Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
[Moderated by Matt Jones]
33 carries, 252 yards, 2 TDs. Anthony Dixon is a freight train, and Mississippi State’s O-line gave him plenty of space to get up to speed. Dixon chugga-chugga’ed through Kentucky all night long, leading the Bulldogs to a 31-24 victory over the Wildcats.
I’ll be back a little later tonight with more in-depth analysis, including a full breakdown of Morgan Newton’s night as THE QB. In the meantime, try not to gander at the Georgia Tech/Vandy score. Its the scariest thing you’ll see this All Hollow’s Eve.
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Bill Keightley Report : Never to be forgotten.
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October 31st, 2009 at 10:25 pm
SHOULD HAVE PLAYED FIDLER IN THE 4TH!
October 31st, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Any news on Lamb?
October 31st, 2009 at 10:27 pm
Joker Phillips is a joke when it comes to play calling. Good recruiter and may be a good head coach, but only if he brings in a star to call the plays.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
1. nope. should’ve used Cobb or knew blitz was coming and called the correct play.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:30 pm
It’s basketball season!!!
October 31st, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Newton looked great on teh last drive except for the last play. He’s gotta know to throw that ball. Offensive line looked horrible on the final drive.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:30 pm
screw you 5.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I’m excited about bball too but I’m sick of every year having to quit on football season.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Amen 5.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
better team won. Eventually the loss of Hartline was going to catch up with us. Newton will build on this experience and will be solid next year. Loss is on the defense. Wonder why we didn’t make adjustments.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Amen #3. You beat me to it. Do you think that Miss St would have ran 7 straight Goal line plays and not let Dixon have the ball? You give Cobb the ball 1st and Goal from the 5 and UK is tied up 31-31. The last drive would have been a Sieber kick for the win. I just about fell out of my chair when the announcer said that Joker was a “masterful play caller.”
October 31st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
So instead of putting 9 in the box and making Tyson Lee beat us, we plan man and leave the middle of the field exposed. Nice Coaching Job there…..
October 31st, 2009 at 10:36 pm
8. Should be immune to it, I am.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Everyone knew that MS was going to bring the house on that last play. Bringing the house on a freshman QB on the “last play” of the game is a scary thing. Joker should have used Cobb/Locke on the drive before and tied it up. But he didn’t, we didn’t win and we’re still mediocre.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Good point 13. 35 years of my life……same ole crap.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Matt, doesn’t make me happy to look to my left part of my screen and see a Dixon Miss State jersey for sale on KSR. Why don’t you just kick me in the nuts Mr. Jones?
October 31st, 2009 at 10:39 pm
The last play WAS NOT Newton’s fault. The way the play ran, all of the receivers run long routes. We needed a first down and not a touchdown. Joker called the play for the receivers to run long routes…so when they came with the blitz all that Newton saw was the back of his receivers heads.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:39 pm
#11, They say that crap about everybody they meet. It’s flattery, but obviously doesn’t make any of it true.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:40 pm
A Rod just homered
October 31st, 2009 at 10:41 pm
That was the most frustrating thing to watch. Joker is our Coach of the future? The defense got gashed but the playcalling didn’t seem right. I hate Miss St.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:43 pm
why didn’t Cobb get the ball in his hands on the last drive? Ugh, I don’t understand why the plan on the last drive was to let Newton pass down the field with Cobb at wide receiver exclusively. Can’t we run some pass plays out of the Wildcat? And what the heck with having to listen to the announcer the entire second half droning on about how our defense is playing 6 defenders in the box versus 6 blockers and the only adjustment we can make is to slide Guy up for run support? REALLY? Is he really the guy we want trying to tackle the back when we all know his problems this season wrapping up his tackles. How about a 4-3 with Guy covering the slot receiver. Maybe it leaves us a little more vulnerable to a deep pass but at least it helps with them running the ball down our throat all game long.
Miss. St. is a good team but I think tonight the difference was gameplan and adjustments. We never adjusted effectively to their rushing attack and when the game was on the line and we were trying to score we didn’t put the ball in the hands of our best playmakers.
Let’s hope we can get a win against EKU next week and most importantly rest our injured players for the last 3 games of the season, we’re gonna need them if we want to win 2/3 of our last games.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:47 pm
21. Probably the same reason Cobb didn’t touch it the drive before when UK was on the goal line, when Cobb has scored a touchdown, what?, 95% of the time out of the wildcat in that situation.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:48 pm
was it just me or was Locke criticizing the play-calling during the postgame?
