Kent State vs Kentucky - a trap in waiting?

Kent State (1-0), winners of five of their last six outings, including an opening game win over Towson, rolls into Commonwealth Stadium Saturday night to face Kentucky (0-1) in its home opener. The Golden Flashes smashed Towson, racing to a 41-7 lead and cruising to a 41-21 victory, while the Wildcats fell hard to cross-state rivals Louisville, 32-14. Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm E.T., and the game is televised on CSS.

Head coach Joker Phillips warned that Kent State will be a formidable opponent. “They are physical and won four out of their last five last year and beat a team handily (last week),” Phillips said. “They have a lot of confidence. They have won five out of the last six games they have played. They are a team that has seen their league go into top conferences and come out with wins. They will be excited.”

Kentucky will be without the services of leading rusher CoShik Williams, who gained 62 yards on 10 carries versus Louisville. Williams suffered an injury in the Louisville game, and is being held out to recover against Kent State. "The guy busts his gut on every play, whether it be practice or pregame," Phillips said. "We have to take care of him and make sure we get him to the field healthy.”

Earlier this week Phillips indicated that Kentucky would move to playing more freshmen and more young players. Phillips said several underclassmen bring a higher level of energy when game day approaches, specifically freshmen linebacker Pancho Thomas, wide receiver DeMarcus Sweat and redshirt freshman wide receiver Daryl Collins, all of whom are expected to see significant playing time Saturday.

For other Kentucky football coverage this week at Kentucky Sports Report, see:

2. Joker has his new Twitter ban, promises to play more young players

3.
Aaron Boyd scaled adversities in reaching the top

4.
Joker puts blame on coaches, linebackers, young guys may play more

5.
Jarmon to use experiences, bad memories to make a difference

6.
Old Yeahbut makes a stop by visit to Kentucky football

7.
New Kentucky Depth Chart, Week 2: Kent State

8.
Q & A with FR RB Dyshawn Mobley

9.
Q & A with FR DB Fred Tiller, some honest quotes about UK's attitude

10.
UK Seniors expected a lot more

11.
Joker: We are better than this

UK should win this game by 21 or more, anything less with be a disappointment to me. This is the SEC against whatever conference they are in, this is no time to embarrass the conference like MSU did against Maine for their homecoming several years back.

At this point they are all trap games for the Cats. On offense last week, UK became pass happy playing from behind. The offense did a good job running the ball. Grind Kent down running the ball, pass when you want to do so, not because you have to do so.

Defensively....wow, where to start? Toughness would be a good start. We were candy out there, cumbersome, slow and out of place most of the time.
Just play football, quit thinking about it..

Cat, I think that was the problem the backside of our D was doing way too much thinking and not just playing football. I also think that some of the changes that Joker and the other D coaches made this week with players and play's with make this a lot better defending team this week and next week against WKU. A little confidence in these two games may carry on throught the rest of the season.

Well, the way the game started it looked semi-prophetic, but fortunately, the Cats showed it was not a trap in waiting at all.

...and they(KSU) fell right in to it:)