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I think a quote from American author Warren Wiersbe sums up where the Kentucky Football coaches and team’s thoughts should be right now. He said, “If we see only the problems, we will be defeated; but if we see the possibilities in the problems, we can have victory.”
And that’s what I want to discuss, not the problems, but the possibilities.
So let’s get at it. Kentucky so far this season has played two different types of games. The defense played relatively well in the Auburn game and very poorly in the Ole Miss game. For the offense the exact opposite is true. The offense gave the ball away three times on two fumbles and an interception and also botched a fake punt deep in their own territory. That dug a hole too deep for the defense to dig out of. Remember that going into the fourth quarter Auburn was only leading 15-13.
Now let’s talk about the possibilities. What if this Saturday the defense that held Auburn to 15 points in three quarters showed up with the offense that scored 41 points against Ole Miss? What if the Terry Wilson that completed 14-18 passes for 151 yards and ran for another 129 yards shows up every game? What if the offensive line that created three one hundred-plus yard rushers against Ole Miss gets better every game? Kentucky rushing for over 300 yards in a game is nothing new. They did it in plenty of their games last season and the season before.
But as a possibility, what if Wilson throws for two hundred yards every game and he and the running backs rush for a combined 300 yards or more every game. The possibilities are endless. The talent is there but the execution needs to be consistent among players and coaches.
And about that porous defense that showed up against Ole Miss at Kroger Field last weekend. What if the secondary that was ranked 2nd in the country in passing yards allowed last year showed up for every game? What if the massive defensive line that Kentucky has consistently put pressure on the quarterback so that he had less of an opportunity to make clean throws? How many turnovers could they create if Josh Paschal and Boogie Watson we’re constantly in the face of the opposing quarterbacks? What if Brandin Echols and the other cornerbacks became lockdown defenders like they were last season? What if they spent less time talking and more time playing? It’s happened before, it could happen again. But it needs to happen consistently.
What if Chance Poore got another opportunity to kick field goals and became a consistent version of the three star kicker he was in high school and created an additional opportunity for the Wildcats to score if they got to the opponents 35-yard line or better?
It seems hard to believe after an 0-2 start to the season with the way the Wildcats have lost — turnovers in abundance and consistently poor execution by the defense — that they are returning 17 or 18 starters to a team that had won 18 games in the last two years.
That tells me the talent is there — therefore the possibilities are there — but the players, and coaches, need to look inside themselves and ask, “Am I doing my job consistently and with passion on every play?”. Because it would appear from the results we have seen so far that many of them would have to answer no. And that’s where the possibilities lie.
There is so much talent on this Wildcat team. Probably the most talented and experienced team Mark Stoops has ever had at Kentucky. That means the possibilities are there. Then it comes down to “want to.”
You can train a person how to dig holes, give them a shovel and tell them where to dig the hole but if they don’t have the “want to”, the passion to be the best hole-digger around, then you’re not going to get very many holes dug.
So for Mark Stoops and the coaching staff, they need to find the most passionate “hole diggers” on the team, give them a shovel and teach them how to use it and then put them to work. With the talent they have to choose from and the results we have seen so far it seems like maybe some of the guys are more interested in looking good with a shovel in their hands than actually using it.
But therein lies the possibilities for this team. Winners find a way to win. Doesn’t matter about the weather, or no fans or COVID-19 restrictions or the talent of their opponents or the referees or anything else. Winners find a way to win. They bring passion and “want to” on every play and that is what makes them a winner.
So starting this weekend, with the myriad of possibilities that still exist for this team, they need to find the guys that are willing to get out there and dig some holes, consistently and passionately, on every play.
— Keith Peel
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