Pitt Panthers too much for Kentucky in BBVA Compass Bowl

As it turns out, 2011 is starting pretty much the same way 2010 ended for Kentucky Wildcat football coach Joker Phillips.  In addition to battling the Pitt Panthers in the BBVA Compass Bowl, Kentucky also had to battle their own nemesis’s:  slow starts, poor special team play and a porous run defense.  The result was not good as Kentucky suffered the worst bowl loss in the schools history 27-10 to the Pitt Panthers.

Both teams had turnovers to start the game:  Randall Burden intercepted Tino Sunseri at the Kentucky 16 and then Morgan Newton coughed the ball up on the Pitt 34 on the ensuing drive.  Kentucky appeared to have a chance to take control of the game when Pitt’s Tyler Sunseri had what looked like a backwards lateral which was fumbled and recovered by Kentucky around the 10 yard line.    TV replays clearly showed Sunseri releasing the ball at the Pitt 30 and the ball being touched by Ray Graham at the Pitt 28, indicating a Pitt fumble.  Instant replay failed its purpose as the call on the field was overturned, negating a huge Kentucky break.  Kentucky got the ball back on a punt and Craig McIntosh booted a 50 yard FG to give UK a 3-0 lead.

Pitt, finally checking their scouting report, went on a drive consisting heavily of Dion Lewis rushes.  They drove the ball down to the Kentucky 9 when to their credit, the Wildcat D forced a FG attempt.  The kick converted and the score was tied at 3-3.  On the next series, Kentucky faced a 3rd and 19 from the UK 46 and Morgan Newton had a very nice 18 yard scramble (which should have been called a first down) to set up a 4th and 1.  Newton was stuffed on the QB sneak and Pitt drove down into red zone territory and had to settle for another FG to go up 6-3.

The Kentucky offense was MIA on the next drive and Pitt blocked the punt, returning it to the Kentucky 10.  Three plays later and Pitt was up 13-3.  What made this turn of events even more painful is the fact that the block occurred with 2:20 remaining in the half.  UK had a chance to go in down only three at the half but the special teams let them down.  On the first possession of the second half, Kentucky went for a fake punt on a 4th and 8 from their 47 which ended badly with a 12 yard loss back to the UK 35.  It took Pitt just four plays to get into the endzone on a TD pass and the life was sucked out of the Wildcats, down 20-3.

The teams traded three and outs and then Kentucky finally showed some life on offense.  Randall Cobb and Derrick Locke touched the ball nine times on the next drive which ended with a one yard TD plunge by Moncell Allen to give Kentucky temporary life at 20-10.  That was short lived as Dion Lewis and Ray Graham ran all over the beleaguered Kentucky defense en route to a Dion Lewis 2 yard run which put Pitt up 27-10.

One good thing occur today for Kentucky as Randall Cobb surpassed Darren McFadden’s record for most all purpose yards in a season in the SEC.  Cobb finished with 204 all purpose yards, most of them on kick returns, but you would have to think that this was an impressive performance for NFL scouts.  I know that Cobb is torn on his NFL decision and this would be a shame if this were his last appearance in Blue and White.

The story of this game yet again was Kentucky’s inability to stop the run.  Pitt racked up 261 yards on the ground and the worse crime is that Sunseri, a decidedly non running QB had 53 yards.  Most of the blame on this performance will go on Steve Brown and I find it hard to see a scenario where he returns next season.  Rick Minter has only been on the staff for less than a month and his job will be to bring excitement and have the players ready to play.  But for this game, all you could see was an indifferent defense that seemed to wish they were back in Lexington.

Newton had a decent game, but you could not much improvement from another year in practice which was a great disappointment.  I know Newton had not gotten a lot of game time, yet he has been getting reps as a started for the last month and had a year to learn the system.  Newton finished 21-36 for 211 yards and when you consider there was virtually no blitz against him, these are less than impressive numbers.

Not a whole lot more to say about this game.    The loss ends Kentucky’s streak of winning seasons at four game and it’s just a tough break for UK that Mike Hartline got arrested.  Hartline would have made a big difference in this game and it appears that the QB job is wide open going into next season.

For complete game stats, go here.

Photo courtesy of Lexington Herald Leader

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