Wall & Bledsoe fastest guards at UK yet…And will Cats get to the Chick-fil-A Bowl?

Eric Bledsoe broke a 20-year old school record for most points by a freshman in his UK basketball debut when he put up 24 in the victory over Morehead State last Friday.  And it could get broken tonight.

That’s because John Wall will make his first appearance in an official UK game when the Cats face the Miami Redhawks.

Coach Charlie Coles’ club lost its opener at Towson last week but his teams have the reputation of always being good defensively, so chances are, they’ll try to make somebody other than Wall beat them and that could depress his point production just a bit.

Kentucky has some exceptionally fast players–Dwight “The Blur” Anderson and Dicky Beal come to mind–but I don’t think the Cats have ever fielded a pair of guards that are as fast as Wall and Bledsoe.

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When Kentucky lost to Mississippi State, it looked like the Cats’ hopes of playing in a bigger bowl were gone.  Not so fast my friend, as Lee Corso likes to say.

If they win out, I think they’ll be in the Outback Bowl.  Beating either Georgia or Tennessee may well get them to Atlanta for the Chick-fil-A Bowl (formerly Peach Bowl).

To win at Georgia, I think it’s going to take a breakout game from freshman QB Morgan Newton.  He’s improving by leaps and bounds each week and I suspect Georgia will stack the box and dare UK to throw it this Saturday night.  With Chris Matthews and LaRod King coming on strong, Kentucky finally has some playmakers on the outside and this could be the game when they finally get cut loose.

I’m sure UK will try to see how far it’s running game can take it because that part of the offense has worked so well this season, but they’ll have to make some plays in the passing game to get this win.

On defense, it’s important that UK force a couple of turnovers (or more).  Georgia has been turnover-prone this season and their offense may be too good for UK to score with if the Dogs play error-free.

For more of Tom’s Big Blue coverage, go to:  http://tomleachky.com/

-Tom Leach

Can the Wildcats get a bowl game after playing Vandy? John Wall and NCAA penalty.

There’s plenty of hype that accompanies the top high school basketball stars when they come into the college game and it’s not always justified.  With Kentucky’s John Wall, he definitely appears to be as good as advertised.

He’s one of the fastest players ever to wear the blue-and-white and yet he plays the game with an ease that belies that speed.

Unfortunately, an NCAA-imposed penalty will keep him on the sidelines for Friday’s official opener of the John Calipari era and with the Eagles returning four of five starters from a team that made it to March Madness last spring, it’ll be interesting to see how the Cats perform.  Coaches use exhibition to do some experimenting and tinkering but now it’s all about winning and you’ll see what coach Cal believes the strengths of his team are at this time.

It’s a big weekend for UK sports as the basketball opener is followed by a football road game at Vanderbilt the following day and it’s a must-win for the Cats. 

Saturday’s 37-12 win over Eastern Kentucky was a taking-care-of-business deal with the team doing pretty much only what it had to do to get the job done.  They’ll need to step it up in Nashville and they most certainly will–the question, however, is will that be enough?

In 1998, Kentucky got to the Outback Bowl with only seven wins.  It’s possible that could happen again although not likely.  What is likely is that seven wins could get the Cats into the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, because of the parity in the middle of the SEC (it’s conceivable that seven teams could finish either 6-6 or 7-5). 

It’s hard to imagine Kentucky getting to seven wins without beating Vanderbilt and while fans can enjoy the bowl speculation, the Cats can’t afford to get caught up in that speculation game because that may have played a role in their setback against Mississippi State.  Vandy’s season is lost at 2-8 but the Commodores continue to play hard.

Quarterback play is probably the biggest key for the Cats.  Minimize turnovers and I think the Cats get the win.

For more of Tom’s Big Blue coverage, go to: http://tomleachky.com/

-Tom Leach

After the lose to Mississippi State, UK’s season is still far from over

There’s no way to spin anything good out of Kentucky’s performance in a 31-24 loss to Mississippi State.  It was the season’s biggest game and the Cats did not answer the call.  But the good news for them is that it happened with four games remaining.

The first thing these players need to do is quit thinking about the big picture and season goals.  They need to focus on the now and making sure they get themselves ready to play each game as it comes up.  It’s quite possible the Wildcats got caught up in all the talk about winning five in a row and getting that bigger and better bowl game and forgot to pay close enough attention to the business at hand.

Fans, however, can think big picture.  And everybody who jumped on the bandwagon after the Auburn game is now saying the Cats will be lucky to finish 6-6.

They could be right but it’s not too late for this team to get where it wants.

Kentucky will beat Eastern Kentucky and if they can win at Vandy and achieve bowl eligibility, a lot of pressure will be alleviated for games against two teams the Cats will have a chance to beat.

After Kentucky lost to Alabama, I was convinced every game but ULM and EKU would be decided in the fourth quarter.  So far, that has happened in the first three games and I still believe that’s where the other three will be decided.  Beating Vandy and either Georgia or Tennessee would give the Cats seven wins.

This year’s SEC is somewhat like the Big Ten of the 70’s–the big two at the top (Ohio State, Michigan) and one team at the bottom (Northwestern) and everybody else relatively even.  LSU is a little better than the rest of the pack but I don’t think there’s a whole lot of difference between the rest on their best days.

The opportunity was there for this season to be a lot more.  But as Bill Parcells is fond of saying, “you are what your record says.”  Without its veteran starting quarterback and with injuries to several key players, Kentucky is going to win a game or two it shouldn’t and lose a game or two it shouldn’t.  That’s reality and so is the fact that this season is far from over.

For more of Tom’s Big Blue coverage, go to: http://tomleachky.com/

-Tom Leach

Is a bigger Bowl game likely for the CATS?

