New faces emerge for UK as Wildcats get easy "exhibition" type win over EKU 37-12

It’s always tough when a SEC school steps down to play a FCS program. It’s always a no win situation. Every now and then, you have an Appalachian State/Michigan upset which sends tremors throughout college football. Or the team plays efficiently and the outcome of the game is never in doubt, but the “big school” does not win by 50 points, causing the fans to gnash their teeth and wonder what is wrong with their team. Or the SEC team wins by 60 point at which everyone shrugs and says “It was a Division 2 school” and accuses the coach of running up the stats.

Today’s Wildcat game figured to be in the second category of “no win” game as UK’s main goals coming into this game was to 1) get the passing game going, 2) not have any more injuries and 3) beat Eastern Kentucky. These goals were made more difficult with the sight of Randall Cobb in uniform, but wearing a huge cast on his hand. Apparently he injured it in practice and could play “if needed” but Cobb started the game on the bench. You can sound the alarms as UK went into this game minus their starting QB, their top WR and overall threat (Cobb), and leading rusher and second best threat (Locke).

What UK fans was not a thrilling game to watch but a great game to get Morgan Newton some experience against a lesser team and time for players like LaRod King to step up and UK to get it’s other running backs some work. It was eerily reminiscent of an exhibition game as UK controlled the time of possession and utilized Morgan in short, efficient passes and took a 17-6 lead into halftime.

Newton looked very good with the short game and he ended up getting his first two NCAA TD passes on consecutive possessions in the third quarter on passes to Maurice Grinter and Chris Matthews. For the game, Newton was 20-29 for 187 yards with 2 TD’s and no interceptions. Will Fidler also got some action in and was 3-6 for 23 for yards.

The big story of the game was the emergence of new playmakers on this team. Freshman WR LaRod King asserted himself as the third receiving option behind Randall Cobb and Chris Matthews. King pulled in 4 passes for 41 yards. Gene McCaskill and Eric Adeyemi caught 4 and 3 passes respectively. True freshman Donald Russell led the Wildcats in rushing with 92 yards on just 3 carries and had a nice 79 yard run.

All in all, it was what the doctor ordered. A easy drama free win that put the Cats one game from being bowl eligible. The offense without it’s main targets gained 444 yards and chewed up over 33 minutes of clock. The defense shut Eastern down except for an early drive and harassed the EKU QB’s into a 9-29 day. And finally, the Wildcat offense had a balanced game with 210 yards through the air and 234 yards on the ground.

It may have been workmanlike and not exciting to watch, but UK was able to rest it’s key players most of the game and get some reps in for their second and thing string. Hopefully the week of healing does wonders for Cobb, Locke, Lindley and Micah Johnson (both of who played sparingly) and we can become bowl eligible next week vs Vandy.

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