It’s rare that I can watch a game and boil down a win or a loss to just two contributing factors. Last night’s 31-24 defeat at the hands of the Mississippi State Bulldogs was one of those times.

Kentucky could do nothing to stop the run and they couldn’t get the ball to Derrick Locke and Randall Cobb down the stretch when it mattered the most.

If you look at the stats, Kentucky didn’t even deserve to be in the game. The ‘Cats were outgained by the ‘Dogs 493-308 and were nearly outgained by Anthony Dixon by himself. Dixon broke the all time school record for single game rushing yards with 252 on 33 attempts. He also caught 2 balls for 14 yards.

However, the Kentucky offense was able to hold the ball for long periods (miraculously, UK won time of possession 30:55-29:05), UK won the time, the special teams was able to get the ball in good field position, and the defense forced a couple timely first half interceptions and played well on 3rd down. MSU converted just 1-9 on 3rd downs.

With that said, you just don’t win football games when you allow 348 yards on the ground.

UK, though, had two drives deep into Bulldog territory in the final quarter when they were down 7, but they failed to cash in either. The ‘Cats managed to move the ball on both drives, but they did so without getting a single touch for Randall Cobb.

After Cobb’s performances in tough road environments against South Carolina and Auburn, I called him “the closer”. How do you not get the ball to your closer? Morgan Newton did an excellent job leading his team to a first and goal from the 4 yard line, but he lined up at quarterback the following 3 plays, causing the entire Commonwealth to wonder out loud (and they did so very loudly): why isn’t Cobb in the Wildcat?

I have no good answer for that question.

Cobb did exit the game during the 3rd quarter briefly with an apparent shoulder injury, but he quickly returned. It’s possible that Brooks didn’t feel comfortable enough with his health to use him as anything more than a decoy.

Derrick Locke’s availability was also limited by his balky knee. Locke rushed for 103 yards on just 17 carries and seemed to find a hole every time he touched the ball. However, he didn’t get the ball on either of the final two drives. Instead, UK looked to Moncell Allen and Alphonso Smith at the running back position. Allen is a nice player and a nice change of pace, but he’s not who you want getting the ball in end of game situations.

Alphonso Smith, on the other hand, is a major disappointment. After his productive 2007, Smith has done close to nothing. Smith also had a crucial lost fumble on Kentucky’s first drive of the second half, one that touched off a 21 point quarter for Mississippi State.

The Kentucky defense, just two weeks after an exceptional performance against Auburn, showed up only occasionally. Micah Johnson did not start, but did play the majority of the snaps, making his share of tackles. However, he was not the force in the middle that he normally is and I believe his injured knee was the main culprit for that.
One of the bright spots of the game was the play of freshman quarterback Morgan Newton. He had his freshman moments, most notably the 3rd down and goal interception on Kentucky’s second to last drive, but all in all, he stepped up and made some big plays with his feet and his arm. Newton’s stat line wasn’t huge (11-18 passing for 119 yards, 39 yards rushing, and a touchdown) but for the first time since Mike Hartline went down with an injury, UK played one quarterback the entire game.

It’s a familiar refrain, but last night’s loss was a missed opportunity for UK. With representatives from the Chick-Fil-A Bowl in Commonwealth, Kentucky fans had a warmer weather bowl game on their minds. 8 wins would have likely done the trick, but getting to 8 wins is a tough task now. Eastern Kentucky and Vanderbilt are up next, games UK will be favored to win, then a trip to Georgia and a visit from Tennessee. At the beginning of the season, Tennessee looked like a game UK had an excellent chance to win. Tennessee, however, is playing some very good football.

Hopefully the ‘Cats can get healthy in the next couple weeks, hold serve against EKU and Vandy, then go to Athens with Trevard Lindley and Micah Johnson good to go.

No matter what UK does the rest of the way, though, that loss will hurt.