Chris Rodriguez ran for 207 yards and three scores but knows his fumble made Saturday's win a lot closer than it should have been. (UK Athletics Photo)
The game was so close to being over in the first half. If Chris Rodriguez — who had a great game — had not fumbled into the end zone Kentucky would have had a 28-7 lead over Missouri. Instead, he fumbled, Missouri scored just before halftime and it was 21-14.
Then the game was so close to getting away at the end before JJ Weaver got UK’s first sack/tackle for loss on third down and Carrington Valentine broke up a fourth-down Missouri pass to save UK’s 35-28 win over Missouri to open Southeastern Conference play.
There was a lot to like — but way too much not to like for a UK team that believes it can have a special season.
Kentucky had 520 yards of total offense led by a career-high 207 yards rushing by Chris Rodriguez. He had a career-high three rushing touchdowns and four total thanks to his first scoring catch. But Stoops was not happy with the fumble.
“There’s no excuse for fumbling on the six-inch line. No excuse to get a field goal blocked (like UK did leading 35-28),” Stoops said. “Not to single out any one guy but some things piss me off. You can’t fumble the ball. No excuse. We had a chance to put a fork in them.”
Rodriguez told his teammates at halftime it was his fault the game was not over.
“We just knew we had more work to do. I blamed that on myself,” Rodriguez said. “I told everyone in the locker room I should not have fumbled. We should not have been in that predicament. That was on me.”
Kentucky’s defense helped create the predicament, too, by allowing Missouri to go 80 yards in less than two minutes before halftime and then putting together two more long drives in the second half. After a slow start offensively, Missouri finished with 398 total yards.
“Defensively, they had us on our heels. Give them credit. They keep you off balance but we rose up and made some stops when we had to,” Stoops said. “You saw spurts where we were pretty good. We just have to get some things ironed out and get a better killer instinct.”
They definitely have to iron out tackling because UK missed way too many. You can’t fumble at the goal line — Rodriguez actually did again in the fourth quarter but officials ruled he had just broken the end zone plane before it came loose. You can’t miss a 37-yard field goal because it got blocked with a chance to ice the game.
But Stoops can build on the physical and mental toughness his team had because when it looked like the win was about to slip away, the Cats did what it took to win.
“We did so many good things. It is a shame that it had to be so close,” Stoops said.
6 Responses
Even though the UK football season is off to a reasonable start, I still can’t resist the old query, is the cup 1/2 full or 1/2 empty at this point?
The cup is 1/2 full:
UK is 2-0, and 1-0 in the SEC with a must win over a Missouri team that figured on paper to give UK everything it could handle on the filed, and it did. For this reason, nothing in the first 2 games changes my outlook for the remainder of the season, which I recall see it as 8-4 or perhaps 9-3.
The cup is 1/2 empty:
Turnovers!!!! Oh, those darn turnovers. Last year’s turnover margin was one of the best ever. However, through 2 games, the offense is turning it over and the defense is not taking it away. Rodriguez fumbled twice on the goal line last night. Fortunately, the second one was negated by a UK recovery in the end zone. The two interceptions thus far have been similar, catchable passes not caught but deflected and then intercepted. On the other side, UK had 2 and perhaps 3 Missouri passes in their hands or well within reach, but failed to make the play.
The cup is still being filled:
A football game take a long time to play, and it has many twists and turns, just as we saw in the last 2 minutes of the first half and the first 2 minutes of the second half last night. The former allowed Missouri to remain in a game it had all but given away, and the latter allowed UK to regain a sufficient amount of its lost momentum to win this game in the end.
If I had been told yesterday morning that UK would win this game 35-28, I would have taken that outcome and moved on to game 3. I still feel the same way. It was a good win, it was a SEC win. However, UK’s players and coaches have a lot of clean up work to get done over the next 10 days before taking their show on the road. If they do take care of these issues, this team can beat Florida and LSU and go to Athens to play Georgia for the SEC Championship with a 6-0 record.
So, is UK’s cup 1/2 full, 1/2 empty, or still being filled? We will find out over the next 4 weeks!!!! 6-0 going to Georgia, and the cup is nearly full, if not running over. 5-1 going to UGA, the cup is 1/2 full. 4-2 going to UGA, the cup is 1/2 empty.
Keep the faith. I believe this team is still filling its cup!!!!!!
Very good analysis as usual Professor
Big offensive night for UK, but game far to close when it should have been on ice in the first half. UK must find a way to put more pressure on opposing QB’s. UK must find a capable edge rusher quick. Bazelak picked UK apart with completion after completion, He is a very good QB, and the Tiger RB Badie ran through UK defenders all night. Eli Cox’s fumble recovery in the end zone, J. J. Weaver’s key sack, and the Jones interception saved the day. UK is better than they showed on defense last night. UK was very fortunate to get this win. Missouri never quit, and deserve some credit.That said, UK is 2-0, they must learn from this.
Win and learn, best way to do it
I’ve been waiting a lot of years to hear the UK home crowd fill the stadium with noise like Saturday night. It had to be exciting for the players. The fumbles, missed tackles, etc I think can be ironed out. It’s just the second game and the first game against an SEC team. However, it concerns me that our opponents continue to make comebacks in the second half and we cannot seem to adjust. Without a few really good defensive plays, this game could have easily gotten away from us. Go Cats.
Same here RJohn. Best yet to come