The Leach Report: South Carolina Game

Here is your Sunday morning Leach Report from Tom Leach...   Mark Stoops is trying to teach his team "how to win" and there's a lot of more that goes into changing the culture of a program that just X's and O's.  And Stoops can use the 35-28 loss at 12th-ranked South Carolina as a great teaching tool.  On the plus side, Kentucky "didn't flinch," to borrow a phrase offensive coordinator Neal Brown used in his postgame remarks.  Just 16 minutes into the game, it looked like Kentucky was on the way to another entry on the list of beatdowns inflicted by Steve Spurrier-coached teams.  But this time, the Cats kept getting back up in Rocky-like fashion and they went the distance.  On the other hand, Stoops can tell his team to think about what it feels like to come up short of a statement-making win and know that they wasted a day of practice in the past week.  And when you do put yourself in position to do something noteworthy, you have to take what you want, whether it's making a key tackle, making a touch catch, etc. = = = GAME-CHANGING PLAY(S) It was Connor Shaw's 31-yard run on a read option play in the fourth quarter.  USC was facing second-and-three on its own 18-yard line after Kentucky had scored 14 straight points to pull to within 27-21.  Shaw's run got the Gamecocks out of a hole and they drove in from there for the game-clinching touchdown. = = = KEY CAT STATS  5/11 on 3rd downs.  And UK followed two of the misses with conversions on fourth downs.  Good job by offensive coordinator Neal Brown of finding a new offensive set, the Wildcat plays with a running back taking a direct snap, to give UK a chance to succeed in short yardage situations that had been a problem in the three previous losses. 4 touchdowns on 4 trips into the red zone.  Coming into this game, Kentucky was last in the SEC in terms of its percentage of producing touchdowns once it reached the opponents' 20-yard line but the Cats  scored 4 TDs in four of those situations against South Carolina. 6 "big" plays for South Carolina.  USC had four plays that went for 20 or more yards in its first three drives and added two more in the second half.  Kentucky had only two such plays and both came on the Cats' final TD drive. = = = "WILDCAT PAW" HELMET STICKERS --Jalen Whitlow.  17/24 passing for 178 yards and 2 TDs plus he ran for 69 more and a TD.  Finally, Whitlow started to relax and find a rhythm in the second half and it looks like the Cats are on their way to find an offensive identity. --Ryan Timmons.  4 catches for 36 yards and his first UK TD.  He'll evolve into a Percy Harvin type of player for the Cats and it's always impressive to see a rookie step up to the challenge of his first true road game. --Jordan Aumiller.  He matched his career high with 3 catches and he's developed into a solid blocker.  It would have be easy for Aumiller to throw in the towel when he fell out of favor with the previous staff so kudos to him for hanging in there.   --listen to Tom each weekday morning at 9:06am eastern on "The Leach Report" radio network;  and follow him on twitter @tomleachky and via "The Leach Report" page on Facebook --check out tomleachky.com for more of Tom's coverage of the Cats