Mistakes costly for Wildcats

By Jason Dattilo
Sports Editor

The curse hanging over the UK football team seemed to be gone until Saturday night when Auburn came marching into Commonwealth Stadium. In the showdown with the 13th-ranked Tigers, the Wildcats made many of the same mistakes that kept head coach Bill Curry's squad mired in a 12-game losing streak.

Whether it was giving up big plays to Auburn's suspect offense, dropping sure interceptions or committing costly penalties, the Cats took themselves out of the game early.

"It makes me angry when we self-destruct," Curry said.

For instance, on UK's opening drive of the ballgame, quarterback Billy Jack Haskins drove the Cats down to the Auburn 25-yard line. But then somebody hit the rewind button, and the Cats started moving backwards.

Holding penalty.

Sack.

Then, on fourth down, UK punter Jimmy Carter fumbled the snap. He recovered, but Auburn still took over on downs in prime field position.

The Cats reloaded the revolver and shot themselves in the foot again on Auburn's second drive of the game when UK strong safety Leman Boyd dropped a sure interception in the endzone. Auburn went on to score a touchdown as it did on its first four possessions of the game.

"That's very deflating," Curry said.

But it's not like UK's defense didn't have its chances. The Cats had Auburn backed up third-and-10 on three different occasions in the first half before allowing the Tigers to escape and eventually score.

Auburn converted a whopping nine of 13 total third-down conversions.

"We didn't get them in third-and-10 by accident," Curry said. "We did it by execution. If we then execute on third and 10 we would've gotten the ball back."

The Cats finally got on the board at the 10:52 mark of the second quarter, but Auburn proceeded to score two plays and :24 later.

"We must eliminate that little doubt in our minds that must still be there when we play against (teams like Auburn)," Curry said. "I thought it was gone, but I guess I'll have to hammer it out of them."

Big shoes to fill

The absence of defensive end Kurt Supe, who broke his arm against South Carolina last weekend, left a gaping hole in the defensive front.

Ben Bird, a junior, took most of the snaps in Supe's absence, recording four tackles for the game.

"He made some rookie mistakes," Curry said, "but he played hard."

"I figured being the new guy and trying to fill Kurt Supe's shoes (Auburn) might be coming at me," said Bird, who hails from New Richmond, Ohio.

Speedy duo

For the first time this season, Curry used sophomore Kio Sanford and freshman Craig Yeast to return kickoffs. Previously Curry used Yeast and tailback Moe Williams.

"Kio and Craig give us great speed back there."

Meanwhile, Williams, who rushed for 164 yards from his tailback position, made a tackle as a fullback in punting situations.