UK football has to eliminate some disturbing trends from 2021 season

DeAndre Square had a rare interception for the UK defense in the Citrus Bowl win over Iowa. (Vicky Graff Photo)

For those that are counting, we are about 10 weeks away from the start of the 2022 college football season. UK fans should have very high expectations for this year’s version of the football Wildcats. With several key players returning on offense and defense this team should be capable of putting up huge numbers on the scoreboard and holding other team’s offensive scoring in the teens to low 20’s.

As much as there is to like about this 2022 UK team there are a couple of trends that were disturbing last season and can’t  continue if Kentucky expects to be a contender in the SEC East and make it back to at least a New Year’s Day bowl.

If one watched very much UK football last season the first trend will probably be pretty obvious. That trend would be a very negative turnover margin. Fans last season saw a UK offense turn the ball over at a record breaking clip. In 2021 the offense had a total of 23 turnovers — 10 fumbles lost and 13 interceptions. That equates to about two turnovers per game. It’s hard to win football games if a team’s offense turns the ball over almost two times per game.

To make matters worse the defense could only come up with three recovered fumbles and nine interceptions. That left Mark Stoop’s team with a -11 turnover margin which ranked 125th out of 130 teams.

To put that in perspective the two best teams in college football — Georgia and Alabama — had turnover margins of +4 and +8 respectively. It is really unbelievable that Kentucky could finish the season 10-3 with that many turnovers. Fortunately for the Wildcats, those miscues only led to one direct loss — a 31-17 upset loss to Mississippi State that included three Will Levis interceptions and a Chris Rodriguez fumble.

The second troubling trend that occurred last season wasn’t quite as evident as the turnover problem but should still be of concern to fans and coaches alike; the inability of the Cats to close out games in the second half.

Take the Missouri game. It was the second game of the season at home. UK built a 21-7 lead in the second quarter only to watch it evaporate in the second half as the Tigers tied the game up at 28-all in the fourth quarter. The Cats then drove 75 yards down the field in five plays only to have Chris Rodriguez fumble the ball into the end zone. Fortunately UK offensive lineman Eli Cox was there to fall on the ball and preserve the touchdown and put Kentucky ahead 35-28.

The defense held Missouri on the next series and then proceeded to march down the field on an 11-play, 65-yard drive that ended in a blocked field goal attempt. That blocked kick gave the Tigers one more shot at winning the game. Fortunately for UK, the defense came up with a big fourth down stop to cement the win.

Now some may think well it was the second game of the year or that it was just a one-time occurrence. But the Wildcats did the same thing in several other victories.

Against FCS level UT-Chattanooga the Cats built a 14-7 lead in the second quarter and then allowed the Mocs to dominate the game and go ahead in the fourth quarter 16-14. Only a 95-yard pick six by safety Tyrell Ajian in the fourth quarter saved the game.

As the season progressed UK did the same against South Carolina where it built a second quarter 10-0 lead and went on to win the game by only a 16-10 margin.

Same story against LSU at home. Kentucky built a 21-0 lead early in the second half only to have LSU score 21 points in a quarter and a half and turn the game from being a blowout to a more respectable 42-21 loss.

Against Mississippi State the pattern was repeated. The Wildcats built a 10-0 lead in the second quarter only to watch it evaporate and lead to a 31-17 loss under the weight of three Will Levis interceptions and a Chris Rodriguez fumble.

The Cats also gave up similar come-from-behind-efforts in the second half to Vanderbilt in a 34-17 win where UK led 31-3 in the second quarter and to Louisville where Kentucky built a 38-7 lead only to watch the Cardinals score a couple of touchdowns and make the game a respectable 52-21 Kentucky win.

All of those instances point to one thing — a lack of focus. It seemed that after the Wildcats built a lead in the 2nd quarter they lost their focus, effort dropped off and the execution was not nearly as sharp as when they were building their leads.

I realize that in order to develop his roster Mark Stoops has to bring in third and fourth string players if UK builds a significant lead but those substitutes have to be able to perform at a level that allows Kentucky to continue to build on a big lead.

To be a contender in the SEC and compete with the big boys Kentucky has to get over the hump of playing up to the level of the competition. They need to compete against themselves and not the other team, constantly working to improve over every game.

When Stoops figures out how to get his teams to play consistently over four quarters and not let up when the Cats build a lead or have a great offensive or defensive series then he will have a team to be reckoned with. Until then they will still be chasing teams like Georgia and Alabama of the SEC football world.