As bad as last week’s review was this one was just as frustrating. Kentucky dropped a winnable game to an equally matched opponent and there are some serious red flags. This loss was an extra gut punch because it came off the back of a total unraveling in Athens and after Mark Stoops let a caller get under his skin and he inadvertently called out fans on his radio show. Lets dive in and see what we can learn and maybe have some hope.
Offense
In the first quarter it looked like the offense had finally found its groove. Leary looked solid, the OL was getting a push, and Ray Davis was doing what he does. Two drives led to a 14-0 lead with Kroger Field rocking.
Then the wheels came off. Kentucky punted on 4 of it’s next 5 possessions (the 5th was a fumble by Barion Brown). They did have one drive in 3rd quarter that showed signs of life and gave Kentucky the lead back but it was fool’s gold.
Leary finished the day 14/27 for 2 TD and 2 INT. He was once again let down by some brutal drops and at this point I think we need to have a conversation about the WR room. I don’t want to crush college kids but several of those guys are making good NIL money (money that the coaching staff has told us is limited) and they are flat-out not producing. After the game Stoops mentioned injuries as playing a part and I have some sympathy but right now all of them are dropping catchable balls (or catching it and then fumbling it away) in big moments.
The bright side of the offense was the running game. Ray Davis rushed for 128 yards and as a team Kentucky rushed for 179 yards. Probably fair to question Coen why we went away from the run in what a one-score game was well into the 4th quarter.
Defense
On re-watch I thought Kentucky had a much better defensive performance after a disaster in Athen. Missouri has a good offense with at least one NFL-level WR and Kentucky largely contained him (Burden III was held to 2 catches for 15 yards). It’s never a good thing to give up 38 points but that is a little misleading with Missouri basically handed 13 points due to the offense giving the Tigers a short field and another 7 coming off a confusing fake punt.
Statistically it was an ok performance against a good offense only giving up 324 total yards but there were some serious situational blunders. The biggest concern for me is Kentucky being unable to get home with a pass rush and the secondary. Maxwell Hairston has a knack for finding the ball and he got another INT that directly led to points, but his coverage wasn’t always locked in and Dru Phillips really struggled. Kentucky’s safeties have been a problem all season in coverage and
Kentucky really missed Tevin Wallce later in the game but even without him they did enough. The complete lack of complementary football from the entire team hurt them and skewed the final score.
Special Teams
The punting is not good enough and Kentucky’s special teams finally cost Kentucky big-time. Wilson Berry had his worst game of the season at the worst possible time. His 26-yard punt with the score 28-21 was back-breaking. The punter is rarely ever the reason a team loses a football game, but Berry isn’t helping.
Unfortunately, we’re also going to have to talk about the fake punt. It was probably the most important play of the game, and it was peak Kentucky Football. I don’t think Kentucky did anything wrong as it seemed they were alert to the possibility of a fake. Hindsight is always 20/20 in these situations, but the coaches probably should have called a timeout just to make sure and maybe make Missouri rethink. I still think Kentucky covered it well, but Dru Phillips seemed surprised that the punter dropped a dime and Missouri got away with a clear push-off (refs might have been stunned too). It was a bad break that really started the avalanche.
Final Thoughts
There is no sugar-coating this loss, it’s an utter failure.
What is even more frustrating is Missouri didn’t even play well. Their best player was largely kept quiet but once again Kentucky shot itself in the foot. This has become a consistent theme in the last two seasons. 14 penalties for 122 yards is outrageous under any circumstances but even more outrageous when you consider when those penalties occurred. Drive-killing penalties on offense, drive-extending penalties on defense, and frankly at least one or two embarrassing cheap shots.
Mark Stoops became beloved at Kentucky because he built a hard-working, tough program that wasn’t afraid of anyone. On Saturday this team was the worst kind of soft which has been the antithesis of the “Youngstown Tough” mantra that Stoops built. Once they felt the game slipping, multiple players melted down and, to me, that signifies a culture problem (they did something similar against Georgia as well).
In the last two seasons Kentucky has lost to South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Missouri at home. We have better players than those three programs and they aren’t crushing us in NIL donations. Somewhere after that 2021 season Kentucky football lost its identity. I don’t know why or how but Stoops better find it quickly.
This season is still salvageable. Tennessee is no juggernaut, Mississippi State and South Carolina are bad football teams, and Louisville just lost to a horrendous Pitt team. Win three of those games and just about everyone will forget these last two weeks (especially if 2 of the 3 are Tennessee and Louisville).
2 comments
The first two drives were almost entirely due to Davis NOT Leary. Then from that point we went away from the run until the middle of the third. As far as the fake punt I’m screaming at the TV to watch for the fake. You cannot let a receiver get behind you! The lack of discipline is unforgivable. And I agree with your assessment of the DBs, the pass rush and kicking game.
Lack of discipline is probably the biggest issue with this team. The fake punt is forgivable if it’s just the punter throwing a dime that you didn’t expect but this team is consistently unfocused and that play is kind of indicative of everything about this team. Just going through the motions.