The Middle Eight: How Kentucky turned close game into blowout win

The Middle Eight has been a very hot-button issue for the Big Blue Nation when discussing the Kentucky football program and its direction under head coach Mark Stoops. This critical situational football window has been a struggle many, many times for the Wildcats.

Kentucky flipped that Middle Eight script against Florida in Saturday night’s 38-7 victory over the Gators.

How did they do it? UK dominated the three-point road favorite in every statistical category, but a close game was turned into blowout because of what happened in the Middle Eight. These were the biggest plays from that big situational window.

Cutter Boley made some throws, had one big scramble, and the Cats hammered the rock on the ground to smash the Gators in situational football.

Cutter Boley gets the party started

How did things get rolling? Kentucky’s defense forced a fumble and gave the offense the football back at their own 41 holding a 10-7 lead with 9:43 remaining in the second quarter. The Cats then got the drive rolling on the ground when a direct snap to Seth McGowan in a jumbo package moved the chains on fourth-and-one. Some more runs — and a Kendrick Law jet sweep on another fourth-and-one — created a first-and-10 in the red zone.

Cutter Boley then finished the drive.

Kentucky offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan sends in a mesh rail concept against zone coverage with tailback Jason Patterson running a wheel route. Boley does a good job of not staring down Patterson and keeping the boundary cornerback in no man’s land. That allows to put the ball on Patterson’s back shoulder for an explosive play touchdown in the red zone.

UK ended a long 59-yard drive in 12 plays and went up 17-7 with 3:32 left in the second quarter. This started the Middle Eight party.

A three-and-out turns into a quick touchdown drive

After the Jason Patterson touchdown, Florida started their first Middle Eight possession at their own 25 with 3:32 left on the clock. The Gators did not need to be in a rush with the two-minute stoppage and multiple timeouts. The one thing they didn’t want to do was to go three-and-out. That’s exactly what happened.

A pair of DJ Lagway incompletions on first and third down led to a punt less than a minute after the drive started. Then a shanked punt gave Kentucky a short field.

Cutter Boley then went to work.

After a three-yard first down run by Seth McGowan got us to the two-minute stoppage, Boley completed three consecutive passes for 49 yards to create a first-and-goal at the two. These throws to the right sideline allowed UK to score another Middle Eight touchdown.

Kendrick Law creates leverage in off-man coverage after going in motion and running a 12-yard out route. Boley makes a strong throw from the opposite hash and then Law takes it from there by generating 10-plus yards in YAC. That created a first-and-10 in the high red zone. One snap later, Boley jams a Cover 2 hole shot into Ja’Mori Maclin on a corner route. The ball gets over a long cornerback and is in front of a safety. McGowan plunges into the endzone one play later.

The game went from 10-7 to 24-7 with just two minutes coming off the clock in the second quarter. Boley made some really nice small window throws in the red zone.

A third-and-long scramble opens the floodgates

After the teams traded turnovers and Kentucky ruined a red zone possession with a lost fumble, Kentucky started the second half with the ball. That quickly turned into a third-and-seven. Cutter Boley then made something happened.

Boley moves the chains on third-and-long. The quarterback does it again with a 13-yard completion to Fred Farrier II on another third-and-seven three plays later. Then the run game comes alive.

Seth McGowan and Dante Dowdell then combined for 43 yards on the ground in seven consecutive plays. The possessions milk nearly half of the third quarter. The game was officially over after Kentucky’s third Middle Eight touchdown.

The Cats turned a close game into a blowout in the Middle Eight.