Kentucky defense rounding into form ahead of showdown with No. 10 Florida
The Southeastern Conference’s top rushing offense comes to Lexington this weekend. It’ll meet one of the country’s best teams at defending the run.
Kentucky is holding its opponents to 87.8 rushing yards per game, and has kept its two SEC opponents to a slightly lower average (81). That mark ranks 21st nationally and third in the conference behind Georgia and Mississippi State.
Florida, by far, will be the biggest test UK has met in 2021, on the ground and elsewhere. The Gators, a year after leading the conference in passing (378.6 yards per game) and ranking in the bottom four in the run (131.3 yards per game), have flipped that script. They’re running for 323 yards and putting up 218 yards through the air, on average.
Kentucky felt the brunt of Kyle Pitts (99 yards on five catches) and Kyle Trask (21-of-27 passing for 256 yards) last year. The duo, both now in the NFL, combined for three touchdowns in a 34-10 win over the Wildcats.
“You look at the talent that he had last year with the quarterback, and the tight end and the wideouts and the guys he had, obviously they were a handful,” Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops said during his Monday news conference. “This year they’re a handful in a different way. This is a lot of the identity of Dan (Mullen) of the teams that we faced way back when he was at Mississippi State and with Dak (Prescott).”
Florida quarterback Emory Jones was 21-of-27 for 209 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for 144 yards on 15 carries in Florida’s 34-18 win over Tennessee last Saturday. That performance, the best of his career, earned him SEC Offensive Player of the Week honors heading into the Gators’ first league road game.
Backup quarterback Anthony Richardson sat out Florida’s last two games due to a minor hamstring injury but was cleared to play, if needed, versus the Volunteers. Mullen said Monday that he’ll be available at UK but the program is trying to keep from worsening his injury, which typically takes three to six weeks to recover. The backup freshman has been a fan favorite and effective in spot snaps; he’s averaged 25 yards per carry on 11 rushes against non-conference foes (Florida Atlantic and South Florida) and is 6-for-11 for 192 yards passing. He’s rushed and thrown for two touchdowns this season.
Regardless of who Kentucky’s defense sees across from it on Saturday night, it’ll need to continue maxing out its effort and earn some extra possessions as a result of that effort, especially if the offense continues to give the ball up. Kentucky is tied with Florida State and Hawaii for the most turnovers committed this season (11) and is alone among all FBS teams with a -9 turnover margin.
That marker has loomed large over the Wildcats’ past three outings, and has turned three possible runaway wins into one-possession affairs each decided in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
“We talked about it a lot last week, about trying to putting it together for us, and I’m not saying we went into it thinking we were ever going to beat anybody by a lot, that’s not the goal,” Stoops said. “The goal’s just to play your best football. We talked last week about not having those letdowns, whether it’s mentally, physically, whatever, and just push and play a complete game. I think you saw that on one side of the ball (at South Carolina). Offensively, again, we did some good things, but the penalties or the turnovers really stopped some momentum.”
Kentucky this week has the advantage of being back at Kroger Field. It has not defeated Florida at home since 1986, but this group — especially if it stops shooting itself in the foot — has the talent and swagger to buck that streak. Several of its stars — Josh Ali, Davonte Robinson and DeAndre Square, to name a few — were at least playing special teams snaps at some point in 2018 when UK upset Florida in Gainesville.
Stoops was talking about his own team, but the following could easily apply to the situation in front of the No. 10 Gators.
“If you’re going into an SEC road game, you can almost guarantee some type of adversity,” Stoops said. “How are you going to respond to it? I talked about that with our players. Obviously we can win close games. We’ve shown that we can do that. I’d sure like to win one by not one possession. But it is what it is. We prepare the best we can.”
Depth chart
The most significant shakeup on this week’s depth chart was the presence of sophomore Octavious Oxendine in the No. 1 spot at defensive tackle, pushing senior Abule Abadi-Fitzgerald down a spot. Oxendine started at South Carolina, and while he let up at times, he showed enough to earn his first nod on the early-week depth chart.
“There was a time or two where he’s getting reached, like a lot of our guys, but all in all he’s playing extremely hard,” Stoops said. “ ... He brings us a little more juice and a little more quickness in there while trying to get some pressure on the quarterback and that stuff.”
True freshman Chauncey Magwood replaced Rahsaan Lewis behind Wan’Dale Robinson at one of the wide receiver spots. Offensive tackle Naasir Watkins was originally supposed to have a four-week suspension end this week but Stoops said it was yet to be determined if he would be available ahead of the Florida game.
“At some point he could work his way in,” Stoops said.
Notes
▪ Luke Fortner was named SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week for the second time this season. At least one UK player has earned a weekly nod from the league in three of the week’s four seasons.
▪ Chris Rodriguez (520 yards) and Wan’Dale Robinson (402 yards) lead the SEC in total rushing and total receiving, respectively. J.J. Weaver is tied with five others for No. 2 in sacks (four).
▪ UK will host LSU on Oct. 9. That game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.
Next game
No. 10 Florida at Kentucky
When: 6 p.m. Saturday
TV: ESPN
Records: Florida 3-1 (1-1 SEC), Kentucky 4-0 (2-0)
