Kentucky had best passing performance in two years against Eastern Michigan

Creating a good passing game has been a long-time struggle for the Kentucky football program under head coach Mark Stoops. That struggle usually started in recruiting as the Wildcats consistently missed on top targets. That changed in the 2024 cycle when the Wildcats landed a commitment from four-star quarterback Cutter Boley.

The hope is that the talent-rich young prospect can help fix what has felt like a systemic problem for this program. In just his second career start, Boley produced the best passing game performance from this program in two years.

Back in 2023, Kentucky beat Akron 35-3 in Week 3. That game was remembered for this crazy play where quarterback Devin Leary found Ray Davis for an explosive play touchdown.

58 YARDS! 🏃‍♂️💨@UKFootball x 📺 ESPNU pic.twitter.com/5I2bmKBVhI

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) September 17, 2023

That game ended with Kentucky producing its best passing performance of the season under offensive coordinator Liam Coen. Leary completed 16-of-25 passes that night for 315 yards and three touchdowns. The NC State transfer finished the game averaging 12.6 yards per attempt and 11.7 yards per dropback. These were the highest numbers that Kentucky’s passing game produced in a regular-season game until the Week 3 win over Eastern Michigan where Cutter Boley completed 12-of-21 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns on 11.4 yards per attempt and 9.2 yards per dropback. Leary threw for 306 yards on 10.9 yards per attempt and 9.9 yards per dropback in a shootout loss to Clemson in the Gator Bowl to end the 2023 season.

Leary went on to have an up and down season for Kentucky playing behind a leaky offensive line. The sixth-round pick threw 25 touchdown passes but did have a high turnover rate and ended the season completing just 56.3 percent of his passes. However, there were some highs that season with 300-plus yard performances against Tennessee and Clemson. The Kentucky offense was explosive that year.

Could this offense become explosive with Cutter Boley?

Eastern Michigan might just be the worst defense Kentucky will see this season but the offense did look different with Boley behind center. The quarterback extended plays and was not afraid to throw vertical. The same was true when he entered the game against Texas last November. The Cats feel good about their traditional running game and could use some explosive passing plays to help complement it.

Boley showed some proof of concept in his second career start. Can the Cats build off that?