‘He knows better.’ Ball security detracts from Chris Rodriguez’s career night for UK.
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Game day: Kentucky 35, Missouri 28
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday night’s Kentucky-Missouri football game at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky.
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At halftime of Kentucky’s game against Missouri, UK’s turnover margin for the season sat at minus-five. After failing to take the ball away from Louisiana Monroe — which averaged two a game in 2020’s 0-10 campaign — and giving it to the Warhawks three times last week, the Cats gave Mizzou two extra opportunities in the first 16 minutes while creating none of their own.
The first, an interception via a deflection on the same play that yielded that exact result after Will Levis’ first pass attempt at Kentucky, quickly gave way to a Tigers punt. It was the second that cast a bigger shadow over a 35-28 victory, and blemished a career-best performance from junior running back Chris Rodriguez. With Kentucky leading 21-7 late in the first half, Rodriguez fumbled inches before crossing into the end zone for what would have been his third touchdown of the half. Missouri recovered the ball and drove 80 yards in 1:37 to shuffle momentum its direction.
“I told everybody in that locker room (at halftime), I shouldn’t have fumbled the ball, but that’s on me,” Rodriguez said. “We shouldn’t have even been in that predicament, but we were. I put that on me.”
Rodriguez talked about all his teammates having his back, but he might owe senior linebacker Jacquez Jones, specifically, a dinner. He came up with Kentucky’s first — and so far, only — turnover of the season early in the second half. Missouri received the ball and gained a single yard before Jones snagged a Connor Bazelak pass in the middle of the field to stymie the Tigers’ tying bid and set UK up in Tigers territory. Rodriguez scored soon after.
He scored a fourth touchdown, a go-ahead 8-yard rush early in the final period, to match the school record for single-game TDs. The ball came out again on that run, but it was recovered by right guard Eli Cox; officials ruled that Rodriguez crossed the goal line before the drop. Rodriguez felt the same way, but said he doesn’t mind if Cox ends up getting credit for it.
Head coach Mark Stoops alluded to his head not being in the game. Rodriguez later, in a response to a question about feeling tired, disputed that he was exhausted but said he had a lot on his mind.
“I felt like there were other things on his mind prior to crossing that goal line,” Stoops said. “But you know Chris and I know Chris, and he came back. He’ll be a beast and he’ll play hard and I have all the confidence in him. But that doesn’t mean we’re not gonna correct him. And he will, he’ll get it fixed and will bounce back. He knows better.”
His overall performance requires no bounce-back. Rodriguez finished with 206 yards on 27 carries, both career-high totals, and he carried an offense that entered Saturday seeking to remind observers of its smash-mouth potential after, as the coaches put it, leaving yards on the field last week. UK ended with 358 rushing yards on 52 carries. The Cats for a second week in a row topped 500 total yards of offense, but this time doing it against a Southeastern Conference opponent with a former NFL head coach (Steve Wilks) running its defense.
Rodriguez’ gaffe came one week after back-up rusher Kavosiey Smoke coughed up the ball following a first-down pickup. Kentucky lost seven of 14 total fumbles last season; it’s 3-for-3 through two games this year (the other was on a strip sack of Beau Allen in the opener). Levis’ interceptions aren’t desirable but they’re explainable; putting the ball on the ground often has more to do with the person who loses it than a defender making a play. And it always makes getting out with a win harder.
Rodriguez said that every week UK’s running backs zero in on a personal area of improvement. Pass protection was his leading up to Missouri’s game, but he says going forward that it needs to be his job to “focus on just holding the rock.”
This week, the difference between Kentucky routing an SEC team and being in a nail-biter could be boiled down to him holding on for six more inches.
“Obviously, we gotta take care of the football, and that’s a big key,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said. “If you’re up three scores going into the half, you feel a lot better about yourself. He came up to me and said, ‘Coach, I got it, I’ll take care of it,’ and ended up putting the ball back on the ground again, but I just love the kid so much it’s hard for me to get mad at him.”
Next game
Chattanooga at Kentucky
When: Noon Saturday
This story was originally published September 12, 2021 at 2:25 AM.
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