Stoops, Paschal not satisfied with execution on defense against Georgia

Looking at the box score, it’s easy to say that Kentucky had trouble dealing with the Georgia offense on Saturday.

The Bulldogs threw for 250 yards and three touchdowns (and no interceptions) while rushing for another 166 yards and one more score (and no fumbles). Georgia put up 30 points and 416 total yards of offense in the 17-point win over Kentucky.

But digging through the context of those numbers, Kentucky actually didn’t grade all that poorly compared to Georgia’s previous six wins this season. The UK defense limited UGA to its third-fewest rushing yards and total yards of the season, along with allowing the second-fewest points scored. Outside of the Clemson Tigers, Kentucky was the toughest defense that Georgia has faced all season long in terms of pure statistics.

That being said, Kentucky’s defense still could have performed much better. A mental lapse cost the ‘Cats a would-be fumble recovery. Georgia scored not even three minutes into the start of the third quarter, extending the Bulldog lead to 21-7. UGA unloaded big play after big play.

Some of that credit is due to Georgia’s offense, but Kentucky, which has been known for its intimidating defense under head coach Mark Stoops, didn’t do itself any favors throughout the game on that end of the field. The team’s precision was not there as it had been throughout the 2021 season.

Stoops: “We were not very precise”

“With the type of explosive backs they have, if you’re not precise, then they’re gonna make you pay,” Stoops said after the loss on Saturday night. “We had one where we had one guy spreading a little too wide, a safety coming scot-free, clean. Yusuf (Corker) read it too fast almost and they both end up in the same gap. Looks terrible when they get a 20-, 30-yard run when in fact it should be a two-yard gain. So that’s on us but again there are so many things that they do well. I’m not trying to take away from that, but we were not very precise tonight.”

When it comes down to it, a lack of execution is what hurt Kentucky’s defense the most. Credit Georgia’s offense all you’d like, but the ‘Cats didn’t play up to the team’s standards on Saturday. This was an important learning experience for a group still knocking on the door of being considered one of the SEC’s top schools.

Stoops will have plenty of time to teach Kentucky over the next two weeks, too. The first and only bye week of the season is this weekend. Everyone will take Monday off before diving back into practice on Tuesday. A major road matchup against Mississippi State looms on Halloween weekend.

Responding to adversity

“What we wanna learn from this game is just to keep going, keep pushing,” Defensive end Josh Paschal said after the loss. “And when you face adversity you gotta jump on top of it. You can’t let one turn into two, and that’s something we’re going to focus on this bye week. We’re blessed with a bye week coming up where we can rest our bodies but at the same time we’re gonna put in the work so that we won’t have this feeling again.”

Paschal–who finished with a team-high six tackles, one for loss, and a forced fumble–added that some of Georgia’s big plays were just a result of missed assignments. When playing with an upset on your mind against the No. 1 team in the country, that simply can’t happen. Kentucky will have two weeks to address those issues and make sure they don’t happen again against MSU.

“We’re not comfortable with this loss,” Paschal said. “We’re gonna bounce back against Mississippi State and we’re gonna be a hungrier team than before.”