Kentucky football must find fixes to these three points of concern from Georgia loss
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Preview: Missouri at No. 24 Kentucky
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There’s no spinning a 51-13 loss as a positive, regardless of the quality of competition.
The Herald-Leader’s weekly UK football stock watch usually looks at elements of the team that are rising and falling after each game. But the blowout loss at Georgia left no room for positives.
Ray Davis found some early success in the run game and continued to show big-play ability with a touchdown off a screen pass, but those minor successes only added to the disappointment of the offense’s inability to get him the ball more often.
“They beat us from top to bottom the entire game, but however, yeah, that’s very unfortunate and that’s not very good or smart by us to get penalties and stop ourselves when we’re driving the ball and are able to keep things on schedule,” UK coach Mark Stoops said after the loss. “But penalties killed two drives and then a missed throw killed another drive. You can’t just come down here and do that.”
So, there is no “rising” section of the stock watch this week. Instead, here is a closer look at three areas of concern after the Georgia loss.
Devin Leary
Six games into the season it is time to wonder if inconsistency is going to be the defining trait of UK’s passing game all season. There has been plenty of blame to spread around for those struggles, but it’s also impossible at this point to describe Leary as anything but a disappointment.
The former N.C. State star was supposed to be one of the top quarterbacks available in the transfer portal. He has shown that potential with several highlight reel-worthy throws, but some of his misses have been mind-boggling.
That was never more apparent than on the first drive at Georgia. Even after a holding penalty put Kentucky behind the chains, Kentucky had a chance to keep a promising drive moving when a third-and-15 play left Tayvion Robinson wide open for what would have been a first down and might have even resulted in a touchdown. Leary sailed the throw over Robinson though, despite no defender being even close to the receiver.
“Usually I don’t say a whole lot during games to a quarterback, to not get him off (his game), but there’s no excuse to not hit some of those,” Stoops said. “We had some guys wide open. You put that, whether we missed some open plays to keep it close early and then you add in the penalties, it gets away from you very quickly.”
Some of Leary’s throws have been so off that it’s fair to wonder if the surgery to correct the torn pectoral muscle that ended his 2022 season early has affected his accuracy. When Stoops was asked about that theory after the game, he dismissed the suggestion that Leary was not 100% healthy.
“I believe he is OK,” Stoops said. “I would have no reason to believe he’s not. Yeah, I was a little disappointed myself.”
Penalties
The biggest indictment of Kentucky’s performance in Athens was how undisciplined the team was despite knowing the size of the challenge facing it.
Kentucky’s offense actually looked dangerous early with two first downs on the opening drive before a Jager Burton holding penalty turned a second-and-3 into a first-and-19. A personal foul penalty against Burton turned a second-and-3 into a second-and-18 on the second drive.
“Against a team like that, you just can’t do those things,” offensive coordinator Liam Coen said.
After surrendering touchdowns on Georgia’s first two drives, Kentucky appeared to finally force a punt on the Bulldogs’ third drive when Deone Walker batted down a pass at the line of scrimmage, but he negated his good play by shoving a Georgia player to the ground as his teammates attempted to pick up the dead ball and return it for a touchdown. The personal foul extended the drive, which eventually resulted in Georgia’s third touchdown for a 21-0 lead.
“Lack of discipline,” Stoops said. “I just didn’t have them ready for that moment. The moment was too big for them. We didn’t play very good, we didn’t play very disciplined, we didn’t play very tough. We didn’t get it done. It’s not coach speak, but we as a staff and I have to do a better job of getting them ready and getting them prepared.”
Passing defense
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck turned in his best performance yet in his first season as the Bulldogs starter. While Beck is a talented player, no quarterback should be able to complete his first 12 passes against a defense with Kentucky’s reputation.
It wasn’t like Beck had to fit many of those throws into tight coverage either. Kentucky left multiple receivers wide open, including star tight end Brock Bowers who was a point of focus all week for UK coaches.
“I saw also us uncharacteristically undisciplined with dirty eyes,” Stoops said. “I also complement them with the way they were creating some plays that we all look at and say, ‘How in the world does a guy like that get so open?’ Well, some of it they’re creating, they did a nice job and they got us with bad vision. Even on some of the big ones you see (Bowers) running down the field wide open and you’re like, ‘How in the world you going to leave that guy open?’ Well, they dressed it up.”
Kentucky must address the pass defensive issues quickly. Missouri, this week’s opponent, ranks 12th nationally in passing yards per game (319.5).
Next game
Missouri at No. 24 Kentucky
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Missouri 5-1 (1-1 SEC), Kentucky 5-1 (2-1)
Series: Kentucky leads 9-4
Last meeting: Kentucky won 21-17 on Nov. 5, 2022, in Columbia, Missouri
This story was originally published October 9, 2023 at 6:30 AM.
