Cats couldn’t stop Dixon, State
November 1st, 2009 | 
Author: By KEITH TAYLOR
ktaylor@winchestersun.com
Corey Peters was puzzled by Mississippi State’s offensive showing following Kentucky’s 31-24 loss to the Bulldogs on Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium.
Peters wasn’t caught off-guard by Mississippi State’s schemes, but was surprised the Wildcats couldn’t stop the Bulldogs, especially in the back field.
“We were prepared,” Peters said. “We knew they were going to run the ball.”
That’s exactly what the guests did to the Cats on a night designated for trick or treats and it was Mississippi State that delivered the goods to their fans in a must-win encounter for both teams.
The Bulldogs’ offense racked up 493 yards, with most of that yardage coming on the ground. Mississippi State entered the contest ranked 18th nationally, and fourth in the conference, in rushing. Following its outing against Kentucky, the Bulldogs will keep climbing the charts.
Mississippi State’s offensive production was the most generated against Kentucky’s defensive unit since Florida collected 495 yards in a 41-7 win over the Wildcats on Sept. 26.
“I’m not sure I remember a team running the ball as effectively on us the way they did,” Kentucky coach Rich Brooks said.
As for a reason behind his team’s poor showing on defense, Brooks said his team wasn’t “as physical as we needed to be.”
“The disappointing thing is that we didn’t tackle,” he said. “We weren’t as physical as we were in the Auburn game or most of our games.”
Kentucky had a hard time stopping Tim Tebow when it played the Gators and had just as much trouble keeping an eye on Mississippi State running back Anthony Dixon, who rushed for a school-record 252 yards on 33 carries. Dixon scored a pair of touchdowns in the winning effort.
By the end of the third quarter, Dixon had rushed for 220 yards and two touchdowns. In the first half alone, Dixon had 116 yards, more than half of his team’s total at the break.
Kentucky linebacker Micah Johnson knew what was coming, but said the Cats could not contain Dixon.
“They kept running the same play over, over and over again and it worked,” he said. “It’s tough, because it was a game we should have won. It’s very frustrating. It was a tough to defend.”
Although Kentucky knew what to expect from Dixon, linebacker Danny Trevathan said Dixon got through the “gaps.”
“He was looking for little creases and he found them,” he said. “He got big plays out of them and we needed to learn how to avoid big plays.”
While Dixon relied on counter plays, the Bulldogs collected large chunks of yardage on big plays. Dixon’s longest run was 47 yards, while running back Chris Relf had a 53-yard run. Quarterback Tyson Lee had a 25-yard scamper and a 67-yard touchdown completion to O’Neal Wilder for a touchdown in the third quarter.
“The big chunks (of yardage). … that’s what is the most disappointing,” Brooks said. “We gave up big plays instead of small doses.”
Brooks said “Mississippi State did a pretty good job of blocking and Dixon does happen to be a pretty good back.”
“It’s not like we’re the first team he’s ran on,” Brooks said.
Peters said the Cats “focused” on the counter play during workouts last week, but couldn’t stop Dixon’s tricks when it counted.
“I really don’t know what was going on,” he said. “I honestly don’t. I’m looking forward to watching the film, try to figure out what we did wrong and try to get it fixed.”
Posted in UK Football
Its pretty simple what happened really. 6 guys in the box and 6 guys to block them. They did there job all night long and the boys couldn’t make a play even when they had a safety cheating in to stop the run. The counter that they ran all night long played to the defenses weakness of having being in the nickel all night. No adjustment was made to have another LB on the field. Like Mullins said at the half “we really didn’t need to throw it with the run working so well.” Anytime an opposing coach says something like that the scheme is what’s to blame.
We got out played and out caoched last night. It happens to even the best teams sometimes. Lets pick ourselves up and move forward. That horse has left the barn and we still have a lot of work to do. KEEP THE FAITH. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. GO BLUE OR STAY HOME
Think you are preaching to the choir DandyCat. But bottom line is that State’s offensive line just overpowered UK from start to finish
The lack of adjustments on defense were perplexing. Perhaps KY did and my somewhat untrained eye couldn’t see the truth. We played nickel all night. I don’t think MSU could have beaten us with the pass. At some point their QB would have missed a receiver or thrown an INT. It was six on six up front and it needed to be 7 or 6 on six.
Even the 3rd rate TV commentators were pointing out that we were undermanned up front. Why the obsession with the Nickel? UK’s coordinators can be the most remedial at times.