The Kentucky Wildcats are coming off one of the most embarrassing performances of the Mark Stoops era, losing 51-13 against Georiga. It wasn’t just that the Wildcats lost, as Georgia is the No. 1 ranked team in the country, but they were outplayed, outcoached, outschemed, and at times, even outclassed.
The Wildcats do not have an easy tune-up game to get back on track. Instead, they will face off against SEC East foe Missouri, who is not ranked in the AP poll after a loss to LSU, but is ranked 25th in the Coaches Poll.
In a make-or-break year for coach Eli Drinkwitz, his fourth as the Missouri head coach, the Tigers are off to a 5-1 start, which includes a win over a then No. 15 ranked Kansas State squad in Week three. The main catalyst for this impressive start has been an offense that is ranked top five in the SEC in total offense.
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The Kentucky-Missouri series has been one with a lot of close games, including four of the last six, which have been decided by one score or less. Will this year be another instant classic? Let’s dig into the matchup.
Slow Down Missouri’s Passing Attack
Averaging 322 passing yards per game, Missouri has one of the best passing attacks not just in the SEC, but in the country. They are efficient as well, completing over 70 percent of their passes for a total of 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions. That passing attack starts with quarterback Brady Cook and wide receiver Luther Burden, who are playing at an all-conference level.
“Quarterback is playing at a really high level. Really confident in his ball placement. He’s big, he’s athletic. I really think he’s one of the top QBs in this league and playing at a level that you can make the argument he’s as good as anybody in the country,” Kentucky defensive coordinator said of Cook. “Burden is playing at an extremely high level, you see by receptions, yards, what he does when the ball is in his hands. They have a lot of options to count on and that we have to account for.”
Of course, Kentucky is coming off a game where they could not defend any pass as Georiga completed nearly 80 percent of their passes. That is unacceptable given the standard that White and this program have set and they must respond with a better effort on Saturday.
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That said, you have to respect Missouri’s run game as well, with running back Cody Schrader averaging more than six yards per carry.
Show Discipline
Most Kentucky fans were not expecting a win over Georgia, but they were expecting a competitive game and to play clean football. At the end of the day, neither was the case.
Comparing the penalty numbers in the team stats, it can be a little misleading, as Georgia actually had more penalties and penalty yards. However, Kentucky benefitted from some declined and offsetting penalties. Also, a number of these penalties came at poor times, halting promising offensive drives or providing Georiga extra opportunities on third down. Due to that, any chance for Kentucky to capture momentum quickly evaporated.
When playing undisciplined football, it makes it incredibly difficult to beat any good team, especially in the SEC. This season Kentucky has received 40 penalties for 357 yards. That said, Missouri is not far off with 45 penalties for 325 yards.
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In a game where one drive could decide the game, Kentucky cannot afford to have many self-inflicted mistakes and must be better mentally prepared on Saturday.
Set the Tone for the Rest of the Season
With half the season played and a 5-1 record, there is still more to be learned from this Kentucky football team. They have beaten four easy opponents, beaten an inconsistent Florida team, and embarrassed by No. 1 Georgia.
Saturday’s game will be a true test, going up against Missouri, a team with a similar ranking and that has played you close for the better part of the last decade. The result could indicate which direction the season could be headed. If the Wildcats can win, a historic season is still on the table with just one loss. However, if they lose, it could spell trouble.
With basketball on the horizon, losing a second game in a row amidst a difficult stretch, could also lose the program some fan attention.
Time/Date: 7:30 pm ET on Saturday, October 14th, 2023 Location: Kroger Field in Lexington, KY TV Channel: SEC Network Announcers: Tom Hart, Jordan Rodgers, Cole Cubelic Online Stream:WatchESPN, ESPN+, SEC Network+, or the ESPN app. Radio: Tom Leach and Jeff Piecoro have the UK radio network call on the UK Sports Radio Network. Satellite Radio: XM Channel 203, Sirius Channel 98, Internet Channel 966 Replay:WatchESPN and SEC Network (check local listings). Rosters:UK | MIZ Stats To Know: UK | MIZ
Predictions: TeamRankings has Kentucky coming away with a 27-24 win, with DRatings.com also picking the Cats in a 27-21 victory. As history suggests, I’m predicting another close game, but feel like the Wildcats respond with a 30-24 win.
Before he transferred to Kentucky, Jamon Dumas-Johnson was an All-American at Georgia, with waves to at least test the NFL draft after winning a National Championship. However, with the decision to play his last collegiate season as a Wildcat, Dumas-Johnson was a cornerstone piece for the Kentucky defense, finishing the season with 7.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks during his 11 starts for the team.
His athleticism spoke volumes at Kentucky football’s NFL pro day, where current NFL draft boards now list the linebacker as one of the best athletes at the position and has earned himself a “top 10” feel ahead of the draft. Before pro day, publications such as Bleacher Report had him listed as No. 13 at his position.