October 31st, 2009 at 10:52 pm
22- Isn’t it incredibly frustrating? Didn’t we learn anything at South Carolina? PUT THE BALL IN COBB’S HANDS WHEN WE HAVE TO HAVE POINTS!!! Nobody can reasonably complain if it doesn’t work because Cobb is the MAN. Was Dan Mullen calling the plays the last couple drives for us on offense?
October 31st, 2009 at 10:55 pm
It’s looking like a 5 or 6 win season. Could go 1-7 in the SEC. If we
go 6-6, we don’t deserve a bowl. A 2-6 SEC team should not go bowling.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:56 pm
24. He might as well have been. I just really don’t understand why we didn’t run the wildcat on that second to last drive when we were on the goal line. There’s no reason in the world that excuses that. Can’t say Cobb was gassed, cuz he was jumping around like a madman in the endzone when Newton throw the INT.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Here’s the perfect metaphor for it, the last two drives were the equivalent of Couch Cal having Stevenson take the last shot in a 1 point came.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:58 pm
I wonder what Joker’s buyout is? Is there any chance UK backs
off making him the next head coach?
October 31st, 2009 at 10:58 pm
“game”
October 31st, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Bottom line is our Defensive Line got humiliated. Dixon is a good back, but we made him look like Earl Campbell, and you can’t win in this league without a solid quarterback. I’m not dogging Newton, he’s green and will be pretty good with experience. But when you have to call the plays to avoid the weakness of your Q.B. it’s only a matter of time when a defense will adjust. The pick midway thru the fourth when we were in the red zone was the backbreaker. Yep, we’re a basketball school.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:00 pm
27. or maybe like calling the play for Sheray Thomas when you are down 1.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:03 pm
#26-The wildcat wasn’t working, they had already figured it out, and knew that we weren’t going to throw the ball anywhere close to the redzone. The wildcat is only effective when you have more than one option out of it. They were loading the box, bottom line.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Our defense will likely be worse next year.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:03 pm
30. That’s what I’m talking about. Newton should never have been put in that situation to throw that pick. We should have run the wildcat. Atleast, once in the 8 or so plays when we were within 10 yards of the endzone
October 31st, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Cobb did a pretty good job throwing the ball last season. Not sure
why he isn’t passing more.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Locke was about 50% in the 2nd half as well. He was dominate in the first half, but his injury caught up with him. His play in the first half was what had us on top. When we lost his edge, so did we.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:09 pm
32. Newton’s passing wasn’t working either, but we stuck with that–and we see where that got us on that drive. We have one option out of the wildcat, because Joker chooses to have one option out of the wildcat.
I don’t want to seem like I’m dogging Newton. It’s not his fault. You can plainly see he’s not ready for college football speed. He’s still having to think too long and too much.
Though I will say, how you throw a ball 5 ft over a man’s head (Cobb) who is standing still amazes me.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Also the bubble screen doesn’t work all that much(ever?) but Joker continuously calls it too.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Yea, I can’t argue your points 37, they are good ones. Anyone want to bet that Fidler starts next Saturday?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:11 pm
33. HOW? Can it get worse?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:11 pm
#39. I’ll bet you my house he won’t
October 31st, 2009 at 11:12 pm
39) Considering Brooks just said in his postgame that he was sticking with Newton, I will gladly take that bet. 20 bucks?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Another thing, am I the only one that noticed that we NEVER run misdirection plays? To be successful in a offense like we run, you have to have superior athletes which we don’t have. There’s never any pulling of the line, it’s either straight ahead or some time of bubble screen pass that seldom works. Got to change things up.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:14 pm
I agree 35, why can’t we throw out of the wildcat? Locke can catch the ball fine. Miss St showed everybody else in the league tonight how to beat us. put 9 guys in the box and make us throw the ball. I think Newton will be a very good maybe great player one day but if the rest of our season hinges on how well he can create offense by throwing the ball then it’s gonna be a long season. Why would anyone play the pass against this team, especially when we are in the wildcat formation? We refuse to throw the ball.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:15 pm
I guess I’ll eat crow on that bet. I couldn’t stomach listening to the post game. I just expected a knee jerk I guess.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I couldn’t stomach it either. Did Tom balls up and ask why Cobb didn’t get the football?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:17 pm
the sky is falling the sky is falling oh no
we’re using a freshman quarter back, he looked good in parts of the game but inexperience always shows. ALL of our stars are bangs up.
