NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After hundreds of hours in the film and weight room, after dozens of practices and a summer of promise, the UK football team charged onto LP Field in Nashville, Tenn., for its season opener with Western Kentucky University ready to play some football. The Cats then showed that they may not be ready for football after all.

After 60 minutes of relatively uninspired play from both teams, in front of a small and uninspired crowd amounting to under 25,000 fans, the Cats managed to escape Nashville with a 14-3 victory over the Hilltoppers.

From the opening kickoff, UK underperformed, and at times the team was outplayed by WKU, who managed just two wins all last year and fell to UK 63-28 in Lexington in 2010.

“I want to take our hats off to Western,” head coach Joker Phillips said. “They have a really good football team — a physical team. Especially their defense did a good job of stopping our offense.”

The game couldn’t have started worse for the Cats, who accumulated negative nine total yards in the first quarter.

UK quarterback Morgan Newton was 0-5 passing in the quarter with an interception that led to a WKU field goal. For the quarter, UK managed just one first down, ironically on a play in which it committed two penalties, thanks to a personal foul after the play by a WKU defender.

But WKU had its fair share of blown plays in the first half. Hilltoppers quarterback Kawaun Jakes missed two different open receivers in the end zone, costing his team 14 points.

Hilltoppers kicker Casey Tinius also missed on a 34-yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter, costing his team yet another three points.

Those 17 points could have been the difference between a WKU loss and a shocking upset in Nashville.

Despite their miscues, the momentum remained with the Hilltoppers in the first half until a pass from Jakes to his unsuspecting fullback Kadeem Jones hit off Jones’ helmet and landed in the arms of UK safety Winston Guy for a game-changing interception.

Three plays later, freshman running back Josh Clemons took a handoff 14 yards to the house to give the Cats a 7-3 lead they would take with them into the half.

“It’s amazing,” Clemons said. “I’m just glad to help the team win in any way I can. It was supposed to be an outside play, and I just see the crease and I hit it.”

Clemons’ touchdown would remain the deciding play on the scoreboard for much of the second half until Newton scrambled for 58 yards, more than 25 percent of UK’s total yards for the game. Two plays later, Newton connected with La’Rod King on a 31-yard touchdown pass to ice the game for the Cats.

Regardless of what the scoreboard said, the game didn’t feel like a victory for the Cats.

Against a Hilltoppers team that allowed 380 yards and 33 points per game last season, UK managed just 190 yards and 14 points.

Newton finished the game seven for 18 for a minimal 97 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, with offensive guard Stuart Hines finishing third on the team in receiving with one catch for six yards.

The offensive line, which was promised to be the strength of the offense this season, was subpar.

“I hope we’re better than that,” Phillips said. “That was one of our goals offensively is to stay ahead of the count in this game, stay ahead of the count down and distance-wise. Zero yards was a good play.”

What won the game for the Cats was their play on defense. UK gave up just 234 yards to WKU and forced four interceptions.

Two players stood out for UK defensively. One was Guy, who excelled in his new position closer to the line of scrimmage with 10 tackles and two interceptions. The other was punter Ryan Tydlacka, whose seven punts averaged 47 yards per kick, with three landing inside the 20 and no touchbacks. As the defense continued to make stops, Tydlacka continued to reverse the field position, allowing UK to cling to the four-point lead it maintained for most of the game.

“I wasn’t expecting to be out there that much,” Tydlacka said. “It’s great to actually help the team at my position.”

After the win, which felt like a loss, King left Nashville with one short but sweet sentiment.

“I feel terrible right now, I feel like this is the crappiest game I have ever played in my life,” King said.