UK-U of L live football blog – first half

Defense comes up with the first touchdown

Sorry for the late update — the Internet is being a little shady up here — but the Cats scored while I was having Internet issues.

Defensive tackle Myron Pryor lit up Bilal Powell in the backfield and forced a fumble. Ashton Cobb made a tremendous one-bounce scoop and ran the ball back 31 yards for the first score of the game. That put the Cats up 10-0 and they clearly have all the momentum.

The defense looks fantastic right now. That could be because U of L’s offense just isn’t that good, but a lot of it has to do with UK’s play. I thought they would be much improved this season, just not to this degree.

U of L is about to get the ball back with just over a minute left in the first half. Let’s see what they can do.

The Cats convert, but it should have been more

UK strikes first with a 20-yard Lones Seiber field goal, but the Cats should have got more. After getting the ball down to the 3-yard line on a 2-yard run from Derrick Locke, Hartline threw it out of the end zone and then Kyrus Lanxter couldn’t come up with what would have been a spectacular catch.

Dicky Lyons Jr. so far has been pretty impressive so far as the leading wide out. He has 45 yards on three punt returns and 2 catches for 25 yards, including a huge third-down conversion in U of L territory.

The Cats’ D came up big again, forcing U of L to another three-and-out. Cornerbacks Trevard Lindley and David Jones have been as good as advertised.

UK is threatening

The Cats have it on the U of L 30-yard line after the defense pushed the Cards’ offense back and forced a punt from their own end zone. Lyons then returned it 20 yards to the 30.

And Hartline just completed a 10-yard pass to Gene McCaskill down to the 20. Let’s see if they can capitalize.

Still scoreless after one

The Cards put together an impress drive down to the UK 21 near the end of the first quarter, but UK got a hand on Chris Philpott’s 38-yard field-goal attempt. The Cats nearly intercepted Hunter Cantwell twice — Trevard Lindley and David Jones both dropped what should have been picks — but UK escaped the first substantial drive of the game without giving up any points.

UK’s offense has looked, well, decent so far. Nothing special. But not bad. It’s pretty clear, though, that UK head coach Rich Brooks is going to play it close to the vest. I haven’t seen a passing attempt over eight yards from Hartline, but he’s making all the short plays so far.

UK has the ball on its 49-yard line to start the first half. … And as I write, Hartline missed a wide open T.C. Drake near the U of L 30-yard line.

And we’re off…

U of L got the ball first and started it from their own 20-yard line after Tim Masthay booted the ball into the end zone for a touchback.

UK’s defense looks sharp early on. U of L didn’t try to do anything flashy, but the Cats didn’t give up anything either, forcring the Cards into a quick three-and-out.

The Cats got the ball with relatively good field position but couldn’t do much either. Hartline appeared to calm some early jitters with a third-down conversion to wide receiver E.J. Adams, but he fumbled the snap two plays later and UK had to punt. U of L is taking again from their own 20.