Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
In 1961, Rich Brooks was the student-athlete at Oregon Oregon State. In 1961, Rupp’s Wildcats fell in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament to Ohio State. In 1961, my parents were children, and a significant portion of this blog’s readership wasn’t more than a twinkle in their father’s eyes.
In 1961, Kentucky won at Auburn’s field for the first time. 48 years later, Kentucky finds victory again, by the score of 21-14. How’d the do it? Here’s your Fake Gimel Groovy breakdown:
* Down With the Yellow Flags, Man - Kentucky has ZERO penalties. Evidently Coach Brooks found the substance that was causing our team’s consistent problems with illegal motions and false starts. He then extracted that substance, processed the substance as a powder and sprinkled the powder into Auburn’s Gatorade bins. (The Tigers had 10 penalties for 76 yards, including several drive-killing penalties in the 4th quarter and one extremely-strange quick-snap overstacked formation that was killed by a false start.)
* Our Lines were Square - There were a few miscues for UK’s offensive and defensive lines. But for most of the games, the lines played very well. The offensive line gave great push through the game, allowing our backs room to run inside; which allowed runs bounced to the outside to be especially dangerous. Kentucky’s defensive line and linebackers gave up a lot of yards to Auburn’s run game, but only allowed one rushing TD and forced Auburn into 6 3rd-and-long situations.
* QB’s Were Plugged-In - Freshman Morgan Newton finished the game with 5 completions on 13 attempts for 39 yards, with zero throwing TDs and zero INTs. Junior Will Fidler had 4 completions on 9 attempts for 36 yards, with zero throwing TDs and zero INTs. Randall Cobb didn’t attempt a pass and therefore had zero INTs. (Notice the emphasis? No INTs.)
Newton & Fidler threw the ball deep and kept Auburn’s defensive backs from completely selling on Kentucky’s run. Newton completed a 23-yard pass to Chris Matthews on the right sideline, and threatened to Matthews several other times. Fidler found Senior Tight End T.C. Drake on a 4th Down conversion for 7 yards and the first down late in the 4th quarter.
Oh yeah. Cobb, Newton and Fidler each scored a rushing TD. That was nice too.
* ¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! — Derrick Locke is fast. Randall Cobb is also fast. Locke and Cobb absolutely eviscerated the Auburn defense, with Locke compiling 19 rushes for 126 yards and Cobb rushing 12 times for 109 yards. It was the first time UK had two 100-yard rushers since Sept. 18, 2004, when Shane Boyd and Tony Dixon ran all over Indiana. These men showed consistent speed against, prior to this game, the 84th-best (out of 120) rushing defense in the NCAA. (Note to Auburn coaches: Learn how to defend against the quarterback draw.)
* War Eagle? No, Peace Dove. - According to Auburn’s Game Notes, “The pre-game flight was made by Nova from Sec. 45 in the northwest corner.” Obviously Sec. 45 is never getting Nova again.
* Peter & Mary Ain’t Got Nothin’ on Paul - And welcome back, Paul Warford. Your 4 passes defensed and your steady presence in the defensive backfield is most welcome!
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What does this mean for the rest of the season? It all depends if Kentucky can hold serve against the teams we’re supposed to beat: Louisiana-Monroe, Mississippi State, Eastern Kentucky and Vandy. If we lose to one of these teams, the Wildcats are back that 6-win threshold. But creeping up on 7 wins, with a fairly vulnerable Georgia defense and a possible wildcard game with Tennessee (who knows what you’re gonna get with the Vols?), the season really looks bright.
Meanwhile, Coach Brooks (as reported by Alan Cutler) calls this victory, “one of the most complete team wins I’ve ever been around.” My BFF John Clay of the Lexington Herald-Leader has post-game interview videos of Coach Brooks, Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke. ESPN never showed UK/Auburn highlights on SportsCenter or even College Football Final today, but ESPN’s Chris Low asks, “Has there been a gutsier victory this season in the SEC than Kentucky’s…?”
Between this and the Cal-tastic Big Blue Madness, this is one of the best UK Sports weekends of recent memory. Feel free to debate through the night if this is the biggest UK football away victory in the last 20 years. I’ll be back in the morning to lead you through your Sunday afternoon enjoyment.
Update: Brooks played at Oregon State, and the Auburn’s overstacked formation was foiled by a false start, not an illegal formation penalty. Thanks, readers!
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Bill Keightley Report : Never to be forgotten.
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October 18th, 2009 at 1:51 am
LAAAAATTE night post! I hope we continue to take care of business. GBB!!!
October 18th, 2009 at 2:05 am
Fantastic win! We love our football Cats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 18th, 2009 at 2:12 am
Basketball can wait a little longer i guess!
