Now I know what you’re thinking – Why do this game? Louisville beat us in 2007. It wasn’t even close. They shot 46 free throws. It was the worst game of Patrick Patterson’s young career. All of this is true, but of all the weeks of the year, this is the one where basketball is not on my mind. ESPN Classic aired the replay of the Kentucky/Louisville football game yesterday afternoon, and I thought I’d try doing one of these things for a football game. I think I can tweak the format enough to keep it from being a disaster.

Going into the third week of the 2007 football season, Kentucky was an up and coming team that, despite beating Clemson in the Music City Bowl the year before, was not getting a lot of respect from the media. Andre Woodson was working on his consecutive passes without an interception record and the Cats were as deep as I’ve ever seen them at the skill positions. The defense was young, but improving, led by the awesome Wesley Woodyard at linebacker. Kentucky hadn’t beaten Louisville since they took 15 years away from the life of Dave Ragone back in 2002, but the man behind the four consecutive Cardinal wins was busy coaching the Atlanta Falcons. Kentucky had two relatively easy wins to open 2007, beating Eastern Kentucky and Kent State.

Louisville, on the other hand, was awesome – at least they were supposed to be. The defending Orange Bowl champions were #9 in the country and returned everybody from their incredible 2006 offense except Michael Bush. You know how good Brian Brohm was. Harry Douglas was one of the rare Louisville players who I really liked, just a tough kid. Mario Urrutia was the other receiver with a Randy Moss body and crocodile arms. The Cardinals had a stable of running backs that rivaled, if not surpassed, Kentucky’s. Louisville demolished Murray State in Week 1, but gave up 42 points against Middle Tennessee, which called the defense into question. From Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, our announcers are Eric Collins and Bill Curry.

Louisville won the toss and elected to receive. They shouldn’t have. Trent Guy fumbled the opening kickoff and Antoine Brown recovered for Kentucky. Woodson had the adrenaline pumping on the first drive, as his passes sailed way over his receivers’ heads. Lones Seiber kicked a 36-yard field goal to get UK on the board first. In both of Louisville’s games, the Cards scored a touchdown on their first offensive play from scrimmage. Against Kentucky, Brohm looked for Douglas on a play action go route, but Trevard Lindley jumped the route and picked off the pass because he’s awesome. Lindley returned the pick inside the 20, putting Kentucky in the red zone once again. Curry: “They really need a touchdown now.” Yeah, you’d know a lot about that, Bill. Run the option with Tim Couch, Bill. Jason Leger recovered a Rafael Little fumble, then on the next play (3rd and goal), Woodson found Steve Johnson wide open in the back of the endzone for a touchdown. At 10-0, the game couldn’t have started any better.

Hey, there’s a Willie Williams sighting! I have to restrain myself, but don’t eat the weed, Willie. Kentucky went on a nice long drive. The big play was a huge run by Little where he broke 2-3 tackles. Woodson was still visibly nervous, based solely on his throws. He was putting a little too much zip on his long passes, which led to another 4th down. Seiber came in to kick it from 32 yards, and the kick was true. 13-0 felt good, but being a UK football fan, I was nervous that the good guys left eight points on the board by not getting into the endzone twice. ESPN Classic cut out a large chunk of the first quarter, including the kickoff after the field goal, where Ashton Cobb absolutely destroyed Jujuan Spillman, forcing him back 15 yards after the initial hit. When they picked up, Louisville advanced to the red zone (after a QB sneak on 4th down), and Brohm caught Anthony Allen in the flat, where he dove and extended to the pylon for a touchdown.