unless we can line Patrick Patterson and D. Cousins up as tight ends, not sure when we will see breaking the 8 or 9 win mark.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Speaking of Tight Ends……..OURS SUCK! If I’m a tight end recruit, I’m saying……starting right away.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Drake dropped a first down that would’ve gotten us out of that whole mess. All the TEs have been AWFUL.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:21 pm
I was just getting ready to say the same thing 48. Except for the inexperienced Q.B. position, the Tight End is the biggest missing piece to our offense. Our tight end play is the biggest non factor in the entire league.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Recievers just never seem to get any seperation either. Man, we don’t throw many deep balls, but when we do, they are always right w/ the CBs. How many wide open dudes did Dre have to throw to????? Constantly.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:25 pm
did you watch the game 47? We just lost an incredibly close game. Most of the posters on this blog tonight are second guessing the fact that we minimize the effectiveness of the wildcat package (our most effective offensive scheme) because we only run the ball out of it. I don’t care how good of an o-line you have or how good of a running back you have if you’re trying to run against 9 in the box it don’t work.
Not running some pass plays out of the wildcat is akin to Gillispie (sp?) telling Meeks not to shoot 3’s. You know in this game that any pass out of the wildcat will be to a receiver in single man coverage. If the play breaks down Cobb runs the ball.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:27 pm
I’m praying that in the Eastern game, they actually call some plays that let Morgan throw to some decent passing routes. If you’re going to have him in the game, let him play QB.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:28 pm
51- Matthews is a big dude and won’t be blowing by sec cornerbacks, but he’s big enough that with an accurate throw he can use his 4-6″ height advantage and extra 30-40 lbs weight advantage to either get the catch or the flag
October 31st, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Wouldn’t that be some shit. I’d say that would be interesting to see….Bledsoe at running back, Wall at QB, and Patterson and Cuz at TE. Think that we would have scored with 1st and Goal from the 5? Like #41, I’d bet my house on it. I’m not blaming Newton, I AM BLAMING THE PLAY CALLER. When Brooks heard the same calls coming down from the booth, why didn’t he say, “hell no,” give the damn ball to Cobb. At least 20K people won’t have booed.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:31 pm
#28 - You are 100% on target…Joke is a joke - not only as an OC…but, head coach? No way! As for his recruting…boy, he’s done a great job hasn’t he? 2 and 3 star recruits are heralded as the ‘next coming’…sorry, not in this SEC! Barnfart needs to be replaced along with his ‘choices’ (ie, Joker). Let ol’ PawPaw go grow his veggies in OR, have the UKAA force Clueless Lee to find a new AD and get a football coach that the BB team can be proud of…hint: it’s broke - ’bout time to fix it!
October 31st, 2009 at 11:31 pm
Why is it 11:31 and I’m still just as pi$$ed?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:35 pm
cause this was some silly $#it we saw tonight
October 31st, 2009 at 11:36 pm
56. Here’s the problem. We’re not EVER going to out-recruit in the SEC. The state of Kentucky just doesn’t produce the number of big time high school players that Florida, Georgia, Miss, and Bama produces and we won’t pull the biggest ones from those states. We have to get ALL the great ones from Kentucky, a couple of good ones from the other stats, and get the sleepers unfortunately. Kentucky has to have GREAT coaching to succeed. We need a dynamic offense and a defense that can keep us in games. Toilet bowls.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Oh…and I posted in August that we’d be 5-7…6-6 depending on Vandy game. Due to tonight’s debacle…EKU may be our only possibility for ‘nother win…
October 31st, 2009 at 11:39 pm
#57/#58 AMEN brothers!
October 31st, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I don’t think 6 wins gets us to a toilet bowl this year. Good lord. Didn’t think I’d ever be prayin for Hartline to come back so soon.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Good night to the Big Blue Nation. Today sucked. Gonna lay in bed w/ my headache and watch the end of this World Series game. Live Blue.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:42 pm
#59…and, your point is? What did I post? I agree with you…but, PawPaw w/Joker aren’t going to recruit those great in-state players…they’ve already proven that!!!!!
