For Kentucky football, Saturday’s game against EKU is about working out the kinks
READ MORE
Preview: EKU at Kentucky
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Eastern Kentucky football game at 3 p.m. at Kroger Field.
Expand All
Kentucky football is 1-0 and unhappy. OK, unhappy may not quite be right. The word head coach Mark Stoops often uses is “aggravating.” Defensive coordinator Brad White would subscribe to that. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen concurs.
“We played hard,” Coen said Tuesday of the Cats’ effort in the 44-14 victory over Ball State last Saturday. “But we didn’t always play very smart.”
Eastern Kentucky arrives at Kroger Field on Saturday for a 3 p.m. kickoff. Walt Wells’ Colonels are looking to make amends for last Saturday’s 66-13 loss at Cincinnati. The host Bearcats completed seven passes of 20-or-more yards in the first half. EKU trailed 42-7 at the break. By all accounts, the Colonels are better than that.
Kentucky believes it is better than its Saturday showing, as well. It was the details. Play calls. Angles. Shotgun snaps. Missed tackles. Not the kind of inefficiencies that cause a Power Five team to lose to a MAC team of lesser talent, but unforced errors that catch up to you against tougher foes.
“We were not fundamentally sound,” Stoops said Monday, “and that will bite us eventually.”
There was high anticipation for quarterback Devin Leary’s Kentucky debut. After leaving North Carolina State, Leary was QB1 in the transfer portal. Saturday, Leary suffered a scattershot first half, completing eight of 20 passes for 144 yards with an interception. Second half, Leary was much better, completing 10 of his 11 throws. Saturday should be smoother.
New running back Ray Davis was impressive. Runs of 26, 23 and 30 yards were included among his 14 attempts. Running backs coach Jay Boulware commented Tuesday he was pleased with the way Davis “made things happen” Saturday.
Hat tip to Boulware, who doubles as UK’s special teams coordinator. His unit was outstanding. Georgia Southern transfer Alex Raynor was 3-for-3 on field goals, all from beyond 40 yards. Barion Brown took a 99-yard kickoff return to the house. Give Ramon Jefferson an assist for his final block on Brown’s dash. Coverage teams were solid.
“I got their attention,” Boulware said Tuesday of his special teams units, “because it ended up being exactly what we said it was going to be. It does a lot for those guys.”
(Wells joked Monday he had a strategy to stop the speedy Brown, who has two career kickoff returns for touchdowns: “We’re gonna kidnap Barion when he comes off the bus for the Cat Walk and we’re gonna tie him up until after all the kickoffs are over.”)
UK’s new-look offensive line was up-and-down. The Cats averaged 7 yards per play, but no one was satisfied with settling for three field goals. Jager Burton’s first game at center looked like a first game at center. Experience counts. Losing stalwart guard Kenneth Horsey to injury in the second quarter was not good, but West Virginia transfer Dylan Ray filled in admirably.
Linebacker Trevin Wallace earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors for his 12 tackles. Jalen Geiger’s scoop-and-score resulted in a 69-yard touchdown. Alex Afari and Maxwell Hairston forced fumbles with tackles. The Cats sacked Ball State quarterbacks three times.
Still, the Cardinals’ long drives — 13 plays, 73 yards; 10 plays, 75 yards; 11 plays, 74 yards — got under Stoops’ skin. Of the visitors’ 10 possessions, only four lasted less than four plays. There were no three-and-outs in the second half.
So what should we look for Saturday? EKU quarterback Parker McKinney is a talented passer. “He does a very good job of being savvy in the pocket,” Stoops said.
Mainly, the Cats want to iron out the kinks. Stoops/Coen/White want better “operation,” the football term for doing all those little things correctly, from players lining up correctly to making the correct play-calls to snapping the ball on time and on target to seeing things cleanly.
“Some of the issues were identifying and making calls,” Stoops said Monday.
So, no offense to the Colonels, but Saturday for Kentucky isn’t really about the score — though the score always matters. It’s more about the details.
Said Stoops, “We need to focus on ourselves.”
This story was originally published September 6, 2023 at 12:54 PM.
