UK’s defense is stepping up, Levis is standing strong, and the Bengals will be fine
Random notes:
▪ Kentucky football has won 10 straight games when holding the opponent under 300 yards of total offense. (Florida gained 279, including 91 in the second half.) The last UK loss under such parameters came when Tennessee was held to 296 yards and still won 17-13 at Kroger Field on Nov. 9, 2019.
▪ Mark Stoops is 3-4 in his last seven games against ranked opponents — beat No. 18 Tennessee 34-7 in 2020; beat No. 10 Florida 20-13 last year and No. 12 Florida 26-16 this season.
▪ Florida completed just 40 percent of its passes Saturday, the lowest completion percentage by a UK opponent since Louisville went 10 of 26 for 38.5 percent on Nov. 28, 2015. U of L still won that game 38-24.
▪ The biggest improvement I’ve seen in Will Levis this year is the way the Kentucky quarterback hangs in the pocket against the pass rush.
▪ Kentucky wide receiver Chauncey Magwood caught one pass all last season. The sophomore has already made three catches through two games this season.
▪ On my podcast last week, Matt Hayes of Saturday Down South said that (1) Florida’s receivers struggle getting separation from defensive backs, (2) Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson is not a polished passer and (3) the Gators lack depth because of Dan Mullen’s failures in recruiting. Turned out, Matt was right on three counts.
▪ Yes, I know Kentucky volleyball was swept by then-No. 6 and defending national champions Wisconsin last Friday at Memorial Coliseum. The first two sets were decided by two points (25-23 and 28-26), however. Now, 13th-ranked UK has a huge home match Wednesday against archrival and No. 3-ranked Louisville. After that, No. 2-ranked Nebraska comes to Memorial Coliseum on Sunday.
▪ Not the best start for Neal Brown. His West Virginia Mountaineers have opened with two tough losses — 38-31 at Pittsburgh on Sept. 1, then a home 55-42 overtime loss to Kansas last Saturday. Brown is now 17-20 in Morgantown. WVU has Towson this Saturday, before going to Virginia Tech on Sept. 22.
“I know and deeply care that our fans are frustrated with the start of the football season, but so are our coaches and student-athletes, who have busted their tails getting ready for the year,” West Virginia AD Shane Lyons said in a statement Monday to The Associated Press. “As athletics director, I am as disappointed as the fans, but I see how much our coaches and players care and want to win and make our fans proud.”
▪ Not sure Texas A&M is getting the expected return on investment considering Jimbo Fisher’s four-year contract extension that raised his salary from $7.5 million to $9 million annually. Not that’s even counting the NIL money Aggies boosters have spent to attract recruits.
▪ In case you didn’t already know it before Appalachian State’s win over Texas A&M and Marshall’s win over Notre Dame, the Sun Belt is a really good football league.
▪ South Carolina quarterback Spencer Rattler is off to a shaky start. The heralded transfer from Oklahoma was 23 of 37 for 227 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions in the Gamecocks’ 35-14 win over Georgia State in the season opener. Saturday at Arkansas, Rattler was 24 of 39 for 376 yards with one touchdown and one interception in the Gamecocks’ 44-30 loss to the Razorbacks.
▪ Alabama quarterback Bryce Young played like a Heisman Trophy winner on the drive that set up the Crimson Tide’s winning field goal in the 20-19 victory at Texas.
▪ As for the Bengals, Joe Burrow got his worst game of the season out of the way with the first game of the season. He and the Bengals will be fine.
▪ It was a little jarring to here the longtime Fox duo of Joe Buck and Troy Aikman doing the Broncos-Seahawks game on ESPN on Monday night. Different channel, same top-flight duo.
▪ Remember, NFL’s Thursday night game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs is exclusively on Amazon Prime. Al Michaels will be joined in the booth by analyst Kirk Herbstreit, better known as ESPN’s top college football analyst, and who called in to Mark Stoops’ radio show Monday night — “Kirk from Ohio” — to give the Kentucky coach some love.
