True Blue Kentucky

He knows a thing or two about football at Kentucky.  Tim Couch has seen his fair share of success on the field while wearing the Blue and White jersey. Couch compiled enough passing yards and touchdowns to be ranked third in UK history at the quarterback spot.  His talent earned him a number one pick in the NFL draft to the Cleveland Browns.

Now an analyst for Fox Sports South, Couch is back in Lexington to call UK's game against Mississippi State tomorrow.  Couch gave his thoughts on Kentucky's season so far in Mark Story's article for Kentuckysports.com. Here are some excerpts.

"It's going to be fun for me to be back in Commonwealth because I don't get a chance to see Kentucky play much during the season," Couch said Wednesday. "I'm always on the road doing other games. It will be fun just to be around and see familiar faces and just be in the stadium again. I'm really looking forward to it."

"The first thing that jumps out to me is the lack of playmakers," he said. "When I think of Kentucky in recent years, they've always had a really good group of wide receivers. I don't see that right now.

"Obviously, La'Rod King has put up some nice numbers. I don't see anyone else on the outside that is going to threaten a defense or anyone else who can go up and make a play the way La'Rod can. So if you can take away one guy, they don't have a lot of options."

Last Saturday, Couch had an off week and was able to attend the Kentucky-Jacksonville State game. It's hardly surprising that one of the best quarterbacks ever to play at UK spent a lot of his time watching the current Cats signal caller.

"The thing that jumped out at me, especially early in the game, was the body language of Morgan Newton," Couch said. "I just didn't think he was playing with a lot of confidence and, rightfully so, they haven't had a lot of success offensively. They have to find a way to get him going and, especially early in games, get him some confidence going."

He brought hope to a rejuvenated fan base when he committed to UK coming out of high school.  The four star quarterback was UK's highest rated qb since Tim Couch.  Morgan Newton had the fan base a buzzing.  During his freshman year, he won 5 of 8 games after Mike Hartline went down.  He led UK when they knocked off Auburn on the road and to the Music City Bowl.  In his sophomore season he got to play in UK's bowl game against Pitt.

Fast forward to the nightmare that is 2011 season for the UK Wildcats.  The junior out of Carmel Indiana has UK in unfamiliar territory facing their facing a bowl drought for the first time in 6 tries.  Newton has been unfairly blamed for all of UK's offensive woes this season.  Yet through it all, the QB is trying to stay positive.  John Clay talked with Newton in his latest article for Kentuckysports.com. Here are some excerpts.

Through six games, the junior from Carmel, Ind., is completing just 45.7 percent of his passes. He's thrown six touchdowns, compared to seven interceptions. His 86.5 pass efficiency rating falls well outside the Southeastern Conference's top 10. His offense ranks 118th out of 120 nationally in average yards per game.

And, oh yeah, last time out, in a 51-point loss at South Carolina, Newton completed just four of 20 passes for 17 yards. His passer rating was 16.7.

"Sunday when we met," said quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Randy Sanders last week, "I just kind of gave him a hug."

This season, his experience and athleticism was to buoy an offense missing play-makers Randall Cobb, Derrick Locke and Chris Matthews. That hasn't happened.

Only twice has Newton's passer rating been above 100. Only against Louisville, in a losing cause, has he completed more than 50 percent of his throws.

If you want to point to one of the key contributors to UK struggling this year then look to the 07-08 recruiting classes. You have to think back 4-5 years to remember that KY’s recruiting was basically on life support. KY was still trying to get kids interested in a program coming off probation and most of the 07 kids were committed prior to KY's bowl win in 2006.  The class UK signed in 2008 after building a little momentum was better but like the previous class still struggled to get kids through their JR/SR seasons.

Ideally, the strength of your team is in the JR/SR class and hopefully they have been redshirted. Auburn won the NC last year with 24 seniors; BSU has 25 redshirted SRs this year. Even UL, who won their bowl game last year was a senior laden team. KY is always going to struggle to recruit D1 ready talent so they simply have to be solid in recruiting kids that will stay with it and develop. When you look at the 07 class it really puts into perspective just how many problems we have had over the years.