However, as the game entered the second quarter, Kentucky regained the momentum with a nice drive. Curry: “The Louisville defense has shown that is isn’t going to play like it did in the Middle Tennessee game. They may give up yards, but they’ll do it begrudgingly.” What? Is he even watching the drive? Little kept running for solid yardage on 1st down, and Woodson his receivers on quick strikes down the field. The drive ended when Little bounced off of six Cardinals on a counter play for a touchdown. Seiber missed the extra point (man, I hope he’s got that worked out) and it was 19-7. Again, the score was nice, but points were still on the board. Once again, ESPN cut a large chunk out of the action. Louisville came back with a long drive that took 11 plays. We only got to see the last one, a touchdown strike from Brohm to Douglas. A turning point happened on 4th and 1. Kentucky went for it because they were in Louisville territory, but not in field goal range. You run QB sneak, right? It seems logical. Louisville did it on their first scoring drive. Or do you run the option with Andre Woodson, the antithesis of a mobile quarterback? Joker ran the option, it got stuffed, and I threw things. I threw lots of things. Brohm marched the Cards down the field and Allen ran it in from about 10 yards in on a delay. The PAT gave Louisville a 21-19 lead at the half.

Kentucky took the opening kickoff of the second half and embarked on an impressive drive. Most of the yards gained were courtesy of the feet of Rafael Little and the hands of Keenan Burton, who caught some huge passes on third down. Woodson hit John Conner in the flat (most underrated position, most underrated player) for a touchdown. I know Conner got a little banged up as SEC play progressed, but I wish Joker called that play more often in the red zone. John’s an excellent fullback. Unfortunately, the lead didn’t last 15 seconds. Trent Guy ran back the insuing kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown. The key to that TD was the presence of David Jones on special teams for Kentucky. Jones had the angle to keep Guy from reaching the sideline, but he had a bum wheel, and couldn’t get to Guy in time or catch up to him. It’s too bad, because a healthy Jones makes that play 50 times out of 50.

Kentucky once again went on a long drive, and yet again, I miss most of it because ESPN Classic decided to skip a large chunk of the drive. When play resumed, Woodson hit Boyle County’s Jacob Tamme (I will never hesitate to give a 12th region shout-out) in the back of the endzone for Jacob’s first TD catch of the season. Tamme was relatively quiet against EKU and Kent, but he had a tremendous performance against Louisville. Louisville drove to the red zone on their next drive, and were faced with 4th and goal. Brohm tried to hit Gary Barnidge on a TE delay route, but Wes Woodyard stuffed Barnidge at the 2 and Louisville was turned away. That was an excellent goal line stand. Of all the great plays Kentucky made in this game, Woodyard’s stop on 4th down is the one that gets the least attention.

At that point, with eight minutes and change remaining and Kentucky up 33-28, I thought the good guys were in good shape as long as they didn’t fumble. Woodson wasn’t going to throw a pick, so as long as we got a couple more first downs, I thought we had it in the bag. But the Louisville defense tightened, sacked Woodson and forced a punt with 6:34 to go. After a sack by Braxton Kelley, Brohm hit Douglas running down the sideline for a huge gain. Brohm found Urrutia for another big game (out route, of course – he’d have puckered if he had to go across the middle). On the next play, Allen ran up the gut on the draw for another first down. Douglas made a few more tough catches in traffic, Finally, Allen punched it in with 1:45 to go. Louisville went for two, but the try was unsuccessful. Kentucky had a minute and 37 seconds to go 74 yards.

It was crunch time. Little carried for 13 yards on the draw. Woodson threw one
behind Johnson. Then he overshot Tamme. On third down, Woodson hit Little in the flat, but he went out of bounds before reaching the first down line, and UK faced 4th and 1. Woodson hit Tamme on a quick out to get the first down and stop the clock at 56 seconds. Then, in a controversial play, Woodson hit Tony Dixon on a screen. Dixon was immediately met by Louisville defense back Bobby Buchanan. Buchanan stayed on top of Dixon, trying to wrestle the ball loose. Center Eric Scott came in and shoved Buchanan off of Dixon, which resulted in a personal foul. I guess it didn’t matter, because Woodson found Steve Johnson wide open down the sidelines, and the Louisville defenders got burned something fierce. We like to call that play “Stevie Got Loose.” I’ll have video at the end.

