 before the Wildcats scored
on 52-yard and 59-yard touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. Before
then, however, Louisville was clearly the better team.

The speedy Victor Anderson rushed for an eye-popping 176 yards on
just 18 carries. The former St. X star scored on runs of 29, 56 and 27
yards. Meanwhile, Brock Bolen rushed for 104 yards on 23 carries. It’s
the first time since 2005 two U of L rushers have passed the century
mark in the same game.

But the biggest difference is the Louisville defense. Thank new
coordinator Ron English. The former Michigan defensive coordinator has
revamped the Cardinal defenders. Louisville held the Wildcats to 30
yards on just 12 carries. KSU quarterback Josh Freeman entered the game
as the nation’s third most efficient passer. He departed having
completed 24 of 42 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns, but many
of those came in the final quarter when the visitors were playing
catch-up.

In three games, Louisville has allowed just 126 yards. That works
out to 42 yards per game. Kentucky gained just 63 on the ground.
Tennessee Tech and Kansas State also gained 63 yards – combined.

That’s a far cry from last year when U of L allowed 165.3 rushing yards per game.

The game did prompt this e-mail from Aaron:

Links the day after UK's 27-2 win over Louisville:

• You can find video of Rich Brooks' post-game press conference by clicking here.

• Randy Beard of the Henderson Gleaner asks, "Offense, what offense?"

• Comment to the Card Chronicle open game thread states, "If you still support Coach Kragthorpe, you are a UK fan."

• Some good post-game analysis from A Sea of Blue.

• "310 pounds of glory," says ESPN.

• Something called the "Meaningful Collateral," asks "Was Petrino this good, or Kragthorpe this bad?"

• Out in Oklahoma, where Steve Kragthorpe won at Tulsa, Soonerfans is asking, "What happened to Steve Kragthorpe?"

• UKWildcatCountry tells Louisville fans to enjoy the death spiral.

LOUISVILLE — UK wins second straight Governor's Cup.

Cards commit five turnovers, including three Hunter Cantwell interception.

Myron Pryor scores a touchdown and sets up another for Cats.

More to come after press conferences, etc.

LOUISVILLE — Big man Myron Pyror picks up a fumble and rumbles 72 yards for a touchdown and Kentucky now leads 27-2 with 2:46 remaining.

Remember, it was Pryor who forced the fumble that Ashton Cubb returned for a touchdown in the second quarter, giving UK a 10-0 lead.

Notes:

• Paisley dropped a TD pass in end zone for U of L with 3:42 left.
• Louisville had to burn a time out at 5:13 after recovering a Tony Dixon fumble.
• Johnny Williams hit Cantwell's arm to force fumble Pryor recovered.

LOUISVILLE — Ventrell Jenkins tips a Cantwell pass, which is intercepted by Trevard Lindley, returning it to U of L 7-yard line. From there, Tony Dixon skips into the end zone over right tackle for a 20-2 Kentucky lead with 6:21 remaing.

The Louisville fans are now heading for the exits.

LOUISVILLE — Cards shoot themselves in foot with bad penalties — a facemask and an illegal substitution, with the 12th man failing to get off the field after a Cardinal timeout when UK was facing a third-and-one.

That leads to a Lones Seiber 25-yard field goal for a 13-2 Kentucky lead with 6:37 left in the game.

Notes:

• Sam Maxwell tracked down Victor Anderson for a 7-yard loss.
• The 6-8 Chichester has made two excellent leaping catches.
• Louisville recovered a muffed punt by Lyons with 12:03 remaining, but officials ruled that Louisville committed interference to catch the punt.
• Big face-mask penalty on Louisville gave UK first down at U of L 38 with 10:40 left.
• The illegal substitution penalty came after Louisville had called time to try and come up with a defense to stop third-and-one at U of L 29.

LOUISVILLE — UK freshman quarterback Mike Hartline commits intentional grounding in own end zone with 14:17 left for a safety, as Louisville cuts lead to 10-2.

In Hartline's defense, U of L lineman was right on him, and UK offensive line obviously let someone free.

Notes:

• UK's last shutout was a 25-0 win over Vanderbilt on Nov. 16, 1996. That was Bill Curry's final year.
• Third-largest crowd, 42,696, in Papa John's history.
• Never mind the shutout stat.
• On free kick, Masthay boomed the ball to the 2-yard line.

LOUISVILLE — Third quarter ends with Kentucky still blanking the Cards, 10-0.

Notes:

• Great tackle by Shomari Moore on screen pass to Beaumont, resulting in a three-yard loss.
• Two plays later, Trevard Lindley made a great open-field tackle on Powell.
• Cory Goettschke shanked a 16-yard punt to give UK a first down at the 50 with 6:47 left in third.
• John Conner was taken to the lockerroom after getting his "bell rung," according to radio report.
• Third time is charm for Tydlacka, who after two punts for touchbacks, gets his third downed at the 1-yard line by Alfonso Smith.
• Ex-Tates Creek product Pete Nochta made his first collegiate catch, a 5-yard grab for first down at U of L 13.
• A 27-yard pass from Cantwell to Beaumont longest of game for Cards.
• Ricky Lumpkin and Braxton Kelley combine to sack Cantwell for an 8-yard loss on final play of third quarter.