While Brooks insists there are no moral victories, he couldn't deny being pleased with how his team played most of Saturday's game. Quarterback Andre Woodson was 26-for-37 passing for 210 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. The Cats also got 29 yards rushing from Alfonso Smith and 27 from Tony Dixon against the nation's top rushing defense.
The UK defense did give up 514 yards, but it also forced two turnovers.
"I think we did some things better for at least a portion of game and improved. Then we kind of took a few steps back in second half," Brooks said. "We made fundamental mistakes and technique mistakes that if we do not get better will get us beat down the road.
"But the fact we were able go on the road against a good team and not react like we did in our opener against a really good team, that shows progress. The bottom line is a loss is a loss. I do think we can carry forward with things we were able to do well, and the biggest thing is that we kept competing until the bitter end. We did not turn the ball over once, which is a huge step in game like that was on the road where their defense was pretty relentless."
However, Brooks says now is not the time for UK to relax with Central Michigan next on the schedule.
"I think we have shown that we are improved (from the first game). What we have to do is continue to show we are not just improved, but we are improved enough to win games," Brooks said.
Brooks says it wasn't hard to figure out why Florida's defense was able to shut down Kentucky's offense the second half.
"Florida was more aggressive and was really teeing off up field on us," he said. "You also have to remember that it is a very difficult place from a noise standpoint to hear all the communications and get off on the snap at the same time."
No complaints about Woodson
But the coach had no complaints with the way Woodson ran the offense.
"I thought Andre played a very, very good game. He did just about everything we could expect of him," Brooks said.
Curtis Pulley had six catches for 63 yards at Florida, but Brooks emphasized again Sunday that his primary duty remains being Woodson's backup. Brooks says Pulley will continue to take about 75 percent of his work at quarterback in practice and the rest at receiver.
"Obviously, if Andre keeps playing as well, then Curtis' role at receiver will expand. I would assume he will get better at receiver as we go through this because he is not getting a lot of practice reps at receiver," Brooks said. "We still need him to take snaps at quarterback. We are just one unfortunate injury away from him being our quarterback."
Brooks was also glad to have a healthy Jacob Tamme to incorporate into the offense. Tamme, a junior tight end, came into the game with just two catches. However, he had five for 39 yards at Florida and had a 33-yard gain nullified by a penalty. He had hurt his hamstring in UK's second game against Texas State.
"He was able to practice last week, and that helped. He has always been kind of in the plan," Brooks said. "There were more things open for him. Maybe that's part of the process of having other people start making plays in the offense. Now maybe he will get more normal attention (from defenses) rather than a lot of attention like he has been."
Injury update
Safety Roger Williams has a hamstring injury and is questionable for this week's game with Central Michigan.
Running back Tony Dixon should be able to practice Tuesday after suffering a bruised shin at Florida.
Center Matt McCutchan (ankle) and running back Rafael Little (knee, turf toe) missed the game at Florida and remain questionable for this week.
Defensive lineman Jamil Paris is questionable because of an irregular heartbeat. "He had an episode earlier in a game and then settled down and didn't seem to be a big thing," Brooks said. "Then he had two episodes in the game last night. We are just going to get him checked out by a heart specialist and proceed from there. You never want to take chances on things like that. If we have to run a bunch of tests, we will do that." Brooks said he would anticipate it taking two to three days to get Paris to a specialist and have the proper tests done.
