On a big stage, the Kentucky offense was offensive
READ MORE
Game day: No. 3 Tennessee 44, No. 19 Kentucky 6
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Tennessee football game at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville.
Expand All
In an offseason of high expectations, Kentucky football backers envisioned a veteran, talented quarterback leading a dynamic offense that would carry the Wildcats program to contention for the SEC East championship.
On Saturday night, the Big Blue Nation saw exactly what that looked like.
Unfortunately for UK fans, it was Tennessee and Hendon Hooker who are bringing their vision to life.
No. 3 Tennessee throttled No. 19 Kentucky 44-6 Saturday night before a Neyland Stadium crowd of 101,915 and an ESPN prime-time national audience.
Other than some good open-field tackling and three forced punts by the Kentucky defense, it was pretty close to an all-systems failure for Mark Stoops’ troops.
“Not very good,” a subdued Stoops said afterward. “We got beat by a very good football team. They beat us in, virtually, every area. They outcoached us. They outplayed us.”
Now Tennessee (8-0, 4-0 SEC) is headed for the showdown with No. 1 Georgia that is likely to decide the SEC East winner that UK backers were dreaming of for the Cats in 2022.
Meanwhile, Kentucky (5-3, 2-3 SEC) will try to salvage something from its season against a back end of the schedule that looks far tougher now than it did in August. That will start next week with a testy game at Missouri.
While UK’s special teams were again anything but that against Tennessee, it was the sputtering UK offense that was the biggest issue for the Cats.
Going up against Hooker and the nation’s most prolific offense, the Kentucky offense had three keys it had to meet to give the Cats a chance.
Kentucky had to convert third downs to create long drives that would keep the UT offense on the bench.
UK had to finish those hoped-for long drives with touchdowns.
And the Cats could not turn the ball over.
Suffice to say, UK went 0-for-3.
Kentucky converted only two of 13 on third downs.
The Wildcats had another red-zone turnover while the game was in doubt and managed one solitary visit to the Tennessee end zone.
And Kentucky quarterback Will Levis threw three interceptions.
Particularly damaging to Kentucky was an interception on a third-and-7 play from the Tennessee 12-yard line in the second quarter when UK was only behind 20-6. It was a forced turnover, with Doneiko Slaughter separating Dane Key from the ball and Juwan Mitchell making the pick.
“We didn’t make plays. We were really poor on third downs. We turned the ball over,” Kentucky offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello said. “It was pretty much the opposite of how we played versus Mississippi State.”
The second half of UK’s 27-17 victory over Mike Leach’s Bulldogs two weeks ago had been considered UK’s best offensive performance of the year.
Those who hoped it represented the Kentucky offense “finding itself” in what had been only the second game this season in which UK had star running back Christopher Rodriguez and quarterback Levis playing together got only disappointment on Rocky Top.
Scangarello proclaimed himself flummoxed because the UK offense’s three practices leading into the UT game had been as good as the Wildcats have had all year.
I have resisted comparing Scangarello’s offense in 2022 to the one coordinated by his predecessor, Liam Coen, last season because the Cats’ personnel is so different.
There’s no Wan’Dale Robinson making plays for Kentucky in 2022. This year’s offensive line has been a shell of last season’s version of the “Big Blue Wall.”
Nevertheless, it is a fact that the 2021 UK offense gained 612 yards and scored 42 points on last year’s Tennessee defense, while this season’s Cats gained 205 yards and scored six points vs. a better UT “D.”
I learned from the Rich Brooks era that overly quick evaluations of coaches are perilous. Nevertheless, those who have wondered if the offense that Scangarello brought from the San Francisco 49ers to Kentucky might be too complex for college players to quickly master might be on to something.
In evaluating the performance of the current Kentucky offense, one has to factor in the realities imposed on UK by its difficulty in pass protection. After playing well vs. Mississippi State, the UK offensive front surrendered eight tackles for loss and four quarterback sacks vs. Tennessee.
“It does box us in some,” Scangarello said of the pass protection issues. “But that’s not an excuse.”
Said Stoops: “Predictable pass has not been a good situation for us.”
What was billed as a marquee QB showdown went decisively to Tennessee’s Hooker. The Virginia Tech transfer completed 19 of 25 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns.
UK’s Levis was 16-of-27 for 98 yards with three interceptions.
“It sucks,” Levis said. “But one game doesn’t define a program. One game doesn’t define a player.”
Through eight games, what has too often seemed to define the Kentucky offense are red-zone turnovers, ill-timed penalties and porous pass protection.
It’s a world away from what Kentucky backers envisioned before the season. Making that reality even worse for the Big Blue Nation is that Tennessee fans are the ones living the dream.
This story was originally published October 30, 2022 at 12:56 AM.