October 31st, 2009 at 11:42 pm
#62, I’m not praying for him to come back soon.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Newton played as well as an inexperienced freshman QB could. He’ll get better but what doesn’t get better is the play calling. Cobb is your playmaker and easily the best athlete on this team. You have to go to him as much as possible whether he’s passing, receiving or running. Stopping the run would be a bonus as well. Why would this University even consider replacing Brooks when he retires with Joker? They’re either lazy and don’t want to put forth an effort to lure a real coach or a real coach wouldn’t want to come here. Go figure.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Shouldve worn the Black Jerseys:)
October 31st, 2009 at 11:48 pm
#66: Barnfart is, not only lazy, but, he doesn’t wish to pi** off his mentor - PawPaw. Plus, he is so incompetent, he couldn’t recruit a coach - he’s viewed as a joke by many of the potential candidates…it’s sad - but, with the current athletic leadership, we’re viewed as a dead end job.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:49 pm
#67: PawPaw’s/Joker’s call…another great call!
October 31st, 2009 at 11:50 pm
IF they could only control Newtons gun. I believe he has the strongest arm.. Just has to settle down and he did a good job on that last drive minus the last down. With a little more experience he will be able to read the d better.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I think a dead end job is going a little to far otherwise…
October 31st, 2009 at 11:54 pm
In all fairness Joker might be a better head coach than offensive coordinator. I think Joker does a good job most of the time with managing the game, it’s specifically how we don’t let Cobb throw the ball that leaves me confused. Why not throw the ball from the wildcat? Why not put the ball in Cobb’s hands and say win or lose with him on the 5 yard line?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:57 pm
NOT my opinion…go check the boards on other sites re: UK coaching opportunity…with Barnfart in charge and our ‘history’…the potential candidates have totally backed-off any interest due to the Barnfart/Brooks/Joker triad…
October 31st, 2009 at 11:58 pm
#72- A REAL OC would have that figured-out…
November 1st, 2009 at 12:01 am
I remember a time where our defensive coordinator Archer was rumored to be our next head coach…I went ballistic and wrote/called everyone I could reminding them that Archer was the master-mind head coach at LSU…and, was fired due to his total inability to understand offense…let alone have a defensive strategy…yes, Joker the one!
November 1st, 2009 at 12:04 am
74- look at how Urban Meyer uses Tebow. Ride your star, put the game in his hands and let him go until he can’t, take a timeout and do it again.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:04 am
Ok this is the first game ive missed this year as i was at the hospital all day but i was able to kinda keep up with the live blog i dont know everything that happened.But coming into this game it looked like we would be without johnson and lindley not to mention our starting quarteback to go along with jarmon obviously.Thats a lot of talent for a school like kentucky to lose regardless of whos calling the plays or who is the head coach.Look what happened to michigan today and where there at and i would put them a slight notch ahead of kentucky as a football program. Does this make that a dead end job to?This was a huge game and i hate losing it but im not sure what firing everyone who can be fired and throwing the rest under the bus is gonna prove.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:06 am
bottom line is UK is an average fb team at best. If you want to turn the corner and be above average you can’t lose this game or the USC game. Don’t expect to beat UF and Bama this year but at leat play a respectable game, which we did not. Right now looks like we have no shot vs UT or UGA but team does play hard and is fun to watch, if you get through the frustration of losing these types of games. Let me just say we could still be stuck watching Bill Curry type teams…YIKES At least this team is exciting most of the time and I do think the staff develops players well. Agree the play calling sucks sometimes, hopefully that will change. I do think, or hope, UK is going in the right direction and making a bowl game is huge, no matter what bowl, to give UK publicity and most important more practice.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:06 am
#76 AMEN…but, we are soooooooooooooooooooooo far away from having an Urban Meyer…
November 1st, 2009 at 12:09 am
derrick locke on facebook: “Sry to the real fans who stuck it out til the end…. the ones who left early just stay @ hme nxt time.”
WOW.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:09 am
79- lol
80- I’m pissed now but man I remember the Curry era, after a while I didn’t get pissed anymore because I didn’t expect anything
November 1st, 2009 at 12:11 am
Locke plays his heart out every game, if anyone can make that statement he can
November 1st, 2009 at 12:12 am
#77 Hey…I’m NOT calling us a dead-end job…read the post…it’s just that potential candidates won’t even consider us with the athletic department leadership! I’ve read where we’d ‘look’ at Kelly (Cincy)…what a joke…Notre Dame has him in their sights. Do you even possibly think ANY established/hot assistant would consider us with the leadership we have? I read the posts and…no. Even Parcells (rumored) laughed at us and with his love/ownership of serious horse racing.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:15 am
#81 PLEASE…PLEASE…PLEASE…I hope to NEVER hear again about that sorry S-O-B Curry! As bad as it is (and, will continue to be under Joker)…tell me it won’t be THAT bad!
