Dominant Defense Sets Tone as UK Clinches Bowl Berth
Kentucky’s front didn’t have a lot to do with the Wildcats’ first two big plays on defense – a safety and a Yusuf Corker touchdown on a pair of high snaps.
It had plenty to do with the rest of what happened on Saturday.
“I thought they played a pretty dominant game from start to finish,” Mark Stoops said.
The Cats spent much of the afternoon and evening in the UT Martin backfield, terrorizing quarterback John Bachus and not allowing the Skyhawks to find any kind of an offensive rhythm. Thanks in large part to six sacks and 11 tackles for loss – both season highs – Kentucky pitched a first-half shutout and clinched bowl eligibility for the fourth straight season with a 50-7 victory.
“All week, we wanted to start fast and really just go out and impose our will on the front seven,” defensive end Calvin Taylor said. “I think that really was the key in the game.”
UK relied on its first-team defense in a dominant first half that saw UT Martin manage just 10 total yards on 29 plays. Boogie Watson, T.J. Carter and Jordan Wright each had a sack apiece, while Taylor and Josh Paschal both had 1.5. Taylor now has 7.5 on the season, putting him in the thick of the race for the SEC lead.
“I thought all our d-line did a nice job today,” defensive coordinator Brad White said. “We knew going in that was one of those factors that was going to be huge. A lot of times it’s the trenches that are a big separator when you play in these kind of games. We challenged those guys to play up to high level and they did.”
The Cats weren’t quite as stingy in the final 30 minutes, but the second half was encouraging nonetheless. Playing multiple young players – including a number of freshmen still slated to redshirt thanks to the four-game rule instituted last season – UK got a glimpse of what its defense could look like a couple years down the road.
“It’s a huge experience for them,” White said. “And for a lot of those young guys at every level of the defense to gain experience and to have guys come up to you and say, ‘Man, I haven’t played that much in a while,’ that’s big. They get back into a football mindset.”
The holdover from the first team in the second half was Jamin Davis, who made his first career start. A week after he led Kentucky in tackles in a win at Vandy, he did so again with six stops and added a goal-line interception that ended one of two Skyhawk trips to the red zone.
“It’s really good to see Jamin do that,” Stoops said. “He just needed some reps and some opportunity because he’s so explosive. He’s a big, athletic guy. And just getting more and more reps, more confidence. It’s really good for him.”
UK’s defense, which allowed its fewest total yards (204) since holding Mississippi State to 201 last season, complemented a potent ground attack well. The Cats rushed for a school-record 462 yards – their second game in a row with more than 400 – led by Lynn Bowden Jr.’s 129 yards.
“Very good team effort today,” Stoops said. “It was really fun to put together a complete game. Proud that a lot of guys got in. A lot of players played well. Guys have been working extremely hard.”
That hard work will be rewarded with yet another trip to the postseason. The ultimate destination is still up in the air – and will be determined in large part by the result of next weekend’s game against Louisville – but
“With this group, definitely very special, because they really did hit some adversity and really looked it right in the eye and moved on,” Stoops said. “And they’ve been really a lot of fun to coach. And I think through the tough times, through the adversity, it created some identity to this team.
UK’s defense, which has now allowed 21 or fewer points and 305 or fewer yards in six straight games, is essential to that identity.
“It feels awesome to see the excitement that they have playing defense, watching the young guys,” White said. “It was great to see the old guys cheering on the young guys and going nuts. When they would make a play, it was like they made the play themselves out on the field. That’s when you know you’ve got a great team, a great chemistry when everybody’s cheering for each other.”
