The Day After Post...

Every once in a while we fall victim to that attractive member of the opposite sex that looks great the night that you hook up with them, but then you wake up the next morning and you have mixed feelings. Thats the way I feel about this game against Texas State.

Yeah there were a lot of good things that I can take from this game, but there are some bad things too. I liked the way that the offense looked in this game. It was good to see them put together scoring drives and use the running game to do so. The usual suspects showed up to bring the Cats to victory in this one: Keenan Burton, Dicky Lyons Jr. The punting game looked great and that's always a plus considering that it's crucial to field position. It was great to see Rafael Little back to his old self; he put up over 200 all purpose yards. Andre Woodson looked confident behind center, and besides his one interception, played good, intelligent football. I also really liked the fact that Kentucky had a goal line stand on defense. It's one of those things that could really be a confidence booster for the Cats. Finally, it was great to see many players get involved. Brooks said himself that he knows he can substitute players now and still be competitive.

Here are the problems though... UK played Texas State. It's not like they played this well against an SEC opponent. I'm not trying to take anything away from Texas State, but they are a D1 AA school (I know they went to the championships but still...) There were some defensive breakdowns that an SEC team would have capitalized on. One play in particular was the fake field goal in the end of the 2nd quarter. The Texas State recievers had the UK defense beat, an SEC school more than likely would have capitalized. I think the running game is still iffy due to the fact that the offensive line keeps changing. I'd like to see the Cats stick with a line that consistantly plays with each other. The kicking game needs a lot of work. Only on a freak play should a PAT ever be missed. It'll be interesting to see how that competition goes. I guess Taylor Begley left some huge shoes to fill.

Honestly, the big test will come against Ole Miss this week. Yup, I said it, Ole Miss is going to be a HUGE test for this Kentucky team. A win against Ole Miss would definitely prove that Kentucky has moved up in the SEC instead of being thrown on the bottom with Vanderbilt and it's a game that Kentucky has a good chance of winning. I want to believe that everything from the Texas State game is true, but I need to see it against an SEC team.

The game against Texas State was almost a double edged sword for Kentucky. If they lost, they would have lost to a D1AA school... If they won, well of couse they should have won it's a D1AA school. But I think the win did more for the Cats confidence than anything. If they can take some momentum from this game, then it was worth it. I'll be watching to see if they can take that momentum into Saturday with Ole Miss.

Stay tuned this week for a breakdown of Ole Miss and for all our other shenanagians.