Still, there were 24 seconds remaining. Being a UK football fan, 24 seconds is an eternity for me. I don’t need to say why. I know Louisville was on their own 20, but it was still too much time. Brohm went for it all on the first play, and the pass almost got picked off. A short pass to Guy got the Cards to the 30 with eight seconds to go, time for one last play. It was Hail Mary time. The long pass was deflected, but somehow fell into the hands of Douglas at the 11. It was the LSU game all over again. Except this time, Douglas was immediately tackled. The ballgame was over, and the good guys prevailed, 40-34. It was the first win over a top ten team in 30 years.

And now, enjoy some videos. Let me explain the videos. The first is a highlight reel of the game made by the Herald-Leader. The second is an old CFL highlight reel, but the footage in that video is not important. The audio, however, is very important because it’s “Classic Battle” by Sam Spence. I think this is the greatest football song ever created. For maximized viewing pleasure, here’s what you need to do. At approximately 40 seconds into the UK video, start playing the CFL video. The music and highlights will sync up as if Sam Spence himself designed that song for that highlight reel.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5EmSBWxP9E&hl=en&fs=1]
“Classic Battle”

I’m Seth Stogsdill, and don’t ask me how I came up with that video trick. It took hours.

Oh, how people forget. Rather funny actually.

People forget that two years ago, Andre Woodson was a big question mark. A kid who threw as many interceptions as touchdown passes. No one ever projected him to become the QB that eventually emerged, helping lead UK to bowl games.

Two years ago, Keenan Burton had injury problems. You couldn’t keep him on the field. The potential was a possible waste. Same for Rafael Little, always injured.

Steve Johnson is by all means a one-hit wonder. So then why is every pre-season magazine and SEC message boards saying UK is doomed without them? Pre-season magazines have an excuse: they are lazy after they set their top 25. They fall into ruts and old traditions.

But I expect SEC fans to have a little more intelligence. Too much to ask from the Southern states?

It’s funny, because the coaches who improved those players, made them better, made them leaders to accomplish what they did, all those coaches are still here. Randy Sanders is still there to mold any quarterback into greatness. Joker Phillips is still there to improve wide recievers and the offense as a whole. Rich Brooks is still there.

Players come and go. Obviously, so does respect. I’ve seen Alabama blogs and message boards put UK into the “should win/easy win” slot for them this year. Sure, if you can keep your team out of jail and keep forgetting you went 6-6 last year. How bout those Ragin Cajuns from Louisiana-Monroe. Pretty easy win right?

South Carolina thinks we are an easy win too. Even though don’t have a solid quarterback, Spurrier looks more washed-up every year and if we could hold onto the ball, we would have beat them last year. Oh and they went 6-6 too, finishing below us. Funny.

Four players leave and UK is suppose to go back to cellar? Sorry fellas. Players are interchangable when the coaches are good. UK’s are good. How easy you forget Derrick Locke tearing up LSU, Arkansas and others. How easy you forget that Dicky Lyons Jr. can catch and block too!

How easy you forget that two years ago, we had an amazing turnover ratio. How the majority of the defense remains that has improved every year under Brooks. How we actually have similiar depth to South Carolina, Alabama, etc. How easy you forget.

Your arrogance is funny. I bet you won’t laugh when Kentucky shows they aren’t going back to the cellar. Ask Georgia if they laughed in 2006. Ask a top-ten Louisville team and national champion LSU if they laughed in 2007.

Now ask yourself if you still think you’ll be laughing in 2008.

You saw this coming months ago. The day when new replaced the old. That’s what happened when Andre Woodson was drafted by the Giants in the sixth round of the NFL Draft. We knew our favorite clipboard holder was soon to leave.

That’s right. Jared Lorenzen was cut by the Super Bowl champion New York Giants yesterday. Hey, at least he’s getting a ring right?

