Coming into the season, UK fans knew they’d be missing a great deal of offense with the departure of Randall Cobb. We’d miss him at varying QB snaps; we’d miss him as a running back, kick returner and wide receiver. He was our all-purpose, do-everything player. Not only do you not replace a player like Cobb, you only get a player like Cobb once or twice in a lifetime.
But, no one could’ve guessed we’d miss Mike Hartline too. The much maligned QB didn’t have an outstanding highlight reel throughout his time at UK, but most fans would agree, he got the job done as a game manager and was a sound leader throughout his time.
Fast-Forward to this season and there are a lot of holes. Morgan Newton has shown moments of promise, usually followed up by moments of frustration. The wide receivers have missed routes, dropped passes and been very inconsistent the first two games of the season.
On the other hand, Newton has also shown he can be a multi-threat QB, running several quarterback sneak routes within the last game. Raymond Sanders and Freshman Josh Clemons were outstanding in the latter part of last weekend’s second half game against Central Michigan, establishing a running game fans haven’t seen since Cobb’s departure.
The defense continues to be the reason UK remains competitive. With Danny Trevethan at linebacker and Winston Guy at safety, Kentucky has a solid defensive core that allows UK to remain in games.
Louisville, too, has had a rough start to the season. Coming in at 1-1, they will be looking to go above .500 to rejuvenate their year. Icing on the cake would be having their second win of the season come at the hands of a Kentucky loss.
Kentucky has won the last four meetings against Louisville and this year looks to be no different. UK has the few advantages in this game, with the most notable being home field advantage. Kentucky, up to this point in the season, has looked slightly less anemic than Louisville as well. They will win this game, but only because somebody has to.
Kentucky 17-Louisville 6 Go Cats!
Photo courtesy of: University of Kentucky
