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Morgan Newton Feeling The Learning Curve

Posted: Nov 1, 2009 12:43 AM by Mary Jo Perino
Updated: Nov 1, 2009 12:43 AM

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Morgan Newton started his third straight game, but this time it was all on him. There was no Will Fidler.

In the second quarter, Newton rushed for an 11 yard touchdown to put the Cats up on Mississippi State 14-3 and the coaches saw no reason to take Newton out of the game.

Flash forward to the second half. There were sacks he shouldn't have taken. A ball he shouldn't have thrown that was picked off. When Kentucky needed plays to be made late in the fourth quarter to try to tie the game up, he came up with a few, just not enough.

"When it comes down to it, there are a lot of plays during the course of a game that we should have make and could have made and it just didn't happen for us," said Newton.

Newton finished the game 11-18 for 119 yards threw the air. Most of those passes came early in the game and then when he needed to go to the air late in the fourth quarter, he may not have been in the right rhythm. Does Newton believe the coaches should have given him more of a chance to throw the ball throughout the entire game?

"I don't know, could be the case. It's not my job to say that plays here and there to get me in rhythm. We did a lot of good things running the ball early. To look back on it though, maybe."

"i'm supposed to be ready at all times to make plays, run or pass. We were very successful with the run tonight, had a lot of guys contribute but when it came down to it we had to make some plays in the air and just weren't able to make enough," said Newton.

Still, the offense did it's part for the most part, collecting 308 yards of total offense. The defense gave up nearly 500 yards to the Bulldogs, 493 to be exact. But when UK needed to score to tie things up, Newton had no doubt they could do it.

"I felt like we were gonna score. I felt like we put a couple plays together and were able to make some yards. We were in a position. We were down there close to put it in. I took a sack and shouldn't have taken a sack," Newton said.

A mistake he says he won't make down the road.

"This is the third game I've played in. With time, I'm going to get better and some of the mistakes I won't continue to make."

For some players, they weren't able to see positives out of this game, considering the impact it will have on how the rest of Uk's season. But for Newton, who played his first full game, he is taking something away from it.

"I was able to do some things with my legs, obviously, was able to run a little bit. I'm going to look back on it and I've got to make things happen a little faster. I was able to make some plays and obviously I wasn't able to make enough plays. There are some encouraging things but to finish out this season we've got to clean up a lot and win some games down the stretch."

Topics: Morgan Newton, UK football, MIssissippi State

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