While the final score reads 38-23, 21 of SC's points came from turnovers -- two directly and one from a late UK non-4th down conversion. A hat-tip goes out to SC's defense, who played a big part in UK's 5 cough-ups, including South Carolina's first score of the game.
During the play, Woodson fumbled while being sacked. SC's Eric Norwood recovered and took it in for the TD, one of two fumble returns Norwood returned for six.
While the Gamecocks deserve credit for covering UK's down-field attack, Woodson and Burton seemed out of sync on passes beyond the dink-and-dunk variety. The two missed a number of times on deeper passes that Burton normally makes plays on. Same for Woodson who overthrew Burton once one a WIDE open play and another under throw that resulted in a Woodson interception... in the red zone, no less.
On the other hand, the defense did the best it could do. In fact, UK's defense initiated a number of 3-and-outs in the 1st and 2nd half... alas, the offense couldn't respond. In defeat, UK is now 0-15 against Coach Steve Spurrier. Awesome. Time to enter "maybe next year" mode.
A game-ball goes out the Raphael Little, who had 135 yards on 25 carries. Little also corralled 3 passes for 23 yards and was the KEY component to any of UK's positive drives.
I'll be back tomorrow with a longer write-up. Until then, GBB!!!
Normally, I would do an in-depth write-up about the Cats/Cocks game but I'm under a few time constraints right now. There are a couple of really good ones out there already, including an interesting look at SC's highly-ranked pass defense.
My condensed thoughts: this will be as tough a game UK has played all year, obviously. If you've been paying attention here, you already know Spurrier's record against UK (undefeated) and if you've read some of the previous comments, you'd think UK has no business traveling to Columbia...
Anyway, I think UK's offense will do well against SC, however, I'm concerned about the defense. The Cocks are coming out of their shell offensively (these things just kinda write themselves, don't they?) and if Wesley Woodyard and company don't show up, Woodson and "The Stable" may not have much of a say.
Game time is 7:30 EST and I'll be here taking a shot at live-blogging my first Cat game of any kind. Feel free to drop by and join me... I'll be here around 7:00 to get things started correctly.
My prediction:
UK - 45 Cocks - 42
(it's worked the last two times I used it so no need to stop now)...
Until tonight, GBB!!!
BTW, Every Day Should Be Saturday (the best college football blog in the world) is in love w/Woodson, an idea I can get behind... Here's a pic of a UK Dance Team member to tide you over until gametime... Enjoy.
"We have a lot of heart. We know what we came from, and we don't want to go back to those days."
-Steve Johnson
Those words, spoken Saturday after a grueling road win against the Arkansas Razorbacks, sum up the feelings of UK fans when it comes to UK Football. We all know what it's like to be a perennial underachiever and we, like Johnson, don't want to return. And while there's no guarantee this won't happen, I, for one, am going to enjoy it while it lasts.
They say act like you've been there before when it comes to celebrating sports. Well guess what? We haven't (not many of us anyway). Because of that, I really don't know how to act right now. So in the mean time, I'd like to apologize to anybody that's upset by the UK fanbase and our current level of glee.
Final Thoughts From the game-saving roughing the kicker call to the arrival of Derrick Locke, there were a number of things that stayed with me after the victory elation began to die down. For instance, Woodson's second touchdown pass to Burton was one of poise and guile. Dre's hard cadence made the Razorbacks jump and instead of taking a knee for the guaranteed five yards, Woodson lofted a beautiful pass between two defenders into the waiting arms of Burton (Early who?).
Of course, the play of Burton is another thing that stood out. After getting shut-out in the first half, Keenan came on in big in the second stanza with two TD catches and another end zone grab that successfully completed a two-point conversion. Big game, Keenan. Big game.
As I mentioned yesterday, UK's defense deserves all the accolades they get after Saturday's second-half performance. After being gassed for most of the second quarter, the Wildcat D came out after the break and gave every bit as good as they got. It's things like this that make UK fans want to believe a corner has been turned.
Play call of the night: after Arkansas turned the ball over on downs, still trailing by six points, the UK offense came out and looked like they were going to try to run the clock out on the ground. However, a play-action pass to Jacob Tamme, who was tackled at the 2-yard line, eliminated any hope for a Razorback miracle.
Play calling like that is key to successful programs. When you have a team down, bury them... and that's just what UK did with Woodson's pass to Tamme. Kudos to Joker Phillips and the rest of the UK offensive staff. Nicely done.
Of course, now the target on UK gets bigger. Because of Saturday's eye-opener, UK is now ranked 14th in the country, the highest they've been since 1977.
Welcome to the other side of the coin, Cats. Let's see how you respond.
Up next for the Cats is the Howard Schnellenberger-led Florida Atlantic Owls. In case you didn't know, Schnellenberger played for UK and coached UofL. He's also a member of the UK Ring of Honor. His return to the Commonwealth should be a celebration, at least until the game starts.
After that, a Thursday night meeting with the Ole' Ball Coach and his South Carolina Gamecocks. Spurrier has NEVER lost to UK. Now would be a good time to change that.
