From the area of humorously-attempted headlines, an affliction most UK-related writers are suffering from this morning, the University of Kentucky Football team finds itself ranked in the top-10 of the college football poles, a certain sign the coming apocalypse is upon us.
Well, I for one, welcome our new apocalyptic overlords.
After an incredible weekend of college football upsets, the top of the college polls found themselves in need of a shaking up and boy, that's just what they got. Observe:
Current Top 10 (AP):
1. LSU (33) 5-0 2. USC (32) 4-0 3. California 5-0 4. Ohio State 5-0 5. Wisconsin 5-0 6. South Florida 4-0 7. Boston College 5-0 8. Kentucky 5-0 9. Florida 4-1 10. Oklahoma 4-1
Last Week's Top 10 (AP):
1. USC (43) 3-0 2. LSU (22) 4-0 3. Oklahoma 4-0 4. Florida 4-0 5. West Virginia 4-0 6. California 4-0 7. Texas 4-0 8. Ohio State 4-0 9. Wisconsin 4-0 10. Rutgers 3-0
As you can see, there was a lot of turnover as Oklahoma, Florida and Texas were upset. Joining the upset wagon was the Big East conference, who saw both West Virginia and Rutgers get beat, dropping them out of the top-10 as well. Chop that Wood and Ignite that Couch, indeed... all the way OUT of the top-10.
For UK, their 8th ranking marks the first time they have cracked the top-10 since - wait for it - 1977. Of course, their stay in the top of the college football polls maybe as short-lived as our Scarlet Knight friends. UK plays at 11th-ranked South Carolina on Thursday against a coach that's never lost to the Cats... If Spurrier continues his winning ways, the Cats top-10 debut will disappear faster than an American Idol winner's music career.
Sorry for the lack of Cat posts this week -- duties at work prevented some day post (something they want me to do when I have time)... although, judging by the amount of responses to the Hope Solo post, maybe I should switch to covering women's soccer. ;)
Anyway, the Cats rolled over the Howard Schnellenberger-led Florida Atlantic Owls by the score of 45-17. Leading the way for the Cats was Heisman hopeful, André Woodson, who was
26-33 for 303 yard and 5 touchdowns, a career high. Alas, as awesome as Dré was, his streak of pass attempts without an interception ended in the second half when he threw an errant pass that was corralled in by Tavious Polo.
FWIW, Polo -- a freshman -- leads the nation with seven interceptions, meaning it takes the best to beat the best. Dré's streak ends with 325 attempts without an interception, obliterating the old record of 271, which was held by Trent Dilfer.
Also, it's kind of satisfying on the day his no-interception streak ends, he passes for his career high in touchdowns. That's a give-and-take I don't mind witnessing. Not only was Dré spectacular, his pass distribution was as well. Four of his five TDs went to four different receivers, further demonstrating just how potent the UK offense has become.
Not to be forgotten in all the André Woodson hype is the workman effort by running back Rafael Little. Little carried the ball 20 times for 117 yards. He continues to pace the Cats and SEC while making sure opposing defenses can't dial in on the passing attack.
Balance is good.
Keenan Burton Watch Number 19 was his normally-spectacular self, delivering 6 carries for 100 yards and a sick 34-yard touchdown catch. If you read this blog, you are well aware of my affection for Burton. I will unabashedly call him the best receiver in the SEC and performances like this -- fresh of his dominant second half against Arkansas -- make my argument for me. He's not just another horse in a stable of thoroughbreds, he's the leader of said stable.
More on this subject later this week. Meanwhile, enjoy the pics from his awesome touchdown:
Other thoughts For some reason, the defense was getting an amount of criticism I didn't expect. They held the Owls to seven second-half points, and those came in the fourth quarter after a long kick-off return. Personally, I don't think they played all that badly against a team that put 42 on Minnesota, twelve more than the "almighty" Ohio State...
Kudos to sophomore linebacker Micah Johnson. He led the Cats with nine tackles and an interception that was returned for UK's final touchdown. Nicely done, Micah. BTW, don't sleep on the UK linebacking corps. Led by Wesley Woodyard, they've identified themselves as a legitimate force in the SEC.
Oh yeah, in light of all the upsets today, many of the pundits are saying UK is a top-5 team. On a national scale. The first to make this declaration was ESPN's Mark May... I'm kinda speechless. More on this tomorrow.
Oh yeah, the Lones Seiber kicking experience continued its herky-jerky ride today. While UK's placekicker looks like he's FINALLY over his extra-point woes, his field goal kicking is suspect. He missed BADLY on a 42-yarder to end the first half, but looked pretty competent on a 33-yarder in the second half. I'm just waiting for the day a game comes down to the feet of Seiber. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep my sanity...
