Derrick Locke

LEXINGTON - He endured a season-ending knee injury against Arkansas last October that even put his return for this season in jeopardy. However, Kentucky junior running back Derrick Locke is now coping with another setback - the death of his sister last week in Oklahoma. He missed the start of UK's practice to return home for her funeral and to be with his family before returning for workouts Monday. "It is tough, but you have to be focused. I think about it, but I have worked too hard to let this slip away now. I have to be here thinking about what I am doing.

Kentucky answered one major redshirt question in Saturday's one over Miami, but the Cats still have one big dilemma remaining when it comes to four-star freshman quarterback Morgan Newton. Kentucky coach Rich Brooks indicated last month that he expected one of the three freshmen running backs ? Donald Russell, Jonathan George and Dakota Tyler ? to play this season. At first, it looked like George would be the one to play. Then he sprained an ankle and also had to miss time to return home to Alabama to attend his high school coach's funeral.

LEXINGTON ? Rich Brooks isn't talking to his team about bowl positioning or ending a losing streak to Tennessee here Saturday. Instead, the Kentucky coach says beating Tennessee will be significant for one other reason ? it will let UK finish second in the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division for the first time with a 4-4 league mark. "The top thing is trying to finish as high as we can in the SEC East. If we do that, then a lot of things are taken care of," said Brooks Sunday.

LEXINGTON ? Two inches. If you want to play the iffin' game, that's the distance that changed everything about Saturday's Kentucky-Alabama game. Forget that the No. 3 Crimson Tide won 38-20 to remain unbeaten. Forget the three interceptions UK quarterback Mike Hartline threw, the fumble Derrick Locke had that turned into an Alabama score or the missed scoring chances UK blew in the first half. No, think about what may have been if Alabama running back Mark Ingram's forward progress had not been ruled two inches outside of his own end zone midway of the second quarter.

LEXINGTON ? As speculation continues to center on how Kentucky quarterback Mike Hartline has played, head coach Rich Brooks knows that his receivers have to become more consistent playmakers no matter who the quarterback is. Sophomore Randall Cobb has a team-high 21 catches for 248 yards, an average of 11.8 yards per catch. Junior college transfer Chris Matthews, who was expected to be a big-play receiver, had 14 receptions for 127 yards, an average of 9.1 per play. Running back Derrick Locke is the only other player with at least 10 catches after four games.

LEXINGTON ? After Saturday's narrow 31-27 victory over Louisville, Kentucky coach Rich Brooks seemed to focus more on Derrick Locke's fumble on a third-quarter kickoff return than he did his 310 all-purpose yards. Brooks was quite a bit more complimentary of his junior running back Sunday after he had time to review the game film. "I think if you take away the fumble on the kickoff, he played as good a game as somebody has played in quite a while. He returned kicks extremely well, caught the ball, made plays in the running game.

LEXINGTON -- Rather than look for reasons why his team didn't beat Florida, Kentucky coach Rich Brooks emphasized the obvious. "Florida obviously is very good. We competed well, but we did not execute as well as I would have liked," said Brooks. That lack of execution at key times combined with Florida's solid play was more than enough to enable the 14th-ranked Gators to beat No. 8 UK 45-37 here on Saturday. This time there was no dramatic second half rally for the Wildcats as there had been in earlier wins this season over Louisville and LSU. Not that Kentucky didn't try, but Florida simply had an answer for whatever the Cats did. "They just did more good things than we did," said UK freshman running back Derrick Locke.

NASHVILLE -- Florida State cornerback Tony Carter returned a fumble recovey 51 yards and took an interception back 24 yards for a touchdown. However, he left here impressed by Kentucky quarterback Andre Woodson. "He can throw the deep ball about as good as anyone in the country," said Carter after UK's 35-28 victory in the Music City Bowl here Monday. "Coming into the game, we watched a lot of film on him and the receivers. We did a good job of not giving up the good play that they are pretty much used to. "Woodson did a good job of nickel and diming us to death.

LEXINGTON - His offensive line didn't block the way he wanted and the running backs didn't always run the way he wanted. Yet Kentucky coach Rich Brooks found another group to also blame for Kentucky's anemic 63 yards rushing in Sunday's 27-2 win at Louisville. "Our backs have to hit the hole, and not guess where it will be, and run into the pile," said Brooks Tuesday. "But our receivers have to block. Everybody talks about the passing game, but hell, those receivers have to block.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) ? The Kentucky Wildcats came to The Swamp beaten up. They left beaten down. Tim Tebow threw two touchdown passes, ran for two scores and fifth-ranked Florida thumped injury-depleted Kentucky 63-5 Saturday, extending its winning streak in the series to 22 games. The Gators showed no signs of sluggishness coming off a bye and didn't have a letdown following a 51-21 drubbing of defending national champion LSU two weeks ago. Now, they can focus on the game they've been looking forward to for a year: Georgia, a hated rival that stomped its way to a victory last season that essentially knocked Florida out of the Southeastern Conference race.