What Did You Learn About Your Team In Week Three?

Written by Ian | 22 September 2009

After blanking Miami Ohio on a neutral field the University of Kentucky football Wildcats had two weeks to prepare for Louisville.  Maybe next time the Cats shouldn't take off two weeks. 

Kentucky came out and scored a field goal early in the game and then promptly gave up a quick touchdown.  They appeared to be on the verge of taking over the game in the first half after a 100 yard Locke kickoff return for touchdown and a good drive that culminated in John Conner plunging in from the two.

Then the wheels fell off.  Kentucky ran what Rich Brooks was quoted this week as saying "the worst two minute drill we've had since I've been (at Kentucky) and possibly the worst on any team I've coached."  The half ended when a time clock operator error (the HOME field clock operator) failed to start the clock on a short passing play.  The result was the referees running off the final 15 seconds of the half, keeping Kentucky from kicking a field goal at the buzzer.

That drive summed up a lot of things for Kentucky on the day.  Poor clock management and a lack of looking down the field are something UK cannot do against SEC teams or even decent out of conference opponents.  In addition, the final play of the half found Mike Hartline dumping a pass out five yards to an open receiver.  That receiver promptly was tackled in bounds.  Brooks said that Hartline was instructed to throw "into the end zone or into the stands" on that play.  Rich also said "something must have short circuited" for Hartline on that play.

If the end of the half debacle wasn't enough, Kentucky turned the ball over three consecutive drives in the third quarter (running four plays combined on those drives) and allowed Louisville to take a 20-17 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter.  In the past three years Kentucky has pulled off some major upsets (LSU anyone?) and played solid football against more talented teams by controlling the ball and winning the turnover battle.  The Wildcats lost the turnover battle against the Cards on Saturday 3-2 and narrowly escaped losing because of this.

The fourth quarter was all fireworks as the teams took turns scoring touchdowns.  Randall Cobb's touchdown catch with 4:28 shows what great athletes can do for your team late in the game.  Hartline did a good job of leading the offense in the fourth quarter, but again, the game was chip, chip, chip down the field with no attempts at going vertical.  This must be addressed if UK is going to compete with SEC talent, who will fly all over the field with their front 8 for the rest of the season.

There was much to learn on Saturday in Lexington.  First, the Cats are more talented than the Cards.  Turning the ball over three consecutive drives and rallying to win is the definitive example of that.  The problem is the Cards are not very talented to begin with.

Second, while UK's defense has some talent, their front four is beyond terrible in pass defense.  They never pressured Burke all day and when they did there was no direct pressure in his face.  Toward the end of the fourth quarter UK's DE's were so fixated on getting to the quarterback that they were turning 5 to 8 yards up field and losing the contain.  Burke was heady enough to step up and run on some of these plays and hurt UK.  If the ends continue to fire up field UK will have to start dropping a backer to spy the quarterback, even against team's with a non-mobile QB.

Finally, we again saw that Rich Brooks and his staff have imparted a winning attitude on the Cats over the last few years.  They're not the most talented team, and as Smooth will tell you they still play "mediocre" football, but they will continue to battle for 60 minutes and try to find ways to win.  This has been a large departure from past teams that seem to fold when the game wasn't going their way.

Overall, Kentucky's performance against Louisville wasn't too bad.  The turnovers will obviously be addressed this week and the defense didn't do too poorly considering they were on the field for nearly 15 minutes straight.  Hartline was efficient (the best word that can usually be used for his performances) going 20/27 for 178 yards with a touchdown and a pick.  Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke were both game breaking players.  Kentucky will need the later three things to continue and the first to be addressed to have a shot at sneaking out a win or two in their next four games.

Photo courtesy ESPN.