Kentucky defense balls out, Wildcats knock off Florida
How sweet it is. In an old-school SEC slugfest, Kentucky outpunched Florida. All I can say is about time.
After 60 minutes of rock ’em, sock ’em football, Kentucky won their fourth consecutive one-possession game.
None will be any bigger than this.
There was a scene a Kroger Field and both the fans and players delivered. LSU comes to town weekend, but no one cares about that right now. The ‘Cats stunned the Gators.
KSR has instant takeaways. I’m very excited to type this. Let’s ride.
Kentucky smothers the best rushing attack in college football
Any doubts about Kentucky’s defense just went out the window. The Wildcats are for real on that side of the ball and just slowed down a rushing offense that Alabama could not figure out two weeks ago.
For the game, Florida rushed for 171 non-sack rushing yards on 39 attempts averaging 4.39 yards per attempt. That’s over 150 yards below their season average and nearly three yards below their per attempt number.
Take a bow, Brad White and Mark Stoops.
In the advanced stat category, Florida had a rushing success rate of just 41.03 percent and a stuff rate of 20.51 percent. Kentucky won the play-by-play battle and didn’t allow a rush over 16 yards for the entire game. It’s going to be very hard for Florida to win when Dan Mullen’s offense cannot effectively run the ball.
That was a gem of a defensive performance led by DeAndre Square (13 tackles), Jacquez Jones (9 tackles), and Josh Paschal (2.5 non-sack tackles for loss). The seniors delivered.
Kentucky wins situational football
Non-offensive touchdowns change games. A third quarter blocked field goal by Josh Paschal and a thunderous rumble by Trevin Wallace altered the outcome at Kroger Field.
Previously, Dan Mullen surprisingly didn’t attempt to go for a score in an important middle eight possession at the end of the second quarter. Meanwhile, the Gators scored just 10 points in three red-zone possessions and had just 13 points in six scoring opportunities.
We just witnessed a masterful defensive performance.
Chris Rodriguez Jr. delivers
There was no getting around that this was a line of scrimmage matchup. The Wildcats had to beat Florida at the point of attack. Liam Coen’s offense had all kinds of struggles, but their bellcow provided much-needed efficiency throughout the night.
The redshirt junior out of Metro Atlanta posted 99 yards on 19 attempts but was able to win the play-by-play battle. Rodriguez posted a success rate of 63.16 percent.
With an offense that was just 1 of 9 on third and fourth down, Kentucky had issues extending drives. After a huge fourth-quarter interception by J.J. Weaver, Kentucky rode Rodriguez for 22 yards on three carries for the game-winning score.
Kentucky’s RB1 delivered once again.
Kroger Field brought it
For the game, Florida had 15 penalties for over 115 yards and all of those appeared to be false starts. Meanwhile, the Gators were just 4 of 14 on third and fourth down.
The Big Blue Nation delivered a big-time atmosphere and the home team responded with a gutsy win.
The fans played a big part.
Wan’Dale Robinson is electric
Due to the inability to move the chains on third down, Kentucky’s offense was very limited on Saturday. The Wildcats only got off 45 snaps in 11 possessions and averaged just 4.69 yards per play.
In the explosive play category, Kentucky once again struggled as the Wildcats had just one play over 20 yards for the entire game. Luckily, Wan’Dale Robinson made it count in a big way.
After getting in a hole early, Robinson made a big-time play on a screen to get the crowd back in the game. The junior only had five targets, but the one big explosion had a substantial impact on the game.
Another wildcat fail against Florida
In 2019, Kentucky was about to blow the game open against Florida in the fourth quarter and went to the wildcat formation to land the knockout punch.
A.J. Rose was stuffed and the Gators came storming back to pull off an incredible comeback victory.
In 2021, Kentucky did the same thing. Chris Rodriguez Jr. was stopped. Luckily, the defense saved the offense.
Three plays later, J.J. Weaver came up with a huge interception to set up Kentucky just outside the red zone. A few snaps later, Kentucky punched in the game-winning score.
That is complementary football and it allowed Kentucky to win the game.
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