Up next for the Cats: a Thursday night showdown with Steve Spurrier and the South Carolina Gamecocks. ESPN will be hosting the festivities. Coach Superior has never lost to Kentucky. Now would be a great time to end that little streak. Kick-off is 7:30 pm and I'll probably be live-blogging it here at Fox Sports... Stay tuned.
"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.
Being a UK Football fan, has never been an easy path to travel.
There are so many examples to cite here, I could write a month worth of
posts dissecting the different levels of disappointment. However, is
the light at the end of the tunnel actually -- finally -- getting
nearer?
If last night was any indication, the answer is really
starting to look like a resounding yes. Last night, in front of a
74,000-plus energetic fans -- not to mention a team that had some
weapons previous UK teams have struggled with -- the University of
Kentucky football team went into Fayetteville, Arkansas and beat a team
many thought they wouldn't.
Proving the Colin Cowherds and Kirk
Herbstreits of the world wrong, UK took control of the game in the 4th
quarter, scoring 21 points while limiting the Razorbacks to a big, fat
zero. There were so many things that stood out to me during the game
last night, I'm not sure where to start... How about with UK's
much-maligned defense?
After letting the ridiculous duo of Felix
Jones and Darren McFadden RUN ALL OVER THEM IN THE FIRST HALF and
needing a Trevard Lindley fumble recovery touchdown away from being
potentially out of the game, UK came out in the second half and held
the Razorbacks scoreless -- save an 11-second (actual clock time)
9-point Hog explosion that could've buried the Cats.
Truthfully, Arkansas' second-half scores had nothing to do with the UK defense, so they did, in fact shut them out.
The
second half accolades don't stop there either. In the first half, both
McFadden and Jones surpassed the 100-yard rushing mark. Both players
finished the game 173 and 133, respectively. While they did give up a
lot in cumulative yards, their performance, especially in the half that
mattered elicited this response from McFadden:
"They were very physical... one of the most physical teams in
the SEC."
Leading
the way on this stalwart-like performance was, of course, Wesley
Woodyard, who had 17 tackles and a forced fumble. However, the defense
is not all Woodyard and not by a long shot. Lindley is a legit SEC
cornerback and his play at the end of the first half was huge.
Linebacker Johnny Williams and end Jeremy Jarmon had huge games as well.
Helping
the defensive cause was Arkansas quarterback Casey ####. For as good as
Jones and McFadden were, #### was as bad. If the Razorbacks had a
competent quarterback to go with their unfair backfield, they'd be
right in the middle of the LSU/USC/Florida talk as well... Sorry Hog
fans.
Woodson Breaks Record Andre' Woodson broke Trent Dilfer's D1 record of attempted passes without an interception in the second quarter last night. Woodson has now attempted 296 passes without being picked. The previous record was 271.
Woodson's play in the fourth quarter also helped lead the 21-point charge with a touchdown pass to Keenan Burton and rushing for another on a quarterback sneak. His numbers: 21-39 for 265 yards and 2 big touchdowns, both of which went to Burton.
Because of his play, Dre' has also found his name mentioned in the early Heisman conversation. For a good read on that very subject, check this post out.
Can I get a Derrick Locke?
In case you haven't heard of him, Derrick Locke is a true freshman running back who was forced into action in the fourth quarter when the first three-string running backs, Rafael Little, Tony Dixon, and Alfonso Smith, suffered various injuries. How did the freshman speedster respond? By rushing nine times for 48 HUGE yards and the other fourth quarter touchdown. Not only that, but on three of his first five or six runs, Locke took hits from the Arkansas defense that were worthy of being on "Jacked Up."
After these hits, Locke just got up and returned to the huddle. No jawing, no demonstrative return of the ball to referee or anything resembling that behavior. No, Locke just took the next hand-off and produced positive yards with his play.
The emergence of Locke tells me a couple of things: we are fine at running back and it's going to be fun to watch him and Smith grow and compete for carries. Figuring out who is going to be starting is going to be a great problem to have...
Keenan Burton watch After a zero receptions in the first half, Number 19 came out in the second half and almost immediately made his presence known by capping off a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown. The fun didn't stop there. In the fourth quarter, trailing 27-28, Woodson found Burton with a sweet toss between two defensive backs for a 32-yard go-ahead touchdown on a free play from an Arkansas offsides.
The penalty was declined.
With his two touchdown catches, Burton moved into second place in the all-time UK record books with 20. He trails leader Craig Yeast by 8.
