UK Football Recap 2009 (7-6)

Written by Ian | 29 December 2009

Kentucky football fans missed the magical four-peat on Sunday night.  The Wildcats fell to the Clemson Tigers 21-13 in a tough, if somewhat uninteresting, bowl game in Nashville.  It was a tough loss for Cats fans, as they have gotten used to winning mid-tier bowl games by close scores.  No matter how many fans argue play calls and decisions by the coaching staff, in the end the Blue and White just didn't have as much talent on the field as the Tigers.

UK can't feel too bad about their season even after the bowl loss.  They just finished with a winning record for the fourth consecutive season. Kentucky hasn't done that since their run from 1946-1956.  If you are a UK fan, let that soak in.  Your football team hasn't had this level of sustained success in more than 60 years.  You're living in good times.

With that said, we'll take a look back and see how the season unfolded.

Miami (OH) 42- 0 Win (Neutral Site)
The season started with a shut out of undermanned Miami (OH).  The 42 points made Cats fans think the offense was much improved.  The defense looked stout, and fans were looking forward to a big season and a potential fourth bowl berth.

Louisville 31-27 Win (Home)
In a messy game for the Wildcats, they needed some late game heroics from Randall Cobb to pull out the victory.  The Cats turned it over early and often.  A late first half drive stalled out due to poor clock management and it looked like UK's brother from up I-64 was going to sneak out a victory to help their embattled coach out.  The second half supplied some fireworks and UK hung on to a narrow victory against their (now) primary rival.

Florida 41-7 L (Home)
Not much to say about the Florida game except that UK looked like Miami (OH) in their season opener.  Florida blitzed out to a quick lead and Urban put the play book in his pocket for the last three quarters when it was never really a game.

Alabama 38-20 L (Home)
Kentucky played Alabama competitively for the second year in a row, but the team that would go on to play for the National Championship in January was too much for the Cats.  A good showing here gave Cats fans hope a week after getting trounced by the Gators.

South Carolina 28-26 L (Away)
The Cats went into South Carolina for a game that changed the season.  UK was playing a very good game when starting quarterback Mike Hartline went down with an injury.  Backup Will Fidler came in and looked very poor, but UK's running game kept them in the game throughout.  The defense had no answer for the one on one battles with the wide receivers out in space with Lindley sidelined.  When the dust settled, the Old Ball Coach had hung on again against Kentucky.  The fans were crying that the season was over at this point, but little did they know it had just begun.

Auburn 21-14 W (Away)
Everyone wondered how UK would generate offense after losing their starting QB.  They answered that question by going to the ground the entire game against Auburn.  The Wildcat (WildCobb) formation came out and UK won a tough game on the road against an SEC West opponent.  This was the second turning point in the season as the entire Blue Nation was feeling confident about their team again after this one.

Louisiana-Monroe 36-13 W (Home)
Freshman Morgan Newton had a pretty good game against ULM and UK's ground game pounded out the game again.  This was the response the fan base wanted to see after the big win at Auburn.

Mississippi State 31-24 L (Home)
In another one of the "if only we'd won" games, Kentucky had no answer for MSU running back Anthony Dixon.  Rushing for over 200 yards, Dixon dominated UK's defense at Commonwealth Stadium.  Cats fans were disgusted by getting a dose of their own medicine as they watched Dixon run around and through their defense time after time.  After 8 games Kentucky sat at 4-4 needing to find two more games to be bowl eligible.

Eastern Kentucky 37-12 W (Home)
This game was similar to the ULM game as Kentucky overwhelmed another inferior opponent.  Kentucky rebounded from the tough MSU loss to improve to 5-4 on the season, just one win away from being bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive year.

Vanderbilt 24-13 W (Away)
Kentucky avenged the debacle of 2008 down in Nashville.  The defense showed up and the offense put up just enough points to push the Cats into bowl eligibility.

Georgia 34-27 W (Away)
In another statement game for this year's team, Kentucky went between the hedges and came away with another touchdown win on the road.  Georgia's defense looked porous as they had all year and the defense kept the passing game in check just long enough to pull out another tough SEC road victory.

Tennessee 30-24 (OT) (Home)
In their first battle against Lance Kiffin, Kentucky saw the story proceed the same as the last 25 years.  The entire APIAS crew was on site for tailgating and most of us were in the stadium for the let down (or glory for Grubby and 2SL).  Kentucky took an early lead with a pick six, but UT outplayed them throughout.  There probably wasn't a fan in the stadium wearing blue and white that thought the team had a chance when overtime started.

Clemson 21-13 L (Music City Bowl)
Kentucky couldn't harness the Nashville magic for the third time in four years and ended up losing to a talented Clemson team.  UK had no answer for Spiller or any other back that got the ball in the back field.  The offense was stagnant as screen passes and curls were snuffed out time after time and Derrick Locke looked as if he were scared of contact throughout.  Kentucky's lack of a downfield passing game was glaringly obvious and Clemson had a great game plan to slow the running game.

Kentucky finishes the 2009 football season 7-6, right at what most people would have guessed at the beginning of the year.  They played seven games to within a touchdown (assumed 8 points in this case) and their record in those games was 3-4.  The losses to South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Tennessee hurt because finding a way to win those games would have given Kentucky a magical 10-2 regular season.  On the other hand, beating Louisville, Auburn, and Georgia by a combined 18 points was the difference in a 7-5 regular season and a disappointing 4-8.  If you're a Kentucky fan, 7-5 doesn't hurt so badly, and the loss in the bowl game, while depressing, is not the end of the world.