Wildcats will not be overconfident against UTEP

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Posted 8:06AM on Friday, September 6, 2002

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - Kentucky fans weren't the only ones impressed by the Wildcats' surprising 22-17 upset of 17th-ranked Louisville. Texas El Paso coach Gary Nord, a Louisville native who played tight end for the Cardinals and later coached at his alma mater, felt his stomach tighten as the game unfolded before him on television. ``I was really excited about coming back to play Kentucky until I watched the game Sunday night,'' he said. ``Now I'm not so enthusiastic about coming up there.'' Kentucky is 1-0 for the first time since 1998, when the Wildcats opened the season with victories over Louisville, Eastern Kentucky and Indiana en route to a berth in the Outback Bowl. The team's physical domination of its archrival already has some dreaming about a possible 4-0 start heading into its Southeastern Conference opener at Florida on Sept. 28. Chances are, however, none of those predictions are coming from Kentucky's players or coaches, who are determined to focus on each of their next three home games against the Miners (1-0), Indiana and Middle Tennessee without looking ahead. With back-to-back 2-9 seasons still visible in the rearview mirror, the Wildcats aren't about to do or say anything that might jeopardize their positive start. ``You can't listen to any of that stuff,'' junior quarterback Jared Lorenzen said. ``Anything can happen. I think we've proven that the past two seasons. ``We can't look past UTEP. We just can't do it. If we start looking ahead to Indiana or anybody else, UTEP is going to come in here and beat us.'' Like Kentucky, UTEP opened its season in impressive fashion with a 42-12 victory over Division I-AA Sacramento State. The blowout was only the team's second victory in a season-opener since 1991. Nord isn't sure how his team will react in its first road game of the season. The Miners were 0-6 on the road last season and winless in their last eight away games dating back to the 2000 season. Overall, they are 1-13 in road openers since 1988 and have lost all five road games against Southeastern Conference opponents. ``We played 25 kids that played in a Division I game for the very first time last week,'' said Nord, an assistant coach at Louisville from 1981-94. ``I saw a lot of wide eyes out there, and we were playing at home. ``Experience is a difficult thing to teach. You have to go through some growing pains to get to where you want to be.'' Sophomore running back Howard Jackson didn't appear to be intimidated, rushing for 157 yards and tying a school record with four first-half touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Jon Schaper also appeared to be more comfortable in his second career start, completing 14 of 28 passes for 134 yards and two touchdowns. ``They've obviously got a strong running game,'' said junior defensive tackle Jeremy Caudill, one of a host of defensive linemen who bruised and battered Louisville quarterback Dave Ragone at every opportunity. ``I know one of their running backs had four touchdowns last week, so they're probably going to bring it right at us. We're going to have to put a lot of energy into stopping the run and limiting their big plays.'' Nord couldn't help but notice Caudill and the rest of the Wildcats' defensive front during the Louisville game as they spent as much time in the backfield as the Cardinals' running backs. Caudill, tackles Dewayne Robertson and Ellery Moore and ends Otis Grigsby and Vincent Burns combined to make 14 tackles and punished Ragone every time he let go of the ball or tucked it and headed upfield. ``They looked like one of the most talented groups up front I've seen in a long time,'' Nord said. ``We counted it up and they hit the Louisville quarterback 26 times. ``We cannot afford to let that happen, but I don't know what we're going to do to try to prevent it.'' Lorenzen said he knows that fans will expect the Wildcats to have no problem running up the score on UTEP to improve to 2-0. He also knows they can't afford to get caught up in anybody's expectations but their own. ``We finally beat a nationally ranked team, but now that's in the past,'' he said. ``Great. We won. Now we want to build on that against a good team in UTEP. ``This is just the beginning. We've got 11 more games to play. Yeah, we got a big win, but now it's time to put all of our focus on UTEP.''