Ahead of Alabama game, the pressure is on Kentucky football to fix its rushing attack

While the Kentucky football team’s 24-3 win at Mississippi State was far from beautiful, some context is needed.

The fact that the Wildcats had not won in Starkville since 2008 nor won a road game at an SEC West school in Mark Stoops’ tenure was well-discussed leading up to the game. It was clear this Mississippi State team might have been the worst Stoops had faced as UK’s coach, and it would have to play Kentucky without its normal starting quarterback or running back.

But Kentucky has played struggling SEC teams on the road before and still rarely recorded a win like Saturday’s.

The three points were the fewest Kentucky had surrendered in an SEC road game since 1979. The 21-point margin of victory was UK’s largest in a road game against an SEC West school since the league split into two divisions in 1992.

“Regardless of who we have next week, this one was big,” Stoops said. “There’s no denying that. It was big. Nobody likes to lose for three in a row with a bye in there. We needed to come on the road and get a win.”

Next week sees Kentucky welcome a resurgent Alabama team with renewed hopes for a playoff berth to Lexington. Considering Kentucky has beaten Alabama just twice in program history, entering that game on a four-game losing streak might have clinched the outcome before the game even started.

Beating Mississippi State does not mean Kentucky will now upset Alabama — Stoops was right when he acknowledged the warts visible in Starkville — but it at least establishes some positive momentum for the home stretch.

To turn that momentum into a marquee victory, Kentucky will need improvement. The weekly stock watch takes a look at the positive steps in Starkville as well as areas for concern.

RISING: Offensive depth

A week ago in the loss to Tennessee, Kentucky got standout performances from wide receivers Barion Brown and Dane Key. The sophomores had their moments against Mississippi State too, but it was senior Tayvion Robinson who emerged as Devin Leary’s top target in Starkville with five catches for 91 yards.

Add in a touchdown catch from running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye, and the list of viable options in the passing game is growing for Leary. Between the three starting wide receivers, running back Ray Davis, tight ends Jordan Dingle and Josh Kattus and backups like Sumo-Karngbaye and wide receiver Anthony Brown-Stephens, Kentucky’s passing attack suddenly looks all the more dangerous due to its depth.

Depth has improved on the offensive line too as Kentucky fielded its five preseason projected starters for just the second time all season. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen expressed concern about the play of the offensive guards, especially in run blocking, but Kentucky now has options there with Dylan Ray, who filled in for starters Kenneth Horsey and Jager Burton over the previous seven games, now available to move around.

“Just starting to hit,” Robinson said. “We took pride in our preparation these past few weeks, and it’s shown on Saturday.”

FALLING: Rushing attack

For the second consecutive week Kentucky struggled to find much offensive balance.

Running back Ray Davis totaled 80 yards on 21 carries, but 33 of those yards came on one touchdown drive in the second quarter. For the rest of the game, Davis averaged just 2.8 yards on 17 carries.

“We have to look at it,” Coen said. “Whether it’s the O-line, the scheme, the tight ends, the running backs, everybody is involved in the run game, so I have to look at truly why (it’s struggling). But we’ve also got to make people miss at the second and third levels and be special with the ball in our hands. That’s part of the game.

“We’ll take a look at that and maybe we have to change some schemes.”

Improvements in the pass game have taken some of the pressure off Davis and the run game, but it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where the Wildcats knock off Alabama or Louisville without more offensive balance.

RISING: Defensive swagger

In the buildup to the Mississippi State game, defensive coordinator Brad White acknowledged confidence issues amid the three-game losing streak might have contributed to some of the miscues against Tennessee.

“You play faster when you’ve got a little bit of swagger to your step,” he said last Wednesday. “So, we need to continue to get that back.”

Holding Mississippi State to just 218 yards and three points seemed to accomplish that goal. That renewed confidence was perhaps no more evident than on the defense’s worst drive of the game.

After forcing back-to-back three-and-outs to open the game, the Wildcats surrendered a 20-play drive that lasted 12 1/2 minutes. Despite failing to get off the field multiple times due to missed tackles or penalties, Kentucky’s defenders refused to concede a touchdown.

“You could sort of hang your head at the end and give up a touchdown,” White said. “Or you can battle and finish and force a field goal and basically say, we took your best shot, 19 plays all the way down and all you can come away with is a field goal. I think that helps build confidence. You may be tired on the sideline, but at least you’re confident in the fact that we bowed up when we needed to. At the end of the day, that’s what this game is about. I’m proud of the guys.”

As for the swagger, White thinks his defenders always had it inside them.

“Just like anybody in life, you can question a little bit, but it’s there,” White said. “It’s our job as coaches to continue to make them feel like they don’t ever have to worry about showing that confidence and playing with an edge. We’ve got to be smart about it, right? We can’t just lose our minds and get unnecessary penalties, but getting up to that line and playing fast and playing physical.”

Next game

No. 8 Alabama at Kentucky

When: Noon Saturday

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Alabama 8-1 (6-0 SEC), Kentucky 6-3 (3-3)

Series: Alabama leads 38-2-1

Last meeting: Alabama won 63-3 on Nov. 21, 2020, in Tuscaloosa

This story was originally published November 6, 2023 at 6:45 AM.

Jon Hale

Lexington Herald-Leader

(859) 414-6776

Jon Hale is the University of Kentucky football beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He joined the Herald-Leader in 2022 but has covered UK athletics for more than 10 years. Hale was named the 2021 Kentucky Sportswriter of the Year. Support my work with a digital subscription