It's not difficult at all to figure out why Kentucky has struggled out of the gate in Joker Phillips' third season as coach.
Kentucky (1-3, 0-1 SEC) is next-to-last in the SEC in rushing offense (119.5 yards per game) and next-to-last in rushing defense (191 ypg). In the hyper-competitive SEC, the inability to run the football and stop the run is usually a fatal combination.
Together, those noticeable woes relating to the running game - signs of sub-par play along both lines of scrimmage - are a major reason the Wildcats head into Saturday's 7 p.m. home clash with South Carolina (ESPN2) trying to avoid sliding deeper into the abyss.
Frankly, unless Phillips, who took over from Rich Brooks prior to the 2010 season, finds a way to turn things around for Big Blue despite an upcoming schedule that includes matchups with USC, Mississippi State and Georgia, this could be his final season at the Kentucky helm.
Kentucky is 8-14 since the Wildcats stunned USC with an improbable second-half comeback on Oct. 16, 2010, to pull put a 31-28 victory, the school's first-ever win over Steve Spurrier.
However, except for guiding Kentucky to its first win over Tennessee since 1984, little has gone right for Phillips since then. The Wildcats are 3-10 against SEC opponents since beating the Gamecocks two years ago, including a humbling 54-3 trouncing at the hands of USC in Columbia last season in Connor Shaw's second career start.
So much for "Operation Win," the battle cry of Phillips that he has sought to imprint on UK football.
More performances like Saturday's 38-0 loss at Florida and Phillips definitely won't last beyond this year at a school renowned for its national championship-level success in basketball.
Kentucky appeared disinterested against Florida on its way to 219 yards of total offense. It never penetrated the red zone and converted just 4-of-15 third-down chances. The Wildcats rushed for 159 yards on 32 carries, but threw for only 60 yards.
Being one-dimensional to that degree won't cut it in the SEC.
Morgan Newton, a former Parade All-American quarterback quickly approaching certified bust territory, completed just 7-of-21 passes for 48 yards in relief of injured starting quarterback Maxwell Smith.
"We just couldn't make a play. All we needed was a play here, play there," Phillips said on Monday during his weekly press conference. "We had a couple of guys running open. We also missed some cuts, missed some blocks on the perimeter that would have given us a chance after we did catch the ball. But I don't feel like we had our hands tied behind our back."
Smith, who took over as the starting quarterback after Newton struggled last season, missed the Florida game due to a shoulder injury. The Wildcats missed his pinpoint accuracy (68.5 percent completion rate) and production in the passing game (966 yards, eight touchdowns, four interceptions).
Going into the Florida game, Kentucky technically had the SEC's top passing attack (322 yards per game in three contests), but that was largely the result of feasting upon a pair of overmatched secondaries belonging to Kent State (354 passing yards) and Western Kentucky (332).
Smith is listed as day-to-day, according to Phillips.
"He was a lot farther along on Sunday than he was last Sunday (after the WKU game)," Phillips said. "A lot of that had to do with us not playing him this past week. Anytime you lose your starting quarterback, he's your starting quarterback for a reason.
"He's not the starting quarterback because he's your worst quarterback. He's the starting quarterback because he's your best quarterback. He's our starter and when you lose your starter, you do lose a valuable person in your offense. I think we will get Max back. That's our feeling."
Almost 67 percent (686 of 1,026 yards) of Kentucky's total passing yards in the first four games came against the Golden Flashes and Hilltoppers. The latter team stunned UK by making a two-point conversion in overtime for a 32-31 victory on Sept. 15 in Lexington.
Leading rusher Raymond Sanders has 201 yards on 26 carries for an impressive 7.7 yards per carry average. Jonathan George (155 yards) has the most carries with 32.
Phillips recognizes the Kentucky offense faces an uphill battle against the physically impressive USC defense that ranks second in the conference in scoring defense (9.8 points per game), second in sacks (15), third in rushing defense (67 ypg), third in opponents' third-down conversion (23.7 percent) and fourth in total defense (300.2 ypg).
"It's speed, power, length. They've got guys inside that do a really good job of pushing, and pushing the pocket," Phillips said. "They've got two 6-6 guys on the edges that are really good speed-rushers, and they do a really good job in coverage also. Giving up 67 yards rushing (per game) in four games is pretty dang good. And they've given up a little over 200 yards in the passing game, but a lot of that is near the end of the game."
Just like the Missouri game, Phillips doesn't expect USC to blitz often or do a lot of complex things on defense since its four-man rush is quite capable of reaching the quarterback on a consistent basis without help from the linebackers.
