Alabama St. Hornets 14, Kentucky Wildcats 48: Postmortem

Well, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, this wasn't exactly a thing of beauty by the 2-6 (now) Kentucky Wildcats, but it was the one thing that has eluded them in the last six games — a victory.

Thanks to the Alabama St. Hornets for coming in and playing the game. The Hornets played hard, and you could tell they really wanted to do well, but unfortunately they were entirely self-destructive. They consistently hurt themselves with stupid, brain-dead personal foul penalties and may have played among the most filthy games I have ever witnessed in a good while, against a Wildcat team that they literally could have challenged with fewer silly testosterone explosions. Who knows what motivated them to do all that? Whatever it was, I hope they got it out of their system.

For Kentucky, it was pretty much more of the same. The big difference was that the opponent was not deep enough, not strong enough, and was hell-bent on self-destruction. Kentucky took the advice of those wiser than themselves — "when your opponent is busily destroying himself, get out of his way." That's pretty much all Kentucky had to do, and they did it pretty well.

What they did not do well is play defense. Generally speaking, Kentucky should have dominated this team defensively, but in many cases they simply didn't. The offensive line also continues to show its weakness as it allowed far too many sacks for a FCS/FBS contest. Alas, this is just how the season has gone.

Observations

• I thought Jalen Whitlow played pretty well. He still misses far too many easy throws, but then again, we knew he wasn't Mike Hartline. With that said, he made some nice throws as well as bad ones, and what he lacks in throwing skill he makes up for in running ability. Game ball.

• Kentucky managed to avoid turnovers tonight for the second straight game. The fumble in the end zone could have upset that in a big way, but Demarco Robinson was Johnny-on-the-spot.

• Speaking of Robinson, it's nice to have him healthy, especially since we likely lost Alex Montgomery for the season after he blew out his knee celebrating a touchdown.  Yeah, you read that right.  Sigh.

• Our defensive line is frustrating. They're huge, and yet they can't get off blocks.

• Special teams blew the very first play, and then were almost flawless the rest of the game. Dyshawn Mobley was really great on special teams, getting three impressive tackles, one a thunderous hit.

• Max Smith did not look good when he came in. Has he mailed it in?

• This makes you want to find a wall to beat your head against:

  Stoops on Montgomery injury, hopes not serious "but I'm afraid it may be ... we've gotta learn to celebrate better."

  — Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) November 3, 2013

• Kentucky needed this win. They got it, and didn't look horrible, although they had some help. That's a good thing.

• Joe Mansour had a very good game. All his kicks were beauties.

• Jojo Kemp had a good night, Raymond Sanders, not so much.

• Jordan Aumiller continues to impress, but Steven Borden caught the long touchdown pass on a beautiful throw from Whitlow. It's maddening to see Whitlow throw a ball like that, and miss a wide-open Sanders in the flat by a mile.

Well, that's about all I have to offer. We wound up injured all to heck after this game, although I think Timmons' injury is minor, and I don't think Jonathan George's is too bad. Javess Blue should be fine in a day or two. The bad news is Alexander Montgomery, who is likely lost for the season.

This may be the last game we manage to win this season, Wildcats fans, so enjoy it. But hope springs eternal.  Who knows, we may catch one of our remaining opponents on a bad day, or wake up and decide to execute just once before it's all over.  It could happen.