Special game for Locke, new kicker

By Jennifer Smith / jsmith3@herald-leader.com

Derrick Locke was just looking for one small crease.

If he found that, he knew he was headed for the end zone.

Late in the second quarter of Kentucky's 41-3 win over Western Kentucky on Saturday, Locke found that crease near the right sideline, broke free and took a kickoff return 100 yards for a touchdown.

Locke, who also runs track at UK, broke free easily after passing the 50-yard line. He became the third Wildcat to return a kickoff 100 yards for a score. The last one to do it was Keenan Burton against Louisville in 2006.

"It felt good 'cause I was trying to score," Locke said. "When I seen that crease, I thought, 'Man, if I hit this full speed, I should be able to score.' "

It made Coach Rich Brooks happy, too, as did the special teams play in general.

It included two field goals by newly named kicker Ryan Tydlacka: a 45-yarder in the first half and a 33-yarder late in the second half.

"It was real exciting," he said. "It was something I haven't done since high school."

The redshirt freshman from Louisville Trinity said he didn't have any butterflies going out to make his first collegiate kick.

"I kind of did a few days ago, I had them a little bit, but by the middle of yesterday they were gone and everything was fine," he said.

Brooks was pleased with Tydlacka's performance.

"It looks like he's got the job for a while," the coach said. "That's kind of the way we'll go forward."

Lones Seiber, who missed four of six field-goal attempts against Middle Tennessee, made all of his extra-point attempts Saturday.

Depleted defense shines

The defense was without leading tackler Micah Johnson and key backup Ricky Lumpkin this week, but they still performed well, holding Western's spread offense to 15 yards passing.

That's the lowest total since UK allowed Vanderbilt just three passing yards in 1994.

"Who'd have thought we'd hold anybody, especially a spread offense, to 15 yards passing?" Brooks asked aloud. "I thought that was pretty damn good myself."

Western's K.J. Black was sacked four times.

"It's difficult when you are trying to look downfield and you see a defender in your face as soon as you take a third step," he said.

The pass defense even surprised some of UK's defenders during the game.

"Our pass defense was tremendous," Corey Peters said, before adding, "but we have to get some things fixed in the rushing defense."

UK gave up 156 yards on the ground to the Tops, including 99 to back Bobby Rainey. But the Cats continued their trend of not allowing a rushing touchdown this season.

The last time that happened was in the final four games of the 1984 season.

Injury report

A Kentucky team that was hit hard by the ankle-injury bug (three players out) two weeks ago against Middle Tennessee State got hit again Saturday, but this time it was worse.

Tackle Justin Jeffries suffered a knee injury on the Cats' first field goal.

"At best he's got an MCL sprain/tear," Brooks said, adding later that Jeffries was out indefinitely. An MRI will be done on Monday to see if there is additional damage.

Tight end T.C. Drake suffered an ankle injury early in the game. He came back in and played, but he could not finish the game.

Corey Peters also tweaked an ankle but was able to finish the game and should be fine, Brooks said.

DeMoreo Ford suffered a concussion.

Still too many drops

There were at least four dropped passes in the first half, which left Brooks a little bit frustrated, but he thought the receiving game came around later.

"There were fewer drops in the second half," he said. "We kind of discussed that at halftime. I thought some guys stepped up and made some plays."

Included in that group was Henry Clay's Aaron Boyd, who caught three passes in the second half for 16 yards. They were his first collegiate catches.

Ex-Cats in the crowd

On Hall of Fame night, there were some possible future Hall of Famers on display in the end zone in the first half, including NBA champion Rajon Rondo of the Celtics, Ryder Cup champion J.B. Holmes and Indianapolis Colts tight end Jacob Tamme.