Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s win against Murray State
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Game day: Kentucky 48, Murray State 6
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s Kentucky-Murray State football game at Kroger Field.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky football’s 48-6 win against Murray State on Saturday at Kroger Field
1. It’s always good to get a win
Mired in a four-game losing streak, facing a one-win FCS team on a seven-game losing streak, Kentucky football carried two main objectives into Saturday. No. 1: Win the game. No. 2: Make it a feel-good win. Missions accomplished.
The result was never in doubt. UK defensive back Jordan Lovett shut down Murray State’s first drive with the first of his two interceptions on the afternoon. The Cats’ first possession ended with a Brock Vandagriff pass bouncing off a Murray State defender and into the hands of wide receiver Hardley Gilmore for a 52-yard touchdown.
Kentucky’s third possession covered 73 yards in 11 plays with a 22-yard Vandagriff scramble setting up a 3-yard TD run by Demi Sumo-Karngbaye. When Alex “Mr. Perfect” Raynor booted a 32-yard field goal to finish a 78-yard drive UK led 17-0 with 5:27 in the first half.
It was 24-0 Cats at halftime. And, with Cutter Boley at quarterback — see takeaway No. 2 — Mark Stoops’ club scored on each of its second-half possessions.
“It was a good game to get a lot of our players reps who needed reps,” Stoops said.
It was a good game for the team’s confidence, as well. Kentucky rolled up 582 yards of total offense. The defense allowed but a pair of field goals. And UK improved to 4-6 with a trip to Austin, Texas, next on the schedule.
Said Lovett, “I feel like this gives us some confidence playing a great team like Texas.”
2. Cutter Boley was impressive
Cutter Boley looks like a quarterback. The former Lexington Christian Academy star is tall, poised and “sneaky athletic,” in the words of UK offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan. He also throws a nice ball.
Playing the entire second half Saturday, the true freshman completed 10 of 14 passes for 130 yards and two touchdowns, both to wide receiver Anthony Brown-Stephens.
Perhaps Boley’s best play of the day ended up as an incompletion. UK’s second series of the second half, the Cats faced a third-and-goal from the 7-yard line when Boley took the snap, looked and looked, stayed patient in the pocket, looked at one point as if he was going to scramble, then spotted Fred Farrier open by the right sideline in the end zone.
Alas, Farrier was ruled to have caught the ball out of bounds. No matter. Everything you want in a quarterback was evident in that play. The poise. The second-reaction ability. The decision-making and progression. And the zip on the ball.
“In this day and age, how many plays that get extended, how many second-reaction and off-platform plays there are,” Hamdan said, “to get a guy in that situation to throw a really nice ball? I thought Fred even made the attempt to keep both feet in bounds. Lot of positives on that play.”
3. Next week brings a big opportunity
Kentucky goes from one extreme to another next week. From a 1-9 FCS team to a 9-1 FBS team in No. 3-ranked Texas, who improved to 5-1 in the SEC with a 20-10 win at Arkansas on Saturday.
UK has plenty of questions to answer before it even arrives in Austin. Vandagriff wasn’t cleared until Friday to play Saturday against Murray. Will the junior quarterback be ready? Or will Stoops and Hamdan decide that perhaps a healthier Boley is ready for his first start? And there are other injuries to consider.
Linebacker D’Eryk Jackson, the leader of the defense, is now out for the season. J.J. Weaver, Jamon Dumas-Johnson and Barion Brown all did not play Saturday, though Stoops said afterward he is hoping that all three will be on the field when the Cats play the Longhorns.
How good is Texas? You can argue that
’s team has not played the toughest competition this season. It lost at home to Georgia 30-16 last month. The Longhorns have taken care of business, however. And Kentucky is 1-6 in league play.
“It’s a big one next week,” Stoops said. “A great opportunity.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2024 at 6:41 PM.
