KENTUCKY POSTGAME NOTES
UT Martin at Kentucky

Commonwealth Stadium — Lexington, Ky.

Aug. 30, 2014

FINAL SCORE: Kentucky 59, UT Martin 14

Team Records and Series Notes

• With the win, Kentucky is 1-0 and with the loss, UT Martin drops to 0-1.
• UK won the first all-time meeting between the two schools.
• UK has now won nine consecutive home lidlifters, dating back to 2006.
• UK is now 84-35-5 all-time in season openers and is 71-15-4 all-time in season openers at home. 
• Kentucky will return to action on Saturday, hosting Ohio at 3:30 p.m. at Commonwealth Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPNU and will be broadcast live on the UK Radio Network, with Tom Leach, Jeff Piecoro and Dick Gabriel voicing the action.

Team Notes

• UK’s 59-14 win marked its most points scored since hanging 63 on Western Kentucky in 2010.
• UK’s 45-point margin of victory was its most since a 77-17 win over UTEP in 2002.
• Kentucky finished with six rushing touchdowns, its most in a game since vs. Kent State in 2007.
• Kentucky finished with 656 yards of total offense, which was the fourth greatest single-game total in school-history. UK finished with 675 yards of total offense vs. Miami (Ohio) last season for the third-highest total in school history
• UK forced five turnovers; it’s most since 2008 vs. Louisville. UK has forced four turnovers on four occasions since 2008.
• UK had two interceptions, its most since picking off two passes at Missouri in 2012.
• UK had 201 rushing yards out of players that did not play in 2013, marking 86-percent of its rushing output in the game.
  • All 422 yards of UK’s passing game came from quarterbacks that did not see game action last year.
  • UK’s 446 yards in the first half was more than 11 of UK’s 12 games last year.
  • Six of UK’s eight tackles for loss and all three forced fumbles were caused by players who didn’t see game action in 2013.
• UK finished with 21 points off turnovers.
• The Wildcats finished with 422 yards passing, marking its best passing output since throwing for 430 yards in a 2007 game vs. Tennessee in four overtimes.
  • The last time UK threw for over 422 yards in a regulation game was when it threw for 450 yards in a win over Vanderbilt in 2006.
• UK forced and recovered three fumbles, marking its most fumbles recovered since three at Georgia in 2011.

Individual Notes

• Sophomore QB
  Patrick Towles
  had a sparkling debut in his first career start, going 20-for-29 for 377 yards and one TD.
  • Towles also rushed for his first career TD, a career-long 23-yard rush, finishing with three rushes for 30 yards.
  • With 407 total yards of offense, Towles had the second-most yards from scrimmage for a UK quarterback making his first career start, just behind the 409 yards Dusty Bonner had in a 1999 game with Louisville.
    • Kentucky QBs, since 1996, have a 5-6 record in their first career starts.
  • Towles threw for his second career TD, a 29-yard pass to Blake Bone.
    • It marked Towles first TD pass since Oct. 6, 2012 vs. Mississippi State.
  • Towles is the first UK QB to throw for 300+ yards since Maxwell Smith vs Miami (Ohio) in 2013.
• Junior RB
  Braylon Heard
  rushed for a 73-yard touchdown on his first career touch for the Wildcats.
  • It marked the longest rush for UK since Jalen Whitlow scampered 88 yards for a touchdown vs. Alabama State in 2013.
  • On Heard’s second career rush, he took it 43 yards for a touchdown.
  • Heard finished with 116 yards on just two carries.
• Several Wildcats made their first career starts, including TE
  Steven Borden
  , QB
  Patrick Towles
  , OG Ramsey Meyers and OT
  Kyle Meadows
  on offense and LB
  Josh Forrest
  , S
  A.J. Stamps
  and DT
  Melvin Lewis
  on defense.
• Freshman RB Stanley “Boom” Williams opened the game with a kickoff return for 24 yards. Williams rushed it three times for eight yards.
• Freshman WR
  Garrett Johnson
  notched his first career catch. He finished with three catches for 25 yards.
• DE Za’Darius Smith, OT
  Jordan Swindle
  and S
  Ashely Lowery
  made their team-leading 13th consecutive starts.
• Sophomore RB
  Jojo Kemp
  totaled his fourth career rushing touchdown. Kemp finished with eight rushes for 31 yards and one TD.
• Junior S
  A.J. Stamps
  recorded UK’s first interception of the year with a one-handed snag in the second quarter.
  • Stamps finished with a game-tying eight tackles and a tackle for loss.
• Sophomore WR
  Ryan Timmons
  totaled three catches for 75 yards.
• Senior WR
  Javess Blue
  caught two balls for 42 yards.
• Senior WR
  Demarco Robinson
  hauled in a 79-yard catchl-and-run from Towles, a career-long.
• Junior CB
  Fred Tiller
  notched his seventh and eighth career pass break ups and charted his first career interception.
• Freshman WR
  Blake Bone
  hauled in a 29-yard touchdown on his first collegiate touch.
  • Bon finished with two catches for 65 yards. 
• Freshman PK
  Austin MacGinnis
  was 1-for-2 in his first career field-goal attempts, connecting on a 20-yard field goal.
  • MacGinnis had seven touchbacks in his 10 kickoffs. 
• Freshman WR
  Dorian Baker
  notched his first three career catches, totaling 29 yards.
• Senior DT
  Mike Douglas
  notched his fourth career sack. He now has sacks in each season of his UK career.
• Freshman RB
  Mikel Horton
  rushed for an 18-yard touchdown on his fourth career carry.
  • Horton finished with seven rushes for 46 yards. 
• Junior LB
  Khalid Henderson
  returned a fumble for 89 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
  • It marked the first fumble recovery for a touchdown since
    Demarco Robinson
    recovered a fumble in the end zone in 2013 vs. Alabama State.
    • It marked UK’s first defensive fumble recovery for a touchdown since Tristan Johnson in 2012 a 25-yard return for a TD vs. Samford.
  • Henderson and Stamps tied for the team lead with eight tackles.
• Freshman CB
  Kendall Randolph
  forced a fumble in his collegiate debut.
• Senior TE
  Ronnie Shields notched two catches for 18 yards, giving him 14 catches in his career.
• Junior RB
  Josh Clemons
  rushed it for the first time since 2011 after missing the last two seasons due to injury.
• Freshman QB
  Reese Phillips
  saw his first career action, completing 2-of-4 passes for 45 yards.
• Sophomore
  J.D. Harmon
  , a native of Paducah, Kentucky, finished with six tackles, two tackles for a loss, one forced fumble and a quarterback hurry.
  • It marked Harmon’s first career forced fumble.
  • Harmon returned his first career kick, a 26-yard return in the fourth quarter.
• Freshman DT
  Regie Meant
  finished with four tackles, two sacks and one fumbled forced in his collegiate debut.
• Junior LB
  Ryan Flannigan
  finished with six tackles in his UK debut.
• Junior DE
  Jabari Johnson
  recovered his first career fumble. 
• Junior P
  Landon Foster
  punted it once for 46 yards.
  • Foster has now punted 130 times in his career, with a 42.1 yard average.