How Florida steamrolled Kentucky in critical swing game

Following a tough home loss to Vanderbilt as a double-digit favorite, everyone knew Kentucky entered a huge part of their schedule in Week 8. The road contest against Florida in The Swamp felt like a pivot point in the season.

Kentucky flunked its biggest test of the year in a 48-20 loss.

The Wildcats got blistered in the vertical passing game by true freshman quarterback DJ Lagway and an offense that cannot create explosive plays ruined numerous scoring opportunities.

Mark Stoops saw his team lose by four touchdowns in a game where Kentucky was a small favorite on the road. The 2024 season now looks bleak at 3-4 (1-4), but the big picture issues are currently a larger issue at the moment.

KSR is recapping another stunning loss for this football program live from the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium outdoor press box on a beautiful October night in Gainesville.

Kentucky’s stout defense gets shredded by DJ Lagway

DJ Lagway was a monster recruiting win for Florida head coach Billy Napier and might be the single reason the play-calling head coach gets a year four if the Gators can string together some victories to end the season. You saw why the Texas native was such a highly-ranked prospect on Saturday night.

Lagway finished his first SEC start completing only 7-of-14 passes, but no one cares about that because Florida threw for 279 yards on 18.6 yards per attempt against a Kentucky defense that typically hangs its hat on big-play prevention.

Florida’s talented first-year quarterback consistently hit on deep posts and over routes before ultimately ending the game with a 40-yard go-ball completion to Elijhah Badger in the fourth quarter to officially end the game. Kentucky had no answers for Florida’s big-play passing game and that ultimately led to seven scoring drives in 13 possessions.

But that wasn’t the only issue.

Florida surprisingly rushed for 208 non-sack yards on 42 carries in the blowout win. True freshman tailback Jadan Baugh recorded 106 yards on 22 carries and tied a school record with five rushing touchdowns. Kentucky had issues from the jump stopping the run as the Gators were attacking Kentucky off tackle and that ultimately led to safeties sneaking up and Florida getting wideouts wide open over the top.

Napier’s offense also had to finish drives after the big plays. All seven of the scoring possessions occurred in the red zone. After forcing two field goals to begin the game, Kentucky had no answers. Florida ended the night with 41 points on seven scoring opportunities and had their way against what has been a top-15 Kentucky defense this season.

No one saw this avalanche from Florida’s offense coming.

Same issues bog down Kentucky’s offense

Kentucky entered the Week 8 contest against Florida with two big problems — creating explosive plays and finishing drives. Those problems reared their ugly heads on Saturday night at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.

The Wildcats ended the game with only three plays of 20-plus yards in 67 non-kneel snaps. Bush Hamdan‘s offense also created five scoring opportunities, but could only muster seven points in those chances.

Kentucky’s biggest problems aren’t going away on offense.

The problems started following an interception by Kristian Story that gave the Kentucky offense a first-and-10 at the Florida 11 trailing 13-6 with 6:10 left in the second quarter. After consecutive QB runs set up a third-and-two at the Florida 3, the Wildcats failed to get two yards on two snaps and saw a scoring opportunity end on a turnover on downs.

That was a sign of things to come.

After cutting the lead to seven following a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive out of the half, Kentucky’s defense failed to deliver a stop, but the offense immediately marched inside the Florida 30 only to see disaster strike. The offense would end the game going turnover on downs, turnover on downs, pick-six, and turnover on downs. Each of those turnover on downs occurred after Kentucky created a first-and-10 inside the Florida 40.

Hamdan’s offense cannot finish drives.

The lack of explosive plays is a big part of the problem. Kentucky produced only two explosive plays following the halftime break and those lack of chunk gains eliminated any room for error. A 15-play drive couldn’t even reach the red zone due to the lack of chunk plays.

Kentucky’s problems on offense are staying problems. That is not a good sign.

What happens next?

There is a ton to unpack in all three phases, but the big-picture issues for this program are just impossible to ignore at the moment. Since beating ranked Iowa to finish a 10-win season in 2021, we’ve seen Kentucky go 17-16 overall in their last 33 games with a 9-16 record against power conference opponents.

That is not terrible when considering historical program standards, but it is a clear regression.

Kentucky’s build under Stoops occurred due to the Wildcats consistently beating Missouri, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, and Florida. The Wildcats are a combined 4-7 against those four programs since 2022 and have lost the most recent meeting against each. That is severely worrisome.

Another season now feels like it is clearly slipping away and is becoming another data point that the program has taken a step back. Scoring points on offense is still a massive issue, we’re now seeing special teams blunders show up more often, and the defense failed to play well for the second game in a row. That is concerning for a football team that entered a critical stretch on Saturday night.

The current path of the season is on a bad track, but the three-year run is a bigger problem. Kentucky is losing ground on the field in the SEC against its true peers in the league and that is showing no signs of slowing down. This program feels like it is in a danger zone that could lead to things getting worse before they get better.

There are five more games left on the slate, but the current bowl streak is in jeopardy. This is a football program that has a ton of problems to solve and not many clear answers.