Kentucky quarterback Randall Cobb (18) celebrates with fans after beating Auburn 21-14. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
By LARRY VAUGHT
Kentucky’s football season suddenly looks a lot more promising.
Even without starting quarterback and cornerback Trevard Lindley, the Wildcats did what many thought was impossible and won a Southeastern Conference road game at Auburn Saturdaynight 21-14.
Once again, the Cats made a fourth-quarter comeback, something that has become a habit in coach Rich Brooks’ tenure. Now they return home with a 3-3 record and facing three straight home games against teams they can all beat.
Kentucky should feel great. Freshman quarterback Morgan Newton was adequate in his first start. “He’s going to be a really good player and this will give him a lot to build on,” Brooks said on his post-game radio show. “Three straight home games will give him a chance to settle into the offense more.”
But junior quarterback Will Fidler came in the second half and played well. He led a scoring drive and directed another drive that ended with a missed field goal. He completed passes. He ran. He played with confidence.
Then there was Mr. Everything, Randall Cobb. Needing a touchdown to win, Kentucky basically turned to him and he delivered spectacular runs, including the winning touchdown run. He’s special and the kind of player others rally around.
Yet if I was giving game balls, they would go to UK’s offensive line. The Big Nasties chewed up Auburn and allowed both Cobb and Derrick Locke to run for over 100 yards.
Defensively, the Cats were solid and only gave up one score. The hitting was terrific. The tackling was the best it had been all year. Cornerback Paul Warford was tremendous coming back from a quad injury. The linebackers were all good. Safety Winston Guy punished runners.
What lies ahead? Don’t laugh, but there’s not a game left on the schedule UK can’t win. No, I am not predicting 9-3 — even though I did correctly predict UK’s win both on a live chat at ukathletics.com Wednesday and on the WLAP pregame show Saturday — but UK should find itself favored in perhaps every game except at Georgia. And that includes a home game with Tennessee, a team that lost to visiting Auburn.
Kentucky has played a brutal schedule. Two weeks ago a Big 12 coaching friend told me that “90 percent of the teams in the country would go 0-4 against UK’s schedule” of home games with No. Florida and No. 2 Auburn and then road games at South Carolina and Auburn.
But Kentucky got the win it desperately needed for Southeastern Conference respect and bowl positioning. In fact, one could argue that this is one of the top five wins in Brooks’ coaching career behind the victory over then No. 1 lSU, goal-post win over Georgia and bowl victories over Clemson and Florida State.
So don’t starting the countdown to basketball just yet. Remember to savor what could still turn out to be a special season for Brooks’ gritty Cats.
KENTUCKY POSTGAME NOTES
Final Score: Kentucky 21, Auburn 14
October 17, 2009 * Jordan-Hare Stadium, Auburn, Ala.
Team Records and Series Notes
* Kentucky improves to 3-3 on the season, 1-3 in the Southeastern Conference. Auburn is 5-2 overall, 2-2 in the league.
* Auburn leads the series, 24-6-1.
* This is UK?s first win over Auburn in 43 years. UK?s last victory was in Lexington (17-7) in 1966.
* This is only the second time in school history that Kentucky has won at Auburn. The other time it happened was 1961.
* Next for Kentucky: the Wildcats play host to Louisiana-Monroe on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. The game will be televised by selected regional channels on the Fox Sports Network.
UK Team Notes
* Kentucky limited Auburn to 14 points and 315 total offensive yards. The Tigers entered the game averaging 38.3 points and 489.8 yards total offense per game.
* UK totaled a season-high 282 rushing yards. It marked the most rushing yards since 297 yards vs. Norfolk State in 2008 and the most against an SEC opponent since 301 yard vs. Mississippi State in 1995.
* Kentucky had two 100-yard rushers in the game (Derrick Locke with 126 and Randall Cobb with 109) for the first time since Shane Boyd (130) and Tony Dixon (105) rushed for over 100 yards vs. Indiana on Sept. 18, 2004.
* It marks the first time since 2006 that Auburn has allowed two 100-yard rushers in a game. The last time was against Arkansas when Darren McFadden and Felix Jones rushed 145 and 104 yards, respectively.
* Kentucky is 14-8 in the last 22 games decided by 10 or fewer points.
* Kentucky has won 23 games since mid-season 2006, with 11 of those wins coming as fourth-quarter comebacks.
UK Individual Notes
* Randall Cobb finished with 12 carries for a career-high 109 yards. It marks the first 100-yard rushing game of his career.
* Cobb rushed four yards for UK?s go-ahead score with 3:17 remaining in the game. He set up the touchdown with a career-long 61-yard run on the previous play.
* Derrick Locke rushed 19 times for a career-high 126 yards. It marks the first 100-yard game of his career.
* Locke and Cobb are the first Wildcats to rush for 100 yards in a game since Rafael Little ran for 152 vs. Florida State in the 2007 Music City Bowl.
* Locke moved past three former players for 22nd place on the UK career rushing list. Locke now has 1,283 rushing yards as a Wildcat. He needs 14 more yards to move ahead of Don Phelps (1946-49) at No. 21.
* Making his first collegiate start, freshman quarterback Morgan Newton completed 5-of-13 passes for 39 yards.
* Newton also rushed for his first collegiate touchdown in the second quarter, a four-yard run. He finished with eight carries for 15 yards.
