Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s all-systems failure at Tennessee
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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.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s blowout 44-6 loss to the third-ranked and undefeated Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday night at Neyland Stadium:
1. A significant step backward for the program
With all the the hype surrounding this matchup between the No. 19 Wildcats against the No. 3 Volunteers in a prime-time game featuring ESPN’s No. 1 broadcast crew, for Kentucky to lose to Tennessee is one thing. For the Cats to be blown out by the Vols was quite another.
This was an all-systems failure by Mark Stoops’ team. The Kentucky offense managed a season-low 205 total yards. (More on that later.) Quarterback Will Levis threw three interceptions. UK had an extra point blocked, suffered a partially blocked punt that traveled 18 yards and allowed a 34-yard punt return.
Defensively, Kentucky knew its was in for a major challenge facing a dynamic Tennessee offense that topped the national charts in both scoring and total offense. Simply put, the Cats weren’t up to the challenge, allowing Tennessee receivers to run free in the secondary and Tennessee backs to break tackles.
“We got beat by a better football team,” Stoops said afterward. “They beat us in every area.”
It was Kentucky’s worst loss by margin since the 63-3 rout suffered at Alabama during the COVID season of 2020. UK had an excuse that day when it was missing more than a few players who had either tested positive for the virus who were held out because of coming in close contact with others than did.
Before that, you have to go back to UK’s 45-7 loss at Mississippi State in 2018. That ended up being a 7-6 Kentucky team that lost to Northwestern in the Music City Bowl.
Stoops is right. Kentucky did lose to a better football team Saturday night. Much better. What is concerning is how much better the Vols looked than UK, especially considering it was just two years ago that Tennessee was 3-7. And lost 34-7 to the Cats on the same field. Times have changed.
2. UK’s offense continues to be a disappointment
Before Saturday, Rich Scangarello felt his offense was trending in the right direction. UK’s play-caller had watched the Cats score 24 second-half points in a 27-17 win over Mississippi State two weeks ago. It had an off week to heal some bumps and bruises and some extra prep for a Tennessee defense that ranked 84th nationally in scoring defense, 83rd in total defense.
By night’s end, however, UK had managed a season-low 6 points and a season-low 205 yards. The Cats were 2-for-13 on third down. After a TD drive that cut the Tennessee lead to 7-6 with 4:44 left in the first quarter, only once did Kentucky come close to changing its side of the scoreboard the remainder of the night.
Down 20-6 in the second quarter, Scangarello’s attack moved the ball 58 yards in 11 plays only to see a Levis throw to freshman receiver Dane Key blown up by UT defensive back Doneiko Slaughter. The hit caused the ball to ricochet to teammate Juwan Mitchell, who returned the pick 48 yards.
Tennessee failed to turn that turnover into points, but the Kentucky offense never recovered. Backed up at its own 2-yard line on its final possession before halftime, the offense moved only to its 17 before that 18-yard punt. Back-to-back sacks killed the Cats’ first possession of the second half.
Coming off a bye week last season, Levis threw three interceptions in a 31-17 loss at Mississippi State. Saturday night, coming off a bye week, Levis again threw three interceptions on the road. He finished the night 16 of 27 for a paltry 98 yards.
“I thought we were ready,” the quarterback said. “But we weren’t.”
Fact of the matter: Eight games into the season, Scangarello’s offense has yet to click on a consistent basis.
3. No stopping the Big Orange offensive machine
You figure at some point Tennessee has to have a bad offensive night. Alas, we’re still waiting.
The Volunteers finished Saturday with 422 total yards. They ran for 177 and passes for 245 more. Quarterback Hendon Hooker was an efficient 19 of 25 for 245 yards and three TDs through the air. Star wideout Jalin Hyatt caught five passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Jabari Small rushed for 78 yards; Jaylen Wright added 73.
Kentucky entered the game ranked ninth in scoring defense and 14th in total defense. Coordinator Brad White’s troops didn’t play all that badly, but the Cats were hurt by secondary mix-ups that allowed Tennessee to execute explosive plays. The same explosive plays the Vols have been executing against most everyone else.
So now Tennessee heads into a showdown against Georgia for the SEC title next Saturday in Athens. Its preseason hopes dashed, Kentucky travels to Missouri, where the Tigers are celebrating a 23-10 win at No. 25 South Carolina on Saturday.
This story was originally published October 30, 2022 at 12:37 AM.
