Two-way haymakers separate Kentucky from Vanderbilt
Kentucky has won numerous football games under Mark Stoops with offensive efficiency and a bend-but-don’t-break defense. The Wildcats found a winning formula and stuck to it. This team played to an identity. However, that identity is gone in 2023.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
In a 45-28 win over Vanderbilt at FirstBank Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Kentucky flashed a new identity. The Wildcats are a big-play offense and a havoc-creating defense. That can win games, but it will look differently this year in the Bluegrass.
Kentucky has two-way knockout power in 2023.
Defense makes Vanderbilt pay for mistakes
AJ Swann is a young quarterback with good pocket movement skills and a big arm. However, the sophomore has some accuracy and decision-making issues. Kentucky made the quarterback pay for some bad throws on Saturday afternoon.
The former top-500 recruit finished the game with 189 passing yards on a woeful 4.7 yards per attempt. Swann saw 24 of his 40 pass attempts fall incomplete. Kentucky’s pass rush was active and effective throughout the game. That rush helped create three takeaways.
Kentucky then made Vanderbilt pay for those costly mistakes.
A Trevin Wallace pressure led to a bad throw by Swann in the first quarter that ended in a Maxwell Hairston pick-six. With the offense riding the struggle bus in the third quarter, Kentucky’s defense provided the team with a needed jolt on a third-and-seven.
Swann makes a bad zone coverage read, and D’Eryk Jackson makes him play. The redshirt junior then makes a great awareness play by getting the ball to Andru Phillips on a later. This return would give a struggling Kentucky offense an immediate goal-to-go opportunity.
To finish the game in the fourth quarter, Hariston took another bad Swann pass to the endzone for Kentucky’s fourth non-offensive touchdown this season to put the Cats up 45-21 late.
For the game, Kentucky finished with two tackles for loss, three interceptions, and seven pass breakups. The Wildcats took advantage of a quarterback who has had some clear struggles in the first month of the season.
We’ve seen an upgraded pass rush from Brad White‘s defense, and now we’re seeing this group create some game-changing takeaways. Kentucky struggled to create red zone stops on Saturday, but the defense flipped the game with havoc plays.
The Wildcats have now forced eight takeaways in four games. This looks like a unit that can make some huge havoc plays throughout the season.
Offense has an efficiency problem and an explosiveness solution
Kentucky has never truly been a big-play offense under Mark Stoops. The Wildcats have consistently been built on long-sustained drives. Creating explosive play touchdowns has always been an issue. When games turned into a track meet, the Wildcats were then playing left-handed.
That’s not an issue for this team.
In Saturday’s win where Kentucky’s offense scored 31 points in 10 non-kneel possessions, Devin Leary had four completions of 15-plus yards with three being gains of 20-plus yards. Two of the game’s biggest highlights were a 55-yard completion to Barion Brown and a 22-yard touchdown to Dane Key each came down the left sideline.
The ground game produced six rushes of 10-plus yards in 29 attempts with three runs going over 20 yards. JuTahn McClain‘s 36-yard touchdown sprint in the first quarter on a gap design was a thing of beauty.
Kentucky puts up points when they create big explosive plays. They do not when the big play is taken away. The offense has issues putting long drives together. That played out in a 13-play, 74-yard drive in the second quarter that bogged down in the red zone. The identity is different this season.
Situational football remains essential, and Kentucky did a good job by scoring 17 points in three red zone possessions and going 5 of 11 on third down. Those will remain important as Kentucky’s down-to-down efficiency struggles.
Why does Kentucky look great on one drive and terrible on others? Because of explosive plays. The Wildcats can land a haymaker at any point.
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