While confidence was high throughout the UK football program as they took the field against the No. 1 LSU Tigers, the game itself went more like what those outside the program expected to see.

The Tigers certainly didn’t overwhelm the Cats in the first half, leading just 14-0 at halftime, but by the end of 60 minutes, UK departed Death Valley with two unimpressive quarterbacks, a 35-7 loss and a sub-.500 record.

LSU quarterback Jordan Jefferson, playing in his first game following a suspension dating back to the summer, scored the opening touchdown on a dive play on fourth and goal from the UK one yard line, giving LSU a 7-0 lead. From there, the Tigers would never look back, jumping out to a 35-0 lead before senior wide receiver Matt Roark caught his first career touchdown for UK with less than five minutes to play, bringing the final score to 35-7.

Despite Jefferson’s return, the intrigue at the quarterback position in the game was centered around UK head coach Joker Phillips’ offense. Junior quarterback Morgan Newton completed just two of 11 passes in the first half, including nine straight incompletions to start the game, and was sacked three times. To open the second half, Phillips replaced Newton with freshman Maxwell Smith, although Smith did not look much better than Newton. Smith finished his portion of the second half (he was pulled in the fourth quarter when Newton was reinserted into the game) 1-of-5 for nine yards passing.

The UK running game struggled again behind an offensive line that hasn’t found consistency this season. Freshman running back Josh Clemons rushed for just 69 yards on 21 carries. For yet another week, the offense looked out of rhythm, flustered and unable to play its positions effectively against a formidable defense.

UK managed 66 passing yards on 25 attempts and 89 rushing yards on 39 attempts, but out of 155 total yards, 96 came in the fourth quarter when the game was virtually decided. Overall, UK gained 2.4 yards per play.

Rick Minter’s defense held its own against the Tigers offense, holding them to just 14 points at home in the first half. But the UK offense’s ineptitude forced the defense to compete with LSU for long stretches at a time without a rest, causing the defense to wear down and lose its edge over the LSU offense.

Now at 2-3, UK now turns its attention to Steve Spurrier’s South Carolina Gamecocks, who lost this weekend to Auburn. Last season, the Cats defeated Spurrier for the first time in his career, by defeating then-No. 10 Gamecocks at home 31-28 on a fourth down touchdown pass to Randall Cobb with less than 90 seconds left.

Nevertheless, it will be the third consecutive ranked SEC opponent the Cats will face in as many weeks. If UK can learn from its mistakes and find something that works on offense, they may have a chance to repeat last year’s upset performance in Columbia. If not, the Cats may fall to 2-4 and see their chances of making a sixth straight bowl appearance dwindle.