Kentucky's defense made the plays it needed to slow down Florida's offense in Saturday's 20-13 win. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Mark Stoops just could not help himself.
“The only 5-0 SEC team in the history of college football to be unranked. I like it. I would rather stay unranked,” the Kentucky coach said when asked about his team maybe going into the top 25 after a 20-13 win over No. 10 Florida.
Kentucky won’t be able to play the lack of respect card for a while after this win against Florida. That’s the same Florida that had 440 yards of total offense and 29 points against No. 1 Alabama and was averaging 541 yards per game. Against UK, despite running 71 plays the Gators had 382 yards to snap the nation’s longest active-streak — 14 games — of 400-plus total yards of offense. That includes seven straight 400-yard games against SEC foes.
Stoops said combined with the previous game at South Carolina it was the best back-to-back defensive performances “we have had in a long time” at Kentucky.
“We played unbelievably hard. Great execution,” Stoops said. “That team is tough to handle. They can put a lot of stress on you.”
After Kentucky took a 20-10 lead, the Cats had to survive two late fourth-quarter drives deep into UK territory. The defense held Florida to a field goal the first time and then stopped the Gators inside the 10-yard line when linebacker Jacquez Jones broke up a fourth-and-goal pass.
“That was a tough hill to climb to stop them seven or eight times (inside the 20),” Stoops said. “It was one heck of a stop (to end the game).”
Stoops called it a “thing of beauty defensively” even if UK did struggle offensively most of the game.
“What more can you say? Tonight was special,” Stoops said. “We gave up some yards. We can do some things better but to have that desire, heart and guts to stand up and get seven or eight stops, especially when the offense is struggling, that’s tough.
“To still have the capacity, the desire, the conditioning to make those stops against Florida, it’s incredible.”
Linebacker DeAndre Square again led UK with 13 tackles and Jones had nine, including one tackle for loss. Defensive backs Tyrell Ajian, Carrington Valentin and Yusuf Corker had eight stops each and Ajian also had two pass breakups.
The defensive star, though, was Josh Paschal. he had seven tackles, including four solo stops. He had 2.5 tackles for loss and blocked the field goal that freshman linebacker Trevin Wallace returned for the go-ahead touchdown.
“Josh is amazing the way he empties the tank every day,” Stoops said. “He just plays exceptionally hard. He is amazing.”
One Response
If this team continues to live within themselves, they can beat LSU. We certainly have the defense to do it. I noticed more communication among players this game. That’s a good thing. Very gritty performance against FL.
Got work to do on offense. More film time and more reps. I did not like Levis’ footwork and foot placement on that pick. He has to play more within himself. Yeah I know that arm chair QB’ing is easy but it’s an observation. Gotta fix it.