November 1st, 2009 at 12:23 am
Going to head to the ‘ranch’ guys…carry-on…remember though, as bad as it was tonight…EKU is coming into Commonwealth…then we get to head to Nashville, meet a pi**ed-off GA team between the hedges and welcome the Kiffin kid to Lexington (Compton looked great tonight)…you all post all you wish and nothing is going to change unless you change the leadership - including Barnfart and Joker.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:23 am
Thus endeth the lessaon.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:26 am
Why oh why? Was Cobb not involved in the 4th!
We use Cobb on half of the last 2 drives we win the game…..
November 1st, 2009 at 12:28 am
cobb on twitter:”don’t know what to say… sorry”
says it all.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:28 am
I don’t understand why the coaching staff chose to go with Newton (who is going to be a really nice player in time) on the series starting with the 1st and goal from the 4. It’s been said time and again from the coaching staff and players that Cobb is a freak competitor and wills himself to the goal line and from what I’ve seen it’s absolutely true. I know that Cobb would have found 4 yards in 4 or less plays if you used him in the wildcat formation at that moment. Even though Newton threw the interception (which didn’t help his confidence) I place the blame on the coaching staff. That’s too much of a pressure situation to place on a freshman who’s still learning the offense, what to look for in a defense, and how to win. They’ve got to use the right personnel at the right time and it doesn’t seem like it’s being done.
I love our coaches but it just seems like a few different decisions a game at key times would make a huge difference. (The South Carolina game comes to mind when Spurrier pointed out that he was glad they didn’t put that #18 back in at QB because they couldn’t stop him)
Note: Whatever it’s worth, I’ve never coached a football game in my life. I’ve only played and watched so I may be totally ignorant in what I’m saying. GO BIG BLUE!
November 1st, 2009 at 12:30 am
I look at the Curry era as proof why Joker might be a better head coach than offensive coordinator. Curry was only as good as his assistants. When Bowden was our offensive coordinator we were decent. Later in Curry’s regime we changed our offensive scheme seemingly every year. Problem is that at Kentucky if you get a great assistant the big boys come calling and the success of the program depends upon the head coach’s ability to recruit and sign talented coaches to replace the one’s who leave for bigger jobs. I think Joker’s biggest strength is his recruiting ability, if he can recruit a great staff he will be a successfull head coach.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:34 am
89. Who knows why they didn’t run the wildcat when we were so near the goal line?
It’s the question of the night. It makes no sense what so ever.
Honestly, did Cobb not touch the ball in the 4th quarter? It’s almost like Joker decided Cobb’s best use was as a decoy when the game was on the line.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:38 am
There’s one big positive about Joker becoming head coach—The likelihood he won’t be calling plays.
The big draw back is that they say the best coaches learn from their mistakes–Joker has made the same mistake twice now. Once, in the SC game and again tonight by not giving the ball to Cobb in a must score situation.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:39 am
#83.Then how did we get calipari?Isn’t it the same leadership?The fact is we have sucked in football for a very long time i wont even go into all the advantages all the other schools have over us when it comes to football.What do you suggest fire brooks and go throw the same kinda money were giving cal or that alabama is paying saban?That is simply not going to happen we are a basketball school that will always complain about football no matter who the head coach/offensive coordinator is.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:41 am
newton on twitter 2 minutes ago: “losing sucks”
November 1st, 2009 at 12:47 am
I can already see us getting hammered for running off another black head coach….this time before he even gets to coach a game.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:15 am
Coaching cost us this game, plain an simple. Not using the pass to keep them honest on defense. They consistently kept 8 (or more) in the box. Personnel choices in the red zone. Cobb and Locke haveto be in the ball game and get the damn ball. Playing only 2 linebackers at a time all night long was a big reason we couldn’t contain the run. Coulda and shoulda won this game. The Brooks era has hit a wall and we are regressing. I would like to see us make a push to hire the Cincinnati coach, but I imagine he will get a much better job than Kentucky. It’s very frustrating.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:27 am
When the game is on the line…. put the ball in your best player’s hands and let him make a play. If he does, he is a hero. If not, at least you gave your best shot. First the S.C. 2pt conversion, and now this. JUST GIVE COBB THE FREAKN BALL JOKER!