A season ago, it was the Kentucky offense that often put the team on its back.No instance was that more apparent than the matchup with Western Kentucky in 2010. Behind 482 yards of offensive output, UK overcame the Hilltoppers in a 63-28 shootout. The game raised plenty of unanswered questions about the defense, but Randall Cobb, Mike Hartline and Derrick Locke gave reason for Joker Phillips to have faith in his offense.In 2011, it’s the defense’s turn to take up the mantle.”Our defense has to carry us until this offense can catch up,” Phillips said. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do from what we saw tonight.”What Phillips saw on Thursday night was one of the ugliest offensive performances in recent UK history. Breaking in new full-time starter Morgan Newton and a group of unproven players at skill positions, UK mustered just 190 total yards against the 2011 edition of the Hilltoppers. Committing three turnovers, converting just 3-of-13 third downs and sustaining no long drives, there are a bevy of issues to be corrected with the offense.In spite of that, the Wildcats came away with a season-opening 14-3 victory at LP Field in Nashville, Tenn. Like last year, Phillips has the luxury of teaching from a win in a game that much more closely resembled a stand-off than an offensive shootout.”This is a good opportunity to get it corrected with a win,” Phillips said. “Very seldom have we been in a situation where we played as bad as we did offensively and won a game.”It was an experienced group of defenders playing co-defensive coordinator Rick Minter’s new multiple-look scheme that allowed UK to pull off a win. The new defense gave fans reason for optimism entering the season and it did nothing to disappoint. The Wildcats held Western Kentucky out of the end zone for 60 minutes, pressuring quarterback Kawaun Jakes into four interceptions and holding star running back Bobby Rainey to just 3.8 yards per carry on 28 attempts.Leading the way was UK’s pair of leading returning tacklers: Danny Trevathan and Winston Guy. Trevathan is playing a similar stalwart linebacker role as last year, but Guy has moved into a hybrid linebacker and safety position that calls on him to line up all over the field. Playing closer to the line of scrimmage allows Guy’s athleticism and aggressiveness to shine.”Winston is a tremendous player and a great athlete,” Minter said. “We had him and Danny out there together at the linebacker spot.”Trevathan was predictably solid. He tallied 13 tackles, marking his 10th consecutive game with double-digit stops. Guy, on the other hand, was slightly more of a wild card coming into tonight. Many talked about his potential for a major impact in his new role, but it was no certainty. Taking the field for the first time in that role, he was dynamic. He had 10 total tackles, two interceptions and 2.5 tackles for loss. He flew around and made plays all over the place.”That’s Winston’s game,” Phillips said. “Last year if you’ll remember, when he had his 10 tackle games, it was when he was closer to the line of scrimmage. Now we’re bringing off the edge and up the middle.”When the game was over, Minter pulled the two seniors aside to praise them for their performance and how they had set the tone for the defense as a whole.”Overall I feel so good about the defense,” Guy said. “Coach Minter was so happy after the game. I (haven’t) seen him like that in a while, so I guess what all our players did tonight was good.”Their efforts were every bit of necessary with the struggles of their offensive counterparts. Guy said, though, that the defense was more than happy to step up because he has faith that the offense will put in the work and pick things up next time out.”I think that the defense today carried the game,” Guy said. “We tried to put the offense on the field as much as we (could). They’re going to get it. They’re for us and we’re for them.”There’s no getting around it: the offense has a lot of work to do. Ryan Tydlacka had as many punts as Newton had completions (seven). The quarterback was sacked three times and managed just 97 passing yards. Newton was thankful to be able to pull off a win, but he admitted that this one felt a little different.”I’m going to be honest, it does (feel different),” Newton said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that are really competitors. We definitely weren’t happy about this one.”Pinning the poor offensive performance on Newton alone would be completely unfair. He made his share of mistakes, but he also delivered a number of passes that could and likely should have been caught, especially deep balls. The fact that guard Stuart Hines’ one catch matched Gene McCaskill’s total was a clear indictment of the play of the receiving corps.”The wide receivers, did you see what I saw?” Phillips said. “I’m very disappointed and we had separation. Our offense will give us a chance because we try to take advantage of what we see with our check down system. We have to make the plays; there were a couple of big plays that were left out there in both halves.”Newton won’t make excuses for his or the offense’s performance, but he also refuses to believe things are as bad as they seem. UK has plays every day against the same defense that shut down Western Kentucky and has never looked as bad as Thursday night.”Everything we did was correctable,” Newton said. “A lot of the stuff seemed flukish at times. I really don’t think we’ve practiced that bad all summer.”The one positive that Newton and the offense can take away from the game, other than the win itself, is the scoring drive that gave UK a two possession with under five minutes to go. On third and 14 from his own 16, Newton flashed the running ability that adds a new dimension to the UK attack, scrambling for a 58-yard gain to set the Wildcats up in Hilltopper territory. Newton then delivered a 31-yard touchdown strike to La’Rod King to essentially put the nail in the coffin.The fact that Newton was able to make those two plays in spite of all his struggles on the night is a credit to his resilience and that, at least, is a start.”He made two big plays; we call them ‘GAP plays’, game-altering plays, one on the run and one on the touchdown pass,” Phillips said.