John Clay’s Sidelines

Surfing the blogs for this and that:

• At Kentucky Sports Radio, Matt Jones has a Jai Lucas update, that states that yes, there is mutual interest between the Cats and the tiny guard.

• Our own Jerry Tipton is having a hard time finding a spot for an SEC team on his AP college basketball top 25 ballot.

• ESPN.com’s SEC blogger Chris Low reviews the Kentucky football season.

• On his blog in The State, Seth Emerson ranks the SEC’s football coaches. (Spoiler alert: Rich  Brooks is somewhere between seventh and ninth.)

• A Sea of Blue continues its series on the 1966 UK Rupp’s Runts team.

• How to celebrate your dad’s birthday, Big Blue Nation style.

• In the Fan House, Matt Snyder predicts the Indiana-Kentucky rivalry will be great again. Have patience.

• CBS Sportline’s Gary Parrish believes ex-U of L assistant and now ex-Sacramento Kings head coach Reggie Theus will land a better job back in college.

• Mr. SEC has the video of the heckling of Auburn AD Jay Jacobs.

Continue reading ‘Net surfing: Lucas, Brooks, IU and birthday cake’

Photo by Mark Cornelison.

I’m shutting down the poll concerning Kentucky’s stunning Friday night loss to VMI, but the results aren’t surprising. As to what was the most disappointing aspect of the debacle, coaching won the day with 71 votes, followed by the Gardner-Webb repeat at 48, poor point guard play at 46, with Patrick Patterson’s under-production receiving 32 nods.

If I’d offered a poll concerning the football team’s 31-24 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium, the guess here is that disappointing coaching would have topped the election results there, as well.

First, basketball. One of Friday’s puzzlers was that Billy Gillispie never appeared to make any major in-game adjustments during the loss to the Keydets. Kentucky played basically the same way – too often VMI’s way – from start to finish. Other than a few subs, Gillispie didn’t do a lot to shake things up, and he didn’t have many answers for what the Keydets were doing offensively. As for only using eight of his 19 players, I’ve contended from the start Gillispie isn’t going to actually play his bench. And I didn’t see anything Friday to make me change my mind.

The comment I’ve been hearing since Friday is that Tubby Smith would not have lost that game. To me, the feeling is that while Gillispie is a better recruiter, hungrier, more aggressive, Smith is the better bench coach. That could change down the line. But I can’t argue with that one, either.

Continue reading ‘Bad weekend for Billy G. and Richie B.’

SEC links for Monday:

• Mike Bianchi writes in the Orlando Sentinel that Urban Meyer embarrassed Steve Spurrier in a way once thought unimaginable. “Seeing Spurrier coming back to The Swamp and getting clobbered was like watching an aging Sinatra returning to the Sands and forgetting the words to ‘My Way.’”

• Gainesville Sun columnist Pat Dooley writes that this Florida roll is the greatest we’ve ever seen. “You talk all week about how tough a game it’s going to be and — BAM! — you look up and it’s 21-0. You worry about the guy in the visor and staying focused and — BAM! — nobody’s going to catch him and it’s 35-3. You spend the week with a sick feeling in your stomach because you’ve been watching this amazing South Carolina defense and — BAM! — you’ve won the game by half-a-hundred.”

• In the Gainesville Sun, Robbie Andreu writes that Florida is trying to keep perspective during its streak of smashing foes. “Meyer has given much of the credit for his team’s focus and intensity during this remarkable streak to the work the Gators have put in every week on Tuesday and Wednesday, especially Tuesday, the hardest and most physically demanding practice of the week.”

• Kevin Scarbinsky of the Birmingham News writes that Alabama’s dream season is about to meet its worst nightmare. “At the end of the day, at the end of the regular season, at the end of every Alabama person’s worst nightmare, there’s Auburn. There’s Auburn, going the distance on the first snap and going crazy, stacking bodies and sacks on the Alabama quarterback, raising one finger after another and sending the blood pressure of Alabama players, coaches and supporters to the moon.”

• Also in the Birmingham News, Ray Melick writes that it was too bad either Georgia or Auburn had to win their game. “Then there are games such as Auburn-Georgia, a game so full of mistakes that the winning coach, the Bulldogs’ Mark Richt, said afterward: ‘Neither team played good enough to win.’”

• Jeff Schultz of the AJC writes that Georgia lacks coaching, discipline. “They don’t play smart. They sputter too often on offense. They miss tackles on defense. They commit so many infractions it’s a wonder no official has suffered a torn rotator cuff from throwing so many penalty flags.”

