LEX18.com - Lexington, KY

Posted: Nov 4, 2009 11:46 PM

It can be pretty discouraging to give up 348 yards on the ground to another team.  That's what the UK defense has been dealing with the past week, reliving the thrashing and trying to keep it from happening again.

"It's frustrating as heck," said UK defensive coordinator Steve Brown.

"You spend a lot of time trying to make sure you've got that accomplished, especially trying to take away what the other team does best. We've had a couple of good days at practice, we've just got to make sure the guys are focusing on their assignments, and play with energy and play with aggression."

The Eastern Kentucky Colonels will come into Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday running the same kind of counters and misdirection that has given the Cats fits at times this season.

One thing the Cats will need to do a better job of is getting the Colonels off the field on third down, something the couldn't do against the Bulldogs.

"We were one in nine last week. We gotta make sure, unlike last week, we gotta make sure we get them on the third down. Once again it depends on the scenario.  If we keep them out of third and short, the offense has the advantage in that situation, just get out there 3rd and short and whatever they call, we just gotta gear up, play tough, and do our assigning," said Brown.

Brown calls it a puzzle.  Each player must fit right with the others to correctly fill gaps to stop the run.

"We didn't fit the puzzle quite right last week so they were able to get some big time yards on us. It just a matter of us not only fitting it right, but being aggressive and attacking blockers, defending blockers, just playing defense, and that's what we're trying to accomplish."