OK, it's getting late and I'm going to stop here. I'll be back tomorrow with some closing thoughts and hopefully some pics or vids from the game. Thanks a million for all the comments in my last post. It was a great night to celebrate. ;)
Thanks to 21 4th-quarter points, the University of Kentucky continued its feel-good ride by defeating the Arkansas Razorbacks in a TOUGH road game by the score of 42-29...
The majority of UK's 2nd-half damage was provided by Keenan Burton, who had 4 HUGE catches in the second half -- 2 that went for touchdowns and another that went for a 2-point conversion. Aiding UK's cause was Arkansas quarterback Casey #### who was 13-28 for 158 meaningless yards and 2 interceptions.
Much like last week, I'll be back tomorrow with a full write-up and all the pics you want to see. Before I go, I do wanna give a shout-out to my boss, Aaron Chronister, who is a big Arkansas fan:
Apparently, a 57-yard, game-winning touchdown catches can single-handedly destroy what most considered a promising football program...
Final score of the Louisville Cardinal/Syracuse Orange football game, which took place in The Ville:
Syracuse - 38 Louisville - 35
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is the same 'Cuse team that was 0-3 and was having trouble scoring the ball. Not today. Apparently, the Cardinal hangover was quite severe. Here's a little reminder of what tore the Cardinal Football Nation asunder:
Considering UK has to match-up with Arkansas in a couple of hours, I probably shouldn't be running my mouth... but it's too much fun. ;)
For his sterling performance against UofL Saturday, Dré also received the Sporting News College Player of the Week award to go with his SEC Player of the Week award. To quote the Guinness guy's, "BRILLIANT!!!!!"
Next up for the Cats - an angry Darren McFadden and the rest of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. Get your game face on.
Until later, GBB!!!
PS: Why the hell does Fox Sports have UK listed as the Lexington Wildcats? Is University of Kentucky Wildcats or just Kentucky Wildcats that hard to program into a Web 2.0 drop-down list?
While my campaign for Steve Johnson may have failed, the person responsible for delivering him the ball was acknowledged and that's alright.
Continuing to reap the rewards of UK's historic victory over the Cardinals of Louisville, quarterback Andre Woodson is this week's SEC Player of the Week based on his awesome performance Saturday. Woodson threw for 275 and 4 touchdowns, none bigger than the 57-yard, game-winning toss he completed to Johnson with under a minute remaining in the game.
Not only did Dre's performance garner the SEC award, he also broke the SEC record for attempted passes without an interception with 257. The previous record was held by Georgia's David Green with 214 attempts, meaning not only did Andre surpass the mark, he absolutely shattered it... and he still has some passes yet to be thrown.
Congratulations Andre on your fantastic performance and the acknowledgment from the SEC. You certainly deserve it.
For the first time in 30 years, UK beat a top-10 ranked team by dispatching their arch-rival, the University of Louisville Cardinal, 40-34.
I'll be back tomorrow with a full write-up. Tonight, I'm going to go get #### drunk. FYI, when the victory was decided after Brohm's pass, I felt like I had an orgasm.
In a world of pampered athletes, professional and otherwise, apparently there is a specific group of college players that don't get the same treatment as say, University of Alabama players do. Maybe this post is motivated by envy, but in the last couple of weeks there have been some interesting decisions made by Lexington police concerning UK athletes.
Rewind back to the Steve Johnson arrest I wrote about from a few days ago, Johnson was pulled over in Lexington and when the police came to his car, they discovered he was driving without his license or insurance. Johnson was also driving on expired tags and wasn't wearing a seatbelt. During the incident, Johnson also had a resisting arrest charge tacked on.
Now, before we get into this, first let me say Johnson's traffic stop was legitimate. Driving while committing the above offenses is in no way smart, but did Johnson have a "reasonable excuse" (you know, the type of stories that turn traffic tickets into warnings) for driving with all of these (minor) offenses? Well, according to Johnson and his coach, he did.
A couple of days before the stop, teammate David Jones had emergency surgery for a burst appendix. Apparently, Johnson was pulled over while driving to visit Jones and didn't respond well to the Lexington police. What was most surprising at the time was Coach Brooks, a noted disciplinarian, did not suspend Johnson, not even for the Eastern game.
In fact, just the opposite happened: Brooks defended Johnson and in doing so, questioned the way the police handled the matter (indirectly):
"It's interesting a young man would resist arrest on the way to see a
teammate when he's got his parents coming to town to see him play in a
game. So we'll just have to see how it all plays out."
Apparently, Coach Brooks thinks the Lexington police are at fault.
But wait, there's more.