Now, I won’t go as far as to say that this is the end of J-Load’s NFL career. I mean, you could always use a 300 pound quarterback with an arm, correct? He’s lovable and if Cincinnati picked him up, he could be a local star!

But I have a feeling this is the end. Maybe Jared could sign on with an local arena team. I’d go to Louisville to watch him QB the Fire or watch him lead the Lexington Horsemen. I bet you would too.

What is good news for Woodson is bad news for the Throwboy. Don’t worry Jared, we still love you. If only because you gave little league linemen the hope of being quarterback one day.

Never give up the dream.

With summer officially here, the realization that we are going through the slowest 60 days in news history has hit. The weather is nice, the only sport playing is major league baseball, and there’s still 70 plus days until UK whips Louisville in football. Therefore, we have decided to do a year in review from June 20, 2007 to today. Don’t agree? Click the title and leave a comment.

Year in Review: A top 11 list of things that happened in UK Athletics in the Past Year (today through this date last year)

1.UK upsets No. 1 and eventual national champion LSU 43-37 in Commonwealth Stadium.

Biggest game in UK history. It was the climax of a historic season. The win brought College Gameday to Lexington, put Andre Woodson in the Heisman race and had UK on everyone’s lips for the next two weeks. No way this isn’t first.

2.College Gameday visits Lexington. Corso, Herbstriet and Fowler don’t know what hit them.

I can sum this up personally: I told everyone I knew my freshman year that during my four years of college, College GameDay had to come to Lexington, or else it just wouldn’t be a good four years. Wish granted. Happiness found.

3.Billy Gillispie, the new basketball coach, starts his era in Rupp Arena.

Yes, I know he was hired in April, but he didn’t officially coach his first game then. Therefore, we put this third on the list.

4.Patrick Patterson is better than advertised, single-handedly creating a low post game in basketball.

Dude is an absolute beast. That is all.

5.UK beats rival and then No. 9 ranked Louisville in the last 30 seconds on a long pass from Andre Woodson to Steve Johnson. The win provides a springboard for the best UK football season in 30 years.

6.After a disappointing non-conference season, seniors Ramel Bradley and Joe Crawford catch fire and the Cats rebound in conference play, keeping the streak of consecutive NCAA tournament bids alive.

7.Sawyer Carroll, Colin Cowgill and Scott Green turn down MLB contracts to return and lead the UK baseball team to one of its best seasons ever.

8.Rich Brooks leads the Cats to their second straight bowl game, a win over Florida State in the Music City bowl, capping off a memorable season.

Probably deserves to be higher, but going to the same bowl to beat up what everyone knew to be a washed-up FSU team just didn’t do much for me.

9.Joker Philips is named successor to Rich Brooks

When Joker actually gets his hands on the wheel, this will skyrocket up the list, trust me.

10.Gillispie gets recruits so well that the No. 1 topic on the messages boards is concern about scholarships.

Although now the NABC decided that anyone that’s not at least a sophomore is basically off-limits. Ok, that’s fine.

11.Keenan Wiley hits a walk-off homer to lead the UK baseball team over rival Louisville in 10 innings. Louisville was fresh off a College World Series appearance.

Amazing game, packed house, electric atmosphere and then little Wiley blasts a home run to end it. That’s good baseball.

Now like I said, have more good things? Think my list is out of order? You know what to do. Check back this afternoon, as we’ll have a top 10 list of the worst things that happened in the same time frame.

If you don’t check out ESPN’s website everyday, then you probably haven’t seen their little summer trick of picking a “face” of every college football program.

Cal’s “Face” is The Play, Boise State’s is the Blue Turf, and Alabama’s is Bear Bryant. What is Kentucky’s you ask? Babe Parilli. Maybe it shows my age, but I got to wondering if Babe really is the face of UK football. I’m willing to bet most of you don’t think of good ole Babe when you think Bluegrass football.

