#17/18 KENTUCKY WILDCATS (5-1, 1-1 SEC)
vs. #1/1 LOUISIANA STATE TIGERS (6-0, 3-0 SEC)
Saturday, Oct. 13 ? 3:30 p.m. EDT
Lexington, Ky. ? (67,606)
TV: CBS (Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, Tracy Wolfson)
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The Kentucky football teamreturns home to Commonwealth Stadium to play host to undefeated LSU, the first of three consecutive home games for the Wildcats. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast by CBS.
The Wildcats are coming off a 38-23 loss to South Carolina in Columbia last Thursday evening. In that game, Kentucky had over 150 yards rushing and over 200 yards passing for the sixth consecutive time, finishing with 157 yards on the ground and 227 yards through the air.
Saturday?s game marks the first time the Wildcats will face the nation?s top-ranked team since the 1998 campaign (Tennessee) and the first time that a No. 1 team will come to Commonwealth Stadium since 1997 (Florida). Kentucky is 2-8 all-time vs. when playing a team ranked No. 1.
LSU is coming off a 28-24 comeback victory against then-No. 9 Florida in Baton Rouge last Saturday. The Tigers trailed the majority of the game before Jacob Hester?s two-yard run with 1:09 remaining lifted LSU to its sixth consecutive win of the season.
QUICK NOTES
Kentucky?s 5-1 start is its best since the 1984 squad began at 5-1. UK looks for its first win over a top-ranked opponent since defeating No. 1 Ole Miss in 1964. Including last season, Kentucky has won 10 of its last 12 games. That is the best 12-game stretch since the Wildcats went 10-1-1 from 1977 through the first game of the 1978 season. Kentucky has won seven in a row at Commonwealth Stadium, the first time that has happened since a seven-game home win streak in 1986-87. Kentucky?s offense ranks ninth in the nation and leads the SEC in scoring offense, averaging 42.7 points per game. UK scored 40 or more points in the first five games of the season for the first time in school history. UK was the first SEC school to accomplish that feat since Florida did it in 2001. Linebacker Wesley Woodyard leads the SEC and currently ranks tied for 14th nationally in tackles, averaging 10.8 per game. Defensive end Jeremy Jarmon leads the SEC and is tied for ninth nationally in sacks with 6.5 on the year. The sophomore has recorded at least one sack in seven of the last eight games. Quarterback Andr? Woodson has thrown for 7,187 career yards, joining Jared Lorenzen and Tim Couch as the only quarterbacks in Kentucky history to throw for 7,000 yards in a career. With 100 receiving yards vs. Florida Atlantic, wide receiver Keenan Burton became just the third Wildcat in school history to reach 2,000 career receiving yards, joining Craig Yeast and Derek Abney. The Wildcats are 27-of-29 in the red-zone this season, including 4-of-5 vs. South Carolina. Kentucky has made the most of its third-down opportunities this season, as the Wildcats rank eighth in the nation in third-down conversions. UK has made 50 percent of its third-down chances so far this season. UK ranks in the top three of 10 SEC statistical categories, leading the league in scoring offense (42.7) and first downs (159). The Cats rank second in pass offense (261.7), total offense (474.0), pass efficiency (150.8 rating points), third-down conversions (50.0 percent), and kickoff coverage (44.1 net yards). UK ranks third in rushing offense (212.5), net punting (37.3), and red zone offense (93.1 percent). Kentucky?s rushing offense has made drastic improvements from last season. UK currently has 14 rushing TDs. UK charted just 12 rushing TDs in all of the 2006 season. UK also ranked 11th in the league in rushing last season, averaging 98.6 yards per game. After six games this season, the Wildcats rank third in the SEC and 17th nationally in rushing offense, averaging 212.5 yards per game. Kentucky ranks fourth in the league in turnover margin at +0.67. The Wildcats have recovered six fumbles and picked off nine passes this season. UK had won or tied the turnover margin in 10 consecutive games before having the streak stopped last game vs. South Carolina.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES – OCT. 8
Head Coach Rich Brooks
Opening Statement?