Its not that UK hasn't had any talent, but its depth and maturity has suffered.  Its hard to look like a major college football team without experience and its even tougher to make it through the season without quality depth.

Kentucky has a very tough task Saturday as they travel to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers.  The Wildcats will need to be at their best if they hope to knock off the number one team in the nation.

2011 Season

LSU enters the matchup after dismantling West Virginia 47-21.  The Tigers have a 4-0 record and are 1-0 in the SEC.  They have beaten three ranked teams in Oregon, Mississippi State, and West Virginia.  LSU may hold the most talent of any opponent that UK faces all season

After last week’s blow out by Florida, Kentucky enters the matchup with a 2-2 record.

LSU's Offense

LSU's offense is averaging 38.8 points a game.  They have scored over 40 points in 3 of their 4 games.  The Tiger offense has ran up a total of 1400 on 270 plays.  They average 5.2 yards per play against a difficult schedule so far this early season. They have converted 27 out of 56 third downs this season.  They also have scored on 19 out of their 20 trips to the red zone.

The Tigers like to get their ground game going.  Out of their 270 plays, they have rushed the ball 172 times for 684 yards. Running backs Spencer Ware and Michael Ford have both rushed for over 300 yards this season.  Ware has 3 touchdowns and Ford has 6 on fewer carries.

QB Jarrett Lee leads the LSU squad.  He has completed 56 of his 87 passes this season with 6 of those being for touchdowns.  He has 1 pick and has a passer’s rating of 145.1   Rueben Randle leads the receivers with 18 receptions for 282 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Odell Beckham also has 17 receptions for 193 yards and 1 score.

Kentucky's Offense

Kentucky looks to get back on the winning track as the Wildcats play host to the Florida Gators in Lexington tomorrow night.  Kentucky will try to end Florida’s 24 game winning streak over the Cats.  Both teams have played three games, so let's look at how the two teams will match up Saturday.

2011 Season

Florida enters the matchup coming off of an emotional victory against Tennessee.  The Gators beat the Vols 33-23 in the Swamp.   They have also knocked off UAB and Florida Atlantic.

Kentucky enters the matchup with a 2-1 record.  UK will play it’s first game since losing last week to Louisville.  The Wildcats have wins against Central Michigan and Western Kentucky.

Florida's Offense

Florida's offense is averaging 37.7 points a game.  The Gatorl offense has ran up a total of 1327 on 207 plays.  Out of that 1327 yards, 631 of those came on the ground.  They have been even as far as running and passing yards.

The Gators like to get their ground game going.  Out of their 207 plays, they have rushed the ball 128 times.  They have passed it 79 times.  Florida has converted 15 out of 35 third downs this season.  They also have scored on 9 out of their 9 trips to the red zone.

QB John Brantley has completed 47 of his 72  passes this season with 3 of those being for touchdowns.  He has 3 picks and has a passer’s rating of 147.8.   Chris Rainey leads the Gators in rushing with 306 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Kentucky's Offense

Kentucky's offense averages 19.3 points a game.  The Wildcats have amassed a total of 8244 yards on 180 plays.  They have rushed for 358 yards while passing for 456 yards.

UK will like to establish their running game early.  A lot of that will depend on weathering the Florida storm and early success on the ground.    In three games they have rushed the ball 102 times and have passed the ball 78 times.  UK has converted only 13 out of 42 third downs this season.  They also have 5 out of their 8 trips to the red zone.

Kentucky QB Morgan Newton has completed 43 of his passes this season with 4 of those being for touchdowns.  Newton has thrown 4 interceptions the season.  Josh Clemons leads the Cats in rushing with 193 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Defense

The battle for the Bluegrass State begins at 7:00 pm EST tomorrow night as the Louisville Cardinals invade Lexington tomorrow night.  Kentucky will try to hand Louisville their fifth straight loss in the series between the two rivalries with a victory in front of their home crowd.  Both teams have played two games so let's look at how the two teams will match up Saturday.

