|
Cats Look to Get Back on Track Against Top-10 USC
Oct. 14, 2010
Cat Scratches Preview: Joker Phillips' keys to the gameEach and every week prior to a Kentucky football game, Cat Scratches will talk with head coach Joker Phillips about his of plan of attack. Without giving away too much of the game plan, Phillips will tell us his keys to the game, a key matchup and who Kentucky has to look out for on the opposing team. Offensive keys - Continue to run the ball, even without Derrick Locke: "We need to establish some kind of running game. We need to get positive yards. We cannot have negative yards. We have to protect the football. We have to try to keep the same game plan that was working with Derrick in there. We also have to do a little bit more Wildcat to try to manufacture some type of run game and then throw the football. We have guys outside making plays for us. These guys will load up the box and try to stop the run. They held Alabama to 36 yards rushing, so there should be some one-on-one matchups and we need to throw the football some. It works when guys can scramble around and run for 41 yards when they think they have them in the backfield, but we will have to get in it and see what they are giving us. If they are giving us the throw we will throw it and if they are giving us the run we have to try to call it. We need the ball in (Randall Cobb's) hands because he can create things that many can't." Cat Scratches' take: Phillips informed reporters Thursday that Locke is "probably" out for Saturday's game. As UK's leading rusher with 574 yards and seven touchdowns, the loss will obviously hurt the Cats. Having said that, UK must march on without him in the same fashion it did in the second half against Auburn. Even when Locke went down, UK continued to emphasize the run, rushing the ball 17 times in the second half for 66 yards. The stats weren't fantastic, but the running game helped UK get back into the game and kept the Auburn offense honest. Cats Look to Get Back on Track Against Top-10 USCFor the second consecutive week, Kentucky welcomes a top-10 ranked team to Commonwealth Stadium when No. 10 South Carolina travels to the Bluegrass. The Wildcats look to snap a 10-game losing streak to the Gamecocks and chart their first win over USC since 1999. Seven of the last 10 games have been decided by seven points or less. The Gamecocks are coming off their biggest win in school history after a 35-21 over No. 1 Alabama in Columbia last Saturday. The win marked the first time in school history that USC has taken down a top-ranked team. Kentucky is fresh off a heartbreaking 37-34 loss to then-No. 8 Auburn as the Tigers hit a 24-yard field goal as time expired for the win. UK got an impressive game from wide receiver Randall Cobb and quarterback Mike Hartline. Cobb, who had his hand in all four UK touchdowns, scored two by rushing, one by catching and one by throwing. Hartline had an extraordinary game, completing 23-of-28 passes for 220 yards and a touchdown. The SEC's leading tackler, junior linebacker Danny Trevathan, had another monster game, charting a career-best 17 tackles against the Tigers.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||