No. 1 Florida flattens Kentucky 41-7

No chance for Cats after Tebow leads 31-0 first quarter

By Chip Cosby / ccosby@herald-leader.com

Jason Sankovitch / Jason Sankovitch

Florida's Chris Rainey blocked a punt in the first quarter, then chased the ball down and fell on it in the end zone to make it 17-0 with 6:04 left.

During the requested time, Dr. Steven Hochman, assistant to for

The UK sack of Tim Tebow was quickly on YouTube

FOOTBALL: Kentucky at Georgia
Where: Sanford Stadium, Athens, Ga.
When: 7:45 p.m. Nov. 21
TV: ESPN/ESPN 2

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UK-Florida box score

It's hard enough to man up and try to take down the Florida Gators.

And when you come out of the gate with a bunch of self-inflicted wounds, things can get out of control in a hurry.

Kentucky found that out for the second year in a row on Saturday night.

Last season, it was two early blocked punts that led to two quick scores and a 14-0 lead that resulted in a 63-5 blowout. This time it was a complete systems breakdown. The UK offense committed two penalties before even taking its first snap.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and three other starters had to take a separate flight due to respiratory illness, but the way Tebow and Co. marched up and down the field, it was the Wildcats' defense that looked as though it had the swine flu.

And for good measure, the Gators blocked another punt, this time for a touchdown.

All of that led to a 31-0 Florida lead at the end of the first quarter, and the final three quarters proved to be a formality as the No. 1 Gators coasted to an easy 41-7 win.

The Wildcats committed eight of their nine penalties in the first half and didn't pick up a first down until the 8:48 mark of the second quarter, drawing mock cheers from the Commonwealth Stadium crowd of 71,011.

"I am very frustrated," UK Coach Rich Brooks said. "I am embarrassed by the way we played. I felt like I had never coached a down in my life the way we came out in that first 15 minutes at home. It's embarrassing to me because I think we are a little bit beyond starting out a game like that. I didn't do a very good job preparing my football team to meet that challenge out of the gate."

Tebow, who finished with 123 yards on 16 carries for two touchdowns while going 5-for-10 passing for 103 yards and another TD, ripped off a 30-yard run to the Kentucky 36 on the game's opening drive, but the Cats forced the Gators to settle for a 22-yard Caleb Sturgis field goal. But on UK's first two plays from scrimmage, the Cats were whistled for an illegal procedure and a false start and, on the next play, Mike Hartline was sacked just outside the goal line.

The UK offense was penalized for false starts, holding, not having enough men on the line of scrimmage, you name it. Confusion also led to wasting two early timeouts.

Head coach for offense Joker Phillips and defensive coordinator Steve Brown all echoed the same sentiment as Brooks after the game, taking responsibility for a lack of preparation.

"How hard is it to line up on the ball?" Phillips said. "That's just a lack of coaching on my part. I've got to do a better job."

"I thought our guys were fighting, but it just wasn't good enough," Brown said. "I'm upset with myself. We've got guys who can do the job. We've just got to change our approach. We have to get better."

Tebow added a 3-yard TD run to make it 10-0 with 7:11 left in the first quarter, and things got progressively worse. UK had another three-and-out and, after a motion penalty negated a Ryan Tyd lacka punt, Chris Rainey broke through and blocked his next attempt and fell on it in the end zone for a score to give the Gators a 17-0 lead at 6:04.

"They basically did what they did to us last year," Brooks said. "They loaded up the middle, and we allowed somebody to pop through and, again, point the finger at me because we shouldn't have allowed that to happen after having two of them blocked last year."

It was a statement game for Florida, who labored through a ho-hum 23-13 win over Tennessee that was followed up by a rash of flu-like symptoms floating through the locker room. The Gators, who have now won 14 straight games, have an open date before an Oct. 10 trip to Louisiana State.

"When we got the hand on the punt, that really deflated the stadium," Florida Coach Urban Meyer said. "I thought our guys came out really charged up and played really hard, and that was after a difficult week."

Florida kept pouring it on. Tebow added another short TD run and then play-faked and found Aaron Hernandez over the middle for a 44-yard hookup on the last play of the first quarter to put the lead at 31-0.