Louisville running back Jeremy Wright (28) muscles through Kentucky defenders Martavius Neloms (1) and Avery Williamson (40) to score the first touchdown of the year Cardinal Stadium in Louisville. (AP Photo / Garry Jones)
By LARRY VAUGHT
LOUISVILLE — If Joker Phillips was not on the hot seat before, he sure is now.
Kentucky’s defense was mainly non-existent as host Louisville went over, around and through the Wildcats during a 32-14 season-opening victory here Sunday.
The Cardinals opened the scoring with a 99-yard scoring drive and also had touchdown drives of 85 and 93 yards — all in the first half. In the second half, Louisville added another 71-yard drive.
Remember, the supposed strength of this Kentucky football team was going to be its experienced defensive front. That front allowed 219 yards rushing on 46 attempts, an average of 4.8 yards per run. Two Cardinals — Jeremy Wright (105 yards, three touchdowns) and Senorise Perry (108 yards, one touchdown) — ran for over 100 yards.
“Give Louisville it’s due. They just beat our tails today,” said Kentucky defensive coordinator Rick Minter.
But why?
“I think maybe we underestimated Louisville a little bit. We were all sure we were going to win,” freshman cornerback Fred Tiller said.
But not with a defense that couldn’t stop Louisville when quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was running the offense. He threw for 232 yards and hit on 19 of 21 passes. That’s right. He was 19-for-21 and most throws he did not have to thread the ball into a tight space.
“We just didn’t do a very good job containing things,” Minter said.
Surprisingly, Kentucky’s offense was adequate. Actually, more than adequate. Sophomore quarterback Maxwell Smith was 35-for-50 for 280 yards and two scores — a 1-yard strike to Tyler Robinson and 5-yard toss to LaRod King. Kentucky had 373 yards of total offense, not exactly a monster number but far better than what the Cats did most games last year.
Kentucky left points on the field, too. Running backs CoShik Williams and Raymond Sanders both fumbled deep in Louisville territory. Kicker Craig McIntosh missed a field goal when coach Joker Phillips wouldn’t gamble on fourth down at the Louisville 24.
“Lot of missed opportunities by us,” Phillips said. “You can’t be 2-for-6 inside the (Louisville) 25. Missed field, turnovers. We are better than that offensively.”
Phillips repeated the “we are better than that” line several times referring to his defensive front, perimeter blocking, tackling and failed fake punt.
“Our defense can’t have four drives over 76 yards (actually 71). That’s hard (for a team to do). You can’t give up four 76-yard drives for touchdowns,” Phillips said.
Actually, Kentucky can and did and it might have been more if Bridgewater had even played in the fourth quarter — Phillips suggested he was “cramping up because he ran up and down the field on us” — rather than watching from the sideline since the game was safely put away.
“We are better than that,” Phillips said. “Some might call me crazy, but we are better than that.”
But is Kentucky better?
Many UK fans on Twitter during the game were not impressed. Here are a few of the many comments fans sent me:
— “I think I speak for the majority of the UK fan-base on this, this is embarrassing. Flat out embarrassing football.”
— “(Louisville coach) Charlie Strong has more respect for Joker than some of our fans. Need to support the team all the time not just some of the time.”
— “This is absolutely pathetic … Joker and his staff should be ashamed, no fight no energy …. have they heard of tackling.”
Even ESPN college basketball guru Dick Vitale had a couple of tweets sent to me that infuriated Kentucky fans. During the game, he tweeted, “Let’s be serious-how really significant is Louisville – Kentucky in football ? Cats fans r counting the hours to the opening of hoops season.” After the game, he came back with this, “Louisville 32-Kentucky 14 in football – Will this be a magical year 4 Cards vs BBN- Cards will be loaded in hoops baby.”
Many Kentucky fans probably are now turning their attention to John Calipari’s basketball team. Kentucky season football ticket sales are down dramatically and this performance won’t cause fans to rush and buy tickets to see home games the next two weeks against Kent State and Western Kentucky.
Senior center Matt Smith knows even the Cats could be demoralized by a second straight loss at a time when Phillips needed a win to show fans he had the program moving forward after consecutive losing seasons.