2011 Season

Louisville enters the matchup coming off of a loss to Florida International.  The Cards lost to FIU 24-17.  The won their season opener by defeating Murray State 21-9.

Kentucky enters the matchup with a 2-0 record.  The Wildcats beat Central Michigan last week 27-13, and knocked off Western Kentucky in the season opener 14-3.

Louisville's Offense

Louisville's offense is averaging 19.0 points a game.  The Cardinal offense has ran up a total of 831 on 156 plays.  Out of that 831 yards, only 242 of those came on the ground.  The rest came from Louisville's passing game.

The Cardinals have spread it even on the ground and the air.  They have rushed the ball 78 times and have passed the same amount of times.  Louisville has converted 17 out of 36 third downs this season.  They also have 4 out of their 6 trips to the red zone.

Louisville QB Will Stein has completed 47 of his passes this season with 4 of those being for touchdowns.  Stein has thrown only 1 of the Cards 2 inteceptions on the season.   Victor Anderson leads the Cards in rushing with 90 yards and 1 touchdown.

Kentucky's Offense

Being a former wide receiver himself, UK head coach Joker Phillips knows a thing a two about playing the position.  Even with UK's 14-3 victory against WKU, Joker was embarassed by the play of his receivers last Thursday.

The wide receiver spot was going to be of great interest coming into the season.  Kentucky lost their two premier receivers with Randall Cobb going pro and Chris Matthews graduating.  UK lacked playmaking experience coming into the season.  If Thursday's game was an indication of the rest of the season, the receivers still have a long way to climb to put up the numbers like Cobb and Matthews.

In article for Kentuckysports.com, Mark Story talks about the receivers in his latest article. Here are  some excerpts.

Said Phillips: "It was embarrassing watching them."

Senior Matt Roark and juniors Gene McCaskill and La'Rod King were Kentucky's starters Thursday night in Nashville. Sophomore Brian Adams also played extensively. The quartet combined for six receptions. King and Roark both had multiple drops, though King did haul in a game-clinching 31-yard touchdown pass from Morgan Newton in the fourth quarter.

"We weren't a very physical wide receiving group as far as blocking, either," Phillips said Monday at his weekly news conference. "If you are going to act like a pass catcher, you better catch the damn ball. If you're not a pass catcher, you better give the running backs a chance (with your blocking) to make one guy miss."

Game Day! Nothing more exciting for college football fans then finally getting through a miserably hot season filled with watching baseball and golf. Finally its September and the real sport is about to begin.

In just two years Joker has made a lot of changes. He has added several new coaches and now a new defense as he hopes to shape the program in his vision. KY football has always been in a difficult position. Trying to find success in the most powerful conference in the country with the poorest recruiting base in the SEC. In his first year as HC, Joker made some mistakes but he learned from them. Now he hopes to rebuild momentum in year two and accomplish new highs for the football program.

So what can we expect to see tonight against WKU?

An improved Morgan Newton-Well at least I hope so. Newton has certainly been a new and improved player in camp but he still has to prove in under the big lights. KY’s staple on offense is its screen game so expect UK to try and work underneath but I would also expect UK to take some shots down the field early. Controlling the adrenaline will make completing passes early in the game tough but it won’t stop UK from trying. Almost all spring was spent on improving the passing game and it has transferred over to this fall. It would be nice to see all the effort pay off with some success tonight.

An improved defense against the run- Yea, I know, we say it every year. But unless UK is able to stop the run we won’t be taking any steps forward. Minter’s defense is all about speed and disruption. KY will run blitz a lot; if they can bottle up Rainey then they will likely shut down WKU. But if Rainey breaks tackles he will take it to the house. It’s the first game so I expect we will see some breakdowns but KY has to take a stand stopping the run and that starts tonight.