Game against Louisiana-Monroe will challenge Cats

 

 

By Joshua Huff

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With another successful weekend come and gone, the UK football team heads into week seven coming off a resounding win over a traditional powerhouse team in South Carolina.

Tied for second in the SEC East, the Cats now turn their attention to a potential giant-killer, Louisiana-Monroe. The Warhawks are coming off a disappointing 28-14 loss to Arkansas State, but ULM is not to be overlooked despite its 3-2 record. With a brutal schedule that has them playing four non-conference games against teams from the Power Five conferences, the Warhawks will not be intimidated by the up-and-coming Cats.

This is something UK head coach Mark Stoops has noticed.

“They are not intimidated coming into an environment like this,” Stoops said during his weekly Monday press conference. “They are used to playing big teams. In the past four or five years they have played SEC teams well, beaten SEC teams.”

The Cats are coming off a fourth quarter where the offense and defense played their best football of the season. The defense notched two turnovers while the offense took advantage of the Gamecocks’ inability to stop the Wildcat formation in-route to 14 unanswered points.

“When you get 21-straight points at the end, that’s true,” Stoops said. “And that’s the difference in the game. We did get a stop. We didn’t have many, but I do believe they had three three-and-outs, and that’s the difference in a tight game.”

The difference-maker for the Cats in the game was running back Jojo Kemp. His ability to hit the gaps and wear down the USC defense all but won the game for UK. But if not for the offensive line, Kemp would have run into a wall of Gamecock defenders.

“It’s not just Jojo, I think he has a great feel for that,” Stoops said. “He was courageous, dug down deep. He played with great effort and great vision. But the O-line did a great job. That’s the best we have played since we’ve been here as far as playing physically and playing tough.”

Freshman defensive lineman Matt Elam and junior offensive guard Zach West also stood out, having their best games of the season according to Stoops. Elam played roughly 20 snaps and had a key pass deflection late in the game.

“He was physical at the point of impact inside,” Stoops said. “He was using up a couple of blockers, disruptive in the run game. In the pass game, he did a nice job driving the center back and getting in windows and had a big deflection. So he played the best he’s played.”

West, who has been battling a neck injury, played for the first time in weeks solidifying UK’s offensive line.

“That’s the best Zach (West) played,” Stoops said. “What’s nice is that we have four guys inside now. We had two but we had some injuries. Now we’re getting back and getting healthy.”

However, the defense as a whole struggled against the Gamecock running attack. South Carolina amassed 282 rushing yards, 183 coming individually from tailback Mike Davis.

“There is always obstacles and challenges in each game that you have to overcome,” Stoops said. “So the good news there is a lot of things we can correct and they will get corrected.”