Joker Phillips and his players acknowledged there's a sense of urgency after a two-game road losing streak was capped by a frustrating 42-35 loss to Mississippi on Saturday.
"There's definitely a sense of urgency," the Kentucky football coach said. "I'd be crazy to sit here and tell you that there wasn't."
But there's a difference between urgency and desperation, players said. UK opens a three-game homestand against No. 8 Auburn on Saturday.
"There's no reason to hit the panic button," defensive tackle Mark Crawford said. "We're 3-2 and we've got three home games coming up. Everybody's still on board, there are no problems in the locker room. We're just going to try and do something with the rest of the season so we can go to a better bowl game."
"We're not really panicking yet," said center Matt Smith. "We still have a long way to go and we know that we can compete with the best of them. We just have to come in and focus and not do those little things to shoot ourselves in the foot."
A visit from the unbeaten Tigers doesn't seem like the ideal time for a turnaround. But UK limped into last year's game at Auburn with a three-game losing streak — and without injured quarterback Mike Hartline — and managed to pull out a 21-14 victory.
Phillips said he likes how the UK offensive and defensive lines match up with Auburn.
"We know how to beat this team," Phillips said. "We've done it, and I think that makes our players more confident."
"We went down there and took care of business last year, and that's the expectation this year," Crawford said. "Them being a top-10 team, we don't really look at that. As long as we do our jobs, we can beat anybody. Athleticism and talent isn't the problem. We've just got to be more consistent doing our jobs."
Granted, the Tigers are a much different team in 2010, thanks in large part to quarterback Cameron Newton, a 6-foot-6, 250-pound junior who has put himself in the mix for SEC player of the year.
"We know they're going to come in here wanting some revenge, and they're a much better team than they were last year," Smith said. "But we are too, so we just have to go out there and compete."
Starting with the win at Auburn, the Cats finished 5-2 down the stretch last season. A similar finish would leave them at 8-4 heading into bowl season.
"With these two losses, a lot of people are looking at us like, 'This season's done,' " Smith said. "Now we're definitely the underdogs, and not just a little bit. It's definitely going to give us motivation to get back into it because obviously we have to start winning to make the impact we want to."
No decision on kickofftime for South Carolina
The Southeastern Conference has chosen its six-day option to select the kickoff time for Kentucky's Oct. 16 home game with No. 19 South Carolina and will not make a final decision until Sunday. The game will be either the 3:30 CBS game or start at 6 or 7 p.m. on one of the ESPN networks. UK is set to host No. 8 Auburn this weekend while the Gamecocks get a visit from top-ranked Alabama.
Huzzie questionable
Phillips said sophomore linebacker Qua Huzzie will have thumb surgery this week, and he is questionable for the Auburn game.
