Explosive plays lead Kentucky to shutout win in Week 1

The long wait for Kentucky football was made even longer by an unfortunate weather situation in Lexington on Saturday. One long delay wasn’t enough as another storm cell forced an early cancellation in the middle of the third quarter. But the Wildcats showed us enough to get excited in the 31-0 victory over Southern Miss.

The offense leaned run-heavy but showed some explosiveness in game one. The defense and kicking also contributed to a team win. Mark Stoops saw his 12th team at Kentucky play complementary football in a Week 1 victory.

KSR is wrapping up win No. 1 for the Wildcats from the Kroger Field press box after a wild opening night. All three phrases impressed in only two-plus quarters of football.

Kentucky shows big-play pop

In Bush Hamdan‘s play-calling debut at Kentucky, there were numerous positive developments. The Wildcats scored 31 points in seven possessions, posted a 45.2 percent success rate, averaged 7.5 yards per play, and created five scoring opportunities in seven possessions. We saw balance with 148 rushing yards on 6.2 yards per rush and 169 passing yards on 9.4 yards per attempt. The Wildcats were efficient, but the explosiveness is what really stood out.

Kentucky ended the night with a very impressive 31 percent explosive success rate. The offense got nine rush plays going north of 10-plus yards and four pass plays over 20 yards. Hamdan’s offense generated five gains of 20-plus yards with Ja’Mori Maclin, Dane Key, and Demie Sumo-Karngbaye all finding space.

.@BrockVandagriff ➡️ @routerunner9 for a 45-yard gain. pic.twitter.com/RlymqZnhEy

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) September 1, 2024

Efficient was a huge buzzword for this offense in the offseason, but Saturday proved that Kentucky has not lost the explosive play punch from last year. The Wildcats can create explosives and that sets the ceiling. The down-to-down efficiency will set the floor. We saw both in Week 1 with Hamdan stretching the Southern Miss defense horizontally with jet motion early before attacking vertically late in the second quarter and early in the third quarter.

Defense settles in after leaky start

Defensive coordinator Brad White‘s units have hung their hat in one key statistical area throughout his tenure — big-play prevention. Kentucky wants to get more aggressive in situational areas but this defense always wants to limit big plays. The Wildcats had some issues early in the game.

Southern Miss produced three plays of 20-plus yards on its first two possessions. But that explosive play well dried up quickly. The Golden Eagles went punt, punt, turnover on downs, end of the half, and punt on their last five possessions with only 15 total snaps. Kentucky tightened the screws quickly.

Despite the big-play leakage early, Kentucky won in key situations. A Jamon Dumas-Johnson interception ended a potential threat around midfield following a 29-yard completion from Tate Rodemaker to Dannis Jackson on the first Southern Miss offensive play of the game. On the next possession, a D’Eryk Jackson pass breakup turned into a JQ Hardaway interception on a third-and-medium inside the Kentucky 10.

.@Jhardaway_24 laying out for the INT pic.twitter.com/Xix15SONrk

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) September 1, 2024

Southern Miss hit Kentucky with a jab on the first two possessions, but White’s unit quickly settled in. The defense’s ability to win in some key situations was perhaps the biggest development from the opening game.

Jay Boulware’s kicking game makes an impact

Special teams coordinator Jay Boulware is now in year two at Kentucky. The third phase took a big step in the right direction in 2023 and appears to have improved in the offseason.

Kentucky was ready for the pooch kick early with true freshman Willie Rodriguez returning the opening kickoff 20 yards to set up the offense just 52 yards away from the endzone in the opening possession. Wilson Berry‘s only punt was downed inside the 10. Alex Raynor hit his first field goal attempt of the season from 41 yards out. The punt coverage team sniffed out a Southern Miss fake with true freshman Cam Dooley recording a tackle for loss to create a turnover on downs. Aidan Laros recorded three touchbacks in five kickoff attempts with Kentucky’s coverage team keeping Southern Miss inside the 20 on both returns.

The Wildcats had a plus-20 advantage in average starting field position (own 41 to own 21) due to the kicking game. Boulware’s unit was mighty impressive and has the potential to impact winning this season.