Published: August 23, 2008 11:29 pm      

Cats' offense improved

LEXINGTON — A week after being kept out of the end zone by the defense in the first major scrimmage, the Kentucky offense showed improvement during a 90-minute scrimmage in sweltering conditions Saturday afternoon at Commonwealth Stadium.

The format was first-team offense and defense going against their second-team counterparts.

The scrimmage was situational, with the offense getting the ball in different locations on the field and also some two-minute drill work.

“I thought there were a lot of good things,” coach Rich Brooks said. “We got a lot of situations covered. We scored touchdowns. We found the end zone and a lot of our young receivers stood up and made some catches. I thought Hartline and Cobb (quarterbacks Mike Hartline and Randall Cobb) handled the offense well and made some plays.

“We had much better protection today (by the offensive line). We had a couple of breakdowns that would have been sacks, as we did not allow the quarterbacks to be hit today. There were some good runs made and some holes. There was some push, moving the pile a little bit. It looked more like I thought it was going to look today than it did last week.”

Brooks indicated that some of the up-and-down performance by offensive line has been a result of good play by the Wildcat defensive line, particularly at the tackle positions.

“I feel like (Corey) Peters, (Myron) Pryor and (Ricky) Lumpkin are loads inside, and we have some other young guys doing some decent things, but those three guys are the real deal inside,” Brooks said. “They’re going to give everybody a test. Certainly they’ve given us a test in fall camp.

“It’s a little scary, obviously, when you go against yourself. You never know who’s doing something good and who’s doing something not so good because you’re going against yourself. There were a lot of good individual plays today. We looked like we were not quite as quick as we need to be, a little beat-up, tired, dead-legged. We have a light practice tomorrow and a day off Monday. We start our normal morning practices on Tuesday. We need to freshen up and get some bounce back in our step now.”

Brooks said that offensive guard Stuart Hines, safety Marcus McClinton, wide receiver E.J. Fields, offensive tackle James Alexander and quarterback Will Fidler did not participate in today’s scrimmage because of injuries. Wide receiver DeMoreo Ford also did not participate, as he was attending his brother’s funeral.

Home game times set

Starting kickoffs have been determined for Kentucky’s home schedule and the opener with Louisville on Sunday.

Here are the times so far:

Aug. 31 (at Louisville, 3:30 p.m.)

Sep. 6 (Norfolk State, 6 p.m.)

Sept. 13 (Middle Tenn., 7 p.m.)

Sept. 27 (Western Ky., 7 p.m.)

Oct. 4 (at Alabama, TBA)

Oct. 11 (South Carolina, 7 p.m.)

Oct. 25 (at Florida, TBA)

Nov. 1 (at Miss. State, TBA)

Nov. 8 (Georgia, 1 p.m.)

Nov. 15 (Vanderbilt, 1 p.m.)

Nov. 29 (at Tennessee, TBA)

TV coverage for first 2 home games

Norfolk State (Sept. 6, 6 p.m.): Televised live within the state of Kentucky on pay-per-view basis (suggested price $24.95 in advance, $29.95 day of game; cable/satellite providers make final decision on pricing). Broadcast available to Big Blue Sports Network affiliates on a delayed basis.

Middle Tennessee (Sept. 13, 7 p.m.): Televised live within the state of Kentucky on pay-per-view basis (suggested price $24.95 in advance, $29.95 day of game; cable/satellite providers make final decision on pricing). Televised live outside of Kentucky as part of ESPN GamePlan. (Note: GamePlan’s coverage of UK-Middle Tennessee will be blacked out within Kentucky borders). Broadcast available to Big Blue Sports Network affiliates on a delayed basis.

Ticket sales

More than 52,800 season tickets have been issued, already surpassing the total for 2007 with two weeks remaining before the home opener.

For the general public, less than 700 season tickets remain at a cost of $230 (upper level sideline) or $195 (upper level goalline) each. At this time, the only way for the public to acquire tickets for the South Carolina and Georgia games is by purchasing a season ticket.

The 52,800 number includes 5,540 season tickets purchased by students. Student sales continue at a brisk pace and the final number is expected to surpass the student record of 5,568 season tickets bought last year.

The UK Athletics Ticket Office, located in the Joe Craft Center, has extended window hours until the first home game. Ticket office window sales will be available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, through Sept. 5. Tickets also can be purchased online at www.ukathletics.com. The phone number is 800-928-CATS or (859) 257-1818.

Wildcat fans broke every school record for attendance last season:

*total attendance of 550,588 in eight home games

*average attendance of 68,824 per game

*single-game record of 71,024 for the Florida game