Dumas-Johnson proved himself with the highest vertical jump (37.5) and the longest broad jump (10.60) out of the Wildcats who competed in said events, and ran an impressive best 4.50 40-yard dash. At 245 pounds, he also managed to press 16 reps of 225, which could technically be “better” compared to NFL standards, but is impressive nonetheless in hindsight.
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At 23 years old, this linebacker exploits explosiveness, agility and can hawk down any playmaker on the field. Out the 31 NFL teams that attended the event (a Cleveland Browns representative did not attend), one will be getting a prize steal of the draft with Dumas-Johnson.
Alex Raynor had an illustrious season for Kentucky last year, being named to First-Team All-SEC, as a finalist for the Lou Groza award and as SEC Special Teams Player of the Year.
As the record holder for the longest field goal in program history, and arguably one of, if not the, most consistent kickers to ever be a Wildcat, Raynor now looks to the NFL Draft in the next chapter of his book.
Recently, at Kentucky football’s NFL Pro Day on Tuesday, March 11, Raynor kicked off the event with his workout.
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Although he would miss a routine kick for him inside of the 45, he would continue to move back, nailing a 55-yard kick and nearly making a 60-yard kick.
The best moments of his workout came when Raynor would line up behind the UK logo inside of Nutter Field House and would nail a 65-yard field goal.
After charting a 4-8 record in the 2023-24 season, including a 1-7, second-to-last finish in the SEC, Kentucky Football looks lost for the first time in a long time.
It can be argued that the program never really broke through to the “higher echelon” of college football in the first place, but even then, they’ve been consistently better than they were historically known to be. Until now.
With that aforementioned .333 record, the Cats weren’t able to earn a bowl game. That marks the first time since the 2015 season that Kentucky Football won’t appear in postseason competition, and, excluding the 2020 season (for COVID-related reasons,) it’s also the only time the Wildcats have finished under .500 since then.
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What about the last time the team had less than five wins? 2013, in Stoops’ first season. The deeper you dig, the worse it appears.
Losing to Louisville in blowout fashion at the end of last month felt like the straw that broke the Cats’ back. It was clear that whatever would happen next wouldn’t be simply transitional, and thus far, the early offseason has evidenced that.
The Big Move
It began with an exodus. Star wideout Barion Brown elected to transfer to LSU for his senior season. His receiver running mate, Dane Key, left for Nebraska. In addition to the team’s two primary deep threats, Chip Trayanum, the promising back and former Buckeye who spent much of this year battling injuries, took his talents to Toledo.
In total, the Cats have lost nearly two dozen players to the transfer portal, and that’s not even counting the guys headed to the NFL draft (like Deone Walker and Maxwell Hairston,) as well as the graduates.
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To put it bluntly, next year’s team will share little more with the players from this past season than the blue and white on their jerseys. It’s a brutal overhaul, though one Coach Stoops and his staff are trying to get the jump on, to their credit.
Fresh Faces
Among a growing list of incoming transfers, a few names in particular stand out. Chief among them is Zach Calzada, a quarterback whose upcoming season at Kentucky will mark his fifth year playing football in his third different jersey.
The journeyman spent this past season at Incarnate Word, where he threw for 35 touchdowns and only nine interceptions. He completed 344 passes on the year, almost doubling that of his previous two.
Before his two-year stint at IW, Calzada spent the beginnings of his college career at Texas A&M where, among a mixture of steadily improving statistics, he led the Aggies to an impressive home win over the still Saban-led Alabama Crimson Tide. Whether or not his recent success in the Southland Conference will translate back to the SEC is yet to be seen, but, at least on paper, this pickup makes sense for Kentucky following a year of unsparing QB play across the board.
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Along with Calzada, the Cats have hauled in J.J. Hester, a 6 ‘4 senior receiver from Oklahoma, Dante Dowdell, a power back coming off a 12-touchdown season for Nebraska, and Sam Greene, a defensive end transferring in from USC, among a handful of others. We’ll have a team.
Though, even considering the roster turnover, that wasn’t the question. That still remains, “what will that team do?”
Potential vs. Progress
Kentucky is 18-25 in their last three seasons of football; a steady decline that has been made worse by the fact that the program’s outlier 10-3 finish in the 2021 season has since been disqualified by the NCAA due to a rule violation. All in all, the last half-decade has been, at best, barely getting by.
How long will this trend continue? The only thing we know for sure is that nobody is sure. Answering that question requires the analysis and knowing of many moving parts, not all of which are at widespread disposal.
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But this much is clear: the longtime variable nature of Kentucky Football came to a head this year, and the product we’re about to see is going to have to be radically different from the one we’ve just seen in order to right this ship.
For better or worse, the 2024-25 season will likely go down as the most important yet in the Stoops era at UK.