Kentucky throttles New Mexico State to setup huge rivalry week
Kentucky entered Saturday’s contest with New Mexico State as huge 36-point favorites on Senior Day. Everyone knew how this game was supposed to go.
Despite some sluggish moments and three turnovers in the red zone to go along with a defensive touchdown for the other team, the Wildcats still figured out a way to drop a fiftyburger and not give up a touchdown on defense.
It wasn’t always pretty, but the Wildcats rolled up over 700 yards of offense and held a pass-heavy offense to just 5.17 yards per attempt and 111 non-sack rushing yards. The mission was accomplished at The Kroge.
KSR has the instant takeaways from the press box following the final home game of the season.
Explosives lead the way
Kentucky’s offense had done a lot of good things under first-year offensive coordinator Liam Coen. The Wildcats have been great at finishing drives and have been surgical on third downs. There has been balance with both the run and the pass.
The only thing that had been missing was creating some 40-plus yard chunk plays that can be game tilters for any football team. Those were found on Saturday afternoon.
Will Levis had two completions go over 60 yards. One was a 62-yard touchdown to Josh Ali, and the other was a 79-yard catch and run from Wan’Dale Robinson. Meanwhile, the Wildcats completed 10 explosive pass plays to go along with a handful of big runs highlighted by La’Vell Wright‘s 52-yard sprint in the fourth quarter.
For the game, Kentucky finished with a 30 percent explosive play rate and that will create a good feeling for many in the locker room. Entering what could turn into a shootout against Louisville, the ability to create explosive plays could be vital.
Defense becomes opportunistic
Over the past month, defensive coordinator Brad White and his unit have had a tough ride. Georgia create a ton of explosive plays, Mississippi State could not throw an incomplete pass, and Tennessee blitzed them from the start.
The Wildcats had a bounce-back performance against Vanderbilt and then followed it up with a solid day against New Mexico State. For the second game in a row, Kentucky scored a defensive touchdown on an interception. However, this time the defense did something the unit hasn’t done all season.
The Wildcats forced multiple takeaways.
Quandre Mosely recorded his first interception of the season in the first half and then Trevin Wallace delivered a sack fumble in the second half to create an immediate scoring opportunity for the offense.
There were some rough points in the game, but overall the defense did their job as the Wildcats did not allow a touchdown and logged a 22.95 percent havoc rate.
Do that consistently, and you will win a lot of football games. The performance could give the team a needed confidence boost heading into a huge game on Thanksgiving Saturday.
Will Levis continues late season growth
Will Levis followed a strong performance against Tennessee with a solid road game against Vanderbilt. The Wildcats took their foot off the gas in the second half, but there appeared to be real momentum building for the redshirt junior quarterback.
That was backed up on Saturday afternoon.
For the second time in three games, Levis set a single-game career-high for passing yards as he became the first Kentucky quarterback to throw for over 400 yards in a game since Andre Woodson. For the game, Levis averaged over 13 yards per attempt and tossed for four scores.
The passing game looks legitimately good at the moment and establishing that was what the 2021 football season for Kentucky was all about. Now let’s see if that can transfer into two strong games to close the season.
If that develops, Kentucky could be sitting on something special heading into 2022.
Turnovers leave room for major concern
Despite all the good from the Kentucky offense on Saturday, the ball security issue remains a major concern. The season-long issue even leaked into the game in garbage time when the reserves came on.
In their final red zone possession of the game, walk-on running back Tyler Markray put the ball on the turf. That was one possession after Kentucky had a turnover on downs inside the five. In the third quarter, Will Levis threw an interception at the one-yard line to ruin a scoring chance. That was preceded by Chris Rodriguez Jr.‘s third fumble inside the five this season.
Kentucky is doing some good things, but turnovers are having a big impact on the team. The Wildcats have lost at least three turnovers in four games this season but managed to win three of those contests.
The team has lived on the edge all season. Hopefully, that doesn’t remain the case in the final two games of the year.
Everything is on the table
Following another win, Kentucky sits at 8-3 and will head to Louisville with a chance to secure a great season and a solid bowl berth. The season has a chance to be a great success.
However, the 6-0 start by this team set the bar extremely high for the 2021 season. The Wildcats were then gutted in a three-game losing streak in the middle of the year as the defense was sliced up by three good quarterbacks in consecutive weeks.
Things have seemed to reset for the football program, but another good quarterback is left on the schedule. Louisville’s Malik Cunningham might be the hottest player outside of Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud in college football. The Cardinals ended the year with two ACC wins by a combined score of 103-25. Kentucky will head into their archrival’s house facing a football team playing its best ball of the season.
That is a worry.
Without a win over Louisville, the year will seem like a missed opportunity with losses to your two biggest rivals. Meanwhile, a trip to Florida for a bowl game could be on the line.
Saturday will have major stakes for Kentucky football. A win could create a ton of momentum for the program entering the offseason. A loss could bring a lot of what-ifs and doubts.
College football seems to find a way to always deliver.
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