• Maurice Patton writes in The Tennessean that getting that sixth win, over UK, probably locks up a bowl invite for Vanderbilt. “That means there’s a good chance there won’t be enough qualified SEC teams to fill all of the bowl tie-ins. In that environment, their 5-0 start and underdog story line makes Vanderbilt an attractive option for bowl officials, said Perry Winstead, chief financial officer for the Liberty Bowl, to be played Jan. 2 in Memphis.”

• Drew Edwards reports in the Knoxville News-Sentinel that Jonathon Crompton will start at quarterback for Tennessee against Vandy. “Crompton has played in each of UT’s last two games and engineered UT’s lone scoring drive in a 13-7 loss to Wyoming on Nov. 8. Against the Cowboys, Crompton was 11-of-27 for 91 yards and a touchdown.”

• Randy Rosetta writes in The Advocate that LSU could use its comeback win over Troy as a springboard. “Now what remains to be seen and what could become a huge factor in the final two chapters of LSU’s 2008 season is how do the Tigers respond from their biggest rally in the modern era?”

• The State reports that Penn State spoiled the debut of new USC women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley. “In the first half, the Gamecocks suffered from poor shooting, hitting 5-of-28 from the field. ‘Coming into the season, I knew we would struggle to score,’ Staley said.

• And in the Herald-Leader, Chip Cosby writes that UK needs the bye week to heal some bruises. “Brooks said that the Wildcats will be without two defensive regulars for the Tennessee game. Starting free safety Marcus McClinton is out with a severe laceration on his quadriceps, while backup defensive tackle Ricky Lumpkin will miss the game with a high ankle sprain.”

Audio from post-game after UK holds on to beat Mississippi State 14-13:

Head coach Rich Brooks talks about the heart and effort of team hanging in to get bowl eligible with sixth win. (10:21)

Offensive coordinator Joker Phillips talks about the team moving the ball better in the second half. (5:39)

Defensive lineman Ventrell Jenkins, who finished with two sacks and four tackles overall. (2:50)

Randall Cobb talks about his first start at quarterback, and catching the football, and returning punts, and getting the win. (2:02)

Senior running back Tony Dixon talks about his 66 yards on 12 carries. (2:17)

Defensive end Jeremy Jarmon talks about the defensive effort that sacked MSU quarterback Tyson Lee four times. (1:57)

Defensive tackle Corey Peters talks about how UK knew it had to come out and clinch bowl eligibility. (2:32)

A snippet from A.J. Nance on that converted fake punt. (0:40)

Quarterback Mike Hartline talks about his reserve role, in which he completed nine of 17 passes for 90 yards. (1:12)

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’

Notes from Kentucky’s 63-5 loss to Florida:

• Coming off his best game, when Mike Hartline put up a pass efficiency rating of 134.3 against Arkansas, the UK quarterback posted just a 48.6 rating in the loss.

• Hartline’s pass rating is the lowest by a UK starting quarterback in a game since — get this — Tim Couch’s 28.3 rating at Florida in the Cats 65-0 loss to the Gators in The Swamp in 1996. Couch completed six of 18 passes for 13 yards with one interception. Hartline was seven of 16 for 33 yards with an interception.

• Randall Cobb’s passing rating was 86.9. The true freshman completed nine of 18 passes for 78 yards.

• Tim Tebow completed 11 of 15 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns. That figures out to a passer rating of 204.8.

• The Gators rushed for 214 yards. The UK defense has allowed 450 yards rushing in its last two games.

Continue reading ‘UK-Florida post-game’

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.

Make it back-to-back days that UK football coach Rich Brooks has not been in the best of moods. Though hardly awful, Brooks wasn’t sun-and-games during his Monday press luncheon. He followed that up with a near terse press briefing after today’s practice. That can only mean one of two things, or both. Like most Americans, Brooks isn’t happy watching his financial portfolio take a swan drive. Or there’s a big game Saturday. The second is definitely true.

If you’re interested, here’s the audio following Tuesday’s practice:

• Brooks talks about practice, injuries, and Derrick Locke’s complaint about the running game. Spoiler alert concerning third topic: He’s not pleased. It’s short and not particularly sweet. (3:31)

• Defensive coordinator Steve Brown talks about his team’s pass rush and the challenge of facing South Carolina. (4:05)
  

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: