No Joke: Kentucky's Joker Phillips Still Undefeated as Wildcats Top Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Kentucky coach Joker Phillips was walking toward the visitor's locker room at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium late Saturday afternoon when he was stopped by Brett Setzer, a UK fan and friend of his for more than 30 years.

"Joke, you're undefeated now," Setzer said, patting Phillips on the back.

"What do you mean now?" Phillips said. "I was undefeated."

True, Phillips is still unbeaten, but now he has his first-ever victory as a head coach to go with it after the Wildcats held on to defeat Louisville 23-16.

The game was the first in the history of the state of Kentucky with two African-American head coaches and the first in college football history where two African-American coaches at BCS schools have played in a season opener. Phillips and Louisville's Charlie Strong, former assistants together at South Carolina who are still close friends, were making their head coaching debuts.

But as significant as the win was for Phillips personally, he said it meant more for his team.

"I'm excited for this program, not so much for Joker Phillips," he said. "I'm excited for this program. For us to have a great season, we have to win this game.

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"We can still have a good season if we don't (beat Louisville), but to have a great season you have to win this game here. That's what I was excited about. Not me, I care too much about this program to be selfish and care about myself."

Kentucky opened the game scoring faster than Rick Pitino -- without the accompanying extortion attempt. Kentucky needed only 35 seconds and two plays -- Mike Hartline's 38-yard pass to La'Rod King and Derrick Locke's 32-yard touchdown run -- to take a 7-0 lead.

On Friday, Kentucky's players wore T-shirts around their team hotel lobby with "START" on the front and "FINISH" on the back. They got the "start" part down, jumping to a 23-6 lead, but Phillips knows they have to do a better job finishing.

Louisville (0-1) rallied from a 17-point deficit to make it a one-score game, but Kentucky was able to run out the final 3 minutes, 16 seconds.

"We had way too many dumb penalties, (allowed) way too many big plays," Phillips said. "They had over 300 yards (317), take away three or four plays and they have hardly any (yards)."

The win was also especially gratifying for Kentucky's Mike Hartline. The senior became the first Kentucky starting quarterback to go 3-0 against Louisville. Hartline was 17 of 26 for 217 yards.

"He's the guy I praise the most on our football team," Phillips said. "Mike has taken a lot of criticism and he handled it like a man. He didn't come out here and have a sour look on his face. He had balance in his step, and he's 3-0 (against Louisville). He did more than manage the game. He made some plays to win the game."

Locke, who received the inaugural Howard Schnellenberger Award as the game's most valuable player, rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns to spoil the debut of Strong in front of a Papa John's Cardinal Stadium record crowd of 55,327.

Despite the enormity of Phillips' first game as a head coach, Setzer said he didn't notice a difference in Phillips' demeanor during the week. Just the same old Joker.

"He's kind of quiet," Setzer said. "He's not a chit-chat guy. He wasn't nervous. He just wanted to get here and get going."

Earlier in the week, Joker joked that sometime before Saturday's kickoff, he would probably being hugging a toilet. Phillips was proud to say he did not need one.

"I did not hug a toilet," Phillips said. "I was as relaxed as I've ever been. I decided to come out and have fun and watch this team perform.

"I asked (the players) if they're having as much fun as I was," Phillips said. "I was like a proud papa watching those guys."

"I asked (the players) if they're having as much fun as I was. I was like a proud papa watching those guys."
-- Joker Phillips, Kentucky head coach Kentucky's guys have been to a record four consecutive bowls. After Saturday's win, the Wildcats look like a lock for five in a row. Up next is Western Kentucky and Akron, which should get the Wildcats to 3-0 before visiting Florida on Sept. 25. And don't count Kentucky out of that one either, after Florida's season-opening debacle and the fact the Wildcats have won their last four road games dating back to last season at Louisville, Georgia, Vanderbilt and Auburn.

As the final minute ticked down, UK's players started celebrating and Kentucky's fans started the obligatory "SEC, SEC" chant -- quick question: does the league fine a school if its fans don't yell SEC, SEC? -- as Phillips got his first Gatorade bath as a head coach.

Minutes later, senior linebacker Jacob Dufrene and junior linebacker Danny Trevathan lugged the Governor's Cup trophy, given to the UK-UL winner, triumphantly back to the locker room.

The Wildcats have now won four consecutive games against the Cardinals and, based on the opening weekend results in the SEC, who knows? Kentucky might be the surprise team in the SEC East.

Could Kentucky, gulp, actually be a football school?

OK, so that's a stretch. Especially since the Wildcats didn't even sell out their allotment of 5,500 tickets for a game against their hated rivals located about an hour's drive away.

But for at least 3-1/2 hours Saturday, Kentucky's football program gave Wildcats Nation something else to think about other than the latest 100-star commitment reeled in by John Calipari. Right?

"Well," Setzer said. "I doubt it."

Brett McMurphy is a national college football writer for FanHouse. Contact him at brettmcmurphy@gmail.com or please follow at Twitter.com/BrettmcmurphY