Column: UK needs win at South Carolina to move out of SEC cellar
October 8, 2009 by Kenny Colston · 2 Comments
For about 30 seconds on Thursday, UK football returned to its original home on Stoll Field.
It sounded like the more than 70,000 seats available in Commonwealth Stadium, UK’s current home, had been moved from the south end of campus back to the north.
Instead, the cool, crisp morning air was carrying the crowd noise being pumped into the Nutter Football Complex, where the Cats practice every day.
During my four years on campus, UK head coach Rich Brooks has consistently used the artificial crowd noise effect to help ready his team for Southeastern Conference away games.
Sure enough, the Cats have that type of game scheduled this Saturday at South Carolina.
It’s been 10 years since UK has toppled the Gamecocks. And the Cats have never beaten South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier.
Those two reasons alone would give Brooks and Co. ample reason to want to upset South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. But after suffering SEC beatdowns the past two weeks and becoming restless with 6-6 and 7-5 seasons, the stakes are raised this year.
That’s because for the past three years, it has been the Gamecocks that have finished directly above UK in the SEC East division. It’s been losses to South Carolina that have swung the postseason to Nashville and Memphis instead of Atlanta or some sunny Florida locale.
Sure, losses to Vanderbilt and Mississippi State in the past few years didn’t help those causes either, but even Brooks knows that in order to contend in the SEC, he has to worry more about South Carolina than the SEC’s two cellar dwellers.
It’s been the same storyline year after year for the past three years. The game against South Carolina is a big one. A must-win.
And every year, it’s been a consistent loss.
This year’s matchup could be more important than ever before. What looked like a sneaky, trap game win for UK at Auburn disappeared with the Tigers’ 5-0 record. Mississippi State is putting up points by the bundle, making the SEC West teams sweat.
UK has to beat one of those SEC West teams to become bowl eligible, assuming the streak against Tennessee will continue.
Or, for the first time in a decade, the Cats can overcome the team that has been keeping them in the bottom of the SEC for so long — South Carolina.
It won’t be easy, with both starting cornerbacks out. Gamecock quarterback Stephen Garcia isn’t great, but he can do enough to beat you (as evidenced by last year).
And for the third week in a row, UK will be facing a one-man wrecking crew at linebacker in Eric Norwood. That’s after Rolando McClain tore the Cats up last week and Brandon Spikes came to town with Florida.
The SEC doesn’t get much easier, even after playing the top two teams in back-to-back weeks. Brooks knows this and so do the players.
But if the Cats ever wants their talk of “moving up the SEC ladder†to be taken seriously, then it may finally be time to take some serious action against South Carolina.
It’s not Florida, Georgia or Tennessee that’s directly holding UK back. It’s Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks.
To make it four straight bowl seasons, UK is going to have to knock off the team directly ahead of it.
If they can do that this Saturday, maybe 70,000 really will cheer on Stoll Field.
Without the fake noise.
Kenny Colston is a journalism senior. E-mail kcolston@kykernel.com.
Good article Kenny. Maybe we can do it this time around. I just wish someone could convince Brooks and Phillips to get Morgan Newton some field time.
I graduated from UK in 1968 and am a member of the Alumni Association. Sometimes I feel like just calling up the football department. I know I could never talk to one of the coaches; they are guarded just like corporate executives.
However, I am about ready to leave a message with the person answering the phone and strongly emphasizing that it makes no sense whatsoever to keep this young man on the bench.
Sometimes, a coach just has to take a chance. I am tired of hearing “he’s not ready.”