Wan'Dale Robinson had 13 catches for 166 yards and one score against Tennessee but the Cats still lost 45-42. (UK Athletics Photo)
Remember that saying about the only statistic that really matters is the final score.
Well, Saturday’s Kentucky-Tennessee game certainly verified that saying.
— Kentucky ran 99 plays, Tennessee had 47. Kentucky had the ball for 46 minutes, Tennessee 14.
— Kentucky quarterback Will Levis was 31 of 49 passing for 372 yards and three scores with one interception (which did go for a Tennessee touchdown).
— Wan’Dale Robinson had 13 catches for 166 yards and one touchdown on the 18 passes targeted for him. Josh Ali had seven catches on 11 targets for 74 yards. Eight different UK receivers caught at least one pass.
— Chris Rodriguez returned to form with another 100-yard rushing game — 22 carries for 109 yards. Overall the Cats ran for 225 yards.
— Kentucky had a season-high 612 total yards, Tennessee had 461.
Yet the one statistic that mattered, the final score, went to Tennessee 45-42 and what three weeks ago seemed to be a potentially historic season for Kentucky — 11-1 or 10-2 with a New Year’s Day bowl game — is now trending way down.
With the way Mississippi State and Tennessee have decimated the UK defense the last two weeks, it might be a mistake to pencil in a win over Vanderbilt next week and certainly, I would no longer be counting on a win over Louisville to end the regular season.
Kentucky gave up a 75-yard touchdown pass — on the game’s first play.
“We missed tackles. The first play of the game was a simple bubble screen. We just have to make a tackle in certain matchups,” a disappointed Kentucky coach Mark Stoops said after the loss.
That first play came 11 seconds into the game. The next time Tennessee got the ball it took three plays for the Vols to score — this time on a 72-yard pass.
Tennessee quarterback Hendon Hooker was 15 of 20 passing for 316 yards and four touchdowns. That was after Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers completed 36 of 39 passes for 344 yards and one touchdown. That means in the last two weeks opposing quarterbacks have completed 51 of 59 passes for 660 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions.
Stoops said it is a “variety of things” causing issues for a secondary that was not nearly this bad when UK went 6-0. However, injuries to defensive linemen have limited UK’s pass rush and UK defensive backs are missing tackles and seldom winning one-on-one battles.
“No excuses. We will coach better and play better. I told the team we are a team and we will stick together. They are all big boys and can handle the criticism,” Stoops said.
As bad as the defense was allowing big plays, Kentucky still had a chance to win but Levis threw four straight incompletions after UK got to the Tennessee 38-yard line with less than a minute to play. However, the Cats did keep punching back on offense — something they did not do at Mississippi State a week earlier.
“Look around our league. We are competing, fighting like a lot of people,” Stoops said. “I loved the way our team fought back.”
It just was not quite enough to help salvage a season that has gone from potentially being historic to in danger of not even reaching a 9-3 mark that seemed a foregone conclusion three weeks ago.
9 Responses
Frustration levels at a record high in a season that provided so much promise just 4 weeks ago.
Very good article Larry. Pretty much says it all. As you know most games are won or lost at the line of scrimmage. Last night, we could not move a very tired TN football team off the line of scrimmage or protect when it counted in the final minutes. I though our coaching panicked at the end. Abysmal clock management. Finally, if Coach Stoops cannot maintain his own composure, how does he expect his players to do so? Everyone knows even before they don their jock straps for a game in SEC that officiating is going to be simply awful. So losing your composure when a call goes against you just wastes time, or worse.
I am curious why everyone is so upset with our defensive secondary. I’m 73 years old and have been supporting UK football since I was old enough to know what it was and I have never observed a UK defensive secondary that was better than just mediocre. This one is much, much worse. It’s almost like they don’t teach or coach secondary skills at UK. UK did not miss that many tackles either. When the opposing team scores on the 1st or second down every time they have the ball, you don’t get that many opportunities to tackle!
I think last nights game adds to proof that UK’s 6 wins were not against teams that are very good. As a matter of fact, I don’t think any of the 6 had a winning record until yesterday.
We were basically given Fool’s Gold on our Defense.
Also, it is terrible, when a team runs 99 plays and can’t wear the other defense down.
UK’s Defense needs a lot, and I mean a lot, of work.
Still can’t find an answer as to why UK’s secondary never looks for the ball. They keep their back to the QB and keep their eyes on the receiver, never looking to see where the ball is going. One play in particular was where the ball was tipped. A UK safety was 10 feet from where the ball fell to the ground. If had been keeping an eye on the play, he could have easily caught the ball off the tip.
All true OldFan but how many times has UK played a similar schedule and not been able to start 6-0
Fundamentals. You have to teach fundamentals and the players have to learn them. Recruiting has a lot to do with I’m betting.
The secondary has been the strongest unit on the defense the last 3-4 years. Don’t have the horses this year. Got to have players.
Lost two players from last year now playing in the NFL
Only thing to do is move on and keep cheering them on.
All anyone can do now Cats79