Don’t get me wrong, the guy was a player. A two-time All-American, he’s probably the most accomplished, by far, at UK. He had a good AFL career too. But I just don’t picture him as the “face”, so I looked at the rest of the options ESPN provided. Bear Bryant, no thanks, everyone knows he made his claim at Alabama… so why try and ride Bama’s coattails?

Then it was Tim Couch. Possibly, I said. Couch did huge things here and restored the program if only for a few years. But right now, Couch is seen as a huge bust in the NFL, not as a great college player. Love you Timmy, but sorry, I don’t want my program seen as the producer of NFL busts (unless they are Hall of Fame ones).

Next was Derrick Ramsey, who led the 1977 team, the last great UK team before this past year. Andre Woodson rounded out the last of the ESPN options, but come on, you can’t say a guy that just graduated is the face of a program.

So with the choices I have set by ESPN, I went with Ramsey. But the list is piss poor in my view. Maybe it’s because Kentucky just doesn’t have football tradition (which I don’t believe). Maybe it’s because there has never been one stand out above the all-stars at Commomwealth Stadium.

Personally, I don’t think there is one single “face” of Kentucky. No player shined long enough, no coach stayed or shined long enough. There’s nothing that screams at me “UK FOOTBALL BABY!”

But, I think we have candidates nearing that status on the coaching front. A few more years of success for Rich Brooks and the old man becomes my pick. His successor, Joker Phillips, has an even better chance if he takes Brooks’ foundation and runs with it.

So if you ask me today, Derrick Ramsey is the “face” of UK football. If you ask me in 5 or 10 years, I’ll probably have a different answer.

If you read national coverage (i.e. anything outside of state) about UK’s upcoming football season, one thing you will definitely skim over is UK’s new quarterback problem.

You know, the problem of replacing Andre Woodson, and how crazy difficult and impossible everyone makes that seem.

Well I’m here to refute that statement, though I can’t promise that UK football will see the passing numbers Woodson has had in the past two years. That’s for two reasons, the first being that with a full depth chart of good runnings backs, UK is going to run the ball a lot more. Second, Woodson often stuck in the pocket to make a pass well after it was time to bail out and he had really good receivers.

But there is one man that made Andre Woodson what he is. Because if you remember correctly, Andre was no offensive powerhouse as a sophomore. He didn’t even have the job at first. But there was someone who worked with Andre, a quarterback miracle worker and that was Randy Sanders.

And Randy Sanders is going to be the reason why no matter who UK puts in at quarterback–Curtis Pulley or Mike Hartline–the offense will not be a disaster. The Herald-Leader ran this story on the new challenges Sanders faces.

Sanders has full confidence in both of his battling QBs. I have full confidence in Randy Sanders. Most people don’t give Sanders credit or the benefit of the doubt, and that’s just foolish. Sanders will have both quarterbacks ready to play in the offense from day one and the only thing holding the offense back this year may be the thin wide receiving group.

Plus, he obviously dislikes Tennessee as much as every Cat fan does. For those of you who don’t know, Sanders was the offensive coordinator at Tennessee before getting the axe in the typical Fulmer firing of assistants routine to keep his job.

And if you don’t believe Sanders has some beef with the Vols, check this quote from the story in reference to grabbing incoming freshman Randall Cobb from UT territory.

“It was important to me because he’s a good football player and he’ll make our team better,” Sanders said. “I can’t deny there was some satisfaction in going to Tennessee and beating Tennessee on him. That’s just natural. But that wasn’t the primary motivation. I wasn’t just trying to take someone from Tennessee to prove a point. The most important thing is he’s a good player that makes our team better”

Haha. Randy Sanders is going to make sure the quarterbacks are just fine. This supposed QB problem is just a farce.

If you didn’t catch the morning rant on the continued disrespect of UK football, it’s two posts down.

Last year, NFL Europe was disbanded. The spring league, which produced Kurt Warner and other notable NFL players had played it’s last game. The reason? Many teams were losing money on the league.