Kentucky's offense gets off the ground in loss to Tennessee

Silver linings don’t mean much, especially in losses to Tennessee. The Cats dropped another one to the Vols tonight, 33-27, another defeat riddled with mistakes and “what ifs.” As someone who lives in the Volunteer State, tomorrow’s gonna sting, but as we look ahead to the final four games of the season, is there any solace in the fact that Kentucky’s passing offense finally got off the ground?

Devin Leary turned in his best game as a Wildcat yet, going 28-39 (72%) for 372 yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Kentucky’s receivers, who have been known more for their drops this season than receptions, found their footing. Dane Key led the way, pulling in seven catches for 113 yards and a touchdown. Barion Brown scored Kentucky’s first touchdown, finishing with five catches for 58 yards. Jordan Dingle and Tayvion Robinson combined for 94 more receiving yards and four additional Wildcats caught passes. It took eight games, but the offense we anticipated coming into the season suddenly took shape; unfortunately, the defense didn’t follow suit.

“It’s very encouraging because they’ve worked really hard and you’re starting to see some growth and that I’m happy with,” Mark Stoops said afterward. “We’ve just got to continue to really work really hard. I mean, this is a difficult league, in case you didn’t know, and our guys understand that they just got to continue to have that same approach and we will get better.”

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Praise for Dane Key

Key’s breakthrough was especially welcome. It was the first 100-yard game of the sophomore’s career and by far the most receiving yards he’s had since he racked up 96 in the season opener vs. Ball State. Kentucky’s passing offense has been bad this year, but Stoops has continually praised Key’s attitude and work ethic in practice. Tonight, we got to see that pay off, albeit in a loss.

“For me, it’s a perfect example of a young man that we talked about earlier, maybe he was in a tough spot,” Stoops said of Key afterward. “He was kind of frustrated, and he just went to work. The bottom line is, he’ll tell you and I’ve told him and we’ve talked about it the past couple of weeks, he went to work.

“Instead of putting his head down and pouting and feeling like somebody’s gonna feel sorry for him, he went to work and I appreciate that. I think I said that after the Georgia game, which there weren’t very many positives, but somebody asked me if there were any positives, and I noticed that. I noticed his work from the practice field, carrying over to the game field.”

Next week, Kentucky travels to Starkville, a place they haven’t won in the Mark Stoops era. After that, the Cats host Alabama before finishing the regular season with two road games, at South Carolina and at Louisville. Just one win shy of bowl eligibility, losing to Tennessee stinks, especially given the circumstances; however, seeing Kentucky’s offense get off the ground was something, at the very least.

“Again, those guys are true sophomores,” Stoops said of Key and Barion Brown. “They have high expectations coming into it and we’re in a rough league and growth. You see growth. You see maturity. You see them fighting. You see them making plays in games like that, and that’s what we need. That’s what we need from both of them.”

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