Despite suffering the first loss of the season on Saturday at Florida, there were a few positive signs to come out of Gainesville, Fla., most notably the play of Chris Matthews.The senior wide receiver totaled career highs in catches (six), yards (114) and touchdowns (two) Saturday night in the 48-14 loss to the Gators.”Yesterday was probably his best game, there’s no question about that,” head coach Joker Phillips said Sunday on his weekly teleconference. “He competed for the football and he blocked. He didn’t have a missed assignment last night.”Because of Matthews’ 6-foot-5 frame and ability to beat people deep, Phillips has pointed to Matthews as a potential breakthrough playmaker. Matthews entered the game with two touchdowns but had been limited to just seven catches in three games until Saturday.”He shows those types of flashes in practice,” Phillips said. “We’ve been waiting to see that type of performance. I think he’s played pretty consistent throughout the season. He had more opportunities last night.”Against the smaller defensive backs of Florida, Matthews continually used his height to his advantage, especially on a career-high 42-yard catch down the right sideline.”The thing I’ve always said is, when you’re 6-foot-4 and you’re matched up against a 5-9, 5-10 corner, that’s open,” Phillips said. “No matter how close he is to you, that’s open. If we throw it up, we expect to Chris to come down with it. He came down with a couple of them last night.”Loss disheartening, not demoralizing: Saturday’s loss ranked right up there with some of the infamous heartbreaking losses in Kentucky’s 24-game losing streak to Florida because the Cats entered the game with a genuine belief that they could beat the Gators.But Phillips said the disheartening loss will not affect UK’s confidence as it enters the second quarter of its season.”I don’t think this will affect our confidence in any way … because I really like the way we fought,” Phillips said. “It was a physical game, and (the Gators) have some bumps and bruises, too. I remember watching a play come on our sideline and our back, Derrick Locke, lowered his shoulder and ran through a tackler. Our guys are fighting, there’s no question about that. We’ve just got to play a little smarter and play with better technique.”Phillips pointed to four mental errors that doomed UK: penalties, drops, tackling — which Phillips called “horrendous” — and turnovers.”Those are mental penalties that you cannot have in games in the SEC East, especially on the road,” Phillips said. “We’ve got to get those things corrected.”Hartline still has Phillips’ endorsement: Just as quickly as quarterback Mike Hartline shook off the doubters with a sizzling three-game start to the season, the pessimists reappeared from the shadows Saturday.Hartline threw two costly interceptions in the second quarter against Florida, one of which was returned 52 yards for a score.”I don’t think Mike played bad,” Phillips said. “Did he play great? No. Just like any quarterback, a couple of bad plays and it makes you look like you played horrible. I don’t think Mike played horrible.”Hartline finished the game 21-of-39 for 242 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. The senior quarterback, after winning a three-man quarterback competition in the offseason, entered the game with the nation’s eighth-best passer rating. That ranking plummeted to 28th (147.59) after Saturday’s two picks.”The first interception in the red zone was not good,” Phillips said. “He’s got to drop that ball off. The second one, I would like for him to go to the field, but (Jeremy Brown) made an unbelievable play, unbelievable break. He made a break on the ball before we were even three yards out of our route. It was a great play by the defensive guy.”If there was any hint of a quarterback controversy after Hartline’s first average game of the season, Phillips nipped those questions.”Mike gives us the best chance to win,” Phillips said.