The Kentucky Secondary got Humbled by Tennessee's Explosive Offense

If you left your chair, you might have missed another Tennessee explosive pass. The Vols lit up the Kentucky defense all night long.

Tennessee scored on the fourth snap of the game, a 35-yard pass to Chris Brazzell. It was one of seven explosive pass plays, with the biggest three all happening in the third quarter: a 62-yard touchdown to Mike Matthews, a 56-yarder to Braylon Staley, and another 50-yarder to Brazzell.

“They really took it to us. We did not have a lot of answers,” Mark Stoops said after the 56-34 loss. “It’s a tough matchup for us right now. And give them credit, they are extremely explosive, very, very talented, and it is not a strength of ours right now with the injuries and position we’re in, but no excuses. They are very good, and they took it to us, and we didn’t have answers. It’s tough.”

Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar had 396 passing yards, more than double the total offensive output from Texas a week ago. Just when you thought the Wildcats might have figured something out, they got exposed early and often.

“That’s what football, especially in this league is. You will get humbled very, very quickly,” said defensive coordinator Brad White. “If you don’t perform at your highest levels each and every week, both coaches and players, this is the result.”

“Defensively, I can’t make any excuse,” added Stoops. “I don’t want a million darts at me. I understand it’s not acceptable, but we’re not in a — it’s a tough matchup for us right now. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Kentucky has been without cornerback DJ Waller for almost the entire season. An injury sent Terhyon Nichols to the sideline after he got beat on a couple of big plays. Before the season began, Stoops thought the secondary could be a strength of the team, but it’s been the exact opposite.

“I said it had a chance to be a strength of the team. We had to stay healthy, and we haven’t stayed healthy. And again, I can’t make excuses,” Stoops repeated. “I got guys out there; Terhyon is playing through an injury, and there are kids out there against some elite guys and not at full strength, and he has to go, and I appreciate him. It hasn’t been good enough.”

Forced to dig deeper into the depth chart, Kentucky tried to make calls to help out some of the newcomers. Tennessee still found a way to exploit the Wildcats’ secondary with less than two minutes to go in the first half to turn a 7-point deficit into 14.

“That protection opens up some other things, and it hurt us on that play and through the middle. That’s certainly one, really whole sequence we could play better, and they made plays,” said Stoops.

Injuries aside, carving up Kentucky is what Josh Heupel does best. Aside from last season, he’s scored within five snaps on every opening possession against Kentucky. He’s never had a quarterback throw an interception against the Cats.

A stout defense was the backbone of the program Mark Stoops built, and it erodes away every time they suit up against the Vols.