Vicky Graff Photo
Kentucky’s offense had season highs in completions (28), passing attempts (39), passing yards (372), total plays (63) and first downs (24) Saturday night against Tennessee and the 17 points the Cats scored in the second quarter were the most ever for a UK team in any quarter against Tennessee in Lexington.
Quarterback Devin Leary threw two touchdown passes with no interceptions and had his second 300-yard passing game at UK.
However, there was no happiness from Leary over his personal success because the Cats lost 33-27.
“I mean it’s frustrating regardless of who plays well, the overall goal is to win the game. I’ve always looked at football that way, whatever coach needs me to do, whatever the team needs me to do, I’m willing to do it,” Leary said after Saturday’s game.
“Walking away with a loss today puts a sour taste in your mouth a little bit but now it’s back to the drawing board. You can’t praise yourself too much for coming off something that ended in a loss. There’s still room for improvement and we gotta get back to work tomorrow and build off this.”
Why did the passing game click against Tennessee? Did Kentucky change something during its bye week?
“For me making sure that I’m reading my correct reads and going through my right pre-snap process and post-snap process and overall, just executing,” the UK quarterback said. “It’s tough that we are coming off a loss because of how much work we put in coming off the bye and getting extra preparation on Tennessee.
“We felt really good going into this one but for us in the pass game it was only a matter of time for us. We were just a couple plays and clicks away from an execution standpoint from doing what we wanted but there’s always room for improvement.”
Sophomore receiver Dane Key had a career-high seven receptions for a career-high 113 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown reception, and his first 100-yard game at Kentucky. His seven catches were a season high for a UK player this season.
“It goes back to when I first got here in the spring,” Leary said about his connection with Key. “We put in a lot of work of making sure we get those extra reps after practice, making sure we are watching film together and today it was good to see that we were able to connect a little bit.
“A guy like Dane and really all our receivers, you get the ball in our hands and those guys go and make plays.”
Key felt Leary deserved a lot of credit for the way the offense performed.
“I feel like everybody should know Devin Leary is a playmaker. I have known that. I feel like he will continue to ball like he did tonight,” Key said.
Kentucky will play at Mississippi State Saturday night trying to end a three-game losing streak.
