Bio Blast: Murray State Racers

Kentucky (3-6, 1-6) will return to the action after the rare second bye week in Week 12. That idle week has led to the rare FCS game in November. The Wildcats are looking for a get-right spot and should have one on Saturday afternoon at Kroger Field.

Murray State (1-9, 0-7) is struggling in year one under former South Carolina tight ends coach Jody Wright. The Racers enter this week as one of the worst teams in the FCS. What will that present for Kentucky?

KSR’s Bio Blast takes a closer look at UK’s next opponent.

A third consecutive losing season

After suffering five consecutive losing seasons under Mitch Stewart from 2015-19, Murray State made a big move and hired Kentucky assistant coach Dean Hood. The former Eastern Kentucky head coach from 2008-15 took the Colonels to the playoffs three times and only had one losing season in seven years. Murray State was hopeful that the winning in Richmond would make its way to Western Kentucky.

After posting consecutive winning seasons to begin his tenure, Hood’s third Murray State team in 2022 fell to 1-9 and then the program switched to the Missouri Valley Conference in 2023. Some would consider this the SEC of the FCS. The Racers finished just 2-9 (1-7) in that first season in the Valley under Hood.

The head coach decided to step away from the job after a four-year run.

Murray State replaced Hood with South Carolina assistant coach Jody Wright. The 43-year-old spent time with the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants before returning to college football in 2022 with the Gamecocks. Wright became a first-time head coach at Murray State.

The debut season has been tough.

The Racers head to Lexington this weekend with only one win in 10 outings with six losses by four touchdowns or more. This program is just 1-14 in league play since joining the Missouri Valley along with a pair of 50-plus point losses to Louisville and Missouri over the last two seasons.

Some bad defensive numbers

In those six blowout losses, Murray State has allowed seven teams to score at least 40 points and six have gone over 50 points. North Dakota dropped 72 points on the Racers in a September win. This defense is having some big problems.

The national FCS rankings for this group are suboptimal.

• Points Per Game: 45.0 (No. 123 overall)
• Yards Per Play: 6.90 (No. 118 overall)
• Third Down Conversion Rate: 49.6% (No. 114 overall)

The Racers have major issues on defense and have not been able to stop anyone all season. This should be an excellent matchup for Kentucky’s struggling offense to get some things corrected and post some big numbers on Saturday afternoon.

Run-heavy offense

Murray State’s offense is having its own issues and might be playing directly into Kentucky’s hands on Saturday. The Racers play a run-heavy brand of football. This offense averages 25 pass attempts per game with a 60.7 percent run-play percentage.

Starting quarterback Jayden Johannsen has thrown nine interceptions in 188 pass attempts, but is third on the team in rushing yards. The Racers are a run-first offense. Louisville (Ky.) DuPont Manual product Jawaun Northington leads the team in rushing yards (386) and rushing touchdowns (six).

Despite being this run-heavy, the offense averages only 4.1 yards per rush and 6.1 yards per pass. Murray State is one-dimensional and inefficient but has scored 27 points or more four times this season. When this offense can get the run game rolling they can present some problems for defenses.

Kentucky has been stout against the run for most of the season, but that has gone away in recent weeks. If the Wildcats can get back to being very stout against the traditional run game, it could be very difficult for Murray State to move the football on Saturday.