Kentucky Football closed out their season yesterday with a 38-35 loss to the Clemson Tigers in the Gator Bowl. The game ended up being a perfect microcosm of the season as there were a lot of good things but frustrating mental mistakes, injuries, and coaching gambles gone wrong cost Kentucky a win.
Offense
Kentucky’s offense relied on explosive plays early and often. Kentucky had a 43-yard run from Ray Davis, a 22-yard TD run from Barion Brown, a 58-yard reception from Dane Key, a 60-yard TD reception from Barion Brown, and a 72-yard reception from Jordan Dingle that set-up all of Kentucky’s 28 offensive points.
In between those explosive plays there was a whole a lot of meh with a sprinkle of total disaster. Devin Leary continued to miss some easy throws that would have sustained drives and one crucial penalty that took away another explosive play that likely would have set up Kentucky to put the game away in the 3rd quarter as they held a 21-10 lead.
The fatal issue though was the turnovers as Kentucky turned the ball over on three consecutive drives which set up Clemson with three consecutive scoring opportunities without ever having to run a play. That is nearly impossible to overcome for any team.
If you look at the numbers, you’d come away thinking that Kentucky played well enough to win this game. Leary threw for 300+ yards and Barion Brown was the best offensive player on the field for both teams, but you can’t hand another well-coached team 3 scoring opportunities and realistically expect to win the game.
Defense
Brad White is getting a ton of heat on social media, but I thought his defense acquitted itself well. It not being perfect and papering over the offense’s goofs should not be held against them in my opinion.
The Kentucky defense sacked Klubnik 8 times and had him, and the Clemson OL, completely confused. Brad White was bringing pressure at the right times from the right spots and Clemson were on the backfoot most of the game. Until the offense and special teams handed them four straight scoring opportunities (the 4th was a 60-yard KO return after the offense regained the lead) and gave the Tigers all the momentum in the process. Out of those 4 opportunities the defense held Clemson to just 14 points (2 FGs and a TD + 2-point conversion). They (and Brad White) deserve a ton of credit for even keeping Kentucky in the game.
Unfortunately, by the time the offense stopped helping Clemson the Kentucky defense was exhausted and several guys had gone down with injuries. In all, the defense played 80 snaps (compared to 51 for the Clemson defense). The last drive will stick in everyone’s mind and the decision to not bring pressure on 3rd and 18 with the game on the line is frustrating. It’s also not some unforgivable sin that many are pretending. It is a very casual take to try and pin this on the defense, and the “Fire Brad White” takes are an immediate sign that the person saying it should not be taken seriously.
Special Teams
I have been frustrated with Wilson Berry all season but hopefully this is the last time we have to see him kick a football for the University of Kentucky. I’m sure he’s a nice kid but the fact that we went into the season with him as our best punter is frankly coaching malpractice. Yesterday he had 5 punts and barely cracked a 40-yard average with a long of just 45. That is diabolical. Other programs are able to flip the field and/or pin our offense consistently while we’re conceding the field position battle every game.
Our kickoff coverage continued to disappoint. Giving up a 60-yard TD return immediately after Kentucky retook the lead is the gut-punch of all gut-punches. It just can’t happen in that situation. It also impacted decision making on the next kickoff as we elected to kind of pooch kick in hopes to get coverage there quicker and we still handed Clemson the ball at the 32. Not having a kicker who can consistently kick it out of the back of the endzone is part of the issue but this being an issue in two consecutive games is ridiculous.
Thankfully, there is some positive and with the special teams and that is Barion Brown who took another kick back for a TD. This one wasn’t as well blocked as the one against Louisville and was more individual speed from Brown but those are big-time plays and it is unfortunate we wasted his special day.
Final Thoughts
In general bowl games should not matter all that much. They should be fun exhibitions for fans and players as a reward, but this felt like a missed opportunity. Kentucky has bowl wins over programs like Penn State, Iowa, NC State, and Virginia Tech under Stoops and those are programs we consistently recruit against. Having a Clemson scalp isn’t changing the program over night, but it would have been nice to show off.
It hurts even more because Kentucky was good enough to win this game and had multiple opportunities to do just that. The inability to play complementary football has haunted this team all season and once again reared its ugly head in the 2nd half of this football game. The triple gut-punch is that Kentucky fans also had to watch Missouri ride their special season to a Cotton Bowl win over Ohio State later that night.
That being said, this isn’t the end of the world and if Stoops can get some things cleaned up this program has proven it can recruit and retain enough talent to continue to be competitive in the SEC. There were positive signs with presumed 2024 returnees like Brown, Key, Deon Walker, and Dingle all making important plays. Hopefully with more stable QB play and special teams cleaned up we can see Kentucky football back to the best version of itself.
