The optimism of August seems so long ago for the Kentucky football team, after back-to-back losses.  So let's step back and take a look at the big picture.

Here's my sense of where a majority of the Big Blue nation is:  they're revising expectations downward because they are down on quarterback Mike Hartline and this revision started when the Cats struggled to beat Louisville rather than blowing the Cardinals out.

Kentucky is 2-2, which is exactly where we all thought the Cats would be at this point.  The Wildcats still control their own destiny when it comes to playing in a better bowl game and Saturday's game at South Carolina presents a great opportunity to take the first big step down that path.  End the losing streak to the Gamecocks (and the longer streak against coach Steve Spurrier) by beating a ranked team on the road and all of sudden, there will be a lot less negativity among the UK fan base.

Pulling off this feat will require better play than the Cats have been getting from Hartline--and others--but let's start with the quarterback.  I think the best chance to win seven or more games is with Hartline, because of his experience.  While you can make an argument that freshman Morgan Newton should have gotten at least a tape of game action at this point, the idea of starting a true freshman at the QB spot is rarely the right move for a program that doesn't have superior talent around him.  And putting Randall Cobb back at QB full-time weakens the wide receiver corps greatly and also effectively takes one of your best blockers (Jon Conner) out of the gameplan because Cobb would be almost exclusively in the shotgun formation.

Masked in the fan complaints about the quarterback is the possibility of a greatly improved rushing attack.  If the Cats can move the ball on the ground against Alabama, they should be able to do it against anybody.  And that's a new dimension that could Hartline's life easier.  When Chris Matthews emerges as a big play guy (which I think will happen soon), then it becomes easier to get the ball to Cobb and Derrick Locke.

I don't think Hartline is going to transform into the Andre Woodson of 2006.  But I do think you can see improvement as this supporting cast evolves. 

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Former Wildcat quarterback Curtis Pulley gets a chance to show what he can do on a big stage this weekend, when Florida A&M visits 11th-ranked Miami.

In a recent issue of ESPN's magazine, Pulley was mentioned as under-the-radar NFL draft prospect for what he's done in a season-and-a-half at FAMU.

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