Kentucky Wildcats Football Notebook: Sept. 6

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Coming off one of their best defensive performances in recent memory last week in a 24-17 win over Southern Miss, the Kentucky Wildcats are eager to show they've got even more in the tank heading into Week 2.

Kentucky held the potent Southern Miss offense to only 55 rushing yards and 1.4 yards per carry. The hard-hitting Cats also forced four fumbles, recovering three of them, and turned one into a defensive touchdown.

"If you're going to talk and say you're going to do these type of things, then you have to prove it," said UK junior linebacker/end Denzil Ware, who returned a third-quarter fumble forced by safety Darius West 20 yards for a touchdown that proved to be the winning margin against the Golden Eagles. "Talk is cheap. It's about what you can prove on the field."

Ware also had a sack and a forced fumble of his own. Fellow linebacker and "Blitz Brother" Josh Allen added four tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble from the opposite end, while freshman Joshua Paschal chipped in the first TFL of his college career.

Most of the linebacker corps' damage came from forcing Southern Miss into clear passing situations. So how did a unit that ranked among the worst in the Power 5 conferences against the run last season show so much improvement out of the gates?

"Guys doing their job. Guys straining. Guys playing with great leverage," UK defensive coordinator Matt House said. "You know, you heard it over and over in training camp, and it doesn't change from week to week -- playing fundamentally sound football and having guys with hats to the ball with great leverage and pad level."

As many positives that came out of film review, the UK staff also had plenty of teachable moments.

The Cats surrendered 309 passing yards in the opener, an area that head coach Mark Stoops wants to see improve this week against Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels threw for 320 yards in their 31-17 loss to Western Kentucky last week, so they figure to test the UK secondary.

"I think we've got to play the ball in the air better," House said. "... Going up and just becoming a receiver and taking the ball out of the air.

"This quarterback (Tim Boyle, a transfer from UConn) does a good job. He gets rid of the ball on time, and he's got good receivers to throw it to, so they'll certainly present a challenge."

NOTES:

* House praised senior defensive tackle Matt Elam for the improvement he showed in the first game of the year. The former John Hardin standout and U.S. Army All-American played one of the best games of his UK career, recording four tackles and one tackle for loss. "Matt did some good things. He continues to improve, and he's got to continue to improve. But he did some things disruptive, in particular on the goal line."

* Special teams were a big part of UK's win over Southern Miss, particularly transfer punter Matt Panton pinning the Golden Eagles inside their own 20-yard line on five occasions, including twice at the 1. House said that kind of performance is invaluable to a defense. "It's a lot easier to play defense inside the 10 than outside the 50. It was huge. When you control vertical field position like that, it gives you more margin for error."

* Both Stoops and House were thrilled with senior middle linebacker Courtney Love in his season debut. Stoops said during Wednesday's SEC coaches teleconference that it may have been Love's best performance (9 TK, 1 TFL) as a Cat. House noted that Love has improved at "being in better football position and tearing off blocks... I thought on some of their counter schemes and zone schemes, he played downhill, which was good."