Tue Feb 09 2010
LEXINGTON – There’s no question that Rich Brooks has improved the athleticism at Kentucky in his near seven years at the helm of the Wildcats.
Brooks knew coming out of probation in his early, struggling days at UK that THAT is what had to happen for the Wildcats to achieve their goal of threatening the upper echelon teams in the Southeastern Conference.
So, again, mission accomplished for Brooks and his staff, to some degree.
But the reason the Wildcats still are not where Brooks and the fans want UK to be in football, and the reason, therefore, that Brooks’ teams have limped home down the stretch in the regular season (even in the past three bowl seasons) is this: There’s still not ENOUGH such athletes. As the season goes along and the injuries pile up, as they invariably do (especially in the SEC), the Wildcats appear to wear out both physically and mentally.
Even two years ago, when Andre Woodson and company were seniors and Kentucky had arguably Top 10 (on a national level) starting talent, the Wildcats did not play well late in the regular season.
And as a result, you have often seen games like Saturday night’s oh-so-deceptive 36-13 victory over a good Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks team at Commonwealth Stadium.
Kentucky improved to 4-3 overall with the victory.
This is, of course, just two wins shy of the minimum goal of six wins and bowl eligibility. A critical game comes up this Saturday at Commonwealth against Mississippi State (7 p.m. on Fox South), another team trying to gain ground in the SEC, much like Kentucky.
Saturday’s score was deceptive
Kentucky did not play nearly as well against Louisiana-Monroe as the score would indicate. The Wildcats did not move the ball consistently offensively, and defensively they allowed Warhawks’ quarterback Cody Wells, a redshirt freshman making his first college start, to literally pick UK apart most of the night.
Why did this happen? First, because the Wildcat roster is peppered with injuries, and many of them are to key players. Most notably, senior defensive back Trevard Lindley is out with a high ankle sprain and may not be back for two weeks.
Senior linebacker Micah Johnson strained a ligament early in the Monroe game and is questionable for this week. DB Paul Warford has been struggling with a groin injury but is playing. DB Winston Guy has a bruised back.
Offensively, of course, junior quarterback Mike Hartline remains out indefinitely with a leg injury. Junior running back Derrick Locke is ailing with a sore knee. Running back Moncell Allen has been weakened with the flu. Even superstar Randall Cobb has nursed various injuries.
All teams have these problems as the season wears on, but as UK prepares to go down the stretch in the SEC, generally speaking, the Wildcats are not as well equipped to overcome these things as easily as some of the better teams they face.
So that’s one thing.
Quarterback play must improve
The second thing, and I’m not telling you a whole lot that Brooks himself hasn’t said, but Kentucky must get better quarterback play. I didn’t believe I’d miss Hartline when he was hurt in the South Carolina game two weeks ago, leaving the QB job to be shared by freshman Morgan Newton and junior Will Fidler.
But Fidler and Newton have struggled so badly these last two games, they’ve made Hartline look like Drew Brees by comparison.
Fidler was 8 of 13 passing against Monroe for 82 yards with one interception and one touchdown, while Newton was 3 of 6 for 17 yards and one interception.
Those aren’t terrible numbers on the surface, but what alarms me is the number of balls both Newton and Fidler have thrown over 20 yards that were fortunate to come within five yards of the intended receiver.
Monroe’s Wells had no such problems throwing darts to his receivers against the UK defense on Saturday.
And for all the flack Kentucky juco recruit Chris Matthews has received this season in his adjustment to major college football at wide receiver, Matthews looked pretty darn good on a pitch and catch from Cobb on one mid-range pass over the middle Saturday night. Cobb looked pretty sharp throwing it, too, out of the Wildcat formation, which UK has used sparingly so far.
Newton, meanwhile, had a few receivers open but did not make his reads quick enough and deliver the ball on time. That’s understandable for a guy in only his second college game. I’m not doubting that Newton, a very highly touted recruit from Carmel, Ind., is going to be just fine eventually. But if UK is going to maximize this season, Newton needs to grow up quickly.
“I’m not pleased with it,” Brooks said Saturday night of his quarterback play. “Our passing game is not where it needs to be and our quarterbacks have to continue to develop.”
Brooks said Fidler’s production blueprint has been to have an occasional ‘WHY did you do THAT?’ kind of play mixed in with a lot of good plays, while Newton just needs time.
“Everybody assumes that because a guy is a highly touted recruit coming in that he can automatically step into college football and be a star,” Brooks says when asked about Newton. “But it’s hard ... it’s REALLY hard.”
As far as the mental side goes, there were times against the Louisiana-Monroe, such as the entire third quarter, that the Wildcats appeared to be – in Brooks’ words, ‘’sleepwalking.” But he and I both agree that’s somewhat understandable in this case as Kentucky was coming off a brutal four game SEC stretch, capped by a very nice 21-14 win a week earlier at Auburn.
So give the Cats a pass on that, I suppose. But if they don’t regain some swagger now, the closest thing to a sure win left is against outmanned Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 7.
It’s not all bad
That’s the bad news.
Here’s the good:
First, I’ve seen a lot of Saturdays in nearly 40 years watching Kentucky football where the Wildcats would have lost a game like the Monroe game, let alone win by 23 points. So clearly the toughness has improved for UK on many levels.
“We did win the game, didn’t we fellas?,” Brooks said Saturday night after he was grilled by the media about the shortcomings mentioned above.
“A win is a win is a win, and this was a pretty good win,” Brooks added. “In a game like this, coming off a really emotional game on the road, it was nice to get a win.”
Not that Brooks isn’t well aware of UK’s problems.
“We’re just trying to win football games,” he says.
The next bright spot I’d like to note is a reminder that Randall Cobb plays for Kentucky. Cobb sparked the Wildcats against the Warhawks with a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown that put the Cats up 14-0, and then ran 11 yards for a TD that made it 21-0.
Cobb just might be the best football player ever at UK. You might argue with me now, but if Cobb stays reasonably healthy, you won’t argue with me later. The Floridas and Alabamas of the SEC might get a player like this once or twice a decade, but Kentucky doesn’t. So watch Cobb and treasure the experience.
Brooks says because of Cobb’s smallish size, 5-foot-11, 188 pounds, he’d like to limit Cobb’s touches.
“But,” Brooks says dryly, “it seems like every time he touches the ball, good things happen.”
Third, while Mississippi State is a dangerous opponent, there is oh-so-much to be gained by Kentucky with a victory. It would all but guarantee at least a 6-6 season and a fourth-straight bowl game, but could also generate enough momentum for the Wildcats to post a winning regular season mark and go bowling south of Tennessee for the first time since 1996.
When asked Saturday night if he is happy with where Wildcats are this season, Brooks responded: “No, I’m not happy to be 4-3. But I am happy based on where we were two weeks ago (2-3 going to Auburn). I think to get the Auburn win and come home and get this one was critical.
“Now it puts us in position to go back into conference play this coming week and play another football game that is critical for us and probably for them (Mississippi State’s Bulldogs) as well, if they want to get to the postseason.”
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