Having missed one opportunity, UK can’t afford a repeat vs. Ole Miss
In this of all SEC football seasons, you can’t afford to waste an opportunity.
Kentucky wasted one Saturday.
Trailing 15-13 early in the fourth quarter at No. 8-ranked Auburn, the Wildcats faced a third-and-four at their own 32-yard line. Quarterback Terry Wilson opted to keep the ball on a zone read off the right side. But just as Wilson turned upfield, an Auburn defender poked the football from the quarterback’s clutches. Auburn recovered the fumble at the UK 23. From there, to steal from Jason Isbell, Kentucky started sinking in the place it once stood.
It took five plays for the host Tigers to score a touchdown, leaping wide receiver Seth Williams snatching a Bo Nix pass off the back of UK defender Kelvin Joseph. Four plays later, UK’s Max Duffy opted to run the ball on a fake punt. It didn’t go well. Needing five yards, Duffy lost three. Auburn took possession at the UK 27-yard line. Two plays later, Nix hit Eli Stove for a 21-yard touchdown.
With 12:34 left in the game, Auburn led 15-13. With 8:17 left in the game, Auburn led 29-13. Four minutes, 14 points. That was the ballgame. Auburn is 1-0. Kentucky is 0-1.
“We did some really good things in this game,” Kentucky Coach Mark Stoops said in his postgame Zoom conference.
That the Cats did. They outgained Auburn 384-324. They produced possessions of 11, 10, nine, 11, 11 and nine plays. In his first game since tearing his patellar tendon in September 2019, Wilson threw for 239 yards and one score. Josh Ali caught nine balls for 98 yards. The UK defense held Auburn to just 91 yards rushing.
But of all the things that have changed during this coronavirus pandemic, one thing has not changed. You can’t turn the ball over. Kentucky committed three turnovers Saturday, while Auburn played a clean game. Add Duffy’s failed fake and a missed officials’ call at the end of the first half when running back Chris Rodriguez was ruled short of the goal line when he was actually over the goal line, and a shot at an early SEC road win becomes another SEC road loss.
Said Stoops, “We made too many mistakes to beat a quality opponent like Auburn on the road.”
This year, they’ll all be quality opponents because they will all be SEC opponents. That’s made Saturday’s outcome all the more frustrating. Winning college football games is hard enough, but winning games in America’s best conference is particularly difficult. When presented the chance, you have to capitalize because you never know when that chance will come again.
You could make the case that Kentucky was actually the better team against Auburn, just as you can make the case Kentucky will be the better team this Saturday when Ole Miss comes to Kroger Field for UK’s home opener. Stoops’ troops went 8-5 last year with a bowl victory. Ole Miss finished 4-8, fired its coach and brought former Tennessee head coach and Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin back to the SEC.
Most recently the head coach at Florida Atlantic, the 45-year-old Kiffin can be brash and immature and controversial, but he knows how to call plays. FAU was 14th nationally in scoring offense last season. Though Ole Miss lost 51-35 to visiting Florida on Saturday, the Rebels rolled up 613 yards in total offense. On Florida. In the first game of the season. With players Kiffin had never coached before.
As Stoops likes to say, it’s another opportunity. In a regular year, a team is only guaranteed 12. This being irregular year, SEC teams only get 10 and only against fellow SEC members. It’s a long, hard road. Already 0-1, Saturday affords the Cats an opportunity to get back to even. It won’t be easy. They can’t repeat last Saturday’s mistakes and expect to win this Saturday. Not in this of all seasons.
Next game
Ole Miss at Kentucky
When: 4 p.m. Saturday
Where: Kroger Field (limited spectators)
TV: SEC Network