"If you got a front four like these guys do, you don't have to," Phillips said. "They get pressure on the quarterback. They're second in sacks, and that's just with their front four. So, why would you? Keep it as simple as you possibly can and stop people from rushing or stop people from running the ball."
Phillips raved about Gamecock defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
"One of the things the NCAA should do is issue every team two of those type of guys to make everything even," Phillips joked. "I would like to have Clowney and (Devin) Taylor. Clowney is even better this year. He's a lot faster, a lot quicker off the ball and uses his hands better. Again, he would be the number-one pick this year if I was a GM and he was coming out. They should let him come out."
"We also have to make sure we're aware of where Devin Taylor is. Taylor gets lost somewhat in all of the excitement about Clowney. Last year, he got lost in (Melvin) Ingram and Clowney. Taylor has made a lot of plays at South Carolina since he's been there."
Kentucky will probably run some screens and play-action passes to try to slow down the USC pass-rush, Phillips said.
In addition to its troubles in stopping the run, the Kentucky defense is giving up an average of 29 points per game (13th in SEC) and is currently 12th in total defense (400.2 ypg).
The Florida offense, which has been far from imposing at times this season, totaled 403 yards and was close to being perfectly balanced with 203 yards passing and 200 yards rushing against Kentucky.
Phillips realizes that the difficulties his team is experiencing in stopping the run doesn't bode well for the Wildcats with USC running back Marcus Lattimore (320 yards on 69 carries; 4.6 yards per carry) and Shaw (76.1 completion percentage after a 20-of-21 outing vs. Missouri) coming to the Bluegrass State.
"Lattimore is one of the best running backs in the country," Phillips said. "Shaw completed 20 in a row last week, so we've got to get pressure on him and we've got to challenge the receivers. He's a tough guy. Last year may have been his really first true start against us and they did some things. They kind of tweaked their offense that week against us, and you see a lot of the same things that they did against us last year they're doing this year."
Watching Ace Sanders return six punts for 106 yards, including a 49-yarder, in the victory over Missouri has caused Phillips to take a second look at USC's special teams play.
"Ace Sanders is one of the most dangerous guys I've ever seen in punt returns," Phillips said.
link: http://southcarolina.rivals.com/default.asp
Kentucky (1-3, 0-1 SEC) is next-to-last in the SEC in rushing offense (119.5 yards per game) and next-to-last in rushing defense (191 ypg). In the hyper-competitive SEC, the inability to run the football and stop the run is usually a fatal combination.
Together, those noticeable woes relating to the running game - signs of sub-par play along both lines of scrimmage - are a major reason the Wildcats head into Saturday's 7 p.m. home clash with South Carolina (ESPN2) trying to avoid sliding deeper into the abyss.
Frankly, unless Phillips, who took over from Rich Brooks prior to the 2010 season, finds a way to turn things around for Big Blue despite an upcoming schedule that includes matchups with USC, Mississippi State and Georgia, this could be his final season at the Kentucky helm.
Kentucky is 8-14 since the Wildcats stunned USC with an improbable second-half comeback on Oct. 16, 2010, to pull put a 31-28 victory, the school's first-ever win over Steve Spurrier.
However, except for guiding Kentucky to its first win over Tennessee since 1984, little has gone right for Phillips since then. The Wildcats are 3-10 against SEC opponents since beating the Gamecocks two years ago, including a humbling 54-3 trouncing at the hands of USC in Columbia last season in Connor Shaw's second career start.
So much for "Operation Win," the battle cry of Phillips that he has sought to imprint on UK football.
More performances like Saturday's 38-0 loss at Florida and Phillips definitely won't last beyond this year at a school renowned for its national championship-level success in basketball.
Kentucky appeared disinterested against Florida on its way to 219 yards of total offense. It never penetrated the red zone and converted just 4-of-15 third-down chances. The Wildcats rushed for 159 yards on 32 carries, but threw for only 60 yards.
Being one-dimensional to that degree won't cut it in the SEC.
Morgan Newton, a former Parade All-American quarterback quickly approaching certified bust territory, completed just 7-of-21 passes for 48 yards in relief of injured starting quarterback Maxwell Smith.
"We just couldn't make a play. All we needed was a play here, play there," Phillips said on Monday during his weekly press conference. "We had a couple of guys running open. We also missed some cuts, missed some blocks on the perimeter that would have given us a chance after we did catch the ball. But I don't feel like we had our hands tied behind our back."
