Kentucky Football: Quick 5 things we learned from Wildcats mauling ULM

Kentucky’s stingy, tough physical defense lives up to its reputation

How good was Kentucky’s rock-solid defense on Saturday?

It was so efficient that for the first time in 25 years the Wildcats held an opponent under 100 yards of total offense – 87 to be exact.

Yes, there were some sloppy plays on the opening possession but after that, we saw them stuff Warhawks runners time after time and quarterback Rhett Rodriguez scrambling.

It was senior-led as six of them included a total of 10 for losses.  Those leading the way were Josh Paschal (7 total tackles, 2 for loss), DeAndre Square (6 tackles, 3 solos for a loss, and 1 assisted); Davonte Robinson (6 tackles, 1 for a loss), Jordan Wright (6 tackles, 2 for a loss) Yusuf Corker (5 tackles, 1 solo and 1 assisted for loss), and Marquan McCall (2 tackles, 1 assisted for a loss).

Stoops gave credit to defensive coordinator Brad White for having his guys ready to apply some heat with a pass rush.

"” I thought he did a good job of mixing it up. We got him in some predictable pass situations, that always helps. When you get ahead and you get a predictable pass, now you’ve got an opportunity to get some straight rushes home. Play coverage and get home. That’s an area of improvement as well that we need to improve on. Brad, our defense coach, has worked hard and challenged the guys to be better one-on-one rushers and win some one-on-one rushes and obviously, we did that tonight."

The defense forced ULM into 19 third downs the Warhawks were only able to convert six. That resulted in a total of 10 punts.

They will be put to the test next week against Missouri.