As we all know, the “real” football season — the SEC season, starts next week when Kentucky travels to their own personal “house of Horrors”, the Swamp in Gainesville. But before the Cats gaze their eyes toward Gainesville, they had one last task at hand. A game three “tuneup” versus the Akron Zips. And as tuneups go, this one was hugely successful.
As the game started, it appeared that Kentucky reverted to the “own worst enemy” phase we saw so often last year, with several mental errors and penalties stifling the offense early on. Kentucky managed just a FG the opening stanza of the game and Commonwealth was murmuring when the Zips got a FG of their own to tie the game up at 3-3 early in the second quarter.
That appeared to be the wake up call Kentucky needed as they drove the ball down the field, primarily on Derrick Locke runs. That drive was stifled by a holding penalty however, but Craig McIntosh drilled a 33 yard FD and Kentucky jumped back ahead 6-3. Kentucky, fueled by a DeQuin Evans sack, held the Zips to a three and out series. Mike Hartline took control on this drive, hitting La’Rod King for a 26 yard pass, and then connecting with Randall Cobb for a 12 yard TD pass a few plays later. UK’s defense held the Zips to another three and out. Hartline came out the gunslinger on the next drive, connecting with Chris Matthews on 13 yard TD and the rout was officially on with UK up 20-3 at halftime. On that possession, Hartline connected with Matthews twice, Locke twice, and La’Rod King as Hartline spread the ball about.
Second half was more of the same as UK built upon their three straight scoring drives to end the first half and scored on their first four possessions of the second half for seven straight possessions with a score. The highlight was a 56 yard run by Locke that was reminiscent of a EA Sports College Football 2011 highlight. But the night belonged to Derrick Locke.
Locke, the track athlete that became a football walkon, became just the 7th Wildcat to crack the elusive 2000 yards gained rushing mark at Kentucky. He finished the night in sols position of sixth place on Kentucky’s rushing night. Locke scored two touchdowns and had a career high 166 yards on just 17 carries. Locke added 29 yards receiving on his big night.
Mike Hartline had yet another stellar game, connecting on 21-29 passess for 250 yards and 2 TD’s on the night. Gone is the skitterish Hartline of the last couple of seasons as he has been calm and poised through the first three games of the season. He is very effective in the short game, but so far has looked good on his longer throws as well. Hartline will have to play smart next week to give the Cats a chance at Gainesville. The biggest stat through three games is no turnovers for the Kentucky offense.
It was another big night for the RB corps as they stepped it up after Locke left the game. True freshman Raymond Sanders scored his third TD of the season in just his eigth time touching the ball. Donald Russell averaged over 6 yards a carry and had 39 yards. Coshik Williams averaged 7 yards a carry and scored a TD as well.
One thing that Akron did was solve the mystery on how to contain Randall Cobb. Sort of. Cobb only played about a half and sat out with what was called “heartburn”. But it’s not like the Zips contained Cobb when he was in the game. Cobb had 4 receptions for 43 yards in about a quarter and a half of play. The rest of the receiving corp stepped up once again. TE Jordan Aumiller led UK in receiving yards with 55 yards. In all, 10 Wildcats caught a pass, and they averaged over 10 yards a reception.
And finally, a blue collar night for the Wildcat defense who bottled up the Zips attack and kept them around 100 yards total well into the fourth quarter. The main thing I wanted to see was a solid game on run defense and Kentucky provided that. UK held the Zips to 67 yards on 37 carries and that included a 19 yard scramble by QB Matt Rodgers. The Zips were inept through the air, hitting just 6 of 24 passes for 105 yards. The game could have been different earlier as three times Akron missed wide open receivers deep. But let’s not worry about the could have beens tonight.
Tonight’s game was almost a perfect performance for UK sans the early penalties, but once again, I don’t nitpick wins. A big congratulations to Derrick Locke and let’s have Randall Cobb lay off the spicy food next week, OK guys?
For complete game stats, go here.
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