Good luck figuring out this Kentucky football team after two games
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Game day: Kentucky 28, Eastern Kentucky 17
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Eastern Kentucky football game at Kroger Field in Lexington.
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Kentucky football may have played two games of its 2023 schedule, but it would be difficult to argue we know much more about the Wildcats than we did two weeks ago.
The Wildcats are 2-0, but the quality of competition to date and sluggish performances have hardly inspired confidence. And the last two UK seasons offer conflicting evidence about what a lackluster non-conference win might mean for the rest of the season.
Is Devin Leary the quarterback who completed 22 of 45 passes in the first halves of his first two games as a Wildcat or the one who completed 20 of 24 passes in the second halves of those games? Is the UK defense the one that forced four turnovers or the one that has struggled to get off the field on third down, giving up seven drives of at least nine plays?
“I told them, they cannot let people take our joy,” Stoops said after a 28-17 win over FCS Eastern Kentucky on Saturday. “We know there are areas we did good things, areas we need to improve. We need to stay close, united, and go to work.”
That outlook was a stark contrast from a week ago when Stoops opened his news conference after a 30-point win over Ball State by saying he was “very aggravated at a lot of things.”
Some of Stoops’ tone Saturday can be attributed to his deep respect and close relationship with the EKU coaching staff. Stoops spent most of the week warning reporters and his players that the version of EKU that showed up at Kroger Field would be far better than the one that was embarrassed 66-13 by Cincinnati in week one.
But the tonal shift might also be an acknowledgment from Stoops that for as much as he works for a cleaner performance early in the season, his program has been here before.
During Liam Coen’s previous season as UK offensive coordinator, the offense also looked sluggish at times in its annual FCS game, a 28-23 win over Chattanooga in which Kentucky trailed early in the fourth quarter. That Kentucky team still bounced back to win three consecutive SEC games for a 6-0 start on the way to just Kentucky’s second 10-win season since 1977.
“Really we didn’t hit a groove until about week five, week six (in 2021),” Coen said. “As you try to figure out your personnel, what they execute well, what do I like to call, what do we like to call as a staff and blending all that together, I think that’s definitely a work in progress.”
A year later, there were plentiful warning signs of possible offensive issues as Kentucky struggled at times in September non-conference wins over Miami (Ohio), Youngstown State and Northern Illinois. This time, those warning signs were actually evidence of greater problems that were compounded by multiple injuries to quarterback Will Levis and ultimately cost offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello his job.
Against EKU, the Wildcats failed to score on each of their first six offensive drives. An electric Barion Brown punt return just before halftime set up the first score, which Kentucky followed with three consecutive touchdown drives. EKU’s defense did not stop the Wildcats for the rest of the game.
“We definitely have to start better,” Leary said. “Kind of similar last week.
“Walking away, definitely take the win — it’s hard to win — but we’re much better than that. We understand that we have got to start better in the first half. … In the second half we started to pick it up a little bit, but a lot of the guys in the locker room were kind of just dapping each other up understanding we’ve got to start better.”
Kentucky’s soft September schedule was seen as an advantage for a team working in 14 transfers and a handful of freshmen. That remains true, but when UK fails to dominate its lesser opponents it also makes it difficult to know what progress is being made toward preparing for Southeastern Conference play.
Next week’s game against an Akron squad that lost to Temple in its opener is unlikely to tell us much more about the Wildcats. Perhaps the Sept. 23 SEC opener at Vanderbilt will provide a more accurate progress report as Kentucky looks to avenge its 2022 loss to the Commodores, but Vanderbilt was again picked to finish last in the SEC East.
No wonder Stoops is choosing the more measured approach for now.
“I took my own joy last week, didn’t I?” Stoops said with a sarcastic laugh. “It is pretty hard, it is pretty rough, isn’t it? I’m pissed off if we win or lose.
“... I know that the team is eager to get back to work. You know, the staff and the team know that we have work to do. But they are willing to do it. And they have a good attitude about it. They know it is still not quite our standard. And we want to play better.”
Next game
Akron at Kentucky
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
TV: ESPNU
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Akron 1-1, Kentucky 2-0
Series: Kentucky leads 1-0
Last meeting: Kentucky won 47-10 on Sept. 18, 2010, in Lexington
This story was originally published September 9, 2023 at 8:56 PM.
