Kentucky Wildcats Football: Sunday Afternoon QB
Having a night to sleep it off following a disappointing loss to Mississippi State, you really can’t feel too bad.
Plenty of fans were upset with the result and it’s a good thing that fans have high expectations and believe. At the same time, everyone needs to realize that Rome wasn’t built in a day. This was a 2-10 team last year stocked with freshmen and sophomores and is four or five plays from being 6-1. They nearly beat Florida in the Swamp and went toe-to-toe with the top ranked team in the country. Yes, there were mistakes and missed opportunities last night, but the same can be said for the Bulldogs.
Like I said on our podcast this week, Kentucky would have a chance to move the ball through air. Patrick Towles threw for almost 400 yards and made several big throws when Kentucky needed them most. There are NFL quarterbacks who can’t make the throw that Towles did on Javess Blue’s 58-yard touchdown. He would have done more damage if not for a slew of dropped passes. Speaking of damage, Towles also led the Cats in rushing yardage, keyed mostly by his 48-yard run in the third quarter. Throw in an 11-yard reception and he accounted for all but 27 yards of Kentucky’s offense. It was great to see Towles put the team on his back but Kentucky needs to find a way to get their stable of running backs going. Jojo Kemp tallied 14 yards, while Braylon Heard managed 13 and made an impact in the passing game. Despite popular opinion, I don’t think having Boom Williams would have made much of a difference on offense.
Defensively Kentucky played about the same as they have all season. Strong against the pass, and struggling against the run. Good pass rush and opportunistic in the secondary. The Wildcat defense is good enough for them to play with most teams in the country. Besides the interception by Forrest, Kentucky also forced two fumbles that Dak Prescott was able to get back on top of. Bud Dupree did what great players do and had his best game in the spotlight. The secondary played well outside of Fred Tiller falling down so many times. Marcus McWilson may have ascended to the starting position at safety.
Special teams struggled a little. Demarco Robinson muffed a punt that cost UK some yards. And there was the onside kick for a touchdown. That was the one disappointing thing of the night for me. Craig Naivar has shown a penchant for trying to be cute and it has backfired nearly every time. The execution was also poor on the attempt, leaving only Austin MacGinnis and Landon Foster for MSU to outrun. Hopefully Mark Stoops gets more involved on special teams and gets this corrected, because I have been very impressed with what Naivar has done coaching the safeties.
Overall, Kentucky played better than expected coming off the LSU loss against a team that has already defeated the Tigers this season. They clearly play better at home than on the road, which is a hallmark of a young team. If Kentucky plays the way that they did last night the rest of the season, they will finish 3-1 in that stretch and make a nice bowl. When the schedule for this season came out the middle portion was always going to be the tough part. Not many thought UK would be 5-3 at this point. They have a good chance at 8-4 or 7-5, which puts the program a year ahead of schedule. So settle down, rejoice that you have a good football team.