Sept 8, 2012; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Maxwell Smith (11) passes the ball against the Kent State Golden Flashes at Commonwealth Stadium. Credit: Mark Zerof-US PRESSWIRE
Max Smith went 6-7 on the next drive and hit Gene McKaskill in the end-zone to cap an 11 play, 80 yard drive. In a continuing theme for the night, Aaron Boyd had two catches on the drive. Kentucky responded nicely again and had a 24-14 lead. On the next play from scrimmage, Martavious Neloms laid a vicious hit on Dri Archer and Miles Simposon jumped on the fumble on the 10 yard line. Raymond Sanders took the ball to the one yard line, but Dyshawn Mobley could not punch the ball across the goalline and it looked like Kentucky had squandered a big opportunity. On the next play, Dri Archer tripped in the endzone for a safety.
And the rout was on.
With the Kent State defense tiring, Kentucky pulled out a weapon that was missing last year. The big play. Jonathan George has a 38 yard touchdown run and Max Smith hit DeMarcus Sweat for a short gain, which Sweat then took 56 yards for Kentucky’s final points of the game. With it, Kentucky evened their record at 1-1 on the season and even the most negative of Kentucky fan has to be excited about this offense.
Max Smith went 30-39 for 353 yards and 4 TD’s and no interceptions. Smith had plenty of time to throw all night thanks to great play from the offensive line. Smith had time to find 10 receivers, the second straight game, he has hit double digit targets. The real hero tonight was fifth year senior Aaron Boyd, who caught 11 passes for 100 yards. As Matt Roark was the feel good story last year, Aaron Boyd is making his case for the come back cat of the year. LaRod King also caught 5 balls for 52 yards. Senior Raymond Sanders had a career night with 115 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown. Jonathan George also ran really well with 52 yards on 6 carries. Kentucky gained 184 yards on the ground and finished with 537 total yards.
This is an offense that is only going to get better and is one that you have to be excited about. It’s a good thing the offense is much improved as because for the second straight week, the defense performance ranges from terrible to “meh”.
For the night, Kentucky gave up 411 yards and 185 on the ground. To be honest, this is inexcusable. FCS school Towson State held the Golden Flashes to 267 yards and simply put, Kentucky must get better. There is still too much arm tackling and allowing players to get too much yardage past the initial hit. The bright side is that the defense allowed just 14 points and that both touchdowns should have been prevented. I’m not going to nitpick after a 47-14 win, but all I am going to say is that the defense has to improve and do it quickly or they will get shredded (even more-so) in the SEC.
The big things about tonight’s game is that it was FUN to watch and to be honest, that has been missing in the last couple of years. I know that the thousands of fans that stayed away missed a hell of a show. The main excuse they had been giving was that Kentucky football was not fun to watch. Well, that excuse is dead now. This is a fun bunch to watch and they deserve your support.
You have NO excuse to stay away from the game next week.