Wildcats still disappointed with start

Posted 4:10PM on Monday 21st October 2002 ( 22 years ago )

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky is coming off just its fourth Southeastern Conference road win since 1998 and and needs just one more victory to equal the program's best start since 1984. The Wildcats and Coach Guy Morriss still aren't happy. "We're sitting here 5-2 and, really, there's kind of a feeling of disappointment," Morriss said Monday at his weekly news conference. "We're very happy to be 5-2, but there's a lot of room for improvement. "The overall tone or attitude of the players is, 'We must find a way to correct this stuff.'" The Wildcats (5-2, 1 (2)- defeated Arkansas 29-17 on Saturday, just their second SEC road win in the past three seasons. But Morriss found plenty to criticize and knows his team won't get away with errors Saturday against No. 5 Georgia 7-0, 4 (0)-. Many of the gaffes occurred in the kicking game. Taylor Begley matched his career high with a 49-yard field goal, but missed an extra-point kick and had another PAT and a field-goal attempt blocked. Kentucky also fumbled four times and committed seven penalties for 60 yards in the game. "We're making mistakes that should've been corrected in the first week of practice," Morriss said. Despite the errors, Morriss said the Wildcats' confidence never wavered. Morriss said the team drew on its experiences from a 41-34 loss at Florida earlier this season. "We came home from Florida and realized, 'Hey, if we could've made another play or two here and eliminated some mistakes, we would've had an opportunity to win the game,'" he said. "We blew those opportunities and can't ever get those back. "But they felt like we could pretty much play with anybody as long as we execute and play hard. That was the whole mood going into Fayetteville." The Wildcats trailed 10-9 at halftime, but took command with 20 points in the third quarter. "What we talked about (at halftime) was, 'Look, guys, we made about every possible mistake we could make and we're lucky to be down by one,'" he said. "'Let's go out and stop all these mistakes and we can get back in the game.' "That was the message - with a few choice words thrown in." Mike Williams intercepted a pass on the first scrimmage play of the third quarter and Jared Lorenzen's 18-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Boone capped the spurt. Lorenzen finished 19-of-31 for 253 yards without an interception. He went 22-of-37 for 194 yards in Kentucky's 16-12 loss to South Carolina the previous week, but Morriss said Lorenzen played much better against the Razorbacks. "What I want him to do is be consistent about going through his reads and not try to pre-determine where you're going with the football and be very disciplined," Morriss said. "If he'll do that, you can't fault him." Meanwhile, Kentucky's defense continued its knack for giving up chunks of yardage without yielding points. The Razorbacks amassed 515 total yards, but were the fifth Kentucky opponent this season held to 17 points or fewer. The Wildcats rank 31st in the nation in scoring defense (21 points per game), but rank 83rd in rushing defense (174 yards per game) and 88th in total defense (401 yards per game). "Any time we only give up 17 points, that's good," Morriss said. "We did a great job on third and fourth downs. But we're going to continue to work to do a better job of shutting the run off. We really have to." The Wildcats have played close games at home against the Bulldogs in recent years, losing 28-26 in 1998 and 34-30 two seasons ago. But Kentucky hasn't beaten a top-5 team since a 24-20 win at No. 4 Penn State in 1977. "I don't have to talk to them about the magnitude of this game," Morriss said. "They understand the opportunity they have. We'll wait and determine Sunday what it would mean if we could get that done."

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