“When we get back to practice on Tuesday, we can’t let guys walk around with their heads hanging because of what happened,” the senior lineman said. “We’ve heard a lot of talk about our team. We had a chance to prove something today and didn’t. We just have to go back to work and show what we can do.”
It better be more than it was in this game because the defense was gutted, the Cats were fooled by a two-point conversion play by Louisville after the game’s first score and even when the offense clicked it still had fumbles and a missed field goal. Not exactly the way to build confidence — or help a coach regain the trust of his fan base.
“We have a tough week ahead. We all wanted to do a lot better than we did, but we just didn’t do enough to win,” Maxwell Smith said. “We have to get a lot better and do it quickly.”
And there’s nothing crazy about that assessment.
45 Responses to Joker Phillips insists Kentucky better than it played in 32-14 loss, knows some will think he is crazy
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Kent State put up 41 and Western Kentucky 49 this past weekend, Minter better pull some rabbits out of his hat or things could get really, really, really bad.
scary numbers for Kent, WEstern. Agree UK was not ready intensity-wise and that stunned me. Just not a very good effort
I know people were more skeptical of the offense going into this game. But the defense did not come to play and made alot of mistakes that you shouldnt make at any level ! They dont have much time to pull it together for Kent St. There going to need to really not lose sight of the small technique issues especially containing the offense of any team. Going into the Swamp On the road the defense needs to really tweek some things!
same old joker . “we are better than that”. one thing i have noticed, joker has the talking a good game down to a science. of course joker gonna say they are better, because it is an indictement on him and his staff with continual mediocrity. and when he beats these next weaklings on the schedule , he will be talking it up again. uk football is hopeless.
LAST YEAR THE PRE-SEASON TALK WAS THE STRENGTH OF THE OFFENSE WAS GOING TO BE THE LINE. WE SAW HOW THAT TURNED OUT.THIS YEAR THE PRE-SEASON TALK WAS THE STRENGTH OF THE DEFENSE IS GOING TO BE THE FRONT THREE. AM I MISSING SOMETHING?
Look this isn’t rocket science. KY was just not ready to play. No energy, no speed, no hitting with intensity. You want to beat KY? Do it in the first half because everyone in the conference knows that KY never shows up to play football. Sometimes, they get it together in the second half but they can’t put both halves together in one game. Today, they didn’t get it together period. Pitiful.
You have to come to play no matter how good or bad your are. Especially with some many young players alot of room for errors that may not seem to make an impact early on but could be the difference in another quarter. There were flashes of a UK team that was there at times but that doesnt cut. You cant show up when you decide to show up!
I will never understand why Joker let the D-line coach go when he took over. Ever since the line has been terrible. I forget his name but he came from Miami and did a great job developing our line. One thing that bothers me is that we have a high school running back and quaterback starting at linebacker and a high school wide receiver backing them up. We need to scrap this 3-4 defense and go back to 4 down linemen. Mike Douglas really came on last year at DE and he is now listed as a DT. Go back to the 4-3 and let Dupree and Douglas come off the ends and if Farrington has the speed put him in also. This talk of a “hybrid” should be reserved for golf.
Joker is crazy! I will never believe another word he speaks! He is totally inept as a head coach. Time for a new leader at year end.
WHY? WHY? Vandrebilt is relevant. UK is not. The recurits are the problem. Taking chances on guys they “project” to be players does not work. You do not have the luxury of developing players in the SEC and being competitive. Until there is a coach who can bring in the talent that is SEC ready, we can expect to see the same results year after year. I LOVE UK football and want nothing but to see them succeed. Something has to change and it must happen soon.
Andy, great question. Something clearly is not working
That really is great point.Our program does not have the luxury to take seasons to develop talent like other schools so we have to have that balance of players who come to play and will adapt quickly. James Franklin really has been a great example in the SEC of how to turnover program quickly not just in recruiting but in the way he coaches and gets the players to buy in. You have to get the same at UK that agressive ability to not make execuses and leave no stoned unturned if its not working! Get kids who fit the program not try to fit kids into something that clearly is not producing results.
Got to fix the D.
