Five things you need to know from Kentucky football’s 31-0 win over Youngstown State
READ MORE
Game day: No. 9 Kentucky 31, Youngstown State 0
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Youngstown State football game at Kroger Field in Lexington.
Expand All
Five things you need to know from No. 9 Kentucky’s 31-0 win over Youngstown State in NCAA football at Kroger Field:
1. Kentucky defense dominates. On a day when Mark Stoops had many members of his family including his older brother, former Oklahoma Sooners head man Bob Stoops, on hand, the UK defense turned in a day to remember.
The Wildcats’ shutout was the first for a Kentucky defense since a 42-0 blanking of Miami (Ohio) in the 2009 season opener at the venue formerly known as Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. It was the first UK shutout in Lexington since the 1996 Wildcats blanked Vanderbilt 25-0.
In the first half, Kentucky limited Youngstown State to 84 yards of total offense, 73 on the ground, 11 through the air.
The Penguins finished the game with only 192 yards total offense. YSU finished 0-of-10 on third-down-conversion attempts.
Kentucky thoroughly frustrated YSU star running Jaleel McLaughlin, holding him to 36 yards on 10 carries.
Wildcats’ cornerback Carrington Valentine preserved the shutout when he wrested a potential touchdown pass out of the hands of ex-UK wideout Bryce Oliver, now the top Youngstown State receiving threat, in the end zone with 7:43 left in the third quarter.
UK standouts were many. Continuing where he left off in last week’s win at Florida, outside linebacker Jordan Wright was disruptive off the edge, recording two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry.
True freshman nickel back Alex Afari had a team-high five tackles. Massive, 6-foot-6, 330-pound defensive lineman Deone Walker, another true freshman, started at end and had three tackles, shared in a TFL and knocked down a pass at the line of scrimmage.
The only down side for the Kentucky defense came in the first quarter when standout outside linebacker/rush end J.J. Weaver left the game with what appeared to be an elbow injury.
2. UK offense still has issues. Job one for Kentucky in its two week sojourn from SEC play against Youngstown State and Northern Illinois is to make significant offensive improvements. Out of 131 FBS schools, UK entered Saturday’s game ranked 123rd in the country in rushing (60 yards a game); 112th in total offense (312.5 yards a game); and 63rd in passing (252.5 yards a game).
While there were some positives, the offensive performance against YSU was worrisome in several areas.
Versus an FCS defense, the Kentucky offensive line surrendered four quarterback sacks and 10 tackles for loss. UK QB Will Levis has now been sacked 11 times in the first three games this season. The Cats were without starting right guard Tashawn Manning, the graduate transfer from Auburn, who sat out with an apparent injury.
That was not the only UK issue. The Wildcats turned the ball over three times, two on Will Levis interceptions and once on a lost fumble by redshirt freshman running back La’Vell Wright.
Levis has now thrown four picks in the first three games. In his 16 games as Kentucky’s starting quarterback, Levis has now thrown an interception in 13 games.
Obviously, for UK to complete the “special season” that Wildcats backers are envisioning, there is going to need to be major offensive improvement.
3. New receivers again shine. Other than the picks, Will Levis was highly effective through the air. The Kentucky QB finished 27-of-35 for 377 yards and two touchdowns.
It was the fifth game at Kentucky in which Levis has thrown for in excess of 300 yards. That ties ex-UK QB Patrick Towles for the most 300-plus-yards passing games during the Mark Stoops coaching era.
Kentucky’s brand-new wideouts continued to shine. On seven targets, true freshman Dane Key led the Cats with six catches for 90 yards. For the third straight game, the ex-Frederick Douglass star caught a TD pass.
Virginia Tech transfer Tayvion Robinson caught a pass every time he was targeted. Robinson finished with six catches for 66 yards.
True freshman Barion Brown was also a big part of the UK passing attack. Brown had five catches for 56 yards (on seven targets).
4. Stoops vs. the FCS. With the victory, Mark Stoops is now 9-0 as Kentucky head coach vs. teams from the Football Championship Subdivision.
The average margin of victory in those games for UK is 27.8 points.
5. UK streak continues. With the victory, Kentucky has now won 18 straight contests vs. non-SEC opponents. The Wildcats have not lost to a non-Southeastern Conference foe since falling 24-23 to Northwestern in the Music City Bowl at the end of the 2017 season.
The 18 consecutive non-league victories is the longest such current streak in FBS football.
Fashion police
For the third game of the 2022 season, Kentucky wore blue helmets with blue jerseys with white letters and numbers and white pants.
Since the start of the 2015 season, UK is now 13-4 in the blue, blue, white combination.
This story was originally published September 17, 2022 at 3:22 PM.