Last Friday, UK basketball guard Ramel Bradley was also pulled over and when you read the events of what happened, to some people it sounds like he got pulled over for "fitting a description" or DWB (driving while black).
"Smoove" was pulled over for fitting a description alright. His vehicle fit a description o####etaway vehicle used in some kind of robbery. Subsequently, the car was searched and when nothing was found, Bradley was allowed to go about his business. This whole incident sounds like standard procedure, but once again, when UK players are involved, many fans want the police to either turn a blind eye or handle it internally by telling the coach who then administers the punishment.
And yes, as a UK fan, the idea of police protecting the players we support in the sense that they keep trouble under wraps -- or at least out of the news -- is an attractive one. However, in today's era of fan forums/sports blogosphere/ESPN, the idea becomes wishful thinking... unless you are in Tuscaloosa.
So no, UK fans, UK players are not victims of their own star power.
Steve Johnson SHOULD HAVE been driving with the necessary paperwork (and he should've had his seatbelt buckled because it is a stoppable offense in Lexington) and Ramel Bradley was NOT just pulled over because he was a Black man driving a nice car. His car fit a description of one used in a robbery. Wouldn't you want police to search a car if it really looked like one used to rob your home, no matter who was driving it?
After a sluggish first half, the University of Kentucky Wildcats used a 42-point second half to dispatch a pesky Kent State team, 56-20. The Cats' second half performance was a sharp as the first half was uninspired. The UK defense began the game like they were hungover, while the offense, after scoring 14-first quarter points, looked like garbage in quarter number two.
These performances, combined with a 14-14 tie, prompted Coach Rich Brooks to rip his team during the half-time break. Apparently, both parties were listening.
The defense, which gave up 200-plus first half rushing yards, came out in the second half and started playing like a D1 team defense should, giving up only 6 points and a little over 100 yards on the ground. Senior linebacker Wesley Woodyard led the Cat defense with 15 tackles, including a crushing pass break-up.
The UK offense got in on the second half improvement project as well by putting 42 points on the board, including a 51-yard strike to one Keenan Burton (not a bad way to celebrate a newly-arrived Keenan Burton jersey if I say so myself). The Wildcat scoring attack was primarily provided by the ground game, which punched in an eye-opening six touchdowns.
The UK running attack again proved to be a potent balance to the Andre Woodson/Keenan Burton aerial attack. Leading the way on the ground was Rafael Little with 102 yard on 13 carries. UK also got a pleasant surprise from fullback John Connor, who had two carries for 21 yard and two touchdowns -- his first as a Wildcat.
Preseason AA Andre Woodson had a pedestrian game, going 15-22 for 215 yards and two touchdowns, one to Burton and one to Steve Johnson. Conversely, Dre was sacked four times and a couple of those were caused by him standing in the pocket too long. In brighter news, all of those sacks took place in the first half.
Kent State's successful first half could have been even more damaging to the Cats if they hadn't turned the ball over three times. The Golden Flashes only punted one time before the halftime break. Most troubling about UK's defensive performance was a great deal of Kent State's success came when their quarterback Julian Edleman broke containment and scrambled for big yards, meaning UK still can't stop running quarterbacks.
This must be addressed if we want to do anything successful against Tim Tebow and the Florida Gators... an idea that looks less and less likely.
Keenan Burton Watch Keenan had a great game, catching the ball seven times for 109 yards and the aforementioned 51-yard touchdown strike. Burton's performance allowed him to continue his assault on the UK receiving record book:
moved into fourth place on the UK career receiving list, passing Derek Homer with 129 receptions.
tied Derek Abney for second place on the UK career pass receptions touchdowns list with 18 TD catches.
passed Quentin McCord for third place on the UK career receiving yardage list with 1744.
Other Notes Rafael Little passed the 2000 yard rushing/1000 yard receiving mark for UK, making him only the fourth person in SEC history to complete this accomplishment.
After struggling last week, UK place kicker Lones Seiber made all of his extra-point attempts against Kent State, hopefully signifying the end of his XP struggles. One certainly hopes so.
Next up for the Cats: Brian Brohm and Number 8-ranked The University of Louisville Cardinals. This has the makings of an absolute shoot-out, especially when you consider just how well each team's defense performed this weekend. I think it's safe to say UK's offense is better than Middle Tennessee State's and UofL's offense is better than Kent State's.
The UK running attack again proved to be a potent balance to the Andre Woodson/Keenan Burton aerial attack. Leading the way on the ground was Rafael Little with 102 yard on 13 carries. UK also got a pleasant surprise from fullback John Connor, who had two carries for 21 yard and two touchdowns -- his first as a Wildcat.
