Kentucky’s shellacking at No. 1 Alabama might have cost it more than a loss
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Game day: Alabama 63, Kentucky 3
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Alabama football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
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As most expected, No. 1 Alabama had an easy time dispatching Kentucky in Tuscaloosa despite a three-week layoff. The Wildcats fell to 3-5 on the year, and suffered the worst loss of Mark Stoops’ career as a head coach, 63-3.
Here’s a look at what the outcome means for Kentucky’s program at-large.
Perception
As long as Kentucky went to Tuscaloosa and didn’t fall flat on its face, it was going to get a win in the “moral victory” column. Whether it avoided a full-on face plant might be in the eye of the beholder, but Saturday’s effort was much more bad than good for the Wildcats.
Alabama beat its six previous opponents, among them top-10 teams Georgia and Texas A&M, by an average of 25.2 points. On one hand, Kentucky was beaten worse than that average, and gave the the Crimson Tide their biggest win of the season.
But for those tuning in for the first half — really, the only one that mattered as far as the actual outcome — Kentucky’s inability to do anything in the red zone (even effectively kick field goals) was embarrassing. A glass half-full person appreciates the Cats’ offensive execution other than those miscues in scoring territory — at times they moved the ball as well as they have all season — but that’s the smallest of consolations.
And the second half provided nothing in the way of positives. Alabama kept its foot on the gas and the Wildcats were barely bugs on the windshield; UK got an interception and forced a punt on its first two second-half defensive series but punted and gave up a pick-six in response to those stops. The Cats proceeded to give up four straight touchdown drives afterward, three of them with Alabama’s backup quarterback at the helm.
Before the game, Stoops told SEC Network analyst Cole Cubelic that Kentucky wasn’t going to “duck” any opponent despite COVID-19 protocols eliminating chunks of its roster this week. In terms of national perception and future recruiting battles, turning tail might have done it a bigger favor.
Depth
One thing that COVID-19 testing and subsequent contact-tracing procedures have made evermore apparent for every team in college football this year? Depth wins.
Kentucky was without multiple starters at Alabama, some of them due to COVID-19 protocols. It’s unlikely their absence made a meaningful difference in the outcome — UK at full strength still would have been a sizable underdog against the nation’s No. 1 program — but the contrast between the programs was more striking with Bama fielding a more complete roster and Kentucky at reduced capacity.
There are talented players down Kentucky’s depth chart, but they’re green, and most of them never had the privilege of a full spring-semester practice schedule or on-campus workout regimen throughout the summer due to the ongoing pandemic. That, coupled with the normal growing pains that come with the transition from high school to college, made the challenge of talent development even more difficult.
That’s not an excuse for this season’s struggles, mind you, as it’s a hurdle every team has had to overcome, but it’s clear that UK — and, based on the number of postponements this season, many programs — was not as prepared for the unique perils of 2020 as it hoped.
Unharmed?
The worst thing that could have happened for Kentucky against a near-unstoppable foe was a major injury to a significant player; it seems to have avoided that, but the Wildcats won’t leave Tuscaloosa unscathed.
It remains to be seen how this week’s absences could trickle into next week’s trip to No. 6 Florida. Conceivably, if they’re related to COVID-19, then the Cats could be severely short-handed again in Gainesville. Receiver Demarcus Harris, a bright spot for the offense Saturday, sat out the second half after suffering a head-to-head collision. Safety Ty Ajian connected with his head on a first-quarter tackle and eventually was ruled out with a right shoulder strain. Another receiver, Isaiah Epps, played after suffering a dislocated finger. Cornerback Brandin Echols early in the second half was shaken up but re-entered the contest.
The severity of those injuries wasn’t immediately known following the game, but if any of them linger it could make an already tall task next week even tougher. At this point, UK can use any break it can get.
This story was originally published November 21, 2020 at 7:19 PM.
