Kentucky Wildcats Football: Not as Bad as it Looks

Aug 31, 2013; Nashville, TN, USA; Western Kentucky Hilltoppers quarterback Brandon Doughty (12) is sacked by Kentucky Wildcats defensive end Za

After a few days to cool off, it’s time to look at the Western Kentucky loss objectively and adjust expectations for the remainder of the season.

The Nashville performance was disappointing on several fronts, with each facet of the game having costly misfires. But in contrast, each area had bright spots as well. It is not acceptable for an SEC school to lose to a Sun Belt team, let alone twice in a row, but this season has always been about the future.

Everyone knows the downsides from Saturday; horrid tackling, kicking miscues, a slow paced offense that certainly didn’t seem to be much of an “Air Raid”.  But this team was still better than the one fielded in 2012, even if the end result was similar. The offense moved the ball, nearly matching WKU in total yardage. It came in spurts, with explosive big plays leading to scores. How many explosive plays do you remember on offense last year? Not many. Kentucky notched at least five against WKU.

On defense, they still struggle to tackle and the pass rush was nearly non-existent. The good news is that tackling can be taught. The pass rush was largely negated by Western’s short quick passes that didn’t allow the defensive line time to get any pressure. On the few slow-developing passes that WKU called, there was a decent amount of pressure. Za’Darius Smith got a sack. WKU QB Brandon Doughty managed to get the ball off twice while in the grasp of a UK defender. Part of Kentucky’s struggles can also be attributed to some injuries that happened during the game and to the fact that the offense didn’t keep the defense off the field much. Due to the fast pace and explosive nature of the Wildcat’s offense, the D will have to be well-conditioned.

Special teams have been a sore spot for Kentucky for a number of years and Saturday night was no different. Senior kicker Joe Mansour missed an extra point that would have made it a one-score game, then booted the ensuing onside kick out of bounds without giving anyone a chance to recover. On the bright side, UK’s coverage team was able to hold Antonio Andrews under five yards per punt return. Demarco Robinson was able to average 27 yards per his two returns. He currently leads the SEC in that department.

When you go back and watch the game, you see a very young and inexperienced team that maybe came into this game a little overconfident, then didn’t know how to react after struggling early. Kentucky’s most consistent playmakers during the game were….seniors Raymond Sanders and Avery Williamson. The younger players took some time to adjust, but make no mistake, this team played better as the game went on.  It wasn’t good enough, but there was improvement. This is going to be a tough year, but this team is better than what they have shown so far. They are young, and they are going to need fans to support them this year.