For the Kentucky football team to achieve its goal of playing in a bigger bowl this season, getting eight wins is the most likely place to set the bar.  And getting to that number looks a lot harder if the Cats don’t beat Mississippi State this Saturday night.

On paper, most of the stats favor the Bulldogs, for one–turnovers.  MSU has given the ball away 21 times to Kentucky’s 12.  Winning the turnover battle is job one for the Cats this week.

Big Blue fans should not lose any sleep over a so-so performance against Louisiana-Monroe.  The mission was seize control of the game early and minimize the pounding on Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke and it was accomplished.

Some level of a letdown was inevitable after four huge SEC games but Kentucky was focused enough early to grab a 21-0 lead.  Yes, they put it on cruise control at that point but it turned out to have no impact on the outcome.

In walking to the postgame interview session, Cobb had a bounce in his step that was not visible the previous two weeks when he had to shoulder a large burden on offense.  Now he’s fresh and that’s important because he is the key to Kentucky’s offense for now.  And Locke getting through the night without taking much of a beating means he can be at his best for the MSU game.

The concerns include the injury to Micah Johnson and the possibility that Trevard Lindley’s return will be postponed by another week.

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John Wall’s eligibility remains topic number one in the Big Blue nation these days, but sorry, I don’t have any illumination for you.

The latest of many things I’ve read comes from Fox Sports columnist Jeff Goodman, who says his sources are saying it will all be cleared up before Kentucky’s November 13 opener against Morehead.  Hopefully, he’s right.

For more of Tom’s Big Blue coverage, go to: http://tomleachky.com/

-Tom Leach

Brooks changes the negative mindset of UK Football by beating Auburn

You’ve lost three games in a row.  Your starting quarterback injured.  Your All-America cornerback sidelined.  Opponent has a record of 5-1.  Your team hasn’t won there since 1961.  It’s cold, damp and 80,000-plus are cheering against you.  And then at the end of your first drive, a field goal is blocked and taken back for a touchdown.

How many teams would have thrown in the towel under that set of circumstances?

For the Kentucky Wildcats to score two 4th quarter touchdowns and pull out a 21-14 win at Auburn, while holding one of the country’s top-rated offenses almost 200 yards and 17 points below its averages, tells you a lot about how Rich Brooks has changed the negative mindset around the UK football program.

The Big Blue bandwagon is full again, with fans dreaming of finishing the season with a seven-game winning streak.  While it’s certainly true that the schedule that looked so brutal back in August now seems to be breaking in  Kentucky’s favor, the worst thing that this team could do right now is get to feeling too good about itself.  If they manage to avoid that trap, the chances of achieving their goal of playing in a bigger and better bowl game is certainly within their reach.

But there is danger ahead.  Louisiana-Monroe, as well as the next opponent (Mississippi State) are capable of putting up lots of points.  And the Kentucky offense is still very much a work in progress. 

Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke are as tough as any football players anywhere, but they are also small and they’re having to carry a huge load right now.  The Cats must find a way to increase their production in the passing game or teams will just stack the box and dare them to run it. 

I’m confident Chris Matthews will emerge as a big playmaker for Kentucky but the variable is time.  His team needs it to happen sooner rather than later.

For more of Tom’s Big Blue coverage, go to: http://tomleachky.com/

-Tom Leach

Weighing the options now that Hartline is out…

“A state of uncertainty, perplexing situation, a dilemma.”

That’s the definition of “quandary” and Rich Brooks is definitely facing a quarterback quandary in the wake of an injury to starter Mike Hartline.

It’s ironic that losing Hartline looms so large when so many fans were calling for a change at the QB position.  With Hartline playing his best game as a Wildcat in the first half at South Carolina, and with Kentucky’s new found success at running the football, the Kentucky offense had come alive.  The 17 points UK scored in the first half matched the average South Carolina’s defense had been giving up per game. 

Now, which direction does Rich Brooks go?

Moving Cobb to quarterback full-time is the option favored by those who say that plan puts the ball in the hands of your best player most often.  While that’s true, it also requires a total change of philosophy from the course the staff had set for the offense.  Plus, the Cobb-to-QB move didn’t produce any dramatic improvement season.  There are two things I don’t like about this approach.  One is that it minimizes the role of John Conner, one of the team’s best players, when UK commits to what amounts to a full-time Wildcat formation.  Secondly, if you had seen Cobb after this game, you would have seen how beaten up he looked.  Tim Tebow is 6-foot-4, 230 pounds and it’s much easier for a player of that size to take the pounding a QB in that role takes against SEC defenses.

Another option for Brooks is using backup Will Fidler as the starting QB and making greater use of the Wildcat formation with Cobb.  My guess is this is the plan that will gain the favor of the coaches, but Fidler has to step it up from the performance he gave in relief last Saturday.  This is the chance Fidler didn’t know if he would ever get–now he gets a chance to make the job his own.

The third option is to go with true freshman Morgan Newton and Brooks has said Newton will get a lot more reps in practice this week, to show what he can do.  Newton wants to play so now is the time for him to show his coaches that he’s ready.

Unless Newton claims the job in this week’s practices, the best course of action is to give Fidler his shot and if he can’t move the team, then let Newton take a shot at it.

The good news is that Kentucky is facing an Auburn defense that has surrendered 400-plus yards in three of its last four games.  But one can’t help thinking how good it would feel for Kentucky fans to be going into that matchup with the offense we saw in the first half last Saturday.

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To follow up on last week’s item about ex-Cat QB Curtis Pulley, here are his numbers from Florida A&M’s 48-16 loss to 11th-ranked Miami:

10-25 passing with one interception for 144 yards

81 rushing yards on 17 carries and one touchdown

For more of Tom’s Big Blue coverage, go to: http://tomleachky.com/

-Tom Leach