State-Journal.com - 25th straight loss to Vols is especially tough on Wildcats

LEXINGTON – I realize this is a backhanded compliment if there ever was one, but I’ll say this for Coach Rich Brooks – at least he’s brought the UK football program back to the point where they: A. Play in big games, and B. Occasionally lose such games in a painful fashion, like Saturday’s 30-24 overtime loss here to the Tennessee Volunteers.

There have been a lot of years in this losing skid to Tennessee, which now stretches across a quarter of a century, when the Cats were so bad that pride was all that was on the line in this traditional season-ending fight.

But Brooks and his staff have brought Kentucky football back to the point where the Wildcats have an “opportunity” to feel kidney-stone-like pain at the end of each regular season with an annual loss to the Vols.

Who can forget Kentucky’s five-overtime loss to Tennessee two years ago? And, two years from now, we’ll probably be saying, who can forget Saturday’s single OT loss to Tennessee?

This is a loss so bitterly painful on so many levels. I imagine it’s like getting hit with a Mike Tyson punch when Tyson was, say, 20 years old.

It’s painful, most of all, for the 26 Kentucky seniors who have brought respect back to the program on and off the field. It’s painful because a win over the Vols Saturday could have left Kentucky second in the SEC East and looking at a berth in either the Capital One Bowl in Orlando or the Outback Bowl in Tampa.

Instead, the loss leaves UK again near the bottom of the East at 7-5 overall and 3-5 in the conference and looking at a berth in one of several smaller bowls, probably the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta or the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.

‘Hurts so much’
“It hurts so much,” said Kentucky senior defensive tackle Corey Peters. “You’re looking at a situation that’s rare, to finish second in the SEC East, to, I think, fifth. So, it hurts. Not just because it’s Tennessee, but because of all the possibilities that could have been. And we didn’t take advantage of them.”

“It’s probably the toughest loss I’ve had to stomach so far,” added the normally vivacious senior linebacker Micah Johnson. “I’m really at a loss for words. I’m sorry I can’t give you something good to write about. I just know that I played as hard as I could – all the seniors did – and we didn’t win.”

“It’s unexplainable,” said Sam Maxwell, another senior linebacker for Kentucky. “We practiced so hard, and then to come so close to these guys...”

You know, just now as I look at those words of disappointment from those UK seniors and I reflect on their character on and off the field, I think, leave it to one of them, Johnson, to apologize to reporters for not giving us “something good to write about.”

The Kentucky players wanted to win most of all for themselves, of course, but they are keenly aware of how much the Tennessee game means to everyone around the program.

“This game is different from any game we play,” said UK freshman quarterback Morgan Newton, who had arguably his poorest game Saturday of the seven he’s played. “There’s no doubt ... because of what it means to the guys, the seniors, and what it means to the fans.”

Newton was a pedestrian 10 of 22 passing for just 68 yards against the Vols. Several times he missed open receivers, and at other times his offensive line let him down and he didn’t get a good look down the field.

Newton was also the key player in arguably the game’s most controversial play, a third-and-five play from the Tennessee eight-yard-line in the closing seconds of regulation, with Kentucky down 24-21. Newton swept to the right, with senior running back Derrick Locke running interference and only UT All-America defensive back Eric Berry to beat for a first down and quite possibly a touchdown.

For just a flash it looked like Newton couldn’t miss scoring, and in just a flash, Berry shed Locke’s block and tackled Newton for a two-yard gain. That left UK at fourth-and-three and forced a 23-yard field goal by Lones Seiber that sent the game into overtime.

Settled for field goal
Kentucky settled for a 49-yard field goal in OT that Seiber left just short, and Tennessee then won it on a 20-yard touchdown run by senior back Montario Hardesty.

UK offensive coordinator Joker Phillips said after the game that Newton’s third-and-five play looked so open that he thought Newton might be able to walk it in for the score. And to that, I say, maybe Phillips and Brooks were confusing Newton with Randall Cobb.

Cobb is not only Kentucky’s best playmaker (though Cobb did not have a great second half Saturday, fumbling twice, losing one of them), he’s one of the top playmakers in all of college football.

Newton is a good athlete. Cobb is a great one. It was Cobb who ran the Wildcats into scoring position after defensive end Taylor Wyndham recovered a Luke Stocker fumble with just over two minutes to go at the Tennessee 37. Cobb lined up in UK’s Wildcat position, at quarterback, and ran 13 yards on first down and nine more yards on the next play and then two yards for a first down at the Tennessee 13.

And then Cobb didn’t touch the ball again. We’ll never know if Cobb could have eluded Berry on the crucial play, and that’s a shame. And it’s one of the biggest blunders of Brooks’ coaching stint at Kentucky.

Brooks said afterward that he took his offense out of the Wildcat formation with 1:16 left because that formation does not work in the context of a hurry-up mode that was required with less than two minutes to go. And he said Cobb was worn out, that he had to take IVs at halftime for cramps.

Logic ‘rings ridiculous’
I understand the logic, but it still rings ridiculous when you have a player like Cobb, who, by the way, said he felt fine in the closing seconds of regulation and would have loved to have had the ball in his hands.

But, it’s over. It goes down as yet another mistake in a series Tennessee seemingly cannot lose. I feel as though I have a greater chance winning Powerball in my lifetime than the Wildcats have of beating Tennessee.

I’ll leave the last words for now for Newton, who IS – don’t get me wrong – going to go down as one of the very best quarterbacks UK has ever had before he’s through. Poor Newton may have been even more down than his senior teammates afterward.

“I’d love to go back and see what I could have done to at least advance the ball more than I did,’’ a soft-spoken Newton said of the third-and-five play. “The coaches called my number there, and I have to do something with it. I’ve got to find a way to get the first down.”

Newton said he couldn’t even look at the UK seniors afterward.

“I couldn’t even look at ‘em, I felt so bad,” Newton said. “I’m supposed to be a leader … and it’s just tough to look at those guys you see in the huddle and really wanted to get this done. And we really had the opportunity, and I don’t think we were able to seize that opportunity, and I have to look at myself for that.”

“That’s what true competitors do,” Cobb said when told of Newton’s comments. “I blame myself for the fumble that led to their field goal. Morgan is hard on himself just like I am. That’s what it takes to go back and see the mistakes and correct them.”