Photos From The Liberty Bowl

Liberty Bowl Champions

Momentum. That was the something the Wildcats were lacking heading into the Autozone Liberty Bowl Friday afternoon in Memphis. But somehow, and someway the Wildcats overcame losing 6 of 8 games heading into the bowl game and a 16-3 halftime deficit to take down the East Carolina Pirates and win thier third consecutive bowl game for the first time in school history.

" It's a tremendous accomplishment for us as a team, school, and program", said Memphis native and starting defensive tackle Jeremy Jarmon.

And what an accomplishment and turnaround the Kentucky Wildcats made.

Heading into halftime, hopes were bleak as the Cats trailed 16-3 and could only muster 142 yards of total offense.

"I really ripped into them at halftime," said Coach Brooks. "But then I took a step back and reminded them what was at stake and what they had the oppurtunity to do."

Coming out of halftime the Wildcats struck immeadeatley with a 99 yard kick off return by senior David Jones. Jones' return seemed to spark the Wildcats as the offense was able to score another touchdown through the air to tie the game at 16.

The tie did not last long as East Carolina stormed back to put up a field goal near the end of the quarter to swing momentum once again and take a 19-16 lead in the fourth quarter.

Back and forth the game went as the Pirates stopped the Cats on offense. While the Kentucky defense did the same to East Carolina. It was not until less than five minutes left in the game in a 19-19 game when East Carolina quarterback Patrick Pinkney dropped the ball to the turf and senior defensive end Ventrell Jenkins was able to scoop up the loose ball and rumble 56 yards for the score.

His score was all that was needed as the Kentucky defense was able to hold off the East Carolina offense thier final drive and get the ball back with 2:22 to play in regulation.

All 56,125 people in attendance knew what Kentucky planned to do: run the ball and run off the clock. All knowing, East Carolina was unable to stop senior Tony Dixon pick up two first downs and sew the game up for the Kentucky Wildcats.

"It is really a tremendous job by our seniors today, they have seen this program turnaround and can leave this program winnners," said Rich Brooks after the game.

Keys to Kentucky Victory

Its the 50th Anniversary of the Liberty Bowl and the Wildcats will hope to win a third straight bowl game for the first time in school history. It might not be all that easy to do against a Conference USA champion East Carolina who is looking for double digits wins for the second time in school history!

For the Kentucky Wildcats to leave Memphis and the 2008 season with a win they must achieve these keys...

KEYS TO A KENTUCKY VICTORY

1) Play Defense like the beginning of the season- With a month to prepare, Kentucky will have all thier players back from various injuries. From mid-season the Cat defenders had various injuries which caused several playmakers including all three linebackers to miss valuable time. The injuries allowed opponents to 115 total point in the final month of the season. The first month of the season, when the Wildcats were at full health, the defense only allowed 22 total points. A healthy defense should make a huge difference and will need to if the Cats want to win today.

2) Score in the Opening quarter- Kentucky has been slow out of the game by being outscored 98-34 in the first quarter alone. The Wildcats failure to score in the opening quarter haunted them so many times this season, as they built a hole too deep to climb out of.


3) Mike Hatline- Well, quarterback Mike Hartline's season did not go as planned as he went from the highs of defeating the hated Louisville, to being booed onto the field in the opener, to eventually being benched midway through the season. Hartline is now thrust back into the starting spot with an injury to true freshman Randall Cobb. The red-shirt sophomore must be able to lead this offense, make good decisions, and prove something to the coaches going into the offseason. Hartline was unable to do any of this when he was the starter, as he threw for just 8 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

If Kentucky can play the defense which catapulted the defense to a top-10 national ranking everything should fall into place. It was the defense in the beginning of the season that also produced touchdowns, turnovers, and positive positions for the offense to be in. Thier defensive play is key for the other keys to be attained.

Anyways, it is off to the Liberty Bowl for me...Blogs thorughout the game.

The 50th Annual Autozone Liberty Bowl game will be played at 2 pm PST/ 5 pm EST on ESPN.

