By LARRY VAUGHT

Rather than pick apart what wasn’t right with Kentucky’s play here Saturday, it’s important to remember one thing — Kentucky did win.
The Wildcats were not always efficient offensively, made mistakes defensively and once again had special team woes, but they did beat outmanned Eastern Kentucky University 37-12.
Kentucky was expected to be without quarterback Mike Hartline again. Kentucky knew it wouldn’t have running back Derrick Locke, who hurt his knee last week. However, it was a surprise that Randall Cobb, UK’s best playmaker and most versatile offensive player, didn’t play after spraining his thumb in practice Thursday.
Yet the Cats still won because true freshman quarterback Morgan Newton played better, if not spectacular.
“I thought Morgan Newton managed himself very well except for one throw. He threw the ball accurately, he had poise and he delivered it pretty much on the money. I thought he had a very, very good day,” said UK coach Rich Brooks.
Newton was 20-for-29 passing for 187 yards and two touchdowns.
“He’s getting better and he’s not making the same mistake twice. That’s the progress you want to see from a young quarterback,” Randy Sanders, UK’s quarterback coach, said.
Former Kentucky quarterback Dusty Bonner, who worked the game as a TV analyst, also liked what he saw from Newton in his third start since Hartline injured his knee.
“Morgan threw the ball well and overall played well. He only really put the ball in danger once. He made audibles, looked comfortable and seemed to take steps forward today. He just looked like a quarterback that was more comfortable because he is getting some experience,” Bonner said.
This was a win UK had to have if it wants to earn a fourth straight bowl bid after losing 31-24 to Mississippi State a week earlier. The Cats are now 5-4 with games left against Vanderbilt, Georgia and Tennessee. One more win makes UK bowl eligible. Two more wins guarantees the Cats a bowl berth.
Brooks said this win didn’t erase the Mississippi State loss, but now it’s time to think ahead to Vanderbilt, not back to the Bulldogs.
“We have to beat a team we have struggled with and have been close in history with. It has been a competitive series for years,” Brooks said. “I am sure they would like to return the favor we did to them when our win knocked them out of a bowl and we got in.”
This was not UK’s best overall effort even though the Cats amassed 444 total yards and held Eastern to 264.
The special teams had breakdowns as Lones Seiber missed a short field and extra point and Eastern scored off a fake field goal.
If there was any doubt about UK’s focus, a huge mistake by linebacker Micah Johnson — one of Kentucky’s most experienced players — made it clear the Cats were not mentally into the game. When teammate Mark Crawford forced an Eastern fumble in the fourth quarter, Johnson watched the ball roll on the ground and let Eastern recover because he thought it was an incomplete pass.
Never mind that the whistles never blew and other players went after the ball. Johnson made a half-hearted attempt at the ball. Even when the play was reviewed and ruled an incomplete pass, that didn’t not excuse Johnson’s blunder.
“It was kind of a workmanlike effort if you will,” Brooks said. “We did not have any long runs until (Donald) Russell broke that one (for a 79-yard touchdown) and I was happy to see him do that. He has shown some good things. The next time he made a really good run for 11 or 12 yards. He is going to give us something moving forward.
“I thought our guys overall took care of what we needed to take care of in this game and got a win we needed.”

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