Smith, who took over as the starting quarterback after Newton struggled last season, missed the Florida game due to a shoulder injury. The Wildcats missed his pinpoint accuracy (68.5 percent completion rate) and production in the passing game (966 yards, eight touchdowns, four interceptions).
Going into the Florida game, Kentucky technically had the SEC's top passing attack (322 yards per game in three contests), but that was largely the result of feasting upon a pair of overmatched secondaries belonging to Kent State (354 passing yards) and Western Kentucky (332).
Smith is listed as day-to-day, according to Phillips.
"He was a lot farther along on Sunday than he was last Sunday (after the WKU game)," Phillips said. "A lot of that had to do with us not playing him this past week. Anytime you lose your starting quarterback, he's your starting quarterback for a reason.
"He's not the starting quarterback because he's your worst quarterback. He's the starting quarterback because he's your best quarterback. He's our starter and when you lose your starter, you do lose a valuable person in your offense. I think we will get Max back. That's our feeling."
Almost 67 percent (686 of 1,026 yards) of Kentucky's total passing yards in the first four games came against the Golden Flashes and Hilltoppers. The latter team stunned UK by making a two-point conversion in overtime for a 32-31 victory on Sept. 15 in Lexington.
Leading rusher Raymond Sanders has 201 yards on 26 carries for an impressive 7.7 yards per carry average. Jonathan George (155 yards) has the most carries with 32.
Phillips recognizes the Kentucky offense faces an uphill battle against the physically impressive USC defense that ranks second in the conference in scoring defense (9.8 points per game), second in sacks (15), third in rushing defense (67 ypg), third in opponents' third-down conversion (23.7 percent) and fourth in total defense (300.2 ypg).
"It's speed, power, length. They've got guys inside that do a really good job of pushing, and pushing the pocket," Phillips said. "They've got two 6-6 guys on the edges that are really good speed-rushers, and they do a really good job in coverage also. Giving up 67 yards rushing (per game) in four games is pretty dang good. And they've given up a little over 200 yards in the passing game, but a lot of that is near the end of the game."
Just like the Missouri game, Phillips doesn't expect USC to blitz often or do a lot of complex things on defense since its four-man rush is quite capable of reaching the quarterback on a consistent basis without help from the linebackers.
"If you got a front four like these guys do, you don't have to," Phillips said. "They get pressure on the quarterback. They're second in sacks, and that's just with their front four. So, why would you? Keep it as simple as you possibly can and stop people from rushing or stop people from running the ball."
Phillips raved about Gamecock defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.
"One of the things the NCAA should do is issue every team two of those type of guys to make everything even," Phillips joked. "I would like to have Clowney and (Devin) Taylor. Clowney is even better this year. He's a lot faster, a lot quicker off the ball and uses his hands better. Again, he would be the number-one pick this year if I was a GM and he was coming out. They should let him come out."
"We also have to make sure we're aware of where Devin Taylor is. Taylor gets lost somewhat in all of the excitement about Clowney. Last year, he got lost in (Melvin) Ingram and Clowney. Taylor has made a lot of plays at South Carolina since he's been there."
Kentucky will probably run some screens and play-action passes to try to slow down the USC pass-rush, Phillips said.
In addition to its troubles in stopping the run, the Kentucky defense is giving up an average of 29 points per game (13th in SEC) and is currently 12th in total defense (400.2 ypg).
The Florida offense, which has been far from imposing at times this season, totaled 403 yards and was close to being perfectly balanced with 203 yards passing and 200 yards rushing against Kentucky.
Phillips realizes that the difficulties his team is experiencing in stopping the run doesn't bode well for the Wildcats with USC running back Marcus Lattimore (320 yards on 69 carries; 4.6 yards per carry) and Shaw (76.1 completion percentage after a 20-of-21 outing vs. Missouri) coming to the Bluegrass State.
"Lattimore is one of the best running backs in the country," Phillips said. "Shaw completed 20 in a row last week, so we've got to get pressure on him and we've got to challenge the receivers. He's a tough guy. Last year may have been his really first true start against us and they did some things. They kind of tweaked their offense that week against us, and you see a lot of the same things that they did against us last year they're doing this year."
Watching Ace Sanders return six punts for 106 yards, including a 49-yarder, in the victory over Missouri has caused Phillips to take a second look at USC's special teams play.
"Ace Sanders is one of the most dangerous guys I've ever seen in punt returns," Phillips said.
link: http://southcarolina.rivals.com/default.asp