UK v. Arkansas

I have to admit, I'm flummoxed on this one. UK has shown nothing offensively and there isn't any reason to think they are suddenly going to figure it out this week. Arkansas is coming off a big win versus Auburn, and although they were pretty sorry early in the season, Petrino seems to have the Razorback offense progressing each week. I was surprised at the amount of yardage they ran up against a pretty darn good Auburn offense. The Wildcat defense is good enough to shut down the Razorbacks, but if they spend the whole game on the field like they did last week, fatigue could become a factor. UK has had its share of struggles with Petrinos system, which is similar to what he ran at Louisville. Granted, Arkansas doesn't have the athletes that those Cardinal teams featured. My brain says to give a slight edge to the Hogs simply because they seem to be moving forward and UK is not, but my gut says UK will eek it out at home.

I'm going to call it a toss up...give UK the home field advantage and a three point win 17-14.

UK vs. South Carolina

Well...I am going to have to pick the Cats this week...as much as I hate to.

I get a certain satisfaction in tweaking UK fans. It's really great fun. You should try it sometime.

But the Wildcat defense showed me enough last week to believe they are for real. I don't see South Carolina moving the ball against UK.

Then again, the Big Blue probably won't move the ball a whole lot either. I'm thinking of calling them the Big Blue Blunder. But in their defense, UK did generate offense in spurts against Bama. South Carolina also runs an aggressive defensive system and UK's screen passes may negate that to some degree. If Dickey Lyons can make a few big plays, they should be able to outpace the Cocks. I also expect the defense to put some points on the board.

UK has never beat Spurrier. But this is not the Gators coming into Commonwealth Stadium, so I'm going to go with UK.

Cats 19 Gamecocks 7

A small sip of blue Kool-Aid

I have to admit, the UK defense is for real. The Cats did give up a lot of rushing yards; Glen Coffee rushed for 218 yards, but they kept Bama out of the end zone and that's what counts in the end. It's a shame UK doesn't have the offense to go with the defense. Rickey Lyons Jr. is fun to watch, but the rest of the receiving corps pretty much sucks. Hartline may well develop into a good quarterback. He showed some nice flashes in the game, but also shows some inexperience at times. He could probably develop really fast if he had more than one target to throw to.

I kept hearing commentators talking about how Alabama didn't play well. I have to think some of that was the UK D. Some of it may have been a little letdown after the Georgia game.

I have to say this, I got a little frustrated with the ESPN guy talking about how Alabama should drop in the polls. He gave Kentucky no respect and acted like Bama should have walked over Kentucky like Oklahoma did to Baylor.

We all know that I am no UK apologist, but I can recognize a good football team when I see one, and I do think UK has a good football team. Not great...but a solid mid-tier SEC team.

MY UK prediction

Sorry UK fans. I just don't see it.

I may well be wrong about this, but I don't buy into the Kentucky hype. Their 4-0 record proves nothing. We will see what UK is all about today.

I don't expect the Cats to score more than 10 points against the Alabama defense. The UK offensive line will struggle against the Tides D line. Besides Dickey Lyons, the Cats receiving corps is awful with dropped passes and bad routes.

On the defensive side of the ball, UK should fare better, but we really haven't seen them tested either. I was pretty impressed with the way Alabama hung points on a pretty good Georgia team.

I don’t think Alabama will suffer a letdown. They’ll be playing in front of a raucous home crowd coming off a big win.

In my mind it all ads up to the UK loss.

If the Cats pull it off…I promise I’ll take a big chug of Big-Blue Kool-Aid.

My call:
Alabama 21-UK 10

Welcome to gooberville

I was driving home the other day listening to the sports radio call-in show on WVLK. Since I've moved back to Kentucky, I've been trying really hard to keep an open mind about things UK.

Some fans make it very hard.

There's a certain myopia that exists around here, as if UK and the SEC are all there is in the universe. Maybe this stems from the fact that Wildcat sports are basically the only game in town in Lexington.

At any rate, this caller started out talking about how much better UK is than UofL. Granted, he has a point and the Cats proved that on the field. He proceeded into some Big East bashing. Again, he has a point. It's pretty hard to defend the Big East in football, at least judging by early season results. Then the caller went on the say that if UK had Louisville's schedule, they would certainly, easily go undefeated.

At that point the entered into the land of UK gooberville.

He's crazy if he thinks a Wildcat team with little offense, no running game and an untested defense could beat South Florida. As far as that goes, I don't think UK could hang with West Virginia, despite the Mountaineers loss to East Carolina (which is a pretty darn good football team).

I've sort of defended UK's close call against MTSU, but come on now, if UK had a hard time with the Blue Raiders, you can't coherently make the argument that the Wildcats would walk all over even a middle of the pack Big East team.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out. I think UK has a decent team, but I could also see them having a losing season if they don't iron out some wrinkles. As far as my Bulls go, they made a good showing against Kansas last week, but they have a history of beating ranked opponents and then tanking against the teams they should beat.

That said, a lot will have to change before I will accept the argument that UK is better than USF.

Couch time for UK fans

Sports fans by nature seem to swing between emotional extremes, and sometimes I think UK fans are worse than most.

Early wins over UofL and Norfolk State had some fans predicting an SEC championship, and the airwaves were full of talk about the Wildcats' dominating defense.

Nothing like a close call to damper spirits.

After the Cats narrowly escaped Commonwealth Stadium with a 20-14 win over the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, suddenly the Big Blue Bandwagon is rolling a little lighter and I've already heard some fans declare that the sky is falling.

As a public service to my fellow Kentuckians, I would like to offer a little mental health counseling.

First off, keep in mind that a win is a win, and at the end of the year, most people won't remember that an MTSU fell about two feet short of stealing one from the Cats. UK may have stumbled and bumbled their way to win number three, but the bottom line is that it's win number three.

Secondly, make no mistake about it, Middle Tennessee is a darn good football team. I predicted they would give the Cats problems. I think a lot of fans looked at MTSU as one of those "directional schools" that the Cats would easily run right over. But the Blue Raiders whipped a pretty good Maryland team last week, so the fact that Middle Tennessee hung tough doesn't necessarily bode ill for the Cats.

Granted UK didn't play particularly well.

I think the team overlooked MTSU a bit. Coach Brooks complained that UK did not practice well all week, and that clearly flowed over into the game.

And UK definitely has plenty to work on. The offensive line did not get the job done and they are going to have to start opening some holes for the running game to take some pressure off Hartline. UK also needs to figure out a way to make some field-goals and to get their receivers to run the right routes.

That said, the sky isn't falling.

Last week, UK wasn't going to win the SEC and this week, they are not going to finish dead last. I think they will bounce back and easily handle Western Kentucky and then play a good Alabama team tough. UK still looks to me like a solid seven or eight win team.

So don't despair all ye bleeders of blue. There's a long season ahead. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the 3-0 record.

Thanks for coming by, now go do something productive. That will be $75 payable to Dr. Maharrey.

MY UK prediction

If I were a betting man, I'd go put some money on Middle Tennessee.

The line has Kentucky as a 17 point favorite and I just don't see it. Middle Tennessee beat Maryland last week, a team that easily handled a top 25 ranked Cal team today. Middle Tennessee runs a spread offense, not unlike what Urban Meyer runs at Florida, and the Cats have had trouble stopping teams running the spread in the past. I'm also not convinced UK can consistently move the ball against a good defense. With the temperature in the low 90's, if the offense can't keep the ball and give the Kentucky D some rest, they will have big problems late in the game.

If the game were in Tennessee, I would pick them for the upset, but I am going to give the Cats the slight edge at home.

My pick:
UK 17 MTSU 14