Wildcats claw Hoosiers 51-32

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Defense was the hot topic after the Hoosiers' upset victory over the University of Oregon last weekend. It will be issue No. 1 this week for IU after the University of Kentucky ran and threw all over the Hoosier defense in its 51-32 victory.\nThe win continued Kentucky's dominance in the series in recent years -- winning nine of the last 10 and three in a row and snapping IU's two-game winning streak in the process.\nFor the Hoosiers (2-1), giving up too many yards on defense was the problem as the Wildcats (1-1) put a season high 560 yards on the IU defense in front of more than 65,000 at the home opener for Kentucky at Commonwealth Stadium.\nA big reason for giving up yards and losing the game was not executing the basic fundamentals of defense, IU coach Gerry DiNardo said.\n"The tackling was less than to be desired," DiNardo said. "The worst thing that we did today was we weren't very good tacklers. That's the glaring thing I noticed from the last two weeks."\nAfter a halftime score of 27-17 in favor of the Wildcats, the IU defense made a stand as sophomore defensive end Kenny Kendal pried the ball loose from Wildcats' senior quarterback Shane Boyd on second and 16 deep inside its own territory. Junior defensive end Victor Adeyanju corralled the ball and carried it in from four yards out to cut the lead to 27-24.\nGetting the play got the team's confidence up, Adeyanju said.\n"(The turnover) helped us tremendously," he said. "We thought we were going to rally around that and get back down to it."\nThe wheels came off soon after the score as the defense and special teams couldn't maintain consistent play and gave up 21 unanswered points that would prove too much for the Hoosiers to overcome.\nKentucky quickly drove the ball down the field for a touchdown, going 80 yards in six plays in a mere 94 seconds, highlighted by a 19-yard touchdown pass from Boyd to junior wide receiver Scott Mitchell.\nThe turning point in the game came on the ensuing kickoff when sophomore Lance Bennett fumbled the return with the Wildcats recovering on the Indiana 27-yard line and putting it in the end zone five plays later.\nKentucky finished its third quarter blitz on IU by scoring on a 12 yard pass from Boyd to junior wide receiver Glenn Holt, pushing the score to 48-24.\nIU cut the lead to 48-32, after seniors Matt LoVecchio and Courtney Roby connected on a 64-yard touchdown pass.\nOn the night, Roby caught seven passes for 184 yards with two touchdowns. Despite the lofty numbers, his mind was more focused on the loss than his impressive performance, he said.\n"That is all fine and dandy, but the main thing is we lost," Roby said. "I don't care how many yards I had or receptions I had. We lost."\nAfter the third quarter fireworks, the fourth quarter proved to be anti-climatic as Wildcats' junior kicker Tayler Begley ended the scoring with a 28-yard field goal.\nThe first half action was more positive for the Hoosiers, as IU jumped out to a 9-3 advantage at the end of the first quarter.\nBehind a balanced attack, the Hoosiers marched down the field behind 82 rushing yards from sophomore running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who finished the day with 115 yards for an average of five yards a carry.\nLoVecchio finished the period going 4-4 for 55 yards. A 27-yard field goal by senior kick Bryan Robertson and a 2-yard dash via the option by junior running back Chris Taylor capped the scoring in the first quarter.\nKentucky quickly countered in the second quarter on a 13-yard scamper by Boyd to put the Wildcats in front 10-9, marking the first time all season IU trailed.\nUK pushed the lead to 17-9 on a 67-yard run by freshman running back Tony Dixon, the Hoosiers responded in the back-and-forth first half by getting a touchdown pass from LoVecchio to Roby on a 44-yard catch falling backwards into the end zone.\nLoVecchio finished the day 12 for 24, with 236 yards and two touchdown passes.\nThe running game, which was a question mark for the Wildcats coming in, appeared not to be a problem when Boyd scored on a 9-yard run. Kentucky had two players with over 100 yards rushing, Dixon with 105 yards and Boyd amassing 130 yards, in addition to the 205 yards he compiled through the air.\nComing out of the border-war game with a disappointing loss, and finishing the non-conference schedule on a down note puts a sour taste in the team's mouth, as the team prepares for the Big Ten opener, junior linebacker Kyle Killion said.\n"We have to tackle better than that," Killion said. "We have to play better than that, and Hoosier football is better than that."\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu.