It's on to Round two of the Twelve rounds

By: LONNY DEMAREE



In many ways metaphorically speaking football is a lot like a boxing match. The last several years the championship matches settled in on twelve rounds. We now have twelve games to play.The objective is not to get knocked out early and to get to the last round having won a unanimous decision meaning to have a winning season on the gridiron. If you are scoring along with me UK quarterback Patrick Towles scored a 10-8 round in Saturday's game. If you went by the mood and tenor of the Head coach Mark Stoops the team scored a split decision.

One area of improvement sought was secondary. That area appears to be improved with addition of A.J. Stamps and his stalwart play in run support and instinctive nose for the football when it's in the air.

Another area of concern by the typical observer was the play of the middle linebacker Josh Forrest who had big shoes to fill in the person of Avery Williamson now with the Tennessee Titans. Forrest perhaps still has a ways to go but D. J. Eliot has to be pleased to have a player that's tall, rangy, a good vertical, and with speed to cover running backs out of the backfield. Khalid Henderson played hard and is battling Ryan Flannigan for that starting job. Defense being Stoops' bailiwick, it was obvious he was not too happy with some of the things he saw on film. He made it clear that today's film session was not going to be a Labor Day cookout. More like a inside slugging march. “We need to get the defense straightened out,” a very chagrined Stoops said. “There was some good don't get me wrong but there was some things in the run game, just not striking people and being as violent as we need to be.” They gave up two touchdowns in the last four possessions. “It won't be a pleasant film session today I promise you that,” a stern Stoops said.

He said they need to be more consistent. Come out of the locker room in the second half and play hard. What does he mean when he refers to consistent. “We Still need to play faster defensively,” the coach said. What he mean by that. He said they were playing tentative at times. “In this game I wanted to play very fundamental not have to use gimmicks.”

One player that drew considerable interest from fans and all concerned was Matt Elam. Stoops said - “How you practice is how you play. There were times when he was inconsistent and time when he was high. There were times when he played very well and was dominant. We've just got to keep to get even better.”

If there was an area of needed improvement, it was the overall play of the defensive line a position that was thought to be improved. Perhaps this is the area Mark Stoops was alluding to when he speaks of depth.

Now the second round is on to Frank Solich the veteran coach of the Ohio University Bobcats who have been to five straight bowls.