Joker Phillips and the Kentucky football team are back home in Lexington, Ky., following yesterday’s 35-7 defeat against the No. 1 LSU Tigers. Before a team work-out on Sunday afternoon, Joker Phillips held his weekly teleconference to discuss the loss and what he will be looking for his team to improve for next weekend’s road game against South Carolina.

• Phillips was again happy with how his team competed, but “glaring” mistakes like turnovers continue to show up on offense. Additionally, the offense was not able to move the ball consistently enough to put the defense in a position to succeed. “I thought our defense competed well,” Phillips said. “It’s hard for the defense when our offense goes eight times three-and-out. It becomes really hard for the defense to hold up for as many plays as they had to hold up.” LSU had 185 yards on the ground against UK, but were held to under four yards per carry and not a single play longer than 14 yards.

• Arguably the biggest story that came out of the defeat was insertion of freshman Maxwell Smith at quarterback to start the second half. Down 14-0, the decision was made to go with the promising freshman because the team “needed a spark.” Morgan Newton eventually did return to the game, leading UK on a late scoring drive and will begin the week with the first team. “We’ll always have a competition, but somebody’s got to get the first reps in practice,” Phillips said. “Morgan will get the first reps in practice. If we feel like Max, who got a couple reps this week, gives us the best chance to win, we’ll go with him.”

• Phillips reiterated a point he made after yesterday’s game about Newton needing be more decisive. Instead of holding on to the football, Phillips said Newton has to more quickly identify whether his receivers are open and figure out what to do with the football. “We all know some of his biggest runs have been in the passing game, not just in the running game,” Phillips said. “The thing that he has to do is make quicker decisions and get the ball out of his hands (or pull it down and run).”

• The bright spot on UK’s offense was freshman Josh Clemons, who rushed for 73 yards. Although he needed 21 carries to get those yards, Phillips was pleased with how the youngster responded in a tough game. “The thing that he should take from a game like that is it’s a physical game,” Phillips said. “He played physical, played behind his pads and broke some tackles.” Clemons also took a step forward in pass protection against a team that provided a stiff test in that regard. “It was a really good game for him in picking up real, big-time blitzers,” Phillips said. “I thought he did an adequate job , not a great job, but for a freshman playing against blitzers like that, I thought he did a decent job.” The one thing Phillips would like for Clemons to focus on improving after Saturday is attacking the holes available to him. “He has to understand that sometimes he needs to hit the holes a little harder and faster because the holes don’t stay open very long against a team like that,” Phillips said.

• Clemons started in place of injured sophomore Raymond Sanders, who sat out for the third consecutive week following surgery to repair torn knee cartilage. Phillips said the training staff reports Sanders is “way ahead of schedule” and is working to get him ready for this weekend. “We’ll try to take a look at him Tuesday and see if he’s capable of going,” Phillips said. “Right now it’s hard to say.”