KSR Monday Huddle: Building Momentum
The SEC season is officially over for the Kentucky football program, but there is still plenty to play for.
Fresh off their second road win of the season, Kentucky owns a 5-3 conference record for the second time in four years and sits at 7-3 overall with two games remaining.
Senior day awaits this Saturday as New Mexico State makes the trip to Lexington as one of the worst teams in the FBS. Kentucky will get one final tune-up before taking on Louisville to end the season.
Now is the time for Mark Stoops and his program to build some momentum.
First down: Continued growth from QB1
Liam Coen was hired to fix Kentucky’s passing game. The new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach quickly decided to go find his new guy in the transfer portal.
Redshirt junior Will Levis made the move from Penn State to the SEC, and the new quarterback did not arrive until the summer. However, that has not stopped Levis from putting together one of the best quarterback seasons of the Mark Stoops era.
Through 10 games, Levis is completing 65.6 percent of his passes with 19 touchdowns on a 7.3 yards per attempt average. The Connecticut native has also added 263 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns.
There have been some ups and downs for Kentucky’s QB1, but Levis is fresh off two consecutive good games. The quarterback threw for a career-high 372 yards against Tennessee and followed it up with an efficient 177 yards against Vanderbilt on just 22 passes.
The quarterback is slowly getting better. Looking forward to 2022, the Wildcats will need Levis to turn into a star. Slowly, momentum is building for the quarterback.
Facing New Mexico State, the Wildcats will look for their quarterback to take more steps in the right direction as the season winds down.
Second down: Defensive progress
There were some frustrating moments against Vanderbilt, but overall the Brad White’s unit did their jobs in Nashville.
The Wildcats held the SEC’s worst offense to just 266 yards on 59 snaps and scored their second defensive touchdown of the season.
The pass rush continues to grow as Kentucky has nine sacks versus 49 pass attempts in the last two games. In the rushing department, the Wildcats remain stout as Vanderbilt collected just a 30.77 percent success rate on the ground with over 30 percent of the team’s rushing yards coming on a 37-yard rush by true freshman Patrick Smith.
Meanwhile, the passing defense has been a real weakness but even it had some success against Vanderbilt. The Commodores were limited to a 41.38 percent passing success rate and averaged just 5.9 yards per attempt.
There were some bad moments as Kentucky struggled to get off the field on third down, but overall the Wildcats had a positive performance in Nashville. Facing a New Mexico State offense that ranks 119th nationally in yards per play offense, the Wildcats need to show some more progress.
Against Vanderbilt, sophomores Jalen Geiger and Vito Tisdale played starter’s reps. Sophomore Justin Rogers had his best game as a Wildcat. Some youngsters are starting to get more snaps and are making plays. The defense needs this continued progress as the season winds down.
Forcing some more turnovers would also help.
Third down: Pass milestones
Throughout the season, Kentucky has seen some individual players have terrific seasons. Some landmark numbers can be reached this season.
On Saturday, Chris Rodriguez Jr. went for 114 yards and now has 1,032 rushing yards this season. For the sixth time since 2016, a Kentucky rusher has reached that 1,000 yard mark. Rodriguez figures to have a chance to have a top-five year in program history as only 302 yards is needed to pass that mark.
In the passing game, Will Levis has 2,011 passing yards and 19 touchdowns. The redshirt junior needs just about 200 more passing yards and one more touchdown to enter the top-10 in program history for single-season passing yards and touchdowns.
After 10 games, junior Wan’Dale Robinson has 77 receptions for 900 yards and seven touchdowns. The Nebraska transfer has turned into a true WR1 and will bring home All-SEC honors at the end of the season. Robinson is now tied at fifth all-time with Keenan Burton for single-season receptions in a season. Robinson needs just 14 more catches to break James Whalen’s program record set in 1999.
Robinson is also just 100 yards away from becoming the program’s first 1,000 yards receiver since 2010. Liam Coen’s first offense has made a huge splash, and the Wildcats will have a chance to set some high program marks before the season is over.
Add to the fact that two first-year transfers are the ones collecting these numbers and that should give the coaching staff some needed ammo when dipping back into the transfer portal this offseason.
The week ahead at KSR
Another jam-packed football week full of content at KSR is set to be unleashed as Kentucky looks to begin a winning streak to end the 2021 season.
On Monday afternoon, we’ll have coverage of Mark Stoops’ weekly press conference to go along with his radio show in the evening. Practice reports will come throughout the week. Podcasts galore will be available for your consumption.
Kentucky’s senior day is set for Saturday, and the Wildcats will look to send the veterans off in style before rivalry week arrives.
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