Kentucky Football: Wildcats end losing streak but can’t slam door on Vandy

After getting gashed for big plays the Kentucky defense kind of returned

In all fairness, the Wildcat defense has not been horrendous this season. Just inconsistent.

Two weeks ago they kept the Mike Leach Air Raid relatively in check it was hampered by the offense taking the week off. Last week Tennessee gashed them.

This week it was a strong first-half showing forcing Vanderbilt to punt four times, gave up a field goal, and picked off a pass for a touchdown.

The highlight though was a pick-six for the Kentucky defense from Jalen Geiger who stepped in front of a terrible throw by Ken Seals and returned it 31-yards to the house. That marked his first interception of the year and just UKs fourth for the season that gave Kentucky a 21-3 lead barely into the second quarter.

It was also the first start of the season for the sophomore Geiger.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the disconnect has been. Individually the line has played well but the secondary all year has been a disappointment.

They have a hard time making the adjustments. With Seals in the game, they were dominating forcing four punts, allowing a field goal, and getting the Geiger interception.

But when the Commodores switched quarterbacks to start the second half to Mike Wright it was the back-to-back touchdowns trying to contain the dual-threat signal-caller.

Kentucky nearly stopped Vandy who had a first and goal at the six-yard line holding strong for three plays but gave up an 8-yard pass to Chris Pierce with 5:53 to play in the third quarter and allowed the Commodores to complete the 2-point conversion.

They gave up another touchdown in the fourth quarter but snuffed out the 2-point attempt.

Josh Paschal as usual was stellar upfront recording seven tackles, two of which were solo ones for sacks and losses.

Yusuf Corker led the team with eight tackles.