Kentucky wants to dominate Liberty Bowl

Well, its official. Big blue nation has invaded the Land of the Delta Blues as the Kentucky Wildcats will play in the 50th annual Liberty Bowl tomorrow against a hungry Conference USA champion. The game is set to take place at 5 pm EST and should be a good one.

Coming into the game Kentucky has not been quiet about thier expectations.

In fact to start the week linebacker Michah Johnson promised, "We will dominate." He then he went on to say how the Cats felt disrespected by the confident East Carolina squad. "They seem to think they can come out and move the ball on us and we're taking that personally."

And hopefully the Wildcats can take it as a personal challenge. In the past three games alone, the Kentucky defense has given up an average of 34 points a game and over 1199 total yards. This is a far cry from the defense that started the season ranked in the top ten in the country in total defense.

"We want to end things the right way", said Myron Pryor on after a walk thorugh on the Liberty Bowl turf.

But with all the defensive concerns and talk this week it will be the team's achillies heal- the offense which will decide whether or not the Wildcats will win thier third straight bowl game for the first time in school history.
The offense has struggled all season but was completley null and void in the last two weeks of the season against both a porus Vanderbilt and Tennessee defense in sucession.

Adding to the Cats woes will be the loss of true freshman Randall Cobb who injured his knee the last game of the season and was forced into having a surgery knocking him out for the bowl game. With CObb out, back will come Mike Hartline.
Hartline has certaiunly had an embattled season of both highs and lows. The red-shirt sophmore led the Wildcats to victory against hated rival Louisville in the opener only to be booed off the field at half time following a woeful performance against Norfolk State. But Mike Hartline seems to have handled the adversity well as he says, " "I am more relaxed at quarterback now and is ready to play in the bowl game."

Kentucky will need Hartline to be efficent if they have any hopes of taking down the East Carolina Pirates. At one point in the season the Pirates were ranked at #15 in the nation having beat a #8 West Virginia and #17 Virginia Tech in consecutive weeks. The Pirates should be a worthy foe...but for now I, as well as Cat Nation will believe what junior linebacker Michah Johnson says, "We Will Dominate."

Keys to a Kentucky Victory and live Updates tomorrow through the Liberty Bowl...
GO CATS!

Getting the skinny on the East Carolina Pirates

Kentucky prepares to take on a East Carolina team which had BCS aspirations of thier own heading into the season, but landed in the Liberty Bowl after a tough mid-season slump. However, the Pirates got to Memphis by winning thier past three games and winning the Conference USA title game over the favored Tulsa Golden Hurricane.

East Carolina will provide quite a game for the Cats as thier senior quarterback Patrick Pinkney can provide a spark with both his arm and his legs. Pickney led the Pirates to upset victories over both Viginia Tech(#17) and West Virginia(#8) early in the season to propel his team to a 3-0 mark and a #15 national ranking.

Following the hot start, East Carolina's hopes for a dream season was shot and killed by an overtime loss to in-state rival North Carolina State. According the the radio play-by play voice, Jeff Charles the loss really hurt the morale of the Pirates.
"They were so amped up for the rivalry game that the loss really took a lot out of them. Then they lost again to Houston and again to Virgina and were looking at 3-3," said Charles.

But the Pirates were able to turn things back around as they went on to win 6 of thier last 7 and took down a high flying Tulsa offense in the Conference USA title game 27-24.

The statistical ranking are unimpressive for the Pirates of East Carolina as they do not lead in any offensive statistical category. Their strenght lies with gritty team play and creating turnovers. Thier defense led Conference USA in scoring and was ranked 2nd overall in total defense.

A fierce defense and a vetran leader at quarterback will face the Wildcats in the Liberty Bowl on January 2nd. The Pirates hope to win thier second straight bowl game and obtain thier second Liberty Bowl title.

