Kentucky won the toss and Pittsburgh started with a torrid drive, but Randall Burden picked off a throw on the drive and the defense for the Cats stole the momentum early.
After the interception, Morgan Newton completed his first two passes and looked really poised early on. Derrick Locke had a huge 28 yard run to get the Cats into Pittsburgh territory. Just when you thought the Cats offense was hitting on all cylinders, Morgan Newton fumbles and Pittsburgh takes over.
On the second possession of the drive after the fumble recovery, Pittsburgh fumbles on a backwards pass and the Cats take over on the Panther’s 10 yard line. Randall Burden recovered the fumble and is the early Compass Bowl MVP if there is such a thing. But, the review said the pass was a forward pass and Pitt took back over. Terrible call in my opinion. The Cats went on to stop the drive anyway and cause Pitt to punt, but this could have been a game changing play and cost the Cats an easy 7 points.
Kentucky got the ball after the punt and pushed the ball down the field with Randall Cobb and Morgan Newton making several nice plays. Newton started running the football and the Cats drove down the field. The drive was 12 plays for 40 yards and Craig McIntosh kicked a 50 yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. with 3 minutes left in the 1st quarter.
The next drive watched the Pitt Panthers drive the ball down the field with several runs. The Cats didn’t have an answer to the run on this drive and gave up a 21 yard field goal. The game was tied at 3-3 with 11:29 left. Randall Burden made several nice plays in red zone defense to stop the Panthers from scoring a touchdown.
On the ensuing drive, the Cats were rewarded with a pass interference call on Pitt to Chris Matthews. Morgan Newton was sacked and lost 9 yards. Then Newon ran for 18 and a half yards which caused a 4th and inches. Kentucky decided to go with a QB sneak and actually lost yardage and Pitt took over on downs. I would have went shotgun and gave Newton room to run. Morgan Newton is looking like he could be a great running quarterback next year. The coaching staff just needs to realize it.
After Pitt took over on downs, they ran the ball several times for big gains. Kentucky also had a late hit out of bounds, and the Ridge Wilson decided to hit the Pitt QB late and then fistofcuffs broke out. It was a wild scene and has definitely added a little fire to the contest. There were several unsportsmanline conducts on both teams. Pitt goes on to kick 33 yard field goal to take the lead 6-3 with 3:30 left in the 1st quarter.
The Cats next drive did nothing and had to punt…well the punt was blocked and Pittsburgh recovered on the Kentucky 10 yard line. They went on to take the lead 13-3 with a little over 30 seconds remaining in the half.
The Kentucky Wildcats will have to switch it up in the 2nd half and find a way to get Randall Cobb more involved. He hasn’t seen hardly any touches and needs to get the football. It is that hard to figure out?
