Backup quarterback Joey Gatewood got his chance but could not provide a spark for UK's lifeless offense Saturday. (SEC Photo)
Just when Kentucky football fans were ready to believe in the Cats again like they had before the season started, disaster hit and UK got DOMINATED at Missouri Saturday. Sure, the final score was 20-10 but it was a much bigger butt-kicking than that by Missouri to end a five-game losing streak against UK.
How big?
— Missouri had 421 yards of offense. Kentucky had 145.
— Missouri ran 92 offensive plays. Kentucky ran 36.
— Missouri had the ball 43 minutes, 10 seconds. Kentucky had the ball 16:50.
— Missouri was 10-for-20 converting third down plays and 4-for-5 on fourth down. Kentucky was 2-for-9 on third down.
The Tigers exposed big-time weaknesses in the UK offense that managed just 47 yards passing — and 26 came on a fourth-down touchdown pass from Terry Wilson to Josh Ali. But Wilson was 3-for-9 over all for 35 yards and backup Joey Gatewood was 1-for-4 for 12 yards and even on that completion Ali fumbled the ball away to Missouri. It was that kind of day for the Cats.
Senior center Drake Jackson did not mince words about UK’s play.
“We have to do our best to take this punch and recover from it. We have a tough game next week (against Georgia) and we are going to use that as motivation,” Jackson said. “We have to get it right and turn this ship around. You have to take responsibility for your own stuff. We did not come out motivated and that’s a shame. We do have plenty of motivation to play for.”
Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said it was “really difficult to even put into words” how poorly overall his team played.
“We were beaten in every area. They just kicked the tail out of us from beginning to end,” Stoops said. “They were physical. They got first downs and constantly held on to the ball. We had way too many 3-and-outs on offense. I have got to do a better job of getting them ready.”
Stoops said this a “hard, emotional” year on everybody but that teams and players have to respond.
“I thought we were prepared to go on the road and play better than that and we didn’t,” Stoops said. “Missouri was tired of hearing about losing to us. They were certainly ready to play and we weren’t.”
There certainly is plenty to second guess about the play on both sides for Kentucky because it was uninspired from start to finish. Offensive line coach John Schlarman was not at the game — the first one he has missed since being diagnosed with cancer two years ago. Maybe that impacted UK but I would like to think that would have inspired more emotion, not less.
Still, why did running back Chris Rodriguez not get more chances in the second half. He was brilliant on UK’s one scoring drive but when the Cats got the ball back down 17-10 he never played. He finished with 48 yards on nine runs. AJ Rose had a 29-yard run that set up UK’s first-half field goal but had only 43 yards because he got just four carries. Kentucky just never unleashed its running game because Missouri overplayed the run and dared UK to pass.
Why not? Kentucky only burned the Tigers once on the TD pass. If anything, Kentucky seems more one dimensional now than it did last year when it had to play receiver Lynn Bowden at quarterback.
Stoops said he was not sure about his quarterback plans against Georgia in UK’s next game. Jackson said the offense should be better no matter who is playing quarterback.
“We believe it starts up front. So as O-line we believe our job to spark the offense no matter who is back there,” Jackson said. “We have to give time to throw and open holes in the run game to make it easier for them. So regardless of who is back there, our job is to spark the offense.”
