So much for the afterglow — final notes and thoughts on UK's "three peat" 31-27 win over Louisville

In retrospect, I think I owe Rich Brooks and the Wildcats a big apology. Instead of revelling in the Cat’s “three-peat” win over the hated Cardinals, I think I obsessed on that third quarter a little too much and what I called the Wildcat’s “self destruction”. I should have followed the lead of Tru over at A Sea of Blue , realized that this was a nasty rivalry game and in this case, blowouts are not common, even if it is a lead pipe cinch.

Case in point, take a look at Florida vs Tennessee. Coming off an embarrassing home loss to UCLA, the Vols gave the #1 rated Gators and the Heisman-in-waiting Tim Tebow (115 yards passing-0 TD-1 INT, 24 rushes – 76 yards -3.2 avg – 1yard TD run, 1 fumble) all they wanted in a 23-13. I certainly don’t want to be ungrateful with a win like Mikey Bianchi, who proclaimed the game in a two inch headline “VICTORY LAME“. And look at FSU. After getting drilled by Miami almost upset by Jacksonville State, the Noles travelled to #7 BYU and pasted the Cougars 54-28. It’s a weird, weird, game.

I think it took a drive chart of the game posted by the great John Clay to change my opinion of the game:

Aside from that 3rd quarter, Kentucky pretty much dominated the game. And you have to like the way that Hartline and company regained composure, and put together two straight drives with a total of 21 plays and 143 yards. The Hartline of 2008 would have folded it in, and the Ville would have won going away. Also notable is the fact that Hartline put together a string of 12 straight completions in the first half. Make no mistake, this is an offense much improved, and the defense is good enough to withstand being on the field for 13:25 of the third quarter and still make enough big plays down the stretch to secure the win. So, yea. THREE PEAT BABY! Whoo!

Derrick Locke is without a doubt, BACK. Locke has a history making performance in just his second game back from season ending knee surgery. Locke became the first Wildcat to have 2 100 yard kickoff returns for a TD. Also Locke’s 191 yards in kickoff returns was a UK record as he eclipsed Keenan Burton’s 185 yard effort vs ironically, Louisville on 9/3/2006. All in all, it was an amazing day for Locke as he accounted for 310 all purpose yards. Overall it was another great day for UK’s KO return squad as UK averaged 42.3 yards on 6 returns for the day.

Corey Peters deserves a game ball for his game Saturday. Peters had 2 solo tackles and assisted on three others against the Ville and all of his tackles were HUGE tackles. Peters also broke up a pass to complement his fine day. In addition to Peters, Sam Maxwell was everywhere on the field taking part in 8 tackles, breaking up a pass, and coming up with the game winning interception. Not to be outdone, Micah Johnson participated in 12 tackles, including a ferocious hit on Justin Burke on a key red zone play.

For the second straight game, UK’s LA JUCO connection paid off. DeQuin Evans had 5 tackles, with 2 sacks for 19 yards. In addition, Evans got a hand on the Justin Burke pass that ended up being the Maxwell interception. UK still has work to do on the defensive line as aside from Evans, there was little pressure on the QB. But it’s a growing process and UK’s DL looked better. Evan’s JUCO teammate, Chris Matthews had 6 receptions for 34 yards.

UK kicker Lones Seiber had a pretty good game with a 26 yard FG and 4 PAT’s to give him 245 career points. He is just one point away from tying Joey Worley atop the list of all time scorers at UK. In addition, Seiber kicked his 128th PAT which broke Seth Hanson’s record of 127. Seiber actually outdueled his Louisville counterpart Ryan Payne on distance on kickoffs with a 69.3 average to 65.3. Seiber also had a touchback, which earned him a chest bump from Rich Brooks.

OUCH!!! UK Offensive Coordinator/QB coach Randy Sanders suffered a broken wrist during the game when he was hit on an out of bounds play. Sanders is expected to play through the pain and be on the sideline for the Florida game. A couple of last notes on the offense, it was nice to see John Conner back as FB and if he keeps having games like he did this week, he can play himself into the NFL. It was also good to see Hartline spreading his passes to the RB’s and other options. Locke has 4 receptions and Matt Roark had 2 catches for 15 yards, both of them for first downs.

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