UK football’s pass rush is under fire again. ‘Ultimately, it’s just not good enough.’
Like in the aftermath of Kentucky’s blowout loss at Georgia earlier this season, spinning anything from the Wildcats’ 49-21 loss to Alabama as positive seems silly.
Any time a team trails by three touchdowns before it records its first first down, no one is going to be leaving the stadium feeling good about the performance. With that in mind, the weekly UK football stock watch cannot justify declaring any facet of the program as rising after the Alabama game.
Instead, the focus has to be on one of the most glaring shortcomings in the performance.
Alabama entered the game among the national leaders in sacks allowed (37), but Kentucky was unable to record any sacks against the Crimson Tide.
“I thought it was very poor,” UK coach Mark Stoops said of the Wildcat pass rush. “… We got negative yardage plays, and they came back and converted and converted some third downs and third and longs. It was really disappointing. We did a poor job of getting pressure, whether it was straight rushing or pressures, any of it.
“We did a poor job today.”
Kentucky’s lagging pass rush has been a frequent topic of fans’ ire since national defensive player of the year winner Josh Allen left the program following the 2018 season. Much of that criticism centers around the perception that defensive coordinator Brad White and Stoops are not being aggressive enough.
Some of those critics were silenced a week earlier when Kentucky tied a season-high with five sacks in the win at Mississippi State, but they returned with vengeance after the Alabama loss.
“Probably a little bit of everything,” White said when asked about the pass rushing struggles. “Calls, could have done some things to maybe create more one-on-ones. It’s one of those things that’s hard. They have a lot of different weapons. We’re trying to help a lot of different guys. You’ve got some new guys out there, some younger guys in the back end, so when you try to help them, it’s a little bit less what you can do up front, especially when you have a mobile quarterback.
“It’s probably a little bit on everything. Play calls, the guys probably thought they could get some one-on-ones they could win, but ultimately, it’s just not good enough.”
Few were complaining about Stoops and White’s defensive philosophies when Allen was around to carry the defense in 2018. At least some of the pass rushing struggles since can be explained by the loss of a generational talent.
Senior outside linebacker J.J. Weaver was supposed to be the next Allen, but injuries and inconsistency have plagued his career. He has just four sacks in 10 games.
Kentucky is not going to change its defensive scheme or find new players before the final two games of the season. Establishing some consistent pass rush looks particularly important this week against a South Carolina team that ranks 12th nationally in passing yards per game but is tied for 123rd in sacks allowed (37).
Kentucky has proven capable of effectively rushing the passer against weaker teams (see five sacks against Akron and Mississippi State), but Alabama was able to do much of its offensive damage in the predictable passing situations that are supposed to lead to more rushing opportunities.
The Wildcats now rank 111th nationally in third down defense (44.2%). That number only improves if Kentucky can take advantage of third-and-longs by sacking the quarterback more often.
“It’s something we’ve just got to continue to look at,” White said. “Tried a little bit of everything (on third down against Alabama). We tried zone, we tried man, we brought the house. … Ultimately, we’ve just got to try to find the right mixture. I’m not doing a good enough job finding that mixture. That’s on me.”
Next game
Kentucky at South Carolina
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday
TV: SEC Network
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 6-4 (3-4 SEC), South Carolina 4-6 (2-5)
Series: South Carolina leads 19-14-1
Last meeting: South Carolina won 24-14 on Oct. 8, 2022, in Lexington