October 18th, 2009 at 2:16 am
I was disappointed in there not being any highlights of the game. And it definitely was a complete game. For once, they looked like the team we all thought they would. Maybe this 3 QB system will work. They all bring something different and will keep defenses on their toes. But Micah Johnson, please get ur boy Winston Guy and tell him to stop tryin to just ram into defenders…wrap up! Great win for the boys in blue and white tonight!
October 18th, 2009 at 2:26 am
Newton was heard singing in the locker room: ” I thought I told ya? Imma star! “
October 18th, 2009 at 2:29 am
Oh yah! Just saw ” Paranormal Activity ” VERY GOOD…. Must see for horror lovers…
If you were just in the theater with me. I’m the guy that yelled: ” Shes gonna rape him! ”
October 18th, 2009 at 2:32 am
6 That was you? It totally destroyed the immersion for me, I want my money back
October 18th, 2009 at 2:47 am
I feel by giving the start to Newton, it set a fire under Fidler. Once he got his chance, and he knew he would, he came out and got it done.
Now, he has some confidence to take into the next game, where both QB’s should have more time in the pocket to get comfortable.
Newton, look good for a true freshman. That’s vs. Auburn on the road folks. And they haven’t fallen off, as the 2 teams that have beaten them now (Arkansas and KY) are holding their own.
Arkansas had Florida on the ropes in Gainesville today, and the refs gave Florida the game (on multiple occasions). And we know Kentucky had Alabama in a close one until the fumbles killed us.
The future at QB is now that much closer to being on stable ground. Both QB’s needed experience, and they both got it.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:47 am
The call with the overstacked formation was a false start, not illegal formation.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:47 am
so happy for the football team….and what’s up with the 2am night post? being in japan (+13 hours from eastern standard time) i’m used to being one of the first to see night posts….but this was absurd!
October 18th, 2009 at 3:28 am
Newton looked good in the pocket. Stayed calm and played smart. Made the defense think twice by throwing long down field (even though most were a bit long). I’m liking Newton a lot. Future looks bright at QB.
October 18th, 2009 at 3:48 am
11 agreed, honestly on a couple of those deep throws matthews looked like he couldve done more to bring them in, but they wernt far off, definately has that cannon arm that weve missed.
October 18th, 2009 at 7:39 am
12 - If you can out throw Cobb on a deep route, you definately have a cannon for an arm. Newton’s arm strength was impressive. Now he just needs to calm it down a bit and work out the timing. Great start for the freshman.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:08 am
The injury to Hartline was a blessing in disguise. It forced the coaching staff to reevaluate the offense instead of just going with “the guy that gives us the best chance to win”. I think Hartline just gives us “the best chance not to lose”, and that’s not good enough in the SEC. I hope they stick with the 3-headed QB system the rest of the year, with the same 3 QB’s. Sorry, Hartline. I just don’t believe the team responds to you very well as the QB / leader of the offense. Go Cats.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Game is being replayed at 11AM on ESPNU -
October 18th, 2009 at 9:42 am
15: Thanks, and Imma let you finish, but the game is going to be replayed on my DVR thingy whenever I want.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Am I the only one who thinks that for the future of the program you have to go with Newton most of the time? Fidler getting some back up reps?
October 18th, 2009 at 9:59 am
9) That’s correct it was a false start. Also, on the attempted reverse where Matthews was wide open was that ball thrown by Newton or Cobb? I couldn’t tell which one threw it from my seats?
I thought it was Cobb and that would have been an incomplete pass for him, but none of the box scores have him as attempting a pass.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:25 am
1961 The year I was born.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:26 am
What a game last night! Wish there could have been a live blog to go along with it…
Maybe yall could live blog the replay on ESPNU @ 11?
October 18th, 2009 at 10:37 am
16-careful with counting on the dvr because mine cutoff with 3:54 remaining (just prior to Cobb’s TD)
October 18th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Great win!!! Congrats to Papa Brooks and the staff.
October 18th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Anyone have a link for a BBM replay online??
October 18th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I hope they show the game again somewhere. I don’t have espnu, so I just listened to the game on the radio. I’d love to watch it though.
Huge WIN for us!!! GO CATS!
October 18th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Rich Brooks played at Oregon STATE.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
#18 - It was Newton. Would’ve been a heck of a play too.
October 18th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
21. I also learned the hard way about dvr cut-offs. It happens when games run past their scheduled tv time. The dvr cuts off at the scheduled end time. My solution - always set the dvr to record the next show or two after the game - at least an hour.
24. see if this works… http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/default.aspx