Can the Cats fly again against Tennessee

Can linebacker Jacquez Jones and his UK teammates get back to having fun and beat Tennessee Saturday? (UK Athletics Photo)

This weekend when the University of Kentucky Football team takes the field for another SEC game the biggest challenge the Cats face won’t be from Tennessee. It will be regaining the confidence they lost during their devastating loss to Mississippi State last Saturday in Starkville.

The Kentucky defense, according to UK defensive coordinator Brad White, missed 21 tackles in a game where they gave up 438 yards and 31 points. The Kentucky offense gained only 66 yards rushing while quarterback Will Levis threw three interceptions.

All of that creates doubt in the minds of the players — the ones who performed poorly but also the ones that were depending on the ones that performed poorly. Doubt of other wide receivers is the reason Wan’Dale Robinson was targeted 14 times out of 28 passing attempts by Levis. Doubt by the coaches is one of the reasons Kavosiey Smoke played much of the first half at running back instead of Chris Rodriguez. Doubt that the interior defense could get pressure on the MSU quarterback is what caused the UK secondary to play way off the line of scrimmage and allow Bulldog quarterback Will Rogers to complete 93 percent of his passes — an SEC all-time record by the way.

Mississippi State seemed to have no doubts whatsoever — even when it fell behind 10-0 after a Josh Ali 74-yard punt return for a touchdown. The Bulldogs continued to play hard, worked their game plan, and gave maximum effort on every play. They played fast and loose and it showed. They believed.

Kentucky seemed to allow their opponent to dictate the terms of the game and then when the Bulldogs began to hit on some short passes and gash UK’s interior defensive line for some long runs, the Bulldogs believed in the coaches, their teammates, and their game plan. Kentucky needs to find that same belief against Tennessee.

In JM Barrie’s book “Peter Pan,” he has a quote that reads, “The moment you doubt that you can fly, you cease to be able to do it.”

That seems to be where Kentucky finds itself.  A two-game losing streak (and losing to a Mississippi State team that had previously lost to Alabama at home 49-9) after going 6-0 to start the season doesn’t help you “believe you can fly.” But that’s where the Cats find themselves this weekend, trying to believe they can fly.

The only way that can happen is if they get back to basics — blocking and tackling consistently — and put their trust in themselves. There’s an old saying that reads, “A bird sitting in a tree is never afraid of a branch breaking, because it’s trust is not in the branch but in its own wings.”

That’s exactly how these Wildcats need to approach the next game against the Volunteers. Don’t worry about the branch, trust in your own abilities that got you to a 6-0 record. If they can tune out all the negativity and noise and, like Peter Pan, “believe you can fly” then the effort and execution will be there. If they don’t, it could be more of what we saw in Starkville last Saturday night.

For Kentucky, the key will be what Author Ayn Rand said about achievement, “The question is not who is going to let me, but who is going to stop me?”

It’s a question that Mark Stoops and his Wildcats need to consider and answer this weekend.