Beech Tree News Network

I've decided that watching UK football is a lot like following the NASDAQ index. Just when you think either one is ready to take an upswing the bottom drops out. However unlike the stock market another UK beating isn't enough to shake my confidence in the program.

I was excited as I've been about UK football in a long while after their loss to South Carolina. After falling behind 21-0 the Cats clawed all the way back and forced South Carolina to mount a game-winning drive to avoid a monumental upset. Carolina won the game 35-28, but UK flew back to Lexington with an answer to their quarterback question, new confidence in their defense, and just a bit of swagger after pushing USC to the brink.

Skip ahead a week and I'm writing this just moments after UK took an epic SEC beating at the hands of #1 Alabama. The final score was 48-7 in a game that wasn't really that close. After a scoreless first quarter the Cats just couldn't muster enough plays to stay with Bama, and the game was over at halftime.

Even with this beating I'm not without some good things to say about UK's rebuilding efforts.

First, unlike past UK football teams this squad is full of fight. It would been easy to give up at South Carolina and just get destroyed. Steve Spurrier has no mercy for anyone. With his team up 21 and controlling every aspect of the game I'm sure Spurrier wanted to see just how many points his team could put up. I was afraid it would be a 76-0 beating like some of the ones Florida used drop on UK when Spurrier was their head coach. But UK settled down, started playing defense, and the offense got enough plays to get back in the game. Even more encouraging, UK looked like a real SEC team during the comeback, and seemed to just be executing, not playing over their heads.

Second, the players are starting to believe that they aren't awful. Freshman defensive end Jason Hatcher showed us why he was a top recruit of Lane Kiffen at the University of Southern California. Hatcher is still learning, but he has big time skills and is a legitimate SEC football player. Other players are playing harder, and it's becoming easier for the team to shake off mistakes and bad plays and get back to the game at hand.

Third, and probably most important, UK can play a little defense. I know that's a tough statement to believe after UK has given up 35 and 48 points in consecutive games, but let's consider a couple of things. Against South Carolina UK was able to shut down the Gamecocks for two straight quarters. Pitted against the mighty Crimson Tide UK was able to stop Bama for the entire first quarter, and they made some plays in the second half, just not nearly enough to be in the game.

The good news for UK is that the toughest portion of the schedule is behind them. I'm positive that a motivator like Mark Stoops will be able to convince the Cats that they not only play in the SEC, that they belong there. After plying through the meat-grinder part of this season the team should feel like they've gotten better, and they might find a winnable game or two on the remainder of this season's schedule.

The rest of the season will be long, and it might not yield a final record better than last season. Unlike last season though the Cats are finally on the way up instead of just languishing in the SEC basement. It's going to take a lot of work and, Mark Stoops has to keep his players believing in themselves and in their coach, but wins are coming.

When those wins and a few more players arrive it's going to be fun to be a UK fan, and maybe the Cats will begin to be more than just a speed-bump in the path of the top SEC teams.

***

I was able to correctly pick the winner of the Thursday night NFL opener again this week when I tapped the Bears to beat the Giants. With that win I'm holding a win going into the rear if the week's games. Last week I went 10-4 to improve my season record to 49-28. That's the good news. The bad news is that my .636 winning percentage is good, but falling short of the 70% goal I set for myself. With 12 weeks left in the season I'm going to have to pick up the pace if I'm going to pick 180 games correctly and reach my goals.

I don't have room for commentary this week, so here are my winners for the rest of this weeks games; Seahawks, Bengals, Browns, Chiefs, Vikings, Steelers, Eagles, Ravens, Texans, Broncos, Saints, 49ers, Cowboys, and Chargers.

***

Don't forget to tune in to WLBQ 1570 AM for a full slate of great programming including Kentucky Sports Radio, Out on a Limb with John Embry, the Leadership Limb with Jim Green and Landon Hampton, the Butler County Sports Jam, and over 100 live BCHS sporting events including football, boys and girls basketball, softball, and baseball. And remember you can stream WLBQ on the Internet by clicking the WLBQ link at the top of any page on BeechtreeNews.com.

In the meantime send me mail to: [email protected]