After Lynn Bowden, punter Max Duffy had UK’s best run of the night. It wasn’t a fake.
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Game day: Kentucky vs. Missouri
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Max Duffy had an empty field in front of him. So, instead of using his leg to send another booming kick deep into opponent territory for the umpteenth time, Kentucky’s punter for the first time this season took off with the ball in his hands.
He picked up 26 yards — the longest run by a Wildcat not named Lynn Bowden on Saturday — and a first down. Not bad for …improvisation?
“You know, it looked like he fumbled it just briefly, and he had been working on stepping up into that pocket,” UK head coach Mark Stoops said after the Wildcats’ 29-7 win over Missouri. “… He saw the lane and pulled it down. It was wide-open.”
Center Drake Jackson didn’t think it was a designed fake, “which makes it even cooler,” he said.
“That was bananas. It was fun,” Jackson said. “Duffy’s always like, ‘Y’know, I feel like there’s times I can run,’ and he just took off.”
Duffy confirmed Stoops’ suspicion about the bobbled snap and Jackson’s belief that it wasn’t a purposeful fake. He then walked reporters through a conversation he has had before with Jamar “Boogie” Watson, a linebacker who’s in on special teams, about what to do if opponents send one defender off the edge.
“Get him out and up and I’ll come inside,” Duffy said. “More so for the punt, just so I can get a bit extra on it.”
A punt wouldn’t come this time, though.
“I kind of went inside on it and then I was like, ‘There’s no one there.’ I’ve been kind of given the green light by Coach Stoops to be able to do that if I want to, so I tucked it and ran out of bounds and threw the ball to the ground. I thought the penalty was on me but it wasn’t.”
The penalty he referred to was a personal foul assessed to linebacker Jamin Davis, who hit a Missouri player out of bounds after Duffy’s big gain. It took UK from its own 48 back to its 33, but the first down remained intact. Lynn Bowden five plays later rushed for his second touchdown of the night, which put the Wildcats up 29-7 with 11:25 left, all but ending any hope of a Mizzou rally.
There was at least one other time this season — a fourth-and-1 at South Carolina — that Duffy thought about taking off, but didn’t. He played in the Australian Football League before joining Kentucky last season, and noted why, even though it might look like he frequently has a lot of room to run, there’s some hesitation about doing so.
“In AFL you don’t have guys coming quite from the sides all the time and coming after you, and I don’t really know where they are sometimes so I do get a bit panicked and just kick the ball,” Duffy said with a laugh. “But it opened up nicely tonight, so it was awesome.”
Despite the difference he made against Missouri, the 26-year old Aussie still harbored hard feelings about a shank that helped set Georgia up for its second touchdown a week ago.
“I feel like I shouldn’t kick the ball badly in the rain,” Duffy said. “Regardless of the conditions I think I’m a good kicker.”
His effort Saturday in another rain-soaked contest affirmed that self-confidence: Duffy kicked a 70-yard punt, a career long, on the UK possession preceding the one on which he ran 26 yards. He averaged 52.4 yards on five punts, three of them landing inside Missouri’s 20-yard line.
It was a fitting performance on a night where Kentucky’s other two phases were in the best harmony they’ve been this season.
And, perhaps, worth celebrating over an adult beverage.
“We play football to win games. It doesn’t matter about my performance, I just want to win,” Duffy said. “That’s cool, get a 22-point win, get out of here, and I might grab a beer.”
No Kash
Kash Daniel was dressed in street clothes during the game. It was the first time in his career as a Wildcat that he did not play.
Daniel exited late in the second quarter of UK’s 21-0 loss at Georgia. After a play ended, Daniel sat on the field for a moment and was tended to by trainers but eventually walked off the field under his own power. The UK Radio Network reported that Daniel was combating dizziness; the senior linebacker did not return to that game.
Daniel had played in 46 straight contests, which matched long snapper Blake Best for the most consecutive appearances among current players before Best played on Saturday. Stoops last week did not elaborate on Daniel’s most recent injury. Daniel went through the school’s concussion protocol during UK’s first bye week following its loss at South Carolina.
Asked after Saturday’s game if he expects Daniel to be ready following Kentucky’s second bye week, Stoops said, “I do. I hope so. We’ll see where he is.”
Next game
Tennessee at Kentucky
Saturday, Nov. 9 (time and TV to be announced)
This story was originally published October 27, 2019 at 2:05 AM.