2008 Kentucky Football Season Review

The season started with promise. Kentucky's defense was ranked in the top 10 of all the nation and the offense was doing just enough to win. However, following the first month of the season and a close loss to the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide to open conference play the team began to rupture.
The Wildcats now head into thier 3rd straight bowl game having lost three games in a row and six of thier past eight.
What went wrong? Well, injuries to the defense was a major cause for the Cats fallout. Kentucky lost various defensive leaders on a week to week basis in conference play and by the half way point of the season, all three starting linebackers were forced to sit out due to injuries and watched the Florida Gators destroy the once highly touted defense 63-5.
The defensive losses forced Kentucky to play offense, which was the major weakness. The team lacked leadership, playmakers, and cohesion. The second game of the season, redshirt sophomore quarterback Mike Hartline was booed when he entered the game to start the second half.
It might not have been Hartline's fault but he was the scapegoat and was eventually replaced by true-freshman Randall Cobb. Cobb gave the Wildcats a spark as he led the Cats to a last second victory in his first career start in Mississippi State. However, the victory over the Bulldogs would be his and Kentucky's last as they lost thier remaining three games of the season.
In the downfall of the last month, Kentucky fell far behind early and were unable to makeup ground.
The demise of the Cats regular season, can be saved with a bowl victory. Other than quarterback Randall Cobb, who suffered a knee injury which required surgery following the Tennessee game, the team should be at full strength. If the veteran denfense can revert to the play which they displayed in September, Kentucky should be able to win thier 3rd straight bowl game.

2008-2009 Bowl Projections

After a trip home to Los Angeles and computer troubles I was unable to post my Bowl Projections. Going into tonights Holiday Bowl between Oklahoma State and Oregon, my record stands at 8-7.

This bowl season has been strange as some teams that should have been locks, were not and so the bowl record to this point is extremely poor. But tonight and the five games tomorrow will be a good indication to how the season will fair for me and my projections.

For the season my record was an astounding 78-45, that is a 63% correct rate. Not to mention my BCS and SEC Bowl Projections were DEAD ON! SO, these next few days of bowls should better my record....Here on the 2008-2009 Bowl Projections---

INDEPENDENCE BOWL 1) Louisiana Tech o Northern Illinois 17-10 (W)
FIESTA BOWL 2) Ohio State o Texas
LIBERTY BOWL 3) Kentucky o East Carolina
PAPA JOHNS BOWL 4) NC State o Rutgers 23-29 (L)
GATOR BOWL 5) Clemson o Nebraska
GMAC BOWL 6) Tulsa o Ball State
NEW MEXICO BOWL 7) Fresno State o Colorado State 35-40 (L)
INTERNATIONAL BOWL 8) Buffalo o UConn
HAWAII BOWL 9) Notre Dame o Hawaii 49-21 (W)
HUMANITARIAN BOWL 10) Nevada o Maryland 35-42 (L)
SUN BOWL 11) Pittsburgh o Oregon State
MUSIC CITY BOWL 12) Vanderbilt o Boston College
EMERALD CITY BOWL 13) California o Miami 24-17 (W)
INSIGHT BOWL 14) Kansas o Minnesota
NEW ORLEANS BOWL 15) Troy o Southern Mississippi 27-30 (L)
CAPITAL ONE BOWL 16) Georgia o Michigan State
CHIC-FIL-A BOWL 17) Georgia Tech o LSU
COTTON BOWL 18) Ole Mississippi o Texas Tech
MOTOR CITY BOWL 19) Central Michigan o Florida Atlantic 21-24 (L)
HOLIDAY BOWL 20) Oregon o Oklahoma State
ALAMO BOWL 21) Missouri o Northwestern 30-23 ot (W)
TEXAS BOWL 22) Rice o Western Michigan
ARMED SERVICES BOWL23) Houston o Air Force
CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL 24) Florida State o Wisconsin 42-13 (W)
ST. PETERSBERG BOWL 25) South Florida o Memphis 41-14 (W)
POINTSETTA BOWL 26) TCU o Boise State 17-16 (W)
MEINEKEE BOWL 27) West Virginia o North Carolina 31-30 (W)
OUTBACK BOWL 28) South Carolina o Iowa
ORANGE BOWL 29) Cincinnati o Virginia Tech
EAGLEBANK BOWL 30) Navy o Wake Forest 19-29 (L)
LAS VEGAS BOWL 31) BYU o Arizona 30-31 (L)
SUGAR BOWL 32) Alabama o Utah
NATIONAL CHAMPION 33) Florida o Oklahoma
ROSE BOWL 34) USC o Penn State