* Quarterback Will Fidler finished completed 4-of-9 passes for 36 yards. He also ran two yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. It is his first collegiate touchdown.
* Strong safety Calvin Harrison?s interception in the first quarter is his second pickoff of the season.
* Linebacker Danny Trevathan had a career-high 14 tackles. His previous high was 10 vs. Alabama earlier this season.
* Linebacker Sam Maxwell charted a career-high 10 tackles. His previous high was seven on two occasions.
* First career starts for redshirt freshman DE Taylor Wyndham and freshman QB Morgan Newton.
18 Responses to UK’s football season looks a lot better now
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Bang up job again Larry. I have really enjoyed jumping on board with your site this year. What a great win for Kentucky Football. When was the last time you can remember a UK team going for no turnovers and no penalties on the road? Unbelieveable. Once again, fantastic article.
What a HUGE win! As Ben said, no turnovers, no penalties – and Jeff Drummond pointed out that’s three TDs by three different quarterbacks! Exciting win for sure.
enjoyed reading your artical and really enjoyed watching the cats claw through the game and win keep up the good work,
THAT WAS AWESOME!! What a great all-around performance. I think that Newton looked more than adequate. He showed really good judgement on several plays. He didn’t throw the big interception or take a big sack. He threw the ball away a few times when I thought for sure he would take a sack for a loss. I was very pleasantly surprised because I thought that this was not the game to throw him into for his first start, but he proved me wrong. I don’t usually make bad comments about players, but I have to point out the lack of effort put in by Chris Matthews. There were several pass plays where I really thought he could have layed out and at least made an attempt at the ball (the announcer even commented about one such occasion, right after I yelled about it). He also dropped a ball that he didn’t put much effort into. Someone needs to tell him that his uniform can be washed if he gets it dirty. I’ll drop that subject now because overall this was the game the team should be most proud of this year. What a solid win against a team that should be in the top 25.
LARRY, PLEASE DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY GAME BALLS!!!! As the UK compliance office recently tweeted, it is a violation to award game balls for performances in individual games. I would hate for another writer to get wind of this situation and turn you in. GO BIG BLUE!!!!
Larry,
Like you I called this win. I even bet a UL fan five bucks on the game. I don’t have espnu. So I listened to most of the first half and called my best friend when we would get close and he did the play by play. We’ve been friends since 6th grade and talk alot during games since we live in different towns. I watched the second half on line. There was a 45 second delay from live tv so every time we got close I would call my friend. It was fun listening to him call the Cobb run. He was screaming like crazy. GREAT WIN FOR THE CATS. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. GO BLUE OR STAY HOME.
Good stuff here by all, and I will keep my game balls here in Danville. Glad to have Ben from Nashville with us because there are a lot of Big Blue fans there.
Don’t be too hard on Matthews. Still UK’s second best receiver and he’s only six games into his UK career. Not everyone can be Cobb. He’s still the best chance for a big-play guy to go with Cobb on the team.
Larry, I have to disagree with your top 5 Brooks wins. The 2007 win over UofL has to be included over the Florida State win. Don’t get me wrong, I want Kragthorpe to coach the Cards for at least 3 or 4 more years, but that game was the first nail in his coffin. Given that Florida State had a bunch of players unavailable, us winning that game was not a significant upset.
Larry,
Could you get some info on the true freshman Larod King. I graduated from North Hardin and Newton spoke highly of him. Have you met him? What are the coaches saying? He was a qb in high school. I saw him in the game last night. I hope he gets more opportunities. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. GO BLUE OR GO HOME!!
Big win for our team, now lets take care of business the next couple of weeks and we will be in good shape for number four.
How big is Randall Cobb? The guy never quits, one man can not tackle him. Also its going to be fun to watch Locke further develop his game.
I agree with you on Matthews Larry, this kid has big play written all over him. He needs to learn the system better and we have to keep in mind he has never played football at this level before this year. I think everyone looks at his frame and thinks he should dominate, I think he will definatly develop into that player we want him to be its just going to take a little time.
What a great weekend for UK.
Was a great weekend. Totally agree.
As for King, really like him. Nice kid that the coaches — and Newton — really like. will try to get something with him this week.
Cobb? I love the kid. He’s just a winner. I think this team has to win at least seven games now. Hope it is more
Andy, you could be right. More I think about it, win over Louisville should be there over the Florida state win. You are right and I am wrong. Thanks for correcting me
I like the first UL win also. They were loaded on offense. I think the Dumerville kid was there and he has been a stud in the NFL and I got to see grown men cry(UK fans tears of joy UL fan tears of pain). On that note do you think Kragthorpe deserves more time? I know it’s a UK site just want your opinion.
Will have Brooks response to my significant win posted later
Wow.
Never in a million years would the clowns at the CJ or HL EVER admit they were wrong about anything….especially if the opinion came from a reader!
That is why you, Larry Vaught, are the best sports writer in Kentucky. Thanks for listening and keeping it real!
No worries, Larry. I am wrong a lot and love when readers help show me the error of my ways. One thing I have always tried to do is be honest and if am wrong, I’ll let you know. And I try to listen. I have found out there are a lot of smart, insightful UK fans would know more than me.
Chris Mathews threw some great blocks to get Cobb and Locke open, so don’t criticize his play in total. Give him some time and he will develop. If not, the coaches won’t hesitate to play someone else! Go CATS!!!!