Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s loss at Florida
In addition to my column, three takeaways from Kentucky football’s 34-10 loss to the No. 6 Florida Gators on Saturday in Gainesville:
1. Mark Stoops must take a long look at his offense
With one more regular-season game to play, the Kentucky coach can’t revamp his offense in seven days. Still, once this long, hard road of a season is over, Stoops has to do a deep dive into why his offense continues to sputter and what direction he wants to go in the future.
What UK is doing now just isn’t working. Against a team ranked 56th in the nation in total defense, UK managed just 221 yards Saturday. That’s the sixth time in nine games the Cats have failed to each the 300-yard mark. They managed just 46 yards in the second half. After taking a 10-7 lead in the second quarter, they went six straight possessions without a first down.
The first possession in that sad streak was perhaps the most meaningful. Pinned at their own 1-yard line by a Florida punt with 1:13 left in the first half, the Cats moved the ball to the 9 for a third-and-2 situation. Florida had used all three of its timeouts. Pick up the first down and UK runs out the clock and heads to the locker room with a 10-7 lead.
Instead, A.J. Rose is stopped a yard short of the line to gain. Max Duffy punts. Stoops said the punt call was for Duffy to put the ball to the left side of the field. But Florida was lined up with two deep men, one left and one right. Duffy’s punt went right. As one Gator faked a fair catch on his side, Kadarius Toney fielded the punt on the opposite of the field and proceeded 50 yards for a score and a 14-10 Florida lead.
Kentucky ended up 62 yards passing. That’s how you end up last in the nation in passing yards per game. And it’s part of the reason why you entered Saturday 121st nationally in total offense. And it’s a reason why Stoops and offensive coordinator Eddie Gran have some serious work to do in the offseason.
2. Kentucky’s loss was not from lack of effort
After Kentucky’s 66-3 debacle at Alabama last week, you had to wonder what the Cats’ mindset would be heading into The Swamp. That was especially true considering that for the second straight week, various UK players were left back in Lexington presumably for COVID-19 reasons. Those unable to attend included top rusher Chris Rodriguez and starting tight end Justin Rigg.
But Kentucky played hard Saturday. It executed its game plan in the first half right up until Toney’s touchdown off the punt return. The Cats controlled the ball on offense. They made good plays on defense. DeAndre Square recovered a fumble by Florida’s Justin Shorter and the offense turned it into a touchdown when Terry Wilson hit Keaton Upshaw for a 4-yard TD and a 7-7 tie.
Even when Florida assumed control in the second half, you couldn’t fault the effort of the UK defense. After the Gators reached a first-and-goal at the 9, the Cats held Florida to a field goal and a 24-10 lead. Jamin Davis recovered a UF fumble to stop the Gators’ next possession. Next, Kentucky stopped Florida on third-and-2 at the UK 26, forcing a 45-yard Evan McPherson field goal that hit the right upright and bounced away.
Despite the 60-point loss at Bama and the three-touchdown deficit at Florida, I never got the impression that Stoops’ team was throwing in the towel. With the chance of a .500 season out the window, it will need that same effort to beat South Carolina in the regular-season finale.
3. Mark Stoops is now 0-13 against top-10 teams
You knew this back-to-back gauntlet of playing No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa followed by No. 6 Florida in Gainesville could make for a November nightmare. Now add in the fact that COVID-19 problems hit the UK football facility the week before the Bama trip and continued on into preparations for Florida.
Not that beating a top-10 team, especially on the road, has ever come easy for Kentucky football. Saturday marked UK’s 15th straight loss to an AP top-10 team. Stoops is now 0-13. The Cats’ last win over a top-10 team came on Oct. 16, 2010, when Joker Phillips’ team beat Steve Spurrier and No. 10 South Carolina 31-28 in Lexington. UK’s last win over a top-10 team on the road was Oct. 1, 1977, when the Cats won 24-20 at No. 4 Penn State. UK is 0-32 since.
South Carolina is unranked. In fact, the Gamecocks are playing without head coach Will Muschamp, who was fired a couple of weeks back. If Kentucky beats South Carolina, it will finish the regular season 4-6 against a 10-game, all-SEC schedule. It would also make Stoops’ SEC record 20-22 over the past five seasons.
This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 6:34 PM.