Sadly,UK is not a SEC caliber team,and they proved it with their pathetic play (?) against ul.Minter has to be one of the worst hires ever,and the UK strength and conditioning program has to be very suspect.
it not as much the d line it more the secondary leaving wr wide open and were young back there if we had last year defense and this years offense we would be good but the d got work to do
The D was just awful, no other words to describe it. Those 2 fumbles were potential TD’s because louivilles D was also a bit weak and could have made the game more interesting. Minter has some explaining to do.
“We are better than we played”
No we aren’t. We are what we do on the field during games. Nothing more, nothing less.
12 times per year each team puts its “talent” on the line in real games. It is those 12 moments that define how good or bad each team really is.
shinny’s comment is very telling, “we were told” this or that this August, last August, any August. Go back and reread the August “reporting” by the local press about “this year’s” UK Football team, and I content the majority of Augusts, the message is “this team is better, different, quicker, faster, stronger, ….. blah, blah, blah.”
I stopped paying much attention to those expressions some years ago because either the local sports writers do not know how to watch a football team prepare and make accurate judgments about what they see, or the local sports writers are intentional in their efforts to elevate UK Football expectations among a fan base that really does not appreciate football the way it “knows” basketball.
One last note. Does this team have heart, more heart, less heart, no heart? Prior to yesterday, I read consistently it would have more heart. Since yesterday, I have read some places that this team was heartless. What is this thing called “heart”?
The 3 win forecast took a bit of a hit this weekend, and based on this weekend’s results, I now make Kent State a 2 point favorite over the Cats in an empty CWS next Saturday night.
MAC teams are often much better than expected but Kent St. usually isn’t one of the good ones. I would still rate the Cats as a favorite next week. If they lose this game then I’ll think they are pretty weak but I can remember when some people played in the MAC like Randy Moss, Ben Roethlisberger, Chad Pennington, and a lot of other future pros. They aren’t dormats in the MAC although things have been worse for them lately. Miami (OH) lost big to Ohio St. and they are usually a top MAC team.
I think this game will be a good measuring stick for the Cats. I don’t think it will be easy but I do think the Cats will come away with a victory. If they don’t then we can probably all wave bye bye to Joker.
And we are favored to win because?
King,
A game at CWS against Kent State will be a good measuring stick for the Cats? Do you believe that Kent State is a better measuring stick for UK football than Louisville? If Kent State is a good measuring stick, then will WKU be in that category too?
The UK v WKU game in 2 weeks is going to decide which Kentucky team may be 2nd best in Kentucky?
Yes, all these games are good measuring sticks for UK football, and the UK football team yesterday did not measure up very well.
Shssssh!
My point was that if they didn’t beat Kent St. easily they are in big trouble for the rest of the season. Measuring sticks aren’t just about winning. It’s how much you win by and how well you look doing it. Kent St. is probably better than most people think. I’ve seen MAC teams almost beat top 10 teams on many occasions. But of course usually they don’t. So if UK beats up on them it will give us some hope of better things to come. If they get beat then they are in real trouble even though Kent St. might be pretty good. They won’t be as good as Ark., Georgia, Florida and USC. The Cats could be 0-10 before they get a win if they don’t look better soon.
Yes they certainly should beat Kent St. but if they don’t it tells us a lot of what to expect and it won’t be good.
The same is true of what I saw yesterday. This team did not play well enough to make it a game. If this team can’t make a game of its encounter with Louisville, that is all I need to know about how it will do through the SEC, and I agree, Kent State should be handled easily by any legitimate SEC team, but this UK team is not likely to handle Kent State easily, if at all, and the following week, it is WKU. I wonder if they are already laughing at the prospects of playing this SEC team, or will they wait until next Sunday after they see what real SEC football is about at Tuscaloosa?
I know they looked really bad against UL Prof.. I’m not saying you’re wrong in any way. I’m just hoping that it was a first game thing and maybe they will improve. Whether they learned anything or not might be known by how they handle Kent St.. I’m just hoping they do better. I don’t really expect them to be a whole lot better but at the same time I’m not ready to give up after one game either. They have a tremendous schedule ahead of them after the next couple of weeks. If they can’t deal with Kent. St. easily they will be in serious trouble very quickly because they play 4 really good SEC teams in a short time span along with another SEC game they could easily lose. Heck they could lose to Kent St. and Western. I’m just really hoping it hasn’t gotten that bad although it sure looked like it down I-64 a few days ago.
