Keys to the game

By Chip Cosby | ccosby@herald-leader.com

Sleepwalking in Memphis

As is often the case in bowl games, UK-East Carolina may simply come down to who wants to be there. This will be the third consecutive bowl bid for both teams. The Pirates were thinking BCS after knocking off Virginia Tech and West Virginia to start the season. Those hopes were dashed with a three-game losing streak, but Skip Holtz's club rebounded to earn the automatic bowl bid associated with the Conference USA title. Will that be enough to get the Pirates and their fan base fired up?

After two straight Music City Bowls, the Cats also were thinking bigger after a 4-0 start. But they let potential wins against South Carolina and Georgia slip away, came out flat in a loss to Vanderbilt and ended the regular season with a discouraging loss at Tennessee.e_SClBResurrect the Wildcat defense

Defense was supposed to be UK's calling card for 2008, and the Cats got off to a dominant start. But as the competition stepped up, the defense struggled to carry a stagnant offense and also was slowed by nagging injuries. The Wildcats will be the healthiest they have been since the first month of the season and will need a vintage performance to pull out a win over ECU and end the 2008 campaign on a positive note.e_SClBHartline's second chancee_SClBThe Liberty Bowl will most likely mark the second round of the Mike Hartline era. Hartline started UK's first eight games before giving way to Randall Cobb. With Cobb probably out with a knee injury, Hartline will be given the reins once again. While Hartline did lead Kentucky to five wins, the Wildcat offense looked downright ugly at times. The problems were two-fold: Hartline missed some throws and made some mistakes while not getting much help from the skill-position players around him. Hartline still doesn't have a lot of weapons surrounding him, so it will be interesting to see if he can step up and make enough plays to lead the Cats to a win.