Last week I was as down on Stoops and Kentucky as I’ve ever been. I questioned whether he’d ever be able to get his mojo back. Then Stoops did what he does and that is beat Louisville. The win makes it 5 in a row over Louisville and will forever be a black-eye of their special season. Lets dive into it.
Offense
Kentucky started the game looking just like it did against South Carolina last week. The Kentucky OL seemed confused at some basic defensive fronts from Louisville which killed at least one FG attempt. We had one bad Dane Key drop, more Leary batted passes, and miscommunication along the O. The wheels appeared to be coming off.
The 2nd half we saw a totally different Kentucky offense. It wasn’t perfect but they were efficient and organized. We got the full Leary Experience with some absolute dimes for two different TD to Ray Davis and Dane Key but also had one back-breaking INT that nearly ruined an excellent 2nd half. Leary responded by throwing another dime to Barion Brown to get Kentucky in position to win the game. I’m glad he got his chance to respond because the defining moment of Leary’s Kentucky career being that noodle-armed throw that setup Louisville to tie the game would have been really sad.
Of course, we also need to discuss Ray Davis. He has been the best player on this offense all season and he proved it yet again. A total of 18 touches (14 carries and 4 catches) for a total 122 yards and 3 total TD is a remarkable performance. There had been a lot of chatter based on his social media posts after the game at South Carolina, but Ray Davis showed up in winning time (all 3 of his TD came in the 2nd half). For whatever reason Kentucky seemed to prioritize other options most of the season, but our best performances came when Ray Davis was allowed to make plays.
Defense
Yesterday was a Brad White Special. Frustration was mounting as Louisville had two double digit scoring drives that lasted 8 minutes and 9 minutes respectively. Then something remarkable happened, and that was Louisville exhausted itself both physically and schematically. The Cards got sloppy as Kentucky forced them to drive down the field consistently. The Kentucky defense limited explosive plays and when Louisville made mistakes they pounced.
Two forced fumbles in the 2nd half got Kentucky in front, but the real story is Deon Walker being relentlessly unblockable. Brohm did his best to scheme around him, but he wore out the OL from UL and it freed up JJ Weaver to make some big plays in the 4th quarter.
Special Teams
Wilson Berry was once again fine. 3 punts of a 40-yard average isn’t anything special but it also didn’t kill Kentucky like his bad punting has in the past.
Alex Raynor was 5/5 on XP and nailed his one FG attempt from 46 yards. The kicking game was a disaster last season for Kentucky but Raynor rectified most of it on his own. He finishes the regular season 43/44 on XP and 10/11 on FG attempts with no misses inside 50 yards. That’ll do.
The most important play of the game came on Barion Brown’s 100-yard return in the 3rd quarter. Kentucky had fallen behind 17-7 and his play injected life into the team. It was excellent blocking and Brown was untouched.
Our return team who gave up multiple big returns which forced Kentucky to have to pooch kick to avoid giving up good field position. That isn’t ideal but it hasn’t really been a problem all year. Kentucky was able to overcome it yesterday but that can’t become an issue.
Final Thoughts
It’s been a weird 24 hours for Kentucky fans. Stoops flipped the vibes on the season by beating a top 10 team on the road who also happens to be our most annoying rival. Then it seemed all but guaranteed Stoops was off to College Station only to get a late-night Tweet pledging his commitment for now.
I’ll probably have something later in the week about the Stoops Era so I’ll just leave this section about the game. Kentucky needed this win in the worst way and Stoops delivered. Kentucky played it’s most disciplined game of the season and wore down a Louisville team that had found a way to win every single close game this season.
Louisville fans are of course clinging to the counting stats being in their favor, but the advanced stats paint a different picture. Kentucky was more efficient in the few plays it had offensively and on defense refused to give up big plays. Louisville emptied the tank and Kentucky made two plays on the ball. That isn’t bad luck for the Cards, it’s the perfect Brad White plan and it’s what Kentucky defenses used to pride themselves on. Kentucky had more talented depth, and it was on full display Saturday.
This game was a stark reminder that this Kentucky team probably should have had one or two more wins on the season. That kind of sucks but winning 5 in a row over Louisville will be a nice consolation.