The main reason I said anything was that I looked at the first game last year and wondered if they would win any games at all and they ended up winning 5 including a win against the Vols. I guess I’m hoping things will look better after this coming game. They got better last year after the first game. They may do it again. The way they play Kent St. will be a good indication of whether they can actually play better than they showed in their first game. That’s why I said what I did.
I know they looked really, really bad against Loserville. I said as much during the game. I just would like to see them improve and sometimes that happens after the first game especially with a seriously young team like the Cats have this year.
King, hope you are right about Joker’s team, but lack of defense really worries me
I don’t really expect a huge improvement BTW Larry. I’m just hoping for one. I did see a flash or two of life in the defense but it was nowhere near as consistent as it needed to be. After the fumble inside the 5 the defense kept UL from getting outside the 10 forcing a 3 and out and giving the Cats good field position. The offense couldn’t do a thing with it of course but for that one series the defense showed a little something.
I’m not pie eyed here. I know what I saw. It was terrible. But sometimes young players will surprise us. I’m just “hoping” that will happen. I really don’t expect it. If you saw my posts during the game I was extremely hard on the team and I guess I’ve felt bad about coming down so much on them. After all they are out there risking their health to play the game. Football is never a sport that should lack respect because it is a vicious game when you’re out there playing it. My posts here about hoping for a change is mainly my attempt to give them the respect they deserve just for showing up. When I think about the life changing injuries these guys risk I have a hard time being overly critical. Not everyone has the guts to get out there and play the game and many that do end up with life altering injuries. That alone commands some respect.
You guys are right about the measuring sticks. Unfortunately we could improve a great deal and still lose all of our SEC games.
Every year…Cats are better. Yes, the cheerleaders were at it again. Cat radio personalites predicting a win over UL or whoever the Cats play first. Radio call in shows with callers predicting improvements. Here is a truth from a man who was watched UK football since the Bear. UK has seldom competed in the SEC. UK will not compete in the SEC until UK decides to emphasis football. UK plays the role of bottom feeder. Every conference needs weak sisters. As long as UK is willing to bottom feed and as long as people buy tickets nothing will change.
You just told the complete story.
Prof. & Shinny are right – What we hear in August & what we get in Sept. are not the same. Could be a long season if we are worried about Kent St. & WKU.
I remember the first game last season. The Cats barely beat Western but it turned out that Western had a pretty good team. And all the naysayers never noticed that the Cats won 5 games finishing off the season with a streak ending victory over the Vols. It’s not too late for this team. 5-7 isn’t so bad in the SEC. The Cats did win 2 SEC games last year. Sure that isn’t Alabama or LSU tough but let’s not forget a Joker led victory over the Gamecocks not so long ago.
I’m not ready to throw in the towel on this team just yet. They are very young and Loserville is actually pretty good this year. If they fail to win any games in the SEC I will know they are on the wrong path. But I was one of those who was saying the season was practically over after the Western game last year. When that jerk from Western put down the SEC (what a moron) I was so ticked off at the Cats I could spit. But they did not have a terrible season. I’ve seen much worse from the Cats, believe me.
So let’s not give up after the first game. Young teams can sometimes learn a lot from a loss like the UL game. They did fumble twice in scoring position. If they had those two TD’s instead two turnovers the game would have been far, far closer. 32-28 maybe against a top 25 team??? It’s not time to declare the season over.
Re: Looservile——–you make us look silly. Loserville has beaten us for two years. The fumbles did happen and the score was 32-14 and not 32-28. Had not Strong took out Bridgewater the score could have been 40-50 or 60 to 14. The name of the school is LOUISVILLE. I am reminded of a friend who sings the conference song. His first comment was that Louisville played in the weak Big East and that if UK were in the Big East they would dominate and if UL were in the SEC they would be losers. The Big East is weak and the SEC is tough. But if Louisville dominates us that seems to mean to me that UK would not dominate the Big East and that Louisville would compete better in the SEC. Why would Louisville compete better in the SEC? Simple..they want to compete. Best example of the effort to compete? Look at who coaches both teams.
