Hopes and fears for Kentucky football fans about UK’s game vs. the Ohio Bobcats

What Kentucky football backers should hope for and what they need to fear as the Wildcats prepare to face Mid-American Conference foe Ohio University.

Kickoff is at 12:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21, at Kroger Field in Lexington.

The game will be telecast by the SEC Network.

Hopes

▪ Kentucky scores a touchdown or — dare one dream — multiple touchdowns.

After the Wildcats failed to dent the end zone against either South Carolina (31-6 loss) or Georgia (13-12 defeat), it would be nice to see some points go on the board vs. the visitors from the MAC.

▪ Against an Ohio defensive front that has only two sacks and seven tackles for loss combined in its two games this season vs. FBS competition, Kentucky’s struggling pass protection gives Brock Vandagriff a chance to throw from some clean pockets — and to show what he can do as a passer.

Through three games, it’s all but impossible to form any kind of valid opinion on Vandagriff’s ability to throw because he’s been under so much duress in the pocket.

▪ The Kentucky defense, which turned in one of the best showings in school history while limiting then-No. 1 Georgia to 12 first downs, 13 points and 262 total yards, backs up that performance by fully shutting down Ohio’s attempt to create any “MAC-tion.”

Fears

▪ One of the more maddening phenomenon of the historical “Kentucky football experience” — coming out flat in the first game after a closer than expected loss — reoccurs.

As a result, Ohio joins fellow MAC teams Northern Illinois (won at Notre Dame 16-14) and Toledo (won at Mississippi State 41-17) in taking down a high-major team on its home field.

▪ Behind the running of Ohio star running back Anthony Tyus III — who is the seventh-leading rusher in the FBS with 367 yards on 49 carries — the Bobcats “shorten the game,” hang around in contention until late and put a struggling Kentucky passing game under acute pressure in the final quarter.

▪ An Ohio pass rush that has not been especially disruptive this season (see above) against FBS competition nevertheless has Kentucky QB Brock Vandagriff consistently on the run.

If that happens, it will suggest that UK’s pass protection issues in 2024 may be beyond fixing.

Mark Story

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-444-4731

Mark Story has worked in the Lexington Herald-Leader sports department since Aug. 27, 1990, and has been a Herald-Leader sports columnist since 2001. I have covered every Kentucky-Louisville football game since 1994, every UK-U of L basketball game but three since 1996-97 and every Kentucky Derby since 1994. Support my work with a digital subscription