Kentucky Did Its Job in Ohio Win Despite Odd Operation

If you were unable to watch Kentucky play Ohio on Saturday, things look pretty good from afar. The Cats checked plenty of boxes on the box score and provided some entertaining highlights.

35-point win? Check.
A pick six for Max Hairston? Check.
Career day for Dane Key? Let’s go.
Almost 500 yards of offense? Come on.
Only two sacks and seven incomplete passes for Brock Vandagriff? Hot Damn!

There is plenty to like about the 41-6 victory for the Wildcats, and not to be a Negative Nancy, but a few things were just a bit off in this game. It’s hard to find one specific word to describe it, so we’ll use some of Mark Stoops’ words.

Kick It or Go For It?

College football fans spent days wondering why Mark Stoops punted the ball trailing by one with three minutes to go against the No. 1 team in the country. Kentucky fans talked about it all week. They’ll be talking about fourth down decisions after this game too.

There were two instances in the second quarter where Mark Stoops changed his mind late in the process. Alex Raynor was lining up for a school-record 56-yard field goal. They called a timeout and went for it instead. It worked like a charm. Dane Key caught a 36-yard pass on 4th and 7, setting up a touchdown on the following play.

A few minutes later, Kentucky was back in a similar situation. They could kick a field goal on third down, or try to take a shot to the end zone without any timeouts. After it looked like they were kicking, Stoops made an about-face and chose to go for it. Vandagriff was sacked and the Cats came away with zero points.

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A Failed Fourth Down Led to Points

The defense was suffocating Ohio. On the Bobcats’ best drive of the day, Kentucky finally got a fumble to bounce their way for a turnover. They were well on their way to pitching a shutout when Max Hairston baited the backup quarterback into a pick six.

On the ensuing possession, the Kentucky defense forced a three-and-out, giving the offense the ball 55 yards away from the end zone. The Cats only needed one yard to convert on fourth down.

Kentucky went quickly to the line to try to draw Ohio offsides. When that didn’t work, they stuck with the initial call, a read option. Stoops said Brock Vandagriff made the right read to keep the ball and run to the outside, but he dropped the football, giving Ohio enough time to tackle him behind the line of scrimmage.

With outstanding field position, Ohio quickly drove the field and scored its only touchdown of the day.

Indecisiveness Created a Clunky Operation

Stoops said after the game that in his ideal scenario, the Cats weren’t rushing to the line on fourth down to draw Ohio offsides. He’d prefer to get in a big set and run it down the Bobcats’ throat for a first down.

It’s similar to what happened in the other critical situations on fourth down. He’s still trying to get on the same page with his play-caller. “There’s a lot of firsts,” said Stoops.

“That’s on me because there’s no discussion. I’ve been here for 12 years. I know the BS that happens sometimes, you know what I mean? I should have known better and kicked the dang ball (before halftime).

“I know. I’ve been here. (At) Other places you could drop back on third and 12, but the way we’re protecting right now, we should have got the three.”

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Finally, a Kentucky Fumble Recovery

That back-and-forth wasn’t the only weird part about this game. Kentucky forced six fumbles in two SEC games and didn’t recover one of them. That is weird. It felt like the Football Gods were formulating a plan against the Kentucky defense when the Cats forced a fumble in the red zone, recovered it, then it was overturned by replay.

What in the world is going on here?

The defense remained composed and a few plays later the ball was back on the ground. J.J. Weaver recovered it cleanly and there was 80-yard scoop-and-score potential. If only things were that easy. It got weird when he stumbled and fumbled the ball. Fortunately, he fell on it, but man. There for a while, you wondered what kind of voodoo was on the game.

The Kentucky Pass Protection is Not Good

Can Kentucky figure out its operation issues? Yes. Can Brock Vandagriff make more strides as a passer? He has plenty of time to grow. There is one question we know the answer to.

The pass protection on the offensive line is not good and it’s probably not going to get any better.

Kentucky called a deep shot with max protection. There were only two players running routes and Vandagriff found Key for a big 40-yard gain. Heck, it was even a free play after Ohio jumped offsides. The play was called back because the Cats were flagged for a hold.

Pass protection will be this team’s biggest issue moving forward. Some games will be better than others, but this is a clear deficiency that they will have to try to scheme around for the rest of the season.

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The Good Things Kentucky Did

Here’s the thing, despite the tone of this recap so far, you shouldn’t feel too bad about the way things unfolded. There was a lot to like from today’s game.

Dane Key had a career-high 145 receiving yards. Alex Raynor has made a school record 12 straight field goals. The defense is dominant, maybe even better than expected. Despite playing under duress, Vandagriff led an offense that gained 7.2 yards per play. They were more explosive than they’ve been all season, with seven runs of 10+ yards and 11 passes of 15+ yards.

The young guns also popped with more playing time. Steven Soles had a QB hurry and a nice tackle on a screen pass. Terhyon Nichols made an excellent PBU on a third down. Jamarion Wilcox continued to show his potential as a big-play back with a team-high 82 yards on eight carries.

Heck, Kentucky even broke in a new punter. Aidan Laros‘ only kick went 58 yards and if the coverage located the ball, it might’ve been downed inside the 10-yard line.

It wasn’t a squeaky clean performance that will delight every Monday Morning Quarterback, but Kentucky ran away with a big win when they really needed it before hitting the road to take on a top ten Ole Miss team.