I’d love for UK to compete in the SEC, which is something that they have not done for over 50 years. But when the University and much of the fan base struts it’s stuff over low level bowl games and 2-6 and 3-5 SEC records that is not likely to happen.
Ooooh the guy who can’t spell his own name called “me” silly! In fact I make the whole BBN look silly. Go back to Indiana and leave “us” alone. You do realize Kokomo is an Indiana town, don’t you? BTW what position do you play on the football team? You did say, “…if Louisville dominates us…”
BTW I don’t want to play “speculate about what teams would do well in conference X”. I just think you should learn some manners like pretty much everyone on this board practices.
Anybody that calls a team that beats us two years in a row and dominates us in the second game Loserville or a loser is silly and yes that makes us all look bad. If Louisville is LOSERville then what does that make us? The objective personal pronoun US refers to the collective body of UK fans of which I am one. I assume that you are also one. That makes us both members of the collective us.
Remember basketball?
larry help me out here, it was just last year one of uk’s recievers admitted after 2 or 3 games in to the year that he was just not” up “for any of the previous games he had just played. Or not in to it or something of the kind like that. Phillips is a b.s. er with all the excuses of a 9 year old. aim small miss small – thats kentucky football.
anyone ever notice say like lou holtz or nick saban , or other coaches who know they are sitting on a powder keg of a team, or hell calipari, for this matter, they know how to try and quash and temper all the hype that surrounds there team, and they try to beat back championship talks early in to there respective season. And then there are coaches like joker, who are the opposite , who have to hype and speak in grandious terms almost like he is even trying to convince himself that his own team is going to be better and improve. you have one coach trying to deflate expectations and one trying to over inflate expectations. i’d say uk would be well served if one day they had a football coach trying to deflate how good they are going to be, it would be a nice change.
I am disappointed that going into the game Joker did not know our defense was bad – really, really bad. You are the coach. How do you not know that? I think my grandchildren could tackle better than our team did. And, don’t think Coach Strong didn’t call off the dogs to try to help Joker. Had he let his team run its course, we would have been beaten by 50.
Joker is a joke. With Ky. football it will always be hype and failures until the university decides they want a football team. They need to hire a first class proven coach not some unproven wannabee or someone on their last leg before retirement. Bear Bryant told the story years ago when Rupp got a new car for Christmas and he got a lighter.
Strong knew UK’s D was bad and did not run up the score. They took Teddy out in the 3rd quarter. He didnt play for 19 minutes. That is an insult to Minters Unit. Are we better off in a 3-4? Tyler Brause and Simpson looked lost out there. If this keeps happening, every team will torch the secondary. Teddy had all day to make breakfast and then some.
The O has improved, however I would like to see more deep balls being thrown but Max is def the right choice under center. The no huddle is good. Offense seems to move faster in the no huddle.
The D deft looked like they were not here to play or still thinking they were in practice. THey looked more hungry in together in practice in Fall Camp than they did yesterday. Apparently something is working there lets just see if we can fix it sooner than later. We can’t continue to say oh first game and things will iron themselves it. This team and Joker is holding on by a string so hopefully something will change next game.
It was good to see Offense imrpoved ! It doesnt have to pretty but it does have to be effective and thats what I saw as well using the no huddle uptempo offense. I think UK needs to continue on that for some reason that put them in situations to make players better and more effectively, but also distorted the defense!
Anyone seen the temporary scroll sign on Tates Creek Rd at the entrance to the football stadium. It is a great comment on UK Football. It scrolls the message ” Lexington, are you ready for a disaster?” then gives a website to go to for disaster preparation. After the Louisville game Sunday I wonder what genius put that message out there. Very appropriate though for next week’s home game unless something changes.
Ouch Pacman. Have not seen that. But will check Saturday on it
Pacman, saw the same sign on Nicholasville Road today just before you get to the stadium
I did not get a chance to read all of the comments, but, I thought Charlie Strong pulled the plug on the onslaught. We barely challenged UofL defensively. They could have scored 50 + points if Bridgewater would have stayed in. It was worse than the score showed. Charlie showed mercy on Joker the way I saw it.
Mike, you are right. Charlie called it off early. Cards could have scored a lot more