Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s win over 10th-ranked Florida
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Game day: Kentucky 20, Florida 13
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday night’s Kentucky-Florida football game at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s 20-13 win over the 10th-ranked Florida Gators at Kroger Field on Saturday night:
1. The Kroger Field crowd made the difference
Florida felt the noise. No doubt about that. Eight times the Gators were whistled for false start penalties. That’s how loud the crowd was at Kroger Field on a night when the Wildcats’ needed Big Blue Nation to bring the noise.
The visiting Gators outgained the Cats 382-211. Dan Mullen’s team ran 71 plays to Mark Stoops’ teams 45. Florida had 20 first downs to Kentucky’s 13. It you just looked at the stats, you’d have to think that the Gators won their 17th straight victory over the Wildcats in Lexington.
But it you were there, and could tell first-hand the effect the crowd had on the visitors, you’d know that the stats don’t tell the whole story. Time and again, the sell-out crowd of 61,632 both got in the heads (and ears) of the Gators, and spurred on a Kentucky defense that was magnificent all night.
Afterward, Stoops couldn’t thank the home noise-makers enough. He said this was the atmosphere that Kentucky football needs every game. He said that the decibels in support of the home team made a tangible difference in the outcome of the game.
“BBN, that’s for you,” said the coach.
2. As we said, the defense was magnificent
The Men of Brad White came through time after time all night, holding the Gators to just 13 points. That’s the same Florida that scored 29 points in a two-point loss to Alabama, that hung 38 points on Tennessee last week in a 24-point victory over the Volunteers.
Saturday night, Mullen could never dial up the big play that has hurt Kentucky so often in the past. The Gators longest run play was 16 yards. Its longest pass play was 22 yards. Florida came into the game averaging 322 yards a game on the ground, third-best in the nation. It left having picked up 171 yards on 39 carries, an average of 4.4 yards per attempt.
Bottom line: Florida couldn’t get the yards it needed to get when it needed to get it. Third quarter, facing a third-and-three at its own 33, the Gators threw an incompletion. Fourth quarter, fourth-and-two at the UK 11, one of those false start penalties pushed the Gators back five yards, forcing Mullen to opt for a field goal, cutting Kentucky’s lead to 20-13.
Final drive, when Florida had to score a touchdown to send the game into overtime, the Gators moved to a first-and-goal at the UK five-yard line. But a first-down pass completion lost four yards when Jacob Copeland’s knee touched the turf. Another one of those false start penalties moved the Gators back 5 more yards. Quarterback Emory Jones was stopped for a 3-yard gain on second down. Jones’ pass completion to Malik David picked up 3 yards on third down.
That set up a fourth-and-goal from the 8. And that’s where UK linebacker Jacquez Jones batted away a Jones’ pass to the end zone, giving the ball, and the game, back to Kentucky.
Game ball to Josh Paschal, who was, in Stoops’ words, amazing. The senior defensive tackle was all over the field, and more than made up for the loss of nose guard Marquan McCall in the first quarter. “A war daddy,” is what White called Paschal after the game.
3. Kentucky is 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the SEC
It’s just the fourth time in the past 70 years that the Wildcats have started a season 5-0. It’s the fourth time since 1950 that the Cats have stated the SEC season 3-0. The first was 1950, when Kentucky beat Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl to finish 11-1. The second was 1977 when the Wildcats went 10-1 and finished the season ranked sixth in the nation. The third was 2018 when Kentucky finished 10-3 after beating Penn State in the Citrus Bowl.
“If we want to play in big games, we have to take care of what’s in front of us,” Stoops said afterward.
Saturday night, Kentucky took care of a long and painful streak, 16 straight home losses to the team from Gainesville. Now the Cats are officially in the SEC East hunt, but the Florida win was just the first step in a demanding three-game stretch. LSU comes to Kroger Field next Saturday. Then Stoops takes his team to Athens to face a ridiculous Georgia team.
To be sure, Kentucky’s offense was nothing to write home about Saturday. But the guess here is that offensive coordinator Liam Coen will learn a lot from the film. Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham is an experienced and talented play-caller.
“All the credit to Coach Grantham,” Coen said after the game. “He did a great job. And he has some great players.”
Thing is, Kentucky has some really good players now, too. They proved that Saturday night. As Stoops would tell you, the Cats now have the opportunity to keep proving it.
This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 12:14 AM.
