Five Cats score TDs as Kentucky uses second-half surge to top Toledo
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Kentucky’s offense took advantage of multiple big gains over the final 30 minutes to more than make up for a middling first half against Toledo in a 38-24 victory to open the season Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field.
UK surrendered just 10 points and 116 total yards to the Rockets out of the break after trailing Toledo for much of the first half. Five Wildcats scored touchdowns, including two first-timers.
Toledo struck first after receiving the opening kick. It used a 39-yard pass completion to Danzel McKinley-Lewis to set up a 5-yard touchdown run by Bryant Koback, a sophomore who originally signed with UK out of high school but transferred following his first year on campus.
Kentucky’s first attempt to score was futile: AJ Rose gained four yards, then lost them all, and Terry Wilson threw a pass out of bounds intended for Ahmad Wagner to give Toledo the ball back. The Rockets got to UK’s 44-yard line but were grounded.
UK on its second drive followed up with a 97-yard march to the end zone. Chris Rodriguez and Kavosiey Smoke combined to carry it the bulk of the way down the field after Rose limped to the sideline for brief treatment. A pass interference penalty in the end zone drawn by Wagner — who else? — set UK up at the Toledo 7-yard line.
Rodriguez on UK’s first play of the second quarter appeared to get across the goal line before coughing up the ball, but the Cats’ first score of the 2019 season officially came on a fumble recovery by Justin Rigg. It was Rigg’s first career TD.
Another big pass completion — 28 yards to Bryce Mitchell — put Toledo across midfield early in the second. Koback gained nine on second-and-17 before Mitchell Guadagni went 17 to the UK 25. Koback earned four more yards before Guadagni ran unscathed for a 21-yard score.
The teams traded three-and-outs before UK drove 56 yards in 59 seconds to tie the game once more. A false-start penalty kicked off the drive but Wilson hit Lynn Bowden for a 29-yard gain to alleviate the error. Rose rushed for 21 yards and then again for 11 yards to score his seventh career TD (sixth rushing).
Kentucky moved backward to open the second half but Josh Paschal forced a fumble and Yusuf Corker recovered it in Toledo territory to give it right back to the Cats, who turned the turnover into three points — Chance Poore connected on a 46-yarder, a new career long for the redshirt freshman, to put UK ahead for the first time, 17-14.
UK forced another Toledo punt and proceeded to travel 67 yards on five plays to increase the lead to 10. Bryce Oliver, a redshirt freshman who impressed in the Blue-White game, reeled in a 32-yard TD pass over a Toledo defense for his first career catch to make it 24-14.
A sixth straight stop resulted in a Kentucky fair catch at its own 17. Wilson immediately hit Wagner for a 40-yard pass completion but a fumble by Bowden two plays later was recovered by Toledo, which turned it into a 46-yard field goal of its own.
Prior to the field goal, UK linebacker Chris Oats was assessed a dead-ball penalty with targeting against Toledo quarterback Mitchell Guadagni, who did not return to the game. Oats was ejected and will have to sit out the first half of UK’s game against Eastern Michigan next weekend.
Logan Stenberg was tagged with a hands-to-the-face penalty that pushed Kentucky too far back to do much on its first drive in the fourth quarter. Toledo’s backup quarterback Carter Bradley, a redshirt freshman, was unable to drive the Rockets far but Bowden fielded a punt at the 4-yard line that would have rolled through for a touchback. The Cats netted seven yards before punting again themselves.
Toledo punted once again, fielding it at UK’s 8-yard line. The Cats drove 92 yards, capped by a 30-yard pass completion to Bowden and a 40-yard scamper up the sidelines by Smoke for his second career TD.
DeAndre Square, who caused defensive havoc all afternoon, snagged an interception to set up UK at the Rockets’ 33-yard line. Wilson went 3-for-4 on the drive, the last a 2-yard TD throw to Josh Ali to push UK’s lead to 21 points.
Bradley tacked on a 7-yard TD for Toledo with 1:02 remaining in the contest.
This story was originally published August 31, 2019 at 3:33 PM.
