Kentucky hopes to avoid Ole Miss track meet. ‘But that’s certainly not foolproof.’
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Game day: Kentucky at Auburn
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Auburn football game at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Ala.
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Kentucky and Mississippi ran the same amount of plays in their football games Saturday.
That and the fact they both lost are about the only similarities between the programs as they prepare for each other this week.
Even the first statistic is misleading without further context: UK averaged 4.9 yards per play at Auburn, one of seven teams last week in the Southeastern Conference to average 5.1 or fewer yards on offense (they all lost except Georgia, who ranked near the bottom at 4.3 yards but had the benefit of playing Arkansas). Ole Miss was the only team among the top-seven producers to lose; it generated 7.9 yards per play while giving up a league-high 8.7 (as well as 51 points) to Florida.
If Kentucky gives up 613 yards to the Rebels this week, there’s a better chance than not that it’ll be 0-2 afterward. Only twice under Mark Stoops have the Cats given up 600 or more yards, and those instances were in his first season. They haven’t surrendered 500 or more yards since 2017, but UK’s overall record in those games during his tenure is 4-12.
A more methodical, tempo-stunting game plan is Kentucky’s preference. Winning a track meet wouldn’t be impossible, but it won’t be what the Cats are after when they take to Kroger Field for the first time this season.
“We have to adapt to any situation,” Stoops said during his Monday news conference. “We all understand the recipe that we like to play with, to try and give us the best opportunity to win games, but that’s certainly not foolproof.”
Rebels quarterback Matt Corral threw for 395 yards, bettering his previous career high by more than 100 yards, as well as three touchdowns against the Gators, a personal best. The team finished with nearly 450 passing yards.
Their damage didn’t come exclusively through the air, though: Ole Miss came up with 170 rushing yards, third-most in the league last week (it also gave up the most, 196). Jerrion Ealy, a late MLB Draft selection in 2019, had 123 all-purpose yards (79 rushing) and two touchdowns himself.
“They play extremely fast on offense,” Stoops said. “Their quarterback is playing at a very, very high level. Corral, he can throw the ball all over the place. They have a very good scheme that spreads the ball out and puts a lot of pressure on you. ... Even though they threw the ball for almost 450 yards, they still had balance. They still ran the ball quite a bit and were efficient, and had those aggravating yards on the ground.”
UK’s defense saw some up-tempo action at Auburn and its overall response was a mixed bag. The Wildcats must be more disciplined this week, Stoops says, and that will be a point of focus through practice in the lead-up to Saturday.
Keeping its own offense on the field will matter, too. UK at Auburn was 8-for-10 on third-down conversions in the first half before finishing 12-of-19 overall, including two three-and-outs on its first two trips of the third quarter. Kentucky won the overall time of possession, but five of its seven series in the second half lasted about 90 seconds, none of those ending in points.
“That can’t happen,” Stoops said. “That’s not gonna bode well for us. That’s not how we can play and win games in this league. We have to play complimentary football. We have to play good on all sides to have an opportunity to win. We can’t be heavy on one side or the other.”
Gatewood update
Those holding out hope that a “gentleman’s agreement” between Auburn and Kentucky was the only thing keeping Joey Gatewood from being ruled eligible received a wake-up call when true freshman Beau Allen was again listed as the backup to Terry Wilson at quarterback on its week-two depth chart.
Gatewood, who transferred from Auburn and enrolled at UK in January, was cleared to play by the NCAA but as of now has not been granted eligibility by the SEC due to a league rule preventing athletes who transfer within the conference from playing before they’ve been enrolled for a year. On Monday, Stoops suggested that an emergency vote on that rule — which would be made by school presidents, and could go into effect for the current season — is forthcoming.
“It’s my understanding that we’ll have a decision relatively quickly on that,” Stoops said. “But that’s at the president level, and they’ll make those decisions. ... In six months you’re going to have an opportunity to transfer and go anywhere you want, one-time transfer. I’m in support of that as well.”
Kentucky isn’t the only school with a stake in a swift reversal of the policy. Tennessee offensive lineman Cade Mays and Ole Miss safety Otis Reese, both out-bound from Georgia, are in the same boat.
Volunteers head coach Jeremy Pruitt was asked about Stoops’ comments later on Monday and said he was not aware of any vote set to occur.
Goal-line meltdown
Stoops addressed the decision to have Terry Wilson throw the ball, which ended in an interception, instead of continuing to pound the ball on the ground late in the first half.
“In hindsight, I would do that differently,” Stoops said.
He said it was his call to go away from the running backs. Wilson had options to run himself or throw it to a back in the flat. A wide receiver missed an assignment, leading to a defender coming into the area who should not have been in the area where Wilson threw the ball.
“Everybody sees him throw the interception but they don’t know that the wide receiver shouldn’t have been in the area,” Wilson said. “We brought another body to the party that shouldn’t have been there.”
As for the reason UK was in that position — a seemingly blown call by the officials on an apparent touchdown run by Chris Rodriguez two plays before — Stoops had this to say:
“I’ll wait and hear what the official word is, but it doesn’t matter. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter. Till something changes or somebody holds somebody accountable, we need to move on. What did it look like to me? It looked like he was a yard deep in the end zone.”
TV
▪ The Southeastern Conference announced its Oct. 10 time and TV schedule on Monday. UK’s home game against Mississippi State will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.
Next game
Ole Miss at Kentucky
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Records: Ole Miss 0-1, Kentucky 0-1
