UK will look to move to 2-0 on the season as they face WKU on Saturday. Kentucky is fresh off of their win against instate rival Louisville. The Cats beat the Cards 23-16 in a packed Papa Johns Stadium.
WKU did not have such luck as they traveled to Nebraska last weekend. The Hilltoppers were drilled 49-10 in head coach Willie Taggert's first game. The Toppers extended their losing streak to 21 consective games which started when UK beat the Tops 41-3 in 2008. Coach Taggert says he hopes to have a better effort against the Cats this go around in this article courtesy of the Advocate Messenger. Here are a few excerpts.
“I think we can all learn a lot from that game,” Taggart said. “I know that they (Kentucky) are pretty fast, and they can run the ball.
“We’re going to have to be on our ‘A’ game against an SEC opponent. We have to be able to tackle better, first and foremost, and offensively we have to continue to build on the success we had in the Nebraska game.”
Much of that success came from junior running back Bobby Rainey, who had 30 carries for a career-high 155 yards against a defense that ranked nationally against the run in 2009. He also had three catches for 39 yards.
Rainey, who ran for 99 yards against Kentucky in 2008, certainly impressed Phillips.
“Fast. Really fast. Reminds you a little bit of (Kentucky’s Derrick) Locke. He’s shifty. He’s a strong guy,” Phillips said. “He had a pretty good game against us when he was freshman. This guy’s experienced, obviously. But we just got to wrap him up. We can’t let him get started because he’s got that type of speed.
Taggart wants his players to be confident they can win.
“We want to be known as one of the top teams in the state. It’s a great opportunity for us to get to play Kentucky. That’s all you can ask for — an opportunity,” Taggart said. “Like I tell our players, every time you get an opportunity you have to take advantage of it.
“A lot of our players have their former teammates playing at Kentucky. You have that excitement and added energy playing an in-state team.”
Phillips, a western Kentucky native, understands what the game means to WKU players and fans.
“They’ll be heated, fired up, ready to play us. We cannot make our same mistakes that we had in this past game. We got to get those corrected and continue to play fast, start fast, but then finish stronger than we did,” he said.
“It will be an exciting game for a lot of those guys. We tried to recruit a lot of those guys. Some grew up Kentucky fans. It will be a big game for them, a red-letter game for them. So we’ve got to be prepared. Can’t get caught up in the motions. We got to play our style of football.”
