Cats' turnovers costly in 48-10 loss to Florida

Kentucky coach Joker Phillips hopes if the Wildcats learn anything from their loss to Florida it's just how painful turnovers are.

The Wildcats turned it over four times, and each giveaway led to a score by the Gators, who won 48-10 on Saturday night. It was No. 15 Florida's 25th straight victory in the series.

''That's a sloppy football team,'' Phillips said of the Wildcats. ''I've got to get this football team to know how precious, how precious the football is. We've had very poor field position the last couple weeks, and we've given the opponents good field position, and that equals an 'L' most of the time.''

The Wildcats managed to frustrate the Gators early on in their first road game of the season. On the first drive of the game, one scripted beforehand by offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, Florida went three-and-out for just the fourth time all season, and the second drive didn't prove to be much better.

But Kentucky's first fumble provided the burst of energy Florida (4-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) needed. Josh Clemons lost the ball on second-and-1 at the Kentucky 45, and John Brantley hit Gerald Christian on a 45-yard touchdown pass across the middle on the next play to give the Gators a 7-0 lead with 8:10 in the first quarter.

The Wildcats (2-2, 0-1) failed to pick up a single yard on their next possession, and Jeff Demps ran off tackle for 20 yards for the Gators' next touchdown, capping a four-play drive that took just 1:23.

Kentucky picked up a first down on its next drive - its first of the game - but Matt Elam picked off a pass by Morgan Newton at the Kentucky 46 and returned it 17 yards to the Florida 28. Chris Rainey ran most of the rest of the way, with Trey Burton polishing it off with a 1-yard TD run to put the Gators up 21-0 with 3:39 in the first quarter.

Florida has now outscored the Wildcats 94-3 in the first quarters of the past four meetings.

Kentucky gave the ball away again in the second quarter, deep in its own territory. Jonathan Bostic hit Newton as his arm was behind his head, Newton dropped the ball and Florida's Jaye Howard grabbed it, running 2 yards for a touchdown to make it 28-3 with 11:30 remaining in the half.

''We got a couple of stops early, and we had a chance,'' Newton said. ''We moved the ball, but we gave them short fields and turnovers. A couple of bounces went against us and before we knew it, we were down 28-3. We just couldn't get over the hump after that.''

Newton threw another interception to Michael Taylor, setting up a 27-yard field goal by Caleb Sturgis to give Florida a 41-10 lead with 3:10 in the third quarter.

The Wildcats managed to make the Gators pay for a mistake of their own for Kentucky's lone touchdown. Brantley headed to the locker room a few minutes before halftime after getting drilled by Danny Trevathan, the SEC's leading tackler. On his second play, backup quarterback Jeff Driskel fumbled the ball as Trevathan hit him, and Trevathan fell on the ball at the Florida 26.

Newton, who was 16-of-33 for 124 yards with two interceptions, threw a 19-yard touchdown pass two plays later to La'Rod King with 1:18 before halftime to cut the Gators' lead to 31-10.

But the Wildcats were too far in the hole at that point, and couldn't stop Florida's speedy running backs in the second half.

Demps, who won a national title in the 60-meter dash at the 2010 indoor NCAA championships, showed the speed the Gators have become known for as he raced by defenders for his long touchdown run. It was Florida's longest since Emmitt Smith's 96-yard touchdown run against Mississippi State in 1988.

Demps finished with 10 carries for 157 yards and two touchdowns. Rainey added 105 yards for the Gators, who finished with 405 yards rushing, and Brantley was 8 for 14 for 115 yards and one touchdown. Florida hosts No. 3 Alabama and travels to No. 2 LSU in the next two weeks.

Kentucky also couldn't do much on offense against the Football Bowl Subdivision's top run defense, picking up just 134 yards on the ground. The Gators also entered the game ranked sixth in scoring defense and seventh in total defense.

''We'll get a couple of hours to sulk, but then we have to get ready to go tomorrow,'' Newton said. ''We have to get better tomorrow.''