Kentucky head coach Rich Brooks shouts instructions to his players during a timeout during the first half against Florida in Gainesville, Fla., Saturday. Florida won 63-5.(AP Photo/John Raoux)
Florida is good, but based on the Gators’ dominating 63-5 win over the Wildcats today in Gainesville, Florida must be great.
I, like many of you, weren’t expecting such a blowout loss, not after the strides Kentucky has made over the past two-plus years. The setback is the biggest blow since a 49-0 shutout loss at LSU in 2006, which led to a successful late-season turnaround and a bowl appearance for the Wildcats.
After watching such a loss, the best thing Kentucky coach Rich Brooks, his staff and players could do is look forward and forget the immediate past. There are some positives, but more negatives. Toss it and leave it.
One thing is for certain, hwoever, Randall Cobb needs to be playing somewhere and special teams needs to return to greatness. The first two punt blocks were as Brooks said on the Big Blue Network “inexcusable.”
The two back-door scores at the expense of the Wildcats didn’t help matters.
The good news is the fact that Kentucky has five wins in eight games and have three very winable games left. The Cats play at Mississippi State next week, followed by home conests against Georgia and Vanderbilt, before concluding the seaosn with a road game at Tennessee.
Six wins and a bowl berth should be a reasonable expectation for this group. The truth of the matter is, this offense is young and is still learning.
From the press box in Richmond
As I am writing this, I am covering the Eastern Kentucky-Eastern Illinois game for the Associated Press. If the Colonels can hold on, they can win their fourth game in a row and improve to 5-3 on the season. Eastern is very much back in contention to reclaim the Ohio Valley Conference title.
With 9:29 left in the third quarter, Eastern leads Eastern Illinois 17-0.
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