Answers to Three Questions Burning the BBN

[caption id="attachment_214058" align="alignnone" width="765"] Proof Snell did carry the ball, via UK Athletics.[/caption]

What Happened to Benny Snell?

After dominating defenses all year, Benny Snell only had 7 carries for 43 yards, and those touches didn't come until late in the first half.  Eddie Gran explains:

"We were just trying to get Boom started.  We couldn't get started.  We couldn't get started.  It didn't matter what we were doing there at the beginning.  I tried to get Boom when they were playing zero-coverage to pop one, which he has all year.  That's why he's averaging 7.1 yards per carry.  We were trying to get him to the second level to make a big play.

Then Benny came in there and he had a couple good runs.  After that it was just so inconsistent, and then we started playing catch-up.  Then we got away from what we usually do."

What Happened on the Onside Kick?

Many wondered what in the hell happened to Austin MacGinnis on the onside kick.  Turns out, it wasn't MacGinnis, it was Miles Butler.  Mark Stoops explains:

"We miss-hit it. I wish Austin could have kicked. Austin, to his credit, fought through some things this week with his leg. It was not the same injury, something that he had carried over from the Louisville game. Nothing major. Nothing we need to pry into. Miles just miss-hit the ball. So we felt like we had three timeouts left. I was conversing with Coach Eliot, whether we'd kick it deep with the timeouts and stop or go for the onside. We wanted to see what the look was. We tried to hit the dead spot. If you get a funky ball, you can get the ball. If not, you're going to pin them on the 30 if you kick it deep. Anyway, with the way Austin's leg was, they may have gotten to the 30 anyway. Tried to get to the dead spot, but he just miss-hit it a little bit."

Why Did Baity Blitz?

Kentucky needed a stop on third and medium to get the ball back in the offense's hands with about two minutes to play.  After two successful run stuffs, Derrick Baity sprinted into the backfield on third down.  Justin Thomas found a wide open receiver, erasing all hope for UK.  Here's what happened according to Mark Stoops.

"Late in the game, our guys were getting antsy. We had to get aggressive on the perimeter. They were milking us through the middle, they were getting soft. We were putting our guys on the quarterback and the dive. We had to handle the perimeter. We told them to be aggressive once they saw the option get away, not to blitz it. We have a call that we do that, but that's in desperation on the goal line. Just made an aggressive mistake. It was just a mistake."