Kentucky’s Late Collapse Against Florida Wasn’t a First

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Photo by Vicki Graff

Saturday night was the first Kentucky game I’ve attended as a spectator since the 2014 season. However, despite not covering the game, the outcome was still the same.

I flashed back to the 2017 season when Kentucky was hosting Florida at Kroger Field primed to end “The Streak.” The Wildcats held a 24-14 lead that night heading into the fourth quarter, only to be outscored 14-3 due to conservative play-calling on the offensive end and not having any sense of creativity/urgency on defense.

This year, my dad and I were sitting at the 40-yard line, about 30 rows behind the Florida Gators’ sideline for arguably the best seats in Lexington. There wasn’t an empty seat in Kroger Field at kickoff as Big Blue Nation was ready to make it back-to-back years of beating Florida for the first time in 42 years.

With Kentucky starting quarterback Terry Wilson sidelined for the rest of the season, graduate transfer Sawyer Smith heard his name called to start for the Wildcats.

Smith began his starting debut by completing his first eight throws, slinging for more than 100 yards and tossing a touchdown to Ahmad Wagner that could potentially be college football’s catch of the year.

The Gators answered with a touchdown score of their own, but Kentucky offensive coordinator Eddie Gran stayed with the up-tempo offense and Smith continued to shine, driving down the field once again to quarterback sneak another touchdown.

For most fan bases, they’d be ecstatic knowing their team was up 14-7 at halftime with their backup quarterback playing against the ninth-ranked team in the country.

But would Kentucky keep their foot on the gas?

Just before halftime, Kentucky had a chance to drive down the field and at least attempt a field goal. Instead, the up-tempo play-calling disappeared from the offense and instead shifted to a run-heavy, conservative style of play.

To start the second half, somewhat urgency was re-installed into the offense but still not comparable to how Kentucky came out to start the game.

’Twas, though, enough to give Kentucky a 21-10 lead after Smith threw his second TD pass of the outing to Keaton Upshaw.

But, just like 2017, it all went down hill from there.

Florida quarterback Philipe Franks suffered a gruesome ankle injury and was carted off the field, inserting Gators’ backup QB Kyle Trask.

The Wildcats’ offensive play-calling turned conservative, going away from their up-tempo passing and instead shifting to a run-only attack therefore ruining any momentum Smith had conjured earlier in the game. The defense lacked creativity in blitzes/rushing more than four defensive linemen, allowing Trask more than enough time to pick apart a soft zone defense.

It was an overall disaster from a coaching standpoint. What could go wrong, absolutely went wrong.

Again, much like 2017, Kentucky was outscored 19-0 in the final quarter to lose 29-21 in one of the worst choke jobs ever at Kroger Field.

Excuses could certainly be made for the lack of rational officiating (against both teams) as well as Kentucky being without their starting quarterback.

However, we’ve all seen this story before (and too many times). Kentucky has built a convincing lead over a quality team, then proceeded to play “not to lose” instead of playing to “win the game.”

Throughout the second half, Kentucky’s inability to be physical on defense and lack of tempo on offense was mind-boggling yet not foreign.

It’s hard to divide up the blame, solely because this Kentucky team wins and loses games as a whole. But I believe I can speak for a majority of Big Blue Nation that the same narrative year after year is getting more and more less tolerable.

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