?Injuries for this week, I have two players that I would list as questionable for this upcoming game — Johnny Williams with his foot and Rafael Little with his thigh. LSU is a team unlike any team we?ve seen so far this year. They don?t have a weakness and are in the top-five (nationally) in basically every defensive category, leading the country in scoring defense. I think they?re only giving up something like 197 yards a game. It?s not like they haven?t played some teams that can?t move the football, so we?ve got our work cut out for ourselves. They present a lot of different problems, and watching the game against Florida the other night, that comeback in the fourth quarter was one of the best comebacks I?ve seen in a long, long time; and it was a team that looked like Florida had on the ropes, but they responded and did what they had to do to win. (Jacob) Hester is a load at the running back spot. They have a two-headed monster at the quarterback position and kind of a different scenario of what Florida did last year. The offensive line is very, very physical. They have an outstanding kicking game. Just hopeful that we can be in the ballgame in the second half with an opportunity to do something special, because this is clearly an outstanding, great football team we?re playing this week. They had four number ones (draft picks) last year, and they haven?t missed a beat. In fact they?re better than they were last year when we played them. That?s without a lot of talent that they lost last year.?
On the status of tailback Alfonso Smith?
?Alfonso ran a little bit yesterday, he?s not 100 percent. I?d say it?s questionable whether or not he can rejoin us this week. We?ll have to see with the activity he did yesterday, how the injury responds to that, and I should have more details after practice tomorrow.?
On the offensive line?s match-up with LSU?s defensive line?
?How about trying to get a first down? Their defensive front is the best we?ve seen. (Glenn) Dorsey is a man among boys. Florida double-teamed him most of the night, but there were even a couple times where he was able to break free and disrupt plays. (Tim) Tebow was able to get around him a couple times, but he?s a force, unlike almost anyone I?ve seen in a long, long time on the interior of a college defensive line. He?s a very special player. The other guys are also outstanding. Their ends will be the best pair we?ll see. Trying to run the ball is very difficult, as will be the pass protection. If you don?t run the ball, they start pinning their ears back, and that?s when you?re in really big trouble. Even if you don?t run it well, you better try to run it and slow them down.?
On being better prepared to play them this year as opposed to last season, where UK lost 49-0 in Baton Rouge?
?Clearly we?re better equipped now than we were when we played them last year, I don?t think there?s a question about that. We?re a much better football team. But we haven?t seen a team yet this year that are going to give us the problems that this team will, in all three phases; the kicking game, offense and defense. This will be our biggest test of the year, and I just hope that we can get into the fourth quarter with an opportunity to win this game. Hopefully the home crowd will be a factor. I think that?s one of the reasons it?s so tough to win on the road and why we had a difficult time at South Carolina, because the offense was checking and doing those things. So hopefully our fans rise to the occasion and give us an advantage on that end.?
On mistakes still being made?
?I hope that some of the ones we made in the South Carolina game got their attention, because they were ones that we hadn?t made in other games. Sometimes your opponent forces you to do things poorly, but there were some things that we have improved on, and others that we haven?t. Any time you make mistakes, particularly ones in assignment areas, where you?re letting guys turn loose, either in coverage or on the quarterback; or you turn over the football, and you don?t get takeaways to make up for it, you?re going to have a difficult time winning in this league. That?s what happened to us last week. I would think that everybody understands what we have to do to get better, and we?re going to practice very hard to do that. Sometimes mistakes can happen because the other team forces them on you, rather than you forcing them on yourself, and those are the ones that bother me the most.?
On the lineup if Rafael Little and Johnny Williams can?t play?
?Sam Maxwell would get the bulk of the playing time at the strong-side linebacker and Tony Dixon and Derrick Locke would get the bulk at tailback, unless Alfonso?s available. Moncell Allen would be the third tailback and Mikhail Mabry would be the backup strong-side linebacker. ?
On the play of Jeremy Jarmon so far this season?
