So Close, Yet So Far

                        (Picture h/t Kentucky.com)  Through the first half of the football game we saw a team that played with Mississippi State, but ended up making some mental mistakes that were costly. Also, the State receivers could have quite possibly been our best defenders. The pressure seemed to be non-existent at times, which would lead to wide open receivers down the field. However, it was the Mississippi State receivers that would drop the passes and dig themselves into a hole. What we really needed was for number one in maroon to be in on every play. Another thing the Cats did that was huge was the fourth down plays in both halves. These are gutsy calls that would extend drives. Not all of them would lead to points, but later down the road the confidence on fourth down will be there. While we knew coming into the game that our quarterback situation was not spectacular, we knew he would at least be a game manager. Max Smith just did not have what it took to be successful tonight. While some of the plays are on the wide receivers for not making catches, he had more throws that were behind receivers or over their heads. To be at this stage in your career, these kinds of plays are just unacceptable. This is not a true freshman that was thrown to the wolves, this is a guy that has had SEC reps and has played in and started in enough games so that these types of mental mistakes should not be there. However, we see that Jalen really stepped his game up to give Kentucky the necessary chance to come back and win the game. The ability to make plays with his feet really opens up things for more plays to become available. To sit the hot hand however, does not seem to make sense to me. While I am not a Division One football coach, it was painfully obvious that Whitlow was the better quarterback tonight. With that being said to put him in for one play and take Max Smith out was the WRONG decision. This is something that the coaches will eventually have to make a decision about and never look back. I just hope that they do not make the same mistake with Barker next near. If they want Barker to be the best quarterback he can be, they have to start him from day one and never look back. The big elephant in the room tonight was the onside kick. If you watch any kick off this Saturday I challenge you to find a kick-off where at least one guy is less offside’s than we were. That call was a joke and would be a momentum shift that Kentucky would not be able to overcome. As the announcers said about all the penalties last night, “that was awful close.” These are the kind of mistakes by the officials that are inexcusable. That was a momentum shift that could have opened the game up, but instead the fate of the game was placed in the hands of the officials. Any way you cut it this was a tough loss and a win that we could have had on the road in the SEC. But, the Cats continue to improve and put themselves in situations to win football games. Go Cats @camyoung_KSR