CatsPause.com - Cats Cruise

November 7, 2009

Richard Skinner
Special to CatsPause.com

The Kentucky football team might have gotten a win that moved it within one victory of becoming bowl eligible for the fourth straight season, but for much of Saturday afternoon the Cats looked far from being bowl caliber.

After leading just 10-6 with less than three minutes left in the first half and just 17-6 with less than three minutes left in the third quarter the Cats went on to defeat Division I-AA (now called Football Championship Sub-Division) Eastern Kentucky, 37-12, before a crowd of 67,053 at Commonwealth Stadium.

It was UK's 18th straight non-conference victory marking the longest such streak in school history. UK won 17 non-conference games from 1954-60.

UK has three games remaining - at Vanderbilt, at Georgia and home against Tennessee - to earn a sixth win that would make it bowl eligible.

The Cats, playing without their top two offensive players, tailback Derrick Locke (knee) and wide receiver Randall Cobb (sprained left thumb), dominated the game statistically, outgaining EKU, 443-264, but didn't put the game away until scoring touchdowns a minute apart late in the third quarter that gave them a 30-6 lead.

Freshman quarterback Morgan Newton, who completed 20 of 29 passes for 187 yards and no interceptions, fired his first career touchdown pass to senior tight Maurice Grinter from 14 yards out with 2:28 left in the third quarter to put the Cats up 24-6.

UK linebacker Sam Maxwell then intercepted T.J. Pryor's pass on the second play of the ensuing EKU possession and returned it to the Colonels 18. Newton hit junior wide receiver Chris Matthews with a TD pass on the Cats first play after that to make it 30-6 with 1:24 left in the quarter. Lones Seiber, who had missed 31-yard field goal earlier in the third quarter, missed the extra point.

UK (5-4) held EKU (5-4) without a first down in the third quarter and outgained the Colonels 118-17 in the quarter.

Freshman running back Donald Russell raced 79 yards up the middle with 7:05 left to complete the scoring. It was UK's longest play from scrimmage this season and 12th longest run in school history. It was also the longest TD run since Locke raced 68 yards for a score in the second game of last season against Norfolk State.

The Cats played in an almost catatonic state for the first 27 minutes of the first half and led just 10-6 after Eastern Kentucky scored on a fake field goal with 2:44 left in the half.

UK responded though by marching 55 yards in only six plays to take a 17-6 lead on senior tailback Alfonso Smith's one-yard touchdown run with 41 seconds left in the half.

UK opened the game with an impressive 12-play drive that moved the ball from the Cats 29 to the EKU 10, but it stalled there when on fourth-and-one Smith was stopped for no gain. Newton was 5-for-6 for 48 yards on the drive.

After making the fourth down stop, EKU went three-and-out and the Cats got excellent field position to start their next drive by taking over at the Colonels 36. Newton converted a third-and-11 on the first series of the drive by connecting with sophomore wide receiver Matt Roark for 14 yards. Senior fullback John Conner then converted a third-and-one from the EKU 14 by bulling for seven yards. Three plays later junior tailback Moncell Allen went into the zone from a yard out to give that Cats a 7-0 lead with 4:31 left in the opening quarter.

UK pulled ahead with 6:06 left in the first half on Lones Seiber's 22-yard field goal to cap a 14-play, 65-yard drive that used up six minutes and was engineered by junior quarterback Will Fidler, who completed 2 of 4 passes for 12 yards in the drive. Allen, who finished with career-high 62 yards rushing, carried seven times for 30 yards in the drive, including a 12-yard burst over left guard in which he bounced off two EKU tacklers and carried the ball to a first-and-goal at the EKU 8.

At that point UK had outgained EKU 170-27 and had almost 18 minutes possession time to just less than six minutes for the Colonels.

EKU though used a 42-yard pass from Pryor to Orlandus Harris that took the ball to the UK 11. Harris beat corner Trevard Lindley, who was playing his first game since Oct. 3 against Alabama, and safety Calivin Harrison.

The Cats forced the Colonels into what appeared to be a 27-yard field goal attempt on fourth-and-eight from the UK 9, but holder Marcus Williams faked and ran into the end zone off right tackle to make it 10-6. Williams then dropped the snap on the extra point.

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