?He?s just a really good player. He leads the SEC in sacks and has gotten one in each game this year except against Florida Atlantic. He?s a force. He?s like those guys on the other side of the ball that I?m talking about this week for LSU. He?s one of those guys and is the real deal.?
On the special teams?
?The area that I?m not happy with is the return game. There isn?t any secret why we?re not returning it well. One, we?re not working hard enough with the people blocking. Those guys have to do a better job. The other phases, I think we?re doing okay. I wasn?t happy with the two kick returns in back-to-back games, but we?ve been able to overcome those. I think (Tim) Masthay is having a career year so far. (Lones) Seiber made every kick last week and all of a sudden there?s a lot of other kickers in the league that are below him. Those things go in cycles. Would I love to be ripping off big returns each time? I would, but it doesn?t always work that way. Stayed tuned though, we?ve got half a season left to do some things there.?
On the challenge of stopping their two quarterbacks with senior Matt Flynn and sophomore Ryan Perrilloux?
?Well the guy that stands back there and throws (Flynn) can also run as well. When Perrilloux comes in, they give you a different package; it?s more of an option package. It?s a quarterback run-play package. Hopefully we can educate our defensive players to understand that these are the things we have to do when he comes in.?
Kentucky Players
#19 Keenan Burton, WR
On the mood of the team?
?We?re upbeat. It?s a situation where people did not expect us to be 5-1 at this point. A lot of people probably would have thought that we would be under .500 at this point. So, we?re in a great situation. We just have to keep plugging away. We have to keep practicing hard. We have to keep playing hard and try to eliminate the mistakes. We want to keep getting better week after week.?
On LSU?
?LSU is a great team; you can?t take anything away from them. LSU is just an amazing team. They play hard, and they?re all together. I definitely think they deserve their number one ranking.?
On what they have to do against LSU to be successful?
?We have to execute. We can?t make mistakes against the number one team in the nation. You have to give yourself a chance in the fourth quarter so then you can try to win the game. You can?t get yourself out of the game. You can?t get down in the first half and expect to come back in the second half and beat a team like that. They know how to prepare, and they definitely know how to play.?
#91 Corey Peters, DT
On the upsets in college football?
?In college football, you just can?t really be surprised about anything.?
On LSU?s offensive line?
?On average they?re probably the biggest we?ve faced this year. They have some big 350-pound guys. I think it will be a good challenge for us.?
On the mistakes in the South Carolina game?
?We learned we can?t make mistakes and win every game like we did at Arkansas. You can?t do that in the SEC. If you make mistakes, you will more than likely lose, especially on the road against a good team. LSU is a good enough team that we?re really going to have to play a solid game.?
On the South Carolina game?
?We knew that we needed to play well to win. We just know now that we are really going to have to focus in practice on our ball security. As a defense we are going to have to produce more turnovers. We just have to continue to work hard. We need to get more people to the ball.?
#59 Eric Scott, C
On if the LSU defensive line looks like the best he has gone against while he’s been here..
?Oh yes, hands down, it?s going to be a tough challenge for me up front and for the other guys, so were going to have to go in focused and ready to go.?
On if his mindset changed after seeing Stanford beat USC?
?That?s just something we?re going to have to see the outcome of the game. We?re just going to prepare to win.?
On if he likes the chance to play against the #1 team in the country?
?To me it?s a great opportunity but I?m going to take it just like any other game.?
On how he’s preparing for the game?
?I?ve looked at film like I never have before. We are looking at everything so that when it comes to LSU you have to play a perfect game.?
#4 Micah Johnson, LB
On if his confidence changes since it’s the first time they’ve had to come back after a loss this year?
?We just have to bounce back get everyone?s confidence back up.?
On if they will have to play a perfect game to beat LSU?
?I think so. The team that makes the least amount of mistakes will probably win. We can?t have any mistakes and have a very physical game.?
On the Florida-LSU game?
?Yes, I watched the whole thing, got a little early on the scouting report. They are really impressive. They are a great team.?
