Loss to Florida hasn't dimmed Cats' optimism

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - When the season began, the thought of Kentucky winning the Southeastern Conference was far-fetched at best. <br> <br> But even though they&#39;re coming off a loss in their SEC opener, a 41-34 setback at Florida on Sept. 28, the Wildcats are talking like a league title is still well within reach. <br> <br> ``If we win out, we win the SEC, bottom line,&#39;&#39; senior cornerback Derrick Tatum said. ``We don&#39;t want any two- or three-way ties, or ties for second place. We want to win all our games and say, &#39;We&#39;re the champs.&#39;&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Wildcats (4-1, 0-1) are off to their best start since 1984, but the rugged heart of their schedule begins Saturday against South Carolina (4-2, 2-1). <br> <br> Kentucky has lost two straight to the Gamecocks and hasn&#39;t beaten an SEC team other than lowly Vanderbilt since 1999. <br> <br> The combined record of the four teams they&#39;ve defeated this year is 7-15. <br> <br> None of that has dimmed their optimism. <br> <br> ``If we don&#39;t make the mistakes that got us beat in Florida, we are going to be pretty successful in the coming weeks,&#39;&#39; junior receiver Chris Bernard said. <br> <br> ``We are very good team. We just have to go out and prove it to everybody,&#39;&#39; junior quarterback Jared Lorenzen said. <br> <br> South Carolina coach Lou Holtz is a believer, too, although Holtz is known to gush about every opponent his team faces. <br> <br> ``Kentucky might be the first- or second-best team in the (SEC&#39;s) Eastern Conference,&#39;&#39; Holtz said. ``Georgia is awfully good, but I look at Kentucky, and I look at their chemistry, their togetherness and the way they do little things. It&#39;s very impressive.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Lorenzen said the chemistry has been forged by what the Cats have endured over the past two seasons back-to-back 2-9 campaigns and stinging NCAA penalties, including a bowl ban. <br> <br> The Wildcats say the lowest of the low points may have been last year&#39;s game at South Carolina. <br> <br> The Gamecocks scored touchdowns on four of their first six possessions and cruised to a 42-6 victory, Kentucky&#39;s most lopsided loss of the season. <br> <br> ``Worst game we played in a long time,&#39;&#39; senior defensive end Otis Grigsby said. <br> <br> ``We played terrible,&#39;&#39; Tatum said. <br> <br> Unlike the current squad, Tatum said the Wildcats were a splintered group that week. A handful of players violated team rules, further distracting a team already reeling from a 1-3 start. <br> <br> ``We had some problems during the week that shouldn&#39;t have happened,&#39;&#39; Tatum said. ``It&#39;s within the family, so I can&#39;t tell you what happened, but there were things that happened that shouldn&#39;t have happened.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> A personal foul on Tatum triggered the onslaught. The first-half penalty kept alive South Carolina&#39;s first touchdown drive. <br> <br> ``Everything went downhill from there,&#39;&#39; he said. <br> <br> Kentucky was competitive in every game that followed, taking LSU, Mississippi State and Tennessee to the wire. <br> <br> ``It was a turning point,&#39;&#39; Grigsby said. ``You wonder why you get beat like that, then you go and look at the film, and you think it could only get better from there.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> A year later, the Wildcats have shed what receiver Aaron Boone called ``a losing mentality.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> ``Last year, we looked for confidence through our losses, because we lost a lot of games,&#39;&#39; said Boone, who leads the team with four touchdown catches. ``This year, we&#39;ve started to remember how bad it is to lose. That&#39;s where we&#39;re getting confidence. <br> <br> ``Last year, we went into every game hoping we could win, but not knowing if we could win. This year, we think we should win every game we play.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Holtz said Kentucky&#39;s confidence starts with Lorenzen, who leads the SEC in passing efficiency and touchdown passes (14). <br> <br> Not to mention he&#39;s 6-foot-4, 275 pounds. <br> <br> ``Trying to sack Lorenzen&#39;s like trying to tackle an elephant,&#39;&#39; Holtz joked. ``How do you get him down? Do you grab him by the trunk?&#39;&#39; <br> <br> South Carolina counters with quarterback Corey Jenkins, fourth in the SEC in total offense, averaging 239 yards per game. Jenkins is the league&#39;s seventh-best passer (158 yards per game) and its fifth-leading rusher (81 yards per game).<br> <br> Holtz said Jenkins suffered a high ankle sprain in last week&#39;s 34-10 win over Mississippi State, but the Wildcats expect to see a lot of him. <br> <br> ``I don&#39;t want to say he scares me, but their quarterback, every time he drops back, there&#39;s a great chance he&#39;s going to run. We can&#39;t have him just running all over the field,&#39;&#39; said Grigsby, who leads the team with eight quarterback hurries. <br> <br> Holtz said South Carolina&#39;s offense is fine until it reaches the red zone. The Gamecocks have botched eight of 26 trips inside their opponents&#39; 20-yard line, fumbling four times, throwing one interception and missing three field goals. <br> <br> ``Our main problem is we haven&#39;t been able to score,&#39;&#39; Holtz said.